2015 Book #107 – The Good Neighbor by Amy Sue Nathan

Posted in Book reviews, Fiction, Women's fiction by rebeccabook17

Title: The Good Neighbor
Author: Amy Sue Nathan
Date finished: 10/13/15
Genre: Women’s fiction
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Publication Date: October 13, 2015
Pages in book: 272
Stand alone or series: Stand alone
Where I got the book from: NetGalley NOTE: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

When small lies have big consequences…
Things are a little rough for Izzy Lane. Still reeling from the break-up of her marriage, the newly single mom moves back to the Philadelphia home she grew up in, five-year-old Noah in tow. The transition is difficult, but with the help of her best friends-and her elderly neighbor, Mrs. Feldman-Izzy feels like she’s stepping closer to her new normal. Until her ex-husband shows up with his girlfriend. That’s when Izzy invents a boyfriend of her own. And that’s when life gets complicated.
Blogging about her “new guy” provides Izzy with something to do when Noah’s asleep. What’s the harm in a few made-up stories? But when her friends want to meet the mysterious “Mac,” someone online suspects Izzy’s a fraud, and a guy in real life catches her eye, Izzy realizes just how high the stakes are.

My rating: 3.75 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. This book tells the story of Izzy (Elizabeth) Lane. After her divorce from Bruce, she moves back into her childhood home with her son Noah until she can get things together. After she puts Noah to bed every night she escapes into the online world of blogging. She started a blog where she relates her dating experiences and it has become more and more popular. It is because of this that Izzy’s friend Jade asks her to become one of the new writers on her web site. Only problem is that lately Izzy has been writing more and more about her new boyfriend Mac and Jade wants her to keep writing about their dates. Unfortunately, that’s going to be a little difficult because, well, Mac doesn’t exist.
What follows is a touching story about a near forty-year old woman trying to find her way in the world now that her life has been uprooted and trying to find a new purpose. Izzy as a character I felt could have had a little more depth but she was vulnerable and generous of heart. Her monologues about her feelings regarding Noah and sharing his time with Bruce were particularly touching for me. This book really brings home the heartbreaking situation that comes with having to share a child with another parent. Each parent has a right and a desire to have time with that child (in a perfect world) but who gets to decide which parent gets more time with the child? Parents (hopefully) decide what is best for the child in this scenario but I can’t imagine having to give up weeks at a time with a child, its just a terrible no-win situation. Anyways, the other characters in the story I also felt could have had more depth but the story line was well paced and the book overall was a quick read that I enjoyed.

The bottom line: I thought this was a quick and easy read. It was a sweet and touching story, I would recommend it.

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

12Oct2015

2015 Book #106 – Wendy Darling by Colleen Oakes

Posted in Book reviews, Young Adult by rebeccabook17

Title: Wendy Darling
Author: Colleen Oakes
Date finished: 10/10/15
Genre: YA
Publisher: SparkPress
Publication Date: October 13, 2015
Pages in book: 324
Stand alone or series: #1 in the Wendy Darling series
Where I got the book from: NetGalley NOTE: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

Wendy Darling has a perfectly agreeable life with her parents and brothers in wealthy London, as well as a budding romance with Booth, the neighborhood bookseller’s son. But one night, while their parents are at a ball, the charmingly beautiful Peter Pan comes to the Darling children’s nursery, and—dazzled by this flying boy with god-like powers—they follow him out of the window and straight on to morning into Neverland, an intoxicating island of freedom.
As time passes in Neverland, Wendy realizes that this Lost Boy’s paradise of turquoise seas, mermaids, and pirates holds terrible secrets rooted in blood and greed. As Peter’s grasp on her heart tightens, she struggles to remember where she came from—and begins to suspect that this island of dreams, and the boy who desires her, have the potential to transform into an everlasting nightmare.

