Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan

Thank you for joining me this week for Book Beginnings on Fridays where participants share the opening sentence (or two) from the book they are reading. You can also share from a book you want to feature, even if you are not reading it at the moment. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

“If I had a flower for every time I thought of you, I could walk in my garden forever.” Henry kept chanting the line out loud over the roar of the helicopter’s engine.

-- from Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan.

I loved the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy, so was excited when my book club picked this for our next discussion. I'm now well into it and have been enjoying it, but not nearly as much as the CRA trilogy. Maybe the shine has worn off Kwan's style, or maybe this one is just a little too much. It's still a ton of fun, and I am very happy to be reading it, but it doesn't feel fresh and exciting like his first books.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING

Please add the link to your book beginning post in the linky box below. If you participate or share on social media, please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings so other people can find your post.

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 asks participants to share a two-sentence teaser from their book of the week. If your book is an ebook or audiobook, pick a teaser from the 56% point. 

Anna at My Head is Full of Books hosts The Friday 56, a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings on Fridays. Please visit My Head is Full of Books to leave the link to your post. 

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from Lies and Weddings:

Eden couldn’t fathom what the countess was referring to, but she knew the only appropriate response at this moment was to nod. She had been aware since a very young age that the countess didn’t consider the Tongs as equal to the Greshams —as the family doctor, Thomas Tong was barely a notch above the butler, and Eden merely a playmate for her children when it suited them.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

Rufus Leung Gresham, future Earl of Greshambury and son of a former Hong Kong supermodel has a problem: the legendary Gresham Trust has been depleted by decades of profligate spending, and behind all the magazine covers and Instagram stories manors and yachts lies nothing more than a gargantuan mountain of debt. The only solution, put forth by Rufus’s scheming mother, is for Rufus to attend his sister’s wedding at a luxury eco-resort, a veritable who’s-who of sultans, barons, and oligarchs, and seduce a woman with money.
. . . .
Can the once-great dukedom rise from the ashes? Or will a secret tragedy, hidden for two decades, reveal a shocking twist?

Frances Parkinson Keyes -- FAVORITE AUTHOR, BOOK LIST

FAVORITE AUTHOR, BOOK LIST

Frances Parkinson Keyes

I have a stack of unread (by me) Frances Parkinson Keyes books, which reminded me of how much I used to enjoy her books. Now, looking at this stack makes me want to dive in and read more of them! (Ignore the Mildred Jordan book that snuck into this stack.)

Frances Parkinson Keyes was a prolific American author with an interesting life. She was married to a US Senator between World War I and II and wrote memoirs about her life as a Senator’s wife, as well as several other books. After he died in 1938, she wrote over 40 more books before her death in 1970. Although she grew up in New England, she spent the last 20 years of her life living in New Orleans and many of her novels are set in Louisiana and the Deep South. Several explore Creole history and culture.

Keyes (pronounced like “eyes” instead of “keys” although I’ve never heard anyone say it that way), wrote short stories, novels, memoirs, history books, travelogue, children’s books, inspirational fiction, poetry, and even a cookbook. Her novels are mostly family sagas, romance novels, historical fiction, and the like. Most, like Dinner at Antoine’s, are excellent entertainment. A few, like Blue Camelia about the history of rice farming in Louisiana, would bore your socks off. It was hitting the Blue Camelia wall that put a stop to my FPK jag a while back. But seeing this stack on my TBR shelf makes me want to take it up again.

She's fallen off the radar, although she was enormously poplar during her lifetime. Fans of mid-century female authors would love Keyes. I always think that, if Dean Street Press included American authors in its Furrowed Middlebrow series, Keyes would be a perfect fit.

Here is a list of FPK's novels. I will never find and read all of her many books, but I plan to at least try to read her novels. Some may be too hard to find, although I'm sure they will turn up at library sales if I keep looking. 

• The Old Gray Homestead (aka Sylvia Carey) (1919)

• The Career of David Noble (1924)

• Queen Anne's Lace (1930)

• Lady Blanche Farm: A Romance of the Commonplace (1931)

• Senator Marlowe's Daughter (1933) 

• The Safe Bridge (1934)

• Honor Bright (1936)

• Parts Unknown (1938)

• The Great Tradition (1939)

• Fielding's Folly (1940)

• All That Glitters (1941)

• Crescent Carnival (1942)

• Also the Hills (1943)

• The River Road (1945)

• Came a Cavalier (1947)

• Dinner at Antoine's (1948) FINISHED

• Joy Street (1950) TBR SHELF

• Steamboat Gothic (1952) TBR SHELF

• The Ambassadress (1953)

• The Royal Box (1954) TBR SHELF

• Blue Camellia (1957) FINISHED

• The Golden Slippers (aka Victorine) (1958) TBR SHELF

• Station Wagon In Spain (aka The Letter from Spain) (1959) FINISHED

• The Explorer (1964) FINISHED

• The Chess Players: A Novel of New Orleans and Paris (1960)

• The Heritage (1960) TBR SHELF

• Shelter (1961)

• Madame Castel's Lodger (1962) TBR SHELF

• I, the King (1966) TBR SHELF

April 2025 Reading Wrap Up -- BOOK THOUGHTS

BOOK THOUGHTS

April 2025 Monthly Wrap Up

April was gorgeous here in Portland. We had April showers, but they brought April flowers. The magnolias, cherry trees, camelias, dogwoods, and all the rest seemed particularly stunning this year, maybe because we never got an ice storm or hard freeze. 

