(Goodreads)

Wow. This novel was exceptional. Each characterization of each of the novels many main characters was done with such precision and care. I got angry at some of them (Ahem, Elena Richardson, I’m looking at you and hubby there) and empathized with both Bebe and Lexi (some choices are so hard to make), but I think Mia resonated the most to me. Her life was absolutely one that I simultaneously would have loved and hated. Traveling because you could, but still taking your kid with you, but also only doing it because you HAVE to, not because you want to.

The Richardsons’ were a well ordered family, that cookie cutter type that we all see in Home and Garden magazines: perfect lawns, big house, 2 kids of each gender, good jobs, etc. Enter Mia Warren, single mom, nomad, photographer. Mia’s past is unknown but Elena makes it her job to know it. And it comes with disastrous results. Occurring at the same time, Elena’s good friend is embroiled in a custody case that divides this perfect little town in Ohio. And that has some interesting some results.

I can’t speak too much on this novel, unfortunately, because any little thing could be a spoiler and this book was just too good to spoil. I think Ng is quickly becoming my favorite author. I remember hating Everything I Never Told You, but then quickly falling in love with it. Now, whether my review of that book holds with this view I have of it now is another thing entirely. But truly, Little Fires will stay with me for a while. The last few pages (or for me, minutes) of this novel were just so utterly and beautiful and devastatingly written, that I actually sat in my car for a few minutes just to soak it all in.

Be sure to check out Celeste Ng’s Everything I Never Told You (here at , if you haven’t already. She really is coming to be a great novelist.

 (find here on Goodreads)

From here, I will leave you. Until next time!

I will not just add a link to go to my Goodreads page today. Today, I am sharing with you the entirety of this review. As an LGBTQI+ ally, this book resonated with me. I am with you. Always.

I am not even sure I have the words to explain how incredible and heart wrenching this novel was. I wasn’t even born when Yale’s story begins, and then was only just out of college a few years when we read Fiona’s tale begins. The ending? Soul crushing. Heart breaking. Hopeful. Uplifting. Bittersweet.

I wasn’t sure, really, what I was getting into with this novel. I knew it was going to be about the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 80’s. I also knew that it was going to go forward in time and be about a mother/daughter relationship gone awry. What I didn’t know was that I would root for Yale the entire time, that I would mourn the losses with him and Fiona, the triumphs. That I would get angry on their behalf, wanting to be their friends in real life. Then realizing that I am so lucky to actually have my own friends the way Yale had his.

Yale, a young, vibrant gay man in Chicago, coming to the peak of his career at the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, is who we are introduced to first. He takes us on a journey of sorrow right off the bat: his friend, Nico, has just died of AIDS. Nico’s boyfriend, Terrance, not allowed to be with him because Nico’s parents, who disowned him but have come back for the hospital rights, have forbade it. Nico’s sister, Fiona, is inconsolable. This is how we meet her: crying but trying in every way she can, to let Nico’s gay friends and boyfriend have the ability to say goodbye. This loss, and everyone after, shapes her into the woman she becomes – but her story will come later. Yale, meanwhile, is coping with the loss and after the funeral of many of his friends, comes to find out that his boyfriend, Charlie, cheated on him. Multiple times. It’s shocking because, as we have learned, Charlie was always accusing Yale of doing the same, only for it to have never been true. This is just another loss that Yale has to deal with. So he pours himself into his work – and his young intern, Roman. Yale has just bagged what could possibly be the biggest thing to happen to an art gallery: unknown works of an artist from long ago, from Fiona’s aunt Nora. The man was her great love of her life and is a relative unknown in the art world, but her dying wish is to see his works displayed. This becomes Yale’s priority. Until it isn’t

Fiona, young, vibrant and yet jaded by the horrific death of her brother, is also the young mother hen and power of attorney for many of the young men in Boystown, as it is known. This shapes her in ways that she doesn’t realize until she is much older: marriage ruined by infidelity on her part, and an estranged daughter, who first joined a cult then later runs off to Paris. It’s this search for her daughter that we meed Fiona, in 2015, after hiring a private investigator aid in the search. She travels to Paris, and stays with Richard Campo, famous artist – and old friend. He was there, documenting every moment of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Chicago, documenting the riots, the marches and his friends. He is getting ready for a big show, one that will showcase all of that work from then, and wants Fiona to see it all. But she isn’t sure she is ready. Not only is she trying to repair her relationship with her daughter, but she is trying to find herself again and the past is haunting her in ways that are challenging her very soul.

