Book Review, Fiction, YA

Anna K Away by Jenny Lee ~ Book Review

Morgan

Flatiron Books
Genre: YA Romance
Release Date: April 27, 2021
My Rating: 🍪

I think I’ve learned my lesson that YA isn’t for me. I think I enjoyed the first book in the series, Anna K because it was a modern retelling of Anna Karenina, which gave it a uniqueness that set it apart from other contemporary YA novels. The sequel, however, seemed like a repetitive series of teenagers hooking up, sneaking out, and getting in trouble. I found all the relationships to be really overdramatic — I feel like this would have resonated more if I was a teenager, the intended audience. That being said, the excess drama made for great escapism.

The story was split between the main female characters from Anna K: Anna, Lolly, Bea, and Kimmie. Anna K’s storyline took place in South Korea and I enjoyed the change of scenery and culture from the other characters in America. The other storylines were all unique, and Lee crafted really descriptive memorable settings and challenges for each character which helped me keep them all straight.

I think this drama and glitz would appeal to a younger audience, but it was too over the top for me.

Buy Anna K Away at an indie bookstore near you
Anna K Away on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, Romance

The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren ~ Book Review

Morgan

Gallery Books
Genre: Romance
Release Date: May 18, 2021 (Thank you to NetGalley for my copy!)
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪

When I started The Soulmate Equation I was pretty quickly convinced it was going to be very clichéd. Jess, a single mom, joins a new DNA-based matchmaking company and gets an insanely high match with none other than the company’s founder himself, River Pena. I may have rolled my eyes. BUT, this story was actually very sweet and I was super pleasantly surprised by it.

I loved Juno, Jess’s daughter, and the depth the story took into their relationship and crafting Juno as a well-rounded character. She added a level of complexity to the story that not all romance books have. Jess’s best friend, Fizzy, is an amazing addition as well. She’s hilariously extroverted and over the top and completely unafraid to speak her mind and push Jess to do things she wasn’t totally comfortable with — in the most supportive way.

There was a twist in this story that caught me off guard, and I couldn’t guess where the narrative was going to end up after that. This kept me fully engaged even through that scenes that did feel a little stereotypically romance-y.

Jess and River’s relationship felt like it blossomed organically and I loved that they bonded over being statisticians. This is a really lovely story and a quick read that made me smile.

Buy The Soulmate Equation at an indie bookstore near you
The Soulmate Equation on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, thriller

Mirrorland by Carole Johnstone ~ Book Review

Morgan

Scribner
Genre: Thriller
Release Date: April 20, 2021
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪

This book was incredibly dark. It starts when Cat returns to the house she grew up in in Edinburgh after her twin sister, El, goes missing. Coming back to the house brings back memories for Cat of an imaginary place called Mirrorland where she and El used to play make believe, imagining fearsome pirates and witches. Cat’s sure that she would have sensed if something truly terrible had happened to her twin, but as she and El’s husband, Ross, dig into her mysterious disappearance, Cat becomes less and less certain.

I don’t even know where to start with this one. I didn’t understand how the entire concept of the fictional Mirrorland was going to be related to the present, but boyyy did it catch me off guard. It’s hard to say too much without giving away what happens. What I will say is that I found the Mirrorland concept a little confusing and it wasn’t my favorite thriller trope. It was incredibly unique, but it almost felt gimmicky to me. That being said, it did keep me guessing the whole time.

A lot happened at the end of this book and some pieces didn’t feel like they’d been interwoven enough into the plot for me to be satisfied with them. Overall, I’d say this was one of the most unique thrillers I’ve ever read, but it was a bit disjointed for my liking.

(Thanks to Libro.fm for my copy!)

Buy Mirrorland at an indie bookstore near you
Mirrorland on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, Romance

People we Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry ~ Book Review

Morgan

Berkley Books
Genre: Romance
Release Date: May 11, 2021
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪.5

I loved Beach Read and couldn’t wait to read Emily Henry’s newest book. People We Meet on Vacation tells the story of two best friends, Alex and Poppy. They meet in college and although they move to different cities once they graduate, they set aside time every year for a summer vacation together. At first I was a little disappointed when this started showing signs of the ‘friends to lovers’ trope, but I eventually I fell in love with Alex and Poppy too much to care if there ended up being a little bit of cliché in their story.

