The first Wednesday of each month, Carolyn Astfalk hosts #OpenBook, where bloggers link posts about books they’ve read recently. I’ve decided to only share books here if they merit 4 or 5 stars

Here’s a taste of what I’ve been reading in February:

Fiction

Much Ado About a Latte by Kathleen Fuller. 4* for the characters, whom I enjoyed in a previous book in this series. A sweet friends to lovers romance with a lot of missed opportunities between two coworkers. Synopsis: A coffee war is brewing in Maple Falls, where Anita and Tanner are serving up plenty of sparks to keep the town buzzing. Anita Bedford needs to face reality. It’s time to decaffeinate the dream that she and Tanner will ever be more than friends. Growing up in small-town Maple Falls, she’s had a crush on Tanner for years. But he’ll only ever see her as good, old, dependable Anita. Now she’s finally ready to make her own goals a reality. In fact, that deserted building next door to Sunshine Diner looks like a promising location to open her own café … Tanner Castillo may know how to operate a diner, but he doesn’t know beans about love. After pouring his life savings into buying the Sunshine Diner, he needs to keep his mind on making a success of it and supporting his widowed mother, not on kissing Anita Bedford. First order of business: improve his customers’ coffee experience. Next, he should probably find out who bought the building next door …It’s a bitter cup to swallow when ambition turns longtime friends and coworkers Anita and Tanner into rivals. Now that they own competing businesses, how could they ever compete for each other’s hearts? Or will the two of them come to see what’s obvious to the whole, quirky town of Maple Falls: potential for a full-roast romance, with an extra splash of dream?

Great or Nothing by Caroline Tung Richmond, Joy McCullough, Tess Sharpe, Jessica Spotswood. 4* A very well-written 4-author collaboration on a WWII version of Little Women, with each author in charge of writing one character’s chapters. At this point in the story Beth has already died, and her chapters are poems addressed mostly to her sisters, though some just seem to be musings. Vague reviewer thoughts, no-spoiler edition: Jo’s character won’t be a surprise to some readers, but I felt that it wasn’t true to the original or necessary to the story. And I should probably check authors’ backlists before I request Netgalleys. Synopsis: A reimagining of Little Women set in 1942, when the United States is suddenly embroiled in the second World War, this story, told from each March sister’s point of view, is one of grief, love, and self-discovery. In the fall of 1942, the United States is still reeling from the attack on Pearl Harbor. While the US starts sending troops to the front, the March family of Concord, Massachusetts grieves their own enormous loss: the death of their daughter, Beth. Under the strain of their grief, Beth’s remaining sisters fracture, each going their own way with Jo nursing her wounds and building planes in Connecticut, Meg holding down the home front with Marmee, and Amy living a secret life as a Red Cross volunteer in London–the same city where one Mr. Theodore Laurence is stationed as an army pilot. Each March sister’s point of view is written by a separate author, three in prose and Beth’s in verse, still holding the family together from beyond the grave. Woven together, these threads tell a story of finding one’s way in a world undergoing catastrophic change. (Netgalley)

The Daughters of Erietown by Connie Schultz. 4* I ran into some timeline confusion with this one (it’s easy to forget what year you’re in) and 3 points of view seemed to be a lot. Synopsis: 1957, Clayton Valley, Ohio. Ellie has the best grades in her class. Her dream is to go to nursing school and marry Brick McGinty. A basketball star, Brick has the chance to escape his abusive father and become the first person in his blue-collar family to attend college. But when Ellie learns that she is pregnant, everything changes. Just as Brick and Ellie revise their plans and build a family, a knock on the front door threatens to destroy their lives. The evolution of women’s lives spanning the second half of the twentieth century is at the center of this beautiful novel that richly portrays how much people know—and pretend not to know—about the secrets at the heart of a town, and a family.

