We have a decent mix of books to review today: some historical fiction, a couple of family dramas, and a mystery, plus a comical essay collection and a thought-provoking book on prayer. Let’s get to the reviews!
MIDDLE GRADE
Number the Stars, by Lois Lowry—(Review written mostly by Charleston, with some assistance from me and contributions from the twins.)
Unlike many books, Number the Stars starts at a very fast pace. . . literally. Best friends Annemarie and Ellen are running as fast as they can through the streets of their home city of Copenhagen, Denmark. They continue practicing for a school race, leaving Annemarie’s little sister in the dust. Just as they reach top speed, their playful race comes to an end as German soldiers block their path. It’s been like this for three years, German soldiers everywhere. The Danish people are unable to do a thing without being questioned.
After an unofficial interrogation, the girls return home and Ellen learns that she and everyone else who practices the Jewish religion is in grave danger. Soon Annemarie’s family is risking their lives to save Ellen and as many of their Jewish friends as they can.
This book is a creative and successful attempt to teach modern children about the historic events of WWII, using fictional characters to show what it was like for the Danish people and citizens in other countries captured by the Germans. I (Charleston) liked this imagined view of a nonfiction event, but I felt that the book was too short and there was not much plot. I also struggled to remember the names of the characters and I thought it was tricky to track what was going on in the story. This book could have been better if the climax was more distinct and the story had more twists and turns leading up to the main action so that it was more exciting and faster-paced.
Over all, our family liked this quite a bit. Kali gave this book five stars because she liked the girls who are the main characters. Sully gave it 4.5 stars and liked how everyone was brave towards the soldiers. Mom remembers reading this when she was in elementary school; it was one of her first forays into WWII literature, and left a deep impression. With this rereading she especially appreciated the gentle introduction to an important but dark period in history, but she agrees with Charleston that the story was a bit thin.
Charleston’s Rating: 3.5 Stars // Kalinda’s Rating: 5 Stars // Sullivan’s Rating: 4.5 Stars // Mom’s Rating: 4 Stars // Book Format: Print
FICTION
The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 4, by Beth Brower—My audiobook consumption was slow this month so I only made it through one more volume of this delightful series, but Emma continues to be a bright spot in my reading life. This volume starts off with an unexpected (but unforgettable) slapstick moment that finds Emma in a most uncomfortable situation after going undercover as a stage performer. The humor soon segues to tenderness as we get more insight into Emma’s backstory involving a devastating loss. Emma grapples with her grief and receives support from the sweetest of friends.
I enjoyed the emotional depth we see here, and the blossoming relationships that continue to keep me guessing as to what may happen next. Emma’s heartfelt narration shines, bringing both humanity and relatability into every anecdote, hilarious or heartbreaking.
My Rating: 4 Stars // Book Format: Audiobook
The Night We Lost Him, by Laura Dave—Liam Nooone was a self-made hotel magnate, known around the world for his luxury boutique hotels. But nobody REALLY knew Liam Noone—not his three ex-wives, or the business associates with whom he shared complicated dealings, or his three children whom he loved, albeit imperfectly. When Liam falls to his death on his cliffside California property, the authorities rule it as a suicide. But Liam’s daughter Nora (a successful New York architect) and her estranged brother, Sam, are not so sure. The brother and sister head for California to piece together the truth of their father’s death, and in doing so they uncover more than they ever knew about his life and legacy.
This one definitely suffers from mismarketing: it’s billed as a thriller, and while the story revolves around a mystery, it’s much more of a family saga, with Nora and Sam’s investigation interspersed with flashbacks from various points in their father’s life. Normally this family element would be a positive for me as I tend to love a mystery/thriller with some depth and I’m a huge fan of complicated family stories. Here, though, the family drama and slow-as-molasses backstory weigh down what might have been a compelling mystery plot.
Unlikable characters factor in to the story’s slowness, but a bigger problem is that the members of this family are simply uninteresting, making it hard for me to feel engaged in their journey or invested in their plight. While I could appreciate the themes of grief, mistimed love, and self discovery, the various romantic relationships are EXTREMELY dysfunctional, with the novel’s core love story—which I’m assuming is meant to be romantic?—so problematic that it overshadows every potentially redemptive subplot and trivializes the relationships that actually hold some merit.
One bright spot is the architectural element introduced through Nora and her father’s work. I really enjoyed descriptions of the various homes and other building projects. There are also some interesting plot twists that keep the novel afloat just as it threatens to drown in a sea of humdrum investigations, a cumbersome character count, manufactured deception, overwrought emotional angst, and ill-placed philosophizing. There is just too much going on with this book that has the makings of something pretty great but never fully awakens to its potential.
