Review: Olivay by Deborah Reed

Olivay

by Deborah Reed

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing

Pages: 

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  We don’t believe that our lives can change in an instant—until they do.

Olivay, widowed for a year and sleepwalking through life, meets Henry by chance. She takes him to her Los Angeles loft, thinking it will just be for the night. But the following morning, bombs detonate across the city; mayhem and carnage fill the streets; and her loft is covered in broken glass and her own blood. Henry is skittish, solicitous, and strangely distracted. Who is this man she’s marooned with as the city goes on lockdown? Why is she catching him in lie after lie? Is he somehow connected to her husband’s death and the terrorist attacks outside?


Kritters Thoughts:  Olivay endures a tragedy at the beginning of the book and this tragic event will shape the person she is for the rest of the book - her husband dies almost right in front of her and she has to put the pieces of her life back together.  A year later a man enters her life and he will send her life reeling out of control.

A combination of love story with a political thriller this was an interesting read.  With bombings and potential terrorists, this book made me think of those who are there when these major events happen - those in the city on 9/11 or in Boston during the marathon; these people who are caught up in history and are on the news but would rather not be newsworthy.  I really enjoyed thinking about the people behind the new stories, the family of the accused of massive shootings or those who are just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Even after finishing the book, I am still not sure I got everything, I feel like I have missed some details and feel a little unsettled about the book.  I enjoyed this one, but didn't completely love the ending.


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 Booksparks PR.  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: Beautiful Girl by Fleur Philips

Beautiful Girl

by Fleur Philips

Publisher: Spark Press

Pages: 150

Format: book

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Seventeen-year-old Melanie Kennicut is beautiful. Her entire life revolves around this beauty because her overly controlling mother has been dragging her to casting calls and auditions since she was four years old. According to Joanne Kennicut, Melanie was born to follow in her footsteps. But Melanie never wanted this life. When a freak car accident leaves her with facial lacerations that will require plastic surgery, she can't help but wonder if this is the answer to her prayers. For the first time in her life, she has a chance to live like a normal teenagerat least for a little whileaway from the photo shoots and movie sets that have dominated her entire existence. But after Melanie allows her best friend to come to the house to see her, Joanne decides to hide her daughter in Montana for the remainder of the summer. There, Melanie won't be seen by anyone they know, and her face will heal in time for the scheduled surgery in late August. Joanne’s plan backfires, however, when Melanie meets Sam, a Native American boy hired by the home's owner to tend to the property. Sam is nothing like the Hollywood boys Melanie knowshe¹s poor, his father's a drunk who possesses a bizarre gift inherited from a Kootenai Shaman, and his only brother disappeared into the mountains after the death of their mother eight years before. What transpires over a mere 36 hours after Sam and Melanie meet changes both of their lives in ways they never thought possible. 


Kritters Thoughts:  Melanie Kennicut has been going to auditions and landing roles for a very long time.  At this point she isn't sure whether her mom loves this more than she does and if she wants to do this job much longer.  A twist of fate and/or car accident disfigure her and her mom decides to take her out of Hollywood to heal before she can have surgery to fix her injuries.

I hear many readers talk about instalove, but I hadn't really read a book with it, but this one does.  Melanie goes on one date and her and a boy are "madly" in love after.  It felt WAY too quick for me and I wish they had a few more moments before they were professing their love to each other.

There was also a LOT of drama in this book.  I felt as though it was a little much in such a short book, I actually would have loved a few more pages - in the beginning, middle and end.  I think the author could have put in more scenes and stretched out the drama a little more.  

I have enjoyed books from this author, so even though this wasn't one of my favorites, I will still read her new books to come.

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

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Booksparks PR.  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.

It's Monday, What are you Reading?

A little bit of quiet this week made for some great nights of reading and even got to go to the pool twice!

A meme hosted by Sheila at BookJourney. 

Finished this past week:

At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen
Whisper Beach by Shelley Noble
Olivay by Deborah Reed
Beautiful Girl by Fleur Philips
Bum Rap by Paul Levine
A Necessary End by Holly Brown

Currently Reading:

Orphan Number Eight by Kim van Alkemade

Next on the TBR pile:

Losing Me by Sue Margolis

Review: Whisper Beach by Shelley Noble

Whisper Beach

by Shelley Noble

Publisher: William Morrow

Pages: 416

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Fifteen years ago, seventeen-year-old Vanessa Moran fell in love and lost her virginity but not to the same boy. Pregnant, desperate, and humiliated, she fled friends and family and Whisper Beach, New Jersey, never breathing a word about her secret to anyone. She hasn’t been back since. Now a professional Manhattan organizer, she returns to the funeral of her best friend’s husband. She intends on just paying her respects and leaving—though she can’t deny she also wants the town to see how far she’s come as a successful business woman. But her plans to make this a short visit fall by the wayside when her girlfriends have other ideas. 

