Recent Reads

It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover

Synopsis - Sometimes it is the one who loves you who hurts you the most.
Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up, she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life suddenly seems almost too good to be true.
Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt. Lily can’t get him out of her head. But Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his “no dating” rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place.
As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan — her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.

Thoughts - This is my first Colleen Hoover read. I know many people are fans of her books and have read many of her books. I was afraid to read anything by her because of how many people gushed about her books which I thought were romance novels. I am glad I picked it up and gave Ms. Hoover a chance. The book was not just about love but also abuse. How black and white it all seems.. if he hits you then leave.. obviously. But how much gray there is.. I hadn't thought about all the gray.. the book was beautiful and heartbreaking. If you haven't read it already then I would recommend you do.  

I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh

Synopsis - A tragic accident. It all happened so quickly. She couldn't have prevented it. Could she?
In a split second, Jenna Gray's world descends into a nightmare. Her only hope of moving on is to walk away from everything she knows to start afresh. Desperate to escape, Jenna moves to a remote cottage on the Welsh coast, but she is haunted by her fears, her grief and her memories of a cruel November night that changed her life forever. Slowly, Jenna begins to glimpse the potential for happiness in her future. But her past is about to catch up with her, and the consequences will be devastating. 

Thoughts - Okay.. so I am on the fence about this one. A tragedy happens within the first few pages.. and then the next many many chapters are about Jenna's wallowing, guilt, sadness.. and I kept thinking what is the point of this book? And then at the half way point there is a twist. Now start the flashbacks and the story gets more interesting. It does get good but was it good enough to make the first very slow half worth it? I don't know. Also the chapters alternate between Jenna's story and the detective's investigating the crime and I found the chapters with the detective's also quite dull. It might be worthy of an audiobook so you can do something else while listening to it. 

When We Left Cuba by Chanel Cleeton

Synopsis - The Cuban Revolution took everything from sugar heiress Beatriz Perez--her family, her people, her country. Recruited by the CIA to infiltrate Fidel Castro's inner circle and pulled into the dangerous world of espionage, Beatriz is consumed by her quest for revenge and her desire to reclaim the life she lost.
As the Cold War swells like a hurricane over the shores of the Florida Strait, Beatriz is caught between the clash of Cuban American politics and the perils of a forbidden affair with a powerful man driven by ambitions of his own. When the ever-changing tides of history threaten everything she has fought for, she must make a choice between her past and future--but the wrong move could cost Beatriz everything--not just the island she loves, but also the man who has stolen her heart.

Thoughts - I read Ms. Cleeton's Next Year in Havana back in 2018 and had thoroughly enjoyed it as well as learnt so much from it. My review is here. This second book is equally enjoyable. You don't have to read the first one to understand the second book.. but go ahead and read it anyway.. why not? While the first book was set in current day with flashbacks to 1959 when Castro took over Cuba. This one takes place in the early 1960's. We explore how it felt to leave your home behind and live as second class citizens in America? Even worse to be a woman whose only purpose is to marry well. But Beatriz is a strong woman who wants to do something about it.. make a change, take action. It is a fun ride and I enjoyed the book and learnt a little more about Cuban history along the way. 

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

Synopsis - The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it's not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it's everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Many years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape. The other passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters' storylines intersect?

Thoughts - This book has gotten so many great reviews.. I was saving it for a time I can really savor it. I was fascinated by the story but unpopular opinion here it was just okay. As a person of color I understand the obsession with fairness. Not African American so my skin tone obviously did not come with the same hardships of a black person but I remember using the whitening creams, dodging the sun and worrying about becoming darker. Aunties always talking about how fair girls marry better.. ugh. So to be fair would have been a dream come true, it's a thought that still sometimes crosses my mind after my skin has gone a shade darker during the summer. So the fact that the Vignes twins were so light they could pass for being white is so alluring. But the book didn't focus on the twins as much as I had expected or would have wanted. The story quickly shifts to their daughters and their story and while color is still a very important part of the story I just didn't care as much about any of it. 

