Month: July 2020

Blog Tour Review: Someone’s Listening

Title: Someone’s Listening
Author: Seraphina Nova Glass
Genre: Fiction, Thriller
Publisher: Graydon House
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: July 28, 2020
Rating: ★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

She wrote the book on escaping a predator… Now one is coming for her.

Faith Finley has it all: she’s a talented psychologist with a flourishing career, a bestselling author and the host of a popular local radio program, Someone’s Listening, with Dr. Faith Finley. She’s married to the perfect man, Liam Finley, a respected food critic.

Until the night everything goes horribly wrong, and Faith’s life is shattered forever.

Liam is missing—gone without a trace—and the police are suspicious of everything Faith says. They either think she has something to hide, or that she’s lost her mind.

And then the notes begin to arrive. Notes that are ripped from Faith’s own book, the one that helps victims leave their abusers. Notes like “Lock your windows. Consider investing in a steel door.”

As the threats escalate, the mystery behind Liam’s disappearance intensifies. And Faith’s very life will depend on finding answers.

Review:

Faith Finley is a psychologist with a radio talk show called “Someone’s Listening.” After the book launch for her latest self-help book, she gets into a car accident with her husband, Liam. However, Liam wasn’t found at the scene of the accident with her. Liam has disappeared without a trace. Faith is also dealing with the repercussions of a sexual assault allegation from a patient. When Faith starts getting threats that are ripped out of the pages of her own book, it becomes more urgent for her to figure out what happened to Liam.

This story started out with some thriller tropes. Faith had a different version of reality than the people around her. She believed that her husband was in the car with her when she had the accident, but he wasn’t found there. Faith also came from an abusive household and was a heavy drinker, both tropes in the thriller genre. Once the main mystery of finding Liam was underway and Faith started to get threats, the story left the tropes behind and became its own story.

The layout of this story was a little confusing at the beginning. The chapters alternated between “then,” which was immediately after the car accident, and “now,” which was seven months after the accident. These chapters were confusing because they were so similar. Both time periods would flashback to other events, so I had a hard time keeping the events in the correct order. The second half of the book was much more linear because it remained in the present, rather than switching back to the past.

I was quite surprised at the ending. I had a couple of suspects in mind, who weren’t actually the main suspects in the story. The person who was threatening Faith wasn’t who I suspected at all. There were a couple of red herrings, which weren’t cleared up at the end and just made me suspect the wrong people, but most of the clues lined up with the guilty person.

This was a great thriller!

Thank you HarperCollins for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

The Last Wife by Karen Hamilton

Stranger in the Lake by Kimberly Belle

About the author:

Seraphina Nova Glass is a professor and Playwright-in-Residence at the University of Texas-Arlington, where she teaches Film Studies and Playwriting. She holds an MFA in playwriting from Smith College, and has optioned multiple screenplays to Hallmark and Lifetime. Someone’s Listening is her first novel.

Have you read Someone’s Listening? What did you think of it?

The Friday 56 – Good Girls Lie

This is a weekly meme hosted by Freda’s Voice.

The Rules are:

  • Grab a book, any book.
  • Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader.
  • Find any sentence, (or few, just don’t spoil it) that grabs you.
  • Post it. And share your link.
  • It’s that simple.

I chose Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison.

Here is my line from page 56 in my copy:

“A small, pale hand goes to the side of the dean’s perfectly coiffed hair, patting and smoothing it into place. I watch the gesture with interest. She’s nervous. Why?”

Did you make a post for the Friday 56?

Review: Terry Fox and Me

Title: Terry Fox and Me
Author: Mary Beth Leatherdale and Milan Pavlović
Genre: Children’s, Nonfiction, Picture Book
Publisher: Tundra Books
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: August 4, 2020
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Terry Fox Marathon of Hope, this picture book biography tells the story of a friendship defined by strength and love.

Before Terry Fox become a national hero and icon, he was just a regular kid. But even then, his characteristic strength, determination and loyalty were apparent and were the foundation for his friendship with Doug. The two first met at basketball tryouts in grammar school. Terry was the smallest – and worst – basketball player on the court. But that didn’t stop him. With Doug’s help, Terry practiced and practiced until he earned a spot on the team. As they grew up, the best friends supported each other, challenged each other, helped each other become better athletes and better people. Doug was by Terry’s side every step of the way: when Terry received a diagnosis of cancer in his leg, when he was learning to walk – then run – with a prosthetic leg and while he was training for the race of his life, his Marathon of Hope.

