3.30.2018 - The Good Liar

Thanks so much to Net Galley, Lake Union Publishing and Catherine McKenzie for the opportunity to read and review her latest books.  Like her other books, this one is a winner that I just couldn't put down!

The story revolves around a tragedy - a building blows up in Chicago killing hundreds.  The focus of this book is on 3 women impacted by that tragedy.  Cecily becomes the face of the tragedy - she was late for a meeting with her husband in the building and was caught on camera witnessing the explosion.  Kate ran away from the disaster and her life, settling in a new country.  Franny is a young woman searching for her birth mother who she believed was working in the building.

One year after the tragedy, we see all 3 women moving on with their lives.  A documentary is being made about the tragedy, focusing on Cecily and the other she has done for the other families impacted.  But all 3 women are lying.

I raced through this book to find out what was going to happen.  Not all of these characters are extremely likable but the writing is great and kept me glued to the pages.

3.28.2018 - Other People's Houses

Many thanks to NetGalley, Berkley, and Abbi Waxman for the opportunity to read and review her latest book - loved it!  I was a huge fan of Garden of Small Beginnings and this one definitely didn't disappoint.  I'm actually quite surprised that the ratings aren't higher for this one!

This is one of those stories that takes a look into people's lives and shows that we never really do know what goes on in other people's houses - or even our own sometimes.  Frances is the glue in her neighborhood - she's in charge of the carpool that takes all the kids to their various schools, back home again, even watching others at her house.  When she inadvertently catches her neighbor having an affair, it opens up issues for the entire neighborhood.

Waxman's writing is just so spot on that I couldn't wait to dive back into this book.  She had me laughing, cringing, and relating to so many of the characters and happenings.  Multiple points of view are expressed from the different characters in a unique way that really lets you get into their thoughts.  And did I mention that it's hilarious?

Great book!!

3.24.2018 - The Forgotten Ones

Thanks so much to NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing, and Steena Holmes for the opportunity to read her latest work - loved it!

This is a slowly drawn out tale of loyalty, family secrets, mental illness, and survival.  Ella grew up with her mentally-unstable mother believing that her grandparents were dead.  Until the day that she learns that her grandfather is a dying patient in the hospital where she works.  He starts unburdening himself and telling her of the past but it is in direct contradiction of everything she has believed to be true.  Who to believe? 

This is one of those books that I don't want to give much away - I couldn't put down until all the truths were learned - highly recommended!

3.22.2018 - Not That I Could Tell

Thanks so much to NetGalley, St Martin's Press, and Jessica Strawser for the opportunity to read and review her new book.  I was a huge fan of her first book, Almost Missed You, and couldn't wait to read this one - it definitely did not disappoint!

In a close-knit neighborhood of Yellow Springs, OH, a group of friends and neighbors meet to christen Clare's new fire pit.  With baby monitors in reach, the friends let loose a bit, drink a bit too much, maybe let go of a few secrets, but all with fun.  Until the morning when the women wake up feeling a bit worse for the wear and discover that Kristen has disappeared in the night along with her twins.  None of the friends can remember too much about the night but nothing happened out of the ordinary.

Kristen was always the perfect mom, the one who had it all together.  Married to a doctor but on the brink of a divorce, no one could understand what happened.  So naturally, all eyes go to her soon to be ex-husband, Paul.  Clare is dealing with her own issues in the past, which this disappearance brings to the forefront.  A new neighbor, Izzi, has her own issues but isn't so quick to judge Paul.

This is just a well-written, hard to put down book with very relatable characters and realistic situations.  I was quite biased to see that the book was set in Yellow Springs since I grew up nearby and spent many hours at John Bryan State Park, Young's Dairy and some of the other mentioned places.

Highly recommended - touches on so many topics that it would be great for a book club. 

3.19.2018 - Alternate Side

Many thanks to NetGalley, Random House and Anna Quindlen for the opportunity to read her latest book. 

