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Summer Reading Book Reviews!
I’ve gotten quite a bit of reading done lately and wanted to share some of my recent reads and some reviews on them. Overall this group of books I definitely recommend if you are looking for something new to read!
The Party by Robyn Harding
Summary:
Kim should have heard it, would have heard it if she hadn’t installed earplugs and taken half an Ambien. The girls were two floors below, but she’d anticipated giggling, music, a few late-night trips to raid the fridge. . . . To ensure a sound sleep, she’d nibbled a bit of the sedative, despite having had two glasses of white wine after dinner. She’d done it plenty of times without incident. She’d always been a light sleeper, and, lately, adequate rest had become imperative for Kim. There were too many hormones wreaking havoc with her humor. And there was far too much tension in her marriage to handle without a good night’s sleep.
“Mom! Dad!” Kim dragged herself up from under the warm, wet blanket of sedation. It was Hannah’s voice, tearful, close. . . . Kim opened heavy lids and saw her daughter at the end of the bed. Tall, pretty Hannah wearing a nightie that looked like a football jersey, the number 28 across her chest. It was Hannah’s birthday today—sweet sixteen—she was having a slumber party. So why was she here, in the small hours of the morning? Why was she crying? As Kim struggled for lucidity, she realized something was terribly wrong. Tears streamed down Hannah’s face and there was something on her hands . . . something dark and wet, glistening in the faint glow of the LED clock radio . . .
Blood.
My Review: ⅗ stars
I thought this book was a good, easy read. There was a lot going on in the short novel but it all tied together nicely in the end. I like books that jump around with the characters so you get different perspectives. It was not as much of a thriller as I thought it was going to be based on the summary but more of wondering what was going to happen to all the characters. If you liked Big Little Lies you might give this one a try!
Saving Sophie by Sam Carrington
Summary:
A teenage girl is missing. Is your daughter involved, or is she next? When Karen Finch’s seventeen-year-old daughter Sophie arrives home after a night out, drunk and accompanied by police officers, no one is smiling the morning after. But Sophie remembers nothing about how she got into such a state. Twelve hours later, Sophie’s friend Amy has still not returned home. Then the body of a young woman is found. Karen is sure that Sophie knows more than she is letting on. But Karen has her own demons to fight. She struggles to go beyond her own door without a panic attack. As she becomes convinced that Sophie is not only involved but also in danger, Karen must confront her own anxieties to stop whoever killed one young girl moving on to another – Sophie.
My Review: ⅗ stars
I thought this book was interesting. It was one of those books that just popped up on my “you might like” section and have never heard of it before and it was very inexpensive so I bought it on a whim! I did enjoy the book and there was definitely a couple twists throughout that kept me interested. The ending was a little predictable I thought but still a good read overall. Karen and Sophie are the two main characters and while I liked them they also bothered me. There were times where I wanted to reach into the book and tell them they were stupid and just talk to someone and it would speed things up quicker but obviously, most of the things they did ended up tying things together later.
Summary:
When debut novelist Eliza Fontaine is found at the bottom of a hotel pool, her family at first assumes that it’s just another failed suicide attempt. But Eliza swears she was pushed, and her rescuer is the only witness.
Desperate to find out who attacked her, Eliza takes it upon herself to investigate. But as the publication date for her novel draws closer, Eliza finds more questions than answers. Like why are her editor, agent, and family mixing up events from her novel with events from her life? Her novel is completely fictional, isn’t it?
The deeper Eliza goes into her investigation while struggling with memory loss, the closer her life starts to resemble her novel, until the line between reality and fiction starts to blur and she can no longer tell where her protagonist’s life ends and hers begins.
My Review: ⅗ stars
Not going to lie it took me a couple days to really get into this book. I have always been a big Sara Shepard fan, I have read the entire Pretty Little Liars series, The Lying Game Series and a few of her other books but this one was completely different from her other ones. I thought the beginning drug on a bit so I would read a couple pages then get distracted but I finally sat down one day and powered through and I am really glad I finished it. I found the storyline interesting on this one and once I got halfway through the book it started to get good and everything started coming together and I had to finish to see what happened. Overall I thought the book was good and I did enjoy it other than the beginning dragging on a little bit!
