Mad About You by Mhairi McFarlane

Mad About You by Mhairi McFarlane

Despite being an in demand wedding photographer, Harriet Hatley isn't exactly in love with the idea of romance and weddings. After a disastrous proposal from her now-ex, she is desperate to move out and move on. Cal Clarke has very different views on romance and marriage, but after his own wedding-related catastrophe, he finds himself with a room to sublet. Cal and Harriet are total opposites with their own secrets to hide. When Harriet's deepest secret comes to light, her world is left in pieces, which Cal helps her put back together. If Harriet can face her past with her career, friendships, and reputation at stake, happiness might just be waiting on the other side.

432 pages.

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

Agnes Nutter’s prophecies are the world’s only reliable guide to the future, and according to Agnes the world is set to end next Saturday. This time, the armies of Good and Evil seem to be taking it seriously, as do the four Bikers of the Apocalypse. Naturally, they would all prefer the apocalypse didn’t happen, particularly one carousing demon and a somewhat fussy angel. Someone also seems to have misplaced the Antichrist, but that’s just a drop in the bucket, really.  

491 pages.

The Maid by Nita Prose

 Pages: 280

"Molly Gray is not like everyone else. She struggles with social skills and misinterprets the intentions of others. Her gran used to interpret the world for her, codifying it into simple rules that Molly could live by. But Molly’s orderly life is turned on its head the day she enters the suite of the infamous and wealthy Charles Black, only to find it in a state of disarray and Mr. Black himself very dead in his bed. Before she knows what’s happening, Molly’s unusual demeanor has the police targeting her as their lead suspect. Fortunately for Molly, friends she never knew she had unite with her in a search for clues to what really happened to Mr. Black—but will they be able to find the real killer before it’s too late?"

I have a lot of thoughts about this book and its representation of its characters. I was really surprised after reading it that it was a Goodreads Choice Winner. It really stereotypes the characters and Molly is a caricature of an Autistic individual. As a neurodivergent person myself, it was really overhanded and not very realistic. She misses so many obvious social cues at times and catches integral ones at others and isn't consistent with her actions and personality. That said there were some cute moments such as her flashbacks to her Gran and her found family at the end. Though I don't think it makes it worth the read, especially after the uncalled for explanation of Gran's death. So did not add anything and had no reason to exist.

Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

 Pages: 181

"Sussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn't thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she'd claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy." 

I was not expecting how this book turned out. It is so hauntingly nostalgic of childhood and I loved the dash of magic the Hempstock family embodied. It is hard to tell if the story is the vivid imagination of a child processing a family trauma, or some forgotten reality that we can only believe in when we are young. I will definitely be revisiting this book in the future and looking at some of this authors other books.

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi

It's the girl with the really colorful hair and all the bi vibes for me. 
I. don't. know. who. I'm. supposed. to. ship. 
Ok I know who to ship.
288 Pages

TS Song: I'm getting Cornelia Street vibes....False God but slightly less steamy

Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger

 Ordinary Grace 

by William Kent Krueger 

Pages: 307

Stars: 5 out of 5 Stars

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
WINNER OF THE 2014 EDGAR AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL
WINNER OF THE 2014 DILYS AWARD
A SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL BEST BOOK OF 2013

Frank remembers his 13th summer when everything in his family's life changed with the wisdom that forty years later and adulthood brings.

The summer of 1961 in the small town of New Bremen, Minnesota begins with a grim death assumed to be an accident, but then there is a murder. Frank and his younger brother Jake lose their childhood innocence as grim events continue in the small town. His father, a Methodist minister has taught his sons about grace, forgiveness and faith, but this summer will test everyone in Frank's family. Frank learns the terrible price of wisdom but also the enduring grace of God.

Book Club Reads

A Good Neighborhood by Therese Anne Fowler

A story of class and race in suburb America. Valerie clashes with the entitled local celebrity Brad over losing her beloved oak tree. Meanwhile, their children are beginning a forbidden relationship. I loved this one, it kept me interested all the way through. I was rooting for Juniper and Xavier the whole time, and cried a bit by the end of it.

