9.25.2017 - Best Day Ever

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this deliciously creepy book - I loved it!

Paul and Mia are a seemingly perfect couple, with 2 adorable boys. They live in the best Columbus suburb and have a second vacation home on Lake Erie. He promises Mia the best day ever - a special romantic getaway weekend to their lake cottage.

The tale is told from Paul's viewpoint and he is talking to you, the reader. To me, things that he said were spot on but I feel that a review of this book should not give even a hint of what is to come! I couldn't put this one down!

9.20.2017 - Superhero Sewing

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to review this book!

What a fun book of ideas for parents or grandparents to create fun playwear for kids. While these may not be the elaborate costumes you see on kids at Halloween, having a chest of these fun capes, masks and wands would be a kid's dream. There are even patterns for matching capes for pets!

Lots of great ideas!

9.20.2017 - The Best Kind of People

Thanks so much to NetGalley, the publisher and Zoe Whittall for the opportunity to read and review this book!

This book is just out of the pages of the newspaper - although this time we get to glimpse what the family goes through when it is thrust into a scandal. The Woodbury's are an average family - dad is a well-respected, heroic teacher at the prep school where their oldest son, Andrew, graduated and Sadie is still a student. Mom, Joan, is a nurse at the nearby trauma hospital. Then on Sadie's 17th birthday, her dad is arrested for improper sexual conduct with girls that he took on a class ski trip months ago.

Whittall does a great job letting us feel all the different sides to these stories and all the varying emotions the family goes through trying to deal with this situation.

Great read!

9.17.2017 - The Vengeance of Mothers

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and Jim Fergus for the opportunity to read his latest work.

One Thousand White Women was one of our book club's earliest picks and we all enjoyed it. I'm rounding this one up to 4 stars because I struggled more with this book. It probably would have been better if I read the first book again since it has been probably at least a dozen years ago.

This book is again written in journal form - twin sisters Meggie and Susie were survivors of the first book's events, and a new character, Molly McGill, who came as the last of another group of the Brides for Indians program. It was interesting to see the same events from these 2 different perspectives. The Kelly sisters are out for revenge for the death of their babies and turn into warriors.

I struggled a bit with this book but it was still interesting to see what happened to these characters.

9.14.2017 - The Ninth Hour

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publishers, and Alice McDermott for the opportunity to read and review this wonderful book.

This story puts you at the beginning of the 20th century in Catholic Brooklyn. It opens with a death and the pregnant wife, Annie, left behind. The nuns of the Little Nursing Sisters of the Sick Poor step in to help Annie, with a job in the laundry room of the convent. There, she and the sisters raise Sally.

The writing in this novel is beautiful, as you would expect from McDermott. You will fall in love with these characters - especially the nuns - as they do their best in the world as they see fit. The book is narrated by a group "we" - the children and grandchildren of Sally that let us see a glimpse of their life with these characters.

I loved the Catholic history and the lives of the nuns. It's amazing to see how attitudes have changed in our current secular society. But this book shows you both sides of right and wrong and how God will see into your heart and decide what is fair.

Highly recommended!!

9.12.2017 - Lies She Told

Thanks to NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books and Cate Holahan for the opportunity to read and review this book. This was a quick read thriller that kept me interested to the end. It's written in a different style that takes a bit of getting used to.

The book alternates chapters and voices. Liza is a writer on deadline to finish her latest romantic suspense novel. Her last couple books never took off like her one popular book and she feels pressured to make this one great. Liza is married to David, a prominent attorney, who is depressed over the fact that his law partner is missing. Liza and David are undergoing experimental fertility treatments in the hopes of getting pregnant. The other voice - Beth - is the star of the novel that Liza is writing. She is married to Jake and they have a newborn daughter. Beth catches Jake having an affair. The lines between reality and fiction begin to blur until you're not sure which version is real.

9.10.2017 - When We Were Worthy

Thanks to NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing, and Marybeth Mayhew Whalen for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This would be a great book club read because they are so many different viewpoints to discuss - fans of Jodi Picoult will like this book as it allows you to put yourself in others' shoes.

Worthy is a typical small town that lives and breathes for its football team and the players become God-like. The book opens with an accident that will change everything - one teenager hits a carful of cheerleaders. The story is told in the voices of 4 women: Marglyn (the other of one of the cheerleaders); Darcy (the mother of the driver that hit the girls); Ava (a substitute teacher at the high school); and Leah (a cheerleader who normally would have been in the car with the other girls).

