Time again to talk about books! This month had a couple of good ones, and a couple not so much. Amazon links provided for your convenience. See my Legal Stuff page for disclosures. Thank you for using my links when you can.

Ms. Mebel Goes Back to the Chopping Block by Jesse O. Sutanto – A 63-year old trophy wife of a very wealthy man is stunned to learn he is running off with their personal chef. Her idea to get him back is to enroll in cooking school so she can cook for him. Packing suitcases of designer clothes, shoes and bags, she sets off for Paris. When she arrives, she learns that her registration is at a satellite school in a small English town, with (horrors) no designer boutiques. The character development and growth is fun to read, as she goes from a whining, spoiled woman to a more self assured one, not afraid to ask for what she wants. Fun, light summer read. Available in paperback, hardcover, kindle and audiobook.

Last Summer at the Golden Hotel by Elyssa Friedland – It is the end of a era for a Catskills resort whose heyday in the 60s is long past. Falling bookings and run down buildings in need of major repairs are becoming too much to manage for the two families who co-own the hotel. When an offer comes in from a casino to buy the property, the 3-generation families come together to discuss the offer and consider options. Tension between the families, present for years, complicates the consideration of the offer. But memories are strong, sentimental attachments surface, and change is in the air. Easy reading with interesting characters, and a fun juxtaposition between the oldest generation’s idea of fun and the youngest generation’s obsession with technology. Available in paperback, hardcover, kindle and audiobook.

Curses, Critters, and Other Complications: A Lancaster Witch Chronicle by Kat Farrow – This is a charming tale of three generations of witches and their friends. The youngest children begin to show signs of powers, while their mother believes she is not a witch at all. The animals talk to the witches, an imp causes trouble, a wayward goat gets banned from the Solstice Festival, along with other fun mayhem. This is a shorter novel, easy reading, and is the first in a series. The ending does leave much unfinished, and the reader will look forward to the next in the series. Publication date July 31, 2026 available for preorder on Kindle and in paperback.

Aftertaste by Daria Lavelle – I read about this book on fellow blogger Jeani’s blog (The Marmalade Gypsy – May books) and thought it sounded intriguing. A man with the ability to taste meals he has never eaten realizes this ability is a portal for the departed to communicate with loved ones. Kostya discovers this while working in a bar, and makes a drink for a late night customer that he tastes while the man is talking about his deceased wife. He realizes that the aftertastes he has been experiencing for years may be ghosts trying to communicate with their loved ones. If they eat the meal, the ghost appears. Kostya is desperate to communicate with his late father, but an ill timed opportunity results in problems. Kostya sets in motion a plan to expand this ability to help the recently departed to move on, but there is more to the story than he knows and the veil between the living and the dead is fragile. The book was interesting, and the story was certainly different, but I didn’t like the ending, although it was understandable in context. Available in paperback, hardcover, kindle and audiobook.

Theo of Golden by Allen Levi – An elderly, unassuming gentleman arrives in a small Georgia town. Theo is captivated by portraits done by a local artist on display in a coffee shop. One by one he begins purchasing the portraits and giving them to the people portrayed, listening to their stories along the way. This is a character study style book, a man going about his days with a purpose, but we don’t know the motivation until the very end. It is a quiet story about the power of kindness, and how small things can change a life. I enjoyed the book, but wish that there were fewer characters with more development. But that might be by design, as no one was meant to truly understand the pain in each of the portrait person’s lives, as no one knew Theo’s pain until the end of the story. Beautifully written. Available in paperback, hardcover, kindle and audiobook.

Joan is Okay by Weike Wang – The synopsis on this book touted it as a pandemic novel with a Chinese American ICU doctor. This sounded interesting, as I have been looking for more books dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic and how it affected all of us. However, the book was mostly a stream of consciousness novel about her upbringing, her daily life before the pandemic, and general thoughts on her family and people she knows. I was so bored in the middle I started skipping pages. There was some humor, but I didn’t see the ‘brilliance’ advertised on the cover notes. The pandemic arrives in the last 20 pages of the book and was disappointing in scope. She only briefly touches on the plight of people of Chinese heritage in the face of deep prejudice against them as the origin of Covid-19 becomes known. The book seemed like a missed opportunity, and glossed over the very story ideas that made me want to read the book in the first place. I was expecting gritty, but it didn’t deliver. Overall – meh.

I had to order some of these Powered by Astrophage stickers from Amazon. Since the book Project Hail Mary is on my top five all time novels! One will go on my sewing machine!

Your turn, what have you been reading that you recommend?