Little Syllables: The Blog
Review - Landslide by Susan Conley
I received a free review copy from the publisher (Knopf). All opinions are my own.
Susan Conley’s Landslide is a story of a family and their struggles to weather the aftermath of trauma. The narrator is Jill, wife to Kit and mother to “the wolves”—teenagers Charlie and Sam. Kit is a fisherman in Maine who is seriously injured while away on a fishing trip. While he is hospitalized in Canada, Jill tries to navigate life with her boys.
Charlie is the responsible and mature one, often acting like a parent to Sam, who is only a year younger, but seems much younger. Sam is the troubled one, still reeling from a tragedy years earlier that left him unmoored and unstable.
This is a story of trauma and recovery, of strength and vulnerability, and of a family working to navigate these things under difficult circumstances. And this is a story about mental health and how past traumas have a way of resurfacing throughout our lives.
I enjoyed this book’s complex relationships. It feels real—raw and frustrating as Jill deals with Sam’s moods, Kit’s absence, and Charlie’s growing independence.
Jill struggles to know where she’s needed, and if she’s needed.
The setting is a big part of the story; the rough seas, the dreary rain, and the cramped houses all reflecting the turmoil of the family.
Though these struggles and turmoil are not all resolved by the end of the book, it ends on a hopeful note. We can see glimpses of a better future for this family, and those glimpses are what make this book great. Just like life, this story is not tied up into a neat little package. We don’t know if Jill and her family will live happily ever after, but we can see it’s possible.
Landslide was originally published in 2021, and the paperback was released in September 2022. It’s available now!
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Review - The Six-Minute Memoir by Mary Helen Stefaniak
I received a free advanced copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
The Six-Minute Memoir: Fifty-Five Short Essays on Life was a fun read. It’s a series of short memoirs that can be read in 6 minutes or less. This is a great book to read when you’re on the go because it’s readable in little snippets.
I’m very interested in memoir as a genre, and I think Stefaniak’s concept of the six-minute memoir could be a great way to start writing my own. She even provides prompts at the end of the book to help writers get started! Even if you’re not looking to publish memoirs, a six-minute memoir is a reasonable goal for a person who wants to write their personal history and doesn’t know where to start.
I enjoyed reading Stefaniak’s observations on the people and situations around her, as well as her descriptions of place. She does a great job with setting in each of these memoirs. She also makes great connections between seemingly disparate ideas. She is alternately funny and heartfelt, and always interesting.
The Six-Minute Memoir is new this week!
I heartily recommend it for fans of the genre and for others looking for inspiration on writing about their own lives.
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Review - The Maze by Nelson DeMille
I received a free advanced copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
The Maze is the latest installment in DeMille’s John Corey series. These are contemporary detective stories. In this book, John is recently retired from his job in federal law enforcement. He’s enjoying some downtime at his uncle’s summer house when he’s approached by an old flame and a job offer with a private investigation firm.
Sometimes it doesn’t work to jump into a series in the middle, but DeMille does a decent job of catching a reader up with John’s history without getting too bogged down. I never felt like I was missing anything about the protagonist/narrator that would have helped the story.
Although DeMille is a prolific author, I had never read any of his books before. I didn’t realize what I was getting into.
Let’s just say that John Corey is portrayed as “a man’s man” and a “cop’s cop.” He’s a hyper-masculine, chauvinistic character with a fair number of ex-wives and ex-girlfriends in his wake. He rebels against authority and is a smart-ass. He’s borderline belligerent and obviously objectifies women. And yet somehow, this man keeps getting women to sleep with him.
So I had a hard time getting into this book because I really did not like John Corey.
But the mystery that is set up was intriguing enough to keep me reading, hoping John would grow on me. Spoiler alert: he didn’t.
John is entangled in an off-the-books investigation of a private investigation firm that smells of corruption. He gets hired on as a consultant at the firm and quickly alienates most everyone there, compromises the investigation, and nearly gets himself killed. He also has time to hatch elaborate plans and join in for the “Thirsty Thursday” strip show, courtesy of his new employer.
In the process, he does help uncover some crimes and corruption, culminating in an intense chase sequence where John is outnumbered and outgunned. Then, the book ends so suddenly that the reader isn’t given concrete answers on some of the book’s biggest mysteries.
This book was a miss for me, though I have to give DeMille credit for creating an intriguing mystery, a plausible conspiracy, and establishing backstory without overwhelming a reader new to the series. The Maze was released October 11.
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Review - Secret Lives by Mark de Castrique
I received a free advanced copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Secret Lives by Mark de Castrique is an awesome thriller that kept me guessing until the end. The book is firmly grounded and very believable, with complex characters and an intricate plot.
The thing I liked most about this book was the characters—especially Edith. I love a strong female lead, and Edith was surprising and very human. Edith is an elderly landlady, a former FBI agent, and our clever detective. She carries this story from start to finish.
