I know that in the sidebar of this page I said that most of my reviews are positive since I don’t often finish books I don’t like, and I will not review a book I didn’t finish. Well... The Perfect Nanny was short, and it was listed as one of the 10 best books of the year by The New York Times Book Review, and Entertainment Weekly gave it an honorable mention, and it was a finalist for the Edgar Award and a national best-seller, so I kept reading, even though it failed to ever …
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.
The Night Before
The Night Before, by Wendy Walker, is not your typical thriller. It centers around two sisters, Laura and Rosie. Laura is the unpredictable, intriguing younger sister and Rosie is the older, stable, happily married sister. Laura has come home to live with Rosie and her family for a while, because Laura’s latest romantic relationship ended badly. Really, really badly. So, Laura does what any of us would do, and tries online dating. She goes out on a date with this guy who looks nice and …
The Girl in the Mirror
I REALLY love a good identical twin story. The Sweet Valley High novels were a guilty pleasure growing up. And there was this novel that came out in the 80s, about these identical twins that swapped places but one of them died, and there was even a sequel where it turns out the dead twin was still alive! LOVED IT! So imagine my delight at finding a brand new identical twin story, full of intrigue and drama. I was incredibly delighted, with one caveat. Weeks ago, I decided to try my …
Such a Fun Age
I heard about Such a Fun Age several times, but it wasn’t until I saw it listed as one of 2020’s best novels that I finally paid attention and downloaded it. I’m so glad I did, because it was one of the best novels I’d read in a long time. The premise is fairly simple. Alix is a wealthy white woman who started her own business by writing letters, mostly to companies, asking for free merchandise. But she somehow turned her letter writing into a woman’s empowerment venture, and now …
Stranger on the Beach by Michele Campbell
I listened to Stranger on the Beach on audio, and the fact that this book is narrated by January Lavoy affected how good I think it is. Lavoy narrates lots of books and she’s excellent – so good, that she made Sweet Valley Confidential sound like quality writing. And for that reason, I couldn’t tell if Stranger on the Beach was a decent book with some notable plot holes and several flaws, or if was just really, really bad. The story is about Caroline Stark, who …