A Secret Garden in Paris (2024) by Sophie Beaumont #ParisinJuly2026 #20BOS26

🌺 Paris and gardens are two of my favorites subjects, so of course I was delighted to win this book from #ParisinJuly2025 - thanks Emma! This book is about three women who have two things in common - they are in struggles, and they love flowers or gardens. First, there's Australian Emma who is grieving over her mother's death. There's a secret of her mother's past which she had had no time to tell Emma before her death - a secret about Emma's biological father's identity. Now, sad and wondering, Emma is staying at her Parisian grandmother's; and to busy herself, she decided to make over the garden, which had been neglected after her grandfather's death. One day, she visited a flower stall at the Marché aux Fleurs, located at île de la cité - a site which is actually in my "go-to" list of Paris (fingers crossed that I would have chance to visit one day, but if not, let me just dream about). 🌺 Arielle Lunel, a young widow with two little children (twins), works as florist at one of the stall, and she's an unusual one. To Arielle, flowers are not just plants, but they are also representing human emotion. That's why many of her customers visits the stall regularly whenever they need a flower arrangement. Just like this young man, David, who visits everyday, either to buy flowers for his mother's grave, or for ehm...other personal reason, who knows? Arielle's problem is related with her controlling parent-in-law who are proposing trying to take away the twins. Last but not least, there's Charlotte Marigny, a successful middle-aged garden designer with a marriage problem. Her husband Tom has been gradually reserved and withdrawn from his wife and children. Distressed, Charlotte fled to Paris; and during one of her wanderings, she visited Arielle's flower stall. 🌺 After presenting each of these three women's cause of troubles, which lead them to fruitful friendship and beautiful journey around flowers and gardens - their mutual passion - the story dwindles a little. The solution to each problem is too easy and too sudden, and felt rushed. I get the idea of using Paris and gardens for a healing point, but still, they are too suddenly resolved. Emma's garden, for instance, despite the fact that she's never been gardening before, and only learns from internet and book, yet the embryo of the garden 'miraculously' emerged just like that. Charlotte's husband also 'miraculously' awaken from his previous reserve - I had even thought it a much more serious case, like the beginning of Parkinson's disease, for example, which often changes the sufferer into a more reserved and withdrawn personality. 🌺 Fortunately, the gardens provided a much better angle for this book. My favorite part is when Emma had to take a friend of a friend (a tourist from Australia) on a garden tour (visiting gardens around Paris, in place of the usual tourist landmarks). It was her grandmother Mattie - my favorite character in this book, by the way - who came up with a nicely-curated tour. Not only that, Mattie - who had worked as illustrator - also produced a specially illustrated map for the tour, with a little scribbled note on the historical background. I would love to pay for such a tour - if only for the illustrated map. The route is as follows: they started apparently from Place des Vosges, and headed for Jardin de l'hotel de Sully, through the door to the secret garden. From there, to Rue des Rosiers, to visit Jardin des Rosiers through the grilled entrance into the hidden garden behind, where they enjoyed quiet times, accompanied by birdsongs. Next, they walked across Pont Marie, over Ile Saint Louis, to have lunch at one of the cafes or bistros, and ice cream at Berthillon at Rue Saint-Louis. Of course, after that they had to visit the Marché aux Fleurs at île de la cité. Their last destination was Jardin de Luxembourg, where the dancing faun statue "reminds us that in letting go, in trusting to the moment, we open ourselves to the gift of joy." [p.153] 🌺 So, you can see, that this book's main charm is in the gardens and flowers, and everything that they represented, either hope, joy, love, or just our connection to the nature. And I loved this book solely for that reason (and a little for the character of Mattie)! Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Read for:

Paris in July 2026 hosted by Emma @ Words and Peace

20 Books of Summer 2026 hosted by Annabel @ AnnaBookBel

Hidden in Paris (2011) by Corine Gantz #ParisinJuly2026 #20BOS26

 

🎀 It was on the summer solstice in Paris, that this story had begun. The French has their own celebration on that day, La Fête de la Musique. Annie, an American housewife, has been living in a big house in the 16e arrondissement de Paris, with her husband Johnny and three little boys. Theirs are a happy marriage - or so thought Annie - until, on the way to some dinner and dancing, Johnny grimly told Annie that he "have something I have to tell you". You can only imagine what it was, because in the next chapter, Annie (already at home) got news that Johnny had been killed in a car accident - a combination of booze and speed. 🎀 Fast forward to two and a half year later, Annie still lives in the same house. The boys apparently have accepted their father's death - they never even said anything about their dad, at least that I remember. But Annie, well, she's doing it rather badly. Annie becomes anti-social, neglecting her appearance, and her home - especially her kitchen - and her boys have been her only solace and protection. Them, and an old friend called Lucas, a blue blooded handsome Frenchman, who had been a loyal friend of Annie and Johnny. Nowadays, he comes visiting almost everyday, and the only friend Annie has. It was he who's get Annie realizes of her financial problem, and advised her to sell the house. But Annie loves her house so much, and finally came out with a solution: tenants! 🎀 Two American women and a young man are the three tenants that ends up living with Annie - three persons bringing three personal problems to Paris. Lola with her (verbally) abusive husband and unhappy marriage; Althea with her anorexia, rooted from abusive mother. Last but not least, there's Jared, who is drained after caring for his dying mother and grieved over her death. Annie thinks the womanizer Lucas is attracted to Lola, with her Hollywood celebrity appearance, but she's completely wrong. Lucas had been in love with her for ages. And when nobody would think the emaciated Althea is anyway attractive, Jared is instantly in love with her on first sight. Lola, on the other hand, is always haunted by the thought that she's done a crime by bringing the children to France without Mark's knowledge. 🎀 Along the book, all these characters are struggling and evolving amidst the charm of Parisian "joie de vivre" mannerism, its people and culture, and its culinary (brought in perfection at Annie's kitchen most of the time). Annie's home is the catalyst of the changes in every character, especially in Lola and Althea. That, and the charm of Paris, of course. I could not relate to any of the characters, but I felt pity for Althea. Her mother was a true bit*h, and she should have not raise any children! I was a little surprised with Annie - she befriended Lola easily and took to herself to help Lola with her problem, but ignored Althea completely. Why hasn't she tried to reach for her? If not befriend her - which was impossible as Althea closed the door for social interaction - at least tried to sympathize and more understanding, instead of ignoring her completely. Luckily, there's Jared. All in all, this wasn't a bad book, at least it entertains you with the Parisian vibes. Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Read for: Paris in July 2026 hosted by Emma @ Words and Peace

20 Books of Summer 2026 hosted by Annabel @ AnnaBookBel

To Fetch A Thief (2010) by Spencer Quinn #20BOS26

 

🎪 When I stumbled upon this new-to-me mystery series, which is narrated by a dog (who can resist such a thing? not I), I knew instantly I have to read it some day. I decided to start not from the beginning, but on the third book, which has a circus element; I always love circus element in a book. It turns out to be: a great FUN! It has everything I expected it to have, and perhaps more...

