Sunday, November 3, 2024

Like Mother, Like Mother by Susan Rieger

 

My thoughts

This is a touch review to write. The book was wonderful and beautifully written. It tugged at my heart in so many ways. 

Three generations of women are told about in this story. Zelda was a very abused mother. She had three children. Two little girls and a son. She was put into a mental hospital when the youngest child, Lila, was only two. Lila received the brunt of the abuse. She was mouthy they said. Their father was a horrible man. Lila married and had three daughters. The youngest is Grace. Grace is the one that you will hear the most about and from.

Lila and her siblings were told that their mother died in the mental hospital. There was no funeral and no death certificate. When Lila went away to college she never looked back. She did keep in touch with her brother and sister but their father she hated. She went on to marry a wonderful man and had three girls. She was also a top rated reporter. She gave work her heart and soul. Her husband was a lawyer and more of a mother to their children. She loved them but didn't know how to be a mother. 

Grace, the youngest child, went on to be a reporter also. Though she had some hard feelings for her mother she still loved her. She wrote a book and after her mother's death regretted writing it. It was based on her family just with different names. Grace always thought that Zelda was alive. Lila never cared. She never tried to find her. Grace wanted to know after her mother died. 

This story goes through a lot of emotional things and will definitely make you shed some tears. I liked almost all of the characters. I despised Aldo, the father. He was a horrible person. I also did not like Zelda. While a part of me understood why she did what she did I just could not muster enough forgiveness for her. She left her children with a tyrant. An abuser. She knew what he was. Yes she had good reason but still she should have got her children. She should have fought for them. Even back in those years she could have gotten some kind of help. I just didn't feel sorry for her. I did feel for Lila. I adored Grace and Ruth. And Joe. And Frances....

This was a tough one for me to read but it was so good. So well written. It had the feels you expect. The story was told in a way that made you think about some things. Like how Lila was how she was and how her relationship with Grace was the way it was. They were so much alike in so many ways.

Thank you #NetGalley, #RandomHousePublishing #TheDialPress, for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.

Five stars!

About

An enthralling novel about three generations of strong-willed women, unknowingly shaped by the secrets buried in their family’s past.

“A novel in the spirit of Meg Wolitzer, Jean Hanff Korelitz, and the great Nora Ephron. Who says comedy is dead? It’s all here—the joyful craziness, the wisecracking newswoman, the family secrets with a twist of lime.”—Allegra Goodman, bestselling author of 
Sam

Detroit, 1960. Lila Pereira is two years old when her angry, abusive father has her mother committed to an asylum. Lila never sees her mother again. Three decades later, having mustered everything she has—brains, charm, talent, blonde hair—Lila rises to the pinnacle of American media as the powerful, brilliant executive editor of The Washington Globe. Lila unapologetically prioritizes her career, leaving the rearing of her daughters to her generous husband, Joe. He doesn’t mind—until he does.

But Grace, their youngest daughter, feels abandoned. She wishes her mother would attend PTA meetings, not White House Correspondents dinners. As she grows up, she cannot shake her resentment. She wants out from under Lila’s shadow, yet the more she pushes back, the more Lila seems to shape her life. Grace becomes a successful reporter, even publishing a bestselling book about her mother, but, in the process of writing it, she realizes how little she knows about her own family. Did Lila’s mother, Grace’s grandmother, die in that asylum? Is refusal to look back the only way to create a future? How can you ever be yourself, Grace wonders, if you don’t know where you came from?

Spanning generations, and populated by unforgettable, complex characters, Like Mother, Like Mother is an exhilarating, searching portrait of family, marriage, ambition, power, the stories we inherit, and the lies we tell in order to become the people we believe we’re meant to be

Friday, November 1, 2024

The Reaping by Jess Lourey

 

My thoughts

This is my seventh book by this author so to say I am a fan is a given. This book was great.

As you follow Steinbeck and Reed through a tough case that involves children in a small Minnesota town you will be holding your breath. Cringing as the pieces start falling into place. It makes you feel like you are in the dark and dreary woods. Along the wet streets. In the motel as they are trying to get some rest. These two stop at nothing to get at the truth. To solve a delicate and very hard case. Starting with a cold case they start with a home for serial killers. For old and what appears to be helpless serial killers.

When Harry and Van start looking into the things that are happening in Alku, MN they are in for a big discovery. More than just the cold case they are there to investigate. More than one man's brutal murder. They visit the nursing home where the serial killers are kept and get to know a few of the people running the place. Employees. The people in this small town are strange. They have a way of doing things that may not be exactly friendly for strangers. Or residents in some cases.

Seems Harry and Van care more about the children of this town than their own parents at times. Harry is dealing with a lot of guilt over his sister's abduction years ago. Van is still coming to terms with what she endured at the hands of a cult leader in a commune. Each has their problems but they are always there for each other too. When the children start disappearing things start to fall into place for these two detectives. They have info that will help wrap things up but is it as they thought. Could it be something else or someone else.... I did not figure this one out. I thought it was one person but I was WRONG... That doesn't happen a lot.

