5.27.2017 - Here and Gone

Thanks so much to NetGalley, Crown Publishing and Haylen Beck for the opportunity to read and review this book!

This was a great fast-paced thriller - another book that I just couldn't put down until I finished it. Audra is on the run from New York and an abusive husband to a new start in California with her two small children. She is pulled over by a sheriff in a small Arizona town and discovered to have marijuana in one of her boxes in the car. The sheriff arrests her, calling in a deputy to take the children to a safe place. While she is being processed into jail and asks about her children, the response is "What children?" The nightmare begins.

Audra has a history of drug and alcohol abuse. She left New York while being investigated by Child Protective Services. So when she tells the investigators that the sheriff and his deputy took her children, no one believes her. She even begins to doubt her own sanity.

This is a very suspenseful book, made more so by the scary reality of events. Highly recommended for a thrill ride!

5.26.2017 - The Breakdown

Thanks so much to NetGalley, St Martin's Press and BA Paris for the opportunity to read and review this great book!

If the sign of a good book is that you literally.can't.put.it.down - then 5 stars to The Breakdown! I just finished it, still in my jammies, all work that I was supposed to do today left undone. Because I just had to finish this book!

I loved Behind Closed Doors and the author's latest is another thriller. The author is gifted at drawing you in, making you feel what the characters are going through, and not letting you go until the end.

Cass is a newly-married high school teacher, looking forward to summer break after a tough time. Her mother had early onset dementia whom Cass put everything on hold for to take care of. After her mom died, her teaching job was her way of rejoining life.

She is coming home from an end-of-school-year event, in the midst of a horrible storm, and decides to take a shortcut through the woods to home, even though she promised her husband she wouldn't. She passes by a car parked alongside the road with a woman inside - she pulls over thinking the woman will run out to her if she is in trouble. Cass is hesitant to get out of her own car in the raging storm, so she eventually pulls away. She later learns that the woman was murdered in her car. Cass doesn't tell anyone, not even her husband, that she saw the woman because she is filled with guilt that she didn't help her.

Then the silent phone calls start. Cass feels like someone is watching her and knows that she was there that night. Things at her house start happening as well as Cass starts experiencing periods of forgetfulness. She fears that she is developing dementia like her mother.

This is just a great thriller - I loved it!

5.25.2017 - The End of Temperance Dare

Thanks so much to NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing, and Wendy Webb for the opportunity to read and review this book!

Check reality at the door and fall into this ghost story - it won't disappoint! Just make sure to keep the lights on!

Eleanor has just obtained a new job as director of Cliffside Manor, an artist retreat in an old TB sanatorium (yes, cue the creepy music). When she was first starting out in journalism, she investigated the case of a death of the founder of the retreat and his daughter from a semi-suspicious car accident. She finds herself back 20+ years later as director.

But from her first day, everything seems to go wrong and Eleanor is faced with protecting the artist fellows who arrive for their stay as well as her own life.

A true ghost story that really keeps you glued to the book until the final page. This is the first book I've read by this author - certainly makes me want to go back and read more!

5.24.2017 - The Map that Leads to You

Thanks to NetGalley, St Martin's Press, and JP Monninger for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I ended up liking this book a lot more than I thought I would, or even that I did while reading it! It is somewhat of a coming-of-age young adult romance travel story - how's that for mixing genres?

Three best friends - Heather, Amy, Constance - head off to travel Europe after college graduation. The friends fit specific roles - Heather is the responsible one, with a perfect job awaiting her with Bank of America in NYC; Amy is the wild child; Constance is the spiritual beauty, intrigued with saints.

What was interesting was that they visited more off-the-beaten path kind of places, which added to the mystique and romance of the book. While on the train to Amsterdam, Heather meets Jack. They seem to perfectly fit together, they spar on equal terms, they delight in learning about each other in unique ways (fencing!). Jack is traveling around Europe following his grandfather's journal cataloguing his end-of-the-war traveling before returning to his Vermont farm.

While I couldn't always see real people saying the words, I loved Heather's exit lines and thoughts. She didn't fall into the trap of having total blinders on during her time with Jack in Europe. When he said something that upset her, she let him know - in succinct, admirable ways. As opposed to real life when we all seem to exist in that "I wish I would have said..." mode in those situations.

