If you, like me, have been seeing The Book of Essie everywhere, it's with good reason. Meghan MacLean Weir's debut novel is a fearless and timely story that's bound to elicit visceral emotional responses in the reader. One can't help but make comparisons between Essie's story and that of a certain reality television show family. Thankfully, there were enough departures to make the story feel fresh ...
Fiction
Review: Every Single Secret by Emily Carpenter
Straight out of the shoot, I knew I was going to like this one. I immediately questioned the reliability of the narrator and I was intrigued by the secrets Daphne and Heath were keeping from one another. What engaged couple agrees to never bring up their past? Not just their relationship past, but ever-y-thing. Living for the present is one thing, but if your finance is telling you they don't want ...
Review: The Widow of Wall Street by Randy Susan Meyers
I'm going rogue here. I'm going to do something I've never done. I'm going to talk about a book without giving it a rating. I'll try to explain. I knew when I began reading The Widow of Wall Street that there would be parallels to the life of Ruth and Bernie Madoff. I didn't realize just how closely related the stories would be. This book is basically a fictionalized retelling of the rise and fall ...
Audiobook Review: The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell
I'm beginning to learn that audiobooks either work or do not for me. There is no middle ground. I'm happy to report that The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell definitely worked! There are many things I loved about this book but my overwhelming response upon finishing it was Wow, this book was so refreshing! I can't recall the last time I read a book centered around a likable protagonist with an ...
Review and Giveaway: The Summer I Met Jack by Michelle Gable
When I first heard about this book, I was very excited because I had read Michelle Gable's I'll See you in Paris and already knew I liked her writing. Like many Americans, I've always been drawn to glamour and glitz as well as the drama and tragedy of the Kennedy family. I somehow had it in my head that this was going to be a very Kennedy-centric book detailing one of his many affairs. I was ...
Mini Audiobook Review: Far From the Tree by Robin Benway
Far From the Tree took me far out of my comfort zone in the most excellent way! It's only the second audiobook I've listen to till the very end and it's YA. Here's what I loved: The Characters - Grace, Maya, and Joaquin were well-developed characters to love. They're all basically good kids carrying more baggage than most adults could bear. Some of their baggage is shared and some is very ...
Book Review: The Sandman by Lars Kepler
Despite never having read Lars Kepler's previous novels, I had high hopes for The Sandman. In the end, it simply didn't live up to my expectations. That's not say it was all bad but the issues I had, which I hope I can articulate, were pretty weighty ones and really impacted my overall experience with the book. Perhaps one of the reasons that I was so disappointed is because this book had such ...
Review: The Bird Tribunal by Agnes Ravatn
I'm off to Book Expo later this morning but wanted to sneak in one more post before I go. This one is long overdue owing, for the most part, to my lack of technical skills. There is really no excuse but, you see, this is the first time I have successfully installed a Mobi file onto my Kindle. I will not say how long it took.My previous attempts all ended in frustration and wine. This time, ...
Blog Tour and Review: That Summer in Puglia by Valeria Vescina
Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for That Summer in Puglia by Valeria Vescina. In addition to jet lag, I'm now officially suffering from the dreaded Book Hangover Syndrome. This is my first blog tour as part of the #BTEAM with Bookcollective and I'm thrilled to be sharing my thoughts on this book today. When Tommaso is found by a private investigator thirty years after leaving Pulia, he ...
Blog Tour: My Dear Hamilton by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie
"In the secret seethings of my discontented heart, I've searched for a life that is my own. A life not consumed by the questions he left in his wake—riddles I will never solve about our marriage, our family, and the suffering to which he exposed us. I've searched for a meaning to my existence not swallowed up by Hamilton's shadow. By his genius. By his greatness. By his folly." Welcome to my ...
