Book Review, Fiction, Romance

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall ~ Book Review

Morgan

Sourcebooks Casablanca
Genre: Romance
Release Date: July 7, 2020
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪

Boyfriend Material immediately sucked me in. Luc O’Donnell, the son of two rock stars, struggles to keep his reputation in check as the paparazzi make him out to seem like a wild child. Hall does an incredible job of quickly and believably building Luc’s world, from his quirky and specific job working for a nonprofit supporting dung beetles, to his very eclectic and supportive group of friends.

The story is a classic case of the fake relationship, which may be overdone, but is still enjoyable. Luc and Oliver can both benefit from appearing to be in a stable, supportive relationship, so they start to fake date for their mutual benefit. Oliver, a straight-laced, vegetarian barrister helps to even out Luc’s party-boy reputation. 

Luc and Oliver’s chemistry was palpable and adorable, and their conversations were artfully constructed. I liked how different they were from each other, and how much background Hall constructed around each of them to fully round them out.

Some of the side characters, especially one of Luc’s friends and one of his coworkers, frustrated me a lot. They were clearly constructed as caricatures, but it was so much so that their repetitive quirks seemed incredibly over the top and really distracted me from the narrative. There was a lot of wasted time focused on them doing the same kinds of things over and over and I think most of it could have been cut out. I also felt like the ending of the story was pretty rushed and things went back and forth so much it felt a little like whiplash.

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪

Buy Boyfriend Material at an indie bookstore near you
Boyfriend Material on Goodreads

Book Review, Memoir, Nonfiction

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb ~ Book Review

Morgan

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Genre: Nonfiction
Release Date: April 2, 2019
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪.5

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone was a wonderfully insightful look into a therapist’s experience with therapy from both perspectives. It focused primarily on Lori’s time as a therapist, bouncing back and forth between several different patients, and her own dive into therapy following an unexpected breakup. Beyond this, Lori pads out the memoir by describing how she found her way to becoming a therapist. Her career took her from the film industry to a brief bout in medical school before she settled in to become a therapist. I really loved this depiction of someone changing their career so drastically later in life. It was refreshing.

Lori’s descriptions of her sessions were really fascinating. I enjoyed learning how therapist’s are taught to react or not react to certain things their patients go through. It was interesting to see how she was unable to acknowledge them first if they ran into each other outside of a session, and I liked seeing how she grew to feel affectionate for them, even if at first she found them frustrating. It was also kind of reassuring to see how, even as a therapist herself, she couldn’t recognize how she was reacting to her own life until her own therapist helped her. On the flip side, it was amusing to watch her identify practices her therapist was employing during her sessions, and to call him out on them.

This was more than just a memoir of a therapist. It was a detailed account of the myriad types of struggles people go through: scary diagnoses, breakups, marital struggles, addiction, and the different ways therapists can help try to work people through them. It focused on failures as well as successes and was eye-opening, thought-provoking, and touching.

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪.5

Buy Maybe You Should Talk to Someone at an indie bookstore near you
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, Romance

Get A Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert ~ Book Review

Morgan

Avon
Genre: Romance
Release Date: November 5, 2019
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5

I really appreciated the light that Get A Life, Chloe Brown brought to the main character’s experiences with chronic pain and how her fibromyalgia affects her day-to-day life. Chloe is determined to “Get A Life,” and makes a list of items to check off to help her take risks, expand her horizons, and make sure her illness is not the only thing defining her life. Things get a little upended when she starts to fall for her building’s superintendent, Redford Morgan.

Hibbert’s writing is funny, sexy, and timely. I loved the jokes and relevant quips that popped up throughout the narration. They were unexpected and enjoyable. I listened to this as an audiobook, kind of wish I hadn’t. I think that especially for the really steamy scenes (and I mean SUPER steamy), they would have been sexier if I read them rather than listened to them. The narrator’s voice was just a little older than I imagined Chloe to be. Also, I was a little shook by how detailed the sex scenes were, since I’m not used to reading books that are so explicit.

The big conflict toward the end of this book frustrated me. It seemed like Red really overreacted and then Chloe overreacted to his reaction and I got annoyed. The whole book is spent building up their romance and then to have that be what pulled them apart kind of lost me (I’m not going to be more specific, so as to avoid spoilers). Nonetheless, this was a fun and  interesting romance that wasn’t like anything I’d read before and I loved Chloe’s steady empowerment of both herself and Red.

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5
Buy Get A Life, Chloe Brown at an indie bookstore near you
Get A Life, Chloe Brown on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Uncategorized

Paris Never Leaves You by Ellen Feldman ~ Book Review

Morgan

St. Martin’s Griffin

Genre: Historical Fiction

Release Date: August 4, 2020

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5

Paris Never Leaves You had a bookish central theme that I really appreciated. The plot alternates between Paris during WWII, and New York City in the 1950s. In Paris, Charlotte works at a bookstore, while trying desperately to keep her infant daughter Vivi fed. In Manhattan, she works at a publishing company.

