Reader’s Corner

[Songbird76]

Help!! What should I read next? Too many options!! I have Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, which was recommended by my author friend, BUT she also said "maybe not now" about a month ago, because there's been a LOT of...life going on over here and I've been a ball of stress and needed something light. So I was reading a lot of romance books and just....light stuff. But maybe I could handle it now? But I also have Pumpkin Spice cafe, which looks fun....and I have Erin Hahn's brand new one that just came out this week. And I have a TJ Klune book, and I LOVE his stuff, but it does tend to be sad...they turn out well, but they are tear jerkers. And then I have Matthew Perry's book. I actually have dozens of books I still need to read, but I can't decide what I'm in the mood for.

 

[Songbird76]

I went ahead and read the Erin Hahn book, Even if it Breaks Your Heart. It was good, but I didn't like it as much as her others. Now to decide what to read next. So many great options!!

 

[Songbird76]

Just finished In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune. It was good, but not as good as the others I've read of his. This one was kind of a dystopian/sci-fi genre in which humanity has basically been wiped out by machines/droids. This human boy has a droid father who raised him and taught him how to tinker with things, and he goes to the scrap yards and fixes old robots who become his friends. They take on rather human emotions and such. I usually sob through his books, but this one wasn't as much of a tear jerker.

 

[Songbird76]

I finished the Matthew Perry book. It was interesting...not a whole lot that we didn't know or couldn't have guessed, but it was interesting to read his mental dialogue, and one of the things he mentioned was how you could tell by his appearance in each season of friends what he was using at the time.

Anyway, I'm now reading a Jodi Piccoult....Picture Perfect. I didn't realize it wasn't a court case one, which is sad because that's why I chose it. I was in the mood for a court case book. But it's not bad. Not my favorite of hers, but still good.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I finished the Matthew Perry book. It was interesting...not a whole lot that we didn't know or couldn't have guessed, but it was interesting to read his mental dialogue, and one of the things he mentioned was how you could tell by his appearance in each season of friends what he was using at the time.

Anyway, I'm now reading a Jodi Piccoult....Picture Perfect. I didn't realize it wasn't a court case one, which is sad because that's why I chose it. I was in the mood for a court case book. But it's not bad. Not my favorite of hers, but still good.

I like Jodi Picoult books, but I have not read Picture Perfect. I will have to check it out.

 

[Songbird76]

I like Jodi Picoult books, but I have not read Picture Perfect. I will have to check it out.

I looked it up and I think it said it was her 3rd novel, so it must be pretty old and kind of before she really hit her stride. It's good, but not one of her best. I think if she were to write it now, she'd have done a better job, but the premise is good. It's about a woman who wakes up in a cemetary and can't remember who she is. And she's married to this famous actor, and it's looking like maybe he is abusive, but we haven't really gotten to that part yet....she's still not remembering what happened. We only see how she met him, how she fell in love with him. But there are little snippets where you kind of think "Hrmmm....something's not right about this" and we don't know how she ended up with a concussion and amnesia. But I think it's kind of meant to highlight how women get stuck in abusive relationships, even if it's not physical abuse (yet), and I really relate to that. My ex was very controlling and possessive, and I know exactly how I got stuck in that position, because of how I was raised. My mom was extremely controlling and strict, even when I was in college, and I had no self-esteem and I thought it was better to have ANY relationship than no relationship...like, even if I didn't love him, at least I wouldn't be alone. I didn't think I was good enough to attract anyone better and I didn't think I was competent enough to support myself so I was scared of not having someone to help me and be my partner. And that's what it seems like the main character did....like, she had grown up with an alcoholic mother and she didn't think she really had anything to offer. So when this actor started giving her attention, it was kind of intoxicating at first, and she saw all the little signs of abuse as proof that he loved her. That she just needed to give him a chance and stop taking offense at everything. So she made excuses for his bad behavior. So far, there's been no physical abuse, but the hints are there that that's coming. It's interesting to read it in that sequence...you see how he kind of swept her off her feet, and how he kind of makes it seem like he's had trauma in his life and he's just trying to do better, so you are rooting for him...you want it to work because they both have all this childhood trauma. But the reality of it is that that is how the cycle of abuse continues, and he may not be physically abusive yet, but there's a first time for everything. It's a subject I find really interesting, so I am enjoying the book, even though the writing isn't as good as it could have been. I think Jodi Picoult has gotten a lot better over the years...I never read one of hers that I haven't liked.

 

[k8einwdw]

In the month of February, I read the Brown Sisters trilogy by Talia Hibbert.



“Get a Life, Chloe Brown” is about Chloe, the oldest of the sisters. She has fibromyalgia, and is very introverted, to the point of essentially being a hermit. She has a near-death experience that causes her to realize that she’s wasting her youth, so she makes an”Get a Life” list for herself, to help her stop being afraid of everything. By chance, she befriends the superintendent of her apartment building, and asks him to help her with accomplishing the goals in her list. Their friendship blossoms into something more, but they both have fears and past hurts to overcome if it’s ever going to work out.



I also finally broke down and got a Kindle this month.

Book #2 in the series is “Take a Hint, Dani Brown.” Dani is the middle sister, who is a college professor and doctoral candidate. She is friends with Zafir, a former professional rugby player, who is now the security guard for the building she teaches in. Zafir asks her to be in a fake relationship with him to try to bring social media publicity to his nonprofit. While fake-dating, they both develop real feelings. But, Dani is afraid of commitment, and Zafir is ready for a committed relationship.



Book #3 is “Act Your Age, Eve Brown.” Eve is the baby of the family, and lives a very charmed (spoiled) life, until one day, her parents tell her that they’re no longer going to support her. She has hopped around from job to job with no real focus, and they’re giving her a little tough love to try to get her to grow up and start acting like an adult. She goes out for a drive, and happens upon a bed and breakfast with a “Help Wanted” sign posted. She interviews for a job, but clashes with the owner, and on her way out of the parking lot, accidentally runs him over with her car. She feels obligated to stay and help while he’s recovering from his injuries, and eventually they learn to tolerate each other. Tolerating each other turns to friendship, and they both eventually discover that they have feelings for one another, but both are scared to admit it.

I loved all three books, and can’t decide which is my favorite of the three!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

In the month of February, I read the Brown Sisters trilogy by Talia Hibbert.

View attachment 770731

“Get a Life, Chloe Brown” is about Chloe, the oldest of the sisters. She has fibromyalgia, and is very introverted, to the point of essentially being a hermit. She has a near-death experience that causes her to realize that she’s wasting her youth, so she makes an”Get a Life” list for herself, to help her stop being afraid of everything. By chance, she befriends the superintendent of her apartment building, and asks him to help her with accomplishing the goals in her list. Their friendship blossoms into something more, but they both have fears and past hurts to overcome if it’s ever going to work out.

View attachment 770734

I also finally broke down and got a Kindle this month.

Book #2 in the series is “Take a Hint, Dani Brown.” Dani is the middle sister, who is a college professor and doctoral candidate. She is friends with Zafir, a former professional rugby player, who is now the security guard for the building she teaches in. Zafir asks her to be in a fake relationship with him to try to bring social media publicity to his nonprofit. While fake-dating, they both develop real feelings. But, Dani is afraid of commitment, and Zafir is ready for a committed relationship.

View attachment 770735

Book #3 is “Act Your Age, Eve Brown.” Eve is the baby of the family, and lives a very charmed (spoiled) life, until one day, her parents tell her that they’re no longer going to support her. She has hopped around from job to job with no real focus, and they’re giving her a little tough love to try to get her to grow up and start acting like an adult. She goes out for a drive, and happens upon a bed and breakfast with a “Help Wanted” sign posted. She interviews for a job, but clashes with the owner, and on her way out of the parking lot, accidentally runs him over with her car. She feels obligated to stay and help while he’s recovering from his injuries, and eventually they learn to tolerate each other. Tolerating each other turns to friendship, and they both eventually discover that they have feelings for one another, but both are scared to admit it.

