Tag: whatimreading

Book Review: One By One {Ruth Ware}

For the love of GOD thank goodness I didn’t read Ruth Ware’s One by One while I was stuck on that mountain in Tennessee! For REAL. It’s insane to me that I actually had it packed in my suitcase! No words can explain how thankful I am that I chose not to open the cover until I was safely back at home and not freezing and hungry while snowed in on top of that mountain. Omg. That would NOT have been a good choice. Nope, not a good choice at all. Holy hell. Once I safely returned home with heat, food, and a working vehicle was when I decided to read and review this one. Yikes!

Synopsis of One by One {Ruth Ware}:

My Review of One by One {Ruth Ware}:

Some of the characters were very well developed while some lacked some pretty big character development and as a result…I kept confusing everyone throughout the ENTIRE book! Pair this with the fact that some of the characters had some pretty unique and possibly gender neutral names (Inigo, Ani, Tiger, etc.) and I truly had no idea who anyone was while reading. This is a MAJOR con and the number one thing that I absolutely hated about this book…I couldn’t keep anyone straight! I spent the majority of this book feeling frustrated by this and wasn’t able to properly focus on the story lines because I was too busy trying to figure out who everyone was! Ugh.

There were 2 major ongoing topics in this book that I have absolutely zero background knowledge of and as a result I had to do some Googling while reading. The inner workings of a tech company? The terminology and logistics of skiing? I truly know nothing about either and my lack of background knowledge was a definite hindrance to my understanding of this book while reading. I LOVE when books teach me new things and although I DID learn a bit about these topics, unfortunately my research is what taught me, not the words in this book. If you are like me and have zero knowledge of these 2 topics, get ready to Google.

The beginning of this book and the end of this book were undoubatly the best parts. I was honestly pretty bored throughout the middle. There were absolutely times where I debated putting it down and moving on. I’m glad I stuck with it because the end was great (BUT using words like “stuck with it” should never be used when describing a book that it supposed to be enjoyable sooooo…)

I’ve now read 4 Ruth Ware books. The Woman in Cabin 10…I don’t believe I ever reviewed this on my blog? I read it years ago. I remember really liking it, not necessarily loving it? The Turn of the Key…LOVED LOVED LOVED it! You can read my review of that book HERE. In A Dark, Dark, Wood…I read this over the summer and put it down without finishing. You can read more of my thoughts on that book HERE.

Bottom Line:

I wish the whole book could have somehow just consisted of the beginning and the ending…the entire middle was pretty boring.

Have you read this book? What did you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Xo,

Jenny

Click the image below to order the book through my Amazon affiliate link. When you order through this link, I receive a tiny commission. Thank you for your support, Xo

This blog is my favorite hobby and I would so love your support!  Here are ways you can help my blog to GROW:

*Please share this page with your book and blog loving friends!*

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The ultimate list of my top book suggestions can be found HERE

The 12 best books I read in 2020 can be found HERE

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Book Review: The Lies That Bind {Emily Giffin}

I had been waiting for MONTHS to read and review The Lies That Bind by Emily Giffin and was obsessively checking my status at the library DAILY to see when I would finally be able to get my hands on this popular book.

I had heard from not 1, not 2 but 3 friends who told me that they read this book over the course of 1-2 days because they couldn’t put it down and gave such glowing reviews. I couldn’t WAIT to start reading and knew that our lake house getaway would be the perfect time. I decided about a month ago that if the library wasn’t going to provide me with a copy for my vacation, Amazon would! When the library called the week before we were leaving to tell me that my copy was waiting for me, it truly felt so meant to be. You can read about our wonderful Labor Day weekend lake house vacation HERE.

Goodreads Synopsis of The Lies That Bind {Emily Giffin}:

It’s 2 A.M. on a Saturday night in the spring of 2001, and twenty-eight-year-old Cecily Gardner sits alone in a dive bar in New York’s East Village, questioning her life. Feeling lonesome and homesick for the Midwest, she wonders if she’ll ever make it as a reporter in the big city–and whether she made a terrible mistake in breaking up with her longtime boyfriend, Matthew.

