The Floating Girls by Lo Patrick

 

The Floating Girls by Lo Patrick is being billed as the next Where the Crawdads Sing with a modern-day Scout Finch as its narrator. To approach this book that way will lead to disappointment as the only thing it has in common with the other book is that it is most definitely Southern literature, with this story taking place in the fictitious Bledsoe, Georgia. Kay Whitaker is no Scout as boy-crazy Kay constantly disrespects her father Clay, and she could really use a bar of soap to wash out her mouth. Touted as “wickedly funny,” this book is not the least bit humorous as readers learn about the Whitaker family: Clay, Sue-Bess, Sarah-Anne, Kay, Peter, Freddy, and the late Elizabeth.

The Floating Girls is a book in which the marshy setting is as much a character in the book as any other. The description throughout the book is luscious, and the writing is superb in this debut novel. Kay leads the reader into the marsh where she discovers a father and son living in what she calls “a high heel house,” a house on stilts. For some reason he does not explain to her, Clay forbids Kay from seeking a friendship with Andy Webber, who has just returned to the marsh after living for some time in California with his father Nile.

Kay begins to understand that she does not know all about her family and the life they live. She cannot comprehend what might have happened in the past that should keep her from being a friend to Andy. She does not identify with the super quiet ways of her mother Sue-Bess and the strange ways of her sister Sarah-Anne. She is puzzled about the death of Andy’s mother 10 years ago, which may be solved with the arrest of her own parents, which causes Peter, Freddy, and Kay to be shuffled off to foster care while both parents await a trial for kidnapping and murder.

This novel stands alone as a piece of Southern fiction with a smart-mouth, 12-year-old girl leading the reader through the marshes and the complicated life of her backwoods family.

Lo Patrick, born and raised in Georgia, is a lawyer-turned-novelist who lives in the Atlanta suburbs. Her debut novel was published on July 12, 2022.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting July 14, 2022.

I would like to thank Sourcebooks Landmark, an imprint of Sourcebooks, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

 

The Favor by Nora Murphy

 

Two women in nearby neighborhoods in Maryland deal with domestic abuse in The Favor, a debut thriller by Nora Murphy, published May 31. Leah Dawson and McKenna Hawkins, who do not know each other, have learned that staying with their abuser is dangerous although leaving could be worst based on their husband’s threats.

Leah  has become a drunk as she self-medicates to soothe her problems, while McKenna lives in constant fear about everything she does as her husband has double downed on controlling her since she had a miscarriage. Zack has made her quit her job as a pediatrician so she can focus on being healthy enough to carry a baby to full term, which means no wine, no chips, no friends over to enjoy their new patio. Leah’s husband Liam has done something underhanded, causing Leah to fired from her job as a lawyer.

When Leah encounters McKenna at a local liquor store, something triggers her to follow McKenna home, which is one neighborhood away from Leah’s. Through observation of McKenna’s home over several days, Leah notes that McKenna is living a similar life with an abusive husband much like Leah’s spouse, a prominent divorce lawyer. Leah keeps visiting McKenna’s neighborhood and watches what goes on in her house from the road behind. One night, Leah intervenes when McKenna’s psychiatrist husband is abusing McKenna.

McKenna immediately comes under suspicion about Zack’s fate though she had nothing to do with it. But the night before, someone had called the police about them having a domestic problem. Zach schmoozes with the police, and eventually forces McKenna outside to talk with them to say nothing is wrong.

Jordan Harrison, the detective on the case, is haunted by the last domestic violence case he and his partner Mallory Cole caught, a case that left her with a gunshot from which she has not recovered. Readers will be burning the midnight oil and then some as both women are pitted against the police as investigators try to solve deadly crimes in this otherwise quiet suburb.

Nora Murphy attended law school in Washington D.C. then  worked as a judicial law clerk before transitioning to private practice. During law school, she studied the issues facing survivors of “intimate partner violence.” She lives with her family in Maryland.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting July 12, 2022.

I would like to thank St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

Out of the Corner by Jennifer Grey

Out of the Corner by actress Jennifer Grey focuses on the challenges of being the child of a Hollywood icon and at the same time takes a look at her life so far as an actress, a woman, and a mother. Available through NC Cardinal at the Murphy Library since its publishing in May, this candid and raw portrait of the actress is a must-read for any fans of the iconic movie, Dirty Dancing, which Lionsgate has set the sequel date for February 2024.

Born in 1960 to acting couple Joel Grey and Jo Wilder, Grey bounced from one coast to the other as the family followed Joel’s career, which made her schooling more challenging. However, she met her best friend Tracy Pollan, who became Matthew Broderick's wife, at the Dalton School in Manhattan where they bonded over remedial math. She offers some reflection on her father’s 2016 book Master of Ceremonies in which he announced he considers himself a gay man though Jo is the love of his life.

Grey holds nothing back as she  unveils her loss of innocence in intimate detail at an early age to her romances with famous stars Matthew Broderick and Johnny Depp with a little William Baldwin thrown in for good measure. She “found her person” at the age of 40 when she started seeing and later married Clark Gregg, an American actor, director, and screenwriter. Though recently divorced from Gregg, the couple considers themselves still a family with their daughter Stella, also an actress.

While the actress devotes many pages to living with her bad nose job, the best part of the book for movie fans is about the filming of the movie Dirty Dancing, which used locations in Lake Lure, North Carolina, and Pembroke, Virginia. She provides all the background regarding the actors, the director, and the choreographer. The last person she wanted to do this movie with was Patrick Swayze based on their experience in the movie Red Dawn. She had to overcome this hurdle and trust him to do the iconic lift at the end of the movie, which she said she would only film one time because she was in total fear of that move.

Grey was a devoted journal writer, which was a great asset when she decided to write her memoir. She  made her acting debut with the film Reckless in 1984 and had her breakthrough with the teen comedy film Ferris Bueller's Day Off  in 1986. She earned a Golden Globe Award nomination for starring as Frances "Baby" Houseman in Dirty Dancing in 1987. Paired with Derek Hough, Grey won the 2010 season of Dancing with the Stars.