Post by The Great Carpezio on Mar 4, 2024 20:50:01 GMT
Hello readers!
This week I read:
Smart but Scattered Teens Richard Guare Peg Dawson Colin Guare Nonfiction/ADHD/ positive behvior ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 I am wavering on this rating. It is probably a 4 to 4.5 star book, but I personally didn’t find it helping me much, so I am giving it a 3.5
I feel like I am being a “know-it-all”, but with 27 years of teaching teens (raising teens and being ADHD my whole life), this book mostly just reinforced that I know what to do, but I can’t/don’t always do that thing. The guide reiterated much of what I know, but it did give me some occasional new insigh; it is also layed out in a practical way that many looking for guidance might like.
The Women Kristin Hannah Historical fiction/Vietnam War ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Frankie, a new and naive nurse, volunteers for Vietnam. The reader follows her through war, romance, her return home to unrest and a country that on one had calls her a baby killer but on the other hand acts like she couldn’t possibly have served in Vietnam since she is “just a woman.” Its an epic and heartbreaking tale.
A lot has been said about it. Maybe a 4.75 or so, but I am rounding up!
What did you read this week?
Carey Ayn
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First Lie Wins: There's a long, long wait list for this at my library, and I was near the bottom. But when I went in, I happened to find it available for checkout on the 7-day quick checkout shelf. After all that, meh. This kept me reading, but you have to completely suspend belief for the entire book from the MC's job to her romance to her boss to most of the plot. Of course, there are many, many twists and turns, some of them decent. Wavering between 3 and 4 stars.
Notes on an Execution: This was fantastic! I loved how the book was told from different perspectives: Ansel's, his mother's the sister of one of the victims, and a (female) detective. The prose was gorgeous, and the storyline was tragic but but so well done. 5/5 stars. This will be one of my favorite reads of the year.
I read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
I know I am late to the party on this. My daughter also just read this. I enjoyed it. I will give it 4 stars.
I am halfway through another Freida McFadden book. Do You Remember it's okay, not my favorite of hers.
I am thinking about reading The Push Any thoughts on this book?
Not that late to the game. T7HoEH is on my bedside table and I am slowly working my way through it. I just finished Crown of Midnightby Sarah J Maasthis morning. My YDS has been wanting me to read some of the books he's into. That way he has someone to discuss it with. He said his friends are such slow readers.
I am thinking about reading The Push Any thoughts on this book?
I read The Push a couple of years ago and gave it 4 Stars. As gottapeanow mentioned above, varied reviews on this one, but we liked it.
DESCRIPTION : Author's debut novel. Blythe Connor is determined that she will be the warm, comforting mother to her new baby Violet that she herself never had. But in the thick of motherhood's exhausting early days, Blythe becomes convinced that something is wrong with her daughter. Her husband Fox says she's imagining things. Then their son Sam is born and with him, Blythe has the blissful connection she'd always imagined.
REVIEW : TRIGGER ALERT - Child death and psychological issues/depression. gottapeanow gave this book 5 stars and will probably be a favorite book of 2021. The book starts-off bouncing around a lot for me. It did settle down quickly and moved along slowly. At 34% I gasped out loud! Great writing style. I love how Ms. Audrain's describes things, be it facial expressions or situations. Definitely an interesting writing style. I think it's a story that has been told before but the author's writing style pushed it from a 3 to a 4-star read for me. Questionable ending for me; don't know if it made me happy or sad.
available for checkout on the 7-day quick checkout shelf.
I was thrilled when our libraries changed it to a 21-day checkout!
I finished The Guest by B. A. Paris. mnmloveli said it best: “Writing pulled me right-in to the different relationships in this tale. The friendship drama, new and old, and the smooth writing of the author made me fly thru this book. It did get a little repetitive in the middle and there were no likeable characters. Definitely a disappointing read for me from an author who has never disappointed me before.” The ending threw me. Too much angst and mayhem going on throughout. By the end,
Last night I finished Silent Creed (Ryder Creed #2) by Alex Kava. I really enjoy this series and love the interactions between Ryder and his dogs. 4/5 stars
Last Edit: Mar 4, 2024 23:33:33 GMT by cadoodlebug
The Women by Kristen Hannah, which many of you already read. I actually found the writing in this book a little overwrought and would have liked a lot more Vietnam, but I got very invested in the characters and enjoyed it.
