The Return by Nicholas Sparks

A special thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

Trevor Benson, an orthopedic surgeon, was wounded by a mortar explosion while working in Afghanistan. Plagued with injuries, as well as post-traumatic stress disorder, he decides to take some time at his late grandfather's dilapidated cabin before going back to medical school, this time to study psychiatry. 

Keeping busy with home improvements and tending to his grandfather's beehives, the last thing Trevor expects is to meet someone. Natalie Masterson is a deputy in town and very detached, but it turns out Natalie has a heartbreaking reason to keep her feelings guarded. 

Trevor discovers that his grandfather was friends with a teenage girl from the trailer park down the road. Callie, who claims to be 19, works as a waitress at the local restaurant in town. She keeps to herself and when pressed, offers Trevor very little information about the mysterious circumstances of his grandfather's death. But he can't shake the feeling that there is more to the story.

In his quest to learn what happened to his grandfather, and unravel Natalie and Callie's secrets, Trevor will learn the true meaning of love and forgiveness, and the strength it takes to triumph over tragedy.

The Return was fine and by fine I mean that it's a nice book. But it just wasn't for me. In fact, I think I've simply outgrown Sparks' books—nothing will live up to The Notebook and The Wedding. 

Of late, Sparks' books have been very formulaic. They feature the same people. It's like he just recycles his characters and gives them new names—they are literally that unoriginal, right down to their mannerisms and what they eat and drink. Swap out the small town for another made up small town and you've got a new Sparks book. 

It would be remiss if I also didn't point out that Nicholas Sparks has been getting a lot of negative press lately and I was even torn to read/review this book. But I always honour my obligations and had committed to this review before I was made aware of the controversy. 

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NICHOLAS SPARKS has sold over 100 million copies of his books. His novels include fifteen #1 New York Times bestsellers, and all of his books, including Three Weeks with My Brother, the memoir he wrote with his brother, Micah, have been New York Times and international bestsellers, and were translated into more than fifty languages. Eleven of Nicholas Sparks’s novels—The Choice, The Longest Ride, The Best of Me, Safe Haven, The Lucky One, The Last Song, Dear John, Nights in Rodanthe, The Notebook, A Walk to Remember, and Message in a Bottle—have been adapted into major motion pictures.

Sparks lives in North Carolina.

Shed No Tears by Caz Frear

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

The discovery of a missing woman’s remains in a remote area of Cambridgeshire reignites a cold case. Six years earlier, confessed serial killer, Christopher Masters, lured four women to his house through an ad for a room for rent. He killed three of them, but the fourth, Holly Kemp, escaped and went missing. 

With the body being identified as the missing woman, Cat Kinsella and her partner, DS Luigi Parnell have been assigned to investigate the murder. But the evidence doesn’t line up—Kemp was killed in a different manner than the other victims and her body was found miles away from Masters’ house. It appears that someone else killed her and they will do anything to keep Kinsella and Parnell from solving the case.

Caz Frear’s latest instalment in the Cat Kinsella procedural is another gritty and compelling mystery. Meticulous in execution, Frear is exceptional with character development and plotting. Even in Cat's inner dialogue, there are subtleties which add more layers to the story.   

The characters are highly developed and well-written. Frear has an exceptional ear for dialogue—Cat and Luigi have such witty banter and I love DI Kate Steele. Why hasn’t this been optioned for TV?

The book begins in media res so I would definitely recommend reading the other novels in the series before this one. Unlike the other two books, this one can be a little confusing at times, but stick with it, it's worth it! 

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CAZ FREAR has a degree in History & Politics. When she’s not agonizing over snappy dialogue or incisive prose, she can be found shouting at Arsenal football matches or holding court in the pub on topics she knows nothing about. She is the author of three Cat Kinsella novels: Sweet Little Lies, Stone Cold Heart, and Shed No Tears.

One by One by Ruth Ware

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

Snoop is a successful streaming app where you can "snoop" on what your favourite celebrity is listening to—or your ex—anonymously and its on the brink of a buyout.

When an off-site company retreat at a beautiful resort, meant to promote collaboration and wellness, goes horribly wrong, people start dying. 

Just how well do you really know your colleagues?

Told from the dual points of view of Liz and Erin, neither of these women are likeable and Ware's audience will struggle to connect with either of them. There are way too many characters that the reader will care little about—they lack substance and development. At times there are pages upon pages of mundane details and instances where the reader is force-fed information.  

