8.29.2020 - Daddy

 

Thanks to NetGalley, Random House and Emma Cline for the opportunity to read this collection of short stories.  I was a huge fan of Cline's debut novel, The Girls, and was so excited to read this book.  3.5 stars rounded up.

I will preface this review with the note that I'm not a huge fan of short stories - I like digging into a novel with more teeth and better developed characters and plot.  These stories revolve around human failings, mostly of the male variety, and how small decisions change lives.  Each of these stories was well written and left me wanting more - which was the problem for me - I wanted more!  At the end of each short, I felt a bit sad that it ended so abruptly because I was just getting into the story.

Emma Cline is a gifted writer and I'm hoping she is feverishly at work on her next novel!

8.28.2020 - When I Was You

Many thanks to NetGalley, Harlequin/Mira Books, and Amber Garza for the opportunity to read this mind-twisting psychological thriller - 4.5 stars rounded up for a deliciously good book!

Just a short synopsis - Kelly Medina is an empty nester with son Aaron off at college and professor husband, Rafael, teaching in another town during the week and coming home most weekends.  Kelly tries to stay busy with friends and yoga but it's not enough to fill her hours or her heart.  When a chance phone call leads her to discover that another Kelly Medina just moved into town with a young son, she becomes obsessed.  Is this her chance to rewind time and do things right this time?

This is one of those books that it's best to go in somewhat blind to because there are so many twists and turns that you'll have fun trying to unravel.  It's told in the second person which is usually somewhat annoying to me but  works so well in this book.  There were a few times I had to flip back a few pages to let my brain catch up - love books that make me do that!  This is the first book I've read by this author but it definitely won't be the last.  

8.26.2020 - The Silence

Many thanks to NetGalley, Montlake, and Kendra Elliot for the opportunity to read her latest thriller - I loved getting back into these characters' lives but they are written so well that you don't need to have read the first book in this series to enjoy.  There are many returning characters from many of Elliot's books which is always fun.  4.5 stars rounded up because I love these characters!

Detective Mason Callahan and his partner, Ray, find a man brutally murdered and evidence at the scene leads them to a possible bomb threat at the nearby courthouse.  The evidence also mentions Mason's fiancee, FBI agent Ava McLane, so Mason is doubly worried.  Ava is investigating the shootings of multiple police officers and finds that Mason's investigation intertwines with her own.  When Ava's troubled twin sister disappears, there are too many coincidences to believe that all these crimes are anything but personal.

A quick read and one that was hard to put down as the story built to its conclusion.  I loved all the emotions and relationships between the characters even in the midst of murder and mayhem.  

8.24.2020 - The Search Party

Many thanks to NetGalley, Berkley Publishing, and Simon Lelic for the opportunity to read his latest thriller - this one will really have your head spinning!  4.5 stars for such a creative read!

Sadie is a teenager who has been missing for almost a week and DI Rob Fleet has been called to his hometown to search for her.  But her 5 closest friends, including her twin brother, decide to take matters into their own hands and conduct a search party of their own in the woods they like to frequent.  But each of the friends is keeping a secret and one of them might be a killer.

I loved the way this story was told.  It starts on Day Six after Sadie has gone missing and is told through police interviews with each of the teenagers, interspersed with DI Fleet's police investigation.  It's interesting to read the perspective of each person even though you know that they are all unreliable narrators, even talking to the police.  And what makes each of their interviews unique is that you only read the voice of the teenager, not the investigator's question.  The ending took me totally by surprise.  Another winning book by this author!

08-21-2020 - Impersonation

 

BLOG TOUR!!

Many thanks to NetGalley, Algonquin Books, and Heidi Pitlor for the opportunity to read and review her very relevant novel in these strange political times - 4 stars!

Allie is a ghostwriter, penning memoirs for celebrities and politicians.  Her client, a famous actor, was just charged with crimes against his coworkers and she lost that contract.  Her new client is a well-known feminist lawyer and activist and she is charged with writing a book on how to raise feminist boys.  But Allie struggles getting any information from Lana for the book and meanwhile her bills keep piling up and her personal life is unsettled.  With no solid direction, Allie uses her experiences as a single mom to Cass to help bolster Lana's image.  But their two worlds are vastly different - Lana always had money and never worried about the issues that plague Allie.

This would be a good book club selection because it is full of so many topics - the #MeToo movement, how women are judged for the decisions they make no matter what they are, gender inequality, and the disparity of the classes.  Allie was such a good character - she tried so hard to be a good mom to Cass but trying to do it all on her own is so hard.  She respected Cass' differences and tried to stand up for him but she had a hard time standing up for herself.  And how many of us do that?  Do we demand to be paid what we are worth?  Or do we settle for whatever someone else deems we are worth?  Do we ask for help from others when we need it or do we just try to do it all ourselves?  

