The Invited

I used to read a lot of horror but I got away from it at some point in the last 15 years or so and I've only recently started really reading it again. It's weird - I pretty much hate horror movies - that feeling of dread when you just know a jump-scare is coming is the worst to me. And yet, that same sense of creeping dread in a really good scary book is the best! Like I said, weird.

The Invited, by Jennifer McMahon is, in my opinion, a really good scary book and it was pretty much the perfect story to get me back into horror. It's a classic ghost story with an excellent twist and I had a hard time putting it down.

Creeping sense of impending doom throughout the book? Check. Well-written characters that you occasionally want to throttle, but mostly want to root for? Check. Excellent setting and original plot? Check and check.

Fans of Stephen King will like this one, I think. I certainly did and he's in my top 3 authors of all time. Now that I've read The Invited, I have big plans to check out McMahon's other works. Who knows? Maybe she's top 3 material as well.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary advance copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I Owe You One

I'm jumping the gun on this review a little bit. The book doesn't come out until February 5, but I really want to talk about it now, so here we are.

First things first - I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Now, on to the good stuff. I Owe You One is the latest book from author Sophie Kinsella. I liked this one. I gave it 3 stars on Goodreads, but it was really more like 3.5 stars for me. Definitely better (for me anyway) than last year's Surprise Me, it didn't quite live up to my love for 2017's My Not So Perfect Life. Honestly though, the only thing holding me back from a higher star rating is that the book made me so mad at times!

Fixie fixes things (hence the nickname). She's a capable, reasonably intelligent doormat to her truly awful family. Seriously, these people are horrible. Her brother is a self-important ass and her sister is a vapid wannabe Instagram influencer who is quite possibly the most selfish character I've ever encountered in all of my years of reading. Fixie's biggest flaw is that she puts up with these people and somehow thinks she is inferior to them. I spent a good portion of the book yelling at her to just tell them off already.

Frustrating as it was at time though, this book has a great heart and a fun story that I did enjoy. Once it gets going (which was in a matter of the first few pages for me), you won't want to put it down. I highly recommend it to all lovers of rom-coms and anyone who has enjoyed Kinsella's previous work.

The Reckoning

Short post today - I mentioned a few days ago that I had gotten an advance copy of The Reckoning, the newest book by John Grisham. As usual, I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

I finished it up this afternoon and wanted to post a quick review while it's fresh in my mind.

You know the expression, "he could read the phone book and it would still be fascinating?" That's how I feel about this book. John Grisham is such a strong writer that he can write on just about anything and make it interesting and compelling. That's certainly the case with his latest book, The Reckoning.

Don't get me wrong, I liked this book. But if I'm honest, there wasn't much plot. More of a beautiful recounting of one family's unending tragedy. As always with Grisham, the settings and characters are wonderfully rendered with just the right amount of detail. The major difference with this book is just that the whole story felt a little phoned in and the ending was very abrupt and a little unsatisfying.

Three stars for this one instead of my usual 4 or 5.

Surprise Me

Oh Sophie Kinsella. You're killing me.

After last year's fantastic My Not So Perfect Life, I had such high hopes for Surprise Me. It seemed like Kinsella has shrugged off the absolute disaster that the Shopaholic books have become and gotten her groove back. I was so excited to read another fun, fabulous, old-school-chick-lit, fluffy masterpiece and instead, I got, well, surprised.

Surprise Me tells the story of Sylvie and Dan, the happiest couple who never communicate that ever did exist. It all starts out when they go for an insurance checkup and the doctor tells them they can both expect to live another 68 or so years. Worried they'll get bored with each other, they decide to start surprising each other with random gifts and activities to keep things fresh. Along the way they have to work out the wallpapered-over cracks in their marriage and learn to be honest with each other.

I wanted to love this book but just couldn't. Sylvie is so... I don't know. She's just such a waste for most of the book. I found myself wanting to scream at her. If it had been possible to reach into the book, take her by the shoulders and shake her, I would have. And Dan. Dan's not much better. Dude. If you're going to have a secret cell phone and be moody and defensive and never tell your wife anything, you can't get pissed if she accuses you of having an affair.

