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Only When It's Us by Chloe Liese My rating: 3 of 5 stars I read this knowing it was going to be a sweet, fun and quick story and it was exactly that. What i needed and when I needed it. I am looking forward to reading the others in the series, too. Love the strong women and the kind men and loved having a character that was hard of hearing. View all my reviews

Infinite Country by Patricia Engel My rating: 3 of 5 stars Even though this story was short, I took forever to read it. Pieces of it were beautiful and pieces of it felt melodramatic. I still appreciated reading the immigration story and the slightly different take with the siblings growing up in different countries as a result. View all my reviews

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.5 stars. I swallowed this book in a gulp. I knew the beginning was going to actually be slow as opposed to what the blurb says so I patiently made my way through it and then I was hooked and wanted to know what was going to happen. When it was time to sleep, I read in the dark on my phone so as to not wake my husband. I kept reading and reading because I wanted to know what happened next. It felt compulsive. And then the book turned for me. Suddenly I could guess all the twists, one after the other. At that point, I am not sure it mattered because I basically finished the whole thing in a blur. I really enjoyed the ride this book gave me and I could see the whole thing becoming a movie. with gratitude to Celadon Books and netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. View all my reviews

Brood by Jackie Polzin My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.5 stars. I think I'm going to have to reread this story. I loved the writing and I loved the small bits of insights the author shared along the way. This is a very short book and there's a lot packed in there. I loved the way it was quiet on the surface, and much less so underneath. I will have to sit with this one for a while. View all my reviews

Dusk, Night, Dawn: On Revival and Courage by Anne Lamott My rating: 4 of 5 stars “I’d like to know if God gives us points for showing up or simply marks us present.” I can listen to Anne Lamott read me her books every single day. It doesn't even matter what she's writing about because there's so much wisdom is her very ordinary days because she is the one who makes things extraordinary. Her wisdom, her insight, her way of looking at life always makes me feel less alone in the world. Thankful for authors like her and thankful that she keeps writing. View all my reviews

The Power Couple by Alex Berenson My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.5 stars. This book was a fast read and there's a lot going on. It's the classic things-aren't-what-they-seem mystery and while it was satisfying, because of the way the author wrote it, there was a lot of telling and considerably less showing. So it felt like i was outside of the story, listening to someone tell me the plot. I still enjoyed my time with it. View all my reviews

Meet Me in Another Life by Catriona Silvey My rating: 4 of 5 stars 'Santi shakes his head. “Thora, no. If love was something we had to deserve, we would all be loveless. No, love is what the world owes us.” He gives her an apologetic smile. “Sometimes, it doesn’t pay up, that’s all.”' I really loved the time I spent with this story. I've read a lot of books and have seen many characters and a lot of plot lines. I don't think I've ever read anything like this. It's part romance and part science fiction and I had no idea where it was going but while I was trying to figure that out, I fell in love with the characters along the way. “There’s no wrong choice,” Santi says. “There’s just what happens.” And then once I knew what was going on, and my mind was blown, I loved it even more. I just wanted to keep going. And there were crazy twists upon twists but none of them mattered to me because these two characters already had my heart...

The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan My rating: 3 of 5 stars I enjoyed this story of four women who find themselves in a competition to host a cooking radio show. Four very different women for very different reasons whose lives get intertwined and they all emerge stronger and better as a result. View all my reviews

The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.5 stars. You really can't go wrong with a Christina Lauren book, if you ask me. The characters are always fun and the plot keeps you engaged, takes you through a journey and always lands in a happy place. This story is no exception. I had a soft spot in my heart for River and really enjoyed reading about Jess and Fizzy and their friendship. When I grab one of their books, I know it will keep me engaged and entertained and leave me content by the end and that's exactly what happened. with gratitude to netgalley and Gallery Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. View all my reviews

It's Been a Pleasure, Noni Blake by Claire Christian My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.5 stars. This is the lovely story of Noni Blake whose life is not what she wished it was when she decides to go on a "Pleasure Quest." There's so much honesty and so much wonderfulness in this book. I could relate to certain parts so so much and other parts not at all so, for me, this book was a bit all over the place. But I still deeply loved the message at the core of the book. View all my reviews

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro My rating: 5 of 5 stars Ishiguro is one of my favorite writers. I haven't read a book by him that I didn't love and he has the unique and unparalleled ability to jump between genres and continue to be extraordinary. This story is similar to Never Let Me Go, in that it involves AI, so it's scifi but it's also a mystery, a love story, and has elements of mythology. And of course friendship. As with all of his stories, it's exquisitely told and has so much depth and complexity and yet so simple and beautiful at the same time. I read this whole novel in one sitting. I grew to love every single character and I would have easily read for hours and hours more. I cannot recommend Ishiguro enough. View all my reviews

Every Last Fear by Alex Finlay My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.5 stars This is a good, twisty mystery. It's more character driven than many other mystery novels and yet there's also a lot of plot and it moves fast, which is a rare combination. I liked the unexpected twists, I liked the characters and I liked how flawed and wonderful each character was in her or his own way. Solid read. View all my reviews

Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason My rating: 5 of 5 stars This is one of the best books I've read in 2021 so far. It is absolutely amazing with its characters and their beautiful, touching, real lives. This is not a plot-driven story. It's about two people (and the people around them) and how they navigate their relationship and breakup and everything in between. I loved every single minute I spent with this book and cried big tears as I read it. View all my reviews

We Run the Tides by Vendela Vida My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.5 stars I really enjoyed my time with this novel a lot more than I thought I was going to. This takes place in San Francisco, and a lot of the places felt familiar. The characters were well developed and the story seemed to be true to how teenagers would speak and behave. It also made me grateful not to have daughters :) View all my reviews

No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood My rating: 3 of 5 stars I liked this book, or I should say two books. The first part is a commentary of the lives we live online and I am not that much into black humor or sarcasm but I still enjoyed parts of it. The second part, which really should have been a second book was about the terrible loss of a family and the way it affected everyone. View all my reviews

The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey My rating: 4 of 5 stars 3.5 stars but rounded up only because it was so different. I liked that this book was unpredictable in how not-twisty it was. I enjoyed reading it and kept waiting for the twist and when it came it wasn't that twisty and I was pleasantly surprised. Enjoyed the mix of scifi and mystery of this one, too. View all my reviews