This whole book. From cover to cover, all I had were feelings. The whole time. It was just so overwhelming and so poignant. Many times, my emotions would overcome me and I would have to put it down, only to pick it right back up because I couldn’t just leave those boys there. It was a very visceral reaction. I don’t get that very much. This was absolutely worth the $2 in late fines I now have at the library since it’s 2 weeks overdue. Now, on to the next. To those who passed on from this horrid disease, RIP. To those dealing with it, stay strong.

You guys! I’m so sorry. So much for being a frequent updater! I’ve started a new job and it’s been CRAZY!!! Which means that I haven’t done much in the way of reading a physical book but I WAS able to finish an audio book! Woo!

It’s funny. I started this as a hardcover and I was bored. To. Death. So I stopped reading it. Finally went back to Club Lib (AKA the library) and decided to do the audio book version. Lo and behold, it’s being narrated by ROSARIO DAWSON (!!!!!) and so of COURSE I grab it! Let me tell you: SO. MUCH. BETTER!!!!! Rosario NAILS every voice and inflection and does so good with all the different accents. I’m also a HUGE HUGE fan of hers so I was ecstatic to listen to her read this. I would sometimes just sit in the car JUST to listen because she made it that much better!

So. The book. It was really good! I really like The Martian (the movie, I actually didn’t read the book, but I heard it was really close so that was nice) and so I figured I would like this one too. Like I said, in the beginning I was very bored. I couldn’t stand Jazz and the all consuming slowness of the plot. But once everything really got going, man, did it snowball quick.

I have more of this review here and you can check out the book’s synopsis here. I definitely recommend it to those who love sci-fi and bad ass women.

Ok so this book. This book. Where do I even start? I think my favorite thing about this book was my little *gasp* every time a new character was introduced. Mary Jekyll? *gasp!* Sherlock Holmes and Doctor John Watson? *gasp!* Diana Hyde? *gasp!* The list goes on and on and each time I would gasp or giggle in delight. And really, with the time that this was taking place in (Late 19th Century) the premise that the women really held their own was quite fascinating.

As someone who has read many of the classics brought to life by the characters (Frankenstein, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Dracula, to name a few) this was utterly amazing. I think Goss did a great job with tying in the ACTUAL stories into the women’s stories and making them more complete. Listening to the audio book was especially great, the narrator was amazing at giving all the women their own voices and even the men were distinguishable.

To see the rest of my review, check me out here.

Thanks!!!

Oops! I definitely did not mean to go so long between posts! It’s been almost a month! Time sure does fly when you’re…staying busy?? The last month has been pretty crazy but let us get to the nitty gritty, eh?

My book club finished this one and OMG was it one of the best books I’ve read all year! There were, of course, some problems (looking at you, Charlie St. Clair) but for the most part, it was a very engaging read.

The backdrop of both the Great War and the aftermath of WWII make for suspense, high energy and yet somber thought and slow pacing, as we read the story from two ladies lives. We have Eve, a spy in the Alice Network during the Great War. Her story was, by far, the most incredible, edge of your seat action packed adventure, that really made you want to know how she became the embittered old woman that Charlie meets. Then you have Charlie, this American semi-socialite who is being sent overseas because of a Problem (yes, it’s capitalized) that has to be taken care of. Her story, to me, while not very engaging, did sort of have its very own take off and climax with resolution. It just happened to late in the book for me. So I never really was engaged with her or her story at all.

For me, Eve was the real hero. This was, after all, a story based on REAL women, the REAL Alice Network. Those women had balls. They did what had to be done so that the war could be won. They deserve to be honored everyday, I think.

For more of my thoughts on this amazing novel, check out my Goodreads review here.

Now, this is going to be a long blog post if I don’t end it now, but I have been reading a ton more lately and just finished both the series (or where the series has ended so far) Saga, as well as the remainder of the Themis Files triology, Waking Gods and Only Human. All of these have kept me on my toes and deep in the sci-fi and fantasy world, where I needed to go to escape the realness of The Alice Network.

Keep up with me here and on Goodreads and until next time!