2021, Week the Thirty-Sixth: I Will Live My Life as a Lobsterman’s Wife

It has been a WEEK, Bookworms.

With the Delta variant circulating, it was probably inevitable, but last week we got notice of Sammy’s first COVID exposure through daycare. He tested negative (thank heaven) and we were very prepared for quarantine, but that was terrifying. I feel guilty. And helpless. I mean, we kept him home for 14 months already… After the adults in our orbit were all vaccinated, I felt safe enough to send him back to school. And cases really were way down for a while. But now there’s THIS mess. There are no good choices for parents right now. None. Keep the parents of the under 12s in your thoughts because we are not OK. Let the babies get vaccinated, for the love of all that’s holy! Siiiiiiiiiiiigh. Anyway, I read some books. Let’s talk about them.

It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey- I’m so glad I decided to give Tessa Bailey another chance! After enjoying Love Her or Lose Her (review), I decided to dive into It Happened One Summer. Whew. This was pretty steamy, and really just adorable. I like these gruff blue collar types falling in love. If this book had a soundtrack, it would basically alternate between “Far Away” by Ingrid Michaelson and “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” because those are apparently the only two songs I know that are in any way about seafaring towns? IDK. I have digressed, terribly. Piper Bellinger is an LA socialite, famous for partying. Then, one night, she goes way too far. After a night spent in jail, her stepfather ships her off to a small town in the Pacific Northwest. She and her sister slowly endear themselves to the locals as they try to rehabilitate the bar their deceased father left them. And there’s a hot, surly fisherman to contend with…

Blood Like Magic by Liselle Sambury- If you liked Cemetery Boys (review), this book is for you. I don’t want it to sound like they’re the same stories because they’re definitely not, despite there being some overlap in the magical traditions (and, frankly, the actual humans) of Latinx and Afro-Caribbean communities. But the whole “magical teenager coming of age and faced with impossible challenges” is portrayed beautifully in both books, and they’re both really GOOD. In Voya’s family, prospective witches are given a task by their ancestors to deem them worthy of receiving magic. During her Calling ceremony, Voya receives an impossible challenge. She’s told she must destroy her first love. I mean, that’s what every teenage girl wants to hear- go fall in love and then commit homicide. It’s A LOT. But in a good way. I’m excited to read the rest of the series when it’s released.

You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle- This book was wild. An engaged couple have grown apart and are too afraid to end things because the groom’s unbelievably overbearing mother has taken over everything and is, well, unbelievably overbearing. Like, I’ve never wanted to smack a fictional character so much. Anyone who has had a big family wedding knows that it kind of stops being about the bride and groom at a certain point because you’re trying to keep everyone happy, but this was so far beyond. Absolutely bonkers. So Naomi and Nick begin a sort of Cold War to get the other person to call off the engagement so they don’t have to take the blame. Only the eventually rediscover why they fell in love in the first place. And it’s really cute. If madcap hijinks are your jam, you cannot go wrong with this book.

Alright Bookworms, that’s it for the week. I hope yours has been infinitely less eventful than mine. Get vaccinated, wear a mask, and may the odds be ever in your favor.

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