Dorie, the owner of the pier’s Blue Crab Restaurant where Van and her friends worked as teenagers, needs help. Dorie’s roving husband spends every penny they make and now their restaurant is failing. 

Joe, the boy Van left behind without an explanation, has never stopped loving her. While he’s wary of getting hurt again, he also can’t help wondering what would happen if they took up where they left off. 

As the summer progresses and the restaurant takes on a new look, trouble comes from unexpected sources. For Van, this summer will test the meaning of friendship and trust—and how far love can bend before it breaks.


Kritters Thoughts:  The main character, Vanessa Moran or Van left home abruptly and has returned for a funeral and this is her first time back in many many years.  Leaving behind a crappy ex boyfriend, some ok friends and a horrible family situation, she didn't look back, but now she must go relive some memories and deal with the past so that maybe she can secure a better future.

Vanessa narrates most of the book, but the author sneakily added some moments that came from Joe's point of view and I loved them - it was the perfect amount to get a little different POV, but not take away from the story.  I also loved that although Vanessa was technically the main character her three childhood friends - Suze, Dana and Gigi all had their own storylines and could have almost been main characters on their own, it felt like an ensemble cast!  

This book left on a little bit of a cliff - a small mountain if you will, so will there be another one?  Is this a series?  I wouldn't mind heading back to this small town for another story with these characters, they were entertaining and dramatic, but not TOO dramatic.  If you aren't a family drama reader, this leans more on the family can be defined in different way sort of book.


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 TLC Book 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: Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Maybe in Another Life

by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Publisher: Washington Square Press

Pages: 352

Format: book

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  At the age of twenty-nine, Hannah Martin still has no idea what she wants to do with her life. She has lived in six different cities and held countless meaningless jobs since graduating college. On the heels of leaving yet another city, Hannah moves back to her hometown of Los Angeles and takes up residence in her best friend Gabby’s guestroom. Shortly after getting back to town, Hannah goes out to a bar one night with Gabby and meets up with her high school boyfriend, Ethan.

Just after midnight, Gabby asks Hannah if she’s ready to go. A moment later, Ethan offers to give her a ride later if she wants to stay. Hannah hesitates. What happens if she leaves with Gabby? What happens if she leaves with Ethan?

In concurrent storylines, Hannah lives out the effects of each decision. Quickly, these parallel universes develop into radically different stories with large-scale consequences for Hannah, as well as the people around her. As the two alternate realities run their course, Maybe in Another Liferaises questions about fate and true love: Is anything meant to be? How much in our life is determined by chance? And perhaps, most compellingly: Is there such a thing as a soul mate?

Hannah believes there is. And, in both worlds, she believes she’s found him.


Kritters Thoughts:  Taylor Jenkins Reid is by far an entertaining author, I don't know how she does it, but I can read her books in just two sittings and regret flying through them every time!

The main character Hannah Martin returns to her home town of LA to regroup and try to find her home as she has spent the last few years hoping from city to city and never feeling settled.  Her first night home she goes out with friends and she has to make a decision - go home with her best friend or stay at the bar with an ex boyfriend/best friend.  This book lets the reader see what would happen in each of these scenarios and I loved it!

I love thinking about the small decisions that you make EACH day and how if you made a very small change to that decision and went the other way your life could go down a completely different path and it could still be a good life, but it would be a different life.  The book alternated chapters with one path and the other and the first few switches were hard, but as her two paths start going down very different roads it was easy to switch back and forth.  I loved how you can see not only how her decision affected her own life, but the lives around her.

I love this concept and could read this scenario over and over again.  This is going on my must read list for the year and Taylor Jenkins Reid is now and officially an auto buy author for me!


As a side note - I went back in March to NYC with my husband to see a broadway show that I had been loving from afar!  It was called If/Then.  This book is that show and the show is touring and if you anywhere near liked this book, you need to see the show!


Rating: absolutely loved it and want a sequel

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Booksparks PR.  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: Somebody I Used to Know by David J Bell

Somebody I Used to Know

by David J Bell

Publisher: NAL

Pages: 432

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  When Nick Hansen sees the young woman at the grocery store, his heart stops. She is the spitting image of his college girlfriend, Marissa Minor, who died in a campus house fire twenty years earlier. But when Nick tries to speak to her, she acts skittish and rushes off.

