Review: Run Away

Run Away by Harlan Coben
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Sometimes I forget how much I love me some Harlan Coben! This was the perfect holiday vacation read--I stayed up until 1:30am reading it, and then had to read it first thing in the morning to finish it. He and David Baldacci are two of my fav pop fiction authors.

Simon is dealing with every parent's worst nightmare--his daughter is addicted to drugs and doesn't want to get better. But he can't stop trying to help her. In doing so, he is sucked into a wild ride of murder, drug dealers, grief, and cults. Block off a few hours, because you'll want to read this in one sitting!

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Review: Run Away

Run Away by Harlan Coben
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

Sometimes I forget how much I love me some Harlan Coben! This was the perfect holiday vacation read--I stayed up until 1:30am reading it, and then had to read it first thing in the morning to finish it. He and David Baldacci are two of my fav pop fiction authors.

Simon is dealing with every parent's worst nightmare--his daughter is addicted to drugs and doesn't want to get better. But he can't stop trying to help her. In doing so, he is sucked into a wild ride of murder, drug dealers, grief, and cults. Block off a few hours, because you'll want to read this in one sitting!

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Review: The Field Guide to the North American Teenager

The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Norris is full of teenage angst--so much so that it was difficult for me to read about how much he was bitching about moving. But it would be hard for a Canadian mixed-race kid to move to Austin, Texas, wouldn't it? But then I think, well, at least it's Austin and not some podunk rural town.

One thing I like about this--it's a YA novel about typical teenage life. There is no major life problem (although Norris and his new friends have plenty of them), and there are plenty of healthy teenager-adult relationships in this book, too. Dating is hard, and Norris makes a lot of mistakes, and I love how things don't end up all peachy and fake at the end.

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Review: Twisted Twenty-Six

Twisted Twenty-Six by Janet Evanovich
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

I just can't listen to these books anymore. I used to love the whole Ranger/Morelli love triangle and I would lol while listening. But now I cringe when grandma talks and the story is just simple and boring. Sigh. No more of these for me.

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Review: The Testaments

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

When things wrapped up neatly at the end of this novel, I was disappointed. How dystopian of me! But I guess I wanted things to NOT work out. Some of the plotlines I loved--I liked hearing from Aunt Lydia and baby Nicole, but I really didn't enjoy the ending. You'll see what I mean. From looking at the reviews, I'm not the only one who didn't love the way things wrapped up.

And read this in print. The audio has some annoying issues.

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Review: Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All

Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All by Laura Ruby
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This ranks higher than Bad Apple, but lower than Bone Gap for me. I wanted to see less of the ghost and more of the real characters, because I just couldn't get into the magical parts of the book. I'm sure this will be discussed at the Printz table because magical realism always seems to be there but I loved Bone Gap so much more.

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Review: Cursed

Cursed by Thomas Wheeler
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Nothing new here.

I feel the same way as one of my Goodreads friends--this would have been a better book if the characters had different names. Most readers would "get" the Arthurian references that way, but not be irritated when the characters didn't match with their reputations in the original myths. That's what really bothered me. I loved Nimue and her kick-ass attitude with the magic sword, but I wanted Arthur to act like the Arthur I know, and Lancelot to act like Lancelot, etc. The names distracted me.

As for the illustrations, I hate how Nimue's buttcrack is emphasized in one of them--it made to check to see if this was a male illustrator. Yep, of course. And I hate how the illustrations aren't fully integrated with the text. I want the illustration on the page where the text is--not on the next page. I'd rather have smaller illustrations that are integrated with the text than what is in this book. I don't want the visual elements to look like they were done separately and then just stuck in by the book publisher.

Will this make a decent Netflix series? Meh. Not so sure. I'd love to see a diverse cast in any fantasy series, but I don't know if another Arthurian series is needed.

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Review: Wanderers

Wanderers by Chuck Wendig
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This novel took forever to finish because I was winding up my second year on RUSA's Listen List Committee and only read print books on my lunch hour. And this book is 782 pages. (!)

Please, please, turn this world into a Netflix series because I would SO watch it. I had never read anything by Wendig before, but this is full of pop culture and teen friendly and just REAL. And that's my favorite kind of apocalyptic novel.

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Review: The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna

The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna by Juliet Grames
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I usually love historical fiction but I just couldn't get into this one because I felt like it needed tighter editing. Loved the first part but it just went downhill for me. Major trigger warnings with all the rape scenes.

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Review: The Turn of the Key

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is one of those where the accused writes a letter explaining her innocence and you keep thinking, "What the hell?" and "Are you stupid?" as you listen to the explanation of the crime.