Tell me Lies by Carola Lovering
Summary:
Lucy Albright is far from her Long Island upbringing when she arrives on the campus of her small California college, and happy to be hundreds of miles from her mother, whom she’s never forgiven for an act of betrayal in her early teen years. Quickly grasping at her fresh start, Lucy embraces college life and all it has to offer—new friends, wild parties, stimulating classes. And then she meets Stephen DeMarco. Charming. Attractive. Complicated. Devastating.
Confident and cocksure, Stephen sees something in Lucy that no one else has, and she’s quickly seduced by this vision of herself, and the sense of possibility that his attention brings her. Meanwhile, Stephen is determined to forget an incident buried in his past that, if exposed, could ruin him, and his single-minded drive for success extends to winning, and keeping, Lucy’s heart. Lucy knows there’s something about Stephen that isn’t to be trusted. Stephen knows Lucy can’t tear herself away. And their addicting entanglement will have consequences they never could have imagined.
Alternating between Lucy’s and Stephen’s voices, Tell Me Lies follows their connection through college and post-college life in New York City. With the psychological insight and biting wit of Luckiest Girl Alive, and the yearning ambitions and desires of Sweetbitter, this keenly intelligent and staggeringly resonant novel chronicles the exhilaration and dilemmas of young adulthood, and the difficulty of letting go, even when you know you should.
My Review: I give this one ⅘ stars
I finished this book in 24 hours and while for the most part the book was pretty predictable I couldn’t put it down! I found the main character Lucy relatable and even though I wanted to yell at her through the pages a couple times I get it because we mostly all have that one dysfunctional relationship that went back & forth. This book was filled with lots of drama and dysfunction and I liked the way it all came together in the end.
Sidenote: The entire book I had Little Lies by Fleetwood Mac stuck in my head thanks to the title and the multiple Fleetwood Mac references throughout the book. Here is the link so you can get it stuck in your head too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIYthyp2lto
Summary:
If you can’t trust yourself, who can you trust?
Cass is having a hard time since the night she saw the car in the woods. It was on the winding rural road, in the middle of a downpour, and a woman was sitting inside―the woman who was killed. She’s been trying to put the crime out of her mind; what could she have done, really? It’s a dangerous road to be on in the middle of a storm, and she probably would have been hurt herself if she’d stopped. Not only that, her husband would be furious if he knew she’d broken her promise not to take that shortcut home. But since then, she’s been forgetting every little thing. Where she left the car; if she took her pills; even the alarm code. The only thing she can’t forget is that woman, the woman she might have saved, and the terrible nagging guilt. And the silent calls she’s receiving, or the feeling that someone’s watching her…
My Review: ⅘ stars.
I enjoyed this book! I was able to read it very quickly and immediately got hooked from the first chapter. There is a big twist in the book as to who is watching her and why they are doing it. Overall it kept me interested throughout the whole book and I definitely recommend reading it if you like a mystery/thriller type of story
The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks
Summary:
When you read this book, you will make many assumptions. You will assume you are reading about a jealous ex-wife. You will assume she is obsessed with her replacement – a beautiful, younger woman who is about to marry the man they both love. You will assume you know the anatomy of this tangled love triangle. Assume nothing. Twisted and deliciously chilling, Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen’s The Wife Between Us exposes the secret complexities of an enviable marriage – and the dangerous truths we ignore in the name of love. Read between the lies.
My Review: 4/5 stars
I thought this book was very interesting. The summary is spot on for this book as there are a few twists and turns throughout the story that kept me guessing! I really enjoyed this storyline and was not able to predict the direction that the author was going in. I definitely recommend this book if you like love triangle, mystery drama books!
Book I am currently Reading: The Favorite Sister by Jessica Knoll
Book I am reading Next: The Silent Wife by A.S.A Harrison