Category: book review

book review · books · Family · Human Trafficking

Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao {Review}

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Goodreads Blurb:

A searing, electrifying debut novel set in India and America, about a once-in-a-lifetime friendship between two girls who are driven apart but never stop trying to find one another again.

When Poornima first meets Savitha, she feels something she thought she lost for good when her mother died: hope. Poornima’s father hires Savitha to work one of their sari looms, and the two girls are quickly drawn to one another. Savitha is even more impoverished than Poornima, but she is full of passion and energy. She shows Poornima how to find beauty in a bolt of indigo cloth, a bowl of yogurt rice and bananas, the warmth of friendship. Suddenly their Indian village doesn’t feel quite so claustrophobic, and Poornima begins to imagine a life beyond the arranged marriage her father is desperate to lock down for her. But when a devastating act of cruelty drives Savitha away, Poornima leaves behind everything she has ever known to find her friend again. Her journey takes her into the darkest corners of India’s underworld, on a harrowing cross-continental journey, and eventually to an apartment complex in Seattle. Alternating between the girls’ perspectives as they face relentless obstacles, Girls Burn Brighter introduces two heroines who never lose the hope that burns within them.

In breathtaking prose, Shobha Rao tackles the most urgent issues facing women today: domestic abuse, human trafficking, immigration, and feminism. At once a propulsive page-turner and a heart-wrenching meditation on friendship, Rao’s debut novel is a literary tour de force.

My Review:

I have to say that this novel should definitely come with trigger warnings. I am not one to shy away from certain subjects but there was an incident in the novel that was even hard for me to get thru. When I first started this novel I did not think that I was going to finish it because it didn’t capture me right at first but once I was into the story, I was hooked! This story is set in India for most of the novel and I am so glad that I have read I Am Malala because it allowed me to be familiar with the setting. This is one of those debut novels that people are going to be hungover from after reading it because it is so intense and touches on subjects that society likes to put blinders up to, especially if it is happening in another part of the world that you are not familiar with. Drugs, abuse, sex trafficking, and even self sacrifice. The extremes that Savitha is willing to endure to get away from where she is are just horrifying and the circumstances that Poornima have to deal with are horrifying as well.  The abuse that both of these girls have to endure throughout their existence is on a level that I could not even begin to imagine. This novel is not for the faint of heart but if you want a story that is going to draw you in and show you that there is another part of life that is not all roses and laughter, then this is the novel for you. I am excited to see what others are going to think after reading it once this book becomes available.

Rating:

4.5 Stars

Availability:

Book will be published March 6, 2018 and available as ebook and hardcover.

I received a galley of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

book review · books

Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney {Review}

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Goodreads Blurb:

It’s the last day of 1984, and 85-year-old Lillian Boxfish is about to take a walk.

As she traverses a grittier Manhattan, a city anxious after an attack by a still-at-large subway vigilante, she encounters bartenders, bodega clerks, chauffeurs, security guards, bohemians, criminals, children, parents, and parents-to-be—in surprising moments of generosity and grace. While she strolls, Lillian recalls a long and eventful life that included a brief reign as the highest-paid advertising woman in America—a career cut short by marriage, motherhood, divorce, and a breakdown.

A love letter to city life—however shiny or sleazy—Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney paints a portrait of a remarkable woman across the canvas of a changing America: from the Jazz Age to the onset of the AIDS epidemic; the Great Depression to the birth of hip-hop.

My Review:

I have to be honest and say that I don’t exactly know why I chose this book  January 2017 for my Book of the Month subscription. After starting it, I didn’t know what drew me to it even after reading the synopsis which may explain why it remained on my shelf untouched for a year with no thought or desire to read it. But since I am participating in the Unread Shelf Project 2018 and I drew this title from my Book of the Month TBR can,  I figured I would put the energy into reading it. In this story, we follow Lillian and I mean literally follow her and she makes her journey thru New York City on New Year’s Eve 1984, by foot. During her walk, she recalls several events that have happened throughout her life. I won’t say that this was a terrible book because it wasn’t. Lillian is actually a hoot. My issue with the book is that she was so wordy. I can see why she needed to be that way since the story is told from the point of view of an elderly person, but good grief! I think this short novel is the LONGEST one I have read in a long time. For it to not have even broken the 300 page mark, it sure did feel like it was about 500 pages with the way that Lillian speaks. She turns a paragraph into a lengthy speech and there were some points I wanted to turn on the award’s show “wrap it up” music, lol. My favorite part of the novel is when she is describing a rap song that she hears while walking and it clearly is a song that she has heard before but she doesn’t know the title or artist but she does enjoy the music. I think I read that particular passage twice, lol. I will add picture of the passage to this review.

