okiecozyreader's reviews
1213 reviews

This is a series of short stories that take place (mostly in airports) with Asian characters. Topics vary from airport bookstores, to flight delays, not being ready to visit a home country, pandemic issues  and the difficulties of assumptions (like someone assuming someone else is your relative because you are both Asian). 

It is a fantastic list of authors:

Declare" © 2023 by Christina Soontornvat
"Jae: Ground Rules" by Linda Sue Park
"Mindy:Standing Up" by Meredith Ireland
"Lee: Jam Session" by Mike Chen
"Ari: Guidelines" by Susan Tan
"AJ: A Kind of Noble" by Randy Ribay
"Natalie: Costumes" by Traci Chee
"Henry: Grounded" by Mike Jung
"Camilla: Big Day Suitcase by Erin Entrada Kelly
 "Jane: Questions and Answers" by Grace Lin
"Khoi: Lost in Translation" Minh Lê
"Soojin: You Are Here" by Ellen Oh.
"A Note from the Editor" by Ellen Oh

I thought some stories seemed kind of similar. I listened to the audiobook and thought it was well done.

“But maybe that was the way it was with a lot of things in life. Once you decided to do something there was really no way to know for sure what would happen or how people would react. Which meant, what? If you couldn’t know for sure, all you could do was make your best guess, and do your best. And hope for the best. And that seemed like something he could work with.” Ch 2 Jar

A fun mystery told from the dog’s pov. The father of the family goes missing and the Mr Whiskers is on the case. I feel like it’s a pretty classic mystery. Students who like dog humor will enjoy.

Such a fun spin on Roman Holiday! I loved all the Roman Holiday references and re-watched the classic movie to remind myself a little more of the plot. Audrey Hepburn is always enjoyable!

Amelia is a famous singer/performer known as Rae Rose. She loves Audrey Hepburn and wants to have a break from her hectic schedule and go to Rome (Kentucky, that is, since she can’t go to Italy). He old car dies in front of Noah’s house. He gets his grandmother’s best friend to vouch for him as a safe person, so she can stay until her car gets fixed. Noah runs a pie shop next to one of his sister’s flower shops. Amelia relishes being an ordinary person in a small town but knows she can’t stay.

Love that she writes clean romances with lots of cute banter. Looking forward to catching up on this series.

“They linger heavily over my left rib cage where my only tattoo lives. It's a pie nestled in a bouquet of flowers.” P149 (loved this quote bc I pre-ordered this book and it came with a sticker with this design :)

I really loved this historical fiction story that tells the life of Hattie McDaniel, beginning about the time she won an Oscar for her supporting role on the movie Gone with the Wind until her death at the age of 59. She had such an incredible life, as the first Black woman to be at the Oscars and to win. She had so many notable friends. This book portrayed her close with Clark Gable, while having rapport with Bette Davis, Lena Horne, Dorothy Dandridge, and fantastic dinner parties with so many more. It also describes long battles with a man named Walter White, who long tried to discredit her.

I found her life fascinating, and so well researched. I also felt like so many things hit too close to home today.

“I am going to have to delete all mentions of racism from the movie before it can be shown anywhere in the Southern box office.” Ch 22

“You’re married to the screen and you’ll sacrifice everything and everybody for a career that doesn’t love you back.” Ch 25

“I took the role of Mammy with pride because she represented the type of womanhood that has built our race, paid for our elaborate houses of worship, and sustained our business, charitable, and improvement organizations.” Ch 31

“I warn you that with success comes much scrutiny.” Ch 38

“But your mother and I understand how people see us and we try our best to just live in the confines of that vision, else we won’t work at all.” Ch 40

“They don’t call me the Queen of Sugar Hill for nothing. I go all out or I don’t go at all.” Ch 57

“There is an opportunity to glorify Negro womanhood. Not the modern, streamlined type of Negro woman, who attends teas and concerts in furs and silks, but the type of Negro of the period that gave us Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, and Charity Hill.” Historical note

A Man Called Over x Bookish Life of Nina Hill (maybe)

Chloe is a librarian raising her younger siblings, after her mother just left one day. She lives next door to a cranky old neighbor who gives her and her mother a hard time. One day, she asks him for help with the youngest sibling, and she begins to see him in another light. 