I also really enjoyed the whole topic of ghostwriting.  I'm now questioning all those memoirs I've seen and read - who actually wrote them?

8.18.2020 - Three Perfect Liars

 

Many thanks to NetGalley, Gallery Books and Heidi Perks for the opportunity to read and review her latest thriller - 4.5 stars for a book that will keep you guessing!

Three women watch a company, Morris and Woods, burn to the ground - all have secrets they are keeping from each other and themselves and all have motives.  There is Janie, wife of the company president Harry, who is struggling with her marriage and the real reason she left her job as a defense lawyer in London.  Laura has returned to work at Morris and Woods and has found that the woman she hired to be her replacement, Mia, while she was on maternity leave has taken over her office and her job.  Laura becomes obsessed with Mia at the detriment of her baby and husband.  Mia has her own reasons but is keeping them close - who is she really and why is she at Morris and Woods?

Three women, three perfect liars, watching the building burn.  The story is told from all three women's POVs, starting 2 months before the fire and interspersed with police interview transcripts from all the characters in the book.  I found myself going back and forth as to who actually set the fire and was still surprised in the end!  I liked all the different viewpoints and tidbits of the story that come out slowly as the story reaches its conclusion.  This book also reinforces the difficult decision women make to try and have it all and the compromises that are made along the way.  I loved this cover too!

8.15.2020 - Little Disasters

 

Many thanks to NetGalley, Atria/Emily Bestler Books, and Sarah Vaughan for the opportunity to read and review her latest book.  I was a fan of The Anatomy of a Scandal so I was excited to start this one.  4.5 stars rounded up for a compelling book that I couldn't put down.

A group of women meet at a prenatal class and have tried to maintain their relationship.  Liz, a busy pediatrician, and happily married mother of two, always feels like she's not quite as good a mother as others because she works.  She is still carrying the scars of her childhood and tries hard to always do the right thing.  Jess is a stay-at-home mom struggling with postpartum depression after the birth of her third child, even though she is always put together and puts on wonderful social events.  A tragedy brings these two friends to opposite sides and much more than their friendship is on the line. 

This book would be perfect for a mother's bookclub to read - everyone paints an instagram perfect view of motherhood and family life but the reality is quite different.  By always trying to put that best face forward, we don't acknowledge true feelings - that motherhood can be hard and definitely not glamorous.  Plus, we let our friends take the fact that we say we're okay at face value instead of digging a little deeper if they feel something might be wrong.  This also looks at the traditional family roles and how easy it is to only see what we want to see as well as how the scars of our past change us and how we can learn to live with them.  

8.14.2020 - Ordinary Hazards

 

Many thanks to NetGalley, Atria Books, and Anna Bruno for the opportunity to read this wonderfully haunting debut novel - 5 stars!

"You can worry all you want, but you'll never predict the thing that will destroy you."  It's the ordinary hazards of life that change us, each small decision that leads us to where we are.  This story takes place over a single day, as Emma is in a bar, The Final Final, drinking to escape her pain and past.  As the night passes, Emma reminisces and we learn how she finds herself divorced from her husband, Lucas, alone in the bar while ignoring frantic calls from her friends and coworkers.  We learn about all those tiny decisions she made and how she now has to learn to make peace with them or give up.  We also learn about the secrets and backstories of the regulars at the bar, those she and Lucas considered friends in her before life.  

This is just a fabulously-written character study.  You will feel deeply for Emma as she tries to live with her losses and grief.  I loved the relationship she had with Lucas, Lion and Addie.  This is a story of trying to deal with all that grief and come out on the other side, changed but alive and hopeful.   There are so many themes in this book to discuss that it would be such a wonderful book club selection.  It's a very quietly powerful novel.

On a personal note, I loved that this took place in Upstate NY, although a different part from where I live.  I related to Emma's musings on Lucas' job as a drywaller and the 5 levels.  And since my own husband is building our home without any subcontractors, I definitely related to their personal joke, "Everything left to do is just cosmetic."  

After just having finished it, I find myself wanting to read it again to pick up more of the stories and feelings.  Highly recommended!

8.12.2020 - Until I Find You

 

Thanks so much to NetGalley, St Martin's Press and Rea Frey for the opportunity to read and review this wonderful book - 5 stars!

