Showing posts with label 2021. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2021. Show all posts

March 2, 2022

Review: Ethic by Ashley Antoinette







Ethic by Ashley Antoinette
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Published: March 2018
Ethic

Ethic is a heartbroken man. He called in the hit that took the life of his love. Now he is raising his own children along with his love's sister, Morgan. Morgan wants to live the same life her sister did. Ethic is trying to move on from that life and keep Morgan far away from it. But it's in her blood and she just can't stay away. Being he is not her father, it's hard to keep her reigned in. Will he be able to keep both her and his own children safe and stay out of the life that has hurt him so badly?

I really enjoyed Moth to a Flame and I couldn't wait to read more of Ethic's story. This book will grab at your heartstrings and play a sad song.

I have only read a few of Ashley Antoinette's books, but I have enjoyed them. They grab your attention right from the beginning and won't let you go until the very end. Whether you listen to the book or read it, you are sure to be swept up in the story.

After reading this I immediately went to Ethic 2. I might finish the entire series before long.

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Books A Million

May 28, 2021

Review: The Woman with the Blue Star by Pam Jenoff



The Woman with the Blue Star by Pam Jenoff
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Published: May 2021
The Woman with the Blue Star

It's World War II in Poland. Jews are being forced from their homes. When the ghettos they are placed into are then raided, Sadie and her family take to the sewer where they hope to remain safe. There are many trials and tribulations along the way, but with the help of Ella, a non-Jewish Pole, Sadie finds a way to survive. These two women from the same country, but in very different circumstances form a friendship that can't be broken.

Thank you to Park Row Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Historical fiction is not usually my favorite genre, but this story really hit a special place in my heart. From the beginning, I was intrigued by this story. I had no idea where it would go and if Sadie and her family would survive. I have heard and read several stories about this time in our history, but this is the first I've heard of people taking to the sewers for shelter. This is a story about pain and unimaginable loss. There were even a few twists in the story that I didn't see coming.

If you enjoy WWII stories, I think this is one you should add to your TBR.

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May 12, 2021

Review: Hurricane Summer by Asha Bromfield



Hurricane Summer: A Novel by Asha Bromfield
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Published: May 2021

Hurricane Summer: A Novel
Tilla and her sister Mia are spending the summer in Jamaica with their father and his family. It's also hurricane season. While she feels welcome upon her arrival to the island, when her father leaves the countryside to return to town, it becomes a different story. Because she is from "foreign" and she has a lot of things these people could only dream of having(although where she is from it's not much at all)she is automatically labeled as something she is not. Jamaica is a beautiful, but poor country. In this land, Tilla will learn more about her father, her home country and herself.

Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

From the moment you open the cover of this book, you are gripped. Even before the author starts to tell you the story, she tells us her story. I was in tears at the start of this book and by the end, the tears were streaming down my face.

For Tilla, this summer will be her first glimpse into womanhood. She has feelings she has never felt before with her father as well as romantically. She is betrayed by people who she is supposed to love and trust and who are supposed to protect her. She finds truths she wasn't ready for. When the hurricane hits stronger than anticipated, she wants to leave the island as fast as possible. But what she learns by staying will be a greater knowledge than any book would ever teach her.

This is a deeply moving book that I will not forget any time soon!

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March 22, 2021

Review: Silence Is a Sense by Layla AlAmmar


Silence Is a Sense by Layla AlAmmar
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Published: March 2021

Silence Is a Sense

As a Syrian refugee now living in Englan, The Voiceless observes the world around her and writes about it. She can see the neighbors in other flats and has names for them all. When the violence that took her from her home erupts in her new neighborhood, she has to make a stand somehow. But how can she do that without a voice?

