Tag: reading

Book Review: Heart of the Sun, by Mia Sheridan

Image belongs to Harlequin/Canary Street Press.

Title: Heart of the Sun
Author: Mia Sheridan
Genre: Romance, fantasy
Rating: 4 out of 5

When the world is plunged into darkness, who would you turn to?

Amid the sun-drenched orange groves of California, childhood friends Tuck Mattice and Emily Swanson shared a bond that seemed unbreakable—until life ripped them apart.

Thirteen years later, Emily is a rising pop sensation in need of security, and Tuck, a brooding ex-con, is in need of a fresh start. When fate brings them together once again, Emily hires him on as her new bodyguard. They butt heads and bicker, just like the old days—yet neither can deny the heat rekindling between them.

But when a cataclysmic solar flare disrupts the electrical grid, society is suddenly plunged into chaos and darkness. For Emily, the familiar comforts of fame and fortune crumble, but for Tuck, this stark new reality could be the chance he needs to finally prove himself. As they come to terms with all they’ve lost and the bitterness that’s kept them apart, they must find their way back to one another and discover a new place, under the sun.

I enjoyed this read, although the childhood scenes did not make it seem like Tuck and Emily “shared a bond that seemed unbreakable.” It just seemed like the barely tolerated each other. I generally like dystopian novels, so I enjoyed that part, although Tuck and Emily seem much more trusting of people they meet than I would have been. This was a solid read, but I never really felt the characters were in danger.

Mia Sheridan is a bestselling author. Heart of the Sun is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Harlequin/Canary Street Press in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: My Friends, by Fredrik Backman

Image belongs to Atria Books.

Title: My Friends  
Author: Fredrik Backman   
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 5 out of 5 

Most people don’t even notice them—three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it’s just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an artist herself, knows otherwise and she is determined to find out the story of these three enigmatic figures.

Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their difficult home lives by spending their days laughing and telling stories out on a pier. There’s Joar, who never backs down from a fight; quiet and bookish Ted who is mourning his father; Ali, the daughter of a man who never stays in one place for long; and finally, there’s the artist, a boy who hoards sleeping pills and shuns attention, but who possesses an extraordinary gift that might be his ticket to a better life. These four lost souls find in each other a reason to get up each morning, a reason to dream.

Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that will unexpectedly be put into eighteen-year-old Louisa’s care. As she struggles to decide what to do with this bequest, she embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to learn the story of how the painting came to be. The closer she gets to the painting’s birthplace, the more she feels compelled to unleash her own artistic spirit, but happy endings don’t always take the form we expect in this fresh testament to the transformative power of friendship and art.

This was a heck of a read!  I expect great characters and an intriguing story from Fredrik Backman, but this was just so, so good. On the surface, it doesn’t seem super appealing, but the characters were just so appealing and their friendship was fantastic. Hanging out with the four friends in the past just sounded fun, and Louisa and Ted in the future made me laugh a lot. Great read, with some excellent twists.

Fredrik Backman is a bestselling author. My Friends is his newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Atria Books in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: Death at a Highland Wedding, by Kelley Armstrong

Image belongs to St. Martin’s Press.

Title: Death at a Highland Wedding   
Author: Kelley Armstrong          
Genre: Historical fiction, mystery/thriller, fantasy   
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

After slipping 150 years into the past, modern-day homicide detective Mallory Atkinson has embraced her new life in Victorian Scotland as housemaid Catriona Mitchel. Although it isn’t what she expected, she’s developed real, meaningful relationships with the people around her and has come to love her role as assistant to undertaker Dr. Duncan Gray and Detective Hugh McCreadie.

Mallory, Gray, and McCreadie are on their way to the Scottish Highlands for McCreadie’s younger sister’s wedding. The McCreadies and the groom’s family, the Cranstons, have a complicated history which has made the weekend quite uncomfortable. But the Cranston estate is beautiful so Gray and Mallory decide to escape the stifling company and set off to explore the castle and surrounding wilderness. They discover that the groom, Archie Cranston, a slightly pompous and prickly man, has set up deadly traps in the woods for the endangered Scottish wildcats, and they soon come across a cat who’s been caught and severely injured. Oddly, Mallory notices the cat’s injuries don’t match up with the intricacies of the trap. These strange irregularities, combined with the secretive and erratic behavior of the groom, put Mallory and Duncan on edge. And then when one of the guests is murdered, they must work fast to uncover the murderer before another life is lost.

This was a fun read. I thought I’d read the first book in the series—and not the second two—but maybe not. I still had no problems stepping in mid-series. I enjoyed the characters and the dichotomy between modern Mallory caught 150 years in the past. I found all the characters to be solid and (mostly) likable, and I truly had no idea what was really going on until the reveal at the end. Very solid historical/time travel mystery read with some great characters.