A great read!

5.21.2017 - The Bright Hour

On my knees in gratitude to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read this brilliant memoir. I will be shocked if a single person gives this book less than 5 stars.

I just finished reading this book. Hollowed. Hopeful. Just like the title, The Bright Hour, has different connotations - the bright spot glowing on a cancer scan to the quote from Emerson describing morning and being a prisoner of a sick body.

The great-great-great-granddaughter of Ralph Waldo Emerson is diagnosed with "one small spot" of breast cancer when she is 37 years old. Married and the mother of two young boys, her mother is also dying of blood cancer. This book is divided into the stages of her cancer, interspersed with quotes from both Emerson and Montaigne that speak to the wonders of this world and feelings of death.

While you may think this would be a depressing read, it is anything but. Nina's grace, humor, candor and courage are anything but depressing. The other bright spots - her family, friends, health care workers - can only leave you with feelings of gratitude and hope that you will find similar allies when you face your trials. Because as she writes, remember you must die. But this book is about living more than anything and will make you look at life and relationships with a different eye.

The epilogue by her husband was gut-wrenching but Nina definitely chose well in her choice of a life partner and father of her sons. This book will be an amazing legacy for them.

Right now - preorder this book so that you have it in your hands when it is published. I couldn't put it down and am honored to have read it.

5.20.2017 - Rise & Shine, Benedict Stone

Thanks so much to NetGalley, Park Row Books and Phaedra Patrick for the opportunity to read and review this book!

I loved The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper and her latest book is another winner. The author has the ability to write about relationships in a heartwarming way that just pulls you into the story and the lives of these characters.

Benedict is a jeweler in a little England town. His wife has just left him for some time to think about the state of their marriage, his business has dwindled to almost nothing, and he eats to escape his problems. Enter Gemma, with a knock on the door in the middle of the night. His 16-year-old niece who he had never met, the daughter of his estranged brother, suddenly appears at his door with a story of wanting an adventure but losing her cellphone and passport along the way. Benedict is wary of her story and tries to contact his brother, but meanwhile Gemma starts making big changes in his life.

This story is just charming and sweet while it explores relationships, childlessness, family and passion for life in such wonderful ways. You will fall in love with these characters and be cheering them on until the end! In the vein of The Language of Flowers, each chapter is titled with the name of a gemstone along with the meaning behind the power of the stone which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Highly recommended!

5.18.2017 - No Turning Back

Thanks so much to NetGalley, Avon and Tracy Buchanan for the opportunity to read and review this thriller!

I really enjoyed this book centered around a newly-single mom, Anna, just back to work after her maternity leave. She's taking a walk by the beach when she and her daughter are attacked by a young schoolboy. She has a metal comb with her that she reaches out to protect her baby - it plunges into his neck and kills him.

The police are at first sympathetic but when Anna finds another boy's body that has gone missing, they turn their suspicions onto Anna. As does everyone else, including her estranged husband who feels that Joni might not be safe with Anna. Then an old unsolved serial killing case, dubbed the Ophelia Killer, comes to light - is he back?

There is lots of issues going on here - class differences, familial loyalty, crowd hysteria, media intrusion and responsibility.

A good mystery to curl up with!

5.15.2017 - My Life with Bob

Thanks so much to NetGalley, Henry Holt & Company, and Pamela Paul for the opportunity to read this wonderful book! I absolutely adored it!

While in junior high, Pamela Paul decided to keep a Book of Books (Bob) and record all of the books that she read. This book goes through the journey of her life and how what she was reading and even how she was reading it correlated to what she was experiencing in real life.

But the very best part of this book for me is being able to relate to someone else who loves books like I do. Everything from her childhood spent indoors reading and at the library to the feelings of not being well-enough read no matter how much you read, and working for the main purpose to buy more books. I just loved the way she wrote about books because only someone who loves books can understand why we can't just give our books away (and why I justify paying monthly storage fees for mine!). I do have some book journals that I kept for years before Goodreads came along but I'm so jealous that I don't have a complete Bob!

Although the author is the current editor of the New York Times Book Review (big sigh for the perfect job of getting paid to read!), she never puts down what others read even when they may not be for her (or the person might not be for her because of what they read!). And she loves depressing books too!