As beautiful as the flowers were, they didn’t distract me from reading 14 books last month. Several were fantastic, all were worthwhile. There wasn't a clunker in the mix.

See any here that you’ve read or want to? 

• Just One Evil Act by Elizabeth George. This is book 15 of 18 in her Inspector Lynley/Barbara Havers series. I greatly enjoy the books but am determined to finish the series. 

• Kingmaker: Pamela Harriman’s Astonishing Life of Power, Seduction, and Intrigue by Sonia Purnell. My favorite of the month! Harriman was an intriguing person who lived an extraordinary life. She was was married to Winston Churchill's son Randolph during WWII, then Broadway producer Leland Hayward, and finally banker and diplomat Avril Harriman. She had many other love affairs and was quite the jet setter. She was Bill Clinton's Ambassador to France and died in Paris in 1997, just shy of her 77th birthday. My husband gave this to me for Christmas and I included it in my TBR 25 in '25 list. 

• The Kitchen Diaries: A Year in the Kitchen with [and by] Nigel Slater. This is the first of four "Kitchen Diaries" books by Slater. I started off intending to read it over the course of the year, but couldn't hack that pace. I bolted it. I love his books, this one included. That said, I am not fond of his baking recipes, which feature a lot -- A LOT -- of candied citrus peel and dried fruit. I am not a fan of either. This was another TBR 25 in '25 for me.

• The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim. I've been intending to read this classic for a long time and finally found a beautiful Folio edition (without slipcase) at a friends of the library shop. I waited until April to read it, of course. I know I will reread this one. This could count as my Italy book for the 2025 European Reading Challenge, although I'd like to find and read a book by an Italian author. 

• Hidden Libraries: The World’s Most Unusual Book Depositories by D.C. Helmuth. A friend gave me this for Christmas and it is fascinating.

• Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller. My book club picked this for our April meeting. It is a sad, sometimes frustrating, story but we all loved the rural gothic vibe.  

• Ripley Underground and Ripley’s Game by Patricia Highsmith, books two and three in her Ripley series. I read The Talented Mr. Ripley a while back, but wasn't moved to read the sequels right away. The first one left me cold. I like the bad guys to get caught in the mystery books I read, not crime fiction about bad guys getting away with murder. But I had these two in the same omnibus edition, and I'm a completist, so I read them. Interesting stories, but not my favorite. I think there are two or three more in the series, but I've had enough. 

• Penmarric by Susan Howatch was thoroughly engrossing. I love a big, shaggy, family saga and those written in the 1970s are the best of the. I didn’t know going into it that it is a retelling King Henry II’s family history. Clever!

• Literary Feasts: Inspired Eating from Classic Fiction by Sean Brand. I wanted to like this one more, but found it a little too fluffy. Still, it was a fun, quick read. It was one of the three little pipsqueak books I read.

• Freedom Feminism: Its Surprising History and Why It Matters Today by Christina Hoff Sommers. This was another pipsqueak in size, but it packed a punch in content. It includes the history of an overlooked side of early feminist efforts and argues for a more inclusive definition of feminism today.  

• I Could Pee on This: And Other Poems by Cats by Francesco Marciuliano. This was the third pipsqueak I read last month. It was funnier than I thought it would be.

NOT PICTURED -- AUDIOBOOKS

• The Body in the Castle Well by Martin Walker. This is book 12 of 18 in his Bruno, Chief of Police series of mysteries set in a small French village. This is another series I am focusing on finishing. 

• The People We Keep by Allison Larkin. This is my book club's pick to discuss in May. Found family stories about teen agers are not my favorite cup of tea, but this one was well done and kept my attention.

How was your reading month? Any knockouts? What are you looking forward to reading in May?

The Trespasser by Tana French -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

The Trespasser by Tana French

Thank you for joining me this week for Book Beginnings on Fridays where participants share the opening sentence (or two) from the book they are reading. You can also share from a book you want to feature, even if you are not reading it at the moment.

I blew it again last week, completely forgetting to post Book Beginnings until Sunday. I figured it was too late by then. I visited my mom over Easter weekend and came back Thursday with such an airplane cold that I was completely out of it. I slept through posting on Thursday or even a late post on Friday. Sorry! And thanks for sticking with me.  

MY BOOK BEGINNING

My ma used to tell me stories about my da.

-- from the prologue to The Trespasser by Tana French.

The case comes in, or any way it comes in to us, on a frozen dawn in the kind of closed-down January that makes you think the sun’s never going to drag itself back above the horizon. 

