Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center (NetGalley Review)

Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center
Publisher: St. Martin's Press (August 13, 2019)
Description from the publisher: 

Cassie Hanwell was born for emergencies. As one of the only female firefighters in her Texas firehouse, she's seen her fair share of them, and she's a total pro at other people's tragedies. But when her estranged and ailing mother asks her to give up her whole life and move to Boston, Cassie suddenly has an emergency of her own.

The tough, old-school Boston firehouse is as different from Cassie's old job as it could possibly be. Hazing, a lack of funding, and poor facilities mean that the firemen aren't exactly thrilled to have a "lady" on the crew―even one as competent and smart as Cassie. Except for the infatuation-inspiring rookie, who doesn't seem to mind having Cassie around. But she can't think about that. Because love is girly, and it’s not her thing. And don’t forget the advice her old captain gave her: Never date firefighters. Cassie can feel her resolve slipping...and it means risking it all―the only job she’s ever loved, and the hero she’s worked like hell to become.

I quite enjoyed How to Walk Away last summer by Katherine Center, and was excited to read her latest this summer! Things You Save in a Fire did not disappoint, it lived up to it's predecessor and in some ways exceeded my expectations.

From the first pages I was drawn in by Cassie's inner monologue, and the witty dialogue she dishes out with her fellow firefighters. She is immediately likeable as the hero of this story: fierce, strong, hard working, yet so very vulnerable. The reason she has to leave Texas goes beyond her ailing mother, and makes for a dramatic opening scene in the book which hints at something that has shaped her entire adult life. That the process of confronting her trauma didn't hinge entirely on a romance was absolutely refreshing. Though, I absolutely adored the sweet and slightly cheesy romance with the rookie! If you are looking for a sweet romance, you will be completely satisfied! And if you also enjoy complex family relationships, there is definitely something there, too. The journey of forgiveness and understanding with her mother, as well as a mysterious harasser within the fire department, was so compelling and thought provoking.

"Maybe you need to find something new to add to your life, instead of just clutching so hard to the past that you strangle it."

Upon reading the acknowledgements, I realized that Katherine Center's husband is a firefighter and thought that was pretty cool. She must've had the absolute straight scoop and it was certainly interesting to learn a little bit about what it might be like inside a fire station. Also, if you read How to Walk Away, you might recognize Cassie from the early part of the book!
Thank you so much to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review - as well as my local Seattle bookstagrammer community for the hard copy from our book swap!

Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane (NetGalley Review)

Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane
Publisher: Scribner (May 28, 2019)
Description from the publisher:

Francis Gleeson and Brian Stanhope are two NYPD rookies assigned to the same Bronx precinct in 1973. They aren’t close friends on the job, but end up living next door to each other outside the city. What goes on behind closed doors in both houses—the loneliness of Francis’s wife, Lena, and the instability of Brian’s wife, Anne, sets the stage for the stunning events to come.

Ask Again, Yes by award-winning author Mary Beth Keane, is a beautifully moving exploration of the friendship and love that blossoms between Francis’s youngest daughter, Kate, and Brian’s son, Peter, who are born six months apart. In the spring of Kate and Peter’s eighth grade year a violent event divides the neighbors, the Stanhopes are forced to move away, and the children are forbidden to have any further contact.

But Kate and Peter find a way back to each other, and their relationship is tested by the echoes from their past. Ask Again, Yes reveals how the events of childhood look different when reexamined from the distance of adulthood—villains lose their menace, and those who appeared innocent seem less so. Kate and Peter’s love story is marked by tenderness, generosity, and grace.

I have stopped and started this review so many times over the last week! It’s hard to review a book I loved, to articulate what gives it that something that just resonates - much harder than reviewing one I disliked. I love a dysfunctional family drama, one that spans decades, one that has multiple narrators, and a gut punch ending. Ask Again, Yes checks all of these boxes and that 'something more' quality which keeps a book on my mind long after I've finished turning the pages. 

