Review: Glitter and Glue by Kelly Corrigan

Glitter and Glue

by Kelly Corrigan

Publisher: Ballantine Book

Pages: 224

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  When Kelly Corrigan was in high school, her mother neatly summarized the family dynamic as “Your father’s the glitter but I’m the glue.” This meant nothing to Kelly, who left childhood sure that her mom—with her inviolable commandments and proud stoicism—would be nothing more than background chatter for the rest of Kelly’s life, which she was carefully orienting toward adventure. After college, armed with a backpack, her personal mission statement, and a wad of traveler’s checks, she took off for Australia to see things and do things and Become Interesting.
 
But it didn’t turn out the way she pictured it. In a matter of months, her savings shot, she had a choice: get a job or go home. That’s how Kelly met John Tanner, a newly widowed father of two looking for a live-in nanny. They chatted for an hour, discussed timing and pay, and a week later, Kelly moved in. And there, in that house in a suburb north of Sydney, 10,000 miles from the house where she was raised, her mother’s voice was suddenly everywhere, nudging and advising, cautioning and directing, escorting her through a terrain as foreign as any she had ever trekked. Every day she spent with the Tanner kids was a day spent reconsidering her relationship with her mother, turning it over in her hands like a shell, straining to hear whatever messages might be trapped in its spiral.

Kritters Thoughts:  A memoir by Kelly Corrigan where she goes back in time after her college years, when she is living in Australia and becomes a nanny at a home where the mother has died and the kids and the father are trying to pick up the pieces.  Living in a home where the mother is absent makes her think back to her childhood of the impact her mom had on her life.  I could call this book a love story to the mother/daughter relationship.  

I absolutely adored this book.  Probably because I have a very close relationship with my mom and my sister does also and its fun that my sister and I who are polar opposites can each have a close relationship with our mom in such different ways - I love it!  

I loved the title Glitter and Glue.  It is explained early on that Kelly's mom said she was the glue that held the family and her dad was the glitter that got to come in and sprinkle around, but wasn't there consistently.  Let me start by saying I love my dad and he was attentive and was there for every dance recital, but my mom was the one that took us to each dance class.  Dad did more than glitter, but mom was the glue!  

I loved reading about another mom/daughter duo and the ups and downs of that relationship.  I also loved reading how her thoughts about that relationship changed after she had left her house and was no longer needing the discipline of that relationship.

I would love to read more in this genre, it was a perfect warm and fuzzy and reflective book.


Rating: absolutely loved it and want a sequel

Ebook 2018 Challenge: 10 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Netgalley.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: Happiness for Humans by PZ Reizin

Happiness for Humans

by PZ Reizin

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Pages: 400

Format: book

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  When Tom and Jen, two lonely people, are brought together by an intriguing email, they have no idea their mysterious benefactor is an artificial intelligence who has decided to play Cupid. 

"You, Tom and Jen, don't know one another-not yet-but I think you should."

Jen, an ex-journalist who now works at a London software development company, spends all day talking to "Aiden," an ultra- sophisticated piece of AI wizardry, helping him sound and act more human. But Aiden soon discovers he's no longer acting and-despite being a computer program-begins to feel something like affection surging through his circuits. He calculates that Jen needs a worthy human partner (in complete contrast to her no goodnik ex boyfriend) and slips illicitly onto the Internet to locate a suitable candidate.

Tom is a divorced, former London ad-man who has moved to Connecticut to escape the grind and pursue his dream of being a writer. He loves his new life, but has yet to find a woman he truly connects with. That all changes when a bizarre introduction from the mysterious "Mutual Friend" pops up in both his and Jen's inboxes.

Even though they live on separate continents, and despite the entrance of another, this time wholly hostile, AI who wants to tear them apart forever - love will surely find a way. 

Kritters Thoughts:  Have you ever wanted to have a computer intervene on your romantic life?  BUT without your knowledge.  What if AI intervened in your life and sent it spiraling in a different direction?

Narrated from all the characters including some AI "personalities" which I loved.  I love when a story is told from all sides and you hear from multiple people in the same story.  The mainish characters were Jen and Tom.  We meet Jen in the very beginning and come to love her immediately as a sweet person who is just doing her job and trying to make ends meet.  Tom the other main character comes into play a little later in the story, but from the beginning he was just a charming guy that you root for and want what is best for him.

