Starlight Book Review -Martha Batalha’s The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao – 🇧🇷

Cover of The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao by Martha Batalha on a green background | Image Source: Goodreads

World Tour Stellar Reading Challenge – Brazil

Translated from Portuguese

4/5 I have always wanted to visit Brazil. Of course, an easy ticket to this glittering jewel in the Southern Hemisphere is via literature. My search for such a book led me to The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao by Martha Batalha.

Learn more about these 2023 SRC by clicking here.

Click here to discover more about 2024 SRC.

Trigger Warnings (TW): period typical racism (also showing as fetishization) and sexism.

“Euridice is young, beautiful and ambitious, but when her rebellious sister Guida elopes, she sets her own aspirations aside and vows to settle down as a model wife and daughter. And yet as her husband’s professional success grows, so does Euridice’s feeling of restlessness. She embarks on a series of secret projects – from creating recipe books to becoming the most sought-after seamstress in town – but each is doomed to failure. Her tradition-loving husband is not interested in an independent wife. And then one day Guida appears at the door with her young son and a terrible story of hardship and abandonment. The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao is a wildly inventive, wickedly funny and keenly observed tale of two sisters who, surrounded by a cast of unforgettable characters, assert their independence and courageously carve a path of their own in 1940s Rio de Janeiro. A deeply human and truly unforgettable novel from one of the most exciting new voices in world literature.”

At first, I enjoyed reading The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao. I liked and cared about the titular character, Euridice. I often wanted to climb into the book to give her husband, Antenor, a piece of my mind. Batalha painted a vivid picture in this charming work of the Gusmaos’ home life. I docked the book a star, though, because it delved into many of the other characters and I wanted more Euridice. Nevertheless, I highly recommend to fans of historical fiction with a dash of magical realism.

Quotes come from book flaps/cover and are featured on color blocks.

Starlight Book Review – Christina Baker Kline’s A Piece of the World 🇺🇸

Cover of A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline on a ‘tropical forest green’ colored background | Image Source: Goodreads

RUSA SRC – Region #4 Northeast – Maine

3.85/5 Days prior to discovering this book, I saw Andrew Wyeth’s painting Christina’s World featured on a Facebook page I follow. Per usual, I read a little more about the work. Then, I saw A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline listed as a book set in Maine on The Book Girls’ Guide. Check out their post by clicking here.

Check out the Regional U.S.A. (RUSA) Tour by clicking here.

“From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the smash bestseller Orphan Train, a stunning and atmospheric novel of friendship, passion, and art, inspired by Andrew Wyeth’s mysterious and iconic painting Christina’s World... “Later he told me that he’d been afraid to show me the painting. He thought I wouldn’t like the way he portrayed me: dragging myself across the field, fingers clutching dirt, my legs twisted behind. The arid moonscape of wheatgrass and timothy. That dilapidated house in the distance, looming up like a secret that won’t stay hidden.”… To Christina Olson, the entire world was her family’s remote farm in the small coastal town of Cushing, Maine. Born in the home her family had lived in for generations, and increasingly incapacitated by illness, Christina seemed destined for a small life. Instead, for more than twenty years, she was host and inspiration for the artist Andrew Wyeth, and became the subject of one of the best known American paintings of the twentieth century… As she did in her beloved smash bestseller Orphan Train, Christina Baker Kline interweaves fact and fiction in a powerful novel that illuminates a little-known part of America’s history. Bringing into focus the flesh-and-blood woman behind the portrait, she vividly imagines the life of a woman with a complicated relationship to her family and her past, and a special bond with one of our greatest modern artists… Told in evocative and lucid prose, A Piece of the World is a story about the burdens and blessings of family history, and how artist and muse can come together to forge a new and timeless legacy.”