I think that what I found unique was the author's ability to take a narrative full of high drama (secret love, a gruesome shooting, a character sent to an asylum and more) and give it a nuanced, introspective tone that was so compelling. Normally I do not gravitate towards books that are heavy on characters inner lives and short on dialogue, but not in this case. It is such a quietly told, yet riveting story. Keane writes evocatively of each character's stage in life and I completely understood and empathized with their choices and emotions - especially Kate as she transforms from the stubborn little girl to the headstrong young woman, and eventually, the strong willed mother trying to keep her family together. And that's the crux of this story, that from one vantage point in your life you can see things in a completely different way than another: childhood versus adulthood, being a child versus being a parent, witnessing depression versus being caught in it's cross hairs. Every single character in this book can be considered villainous and also heroic at various points in the story. It's beautifully told, how none of us can be entirely one or the other, how humanity is fallible and also worthy of love. 

"...their worry for Peter, the person they each loved most, bound them, put them in the same boat together, and they could either row hard as one or else drift while he drowned nearby."

The title of this book is such perfection and I would so love to share the titular quote, but it would give too much away and I think it's so impactful after coming all this way with these characters. I will think on it often, how I wouldn't change a thing and think 'YES' to all the messiness that life throws our way.

Many, many thanks to Scribner books and Netgalley for a complimentary advance copy for review!

I Miss You When I Blink by Mary Laura Philpott (NetGalley Review)

I Miss You When I Blink by Mary Laura Philpott
Publisher: Atria Books (April 2, 2019)
Description from the publisher: 

Mary Laura Philpott thought she’d cracked the code: Always be right, and you’ll always be happy. 

But once she’d completed her life’s to-do list (job, spouse, house, babies—check!), she found that instead of feeling content and successful, she felt anxious. Lost. Stuck in a daily grind of overflowing calendars, grueling small talk, and sprawling traffic. She’d done everything “right,” but she felt all wrong. What’s the worse failure, she wondered: smiling and staying the course, or blowing it all up and running away? And are those the only options?

In this memoir-in-essays full of spot-on observations about home, work, and creative life, Philpott takes on the conflicting pressures of modern adulthood with wit and heart. She offers up her own stories to show that identity crises don’t happen just once or only at midlife; reassures us that small, recurring personal re-inventions are both normal and necessary; and advises that if you’re going to faint, you should get low to the ground first. Most of all, Philpott shows that when you stop feeling satisfied with your life, you don’t have to burn it all down and set off on a transcontinental hike (unless you want to, of course). You can call upon your many selves to figure out who you are, who you’re not, and where you belong. Who among us isn’t trying to do that?

This collection of essays was super high on my to-be-read list. Two of my favorite books of 2018 could be described similarly (Heating & Cooling and Tell Me More). And on paper, this practically shouts YOU ARE THE TARGET AUDIENCE. I was born a year before the author and have checked all those boxes and, yes, can sometimes be type-A and a little anxious. Plus she works at Parnassus! It's blurbed by Ann Patchett! Although, while relatable in many ways, it didn't engage me like I hoped it would.

This is most likely boils down to a case of "it's not you, it's me" as I'm rather finicky about my nonfiction. If I'm going to read a memoir, I think it needs to be about someone already interesting I want to learn more about (Busy Philips), a fascinating subject I want to learn more about (any Bill Bryson book, Lab Girl) or really emotionally vulnerable, which I'd argue all of the examples I mentioned fit that bill. These essays, while revealing, felt like quick and fleeting anecdotes that were heavy on her personal philosophy and light on her life experiences. I mean, I feel as if I know Kelly Corrigan's entire network of friends and family and want to hug them all. I can't even remember Philpott's husband's name. Perhaps I should have taken the 'essays' in lieu of 'memoir' in the title to heart. 
I got the impression that the main thrust of the book is that we all have our struggles and we are still valid in feeling our pain, even though it may seem less than others people's pain. This message seemed to repeat in a variety of humorous ways, especially her metaphors: from DVF dresses to buckets of crabs or chocolate chip cookies are utilized in unlikely ways. Though very true, I often thought that she was stating the obvious. I think that's why this collection will resonate for those looking for a laugh. Good humor usually employs empathy, the old "funny because it's true" and we all laugh because we can relate. Witty, for sure, but I didn't feel moved or enlightened. The description also states 'you don't have to set of on a transcontinental hike' to feel satisfied with your life. Yet, essentially, she does run away and has the privilege to do so. Philpott absolutely calls out her privilege, at least, dedicating an entire chapter to the subject. But I am not sure she gets the extent of it, if she doesn't consider being able to flee her life (even if it's for a short time because of a house sitting gig) an enormous privilege that ends up affording her great opportunities. 