Thank you #NetGalley, #thomas&mercer for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.

Five big stars.

About

By-the-book forensic scientist Harry Steinbeck and rogue BCA agent Van Reed must catch a cold-case killer who’s returned to abduct a small town’s children one by one in this heart-stopping novel from the Edgar Award–nominated author of Unspeakable Things.

In 1998 an Alku, Minnesota, family of five was brutally murdered in their sleep. The event shook the insulated community but, without any solid leads, was relegated to the cold case files, where it moldered for twenty-five years. Until today.

Agent Harry Steinbeck hoped never to return to the northland, a place that holds terrible memories of his sister’s abduction. But when a recent homicide is connected to Alku’s unsolved mass murder, he and cold case agent Evangeline Reed have no choice but to investigate.

The case grows impossibly darker as, one by one, the children of Alku begin disappearing. And Harry and Van can’t shake the sensation that someone is watching every move they make.

As an elusive killer’s trail leads to a truth more sinister than either imagined, Harry knows there’s only one way to crack this he must finally face the secrets of his own past—even if doing so will cost him everything.

Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Catch You Later by Jessica Strawser


 My thoughts

I enjoyed this book so much. This author took two characters, best friends, and made them real. Made me like them. Made them part of my life in a way. I rooted for them to find each other again. If only... 

Two young women who have been friends their whole lives, Lark and Nikki. Both from similar backgrounds. Both having lost their parents in one way or the other. They have been the best of friends always. Working at a store together. One expecting a baby and the other expecting a way out of this town. 

Along comes a man who can take Mikki away for a while. They don't know each other at all but for some crazy reason Mikki trusts Chris to be a good guy. She doesn't think twice about going to Florida with him to a wedding as his plus one. What could possibly go wrong? 

Lark begged Mikki not to go. Or to at least take her cell phone. Lark needed Mikki to be there when her baby is born. She's alone and afraid. She has no one. Not even the baby's father. Mikki is not there. She doesn't return from this road trip with a stranger.

For eight years Lark has wondered what happened. She tried hard to find her best friend. The cops were of little help since Mikki went on her own. She wasn't forced. Lark had her baby. A little girl she named Dove. She's living with Mikki's grandmother Nini now and they are trying to be a family. Though everyone it seems blames Lark for Mikki's disappearance. Then in walks the stranger who took Mikki away eight years earlier.

From this point on you will be on the edge. Wondering where things are headed. If you'll find out what truly happened that day. The day Mikki was suppose to start home. Was suppose to return to her life and her best friend. 

This book is excellent. It has some pretty strong feels going one and a few scares. Told from the time Mikki went away in 2016 to when Lark meets Chris again in 2024. I love how the author cleared everything up. How the story played out. How Lark finally found her own happiness and closure. This was such a good story.

Thank you #NetGalley, #LakeUnionPublishing, for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.

About

One impulsive decision changes the lives of two best friends forever in a powerful novel of suspense by the USA Today bestselling author of The Last Caretaker.

If Lark and Mikki didn’t have each other, they’d have nothing in this miserable town. So the best friends stick together, working night shift at the highway travel stop, going nowhere fast. Until a stranger drops in, heading for Florida, and Mikki impulsively leaves with him, never to be seen again.

Eight years later, Lark is finally getting her life back together for the sake of her young daughter and Mikki’s lovably prickly grandma, who can no longer care for herself. People have almost stopped blaming Lark for Mikki’s disappearance, and she’s engaged to the nicest guy on highway patrol. But when the stranger who drove Mikki away reappears and asks for her, nobody knows what to believe.

As the search reignites, Lark fights to find out whether Mikki is really missing or doesn’t want to be found. But piecing together the chain of events set into motion that fateful night could threaten everything—and everyone—Lark has left.

Monday, October 28, 2024

Kingdom Of Ash by Sarah J. Maas

 

My thoughts

What a way to end a series. This book was perfect. It has all the excitement and feels you expect from Sarah J. Maas and from the other books in this series. 

How most of the people in the many kingdoms fought with Aelin was heartwarming. How she fought for her land was emotional. The friends she's made along the way through this series are everlasting. The love she found, no only with Rowan, but with all the characters that you will come to love is amazing. You'll feel Aelin's pain as she is enslaved by the brutal Maeve. The horrors that were inflicted on her. 

This book was exceptional. It brought you to a great ending. A huge war for many freedoms. To the destruction of many kingdoms and the downfall of some evil. To what may be Aelin's last breath. To Rowan's deep despair and sadness. To all of the people of Terrasen coming together. To many goodbyes. So many friendships found and everlasting. To an ending that is so dramatic that you will be holding back tears and awes. 

