Laura

One of my favorite audiobooks

Reviewed: 08-12-22

I really enjoyed the journey of Daisy Jones and The Six. At first I was thrown off and not sure if I'd like a fiction novel written like a documentary, but I grew to really love it. I listened to the audio version with multiple narrators that made me feel like I was listening to a real life documentary about a band from the 70s. The book started slow for me, but quickly grabbed my attention and didn't let me go until I was working my way through to the end. Truly, I flew through the last few chapters of the book, and it had me choked up at the end - I loved the quote from Karen, "Soulmates have all the things you don't," and the imperfect relationship she shared with Graham that didn't end the way one might have imagined. I also loved Camilla as a character. At the end, when she told Daisy, "You're all sorts of things you don't even know yet"-I thought it was really powerful. This was a good book!

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Novel that reads like a memoir

Reviewed: 07-12-22

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this one. It's a novel that reads like a coming of age memoir, about a girl in the 90s really struggling both physically and mentally to survive and figure out where she belongs and who she belongs to in the world. Parts of April's story were captivating and all types of heart wrenching. At the same time, other parts of her "journey" to self-discovery were really disjointed, and made me cringe, or ask myself, where is this going and why do I care that April is in Bradenton, FL? For instance, the book starts with music, and then leaves that part of April on the shelf for a long time while diving into a completely different storyline that made me feel like I was reading different books. I also got distracted by the age gap in her romantic relationships, and the way she just repeatedly would self-sabatoge and not let people in.

Still, this book was overall very good, there were just some sticking points that I couldn't get over that bugged me throughout the book. Good beginning, good ending (although it wrapped up a little abruptly into a bow). Worth a read.

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Left me feeling underwhelmed

Reviewed: 06-22-22

This novel read like a love letter to the narrators first love, Gabe. The story was complicated, poetic and frustrating at times, and spanned over a number of years. The play on love and purpose in the wake of the 9/11 tragedy was an interesting storyline, but over dramatic at times and felt a little cringy. I felt like the line, “there’s something about death that makes you want to live” was a good precursor for the entire storyline.

I found myself incredibly frustrated with Lucy throughout the book, regarding her inability to stand up for herself, make decisions, or to settle in ways that hurt both herself and those around her. Her relationship with Darren felt so reluctant, It was irritating that she kept it up and that those around her supported her in it over time as well. The way she betrayed him was also a dick move, and I totally saw the twist coming there. Girl needed to do her homework before she jumped off the boat that was her marriage back into something that was comfortable to her and didn’t seem to necessarily be better, but more nostalgic than anything. In the end, I think the conclusion felt underdeveloped. I liked that it wasn’t predictable, but I found Lucy’s behaviors surrounding Gabe and her disregard for her own marriage in poor taste. There were parts of the book that felt poetic and beautiful, and other parts of the story that were unfinished, irritating, and left me underwhelmed when all was said and done.

My favorite part of the book that I think held a lot of value, was the concept she had with her friend about the different types of love, and what type of fire burned within different relationships. It wasn’t that there was one type that was best, it just depended on what you were looking for. I loved that analogy.

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Engaging but lacked depth

Reviewed: 05-26-22

This book is a psychological thriller geared towards moms - think Big Little Lies, with less character development and a more disjointed and less captivating storyline. It hooked me enough to read it and it was an engaging mystery with a neatly packaged ending, but I wouldn't put it on my favorite reads bookshelf.

The Mothers follows five moms that met in an antenatal group in the UK, seemingly different women, bound together by motherhood and somehow connected to a male character disappearance. The character development and individual struggles of each mom painted a vivid picture of how motherhood affects different women based on their child, personality, career goals, and partner relationships. I found that it stumbled through its attempt to show how women from very different lifestyles and belief systems can form inseparable bonds through the trials and triumphs of motherhood. Overall, engaging storyline, but the character development could have been better executed. There was also a police storyline that attempted to show how women are less valued/regarded/trusted in law enforcement, and how that may have hampered the investigation, but it was half-baked and could have been better executed. The conclusion came abruptly and it all wrapped up, but it left me feeling like parts of the story were missing and/or could have been told better. Read it if you have extra time to kill, but don't push it to the top of your list.

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2 people found this helpful

Captivating read

Reviewed: 05-16-22

I really enjoyed all aspects of this book. I’m a sucker for historical fiction and this book gave me what I was looking for. Set in post WWII NC tobacco country, the storyline focuses on social class, pride in work and community, the dirty secrets of the tobacco industry, and the lives of the haves and have nots. The characters in the book are faced with varied challenges, and those with privilege and power are ultimately forced to ask themselves what they would do if they had information that would benefit others, but hurt themselves? The author really painted a vivid picture using historical context of women’s rights, the post war era, and the turning point in the tumultuous history of the tobacco industry. I’d highly recommend this one-I couldn’t put it down!

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18 people found this helpful

Uncomfortable and Insightful

Reviewed: 04-19-22

Uncomfortable and insightful read. I read this book in preparation to teach the content in a book read with first year university students. I went into the book uncomfortable to have these conversations, and I came out with more knowledge, perspective (from Acho) and better understanding the history behind some of the contentious questions that often come up surrounding systemic racism, how to be an ally, and inequalities between black and white Americans. I have to give the book 5 stars. The book was really well laid out. Emmanuel approached the content from his own lens and positionality, and was really clear on that from the start. He grounded his information in history, current cultural contexts, and his own perspective from how he grew up and viewed each topic. I might still be uncomfortable to discuss some of the contents, and have different perspectives from my own lens, but I put the book down feeling more educated on important topics and feel more comfortable guiding students in discussing those topics after reading the book. I both read and listened to the book - highly recommend the audio version, though I took more away when physically reading the book.

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Very emotional

Reviewed: 04-19-22

This book was emotional and raw. I felt for Kenna as a character, but empathized with Ledger at the same time. The story line was gut wrenching, showing the stages of grief through the eyes of all of the different people affected by one tragic situation. My one critique was that the drama was a little prolonged on the story arc. It felt like the climactic situation was brought up constantly like there was a dark secret Kenna had, and I felt like once she shared the letter, while the story was well told, it was predicable. Still, a really good read and I’d highly recommend!

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Fine but long

Reviewed: 04-06-22

I’m a big Liane Moriarty fan, and a fan of tennis, family drama and mystery. This book has all of those things, and it was an enjoyable read/listen. I’d give the plot and storyline 4 stars. Interesting plot line and well/overdeveloped characters. Where it came up short for me was in the length of the character development and background information that led to the story climax and web of stories that got you to the finish line. They went back and forth from past to present a lot to build up this mysterious visitor Savannah, and then when it came to the climax and wrap up, I was underwhelmed by the main story arch, but enjoyed the small wrap ups of the other back stories. There was just a lot going on in the book that was interesting, but it was too long and webbed together by smaller interesting storylines and lacked one big engaging climax, if that makes sense. Still, a good read/listen overall, just very long and not one I’d put at the top of my reading list.

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Great story

Reviewed: 01-06-22

This book had some great elements in the writing that kept me engaged the entire time. Strong descriptions and storyline that was easy to follow but had depth in its descriptions and leads. I loved that the ending wasn’t what I expected, yet focused on the relationship between Hannah and Bailey, and not the other secondary characters. It was a quick listen.

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Cute.

Reviewed: 12-19-21

This book was cute. I enjoy Christina Lauren’s writing: light-hearted and easy to read, well-described characters with strong storylines and a slow build with a sweet ending. The time warp part of the story wasn’t too much, and the climax and ending was well-done. Nothing amazing or life changing, but it was a nice December read.

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