Book Review, Fiction

The Castaways by Elin Hilderbrand ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5
Genre: Fiction

The Castaways tells the story of four Nantucket couples who comprise a friend group. When one of the couples is killed while out sailing, it acts as a catalyst for the unraveling of years’ worth of secrets the group has been keeping from one another.

Although the central event in the book is the sudden loss of Greg and Tess, it also takes the time to share past vacations the full group has taken together. Hilderbrand shows us that the full group dynamic is not representative of the individual relationships within it and draws back the curtain on them one at a time. Yes, that means there are a lot of different points of view, but that kept things interesting for me. We got to see things through a lot of different perspectives.

It was a little slower moving than some of Hilderbrand’s other books, but the central mystery about what happened to Greg and Tess kept me locked in. 

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Book Review, Fiction, Romance

This is A Love Story by Jessica Soffer ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪

Genre: Fiction

This is a Love Story is told through Abe and Jane, a couple who have had a long life together. Jane is terminally ill and Abe is recounting stories from their lives to Jane as a way to stay connected in her final days. The writing style is poetic and not told in traditional prose. At times it was very beautiful, but honestly as a storytelling mechanism it didn’t really work for me. I found it somewhat hard to follow the plot given the way it was written.

Central Park is deeply meaningful to the couple and is included as its own character in the story. There are entire excerpts about what is happening in the park, unrelated to the main couple, which was such a unique use of place.

The story also pulls in other characters – Abe and Jane’s son and his (negative) perspective of his mother; and a student of Abe’s who tried to pursue him romantically. These helped to provide a more rounded view of who they were as people. I appreciated the other points of view and the realistic depth that was added.

I liked that the narrative addressed the good and bad times in this couple’s relationship. You might expect this kind of setup to be a fluffy romance, but that is not the case with this book. It is a recounting their missteps as much as of the happy times.

I’m not quite sure how I feel about this book overall. As previously mentioned, I found it a little hard to follow. I think the stylistic choices were doing a bit too much and took away from what was otherwise a compelling narrative.

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Buy This is a Love Story at an indie bookstore near you

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Book Review, Fiction

Summer Sisters by Judy Blume ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5
Genre: Fiction

When Vix becomes friends with Caitlin as a teenager, she finds herself suddenly swept up in a world of luxury totally unlike her own. Caitlin invites her to come to Martha’s Vineyard with her for the summer and so the summer sisters are born.

This book follows the two girls throughout the years, jumping from summer to summer as they grown and change. They are surrounded by a cast of characters from Caitlin’s family to the boys they have crushes on. A lottt of this book centers on discovering their sexuality and obsessing over boys. Which is fine, but I wished the girls had a little more dimension.

I always enjoy a story focused around a female friendship with two wildly different women. In this case, Caitlin was the wild child and Vix was more practical. I liked the way they used their differences to their advantage when they were young. Learning from each other as they did. When they got older, I could not understand why they were still friends. Their relationship soured yet they still seemed to feel obligated to be their for one another. I think I would have been happier with this remaining a strong female friendship.

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Book Review, Fiction

Eddie Winston is Looking for Love by Marianne Cronin ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪.5
Genre: Romance

I loved Marianne Cronin’s previous book and the premise of Eddie Winston is Looking for Love had a lot in common with it. This book is the story of Eddie, a 90 year old who volunteers at a charity shop collecting memorabilia from people’s lives, particularly those he thinks their loved ones may regret giving up and come back for. He strikes up an unlikely friendship with 24 year old Bella who is grieving the loss of her boyfriend. When she finds out Eddie has never been kissed, she takes it as a challenge to help him achieve the milestone.

Cronin is so good at creating quirky, nuanced characters. I was obsessed with the descriptions of Bella and Eddie’s respective fashion choices and Eddie’s growing interest in his own personal style. Details like this and like Eddie’s relationship with his pet hamster made the characters feel so rich and real.

We also see flashbacks to the life of Bridie in the 1950’s – her marriage of convenience and the life she experiences because of this choice. We see her meet Eddie, as kind and warm and wonderful as ever, and we watch their friendship unfold.

I was eager to see how and when the past and present would come back together. The story took its time getting there, but it never felt slow. Every scene was so deliciously detailed and I could picture them playing out perfectly.

The characters and relationships Cronin weaves are like warm hugs. Her books have layers of sadness, but that just makes me care about the people in them all the more.

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Buy Eddie Winston is Looking for Love at an indie bookstore near you
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Book Review, Historical Fiction

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪.5
Genre: Historical Fiction

I saw sooo many glowing review for The Frozen River and I love a good mystery so I was excited to dig into it. Martha is a midwife and healer and she is called on to examine a body found floating in the river. Upon inspection, it’s clear to her that there is foul play and knowing what she does about the victim’s past, she has theories of her own. However, she finds herself publicly contradicted and forced to investigate further in secret.

The commentary about how women were treated in this town was interesting in a painful way and I liked seeing Martha try to advocate for herself and for other women. Unfortunately however, she did so in a way that was so repetitive. This was a long book and it positively crawled along. I wasn’t even intrigued in figuring out he mystery by halfway through because I felt like I was slogging through the same chapter over and over.

Incredible setting and world building and a very interesting premise, but the execution absolutely did not work for me.

