Mother May I by Joshilyn Jackson

Joshilyn Jackson has been one of my favorite authors since I read gods in Alabama in 2006 as a creative writing student. I can’t count how many times I’ve gone to see her on book tours, and I can’t count how many giveaways I entered to get an ARC of this book. I was so excited to win an ARC from William Morrow and started reading as soon as I got it.

Jackson always had some Southern gothic vibes layered on top of quality literary fiction, and she successfully pivoted to domestic suspense with her last release, Never Have I Ever. The Southern gothic still applies to this genre as well, as she’s as good as ever with Mother May I. The suspense is well done, and it’s impossible to know what’s going to happen because there are so many options. The loose ends all get wrapped up in the conclusion, though, and the payoff is worth it. I can’t recommend this one enough.

Beverly Cleary Author Study: Sister of the Bride

No illustrations because this is a young adult book. This novel has less of a "first love" plot than the previous three.

Barbara finds out that her sister Rosemary is getting married after her first year of college. Barbara gets swept up in planning her sister's wedding since Rosemary doesn't seem to care much about it. There are some issues with Barbara wondering who her wedding date will be, which groomsmen might be single, and which neighborhood boy she might marry when she's her sister's age. But these crushes aren't really explored like Cleary did in previous books, so the focus is mostly on wedding preparation.

That wedding spotlight made this book a bit lackluster for me because it felt very surface-level, and I didn't relate much to any character. That being said, it was an interesting read just to learn about the wedding and shower traditions back then compared to how they are now.