Monthly Archives: July 2015

Coming Soon…..

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….  On a Bookshelf near you!

In August I hope to read….

summertime girls

Publication Date:  August 4, 2015
Publisher: Berkley

Goodreads:  When two lifelong friends reunite for one more summer in small-town Maine, they must bridge the gap caused by the dreams and secrets that tore them apart…

Ally Morris and Beth Abbott were beyond inseparable. From the very first time they met, the girls knew they’d found a once-in-a-lifetime friendship. But sometimes, life can’t help but get in the way.

As time goes by, disappointments and petty resentments begin to alter what they once thought was forever. Ally’s boho lifestyle leaves her drowning in confusion and cheap whisky, while a terrible secret threatens to shatter Beth’s carefully controlled world. By the time they need each other most, Ally and Beth are nearly strangers to each other.

When a family crisis prompts Beth to contact Ally for help out of the blue, the girls reunite in Maine. But the distance between them is overwhelming. To save their friendship, Ally and Beth will have to confront painful moments in their past and redefine who they are—before their incredible connection fades away for good…

What is coming soon …. to a bookshelf near you?

Let me know – I am always looking for a good read!

The Ones We Trust

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Author: Kimberly Belle                      the ones
Publisher: MIRA
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction
Source: Emer Flounders

 

Goodreads:  A moving and evocative exploration of grief and guilt in the wake of one family’s devastating loss.

When former DC journalist Abigail Wolff attempts to rehabilitate her career, she finds herself at the heart of a US army cover-up involving the death of a soldier in Afghanistan — with unspeakable emotional consequences for one family. As the story of what happened comes to light, Abigail will do anything to write it.

The more evidence she stumbles upon in the case, the fewer people it seems she can trust, including her own father, a retired army general. And she certainly never expected to fall in love with the slain soldier’s brother, Gabe, a bitter man struggling to hold his family together. The investigation eventually leads her to an impossible choice, one of unrelenting sacrifice to protect those she loves.

Beyond the buried truths and betrayals, questions of family loyalty and redemption, Abigail’s search is, most of all, a desperate grasp at carrying on and coping — and seeking hope in the impossible.

Ope’s Opinion:  From the very beginning this book had my attention.  I really liked reading a first person perspective in this book.  It was fun to see things from Abigail’s point of view. It let me figure things out as she did.  

I live near DC, so the setting was familiar and made the story more fun to read.  I always enjoy reading a story set where I can see the places they are writing about.

I think the title is very appropriate.  At times Abigail did not know who she could trust.

Side Note:  The foul language was over the top, not needed, and did not add anything to this story.  Other then the language, I would recommend this book.

Rating: 4 – I like this book so much I know several friends to share it with.

Perfect Touch

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Author: Elizabeth Lowell                 perfect touch
Publisher: William Morrow
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Source:  Harper Collins

Publication Date: July 28, 2015

 

Goodreads:  The queen of romantic suspense returns with a heart-racing tale in which a former soldier turned rancher and a beautiful designer race to stop a vicious killer—a battle for survival that threatens to explode in an intense and irresistible passion

An art dealer and owner of her own design studio, Perfect Touch, Sarah “Sam” Maddox travels the world to find the ideal artwork for her clients. Her sophisticated, comfortable life in San Francisco is light years away from the poverty of her family’s dairy farm, and Sam will do whatever it takes to keep her business strong. A dedicated urban career woman focused on her work, she doesn’t have time or energy for a family or distracting romantic entanglements.

Jay Vermillion recently inherited Vermillion Sky, a working ranch near Wyoming’s breathtaking Grand Teton Mountains—and the estates of the rich and restless. While he was fighting in two wars, his father tried to keep the homestead running, until illness stole his fight and then his life. Jay’s determined to restore Vermillion Sky, but first he’s got to settle a vicious battle with his former stepmother over some of his late father’s paintings. The last thing on his mind is a finding a wife and creating a sixth generation of Vermillions. 