The entire plot of the book could have been dealt with in less than 10 pages if these two characters had been half as in-sync as Sylvie spends the first few chapters wanting us to believe they are.

Still, the end was nice and there is a lot of character development which is always good when the characters have been so incredibly frustrating for most of the book. I still love Kinsella and (most of) her books.

Legally required disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This Is Not A Love Letter

I have this habit of requesting galleys in batches. I read a ton of book descriptions, request the ones that look interesting (and that I think I can fit into my reading schedule in time for publication) and then promptly forget all about them.

Sometimes it takes a week or two for publishers to get back to you with a yes or a no and then it can be another few months even before I download and read a given book. I try not to read them too far in advance of publication because most of the time, publishers want the review to go live at around the same time that the book becomes available.

All that is to say that by the time I finally got around to reading This Is Not A Love Letter, by Kim Purcell, I had totally and completely, 100% forgotten what the heck it was about. I went into the book blind and I'm actually really happy about that.

First, the required stuff: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

Ok, now that that's over with. I loved this book! It was so riveting. If I'm being totally honest, I wasn't expecting much - I've been off YA for a while now and so by the time I needed to start reading it, I was not really looking forward to it at all, thinking it was going to be your average girl/boy YA love drama. I was so, so wrong.

This Is Not A Love Letter is a cross between The Girl on the Train and Me Before You. For real. It's all about these two teenagers - Jesse and Chris. Jesse is basically poor white trash with a hoarder mother and Chris is the local star baseball player with a bright future and unlimited potential.  They live in a small, very white, economically depressed paper mill town in the Pacific Northwest. And Chris is black.

Chris and Jesse are in love but Jesse is worried she's going to hold Chris back so she tells him she wants a one week break. She wants for them to both gain some perspective and figure out what they'll do next year when Chris goes off to college and she stays behind to work for a year. Chris takes it badly and then disappears. Jesse is convinced he's been jumped or worse but can't seem to rally support at first. Most people want to believe he's just run off for a few days.

It's hard to describe much of this book without giving a lot away. Just know that it's super fast-paced and that I could not put it down. I started and finished it in about 12 hours (and 7 of those hours were spent sleeping). I started it late one night before bed and read until I fell asleep. Then I grabbed it and finished it as soon as I woke up. OK, as soon as I woke up, fed and changed the baby, and found an activity to keep her occupied for the hour or so it took me to finish. Point is - block off some time because once this one gets started, you won't want to put it down.

I really liked and appreciated how smart this book was. I'm impressed by Kim Purcell's writing and I will definitely keep her on my list of authors to watch. I also think this one would make a great movie, so let's get on that Hollywood!

This Is Not A Love Letter will be available for purchase on January 30, 2018.

Two Nights

When I first heard that Kathy Reichs had written a non-Temperance Brennan book I was really excited to check it out. Don't get me wrong, I love the Bones series and I hope it's not over, but I'm always stoked when an author I like a lot branches out. (I'd love love love to see Lee Child write a non-Jack Reacher book, for example)

Two Nights did not disappoint. Reichs introduces another badass heroine in this book that I am hoping as hard as I can will be the first in a new series. Sunday Night is an ex-military, ex-cop introvert who has retreated from the world to a sparsely populated island off the coast of South Carolina. She gets pulled into a missing person case as a PI and winds up in the middle of a terrorist plot to blow up.... well, I don't want to give anything away so I'll stop there. 

Seriously, check this book out. It's so good. I could barely put it down. Reichs is an underrated writer who consistently delivers solid characters, plots and drama. I recommend this, and all of her other books for grown-ups (I haven't checked out her YA series yet) to all crime/thriller fans. 

Into The Water

I was so excited for Into the Water you guys. I tore through Girl on the Train back in 2015 and spent the last few months impatiently waiting to get my hands on this book from my local library.

I finally got the notice that my copy was available 2 weeks ago and immediately started on it. And immediately stalled out. There are so many characters and Hawkins felt the need to write chapters from each one's point of view! Add to the constantly shifting narrative the fact that this is one of those stories where you are dropped into the middle, after the biggest events have occurred and it just made for such a confusing read.

