Fox
Margaret Sweatman
See my whereinwinnipeg post to learn more about this one
Manhattan Cult Story Spencer Schneider
I recently read Manhattan Cult Story by @officialspencerschneider and what a wild ride that was! This one had been on my TBR for a long time and I'm really glad I finally got to reading it.
Manhattan Cult Story follows the author's experiences as he is introduced and initiated into a cult in the form of an underground esoteric school for highly successful New York (And Boston) professionals. Spanning over decades, Schneider shares a unique and largely untold story of the lives of members of this cult. From monopolizing their free time, to requiring them to recruit new followers, to charging huge 'tuition' fees, to verbal abuse and paranoia, to complete control over member's entire lives and decisions, the leaders had the tools to indoctrinate and assume absolute control over their followers. This is a must-read for anyone who is interested in cults, especially if you want to learn about a cult that is not your stereotypical commune hyper-religious sect that is much more commonly known.
Thanks to @netgalley and the publisher, @skyhorsepub for giving me the chance to read and review (way later than planned) this fantastic book!
Little Princes
Conor Grennan
I'm still pretty new to the would of audiobooks and I honestly usually only half list to them while trying to fall asleep so my actual comprehension of the story is pretty slim. That was not at all the case for Little Princes by @conorgrennan_official, I quickly realized I could not fall asleep listening to this book because it was too interesting and I needed to find out what happened next!
Grennan first visited Nepal as part of a trip around the world and volunteered with orphans mainly so he could say he did, but once he actually met the children living in The Little Princes Children's Home he knew that his time in Nepal had only just begun. By far, the best thing about this audiobook is that it is read by the author. Grennan's retelling of the hilarious encounters he had is like sitting around a campfire or over drinks catching up with a friend who just got back from an amazing trip. I have told my two favourite parts to anyone I can make listen to me. The first was his attempts to teach the children how to say his name "Cronard? That is what you are saying? Cronard is your name?" "No," Pretend Growls "Cahhhh-neeer". The second, is when he almost gets knocked off a cliff by some mountain goats and his guide explains the perilous situation that so obviously just occurred, after they are safe "Goats? They will not fall. People from Humla? We will not fall. You? You will fall."
Beyond the hilarious writing and entertaining narration, Grennan's passion for these children and the people of Nepal is inspirational. Watching his growth and the children's growth through his eyes is such a wonderful experience. I loved every minute of this book and would love to learn more about the child trafficking in this country and how organizations such as @nextgenerationnepal are helping to not only save children but make change so that children can have access to their rights to education and safety, while also being able to have love and be part of their family.
If you haven't read or listened to this one yet, you definitely should, and (for the first time ever!) I'm going to recommend the audiobook version!
Not Yours to Keep
by Zelly Ruskin
This debut author expertly weaves together multiple adoption stories into one suspense-filled novel that slowly goes from what seems like a series of weird coincidences between three adults in their 30s into a very interconnected web of people tied together in ways they would never expect.
This story is told through alternating narrators in 3 points of view, with 2 FMC and 1 MMC. Billie, a social worker who specializes in adoption is struggling to go to work each day and help unite families while she and her husband, Tyler struggle with infertility. Tyler, a successful lawyer who is hoping to make partner, understand's Billie's struggle, but isn't 100% sure he really wants a child of his own, especially when work is so stressful to begin with! Anne's life is unraveling, her mental health is unstable and her ability to follow her normal daily routines, like going to work each day, is quickly declining. She keeps having flashbacks to the year she gave up her daughter for adoption back when she was 13. When she catches a glimpse of her former junior high boyfriend, Tyler, it ignites something in her to resolve some of the unfinished business she left behind so many years ago. Anne quickly begins stalking Tyler, and eventually Billie, and finding ways to worm her way into their lives. With her increasingly limited connection to reality, Anne makes choices that she believes will bring her closer to her childhood dream of life with Tyler, no matter who or what stands in her way.
