A detailed look at September’s reading habits: 18 books read, 2 DNF, 3 books knocked off my lengthy Up Next shelf, a compilation of the 12 books I discovered–and want to read–in September… 4 of which I’ve already purchased and 6 book reviews with the following themes: Meant to be, secrets kept from family, mother-daughter relationships and the personal impacts of U.S. politics.
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Series: Standalone
Release Date: October 12, 2020
A man that notices it all. Sees her.
The only thing that gets Charlotte Prescott through the day is the haunting eyes and magnetic voice uplifting her in the subway station every evening.
All Montgomery Logan wants to do is ease the pain of the woman he feels a strange, protective pull to. He serenades her from afar, knowing their worlds will never intersect.
Until the day they do.
And everything changes.
Will their differences make them stronger or tear them apart?
A standalone contemporary romance coming October 12, 2020 from NYT/USA Today Bestselling Author Melanie Moreland.
Format: eARC
Rating: 4.75/5 stars
Note: I received Heart Strings through Melanie Moreland’s team in exchange for an honest review.
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A detailed look at last week’s reading habits: four new books read, starting a new book from my Up Next shelf, three new books I want to read centring diverse characters and a new eARCs I’m reviewing this week!
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Series: Standalone
Release Date: July 7, 2020
An exploration in grief, suicide, spiritualism, and Inuit culture, Winter of the Wolf follows Bean, an empathic and spiritually evolved fifteen-year-old, who is determined to unravel the mystery of her brother Sam’s death. Though all evidence points to a suicide, her heart and intuition compel her to dig deeper. With help from her friend Julie, they retrace Sam’s steps, delve into his Inuit beliefs, and reconnect with their spiritual beliefs to uncover clues beyond material understanding.
Both tragic and heartwarming, this twisting novel draws you into Bean’s world as she struggles with grief, navigates high school dramas, and learns to open her heart in order to see the true nature of the people around her. Winter of the Wolf is about seeking the truth—no matter how painful—in order to see the full picture.
In this novel, environmentalist and award-winning author, Martha Handler, brings together two important pieces of her life—the death of her best friend’s son and her work as president of the Wolf Conservation Center—to tell an empathetic and powerful story with undeniable messages.
Format: eARC
Rating: 2.5/5 stars
Trigger Warning: This review discusses topics that can be triggering for some. Please read the ‘Possible Triggers’ tab above for details.
Note: I received Winter of the Wolf through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to FSB Association for the opportunity.
(more…)A detailed look at last week’s reading habits: seven new books read, still reading two books from my lengthy Up Next shelf, three new books I want to read from all different genres but include epic slow-burn romances and two new eARCs I’m reviewing!
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Series: Standalone
Release Date: June 9, 2020
Meeting each month over margaritas, the trio share laughter, advice, and support. As they help each other overcome challenges and celebrate successes, Elise, Carmen, and DeeDee gain not only a better understanding of the women their mothers were, but of themselves. They also come to realize they have what their mothers needed most but did not have during difficult times—other women they could trust.
Filled with poignant life lessons, The Secret Women pays tribute to the power of friendship and family and the bonds that tie us together. Beautiful, full of spirit and heart, it is a thoughtful and ultimately uplifting story of unconditional love.
Format: Paperback
Rating: 5/5 stars
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Series: Standalone
Release Date: September 15, 2020
After more than forty years in the United States, Lan Cao still feels tentative about her place in her adoptive country, one which she came to as a thirteen-year old refugee. And after sixteen years of being a mother, she still ventures through motherhood as if it is a foreign landscape. In this lyrical memoir, Lan explores these two defining experiences of her life with the help of her fierce, independently-minded daughter, Harlan Margaret Van Cao.
In chapters that both reflect and refract her mother’s narrative, Harlan describes the rites of passage of childhood and adolescence, as they are filtered through the aftereffects of her family’s history of war, tragedy, and migration. Lan responds in turn, trying to understand her American daughter through the lens of her own battles with culture clash and bullying. In this unique format of alternating storytelling, their complicated mother-daughter relationship begins to crystallize. Lan’s struggles with the traumatic aftermath of war–punctuated by emotional, detailed flashbacks to her childhood–become operatic and fantastical interludes as told by her daughter. Harlan’s struggle to make friends in high school challenges her mother to step back and let her daughter find her own way.
Family in Six Tones is at once special and universal, speaking to the unique struggles of refugees as well as the universal tug-of-war between mothers and daughters. The journey of a refugee–away from war and loss towards peace and a new life–and the journey of a mother raising a child–to be secure and happy–are both steep paths filled with detours and stumbling blocks. Through explosive fights and painful setbacks, mother and daughter search for a way to accept the past and face the future together.
Format: eARC
Rating: 4.75/5 stars
Note: I received Family in Six Tones through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to FSB Association for the opportunity.
(more…)A detailed look at last week’s reading habits: two new books read, one DNF, currently reading four books from my lengthy Up Next shelf, three new books I want to read which centre character development and antiracism and three coveted books releasing this week.
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My original plan was to add my Kindle book haul to my August Wrap but it just made the post way too long and convoluted. So, I’ve decided to post a separate book haul dedicated to all the books I’ve purchased as ebooks, which, for me, are Kindle books.
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Series: Standalone
Release Date: March 3, 2020
As freshmen at Cooper Union, Tess and Tazio were the ambitious, talented future of the art world—but by thirty-six, Tess is married to David, the mother of two young boys, and working as an understudy on Broadway. Kind and steady, David is everything Tess lacked in her own childhood—but a recent freak accident has left him with befuddling symptoms, and she’s still adjusting to her new role as caretaker.
Meanwhile, Tazio—who once had a knack for earning the kind of attention that Cooper Union students long for—has left the art world for a career in creative branding and politics. But in December 2016, fresh off the astonishing loss of his candidate, Tazio is adrift, and not even his gorgeous and accomplished fiancée, Angelica, seems able to get through to him. With tensions rising on the national stage, the four friends are forced to face the reality of their shared histories, especially a long-ago betrayal that has shaped every aspect of their friendship.
Elegant and perceptive, The Body Politic explores the meaning of commitment, the nature of forgiveness, the way that buried secrets will always find their way to the surface, and how all of it can shift—and eventually erupt—over the course of a life.
Format: Hardcover
Rating: 4/5 stars
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