I really thought Jonathan Parks-Ramage’s ‘Yes Daddy’ was one fo those fun frothy summer reads. I knew nothing about it beforehand except for the fact that it had a gay protagonist. And the beginning of the book kind of felt that way. It turns out this book is a modern gothic thriller. That genre is normally not my cup of tea but I found the book very interesting, and as a natter of fact couldn’t stop reading it till the end – I finished it in three sittings. This book takes you to a wild journey and is totally unpredictable. You think it is going some place but takes a left turn somewhere. There were times I felt infuriated with Jonah, the main character/narrator b uty that even made the book more engrossing for me. I have to say that thsi is pretty well-written and is an auspicious debut novel from Mr. Parks-Ramage. I bet it becomes a summer hit.
‘The Sunlit Night’ is a movie with a promise unfulfilled. It is based on a book, and stars a charming Jenny Slate, playing a character that could have been annoying. She plays Frances, who goes to Lofoten, a city in Northern Norway, to help a famous artist, played by Fridtjov Såheim, paint a house that will put his name on the map (literally) He is not nice to him at first, but eventually warms up – this could have been the central part of the story, and I would have been fine with it, but we get a sub story line with Frances meeting Yasha, who she remembers from Brooklyn – that romance is half-baked so you do not get a sense on why the characters are drawn to each other – and I felt the film almost forgets about the initial storyline, the one that drew me into the film. And they they add some weird characters and I am totally lost, and disappointed. I felt that the film was choppy and I bet the book and screenplay, both by Rebecca Dinerstein, was richer.
I was looking forward to reading ‘Big Summer’ by Jennifer Weiner. Based on the synopsis, it sounded like one of those big summer books, one I can easily dig into while relaxing. And yes, it started out like that – a plus size influencer, Daphne, gets invited to the wedding of the year by her former BFF, and I thought this was going to be a story of renewed friendships and all that went with that. But no, the book veers into something else – a murder mystery. I mean, I am not averse to that, but really, it’s not what I paid for, And while the ‘mystery’ part started out well, I didn’t think it was as interesting to me as I thought it would be. In the end, this book became a big disappointment.
I think I was at about the seventh chapter of Mason Deaver’s ‘I Wish You All the Best’ when I exclaimed to myself, ‘this is very good.’ Nowadays it’s getting rare and rare for me to really emotionally connect with art, and I can say i connected with this one. The book is about Ben, who in the beginning of the book comes out to their parents as non-binary. he gets immediately thrown out in the middle of the night – in thirty degree weather with just his socks on. They call their sister who they have not seen in ten years, and they start to live with her, and study at a new school. So you could just imagine what they – and the readers – have to go through. I found myself riveted by everything – as he gets paralyzed by what is happening to him. They meet Nathan, and they fall in love with him. I have to admit this gave me a lot insight about what non binary is – I have not really been educating myself as deeply as I should have. But all in all, this is a fantastic story about self-acceptance and finding yourself in a world where you have to pick yourself up.
I have a pile of TBR books, and when I finish one, it is always tough for me to choose what to read next – do I go serious, or light? My mood changes a lot, and there have been many instances that I would give up on something a couple of pages after starting it. But I just randomly chose to read ‘Swimming In the Dark’ by Tomasz Jedrowski next. I knew this was a gay love story, and nothing else about it. I find out later that the title comes with a lot of hype, a bidding war for its rights when it became available.
I wanted something light and easy to read this time around, so I thought Jack Harbon’s ‘Meet Cute Club’ fit that bill. The title alludes to the weekly book club that main character Jordan holds in his house, basically a discussion book of romance novels. He meets Rex, who works at the local book store, and, well, you can probably can tell what happens next. If you want something warm and familiar, go for this, but do not expect depth. It’s cute, and with everything that is happening in the world right now, that could be refreshing.
Luha Thoughts 