Book Review: Pretty Girls

Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter

GoodReads Synopsis:

#1 internationally bestselling author Karin Slaughter returns with a sophisticated and chilling psychological thriller of dangerous secrets, cold vengeance, and unexpected absolution, in which two estranged sisters must come together to find truth about two harrowing tragedies, twenty years apart, that devastate their lives.
Sisters. Strangers. Survivors.
More than twenty years ago, Claire and Lydia's teenaged sister Julia vanished without a trace. The two women have not spoken since, and now their lives could not be more different. Claire is the glamorous trophy wife of an Atlanta millionaire. Lydia, a single mother, dates an ex-con and struggles to make ends meet. But neither has recovered from the horror and heartbreak of their shared loss—a devastating wound that's cruelly ripped open when Claire's husband is killed.
The disappearance of a teenage girl and the murder of a middle-aged man, almost a quarter-century apart: what could connect them? Forming a wary truce, the surviving sisters look to the past to find the truth, unearthing the secrets that destroyed their family all those years ago . . . and uncovering the possibility of redemption, and revenge, where they least expect it.
Powerful, poignant, and utterly gripping, packed with indelible characters and unforgettable twists, Pretty Girls is a masterful thriller from one of the finest suspense writers working today.

My Thoughts:

This was the first Karin Slaughter book I have read. It was thrilling and suspenseful! Have you ever seen the Nicolas Cage movie 8mm? It reminded me a  lot of that; It's also about a snuff porn ring. Definitely kept my attention and made me want to keep turning the pages no matter how tired I was. I love how its not one of those rolling-your-eyes books where you can predict of the next cheesy moves the characters are going to make. I definitely recommend it!

Have you read it?

What did you think?

Book Review: Leaving Time

Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult

Goodreads Synopsis:

For over a decade, Jenna Metcalf obsesses on her vanished mom Alice. Jenna searches online, rereads journals of the scientist who studied grief among elephants. Two unlikely allies are Serenity Jones, psychic for missing people who doubts her gift, and Virgil Stanhope, jaded PI who originally investigated cases of Alice and her colleague. Hard questions and answers.

My thoughts:

I have always liked elephants, but this book really goes into detail about them.  I learned so much about them, I love them even more than I did before! This book was so good.  It is one of those books that catches you off guard at the end and you shake your head wondering if you've read that right. This has to be by far, my favorite Jodi Picoult novel yet! 

Have you read it? 

What did you think?

I would love to hear from you!!!

Book Review: The Girl on the Train

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

GoodReads Synopsis:

A debut psychological thriller that will forever change the way you look at other people’s lives.

Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. “Jess and Jason,” she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.

And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel offers what she knows to the police, and becomes inextricably entwined in what happens next, as well as in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?

Compulsively readable, The Girl on the Train is an emotionally immersive, Hitchcockian thriller and an electrifying debut.

My Thoughts:

This book kept me enthralled from beginning to end! At first, you get annoyed with Rachel. You want to shake her and tell her to get her Sh*t together!!! Then, you start to feel sorry for her. This really reminded me a lot of Gone Girl. I loved how everyone was finally tied together at the end.

Have you read it? 

I'd love to hear your thoughts on it!

Book Review: The Longest Ride

The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks

GoodReads Synopsis:

Ira Levinson is in trouble. At ninety-one years old, in poor health and alone in the world, he finds himself stranded on an isolated embankment after a car crash. Suffering multiple injuries, he struggles to retain consciousness until a blurry image materializes and comes into focus beside him: his beloved wife Ruth, who passed away nine years ago. Urging him to hang on, she forces him to remain alert by recounting the stories of their lifetime together – how they met, the precious paintings they collected together, the dark days of WWII and its effect on them and their families. Ira knows that Ruth can’t possibly be in the car with him, but he clings to her words and his memories, reliving the sorrows and everyday joys that defined their marriage.

A few miles away, at a local rodeo, a Wake Forest College senior’s life is about to change. Recovering from a recent break-up, Sophia Danko meets a young cowboy named Luke, who bears little resemblance to the privileged frat boys she has encountered at school. Through Luke, Sophia is introduced to a world in which the stakes of survival and success, ruin and reward -- even life and death – loom large in everyday life. As she and Luke fall in love, Sophia finds herself imagining a future far removed from her plans -- a future that Luke has the power to rewrite . . . if the secret he’s keeping doesn’t destroy it first.