I was quickly drawn in to the three stories and enjoyed watching the way pieces of the puzzle came together as the novel progressed. It isn't until the final chapters that you really see what an interconnected group of people the supporting characters make up, including a set of young birth parents planning to put their child up for adoption and some of the people from Tyler's past. While there is some hopping between time periods, especially in Anne's point of view, overall the story is quite easy to follow and not overly predictable. The suspense is very low key and not scary, something I am often grateful for! I loved the varying views of adoption as well as the infertility journey, it is clear that the author knows a great deal about these processes and the importance of counselling and therapy when needed.
I would definitely recommend this book if you're interested in adoption and/or a suspense novel that is a good level of interesting without the intensity of murder or fear! It is coming out in October so mark your calendars or pre-order a copy! Thanks to netgalley and the publisher, shewritespress for giving me the chance to read and review this great book!
The Orphan Songbird
Check out my blogtour post for this one here: https://teachreadinspire.wixsite.com/website/post/the-orphan-songbird
Visions Cheryl Rainfield
I just finished reading Visions by @cherylrainfield last night and it was gripping right until the last pages!
Usually when I hear "paranormal", I say "pass", creepy ghost stories and strange phenomena occurring is just generally not what my non-fiction/realistic fiction reading self would choose, but I think that when I started reading Visions and realized that we were just talking about some very intense psychic premonitions, I figured this would be ok. Beyond the paranormal part, I was sold on the LGBTQ+ YA that basically opened with a discussion on banned books and tackles heavy topics like DV and suicidal ideation in a fairly realistic and age-appropriate way. Rainfield also features a character who suffers from chronic uncontrolled asthma and deals with barriers to her education as well as stigma and discrimination as a result of this illness. Looking for some diverse representation? This book is where it's at.
Kate sees visions of friends and family members who are in danger each time she suffers an asthma attack, but very few people actually believe her when she tries to warn them, that is, until Desi. When she sees Inez, Desi's sister, contemplating suicide she nervously tells them what she saw, despite worrying that this could screw up any chance she might have building a friendship (or hopefully more) with this amazing person she's been crushing on! Luckily for Kate, Desi believes her and a relationship between the two slowly begins to blossom. Kate has some luck trying to help Inez, but when she sees her sister Jenna suffering from intimate partner abuse, she worries that she wont be able to convince her family to believe her in time to save her sister's life.
Over the course of the novel we see Kate overcome her vulnerability, insecurity and physical and emotional challenges and begin to accept and love herself. Visions is about trusting your instincts, standing up for what you believe in and loving yourself and those around you. The messages are so important and I could definitely see YA fans enjoying the story. The characters are well crafted and represent diverse backgrounds, and the writing is descriptive and interesting. While I did find the book a bit repetitive when it came to the conversations between Kate and Desi about their relationship (i.e. will they like me even if...), as I reflect back, I think that was intentional because Kate needed that reassurance, and it is pretty accurate developmentally for teens (and many adults) in new relationships to doubt and question whether or not the person is dating them for superficial reasons.
I also really appreciated how the author handled the sensitive content, with both a content warning and note to the reader at the beginning as well as several lists of resources at the end of the book. This is something I plan to discuss further in my upcoming discussion/review of the Colleen Hoover book, It Ends with Us.
My only real question or downside has to do with the many references to past events that were not fully addressed in this story. I was looking into things a bit more because I wondered if this was actually a part of a series, and it looks like maybe it was originally published under another title, Parallel Visions in 2012. I'm wondering if the original version went into Kate's backstory with a bit more depth or if perhaps the plan is/was to add a prequel afterwards. Either way, a bit more depth into the previous visions would have been helpful for me to better understand how much adversity Kate has faced as a result of these visions and would perhaps have helped with knowing the secondary characters who were referenced occasionally with minimal descriptive factors (ie. Zoey, the one cop who believed her, her sister's teammate etc) and events (i.e. an abduction, CFS being called on Kate's parents?!, something dramatic at a hockey game?). I think Rainfield did an excellent job describing the characters and events that took place in the present over the course of the novel, however, the backstory was not as developed as I needed it to be, but again, that could be due to other books in the series (not yet released).
Thanks to Hannah at Books Forward PR for giving me the chance to read and review this great book!
It Ends with Us
Colleen Hoover
Which did you like better, the book or the movie? That is often the question when popular books are adapted for the screen. For me, the answer to that question for It Ends with Us, by #colleenhoover, was more than just the typical considerations of what was left out or changed, but also the way that the sensitive subject matter was handled.
