Category: book review

book review · Family · reading

The Dinner List by Rebecca Serle {Review}

Kala2 Comments

Blurb:

When Sabrina Nielsen arrives at her thirtieth birthday dinner she finds at the table not just her best friend, but also her favorite professor from college, her father, her ex-fiance, Tobias, and Audrey Hepburn.

At one point or another, we’ve all been asked to name five people, living or dead, with whom we’d like to have dinner. Why do we choose the people we do? And what if that dinner was to actually happen? These are the questions Sabrina contends with in Rebecca Serle’s utterly captivating novel, The Dinner List, a story imbued with the same delightful magical realism as Sliding Doors, and The Rosie Project.

As the appetizers are served, wine poured, and dinner table conversation begins, it becomes clear that there’s a reason these six people have been gathered together, and as Rebecca Serle masterfully traces Sabrina’s love affair with Tobias and her coming of age in New York City, The Dinner List grapples with the definition of romance, the expectations of love, and how we navigate our way through it to happiness. Oh, and of course, wisdom from Audrey Hepburn.

Delicious but never indulgent, sweet with just the right amount of bitter, The Dinner List is a modern romance for our times. Bon appetit.

Review:

When I first started hearing about and seeing The Dinner List I will admit I was not immediately drawn to the story. It was almost close to publication date before I was finally convinced that it would be a novel that I could read and possibly find myself enjoying.

I am a mood reader so I was happy and pleasantly surprised when a copy of this novel showed up in the mail one day. I was in the mood for a “light” read. Within the first few chapters I quickly found out that this was going to be a much deeper read that what I was expecting. I should have known that when one of the blurbs I saw contained a comparison to Me Before You by Jojo Moyes. I was still not prepared for the emotional journey that I was about to endure.

This novel makes you think, it makes you feel. Several times I found myself stopping to think about who I would invite to a dinner if I had the opportunity. I made several revisions to my own personal dinner list while reading.

I don’t ever recall reading a contemporary novel with a plot twist. I was more blown away with the plot twist in this novel than I have ever been with a thriller, which always contains a plot twist. It gave my heart a serious jolt. I felt it in my soul.

There were so many quotes in this novel that stood out to me, but there was one that stayed with me and I had to put the book down for several days before picking it back up.

“When someone leaves, remembering the joy is far more

painful than thinking about the misery.” (page 37)

This book has the potential to be a “one sitting” read but I highly recommend taking your time to ingest and enjoy it.

I received this book from the publisher in promise of an honest review. I also won a copy from Booksparks along with a very cute tote bag.

Rating:

4 stars

Availability:

Available now in hardcover, ebook and audiobook

book review · books · dedication · Family · hockey · reading

Us Against You by Fredrik Backman {Review}

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Blurb:

After everything that the citizens of Beartown have gone through, they are struck yet another blow when they hear that their beloved local hockey team will soon be disbanded. What makes it worse is the obvious satisfaction that all the former Beartown players, who now play for a rival team in Hed, take in that fact. Amidst the mounting tension between the two rivals, a surprising newcomer is handpicked to be Beartown’s new hockey coach.

Soon a new team starts to take shape around Amat, the fastest player you’ll ever see; Benji, the intense lone wolf; and Vidar, a born-to-be-bad troublemaker. But bringing this team together proves to be a challenge as old bonds are broken, new ones are formed, and the enmity with Hed grows more and more acute.

As the big match approaches, the not-so-innocent pranks and incidents between the communities pile up and their mutual contempt grows deeper. By the time the last game is finally played, a resident of Beartown will be dead, and the people of both towns will be forced to wonder if, after all they’ve been through, the game they love can ever return to something simple and innocent.

Review:

Once again Backman strings your emotions along as we return to the beloved Beartown and hockey. Okay, if you haven’t read Beartown, I suggest that you add it to your TBR soon. I did a review of it earlier this year and even if sports stories aren’t your thing, you can still enjoy the story. Okay back to the book at hand, I didn’t think that Beartown needed a sequel but none the less, I was excited to learn that there was going to be one. I didn’t know where Backman could take the story considering the first book looked into the future of some of the characters, but he managed to pull it off. I didn’t enjoy this novel quite as much as I enjoyed Beartown, but it was still a good story. I felt that the style of writing changed some with this novel, but I could be alone with that opinion. It is still a well written story. I have to say that even though this is a sequel, it could be read by itself.

