When I Was You by Minka Kent

Hello my lovely readers!

This  is my second Minka Kent novel and I'm not mad about it! She's a solid writer and her novels are good enough to keep my interest. Let's get into it!

SYNOPSIS
After barely surviving a brutal attack, Brienne Dougray rarely leaves her house. Suffering from debilitating headaches and memory loss, she can rely only on her compassionate new tenant, Dr. Niall Emberlin, a welcome distraction from the discomfiting bubble that has become her existence.

But Brienne’s growing confidence in her new routine is shaken when she stumbles across unsettling evidence that someone else is living as…her. Same name. Same car. Same hair. Same clothes. She’s even friended her family on social media. To find out why, Brienne must leave the safety of her home to hunt a familiar stranger.

What she discovers is more disturbing than she could have ever imagined. With her fragile mind close to shattering, Brienne is prepared to do anything to reclaim her life. If it’s even hers to reclaim.

MY THOUGHTS
Like I said before, solid book. It was pretty predictable, but again, I didn't hate it nor did I love it. It was just OK. Kent writes good, quick reads.

You have to suspend belief for the majority of it, but it was an easy read and a nice, light thriller.

The Party by Robyn Harding

Hello my lovely readers!

Oh boy, this book was a disappointment. I had it on my shelf for a few years and was looking for a quick read. It certainly passed by quickly, but this book left me with more questions than answers and deeply unsatisfied. Let's get into it.

SYNOPSIS

Sweet sixteen. It's a coming of age, a milestone, a rite of passage. Of course Jeff and Kim Sanders will throw a party for their daughter, Hannah. She's a good kid with good grades and nice friends. And it isn't going to be a big, indulgent affair. Just four girls coming over for pizza and cake, movies and a sleepover. What could possibly go wrong?

But things do go wrong, horrifically wrong. After a tragic accident, Jeff and Kim's flawless life in a wealthy San Francisco suburb begins to unravel. The injured girl's mother, Lisa, files a lawsuit that turns friends into enemies, reveals dark secrets in the Sanders' marriage, and exposes the truth about their perfect daughter, Hannah. Lisa's determination to make the Sanders pay stems from a fierce love for her only child and Lisa's own dark and damaged past.

The Rose Petal Beach by Dorothy Koomson

Hello my lovely readers!

This was a re-read for me. I've always loved Dorothy Koomson and I hadn't read this in almost a decade, so I thought it'd be good to re-read and determine if I should keep or toss it. Let's get into it!

SYNOPSIS
Tamia Challey is horrified when her husband, Scott, is accused of something terrible – but when she discovers who his accuser is, everything goes into freefall. Backed into a corner and unsure what to think, Tamia is forced to choose who she instinctively believes. But this choice has dire consequences for all concerned, especially when matters take a tragic turn.

Then a stranger arrives in town to sprinkle rose petals in the sea in memory of her lost loved one. This stranger carries with her shocking truths that will change the lives of everyone she meets, and will once again force Tamia to make some devastating choices.

My Friend Anne Frank by Hannah Pick-Goslar

Hello my lovely readers!

It took me a LONG time to finish this book (again, blame the pregnancy), but I finished it a few weeks ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. Fun fact: I'm a HUGE Anne Frank fan. Weird, I know, but I discovered her in 2001 when I was 12. 

Anne Frank: The Whole Story aired on ABC over two nights and 12-year-old Naomi was shook! I related to Anne in feeling that no one truly understood me and that I always wore a façade with my friends and family. As a diarist myself, starting when I was 6-years-old, my diary was and still is the only place I can let my freak flag fly freely without judgement.

The house that I lived in at the time, had a huge attic that had a spiral staircase and twin bed (I dragged it up there) where I practically lived in eighth grade year. I was the Black Anne Frank as far as I was concerned.

I say all that to say, that after watching the movie and reading The Diary of a Young Girl,  I became obsessed and bought all books related to Anne Frank and became slightly obsessed with the Holocaust. Needless to say, I know all the players in her story and have read all the books about her and the people within her circle. When I found out her friend Hannah Pick-Goslar was writing her official memoir on her life, the Holocaust and Anne Frank, I was stoked. Let's get into it!

The Raptures by Jan Carson

 

Hello my lovely readers!

I bought this book when I was in Ireland last year and I started reading in July. It took me a YEAR to finish it. I blame the pregnancy!

BACKGROUND

 Before we get into the review, here are a few pictures from Ireland! This was my first time returning to Ireland in 13 YEARS. I had first visited in 2010 for three weeks as part of a study abroad program with my university. Ireland is one of my favorite countries and this time I got to see it with my husband! We only spent three days, this time around, but we definitely will be back.

We spent most of our time in Dublin, but we did travel to the Cliffs of Moher and had a quick stop in Galway.

As always, I made sure to find a local bookstore, but it turns out Chapters is a bookstore chain. I didn't learn this until after the fact and was a bit disappointed, but what matters is that I FINALLY bought a book by an Irish author in Ireland.  The employees at Chapters helped me decide which book to buy and it ended up being The Raptures by Jan Carson.

BOOKISH/LIFE UPDATES

Hello my lovely readers!

I've been gone for a MINUTE!

Let's just get into it....

1. I'M A MAMA NOW
My last post was right before my baby shower in February and a few months before I gave birth. On April 13th, I gave birth to my beautiful, bouncing baby girl Charlotte. It was a relatively easy birth, except for the fact that she and I both had fevers at birth and she had low blood sugar so we had to stay a few extra days in the hospital.

It's been a whirlwind transitioning into mommy life, but I love it. I do miss my solitude, but the fact that I have a daughter makes up for it (when she's not pooping on me lol)

2. MATERNITY LEAVE

I had this idea in my head that I'd devour books in my library while on maternity leave, but that was wishful thinking. I finished....maybe two or three books while on leave and they were books that I'd been reading ALL YEAR. It's embarrassing, but that's the life of a first-time mom, right?

I'm three books behind on my reading goal for the year. My goal was to read 15 books and I still think I'll meet that goal. I just have to prioritize reading when I'm "nap-trapped" by Charlotte since I still can't put her down in her crib yet (she only falls asleep if she's on someone, except at bedtime).

King: A Life by Jonathan Eig

 

Hello my lovely readers!

SYNOPSIS

Vividly written and exhaustively researched, Jonathan Eig’s A Life is the first major biography in decades of the civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr.―and the first to include recently declassified FBI files. 

In this revelatory new portrait of the preacher and activist who shook the world, the bestselling biographer gives us an intimate view of the courageous and often emotionally troubled human being who demanded peaceful protest for his movement but was rarely at peace with himself. He casts fresh light on the King family’s origins as well as MLK’s complex relationships with his wife, father, and fellow activists. King reveals a minister wrestling with his own human frailties and dark moods, a citizen hunted by his own government, and a man determined to fight for justice even if it proved to be a fight to the death. As he follows MLK from the classroom to the pulpit to the streets of Birmingham, Selma, and Memphis, Eig dramatically re-creates the journey of a man who recast American race relations and became our only modern-day founding father―as well as the nation’s most mourned martyr.

In this landmark biography, Eig gives us an MLK for our a deep thinker, a brilliant strategist, and a committed radical who led one of history’s greatest movements, and whose demands for racial and economic justice remain as urgent today as they were in his lifetime.