An unexpected benefit of reading this book was that I learned a fair bit about cryptocurrency. The story follows a group of FBI and Secret Service agents through a murder investigation, which is mixed up with a financial fraud case. Cryptocurrency is a big feature here, including how to exchange it, how to access it, and how to protect it. Whether or not the details provided in the book are accurate (which is beyond me), it felt believable and real to me.
Secret Lives is an awesome thriller that kept me guessing.
Ultimately, I gave this book 5 stars. It is excellently written, the characters are complex, and the mystery is a wild ride.
To keep the mystery going, the author casts suspicion on several different characters. There were several moments in the book when I thought I’d figured it out, but I kept guessing until the climax, when the true villain is unveiled.
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Review - Many Are Invited by Dennis Cuesta
I received a free advanced copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
I picked this book up because I love a good thriller to get me out of a reading slump or when I just want a quick read.
Well… in that sense, it delivered. I read it quickly. I was intrigued enough to keep reading until the end, though I had those moments of foreboding that come when you realize you’re nearing the end and you doubt there is enough time left for the story to resolve properly.
When I finished this book, I was both disappointed and annoyed. And I’ll tell you why.
Many Are Invited starts out strong. The characters are established, along with their relationships. The narrator (Steve) is unreliable, which is to be expected in a first-person thriller. He’s not a particularly likable character, but I’m also okay with that. Not every human is particularly likable either, and I think making a character unlikable can make them seem more human.
But then I also didn’t like the supporting characters. None of them.
Steve’s “best friend” John, who he doesn’t really care for, is chauvinistic and conceited. He refers to attractive blonde women as “Swedes,” which irritated me quite a bit, and he has a list of Swedes that he refers to by number. Ick.
Then there is John’s girlfriend/wife, Mary. She was probably the most sympathetic character in the story, though she is also difficult to trust and not very well developed.
And Mary’s “best friend” Lauren is beautiful, but awful in pretty much every way. There is very little interaction between Mary and Lauren, so it’s difficult to understand why they are friends. Lauren has no redeeming qualities.
There’s also a cast of minor characters that show up only when convenient, or swoop in during the climax and are suddenly much more important, or to drop references to books like The Brothers Karamazov. These people are caricatures at best.
By the time I finished the book, I felt like maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I was familiar with The Brothers Karamazov, which I have never read. I understand that the author is probably drawing parallels (as he also does with references to The Great Gatsby), but I feel like The Brothers Karamazov is not well-known enough to toss that into a book like this and expect people to just get it.
Throughout the book, there is a lot of talk about Y2K. It is relevant to Steve and John’s jobs, and since I was old enough at the turn of the century, I understand at least partially why it was important. I think that would be lost on younger readers. That said, I appreciated the twist at the end and how Y2K ended up actually being important in the story.
So, Many Are Invited has some redeeming qualities, but not enough for me to rate it higher than 1 star. There was no real closure for the characters, references that I didn’t understand, and characters that I could not like.
The only way I could possibly recommend this book is if the reader is familiar with both The Great Gatsby and The Brothers Karamazov. Then, give it a try and let me know if you like it. Many Are Invited is released today.
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Review - Bernice Runs Away by Talya Tate Boerner
I received a free advanced copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
I found myself in the mood for a quick, light read, and the cover of Bernice Runs Away made me think it would fit the bill. I was in for a surprise!
I was drawn to this book because I have often threatened to run away to Bermuda, mostly because I tend to get painfully bored when I don’t feel like I have productive things to do. Also because I have four children, and sometimes that is a lot.
Bernice Runs Away really took me by surprise. Bernice is 81 years old, a widow, the mother of one living child, and the grandmother of one adult granddaughter. She lives alone. She’s starting to forget things.
Her daughter wants her to move to Atlanta to live in her new carriage house, but Bernice has other ideas. Thanks to a gifted copy of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, Bernice starts to realize that she needs to do what sparks joy in her life. So, she resolves to run away.
Ultimately, she returns to a favorite vacation spot from her youth, where she first fell in love, where she has many happy memories with her parents and her husband and kids. She trusts only one close friend with her plan, and she goes.
The book details her escape from the humdrum of her life and how it changes her and her family. Ultimately, Bernice finds herself at Lake Norfolk.
I ended up loving this book! It wasn’t as light and quick as I expected going in, but it was heartfelt and real. It was honest and redemptive.
Bernice Runs Away comes out tomorrow (October 1, 2022)!
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Review - Happyish by Jeanette Escudero
I received a free advanced copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Happyish tells the story of Alex, a divorced mid-30’s marketing executive who is diagnosed with a brain tumor. This scary diagnosis leads her to make some impulsive decisions to see some of the world before she faces the risks associated with surgery.
