Review: Elsewhere by Alexis Schaitkin

Elsewhere

by Alexis Schaitkin

Publisher: Celadon Books

Pages: 240

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Vera grows up in a small town, removed and isolated, pressed up against the mountains, cloud-covered and damp year-round. This town, fiercely protective, brutal and unforgiving in its adherence to tradition, faces a singular affliction: some mothers vanish, disappearing into the clouds. It is the exquisite pain and intrinsic beauty of their lives; it sets them apart from people elsewhere and gives them meaning.

Vera, a young girl when her own mother went, is on the cusp of adulthood herself. As her peers begin to marry and become mothers, they speculate about who might be the first to go, each wondering about her own fate. Reveling in their gossip, they witness each other in motherhood, waiting for signs: this one devotes herself to her child too much, this one not enough—that must surely draw the affliction’s gaze. When motherhood comes for Vera, she is faced with the question: will she be able to stay and mother her beloved child, or will she disappear?

Kritters Thoughts:  A place where girls know that their mothers may not be here tomorrow and women know that there is no guarantee for tomorrow.  Once a woman becomes a mother there is a chance that they may just disappear.  

The story centers around Vera who at the beginning of the book is a young girl and eventually she will fall in love and become a mother, but the best thing about this book is it doesn't end when she disappears, the reader gets to see what happens after she disappears and for me that was the moral of the story.  

While I am not a mother, I may not have picked up on all the things, but for me the big theme of women disappearing as motherhood becomes their identity was really something to read.  And then for these women to wind up in a different atmosphere and try to find themselves again really made me think about the roles women take throughout the years of their lives and how some of those phases a woman can really lose her identity.  

With maybe hints of dystopia I liked this book.  I had access through netgalley to the ebook and audiobook and I enjoyed having both forms to read and I would completely suggest either form as they were both enjoyable.  

Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Celadon Books.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: Notorious by Allison Brennan

Notorious

by Allison Brennan

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Pages: 336

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Maxine Revere has dedicated her life to investigating murders that the police have long since given up any hope of solving. A nationally renowned investigative reporter with her own TV show and a tough-as-nails reputation, Max tackles cold cases from across the country and every walk of life. But the one unsolved murder that still haunts her is a case from her own past.

When Max was a high school senior, one of her best friends was strangled and another, Kevin O'Neal, accused of the crime. To the disgrace of her wealthy family, Max stood by her friend, until she found out he lied about his alibi. Though his guilt was never proven, their relationship crumbled from the strain of too many secrets.

Now Max is home for Kevin's funeral―after years of drug abuse, he committed suicide. She's finally prepared to come to terms with the loss of his friendship, but she's not prepared for Kevin's sister to stubbornly insist that he didn't kill himself. Or for an elderly couple to accost her at the airport, begging her to look into another murder at Max's old high school. Max is more interested in the cold case at her alma mater than in digging around Kevin's troubled life, but she agrees to do both. As Max uncovers dark secrets, she finds herself caught in a complicated web of lies that hit far too close to home. And it's becoming increasingly clear that someone will do whatever it takes to make sure the truth stays buried.

Kritters Thoughts: The first in a series and before even starting this one, I was already a big Allison Brennan fan, so I knew this book would be a great addition to my beach bag this summer.  While published nine years ago, I am a stickler for starting a series from the beginning so I picked this one up and enjoyed it on the beach.

Maxine Revere is an investigative journalist that ends up getting caught up in a few mysteries while visiting her hometown for a funeral of a friend.  When I say a few mysteries, I mean a few and while reading I kept thinking there was too much to keep straight, but when it all came together I wouldn't have taken one out, so just know that there are a few mysteries to keep straight with characters in each one.  

While this is the first in a series, there were a few moments where I thought that I was missing something because it felt as though the author was referring to previous happenings, but this is book one!  Maybe its just me, so I am excited to move on to book two and read more about Maxine and see what mysteries she gets into next. 

Rating: absolutely loved it and want a sequel

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Minotaur Books.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: The Light After the War

The Light After the War
 by Anita Abriel

Publisher: Atria Books

Pages: 320

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  It is 1946 when Vera Frankel and her best friend Edith Ban arrive in Naples. Refugees from Hungary, they managed to escape from a train headed for Auschwitz and spent the rest of the war hiding on an Austrian farm. Now, the two young women must start new lives abroad. Armed with a letter of recommendation from an American officer, Vera finds work at the United States embassy where she falls in love with Captain Anton Wight.

