The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett by Chelsea Sedoti

January 7, 2017 / drbethnolan / 1 Comment

Weeks ago I found this great YA book on Net Galley and I’ve been waiting for it to publish so that I can say how much I love it!

Well, the time has come: I loved this book!!

Here’s the overview:

Description

Hawthorn wasn’t trying to insert herself into a missing person’s investigation. Or maybe she was. But that’s only because Lizzie Lovett’s disappearance is the one fascinating mystery their sleepy town has ever had. Bad things don’t happen to popular girls like Lizzie Lovett, and Hawthorn is convinced she’ll turn up at any moment—which means the time for speculation is now.

So Hawthorn comes up with her own theory for Lizzie’s disappearance. A theory way too absurd to take seriously…at first. The more Hawthorn talks, the more she believes. And what better way to collect evidence than to immerse herself in Lizzie’s life? Like getting a job at the diner where Lizzie worked and hanging out with Lizzie’s boyfriend. After all, it’s not as if he killed her—or did he?

Told with a unique voice that is both hilarious and heart-wrenching, Hawthorn’s quest for proof may uncover the greatest truth is within herself.

Advance Praise

“A dark, comedic mystery about a girl’s quest for proof that ultimately helps her discover some truths about herself. We officially love Hawthorn. One minute, our heart was breaking with her raw, aching loneliness, then we were laughing with her crazy sideways wisdom. Like Thorny, this book is offbeat, smart and awesome.” -Justine Magazine

“Hawthorn’s wildly creative imagination and humor drive this mystery’s plot forward…Recommended for teens who appreciate a protagonist with a lively imagination and an acerbic tongue.” -School Library Journal

“Sedoti’s debut offers an enlightening look at the dangers of relying on outward appearances to judge someone’s character, and Hawthorn’s first-person narrative, filled with obsessive thoughts and, eventually, meaningful reflection, is a lively, engaging vehicle for the story… Fans of character-driven novels will appreciate this.” -Booklist

“A solid coming-of-age novel with light spunk and individuality.” -Kirkus Reviews

“Sedoti deftly pulls readers into [Hawthorn’s] head where her yearning for excitement, angst about the future, and insecurity bring further depth to her character. Hawthorn and Lizzie both emerge as surprising, intricate characters whose stories are resonant and memorable.” -Publishers Weekly

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I’d recommend this for older YA readers. It was a quick read as I was drawn into the story, but it holds at heart one of the key truths of life: how much do we ever really know a person? Well-written and well-paced, it is one I will be recommending.

Thank you for my review copy!

TO CAPTURE WHAT WE CANNOT KEEP by Beatrice Colin

December 17, 2016December 17, 2016 / drbethnolan / Leave a comment

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I loved this historical fiction which I found on Net Galley a while ago. It is set against the building of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and follows the lives and relationships of a Scottish family, their chaperone, and one of the lead engineers on Eiffel’s project.

Here’s the overview from NG:

Description

Set against the construction of the Eiffel Tower, this novel charts the relationship between a young widow and an engineer who, despite constraints of class and wealth, fall in love.

In February 1887, Caitriona Wallace and Émile Nouguier meet in a hot air balloon, floating high above Paris–a moment of pure possibility. But back on firm ground, their vastly different social strata become clear. Cait is a widow who because of her precarious financial situation is forced to chaperone two wealthy Scottish charges. Émile is expected to take on the bourgeois stability of his family’s business and choose a suitable wife. As the Eiffel Tower rises, a marvel of steel and air and light, the subject of extreme controversy and a symbol of the future, Cait and Émile must decide what their love is worth.

Seamlessly weaving historical detail and vivid invention, Beatrice Colin evokes the revolutionary time in which Cait and Émile live–one of corsets and secret trysts, duels and Bohemian independence, strict tradition and Impressionist experimentation. To Capture What We Cannot Keep, stylish, provocative, and shimmering, raises probing questions about a woman’s place in that world, the overarching reach of class distinctions, and the sacrifices love requires of us all.

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This is my favorite type of historical fiction, where I learn facts against the story of fictionalized people (with a few real figures thrown in). It was beautifully written and really makes one think about the role of women, especially in the past, and how women were often hampered by their “station” in life. Caitriona is a strong character and you can’t help but root for her. I loved the ending, too!

Highly recommended! Thank you for my e-copy!