Thank you to Algonquin and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I have no idea what it would be like to be forced from your home because of violence. Having to travel by any means necessary, go through unthinkable trials, just to land in a place where you don't know anyone. You don't know what has become of your family and friends and really don't have a way to find out. Maybe this is why she became voiceless.
“A fierce novel… Layla AlAmmar has skillfully woven a narrative of memory and grief with an illuminating social critique of the position of asylum seekers within contemporary British society. It is daring and devastating.” —Fiona Mozley, Booker-finalist author of Elmet and Hot Stew 
 “Kuwaiti writer AlAmmar explores trauma and voicelessness through fragmented narrative form and a mute protagonist who has survived the war in Syria and is now living in isolation in the UK.” —The Millions 
 “With a powerful prose, AlAmmar pens a story about a young woman traumatized into muteness after a dangerous trip from war-torn Syria to the UK.” — Palm Beach Daily News 
 “Evocative… The conflicts over immigration and racism are brilliantly distilled, and they dovetail seamlessly with the narrator’s lyrical, increasingly defiant narration. Patient readers will find much to ponder.” —Publishers Weekly
Even leaving Syria didn't keep her from the violence against her people. Others want her to write more about these experiences, but she doesn't want to reveal who she really is. While this story takes place in England, this could have taken place anywhere in the world. With the news in our country at this time about Asian-Americans being targeted for violence. Whenever something bad happens in our country, those who are associated with the country, faith, race, that the incident stemmed from, tend to get all of the rage against the injustice. Even though it has nothing to do with them.

Here is a quote from this book, that I think is important for us all(taken from uncorrected proof): "We are one being. All of us. You are not made any differently than I am. And these religions of ours are nothing but languages. You speak English, I speak Punjabi, he speaks French, she speaks Japanese or Chinese, but we all say the same thing. These religions, they are words, only a language. Jews, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, we are all saying the same thing. Your humanity and my humanity are the same. We are of one being, one value. All of us equal, all of us the same."

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March 1, 2021

Review: Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers


Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Published: February 2021  
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Grace has had a plan for the past 11 years. Graduate from college, get her doctorate, and become the best astronomer she can. But waking up in Vegas married, definitely was not part of that plan. That is just the start for Grace feeling out of place and confused about what the rest of her life is supposed to be like. She leaves her home in Portland to find out what her next step should be.

Thank you to Park Row Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I really enjoyed this book. It will make you take a look at your life and see if all the stress you put yourself under is really worth it. It will show you how to make a way in this world no matter what obstacles may come in your way.


Grace had just gotten her doctorate and is excited for a job interview she has that her mentor has set up for her. But that interview did not go as planned and now Grace is questioning everything about her future and the steps she took to get there. She will travel from the west coast to the east in order to find out what she is going to do with the rest of her life.

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February 23, 2021

New Release Tuesday 2/23/21

 


Every Tuesday, publishers grant us with the latest books available.  Here are the books being released today.  

WHAT I'M ADDING TO MY TBR



Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers
With her newly completed PhD in astronomy in hand, twenty-eight-year-old Grace Porter goes on a girls’ trip to Vegas to celebrate. She’s a straight A, work-through-the-summer certified high achiever. She is not the kind of person who goes to Vegas and gets drunkenly married to a woman whose name she doesn’t know…until she does exactly that.
This one moment of departure from her stern ex-military father’s plans for her life has Grace wondering why she doesn’t feel more fulfilled from completing her degree. Staggering under the weight of her parent’s expectations, a struggling job market and feelings of burnout, Grace flees her home in Portland for a summer in New York with the wife she barely knows.
In New York, she’s able to ignore all the constant questions about her future plans and falls hard for her creative and beautiful wife, Yuki Yamamoto. But when reality comes crashing in, Grace must face what she’s been running from all along—the fears that make us human, the family scars that need to heal and the longing for connection, especially when navigating the messiness of adulthood.

Like Home by Louisa Onome
Chinelo, or Nelo as her best friend Kate calls her, is all about her neighborhood Ginger East. She loves its chill vibe, ride-or-die sense of community, and the memories she has growing up there with her friends. Ginger East isn't what it used to be though. After a deadly incident at the local arcade, most of her friends' families moved away. Kate, whose family owns the local corner store, is still there and as long as that stays constant, Nelo's good.
When Kate's parent's store is vandalized and the vandal still at large, Nelo is shaken to her core. And then the police and the media get involved and more of the outside world descends upon Ginger East with promises to "fix the neighborhood." Suddenly, Nelo finds herself in the middle of a drama unfolding on a national scale.
Worse yet, Kate is acting strange. She's pushing Nelo away at the exact moment they need each other most. Now Nelo's entire world is morphing into something she hates and she must figure out how to get things back on track or risk losing everything--and everyone--she loves.


