I recently finished two books. First was Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate. I know this is a popular book, but it just didn't work for me. There are a lot of books with historical and contemporary story lines about women in some sort of transition or conflict and the two timelines come together and this was just one more of those. It was very paint by number. I was also really put off by the very dated and cliched depictions of African Americans.
The second book was The Cutting Season by Attica Locke. I've been wanting to read Locke for quite some time and, when I finally got a chance, I decided to go into her back list and choose something that was a standalone. I really enjoyed this book--it's a well done traditional mystery (as opposed to a thriller or something like that) and I didn't figure it out until the reveal, which is unusual for me. It also does a great job of blending the past and the present. But, most of all, Locke does an amazing job of creating the setting of the story.
Next up is Pretty Things by Janelle Brown. I'm starting it tonight--it has come highly recommended to me, but I'm going in blind on it!
