Friday Finds (May 8)

Posted in Book memes, For the love of books, 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 fiction, a mystery, a young adult historical fiction, a thriller (I think?), and a historical fiction:

1. Whiskey & Charlie by Annabel Smith

I thought this book just sounded really interesting. It is about twin boys who become estranged as adults, citing their irreconcilable differences as the reason why they haven’t talked in years. But when one of the brothers is in a terrible accident, the other twin must come to terms with the past and find a way to move forward. Whole thing just sounds like a winner to me. I’ll probably end up balling my eyes out. “A compelling and unforgettable novel about rivalry and redemption, Whiskey & Charlie is perfect for anyone whose family has ever been less than picture-perfect.”

2. Every Secret Thing by Laura Lippman

This book was made into a movie starring Diane Lane, Elizabeth Banks, and Dakota Fanning. When I saw the trailer for the movie I thought it looked really interesting so I will probably try to read the book first. Its about two sisters who do some unspeakable crime and get sent to juvie and then when they get out a similar crime happens so we have to figure out if they did the second crime too. Movie comes out next Friday I think (May 15th).

3. The Revelation of Louisa May by Michaela MacColl

This book is about Louisa May Alcott. It has a few facts thrown in there but is mostly fiction. I love Alcott’s story Little Women and I think it would be interesting to read about her, even if the story is mostly fiction. From Amazon, “Intertwining fact, fiction, and quotes from Little Women, Michaela MacColl has crafted another spunky heroine whose story will keep readers turning pages until the very end.”

4. Where They Found Her by Kimberly McCreight

This book was actually recommended to me by a quiz I took online, I think it was a BookPage quiz but I can’t remember, about what book I should read next. I just love the last paragraph in the description on Amazon, it sounds like this is going to be a really good novel. “Told from the perspectives of three Ridgedale women, Kimberly McCreight’s taut and profoundly moving novel unwinds the tangled truth behind the tragedy, revealing that these women have far more in common than they could ever have imagined: that the very worst crimes are committed against those we love. And that—sooner or later—the past catches up to all of us.”

5. Swimming in the Moon by Pamela Schoenewaldt

I have found a new love for historical fiction lately, and this one sounds too good to pass up. It starts off in Italy and then moves to America and just sounds like it is going to be full of tension and drama and lots of the feels. It has a ton of great reviews on Amazon. I am excited to read it!

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!

7May2015

2015 Book #42 – Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

Posted in 2015, Book reviews, Fiction, Pop Sugar Reading Challenge 2015 checklist, Reading Challenges by rebeccabook17

Title: Everything I Never Told You
Author: Celeste Ng
Date finished: 5/5/15
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Penguin Press
Publication Date: June 26, 2014
Pages in book: 292
Stand alone or series: Stand alone

Blurb from the cover:

Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet . . . So begins the story of this exquisite debut novel, about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee; their middle daughter, a girl who inherited her mother’s bright blue eyes and her father’s jet-black hair. Her parents are determined that Lydia will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue—in Marilyn’s case that her daughter become a doctor rather than a homemaker, in James’s case that Lydia be popular at school, a girl with a busy social life and the center of every party.
When Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together tumbles into chaos, forcing them to confront the long-kept secrets that have been slowly pulling them apart. James, consumed by guilt, sets out on a reckless path that may destroy his marriage. Marilyn, devastated and vengeful, is determined to find a responsible party, no matter what the cost. Lydia’s older brother, Nathan, is certain that the neighborhood bad boy Jack is somehow involved. But it’s the youngest of the family—Hannah—who observes far more than anyone realizes and who may be the only one who knows the truth about what happened.
A profoundly moving story of family, history, and the meaning of home, Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait, exploring the divisions between cultures and the rifts within a family, and uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another.

