Library Loot Mini-Reviews: Grifters, Tragedy and Second Chances

 I've hit a spat of decent reads lately, which is a good thing since so far 2021 is looking like my 3-Star reads are going to outpace my 4-Star reads (ugh, this always depresses me).  I'm still in the throes of "obligation reading" but in between I've been picking up books and audiobooks via The Day Job and that's where my recent hits have been.

Confident Women: Swindlers, Grifters, and Shapeshifters of the Feminine Persuasion by Tori Telfer is an engrossing listen on audiobook and the kind of true crime book I'd recommend to folks who 1) like true crime but 2) don't want a bunch of serial killer gore.  Telfer breaks down her chapters by "types" of female grifters: The Glitterati, the Spirituals, the Drifters etc.  She delves somewhat into what fascinates us about con artists (especially female con artists...) but it's not a deep dive psychological treatise.  This is very much a book for the layperson. 

For Romancelandia I highly recommend this book because there's a chapter on the woman who grifted Jude Deveraux and whoa doggie - it is A. STORY!  I left that chapter feeling very sorry for Deveraux, who comes off as a very unhappy and lonely woman (during that time).  Even before the tragic death of her young son, her ex-husband comes off as a sack of human garbage.  I've had the pleasure of meeting Deveraux once, when I'm pretty sure I babbled like a moron.  After this book, if I met her again, I'd have to hold myself back from engulfing her in a hug.

Final Grade = B

Monday's Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson was another listen/read on audio that I picked up as it was billed as a YA suspense novel. Set in Washington D.C., Charlotte returns from a summer trip to Georgia ready to start her final year of middle school.  Her BFF, Monday Charles, didn't write all summer - which is weird because they promised to write each other.  Now it's the first day of the 8th grade and Monday isn't there.  She's also not there the next day, or the next day, or the next day.  Worse still?  Nobody seems overly concerned about Monday's vanishing act except for Charlotte.  She goes to every grown adult we tell kids to go to when they suspect there is trouble: she tells teachers, her parents, she even goes to Monday's house and is roundly dismissed by Monday's piece of crap mother.  As the year wears on and Monday is still "not here" - Charlotte finds herself struggling.

A truth universally acknowledged is that teen readers tend to love tragedies and this book is the very definition of a tragedy.  It's hard to write a review for a book where almost everything is a spoiler, but I think it's fairly safe to say that things don't end well for Monday.  There's some pretty disgusting bullying at school (the popular rumor is that Monday and Charlotte are lesbians, which is seen as gross and shocking to the student population because kids are the literal worst), and also abuse.  I ugly-cried my way through probably the last 25% of this book.  

The writings structure is interesting - Jackson time-hops between "The Before," "The After" and "A Year Before The Before" so you get real time and flashbacks.  So even though Monday is never on page in the present, you still feel as the reader that you're getting to know her - which makes the impact of the finale that much more powerful.

A final note that as difficult and tragic as this story is to read, I appreciated that the author crafted a stable family unit for Charlotte but didn't make it all sunshine and roses.  She has two parents who love her, but her mother also has a history of miscarriages which casts a long shadow.  I can't think of any of my Romancelandia friends going for this book (it's a tragedy), but it's dynamite - truly.  

Final Grade = A

Not Quite A Husband by Sherry Thomas was a book club pick for my monthly Zoom chat with my "book girlies."  Byrony Asquith is a female doctor in Victorian London - practical, pragmatic, and aloof.  So it's a shock when she proposes marriage to Leo Marsden, Golden Boy Renaissance man.  The sun rises and sets on Leo basically.  However their marriage barely lasts the honeymoon, an annulment is granted, and Byrony essentially runs away - hitting one distant locale after another until she finally lands in middle-of-nowhere India.  That's where Leo finds her, sent by Byrony's half-sister to bring her home to London because their father is ill.

First things first, I love late Victorian era and Thomas can write her face off.  Also, I'm a sucker for a great marriage-in-trouble / second chance romance plus Byrony is older than Leo (4 years, I think?).  So there's a lot here I'm inclined to love.  So what's the problem?

Well, there's a heaping ton of dubious consent in this book - most of it occurring in the flashback scenes with Leo creeping into his wife's bedroom to have sex with her while she sleeps (yes, really) - this being after she's made it known that she's not terribly welcoming of his "attentions."  Then there's the story behind why their marriage failed - it's...wow. The hero isn't much of a hero for that and quite frankly I wanted Byrony to leave behind scorched Earth. I also felt for the first half like I was missing half of this story.  OK, so I haven't read the first book (Delicious) but given the hero in that book is a former boss for Leo's brother - like, how much could I have possibly been missing by reading out of order? (My guess? Not much).

But, here's the thing - this gets better the further I got into it and Thomas writes so well.  There's a scene at the end between the heroine and her father that is pure gold.  We find out that Leo had a thing for Byrony since they were kids (they grew up on neighboring estates) and I'm typically on board for prickly, complicated heroines.  Byrony is a very interesting heroine.

This was good, but with problems - the dubious consent being the biggest issue for me.  I think it's worth reading, but I'm not sure I'd recommend anyone drop their life and read it Right. Now.

Final Grade = B-