There's a story here, a good one, but it's lost in so many layers of alternating POV's that it just gets to be too much. I love the whole unreliable-narrator-with-a-twist-ending thing that's so trendy right now, but this one just tries way too hard and, as a result, it all falls flat. The book drags and drags at the beginning and then at the end the conclusion feels so, so rushed.

I didn't consciously realize I was avoiding the book until 3 days ago when I got the "your items are about to expire" auto-email from my library. With a wait-list as long as they have for Into the Water, I didn't want to be that person and keep the book past its due date so I powered through the last 2/3 and finished up late last night.

I know it must be daunting to have such a great success as Paula Hawkins did with her first book and then to have to try to follow that up. So I'm going to give her some credit. As I said before, there's a damned good story here. And maybe if I'd had the time to sit down and just read it in one or 2 large chunks rather than a chapter here and a chapter there every day instead, I'd have enjoyed it more. It's a busy time of year right now and I've got a lot on my plate, so I'm totally willing to take some of the blame for lack of enthusiasm over this novel. That said, I really hope Hawkins' third book is better.

Anyway, enough of my bitching - here's a summary so you can see if you might be interested in reading this one too:

Jules and Nel had been estranged for years. When Nel drowns, Jules travels back to their childhood vacation home in Beckford where Nel has been living, to take care of her now-orphaned niece Lena. Once back in town, she realizes that something deeper is going on. Did Nel kill herself, as everyone seems to believe, or was she pushed? Does her death have anything to do with the suicide-by-drowning of Lena's best friend only a month earlier? Or does it have to do with the book she was writing about the very spot where she, and so many other women in the town's history, died?

No Middle Name

I first discovered Lee Child sometime around 2010. At the time I was still working in Northern Virginia and living way out in northern central Virginia. My commute was around 100 miles round trip and, for those of you who have experienced that area's traffic, you know that means I had a loooooong commute. Like close to 4 hours a day in the car, 5 days a week. To keep from going insane, I listened to a LOT of audiobooks.

My local library had tons of books on CD and I went through them at a rate of 2-3 per week. I quickly went through their collection of authors I was already a fan of and books I had on my to-read list. I noticed The Killing Floor was a recommended listen one week when I was in picking up my latest stack and decided to give it a try. I loved it. I was totally sucked in to the world of Jack none Reacher. The books in the series quickly became favorites to listen to on my commute.

My life has changed a lot since those days. I moved to Oklahoma and stopped commuting so far - these days I'm a stay-at-home mom and Etsy-shopkeep and it takes me about a year to put the same number of miles on my car now that I used to accumulate in under a month and I rarely listen to audiobooks anymore. I still love Jack Reacher though and I still eagerly anticipate each year's newest installment in his world courtesy of Lee Child.

No Middle Name: The Complete Collected Jack Reacher Short Stories is a short story collection you can read at any point in the series - none of the stories are reliant on any of the books. I've read other short story collections tied in to book series before and I have to say, this one is, by far, the best I've read. Other authors have made the mistake of putting vital information into the stories that make subsequent novels difficult to follow or create collections that must be read in a specific order and in between specific books to be fully comprehensible. Not so with No Middle Name. Each story stands alone as either a mini Reacher adventure (Second Son, Too Much Time) or simply as character background filler (No Room at the Motel, Everyone Talks). Even the stories that are barely about Reacher (James Penney's New Identity) serve a purpose. I might even recommend this collection to anyone who hasn't yet picked up a Reacher novel as a quick intro to the character and to Child's writing style.

I really loved this collection. It almost makes the wait to the newest Reacher novel bearable. Almost.

Blame

Blame is the latest offering from one of my favorites, Jeff Abbott, and it does not disappoint. The last few years have been all about the Sam Capra series and, while I love Sam's ongoing adventures and escapades, I was so ready for a new standalone Abbott novel.

Nobody does suspense quite like Jeff Abbott. He has a way of sucking you in to the story and just refusing to let go. The only bad thing about this book was how long it took me to read it. If I'd had my way, I'd have probably read through it cover to cover in one sitting. Sadly, I have responsibilities so I found myself having to take my time with it.