Although I appreciated a look into some of the minor characters from Beartown, there were moments I felt the story was too drawn out. Once again, I fell in love with Benji and Amat and wanted to protect them as best as I could. With this story we are given more information on “The Pack” and given another character to fall in love with, Vidir. Who doesn’t love the outcast or the underdog? Alongside with characters that you fall in love with, you seem to always have those who make you want to shake them. Mostly it was the adults who made me want to shake them.

The story moves along at a decent pace but there were some parts I wanted to move a bit faster, especially toward the end of the book. Once I got to the end however, I could see that the rest of the story was just a build up for the climax. Let me tell you, I could hardly make it thru because my emotions were going all over the place. The end of the novel is probably my least favorite out of all Backman’s novels.

With that being said, am I disappointed that I read it? No, I am not and yes, I would still recommend it to those who enjoyed Beartown.

This is the type of story that makes you think about growing up, the difficulties that children face, and the moments of doubt that parents may have, and sacrifice. In the end, we see how important family is and how loyalty plays a role in life on and off the ice.

Rating:

3 stars

Availability:

Available now in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook.

abuse · book review · books · Family · secrets

Praise Song for the Butterflies by Bernice L. McFadden {Review}

Kala6 Comments

Goodreads Blurb:

Abeo Kata lives a comfortable, happy life in West Africa as the privileged nine-year-old daughter of a government employee and stay-at-home mother. But when the Katas’ idyllic lifestyle takes a turn for the worse, Abeo’s father, following his mother’s advice, places her in a religious shrine, hoping that the sacrifice of his daughter will serve as religious atonement for the crimes of his ancestors. Unspeakable acts befall Abeo for the fifteen years she is enslaved within the shrine. When she is finally rescued, broken and battered, she must struggle to overcome her past, endure the revelation of family secrets, and learn to trust and love again.

In the tradition of Chris Cleave’s Little Bee, Praise Song for the Butterflies is a contemporary story that offers an educational, eye-opening account of the practice of ritual servitude in West Africa. Spanning decades and two continents, Praise Song for the Butterflies will break and heal your heart.

Review:

I requested this novel after reading about it in an article on Facebook mentioning books to look forward to. Once I read the plot, I knew I would like it. I didn’t know how much it would intrigue me and keep me glued to its pages. This was a one sitting read for myself and I’m glad that I picked a long weekend to read it even if it only took me 2 hours to read it.

The opening of the story is so intense, but it does not prepare you for what is to come for the rest of the story. This is a story about love, abuse, sacrifice, and pain, and the path to healing.

Abeo is a young happy girl in Africa living what seems to be the perfect life with her family. They are wealthy, and they don’t need for much. Abeo’s family is visited by her Aunt Serafine who lives in the United States. Abeo’s life is easy even when her father is suspended from work. When Abeo’s grandfather dies and her grandmother comes to live with them, Abeo’s life begins to change in a way she does not see coming. Abeo’s grandmother believes and convinces her son to believe that Abeo is the reason for all their misfortune. She convinces him to basically give his daughter up to slavery to make his life better. This is not something he discusses with his wife. He just takes his child and leaves her in the hands of the devil himself and never looks back. Abeo was 9 years old.

At first Abeo’s mother is overcome with rage but she eventually comes around because she believes that it is her duty to follow behind the decision of her husband. For a while, life without Abeo starts to get better and her parents are convinced that the right decision was made. Soon enough, the luck runs out. Abeo’s mother dies. She dies before she ever sees her daughter again.

While the Kata’s are living their newly enhanced life, Abeo is living a life of hell. A life that she was thrown into without ever knowing why. She is a slave along with other young girls whose families have thrown them into the life of being a trokosi. They are beaten, fed enough to keep them alive and raped. Abeo must endure this for much of her childhood and the early part of her adult life. She doesn’t know anything about her family or their whereabouts. She just knows that this is the life her father has left her to. Abeo does try to escape but fails to no end. She takes beatings and soon must endure a constant stream of rape.

