Review: The Next Thing You Know (by Jessica Strawser)

My Rating:  4 stars



The  past 2 months have been extremely exhausting for me due to having to deal with several major crises at work. Things have been rough and even though we're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, I anticipate that it will take several more months for things to truly settle down.  I mention this because, as much as I tried to prevent it, the physical and mental exhaustion from work unfortunately seeped into my personal life as well.  Over the past couple weeks especially, there were way too many moments where I struggled to summon up enough energy (both physically and mentally) to pick up a book and just read — either my mind would wander (inevitably to something related to work) or I would be so tired physically that I would doze off after a couple pages. Normally, reading is a "de-stressor" for me;  it's something I look forward to after a long, difficult day filled with more challenges than I feel I'm equipped to handle.   Because of this, my current circumstances of not being able to concentrate as much as I want to on something I love and enjoy is extremely frustrating, to say the least. Having said all this though, one thing I do know is that this situation is only temporary and I'm pretty confident that, in the not too distant future, I will be able to emerge from this difficult period and get back into the groove of my usual reading routine.

Part of the reason I decided to start this review with the above (aside from me just needing to vent so I can finally get this off my chest), is because going through what I did the past few months helped me to better relate, on some small level, with the main characters in this book (though of course, my situation pales in comparison to the truly "life and death" struggles that the characters face).  Nova Huston is an end of life doula whose job is to help the terminally ill who are seeking to make peace with their impending deaths.  Mason Shaylor is a singer-songwriter facing the grim prospect of a debilitating condition not only putting an end to his career, but also to life as he knows it.  The two cross paths when Mason hired Nova to help him come to terms with his decision.  As they spend more and more time together, Mason and Nova find that they have more in common than either of them expected, and when a connection forms that deepens their relationship, that makes it all the harder to let go.

Truth be told, prior to reading this book, I had absolutely no clue what a "death doula" was.  With the marketing for this book comparing it to Me Before You (which I personally feel is unjustified, as both stories are nowhere near similar), I had the misconception at first (as it seems many other readers did) that a doula was someone who helped with assisted suicides.  That's an incorrect assumption of course, and the story goes to great lengths to explain what a doula actually does.  In this regard, I felt that the author, Jessica Strawser, did a good job shining a light on a profession that few people know much about.  As I'm usually big on learning something when I read, I definitely appreciated this aspect of the story and Strawser's efforts here. 

Overall, I liked this one quite a bit — it was a solid story with an interesting premise that was well-written and obviously well-researched.  Having said that though, the story itself was the slow-burn type and also meandered a bit at times, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but it did leave me wondering at some points where Strawser was trying to go with the plot and characters.  I felt that the structure of the story was interesting as well, with the narrative alternating between the perspectives of both the two main characters as well as a few others — though with that said, the timeline jumping back and forth between past and present as often as it did made parts of the story a little hard to follow at times.

Ever since her debut novel 5 years ago made a pretty big impression on me, Strawser has become an auto read author for me.  While not all of her subsequent works were "hits" for me, most were enjoyable enough that I would say my overall experience reading her books has been a positive one. One of the things I really like about Strawser's books in general is that she does try to reinvent herself every so often by attempting different genres, often while exploring difficult themes.  I continue to look forward to Strawser's upcoming works.

Received ARC from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley

 

Review: A Million Reasons Why (by Jessica Strawser)

My Rating:  3.5 stars

In her fourth novel, author Jessica Strawser takes on the recently trend of mail-in DNA tests, which, in this story, becomes the catalyst that brings together two half-sisters who previously didn't know each other existed.   Caroline lives a happy but busy life with her husband and three kids as well as an extended family of parents and in-laws who dote on her.   One year for Christmas, her husband Walt jokingly buys the entire family DNA test kits as gifts — not thinking anything of it, Caroline submits her test and is shocked to find out that she actually has a half-sister, born of the same father.  Sela is an artist who lives a less-than-happy existence — in the face of a devastating health diagnosis a few years ago that caused her son to be born premature and her marriage to crumble under the constant stress of their situation, Sela also must grieve the death of her mother (who was also her best friend and fiercest supporter).  In an act of desperation when her illness progresses to the point that it requires her to get a kidney transplant in order to live, Sela is driven to reach out to her long-lost half-sister Caroline for help.  Suddenly, Caroline's perfect life is upended as one secret after another comes to light, leading her to question what she thought she knew about her family. 

Having read Jessica Strawser's three previous works in addition to this one, I have to say that I still like her debut (Almost Missed You) the most. While all her novels so far have been enjoyable and engaging to the point that, at the moment I pick them up, they keep me wanting to continue reading — however, for some reason, her novels lack the memorability factor in that neither the stories nor the characters stay with me for long. With that said, I did end up liking this book — her fourth novel and newest release — more than her previous two, mostly because I felt there was a depth to her characters this time around that I didn't really see with her other works.  I like the way Strawser presented the relationship between Caroline and Sela — half-sisters who can't help being drawn to each other, yet at the same time, understanding the precarious nature of what they have.  I feel like the portrayal of their relationship — the various nuances that existed and the challenges that needed to be overcome — was the strongest aspect of the entire story.  I mention this because the story overall was the "slow burn" type where I felt like some parts of the plot dragged a bit.  Also, some sections of dialogue — specifically some of the scenes where the characters "reminisce" about the past — seemed unnecessary to me and bogged down the story rather than moved it along.  In addition, I did feel that some parts of the plot were a bit melodramatic, especially as it pertained to Sela and her situation, but that might just be me.

