5.30.2019 - The Last Thing She Remembers

Many thanks to NetGalley, Park Row, and J.S. Monroe for the opportunity to read this thrill ride of a story!

Tony and Laura open their door one night to find a woman on their doorstop.  She tells them that she got off the train and can't remember anything from that point.  Her bag had been stolen that had her phone and all her IDs - she doesn't know her own name.  But their house is familiar and she can describe the floor plan exactly.  Tony and Laura let her come in and spend the night after making an appointment to see a doctor the next day.  The stranger is diagnosed with amnesia.  But people in town are having reactions to her - Luke thinks he knows her and others think she may be someone with a very dangerous past,

Without giving any more away, get ready for quite the thriller - hard to put down!

5.29.2019 - Some Choose Darkness

Many thanks to NetGalley, Kensington and Charlie Donlea for the opportunity to read his latest thriller.  Trust me - set a block of time to read this book.  I couldn't put it down and read it with heart pounding for much of the time!  Highly recommended!

In the summer of 1979, a series of girls went missing in Chicago.  The media dubbed the killer, The Thief.  Angela Mitchell lived in Chicago during that summer and was obsessed with the missing girls.  Autistic before that was a diagnosis, she struggled with OCD and other social issues that caused people to think she was crazy.  However, she came up with a chart and paperwork that linked the missing girls together and identified their killer.  Then she disappeared.  Forty years later, Rory is a forensic reconstructionist, specializing in cold cases and solving the murders.  When her father dies, Rory finds herself thrust back in the past when she discovers her father was The Thief's attorney.

Enough said about the plot.  This is a wonderfully written and constructed thriller.  I loved these characters!  Don't miss this thriller.

5.27.2019 - Have You Seen Luis Velez?

Many thanks to NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing, and Catherine Ryan Hyde for the opportunity to read and review her latest novel.  Any time you get a chance to read one of her books, it's a good day and you know you have a 5 star read awaiting you.

Raymond lives with his mother, stepfather, and 3 stepsisters - all of whom are white while he is African American like his dad.  He spends every other weekend with his dad and his stepmom, who is not happy with his visits.  His best and only friend is moving to CA from NY.  Raymond just doesn't feel like he belongs anywhere.  By chance, he meets his 92-year-old neighbor, Millie, in the hallway of their apartment building.  Millie is blind and she asks Raymond if he has seen Luis Velez.  Raymond takes the time to meet this neighbor and discover that Luis came to take her to the stores and bank and just to check on Millie quite often.  Luis hasn't shown up in the last weeks and Millie is alone and scared for him.  Raymond starts helping Millie get out and navigate the world and makes it a mission to find Luis.  This mission will change both of their lives.

As always with this author's works, you will see both sides of a situation and you will be forced to examine your beliefs and how you can do better.  All done with a beautiful story of love, friendship and caring for others without prejudice.  Highly recommended!

5.25.2019 - The Women

Many thanks to NetGalley, Bookouture, and S.E. Lynes for the opportunity to read her latest thriller - 5 stars - loved it!

Samantha is 21 years old when she falls fast for a 40-year-old professor she meets at an event.  He sweeps her off his feet with his gorgeous house, his vintage Porsche, and his rapt, grown-up attention to her.  She moves into his home quickly and is ecstatic.  When she becomes pregnant, Peter is so happy and life seems perfect.  However, after Emily is born, Peter pushes Sam into teaching a creative writing class and leaving Emily with him.  She then starts receiving notes in class that frighten her and make her question everyone around her.

From the first chapter that gives a glimpse into the ending of this story, this is a thrill ride of a book.  Highly recommended!

5.21.2019 - The Favorite Daughter

Thanks to NetGalley, Graydon House, and Kaira Rouda for the opportunity to read and review her latest novel.  I absolutely loved Best Day Ever - if you haven't read that, do it now!  I couldn't put this book down either - 5 stars for a great read!

Jane is trying to come back to the real world after being devastated by the death of her daughter, Mary.  Jane's husband, David, and younger daughter, Betsy, seem to have moved in the world and left Jane behind.  With Betsy's graduation date approaching, Jane feels she must do what she can to reclaim her family.  The less said the better about any details of the plot.

You will love to hate Jane and all her secrets.  I also loved all of the interjections of various ways people die.  Highly recommended for a deliciously fun read!