Finally, a woman name Taylor moves to Africa and opens a sanctuary and begins rescuing girls from the life of being a trokosi. Abeo is one of the women who is rescued but not after enduring the death of her son.

After Abeo is rescued, she must learn to love again and to function again in the real world. She is also reunited with who is left of her family. She learns of her mother’s death and she also learn her family’s other secret which will have a significant impact on her life.

Although this is a story of fiction, it is a story that needs to be told and put out into the world because this is happening everyday just like human trafficking. This story had me feeling so many emotions all at one time. I could not even keep up. I was angry, sad, happy, hurt, devastated. All of those within the two-hour time it took me to read it. I am still feeling those emotions even the next day. This story is going to stick with me for quite some time and I would actually want to look further into this heinous practice and see what it is I may be able to do to become more educated about it and lend my help.

I really loved the significance of the butterflies. You will have to read the book to see what I am talking about.

There are definitely some trigger warnings that come with this novel. It is not for the faint of heart.

I received this book in exchange of an honest review.

Rating:

5 Stars

Availability:

Available now in paperback, hardcover, ebook and audiobook

book review · books · crime · Family · psychological thriller · secrets · suspense

Lies by T.M Morgan {ARC Review}

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Goodreads Blurb:

What if you have the perfect life, the perfect wife and the perfect child—then, in one shattering moment, you discover nothing is as it seems? Now you are in the sights of a ruthless killer determined to destroy everything you treasure.

It’s the evening drive home from work on a route Joe Lynch has taken a hundred times with his young son. But today, Joe sees his wife meet another man—an encounter that will rip two families apart. Raising the question: Can we ever really trust those closest to us?

Joe will do whatever it takes to protect his family, but as the deception unravels, so does his life. A life played out without any rules. And a cunning opponent who’s always one step ahead.

Review:

I am always happy to receive a debut novel as an advanced reading copy so that I can see what a new author has in store. I like to be “in the know” before everyone else so that I can tell them what they should they be looking forward to.

In this story, we have Joe who is the perfect doting husband who does his more than equal share when it comes to home life and raising a child. Not something you see every day in a thriller. Joe is taken by surprise when he finds his wife in a tense meeting with her best friend’s husband at a hotel. Of course, you can’t blame him for confronting Ben after witnessing what happened. Although, you want to strangle him because he should have gone to his wife first. After a brief altercation with Ben, Joe is drawn into a world that he is not prepared for and must do whatever it takes to remain safe and out of jail.
I didn’t pick up this novel right away because I thought it would just be another run of the mill thriller. I decided to read it because it is told from a non-arrogant male point of view. Despite his size, Joe is seen as a gentle giant. He tries not to the worst of those around him, even those he begins to despise. His foolish trusting behavior is no match for what he must endure to prove his innocence. He is soon thrown into a world he has very little knowledge of.

Joe is taken advantage of by everyone around him, including his wife and his job. He doesn’t have anyone in his corner while he fights for his life, literally.

Joe must learn quickly that he must look out for himself. And his son.

This book was a little over 400 pages and even though I didn’t go into it with high hopes, I was not expecting the twist of the story. I almost didn’t have time to process what was going on since I was trying to figure out what exactly was happening. The twist comes so close to the ending that you almost have a difficult time to process what has just happened. I will admit that there was a good twist to the story even if it wasn’t completely surprising to me.

I personally wouldn’t classify this as a thriller because for myself, it wasn’t exactly a “thrilling” read. I would classify it as more suspenseful or mysterious than anything else. I do appreciate the change of pace in the characteristic of the main male character. Not everyday do we get to see the average man have to fight for his life and his child, and maybe his marriage.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rating:

3 Stars

Availability:

Available on September 11, 2018 in hardcover, eBook and audiobook.

book review · Family · secrets

French Exit by Patrick deWitt {Review}

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Goodreads Blurb:

Frances Price – tart widow, possessive mother, and Upper East Side force of nature – is in dire straits, beset by scandal and impending bankruptcy. Her adult son Malcolm is no help, mired in a permanent state of arrested development. And then there’s the Price’s aging cat, Small Frank, who Frances believes houses the spirit of her late husband, an infamously immoral litigator and world-class cad whose gruesome tabloid death rendered Frances and Malcolm social outcasts.