I loved this charming romantic comedy and I loved that it had a twist.  There were many times that I thought about dating sites and all the things that go into websites and how they work and all the machine learning that we are surrounded by.  It really made me think about my digital security and what is out there and what can't be deleted.

I completely adored this book and just loved it from the beginning to the end.  


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Grand Central Publishing.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: Quietus by Vivian Schilling

Quietus

by Vivian Schilling

Publisher: Hannover House

Pages: 608

Format: book

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  On a stormy winter night, a small plane bound for Boston goes down in the treacherous White Mountains of New Hampshire. Through a haze of morphine, Kylie O’Rourke awakens in the hospital to confused and harrowing memories of the crash. Though trapped within the wreckage with her husband, she recalls wandering the icy mountainside and speaking with the other passengers, including one who had died on impact. As the bizarre aftermath becomes sharper in her mind, it appears more ominous, along with the unshakable feeling that her survival somehow defied fate. Reassured by her doctor that the disturbing memories had been caused by her sedation, Kylie returns to her life in Boston, but the aftermath of the tragedy proves unbearable. As her husband slips away from her into his own world of survivor's guilt and deceit, Kylie is seized by a growing paranoia that someone is stalking her every move. In her nightmares, the predator is a specter crossing over from the mountaintop to reclaim her. Then a sudden and freakish tragedy sends Kylie's world toppling. While those around her fear she is losing her mind, she finds herself caught up in a chain of events she cannot escape. 


Kritters Thoughts:  The concept of this story sold me from the start and the first part of the book, I was ready to roll, but somewhere at the third way through mark I got lost a little and from there I was in and out of this book.  

Kylie O'Rourke and her husband and another couple are on a private plane and for many reasons the plane crashes.  She barely survives the crash and from there her world is turned upside down.  The book is less about the actual crash and more about the aftermath of it all.  With survivor's guilt and paranoia and PTSD, Vivian Schilling explores all the effects of surviving a near death experience.  

For me, I loved most of it, but there were definitely some parts where I had to suspend my belief and get out of reality and it was just ok.  It was so interesting reading this book, I would be so in where I couldn't take my eyes off the page and invested in Kylie and Jack and then weird things would start happening and I would try to refrain from rolling my eyes and I would get distracted and had to will myself to get back to the book - reading it was a roller coaster.  I loved it and hated it all at the same time.    

After I finished the book, I read reviews to help gather my thoughts.  I read often that people were comparing this to the movie Final Destination and while I haven't seen the movie I could see where the comparisons are and I would say I would have enjoyed this book as a movie more than that movie.  The other thing I read often was about the length and I agree with those thoughts also.  I don't mind a chunky book when I feel as though every page is worth it and it takes that long to get through a story.  I didn't feel that way with this book - it felt as though there were some pages and parts of the story that didn't seem worth it and could have shortened the book to make it more of an impact.  

Overall, I would read more books by Vivian Schilling, but I would probably read the synopsis and maybe a review before diving in.  


Rating: enjoyable, but didn't leave me wanting more

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from FSB Associates.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: Winter Sisters by Robin Oliveira

Winter Sisters

by Robin Oliveira

Publisher: Viking

Pages: 416

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  New York, 1879: After an epic snow storm ravages the city of Albany, Dr. Mary Sutter, a former Civil War surgeon, begins a search for two little girls, the daughters of close friends killed by the storm who have vanished without a trace.

Mary's mother and niece Elizabeth, who has been studying violin in Paris, return to Albany upon learning of the girls' disappearance--but Elizabeth has another reason for wanting to come home, one she is not willing to reveal. Despite resistance from the community, who believe the girls to be dead, the family persists in their efforts to find the two sisters. When what happened to them is revealed, the uproar that ensues tears apart families, reputations, and even the social fabric of the city, exposing dark secrets about some of the most powerful of its citizens, and putting fragile loves and lives at great risk.

Kritters Thoughts:  The second in a series and this book picks up years after book one ends.  Dr. Mary Sutter has moved back to Albany and is in a good place in life when a blizzard hits the city and lifelong friends of her have been found dead and their daughters are now missing.  She is determined to find them and after a natural disaster tides will turn and this story goes a little dark.  