Written from Doug’s perspective, this story shows that Terry Fox’s legacy goes beyond the physical and individual accomplishments of a disabled athlete and honors the true value of friendship.

Review:

When the new boy, Terry, wants to befriend Doug after he didn’t do well at basketball tryouts, Doug is reluctant to hang out with him. Doug quickly learns that Terry is willing to work hard to get better at the sport. Terry becomes a great basketball player and athlete, though he won’t run cross-country with Doug. Everything changes when Terry is diagnosed with cancer and has 80% of his leg amputated. Suddenly Terry is motivated to start running, creating the Marathon of Hope to raise money for cancer research. His best friend Doug stays by his side the whole time.

Terry Fox is a Canadian icon and hero. Every year, Canadians across the country participate in the Terry Fox Run in September. The run that Terry started in 1980 is honored every year with donations to cancer research. Unfortunately, Terry had to stop his run halfway through his cross country marathon. He started in St. John’s, Newfoundland and ended in Thunder Bay, Ontario. He passed away the following year though his memory lives on today.

I wasn’t familiar with Doug’s story before reading this book. He was a wonderful friend to Terry, who encouraged him throughout his recovery and training.

This is a great story for children because it teaches about the power of friendship. It could also teach young children who Terry Fox was and why he is such an important historical figure that we continue to honour today.

I loved this Canadian story!

Thank you Penguin Random House Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

Terry Fox: A Story of Hope by Maxine Trottier

Have you read Terry Fox and Me? What did you think of it?

TBR Thursday – July 30

TBR Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly Faye Reads, where you post a title from your shelf or e-reader and find out what others think about it.

My pick this week is The Fascinators by Andrew Eliopulos.

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Goodreads Synopsis:

A magic-infused YA novel about friendship, first love, and feeling out of place that will bewitch fans of Rainbow Rowell and Maggie Stiefvater.

Living in a small town where magic is frowned upon, Sam needs his friends James and Delia—and their time together in their school’s magic club—to see him through to graduation. 

But as soon as senior year starts, little cracks in their group begin to show. Sam may or may not be in love with James. Delia is growing more frustrated with their amateur magic club. And James reveals that he got mixed up with some sketchy magickers over the summer, putting a target on all their backs.

With so many fault lines threatening to derail his hopes for the year, Sam is forced to face the fact that the very love of magic that brought his group together is now tearing them apart—and there are some problems that no amount of magic can fix.

Have you read this book? What did you think of it?

Review: Dear Sweet Pea

Title: Dear Sweet Pea
Author: Julie Murphy
Genre: Middle Grade, Contemporary
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Source: Library
Format: Ebook
Release Date: October 1, 2019
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

The first middle grade novel from Julie Murphy, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dumplin’ (now a popular Netflix film), is a funny, heartwarming story perfect for fans of Rebecca Stead, Ali Benjamin, and Holly Goldberg Sloan.

Patricia “Sweet Pea” DiMarco wasn’t sure what to expect when her parents announced they were getting a divorce. She never could have imagined that they would have the “brilliant” idea of living in nearly identical houses on the same street. In the one house between them lives their eccentric neighbor Miss Flora Mae, the famed local advice columnist behind “Miss Flora Mae I?”

Dividing her time between two homes is not easy. And it doesn’t help that at school, Sweet Pea is now sitting right next to her ex–best friend, Kiera, a daily reminder of the friendship that once was. Things might be unbearable if Sweet Pea didn’t have Oscar—her new best friend—and her fifteen-pound cat, Cheese.

Then one day Flora leaves for a trip and asks Sweet Pea to forward her the letters for the column. And Sweet Pea happens to recognize the handwriting on one of the envelopes.

What she decides to do with that letter sets off a chain of events that will forever change the lives of Sweet Pea DiMarco, her family, and many of the readers of “Miss Flora Mae I?”