My rating: 4.25 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: This book will be counting towards my goal for the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge 2015 checklist under the “a book that made you cry” check box because, well, it made me cry. I found this book to be quite moving. The story alternates between the views and memories of all 5 people in the Lee family, transitioning without causing too much confusion which was appreciated. We find out right from the first line of the book that “Lydia is dead,” Lydia being the older of the 2 daughters. As we delve deeper and deeper into the psyche of each member of the family before and after her death, including Lydia for the before, we come to our own conclusions about what may have happened to poor Lydia. Each member of the family has their own idea of what happened, but none of them ever find out what actually happened. And what actually happened is one of the biggest tragedies in the book, I think. Through the book we learn the reason why Lydia’s mom (Marilyn) is so hard on her and pushes her to do so well in school. Even more than that, we learn the reason why Lydia stomachs it. Every member of this family has a complicated and slightly twisted relationship with one another. Their fears drive them to do reckless and ultimately destructive things that cause the relationships within the family to crack long before Lydia’s death. The extreme sense of loss resulting from Lydia’s death causes the family structure to crumble.
There are a lot of relevant issues discussed in this novel, most importantly is that of ethnicity and how different someone can feel even if their just as American as the person standing next to them just because of their ethnicity. James (the dad) is Chinese and Marilyn is white. And actually, their marriage was apparently illegal during the time period at which the book was set (they would’ve been married in the mid to late 50’s I think). James has never felt like he fit it through his entire life. He knows how heart-wrenching it is to have no friends, just because your face looks a little different. The weird stares, the whispers, the giggles. The one thing he wants for his children is for them to fit in and be normal. Unfortunately he becomes a professor in a small college town in Ohio, where they are the only Oriental family.
And poor Hannah! (Who I will call Hanna Banana because she just desperately needs a nick name) She is forgotten about by her parents for most of the book, relegated to the lonely attic, removed from the rest of her family. All she wants is love and to feel like she’s a part of her family but no one ever pays attention to her. It was just heart breaking.

So obviously I liked this book. I thought it really dealt well with a large variety of issues: ethnicity, family pressures, death, loss, love, and life itself. It was moving and thoughful and I really enjoyed it.

The bottom line: I would recommend this book, it was full of tension and discussed some relevant issues

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

6May2015

Waiting on Wednesday (8): Dearest Rogue by Elizabeth Hoyt

Posted in "Waiting On" Wednesday, Book memes, For the love of books by rebeccabook17

“Waiting On” Wednesday” is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights eagerly anticipated upcoming releases.

This week’s spotlight is on:

Dearest Rogue by Elizabeth Hoyt

Release Date: May 26, 2015

Blurb from the cover (Amazon):

HE CAN GUARD HER
Lady Phoebe Batten is pretty, vivacious, and yearning for a social life befitting the sister of a powerful duke. But because she is almost completely blind, her overprotective brother insists that she have an armed bodyguard by her side at all times-the very irritating Captain Trevillion.
FROM EVERY DANGER
Captain James Trevillion is proud, brooding, and cursed with a leg injury from his service in the King’s dragoons. Yet he can still shoot and ride like the devil, so watching over the distracting Lady Phoebe should be no problem at all-until she’s targeted by kidnappers.
BUT PASSION ITSELF
Caught in a deadly web of deceit, James must risk life and limb to save his charge from the lowest of cads-one who would force Lady Phoebe into a loveless marriage. But while they’re confined to close quarters for her safekeeping, Phoebe begins to see the tender man beneath the soldier’s hard exterior . . . and the possibility of a life-and love-she never imagined possible.!

Why Am I Waiting?

I have read every book in the Maiden Lane series so far (one of which is reviewed on my blog and I hope to have the earlier releases re-read and up in the future as well), and have loved them all. I can’t wait to read the next installment in the series. I would definitely recommend this series to anyone who likes historical romance!

So what about all of you, any books you’re anxiously waiting to be released?

1May2015

2015 Book #41 – Seduced by a Pirate by Eloisa James

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Fairy Tales series, Historical Romance by rebeccabook17

Title: Seduced by a Pirate
Author: Eloisa James
Date finished: 5/1/15
Genre: Historical romance
Publisher: Avon Impulse
Publication Date: October 30, 2012
Pages in book: 136
Stand alone or series: #4.5 Fairy Tale series

Blurb from the cover:

Seduced by a Pirate is an original, RITA-award winning e-novella from New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James. Sir Griffin Barry is one of the most feared pirates on the high seas, piloting the Flying Poppy, a ship he named after the wife whom he fondly (if vaguely) remembers, since they were together only a matter of hours.
What happens when a pirate decides to come home to his wife…if she is his wife, given that the marriage was never consummated? And what happens when that pirate strolls through his front door and is met by…
Well, that’s a surprise!

