Tag Archives: Atria Books

Who Do You Love

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Author: Jennifer Weiner
Publisher: Atria Books
Genre: Fiction
Source: Purchased

 

 

Goodreads:  Rachel Blum and Andy Landis are eight years old when they meet late one night in an ER waiting room. Born with a congenital heart defect, Rachel is a veteran of hospitals, and she’s intrigued by the boy who shows up all alone with a broken arm. He tells her his name. She tells him a story. After Andy’s taken back to the emergency room and Rachel’s sent back to her bed, they think they’ll never see each other again.

Rachel, the beloved, popular, and protected daughter of two doting parents, grows up wanting for nothing in a fancy Florida suburb. Andy grows up poor in Philadelphia with a single mom and a rare talent that will let him become one of the best runners of his generation.

Over the course of three decades, through high school and college, marriages and divorces, from the pinnacles of victory and the heartbreak of defeat, Andy and Rachel will find each other again and again, until they are finally given a chance to decide whether love can surmount difference and distance and if they’ve been running toward each other all along.

With honesty, wit, and clear-eyed observations about men and women, love and fate, and the truth about happy endings, Jennifer Weiner delivers two of her most memorable characters, and a love story you’ll never forget.

Ope’s Opinion: The idea of the story was amazing.   I could feel what the characters were feeling.  The decisions that were made were believable, especially when each person did not have the full story – only their own perspective.

The detailed steamy parts were too explicit for what I like to read.  The whole story could have been complete without those parts being described in detail. The back and forth, together, apart, together, apart, etc. was drug out a bit for me.  

The ending was what you would expect, until the next bump in the road!

 

Head Over Heels

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Author: Hannah Orenstein
Publisher: Atria Books
Genre: Romance 
Source: Megan at Simon and Schuster

Goodreads:  The past seven years have been hard on Avery Abrams: After training her entire life to make the Olympic gymnastics team, a disastrous performance ended her athletic career for good. Her best friend and teammate, Jasmine, went on to become an Olympic champion, then committed the ultimate betrayal by marrying their emotionally abusive coach, Dimitri.

Now, reeling from a breakup with her football star boyfriend, Avery returns to her Massachusetts hometown, where new coach Ryan asks her to help him train a promising young gymnast with Olympic aspirations. Despite her misgivings and worries about the memories it will evoke, Avery agrees. Back in the gym, she’s surprised to find sparks flying with Ryan. But when a shocking scandal in the gymnastics world breaks, it has shattering effects not only for the sport but also for Avery and her old friend Jasmine.

Ope’s Opinion:  If you are interested in gymnastics, you will love this book.  It goes deep into the sport with it’s own language.  There is also a romance going on and it touches on abuse in the sport.

The friendships in this book were well developed and realistic.  All three women were strong and independent – my kind of women!  I liked how honest Avery was with herself and her friends.  It all worked for me.

I don’t want to spoil anything – so let me say it this way – Ryan made a decision, then quickly changed his mind having very little information.  It didn’t seem realistic and made the ending feel a little rushed.

Say You Still Love Me

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Author: K.A. Tucker
Publisher: Atria Books
Genre: Romance
Source:  Meriah at Atria Publicity

Goodreads:  Life is a mixed bag for Piper Calloway.

On the one hand, she’s a twenty-nine-year-old VP at her dad’s multibillion-dollar real estate development firm, and living the high single life with her two best friends in a swanky downtown penthouse. On the other hand, she’s considered a pair of sexy legs in a male-dominated world and constantly has to prove her worth. Plus, she’s stuck seeing her narcissistic ex-fiancé—a fellow VP—on the other side of her glass office wall every day.

Things get exponentially more complicated for Piper when she runs into Kyle Miller—the handsome new security guard at Calloway Group Industries, and coincidentally the first love of her life.

The guy she hasn’t seen or heard from since they were summer camp counsellors together. The guy from the wrong side of the tracks. The guy who apparently doesn’t even remember her name.