I found facets of A Piece of the World intriguing – such as Christina’s grandmother Mamey and the various seafaring journey taken by ancestors. Also, I appreciated the interactions between Wyeth and Christina. I liked learning more about life in Maine — coastal life, New England heritage, etc. Yet, I struggled with reading this book — the austerity of the Olson Family’s life made this tough-going. The narrative, told in present-tense, drove me a little batty at times. I recommend A Piece of the World to anyone wanting a tale behind Christina’s World.

Click here to view Christina’s World.

Quotes come from book flaps/cover and are featured on color blocks.

Starlight Book Review – Katherine Center’s The Bodyguard

Cover of The Bodyguard by Katherine Center on a dull green background |
Image Source: Goodreads

Local Tour SRC -Set in Houston, Texas, USA

4/5 In my aim to read “unfamiliar authors,” I seized upon Katherine Center after seeing other Gnomies sing her praises. Also, I endeavored to read books set in my hometown of Houston, Texas, U.S.A. While Center happens to be from Houston, she also set The Bodyguard in the Energy Capital of the World. Given Center’s popularity, I placed a hold on the eAudio copy.

Check out the Local Tour SRC by clicking here.

“She’s got his back. He’s got her heart. They’ve got a secret. What could possibly go wrong?
Hannah Brooks looks more like a kindergarten teacher than somebody who could kill you with her bare hands. But the truth is, she’s an elite bodyguard and she’s just been hired to protect a superstar actor from his stalker… Jack Stapleton’s a Hollywood heartthrob – captured by paparazzi on beaches the world over, rising out of the waves in clingy board shorts and glistening like a Roman deity… When Jack’s mom gets sick, he comes home to the family’s Texas ranch to help out. Only one catch: He doesn’t want his family to know about his stalker. Or the bodyguard thing. And so Hannah – against her will and her better judgment – finds herself pretending to be Jack’s girlfriend as a cover… Protecting Jack should be easy. But protecting her own heart? That’s the hardest thing she’s ever done…”

For the most part, I liked The Bodyguard. I saw why many deemed Katherine Center “the reigning queen of comfort reads.” I found Hannah relatable, definitely passing the Dad Test of sympathetic character; Jack also made that cut. The Bodyguard made for a nice read, a good ride. As someone from Texas, though, I cringed when the reader on the audio “mispronounced” some of the words, particularly Brazos. Nevertheless, I look forward to reading other books by Center; they may be in text rather than audio, though.

Quotes come from book flaps/cover and are featured on color blocks.

Starlight Book Review – Louise Erdrich’s The Sentence – 🇺🇸

Cover of The Sentence by Louise Erdrich on a light cyan background |
Image Source: Goodreads

RUSA SRC – Region #3 Midwest – Minnesota

4/5 I first recall seeing Louise Erdrich on one of the genealogy I enjoy. As I often do, I shelved a number of Erdrich’s books on my To Be Read (TBR) Shelf. Still, it took me until this year to shift any of her books from my TBR. I selected The Sentence as one of Midwestern entries for the Regional U.S.A. (RUSA) Tour Stellar Reading Challenge (SRC) as its set in Minnesota.

Click here to learn about the RUSA Tour SRC.

Trigger Warnings (TW): The Sentence contains references to illicit drug use and overdose, human trafficking, inappropriate handling of corpses, police brutality, and institutionalized racism..

“The Sentence asks what we owe to the living, the dead, to the reader and to the book… A small independent bookstore in Minneapolis is haunted from November 2019 to November 2020 by the store’s most annoying customer. Flora dies on All Souls’ Day, but she simply won’t leave the store. Tookie, who has landed a job selling books after years of incarceration that she survived by reading with murderous attention, must solve the mystery of this haunting while at the same time trying to understand all that occurs in Minneapolis during a year of grief, astonishment, isolation, and furious reckoning… The Sentence begins on All Souls’ Day 2019 and ends on All Souls’ Day 2020. Its mystery and proliferating ghost stories during this one year propel a narrative as rich, emotional, and profound as anything Louise Erdrich has written.”

