Still on Fire

 By Renee Linnell

Pink Skeleton     2022

227 pages     Memoir

I read and reviewed Renee Linnell’s first memoir The Burn Zone in 2018 and was impressed by how she grew, following her realization that she had become embroiled in a spiritual cult. I remembered how much of an adventurer Renee Linnell was/is, and her new memoir, Still on Fire, continues her story with as much fervor as The Burn Zone held.

Linnell dedicates the book “to everyone who is tired—tired of fitting in, tired of playing small, tired of being afraid, overworked, overstressed…and tired of living a life without true joy. May you stop making excuses for why mediocrity is okay for you and take the leap into a life that you love.” She has divided the book into five parts: decisions, wild ride, spirit, love, and whole. The book ends with an epilogue that puts her philosophy of life into a nutshell. She says, “When we are handed this one life to live (this time around) why are we holding back? Why are we not creating something magnificent and truly unique to us?”

Linnell has definitely created a “truly unique” life, and Still on Fire bears witness to her uniqueness. She has had several careers, been very entrepreneurial, and started several businesses. Her newest venture appears to be a publishing company, called Pink Skeleton.

My favorite chapter concerns her visiting Buenos Aires as a tango dancer. Apparently tango is something that Linnell is an expert at, along with surfing, and meeting up with a variety of “hot” men. Of course, while in Buenos Aires, she meets a professional tango dancer at a local milonga. She had seen him before and apparently was looking for him to arrive—or hoping for him to arrive. The entire chapter is very sensual, but I loved the imagery of the dancing.

Linnell travels all over the world in Still on Fire. You will travel with her place by place,  incident after incident, all of the time learning the life lessons she, herself, has learned throughout her remarkable life. It is all very candid, and the reader is left with the impression that this wonderful woman has been open to whatever life may offer her. Would I like to have some of these adventures? For sure!

Norm Goldman has a terrific review of the book and an interview with the author on his website. Here, also, is Linnell’s website. Her newest book comes out tomorrow, August 16.

Book Lovers

 By Emily Henry

Berkley     2022

377 pages     Romantic Comedy

I don’t usually choose romance novels to read. However Book Lovers was our book club choice for August. And surprisingly, I enjoyed it for the most part because it was so skillfully written. Great characters, delightful setting, and interesting plot devices. Also because it has been a best seller since it came out in May, and I was curious about it. The NPR reviewer had this to say, “Book Lovers by Emily Henry is both a tribute to and takedown of this cultural form by a star of the summer beach read. Her playful and clever contemporary romance — her third — pokes holes in many of the assumptions that surround small towns in popular culture.”

Nora Stephens, the narrator of the book, is a New Yorker through and through. She has had various love affairs, all of which have ended up disasters with Nora being dumped. Her younger sister, Libby, however, is married and expecting her third child. After their mother’s death, Nora finished raising Libby and they have an extremely close bond. Libby comes up with a suggestion that she and Nora take a vacation alone together to the small town of Sunshine Falls, just outside Asheville, North Carolina.  Nora is a book agent and knows that she will have to work while on vacation. She very soon begins to suspect that Libby’s marriage may be having trouble and that is why she wanted to leave for a while. Oh, and by the way, Sunshine Falls is the setting of the last book Nora was the agent for.

Surprisingly, when they get to a rental house high on a mountain in Sunshine Falls, Nora finds Charlie, a book editor that she has had a rather unfortunate meeting with over a book edit. What is Charlie doing in this small North Carolina town? They are very attracted to each other, and thus the plot begins.

There is a familiar trope in romance fiction that hard-edged city people go to small town America to rest and renew. Love and romance can come in quaint, lovely small towns. The Kirkus reviewer says that “Henry never falls into the easy trap of vilifying either small towns or big cities, allowing her characters the room to follow their dreams, wherever they lead.”

Book Lovers is character driven, and the reader identifies quickly with the beauty of the setting and the beauty of the love between sisters as well as the love between Nora and Charlie. The theme of the love of reading, books, and book stores runs through the entire book, including a list at the end of Nora and Libby’s best books. I was very impressed by how Henry wove everything together. I will be leaving North Carolina behind for a while—this was my second North Carolina book in a row, following the mystery The Last to Vanish.

Here's a cute article about how Emily Henry vacations and her favorite Midwestern cities, including Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The Last to Vanish

 By Megan Miranda

Scribner 2022

336 pages     Mystery

 Megan Miranda hiked on the Appalachian Trail when she was a child and now lives in North Carolina. The compelling atmosphere of those mountains became the setting for her newest novel The Last to Vanish.   

Abby Lovett came to Cutter’s Pass and the Passage Hotel following the death of her mother when she was looking for a purpose for her life. The inn had been built by some relatives, but Abby knew nothing about the notoriety for Cutter’s Pass as the “most dangerous town in North Carolina.”  It was so named because over 25 years, several trail hikers have disappeared, including a group of four college friends, nicknamed the Fraternity Four, a woman in 2012, a photographer in 2019, and an investigative journalist just four months ago  Abby had met both the photographer and the journalist in her job as manager of the hotel, but she does not become particularly concerned until the brother of the journalist arrives at the hotel looking for information.

It is then that Abby really becomes interested in the mystery and concerned about the role the hotel (or people connected with the hotel) might have had to the disappearances. She finds  an important piece of evidence in an unlikely place, and now she is firmly in the mystery. She discovers how little she really knows about the coworkers, people of the community, and even those closest to her. The tension increases until it culminates in a scene worthy of a scary film.

Miranda does a wonderful job creating the setting for the book. The village of Cutter’s Pass, the Appalachian trail that leads from the hotel, and the nearby waterfall are so well described that the reader settles right in, until the sense of foreboding strangles the beauty of the scenery. Here is a lovely description of an Appalachian morning. “In the distance, the fog was lifting off the mountain, like smoke. Wisps of heavy gray still clung to the trees in sections, muting everything. It was my favorite kind of morning, haunting and beautiful.”

 Miranda also develops strong characters, although I had occasional trouble remembering who some of them were—particularly people from the village who play smaller roles in the plot.

The plot, itself, is a slow burn. A couple of times I thought I wanted to quit because the story moved so slowly, but I kept getting drawn in until I just couldn’t stop reading. The Kirkus reviewer suggests that “the plot finally loses itself somewhat in a tangle of strained connections.” However that reviewer calls The Last to Vanish a “richly atmospheric thriller.” Publisher’s Weekly gave it a starred review and mentions that Miranda is “writing at the top of her game.”

I wouldn’t go so far as to give The Last to Vanish five stars, nor would I say that this was my favorite book of the summer. However, it made me want to go on a hiking trip—just not alone!

Here is Megan Miranda’s website and a list of all her books. The Last to Vanish was the first that I had read although, as it turns out, I have two other of her novels on my Kindle, sent from the publisher. I’ve got a lot more reading to do!