Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club

Yellowface
By R.F. Kuang
William Morrow,9780063250833. May 2023, 336 pp.

The Short of It:

Grabs you from the get-go.

The Rest of It:

Some books grab you as soon as you turn that first page. Yellowface is one of those books but I had a love/hate relationship with it. Oh no, not that I hated it at all but I found myself frustrated that I liked it so much even though the book’s main character is less than honorable. I should not have enjoyed a book, which at its heart, is all about deception and lies.

There is really nothing redeeming about June. June and Athena started off on similar footing. Both, should have been up and coming young authors of incredible talent. But June never truly breaks through as a successful writer, even though she can write quite well. Athena on the other hand, has that special something that sells books. She wows her agent and publicists and they tend to bend over backwards for her.

June, slightly bothered by Athena’s popularity, sits back while a freak accident takes the life of Athena. June’s lack of effort to save Athena tells you everything you need to know about June. She’s a little bit self-centered, obviously jealous, and has no problem stealing Athena’s manuscript and passing it off as her own.

Her justification? As a White writer she will never be on level ground with an author of color. Especially when the book is about Chinese laborers. So June takes Athena’s work and “makes it better” and then calls it her own.

But we get hints early on that all is not smooth sailing when June begins to “see” Athena at author events. Is she imagining her? Is someone playing games with her because they know what she did? As a reader, I eagerly flipped those pages to find out but in all honesty, I was a tad disappointed with the ending. No spoilers, though.

This was read for book club and it was an excellent book for discussion. Was anyone Team June? No. Did we even like Athena? Not really. But did it keep me reading. Yes. Big yes.

Have you read it? Thoughts?

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

We Were Never Here
By Andrea Bartz
Ballantine Books, 9781984820464, August 2021, 320pp.

The Short of It:

Once I got into the story I couldn’t put it down.

The Rest of It:

Emily and Kristen are best friends. Kristen pushes Emily to do things that she would not normally do. Emily has fun with her and considers her more of a sister than anything else. Kristen, always up for adventure, convinces Emily to travel to another country. But while there, something goes terribly wrong and they are forever bound by their secrets.

After a year, Kristen decides it’s time for another vacation, this time to Chile. Emily hasn’t quite recovered from her last trip and this time, she has a boyfriend but Kristen, persistent as ever, convinces Emily to make the trip. Although Emily is loyal to Kristen, this trip doesn’t sit right with her and she begins to feel as if Kristen is pulling all the strings.

Well, as you can probably guess, something happens on this trip too! Emily cannot believe that she has gotten herself into this mess, again! And once again, Kristen is calling the shots and acting like nothing is wrong. How can that be normal? How can she not be bothered by what happened and what they’ve done? After a little digging, Emily discovers that Kristen is no stranger to tragedy and that she needs to find a way out of this relationship.

It took me a little while to get into this story. The characters are not all that likable, especially Kristen. And yes, if I am being honest the story seemed a little far-fetched but once I got into it, I was into it and flipping those pages to find out how it would end. Without giving anything away, I DO have some questions about the ending.

If you need a book to distract you from the every day routine, this is a fun one to pick up. Just give it a little bit of time to get going.

Recommend.

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

Chatting with friends about books and life…