This story of a girl coming of age, while stuck in a dead-end town and being brainwashed by a cult was a WILD ride. Lacey May is an utterly authentic and compelling character, whom I wanted to hug and smack upside the head in equal measure. The same goes for her mother, the town beauty who is the focus of the evil pastor’s designs. Godshot offered up a lot to think about when it comes to the relationship between mothers and daughters, what makes a family, and what it means to forgive.
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I flew through this book wanting to know how things would end up for Lacey May. I find books about cults rather fascinating, even though this was fictitious. One might wonder where the author drew her inspiration, as some of the details were pretty horrific (Lots of trigger warnings - definitely research before reading, or shoot me a DM.) but she grabbed my attention in a visceral way. Bieker certainly nails the inherent misogyny of cults.
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“But my body did exist and was only growing bigger. I would only keep existing more and more, and then when the baby came she too would exist, angering men and boys all on her own. When did this end? I wondered.”
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If you think a sinister, and also weirdly charming story about a young girl in throes of a cult sounds fascinating, for sure grab this singular debut!
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This was my read aloud with my daughter this month and it was more in HER wheelhouse than mine! She loves stories about animals, dragons, fantasy, etc. and that's not where my interests lie - even when I was a kid. Alas, this was a cute concept of a world ruled by several mythical creatures and due to some dastardly evil plans, our heroine (a dog like creature called a Dairne) believes herself to be the last of her kind. She makes all sorts of friends and has many exciting adventures trying to find her place in the world and perhaps more of her kind. My daughter enjoyed it thoroughly, despite the fact that I thought it a little heavy on confusing political intrigue for kids and we've begun reading the sequel.
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I normally save Elin Hilderbrand books for the summer. However, with my waning attention span and anxiety these days, I decided that getting to some unread backlist might be a good idea! The Blue Bistro wasn’t my favorite narrative of her novels, but the food writing sure was! If you know Hilderbrand’s work, you know that the love she puts into talking about food is such a huge part of her appeal. That, and being so vividly transported to beautiful Nantucket, which was SO NICE RIGHT NOW.
If you haven’t read any of her novels, hit me up and I can try to recommend one that might be perfect for you! I especially like to recommend her to fans of Louise Penny, because they have many of the same enchanting elements.
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I’m really glad that I had R. Eric Thomas to keep me company in the last few weeks at home doing the thousands of dishes and loads of laundry that come with going absolutely nowhere. Anyway! Anyone that can tie in my favorite childhood read aloud (The Monster at the End of This Book) from the beginning of their memoir, to the heartwarming ending is TOPS in my book! This was an astute, eye opening, and obviously good humored collection of essays on his coming of age and confronting issues of race, class, LGBTQ, and religion. Highly, highly recommend!
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I hadn’t planned on reading the next winter-y installment of Inspector Gamache in April, but here I am craving those comfort reads. Bury Your Dead was excellent, of course, and each book just compounds upon the last. I rather enjoyed the tied up loose ends from the previous novel, while also taking in Québéc through Penny’s eyes in this volume. It’s like being given the gift of travel right now.
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I finally CAVED to this series that is all over Bookstagram. I dabble in fantasy books a few times a year, but many of the hyped series didn’t suck me in past the first book - Six of Crows, Caraval, A Darker Shade of Magic... All great, just didn’t have that something that made me want to devour them. (Sorry! I know how beloved those titles are!) ACOTAR is reminding me of my reading experience with The Selection or Twilight series: kind of ridiculous, but so ADDICTIVE. It’s like Katniss mashed up with Cinderella whilst being rather sexy (PSA: not all fantasy written by women is YA). I have already ordered the next book!
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This was the first fiction novel I have ever listened to on audiobook! I tried to when I first started listening to audiobooks, but learned quickly that nonfiction holds my attention best, preferably memoir. But I had a complimentary advance copy sitting in my Libro.fm account and thought that I'd give this thriller a go. I listen to books at normal speed (or sometimes 1.1 speed, which is so awesome this is available on Libro.fm), but I pushed this one up to 1.25 in the final chapters, absolutely riveted. The ending was downright unsettling. If you are into creepy thrillers, I would definitely recommend this story about a child killer who whispers in victim's bedroom windows, complete with a scary rhyme about 'The Whisper Man.' *shudder*
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Thank you so much @harperbooks for the complimentary advance copy of A Good Marriage!
This book lives up to the hype, and is definitely my kind of thriller: thought provoking social commentary, nuanced characters, and absolutely believable twists and turns.
McCreight creates a rather large cast of characters, but I could completely understand each and every one’s motivations, which I find lacking in a lot of thrillers. And she thoughtfully ties in the theme of ‘a good marriage’ leaving no couple behind. Even those on the fringes are analyzed, from divorced or seemingly perfect, to those with an open marriage.
Nothing is what it seems and I absolutely was guessing until the last. Not since I read Miracle Creek last year did I enjoy this kind of provocative legal thriller (with Angie Kim’s excellent social commentary on parenthood). Methinks I need to seek out more thrillers written by women with law degrees...
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The story of the Galvin family, with six out of twelve children diagnosed with schizophrenia, is as fascinating and compelling as it sounds. I can see why Oprah chose it for her book club! If there is any criticism I’ve seen, is that more readers are drawn in by the family narrative, and less so by the scientific and bureaucratic interludes about schizophrenia research. But, those are the parts that I am finding truly remarkable! Science, y’all.
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I stayed up way past my bedtime finishing A Court of Mist and Fury (book two in this series), and I’m so glad I did.
The world building of the Night Court is spectacular, the character development of the heroine Fayre is much more empathetic (as is Rhys, obviously), I was on the edge of my seat for much of the book. And llast, but not least, the swoon factor is OFF THE CHARTS. I also appreciated the very strong theme of valuing consent and being autonomous, equal partners in a relationship.
I’m so glad that I started these after all the books were published, as I just popped the third book into my recent Target order.
For more reviews and bookish musings, visit http://www.bornandreadinchicago.com/