Sunday Skim

Week of 6/21/2020:

Finished:

Currently Reading:

                                                                Looking Forward To:

I wait with high anticipation for the next Jasmine Guillory book and then I read it in two sittings and have to wait again. If you haven't read her, you sure are missing out. Her books are fun, quick reads with great characters and plots. I am off this upcoming week with not a lot of plans, so I'm hoping to get some reading done while the kids are out and about.

I hope everyone has a happy 4th of July!!

Julie's Review: Saving Ruby King

Author: Catherine Adel West
Series: None
Publication Date: June 16, 2020
Publisher: Park Row Books
Pages: 320
Obtained: publisher via Netgalley
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction
Rating: 5/5
Bottom Line: Multi-faceted, stunning debut novel
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Summary: When Ruby King’s mother is found murdered in their home in Chicago’s South Side, the police dismiss it as another act of violence in a black neighborhood. But for Ruby, it’s a devastating loss that leaves her on her own with her violent father. While she receives many condolences, her best friend, Layla, is the only one who understands how this puts Ruby in jeopardy. Their closeness is tested when Layla’s father, the pastor of their church, demands that Layla stay away. But what is the price for turning a blind eye? In a relentless quest to save Ruby, Layla uncovers the murky loyalties and dangerous secrets that have bound their families together for generations. Only by facing this legacy of trauma head-on will Ruby be able to break free. An unforgettable debut novel, Saving Ruby King is a powerful testament that history doesn’t determine the present and the bonds of friendship can forever shape the future. ~amazon.com 

Review: I really am afraid I won't do this gorgeous book enough justice with any words in my review. It is stunning, multi-faceted, page turner of a novel. This will be a book that you will want to devour but will also want to slow down in reading becuase it is so nuanced. It will open your eyes to things that you might have been blind to or things you knew about but didn't pay attention to for much more than a news cycle. Ruby King will want to make you understand. 

Everyone in their tightknit church family thinks that Ruby King is coming apart after her mother is shot and killed in their home but for Ruby it's the furthest thing from the truth. She knows what she has to do: escape. 

The story of Ruby isn't just told from her perspective it told from the history of just how her and Layla's history is really intertwined. Some times the sins of the father(s) really does have long-term consequences. Layla has her own issues with her Reverend father with him treating her like he owns her. She feels he doesn't listen (he doesn't) and doesn't get that she's an young woman with thoughts and idea all her own. She yearns to break free from him and the church but she doesn't know how. 

I loved these characters and felt deeply for their pain because some of it could have been prevented by those that came before them in their families. I even felt for Lebanon, even how nasty he was, because he never felt loved and therefore never knew how to love. 

So much of this novel is about how our families shape us: good, bad, ugly and beautiful. It is also about how to break free of those chains to destroy cycles that hold you back. 


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Julie's Review: She's Faking It

Author: Kristin Rockaway
Series: None
Publication Date: June 30, 2020
Publisher: Graydon House
Pages: 352
Obtained: publisher via Netgalley
Genre:  Contemporary Romance
Rating: 4.5/5
Bottom Line: Fun, delightful read for a summer day

Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Grab

Summary: Bree Bozeman isn’t exactly pursuing the life of her dreams. Then again, she isn’t too sure what those dreams are. After dropping out of college, she’s living a pretty chill life in the surf community of Pacific Beach, San Diego…if “chill” means delivering food as a GrubGetter, and if it means “uneventful”. But when Bree starts a new Instagram account — @breebythesea — one of her posts gets a signal boost from none other than wildly popular self-help guru Demi DiPalma, owner of a lifestyle brand empire. Suddenly, Bree just might be a rising star in the world of Instagram influencing. Is this the direction her life has been lacking? It’s not a career choice she’d ever seriously considered, but maybe it’s a sign from the universe. After all, Demi’s the real deal… right? Everything is lining up for Bree: life goals, career, and even a blossoming romance with the chiseled guy next door, surf star Trey Cantu. But things are about to go sideways fast, and even the perfect filter’s not gonna fix it. Instagram might be free, but when your life looks flawless on camera, what’s the cost? ~amazon.com



Review: I flew through this book on a few days and I knew I would based on how much I enjoyed How to Hack a Heartbreak. Bree can’t catch a break lately. Her boyfriend moved to the Amazon, her car broke down and her student loan bills just keep piling. No car means no Grubgetter gig, which means no income.