Putting penury and pariahdom behind them, the family decides to cut their losses and head for the exit. One ocean voyage later, the curious trio land in their beloved Paris, the City of Light serving as a backdrop not for love or romance, but self destruction and economical ruin – to riotous effect. A number of singular characters serve to round out the cast: a bashful private investigator, an aimless psychic proposing a seance, a doctor who makes house calls with his wine merchant in tow, and the inimitable Mme. Reynard, aggressive houseguest and dementedly friendly American expat.

Brimming with pathos and wit, French Exit is a one-of-a-kind ‘tragedy of manners,’ a riotous send-up of high society, as well as a moving mother/son caper which only Patrick deWitt could conceive and execute.

Review:

This has been one of the quirkiest books I have read all summer, in fact all year. It will have you questioning your humanity because of the things you may laugh at. At the same time, it invokes thought. Almost one of those laugh until you’re crying type stories. At first glance, the relationship between Frances and her son Malcom leaves a bit to be desired but as the story develops you understand more of why it is the way it is.  I didn’t think that Small Frank, the cat was going to have as much of an impact on the story as he did. Him being in the reincarnated form gave you an insight to how he was as a person. Frances was not a woman to be messed with. She said what was on her mind and she had no couth about it. She doesn’t even let the fact that she is going to be broke deter her from her attitude and feelings about life. I thought that she was just a woman who loved the finer things in life and didn’t care what expense she had to occur to get them but as the story progresses, you see more into her character and begin to understand what her motives are.

Malcolm seems to be a dimwitted man who has no sense of life but understanding that he basically grew up by himself with no one to really care for him or show him how to be a person, per say, it dawns a new light on him. He is smarter than he appears, and he is also a petty thief. He doesn’t steal to cause harm, he is just a collector of trinkets. He has a fiancé, Susan who seems to deeply care for him, but he doesn’t really know what to do with those feelings. You also get a sense that he also has deep feelings for her but doesn’t know how to convey them to her or even to himself.

Once Frances, Malcolm, and Small Frank (I still giggle when I think about him) arrive in Paris, their lives take a very peculiar turn. You would think it is a turn for the worse, in Small Frank’s case it probably was, but it takes a turn for the better. They encounter new friends, old friends and tie up some loose ends when least expected. Malcolm doesn’t quite understand or care for that matter why his mother is behaving the way she since he is only used to her brash nature and not this woman she has become since arriving in Paris. I will admit that I did find Frances just a tad bit selfish at the end of the story, but I almost couldn’t blame her.

This was an unexpected dark comedy and I enjoyed it. The dark moments blended with the lighter moments in just the perfect way. There were some incidents that I didn’t care for, but I understand that they were needed for the character development and the plot itself.

You never know what life is going to throw at you and it is your decision on how to deal with it. It is also never too late to make changes or make your feelings known to those you love or care about, but it is best to do those things sooner rather than later.

 I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rating:

3.5 Stars

Availability:

Available now in hardcover, ebook and audiobook.

addiction · book review · dedication · Family

Off the Rails: One Family’s Journey Through Teen Addiction by Susan Burrowes {Review}

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Goodreads Blurb:

Fifteen-year-old Hannah was a privileged young girl with a promising future, but that didn’t stop her from sliding into an abyss of sex, drugs, alcohol, and other high-risk behaviors. Off the Rails narrates Hannah’s sudden decline and subsequent treatment through the raw, honest, compelling voices of Hannah and her shocked and desperate mother—each one telling her side of the story.

Fearing that they couldn’t keep their teen safe, Hannah’s parents made the agonizing decision to send her to a wilderness program, and then to residential treatment. Off the Rails tells the story of the two tough years Hannah spent in three separate programs—and ponders the factors that contributed to her ultimate recovery.

Written for parents of teens experimenting with high-risk behaviors, as well as those trying to navigate the controversial world of teen treatment programs, Off the Rails is an inspiring story of family love, determination, and the last-resort intervention that helped one troubled young woman find sobriety after a terrifying and harrowing journey.