The Hike by Lucy Clarke. This was not good. Four friends go on a hike up and around a Norwegian mountain as their annual getaway, and everything is not what it seems. Murder! Drugs! Infidelity! Eh. You don’t get invested enough to care which woman dies, and I had a hard time visualizing the hike itself based on the descriptions.
The Teacher by Freida McFadden. Unhappily married teachers share a student who may have gotten another teacher fired for having an inappropriate relationship with her. This felt like it was written to be a movie. I wasn’t a fan.
First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston. Woman has a weird “job” that involves moving from place to place with new identities getting dirt on people for clients at the direction of a mysterious boss. A woman shows up her job pretending to actually be her. I didn’t love this, but I did like the narrator, and this was the best of the mysteries for the week.
available for checkout on the 7-day quick checkout shelf.
I was thrilled when our libraries changed it to a 21-day checkout!
Nearly all books are 21-day checkout here as well. (This recently changed from 14-day. And the checkout limit went from 20 to 30. Of course, I am always at the max limit. LOL.) Both increases made my week too.
Last Edit: Mar 5, 2024 18:57:42 GMT by gottapeanow
available for checkout on the 7-day quick checkout shelf.
I was thrilled when our libraries changed it to a 21-day checkout!
I finished The Guest by B. A. Paris. mnmloveli said it best: “Writing pulled me right-in to the different relationships in this tale. The friendship drama, new and old, and the smooth writing of the author made me fly thru this book. It did get a little repetitive in the middle and there were no likeable characters. Definitely a disappointing read for me from an author who has never disappointed me before.” The ending threw me. Too much angst and mayhem going on throughout. By the end,
Last night I finished Silent Creed (Ryder Creed #3) by Alex Kava. I really enjoy this series and love the interactions between Ryder and his dogs. 4/5 stars
The Hike by Lucy Clarke. This was not good. Four friends go on a hike up and around a Norwegian mountain as their annual getaway, and everything is not what it seems. Murder! Drugs! Infidelity! Eh. You don’t get invested enough to care which woman dies, and I had a hard time visualizing the hike itself based on the descriptions.
A bit of catching up to do here! I've read Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby which I gave 4 Stars. A tale of a robbery gone wrong but with a lot of discussion about race and inequality. Make Your Bed by William McRaven. A very quick read taken from a commencement speech from a Navy Seal Commander. He has some great advice and I found some motivation- even though I already make my bed everyday. Being Henry: The Fonz and Beyond by Henry Winkler was a 3 1/2 Star read for me. Some of it I really enjoyed and he seems like such a genuinely, nice man! The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann was a 4 Star read for me. The story itself was interesting but then there were tidbits of other information that I found interesting. The phrase, 'under the weather', comes from sick sailors being kept under the deck and out of the weather. Currently I'm reading Thistlefoot and it's keeping my attention so far!
I read Ready Or Not by Cara Bastone. Another romance novel but a very good one. Eve Hatch lives for surprises! Just kidding. She expects every tomorrow to be pretty much the same as today. She loves her cozy apartment in Brooklyn, close to her childhood best friend Willa and far from her traditional midwestern family, who have never really understood her. While her job is only dream adjacent, it's comfortable and steady. She knows what to expect from life-until she finds herself literally expecting after an uncharacteristic one-night stand. Now Eve's loyal friendship with Willa is feeling tense, and it's actually Willa's steadfast older brother, Shep, who steps up to help. He's always been friendly, but now he's ordering her surprise lunches, listening to all her complaints,and is....suddenly kinda hot? Then there's the baby's father, who is (technically) supportive but (majorly) conflicted. Maybe it's her surging hormones, maybe it's the way Shep's shoulders look in a T-shirt but Eve starts to wonder if she's been secretly desiring more from every aspect of her life. Over the course of nine months, as Eve struggles to figure out the right next step in her expanding reality, she learns that family and love, in all forms can sneak up on you when you least expect it.
I really loved most of the characters, the story and everyone woman deserves a Shep in their life.
