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ok rounding this one up from 3.5 stars as it wasn’t my favorite of the Hawtorne novels but I still loved it and didn’t see some of the twists coming. I also really liked the hints in this one that gave us a bit more sneak peek into Hawthorne’s own past. Curious to see if that will come fully in a future story. Love Horowitz so much!
I didn’t love this one as much as the first since there was a bunch more yearning but it was still fun and easy read and kept my interest the whole time and ended the story in a satisfactory way. This was a fun duology.
I was not prepared for how sad this book is. There are three sections in this book and they are all sad in their own way. Despite being able to guess some of the twists, I kept waiting for more horrible things to happen because Picoult has conditioned me to always assume the worst. Thankfully it didn’t go where I was most worried it would. But especially as a mom and as someone who lived in NYC during 9/11 this was a hard book to read.
This was a short and sad story about a man who has served time and is released from prison, consistently insisting that he hasn’t committed the crime. And a policeman who finally decides to get curious. It has so much sadness. It shows how hard it can be to start over again, even when you have support, even when some people believe you. And how your own belief in yourself can both help and hurt. And how sometimes it’s best to just move on and not look backward no matter what. with gratitude to netgalley and Ecco for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
I wish there were more romance books like this. I loved how this book took its time diving deeper into each of the characters and showing us their insecurities and enough of their backgrounds that you couldn’t help but root for them. I also love how it’s about how media doesn’t always help matters by sensationalizing things and people also don’t help by taking sides without information. Projecting our own ideas of right and wrong into a “reel” online without knowing any of the real details behind the people and even the story. And how people and careers and publishing can all be so fragile. How we are always trying to prove something to our parents, to ourselves, to the people we don’t know. How words can have so much power. And how through the lens of time and experience everything can change shape. And how we are never one thing. with gratitude to netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.  Hello April. As I was journaling about my goals for this month, I decided I needed something different this month. I want to truly take the pressure off myself. So no specific goal setting. And also I like having a list in case the desire or energy does strike me. So I decided I will make a list of all the things I could do and see how many (if any) I check off. If I check off ten, awesome. If i check off none, that’s also awesome. so is one, so is all, so is two. No goal. Just letting it be.
Here’s to another month. Paying attention. Loving my people. Savoring and living in awe. And taking steps to move onward.  March came and passed faster than it usually does. I am not sure if that’s a good thing or not but here we are. I am not usually a fan of this long month without any breaks so I am not sad to see March go. I have been feeling off for a while now and I feel like it finally crescendoed in March and forced me to do something about it. So net-net I will consider it a very useful month. One Big Goal: Even though I did the full work for the garage, I didn’t do anything else. I decided that was enough. So I am giving myself grace for this one.
It’s sort of interesting to find myself in March and done with the two biggest things I wanted to do this year. Let’s see where that takes me. I am super proud of all that I did. Good job moving onward, Karen.
Oh my. This book is one of a kind. As a person who reads a lot, it’s rare that I read something that’s so unique and so unlike anything else. But this one, this one absolutely checks that box. It’s so unusual that I think people will either love it or really not care for it. Consider me 100% in the first category. I loved every minute I spent with this unusual, one of a kind story. First of all Benjamin’s writing is absolutely beautiful. The settings, the characters, the crazy plot. But what’s even more beautiful is all the emotion in this story. The things we will do for love, because of grief, for science, trying to make up for regret. The chances we miss and the deep desire to get even one more moment with the people we love. There are a ton of nitpicks I can have with it but at its heart it’s a story about love, grief and regret and the rest are just details. And those emotions are palpable the whole way through. This story will stay with me for months and month. with gratitude to netgalley and Putnam for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review
I read this one in one swallow. It was fun, interesting and visually stunning. Loved it.
Here’s what’s interesting. I loved Shrill and when I first started reading this book, it felt similar and I found myself in the same zone where I loved West’ voice and the way she told her story. But then at some point, the voice memos really started to annoy me and so did the narrative. It felt almost like she was trying to convince me of something she herself didn’t believe. Or maybe I didn’t get it. Either way maybe this was the wrong book at the wrong time for me. I wish her nothing but joy and if West writes more, I will read those too.
I’ve read every Evelyn Skye book. Not only do I love her writing style but I love her as a human being I get to call a friend. How lucky am I? This was both a departure from her other stories and not really. As someone who works in tech, I really enjoyed the setting of this book. And even though as a reader, I could totally see that Talia was making poor choices and getting addicted to the ability to undo even the smallest of mistakes, I completely believe that if any of us actually had this power, we would have a really hard time not using it both for ourselves and for the people we love. Especially if it seemed like it didn’t have adverse reactions, who wouldn’t want to tinker and make things just right. Or to give others (or themselves) an opportunity to correct things. The thing is, throughout this whole story Talia never uses the power to truly take advantage of anyone else or in a purely selfish way. In her own way, she’s always trying to do it for the “right” reasons (ok maybe not when she’s eating several breakfasts but it’s also ok to have a little fun if it comes at no expense, no?) As in all her other books, the creativity and visual storytelling are one of a kind. I loved the idea of Talia’s company and the details that went with it. I loved the bookstore in the lighthouse. I loved imagining the fancy Taco Bell. So many beautiful and visual details. Reading a Skye book is always such a gift and this one is no exception. with gratitude to netgalley and Atria books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
I read this because I was stuck looking for something to read and I knew this wouldn’t be terrible. And it wasn’t. It held my attention all the way through. It was interesting. But not nearly as captivating as the original. |
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