Songs For the Broken Hearted

 

I was lucky to receive an advanced review copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. It will be published on September 10, 2024. The story is about a young Yemeni Israeli woman who learns of her mother’s secret romance through lost family stories. It is the author's debut novel. 

The publisher's summary:

1950. Thousands of Yemeni Jews have immigrated to the newly founded Israel in search of a better life. In an overcrowded immigrant camp in Rosh Ha’ayin, Yaqub, a shy young man, happens upon Saida, a beautiful girl singing by the river. In the midst of chaos and uncertainty, they fall in love. But they weren’t supposed to; Saida is married and has a child, and a married woman has no place befriending another man.

1995. Thirty-something Zohara, Saida’s daughter, has been living in New York City—a city that feels much less complicated than Israel, where she grew up wishing that her skin was lighter, that her illiterate mother’s Yemeni music was quieter, and that the father who always favored her was alive. She hasn’t looked back since leaving home, rarely in touch with her mother or sister, Lizzie, and missing out on her nephew Yoni’s childhood. But when Lizzie calls to tell her their mother has died, she gets on a plane to Israel with no return ticket.

Soon Zohara finds herself on an unexpected path that leads to shocking truths about her family—including dangers that lurk for impressionable young men and secrets that force her to question everything she thought she knew about her parents, her heritage, and her own future.

I wish I could say that I enjoyed the story. It is heavy on culture but light on action. Knowing nothing about the Yemeni culture, I  found it impossible to pick up on the cues the author gave. There were many, many of these cultural cues for characters who were American, Israeli and Yemeni. I could not keep them straight. I must wonder, though, if the translation is the reason I was unable to become interested in the story. 

The characters, too, had difficulty communicating with each other. Everyone seemed to be estranged from each other. They were a dull lot. There was a lot of information on Yemeni songs and poetry which I normally would enjoy but for some reason, bored me. I cannot quite finger the exact reason for my disconnect with the book, but suffice to say that because I received it from Net Galley, I read the entire book. It is my practice to stop reading a novel if I cannot become interested by page fifty. I have done my duty.

1 out of 5 stars.

Forget Me Never

Forget Me Never was just published last month on June 4, 2024. It is the newest installment of Susan Wittig Albert's China Bayles Mysteries and is the 28th installment of the series. As expected, it is a fun and relaxing read. 

The publisher's summary:

Olivia Andrews is locally famous for her blog and podcast, “Forget Me Not: A Crime Victim’s Storyboard,” which is dedicated to telling the stories of victims of crime. Now, she has a stunning story to tell about a decades-old murder mystery involving a prominent citizen of Pecan Springs—someone who isn’t the man everybody thinks he is. But she is killed by a hit-and-run driver while she’s out jogging early one morning. Was it an accident—or something else? Her sister wants to know.

And Olivia’s friend China Bayles also wants to know, urgently. Who is the prominent citizen Olivia was about to expose? How did he manage to get away with murder twenty years ago? Did he kill Olivia to keep her from revealing his secret? What is local lawyer Charlie Lipman trying to hide? And when there’s another murder . . . well, it has to be a part of the same story, doesn’t it? And so does the scrapbook a cousin has compiled to honor the memory of one of the victims and make sure she won’t be forgotten. It might hold the answer—except that the one person whose face China wants to see has been scissored out of every photo.

What I love about this series is that once you start reading you don't notice how far into the story you have read until about halfway through it. The first person narrative as well as China's personality keep you reading without even noticing the time.  This series always focuses on an herb with chapter intros giving a factoid about that particular herb.  In this novel, the author has focuses on the coffee bean because it helps with memory and the title is about not forgetting.  I loved reading the little known facts about coffee and caffeine such as the fragrance of coffee comes from over 800 aromas.  The darker the roast of the bean, the easier it is to detect them by scent. Rosemary is another memory enhancing herb that was featured.

The setting is a small town in Texas called Pecan Springs. China's narrative comes from her Texan heritage with plenty of southern colloquialisms.  The characters all reflect this heritage but each are unique.  China is a former attorney who runs an herb and catering business. Her best friend Ruby is a clairvoyant but also her business partner.  Ruby's psychic abilities are showcased in the story. The author mentioned that former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling lived nearby in the River Oaks community before he went to prison and that Senator Ted Cruz also lived there. I found it amusing and liked that she made them a part of the setting.

A new character, Olivia Andrews, is detailed from what people have said about her after her demise.  She was killed early on from a hit and run "accident."  Olivia is an interesting character.  She is a former journalist who had been writing a true crime blog and podcast. The crimes that she featured on her blog were taken from obscurity but she brought them back to life with her unique way of thinking. Secondary characters such as China's husband and the friendly local police chief were not involved in the investigation and were barely mentioned in the book. Police Chief Sheila Dawson's contribution to the story dealt only with how she was handling being a new mother.  Sheila's new life as a mother is the only character growth in the book but we only read these great stories from Susan Wittig Albert for her ability to write a fun mystery.  This one had more twists than we usually see from Albert, most likely because China had three murders to solve.

Forget Me Never is a fun and fast read. Cozy fans will want to read it. 5 out of 5 stars.