Book Review, Fiction, thriller

Can’t Look Away by Carola Lovering ~ Book Review

Morgan

St. Martin’s Press
Thriller
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪

Can’t Look Away is part thriller and part romance which was a combination I was not expecting, but really enjoyed. We get the love story of Molly and Jake when they meet in NYC and quickly fall for each other. The cracks in their relationship begin to form as Jake and his band become more popular and he devotes more and more time to them.

The rest of the book takes place in the future with Molly living in the suburbs with her daughter and husband, Hunter. Although we don’t know what happened to ultimately break up her and Jake, it’s clear that it was dramatic and extremely heartbreaking. When Molly befriends Sabrina, a newcomer to town, she finds herself suddenly forced to confront her past and takes the reader along with her.

The emotional chaos that Sabrina sets into motion is fantastic. She was one of those characters who I loved to hate and I couldn’t wait to unravel her motivations and see just how twisted her actions would get.

This was definitely light on the ‘thriller’ vibes, but not knowing what had caused the fallout between Jake and Molly and what repercussions may still be playing out in the future kept me reading. This was a wonderful mix of rich suburban gossip drama, romance, and mystery.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy Can’t Look Away at an indie bookstore near you
Can’t Look Away on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, thriller

The Lies I Tell by Julie Clark ~ Book Review

Morgan

Sourcebooks Landmark
Thriller
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5

I love a good con artist and Meg Williams is a great one. Popping up in different towns under different names, she gets close to her targets and their friends and has them eating out of the palm of her hand before she takes what she wants of theirs and disappears. Kat, a reporter, has had her eyes on Meg for years. When she finally sees an opportunity to get close to her, Kat begins to realize that there’s more to Meg than meets the eye.

The backstory behind Meg and her actions was really interesting and made me appreciate her genius all the more. I enjoyed getting narration by both her and Kat so I could see how Meg’s image differentiated from her true motivations.

Although this is classified as a thriller, I hesitate a little to call it one. There are a lot of questions swirling around Meg and her actions which I guess could be considered thrilling, but not in the traditional sense of the genre. It felt like more of a character study of these two women. Personally, I found Meg much more compelling and well-developed than Kat, who seemed naïve and whiny most of the time.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy The Lies I Tell at an indie bookstore near you
The Lies I Tell on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by  Gabrielle Zevin ~ Book Review

Morgan

Knopf Publishing Group
Fiction
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow closely followed the friendship of Sam and Sadie, starting when they met in the hospital as kids. The two quickly bonded over their love for video games, but fell out of touch until they ran into each other in Boston while they were both in college. They pick things up exactly where they left off and soon find themselves creators of the smash hit video game, Ichigo.

Zevin’s writing fully immersed me into Sam and Sadie’s reality. There is so much detail about their lives, feelings, and intricate relationships with other people that I felt like I truly knew them and understood their motivations. They were interesting and flawed and I thoroughly enjoyed the ebbs and flows of their friendship as they navigated their success together.

There was a lot of discussion of the mechanics and intricacies of video games which did get a little old for me by the end. I understand that that was the primary topic of this book, but I could have gone for a more general approach to the subject matter.

This writing style reminded me somewhat of Sally Rooney, with the same heavy focus on depth of character development.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow at an indie bookstore near you
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction

Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan

Morgan

Ballantine
Fiction
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪.5

I was entirely enthralled by Mad Honey. The setting this author duo created was so vividly detailed that I felt like I was with the characters in small-town New England. Olivia brought her son Asher back to her hometown, where she takes over her father’s beekeeping business, in an escape from an abusive marriage.

When Asher’s girlfriend Lily is found dead, Asher is brought in for questioning. Olivia calls in her brother to act as Asher’s lawyer as he becomes more and more of a suspect.

There was so much depth and richness to Mad Honey. From the details about beekeeping that were seamlessly tied into the narrative, to the flashbacks to the burgeoning relationship between Lily and Asher, to Olivia’s fear that her son has taken after her ex-husband in ways she doesn’t want to face, there was always something thought-provoking to dissect in this book.

