Of Literature and Lattes - Katherine Reay

Of Literature and Lattes by Katherine Reay
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

In this book, we return to the fictional Chicago, Illinois suburb of Winsome. Alyssa has returned there as a last resort. The Silicone Valley company she worked for is being investigated by the FBI, and no other companies there will hire her. So, she returns to her childhood home and all the relationship issues included in it. At the same time, Jeremy has relocated to Winsome to open the coffee shop of his dreams and be closer to his daughter. All is not roses there either.

I was looking forward to returning to Winsome. This isn't necessarily a sequel to The Printed Letter Bookshop (which I really enjoyed), but it was helpful to have read that one to have more context for Alyssa.

I really wanted to love this book, and I just didn't. I didn't enjoy any of the characters, and there seemed to be a lot of repetition in informational details about some of them. Additionally, there were random characters that were just thrown in occasionally with very specific details about them. I'm assuming to set up for a third book in Winsome, but it just irked me a bit to have tidbits dropped and no follow through.

Also, the whole plot and relationships and drama seemed to happen really quickly. I did like some of the interactions between Alyssa and her mom, but then other interactions seemed to come from left field.

I felt overall there was a lot of telling and not so much showing when it came to everything in this book.

Not my favorite of hers. I loved some of here other books much more.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher. I received a complementary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.


View all my reviews

What I've Read Recently

Loves Music, Loves to Dance by Mary Higgins Clark
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I hadn't read any Mary Higgins Clark before. When she passed recently, I borrowed a few of here books from a friend and just got around to reading one.
Wow. There were a lot of characters to keep track of. I liked the story and how it came together though. I can see how Clark is considered a master of her craft.

View all my reviews Heroes for My Son by Brad Meltzer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this quick read and will be buying it for my kids' bookshelves. There are several people this book inspired me to look into further.

View all my reviews Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Cute, fun book. I enjoyed all but one of the characters. Thankfully, he and his swearing didn’t show up too much.
The climax was...awkward and not my favorite. But the resolution after redeemed it some.
And bonus fun: The book is set in Omaha with recognizable landmarks and features.

View all my reviews My Mrs. Brown by William Norwich
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This was a slow book for me. I started it three times before I succeeded in reading it all the way through. There's not really anything I can pinpoint disliking about it. I just didn't enjoy the reading. Part of me wonders if there was some deeper message in it that I just missed.

View all my reviews Who Was J.R.R. Tolkien? by Pam Pollack
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I thought it was a good biography. I learned some from it myself.

View all my reviews

The Woman in the Window - AJ Finn

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Probably more 2.5 stars for me. I'm not a huge fan of unreliable narrators (I think I'm just over it as I liked the first few I read) and saw several of the twists before they were revealed. That being said, several in my book club really enjoyed it.

Anna suffers from agoraphobia and spends her days watching old movies, watching her neighbors, drinking, and helping where she can on an agoraphobia chat room. One evening she glimpses a scene she shouldn't have through her camera lens and it all starts unraveling.

If you read this book, I recommend devoting at least a good hour to get into it. I was so confused from probably the first 60+ pages because I was reading in small chunks. Once I sat down and read for an extended time, it began to come together for me.

The old movie references meant nothing to me as I hadn't seen or heard of most of them. However, if you are a classic movie buff, I can see that having an appeal.

There were a few twists that I didn't see coming until right before they were revealed. However, others I saw pages and pages away. If unreliable narrators are your thing, you might like it more than I did.

View all my reviews

Fountains of Silence - Ruta Sepetys

The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book - as did everyone in my book club. I still think Salt to the Sea is my favorite of hers, but this one is a close second.

Sepetys definitely deserves her title of "Seeker of Lost Stories." She explores history through narrative of topics we definitely should have all heard about in school lessons. This book covers the dictatorship of Franco after the Spanish Civil War (My history instruction was so bad that while I had heard of Franco I didn't know they had a civil war.). It shows the economic disparities, gender inequalities and baby selling (?!?) that all happened under Franco's regime. All cushioned in a fascinating story of American boy meets Spanish girl and learns from her. I especially enjoyed the true oral history transcripts and news articles sprinkled throughout.

5 stars. I'm fairly stingy with those. So...read it!

View all my reviews

Billy Joel - Fred Schruers

Billy Joel by Fred Schruers
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So there was some about this book that I didn't love.
--Name and company dropping without context
--The author seems to assume you already know a lot about Billy Joel, the music industry and its players, etc. I don't. I mean, I can sing along with a lot of his songs but didn't know his life. Hence wanting to read this book.
--A lot of contradictions. That could be because much of the information was taken from interviews and people's perspectives and memories can be different.
--I didn't get the *many* Godfather movie references. That's probably just me though.

By the middle of the book it, a lot of those things were improved or I was now familiar with them. I did end up enjoying the book and am looking even more forward to seeing him in concert this summer.

View all my reviews

The Fifth Avenue Story Society - Rachel Hauck

The Fifth Avenue Story Society by Rachel Hauck
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In this book by Christian author Rachel Hauck, five seemingly unconnected individuals each receive an invitation to a story society no one has ever heard of in a library few visit. As they meet and ponder why they are there and the purpose of the society, their lives begin to intertwine (or reconnect, in some cases).

Thank you to Thomas Nelson publishing and NetGalley for the advanced copy for my review. All opinions are my own.

Let me start the "official" portion of my review by saying this was one of the roughest advanced review copies I've read to date as far as editing and formatting issues. I tried to not let it affect my reading pleasure and therefore my review, hoping that a lot of it gets cleaned up in the final version. However, truth be told, some of the discrepancies and such did impact my reading. There were a couple of different points I was confused or lost because of inconsistencies or things coming out of left field.

That being said, I did like the story overall. I enjoyed the characters and their interactions. I appreciated the tie in to Hauck's previous book (although if you haven't read The Writing Desk, you can still read this one). The characters had real issues and hangups and real life and tragedy to work through, which they did.

I did feel like the Christian element was a bit heavy handed and hard-hitting when coming all at the end. That could be personal preference, though, liking that to be sprinkled throughout.

A good read full of likeable characters and relationship building/growth achieving plots.

For more of my reviews, visit https://mommyreadsbooks.blogspot.com/



View all my reviews

March - Geraldine Brooks

March by Geraldine Brooks
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book isn't a true retelling of but more of a spin-off from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. It focuses on Mr. March and his war experience during the narrative the original Little Women (not the added Good Wives portion) covers.

I'm not going to lie. This book took me about halfway through for me to really get invested in the characters and the story. It is not a quick moving book by any stretch. But I am so glad I stuck with it.

I had never really considered Mr. March's absence and what his story would contain any of the times I've read Little Women. Brooks did a wonderful job, I think, of creating a realistic story line for him. It was interesting to read from his perspective, and from Marmee's in the second part (although the initial shift in perspective was jarring, it did make sense).

Geraldine Brooks give a good sense of the intricacies of war and the personalities involved. I can see why this book won a Pulitzer prize. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who has read Little Women.

*Pulitzer winner

See more of my reviews at https://mommyreadsbooks.blogspot.com/

View all my reviews