This is How it Always is by Laurie Frankel

Published: December 2018
Genres: Literary Fiction, Woman's Fiction

👑👑👑👑


Description:

This is how a family keeps a secret…and how that secret ends up keeping them.

This is how a family lives happily ever after…until happily ever after becomes complicated.

This is how children change…and then change the world.

This is Claude. He’s five years old, the youngest of five brothers, and loves peanut butter sandwiches. He also loves wearing a dress, and dreams of being a princess.

When he grows up, Claude says, he wants to be a girl.

Rosie and Penn want Claude to be whoever Claude wants to be. They’re just not sure they’re ready to share that with the world. Soon the entire family is keeping Claude’s secret. Until one day it explodes.

Laurie Frankel's This Is How It Always Is is a novel about revelations, transformations, fairy tales, and family. And it’s about the ways this is how it always is: Change is always hard and miraculous and hard again, parenting is always a leap into the unknown with crossed fingers and full hearts, children grow but not always according to plan. And families with secrets don’t get to keep them forever.

Review:

This was my Bookclub's pick for September. This one definitely gave me all the feels. If you have not read this one I highly recommend dropping whatever you are doing and getting right on it! I was a bit skeptical about reading a book that encouraged a child at 5years of age to make a HUGE life changing desicion and switch genders. As a mom and daycare provider, I know 3 and 4 year olds have a hard time remembering the difference if they or their friend is a boy or a girl. As a 5 year old I don't find the mental development that much further.

With that said, I feel like there was a lot of the book that came about "to easily". The parents for one. They seemed to always "have the right answers" knew exactly how to navigate this journey without any questioning of themselves or each other. I have no idea what I would do in their shoes but I found their journey through this a little to story book like. As a parent who is trying to figure out how to navigate this new world and teach my children to do the same, it would have been a lot more relatable had the parents' struggle been more believable. I think the author should have stepped back and separated her situation a bit more from how she wants people to react to how they really will react.

Furthermore, regarding the parents, they really just bugged the crap out of me. As a working adult she couldn't get her butt to work on time, no adult is going to get away from that. The dad was supposed to be a writer but let's take 10 years to figure out what we're going to write about. Insert large eye rolling. Claude/Poppy, I did feel for the child. The laughs and tears all came at the right spot. I completely fell in love with this child and wanted to protect him/her.

Overall I did enjoy the book. It was something way outside the circle of things that I have read and really shed the light about how I would react and handle this situation.

Bird Box by Josh Malerman

I love when I start the New Year off right with a fantastic book!
---This is more of a book vs movie review then an actual review of this amazing novel.

Published: May 13, 2014 by HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
Genres: Fiction, Horror, Thriller, Suspense, Post Apocalyptic, Dystopia

👑 👑 👑 👑 👑

Description:

Something is out there, something terrifying that must not be seen. One glimpse of it, and a person is driven to deadly violence. No one knows what it is or where it came from.

Five years after it began, a handful of scattered survivors remains, including Malorie and her two young children. Living in an abandoned house near the river, she has dreamed of fleeing to a place where they might be safe. Now that the boy and girl are four, it's time to go, but the journey ahead will be terrifying: twenty miles downriver in a rowboat--blindfolded--with nothing to rely on but her wits and the children’s trained ears. One wrong choice and they will die. Something is following them all the while, but is it man, animal, or monster?

Review:

YES, YES, YES! I absolutely loved this book. Page one had me hooked immediately. The movie came out on Netflix and there was a lot of hype over the novel in all my book circles. So of course I had to check it out. I was a little hesitant as I had read on of Malerman's books last year and I was not impressed. However, this one held my attention all the way through I couldn't put it down. The suspense was built perfectly.

Post apocalyptic novels are quickly becoming one of my favorite genres. I have not read one yet that I haven't really enjoyed. Its fun to me to think - what would I do in this situation. Would I handle situations like the characters are. Its fun for me because unlike in regular horrors there is no feeling like the character is being too stupid for going into the basement because "we all know what is going to happen". Each Post apocalyptic novel really has to set things up and take you down an experience that you have never been apart of.