The present-day trial is interspersed with flashbacks from Olivia, and Lily’s past, and their perspectives kept me guessing about Asher’s nature and what had really happened to Lily.

I was surprised multiple times through the story, and it ended up covering much more than I anticipated. An utterly thought-provoking and captivating exploration of characters who I will not easily forget.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy Mad Honey at an indie bookstore near you
Mad Honey on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction

Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid ~ Book Review

Morgan

Ballantine Books
Fiction
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪

TJR knows how to take a single topic and run with it. In this case, it was tennis, and specifically, being an elite athlete. Carrie Soto retired from tennis after securing her spot as the best tennis player in the world. When Nicki Chan steals that title, Carrie decides to come out of retirement for one season to win her title back.

The depth and intricacies between Carrie’s relationship with her dad Javier, who coaches her, were so well written. The complexity of their relationship was so interesting, and their love for one another was palpable even at their most trying moments.

Carrie herself is framed as a coldhearted champion with her eye on the prize. By the end of the book, you begin to see more layers to her and get to know her more. I wished there had been a bit more of this throughout. For the most part, she’s just ruthless.

There’s a lotttt of tennis in this book (duh). For someone who knows nothing about the sport, it was a bit much for me, especially given the sports show commentary style that was employed. I will say, this was really fun to listen to as an audiobook since there were different narrators for the commentators, but if I’d been reading a physical copy, I probably would have done a lot of skimming.

This was an interesting character study, but I wish a little more had happened. It was truly all about tennis and some more extensive plot would have bumped up my rating.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy Carrie Soto is Back at an indie bookstore near you
Carrie Soto is Back on Goodreads

Book Review, Romance

Meant to be Mine by Hannah Orenstein ~ Book Review

Morgan

Atria Books
Romance
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪

I loved the concept behind Meant to be Mine. Edie’s Grandma has successfully predicted the date that all her family members will meet the love of their life. When Edie finds herself sitting next to a handsome stranger on her match day, she knows it’s meant to be. When cracks begin to form in the relationship, Edie finds herself lost and confused, trying to figure out how her reality fits in with her expectations of fate.

Edie’s family was so wonderfully crafted. From her lovable Grandma to her sister and parents, they formed a warm and wonderful support system for Edie and I loved the representation of Judaism in everyday life. I also really appreciated that Edie was successful and confident in herself. So many romance novels have a down-on-her-luck protagonist, but Edie was already killing it as a stylist and I loved that for her.

I guessed where the narrative would ultimately end up, but nonetheless, I had a wonderful time getting there with Edie and her gang and there was one twist that I wasn’t expecting and that added a lot to both the story and Edie’s perception of her life.

Overall, Meant to be Mine was an immersive and bittersweet exploration of Edie’s reckoning with her perceptions of how she always thought her life would go.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy Meant to be Mine at an indie bookstore near you
Meant to be Mine on Goodreads

Book Review, Nonfiction

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy ~ Book Review

Morgan

Simon & Schuster
Memoir
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪.5

This book was so hard to read, but I could not stop. Jennette is an incredibly talented writer and the way she details her childhood makes it feel like everything is happening to her in the present. She unflinchingly details the abuse she underwent from her mother, and how at the time, she fully believed her mother was acting in Jennette’s own best interest. This included forcing Jennette to become a child actress, teaching her disordered eating, and showering her until she was a teenager.

The way that Jennette paints her own childhood views of her mom were so heartbreaking. She would do everything in her power to please her mom with no concept of anything being wrong with their relationship.

Although this memoir is told through the lens of someone who was a successful child actor, it is really a personal and reflective narrative of Jennette’s specific struggles. It is not a tell-all about the industry, but it does show how Jennette’s life was so heavily and negatively impacted by being part of the industry.