Ira and Ruth. Sophia and Luke. Two couples who have little in common, and who are separated by years and experience. Yet their lives will converge with unexpected poignancy, reminding us all that even the most difficult decisions can yield extraordinary journeys: beyond despair, beyond death, to the farthest reaches of the human heart.

My Thoughts:

I really liked this book, even if it was a little too "fairy tale-ish" for me.  It's a typical Nicholas Sparks book, so, you know, it's a love story that ends with a character dying. (If you are a Sparks reader, you know this isn't a spoiler alert!) I like how diverse the characters were in this book.  That was a little different compared to the other Sparks books I have read. I also watched the movie. As usual, the movie didn't follow the book exactly. I definitely liked the book better. The only reason why I enjoyed the movie was because of Scott Eastwood....especially when he was shirtless! Can I get an Amen, Ladies?

Have you read it?

What did you think?  

Book Review: Divine Evil

Divine Evil by Nora Roberts

GoodReads Synopsis:

A decade ago, sculptor Clare Kimball fled Emmitsboro, Maryland, to take the art world by storm. Now she’s celebrated as the artist of her generation. But no amount of success can eclipse the nightmares that haunt her—or the memories of her father’s suicide. Just as her star is shining brighter than ever, Clare leaves it all behind to face her demons.
Emmitsboro sheriff Cameron Rafferty loved Clare from afar all through high school. Now that she’s back, they form a bond that grows stronger each day—fueled by an attraction that’s been simmering for years. But Clare’s past soon rises up with a vengeance, rocking the town with a sinister murder that is clearly linked to her return. As an investigation gets under way, Clare and Cameron will learn that evil can linger anywhere—even in those you love and trust the most. But it’s a discovery that may come too late to save them.…

My Thoughts:

This is definitely one of Nora Roberts more sinister novels. I didn't know she had a twisted side to her! The book takes place in Emmitsboro, MD. (Is it just me, or does it seem like a lot of her novels revolve around Maryland?)
The main character, Clare, is just like any typical Nora book: Young, strong, independent and determined. (Sound familiar?) She moves back to her hometown and has nightmares. Little does she know, these "nightmares" are really old memories. As usual, in every Nora book, a man comes swooping in to save the day! That would be Sheriff Cameron Rafferty.
In this book, she wrote about this creepy town and townsmen that were secretly full of satanic rituals and worshiping.   It ended pretty much the same as any other novel she writes.
 Have you read this one? What did you think? I'd love to hear about it!

Book Review: The Goldfinch

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

GoodReads Synopsis:

It begins with a boy. Theo Decker, a thirteen-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don't know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by his unbearable longing for his mother, he clings to one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the underworld of art.

As an adult, Theo moves silkily between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty labyrinth of an antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love-and at the center of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle.

The Goldfinch is a novel of shocking narrative energy and power. It combines unforgettably vivid characters, mesmerizing language, and breathtaking suspense, while plumbing with a philosopher's calm the deepest mysteries of love, identity, and art. It is a beautiful, stay-up-all-night and tell-all-your-friends triumph, an old-fashioned story of loss and obsession, survival and self-invention, and the ruthless machinations of fate.

My Thoughts:

Oh my, where to begin? First of all, make sure you give yourself plenty of time to read this! It was long! Donna Tartt writes kinda like Stephen King in the sense that sometimes they go off on tangents or ridiculous details, and you get annoyed thinking; "come on! Get on with the story already!" (If you read a lot of King books, you know what I mean! I love me some King novels, but seriously!) If there were an abridged version of the book, I feel like I would have loved it more, not wasted so much time and still wouldn't have missed anything!

Don't get me wrong, I loved the book! It was very beautifully written. It just dragged on for too long. It felt like it had a Dicken's Great Expectations kind of feel to it. I loved how it made me think of such a wonderful classic. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars on GoodReads.  

Have you read it?

I would LOVE to hear your thoughts!

