Review: Daughter by Asha Bandele

Daughter by Asha Bandele

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Published: January 2005

Aya has made mistakes in her life, but she has worked hard to turn her life around and is now on the straight and narrow. When she is out for a jog, she is mistakenly shot by the police. As her mother waits to find out what is going to happen to her daughter, she reflects back on her own life and how they have arrived to this point.

This was recommended by @browngirlreading on Instagram.

This book made me think about how well I knew my own mother when she was in her teens and early 20s. I really don't know too much about what her personal life was like. I know she went to community college and got married and had me by the time she was 24. But I don't know if she went to parties or what she and her friends did on the weekends. I'm sure she doesn't know much about what I did in my late teens and early twenties either.

Miriam, Aya's mother looks back on the life she lived before Aya was born and the years right after she arrived. Each choice she made was to make a life for her daughter. Aya's father was killed shortly after she was born and the manner in which this happens I think is the most chilling part of the experience for Miriam.

This is a touching story that will make you think about mother/daughter relationships as well as how to be the best parent and protect your children as best as you can.

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Review: Loving Donovan by Bernice McFadden

Loving Donovan by Bernice L. McFadden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars.

Published: May 2015

Campbell and Donovan were meant to be together. It took them nearly half of their lives to find each other, and when they do the connection is immediate. But they both have been on their own for so long, will they be able to navigate a relationship? Their romance is not conventional and that has a lot to do with their pasts. The story is told from both of their perspectives, starting when they are young children. We see how the events of their youth, affect their future.

Thanks to @melantedreader on Instagram for this recommendation. She is doing a buddy read of this on Instagram so check it out. 

I love a good love story and this is one for the books. The love between Campbell and Donovan is not simple and easy, even though it should be. They each have their own issues to work through, and for Donovan that proves to be more difficult. They each get in their own way of finding and keeping love in their lives. Will they be able to get out of their own ways in order to make the relationship work?

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AudioBook Review: The Ex by Alafair Burke

The Ex by Alafair Burke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
 

Jack Harrison is an author who has suffered great loss in his life. In high school, he lost his mother. A few years later, his father. A few years after that, his brother. The same day his brother died in a car accident, was the same day he found out that his long-term girlfriend, Olivia Randall had been cheating on him. Jack goes on and lives his life and after being married for about 10 years, he loses his wife to gun violence. The person who killed his wife was a young boy whose father thought guns were the right way to reach his mentally troubled son. So the families were suing the boys father for wrongful death. But that suit was dropped and everyone is devastated. A few days later, Malcolm Neeley, father of the boy who killed Jack's wife is shot to death along with two other people. All signs point to Jack as the person who committed this crime. But, Olivia knows Jack and he would never do something like this, right? Is Jack guilty or innocent. As time goes on, it's hard to tell.

Thank you to my Bookaholic friends for suggesting this book to me. This is the first book I have read by Alafair Burke and I can't wait to read more.

Imagine what you would do if you were accused of a crime you know you didn't commit. But all signs point to you. How can you handle it? What if your ex-girlfriend is the one who is representing you, do you think that would be a good idea? Jack Harrison seems like your typical guy, living his life and minding his business.

This book really touched me from start to finish. I had to know if Jack was really guilty or if someone was framing him and why would they do that? Jack is a man without too much in his life. It's just him and his daughter and his best friend. Why would his risk losing what little he had to get back at a man, whose son killed his wife.

Even though Olivia knew Jack 20 years ago, does she know the man today? Is she able to put aside their differences and see the evidence for what it is? You will have to read the book to find out.


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Review--The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.5 stars

Liesel Meminger is 9 years old and it is 1939.  Her mother is taking her and her brother to live with another family where they will be safe.  Unfortunately, the brother doesn't make it.  Liesel takes only two things with her to her new home; the memory of her brother and her first stolen book, The Gravediggers Handbook.

When Liesel arrives on Himmel street in Molching, Germany, she is greeted by Rosa and Hans Hubermann.  They welcome her into their home and she immediately is to call them Mama and Papa.  Even though Liesel is illiterate, Hans works with her every night when she is awakened with nightmares of her brothers death.  They retreat to the basement to do their reading.

For 5 years, Liesel lives on Himmel street during one of the most treacherous times in Germany.  She makes friends and enemies along the way and steals 5 more books.

First I would like to thank Victoria Doughertyfor recommending this book to me.  I have always been a fan of historical fiction and this book did not disappoint in any way, shape or form.  I thoroughly enjoyed this story.  I could see myself on Himmel Street with Liesel.  I could see what she could see and I could feel the torment she went through.  I thank God every time I finish a book like this because I live in a place and a time where these things aren't a constant worry for me.  I don't have to have my possessions packed and ready to go when I raid sirens going off.  I don't even hear raid sirens.  This is a book everyone needs to read if they haven't.

Another thing I found very interesting in this book was that it was narrated by death.  If that's not enough to make you want to read this...One of my favorite passages in the book is this "Here is a small fact...You are going to die."  Simple but true.  One day we all will die.  I hope and pray it is not in the way that the multitudes of people died in this book, but I know that one day it will happen.


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