TELL ME THREE THINGS by Julie Buxbaum

November 22, 2016November 19, 2016 / drbethnolan / Leave a comment

I grabbed this YA title as it was on sale for kindle, and I was so thrilled with it that I bought it (in hardcover!) for my teen daughter.

Here’s the overview from GoodReads:

Everything about Jessie is wrong. At least, that’s what it feels like during her first week of junior year at her new ultra-intimidating prep school in Los Angeles. Just when she’s thinking about hightailing it back to Chicago, she gets an email from a person calling themselves Somebody/Nobody (SN for short), offering to help her navigate the wilds of Wood Valley High School. Is it an elaborate hoax? Or can she rely on SN for some much-needed help?

It’s been barely two years since her mother’s death, and because her father eloped with a woman he met online, Jessie has been forced to move across the country to live with her stepmonster and her pretentious teenage son.

In a leap of faith—or an act of complete desperation—Jessie begins to rely on SN, and SN quickly becomes her lifeline and closest ally. Jessie can’t help wanting to meet SN in person. But are some mysteries better left unsolved?

Julie Buxbaum mixes comedy and tragedy, love and loss, pain and elation, in her debut YA novel filled with characters who will come to feel like friends.

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I had never read anything by Julie Buxbaum and this is her first YA book, but I can hardly express what a treasure it is! I loved the characters, I loved the storyline, I loved the writing. I could not put it down and welcomed my insomnia so that I could continue reading during the night.

Poor Jessie is dealing with so much — her mother’s death, being new at school, moving from a “typical” Midwestern place to a wealthy part of LA, and being part of a new “step-family”. I think most teens can relate to at least one of these things.

I got it for my 13 year old, and had to ponder this as it is really geared to high school and up (some sexual content/discussion), but she is reading it now and loving it.

Highly Recommended!

THE MUNICH GIRL by Phyllis Edgerly Ring

October 22, 2016October 20, 2016 / drbethnolan / 1 Comment

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Anna Dahlberg grew up eating dinner under her father’s war-trophy portrait of Eva Braun. Fifty years after the war, she discovers what he never did—that her mother and Hitler’s mistress were friends. The secret surfaces with a mysterious monogrammed handkerchief, and a man, Hannes Ritter, whose Third Reich family history is entwined with Anna’s. Plunged into the world of the “ordinary” Munich girl who was her mother’s confidante—and a tyrant’s lover—Anna finds her every belief about right and wrong challenged. With Hannes’s help, she retraces the path of two women who met as teenagers, shared a friendship that spanned the years that Eva Braun was Hitler’s mistress, yet never knew that the men they loved had opposing ambitions. Eva’s story reveals that she never joined the Nazi party, had Jewish friends, and was credited at the Nuremberg Trials with saving 35,000 Allied lives. As Anna’s journey leads back through the treacherous years in wartime Germany, it uncovers long-buried secrets and unknown reaches of her heart to reveal the enduring power of love in the legacies that always outlast war.

I received a kindle copy of this book from Ms. Ring several weeks ago. She was quite gracious and I was pleased to read her novel. I have to say that I don’t know much about Eva Braun, except for an occasional wondering of what she could have seen in A.H. I have also wondered if she knew the extent of the atrocities he committed.

This novel moves back and forth from present day (Anna) and to Eva’s time (with Anna’s mother). I have to say that I enjoyed the WWII time period better than the present day. The book has what I assume to be real pictures of Eva Braun and lots of details about her life, especially her life before A.H. and her family life. It was interesting, but I still can’t say I liked Eva, as I really can’t believe that she was innocent of supporting their cause. To be honest, Anna was a bit trying to me, as she always seemed a bit meek and helpless. I wanted her to stand up to her tyrant husband, or to make some sort of stand for herself. She was rather overwhelmed and while I wanted to feel sorry for her, I sometimes felt annoyed.

Perhaps Anna and Eva are in parallel?

Thank you for my e-copy, Ms. Ring!

OXBLOOD by Annalisa Grant

September 20, 2016August 16, 2016 / drbethnolan / Leave a comment

Description via Net Galley —

How far would you go to save the only family you have left?

