Weekly Reading Thread: Sept 11-17

I listened to Carrie Soto Is Back-Taylor Jenkins Reid’s newest release. It’s a great audio with multiple narrators including scenes that are like a sports broadcast. This is a very easy read-definitely in the beach read genre and would recommend with 2 caveats:
1) this is super heavy on tennis. I play tennis so I liked this, but not sure someone who doesn’t would find it as interesting.
2) Carrie is not an easy to like character. I did like her arc, but I doubt many people will love her for most of the book.
4 stars-I liked it more than Malibu Rising, but not as much as Daisy Jones.

I listened to After Story by Larissa Behrendt which is about an Australian mother and her daughter who go on a literary tour in England in the current timeline and it also goes back into the past to tell the story of when her other daughter went missing as a child and the repercussions of that throughout their lives.
The author is an Indigenous Australian woman and so are her main characters. I liked the authenticity that brought to the book and I appreciated the insights to their culture without it coming across as 'preachy'. I really liked this and gave it 4 stars.

Next was Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister. This got off to a good start, a mother is waiting up for her teenage son to get home one night and when he is in the driveway, he is approached by another man, and the son pulls out a knife and stabs him. The man dies and the son is arrested.
The next day the mother wakes up...and it is the day before the stabbing, and the next day she wakes up and it is two days before the stabbing...etc. She realises she is supposed to work out what happens in the past to lead to the killing.
At first I found the storyline being told in reverse really compelling, but after a certain point (she does back over 20 years!) it got boring and bogged down in details and I kept trying to work out how the author would explain this logically, amnesia? hypnotism? coma? Nope. We are expected to believe this really happened. The whole thing didn't really work for me, and the pay off for solving the crime wasn't worth it. I gave it 3 stars on GR but would be closer to 2.5 if I could.

Now I am about to start Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn which I'm really excited about. I love her Veronica Speedwell series, and this one is about a group of middle-aged female assassins....and I'm hoping it will be told in her usual tongue in cheek style.

I am sixty percent through Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez. This will be a five star read for me (actually listening to it on audiobook). It is inspired on true events. Takes place in Montgomery, AL and goes back and forth between when the main character got out of nursing school in 1973 and to when she is ready to retire in 2016. It is about two little poor and black girls who where put on birth control and what happened. A very moving book.

I haven’t finished anything since last week.

I’m listening to Daisy Jones and am reading Carrie Soto. Enjoying both. Wish I had more time!

I finished Us Against You by Frederik Backman. 3.5 stars bumped up to 4. I just started Stephen King's new book Fairy Tales. It's good so far, a little slow getting to know the main character and his background, but I'm enjoying it!

Only one book for me this week. With the holidays and the library being closed it really threw everything off. Then I was waiting for two books I requested on Friday which weren't pulled until we went to pick up a third book yesterday.

The Dilemma by B.A. Paris. 3 stars. This was okay, nothing special. Basically the story of poor communicators. Most of the book I was just annoyed with all the main characters. Also, as the parent of grown children I can't imagine the idea that my child wouldn't do what it took to be at a long planned family event (they acted like college professors are unreasonable and flying overnight is impossible!). If I was the mom I'd probably be more pissed at the daughter for that than the big secret. Oh and the dad had an really unhealthy obsession with his daughter which actually creeped me out.


Currently reading "Lessons in Chemistry" which finally came in after 3 months on the library waitlist!

I didn’t finish anything - still reading “Lessons in Chemistry “….still enjoying it. Busy week!

Last week was a split for me; good and bad.


DAISY DARKER (‘22) BY ALICE FEENEY : 5 STARS
DESCRIPTION:  After years of avoiding each other, Daisy Darker’s entire family is assembling for Nana’s 80th birthday party in Nana’s crumbling gothic house on a tiny tidal island. The family arrives, each of them harboring secrets. Then at the stroke of midnight, as a storm rages, Nana is found dead. And an hour later, the next family member follows. Trapped on an island where someone is killing them one by one, the Darkers must reckon with their present mystery as well as their past secrets, before the tide comes in and all is revealed.

REVIEW:  Previous books by this author were Rock Paper Scissors (‘21 - 5 Stars) and His & Hers (‘20), I Know Who You Are (‘19) and Sometimes I Lie (‘18) which all received 4 Stars.
Right away after a couple of pages, I remember why I love this author. Her wearing is so smooth and comforting somehow like a warm blanket. She can really set the mood. I loved that this wasn’t your typical “and then there were none” type books. The writing makes everything so visual which made all the eeriness so much more and kept me on the edge of my seat. The path to the ending was just brilliant ! Soooo well done. A perfect read for Halloween !