As Cecily reaches for the phone to call him, she hears a guy on the barstool next to her say, “Don’t do it–you’ll regret it.” Something tells her to listen, and over the next several hours–and shots of tequila–the two forge an unlikely connection. That should be it, they both decide the next morning, as Cecily reminds herself of the perils of a rebound relationship. Moreover, their timing couldn’t be worse–Grant is preparing to quit his job and move overseas. Yet despite all their obstacles, they can’t seem to say goodbye, and for the first time in her carefully constructed life, Cecily follows her heart instead of her head.

Then Grant disappears in the chaos of 9/11. Fearing the worst, Cecily spots his face on a missing-person poster, and realizes she is not the only one searching for him. Her investigative reporting instincts kick into action as she vows to discover the truth. But the questions pile up fast: How well did she really know Grant? Did he ever really love her? And is it possible to love a man who wasn’t who he seemed to be?

My Review of The Lies That Bind {Emily Giffin}:

I brought it to Michigan and read bits and pieces whenever I could. Lakeside? Check. In bed at night? Check. In bed first thing in the morning? Check. Sitting on the couch drinking coffee whilst gazing out at the gorgeous lake? Check. I read little bits each day throughout the 5 days and finished about 2 hours before we left to come home.

I interrupt this review to bring you this amazingness…

EMILY GIFFIN THINKS I’M PRETTY. I REPEAT…EMILY GIFFIN THINKS I’M PRETTY.

MIND. BLOWN.

So…I liked this book.  I did.  But did I LOVE it like my friends did?  I did not.

I pretty much loathed all of the characters at varying times while reading. Just when I would start to like a character, something would happen to make me not like that character…and this continued throughout the book. Where this was supposed to make the reader feel engaged, it actually made me feel DISengaged because I felt each character and each relationship wasn’t given enough detail for me to even be able to form an opinion and once I did, that opinion was instantly changed. And not in a twisty, fun way! In more of a…this character is awful…JUST KIDDING…now THIS character is AWFUL…JUST KIDDING…and that first character…NOT AWFUL AFTERALL…JUST KIDDING! Eventually all of this back and forth just got annoying and I gave up on trying to like anybody.

Without giving away any spoilers, I felt the author’s use of 9/11 in this story was disrespectful. The actual writing and details of the events were brilliantly written but the fictitious storyline based around 9/11 felt weird and so wrong to me. I can’t even imagine reading this as someone who lost a loved one during that time. I would imagine they would feel infuriated at how this story unfolded.

This book was just eh for me. Kept me interested enough to keep reading….but I honestly don’t think I would have continued if not for the high accolades from my friends. Parts felt so long, parts felt like they could have been longer, overall just eh.

And I HATED the ending.

I was so confused because my friends LOVED IT!  So I went on Goodreads and confirmed that I was indeed not alone….MANY other people out there did not. 

I definately liked it! I did! It was a great book to bring on vacation as I was able to easily put it down and read bits and pieces here and there. And as much as I loved that…it was absolutely one of it’s biggest flaws as I wanted to not be able to put it down. My friends felt that “unputdownable” feeling with this book…I easily kept putting this one down. Eh.

This was my first Emily Giffin book.  Would I read another?  I would!  Am I racing to?  I’m not.  Do I hope she still thinks I’m pretty even if I didn’t love her book?  I REALLY, REALLY DO!

Bottom Line:

Eh.

Have you read this book? What did you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Click the image below to order the book through my Amazon affiliate link. When you order through this link, I receive a tiny commission. Thank you for your support, Xo

This blog is my favorite hobby and I would so love your support!  Here are ways you can help my blog to GROW:

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The ultimate list of my top book suggestions can be found HERE

What I’m Currently Reading, What I Recently Finished Reading, What I Think I’ll Read Next (WWW #7) {Book Coffee Happy}

Thanks so much to Sam from Taking on a World of Words  for hosting this fun weekly post! I love when Book Coffee Happy can participate!  The Three W’s: What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

I started reading this last weekend!  I’ll post a full review once I finish.