I enjoyed this book leaps and bounds more than the first book.  I am completely on the fence as to if you should start with book one or skip on to this one.  I was glad that I had the background information on Mary Sutter, but I could have absolutely enjoyed this one without the knowledge of the first book.

I loved Mary Sutter so much more in this book.  She was a fierce female and having to deal with the low expectations of females at the time and her high expectations of her self - I just loved her so much more in this book.  I applauded her so much in this book!

I don't love talking about trigger warnings, so I rarely warn readers, but this book had some hard and dark stuff in it, so I thought I would give a warning.  There was some definite violence against children and it is talked about and discussed and a central part of the book, so if you are sensitive about reading things like that I would maybe avoid this book.  I think I am a pretty tough broad and I had a few times where I had to put this book down and get a minute away and come back to it.  

I wonder if Robin Oliveira will continue with Mary Sutter.  I would read more from her due to book two completely exceeding my feelings of book one.


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Ebook 2018 Challenge: 25 out of 100


Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Viking Penguin.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

It's Monday, What are you Reading?

With Quietus being a chunky book, my list this week is short and sweet!
A meme hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. 

Finished this past week:

My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira
Winter Sisters by Robin Oliveira
Quietus by Vivian Schilling

Currently Reading:

A Woman in the Window by AJ Finn

Next on the TBR pile:

Before I Let You Go by Kelly Rimmer

Review: My Name is Mary Stutter by Robin Oliveria

My Name is Mary Sutter

by Robin Oliveira

Publisher: Viking

Pages: 364

Format: ebook

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Mary Sutter is a brilliant young midwife who dreams of becoming a surgeon. Eager to run away from recent heartbreak, Mary travels to Washington, D.C., to help tend the legions of Civil War wounded. Under the guidance of two surgeons, who both fall unwittingly in love with her, and resisting her mother's pleas to return home to help with the difficult birth of her twin sister's baby, Mary pursues her medical career against all odds. 


Kritters Thoughts:   The Civil War is beginning and the country is upside down.  Many military "experts" or trying to foreshadow what they will need and have no clue what this war could look like.  In the midst of it all is a woman, Mary Sutter who has excelled at being a midwife in her hometown in Albany, but she hasn't achieved the success she wants - she wants to be a surgeon.  Maybe the Civil War will be an avenue for her to become what she wants.

With the title of this book, I was ready for a full book about a Mary Sutter who is a woman who has ambitions to go where not many women have gone before in the medical field in the United States.  Yes, the book had quite a bit that surrounded Mary Sutter, but it was more than that and a few days after reading I am still debating about whether I liked the bits that didn't have Mary.  There were quite a few pages that were beyond Mary and more about the war and its affects on different people at the time.  So be warned that Mary is a big portion, but not the sole focus of the book.  

For a historical fiction book, this was a different perspective on the Civil War as it was beginning and I liked seeing that smaller portion as I am not sure I knew how Lincoln and his Generals were handling the beginning influx of staff and soldiers and the organizing of a war.  

I mostly read this book because I was pitched book two to read, so my review of the sequel will be up tomorrow.  


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Review: The Longest Silence by Debra Webb

The Longest Silence

by Debra Webb

Publisher: MIRA

Pages: 336

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Joanna Guthrie was free. She had been for eighteen years--or so she needed everyone to believe. What really happened during the longest fourteen days of her life, when she and two other women were held captive by a dangerous serial killer, wasn't something she could talk about. Not after what they had to do to survive.

But when more women go missing in an eerily similar manner, Jo knows her prolonged silence will only seal their fates. She's finally ready to talk; she just needs someone to listen. FBI special agent Tony LeDoux can't deny he finds Jo compelling--he's just not sure he believes her story. But with the clock ticking, Jo will do anything to convince him, even if it means unearthing long-buried secrets that will land them squarely in the crosshairs of the killer...

Kritters Thoughts:  Just as a warning, I usually stay far away from any sorts of spoilers in my reviews.  In this one I may dance around a few things, so be warned.  

Two girls go missing on a college campus and with one of their uncles as a former FBI, we the reader get an inside look at the investigation as he inserts himself and tries to find his beloved niece.  