Alex is a woman who has a hard time relying on others. She is fiercely independent while still being a people-pleaser. She strives to keep her emotions in check, be stable and reliable, and take care of those she loves. As she ventures into the unknown on a whirlwind adventure, we begin to understand why she is this way—due to trauma from her childhood. Alex’s adventure helps her uncover and work through some of these issues, while also coming to terms with the unknowns in her future.
Alex travels to find herself and to reconnect with her family and friends.
She also finds new friends along the way.
This book starts a bit slow, then feels rushed later on. The first third of the book is setting the scene, giving Alex’s background, establishing her reasons for making certain decisions later in the book. But I felt that the final portion of the book was quite rushed. We spend most of the book looking ahead (or avoiding looking ahead) to Alex’s brain surgery. Then it happens quickly, characters pop in and out during recovery, then there is an epilogue tying things up.
I enjoyed this book and I thought it raised some great characters and a promising premise, but it wasn’t as deep and detailed as I had hoped. I wanted to get to know David more. I wanted to understand Alex’s mom more. I wanted to meet Alex’s ex-husband and get some resolution there. I wanted to see more of her recovery and how it changed her attitude.
Instead, I was left wanting and couldn’t give this one more than three stars.
Happyish by Jeanette Escudero came out last week. Read it and let me know what you think!
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Review - Less Is Lost by Andrew Sean Greer
I received a free advanced copy through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Less Is Lost is the sequel to Greer’s book Less, which came out in 2017. I read Less last year and enjoyed it enough that when I saw a follow-up, I snatched it up!
Our protagonist, Arthur Less, is awkward, quirky, and unsure of himself. He is a moderately successful writer who is regularly mistaken for another author with the same name. In the first book, Arthur is facing both his 50th birthday and the marriage of his ex-partner Freddy, so he decides to fill his calendar with all the invitations he would have otherwise rejected. He leaves on a whirlwind trip around the world—all to avoid facing his problems.
The second book presents Arthur with different, but familiar, problems and he finds himself on a road trip across the US in an old conversion van. Arthur travels to try to raise money to save the home he shares with his partner, and along the way, he faces heartbreak and grief as well as hilarious misunderstandings, ridiculous situations, and his own demons.
I liked Less is Lost even more than the first book! I felt a kinship with Arthur as he sets out to find himself and figure out what he wants in his life, all while dealing with a variety of troubles. This book is about identity, resilience, and choosing to love.
I rated this book at 4 stars!
Less Is Lost is set for release on September 20, 2022.
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Editing Business Copy
Editors are not just for books and stories; we’re also essential for businesses. Whether it’s marketing copy, web copy, product descriptions, video captions, or procedure manuals, the writing that is done for your business needs to be edited.
Potential customers are quickly put off by spelling and grammatical errors on business websites, advertisements, and correspondence. Employees can be confused and make mistakes if instructions are not clearly written.
Errors hurt your credibility with customers, employees, and others in your industry.
Errors in copy can lead customers to wonder if you really know your stuff.
So how does a business solve this problem and prevent errors from cropping up in their copy? There are automated tools available that can help, but they’re not infallible. For example, spell check won’t catch if you accidentally type exist instead of exit, or two instead of too. Word processing grammar checkers often introduce errors because the automated system misses nuance in writing. Automatic voice-to-text software can misinterpret speech and create some pretty spectacular errors (such as “drug sales” instead of “direct sales”).
The easiest way around this is to employ an editor or proofreader to check your copy before it goes live.
Editors are trained to watch for those pesky typos where one word is accidentally replaced with a similar (though incorrect) word. Editors are trained to catch easily misunderstood phrasing or references that may be too niche or jargony. And humans are much better suited to interpreting nuance!
Best of all, an editor can help your business maintain credibility, gain customer’s trust, and communicate clearly and consistently.
Review - Mother Tongue by Joyce Kornblatt
I received a free advanced copy through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Mother Tongue is the story of Nella. After her mother’s death, she finds a letter of confession telling her that she was kidnapped from the hospital as a baby. The book is Nella’s perspective of working through that traumatic revelation.
Through the course of the story, Nella describes her childhood in Australia, her relationship with the woman she knows as her mother, and her marriage to Alex. We also see Alex’s perspective of his own trauma and Nella’s sister Leah’s perspective of the aftermath of the kidnapping. Finally, we see the perspective of Deborah, Nella’s birth mother.
This book is about mothers and children. It’s about the complex relationships we have with our mothers and the trauma children experience when they are separated from their mothers. This book is also about lost children and the effect that has on their mothers. Are we formed by our DNA or are we formed by the relationships we have? Or perhaps a bit of both?
Mother Tongue had me riveted. The author, Joyce Kornblatt, does an amazing job of weaving an intricate tale of complicated relationships, both lost and found, broken and reforged. The prose is beautiful. The characters are intricate and believable.
I rated this book at 5 stars and I highly recommend it!
Mother Tongue was originally published in 2020. The new edition is set for release September 13, 2022!