THE CANDID LIFE OF MEENA DAVE – Namrata Patel
Loved this one and felt particularly connected to it because I am also a photographer in Boston haha 🙂
Meena has inherited a gorgeous downtown Boston apartment from someone she doesn’t know. She is a world-traveler, so she pauses her normal life and goes to Boston try and figure out why it was left to her. Along the way she meets a quirky collection of aunties, a cute dog and an even cuter guy across the hall.
There was grief, self-discovery, good food, found family, beautiful imagery of the best city, and a sweet, slow love story. Just all the good feels.
SOMETHING WILD AND WONDERFUL – Anita Kelly
Loved. Outdoorsy, adventurous, strangers to lovers, loving yourself, finding yourself, spicy moments, found family, healing from religious trauma. Probably my fave of the year so far. Lex+Ben forever.
LOVE INTEREST – Clare Gilmore
(Out in October 2023)
Cutie workplace rom com set in NYC. Casey + Alex were good leads, each with some baggage and things to figure out, but their chemistry was great/spicy. Good banter and pop culture references. Casey’s internal monologues were a bit melodramatic at points. I typically find workplace stuff boring, but this was interesting, a mix of finance and creative department shop talk. The side characters were great — Miriam and Brijesh deserve their own story. Appreciated the food allergy representation!
LEIGH HOWARD and the GHOSTS of SIMMONS-PIERCE MANOR – Shawn M. Warner
Viral TikTok sensation // Interesting premise – Leigh goes to live with her distant relatives and meets the fabled ghosts who live there. Leigh is trying to solve her parent’s murder. The ghosts teach her some life lessons along the way (though it was much less about ghosts than I anticipated, and more about solving the murder.)
I liked the main character. She had her flaws (like too quick to trust people), but overall she was likeable and root-for-able, though I wish she was 20 instead of 16, the things that happened seemed a little far fetched for a 16 year old (and the cover illustrates someone much older).
I thought there were too many side characters. We didn’t really get to know anyone else besides Leigh and the little ghost. I wish Myra had more of a presence, she seemed like a cool person.
A little unbelievable at times (and not the ghost parts), but overall it was action-filled and had a light mystery throughout.
TW: self-harm, attempted suic*de, murder (in the past), gun use.