🎪 Bernie Little is a Private Investigator, the owner of Little Detective Agency. And Chet, his partner, is a dog. He (Chet, not Bernie) was the best leaper of his class at K-9 police school. However, he failed the last leap due to something or other. But it didn't matter, because that was when he first met Bernie Little. And the rest was history, so the humans always say. Little Detective Agency isn't a big one, Bernie has always been in need of money. But that isn't any problem for them both. Their deep bond and partnership, makes them always happy; what do you need more? The story begins when they are on a divorce case, and the client gives Bernie tickets to a circus. So they went to the circus, Bernie, Chet, and Bernie's son, who currently lives with Bernie's ex wife. To their disappointment, the main attraction, an elephant show, was cancelled because Peanut, the elephant, and its trainer have been missing. 🎪 Popo the clown hired Bernie and Chet to investigate the case, since the police (the officer is Bernie's friend) seem to be disinterested. They (the police), along with the circus owner, believe that the trainer, who is the most humane trainer in treating animals, must have been crossed to the animal-justice-organization side. But Popo knew better, or did he? And how do you think can an elephant gone missing just like that without any witness? Well, thanks to Chet's wonderful smelling skill, he found Peanut's trace, and that leads to another, and another, that in no time, Chet and Bernie must deal with bigger dangers than they have ever expected. 🎪 On the whole, this is a combination of crime mystery (there are the theft and a murder - or is it?), and adventure. On those two aspects themselves, this is fun to read. But the biggest attraction, that makes this series a success, is how Quinn portrays Chet, the dog narrator, he is as genuine as he is plausible. It feels like you are really viewing the world, and the humans, from a dog's perspective. Chet understands English; he's capable of following what Bernie and other humans are saying. Well, at least, common English conversation; he has difficulties, though, to follow many slangs and sayings, which to him is confusing. And these are the few funniest parts of the book, which would often throw you with uncontrollable laughter. Here's an example, which takes place after Chet, unknowing to Bernie, has saved his beloved human friend:

"I've got a strong suspicion you saved my bacon last night." [Bernie to Chet] Bacon? There'd been bacon last night? Cheetos, yes, but that was it. Had I somehow missed out on bacon?

🎪 And that kind of thing happens a lot. It's even funnier when there's food mentioned, like in that instance, bacon. Because food, Bernie, and their adventure together fighting the crime, were uppermost in Chet's thoughts. Those, and many confusing human's manner. Another funny thing is Chet's memory. He could remember some of what Bernie said to him, or the thugs they have caught in the past, but he is always lost somewhere in the middle of a long thought. And he would always be like "...what was that again? It's not important, the important thing is...." Chet is soo adorable! I loved how Quinn let Chet be just a dog. He might understand what humans are saying, but other than that, Chet behaves and thinks as a normal animal. I suspect, that is one factor that make people love Chet, and this series, so much. Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Read for: 20 Books of Summer 2026 hosted by Annabel @ AnnaBookBel

Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge 2026 hosted by Carol @ Carol's Notebook

The Guest Cat (2001) by Takashi Hiraide #ReadingtheMeow2026 #20BOS26

 

🐈 My second (and last) read for #ReadingtheMeow2026 hosted by Mallika, is a Japanese semi-autobiographical novel by an acclaimed Japanese poet Takashi Hiraide. It was based on Hiraide's own part of life, where, as freelancers, he and his wife had lived in a small rented cottage in the quiet part of Tokyo, and their attachment to a certain cat. Hiraide wrote this as a novella, with his poetical style of writing, combining a beautiful narrative with a touching story of relationship between human and animal, spiced up with a little mystery at the end.

🐈 The narrator, like Hiraide himself, is a freelance writer, who rents a small cottage which had been a kind of pavilion to a big house, where the landlady lives. The cottage is uniquely placed, tucked into a corner down a kind of zigzagging alley. I love how Hiraide describes the cottage and the alley, which he calls Lightning Alley - due to its zigzag shape, similar to lightning (I suddenly thought of Harry Potter's scar!) Anyway, a cat invites herself to their kitchen one day. This cat, which is called Chibi, does not seem to belong to anyone around the neighborhood. Sure, the boy next door is kind of the formal owner, but in reality, Chibi just let herself being fed and played with for only a certain time by the boy. At night she sleeps at the narrator's cottage, inside a box in the cupboard. The cat let itself in from a tiny gap at the window (Chibi is a small cat). At a particular time every morning, she would leave, just in time to see the neighbor boy go to school.

🐈 Despite Chibi's seemingly 'aloofness' (she never allows anyone touch her, and she never lets out even a single meow), the narrator and his wife are soon attached to her. The guest cat brings bright shine to their existence, and slowly but surely, Chibi seems to be part of their family. Just like how Chibi had first appeared at their cottage, one day she just stopped coming. This distressed the young couple not a little - just as if their child is suddenly missing. They wait and wait in vain, then one day the author heard from his neighbor (mother of the boy who 'owns' Chibi), that the cat had been found lifeless in a nearby street corner, presumably having been hit by a passing vehicle. You can imagine how grief-stricken the couple had become.
🐈 The depth of the narrator and his wife's attachment to Chibi could be seen from how they were distressed when the landlady decided to sell the house, which meant that they have to move out. The thought that they would be far away from where Chibi had been buried (under her favorite tree), forced them to find a house nearby from where they could still take a look at the tree. It is clear that they did not have a proper closure to Chibi's tragic demise. And that's understandable, because of the little mystery that surrounds the beloved cat's death. I won't reveal anything here; it is sufficed to say that human's relationship with animals and dealing with grief are two most important aspects of this novella. The ending is ambiguous, highlighting the fact that we could never know everything we want to, and some tragedy could remain mystery forever. One just needs to try to cope with it, and move on.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read for:

Reading the Meow 2026

hosted by Mallika @ Literary Potpourri

20 Books of Summer 2026
hosted by Annabel @ AnnaBookBel

The Narrowboat Summer (2020) by Anne Youngson #20BOS26

 

🚤 I don't know why, but to me, living in a boat feel somehow romantic. Though in reality I would probably reject the idea, reading about life in a narrowboat on a journey through the canals, brings a wholesome satisfaction in me. That's how I know that I would enjoy this book immensely. And I wasn't wrong. This is a story of second chances, of three women - complete strangers - who have one thing in common: they are at a crossroads in life. One rainy afternoon, Eve and Sally's path crossed right in front of a moored narrowboat, when they were walking on the towpath along a canal. Just then, a dog's howling from inside the narrowboat attracted their attention. Just when they were about to help the dog, thinking that it has been left alone inside the boat, the owner came.