What did you recently finish reading?

I finished reading this one last week and I had SO many thoughts!  You can read my full review HERE.

What do you think you’ll read next?

I’m honestly not 100 percent but I’m currently leaning toward this book.  Have any of you read it?  I got it so long ago and still haven’t read it…

What are you currently reading?  I’d love to hear in the comments below!

Xo,

Jenny

Click the image below to order the book through my Amazon affiliate link.  When you order through this link, I receive a tiny commission. Thank you for your support, Xo

This blog is my favorite hobby and I would so love your support!  Here are ways you can help my blog to GROW:

*Please share this page with your book and blog loving friends!*

*Subscribe with your email address to my blog (scroll all the way to the bottom of this page on mobile devices OR check the top right of this screen to enter your email address)*

*If you already have a blog, please “follow” mine*

*”Like” my Facebook page (and please comment on, “like”, and share my posts)*

*Follow me on Instagram*

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*Clicking and buying products through my Amazon Affiliate links.  The cost to you is exactly the same and I receive a tiny commission off of your purchases.*

*Leaving a positive review on my Facebook page*

The ultimate list of my top book suggestions can be found HERE

How Do You Treat Books?

I’m currently borrowing a book from a friend and knowing that I have to give it back when I’m done reading is making me very much aware of the way I am treating it.

It’s not that I normally MIStreat books necessarily, it’s that I’m just so used to always having them next to me that I just seamlessly incorporate them into my daily life.  I toss them into my computer bag, throw them onto the seat of my car, eat while reading, etc.

Not this book.

See that safe place on top of my husband’s dresser?  The dust jacket (or book jacket…both terms are correct) has been sitting safely there since the day I began reading so I won’t accidentally tear or bend it.  Safely away from my children’s curious hands.  The ONLY times I have put it actually ON the book have been to take pictures for Instagram or Facebook, lol.

I NEVER use bookmarks…ever.  I always dog ear (fold down) the corners of my pages!  Not this time…a tiny yellow post it note has been holding my place.  Hate it.  I’ve never been one to have to read to the end of the chapter before putting the book down so I always leave off in random places.  Dog earing the pages allows me to know exactly which page I left off on!  Now I have to figure it out between 2 pages each time I pick it up which is annoying.

I LOVE to bend the spine of books as I’m reading.  I know many of you may find this weird but it actually makes me feel more connected to the book because it feels more “lived in” as I’m reading!  Here are some examples of this from my bookshelf:

The borrowed book I’m currently reading?  PERFECT SPINE.

I never realized how much I use books as coffee coasters.  Apparently it’s often!  Not this book 🙂

And a small glimpse into my life…I have written this entire blog post with a 4 year old  cuddled up to me with his favorite joke book.  The book comes with a “Whoopie Blaster” and makes various farting noises.  Some bloggers write to the sound of beautiful music while here I am sitting and writing to the sound of farts.  Lovely.

Wake of the Sadico Winner:

How do you treat books?  I’d love to hear in the comments below!

Xo,

Jenny

This blog is my favorite hobby and I would so love your support!  Here are ways you can help my blog to GROW:

*Please share this page with your book and blog loving friends!*

*Subscribe with your email address to my blog (scroll all the way to the bottom of this page on mobile devices OR check the top right of this screen to enter your email address)*

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The ultimate list of my top book suggestions can be found HERE

***GIVEAWAY (Open to International Readers)*** Wake of the Sadico {Jo Sparkes}

I’m excited to host this international giveaway for you today!  When Jo Sparkes reached out to me last fall to see if I would be interested in reading and reviewing The Wake of the Sadico, I knew that it was a book that would be quite different from the usual books I read and review.  As with everything in life, sometimes going out of your comfort zone is a good thing.  In this case, it was a VERY good thing!

