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Tuesday, December 1, 2020

November 2020 Wrap up

So here it is the first of the wrap ups, I know that I have done some summary reviews in the past, and well they seemed to be happening more and more, so let’s go with that format.  Because this is the first, it will include the final book I read from October, but after this it will just be the books I read in the current month.


15 Minutes of Flame by Christina Brecher (read 10/25 to 10/27)  ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Stella sells candles in a small Nantucket Town.  While Stella is helping to plan the town's annual Halloween fundraiser. While planning she explores a deserted, boarded-up building on the property--once used as a candle-making shop-- and she discovers a terrible secret: the skeleton of a Quaker woman, wrapped in blood-soaked clothing and hidden deep within a stone hearth.   And Stella gets involved with the investigation.

So I got this from OUABC sweet Halloween box. And it was an OK read, I didn’t love it I didn’t hate it. It was just a cozy mystery nothing too amazing. It was obvious that it was a later book in the series, I think it is #3.  The characters were fine, the mystery was fine.  It was a solid cozy.


The Majesties by Tiffany Tsao (read 10/27 to 11/6) ⭐️⭐️

*I received this book as an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) through NetGalley. I received this copy free in exchange for my honest review.

This is about two sisters from a Chinese-Indonesian family grapple with the past after one of them poisons their entire family. Gwendolyn and Estella have always been as close as sisters can be. Growing up in a wealthy, eminent, and sometimes deceitful family, they’ve relied on each other for support and confidence. But now Gwendolyn is lying in a coma, the sole survivor of Estella’s poisoning of their whole clan.  As Gwendolyn struggles to regain consciousness, she desperately retraces her memories, trying to uncover the moment that led to this shocking and brutal act.

I’m not sure how I feel about this book.  I wanted to like it, the writing was lovely, the story was engaging, and the ending I didn’t see coming.  But I wasn’t motivated to read it and I wasn’t engaged in the story or the characters.  I didn’t hate it, and I see the value in the story and the writing, but at the same time I didn’t like it. No particular reason, it just didn’t grab me.


The Guest List by Lucy Foley (read 11/7 to 11/8) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate a wedding.  The groom is a handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride is a smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher.  But as the wedding starts things go astray and someone ends up dead.

So I’ve been hearing about this book for a while, I decided to check it out from the library. Wow was it good.  I hated having to put it down to do things. I just wanted to read to find out first of all who died, and second who killed whoever died. Foley did a really good job on setting up the death and the murder itself. And it wrapped up well sort of.


Throwaway Girls by Andrea Contos (read 11/10 to 11/15) ⭐️⭐️⭐️

*I received this book as an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) through NetGalley. I received this copy free in exchange for my honest review.

Caroline Lawson hates her school and her life, she can’t wait to escape her rigid prep school and parents who don’t accept her as a lesbian.  She has three months to graduation and that freedom she craves.  Then her girlfriend leaves her to move to California, and her best friend Madison disappears, Caroline feels compelled to get involved in the investigation. Caroline kept her own secrets, and it seems so did others in her life.  The Caroline finds out about the other missing girls, the girls from the wrong side of the tracks who it appears police didn’t investigate.  Caroline is determined to find out what happened to them and why no one seems to notice. But as every new discovery leads Caroline closer to the connection between these girls and Madison, she faces an unsettling truth.

This was a good book, the end was surprising..I didn’t see the villain coming.  It had some slow parts and I got stuck in the middle but it ended well.

The Lending Library by Aliza Fogelson (read 11/15 to 11/17) ⭐️⭐️
*I received this book as an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) through NetGalley. I received this copy free in exchange for my honest review.
When the Chatsworth library closes indefinitely, Dodie Fairisle turns her sunroom into her very own little lending library.  At first it is a hobby, but then it takes on a life of its own and the townspeople come to rely on it and on Dodie. 
I wanted to like this book, and I wanted to like the characters. But I didn’t. Maybe it was the wrong time for the story for me but the loss hit me harder then I would have thought, which meant I didn’t enjoy the read.  I didn’t like Dodie and I don’t like Shep and I really didn’t like Sullivan‘s parents. This was just a miss for me.


The Warning by James Patterson (read 11/18 to 11/21) ⭐️⭐️⭐️

In a small town called Mt. Hope, there has been an accident at the nuclear plant.  But the military tells the townspeople it is cleaned up and they can come home now.  And it does look beautiful, everything is fixed up and nicer than when they fled.  Including Jordan, suddenly he is faster and stronger and he knows things, like how to fight.  But something is wrong, no one has a cell phone signal, there is no tv or news, and the military has blocked off the two ways out of town. What are they hiding?

I enjoyed this read, it wasn’t innovative or new.  In fact it was fairly cookie cutter sci-Fi, stealing ideas from multiple other books.  But because Patterson is a good writer it still meshed well and was a fun read.  It felt comforting like a cozy mystery, but with a Sci-Fi twist!  I wish I could say which Sci-Fi twist,  it I don’t want to give it away.


The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey (read 11/ 17 to 11/23) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
*I received this book as an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) through NetGalley. I received this copy free in exchange for my honest review.

Imagine the pain of having your husband leave you, now imagine if he left you for a more docile  version of you he had cloned.  That is the pain Evelyn was feeling when one nigjt her clone Martine called needing Evelyn’s help.  It seems Martine had murdered their husband Nathan. And it was quite the mess that needed fixing.

I had a little trouble with this one at first, I mean I liked the premise, it just wasn’t resonating with me.  Then I put it down for a day or two and flew through it.  I would say at about the 40% mark it really started to pick up. I enjoyed the story arc and the secrets Nathan held.  It was overall a good read.


Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (read 11/25 to 11/28) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was a re-read for me.  I received my order of Ready Player Two and I wanted to reimmerse myself in the universe.  My review still hasn’t changed.  I still love the book!  Although this time as I read I was able to see subtle clues of the gates and puzzles laid early on.  And as I read, I took the time and made a play list of all the songs listed in the book.  Next re-read I’ll listen as I go.





Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline (read 11/28 to 11/30/20) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

So this is follow up to Ready Player One, I admit I ordered it without even knowing what the plot line was.  This book takes place after Wade and the gang win Halliday’s Egg.  Wade finds a technological advancement in Halliday’s Vault that will change the world the way OASIS originally did.  But it comes with a new quest and riddle to solve, Wade once again has to step up to not only save the OASIS,  but possibly all of humanity.

OK so I really liked this book, and it’s always nerve wracking to red a sequel of a favorite.  What if they ruin it?  Thankfully Cline didn’t. I still like Ready Player One better, but this was a good follow up.  Again some same old Sci-Fi tropes, which I don’t want to give away the plot of the villain...but it’s a classic and a well used plot line.  That being said it is a classic, because when it is well done it is highly entertaining.  There were far more music referenced I feel in this book than in the first book, but maybe I just caught them more easily.  I enjoyed this read, I like Clines writing style and the nostalgia he gives me for the 80’s.  I feel like it was a solid follow up.


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