When Jay hires Sam to handle his father’s artwork, it’s love at first sight—a mutually inconvenient attraction that is soon complicated by a double murder at the edge of the ranch and a potential betrayal even closer to home. Working together to unmask a murderer, Sam and Jay try to fight the intense heat between them. Then the killer targets Sam. And suddenly, Jay, the war-weary soldier, finds something he’s once again willing to die for . . . 

Ope’s Opinion:  If you like hot steamy cowboy love stories, you will like this book.  The story itself was interesting enough, but the hot steamy scenes were too much for my taste.

The mystery part of the book was interesting, but was not given enough attention for me.

The descriptions of the mountains and the area they rode the horses were amazing.  I could see it and wanted to be there.

This was my first Elizabeth Lowell book.

Rating: 3 – I like the book enough to suggest it to a friend or two.

Pretty Baby

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Author: Mary Kubica              9780778316558_RHC_SMP.indd
Publisher:  MIRA
Genre: Thriller
Source:  Emer Flounders

Publication Date:  July 28, 2015

 

 

Goodreads:  A chance encounter sparks an unrelenting web of lies in this stunning new psychological thriller from national bestselling author Mary Kubica

She sees the teenage girl on the train platform, standing in the pouring rain, clutching an infant in her arms. She boards a train and is whisked away. But she can’t get the girl out of her head…

Heidi Wood has always been a charitable woman: she works for a nonprofit, takes in stray cats. Still, her husband and daughter are horrified when Heidi returns home one day with a young woman named Willow and her four-month-old baby in tow. Disheveled and apparently homeless, this girl could be a criminal—or worse. But despite her family’s objections, Heidi invites Willow and the baby to take refuge in their home.

Heidi spends the next few days helping Willow get back on her feet, but as clues into Willow’s past begin to surface, Heidi is forced to decide how far she’s willing to go to help a stranger. What starts as an act of kindness quickly spirals into a story far more twisted than anyone could have anticipated.

Ope’s Opinion:  This was a very slow moving story.  The characters are well developed, but they all have very deep issues going on.  I could see where the story was going – there were enough hints along the way.  Some of those hints were repeated several times.

Willow, Heidi and Chris each give their perspective.  It helps you see the whole story.  It was a dark, depressing story.

The ending shows where everyone is now.

 

Rating: 3 – I like the book enough to suggest it to a friend or two.

The Girls of August

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Author: Anne Rivers Siddons
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing   the girls of august
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Source: Purchased

 

 

Goodreads:  Every August, four women would gather together to spend a week at the beach, renting a new house each year. The ritual began when they were in their twenties and their husbands were in medical school, and became a mainstay of every summer thereafter. Their only criteria was oceanfront and isolation, their only desire to strengthen their far-flung friendships. They called themselves the Girls of August. But when one of the Girls dies tragically, the group slowly drifts apart and their vacations together are brought to a halt. Years later, a new marriage reunites them and they decide to come together once again on a remote barrier island off the South Carolina coast. There, far from civilization, the women make startling discoveries that will change them in ways they never expected.

Ope’s Opinions: The three main characters are real tight friends because they have known each other for a real long time.  When someone new tries to join them, they act like five year olds who don’t want to share their friendship.  I wanted to say grow up several times.  It is hard to be a new one person in an established group.  These woman didn’t make it any easier.

A lot of bad things happened while they were on an island.  There were so many random hard things, it did not feel likely to happen.

Each character had secrets they were keeping.  The secrets came out slowly.  The end came fast and just sort of ended.

Rating: 3 – I like this book enough to suggest it a friend to share it with.