Piper may be a high-powered businesswoman now, but she soon realizes that her schoolgirl crush is not only alive but stronger than ever, and crippling her concentration. What’s more, despite Kyle’s distant attitude, she’s convinced their reunion isn’t at all coincidental, and that his feelings for her still run deep. And she’s determined to make him admit to them, no matter the consequences.

Ope’s Opinion:  K.A. Tucker knows how to develop wonderful women characters!  I love the story too, although I could live without the steamy parts of this book.  I knew when I started reading, since it is a new adult book, that there would be some steamy scenes – I just wish there was less steamy and more left to my imagination. 

The chapters flip from the young Piper and Kyle to the adult Piper and Kyle.  It was a great way to feel that first love, then see the grown up love. When the misunderstandings and secrets come out they explained what happened between camp ( past ) and present day.  Present day was my favorite part of the story, but it would not be complete without the background of their story which began at camp.

The twists keep coming right up to the end.  It kept me reading.  I did enjoy the ending.

 

Breathe In, Cash Out

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Author: Madeleine Henry
Publisher: Atria Books
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Source: Megan at Simon & Schuster

 

Goodreads:  In this sizzling debut for fans of The Devil Wears Prada, Wall Street banking analyst Allegra Cobb plans to quit the minute her year-end bonus hits her account, finally pursuing her yoga career full-time. But when she forms an intense relationship with the #InstaFamous guru who may hold the ticket to the life Allegra’s always wanted—she’s not sure if she’ll be able to keep her sanity intact (and her chakras aligned) until bonus day.

Allegra Cobb’s resume: Straight-A Princeton grad, second-year analyst at a top-tier bank, one-time USA Yoga National Champion. Allegra Cobb’s reality: Spends twenty-four hours a day changing the colors on bar charts, overusing the word “team,” and daydreaming about quitting the minute her year-end bonus hits her account. She has no interest in the cutthroat banking world—she’s going to launch her very own yoga practice.

But her plan isn’t quite as perfect as the beachfront yoga pictures she double-taps on Instagram. On top of the 100 emails an hour and coworkers already suspicious of her escape plan, Allegra’s hard-driving single father has always expected fiercely high achievement above all else. That his daughter works on Wall Street means everything to him. Still, she marches on, taking it day by extremely caffeinated day.

But after (1) unknowingly sleeping with the man now leading her banking cohort on one of their biggest deals to date and (2) meeting the #blessed yoga guru who might just be her ticket to the life she’s always wanted, it really hits her: her happy-ever-after will be harder to manifest than she thought.

Fast-paced, laugh-out-loud funny, and totally irresistible, this is the story of a fearless young woman determined to center herself in the life she truly wants.

Ope’s Opinion: The synopsis really caught my attention, making me want to read this book.  I enjoy women who are focused on their careers and know where they want to go.  Allegra is one of those women.  I also enjoy a little humor to lighten the story line – I didn’t see much of that.

It took a long time and a lot of obstacles along the way for Allegra to get her bonus.  I thought it was going to happen at the beginning of the book and you were going to see her struggle to make it in the yoga world – I was wrong.

If you read this blog much, you know I get frustrated with the constant use of the “f” word, which was used repetitively throughout this book.

Mrs. Everything

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Author: Jennifer Weiner
Publisher: Atria Books
Genre: Fiction
Source:  Ariele at Atria Books

 

Goodreads:  From Jennifer Weiner, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Who Do You Love and In Her Shoes, comes a smart, thoughtful, and timely exploration of two sisters’ lives from the 1950s to the present as they struggle to find their places—and be true to themselves—in a rapidly evolving world. Mrs. Everything is an ambitious, richly textured journey through history—and herstory—as these two sisters navigate a changing America over the course of their lives.

Ope’s Opinion: This is a very realistic story  – too realistic at times  – not an easy read.  To see how women were treated, feelings had to be hidden, and secrets were kept, was hard to read about.  

These two sisters are each put in difficult situations that neither felt they could be honest about.  The book explores how that shaped their lives.  The changes in society as they were growing up also influenced them and their decisions.

This story had a lot of deep meaning and difficult subject matter.   It makes you think and hopefully appreciate where women are now.