It’s clear from the start that something came between Alex and Poppy and kept them apart for many years, and through flashbacks, we begin to get an idea of what happened. This allowed the reader to see just how their friendship formed and how they became so close. These details were incredibly well written and believable and made for a really solid basis of the characters’ friendship. I loved getting to see the two of them realize how well they worked together. I also loved getting to be a part of their inside jokes.

Emily Henry’s writing is fantastic. The details she includes create vivid settings for the plot to unfold in. I could picture each moment of Alex and Poppy’s many vacations and their jetsetting made for an ever changing and always interesting environment for each chapter of their story.

The backstory behind what each character wanted out of their life added a lot of richness and depth to both Poppy and Alex. They both seemed incredibly real and I felt just as torn as they did about the decisions they had to make.

Buy People We Meet on Vacation at an indie bookstore near you
People We Meet on Vacation at Goodreads

Uncategorized

Pretty Things by Janelle Brown ~ Book Review

Morgan

Random House
Genre: Thriller
Release Date: April 21, 2020
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪

I have no idea how to classify this book, but I loved it. Pretty Things is split between the narrative of Vanessa and Nina. Nina’s childhood was spent being dragged around the country by her mom, a con artist, as she scammed people to make money. Nina wanted nothing to do with her mother’s lifestyle, until her mom gets sick and has no way to pay her medical bills. Nina is in a dead end job without many ties, and decides to try following in her mom’s footsteps. She targets Vanessa, an heiress and instagram influencer who Nina knew briefly as a kid.

Nina, along with her (kind of) fake boyfriend, shows up at Vanessa’s guest house with a fake persona and the two of them begin the process of infiltrating Vanessa’s life.

There was so much going on in this story. The insight into Vanessa’s struggles and the difficulty her family faced with mental health and trying to maintain appearances was heartbreaking. I really loved how the author would show the same scenes from both Nina and Vanessa’s points of view, and you could see how differently they interpreted and reacted to things, and how they misinterpreted each other’s motivations.

I was constantly guessing who was really conning who, up until the very end. Although I would classify it as a thriller, the characters had a lot more backstory than is typical of the genre and it made for a rich and well rounded narrative.

Buy Pretty Things at an indie bookstore near you
Pretty Things on Goodreads

Uncategorized

Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert ~ Book Review

Morgan

Avon
Genre: Romance
Release Date: March 9, 2021
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5

Eve’s life seems to be spiraling out of control and her parents decide they’ve had enough and it’s time for her to go out on her own and figure things out for herself. Eve goes on a drive to assess her options, and happens to see a help wanted sign at a B&B looking for a chef. The B&B is operated by Jacob Wayne whose life is very much the opposite of Eve’s, and who values being in control. Inexperienced Eve is not someone he wants to take a chance on for his business.

Things get worse when Eve accidentally hits Jacob with her car, leaving him with a broken arm. She takes it upon herself to step in and help at the B&B despite Jacob’s reluctance to employ her.

This book was super steamy and I loved the growing romance between Jacob and Eve and the thoughtful conversation about autism. The setting of the bed and breakfast was picturesque and I could perfectly envision where the story was unfolding.

I found it pretty unrealistic that Eve could just jump in and start cooking at a chef’s level without any training, and the ending, when her family suddenly tries to intervene in her life didn’t feel like it fit into the rest of the story. Overall, I enjoyed this one, but found it pretty predictable.

Thank you to Libro.fm for my copy!

Buy Act Your Age, Eve Brown at an indie bookstore near you
Act Your Age, Eve Brown on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, Romance

Just Last Night by Mhairi McFarlane ~ Book Review

Morgan

William Morrow
Genre: Romance
Release Date: May 4, 2021 (Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy)
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪

Just Last Night does a beautiful job of crafting an intimate friend group made up of Eve, Justin, Susie, and Ed. The details that McFarlane includes to depict the intricacies of their history and their inside jokes were relatable, detailed, and often humorous. In fact, the humor and casual nature of the writing style was a huge selling point for me. It made me fly through this book.

Once the lives of the four friends have been painstakingly laid out for the reader, their lives are entirely upended and torn apart. I went into this book entirely blind and did not expect the tragedy that was coming. In the aftermath, our narrator Eve discovers deep-seated secrets that continue to send shockwaves through her life and make her question her relationships. It’s hard to go too in depth about this book without giving away what happens.

