The Secret History of Us by Jessi Kirby

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

The opening has some really solid writing with an instant hook.  The main character, Liv, is pulled from the water after the car she was in went off a bridge into the bay below.  She appears lifeless and is given CPR.  

When she awakes in the hospital, she can't remember any details of the accident.  Assuming that the amnesia is more of a side effect from being in a week-long coma, Liv tries to remember recent events only to discover she actually can't remember the last four years!  She doesn't remember high school, why she isn't friends with her former best friend, or her doting boyfriend, Matt.

Liv has to rely on other people to fill in the gaps.  She grows incredibly frustrated because she feels like things are being kept from her on purpose.  Desperate for answers, Liv turns to Walker, the guy who was responsible for saving her life the night of the accident.  Despite her seemingly perfect boyfriend, she can't ignore the growing feelings she has for Walker.  Olivia needs to find what her new normal is and where she belongs in a life she can't remember.

I didn't rate this book higher because the ending was rushed.  It was like Kirby was restricted by page count, or perhaps she has another story in the works?  Either way, it fizzled, which is too bad because the start of the book was some really great writing.

A Book of American Martyrs : A Novel by Joyce Carol Oates

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

This was an incredible feat for both Joyce Carol Oates to write, and for me to finish.  The book is a huge undertaking, both ambitious in length and subject matter, and it left me confused.  I’m confused as to why it needed to be so long, and confused at some of the characters (more on that later).  What Oates does exceptionally well is write, but that doesn’t mean that the book needs to be as robust to showcase her talent.  It would have been more effective if it was trimmed because she loses readers in the minor events that don’t propel the story forward. 

The story opens with the reader inside the head of Luther Dunphy, a religious fanatic who thinks he is doing God’s work when he calls in late to work one day so that he can assassinate Dr. Gus Voorhees, an abortionist for the Broome County Women’s Center. 

Oates segues into Dunphy’s back story outlining his motivations and ideologies.  The story bogs out here, but push through it before you bottom out and abandon the book.  In his younger days, Dunphy is every bit the monster he is when he kills Voorhees–he sexually assaulted women, and exhibited extremely violent behaviour– only this later version of him thinks he is safe under the cloak of religion.  The reader also learns that he is father wrought with guilt over the death of a child, a husband who cannot fix his wife’s depression, and a hard worker that battles chronic pain to support his family.  The sadness and destitute Luther feels seeks solace in the righting of a wrong; it isn’t murder, he is the ‘chosen one’.    

In the later chapters, we see into Gus Voorhees’ life.  He is equally as driven as Dunphy, convinced with rightness for his cause.  

We come to know both men’s families: the liberal, well-educated Voorheeses juxtaposed against the devout, poor Dunphys.  The families are left devastated in the wake of tragedy, forever changed, yet leading similar lives.  Both wives pull away from their families, both sets of siblings experience a wedge of grief that drives them apart.  Speaking of wives, I mentioned earlier that I was confused by some of the characters, and Jenna (Voorhees’ widow) is one of them.  Why did she abandon her children?  Why did she disappear from the hotel after scattering her husband’s ashes?  Was this just deliberate of Oates to draw another parallel between the two families?  I felt that this wasn’t behaviour that was driven by grief, it was just plain out of character and was just there to inflict more pain and tragedy on the Voorhees children.  

The story shifts gears again and focuses on the men’s daughters: Naomi Voorhees and Dawn Dunphy.  Naomi chronicles her dad’s life, fronted as a documentary, but really she is trying to make sense of the tragedy and how it has shaped who she is.  Stemming from a vicious attack in school, Dawn becomes a professional boxer and this is how she exerts control of her life.  The two meet when Naomi feigns interest in Dawn as the subject matter for a documentary about female boxers.  This is where Oates shines–when she explores the complex relationships and facets of their lives, the last third of the book is the best part.

The Twilight Wife by A. J. Banner

A special thank you to Goodreads First Reads and Touchstone/Simon & Schuster for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Kyra Winthrop, a thirty-four-year-old marine biologist, is recovering from a head injury she sustained in a diving accident.  She has no memory of the accident.  Her most recent years come to her in flashes; she is completely dependent upon those around her to fill in the gaps, most notably her doting and patient husband, Jacob.  Because of the extent of her injury, Jacob tells her the same stories over and over, and answers the same questions again and again.  He compiles pictures in a ‘memory’ book for her to assist with her recovery.  Sounds like the perfect husband…so then why is she remembering another man, Aiden Finlay?  Did she have an affair?  

The couple live on a small island, cut off from civilization, and all is not what it seems.  Kyra’s visions become more recurrent, people are not who appear to be.  She stops taking her medication to try and make sense of memories, are they flashbacks, or were they told to her?  As her memories become more frequent, she feels like she can’t even trust herself so she starts to see a therapist in secret to help her make sense of things.  Through her continued therapy sessions, she begins to piece together events and dissect the foundations of her relationships.  The truth is in fact a nightmare and Jacob doesn’t want her regaining her memory. 

In the same vein as S. J. Watson’s Before I Go to Sleep, this page-turner has the reader questioning relationships and those who they trust.  I did want more from the backstory, and there were a couple of things I thought could have been fleshed out because there were a few loose ends, but all-in-all a good read.  A solid 3.5/5 stars.    

A. J. BANNER was born in India and raised in North America. Her first novel, The Good Neighbor, was a #1 Kindle bestseller for thirty-four days. The Twilight Wife is a USA Today bestseller.

Banner lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and five rescued cats.   

The Orphan's Tale by Pam Jenoff

A special thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Canada MIRA for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

The story opens with a 90-year-old woman visiting a museum exhibit that transports her back in time to war-torn Europe in 1944.  

After becoming pregnant by a Nazi solder at sixteen, Noa is forced to give up her baby and shunned by her family. She lives above a rail station that she cleans in order to earn her keep. A boxcar with dozens of Jewish infants stops at her station en route to its final destination, a concentration camp. Noa, in a moment of weakness and thinking of the child she lost, grabs one of the babies and flees into the snowy night.  

Astrid is a Jewish wife of a German officer that has been forced to divorce her. She has no papers and has lost the whereabouts of her family. Having grown up in the circus, she is able to fall back on her professional aerialist training and joins a German circus that will keep her secret. Noa is rescued by a member of the same travelling circus that provided refuge for Astrid fourteen months earlier. In order to blend in, Noa must learn to be part of the flying trapeze act. The head aerialist, Astrid, is her teacher and mentor after finding herself demoted to catching the aerialist. The two women are thrown together—rivals at first, Noa and Astrid form an unlikely pairing and an unbreakable bond.

Described as Water for Elephants meets The Nightingale, I was hesitant to request this book because both titles are so unforgettable. I had nothing to worry about—Jenoff’s writing is superb! She deftly segues between voices/perspectives and time. 

Her relationships and struggles are believable with the exception of Not and Luc. I found their connection happened so quickly and as a result, Noa was impulsive. I did want Luc to be more a little more developed like the other characters. Because he was not, this made Noa’s attraction to him seem a bit contrived.

This book is a solid 4 stars for me and I would absolutely recommend it.

PAM JENOFF is a New York Times bestselling author of several novels including The Kommandant's Girl, which received widespread acclaim, earned her a nomination for the Quill Awards and became an international bestseller. 

She previously served as a Foreign Service Officer for the U.S. State Department in Europe, as the Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Army at the Pentagon and as a practicing attorney.  

Jenoff received her juris doctor from the University of Pennsylvania, her masters degree in history from Cambridge University and her bachelors degree in international affairs from The George Washington University. 

Pam lives with her husband and three children near Philadelphia where, in addition to writing, she teaches law school at Rutgers.

