“Ayesha at Last” by Uzma Jalaluddin

Title: Ayesha at Last
Author: Uzma Jalaluddin
Publisher: Berkley
Year: 2018
Genre(s): fiction, romance, contemporary
Part of a Series: No
Rating: 

Why I read it: It was a Once Upon a Book Club pick

Summary: Ayesha lives surrounded by Toronto’s Muslim community. She is a poet but has put her plans on hold to pursue teaching, deemed a more sensible career. It will also help her pay off her debts to her wealthy uncle, who then ropes her into helping his daughter Hafsa plan a conference at their mosque.

Khalid is also surrounded by Toronto’s Muslim community. He has been raised to be more traditional, from how he dresses to how he interacts with people. It leads to some problems at work and when he first meets Ayesha, the two clash.

As they work together on the conference, they get to know each other and realize their own prejudices. They grow as people and have a chance to become more – if they are willing to defy the expectations of everyone around them.

“Bad Girls Throughout History: 100 Remarkable Women Who Changed the World” by Ann Shen

Title: Bad Girls Throughout History: 100 Remarkable Women Who Changed the World
Author: Ann Shen
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Year: 2016
Genre(s): nonfiction, history, contemporary
Part of a Series: No
Rating: 

Why I read it: Because I saw it in the gift shop at the Museum of American History and was intrigued.

Summary:  Ann Shen gives short blurbs about the lives and accomplishments of 100 “bad girls” who changed their worlds in multiple realms – politics, entertainment, science, faith, literature, technology, fashion, arts, etc.

“Housewitch” by Katie Schickel

Title: “Housewitch”
Author: Katie Schickel
Publisher: Forge
Year: 2015
Genre(s): (sub) urban fantasy, contemporary fantasy
Part of a Series: No
Rating: 

Why I read it: Once Upon a Book Club

Summary: Alison Darling just wants to be like the other moms in her small New England town of Monrovia. She wants to wear nice clothing, go to yoga and drink lattes as she carts her perfect children around. Instead, she’s barely holding it together as she and her husband raise their three children – Gillian, Henry and Sophie.

When the mother who abandoned her as a child dies, Alison finds herself swept up in a strange world of witchcraft. At the same time, she is invited to join the Glamor Girls – Monrovia’s version of Mary Kay or Avon. She soon learns that all their beauty products are just potions and that they use magic to attain their perfect life. For the first time, Alison feels like she finally belongs.

However, Alison soon learns there is a price to pay for all of that and she wonders if it is worth it. Will she give in or will she find the strength to embrace her true heritage in time to protect her family and town from the Glamor Girls?

“What the Wind Knows” by Amy Harmon

Title: “What the Wind Knows”
Author: Amy Harmon
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Year: 2019
Genre(s): historical romance, some fantastical elements
Part of a Series: No
Rating: 

Why I read it: Recommended by Amazon and I enjoyed Harmon’s Sand and Ash

Summary: Following the death of her beloved grandfather, best-selling author Anne Gallagher travels to Ireland to honor his final wish – for his ashes to be spread on one particular lough near where he grew up in Ireland. While out on the lough, she is caught in a strange mist and when she is rescued, she finds herself no longer in 2001 but in 1921. This Ireland is a dangerous place as it is a county on the brink of war, trying to gain independence from the British.

Anne is taken in by Dr. Thomas Smith, who has mistaken her for her great-grandmother. She is surprised to find her grandfather as a young boy and struggles to adjust to the 1920s as she is forced to pretend she is someone else. Will she find a way back to her time? Or is she destined to become a part of the history she has fervently studied?

“Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance” by Ruth Emmie Lang

Title: “Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance”
Author: Ruth Emmie Lang
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Year: 2017
Genre(s): fantasy, contemporary, coming-of-age, some romance
Part of a Series: No
Rating: 

Why I read it: Once Upon a Book Club selection

Summary: Weylyn Gray is far from average. After being orphaned, he was raised for a bit by wolves. He’s always felt more comfortable with animals and has a special connection to them. Weylyn also appears to have control over nature itself – including stopping a tornado one Christmas. He travels the country and crosses paths with many people, amazing them and changing their lives. But he keeps himself separate from other people due to his powers, slowly learning that maybe he isn’t dangerous after all.

My Books of 2019

This past year wasn't a good one for my reading. I only got a few books read, which you probably could tell by the lack of reviews this year. Hopefully, 2020 will bring more books and reviews.

Happy 2020!

“The Beautiful Strangers” by Camille Di Maio

Title: The Beautiful Strangers
Author: Camille Di Maio
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Year: 2019
Genre(s): historical fiction, romance
Part of a Series: No
Rating: 

Why I read it: Once Upon a Book Club selection

Summary: In 1958, Kate Morgan’s life looks pretty mundane—destined to work in her family’s San Francisco restaurant until she’s old or marries a longtime friend. She dreams of a life like the one she sees in the movies and longs to do more with her life.

Then her grandfather, who suffers from dementia, charges her to go to the Hotel del Coronado and find “the beautiful stranger.” Kate does so and manages to secure a job working on the set of the new Billy Wilder movie, Some Like It Hot. Kate finds herself surrounded by faces she’s only seen on a movie screen—Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe herself. But she doesn’t have time to be starstruck—she has to find the beautiful stranger and fast.

Her first clue comes when she finds out she shares the name of the hotel’s ghost. Is there a connection between her family and the ghost? And is she the beautiful stranger? As Kate digs deeper into the mystery, she learns more about her family’s history—and herself.