At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen

Thank you to Sara Gruen and Spiegel and Grau Publishing and Netgalley for the Advanced copy of this novel.

In the tradition of "Water for Elephants", Gruen spins a wonderful period tale of wealthy Americans during the war chasing their fortunes in Scotland.  Yes, they are looking for the Loch Ness Monster but don't let that premise detract you from picking up this novel.  There is quite a bit of whimsy threaded through the book but none of it is overbearing or distracting from the underlying story.

The characters are drawn beautifully and remind me vividly of F Scott Fitzgerald in the attitudes and story structure.  Maddie's revelations about her life unfold very realistically and the subplot of romance does not feel forced.  I especially enjoyed the interaction between Maddie and the innkeepers.  It is so lovely to watch women become friends and reminds me of how lucky I am to have the ladies in my life.

This was definitely a "stay up until the last page is turned" kind of novel and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Goodreads rating: 5 stars

The Girl On the Train by Paula Hawkins

A big thanks to my book club for picking The Girl on the Train.  Fair warning dear readers, you are either going to really like this book or you are really not going to like this book, in scrolling through the other goodreads reviews, there is not a whole lot of in between on that one.  While I understand the comparisons to "Gone Girl" Paula Hawkins definitely occupies a different space in the dark and twisty genre than does Gillian Flynn.

I kind of hated how much I identified with the different characters in different ways.  I feel like I have spent time in each of their shoes at some point (feeling stuck, getting dumped, being envious, being controlled) and it makes me grateful for the ending that my life is writing for itself.  This is one of those books that I finished at 1AM and didn't feel bad about it in the morning.

I can't wait for our book club discussion next week.  It should be interesting to see how my fellow bookies felt about this novel.

Goodreads Rating: 4 stars

Flick by Abigail Tarttelin

Thank you to Netgalley, Atria Books and Abigail Tarttelin for allowing me an advanced reader copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

It pains me to say this after I adored last year's reading of Abigail Tarttelin's Golden Boy but this book was just not for me.  This may be because I am not a teenage boy but I found the language hard to follow, the sheer amount of characters unnecessary, and the love story not very lovely at all.  I understand from the background information that this was actually Tarttelin's first book and it does show.  This would be a skip for me, but definitely pick up a copy of Golden Boy if you can - it is well worth the read - even if Flick fell short for me.

Goodreads Rating: 2 stars

Silver Bay by Jojo Moyes

Many thanks to Netgalley, Penguin Publishing, and Jojo Moyes to the advanced reader copy of Silver Bay in exchange from an honest review.

Jojo Moyes catapulted into "must read status" after Me Before You, The Girl You Left Behind, and One Plus One but I have to admit, that the novelty of Silver Bay left me a little bit cold.  The characters in this book were characteristically realistic as I have come to expect from Moyes work but it took me a LONG time to get into the book and then, once I was in, i found myself skimming heavily as it drew a bit long for what the story demanded.

This was a re=release for the american audience, and, for those familiar with her work, it is obvious that this was one of her earlier efforts and lacked the substance that is found in her later works.  I retain my position in the court of Jojo Moyes and look forward to further offerings from the author in the future.


Goodreads Rating: 3 stars

The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy by Rachel Joyce

I want to begin this review by thanking Netgalley, Random House Publishing and Rachel Joyce for sharing an advance copy of The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy with me.

I was introduced to these characters almost two years ago through "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry" and instantly fell in love with not only Harold and Queenie but also the author, Rachel Joyce.  Her ability to weave a story with memorable characters that are both real and surreal.  In this companion novel to Harold Fry, Joyce tells us the other side of the story of the woman that Harold is walking the entire length of England to see.  We see Harold through Queenie's eyes, the love that she has to keep secret from him until her death and her fight to stay alive to tell him the story she never could before.

The last chapter, "The third letter" will break your heart and have you wiping tears from your eyes.  

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

Thank you so much to Netgalley St Martin's Press and Kristin Hannah for allowing me an advanced reader copy of "The Nightingale" in exchange for an honest review.  World War II France provides an elegant and tragic backdrop for an elegant and tragic story.  Viann and Isabelle's story of resilience and survival under extreme circumstances is such an inspiration for how strength and faith in love can overcome the worst odds.  Although the sisters were separated for a good deal of the novel, their stories and experiences run parallel yet divergent paths through the book.  I loved seeing how the women used their gender invisibility to their advantage to help as many people as possible survive the atrocities of the Nazi occupation.  I want to believe that I would be able to be that strong under the same settings, I pray that this is true.

The beautiful ending destroyed me in the best possible way.  I had never read Kristin Hannah in the past, but it will certainly not be the last time I pick up her novels.

Goodreads Rating: 5 stars.

Choose Your Own Autobiography by Neil Patrick Harris

If you have not gotten on board with the audio book revolution, make an exception for the new NPH autobiography read by the author himself which brings amazing new life to the stories and absurdity of his writing.  Even if you just pick this up to read this, I am certain that you will be able to "hear" Harris's distinctive voice come through in the writing.  My favorite part, besides all of his fictitious ways that he creates choose your own adventure deaths for himself, was the tenderness that creeps into his voice when he talks about his spouse and his kids.  Neil may be a comic performer but when it comes to his family, the truth of the depth of his emotions shines through.

Definitely pick this up, you will belly laugh and be inspired all in the same setting.

Goodreads Rating: 5 stars.

Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper

*sigh* How I yearn to be old enough to be able to just take off one day to walk unreasonable distances for unreasonable reasons. This story was just beautifully crafted and Etta is the old lady that I can only hope to become some day. The transition from past to present was striking and revealing in a very beautiful way. The novel itself was reminiscent of another of my favorites "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry" and places Emma Hooper in a short list of authors like Rachel Joyce that I will pick up no matter what the subject of their next work may be. There was only one spot in the novel when things got a tiny bit murky but things were resolved quickly and the ending was just superb. Thank you so much to Simon and Schuster and Emma Hooper for allowing me an advanced copy of this beautiful work in exchange for my honest review.

