The is an amazing book which recounts the experiences of the author visiting 7 locations and reflecting on the visit as a Black male. The research on the legacy of slavery adds to the recollections of his experiences and shines a light on why history is so important to learn, even if it makes us uncomfortable.

Very good story, shows how far bravery can take you. Also demonstrates how judgmental people can be, and why it is bad for society.

Behold the Dreamers gives a realistic picture of African immigrants struggling to make a life in New York City, and it feels timely even though it takes place in 2008. The best part of the book for me was getting to see things through the eyes of Jendi and Neni Jonga, with their dreams and expectations of life in America running up against a broken immigration system, cultural naivete and their own bad decision-making. I'm giving it 3.5 stars (rounded down here to 3) because some parts of the story fell flat for me, especially those involving the wealthy white family whose lives become intertwined with those of the Jongas after they hire Jendi as their chauffeur.

This is another one of those books where the journey is really fun, but then the author proves that writing endings is really challenging. You can have a great idea for an atmospheric mystery, but you also need to have a great idea for how you are going to close things out, which Sarah Pearse didn't seem to have. The book follows Detective Elin Warner, who isn't really a detective anymore after a case went wrong and she decided to take some extended leave. Elin and her boyfriend, Will, have arrived at a hotel in the Swiss Alps to celebrate her brother's engagement. The hotel just happens to also be a really creepy former sanatorium, because the designer thought that would be a super cool place to build a fancy hotel. To continue with wonderful decision making skills, Elin also decides that this would be a fitting trip to accuse her brother of possibly killing their younger sibling during a childhood vacation. Because, hey, nothing says "happy engagement!" like "did you kill our brother, though? You can totally tell me if you did." There are just a few problems with this plan - first, Elin doesn't really talk to her brother anymore, so finding time to accuse him of this is a challenge. Second, his fiancée just went missing, and it may or may not be in poor taste to accuse him of anything given those circumstances. Third, there is an avalanche approaching the hotel, so they really all need to leave. And, of course, fourth, some people are starting to get murdered. After staying behind and getting trapped from the avalanche, Elin has to really deal with all her personal issues at once because she is the only cop-like person on the mountain who can investigate anything. No one can come help until the weather clears, which probably won't be for a while. There were a few issues I had with the book, two of which I found to be major issues. The first is that this was a fun crime novel, but ultimately it seems like no one could ever be punished for the murders that happened here. Elin isn't a detective in this area, as she points out again and again, and she tends to disobey the orders she is given (or just hides what she is doing because if she doesn't ask permission, she isn't doing anything wrong?) so it seems like everything she has gathered would be utterly useless. She also has a weird tendency to tell everyone around her everything she has discovered. Like, maybe they don't all need to know every piece of evidence you have gathered? You know someone around here is killing people, maybe stop telling everyone everything and you'd have better luck. The second is that the ending was just really dumb. The culprit didn't really make any sense, and it seemed like a massive overreaction for that person to be the one responsible for everything. I think it's worth it for the fun atmosphere of being trapped in the mountains with a killer, as long as you keep your expectations in line for the ending.

Miss Graham heads to post-war Germany to assist in rebuilding the infrastructure. In addition to this task, she is requested to locate her former lover and Nazi war criminal who is wanted by the Americans and British for different outcomes. The story is dense with history and intense--recommended if one really enjoys a thoroughly researched and intriguing story.

"I...I don't know. I mean he was my son. Our son. But what he was doing was wrong. I have to believe that. Because if I don't, then everything I did was a mistake." Never thought I could sympathize with a book set around a whole lot of racist and homophobic people, but dang. This book is brutal and tender, face-paced and beautiful. Set in Virginia, we follow Buddy Lee and Ike, two fathers who have just gone through the unimaginable - their married sons were killed in broad daylight, for reasons unknown. Both fathers are struggling with not only the grief of losing their child, but the knowledge that they will never be able to repair the broken relationship between them that formed when they were unable to accept the fact that their children were gay. When the police mark the case as inactive, the men realize that the only chance they have of putting things right is by using their criminal past to their advantage, and going after whoever put their boys in the ground. You could feel the grief all the characters were feeling, and the action scenes were really well done. This book is as violent as it is beautiful, and I really hope they do wind up making it into a movie - I think it has the chance to be an amazing adaptation.

I loved this book - juicy, edge-of-your-seat thriller was what I wanted and it delivered! I was nervous that I maybe wouldn't be able to sleep or something afterwards but it did not have that effect - just good, clean who-done-it. So happy I read it!

Having parents from the neighboring country of Singapore (which was once part of Malaysia) and family from Malaysia, it was very interesting to read about Malaysian history and the race riots. These also happened in Singapore and was one of the reasons why Singapore became independent in the first place. Additionally, I really enjoyed the main character and the portrayal of OCD.

This wasn't bad, it just wasn't really good either. I almost DNF'd within the first 50 pages, because the writing just didn't work for me and I found myself skimming just to see if anything good was going to happen. Once the actual story started to pick up and Jake starts to become famous it was a little more interesting to read, but the slow start definitely hindered things. I also found it unfortunate that for a book about an author becoming famous for his best-selling book with a twist you can't see coming...you could see every twist coming here. There was nothing at all surprising, to the point where I was sure that the author was being obvious in an attempt to confuse me when the real plot twist happened. I don't regret reading it, but there was nothing really memorable or stand out here, sadly.

It was a great book to just relax and enjoy reading.