Book Review, Fiction, mystery

Heartwood by Amity Gaige ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Mystery

When Valerie goes missing on the Appalachian Trail, Beverly is tasked with tracking her down. The story oscillates between Valerie’s perspective as she writes letters to her mother while she’s lost and Beverly’s as she runs the search. The third perspective comes from Lena, a woman living in a retirement community who begins to believe she knows something about the disappearance hundreds of miles away.

I really enjoyed the structure of this book and particularly the audio version. It includes interviews with people Valerie met along the trail and listening made it seem like sitting in on actual police interviews. I was also so curious to see how Lena fit into Valerie’s story. I liked getting to escape to her bubble at the retirement community and learn about her life there. 

As more details emerge about the circumstances surrounding where and when Valerie went missing, I was gearing up for some sort of crazy twist or reveal. As this was somewhat of a police procedural, I was expecting a big discovery toward the end of the book. Instead, I felt like the ending was pretty random and unsatisfying. Although the story itself was interesting, it all kind of fell flat when there wasn’t something wild or compelling to wrap it all up.

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Book Review, Fiction, Romance

Sounds Like Love by Ashley Poston ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5
Genre: Romance

If you know my reading preferences at all, you know that I LOVE a fictional world where everything is normal except for one thing. Ashley Poston is one of my favorite authors for this kind of story so I was so excited for Sounds Like Love. Joni, a celebrated songwriter finds herself haunted by a melody after weeks of writer’s block. And she’s not the only one. A musician across the country has the same melody in his head and they soon come to find out that they can also hear each other. So begins a quest to free themselves of the inexplicable connection.

Joni leaves L.A. to visit her hometown in North Carolina. There, her mother is rapidly losing her memory and she struggles with the new reality of her family’s situation. This felt like a bit of an unnecessary layer to me, as the way it was addressed was largely surface-level and repetitive.

I did really enjoy the weird connection between Joni and the mystery man and seeing how it brought them together. I loved the element of both of them desperately trying to find a way out of each other’s heads but then slowly wondering if that actually was what they wanted. The romance was really lovely. Having flirty banter inside their own heads was fun for these two.

Also, I loved that the chapter titles were song lyrics. It was a cool addition and they always matched the storyline so well.

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Buy Sounds Like Love at an indie bookstore near you
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Book Review, Fiction

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Historical Fiction

Homegoing starts out by introducing us to half-sisters Effia and Esi in Ghana in the 18th century. One sister lives in comfort while the other is sold into slavery and sent to America. As the story moves forward, we leave these characters behind and follow their offspring. I kept waiting to circle back to the original two, but instead, Homegoing explores the lives of generations of their descendants. Conceptually, I thought this was such a fascinating choice, but I found that it didn’t make it feel like a completely cohesive story to me.

The writing in this book is beautiful in its agony. It shows the long-lasting impact of warfare in Ghana and the brutality of slavery. It introduces new characters just to rip them away. It is so very ambitious.

I can appreciate what this book was trying to do while also saying that it made it hard for me to connect with the characters. We moved so quickly from person to person and time to time that there was a distinct lack of ability to really dig into who everyone was.

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Book Review, Fiction, thriller

The Crash by Freida McFadden ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Thriller

Tegan finds herself pregnant after a one night stand and facing the possibility of a life-changing payout if she takes a deal with the father and never breathes a word of his name again. As memories from their night together return, however, she questions whether that’s really the right choice for her and her baby. Hoping for some clarity, she sets out for her brother’s house only to find herself stranded in a blizzard.

The vast majority of this book takes place at the home of the couple who save Tegan from the blizzard. During this time, she’s locked in the basement and the single setting got a little repetitive after a while. We get excerpts from her perspective as well as the man and woman who live in the house. I enjoyed getting to see how each of their motivations were at war with one another.

Like all of Freida McFadden’s books, I finished this one super quickly and found it hard to put down. That said, I also always find her writing repetitive and often predictable. There were some points that were hammered home wayyy too many times.

I listened to the audiobook and it was the perfect immersive way to pass the time on a road trip.

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Buy The Crash at an indie bookstore near you
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Book Review, Fiction

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5
Genre: Fiction

Atmosphere opens with a dramatic disaster in space and from there, jumps back in time to show us how our main characters got there. Joan, a physics professor, finds herself selected from thousands of applicants to be one of the first female astronauts. Once at NASA, she meets a cast of characters who come to be her confidants in her cohort during their training.

The astronaut crew was all introduced pretty quickly and quite frankly, I still couldn’t keep them all straight by the end of the book. Only a couple of them were distinct enough for me to really feel that I knew who they were and their place in Joan’s life. Her sister and niece on the other hand, were much more fleshed out. Her relationships with them were a parallel storyline to her time at NASA and one I really appreciated. It added depth to Joan and rounded out her life.

The romance was kind of more central to the book than being an astronaut was, which surprised me a bit. That said, I don’t think I really felt invested in the story until the romance started. I loved seeing Joan’s relationship grow and change as they faced difficulties and prejudices they had to learn how to navigate. It made the lead-up to the impending disaster all the more emotional.

This was a slower burn for me than some of TJR’s other books. I liked the choice of subject matter/setting – it made this stand out from other romance books, and I liked how Joan’s family life was included in addition to the central romance.