Then I watched the movie on Netflix.... big mistake. I don't think I have ever been so disappointed in a film adaptation. I can count on one hand the number of similarities between the book and the movie. The movie lacks any of the suspense needed. Doesn't make the point of how well the children trust her and will listen to her no matter what. In fact, it shows them deliberately disobeying her numerous times and even refusing to come to her because they fear her. This part really made me mad. It made Malorie look like a bad mother instead of doing everything she can to trust them. There is zero demonstration of the children's exceptional hearing ability, yet in the book she completely relies on them to keep them all alive. They don't even call her mom in the movie.

I highly recommend the book... maybe not so much the movie.

An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen

Publish: January 8, 2019 by St. Martin's Press
Genres: Fiction, Suspense, Mystery, Thriller

👑 👑 👑

Description:
Seeking women ages 18–32 to participate in a study on ethics and morality. Generous compensation. Anonymity guaranteed. 

When Jessica Farris signs up for a psychology study conducted by the mysterious Dr. Shields, she thinks all she’ll have to do is answer a few questions, collect her money, and leave. But as the questions grow more and more intense and invasive and the sessions become outings where Jess is told what to wear and how to act, she begins to feel as though Dr. Shields may know what she’s thinking…and what she’s hiding. As Jess’s paranoia grows, it becomes clear that she can no longer trust what in her life is real, and what is one of Dr. Shields’ manipulative experiments. Caught in a web of deceit and jealousy, Jess quickly learns that some obsessions can be deadly.

From the authors of the blockbuster bestseller The Wife Between Us comes an electrifying new novel about doubt, passion, and just how much you can trust someone.

Review:

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for the Advanced Reader's Edition of this book. I received this in exchange for my honest review. 

I love the cover. I love both covers that have been chosen for Hendricks and Pekkanen. They are very intriguing and they let you know that these two women are going to be very intermingled with each other and its going to be in a twisted way. Sets you up and gets you excited for a great thriller. 

So the story starts out with Jessica, down on her luck financially. She is a make up artist and while with a client she takes a great leap and steals an opportunity from her -- the survey. This finds her mixed up and doing weird things for Dr. Shields that are a bit questionable and placing her in opportunities in front of her husband. Before Jessica catches on to what is happening and what Dr. Sheilds's objective is.... She has already slept with the Doctor's husband. Oops! 

The build up and suspense was done very well. The ending sucked! I was very disappointed. I was very excited for something dramatic and drastic to happen but there is nothing. I only made it half way through The Wife Between Us so I'm wondering if Hendricks and Pekkanen just can't close and bring about a fantastic story. They did a lot better this round in holding my attention longer. But I did find myself skimming a lot with a "alright already" attitude. 

I don't really understand the title. Hendricks and Pekkanen attempted using it with Jessica "remaining just another anonymous girl". But at no point in the story was anyone anonymous. I think a better title would be fitting. 

The POV jumped back and fourth between Jessica and Dr. Shields. When it's Jessica's POV the book is read normal and in first person. Then you get Dr. Shields perspective its "you do this" and "you do that" describing things about Jessica as she is doing them. Its makes me feel like Dr. Shields is a peeping tom but this really helps build the suspense and make you want to know more. 

Three stars because I felt like most of the story was a success. Unfortunately, they just couldn't bring it home. 

Also, be sure to check out:

The Wife Between Us


When you read this book, you will make many assumptions.
You will assume you are reading about a jealous ex-wife.
You will assume she is obsessed with her replacement – a beautiful, younger woman who is about to marry the man they both love. 
You will assume you know the anatomy of this tangled love triangle.
Assume nothing. 

Twisted and deliciously chilling, Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen's The Wife Between Us exposes the secret complexities of an enviable marriage - and the dangerous truths we ignore in the name of love.

After the Fire by Will Hill

Amazon

Published: October 2, 2018 by Sourcebooks Fire
Genres: Fiction, YA, Contemporary

👑 👑 👑 👑

Description:
Moonbeam lived in a cult.  She was not allowed to leave the property, nor allowed to talk to Outsiders, or to speak her mind. Father John controlled everything. He uses the Bible and twists its words to fit his own needs. Father John likes rules. Disobeying him came with terrible consequences. Then there is an outsider that comes in and stirs things up. Getting Moonbeam to see her life may not be as "true" as she has been lead to believe. She seeks courage to protect herself and the other children of the Lord's Legion. 

Review:
Thank you to NetGalley and to Sourcebooks Fire for the Advanced Reader's Copy of this book. I received this in exchange for my honest review. 

