Review: The Curse of Chalion

The Curse of Chalion
The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is the third book my friend Jess gave me. It’s 3.5 stars for me mostly because it was so long and I kept losing focus on and off but I loved the main character and just like her other two books the dialogue is exquisite!

View all my reviews

Review: Secrets of Adulthood: Simple Truths for Our Complex Lives

Secrets of Adulthood: Simple Truths for Our Complex Lives
Secrets of Adulthood: Simple Truths for Our Complex Lives by Gretchen Rubin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have read and loved all of Rubin’s books. I liked this one, too, but it was much more simplistic than I was expecting. Perhaps that’s my fault for not reading the blurb closely but it’s not super clear that this is mostly a book of single sentence truths from Rubin about different topics.

There are some real gems in this book and some beautiful thoughts that will stay with you. Just don’t expect it to be a big idea book like several of her other ones.

with gratitude to Crown and netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

View all my reviews

Review: The Hush

The Hush
The Hush by Sara Foster
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was an interesting read. It was gritty, scary and a little bit too real or too possible.

View all my reviews

Review: Shards of Honour

Shards of Honour
Shards of Honour by Lois McMaster Bujold
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My good friend Jess gifted these books to me back in September but I somehow missed them until now so I wanted to make up for that by immediately reading them. And I am so glad I did! What an awesome writer Bujold is. I love her creativity, I love her characters and I love love love her witty dialogue.

View all my reviews

Review: Barrayar

Barrayar
Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I immediately moved on to this one after Shards of Honor and I am so glad I did! I love Cordelia so so much! She is smart, strong and has some of the best lines!!

View all my reviews

Review: Saltwater

Saltwater
Saltwater by Katy Hays
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There are messed up families and then there are messed up families!

The Lingates have survived the tragedy of losing Sarah Lingate twenty years ago in Capri. Because they want to prove that it was not a crime, they keep coming back to their house in Capri for a week every year just like they used to.

Everyone’s moved on. Or have they?

Sarah’s daughter, Helen, wants to uncover the truth. She also wants to get out from under their control.

And then her mother’s necklace is uncovered. The one she was wearing the night she died. The one they had thought was lost to the sea or stolen. And, of course, things start to unravel. They get twisted and twisted again. Some I saw coming, and some not at all.

Despite the truly messed up family, I enjoyed reading this novel and swallowed it up in two days.

with gratitude to netgalley and Ballantine Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

View all my reviews

Review: This Book Will Bury Me

This Book Will Bury Me
This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book took forever for me to read. The characters were mostly insufferable and I just couldn’t get into the story even though I did want to know what happened. Several reviews say this is about a live case in Idaho and even though a bunch of other things happen in the book, and I am sure the twist ending is intended to move the story away from live events, it’s a bit icky to take a current, unsolved live event and use it as a plot device.

I guessed the twist before it came.

In the end, this book was okay. Longer than it needed to be. I think if it were 100 pages shorter, I might have liked it more.

with gratitude to netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

View all my reviews

Review: Twist

Twist
Twist by Colum McCann
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

McCann finds the most interesting premises to write about. His tales are always interesting and his writing is always beautiful. But what i love the most is always his character development. His characters stick with you. They are so three-dimensional they jump off the page.

This is the story of Fennell, a journalist who is sent to connect with Conway. Conway repairs the internet cables that lie in the ocean when they break. He is an engineer and a freediver. He’s married to an artist who becomes famous during the time of the novel. The story is interesting in of itself. There are cables in the sea that carry the information we have at our fingertips. When the cables break, someone has to actually go fix them. Conway is one of those people. That is interesting, isn’t it?

But then there’s so much more. And there’s a mystery. In the solving of that mystery, more mysteries are unearthed and we are reminded that at their core, people are complex and we will never truly know them.

with gratitude to netgalley and Random House for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

View all my reviews

Review: I Cheerfully Refuse

I Cheerfully Refuse
I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

Ok officially DNF’ing this one at 47%. I don’t know if it’s me or the books I am choosing lately but I am almost halfway through this story and I still don’t really know what’s going on and I cannot read it anymore.

View all my reviews

Review: Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life

Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life
Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life by Byron Katie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

People love Byron Katie or they hate her. I feel like self-help or systems like this only serve you as far as you’re willing to go. And you should always take what works and leave the rest. These are not religions. I like that she has a process I can follow. And I also deeply agree that the truth is the truth is the truth so regardless of how I feel about it, it doesn’t change being the truth. And messing with how others should feel, be, behave, etc. is a path to unhappiness since we have no control over what others do and why. So my business is all I get to choose and control. A good reminder.

View all my reviews

Review: The Perfect Son

The Perfect Son
The Perfect Son by Freida McFadden
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It’s interesting to read these earlier McFaddens before her stories became really twisted and her characters became even more deeply unlikeable. I sort of guessed this one though it was a fast read.

View all my reviews

Review: The Housemaid

The Housemaid
The Housemaid by Freida McFadden
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Ok I buckled. I finally read this. It was ok. I have already read this plot before, albeit maybe it was stolen from McFadden but either way, it didn’t come as a twist this time around of course.

View all my reviews