Oh the tears!  This story, inspired by the Martel family, completely gutted me and also reminded me of the beauty and strength found in love and faith.  

What Emil, Adeline, and their children had to endure is the substance of nightmares.  Trying to outrun Stalin’s army while having to trust the protection of the Nazis is not unlike running with cunning, self-satisfying wolves while being chased by mean, hungry bears.  Their hopes and dreams of a peaceful family life on their farmland in the Ukraine were destroyed and buried under the realities of scarcity and war.  What followed were years of hardship, toil, and loneliness as refugees.  Instead of caving to suffering and oppression, Adeline led her family to hold firmly to faith and boldly claim that beauty would come from every cruelty they faced.  

Sullivan meticulously crafted these characters and plunged me into their harrowing circumstances.  What they felt, I felt.  What they experienced, I experienced.  I really adored Adeline and her stubborn faith and persistent, unconditional love.  If ever there was a perfect matriarch, Adeline portrayed a that.  But my very favorite character was quirky, delightful Corporal Gheorghe.  He was immensely endearing while also being surprisingly wise.  (Don’t miss the author’s notes regarding the real life inspiration for Corporal Gheorghe!)

I’ve read a wide variety of WW2 historic fiction, but this was my introduction to Black Sea Germans and The Long Trek from Ukraine to Germany.  I found it a unique addition to a seemingly full genre.   

In the foreword Mark Sullivan says, “I  hope their story (the Martels) will give comfort and courage to the afflicted and a better understanding of what ordinary people can endure and achieve when all seems lost.”  As I ruminate on the Martels and what they had to bear, I am reminded that perspective and hope can indeed fuel the impossible.  

Thank you Mark Sullivan, Lake Union Publishing, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of this book.

Dark, twisted, and hard to put down. This is a sinister tale about revenge and murder.

 

Two men desperate for answers.  The police can’t (or won’t?) provide them.  A stranger, a new friend, miraculously appears. And he has those long sought answers.  But everything comes with a price.  And let’s not forget how emotion, especially deeply held emotion like heartbreak and anger, can taint perception.  Truth and deception can look remarkably similar.  

 

Gallagher puts his years of experience in the criminal justice system to good use in this intriguing yet menacing game of vigilante justice.  The first half of the book sets the stage of the complexity of this mystery while the second half of the book takes on the procedural element of the investigation.  The first half of the book moved at a rapid pace and was full of action and suspense.  While the procedural side was sound and credible, I didn’t find it as fast paced and exciting.  All of the pieces in the investigation fell into place easily without much surprise and no big reveal.  In the end, that didn’t matter in regards to my overall enjoyment.  The complex, original plot kept me engaged.  

 

Using this intricately crafted tale about the desire for justice, Gallagher reminds us that emotion can often overtake reason and that people are both deeply complex and flawed.  I’m not sure I’ll look at a new friend quite the same after reading this story. 

 

Thank you Charlie Gallagher, Avon Books UK, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of this book.

Powerful, haunting, intense.  This is a timely story.  The politics of immigration often overshadow the human element. Lydia and Luca had a good life full of hopes and dreams in Mexico.  Abruptly, those hopes and dreams, along with their entire family, were violently executed and taken away.  Coming to America wasn’t about the dream of a better life.  It was about survival.  It was about basic human needs.  And when survival fueled by mother’s overwhelming love for her child is all that they have left, any and all politics become incredibly unimportant. 

 

More than anything, this story tugged at my heartstrings as a mother.  My son is close in age to Luca.  Nothing is as powerful or primal as a mother’s charge to protect her child.  Cummins expertly painted a picture of a mother who would do ANYTHING for her child.  And that, I can completely and emphatically connect with.   

 

Note: I’ve sat on this book…processing it and the controversy, which I was completely ignorant to prior to reading, for a few weeks.  Even now, it’s hard to put into words all the complex thoughts I have.  I have always believed in the power of stories to give perspective.  And boy were my eyes opened in this story.  But I also believe strongly in the power of ownvoices, and the necessity of hearing firsthand accounts, especially in these sensitive and most necessary of topics.  Therefore, I have actively sought out ownvoices immigrant stories to add to my TBR.  These conversations are important.  I’m listening and learning.  