5.17.2019 - Waisted

Thanks to NetGalley, Atria Books and Randy Susan Meyers for the opportunity to read her latest novel.  A good read - lots to ponder since everyone on the planet has to make food decisions daily.

Written from the viewpoint of two women who attend a weight-loss camp that promises they will lose weight quickly but in a supportive environment that will transform their lives.  But of course that doesn't really happen.  Instead, the women are subjected to The Biggest Loser on steroids - cruel, humiliating treatment that is also caught on camera.

Daphne and Alice both have big food issues.  Alice was raised in a very supportive mixed-race family and was skinny when she met her husband, but has since gained a lot of weight and fears losing him.  Daphne, on the other hand, has a husband who loves her the way she is but has a mother who raised her to feel that skinny was the only option.

Hopefully nobody will read the crazy diet restrictions and over-the-top exercise and feel that is a guide book to losing weight.  A good read!

5.13.2019 - Roar

Thanks to NetGalley, Grand Central Publishing, and Cecelia Ahern.  I'm a big fan of Ahern's novels - this one is very different but quite thought-provoking.

This book is a series of 30 small chapters - each one about women in various normal roles that Ahern turns into a magical story.  Each one features "the woman" - unnamed so that you can possibly picture yourself or someone you know in the role.  These stories make you think - there is The Woman Who Returned and Exchanged Her Husband.  Who couldn't relate to being frustrated by all those quirks and habits that our partner has?  If you had the opportunity, would you exchange your husband for one more suited to you?  And what happens afterwards?  Or the woman who disappears to everyone after a certain age.  Just a few examples - very creative and gives you lots to ponder!

5.12.2019 - The Unhoneymooners

Many thanks to NetGalley, Gallery Books, and Christina Lauren.  This is the first book I've read by this author duo and I thoroughly enjoyed it!  I was in the mood for a more light-hearted book and this certainly fit the bill.

Ami and Olive are identical twins with very different personalities.  Ami is confident, in charge, and very lucky - always winning sweepstakes and contests.  Olive, meanwhile, Olive has a hundred stories of how her very bad luck has caused issues for her.  At Ami's wedding to Dane, a nasty food poisoning virus hits almost everyone in attendance except Olive and Dane's brother, Ethan, because they ordered special foods and didn't eat the buffet.  Ami insists that Olive and Ethan take their free honeymoon to Hawaii because there is no way to change dates.  The only problem is that Olive and Ethan don't like each other.  They have to pretend that they are Ami and Dane and newly married.  Once on the island, Olive and Ethan find themselves in hilarious situations and must acknowledge that they are attracted to each other.  When they meet Olive's new boss at the resort, they are forced to keep up the marriage lie, which causes problems once they return home.

Just a fast, enjoyable read.  Loved seeing both Olive and Ami come into their own skins a bit more while realizing the important things - family and loyalty.  4.5 stars!

5.10.2019 - The Night Before

Many thanks to NetGalley, St Martin's Press, and Wendy Walker for the opportunity to read and review her latest thriller - 5 stars!  I literally put off everything I should have been doing today and read this book!

Laura is staying with her sister, Rosie, and her husband, Joe, in Connecticut after a bad breakup that made her leave her job and take refuge with Rosie.  With veiled references to a situation that happened when the sisters were teenagers, Laura has lots of emotional baggage when it comes to men.  So when she meets a guy on line, leaves for a date with him and then doesn't return home, Rosie is frantic.

The less said the better about this book before you read it - and you need to read it!  Told from Laura and Rosie's viewpoints, it was so helpful to have each chapter labeled with the name and date to keep things straight.  Highly recommended for a thrill ride of a story!

5.10.2019 - The Farm

Many thanks to NetGalley, Random House and Joanne Ramos for the opportunity to read and review this thought-provoking debut novel - 4.5 stars!

Golden Oaks is a facility in beautiful Upstate New York, where wealthy clients who cannot become or don't want to be pregnant can outsource that to mostly immigrant women who are paid to put their lives on hold and become surrogates.  The book mostly follows Jane, an immigrant from the Philippines, is separated from her husband and trying to take care of her baby, Amalia.  When her elderly cousin suggests that she apply to Golden Oaks to become a Host and she will watch the baby, Jane feels it is the best option for her daughter.  She will make a lot of money for their future and Amalia will be well taken care of.

Golden Oaks requires you to submit to being totally controlled - everything is secret, the Hosts' every move is scheduled and monitored, the Clients are mostly kept secret - but the monetary rewards can be great for those who follow the rules.

