In the last year I have read several novels that feature Instagram influencers, like Big Summer, by Jennifer Weiner. Ellery Lloyd's People Like Her takes influencer culture to a whole new level and I found the book both fascinating and shocking. I'm late to the party when it comes to Instagram & none of my knowledge of it is first hand. But on its predecessor, Facebook, I've seen how people can over-idealize their lives and make themselves seem …
My Book Reviews
My favorite genres are contemporary romance, women's fiction, suspense, and psychological thrillers. I mostly read books on my kindle, and I listen to audio books every morning when I go for my run.
I do NOT love star ratings for novels. For each book review, I give background, my thoughts, and if I would recommend it. Full disclosure: if I'm not into a book, I don't finish it. Since I review books I finish, most of them will be positive.
Book Review: Dead Letters
Dead Letters, by Caite Dolan-Leach, is the story of identical twins Ava and Zelda. If you've frequented my blog, you know how I love a good identical twin story, and this one does not disappoint. However, I'll give you fair warning. It is very dark. This is not an adult version of Sweet Valley High. It's not even a more adult version of the actual adult version of Sweet Valley High. Dead Letters is all about family disfunction, addiction, …
Book Review: Everything You Told Me
I'm a bit of an audio book junkie. I love opening my Audible Daily Deal email every morning. An author who is often featured is Lucy Dawson; several of her books have been on sale at one time or another. She's British and writes domestic suspense, and I'm usually entertained by her writing. I was mostly entertained with Everything You Told Me but I must confess, I only finished the book because I wanted to find out if the character who I thought was the …
Book Review: Friends and Strangers
Just about every line of J. Courtney Sullivan's Friends and Strangers resonated with me, but one part in particular very much stood out. One of the protagonists, Sam, is having a conversation with the other protagonist's father-in-law, George. Sam comes from a working class family and she goes to an expensive private college, for which she has shouldered the burden of her tuition. George was a limo-service business owner until Uber took over, and now he …
Book Review: Big Summer
Big Summer, by acclaimed author Jennifer Weiner, was my Spring Break read. It was a good choice for escapism, and I could definitely use some escapism since travelling wasn't an option and my chilly-Minneapolis-world offered low temps in the 20s. But in the world of Big Summer, it's 80 degrees and Daphne travels to Cape Cod to attend the opulent wedding of her estranged high school friend, mean-girl/multi-millionaire/influencer Drue Cavanaugh. Daphne is also a social media influencer and she's …