Bec Gray is trying desperately to hold her life together.  In the span of a year, her husband died in an accident, she gave birth to their son, Jackson; and then her mother passed away.  Plus, Bec has lost her eyesight to a degenerative eye disease so she also lost her job in an orchestra.  She is struggling as a single mom with not enough sleep and afraid of missing something important with Jackson due to her blindness.  In recent days, Bec has felt like someone is following her or entering her home when she's not there, but no one quite believes her.  After an afternoon in the park with friends, Bec realizes that the baby she brings home isn't Jackson - but no one believes that either.

This is a gripping novel that is full of emotion.  The fact that Bec is blind really let the reader into a different world.  You can only imagine how scary everything is when you can't see, especially if you are trying to do everything by yourself.  Coming from a family with vision issues, this book felt incredibly real and the author did her research into current aids for the blind as well as what that world feels like.  Highly recommended!

8.11.2020 - The Quiet Girl

 

Thanks so much to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Landmark, and S.F. Kosa for the opportunity to read this fantastic thriller - it will truly have your head spinning!  5 stars!

Alex had a fight with his wife, Mina.  She headed to her writing cabin in Provincetown while he stayed in Boston.  But now she's not answering her phone and he can't get in touch with her at all.  Worried, he heads out to look for her even though it's a pivotal time for his company.  When he gets there, he finds more questions than answers.  Meanwhile, Layla finds herself in Provincetown without a clear memory of her past.  When Alex finds out about Layla, he wonders what she has to do with his wife's disappearance.

I really don't want to give anything else away.  This book is written in such a unique fashion, alternating between Alex's hunt for Mina and Layla's story.  It may seem confusing but do not give up - you will soon learn how these two alternating storylines come together and you will be in for a totally gripping story.

Highly recommended!

8.9.2020 - We Are All the Same in the Dark

 

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Julia Heaberlin and especially to Random House/Ballantine Books for granting my wish to read and review it!  5 stars for a beautifully written book!

The story is told from three character's points of view - Wyatt, a loner who has a bad reputation in town because his sister, Trumanell, disappeared years ago.  Wyatt still talks to her and the townspeople are convinced he killed her.  He's out one night when he sees an injured young girl at the side of the road that he takes home with him.  Odette was Trumanell's best friend and is now a police officer in town and friends with Wyatt.  On the night Trumanell disappeared, Odette was in an accident and lost her leg.  She's driven to find out what happened to Trumanell and the mystery of Angel, the young girl that Wyatt found, who is the third point of view.

This is a slower moving mystery but the writing drew me in and I was glued to the pages to find out all of the twists and turns.  The writer so beautifully told the stories of these people who all felt flawed (aren't we all?) but showed such resilience and courage in living their lives, no matter what their pasts did to them.  You will feel the tense atmosphere throughout this book - I held my breath too many times to count!  It's creepy and beautiful with characters you will love and cheer for.

8.7.2020 - The Monsters We Make

 

Many thanks to NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books, and Kali White for the opportunity to read and review this gripping tale of monsters that live among us.

This story is based on the real-life events of newspaper boys disappearing in the early 80s in Des Moines, IA.  We hear three distinct voices - Sammy is a newspaper boy who is keeping a devastating secret.  Crystal, Sammy's sister, is trying desperately to win a scholarship to be able to fulfill her dream of going to college and becoming a reporter; and Dale, a police officer investigating the disappearance of paper boys in his town under his watch.

Each of these voices shows so much emotion as they deal with their problems.  You feel for each character and the private hell they are all going through.  The author seamlessly weaves true life issues into this novel leaving you to truly wonder once again what goes on behind the closed doors of your neighbors and friends and how much all of us are complicit.   I was riveted to this story and loved the open-ended way it ended so that we are left with hope at the end of tragedy.

8.6.2020 - The First to Lie

Many thanks to NetGalley, Macmillan-Tor/Forge, and Hank Phillippi Ryan for the opportunity to read her latest thriller - it's another great read that will have you reeling with all the twists!

The wealthy Vanderwald family owns Pharminex - a powerful drug company that is touting their latest drug's off label use for helping women with infertility, with devastating side effects for some women.  Investigative reporter, Ellie, and her assistant, Meg, are looking into these claims and hope to break open the case.  But not everyone is who they say they are and everyone has ulterior motives.

My synopsis will be brief to avoid giving anything away.  The fun of this book is to uncover all the characters and their stories but your head will be spinning trying to keep up!  There are many different points of view in the present timeframe as well as some background into the Vanderwald family in "before" chapters.  Another great read by this author!

