Title: What She Knew
Author: Gilly MacMillan
Format: Audiobook
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Summary: Rachel Jenner is walking in a park with her 8-year-old son Ben when he asks to run ahead. It's an ordinary request on an ordinary Sunday afternoon and Rachel has no reason to worry--until Ben vanishes.
Police are called, search parties are sent out and Rachel, already feeling insecure after her recent divorce, starts to feel herself coming undone. As hours and then days pass with no sign of Ben, everyone becomes a suspect, from Rachel's perfect sister to her newly married ex-husband. Public scrutiny on Rachel also begins to shift from sympathy to suspicion.
As Rachel begins her own investigation, Rachel realizes that nothing is quite what she imagined it to be and it's anonymous strangers she should be fearing but those she trusts the most. (Source: Amazon)
Review: If you're looking for a good beach read as we head into summer, check this one out. Similar to The Rocks, I listened to this on audiobook but I think this book would be an even better read (than listen). Plus I'm always partial to characters named Rachel, even if they spell it differently than me.
Time to write: 3:00
Showing posts with label children. Show all posts
Showing posts with label children. Show all posts
Saturday, April 30, 2016
Thursday, December 24, 2015
Book Review: The Possibilities
Title: The Possibilities
Author: Kaui Hart Hemmings
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Summary: Sarah St. John is dealing with the sudden death of her son. Nobody--not her dad, best friend or her son's dad can help her with her grief. When a woman appears to link to her son, she has the potential to change Sarah's life forever.
Review: I could have sworn that I wrote this review ages ago but apparently I didn't. I happened to read this in the midst of other books about children dying. It wasn't as sad as I thought it was going to be. Again, the story was fine, just nothing earth shattering. Perhaps I'm getting overly critical? Somebody wow me!
Time to write: 1:21
Author: Kaui Hart Hemmings
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Summary: Sarah St. John is dealing with the sudden death of her son. Nobody--not her dad, best friend or her son's dad can help her with her grief. When a woman appears to link to her son, she has the potential to change Sarah's life forever.
Review: I could have sworn that I wrote this review ages ago but apparently I didn't. I happened to read this in the midst of other books about children dying. It wasn't as sad as I thought it was going to be. Again, the story was fine, just nothing earth shattering. Perhaps I'm getting overly critical? Somebody wow me!
Time to write: 1:21
Saturday, September 19, 2015
Book review: Us
Title: Us
Author: David Nicholls
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Summary: Douglas is a pretty reserved and straight-laced guy. Despite this, he wooed the artistic Connie into marrying him almost 30 years ago and now their son Albie is 17 years old. Right before the family is set to depart on a month-long European tour, Connie announces that she wants a divorce. Should they cancel the trip? Of course not! Douglas wants to use the trip to persuade Connie to stay and to attempt to get closer to Albie. What could go wrong?
Review: One Day is one of my favorite books of all time so I was excited to see Nicholls' latest book. I couldn't bring myself to see the movie version of One Day because I'm not a huge fan of Anne Hathaway and I didn't want to see yet another movie epically fail to do a book justice. I digress.
It took me a while to get into Us, but once I did I enjoyed it. This book certainly didn't go the way I thought it was going to. How could it? Here's what I liked:
Author: David Nicholls
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Summary: Douglas is a pretty reserved and straight-laced guy. Despite this, he wooed the artistic Connie into marrying him almost 30 years ago and now their son Albie is 17 years old. Right before the family is set to depart on a month-long European tour, Connie announces that she wants a divorce. Should they cancel the trip? Of course not! Douglas wants to use the trip to persuade Connie to stay and to attempt to get closer to Albie. What could go wrong?
Review: One Day is one of my favorite books of all time so I was excited to see Nicholls' latest book. I couldn't bring myself to see the movie version of One Day because I'm not a huge fan of Anne Hathaway and I didn't want to see yet another movie epically fail to do a book justice. I digress.
It took me a while to get into Us, but once I did I enjoyed it. This book certainly didn't go the way I thought it was going to. How could it? Here's what I liked:
- The back story on how Douglas and Connie met.
- How Douglas' initial perspective on his relationship with his son didn't portray the full story.
- The disastrous start to the trip and how it evolved.
- Douglas' acknowledgement that he had made mistakes and his attempts to fix them.
- The ending.
So why not the full five stars? Because initially it wasn't one of those books that I was dying to read at the end of the day. I'd pick it up and I enjoyed it, but it wasn't one that I wanted to stay up all night reading.
