The knowledge that spring is right around the corner (we still have snow on the ground where I live) has me itching for lighter reads. I have two GREAT recommendations for you below. But the darker, more twisted books just didn’t do it for me this month.

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The Perfect Marriage

The Perfect Marriage is a mystery that is pretty predictable. A successful DA finds out her husband has been cheating on her when he is arrested for the murder of his mistress. She’s the only lawyer who could possibly set him free but will she be able to set aside her emotions to focus on the case?

Also, who really was the mistress? Her husband happens to be a cop. Did other people want her dead?

The Guncle

The Guncle is about an uncle who is tasked with taking care of his niece and nephew for the summer. GUP (Gay Uncle Patrick) was best friends with the children’s mother who recently passed from cancer. His brother (the children’s father) is attending rehab nearby.

They are all grieving but Patrick provides love, support, and a number of “rules” to live by. He lives a secluded life in Palm Springs and is still famous from a sitcom he starred in a number of years ago. It’s funny, the dialogue is witty, and the story wraps up nicely in the end.

For such a sad backdrop this book is completely delightful.

Daisy Darker

This author just isn’t for me. I like a mystery or thriller but I am learning I don’t like to be scared/depressed throughout the entire book.

In Daisy Darker, Daisy’s grandma is turning 80 and has the whole estranged family over to celebrate. Unfortunately, Grandma ends up dead at the end of the night and it seems like a murder. Most of the family was unhappy about the news of grandma’s will she dropped during dinner.

Now everyone is trapped together without phone service until the tide goes back down again. People are starting to be killed each hour and dark poems are being left along with home videos from the past. Who wants everyone dead and why?

There’s a huge plot twist I didn’t see coming. Most of the book is about how Daisy was born with a broken heart, her sisters and their rivalry, and how the past impacted their current feelings toward one another.

Mary Jane

What a wonderful read! Mary Jane is written solely from the viewpoint of a 14-year-old girl. It’s set in the 1970s.

Mary Jane takes a job as a summer nanny for a doctor’s family. Over the course of the summer, her world and viewpoints are turned upside down.

She is the only child of very conservative parents and now she works for a Jewish family where gender roles are not what she has grown up with. The house is a mess, no one cooks, and now there are going to be two very famous people living with them all summer that they can’t tell anyone about.

The rockstar is an addict and is being treated by the dad who is a psychiatrist. Mary Jane cooks for the family, takes care of the 5-year-old daughter, and cleans/organizes the house, more than anyone has asked her to do. She starts lying to her mom because she knows her mother wouldn’t approve.

The book explores a very innocent teenager taking on adult tasks, witnessing adult behavior she never has before, and learning that parents are not always right.

Looking for more book reviews? Check out my February Book Reviews!