Zero Zone by Scott O'Connor

Synopsis - Los Angeles, the late 1970s: Jess Shepard is an installation artist who creates environments that focus on light and space, often leading to intense sensory experiences for visitors to her work. A run of critically lauded projects peaks with Zero Zone, an installation at the former site of nuclear bomb testing in the New Mexico desert. But what begins as a vehicle for healing, soon becomes the flashpoint for a violent confrontation between a small group of fanatics experiencing what they perceive as a religious awakening within Zero Zone and the authorities.
Devastated and haunted by the events in the desert and the ensuing media attention, Jess retreats from the world. Unable to work, she unravels mentally and emotionally, plagued by a nagging uncertainty as to her culpability for what transpired in her creation.
Three years later, a survivor from Zero Zone comes calling, compelling Jess to face down her fears and recover her art—and possibly her life—from the violent cult intent of making it their own.

Thoughts - This was a DNF. I read a couple of chapters but I was so uninterested and annoyed by the protagonist that I just stopped reading. 

Anatomy - A Love Story by Dana Schwartz       

Synopsis - Edinburgh, 1817. Hazel Sinnett is a lady who wants to be a surgeon more than she wants to marry.
Jack Currer is a resurrection man who’s just trying to survive in a city where it’s too easy to die.
When the two of them have a chance encounter outside the Edinburgh Anatomist’s Society, Hazel thinks nothing of it at first. But after she gets kicked out of renowned surgeon Dr. Beecham’s lectures for being the wrong gender, she realizes that her new acquaintance might be more helpful than she first thought. Because Hazel has made a deal with Dr. Beecham: if she can pass the medical examination on her own, the university will allow her to enroll. Without official lessons, though, Hazel will need more than just her books – she’ll need bodies to study, corpses to dissect.
Lucky that she’s made the acquaintance of someone who digs them up for a living, then.
But Jack has his own problems: strange men have been seen skulking around cemeteries, his friends are disappearing off the streets. Hazel and Jack work together to uncover the secrets buried not just in unmarked graves, but in the very heart of Edinburgh society.

Thoughts - God I love a strong female character and boy was Hazel brave, independent and whip smart. Especially in a time were women were meant to just sit and look pretty. The medical stuff was really interesting, now we have sanitization then they literally pulled a tooth out of one person's mouth and stuck it in another's. It happens in the book and eww. The book was a bit slow in the beginning really picking up speed in the last quarter. But what irked me the most was the title... a love story. It didn't need to be a love story. Hazel and Jack could have just been people who work together but this love story was thrust into the story, given so much importance that it had to be part of the title. Otherwise it was an intriguing book... not for the squeamish. 

Don't Look For Me by Wendy Walker

Synopsis - One night, Molly Clarke walked away from her life. The car abandoned miles from home. The note found at a nearby hotel. The shattered family that couldn't be put back together. It happens all the time. Women disappear, desperate to leave their lives behind and start over. She doesn't want to be found. Or at least, that's the story. But is that what really happened to Molly Clarke?
The night Molly disappeared began with a storm, running out of gas, and a man in a truck offering her a ride to town. With him is a little girl who reminds her of the daughter she lost years ago. It feels like a sign. And Molly is overcome with the desire to be home, with her family—no matter how broken it is. She accepts the ride. But when the doors are locked shut, Molly begins to suspect she has made a terrible mistake.
When a new lead comes in after the search has ended, Molly's daughter, Nicole, begins to wonder. Nothing about her mother's disappearance makes sense. Nicole returns to the small, desolate town where her mother was last seen to find the truth. The locals are kind and eager to help. The innkeeper. The bartender. Even the police. Until secrets begin to reveal themselves and she comes closer to the truth about that night—and the danger surrounding her.

Thoughts - I was thoroughly hooked.. I stayed up way past my bedtime to finish this book. A great fast paced thriller. Can't say much else without giving anything away. Highly recommend. 

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