As her library is cleaning out old books, she comes across an old copy of Tropic of Cancer that is worth thousands until she realizes two lovers had written messages back and forth within the pages. Their notes continue in other books like The Haunting of Hill House. I loved the references to A Farewell to Arms (since I recently read The Paris Wife about Hemingway), and Wuthering Heights, which I’m hoping to read soon before The Favorites. 

There are multiple narrators: part one rotates between Chloe now and the Catherine in 1960; part 2 rotates between Jasper (the cranky neighbor and 1960); part 3 noodle and 1960; part 4 Zach, Catherine and Jasper and part 5 Chloe.

I really loved the first part of the book. I did think it dragged for a little in the middle, but it was an enjoyable read with some fun twists. 

I love the cover of her books. I am also just enjoying some happy reads lately.

“Her mom had so much more to offer the world than a clean house and a nicely browned pot roast.”
P261

“Everyone's heart breaks at least once in a lifetime,"
she said, determined, as ever, to go her own way. "It's as inevitable as falling in love. The real challenge is deciding what you plan to do about it.” P284

This is the story of Ernest Hemingway’s first wife, Hadley Richardson. Through her eyes, we watch their 11 month romance, marriage and travels. Already knowing what type of person Hemingway was, the reader knows what kind of story is coming. What the author did so well, was research their romance. Like always, I loved the author’s note that tells why and how she wrote this story.

McLain mentions she taught Hemingway in high school English and became fascinated with his book “A Moveable Feast.” She notes that he wrote it “at the tail end of the 1950s and early ’60s (it was published in 1964, after his death), he was well into his fourth marriage.” She wondered then, why he was so fascinated with his first wife, that he would write such a passionate book about their time together.

She researched their notes to each other at the Hemingway archive at the JFK library in Boston. She says she found Hadley’s voice and found it “incredible—charming, candid, funny, romantic.”

It is all hard to watch - people warning her, Ernest taking advantage of her trust fund, her desire to try whatever it took to please him, to sacrifice anything and everything she wanted for him. It also has some beautiful moments of Paris, Shakespeare and Co, and all things European. 
—-

“It would be the hardest lesson of my marriage, discovering the flaw in this thinking. I couldn’t reach into every part of Ernest and he didn’t want me to. He needed me to make him feel safe and backed up, yes, the same way I needed him. But he also liked that he could disappear into his work, away from me. And return when he wanted to.” Ch 8

“Chasing your past is a lousy, rotten game, isn’t it?”
…
“Memory couldn’t be counted on. Time was unreliable and everything dissolved and died—even or especially when it looked like life. Like spring. All around us, the grass grew. Birds made a living racket in the trees. The sun beat down with promise.” Ch 15

“That’s what terrible, sordid situations did to you, made you act crazily, against your own truths, against your self.” Ch 41

“I was just the early wife, the Paris wife.”
…
“Life was painfully pure and simple and good, and I believe Ernest was his best self then. I got the very best of him. We got the best of each other.” Epilogue

Fabled bookstore in Waco chose this for their February bookclub pick, and of course, it was a Good Morning America pick. 

I’m not a fantasy reader, but this book really captured my attention at the beginning. The audio by Natalie Naudus was so well done. Set in ancient China, inspired by the legend of four beauties. She is recruited to be a concubine for a king to serve as a spy for her kingdom. Apparently, these kingdoms are real, and parts of the story are true Chinese history and some of it is legend. 

Once she starts training and goes to the king, it kind of slows down in parts to me, but her relationship with the king was intriguing. I loved this strong female character.