Book Review: Where'd You Go, Bernadette

Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

GoodReads Synopsis:

Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she's a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she's a disgrace; to design mavens, she's a revolutionary architect, and to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend and, simply, Mom.

Then Bernadette disappears. It began when Bee aced her report card and claimed her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica. But Bernadette's intensifying allergy to Seattle—and people in general—has made her so agoraphobic that a virtual assistant in India now runs her most basic errands. A trip to the end of the earth is problematic.

To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents, secret correspondence—creating a compulsively readable and touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter's role in an absurd world.

My Thoughts:

If I were to rate this book, I would give it 3 stars.  You read the whole book as if you were reading someones emails. I got board though most of it. The closer I got to the ending, the better it got. It wasn't the worst book I've ever read, but It wasn't the best either.  It was meh.

Have you read it?

I'd love to hear what you thought!

Book Review: Close My Eyes

Close My Eyes by Sophie McKenzie

 

 

GoodReads synopsis:

When Geniver Loxley lost her daughter at birth eight years ago, her world stopped… and never fully started again. Mothers with strollers still make her flinch; her love of writing has turned into a half-hearted teaching career; and she and her husband, Art, have slipped into the kind of rut that seems inescapable. For Art, the solution is simple: Have another child to replace Beth. For Gen, the thought of replacing her first child feels cruel, nearly unbearable. A part of her will never let go of Beth, no matter how much she needs to move on.

But then a stranger shows up on their doorstep, telling Gen the very thing she's always desperately longed to hear: that her daughter was not stillborn, but was taken away as a healthy infant. That Beth is still out there, somewhere, waiting to be found. A fissure suddenly opens up in Gen's carefully reconstructed life, letting in a flood of unanswerable questions. How could this possibly be true? Where is Beth? And why is Art so reluctant to get involved?

As Gen delves into the darkest parts of her past, she starts to realize that finding the answers might open the door to something even worse, a truth that could steal everything she holds close. Even her own life.

With Close My Eyes, Sophie McKenzie weaves a breathless thriller that digs in its hooks without mercy and twists without warning, confirming her place among today's most exciting new voices in psychological suspense.

 

My thoughts:

This was a pretty good English (British) book! I have no idea how I would feel if I were in Geniver's position.  In the beginning, you go back and forth in her head; wondering if she is going insane or if all the little clues that start adding up are legit. The whole book keeps you on your toes, wondering what she will uncover next, and if it's really the truth.  The end is a complete and total twist you didn't see coming.  I could definitely see this becoming a Lifetime Movie!

 

Have you read it?

Please tell me your thoughts!

Book Review: Not That Kind Of Girl

Not That Kind Of Girl by Lena Dunham

 

GoodReads Synopsis:

 

From the acclaimed creator, producer, and star of HBO's Girls comes a hilarious, wise, and fiercely candid collection of personal essays that establishes Lena Dunham as one of the most original young talents writing today.

In Not that Kind of Girl, Dunham illuminates the experiences that are part of making one's way in the world: falling in love, feeling alone, being ten pounds overweight despite eating only health food, having to prove yourself in a room full of men twice your age, finding true love, and, most of all, having the guts to believe that your story is one that deserves to be told.

Exuberant, moving, and keenly observed, Not that Kind of Girl is a series of dispatches from the frontlines of the struggle that is growing up. "I'm already predicting my future shame at thinking I had anything to offer you," Dunham writes. "But if I can take what I've learned and make one menial job easier for you, or prevent you from having the kind of sex where you feel you must keep your sneakers on in case you want to run away during the act, then every misstep of mine will have been worthwhile."

 

 

My Thoughts:

 

First, let me just say, I LOVE Lena Dunham on Girls and most of her independent films.  I had high hopes for this book.  I love Lena's quirky sense of humor, but I just REALLY didn't like this book! It really bummed me out. Have you read it?

What did you think?

Book Review: Orphan Train

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

 

GoodReads Synopsis:

 

The author of Bird in Hand and The Way Life Should Be delivers her most ambitious and powerful novel to date: a captivating story of two very different women who build an unexpected friendship: a 91-year-old woman with a hidden past as an orphan-train rider and the teenage girl whose own troubled adolescence leads her to seek answers to questions no one has ever thought to ask.