The Raven's Widow, by Adrienne Dillard, a fictional take on Jane Boleyn, Lady Rochford, wife of George Boleyn and sister in law of Anne. A sympathetic portrayal. 5 stars. Adrienne Dillard is a favorite author. The Tudor Rose, by Margaret Campbell Barnes, a about Elizabeth of York. 3 stars. The Girl on the Bridge, by James Hayman, a police procedural about the murder of two men who were accused of sexual assault20 yrs ago while college students and they got away with it. I figured it out about halfway through, I don't really try and do that, but this became evident. I liked the 2 officers. Its not the first in the series, but the first I read. 3 stars. Good Morning, Midnight, by Lily Brooks-Dalton. This is about an elderly astronomer, Augustine, who's on his final posting, trying to research, when the military comes to evacuate the outpost because there's a worldwide emergency (its never explained). Augustine refuses, then comes across an 8 or 9 yr old girl. He tries to contact but gets no answer. So he slowly becomes accustomed to her. At this same time, there's a spaceship with 6 astronauts orbiting Jupiter. They lose contact with Mission control, though their equipment is fine. They become confused and agitated over the lack of communication and unknown awaiting them. This isn't science fiction. Outside of some small talk about Jupiter's moons, or the hydroponic gardens, there was no real science fiction aspect if that makes sense. Anyway, this was my jam. It reminded me of Station Eleven, or The Road, but they are all completely different books, and some of my favorites of all time. 5 plus stars. This was made in to a Netflix movie starring George Clooney (!?!?...Augustine is elderly in the book). It also had a different title but don't know it. (edited to add...Augustine was in the Arctic).
I read The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo. 5 stars. She also wrote The Night Tiger which was popular a couple years ago.
This was part fable part mystery. It takes place in 1908 China. The chapters alternate between two points of view and eventually the story overlaps. While the story was a bit slower in pace, I was invested in the two main characters, Snow, who takes a position as servant and Bao who agrees to investigate an unusual death. The story was interwoven with the role of foxes in the culture and mythology.
Next up is a thriller, Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead
The House on Rye Lane by Susan Allott Set in the UK all in the same house in 3 timelines, 1843, 1994 & 2008 and the families who live there. In 1843 there are two mysterious deaths, in 1994 there's a murder and in 2008 a older newly wed couple move in, and everything starts to go wrong for them. I liked this and thought it had a lot of potential - but for me the author didn't fully develop some of the storylines. 3.5 stars, rounded down to 3 for GR.
I am half way through The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn & Janie Chang (Kate Quinn who wrote The Alice network etc) and her books an immediate read as soon as they are released for me. I'm really enjoying this so far & will add the r/v next week.
I guess I should include her mom in the not well wishes category. She let it go on, but Jill did not talk bad about her mom in the book, did she?
She doesn’t seem nearly as angry at her mother, who does seem to behave somewhat more like a human being. But one, I think that Michelle has been very manipulative and that some of her more humane behavior comes off as good cop to Jim’s bad cop, and two, while I empathize a lot more with people who are born into a church and lifestyle and don’t know anything different (particularly where, like here, homeschooling and isolation are cornerstones), Michelle chose this for her kids knowing full well thar she could have given them a different life, and that really ticks me off.
I forgot to post last week so my recent reads were
A Dowry of Blood by S T Gibson 4 stars.
Saved from the brink of death by a mysterious stranger, Constanta is transformed from a medieval peasant into a bride fit for an undying king. But when Dracula draws a cunning aristocrat and a starving artist into his web of passion and deceit, Constanta realizes that her beloved is capable of terrible things.
I enjoyed this, the writing is gorgeously flowery and gives a sense of being stuck in a dream that slowly turns into a nightmare.
13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl by Mona Awad 2 stars.
Growing up in the suburban hell of Misery Saga (a.k.a. Mississauga), Lizzie has never liked the way she looks—even though her best friend Mel says she’s the pretty one. She starts dating guys online, but she’s afraid to send pictures, even when her skinny friend China does her makeup: she knows no one would want her if they could really see her. So she starts to lose. With punishing drive, she counts almonds consumed, miles logged, pounds dropped. She fights her way into coveted dresses. She grows up and gets thin, navigating double-edged validation from her mother, her friends, her husband, her reflection in the mirror. But no matter how much she loses, will she ever see herself as anything other than a fat girl?
This started out ok but became really repetitive.
So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan 2 stars.
After an uneventful Friday at the Dublin office, Cathal faces into the long weekend and takes the bus home. There, his mind agitates over a woman named Sabrine, with whom he could have spent his life, had he acted differently. All evening, with only the television and a bottle of champagne for company, thoughts of this woman and others intrude - and the true significance of this particular date is revealed.
Emergency Skin by N K Jemisin 2 stars.
An explorer returns to gather information from a climate-ravaged Earth that his ancestors, and others among the planet’s finest, fled centuries ago. The mission comes with a warning: a graveyard world awaits him. But so do those left behind—hopeless and unbeautiful wastes of humanity who should have died out eons ago. After all this time, there’s no telling how they’ve devolved. Steel yourself, soldier. Get in. Get out. And try not to stare.