The Reason You're Alive by Matthew Quick

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

You may be familiar with Quick because of the success of The Silver Linings Playbook—isn't that such a great title?  I had not read anything of his and happily requested this book because The Silver Linings Playbook was such a fantastic movie, not just because of Bradley Cooper, but because of the story.

David Granger is a sixty-eight-year-old Vietnam vet that has crashed his BMW.  Upon further testing, it is revealed that he has a brain tumour that he attributes to his exposure to Agent Orange.  In the twilight from surgery, David repeats the name "Clayton Fire Bear" over and over.  Fire Bear a Native American soldier that Granger had the task of disciplining during the war, and his nemeses.  Granger stole something from him and decides that in order to make peace with his life, he must return it.  In search of closure, he embarks on a journey of self-discovery; this may save his sanity and help him deal with the loss of his beloved wife.

He is an incredibly multi-faceted character that is hanging on to his not so politically correct ideals in a changing world.  There is so much he doesn't understand, yet he ploughs forward, and stumbles his way through awkward social situations and modern American life with the help of his loved ones.  At times his behaviour is cringe-worthy, but under the surface is a kind, patriotic, honourable, and compassionate man.

I loved the book and by the end I absolutely adored David, even with his many flaws.  His outspokenness was so comedic yet strangely endearing.  Pick this up, you'll be so glad you did!

MATTHEW QUICK is the New York Times bestselling author of several novels, including The Silver Linings Playbook, which was made into an Oscar-winning film, and The Good Luck of Right Now.

Quick lives with his wife, the novelist-pianist Alicia Bessette, on North Carolina's Outer Banks.

Never Let You Go by Chevy Stevens

A special thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Lindsey Nash escapes into the night with her young daughter to leave her abusive ex-husband. With her ex behind bars, the two start fresh. Fast forward eleven years and Lindsey and teenage Sophie have settled into their new life. When Lindsey's ex-husband Andrew is released from prison, things start to unravel: her new boyfriend is threatened, her home and the home of her clients are invaded, and Sophie is followed. Andrew claims he has changed and that Lindsey and Sophie are in danger.

The book opens with the family on vacation and Lindsey is doing everything in her power to keep Andrew's temper in check and her daughter unaware as to what is going on to protect her innocence. She keeps her eyes averted to anyone of the opposite sex and covers up as much of herself as possible when sunning on the beach—any wrong move will send Andrew into a jealous rage, especially when he is drinking. 

Stevens had me at the first page and like Lindsey, I was completely on edge.  

This fast-paced ride was exactly what I was looking for and I devoured the book in one sitting. Stevens' writing is gritty, suspenseful, and haunting. Never Let You Go is by far her best book to date.

CHEVY STEVENS was working as a realtor when she got the idea for her novel Still Missing, in which a real estate agent is abducted while holding an open house. Still Missing was a New York Times bestseller and the winner of the 2011 International Thriller Writers Award for Best First Novel.

Stevens currently resides on Vancouver island with her husband and daughter.

Property Of, The Drowning Season, Fortune's Daughter, and At Risk: Four Novels in One Collection by Alice Hoffman

A special thank you to NetGalley and Open Road Integrated Media for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Those of you that actually read this blog, my online reviews, or follow me on Instagram, Twitter, or Pintrest would know that Alice Hoffman is my favourite author, so to be asked to review this collection was an absolute pleasure.

This eBook features four of Hoffman's early works: her first two novels (Property Of and The Drowning Season) as well as two from almost a decade later (Fortune's Daughter, and At Risk). It is a wonderful compilation of her stunning writing.

I would give this four-in-one collection a 5/5.  It is a must-read for any fan, and would be a brilliant introduction to Alice Hoffman for those who haven't yet lost themselves in the pages of one of her literary masterpieces.

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. 

