book reviews

Everything I Read – December 2024

1. Lies He Told Me

A great thriller that kept me hooked from the beginning. Marcie’s husband David heroically saves a man one night from drowning and the video of the rescue goes viral. Marcie is so proud of her husband but David is uncomfortable with the sudden attention. As his fame continues to grow, David wants nothing to do with it and Marcie is so confused why he doesn’t want the recognition. When Marcie decides to look into this further, what she discovers could change her marriage forever. Rating: 8.5

2. Part of Your World

If you are in need of a feel-good rom/com type book – this is it! It’s part of a series and I immediately ordered the sequel after finishing this one. Alexis comes from a line of world-renowned surgeons and is slated to carry on her family’s legacy. That is until she meets Daniel. A small-town carpenter 10 years her junior and from a family that may not be worthy of Alexis’ Dad’s high standards. But Alexis can’t deny her attraction to Daniel so they continue to meet in secret until one fateful day when Daniel surprises Alexis at work and meets her entire family. Can they make this mismatched relationship work? Or should Alexis follow her parent’s wishes and marry another doctor? You can guess the entire plot of this book but that doesn’t make it any less enjoyable! I adored this story! Rating: 9

3. Yours Truly

After you finishing reading Part of Your World, you then need to get this book which is the sequel. Brianna Ortiz is Alexis’ best friend and also a busy doctor in Chicago. Brianna is single and hoping to become chief of the department. That is until new doctor Jacob Maddox starts at the hospital and there is talk that he was brought there to become chief. Brianna is not happy with this and wants to make Jacob aware of her standing in this hospital. Another great romance book with tons of humor and lots of emotion. Rating: 9

4. Winter People

After flying high on the prior three books, I quickly lost my reading mojo with this one. Womp, womp. In fact, I didn’t even finish it so giving a review is not even possible. My mom and I both struggled to get through it and I abandoned it halfway because it was too dull and confusing. Rating: DNF

5. Project Hail Mary

This book has been on my “to be read” list for nearly 2 years so I finally decided to give it a go. Honestly I wasn’t sure I would like it because I am not a huge sci-fi lover but the reviews on it were so good so I had high hopes. While it wasn’t a huge love for me, I did enjoy it enough to keep reading until the end. I wanted to know how it ended though it got confusing at times.

The sun is dying and scientists are scrambling on earth to find out how to fix this problem that will essentially end civilization on earth. A crew is put together and launched into space to hopefully save mankind. The only problem is that this will have to be a suicide mission because there is not enough energy to get the spacecraft there and back. When Ryland Grace wakes up on the mission, he is confused as to how he even got here. Slowly it comes back to him and he realizes that he was put in a coma in order to survive the mission to the sun. But where is the rest of his crew? And can they actually save the entire solar system? It’s an interesting book but can be a bit tedious at times. Rating: 7.5

6. Did You Hear About Kitty Karr?

This book was a STRUGGLE for me to finish and was hard to follow at times. Kitty Karr is one of the most famous and wealthiest actresses in Hollywood. Upon her death, she leaves her entire fortune to the St. John sisters, three wealthy and famous black women from a prominent and famous family. Questions arise as to why she left so much money to such a privileged family and questions arise as to their connection to Kitty Karr. Elise, one of the St. John sisters, who was very close to Kitty decides to look into Kitty’s past to find out all that she can about her life. What she discovers is shocking and heart breaking at the same time. The premise of the story is really engaging but I found the overall pace of the book a tad slow and hard to follow. Rating: 6

7. Drowning

Soon to be made into a motion picture and for good reason. A true nail-biter of a story and one that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Flight 1421 crashes in the Pacific Ocean and the passengers aboard must decide whether they will evacuate the plane on life boats or stay on the aircraft and hope they are rescued soon. Half of the people leave the plane but one of the passengers, Will Kent, is an engineer and feels it is safer to stay on the plane. He convinces a small group of passengers as well as the flight crew and they decide to barricade themselves inside and wait for help. But when they close the doors, water breaks through the front of the plane and it begins to sink. After falling nearly 200 ft beneath the ocean, the plane settles on a cliff where the remaining 12 passengers try to stay alive while waiting for rescue crews to come save them. It’s a nail biter until the end! Rating: 8

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Everything I Read – November 2024

