Book review

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

~ SamanthaWho ~ 25 Comments

The Ocean at the End of the LaneI was very pleasantly surprised with The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman because I had no expectations when I started reading. A beautifully written story, it is both touching and a bit dazzling.

Our narrator returns to his hometown for a funeral and finds himself drawn to one of the farms neighboring his childhood home. Once there, he revisits an old memory of an adventure he had when he was seven years old. The boy is a lonely child and a bit self-deprecating in a sadly humorous way. Because of this, he is very excited to meet the little girl from the neighboring farm, Lettie. Lettie is mature beyond her eleven years and our narrator is instantly stricken by her wisdom and bravery to face danger as an adult might.

Gaiman does a fantastic job of allowing the reader to get inside the head of a child and I really enjoyed it. There is a really interesting divide between adults and children and the boy refers to the grown-ups in his life as though they are a set of different species.

A few of my favorite lines from the book:

“I lived in books more than I lived anywhere else.”

“I lay on the bed and lost myself in stories. I liked that. Books were safer than other people anyway.”

I really recommend The Ocean at the End of the Lane. This is one of those books with lines and ideas that stick with you long after reading it.

The Things We Keep by Sally Hepworth

~ SamanthaWho ~ 3 Comments

The Things We KeepI was so excited to receive an advanced readers’ edition of The Things We Keep by Sally Hepworth after reading the book description. A story sharing a woman’s experience with early onset Alzheimer’s disease, the book is very touching. I connected with the characters early on and felt for them, which is something I look for while reading.

The book is told from three different perspectives. We first meet Anna, a 38-year-old woman who has been checked into a residential care facility when she begins to show signs of Alzheimer’s disease. Once there she meets another resident her age, Luke, and a touching connection is formed between them. Through these characters, Hepworth illustrates the frustration and sadness of living with Alzheimer’s disease.

We also meet Eve Bennett, a newly single mother, and her daughter Clementine. The story is written from each of their perspectives and it’s very interesting to see how they each deal with the loss of a loved one. Eve begins working at the residential care facility where she meets Anna and Luke and after witnessing their bond, she goes to great lengths to help them.

This is an engaging story and I was hooked quickly. I definitely recommend this read!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for sending me an advanced readers’ edition of The Things We Keep by Sally Hepworth in exchange for an honest review! The book is released for sale today, January 19, 2016.

Gold Fame Citrus by Claire Vaye Watkins

~ SamanthaWho ~ 11 Comments

Gold Fame CitrusAfter reading 110 pages of Gold Fame Citrus by Claire Vaye Watkins, I couldn’t stick with it. I don’t typically stop reading a book once I’ve started, but after I was a third of the way through I still wasn’t excited about the story and found my mind drifting.

The story is built on an interesting idea that a massive drought has swept through California. A drought that is so drastic it sends most of the population away. Luz and Ray, the main characters of the book, are holdouts living in an abandoned mansion in southern California and are surviving on rations and whatever they can scavenge. Claire Vaye Watkins did do a great job illustrating this desert landscape that left me feeling quite thirsty every time I was reading. Unfortunately, I found the writing to be scattered and a bit un-engaging. That’s not to say it’s a bad story though, maybe reading it in another place at another time would be an entirely different experience…

Has anyone else tried reading Gold Fame Citrus? I would love to hear your thoughts!

Along the Infinite Sea by Beatriz Williams

~ SamanthaWho ~ 5 Comments

Along the Infinite SeaBeatriz Williams is an author that makes me want to become a writer myself. Along the Infinite Sea, her most recent novel, is an incredible story told from the perspectives of two strong women. I haven’t been disappointed by any of William’s stories yet and I’m already eagerly waiting for her next release this summer!

This book picks up where Tiny Little Thing left off with Pepper Schuyler’s story in the 1960’s. While these books are not a traditional series, and don’t need to be read in order to be enjoyed, they focus on the Schuyler family and each of the three sisters in turn. Pepper is pregnant, unwed, and on the run from her baby’s father. She has just sold an old restored Mercedes and plans to use the large sum of money to raise her child on her own. The car’s buyer, Annabelle, introduces herself to Pepper and they take a liking to each other, if hesitantly at first on Pepper’s part. Pepper doesn’t believe in love and doesn’t trust anyone besides herself, but Annabelle’s story may just change her mind…

The book switches from Pepper’s perspective in the 1960’s to Annabelle’s in the 1930’s when she was in Europe between the two world wars. I love Annabelle’s spirit and poise, and I love her relationship with the mysterious and charming Stefan as well. The circumstances and misunderstandings that keep Annabelle and Stefan, a Jewish German man, apart are truly heartbreaking.