The Dating Charade by Melissa Ferguson. 4*, a predictable but fun story. Synopsis: Cassie Everson is an expert at escaping bad first dates. And, after years of meeting, greeting, and running from the men who try to woo her, Cassie is almost ready to retire her hopes for a husband—and children—altogether. But fate has other plans, and Cassie’s online dating profile catches the eye of firefighter Jett Bentley. In Jett’s memory, Cassie Everson is the unreachable girl-of-legend from their high school days. Nervously, he messages her, setting off a chain of events that forces a reluctant Cassie back into the dating game. No one is more surprised than Cassie when her first date with Jett is a knockout—but when Cassie finds herself caring for three sisters in an emergency foster placement, she decides to hide them from Jett to avoid scaring him off. When Jett’s sister’s addiction issues land her three children at his home, he decides the last thing Cassie needs to know about is his family drama. Neither dares to tell the other about their unexpected and possibly permanent family members for fear of scaring away their potential soulmate, especially since they both listed “no kids” on their profiles! With six children between them and secrets mounting, can Cassie and Jett find a way forward?

The Last Chance Library by Freya Sampson. 4* Set in a library, this sweet friendship story is set in a small British village with some delightfully quirky characters. June’s grief has encompassed her life; she works at the library and reads, nothing else—until the library is threatened with closing and she bands together with an unlikely group of library patrons to keep it open. Synopsis: June Jones emerges from her shell to fight for her beloved local library, and through the efforts and support of an eclectic group of library patrons, she discovers life-changing friendships along the way. Lonely librarian June Jones has never left the sleepy English village where she grew up. Shy and reclusive, the thirty-year-old would rather spend her time buried in books than venture out into the world. But when her library is threatened with closure, June is forced to emerge from behind the shelves to save the heart of her community and the place that holds the dearest memories of her mother. Joining a band of eccentric yet dedicated locals in a campaign to keep the library, June opens herself up to other people for the first time since her mother died. It just so happens that her old school friend Alex Chen is back in town and willing to lend a helping hand. The kindhearted lawyer’s feelings for her are obvious to everyone but June, who won’t believe that anyone could ever care for her in that way. To save the place and the books that mean so much to her, June must finally make some changes to her life. For once, she’s determined not to go down without a fight. And maybe, in fighting for her cherished library, June can save herself, too.

YA/Children’s

One Blessing at a Time by Leslea Wahl. 5*, YA. This is a fun prequel to Leslea’s novels, with 4 characters we meet in her novels and series later. A single object makes its way from one character to another; two are related, and the others are connected by chance. Because I’ve read and enjoyed the other books, this was like greeting old friends. But this is a standalone prequel and you don’t need to have read any of the author’s other novels to enjoy it (though you’ll probably want to, once you read this). Synopsis: This intriguing short story about a mysterious sacred object offers a glimpse into the backgrounds of snowboarder Jake, aspiring journalist Sophie, baseball player Ryan, and theater enthusiast Josie, offering new details from their pasts. Ever wonder about the event that catapulted Jake to the national spotlight? Did Sophie always have a knack for uncovering the truth? What circumstances provided Ryan with the opportunity to play ball for an East Coast scout team? How successful was Josie as she tried to go unnoticed during her first years of high school? This illuminating short story prequel explores the idea that you never know whose life you may touch with a simple blessing.

Beckoning by Claudia Cangilla McAdam. 4*, YA. Split-time Biblical fiction, but 90% of the time was spent in the Biblical setting, making me wonder why the author even bothered with the other story line. It got in the way of the flow of the Biblical story. Synopsis: Tabby Long is a non-Christian girl in a Catholic school whose world gets turned upside down when her dad, who has never been a man of faith, experiences a miraculous healing on Good Friday. Her father’s dramatic religious conversion alienates her mother, who deserts the family. In her struggle to understand what has happened to her family, Tabby follows the suggestion of her school’s religion teacher, and she begins spending time reading Scripture while in Eucharistic Adoration. Following the practice taught by Saint Ignatius of Loyola, she inserts herself into the biblical stories she reads. Through this process, she “time travels” to first-century Jerusalem, where she is Tabitha Longinus, the daughter of the centurion Gaius Cassius Longinus, who pierces the side of the crucified Jesus, incurs a spontaneous healing, and undergoes immediate conversion. Tabitha is a Gentile girl with Jewish friends and a mother who can’t accept her husband’s newfound (and dangerous) faith.

