Monday, August 25, 2014

The Good Girl by Mary Kubica

When I started The Good Girl, I thought I was reading an almost identical plot line to Chevy Steven's - Still Missing.  It had a very similar feel and I was getting stuck on the way things were developing along. Chevy Stevens is one of my absolute favorite authors and so unfortunately I was struggling a bit to lose myself entirely in this debut novel of Mary Kubica's.  However, to The Good Girl's credit, it did take some unexpected turns and for that I found that it completely redeemed itself.  I also thoroughly enjoyed the way the chapters jumped between "before" and "after" and alternated character's voices. The further along in the book I got, the more I needed to know what exactly had happened to cause a "before" and "after"!!

I do feel terrible that I have that comparison in the back of my mind to Chevy Steven's book when writing this review and I'm sorry if it doesn't seem fair, but for me that for sure hindered my ability to lose myself within this book.

All that aside - this book is definitely worth reading and I would highly recommend you pick up your own copy here!

A huge thank you to Harlequin and NetGalley for an opportunity to read an e-copy!

Description: "I've been following her for the past few days. I know where she buys her groceries, where she has her dry cleaning done, where she works. I don't know the color of her eyes or what they look like when she's scared. But I will." 

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 smooth 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. 

An addictively suspenseful and tautly written thriller, The Good Girl is a compulsive debut that reveals how even in the perfect family, nothing is as it seems….

Rating: ****

Recommend: For fans of suspense & mystery/thrillers - you will very much enjoy this ride!

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

The House We Grew Up In by Lisa Jewell

Can we just take one second and talk about how beautiful this cover is?  I just love it and after finishing the story, I now understand the fragility implied within.  As for the narrative itself, I've never read one that quite dealt with these types of issues before...hoarding specifically.  That's not really a spoiler, as it's addressed throughout the entirety of the novel - but of course there's other more deep-rooted matters at hand here, as is often the case with unresolved wounds. It was sad - it was moving - it was tragic......AND it was redemptive.

I very much enjoyed The House We Grew Up In and without giving away too much, I think it gives a very real look into today's crumbling family model when pain, selfishness and mental issues are involved.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for an opportunity to read an Advance Copy!  You can snag your own copy here!

Description: Meet the Bird family. They live in a honey-colored house in a picture-perfect Cotswolds village, with rambling, unkempt gardens stretching beyond. Pragmatic Meg, dreamy Beth, and tow-headed twins Rory and Rhys all attend the village school and eat home-cooked meals together every night. Their father is a sweet gangly man named Colin, who still looks like a teenager with floppy hair and owlish, round-framed glasses. Their mother is a beautiful hippy named Lorelei, who exists entirely in the moment. And she makes every moment sparkle in her children's lives.

Then one Easter weekend, tragedy comes to call. The event is so devastating that, almost imperceptibly, it begins to tear the family apart. Years pass as the children become adults, find new relationships, and develop their own separate lives. Soon it seems as though they've never been a family at all. But then something happens that calls them back to the house they grew up in -- and to what really happened that Easter weekend so many years ago.

Told in gorgeous, insightful prose that delves deeply into the hearts and minds of its characters, The House We Grew Up In is the captivating story of one family's desire to restore long-forgotten peace and to unearth the many secrets hidden within the nooks and crannies of home.

Rating: ****

Recommend: It's definitely a no holds barred type of family drama, but nonetheless I would for sure recommend.