Review:

Patricia “Sweet Pea” DiMarco’s parents are getting divorced, but they will still be living on the same street. One day, Sweet Pea sees her neighbour, the advice columnist Miss Flora Mae, who tells Sweet Pea that she is going away for a while. She asks Sweet Pea to collect the letters she receives for her column and to send them to her, as well as to submit the ones that she answers to the newspaper. When Sweet Pea recognizes the handwriting on one of the letters, she decides to answer it herself. The decision to answer the letter creates a lot of problems for Sweet Pea.

I loved Sweet Pea. She was funny and quirky. She spoke her mind, which sometimes got her into trouble. She wore the same outfit everyday and had a cat named Cheese. I liked that Sweet Pea acknowledged her bigger size. I could relate to that, especially when she has trouble finding a nice dress to wear because the pretty ones weren’t in her size. Sweet Pea was an adorable and relatable character.

There was a variety of problems that came up in this story. There was bullying, losing friends, and moving to a new school. Body changes and puberty were mentioned a few times. Two different sets of parents had marriage problems. These things didn’t all happen to Sweet Pea, but they were all addressed in the story. It’s nice to see these realistic challenges in a middle grade novel, because readers may also come across these issues in their lives.

This is such a fun story! I loved it!

What to read next:

Clean Getaway by Nic Stone

From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks

Have you read Dear Sweet Pea? What did you think of it?

‘Waiting on’ Wednesday – July 29

This is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine. In this post we highlight a book that’s highly anticipated.

The book that I’m waiting on this Wednesday is Don’t Look for Me by Wendy Walker. The expected publication date is September 15, 2020.

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Goodreads Synopsis:

The greatest risk isn’t running away.
It’s running out of time.

The car abandoned miles from home.

The note found at a nearby hotel.

The shattered family that couldn’t be put back together.

They called it a “walk away.”

It happens all the time.

Women disappear, desperate to leave their lives behind and start over.

But is that what really happened to Molly Clarke?

What books are you waiting on this week?

Review: The Stepping Off Place

Title: The Stepping Off Place
Author: Cameron Kelly Rosenblum
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Publisher: HarperCollins
Source: Publisher via Edelweiss
Format: Ebook
Release Date: July 28, 2020
Rating: ★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Every girl loves her best friend, but Hattie is more like Reid’s social oxygen. Hattie’s the badass, Reid’s the wingman; that’s how it’s meant to be. But when Hattie drowns off the coast of Maine while summering with her family two weeks before the start of senior year, Reid must confront the devastating loss and her own identity crisis, all while hearing and seeing Hattie everywhere. 

The police declare that Hattie died by suicide, but it just doesn’t make sense. Hattie was one of the most enigmatic and joyful people Reid has ever known. Something just doesn’t feel right, and in her grief, Reid immediately begins to question the circumstances surrounding Hattie’s death—and the secrets kept by the person she thought she knew better than herself. This is the summer that Reid is forced to reexamine everything she knows about alphas and betas, truth and lies, the complexities of mental health, and what it means to step into yourself.

Review:

Hattie is Reid’s energetic and fun best friend. One day, when Reid is looking forward to Hattie returning from her summer at the cottage, she learns that Hattie has died. Reid is shocked to hear that Hattie’s death has been ruled a suicide. Reid can’t understand how someone as happy as Hattie could have killed herself. Reid embarks on an investigation of her own to find the truth behind Hattie’s death.

This was an emotionally heavy book. Some trigger warnings are suicide and sexual assault. Mental health and grief also played an important part of this story. Even though someone may not appear to have mental health problems, doesn’t mean they aren’t suffering. Mental health illnesses can be an invisible disease, which isn’t apparent from a person’s outward appearance though they may be suffering internally.

I felt so sympathetic towards Reid throughout the story. She felt like she had a hard life because she had to look after her autistic brother. Her family had to organize their life around her brother’s schedule. Though everyone could see Reid’s brother’s autism, Hattie’s mental health problems weren’t as apparent at first glance. Reid couldn’t understand how her friend, who appeared happy, could struggle so much with her mental health that she would take her own life. Reid’s theories behind Hattie’s death were so convincing, I was tempted to believe her. This story shows how Reid copes with her grief by being in denial about the cause of Hattie’s death.

This was an emotional and powerful story.

Thank you HarperCollins for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Have you read The Stepping Off Place? What did you think of it?