If you're a fan of humorously written essays about the everyday struggles of a white, middle aged mom balancing career and family, this would certainly fit the bill. I'd say it's a good read alike to Anna Quindlen's Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake. Definitely well written, just not to my taste.

Many thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for the complimentary advance digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker (NetGalley Review)

The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker
Publisher: Random House (January 15, 2019)
Description from the publisher:

One night in an isolated college town in the hills of Southern California, a first-year student stumbles into her dorm room, falls asleep—and doesn’t wake up. She sleeps through the morning, into the evening. Her roommate, Mei, cannot rouse her. Neither can the paramedics, nor the perplexed doctors at the hospital. When a second girl falls asleep, and then a third, Mei finds herself thrust together with an eccentric classmate as panic takes hold of the college and spreads to the town. A young couple tries to protect their newborn baby as the once-quiet streets descend into chaos. Two sisters turn to each other for comfort as their survivalist father prepares for disaster.

Those affected by the illness, doctors discover, are displaying unusual levels of brain activity, higher than has ever been recorded before. They are dreaming heightened dreams—but of what?

This book had me riveted from the first page and didn't let up until the final one. The premise of this story is so arresting, and in Walker's hands, it is transcendent. Her prose is lovely and straightforward, evoking a multitude of emotions. Early in the book, I was reminded of what it was like to be in high school getting a call from a boy, a girl in a coed college dorm, and most strongly what it was like to be a new parent. 

"Here is what he has learned about loving a baby: the time away from her is vital to the pleasure of being with her."

As the unthinkable events of this sleep plague unfold, various scenarios play out as through a prism with each character in a separate facet of life: the two school age girls stranded alone, the college students, the parents, and an elderly professor. There is so much to unpack about what gives our lives meaning at different stages in life, how love can mean something different for every individual, and many ethical dilemmas. I loved how she took a contagion story to illustrate the bonds between individuals and communities. I also cannot stop thinking about the concept of time, of our wakeful vs. dreaming life. How can we truly know which is real, what is the construct of time but a human invention?  

"Some dreamed of their youth. Some dreamed of old age. Some dreamed of days that might have been - all the lives they did not live. Or the lives that, in some other world, they did."

Oftentimes I was reminded of The Road by Cormac McCarthy, though it is much less harrowing. Yet there are similarly sweet and poignant moments alongside an unrelentingly ominous backdrop, and constant jaw dropping plot twists. I can't say enough about how much I admired, and was enchanted by, this novel.  
Many thanks to the folks at Random House and NetGalley for a complimentary digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield (NetGalley Review)

Once Upon a River: A Novel by Diane Setterfield
Publisher: Atria Books (December 4, 2018)
Description from the publisher:

A dark midwinter’s night in an ancient inn on the Thames. The regulars are entertaining themselves by telling stories when the door bursts open on an injured stranger. In his arms is the drowned corpse of a little child.

Hours later the dead girl stirs, takes a breath and returns to life.

Is it a miracle?

Is it magic?

Or can it be explained by science?

Replete with folklore, suspense and romance, as well as with the urgent scientific curiosity of the Darwinian age, Once Upon a River is as richly atmospheric as Setterfield’s bestseller The Thirteenth Tale.