My rating: 2.75 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. This book tells the story of Wendy Darling, a name familiar to many as the girl from the tale of Peter Pan. This book is the first in a series delving into Wendy’s life and her adventures and travels in London and Neverland. Wendy and her two brothers, John and Michael, live with their parents in London, England. Wendy is in love with the book seller’s son, Booth, from down the street. Once night a strange young man appears at the Darling childrens’ bedroom window, a young man who can fly and promises them a world of adventure if they will come on a journey with him. And he promises that their parents won’t even miss them, won’t even know they’re gone, and that they can return home whenever they wish.
And then the Darlings are in Neverland! Neverland is a magical place where all the landscapes are gorgeous, the sky is always blue, and you always feel right at home. After spending just one day in Neverland, Wendy can’t remember where it is she used to live, or who she used to live with. And whenever she kisses Peter, she can’t understand why she feels a pang of guilt. And then she meets the murderously jealous Tink, a fairy who is very possessive of Peter and will do whatever it takes to get Wendy out of the way.
Overall this was an ok book. It was a little wordy to me in some of the descriptions but the plot was interesting. Also, to be honest the story was a little dark/violent for me but I could definitely understand how people would get hooked on the story, especially with the cliffhanger at the end. I don’t know if I personally am interested enough to read the second book (again it was a little dark for my tastes) but I was hoping to find out what happens to Wendy and her family and Booth in the end so I might just have to continue with the series. I have to say though I wanted to freaking punch John in the face pretty badly, and I found it to be a little weak that Wendy was constantly apologizing to John when he was such an ass to her. Hopefully Wendy stands up for herself a little more in the next book in the series.

The bottom line: I didn’t particularly love this book. It was a little dark/violent for me, but it had a really interesting story line and I would recommend it to fans of Peter Pan who can handle the darkness.

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

8Oct2015

2015 Book #105 – Some Like It Scot by Suzanne Enoch

Posted in Book reviews, Historical Romance by rebeccabook17

Title: Some Like It Scot
Author: Suzanne Enoch
Date finished: 10/7/15
Genre: Historical Romance
Publisher: St. Martin’s Paperbacks
Publication Date: October 6, 2015
Pages in book: 368
Stand alone or series: #4 in the Scandalous Highlanders series
Where I got the book from: NetGalley NOTE: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

CAN A CLASH OF WILLS
Nineteenth-century, Scotland:
When a mad lass in trousers shoots at him, Munro “Bear” MacLawry isn’t sure what impresses him more-the girl’s sure aim or her irresistibly tempting curves. Catriona MacColl has fled to the Highlands with her half-sister to escape an unwanted wedding, and wants no part of him, nor any man. But he can’t abandon the flame-haired, sharp-tongued wildcat now that he’s discovered her-not when she fits so perfectly in his arms…
LEAD TO A LOVE FOR ALL TIME?
Munro has more than earned his nickname-he’s a well-muscled, well-favored mountain of a man with an engaging bad-boy grin and a string of well-satisfied lasses behind him. Bringing Catriona food, blankets, candles, everything she needs to survive a winter in an abandoned abbey, Munro is an unexpected gift in her reckless bid for freedom-and an unexpected complication. Clan MacDonald has plans for her, and they don’t include her falling for a MacLawry. But this man makes her feel like a woman-and he may be her one chance to live a life about which she’s only dared dream…in Some Like It Scot by New York Times bestselling author Suzanne Enoch.

My rating: 4.25 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. This book tells the story of Catriona MacColl, a girl who was raised by her father as if she was born the son he always wished for. Most comfortable in trousers and a man’s shirt, she makes an odd site and has been the cause of much gossip among her own clan. When she finds out that her Uncle plans to use her to stir up trouble, she plans to run away and thanks to great timing, her half-sister (Elizabeth) needs some rescuing right around the same time. Cat and Elizabeth end up hiding out on MacLawry land without realizing it, and Cat comes across Bear. Bear is instantly intrigued by this woman who wears men’s clothing and can shoot a gun better than he can. And so he dedicates himself to helping her without having full knowledge of what exactly she’s running away from.
Cat and Bear (Munro) obviously fall in love. I have to be honest I’ve read many a romance novel but the dialogue between Cat and Bear really was just truly moving. The emotions leapt off the page and the way Bear spoke of his love for her was akin to poetry. It was just utterly romantic. I also really liked the story line, I was interested throughout the book and I really had trouble putting it down once I got into the story, all I wanted to do was keep reading to find out what happened next.
I obviously enjoyed this book, I thought it was a good story line and it was very romantic. The only thing that frustrated me about this book was that I felt like the ending came about a little too quick. I really thought that Ran and the rest of the family (mostly just the men) should’ve had to apologize more since they were such jerks to both Cat and Bear when they were trying to tell them not to be together, especially since they themselves moved heaven and earth to be with the ones they loved. I also would’ve liked his family to all have to admit that they liked Cat and that Bear was smarter than they all had been giving him credit for these last twenty years. Other than those couple small frustrations though I would say this is definitely a great historical romance and one I would definitely recommend!