Blame is the story of Jane Norton and her memory. Imagine you woke up one day and didn't know who you were. There are people all around telling you they're your family, they're your friends, but you don't remember anything. That's what happened to Jane. After a devastating car crash that killed David, the boy next door and put Jane into a coma, she wakes up with severe amnesia. Slowly she recovers the memories from the first 14 years of her life, but the last 3 are a blank. All she knows about the accident that nearly killed her is that everyone thinks it was her fault - that she tried to kill herself and David. Two years later, she gets a disturbing message - "I know what you claim you don't remember, Jane. I know what happened that night. And I'm going to tell. All will pay."

Jane resolves to find out what really happened that night. Did she try to commit suicide? Is she guilty of murdering her oldest friend? Or is something much more twisted going on?

I can't gush enough over how much I loved this one. If you're a fan of suspense, don't miss this book. It's fantastic.

The Cuban Affair

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

The Cuban Affair is the latest offering from Nelson DeMille. If you're a fan of DeMille's John Corey books, you'll almost certainly like this novel - the hero, Mac, is basically John Corey with a  different background. Honestly, the two characters are so similar in speech and personality that I found myself distracted throughout the entire book wondering why DeMille even created Mac when he could have just as easily had John retire to Key West and buy a boat.

At any rate, it's a solid story. Mac is a charter boat captain with a mortgaged boat he can't afford. Along comes Sarah, a Cuban-American beauty who offers him a few million dollars to help her out with a top secret fortune recovery mission in Cuba.

There's a lot of information about Cuba in this book but it never comes off as travelogue-y, which it might have in less experienced, less skilled hands. It's a slow build to the action, but once it gets going, you won't be able to put it down. I've got a hunch this is just the first installment in a new franchise from DeMille and, if I'm right, I'm definitely looking forward to the next in the series.

We Were 8 Years In Power

I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Ta-Nehisi Coates first hit my radar a few years ago when his book, Between the World and Me was blowing up the bestseller lists. When I saw he had this new book coming out I immediately requested a copy from the publisher and crossed my fingers. Happily, my request was approved and I dove right in the same weekend the city of Charlotteville in my home state of Virginia was overrun by white supremacists.

We Were 8 Years in Power: An American Tragedy, takes its name from a speech given in 1895 by South Carolina congressman Thomas Miller. He stated,

"We were eight years in power. We had built schoolhouses, established charitable institutions, built and maintained the penitentiary system, provided for the education of the deaf and dumb, rebuilt the ferries. In short, we had reconstructed the State and place it upon the road to prosperity."

Coates takes this quote and ties his collection of essays together around it. The format is simple - a re-printing of 8 of his pieces from The Atlantic, one for each year of the Obama presidency, along with a reflective introduction to each. Coates is hard on himself when it comes to his earlier work and is unflinchingly honest about why he believes he's been a success. At times he gives himself too little credit and forgets (or is too humble to admit) that at least part of his success is due to his great talent for writing. There is a progression in skill to be seen here, but the raw talent for the written word shines through from even the earliest piece.  

I could actually write about this book for days. I loved it. I think everyone should read it with an open mind. I think it's going to be polarizing though because a lot of white people are going to hate it. Coates is unafraid of peeling back the mask and showing the ugly supremacist foundation our country has been built on and refuses to acknowledge. He tackles racism head on and doesn't sugar-coat his feelings in deference to white fragility. Some will find that hard to swallow. Sadly, those are the ones who need to absorb his message the most. 

I read that Coates is now working on an historical fiction novel. I can't wait to add it to my to-read stack as soon as the title and pre-order date are released.

We Were 8 Years In Power will be available at all booksellers on October 3, 2017.

Public Relations

                                        

Public Relations by Katie Heaney and Arianna Rebolini tells the story of  Rose Reed, an up and coming publicist at the fast paced fictional PR firm of Weaver-Girard. Desperate to impress her hard-to-read boss Joanna, Rose is an anxiety riddled mess who happens to be a bit of a genius when it comes to music PR. She gets the chance to sit in on a meeting with Archie Fox, an obvious Harry Styles stand-in, who is in serious need of a career boost and manages to impress him with her idea - a staged romance between Archie and too-cool-for-life new artist Raya. As time goes on though, Rose starts to feel like maybe a real romance is in order with her as the leading lady..

