Review: The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Published: June 2020

In the town of Mallard, Louisiana every one is a light-skinned black person. Some could even pass for white. Darker-skinned blacks were frowned on. Twins Stella and Desiree Vignes wanted to get away from Mallard and see what else was out there in the world. When they were sixteen, they did just that. No one saw them again, until many years later when Desiree comes walking back into town with her very dark daughter, Jude. Running away from a dangerous situation to the only other home she has ever known, Desiree doesn't think she will stay in this place, especially without her sister.

This was a book club selection for the month of March. I have read The Mothers and I enjoyed that one, but this one I connected with even more.

When Desiree brings her daughter into town, it reminded me of my mom and me. My mom is dark-skinned and I am lighter-skinned. I recently found out that I'm 37% European. So when I was little, my mom used to get asked a lot whose child she was watching whenever she and I were out together. I could really relate to this story, coming from a family where half are light-skinned black people and the other half are dark-skinned. Another thing, my light-skinned family a few of them all live together on the same land they grew up on. I live there for the first 10 years of my life. I loved it because I know I could go to this aunt's house for cookies, and if I went to this uncle's house, I better take my shoes off at the door.

I really loved this book and I devoured it. I couldn't put it down.

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Review: Adulting by Liz Talley

Adulting by Liz Talley
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Published: February 2021

Chase London is an actress who has messed her life up. Drinking and drugs have almost destroyed her career. She has one last chance to get her life together and get this movie role. Olivia Han is the person who is going to be the one to do this for her. But will Chase accept the help and be able to get herself on the right path?

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

At first, I didn't think I was going to like this book. I wasn't drawn to a book about an entitled actress who wouldn't accept the help she didn't have to pay for. As the story went on and we got to know the characters better, I started to like the story better. Both of the women have issues in their pasts that have turned them into the women that they are today.

Throughout the book, you learn to like both Olivia and Chase. A book with a bit of romance and family secrets. There are a few trigger warnings that aren't dominating the story for rape, drug overdose and sexual child abuse.

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Review: Sunrise on Half Moon Bay by Robyn Carr

Sunrise on Half Moon Bay by Robyn Carr
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Published: April 2020
 

Adele and Justine are sisters who are 20 years apart. They have never really been close. When both of their parents pass away after Adele has been caring for them for the past eight years, both sister find a big change in their lives. Adele has only been a caretaker for the past 8 years since she dropped out of school to take care of her parents and now she doesn't have any idea what she is going to do with the rest of her life. For Justine, her job is going through a merger and she's not sure she even wants this job anymore, plus her marriage is in trouble. Will these sisters be able to get back on the right path?

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

I really enjoyed this book. It hooked me from the very beginning and I enjoyed the story from start to finish. This was a family you were invested in and you wanted to see what was going to happen with these ladies.

Being a caretaker is a hard job and Adele has dedicated the past eight years of her life to doing just that. She left school at Berkley because of other issues she was having and didn't look back once her parents got ill. Now it's time to start her life and even though she and her sister aren't close, maybe this is something to bring them closer.

Justine seems like she has it all together, putting on a brave face for those in her inner circle, never letting her emotions getting the best of her. At first, I didn't like Justine, but in the end, she won me over. She is the bread winner in the family and when she finds out her husband is having an affair, you would think she would show some type of something, but it takes a while.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I've only read a few of Robyn Carr's books, but I look forward to reading more.


