CHASING TALES:

Seattle Magazine
Like eating cookie dough with your fingers, Chasing Tales is a guilty pleasure. Seattle writer Lanae Rivers-Woods’ debut novel follows a sextet of soul-searching 20-somethings through months of chaotic encounters in Italy, London and an unnamed American city, deftly hooking readers with breezily written character sketches that make the book hard to put down. The story, a gratifying ensemble piece about the true meaning of friendship, toes the line between fluff and higher-minded fiction. Catherine—the Pied Piper of this menagerie of loosely knit friends—is an enigma except to her closest mate, Mikal, a kind yet distant rogue who finds peace only on a reconnaissance mission to Israel. On American soil Jaimen and Aimee strike up a quirky, unlikely affair, while Leanne casts off her essential clumsiness when she evades a marriage proposal and joins her twin brother, Theo—a tour guide in Italy—to start a new life abroad. The six main characters have existential baggage, but what makes this book so delightful is its exploration of the group’s esprit de corps. Thanks to Rivers-Woods’ skillful dialogue, the characters evolve in front of one’s eyes, like photographs developing in a darkroom. Chasing Tales, the first in a planned trilogy about this convivial crew, has the ease of a toes-in-the-sand novel, but offers many astute moments (e.g., Leanne’s climactic emotional separation from her father) that will shake your heart. Grade: A–