Public Relations is one of those books that needs to be a movie. It's a fast-paced, ridiculously over the top, full of cliches, romantic comedy that somehow just works. There are parts that I hated (for the love of god, don't base your hero on such an easily identifiable real-life guy!!!) but mostly I loved it.

I did have a few issues (of course). I would have been so much more impressed if Rose's issues had been dealt with more. Why is she so anxious? Why does she have so little self-confidence when she's clearly very gifted at what she does? As is too common in these sorts of books (spoiler alert!) the focus is mainly on the heroine getting her man by the end and less on the heroine becoming a complete, healthy, independent, successful human being. This book, like so many others out there, sends that tired old message that says you can't be complete unless you've landed yourself a man.

Also: Harry Styles? Really? The obviousness of the real-life counterpart took me out of the story a lot. A lot a lot. That aspect of the book made it less like a "real" novel and more like fanfic. And don't get me wrong - I like fanfic. Well-written fanfic has its place. Just not in a book you pay money for. At times I felt like I was intruding on the authors' private fantasies and it felt kind of squicky.

The writing is strong enough to overcome the books flaws in the end and I highly recommend this one. And I seriously do hope it gets picked up and becomes a movie. It would be an excellent addition to the genre of rom-coms that everyone loves to bitch about but also secretly watches every time they're on tv (I'm looking at you 27 Dresses).

Pretty Girls

I was so excited to win Pretty Girls through a Goodreads Giveaway. I've never read Karin Slaughter before and wasn't sure what to expect with this novel - only that it would be good, according to some of my favorite authors.

Pretty Girls is the story of sisters Claire, Lydia and Julia, who disappeared decades earlier at the age of 19. Claire and Lydia are estranged until Claire's husband is murdered one afternoon. The murder sets off a terrifying chain of events leading to a shocking conclusion.

This is one of those books where I can't say too much without giving away a lot of plot, so just trust me when I say that if you like thrillers, this is the book for you. It starts out with a slow burn while the setting and characters are carefully laid out and then BAM! You're off and running and won't be able to put it down.

Reading this, I can see why people love Karin Slaughter. She is amazing. The book is more than just your run of the mill standard thriller. It has heart. I'm not embarrassed to say that I cried a little towards the end. Slaughter has a gift for writing about family relationships in the wake of tragedy that feels real and believable.

Love May Fail

Unlike a lot of  other reviewers of this book, I've never read The Silver Linings Playbook. I've seen the movie and thought it was ok (I do maintain that Jennifer Lawrence, who I adore, really won her Oscar not for her performance in this movie, but for her role in Winter's Bone - she was totally robbed that year), but still haven't gotten around to reading the book.

Maybe that's why I liked this book so much. Most other reviews I've read of it can't seem to help themselves from comparing it (mostly unfavorably) to The Silver Linings Playbook. I can see some of the issues others have pointed out - it's overly sentimental at times. The character of Portia Kane is a little annoying in a predictable Jersey-trash kind of way. And a few of the situations/occurrences had me rolling my eyes a little.

Still. This was a charming book. Once one suspends ones disbelief in all of the all-too-perfect random coincidences bringing people together and just decides to enjoy the ride, it turns out to be a very good book. And now that I have finally read for myself what kind of work Matthew Quick produces, I'm very ready to read more.

To summarize the book, so that this isn't a total waste of space review - Portia Kane has just caught her sleazy pornographer husband cheating on her. Instead of shooting him (her first impulse), she instead jumps on a plane and heads home to Jersey and her not-quite-all-there, hoarder mother. After meeting a wise old nun on the plane who wishes her luck with a quest she didn't know she was embarking on, she decides she needs to save her tragically depressed high school English teacher, Mr. Vernon.

The story is told from four different viewpoints - Portia, Mr. Vernon, Sister Maeve and Chuck Bass.