I found The Sentence intriguing, especially with how Erdrich inserted herself as a minor character and set the book at Birchbark Books. Some of what main character Tookie endured forced me to set aside The Sentence for a little bit, reading the book in bursts. The Sentence impressed me but I found I read it too soon after events of 2020. Maybe I might revisit the book in a few years.

Check out more information on Erdrich’s Birchbark Books & Native Arts by clicking here.

Quotes come from book flaps/cover and are featured on color blocks.

Starlight Book Review – Laurie Gelman’s Class Mom – 🇺🇸

Cover of Class Mom (Class Mom #1) by Laurie Gelman on a brick red background |
Image Source: Goodreads

RUSA SRC – Region #3 Midwest – Kansas

3.75/5 I came across Laurie Gelman’s Class Mom on the Book Girls’ Guide. (Check them out by clicking here, Gnomies!) When I read their blurb on this book set mostly in Overland Park, Kansas, a burb on the Kansas side of Kansas City, as opposed to the Missouri side, I knew I wanted to read the book. Let’s just say cities lying in more than one state fascinate me. I also read in the blurb that this book made for an enjoyable read and happened to be written by new to me author Laurie Gelman, wife of television producer Michael Gelman.

Click here to learn about the Regional U.S.A. (RUSA) Tour Stellar Reading Challenge (SRC).

“Jen Dixon is not your typical Kansas City kindergarten class mom–or mom in general. Jen already has two college-age daughters by two different (probably) musicians, and it’s her second time around the class mom block with five-year-old Max–this time with a husband and father by her side. Though her best friend and PTA President sees her as the-wisest-candidate for the job (or oldest), not all of the other parents agree… From recording parents’ response times to her emails about helping in the classroom, to requesting contributions of-special-brownies for curriculum night, not all of Jen’s methods win approval from the other moms. Throw in an old flame from Jen’s past, a hyper-sensitive -allergy mom,-a surprisingly sexy kindergarten teacher, and an impossible-to-please Real Housewife-wannabe, causing problems at every turn, and the job really becomes much more than she signed up for.”

Class Mom made for a quick read. Narrator Jen Dixon made herself known to the reader with relative ease. Some of her adventures… and misadventures reminded me of anecdotes my mom shared with me about serving as who we knew as “room mothers” and on the Parent Teacher Organization (not association) board. I also liked when Jen spoke of “KCK” and what living in Kansas might be like for one person. I docked Class Mom 1.25 stars for a personal pet peeve of books written in the present tense instead of my prefered past tense as well as the somewhat rough start with the email/epistolary fiction. Still, I must place other books in the Class Mom Series on my To Be Read (TBR) Shelf.

For more information on why there is a Kansas City, Kansas and a Kansas City, Missouri, click here.

Quotes come from book flaps/cover and are featured on color blocks.

Starlight Book Review – Kate Stayman-London’s One to Watch

Cover of Book – One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London – centered on a deep magenta background with the “Starry Night Elf” Logo in the lower right hand corner | Cover Image Source: Goodreads

Set in the Day Stellar Reading Challenge – 2010s

Set in the Year 2019/ Published in 2020

Trigger Warning –  fatphobia/ fat shaming/ toxic relationships/ misogyny/ cheating/ doxxing

3.7/5 As I anticipated offering the Set in the Day Stellar Reading Challenge (SRC), I imagined the easiest books to find would be those Set in the 2010s (also known as the Tens). Gnomies, I doubt I could’ve been more wrong! I even eased up on the rule a bit for the last decade of this SRC. Yet, somehow, I discovered Kate Stayman-London’s One to Watch, a book set in 2019 and published in 2020. While some reviewers offered less than stellar opinions on One to Watch, I decided to read this book as it focused on some rather Twenty-first Century, even Tens themes.

Click here for more information on this SRC.