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

Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪.5
Genre: Fiction

This was one of those books I couldn’t wait to get back to every time I stopped reading. I went into it completely blind and boy was it a wild ride. When an affair with her English professor leads to an unexpected pregnancy, Margo decides to have the baby to give her life a new purpose. Once the baby comes, despite her love of him, she struggles to support him, until she discovers OnlyFans.

This book was very self aware. There were excerpts about narration and being a reader and a writer – playing off of the English class where Margo meets the father of her child. It added an element of suspense and the reader in, becoming part of the story.

The writing was funny and ironic and just delightful. One of the funnier books I’ve ever read despite the heavy nature of the content (it explores drug addiction, infidelity, and a custody battle to name a few).

Every character was so quirky and unique and I truly never had any idea what anyone might do or say next. I can truly say this was like nothing I’ve ever read before and I can see myself revisiting Margo in the future.

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Book Review, Memoir, Nonfiction

Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Memoir

I listened to the audiobook of this memoir and could not stop. Ina chronicles her life in a way that feels like she’s having a conversation directly with the reader. She details how much of her career direction happened by chance. She answered an ad for a specialty food store on a whim and from their her incredible business acumen helped to propel her forward.

I really appreciated the stories she shared from her personal life and the wisdom she gained from those experiences. She got married while still in college and watching her relationship grow and change, and sometimes falter was really compelling.

I absolutely ate up her travels, particularly tro Paris. Much of these felt like the kind of stories you would find accompanying recipes in a cookbook or blog but in the best way, if that makes sense.

Ina’s approach to life really caught me off guard. When she wants something, she jumps in full throttle, whether that be learning how to run a business or fly a plane. I enjoyed seeing her problem solve and learn from her experiences. Obviously I knew she was going to find success, but I still found myself cheering her on along the way.

I didn’t know anything about Ina prior to reading this book and that didn’t hamper my enjoyment of it one bit. If anything, it made me want to learn more.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy Be Ready When the Luck Happens at an indie bookstore near you
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Book Review, Fiction

The Rumor by Elin Hilderbrand ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪.5
Genre: Fiction

What an absolutely delicious drama. The Rumor reads as one long gossip session and I was absolutely here for it. It follows a series of Nantucket neighbors and the sordid situations they find themselves in based on a number of desperate (or not so desperate) circumstances. Grace finds herself drawn inappropriately to her handsome landscape architect while her husband, Eddie, finds himself strapped for cash despite his reputation as a successful realtor. Meanwhile, Grace’s best friend Madeline is inspired by her friend’s real life circumstances and begins penning the story into her next novel. All the while, Grace and Madeline’s teenage children are messily dating. Phew, what a twisted web.

As per always, Hilderbrand’s description of Nantucket – the landscape, the people, the food– are delectable. I could picture everything to a T which positively sucked me into the story. Each character and their missteps were distinct and often horrifying and kept me glued to the page.

I was holding my breath for things to blow up as the rumors swirled satisfied when these flawed characters had to face the music. Overall, a very quick and amusing read.

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Buy The Rumor at an indie bookstore near you
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Book Review, Nonfiction

Disney High by Ashley Spencer ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Nonfiction

I didn’t have TV growing up, so my exposure to Disney Channel was limited, but I am fascinated by the film/TV industry from a business perspective, and I love Disney in general. This book was a chronological exploration of how Disney Channel adapted from the 1980’s through its heyday in the 2000’s. It starts with the Mickey Mouse Club revival (which featured Britney Spears and Ryan Gosling, among others), and how Disney didn’t try to nurture and hold onto the young stars’ potential. From there, we see the way they changed their approach to the young talent on their shows, really kicking off with Hilary Duff.

The book includes interview excerpts from people who worked in all different parts of the Disney Channel machine as well as celebrities who participated in the shows. From a business perspective, it was fascinating to see the way young stars were shaped and commodified over the years and how the company attempted to respond and react to negative perceptions of Disney Channel stars.

I wish there was a little bit more to the conclusion of the book, it just kind of ended, but as it was an attempt at just an objective review of the channel, I can understand why there wasn’t more of an analysis wrapping things up. I read the physical version of this, but I think the audiobook would have been fun since it’s narrated by an actress from Lizzie McGuire.

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Buy Disney High at an indie bookstore near you
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Book Review, Nonfiction

There is No Ethan by Anna Akbari ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5
Genre: True Crime

There is No Ethan explores the experiences of three women who are catfished by Ethan Schuman, a man on a dating website who appears at first to be charming, committed, and emotionally intelligent. As he throws excuse after excuse at each of them for why he can’t meet them, they independently begin to question his authenticity.

The manipulation tactics used by ‘Ethan’ to pit these women against each other and make them question themselves was truly wild. It is hard for me to fathom continuing to communicate with someone for as long as they did when they keep making excuses for why they can’t meet me, but it speaks to how very convincing this catfish must have been and how deeply entwined in his manipulation tactics these women were.

I found it hard to stop reading because I was so eager to find out the truth and to see ‘Ethan’ get taken down. I unequivocally rooted for these women to band together and uncover the truth. I was also soooo horrified by the lack of accountability once the truth was uncovered, which again, I believe speaks to the power this individual is able to assume over people and just how convincing they must be.

It was frustrating to me how long these women continued talking to Ethan and letting him impact their lives, which definitely affected my feelings towards the book. That said, it was the truth of their experiences and made for a fascinating read.

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Buy There is No Ethan at an indie bookstore near you
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