All I know
By: @hollytellsatale
Gosh, I could not put this one down! I'm not 100% sure which genre this falls into, it definitely has some YA vibes, but could easily be in the Women's Fiction category too. Either way, I loved it.
All I Know follows FMC Kai as she grows up, starting with her childhood memories of enjoying time with family friends, the Tylers, with her twin brother and parents. In the essence of "The Summer I Turned Pretty" Kai falls in love with the eldest Tyler, Josh, and dreams of him one day seeing her as more of a peer and love interest rather than a kid-sister or younger cousin. Both Josh and Kai experience trauma growing up, related to their parents' addictions and broken marriages, as well as the loss and grief. Despite the families being less connected over time, Josh and Kai always seemed to find their way back to each other and stay in touch throughout their lives, in many moments through letters. Kai has been warned since she was little that she will get hurt by Josh one day, that they are not the love match she so desperately wants them to be, but Kai is not one to give up and their unusual relationship continues well into adulthood, changing over time.
Some things are deal-breakers and some things are price of admission.
Unknown. All I Know (Kindle Location 2909). Kindle Edition.
This book has so much going for it. There's the coming of age YA love story, the emotions of childhood and young adult trauma, reflections on addiction and mental health, and a female character who is independent, strong and determined to make her dreams come true, even if sometimes blinded by love. The growth Kai makes through the story is so intriguing to watch, and the author did such a great job describing both the characters and the settings that I felt like I was watching someone I knew grow up. This book was filled with emotional moments which I was entirely invested in, and the ending was a hard one to accept, as any love story that comes with an ending can be (I used to not finish the last chapters of books I loved because of this, at least I have broken that habit lol). My final note in my kindle was "Its been a long time since I cried while reading a love story. It's an ending. Do I love it? No. But I don't hate it either." Endings are hard, but it had just the right amount of closure.
Thanks so much to @booksforwardpr and the author for sharing this lovely book with me. I believe it is out on the 11th so don't forget to go grab your copy next week!
Peggy was Right & Belly Woman
I read both of these books at the very end of May and posted about them in my blog post dedicated to women's reproductive rights
The Wild Between Us
Amy Hagstrom
What it's about:
The rescue of two missing boys in the Sierra Nevada mountains relies on unraveling the mysteries of the past. After inheriting his uncle’s lodge, Silas Matheson hopes the grandeur of the California Sierra Nevada will be a fresh start for his two young sons, and a chance to finally face his demons. It was here, fifteen years ago, that Silas and his friends Jessica, Danny, and Meg ventured into the mountain wilderness and Jessica vanished without a trace. When his boys go missing in the same dark woods, the fear and guilt that Silas has been running from ever since come crashing back. Silas’s panicked call brings in the local search and rescue unit, and with a storm brewing and the boys’ fates hang in the balance.
My Thoughts:
I enjoyed this book and wanted to finish it to reach a conclusion. The dual timelines were interesting, and kept the story moving, but made things a little confusing at times. I did appreciate the way that the two stories eventually came together, though. As far as mystery vs fiction, it was definitely more of a present day search and rescue (fiction) than a cold case (mystery), but the two stories may make it more interesting to a broader range of readers. The pacing was only somewhat consistent, with slow downs, especially with the past sections. As a result, sometimes the sections about the past felt like an interruption of the present day search, but were necessary to weave the two stories together. I liked the search and rescue and crime scene data, as well as the small town vibes. There was really nice imagery and the setting was very well done. I could see myself reading other books by the author.
Here One Moment
By: Liane Moriarty
Liane Moriarty is one of my favourite authors, so when I saw her newest book on @netgalley I crossed my fingers that I would be approved to read and review it. Of course I was ecstatic when I found out that I was!
Here One Moment is told through two alternating narrators, a first person narration by a woman later to become nicknamed "Death Lady", and a third person narration of a variety of secondary characters. The story begins when a woman on a plane experiences some kind of unusual psychosis and begins predicting every passenger's expected age and cause of death, whether the passengers want to hear this prediction or not. Many passengers are quite uncomfortable with these predictions, especially those with an age of death prediction that is sooner than they anticipated. In some chapters, readers learn about the woman behind these predictions and how exactly she got to this fateful plane ride filled with fortune telling, and in others we see the fall out of these predictions of the lives of the passengers and their loved ones.