“Bea Schumacher is a devastatingly stylish plus-size fashion blogger who has amazing friends, a devoted family, legions of Insta followers–and a massively broken heart. Like the rest of America, Bea indulges in her weekly obsession: the hit reality show Main Squeeze. The fantasy dates! The kiss-off rejections! The surprising amount of guys named Chad! But Bea is sick and tired of the lack of body diversity on the show. Since when is being a size zero a prerequisite for getting engaged on television?… Just when Bea has sworn off dating altogether, she gets an intriguing call: Main Squeeze wants her to be its next star, surrounded by men vying for her affections. Bea agrees, on one condition–under no circumstances will she actually fall in love. She’s in this to supercharge her career, subvert harmful anti-fat beauty standards, inspire women across America, and get a free hot air balloon ride. That’s it…. But when the cameras start rolling, Bea realizes things are more complicated than she anticipated. She’s in a whirlwind of sumptuous couture, Internet culture wars, sexy suitors, and an opportunity (or two, or five) to find messy, real-life love in the midst of a made-for-TV fairy tale.”

My favorite part of One to Watch happens to be the beginning when Bea makes friends with a Parisian shopkeeper. I wished the narrative, text correspondence and all, remained with this promising start. I must say Stayman-London nails all the tropes of dating reality TV as far as I’m concerned. In fact, she illustrates how “unreal” this television can be. Bea and other characters, all with their own agendas rather than actually finding true love and a happily ever after (HEA), seemed most authentic. The book left me wanting, however, some more likeable characters. I felt Stayman-London wanted readers to have certain opinions of different characters that I never quite managed. Also, I found most of the characters undeserving of their respective endgames. Nonetheless, I commend this book for being quintessentially 2010s.

Quotes come from book flaps/cover and are featured on color blocks.

Starlight Book Review – Rebecca Wells’ Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

Cover of Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells centered on a light medium green background with Starry Night Elf avatar in lower right hand corner | Cover Image Source: Goodreads

Back in the Day Stellar Reading Challenge – 1990s

Published 1996

Trigger Warnings – abuse/child neglect/ racism/sexism/ substance abuse/ violence

4.2/5 I remember my mom taking me to see Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002) when the film hit screens during a summer break from college. Mom also read the book by Rebecca Wells which inspired the movie of the same name. Yet, I probably did not mentally slide Wells’ Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood until I read Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point… Still, I never made my way back to this book until last month when I sought out literature published in the 1990s for the Back in the Day Stellar Reading Challenge (SRC). Click here for details on this SRC. I wanted a book closer to my typical reading but not in a genre I recently read in the latter part of 2022. It pleased me that I located a copy of Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood to read.

“When Siddalee Walker, oldest daughter of Vivi Abbott Walker, Ya-Ya extraordinaire, is interviewed in the New York Times about a hit play she’s directed, her mother gets described as a “tap-dancing child abuser.” Enraged, Vivi disowns Sidda. Devastated, Sidda begs forgiveness, and postpones her upcoming wedding. All looks bleak until the Ya-Yas step in and convince Vivi to send Sidda a scrapbook of their girlhood mementos, called “Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.” As Sidda struggles to analyze her mother, she comes face to face with the tangled beauty of imperfect love, and the fact that forgiveness, more than understanding, is often what the heart longs for.”

Since growing up in Houston, not two hundred miles from Louisiana, and being close to my mom, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood seemed both familiar and redolent with home and family. I marveled at the bond between Ya-Yas Vivi, Caro, Teensy, and Necie. I appreciated how this book plunged back in time to the 1930s and the beginnings of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood as well as points in Siddalee’s 1993. I found the correspondence between characters dynamic. Some points I set aside the book at some of the abuse, neglect, and racial statements made me uncomfortable. Yet, I must add that I found that Wells related the tale, warts and all, rather than endorsed these thoughts or behaviors.

Quotes come from book flaps/cover and are featured on color blocks.