My TLDR would be that Once Upon a River has lived up to the expectations that Setterfield set with The Thirteenth Tale. The arresting events that set the story in motion, a little girl thought dead that comes to life, completely grabbed me. And the page turning plot, plus magical, atmospheric writing kept me hooked until the satisfying conclusion.

"As is well-known, when the moon hours lengthen, human beings come adrift from the regularity of their mechanical clocks. They nod at noon, dream in waking hours, open their eyes wide to the pitch-black night. It is a time of magic."

Once the story of the girl gets around, at least three parties have a legitimate claim to her: a couple who's daughter was kidnapped years before, a father whose wife drowned herself and possibly their daughter, and a simple-minded girl with a long lost sister. Each of these families is drawn in rich detail, and the threads of how they intersect is masterfully plotted. It becomes increasingly evident that there is more than one mystery contained within the pages. One is left guessing for much of the book as to the girl's true identity, and the family secrets of each character. Setterfield keeps the idea of magic open while quietly laying the groundwork for both an engaging romance and a sinister denouement.

A few times I felt as if the pace lagged a bit in the middle of the book, but overall, I found it a perfect story to snuggle up with and get lost in on a gloomy day. If you are a fan of Kate Morton (intricately plotted and suspenseful), Hannah Kent (richly atmospheric), or Sarah Waters (Gothic and creepy) this novel hits every one of these notes, in addition to nuances of mythology or fairy tales. 

Thank you SO MUCH to the folks at Atria Books and NetGalley for the complimentary digital copy in exchange for my honest review! 

A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne (NetGalley Review)

A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne
Publisher: Hogarth (November 13, 2018)
Description from the publisher:

Maurice Swift is handsome, charming, and hungry for fame. The one thing he doesn’t have is talent – but he’s not about to let a detail like that stand in his way. After all, a would-be writer can find stories anywhere. They don’t need to be his own. 

Working as a waiter in a West Berlin hotel in 1988, Maurice engineers the perfect opportunity: a chance encounter with celebrated novelist Erich Ackermann. He quickly ingratiates himself with the powerful – but desperately lonely – older man, teasing out of Erich a terrible, long-held secret about his activities during the war. Perfect material for Maurice’s first novel.

Once Maurice has had a taste of literary fame, he knows he can stop at nothing in pursuit of that high. Moving from the Amalfi Coast, where he matches wits with Gore Vidal, to Manhattan and London, Maurice hones his talent for deceit and manipulation, preying on the talented and vulnerable in his cold-blooded climb to the top. But the higher he climbs, the further he has to fall…

Holy moly, y'all! This book was absolutely crazy, crazy good. John Boyne has solidified himself as one of my auto-buy authors, and I definitely want to catch up on his backlist. I was nervous going into this, seeing as how The Heart's Invisible Furies was my favorite book last year, and even in the last ten years. This novel also sounded so very different than his previous works. Yet his ability to create a character study with an utterly compelling plot is spot on.

Each section of the book is told from the point of view of a character that (unwittingly) helps the single minded Maurice move up the ladder of literary fame - including an entertaining interlude with Gore Vidal. The chapters start out quietly absorbing, with witty dialogue and dry humor that begins to take a dark turn with excruciating foreshadowing. The section from his wife Edith's perspective, written in the second person, is utterly haunting and I literally could not put the book down until I finished her story. Then I was riveted until the very end as Maurice narrated the final chapter, and I guffawed at the satisfying and darkly humorous end.

A Ladder to the Sky would make for a superior book club discussion, with a lot of themes to chew on. What are the consequences of our actions when we are young? Should our mistakes color our lives and work as an adult? What kind of mistakes? (Rather timely, no?) Or the concept of ownership and plagiarism - what stories are ours to tell? There was a good deal that was reminiscent of Ann Patchett's Commonwealth in this regard. 