This is a novel that I would have a hard time recommending only because there isn’t anything in it that is a selling point for myself. I am interested in seeing what the author has to offer for her next novel. I do hope that it is not centered around a wordy old woman though.

Rating:

I have to give this novel 3.5 stars

Availability:

This book is available wherever books are sold.

book review · books

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman {Review}

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If you have read and enjoyed Fredrick Backman’s Britt Marie Was Here, I think you would enjoy this novel by Gail Honeyman.

Goodreads Blurb:

Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy. All this means that Eleanor has become a creature of habit (to say the least) and a bit of a loner.

My Review:

I received this book thru my Book of the Month subscription for December and it was my first pick from my TBR jar that I have dedicated to this year’s  Unread Shelf Project. What attracted me to this novel was my thought that it was so similar to the above mentioned novel by Fredrick Backman. I recently read Britt Marie Was Here and thoroughly enjoyed it.

In Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, you meet a 30 year old woman who is basically living the life of a 65 year old grandma. If her age was not mentioned you could imagine her as an uptight old lady. To be such a young woman, she is a creature of routine and habit. You can’t help but laugh at her ways from time to time. The more serious she is, the funnier her situation seems, until you learn about her past.

Eleanor survived a horrific fire during her childhood but as a result of it, she had to grow up in the foster care system. She does not have any friends, she is socially awkward, and her life is controlled indirectly by her mother. As the story progresses, you learn to love Eleanor and cheer for her from your reading spot because she attempts to make changes in her routine even if at first it is only because she is preparing to meet the love of her life. She steps into the world of technology and the world of beauty. I think her experience with waxing was my favorite funny part.

Even with her attempts to make changes, Eleanor’s life takes a near devastating turn. She then has to learn how to love herself and accept the love and friendship of others.

This is a quick, quirky read but is full of life. This book subtly addresses alcoholism and child abuse. It also touches on mental health and help.

I gave this novel 4.5 stars. It is available now.

book review · books · Family

Educated by Tara Westover {Review}

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This story is not about  Mormonism.

I have to admit that I do not usually read the Author’s Note, but that one line captivated me. Probably because I was thinking that it was going to be about the religion and the effects of it. It turned out that that line was completely correct. Even without the line, I don’t think that I would have considered Tara Westover’s family devoted Mormons.

This memoir is my first non fiction feature on my blog. Definitely something different from what I usually read and review. I welcomed this story with open arms. This was an unexpected arrival and I chose to not read the synopsis before diving into the story.

The story follows Tara who is a native of Idaho and a member of a family who is living off the grid.

Goodreads Blurb:

Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, she prepared for the end of the world by stockpiling home-canned peaches and sleeping with her “head-for-the-hills bag.” In the summer she stewed herbs for her mother, a midwife and healer, and in the winter she salvaged in her father’s junkyard.

That is just a piece of what this book entails.

My review:

I don’t usually read physical copies of memoirs, but I am glad that I read this one. Sitting down with this book was like stepping into a world that I have only been involved with thru media such as movies or news articles. Tara’s family lived in the mountains of Idaho and were basically living in their own universe and not concerned with the “corrupted” world. Tara grew up experiencing life with a parent who probably suffered from a mental illness, a mother who seemed to be complacent, and a life with a sibling who is physically and mentally abusive.

Tara may have started life in that unusual environment but she was strong enough to desire a different style of life for herself, although it was not an easy task. Tara stepped foot in school at the age of 17 and it was not a high school classroom but a college classroom. By stepping into this life outside of her mountain life, she realizes that she has been sheltered from a world that has gone on and she knows nothing of it. I believe that Tara was like a sponge and absorbed all the information that she could. There were times that she was discouraged or felt that she was being a traitor to her family. Tara ended up risking her spot in her family and became the “black sheep” because she wanted a different life for herself. She wanted to discontinue the lifestyle that she was raised in.