It Ends with Us follows the story of Lily, a woman in her mid-twenties who is starting her own flower shop in Boston. Lily meets and begins to fall for an attractive neurosurgeon named Ryle, and becomes best friends with his sister, Allyssa. Throughout the story we also travel back in time to when Lily was 15 and building a connection with Atlas, a teen living in the abandoned house next door. A theme that connects both time periods in Lily's life is domestic violence and intimate partner abuse, including manipulation, physical abuse, gas lighting and even rape.
When I first started reading the book I had no idea that was what it was about. Of course I had seen it all over #bookstagram but I hadn't read the reviews, and all I really knew about the movie was that Blake Lively was starring in it, so I knew it would probably be a pretty big deal. I really appreciated the way that Hoover introduced the DV and provided readers multiple perspectives of it (through Atlas's stories, as well as both of Lily's experiences), giving you the opportunity to see why victims stay.
Having just finished the book, I was shocked when I found out the movie was PG. I had no idea how a love story that features sex scenes, as well as domestic violence and rape could possibly be rated PG. My friend @hjart_and_soul let me know there was also a fair amount of controversy around the film, including some tensions between the actors, in part stemming from the way DV was handled in promotion of the movie.
I looked into this controversy after watching the movie and while some of it seemed like typical behind the scenes disagreements, a theme of how to handle content warnings, support resources and discussion about DV came up again and again. Personally, I think content and trigger warnings are a good thing. Many areas of our are beginning to take a better approach to trauma-informed practice and these types of warnings are one of the ways that we are doing this. While some people may believe it is not necessary, as someone who avoids the children's movie, Up because it causes me to have an emotional breakdown even just thinking about it, a little heads up with something might be triggering is something I appreciate (not that I feel Up needs a trigger warning, just that there are plenty of things that can cause a trauma response in people so giving that heads up when something is likely to be retraumatizing to some groups of people is generally a good thing).
Neither the movie or the book have a content or trigger warning, and if anything I would say the movie technically does the opposite of warning people by being rated PG. My thoughts on ratings of movies is a discussion for a later time (fun fact, most recent Disney & Pixar movies are rated PG... meaning I can't show Encanto in my classroom without permission from parents because there is 'mild peril'), but specifically in terms of this movie, it may have just managed to sneak in to the PG category because of camera angles, it is not something that I think children should be watching, even with parental guidance. Teens? Sure, but then why not make it PG 13/14A? Or, at least put a content warning.
Another part of the controversy is how the promo and marketing has such a focus on the flowers, providing photo ops with the "Lily Bloom's" sign and featuring Blake Lively in pretty floral outfits. While this is a big part of the story, is this light hearted marketing sending a message that overshadows the serious nature of the most important theme of this story?
For more on this visit: https://www.today.com/health/news/it-ends-with-us-domestic-violence-survivors-react-rcna167390
After watching the film which has text that reads, "If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, help is available. Visit www.nomore.org for more information and support,"(I should note that I didn't actually see this on the screen but may have missed it), I went back into the book to see if there were any resources at the end. There are three, however, one is for DV, one is for homelessness and one is about a music playlist to go along with the book. Having just read Visions which ended with seven DV resources and seven LGBTQ+ resources (the two main themes), plus several suicide, assault and asthma resources, I realized just how limited Hoover's list was. Unfortunately, the fact that there is a music playlist in the resources makes me cringe a bit, but was not surprising based on everything else that is in the media about this book right now. I checked out nomore's website and it looks pretty good, but I'm not sure how accessible it is to viewers if it is just listed in the credits.
Overall, I think this is a really good book. I think that the messages are so important and that Hoover should be commended for using her wide audience and writing talent to tell this story, which is in part based on her own family's story. The movie was pretty good, I enjoyed seeing the characters on screen and watching for differences between the movie and book. I think the actors did an excellent job and the creative team was great. I do feel there were missed opportunities in both the book and movie for supporting DV survivors, and the promo of the movie definitely is questionable. I do think you should read this book, and I think watching the movie is a good idea too, but it might help to be a bit prepared going in.
So, book or movie? Book.
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