Verity by Colleen Hoover

Alrighty, next review time.  I'll be recording this one, looking a hot mess because, well, it's hot.  Every frigid winter I insist I'm moving south when I retire.  Then it gets this warm and I nope right out of that idea.  So if you're watching the video version, know this is review #2 of the summer.  I didn't record one for 9 Perfect Strangers because I hated it!

This, in contrast...

I LOVED THIS BOOK!

This was recommended to me by Mrs. Memmott over at Mackrille.  She was literally posting "move this to the top of your 'to read' pile!"  So I did.  I finished it in roughly 3 hours awaiting word my sister and brother-in-law (both in our Air Force) had made it to CT from OH on leave for the 4th of July.  I. Could. Not. Put. It Down.

Here's the premise: a famous best selling author, Verity Crawford, is severely injured in a car accident.  She has 3 books left in a promised series.  Her greedy publishers don't want to wait for her to fully recover, lest her fame fizzle.  Instead, they convince Verity's husband Jeremy to allow them to hire a no-name shadow writer to finish the books under Verity's name.  Lowen has published a few books, but nothing blockbuster.  Her compensation is half a million dollars.

Jeremy allows Lowen to visit their home to peruse Verity's office for ideas for the next novel. There Lowen learns Verity is completely paralyzed and in a vegetative state.  Jeremy tells Lowen he and Verity have experienced terrible loss: one of their twin girls accidentally ate peanuts at a sleepover and died of an allergic reaction.  Their other twin girl fell out of the family canoe and drowned.  Now this accident.  Was Verity drunk or taking sleeping meds?  Did she try to kill herself after losing her girls?  No one knows.  Jeremy hired a full time nurse and stays in the home, rather than put Verity in long term care, so their littlest boy, Crew, can still be close to his mother.  

Now, that's all I'm giving you.  Know this: Lowen definitely finds the beginnings of another book in Verity's office.  But it's not book 7. It's something completely different.  

But what is truth, and what is fiction?

Find this on display when we head back to school!

A reminder all opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W. 

9 Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty

Good Morning and Happy Summer!

This is book #1 in my Summer Reading pile, and it is the teacher's book club selection for June.  We're meeting tomorrow at Bad Sons, so I figured I should get the review done too.  I am moderating although I didn't choose this book.  Ms. Marcella did, but she forgot she had Dave Matthews Band tickets.

Ms. M. picked this because it's a Netflix series, and she wanted to read the book before watching the movie.  

The premise is that nine strangers meet at a health resort/spa retreat.  However they're not all strangers, which put me off to start with.  There is a family of 3 (Dad, Mom, daughter) and a young couple.  Then the rest are strangers.  Some there for weight loss, some for meditation, some, like the young couple, are there for therapy. We also have the director of the resort, her two assistants, and a massage therapist.  

I thought this would be a whodunit in a Clue style story, kinda like The Guest List maybe?  

Instead I found everyone and everything annoying, nothing believable, and the ending atrocious.  There I said it; I hated this book.  I am so disappointed, and have no idea how I'm going to lead a discussion on it!  I'm actually quite dismayed I paid for the hardcover version.  Bleh!

A reminder all opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W. 

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Recently I cleaned out my mail holder in the kitchen.  This ceramic box usually holds anything but mail. My husband and I stash receipts we might need for a return, stamps, and gift cards in it more than mail actually.  I found a $25 gift card to Barnes and Noble in there.  I also had a $5 e-coupon to use.  So, I purchased 3 books I'd heard some good things about.  This book was recommended by one of the newest Library roommates, Ms. Shell Callahan. 

I absolutely LOVED this book. I could NOT put it down.  

An elderly Hollywood actress of a bygone era, Evelyn Hugo (born Herrera) is ready to her life story and write her memoir, focusing on her seven former husbands.  She chooses a relatively unknown reporter, Monique Grant, to write the book.  Monique's only claim to fame is a short but well reviewed article on assisted suicide or "dying with dignity".  

As Evelyn tells her story, beginning as a poor girl in the slums of New York to the show business IT GIRL of the 50s and 60s then through heartbreak and loss, I found myself picturing the movie greats of the time--Evelyn as Marilyn Monroe first and foremost.  

I don't want to spoil too much, as this does have two major plot twists I didn't see coming at all. But, you will be shocked.

I'll be adding this to the collection soon!

Reminder that all opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.         

The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

Morning!  I did not do a written review of the last book I attempted to read (To Sleep in a Sea of Stars).  I only did a video review because that novel was so bad!  So I know it seems like a while since my last blog post.  

This, however, was awesome!  I could not put it down.  The weather was pretty blah Saturday evening into Sunday afternoon, and I was able to finish it in that time.  I had it out on my desk while I'm typing and Ms. Callahan said she loved it too!  So....

