Tag Archives: Fiction

Review | Drop Dead Sisters, by Amelia Diane Coombs

Posted on by
Reply

In Drop Dead Sisters, a trio of estranged sisters get embroiled in a murder while on a camping trip for their parents’ 40th wedding anniversary. The story is part murder mystery, and part comedy of errors, as attempts to cover up the crime are foiled by the fact that the body somehow keeps ending up missing. It’s a quick and entertaining read, and it reminded me a bit of Jesse Q. Sutanto’s Dial A for Aunties, but more sedate, and, dare I say, more realistic.

Overall, it’s an entertaining book. The dynamic between the sisters feels real, and Coombs lays plenty of groundwork for further development of their relationship in future storylines. Despite the rather over-the-top premise (who moved the body this time?!), the story remains grounded in youngest sister Remi’s journey of personal growth. As the narrator, Remi takes us through her dissatisfaction with her job, her frustration over how often she’s felt dismissed by her older sisters while growing up, and eventually, her realization about her own responsibility to shape her own future, both at work and with her sisters. There’s also a fun romance with a hot park security guy, and an adorable dog sidekick named after Buffy the vampire slayer.

A minor snag is that the book for me suffered from comparison to Dial A for Aunties. Sutanto’s book is hilarious! She takes the madcap premise, dials it up to the max, and gives us a crew of larger than life characters who defy caricature with their equally larger than life hearts and fierce love for each other. In contrast, while Drop Dead Sisters does feel a bit more rooted in reality, its relative sedateness also makes it feel rather bland.

Reading Dial A for Aunties felt like indulging in a buffet with a ridiculous array of dishes that shouldn’t go together, but somehow is so delicious that it works, while Drop Dead Sisters is peppery steak and potatoes–serviceable and a bit spicier than usual, but not quite as vibrant or memorable. Still, as Sutanto fans likely know, her Aunties series has recently ended, so for readers looking for their next misadventuring mystery fix, Drop Dead Sisters fits the bill just fine.

However, a much bigger snag for me is how the mystery here is resolved. The detective’s actions make sense–or at least, are adequately explained by Coombs–but also feel anticlimactic. While Coombs keeps the zaniness fairly low-key, she does do a good job at amping up the tension and the stakes, and the resolution just didn’t at all live up to the build-up.

Still, Drop Dead Sisters does introduce us to a family of characters that we grow to care about. The ending sets Remi up for some rather big changes in her personal life, and plants the seeds for her, Eliana and Maeve to have more misadventures together, possibly and hopefully with their hippie parents, misogynistic grandmother, eccentric aunt, and the rest of their eccentric family.

+

Thank you to Firefly Books Ltd for an advance reading copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

Review | Becoming Ted, by Matt Cain

Posted on by
1

Becoming Ted is a heartwarming and feel-good novel about a 40-something man who pursues his lifelong dream of becoming a drag queen after his husband of 20 years leaves him for a younger man. It’s a story of friendship, romance, and mustering up the courage to be truly and unapologetically yourself, and it’s an absolute delight to read.

Ted Ainsworth won my heart pretty much from the first page. It’s clear how much he gives of himself to the people he loves. For example, even though he hates ice cream and dreams of becoming a performer, he agrees to manage his parents’ ice cream shop to make his parents happy and allow his sister to pursue her dreams of superstardom. He adores his then-husband Giles’ good looks and charisma, and thinks only of how lucky he is to be married to such a man. He leads a comfortable, if vaguely dissatisfying life, punctuated mostly by his weekly Fri-date with his best friend Denise to watch RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Ted’s rather lukewarm combination of comfort and dissatisfaction is deeply relatable to anyone who’s ever gotten stuck in a rut that’s just too safe to climb out of. Fortunately for Ted, he does get forced out of his rut when an idyllic Sunday morning is interrupted by the revelation that Giles has been cheating on him, and worse, actually wants to leave him for this other man.