Some readers are turned off by unlikeable characters, and oftentimes I can understand why - I wrote a bit about this subject awhile ago here. But when it comes to a suspenseful novel, they totally work for me and Maurice is a deliciously evil villain that one can't help love to loathe. If this is a stumbling point, I would still wholeheartedly endorse this book, as I do not believe anyone would regret the experience.

Thank you so very much to the folks at Hogarth and NetGalley for a complimentary digital galley in exchange for my honest review!

What We Were Promised by Lucy Tan (NetGalley Review)

What We Were Promised by Lucy Tan
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (July 10, 2018)
Description from the publisher:

After years of chasing the American dream, the Zhen family has moved back to China. Settling into a luxurious serviced apartment in Shanghai, Wei, Lina, and their daughter, Karen, join an elite community of Chinese-born, Western-educated professionals who have returned to a radically transformed city. 

One morning, in the eighth tower of Lanson Suites, Lina discovers that a treasured ivory bracelet has gone missing. This incident sets off a wave of unease that ripples throughout the Zhen household. Wei, a marketing strategist, bows under the guilt of not having engaged in nobler work. Meanwhile, Lina, lonely in her new life of leisure, assumes the modern moniker taitai-a housewife who does no housework at all. She is haunted by the circumstances surrounding her arranged marriage to Wei and her lingering feelings for his brother, Qiang. Sunny, the family's housekeeper, is a keen but silent observer of these tensions. An unmarried woman trying to carve a place for herself in society, she understands the power of well-kept secrets. When Qiang reappears in Shanghai after decades on the run with a local gang, the family must finally come to terms with the past and its indelible mark on their futures.

From a silk-producing village in rural China, up the corporate ladder in suburban America, and back again to the post-Maoist nouveaux riches of modern Shanghai, What We Were Promised explores the question of what we owe to our country, our families, and ourselves.

This was a slow burn of a novel, that centered mostly on each character's internal life and struggles. The missing bracelet at the beginning of the novel had me intrigued. Was it truly missing? Was it an attempt to replace the maid, or does it have value? What kind of value? The hint of a secret between Lina and her brother in law Qiang is also hinted at in the very first pages. Then the bulk of the book delves into the past and the lives led by each of the characters up until the present day, full of immersive detail while examining contrasting themes of those with money and power, and those without. Who has more freedom or happiness, really? 

The narrative lingered a bit longer than I would have liked with expats Lina and Wei's history, ostensibly the main characters. I found Sunny the maid's story much more interesting, and would have liked to spend more time with her and Little Cao, the Zhen's surprisingly multifaceted driver. Perhaps because she was the working class observer, the more relatable character in the beginning. Though, overall, I was impressed with Tan's ability to create an entire cast of characters that I was rooting for, major flaws and all. The various relationship dynamics were very compelling, even some of the briefest interactions were the most impactful, as with the tenuous father daughter connection between Karen and Wei.

"Why do our minds fixate on the kinds of love we're not getting instead of the kinds of love we are? We expect it to be the thing we want it to be. And we're blind to every other form of it."

In the end, the secrets and realizations that are made gave it a highly satisfying ending with a lot of food for thought about family, loyalty, freedom and finding a place in the world. I would highly recommend this as a read alike for another summer debut, A Place for Us with very similar themes on family, choices and culture. 

Many thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for the complimentary digital review copy!

A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza (NetGalley Review)

A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza
Publisher: SJP for Hogharth Books (the new Sarah Jessica Parker imprint) June 12, 2018 
Description from the publisher:

As an Indian wedding gathers a family back together, parents Rafiq and Layla must reckon with the choices their children have made. There is Hadia: their headstrong, eldest daughter, whose marriage is a match of love and not tradition. Huda, the middle child, determined to follow in her sister’s footsteps. And lastly, their estranged son, Amar, who returns to the family fold for the first time in three years to take his place as brother of the bride. What secrets and betrayals have caused this close-knit family to fracture? Can Amar find his way back to the people who know and love him best? 