This is Home

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Author: Lisa Duffy
Publisher: Atria Books
Genre: Fiction
Source: Megan at Atria Publicity

 

Goodreads:  From the author of book club favorite The Salt House comes a deeply affecting novel about a teenage girl finding her voice and the military wife who moves in downstairs, united in their search for the true meaning of home.

Sixteen-year-old Libby Winters lives in Paradise, a seaside town north of Boston that rarely lives up to its name. After the death of her mother, she lives with her father, Bent, in the middle apartment of their triple decker home—Bent’s two sisters, Lucy and Desiree, live on the top floor. A former soldier turned policeman, Bent often works nights, leaving Libby under her aunts’ care. Shuffling back and forth between apartments—and the wildly different natures of her family—has Libby wishing for nothing more than a home of her very own.

Quinn Ellis is at a crossroads. When her husband John, who has served two tours in Iraq, goes missing back at home, suffering from PTSD he refuses to address, Quinn finds herself living in the first-floor apartment of the Winters house. Bent had served as her husband’s former platoon leader, a man John refers to as his brother, and despite Bent’s efforts to make her feel welcome, Quinn has yet to unpack a single box.

For Libby, the new tenant downstairs is an unwelcome guest, another body filling up her already crowded house. But soon enough, an unlikely friendship begins to blossom, when Libby and Quinn stretch and redefine their definition of family and home.


With gorgeous prose and a cast of characters that feel wholly real and lovably flawed, This Is Home is a nuanced and moving novel of finding where we belong.

Ope’s Opinions: This story moved at a slower pace then I would have liked.  It was also kind of sad, which PTSD is, but it took a long time to feel uplifting to me.  The other characters in the book also seemed sad, as they were in difficult situations.

They did come together as a community and helped each other.  They made their house a home.  Libby and Quinn give you their perspective of the events that are taking place.  

The ending did bring each situation to more positive conclusion.

Coming Soon….

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…. On a Bookshelf near you!

In June I hope to read….

Publication Date: June 11, 2019
Publisher: Atria Books

Goodreads: From Jennifer Weiner, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Who Do You Love and In Her Shoes, comes a smart, thoughtful, and timely exploration of two sisters’ lives from the 1950s to the present as they struggle to find their places—and be true to themselves—in a rapidly evolving world. Mrs. Everything is an ambitious, richly textured journey through history—and herstory—as these two sisters navigate a changing America over the course of their lives.

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

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

Tell Me Lies

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Author: Carola Lovering
Publisher: Atria Books
Genre: New Adult Fiction
Source:  Stephanie at Simon & Schuster

 

Goodreads:  A thrilling, sexy coming-of-age story exploring toxic love, ruthless ambition, and shocking betrayal, Tell Me Lies is about that one person who still haunts you—the other one. The wrong one. The one you couldn’t let go of. The one you’ll never forget.

Lucy Albright is far from her Long Island upbringing when she arrives on the campus of her small California college, and happy to be hundreds of miles from her mother, whom she’s never forgiven for an act of betrayal in her early teen years. Quickly grasping at her fresh start, Lucy embraces college life and all it has to offer—new friends, wild parties, stimulating classes. And then she meets Stephen DeMarco. Charming. Attractive. Complicated. Devastating.

Confident and cocksure, Stephen sees something in Lucy that no one else has, and she’s quickly seduced by this vision of herself, and the sense of possibility that his attention brings her. Meanwhile, Stephen is determined to forget an incident buried in his past that, if exposed, could ruin him, and his single-minded drive for success extends to winning, and keeping, Lucy’s heart.

Alternating between Lucy’s and Stephen’s voices, Tell Me Lies follows their connection through college and post-college life in New York City. Deep down, Lucy knows she has to acknowledge the truth about Stephen. But before she can free herself from this addicting entanglement, she must confront and heal her relationship with her mother—or risk losing herself in a delusion about what it truly means to love.

With the psychological insight and biting wit of Luckiest Girl Alive, and the yearning ambitions and desires of Sweetbitter, this keenly intelligent and staggeringly resonant novel chronicles the exhilaration and dilemmas of young adulthood, and the difficulty of letting go, even when you know you should.