Jennette’s struggles with eating disorders and addiction were especially impactful. Although she invokes dry humor into her stories wonderfully, the pain of the experiences she shares will stick with me for a long time.

At the end of the memoir, Jennette talks about finally getting help through therapy. I do wish there had been a little more about how she’s doing now, to help provide some hope for those struggling with anything she discussed and to show how she has (hopefully!) grown and healed.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy I’m Glad My Mom Died at an indie bookstore near you
I’m Glad My Mom Died on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, Romance

The Beach Trap by Ali Brady ~ Book Review

Morgan

Berkley Books
Romance
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪

Going into The Beach Trap I was expecting major Parent Trap vibes, given that it started with two best friends at camp who find out they have the same dad (also I just realized the name is modeled after it too). Blake and Kat however, have a falling out upon the discovery, and don’t see each other again until they are each told that they’ve jointly inherited their dad’s beach house following his death. The women begrudgingly reunite and decide to renovate the dilapidated house before putting it on the market and out of their minds.

Apparently summertime romance/house renovation is a min-genre in itself, and I have to say I’m here for it. I loved hearing about the décor choices and redesigns and the way the two women’s personalities went into their approach to the project.

Kat and Blake had very different personalities and life trajectories and their characters were well developed and believable. Each woman found herself dabbling with a summer romance, of course, but their relationship with each other was much more central and made more of an impact on me.

I liked that this was able to be a romance and beachy kind of read while also exploring the complexities of different types of familial relationships. It had a little of everything and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy The Beach Trap at an indie bookstore near you
The Beach Trap on Goodreads

Book Review, mystery

The Last to Vanish by Megan Miranda ~ Book Review

Morgan

Scribner
Mystery
My Rating: 🍪🍪

I loved the setting of The Last to Vanish. It took place at The Passage Inn in the town of Cutter’s Pass, most notably known for outdoor recreation and its access to the Appalachian Trail. It’s also, however, known for a string of unsolved disappearances of hikers over the years. The descriptions of the inn and the natural surroundings were wonderfully depicted and I could perfectly visualize the story unfolding.

The protagonist, Abby has managed the inn for ten years. She begins to feel increasingly troubled by the disappearances when the brother of the most recent man to go missing shows up to investigate. Abby begins to suspect that her neighbors and coworkers are not being honest about what they know.

There were so many characters in this book that I couldn’t keep track of them. No one had a stark enough personality to orient me to who was saying and doing what and it made it very confusing to try to stay invested in the mystery. It also felt to me like not much happened for the majority of the storyline, and the twists at the end were extremely anticlimactic. 

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy The Last to Vanish at an indie bookstore near you
The Last to Vanish on Goodreads

Book Review, mystery, thriller

The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager ~ Book Review

Morgan

Dutton
Thriller
My Rating: 🍪🍪.5

If you watched The Woman Across the Street from the Girl in the Window,  a Netflix show satirizing the thriller genre, the premise of The House Across the Lake will feel a little on the nose. Casey’s life has gone off the rails. Following the drowning of her husband at their lake house, she starts drinking heavily, causing her acting career to go off the rails and her to flee back to the lake house for privacy. Out of curiosity, she begins spying on the couple across the lake and begins to believe that something sinister is at play.

Sager created a rich setting with the lake community and Casey’s big empty house. The story is shadowed by the fading news of several nearby disappearances that keep Casey constantly on edge. Her excessive drinking makes her a classic unreliable narrator, and I enjoyed trying to untangle what was real and what she was extrapolating, as well as which of her neighbors could be trusted.

I was really into this book until about two-thirds of the way in when it took a kind of supernatural twist that I was not feeling. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I don’t like ghost-y stuff in thrillers. If I couldn’t theoretically have guessed the twist before it happened, it’s not my kind of read. Despite how enthralled I was with the beginning of this book, the twist really lost me.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy The House Across the Lake at an indie bookstore near you
The House Across the Lake on Goodreads