Recent Reads
My last book post was in mid March.. so the following are two months worth of reading.
Synopsis - Magneto and Professor X. Superman and Lex Luthor. Victor Vale and Eli Ever. Sydney and Serena Clarke. Great partnerships, now soured on the vine.
But Marcella Riggins needs no one. Flush from her brush with death, she’s finally gained the control she’s always sought and will use her new-found power to bring the city of Merit to its knees. She’ll do whatever it takes, collecting her own sidekicks, and leveraging the two most infamous EOs, Victor Vale and Eli Ever, against each other. With Marcella's rise, new enmities create opportunity--and the stage of Merit City will once again be set for a final, terrible reckoning.
Thoughts - This is the second book in the series. I had read the first earlier in the year and felt it was good but lacked something. The first book had felt a bit robotic in its delivery. This one I liked a lot more. It gave all the characters, old and new, the chance to become more fleshed out and I look forward to reading the third book when it comes out later in the year.
Synopsis - Sybil Van Antwerp has throughout her life used letters to make sense of the world and her place in it. Most mornings, around half past ten, Sybil sits down to write letters—to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to audit a class she desperately wants to take, to Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry to tell them what she thinks of their latest books, and to one person to whom she writes often yet never sends the letter.
Sybil expects her world to go on as it always has—a mother, grandmother, wife, divorcee, distinguished lawyer, she has lived a very full life. But when letters from someone in her past force her to examine one of the most painful periods of her life, she realizes that the letter she has been writing over the years needs to be read and that she cannot move forward until she finds it in her heart to offer forgiveness.
Thoughts - I don't know if there are any readers out there who have not heard of this book. I went in with trepidation afraid of over hype but I am so glad I read it. Initially I did not like Sybil. She came across as an old woman stuck in the past refusing to change and adapt. But boy was I wrong because this book proves that it is never too late, you are never too old to change, find love, make amends and be surprised by what the world and it's people have to offer.
Synopsis - The Winslow family lives by five principles:
Synopsis - Seventeen year old Kiva Meridan has spent the last ten years fighting for survival in the notorious death prison, Zalindov, working as the prison healer.
When the Rebel Queen is captured, Kiva is charged with keeping the terminally ill woman alive long enough for her to undergo the Trial by Ordeal: a series of elemental challenges against the torments of air, fire, water, and earth, assigned to only the most dangerous of criminals.
Then a coded message from Kiva’s family arrives, containing a single order: “Don’t let her die. We are coming.” Aware that the Trials will kill the sickly queen, Kiva risks her own life to volunteer in her place. If she succeeds, both she and the queen will be granted their freedom. But no one has ever survived.
With an incurable plague sweeping Zalindov, a mysterious new inmate fighting for Kiva’s heart, and a prison rebellion brewing, Kiva can’t escape the terrible feeling that her trials have only just begun.
Thoughts - OMG I blew through this series. It was so much fun. I loved all the characters. The banter, the twists, everything. Love. It did wrap up too nicely.. with a big bow and all but honestly I was okay with that.
Synopsis - Fourteen years ago, prosecutor Jessica Yardley’s husband went to prison for a series of brutal murders. She’s finally created a life with her daughter and is a well-respected attorney. She’s moving on. But when a new rash of homicides has her ex-husband, Eddie, written all over them the nightmares of her past come back to life.
The FBI asks Jessica to get involved in the hunt for this copycat killer which means visiting her ex and collaborating with the man who tore her life apart. As the copycat’s motives become clearer, the new life Jessica created for herself gets darker. She must ask herself who she can trust and if she’s capable of stopping the killer, a man whose every crime is a bloody valentine from a twisted mastermind she’s afraid she may never escape.
Thoughts - Dang.. to be married to a serial killer and not know it. This was a fun twisty turny thriller. Lots of unpredictable moments but also something that will not stay with me. By the end of the year I may not even remember it.
Synopsis - When band-geek Ivy and her friends get together, things start with a rousing board game and end with arguments about Star Wars. Her older sister Autumn is a different story. Enigmatic, aloof, and tough as nails, Autumn hasn't had real friends or trusted anyone in years. Even Ivy.
After a drug deal gone wrong, Autumn is beaten, bound, and held hostage. Now, trapped between life and death, she leaves her body, seeking help. No one can sense her presence except her sister. When Autumn doesn't come home, Ivy just knows she's in trouble. Unable to escape the chilling feeling that something isn't right, Ivy follows a string of clues that bring her closer to rescuing her sister and closer to danger. Autumn needs Ivy to find her before time runs out. But soon, both sisters realize that finding her also means untangling the secrets that lead to the truth about where they're hiding Autumn, and what Autumn has been hiding.
Thoughts - Some books just want to make you scream, break things, set something on fire. Sexual assault is taken far too lightly. The fact that we have actual documentation, witnesses and victims from the Epstein files and the world is still spinning and there are little to no consequences for these men. While women have to bend over backwards to prove that they were assaulted. Something is very wrong with our society. Autumn's story is heartbreaking and real and the book could have gotten depressing but it's Ivy's story that provides balance and prevents it from being so.