Starlight Book Review – Ruta Sepetys’ I Must Betray You

Cover of Book – I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys – centered on a dark red background with the “Starry Night Elf” Logo in the lower right hand corner | Cover Image Source: Goodreads

Set in the Day Stellar Reading Challenge – 1980s

Set in the Year 1989/ Published in 2022

Trigger Warning – death of a family member/ implied sexual harassment/ gun violence/ bloodshed and physical violence

4.4/5 Once again, I sought the sage reader’s advisory of the Book Girls’ Guide for my “Set in the Day” book for the 1980s. Click here to check out their link for Books Set in the 1980s. Ultimately, I selected a book by one of my favorite historical fiction writers, Ruta Sepetys, set in the days of Nicolae Ceaușescu’s dictatorship in Romania. In fact, I recall seeing reports about Romania as a child and selected I Must Betray You as my 1980s read.

Click here for more information on this SRC.

“Romania, 1989. Communist regimes are crumbling across Europe. Seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu dreams of becoming a writer, but Romanians aren’t free to dream; they are bound by rules and force… Amidst the tyrannical dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu in a country governed by isolation and fear, Cristian is blackmailed by the secret police to become an informer. He’s left with only two choices: betray everyone and everything he loves—or use his position to creatively undermine the most notoriously evil dictator in Eastern Europe… Cristian risks everything to unmask the truth behind the regime, give voice to fellow Romanians, and expose to the world what is happening in his country. He eagerly joins the revolution to fight for change when the time arrives. But what is the cost of freedom?… A gut-wrenching, startling window into communist Romania and the citizen spy network that devastated a nation, from the number one New York Times best-selling, award-winning author of Salt to the Sea and Between Shades of Gray.“

I read* I Must Betray You a few months ago and this book remains fresh and recent in my memory. I doubt this book would’ve been fresher in my mind if I had finished it yesterday. I Must Betray You sets a bleak stage for main narrator Cristian Florescu in dark and dim Bucharest of 1989. Blackmailed by the secret police, Cristian begins spying on Dan, the son of a U.S. Diplomat. As a character, Dan served well as a gage of what an American teen boy in the 1980s might be like in a country such as Romania. Also, Irina Drucan’s daughter helped show the differences between to two nations. I felt Sepetys showed readers yet again why her works belong on the shelf of any avid historical fiction reader. I deducted a partial star because the romance seemed a little much for everything else taking place in the novel. Still, that might be just a matter of taste or preference.

* For the most part, I read the audio version of I Must Betray You and referred to the print copy so I knew both the text and sound of some of the Romanian names. I highly recommend checking out both, particularly the audio narrated by Edoardo Ballerini.

Quotes come from book flaps/cover and are featured on color blocks.

Starlight Book Review – Kay Hooper’s Curse of Salem

Cover of Curse of Salem by Kay Hooper centered on a deep violet hued background with Starry Night Elf avatar in lower right hand corner | Cover Image Source: Goodreads

Trigger Warning – violence

4.5/5 I always look forward to books about Kay Hooper’s Bishop/Special Crimes Unit and other group, Haven. In fact, I think I picked up my first Bishop/Special Crimes Unit book during a summer break from college. The Bishop/Special Crimes Unit series holds a distinction of being books I’ve not necessarily read in numerical order. When I saw Curse of Salem, Bishop/Special Crimes Unit #20, hit shelves last December, I sought ways to read it either between Stellar Reading Challenges (SRC) or for an SRC. Fast forward to October 2022, I grabbed a digital copy of Curse of Salem from my library and quickly read it ostensibly for an SRC. Alas, I already accomplished that entry earlier in the year. All things considered, though, I decided I wanted to post a Starlight Book Review (SBR) on Curse of Salem.

“New York Times bestselling author Kay Hooper is back with the next thrilling paranormal suspense novel in the Bishop/Special Crimes Unit series.… The small town of Salem has been quiet for months–or so Bishop and his elite Special Crimes Unit believe. But then Hollis Templeton and Diana Hayes receive a warning in Diana’s eerie “gray time” between the world of the living and the realm of the dead that a twisted killer is stalking Salem, bent on destroying in the most bloody and horrifying way possible the five families that founded the town… The stakes are high, especially for new friends Nellie Cavendish and Finn Deverell, both members of the Five, and this time Bishop and his wife Miranda will lead the team to hunt down a vicious killer and uncover a dark and ancient curse haunting Salem.”