🚤 Anastasia has been living in the narrowboat called Number One for years. Now that she's about seventy years old, Anastasia is probably terminally ill and in need of an operation. However, the narrowboat also needs to be brought to a certain place for its annual maintenance. How would she do that? Enter Eve and Sally. Several cups of tea later, the three uncommonly women found a mutual solution to all of their predicaments. Eve and Sally would live in the narrowboat and drive it to its destination, while Anastasia would stay in Eve's apartment during her treatment. Eve has just resigned from her work, while Sally has just decided to leave her husband. Living a slow life on board a narrowboat would provide them chance to think about their future. 🚤 Having never been in a narrowboat before, let alone driving it, Eve and Sally is doing a great job following every instructions from Anastasia during their very short training. I had a lot of fun reading about the technicality of operating a narrowboat, including the locks. I even checked Google about the these locks and lock gates, which have much busied our two heroines during their journey; and it is pretty interesting. Canal locks change the water level in the canal so boats can go up and down hills. A lock is a stretch of canal that is blocked off at each end by solid gates. These gates are opened or closed to allow water to fill or drain from the lock.

a lock gate in the canal

So, if you think driving a narrowboat along the canal is a leisurely business, you'll be surprised at the amount of physical efforts involved. Sally and Eve dividing the jobs of steering the boat and working the locks alternately; I can't imagine when Anastasia did all by herself! 🚤 Along their journey, not only do they sorting out their predicament and thinking about their future with all the options, Eve and Sally also make friends with other boaters. The most memorable ones are a nineteen-year-old girl called Trompette, who partners a musical story-teller drug-addict called Billy. Billy used to tells stories to a circle of audience, and gets little money of it. Trompette is a good knitter, and sells her craft also for a little money. I learned too, that there are usually story-tellers or other entertainer like that amongst the narrowboaters. They all seem to form an attachment as a loose family - canal-family if you like. They know each others, and during their time on board the Number One, other boaters used to ask about Anastasia. The other memorable friend they make is Arthur - the elusive old man who used to hitchhike narrowboats in the past, and who knew a lot about Anastasia's past - something that Eve and Sally are eager to learn about, but Anastasia never discloses. 🚤 On the whole, it is a lovely story about friendship, second chances, and the charm of operating a narrowboat along the canals, where you can have a slow living while appreciating the landscape and the nature. It's full with eccentric yet amiable characters, and though plotless, Youngson fills the story with her great portrayal of the scenery and the canal-boaters' life. Loved everything about it, including how it ended up nicely for everyone - well, almost!
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2 

Read for:

20 Books of Summer 2026 hosted by Annabel @ AnnaBookBel

The One and Only Ivan (2012) by Katherine Applegate

 

🦍 The one and only Ivan is a silverback gorilla. He was 'picked' from his kind by humans, and currently lives at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade, where humans can watch him through the glass walls of his 'domain'. Since he grew up in human's home (Mack - the owner of the mall), Ivan has been living like human. His favorite food is yogurt raisin, his favorite pastime is either watching western movies on TV (he has his own TV inside his domain), or working on his art. Yes, Ivan also likes to paint. In short, Ivan is more human than a gorilla should be. He even only vaguely remember about the jungle, and his childhood. Why, he's contented living in his domain (well, a cage really, but her prefers to call it domain). Ivan also lives with his friends - an elderly elephant called Stella, who lives at the next door cage (Ivan's best friend), and Bob, the stray dog, who loves to sleep on Ivan's belly. 🦍 Ivan's favorite human friend is Julia, the keeper's daughter, who also loves to draw and paint. In fact, Ivan gets his art supplies from her. In short, Ivan would have been living contentedly as he is, if Ruby has never come. Ruby is a baby elephant, the Mall's newest 'member', whom they have just taken from her family. They place her together with old Stella. The fact is, Stella is too old to perform anymore with her injured leg, so they need a fresh 'talent' to train. Unlike Ivan, Stella always remembers her previous life in a zoo (elephant remembers, right?), and she's used to tell the others that there are two kinds of human: the kind and the mean; humans in the zoo are the kind one. And when Ruby was 'chastised' by Mack (you wouldn't want to know the details) to learn her actions, something stirred deep in Stella and Ivan's heart. But Stella could do nothing while she's dying, so it's left to Ivan. The question is, what can he do, while he can't even save himself? (Ivan eventually understands what living in a cage means). 🦍 This book is not what I have expected when I picked it up. It has the charming aspects of funny, cute, and tender in it; but it also touches you much deeper. Applegate did a wonderful job of portraying the nature of each animal. And as I was listening to the audiobook, I would also say that Adam Grupper has been equally wonderful in giving each animal character its perfect personification - the sturdy Ivan, the foolish and constantly-chattering Ruby, the graceful Stella, and the laid-back Bob. Ivan is the perfect hero in this alright, but I think I have a soft spot for Bob, haha! On the whole, this is a bittersweet story with a vivid characterization, and also a great way to learn more, in particular, about gorilla. 🦍 I learned an even more intriguing fact from one of Goodreads' reviews, that one and only Ivan was actually derived from a real life story of a gorilla who was also called Ivan. The real Ivan, who was famous as the "Shopping Mall Gorilla", lived - or caged - in a Department Store after being kidnapped from its habitat in Congo. It was then moved - after some protests from some animal protection groups, to Zoo Atlanta, in their Ford African Tropical Forest Exhibit, which mimics the landscape of a natural habitat. You can read more about it here. Needless to say, when I said this is a bittersweet story, I believe the 'sweet' is for the young adult readers' still tender hearts. The reality is much gloomier. When Stella pictured the zoo as a dream place, and also later on when Ruby had been installed safely and happily in a zoo, my thoughts actually were: a zoo is definitely better than a cage, but it's not a place for wild animals. How do we know that they were really happy? They shouldn't have been kidnapped from the first. Now they would never have survived in the wilds. In the end, I had a lot of thinking, and I was not happy. Ah... how I wish I have read this book while I was much more innocent! :( Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Minor Disturbances at Grand Life Apartments (2023) by Hema Sukumar

 

🏬 I picked up this book in the first place because it has double appeals to me. First of all, I myself live in an apartment, and any book about apartment dwellers almost always attracts me. Secondly, this debut novel of Hema Sukumar is set in an Asian country, which I'd feel most related, as I am also an Indonesian. As a debut novel, I'm quite surprised to find this book as perfectly balanced in depth and its cultural background. It's not overly done - like many others Asian books might - and it is neither too light nor too heavy to read. It is a pleasant slice-of-life book with plausible story-line and amiable but realistic characters.