The bottom line: I really enjoyed this book, I liked Catriona as a character and Munro as well. Great read, looking forward to catching up and reading the first three books in the series!

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

4Oct2015

2015 Book #104 – Maybe In Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Posted in Book reviews, Fiction by rebeccabook17

Title: Maybe in Another Life
Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
Date finished: 10/4/15
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Publication Date: July 7, 2015
Pages in book: 333
Stand alone or series: Stand alone
Where I got the book from: Terryville Public Library

Blurb from the cover:

From the acclaimed author of Forever, Interrupted and After I Do comes a breathtaking new novel about a young woman whose fate hinges on the choice she makes after bumping into an old flame; in alternating chapters, we see two possible scenarios unfold—with stunningly different results.
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 Life raises 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.

My rating: 4.25 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I felt like I saw this book on every list of “hot books to read this summer.” It probably wasn’t every list but it felt like it! The premise of this book was especially interesting to me (parallel universes and how the story would play out in each) so when I saw it available at my library I definitely had to borrow it. This book is about Hannah Martin, who is returning home to LA to try and get her mess of a life into some kind of order and try to find more direction with what she wants to do with her life. Until she gets her own place, she is living with her best friend Gabby and her husband Mark. Hannah’s family situation is complicated but Gabby and her parents have always been like family to Hannah, and Gabby knows her inside and out like no one else ever has. Gabby and Mark take Hannah out on the town her first night back to celebrate her return, and Hannah ends up seeing her high school boyfriend at the bar. When Gabby and Mark are getting ready to leave Hannah has to make a decision, should she stay at the bar with Ethan or go home with Gabby.
The book then breaks off into alternating chapters switching between the two story lines, between what would have happened if Hannah stayed at the bar with Ethan or if she went home with Gabby. Her life turns out extremely different in the two stories but there are some parallels between the two worlds. I loved seeing the story from two different possible paths it could have taken and also how each path affected not only Hannah’s life but her friends and family around her. Its amazing to me how differently your life can turn out based on one decision. And if you really think of the thousand of decisions you make each and every day, if there really are two parallel universes for each decision that is made, imagine how many different lives you could be living all at once right now.
Anyways, that was getting a little off track. As you can tell, this book is especially thought provoking and just a really interesting topic that I’ve never really though that much about before. I really enjoyed it and also that there were a good amount of twists and turns included in the story. I didn’t lose interest at all and I honestly just couldn’t put the book down once I got into the concurrent story lines. This was a great book and I will definitely be reading this author’s other novels as well as anything that comes out in the future!

The bottom line: I thought the concept behind this book was especially interesting. I’ve never read anything like this before, I really enjoyed it. I would definitely recommend!

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

1Oct2015

2015 Book #103 – Surviving Valencia by Holly Tierney-Bedord

Posted in Book reviews, Fiction, Thriller by rebeccabook17

Title: Surviving Valencia
Author: Holly Tierney-Bedord
Date finished: 9/29/15
Genre: Fiction, thriller
Publisher: Unknown
Publication Date: June 30, 2012
Pages in book: 335
Stand alone or series: Stand alone
Where I got the book from: Author/publisher NOTE: I received this book for free from the author/publisher in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

A car accident robs the Loden Family of twins Van and Valencia shortly after they start college. Charmed, bright, and beautiful, they held their family together and elevated the Lodens to greatness. In their loss, a shadow is cast upon the family, particularly on the remaining child, who lacks the easy grace and popularity her older siblings took for granted.
As an adult, her life begins to turn from mediocre to amazing when she is saved by cool, artistic Adrian. The kind of happiness once reserved only for others is finally hers, until pieces of the past begin ruining what seems to be a perfect life.