I practically gobbled up Curse of Salem as I often do with Hooper’s books. I probably slammed hard into the back cover of this twentieth installment of the series. As I hadn’t glimpsed some of the characters in this book in a while, I often consulted Hooper’s “Character Bios” section towards the back. She also provided a glossary of various extra sensory perception (ESP) and a chronology of books. Without these aids, I recommend readers start from the stellar beginning with Hooper’s Stealing Shadows. Also, I must mention that some of the violence can be completely jarring. Maybe Stealing Shadows will make be in a future SBR.

Quotes come from book flaps/cover and are featured on color blocks.

Starlight Book Review – Elizabeth Wetmore’s Valentine

Cover of Book – Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore – centered on a rich terra cotta orange background with the “Starry Night Elf” Logo in the lower right hand corner | Cover Image Source: Goodreads

Set in the Day Stellar Reading Challenge – 1970s

Set in the Year 1976/ Published in 2020

Trigger Warning – rape/ abuse/ substance abuse/ and violence

3.78/5 The Book Girls’ Guide brought my attention to Elizabeth Wetmore’s Valentine during my search for books about the 1970s. Click here to check out their link for Books Set in the 1970s. Valentine became my entry for my own Set in the Day Stellar Reading Challenge (SRC) as it met my criteria for this reading goal.

Click here for more information on this SRC.

“An astonishing debut novel that explores the lingering effects of a brutal crime on the women of one small Texas oil town in the 1970s… Mercy is hard in a place like this . . .
It’s February 1976, and Odessa, Texas, stands on the cusp of the next great oil boom. While the town’s men embrace the coming prosperity, its women intimately know and fear the violence that always seems to follow… In the early hours of the morning after Valentine’s Day, fourteen-year-old Gloria Ramírez appears on the front porch of Mary Rose Whitehead’s ranch house, broken and barely alive. The teenager had been viciously attacked in a nearby oil field—an act of brutality that is tried in the churches and barrooms of Odessa before it can reach a court of law. When justice is evasive, the stage is set for a showdown with potentially devastating consequences… Valentine is a haunting exploration of the intersections of violence and race, class and region in a story that plumbs the depths of darkness and fear, yet offers a window into beauty and hope. Told through the alternating points of view of indelible characters who burrow deep in the reader’s heart, this fierce, unflinching, and surprisingly tender novel illuminates women’s strength and vulnerability, and reminds us that it is the stories we tell ourselves that keep us alive.”

A poignant beginning, Wetmore pulled me into Valentine with young Gloria Ramírez’s nightmarish plight. I found Mary Rose Whitehead’s first person accounts compelling, too. In addition, I felt Corinne and numerous other characters sparked my interest in Valentine. While I thought I kept the characters straight as I read this book, I wished to know more about Gloria who later changes her name to Glory and even Mary Rose. By the time Wetmore gets around to the second person chorus of women in Karla Shipley’s chapter, I wanted to shrink the scope of the book and focus on the first few characters. Also, Wetmore endeavored to share about the problems many females and Vietnam vet Jesse suffered in the 1970s. I appreciated this but preferred to zoom in for three or four characters’ lives than a dozen.

This book straddled a time and place adjacent to my own existence. The time predates me and I grew up in the Texas Gulf Coast region as opposed to the dry, rugged terrain of oil town Odessa. So, some of this seemed vaguely familiar but also quite different from my own experience coming of age in late Twentieth Century Texas. That pleases me as I aim to diversify my reading with every SRC I craft. Also, Wetmore endeavored to share about the problems many females and Vietnam vet Jesse suffered in the 1970s. Still, I read this around the same time as Justin Deabler’s Lone Stars and sometimes confused the overlap of certain parts of these two books. I don’t blame either Wetmore or Deabler for my bad timing, though.

Click here to read my review of Lone Stars.

Quotes come from book flaps/cover and are featured on color blocks.