Harper | Book Chatter

Wreck
By Catherine Newman
Harper, October 2025, 224pp.

The Short of It:

A standalone story but one that brings back a beloved character from Sandwich.

The Rest of It:

Rocky is back.

In Newman’s previous book, Sandwich, Rocky and her family spent the summer in Cape Cod. An iconic, idyllic setting. I fell in love with that book and that family.

In Wreck, Rocky and the fam are back two years later, at home doing the things every family does but in a totally Rocky way. Rocky way? Rocky is a character. She is the type of person who says what you are quietly feeling. Honestly, she is a lot like me. I just blurt out my thoughts for all to hear. Most of the time with dead accuracy. Much like Rocky.

This time around, the story is centered around home and some irritating medical challenges that Rocky faces. An unknown rash, slowly taking over her body. Her internal dialogue about said rash, and the doctors who keep bouncing her back and forth between specialists is what women of this age go through daily. Ahem, myself.

Rocky has no filter. If you enjoy that kind of thing then this is the book for you. She talks about her day in a very witty, self-deprecating way. It’s often laugh out loud funny. As she goes about her day, and the many doctor’s appointments that follow, she thinks fondly of her adult children and reminisces about when they were younger. It’s what we do.

There’s not a lot of plot. You need to know this going in but it’s comforting in a way that visiting with an old friend is. Dealing with every day trials in the form of laughter and snippy comebacks. My only complaint with this story is that it ended abruptly. There didn’t seem to be a lead up, I just turned a page (on my device) and boom, it ended.

Episodic is a good way to describe these books. I like them and I recommend them both. They could each be read as a stand-alone.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.

Pete and Alice in Maine
By Caitlin Shetterly
Harper, 9780063242661, July 2023, 256 pp.

The Short of It:

Trouble ahead.

The Rest of It:

Pete and Alice are married with two daughters. The COVID shutdowns have just happened. To avoid the crowds and the possibility of illness, they leave NYC and head to their summer home in Maine.

What they don’t expect is to find themselves unwelcome there. The residents quickly notice their city plates, and take action against them. Action in the form of a chainsaw, as they cut down trees to keep them hostage in their own driveway.

Pete and Alice are working through some issues. The idea of being held hostage in a small house, with their two moody kids is not to either of their liking but with the virus and Pete transitioning to remote work and Alice feeling the full weight of parenting in this difficult situation, they reluctantly try to make the best of it.

I’ve recently read a few books that feature COVID as a backdrop and Shetterly does an admirable job of setting the tension. I instantly remembered all the worry in those early days of the pandemic and Pete and Alice are forced to deal with all of it, plus issues of distrust and resentment.

Their marriage is not well. As they try to navigate whether or not to continue like this, Pete gets it in his head to head back to the city. This infuriates Alice. Why doesn’t he feel the need to protect them? Not only from the virus but from their hostile neighbors!

There’s a lot of internal dialogue. We meet Pete and Alice when they first cross paths, we see them become parents, we learn about their likes and dislikes, dreams and disappointments. Marriage is accurately depicted here. Not perfect by a long shot. Hard. The family dynamic is also quite genuine. Two opinionated girls, one who can read the writing on the wall. It’s hard to live and walk upright when your kids can read between the lines.

As difficult as the relationship is, there is time on the beach, picnics, and long afternoons spent reading.

I found the writing to be quite good. I would absolutely read this author again.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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