Kelley Armstrong is a bestselling author. Death at a Highland Wedding is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: The Love Haters, by Katherine Center

Image belongs to St. Martin’s Press.

Title: The Love Haters   
Author: Katherine Center         
Genre: Romance    
Rating: 5 out of 5

It’s a thin line between love and love-hating.

Katie Vaughn has been burned by love in the past—now she may be lighting her career on fire. She has two choices: wait to get laid off from her job as a video producer or, at her coworker Cole’s request, take a career-making gig profiling Tom “Hutch” Hutcheson, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer in Key West.

The catch? Katie’s not exactly qualified. She can’t swim—but fakes it that she can.

Plus: Cole is Hutch’s brother. And they don’t get along. Next stop paradise!

But paradise is messier than it seems. As Katie gets entangled with Hutch (the most scientifically good looking man she has ever seen . . . but also a bit of a love hater), along with his colorful Aunt Rue and his rescue Great Dane, she gets trapped in a lie. Or two.

Swim lessons, helicopter flights, conga lines, drinking contests, hurricanes, and stolen kisses ensue—along with chances to tell the truth, to face old fears, and to be truly brave at last.

I loved this read! Katie was 100% relatable, from her body image issues and feelings of inferiority, to her mishaps and adventures. Her friendship with Beanie was great and I enjoyed their meandering conversations. Rue and the ladies in Florida were very entertaining and I loved their antics. Hutch was a bit hard to get a read on, but I ended up liking him—it was probably the way he took care of the dog.

Katherine Center is a bestselling author. The Love Haters is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: Out of Air, by Rachel Reiss

Image belongs to St. Martin’s Press.

Title: Out of Air   
Author: Rachel Reiss         
Genre: YA    
Rating: 4 out of 5 

The deeper you go, the darker you fall.

Phoebe “Phibs” Ray is never more at home than when she’s underwater. On a dive six months ago, she and her four closest friends discovered a handful of ancient gold coins, rocketing them into social media fame. Now, their final summer together after high school, they’re taking one last trip to a distant Australian island to do what they love most – scuba dive.

While diving a local reef, Phibs discovers a spectacular underwater sea cave, rumored to be a lost cave with a buried treasure. But when Phibs and her best friend Gabe surface from the cave, they notice that they’re undergoing strange changes. Oozing gashes that don’t heal. Haunting whispers in their heads… Something has latched onto them, lurking beneath their skin, transforming them from the inside out.

When treasure hunters arrive, desperate to find the location of the cave and hold Phibs’ group for ransom, she’ll do anything to keep her friends safe. In the process she learns that, of all the dreadful creatures of the sea, she might be the most terrifying of them all.

This was a solid read. I enjoyed reading about the dives and the underwater scenery, but I wish there had been a bit more resolution at the end. I really enjoyed the friendship between the five teenagers and this was a quick read, perfect for a weekend binge.

Rachel Reiss lives in California. Out of Air is her new novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

 

Book Review: The Language of the Birds, by K.A. Merson

Image belongs to Random House/Ballantine.

Title: The Language of the Birds  
Author: K.A. Merson         
Genre: Mystery/thriller  
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Seventeen-year-old Arizona’s favorite things include cryptography, geocaching, the writings of Jules Verne—and exploring the Sierra Nevadas on her Russian Ural motorcycle, with her dog Mojo riding shotgun in his sidecar.

She’s not, in other words, your average teenager.

So when she learns her mother’s been kidnapped and finds a cryptic test accompanying the ransom note, she’s not just horrified—but electrified. Solving puzzles and cracking codes are what she does best, and she knows exactly how to tackle the challenge the kidnappers are dangling in front of her.

What she doesn’t yet realize is that she’s been enlisted in a treasure hunt, on the trail of an occult, centuries-old secret her father supposedly took to his grave. And if the prize at the end is real, it could shake the world.

As Arizona chases the truth through fiendish puzzles and ancient texts, unearthing clues both buried underground and hiding in plain sight in the Western landscape, she’s forced to navigate the outside world in ways she never has before―and begins to forge connections she never dreamed she could.

 The vast majority of the puzzles and ciphers in this novel were way over my head—and probably over most other readers’ heads, too. Getting bogged down in the details of those puzzles really detracted from my enjoyment of this read. I liked Arizona and it was good to see her actually growing and learning from her experiences, but her insistence that the world change for her without her putting out any effort to adapt at first irritated me. This was a decent read, but the minutiae of the puzzles made it difficult to truly enjoy.

K.A. Merson lives in the Sierra Nevadas. The Language of Birds is his new novel.

(Galley courtesy of Random House/Ballantine in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: The Thrashers, by Julie Soto

Image belongs to St. Martin’s Press.

