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About ondbookshelf

Blogging my way through my extensive to be read pile of books.

7

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

MrPemumbraBookstoreThe Great Recession has shuffled Clay Jannon away from life as a San Francisco web-design drone and into the aisles of Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. But after a few days on the job, Clay discovers that the store is more curious than either its name or its gnomic owner might suggest. The bookstore’s secrets extend far beyond its walls.
~ Goodreads

My review...........2 stars

The premise of this book was very inviting (it's about a bookstore, count me in), and it started out well, but then it all kind of went downhill. I loved the story of the bookstore, it's workings, the quirky characters who would show up in the middle of the night, and the mystery behind what was really going on in this bookstore. Once we discover the mystery, and the characters take off on this bizarre adventure to solve it, they lost me. I wasn't overly fond of any of the characters (although with a little more work, Mr. Penumbra could have been fleshed out to be a favorite). It was ok, but after a good start, it fizzled out for me. Major points for the cover design, the little books glow in the dark!!

Sad to say, this just wasn't my kind of book. It holds promise for those who like mystery and adventure of the quirky sort.

1

Wonder

 

August Pullman wants to be an ordinary ten-year-old. He does ordinary things. He eats ice cream. He plays on his Xbox. He feels ordinary - inside.

But Auggie is far from ordinary. Ordinary kids don't make other ordinary kids run away screaming in Wonderplaygrounds. Ordinary kids don't get stared at wherever they go.

Born with a terrible facial abnormality, Auggie has been home-schooled by his parents his whole life, in an attempt to protect him from the cruelty of the outside world. Now, for the first time, he's being sent to a real school - and he's dreading it. All he wants is to be accepted - but can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, underneath it all?

Narrated by Auggie and the people around him whose lives he touches forever, Wonder is a funny, frank, astonishingly moving debut to read in one sitting, pass on to others, and remember long after the final page.

~ Goodreads

 

My review.............5 stars

 

This technically should be lumped in with my YA reviews, which I do in a multiple books in one post format. However, this book, which I think is considered middle grade, should be read by everyone! Auggie is a gem, perhaps one of the best young characters you will ever encounter. He will make you laugh, he'll make you cry, and he'll make you marvel at his ability to handle the cruelness of people in this world. The other characters are also very well fleshed out, including Auggie's sister, the boy who befriends him, and the school bully (I have the version of the book with the Julian chapter at the end, not all books have this). Since it's a middle grade book, it is a fast read, and the vocabulary is geared for that level, but trust me, you won't mind because you will be so engaged in the story. I really hope there will be a sequel to this, I want to grow old with Auggie!

 

The synopsis says it best, this is a book you will remember long after the final page. Go out and read it.

 

3

Shotgun Lovesongs

 

Hank, Leland, Kip and Ronny were all born and raised in the same Wisconsin town — Little Wing — and are now coming into their own (or not) as husbands and fathers. One of them never left, still farming the family's land that's been tilled for generations. Others did leave, went farther afield to make good, with varying degrees of success; as a rock star, commodities trader, rodeo stud. And seamlessly woven into their patchwork is Beth, whose presence among them—both then and now—fuels the kind of passion one comes to expect of love songs and rivalries.
ShotgunLovesongs
Now all four are home, in hopes of finding what could be real purchase in the world. The result is a shared memory only half-recreated, riddled with culture clashes between people who desperately wish to see themselves as the unified tribe they remember, but are confronted with how things have, in fact, changed.
There is conflict here between longtime buddies, between husbands and wives — told with writing that is, frankly, gut-wrenching, and even heartbreaking. But there is also hope, healing, and at times, even heroism. It is strong, American stuff, not at all afraid of showing that we can be good, too — not just fallible and compromising. Shotgun Lovesongs is a remarkable and uncompromising saga that explores the age-old question of whether or not you can ever truly come home again — and the kind of steely faith and love returning requires.

~ Goodreads

 

My review..........3.5 stars

 

Great story about a small town, and what happens when you come home again. Told in the first person by all the characters (4 men, 1 woman), with present time and past recollections. It sometimes does get a bit confusing to figure out who is speaking if you leave a chapter in the middle. While I was not a fan of all the characters, I did find that each of them had some endearing moments. The story was not anything that will keep you on the edge of your seat, but just kind of meanders along on the life journeys of the 5 childhood friends. While I did not grow up in a small town, I could appreciate the way the author wrote about it, and the fact that people who do come from small towns, have the same friends for their entire lives. A well written story, it did drag a bit here and there, but that is mostly due to the nature of the plot.

