CROSS MY HEART
Megan Collins
I was staying in Morro Bay when I read this book, in the midst of summer, in the middle of a heat wave. I received three books in the span of ten seconds. All from Atria with the subject line “ Your weekend is booked.”
This was the one I was the most excited about. The one I couldn’t wait to read. I picked it up and finished it that afternoon. I loved it and I think you will too. It comes out in the middle of January, and you should add it to your Goodreads WANT TO READ shelf, because you don’t want to be late on this one. Someone will assuredly spoil it for you.
Her parents have been married for a lifetime. Love and fidelity is all she knows. She spends her days selling wedding gowns and half-baked dreams to young soon-to-be brides. And spends her nights pondering her future.
She was engaged at one point. In a life that feels like it was lived by someone else. He left her at the altar and literally broke her heart. Days after the break-up she would find her heart did not work the same way. the way it should. To heal she would need a new heart. She would need someone to die.
The man she messages at night is a writer. His emails are golden. With her new heart, she falls in love. What she doesn’t know is what parts of her have fallen, and what he doesn’t know is her little secret, for now.
This was good—really good. The concept is a winner and is successfully brought to fruition. The twists had me at every turn. I enjoyed Collin’s prior thriller, THE FAMILY PLOT, but I liked this one more.
Desperation was a running theme that propelled every character and informed their choices. It was palpable and you could feel it in every move they made. Each character introduced was more desperate than the last. And you really couldn’t tell how far they would go to get what they wanted. And I did no know how it would end until the final pages.
So good, so fun. One of best coming next year and there are a lot of contenders.
Thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for the advanced copy and booking my weekend!
CROSS MY HEART…⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
THE LAST ONE AT THE WEDDING
Jason Rekulak
His daughter, not estranged but definitely distant, calls out of the blue, out of turn, and announces she is getting married and would like him to come and be a part of the festivities. Overly delighted and willing to do almost anything for his daughter, he wishes her congratulations, although he has reservations about the man she will marry.
Her fiancé, is the son of a man richer than the pate they will serve at reception. His kind of rich is called wealth and there isn’t much his money can’t buy, including his daughter’s adoration.
He asks if he can contribute to the wedding, he is not wealthy. He has made his living as a UPS driver for years. He can’t do a lot, but he has the kind of love for his daughter that can only come free, the kind of affection that only comes gratuitously.
When he arrives at the wedding there are things that don’t line up correctly. What should be isn’t and what is should never have been. He worries for his daughter and her future. But before he can stand up against the union at the ceremony, he finds there are bigger things to worry about than his daughter’s future marriage.
He must ensure that they all make it out of the ceremony alive, and he must ensure he is not THE LAST ONE AT THE WEDDING.
This is my second Rekulak. I liked HIDDEN PICTURES and although the twist raised a few hairs at the back of my neck, I enjoyed his writing and couldn’t wait to see what he had come up with in THE LAST ONE AT THE WEDDING.
I think where Rekulak shines is in the creation of his characters. If you’ve read a lot of thrillers you’ll find that just as a director only makes several iterations of one movie, sometimes it feels like writers only have one story to tell, one character portrait to examine, and one dynamic to exploit.
However, Rekulak seems to have several face cards in his hand, and he takes the pot in THE LAST ONE AT THE WEDDING with ease as if he knew what the river held, how the turn would play out, how all the cards would land.
He’s the winner here and you will be too after picking up THE LAST ONE AT THE WEDDING.
Out now!
Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy! It was a pleasure to read, and I can’t wait for the next one.
THE LAST ONE AT THE WEDDING…⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
THE SEQUEL
Jean Hanff Korelitz
Let me just spoil the whole thing for you…THE SEQUEL is not as good as THE PLOT, it’s not as good as everyone is saying it is, and it’s not as good as you want it to be. It is, however, good.
Anna is now a widow. Her late husband was a notorious author whose fame was tarnished by talk of plagiarism. But Anna ended all the rumors when she buried her husband last year. She doesn’t have much to prove to anyone but herself. She decides to publish her own book one day, because how hard can it be?
When the book is published with overwhelming success, she find herself in a curious situation that goes beyond what her next book should be about. She again has a situation to take care of. She again has a rumor to bury, and again she must prove to herself that she is the writer of her own story.
The reason why you are seeing it on everyone’s Fall to read list is because it is about the publishing industry and people in the publishing industry love nothing more than a self-indulgent bookish book.
Now I didn’t say that the book was bad, I gave it four stars. I listened to the audiobook, and it’s narrated by Julia Whelan. Whelan is nothing if not superb and she handles the material like the professional narrator she is.
I thought THE PLOT was more imaginative and that might be because it was to me. I had not read a book like it. It felt original but assuredly it was inspired by something that had come before it, I simply had not read it yet.
Jordan Harper said, and Jean Hanff Korelitz seconded “Everything is a sequel…” Essentially there are no “new” ideas. It’s the best line in the book and it is parroted itself. It is a sequel.
Should you pre-order it, reserve it at the library, put a hold on it on Libby…yes!
Should you tell your friends about it…you’ll have to let me know!
Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy!
Out next Tuesday, October 1, 2024.
Let’s talk about it in the comments!
THE SEQUEL…⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
For this title, I recommend:
Cien por Ciento
2021 Bonarda from Mendoza, Argentina
If you liked this review…you might like:
The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz
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