-- from Chapter 1of The Trespasser.

The Trespasser  the sixth and final book in Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad series. Unlike other mystery series, most of the books feature a different detective or pair of detectives from the homicide department, with some overlap to connect the stories.

I'm ambivalent about the series. I think the writing is magnificent (that opening sentence!) and the atmosphere is heavy and thick, which I love. I also like that the stories are tense, but not gory or sexually creepy. 

On the other hand, there is always some fundamental flaw (for me) that makes the books almost unbearable. In a couple, the detective personally knew the victim but never disclosed that fact during the entire investigation. In one, the detective looked so much like the victim that she was able to move in with the victims roommates without them realizing she was a cop, not their roommate. Really? I almost gave up when book four delivered two flaws. First, the detective's sister was involved, but he covered it up. Second, the detective did no basic crime scene work throughout the case, only to solve the case through basic crime scene work. Don't drag me through 450 pages for a mystery that could have been solved by page 100. I persevered through book five, even though the story took place in a boarding school and 90% of the characters were teenagers. This is a personal flaw of my own, but I don't like stories about teenagers.

But I am a completist, so I want to finish the series. I'm about halfway through The Trespasser and, so far, there is no major flaw! I like this one. Unreservedly, so far. No ambiguity. Go figure.    

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING

Please add the link to your book beginning post in the linky box below. If you participate or share on social media, please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings so other people can find your post.

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 asks participants to share a two-sentence teaser from their book of the week. If your book is an ebook or audiobook, pick a teaser from the 56% point. 

Anna at My Head is Full of Books hosts The Friday 56, a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings on Fridays. Please visit My Head is Full of Books to leave the link to your post. 

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from The Trespasser:

The first few games, you have a blast, get your guy panting along after you like a puppy chasing his chew toy. Then you play one game too many, and you’ve got a house full of Murder Ds.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

[B]eing on the Murder Squad is nothing like Detective Antoinette Conway dreamed it would be. Her partner, Stephen Moran, is the only person who seems glad she’s there. The rest of her working life is a stream of thankless cases, vicious pranks, and harassment. Antoinette is savagely tough, but she’s getting close to the breaking point.

Their new case looks like yet another by-the-numbers lovers’ quarrel gone bad. Aislinn Murray is blond, pretty, groomed-to-a-shine, and dead in her catalog-perfect living room, next to a table set for a romantic dinner. There’s nothing unusual about her—except that Antoinette’s seen her somewhere before.

Tiny Vices by Linda Dahl -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Tiny Vices by Linda Dahl

Thank you for joining me this week for Book Beginnings on Fridays where participants share the opening sentence (or two) from the book they are reading. You can also share from a book you want to feature, even if you are not reading it at the moment. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

Spring break in Mexico at Rincón Bay began predictably enough.

-- from the prologue, "Sometime in the Spring of 1986," to Tiny Vices by Linda Dahl.

The call, the kind Kathy had learned to dread, came that morning when, for once, she had a chunk of time free to paint or just putter. 

-- from Chapter 1, "Spring 2016."

Tiny Vices is a family drama about four siblings facing middle age and all its challenges. The four decide to go on a beach vacation together, not appreciating how such a trip would stir up memories and their shared history. The book has drawn comparisons to Anne Tyler, the queen of the family drama and a favorite of mine, so I am all in for this one. 

Tiny Vices launches July 22 and is available for pre-order. I was lucky to get an early review copy and plan to read it right away. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING

Please add the link to your book beginning post in the linky box below. If you participate or share on social media, please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings so other people can find your post.

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Thumb-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 asks participants to share a two-sentence teaser from their book of the week. If your book is an ebook or audiobook, pick a teaser from the 56% point. 

Anna at My Head is Full of Books hosts The Friday 56, a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings on Fridays. Please visit My Head is Full of Books to leave the link to your post. 

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from Tiny Vices:

Just two years apart, Carina and Kathy shared everything about each other growing up —until boys came into the picture. Kathy couldn't understand what she called Carina's “taste" in men and vice versa.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

The Talley siblings are planning a family beach vacation—all four of them together for the first time in years. They suspect it will be their last. And God knows they all need a vacation. But wait, is it really such a good idea? Corina, with her recently diagnosed Alzheimer’s, can hardly manage to get through a day without a debacle. Pete is a just-barely-walking catalog of medical calamities stemming from his longtime addictions. Becca is reeling from her teenage son’s latest misadventure. And then there is Kathy, the eldest. After firmly avoiding going back to Rincón Bay, the beach town just a few hours south of the Arizona–Mexico border that has haunted her since a college spring break trip three decades ago, she’s determined to go back and face her ghosts—though she might be better off facing the fact that her marriage is in serious trouble.

When the Talley siblings and their entourage (two spouses, added on at the last minute, and Corina’s Mexican housekeeper/caregiver) finally land in Rincón Bay, they all encounter unexpected consequences from the wounds inflicted by careless loving—but maybe, too, the seeds of healing and hope.