Anna Quindlen is a "must-read" author - her writing and storytelling always seem to speak to me.  I think the first book of hers I read was Black and Blue - as a former domestic abuse survivor, it rang so incredibly true.  I was sold.

Alternate Side is the story of Charlie and Nora who live in a Manhattan neighborhood, a dead-end street of old, stately homes.  Charlie and Nora are long-time married, with twin children almost out of college.  This is a story of being comfortable in our marriages, our neighborhoods, our lives and what happens when something pushes us out of that comfort zone.  A violent episode in the neighborhood did just that for Charlie and Nora.  Suddenly they were on alternate sides of an issue.

I love Quindlen's dry relatable humor.  Like this passage..."When they were first married they had vowed they would never be one of those married couples who sat silent at dinner because they'd run out of things to say.  They were determined that they would never run out of things to say.  So they repeated themselves a lot."

This is also a story of class differences between the haves and the have-nots and those first world problems that plague so many of us.  It's also a story of living and loving New York City - even the alternate side parking rules.

Highly recommended - I loved it!

3.17.2018 - The Italian Party

 

Book Summary:

Newly married, Scottie and Michael are seduced by Tuscany's famous beauty. But the secrets they are keeping from each other force them beneath the splendid surface to a more complex view of ltaly, America and each other.

When Scottie’s Italian teacher―a teenager with secrets of his own―disappears, her search for him leads her to discover other, darker truths about herself, her husband and her country. Michael’s dedication to saving the world from communism crumbles as he begins to see that he is a pawn in a much different game. Driven apart by lies, Michael and Scottie must find their way through a maze of history, memory, hate and love to a new kind of complicated truth.

Half glamorous fun, half an examination of America's role in the world, and filled with sun-dappled pasta lunches, prosecco, charming spies and horse racing, The Italian Party is a smart pleasure.

About The Author:

Christina Lynch’s picaresque journey includes chapters in Chicago and at Harvard, where she was an editor on the Harvard Lampoon. She was the Milan correspondent for W magazine and Women’s Wear Daily, and disappeared for four years in Tuscany. In L.A. she was on the writing staff of Unhappily Ever After; Encore, Encore; The Dead Zone and Wildfire. She now lives in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. She is the co-author of two novels under the pen name Magnus Flyte. She teaches at College of the Sequoias. The Italian Party is her debut novel under her own name.

Website: http://christinalynchwriter.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/christinalynchauthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/clynchwriter

My review...

Thanks so much to NetGalley, St Martin's Press, and Christina Lynch for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This is the story of Michael and Scottie - two young people who meet, get married quickly, and find themselves in Italy 11 years after WWII.  Michael is starting up a Ford tractor business and is intent on saving Italy from the Communists.  and Scottie soon finds a teenage boy to help her learn Italian as well as more about her new world.  Sounds perfect...until it is revealed that both Michael and Scottie are keeping so many secrets from each other.  When Scottie's young friend suddenly goes missing and she starts investigating, those secrets start coming to life one after the other.

This is a sometimes funny and sometimes serious book about relationships with each other and the world we inhabit.  The descriptions of the Italian food and countryside in the 1950s were wonderful.  Definitely a fun and intriguing read!

3.14.2018 - Everything is Horrible and Wonderful

Thanks so much to NetGalley, Source Books, and Stephanie Wittels Wachs for the opportunity to read this horrible and wonderful book - I literally sat and read it in one sitting.

This is the story of the Harris Wittels, a comedian who worked on such shows as Parks and Recreation.  It's the story of his genius, of all who loved him, and his drug addiction and eventual overdose.  Written by his sister, who got the call that he died 3 days before her wedding, she tells of the family struggles with addiction as well as Harris' personal one, as well as documenting the year after his death.

You don't hear much about sibling grief and this book expresses it wonderfully - the feeling that her original family has been quartered and will never be the same.  It is brutally honest in the way that everyone dealt with both the addiction and the grief and the struggle to still have to get up in the morning, deal with babies and life.