***Let me pause here for a moment and give my biggest criticism of this book. Seriously? A character named Chuck Bass? Ok, I get that this is literary fiction and that Q probably is above pop culture, guilty pleasure trash like Gossip Girl, but come. on. You can't name a character Chuck Bass anymore without it casting a massive shadow over the whole story. Chuck Bass is not a recovering heroin addict in the suburbs of New Jersey. He's Chuck Motherfucking Bass. A spoiled rotten New York hotelier's son with questionable morals and a deep love for Blair Waldorf. Everytime Chuck's whole name is mentioned in this book, it took me right out of the story. Anyway, back to the review...***

Q does a good job creating a distinct voice for each character - particularly for Sister Maeve and for Mr. Vernon.

As each character interacts and the web that binds them all is revealed, the story shows its big heart. I feel like if I say more, I'll reveal too much, so I will leave it at this - Love May Fail is a worthwhile read.

Stillhouse Lake

I didn't originally intend to give Stillhouse Lake by Rachel Caine a standalone review. Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed the book all along, I just wasn't blown away. And then I got to the final third of the book and what had been an enjoyable thriller turned into a fast-paced, can't-put-it-down pile of awesome.

Rachel Caine has a great series on her hands here, if she can sustain the pace. I'm not sure how I haven't heard of her before; it appears she's written a number of books, mostly series, so that bodes well for this one.

Gina Royal thought she had the perfect life. A fulfilled stay-at-home mom to 2 young children, she had no idea that her loving husband Mel was secretly a serial killer using the converted family garage to play out his grotesque fantasies. And that's where the story starts.

After Mel Royal's trial and incarceration Gina is trying to put the pieces back together living under an an assumed name with her children, constantly on the run from those who want to see her pay for ever having been foolish enough to be married to evil. She settles down as Gwen Proctor in a small community by Stillhouse Lake and slowly starts to trust those around her again. And then all hell breaks loose.

I can't wait for the next book in this series! Anyone who loves a good thriller will like this one a lot.

My Not So Perfect Life

I know I said I'd be posting a lot more going forward only a few weeks ago, but you know how it goes nonexistent readers... if only intentions counted as actions. If only thinking was as good as doing. If that were the case, this blog would be updated daily and my to-be-read stack wouldn't be quite so towering. (Side note: my house would also be immaculate, I'd speak several languages fluently and, well, you get the idea)

At any rate, I have managed to collect my thoughts on a book I read recently. My Not So Perfect Life by Sophie Kinsella is classic Kinsella at her best. It was with some trepidation that I grabbed this one off the shelf at my local library. I've been a fan of Kinsella for years and years (ever since the first Shopaholic novel) but her more recent books have been, well, meh. While the Shopaholic books seem to be getting worse with every installment, Kinsella's standalone novels are almost always good and this one was no exception.

My Not So Perfect life gives a great light and fluffy take on our society's current obsession with documenting our too too fabulous lives via social media and reminds us that things are not always what they seem.

Katie Brenner, our protagonist, is attempting to live out her dreams as Kate Brenner in the big city. She's ditched her accent, straightened her hair and landed a glam job. From the outside looking in via her perfectly curated Instagram account, she's got it made. Or does she?

Katie is a typical Kinsella heroine - smart and sassy with a few confidence and reliability issues. The book overall is a fast, fun read - it's basically the epitome of the perfect beach read. I highly, highly recommend this one. If you've written off Kinsella because of what has become of the Shopaholic mess, give her another chance with this one -you won't be disappointed!