The books brings up abuse very near the end of the story. I felt like this really needed more time and to be addressed with much more depth in order to seem as powerful and believable as it could have. As written, it felt very much like a plot device and took a lot away from a story that I had really been enjoying up until that point.

Buy Just Last Night at an indie bookstore near you
Just Last Night on Goodreads

Book Review, Nonfiction, Self Help

Atomic Habits by James Clear ~ Book Review

Morgan

Avery
Nonfiction/Self help
Release Date: October 16, 2018
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪

So many people have recommended Atomic Habits that it was only a matter of time before I picked it up. I usually have trouble with self help books, but I really liked the practicality behind this book. James Clear outlines straightforward, manageable steps you can take to implement new habits or break old ones. He made me think about how many little habits I have that I’m not even aware of as ‘habits’ and how I can leverage those to create new habits. He made the process seem really simple, offering tactics like ‘habit stacking’ — performing a new habit directly after an existing one to seamlessly integrate it into your routine.

A lot of the advice Clear gives seems like it would be obvious if you ever stopped to really think about it, which I don’t think many people do. This made for an eye-opening narrative that didn’t feel overwhelming. Clear also includes tables that outline each step of the habit-building process, and builds on it after every chapter. As a visual learner, this was really helpful for me.

For all the time that Clear spent on building new habits, he spent comparatively little time on how to break bad habits, and I wished there had been less of an imbalance. There were also some suggestions that seemed unrealistic for an average person, like punishing yourself for not completing a habit by paying someone (I get that this was just an example, but I wished he’d provided more).

Overall, this was a really eye-opening book that left me with a clear idea for actionable ways to start new habits.

Buy Atomic Habits at an indie bookstore near you
Atomic Habits on Goodreads

Book Review, Fantsy, Fiction

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab ~ Book Review

Morgan

Tor Books
Genre: Fantasy
Release Date: October 6, 2020
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪.5

This book had so much hype that I was kind of terrified that I’d read it and be let down, especially since I’m not much of a fantasy person. That being said, I never REALLY felt overwhelmed with fantasy. Yes, the whole premise is that Addie makes a deal with the Gods that come out after dark, but the day-to-day elements of the story were fairly mundane. Don’t be scared away by thinking this is super fantastical!

Once Addie is cursed, everyone who meets her forgets her as soon as she’s out of sight, which is especially exhausting since she lives forever. One day, after hundreds of years of living this way, someone remembers her.

I loved the juxtaposition of present day New York City with Addie’s experiences in the 1700’s in France and around Europe. It’s so unusual to be following the same character through such different times and places and it was fascinating. It felt like reading multiple books in one.

The premise of this story is fascinating and it was so interesting to see how Addie dealt with her curse on a daily basis in order to survive and how she found little ways to leave an impact on the world around her.

I found Addie’s relationship with Luc, the God who cursed her kind of random and confusing, and this was the one part of the story that didn’t totally grab me. That being said, there was so much rich, intricate, totally unique narrative woven throughout the hundreds of years of this book that I was still entirely enrapt.

Buy The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue at an indie bookstore near you
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, thriller

The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth ~ Book Review

Morgan

St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Thriller
Release Date: April 13, 2021 (Thanks to Libro.fm for my copy!)
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪

The Good Sister tells the stories of Fern and Rose, twin sisters who are vastly different. Fern works at the local library. She’s masterful at selecting book recommendations for patrons, but she struggles with sensory overload and sometimes has trouble understanding people if they aren’t speaking literally. She has dinner with her sister Rose three times a week. Rose seems to act almost as a guardian figure for Rose, since their mother is in an assisted living facility following a stroke, but it slowly because clear that Rose may not be the supportive sibling she appears to be.

I loved Fern’s character and the way she slowly became empowered to live independently throughout the book. She had always seen her differences as detrimental, and been told (by Rose) that they meant she couldn’t live a normal life. As Fern becomes romantically involved with a library patron, she comes to realize that there are other people like her and that, with a little planning, she can fully live her life like anyone else.

It was pretty clear to me that Fern had been manipulated for her entire life, but the extent of it was shocking and the twists toward the end were well implemented. This definitely wasn’t a typical thriller — it had an element of romance, and Fern was a unique main character who I came to care about a great deal.

Buy The Good Sister at an indie bookstore near you

The Good Sister on Goodreads