I loved all three books, and can’t decide which is my favorite of the three!

Those books look good, thanks for sharing.

I still say that one of the best purchases I ever made was my Kindle. I still like paper books but the Kindle is just so easy!

 

[Songbird76]

I finished Picture Perfect. It was ok, but I felt like the ending wasn't really plausible. We did finally get to see the physical abuse, and that part seemed pretty realistic. That slow progression of possessiveness and needing the full attention of the partner, and the isolation with the appearance of the perfect romance/relationship, etc. and then moving on to the outbursts of anger that result in the victim getting hurt, before finally progressing to the direct physical violence/aggression. I think it's important to have that depiction in books/movies/TV so that we see those patterns and recognize them for what they are, and so that victims don't feel as ashamed for having been duped and fallen into the trap. But I feel like the end kind of sugar-coated the whole thing and it was too easy for her to get out. You knew she was going to, obviously, but it just kind of all fell into place and that's it. Again, I feel like if she wrote it today with all her experience as a writer, it would be a different book. It wasn't bad, but I like her others much better.

Now I just read Murder on a School Night by Kate Weston. It's supposed to be YA, and I guess it is, but it was pretty over-the-top YA. Like...a story about high school kids as imagined by elementary-age kids. There were some pretty cringy moments in it, in which the characters do some really ridiculous things and think they are so smart and mature. The whole thing is that two of the most popular kids in school have now turned up dead under suspicious circumstances. These two girls, who are the least popular girls in the whole school, decide to find out who killed the popular kids, even though the police somehow think the first death was accidental. (I have my doubts about whether police can be quite that incompetent.) At one point, the two girls decide to follow their "suspects" who step onto a bus. Neither have a drivers license, so they must follow them on their bikes. One of these 17 year-old girls rides her little sister's paw patrol bike....very inconspicuous, and thinks she's being stealthy and no one will know who they are because they put on sunglasses and a hat. And the main character is hiding in her bed at one point, terrified she's about to be murdered, because she hears a knock on her window, and whoever it is just keeps knocking over and over. Yeah...must be a murderer out there thinking "How many times do I have to knock before she opens the window so I can murder her??" The girl actually thinks that as long as she doesn't open the window, she's safe. Yes, because a murderer would be absolutely flummoxed by a closed window. "You win this time, girly! Very smart of you to hide behind that impenetrable barrier!" It was just kind of ridiculous. And the writing was pretty bad. Poor grammar, wonky punctuation, ("Oh! Here comes, DI Collins!" What is that comma for??) and some very awkward sentences that I had to read several times to figure out what they meant. Like, "I told him about the party last night and he is going." And I'm thinking....what party last night? And then I realized she meant that last night, she told him about a party coming up and he plans to go. That makes so much more sense, but it was poorly written.

The overall story was kind of funny, and it definitely doesn't take itself to seriously, but it's not one I would pick up as a serious murder mystery. If you want something where you just want to be entertained, it's fine, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it.

 

[Songbird76]

I just finished Remarkably Bright Creatures that someone on here read. I really liked it! It was really sweet.

 

[k8einwdw]

Book #11 for this year was Brandi Carlile’s memoir, “Broken Horses.”



Brandi Carlile is one of my favorite musical artists, and her memoir made me love her even more than I already did.

 

[BuddyThomas]

Has anyone read this book? I found it to be absolutely incredible: I haven’t cried for a book since Charlottes Web, but this one will make anyone with a pulse sob like a baby.

 

[Songbird76]

I finished Educated by Tara Westover....wow....what a life she's led. Her story is incredible.