The next morning the police arrive at Nick’s house and show him a photo of the woman from the store. She’s been found dead, murdered in a local motel, with Nick’s name and address on a piece of paper in her pocket.

Convinced there's a connection between the two women, Nick enlists the help of his college friend Laurel Davidson to investigate the events leading up to the night of Marissa’s death. But the young woman’s murder is only the beginning...and the truths Nick uncovers may make him wish he never doubted the lies.


Kritters Thoughts:  From the beginning, I trusted the main character Nick, even when others didn't and I saw something in him that just made me believe that he was honest and trustworthy.  In the first chapter, Nick sees a young woman in the grocery store that looks like the spitting image of a girlfriend from his past that died and from this moment the reader knows they are going on an adventure.  

This book didn't stop.  I couldn't pause to breath and there wasn't a dull moment.  Nick goes into his past to relive the details of the house fire and find out the truth that he didn't look for as he was entrenched in emotions.  I loved that his quest wasn't easy, but it wasn't too off the wall either!  He had hurdles but they weren't out of nowhere.  

I loved this book, but because it didn't let me breath, I had to read something in a completely different genre after it.  I couldn't go from this one to another mystery/thriller.  This is my first experience with the author David J Bell and I plan on reading many more, but knowing that I will have to read something completely light and fluffy afterward for a breather!


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

Ebook 2015 Challenge: 38 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Berkley NAL.  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 S Word by Paolina Milana

The S Word

by Paolina Milana

Publisher: She Writes Press

Pages: 216

Format: book

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  In accordance with her Sicilian Catholic family’s unspoken code, Paolina Milana learned at an early age to keep her secrets locked away where no one could find them. Nobody outside the family needed to know about the voices her Mamma battled in her head; or about how Paolina forged her birth certificate at thirteen so she could get a job at The Donut Shop; or about the police officer twenty-six years her senior whose promise to her Papà to “keep an eye on her” quickly translated into something sinister. And perhaps that’s why no one saw it coming when—on the eve of her sweet sixteen, pushed to edge—Paolina attempted to take her own mother’s life. 


Kritters Thoughts:  A memoir that there were a few moments that were very uncomfortable and I had to remind myself over and over again that this was not fiction and really happened.  Paolina's story begins near the end and then goes back in time to bring you back to the first chapter and then beyond that chapter - I loved how this was set up, it was so interesting.

Paolina has a very hard childhood - she must get a job young to help her family and this ages her faster than most and because of this I think she was swept up into a working world (yes a donut shop) but not amongst her peers.  Not only does she have to help support her family, but she comes from a family that isn't completely comfortable in America and English isn't the first language of her parents.  Beyond that she has a mother who isn't your typical American nurturing mother - instead she is probably battling with schizophrenia and the medical world isn't quite ready for these neurological diseases.  

This was a difficult read - not because of the words or descriptors, but instead because of all the hard subject matters.  Again and again this book kept surprising me because I couldn't believe all of these things happened to one girl/young woman.  Not only did she experience all these things but she didn't have a safe home to help build her up and I was wishing so many things for her.  This book made me appreciate the safe home I had as a childhood and the safe home that I have now.


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

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Booksparks PR.  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.

It's Monday, What are you Reading?

A quieter week at work and a long holiday weekend made for some great long chunks of reading.  

A meme hosted by Sheila at BookJourney. 

Finished this past week:

The Wolf Border by Sarah Hall
Her Sister's Shoes by Ashley Farley
The S Word by Paolina Milana
The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurain
Somebody I Used to Know by David Bell
Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Currently Reading:

At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen

Next on the TBR pile:

Whisper Beach by Shelley Noble

Review: Her Sister's Shoes by Ashley Farley

Her Sister's Shoes

by Ashley Farley

Publisher: Smashwords

Pages: 284

Format: book

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Set in the South Carolina Lowcountry and packed with Southern charm and memorable characters, Her Sister’s Shoes is the story of three sisters—Samantha, Jackie, and Faith—who struggle to balance the demands of career and family while remaining true to themselves.

Samantha Sweeney has always been the glue that holds her family together, their go-to girl for love and support. When an ATV accident leaves her teenage son in a wheelchair, she loses her carefully constructed self-control.

In the after-gloom of her dreaded fiftieth birthday and the discovery of her husband’s infidelity, Jackie realizes she must reconnect with her former self to find the happiness she needs to move forward.

