Tag Archives: Wome’s Fiction

All We Ever Wanted

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

 

Goodreads:  Nina Browning is living the good life after marrying into Nashville’s elite. More recently, her husband made a fortune selling his tech business, and their adored son has been accepted to Princeton. Yet sometimes the middle-class small-town girl in Nina wonders if she’s strayed from the person she once was.

Tom Volpe is a single dad working multiple jobs while struggling to raise his headstrong daughter, Lyla. His road has been lonely, long, and hard, but he finally starts to relax after Lyla earns a scholarship to Windsor Academy, Nashville’s most prestigious private school.

Amid so much wealth and privilege, Lyla doesn’t always fit in—and her overprotective father doesn’t help—but in most ways, she’s a typical teenaged girl, happy and thriving.

Then, one photograph, snapped in a drunken moment at a party, changes everything. As the image spreads like wildfire, the Windsor community is instantly polarized, buzzing with controversy and assigning blame.

At the heart of the lies and scandal, Tom, Nina, and Lyla are forced together—all questioning their closest relationships, asking themselves who they really are, and searching for the courage to live a life of true meaning.

Ope’s Opinion: This is not the typical Emily Giffin book ( certainly not what I was expecting to read on the airplane ).  She attempted to tackle too many issues and tiptoed around all of them.  I don’t think she wanted to offend anyone, so she didn’t really face the issues head on.

While I was reading, the story kept my attention, but after I was done, I was disappointed.
** Trying to state my opinion without giving away any spoilers.  The characters were not made accountable for their actions – what kind of message does that send?   The ending just glossed over what happened as if no one was hurt in the process.  There wasn’t any justice.

I will think twice next time about spending the money on a Giffin book.

The Memory Child

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memory child

Author:  Steena Holmes                       memory child
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Genre:  Women’s Fiction
Source: BookSparks

Goodreads:  When Brian finds out that his wife, Diane, is pregnant, he is elated. He’s been patiently waiting for twelve years to become a father. But Diane has always been nervous about having children because of her family’s dark past. The timing of the pregnancy also isn’t ideal ? Diane has just been promoted, and Brian is being called away to open a new London office for his company. Fast-forward one year: being a mother has brought Diane a sense of joy that she?d never imagined and she’s head over heels for her new baby, Grace. But things are far from perfect: Brian has still not returned from London, and Diane fears leaving the baby for even a moment. As unsettling changes in those around Diane began to emerge, it becomes clear that all is not as it seems. A woman’s dark past collides head-on with her mysterious present in this surreal and gripping family drama.

Ope’s Opinion:   This book should come with a warning:  Do Not Start Unless You Have Time To Finish It !!!!  The story itself is amazing and it is so well written, it just sweeps you away.  It is a page flipper. 

This story is told from Diane and Brian’s alternating points of view. The pieces of the story are slowly revealed from the past and present.  It was clear there was something wrong, but I kept changing my mind as to what I thought was really going on.  

I found myself actually holding my breath at times wondering what was going to happen next.  Steena Holmes can really kept me on the edge of my seat.

  Although you were given hints, it was not clear what happened until the very end.   


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