Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson

 

In seven days, Jet Mason will be dead.

Jet is the daughter of one of the wealthiest families in Woodstock, Vermont. Twenty-seven years old and back home, she’s still waiting for her life to begin. I’ll do it later, she always says. She has time.

Until Halloween night, when she is violently attacked by an unseen intruder, suffering a catastrophic head injury. Doctors are certain that within a week, the injury will trigger a fatal aneurysm. To her parents’ dismay, Jet rejects an extremely risky operation in order to guarantee herself at least a few more days.

Jet never thought of herself as having enemies. But now, in the one week she has left, she looks at everyone in a new light: her family, her former best friend turned sister-in-law, her ex-boyfriend.

As her condition deteriorates, she reconnects with her childhood friend Billy, the only one willing to help her. With Billy at her side, she’s absolutely determined to finally finish something:

Jet is going to solve her own murder. - Penguin Random House

 

“In seven days, Jet Mason will be dead.”  No, this isn’t a sequel to The Ring but rather the latest novel from Holly Jackson and her first for adults.  Twenty-seven-year-old Jet Mason survives a brutal attack only to discover that the assault left her with life threatening injuries that will kill her in just seven days.  So, she sets out to solve her own murder.  I loved the twist of having a living victim solve their own murder.  I also loved Jet’s strength, sarcasm and dark humor.  There were also numerous plausible suspects and motives to this crime, so it kept me guessing to the very end.  While the novel is somewhat dark by nature of its subject matter, it also has a sprinkling of a love story for balance as well as contemplative nature on what makes life meaningful and savoring every moment.

I borrowed my copy of Not Quite Dead Yet from my local library as can you or you can pick it up from your local bookstore or online retailer.  You can also visit the publisher's website for more information.

 

 

 

The Uncool by Cameron Crowe

Cameron Crowe was an unlikely rock and roll insider. Born in 1957 to parents who strictly banned the genre from their house, he dove headfirst into the world of music. By the time he graduated high school at fifteen, Crowe was contributing to Rolling Stone. His parents became believers, uneasily allowing him to interview and tour with legends like Led Zeppelin; Lynyrd Skynyrd; Bob Dylan; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; and Fleetwood Mac.

The Uncool offers a front-row ticket to the 1970s, a golden era for music and art when rock was young. There’s no such thing as a media junket—just the rare chance a young writer might be invited along for an adventure. Crowe spends his teens politely turning down the drugs and turning on his tape recorder. He talks his journalism teacher into giving him class credit for his road trip covering Led Zeppelin’s 1975 tour, which lands him—and the band—on the cover of Rolling Stone. He embeds with David Bowie as the sequestered genius transforms himself into a new persona: the Thin White Duke. Why did Bowie give Crowe such unprecedented access? “Because you’re young enough to be honest,” Bowie tells him.

Youth and humility are Crowe’s ticket into the Eagles’ dressing room in 1972, where Glenn Frey vows to keep the band together forever; to his first major interview with Kris Kristofferson; to earning the trust of icons like Gregg Allman and Joni Mitchell, who had sworn to never again speak to Rolling Stone. It’s a magical odyssey, the journey of a teenage writer waved through the door to find his fellow dreamers, music geeks, and lifelong community. It’s a path that leads him to writing and directing some of the most beloved films of the past forty years, from Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Say Anything... to Jerry Maguire and Almost Famous. His movies often resonate with the music of the artists he first met as a journalist, including Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, the Who, and Pearl Jam.

The Uncool is also a surprisingly intimate family drama. If you’ve seen Almost Famous, you may think you know this story—but you don’t. For the first time, Crowe opens up about his formative years in Palm Springs and pays tribute to his father, a decorated Army officer who taught him the irreplaceable value of the human voice. Crowe also offers a full portrait of his mother, whose singular spirit helped shape him into an unconventional visionary.