My Review:

As a parent of a pre-teen, this was a much needed but intense and frightening read. I never think about the possibility of something like addiction happening to one of my children but reading this story made me realize that the possibility is there. I didn’t know if I would like the format in which the story was written but I gave more validation to how Hannah and her mom were feeling and what they were going thru. You see how fast Hannah’s addiction and behavior begin to affect their family. This story shows how difficult it is to make decisions for your child and family that may not be necessarily ideal but are needed. I don’t imagine that Susan ever thought she would have to send Hannah away for the length of time that she did. Having the story told from Hannah’s point of view allowed a look into how addiction affects the mind and feelings of the person addicted. Not only did Hannah have to go thru a healing process to get better, her family had to go thru one of their own in order to understand what they were going thru and why. For parents, I can say that would not be an easy task. To have to see where your faults are in possibly helping your child turn to a life of addiction. But at the same time, the addicted teen also has to take responsibility for their actions.  I highly recommend this story if someone has any questions of concerns about teen addiction and the affects that it has on a family. Although this story is heart wrenching it can provide hope that a change can be made for the better, but you have to be willing to set aside your personal feelings for it to happen.

I received this book from Booksparks in exchange for my honest review.

Rating:

4.5 Stars

Availability:

Available now in paperback and ebook

book review · books · secrets

His Favorites by Kate Walbert {ARC Review}

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Goodreads Blurb:

From the highly acclaimed, bestselling National Book Award finalist and author of A Short History of Women, a searing and timely novel about a teenaged girl, a charismatic teacher, and a dark, open secret.

They were on a lark, three teenaged girls speeding across the greens on a “borrowed” golf cart, at night, drunk. The cart crashes and one of the girls lands violently in the rough, killed instantly. The driver, Jo, flees the hometown that has turned against her and enrolls at a prestigious boarding school. Her past weighs on her. She is responsible for the death of her best friend. She has tipped her parents’ rocky marriage into demise. She is ready to begin again, far away from the accident.

Taut, propulsive and devastating, His Favorites reveals the interior life of a young woman determined to navigate the treachery in a new world. Told from her perspective many years later, the story coolly describes a series of shattering events and the system that failed to protect her. Walbert, who brilliantly explored a century of women’s struggles for rights and recognition in her award-winning A Short History of Women, limns the all-too-common violations of vulnerability and aspiration in the lives of young women in this suspenseful short novel.

Review:

I will start by saying do not let the size of this novel throw you off. To be such a short book, it packed a punch with the story and how eloquently it was told. I have not read anything by Kate Walbert before but I do believe that I will check out her other work. The story that Jo is telling is captivating and also heartbreaking. Not only does she have to deal with the guilt of causing her best friend’s death, she deals with the scorn from the town, the breakup of her parents, her being sent off to boarding school, and the not so subtle inappropriate treatment from a teacher. Early on, you see that Jo has almost been dealt the short-end of the stick. After the accident, she has to deal with the consequences just about on her own. Her parent’s solution is to send her away all while they decide to split. As if that was good timing. Once arriving to her new school, Jo thinks that things are going to be better but in fact they get a bit worse.

How does society need to protect teen girls? Why is it that one mistake sets the tone for everything else that a girl may go thru? These are questions that I had while reading this novel. While I do believe in having to have consequences for actions, what I don’t believe is that a person should be mistreated in a situation that has nothing to do with what happened in their past. After dealing with an incident with her teacher, Jo decides to seek help but is basically told that because of her past, no one would believe her. At the end of the novel I felt that Jo was bitter but I looked at it from a different perspective. She isn’t bitter, she is more matter of fact about what she has gone thru and just wants to see some justice for it and to possibly prevent it from happening to others.

The way that Kate has structured the story makes for an easy, short read but it will still make you think. She shows the vulnerability of her character on the pages in such a way that you can not ignore it.

I received this book from Scribner and made the decision to read and write an honest review.

Rating:

3.5 Stars

Availability:

Available August 14, 2018 in hardcover, ebook and audio.

book review · Family

Awaken by Denese Shelton {Review}

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Blurb:

Sierra is a successful real estate agent living a comfortable life. But she has a secret so painful that she has erected emotional walls around her heart that block anyone from getting close.

