2.28.2018 - I Found My Tribe

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

This is the story of Ruth, a young mother of 5, whose husband is stricken with Motor Neurone Disease (ALS).  He can communicate only with his eyes using a computer.  But instead of focusing on the disease, this is more of a letter on how Ruth copes with the diagnosis and her life.  By finding her tribe - the people and the places that nurture her spirit - she is able to continue forward.

The book was written in a different style and it was somewhat confusing to shift in time the way it did, but it allowed us to see all the love and joy Ruth and Simon experienced in their life before MND and how she struggled to keep that alive.  Takes brave souls.

2.27.2018 - The Family Next Door

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hanks so much to NetGalley, St Martin's Press, and Sally Hepworth for the opportunity to read her latest novel - loved it!  I've loved all of her books and this was another one that I just couldn't put down.

Pleasant Court in Melbourne, Australia, seems like paradise and the families who live on the street are perfect neighbors.  Well...until a new neighbor moves in who seems to cause a stir and make everyone question what really goes on behind closed doors and what secrets each of the families are keeping.  The story is told from different viewpoints of each of the women involved which allows us to really get to know them and what makes them tick.

Hepworth's writing just pulls this story all together - a great read!

2.25.2018 - My Name is Venus Black

Many thanks to NetGalley, Random House and Heather Lloyd for the opportunity to read and review this book - loved it!

This book grabbed me from the beginning - a bright, "good" teenage girl confesses to shooting her stepfather although she won't talk about the reasons.  She also blames her mom and won't speak to her.  She's put into a juvenile detention center and then hears that her autistic younger brother, Leo, has gone missing.  In a blink of an eye, Venus has no one.  When she's released as a young adult, she finds her way to Seattle with a fake name and ID, a few Goodwill clothes to her name, and desperately trying to stay away from the media.  She soon finds herself surrounded by a small circle of people she cares about, even while pushing them away.

This was a beautifully written book - most of it from the viewpoint of Venus and Leo, with the other characters' voices intermixed.  I cared so deeply about all of these people and couldn't put this book down to see how it would end for them.  When I read the last page, this is one of those books that made me sigh, and then made me want to start it again!

My Name is Venus Black is being published on Tuesday - you must read this book!  This would be an amazing book club selection.  There are so many things to discuss - just what makes up a family?  How can we forgive each other and ourselves?

This is Heather Lloyd's first novel - amazing.  I can't wait to read her next one!

2.24.2018 - The Bad Daughter

Thanks to NetGalley, Ballantine Books, and Joy Fielding for the opportunity to read and review her latest book.  I've been a huge fan of Joy Fielding's for decades and her latest kept me glued to the pages.

Robin is a therapist who is estranged from most of her family.  She tends to suffer from panic attacks and worries that her boyfriend is cheating on her like her father did her mother.  When she receives a call from her sister that her father, his wife and her daughter were shot in their home and clinging to life, she heads off to her small hometown.  Her sister, Melanie, has years of grudges against Robin and the two have issues trying to exist together while waiting for news on their family. 

Lots of family secrets come out in this one and I enjoyed the fast-paced writing and characters.  As with all of Fielding's books, highly recommended!

2.23.2018 - The Liar's Girl

Many thanks to NetGalley, Blackstone Publishing, and Catherine Ryan Howard for the opportunity to read her latest book - it's a great one!

Allison is anxious to leave home for college in Dublin with her best friend, Liz.  She soon meets Will, another student at school who becomes her first real boyfriend.  Peace is shattered at the college when young girls' bodies are found dead in the nearby canal.  Liz becomes the next victim and soon after Will is charged with all 5 murders and sent to a psychiatric facility.  Fast forward 10 years and Allison is living in the Netherlands.  She has a new life and never thinks about what happened and how she couldn't have known that her boyfriend was a serial killer.  Then police show up at her door saying that there has been another murder, they've been to see Will who says he has something to confess but will only do so to Allison.  The police take her back to Dublin and she's soon immersed in the nightmare again.

An addictive read, told in paragraphs from Allison Now and Allison Then, so we learn the backstory.  Interwoven are chilling paragraphs from the serial killer.  Lots of twists and turns in this one - highly recommended!

2.21.2018 - Wild Escape

 

Thanks so much to NetGalley, Diversion Books, and Chelsia Rose Marcius for the opportunity to read and review this book.

While probably most of the country is familiar with the subjects of this book - two escaped convicts from a maximum security prison in Upstate New York - the telling of this story really pushed this into a great read.  I was thoroughly impressed by the author - a New York Times columnist - and the drive to be as accurate as possible in the telling of this story.  Where there were two conflicting stories from different sources, she stated that and didn't push the story one way or the other.  It would have been so easy to write a different book, glomming onto the tale that the prison seamstress wanted her husband killed.  Maybe yes, maybe no.  But the facts were put out as they were known, period.  The background into David Sweat was also interesting - not for excusing any of his behavior but just for clarity and understanding.

It certainly took me back to the weeks that these two criminals were on the loose.  Living just a couple hours south in the southern foothills of the Adirondacks, a remember the constant media coverage and general fear that gripped this part of the country especially.

Bravo for a well-researched, well-written account!

2.19.2018 - Woman Last Seen in her Thirties

Thanks so much to NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing, and Camille Pagan for the opportunity to read and review her latest novel - 4.5 stars for a great read!

Maggie Halfmoon is a 53-year-old woman who feels generally content about her life.  Her marriage is good, even though her husband has always worked a lot, her grown kids are doing okay, even though she worries about them.  She worries about a lot of things but the one thing that she never worried about was that her husband would leave her.  Until he did.  Then she realized that she didn't really know who she was anymore.  This book follows Maggie's journey into rediscovering herself. 

This is at turns hilarious and heart-warming and feels very relatable.  Highly recommended!