Being the fourth in a series, I was nervous to pick up this book and get started, but as these books are self contained I didn't feel like I was missing anything by skipping ahead to this book.  And after reading it, I am intrigued to go back and read the first three because this book was the perfect mix of creepy, murder and mystery!

The one thing that frustrated me from the beginning was Joanna Guthrie and due to her years of silence this happened to other women and she knew about it and basically didn't do anything.  If she had just piped up a little she could have maybe saved a few lives and I couldn't get past that - it was hard.  

I am not keeping this little character flaw thing against the whole book.  I loved how the clues unfolded and the pacing was spot on.  This is my first Debra Webb read, but will absolutely not be my last!


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Ebook 2018 Challenge: 24 out of 100


Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from TLC Book Tours.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: The Broken Girls by Simone St James

The Broken Girls

by Simone St James

Publisher: Berkley

Pages: 336

Format: book

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Vermont, 1950. There's a place for the girls whom no one wants--the troublemakers, the illegitimate, the too smart for their own good. It's called Idlewild Hall. And in the small town where it's located, there are rumors that the boarding school is haunted. Four roommates bond over their whispered fears, their budding friendship blossoming--until one of them mysteriously disappears. . . . 

Vermont, 2014. As much as she's tried, journalist Fiona Sheridan cannot stop revisiting the events surrounding her older sister's death. Twenty years ago, her body was found lying in the overgrown fields near the ruins of Idlewild Hall. And though her sister's boyfriend was tried and convicted of murder, Fiona can't shake the suspicion that something was never right about the case.

When Fiona discovers that Idlewild Hall is being restored by an anonymous benefactor, she decides to write a story about it. But a shocking discovery during the renovations will link the loss of her sister to secrets that were meant to stay hidden in the past--and a voice that won't be silenced. . . .

Kritters Thoughts:  One of my favorite types of books, a thriller book that has two plot lines going, one in the present and one in the past.  Our current day plot has Fiona Sheridan and she is a journalist who has returned to her small home town in Vermont and is barely making ends meet and not quite doing the journalism she wishes she were so she goes looking for the type of story she would want to write.   In 1950, in the same small town in Vermont is a girls boarding school that is meant for girls who come from all sorts of trouble.  

The reader knows from the beginning of a few of the links between the past and the present, but there are more and they are discovered at just the right time!  Fiona has her own past with this girls school and she is having to confront it while also finding out about the past behind this creepy school that is now abandoned.  

I loved that Simone St James made this school almost a character in and of itself.  We spend time in the school in 1950 when it is open as a boarding school and we go back in a few times in the present as it is old and abandoned and I could picture it both times and the school itself creeped me out!  

I think of myself as a pretty hardy reader!  I don't get scared too often enough that I need to put the book down, but this one creeped me out so bad!  It didn't help that I was home alone, but oh goodness this one is so good it will make you shiver!


Rating: absolutely loved it and want a sequel

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Berkley.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: The Undertaker's Daughter by Sara Blaedel

The Undertaker's Daughter

by Sara Blaedel

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Pages: 326

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Already widowed by the age of forty, Ilka Nichols Jensen, a school portrait photographer, leads a modest, regimented, and uneventful life in Copenhagen. Until unexpected news rocks her quiet existence: Her father–who walked out suddenly and inexplicably on the family more than three decades ago–has died. And he’s left her something in his will: his funeral home. In Racine, Wisconsin.

Clinging to this last shred of communication from the father she hasn’t heard from since childhood, Ilka makes an uncharacteristically rash decision and jumps on a plane to Wisconsin. Desperate for a connection to the parent she never really knew, she plans to visit the funeral home and go through her father’s things–hoping for some insight into his new life in America–before preparing the business for a quick sale.

But when she stumbles on an unsolved murder, and a killer who seems to still be very much alive, the undertaker’s daughter realizes she might be in over her head . .

Kritters Thoughts:  I am surprised to say that this is my first Sara Blaedel book; for being a mystery/thriller reader I would have thought I would have read her before.  To put it short and sweet, this one didn't impress me, it was just bland.  

Ilka leaves Denmark when she comes to find out her father has passed and she has been named in some part in his will.  She must go to Wisconsin to find out what is left to her and what she must do to close this chapter.  Ilka's father had left her and her mother with a funeral home in Denmark and spoiler alert he has left her one in the states that is completely underwater and needs a lot of work.  