But as Vera and Edith grapple with the aftermath of the war, so too does Anton, and when he suddenly disappears, Vera is forced to change course. Their quest for a better life takes Vera and Edith from Naples to Ellis Island to Caracas as they start careers, reunite with old friends, and rebuild their lives after terrible loss.

Kritters Thoughts:  Two women who have barely survived the war and this book is their recovery from it all.  Vera and Edith have been best friends since birth and through the swift thinking of their mothers they were spared a trip to Auschwitz and with the help of some strangers they made it through the war.  Throughout the book they move around to find their new normal and hopefully put down some roots.  

I have read so many books on World War II and I keep thinking I have read it all.  I loved that in this book the action takes place after the war and you are seeing these two young women pull themselves together and try to figure out how they want their post war life to be.  I am so thankful the author put two characters together who are both similar and different - they come from the same neighborhood and are the same age, but going into the war were in different places in life and have reacted so differently to the life they are now trying to build.  

My first Anita Abriel read, but will surely not be my last and thankfully I have all of her others books on netgalley, so can pick up my kindle and read them very soon!  

Rating: absolutely loved it and want a sequel

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Atria Books.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Reading recap - April - June 2023

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As the second half of the year of 2023 begins, I wanted to do a quick recap of my reading so far, which is less than I would want to admit, but I am hoping that the second half will pick up.  Between buying a house and spending many hours making it my own and my professional job being quite busy, my reading hours have been greatly impacted.  

In April, I completed my fourth book of the year - Amanda in France by Darlene Foster.

My reading in June picked up thankfully due to some extra time spent enjoying the sunshine:

1. Notorious by Allison Brennan 

2. The Light After the War by Anita Abriel

3. Misprints of America Burke by Adonia Holden-Dunivan

4. The Evening Spider by Emily Arsenault

5. Please See Us by Caitlin Mullen 

I will be reviewing a few of the above in the next few weeks as I am hoping to get the blog back up and running!  

Review: Your Table is Ready by Michael Cecchi-Azzolina

Your Table is Ready

by Michael Cecchi-Azzolina

Publisher: St Martin's Press

Pages: 304

Format: audiobook

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  A front-of-the-house Kitchen Confidential from a career maître d’hotel who manned the front of the room in New York City's hottest and most in-demand restaurants.

From the glamorous to the entitled, from royalty to the financially ruined, everyone who wanted to be seen―or just to gawk―at the hottest restaurants in New York City came to places Michael Cecchi-Azzolina helped run. His phone number was passed around among those who wanted to curry favor, during the decades when restaurants replaced clubs and theater as, well, theater in the most visible, vibrant city in the world.

Besides dropping us back into a vanished time, Your Table Is Ready takes us places we’d never be able to get into on our own: Raoul's in Soho with its louche club vibe; Buzzy O’Keefe’s casually elegant River Café (the only outer-borough establishment desirable enough to be included in this roster), from Keith McNally’s Minetta Tavern to Nolita’s Le Coucou, possibly the most beautiful room in New York City in 2018, with its French Country Auberge-meets-winery look and the most exquisite and enormous stands of flowers, changed every three days.

From his early career serving theater stars like Tennessee Williams and Dustin Hoffman at La Rousse right through to the last pre-pandemic-shutdown full houses at Le Coucou, Cecchi-Azzolina has seen it all. In Your Table Is Ready , he breaks down how restaurants really run (and don’t), and how the economics work for owners and overworked staff alike. The professionals who gravitate to the business are a special, tougher breed, practiced in dealing with the demanding patrons and with each other, in a very distinctive ecosystem that’s somewhere between a George Orwell “down and out in….” dungeon and a sleek showman’s smoke-and-mirrors palace.

Kritters Thoughts:  In the middle of a reading season that is similar to a drought, so trying different things to bring reading back into my life.  While on a car trip, I decided a non fiction audiobook could be a great companion and it was.  

I enjoyed the behind the scenes look at the restaurant scene in New York City and while I was never a waitress, I have enjoyed a plethora of restaurants in New York City and beyond, so it was fun to hear all the things that you don't see while dining!  My favorite stories were the dealings with not just the celebrities but the known in New York City and the negotiations about dining times and tables - may have rolled my eyes a few times!

A fair warning that this book had moments that made me blush!  A few penis stories with some sexual harassment on the side and some drugs and excessive drinking, but I appreciated the honesty of it all.  I would recommend this one to those who love the food memoirs as this perspective from someone other than the owner or chef made it feel unique.      