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Excerpt:
 “Has it ever occurred to Scott to get a serious job?” Adele asked. “I mean, forgive me, since I haven’t had a serious job in my life.” 
Justine smiled patiently. “Your jobs have all been serious, and without you we’d have been lost. If you hadn’t dedicated yourself to Mom’s care, it would have cost our whole family a fortune. We’re indebted to you. And I agree it would help if Scott worked more than part-time, but I think that ship sailed years ago. He’s only worked part-time since Amber and Olivia came along.” 
Adele adored her nieces, ages sixteen and seventeen. She was much closer to them than she was to Justine. 
“I’m sorry you’re going through this,” Adele said. “I wish there was something I could do.” 
“Well, the thing is, the future is looking very uncertain. I might need your help,” Justine said. 
“What could I do?” she asked. 
“Adele, I don’t like to push you, but you have to get it together. We have to make some decisions about what you’re going to do, what we’ll do with the house. I realize what I’ve given you for your hard work hasn’t been much, but I don’t know how long I can keep it up—paying for the maintenance on this house, the taxes, a modest income for you… I don’t want to panic prematurely,” Justine said. “Maybe I’ll be able to work everything out without too much hassle, but if I run into trouble… Money could get very tight, Addie. All those promises I made—that I’d help financially while you fix up the house, that I’d give you my half of the proceeds when and if you sold it… I might not be able to come through. I know, I know, I promised you it would be yours after all of your sacrifice, but you wouldn’t want me to ignore the girls’ tuition or not be able to make the mortgage…” 
“But Justine!” Adele said. “That’s all I have! And I was considering finishing school myself!” Though if she was honest, she had no plans of any kind. 
Justine reached out to her, squeezing her hand. “We’re a long way from me needing money. I just felt it was only fair to tell you what’s going on. If we’re in this together, we can both make it. I swear, I will make this all work out. I’ll make it right.” 
But as Adele knew, they had never really been “in it together” in the past, and they wouldn’t be for very long in the future. Addie’s dedication to their parents allowed Justine to devote herself to her career. For that matter, it should be Justine and Scott shoring each other up. At least until Justine had a better idea. But where was Scott today? Golfing? Biking? Bowling? 
Adele realized she had some difficult realities to face. When she dropped out of school to help her mother care for her father, she wasn’t being completely altruistic. She’d needed a place to run away to, hiding an unplanned pregnancy and covering her tattered heart. She’d never told her family that her married lover—her psychology professor—had broken down in tears when he explained he couldn’t leave his wife to marry Adele, that the college would probably fire him for having an affair with a student. For her, going home was the only option. 
At the time Justine and Scott had been riding the big wave and didn’t lust after the small, old house in Half Moon Bay. That house was chump change to them. So, they worked out a deal. Adele had become her mother’s guardian with a power of attorney. But the will had never been adjusted to ref lect just one beneficiary rather than two. In the case of the death of both parents, Adele and Justine would inherit equal equity in the eighty-year-old house and anything left of the life insurance. At the time, of course, neither Adele nor Justine had ever considered the idea that Adele would be needed for very long. But before Adele knew it, eight years had been gobbled up. She was thirty-two and had been caring for her parents since she was twenty-four. 
Adele, as guardian, could have escaped by turning over the house, pension, social security to a care facility for her mother and gone out on her own, finding herself a better job and her own place to live. She wasn’t sure if it was her conscience or just inertia that held her in place for so long. 
“I just wanted to make sure you understood the circumstances before anything more happens,” Justine said. “And since you don’t have any immediate plans, please don’t list the house for sale or anything. Give me a chance to figure out what’s next. I have children. I’ll do whatever I can to protect them and you. They’re your nieces! They love you so much. I’m sure you want them to get a good education as much as I do.” 
Does anyone want me to have a real chance to start over? Adele asked herself. This conversation sounded like Justine was pulling out of their deal. 
“I’ll think about this, but Scott has responsibilities, too,” she pointed out. 
“He’s been out of the full-time workforce for so long…” Justine said. 
“Just the same, we all have to live up to our adult commitments and responsibilities. And you’ve had a highfalutin job for a long time. You’ve made a lot of money. You can recover. I haven’t even begun.” 
“I need your help, Addie,” Justine said. “You need to come up with a plan, something we can put in motion. Make plans for your next step, put a little energy into this old house, make suggestions of what we should do with it, everything. Let’s figure out what to do before I find myself short and unable to help. I’m sorry, but we have to move forward.”


Excerpted from Sunrise on Half Moon Bay, Copyright © 2020 by Robyn Carr. Published by MIRA Books.

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Review: Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney

Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Amber is in a coma. She can hear the people around her, but there is nothing she can do. The book travels back to the events leading up to the coma and the diary of a young girl with a lot of troubles. This book is full of shocking events. Is her husband to blame for the accident that put Amber in a coma? Will her sister be able to find out what is going on before Amber wakes up? Will Amber ever wake up? How will the events of her past shape her future if/when she does wake up?

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

I must say that I'm just as confused now as when I was reading the book. Usually for me it is because the book travels back and forth through time, but this time, the story itself was confusing. You think you may know what is going on, but then a curve in thrown into the story and you have no idea what is going on. The story held my attention and I was able to finish it rather quickly, but even days after finishing it, it has left me with questions.

Is Amber really as bad as you think? What about her sister Claire? Who is the real culprit in all the disaster that has happened in their lives?


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AudioBook Review: The Identicals by Elin Hilderbrand

The Identicals by Elin Hilderbrand
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Tabitha and Harper Frost are identical twins. Their parents divorced when they were 14 years old, and the twins were split between the parents(like the Parent Trap). Tabitha goes with their mother to Nantucket and Harper goes with their father to Martha's Vineyard. Even though these 2 islands are only a few miles away, they might as well be thousands. After this separation the girls grew farther and farther apart until they stopped speaking all together. When their father, Billy, dies, will it be enough to bring Tabitha and Harper back together as the sisters they once were, or will this drive them even farther apart?

Elin Hilderbrand has put together another enjoyable novel. My travels have never brought me further north than upstate New York, but she paints a picture of the New England coastline as a place I have to visit.