The Summer After You & Me

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Author: Jennifer Salvato Doktorski                   summer after you and me
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Genre:  Contemporary Young Adult
Source: Sourcebooks

 

Goodreads:  Sunbathing, surfing, eating funnel cake on the boardwalk—Lucy loves living on the Jersey Shore. For her, it’s not just the perfect summer escape, it is home. And as a local girl, she knows not to get attached to the tourists. They breeze in over Memorial Day weekend, crowding the shore and stealing moonlit kisses, only to pack up their beach umbrellas and empty promises on Labor Day. Lucy wants more from love than a fleeting romance, even if that means keeping her distance from her summertime neighbor and crush, Connor.

Then Superstorm Sandy tears apart her barrier island, briefly bringing together a local girl like herself and a vacationer like Connor. Except nothing is the same in the wake of the storm. And day after day, week after week, Lucy is left to pick up the pieces of her broken heart and broken home. Now with Memorial Day approaching and Connor returning, will it be a summer of fresh starts or second chances?

Ope’s Opinion:  I think Lucy’s relationships follow storm Sandy.  There is a big upheaval between the friends that takes time to repair.  Lucy’s family has to repair their house just as Lucy has to work on her relationships.

Watching Lucy choose between two guys, her brother and her friends is hard.  It is typical teens – not thinking what is best for Lucy, but what is best for themselves.

If I had a young adult reader, I would recommend this book.  It is something they could relate to, the language was acceptable and there were lessons that were learned.

Rating:  3 – I like the book enough to suggest it to a friend or two.

Still Alice

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Author:  Lisa Genova
Publisher: Simon & Schuster           still alice
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Source: Purchased

 

 

Goodreads:  Alice Howland is proud of the life she worked so hard to build. At fifty years old, she’s a cognitive psychology professor at Harvard and a world-renowned expert in linguistics with a successful husband and three grown children. When she becomes increasingly disoriented and forgetful, a tragic diagnosis changes her life–and her relationship with her family and the world–forever.

At once beautiful and terrifying, Still Alice is a moving and vivid depiction of life with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease that is as compelling as A Beautiful Mind and as unforgettable as Judith Guest’s Ordinary People.

Ope’s Opinion:  I usually like to read a book before I see a movie.  In this case, I was on a  plane where the movie was being shown and thought – oh, well…  It actually turned out good to see the movie first.  I could see Alice’s small reactions in my mind while I was reading – I may not have caught some of that had I not watched the movie first. The book gave some more details the movie didn’t incorporate. 

It was scary to think how young Alice was when alzheimers started to effect her life.  Each member of her family reacted differently – very realistically too.

A big question is – if you could find out you had this or any other disease – would you want to find out ahead of time.  Science has come such a long way – we can now know more about our DNA.  Now you have to decide is it beneficial for you to know.

Overall, this was a hard but very good read.

Rating:  4 – I like this book so much I know several friends to share it with.

Unlovely

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Author: Celeste Conway        unlovely
Publisher: Merit Press
Genre: YA Thriller
Source: BEA

 

Goodreads:  If he falls for a beautiful dancer, does he risk his heart? Or his life?

• Unlovely is narrated in dark mystery wrapped around a world teens love, that of dancers and dancing.

• Bewitching writing, an eerie story, and a here-and-now thriller, combine for a captivating read of love, loyalty, and dark revenge

• Celeste Conway’s book The Melting Season was featured by the New York Public Library as among 2006’s best teen reads. She also has written two middle-grade novels and teaches writing at Berkley College

“A perfect combination of romance and horror with (dare I say this?) some culture thrown in.” –Lois Duncan, author of Stranger with My Face and Locked in Time

Accidents happen. But they happen more often when the beautiful ballet dancers return each summer to the island. When he hears the ruthless way that the loveliest dancer talks about boys getting what they deserve when they break girls’ hearts, Harley, home for the summer after his first year of college, wonders if he’s losing his mind. He knows for sure that he’s losing his heart to this girl…But then, strange incidents start happening all over the island and Harley is caught between desire and fear: could he also be in danger of losing his life?