311 pages




Conjure Women by Afia Atakora

Rue is a midwife, healer, and conjurer trying to hold her community together in the aftermath of the Civil War. Meanwhile, she has to deal with a charismatic traveling preacher and keep the secrets of her former plantation owner's daughter. I really liked this one for the rich depiction of root work and spirituality during the period of slavery. Although it was a bit difficult to follow the shifts between pre- and post-Civil War, the story was totally worth it!

400 pages



All Adults Here by Emma Straub

Astrid basically has a three-quarter life crisis when she witnesses an old friend being struck and killed by a school bus. Now she regrets how she raised her children, and decides to open up about her relationship with her hairdresser. This was a good family drama, and I really liked the story of Cecelia and Robin's friendship. If you are looking for a lighthearted, fun read, that isn't completely devoid of wisdom and insight into modern families, this is your book.

356 pages



The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

The identical Vignes twins dramatically diverge as adults, with one woman eventually returning to her local black community, and the other secretly passing as white in California, her husband and friends knowing nothing of her past. Yet their story intertwines, across the generations and the decades. This book was really great! I enjoyed the contrast between Stella's life and Jude's in late 1970's LA.

343 pages

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

Since it began in 2018, I've been reading the books from the Barnes and Noble book club-and if I'm not too busy, attending the discussions at my store in Columbia. Even if I didn't enjoy them, they have all been great novels, giving me a lot to think about! Given the bad press around this one, I almost didn't read it. Now, I wish I hadn't. More of a thriller than a serious contemporary novel, it felt like the author put the worst possible result of any situation into each chapter for the shock value, rather than try to depict the actual experiences of South American migrants. 

It's a bit of a train wreck. Lydia, a privileged middle class woman, who secretly loves English novels, escapes from cartel violence in Acapulco after 16 members of her family are slaughtered at her niece's quinceanera, an act portrayed as common and unremarkable (Note: It's not). She then flees with her son, joining with two girls from Honduras also fleeing gang violence. They travel to "el norte" on "la bestia", the train ridden by migrants, being chased by "La Migra" police and the leader of "Los Jardineros" cartel, who of course, is in love with her. Yikes. (also the peppering of the text with basic Spanish words for "authenticity's sake" drove me nuts)

The author made a point not to make the book-covering a messy and controversial issue-political. This being nearly impossible, she does so by turning the touchiest issues into jokes. At one point, a character makes an assertion, in all seriousness, that the migrants-excepting the main characters, one assumes-are "bad hombres", or else, they wouldn't be in this situation. Later, the only mention of child separation at the border comes in the form of a joke-how does one tell the difference between migrants and deportees? The deportees are haunted by the cries of their children left in "Estados Unidos". Just kidding! LoL! ...  o.o

I read this so you don't have to.

386 pages

Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano

Twelve-year old Edward Adler is the sole survivor of a plane crash which killed his entire family. His name now known across the nation, he is left alone with his aunt and uncle to try to piece his life back together again. This is a story of grief and coping, finding the reasons for living, and the meaning of a good life. I liked learning about the other passengers on Edward's flight and how their relatives are also learning to cope. The author's writing is lovely, but I just don't think I enjoy sad books.

It's a great novel, but not really to my taste.

340 pages

War of the Sons (Supernatural #6) by Rebecca Dessertine & David Reed

War of the Sons (Supernatural #6)
by Rebecca Dessertine & David Reed

4/5  |  320 pages

Twenty-seven years ago, Sam and Dean Winchester lost their mother to a mysterious and demonic supernatural force. In the years after, their father, John, taught them about the paranormal evil that lives in the dark corners and on the back roads of America... and he taught them how to kill it.