Victoria “Vic” Asher is finally finding some balance in her life. Though she’s still reeling from her parents’ death in a plane crash, she’s content with waiting tables at the Clock; window shopping with her best friend, Tiffany; and hanging out with her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Chad. But when she receives a mysterious package in the mail from her brother, Gil—a law student doing research in Italy—she knows immediately that he’s in danger. Vic isn’t about to risk losing her only brother, so she sets off for Italy to find him. But when she runs into Ian, the gorgeous leader of Interpol’s secret Rogue division, who’s also searching for Gil, she quickly realizes that her brother is in much deeper trouble than she ever could have imagined. Vic will stop at nothing to locate Gil, but doing so could cost her her life—and her heart.

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So I grabbed this story off of Net Galley. This is a fast-paced new adult read about a girl searching for her brother in Europe after he gets tangled up in some serious business. It appears to be the first in a series. Yes, I had to suspend my disbelief a bit for the storyline, but it was a fun read. I would have loved it when I was in high school/college. It reminded me a tad of a movie with Matt Dillon called “Target” (if I am remembering correctly) that came out in the 1980’s about a boy searching for his mother in Europe after she’s gone missing and there’s all this CIA stuff going on (I used to love that movie!).

This was a great beach read this summer!

Thank you for my review e-copy!

A DARKER SKY by Mari Jungstedt and Ruben Eliassen

September 11, 2016September 11, 2016 / drbethnolan / Leave a comment

I love Mari Jungstedt’s writing, and was thrilled to find this title on Net Galley. Swedish crime is a genre I’ve come to rely on for well-plotted mysteries with multi-dimensional characters.

Here’s the overview:

Murder is killing the mood at a yoga tourist destination.

As dawn breaks on the Canary Islands, a fishing boat discovers a woman lying dead on the rocks nearby, her body arranged like a piece of art. To solve the case, Chief Inspector Diego Quintana gets unexpected help from Swedish journalist Sara Moberg, who runs the Scandinavian newspaper on the island, as well as from handsome former investigator Kristian Wede. But not even that can stop the killer from striking again.

As the death toll rises, the mood darkens, and Sara and Kristian race to find the killer before another tourist falls prey. But who is the culprit—an island local with a grudge against the tourists, a visitor on the run from trouble in her home country, the womanizing local yoga instructor, or the person they least suspect?

A Note From the Publisher

Bestselling author Mari Jungstedt and award-winning author Ruben Eliassen are the duo behind the dark and dramatic Canary Islands Series. Jungstedt is one of Sweden’s most beloved authors. She has published twelve books in her popular Gotland series, which is available in more than twenty countries and has been filmed for German television. Eliassen has published seven books in the award-winning Phenomena series, whose movie rights have been sold to an American film company.

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Yep, I couldn’t put it down.

Make a movie of this, please! (Preferably via the BBC so the acting will be stellar).

If you like crime novels, check out this title. Thanks for my e-copy!

For my ears: ELEANOR AND PARK by Rainbow Rowell

July 18, 2016July 15, 2016 / drbethnolan / Leave a comment

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So I’m totally late to the party on this one. I found it on sale on Audible and remembered that I had always meant to read it.

What a great book! I know it’s about teens, but I know that adults would love and appreciate it, too. I look forward to my daughter reading this book so we can discuss it together.

Here’s the overview from Amazon:

Audie Award Finalist, Teens, 2014

Bono met his wife in high school, Park says.

So did Jerry Lee Lewis, Eleanor answers.

I’m not kidding, he says.

You should be, she says, we’re 16.

What about Romeo and Juliet?

Shallow, confused, then dead.

I love you, Park says.

Wherefore art thou, Eleanor answers.

I’m not kidding, he says.

You should be.

Set over the course of one school year, in 1986, this is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under.

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This is a sensitively written, multi-layered, insightful story that is not to be missed. I listened to mine as I commuted, and it was ably done in two voices:Rebecca Loman and Sunhil Malhotra.

If you missed this when it came out in 2013, don’t miss it any longer! Look for it at a bookstore or library near you – or online!

For my Ears: THE LOST WIFE by Alyson Richman

June 24, 2016 / drbethnolan / Leave a comment

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I was currently reading an ARC of THE VELVET HOURS and enjoying it, so I got THE LOST WIFE, also by Alyson Richman, to listen to in the car.

Here’s an overview via GoodReads:

A rapturous novel of first love in a time of war-from the celebrated author of The Rhythm of Memory and The Last Van Gogh. In pre-war Prague, the dreams of two young lovers are shattered when they are separated by the Nazi invasion. Then, decades later, thousands of miles away in New York, there’s an inescapable glance of recognition between two strangers…

Providence is giving Lenka and Josef one more chance. From the glamorous ease of life in Prague before the Occupation, to the horrors of Nazi Europe, The Lost Wife explores the power of first love, the resilience of the human spirit- and the strength of memory.