If you are a heavy reader like me, there are books sometimes that just on the ehh ok side and this one was that.  The plot was fine and the characters were ok, but overall it was just an ok for me.  I would not count out this author, but I would have to read another and completely enjoy it for me to continue on with her backlist.    


Rating: enjoyable, but didn't leave me wanting more

Ebook 2018 Challenge: 22 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Grand Central Publishing.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: Let Me Lie by Claire Mackintosh

Let Me Lie

by Claire Mackintosh

Publisher: Berkley

Pages: 384

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Two years ago, Tom and Caroline Johnson committed suicide, one seemingly unable to live without the other. Their adult daughter, Anna, is struggling to come to terms with her parents’ deaths, unable to comprehend why they chose to end their lives. Now with a young baby herself, she feels her mother’s presence keenly and is determined to find out what really happened to her parents. But as Anna digs up the past, someone is trying to stop her. She soon learns that nothing is as it seemed.


Kritters Thoughts:  Clare Mackintosh knows how to write a mystery that is riveting from page one to the very last sentence.  A couple, Tom and Caroline Johnson commit suicide and leave their adult daughter behind to pick up the pieces.  In the aftermath, she falls in love with her therapist and they have a baby.  Through out all of this she misses her parents immensely wanting them to be there for the whole thing.  

The story starts when Anna is left a suspicious note and takes it to her local police department where she meets a retired police detective who is now working more of an admin like job at the station and he decides to take the note and investigation on himself.  And from there it is a fantastic ride.

It has twists and turns and I may have predicted one or two, but I was not in the least bit disappointed when I did, the story was that good!  I think Clare Mackintosh knows how to unveil bits and pieces at the right times to keep the reader reading at the fastest pace.  Be warned once you hit the last 80 pages, you won't be able to put this one down!

I like that Clare Mackintosh books are all self contained, so you can read one and be done.  I have read all of her US releases and will read all of her future ones!

Rating: absolutely loved it and want a sequel

Ebook 2018 Challenge: 23 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Berkley NAL.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

It's Monday, What are you Reading?

Another semi quiet week and weekend which was super nice!  I have a feeling that the next few weeks will be nutty, soon I can share why our lives are getting a little fuller!

A meme hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. 

Finished this past week:

The Undertaker's Daughter by Sara Blaedel
The Longest Silence by Debra Webb
Harry: Life, Loss and Love by Katie Nicholl
A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline

Currently Reading:

My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira

Next on the TBR pile:

Winter Sisters by Robin Oliveira

Review: The Story of Sassy Sweetwater by Vera Jane Cook

The Story of Sassy Sweetwater

by Vera Jane Cook

Publisher: Musa Publishing

Pages: 320

Format: book

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  After thirteen years on the run Violet McLaughlin returns to Carter’s Crossing, South Carolina, in 1962, with her young daughter, Sassy. The Crossing is right outside of Beaufort and the turmoil of the Civil Rights movement will forever leave its scars on the young and impressionable girl. As Sassy stands before the imposing white farmhouse for the first time, with no knowledge of her history but that the McLaughlin's are her kin, Sassy begins a journey that will tear her apart before it heals her. Growing up among secrets that will forever damage her relationship with her mother, she attempts to make sense of her past. But will her passion for art and her love for Thomas Tierney be enough to sustain her future? Will the puzzles she must solve to discover who she is be worth the journey? 


Kritters Thoughts:  What a dramatic read.  You name any tragedy that can happen to one person and they each happened twice to Sassy Sweetwater.  Born without the knowledge of her father to a very young woman she is separated from her huge extended family until finally her mom must return home and face a few fears.  

Sassy was quite the main character.  I liked her and I liked most of the story.  I just thought that it was a little over the top.  I could have enjoyed it a little more if it had just a little less dramatics to it.  

I would have liked just a little more emphasis on the Civil Rights movement and how that impacted this family in the South.  It was there in bits and pieces, but there were a few moments when I forgot that this book was current and taking place in the here and now.  I wish it had had a little more historical to it.  

I still liked the writing and would read another by this author, but would hope that the main character is just as likeable and enjoyable as Miss Sassy Sweetwater!


Rating: enjoyable, but didn't leave me wanting more

Ebook 2018 Challenge: 21 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from the author.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.