Synopsis - Two children trapped in the same attic, almost a century apart, bound by a shared secret.
Early 1900s: Taken from his homeland, twelve-year-old Celestine spends most of the time locked away in the attic of a large house by the sea. As the years pass, he desperately clings on to memories of his family in Africa, even as he struggles to remember his mother’s face, and sometimes his real name.
1974: Lowra, a young orphan girl born into wealth and privilege whose fortunes have now changed, finds herself trapped in the same attic. Searching for a ray of light in the darkness of the attic, Lowra finds under the floorboards an old-fashioned pen, a porcelain doll, a beaded necklace, and a message carved on the wall, written in an unidentifiable language. Providing comfort for her when all hope is lost, these clues will lead her to uncover the secrets of the attic.
Thoughts - This is another one of those books that makes me ignite with rage. I did not read them back to back.. that would not have been a good idea. The africans, aboriginals, native americans, south asians and so many more.. we did not need the 'help' of the white man. We did not need to be made civilized. Don't even get me started on the church run boarding schools for the native american (shudders). But first the Brits and then others.. this insatiable thirst to conquer, destroy, murder, rape and steal. Most of the problems the 3rd world countries have today were caused by the meddling of others. I wonder, I know this is a tad too idealistic.. but what would our world look like without colonisation? Sir Richard Babbington (with his white saviour complex), the man who buys Celestine does not have bad intentions, he actually cares for Celestine and showers him with gifts etc but and the biggest but.. Celestine is a human being and not a commodity. Lowra's story on the other hand is not about race but is still interesting and similarly traumatic. I am glad I read the book. It is one I would recommend. There were many happy endings which seems inauthentic but it is fiction and everyone likes a happy ending.
Vengeful by V.E Schwab
Synopsis - Magneto and Professor X. Superman and Lex Luthor. Victor Vale and Eli Ever. Sydney and Serena Clarke. Great partnerships, now soured on the vine.
But Marcella Riggins needs no one. Flush from her brush with death, she’s finally gained the control she’s always sought and will use her new-found power to bring the city of Merit to its knees. She’ll do whatever it takes, collecting her own sidekicks, and leveraging the two most infamous EOs, Victor Vale and Eli Ever, against each other. With Marcella's rise, new enmities create opportunity--and the stage of Merit City will once again be set for a final, terrible reckoning.
Thoughts - This is the second book in the series. I had read the first earlier in the year and felt it was good but lacked something. The first book had felt a bit robotic in its delivery. This one I liked a lot more. It gave all the characters, old and new, the chance to become more fleshed out and I look forward to reading the third book when it comes out later in the year.
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
Synopsis - Sybil Van Antwerp has throughout her life used letters to make sense of the world and her place in it. Most mornings, around half past ten, Sybil sits down to write letters—to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to audit a class she desperately wants to take, to Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry to tell them what she thinks of their latest books, and to one person to whom she writes often yet never sends the letter.
Sybil expects her world to go on as it always has—a mother, grandmother, wife, divorcee, distinguished lawyer, she has lived a very full life. But when letters from someone in her past force her to examine one of the most painful periods of her life, she realizes that the letter she has been writing over the years needs to be read and that she cannot move forward until she finds it in her heart to offer forgiveness.
Thoughts - I don't know if there are any readers out there who have not heard of this book. I went in with trepidation afraid of over hype but I am so glad I read it. Initially I did not like Sybil. She came across as an old woman stuck in the past refusing to change and adapt. But boy was I wrong because this book proves that it is never too late, you are never too old to change, find love, make amends and be surprised by what the world and it's people have to offer.
This Golden State by Marit Weisenberg
1. No one can know your real name.
2. Don’t stay in one place too long.
3. If you sense anything is wrong, go immediately to the meeting spot.
4. Keeping our family together is everything.
5. We wish we could tell you who we are, but we can’t. Please—do not ask.
Poppy doesn’t know why her family has been running her whole life, but she does know that there are dire consequences if they’re ever caught. Still, her curiosity grows each year, as does her desire for real friends and the chance to build on something, instead of leaving behind school projects, teams, and crushes at a moment’s notice.
When a move to California exposes a crack in her parents’ airtight planning, Poppy realizes how fragile her world is. Determined to find out the truth, she mails in a home DNA test. Unraveling the shocking truth of her parents’ real identities, Poppy realizes that the DNA test has undone decades of careful work to keep her family anonymous, and the past is dangerously close to catching up to them. Determined to protect her family but desperate for more, Poppy must ask: How much of herself does she owe her family? And is it a betrayal to find her own place in the world?
Thoughts - This sounded a lot better than it was. Or maybe it was too YA? I don't know. It was not bad but among all of these it was for sure my lowest rated book. The end reveal of why they were on the run was not something I had guessed so at least there was that.
2. Don’t stay in one place too long.
3. If you sense anything is wrong, go immediately to the meeting spot.
4. Keeping our family together is everything.
5. We wish we could tell you who we are, but we can’t. Please—do not ask.
Poppy doesn’t know why her family has been running her whole life, but she does know that there are dire consequences if they’re ever caught. Still, her curiosity grows each year, as does her desire for real friends and the chance to build on something, instead of leaving behind school projects, teams, and crushes at a moment’s notice.
