Sunday Salon: Three New Books Reviewed

 

Reviews

Kinda Korean: Stories from an American Life by Joan Sung

Genre: memoir

This novel is about a Korean-American girl's immigrant Tiger Mom, but it's about much more too that's just as, if not more, important. It's about growing up Asian in a society that "fetishizes" and "hypersexualizes" Asian woman. The writer discusses being assaulted so many times and "brainwashed" to believe that you should live in shame for who you are.

I found the memoir enlightening about the author's experiences and challenges faced by triple threats - having immigrant parents, being Asian, and being an Asian woman. To be made to feel that "being different" is always a bad thing. It was interesting that even a positive for Asians, being considered studious and hardworking, could be turned into a stereotype that implied that Asians could not experience racial discrimination.

The honest and forthright stories are compelling, amazing, and disturbing. It's a good thing that so many Asian women are finally speaking up, writing books, memoirs, histories that tell their stories and show their points of view and experiences.

I would encourage all readers to read this book, to understand in more depth the immigrant experience in the U.S., which may be similar to those in other countries as well.

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for a copy of this book.

The Hunter's Daughter by Nicola Solvinic
Genre: magical realism, mystery, suspense

Anna Koray is a cop, but she grew up with a father skilled in outdoor living and the natural world - a hunter, who taught her about the forest and the creatures that live there. When Anna was still a teen, her father was executed for the murders of young women,. But now young women are being found again in the forests or woods, prepared in a way reminiscent of her father's methods. And Anna is on the case, no one knowing her real name as a child or who her father is.

The suspense was in finding out slowly about Anna's childhood relationship with her hunter father through frequent flashbacks in the narration. The element of magic in her father's belief in a demanding nature god adds to the strange atmosphere of the story. Anna's conflict between law and order and her love for her father add a lot to the understanding of a complex father-daughter relationship to the natural world.

A haunting, magical story mixed in with crime solving, family drama, suspense, and mystery.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book

Code Word Romance by Carlie Walker

Genre: romantic mystery

I like the setting on the Amalfi Coast of Italy, and the plot that involves two women who could be identical twins. Drama follows when Max is asked to impersonate her double, Sofia, a prime minister of a small European country who is on a trip to Italy.

The romantic interest makes the story more interesting, as Max's CIA handler on the trip, Flynn, is a former lover. There is suspense when the two have to flee and hide from would be assassins who want to take out the prime minister Sofia. The book lost me, though, when Max morphs into another personality, suddenly becoming a daredevil involved in drama on the scene. I wish she had remained in her original character, someone who needs Flynn's help to dodge killers while she impersonates Sofia.

I did enjoy the first part of the book, however.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book

Currently reading

She Doesn't Have a Clue by Jenny Elder Moke

 Mystery writers meet publishers at an up scale wedding on an island in the Pacific Northwest. This romantic mystery becomes a locked room trope as weather traps them all there with a murderer. I'm enjoying it so far.....

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book

What are you reading or watching this week?

Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves 

Sunday Salon: Reading at 2:30 a.m.

Waking too early.

Listening to light rain bouncing off the roof drains, I reach for my phone. Too early to play my word game- the new one isn’t up as yet. The other games don’t interest me right now. 

My phone shows me the ebooks I have partially read. Which one to start again, to put me back to sleep, maybe? 

Do I want to follow that penurious artist in the French countryside village who has returned to his room at the inn, having been discharged from the hospital after cutting off his own ear in a mental frenzy? Sounds like Van Gogh’s story. 

Or do I want to get on the motorcycle of a rider in Italy who doesn’t know how to control his vehicle in busy streets?  Or perhaps visit the writers trapped with a murderer on a small, privately owned Greek island? 

Decide on a motorcycle ride in Italy? Not very sleep inducing, but it suits my present mood. 

I opt instead to get up and write this Sunday post.

Books that didn't help me get back to sleep

Madame Sorel's Lodger by Tracy Wise, Publication Feb. 4, 2025, Type Eighteen Books, NetGalley

I am enjoying reading about the Artist who stays in a little French village called A-, at Madame Sorel's lodgings, gets up to paint all day in the fields overlooking a farm, and drinks at the nearby inn. The Artist is short of money, relies on his brother in Paris to send him funds. I'm at the point where the Artist, who is subject to strange buzzing in his head that sends him almost mad, has cut off his ear in one of his frenzies, and just returned from the hospital.  

Sounds like the Artist might be modeled after the life of Van Gogh. I'll keep on reading. I am disappointed, though, that there was no mention of the famous artist anywhere in the book, in the prologue, afterword, or acknowledgements. 

Writers and Liars by Carol Goodman, Publication: July 15, 2025; William Morrow, NetGalley

I do like mysteries set on Greek islands!

Several writers have been invited by Argos to his secluded island, to take part in a writing retreat, the second one he has organized over the years.

However, Argos is found dead when the writers arrive and they find themselves stranded on the island with no radio contact with the mainland or outside world. This is a classic locker-room type mystery and I don't know where it's going, but the writers are on the island with a murderer! 

Code Word Romance by Carlie Walker, March 18, 2025; Berkley, NetGalley

I love setting and the plot. When the CIA offers would-be chef Max a deal, five milliion dollars to pretend to be Sofia, a female prime minister on her annual Italian vacation, cash strapped Max doesn't hesitate and heads for the Amalfi coast in Italy. The book opens with a chase, when Max on a bike is being chased by the mafia who want her dead. 

The three books above that I tried to read in the early morning, did not put me back to sleep. Instead they got me going to my office to write this Can't Sleep post.

Note: The ebooks above are all ARCs from NetGalley, and not yet published or available in libraries or bookstores.  

Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves