The Whole Town's Talking by Fannie Flagg

A special thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I've been a fan of Fannie Flagg's writing and have read most of her books.  Her books are like comfort food, like tea and a duvet on a rainy day, or like a hug from an old friend.

The book started out delightful and charming, typical of Flagg, with (mostly) likeable characters with lots of appeal and just the right amount of quirkiness, but then it got silly...  I like the premise of the book, the birth of a town in the 1800s right through to 2021, but I could have done without the subplot in the cemetery—this was corny and unnecessary.

All-in-all, a fun read.

The Girl in the Garden by Melanie Wallace

A special thank you to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The characters in this novel are isolated either by circumstance or by choice and yet they are all connected.  June is abandoned with Luke, her infant son at Mabel's seaside motel and it is her arrival that is the ripple effect for the story.  Mabel, a widower, is grieving for her husband, and takes on helping June and her son.  From here we meet Iris, a reclusive woman who is living out her days of humiliation at the hands of her husband; Iris' daughter Claire, a fiercely independent photographer; Sam, a disfigured war vet; Oldman, a wise older gentleman; Duncan, a trusted guardian.

Wallace's novel is a slow burn when revealing how these individual stories are related to one another. Each character is drawn out over the course of the narrative through June and Luke, who is an extension of June.  They help not only bring Iris out of her shell, but are a link to what is good in the world.  Told from multiple points of view, this beautiful novel would be an excellent choice for a book club.

Here I Am by Jonathan Safran Foer

A special thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This novel completely got away from me and I didn't want to continue with it.  I did eventually finish, but it took me a few months to get through this book.

Foer is a wonderful writer, he really is, which is why this novel threw me for such a loop.  I was enjoying the storyline of the dissolution of Jacob and Julia's marriage, well, I guess as much as you can enjoy being a witness to something so painful.  The writing was raw, tender, and so good.  It started to unravel anytime any of their three children came into the scene–are there really kids that are that precocious?

He introduces a natural disaster which is incredibly distracting.  Foer draws the reader's attention not only away from Jacob and Julia, but manages to draw the reader right out of the book.  He should have simply stuck with this storyline and left it at that.  Not only would he have greatly reduced the size of the novel (this is a whopping book at just shy of 600 pages), but the story would've flowed so much better—I literally felt like a dog chasing its tail.

Muslim Girl by Amani Al-Khatahtbeh

A special thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

"The truth is that 9/11 never ended for us."  Read it again, and think about it...

This well-written coming-of-age story of a Muslim girl in a post-9/11 world is a quick, but thought-provoiking read.  Amani shares her feelings of alienation from American society, and her firsthand account of visiting her father's native homeland of Jordan.  It is here, in Jordan, where she both doubts and accepts herself by finally experiencing her culture in its purest form through a lens of freedom rather than through a trivialized stereotypical one.  

As a Muslim girl, Al-Khatahtbeh felt that her voice was insignificant and she founded MuslimGirl.com, a platform where Muslim girls/women would have a voice and could "talk back".  This forum gives Muslim women a place to openly discuss their unique problems and interests as well as talk about the fear for their lives, Islamophobia, stereotypes, and the blaming of all Muslims for the act of a few.      

This memoir is publishing at an opportune time and I highly recommend picking up a copy and making it a priority to read.  Al-Khatahtbeh is is changing and challenging the way Muslim women are viewed around the world.    

The Original Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig

A special thank you to Edelweiss and Harlequin for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ginny Moon is a 14-year-old autistic girl that has found her "forever home" but she is trying to get kidnapped by her biological mother, Gloria, to ensure that her Baby Doll is safe.  Ginny was with her mother, a drug addict, for nine years and was neglected and abused not only by Gloria, but also her various boyfriends.  How can Ginny be so desperate to return to that life?  This life is all she has known, and as a person with autism, routine is paramount to existence—like Ginny having to eat nine grapes for breakfast.

This was a mixed bag for me.  Ginny is an obvious unreliable narrator which drives the events forward.  Described as being in the same vein as Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Ludwig is just as convincing a writer as Haddon.  Why I can't give it a higher rating is that is was just plain depressing and sad.  I do know that others will love this book, and it would be an excellent choice for a book club.  

My Not So Perfect Life: A Novel by Sophie Kinsella

A special thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sophie Kinsella I adore you! You make me smile as I'm reading.  In fact, if you haven't listened to a Sophie Kinsella audiobook, I highly recommend it, especially if narrated by Jayne Entwistle.  Sorry, I digress...

We are introduced to a new character, Katie/Cat Brenner. "Cat" is trying to reinvent herself in modern-day London.  She Instagrams her "perfect" life; her glamorous job, jam-packed social calendar, fabulous flat. But the real truth is she has a painful commute to an entry level job, posts pictures of other people's food, and rents a crap room with no closet.

Katie's nemesis/boss Demeter seems to have it all, a picture-perfect family, gorgeous wardrobe, and success with everything she touches. Demeter shatters Katie's hopes of making London a success when she fires her. Because Katie can no longer afford city life, she is forced to move back home to the family farm in Somerset which turns out to be a blessing in disguise. Katie uses her talents to help launch her father and step-mother's glamping business all while keeping up a facade that she is still gainfully employed but on "sabbatical".

Enter Demeter–her family has booked in for a holiday at the family farm. Does Demeter really have it all, is everything how it appears? Should Katie get her revenge, or try to get her job back? All is not what it appears and Kinsella will have you hooked until the last page. What a fun ride.

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SOPHIE KINSELLA is the author of the bestselling Shopaholic series as well as the standalone novels Can You Keep a Secret?, The Undomestic Goddess, Remember Me?, Twenties Girl, I’ve Got Your Number, and Wedding Night.