I loved the language that the author used in her story. The story was well written and read like a novel instead of a memoir which I enjoyed. I definitely would not have believed that Tara didn’t start going to school until she was 17 years old and that most of what she learned had to be self taught.

I gave this novel 4.5 stars

I received this novel from Random House. I am was very pleased to give an honest review.

This book is set to be released February 20, 2018 from Random House.

Book Birthday · book review · books · crime · meet the mrs · Publishing Day · suspense

Happy Publishing Day! 1-9-18

KalaLeave a comment

Two books that I have done reviews on are now available for purchase today!

The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen {St. Martin’s Press}

I read and reviewed this book back in November and gave it 4.5 stars. It is definitely a good psychological thriller to start off your 2018 year of reading. It has some great twists in it that you don’t see coming. I always love to be taken by surprise with a thriller.

The Chalk Man by CJ Tudor  {Crown Publishing}

I read and reviewed this book last week. It was my first review of the year. If you like England and kids doing weird things like being kids and being mischievous, with a dash of crazy thrown in, then you’ll definitely enjoy this read. I forgot to put my star rating in my review, so I will put it here, I gave 4.5 stars. ESPECIALLY because of the ending!

Thank you to both publishers for providing me with advanced copies of these books and giving me a chance to review them. I hope that everyone enjoys these novels as much as I did.

Both books will have you like:

Happy reading, folks!

ReaderthenBlogger

book review · books · crime · psychological thriller · suspense

The Chalk Man by CJ Tudor {Review}

KalaLeave a comment

Hello everyone!!! Welcome to my first book review of 2018!!!

So here we have one of 2018’s scheduled for release thrillers, The Chalk Man by CJ Tudor. This is her debut novel.

The story follows Eddie and his four childhood friends who grow up in an English village. You think you have just the typical group of friends who grow up together and go thru the typical adolescent trials and tribulations. However, there are much darker issues that they have to deal with and secrets that they keep. Eddie is our narrator and he narrates the story flipping between current day 2016 and past 1986. The form of the story put me in the mind frame of Stephen King’s It. I think that is what drew it to me most.

In 1986, Eddie and his friends stumble upon a dismembered body of a local girl who survived a freak accident only to come up dead later. What draws them to this body are chalk figures which were an idea of the kids to communicate with each other but someone has found out about their secret language and used it against them, or so they think.

Fast forward to 2016, Eddie and his friends are all grown and living their own lives not thinking about what happened to them back in 1986. However, certain events lead them all back to their home and to the secrets and events that they have all tried to forget. As the story unfolds, more secrets are discovered.

The story unfolds as a thriller should but then you get to the end and BAM!!!! HOLY COW!! I literally cursed out loud at the character in the book.

This was not a long novel and can probably be read in one sitting. Even though it was a quick read, I feel that the story was developed in a timely fashion and I absolutely LOVED the ending. Definitely a great debut novel from CJ Tudor and I look forward to see what else she has in store.

The book will be available for purchase January 9, 2018. I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.

I gave this novel 4 stars!!!

book review · books

Lola by Melissa Scrivner Love {review}

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Drugs, money, loyalty. A man’s world, or is it?

I will admit that I had some reservations after I received this novel and didn’t think I would enjoy it. I then found myself wanting to know what was going to happen and when. This is not the typical type of novel that I usually read but I am so glad that I stepped outside of my box this time. What looks like sugar isn’t always sweet. Lola definitely defied the stereotypes types of a gang banger and I appreciated that fact. Lola was a hardcore thug. I honestly thought that she would soften around the edges when it was crunch time but she was ruthless throughout the entire story, even when it came to her own family. She was a woman after my own heart though. She knew how to take care of home and was willing to take risks to protect what was hers or what she deemed needing protection. The only soft spot she had was for Lucy whose mother was a junkie willing to pimp out her child for her next fix. Lola’s past made her protective of Lucy. I would recommend this story to anyone needing a break from the mundane suspense, thriller type novels or the stories where the man is always leading the pack. This is my first novel by this author and I look forward to reading more by her. Maybe Lola will get a sequel, lol.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this honest review.

book review · books · suspense

The French Girl by Lexie Elliot {review}

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Goodreads Blurb:

They were six university students from Oxford–friends and sometimes more than friends–spending an idyllic week together in a French farmhouse. It was supposed to be the perfect summer getaway–until they met Severine, the girl next door.

