Where Only Storms Grow by Alyssa Colman
“I looked in her eyes and found determination. Her speech was halting, imperfect, and exactly what I needed to hear. We were full of dust and dreams, but something stronger too. Something that couldn’t easily be blown over.” - Howe, Where Only Storm Grow
This historical fiction novel about a pair of twins living in Oklahoma in the spring of 1935 is engaging and fast-paced. This story uses duel narrators, twins Joanna and Howe Stanton, to give a glimpse into what it was like to grow up during the Dust Bowl. Themes of family, community and survival are all present.
I especially enjoyed the relationships among the characters in this story. Regardless of how they were connected, there is kinship and a ‘we are all in this together’ aspect that lent hope regardless of the trials and tribulations each of the characters were facing.
As a former middle school ELA teacher, I think this novel is well-researched and would be a good complement to a non-fiction piece about the Dust Bowl and/or Black Sunday.
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Publishers for the advanced copy to read. All opinions here are my own.
Books I Have Loved 2024
In 2024 I read 27 books; I didn’t think I had read that many (the year was a dumpster fire for me personally) so I was pleasantly surprised. In no particular order, here were some of my favorites:
Full disclosure, just about one fifth of these books was the Sarah J Maas’s ACOTR series. Which I CRANKED through…ya, ya I’m late to the game with this one. That series is like a potato chip - you just can’t read one.
Unusual for me but perhaps keeping with the trend of reading multiple books by the same author in a year (see above), I read The Inmate, The Locked Door and The Teacher. Freida Mc Fadden definitely has become extraordinarily popular over the past year or so. Like many other readers, I read The Housemaid and found her writing engaging.
Nora Roberts continues her prolific pace of writing novels with a new trilogy series title The Lost Brides. The Inheritance is the first in the series and as usual, the well paced spook of a mystery story and characters drew me in fast. I want a best friend like Cleo, to live in a little village like Poole, MA, and have a house (really its a mansion) that is staffed by ghosts who do the cleaning and choose the music. (As I write this post, I just began reading the second book in the series - The Mirror.)
When my oldest daughter asked me if Amy Tintera’s Listen for the Lie would make a good choice for her book club I immediately said “Yes!” The story uses one of today’s most popular social media platforms (podcasts) as a tool to drive the story: like an updated version of a diary entry. That in itself makes the book unique. The characters were an unexpected bonus: down to earth and at times, funny considering the overall somber tone of the plot.
The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon took me by surprise, into another time period, and has stayed with me long after I finished reading the novel. I am writing a book review on this book so I don’t want to say anymore about it here except to read it!!
I will end this post with my last favorite read of 2024; an author I make an immediate trip to a bookstore to purchase her latest work whenever it is released: Alice Hoffman’s When We Flew Away. Gosh, I was so taken in by this imaginative look about what Anne Frank’s life was like from just before the German’s invaded the Netherlands to when she was literally walking into the building where the family’s hiding spot was located. Even though Ms. Hoffman had to imagine much of the novel, it is based in as much fact as she could research and glean from people who knew Anne and her family. She walks the reader through how the Germans slowly narrowed down the world of the Jews living in the country. I have a deep respect for how that population adapted and so sad they had to experience such outcasting.
By sharing my thoughts on these novels, I hope it inspires you to try a new read. Don’t forget to share your own favorites from 2024 —I’d love to hear what was on your list!
ACOTAR series Midway Musing: Feyre
Admittedly, I am late to the game in reading this series. But I am making up for it by inhaling the books now. I just finished the third, A Court of Wings and Ruins. I am thoroughly enjoying the world and characters Sarah J. Maas has created.
Well, most of them.
As I read, something started to bother me about Feyre. She changed, of course. She is one of the protagonists in the story, on her hero journey, and that is to be expected. But some shift in her character arc doesn’t sit right. I cheer that she learned how to live with her Under the Mountain experiences. I swoon when Rhysand steps in to help her along with this healing. I adore the dynamic between these two characters and I knew the dance around their feelings would eventually come to an end. BUT. I didn’t think it would take one book (out of five) and once Feyre and Rhysand came together, that’s when I began to feel disappointed. The capitulation that Feyre does once she accepts Rhysand is her mate turns me off. Now, she does have a history of falling fast - her interest in Tamlin happened quickly too. And as Under the Mountain proves, she goes all out when she’s in love. There is also a history of men letting her down - besides Tamlin, her father also falls into that category. So I would have liked to see her struggle to trust Rhysand for a longer time. This would have added depth to her character and maintained the tension I loved between them.
And to be completely honest, I would have liked Rhysand to be harder to trust. He clearly knows when to be a strategic SOB.
Basically I would have liked to see the tension between the two characters go on for another book. Extending the mistrust would enrich their dynamic and add another layer of complexity.
Anyway, on to book four!