Time to write: 6:26
Saturday, May 16, 2015
Book review: Inside the O'Briens
Title: Inside the O'Briens
Author: Lisa Genova
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Summary: The O'Briens are born-and-bred Irish Catholics who live in Charlestown. Patriarch Joe is a 44-year-old cop married to Rosie and a father of four. When Joe is diagnosed with Huntington's Disease, his world and his family's world is changed forever. As his family witnesses his deterioration as a result of his disease, his children grapple with whether they should get a genetic test that will identify if they carry the gene that will lead to their own Huntington's diagnosis later in life. Two of his kids want to know and have to deal with their test results. Two others struggle with whether they want to know, and the not knowing leads to its own stresses. In the meantime, Huntington's continues to take away Joe's ability to be a cop, husband and dad.
Review: I initially gave this book three stars, but the more I think about it, the more I like it. As somebody that has potentially passed on the BRCA gene to her daughters, I am sympathetic to the guilt that Joe felt passing the gene for this disease on to his children. Additionally, as somebody that inherited the BRCA gene from my mom, I am also sympathetic to not blaming a parent for passing something like this on. However, let me state that passing along the Huntington's disease gene is far worse than passing on the BRCA gene. Genova did a great job describing this disease (or at least I was convinced).
As somebody that wasn't born and bred within certain towns in Massachusetts (translation: "blue-collar", non-wealthy towns? I'm trying not to insult friends that are born and bred in Massachusetts here), I'll never be a townie. As a result, I don't think I'll ever truly understand townies. I don't think the author is a townie. As a result, I'd argue that she didn't really capture what it's like to be a townie. I could be wrong--she could have nailed it. But something about the way she created these characters seemed oversimplified. That said, I liked the kids a lot. I think it was more her depiction of Joe and his wife Rosie that sort of bugged and led to four stars over five. However, I LOVED the ending.
Time to write: 9:10
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Book review: Landline
Title: Landline
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Summary: Georgie McCool's marriage to Neal is in bad shape. A successful show runner, the TV pilot that she's been developing since college is finally getting picked up. The problem? It's a few days before Christmas. And Georgie, Neal and their two daughters are supposed to head to Nebraska to visit Neal's family. Georgie is forced to choose between family and work and she chooses work. Neal is pissed to say the least and takes the girls on his own to Nebraska.
Georgie ends up spending a lot of time at her mom's house and calls Neal at his mom's house when she cna't get ahold of him via his cell phone. She quickly realizes that the Neal she's talking to is the Neal she knew when they first met. Georgie has her future in her hands--would her and Neal have been better off if they had broken up?
Review: That's a long summary for me. As somebody that struggles to balance work and family life, this book resonated with me a lot because I'm often pulled in both directions and I end up feeling like somebody is going to lose because I can't balance the two effectively. And while Georgie and Neal's marriage isn't perfect, it has produced their two daughters, so even if Neal ends up leaving Georgie, that makes Georgie and Neal worth it, right? But would their lives have been better if they hadn't gotten together? I've always loved books like Sliding Doors and The Post Birthday World and while this isn't quite along the same lines, your mind sort of wanders to that place at times.
Time to write: 4:29
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Summary: Georgie McCool's marriage to Neal is in bad shape. A successful show runner, the TV pilot that she's been developing since college is finally getting picked up. The problem? It's a few days before Christmas. And Georgie, Neal and their two daughters are supposed to head to Nebraska to visit Neal's family. Georgie is forced to choose between family and work and she chooses work. Neal is pissed to say the least and takes the girls on his own to Nebraska.
Georgie ends up spending a lot of time at her mom's house and calls Neal at his mom's house when she cna't get ahold of him via his cell phone. She quickly realizes that the Neal she's talking to is the Neal she knew when they first met. Georgie has her future in her hands--would her and Neal have been better off if they had broken up?
Review: That's a long summary for me. As somebody that struggles to balance work and family life, this book resonated with me a lot because I'm often pulled in both directions and I end up feeling like somebody is going to lose because I can't balance the two effectively. And while Georgie and Neal's marriage isn't perfect, it has produced their two daughters, so even if Neal ends up leaving Georgie, that makes Georgie and Neal worth it, right? But would their lives have been better if they hadn't gotten together? I've always loved books like Sliding Doors and The Post Birthday World and while this isn't quite along the same lines, your mind sort of wanders to that place at times.
Time to write: 4:29
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Book review: Some Luck
Title: Some Luck
Author: Jane Smiley
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Summary: Owning a farm is hard, no matter what year it is. And kids have a funny way of having their own personalities.
Rating: I was intrigued by the premise of this book. It has a One Day-esque feel to it in that it picks a day out of every year (although I realize that One Day is the same day every year), starting with 1920 and ending in the early 1950s. Each chapter rotates through various family members and what's going in their heads in that particular day. This book wasn't terrible, it just wasn't one that I really looked forward to picking up at the end of the day. It was pleasant enough, I suppose. I don't think I've read other works by Smiley, so I can't speak to how this one compares to her other publications. But all in all, not a lot of depth to the characters.
