For crime and thriller lovers 😱

I devoured Hello Transcriber by @hannahmorrisseywriter this week. I actually didn’t know that a transcriber was an actual position in police stations but Hannah’s experience as a transcriber inspired this story.

This book has the recurring theme of “people only seeing what they want to see,” which has always been a fascinating concept to me. How ignorantly blind we can all be because we our minds show us the story we want to believe. If you check out my @goodreads notes and highlights, you’ll see the section I highlighted related to this concept - that even if people have an overwhelming desire to help, that desire can override a memory of what actually happened 🤯

The plot twists in this book were nicely done - I was not expecting the ending, and I personally love when a book ends “without a happy ending.”

I borrowed this book from @falpublib using the @libby.app - and I’m looking forward to Hannah’s next book, The Widowmaker, releasing in early December!

Absolutely incredible 💀✨

Whitehorse by @erikatwurth is officially one of my favorite books of the year. I knew I’d love this book when I read the synopsis about Kari James’ rugged life ~ touches of Stephen King and haunted by the ghost of her mother.

I was not expecting the King love fest (I was so here for this!!) complete with a stay at the infamous @thestanleyhotel . I stayed at the Stanley back in 2011 and I felt like I was right there again.

Aside from the King love, I enjoyed following Kari’s journey trying to piece together the mysterious disappearance of her mother and navigating relationships of today. I could relate to Kari as she was bewtixt and between being courageous, selfish, and trying to balance the chaos of everyday. 

One of my favorite quotes from the book was:

“I feel strong by the end of that year, I am healed. But I don’t realize that healing requires scars, and I am still rough beneath them, I still have pain locked behind that ropy skin. And there is weakness there, there is a vulnerability, a thing I have always been terrified of. A thing that has festered. A thing that can take me down into the dark. And feed. And feed.”

This was a perfect read for Native American history month. I even brought this book to @hawk_mountain with me, which was originally Lenni Lenape land. 

Read up, friends!

REVIEW: Educated by Tara Westover

One of my book clubs selected Educated as the read last month and we discussed it Thursday at our meeting.

I don’t “rate” memoirs the same as a fiction book, because it’s someone’s personal story, but here are my thoughts:

🍂I was constantly thinking about the dichotomy of America and how depending on where you grow up, your outlook on the world can be so different. I grew up outside Philadelphia, but now I’m raising my son on Cape Cod, and I’m sure both of those places differ vastly from rural Idaho.

🍂The theme of lawlessness struck me as shocking and quite terrible. When her father was speeding and said “I’m going slower than angels can fly” and then explaining to a police officer after crashing why he cut the seats and seatbelts out of the car, my mind was literally like WTF.

🍂The memoir highlighted how easily influenced we are by our parents. And even if we start to fundamentally disagree, it can be hard to cut ties - as children, you keep coming back for approval.

Anyway, it was an enlightening story that really made me appreciate my upbringing and the opportunities I had. I know her mother wrote another book, and then I read that the mother and other daughter have a THRIVING essential oil business. It made me start to question parts of the book and how it all really happened, but again, human memory is incredibly flawed (which Tara acknowledged) and we’ll often remember things how we wish to.

Have you read Educated? Thoughts? ⬇️

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REVIEW: Beartown by Fredrik Backman] 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Beartown will break you. If you’ve ever been in a place where you’ve needed to choose a side because holding 2 thoughts in your head at the same time is hard, you’ll fall for the story in this enthralling novel.

The themes and lessons in this book are so well written, set in a remote hockey town. I found myself remembering what life was like when I was 15, and Fredrik Backman] was spot on in all of his relationships and character arcs. 

I loved the writing style that included philosophical-esque questions which tied into multiple story arcs. Themes included: good vs evil, speaking up vs staying silent, hockey vs humanity and more. I especially loved the discussion of “Community. Values. Culture.” Culture being “what we encourage and what we permit.”