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest blog review.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Synopsis:

On a Caribbean dive vacation, five friends discover a centuries old shipwreck – and a karmic debt past due.
Wall Eddington has always done the correct thing. It’s part of being British, part of family tradition. Yet somehow someone drowned.
Now, half a world away, he’s diving off an old sailboat with four American friends. As a vacation it’s a bit primitive, but just what his soul craves.
Until they find a shipwreck.

Untouched and impossibly preserved, the thing bewitches with promises of gold. Their rush to claim it bogs down with odd accidents and petty arguments – and Wall is not the only one with dark dreams of pain and torture. Dreams of a captain called Sadico.
In fleeing his personal demon, Wall has run straight to its lair.
This trap was laid centuries ago, for five souls moved on to new lives and new loves. Set by the one soul they left behind.

My Thoughts:

First of all, can we please take a moment to discuss how gorgeous this cover photo is?!?  STUNNING.

This book is the most perfect example of why sometimes it’s great to have new experiences and reading a book outside of my usual selections proved to be such a positive and new experience for me.  I went into reading this book with a completely open mind and I’m so happy to report that it totally sucked me right in.

Some of the underwater scenes had me literally holding my breath because they were so intense!  I couldn’t put this book down and finished almost the entire second half over the course of 2 days.

I couldn’t help but think numerous times while reading what an intense and awesome movie this book would make.  The writing was so colorful and descriptive that bringing it to the big screen would be fantastic!  One of the best parts of this book was how everything and everyone tied together to create such a complicated and twisted story.  Seeing all of that unfold on the big screen would be so amazing. I can’t even imagine how terrifyingly awesome some of those underwater scenes would be!  OMG.

One of my absolute favorite parts of writing my blog is communicating with authors and I have loved communicating with Jo Sparkes over the past few months!  She is just lovely and so is her book!  Thanks so much for allowing me the opportunity to read and review your book, Jo 🙂

A Conversation with Jo Sparkes, In Her Own Words:

How did you create the idea for your book?

The book came together through 3 separate pieces.

Learning to dive with 2 instructors who loved wreck diving and a Brit who took exception to some American rules.

Spending time in the UK with my British husband and his friends. I grew fascinated with the cultural differences from the USA (my home country). Wall sprang from 3 people, though (like all characters really), he grew into his own identity.

When reincarnation sprang into my orbit – all the pieces fell together.

What audience would be most interested in your book?

Those who like beach reads, supernatural thrillers, tales with ghosts and a happy ending. This plays with reincarnation a little differently.

Where can your book be purchased?

Currently on Amazon and Ingram. That should expand to other outlets in a few months.

Use 3 adjectives to describe your book:

scary   tropical   suspenseful

Any additional information that you would like to provide about you or your book:

I made up the term ‘soul pods’ – but not the concept. And while I wouldn’t label it a romance, my editor points out “but they’re literally soul-mates!”

Click the image below to order the book through my Amazon affiliate link.  When you order through this link, I receive a tiny commission. Thank you for your support, Xo

***GIVEAWAY DETAILS***

Would you like to win a copy of Wake of the Sadico?
I have 1 copy to give away!  Your choice…hard copy or Kindle version!

To be entered, please complete these 2 simple steps:

1. Make sure that you are following and/or subscribed to my blog

2.  Tell me in the comments below (on this blog post) about a time when you did something outside of your comfort zone!

**You must complete BOTH of these steps to be eligible for the giveaway and you must complete them here on my blog (not on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram)**

Giveaway will close tomorrow (4/17/20) at 6:00 pm CDT and the winner will be randomly chosen and announced in Saturday’s blog post (4/18/20).

Make sure you check the blog on Saturday to see if you’ve won (you will have 48 hours from the time I post the winners to email me your mailing address.  If I don’t hear from you within 48 hours, I will pick a new winner).

If you already follow and/or subscribe to my blog, you are still eligible…just leave a comment below to be entered 🙂

Good luck!  Can’t wait to read your comments!