As a nanny, this woman makes all kinds of mistakes--manhandles the kids, leaves them alone for too long, and thinks that bribery is a way to get children to do things. She also doesn't understand technology, but she nannies in a house with a lot of it. Why the heck wouldn't she read the book of directions that the parents left for her? And why did she always "wake up disoriented" every time she slept?

Too many things that didn't make this plausible. I did want to finish to see what would happen so I had to finish the book.

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Review: Fly Already: Stories

Fly Already: Stories by Etgar Keret
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is my first read by Keret, and his stories are entertaining!

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Review: Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know

Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know by Malcolm Gladwell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Was this book entertaining? Yes. But I'm still not quite sure what the point of the book was. With novels, the point is to entertain usually. And that seems to be the point of this nonfiction, book, too, even though I feel like it should have been to inform or to persuade a bit more. I wanted more MEAT in this book, especially if there are going to be correlations made between horrific societal nightmare events like Sandra Black, Nasser, Sandusky, and then to an episode of Friends. I just felt like the chapters were all over the place and I wasn't satisfied with how he tried to wrap everything up into how "we misunderstand each other."

One thing I did realize--I don't have the Default to Truth thing that he talks about. I guess I'm like some police officers then? That's what online dating for the past 13 years gets me. I'm more likely to trust a random truck driver who stops to help me change my tire than someone I meet on an online dating site. I think I have a pretty good spidey sense about people, thanks to being in education for 20+ years.

I think he could have focused the whole book on the coupling idea and how there is a strong correlation between people's actions and place and how it relates to criminal justice. That part was fascinating.

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Review: The Secrets We Kept

The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Now I just want to know what REALLY happened! Love historical spy stories like this when women played a bigger role than everyone thought.

I never was into all the Russian classics and I think it's hilarious that our CIA members were talking so much about Russian novels back in the day.

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Review: Red at the Bone

Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

How does Woodson do it? Such a fantastic writer who limits the number of pages of her works. She packs a punch with these short little books. In this one, she tells the story of Melody and her family with a lot of flashbacks, but you never get lost as a reader. I love how she worked in the horrible Tulsa Race Massacre--the more that information gets out to the public now, the better.

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Review: A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II

A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II by Sonia Purnell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What???? This is the kind of war spy story I like to read! I had never heard of this American woman, but she is BAD ASS. I can't even attempt to summarize all the cool stuff she did while working for the British and American war/spy agencies, but she was all over the place. And she led men, which is cool, but then, after WW2, she was "put in her place" again by the lovely men of the CIA. I'm not sure how she survived the 1950s without dropping cyanide tablets in her supervisor's coffee, which she was probably asked to make.

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Review: The World That We Knew

The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

For some reason, I didn't love this much as I've loved other Hoffman books, and I think it's because I kept thinking that I had read it before. What other books have I read about a golem during the Holocaust? Why did it feel so familiar? Is it just because I've read too many World War II tales about the resistance? Read this one in print instead of audio--trust me.

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Review: The Unhoneymooners

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Cute little unexpected romance book about a love that blooms between a twin sister and her brother-in-law's brother. Nothing new or exciting here, but it's a great fluffy beach read. Who wouldn't fall in love with a hot guy staying in a honeymoon suite with you? ;)

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Review: Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir

Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir by Ruth Reichl
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I've never heard of this woman, and have never read Gourmet magazine, so I'm not exactly the audience for this memoir. That said, I did like this more than I thought I would, because, like another food memoir I read recently, it is about failure. It's easy to see how Gourmet failed though--not just for being a print magazine, but for targeting rich foodies and spending so much money on unnecessary splurges for their employees. I used to think National Geographic Traveler was unrealistic when I read it because everything was too expensive for this Midwesterner. I can't imagine what Gourmet was like. However, I enjoyed getting to know Ruth Reichl, her experiences during 9/11, and her experience as being a parent who works.

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Review: The Truffle Underground: A Tale of Mystery, Mayhem, and Manipulation in the Shadowy Market of the World's Most Expensive Fungus

The Truffle Underground: A Tale of Mystery, Mayhem, and Manipulation in the Shadowy Market of the World's Most Expensive Fungus by Ryan Jacobs
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Wow--I had no idea this kind of murder and mayhem happens because of some mushrooms! I don't think I've ever had real truffles. About all I know about it is that the Food show people I watch hate the truffle oil and salts--now I know because all that stuff is probably fake. The murder/mystery stuff in this book is the best--that part was fascinating. Basically I will never order anything that says truffle now, because here in America, it's probably not the real stuff unless I'm at a top end restaurant. And even then the truffles may be counterfeit! Crazy stuff. Some people have too much money.

