Grown up books

I've been reading grown up books as a little change of pace and I found two really great ones.  One I had reserved at my local library so long ago that I completely forgot why I had reserved it.  It's called "Big Little Lies" by Liane Moriarty.  When I started reading it, I almost put it down because the characters were some much like some of the parents at my school!  The story is set in a small community on the coast of Australia.  The community is kind of split between the working class and some fairly well to do families.  They all know each other from school and the story revolves around the parents of kids in kindergarten.  The story is told in a kind of fragmented way, where it jumps around from the past to the present and it's clear right from the beginning of the story, that someone was murdered.  And that's what's awesome about this book.  The characters jump to conclusions about each other and about their kids that leave you guessing and second guessing about what really happened.  I LOVED it.  It was really hard to put down and you don't find out until about the second to the last page who actually got murdered and who did it.  (I was surprised).  Don't miss this one!

The other grown up one I read is called "The Little Paris Book Shop" by Nina George.  I got this one as an advanced readers copy and I loved it.  It's about a man living in Paris.  He has a book shop on a barge that he calls a Literary Apothecary because he prescribes books to people.  (I SO want that job).    He has been living with a broken heart for 20 years (his lover left him) and although he has an adequate life, he's never really dealt with his broken heart.  A new woman moves into his apartment building (her husband just left her!  With nothing!) and he gives her a table.  In the table is a letter from his lover, which he has never opened.  The new woman opens the letter and encourages him to read it.  That sets in motion the rest of the book, where he decides to go and find the trail of his lost love.  I loved the text connections that he makes (prescribing books to people, with a bibliography in the back!).  I loved the places he visits (I had to stop reading and google the towns!).  And I loved the way the story resolves.  Can you tell I liked this one?  I did.