Tips for Tuesday - Books: Otherwise Engaged & With Friends Like These; Movie: American Clay

We may have been given complimentary copies and/or access for review purposes to any books, products, and/or any other visual or audio media mentioned below. Any and all opinions expressed here are our own.

Books: Otherwise Engaged & With Friends Like These 

Today, we recommend Otherwise Engaged by Susan Mallery. In this poignant story, the relationships between a pair of mothers and daughters are strongly affected when unrevealed secrets come to light. Years ago, pregnant teenager Cindy agreed to let Ava and her husband, Milton, adopt her baby. However, when she suddenly changed her mind, Ava was completely devastated, negatively affecting her relationship with the child she later adopted, Victoria. 

Meanwhile, in the present day, despite their closeness, Cindy's daughter, Shannon, decides to keep her engagement secret from her mother. When the two sets of mothers and daughters run into each other by chance, the resulting fallout changes them all.

This is a thoroughly engrossing novel about mothers and daughters, but it is also about friendships, both new and rediscovered. All of the relationships in the book, including those between Ava and Milton, Shannon and her fiancé, and Victoria and Shannon's soon-to-be stepbrother, are extremely touching. The characters are all mostly likable, relatable, and good at heart despite their flaws. 

In some ways, the characters of the mothers are written too similarly despite their disparate backgrounds.  They are both overly engaged with their daughters in a somewhat unhealthy way. Rather than letting their daughters find their own way, they hover and try to help provide direction for their daughters, although Ava does so in a more aggressive way. At first, she seems somewhat pushy, opinionated, and unlikable; however, as more of her background is revealed,  it softens her character and makes her more likable and relatable. Cindy is the least developed of the four main characters, as the story is never told from her viewpoint. 

The two daughters, on the other hand, are portrayed very differently from each other. Victoria deals with things by pushing back and rebelling. She purposely acts in ways that will annoy her mother. Shannon is a placator who doesn't really stand up for herself and is afraid to make decisions. Although both methods of handling mother-daughter relationships are unhealthy, they are also very relatable. In fact, the relatability of the characters, the uniqueness of the plot, and above all, the growth all the characters show over the course of the story make this book a quite captivating read.

Today, we are discussing With Friends Like These by Alissa Lee. Five roommates met at Harvard and quickly formed bonds that became even stronger due to a shared tragedy.  Through the ensuing years, they have kept up a tradition of engaging in a yearly harmless elimination-style killing game. However, now with a huge pot of money available to the winner and their shared past haunting them, the stakes are upped and the danger is real. 

While the premise of this book is quite interesting and exciting, the execution is less so. The book is definitely not as thrilling as it appears from the description. Being told from only one character's point of view makes some of the other characters seem less well developed, and it's sometimes hard to remember who is who.  Also, there is not enough action or situations where characters are in imminent danger, or at least you feel like they are. On the whole,  it is more cerebral and not as much happens as you would think.

It seems like it will be a story similar to Agatha Christie's And There Were None or something like that, in which characters are killed off one by one. However, it is not at all like those types of books. The danger and excitement are more about what might happen than what actually occurs in the story. The resolution to the story is also completely out of left field, and what seems like it will be at the heart of the mystery turns out to be more of a red herring. Thus, on the whole, the book is disappointing in many ways. 

Movie: American Clay

Today, we are discussing American Clay. This is a short film about a woman who escaped from a residential school and returns to seek vengeance. The film is a true story based on the legacy of the filmmakers' grandmother. The film was awarded at the Venice Short Film Awards and has also been nominated for the 2025 Cannes Indie Short Awards. It is fast-paced and exciting, but it leaves the viewer wanting to know more about the story. 

And that's our view. Otherwise Engaged and With Friends Like These were published on November 4. For more about American Clay or to find out about potential screenings, visit 

www.americanclaymovie.com.

Tune in tomorrow for Where-To-Go Wednesday.

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