I don't know what it's like to be a twin, but I do have a sister. I think it would be impossible to go years without speaking to or seeing my sister. What happened between Tabitha and Harper that they couldn't work out their differences? Will the death of their father prove to them that whatever it was can be fixed?

For me, I didn't really connect with either of these characters. The person I connected most with was Ainsley, Tabitha's 15 year old daughter. At the beginning of the book, she is struggling through life as all girls at that age do. Trying to find out who you are, who your friends should be, which cliques to be a part of. Ainsley is trying to figure out her place in her world and trying to find her way through that with a parent who is pretty much hands-off.

Harper is also struggling through some things at the start of the book. But unfortunately, this is nothing new for Harper. She always seems to find herself on the wrong side of trouble.

Tabitha as well is going through a tough situation. As the head of her mother's clothing empire, trying to keep the store afloat as well as raise a teenage daughter and have a social life, it's a lot on one person.

Will these three ladies be able to put their differences aside, pull up their big girl panties, and work everything out so that they all will be able to coexist and thrive?

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AudioBook Review: I'll Take You There by Wally Lamb

I'll Take You There by Wally Lamb
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Usually I do not review the audio books I listen to on the blog.  Mainly because I listen to them over such an extended period of time that the characters are lost to me and the story sits in the back of my mind.  But this story really stuck out to me.  I think it resonates with what is going on in our world today and a book everyone should read.

Felix Funicello is a film professor who lives in Connecticut. He is divorced and has one daughter, Eliza, who is currently working for New York Magazine. Felix also has two older sister, Simone and Frances who are an integral part of his life. Felix hold a movie club on Monday nights in the old Vaudeville theater in town. One night as he is setting up, he is visited by the ghost of Lois Weber, a renowned film director in her time. Lois shows Felix glimpses of his life along with the important women in it. Through these snapshots, Felix gains a greater understanding of the women in his life and women in general.

This book was reminiscent to A Christmas Carol, but he is visited by the same ghost, who brings three different visitors with her. Felix is first returned to his six year-old self. Where he and his sisters are helping their neighbor gather votes to become the next Rheingold Girl. Rheingold is a beer. This happens after his daughter tells him she has to write a piece about these girls.

The next transportation is a few years later when Felix is twelve. His mother and sister are talking in the kitchen about her boss being inappropriate with her at work. This part I heard just a few days after hearing day after day about a new man in a high position has been removed because of inappropriate behavior in the work place. Mind you, this is taking place in the early '60s and times were different, but some things never change. As Eliza, is telling her mother about what her boss has said, it's the mother's response that truly strikes me.
"Men are men. Shapely girls like you just have to put up with stuff like that in the working world or else quit. Those are your choices."
Thank God, those are no longer our choices, and that shouldn't have been the mentality then, maybe we wouldn't have all these issues today.

Also during this trip, Felix is given some news about his family that will change the dynamic forever.

The final time Lois comes to visit, the guest she brings, gives Felix a testimony that he has wondered about in the back of his mind for most of his life. That helps to fill a missing piece. The story is sad and is a part of the two previous visits from Lois.

All of these visits help Felix to be a better man, brother and father to the women in his life.

I think this is a very important book for all women to read, especially with the things going on in our world today. Told from the male point of view, I think it helps to see that some men can be empathetic to the plights of women. And this books covers a lot of those plights, from feminism, to abortion, adoption and acceptance. Years ago, I read She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb and I remember feeling the same way after reading it. Read them both.



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Review--Those Girls by Chevy Stevens

Those Girls by Chevy Stevens
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So the third time is the charm. I have really been in a book funk lately and haven't picked up a book in a very long time. I checked this book out three times from the library before I was able to finish it. BUT THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS BOOK!

My mother introduced me to Chevy Stevens a few years ago and ever since, I try to read whatever she has put out. So far I think I am missing one maybe two. This book was so exciting and a thrill to read, I was made that my mood made it hard for me to pick up a book.

Jess, Courtney and Dani live with their father in Canada. Their father is usually gone for weeks at a time working and the girls are left to fend for themselves and work the ranch they live on to survive. When their father returns home late one night after drinking and finding out some disturbing news about his middle daughter Courtney, he is quite upset and hurls all of his anger on the girls. When the unthinkable happens, the girls know they must escape before they are thrust back into the foster care system. On the run from their father and their past, they make a stop in a small town when their truck breaks down. Only things here only get worse for the girls. Trapped for days with no one knowing where they are, they manage to escape again, running for their lives.

Now almost 18 years later, life is very different for the girls who are now women. They have changed their names and tried to move on from the horrific events that have plagued their past. When one of the sisters is gone for a few days, they don't think much of it, but when her niece goes missing too, there are many questions in the search for these women. Haunted by their past the remaining sisters travel back to the small town that changed their lives to try and find their sister and niece, but will they be able to find them before it is too late?