This is a true gem of a book that is the perfect gift for book lovers - very highly recommended and loved!

5.13.2017 - Mischling

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

As in with all of the books concerning the atrocities of the Holocaust, this is a tough read. This book is centered around Mengele and all of the horrible experiments he conducted on people, especially twins or anyone who could be perceived different or special.

Sasha and Pearl are a set of those twins in Mengele's Zoo. Sasha believes she has been given "deathlessness" by Mengele and can't succumb to any of the torture, unlike her sister, Pearl. Another interesting topic was those who committed atrocities because they were made to do so - how culpable are they? We automatically think of everyone involved as being totally evil, Miri may make you see some grays in that thought.

It's beautifully written but sometimes the story was a bit too flowery or maybe fairy-tale like - I kept wanting to skim some passages to further the story. The first half of the book was 5 stars to me; the second more like 3.

5.11.2017 - The Party

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

I really enjoyed this book - another example of we never know what goes on behind closed doors and behind what is perceived to be other people's perfect lives. This book is told from multiple character's viewpoints as well as timeframes from The Party.

Hannah is turning 16 years old. She is like every other teenage girl in that she wants to be popular and accepted. She's turning away from those she considered her friends to the popular group - namely Lauren and Ronni, and all the boys that follow that group. Hannah's mom, Kim, tries to be the perfect, involved, strict mom - meanwhile her relationship with her husband is deteriorating. Her husband, Jeff, has his own secrets.

For the sweet 16 party, Kim lays down the law - no drinking, no drugs, no boys. Well, you can imagine all that could go wrong. While the parents are oblivious upstairs, chaos rains in the basement and someone gets terribly hurt. Then all the wrappings are pulled back from everyone's lives.

This would be a great book club read because of so many relevant issues - bullying, mean girls, our strive for popularity no matter what age. I was a bit disappointed with the end, as true as it probably is - is a sequel in the works?

5.9.2017 - Lying to Children

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

This is a hilarious book and I pretty much carried it around with me until I finished. Probably the only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is that maybe some of the humor got a bit old - probably should have read each chapter and then put it down.

But it is a must-read for parents of older children. It's written from the viewpoint of a fictional dad writing the book for his kids who have just gone off to college. So it's kind of giving the kids the backstory to why their dad acted the way he did and filling in the blanks.

It's all so true - you'll definitely laugh through your tears! Bravo!

5.7.2017 - Oncem in Lourdes

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

This is the story of 4 teenagers, set in the late 1960s, in a fictional lakeside town in Michigan. All 4 teens come from somewhat dysfunctional families but find kindred souls in each other to the exclusion of everyone else. They struggle with all of the things that teens struggle with no matter what the era - they see things in black and white, don't see much of a future, and friends are everything. So much so that they form a Pledge - vowing to throw themselves of a ledge onto the rocks into the lake. The book is told from mostly Kay's point of view and you know from the start that she survived but don't know about the other 3.

I had mixed feelings about this book - for most of it, I kind of felt like it was a school reading assignment and I was just trudging my way through it without being too emotionally involved. However, things picked up at the end. The writing was solid and maybe I'm just too old for teenage angst!

5.2.2017 - Not a Sound

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

I'm a huge fan of this author and have read all her books - her latest did not disappoint. A well-crafted suspense novel with a great main character (or really 2!).

The opening chapter is a shocker and hooks you right away. Amelia is a sexual trauma nurse and is involved in an accident that leaves her deaf. She has to step away from the profession that she loves and struggles with her new reality. Trying to cope, she loses herself in alcohol. It destroys her marriage and her relationship with her step-daughter becomes threatened.

Two years later, Amelia is living on her own in a remote cabin, now using running and sports on the nearby river to heal instead of alcohol. Jake, her childhood friend, is there to encourage her sobriety. But her best friend is Stitch, a therapy dog trained to help Amelia navigate her deafness. He is trained to accept commands in Czech but has a totally lovable mischievous side to him also.

While out on the river, Amelia discovers the dead body of someone she once worked with. Could it be related to her own accident? Is someone targeting nurses? Is her ex-husband involved?

I loved Amelia and Stitch - Amelia is so strong, independent, loving and Stitch is amazing! I raced through this book - a real winner!