I also thought the paragraph on page 147 about hockey and life was CHILLINGLY good:

“We burn and bleed and cry, fully aware that the most the sport can give us, in the very best scenario, is incomprehensible meager and worthless; just a few isolated moments of transcendence. That’s all. But what the hell else is life made of?”

I can’t recommend this book enough - it should be required reading for all teenagers and parents. 

I read this book when it was first published, and I wanted to re-read it because I haven’t read the 2nd book in the series and the 3rd was just recently published. I’m so glad I spent some time for a re-read, as this book is an absolute treasure.

@simonandschuster @atriabooks 
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🐝Book clubs and bees🐝

This month we read Mad Honey by @jodipicoult and @jenniferfinneyboylan and it did not disappoint. I think I can speak for us all that we were all enthralled the entire story and still wanted more at the end, so thank you @jodipicoult and @jenniferfinneyboylan for the recipes and context at the end of the book. 

There were several themes at play throughout the book:
🐝The concept of actually knowing people and that we don’t really know people as much as we think we do
🐝Conditional vs unconditional love 
🐝Human rights and acceptance of all
🐝Real tough stuff, I won’t spoil here, but how and when to communicate those topics to an important person in your life (now go re-read point 1)
🐝And of course, bees and honey 

We had a few unanswered questions at the end, like Maya’s outcome (is this a nod to the legal system?) and the relationship dynamic between Ana and Olivia at the end.

One of the things we love about @jodipicoult is that she isn’t afraid to write about polarizing topics and issues happening in our world right now. She’s also masterful at relating those concepts to other parts of life, so that you can TRULY RELATE to her storytelling.

Overall, I thought this book was masterfully done and I would highly recommend if you want a story discussing real issues happening today, and if you want to know more about beekeeping.

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Ok this is a fun and quick read. I finally started this after having it on my kindle shelf for awhile.

I was very perplexed at the mystery for most of the book. Lots of twists and turns and I enjoyed following along, trying to figure out who did it myself.

But when the handwriting

came out to match Anne’s handwriting, I was super confused. It made me question her loyalty and friendship for the rest of the book. How could she not say anything?! I thought maybe at one point it was an act and that Anne and Sarah were together. <\spoiler>

I really disliked the character of Eleanor - I questioned her role for most of the book but I think

that she got what she deserved in the end when Adam was executed.

The midnight visitor scene threw me off - I was questioning the entire rest of the book who that person was. I knew it had to be someone we knew. What I don’t understand is

why was Bob so rude to Sarah at work? Was he just playing a role and not super good at it? I didn’t like that side of him, but it seemed to not bother Sarah? Probably because she’s just as conniving. I guess two peas in a pod. <\spoiler>

Overall, entertaining read and it read great on kindle!

It should be no surprise that I loved this book. Not only for the mystery aspect, but for the amount of literary references - simply divine!!

Ruth Ware was spot on with her descriptions, including one of the favorites - her ability to describe the feeling of being in a bookstore (one of my favorite feelings). 

I loved all the English slang in the book, including pigeonhole, bog, and kerfuffle, to name a few.

About halfway or so, I really thought that

Will did it! I was assuming that story line and completely shocked when it was Hugh. I don’t think I realized it was Hugh until the incident with the chemical water in the car, and the sleeping.

After reaching the end, so much more made sense, but it made me want to turn back pages to reread parts I now believe held more than I initially picked up on.

Overall, fantastic read! Praise for this one!!

I did not expect where this book would take me! Reading along with Amber’s journey had me questioning so much about her background - what drove her to make these decisions? 

And then

Daphne’s role in all of this… mind blown!!

This book reminds me of what I always want to say when people think the grass is always greener… you don’t really know what happens behind closed doors…

Once I really got going, I could not put this story down. I loved the interview format of writing - I don’t think I’ve read a book written in that style, aside from a play in grade school.

The topics were heavy, cue lots of emotions, but so well written and I found myself assuming Daisy and the Six were a really group throughout most of the story.

Taylor does it again in this incredible novel, weaving the stories of the characters together. 

I did not expect the end and the point of view of the interviewer. I may have missed that in the beginning, but it connected the pieces so lovingly.