One by One left me cold. With scant characters and a thin plot, Ruth's attempt at trying to write a fresh take on a classic mystery fails—she's simply out of her element. Ware should stick to writing gothic suspense, this is where she truly excels. 

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RUTH WARE is an international bestselling author whose thrillers include In a Dark, Dark Wood, The Woman in Cabin 10, The Lying Game and The Death of Mrs. Westaway.

Her books have been optioned for both film and TV, and she is published in more than 40 languages.

Ware lives near Brighton with her family. 

White Ivy by Susie Yang

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

When she was two-years-old, Ivy Lin was left in the care of her maternal grandmother, Meifeng, because her parents emigrated to the United States. At the age of five, she flew solo to the U.S. where she is reunited with her parents and baby brother, Austin. Her frigid mother, Nan, was incredibly strict and often subjected Ivy to verbal and physical abuse. Meifeng, a petty thief, eventually follows her family and teaches Ivy her tricks—the pair pilfer items from thrift shops and yard sales.

Then Ivy meets Gideon Speyer, a politician's son, and becomes obsessed with him. After Ivy's parents discover that she has been sneaking out and lying about her whereabouts, she is sent to China for the summer. Thinking that she will defy her parents upon her return, Ivy is shocked to find out that the family has moved to New Jersey, dashing her hopes of reconnecting with Gideon. 

Ivy, now living in Boston, is teaching grade one and is unfulfilled with her life. After a chance meeting with Gideon's sister, Sylvia, she is welcomed back in the Speyer family's fold and captures Gideon's heart. When Ivy's past collides with her new life, she completes a shocking and desperate act to preserve the  happily ever after that she has worked so hard to build 

With her razor sharp prose, Yang has crafted a story that rivals that of a seasoned writer—her debut is haunting and mesmerizing. Permeating the narratives is a loneliness, a pathos that follows Ivy into all of her relationships and threatens her success. She is completely disconnected with reality and gets swallowed by her dark side. 

Ivy is a highly-developed character that is layered with culture and family. As the daughter of Chinese immigrants, Ivy struggles with finding her place—she is marred by an obsession with the upper echelon and Yang juxtaposes this with her modest Chinese-American upbringing. Ivy feels a sense of shame because of her poor family yet is both repressed and empowered by this, all while exploring her race, class, and identity.

On the whole, White Ivy just didn't work for me and I'm not exactly sure why. Perhaps because I can't figure out the main character. What makes her tick? What motivates her? And she is incredibly unlikable. Why did Yang choose to write her this way? Is that the point of the story, that the reader will feel for someone that they also loathe? That being said, I was impressed by Yang's writing—she is a compelling storyteller—and I would definitely read her again. 

White Ivy is a coming-of-age story and a comment on race, class, and identity. 

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SUSIE YANG has a doctorate of pharmacy from Rutgers and launched a tech startup in San Francisco that has taught 20,000 people how to code. She has studied creative writing at Tin House and Sackett Street. White Ivy is her first novel.

Yang was born in China and has lived across the United States, Europe, and Asia. She now resides in the UK. 

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

A special thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books, and Simon and Schuster Canada for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

At an open house for an apartment, a failed bank robber bursts in and takes the people at the viewing hostage. As the day goes on, the eight strangers discover that they have more in common than they could've imagined.   

With the police surrounding the building and the story being aired on live TV, the tension escalates. But the robber has a choice to make: surrender to the police, or stay inside the apartment with this group of impossible people. 

Eight people's lives intersect in Anxious People, a novel about a crime that never took place by an aspiring bank robber who vanishes into thin air. Basically...Fredrik Backman is a magician. His slight of hand throughout is absolutely brilliant. In typical Backman fashion, he diverts his reader's attention, almost dropping the plot, and then blindsides them with startling revelations as well as how he's connected the characters.   

Last year I attended an event for Us Against You where when asked what he had been working on, Backman spoke about Anxious People which had just been published in his native Sweden. He also mentioned that there would be another Beartown book (jumpy claps).

Anxious People is hilarious and heartbreaking, both a comedy and a drama. It is about how a shared experience can change multiple lives, no matter someone's background or social standing—ultimately we are more alike than we are different. Backman fans will love this book. It is heartfelt and moving, and filled with his signature quirky dry wit.

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FREDRIK BACKMAN is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove (soon to be a major motion picture starring Tom Hanks), Beartown, and Us Against You. His books are published in more than forty countries.

Backman lives in Stockholm, Sweden, with his wife and two children.