BOOK REVIEW for A Shoe Story by Jane L. Rosen

 

Thank you to Berkley for sending me an ebook to read and review.

TITLE:                   A Shoe Story

AUTHOR:             Jane L. Rosen

GENRE:                Fiction

RATING:              4 STARS

I admit that the first chapter was slow moving, but I am so happy that I persisted as this is one of my favorite books of 2022.  Although there is zero similarity (not the same plotline at all) with Bridget Jones Diary, I kept thinking about that one while I was reading - both hit the nail on the head when it comes to be a woman looking for (or not) romance.

Esme our main character is an interesting mix of "I care" and "not very deep" - just like Bridget.  I am not sure if the author deliberately gave her character such opposition, but it worked very well and went a long way to explaining Esme - as a human who gets it right and sometimes doesn't.

The shoes are perfect for representing Esme's core - where she is at on any given day and how her mind is.  

The dog walking gig is the thing that did not really work for me.  I hate having any animals in movies, tv or books because I obsess whether they will be killed off.

I have never had a "thing" about shoes, but I know a bunch of people who do and to them, each and every shoe represents something to them - me, I just grab the closest shoes and hope they match.

The writing is breezy and the pace is really good. While this book is airy, there are a lot of moments where the writing and the character meet, in order to understand life - while wearing glamorous shoes, of course.

BOOK REVIEW for Cabin Fever by Michael Smith and Jonathan Franklin

 

TITLE:              Cabin Fever

AUTHORS:      Michael Smith and Jonathan Franklin

GENRE:            Non fiction

RATING:           4 stars

The author writes so well and manages to keep me engaged, without a bunch of details I don't need and it kept the story flowing well.

This is obviously a well researched book and if you can get pass the first chapter, I promise you it will keep you engaged until the end.

The first chapter is, to be honest, boring and I worried that this tone would be set for the book, but it wasn't at all.

I admit that I never gave a second though to people on cruise ships or other countries who were basically stranded when the various governments closed down the world.

While it was annoying for most in lockdown, we at least had our own stuff and families, but it is not the same for other people and what these people lived through is amazing.

Love the honesty.

Great read.

BOOK REVIEW for When The Moon Turns to Blood by Leah Sottile

 

Than you to Twelve Books for sending me an e-book to read and review.

TITLE:        When the Moon Turns to Blood

AUTHOR:   Leah Sottile

GENRE:       Non fiction

RATING:     2 stars

I am very interested in this case and was hoping this book would detail timelines and focus on the situation while supplying pertinent information.

Well, I got lots of details, unfortunately, these details actually managed to ruin the story. This author was all over the place with this book and supplied a bunch of useless info.


Unlike other people who have reviewed this book, I thought there was wayyyyy too much info on the Mormons and the LDS. After which, the author felt the need to spend several pages detailing other women who have killed. Ugh!

I lost it when the opening line in one of the chapters was "In the 16th century". I just wanted to say "who cares about the 16th century?"

After that, I gave up and did not finish the mess that is this book.

It's pretty hard to turn this true crime story into a boring one, but this author managed to do just that.

BOOK REVIEW for Two Truths and a Lie by April Henry

 

A huge thank you to Christy Ottaviano Books for sending me this e-book to read and review.

Release date::  May 24, 2022

TITLE:              Two Truths and a Lie

AUTHOR:        April Henry

GENRE:          Thriller YA

RATING:         4 stars

I literally finished this book in two settings.  Admittedly, it is not very big and I could have used a lot more story.

This book has everything I ADORE in a thriller.  Snowstorm, rundown motel, plenty of teens and a whodunit that had me guessing.

All of these pieces fit perfectly into an engrossing plot.  Loved how creepy the whole thing felt, although I will admit, the author could have described the snowstorm and the wind a bit more, especially at the beginning of the book.

