Days of Awe by Lauren Fox

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

It took a little time to get invested in the book.  There were some confusing bits at the beginning when the story switches between past and present. 

Meet Izzie, recently separated and mourning not only the death of her marriage, but the death of her best friend Josie who happens to be married to her childhood friend Mark.  Izzie is not always likable, in fact, I found her extremely immature at times, and if you are looking for a character you can root for, she may not be your girl.  In fact, I actually identified more with Chris' feeling towards Isabel and her dramatics.  “There is a peculiar kind of terror you feel when the person you are closest to — for better or worse — begins to formulate the idea of a life without you.”  

Fox is a really good writer, and there were many wonderful passages to linger over - she has a gift for capturing emotion.  That being said, I did find the the book a bit on the long-ish side and felt that her relationship with her mother and the mother's back story was just extra (it was interesting, but for me just added to the bulk of the book).  And if you are waiting for a big finish, the book just kind of fizzles out.   

A Window Opens by Elisabeth Egan

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

Like her fictional forebears Kate Reddy and Bridget Jones, Alice plays many roles (which she never refers to as “wearing many hats” and wishes you wouldn’t, either). She is a mostly-happily married mother of three, an attentive daughter, an ambivalent dog-owner, a part-time editor, a loyal neighbor and a Zen commuter. She is not: a cook, a craftswoman, a decorator, an active PTA member, a natural caretaker or the breadwinner. But when her husband makes a radical career change, Alice is ready to lean in—and she knows exactly how lucky she is to land a job at Scroll, a hip young start-up which promises to be the future of reading, with its chain of chic literary lounges and dedication to beloved classics. The Holy Grail of working mothers―an intellectually satisfying job and a happy personal life―seems suddenly within reach.

Despite the disapproval of her best friend, who owns the local bookstore, Alice is proud of her new “balancing act” (which is more like a three-ring circus) until her dad gets sick, her marriage flounders, her babysitter gets fed up, her kids start to grow up and her work takes an unexpected turn. Readers will cheer as Alice realizes the question is not whether it’s possible to have it all, but what does she―Alice Pearse―really want?

By way of a story, there is nothing new, in fact, this type of story has been done time and time again.  Alice is struggling to do it all - she's part of the sandwich generation with demanding kids, a sick/elderly parent, and also a husband that not only loses his job, but develops a drinking problem.  She's likable enough, and it wasn't so much what she had to deal with (Egan really pours it on thick), but how she deals with things.  Readers may identify with her and find the book entertaining, or not relate to her and find the book a bit dull.  Or maybe readers will be too distracted by their own busy lives and feel guilty for indulging in reading when they should be doing other things.

What was interesting to me was Alice's professional journey, I also work in publishing, but it wasn't enough to really sell the story. 

Stand-Off by Andrew Smith

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

As far as sequels go, this book was fantastic! I was really surprised that I enjoyed this book as much as I did. Winger is still better, however Stand-Off was a great follow up.

As in life, tragedy doesn't slow things down for Ryan Dean. Smith's foray into grief has Ryan Dean dealing with the aftermath of the tragedy of his best friend. Smith's writing is honest, and raw. He captures Ryan Dean's grief, his struggle to process the tragedy, and emotion.

Much like Winger, the humour is present, juxtaposed against Ryan Dean's pain, and it pushes the story forward much like it is pushing the character forward to come out the other side of his grief.

“I’ll tell you what, Ryan Dean. If it makes a difference, and I believe it might, we won’t call you fly half. We’ll call you stand-off. I prefer the name for the number ten, anyway, because it really says what it is you do on the pitch–you stand off from the pack and you design the strategy for the squad to win.”

The Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman

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

Alice Hoffman is one of my absolute favourite authors. How excited was I to get an ARC of this book? I absolutely love art history (being an art history major), and couple this with Hoffman's exquisite writing, I couldn't put the book down. I loved it! 

Hoffman's writing, and descriptions are simply beautiful—the way she described Pissarro's paintings gave them the respect they deserve. Pissarro was after all a founding father of Impressionism, a much loved art period. I don't want to give too much away from the story, but I will say that this historical fictional account of Rachel was incredibly well done. I loved the build of the narrative, and that Hoffman took the time to develop the characters, and the story, all throughout Rachel's life.

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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. 

Good Girl: A Memoir by Sarah Tomlinson

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

Oh Sarah...  I really wanted to like your book so much more than I actually did. I kept waiting for something to happen, some epiphany but nothing really happened.

Her accolades and experience are impressive.  I'm sure she's a gifted writer, in fact I would actually like to read some of her music reviews which are probably fantastic, but I really didn't care for her style.  Her story is told so rapidly, like one giant conversation that makes your head spin.  You know when you haven't seen someone for a long time, and you talk incessantly, cramming in a lifetimes worth of conversation into one evening?  That's how I felt reading this.  I didn't feel like she had found her voice or her place in life, perhaps that is why she wrote the book like this?  I just craved more detail from her not the staccato storytelling.

I was also waiting for a proper conclusion; I thought that the ending would mark something monumental but there was no build up and it just ended.  It was as if her goal was to cover off as as much as possible without going into any detail.

Those Girls by Chevy Stevens

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

Life has never been easy for the three Campbell sisters. Jess, Courtney, and Dani live on a remote ranch in Western Canada where they work hard and try to stay out of the way of their father’s fists. One night, a fight gets out of hand and the sisters are forced to go on the run, only to get caught in an even worse nightmare when their truck breaks down in a small town. Events spiral out of control and a chance encounter with the wrong people leaves them in a horrific and desperate situation. They are left with no choice but to change their names and create new lives.

Eighteen years later, they are still trying to forget what happened that summer when one of the sisters goes missing and they are pulled back into their past.

This time there’s nowhere left to run.

Set in western Canada, this emotional thriller is in a way a strange coming-of-age story that also explores the bond between sisters. The main characters, the Campbell sisters, are forced to flee their home only to encounter more violation and torture at the hands of their rescuers. There are some very disturbing details, and a darkness that swallows up not only the girls' innocence, but parts of them as well.

At times the narrative is incredibly difficult, not only by way of imagery, but because of the extreme violence that Stevens takes on (rape, murder, abuse). Some readers may find the writing powerful based on the connection and empathy towards the girls and their resilience, but I did not. I found it incredibly disturbing and violent.  

Those Girls is an unforgettable portrait of desperation, loyalty, and evil.

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.