Now I'm reading Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. It's good so far. I didn't know what to expect because it's a book club selection, but I'm liking it.

 

[k8einwdw]

Book #12 for this year was “This Could Be Us,” by Kennedy Ryan. This is the second book in the Skyland series. The main character is Soledad, a stay-at-home mom whose world is turned upside down when she finds out that her husband has been living a double life. She has to figure out a way to provide for herself and her three daughters. With the help of her family and friends, as well as an unexpected friendship with her husband’s workplace rival, she embarks on a journey of self discovery and self love.

I read the first book in this series last year and absolutely loved it, so I had high expectations for this book. Thankfully, I was not disappointed in the least - I devoured this book in three days! I can’t wait for the third book to come out next year!

 

[Songbird76]

I finished Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. I was really disappointed in the end. It seemed so anticlimactic and I guess I didn't really get the point of the book. I was really liking it and we get to the end and I was like....wait...that's it? I was reading on kindle, so you can't see how many pages are left. It shows a percentage, and there are always acknowledments and whatnot at the end, so I was very confused when I was at 97% and what I was reading seemed to be the end, but was also not what I was expecting. It seemed abrupt to me, and not everything was really explained. I ended up reading a synopsis to fill in the blanks. I feel like I missed something.

Now I'm reading mindless fluff again, because real life is throwing some curveballs again and I can't focus. I'm reading The First Date Prophesy by Kate and Danny Tamberelli.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I just got done reading the new Danielle Steel novel "Never Too Late". Danielle Steel is my guilty pleasure read, I call her books my reading candy because I can cruise through in a couple hours. It was good but it does deal with a pretty heavy subject which I will put in a spoiler.

Spoiler

The book deals with a current day (fictional of course) terrorist attack in New York City and references 9/11 a lot which can be sensitive for many people.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

I have finally gotten back to reading (well, listening; my poor brain can pretty much do audiobooks right now...) and of course, very typically of me, I've read three books in a week after taking a break for a while. They were all fluff, all by Sally Thorne, who I've never read before. "The Hating Game", "Second First Impressions" and "99 Percent Mine". "The Hating Game" was definitely my favorite (apparently it's a Netflix movie now). The other two were entertaining, but not super memorable.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I have finally gotten back to reading (well, listening; my poor brain can pretty much do audiobooks right now...) and of course, very typically of me, I've read three books in a week after taking a break for a while. They were all fluff, all by Sally Thorne, who I've never read before. "The Hating Game", "Second First Impressions" and "99 Percent Mine". "The Hating Game" was definitely my favorite (apparently it's a Netflix movie now). The other two were entertaining, but not super memorable.

I love the "The Hating Game" the movie is okay but the book is so much better. My book club read "The Hating Game" and then a couple months later the movie came out so we watched it together. We all liked the movie but all of us went home and read the ending of the book again because we were disappointed in how the movie wrapped of the story. Sally Thorne's other books are okay but not as good as "The Hating Game." I don't think the movie is on Netflix though.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

I love the "The Hating Game" the movie is okay but the book is so much better. My book club read "The Hating Game" and then a couple months later the movie came out so we watched it together. We all liked the movie but all of us went home and read the ending of the book again because we were disappointed in how the movie wrapped of the story. Sally Thorne's other books are okay but not as good as "The Hating Game." I don't think the movie is on Netflix though.

I would have been shocked if you said the movie was better than the book.

 

[Tiki Traveler]

I love the "The Hating Game" the movie is okay but the book is so much better. My book club read "The Hating Game" and then a couple months later the movie came out so we watched it together. We all liked the movie but all of us went home and read the ending of the book again because we were disappointed in how the movie wrapped of the story. Sally Thorne's other books are okay but not as good as "The Hating Game." I don't think the movie is on Netflix though.

Hi - The movie is on Hulu. I haven’t seen it but now I’m thinking I may have to read the book and then watch it!