She lives between London and the country.

The Fortunate Ones : A Novel by Ellen Umansky

A special thank you to Edelweiss and William Morrow for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This novel is about two women that are generations apart are connected by a famous Chaim Soutine painting.  Umansky's debut moves from WWII to contemporary Los Angeles.  In 1939, we meet Rose Zimmer who is being sent out of Austria to live with strangers in England.  When the war ends, Rose is grief-stricken and seeks comfort in trying to find her mother's favourite Soutine painting but unfortunately for Rose, the painting has ended up in America.

In modern-day LA, Lizzie Goldstein is in mourning for her recently deceased father.  She carries around extreme guilt that she cannot shed; as a teenager, Lizzie threw a party at her father's house and the cherished Soutine painting that offered her comfort after her mother's death was stolen and has yet to be found.

This work of art will bring the two women whom are seemingly adrift in their own lives, together.  They forge a friendship that is marred by secrets and painful truths.  Each woman is forced to examine her own life through longing, devastation, and ultimately forgiveness.

Umansky's writing is rich and wonderful although I quickly fell out of like with Rose.  There were a few spots in the plot that could've been tighter, but overall, this is a good book and I would certainly recommend it.  I look forward to her next book.    

A List of Cages by Robin Roe

A special thank you to NetGalley and Disney Book Group/Disney-Hyperion for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Adam Blake is a senior with an interesting elective; he is an aide to the school psychologist. For someone with ADHD, perhaps sitting around isn't the best choice for Adam, but with his incredibly positive outlook he rises to the challenge of working for Dr. Whitlock. His first task is to track down a troubled freshman that has been avoiding their sessions with said doctor. That boy would be Julian, his foster brother from five years ago. Adam is thrilled at their reunion. Julian is still kind, shy, quiet, and loves his Elian Mariner books, but there is something off about him. He is secretive and hides out during the day, often misses school, and things aren't what they appear with his home life. Adam is determined to help Julian, resuming his "big brother" role, but at what cost?

This was a solid 4/5 stars for me. The climax was a little contrived, but overall, it was wonderfully written with carefully thought out characters. This is Roe's debut novel and her future is as bright as ten thousand stars.  

The Wonder by Emma Donoghue

A special thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It is no wonder (see what I did there?) that Donoghue is a celebrated author, she is an incredibly gifted storyteller.  With the rise and fall of her prose, we are transported to a sleepy Irish town in the latter half of the 19th century.  Lib Wright is an English nurse that is brought to Ireland to care for Anna O'Donnell, an 11 year-old girl who has appears to have been touched by God because she can survive without food.  She has not eaten since her birthday which was four months ago.  Lib, a veteran of Florence Nightingale's Crimean campaign, and a nun have been assigned round-the-clock care of the girl.   

The plot moves incredibly slow and builds frustration in the reader which echos the frustration Lib has in her quest of discovering what is really happening with this little girl.  Is she surviving without food, or is there something else going on?

Lib is isolated in her new home and Donoghue projects this onto the reader.  At times I felt isolated and claustrophobic, like I was being swallowed up in the mystery, and the darkness.  It's like I couldn't separate the facts and the truth from perception, and that I was reading Irish folklore versus historical fiction.

Although slow at times, I was enchanted with Donoghue's work and can't wait to see what she has in store for readers next.  

The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict

A special thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Benedict's telling of the woman behind one of the greatest minds falls flat.  Her writing style, which consists of short, choppy, basic sentences that have little to no imagination and lack in description made this book hard to read.  She starts too many sentences with "I".  For example:

"...I needed the fresh air on my face.  I had mountains of homework, physics chapters to read, and mathematical calculations to make.  I longed for bracing Milchkaffee, but one was to be found at the pension.
     I heard a knock on my door and jumped.  No one ever came to my room at this hour.  I cracked my door open a sliver so I could see who it was.
Helene stood in the hallway.
'Please come in.' I hurried to welcome her."

Did she take too many liberties of this fictional account?  Perhaps.  Einstein was written as a womanizing, abusive, hands-off father.  To support her story, there were discoveries of correspondence between Einstein and Maric that confirm the birth of their daughter, Lieserl.  Unfortunately her fate was never known for certain (she may have been adopted or died of scarlet fever in infantry).  They did eventually marry and went on to have two sons.  While pregnant with their second son, he was corresponding with a previous love, Marie Winteler, professing his love for her and expressing unhappiness in his marriage.  Maric and Einstein separated when she learned of his his attraction to his first and second cousin Elsa, whom he later married.      

I had to push through this book, especially early on, to even finish. 

You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott

A special thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'm not really sure what intrigued me about the book initially given that I know nothing about gymnastics, nor am particularily interested in that sport (hey, I'm a mom to boys so it is hockey and baseball around here) but I requested the ARC and I'm so glad I did.  We meet Devon Knox, a gymnastics prodigy and Olympic hopeful who is adored by her her parents, Katie and Eric, who have given everything to ensure Devon's success (even ignoring their other child).  A death of one of their own gymnastic family members rocks the community only weeks before an important competition and everything the Knox family has sacrificed and worked so hard for is in jeopardy of slipping away.  Rumours are rampant, agendas are exposed, and allegiances tested.

The staccato pace that Abbot tells the story is mesmerizing.  Even when I had suspected whodunnit, I still pressed on and raced to the finish.  Her writing is crisp, tense, effective, and dark at times.  She captures the psyche of the teenage girl incredibly and is able to get into the head of her characters and pour them out on the page.  I can't wait to read more by Megan Abbott!  

Missing, Presumed by Susie Steiner

A special thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A missing persons case is at the core of the story although there is much more going on character-wise. Detective Sergeant Manon Bradshaw has just returned from another internet date gone wrong and is unwinding listening to her police radio when a report comes in of a missing woman. Edith Hind—daughter of Sir Ian Hind, physician to the royal family—has gone missing. Her flat door left open, blood at the scene, and she hasn't taken her handbag, keys, or phone. Bradshaw realizes how big this case is, and that the first 72 hours are critical in any missing persons case—you find the girl, or you look to recover a body.

The story unravels through multiple perspectives. Steiner develops her characters via their personal lives and relationships. Manon is incredibly layered and we've only just scratched the surface with her character. Steiner takes a woman in a high-power position and juxtaposes her with such a vulnerability in her love/relationships. I can't wait to see how she develops over the series.

This was my first Susie Steiner read and I absolutely loved it!  I could totally see this as a BBC show, a dark copper drama like Luther or Broadchurch.  In fact, Davey reminded me of Justin Ripley from Luther.

Can't wait for book two!

SUSIE STEINER is a former journalist at The Guardian, where she worked as a commissioning editor for eleven years. Prior to that, she worked for The Times, the Daily Telegraph, and the Evening Standard.

Steiner lives in London with her husband and two sons.

The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen

A special thank you to Edelweiss and Grove Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Viet Thanh Nguyen has been on my "to read" list for quite some time after hearing about the success of The Sympathizer (winner of several awards including the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction).  This beautifully written compilation left me amazed and anxious to read The Sympathizer.

This collection of stories explores immigration, family, love, and identity while straddling two worlds—the homeland, and the adopted homeland. 

These stories explore the hardships of immigration, of the aspirations and dreams of those that immigrate, and of the relationships and desires that define us all.  Filled with figurative and literal ghosts of the past, each story stands alone, yet is tied to the others thematically, and through the strength of the writing.

Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult

A special thank you to Goodreads First Reads and Random House Canada for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ruth Jefferson is a labor and delivery nurse at a Connecticut hospital with more than twenty years' experience. During her shift, Ruth begins a routine checkup on a newborn, only to be told a few minutes later that she's been reassigned to another patient. The parents are white supremacists and don't want Ruth, who is African American, to touch their child. The hospital complies with their request, but the next day, the baby goes into cardiac distress while Ruth is alone in the nursery. Does she obey orders or does she intervene?

Ruth hesitates before performing CPR and, as a result, is charged with a serious crime. Kennedy McQuarrie, a white public defender, takes her case but gives unexpected advice: Kennedy insists that mentioning race in the courtroom is not a winning strategy. Conflicted by Kennedy's counsel, Ruth tries to keep life as normal as possible for her family—especially her teenage son—as the case becomes a media sensation. As the trial moves forward, Ruth and Kennedy must gain each other's trust, and come to see that what they've been taught their whole lives about others—and themselves—might be wrong.

I love Jodi Picoult's work. And it isn't just because in Small Great Things she mentioned Depeche Mode, my most favourite band EVER, but it's because she's incredibly talented.  

Plain Truth was the first book of Jodi's that I read and I was hooked! I can honestly say that I've enjoyed all of her books, some more than others, but that's not to say I haven't liked/loved them all.  But this book...THIS book is my favourite (so far).  

Small Great Things spared much to think about—there's a lot to digest and process with themes of race, privilege, prejudice, justice, and compassion. Picoult expresses that racism can be active and obvious, as well as passive in terms of privilege and biases. It is obvious she did her homework, but did she do enough? I think so—even though it was a little didactic at times—but I have to preface that with my lack of experience with race issues and also from my white privilege position in life.

Not unlike her other books, there are alternating perspectives, interesting characters that deliver page-turning dialogue, and courtroom drama (which is where I think Picoult's writing excels).  The difference between 4 and 5 stars is because of the ending. Obviously I'm not going to spoil it, but it tied up a little too neat, and as we all know, life is messy.

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JODI PICOULT received an AB in creative writing from Princeton and a master’s degree in education from Harvard. The recipient of the 2003 New England Book Award for her entire body of work, she is the author of twenty-four novels, including the #1 New York Times bestsellers House Rules, Handle With Care, Change of Heart, and My Sister’s Keeper, for which she received the American Library Association’s Margaret Alexander Edwards Award.

She lives in New Hampshire with her husband. They have three children.

The Strays by Emily Bitto

A special thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Strays follows the Trentham family and their other live-in artists in 1930s Melbourne.  Bitto draws the reader and narrator, Lily, into the art world through Eva.  Lily meets Eva, one of the three daughters of the infamous avant-garde painter Evan Trentham, on her first day of school and is mesmerized.    

Bitto explores the Australian art scene in this story which is loosely based on the Heide Circle.  The artists make their own small alternative commune that offers Lily a lack of rules and more fluid way of life.  Unfortunately, their radical lifestyle comes at a staggering psychological cost to the sisters.

Fast-forward 30 years, Lily is leading a vanilla life compared to her past.  She realized that when the moth flies too close to the flame, it will burn its wings.  But it doesn't stop her from going back to the flame, only this time, she won't get to close.

The Keeper of Lost Things : A Novel by Ruth Hogan

A special thank you to Edelweiss and William Morrow for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Forty years ago, author Anthony Peardew loses a keepsake from his fiancee, Therese, and on that very same day she dies.  As a result, Anthony becomes the keeper of lost things.  He picks up objects he finds, random things people leave behind, or have dropped, and writes stories about them.  As he nears the end of his life, Anthony continues to catalogue the items and worries that he has not lived up to his undertaking of reuniting the items with their owners.

Laura, Anthony's assistant, is a divorced middle-aged lonely woman that unbeknownst to her is one of Anthony's lost things.  He bequeaths everything to her, including the daunting task of his life's mission of reconciling the lost items to where they belong.  She moves into the house and with the help of the gardener Freddy, and the neighbour's daughter Sunshine, embarks on a remarkable journey of self-discovery, new beginnings, and of completing a final request.

The characters are rich and warm and are all lost objects in one way or another.  Hogan weaves them together in a wonderful tale.  I absolutely adored this book and felt like I had lost a friend when it was over.

RUTH HOGAN was born in the house where her parents still live in Bedford, England. She was a veracious reader as a child and studied English at Uni.

Hogan lives in a Victorian house with her husband and an assortment of rescue dogs.

We Were On a Break by Lindsey Kelk

A special thank you to Edelweiss and Harper for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What should've been a proposal on a vacation turns into a break for Liv and Adam.  From here things further spiral out of control as Adam tries to climb out of the hole he's dug while Liv throws herself into her veterinary practice.  They keep colliding throughout the story, but can they get themselves back on course and take a run at happily ever after?

I adore British books, their phrasing, and slightly cheeky-yet-charming characters—this book is no exception. My only criticism is that the pacing was off in that it stumbled when the narration changed mid-chapter. I don't mind the alternating points-of-view, but to randomly change part way through a chapter is confusing. That being said, Kelk is a gem and I would definitely pick up anything she writes.

LINDSEY KELK is an author and journalist. She was also a children's book editor and columnist for Marie Claire. Lindsey is published in twenty-two countries and her novels, including the I Heart series, the Tess Brookes series, and standalone books, have sold over a million copies worldwide. 

Kelk is newly married and lives in Los Angeles. 

Valley of the Moon by Melanie Gideon

A special thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is told from the perspective of two narrators who are separated by nearly a century.  It is 1975, and we meet single mother Lux Lysander, who lives paycheque to paycheque on one floor of a a three-story house with her son, Benno, and roommate Rhonda. Lux goes on a solo camping trip to Sonoma, also know as the Valley of the Moon and is transported through time during a full moon to 1906 by way of a dense fog. She ends up in a small, well-run farming community led by our second narrator, Joseph Bell. Bell is a Londoner that values men and women alike and has deemed all jobs as equal. He founded "Greengage Farm" in honour of his late mother who committed suicide after his father has her committed the second time. This community is stuck in time after an earthquake hits and leaves it behind a dense fog that you cannot pass through.  Lux seems to be the only one who can pass through the fog and time and does so whenever there is a full moon.             

Sounds kind of hokey, right? Well it is... Some of the narrative really grabbed me. There was some great writing—I loved the backstory of Lux and her father and wished that that was a standalone book. But there were many unanswered questions and you must suspend your disbelief.   

The Color of our Sky by Amita Trasi

A special thank you to Edelweiss and William Morrow for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Did I just read that correctly, that this is a debut novel?  Seriously?  Outstanding.  This is an emotional story of two childhood friends—one a victim of the human slave trade, the other on a mission to save her after she is kidnapped from the room they share.

In 1996, Mukta at the age of ten has come of age to become a prostitute like her mother and grandmother.  In an effort to escape her fate, she is sent to be a house girl for a family in Mumbai.  There she forms a strong bond with Tara, the eight-year-old daughter of the family and the girls become like sisters.    

One fateful night in 1993, Mutka is kidnapped from the room she shares with Tara and disappears.  Tara ends up in America but never recovers from losing her best friend and cannot settle in LA.  She blames herself for Mukta's kidnapping and embarks on a journey to bring her home.  What she is not prepared for are the secrets that are uncovered about her own family along the way.

For fans of Khaled Hosseini, Nadia Hashimi, and Shilpi Somaya Gowda, you will not be disappointed that you picked up this book, you will be disappointed when you finish it.     

The Day I Died: A Novel by Lori Rader-Day

A special thank you to Edelweiss and William Morrow for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

We meet Anna Winger, a handwriting analyst with a messy past, who is called upon to use her talent on a high-profile case in the small town that she is currently living in.  As a handwriting expert, she is able to identify the writer's personality traits and psychological state.  Some believe in her craft and use her to profile individuals, while others consider her to be a charlatan.  For Anna, her profession allows her to keep people at arms-length and keep her anonymity while supporting her son.

She immerses herself into the case of a missing boy.  Unfortunately for her, the case awakens elements of her past, things she's tried to keep hidden, and she is unable to outrun it any longer.          

This is my first book by Rader-Day and it won't be my last.  I enjoyed this story and would like to read more about Anna.  She is a well-writen character with an interesting talent, this would make a great series.  

The Witches of New York by Ami McKay

A special thank you to NetGalley,Penguin Random House Canada, and Knopf Canada for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Set two hundred years after the trials in Salem, Adelaide Thom ('Moth' from The Virgin Cure) runs a tea shop with Eleanor St. Clair, that specializes in cures, potions, and spells.  Feeling that they are run off their feet, Adelaide puts an ad in the local paper to secure extra help.  Beatrice Dunn is a perfect fit, she has an untapped gift of seeing things and hearing things that nobody else can.  The three main characters were rich and well-written, but were let down by the plot which ironically is given away in the blurb (hopefully this will be amended for the inside/back cover of the finished product).  

I loved the setting and descriptions throughout the city of New York in the Gilded Age.  As much as I loved Ami McKay's other works (The Birth House, and The Virgin Cure), this story was just average and I struggled at times to get through it.  The beginning had a nice hook, and there were some others dispersed throughout the story which ended up propelling me to finish.  

Based on a True Story by Norm Macdonald

A special thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Being Canadian, and growing up watching SNL, I thought requesting this book was a no brainer, but it was simply a rambling monologue that ends up being one long joke.  There were nuggets of real stories that were camouflaged with fiction.  After reading this, I realized that the joke was on me.

Sirius by Jonathan Crown

A special thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Delightful and quirky, I absolutely loved the premiss for this book — historical fiction told through a dog.  It reminded me of Forest Gump, but again, with a dog.  He gets himself into some interesting situations and is a lot of suspension of disbelief happening, but if you can get past that tactic, you will enjoy this story.

I was interested to learn that this was a translation, it read in the same tone as what I would imagine to be true of the era.  Very well done.   

The Animators by Kayla Rae Whitaker

A special thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

As someone that is interested in visual arts, the description of the book sounded interesting, but there was a lot of animation terminology and references that were lost on me.  The art could've become a more central part of the story, become more like a character, but Whitaker compartmentalizes the art to the earlier chapters and takes the plot elsewhere for the bulk of the story.    

There were some interesting plot twists that ultimately kept me reading but unfortunately I started to skim probably around the half way mark.  I felt that these twists were a tactic, like click bait, employed by the author to keep the reader's interest.  

Character-wise, there was a lot going on and Mel became a caricature of herself.  Whitaker tried to tackle too many things in one novel, which didn't work, especially when using first-person point of view.  The book could've benefited from a solid substantive edit.

What I did like was the beginning—the brief backstory of how Sharon and Mel met and their time at school—and wished that the author developed this part because for me this was the grit of the story.  I'm actually surprised that this was not a prologue since this part of the story was not going to be fleshed out.

Dragon Springs Road: A Novel by Janie Chang

A special thank you to Edelweiss and HarperCollins for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This beautifully written story is set in early 20th century Shanghai.  Our main character, Jialing, is a Eurasian bond servant who has been abandoned by her mother and is at the mercy of the new tenants of Dragon Springs Road.  Jailing is thought to be the daughter of a prostitute and faces many hardships because of her social standing and mixed race.    

A spirit fox helps guide Jailing and watch over her. throughout the years.  With Fox's guidance, she attends school, receives an education, and befriends one of the headmistresses that tries to help her lot in life.  Jailing's road is bumpy and long—she is faced with many challenges, hardships, love, and loss.

Overall, this is an intriguing story that was thoughtful and well-researched.

Miss You by Kate Eberlen

A special thank you to Edelweiss and HarperCollins for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a combination of One Day, and something by Liane Moriarty — really a fun read!  

My criticism would be maybe with the genre?  Is it me, or are the leading ladies in these types of books often a bit pathetic?  From affairs, to accidental pregnancies, to self-sacrificial situations that boarder on martyrdom.  Ugh...  Too much of this stalls the story, and makes the female lead (and in this case, male lead as well) rather weak and at times unlikable.  Speaking of unlikable, I really had a hard time with Gus.  Why did he have to cheat on his lovely girlfriend with his dead brother's fiancée, Charlotte, who is incredibly frigid and appears to be out of his league.       

What I did like was the premise of the book.  Chance meetings, fated lovers, and the unwavering belief in romance.  There were parts that were simply delightful and endearing, and I would definitely read more by this author and recommend this book for a fun summer read.

Searching for John Hughes: Or Everything I Thought I Needed to Know about Life I Learned from Watching '80s Movies by Jason Diamond

A special thank you to Edelweiss and William Morrow Paperbacks for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a great read!  Growing up binging on John Hughes' movies myself, I loved the premise of this book and thought, why didn't I think of this?

Diamond's childhood is dismal at best, often times his narrative is painful to read as I'm sure it was to recount.  He uses Hughes' movies as lenses to filter his life through, as well as an escape/coping mechanism.  He is searching for John Hughes, to write an autobiography of sorts, but gives up on his search and in doing so, sets himself free and finally sheds his past.

Her Every Fear: A Novel by Peter Swanson

A special thank you to Edelweiss and William Morrow for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Kate Priddy, a Londoner, swaps apartments with Corbin, a distant cousin, in Boston.  She suffers from anxiety and panic attacks as a result of an ex-boyfriend that kidnapped her and nearly ended her life.  Kate thinks that a change in scenery is just what she needs.  

Soon after her arrival to Corbin's apartment, Kate learns that Corbin's neighbour was murdered.  Questioned by the police, Kate realizes how little she knows about Corbin.  She is left shaken and with more questions.

Kate makes the acquaintance of another tenant, Alan Cherney, as well as the grief-stricken former boyfriend of the victim who thinks Corbin is responsible for what happened.  Her jet lagged mind and fragile state begin to wreak havoc, things are not what they appear to be.

Hearing great things about Swanson's previous works, I was excited to get my hands on this book but, it fell a little flat.  There was so much more that could've been done to to really flesh out the main character.  She has a pivotal life event in her backstory that seemed to be disconnected. It is here that Swanson falls down—he doesn't connect this to the character so it comes off as weak and being filler.  This is a life-changing event that should really define who she is.

The ending was predictable.  I wanted suspense and where's the twist?  I did have it all figured out unfortunately.  That being said, his writing is good as is the pace.  The premise was also good, and I will definitely check out his other works (I haven't given up on him yet).

PETER SWANSON'S debut novel, The Girl With a Clock for a Heart (2014), was nominated for the LA Times book award. His second novel The Kind Worth Killing (2015), a Richard and Judy pick, was shortlisted for the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger and named the iBooks Store's Thriller of the Year.

He lives with his wife and cat in Somerville, Massachusetts.

Daughters of the Dragon by William Andrews

A special thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I didn't know anything about 'comfort women'; the women and girls that were forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army before and during WWII.  The name is a euphemism for prostitute(s).  Women were either abducted from their homes in countries that were under Japanese rule, or lured with promises of work in factories — our character, Ja-hee and her sister were told they were going to work at a boot factory.  I was completely immersed in the flashbacks, but not vested in Anna.  As a main character, I felt that she was underdeveloped and flat.  