8.4.2020 - Behind the Red Door

Many thanks to NetGalley, Atria Books, and Megan Collins for the opportunity to read and review her latest thriller.  I loved The Winter Sister and her sophomore book is also a winner.  4 stars for a dark and disturbing thriller!

Fern Douglas has a debilitating anxiety order that she works on all the time.  Her husband, Eric, a doctor, is very supportive and she can lean on him when she is spiraling.  But when she sees that a decades-old kidnapping of a woman is back in the news because she has disappeared again, Fern feels that she has a connection to the woman, Astrid.  When Fern's dad, Ted, asks her to come back home and help him back for his impending move, it puts her back in the area where the original crime took place.  Although Fern has no concrete memory of that time, she has disturbing dreams that she begins to think could be actual memories.  But no one will believe her.

Told from Fern's point of view as well as through excerpts from Astrid's book about her kidnapping experience, we follow Fern as she tries to understand what happened in the past as well as to find Astrid now.

Without giving anything away, this book is disturbing on so many levels - but good disturbing in that you will want to continue reading to figure out all the details.

8.2.2020 - Lies, Lies, Lies

Many thanks to NetGalley, Harlequin and Adele Parks for the opportunity to read and review her latest thriller - 4 stars for a twisty look into a troubled couple's life.

Daisy and Simon are parents to young Millie, their child born after a struggle with infertility.  From the outside, they look like the perfect family.  Daisy is a school teacher and Simon an interior designer, while Millie has sparkle and the potential to be a dancer.  But behind that facade, Simon has a drinking problem, one that is getting out of control and culminates with a terrible accident that changes all for this family.

Enough said about the plot line, this has plenty of twists to keep you glued to the pages.  With the alternating views of Simon and Daisy, we see how their relationship starts and progresses as well as lots of hints about all the secrets and lies between them.  Friends both old and new play a big part in this book as well, adding layers to the story.

8.1.2020 - The Night Swim

Many thanks to NetGalley, St Martin's Press and Megan Goldin for the opportunity to read and review her latest thriller - 5 stars for a fabulous read!  I loved The Escape Room by this author and this is even better.

Rachel Krall has a very successful podcast that has featured one unsolved cold case per season.  She was able to solve both and feels the pressure of her next case.  She decides to cover a current trial and present an unbiased view of both sides.  She heads to Neapolis, a small town on the NC shoreline, for the rape trial of golden boy, Scott Blair, an accomplished swimmer with Olympic dreams.  But that's not the only case Rachel is involved in; an unknown person starts leaving her notes in places where Rachel feels she should be anonymous.  The writer tells Rachel about the murder of her sister 25 years ago and begs her to look into the case.  Rachel soon discovers connections between the two cases decades apart.

The way this book is written grabs you from the beginning.  We are privy to Rachel's thoughts as well as the script of her podcast as she attends the trial.  We also get to read the notes from Hannah, the woman trying to get justice for her sister's murder long ago.  The podcast scripts delve deeper into the issue of trying to prosecute rape trials - the he said/she said aspect, putting the victim on trial for her actions, how rape and murder are treated so differently in the public eye.  Reputation plays a big role in this book as well - how gossip and rumor spreading can be so completely devastating, especially in the social media landscape.

Highly recommended for a twisty psychological thriller that will keep you guessing and glued to the pages.

8.1.2020 - With or Without You

Thanks so much to NetGalley, Algonquin Books, and Caroline Leavitt for the opportunity to read her latest work and take part in her blog tour!  5 stars for a fabulous novel full of flawed characters, humanity, and life lessons.

Stella and Simon have been together for years, struggling to make ends meet, veering off in different directions as they age.  Simon is still chasing the dream of his youth - to make it big with his band and get the fame he needs to prove his dad and himself wrong.  Stella loved being a groupie and following Simon but now craves a more grown-up life.  She's a nurse and dreams of marriage, babies, a home.  Then a tragedy happens and Stella is left in a coma.  Simon stays with her, missing his band's big chance at stardom.  When Stella finally awakens, everything is different.

I loved this book for so many reasons; I feel like it would be a perfect book club selection because there is so much here to talk about.  I loved the theme of perception/reality - how we perceive others' views of us transforms our own reality without us ever realizing it.  And just life - no matter how strong love is, life changes all of us and we don't always move the same way.  One character in this book said it was all about staying; others made new, brighter lives by leaving.  All lives have tragedies - maybe not as huge as this but tragic nonetheless - and how we cope with them and either sink or swim defines us.  But this book is also about second chances and how we can come to grips with our choices and make new, better ones.

Highly recommended - a book full of flawed characters and messy lives - just like our own.  Beautifully written as always by Caroline Leavitt.