BOOKS AND CHINOOKS

I love this author’s books and this was no exception. This is a fast paced thriller that I raced through in one evening. Jessica grew up in a cult but was able to escape when she was a teenager. Now Jessica is a journalist and is embroiled in a plagiarism scandal involving an article she wrote. To get away from the controversy she decides to take a vacation and surprisingly meets up with a woman in the airport with the same name and birthdate as her. What are the odds? When Jessica returns home she finds out the new Jessica has stolen all her money from her bank accounts. Now the story really picks up as Jessica is determined to get her money back. The more she digs into who Jessica Two is t

Overall I really liked this book. I did find that some of the characters did grate on my nerves at times though. This book covers quite a few issues so it’s not just a light and fluffy romcom. I liked the writing and the storyline but I think the book was a bit lengthy and could have been tightened up a bit. Overall I enjoyed the book and will definitely look for more books by this author.

Short stories are something I generally don’t read but this book intrigued me. The author weaves together interlocking stories that definitely were compelling. I particularly liked that she wrote about characters from another culture with different traditions. The book highlighted the struggles women have in society and with themselves to be seen and heard. There were also a couple of stories from the male perspective that helped round out the book. The writing was lovely and really captured what the characters felt. I would love to read more about some of the characters and how their lives are going forward.

I loved this poignant character driven story. The writing is beautiful and the characters are well developed. We follow the lives of Maeve and Murtagh as they meet at University, marry, and have children. Maeve is American and is doing a semester at an Irish University when she falls in love with Murtagh and remains in Ireland rather than returning home. We are aware that there are some problems with Maeves’s mental health early on but she feels it is under control. Once they relocate to a small Irish island Maeve’s emotions and thoughts start to take over. She realizes that her dreams of being an actress will not happen and this is further reinforced when they have four children in a short

I read this book as a buddy read with some other bookstagrammers. The book just really didn’t work for me. It might have been the timing. I read this on a cold rainy day and a lot of the book just seemed cold and dreary to me. I struggled with the characters because I just couldn’t find any redeeming qualities in any of them. The one character, the police officer, stood out initially but then he started doing questionable things like drinking on the job and getting involved with people for the wrong reasons. I also hoped for a bit more closure about the boys’ lives as adults and how they were coping etc. Although this book was a miss for me I would be interested in reading more from this aut

Thank you to St Martins Press for my free review copy of this book. I enjoyed this author’s last book so was eager to read this one. This book was told by alternating points of view and also through a podcast. The main character, Rachel, has a successful crime podcast and is currently covering a rape trial. Please note that there are vivid descriptions of rape if this a trigger for you. The writer doesn’t use this to sensationalize the book and I think she has taken care in how she has portrayed it. Rachel is covering the trial of a 16 year old rape victim who has accused the local star athlete of raping her. In addition to this, another incident from the same town has been brought to her at