This is the kind of book that makes you SWOON with delight.  It makes your heart skip a beat and gives you butterflies in your belly.  I had the biggest, cheesiest smile plastered on my face page after page.  Soulmate Equation was an assault of sensation in the most fun and flirty of ways.  

Is finding long lasting love actually a matter of complex biology rather than destiny?  With the new technology from GeneticAlly, finding the perfect mate might be as simple as spitting into a tube.  With Jess and River a 98% genetic match, the company’s theory is put to the ultimate test, especially since his brooding nature is completely contradictory to her bighearted personality. 

Oh how I adored this entire cast of characters, so much so that it feels harsh thinking of them as fictional creations rather than real life people that I want to meet for coffee and a gab session!  Christina Lauren has adeptly crafted authentic, multi-faceted characters that I easily connected with. I felt every emotion they felt. I rooted for them. And I was crushed when I turned the last page and had to say goodbye to them.  

Snark and romance make the best of bedfellows.  And Christina Lauren is on point with the witty banter in this novel.  It made me laugh and endeared me to the budding romance.  One of my favorite quotes from Jess happened early on, “I realize your default energy level is cardboard cutout, but I can’t get to know you if you don’t speak.”  The energy of a cardboard cutout!  Witty banter level: perfection!

Christina Lauren is a powerhouse writing team and the reigning queens of rom-com.  But it’s not an understatement to say they are at their best in Soulmate Equation.  This book gave me the PERFECT Saturday escape.  

Thank you Christina Lauren, Gallery Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of this book.

The premise for this story is interesting.  Jenna grew up in a stilted, dysfunctional family.  Now in her mid-thirties, she struggles with life and stress.  Tom Wade is a charismatic, naturally talented self-help guru with SoulShrink.  A retreat to Malta with Tom and SoulShrink just might give Jenna the tools she needs to work through old wounds.  But before the retreat comes to a conclusion, two people are dead and Jenna is missing and presumed dead also.  That leaves it up to her sister, Fran, to figure out just what happened to Jenna.  

Many good mystery/thrillers require a degree of suspended belief.  Usually that doesn’t bother me because the excitement of the unveiling is worth the minor implausibility.  That just wasn’t the case for me in this novel.  Not only did this story lack the excitement factor that I crave in a good mystery/thriller, it also demanded me to believe the impossible at each turn, which was more than I was willing to do.  The flat storytelling mixed with a story that just wasn’t believable (in any sense) left me wanting.  

Thank you C.L. Taylor, Avon Books UK, Avon, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of this book

Powerful and haunting.  This book will break your heart.  It’s a time capsule of all the emotion felt as the tragedy of 9/11 progressed.  It’s both hard to listen to and hard to turn off.  

Using thousands of firsthand accounts of the events of 9/11, this book adeptly depicts the most heart wrenching and fear inducing time in the history of the United States.  Graff masterfully captures the emotion deeply felt throughout our nation, preserving the memories of that day into a comprehensive oral history.   

As the book unfolded, I was taken back in time…being told…watching the towers fall…the Pentagon…Shanksville…worrying what was next…not being able to turn off the TV.  I felt the anguish and terror wash over me anew.  

Listening to these voices tell their first hand experiences of the tragedy broke my heart afresh in a million different ways with an untold amount of tears.  

If any book should be considered required reading, this one would be at the top of my list.  This book well honors the heroes and victims of that day.  May we truly never forget.

Cadence lived a charmed life.  She was a Sinclair…blond, beautiful, and rich.  But two years ago, an accident happened.  Oh the migraines.  Damn the amnesia.  A charmed life now drowning in tragedy. But what happened?  

Wait.  I’m not supposed to be snarky and brash in my reviews.  Oh but I just couldn’t enjoy this book about a bunch of pretentious, wealthy white people  overwrought with greed and racism.  Uncovering the secret of the tragedy (which I had partially figured out) just wasn’t enough to overcome the disaster of the immense greed of aunts fighting about which one gets the bigger mansion on the private island.  (insert MAJOR eyeroll)  And even if I could overcome the pretense, our main character, Cadence, was waylaid in drama and self-pity.  Nope.  It just didn’t work for me.    