When a move to California exposes a crack in her parents’ airtight planning, Poppy realizes how fragile her world is. Determined to find out the truth, she mails in a home DNA test. Unraveling the shocking truth of her parents’ real identities, Poppy realizes that the DNA test has undone decades of careful work to keep her family anonymous, and the past is dangerously close to catching up to them. Determined to protect her family but desperate for more, Poppy must ask: How much of herself does she owe her family? And is it a betrayal to find her own place in the world?
Thoughts - This sounded a lot better than it was. Or maybe it was too YA? I don't know. It was not bad but among all of these it was for sure my lowest rated book. The end reveal of why they were on the run was not something I had guessed so at least there was that.
The Prison Healer series by Lynette Noni
When the Rebel Queen is captured, Kiva is charged with keeping the terminally ill woman alive long enough for her to undergo the Trial by Ordeal: a series of elemental challenges against the torments of air, fire, water, and earth, assigned to only the most dangerous of criminals.
Then a coded message from Kiva’s family arrives, containing a single order: “Don’t let her die. We are coming.” Aware that the Trials will kill the sickly queen, Kiva risks her own life to volunteer in her place. If she succeeds, both she and the queen will be granted their freedom. But no one has ever survived.
With an incurable plague sweeping Zalindov, a mysterious new inmate fighting for Kiva’s heart, and a prison rebellion brewing, Kiva can’t escape the terrible feeling that her trials have only just begun.
Thoughts - OMG I blew through this series. It was so much fun. I loved all the characters. The banter, the twists, everything. Love. It did wrap up too nicely.. with a big bow and all but honestly I was okay with that.
A Killers Wife by Victor Methos
The FBI asks Jessica to get involved in the hunt for this copycat killer which means visiting her ex and collaborating with the man who tore her life apart. As the copycat’s motives become clearer, the new life Jessica created for herself gets darker. She must ask herself who she can trust and if she’s capable of stopping the killer, a man whose every crime is a bloody valentine from a twisted mastermind she’s afraid she may never escape.
Thoughts - Dang.. to be married to a serial killer and not know it. This was a fun twisty turny thriller. Lots of unpredictable moments but also something that will not stay with me. By the end of the year I may not even remember it.
After a drug deal gone wrong, Autumn is beaten, bound, and held hostage. Now, trapped between life and death, she leaves her body, seeking help. No one can sense her presence except her sister. When Autumn doesn't come home, Ivy just knows she's in trouble. Unable to escape the chilling feeling that something isn't right, Ivy follows a string of clues that bring her closer to rescuing her sister and closer to danger. Autumn needs Ivy to find her before time runs out. But soon, both sisters realize that finding her also means untangling the secrets that lead to the truth about where they're hiding Autumn, and what Autumn has been hiding.
Thoughts - Some books just want to make you scream, break things, set something on fire. Sexual assault is taken far too lightly. The fact that we have actual documentation, witnesses and victims from the Epstein files and the world is still spinning and there are little to no consequences for these men. While women have to bend over backwards to prove that they were assaulted. Something is very wrong with our society. Autumn's story is heartbreaking and real and the book could have gotten depressing but it's Ivy's story that provides balance and prevents it from being so.
The Attic Child by Lola Jaye
Synopsis - Two children trapped in the same attic, almost a century apart, bound by a shared secret.
Early 1900s: Taken from his homeland, twelve-year-old Celestine spends most of the time locked away in the attic of a large house by the sea. As the years pass, he desperately clings on to memories of his family in Africa, even as he struggles to remember his mother’s face, and sometimes his real name.
1974: Lowra, a young orphan girl born into wealth and privilege whose fortunes have now changed, finds herself trapped in the same attic. Searching for a ray of light in the darkness of the attic, Lowra finds under the floorboards an old-fashioned pen, a porcelain doll, a beaded necklace, and a message carved on the wall, written in an unidentifiable language. Providing comfort for her when all hope is lost, these clues will lead her to uncover the secrets of the attic.
Thoughts - This is another one of those books that makes me ignite with rage. I did not read them back to back.. that would not have been a good idea. The africans, aboriginals, native americans, south asians and so many more.. we did not need the 'help' of the white man. We did not need to be made civilized. Don't even get me started on the church run boarding schools for the native american (shudders). But first the Brits and then others.. this insatiable thirst to conquer, destroy, murder, rape and steal. Most of the problems the 3rd world countries have today were caused by the meddling of others. I wonder, I know this is a tad too idealistic.. but what would our world look like without colonisation? Sir Richard Babbington (with his white saviour complex), the man who buys Celestine does not have bad intentions, he actually cares for Celestine and showers him with gifts etc but and the biggest but.. Celestine is a human being and not a commodity. Lowra's story on the other hand is not about race but is still interesting and similarly traumatic. I am glad I read the book. It is one I would recommend. There were many happy endings which seems inauthentic but it is fiction and everyone likes a happy ending.
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