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: More Than Maybe by Erin Hahn

More Than Maybe by Erin Hahn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Published: July 2020
 

Vada and Luke are both music fiends. They both come from musical families and their father's were both in bands. Luke's father had a band that got international attention, while Vada's was just local. They associate everything in life with music. As high school seniors they aren't sure where life will take them, but Vada's dream is to be a writer for Rolling Stone. They both have secret feelings for each other, Vada listening to Luke's podcast and Luke reading Vada's music blog. When they have to work together for a school assignment they spend a lot more one on one time together. Will they be able to change their love for music into love for each other?

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

When I first started this book, I thought it was going to be another cute YA love story, but this story is a little deeper. Each one of these kids has issues with their father's that is as deep to them as the music. There is a lot of music in this book, it's how Vada and Luke commuicate. Most kids send each other emoji's over text, not Vada and Luke, they send each other YouTube music videos. With that in mind, I made a playlist of the songs in the book, you can find it HERE.

This was a great YA love story that I hope you will enjoy as much as I did.


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Review: Not That I Could Tell by Jessica Strawser

Not That I Could Tell by Jessica Strawser
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Published: March 27, 2018

Six women from the small town of Yellow Springs, Ohio decide to get together for a few glasses of wine and some conversation on a Sunday night. This is the first time they have all been gathered together like this. Surprised that their baby monitors are able to reach to Clara's backyard, they enjoy the childless night. The next morning, one of them is missing. Is foul play a part of the disappearance or did Kristin simply walk away from her life? Admittedly, even though they have been neighbors for a while, no one really knew each other all that well. Will the police be able to find Kristin? Did her husband have something to do with it?

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I'm not sure why, but I had a hard time connecting with this book. While I was intrigued by the story, I didn't find myself drawn to find out what was going to happen next. It took me 10 days to read this book which is very rare for me.

What would you do if you woke up from a girls night out to find out one of the girls and her twins had disappeared in the middle of the night? Gone without a trace. Most of the women felt guilty because they couldn't remember what had happened the night before and if Kristin had said something that would help to locate her now. Everyone looks to Clara who lived right next door and who's son was in class with Kristin's twins, but she knows as much as the others, which is not much at all. How well to we really know our neighbors? We're on the outside looking in, but do we really know what goes on behind closed doors? Kristin's husband, Paul, the local OB/GYN seems like the kind of guy everyone would like, but what secrets of his own is he hiding. Did he do something to make his family disappear? After almost a month, the police have all but given up the search, but incidents in the neighborhood, cause them them to question whether they should or not.

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Other books by Jessica Strawser
  and I have it on good authority that she is currently working on another book!

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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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Review--Playmates by Jess C Scott

Playmates by Jess C. Scott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**I received this book for free from Story Cartel in exchange for an honest review.**

Tania and Trevor Wilde are twins.  They live in a small lake town with their parents.  Every night their parents have "wine time" where they hurl bottles and insults at each other.  Tania and Trevor spend "wine time" in their room wishing they could be anywhere else and making a plan to get away.  The Wilde family is the definition of a dysfunctional family.  Mom is abusive towards Tania and Trevor feels helpless to stop it.  Then she invites strange men into the home while dad is away working.  The next day, though, she will have bible study with some of her friends.  Dad, is not exempt from the dysfunction.  He is a professor at the local community college and brings home co-eds to the basement.

Tania frequently thinks about death and often coaxes Trevor to the dark side.  She doesn't have many friends so she counts on her brother to fill that void.  Then an unfortunate incident takes place and makes them both a lot darker.

Playmates, is a psychological thriller about killer kids.  While this book did not have me on the edge of my seat, it held and captured my attention.  I wanted to know what was going to happen next.  I look forward to the next titles in the Wilde series.  Bedmates and Soulmates.


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+Jess C Scott