My Rating: 3 Stars // Book Format: Kindle
Culpability, by Bruce Holsinger—The Cassidy-Shaw family is headed to 17-year-old Charlie’s lacrosse tournament when their autonomous minivan collides with an oncoming car, instantly killing two individuals. Though the car was driving itself, Charlie is in the driver’s seat while attorney Noah rides shotgun, using the drive to catch up on work from his laptop. In the backseat, Noah’s wife Lorelei (an ethicist known for her work in artificial intelligence) is also absorbed in her work while their daughters Izzy and Alice occupy themselves on their phones.
Still reeling from an accident with no easily-discernible culprit, the Cassidy-Shaws retreat to Chesapeake Bay for a week of recuperation and family bonding. But the family remains broken in more than just body as each member holds onto guilt surrounding the crash, realizing that nobody in the minivan was truly innocent that day. When tech mogul Daniel Monet and his daughter Eurydice arrive at a neighboring home, the fates of these two families become intertwined, jeopardizing the precarious balance within the Cassidy-Shaw family algorithm and launching them into an ethical quandary that may prove impossible to endure unscathed.
This is a book I WISH were science fiction or perhaps even horror, yet the story here—with omnipresent AI in its various forms—is all too realistic. And the inclusion of this technology—peripheral in some points, central in others—opens the door for important discussion about everything from chatbots to smart houses, the power and limitations of AI, the gatekeepers of this technology and what we can expect of them, and the various ethical issues surrounding its usage in improving our lives, solving crime, waging war, providing (or hindering) connection, and more. Culpability asks huge questions about what we can and can’t expect from AI, and what we should expect from our fellow humans as this technology becomes ubiquitous.
While this novel excels as a launching point for discussion, it is more than just a chilling and provocative look at the implications of AI: it is also a complicated family story that delves into issues of compatibility, the nuances of relationship and loyalty, mental illness (Lorelei’s OCD is a prominent restorative justice, accountability, the butterfly effect, survivor’s guilt, the ways we protect and shield our loved ones, and the age-old question of how well we really know the ones closest to us. This combination of timeless AND timely themes, along with an effective story structure (Noah’s insightful narration is interspersed with Alice’s text threads, Lorelei’s philosophical research, and other relevant documents) and propulsive drama, make this a book I will not soon forget. That said, the hard subject matter, combined with my complicated feelings (read: loathing/terror/denial) regarding AI, kept this from being a book I would say I really ENJOYED (mostly because I don’t enjoy reading things that scare me).
I cosign other reviewers’ recommendation to pair this with What Kind of Paradise which takes a slightly broader view of this subject that can no longer be ignored.
(Side note that is completely irrelevant for nearly every other reader: I was shocked/tickled by the smart house named “Calinda,” as I’ve never seen my daughter’s name [albeit “mis”-spelled] appear in a novel! Less surprising was a main character named Charlie—which was a little jarring here given the nature of the story and this particular character!)
My Rating: 4.5 Stars (Rounded to 4 Stars on Goodreads) // Book Format: Kindle
When the Time Comes, by Gabrielle Meyer—Like her mother and grandmother before her, Libby is a Time-Crosser with the unique ability to live simultaneous lives in two time periods—one in 1774 Colonial Williamsburg and one in 1914 Gilded Age New York City. When she falls asleep in one life, she wakes up in the other and it’s as if no time has passed at all. Her body and spirit and memories carry over between lives, but her experiences in the two times could not be more different.
In 1774, Libby is a public printer for the House of Burgesses and the Royal Governor, working hard to provide for her family and fighting for the Patriot cause as the American Revolution approaches. In 1914, Libby is a pampered socialite whose mother is set on marrying her off to an English marquess. Libby knows that she won’t lead two lives indefinitely: on her twenty-first birthday, she must choose one path and forfeit the other. The decision won’t be an easy one: will she choose the easier and more glamorous life of 1914? Or will she opt to stay with her mother (the only other person aware of her time-crossing ability) and the man that she loves in 1774? With war looming in both time periods, and complicating family factors entering the picture, the decision may not be Libby’s to make.
I picked this up on the recommendation from a friend and fellow devotee of time travel stories, and I’m so happy to have discovered a great new series! The premise is a fun (albeit mind-bending one) and I enjoyed spending time in two historical periods and noticing the similarities and differences between the two. We even get a third time period factored in because Libby’s mother once traveled between 1700s Williamsburg and the 1990s. I LOVED the thought experiment of what it would be like to live two lives at once, and enjoyed thinking through which years I’d like to inhabit and how I might utilize this gift.