As with all of Moriarty's books, there is a lot of humour and unusual characters, a mystery filled with uncanny coincidences that take the entire story to unfold, and a life lesson - in this case: live your life to the fullest because no one knows when your time is up (or do they?).
I found the "death lady" chapters slightly less interesting than the other ones, partly because we were getting a lot of backstory in each one, but were being left with cliff hangers in the other chapters that took at least 5-10 chapters to cycle back to. It is a longer book, at over 500 pages, so perhaps some of those chapters could have been pared-down a bit, but the backstory was very important and well written. The short, alternating chapters and relatively fast pace made this a quick and interesting read that was hard to put down. If you've read and enjoyed any of her other books, or even just heard the hype, definitely pick this one up when it comes out in the fall!
Thanks to @crownpublishing for giving me the chance to read and review this fabulous book!
The Henna Artist Series - The Perfumist of Paris
By: Alka Joshi
The last few days I have been looking back at my old reviews for the first two books in this series, while preparing to write a review for this one. I had requested this book on @netgalley last winter, but kept putting off reading it after I felt so disappointed with the middle book in the series. When I saw The Perfumist of Paris recommended as @the_fold 's May challenge, a Historical Fiction by a South Asian Author, I decided it was time to finally read it.
In this story we see Radha as a successful professional woman who creates perfumes based on formulas and scent profiles. She is married to a French man named Pierre and together they have two young daughters. Despite being several years later and in a new country, Radha will never forget the child she gave up or the life lessons she learned from her sister Lakshmi. Torn between finding success at work, and being the mother and wife she feels she should be, Radha in the 1970s expresses the same desires and concerns of many middle-aged women today.
I went into this one with a lower expectation than I did with The Secret Keeper of Jaipur, and unfortunately it met those expectations. At about 40% I paused and asked myself "what is actually happening in this book?". There were areas that were interesting, I liked learning about Paris in the 70s, about the job of a perfumist, and having an update on the characters I followed for two books now, but very little action took place. In the words of another reviewer on goodreads @lovefoundinpages: "is this book necessary? no. but is it a nice addition to the series? sure."
The Perfumist of Paris gets ⭐️⭐️⭐️ from me.
Thanks to the publisher @_mira_books_ and @htpbooks for giving me the chance to finish off this series.
6 days left teaching 6 year olds! I’m so excited to be heading back up to Grade 3/4!!!!
They were pretty cute (most of the time) and I had fun seeing them experience new things and be insanely excited over something I barely even noticed, but I am not going to miss the 700 daily reminders to keep our hands, feet AND bodies to ourselves or my most common question “did you ask him to please stop?”
About two weeks ago I found out that I am headed back up to 3/4 next year! I couldn't be more excited about this grade change, and to sweeten the deal I devoured this delicious middle grade! (puns intended). I can't wait to share more middle grade books in the coming weeks and months as I dive back into my middle grade monday posts!
The Cookie Crumbles - By: Tracy Badua and Alechia Dow
The Cookie Crumbles is a Middle Grade you wont want to miss!
Laila and Lucy have been best friends since Kindergarten, but they are about to be sent to two different high schools and that just can't happen!
Then Laila’s invited to compete at the Golden Cookie competition, which awards its winner admission and a full ride to the prestigious Sunderland boarding school, and it’s the perfect opportunity. Sunderland doesn’t just have an elite culinary program; it’s also home to an elite journalism track, if only newscaster-hopeful Lucy could build up a strong enough portfolio to impress the scholarship committee. Lucy joins Laila as the official press for the competition, and if things go their way, they might just both be able to enroll in Sunderland together!
Everything seems to be going great until when one of the celebrity judges collapses after sampling Laila’s showpiece, rumors of foul play swirl, with Laila rising to the top of the suspect list. Even worse, a major storm has effectively cut off all access to the outside world. Can the girls find the real culprit and clear Laila’s name before it’s too late?
With hints of reality cooking competitions and a Chef that so perfectly resembles Gordon Ramsey, this book will be great for young readers who love cooking, baking and reality tv. The mystery/suspense is sure to keep reader's attention without being too scary, and the age-appropriate content of the book is perfect for this middle grade category. I would definitely recommend this book for readers in the grades 5-8 range, maybe even a bit younger or older.
Thanks to @booksforwardpr and the authors @tracybaduawrites and alechiadow for giving me the chance to read and review this awesome book! It is out now!
