In each story, Babalola weaves in all the variations of what love, “unburdened, pure and without expectation”, can look like, whether we are watching the early stages of an innocent friendship develop into romance in Psyche, or in Yaa, a deeply moving tale about familial ties and class struggle. In many ways, these stories are examples of the consequences or triumphs of love untested, imagined, endured and experienced. I am trying to think of any flaws, but I can't. I guessed at a few of the plot twists, but only narrowly before they happened, and it certainly didn't ruin my enjoyment of the story whatsoever. Cassie can be a frustrating character at times (read your mail, darn-it), but it's only because she's so well-created. Overall, this is really a beautiful, suspenseful book that brings you into its world. I highly recommend it. 4.5 stars. June Danvers, Grandmother- a private person, an artist growing up in the fifties, eighteen years old, and engaged to be married to Artie (Arthur). A conservative family. Her best friend, younger Lindie has a job working on the movie set. Lindie does not fit in with the others. She likes to sneak out with June in the evenings. Lindie wants to protect June. I turn even more flustered when I remember that I have actually pistol-whipped him in the face before. Romantic.”

Seven Days in June by Tia Williams | Waterstones

Both mother and daughter are much haunted by the question of what is in their power to give, and what is stolen from them. Both need to articulate their own stories, but it’s no simple task. But in a postscript written last year, he draws hope from Iceland’s success in confronting the challenge of Covid-19: “the crisis has shown us the importance of understanding science and applying it to future realities.” There might still be time to save the glaciers. It was so popular that the number of visitors doubled in 1849 to 138,000. Access to Kew Gardens was free, though you had to be “respectably attired”. As one newspaper said of the palms it contained, “we live in a wonderful age when these gigantic children of the sun can be induced to live and flourish among us”. Out of her Depth: a reunited lovers, hot holiday contemporary romance (Millionaires and Makeovers Book 2) Teltscher’s richly researched biography of this iconic structure is not just about the design and construction of this remarkable building, but also about plants, people and power in the Victorian age: “the Palm House provides a glittering prism through which to view Britain’s real and imagined place in the world.”

Book of the Month – June 2021

Now, as we stand three feet apart and stare at each other, I feel the full distance that comes with spending so much time apart, a moment filled with the electricity of a first meeting and the uncertainty of strangers.” As for this one, the central storyline seems to revolve around a young girl currently living in a rundown mansion in a small town in Ohio, an inheritance from her grandmother (the June of the book's title), who took over raising Cassie when both of her parents were killed in a car crash. Shankar remains one of the most famous and influential Indians of modern times, perhaps second only to Gandhi himself. Every passing twang or drone of a sitar still evokes his name. As the man who brought the sub-continent’s classical music to the world and as George Harrison’s personal guru, Shankar enjoyed an almost saintly aura in the west. At home, public opinion was more tempered. India Today greeted his 60th birthday with the headline “Part sadhu, part playboy”, a nod to a globe-hopping lifestyle and Shankar’s complex, promiscuous romantic life. I'm waiting to give this a rating, but this is without a doubt one of the most thoroughly enjoyable books I've read in the last year or two, if not more. This is a captivating dual timeline story, on one hand about the pressure on a young woman in 2015 whose life has fallen down around her, and on the other, about the complete hidden history surrounding a classic movie star scandal. What I loved most is that this book does not gloss over what life was like in the golden age for those who didn't fit the mold, nor does it ignore the struggles of people in their twenties today. The story deftly intertwines the two narratives and provides several wonderful tangible ties as the plot progresses.

June Books | Current | The Criterion Collection

You're pulled into the spellbinding world of then versus now... the story twists between present day, told from Cassie's point of view and the 1950s, which is really accurately portrayed. I'm usually a contemporary fiction reader all the way, but this period portrayal is so well-done, and I loved it. The character of Lindie, especially, makes your heart ache. As the book flips between time and the story unfolds, you become completely enmeshed in the characters' world; Beverly Whittemore does such a good job of creating them that you feel with them and really become part of their lives. Oh, I hope you enjoy Malibu Rising. I really enjoyed the family dynamic between the sibings. I think I would have rated it 5 stars, but in the middle TJR follows too many tangents with side characters at the party, which definitely dragged the story down a bit.

In the present we meet Cassandra Danvers, a photographer who has just returned to her small hometown following a traumatic break-up in New York. Also, she has recently suffered the loss of her beloved grandmother June, who raised her following the deaths of her parents when she was just a child. Cassie is in denial about just about everything in her life. Depressed and grieving, she has squirreled herself away in “Two Oaks” the old mansion left to her by her grandmother. The house is in poor repair with leaks, critters, and many layers of grime. Cassie lives in this three story house by herself relishing her self-inflicted solitude. She seldom leaves and neglects her surroundings including the mail which is piling up inside the door. Loved, love June’s character. A mix of talented artist, Bohemian, wanderlust, romantic, unselfish personality, mysterious, and a true loyal friend. Finding her own version of happiness and true love. In case you’re new to Booklist Queen, every month I cover all the hottest new book releases. I try to read as many new book releases as I can to give you an honest perspective on what to read and what to skip. Currently reading Margreete’s Harbor and liking it. It is kind of off the radar, which is fine by me. Interesting family dynamics. I received a complimentary copy of this book from Celadon Books. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Books | Waterstones New Books | Waterstones

At night, Cassie dreamed of colorful people and events occurring in the house, but her days were troubled by the encroaching weeds in the garden and the mail piling up in the foyer.Don’t be misled. While Mannion’s debut ably fulfils the promise of its suspenseful start, providing carefully orchestrated lawlessness, bare-fisted violence and a long-haired predator sinisterly named “Barbie Man”, this is no crime novel. As the story unfurls, its deeper menace and mystery will derive not from child abduction but from secretive family dysfunction and the ever-confounding travails of adolescence. I write novels, and most of those novels have to do with secrets. My fifth book, FIERCE LITTLE THING, will be out from Flatiron Books on July 27, 2021. Tara is a restless and discontented young woman in 1980s India, who becomes so enthralled by a guru at a local ashram that she neglects her baby and abandons her marriage. She is absent and unrepentant, thoughtless of her daughter Antara, who later dispassionately describes how she “would disappear every day, dripping with milk, leaving me unfed”. This is an intelligent debut, deserving of its Booker shortlisting. Burnt Sugar is sorrowful, sceptical and electrifyingly truthful about mothers and daughters.