🏬 Grand Life Apartments is located in the beautiful coastal city of Chennai, India, and is owned by Mr. Mani, who had changed his ancestor's home to be a modern and comfortable middle-class apartment building. It is never mentioned how many residences it originally has, but the main characters in the story are three of them: Kamala (a widow-dentist), Revathi (a single thirty-ish career woman), and Jason (a young British chef). Each of them currently has their own struggles. Kamala's daughter, Lakshmi, had 'thrown a bomb' when she told her mother that she's a lesbian. Like most Asian mothers (I am terribly lucky that my mother isn't in this category), Kamala has been fretting and chasing Lakshmi to have a boyfriend and married properly, probably since she graduated college. It's a typical problem faced by most Asian girls. 

🏬 Similar to Lakshmi's previous ordeal, Reva has also been 'terrorized' by her mother to marry soon. This including sending possible candidates every now and then, continually asking updates on her dates with the respective candidates, and tons of hints about marriage. Reva, also typical of Asian daughters, is always torn between obeying her mother and making her happy, and pursuing her own choice of living - a suitable career and a partner she really wants to get married with. Jason, on the other hand, is a 'fish-out-of-water', so to speak. He fled from England following a painful break with his girlfriend, and just picking Chennai to be his temporary dwelling. His struggles is in burying the painful past, and adapting into his new surroundings. I loved it that both Kamala and Reva, as well as Mani, are accepting him with warm affection, that he soon finds his bearing, and starts to feeling himself again in no time (while cooking more and more Indian cuisine, which won Kamala's approval).

🏬 In the midst of their personal struggles, though, there looming another problem that will have had bigger impact on all of them. A big construction company has been pestering Mani to sell the apartment building, as they wanted to build more modern ones. Mani refused to do that, and now they are throwing threats. A lawyer (Kamala's best friend) is bringing the case to the court, and now they are just waiting nervously for their future. Would Kamala have to leave this apartment she has been staying for years, and must she find a new one in her age? Would Jason, who has just found his bearing in this apartment, have to be moving again? Amid these restless moments, Kamala, Reva, and Jason are always affectionately supporting each other. Could they save Grand Life Apartments in the end?

🏬 Like I said, this book turned out to be not like typical Asian novels. We are entertained by many Indian cuisines and cultural manners, as well as the most-related (to me personally) atmosphere of hot sunny days, mosquitoes, and the ceiling fan humming. But Sukumar could weave the story around it beautifully, that it never felt overwhelming. It is a gentle, heartwarming story, and Hema Sukumar is definitely my new favorite Asian writer!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Dim Sum of All Fears (2018) by Vivien Chien

 

🥟 Following Vivien Chien's debut series of Death by Dumpling, which was okay. I have bigger expectation for the second book, but unfortunately, this has been a little off for me. Our sleuth, Lana Lee, has plan for her future career, which does not involve waiting tables at the family restaurant of Ho Lee Noodle House, located in the Asian Village business complex. However, just days before her coming interview at a professional office, her parents announced that they would go to Taiwan visiting an ailing old aunt. And, they wanted Lana to be in charge of the restaurant, instead of her sister Anna May, who's studying for her law school - which is more important than Lana's current idle existence. And so, like a dutiful Asian child, she relented.

🥟 Lana has just been befriended another bookworm like herself. A few months ago, a newlywed couple opened a souvenir store next door, and the wife has been a kind and gentle person, with whom Lana liked to book-shopping with. However, a terrible thing happened; one night the couple was brutally murdered inside their shop. So, once again, Lana couldn't stop herself from meddling and snooping into the murder case; intending to find the murderer of such a kind woman who was her friend. Of course, her new boyfriend, Detective Adam Trudeau, scolded her for snooping, but how can she resisted anyway? Not when 

🥟 First of all, there's too many dramas around the sleuthing. And I always hate drama! Well, a few dramas to spice up is still okay, but in this case, a lot of Lana's sleuthing came from these dramas. The dead husband turned out to have not one, but two ex wives (and possibly one ex-lover - I have lost count). And 'miraculously' these ex wives, as well as the wife's sister, suddenly wanted to have heart-to-heart conversations with Lana. That must have been every detective's dream, I guess. I still can't imagine how strangers would want to speak with a friend of the deceased (after a murder, no less). And they even answered some of Lana's questions, which would have seemed suspicious to normal people. But there you are. These ex wives even turned tantrums at times. :( Maybe too many women in a crime story is a bad idea after all!

🥟 What I would have expected from this second book of the series, are, first, more noodle dishes to be mentioned, in particular the dim sum that the writer put in the title. Where is the dim sum?! And secondly, I would love to see more of Adam Trudeau, the detective, in the investigation, rather than only as possible boy friend to the sleuth, and who would later on appear when she was in danger, saved her, while saying: I've-told-you-not-to-snoop-look-what-you've-done' kind of thing. Which what I assumed to have happened, because - a confession - I ditched the book right after the murderer was revealed. I lost interest of the final outcome. So, that's how this series turned up for me. A promising one at first, but unfortunately, a disappointing sequel. Another series I won't continue in the future. If only Vivien Chien had put some dim sums into it, I would probably change my mind, because I love noodles and dim sums, and that had been my reason of picking this series in the first place.

Rating: ⭐⭐1/2

Read for:

Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge 2026

hosted by Carol @ Carol's Notebook

Cooking with Fernet Branca (2004) by James Hamilton-Paterson

 

🍷 Imagine reading a P.D. Wodehouse, but move the setting to Tuscany, then reduce the usual slapstick moments - just a tiny bit, and add a lot of cooking and unusual recipes - there, you'll get Cooking with Fernet Branca. The story revolve around two foreign neighbors in a secluded hilltop cottages in Tuscany. Both the rather snobbish English man Gerald Samper, and the Voynovian (a crime-riddled ex-Soviet Republic country) Marta, had bought their cottages from the same agent, who promised them both that they could live peacefully. A promise, which, with time, proved to be broken. Through a series of misunderstandings and, a Wodehousian miss-timing, the two neighbors found themselves struggled to maintain harmony.

🍷 Gerald "Gerry" Samper is a ghostwriter in need of a secluded place to write about the lives of celebrities - from sportsman to boyband singer. When he's in a foul mood, Samper turns to experimental cooking - creating eccentric dishes - with questionable delectability - with unusual ingredient-pairings. Indeed, one time, when he heard someone said "cats among the pigeons", Samper literally thought of cooking with cat's and pigeon's meat. Ugh! He even "shares" some of his recipes in the book. One particular ingredient that later on becomes his staple is Fernet Branca, a distinctive liquor first introduced by his new neighbor, Marta. Marta is a songwriter, who is currently hired by a famous Italian movie director named Pacini. When the unlikely neighbors first met, both thought the other ridiculous persons who's bragging about his/her profession. And these 'misunderstandings' continually formed hilarious moments throughout the book.