The cover I feel would be more fitting for a novel about a monstrous child starting a house fire. Or a father trailing his family and leaving the child orphaned. These are just thoughts that had popped into my mind when I first saw the cover. I love the cover, and I guess after reading the whole novel I can see how it fits with so many of the children becoming orphaned. 

I loved the story! Power, Corruption. Father John does such a grand job of twisting the minds and fears of the people whom he "loves" ignorer to get them to obey. I am so shocked at how many people would move to a place like this and absorb so many lies into believe the as their new truth. 

I loved watching Moombeam develop. She goes from nightmares and not really understanding who she can trust or how much she can trust to really trusting and counting on Doctor Hernandez and Agent Carlyle. She turned out to be a very strong character. You can tell as she subdues Father John's voice in her head telling her to keep her mouth shot and calling her a heretic. Eventually those voices are gone and to me this speaks to how strong of a woman she is turning into. 

The story bounces between a "before" and "after" theme. The after being the conversations she is having with those around her in the therapy and before being her recollections of what had happen. I enjoy stories that have this type of set up. It really shows how the character is able to overcome and grow after such a tragic event. 

I have never known anyone who has been in a cult. I can completely see how easy how these things could really get out of hand. Hill really brought the setting to life and made me feel like I was really there and able to picture easily. I will be excited to see if this is made into a movie.

So much of this book was great. Why only 4 Stars? For me, it was a slow read. I was fully enjoying everything about it and I really wanted to know more but it was a bit of a chore to read this through. I am glad I did. I will definitely be recommending this book!

November Book Club

Amazon

In a searing novel of love and loyalty, guilt and honor, the acclaimed author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Horse Whisperer gives his millions of readers another hero…

His name is Connor Ford and he falls like an angel of mercy from the sky, braving the flames to save the woman he loves but knows he cannot have. For Julia Bishop is the partner of his best friend and fellow “smoke jumper,” Ed Tully. Julia loves them both–until a fiery tragedy on Montana’s Snake Mountain forces her to choose between them, and burns a brand on all their hearts.

In the wake of the fire, Connor embarks on a harrowing journey to the edge of human experience, traveling the world’s worst wars and disasters to take photographs that find him fame but never happiness. Reckless of a life he no longer wants, again and again he dares death to take him, until another fateful day on another continent, he must walk through fire once more…

A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoul

Published: October 2, 2018 by Ballantine Books

Genres: Contemporary, Adult, Fiction

👑👑👑👑

I am such a HUGE fan of Jodi Picoult. I was so excited and honored when I received a free galley of her newest novel, A Spark of Light. She is very brave about the subjects she writes in. Always choosing a topic that is a sensitive subject and making a very amazing story about it. 

I first tried to read Jodi Picoult as a teenager...big mistake. I was not ready. That experience set me off of Picoult and I am really regretting that. I read Small Great Things earlier this year, I'm currently reading My Sister's Keeper. I just want to take a vacation with all of Picoult's books and do nothing else but read them ALL. I am regretting not giving her another try sooner. 

Description: 

In a women’s reproductive health services clinic a gunman bursts in and opens fire, taking all inside hostage. Hugh McElroy, a police hostage negotiator, gets to work. To his horror, he finds out that his fifteen-year-old daughter, Wren, is inside the clinic.

But Wren is not alone. She will share the next and tensest few hours of her young life with a cast of unforgettable characters: A nurse who calms her own panic in order save the life of a wounded woman. A doctor who does his work not in spite of his faith but because of it, and who will find that faith tested as never before. A pro-life protester disguised as a patient, who now stands in the cross hairs of the same rage she herself has felt. A young woman who has come to terminate her pregnancy. And the disturbed individual himself, vowing to be heard.

Review:
I voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to the author and publisher for providing a copy of this book via NetGalley. 

I love Jodi Picoult. I loved this book! I found her very well researched and as a christian woman who is antiabortion, I was not angry with Picoult for choosing this topic and bringing it to life the way she did. I love that there were so many characters who faced different experiences and how that shaped their perception on this topic. I felt that each argument was brought forward on both spectrums of this argument, many of which I had heard before and a few of which I had not. 

This cover is absolutely GORGEOUS! The abstractness of two woman having completely different views and their minds are just so full of different possibilities. I found the characters to be believable. I have met many woman who have been in these different situations. Some made the same decisions and some did not. 

I will absolutely be recommending this book to friends and family.