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I loved this story, which moved back and forth through time — from the present, to pre-WWII, to post-WWII, to the present. Josef and Lenka are separated by circumstances in the war, and both think the other is dead. Yet throughout their lives they never forget each other.

A lovely and touching story, it is read in two voices (George Guidall for Josef and Suzanne Toren for Lenka), and made me wonder: “Could something like this really happen?” Apparently yes, as in the afterword Ms. Richman states that reading about a reunited couple who thought the other was dead in WWII gave her the idea for this story.

Recommended for those who like the WWII genre – in audio or paper!

I got mine via Audible with my monthly credit.

MURDER IN MISSOULA by Laurence Giliotti

June 20, 2016 / drbethnolan / Leave a comment

This mystery was a fast and lively read – perfect for summer when you want a thrill without too much violence.

Here’s the overview from Net Galley:

Description

Retired DEA agent Joe Nicoletti is a man in need of a change. Worn and weary from a career filled with criminals and violence, he dreams of living his life in peace and tranquility. He dreams of moving far from Washington, D.C., where every street reminds him of the sudden death of his wife, Kristen. He dreams of a town where art and literature dominate the conversations at the local coffee shop.

When an old friend offers him a faculty position at the University of Montana it seems his dreams are about to come true. He never dreamed he would have a second chance at love. He never dreamed he would become the prime suspect in a high-profile murder case. He never dreamed he would be forced to undertake the most important investigation of his life.

But dreams can turn into nightmares when there is Murder in Missoula.

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I liked the main character of Joe and wondered if this book is one in a series? Or maybe a start of a series? I couldn’t find that out anywhere, but if it’s not, it’d be a good start to as series! This was one of those books that I really didn’t put down, and I read it in a day. Poor Joe is still grieving his departed wife, and Marie-Justine reminds him of her so much. Unfortunately, Joe becomes a suspect in the murder and all the things that work for him begin to work against him. I won’t say how things wrap up, but like I said before, I’d love to see this as a start to a series! Or even a movie.

Thank you, Net Galley and Chateau Noir Publishing, for my e-ARC!

THE GIRLS by Emma Kline

June 14, 2016 / drbethnolan / 1 Comment

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Publishing today is one of the most talked about books of the summer: The Girls by Emma Cline. I found this on Net Galley several months ago and it was one of those books that I could NOT put down. Here’s the description:

Girls—their vulnerability, strength, and passion to belong—are at the heart of this stunning first novel for readers of Jeffrey Eugenides’ The Virgin Suicides and Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad.

Northern California, during the violent end of the 1960s. At the start of summer, a lonely and thoughtful teenager, Evie Boyd, sees a group of girls in the park, and is immediately caught by their freedom, their careless dress, their dangerous aura of abandon. Soon, Evie is in thrall to Suzanne, a mesmerizing older girl, and is drawn into the circle of a soon-to-be infamous cult and the man who is its charismatic leader. Hidden in the hills, their sprawling ranch is eerie and run down, but to Evie, it is exotic, thrilling, charged—a place where she feels desperate to be accepted. As she spends more time away from her mother and the rhythms of her daily life, and as her obsession with Suzanne intensifies, Evie does not realize she is coming closer and closer to unthinkable violence, and to that moment in a girl’s life when everything can go horribly wrong.

Emma Cline’s remarkable debut novel is gorgeously written and spellbinding, with razor-sharp precision and startling psychological insight. The Girls is a brilliant work of fiction—and an indelible portrait of girls, and of the women they become.

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First I have to say that Evie is an unforgettable character – so real and so well-portrayed in this novel, that it almost reads like a memoir. Evie is on the brink of adulthood and her sexuality, and her relationship – almost an obsession actually – with the group of girls surrounding a Mason-like character forms the backbone of this novel. It is disturbing, yet fascinating.

Ms. Cline’s writing is truly superb. This book almost dripped with the perspiration of the summer portrayed within its pages. You could feel the weightiness of the heat and the boredom portrayed within. Everything is so languid that you can hardly believe that it is hurtling towards the climax that is coming.

An amazing debut novel that you will not soon forget, THE GIRLS will continue to be talked about long after this summer is over!

Thank you, Net Galley and Random House, for my e-ARC.