Flowers of Darkness by Tatiana De Rosnay
Author Clarissa Katsef is struggling to write her next book. She’s just snagged a brand new artist residency in an ultra-modern apartment, with a view of all of Paris, a dream for any novelist in search of tranquility. But since moving in, she has had the feeling of being watched. Is there reason to be paranoid? Or is her distraction and discomfort the result of her husband’s recent shocking betrayal? Or is that her beloved Paris lies altered outside her windows? A city that will never be quite the same, a city with a scar at its center?
Stuck inside, in the midst of a sweltering heat wave, Clarissa enlists her beloved granddaughter in her investigation of the mysterious, high tech building even as she finds herself drawn back into the orbit of her first husband who is still the one who knows her most intimately, who shares the past grief that she has never quite let go.
Staying true to her favorite themes—the imprint of the place, the weight of secrets—de Rosnay weaves an intrigue of thrilling suspense and emotional power.

Some Other Now by Sarah Everett
Before she kissed one of the Cohen boys, seventeen-year-old Jessi Rumfield knew what it was like to have a family—even if, technically, that family didn’t belong to her. She’d spent her childhood in the house next door, challenging Rowan Cohen to tennis matches while his older brother, Luke, studied in the background and Mel watched over the three like the mother Jessi always wished she had.
But then everything changed. It’s been almost a year since Jessi last visited the Cohen house. Rowan is gone. Mel is in remission and Luke hates Jessi for the role she played in breaking his family apart. Now Jessi spends her days at a dead-end summer job avoiding her real mother, who suddenly wants to play a role in Jessi's life after being absent for so long. But when Luke comes home from college, it's hard to ignore the past. And when he asks Jessi to pretend to be his girlfriend for the final months of Mel’s life, Jessi finds herself drawn back into the world of the Cohens. Everything’s changed, but Jessi can’t help wanting to be a Cohen, even if it means playing pretend for one final summer.


The Marriage Pass by Briana Cole
He’s rich, successful—and has been faithfully married to his longtime girlfriend for nearly one gruelingyear. Because for Dr. Dorian Graham, too many women is never too much—no matter how loyal his wife, Shantae, has been since their college days. So when she proposes they celebrate their first anniversary by each spending a no-questions-asked, no-consequences night with their greatest temptation, Dorian is shocked, but can’t resist. Especially since Shantae’s wild-card younger sister, Reagan, is gorgeous, uninhibited—and the one who got away . . .
It turns out one sizzling night with Reagan isn’t enough. Yet the more Dorian takes, the more she demands—and the more he suddenly has to lose. Soon, with his mind games being used against him and his every move checkmated, Dorian will be forced to go all-in on one last desperate play to win. But winning might just be another way to crash and burn . . .

OTHER BOOKS RELEASING TODAY



What new books are you looking forward to?

Click on any book cover* to learn more about the book or to order a copy. 

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February 8, 2021

Review: You Have a Match by Emma Lord



You Have a Match by Emma Lord
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Published: January 2021
You Have a Match
When Abby takes a DNA test to be supportive of her best friend, Leo, she is shocked by the results. She has a full-blooded sister out there that she knew nothing about. With the help of her friends, she finds her sister, Savannah, and makes plans for them to get together over the summer. They are determined to find out what happened since they are so close in age. Will they be able to find out the secrets of the past? Will they be able to be friends and sisters in the future?

Thanks to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

What would you do if you found out you had a full-blooded sibling that you knew nothing about. You're almost an adult and there is another person out there who shares your DNA. Abby is shocked and determined to find out the truth of what is going on. Why did her parents give Savannah up for adoption? Why didn't they tell her? How will they feel when they find out she knows? What about Savannah's parents, will they allow them to have a relationship?

This book has a little bit of everything, but at the core is getting to know a sister. Learning more about yourself and your family. There is also teenage love and LGQBT+ relationships. There are friendships that are tested and familiar relationships that are drawn closer. This is the second book I have read by Emma Lord and I have enjoyed them all. I hope you will give them a try, I'm sure you will as well.

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