🍷 What makes this book more distinctive, is the structure. The story is told from both Gerald and Marta's point of view. They told it alternately, describing most of the scenes from their perspectives. While Gerald's parts are mostly read like a diary with additional cooking recipes, Marta's contains of diary and letters to her sister. From these, we gather little by little of her social and familial background, which spices up the story a bit. I won't describe the plot in details, for not spoiling it for you, because the comedic quality of this book depends on the plot and timing. In short, it's a delightful and hilarious book, with quirky characters, more quirky dishes, and with the rural Tuscany summer vibes - sprinkled with tiny glimpses of the glamourous world of celebrities, movie making, and helicopters.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

A Single Thread (2019) by Tracy Chevalier

 

🧵 I always love reading historical fictions about cathedral. Ken Follet's The Pillars of the Earth has started it all; I have read it twice so far, and my favorite part isn't the drama, but the cathedral. It has become a character in itself. One the other hand, Tracy Chevalier is one of my all time favorite historical fiction writers. Her Girl with a Pearl Earring is on another level; she is a tremendous writer, and I love her themes, which is usually around art or craft. A Single Thread even combines two of these - art and craft - as its main theme: embroidery and bell ringing. Both are related to the cathedral, and they have similarity too; both produce something that people might disregard as mere accessories in their worship and prayers. However, both need precision and focus in order to produce something beautiful. And the people who work on it took their efforts seriously, it's not a mere pastimes or hobby, but more of a second career. 

🧵 In the 1930s of Winchester, there are women who dedicated their times and energies to gather every Tuesday and Thursday night to embroider kneelers, bench cushions, alms bags, etc. They formed an embroidery club, and each has her own task to embroider. The end product would then be presented during a mass, and would be placed in the cathedral. Violet Speedwell, a spinster of thirty eight years old, was  the newest member. After losing, first her brother, then her fiancé during WWI, Violet has been living alone with her forever-criticizing mother. And when she's having had enough, she moved out from her home, and worked as typist for insurance company in Winchester. On one of her strolls, she entered the cathedral, and joined the embroidery club.

🧵 The embroidery club wasn't the only one Violet found in the cathedral. She became fascinated by the bell-ringers, especially the one called Arthur Knight - a sixty year old man, whose wife had been suffering from losing their only son in the WW1. The bell-ringers added more charm to this story, besides the main attraction of the embroidery club. Church bell is something you'd never think much of. You just hear it, and know someone - or some people - must have rung them on certain hour. But who would think bell ringing is such an intricate operation that needed focus, discipline, and dedication of a group of people? That the bells weren't just pulled at randomly, but forming some intricate patterns to produce a beautiful and harmonious sound? Both the broderers (that's what women who embroidered were called) and the bell-ringers were wonderful people who dedicated their time and efforts for the glory of God, and I really admired them.

🧵 Besides these themes, the story is also layered with more serious stuffs like freedom (and the lack of), independence, forbidden love, and rebellion (from convention). Like many other women post WW1, Violet could be put into the 'surplus woman' category. Neither she nor her family, or the society, knew what must be done for her future. For example, she couldn't go out alone, or else people (men) would either frown upon her, or worse, turn violent towards her. When she's going out with Arthur (okay, a married man, but surely one could go for lunch with one's friend without harm?), people gossiped. But when Violet befriended Gilda and Dorothy - fellow broderers who loved each other - people scorned at her. The 1930s was surely hell for single women to live in, for sure!

🧵 Like all Tracy Chevalier's I've read before, A Single Thread also started very slow. But that's what I liked from Chevalier. She put efforts in setting the atmosphere, then letting us readers to be immersed into the world she created, and lived with the characters, feeling both their triumphs and struggles. Although I didn't agree with Violet's act of rebellion - I think she put herself in a more vulnerable position than before - I could understand her frustration; her longing of total freedom. In a state of under-pressured, one could make reckless decision. I think that's what Violet had done. Anyway, this has been a lovely read. Though not as cheerful as you might expect, the arts of embroidery and bell-ringing are quite entertaining; not mentioning the atmosphere around the cathedral. I don't think I would listen to church bell quite the same way after this, although nowadays, there's only one bell and one ringer (at least at my local cathedral). But still, I don't think I would take the sound for granted any more.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Convenience Store by the Sea (2020) by Sonoko Machida #JapaneseLitChallenge19

🛒 This book brings us to the seaside town in Japan: Mojiko, Kitakyushu, where you'd find one of the convenience store chain called Tenderness. Now, while I might not be able to relate to a library - in which many heartwarming stories have been set - a convenience store is my day-to-day existence. You see, I live in the second biggest city in Indonesia, where you won't find many libraries (except in universities), but convenience stores scattered abundantly on almost every corner of the streets. We have three in my apartment building, and they are, indeed, very convenient. From fresh fruits and (not so fresh) vegetables, to groceries; hot dumplings and coffees, to ATM machine, you'll find everything in these convenience stores. Let's say, you're moving to your new apartment, bringing nothing but yourself, well, you can find practically everything you'd need to survive in a day or two - food & drink, toothbrush, towel, even underwear, from these stores.

🛒 The story has no plot, but constructed from several interconnected short stories, all related to Tenderness and the main characters, who works at the store. In a way, you can say that the convenience store is a character itself. The first and last stories are told from Mitsuri's POV. She's a mother of a teenager, a passionate worker at the store, and quite a successful manga writer. Hers served as a starting point of the story, revealing about the store and its workers, and the conclusive end of it, tying the lose-end bits. The rest are told from third person's POV, usually about patrons of the store or families of the workers. They all have struggles in either self-acceptance or identity crisis, but all found comfort from the convenience store - well, maybe not the store itself, but the workers. 🛒 Two of these are brothers: Shiba and Tsugi. The first is a handsome and affectionate manager, whom Mitsuri called the Pheromone Manager; basically a magnetic creature who seems to attract everyone around him. It would be okay if it stops there. But making this Shiba guy a sort of celebrity with a few fan clubs, always being surrounded by ladies when he's on duty - well, it seems very off. Why must the writer create such a perfect character that seems inhuman? It was one element that made me sick, but apart from that, it's a cute and heartwarming story.
🛒 What I loved most is how the store provides a dining space next door to the store, so that customers can buy ready-to-eat food and eat them on the spot. As the store is located on the lower part of an apartment building for senior citizens, it makes sense that it caters the elderly people with ready-made breakfast or lunch. It provides an amazing space for people to socialize, and indeed, many of the characters find comfort and friendship from the cozy place. The convenience store on my apartment building also recently provided a little dine-in space on its second floor, but only a long table by the window with several chairs. But still, it was an improvement. And while the food they sell are not as varied (and delicious) as in imagined in Tenderness, it is convenient indeed. All in all, this turned out to be a book I could well relate to, but too soppy for my liking.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Read for:

