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All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot ~ Book Review

Morgan

St. Martin’s Griffin
Genre: Memoir
Release Date: May 6, 2014 (originally published 1972)
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪.5

What a wholesome, heartwarming book of stories! All Creatures Great and Small chronicles James Herriot’s life as a vet, primarily for farm animals in rural Yorkshire. It starts as he sets out to begin his career and brings the reader through a series of short vignettes each outlining a different humorous and beautifully detailed occurrence in his job.

The characters Herriot encounters seem almost like caricatures in the best of ways. They are over-the-top in their responses to his diagnoses and their constantly dubious natures. I couldn’t stop smiling while reading about each of them. Although this book is classified as a memoir, it reads like fiction, and I constantly had to remind myself that it was real. If you’re looking to get into more nonfiction, I highly recommend this book as a way to ease yourself in.

From cows that seem to magically heal themselves, to overly pampered dogs, to dates gone wrong, these stories never lost my interest and were anything but predictable. James Herriot is definitely an author I’ll be turning to in the future when I need a smile.

Buy All Creatures Great and Small at an indie bookstore near you
All Creatures Great and Small on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, thriller

Playing Nice by JP Delaney ~ Book Review

Morgan

Ballantine
Genre: Thriller
Release Date: July 28, 2020
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪.5

Although the premise of Playing Nice, children switched at birth, is somewhat clichéd, the book as a whole is anything but. When Miles Lambert shows up at the Riley household, he breaks the news that his son and theirs were somehow mixed up when they were both in the NICU. Although Pete and Maddie Riley are shocked, they decide to try to come to an agreement with the Lambert’s about how the families can move forward with both boys in their lives.

This book kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time I was reading. From the get-go, Miles is an unsettling character, putting on excessive charm and false airs at one moment and changing entirely at the drop of a pin. The Lambert’s start by drawing in the Riley’s, seeming incredibly generous and open-minded. I could tell that something was off about the way they were acting, and I was silently screaming at the Riley’s not to trust them.

The book is interspersed with excerpts from text messages, email exchanges, and transcripts from ongoing investigations into the case behind the child-swap, which made the chapters fly by. There were so many twists in the narrative that I was constantly surprised. The premise of the story was really different from a lot of domestic thrillers, which was refreshing as well as riveting.

Buy Playing Nice at an indie bookstore near you
Playing Nice on Goodreads

Book Review, Romance

First Comes Like by Alisha Rai ~ Book Review

Morgan

Avon
Genre: Romance
Release Date: February 16, 2021 (thanks to Libro.fm for my copy!)
My Rating: 🍪🍪

Jia Ahmed is a beauty influencer with a devoted following of makeup lovers. When the Bollywood soap Dev Dixit DMs her on Instagram, the two begin a digital flirtationship and Jia quickly develops feelings. Dev is hesitant to meet her, and Jia finally takes matters into her own hands, showing up at a celebrity party she knows he’ll be attending.

I loved the world this story was set in. Reading about influencers and celebrities is always fun for me and it was a glamorous environment to be immersed in. When Jia realizes that Dev, the real Dev, has no idea who she is, she’s understandably humiliated and heartbroken. I was excited to see how the two of them would be able to move forward to forge a relationship.

Jia and Dev ultimately end up in a cliched ‘let’s pretend we’re dating for our families’ situation and the story lost me pretty quickly. Although the buildup toward their ultimate attraction was well done at first, the general plot was mostly made of tropes I’ve seen so many times before in romances.

I really appreciated the way that Jia and Dev’s cultures were brought into the story and incorporated into the way they had to approach romance. It was interesting to learn about and added a lot of depth to an otherwise pretty fluffy story. I would encourage you to read own voices reviews to understand this context more fully.

Buy First Comes Like at an indie bookstore near you
First Comes Like on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction

A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum ~ Book Review

Morgan

Harper
Genre: Fiction
Release Date: March 5, 2019
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪

A Woman is No Man is the beautifully written split-narrative telling the stories of Isa, an Arab girl who is married off to a man who lives in New York City, and her eighteen-year-old daughter Deya, after Isa has died. This was an insightful look at a culture that I know nothing about, and I would encourage you to read own voices reviews to understand the accuracy of the portrayal.

This intertwining story of mother and daughter was powerful and heart-wrenching. Each seeks and anticipates independence in their life in America and each is met with pushback as they challenge their culture. As Isa acclimates to living with her husband and his family, she finds solace in books and in her sister-in-law Sarah. Her experiences ached of loneliness as she desperately tried to understand what her choices were as a woman.