This is a delicious story, one that I devoured as quickly as I could. I love the trio of sisters that Williams has created because the Schuyler sisters are just so great.

Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter

~ SamanthaWho ~ 21 Comments

Pretty Girls by Karin SlaughterI was absolutely unprepared for the nasty horror in Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter. This was the first book I’ve read of Slaughter’s (her last name seems fitting now) and didn’t know what to expect. Maybe it was the bright cover and whimsical looking locket, but it sure fooled me. That being said, I did really enjoy the book and was completely absorbed from the start.

The Carroll family has been through hell. The eldest daughter, Julia, disappeared when she was 19 years old and no trace of her has been found over two decades since. The two remaining daughters, Lydia and Claire, haven’t spoken for 18 years, but are reunited when horror strikes again. Claire’s husband Paul has been murdered in front of her eyes and she turns to her sister for support after 18 years of separation. As Claire learns more about the husband she trusted wholeheartedly, her world starts to fall apart and every nightmare she hadn’t imagined comes true.

The silver lining of this horrific story is that the sisters who have held so much anger and pain in their hearts for so long, find their way back to each other, even if it’s under terrible circumstances. Lydia and Claire are outspoken, hot-tempered, and clever, so I really enjoyed reading about them.

Slaughter is a talented writer, spinning a twisting plot with engaging characters. I was horrified by some of the ghastly scenes she has constructed, but I stuck with the novel and wanted to see what happened to Claire and Lydia.

This book had me gripping the binding and clenching my stomach with nerves. I didn’t realize this until my roommate walked in and sent me jumping off the couch. Here is fair warning, this book isn’t for the faint of heart, but it’s worth a read anyway.

Leave Your Mark by Aliza Licht

~ SamanthaWho ~ 2 Comments

Leave Your MarkAliza Licht, a highly successful communications executive in the fashion industry, brings us Leave Your Mark. This book is a how-to guide explaining the foundation needed to get ahead in your career, on social media and with your personal brand, through her own experiences. I don’t typically read how-to books, usually choosing much shorter online articles with a list of tips, but I really enjoyed this one!

With a conversational tone, I felt slightly like I was have an extended coffee date with Licht as she explained her top tips for succeeding in any industry as a professional. Her casual tone was very easy to read and engage with. Her advice ranged from broad categories of how to find your passion to writing a short follow-up email. Slightly sassy in tone, I respect Licht’s tell-it-how-it-is attitude because there are some things in life that just shouldn’t be tiptoed around!

As the new year begins, I’m going to do my best to take some of the advice from this book to heart. Here are a few pieces of advice from Leave Your Mark that I think are the most insightful and beneficial:

– “Anticipate your boss’s needs.”
– “You don’t get a promotion for doing your job; you get a promotion for going above and beyond your job.”
– “Don’t just learn your job, learn everyone else’s.”

I graduated from college last spring and as someone entering the business world, I found her advice to be both intelligent and perceptive. Whether it’s applying this advice for my career, on social media platforms like WordPress and Instagram, or while communicating with other professionals, I’m glad to have read Leave Your Mark.

Circling the Sun by Paula McLain

~ SamanthaWho ~ 2 Comments

Circling the SunI really enjoyed The Paris Wife by Paula McLain so I was excited to get my hands on her latest book, Circling the Sun. I liked this book, but unfortunately I wasn’t as drawn into the story as I had hoped to be. It was good and I wanted to see how it turned out, but I didn’t feel like I couldn’t put it down.

The book is based on the real life of Beryl Markham, a record-setting pilot. Beryl is a strong character, very alive and brave, and one who wants freedom more than anything else. As a young English girl growing up in colonial Kenya, she faced wild animals regularly, but she used fear to motivate her rather than hold her back. Beryl is a character that is easy to admire.

Along with Beryl’s character I was fascinated to read about life in Africa during the 1920’s. McLain did a great job of creating this wild colorful scenery filled with lions, horses, and other animals.