Always by Sarah Jio

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

Kailey Crane seems to have it all: a great job as a writer for the Herald, and a wonderful fiancé who looks like a Disney prince and is seemingly perfect.  After enjoying a romantic dinner at one of Seattle's contemporary downtown restaurants, Kailey offers her leftovers to a homeless man and is stunned when she recognizes him.  He is the love of her life, Cade McAllister.  

The story alternates from present day to ten years earlier to explore Kailey and Cade's relationship.  Their initial attraction was undeniable and intense.  Kailey is swept up in their connection and is left heartbroken when the relationship suddenly ends and Cade disappears from her life.  Present day Cade is a broken-down version of his former self—he may look similar, but he has suffered a brain injury.  Is the man that Kailey once loved still in there?  How did he go from being famous in the music industry to homeless?  

Kailey takes on Cade's care and keeps it from her fiancé.  She is desperate to piece together what has happened to him and in doing so, awakens her unresolved feelings and puts her into a compromising position where she must decide which man she will continue to love.

A fast read, enjoyable, but terribly predictable and there is a gaping plot hole—who prevented Cade from getting the medical care he needed and signed him out of the hospital?  Would nobody really be looking for him?  He was after all a famous producer and co-owned a record label.  If you are a fan of this genre, you would definitely enjoy the book.  

The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett by Chelsea Sedoti

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

Hawthorn, an awkward teenager, becomes obsessed with solving the disappearance of Lizzie Lovett, a girl who mysteriously vanished while on a camping trip with her boyfriend. Her overactive imagination invents a crazy theory about what happened to the missing girl, and in order to prove it, Hawthorn inserts herself into Lizzie's life, including taking Lizzie's job and boyfriend. 

Sedoti walks a fine line with such an unreliable narrator. This coming-of-age story could have came off as campy, but she pulls it off by giving Hawthorn some redeeming qualities that flesh out as the story progresses. It would be easy for the reader to assume that she is immature for her age, but in fact, it is simply lack of life experience—Hawthorn has only had one friend and is therefore stunted when it comes to forming relationships. 

Without giving away the ending, the writing is raw and encapsulates what it is like to be a misfit teenager, or anyone really who is trying to find their place in the world. Sedoti captures Hawthorn's angst and emotion through her solid writing. Her character is multi-faceted from her sarcastic wit to her vulnerable interior and this is why the story can move on from Hawthorn's juvenile theory into a moving story.

Perfect Little World : A Novel by Kevin Wilson

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

I want to preface this review with my love of The Family Fang which I found riveting and a complete page-turner.  This book however, fell well under that bar.  I wasn't hooked immediately, the prologue had me scratching my head and not wanting to continue, but once I started in on Chapter 1, I found the hook.  Meet Izzy, a recent high school graduate who is pregnant with her art teacher's baby.  Her support system is lacking—a dead mother, drunk father, and unstable father-to-be/boyfriend—so when Izzy is presented with an opportunity to participate in the Infinite Family Project, she jumps at it having no other resources.  Izzy will join nine other couples and live on a compound in rural Tennessee where they will all raise their children as one family.  The project is headed by Dr. Preston Grind who believes that the more love a child will receive, the better off they will be.

Sounds great, right?  Well...not so much for me, I don't particularly care for utopian-style books, and I'm not sure why.  Is it their formulaic nature, or that utopias don't actually exist?  Because there will be a giant conflict/problem to overcome?  Is it the predictable "survival of the fittest"?  I'm not sure, but pushing this aside, the book was filled with some great parts and excellent writing.  Without giving too much away, things start to crumble at the compound (gasp!) with relationships disintegrating, funding running out, and Izzy's growing feelings for Dr. Grind.  The worst part for me was the ending and how Wilson tied everything up, a little too neatly and by that point, it had just fizzled out.    

Wilson's novel is a look at the family unit, the roles we play to create these units, and love.  I would recommend reading this before The Family Fang so you are not too disappointed.