Title: The Thrashers
Author: Julie Soto         
Genre: YA, mystery/thriller  
Rating: 4 out of 5

Either you’re in or you’re out.

Welcome to the Thrashers, the elite friend group at New Helvetia High.

They’re everything everyone wants to be.

Jodi Dillon was never meant to be one of them. Julian, Lucy, Paige, and the infamous Zack Thrasher are rich, sophisticated, and love attention. Jodi feels out of place, but Zack’s her childhood best friend, so she’s in.

Then Emily Mills, who desperately wanted to be a Thrasher, dies—and the whispers about the Thrashers begin. As Emily’s journal surfaces, detectives close in, and Jodi faces an impossible choice: betray her friends or protect herself.

But as eerie messages and strange occurrences escalate, it becomes clear—Emily isn’t done with them yet.

Zack wasn’t my favorite, but I actually enjoyed all the other characters. Even surly Julian grew on me pretty quickly. The seemingly supernatural bits of this were more or less believable—or were they mere coincidence—and there were some interesting dynamics at play in the friend group. Man, the people at this high school were the worst. Four out of five of the Thrashers seemed to learn from their experiences—but I’m not sure Zack did, which was too bad. This was a solid YA read that I really enjoyed.

Julie Soto is from California. The Thrashers is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

Sundays are for Writing #328

I was out of town most of the week for a work conference, but I still got some writing down. I didn’t journal every day–I missed two days–, but I did write three book reviews: The Courage to Change, by Joyce Meyer, The Other Side of Now, by Paige Harbison, and A Forgery of Fate, by Elizabeth Lim.

Happy writing!

Book Review: It’s You Every Time, by Charlene Thomas  

Image belongs to Scholastic.

Title: It’s You Every Time   
Author: Charlene Thomas     
Genre: YA    
Rating: 4.5  

In a twist of fate, Sydney Michaels bumps into cute boy stranger Marcus Burke in the heart of midtown NYC during an impromptu trip to Dunkin’. But what had initially been an effort to soften the blow of failing her impending pre-calc exam, turns into a day-long, unforgettable adventure—when Marcus asks her to have breakfast with him instead. In just a few hours, Sydney’s already starting to fall, and there’s just something about Marcus that makes it feel like she’s known him forever.

As the night comes to an end, Sydney can’t believe that after all the loss she’s faced in the past two years, “the good part” is finally here and this perfect day gets to be hers—until an accident at the end of the night, quite literally, leaves her stuck in it.

This did not end like I expected it to—but that isn’t a bad thing. I loved how Sydney and Marcus both learn and grow during their time loop. They truly become themselves, and that was fun to watch amidst their missteps and wobbles. I like both of these characters equally and wanted things to work out for them, so it was fun to watch everything unfold—over and over again.

Charlene Thomas is also a marketer. It’s You Every Time is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Scholastic in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: Time Loops & Meet Cutes, by Jackie Lau

Image belongs to Atria Books.

Title: Time Loops & Meet Cutes
Author: Jackie Lau         
Genre: Romance   
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Noelle Tom really shouldn’t have eaten those dumplings at the night market. But the old lady at the stall said they’d give her what she needed most, and what Noelle desperately needed after another long workweek was food.

Except now she’s reliving the same Friday over and over. Every morning her alarm goes off at 6:45 no matter what, the Wordle answer is always “happy,” and she watches a silly squirrel video go viral day after day. And no matter how much she works on the same proposal, it’s always erased when she wakes up. It seems Monday will never come in this workaholic’s worst nightmare.

Noelle has no idea how being trapped in a time loop is the “thing she needed most,” especially now that everything seems meaningless. Sure, three fancy meals in a row is a fun treat, but it’s getting repetitive. Noelle’s not sure what lesson the old lady was trying to impart. Even a trip to the dumpling stall doesn’t help…because there’s no sign of it.

But then she meets a young woman who also ate the dumplings, and good-looking Cam, who appears in multiple places on her Friday. While he seems to have no memory of their encounters, there are signs he might be the key to getting un-stuck. But Noelle will have to put work aside and live a little in order to make him notice her. As their flirtation progresses, Noelle begins to worry that if she ever gets to turn the calendar page, Cam won’t know who she is and her life may never return to what it was before that fateful Friday…

I wouldn’t say this was just a romance, because a large part of it was Noelle figuring out who she was—and who she wanted to be, and making changes to make that happen. The freedom she gets from knowing is she screws something up, the mistake will just reset gives her the courage to try new things, and that’s a lesson I think I could learn. The food in this book all sounded fantastic, too, and the night market was something I’d like to visit. Cam was pretty great, too, and I loved how he all tied into the time loop situation.

Jackie Lau lives in Canda. Time Loops & Meet Cutes is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Atria Books in exchange for an honest review.)