 

I liked this one, I thought it was a well done story about small town life, and the power of friendship.

 

9

The Headmaster's Wife

 

Inspired by a personal loss, Greene explores the way that tragedy and time assail one man’s memories of his life and loves.

Like his father before him, Arthur Winthrop is the Headmaster of Vermont’s elite Lancaster School. It is the place he feels has given him his life, but is also the site of his undoing as events spiral out of his TheHeadmastersWifecontrol. Found wandering naked in Central Park, he begins to tell his story to the police, but his memories collide into one another, and the true nature of things, a narrative of love, of marriage, of family and of a tragedy Arthur does not know how to address emerges.

Luminous and atmospheric, bringing to life the tight-knit enclave of a quintessential New England boarding school, the novel is part mystery, part love story and an exploration of the ties of place and family. Beautifully written and compulsively readable, The Headmaster’s Wife stands as a moving elegy to the power of love as an antidote to grief.

 
~ Goodreads

 

My review...........3 stars

 

I picked this book up for two reasons, it's about a boarding school (I never attended a boarding school, but I'm always drawn to stories about them), and it takes place in Vermont (where I grew up). It's an interesting book, but I can't really go into a lot of detail without giving away the plot twist. I wasn't really too sure about the first half of the book (another one that bordered on creepy), but I'm glad I stuck with it because it gets explained by the middle of the story. I thought the book was well paced, and well written. It had good character development, although I can't say that I really identified, or felt for any of the characters.

 

This one is a tough one to review without giving things away. It's a good read, but not one that will probably stick with me.

 

10

The Good Girl

Born to a prominent Chicago judge and his stifled socialite wife, Mia Dennett moves against the grain as a young inner-city art teacher. One night, Mia enters a bar to meet her on-again, off-again boyfriend. But when he doesn't show, she unwisely leaves with an enigmatic stranger. With his TheGoodGirlsmooth moves and modest wit, at first Colin Thatcher seems like a safe one-night stand. But following Colin home will turn out to be the worst mistake of Mia's life.

Colin's job was to abduct Mia as part of a wild extortion plot and deliver her to his employers. But the plan takes an unexpected turn when Colin suddenly decides to hide Mia in a secluded cabin in rural Minnesota, evading the police and his deadly superiors. Mia's mother, Eve, and detective Gabe Hoffman will stop at nothing to find them, but no one could have predicted the emotional entanglements that eventually cause this family's world to shatter.

~ Goodreads

My review.............5 stars

This is yet another of those books that is being compared to Gone Girl (gah....when will it ever end?). I liked this more than Gone Girl! The characters in Gone Girl were just flat out crazy, this one, not so much. I absolutely love a book where I can be convinced to change my mind about a character, once I learn their back story, and get to know them over a period of time. Such was the case with Colin Thatcher. For the most part this book was completely predictable, but I was ok with that, I just wanted to find out what was ultimately going to happen. I enjoyed the detective work that is intertwined within, and there is even some Mia before and after chapters to keep you guessing. I don't like to include spoilers in my reviews, so I'm just going to say OMG about the last few pages!!!

If you like a crime story, and a book where you start rooting for the bad guy, trust me.....this one is for you. And the ending.......OMG, did I mention the ending?!!

3

The Wednesday Group

 

Gail. Hannah. Bridget. Lizzy. Flavia. Each of them has a shameful secret, and each is about to find out that she is not alone… Gail, a prominent Boston judge, keeps receiving letters from her husband’s latest girlfriend, while her husband, a theology professor, claims he’s nine-months sober from sex with grad students. Hannah, a homemaker, catches her husband having sex with a male prostitute in TheWednesdayGroupa public restroom. Bridget, a psychiatric nurse at a state hospital, is sure she has a loving, doting spouse, until she learns that he is addicted to chat rooms and match-making websites. Lizzy, a high school teacher, is married to a porn addict, who is withdrawn and uninterested in sex with her. Flavia was working at the Boston Public library when someone brought her an article that stated her husband had been arrested for groping a teenage girl on the subway. He must face court, and Flavia must decide if she wants to stay with him. Finally, Kathryn, the young psychologist running the group, has as much at stake as all of the others. As the women share never-before-uttered secrets and bond over painful truths, they work on coming to terms with their husbands’ addictions and developing healthy boundaries for themselves. Meanwhile, their outside lives become more and more intertwined, until, finally, a series of events forces each woman to face her own denial, betrayal and uncertain future head-on.From author Sylvia True comes The Wednesday Group, a captivating, moving novel about friendship, marriage, and the bonds that connect us all.
~ Goodreads

