Book Review: Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli

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3.5 disco balls

Publish date: April 24, 2018 by Balzer + Bray
Category: Young Adult, Contemporary, LGBT

I had a hard time rating this one a 3.5,  but just couldn’t give it a 4 and 3.75 seemed weird. I whipped through this book in two days and love author Becky Albertalli’s writing style. I am a fan of dialogue and witty banter is even better: you get that with this book. I just felt it was missing something. That something special that came with the experience of reading Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda.

Note: ‘Leah on the Offbeat’ is a continuation of the Creekwood series; Simon being Creekwood #1. It can be read as a standalone – but then you wouldn’t really know the characters and I absolutely recommend reading Simon! That is a given.Read More »

Book Review: The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer

4_DiscoBalls

4 disco balls

Published: April 3, 2018 by Riverhead Books
Category: Women’s Fiction, Contemporary, Family Life

This book is a beast, in that the hardcover is 454 pages. I started this book on a Sunday in the hopes of finishing by Wednesday, May 2nd to make the Barnes & Noble Inaugural Book Club Night (on said book). I did it but it was no small feat! Lots of late night reading and carrying the book with me everywhere and reading while waiting on line, or while walking to the subway, or whenever I had a free moment. But, you don’t care about that. You want to know if you should read it or not…well you can only decide that. I just hope you enjoy my comments.Read More »

Book Review: The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

Published: February 27, 2011 by Ballantine Books
Category: Historical Fiction

I struggled rating this one properly. First, it was beautifully written and if I were just rating that it would have gotten at least 4 disco balls. Second, I despised Ernest Hemingway and Pauline Pfeiffer. If Ernest was a fictional character I wouldn’t have wanted to give this story my time. Not that I did even knowing he was in fact ‘real’, I thought I owed it to Hadley to finish.

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Goodreads Monday: The Things We Tell Ourselves by Victoria Namkung

Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren’s Page Turners. To take part, you simply choose a random book from your TBR and show it off. Don’t forget to check out Lauren’s Goodreads Monday blog post to share your Monday selections.

I am currently hosting an Instagram book giveaway for Victoria Namkung’s second novel: These Violent Delights and thought I would give her first novel some love this week.

2940151993227_p0_v2_s1200x630For my e-reader fans: its only $6.99! Go get a copy today. If you do, let me know and we can coordinate a buddy read. Heck, maybe even a group buddy read!

The Things We Tell Ourselves by Victoria Namkung
Publish date: July 21, 2015 by Standard Time Press
Purchase: Amazon, Barnes & Noble
Category: Psychological Thriller, Suspense

Goodreads Synopsis:
When a young writer enters into an affair with a charming foreign correspondent, she has no idea that an uncharacteristic moment of spontaneity will change her life forever.

Twenty-two-year-old Georgina Park dreams of being a hard-hitting journalist, but to pay the bills she’s covering the red carpet for a celebrity magazine. Her world is turned upside down when a chance meeting with Simon Grant, an Australian TV reporter who is 20 years her senior—and married—leads to an intense, sexually charged relationship that continues even after he returns home to Sydney. But when some compromising photos from Georgina’s past come back to haunt her years later, it appears Simon is to blame. Now a prolific newspaper columnist and college instructor, Georgina must use her investigative reporting skills to save herself—and revisit the affair that started it all.

Set in Los Angeles, ‘The Things We Tell Ourselves’ takes readers from the klieg lights of Hollywood to the dark corners of the Internet, exploring love, marriage and technology along the way. At its heart, the novel is a literary examination of the damage one generation can inflict on the next and the compromises we make between our ideals and life’s realities, between what we desire and doing the right thing.