Top Ten Tuesday – Recent Books I Loved With Less Than 2,000 Ratings on Goodreads

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and it is now hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s theme is a Freebie, so I chose an old topic: Books I Loved With Less Than 2,000 Ratings on Goodreads. I did this topic last year and I found it so fascinating to see how many books that I loved didn’t have a lot of ratings. Here’s my list:

1. A Love Hate Thing by Whitney D. Grandison

2. Jo and Laurie by Margaret Stohl and Melissa de la Cruz

3. The Summer Villa by Melissa Hill

4. Parachutes by Kelly Yang

5. The Paper Girl of Paris by Jordyn Taylor

6. Four Days of You and Me by Miranda Kenneally

7. Every Reason We Shouldn’t by Sara Fujimura

8. Echoes Between Us by Katie McGarry

9. Rules for Being a Girl by Candace Bushnell and Katie Cotugno

10. Don’t Read the Comments by Eric Smith

(All photos taken from Goodreads)

What’s your list of books on your Top Ten Tuesday?

Happy Pub Day – July 28

Happy Pub Day to all of these new books!

Today Tonight Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon

The Kids Are Gonna Ask by Gretchen Anthony

The Stepping Off Place by Cameron Kelly Rosenblum

Someone’s Listening by Seraphina Nova Glass

The Mall by Megan McCafferty

A Wicked Magic by Sasha Laurens

Ever Cursed by Corey Ann Haydu

His & Hers by Alice Feeney

What books are you most excited for this week?

Blog Tour Review: The Kids Are Gonna Ask

Title: The Kids Are Gonna Ask
Author: Gretchen Anthony
Genre: Fiction, Contemporary
Publisher: Park Row
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: July 28, 2020
Rating: ★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

A whip-smart, entertaining novel about twin siblings who become a national phenomenon after launching a podcast to find the biological father they never knew.

The death of Thomas and Savannah McClair’s mother turns their world upside down. Raised to be fiercely curious by their grandmother Maggie, the twins become determined to learn the identity of their biological father. And when their mission goes viral, an eccentric producer offers them a dream platform: a fully sponsored podcast called The Kids Are Gonna Ask. To discover the truth, Thomas and Savannah begin interviewing people from their mother’s past and are shocked when the podcast ignites in popularity. As the attention mounts, they get caught in a national debate they never asked for—but nothing compares to the mayhem that ensues when they find him.

Cleverly constructed, emotionally perceptive and sharply funny, The Kids Are Gonna Ask is a rollicking coming-of-age story and a moving exploration of all the ways we can go from lost to found.

Review:

Thomas and Savannah have a podcast where they interview the eclectic people their grandmother brings home for dinner. One evening, they get the idea to create a new podcast to document the search for their biological father. Their mother died when they were thirteen years old, and they have lived with their grandmother since then. They work with a media company to develop their podcast to find their father, which is called The Kids Are Gonna Ask. However, it brings them a lot of attention that they weren’t expecting and they don’t know how to cope with it.

Though this story has two seventeen-year-old main characters, it’s an adult novel rather than a young adult novel. Some of the chapters were writing from the perspective of adults, which I don’t think young adult readers would be interested in. Since this story has both teenage and elderly characters, it could appeal to a wide variety of age groups.

I liked the mystery of this story that slowly unfolded as Thomas and Savannah learned more about their mom and their biological dad. The identity of their bio dad was revealed fairly early on in the story, which cut out the suspense of wondering who he could be. The pacing slowed down after they found each other, though there were still some surprising events to come.

This story shows the dangers of doing a public search for someone. Thomas and Savannah had to make some serious decisions about how much privacy they were willing to give up in the search for their father. They were also criticized for possibly revealing the identity of their father and affecting him and his family. It’s important to recognize that others can be affected when embarking on a public search for someone through a podcast.

I really enjoyed this story.

Thank you HarperCollins for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

Are You Sleeping by Kathleen Barber

Sadie by Courtney Summers

About the author:

GRETCHEN ANTHONY is the author of Evergreen Tidings from the Baumgartners, which was a Midwestern Connections Pick and a best books pick by Amazon, BookBub, PopSugar, and the New York Post. Her work has been featured in The Washington Post, Medium, and The Write Life, among others. She lives in Minneapolis with her family.

Have you read The Kids Are Gonna Ask? What did you think of it?