Thursday, February 27, 2025

Library Loans



Feels Like Falling
 by Kristy Woodson Harvey
Published by Gallery Books on April 28, 2020
Age/Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Fiction
four-half-stars
Goodreads

From “the next major voice in Southern fiction” (Elin Hilderbrand) and the bestselling author of the Peachtree Bluff series comes an odd-couple tale of friendship that asks just how much our past choices define our happiness.

It’s summertime on the North Carolina coast and the livin’ is easy.

Unless, that is, you’ve just lost your mother to cancer, your sister to her extremist husband, and your husband to his executive assistant. Meet Gray Howard. Right when Gray could use a serious infusion of good karma in her life, she inadvertently gets a stranger, Diana Harrington, fired from her job at the local pharmacy.

Diana Harrington’s summer isn’t off to the greatest start either: Hours before losing her job, she broke up with her boyfriend and moved out of their shared house with only a worn-out Impala for a bed. Lucky for her, Gray has an empty guest house and a very guilty conscience.

With Gray’s kindness, Diana’s tide begins to turn. But when her first love returns, every secret from her past seems to resurface all at once. And, as Gray begins to blaze a new trail, she discovers, with Diana’s help, that what she envisioned as her perfect life may not be what she wants at all.

In her warmest, wisest novel yet, Kristy Woodson Harvey delivers a discerning portrait of modern womanhood through two vastly different lenses. Feels Like Falling is a beach bag essential for Harvey fans—and for a new generation of readers.

Two women who are experiencing a "rough patch" find each other and end up being one another's biggest supporters during this summer of healing.

I loved this! I adore the idea of the universe bringing two unlikely people together who become so important in each others lives. Gray was still dealing with her divorce which had been dragging on due to her (almost ex) husband demanding a huge chunk of the company she built from the ground up. She was hoping to escape to the beach, her happy place.

Diana had just left her boyfriend and was without a job (thanks to Gray) and a home. Feeling terrible about what happened, Gray offered Diana a job and a place to stay, and the rest, as they say, was history. This was such an unlikely pairing. Gray was a wealthy, successful business owner while Diana had had a tough life. Abandoned by her mother, raised in foster care with a string of loser boyfriends, she spent her years scraping by.

Though world weary, Diana was also world wise. Her struggles gave her some keen insight which she was never too shy to share. She helped Gray as much as Gray helped her, and a beautiful friendship was born. The heart of this book was the fierce female friendships which were wonderfully drawn. This was also a story about second chances and forgiveness. There were several lovely storylines that fit in here, and each one touched me in some way.

Overall, I had an amazing time getting to know and cheer for Gray and Diana as they rebuilt their lives and looked toward their futures. Their story was packed with humor and warmth and so many things to celebrate, but I especially enjoyed celebrating Gray, Diana, and their incredible friendship.



Sweet Bean Paste
 by Durian Sukegawa
Published by Oneworld Publications on October 5, 2017
Age/Genres: Adult, Fiction
four-half-stars
Goodreads

Sentaro has failed. He has a criminal record, drinks too much, and his dream of becoming a writer is just a distant memory. With only the blossoming of the cherry trees to mark the passing of time, he spends his days in a tiny confectionery shop selling dorayaki, a type of pancake filled with sweet bean paste.

Until, that is, Tokue comes into his life. An elderly woman with disfigured hands and a troubled past, she makes the best sweet bean paste Sentaro has ever tasted. The unlikeliest of friendships blossoms, but it will take all of their resolve – and plenty of pancakes – to protect themselves when Tokue's dark secret comes to light.

Ex con Sentaro spends his days half-heartedly making dorayaki in order to pay off his debt and spending his nights drinking and drowning in regret. Until one day, an elderly woman, Tokue, inquires about the job opening. Sentaro initially sends her away but changes his mind once he tastes her bean paste perfection, and slowly, an unlikely friendship is born.

This is a book that I remember seeing a lot of several years before. I seem to be in my Asian Lit season and am finally picking it up. This was a beautiful story which was both touching and shocking. I think we tend to know some of the uglier sides of our home countries history while we know little of others. This book shed some light on a law in Japan which isolated people due to illness. They were removed from their families, placed in sanatoriums, underwent name changes, and suffered discrimination for many years. It wasn't the fact that laws like this ever existed, people did a lot of questionable things in the past out of fear and lack of information. The shocking part was that the law wasn't repealed until 1996.

This part of Tokue's history was heartbreaking which is why the friendship she developed with Sentaro meant so much to me. They both were people with a past who needed someone in their lives to look beyond that and see more in them. Tokue saw possibilites for Sentaro while Sentaro admired Tokue's confectionary expertise. I was very moved by how human and kind they were to each other when that kindnes was not shown to them.  I would have liked to get a bit more closure at the end of the story, but that really didn't hamper my enjoyment of this tale.

Overall, this was a quiet and touching tale of friendship and overcoming adversity which made me smile, shed happy tears, and yearn for some dorayaki.


Have you ever had dorayaki?
Let us know in the comments!

4 comments:

  1. I have not but I do like deserts with red bean paste - so I'll have to keep my eye out for them!

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  2. I love the idea of the friendship between Gray and Diana. Reminds me of stories by Sarah Morgan. I need to try Woodson Harvey soon!

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    1. They were such an interesting pairing. So different, yet perfect for each other. They push the other in the best ways. I have read five so far and all earned high marks. Great southern fiction

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