january 2022
january was a bit of a whirlwind month and we are already one month into 2022, whaaaat. in an effort to stick to my new year’s resolutions of reading + writing more, i’m working on monthly book reviews from here on out. this month, i read 1,597 pages across four books and all have set the bar high. more below:
a flicker in the dark by stacy willingham
alex’s rating: 9.8/10
when six girls go missing in a small louisiana town, 12-year old chloe davis is right to be scared. her childhood is made worse when officers then arrest her father for the girls’ disappearances. now, 20 years later chloe is a successful psychologist helping others deal with grief, pain, anxiety — emotions all too familiar to her. horror strikes chloe when young girls start to go missing again in eerily similar circumstances. her father is behind bars with no hopes of freedom so is this the work of a copy cat serial killer? or someone else entirely? the ending is a real page turner and honestly i loved this book. great read to kick off 2022!
montauk by nicola harrison
alex’s rating: 9.7/10
i was immediately drawn into this book on the title alone — i spent so many years growing up going to montauk each summer with family. it’s a place that feels like home. the best part of reading this was knowing all the places intimately — the lighthouse, shagwong’s tavern, john’s pancake house. it was a nostalgic read. OK so on to the book review — bea is a manhattan socialite trapped in an unhappy marriage. bea and harry (the husband) decide to spend the summer of 1938 in a sleepy fishing village at the end of long island. here, bea finds true friendship, a secret career and a steamy love affair. the ending didn’t pan out like i hoped it would but boy was it a good one!
eternal by lisa scottoline
alex’s rating: 10/10
this one pulls at the heartstrings!!!!! it was the first book i’ve read in a while that actually moved me to tears by the end of it. elisabetta, marco and sandro are three best friends figuring out life in italy in 1938. on the brink of war, they ponder what their first kiss will be like, how to pass their coursework to graduate high school and where their lives will lead them. elisabetta lives with her drunken father and absent mother, working as a waitress to pay the rent. marco is a young fascist — proud, bold and stubborn. sandro lives with his family in a section of the city called the ghetto, the oldest living jewish community in western civilization. it’s a story about love and loss and it is so brilliantly written. there’s one part of this book that stuck out to me, that i want to share:
war was eternal, but so was peace. death was eternal but so was life. darkness was eternal but so was light. hate was eternal, but above all, so was love.
the magnolia palace by fiona davis
alex’s rating: 9.8/10
ah yes, another historical fiction!! this time we’re headed to new york city in 1919 when lillian carter, better known as angelica, is working paycheck to paycheck as a model for various sculptors. her likeness can be seen all over the city. when she gets caught up with the police and a murder investigation, she flees and goes into hiding — at the frick mansion where she’s mistaken for a private secretary. flash forward to 1966 and veronica weber is headed stateside from england on a modeling gig at the frick mansion. after a freak snow storm and black out gets her trapped in the house with the intern, she discovers clues left by none other than miss helen clay frick. flipping back and forth between the past & present, the reader learns more and more about the secrets and mysteries that surround the illustrious frick family.
what’s been your favorite book this month?