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Review: The Poison Thread

The Poison Thread by Laura Purcell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Dottie is rich, yet interested in how head lumps cause people to murder and be bad (science has come a long way, hasn't it?), so she volunteers at a women's prison and encounters young Ruth. Ruth is in prison for murdering her mistress and tells her tale to Ruth. I was a bit bored in the middle with so much telling and wanted the action, but, then, at the end, I felt like I had to re-read. Gothic and I just don't get along very well--too much telling and description. I wanted tighter editing in the middle and 3/4 in.

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Review: Copperhead

Copperhead by Alexi Zentner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This could have easily been published as YA. I hope the Alex Award committee will take a look at it? I did find the teen angst that the main character felt as a bit odd--he couldn't quite decide if he was going to go along with his white supremacist family or step away from them. There were times where the point-of-view felt wrong--is it 3rd person? 1st person? But I enjoyed the ride. Plenty of football and hunting in here, too, to make teens around me happy.

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Review: Call Your Daughter Home

Call Your Daughter Home by Deb Spera
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wonderful debut of a very dramatic and atmospheric Southern fiction drama! Narrated by three different women, but their stories are woven together brilliantly. The plantation wife, Annie, is posh, privileged and horrified when she learns her husband's dark secret. Retta, their African-American cook, is a former slave, but it's 1924, and she sure seems like she's still a slave, thanks to the way it was in South Carolina. Gertrude is the poor white abused woman who needs Rhetta's help and eventually works for the plantation matron.

You'll breeze through this because you'll want to know what happens to these women. Great characterization by Spera--I felt connected to all three women and cared for them.

Triggers for abuse--both domestic and child sexual.

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Review: The Swallows

The Swallows by Lisa Lutz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Don't mess with teen girls. This is your typical bad rating system happening by stupid prep school boys. The girls find out and all hell breaks loose. I've never been a student or worked at a boarding school, but if teachers really do know about this kind of shit and don't try to squash it, no wonder we need a #metoo movement. Way too many adults knew bad things in this novel, but then the adults are messed up, too.

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Review: The Bride Test

The Bride Test by Helen Hoang
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I didn't read Book #1 of this series, and there was no need. I was instantly swept into Esme's rags-to-riches story, as she is plucked from cleaning a hotel bathroom in Vietnam to America because she seems to the perfect future wife of a restaurant owner's son. Khai is a successful accountant, but also autistic, and the young couple end up hitting it off. But, like in all romances, problems happen, but eventually they end up okay. And in love, which is awesome in arranged marriage.

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Review: Turbulence

Turbulence by David Szalay
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Difficult to feel connections to characters when they change every chapter. This would be a difficult book to write, though, since each chapter continues the story with another character who was on a plane with someone else. Worldwide connections to all, indeed.

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Review: Full Throttle

Full Throttle by Joe Hill
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have a new favorite Joe Hill! I love suspense but am iffy about horror, but Stephen King's son won me over in the Introduction that he narrates himself.  He tells readers how he tried to NOT be like his dad, but ended up giving into everything he was raised around, like pulpy comics and his dad's writings. 

So funny to read in the comments how we all have different favorites--mine were Throttle, By the Silver Water of Lake Champlain, Thumbprint, and You Are Released. I can't stop talking about the last story and how it just seems so plausible that World War III is right around the corner. I wasn't a huge fan of "Late Returns" about the bookmobile and grief, but I know some librarians and readers will eat that shit up. Hill's narration of the intro and notes make this a kickass audio, too.

And don't quit listening too early--he throws in a bonus story at the end. 

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Review: Big Sky

Big Sky by Kate Atkinson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I didn't read the first books in this series, so I felt like I was missing some of the backstory. Love the references to good American country, though, especially the female artists like Maren Morris and Miranda Lambert!

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Review: The Moon in the Palace

The Moon in the Palace by Weina Dai Randel
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I've had this on my kindle for ages and finally got around to reading it because I usually enjoy novels set in ancient China. I honestly don't know how the pheasants lived back then--even the girls in the palace didn't get much food. I've been to Bejing and I couldn't help but picture the Forbidden Palace as I read about young Mei. It's sad because as a child she dreams of living in the palace, but, then, eh, palace life isn't all that great either. The Emperor is a wus (my word, not hers), and every other man is off limits. Life just sucked for women back then. The main character's mom was happier in a Buddhist temple, and I totally understand why!