Faith lacks the courage to stand up to her abusive husband. She turns to her sisters for help, placing all their lives at risk.

In the midst of their individual challenges, the Sweeney sisters must cope with their mother’s mental decline. Is Lovie in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, or is her odd behavior normal for a woman her age? No one, including Lovie, understands her obsession with a rusty key she wears around her neck.


Kritters Thoughts:  Three sisters take turns narrating this book as they each tell their story and their viewpoints on each other.  Jackie has always had it together and with a set of twin boys in high school she is enjoying the good life until things fall apart.  Samantha has always been the sister to show up for the other two and help them through their struggles, yet she hasn't relied on the sisters for help when she has had major life issues - she will have to lean on them when life throws her a curve ball.  Finally Faith, the baby of the family who is trying to handle things on her own eventually needs help escaping from an abusive husband who will reek havoc on the entire family.

When I realized that each sister was going to have their own chapters to both move the entire story along as well as their own individual story, I was even more excited about the book.  I also loved that all three sisters lived in the small town and each had their own set of drama (different drama) but things that were all their own, they each had a story to tell.  Although there were moments that were beyond predictable, I still enjoyed the story.   

If you are anything like me and love family drama then this book will be right up your alley.  Love and romance are parts of the book, but the heart lies in the family relationships that get tried and tested.


Rating: absolutely loved it and want a sequel

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from iRead Book 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: The Wolf Border by Sarah Hall

The Wolf Border

by Sarah Hall

Publisher: Harper

Pages: 448

Format: book

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  For almost a decade, zoologist Rachel Caine has lived a solitary existence far from her estranged family in England, monitoring wolves in a remote section of Idaho as part of a wildlife recovery program. But a surprising phone call takes her back to the peat and wet light of the Lake District where she grew up. The eccentric Earl of Annerdale has a controversial scheme to reintroduce the Grey Wolf to the English countryside, and he wants Rachel to spearhead the project. Though she's skeptical, the earl's lands are close to the village where she grew up, and where her aging mother now lives.

While the earl's plan harks back to an ancient idyll of untamed British wilderness, Rachel must contend with modern-day realities--health and safety issues, public anger and fear, cynical political interests. But the return of the Grey unexpectedly sparks her own regeneration.


Kritters Thoughts:  Rachel Caine has been living in the states working with wolves and has always put her career first - her mother unexpectedly dies and she finds herself pregnant and not in a relationship so she runs back home to England to start a new pack of wolves and maybe herself at the same time.  

Rachel Caine was an interesting character, but there were some moments where I wanted to pick her up, dust her off and give her a little confidence!  I didn't think she was gaining self confidence at the rate I think she would as she was the team leader of this interesting project.  I felt as though her team and the Earl had more confidence in her and she wasn't seeing it and it was so frustrating.  Besides this character flaw, I enjoyed reading her and her journey.

I loved her team.  They were eccentric and each added to the story.  

The shining stars of the story were the wolves.  This was my second "wolf" centered book and the more I read about them the more I fall in love with learning about their pack mentality and how they survive as communities.  

This book was good, not great, but definitely enjoyable.  I would recommend it to readers who love a story that has a character come into her own when they are older than the usual coming of age stories.


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 TLC Book 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.

June!

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June was quite the month!  A few days at the pool made for some good reading time, but with some big things on the work front, work bled into my reading hours a few evenings!  Hopefully July will be a little quieter - but with some crazy packed weekends of activity.  I will definitely have to amp up my photo posting in July!

1.  The Medea Complex by Rachel Florence Roberts
2.  All the Single Ladies by Dorothea Benton Frank
3.  Second Life by SJ Watson
4.  Pieces by Maria Kostaki
5. The Romanov Sisters by Helen Rappaport
6. A New Hope by Robyn Carr
7. The Hummingbird's Cage by Tamara Dietrich
8. The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Armin
9. Summer's Secret by Jane Green
10. Enchanted August by Brenda Bowen
11. Summer's List by Anita Higman
12. Snow Angel Cove by RaeAnne Thayne
13. Redemption Bay by RaeAnne Thayne
14. A Week at the Lake by Wendy Wax
15. Hotel Moscow by Talia Carner
16. It's You by Jane Porter
17. The Wolf Border by Sarah Hall

Total pages read, clicked, and flipped: 5,942

Where Have I Been Reading?:

Charleston, SC
London
Greece
St. Petersburg, Russia
Portland, Oregon
New Mexico
Italy
Houston, TX
Nantucket, MA
Maine
Idaho (2)
New York
Moscow
Napa, CA
England