What I’ve Been Reading Lately – Foodie Goodness, Dead Mom Things & More

Faye, Faraway by Helen Fisher

What It’s About: Thirty-seven year old Faye is a wife and mom of two. Life is pretty normal until one day, unearthing some of her old stuff from childhood. she finds herself in the 1970’s with her mother who she lost when she was 8 and her 6/7 year old self. Her mom doesn’t know who she is, even though she feels familiar to her, but she becomes friends with her mom. The more time she spends she struggles with telling her the truth because she doesn’t know what the repercussions could be in her future and if she could go back and she knows she is going to have to choose between what’s waiting for her back home and the mom she just got back.

Review of Faye, Faraway: You know, this one is a hard one to recommend because it’s something on such a personal level I loved exploring in this story. I mean, I tend to gravitate towards books that deal with loss (especially that of a mom) but this was like all I wish I could do as an adult — get to know my mom as an adult myself.

It was definitely a slower-paced time travel book that really focused on that mother-daughter relationship and that curiosity and need to know more along with just the meandering thoughts about that loss as it affected her life. Very character driven and contemplative.

It really worked for me because this premise really spoke to something I wanted to explore and I loved all the explorations of mothers and daughters and our childhood experience (and memories of it) as it is from our child self vs our adult self. While I had to suspend my disbelief a little and ignore that I didn’t completely understand the rules of the time travel, it didn’t bother me because the heart of the book is where my enjoyment of this book came from.

Highly recommend Faye, Faraway if you enjoy books about mothers/daughters (especially the loss of a mother) and time travel type books in the vein of Oona Out of Order (which I also REALLY loved).

My Rating:

Last Night At The Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

What It’s About: It’s about a Chinese-American teen girl living in the 1950’s during the Red Scare, and even though it’s been building in the back of her mind, she starts to explore her sexuality and attraction to women after she and a new friend go to a lesbian bar called The Telegraph Club.

It’s dangerous for two girls to fall in love, or a club like The Telegraph Club to exist, in this time but Lily also has to stay out of trouble as Red Scare paranoia has eyes on her family who threaten to deport her father.

Review of Last Night At The Telegraph Club: This was one of my most anticipated young adult books of 2021 and it did not disappoint at all — it delivered and then some. It was such a fantastic new offering in the YA historical realm — a genre I always ended up gravitating to adult fiction for because there never seemed to be a ton of it. This was exactly what I was hoping for — a great and tender story of first love, self discovery and an immersive setting.

Malinda Lo really transports you to Chinatown in the 1950’s during the Red Scare. I felt the bustle of Chinatown and its community and I also felt the lingering sense of unease in the Communism whispers/threats of deportation as well as the always present underlying danger there for Lily because of her identity as a Chinese American who was discovering and exploring her identity as queer.

The Telegraph Club leapt off the page and was such a vivid place — I could feel this joy in finding a place of belonging and a safe place for self discovery and to be able to not have to hide. I loved the found family feel she saw existing in the club, especially as it contrasted to how she knew her family would react, and I LOVED that Lily found people who showed her what her life COULD be vs the one she was always told she’d have and what was expected of her. You could feel that moment of clarity — like a whole new world opened up before her.

This was my first Malinda Lo novel and her writing really worked for me. There was such tenderness and joy in this story while also grappling with the darker parts. I highly recommend it — even if you don’t typically read historical fiction.

My Rating:

Accidentally Engaged by Farah Heron

I received a copy for review consideration. All opinions are very much still my own and not swayed by that.

What It’s About: Reena has always loved baking bread and it is her happy place away from the job she hates, her single status and her nosy family who always is getting in her business. When her father tries to push a marriage on her by moving this eligible bachelor and his new employee across the hall from her, she doesn’t want any part of it. Except Nadim isn’t so bad as she finds out from spending time with him AND the situation becomes convenient when Reena wants to enter a cooking competition, that is for couples only, and Nadim agrees to pretend to be engaged. And well…the kitchen isn’t the only thing heating up as the two spend more time together.

Review of Accidentally Engaged:

This was one of the new romances I was looking forward to this year and it was an absolute delight. Like truly a hug in book form.

Seriously, you’ve got the faux engagement aspect which I LOVE but I loved the foodie element/the cooking competition because I thought Reena’s passion was contagious. I loved the secondary characters and Reena’s family — I laughed quite a bit because of the shenanigans of Reena’s family. The chemistry Reena and Nadim had also was SO GOOD!

Seriously, if you are looking for a really fun romcom that has a lot of heart and was so, so entertaining…check this one out. Also maybe have a good loaf of bread handy whilst reading…just saying.

My Rating:

Somewhere Between Bitter & Sweet by Laekan Zea Kemp

I received an audiobook copy for review consideration from LibroFM. All opinions are very much still my own and not swayed by that.

What It’s About: It’s about two teens who meet at their job at Nacho’s Tacos and see, in one another, the same kind of longing and yearning for their own space that brings them together as well as a threat to the restaurant they love so much.

For Penelope it is her ambition and desire to run her family’s restaurant, Nacho’s Tacos, which is counter to the completely different path her parents want for her that is nowhere near the restaurant which causes her to make a choice that sends her truly hurtling on to her own path and disappointing her parents.

Xander, until he starts working at Nacho’s, has never felt a strong sense of home as an undocumented teen who lost his mother and his dad never came home leaving him to wonder if he’s dead or alive. A subject that he can’t talk about with his grandfather whom he lives with but that he really wants to find answers to.

Review of Somewhere Between Bitter & Sweet:

I have a feeling this one is going to go under the radar and that’s a shame! Really enjoyed this one – drool-worthy food goodness, romance, complicated family relationships and heart combine for a tender and poignant about two teens trying to find their own way and place in the world that is outside the shadow of their family’s choices and past. It deals with some weightier, hard things

The weight of the familial expectations and the pain it causes her to go against them is crushing and her passion for being in the kitchen is infectious. His yearning for answers and for belonging hits you right in the heart and the fear always under the surface as an undocumented teen is palpable.

I really loved mostly how much this book was about community and I felt such admiration for Penelope’s dad and how much he cared for those in the community and those he employed. You could just feel the weight of his role and how it impacted him. I loved how the characters had so much pride and love for their community and would stop at nothing to preserve it.

While the romance didn’t quite build up for me enough to truly believe their quick connection, I really did enjoy them together and how they opened up in a vulnerable way to one another and seemed to understand that desire for having that sense of belonging in a big way and on their own terms.

I highly recommend listening to it on audio as the performance was so fantastic! (My audio provider of choice is LibroFM — you can see why I love LibroFM so much).

My Rating: