Category Archives: Book Opinion

How I Fall

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Author: Anne Eliot                             how i fall
Publisher: Butterfly Books
Genre:  Contemporary YA
Source:  BEA 

 

 

Goodreads:  CAM LIKES ELLEN * ELLEN LIKES CAM * CAM LIKES ELLEN* ELLEN LIKES CAM

What if on one fall day, everything goes terribly wrong at school but somehow turns out right? Suddenly you’re forced into friendship with your secret crush—thanks to a glitter crazed new-girl who turns your life upside down. Literally. But you know your crush needs to stay how it’s always been—distant, impossible, in your head—because you have problems and hide things this crush would never understand.

 

ELLEN LIKES CAM…
But what if you all end up in the same group photography project? Suddenly talking and making friends is easy, more than easy. It’s almost perfect. What if high school felt normal for once, and what if your crush wasn’t who you thought they were at all, and what if they liked you as much as you like them?

 

CAM LIKES ELLEN…
And what if when you kiss…it’s so amazing. You tell each other secrets and you make the kind of promises that are impossible to keep when you’re only sixteen and have no control over your own life. Which is why, long before things fall apart you kind of already knew nothing this beautiful could have really been yours for long…

Ope’s Opinion:  Anne Eliot writes this book with such detail you can see and feel what the characters are doing and feeling.  Some times I did get lost in the details.  These characters are so relatable.  You are either one of them or went to school with one of them.

It was fun to watch Cam and Ellen circle each other – both afraid to express their feelings.   The story did have a slow pace to it.  Alternating between Cam and Ellen, let you see what they were thinking  – I really enjoyed that part of the writing style.

Knowing there is a sequel helped me with the open ending.  I want to know more.

Rating: Three Chairs – I like this book enough to suggest it to a friend or two.

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Annika Riz, Math Whiz

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Author:  Claudia Mills
Publisher:  Farrar, Straus, and Giroux                              annika
Genre:  Middle Grade
Source:  Claudia Mills

 

 

 

 

Goodreads:   Annika Riz loves math more than anything. She’s trying to teach her dog, Prime, to count. She’s determined to beat fellow math whiz Simon Ellis in a Sudoku contest at the public library. She even sleeps under number-patterned sheets. But Annika’s best friends Kelsey and Izzy think math is boring. All they care about is the upcoming school carnival: their principal is going to be dunked in a dunking tank and their class is going to have a booth selling home-baked cookies. But then disaster foils the friends’ cookie-baking plans. Can math save the day?

Ope’s Opinion:  Claudia Mills really knows how to write a story in the perspective of a  middle grade student.  She has an awesome way of showing the positive attributes of each  student.  I am also impressed with her writing of the friendships between the girls.  They are supportive of each other, but everything isn’t all perfect. 

If you have a person in your life who is looking for books to read – Claudia Mills has several that I can recommend.   Kelsey Green, Reading Queen and Zero Tolerance are both great!  She has written several others too.

Rating:  Four Chairs – I like this so much I know several friends to recommend it to.
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The Matchmaker

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Author:  Elin Hilderbrand
Publisher:  Little, Brown and Company                matchmaker
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Source: A friend

 

Note:  Available to buy tomorrow.  June 10.

Goodreads:  A touching new novel from Elin Hilderbrand in which a dying woman sets out to find love for those closest to her – before it’s too late

Dabney Kimball Beech, the 48-year-old fifth generation Nantucketer, has had a lifelong gift of matchmaking (52 couples still together to her credit). But when Dabney discovers she is dying of pancreatic cancer, she sets out to find matches for a few people very close to home: her husband, celebrated economist John Boxmiller Beech; her lover journalist Clendenin Hughes; and her daughter, Agnes, who is engaged to be married to the wrong man.

As time slips away from Dabney, she is determined to find matches for those she loves most – but at what cost to her own relationships? THE MATCHMAKER is the heartbreaking new novel from Elin Hilderbrand about losing and finding love, even as you’re running out of time.

Ope’s Opinion:  Elin Hilderbrand did it again.  She wrote a book so good you will remember the characters long after you have finished the read.  This book is all about the characters and their relationships to each other.

I really liked the way HIlderbrand wove the people Dabney matched together with what was going on in the present time of Dabney’s life.  It worked so well to give history in a refreshing way.

The end of the book gave you a feeling of everything being wrapped up.

I am ready for Elin Hilderbrand’s next book.  She does  not disappoint!

Rating: Five Chairs – This book is so good it will be passed on and on and on….
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Distant Shores

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Author:  Kristin Hannah           distant shores
Publisher:  Ballantine Books
Genre:  Chick Lit
Source: Purchased

 

 

Goodreads:  Elizabeth and Jackson Shore married young, raised two daughters, and weathered the storms of youth as they built a family. From a distance, their lives look picture perfect. But after the girls leave home, Jack and Elizabeth quietly drift apart. When Jack accepts a wonderful new job, Elizabeth puts her own needs aside to follow him across the country. Then tragedy turns Elizabeth’s world upside down. In the aftermath, she questions everything about her life—her choices, her marriage, even her long-forgotten dreams. In a daring move that shocks her husband, friends, and daughters, she lets go of the woman she has become—and reaches out for the woman she wants to be.

Ope’s Opinion:  This book started out very depressing with neither Elizabeth or Jackson being happy with their marriage, themselves or their careers.  The story moved slow and didn’t really improve.  

Jackson is a jerk and Elizabeth has no back bone.  It always disappointments me when a woman is not written strong enough to stand up for herself.  I don’t agree with just throwing a marriage away, but I don’t think Elizabeth should have just taken Jackson back without more work on both their parts.

I was disappointed Elizabeth did not find her “passion”.  She did not get back to her painting or find something new to fulfill herself.

Overall, I was just disappointed in this book.

Rating:  Two Chairs – I may have one friend who might like to read this book.
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The One & Only

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the one and only

 

Author: Emily Giffin
Publisher:  Ballantine Books
Genre:  Women’s Fiction
Source:  BookSparks

Goodreads:   In her eagerly awaited new novel, beloved New York Times bestselling author Emily Giffin returns with an extraordinary story of love and loyalty—and an unconventional heroine struggling to reconcile both.

Thirty-three-year-old Shea Rigsby has spent her entire life in Walker, Texas—a small college town that lives and dies by football, a passion she unabashedly shares. Raised alongside her best friend, Lucy, the daughter of Walker’s legendary head coach, Clive Carr, Shea was too devoted to her hometown team to leave. Instead she stayed in Walker for college, even taking a job in the university athletic department after graduation, where she has remained for more than a decade.

But when an unexpected tragedy strikes the tight-knit Walker community, Shea’s comfortable world is upended, and she begins to wonder if the life she’s chosen is really enough for her. As she finally gives up her safety net to set out on an unexpected path, Shea discovers unsettling truths about the people and things she has always trusted most—and is forced to confront her deepest desires, fears, and secrets.

Thoughtful, funny, and brilliantly observed, The One & Only is a luminous novel about finding your passion, following your heart, and, most of all, believing in something bigger than yourself . . . the one and only thing that truly makes life worth living.

Ope’s Opinion:  I have heard this book compared to Friday Night Lights.  I agree with this!  If you liked the show, football, and Texas, you will probably want to read this story.  It took me a while to get into this book – there was a lot of back ground you need to understand the relationships between the people and football to enjoy the rest of the story.

The friendship between Lucy and Shea was strong and wonderful.  It was great to see one friend who wanted the family and kids, while another was more into the career, yet they remained close friends their whole lives.

The romance relationships in this book were not my favorite.  I think Shea was smart enough to get out of a bad relationship, but I didn’t really care for the relationship she end up in.  I would have liked the ending to have been different.

Rating: Four Chairs – I like this book so much I know several friends to share it with.
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To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before

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Author:  Jenny Han                              boys
Publisher:  Simon & Schuster
Genre: Contemporary Young Adult
Source: Purchased

 

 

 

Goodreads:  To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is the story of Lara Jean, who has never openly admitted her crushes, but instead wrote each boy a letter about how she felt, sealed it, and hid it in a box under her bed. But one day Lara Jean discovers that somehow her secret box of letters has been mailed, causing all her crushes from her past to confront her about the letters: her first kiss, the boy from summer camp, even her sister’s ex-boyfriend, Josh. As she learns to deal with her past loves face to face, Lara Jean discovers that something good may come out of these letters after all.

Ope’s Opinion:  This book was such a good read!  I love the relationship between the sisters.  They loved each other, but they also struggled to get along.

Learning who you are, who you like and who you can trust is all part of growing up.  In this book you saw Lara Jean and sisters go through all that without the advantage of having a mother to guide them.

At the end, I wanted more… a sequel, an update, something to show us where all three girls are now.

Rating:  Four Chairs – I like this book so much I know several friends to share it with.
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Cure for the Common Breakup

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summer read

cure

 

Author: Beth Kendrick
Publisher:  NAL Trade
Genre: Chick Lit
Source:  BookSparks

 

 

Goodreads:  Welcome to Black Dog Bay, a tiny seaside town in Delaware known as “the best place in America to bounce back from your breakup.” Home to Better Off Bed-and-Breakfast, the Eat Your Heart Out bakery, and the Whinery bar, Black Dog Bay offers a haven for the suddenly single.

 

Flight attendant Summer Benson lives by two rules: Don’t stay with the same man for too long and never stay in one place. She’s about to break rule number one by considering accepting her boyfriend’s proposal—then disaster strikes and her world is shattered in an instant.

Summer heads to Black Dog Bay, where the locals welcome her. Even Hattie Huntington, the town’s oldest, richest, and meanest resident, likes her enough to give her a job. Then there’s Dutch Jansen, the rugged, stoic mayor, who’s the opposite of her type. She probably shouldn’t be kissing him. She definitely shouldn’t be falling in love.

 

After a lifetime of globe-trotting, Summer has finally found a home. But Hattie has old scores to settle and a hidden agenda for her newest employee. Summer finds herself faced with an impossible choice: Leave Black Dog Bay behind forever, or stay with the ones she loves and cost them everything..

 

Ope’s Opinion:  Save this book for your trip to the beach this summer.  It is a very light, easy beach read!  It is a predictable ending with a few twists along the way.

The main character Summer is fun to follow through her transformation from globe trotter to finding a home.  She is often snarky and keeps people at a distance.  You do want her to find happiness.

There is a cast of other characters that add interest to the story.  They are realistic and fun to get to know.  It would be great to have a sequel that focused on one of the other people in Black Dog Bay or another person who comes to town like Summer did.

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

3 chairs

 

Keep Quiet

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Author:  Lisa Scottoline                  keep
Publisher:  St. Martin’s Press
Genre:  Mystery
Source: St.Martin’s Press

 

 

 

Goodreads:  New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award winning author Lisa Scottoline is loved by millions of readers for her suspenseful novels about family and justice. Scottoline delivers once again with Keep Quiet, an emotionally gripping and complex story about one man’s split-second decision to protect his son – and the devastating consequences that follow.Jake Buckman’s relationship with his sixteen-year-old son Ryan is not an easy one, so at the urging of his loving wife, Pam, Jake goes alone to pick up Ryan at their suburban movie theater.　 On the way home, Ryan asks to drive on a deserted road, and Jake sees it as a chance to make a connection. However, what starts as a father-son bonding opportunity instantly turns into a nightmare. Tragedy strikes, and with Ryan’s entire future hanging in the balance, Jake is forced to make a split-second decision that plunges them both into a world of guilt and lies. Without ever meaning to, Jake and Ryan find themselves living under the crushing weight of their secret, which threatens to tear their family to shreds and ruin them all. Powerful and dramatic, Keep Quiet will have readers and book clubs debating what it means to be a parent and how far you can, and should, go to protect those you love.

Ope’s Opinion:  Keep Quiet is a fast paced, intense read.  I was literally sitting on the edge of the couch flipping pages as quickly as I could read.  This story will make you think about your split second decisions, how far will you go to protect your child and what does hiding the truth do to you?

The Buckman family feel real.  They have flaws, don’t always get along and need to communicate better.  You want to see them heal and unite, but it seems like there is too much to overcome.  

There was a constant dilemma going on – wanting the truth to come out and protecting the characters.  It made you keep reading to the very end.  There were several turns you won’t see coming. At certain points, I found myself holding my breath to see what was going to happen next!

What an amazing read – Lisa Scottoline does it again!

Rating: Five Chairs – This book is so good it will be passed on and on and on….
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Best Friends, Occasional Enemies

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Author: Lisa Scottoline
             Francesca Serritella            friends
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Genre: Non Fiction
Source: Purchased

 

 

Goodreads:  

In Best Friends, Occasional Enemies, New York Times bestselling author Lisa Scottoline and her daughter, Francesca Serritella, are the best of friends—99.9% of the time. They’re number one on each other’s speed dial and they tell each other everything—well, almost everything. They share shoes and clothes—except one very special green jacket, which almost caused a catfight.In other words, they’re just like every mother and daughter in the world. Best friends and occasional enemies. Now they’re dishing about it all: their lives, their relationship, and their carb count.

Lisa on Being a Mom: Motherhood has no expiration date. Francesca lives in the city, and I worry about her all the time. My daughter moved out, so why am I still lactating?

Francesca on Being a Daughter: My mother is always right. Just ask her.

Ope’s Opinion:  I did enjoy Lisa’s and Francessca’s sense of humor.  Mothers and daughters writing style are very similar.  I have two daughters and I am about Lisa’s age, so I could really relate to her.  There are some things that are universal to certain ages!

I have enjoyed so many of Lisa Scottoline’s books, it was nice to hear about her life with her mother and daughter.  It was interesting to hear her daughters perspective too.  It made me wonder about my daughters perspective on things I have done or said.

I am more a fiction reader, but this was a nice change of reading.

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

 

 

 

 

Lola and the Boy Next Door

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Author:  Stephanie Perkins          lola
Publisher:  Speak
Genre:  Young Adult
Source:  Purchased

 

 

 

Goodreads:  Lola Nolan is a budding costume designer, and for her, the more outrageous, sparkly, and fun the outfit, the better. And everything is pretty perfect in her life (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the negihborhood. When Cricket, a gifted inventor, steps out from his twin sister’s shadow and back into Lola’s life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.

Ope’s Opinion:  Lola is a quirky character with a lot going on in her life.  It was interesting to watch her relationships grow and change.  Anna and St. Clair are a part of this story.  It was nice to see them again.   I loved Anna and could relate to her.  Lola was hard to relate to.

I would be interested in hearing more about Lindsey and Charlie.  I like that Lindsey put her education before a boyfriend.  I also thought it was great that she wanted to be friends with Charlie, then see what happens. I would prefer Lindsey or Anna as role models to Lola’s example.

Stephanie Perkins knows how to write a story that makes you want to keep reading and reading.  I am looking forward to reading Isla and the Happily Ever After.

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