Long Story Short by Serena Kaylor. 4*, YA. When a solitary, routine-bound homeschooled teenager gets into her dream school (Oxford), her parents decide to send her to theatre camp for the summer so she can prove her ability to socialize before they’ll let her travel abroad for college. (And her parents are therapists! OK, sex therapists, but still. Talk about out of the frying pan, into the fire.) What could possibly go wrong? An entertaining novel packed with the stereotypical theatre-kid characters and some to spare: the characters are a lot of fun to read about. I’m not sure of the significance, if any, of the title. Synopsis: Growing up homeschooled in Berkeley, California, Beatrice Quinn is a statistical genius who has dreamed her whole life of discovering new mathematical challenges at a school like Oxford University. She always thought the hardest part would be getting in, not convincing her parents to let her go. But while math has always made sense to Beatrice, making friends is a problem she hasn’t been able to solve, so her parents are worried about sending her halfway across the world. The compromise: the Connecticut Shakespearean Summer Academy and a detailed list of teenage milestones to check off. She has six weeks to show her parents she can pull off the role of “normal” teenager and won’t spend the rest of her life hiding in a library. (Netgalley, releases July 26)

Butter by Erin Jade Longe. 4*, YA. Better than the movie. The movie is what got me interested in reading the book at all (because I wanted to see how they compared). I thought the book’s ending was more realistic than the movie’s, though still a reach. Butter is isolated both from his parents and his peers because of his weight. The only sympathetic character is his music teacher, who encourages his ability by letting him jam with his jazz band. But Butter decides he’ll get back at the bullies by promising to webcast as he eats himself to death. Synopsis: A lonely 423-pound boy everyone calls “Butter” is about to make history. He’s going to eat himself to death live on the Internet – and everyone will watch. When he makes this announcement online, he expects pity, insults, or possibly sheer indifference. Instead, his classmates become morbid cheerleaders for his deadly plan. But as their dark encouragement grows, a few voices begin to offer genuine support and Butter starts to have doubts. His suicidal threat brought his newfound popularity–and a taste of what life could hold for him–but can he live with the fallout if he decides not to go through with his plan? Emotionally raw and darkly humourous, this is an all-consuming look at one teen’s battle with himself.

Nonfiction

In Awakening at Lourdes: How an Unanswered Prayer Healed Our Family and Restored Our Faith, Christy Wilkens describes the details of her last-ditch spiritual effort to heal what modern medicine could not. She and her husband were exhausted, and the constant caregiving, monitoring, and medical visits for Oscar did not leave much left over for their five older children—or their marriage. Synopsis: The grotto at Lourdes is known as a place of healing. But sometimes the miracle that occurs is not physical, but something much deeper. Wilkens made the long trek to Lourdes with her husband, Todd, and their toddler—who is plagued by mysterious seizures—through a program with the Order of Malta. In Awakening at Lourdes, Wilkens shares that while Oscar’s condition did improve after their visit, the real healing took place between she and her husband. Through their time at Lourdes, they discovered a deeper love for each other, a renewed sense of appreciation for their faith community, and an abiding confidence in God’s mercy. Persuaded by her husband to take the trip, Wilkens summoned her faith– faith in God, faith in her husband, and faith in the doctors and other helpers who surrounded them every step of the way—to embark on the journey of a lifetime. Recording their experiences with deeply personal yet highly relatable language, Wilkens offers a firsthand account of the traditions and culture of the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes and the shrine’s special servers, the Order of Malta. She also captures her own doubts, questions, and fears as she attempted to process the family’s physical and emotional journey.

The Fine Print

Links to books in this post are Amazon affiliate links. Your purchases made through these links support Franciscanmom.com. Thank you!

Where noted, books are review copies. If that is not indicated, I either purchased the book myself or borrowed it from the library.

Visit today’s #OpenBook post to join the linkup or just get some great ideas about what to read! You’ll find it at Carolyn Astfalk’s A Scribbler’s Heart and at CatholicMom.com!

Copyright 2022 Barb Szyszkiewicz