I also continue to have the same issue with this book that I had with Strawser's previous two books — namely that they are being categorized as "suspense" or "thriller" when in reality, they should go more appropriately into the contemporary fiction category.  The main reason is that I feel like the story as written lacks the suspenseful atmosphere that I expect from works in the genre.  With this book in particular— while there were indeed a few "surprise" elements in the story, none of them were "jaw-dropping twists" that brought me to the edge of my seat or elicited a strong reaction from me in the vein of what I would feel reading an actual suspense / thriller novel.

A few issues notwithstanding, this was still a good story overall and I continue to look forward to Strawser's next novel.  

Received ARC from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley.

Review: Forget You Know Me (by Jessica Strawser)

My Rating: 3.5 stars

Let’s get this out of the way from the start:  just like her previous novel, Jessica Strawser’s newest work Forget You Know Me is once again WRONGLY labeled as being of the “mystery/thriller/suspense” genre when it should more accurately be placed in the “women’s fiction” or “contemporary fiction” categories.  I’m not sure if Strawser’s marketing team is the one mis-categorizing her books or perhaps she originally did intend to write a suspense / thriller novel but it didn’t end up working out that way.  Regardless of reason, the important thing is to NOT go into this book expecting a thriller -- or even domestic suspense for that matter -- because the book definitely won’t deliver on either front.

Just like with her previous 2 novels (her debut Almost Missed You as well as her sophomore novel Not That I Could Tell), Strawser starts off her story with an “explosive” scenario – in this case, it is one of the main characters Liza video-chatting with her best friend Molly one night while her husband is away on a business trip, when Molly steps away to tend to her kids and suddenly, through her laptop’s webcam, Liza sees a masked intruder entering Molly’s house.  The screen goes blank and when Liza’s attempts to confirm Molly’s safety prove unsuccessful, she makes the rash decision to drive hours across state lines (Liza is in Chicago, Molly is in Cincinnati) to check on her, only to have her best friend be annoyed by her unexpected appearance and subsequently slam the door in her face.  Angry and saddened, Liza returns home to Chicago, only to find out that she is about to have a “near miss” of her own. 

Reading the first chapter with the above opening, plus the vagueness of the summary describing the book itself, I can see where the misunderstanding of this being a suspense / thriller may possibly come from.  Despite the “shocking” incident that opens the story though, it is apparent a few chapters in that the incident serves merely as a catalyst to jump-start the story – after that, it becomes “background noise” of sorts, a plot point placed on the back burner in order to make way for the real plot: mostly a character-driven exploration of relationships, marriage, family, friendship, and just how badly lies and secrets can drive even the closest of friends and family apart.  One of Strawser’s talents as a writer is her ability to draw up realistic portrayals of characters whom we can all relate to in one way or another – characters who are flawed and vulnerable and often dealing with issues that ordinary people face on a near daily basis.  Going deep into her characters’ minds and giving us a thorough understanding of their thought process and rationale, we get to know Strawser’s characters intimately, though I will admit that with this particular book, it goes a little too deep in the sense that at certain points, it felt like some of the characters were overthinking and overanalyzing their situations a bit too much.  This made the story a bit tedious to read at times, as some parts seemed to ramble on a bit unnecessarily.  With that said though, I still enjoyed the book overall and the topics explored did leave me with some “food for thought” afterwards, which is always a good thing when it comes to my reading.

This is the third novel of Jessica Strawser’s that I’ve read and though none of her 3 books thus far have made it to my favorites list, I still enjoyed reading each one.  I like the way Strawser writes and also the strength of her storytelling, which manages to keep me engaged and interested in the story even though there might not be much going on in it.  This is an author whose books I know I will continue to read and look forward to each new release.

Received ARC from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley

Review: Not That I Could Tell (by Jessica Strawser)