Still, we find young adults that find themselves in the same motel - all stranded with nowhere to go and only a few adults to supervise.  Things quickly fall a part when someone suggests pulling out that Ouija Board.  That part freaked me out because I sort of believe in the power of the Ouija Board (I know, I am silly)and refuse to even have it in my house.  Certainly never played it with my friends, who were equally suspicious of its power.

As it turns out, nothing supernatural what happening at the motel and through many, many clues, Nell and Adam, the two leads end up having to deal with very real things such as gas leaks, people getting attacked by cougars and a huge surprise in the back of Brian's truck, parked in the parking lot of the hotel.

I did go through several "oh, I know who did it" only to realize that I did not.  Plot is well paced and crafted and all of the loose ends get tied off by the end.

Writing is on point and doesn't drag the story down with too many useless details.

Two points.  As mentioned above, I could have used more description about the weather, making it even more creepy.  Also, there are A LOT of characters in this story and had to keep going back to figure out who was who - especially in the beginning of the book.

BOO REVIEW for The Hunt by Fake Kellerman

 

Thank you to HarperCollins Canada for sending me an e-copy of this book to read and review.

TITLE:           The Hunt

AUTHOR:      Faye Kellerman

GENRE:         Mystery/ Suspense

RATING:        3 stars

I had been waiting for this book for so long. I have read all of the Decker books.

This one did not feel like it because there is wayyyyyyy too much time on Gabe and his dad (and mother and siblings).  It felt as though Kellerman did not know what to do with Harvard.  I say get rid of most of these characters and focus on the characters that make this story move forward.

I want a story with Decker and Harvard - everything else is white noise as far as I am concerned.

I liked Kellerman's writing style, but this is definitely a miss for me.

BOOK REVIEW for Letting Ana Go by Anonymous

 

TITLE:              Letting Anna Go

AUTHOR:        Anonymous

GENRE:          YA

RATING:        3.5 stars

This is the second time reading this book and I have not looked at the review I wrote at the time.

I can say that the most distinct feeling I had while reading this book was anger. Anger at this disease, anger at this girl who had such distorted thinking that she ends up killing herself. I cannot believe just how proud and STUPID she was at the end, basically telling everyone, including her mother that she was going to stay thin and that her mother could go to hell. First thing I thought of was "if I spoke to my mother like that, I would have been sent to my room, after she removed all the books in there.

This book's biggest strength is definitely how well the author shows us how a person with anorexia thinks - how everything is distorted and how powerful the disease is.

The writing is on point and the author does not stray away from how powerfully painful eating disorders are FOR EVERYONE involved.

BOOK REVIEW for My Friend Anna by Rachel DeLoache Williams

TITLE:                My Friend Anna

AUTHOR:           Rachel DeLoache Williams

GENRE:              True Crime/ Memoir

RATING:             5 stars

I first read this book long before Netflix's "Inventing Anna" and have since then reread it.

I reread this book because when I originally read it, I had just had open heart surgery and did not feel as though I could appreciate the story properly, not to mention the fact that I would wake up to find that I had fallen asleep in mid-read (nothing to do with the book being boring).

I am still amazed by this whole story. Of course, as soon as I started reading, I immediately thought "what would I have done in Rachel's place?"

I think, since I am a lot more suspicious of people, I would have picked up on the weirdness and the clues earlier than Rachel did and I would not have second guessed myself, even after it was obvious that Anna was not who she said she was. But it is easy for me to say this, while sitting in my living room.

Yes, Rachel is the victim, there is no denying that. Having said that, I can't stop thinking that part of the issue here is that the author's love of her "Sex and the City" lifestyle set her up perfectly. and Anna used it to her advantage. Most people, even in New York, do NOT bar hop every night after work or go to expensive restaurants at the drop of a hat, I don't think.

Rachel was successful and already had the magical paid trips, via Vanity Fair and she experienced lots of wonderful events through her job, yet, Anna managed to find her way in. That is scary.

Anna had absolutely no shame, no qualms....even when she was pursued. and "the gig" was up. I would never have been able to enjoy my trip or my hotel stays, knowing that anyone could intercept me at any time and demand payment. Just the shame of it would have made me crawl into a hole.