Charlotte’s escape to America was different from other WWII books I’ve read. I thought that it was a really interesting twist on a more traditional telling of this type of story, and her guilt and uncertainty about whether to be honest with her daughter enriched the plot.

Feldman’s writing is incredibly impressive. Her details and descriptions are unusual and eloquent and made for a really pleasant and fast reading experience. I liked the literary elements of the book. 

There were certain parts of the story that didn’t feel fully integrated. Charlotte’s romance during the war wasn’t totally believable, and I didn’t feel like Vivi’s relationship with her neighbors in Manhattan was explained enough.

Despite some loose strings in the plot, this was a quick and interesting read, and I enjoyed Feldman’s writing.

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5

Buy Paris Never Leaves You at an indie bookstore near you

Paris Never Leaves You on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, Uncategorized

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams ~ Book Review

Morgan

IMG_6058

Orion Publishing
Genre: Fiction
Release Date: March 19, 2019

Much of the cultural conversation in Queenie was incredibly strong and powerful. Queenie is a 25 year old Jamaican British woman living in London. After she and her boyfriend decide to go on a break, she quickly loses sight of herself. Queenie finds herself in a toxic cycle of sleeping with men to feel some sort of validation. The sex is often disturbingly violent and illustrates the darkness of Queenie’s mental state. The book explores the racism she’s experienced, especially during sexual encounters, the stigma surrounding therapy, and the difficulty in finding self-worth.

The themes that ran through this story made it stand out for me. There are so many important conversations going on through Queenie’s story, and they were written in a very straightforward manner. The reader is left to analyze and sympathize with everything Queenie is struggling with. The general premise of a lost 25-year-old after a breakup isn’t in itself very unique, but Queenie was unique because it did not shy away from the very real and very upsetting ways that the main character dealt with her life circumstances.

The actual plot of this book was slow and felt repetitive to me. It didn’t feel like it really built toward anything, and after having finished I can’t really pick out pivotal moments. I would have liked a little more of a story arc, personally, as a plot-oriented reader. That being said, I think this was meant to be more of an exploration of how the day to day microaggressions and biases in Queenie’s life, as well as her past, wore her down over time.

Buy Queenie at an indie bookstore near you
Queenie on Goodreads

Book Review, Memoir, Nonfiction, Uncategorized

Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener ~ Book Review

Morgan

Uncanny Valley with treats
MCD
Genre: Memoir
Release Date: January 14, 2020
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪.5

For some reason, Silicon Valley and the startup tech industry really intrigue me. Uncanny Valley is an in-depth, personal depiction of Anna Wiener’s experiences working there. I loved how her career evolved. She starts out working in publishing and then is slowly drawn into tech. It was really interesting to see how she chose and justified this switch. The very real and honest way she thinks about her life and career, especially in her early to mid-twenties in a job that doesn’t pay much felt like a story that would be accessible and relatable to a lot of people. Still early on in her career and not making a lot of money, does she take the chance at jumping into an industry she has no understanding of? Yes, she does.

Anna’s bravery in diving headfirst into her new life was admirable. Fully out of her comfort zone, she finds herself redefining her wardrobe and her lifestyle, and struggling to adjust to the fraternity-esque work environments she encounters in California. The descriptions of startup culture in Silicon Valley were incredibly insightful, and often uncomfortable. Anna doesn’t shy away from outlining the many issues that exist in the industry as well as the ways that employees quietly make millions overnight.

I enjoyed this memoir much more than I anticipated. Anna’s honesty in her portrayal of her time in tech, and the relationships she made during that time were different from anything I’d ever read about before. The people she met often felt like caricatures, and often also made me distinctly uncomfortable. The book reads like an unearthing of the darker sides of the industry, but also highlights the great successes and opportunities it affords people. If you’re at all interested in startup culture or the inner workings of Silicon Valley, I highly recommend Uncanny Valley.

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪.5
Buy Uncanny Valley at an indie bookstore near you
Uncanny Valley on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction

Perfect Happiness by Kristyn Kusek Lewis ~ Book Review

Morgan

IMG_6210

Harper Perennial
Genre: Fiction
Release Date: June 9, 2020
My Rating: 🍪🍪

Perfect Happiness is a family drama surrounding Charlotte, a professor of psychology and author of the best selling book ‘Perfect Happiness.’ Her wealth, success, and hundreds of thousands of instagram followers have not, however, brought her the happiness she touts on a daily basis in her public talks and classes. I liked this book’s voyeuristic focus on social media and how different it is from real life. Reading about Charlotte obsessively checking and rechecking her likes was kind of startling to read over and over even though it’s something many of us do on a daily basis. Lewis made her point.