Goodreads Rating: 5 stars

Blood Rites by Jim Butcher

Yeah I know - two in a row - but I couldn't let my 14 year old son get ahead of me so that we could talk about the books on our weekly calls. So I powered through it on the long drives to Nebraska I had this past week. As this is the sixth book in the series, its finally getting to be a little more solid, there was actual character development happening in this book and some really cool background into Dresden's past - and a glimpse into the future as well through some pretty creative foreshadowing.

It seems like Jim Butcher finally got comfortable with his characters and has stopped writing as defensively now that he knows that his stories will continue to be published and not every story line ended up with a nice little "happily ever after" bow tied on the final chapter.

Goodreads Rating: 4 stars (better than the others...)

Death Masks by Jim Butcher

Get used to these brief, unenthusiastic reviews being stuck into this blog - I have to read this series.
Ok so I don't HAVE to read this series but all of my kids and my husband and my best friend have read the entire series and the dinner table is crowded with Harry Dresden references (yes I have 4 very nerdy boys). So I listen to these on audiobook format while I'm driving so I don't give up my precious few reading minutes on - well - Harry Dresden.  The saving grace to this setup is that the narrator is James Masters of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame - he brings a lot of life to the characters and I get to visualize his hotness while listening to his voice. Not that these are bad books if you are into this kind of thing.  Wizards and Goblins and Bob the Spirit who lives in a skull etc.  But high fantasy really isn't my bag...

That being said, this book is the fifth in the series (God help me there are 9 more of these!!!) and it is markedly better than the last four were.  The characters seem to be more fleshed out and Butcher has stopped writing so defensively and tying up all of the loose ends at the end.  The other bonus is that there was a pretty awesome - and not at all pornish - love scene in it.  I hope we see more of Susan and soon!

The plot centered around the Shroud of Turin and the Knights of the Holy Cross get involved and things get kind of intense.  I was disappointed by the ending, but I did pick up on some interesting foreshadowing so I hope some of that comes up again in future books.

Goodreads rating: 3 stars

Date read: January 15, 2015

Shine Shine Shine by Lydia Netzer

My second audio book of the year came from Lydia Netzer entitled "Shine Shine Shine"  and was the first book that I couldn't wait to get back to whenever I had to be away from it.  This is the first thing I have read by this author but it will not be the last by any means! Her characters are all just so....real.  I adored Sunny throughout this novel, I loved how she tried so incredibly hard to be the perfect wife and mother and homemaker and party planner and everything to everybody.  I loved that her husband, Maxon was a socially awkward, Aspergers genius who always tried but never really "got" what Sunny needed from him.  I loved their son Bubbers and his struggles in contrast to what was happening with his parents.  And I adored all of the tiny imperfections underneath the story and every single character in it - right down to the ancillary characters - that fit it all together brilliantly and the flashback scenes that explained how everyone became who they are.

So my rating on this novel is 4 star but I really wanted it to be 4.5.  The only places where I thought the book lost its way was near the end in a surreal scene with Bubbers and Maxon.  While I understand the point that the author was trying to make with the symbolic hallucinations, it just fell flat against the brilliance of the rest of the novel.  The other spot that rubbed me the wrong way was the journey into Skip Weather's house also near the end of the book.  Again, though, I thought the reveal of what was behind the door was lovely, it was the other circumstances surrounding the discovery that made everything seem incredibly unreal and I didn't love it.

Bonus: There was an interview with Lydia Netzer at the end of this book that detailed her process in writing it.  In it, she reveals that she really isn't much of a contemporary reader which makes sense in the fact that this book had such a unique voice that was unlike anything else on the bookshelves today.  It was a sweet little surprise there.

I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone looking to get a fresh perspective on how "perfection" really should be accomplished.

Goodreads rating: 4.5 stars.

Read Date: January 8, 2015

Back for 2015! If I Stay by Gayle Forman

I have been in the midst of my MBA studies and a big move at the end of last year but I have missed this silly little blog so I thought I'd start up again so I can record some of the thoughts about the lovely books that I am reading (or listening to as the case may be).  The great thing about having limited time to read for - if there can be an upside - is that I am very selective about my literary endeavors and, as a result chose some really lovely books since I started this whole educational journey.

The other big change is that I am back out on the road now so audio books have become my best friend.  There is just something so soothing about having someone read to you and experience the characters in a way that the author intended.  The other bonus is that a lot of the books I have read lately via audio format have had additional author interviews tacked on to the end and/or were read by the author.  I tell you, that is just the coolest.

So I am going to start with 2015 books for this year but I may dip back into 2014 for some books that I adored but didn't have a chance to blog.

My first audio book of the year was "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman.  The reason that I picked this one out was due to the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge that my friend Vanessa and I decided to do together - this one satisfied the "Book that was turned into a movie" category.

The premise of this novel centers around Mia, a teenager involved in a tragic accident that took her immediate family.  She realizes that she has the option to either stay on earth or let go into whatever lies beyond.  The story is told from her out of body point of view as she watches her loved ones cope with what has happened to her and her family.

While the writing and the musings of Mia were lovely, there was something in this novel that didn't grab me entirely and I would have loved to have seen more flashback and fewer absurd little subplots (like the rock star distraction). No spoilers but the ending seemed a bit abrupt.  It could have supported another chapter, but now I understand this is part of a series of books so I may have to try book 2 "Where She Went" to see if what I hoped would be fleshed out in this novel is continued by the author.

Goodreads Rating: 3 stars

Read Date: January 6, 2015