My rating: 3.75 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. This book tells the story of our narrator, a 30-ish year old woman who is married to a well-known and wealthy Savannah artist. Now an adult, she is still haunted by the death of her siblings (who were twins and 7ish years older than her) when she was young, and her upbringing has made her feel significantly inadequate as a person. The book alternates between chapters from the past and the present, starting when the narrator is a child and her siblings were still alive. As the book goes along, the chapters about the past eventually catches up to close to where the story began in the present so we luckily end up covering the span of the narrator’s entire life. As the story evolves, we learn a lot more about the narrator’s husband and how he hasn’t been as honest as expected.
Overall I liked this book, it kept me interested from the very beginning and honestly I didn’t want to put it down. I was a little let down with the ending, only because it happened pretty abruptly and I found it to be a tad confusing plus there were some unanswered that as a reader I probably would’ve like to know the answers to. The story switched to a different narrator for the last chapter (not saying who but be prepared for a twist) and the second narrator mentions a baby with green eyes but you really have to pay attention to small details during the rest of the story to grasp the significance of this and even then its entirely possible that there is another villain out there with green eyes. And there is a reference to the second narrator escaping but what were they escaping from and how long did they have to wait before they escaped? And there is a mention of an old and a young guy but who the heck is the old guy? Just a lot of questions. Which really, I mean the story is very engrossing, i just wish we found out what happened to the second narrator! Other than that though the story is interesting and mysterious and a bit thrilling. Honestly while I was reading it reminded me of a cross of both Luckiest Girl Alive and The Space Between Heartbeats in certain parts of the plot line. It was a great read!

The bottom line: I liked this book a lot but the ending left something to be desired for me personally. Story really draws you in though, I would recommend it!

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

26Sep2015

2015 Book #102 – The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George

Posted in Book reviews, Fiction by rebeccabook17

Title: The Little Paris Bookshop
Author: Nina George
Date finished: 9/26/15
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Crown
Publication Date: June 23, 2015
Pages in book: 400
Stand alone or series: Stand alone
Where I got the book from: NetGalley NOTE: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

Monsieur Perdu calls himself a literary apothecary. From his floating bookstore in a barge on the Seine, he prescribes novels for the hardships of life. Using his intuitive feel for the exact book a reader needs, Perdu mends broken hearts and souls. The only person he can’t seem to heal through literature is himself; he’s still haunted by heartbreak after his great love disappeared. She left him with only a letter, which he has never opened.
After Perdu is finally tempted to read the letter, he hauls anchor and departs on a mission to the south of France, hoping to make peace with his loss and discover the end of the story. Joined by a bestselling but blocked author and a lovelorn Italian chef, Perdu travels along the country’s rivers, dispensing his wisdom and his books, showing that the literary world can take the human soul on a journey to heal itself.
Internationally bestselling and filled with warmth and adventure, The Little Paris Bookshop is a love letter to books, meant for anyone who believes in the power of stories to shape people’s lives.

My rating: 2.0 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. I’ve seen this book around a lot the past couple months, it was a very popular summer read and I have seen many positive reviews on it so I thought I should give it a try. To be honest I probably could have passed on by and been perfectly. While this book has been widely praised, I just could not get into the story myself. I found the book to be extremely wordy and the main character is a 50 year old man who has lived in self-induce purgatory for the past twenty years. I could not connect with him at all, I just found his character to be so martyr-ish. And the story line was hard to follow for me in some way. There were just a lot fo random things that happened that didn’t necessarily seem connected at all and in some cases didn’t even really make sense to me. There were some parts of the book that made me tear up, there were many emotions that came alive in the story and the reader can sense love in each page of the book, love between friends, that first love that is ever-consuming, and even love that lives only in one’s imagination. The books speaks eloquently of France along Jean Perdu’s journey south, of the food, the scenery, and the people. For anyone who would like to experience the beauty of France, this would be a great book to read!

The bottom line: I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to hear of the beauty of France. This book wasn’t a great one for me but is very popular with the general population.

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

22Sep2015

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books on My Fall TBR List

Posted in Book memes, Top Ten Tuesday by rebeccabook17

Top Ten Tuesday is a book meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every Tuesday there is a different bookish topic and bloggers are asked to post their own top ten list based on the topic. This week is a listing of the Top Ten Books on My Fall TBR List. There are a lot of good books coming out this fall and I had a little trouble narrowing it down to just 10 but I figured it out somehow. I highly doubt I’ll read all 10 of these this fall but they’re all added to my TBR listing and we’ll see how many I can fit into the schedule. A couple of them I was able to get through NetGalley so at least I know those will get read.