Ope’s Opinion:  When I started this book, my mind kept wandering.  As I continued to read there was a low level tension constantly in the background. It felt as if something was going to happen at any minute.  Eventually something did happen ( no spoilers ) – it was not what I expected. 

The ending was open, vague and not what I was hoping for.   If you like unsolved mysteries you may enjoy this one.

Rating:  2 – I may have one friend who might like to read this book.

Confess

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Author: Colleen Hoover             confess
Publisher: Atria Books
Genre: New Adult
Source:  BEA

 

Goodreads:  From #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover, a new novel about risking everything for love—and finding your heart somewhere between the truth and lies. 

Auburn Reed has her entire life mapped out. Her goals are in sight and there’s no room for mistakes. But when she walks into a Dallas art studio in search of a job, she doesn’t expect to find a deep attraction to the enigmatic artist who works there, Owen Gentry.

For once, Auburn takes a risk and puts her heart in control, only to discover Owen is keeping major secrets from coming out. The magnitude of his past threatens to destroy everything important to Auburn, and the only way to get her life back on track is to cut Owen out of it.

The last thing Owen wants is to lose Auburn, but he can’t seem to convince her that truth is sometimes as subjective as art. All he would have to do to save their relationship is confess. But in this case, the confession could be much more destructive than the actual sin…

Ope’s Opinion:  My attention was caught from the beginning of this book.  As I got further into it, I thought I knew where it was going – I was Wrong!!!!!!  Colleen Hoover wrote in a some amazing twist and turns that I did not see coming at all.  This story had me holding my breath at several different times.  I was rooting for Auburn all the way through it.

The ending was not what I expected – it was better!!  I can not wait to read Colleen Hoover again and again…

Side note – there was a lot of use of the “f” word, but if you can skip over that – it was worth the read.

Rating:  5 – This book is so good it will be passed on and on and on….

 

Maybe in Another Life

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Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid                       maybe in another life
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Source: BookSparks

 

 

Goodreads:  From the acclaimed author of Forever, Interrupted and After I Do comes a breathtaking new novel about a young woman whose fate hinges on the choice she makes after bumping into an old flame; in alternating chapters, we see two possible scenarios unfold—with stunningly different results.

At the age of twenty-nine, Hannah Martin still has no idea what she wants to do with her life. She has lived in six different cities and held countless meaningless jobs since graduating college. On the heels of leaving yet another city, Hannah moves back to her hometown of Los Angeles and takes up residence in her best friend Gabby’s guestroom. Shortly after getting back to town, Hannah goes out to a bar one night with Gabby and meets up with her high school boyfriend, Ethan.

Just after midnight, Gabby asks Hannah if she’s ready to go. A moment later, Ethan offers to give her a ride later if she wants to stay. Hannah hesitates. What happens if she leaves with Gabby? What happens if she leaves with Ethan?

In concurrent storylines, Hannah lives out the effects of each decision. Quickly, these parallel universes develop into radically different stories with large-scale consequences for Hannah, as well as the people around her. As the two alternate realities run their course, Maybe in Another Liferaises questions about fate and true love: Is anything meant to be? How much in our life is determined by chance? And perhaps, most compellingly: Is there such a thing as a soul mate?

Hannah believes there is. And, in both worlds, she believes she’s found him.

Ope’s Opinion:  The synopsis intrigued me from the start and Taylor Jenkins Reid’s writing just kept me turning pages to the very end.  This is the road not taken kind of book.  

There are actually two stories going on at the same time in this book.  I was concerned it might be difficult to distinguish between the two – I was wrong – Reid’s writing had two distinct voices for each of Hannah’s choices.  It was very easy to follow.  It read very fast.

Hannah and Gabby are fortunate to have such an awesome friendship no matter where life took each of them.  Each of these characters is well developed, deep, with flaws that make them relatable.

I have read Reid’s other books and I will read her next one.  She knows how to pull me and keep me wanting to stop the world so I continue to read.

Rating: 5 – This book is so good it will be passed on and on and on…..