 

My review..........4.5 stars

 

If you like stories with great character development, and how women learn to grow from a life shattering experience, then this is a must read for you! I loved this debut novel. Don't be fooled by the huge paragraph describing all the reasons the women are in therapy, these are taken care of very early on in the book (I was worried it was going to be very heavy on the mens sexual addictions, and it's not). It's a book about the women, and what they are feeling, and how they cope with the actions of their husbands. It's also about their interactions with each other during their weekly group therapy sessions. Even the women who I didn't feel an instant connection with, I grew to like and care about by the end of the book. I'm not sure that I agreed with some of their decisions regarding their marriages, but it was so well written that you could understand why they were made. I took away half a star because it does leave a couple things up in the air, and I always like to close a book and be satisfied that all my characters are wrapped up.

 

I was given a copy of this book to review through the publisher (St. Martin's Griffin). It's release date is set for March 24, 2015. I hope to hear a lot more from this author.......kudos to her on such a well done debut!

 

6

My Sunshine Away

My Sunshine Away unfolds in a Baton Rouge neighborhood best known for cookouts on sweltering MySunshineAwaysummer afternoons, cauldrons of spicy crawfish, and passionate football fandom. But in the summer of 1989, when fifteen-year-old Lindy Simpson—free spirit, track star, and belle of the block—experiences a horrible crime late one evening near her home, it becomes apparent that this idyllic stretch of Southern suburbia has a dark side, too.

In My Sunshine Away, M.O. Walsh brilliantly juxtaposes the enchantment of a charmed childhood with the gripping story of a violent crime, unraveling families, and consuming adolescent love. Acutely wise and deeply honest, it is an astonishing and page-turning debut about the meaning of family, the power of memory, and our ability to forgive.

~ Goodreads

My review..........3 stars

It pains me to say this because so many people are raving about this book, but I can only say that I liked it. It is one of those books that was good enough to keep me reading to the end, but one that will probably not resonate down the road. It wasn't because of the writing, which was very good, but because of the characters, particularly the story's narrator. The narrator is a teenage boy who is obsessed with this girl who gets raped in their quiet neighborhood. And when I say obsessed, I mean creepy (to me) obsessed. Having never been a teenage boy, or having a teenage boy, I'm sure I'm missing the point, but his behavior (from the spying in trees, changing his appearance, the excessive drinking and carousing), made me not care for him at all. I did enjoy trying to figure out who had committed the crime, as the story is told over a long period of time, where each potential candidate is introduced. This is a debut novel, and I look forward to reading another one by this author. While I didn't enjoy the characters, I did like his writing, and hope that I will relate better to the next novel.

I'm one of the few who hasn't really warmed to this one, so you may want to pick it up and form your own opinions on it.

2

I tend to read young adult fiction in between some of my other books. I find it to be a nice change of pace. The books tend to be a bit shorter, and I am more apt to venture into some genres that I wouldn't necessarily read. I'm going to give a short review of the books I've read so far in 2015. All book titles are linked to Goodreads, if you would like a more detailed synopsis of the books.

Dash&LillysBookOfDares

Dash & Lilly's Book of Dares

I read this at the end of 2014. The story takes place over the holidays, so it was the perfect time to read this one. It was very cute, I loved the fact that it revolves around a bookstore.  My review.........3 stars

 

 

 

TheSelection

The Selection

First in a trilogy. Points given for the gorgeous covers! I would describe this as The Hunger Games (minus the violence) meets The Bachelor. While I'm not a huge Bachelor fan, and this would (I believe) be considered a dystopian novel, I loved it!!  My review..........5 stars

 

 

TheElite

The Elite

This one, while good, was my least favorite of the trilogy. A lot of time was spent with the main character deciding which guy she wanted, and I got bored. It picked up at the end, which was a good omen for book three.  My review.........4 stars

 

 

 

AllTheBrightPlaces

All The Bright Places

Don't hate me for this, but I could not get into the characters in this book at all. So many glowing reviews for this one, but I was just meh. I didn't really care what happened to them. This one fell flat. My review.........2 stars

 

 

 

TheOne

The One

This one fell somewhere in between the first book and the second book. I really liked the way the author resolved the love triangle, let's just say she didn't take the easy way out and eliminate one of them. Mixed emotions at the end.  My review...........4.5 stars