My rating: 1.5 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: This was a short story which in the sequence of events comes after The Ugly Duchess. The hero from that book ends up being a pirate/privateer with Sir Griffin Barry for 7 years,though Barry was actually out there for fourteen years. He technically was kidnapped and woke up on a boat but still he could’ve escaped and come home any time in the FOURTEEN YEARS he was gone. But no, instead he decided to leave his wife alone in England. For fourteen years. I obviously just couldn’t get past that. Anyways so the hero comes home after he becomes crippled and decides he’d like a wife now. After fourteen years. And his wife, who is kind of used to living on her own at this point, says no thanks. And he just doesn’t take no for an answer. He was obnoxiously forceful. It really turned me off to the whole story because it wasn’t romantic, it was scary and creepy. I didn’t like this really at all.

The bottom line: I would not recommend.

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

30Apr2015

2015 Book #40 – The Ugly Duchess by Eloisa James

Posted in 2015, Book reviews, Book series, Fairy Tales series, Historical Romance, Pop Sugar Reading Challenge 2015 checklist, Reading Challenges by rebeccabook17

Title: The Ugly Duchess
Author: Eloisa James
Date finished: 4/30/15
Genre: Historical romance
Publisher: Avon
Publication Date: August 28, 2012
Pages in book: 334
Stand alone or series: #4 Fairy Tale series

Blurb from the cover:

New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James gives the classic Hans Christian Andersen story of “The Ugly Duckling” a wonderful, witty, and delightfully passionate twist. The Ugly Duchess is another fairytale inspired romance from the unparalleled storyteller whose writing, author Teresa Medieros raves, “is truly scrumptious.” A sexy and fun historical romance, James’s winning tale of a glorious reawakening does not feature ducks and swans—rather it’s a charming story of a young woman unaware of her own beauty, suddenly duty-bound to wed the dashing gentleman who has always been her platonic best friend…until now.

My rating: 2.5 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: This book will be counting towards my goal for the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge 2015 checklist under the “a book from an author you love that you haven’t read yet” check box because so far I had loved her Fairy Tale series. To be honest I was not thrilled with this one though. I just couldn’t get in touch with the characters. The heroine at the beginning never really grew on me. He was demanding and overbearing whenever dealing with the heroine. And the way he just ignores all her requests once he got home from being a pirate I found very disrespectful. I personally would not have forgiven a husband who disappeared for seven years, never once sent word that he was ok, and had intercourse with three different women and kept them as mistresses while he was gone for the seven years. I mean I realize that is unrealistic to think that a man would be celibate for seven years but he supposedly loves Theo and then he describes about how one of his mistresses liked to “pray horizontally.” Just freaking awful.

And Theo was honestly so cold and rigid that I had trouble even liking her as a character. She finds out that James’ father convinced James to marry her and she says, Oh I never want to see you again? What the shit is that. When you’re married and you have a fight, you say Oh I need some time alone and hen you think about it and get over it. She’s the reason that the dude was gone for seven years in the first place. The whole thing was just awful. And then after he gets back James tricks her into staying in the house and muscles his way back into her bed and then they’re all peachy? The spent the last quarter of their lives apart, grew into completely different people, and all of a sudden their fine? I don’t know, I just couldn’t let a lot of things go. When James found out that his father had died, he should have come home and that should have been the end of this pirate / privateer business. Both of you just grow up. Ugh.

So I guess the story and the characters just didn’t work for me this time, which I found a bit surprising since I’ve been a fan of the Fairy Tale series up until now. That being said, there were a couple things that I did like about this book. I like the description of the fashions. And as much as Theo was a hard person to like, I appreciated how she grew into her own person during the seven years apart from James. I liked that Theo was able to save the estate through her keen business sense and lucrative ideas. And finally, I know this is weird, but there was a scene in the book when James first came back and he was manhandling Theo in front of the butler and he told the butler to scram and the butler basically said I don’t work for you, I work for her and I will stay to make sure you don’t hurt her. It was so unusual to see a servant stand up to a nobleman (and honestly I would’ve punched James myself if I had been present at that moment) so I wanted to give the butler a nice pat on the back, job well done.

The bottom line: Hero was way too overbearing. I would probably not recommend.

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

29Apr2015

2015 Book #39 – To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han

Posted in 2015, Book reviews, Pop Sugar Reading Challenge 2015 checklist, Reading Challenges, Young Adult by rebeccabook17

Title: To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before
Author: Jenny Han
Date finished: 4/28/15
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: April 15, 2014
Pages in book: 355
Stand alone or series: There is a sequel to this book coming out next month (P.S. I Still Love You)

Blurb from the cover:

What if all the crushes you ever had found out how you felt about them…all at once?
Lara Jean Song keeps her love letters in a hatbox her mother gave her. They aren’t love letters that anyone else wrote for her; these are ones she’s written. One for every boy she’s ever loved—five in all. When she writes, she pours out her heart and soul and says all the things she would never say in real life, because her letters are for her eyes only. Until the day her secret letters are mailed, and suddenly, Lara Jean’s love life goes from imaginary to out of control.