My Rating: 3.5 stars

After having read and enjoyed Jessica Strawser’s debut novel Almost Missed You early last year, I was excited when I heard she would have a second book out.  I remember pulling an “all-nighter” for her first book, as it was such a gripping read that I couldn’t bring myself to put it down.  Not surprising then that I went into her second book Not That I Could Tell with high expectations, which in hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have.  While I wouldn’t say that I was disappointed, since I did like the story overall and the characters were well-developed as well as realistically written, I do have to say that I definitely enjoyed Strawser’s first book way more.  Similar to her first book, this one also starts off with a mysterious disappearance, this time it is Kristin Kirkland, a devoted mother of twins who is in the midst of a divorce from her doctor husband Paul – she and her twins go missing after a girls’ night out with her friends, other women from the neighborhood.  From there, the rest of the story is spent trying to figure out what happened to Kristin and why – we get to hear from each of the women who were at the gathering that night and in the process, we also learn their stories and eventually, the secrets they were also hiding.  Unlike Strawser’s first book, which was a suspenseful and gripping read for me, this one by comparisons fell a bit flat – the suspense factor was nearly nonexistent and there wasn’t a big “twist” that made my jaw drop like her first one did.  Sure, I was curious as to what happened with Kristin but I felt like for much of the book, the “mystery” of Kristin’s disappearance ended up taking a back seat to everything else that was going on in the neighborhood itself and all the issues that the other characters had to deal with in their lives.  In terms of plot, this one was very much a slow-burn, with not much action happening for most of the story – it’s not until the last third of the book or so that the story gained some traction, but even then it wasn’t that big of a leap.  To me, this book leaned more heavily on the women’s fiction side than mystery / suspense – not necessarily a bad thing of course, it’s just that I was expecting it to be in the same vein as Almost Missed You (which leaned more heavily on mystery/suspense aspect), which obviously it was not.

Even though I didn’t find this book as compelling as Strawser’s previous one, I did enjoy the characters quite a bit and appreciated the different angle she took with their development.  The focus of much of the narrative was on Kristin’s neighbors Clara and Izzy and how they had to juggle coping with their friend’s disappearance while at the same time working through their own issues – both characters were realistically drawn and interestingly enough, I was able to relate to both of them in many aspects, even though their lives were so different.  This was a story where I did end up connecting with the characters, albeit not as much on an emotional level but rather more empathetically in that I’ve had to deal with some similar issues in the past, to varying degrees.  What really kept me turning the pages though was the writing, which was fantastic!  This was an area that Strawser absolutely delivered on and something I’ve come to expect from her books.

Despite this book not drawing me in as much due to its slower pace, it was still a good story and one that I can definitely recommend as long as the understanding is there not to expect a tautly-written suspense thriller.  Personally, I appreciated the more underlying messages the story brought out about important issues such as domestic abuse and its impact as well as the attitudes and reactions from society.  I also really liked the way the aspects of motherhood, friendship, relationships in its various forms, etc. were handled in the story – slightly different perspectives that made the characters quite a bit more interesting than those in similar stories.  Jessica Strawser is one author whose works I will definitely continue to read!

Received ARC from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley

Review: Almost Missed You (by Jessica Strawser)

My Rating: 4 stars

I can't remember the last-time I pulled an "all-nighter" to finish a book that I just couldn't bring myself to put down. Well, that's exactly what I did last night – and the book was Jessica Strawser's debut novel Almost Missed You. From the very first page, I was drawn into the story of Finn, Violet, their son Bear, their friend Caitlin, and the ill-fated vacation that went horribly wrong. With each turn of the page, I was on edge to find out what would happen next.

The premise of the book seemed simple enough : a loving husband and devoted father (Finn) all of a sudden decides to abandon his wife (Violet) on the beach during a family vacation and disappears without a trace, taking their 3 year old son (Bear) with him. The wife is clueless as to what happened until she returns to the hotel room and sees that only her own belongings remain – every single item belonging to her husband and son are gone. From there, we are thrown into a gripping tale of love, betrayal, friendship, forgiveness, and most importantly, the role of fate and its ability to change people's lives forever.

This book is amazingly well-written, which is why I was quite surprised (ok, I guess "shocked" is more like it) to learn that this is the author's first book. The story is tight and the events that unfold are told through the revolving perspectives of the 3 main characters -- Finn, Violet, and their best friend Caitlin – with a timeline that switches back and forth between the present (the incident with Finn abandoning Violet and taking their son) and the past (how Finn and Violet first met and the start of their relationship). Each chapter is written in such a way as to only reveal a few hints, clues, slight details on what possibly motivated Finn to do what he did, with everything eventually coming to a head once the truth is revealed and long-held secrets are finally out in the open. As I was reading, I actually felt like I was working a jigsaw puzzle, with each chapter revealing a new detail in the lives of the characters until ultimately, all the pieces fall into place in a non-traditional sort of way.

My only issue with the book (and the main reason I gave a 4 star rating instead of 5) was the ending, which was a bit too ambiguous in my opinion. While the ending did make sense, especially given the overall theme of fate, coincidence, and missed connections, I wasn't really sure by that time whether I should be happy at the way things turned out or sad at all the sacrifices that were made to get there. And this could just be me, but I kind of sensed that the ending might have hints of a possible sequel, which I hope I'm wrong about because I'm not fond of sequels for one, and two, the story as written is powerful enough as is without need to further complicate things.

This is a great piece of contemporary fiction that is at once engaging, suspenseful, emotional, yet at the same time very much relatable, especially for those who may be going through similar issues in life. Highly recommended!!

Received advance reader's copy from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley (expected publication date: March 28, 2017)

(Read in February 2017)