On the hunt for Lucifer, the boys find themselves in a small town in South Dakota where they meet Don - an angel with a proposition... Don sends them a very long way from home, on a mission to uncover the secret Satan never wanted them to find out.

I enjoyed this one.  It can be hard to capture TV characters, but I think this novel does a pretty good job.  I am going to start at the beginning of these novels and work through them as I re-watch the show in preparation for Season 15.  I will so miss this show.

Where the Hell is Tesla? by Rob Dircks

SCI-FI ODYSSEY. COMEDY. LOVE STORY. AND OF COURSE... NIKOLA TESLA.

I'll let Chip, the main character tell you more: "I found the journal at work. Well, I don't know if you'd call it work, but that's where I found it. It's the lost journal of Nikola Tesla, one of the greatest inventors and visionaries ever. Before he died in 1943, he kept a notebook filled with spectacular claims and outrageous plans. One of these plans was for an "Interdimensional Transfer Apparatus" - that allowed someone (in this case me and my friend Pete) to travel to other versions of the infinite possibilities around us. Crazy, right? But that's just where the crazy starts." 

CHIP'S OFFICIAL DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction: the events depicted in the collection of emails did not happen. I have never been in contact with a covert government group attempting to suppress knowledge of the lost journal of Nikola Tesla. I have not been threatened with death if I divulge the secrets contained inside. They did not buy me this handsome jacket (oh crap, you're reading this - trust me, it looks great on me). They did not come to my place, and liquor me up, and offer to publish this book as a sci-fi comedy novel to throw the public off the trail of the real truth. 

Or did they? 

I'm kidding. Of course they didn't. 

Or did they? 

God, I can't keep my big mouth shut. 


You guys.  This book was sheer fun.  There is no depth.  No message.  Just fun.  The dialogue is sharp, the characters interesting, and the premise unique.  What more could you ask for?!  I'll definitely be reading book #2.

396 pages

5/5

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was so unexpected for a post-apocalyptic story, and it took me a while to understand what was happening with the different layers that were being woven together across the course of this book. I found it intriguing, but I occasionally held it at arms length, feeling uncertain about everything.

Overall, it's a very unique story.

Book 278 read in 2018

Pages: 336

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I typically really enjoy stories about antiheroes or with unreliable narrators, but there was a stretch at the start of this book when I considered DNF-ing the book (which I confess I had done once before). In the end, I’m glad that I didn’t. The story has a very slow start, so it’s not until about 15% in that things started to happen. Even after that, it took a bit longer for the pace to really pick up enough to create intrigue and suspense.

Then a friend told me that she was shocked by how the story worked out, and after that, I couldn’t quit guessing and second guessing how it would all work out in the end, which helped keep me invested in the rest of the story. By the end, I had suspected and accused almost everyone and everything.

In fact, I kept texting guesses to my friend, which start out reasonable and then quickly become ridiculous. So for fun, I’ll share them all below in order. If you hate SPOILERS, please don’t read ahead, as I don’t want any of my predictions to impact how you read and view the story. It’s best to approach this story with no information or preconceptions.

Book 138 read in 2018

Pages: 323

The Predictions in Chronological Order:

The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is an adult fantasy novel that starts in the Middle East in the 18th century then runs sideways into an Arabic fantasy world complete with an enclosed city made of brass and 6 djinn tribes with a history of cultural clashes, social and political warfare, and servitude. Throw in a wily con artist with some unexpected abilities who is on the run in the human world, and a parallel POV of the highly moral second son of the djinn king in the parallel world, and things get interesting.

The story is delicious, with the perfect amount of world building, good pacing, a solid and interesting magical system, a unique setting, and strong character development.

This book came highly recommended by a room full of adult services librarians, so I knew immediately that I would pick it up. My only regret is that I didn't wait until November 2018 to start this, as now I'm desperate for book 2, which is not yet published.