A Place for Us takes us back to the beginning of this family’s life: from the bonds that bring them together, to the differences that pull them apart. All the joy and struggle of family life is here, from Rafiq and Layla’s own arrival in America from India, to the years in which their children—each in their own way—tread between two cultures, seeking to find their place in the world, as well as a path home. 

Family sagas are definitely my jam, and this novel was no exception. I enjoyed the structure of the book, working backwards from the arrival of estranged son Amar at the daughter Hadia's wedding. Immediately we know that something is amiss and are not given the answers as Mirza quickly brings us back in time to the beginnings of their family, their parents marriage, and examines the childhood of the three siblings. I felt invested in the characters right away, as they struggled with universal experiences of childhood - most notably: first love. Learning about different cultures also makes a novel compelling for me, especially in the ways it affects the family dynamic. There is a lot to unpack about gender roles, religion, habit and individuality. 

"Maybe it was the exceptions that we made for one another that brought God more pride than we we stood firm, maybe His heart opened when His creations opened their hearts to one another..."

The second part of the book brings us back to the wedding when all of the family secrets come out and it plays out in excruciatingly dramatic fashion. I turned the pages furiously, hoping the characters I had become invested in had some closure or perchance a happy ending or two. 

"And remember that any time you point your finger to accuse someone, there are three fingers beneath it, curled to point right back at you."

In the last section, we are given the Rafiq's, the father's, story as he reflects on the entire history of his family from his devastating point of view.  Mirza's writing is simple and beautiful, evocative of first loves, unrequited love, familial and, in the end, excruciating parental love. If you enjoyed Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng, I would HIGHLY recommend this book. There are so many similarities, and the common thread of a minority family struggling with the love they have for each other, their culture, and trying to do right by one another. Sometimes their actions end in happiness, and other times it ends in tragedy, as in life.

Many thanks to Hogharth books and NetGalley for the free advance digital copy for my review!

You Think It, I'll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld (Netgalley Review)

You Think It, I'll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld
Publisher: Random House (April 24, 2018)
Description from the publisher:

Throughout the ten stories in You Think It, I’ll Say It, Sittenfeld upends assumptions about class, relationships, and gender roles in a nation that feels both adrift and viscerally divided. In “The World Has Many Butterflies,” married acquaintances play a strangely intimate game with devastating consequences. In “Vox Clamantis in Deserto,” a shy Ivy League student learns the truth about a classmate’s seemingly enviable life. In “A Regular Couple,” a high-powered lawyer honeymooning with her husband is caught off guard by the appearance of the girl who tormented her in high school. And in “The Prairie Wife,” a suburban mother of two fantasizes about the downfall of an old friend whose wholesome lifestyle empire may or may not be built on a lie.

With moving insight and uncanny precision, Curtis Sittenfeld pinpoints the questionable decisions, missed connections, and sometimes extraordinary coincidences that make up a life. Indeed, she writes what we’re all thinking—if only we could express it with the wit of a master satirist, the storytelling gifts of an old-fashioned raconteur, and the vision of an American original.

Curtis Sittenfeld is an auto-read author for me. I didn't even read the blurb from the publisher until just now and, yes, You Think It, I'll Say It is all of the above. She is MASTERFUL. I think this just tied with Prep for my favorite of her books.

Short stories are not usually my jam. I love great plot, and I feel that short stories can be unsatisfying in that regard and oftentimes abrupt. Leave it to Sittenfeld to change my tune about short story collections. Each story is certainly self contained, yet there is an underlying similarity that underpins them all. She examines the minutiae of everyday life and our inner turmoils and turns the ordinary into extraordinary with her unique brand of crazy storytelling. Most of the narratives revolve around women in their early 40s (my and Sittenfeld's age) and are so identifiable to me, but should really be to anyone. She tells some stories from the man's perspective, reminisces about high school love and politics, newlywed dynamics, first babies, and even a trip to summer camp run the gamut of experiences that will probably spark a feeling of empathy from any reader. Until they are NOT empathetic - characters id's and ego's start to go off the rails and she examines them in a deliciously scandalous way. I couldn't put it down! From stories about college friends, one night stands, social media woes, mommy wars, she touches on all things we can relate to and then takes them in such unexpected ways.