I enjoyed this series so much and hated for it to end but what an ending.

About

Aelin Galathynius has vowed to save her people ― but at a tremendous cost. Locked within an iron coffin by the Queen of the Fae, Aelin must draw upon her fiery will as she endures months of torture. The knowledge that yielding to Maeve will doom those she loves keeps her from breaking, but her resolve is unraveling with each passing day…

With Aelin captured, friends and allies are scattered to different fates. Some bonds will grow even deeper, while others will be severed forever. As destinies weave together at last, all must fight if Erilea is to have any hope of salvation.

Years in the making, Sarah J. Maas's New York Times bestselling Throne of Glass series draws to an explosive conclusion as Aelin fights to save herself―and the promise of a better world.

Sunday, October 20, 2024

Two Good Men by S. E. Redfearn


 My thoughts

This author has done it again. I've read several of her books before and they were so good. Way different than this one but every bit as good. This is an edge of your seat story of what horrible things can be done. What some people do to children. What one man did to try and help. What another did in the name of justice. Or maybe didn't do....

The main character is Dick. Richard Raynes. His sister and nephew are two of the most important people in his life. Along with his two children. When a man named Otis is released from prison after serving for the rape of two young boys Dick's sister Dee is worried. Otis has promised to seek revenge for her testimony that helped send him away. When Otis turns up dead questions are asked. Not by local police but by an FBI agent by the name of Steve Patterson. He believes that he is doing the right thing by investigating Otis's suspicious death. He never expected Dee. And Dee's son Jesse. He didn't expect the feelings he was going to feel.

Dick is a Dr. A doctor of science or chemist. He has worked hard but ultimately made a few mistakes that may hinder his job. He is working on a cure for allergies. He also believes that children should be taken care of. Not used by pedofiles. Dick is a very smart man. Recently divorced, two and a half years. He loves his children and he wants a safe world for them and his nephew. What will he do to ensure that they are safe. What will he do to make life easier for any child he may know is in danger. And what will he do about Steve. Dee is falling for Steve and Dick wants her to be happy. But will she be happy with Steve?

This book is about a horrible thing. About the things that make some human's the worse scum ever. How can anyone want to hurt children. To take away their innocence. To ruin their futures. If you could stop these men would you? I would. No one should he allowed to run free if they desire a child. If they are capable of inflicting pain on an innocent child. If they desire a child they need to be taken care of. That is my opinion and nothing or no one will ever change my mind.

It's a dark read. It's a hard one. But it's written in a way that keeps you turning the pages until the very ending. This author makes you feel like you are there...

Thank you #NetGalley, #BlackstonePublishing, for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.

Five stars.

About

From the internationally bestselling author of In an Instant and Hadley & Grace comes Two Good Men, a searing drama about two men on a quest for justice—from opposite sides of the law.

Dick Raynes feared this day would come. Otis Parsons, a violent felon, has been released from prison, and Dick’s sister, Dee, is the one who helped put him there. Dick’s marriage is over, and his career is in shambles, so with nothing to lose, he sets out to do whatever it takes to keep Dee and her son safe. But Otis is just the beginning. Using his knowledge as a scientist to develop a formula able to predict those offenders most likely to strike again, he sets out to protect future victims the law is powerless to defend.

FBI agent Steve Patterson investigates crimes against those who have paid their dues for past mistakes, running a department he created after his son was killed by a vigilante mother who targeted the wrong person. Recognizing a disturbing pattern of untimely deaths in recently released felons, he sets out to discover who’s behind it. What he doesn’t expect is to find another chance at love—with the sister of the man he is chasing.

Dick’s sense of right and wrong is tested as he pursues and neutralizes the most dangerous threats, while Steve makes it his mission to stop this vigilante serial killer before he is labeled a hero. Both men pursue a noble cause, but only one can prevail.

Saturday, October 19, 2024

The Undercurrent by Sarah Sawyer

 

My thoughts

This is a debut novel about a girl gone missing. To me this book could have been so good. It had so much promise. But the author overdid some things. The descriptions were overdone.

There could have been more about the girl who actually went missing. More than what I read at the ending.

It seemed to be more about Bee and her leaking breasts than anything. Yes it happens but in this case it was just used to fill space I believe. Also the parts of her and Leo. What was the point. Yes she had a crush when she was a kid but she was grown, married, with a newborn baby. Not even married that long. To think about Leo that way was in my opinion just too much.

Then the part about her twin brother. She hasn't seen or heard from her twin in seventeen years. I hardly believe that. They were twins. Even with his problems they would have at least talked over the years. With what happened to him there should have been more about what it did to him and maybe then I could have believed he would leave and never talk to his sister again. He talked to his best friend and his mother. But not his twin. I'm not sold on that.