This is definitely a story of race, class and motherhood.  Would be a great bookclub selection - highly recommended!

5.7.2019 - Nanaville

Many thanks to NetGalley, Random House and Anna Quindlen for the opportunity to read her latest book - all about grand parenting.  And what a gem of a book it is - this is now the first gift I will buy when I hear that someone is becoming a parent for the first time.

Short essays all about becoming a grandparent with Quindlen's signature humor, truth and beautiful writing.  This will make you laugh, cry and be grateful for life's journeys.

Anna Quindlen is a must read for me.  I am so thrilled because I'm heading out the door to listen to Anna Quindlen talk about this book at Skidmore College.

5 star, highly recommended read!

5.7.2019 - The Daughter's Tale

Many thanks to NetGalley, Atria Books, and Armando Lucas Correa.  I loved The German Girl and this book also takes place during the atrocities of World War II.

Amanda and her husband, Julian, are raising their small daughters in Berlin, where Julian is a cardiologist and Amanda owns a bookstore.  Then the Nazis came, burned down the bookstore, and took Julian to a concentration camp.  Amanda is lucky to be able to flee to a family friend in France, who agrees to take in her and the two girls.  Beforehand, she receives a letter from her husband with instructions on how to save the girls - by putting them on a ship to Cuba where her brother lives.  At the dock, she makes a decision she will carry with her forever.  In France, she is once again confronted by the Nazis and she is taken to a camp with her daughter, where she will once again have to make a decision about her children.

This book is sad but it shows the strength that people had to resist evil, to try and maintain their families, and how they put their children above all.  The story is bookended by the story of an elderly woman who is presented with letters from a time she has all but forgotten.

5.5.2019 - Things My Son Needs to Know about the World

Many thanks to NetGalley, Atria Books, and Fredrik Backman for the opportunity to read and review this wonderful book.

I love Fredrik Backman's books and this is no exception.  This is first and foremost a love story - to Backman's wife and son - told in humorous, truthful, touching short chapters, mostly apologizing for the fact that parenthood is tough work and mistakes are made, but that all was done in love.  Everything is pretty much on-spot relatable - I loved the story of the generational differences.

Highly recommended - would be a wonderful gift, especially with Father's Day on the horizon.

5.5.2019 - Light from Other Stars

Thanks to NetGalley, Bloomsbury Publishing, and Erika Swyler for the opportunity to read and review her latest novel.

In 1986, Nedda is growing up in a small Florida town next to Kennedy Space Center and dreams of being an astronaut.  Her father, Theo, is a scientist and Nedda loves nothing more than working side by side with him in his lab.  Her mother, Betheen, uses her chemistry skills in a different way - by baking unique cakes.  Nedda and Betheen have a complicated relationship and Nedda never feels comfortable with her mom.  She has a great best friend, Denny, who sticks up for her when the other kids make fun of her and seeks Nedda's family's comfort when his own home life is difficult.  Theo is obsessed with his experiment into time travel - he wants to go back to a time when he was healthy, his family was intact, and wants Nedda to stay young so that she can experience everything before she grows up.  This experiment will have life-changing implications on their family, their town and the world.

Contrasted with Nedda's story are more time jumps - Nedda is now on a spacecraft and set to be one of 4 people to start colonizing a new world; however, there are issues on the ship that may prevent that.

This is an intriguing and somewhat difficult read to navigate the science and different time periods.  But it's also a great character study of family, depression, moving forward.

5.3.2019 - The Editor

Many thanks to NetGalley, GP Putnam's Sons, and Steven Rowley for the opportunity to read and review his latest novel.  I loved Lily and the Octopus and this book did not disappoint.  4.5 stars for a great read.

James is a struggling author in NYC.  His autographical novel about his dysfunctional family, especially his relationship with his mother, finally gets picked up by a major publishing house.  When he meets with the editor, it is none other than Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.   James and Mrs. Onassis develop a friendship as she pushes him to change the ending of his novel and resolve issues with his mother.  A turn of events, however, may help understand why he never felt included but could destroy his relationships as opposed to heal them.

I really enjoyed this book.  Besides the star factor of a tiny glimpse into what Mrs. Onassis' world could have been like, James' struggle in his family relationships felt real.  His journey towards reconciliation and healing, encouraged by the writing of his book, was powerful.