Japanese Literature Challenge 19

hosted by Dolce Bellezza

Pearly Everlasting (2024) by Tammy Armstrong

🐻 Pearly Everlasting is a Gothic woodland story, inspired by a true account of a woman nursing a bear cub alongside her daughter, which was captured by a photographer. Set in New Brunswick, Canada during the Great Depression of 1930s, the story depicted a logging camp dwellers. Pearly Everlasting is the daughter of the cook, and she had been brought up alongside a bear, whom her mother named Bruno. To Pearly, an only child, Bruno is not just a pet, he's her brother. The result was rather unsettling - at least for me. A bear should be treated as a bear. In this story, Bruno is spoiled by the family, so much so that he resembled more of a spoiled brat than an animal - pet or wild.

🐻 All the residents of the camp has been accepting Bruno as Pearly's pet. But one day, a mean supervisor was in charge to supervise the logging, and he hated Bruno. He attempted to buy and kidnapped Bruno, but failed as all the camp residents stand for Pearly's family. Then one day the supervisor was found dead - by pearly, no less - and Bruno was suspected as the murderer. When someone attempted to poison him, Pearly decided that she can't stay put any longer, and brought Bruno away. Tammy Armstrong brings us to an adventure through the snowy parts of Canada, introduced to some eccentric people such as the Song Catcher - a woman who travels cross country to collect folklore songs, and sells them to public. The adventure is also Pearly's chance to experience life outside the camp. The question is, would she eventually return to the camp? And what would happen to Bruno? Could the world normalize a girl who lives alongside a bear?

🐻 The main attraction of the story, besides Bruno, is the poetic style in which Tammy Armstrong wrote it. Unfortunately, that is also the one that put it off for me. Somehow, I couldn't relate to the story (nor the characters). To me, this is a beautiful narration, but void of a warmth which good stories usually bring to our hearts. The idea of a woman suckling a bear alongside her daughter was too much for me - I mean, why? Why not treat the bear as a bear? Is Bruno meant to be the book's attraction - a cute bear cub behaves like a boy? Well, it fails to do that. He's not cute at all; at time he's even annoying. And I couldn't relate to Pearly either. On the whole the story felt like watching a weird movie from afar. And maybe, the narrator (I listened to the audiobook) failed to enliven the story. Partly due to her droning voice, and partly, I guess, because it's half poem and half prose (which I realized, must be quite difficult to narrate). In the end, I couldn't like it; I even stopped listening after 75%. I felt like I couldn't be bother anymore whether Pearly and Bruno made it back to the camp or not.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping on a Dead Man (2025) by Jesse Q. Sutanto

👵🏻 Vera Wong is back! Here is a series I am always looking forward to the next installment. I have read and enjoyed the first one: Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers - it was a blast; hilarious and heartwarming. I have been quite apprehensive for the second book; will it live to my expectation after that successful debut? But I have worried over nothing; this second book, if not as hilarious as the first - touches on a more relevant issues of the world we are living.

👵🏻 If you aren't yet familiar with Vera Wong, she is a Chinese woman of sixty-ish of age, who lives in Chinatown of San Francisco; and owner of a teahouse she named: VERA WANG'S WORLD FAMOUS TEAHOUSE. Of course it's an exaggeration, and her deliberately mistyping "Wang" (you know who Vera Wang is, don't you?) instead of "Wong', is a typical Chinese people. After her successful first murder-solving, Vera Wong cheekily added "Investigator" after teahouse owner. Maybe "matchmaker" should also be added, since two of her suspects list on the first murder case have been a couple ever since. These two appear once again in this story, along with some other characters, who now become Vera's big family. She only has one son - Tilly - and he, too, has been in relationship with the police officer who investigated the first murder, Selena. On their moving in together, Vera has started to regard Selena as a daughter-in-law - again, typical of Chinese mothers; they are always way ahead of us!

👵🏻 It all begins when Vera's credit card was scammed. When she went to the police station (to meet Selena - her daughter-in-... ahem, her son's girlfriend), she met a confused, and definitely distressed, girl called Millie. Vera brought the girl to the teahouse; and after brewing her a cup of tea (Vera always knows what kind of tea for every person and circumstance), and giving her something to eat, she had no difficulties to extract what had bother the girl. Vera always has the knack to do so - it's the charm of a Chinese mother, no doubt, which she always mentions. Millie told Vera about her missing friend, a guy called Thomas, who is a successful online influencer. And when Vera was snooping on Selena's files, she found information concerning the missing guy, marked as John Doe, who has been found dead. That's how Vera's snooping has brought her just another murder case to solve.

👵🏻 Like in her first case, Vera begins with compiling a suspects list. This brings her to the "glittering" world of content creators and social media influencers. She attends an influencers party, and even starts her own social media account, and hey.... her first video (of her calmly brewing tea, taken by one of the suspects-slash-new-friends) became viral in one night. And boom... Vera could have added "social media superstar" to her already numerous titles. These videos, along with her delicious foods, her fragrant tea, and her knack of comforting people, are Vera's weapons to solve the murder case.

👵🏻 I have been prepared for what this story might bring (which it does): many hilarious moments, delicious Chinese foods, and heartwarming scenes when all the people related to the case (plus Vera's entourage from book one) gather around her as one big family. What surprised me, though, is the depth (and rather dark) of the theme Jesse Sutanto brought as a background, which she acknowledged, was inspired by real occurrences she's been told while visiting an Asian country (Sutanto is Indonesian-born who currently lives in America). It resulted in a mix between light-hearted murder mystery (but not so mysterious after you'll get to the background) and grim reality. A delicious read, as always, and I can't wait for the next book!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Read for:

Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge 2026

hosted by Carol @ Carol's Notebook

Still Life (2005) by Louise Penny

🎨 Still Life is the first book in Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, a crime mystery series penned by Louise Penny. It introduces us to Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and some of his team of Surete du Quebec provincial police force. Gamache and his colleagues were summoned to investigate the death of a local artist called Jane Neal. We were provided a little opportunity to know Jane shortly before her death. She was a teacher with gentle, affectionate manner - the kind that is usually loved by the students. Hence, her death shocked most of the inhabitants of Three Pines, a small peaceful village - so peaceful that they don't have any local police force. Jane Neal was pierced by a hunting arrow near the deer trail. The question arises, whether it's an innocent accident or a deliberate murder.

