Genre: Adult

Review: The Heiresses

Posted August 27, 2014 / Book Reviews / 2 Comments

Review: I’m sure you’ve heard of the phrase “guilty pleasure.” That’s exactly what this book (and literally any and all other books by Sara Shepard are). I just wanted to get that out of the way first before you holler at me and say how shitty this book is. I’ve read the entire PLL series and I’m FULLY aware of Shepard’s writing style and plot devices and anything else you could think of. The thing is – I don’t care. I would read her grocery list because I think somehow she would manage to surprise me. Maybe you thought this book was predictable if you’ve read it. The thing is, I don’t try to predict anything when it come to suspense books. I prefer to be surprised. I may make a guess or two about things but never want to be right. I’m sure if I really sat hard and brought my thinking up just one more level, I would have been able to figure more out. I just don’t want to. I could make the jokes that everyone and their mother made in their Goodreads reviews, but I’ll resist the urge. (They are pretty funny though, you should look) Sara Shepard has been vague about if this is a series (although Goodreads suggests that it is).. I’ve gotta say that after that ending- there better be a second book. It kept me interested and intrigued throughout the entire thing, which is really what a good book boils down to. […]

Mini Reviews: Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore and Ajax Penumbra 1969

Posted August 20, 2014 / Book Reviews / 2 Comments

I read Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore a few months ago for my Book Club. I saw it in the store and was intrigued by the story, and then I had the excuse to push it higher on my list for the meeting. I really enjoyed it; the concept was beyond what I normally read. When I saw that there was a prequel, I was definitely interested in reading it eventually too. I saw it on Audible recently and it was only an hour and 45 minutes long. Without further ado, here are my MINI REVIEWS for both books! Mini Review: Who wouldn’t want a 24-hour bookstore, with high ceilings and infinite shelves of books? The summary Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore immediately grabbed me. Clay begins working in this peculiar store when he loses his job within advertising. He has the late, overnight shift and makes crappy money. He wonders how the bookstore stays open when there are so few actual customers. The only people who really enter the shop are not even buying books – they’re taking them out as if it were a library. He becomes curious about the old books he needs to climb up to the ceiling to get. Clay and his friends slowly uncover the mysteries of the bookstore and its clientele. Clay begins cataloging the books and the store’s clients, when he starts to notice some odd patterns. He eventually learns the secrets of Mr. Penumbra’s store and what the readers are looking to achieve. This book […]

Review: Class of ’98

Posted August 2, 2014 / Book Reviews / 4 Comments

Review: What a great plot concept this book has. I am totally smitten with this book and sort of in love with Matt. As you can tell from the synopsis, Jackie and Matt (who were essentially opposites in high school) are sent back in time from their reunion to their senior year. They have to work together to get back to the present…. and that includes bringing back some painful memories. Jackie and Matt are forced back into their high school relationships: with the boyfriend who cheated, the best friend who ruined her relationship, and the girlfriend who becomes an ex-wife. Throughout the book, Jackie is hyper-concerned about messing up her adult life. Even though she is pretty unhappy where she is, she doesn’t want to risk impacting her future as well as those around her. Matt, who naturally develops feelings for Jackie, doesn’t care what happens. Their relationship took some interesting turns throughout the story, which I really enjoyed watching. At times, Jackie could be a little annoying with her incessant need to keep everything the same and, as a result, treat Matt like garbage. A.L. Player did a great job writing this ; the style is humorous and light. I’m pretty sure I read this book in 24 hours. It has elements of young adult fiction as well as adult fiction (and not just because the characters are both young adult and adult age in the book). Once you are introduced to Jackie as a teenager and the events that […]

Review: Gone Girl

Posted August 1, 2014 / Book Reviews / 7 Comments

Review: Holy shit you guys. Holy shit. I can’t believe it took me so long to read this book. Finally, after the urging of two of my friends, who demanded I read it immediately, I decided to pick up one of the books that’s been sitting on my shelf since Christmas. I can’t even believe how addicting, twisty, and just fucking insane that this book was. Each chapter made me gasp or whisper “holy shit” to myself. That’s barely an exaggeration; I feel like something crazy happened every effing chapter. This book will have you convinced that someone killed her (primarily Nick) and then the next chapter you don’t know what to believe. The first sentence/paragraph/entire chapter of Part 2 absolutely blew my mind. I try not to bother my boyfriend with an entire plot summary of every book I read, but every once in a while I feel the need to update him constantly about what’s happening and interrupt his video game. This was one of those books. I’m so glad one of the friends who forced me to read this book is in the same office as me because I would just yell out to her all day long. Jesus. I feel like my head is still spinning but I need to get this review out now before I forget all of the crazy emotions I feel. Anyways, the characters in this book were fucking crazy. Amy’s diary entries and Nick’s daily activities/thoughts really blew my mind. When […]

Review: The Husband’s Secret

Posted July 28, 2014 / Book Reviews / 6 Comments

Review: I was surprised at how suspenseful a non-mystery/suspense book could be. I got wrapped up in this book so quickly that I spent most of my work day sneakily reading it on my computer’s Kindle app. I could absolutely not stop. The beginning was the most suspenseful part of the book. It kept building and building until I said JESUS what did this dude write in the letter?!?! Once you finally find out, the novel slowly starts falling together. I’ll say it for the hundredth time: I LOVE books with multiple perspectives/characters whose lives are somehow intertwined. I knew that the different characters in the book would end up coming together somehow but it took some time to get going. I think that helped though; you were able to learn about each character/family without getting caught up in the holy-shit part. The story follows multiple characters and switches between them for each chapter. It takes a good author to pull this off without being confusing (I’m looking at you, Jennifer Close. Ugh). Cecilia is the woman whose husband wrote the lifechanging letter. Tess is a woman who comes home to her mother’s house after her husband has betrayed her in the worst possible way. Rachel is an older woman whose daughter died at a young age. I’ll admit that I had sort of figured out what the letter was going to say before reading it, but that totally didn’t impact the novel for me. I was so happy to follow […]

Review: Girls in White Dresses

Posted July 18, 2014 / Book Reviews / 4 Comments

Review: I’m not really sure where to begin with this one. It was one of those books that I wanted to read for MONTHS before actually deciding to read it… and it was such a let down. Frankly, I should probably give it less than three stars. It got three because I think it had some redeeming qualities. I’ll go with those first. In a lot of ways, this book was very relatable. Every girl in her 20s has experienced most of the situations in this book. Between friends getting married and having kids, moving away from home and/or college, losing friends, gaining friends, boyfriend problems, friend problems, etc… It touched on a lot of the basic issues that 20-somethings encounter at one point or another. I liked that. That’s really all I liked. The book ended very abruptly and offered literally a paragraph of “closure.” We find out a sentence about like three of the characters and we’re supposed to just wonder if things come through for them. I don’t remember almost any of the names of the characters, but two of the final two girls that the book discussed seemed to be the main ones. This was another book that switched characters for every chapter; this is something I normally don’t mind. But – this book had a million characters! Some of the bitches would only be in ONE chapter. What happened to them? Why even bother introducing them in the first place if they weren’t going to have […]