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Buy Atmosphere at an indie bookstore near you
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Book Review, Fiction, Romance

Slow Burn Summer by Josie Silver ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Romance

When Kate got married, she gave up her dream of acting. Now newly divorced, she reaches out to her old talent agent only to connect with his son, Charlie, who has inherited the business and is looking for someone to act as a stand-in for the author of a new romance novel.

Josie Silver’s writing is always delightful. She creates characters and situations that are funny and quirky and believable and altogether a joy to read about. I loved getting to know Kate and watching the public instantly adore her as she steps out on the job. I could so easily see why she attracted such attention.

The first part of the book focuses on Kate’s acting job and it takes a bit of a turn later on. I definitely preferred the first half of the book, but Kate and the side characters – like her sister and daughter, kept the book fun.

Romance was not a big focus of the story. When the title says slow burn, it means it. That said, I liked seeing the banter and sparks between Charlie as they each navigate life and love post-divorce.

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Buy Slow Burn Summer at an indie bookstore near you
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Book Review, Romance

One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪
Genre: Romance

Alice leaves her burnt out city life behind to take care of her grandma after a fall. Returning to Barry’s Bay reminds her of the summers she spent there as a teenager and inspires her to go after the things she never got around to doing then. When notorious flirt Charlie enters the scene however, she finds her summer taking an unexpected turn.

My main issue with this book is how cringey I found the romance. It was not a swoony sexy build-up, it was cliched, and literally made me roll my eyes. From the way they spoke to each other to the way they interacted, to how much Alice loved when Charlie brushed her teeth, I just could not get on board with them as a couple.

Alice, with Charlie’s help, is working her way through a checklist of things she wants to try by the end of the summer. The list was written when she was a teenager and, being a central plot point, makes the whole book feel like it’s YA, which actually works because the characters acts so immature, but was not what I was looking for.

I loved the Barry’s Bay setting and the summery escape, but not much else worked for me here.

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Buy One Golden Summer at an indie bookstore near you
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Book Review, Fiction, mystery

Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪.5
Genre: Fiction

When Sylvie goes missing after going to the Netherlands to say goodbye to her dying grandmother, her sister Amy finds herself taking up the search for her. Amy is a sheltered youngest child and traveling to the Netherlands terrifies her. Once she arrives she finds that her family there seems to have a much different view of Sylvie, her protective, successful older sister.

This story is told in part by Amy, Sylvie, and their mom. We learn from each of them that the family is rife with secrets and we see each of their perspectives on the difficult decisions that had to be made as an immigrant family moving to the US from China. My favorite part of the book was probably learning about each character from the other perspectives and then hearing the differences from their own voice.

Although this is technically a mystery, it’s very slow and drawn out. The tension never really comes to a head, it just sort of meanders to the end. That in itself isn’t a bad thing, but the ultimate conclusion just kind of fell flat.

There was a really bizarre relationship arc in this story that just made me feel weird reading this whole book. I don’t really know what the intention was there and I won’t say anything more specific to avoid spoilers, but I did not enjoy it.

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Buy Searching for Sylvie Lee at an indie bookstore near you
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Book Review, Fiction

Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Fiction

Barefoot may have been one of Hilderbrand’s most dramatic stories, and that’s really saying something. Vicki, Brenda, and Melanie arrive on Nantucket for the summer, each ready for an escape from their reality. Vicki is fighting cancer, Brenda lost her career after an affair with a student, and Melanie found out her husband is having an affair and that she’s pregnant with the baby she has so desperately longed for. As if that’s not enough going on, enter twenty-two year old Josh who babysits for them over the summer and finds himself embroiled in their lives in unexpected ways.

I liked that each character felt they were on borrowed time while on Nantucket. They knew the summer would eventually end and they would have to stop suspending reality. It felt relatable as a reader, since the book too was finite – it contained their stories well. Bolstered, of course, by the totally immersive setting. Every time I opened the book I was wholly transported to a beach town.

Although all three of the main women were kind of annoying and self-serving at times, I didn’t really care that I didn’t love them. It amped up the drama and helped me understand the nuanced relationships between them.

Josh’s ex-girlfriend was also a prominent character and seemed like a kind of random addition to provide some backstory for him. I found her storyline unnecessary and a bit repetitive, but we did get a really good sense of who Josh was and I liked his character.

The ending felt kind of rushed and a little too ‘wrapping things up,’ but I didn’t really mind.

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Buy Barefoot at an indie bookstore near you
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Book Review, mystery, YA

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪
Genre: YA Mystery

I listened to the audiobook of We Were Liars and I’ve seen a lot of reviews that the writing is kind of choppy when reading the physical book, so keep that in mind. This was a super fast read that’s narrated by Cady. Two years ago, she was in a terrible accident that she can’t remember and no one will explain to her. When she comes back to the island that she visits every summer, where the accident happened, she finds herself determined to figure out the truth.

We get to know Cady’s family, specifically the other “liars” who are around her age and consider themselves better than their racist/classist family members. I don’t really get why they were called the liars and quite honestly I found them annoying.

I liked the interpersonal drama and the confusion around Cady’s accident. It was clear that we couldn’t quite trust her – since even she had no idea what her past held. It kept me guessing.

The twist was very unexpected but not in a way that knocked my socks off. I was kind of just like “oh, huh.” I liked the island setting and the coming of age narrative and the mysterious nature of the writing, but the story itself wasn’t super compelling.

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Buy We Were Liars at an indie bookstore near you
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