I am sure there are a bunch of psychological names for what is wrong with Anna, but just the fact that people like that exist, freaks me out.

As for the book, it gives us a very clear image of what Rachel went through.  She writes it well and is honest.  The book is "friendly" to read and I basically could not put it down. Both times.

BOOK REVIEW for The Lonely Hunter by Aimée Lutkin

Thank you to the wonderful Random House for sending me an e-copy of this book to read and review.

TITLE:         The Lonely Hunter

AUTHOR:    Aimée Lutkin

GENRE:       Memoir

RATING:      3 stars

 I had a love/hate relationship with this book.

The tone of the book is good and it is obvious that a lot of research was done by the author, but, at times, it felt as though the author was putting ALL of the blame, for failed relationships squarely on women's backs, explaining away the reason why many women were STILL single at 30, 40, 50 etc

I wanted this book to be pro woman, that yes, it is important to see why you are still single, but also offer up other facts as well.

The author, at times, made being single worse than COVID, which is not the message I wanted to hear.

Some good parts such as how dating itself is hard for everyone was interesting.

At times, this book was accusatory towards women which is the exact opposite of what I wanted/hoped to read.

HAPPY 2022 and HAPPY READING

 Happy 2022.

I have been very late with this post.  Meant to do it in early January and life got in the way.

I am excited to read even more books this year.

I an, once again, participating in the Goodreads reading challenge.  I do quite a lot of knitting, so sometimes I put off starting a new book until I have made some progress on my knitting (right now, I am knitting a Prayer Shawl).

In 2021 I challenged myself to read 46 books and I ended up reading 47.

So, in 2022 the magic number is 48.

I use to be really proud of myself for reading all these books, until I saw others with 300 and 400 books read in one year.  Fortunately or unfortunately, I am weird about my TO BE READ pile.  I only want 2 books at a time - the one I am currently reading and the one that is waiting to be read.  If I have more at one time, I feel pressured.  Fortunately, I am very picky about what I read.

This blog has been in existence for well over 10 years now.  I can never remember how many years exactly and only my friend Cindy seems to know how many, because she started hers around the same time.

Interestingly, my tastes have changed over the years.  I use to read basically only legal thrillers (fiction) but now, I am really into non fiction, especially on addiction and recovery.  I also really like social subjects such as drug use, pregnancy, etc (fiction) and thrillers (stranded teens, etc) in the YA world.

I still love my Faye Kellerman and have been on the fence about the Alex Cross series by James Patterson (who doesn't seem to sleep judging by the fact that he has books released (fiction) every month.

Happy reading.

TIINA

BOOK REVIEW for: The Doomsday Mother by John Glatt

 

Thank you to MacMillan Press for sending me this e-copy to read and review.

TITLE:                   The Doomsday Mother

AUTHOR:              John Glatt

GENRE:                 Nonfiction

RATING:                4 Stars

I have 3 books written by John Glatt and I enjoy his writing style, despite the difficult subject matter.

I have rated this book 4 stars because it is obvious how much research was done by Glatt.  I found out quite a few things that I did not even know, despite following, up to a point, this case.

This book is slower paced than his other books - which I get because the story itself was kind of a slow burn development.

As I was reading, I kept shaking my head...... how can people be falling for this?  but Glatt gives us some background on each "main" person of this story and you can see how they slowly, but surely find and believe Chad Daybell as he grooms them to believe in zombies.

Of course, the more horrific parts of this story (and this is where I learned a lot of new information) centers around those poor babies.  I cannot even phantom having a child and doing anything to him/her, but Lori was so far gone, that she actually had her brother kill them - a mother specifically putting out a "contract" on her own children, I just can't....

I appreciate the way the author writes the story, but keeps away from judging or putting in his own feelings or opinions.

This case is not finished, so more might come out, but to say this is a nightmare situation would be underselling it.

Intriguing and horrid and engrossing - the book touches all of these aspects.

I will most certainly read John Glatt's future books.