I used to read a lot of sci fi when I was younger but I don't think it's for me anymore.
I read "The World Played Chess[/b]" by Robert Dugoni. I liked it. 3.5 rounded up to 4 stars.
In 1979, Vincent Bianco has just graduated high school. His only desire: collect a little beer money and enjoy his final summer before college. So he lands a job as a laborer on a construction crew. Working alongside two Vietnam vets, one suffering from PTSD, Vincent gets the education of a lifetime. Now forty years later, with his own son leaving for college, the lessons of that summer—Vincent’s last taste of innocence and first taste of real life—dramatically unfold in a novel about breaking away, shaping a life, and seeking one’s own destiny.
I'm currently reading "Life's Too Short" by Abby Jimenez. I just started but witty banter between the two main characters has made me lol several times. When Vanessa Price quit her job to pursue her dream of traveling the globe, she wasn't expecting to gain millions of YouTube followers who shared her joy of seizing every moment. For her, living each day to its fullest isn't just a motto. Her mother and sister never saw the age of 30, and Vanessa doesn't want to take anything for granted.
But after her half sister suddenly leaves Vanessa in custody of her baby daughter, life goes from "daily adventure" to "next-level bad" (now with bonus baby vomit in hair). The last person Vanessa expects to show up offering help is the hot lawyer next door, Adrian Copeland. After all, she barely knows him. No one warned her that he was the Secret Baby Tamer or that she'd be spending a whole lot of time with him and his geriatric Chihuahua.
Now she's feeling things she's vowed not to feel. Because the only thing worse than falling for Adrian is finding a little hope for a future she may never see.
I finished Mrs. Nash's Ashes by Sarah Adler. This was a fun story to read and had several loves stories in it. I would give it a strong 4 stars.
Millicent Watts-Cohen is on a mission. When she promised her elderly best friend that she’d reunite her with the woman she fell in love with nearly eighty years ago, she never imagined that would mean traveling from D.C. to Key West with three tablespoons of Mrs. Nash’s remains in her backpack. But Millie’s determined to give her friend a symbolic happily-ever-after, before it’s (really) too late—and hopefully reassure herself of love’s lasting power in the process.
She just didn’t expect to have a living travel companion.
After a computer glitch grounds flights, Millie is forced to catch a ride with Hollis Hollenbeck, an also-stranded acquaintance from her ex’s MFA program. Hollis certainly does not believe in happily-ever-afters—symbolic or otherwise—and makes it quite clear that he can’t fathom Millie’s plan ending well for anyone.
But as they contend with peculiar bed-and-breakfasts, unusual small-town festivals, and deer with a death wish, Millie begins to suspect that her reluctant travel partner might enjoy her company more than he lets on. Because for someone who supposedly doesn’t share her views on romance, Hollis sure is becoming invested in the success of their journey. And the closer they get to their destination, the more Millie has to admit that maybe this trip isn’t just about Mrs. Nash’s love story after all—maybe it’s also about her own.
Still working on Finley Donovan #3 (audiobook, mostly listen while driving.) I'm at 45% and had to renew the book.
I read Devolution by Max Brooks last week, someone on Booktube recommended it. It was OK. I was intrigued because it takes place in my state (Washington), and is about a exclusive housing project on Mount Rainer, and Sasquatch. I don't know what it was about it, but I did not connect with the characters and was happy to finally get to the ambiguous ending.
Last night I read Odder by Katherine Applegate for Middle Grade March (yearly Booktube event...) for the prompt book with an animal on the cover. It was a quick read because it's told in verse and written for 8-12 year olds... The story of Odder the otter. It was cute
I read Ready Or Not by Cara Bastone. Another romance novel but a very good one. Eve Hatch lives for surprises! Just kidding. She expects every tomorrow to be pretty much the same as today. She loves her cozy apartment in Brooklyn, close to her childhood best friend Willa and far from her traditional midwestern family, who have never really understood her. While her job is only dream adjacent, it's comfortable and steady. She knows what to expect from life-until she finds herself literally expecting after an uncharacteristic one-night stand. Now Eve's loyal friendship with Willa is feeling tense, and it's actually Willa's steadfast older brother, Shep, who steps up to help. He's always been friendly, but now he's ordering her surprise lunches, listening to all her complaints,and is....suddenly kinda hot? Then there's the baby's father, who is (technically) supportive but (majorly) conflicted. Maybe it's her surging hormones, maybe it's the way Shep's shoulders look in a T-shirt but Eve starts to wonder if she's been secretly desiring more from every aspect of her life. Over the course of nine months, as Eve struggles to figure out the right next step in her expanding reality, she learns that family and love, in all forms can sneak up on you when you least expect it.