Owen and Hannah are happy newlyweds, adjusting to sharing a home with Owen's 16 year old daughter Bailey.  Owen is a widower, having lost Bailey's mother in a car crash years ago.  Hannah is a woodworker, and Owen is involved in a tech company developing online privacy software.  As news breaks that Owen and his partner have been defrauding investors, Owen disappears with a note "protect her".  

All kinds of law enforcement descend on Hannah, Bailey is taunted at school, and friends refuse to speak to them.  The only clue Hannah has is Owen's aversion to Austin, Texas, where the first US Marshall looking for Owen shows up from. 

I don't want to spoil too much, as this is really a crime drama whodunit.  But I promise you, you will not want to stop reading until you find out the truth!  

I will be adding this to our collection very soon!

A friendly reminder that all opinions expressed on this blog and the video version of it are solely those of Mrs. W. 

Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Manisalco

I am really angry at this book.  The book is 369 pages, and for the first 362 I really loved it.  But as the last chapter approached, it became clear there was no way this could end in just 7 more pages.  Sure enough, this is book 1 in a trilogy, and it left as a cliff hanger to boot!  And the 3rd book hasn't been published yet!

Emilia and Vittoria are twin Sicilian sisters who are secretly witches.  Their identity is known to other families with witches in the area, but to the run of the mill people, they are just the latest amazing cooks in their family's restaurant.  As they reach adulthood, Vittoria is violently murdered in a monastery.  Emilia of course sets herself to find the murderer and reason for her sister's death. 

Enter Wicked, a dashing demon from Hell, one of 7 brothers tied to a deadly sin.  Seems like Hell has a pretty strong battle going on for control.

More young adult female good witches are murdered.  Wicked and Emilia make a shaky pact to find the murderer, likely 1 of his brothers.  

Now, to be honest, there are a few trashy beach read romance novel scenes that are, in my view, eye roll worthy.  Nothing is overly graphic, but there's a "no one actually talks or acts that way" scene I almost laughed at.  

Combining all this I think makes the book very likable for many genre and topic fans--Italian heritage, white witchcraft, mythology, romance, supernatural romance, sisterhood, strong women (their grandmother is FIERCE!), and battles/fights.  

Then the ending.  Or lack thereof.  I put book #2 on our wishlist.  *Sigh*  Any way, find this on display next week!

All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.        

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

This is the 2nd review for today.

Transcendent Kingdom is the Adult level selection for All CT Reads, spearheaded by "our" Kym Powe.  You can read more about this event here: https://sites.google.com/view/allctreads/home

Although this is listed as "adult", I find it absolutely high school/YA appropriate.  

I LOVED this book!  Sunday morning I had a rare house to myself.  My husband and son were out, the laundry was going, and it was drizzly.  I read this in that one morning.  I could not put it down.

Gifty is a PhD candidate at Stanford in California.  Now a quick side note, I just got back from Christmas in California, so many of the places mentioned I recognized. She is experimenting on risk-reward behavior in mice, a cause near to her as her star high school basketball player brother died from an overdose after an injury left him addicted to painkillers.  

We flash back and forth to Gifty's childhood as the very dark daughter of a single mother who immigrated from Ghana in rural Alabama.  Gifty's mother is Christian and finds her place in the church.  Faith is very important to the family.  

As Gifty grows, she finds science to be her calling, which is often in direct challenge to her faith.  Her classmates in undergrad call Christianity a dangerous cult.  On the West Coast, she finds open sexuality at odds with her Southeastern upbringing.  

This really was an amazing examination of the intersections of race, gender, culture, religion, and education.  Just like it is difficult for me to be a pro 2nd Amendment teacher sometimes, Gifty has to decide between sharing about herself or smiling and nodding.

Find this on display soon.

A reminder all opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.       

 

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

Today I'll be doing two reviews, and this is the first.

The Guest List was the teachers' book club selection for February, but it looks like we will be pushing it to March, as our January meeting is being postponed due to the increase in Covid cases. I read this on the flight out to California over our Christmas break.

If you've followed this blog for a while, you know I am not a fan of alternating viewpoints.  I think it's a trend in literature that needs to go away for a while, as it is way too common.  This story is told in the alternating viewpoints of 5 people attending a very exclusive wedding on a remote island off Ireland (our meeting is going to be at Duffy's when we finally have it...).

Those telling the story are:

The bride Jules, a spoiled brat

The plus one Hannah, wife of Jules' best friend

The best man Johnno, a jerk

The wedding planner Aoife, who owns the island and has family buried there

The bridesmaid Olivia, Jules' half-sister via their mother     

We know at the outset one person is going to die, but we do not know who.  We also know the weather is turning bad and help cannot reach the island.  

I have really mixed feelings on this.  I had to go back often to re-read who was telling the particular scene, and there were a LOT of side characters--the rest of the groomsmen, college friends, family, etc.--that need to be kept straight.  It also felt that even though these are adults, they acted like high school students, made worse by alcohol and drugs.  It was very One Of Us Is Lying and Clue like.  

A meh for me, but maybe a yes for you.  Find this on display soon.

A reminder all opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.