Summer Darlings, by Brooke Lea Foster, opens with our protagonist, Heddy, musing about Jackie Kennedy. As Heddy looks out at the waters of Martha's Vineyard, she thinks to herself that the first lady is probably looking out at the same sea. Heddy feels exceedingly lucky to have gotten a summer job as a nanny, working for a wealthy family who seem the epitome of glamour and privilege. Yet, this a novel, so of course nothing is as it appears in the new world Heddy has come to inhabit, …
My Book Reviews
I love novels! My favorite genres are high-end women's fiction, suspense, and psychological thrillers, but occasionally I'll also pick up some chick lit or YA. I mostly read books on my kindle, and I also listen to audio books every morning when I go for my run.
I do NOT love star ratings for novels. For each book I review, I will give a bit of background, my thoughts, and end by saying if I would recommend it or not. Full disclosure: if I'm not into a book, I don't finish it. Since I'll only be reviewing books I finish, most of the reviews posted will be positive.
Book Review: Admissions
I love "ripped from the headlines" sorts of novels, and Admissions most certainly qualifies as one. However, as it's written from a kid's POV, this novel also qualifies as YA, which I haven't been reading too much of lately. That's changed though, since I have decided to venture outside my comfort zone and write my own YA novel. So, I thought it would be smart to read whatever YA novels look intriguing and well done. Admissions by Julie Buxbaum was a good place to …
Book Review: People Like Her
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 perfect. I've had to hide …
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, and identity. It's also a …
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 villain from nearly the very …