Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Ali Hazelwood rarely disappoints. This one is deeper and more complex than her previous stories. Also quite a bit spicier. But it still has her quintessential tone and quirks.
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This is the story of a family of four over a period of forty years. The patriarch, and the heart, of the family, Rudy, dies and leaves the mom and two girls rudderless. They spend the rest of their lives trying to find their true north. Weaving in and out of each others’ lives. Always finding their way back to each other. It covers many topics around motherhood, family, sisterhood, marriage, loneliness, friendship (especially female friendship) and more. This book is mostly sad. It’s real in so many ways and also it’s a true portrayal of inherited trauma. The writing is beautiful and the characters are so real they jump off the page. with gratitude to Ecco and netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review
Laura Dave’s latest book is about a family patriarch who dies. Liam has three ex-wives and three children. A daughter from his first marriage and twin boys from his second one. He loves them all very much and works hard to keep his lives separate and meaningful. Then he dies. And his son Sam is convinced it’s not a fall like it appears to be. He enlists the daughter to help and together they go back and forth between California and NYC to dig up what happened to their dad. This is a little bit of a mystery, a little bit about families, lost love, grief, love and of course secrets. Dave is a great writer and once I started it, I didn’t put this book down until i was done. with gratitude to Simon Element and netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review
This book was unlike anything I’ve read in a long while. One day all the white people walk into the sea and die. Charlie receives a phone call from the daughter he never met, Sidney, who asks him to come get her and take her to Alabama where she thinks she might still have one relative left. The details about the world, the writing, the characters, the ideas in this book are going to stay with me for a long time. I know some people will hate the ending, but I loved it. In fact I loved all of this book. It’s rare that a book surprises me but this one did. with gratitude to Simon & Schuster and netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review
I read this story in one swallow. And I know that it’s going to be controversial. Because some people will find it very unsatisfying. But in my opinion it was a wonderful story around grief, destiny, loneliness, power of the media, choice and a lot more. I loved each of the characters’ stories and especially the main character who has the longest arc as you see everything that got her to this moment. All the ups and downs that make a life. All the grief and hope and joy and sadness and loneliness. All the things we do to save the people we love. To save ourselves. Moriarty’s stories are always unputdownable and this one is no exception. with gratitude to Crown Publishing and netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review
I wanted to love this book. I love the idea of this book and I loved some of the characters but in the end the pacing wasn’t right for me and I couldn’t get myself to read it even as I was halfway through. It’s also sad, and my life is tough right now so it could easily be a case of the wrong book at the wrong time. I can see that my review is an outlier so please make sure you read others’ thoughts as well. with gratitude to netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
I liked the beginning of this story. I work in tech so it was interesting and I was curious to see where it would go. I also liked for a while that it folded in on itself and it was hard to tell what was real and what was not. Even though the specific ideas in this story are far from where we are today, the underlying premise of not being sure what to trust and the idea people wanting to manipulate our truths doesn’t seem like that far flung a stretch anymore, sadly. I did feel like it escalated again and again to a place that seemed a bit closer to ridiculous by the end but it’s tough to know where to go with a story like this. I still really enjoyed my time with it and am glad I read it. with gratitude to Little A and netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review
I’m a really big Heller fan. I’ve read and loved every one of his books. I love his writing. I love his quiet novels. I love his characters. I love the atmosphere of his books. And Burn has so much of Heller in it. It’s about two men who come out of the woods, returning from a hunting trip to find that the world has completely changed while they were in the woods. The town is completely burned to the ground and everyone is dead. The book is basically their journey into understanding what happened. It’s political in its nature but it’s no in any way didactic. It’s about male friendship. It’s about parenting. It’s about government. It’s about human nature. And it’s quiet and scary and meaningful like all of his novels are. I found this one to be a little slower than usual but i am still glad I read it. with gratitude to Knopf and netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review
Wow I truly truly had no idea what I was getting into with this book. Don’t let the cover fool you, this one is intense. It has some funny moments, in fact it has a lot of funny dialogue. But it’s also some version of Lord of the Flies with the rich and the less rich vs the children. And like Lord of the Flies, it has some moments that really make you question humanity. It goes in unpredictable directions even when you think you understand what’s going on. I had lots of issues with it but I have to admit that I read the whole thing in one sitting and I could not put it down, so that alone means it’s a four-star read for me. It gets bonus points for being a crazy, wild ride. with gratitude to SOURCEBOOKS Landmark and netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review
I’m a fan of McQuinston’s writing and characters and this book is no exception. The story of Theo and Kit is filled with electricity and bold sexuality even if they are picking the carnal over the emotional. They are hoping that if they stay on the surface, they don’t have to revisit the hurt. But of course life doesn’t work like that. The only way out is always through. If wine and baked goods is your thing and spicy scenes are also your thing, you will love this book. Even though I was rooting for both of them the whole time, it seems I slightly prefer my novels from the inside out vs the outside in so this wasn’t my super favorite of the McQuinston’s novels. But I will continue to read every single thing this author writes! with gratitude to St. Martin’s Press and netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review
This was creepy and disturbing and also eminently readable. A girl comes back from being missing. She seems to be holding something back and is acting weird. And man oh man it only gets crazier from there. A lot of trigger warnings with this one so be careful. It got so disturbing at some point I just wanted to put it down.
Sorry this was not a winner for me. So obvious and so plain. I don’t understand what I am missing. |
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