🎨 I don't usually like mystery with too many characters, but it somehow fits nicely in this one. The police force itself has several characters. Jean Guy Beauvoir is Gamache's sidekick, with opposite personality from Gamache. Then there are a few other agents, and Yvette Nichol, a rookie agent in the Surete whose first assignment is to work under Gamache's command. She tends to show off her knowledge, which leads usually to blunders instead of appreciation. Near the end of the case Nichol is finally sent back to Montreal by Gamache, after he has been patient enough to try to guide her without avail. Her appearance in the mystery offers more of hilarious moments than anything else, and as her faith isn't conclusive, I am hoping that she will return in the next cases.

🎨 The more the case progresses, the more we get acquainted with the characters and the village itself. In the end, I even feel like visiting it myself. I can picture myself staying at the B&B owned by a gay couple Olivier Brulé and Gabriel (Gabri) Dubeau. They are charming chatty-duo, the foods are scrumptious, and the B&B itself seems a jolly place to stay. My favorite character is Clara, Jane's most intimate friend, who's an artist, just like her husband Peter. Jane was actually murdered (of course it turns out to be murder) just after she invited her friends to her house - where hitherto no one had ever been farther than the kitchen and mudroom (why had she been secretive of her inside house; what had she been hiding?) Gamache soon realizes that the key to the murder is in Jane's painting titled Fair Day, which is going to be exhibited at the gallery. The painting is depicting the end of a fair day, the day her friend, Timmer Hadley, died of a longtime illness. Was Jane's murder related to that other death? Or was it triggered by an assault aimed to the gay couple, in which Jane scolded the perpetrators?
🎨 I loved it that the murder is all about art and artists. I have a little suspicions of that from the title: Still Life. Armand Gamache is your perfect chief inspector too; they way he led his subordinates is exemplary. I guessed the murderer correctly - I think it's quite clear after Gamache settled that the murder is all about the painting. There was a red herring, but I know instantly it's a false trail. All in all, it's a nice mystery with a little suspenseful action in the end. I might like to continue down the series, if not to appease my curiosity over agent Nichol's future, then to read more of the eloquent Chief Inspector Armand Gamache (I love the sound of his name too!)

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Chasing Vermeer (2004) by Blue Baillett

 

👨🏻‍🎨 First of all, I was quite surprised by the mixed reviews this book gets on Goodreads. There are many two stars, but also four stars. I always liked books where people either love or hate. This book has average stars of 3.72, not that bad. So, why not? Thought I. In the end, I'm glad I have decided to read it. It was an entertaining story about art theft (Vermeer's A Lady Writing painting) and coincidences, full of puzzles and codes, and some suspenseful actions; not mentioning the history of art (particularly Vermeer), that this story induces to middle grader. What not to enjoy?

A Lady Writing by Johannes Vermeer

👨🏻‍🎨 Calder and Petra, who live in London, are ordinary high school students, but with intelligent and extraordinary passions. Calder is obsessed with pentominoes that he always keeps in his pockets. Pentomino is a polygon in the plane made of 5 equal-sized squares connected edge to edge [wikipedia]. Whenever he is unsure about something, he would pull one block from his pocket, and the letter it represents would be his "guidance" to what he should do next. He and his friend Tommy even created a code using all letters from pentominoes. Petra, on the other hand, is an imaginative girl, who, at present, is obsessed with a book titled Lo, written by Charles Fort, who believes that life is not a series of coincidences but is an interconnecting web of patterns.

The Pentominoes

👨🏻‍🎨 Their class assignment required Calder and Petra to write their interpretation of art - what-makes-an-object-art kind of thing. Calder found out that the painting on the curio box he owns, was none other than Johannes Vermeer's The Geographer. He found that out when delivering books order of to a Mrs. Sharpe's house, and saw the painting. Curiously, Mrs. Sharpe is the previous owner of the book Lo, which Petra has taken from a giveaway box outside a bookstore. Stranger still, an unknown woman in lemon yellow jacket with ribbons on her hair, has appeared in her dream, asked to be rescued. Who is she?

The Geographer by Johannes Vermeer

👨🏻‍🎨 Meanwhile, more strange things are happening. Three persons in London have received a mysterious anonymous letters asking for their helps to solve an art mystery. On the other hand, a valuable painting of Vermeer, A Lady Writing, has been stolen when in transit between the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, and The Art Institute of Chicago, where it would be exhibited. An equally strange advertisement has been published in newspapers, apparently from the thieve, claiming that he/she had stolen it for a good cause: to raise awareness that someone else painted some of what we believe are Vermeer's works. From so many coincidences - or are they 'interconnecting patterns' in Charles Fort's theory? - Calder and Petra believe it is they who must solve the mystery, and find the stolen painting. Can they do that, while FBI has failed?

👨🏻‍🎨 Needless to say, this was an exciting read for me. I always love books with art theme, especially paintings. And Vermeer is one of painters I always admire (Girl with A Pearl Earring is my favorite by Vermeer). Apart from the far-fetched dream of Petra (the Lady asked for help and guided Petra to her location), this is an educational and entertaining read for middle grader. Just as common people who don't have interest in art before, become art connoisseur, thanks to the thief's challenge, so do middle graders who read this would have been interested more in Vermeer and his works. Such a good idea from the writer! I also love the coincidence, or strange phenomenon topic in Charles Fort's book Lo, which does really exist. Is coincident real? I believe so, co-incident means more than one incidents that occur at the same time, concerning one particular object, right? So, if two people with some interest gather forces in one project, they would be focusing in the same field, and so, there's bound to be many such co-incidents happening all around them. Charles Fort's Lo also taught us to be more open minded to strange occurrences - that we cannot fathom what's happening, doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.

What an entertaining, educational, and inspirational this book proved to be!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Olive Kitteridge (2008) by Elizabeth Strout

🔴 Olive Kitteridge is Elizabeth Strout's third published book, which won Pulitzer prize in 2009. At first few chapters I asked myself, how on earth could this book win a Pulitzer? It seemed an ordinary literary fiction. But after finishing it, I realized there's the hidden layers beneath the seemingly a book about the lives of some residents of a coastal town Of Crosby in Maine. It is not a novel, to begin with, but a structure that is called short story cycle or story sequence or composite novel - a collection of short stories in which the narratives are specifically composed and arranged with the goal of creating an enhanced or different experience when reading the group as a whole as opposed to its individual parts. [Wikipedia]

🔴 Olive Kitteridge is the main character here, although she didn't always appear as one. Sometimes she's just a passing character that someone mentioned, or just commented upon; but sometimes, like at the last chapter, she became the main character. Nevertheless, she is the connecting element that tied tall the stories together. Olive was a high school math teacher, a cantankerous woman with sharp tongue and abrasive manner. The first story, "Pharmacy", is about her husband, Henry Kitteridge. He's a pharmacist, and had a soft spot for his employee, Denise Thibodeau. At this stage (Henry and Olive were in their 30-ish, with an only son who's in junior high school), I bitterly thought that it's no wonder that Henry is thinking of having an affair with another woman; his wife was always so rude and sharp, either to him or to their son Christopher. But Henry is always a sensitive man, and still loves his wife, despite all that.

