Tag Archives: Carissa S.

Review: House of Shadows

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House of Shadows
by Nicola Cornick
4 stars

This is my first read by Nicola Cornick. The summary greatly interested me and I love historical fiction, especially dealing with any member of royalty. I love finding new authors and I was pleasantly surprised to see that Cornick has several other books and series.

House of Shadows is told from three different time periods: the 1600’s with the Queen of Bohemia, Elizabeth Stuart; Lavinia Flyte, a courtesan in the 1800’s, and Holly Ansel from the present day whose brother has disappeared after researching his family history. Despite the hundreds of years between the characters, they are all connected. I think Cornick did a great job researching for this book. The setting is beautifully written, and I could imagine it in my mind.

The mystery and superstition was very well done, as well as the alternating different time periods. I love that she used real characters mixed in with fictional ones. I love to research whether parts of the story were true after I finish the book. I enjoyed how everything started tying together in the last quarter of the book. I loved that this inspired me to research parts of history that I otherwise wouldn’t have thought of on my own.

 

Read-alikes

The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalian

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

The Taxidermist’s Daughter by Kate Mosse

Review: Artemis

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Artemis
by Andy Weir
4 stars

Another great read from Andy Weir! I was very excited to get an advance reader copy of this, but I didn’t love it as much as The Martian. This book was different from The Martian in setting, characters, and theme (the majority of the novel is centered around crime). Lots of science again, but it didn’t take away from the novel for the most part. The book is mainly about Jazz, a 26 year old woman who lives on the moon. She has a side business of smuggling, is super smart, and has a foul mouth. She is offered a considerable amount of money for an offer she can’t refuse and this is where things get crazy! The humor was great and I had a lot of laughs. The setting was well developed. It made living on the moon seem possible and fascinating. I didn’t find Jazz as likable as Watney, but again different books and setting. The smuggling and heist were very interesting and I loved the ending.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC to read and review!

Read-alikes

2001, a Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke

Farside by Ben Bova

My Real Challenge by Jo Walton

Review: The Secrets She Keeps

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The Secrets She Keeps
by Michael Robotham
4 stars

This is my first read by Robotham, and it didn’t disappoint.  Creepy, psychological suspense, but not overly scary.  I stayed up much later than I wanted to reading this book.  This book makes me think of how many of us look at others on social media thinking, “Their life is so perfect.  They have it all.”  But we really don’t know.  As someone popular once said, we are only seeing their “highlight reel.”

The story switches between Meghan and Agatha’s point of view.  Both are pregnant and due around the same time.  Both have very different lives.  Meghan is happily married with two beautiful children and writes a mommy blog.  Agatha works in a supermarket and the baby’s daddy is away at sea not returning her calls.  Meghan and Agatha do not know each other, but Agatha knows a LOT about Meghan’s life.   She knows her schedule, her children’s names, just a lot of detailed information.  She makes it her life’s mission to meet Meghan and become friends with her.   Only Meghan’s life is not all it seems to be; she has secrets.  Agatha also has secrets of her own.

When I read the first few chapters I thought it would be a certain type of book, then as I got further into the book there was a twist.  This book was full of mind games and kept me guessing.  The characters were very well written with a lot of depth.  Some parts were sad and it shed a lot of light on mental illness.   I’m looking forward to reading more by Robotham.

Read-alikes

Copycat by Kimberla Lawson Roby

I See You by Clare Mackintosh

Watching Edie by Camilla Way

Review: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

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The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
by Taylor Jenkins Reid
5 stars

Taylor Jenkins Reid is one of my favorite authors that I just discovered last year.  She has written five books, with the most recent being this one.  Reid writes unique fiction that sucks you right in and has you feeling all kinds of emotions. There’s some romance, some mystery, and always some drama.  This book centers around Evelyn Hugo, a bombshell movie actress, and more importantly, her marriage to seven different men.  Monique Grant, a writer for a magazine, is hired by Evelyn to write an article, but soon discovers that Evelyn wants her, and only her, to tell her life story.  This book had so many surprises and twists and always kept me guessing.  The big question is: who was really Evelyn’s “one true love?”

Reid did an excellent job with capturing the allure of show business as well as describing the different time periods that the book takes us through.  Evelyn is written as such a complex and interesting character, she feels so real.  My feelings about her fluctuated throughout the book.  She was not exactly a good person, but yet I rooted for her and understood her reasoning for her actions.  I highly recommend this book, as well as Reid’s other books.

Read-alikes

A Touch of Stardust by Kate Alcott

Lucky Stars by Jane Heller

Until It Fades by K.A. Tucker

Review: Small Great Things

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Small Great Things
by Jodi Picoult
4 stars

Picoult’s books are on my to-read shelves, but I just never get around to reading them.  I’m not sure why.  The last one I read was several years ago, My Sister’s Keeper.  I added this to my growing pile simply because of all the controversy it created, and I was not disappointed.  This was a story that tackles race and prejudice.  Ruth Jefferson is a labor and delivery nurse with more than twenty years of experience.  She is great at her job and her coworkers would agree.  This all changes when Ruth, an African American, is told to keep away from the newborn son of white supremacists.  Later, Ruth is alone with the baby in the nursery when it goes into cardiac arrest.  What should Ruth do?  Ruth hesitates before helping which leads to criminal charges against Ruth.  Picoult always does an excellent job showing the readers the viewpoints of several of the main characters.  This book was no exception.  The story is told through the eyes of Ruth, Kennedy McQuarrie (the public defender assigned to Ruth), and Turk Bauer (the white supremacist father).  So it is not just a story being told about racism through a black woman’s eyes, but through the eyes of Kennedy McQuarrie who acknowledges and faces how privileged she is simply by being born white.  Kennedy is able to use this revelation to truly understand and help Ruth.  We are also given some insight into the mind of Turk Bauer, which is difficult to read at times.  I instantly loathed him when I read the first sentence from his point of view.   Being white, this story really made me think hard about racism and white privilege.  This was a hard book to read and took me a lot longer because I would have to put it down.  However, I think it is a message many of us need to hear.  I would highly recommend this book.

Read-alikes

Run by Ann Patchett

A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton

We Are All Welcome Here by Elizabeth Berg