After reading a self-help book, that her highly organized sister recommended,  she decided to try her hand at becoming an influencer via Instagram. She creates a digital vision board and starts to make  little headway in how she wants her life to look. She gets jobs as a Jill of All Trades through a website to start earning money. Plus based on a picture she posted, she's got her first freebie to collaborate with to start her journey. She also wants to conquer her fear of the water, especially since she lives on the beach and this leads her to hot surfer, Trey Cantu. He's agreed to help her get over her fear of the water and to enjoy it. Well she does enjoy it and him. Until things start to go askew.

I really enjoyed Bree and her best friend Marisol. What I wished we would have had more closure on was the two sisters discussing their mom and her death. It was glossed over in a few sentences and then they were all good after years of not talking about it.

Not everyone has a clear path in life and this is Bree. She does figure it out in the end and I was happy with the path she chose.

This is the perfect sit down and read in a sitting or two novel for the summer.

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Sunday Skim

Week of 5/31/2020, 6/7/2020 and 6/14/2020:

Finished:

Currently Reading:

                                                                Looking Forward To:

So, we got a new patio with a fire pit and it has halted my ability to do a Sunday Skim for three weeks. 😁 That being said it hasn't halted my reading of some great books. I'm hoping that the span of good books will continue. I'm going to be more conscious of my diverse reading choices. I realize looking at my shelves that it was pretty white, even if a lot were female. I do realize that our shelves aren't totally reflective of what I read since I do get library books and use my kindle but I want to get different views on our world/society, so I'll be making better efforts.

Have you changed your reading choices?

Julie's Review: The Second Home

Author: Christina Clancy
Series: None
Publication Date: June 2, 2020
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Pages: 352
Obtained: publisher via Netgalley
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction
Rating: 4/5
Bottom Line: All families are messy no matter how "normal"

Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Grab

Summary: After a disastrous summer spent at her family summer home on Cape Cod, seventeen-year-old Ann Gordon was left with a secret that changed her life forever, and created a rift between her sister, Poppy, and their adopted brother, Michael. Now, fifteen years later, her parents have died, leaving Ann and Poppy to decide the fate of the Wellfleet home that's been in the Gordon family for generations. For Ann, the once-beloved house is tainted with bad memories. Poppy loves the old saltbox, but after years spent chasing waves around the world, she isn't sure she knows how to stay in one place. Just when the sisters decide to sell, Michael re-enters their lives with a legitimate claim to the house. But more than that, he wants to set the record straight about that long ago summer. Reunited after years apart, these very different siblings must decide if they can continue to be a family―and the house just might be the glue that holds them together.Told through the shifting perspectives of Ann, Poppy, and Michael, this assured and affecting debut captures the ache of nostalgia for summers past and the powerful draw of the places we return to again and again. It is about second homes, second families, and second chances. ~amazon.com

Review: I really do enjoy a good family drama and The Second Home definitely delivers on that end. Plus it's set in the Cape which I always enjoy as a backdrop to a good story. Anne and Poppy are close sisters and when they add Michael to the mix, it adds another layer to a complicated situation because Michael and Ann were friends before he was adopted by her parents and that leads to some  complicated feelings.  As Ann starts to spend most of her summer babysitting for an affluent family, she gets Michael a job with the landscaper who does most of the houses on the Cape. This leaves Poppy to find new people to hang out with and leads her to the surfers.

This summer is the turning point for all 3 of them as it will define their course in life. Poppy will lose her direction and wander the world not knowing that her parents died in a tragic accident. Ann will have to deal with her choice and the bitterness she feels over her situation. Michael will run to the place that he has always felt the most at home. What this means is that it will send them on a crash course of dealing with the past that none of them were truly prepared to do.

I enjoyed each of the characters and their journey but I perhaps identified the most with Ann who was the eldest daughter and the more responsible one. It is up to her to figure out what to do with the houses and she can't find a will, which will make things even more complex.

There are a couple really good subplots that tie in really well to the overarching plot. In fact, you get to know the characters better by understanding their own individual stories and journeys rather than just the commonalities they have.