Rating: enjoyable, but didn't leave me wanting more

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Netgalley.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: A Groovy Kind of Love by Karen Wojcik Berner

A Groovy Kind of Love
by Karen Wojcik Berner

Pages: 316

Format: book

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads: After placating to his father’s demands that he play Little League baseball and major in computer programming in college rather than his beloved English literature, Thaddeus assumed that several years into his career, he would finally get some peace and quiet.

Then he met Spring Pearson, the younger, free-spirited daughter of hippy parents, at a book club meeting. Instantly smitten, Thaddeus finally worked up the courage to ask Spring out. But will an old college pinkie-swear promise Spring made fifteen years ago get in the way of this bibliophilic romance?

Kritters Thoughts:  The third in a series that I have been meaning to finish for the longest time and I was so glad I took the time to curl up with it and complete this series.  Each book in the series centers around a character or two from this book club and I have loved making the rounds around this group and finishing this one.  

Thaddeus and Spring are the center of this book.  Starting with Thaddeus' childhood and then going into Spring's we see each of these characters and how their younger years shaped them into the adults that showed up in the book club.  I loved how this story started and how the reader really got to know each of them slowly and surely and they each had such a full back story before they even met each other.  

Without spoiling the story too much, this was a great closed door romance with some sweet scenes not only between Thaddeus and Spring, but this great cast of characters.  And all of the book references made me want to write a few down and may have even lengthened my TBR!  

After finishing this one, I was excited to see there is a Christmas novella to read, so will be holding onto that one for the holiday season!

Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Review: The Undercover Secretary by Ellie Midwood

The Undercover Secretary

by Ellie Midwood

Publisher: Bookouture

Pages: 254

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  France, 1942. “I forced myself to hold his gaze. My heart thrashed inside my chest like a bird battering its wings. They knew who I was. They knew what I’d done.” This heartbreaking and unputdownable World War Two novel tells the incredible true story Dora Schaul, who risked her life by coming face-to-face with enemy—the monsters who killed her loved ones.

Dora has lost everything to the Nazis. Her dearest friends have disappeared into thin air. Her parents have been imprisoned in concentration camps and murdered for the crime of simply existing. She has no idea if her darling husband, the devoted and brave Alfred, is still alive.

Though her world is crashing and burning around her, Dora refuses to give in to Hitler’s tyranny. The Nazis may have broken her heart, but they will not break her spirit.

Secretly working for the underground network in France, Dora risks her life on the most dangerous mission in the history of the local resistance. She goes undercover as the secretary of the Head of Gestapo; a soldier with a brutal reputation. A cold-blooded killer.

She is tasked with leaking the names of the SS to the British press. Every day, she rubs shoulders with the enemy. She makes coffee for the people she despises. She types letters for the monsters who killed her family. At any second, she could be found out…

Can she survive, turning the tide of the war and saving thousands of lives? Or will those she loved the most in the world, and millions of other innocent people, have died in vain?

Kritters Thoughts:  While I feel as though I have read every book and every aspect of World War II, this book gave me a unique glimpse at another person's journey through this hard time in history.  When I read a historical fiction book, I typically rate my experience by my need to google and find out more and with this one I kept finding myself wanting to learn more than what was on the page.  

Dora a young woman who leaves her family in hopes of being able to create a life that they may join in the future takes a large leap of faith and the journey is epic.  I found myself holding my breath and while a chapter would end, I was "flipping the pages" (read on a kindle) quickly to get into the next chapter.  While at times it was difficult to read knowing there was truth underneath it all, Ellie Midwood wrote a story that needed to be shared and highlighted within this sub genre of World War II fiction.  

My third Ellie Midwood read and for sure will not be my last.  I love the way this author uses a story rooted in complete truth, but keeps me reading with plot and characters that I care about from early on in the book.  This author is quickly becoming a must read for me and I will wait not so patiently for her next one!  

Rating: absolutely loved it and want a sequel

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Bookouture.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

2023 Reading Goals

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2022 ended up being the craziest of years with a new job and a major life change.  I was excited to see the calendar switch to a new year and I know that there are a lot of fun things coming up ahead, so hoping that 2023 will be full of more books and more ramblings!   

So with that here are my goals for my reading life for 2023.  

1. I want to read a minimum of 123 books.  I am taking my goal significantly down from the past just knowing what is coming, but hoping to increase my reading from 2022.  

2. I am switching up my order of my goals this year, and next I want to increase my Netgalley percentage and sadly it went down this past year, so I have a large hill to climb.  I want to keep this goal and challenge myself to aim high to get my percentage up to at least 25%.  

3.  While I said in goal 2, I would like to increase my Netgalley percentage, I would also love to increase my reading of my physical library this year.  I miss curling up with literal pages in my hand and I hope to do more of this in 2023!

