to drink coffee with a ghost by amanda lovelace
I have had this book for months and just realized that I hadn't read it yet. This one is about loss and difficult relationships with parents. Again, to a certain extent, I can relate. It saddens me that there are so many of us, but also makes me glad that there's a secret sisterhood who have faced the same things I have and survived.
Tuesday, March 17, 2020
A New Take on Cinderella
break your glass slippers by amanda lovelace
Lady Book Mad has done it again! I love her poetry/modern spin on fairy tales. In my "newly" single state, so many of these apply, but so many apply to when I was married as well. Clearly, I was more unhappy than I thought. What I do know is that these poems give me hope, because like all her other books, I know that there are others like me who feel these things and I am not alone.
Go buy this book!!
Lady Book Mad has done it again! I love her poetry/modern spin on fairy tales. In my "newly" single state, so many of these apply, but so many apply to when I was married as well. Clearly, I was more unhappy than I thought. What I do know is that these poems give me hope, because like all her other books, I know that there are others like me who feel these things and I am not alone.
Go buy this book!!
Sunday, March 15, 2020
Be Careful Who You Call Friend
You Are Not Alone by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
This is the third book I have read by this pair in the last two years. I have loved them all. I had no idea they had a new book out until I saw it at Hudson's in the Seattle airport last week, so, of course, I bought it. So glad I did.
Hendricks and Pekkanen are becoming quite the masters of psychological suspense, and I love it.
In this novel, we meet Shay. Shay is thirty-one and currently lives with her friend Sean, who she is secretly in love with. Sean has a girlfriend, Jody, who is always at their New York apartment, and it increasingly difficult for Shay to be home. One morning, rather than having to deal with Sean and Jody, Shay decides to get out of the house. As she is approaching a subway train, she witnesses a woman throwing herself onto the tracks.
The next few days happen in a blur, and after meetings with the police, Shay makes the weird decision to go to the memorial for the woman who committed suicide in front of her. At the memorial, she meets the friends of this woman. Over the course of the next few weeks, these women have infiltrated Shay's life, become her friend. For Shay, it's damn near perfect--until it isn't.
What Shay doesn't know is that these women have something to hide, and they are trying to frame Shay for something she didn't do.
This was a riveting read, and I couldn't wait to see what happened next.
This is the third book I have read by this pair in the last two years. I have loved them all. I had no idea they had a new book out until I saw it at Hudson's in the Seattle airport last week, so, of course, I bought it. So glad I did.
Hendricks and Pekkanen are becoming quite the masters of psychological suspense, and I love it.
In this novel, we meet Shay. Shay is thirty-one and currently lives with her friend Sean, who she is secretly in love with. Sean has a girlfriend, Jody, who is always at their New York apartment, and it increasingly difficult for Shay to be home. One morning, rather than having to deal with Sean and Jody, Shay decides to get out of the house. As she is approaching a subway train, she witnesses a woman throwing herself onto the tracks.
The next few days happen in a blur, and after meetings with the police, Shay makes the weird decision to go to the memorial for the woman who committed suicide in front of her. At the memorial, she meets the friends of this woman. Over the course of the next few weeks, these women have infiltrated Shay's life, become her friend. For Shay, it's damn near perfect--until it isn't.
What Shay doesn't know is that these women have something to hide, and they are trying to frame Shay for something she didn't do.
This was a riveting read, and I couldn't wait to see what happened next.
Wednesday, March 11, 2020
A Little Spring Break Poetry
Empty Bottles Full of Stories by r.h. Sin and Robert M. Drake
I went on a long weekend to Montana to see my son, and whenever I travel, I buy a book. This was the book I bought there. I was honestly surprised that the poetry was written by men because much of it sounded like what I read from Rupi Kaur or Amanda Lovelace. There were parts that hit home, and parts that broke my heart. I would recommend this to anyone.
I went on a long weekend to Montana to see my son, and whenever I travel, I buy a book. This was the book I bought there. I was honestly surprised that the poetry was written by men because much of it sounded like what I read from Rupi Kaur or Amanda Lovelace. There were parts that hit home, and parts that broke my heart. I would recommend this to anyone.