 

 

AllTheseThingsIveDone

All These Things I've Done

Great book. Kind of a dystopian, family sage, mafioso mash-up, that was really well written. Kept me engaged the whole way through! This is the first in a series, I'm going to have to seek out the others. My review.........4 stars

 

 

 

IfYouComeSoftly

If You Come Softly

My first book by National Book Award winner Woodson. I thought the writing was wonderful, the story was just ok. The book was really short, and I think this may have hindered my fully attaching to the characters. My review..........3 stars

 

2

The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy (Harold Fry #2)

 

When Queenie Hennessy discovers that Harold Fry is walking the length of England to save her, and all she has to do is wait, she is shocked. Her note had explained she was dying. How can she wait?

TheLoveSongOfMissQueenieHennessyA new volunteer at the hospice suggests that Queenie should write again; only this time she must tell Harold everything. In confessing to secrets she has hidden for twenty years, she will find atonement for the past. As the volunteer points out, 'Even though you've done your travelling, you're starting a new journey too.'

Queenie thought her first letter would be the end of the story. She was wrong. It was the beginning.

~ Goodreads

 

My review.............4 stars

 

I was a huge fan of the companion novel to this book, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. While I would not say that you have to read Harold's story before Queenie's, I do think that it would be beneficial, and it would shed more light and understanding to this one. While I loved Queenie and her journey while she waits for Harold's concurrent journey, I loved the short snippets we got from the hospice home where Queenie is living. The day to day goings on were what I looked forward to, as much as Queenie's continuing story about her prior life with Harold. Rachel Joyce is a wonderful writer, these are not the only two books I have read from her, and I look forward to many more! The only thing I did not like about the book was the ending! Of course by reading Harold's novel, I knew part of it, but without giving out spoilers, I was intrigued, but at the same time kind of disappointed with Queenie's letters. It was an interesting twist, but left me wanting more closure.

 

I would absolutely recommend this book, but if you want the full experience, be sure to pick up a copy of Harold Fry's book to go with it. Thanks to the publisher who provided me an advance copy of this book (via NetGalley).

 

7

The Nightingale

In love we find out who we want to be.
In war we find out who we are.

FRANCE, 1939

In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn’t believe that the Nazis will invade France...but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When France is overrun, Vianne is forced to take an enemy into her house, and suddenly her every move is watched; her life and her child’s life is at constant risk. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates around her, she must make one terrible choice after another.

Vianne’s sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old girl, searching for purpose with all the TheNightingalereckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets the compelling and mysterious Gäetan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love as only the young can...completely. When he betrays her, Isabelle races headlong into danger and joins the Resistance, never looking back or giving a thought to the real--and deadly--consequences.

With courage, grace and powerful insight, bestselling author Kristin Hannah takes her talented pen to the epic panorama of WWII and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the women’s war. The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France--a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women. It is a novel for everyone, a novel for a lifetime.

~ Goodreads

My review.............4.5 stars

Wow, what an amazing read! I've read a few books by Kristin Hannah in the past, but this one was different than others. Ms. Hannah delves into historical fiction, and does she ever deliver! This is set during WWII in France, and focuses on the role the women played in the war effort. Unlike All The Light We Cannot See (which I did not enjoy), this one was what I'd been waiting for.  So many things to like about this book, starting with the characters. I thought all of the characters were well drawn out, even those that we did not follow throughout the course of the book. Even though I was more drawn to Vianne and her story, it was Isabelle's story that provided the tension and kept me turning pages. I loved that there was the hint of romance, but the author never went there, which (for me) was huge plus. In my opinion the story would have lost some lustre if romance had become a focus. I'm not going to lie and tell you this is a pleasing read, it is dark and gritty with all the images of war ravaging throughout. The end was such an incredible climax to the story. Your heart goes out to these characters, I was not without tissues on several occasions. The only reason this did not rate 5 stars was because I felt it was a little slow to take off (which is bound to happen when setting up historical novels), and thought it was maybe a tad too long in the middle. Very minor things.

If you have any interest in this time period, or even in women's roles in historical fiction, you must pick this up! Many kudos to Kristin Hannah for her research and engrossing story! It's one I won't soon forget. Thanks to my Indie bookstore, I had the pleasure of attending an author event with Ms. Hannah, where she spoke about her research and the impetus for writing this novel. It was a wonderful event!