Geode

by Corliss Corazza

In Umbra River, California, the closets are full of skeletons. Unsettled spirits. Missing children. Family secrets. The Geode Cafe and Bookshop is the nucleus of life and friendship where, on Friday nights, Olivia, the owner, hosts her two best friends over dinner and wine. Anna, who owns Besties, a pet rescue and supply store next door, is a psychic animal communicator and a non-practicing veterinarian. Emmaline, a young widow, is a trauma survivor trying to find her way. She's also the mother to Charlie, a four-year-old with a psychic gift.

Woven into the town's history are stories of the mistreatment of 19th century immigrant workers, a forgotten massacre, and unrequited grief. Eavesdrop as the three women struggle to make sense of their lives while current events terrorize and mobilize the community.

223 pages, Paperback

Published April 23, 2025

Reviews

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you Goodreads First Reads for the opportunity to read and review this book!


Starts out a quaint little town then -bam- oh by the way ghosts (spirits) and very accepting of them at that. Clairvoyance abounding. 


Getting to know even the main characters was a bit difficult at first. Lots of hints but seems to never get to a real personality.  Even a geode has a core. 


Flow was jerky with abrupt changes. Having some of the characters’ insight and clairvoyance may have helped me to follow where things were going. 


Where was it going? I think just about community/relationships which could have been cool if I got to the point of caring.


I appreciated the attempts at bringing light and education to the history of indigenous peoples and Chinese immigrants in the area of the story's setting. However, it appeared that there was an agenda attached as again the flow of the information integrated into the story was peripheral at best yet became quite detailed. This maybe be my personal struggle with non-fiction blended into fiction tales and how strong it really needs to be to be done right.


So many good beginnings of story paths wrapped up in this novel, I just felt that the meat wasn't there and was left wanting more.

[Cat Lady Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a lot of potential and could be great with some editing and direction.

The story takes place in a small former gold rush mining town in California, and follows the lives of 3 women that are close friends. Olivia, a retired schoolteacher living her dream of opening a cafe; Emmaline, a young widow with a psychic son; and Anna, a pet shop owner that can communicate with animals.

I feel like this book went in too many different directions at once, jumping abruptly from one thing to another and not closing the loop on all of them. Also things happen out of sequence. For example, Olivia goes out of town to her daughter's graduation. Then she's in town for six chapters, then in the next chapter she hasn't returned from her daughter's graduation yet.

I did enjoy parts of the story, like Anna's journey to finding out who her biological parents are. But a lot of it felt confusing and scattered.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC I received in exchange for my honest review.

[Paula Coomer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Umbra River is a small gold rush town in California with plenty of secrets and a dark history. Three women come together weekly to share dinner and talk their way through their lives, their worries, their hopes, and their difficulties. At the center of it all is the Geode Cafe and Bookshop where the community gathers for sustenance of all types, sharing a merged past, and to organize in the face of old and current tragedies. A thoughtful and delightful read, GEODE is the kind of book that makes you feel as though you are living alongside a cast of characers in a breathtaking landscape, experiencing their same stress, problem-solving, and triumph. Eye-opening in terms of the history it reveals and forward-looking in terms of the way we should be living, GEODE is a book to be read more than once. It is alive with friendship, discovery, and human connection.

[Gail Olmsted · Rating 5 out of 5]

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Never has this old adage been more true than when comparing life in the small town of Umbra River, California to current and past events in U.S. history. The town is full of secrets from its’ Gold Rush past and not all of them can stay buried forever. The women who reside there include Olivia, the owner of Geode Café and Bookshop, Lucy from Ireland, who manages Geode’s dining room, Emmaline a poet and mother to a preschooler with psychic abilities and Anna, an alternative healer. If this sounds like a cozy mystery, you’re partly right. Blending historical fiction with the friendships of the main characters, I found Geode to be a thoroughly engrossing read. I’m betting that you will as well.

[Jann Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Geode Café and Bookshop is the heart and soul of a small California town with a craven, uncovered history in Corliss Corazza’s Geode. When four Umbra River women with very different life experiences begin their weekly gatherings there, none suspect one will betray another, and long-held family secrets will bring two together in a startling discovery. But first, they will support one another, solve problems together, and bring the town’s secretive history to light. Geode is a must-read, intimate story of friendships deepening, truths demanding examination, and relationships healing as the reader becomes entwined in the irresistible camaraderie.

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Geode Cafe and Bookshop, three friends meet once a week for dinner, and discuss the good and bad in there lives.