And the challenge that I love to do each year is:

Where Are You Reading?

In this challenge, I keep a Google Map and place a pinpoint at each spot where a book takes place.  The link to my google map will also be in the sidebar all year round, so anyone can check out where I have been reading!

If you would like to participate - check out Book Journey.  She hosted this challenge in the past, not sure if she is hosting again, but as this is my favorite thing to do, I am continuing! 

2022 Reading Wrap Up

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    So this was probably my worst reading year in a very long time,   so while this will be a sad comparison, I am hoping to compare a   wonderful 2023 to this 2022.  

  Let's compare 2022 to 2021.  

Total number of books I read in 2022: 91 - my lowest number in a long time
Total number of books I read in 2021: 219 (just shy of 220!)

Total number of pages I flipped, clicked, and so on in 2022: 29,355
Total number of pages I flipped, clicked, and so on in 2021: 73,312

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I have been keeping track of WHERE my books were taking place all year. Below is the outcome.  There are 18 states that I "visited," which is worse than last year, but probably partly due to the amount of books I completed.  I would like to travel more in 2023

States that made the list:

Maine                    Vermont            Pennsylvania

Massachusetts        New York          Washington, DC

North Carolina        Florida              South Carolina

Louisiana               Arkansas           Missouri

Texas                    Minnesota           Idaho

Nevada                 Washington        California

My country number went down from 13 to 9 this year, so I am sad that I didn't travel the world as much this year, but probably also again due to the amount that I read being down this year.

Countries accounted for:

Guyana            Canada            Australia

Ireland             UK                  France

Italy                Poland              Germany

First Book of the Year

As I have done in years past, I am hoping to make my first book of the year something important and to set the stage for a year of reading!

This year I want to read books that give me peace or entertain me.  After a year where reading took a backseat, I want reading to be a place that I crave and make space for.  For me, the mystery thrillers captivate my attention quickly and hold it for a long time, so I want to start here this year.  Have only read one Ruth Ware, so would love to read another one, especially one with snow on the cover to make it feel seasonal!    

One by One 
  by Ruth Ware

Getting snowed in at a beautiful, rustic mountain chalet doesn’t sound like the worst problem in the world, especially when there’s a breathtaking vista, a cozy fire, and company to keep you warm. But what happens when that company is eight of your coworkers…and you can’t trust any of them?

When an off-site company retreat meant to promote mindfulness and collaboration goes utterly wrong when an avalanche hits, the corporate food chain becomes irrelevant and survival trumps togetherness. Come Monday morning, how many members short will the team be?
 

A little life update

I have been missing on this blog this year and I have missed this blog this year.  In the middle of this year, my life took a turn and I ended up in a place I never imagined.  Going through a divorce and away from the home, garden and library that I had cultivated over years.  I am now putting the pieces back together in a different way and finally finding comfort in the things that I loved.  

I have family and friends who caught me and helped push me back up the hill and I can't thank each of them enough.  I am hoping that 2023 will be the year where I make some big decisions and find peace.  

The pup Charlotte has been by my side and our short and long walks have helped both of our physical and mental health!  

Review: The Librarian Spy by Madeline Martin

The Librarian Spy

by Madeline Martin 

Publisher: Hanover Square Press

Pages: 400

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Ava thought her job as a librarian at the Library of Congress would mean a quiet, routine existence. But an unexpected offer from the US military has brought her to Lisbon with a new mission: posing as a librarian while working undercover as a spy gathering intelligence.

Meanwhile, in occupied France, Elaine has begun an apprenticeship at a printing press run by members of the Resistance. It’s a job usually reserved for men, but in the war, those rules have been forgotten. Yet she knows that the Nazis are searching for the press and its printer in order to silence them.

As the battle in Europe rages, Ava and Elaine find themselves connecting through coded messages and discovering hope in the face of war. 

Kritters Thoughts:  Two storylines going on at the same time and while the reader has to wait a bit for them to collide, when it does, it is so good!  

Ava was happy working at The Library of Congress when she was approached with an interesting job - to go abroad and work with the US military in intelligence.  Elaine is living in occupied France and with recent happenings going on around her she decides to join the effort and work for a printing press trying to get the news from the Resistance out into the world.  

I absolutely loved this book.  I enjoy reading about this war, and while I know about the atrocities that happened, sometimes it is hard to read the hard truths of it all.  SO I like these books where I can read and learn more about this war, but not quite enter into the depths of all that happened.  

When there are two storylines, sometimes I lean towards one or the other, but not the case in this book.  These women were in two different parts of the war doing two different things and I loved seeing both of them in the same book.  