Then the dreams begin. In one, Sierra is running from the sound of dogs barking and men chasing her in the darkness; in another, she’s in a field, lashes coming down on her back; in many, she is a woman of faith named Dorothy, fighting for civil rights. Sierra tries to ignore the dreams and continue with life as usual―but the more she disregards them , the longer and deeper she sleeps, and soon the long nights begin to affect her work and sanity. Finally, she seeks the help she needs.

The more she works to understand the nature of and reason for her dreams, the more freedom Sierra feels in her own life. Doors to relationships with other people open. She meets a client that could be the love of her life. And soon, she has a decision to make: she can be who she has always been, living in fear; or she can be Dorothy, allow the dreams to show her who she really is, reconnect with God, and fill the void in her spirit.

Review:

When I first started this story I did not think that I would like it. It is not a genre that I ever read and the story itself just didn’t interest me or catch my attention. It was when I got to chapter three that my interest was finally piqued and I started to enjoy the story. This chapter begin to show that there was more to Sierra than what I was seeing in the first two chapters and that made me happy.

Sierra is a woman who thinks she has dealt with a terrible past by burying it deep within herself. She is also a woman who is willing to do what it takes to be successful even if it means ignoring your true passion. In my opinion, burying her secret and her desire to paint both contributed to the stress that she was experiencing with her dreams.  She was guarded that she didn’t even want to let her own family know what had happened to her or what was currently going on with her. She would not even allow herself to consider an alternate career choice even if it would be one that would make her happier.

This story shows how strong a lack of faith can affect your life and how keeping secrets can affect your life and your health. Sierra didn’t know how to be happy, she didn’t know what it was like to be carefree.

Steve, along with seeing a therapist allowed Sierra to see that there was more to life than just existing and being successful. She learned that it is okay to be happy, and it is okay to have someone in your life who knows about your past and is willing to grow with you. I was especially proud when Sierra opened up to her family about her secret and their response to it.

Even though this is not a book that I would have gone searching for, I believe that it served its purpose with me. I received this book from BookSparks as part of their Pop Up Blot Tour in exchange for an honest review. I am glad that I decided to finish this story even if it did start off uninteresting to me. I would like to see more work from this author. This novel was a great palette cleanser since I have been reading quite a few thrillers lately. Thank you again to BookSparks for this opportunity.

Rating:

3.5 Stars

Availability:

Available now in ebook and paperback

book review · Family · World War 2

The Summer Wives by Beatriz Williams {ARC Review}

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Blurb:

In the summer of 1951, Miranda Schuyler arrives on elite, secretive Winthrop Island as a schoolgirl from the margins of high society, still reeling from the loss of her father in the Second World War. When her beautiful mother marries Hugh Fisher, whose summer house on Winthrop overlooks the famous lighthouse, Miranda’s catapulted into a heady new world of pedigrees and cocktails, status and swimming pools. Isobel Fisher, Miranda’s new stepsister–all long legs and world-weary bravado, engaged to a wealthy Island scion–is eager to draw Miranda into the arcane customs of Winthrop society.

But beneath the island’s patrician surface, there are really two clans: the summer families with their steadfast ways and quiet obsessions, and the working class of Portuguese fishermen and domestic workers who earn their living on the water and in the laundries of the summer houses. Uneasy among Isobel’s privileged friends, Miranda finds herself drawn to Joseph Vargas, whose father keeps the lighthouse with his mysterious wife. In summer, Joseph helps his father in the lobster boats, but in the autumn he returns to Brown University, where he’s determined to make something of himself. Since childhood, Joseph’s enjoyed an intense, complex friendship with Isobel Fisher, and as the summer winds to its end, Miranda’s caught in a catastrophe that will shatter Winthrop’s hard-won tranquility and banish Miranda from the island for nearly two decades.

Now, in the landmark summer of 1969, Miranda returns at last, as a renowned Shakespearean actress hiding a terrible heartbreak. On its surface, the Island remains the same–determined to keep the outside world from its shores, fiercely loyal to those who belong. But the formerly powerful Fisher family is a shadow of itself, and Joseph Vargas has recently escaped the prison where he was incarcerated for the murder of Miranda’s stepfather eighteen years earlier. What’s more, Miranda herself is no longer a naive teenager, and she begins a fierce, inexorable quest for justice for the man she once loved . . . even if it means uncovering every last one of the secrets that bind together the families of Winthrop Island.

