Book of the Month

TBR Thursday #10

Posted on by AmandaKay

Happy TBR Thursday, book friends! Every(ish) Thursday, I highlight a book from my TBR cart to see why I picked it up and remind myself what it’s about.

We’re making our way swiftly through the Book of the Month stack of shame portion of my TBR cart, and here we are in the double digits with a few more to go. This week’s featured title is…

The Verifiers by Jane Pek

Synopsis:

Claudia is used to disregarding her fractious family’s model-minority expectations: she has no interest in finding either a conventional career or a nice Chinese boy. She’s also used to keeping secrets from them, such as that she prefers girls–and that she’s just been stealth-recruited by Veracity, a referrals-only online-dating detective agency.

A lifelong mystery reader who wrote her senior thesis on Jane Austen, Claudia believes she’s landed her ideal job. But when a client vanishes, Claudia breaks protocol to investigate–and uncovers a maelstrom of personal and corporate deceit. Part literary mystery, part family story, The Verifiers is a clever and incisive examination of how technology shapes our choices, and the nature of romantic love in the digital age.

-Bookshop.org synopsis

Why It’s On my TBR

Someone, either a friend or a podcast host, recommended this book to me shortly before it became a Book of the Month selection. So naturally, I picked it for that month. I’m not sure why I didn’t read it right away, but it sat around and I had honestly forgotten what it was about as I don’t think I’ve seen or heard much about the book since that initial recommendation. Re-reading the synopsis, it sounds really good and I think I just bumped it up in the order for what to read soon.

Have you read this one or put it on your TBR? Let me know!

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TBR Thursday #7

Posted on by AmandaKay

Happy Thursday, book friends! Yesterday was an all-day staff meeting at work, so I’m feeling both re-energized by spending time with my colleagues and drained because that pretty much took out my introvert battery reserves.

Thankfully, I’m never too tired for my book friends (okay, usually not too tired), which means I’m back with another TBR Thursday post! This week’s featured title is…

The Kindest Lie by Nancy Johnson

Synopsis:

It’s 2008, and the inauguration of President Barack Obama ushers in a new kind of hope. In Chicago, Ruth Tuttle, an Ivy-League educated Black engineer, is married to a kind and successful man. He’s eager to start a family, but Ruth is uncertain. She has never gotten over the baby she gave birth to–and was forced to leave behind–when she was a teenager. She had promised her family she’d never look back, but Ruth knows that to move forward, she must make peace with the past.

Returning home, Ruth discovers the Indiana factory town of her youth is plagued by unemployment, racism, and despair. As she begins digging into the past, she unexpectedly befriends Midnight, a young white boy who is also adrift and looking for connection. Just as Ruth is about to uncover a burning secret her family desperately wants to keep hidden, a heart-stopping incident strains the town’s already searing racial tensions, sending Ruth and Midnight on a collision course that could upend both their lives.

Powerful and unforgettable, The Kindest Lie is the story of an American family and reveals the secrets we keep and the promises we make to protect one another.

Bookshop.org synopsis

Why It’s On My TBR

This may be the oldest unread BOTM title I have currently, so I honestly don’t really remember why I picked it that month, except that it sounds like a compelling story. It does sound on the heavier side, so I haven’t quite felt ready to pick it up in the past couple years when I’ve mostly been doing comfort reading.

Is this one on your TBR? Have you read it? I’m curious to know, as I don’t remember seeing much buzz for this one!