This was an ambitious topic, not only is Andrews writing historical fiction, about another culture, but also as a female.  For the most part, I would say he pulls it off.  The difference in the rating for me between a four and a five star review is that the narration was made up of short choppy sentences and this abrupt writing style between the passages of dialogue was distracting for me as a reader and the story then became a bit forced.

The Perfect Girl by Gilly Macmillan

A special thank you to Edelweiss and William Morrow Paperbacks for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Our "perfect" girl is Zoe Maisey, a 17-year-old musical prodigy. Zoe and her mother Maria have been ostracized from their former community after Zoe was found guilty of a drinking a driving accident that claimed the life of three teenagers, including her best friend.

Zoe has served time in a juvenile rehabilitation facility and Maria is determined to not only put the past behind her, but to keep the tragedy under wraps from her new husband, Chris, and his teenage son, Lucas.

Ready to embrace her "Second Chance Life", Zoe has recommitted to music and is giving a recital that Maria has been planning for months. But tragedy strikes again and by the end of evening on the day of the recital, Maria is dead and the thread holding everything together begins to unravel.

Because of her past, Zoe fears that she will be the prime suspect. Everyone—police, family, Zoe’s former lawyer—including Zoe, tries to piece together what actually happened. What Zoe knows for sure that the truth can be deceiving and the closer we are to someone, the less we are willing to see.

Told in multiple points of view—Zoe, Tessa and Sam—Macmillan's novel explores the complexities of relationships. The characters were well-developed and engaging. While not a seize-you-by-the-throat, heart palpitation thriller, The Perfect Girl is more of character study/psychological thriller and incredibly clever. Macmillan's pace is spot on, she reveals just enough to secure interest and move the story. She tasks her reader with unravelling the dysfunction—it's a slow burn, but worth your patience.

GILLY MACMILLAN grew up in Swindon, Wiltshire and also lived in Northern California. She studied History of Art at Bristol University and the Courtauld Institute of Art in London.

Macmillan lives in Bristol, UK.

Faithful by Alice Hoffman

A special thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Alice Hoffman is my favourite author. I can't even wait to get my hands on her books the second they come out! To be given the opportunity to read and review this book was truly thrilling for me.

Hoffman's writing is a living thing. Her stories breathe and grow and as the reader, you transcend. Her characters are layered and complex, her writing is rich and incredibly moving, it is fluid.

That being said, I missed the magical realism associated with Hoffman because I don't think that this novel had enough of it, or rather didn't seem to have any other than the reference of an angel which unfortunately for this book, becomes a character—this is not classic Hoffman.

While this story was not one of my favourites that she has written, it was indeed a page-turner and I'm so glad I got to read it because everything she writes is gold.

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ALICE HOFFMAN has a BA from Adelphi University and an MA in creative writing from Stanford University.

Hoffman's first novel, Property Of, was written at the age of twenty-one, while she was studying at Stanford, and published shortly thereafter by Farrar Straus and Giroux. Since that remarkable beginning, Alice Hoffman has become one of our most distinguished novelists. She has published over thirty novels, three books of short fiction, and eight books for children and young adults.

Her novel, Here on Earth, an Oprah Book Club choice, was a modern reworking of some of the themes of Emily Bronte’s masterpiece Wuthering Heights. Practical Magic was made into a Warner film starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. Her novel, At Risk, which concerns a family dealing with AIDS, can be found on the reading lists of many universities, colleges and secondary schools. Hoffman’s advance from Local Girls, a collection of inter-related fictions about love and loss on Long Island, was donated to help create the Hoffman Breast Center at Mt. Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, MA.

Hoffman has written a number of novels for young adults, including Aquamarine, Green Angel, and the New York Times bestseller The Ice Queen. In 2007 Little Brown published the teen novel Incantation, a story about hidden Jews during the Spanish Inquisition, which Publishers Weekly has chosen as one of the best books of the year.

Her works have been published in more than twenty translations and more than one hundred foreign editions. Hoffman's novels have received mention as notable books of the year by The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, The Los Angeles Times, Library Journal, and People Magazine. She has also worked as a screenwriter and is the author of the original screenplay “Independence Day,” a film starring Kathleen Quinlan and Diane Wiest. Her teen novel Aquamarine was made into a film starring Emma Roberts. Her short fiction and non-fiction have appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe Magazine, Kenyon Review, The Los Angeles Times, Architectural Digest, Harvard Review, Ploughshares and other magazines.

She currently lives in Boston and New York. 

The Velvet Hours by Alyson Richman

A special thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A Parisian flat that has been untouched for over 70 years is the inspiration for this story.  The owner left Paris for the south of France before the outbreak of WWII, never to return again.  The apartment, miraculously in tact, unscathed from the war and thieves, quietly lay in waiting and gathering almost a century's worth of dust.

There is a further twist, there was a painting of a lady in pink, and love letters tied with coloured ribbons amongst the items inventoried.  The painting is believed to be Ms. de Florian's grandmother, Marthe, a beautiful French actress and socialite.  It is thought that she is the artist Giovanni Boldini's muse.    

Richman's fictitious tale of the events of the apartment's occupants is told by Marthe de Florian, and her granddaughter, Solange in alternating points of view.  Their relationship develops through the novel as we shift in time from the past, starting in 1888, and what is present day, 1938.

A must read!  This book would be an excellent choice for a book club.

ALYSON RICHMAN is the international bestselling author of The Garden of Letters, The Lost Wife, The Last Van Gogh, The Rhythm of Memory, The Mask Carver’s Son, and Grand Central.