Then the loss of a baby. That was a bit much too. Not the loss but that Bee actually named her baby after one that did not survive. One her mother lost. I just didn't like that part. It could just be me but it just didn't seem to fit. Especially since Bee was not that close to her mother.

This story is told from two timelines, 1987 and 2011. It is told from three perspectives, Bee in 2011. Her mother, Mary, in 1987. And Leo's mother, Diane, in 1987. I was not impressed by either mother. Not even Bee. Bee in my opinion was not a good mother or wife. I actually didn't like any of the characters. None made me feel anything other than anger. No tears or laughter. Just the anger.

Thank you #NetGalley, #ZibbyBooks, for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.

2.5 stars increased to 3.

About

An overwhelmed new mother becomes obsessed with the unsolved disappearance of a young girl from her small Texas hometown—and unearths her own family’s dark secret.


It’s 2011 and Deecie Jeffries’s missing person’s case in Austin, Texas, is still cold. New mom Bee, struggling with postpartum depression, is living in Portland, Maine, having left Austin–and those memories–far behind. Until Leo, her childhood crush and her estranged twin Gus’s best friend, suddenly resurfaces, drawing Bee back into their shared past.


Bee’s predictable life is upended, pushing her to return to her childhood home and piece together a neighborhood’s shattered history. Bee becomes consumed with a need to uncover the truth about Deecie’s disappearance and what happened to the families who lived across the field from one another—Gus, Leo, and their Mary, a homemaker, whose only escape is the local community theater, and Diana, a serious academic dedicated to her studies.


Told in multiple perspectives with two different timelines, The Undercurrent is a gripping portrait of motherhood, obsession, broken family bonds, and buried secrets.

Thursday, October 17, 2024

Who Loves You Best by Marilyn Simon Rothstein

 

My thoughts

This book was a gem to read. So different from the books I've been reading. It was a light, happy, read. One that I didn't want to put down. A book that many grandmothers may be able to connect with in ways. It was funny, serious, adorable, family orientated. A truly lovely story.

When Lisa calls her mother Dr Jodi Wexler and asked if she can drop everything to come stay with her granddaughter Macallan, Jodi jumps at the chance. She hasn't seen her daughter or granddaughter in a while and looks forward to spending some time with them. Dr Jodi Wexler is a foot dr. She has a thriving business and moved to Florida for her husband. Now he is newly retired. 

You will get to know three grandmas in this story. Grandma Jo, Grannie Annie and Di. Grannie Annie is a twenty seven year old who lives with Di's first ex. The father of her boys. Di is Lisa's mother in law and a very successful realtor. Her face is on billboards and grocery carts. When these three are together things don't go to smoothly. Di is a domineering woman who can't accept that she is elderly. She refuses to let her granddaughter, Mac call her anything but Di. Grannie Annie is funny but has a lot going on. She's living with a man old enough to be her father. Or grandfather. And he's not the nicest of men. She has no one else besides Lisa, Brian and Mac, who all love her dearly. 

These three women have to learn to get along. To be the kind of women that Mac can lean on or learn from. They are each dealing with things. Things that the others don't know about. When Lisa drops a bombshell on her mother Jo things go a bit awry. But them being who they are they will figure out a way to deal. If the three grandmas can learn to get along. To be friends. To treat each other nice and stop all the petty things. 

I truly enjoyed this book. It was so well written and held my attention all the way through. I loved how things played out. The ending was perfect. I highly recommend this book.

Thank you #NetGalley, #LakeUnionPublishing, for this ARC. 

Five big stars.

About

A woman drops everything to spend more time with her grandchild, only to discover new truths about herself. A humorous, heartfelt, feel-good novel from the author of Crazy to Leave You.

For Jodi Wexler, a Florida doctor with a flourishing practice, only one thing’s the chance to spend more time getting to know her eight-year-old granddaughter, Macallan.

When Jodi’s restauranteur daughter asks her to watch Macallan in the Berkshires while she takes care of some business out of town, Jodi can’t say yes fast enough. Neither Jodi’s podiatric patients nor her just-fired, suddenly retired husband can keep her away. But when Jodi arrives, she discovers she’s not the only grandma at Lisa’s house. Lisa’s mother-in-law, Di—a hard-nosed real estate agent—has moved into the house. What’s more, there’s Grannie Annie, the twenty-seven-year-old girlfriend of Lisa’s oddball father-in-law. They’re not the only surprises. Lisa’s marriage is faltering even as her new restaurant is taking off.

As the competition for Macallan’s attention among the three “grandmas” increases, Lisa drops a bomb about her life that changes everything. Under pressure, and determined to help her daughter, Jodi must choose her next step. Her decision surprises everyone—Jodi, most of all.

Like Mother, Like Mother by Susan Rieger

  My thoughts This is a touch review to write. The book was wonderful and beautifully written. It tugged at my heart in so many ways.  Three...