My rating: 2.75 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: This book will be counting towards my goal for the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge 2015 checklist under the “a book you can finish in a day” check box mostly since I finished this book in a day. I had seen this book on a lot of other blogs with rave reviews so when I saw it at the Harwinton Public Library I decided to give it a try. I have to be honest though, this was not one of my favorite books. I mean the book itself was a fine book and I can see why many people like it. It was just a little too much teen angst for me, which is one of the reasons I haven’t read many young adult novels since I was in high school. I am trying to get back into them because many of them have only a medium, tolerable amount of teen angst and that’s fine. This book though just had a little too much for me, I was so frustrated with Lara-Jean in the beginning of the book that I just wanted to scream.

I wasn’t a fan of this book in the beginning and then as the story progressed things seemed to get better. I began to like the story more and I was slightly hooked and wanted to keep reading. About 50 pages before the end though, things started going downhill for me again. I guess I just don’t get the point. I started to think that the point was that we liked Peter. But he cheats on his tests, he is continually hanging out with his ex-girlfriend that he’s still in love with (umm can anyone say red flag??) and he did not make an effort to dispel Gen’s evil rumor that he and Lara-Jean had sex in the hot tub on a school trip. Excuse me, but this doesn’t exactly sound like a stand up guy to me. Certainly not one I would want to date. But then after Lara-Jean’s mad for awhile she pretty much just let’s it go and starts writing Peter a letter. Is she doing this to get back with him? To be done with him for good (my vote)? The book just ends there. And I get that there is a sequel but honestly I was kind of mad. I put all this time and effort into reading the story and I can’t even leave off with the heroine being happy with a good guy? It was just too much frustration for me.

The bottom line: Was too much angst and not enough resolution for me. Although this is altogether a popular book, I would probably not recommend.

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

28Apr2015

2015 Book #38 – Girls of Tender Age by Mary-Ann Tirone Smith

Posted in 2015, Book reviews, Memoir, Reading Challenges, TBR Pile Reading Challenge (Roof Beam Reader) by rebeccabook17

Title: Girls of Tender Age: A Memoir
Author: Mary-Ann Tirone Smith
Date finished: 4/27/15
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: Free Press
Publication Date: January 11, 2006
Pages in book: 285
Stand alone or series: Stand alone

Blurb from the cover:

In Girls of Tender Age, Mary-Ann Tirone Smith fully articulates with great humor and tenderness the wild jubilance of an extended French-Italian family struggling to survive in a post-World War II housing project in Hartford, Connecticut. Smith seamlessly combines a memoir whose intimacy matches that ofAngela’s Ashes with the tale of a community plagued by a malevolent predator that holds the emotional and cultural resonance of The Lovely Bones.
Smith’s Hartford neighborhood is small-town America, where everyone’s door is unlocked and the school, church, library, drugstore, 5 & 10, grocery, and tavern are all within walking distance. Her family is peopled with memorable characters — her possibly psychic mother who’s always on the verge of a nervous breakdown, her adoring father who makes sure she has something to eat in the morning beyond her usual gulp of Hershey’s syrup, her grandfather who teaches her to bash in the heads of the eels they catch on Long Island Sound, Uncle Guido who makes the annual bagna cauda, and the numerous aunts and cousins who parade through her life with love and food and endless stories of the old days. And then there’s her brother, Tyler.
Smith’s household was “different.” Little Mary-Ann couldn’t have friends over because her older brother, Tyler, an autistic before anyone knew what that meant, was unable to bear noise of any kind. To him, the sound of crying, laughing, phones ringing, or toilets flushing was “a cloud of barbed needles” flying into his face. Subject to such an assault, he would substitute that pain with another: he’d try to chew his arm off. Tyler was Mary-Ann’s real-life Boo Radley, albeit one whose bookshelves sagged under the weight of the World War II books he collected and read obsessively.
Hanging over this rough-and-tumble American childhood is the sinister shadow of an approaching serial killer. The menacing Bob Malm lurks throughout this joyous and chaotic family portrait, and the havoc he unleashes when the paths of innocence and evil cross one early December evening in 1953 forever alters the landscape of Smith’s childhood.
Girls of Tender Age is one of those books that will forever change its readers because of its beauty and power and remarkable wit.