Throughout the story I had a hard time understanding how each character’s lives could change so often. From romantic partners to careers to houses, each character seemed to be bouncing all around with no sense of stability. As a person that doesn’t always welcome change, this was very strange to read about. Some sections were also a bit slow for me and at times I had a tough time keeping track of the many characters involved.

Circling the Sun is definitely an interesting and well-written story worth a read!

After the Crash by Michel Bussi

~ SamanthaWho ~ 3 Comments

After the CrashI really enjoyed After the Crash, a mystery thriller, by Michel Bussi. A popular French author, this is the first book of Bussi’s to be translated into English so that more of us readers can enjoy his work! A very well written story that’s nicely translated, it’s filled with intriguing characters, some of which I enjoyed and others that I was disgusted by, and surprising plot twists.

Right before Christmas of 1980 a plane crashed into the Swiss Alps killing all 169 passengers besides one… A baby was found to have miraculously survived the crash. Against to odds, there were two baby girls of similar age and with similar features on board meaning that the found child’s identity was unknown. Officials were unable to determine which of the babies on board, Lyse-Rose and Emilie, was the child found at the crash site.

A private detective is hired to investigate the case and has spent 18 years trying to find the real identity of Lylie, the name the baby goes by, a combination or Lyse-Rose and Emilie. Over the years he has compiled a journal full of clues explaining his inability to find the real identity of the baby, who has now grown into an 18-year-old woman. On the eve of Lylie’s 18th birthday, the same date that his contract ends, the detective claims to have come across a case-solving clue…

I really enjoyed this book because it switches between the perspectives of multiple characters (including members of each family and snippets from the detective’s journal of notes) as they all race to answer the ultimate question: who is Lylie?

Thank you to Hachette Book Group for sending me an advanced reader’s copy of After the Crash in exchange for an honest review. The book will be released on January 5, 2016!

In a Dark Dark Wood by Ruth Ware

~ SamanthaWho ~ 3 Comments

In a Dark Dark WoodI refuse to waste the time I spend commuting back and forth from work so I’ve been listening to audiobooks over the last few months. In a Dark Dark Wood by Ruth Ware is the latest of those audiobooks. A creepy murder mystery, this one had me sitting in my car once I arrived home just to keep listening to the story.

Leonora, a crime novel writer, finds herself in a situation just like one of her plots when she goes to the bachelorette weekend of her old friend Claire. Leonora and Claire lost touched many years ago and haven’t spoken since they went to school together as teenagers, so Leonora is confused about her invitation to the weekend. Despite having a bad feeling about the whole thing she goes anyway. A couple days later she wakes up in the hospital with scratches and bruises all over her body and doesn’t remember how she got there. Someone has died, that much she hears from the police outside her room, but she doesn’t know who has been killed or how she’s involved.

Leonora describes the house they stay in next to the woods as a glass castle with the feeling that something or someone is outside watching which creates a creepy tone for the story.

At times I was frustrated by Leonora for going to the bachelorette weekend when she didn’t want to and for not standing up for herself when she felt uncomfortable. Her character did grow on me a bit throughout the book though and I really enjoyed the story. Definitely pick up In a Dark Dark Wood for an engaging and descriptive mystery!

Winter Street by Elin Hilderbrand

~ SamanthaWho ~ 3 Comments

Winter Street

Because I’ve been reading a lot of eerie mystery thrillers lately (which I love, don’t get me wrong), I was in the mood for something light. That’s exactly what I got with Winter Street by Elin Hilderbrand. It’s a light easy read that I flew through just in time for the holidays.

The story is set in a nice bed and breakfast, the Winter Street Inn, of Nantucket. During the first few pages we learn that Kelley, the father of the family and inn owner, walks in on his second wife Mitzi sleeping with another man. Only a couple days before Christmas, Mitzi leaves and chaos ensues from there. Patrick, the eldest son, has made a huge mistake that could ruin his family. The second son, Kevin, thinks that he has found the love of his life. Ava is now in charge of the annual holiday Christmas party at the inn and can’t get her boyfriend to commit to her. The youngest son, Bart, is fighting in Afghanistan and no one has heard from him. Kelley’s ex-wife Margaret, a famous news anchor, might be just the person that can hold the family together when everything looks like its spiraling out of control.

At the end of the story, the loose ends are tied into a neat bow, which is both satisfying and expected. As a story set during the holidays, it was an enjoyable read filled with images of cozy decorated rooms and elaborate meals.