“I lost sleep turning the pages of this book. ‘The Things We Tell Ourselves’ starts with a deliciously steamy romance and turns into a fast-paced thriller, all the while exploring the complexities of love, morality, and how we react to loss. You won’t soon forget these characters.” – Tiffany Hawk, author of ‘Love Me Anyway’

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Please note: this post contains Amazon and B&N affiliate links. If you purchase this book through the link above I will earn a small fee; at no additional cost to you. This will help me purchase more books to read and recommend to you all!

 

Book Review: Our Little Secret by Roz Nay

3_DiscoBalls

3 disco balls

Publish Date: April 17, 2018 by St. Martin’s Press
Purchase: Amazon, Barnes & Noble
Category: Mystery, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Fiction

Ok, I could not put this book down. It was a super quick read and the chapters were short with just enough information that you need to keep on to the next one. I couldn’t really tell where it was going which is great for a suspense read in my opinion. But…Read More »

Book Review: A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

I’ve never had an experience with a book the way I did with ‘A Little Life’. Ever. I will never forget how I felt reading it. The characters will stay with me. Oh how they’ll stay with me.

“And so I try to be kind to everything I see, and in everything I see, I see him.”
– Hanya Yanagihara, A Little Life

5_DiscoBalls

5 disco balls

Publish Date: March 10, 2015 by Doubleday, reprint January 26, 2016 by Anchor
The audiobook on Amazon is only $4.95. The narrator Oliver Wyman beautifully brings the characters to life.
Category: Literary Fiction, Contemporary

This book has become one of my top books of all time. It is not an easy read. It is heartbreaking, it’s a gut punch, it steam rolls right over your heart over and over and over. Cue the ugly cries and heavy emotions. It knocks the wind right out of you. Read More »

Review Swap with Megan @ Ginger Mom and the Kindle Quest

Meet Megan from Ginger Mom and the Kindle Quest blog. She’s taking over Saturday Nite Reader today while I take over Ginger Mom and the Kindle Quest!

We chose to swap reviews of our current favorite reads of 2018 (so far). Enjoy!

Before we start, get to know a bit about Megan:

ginger-momsMegan is a 30-something (like me…age ain’t nothing but a #!) Christian author-in-training who is married to her very own Prince Charming and mama to two spunky, adorable, fun-loving, hyper, hilarious, strangely frustrating, beautiful kids who regularly keep her on her toes. Megan (again, like me!) is a #coffeeaddict and a lover of good chocolate. You can usually find her either chasing her kidlets or with her nose buried in a good book, trying to shrink her Tardis-sized TBR pile.

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Book Review: Somebody’s Daughter by Rochelle B. Weinstein

4.5

4.5 disco balls

Publish Date: April 17, 2018 by Lake Union Publishing
Purchase: Amazon US kindle unlimited eligible, Amazon UK
Category: Women’s Fiction, Family Life

The Ross Family on the outside are poster children for a successful nuclear family. Bobby and Emma Ross fell in love as children, only loved each other and would get married and have twin girls. The night of the girls fifteenth birthday the family will be changed forever. A video of one of the twins engaging in a sexual act is sent as an anonymous text to their peers.

Besides what this does to a young daughter the “shameful” event triggers a memory of a painful mistake for Emma (and will affect how she reacts). Bobby can’t comprehend how his daughter could do such a thing and distances himself from the family when they need him the most. The facade of a perfect family is just that, fake. Will this act – along with Emma and Bobby’s actions – be the end of the Ross family?

Read More »

Book Review: In the Land of Milk and Honey by Nell E. S. Douglas

3.5

3.5 disco balls

Self Published Date: January 17, 2018
Purchase: Amazon $3.99 to purchase, kindleunlimited eligible
Category: Romantic Suspense

Before I start, I just have to say that I love this book cover. Book covers are so important and this one certainly is intriguing. The book synopsis…also very intriguing: Bree Valentine wakes up in a hospital room 5 months pregnant with no memories of getting there. Fast forward five years later and she meets this man and the gravitational pull between them sparks memories from a time she had forgotten. Could this mysterious man be the father?Read More »