I am praying that she comes to Seattle on book tour so that I can get myself a signed copy and ask how many ideas germinated from real life experiences. Though the stories are completely strange, they appear to fall into the stranger than fiction category. Did she meet a lifelong friend in a lactation group? 'Bad Latch' was one of my favorites and I love how the dynamic of female friendship felt so real. Did she ever interview a celebrity ingenue? 'Off the Record' seems like a celebrity blind story. Does she know something about The Pioneer Woman that we don't know? 'The Prairie Wife' feels like a fun and shocking fictional take of such a celebrity.
If I haven't made it abundantly clear, this book is phenomenal and you should run right out and get it for some stellar summer reading. Thank you SO MUCH to Random House and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review!

The Last Equation of Isaac Severy by Nova Jacobs (A NetGalley Review)

The Last Equation of Isaac Severy by Nova Jacobs
Publisher: Touchstone (March 6, 2018)
Description from the Publisher:

The Family Fang meets The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry in this literary mystery about a struggling bookseller whose recently deceased grandfather, a famed mathematician, left behind a dangerous equation for her to track down—and protect—before others can get their hands on it.
Just days after mathematician and family patriarch Isaac Severy dies of an apparent suicide, his adopted granddaughter Hazel, owner of a struggling Seattle bookstore, receives a letter from him by mail. In it, Isaac alludes to a secretive organization that is after his final bombshell equation, and he charges Hazel with safely delivering it to a trusted colleague. But first, she must find where the equation is hidden.
While in Los Angeles for Isaac’s funeral, Hazel realizes she’s not the only one searching for his life’s work, and that the equation’s implications have potentially disastrous consequences for the extended Severy family, a group of dysfunctional geniuses unmoored by the sudden death of their patriarch.
As agents of an enigmatic company shadow Isaac’s favorite son—a theoretical physicist—and a long-lost cousin mysteriously reappears in Los Angeles, the equation slips further from Hazel’s grasp. She must unravel a series of maddening clues hidden by Isaac inside one of her favorite novels, drawing her ever closer to his mathematical treasure. But when her efforts fall short, she is forced to enlist the help of those with questionable motives.

The Last Equation of Isaac Severy is an entertaining read, especially if you are a fan of plot driven mysteries and piecing together a puzzle of a book. It took awhile for me to get my bearings in this novel, as there are a few meandering plot lines and a LOT of characters to get to know in the Severy orbit - maybe a tad too many. (I still had to take a moment to place the name of one of the characters while reading the last pages of the book!) But, of the characters that stood out, I quickly became engrossed in their (somewhat terrible and shocking) secrets and their fates. 

The story might have appealed to my family drama loving heart, and been better served overall by fleshing out these standout characters more, and earlier in the book. Just as I was getting to really figure them out, the story was wrapping up. There was a lot to uncover about familial bonds, blended families, infidelity, abuse and how it affected these people who felt very real. I definitely see this potential in Jacobs' writing and look forward to her future work. 

As for the mystery, I loved the geeky science espionage in the last third of the book and BURNED through the pages to find out what the secret of Isaac's Equation was - nothing I ever would have guessed, and it was thoroughly thought provoking. 

Many thanks to Touchstone and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review!

This is the second month in a row that I've picked a NetGalley ARC to review that has popped up as a Book of the Month pick! (Last month being The Philosopher's Flight.) I have read quite a few galleys over the years that ended up being selections - if you are thinking about joining, here are my reviews (in addition to the above two) that you can check out and perhaps add as a free book if you decide to sign up using my referral link: 

Artemis by Andy Weir

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (a favorite book of 2017)

All Grown Up by Jami Attenberg

The Animators by Kayla Rae Whitaker

The Wonder by Emma Donoghue

All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood

The Girls by Emma Cline

Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld (a favorite book of 2016)