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Review: The Chain

The Chain by Adrian McKinty
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I just can't suspend belief enough to believe things like this could happen in real life. There is no way in hell I would kidnap a kid in order to save my own kid. I'd be FBI-ing with the best of them, thank you. So it's just hard to read something like this.

Especially since if the main characters do the deed--why would they suddenly believe they could beat the chain on their own? Why the change of heart?

Nah.....just too unbelievable.

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Review: Puss in Boots: A Musical

Puss in Boots: A Musical by Neil Fishman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Perfect for the whole family! The music is amazing and there are some modern additions to the fairy tale that will make you chuckle. The amazing Jim Dale is fantastic, of course, but the voice of the princess (she sounds like Elsa!) and Puss really impressed me. Those Hipsterians.... lol

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Review: Sisters Matsumoto

Sisters Matsumoto by Philip Kan Gotanda
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Good play about an important time in history. There are a lot of characters so it's difficult to tell the voices apart, and I hated the laughtrack. I know it was recorded before a live audience, but, to me, the laughing felt contrived? Some of the voices sounded like they echoed, too, which wasn't good.

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Review: Boy Swallows Universe

Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Difficult to get into, but, when you do, the story sucks you in! For some reason, I kept thinking of Billy Eliot, even though this is Australian. Way too many flashbacks about his excon friend Slim at the beginning of the novel. The plot wraps up a bit too neatly at the end, which is why I ended up taking away a star.

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Review: This Much Country

This Much Country by Kristin Knight Pace
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The author is a hell of a woman. She grew up going to outdoor camps, and made a pretty big mistake when she ran off right out of high school to marry an older man in Montana. When they divorced, her heart was broken, but by then she knew even more about living on her own in the mountains. She decides to "run away" to Alaska, and falls in love with everything about it--being alone, the close friendships with neighbors, the scenery, and the sled dogs. I love a great sled dog memoir, and this is a good one. She's so independent and falls in love hard, which I admire since I don't. Loved reading about her relationships with the dogs, too. Read this in print instead of the audio.

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Review: The Chelsea Girls

The Chelsea Girls by Fiona Davis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I kept thinking I had read this before, but I searched lists of books set in the famous NYC hotel and none of the titles looked familiar. Hmm.

Anyway, this novel tells the tale of two women who befriend each other overseas in WWII as they are performing for the troops. One ends up a playwright, the other a famous movie/tv star. Their friendship is troubled, of course, and the whole Red Scare/Hollywood thing is involved.

I didn't connect to the Maxine at all, but maybe we're supposed to hate her? And even Hazel ticked me off because I didn't think she would fall for Charlie.

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Review: Hollow Kingdom

Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hilarious apocalyptic adult novel, told from the point of view of the animals who exist while the humans run around eating each other.

ST, or Shit Turd, is the usual narrator and he's crow who is in love with the MoFos (humans). His expert human watching helps him exist after the end of the world, and he bands together with other critters, like Those Who Open Doors, to rescue those animals who are trapped in MoFo houses.

I laughed and cried and giggled--this book is so punny! Very clever phrasing all over the place. Every once in a while there is a chapter told from the POV of a Scottish cow or snotty poodle and those just worked perfectly.

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Review: The Dragon Republic

The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I stopped on page 311. I do love Rin, but this book was so freaking long and I felt like the plot wasn't going anywhere. I didn't want to read to page 658.

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Review: Never Have I Ever

Never Have I Ever by Joshilyn Jackson
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This book lasted forever and was full of the suburban mom intrigue that I just didn't care about.

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Review: John Dies at the End

John Dies at the End by David Wong
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

I stopped on page 79. Just not in the mood for this type of book, although I would have loved it when I was younger.

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Review: Let's Go Swimming on Doomsday

Let's Go Swimming on Doomsday by Natalie C. Anderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Tons of action--this reads like a spy movie, with a teen Somalian boy as the main character. Abdi has been coerced into infiltrating a Somalian gang's crew so that he can pass information to the Americans. Plenty of blurred lines about who is "good" and "evil" in this novel, which is probably (?) what it is like in the war-torn African countries. Will teens stick with the back-and-forth chapters? (I know had teens who hated those.) Or will the length scare them? If not, I think they will enjoy this roller coaster of a ride.

The author is writing outside her comfort zone (she's never been to Mogadishu, Somalia), so I'm glad she admits that in her author's note. But I won't fault an author for writing outside of her world--that's how many stories get told. And she has worked with refugees for years, so this books makes sense.