🔴 Through thirteen disjointed stories, we followed eventful events of the Kitteridges, as well as some other residents. And as the stories unfolded, I slowly realized what had shaped Olive to be her self. Her past (tragic death of her father and her mother's abandonment) wounded her soul deeply, that I think it had hardened her. Though beneath, she's still a generous and kind person. A bitterness that came during her marriage with Henry, only added the sourness in her. Later on, her perimenopause and menopause stage only made things worse. Her disappointment over her son Christopher's unsuitable (to her) marriage, seemed to be he last straw. And so, she became this unbearable woman.

🔴 On the whole, this hasn't been a charming book to read. It seems that in telling the real lives of people in a town - which is greatly relatable to ours - Kitteridge focused mainly on the dark aspects only; disappointment and disillusionment ranked on top, with bitterness of love (and the lack of it) followed soon. Most of the characters have had hopes and dreams, but more often than not, the opposite happened. It seems that all our adult lives were spent to learn about it, so that in seventies, you'd learn finally to accept things as it is - things that's beyond your control.

🔴 Though this book distressed me a little, I loved the ending - Olive certainly deserves that. She is the epitome of strength, courage, and resilience. I was reminded of what my father had taught me when I was a teenager. When you put an egg and a potato into the same boiling water, they would react differently. The egg would be hardened, but the potato would be softened. Whenever you are having hard times, you can choose how to react, like the egg or the potato. Like Olive, most of us react like the egg; but only a few then change to be a potato in the end. Happiness is in store for the latter!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Murder at Sissingham Hall (2013) by Clara Benson

💙 This was my second Clara Benson - I have loved my first; it's a Freddie Pilkington-Soames - and thought that it might be as nice as the other one. I was wrong. 

💙 The story opens when Charles Knox was coming home from eight years living in South Africa. He went there in the first place, right after his engagement had been broken by Rosamund, his beautiful fiancée, who thought Charles was too poor for her to maintain the comfortable life she's used to - with balls, parties, with all the social life of the kind. Now Rosamund has married a wealthy man, Sir Neville Strickland, and lived in the countryside mansion of Sissingham Hall. And surprise, surprise! It was to Sissingham Hall that Charles was invited to stay for the weekend.

💙 Charles dreaded his first meeting with Rosamund, because it was clear to us, readers, that he's still charmed by her. But the party was jolly enough, where there are other guests too: Bobs, Charles' old friend with his sister Sylvia; Angela Marchmont, Rosamund's cousin and our amateur-sleuth-to-be; the Murrays, Sir Neville's closest relatives; Joan, his ward; and last but not least, Simon Gayle, Sir Neville's secretary. That night Sir Neville retired early to his study, and the next day he was found dead; the study door was locked, but not the French window; and it seemed at first as an accident. But Angela Marchmont's thorough observation led the other to suggest that it's actually a murder. As it happened just after Sir Neville's solicitor arrived, apparently to change his will, it was suggestive that money was the motive. But is that so? 

💙 I have some problems with this book. I know that as a cozy mystery, there will be an equal amount of the mystery and personal life of the characters. But in this one, I disliked Clara Benson's choice of the main character - it should have been Angela Marchmont, instead of Charles Knox, who was a total simp. An unreliable narrator shouldn't be in a murder mystery. I have guessed the murderer easily enough very early, and was just wondering how on earth did both the Inspector and Angela Marchmont not see it right away, even after that incident had been disclosed? The 'dramatic' denouement is a bit ridiculous, thanks to Charles Knox. In the end, it's not a start of a series I have expected, and which I would certainly not continue.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Five Quarters of the Orange (2001) by Joanne Harris

🍊 My first introduction to Joanne Harris was Chocolat; I knew I have started that book years ago, but couldn't remember whether I've ever finished it. I think not. Either because it's a borrowed book, and I have to return it before I have finished; or it must've been sold while I was reading (I ran an online second-hand book store back then). Anyway, Five Quarters of the Orange, then, became my first book of Joanne Harris which I did finish. It's a big relieve when I had finished it; it's not a bad one, just that I was not in the right mental state to give it a proper credit. It's a complex story of dark secrets, a childish-folly-turns tragedy, acceptance, revelation, and resilience.

🍊 Framboise Simon was sixty years old widow when she returned to her childhood home in a small village on the banks of the Loire. She owns a creperie, serving delicious food she loves to cook; mostly recreating her late mother's dishes from the recipe scrapbook Framboise inherited from her. Although she was born in the village, the villagers thought Framboise a stranger, because she does not dare to use her own name, Dartigen. Framboise Dartigen was only nine years old when she left the village after a terrible tragedy during the German Occupation in the 1940s. This, then, is an intermingled mixture of Framboise's past and present life; how the past affected her present, and how the present helps her to be free from the haunting past. 

🍊 Framboise's childhood is a troubled one. She lived with her widowed mother Mirabelle Dartigen, brother Cassis, and sister Reine-Claude. Mirabelle was a hard woman, who's often mean and cruel to her own children, although she loved them. Her life seemed to be full of hatred and bitterness, and she poured it to her children, whom in turn, hated her too. She's often a victim of splitting headache, which was usually started with smelling non-existing oranges - a fruit she always hated. The title derived from Framboise's idea to trigger the headache on her mother, so that she and her siblings could be on their own; by secretly slicing a tiny sliver of orange - the fifth of the supposedly quarters - to be placed near her mother's pillow. Once she inhaled it, she'd have another spell, and off the children would go. Go where?

🍊 It's during this German Occupation that a handsome German officer who speaks a perfect French called Tomas Leibniz introduced himself to the children. They instantly took to him, but especially Framboise, who worshipped him. Their friendship grew bigger; but unfortunately, also, their risk. It finally led to the tragedy. But Framboise did not quite understand that at that time, and it was now, while browsing through her mother's recipe book, was written snatches of her mother's thoughts, did Framboise finally (almost) fully understood what had had happened.

🍊 Maybe if I had read this five years ago, I would have appreciated it more. Now, it distressed me a little. I was troubled with how Framboise treated her mother - though I could see why. The only person I could like in this book is Paul. I admired his support and friendship for Framboise, and I liked how it all ended. It was a troubling book, but still worth reading, if nothing else, for its beautiful writing.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