She lives in Long Island, New York, with her husband and two children.

The Muse by Jessie Burton

A special thank you to Edelweiss and The Reading Society for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Although I'm new to Burton's writing, I was aware of her successful debut The Miniaturist and was anxious to read her sophomore effort.  This book is incredibly well written and I thoroughly enjoyed Odelle's story.  She is a young, bright Trinidadian immigrant who accepts a job at a London art gallery that houses a cast of eccentric and mesmerizing characters.  The focus of the story is a painting by Isaac Robles, which brings the reader to 1937 in Spain, a few months before the artists mysterious death.

The novel takes place over a 40-year span with parallel stories that eventually intersect;  Odelle is a immigrant to London, Olive is a foreigner in Spain.  Both women create art, Odelle through the written word, and Olive paints–both woman protect their work from others and end up having their work exposed without their prior knowledge or consent.

My one criticism of the book, I found the parts of the story set in Spain were too long, and the story line wasn't as intriguing than the one in London.  I found Olive was not as enchanting as Odelle, although equally gifted, I found her self-centred and naive.

Burton is a great writer, I can't wait to check out The Miniaturist.

The Girls in the Garden by Lisa Jewell

A special thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book and found Jewell's writing rich, descriptive, and complex. There was the right amount of suspense and an interesting setting—a secret picturesque communal garden that is pivotal to the story and becomes one of its characters.

After a family tragedy, Clare and her daughters, Grace and Pip, move to a London neighbourhood where all the flats are connected and share a garden. With this type of neighbourhood, relationships are fluid, boundaries are lacking, and children come and go with little to no supervision. The reader is also privy to Pip's letters to her father which offer a further glimpse into their new surroundings—although take this information with a grain of salt, Pip is an unreliable narrator seeing the world through twelve year-old eyes.

The book opens part way through the story, a midsummer's night party that goes horribly wrong. Thirteen year-old Grace is attacked the night of her birthday and is found beaten and unconscious by her twelve year-old sister, Pip. The attack mirrors another from the past that is tied to the characters, most of which are suspects in Grace's attack.

Disturbing at times, and often quirky, Jewell's highly developed characters make this book a success. They are written with enough detail to outline their motivations which propels the story.

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LISA JEWELL is the internationally bestselling author of I Found You and The House We Grew Up In.

In total, her novels have sold more than two million copies across the English-speaking world and her work has also been translated into sixteen languages so far.

Lisa lives in London with her husband and their two daughters.

The Blue Bath by Mary Waters-Sayer

A special thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The cover of this book is spectacular, just gorgeous.  Unfortunately, the story not so much.  Waters-Sayer ticks several boxes—Paris, London, art—but the actual story fell flat through characters that were not likeable and underdeveloped.  The best writing of the book is the descriptions of the city, she creates some lovely visuals with her prose.

The premise, Kat Lind, an expat living in London with her successful husband and son, attends a gallery opening only to find that she is the subject in the paintings that stemmed from her past relationship with the artist, Daniel Blake.  She is drawn back to Daniel and and must decide if she should leave the past as part of her history or make it her future.

I liked the juxtaposition of the historic home renovation against her relationship; the past colliding with the modern of the architecture and the premise that the past simply cannot be erased because the bones of the home will always be there, just like her past choices have made her who she is.

My Name is Leon by Kit de Waal

A special thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Set in England in the 80s, this deeply touching story is about two brothers who end up in foster care when their mother is deemed unfit to look after them; Leon is nine years-old and black, and Jake is four months old and is white.  Jake is quickly adopted while Leon must learn to navigate his life without his baby brother in a new home, that of his carer Maureen.  When Maureen takes ill, he is shuffled to another home, that of Maureen's sister, Sylvia.  Leon struggles to make sense of his feelings of abandonment, and his separation from his baby brother.  He is also endeavours to find acceptance, love, and to understand what went wrong with his mother.  Usually I find unreliable child narrators trite, but de Waal nails it!  

I love British authors, I love their cadence, their phrasing, and feel a sense of kinship.  de Waal is no exception, and I cant wait to read what she publishes next.

Mischling by Affinity Konar

A special thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Hauntingly lyrical, and shattering, Mischling is a recount of some of the Holocaust horrors that children in Auschwitz were subjected to at the hands of Dr. Joseph Mengele.  Interested in twins, the emotionally stunted Mengele subjects them to horrific experiments.

Our narrators, thirteen year-old twins Pearl and Stasha are two halves of a whole.  Stasha is in charge of the funny, the future, and takes on the bad.  Pearl is the sad, the good, and the past.  They are despair and loss, they are hope and light.  Through Konar's thoughtful and magical prose, the girls deliver their story in two halves to the reader in the hopes of becoming whole again.

Like Doerr's quote on the jacket—if your soul can survive the journey, you'll be rewarded by reading one of the most powerful and beautifully written books of the year.

The Mandibles by Lionel Shriver

A special thank you to Edelweiss and HarperCollins for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Not my favourite of Shriver's work, in fact, I struggled with even finishing.  A futuristic dystopian story is an acquired taste and not really at the top of my heap, so I guess your are wondering why I even requested this title.  The truth is, I find Shriver brilliant and her works fascinating and couldn't wait to get my hands on this.  Unfortunately, it totally missed the mark.  It is too heavy on the economics and the reader is bogged down with way too much detail; this should've been the backdrop of the story, not forefront.

There was a lack of character development partly because there are so many characters, and partly because she simply covers too much ground, thus the story becomes ineffective and misses the mark.  I did appreciate her cheeky humour, but feel I may have missed a lot of the subtle nuances that make Shriver great because I simply checked out.  