My rating: 4 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: This book was lent to me by my friend from work, Jim Lyons. He lent it to me last year though, and since I am an awful person I haven’t read it yet. Therefore at the beginning of the year I added it to my list for the Roof Beam Reader TBR Pile Reading Challenge. I might have put this off a little because I usually read mostly fiction and this book was a memoir. I have to be honest though, I loved this book. It was interesting, emotional, and riveting. It was especially interesting for me since I’ve lived in Connecticut my whole life and the book has a lot of different Connecticut facts included in the memoir.
I don’t usually read many non-fiction books but the author lays out the story in a very interesting way. There are a variety of issues addressed in this memoir, including the murder of Mary-Ann’s friend when they were young, dealing with Tyler’s autism before anyone knows what autism is, and a look at how sexual assault cases are addressed in the 1950’s. It looks at the friend’s murder from a child’s point of view and talks about how this affected her growing up. There were many emotions throughout the book, I was tearing up by the end. This was a very well written memoir and I am very glad that my friend Jim lent it to me to read!

The bottom line: Not my usual cup of tea but I loved it. Would recommend, particularly to people from CT.

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

26Apr2015

#ReadingMyLibrary Challenge – Weekly Update #4 April 25th / Wrap Up

Posted in #ReadingMyLibrary Reading Challenge, 2015, For the love of books, Reading Challenges by rebeccabook17

Gosh, this week was just busy. I’m posting this a little late (its pretty much Sunday) but today was a little crazy. I figured after tax season was over I would just read for all of my free time but I forgot that I would have to add chores back into my schedule and also that it would take me double the amount of time to get home now that I’m back in rush hour traffic. Even with all my obstacles, over this past week I was able to read four books for the reading challenge: Fangirl, My Sunshine Away, The Liar, and Boy Meets Girl. The first two books I got from the Simsbury Public Library, The Liar I got from the Plainville Public Library, and Boy Meets Girl I got from the Terryville Public Library.

As part of the #ReadingMyLibrary Challenge, you get an entry into the challenge giveaway for reading one book as part of the challenge but you get an additional entry for reading 5 additional books (up to two additional entries so 10 extra books). I already have the initial entry book and the next 5 books for an entry. Since I have one more extra entry I can use, my next 5 additional books were last week’s Cat Out of Hell and this week’s Fangirl, My Sunshine Away, The Liar, and Boy Meets Girl. Since I’ve read all the available books for this challenge, this post will also serve as my wrap up. I had a lot of fun participating in this challenge this month, I am a big fan of libraries so it was a great challenge for me! I am looking forward to reading some of the books on my TBR shelf that I bought though. Between the Bingo challenge I did from January to March and then this challenge this month, I have been busy in the challenge department and I still have other goals for the year that I want to work on!

So as part of the #ReadingMyLibrary Challenge, there are optional weekly update posts. The topic for this week’s post is: How often do you visit your library?

The answer is, quite frankly, not as often as I’d like. I try to go to at least one library a week, even if it isn’t my home library. During tax season this doesn’t ever work out for me because I’m always working during the hours that most libraries are open. Luckily for me, I end up having to travel all over the state for work, so I’m able to stop at a good variety of libraries. I have found this to be a really great way to keep finding new books. Libraries all have different collections so having access to more than one collection really gives you a great ability to find most anything you’d like to read.

While it is always nice to visit different libraries, visiting my home library turns into an event for me and I try to get there at least once or twice a month. Its important for me to check in with my “home base” not only to visit with my friends who work at the library but also to get caught up on any events going on at my home library that I might be interested in. Also most libraries are good at assessing the likes and dislikes of their patrons and buying books that they know their patrons will take out and read. Luckily for me, that usually means I have an interest in a lot of the books at my home library!

So what about you all? How often do you get to your library? Do you wish you could go more?

26Apr2015

2015 Book #37 – Boy Meets Girl by Meg Cabot

Posted in #ReadingMyLibrary Reading Challenge, 2015, Book reviews, Fiction, Reading Challenges, Women's fiction by rebeccabook17

Title: Boy Meets Girl
Author: Meg Cabot
Date finished: 4/25/15
Genre: Chick-lit / Women’s fiction
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
Publication Date: January 2004
Pages in book: 383
Stand alone or series: Stand alone

Blurb from the cover:

Meet Kate Mackenzie. She:

works for the T.O.D. (short for Tyrannical Office Despot, also known as Amy Jenkins,Director of the Human Resources Division at the New York Journal)
is sleeping on the couch because her boyfriend of ten years refuses to commit
can’t find an affordable studio apartment anywhere in New York City
thinks things can’t get any worse.