“When men say they want a lover, what they often mean is they want a mirror; they wish to see themselves reflected back at them in the best light.” Ch 6

“Before I made him love me, I needed to make him remember me.” Ch 11

“Be beautiful, be charming, be the most coveted girl in the room, or else you will be nothing. For men, it was so easy; the path to power was so direct. But we had to manipulate and maneuver and claw our way to gain half of what they did.” Ch 14

This hopeful book examines a woman later in life who wonders what is possible for her.

After Josephine is alone and inherits her family home, she replaces the front door with the original, which has  a magical inscription “Among the whispering and the stars.” When she repeats it and goes through the door, she walks into the home in the 1920s and the age of prohibition. Her great grandmother once owned a speakeasy in the basement, and as things begin disappearing, she realizes her own life may be in danger if she doesn’t change the past. 

Josephine has a past similar to many women:
“Whenever you dated a guy, you always became whatever he was or what he needed. You stopped being Josephine.” Ch 1

And when she is on her own, she questions who she is. Through this journey, she rediscovers herself.

I loved how she introduced time travel:
“Let me tell you what my mother told me about wishes,” he continued, “something I’ve never forgotten. Those made from the deepest part of someone’s heart, even the broken pieces, well, they can dramatically change a life. The stronger the wish, the stronger the possibility of change. She said that time listens to our wishes.” Ch 6

You’re certainly hopeful.”
Leo winked at her. “Is there any other way to live?”
Ch 16

“Sometimes my mind takes off without my permission and frets about the future.” Ch 18 - This is me!

“In this moment, life was both complicated and achingly exquisite.” Ch 18

Adorable! The cozy romance I didn’t know I needed!

This is second in a series. I didn’t know that when I started (and it is a standalone), but if you like to read series in order, you might consider it first.

In this one, Emily goes to Ireland to be the assistant for her favorite author, Siobhan. She has read all of Siobhan’s series multiple times and has multiple copies of her books, but the last one ended 10 years ago and left the reader hanging at suspense. She wants to help the author figure out the ending and finish the series. 

Siobhan happens to own a charming bookstore where Emily will be working part of the day, where she meets grumpy Kieran, who wants to see her shipped back home.

It has all the cozy romance vibes you could want to- the bookstore, bookish people, Irish scenery, and a little heat. 

I felt like the spice was fun, and not too explicit. Maybe 🌶️🌶️ writing was just charming! 

“So what you’re saying is I’m your muscle.”
Kier poked my bicep with his finger and said, “I think of you as more the voice of reason.” P211

Unique from many bookish books, this one is about a main character (Emma) who doesn’t love working in a bookstore. Her family has owned one, and as her parents retired (basically) and her sister got married and is moving on, Emma feels dumped on by her family. She decides to go on a long break to Amherst to re-discover her inner Emmitt Dickenson.

“Emily Dickinson had never married or had children, and she’d been brilliant. She’d found peace and beauty all around her. Why couldn’t I do the same?” Ch 1

“Emily spent her time observing and contemplating things I regularly buzzed past without noticing.” Ch 11

I enjoyed a lot of the Emily Dickenson references and information in this book - the museum, quotes:

“If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain.” Ch 1

And facts:

“Folks found drafts of her poems on the backs of old recipe cards and flour labels after her death.” Ch 14

While she is at this old house, she has a series of disasters, and she gets occasional help from Davis. I wouldn’t really call this a romance, I would classify it more as a getting reacquainted with yourself and your family, type of book. She attempts, gardening, baking and poetry writing:

“Alone, not lonely  
Enjoying a pretty day  
Learning to be fine” ch 9

I feel like this haiku she writes, represents much of her time at the house, as she contemplates her family relationships, people around her in Amherst, and what she wants to do moving forward.

I loved this information about Wuthering Heights, because I’m hoping to read it soon:
“… I read it every year when the snow begins to fall.”