Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

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

I adore Rainbow Rowell.  Like I really adore her writing!  But...this wasn't my favourite book of hers.  I wanted so badly to love it, and parts of it I did, but parts of it, I didn't.

The reviews online were positive, but many are making the same parallel that I did.  This screams of Harry Potter fan fiction.  Was that the point?  I had such high hopes for Simon and Baz after learning they would be appearing in their own novel apart from Fangirl.  Anything I've read from Rowell claims that this is her take on "the Chosen One" type of story, but I disagree and couldn't help drawing many parallels to Harry Potter, too many to be a coincidence.   

Like Rowell's other books, this too is adorable and heartwarming.  If you love Simon Snow, this book is your bag.  

Not Working by Lisa Owens

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

Claire Flannery has just quit her office job, hoping to take some time to discover her real passion. The problem is, she's not exactly sure how to go about finding it. Without the distractions of a regular routine, Claire confronts the best and worst parts of herself: the generous, attentive part that visits her grandmother for tea and cooks special meals for her boyfriend, Luke, and the part that she feels will never measure up and makes regrettable comments after too many glasses of wine. What emerges is a candid, moving portrait of a clear-eyed heroine trying to forge her own way, a wholly relatable character whose imperfections and uncanny observations highlight what makes us all different and yet inescapably linked.

Okay, so maybe it is because I'm a Gen-Xer, or maybe it is because this book was pitched as being in the same vein as Bridget Jones's Diary and I Don't Know How She Does It, but I found it incredibly manic and I didn't enjoy it.

Our narrator, Claire Flannery, is in her late 20s and lives with her boyfriend in London.  She quits her job in the hopes that she will discover what she wants to do with/in her life.  There really wasn't much of a story here, and the small choppy sub-titled sections didn't do the narrative any favours - this staccato rhythm was distracting and didn't help me engage with the characters.  Claire comes off as selfish, shallow, and spoiled.  She is unlikable, and to be frank, rather dull.  There were some funny bits, but all-in-all, there was really nothing there character-wise and plot-wise. 

Miller's Valley by Anna Quindlen

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

This moving story takes place in Miller's Valley, a small farming town that becomes another character in the book.  Mary Margaret 'Mimi' Miller is the only daughter born to a farming family with two sons and an agoraphobic aunt that also lives on their property.  Layer by layer, Quindlen tells Mimi's coming-of-age story through her family's drama.   

One thing I would have liked fleshed out was the relationship between Mimi's mother and her sister (Mimi's aunt).  There is a plot twist that touches on perhaps why they had a tumultuous relationship, but I felt like this didn't get enough time and development and could've really added to the story, especially in the beginning.

A slow burn.  Like other reviewers, I found the novel hard to get into because of its pace.  Quindlen is a gifted writer who takes her time developing characters and in this instance, the pace at which she does this, paid off.  So stick with it, you will be glad you did.  

Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld

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

Where do I start? Okay, so I'm a huge fan of Sittenfeld's other books, so it was a no-brainer to request Eligible. When I found out it was an adaptation of Pride and Prejudice that takes place mostly in Cincinnati, I have to admit, I was a little worried.  That being said, for the most part, she pulls it off. Sittenfeld takes a few liberties—which are to be expected since this is modern day—but for the most part, things are left in tact and yet she makes it sound like her own and not a retelling.

I did struggle a bit with the third-person perspective and stumbled a bit with some of the language; words like "erstwhile" and "egregious" are not words you hear every day, and didn't sound appropriate to modern day. Perhaps she was trying to pay homage to Austen through language? But I did feel that these words are simply out of place.

The short, digestible chapters made this book easy to devour given its size. Sittenfled is definitely gifted and did right by Austen. All-in-all, a fun read and I would definitely recommend—it isn't just for fans of Pride and Prejudice or Curtis Sittenfeld.

Concussion by Jeanne Marie Laskas

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

I wanted to read Laskas' book because I have children in competitive contact sports.  My boys wear helmets.  As parents, we spend a lot of money and research on said helmets to ensure we are protecting our kids.  This is not the case. 

"Then again, unlike boxers, football players wear helmets, good protection for the skull.  So it would be reasonable to think that the brain would be spared damaging impact.  But plenty of people know better.  Anybody who knew anything about the anatomy of the head knew better.  It was a simple matter of physics.  The brain floats, is suspended in a kind of thick jelly inside the skull.  If you hit the head hard enough, that brain is going to move, no matter what kind of protection you put around the skull.  A helmet protects the skull. A helmet can't keep the brain from sloshing around in that skull.  If you hit your head hard enough, the brain goes bashing against the walls of the skull.  Bennet had seen plenty of cases of brains destroyed despite helmets.  People in motorcycle crashes wore helmets.  On the surface is nothing, but you open the skull and the brain is mush."

I don't know much about American football, and neither did Dr. Omalu, but this football wasn't the catalyst for wanting to study the brain of Iron Mike Webster who died from a heart attack at the age of 50.  Webster, one of the greats of the game, went from living the dream as a professional athlete, to forgetting how to live.  He tried to glue his teeth back into his mouth, and had to taser himself into unconsciousness to get some sleep.  Omalu suspected that Webster's crazy behaviour was as a result of an underlying brain disease and set out to prove just this. 

This story is absolutely riveting and amazing.  I enjoyed reading about Omalu's background and growing up in Nigeria, as well as the relationship between Omalu and Wecht (a forensic pathologist who has been involved with any and all high-profile cases, including being on the panel that supported the two bullet theory).  Laskas is a wonderful and detailed writer and I would highly recommend this book. 

Don't You Cry by Mary Kubica

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

Twentysomething Quinn is awakened one Sunday at 6:00 a.m., suffering from a hangover, by her roommate Esther's blaring alarm clock. Esther's window is open which is odd during a Chicago winter, but Quinn becomes concerned about her roommate's absence only when she selfishly craves the breakfast Esther usually brings her after church.

The police aren't worried yet, but Quinn enlists the help of her cute coworker, Ben, to help find out where her roommate might be. They duo uncover clues that lead to Quinn suspecting Esther of murder—is Quinn next on her roommate's death list?

Meanwhile, an hour up the coast of Lake Michigan, 18-year-old Alex has given up a college scholarship to wash dishes at a diner so he can care for his alcoholic father. When he notices a mysterious, beautiful girl in his restaurant, he befriends her, hoping for a romance.

Told in alternating voices, Alex's and Quinn's separate mysteries combine in a surprising way.

I really enjoyed The Good Girl and was really excited to get my hands on another book by Mary Kubica.

Each story could stand on its own as a novel, the way Kubica intersects them is quite clever. There were just enough plot twists, both subtle, and dramatic to make this book a contender to appear on various "best of" lists for 2016. The writing is tight, descriptive, and the pace is fast enough to keep the reader engaged to polish off this book in one sitting.

Thank you NetGalley, this page-turner was just what I needed on a winter's day.

MARY KUBICA is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author.  She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, in History and American Literature.

She lives outside of Chicago with her husband and two children and enjoys photography, gardening and caring for the animals at a local shelter.