Xo,

Jenny

This blog is my favorite hobby and I would so love your support!  Here are ways you can help my blog to GROW:

*Please share this page with your book and blog loving friends!*

*Subscribe with your email address to my blog (scroll all the way to the bottom of this page on mobile devices OR check the top right of this screen to enter your email address)*

*If you already have a blog, please “follow” mine*

*”Like” my Facebook page (and please comment on, “like”, and share my posts)*

*Follow me on Instagram*

*Follow me on Twitter*

*Subscribe to my YouTube channel*

*Clicking and buying products through my Amazon Affiliate links.  The cost to you is exactly the same and I receive a tiny commission off of your purchases.*

*Leaving a positive review on my Facebook page*

The ultimate list of my top book suggestions can be found HERE

WWW #6 {Book Coffee Happy}

Thanks so much to Sam from Taking on a World of Words  for hosting this fun weekly WWW (What I’m Reading) post!  I love when Book Coffee Happy can participate!

The Three W’s are:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Be careful who you let in.

Soon after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she’s been waiting for her entire life. She rips it open with one driving thought: I am finally going to know who I am.

She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London’s fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, worth millions. Everything in Libby’s life is about to change. But what she can’t possibly know is that others have been waiting for this day as well—and she is on a collision course to meet them.

Twenty-five years ago, police were called to 16 Cheyne Walk with reports of a baby crying. When they arrived, they found a healthy ten-month-old happily cooing in her crib in the bedroom. Downstairs in the kitchen lay three dead bodies, all dressed in black, next to a hastily scrawled note. And the four other children reported to live at Cheyne Walk were gone.

In The Family Upstairs, the master of “bone-chilling suspense” (People) brings us the can’t-look-away story of three entangled families living in a house with the darkest of secrets.

I started reading this one a few days ago.  I’ve heard from so many people who loooooved it, I’m excited to see if I will feel the same way 🙂 I’ll post a full blog review once I’m finished reading!

What did you recently finish reading?

Synopsis from Goodreads:

On a Caribbean dive vacation, five friends discover a centuries old shipwreck – and a karmic debt past due.
Wall Eddington has always done the correct thing. It’s part of being British, part of family tradition. Yet somehow someone drowned.
Now, half a world away, he’s diving off an old sailboat with four American friends. As a vacation it’s a bit primitive, but just what his soul craves.
Until they find a shipwreck.

Untouched and impossibly preserved, the thing bewitches with promises of gold. Their rush to claim it bogs down with odd accidents and petty arguments – and Wall is not the only one with dark dreams of pain and torture. Dreams of a captain called Sadico.
In fleeing his personal demon, Wall has run straight to its lair.
This trap was laid centuries ago, for five souls moved on to new lives and new loves. Set by the one soul they left behind.

This book is GREAT and…I’m hosting a GIVEAWAY for it on the blog TOMORROW!!!  Be sure to check back here in the morning for your chance to win!

What do you think you’ll read next?

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Assigned to the same suite during their freshman year at Quincy-Hawthorne College, Lainey, Ji Sun, Alice, and Margaret quickly become inseparable. The leafy green campus they move through together, the idyllic window seat they share in their suite, and the passion and ferocity that school and independence awakens in them ignites an all-encompassing love with one another. But they soon find their bonds–forged in joy, and fused by fear–must weather threats that originate from beyond the dark forests of their childhoods, and come at them from institutions, from one another, and ultimately, from within themselves.

The Other’s Gold follows the four friends as each makes a terrible mistake, moving from their wild college days to their more feral days as new parents. With one part devoted to each mistake–the Accident, the Accusation, the Kiss, and the Bite–this complex yet compulsively readable debut interrogates the way that growing up forces our friendships to evolve as the women discover what they and their loved ones are capable of, and capable of forgiving. A joyful, big-hearted book that perfectly evokes the bittersweet experience of falling in love with friendship, the experiences of Lainey, Ji Sun, Alice, and Margaret are at once achingly familiar and yet shine with a brilliance and depth all their own.