Ope’s Opinion: Getting past the constant use of the “f” word was the first stumbling block in this book.  Stephen has no redeeming qualities – he is self centered, abusive and toxic.  Lucy is the definition of insanity – she keeps doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. 

This story is told from each of their perspectives.  It hops from present to past and back, but is well marked. They had a train wreck of a relationship.  You wanted to read it to see where it was going,  but it was not enjoyable.

The ending brought this book from a two chair to a three chair.

Out Now

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Family drama, wonderful writing, real characters – what more could you want?
Buy it today!

 

Goodreads:  On the shores of Cape Cod, the Bailey sisters reunite with their long-lost father for a summer of hope and forgiveness in this heartfelt novel from the author of the “sharp and evocative” (Kirkus Reviews) Mystic Summer, The Lake Season, and The Summer House, sure to appeal to “fans of Elin Hilderbrand” (Booklist).

Wrenn Bailey has lived all her life on Cape Cod with her mother Lindy, older sister Shannon, and younger sister Piper. Growing up, life was dictated by the seasons with sleepy gray winters where only the locals stayed on, followed by the sharp influx and colorful bustle of summer tourists who swept up the elbow of the Cape and infiltrated their small paradise.

But it wasn’t just the tourists who interrupted Wrenn’s formative years; her father—brilliant but troubled photographer Caleb—has long made a habit of drifting in and out of his girls’ lives. Until the one summer he left the Cape and did not return again.

Now, almost twenty years later, Caleb has come back one last time, suffering from pancreatic cancer and seeking absolution. Wrenn and her sisters each respond differently to their father’s return, determined to find closure. But that means returning to the past and revisiting old wounds—wounds that cause the tightknit Bailey women to confront their own wishes and wants, and admit to their own wrong-doings over the years. In a place that brings both great comfort and great pain, the Bailey sisters experience a summer on the Cape that promises not only hard endings, but perhaps, hopeful new beginnings.

Thank you Rachel from Simon & Schuster!
This was an amazing book!

Sailing Lessons

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Author: Hannah McKinnon
Publisher: Atria Books
Genre: Fiction
Source:  Rachel at Simon & Schuster

Goodreads:  On the shores of Cape Cod, the Bailey sisters reunite with their long-lost father for a summer of hope and forgiveness in this heartfelt novel from the author of the “sharp and evocative” (Kirkus Reviews) Mystic Summer, The Lake Season, and The Summer House, sure to appeal to “fans of Elin Hilderbrand” (Booklist).

Wrenn Bailey has lived all her life on Cape Cod with her mother Lindy, older sister Shannon, and younger sister Piper. Growing up, life was dictated by the seasons with sleepy gray winters where only the locals stayed on, followed by the sharp influx and colorful bustle of summer tourists who swept up the elbow of the Cape and infiltrated their small paradise.

But it wasn’t just the tourists who interrupted Wrenn’s formative years; her father—brilliant but troubled photographer Caleb—has long made a habit of drifting in and out of his girls’ lives. Until the one summer he left the Cape and did not return again.

Now, almost twenty years later, Caleb has come back one last time, suffering from pancreatic cancer and seeking absolution. Wrenn and her sisters each respond differently to their father’s return, determined to find closure. But that means returning to the past and revisiting old wounds—wounds that cause the tight knit Bailey women to confront their own wishes and wants, and admit to their own wrong-doings over the years. In a place that brings both great comfort and great pain, the Bailey sisters experience a summer on the Cape that promises not only hard endings, but perhaps, hopeful new beginnings.

Ope’s Opinion: This book was amazing!  It had the right amount of family drama, wonderfully deep characters and a story that wander down a road I would like to go down again.  I enjoyed it from the beginning to the end.  McKinnon’s writing is creative and draws a picture you can see as you read it.

The story has an amazing pace to it.  I couldn’t wait to get back to it each time life interrupted my reading.  I wanted to see what was going to happen next.

The ending let the reader know where everyone was headed next.  I enjoyed this book so much I am ready to go buy Hannah McKinnon’s other books.  I want her to keep writing.