My second Madeline Martin historical fiction book and she is quickly becoming an author that I will immediately open and read! 

Rating: absolutely loved it and want a sequel

Ebook 2022 Challenge: 60 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from HarperCollins.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: Edge of Dusk by Colleen Coble

Edge of Dusk

by Colleen Coble

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Pages: 352

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Even though secrets lie off the coast of Rock Harbor, the truth will set Annie Pederson free—if it doesn’t kill her first.

Nine-year-old Annie Pederson’s life changed the night her sister was kidnapped. The two had been outside playing on a dock, and Annie never forgave herself for her role in her sister’s disappearance. Twenty-four years later and now a law enforcement ranger, Annie is still searching for answers as she grieves a new loss: the death of her husband and parents in a boating accident.

But Annie and her eight-year-old daughter, Kylie, aren’t the only people in the town of Rock Harbor whose lives have been marred by tragedy. While managing the property around the Tremolo Resort and Marina she inherited, Annie discovers a dead body floating in the cold Superior surf and begins to work with the sheriff’s office to tie the death to a series of other mysterious reports in the area.

At the same time, her first love, Jon Dustan, returns after nine years away, reigniting the town’s memory of a cold case he’d been suspiciously linked to before he left to pursue his orthopedic residency. For the sake of her investigation and her heart, Annie tries to stay away. But avoiding Jon becomes impossible once Annie realizes she is being targeted by someone desperate to keep secrets from the past hidden.

Kritters Thoughts:  The first in a series that was perfectly distracting during a busy time in my life!  

Already a Colleen Coble fan before starting this one, it lived up to the hype I have created for her myself!  Annie Pederson was nine years old when her sister was taken from her and she started the search to recover her.  Now as an adult when this story begins, Annie is an adult and a parent herself, a single parent as her spouse and parents were tragically taken from her all at the same time and she is still searching.  

There were many different mysteries going on in this one book and in my humble opinion maybe one too many!  I loved the underlying search that Annie was looking for her sister while the addition of the murdered young girls was intriguing, there were more and more added as the story went on and keeping track of all the twists and turns took some work.  

I am looking forward to book two arriving and continuing on with Annie Pederson.

Rating: absolutely loved it and want a sequel

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Partner in Crime Tours.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: Holiday Romance by Catherine Walsh

Holiday Romance

by Catherine Walsh

Publisher: Bookouture

Pages: 318

Format: ebook

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  She’s meant to be catching flights, not catching feelings…

Molly and Andrew are just trying to get home to Ireland for the holidays, when a freak snowstorm grounds their flight.

Nothing romantic has ever happened between them: they’re friends and that’s all. But once a year, for the last ten years, Molly has spent seven hours and fifteen minutes sitting next to Andrew on the last flight before Christmas from Chicago to Dublin, drinking terrible airplane wine and catching up on each other’s lives. In spite of all the ways the two friends are different, it’s the holiday tradition neither of them has ever wanted to give up.

Molly isn’t that bothered by Christmas, but—in yet another way they’re total opposites—Andrew is a full-on fanatic for the festive season and she knows how much getting back to Ireland means to him. So, instead of doing the sane thing and just celebrating the holidays together in America, she does the stupid thing. The irrational thing. She vows to get him home. And in time for his mam’s famous Christmas dinner.

The clock is ticking. But Molly always has a plan. And—as long as the highly-specific combination of taxis, planes, boats, and trains all run on time—it can’t possibly go wrong.

What she doesn’t know is that, as the snow falls over the city and over the heads of two friends who are sure they’re not meant to be together, the universe might just have a plan of its own…

Kritters Thoughts:  A sweet romance that takes place all during the holiday season, but over many years!  Molly and Andrew ended up one year on the same flight from Chicago to Ireland and it keeps happening year after year until one year where they must do anything in order to get Andrew home to his Christmas loving family.  And because this is a romance book, we know where this will end, but we have no clue how it will end up there!

If you watch any sort of Hallmark movies during the holiday season, then this book will be the perfect companion to read with holiday music playing in the background.  I loved watching Molly and Andrew have short interactions year to year, but knowing that it takes place over many years keeps the book from feeling like instalove!  And of course the epic will they won't they make it home was a fun thread throughout the entire book as one year is featured in and out amongst the other years (I know this may be confusing, but go with me) - it was just such a fun ride to see them "miss" each other.  

While my reading time has been limited due to some life circumstances, I was glad I picked this one up and maybe kicked off my holiday season a little early with this one! 

Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Ebook 2022 Challenge: 59 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Bookouture.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.