I’m such a sucker for novels about best friends.  And this book has FOUR best friends just like ME!  I can’t wait to start reading.  The synopsis makes me immediately think of this book.  Fingers crossed it’s similar because I LOVED that book…

What are you currently reading?  I’d love to hear in the comments below!

Xo,

Jenny

Click the image below to order the book through my Amazon affiliate link.  When you order through this link, I receive a tiny commission. Thank you for your support, Xo

This blog is my favorite hobby and I would so love your support!  Here are ways you can help my blog to GROW:

*Please share this page with your book and blog loving friends!*

*Subscribe with your email address to my blog (scroll all the way to the bottom of this page on mobile devices OR check the top right of this screen to enter your email address)*

*If you already have a blog, please “follow” mine*

*”Like” my Facebook page (and please comment on, “like”, and share my posts)*

*Follow me on Instagram*

*Follow me on Twitter*

*Subscribe to my YouTube channel*

*Clicking and buying products through my Amazon Affiliate links.  The cost to you is exactly the same and I receive a tiny commission off of your purchases.*

*Leaving a positive review on my Facebook page*

The ultimate list of my top book suggestions can be found HERE

Coronavirus Quarantine Life

Hi Friends!

How are you doing during this Coronavirus quarantine?  We are doing well, staying HOME, and trying to do all that we can to avoid exposure to this crazy virus.

I am usually VERY strict about lighting seasonal candles only during the appropriate season.  This quarantine has thrown all of those rules out the window!  Loving going through all of my candles with zero regard as to which season they correspond to!  Burning my all time favorite Bath and Body Works Winter Candle Apple as we speak 🙂

Last week my husband took my kids on a bike ride and my son fell asleep in the bike trailer.  Every time!!!  I was waiting inside (DAMN BROKEN TOE 3 MONTHS LATER) with open arms and an open book! My daughter took this picture, I love it.  He slept on me for over an hour like this!  FYI…the book I’m reading in this photo is Wake of the Sadico By Jo Sparkes (affiliate)!  I’m still reading but plan to finish this weekend (hopefully today).  I’ll have a full review and GIVEAWAY for you next week!  Stay tuned…

Reading side by side with my daughter one night last week.  The best!  I really, really hope that she will always and forever love books as much as her mama does…

My precious vintage Marshall Field’s teddy bear in our window (Marshall Field’s I MISS YOU) is hopefully providing smiles for people out walking during this quarantine.

Happy Passover to those celebrating!  We had such a lovely virtual seder with my family!

What are you currently reading?

Xo,

Jenny

This blog is my favorite hobby and I would so love your support!  Here are ways you can help my blog to GROW:

*Please share this page with your book and blog loving friends!*

*Subscribe with your email address to my blog (scroll all the way to the bottom of this page on mobile devices OR check the top right of this screen to enter your email address)*

*If you already have a blog, please “follow” mine*

*”Like” my Facebook page (and please comment on, “like”, and share my posts)*

*Follow me on Instagram*

*Follow me on Twitter*

*Subscribe to my YouTube channel*

*Clicking and buying products through my Amazon Affiliate links.  The cost to you is exactly the same and I receive a tiny commission off of your purchases.*

*Leaving a positive review on my Facebook page*

The ultimate list of my top book suggestions can be found HERE

WWW#5…On A Tuesday {Book Coffee Happy}

I love when Book Coffee Happy is able to participate in WWW!  Thanks so much to Sam from Taking on a World of Words  for hosting this fun weekly post!  Technically this is supposed to be posted on Wednesday but tomorrow I have: a Zoom PTO Presidents meeting, my daughter has a Zoom Show and Tell with her class, e-learning for both kids, AND a virtual Passover Seder with my family!  Hence the Tuesday WWW post 🙂

The Three W’s are:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

Jo Sparkes sent me a copy of her newest book and I am 100 pages in.  It’s so different than the books I usually read and I’m learning so much!  I’ll have a full blog review (and giveaway!) posted once I’m finished.  In the meantime, check out this gorgeous cover:

Synopsis from Goodreads:

On a Caribbean dive vacation, five friends discover a centuries old shipwreck – and a karmic debt past due.
Wall Eddington has always done the correct thing. It’s part of being British, part of family tradition. Yet somehow someone drowned.
Now, half a world away, he’s diving off an old sailboat with four American friends. As a vacation it’s a bit primitive, but just what his soul craves.
Until they find a shipwreck.