Hopefully this book reaches the masses.  While I may not personally have been familiar with Harris' work, his sister has written such a truthful, powerful book while somehow making you laugh out loud in places.

Definitely 5 glowing stars and many prayers go out to this family as well as so many others dealing with this issue.  They could all relate and benefit from this book.

3.13.2018 - Every Note Played

So many thanks to NetGalley, Simon and Schuster and Lisa Genova for another amazing book - my heart is still ravaged.

This is the story of Richard, a famous concert pianist, who develops ALS.  For a man whose life is his fingers, the loss is unimaginable.  His ex-wife, Karina, is an accomplished pianist in her own right.  However, she blames Richard for the loss of their marriage, her career as a jazz pianist, and the fact that she is stuck.  Grace is their daughter in college, whose relationship with Richard suffered because his first love was his piano.

You make think you know about ALS but when you read this book, you'll see how very little you know about the sad realities of this disease.  Lisa Genova is a neuroscientist and this book is meticulously written and researched as all her books are.  There is no sugar-coating of the toll this disease takes on everyone around. However, the personal relationships between these characters makes this story shine.  Just as Still Alice showed us the world of Alzheimer's, Every Note Played will make you feel differently about ALS.

Do not wait to read this book - preorder it now before it comes out next week. 

3.11.2018 - In Every Moment We Are Still Alive

Thanks to NetGalley, Melville House and Tom Malmquist for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This is a fictionalized autobiographical novel telling the story of Tom as he struggles with the grief of losing his partner.  Karin is pregnant with their child when she is rushed to the doctor with breathing issues.  Thinking it was pneumonia, Tom was shocked when they discovered she had leukemia.  After an emergency C-section, Livia is born but Karin succumbs to her disease.  This book tells of the time afterwards as Tom alternately struggles with his grief while trying to figure out how to be a single dad to Livia.

While the writing is beautiful which is no surprise seeing as Tom is a poet, I struggled mightily with the formatting of the writing in this book.  There are no quotation marks to delineate who is talking to whom with long paragraphs with no breaks in conversation or sometimes even time period.  The book goes back over the start of Tom and Karin's relationship as well as showing how Tom is dealing with his new life. 

I thought all along it was a memoir and was surprised to see it classified as a fictionalized autobiographical novel - was also confused as to why it wasn't written as a memoir.

3.10.2018 - The Flight Attendant

Many thanks to NetGalley, Doubleday and Chris Bohjalian for the opportunity to read and review his latest novel.  I'm a big fan of Bohjalian and loved this thriller!

Cassie is a flight attendant and has been with her airline long enough that she gets all the seemingly exotic flights - Dubai, Rome, Paris.  But Cassie has an issue - she's an alcoholic who makes terrible choices while she's drinking - all of them involving men - and is prone to drinking so much that she blacks out.

So when she and a passenger, Alex, begin to flirt and carry that flirtation to dinner and lots of drinks when they land in Dubai, she ends up back in his hotel room.  Waking up in the morning and anxious to get back to her hotel to get ready to meet her flight crew to head out, she realizes that Alex has been murdered and is lying dead in the bed next to her.  She obviously blacked out and can only remember bits and pieces of the night before - an associate of Alex's, Miranda, stopping by with yet more drinks - and she panics.  There's a broken liquor bottle on the floor and blood on her hands.  Did she kill Alex in a blackout rage?  She decides to quickly shower and leave the hotel, setting into motion a series of lies to her crewmates and later the FBI.

This is a great thriller, spanning different locations and leaving so many questions to be answered - you will race through this book to figure it all out!  Highly recommended!

3.9.2018 - Laura & Emma

Many thanks to Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read this debut novel - really enjoyed this book!

This is a quiet, quirky novel centering around a mother and daughter in NYC in the 80s and 90s.  Laura is born into wealth on the Upper East Side.  She is a quiet person, not quite fitting in, more concerned about the environment than fashion.  After a one-night stand in her 30s, she becomes pregnant.  Enter Emma - a spunky girl with a mind of her own.