The Knockoff

The Knockoff, by Lucy Sykes and Jo Piazza, caught my eye at the library the other day and I plowed through it very quickly. I both loved and hated this book. Overall - it was a cute, fun read. I would highly recommend it as a quick beach read. It's classic chick lit fluff - totally along the same lines as Helen Fielding, Marian Keyes or Jane Green (before she tried to get serious). Imogen Tate is a super-successful editor in chief of a glossy women's fashion magazine named, appropriately (if unimaginatively) enough, Glossy. She takes a 6 month medical leave to deal with breast cancer and returns to find her former assistant Eve has been rehired and promoted to... something kind of like her boss? But not? It's fuzzy. Anyway, Eve's directing all the online content for Glossy, which has, in 6 months, decided to stop printing and go totally online/be app-based. Also, Eve's basically a psychopath. The whole book is like a fashion mag remake of the classic movie All About Eve but it still feels original. Now, for the part I HATED. We're supposed to somehow believe that during the 6 months Imogen was out on leave, the world became super high tech. And poor, poor Imogen just can't keep up with any of it. Seriously? This woman is supposed to be like 5 years older than me and she can barely figure out how to send a text. How does that work? I mean, I know us Gen X'rs can't really compete with Millenials when it comes to staying up-to-the-second on the absolute latest tech trends (I say that as someone who just refuses to sign up for Snapchat. I just can't you guys. It's just too much) but for goodness sake, we were the original online generation. How is Imogen supposed to be believable at all?! I feel like she should have either been made to be 20 years older (or even 30 - seriously, this chick is less tech-literate than my mom and believe me, that's saying something) or maybe spent a few years out of the office instead of a few months (iPhones, Twitter and Instagram didn't just spring up overnight y'all) or even just had her be a little less helpless in the face of change. Her inability to figure out simple things that the rest of us have adapted to as they came out is infuriating and one wonders how someone so out of the loop in all things tech can possibly be believable as someone who can keep up with the ever changing world of fashion. It doesn't make any sense. Still, if you can get past the whole "Imogen is super stunted when it comes to those newfangled computin' machines" thing, it really is a great read. I might even buy this one to re-read when I need a fluffy little palate cleanser.

Dumplin'

Willowdean Dickson aka Dumplin’ is fat. She’s ok with that though - at least she would be if her pageant-obsessed mom would ease up about it, anyway. She’s got more confidence and swagger than most high school girls I’ve known who were half her size and isn’t afraid to love herself, no matter what the rest of the world might think. 

Then she meets Bo, the hottie from work. Their secret-for-no-real-reason romance makes Will feel overwhelmingly self-conscious for the first time. In an effort to reclaim her self-love and get her mojo back, Will enters the Miss Teen Bluebonnet Pageant along with a few misfit friends. 

I loved this book for its honest look at how overweight women are looked at in today’s society. Is Willowdean a flawless character? No. She’s sometimes petty, sometimes selfish and sometimes mean. But she’s also relatable, no matter what you weigh. 

I absolutely and wholeheartedly recommend this one for anyone who’s ever had their confidence shaken or felt like an outsider. Julie Murphy is going on my list of authors to watch.

Did You Ever Have a Family

Early on in the story, a main character overhears a catty group of lunching ladies gossiping about her tragedy. "How do you recover from that? How would you even begin?" As it turns out, she tells us, you don't ever recover. You just learn to survive.

Did You Ever Have a Family is a story about tragedy. What would you do if your entire family was gone in an instant? How would you react?

The story follows June, Lydia and an assortment of others. Each chapter is told from a different character's perspective and by the end, you have the full story of what really happened the night June's house exploded, killing her daughter, her daughter's fiance, her ex-husband and her current boyfriend -- Lydia's son. It's hard to say much without giving everything away, just know that it's a really good book but a little bit of a slow read because it's so detail-rich.

I've been hearing bits and pieces about this one for a year now and am really glad I finally got the chance to read it. Bill Clegg is incredibly talented and I can't wait to read more by him.

Before I Fall

I mentioned at the beginning of the month that I was starting on Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver and that I'd been led to believe I'd either love it or hate it. I loved it. It seems weird to call a book that is clearly not set in reality as we know it realistic, but that's the best descriptor for it that I can come up with. It was really real. For all that it was about a girl stuck in the worst Groundhog Day loop ever, it somehow rang true for me.

Before I Fall is the redemptive afterlife story of a mean girl. Sam has a great life as one of her high school's most popular girls. The thing is, she's not a very nice person. She's shallow and bitchy and way too concerned with what people might think vs. what she really wants. All that changes when she's killed in a car accident. That's when she starts living the last day of her life over and over (and over) again.

Sam starts to realize that she hasn't always been the nicest girl and that her actions have had consequences. She begins trying to live each repeated day as a better version of herself, partly because she wants to find a way out of the loop and partly because she seems to finally want to be a better person. Sam is a deeply flawed character who is simultaneously likable and unbearable because of those flaws.

I'd recommend this one for anyone who was a mean girl, was victimized by mean girls or who just likes well-written young adult fiction.