With its vivid snapshots of a bygone era and a celebration of creativity and connection, this memoir is an essential read for music lovers or anyone chasing their wildest dreams. At the end of that roller-coaster journey, you might just find what you were looking for: your place in the world. - Simon & Schuster

On January 7, 2023 my dad and I saw one of the final Broadway performances of Almost Famous: The Musical,  based on Cameron Crowe’s semi-autobiographical film of the same name.  We are both big fans of Carmeron’s work, musical theater and Almost Famous so these tickets were a delightful Christmas gift. It was my dad who introduced me to Cameron’s work by recommending his film, Fast Times at Ridgemont High way back when renting VHS tapes at your local video store was still a thing.  A lot of people I’ve spoken to about Fast Times at Ridgemont High don’t know the movie was based off of Cameron’s long out of print novel of the same name and based on his experiences “going undercover” at a real California high school.  I was elated to be gifted a copy for Christmas a few years ago by you guessed it, my dad and fellow Crowe fan.   

You can imagine our enthusiasm when I discovered that Cameron was finally publishing his memoir, The Uncool.   I tried to savor this and read slowly but it was just so engrossing that I burned through it in just a few days.  If you’ve seen Almost Famous, you may be familiar with some of the beats of Cameron’s life as teen journalist who went on the road with rock bands and wrote for music magazines such as Rolling Stone as did William Miller in Almost Famous.  However, Cameron’s life was much richer and his family dynamics much more heartwarming, heart wrenching and at times dysfunctional.  His experiences on the road with artists such as The Allman Brothers Band, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie and many others will likely leave your jaw on the floor.  The book ends as Crowe transitions from rock journalist to screenwriter and I hope there is a follow-up to his memoir that explores more of this transition to writer and director.  I’d love to read more about my  other Crowe favorites such as Vanilla Sky.

I was fortunate enough to receive an ARC of The Uncool by Cameron Crowe thanks to the publisher, Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

You can find your copy at your favorite local bookseller, online retailer or library.  

 

 

The Storm by Rachel Hawkins

 

St. Medard’s Bay, Alabama is famous for three things: the deadly hurricanes that regularly sweep into town, the Rosalie Inn, a century-old hotel that’s survived every one of those storms, and Lo Bailey, the local girl infamously accused of the murder of her lover, political scion Landon Fitzroy, during Hurricane Marie in 1984.

When Geneva Corliss, the current owner of the Rosalie Inn, hears a writer is coming to town to research the crime that put St. Medard’s Bay on the map, she’s less interested in solving a whodunnit than in how a successful true crime book might help the struggling inn’s bottom line. But to her surprise, August Fletcher doesn’t come to St. Medard’s Bay alone. With him is none other than Lo Bailey herself. Lo says she’s returned to her hometown to clear her name once and for all, but the closer Geneva gets to both Lo and August, the more she wonders if Lo is actually back to settle old scores.

As the summer heats up and another monster storm begins twisting its way towards St. Medard’s Bay, Geneva learns that some people can be just as destructive—and as deadly—as any hurricane, and that the truth of what happened to Landon Fitzroy may not be the only secret Lo is keeping…Barnes & Noble

On August 4, 1983 I would've been celebrating my third birthday and Hurricane Marie was barreling into St. Medard's Bay, AL.  Therein igniting the traumatic events that make up the crux of this story - Hurricane Marie that is, not me or my birthday, LOL.

While the mystery beats of this book were predictable, that didn't not take away from my enjoyment of the novel at all.  Hawkins does a fantastic job of creating compelling believable characters like Geneva and Lo and she does a fantastic job of fully immersing the reader into the gulf town of St. Medard's Bay and the Rosalie Inn. I also loved that this story was told both in the present tense as well as through flashbacks to the past from August Fletcher's true crime book within in the story along with various news clippings and correspondence.

One of my favorite descriptors came from August's correspondence to Lo Bailey "...if things had turned out differently, who's to say you wouldn't have been our First Lady at some point?  Instead you were vilified and slandered, a 20th-century Hester Prynne in a Duran Duran T-shirt"   As Duranie, I really got a kick out of that.

If you're looking for a mystery thriller with great characters and setting, definitely pick up The Storm by Rachel Hawkins. 

I was fortunate enough to receive an advanced reader copy of The Storm by Rachel Hawkins from the publisher, St. Martin's Press, via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.  You can pick up yours at your local bookstore, library or online retailer.