Charlotte’s family life is struggling. She and her husband Jason have grown distant, her daughter, entering her teenage years, has started to act out, and she drowns her concerns in a bottle of wine nearly every night. That being said, Charlotte’s character came off as excessively privileged to me, and it made it really hard for me to enjoy the story. I honestly can’t tell if the author’s intention was to make Charlotte this way. Weirdly, I think I would’ve enjoyed the story more if this was intentional, because it would be more of a commentary on how out of touch many people are with their own privilege. One social media ‘troll’ even calls Charlotte out for being out of touch and I fully agreed. It infuriated me when she compared her life to the ‘troll,’ whose child had recently tried to commit suicide. Excuse me, Charlotte? Your daughter snuck out to go to a party like every other teenager. Check yourself.

I know that the issues Charlotte faced are things that people struggle with on a daily basis, I just wish her character construction or circumstances had been a little different. That being said, she had a really detailed well built out life. I liked learning about Jason’s job as a zoologist (so cool) and seeing his struggles too.

The ending felt rushed and unbelievable without any evidence of anyone actually trying to change. I read this really quickly, and could wonderfully visualize every bit of Charlotte’s story, but there were a few key elements that didn’t work for me.

My Rating: 🍪🍪
Buy Perfect Happiness at an indie bookstore near you
Perfect Happiness on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, thriller, Uncategorized

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin ~ Book Review

Morgan

The Night Swim book with cake

St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Thriller
Release Date: August 4, 2020
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5

For some reason whenever pop-culture shows up in fiction I find it a little jarring. The Night Swim centers around Rachel Krall who runs a true crime podcast. Each season, she focuses on a different crime and the subsequent trial. The season in question takes place in a beachside town during a rape trial. Simultaneously, Rachel begins to get mysterious letters from a listener, begging her to look into the drowning of a young girl in the same town years before.

The book goes back and forth between both victims, Kelly and Jenny. Each of their experiences are heartbreaking and disturbing. Their accounts are interspersed with episodes of Rachel’s podcast. The format was very different from other thrillers I’ve read, but I didn’t love the podcast segments — they felt very cut and dry.

There was a twist in the story toward the end, which absolutely shocked me, but much of the violence (gang rape, physical abuse, etc.) was hard for me to get through. The story sheds a strong light on victim blaming, and reputation during rape trials and the mental and emotional tolls on both girls were heartbreaking. If you like true crime, and true crime podcasts in particular, I think you’d enjoy The Night Swim.

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5
Buy The Night Swim at an indie bookstore near you
The Night Swim on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, thriller, Uncategorized

Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier ~ Book Review

Morgan

Jar of Hearts with blondies and daisies

Minotaur Books
Genre: Thriller
Release Date: June 12, 2018
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪

Jar of Hearts was far more disturbing than I expected. The story hits the ground running as Geo is arrested for helping cover up the murder of her best friend, by her then boyfriend, Calvin, 14 years previously. The reader knows from the onset that the main character is guilty, which automatically made this stand out from other thrillers.

The storyline is broken into sections based on Geo’s life: before going to jail, during her time in jail, and after she gets out. There are also substantial flashbacks to when she first met Calvin, all leading up to the killing of her best friend, Angela. The story explores their abusive relationship and the lifelong impact it had on Geo. It was interesting to see the evolution of Geo’s character throughout these time frames.

I definitely didn’t see where this story was going until pretty late in the game. Looking back, there were hints along the way, but nothing I picked up on. The entire book, but the ending in particular was exceedingly twisted and horrific. The descriptions of Calvin’s violence, including rape, physical and verbal abuse, and murder, were detailed and disturbing. If these topics are especially triggering, this book should definitely be avoided. It was hard for me to get through certain scenes, but the ultimate cohesion of the story was impressive.

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪
Buy Jar of Hearts at an indie bookstore near you
Jar of Hearts on Goodreads

Book Review, Nonfiction, Uncategorized

This is Major by Shayla Lawson ~ Book Review

Morgan

IMG_5735

Harper Perennial
Genre: Nonfiction
Release Date: June 30, 2020

Shayla Lawson’s essay collection focuses on Black girl culture, her experiences with implicit and explicit racism in her everyday life, and celebrating Black womanhood, and all that Black women have accomplished, influenced, and inspired. She touches on pop culture, career success, childhood and family life, and everything in between. I encourage you to seek out Own Voices reviews for this collection, or post any you know if in the comments. Black reviewers will understand Lawson’s words in a way that I cannot.

This book made me examine my own white privilege again and again. I cannot imagine how exhausting it must be for her (and so many others) to face racism in the workplace, in school, in everyday life, over and over again and to have her valid objections to this behavior brushed over. Lawson also brings in heartbreaking and horrific historical insight and research about slavery and the ways in which Black women in particular have been exploited and used. There was a strong mix of topics, from Black Twitter to Diana Ross, to American Girl Dolls. Some sections were poetry, since Lawson is a poet, but most were prose. I found This is Major to be incredibly eye opening and informative.

Buy This is Major at an indie bookstore near you
This is Major on Goodreads