Deya grows up in a more modern setting and dreams of going to college. Her grandmother believes in tradition, and has Deya sit with suitors as is expected. This view of life for Arab woman was very eye-opening for me and gave me a glimpse at a way of life still going on that I am wholly unfamiliar with. Isa and Deya’s traditional upbringings were in stark contrast to the modern hustle of their setting, New York City, and the juxtaposition added a really thought provoking layer to their stories.

Buy A Woman is No Man at an indie bookstore near you
A Woman is No Man on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction

White Ivy by Susie Yang ~ Book Review

Morgan

Simon & Schuster
Genre: Fiction
Release Date: November 3, 2020
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪

White Ivy follows the life of Ivy Lin starting in high school as she nurses a crush on a popular boy named Gideon and learns how to shoplift from her grandmother. Ivy’s parents send her to China for several weeks to spend time with relatives and when she returns, they’ve moved, dashing her hopes of pursuing Gideon.

From there, the story takes us through the years as Ivy adapts to her new school and begins restlessly jumping from pursuit to pursuit. When she unexpectedly runs into Gideon’s sister one day, she sparks a reconnection with the boy she always wanted.

Ivy is not a likeable character. She’s unfaithful, unmotivated, and selfish. It was hard for me to connect to the story because Ivy was leading the reader through it and she had so few redeeming characteristics. I did find her point of view as a Chinese American immigrant thought-provoking and would encourage you to read own voices reviews to better understand this portrayal. Her struggles to try to climb the social ladder were constantly influenced by her parents’ repetitive reminder that this is what she must strive for.

I found Gideon’s character to be uninteresting and not well developed. I couldn’t understand what motivated him to stay in his relationship. So many of the characters in this book were incredibly deep, complicated, and well-layered that he seemed somewhat one-dimensional in comparison.

Yang did an incredible job of weaving a complicated and often uncomfortable and bitter narrative of Ivy’s life. I wish there’d been more of a central focus to the story or something it was building toward. Once I’d finished it seemed a little disconnected in retrospect.

Buy White Ivy at an indie bookstore near you
White Ivy on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, thriller

The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins ~ Book Review

Morgan

St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Thriller
Release Date: January 5, 2021
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5

The Wife Upstairs mixes a thriller narrative with a bougie gossipy chick-lit setting. Jane walks people’s dogs in the wealthy gated community of Thornfield Estates. I find this kind of setting really fun to read about and felt that it added a lot to the book. The story itself is a modern retelling of Jane Eyre, which I found fascinating, although admittedly, I don’t remember all that much of Jane Eyre from when I read it many years ago. When broke Jane crosses paths with the wealthy Eddie Rochester on one of her walks one day, things change for her. They quickly begin dating although Eddie’s wife, Bea disappeared along with her best friend months earlier.

I didn’t find Jane and Eddie’s love story very believable. Granted, they were both harboring deep secrets, but still, I wasn’t convinced that they had much of a relationship. The majority of the story comes from Jane’s perspective as she fights to fit in with the women for whom she used to work, and then struggles with wanting to know more about Bea, the woman she is replacing.

The story picks up near the end when we begin to get Eddie’s point of view and a more well rounded picture of what’s going on starts to emerge. This was very different from most of the book, which sets the groundwork for Jane’s secrecy and uncertainty. Overall, this was a good thriller and it made me want to reread Jane Eyre to see just how closely it stuck to the plot.

Buy The Wife Upstairs at an indie bookstore near youT
he Wife Upstairs on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, thriller

No Exit by Taylor Adams ~ Book Review

Morgan

Joffe Books
Genre: Thriller
Release Date: June 25, 2017
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪.5

No Exit is entirely different from any thriller I’ve read before, and I’ve read a lot of thrillers! Darby, a college student, finds herself caught in a blizzard on her drive home for the holidays. She pulls over at a rest stop where she meets a small group of strangers all hunkered down to wait out the storm. When she glances into one of their cars parked outside and sees a girl in a cage, she sets off a chain of events that turns the night from inconvenient to downright terrifying.

The setup of this story kind of reminded me of an Agatha Christie novel. Darby is introduced to each character waiting with her and I immediately passed judgment about each of them. My expectations of who they all were were completely turned on their heads by the end of the book. The isolated setting added so much to this narrative.

The story is split into chapters based on the time of the night, and as it gets later and later and the snow continues, the atmosphere was increasingly creepy. The twists that snuck up along the way were not overdone stereotyped twists that are so often found in this genre — they were unique and shocking.

As Darby’s circumstances became more and more dire, I couldn’t look away from this story. It did get pretty gory and graphic at times, but it painted an especially illustrative image of what Darby was up against. I loved the premise of a thriller taking place over a single night in a single location and was extremely impressed at how well Adams executed this kind of setup. I was happy with the ending and highly recommend No Exit — it would be an especially gripping book to read during a snowstorm.