Untouched and impossibly preserved, the thing bewitches with promises of gold. Their rush to claim it bogs down with odd accidents and petty arguments – and Wall is not the only one with dark dreams of pain and torture. Dreams of a captain called Sadico.
In fleeing his personal demon, Wall has run straight to its lair.
This trap was laid centuries ago, for five souls moved on to new lives and new loves. Set by the one soul they left behind.

What did you recently finish reading?

I recently finished reading this one!  You can read the book synopsis as well as my full review HERE.

What do you think you’ll read next?

One of my beautiful best friends dropped this book off on my porch 2 weeks ago.  She had recently finished reading it and thought I would love it!  My kids and I sat on our living room couch and waved to her though the window as she placed it on my porch.  Social distancing is so sad and so hard during times like that, ugh.

Synopsis From Goodreads:

Be careful who you let in.

Soon after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she’s been waiting for her entire life. She rips it open with one driving thought: I am finally going to know who I am.

She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London’s fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, worth millions. Everything in Libby’s life is about to change. But what she can’t possibly know is that others have been waiting for this day as well—and she is on a collision course to meet them.

Twenty-five years ago, police were called to 16 Cheyne Walk with reports of a baby crying. When they arrived, they found a healthy ten-month-old happily cooing in her crib in the bedroom. Downstairs in the kitchen lay three dead bodies, all dressed in black, next to a hastily scrawled note. And the four other children reported to live at Cheyne Walk were gone.

Happy Passover to all who are celebrating!  

What are you currently reading?  I’d love to hear in the comments below!

Xo,

Jenny

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Book Review: The Housekeeper {Natalie Barelli}

I so randomly found Natalie Barelli’s The Housekeeper on the library shelf and picked it up without knowing anything about it.  That rarely happens to me in the “New Release” section of the library!  I thought it sounded GREAT so I happily added it to my pile of books and left the library excited to start reading.  I couldn’t wait to read and review this book!

And then the world shut down and suddenly I was given plenty of time with my stack of library books 🙂  Having not loved the previous book that I read, I was more than ready to start fresh with a new book!

Synopsis from Goodreads:

When Claire sees Hannah Wilson at an exclusive Manhattan hair salon, it’s like a knife slicing through barely healed scars. It may have been ten years since Claire last saw Hannah, but she has thought of her every day, and not in a good way. So Claire does what anyone would do in her position—she stalks her.

Hannah is now Mrs. Carter, living the charmed life that should have been Claire’s. It’s the life Claire used to have, before Hannah came along and took it all away from her.

Back then, Claire was a happy teenager with porcelain skin and long, wavy blond hair. Now she’s an overweight, lazy drunk with hair the color of compost and skin to match. Which is why when Hannah advertises for a housekeeper, Claire is confident she can apply and not be recognized. And since she has time on her hands, revenge on her mind, and a talent for acting…

Because what better way to seek retribution—and redress—than from within the beautiful Mrs. Hannah Carter’s own home?

Except that it’s not just Claire who has secrets. Everyone in that house seems to have something to hide.

And now, there’s no way out.

My Thoughts:

(Disclaimer: I will never post spoilers in my reviews HOWEVER the comment section is completely fair game to discuss any and all specifics including spoilers)

3.5 Stars

The Housekeeper was…good!  It held my attention from page 1 and I read through the entire book fairly quickly.  It had short chapters (MY FAVORITE) and twists (including the ending) which I didn’t see coming.