They can. Because:

the T.O.D. is making her fire the most popular employee in the paper’s senior staff dining room
that employee is now suing Kate for wrongful termination, and
now Kate has to give a deposition in front of Mitch Hertzog, the scion of one of Manhattan’s wealthiest law families,who embraces everything Kate most despises … but also happens to have a nice smile and a killer bod.

The last thing anybody — least of all Kate Mackenzie — expects to finding a legal arbitration is love. But that’s the kind of thing that can happen when … Boy Meets Girl.

My rating: 3.75 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: This book will count for the challenge I am participating in for April, the #ReadingMyLibrary reading challenge. I checked out this book from the Terryville Public Library. This book was a re-read for me, I have read all of Meg Cabot’s adult books before and have loved them all. This book is a perfect, light-hearted, entertaining read. Kate is a bleeding heart character. Her and Mitch actually turn out to be a great match since he worked as a public defender and understands the bleeding heart mentality. Mitch’s family is just hilarious too. I couldn’t stand Stuart and I couldn’t even believe he could have some of those thoughts as a sane human being.
All the characters in this book (even the villainous-like ones) are entertaining I think. I love that this novel is in the epistolary form because you get to hear pieces from almost every character’s point of view and I find that makes the story better in many ways. Overall this is a sweet story and a light, fun read.

The bottom line: This was a re-read for me. I would definitely recommend.

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

25Apr2015

2015 Book #36 – The Liar by Nora Roberts

Posted in #ReadingMyLibrary Reading Challenge, 2015, Book reviews, Reading Challenges, Romantic suspense by rebeccabook17

Title: The Liar
Author: Nora Roberts
Date finished: 4/24/15
Genre: Romantic suspense
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Publication Date: April 14, 2015
Pages in book: 501
Stand alone or series: Stand alone

Blurb from the cover:

Shelby Foxworth lost her husband. Then she lost her illusions …
The man who took her from Tennessee to an exclusive Philadelphia suburb left her in crippling debt. He was an adulterer and a liar, and when Shelby tracks down his safe-deposit box, she finds multiple IDs. The man she loved wasn’t just dead. He never really existed.
Shelby takes her three-year-old daughter and heads south to seek comfort in her hometown, where she meets someone new: Griff Lott, a successful contractor. But her husband had secrets she has yet to discover. Even in this small town, surrounded by loved ones, danger is closer than she knows—and threatens Griff, as well. And an attempted murder is only the beginning …

My rating: 4 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: This book will count for the challenge I am participating in for April, the #ReadingMyLibrary reading challenge. I checked out this book from the Plainville Public Library, luckily for me there it was sitting right on the shelf on its release date! I’m a fan of Nora Roberts and this book in particular sounded interesting to me. Right from the beginning this book drew me in. I have to admit I was a little daunted at first based on the length (hardcover book with 500 pages!!) but it went surprisingly fast. I found the story to be well-paced for the most part. There are obviously going to be a few dry parts in a 500 page book, I’m not sure how anyone can avoid that, but the story line was interesting and the characters kept me engaged throughout.
I have to say I just fell so much in love with Griff’s character. He was just so amazingly sweet and generous and loving. He was obviously smitten with Shelby’s little girl, four-year old Callie. And I thought it was so great that Shelby had such a supportive family to fall back on. Her story really is just astounding, and heart-wrenchingly sad that she lived for five years with someone who made her feel so worthless and unwanted. That’s an awful feeling and to be constantly made to feel that by someone you love, I can understand how she lost some of her spirit. It was wonderful to see her regain that spirit and grow throughout the novel though.
One of the things that I have to be honest I didn’t love about this book was the amount of characters we’re introduced to through the course of the story. Gosh it was just too much for me, I could barely keep them all straight. And some of them had the same names like little three year-old Jackson and Shelby’s grandfather Jack, and Shelby’s father Clay and her brother Clayton. It was just hard to keep track of sometimes. It was also hard to keep track of who was talking, there was a LOT of conversation going back and forth in most of the book, sometimes for long rambles and at a couple points I had to go back through because I was like, wait who said that?

The bottom line: Was good and surprisingly well-paced for such a long book. Favorite part of the story was Griff I think. Would recommend.

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