My Review:

When the story starts, I can say that I did not really like Kate. I thought she was just an uptight, jealous woman. She seemed high strung, but as the story carries along you realize why she is the way that she is. Her best friend Lara did seemed to be as self centered as Caro was. The men were a different story altogether. Tom, who has recently returned from Boston after a divorce was my first suspect in this crime that has recently resurfaced.

Basically what you have is a cold case that resurfaces and 5 lives are disrupted 10 years later. Five of the six friends who are alive, learn things about each other from that summer holiday so many years ago. As things go along, fingers start to point and it even comes to the point where they have decided to point the finger at their friend, Theo,  who has died in combat during his military career. Which I found quite ballsy. I couldn’t blame them. Why not blame someone who isn’t there to defend their own innocence if it means keeping yourself out of jail. The character I did not like the most was Caro. As the story develops and I learned more about her, it made me dislike her even more. She was just one of those characters who has always been unlikeable and does what she has to do to manipulate things to her satisfaction.. Seb didn’t warrant much sympathy from me because of his drunken behavior which apparently was a habit.

This is one of those stories that make you look at your friendships closely wondering if you really know your friends and wonder what their behavior would be if something like a murder case popped up in your lives many,  many  years later after a person has disappeared. How far would you go to protect or defend your innocence?

I will admit I was almost finished with  this novel before trying to figure out “who dun it” because I was enjoying the storyline. I never did get even close to the actual killer was, lol. What I enjoyed most about reading this novel was the fact that it is not set in the United States. I will have to admit that I was not all that excited by the ending but it did not deter my enjoyment of the novel.

I would like to thank Net Galley for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. This novel will be published February 10, 2018.

I give this novel 4 stars!

book review · books · Family

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah {Review}

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Hello everyone, I hope that you all enjoyed your holiday and hope that you were able to get some good deals shopping if that is what you participated in. I was fortunate to receive an ARC of Kristin Hannah’s new book that is set to be released February 6, 2018 from St. Martin’s Press.

Goodreads Description:

Alaska, 1974.
Untamed.
Unpredictable.
And for a family in crisis, the ultimate test of the human spirit.

From the author who brought you the phenomenon of The Nightingale.

Review:

Let me just start by saying get ready to go on an emotional adventure. Kristin Hannah does it AGAIN!!!

In this novel we meet the Albrights. They are a family of three. Ernt(dad), Cora(mom), and Leni(daughter). This novel takes place in the mid seventies, after the Vietnam War. Ernt has returned home after being captured and held captive for 6 years. He suffers from what would not be called PTSD. There really wasn’t a word for it then. The men were just described as “being changed by the war.” He cant hold down and job and he has anger issues. Cora tries to pacify him by giving in to his grand ideas and constant moving around, although their daughter, Leni, has to suffer because of all the changes.

The dynamic of the relationship of Cora and Ernt is not apparent at first but quickly surfaces once the family moves to Alaska. Ernt has been gifted a house and some land by a fellow war comrade. When they first move to Alaska, things seem as if they will be okay. As the time goes on, Ernt takes a turn for the worse. While he is spiraling out of control, Leni is beginning to grow into a young adult and she is becoming a mentally strong young woman. She begins to see things in her parents that she had not noticed before and is having a difficult time accepting them.

Leni meets Matthew Walker, a young man who is going to play a key role in her life. As will his family in her father’s breaking point.

I will stop there because I really do not want to give away much more about the story. Just know that there is so much more that is going on in their lives.

This is one of those novels that will make you think about how mental health and love can affect relationships. It also shows how unconditional love can either make or break a person. As I said earlier, this novel is another emotional adventure. I read The Nightingale a couple of months ago and was emotionally exhausted when I finished it. I love a book that can make me feel that way and The Great Alone did the same thing. Hannah puts on paper real life issues and makes you think and feel with her characters.

I may have had some watery eyes with the end of this novel, but I will neither confirm or deny it. I strongly suggest purchasing this novel when it is published if you are a fan of Kristin Hannah and if you have not read any of her novels, this is a great introduction to her style of writing. This book isn’t even out yet and I am already looking forward to her next novel. I guess I will have to go get one of her older novels off my shelf to hold me over.

I give this book 5 stars!