Buy No Exit at an indie bookstore near you
No Exit on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, YA

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune ~ Book Review

Morgan

Tor Books
Genre: YA Fantasy
Release Date: March 17, 2020
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪

Fantasy is wayyy out of my ballpark, but I’ve seen The House in the Cerulean Sea all over bookstagram with rave reviews, so I decided to give it a try. Above all else, this story is heartwarming. It tells the story of Linus Baker, a Case Worker at the Department in charge of Magical Youth. Linus lives a solitary life with his cat. He’s been at his job for years, never expecting a promotion or a change, and is solidly content. It’s hard not to feel compassionate toward him.

Linus is shocked when he’s chosen for a top-secret assignment to assess the care at a secret island orphanage. The six children there are considered dangerous, and include a gnome, a green blob, and the Antichrist, as well as their caretaker Arthur. Arthur is fiercely protective of his charges, who he views as his children.

Although nervous at first, Linus soon warms up to the kids and to Arthur. I loved the way we saw each child come to life. In addition to being magical, they had interesting and unique habits, quirks, and hobbies that made them seem very real. I mean, a little magical kid wanting nothing more from life than to be a bell hop?! Adorable! As Linus falls in love with the children (something strictly against the rules at his job), I did too.

The book has really powerful social discussions as well. The society around the orphanage is deeply scared of the children and posts signs up about them leaving their island that say, ‘See Something, Say Something.’ This opens up stirring conversations about not judging people based on their background or physical appearance and being accepting and tolerant. This was so wonderfully woven in, and is especially notable for a YA book.

All in all, I enjoyed The House in the Cerulean Sea far more than I expected too, but fantasy isn’t fully my thing, which is why I rated it a little low.

The House in the Cerulean Sea on Goodreads
Buy The House in the Cerulean Sea at an indie bookstore near you

Book Review, Fiction, Romance

Love Your Life by Sophie Kinsella ~ Book Review

Morgan

Dial Press
Genre: Romance
Release Date: October 27, 2020
My Rating: 🍪🍪.5

I had fun reading Love Your Life because of the humor threaded throughout the storyline. Kinsella is excellent at including sarcasm and witty asides and quips through the narrative that made me smile. That being said, I was pretty frustrated/enraged by the time I finished this book.

Ava is convinced that the way to meet someone is not by over-analyzing an online dating profile and establishing clear deal breakers. Instead, she believes that when she meets the right person, she’ll just know, and things will fall into place. On a writing retreat in Italy, she catches site of Dutch and immediately thinks she’s found her match. I liked the beginning of their romance, and the fact that its transition from the retreat back to real life was not as smooth as Ava anticipated.

As the central relationship became more and more problematic, I kept waiting for Ava’s character to develop and for the story to take an empowering turn and it just… didn’t. I grew increasingly frustrated with the main character and her lack of self-worth. She was obsessed with the idea that she needed to be in a relationship and pushed aside any misgivings she had about her current relationship. Moreover, her friends weren’t really helpful in building her up and getting her out of her situation.

I found the ending extremely frustrating, and it felt to me like it was promoting unhealthy relationships. This book really could have turned things around by having Ava grow into her own, but unfortunately, it let me down.

Buy Love Your Life at an indie bookstore near you
Love Your Life on Goodreads

Book Review, Nonfiction

How I Built This by Guy Raz ~ Book Review

Morgan

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Genre: Nonfiction (Business)
Release Date: September 15, 2020
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪

Although I’ve never listened to the associated podcast, I was immediately fascinated by a book detailing how successful entrepreneurs got their start and created their business ventures. From Ben & Jerry’s, to Stitch Fix to Boomchickapop, the book covers a lot of ground quickly.

The structure follows the steps most entrepreneurs find themselves going through as they attempt to get their businesses off the ground, from bootstrapping and asking family and friends for money, to learning how to manage employees and imbue a company culture. Although this organization made sense, it was a little confusing to keep bopping back and forth between different founders and their products. I think I would have preferred if the book had looked at one at a time. That being said, the format made clear parallels between the experiences of so many entrepreneurs, which was interesting.

Guy Raz does a wonderful job of distilling business terminology into terms that are easily digestible for any reader. The stories he chose to focus on are thought-provoking. The amount of effort it must have taken to sort through hundreds of hours of interviews to select what he included is commendable. It was wild to hear about all the incredible difficulties faced by so many businesses that are now successful and well-known. 

I learned a lot from this book and it will definitely make me think more critically about the companies and products I support and how much work went on to get them to the point they are at today. The book also speaks directly to the reader, to offer them advice and encouragement in their own entrepreneurial journey, if they choose to take one.

Buy How I Built This at an indie bookstore near you
How I Built This on Goodreads