Time to write review: 4:01
Author: Jane Smiley
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Summary: Owning a farm is hard, no matter what year it is. And kids have a funny way of having their own personalities.
Rating: I was intrigued by the premise of this book. It has a One Day-esque feel to it in that it picks a day out of every year (although I realize that One Day is the same day every year), starting with 1920 and ending in the early 1950s. Each chapter rotates through various family members and what's going in their heads in that particular day. This book wasn't terrible, it just wasn't one that I really looked forward to picking up at the end of the day. It was pleasant enough, I suppose. I don't think I've read other works by Smiley, so I can't speak to how this one compares to her other publications. But all in all, not a lot of depth to the characters.
Time to write review: 4:01
Thursday, April 16, 2015
Book Review: See How Small
Title: See How Small
Author: Scott Blackwood
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Summary: Three girls are killed brutally. Many years later, this story checks in on the people that were involved or affected by their deaths.
Review: In another life perhaps I would have enjoyed this book more. For some reason it just didn't hold my interest. Perhaps it was the topic. It's hard to think about three sisters dying and their mom having to go on without them, although the book switched point of views amongst several characters and didn't necessarily focus on the mom. There was one interesting character, I think his name was Michael. Sometimes it can be frustrating to read a book that doesn't tie up loose ends, but I generally like it. However, I'd start a chapter and have idea who the character was and I'd have to go back. This is probably more of a reflection on me than on the author, but again, it just didn't hold my interest.
Time to write: 5:01 minutes.
Author: Scott Blackwood
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Summary: Three girls are killed brutally. Many years later, this story checks in on the people that were involved or affected by their deaths.
Review: In another life perhaps I would have enjoyed this book more. For some reason it just didn't hold my interest. Perhaps it was the topic. It's hard to think about three sisters dying and their mom having to go on without them, although the book switched point of views amongst several characters and didn't necessarily focus on the mom. There was one interesting character, I think his name was Michael. Sometimes it can be frustrating to read a book that doesn't tie up loose ends, but I generally like it. However, I'd start a chapter and have idea who the character was and I'd have to go back. This is probably more of a reflection on me than on the author, but again, it just didn't hold my interest.
Time to write: 5:01 minutes.
Monday, February 16, 2015
Book review: Big Little Lies
Title: Big Little Lies
Author: Liane Moriarty
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Summary: This story revolves around three friends who live in an affluent seaside town: Madeline, Celeste and Jane. All three have children that recently started Kindergarten. Jane, only 24, doesn't fit the profile of the other moms, but Madeline and Celeste take her under their winds. At the kindergarten orientation, Jane's little boy Ziggy is accused of bullying a little girl. This event divides the town into who sides with the mother of the little girl and who sides with Jane, Celeste and Madeline. Meanwhile, Celeste and Madeline are dealing with their own challenges around family and husbands. Things come to a head on the school's Trivia Night. when somebody dies. Was it murder? Just an accident?
Review: I love Liane Moriarty's work, although I didn't realize until I finished this that this was her work. In the interest of full disclosure, I listened to this book on CD and because Moriarty is an Australian author, it was read by somebody with an Australian accent. That probably helped me like the book a little more, but I still really liked this book. There's a great buildup to the night of the Trivia Night where the murder happens. For some reason I thought at first it was a woman that had died but it wasn't. I don't want to reveal too much, but this was the kind of work that I couldn't stop listening to but I started to dread the book ending. Another awesome peace of work by Moriarty.
Author: Liane Moriarty
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Summary: This story revolves around three friends who live in an affluent seaside town: Madeline, Celeste and Jane. All three have children that recently started Kindergarten. Jane, only 24, doesn't fit the profile of the other moms, but Madeline and Celeste take her under their winds. At the kindergarten orientation, Jane's little boy Ziggy is accused of bullying a little girl. This event divides the town into who sides with the mother of the little girl and who sides with Jane, Celeste and Madeline. Meanwhile, Celeste and Madeline are dealing with their own challenges around family and husbands. Things come to a head on the school's Trivia Night. when somebody dies. Was it murder? Just an accident?
Review: I love Liane Moriarty's work, although I didn't realize until I finished this that this was her work. In the interest of full disclosure, I listened to this book on CD and because Moriarty is an Australian author, it was read by somebody with an Australian accent. That probably helped me like the book a little more, but I still really liked this book. There's a great buildup to the night of the Trivia Night where the murder happens. For some reason I thought at first it was a woman that had died but it wasn't. I don't want to reveal too much, but this was the kind of work that I couldn't stop listening to but I started to dread the book ending. Another awesome peace of work by Moriarty.
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