© 2020 Book Chatter | Book Chatter

The Swap
By Robyn Harding
Gallery/Scout Press, 9781982141769, June 23, 2020, 336pp.

The Short of It:

In a pandemic, you need quick, fast reads that take you out of your current situation. The Swap accomplished that.

The Rest of It:

Swallow, “Low” for short, is an awkward teen whose family is polyamorous. Meaning, she has more than a mom and dad. More like an entire support team who have agreed to live as one happy family. No jealousy. No competition. She lives on an island that is open to these types of relationships. She thinks it’s a little weird but kind of gets it too. As for herself, she has no idea what she wants.

In walks Freya. She’s blonde and beautiful and magnetic. She’s also a grown woman. After she posts a flyer about pottery classes Low decides she’s buying whatever Freya is selling. As their pottery sessions turn into more than a friendship, at least in Low’s eyes, Freya begins to pit Low against another close friend of hers and the two compete for Freya’s attention which begins a dangerous game of tug of war.

Harding knows how to tell a story. She loops you in no matter how far-fetched the plot is. I read this in two sittings. Had it not been for work I would have finished it in one day. It ended in a surprising way and was a little over-the-top but that didn’t prevent me from savoring those last few pages. Have you read Harding before? I really enjoyed The Party a few years back.

The Swap comes out June 23rd but do add it to your list.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

Sunday Matters

One day more
Another day, another destiny
~Les Mis

Right Now:

This week has been a particularly bad news week. The nastiness of the world seems to be coming at me from all directions. I seriously need to stop watching and listening because with each headline I just get angry.

First off, the Ahmaud Arbery shooting in Georgia. To think that you can kill someone and be roaming free for months afterward. That is ridiculous in and of itself.

Second, that ridiculous conspiracy video floating around that has turned some of my friends into fools. I won’t even name the video because it’s gotten too much press as it is. Have people lost their minds?

All that aside, today is Mother’s Day and although it’s not like any other Mother’s Day, it’s still a day to celebrate. We will hop in the car, drive somewhere to get food, eat in the car or maybe outside, get back in the car and come home. I am hoping for some grilled fish tacos and maybe a view of the ocean.

This Week:

My daughter’s dental appointment was rescheduled again. This will be the fourth time. I am fine with it. I was getting anxiety just thinking about it.

There is a online tap dance class this week for daughter. There is a sign language presentation due and then the final and I think that’s it. My daughter will be glad to have that class behind her.

My son is interviewing to be a Liberal Arts Ambassador for Cal Poly this Saturday (Zoom). This will be really good for him so I hope he gets it. He is still working with transfer students for his department. They offered him a little money to reach out to them since they can’t tour the campus right now. That seems to be going well. And he also got offered a voice-over gig.

My work is still plugging along. No mention yet of us returning anytime soon. Summer classes will be online. Fall classes are still being discussed. I can’t imagine us going back before July but things can change so quickly.

Reading:

I finally finished Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult. It’s a great book and I will have the review posted soon but it was so difficult to read with all the racism surfacing everywhere I look. It is a book that will make you angry.

Watching:

We finished Paranoid on Netflix. It was just okay. Short, only eight episodes and I liked the characters a lot. The plot was a little thin. The big reveal, not very surprising.

We had a horror movie night on Friday. We watched Hereditary and got pizza. My son and daughter had already seen it but my husband and I had not. What a horrifying movie. Good, but will definitely creep you out.

New Things I’ve Tried:

I’ve tried a few new wines but none I feel compelled to recommend. Of the ones recommended to me by some of you last week, I’ve not tried them yet. It’s so hard to get things delivered these days. It takes weeks to get anything. I ordered blue light glasses for my daughter because all the online school work is taking its toll but they haven’t gotten here and that was over four weeks ago.

Grateful for:

Fake tanning cream. It’s hovered between 95-100 degrees this week which means I am wearing shorts and my legs were Edward Cullen white! Three days of cream and I am looking alive again.

For those of you celebrating Mom’s Day today, I hope you have a fabulous day, can enjoy some good food and maybe a little time to yourself. That sounds weird because all we are doing right now is having time to ourselves but you know what I mean. QUALITY time.

That’s it from hot, sunny, California. Tell me what is going on with you.