However, there were definitely elements to this book which left me feeling underwhelmed.  I found the writing to be choppy and containing so many details that it was nearly impossible to keep everything straight.  It severely lacked character development which again made parts of this story hard to follow.

The biggest problem that I have with this book was that parts were just so unrealistic.  Like…severely unrealistic.

And here’s something which I’ve never seen before.  DO NOT READ THE AUTHOR’S ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AT THE END OF THE BOOK.  She somehow managed to spoil the endings of her other books in this one author’s note (insert face plant emoji here)???  For someone who HATES SPOILERS, this infuriates me and unfortunately makes me now not want to read anything else she has previously written.  Like…HOW did her editor allow that one sentence to go through?!?

Bottom Line:

Far from the best psychological thriller I’ve read but also far from the worst.

***If you are looking for some GREAT psychological thrillers (one of my favorite genres), check out THIS POST!***

Xo,

Jenny

Did you read this book?  What did you think?  I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Click the image below to order the book through my Amazon affiliate link.  When you order through this link, I receive a tiny commission. Thank you for your support, Xo

This blog is my favorite hobby and I would so love your support!  Here are ways you can help my blog to GROW:

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The ultimate list of my top book suggestions can be found HERE

Book Blogging During a Quarantine

Omg you guys loved my last post!  I’m so glad!  That post is now officially one of the most viewed posts ever on this book blog! 🙂 I really hopes it helps those of you looking for a good book to read during this quarantined time at home.  I’d love to hear which ones you read!

As for us, we are doing ok here and social distancing from the outside world. Homeschooling, playing outside, READING, and spending time as a family.  This quarantine is scary…I now officially have 2 friends who have been diagnosed with COVID-19.  Our family is staying HOME and I hope you and your family are as well.  As of now, the return date for school is May 4 but I truly don’t think that the kids will be going back this school year.  Crazy.

My view from this morning.  My daughter was working on a self guided coding lesson for one of her school assignments today (super cool) so I had a bit of time to start working on this post!

And my current blogging situation.  Blogging under an umbrella (so I can see my computer under the sun) while sitting on my hammock as my kids are jumping on their trampoline.  It’s a GORGEOUS day here today!  Feels so wonderful to be outside. Our current plan is to stay out here as long as possible!

In other news, a few days ago my children set up a “library” on their bunk bed where they laid out books and I had to come and “check them out”.  Once I made my selection, my daughter typed my name and the book title on her computer, handed the book to my son, and he was in charge of “swiping” my library card.  They LOVED doing this and obviously I was proud that of all of the places, they created a library.My library card:

I’m currently reading this book, I’ll have a full blog review up when I finish!  This was one that I had never heard of but I spotted it on the library shelf and it caught my eye.  I love when that happens!

Aaaaaaaand this has nothing to do with books but TIGER KING.  Have you watched???  My husband and I watched all of them over 3 days.  It’s crazy and unbelievable and insane and weird and totally messed up and AWESOME.  Thank you Netflix for releasing this gem at the most perfect time!

Stay safe everyone…

Xo,

Jenny

What are you currently been reading?  Have you watched Tiger King?

Click the image below to order the book through my Amazon affiliate link.  When you order through this link, I receive a tiny commission. Thank you for your support, Xo

This blog is my favorite hobby and I would so love your support!  Here are ways you can help my blog to GROW:

*Please share this page with your book and blog loving friends!*

*Subscribe with your email address to my blog (scroll all the way to the bottom of this page on mobile devices OR check the top right of this screen to enter your email address)*

*If you already have a blog, please “follow” mine*

*”Like” my Facebook page (and please comment on, “like”, and share my posts)*

*Follow me on Instagram*

*Follow me on Twitter*

*Subscribe to my YouTube channel*

*Clicking and buying products through my Amazon Affiliate links.  The cost to you is exactly the same and I receive a tiny commission off of your purchases.*

*Leaving a positive review on my Facebook page*