Nearly eighteen, Molly Ayer knows she has one last chance. Just months from "aging out" of the child welfare system, and close to being kicked out of her foster home, a community service position helping an elderly woman clean out her home is the only thing keeping her out of juvie and worse.

Vivian Daly has lived a quiet life on the coast of Maine. But in her attic, hidden in trunks, are vestiges of a turbulent past. As she helps Vivian sort through her possessions and memories, Molly discovers that she and Vivian aren't as different as they seem to be. A young Irish immigrant orphaned in New York City, Vivian was put on a train to the Midwest with hundreds of other children whose destinies would be determined by luck and chance.

The closer Molly grows to Vivian, the more she discovers parallels to her own life. A Penobscot Indian, she, too, is an outsider being raised by strangers, and she, too, has unanswered questions about the past. As her emotional barriers begin to crumble, Molly discovers that she has the power to help Vivian find answers to mysteries that have haunted her for her entire life - answers that will ultimately free them both.

Rich in detail and epic in scope, Orphan Train is a powerful novel of upheaval and resilience, of second chances, of unexpected friendship, and of the secrets we carry that keep us from finding out who we are.  

 

My Thoughts:

 

Orphan Train is a fictional book based upon real events that actually happened. The Children's Aid Society is a real organization that started in 1853-the early 1900's.  This was a heart felt, historical book.  I had no idea this even happened in the States!!! It was surprising and sad.  I can't even imagine what it was like for those poor children. Also, the book talks about Molly being named after a Penobscot Indian named Molly Mollasses. I googled it and Molly Mollasses was a real person! I highly recommend reading it!!! Especially, if you like fictional books based upon true events!

 

Have you read it?

What did you think?

Book Review: The Peach Keeper

The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen

 

GoodReads Synopsis:

 

The New York Times bestselling author of The Girl Who Chased the Moon welcomes you to her newest locale: Walls of Water, North Carolina, where the secrets are thicker than the fog from the town’s famous waterfalls, and the stuff of superstition is just as real as you want it to be.

It’s the dubious distinction of thirty-year-old Willa Jackson to hail from a fine old Southern family of means that met with financial ruin generations ago. The Blue Ridge Madam—built by Willa’s great-great-grandfather during Walls of Water’s heyday, and once the town’s grandest home—has stood for years as a lonely monument to misfortune and scandal. And Willa herself has long strived to build a life beyond the brooding Jackson family shadow. No easy task in a town shaped by years of tradition and the well-marked boundaries of the haves and have-nots.

But Willa has lately learned that an old classmate—socialite do-gooder Paxton Osgood—of the very prominent Osgood family, has restored the Blue Ridge Madam to her former glory, with plans to open a top-flight inn. Maybe, at last, the troubled past can be laid to rest while something new and wonderful rises from its ashes. But what rises instead is a skeleton, found buried beneath the property’s lone peach tree, and certain to drag up dire consequences along with it.

For the bones—those of charismatic traveling salesman Tucker Devlin, who worked his dark charms on Walls of Water seventy-five years ago—are not all that lay hidden out of sight and mind. Long-kept secrets surrounding the troubling remains have also come to light, seemingly heralded by a spate of sudden strange occurrences throughout the town.

Now, thrust together in an unlikely friendship, united by a full-blooded mystery, Willa and Paxton must confront the dangerous passions and tragic betrayals that once bound their families—and uncover truths of the long-dead that have transcended time and defied the grave to touch the hearts and souls of the living.

Resonant with insight into the deep and lasting power of friendship, love, and tradition, The Peach Keeper is a portrait of the unshakable bonds that—in good times and bad, from one generation to the next—endure forever.

 

My Thoughts:

I really liked this book.  It was good, but very predictable.  I love little southern mystery type books.  This was exactly that! I was a tad disappointed that it was so easily predictable, but it is a good read!

I gave it 4 out of 5 stars.

 

 

Have you read it?

What did you think?