The Bones of Grace: A Novel by Tahmima Anam

A special thank you to Edelweiss and HarperCollins for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was simply a beautiful read.  Each sentence ebbs and flows in a lyrical nature and Anam executes her conversational narrative perfectly.

I felt privileged reading this book, Anam trusts her readers with Zubaida's innermost thoughts, and feelings.  She is torn between love, culture, and class.  We are taken on her journey of self-discovery – she is adopted and is struggling to find herself, and where she belongs.  Zubaida is conflicted with her identity both in terms of being adopted and not having a biological history, but also with the identity of being someone's wife in Bangladesh culture.

My only criticism is when she switched between POV and time periods it was a little clunky for me, perhaps the finished copy will read a little smoother in this regard.

Thank you Tahmima Anam for your exquisite work.

The Red House by Emily Winslow

A special thank you to Edelweiss and HarperCollins for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Like the other novels in the series, this one is told from various points of view in first person narrative.  Again Winslow falls down with this format, there are too many points of view and she would be so much more effective if she would just stick with her detective team—there is the potential to have great chemistry and it would be an interesting juxtaposition.  While this book has less supporting characters, the multiple points of view stall the plot at times.    

I was intrigued to read Winslow's books because they are marketed for fans of Kate Atkinson and Donna Tartt.  I don't think anyone should have their work compared against Tartt, I feel that she is in a league all her own.  That being said, I would definitely check out other books in the series because I think Winslow has the capacity to be a great writer.  This book was marginally better than The Start of Everything.    

The Start of Everything by Emily Winslow

A special thank you to Edelweiss and HarperCollins for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The body of a young girl has washed up just outside Cambridge, England and we are introduced to the detective team of Chloe Frohmann and Morris Keene.  The detectives each are battling their own issues while trying to solve the case before the press takes off with the story.

Told from five points of view in first person narrative, we hear from Chloe, Morris, Mathilde, Grace, and George.  Where Winslow falls down is through the introduction of too many other characters that really muddy the waters; while I realize this might have been intentional because of the thriller/mystery genre, but there were a lot of unnecessary characters that disrupted any momentum she had with the plot.

This story had so much potential and could have really benefited from a substantive edit.  The characters could've been developed more and the story line tightened up.  There were times where I had no clue what was going on and I had to go back and try to figure out who was who and what was going on, again because there were simply too many characters that were not developed.

I was intrigued because it was marketed for fans of Kate Atkinson and Donna Tartt.  I don't think anyone should have their work compared against Tartt, I feel that she is in a league all her own.  That being said, I will definitely check out the other two books that feature Frohmann and Keene, I'm not ready to give up on them, I just think that Winslow hasn't hit her stride yet.  

Circling the Sun by Paula McLain

A special thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

McLain's latest work of historical fiction spans the life of Beryl Markham, a British-born Kenyan aviator, horse trainer, and in her later years, author.  She was one of the first bush pilots, and was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. 

Beryl was born in England to Clara and Charles Clutterbuck (an accomplished horse trainer).  When she was four, the family moves to Kenya, which at that time was then colonial British East Africa.  Beryl's mother returns to England and leaving her husband, son, and daughter.  It is there, on her family's farm, where Beryl develops her love of horses and applies her knowledge to become first licensed female racehorse trainer in the country.  The Kenyan landscape feeds Beryl's reckless and strong spirit and she forms a live-long love affair with the country.

The story follows Beryl's life, her love affairs with men, horses, and flying.  She is beautiful and electric, admired by many for her non-conformist ways, and never tamed.   

McLain writes with beautiful sweeping dialogue, and her descriptions of Africa are vivid and gorgeous.  I was hooked from the opening sentences which are of Beryl's Atlantic crossing.  Oh and I also love the cover!  If you enjoyed The Paris Wife, you will love this–McLain is at the top of her game.

Commonwealth by Ann Patchett

A special thank you to Edelweiss and HarperCollins Canada for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A chance encounter at a christening party for Franny Keating, ignites a spark between the hostess and an uninvited guest that puts in motion a chain of events that will span five decades and forever join two families.

When she is in her twenties, Franny begins an affair with the legendary author Leo Posen. She tells him stories about her family which he then uses as the basis for a novel that becomes extremely successful which sets another chain of events in motion; the children must come to terms with their guilt over the loss they share and the responsibility that it brings which binds them together.    

What is amazing about Commonwealth is that many of the characters go one step beyond flawed and are completely unlikeable, and that at times, it feels there is not a lot going on. But in actuality, the work is incredibly nuanced and layered so that when it unfolds, it becomes a truly mesmerizing, heartbreaking, and relatable story.  

One Half From the East by Nadia Hashimi

A special thank you to Edelweiss and HarperCollins Canada for an ARC in an exchange for an honest review.

Nadia Hashimi's first YA novel is a coming-of-age story with a twist.  Set in modern-day Afghanistan, we meet Obayda, the youngest girl of four sisters, who becomes a bacha posh (a preteen girl dressed as a boy) to bring her family luck. 

Obayda, now Obayd, must live as though she were a boy however, is struggling as he straddles both worlds until he meets another bacha posh, Rahim.  Together they try to find a way to make their transformations stick so that they can enjoy their newfound freedoms.

Hashimi explores the bacha posh in The Pearl That Broke Its Shell, and crosses over the character of Rahima/Rahim.  She was interested in this part of Afghanistan's past after reading an article about how a king would use women, dressed as men, to guard his harem (trust no man!).  These women are generations apart, being dressed as boys in a country where being female is a consequence.   

This book is a wonderful story of tenacity, friendship, and survival set against a backdrop of harsh realities.  Give it a read, you will not be disappointed.