I read the three titles featured here over the course of two weeks, and never felt sad to finish one because the next book was as enjoyable as the last.

1. In the Country of Women, by Susan Straight

In the Country of Women is a love letter to Straight’s three grown daughters, in the form of their ancestral history going back several generations on each side following the maternal lines.

We’re taken on a journey across the United States, following the path of ancestors who traveled west to California, where the author raised her children.

I resonated with the complicated story Straight told. She drew common threads from each lineage to tie them together in space and time. I was fascinated by  the oral tradition in her family that allowed her to write the book.

I appreciated Straight’s matter-of-fact, yet emotional, way of describing her encounters with police when she was with her brown family members.

Family trees are never totally straight-forward. Many times as I read I was trying to figure out which branch of the family we were talking about. It felt like the author was so familiar with the characters that she forgot that the reader was still sorting out how everyone was connected. I definitely got lost in the shuffle more than once, but it didn’t stop me from truly enjoying the book.

2. A Hundred Suns, by Karin Tanabe

Historical fiction set in 1930’s French Colonial Vietnam, A Hundred Suns is a glimpse of the answer to a question you haven’t thought to ask. A Hundred Suns is ready to tell a story of colonialism and how it affected one corner of the world.

The character development is fantastic. I appreciated the complexity Tanabe grants to the characters – no one is perfectly good OR bad.

I spent a bit of time on the internet translating words and names so I could appreciate their sounds properly, and the rest of the time immersing in the rich world Tanabe creates. This book had me reading day and night to find out what would happen next.

3. One of Us Is Lying, by Karen M. McManus

This YA mystery tale takes place at a high school in California. After a life-altering event, the teenage characters suddenly find themselves in a world of Before and After. The author of this 2017 book uses the term “new normal” more than once without irony, and it’s refreshing to see it used without all the baggage it’s recently taken on. The young people experience more growth and self-awareness over the course of the book than many thirty to forty-year-old adults.

In contrast, with one notable exception, the adults in the story are pathetic and one-dimensional. It’s a common theme in many YA books – probably because many teens view adults that way. As a mom of a 13 year-old, I can painfully attest to being treated as though I were pathetic and one-dimensional.

It’s the sort of book with plot twists that will having you flipping through the pages making sure you didn’t miss a hint of what was to come. And despite having a large cast, the author makes it easy to keep track of who is who.

I was on deadline for my book club to finish this one, but the suspense made it easy to binge through in a couple of days.

Want another smorgasbord to choose from? Here’s the first post in this series. And here is another mashup book post.