Title: Everybody Rise
Author: Stephanie Clifford
Format: Audio book
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Summary: Evelyn comes from new money. Her social-climbing mom is constantly pushing her to connect with Evelyn's prep school alum and find a successful and wealthy man to marry. When Evelyn gets a job at "Facebook for the elite", she finally gets her in. The problem is that Evelyn makes up lie after lie to keep up appearances until she can't get out of her own way or climb over the huge mountain of debt she's gotten herself into.
Review: I was on the fence about giving this review three stars, but I couldn't do it. That being said, the book isn't terrible in the way you think it might be. I gave this book the rating I did because it was stressful to listen to Evelyn's attempts to horn her way into the world of the extremely wealthy. Listening to her get herself more and more into debt was tense. You also knew that it wasn't going to end well for her, so I was constantly waiting for that. I think there were funny parts to this book but I was so stressed out I didn't notice. Also, I listened to this book and many of the characters' voices were like nails on a chalkboard. I almost switched to a physical book format but I stayed with the audio version, which lost it another star. Do what you will with this information.
Time to write: 5:10
Sunday, November 8, 2015
Book review: A God in Ruins
Title: A God in Ruins
Author: Kate Atkinson
Format: e-book
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Summary: Ted Todd is a WWII pilot. After the war, he marries his childhood sweetheart Nancy and they have a daughter, Viola. Viola has two kids of her own--Sonny and Bertie. This story rotates through history and characters to create the story that is A God in Ruins.
Review: Like We Were Liars, this is another book with a twist ending. The twist startled me so much that when it happened, I had to re-read it to make sure I had read it correctly. This book is also by the same woman that wrote Life After Life, which is about Ursula Todd. I had tried to read Life After Life but I found it unreadable. I'm sure it was good, but it wasn't the book for me at the time.
The reason I bring it up at all is that A God in Ruins focuses on Ted, Ursula's brother. A God in Ruins was great but it could have used some editing. For example, I didn't think the excerpts of the Augustus book were necessary. It also jumped around quite a bit which could be jarring for my easily confused mind. All that aside, it was still a great book.
Time to write: 5:36
Author: Kate Atkinson
Format: e-book
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Summary: Ted Todd is a WWII pilot. After the war, he marries his childhood sweetheart Nancy and they have a daughter, Viola. Viola has two kids of her own--Sonny and Bertie. This story rotates through history and characters to create the story that is A God in Ruins.
Review: Like We Were Liars, this is another book with a twist ending. The twist startled me so much that when it happened, I had to re-read it to make sure I had read it correctly. This book is also by the same woman that wrote Life After Life, which is about Ursula Todd. I had tried to read Life After Life but I found it unreadable. I'm sure it was good, but it wasn't the book for me at the time.
The reason I bring it up at all is that A God in Ruins focuses on Ted, Ursula's brother. A God in Ruins was great but it could have used some editing. For example, I didn't think the excerpts of the Augustus book were necessary. It also jumped around quite a bit which could be jarring for my easily confused mind. All that aside, it was still a great book.
Time to write: 5:36
Book review: We Were Liars
Title: We Were Liars
Author: E. Lockhart
Format: e-book
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Summary: Cadence Eastman comes from a wealthy family. She spends her summers on her family's private island off of the Cape with her cousins Mirren and Johnny, and Gat, who is the son of one of her aunt's boyfriends. When Cadence is 15, there's a terrible fire on the island. Cadence returns the island when she's 17 and tries to piece together the events of the fire. The story flips back and forth between the summers when Cadence is 15 and 17.
Review: It turns out this is a Young Adult (YA) novel. Who knew? This book is also positioned as a suspense novel but I don't think I'd characterize it as that myself. I'd say this is a coming-of-age novel. Anyway, this book is great if only for the ending alone. I almost don't want to say too much here at the risk of giving away the book, so just trust me on this one.
Time to write: 1:34
Author: E. Lockhart
Format: e-book
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Summary: Cadence Eastman comes from a wealthy family. She spends her summers on her family's private island off of the Cape with her cousins Mirren and Johnny, and Gat, who is the son of one of her aunt's boyfriends. When Cadence is 15, there's a terrible fire on the island. Cadence returns the island when she's 17 and tries to piece together the events of the fire. The story flips back and forth between the summers when Cadence is 15 and 17.
Review: It turns out this is a Young Adult (YA) novel. Who knew? This book is also positioned as a suspense novel but I don't think I'd characterize it as that myself. I'd say this is a coming-of-age novel. Anyway, this book is great if only for the ending alone. I almost don't want to say too much here at the risk of giving away the book, so just trust me on this one.
Time to write: 1:34
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