The story is told in chapters of the different years of the mother and daughter and that's where the magic happens in this book.  Besides seeing the relationship, we see the signs of the time having their impact - from homelessness and class differences to AIDS to family and friends.  There are great characters in this book - Laura's mom for one.

A great character study book!

3.7.2018 - Feast Days

Thanks so much to NetGalley, Little, Brown & Company, and Ian MacKenzie for the opportunity to read and review his latest work!

This is the story of Emma - a woman from NYC who with her banker husband move to Sao Paulo, Brazil, for his work.  Emma is fascinated with language and ends up being a tutor of sorts to various people in Brazil - simultaneously trying to learn Portuguese while teaching English.  Emma is also struggling with her husband about having children - she doesn't want to; he does.  Brazil is in a state of civil unrest while they are there with many demonstrations happening, causing Emma to rethink her life and beliefs.

The writing in this book is wonderful, even though it may not be my style.  You can really get a taste of being plucked from NYC and set into the strange world of Brazil, where everything is different complicated by the language barrier.  However, I struggled to care much about the characters and it was a bit confusing when the back story was being told.

3.6.2018 - The Escape Artist

Many thanks to NetGalley, Grand Central Publishing, and Brad Meltzer for the opportunity to read and review his latest thriller - I loved it!

I've been a huge fan of Brad Meltzer for decades and his latest work is another great one.  As in all his books, it is meticulously researched and you learn so much - this time is was about the government mortuary department.  I'm in awe of the care they take of the fallen soldiers' remains and am grateful for all of those morticians who "have heart."

Jim "Zig" Zwicharowski is one of those morticians working at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.  He is struggling with his own grief issues after the loss of his doctor.  When there is a plane crash in Alaska that draws the attention of everyone from the President down, he realizes that one of the dead is identified as Nola Brown, a classmate of his daughter's.  Or is it?  There begins the mystery to try and uncover all the secrets about this plane crash and its passengers as well as the tie to Harry Houdini himself.

A great thriller that I couldn't put down.  Another winner by Meltzer - pick this one up today!

3.4.2018 - The Last Equation of Isaac Severy

Many thanks to NetGalley, Touchstone, and Nova Jacobs for the opportunity to read and review her debut novel - I loved it!  What's not to love - mathematical and literary mysteries and clues and quirky characters.

Hazel is the owner of a small bookstore in Seattle.  She's drowning in debt, living secretly in the back of the store, unsure of her boyfriend's affection.  When she receives word that her adopted grandfather has committed suicide, she leaves for LA and her complicated math genius family.  She then receives a letter that her grandfather wrote to her before his death, entrusting her with finding his final equation - one that he alludes others are looking for with dire consequences.  He tells her to trust no one.  But she feels out of her element in finding and understanding the clues and the formula.  This hunt forces her back into her fractured family and all their issues.

I couldn't put this book down and really loved the ending!  Amazing debut novel - can't wait to read more from this author!

3.2.2018 - The Pact

Many thanks to NetGalley, Bookouture and S.E. Lynes for the opportunity to read and review this great book - 4.5 stars!  Also thanks to my Goodreads friends - they were raving about this book so I had to read it! 

This is an addictive story and draws you slowly in and keeps you tight in its grasp until the end - you won't be able to put it down!  So many themes in this book - social media, family relationships, secrets - along with really great writing.

The story is told in the voices of a family triangle - mother Toni, daughter Rosie, and Toni's sister Bridget.  Toni and Bridget survived a traumatic childhood - the sisters made a childhood pact to protect each other.  Then an accident kills Toni's husband and she becomes super protective of Rosie, who begins to rebel against her mother's tight reins.

I don't want to give anything away because this author was so good at developing these characters and backstories - the end actually made me gasp and filled in even more blanks.  Highly recommended!