Chevy Stevens knows how to write a book that will keep you on the edge of your seat. She draws you into the story and keeps you captivated from the start. Whenever I did pick up this book I would read until I could no longer keep my eyes open. I will let you know, not as a spoiler, but the end of this book had me in tears. I mean full out running down the face tears. I hope it will release the same emotions in you. Highly recommended.


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Review--Better Than I Know Myself by Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant

Better Than I Know Myself by Virginia DeBerry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Did you ever have a friend who was more like family? For Regina Foster, Jewel Prescott, and Carmen Webb this is exactly true. Better Than I Know Myself starts in the late 70's when the girls are seniors in high school and making the decision on where to go to college. Three different girls from three very different backgrounds.  Jewel, a former child star. Regina, the daughter of two college educated parents and little sister to older brothers who had all attended and graduated from college. And Carmen whose parents had left her at a young age.

The story progresses through their meeting in New York at Barnard and continues through their graduation. Regina and Jewel were already roommates when they met Carmen at the university library.  They all got stuck in an elevator together and as they say, "The rest is history." They lived together through the early 80's as they grew into women and started to become independent.
The book covers twenty years of friendship and sisterhood and all the trials and tribulations that entails.

This book made me laugh out loud and brought a tear or two to my eyes.  It also made me want to get together with my closest girlfriends.  This is a book that you have to read until the end.

I listened to this book through the iPod and Overdrive.  The audio was read by Lisa Renee Pitts.


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Review--Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi

Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A girl named Boy, a girl named Snow and a girl named Bird.  Three unique names for three unique individuals.  It's 1953 and Boy is living in New York, the daughter of a rat catcher.  She has never known her mother.  Boy "was a girl with a white-blonde pigtail hanging down over one shoulder..." When life with her father got to be too much, she packed her stuff and moved to the farthest place she could get on the bus, Flax Hill, CT.

Quickly, Boy made friends and met a man, Arturo Whitman.  Arturo has a daughter named Snow, who the whole town adored.  Shortly after Arturo and Boy are married, she becomes pregnant.  When she gives birth to her daughter, Bird, the Whitman family secrets soon come to light.

There is an underlying theme in this book with mirrors.  The women claim that they do not "see" themselves in them.  Is it because they are ghosts? Or is it that their family secrets run so deep that they find it hard to see themselves as they really are?

This book reminded me of books I had to read for school.  I enjoyed the storyline as a whole, but reading it, I felt as though there were questions I was supposed to be searching the answers for instead of just enjoying the book.  There are so many secrets throughout the entire book with the biggest secret coming at the end.  Told in three sections by Boy, Bird, and then Boy again, this is very interesting story about race in the north in the 50's and 60's.

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Review -- The Weird Sisters 4/29/14

The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown, read by Kirsten Potter

Rosalind, Bianca, and Cordelia are the Andreas sisters. Rosalind(Rosie) is a professor at the local college, Bianca(Bean) is off in New York, working and enjoying the nightlife, Cordelia(Cordy)is riding the wind wherever it takes her. One summer, they all show up back at home. Although Rosie has never left the town they grew up with, she is staying with her parents a lot more now. Cordy & Bean show up, just when they are needed most. Their mother is sick and is going to need their help. Each sister has been drawn home for a different reason, but being home will change them all.

The Weird Sisters is a weird book. It was written in the third person, but I didn't know which sister was speaking at the time. Maybe this is because I listened to the audio instead of reading the actual book, but I found it strange that it seemed like they were talking about each other, but you never knew who was speaking at that time. Maybe there was a fourth sister. 

This book was just okay for me. It was an interesting story, but there wasn't anything that really stood out for me to make this a great book.

I give it 2 stars!!  

I listened to this on my iPod and borrowed it from Overdrive library.  I am unsure if I will read more by this author.  If it is written in the same format, I may not!

What's in a Blog??

So, I've tried this before and now I'm going to do it for real!!  I've decided that I can take a few minutes every morning to post my little bit about what I'm reading.

This week, I'm listening to The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown.   It's the story of the three Andreas sisters who have all returned home "to help take care of their mother".  They will each find out that the reasons they all came home were for something else entirely.   Will they be able to overcome the hurdles in their life?


The other book I'm reading is Touch by Mark Sennen.  Mark is a British author that was brought to my attention via my group on Goodreads 'A Good Thriller"(check it out)!  This book is about Detective Inspector Charlotte Savage.  This is the first book in a series.  In Touch, Savage is trying to find a killer/rapist who is dropping dead bodies all over the place.  If you are down with British lingo, then you will enjoy this book tremendously.   I, have had a bit of trouble with that part of the book myself, otherwise, it's going pretty good so far.

That is all for today!! I hope I will get followers to my blog and that I will be able to keep up with it!