THE HOUSEKEEPER (‘22) BY JOY FIELDING : 3 STARS
DESCRIPTION:  Jodi Bishop knows success. She’s the breadwinner, a top-notch real estate agent. Her husband, Harrison . . . not so much. Once, he had big dreams. But now, he’s a middling writer who resents his wife’s success.  Jodi’s father, Vic, now in his late seventies and retired, is a very controlling man. His wife, Audrey, was herself no shrinking violet. But things changed when Audrey developed Parkinson’s ten years ago and Vic retired to devote himself to her care. Vic is worn down by his wife’s deteriorating condition.
Jodi starts interviewing housekeepers to help care for Audrey and Vic. She settles on Elyse Woodley, an energetic and attractive widow in her early sixties, who seems perfect for the job. Jodi is pleased to have an ally, someone she can talk to and occasionally even confide in. Until . . . She shuts Jodi out. And Audrey’s condition worsens—rapidly.

REVIEW:  edie3 really enjoyed this one. I’ve read Joy Fielding many years ago before I kept track of my books. I lost track of her until last year when I read Cul-De-Sac (‘21) which I gave 4 Stars. This one was a little boring for me. A plot that has been written many many times before; nothing different. Her writing did keep me reading so I had to go with 3 stars.  I usually reserve 2 stars for books that I don’t recommend.  I’m sure some people will like this.  


HAPPY READING !

I reviewed this one a couple of weeks ago and really liked it.  Gave it 4 Stars.  Here’s my review…

Very original plot and easy to follow. I loved the backtracking plot and trying to put the puzzle together. I can’t imagine the plotting the author had to develop to write this book. It was so interesting since you didn’t know where they were going back to. Lots of surprises. Great job! Pay attention to the little things in life so you don’t miss out.

I love seeing everyone’s different opinions of the same book.

I haven't finished any in the last week but if all goes as planned, I will finish Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner today. I am listening to that one.

Physically, I am reading Pretty Little Wife by Darby Kane. It was a 2020 BOTM pick of mine. I am trying to get through a HUGE TBR stack. I am almost ready to just cut to the last chapter and finish it. I have too many others I want to get started on.

I picked up The Camino; A Journey of the Spirit by Shirley MacClaine about the Camino de Santiago from the library at lunch. I watched a movie with Martin Sheen a few years back about the trail. I have a friend that walked it with her DH a few years back and another friend walking it in 2023. It is just something I am keeping on my bucket list. I could never do it alone and can't find anyone that would do it with me. Well, one of my kids. Or all for that matter. If I just asked.

I have Fly Girls by Keith O'Brien in ebook form for a book club. I need to get started on that.

Last week I finished The Mother-in-Law by Sally Hepworth. It took me a while to get into it and by the end I thought it was a good read. 4/5

Yesterday I finished The Housekeeper by Joy Fielding which was recommended here. Although most of the characters are awful, it was an easy read. mnmloveli gave it 3 stars on this thread. I give it a generous 3.5/5 stars.

I just started Stay Awake by Megan Goldin. It's a race against time to finish it by Thursday as we're leaving for Croatia on Friday and I can't take it with me! I guess I could buy the Kindle version if I need to.

Have a great trip to Croatia !  I bet you’ll get some great pictures there !

I spent this week reading with my grandson on a book I bought him for his Birthday, he is struggling with reading and his speech.
Kitty and the Moonlight Rescue by Paula Harrison.
He loves Halloween and he loves cats so I knew he would love this book and he is excited to go to the bookstore to get the other books in the series.
He spent the summer in the local library reading program and he earned each of his twin brothers coming a rubber duck and each of them a book that he gave to his mom at her baby shower. It was very special.

I think the problem for me was that I wasn't expecting actual time travel in a crime novel and I kept waiting for the twist to reveal what was really going on...except there wasn't one.
Then the actual basis of the story...the police, stealing cars etc wasn't a storyline I cared about. I thought the missing baby part of the story could have been a bigger focus, it kept being mentioned but we didn't find out what actually happened to her over the years.

I think our reaction to books also depends on what we've read recently...and there's been some great books with great twists where I've literally stood up and gone "OMG what just happened?!?" and had to go back and read it again (like in Look Closer) and then you read a book like this after and you get the reveal about the husband and it's like..."oh, ok" in comparison.