 

Book Review: Stephen King's Bag of Bones

Bag of Bones by Stephen King

 

It took me a while, but I finally finished Bag of Bones. I would have to say, this is by far my favorite Stephen King book! I wasn't always a Stephen King fan, but he kinda grew on me. A few years back I was in a book club.  The book of the month was King's 11/22/63 I absolutely loved it.  It was my favorite up until now. I was in a used book store in the UK when I picked up this book.  I am so glad I did! It most definitely did not disappoint!

 

GoodReads Synopsis:

Four years after the sudden death of his wife, forty-year-old bestselling novelist Mike Noonan is still grieving. Unable to write, and plagued by vivid nightmares set at the western Maine summerhouse he calls Sara Laughs, Mike reluctantly returns to the lakeside getaway. There, he finds his beloved Yankee town held in the grip of a powerful millionaire, Max Devore, whose vindictive purpose is to take his three-year-old granddaughter, Kyra, away from her widowed young mother, Mattie. As Mike is drawn into Mattie and Kyra's struggle, as he falls in love with both of them, he is also drawn into the mystery of Sara Laughs, now the site of ghostly visitations and escalating terrors. What are the forces that have been unleashed here—and what do they want of Mike Noonan?
It is no secret that King is one of our most mesmerizing storytellers. In Bag of Bones, he proves to be one of our most moving as well.

 

My Thoughts:

I love books that suck me in and captivate me.  This is one of those books! It took me forever to read since it was 500+ pages, but it was worth it.  There were parts that seemed to go on and on forever, but that's King- very descriptive! They also made this book into a two part made for TV movie.  I found it on Amazon and ordered it.  As soon as I finished the book, I watched the move.

 

Main characters in the movie:

Pierce Brosnan as Mike Noonan

Melissa George as Mattie Devore

Catlin Carmichael as Kyra Devore

Anika Noni Rose as Sara Tidwell

 

I have to admit, the movie was disappointing.  It didn't exactly go along with the book. (I hate it when that happens.)  I know movies usually aren't as good as the book, but I think I loved the book so much I had high expectations for the movie.  Regardless, it was okay....just not as good as the book.

Have you read Bag of Bones? What did you think?

 

Book Review: Reconstructing Amelia

 

Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight

 

GoodReads Synopsis:

A stunning debut novel in which a single mother reconstructs her teenaged daughter's life, sifting through her emails, texts, and social media to piece together the shocking truth about the last days of her life.
Litigation lawyer and harried single mother Kate Baron is stunned when her daughter's exclusive private school in Park Slope, Brooklyn, calls with disturbing news: her intelligent, high-achieving fifteen-year-old daughter, Amelia, has been caught cheating.
Kate can't believe that Amelia, an ambitious, levelheaded girl who's never been in trouble would do something like that. But by the time she arrives at Grace Hall, Kate's faced with far more devastating news. Amelia is dead.
Seemingly unable to cope with what she'd done, a despondent Amelia has jumped from the school's roof in an act of "spontaneous" suicide. At least that's the story Grace Hall and the police tell Kate. And overwhelmed as she is by her own guilt and shattered by grief, it is the story that Kate believes until she gets the anonymous text: 
She didn't jump.
Sifting through Amelia's emails, text messages, social media postings, and cell phone logs, Kate is determined to learn the heartbreaking truth about why Amelia was on Grace Hall's roof that day-and why she died.
Told in alternating voices, Reconstructing Amelia is a story of secrets and lies, of love and betrayal, of trusted friends and vicious bullies. It's about how well a parent ever really knows a child and how far one mother will go to vindicate the memory of a daughter whose life she could not save.

 

My Thoughts:

Wow, just.. wow.  As soon as I picked this book up and read the cover, I knew I had to read it! The tagline read:

"Like Gone Girl, Reconstructing Amelia should be hailed as one of the best books of the year." -Entertainment Weekly.

 

It definitely captivated me just as Gone Girl had. I love that it had so many twists and turns.  You never knew where Kimberly was going with it next! I felt like it was kinda like Mean Girls and Gossip Girl meets Pretty Little Liars. This was her first book that I have read. I definitely see myself reading some more of her books in the future!

 

Have you read this book or any of Kimberly McCreight's books?

Please tell me what you think!!!

I love getting feedback!