sarahsbookstack's Reviews (2.55k)

I thought this book was ok. 
We get an adult Michael that goes back to Neverland because he gets word that Peter Pan is missing.

I love the world of Neverland which is a pretty dark version here. It all seemed to Michael, through his 4 year old eyes, to be a fun place to be. As an adult though, he saw the darkness of it.

I was both intrigued by the magic and bored with it... Those were the 2 ends... No in-between.

I'm really starting to like the grumpy/sunshine trope!

Constance and Jonathan are best childhood friends. War from Jonathan away and he comes home 10 years later to Constance who had married, had her conniving husband leave her and carrying his child.
Jonathan gets a letter proposing marriage to Constance so her baby will have a father.

I really enjoyed them together. She slowly crumbles the walls he's put around himself and he softens bit by bit. They see the worst and the best of each other. 

But my favorite character has to be Jonathan's valet, North! He's so sly in his matchmaking schemes for these 2.

If you've heard me talk, I'm not a big memoir reader. In fact, I'm hardly one at all. Plus, I've been known to say I'd rather watch true crime than read it. BUT..I'm HIGHLY ENJOYING IT. I know that's a weird thing to say seeing as what he does for a living but I'm all about serial killers and the why and I really like hearing Paul talk about his process and of his why he's so dedicated to solve cold cases.

I like the personal touch in here from the author.

I loved this book! As much as I know and love anything about the Romanovs (though this book isn't about them) I had no idea that Fabergé made eggs specifically for them. I had no idea that some of the eggs are still missing to this day!

I loved the back and forth timelines. I love learning about Fabergé and all his work. The idea of a treasure hunt for an egg is what pulled me to this book. The mystery of it is the driving force of this book.

I am appreciative that there are some elements that take a turn from beginning to end and gave me that "sit forward and really pay attention at the surprise" type of vibe as they were revealed.

I really liked Ava. I felt bad for her (non-ish) relationship with her dad but loved that they worked together on this (as much as they could).

A powerful family drama centered on the North family. 
We see 3 generations of these women as they go through the struggles of not only being women but Black women. 

This book will make you rage and it will make you cry. It will make you hold tight to the characters and you will get to see them pull through each thing thrown their way with dignity. They endure so much- racism, abuses of both physical and sexual, trauma, 9/11 and a lot more.

The timelines are back and forth through 70 years and through the eyes of different narrator's each chapter.

I read this book in a day and that should tell people how much I adored it!

Ava's family have the ability to pass on a blessing to the women in their line when they are on their deathbed. Ava is late coming to her Nana's side from work when a storm comes out of nowhere, she slides into the back of a truck, and barely makes it back for her Nana to say a few strange things but no blessing.

Then she sees her Nana's ghost days after her funeral. She has a month to get her blessing back. With the help of her sister, Nana and a Saint.. She has to befriend the guy who's truck she hit, Rian, to get it back.

The best part of this are the sisters. I just love the relationship that they have. I really liked that Ava, a girl who doesn't believe in Fate, has a whole lot of Fate thrust at her! I liked the friendship that develops between Ava and Rian but it took a backseat to get sisters for me.

I highly enjoyed this ghoulish book and I especially love our MC hero, Olivia.

Olivia has lived in a girl's school and she doesn't speak. One day, she receives a letter from an uncle she doesn't know asking her to come to his home Gallant, a place she has never been.

The house was creepy and it was a "living thing" crawling with ghouls. There is someone who wants her there and someone who tries to warn her to leave. I like that Olivia can communicate with these ghouls in her mind. The ghouls themselves were a nightmare to me (they had only pieces of them floating around and I could just see them through the descriptions).

I love the words of Olivia's mother's journal entries and how they help Olivia and Gallant at the end. There are drawings inside and they tell a bit of the story if you look close enough.

"Words demand justice. They encourage freedom. They change minds. They soften hearts. Words can also save."

"It doesn't matter where you live, Sang Ly, it is how you live."

Sang Ly, her husband Ki, and their son Nisay live in a garbage dump in Cambodia. The boy is sick. They pick trash to sell and make their living. One day, while their rent collector comes to collect and kick them out if they can't pay, she finds a book that Sang Ly had found. The rent collector (Sopeap) ends up teaching Sang Ly how to read.

I've had this book on my list to read for a long time and never picked it up until this young readers edition. I found the story very moving and love that it's based on a true story. I love that Sang Ly and Sopeap become friends and that Sang Ly was able to be there for the end of her days 

Aja never thought that having an anxiety attack in the middle of a Piggly Wiggly would bring her in Walker's orbit.... Who also suffers from anxiety due to PTSD. Walker is back in Greenbelt to help his Grandma, who raised him, who broke both her arms. He never wanted to be back to this town he left.

I love that Aja goes to BINGO. I love that Walker's gram raised him and she is some comic relief in here. I liked that both Aja and Walker are in therapy and it's normalized in here at it should be. I like that they can recognize the anxiety in each other and can help each other through attacks. 

I didn't understand why Walker left Aja the way he did because he wanted to avoid his father (who is a big cause of Walker's PTSD) Especially how well it went when the two men saw each other again and had a chance to talk.

The few intimate scenes were a bit cringy add 2 of them happened in public places and I just felt the white robe "you are going to get caught!" (They didn't lol)

This book caught me by surprise crying so much! This harrowing tale of the Carpathia ship and her captain Rostron that saved 705 survivors from the sinking of the Titanic.

This is a little known story but the most important part is that this captain, though he didn't have much information, didn't hesitate to answer their distress call. 

We also follow along with the story of Kate Connelly (same surname at the author though she says there is no found relationship) who was a survivor on lifeboat 13.  

So we get to see this disaster through the eyes of people who really lived this. I love the captain and his willingness to do anything he could for his fellow men and women.