Lots of current issues to discuss - teenage peer pressure, wanting to belong and be wanted no matter how old we are, the different viewpoints of the mothers. Great writing - quick read!

9.9.2017 - Friend Request

Great big thanks to NetGalley, Grand Central Publishing and Laura Marshall for the opportunity to read and review this wonderful debut novel!

This psychological thriller is ripped out of today's headlines and is very relatable to most of us. The story is told in two different timeframes - 1989, when Louise is trying desperately to fit into the "it" group of girls at school, letting go of those friends that felt more like a right fit but definitely weren't popular. Maria was the new girl to school, with a questionable past, who felt like a fast friend to Louise but she let herself go down a path led by her popular friends. 2016 - Louise is a single mother to 4-year-old Henry, building her own design company. She has tried to put her past behind her but one day gets a Facebook message from Maria asking to be Facebook friends. But Maria is dead. Or is she?

Buckle up for a wild ride - this was a great book that will keep you guessing. With the subjects of bullying and being bullied so prevalent in the news as well as how our ever-increasing publicizing of our lives on social media can lead to bad consequences, this book wraps all that into a great thriller.

Kudos for a great debut novel - can't wait to read more from her!

9.7.2017 - The Best of Us

Thanks so much to NetGalley, Bloomsbury, and Joyce Maynard for the opportunity to read this book.

Giving 5 stars to a book about someone dying from cancer always seems wrong, but this is an amazing book by such a powerful writer. I've always loved Maynard's books and really loved the honesty and clarity with which this book was written.

Joyce and Jim found each other later in their lives, after accumulating all the baggage that we do when we are in our 50s. There's was a true love story - the finding Prince Charming after all the frogs, the happy ever after. Until cancer.

This is a long book - almost 450 pages - but it is so worth the read. Besides Maynard's wonderful writing, this book, although so incredibly sad, is also uplifting and gives us all yet another reminder how we should cherish each other and every moment we are given. I loved Maynard's honesty - writing about how hard it is to be the caretaker and how hard it is to voice those feelings.

Highly recommended - but keep the Kleenex nearby.

9.5. - Sing, Unburied, Sing

Thanks so much to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This is a beautifully written tale of a very sad story of a family in Mississippi - one that is far too prevalent and full of poverty, racism, and drug abuse. It's the story of one family - Mam and Pop are the grandparents, raising JoJo and Kayla, while their drug-addicted mom, Leonie, flits in and out of their life. Pop tries his best to raise JoJo to be a good man, telling him stories of his time in Parchman prison. Mam is dying of cancer and her death permeates sadness through the house. The kids' dad, Michael, is just being released from Parchman, and Leonie, a friend and the kids take a road trip to pick him up. The book is separated into chapters written from the viewpoints of JoJo and Leonie, interwoven with chapters about Richie, a ghost from Pop's time in Parchman.

It's so hard to see how drug abuse or maybe just her nature allows Leonie to be such a horrid, selfish mother to JoJo and Kayla. The ghost appearances, while strange, allow more of the story to be told.

9.3.2017 - Lie to Me

Many thanks to NetGalley, Mira Books, and JT Ellison for the opportunity to read and review this amazing book. I loved this twisty psychological thriller and it should definitely be on your must read list!

Ethan and Sutton are both writers and not-so-happily married. Ethan comes down to breakfast one morning and discovers Sutton gone and a note left which basically said she needed time and not to look for her. Ethan called her friends, her mother, and his lawyer before involving the police. We discover much about their marriage, the death of their child, and the lies between them. Holly Graham is the police detective charged with finding out the truth.

This book is divided into sections - Ethan, Sutton, and Everyone - with an added narrative voice thrown in. The chapters are short with interesting titles. Trust me - you will not be able to stop reading until you are finished with this book. It's just that good. I don't want to give anything else away because you need to take this ride on your own!

9.1.2017 - Something Like Happy

Big thanks to NetGalley, Graydon House and Eva Woods for the opportunity to read and review this book - wonderful!

This is one of those books that will plug into every emotion that you have. It may leave you a bit breathless at the end but it will definitely remind you of how grateful we need to be in the present.

Annie is sad. She hates her job, her London flat, her husband left her for her best friend, her mother has dementia - so she has reason to be sad, right? Along comes Polly - a young woman Annie meets while visiting her mom at the hospital. Polly has cancer and only 3 months to live. She drags Annie along on a mission - 100 days of happy.

This all may sound cliché but it's a wonderful ride along with Annie and Polly and their group of friends and family. In the world of nothing but bad news, this book truly gives you pause and makes you think about how you use each of the moments we are blessed with.