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Review: Mistress of the Ritz

Mistress of the Ritz by Melanie Benjamin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love historical novels like this where I feel like I really learned something cool about history. I had no idea that the Ritz manager and his American wife both helped the Allies during the French occupation of WWII. Love the Paris setting (of course) and the ups and downs of their marriage.

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Review: All the Bad Apples

All the Bad Apples by Moïra Fowley-Doyle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm a sucker for magical realism and books set in Ireland, so this is a win-win for me! Chapters switch back and forth between Deena's contemporary life (well, 2012, which is contemporary enough), and various years in her family history. Her family seems to be cursed with women who are "bad apples" and she is determined to break the curse with the help of her two older sisters. Lots of unreliable narration and twists and turns. And banshees! Road trips, mysteries, a healthy dose of feminism, women's rights, and trying to separate Church and schools in Ireland--a lot packed into this little book, but I loved it. And her The Accident Season.

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Review: Mind and Matter: A Life in Math and Football

Mind and Matter: A Life in Math and Football by John Urschel
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Love how his mother knew what she was doing with all those puzzles and mindgames they played together when he was little! The chapters rotate--one about football and one about math, and it's freaky how compartmentalized he kept each important part of his life. I still find it hard to believe how long he played football, knowing how dangerous it was to his brain--his bout with the concussion proved that.

One thing that irked me with the audio, which was otherwise outstanding--the pronunciation of the home of WIU--Macomb, not MAYcomb.

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Review: The Library of Lost and Found

The Library of Lost and Found by Phaedra Patrick
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sweet little read about a mousy library staff member who breaks out of her shell when she discovers family secrets. Of course, she falls in love, gains her own voice, develops better relationships with her family members, and even stops being a hoarder. In print, I would have been bored. But in audio, this was a peaceful work with lovely accents full of expression, pain, and hope.

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Review: Don't Skip Out on Me

Don't Skip Out on Me by Willy Vlautin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What the hell, Vlautin?

That's the reaction you'll have when you get to the end of this one. I tagged it Western, but that's more of the overall feel of the novel, even though there is a sheep ranch involved. Young Horace Hooper is a boxer--he's dead set on training and being seen as a Mexican boxer (even calls himself Hector Hidalgo), even though he is half-Paiute. He's decent because he hits hard and doesn't give up, but his doggedness isn't a good thing when it comes to his mental and physical well-being. Meanwhile old Mr. Reese, the rancher with a bad back, is hoping Horace will give up his dream of being a boxer and just come back to his adoptive home, take over the ranch, and be loved. Lots of redemption, forgiveness, and love in this little book. I loved it.

And thanks to BJ Barham, lead singer of American Aquarium, for mentioning that he was reading Willy Vlautin. I've had this book on my shelf for a year, and that interview made me pick it up and start reading.

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Review: The Home for Unwanted Girls

The Home for Unwanted Girls by Joanna Goodman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

When I'm stressed, I read historical fiction, so I found this ARC on my shelf from last year. Maggie is half-French and half-English and lives in rural Quebec, but she's never felt at home anywhere other than her dad's seed store. When she falls in love with a French boy, her father disapproves, and she is sent away to break up the romance. But, a baby interferes. At 15, Maggie is pretty well forced to give up the baby, as it was done in those times, and poor Elodie is stuck in the horrible child trafficking Catholic/Jewish Quebec nightmare. It's one of those feel-good novels, so everything works out, but I never quite connected with the writing or the characters. Fast, easy read though.

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Review: City of Girls

City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My kind of historical fiction! With a conversational tone, Vivian tells her story about being kicked out of Vassar and getting wild and crazy in NYC in the 1940s. She becomes a seamstress for her aunt's playhouse, and I just loved all the characters and how they broke stereotypes for women during that time. Fast, easy, and pleasurable read.

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Review: 29 Dates

29 Dates by Melissa de la Cruz
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Cute YA read about a Korean teen who is sent to the US for her senior year of high school in order to help her get into good colleges. She is constantly being set up by a Korean matchmaker, even in San Francisco, and the transcripts from those blind dates are hilarious.

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Review: Grace and Fury

Grace and Fury by Tracy Banghart
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Fairly predictive, but I could see reluctant teen readers loving this smash-up of the Hunger Games and the Selection that takes place in some Venice-like world.

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Review: Temper

Temper by Layne Fargo
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

If you want manipulating thespians in Chicago, this psychological thriller is for you!

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Review: Marilou is Everywhere

Marilou is Everywhere by Sarah Elaine Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Good emotional coming-of-age read.

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