1. Stars of Fortune by Nora Roberts

2. Sweetest Scoundrel by Elizabeth Hoyt

3. Undead and Unforgiven by Mary Janice Davidson

4. After Alice by Gregory Maguire

5. Along the Infinite Sea by Beatriz Williams

6. This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance! by Jonathan Evison

7. The Good Neighbor by Amy Sue Nathan

8. Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy

9. A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis

10. Blood & Salt by Kim Ligget

So those are my top 10 TBR for this fall. I’d love to hear any suggestions you readers might have though! I always love hearing about new books to try. Happy reading everyone!

22Sep2015

2015 Book #101 – A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Posted in Book Clubs, Book reviews, Fiction, Terryville - Fiction Lovers by rebeccabook17

Title: A Thousand Splendid Suns
Author: Khaled Hosseini
Date finished: 9/21/15
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Riverhead
Publication Date: May 22, 2007
Pages in book: 372
Stand alone or series: Stand alone
Where I got the book from: Terryville Public Library

Blurb from the cover:

Propelled by the same superb instinct for storytelling that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once an incredible chronicle of thirty years of Afghan history and a deeply moving story of family, friendship, faith, and the salvation to be found in love.
Born a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family, Mariam and Laila are two women brought jarringly together by war, by loss and by fate. As they endure the ever escalating dangers around them-in their home as well as in the streets of Kabul–they come to form a bond that makes them both sisters and mother-daughter to each other, and that will ultimately alter the course not just of their own lives but of the next generation. With heart-wrenching power and suspense, Hosseini shows how a woman’s love for her family can move her to shocking and heroic acts of self-sacrifice, and that in the end it is love, or even the memory of love, that is often the key to survival.
A stunning accomplishment, A Thousand Splendid Suns is a haunting, heartbreaking, compelling story of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love.

My rating: 4.0 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I read this book for the Terryville Library’s Fiction Lover’s Book Discussion group discussion for this month (September). This book probably wasn’t something I would have picked up on my own but I’m very glad that I read it. I also thought it was interesting that I’ve never read books on this subject matter before but my other most recent read had a very similar story line and I couldn’t help but make parallels between the two novels. This book tells the story of two women: Miriam who grew up near Herat but moved to Kabul when she married, and Laila who grew up in Kabul and was born on the night of “the uprising.” These two women had very different childhoods. Miriam was a bastard child of a man who already had 3 wives, and she was raised out in a one room shack in the woods in order for the family to avoid being shamed. Laila was the third child of a couple in Kabul who ended up having to send their two first-born children (boys) to war, and while her father was doting her mother never recovered from having to send her boys off to war.

As Miriam and Laila journey through their lives in Kabul, regimes change hand again and again. Rules and restrictions are placed on the citizens of Afghanistan and women lose many basic rights and basically become prisoners in their own homes in many cases. Things are especially bad for women who are married to men like Rasheed, Miriam’s husband. Rasheed lays out rules with his fists and his belt, and when Miriam has one miscarriage after another, Rasheed wants even less to do with her. Miriam and Laila must both find their way in this world where they are treated as less, as if they are owned by their husbands and are not people on their own.

Overall I really liked this book a lot. There were a lot of interesting relationship dynamics between the characters and there were some unexpected twists thrown in there. Honestly I’m surprised I liked it so much considering how depressing it was. There was just so much violence in this book, and almost all of it was directed at women. This was a very powerful story though that really made me appreciate how lucky I am in life to not have to face such terror and heart-break. Both of these women were amazingly strong and I cannot imagine going through the things they experienced. Definitely an eye-opening novel and something I think everyone should read.

The bottom line: I really liked this book a lot. The subject matter was pretty depressing but overall it was a great novel.

Link to author website
Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

21Sep2015

2015 Book #100 – When The Moon Is Low by Nadia Hashimi

Posted in Book reviews, Fiction by rebeccabook17

Title: When The Moon Is Low
Author: Nadia Hashimi
Date finished: 9/20/15
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication Date: July 21, 2015
Pages in book: 380
Stand alone or series: Stand alone
Where I got the book from: BookBrowse NOTE: I received this book for free from BookBrowse in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