 

The Gallery Assistant by Kate Belli

 

November 2001: Chloe Harlow wakes up late, with hazy memories of the party the night before but no recollection of how she got back to her Brooklyn apartment. Ever since the terrifying and catastrophic terrorist attack, it seems she has been on a collision course with destruction.

When she finally arrives at the exclusive Upper East Side art gallery where she works, she is immediately called into her boss’s office. A pair of NYPD detectives greet her, also very curious to know how her evening ended…because the host of the party, a rising painter and the gallery’s newest artist, is dead.

Navigating both the sophisticated high-stakes art world and her personal life in burgeoning Williamsburg, Chloe struggles to piece together a complete picture of that lost night. As she digs deeper, inconsistencies emerge between what she remembers and what people tell her actually happened, and more questions are raised. Everything begins to feel like a conspiracy and maybe it is. Because Chloe is the only one who glimpses the secrets the murdered artist left behind, and the closer she gets to the truth…the more deadly it becomes.

 

If you’re of a certain age like me, you remember exactly where you were on 9/11/01 and all the feelings and emotions of that day and time like it was both yesterday and another lifetime ago. Like Chloe, the protagonist of The Gallery Assistant, I was then a twenty something young woman trying to find my way in the world but I was safely ensconced in my upstate college bubble.  Chloe is dealing with surviving the attacks when her life is upended again by the murder of an artists set to debut works at the galley she’s working at.  While she’s a somewhat “unreliable” narrator you can’t help but root for her to heal and clear her name. This novel’s strengths are its atmospheric descriptions of NYC and the US in the fall/winter of 2001 and it adds an extra layer of paranoia to the mystery of whodunnit and why.  Belli also does a great job of illustrating the art world and the high stakes and passion that flows throughout.  This was one mystery thriller that kept me guessing until the final chapters! 

Thank you to the publisher, Atria books @atriabooks via @netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

You can find The Gallery Assistant at your local bookstore, library or online shop. 

The Hitchhikers by Chevy Stevens

 

It’s the summer of 1976 and Alice and Tom set out on the remote Canadian highways in their new RV, hoping to heal their broken hearts after a devastating tragedy.

They’ve planned the trip perfectly, taken care of every detail. Then they meet two young hitchhikers down on their luck and offer them a ride. But Simon and Jenny aren’t what they seem. They’ve left a trail of blood, destruction, and madness behind them.

Now Alice and Tom are trapped, prisoners in a deadly game, with nowhere to turn. As the tension builds, the lines blur, and the question becomes, In whose heart does evil truly lie? What secrets are Jenny and Simon hiding? And who will live another day? chevystevens.com

If you grew up in the early 80s like I did, television was full of “very special” episodes or films to caution the youth on the world’s dangers such as hitchhiking and bumming a ride in a stranger’s car.  But what about the reverse?  What if the hitchhikers themselves are the ones with sinister motives?

Chevy Stevens takes readers for one hell of a thrill ride with her latest novel, The Hitchhikers.  It’s not a surprise to the reader that Simon and Jenny are not the innocent couple they pretend to be when they are picked up by Tom and Alice.  However Stevens creates such a fully developed setting and characters within the first few pages that you’re screaming with everything inside you for Tom and Alice simply pass Simon and Jenny by and continue on with their trip.  Of course that would leave us with one very short story.  LOL   Once Alice and Tom discover who Simon and Jenny really are, Stevens pumps the gas and doesn’t let go.  When I watch any horror movie I’m always thinking about what I would do and how I would escape.  This book was no exception, I was in the driver’s seat with Alice, scared out of my mind but determined to survive.  There’s a couple more sharp curves on the road of Simon and Jenny’s story too.  Some I predicted, some really surprised me. 

This was the first novel I read by Chevy Stevens and it certainly won’t be my last.  She has a knack for great characters and storytelling.

I was fortunate enough to get an ARC of The Hitchhikers by Chevy Stevens thanks to the publisher St. Martin's Press via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 

You can find your copies at your local bookstore, library or online shop.  Just don’t pick up any strangers along the way OK?

 For more information, visit the author's website linked above.