TAYSHAS 2020 #11
With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo
I had high hopes for this one, as I liked Ms. Acevedo's last offering, but, again, not a great book.
Emoni is a senior in high school in Philadelphia. She has a two-year-old daughter named Emma. She lives with her Abuela. She loves to cook. Near the beginning of the book, she is accepted into the culinary arts classes at school, and they will have a trip to Spain in the spring. That is the book in a nutshell.
What irritated me was that up until the actual trip to Spain, there was a lot going on. Once she got to Spain, there was not a lot devoted to the trip. From that point on, it felt rushed. A point in this book's favor is that it was a quick read with short chapters.
I had high hopes for this one, as I liked Ms. Acevedo's last offering, but, again, not a great book.
Emoni is a senior in high school in Philadelphia. She has a two-year-old daughter named Emma. She lives with her Abuela. She loves to cook. Near the beginning of the book, she is accepted into the culinary arts classes at school, and they will have a trip to Spain in the spring. That is the book in a nutshell.
What irritated me was that up until the actual trip to Spain, there was a lot going on. Once she got to Spain, there was not a lot devoted to the trip. From that point on, it felt rushed. A point in this book's favor is that it was a quick read with short chapters.
TAYSHAS 2020 #10
Screenshot by Donna Cooner
It was a quick read, they said, and I guess it was. It's just another book on the TAYSHAS list that makes me question the list this year. This was only ok. This had the potential to be great, given the subject matter, but it wasn't.
Skye works at KMart in Colorado. She has two best friends, Asha and Emma. She doesn't feel she quite measures up to either one of them, but she has her eyes on the prize: an internship with a congresswoman for the summer. In fact, she has an interview coming up for the internship.
One night while celebrating Asha's birthday, Skye puts on this nightgown--one that would look great on Asha or Emma, but not so much Skye--and dances in the room. Asha records this and puts it on ChitChat, which sounds very similar to SnapChat. Skye is worried because this video could harm her chances for the internship.
Just when Skye thinks everything is A-Ok, she gets a message from someone threatening to release a screenshot of an image in the video if Skye doesn't do exactly what she's told. It starts our innocuous enough--painting her finger and toenails black. It soon escalates to wearing a prom dress to her interview and breaking up with her boyfriend. Skye doesn't know who is doing this to her, but is diligently trying to figure it out. She figures it out, which is great, but there are so many subplots that needed to be explored.
For example, Asha's mother was diagnosed with dementia in the book. The author felt the need to devote a few Asha chapters to this, but at the end, you're left hanging. Also, Skye's boyfriend? What's up with him? She spends more time with another boy for most of the book while she is still with her boyfriend.
This had great potential, but it was executed poorly.
It was a quick read, they said, and I guess it was. It's just another book on the TAYSHAS list that makes me question the list this year. This was only ok. This had the potential to be great, given the subject matter, but it wasn't.
Skye works at KMart in Colorado. She has two best friends, Asha and Emma. She doesn't feel she quite measures up to either one of them, but she has her eyes on the prize: an internship with a congresswoman for the summer. In fact, she has an interview coming up for the internship.
One night while celebrating Asha's birthday, Skye puts on this nightgown--one that would look great on Asha or Emma, but not so much Skye--and dances in the room. Asha records this and puts it on ChitChat, which sounds very similar to SnapChat. Skye is worried because this video could harm her chances for the internship.
Just when Skye thinks everything is A-Ok, she gets a message from someone threatening to release a screenshot of an image in the video if Skye doesn't do exactly what she's told. It starts our innocuous enough--painting her finger and toenails black. It soon escalates to wearing a prom dress to her interview and breaking up with her boyfriend. Skye doesn't know who is doing this to her, but is diligently trying to figure it out. She figures it out, which is great, but there are so many subplots that needed to be explored.
For example, Asha's mother was diagnosed with dementia in the book. The author felt the need to devote a few Asha chapters to this, but at the end, you're left hanging. Also, Skye's boyfriend? What's up with him? She spends more time with another boy for most of the book while she is still with her boyfriend.
This had great potential, but it was executed poorly.
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