The Change by Kirsten Miller

 

5/5 ⭐

The Change by Kirsten Miller is not one for the faint of heart. It's not for someone looking for some light-hearted reading with a cookie-cutter ending. 

The Change is not for anyone unwilling to face their own mortality as they age and the 'changes' that come with it. This book is for anyone, especially women who will, have, or are going through 'The Change', better known as Menopause. Or if you are Blanche Devereaux, 'The Curse'. 

Following the pov of three middle-aged women at different points in their life, Miller blends mystery and light fantasy together as these three individuals come into gifts they alone can wield. 

For those interested, I will warn you that it takes a little before the story really picks up but once it does it is a gripping page-turner. So stick with it because trust me... you don't want to miss that ending. 

This was an unusual pick for me as I don't usually read books that too closely match real-world happenings. But there was something about this one that kept calling me, so I gave it a shot. 

And oh boy. But in the end, I managed to finish it in just two days. Not even moving from my seat to finish it, because I just needed to know the ending. 

Miller managed to write in such a way that you had to figure out what happened next. Dragging you in and in and in. It left me reeling in the best way possible and left me thinking about it constantly for days afterward. 

~CP

*Remember to check the TW, there are some heavy topics and explicit events that take place. 

The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan

 

The Kitchen Front was a deeply meaningful story written by bestselling author Jennifer Ryan, author of the Chilbury Ladies’ Choir and The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle.  

During World War II, the BBC hosted a radio program to help British housewives be more creative with their food rations.  The focus of the program was to share recipes and cooking tips to help manage rations.  The radio program, hosted by cuisine expert Ambrose Hart, decides to hold a cooking contest to try and find the program’s first female co-host to add a woman’s touch to the show.

The four main characters competing for a chance to co-host the radio program are women who are each very different in their own way and each woman has personal struggles that they are enduring.  There is Audrey Landon a young widow who is trying to find a way to pay her bills and to keep a roof over her children’s heads.  Miss Nell Brown the kitchen maid who is looking for a chance to leave her job and find freedom.  Lady Gwendoline Strickland is searching for an opportunity to escape her rich husband’s abuse.  Zelda Dupont a trained chef who is also pregnant hopes to win the cooking competition so that she can land a job as a top London chef. 

The challenges that the women face is far too much for them to handle by themselves.  However, as the story unfolds, the four women establish close friendships and become their own support network.  Through the wisdom that friendship and caring offer, each woman is transformed by the end of the story into a different person who is better able to handle their circumstances.  The Kitchen Front was heartwarming with many touching moments.  ~JE

 

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers

 

 5/5 ⭐

This mind-blowing follow-up to A Psalm for the Wild-Built will leave you reflective and wanting for simplicity.

We are greeted once more by Sibling Dex and Mosscap as they continue their journey toward the city so Mosscap can ask their question "What do people need?"

While stopping in surrounding villages to seek answers and let Mosscap meet more people, Dex themselves is struggling with feeling burnout and guilt over taking care of themselves. And Mosscap must learn what it is to be sentient and what they want beyond their question. 

With even more exploration of burnout and not knowing what you want when you have at your fingertips anything you could want, Becky Chambers gives us a way to work through struggles we might not be able to put into words. 

~CP