I received a complimentary galley of I WAS TOLD IT WOULD GET EASIER by Abby Waxman for an honest review. Thank you to Berkley and Edelweiss!
I have quiI received a complimentary galley of I WAS TOLD IT WOULD GET EASIER by Abby Waxman for an honest review. Thank you to Berkley and Edelweiss!
I have quickly become a huge fan of Abbi Waxman in the last year, so I was thrilled to get the egalley for her latest release, I WAS TOLD IT WOULD GET EASIER. This book follows single mother Jessica and her daughter Emily as they leave Los Angeles behind and hop aboard a high end college campus tour on the east coast. Jessica is a busy lawyer with some trouble on the career front as she faces down a very male centered firm to support her female colleagues. Emily is happy to get out of town after some trouble at school, the specifics of which aren’t entirely clear as the book opens. The book bounces back and forth between the two POVs.
This book was a lot of fun to read! While not a parent myself, I could connect with Jessica’s character in particular as she’s attempting to juggle her life obligations with those of her career (and who can’t relate to that, especially these days?). She’s trying to make a difference for the people she works with in a world that doesn’t make that easy. She’s hoping to reconnect with her daughter who is clearly good at keeping secrets, but neither of them is good at communicating.
I joined a buddy read with some other bookstagrammers reading this book and it was interesting to hear those who are parents talking about how real the mother/teen daughter relationship felt. Though it has been a lot of years since I was a teen, I could definitely relate to parts of Emily’s character as well and the strains of the mother/daughter relationship.
This was an excellent light and fun read just when I needed one. The book as a whole has a bit of mystery and a lot of fun characters and it is one I would recommend!...more
I received a complimentary digital galley of MINOR DRAMAS & OTHER CATASTROPHES by Kathleen West in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to BerkeleI received a complimentary digital galley of MINOR DRAMAS & OTHER CATASTROPHES by Kathleen West in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Berkeley Publishing and Edelweiss for the chance to read and review!
In MINOR DRAMAS & OTHER CATASTROPHES Isobel Johnson is a teacher, trying to make a difference by igniting passion in her students in the midst of a very straight laced school. Julia Abbott is a helicopter parent to beat all helicopter parents and she is determined to micromanage her kids’ high school careers from ensuring her son gets a lead in the play to bringing down Isobel when her daughter seems to have learned to disparage motherhood in her English class.
Julia and other parents like her have taken to social media to bring down what they see as anti-American propaganda. With rumored cuts to the teaching staff, stakes are high and Isobel isn’t sure who she can trust. Julia herself becomes the target of social media when her antics over her son’s play role get caught on film and the whole school is wrapped up in the drama.
I read this book in the midst of the chaos that is the holiday season at the end of 2019 and it was a perfect light, funny read to take me out of my head. This book is told in multiple POVs including both Isobel and Julia and Julia’s children among others. I found this structure to work well to tell this story as you got a good glimpse at each character’s motivations as situations continued to spiral further out of control!
If you enjoy a good, light hearted book with some substance behind it and enjoy watching the mess that comes from adults behaving very, very badly, then this might just be the book you need! Keep an eye out for MINOR DRAMAS & OTHER CATASTROPHES by Kathleen West which it comes out on February 4, 2020!...more
I received a complimentary advanced ebook copy of THE SUN DOWN MOTEL by Simone St. James. Thank you to Edelweiss and Berkley Publishing for the chanceI received a complimentary advanced ebook copy of THE SUN DOWN MOTEL by Simone St. James. Thank you to Edelweiss and Berkley Publishing for the chance to read and provide an honest review.
THE SUN DOWN MOTEL is a book that I had seen a bit on Instagram and it immediately intrigued me. Simone St. James’ 2018 book release is high on my wish list after it got many recommendations when I said I was looking for a spooky review, so I was excited to get a copy of her upcoming release to participate in a binge buddy read with some lovely folks on bookstagram!
The Sun Down Motel is a place that has more than its share of secrets. It is a run down location serving those in need of a room to stay in for a day or two, catering to those down on their luck and not able to afford something much better. In 1982, Viv Delaney is working at the hotel on the night shift, checking in the traveling salesmen, drug dealers and others who arrive in the middle of the night. One evening in the midst of a lot of turmoil, Viv suddenly goes missing and is never found.
In present day, Viv’s niece Carly is taking a break from school in the wake of her mother’s recent loss to cancer. Always a fan of true crime, Carly is intrigued by the mystery in her own family’s past and goes to Fell, New York to do a little poking around. Much like her aunt before her, Carly gets a job at the Sun Down and begins to experience the motel’s peculiar nature. It isn’t clear what is haunting the haunted motel, but Carly is determined to figure out that mystery and the answers to what happened to her aunt.
This book is told in two timelines, that of Viv in the days leading up to her disappearance and Carly’s time from her coming to Fell to investigate. The way their stories ran in parallel in many ways was wonderfully done, I thought. It was interesting to see how the two characters who were looking into very similar things got different responses from the people they’re talking to. Is it a difference of perspective nearly 30 years after the original sequence of events or are there other reasons at play?
I am a big thriller/horror readers and not much scares me anymore, but this book brought some really chilling moments out as the haunting at the motel gets underway. Knowing that this is a somewhat isolated site with very few people present in the middle of the night makes it the perfect spooky setting. Both timelines kept my attention and kept me flipping pages to uncover the mystery at play!
If you are looking for a good, spooky read, this absolutely a book you’ll want to check out when it is released on February 18, 2020!
I received a digital galley of YOU WERE THERE TOO by Colleen Oakley for an honest review. Thank you to Berkley Publishing and Edelweiss for the chanceI received a digital galley of YOU WERE THERE TOO by Colleen Oakley for an honest review. Thank you to Berkley Publishing and Edelweiss for the chance to read and review!
YOU WERE THERE TOO focuses on Mia Graydon. She seems to have the perfect life and the perfect marriage to those outside and looking in. What others may not see is that there are cracks in her marriage. She desperately wants a baby, but she has lost several pregnancies and this has created strain in her marriage. Her husband is dealing with his own difficulties at work as well. Mia and her husband have moved to a small town, hoping to find a more peaceful life.
Another element of Mia’s life is her dreams. She has been having ongoing dreams featuring one man who she doesn’t know, but knows is not her husband. She dismisses them for the most part until she is standing in the market and sees the man she has been dreaming of for so long. Even more shocking is the fact that he has been dreaming of her as well.
I find the concept of dreams to be very interesting so this book premise called to me. There is a nice element of mystery as Mia and her dream man try to figure out what is behind their dreams. Love triangles can be a big no go for me in books and that is an element here as Mia feels torn between her fragile marriage and the man who seems fated to be in her life. That said, I though that the relationships here were very well done and the difficulty that Mia faced felt very real such that it didn’t bother me at all.
Overall this was a book I was very excited to have picked up. It delivered strong characters and a twist I didn’t see coming, a mixture of heartache and sweet moments throughout. YOU WERE THERE TOO is very TBR worthy so keep an eye out for it on its publication date on January 7, 2020!...more
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