My Review:

I am a big fan of historical fiction. I was surprised and happy to receive a copy of this book in the mail several months ago and am very upset with myself for taking so long to get to it.

I liked how the story moved between the past(1930 and 1951) and the present(1969) and was told from the point of views of Bianca and Miranda. Miranda wasn’t what you called a woman from money, she was one who was married into it since her mother’s second husband, Hugh, was one of the Island families. Miranda is thrown into this world of privilege, money and class. She does have her stepsister Isobel, who was born into this lifestyle to lead her along but she doesn’t always seem to have Miranda’s well being in mind. Or so it seems.

Everything in this story isn’t really what it seems. You think it is just a story about summer fun and young forbidden summer love but it is so much more than that.

You get to experience the summer from both classes in society (although years apart), see how they live together, survive together. You see the secrets that they have to keep. Secrets that make you wonder how far are you willing to go to protect “one of your own” even if they are guilty of sin or crime. How long do you keep these secrets?

This story flowed and was well plotted. I loved the pace. It’s main setting was the summer season but Beatriz weaves in other important and relevant information with ease. Miranda’s life after that fateful night during the summer of 1951. Bianca’s life after her summer of 1930.

I think what I liked most about this story is that it is set in a time after the war. You see how losing the lives of so many men affected the women left behind. Would Miranda have been in the same predicament if her father hadn’t died in the war? Would she have experienced her first love like she did that summer? She went to school with Isobel, but would they have ever been in that close of a circle?

This is my first novel from Beatriz Williams and I look forward to reading more of her novels. I definitely recommend this read for the summer, especially on the beach.

I received this copy from William Morrow in exchange for an honest review.

Rating:

4.5 Stars

Availability:

Available now in hardcover, ebook, and audio.

book review · crime · psychological thriller · suspense

The Last Time I Lied By Riley Sager {ARC Review}

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Goodreads Blurb:

Two Truths and a Lie. The girls played it all the time in their tiny cabin at Camp Nightingale. Vivian, Natalie, Allison, and first-time camper Emma Davis, the youngest of the group. The games ended when Emma sleepily watched the others sneak out of the cabin in the dead of night. The last she–or anyone–saw of them was Vivian closing the cabin door behind her, hushing Emma with a finger pressed to her lips.

Now a rising star in the New York art scene, Emma turns her past into paintings–massive canvases filled with dark leaves and gnarled branches that cover ghostly shapes in white dresses. The paintings catch the attention of Francesca Harris-White, the socialite and wealthy owner of Camp Nightingale. When Francesca implores her to return to the newly reopened camp as a painting instructor, Emma sees an opportunity to try to find out what really happened to her friends.

Yet it’s immediately clear that all is not right at Camp Nightingale. Already haunted by memories from fifteen years ago, Emma discovers a security camera pointed directly at her cabin, mounting mistrust from Francesca and, most disturbing of all, cryptic clues Vivian left behind about the camp’s twisted origins. As she digs deeper, Emma finds herself sorting through lies from the past while facing threats from both man and nature in the present.

And the closer she gets to the truth about Camp Nightingale, the more she realizes it may come at a deadly price.

My Review:

I was excited to read this book since I recently read Sager’s previous book Final Girls which I thoroughly enjoyed.

This story takes place in the past and the present which I find enjoyable in thrillers where you know something has happened but you don’t know exactly what it is. It helps build the tension. Emma is the main character in the novel and you get a feeling that she has more to do with what happened to her friends fifteen years ago, you just don’t know how much. The story is filled with so many lies, that it is hard to keep up with who may or may not be innocent. One thing for sure is that everything is not what it seems and just when you think you have the story figured out, it takes a turn on you.

This story had me so intrigued that I stayed up all night to finish it especially after I realized that I did not have the story figured out. I liked the overall story and plot development. This is a thriller that shows the vindictiveness that people, most importantly woman, have underneath their veneer. They are just sometimes too able to camouflage. This factor definitely played a good part in this novel.

I enjoyed how the novel ended although it wasn’t just a closed door type of ending. It has the type of ending that literally leaves you wanting more but are still satisfied with the outcome.

I received this novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating:

4 Stars

Availability:

This book is available in hardcover, ebook, and audio