I really loved most of the characters, the story and everyone woman deserves a Shep in their life.
I have two for this week, the first one being this book, Ready or Not. I started out really liking it, but somewhere in the middle I got major ick from Shep, and then it bled over to Eve. There were parts I enjoyed, but overall I didn't love it. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator's performance was excellent though! For that reason I rated it 3 stars.
Next up was an older book (2016), The Way I Used to Be by Amber Smith. I follow a woman on TikTok, I think her name is StephReadsaLot maybe? and she made a post about the books that made her cry the most, this book was one of those. It was the complete opposite of the previous book - started out meh, didn't love the narrator, but it ended up with me not wanting to put it down.
"All Eden wants is to rewind the clock. To live that day again. She would do everything differently. Not laugh at his jokes or ignore the way he was looking at her that night. And she would definitely lock her bedroom door."
The main character is assaulted (so obvious trigger warnings) and the book follows her and shows how she deals with it over her next four years of high school. It reminded me somewhat of My Dark Vanessa. I grew to be very invested in Eden, and she'll stay with me for a long time. 5 stars.
Now on the search for another can't-put-it-down read.
I read Ready Or Not by Cara Bastone. Another romance novel but a very good one. Eve Hatch lives for surprises! Just kidding. She expects every tomorrow to be pretty much the same as today. She loves her cozy apartment in Brooklyn, close to her childhood best friend Willa and far from her traditional midwestern family, who have never really understood her. While her job is only dream adjacent, it's comfortable and steady. She knows what to expect from life-until she finds herself literally expecting after an uncharacteristic one-night stand. Now Eve's loyal friendship with Willa is feeling tense, and it's actually Willa's steadfast older brother, Shep, who steps up to help. He's always been friendly, but now he's ordering her surprise lunches, listening to all her complaints,and is....suddenly kinda hot? Then there's the baby's father, who is (technically) supportive but (majorly) conflicted. Maybe it's her surging hormones, maybe it's the way Shep's shoulders look in a T-shirt but Eve starts to wonder if she's been secretly desiring more from every aspect of her life. Over the course of nine months, as Eve struggles to figure out the right next step in her expanding reality, she learns that family and love, in all forms can sneak up on you when you least expect it.
I really loved most of the characters, the story and everyone woman deserves a Shep in their life.
I have two for this week, the first one being this book, Ready or Not. I started out really liking it, but somewhere in the middle I got major ick from Shep, and then it bled over to Eve. There were parts I enjoyed, but overall I didn't love it. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator's performance was excellent though! For that reason I rated it 3 stars.
Next up was an older book (2016), The Way I Used to Be by Amber Smith. I follow a woman on TikTok, I think her name is StephReadsaLot maybe? and she made a post about the books that made her cry the most, this book was one of those. It was the complete opposite of the previous book - started out meh, didn't love the narrator, but it ended up with me not wanting to put it down.
"All Eden wants is to rewind the clock. To live that day again. She would do everything differently. Not laugh at his jokes or ignore the way he was looking at her that night. And she would definitely lock her bedroom door."
The main character is assaulted (so obvious trigger warnings) and the book follows her and shows how she deals with it over her next four years of high school. It reminded me somewhat of My Dark Vanessa. I grew to be very invested in Eden, and she'll stay with me for a long time. 5 stars.
Now on the search for another can't-put-it-down read.
FYI, I looked up The Way I used to Be and there is a sequel, The Way I Am Now.
I had a flight home this week, so I got the time to read a longer book (my guilty pleasure on a flight is to read a Mass Market Paperback,) but really didn’t’ get a lot of reading time after I got back!
Jerusalem by Cecelia Holland. I had the incredible opportunity to go to Jerusalem last spring as well as having read Sharon Kay Penman’s seminal book, Land Beyond the Sea that tells this same story. I might have been a bit lost at first if I didn’t understand the history and characters, but this was a good telling of the story of the fall of the Latin Kingdom in Jerusalem. It was the perfect airplane read. 3/5 stars.
The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie. Read for the Close Reads Bonus Podcasts. I did not grow up reading Christie books, have only read the major ones and not until adulthood. This one is the formula from which all mysteries flow and it was interesting to watch it be established. 3.5/5 stars.
- She was too fond of books and it addled her brain
Louisa May Alcott