Probably the most ‘literary’ of Jennifer Weiner’s novels, Mrs Everything is a moving multi-generational family epic with a strong feminist perspective. The story follows the lives of two sisters — Jo the serious tomboy activist and Bethie the kindhearted and pretty free spirit — over the course of about five decades. The storytelling reminds me a bit of Kate Atkinson’s A God in Ruins or John Boyne’s The Heart’s Invisible Furies. Similar to both those novels, Mrs Everything manages to feel intimate and deeply personal while still broad in scope at the same time. We grow up with Jo and Bethie. We see the major events and cultural shifts in 20th and 21st century America through their eyes. And we feel right alongside them as women, struggling to balance everything life and the world expect from us.

I love the relationship between the sisters. Despite their differences, they’re fiercely loyal to each other, and even though they drift apart at various points in their lives, they still always have each other’s backs. I especially love how protective Jo is of her younger sister, and I really enjoyed the scene where Jo helps Bethie confront their abusive uncle.

The chapters alternative between both sisters’ perspectives, but the story seems to focus much more on Jo, and particularly how she grapples with her sexuality and societal attitudes towards lesbians at various points in her life. Jo is a wonderfully fleshed out and complex character. Seeing her story play out, with all of her fears and vulnerabilities and attempts at happiness, was very moving, and I loved how her story played out.

Despite the narrative focus on Jo, it was really Bethie’s story that hooked me, and Bethie whom I related to the most. I felt for her vulnerability and innocence, and her sometimes desperate attempts to gain control over mostly uncontrollable life circumstances. I absolutely hated Bethie’s uncle, for taking advantage of her family’s financial situation to sexually assault his niece, and I wish he’d had more of his just desserts than he received. Even though Bethie did grow up, move on and develop a fully robust life after the rape, I love how realistically Weiner depicted the lifelong consequences of such childhood trauma. Bethie developed eating disorders as a teen, and even when she started eating healthy amounts again, her self-image had been forever scarred, and her trauma remained an insidious presence in her mind. I found this to feel uncomfortably realistic, and I felt very strongly for Bethie throughout her life story.

The story does get a bit heavy after a while. Lots of bad things happen to Jo and Bethie, and while things never get quite as bad as in Hayna Yanagihara’s A Little Life, things do feel a bit bleak at times.

Overall, Mrs Everything is a good book, especially for readers who want to lose themselves in the complex ups and downs that occur throughout a lifetime. I personally prefer Weiner’s smaller scale stories (In Her Shoes remains my all-time fave), but I generally prefer more lighthearted books these days. This is a good story, and I enjoyed seeing Jo and Bethie as they grew up.

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Thanks to Simon and Schuster Canada for an e-galley of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a fun and satisfying read. Marlena Durst’s husband Michael is an all-too-familiar figure — the ultra wealthy man looking for a trophy wife whom he can mould into exactly the specifications he wants. He selects Marlena because she’s poor and vulnerable, and therefore possibly just desperate enough to fulfil his every whim. His rules are extreme yet unfortunately believable — they include crafting an entirely fictional childhood in Croatia, agreeing to stay indoors under guard until he invites her to go out, dressing in the fancy outfits he buys her, and behaving in such a way that leaves no doubt she is absolutely, positively not flirting with another man.

Yet from the beginning, we know that Marlena isn’t a helpless innocent who’d been sucked into Michael’s world. Having fought and scrapped her way from extreme poverty, she planned to put herself on Michael’s radar and use his wealth to build herself a better life. So while this book does set off my trigger warning alarm bells vis-a-vis domestic abuse, from the beginning, it’s also set up to be an immensely satisfying cat and mouse game, where I was cheering like hell for Marlena to succeed.

The only snag is that once Marlena does become Michael’s wife, Aguirre gives us little hint of her big plan to escape. Marlena tells us often that she’s playing the long game, but we barely see what that long game could be. We learn that Marlena needs her bodyguard to fall in love with her, but we don’t quite know why, and a bodyguard’s support is a somewhat flimsy base for the plans of someone as intelligent and cunning as Marlena. Later on, we learn that she’s tried to look through Michael’s office files, but we don’t actually see her doing so (or if we did, it wasn’t significant enough for me to remember), nor do we know exactly what she’s planning (vs merely hoping) to find.

This lack of transparency does pay off in the (immensely satisfying) ending, but I admit it was a bit of a letdown, especially after we’ve seen how masterful a schemer Marlena was before her marriage. As it was, when things get really bad — to the point that the book honestly became difficult to read — I ended up hitting a point where I doubted she ever really had a plan at all and feared that this was going to be a tragic story of abuse. Marlena deserved better, and I wish we’d seen more of her cat-and-mouse strategy along the way.

Still, overall, this is an exciting and satisfying read. I loved Marlena and her backstory, and with Michael, Aguirre has given us a villain we could truly, fully detest.

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Thank you to Thomas Allen Ltd for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Star-Crossed by Minnie Darke is a cute, light-hearted romance about what could happen when you mess around with the stars. Justine (Sagittarius and skeptic) is a copy manager at the Alexandria Park Star, who runs into her childhood friend and longtime crush Nick (Aquarius and true believer) in the market and realizes this could be her second chance at love. Nick lives by his horoscope, and pays particularly close attention to the advice of Leo Thornbury, the Alexandria Park Star astrologer who always faxes his column in and never checks to see what actually makes it to print. So Justine figures it wouldn’t be a big deal to make a few tweaks to the Aquarius horoscope and convince Nick that she’s really his romantic destiny. Except horoscopes are open to interpretation, and the messages that Nick gets aren’t quite what Justine intends.

Minnie Darke’s author bio says that she “wrote this book to amuse herself and to entertain you,” and indeed this novel is just sheer fun from cover to cover. Darke takes a lighthearted, yet never disrespectful, approach to astrology. The novel shows us how we shape our own future happiness, yet also seriously ponders the question of whether our destiny has been predetermined after all, however winding and twisted the path it takes to get there.

Justine’s tampering with the horoscope leads to a comedy of errors, each misadventure funnier and more entertaining than the one before. Near the beginning of the novel, Nick is planning to give Justine a call when he reads the horoscope Justine wrote, which suggests he revisit his past. Justine meant it as a reference to the romantic evening they had as teenagers, but Nick sees it as a suggestion to give another ex-girlfriend a chance. As a reader, you cringe on Justine’s behalf, then eagerly anticipate all the potentially hilarious mishaps that could happen next. Through it all, the novel maintains a light tone and romantic comedy feel, keeping us reassured throughout that, regardless of all the many obstacles that’ll pop up, we’ll somehow still end up with a happy ending.

Justine and Nick are both quirky, interesting characters. Justine is a total grammar nerd who corrects restaurant menus and always crosses out the ‘d’ in the handwritten ‘Advocado’ sign at the market. Nick is an actor who lands a role as Romeo, and is struggling with the decision of whether he should take a more practical approach to his career. I like how well-suited they are for each other, and how good they are as friends beyond the romantic attraction.

I also like how the story touches on other Aquarians who read Justine’s horoscopes and have their lives altered as well. Many of these characters end up playing a role in each others’ stories, further emphasizing the sense that lives are interconnected and quite possibly directed by the movement of the stars. A romantic subplot involving 12 boxes of Prince Charles and Princess Diana wedding china is absolutely adorable and in some ways even more captivating than the main romance. And a subplot involving a one-eyed terrier is utterly heartwarming, and makes you just fall in love with him.

Overall, Star-Crossed is a fantastic summer read, a quick and fun romantic comedy that will make you curious about what your own horoscope holds.

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Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.