Also in June... I unfortunately DNF'd a book I was SOOO looking forward to, but it just didn't live up to my expectations...
Katharine, the Wright Sister
By: Tracey Enerson Wood
I was really excited for this book but ended up not finishing it because I found it so boring. I love historical fictions, especially those that are not set/about WWII. I don't know very much about the Wright Brothers, but thought that getting their sister's side of the story would be a great way to learn lots and enjoy a histfic. The title is a bit misleading though because this book is really more about the brothers and features snippets of Katharine's life and role supporting her brothers. In fact, Katharine is only one of multiple narrators in the book, both brothers have multiple chapters dedicated to following their journey. I would understand a few chapters interspersed because there may have been critical moments in the story that readers needed to hear from the brothers' perspectives because Katharine was not present, for example, but there were sections that could have been written from her perspective but were not and honestly, some of her sections felt more like a quick interlude before getting back to what the men had to say. I love the premise and think this is a great idea for a book, but the execution wasn't up to my expectations unfortunately.
Thanks to the publisher for giving me the chance to read and review this book.
The Woman in my Home
By C.R. Howell
Get ready for some twisty twists with this psychological thriller!
The Woman in my Home by @crhowellwriter tells the story of Elin, a woman who abruptly leaves her young family and returns 10 months later to find a new woman in her home raising her family.
Elin's husband David is the definition of gaslighting. When her young toddler, Catrin, suffers a severe accident under her watch, Elin instantly feels like she has failed as a mother and should not be trusted to take care of Catrin and her sister Rhiannon, a message her husband has already said many times. Elin decides to leave her family, something she seems as a way to protect her daughters, but returns less than a year later to a life that has completely changed. David has moved on from their relationship and has another woman living in the house with him, raising Catrin and Rhiannon, as well as a newborn baby. David makes it very difficult for Elin to find a job or housing in their small town, and insists Elin live in their house alongside his new partner. Elin quickly begins to realize that something doesn't add up with this new family David has created, but the truth is not so easy to uncover.
I looked at some other reviews and saw quite a polarization of opinions! Many readers really enjoyed it, as I did, and others felt it was too slow or confusing. I didn't find that at all, but I mention this because I also saw some people DNF'd or mentioned that it picked up at about 30%. I often struggle with whether or not to DNF books so I usually go check other reviews before I decide and find the "do not give up" messages in reviews helpful! I'd definitely recommend seeing this one through, it is not that confusing once you get into it, especially because some of the story needs to be revealed later on to keep up the suspense. The writing is great and the plot is super interesting. For chickens like me, there are a few scary/intense moments near the end, but nothing too crazy! It is out now, so go get a copy!
Thanks to @netgalley and the publisher @joffebooks for giving me the chance to read and review it!
So .... I've recently been reading thrillers! You might even say I'm #inmythrillerera haha. And I am not gonna lie, this one was a little bit on the too scary for me side BUT I finished! And I didn't even have to put it in the freezer! (Friends reference)
Broken Bayou
By: Jen Moorhead
Here's the deal:
Dr. Willa Watters is a prominent child psychologist at the height of her career. But when a viral video of a disastrous television interview puts her reputation on the line, Willa retreats to Broken Bayou, the town where she spent most of her childhood summers. She's looking for something from her past, but soon realizes she might just get more than she bargained for.
With waters dropping due to drought, mysterious barrels containing human remains have surfaced in the bayou. Divers, police, and media flood the area, including a news reporter gunning for Willa and Travis Arceneaux—a local deputy and old flame.
Willa’s fate seems eerily tied to the murders. And with no one to trust, she must use her wits to stay above water and make it out alive.
My thoughts:
As I said, this one was a little on the scarier side, and so reading it at bedtime was just not a great idea, which was hard because at the same time, I didn't want to put it down! This one kept me guessing right until the end and honestly, some of the biggest moments were in the last 15% of the book so it keeps you on your toes right till the end! The child psychologist piece was a really nice feature as it added some interesting insights to some of the characters in the story. The scenery was also really well done, which makes sense since the author is from the area! For me it was definitely an unfamiliar setting but I felt like I was there!
I would definitely recommend this book for thriller/crime/suspense fans! This book is out now so go grab your copy! Thanks to @booksforwardpr and the author for giving me the chance to read and review this book!
And that's a wrap on June!
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