1. The Night We Lost Him

I absolutely loved The Last Thing He Told Me from this same author but sadly this book was not as enjoyable for me. It was good but not great. Liam Noone lived an extraordinary life and rose to great success early on in his career. His personal life however was always a bit more complicated. He had multiple wives and multiple children with these wives though none of them ever seemed to fully get to know who their father really was. So when Liam dies in a tragic accident, one of his sons, Sam, is convinced something more sinister may have occurred. Sam reaches out to his half-sister Nora for help and they both try to learn more about their father’s life which hopefully could explain his death. It was a bit predictable and a tad slow for me but still kept my attention. Rating: 7.5

2. Husbands & Lovers

This took me a bit to get into and I wasn’t sure if I was even going to finish it. But then about 1/3 of the way through, I became fixated on finding out how everything would play out and really became invested! Mallory has a young son named Sam who suffers a horrific accident at summer camp and leaves him fighting for his life. He is now forced to be on dialysis until they can find a kidney donor to save him. Since Mallory is a single parent, she must face all of this alone. She got pregnant in her late teens and never told the father about the pregnancy. With Sam’s impending health crisis, Mallory contemplates reaching out to the father and also exploring her familial history to see if there could be a potential donor match for her son. The book does oscillate between time periods which can be a bit hard to follow at times but overall I ended up really liking the story! Rating: 8.5

3. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches

After falling in love with The House in the Cerulean Sea and it’s sequel Somewhere Beyond the Sea, I was excited to possibly read more heart warming fantasy books. This book was recommended many times so I decided to give it a go. Sadly I could barely get through it because it was so boring and slow. I know so many loved it so don’t let my opinion sway you too much because everyone has different preferences. Mika Moon is a witch living amongst regular people trying to have a normal life. When she receives a message to come visit a place called Nowhere House, she wonders what they could possibly want her to do. After she arrives, she meets three young girls who live there and comes to find out they are witches. Their guardians want Mika to help teach them how to be a witch and harness their powers safely. I love the premise of this book but sadly it just was not enjoyable for me. Rating: 6

4. The God of the Woods

My mom is on my iPhone family sharing account so she listens to all of the audiobooks that I do. I will often ask her what she thinks especially if a book has a TON of buzz but I am not loving it. That was the case with this book. It has so many great reviews and tons of hype but she and I just didn’t understand why. LOL It was good but definitely not a favorite for us. That being said, since so many loved it, I would recommend giving it a go because you may fall into the majority of people who found it captivating. Barbara Van Laar is a 13 year old camp goer spending the summer at her family’s youth summer camp. She isn’t happy to be here and rebels against the conservative values of her parents. One night Barbara goes missing and many find her disappearance too similar to the disappearance and tragic death of her older brother years ago. Will Barbara suffer the same fate? Or is the family hiding a devastating secret that could explain all of this. It’s a story with lots of twists and turns and it did keep my attention, but was not a favorite this month. Rating: 8

5. The Last Love Note

This entire month was a month of books that were just ok. Not spectacular but not awful. This was another book that kept my attention but wasn’t a favorite. Kate is now a young single mom after suffering the devastating loss of her husband a few years ago. Since his death, Kate has struggled to find purpose and some sense of stability in her life. She has a supportive job, boss and family, but she is still drifting aimlessly through life. Her boss, Hugh, has become a source of comfort for her and he was also very close with her husband. During a work trip, Kate discovers that her husband shared something with Hugh that he never wanted Kate to know. Now Kate wonders who she can trust and what her husband was hiding? Rating: 7

6. Carolina Moonset

Another good not great book for this month. An enjoyable read but a tad slow at times. Joey is a divorced father who has returned to his hometown in South Carolina to look after his father who is struggling with dementia. Joey wants to give his mother a break so he offers to stay with his father while she goes on a girls’ trip for a few days. Things seem ok at first but Joey’s father begins discussing things from his past that Joey has never known before. Secrets that his father has kept for decades and only now are coming out in his increasingly confused state. It’s only when a neighbor is shot and killed that Joey worries that there is something his father is hiding that could ruin their lives. Did his father leave the house in the middle of the night and shoot this man? And if so, why? Joey can’t go back home until he clears his father’s name and finds out what he is hiding. Rating: 8

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