Mahmoud’s passion for his wife Fereiba, a schoolteacher, is greater than any love she’s ever known. But their happy, middle-class world—a life of education, work, and comfort—implodes when their country is engulfed in war, and the Taliban rises to power.
Mahmoud, a civil engineer, becomes a target of the new fundamentalist regime and is murdered. Forced to flee Kabul with her three children, Fereiba has one hope to survive: she must find a way to cross Europe and reach her sister’s family in England. With forged papers and help from kind strangers they meet along the way, Fereiba make a dangerous crossing into Iran under cover of darkness. Exhausted and brokenhearted but undefeated, Fereiba manages to smuggle them as far as Greece. But in a busy market square, their fate takes a frightening turn when her teenage son, Saleem, becomes separated from the rest of the family.
Faced with an impossible choice, Fereiba pushes on with her daughter and baby, while Saleem falls into the shadowy underground network of undocumented Afghans who haunt the streets of Europe’s capitals. Across the continent Fereiba and Saleem struggle to reunite, and ultimately find a place where they can begin to reconstruct their lives.

My rating: 4.75 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. This book is mostly about Fereiba and her family. The book starts out when she is born and tells the story of her life living in Kabul, Afghanistan. Her childhood is not what I would call happy but she had a roof over her head and plenty of food and necessities. She ends up marrying Mahmoud and together they have children. After Fereiba’s first child though, things begin to change in Kabul. Women are no longer along to go out unless escorted by men and there are many other restrictions placed on their lives, including that girls are no longer allowed to attend school. Fereiba had been a teacher before the new laws were imposed but she is no longer given the choice to have a job at all. Though she was unsure in the beginning of their marriage, Mahmoud and Fereiba do well together and end up falling in love. They keep their children grounded and try to give them as normal a life as possible amid all the bombings and war and terror. It isn’t until tragedy strikes though that Fereiba realizes she and her children need to escape Afghanistan. And so begins a journey to England, where Fereiba’s sister lives and has invited them to come stay until they can get on their own feet.
During this time in Afghanistan’s history, hundreds of thousands of refugees were seeking asylum in other countries due to the terror tactics that the Taliban has imposed on the Afghani people. Fereiba and her family have a long journey ahead of them, and it is far from easy. Each country along the way has camps of refugees living in squalor, hoping to be granted asylum so they won’t be sent back. Many who are captured however are sent back to the last country they had traveled through or to Afghanistan itself. Fereiba is also struggling with traveling with her infant child who is discovered along the route to have a heart condition that he will die from if it is not addressed. Fereiba is one of the lucky few refugees who finds kind souls along the way who help her and her family on their journey to a better life.
Overall I honestly loved this book. The subject matter itself is obviously moving and sad and (hopefully) fills the reader with compassion and empathy for these poor souls. The author though really just did such an amazing job with the story, it was beautifully written. It was poignant and touching and I got so involved in the characters and their lives. Fereiba’s journey was full of heart-breaks and tough choices but in that situation what can you do but try and give your children the best life possible? The ending was left slightly open but I can’t help but believe there was a happy ending. This is definitely a must read.

Favorite Quotes:

“Teachers are the yeast that makes the dough rise.”

“Love grows wildest in the gardens of hardship.”

“In the darkness, when you cannot see the ground under your feet and when your fingers touch nothing but night, you are not alone. I will stay with you as moonlight stays on water.”

The bottom line: I absolutely loved this book, the writing was poignant and beautiful. I didn’t want to put it down. I would highly recommend.

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

18Sep2015

Friday Finds (Sept 18)

Posted in Book memes, Friday Finds by rebeccabook17

FRIDAY FINDS is hosted by A Daily Rhythm and showcases the books you ‘found’ and added to your To Be Read (TBR) list. Whether you found them online, or in a bookstore, or in the library — wherever! (they aren’t necessarily books you purchased).

My finds this week include a women’s fiction, a young adult thriller, and a magical realism:

1. This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance! by by Jonathan Evison
I thought this book sounded good and it reminded me a tad of Where’d You Go Bernadette (which I LOVED) just based on the description.

2. The Next Time You See Me by Holly Goddard Jones
This was on a list of books that Gillian Flynn (author of Gone Girl) recommends. The book sounds like it will be a great thriller and its recommended by an author I like so I figured I should give it a try.

3. Season of the Dragonflies by Sarah Creech
I thought this book sounded just great and I’ve been very into the magical realism lately. Compared to books by Sarah Addison Allen and Alice Hoffman (both of which I just love) so I marked this as a definite must read!

So those are my finds this week! Please feel free to share your finds or leave a link to your own “Friday Finds” blog posting below! Happy Friday!