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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.

Such a Fun Age
By Kiley Reid
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 9780525541905, December 2019, 320pp.

The Short of It:

A slow build but once I got into it it was like a time bomb ready to go off.

The Rest of It:

For once, I read a buzzy book when everyone else was reading it too. Such a Fun Age is making the rounds and getting a lot of praise. It was selected for Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club and although I’ve not read all of her selections, the ones I have read have been really good. This was no exception.

Emira is at a club celebrating with her friends when her boss calls her to ask if she can possibly watch her daughter due to an emergency. One, it’s late. Two, she’s dressed for the club. Three, she’s been drinking. Although she explains this to her boss, the desperation on the other line wins out.

Minutes later, Emira finds herself with three-year-old Briar in an upscale supermarket checking out the nuts, dancing in the aisle, doing whatever it takes to keep the kid occupied while her mother, Alix, tends to her emergency. Just minutes into their visit, they begin to draw the attention of other shoppers. Emira, a young black woman, and Briar, a young white child, wandering the aisles so late at night seems out of place. So much so, that a security guard begins to question her. Emira explains that she is Briar’s babysitter, which is the truth but she knows how it looks. Things escalate. That is where the story begins.

This is one of those slow-build books. Conflict is everywhere but you know something big is coming and as the story plays out, the one word that comes to mind is EXPLOSIVE. This is a book about race but also fetishsizing race, which I thought was interesting.

Two things stood out for me. One, the story is a little gritty. Not overworked or polished which I liked very much. The author did a good job of portraying each character’s POV. None of these characters are perfect and you won’t find yourself siding with any of them. They all play a role in how the rabbit falls down the hole. Two, the portrayal of Briar, the young child seemed a little off. She’s critical to the story but her observations were often not believable to me and they took me out of the narrative at times.

However, there is a lot to think about here and you will find yourself eagerly flipping those pages towards the end because it’s like a train wreck and you can’t possibly look away. I wouldn’t say it was a perfect story but I don’t think it was meant to be.

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

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