Everyone is Lying to You by Jo Piazza I was totally into this one. Lizzie is a journalist who hears from her old college bestie. The Bestie, Bex, blew her off at the end of college and the two never spoke again. Bex is a massively successful trad wife influencer, and she invites Lizzie to go to their convention to cover it and cover some big news that Bex is going to release at the convention. But Bex’s husband gets murdered and all signs to point to Bex as the murderer. Lizzie uncovers what is really going on in Bex’s life and is pretty sure Bex didn’t do it. So then she has to stay and figure out who did it all while trying to cut through all the fake influencer crap at this conference. Well done.
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett I listened to this one. Tom Hanks narrated it and he is an amazing book narrator. It’s the story of Danny and Maeve. They are brother and sister and truly best friends. They spent the most of their childhood in an extravagant house in their neighborhood called The Dutch House. Their mother left them when they were young and they were raised by their dad and the housekeepers that came in every day, until Dad married Andrea. Of course the marriage kind of blew up the family, but Danny and Maeve remained every close through it all. The story follows Danny as he grew up and made his own way and his own fortune with Maeve as his very best friend. A great story about these two kids who made something of themselves despite the parents that they had.
Adrift by Tami Oldham Ashcraft I think this book used to be called Red Sky in Mourning, which is a way better title. I remember seeing this author at a boat show selling her book. It’s a memoir about a woman who was doing a crossing from Tahiti to San Diego with her fiancé. They got hit with a hurricane somewhere in the middle of the Pacific, he sent her inside to get some rest and he stayed on deck on watch. When she woke up the boat was completely trashed, there was a leak, and when she went on deck she’d seen that they were dismasted and her fiancé was gone. She had no idea how long she’d been unconscious. She just remembers feeling the boat slam into something and him saying “Oh my god.” And then she got knocked out. She then has to figure out, after the storm passed, how to get to safety without a mast and without any navigational equipment. A truly amazing story of survival while grieving.
BJ Knapp is the author of Beside the Music, available for purchase here. Please sign up for the Backstage with BJ Knapp mailing list to get updates on events, signings, dog pictures and so much more.