Believability can be an issue with time travel stories. Usually I don’t have too much trouble suspending my disbelief, but the number of complicated factors and world-building “rules” here made it a little harder than usual for me to get behind the concept with this one. It didn’t help that both time periods lack a strong sense of place, making it a challenge to keep up with the vacillating timelines. And while I love that this is Christian fiction and that it introduces the element of God’s sovereignty and His plans into a complicated storyline, it was hard to get on board with aspects of the dual-life premise that don’t entirely fit into a Christian worldview. I liked seeing Libby work through her trust in God and grow in her faith and spiritual fruit, but there is also some moral stickiness that goes unaddressed, such as whether or not it is appropriate for Libby to carry on with a romantic relationship in one life while she is married in the other, or whether she has permission to let her knowledge of history play into her decisions. . . .
Setting these issues aside, this was an enjoyable read with a surprisingly suspenseful storyline that kept me guessing until the end. Definitely a solid if not outstanding book, and an excellent introduction to a series I’ll likely continue.
My Rating: 4 Stars // Book Format: Kindle
Secrets of Happiness, by Joan Silber—Ethan is a young adult, making his way as a lawyer in New York City, when he discovers that much of his supposedly idyllic childhood was a lie: his father had been leading a double life, keeping a second family—a Thai wife and two sons who lived in Queens. Ethan grapples with his father’s infidelity while struggling to find true love for himself.
Ethan’s story is the papery surface in this onion of a story, each peeled layer revealing a new central character with story to tell—stories of difficult childhoods and fruitless quests for love, for money, for success. The seven protagonists are very loosely related, making brief cameos in one another’s tales, and their lives are vastly different. But we have overlapping themes (prodigal siblings, unconventional caretakers, free-spirited parents and entitled children), and in each of these individuals’ stories we witness the universal thirst for connection, meaning, and genuine happiness.
Joan Silber is not a new author, but I’m new to her work and was drawn to her writing (this story in particular) by descriptions of her unconventional narrative structures. I LOVE a novel made up of interconnecting short stories, and I really did enjoy this aspect of the novel. It was fun to dip in and out of these individuals’ lives, only to see them resurface in the most unexpected points in another narrator’s story, and I had fun guessing at how each story would unfold (and even whether or not we would get to find out!). Intriguing literary elements keep the sometimes-slow plot moving at a decent clip, as do the multilayered themes that manifest differently within each story.
As a work of art, Secrets of Happiness is an indisputable success. Unfortunately, the literary merit wasn’t enough to push this one into the “love it” category for me. While I really appreciated the multi-narrator format, I had a hard time differentiating the narrative voices of characters that were objectively quite different but whose narration proved indistinguishable from one another. It didn’t help that there is a whole lot more telling than showing going on in these pages, or that our narrators are largely unsympathetic, narcissistic, and hypocritical characters making terrible choices. Ultimately, it was these unlikable characters and their objectionable worldviews that landed this high-potential book squarely in mediocre territory for me.
My Rating: 3 Stars // Book Format: Kindle
NONFICTION
Big Dumb Eyes: Stories from a Simpler Mind, by Nate Bargatze—I know that Nate Bargatze is hugely popular, but I was entirely unfamiliar with the comedian (beyond basic name recognition) until this past spring when I heard him interviewed on The Daily podcast. I liked his “aw shucks” demeanor and deadpan humor and was inspired to place a library hold on his collection of comedic essays. And what a treat I was delivered when that hold came through this month!
This collection is essentially the written/audiobook form of a stand-up comedy act, with Nate offering observations on everything from his southern upbringing as the son of a magician, to meeting his beautiful and extremely frugal wife, to tender moments with his daughter. Nate has plenty to say about food (McDonald’s cheeseburgers: good, onion: bad, Whataburger: overrated) and his family’s various quirks and what it’s like to make ends meet as someone who barely graduated from high school.
The subject matter might not seem all that original, which is part of the draw: Nate is able to find the humor in the most ordinary situations, leaving his readers (or at least THIS reader) laughing out loud in total recognition. I love that his essays are free of profanity, innuendo, political jabs, or anything remotely controversial (unless amusement parks and dog stories are controversial for you), and that he doesn’t disparage others with his jokes. Every story—even the ones that poke good-natured fun at his loved ones—is warmhearted and genuinely funny.
Audio is definitely the way to go with this book that is well produced and delivered with impeccable timing and pitch-perfect tone.
My Rating: 4.5 Stars (Rounded to 4 Stars on Goodreads) // Book Format: Audiobook
Walking with God: How to Hear His Voice, by John Eldredge—In this book that is part spiritual guide and part memoir, Eldredge offers a series of stories of what it looks like to walk with God over the course of a year, modeling the type of relational intimacy we too might cultivate with our Heavenly Father. This was my fall selection for a book related to my word for 2025 and it left me with a lot to think about. I shared a full review plus some personal selections in a recent post.
My Rating: 4 Stars // Book Format: Kindle
What have YOU been reading lately? Any titles to recommend? And if you’ve read any of the books I reviewed today, I’d love to hear what you thought!