Ted’s heartbreak and major drop in self-confidence feels very real, and his journey to fulfilling his drag queen dreams and truly come out as fully himself is an absolutely rousing tale that’ll make you cheer him on all the way. I love how Matt Cain details all the little insecurities and doubts Ted experiences at each stage of his drag queen journey, and I especially love how Cain shows all the love and support Ted gets along the way. Community plays a major role in Ted’s story, and it’s heartwarming to see so many people, both old friends and new, step up to give Ted the boosts he needs.

Ted’s romance with Oskar is equally heartwarming. Throughout the story, we see little glimpses into Ted’s life with Giles, and fairly quickly realize that Giles isn’t actually as perfect as Ted had initially believed. There are many instances when he puts Ted down, or makes Ted feel self-conscious about the things he enjoys doing. So seeing that relationship contrasted with the one gradually blooming with Oskar makes you even happier for where Ted’s story is headed.

Oskar is far from perfect. He comes from a super conservative Catholic upbringing in Poland, and as a result, is still reluctant to live openly as a gay man. As sweet as their first few dates are, Ted raises a really valid concern that Oskar’s secrecy about their relationship feels a bit like going back into the closet for Ted, which hurts given how much he’s risked to come out of the closet in the first place. And when Ted finally risks revealing his dream of becoming a drag queen, Oskar’s response is… well, it wasn’t great, but it was understandable. In fact, it’s kudos to Cain’s masterful craftsmanship that, in that moment, we feel for Oskar just as much as feel for Ted.

Overall, this is a delightful, heartwarming, heart-expanding book. A fitting choice for Pride Month, and a lovely read year-round.

+

Thank you to Kensington Publishing for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Review | Goyhood, by Reuven Fenton

Posted on by
1

When their mother dies, estranged twins David and Mayer learn that they’re not actually Jewish as they’d been brought up to believe. Worse, their mother’s grandfather was a Nazi.

The revelation isn’t a huge deal to David, who has lived a fairly secular life, but Mayer has dedicated his entire adult life to studying the Torah. A devout Orthodox Jew for decades, Mayer must come to terms with the revelation about his family’s past, and figure out how to break the news to his equally devout wife, Sarah, who is also the daughter of a very well-respected rabbi.

David suggests a road trip back to Mayer’s home in New York, and since Mayer doesn’t have enough money to pay for a flight home for himself, he is forced to agree. What follows is a light-hearted, sometimes absurd, but always heartwarming road trip novel, as the brothers come to terms with their family history and their long-ruptured relationship with each other.

I really enjoyed this novel. Both David and Marty respond to their non-Jewishness in different ways, but at both their cores is a deeply-rooted desire to figure out who they are exactly, and where they may belong. David’s desire to become better friends with his younger twin is equally obvious; Marty’s a bit too stuck on adhering to strict rules of morality and behaviour to be easily open to friendship with his more free-spirited brother, but it’s good to see him slowly emerging from his shell.

The story is populated with entertaining side characters: Charlayne the social media influencer on a quest of her own, and Popeye the rather mangy stray (read: abandoned) dog whom David convinces Mayer to let him take along. Each has their own role to play in the larger story, but for me, the story is strongest when it focuses on the relationship between the brothers. The story David tells of Marty standing up to a bully when they were younger was so full of brotherly pride that it made my heart burst to hear it. And the moment where David confesses his desire to convert to Judaism, only for Marty to unequivocally shut him down, is heart-breaking.

I’m not Jewish myself, but I imagine that all the little details about the nuances of different approaches to Judaism will resonate even more meaningfully for Jewish readers. As for me, I enjoyed learning about these nuances, such as: the restrictions around gentiles (non-Jewish people) participating in Jewish traditions; the term “Noahide,” which refers to gentiles who abide by seven laws (I looked them up, and it was interesting to me as a Catholic to see where they overlapped and differed with the ten commandments I knew); and processes around Jewish conversion and divorce.

I also really enjoyed this novel’s exploration of questions of identity, and what it’s like to have to redefine yourself after learning that the most essential aspects of yourself aren’t actually true. I also really liked the way the novel explores questions of faith and faith-based identities, and all the different ways one may choose to have a relationship with their god of choice.

Overall, this is a good book, and a fairly lighthearted romp, despite tackling some tough topics.

+

Thank you to the author for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.