This book could’ve been a necessary political message on classism and racism.  The author had an opportunity to give a true critique on greed, wealth distribution, and white privilege.  Instead she settled for a “be a little kinder” theme in the end.   A complete missed opportunity.

And then
There’s the writing
Style
You’ve likely
Already heard.
It’s abysmal.   
Is it symbolic of youth?  
Coming of age?
Maybe
How poorly executed
Do young people
Only think
In bits and pieces
Choppy thoughts
Nope 
Not engaging. Not workable.  

Ultimately, when Cadence’s dad left at the beginning of the book, signaling he could no longer be a part of the Sinclairs, it should’ve been a huge clue to readers as well.

“Thou believest too much in thine intellect as a woman.”

Throughout time, one of the most dangerous of creatures has been a woman able to think freely and intelligently.  Bohjalian has delivered a spell-binding, often maddening look at the turmoil caused by gossip and fear in 17th century Puritan Boston.  

Mary’s circumstances matter not in her Puritan community.  She is married to a dangerous man, prone to drink and ready with a fist.  But because he is a needed and profitable businessman, she is expected to lie about the bruises upon her cheek.  When at last, she can no longer continue with the ruse, she seeks divorce.  But logic and reason are overtaken by town gossip, harsh scrutinization, and ludicrous accusations. 

Bohjalian has masterfully created a slow burn mixture of historical fiction and mystery that I couldn’t put down.  The time period and Puritan lifestyle are skillfully portrayed, as is the intricate development of the characters.  This adept execution creates mounting tension in anticipation of Mary’s fate.  

The message of this book is timeless, thought provoking, and important. It also reminded me, from history until today, that fear has often overwhelmed reason.  

Thank you Chris Bohjalian, Doubleday Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of this book

This book provided me an enjoyable Sunday afternoon escape along the charming canals of Venice with Juliette and her great niece, Caroline, as my tour guides.  This is an easy to read, atmospheric story of love, longing, and kept secrets.  

To Juliette’s family, she appeared to live the quintessential, modest, hard working life of a British spinster.  Oh!  But there was so much she kept hidden away.  It was no secret that she became enamored with Venice on her first trip there as a young woman on the cusp of adulthood.  What wasn’t apparent was how besotted she became with a dashing, young Italian that saved her (and a few kittens) from drowning.  Upon her death, Juliette bequeaths her great niece, Caroline, three keys and a sketchbook, allowing the family their first opportunity to truly get to know her.  

Much of what happens in the story is implausibly coincidental and also utterly predictable.  (Venice is not quite as small of a city as the author would have us to believe.)  But I allowed myself to be charmed by both Juliette and Venice anyway, suspending reality in order to enjoy this book to its fullest.  

Like Juliette, I fell in love with the city of Venice many years ago.  Bowen did a masterful job of taking me back there amongst the birds, bridges, and bells of this floating city.  

Many thanks to Rhys Bowen, Lake Union Publishing, and Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Many historical fiction books set during WW2 are heavy, dense, and hard to read because they are true to the tragedy they portray.  This book read like a light version of WW2 historical fiction.  Instead of delving deep into the atrocities and torment, this book tends to skim the surface over the actuality of suffering experienced by both Jews and the occupied.    

Levi is a trained assassin and a spy.  While I believe Britain to be adept at training assassins and spies, Levi’s abilities and circumstances just don’t seem plausible from beginning to end.  Spying is a complex undertaking (which is greatly glossed over in this story).  Most of the time, Levi just seems to be in the right place at the right time.  I found his story too simplistic.  The storyline unfolds too easily, and there are more coincidences than are believable.  

Historical fiction that highlights real heroes from WW2 is one of my very favorite genres.  I found this book to fall short of others in its field.  That may be because this book is not based upon an actual person or a depth of research on which to support itself.  

Many thanks to Julie Thomas, Harper 360, Harper Collins NZ, and Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.