Book 135 read in 2018

Pages: 533

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Do you like The Alchemist
I do not like it, and I’m pissed.
I do not like The Alchemist

Would you like it here or there?
I would not like it here or there.
I would not like it anywhere.
I do not like The Alchemist

Would you? Could you? In a car?
Read it. Read it. Where you are.
I would not, could not, in a car.

You may like it. You will see.
You may like it in a tree.
I would not, could not in a tree
Not in a car! You let me be!

I do not like it in a box.
I do not like it with a fox.
I do not like it in a house.
I do not like it with a mouse.
I do not like it here or there.
I do not like it anywhere.
I do not like The Alchemist
I do not like it, and I’m pissed.

The majority of this review text is courtesy of Dr. Seuss, who knows how to capture a reader’s attention, unlike Coelho, who did his best to put me asleep in the shortest amount of time possible. I may have found my cure for insomnia. At least when Seuss states and restates the obvious, it’s catchy and engaging.

If you need to be told what to think or how to think in the most flowery, trite, and clichéd ways, this book is absolutely for you. Perhaps something was lost in translation, like the plot and character development. But hey, if you need something to cling to, there’s still plenty of unnatural dialogue and the words “The Alchemist” are said 3,000 times in less than 200 pages, so there’s that.

I do not like The Alchemist
I do not like it, and I’m pissed.

Book 128 read in 2018

Pages: 197

Seducing Simon by Maya Banks
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Summary: One fateful night, Toni Langston seduces her best friend, the guy she's been in love with forever. Two problems-he doesn't remember a thing that happened and now she's pregnant. Toni Langston has been in love with Simon, her best friend, for years. The night Simon breaks up with his long time girlfriend, he and Toni make love. Toni is devastated and humiliated when, in the heat of the moment, he calls her by his girlfriend's name. The next morning, Simon remembers nothing of the previous night and Toni is only too relieved not to remind him. Two months later, she discovers she's pregnant. She wants Simon to love her, apart from any obligation he might feel because of the baby. So she embarks on a quest to seduce her best friend, to make him see her as more than a little sister, to make him love her as much as she loves him. It works. Maybe too well. Now when things are perfect, she faces telling him of the secret she's kept.

Wow, this was such a great story. It was so funny when someone else brought to his attention why she may have attached the way she did. He had not thought about things the way she did. I was also sad, that he brother didn't defined her more. I would hope that not matter what my brother would take my side or at least ask me questions before assuming. The ending was so sad and happy at the same time. 

View all my reviews

211 Pages

Something About You by Julie James

Summary: "Of all the hotel rooms rented by all the adulterous politicians in Chicago, female Assistant U.S. Attorney Cameron Lynde had to choose the one next to 1308, where some hot-and-heavy lovemaking ends in bloodshed. And of all the FBI agents in Illinois, it had to be Special Agent Jack Pallas who gets assigned to this high-profile homicide. The same Jack Pallas who still blames Cameron for a botched crackdown three years ago—and nearly ruining his career…" -Amazon

This book fits squarely inside the type of book I have lovingly dubbed 'popcorn' (light, fluffy, delicious, and devoured in handfuls).  I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I found the characters funny and like-able and the story interesting.  There is nothing deep about this novel, and that is perfectly fine!  Sometimes you need some wine, a rollicking book with some steam, and a couple of chuckles - this book delivered.

Thanks, Nicole, for the recommendation!

5/5 sheerly for the cheekiness of Cameron Lynde. :)

338 pages

Dirty Billionaire by Meghan March
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a great book! However, for me at some points this crossed the erotic level that I am use too. But even with that being saying, I really enjoyed this book because it was what I feel is the real feeling that some guys think... and also some girls.

203 Pages                                           View all my reviews


Dirty Pleasures by Meghan March
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book. It still had a little more erotic nature than I am use too. It is still a great story to show that at some point in your life you will meet someone that makes you change the way that you think.

View all my reviews                                                 177 Pages


  Dirty Together by Meghan March
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was my favorite of the three. It had the final ending to their love story.

View all my reviews                                                204 Pages