I really enjoyed this book and am enjoying the buzz that it is getting because it deserves it. I look forward to what Ms. Clancy writes next.
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Julie's Review: A Good Marriage

Author: Kimberly McCreight
Series: None
Publication Date: May 5, 2020
Publisher: Harper Collins
Pages: 398
Obtained: publisher via Netgalley
Genre:  Suspense
Rating: 4/5
Bottom Line: More money, more weirdness
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Summary: Lizzie Kitsakis is working late when she gets the call. Grueling hours are standard at elite law firms like Young & Crane, but they’d be easier to swallow if Lizzie was there voluntarily. Until recently, she’d been a happily underpaid federal prosecutor. That job and her brilliant, devoted husband Sam—she had everything she’d ever wanted. And then, suddenly, it all fell apart. No. That’s a lie. It wasn’t sudden, was it? Long ago the cracks in Lizzie’s marriage had started to show. She was just good at averting her eyes. The last thing Lizzie needs right now is a call from an inmate at Rikers asking for help—even if Zach Grayson is an old friend. But Zach is desperate: his wife, Amanda, has been found dead at the bottom of the stairs in their Brooklyn brownstone. And Zach’s the primary suspect. As Lizzie is drawn into the dark heart of idyllic Park Slope, she learns that Zach and Amanda weren’t what they seemed—and that their friends, a close-knit group of fellow parents at the exclusive Brooklyn Country Day school, might be protecting troubling secrets of their own. In the end, she’s left wondering not only whether her own marriage can be saved, but what it means to have a good marriage in the first place. ~amazon.com

Review: To each his own I say in marriage but the key parties that apparently happen for the nuevo riche left me a bit flabbergasted. How is having sex with someone else so blase? Sorry, I'm from the midwest and while open-minded, this one boggles my mind. Amanda Grayson seems to have it all, the rich/well off husband, the great kid and a solid circle of friends. She's hiding a secret that could destroy her life in the end except someone murders her before it can get it out. Did her murder have something to do with her secret or was it something else? Is her rich husband (because it's always the husband) guilty?

Enter Lizzie who was a federal prosecutor but now is at a firm that deals with white collar crime. Lizzie's got her own issues and so when Zach reaches out to her that he needs a lawyer, she doesn't want to take up the case. Does her firm even do murder cases? It turns out the partner she's assigned to is fine with her taking it as long as it doesn't interfere with her other case.

As Lizzie starts to turn over rocks, she begins to see that things aren't always as shiny on the outside as people make you think. What happens is Lizzie starts to examine her own marriage in a different light and starts to wonder what is a good marriage? Can she even save her marriage and if she does, will it mean saving herself?

I really liked Lizzie, a lot. She was in a tough spot emotionally and financially. She was doing her best to stay afloat but you can only doggy paddle for so long before you get tired. Plus she had the weight of her husband Sam on her back. She believes that Zach is innocent and is determined to fight for him to get the justice he deserves.

Overall I really liked the story and the pace. The characters are interesting and well rounded especially Amanda, Zach and Lizzie. I will say there were a couple things that weren't resolved for me that I would have liked closure on. 


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Julie's Reviews: Big Summer

Author: Jennifer Weiner
Series: None
Publication Date: May 5, 2020
Publisher: Atria
Pages: 352
Obtained: publisher via Netgalley
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction
Rating: 4.5/5
Bottom Line: Female friendships are complicated even in adulthood
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Grab

Summary: Six years after the fight that ended their friendship, Daphne Berg is shocked when Drue Cavanaugh walks back into her life, looking as lovely and successful as ever, with a massive favor to ask. Daphne hasn’t spoken one word to Drue in all this time—she doesn’t even hate-follow her ex-best friend on social media—so when Drue asks if she will be her maid-of-honor at the society wedding of the summer, Daphne is rightfully speechless. Drue was always the one who had everything—except the ability to hold onto friends. Meanwhile, Daphne’s no longer the same self-effacing sidekick she was back in high school. She’s built a life that she loves, including a growing career as a plus-size Instagram influencer. Letting glamorous, seductive Drue back into her life is risky, but it comes with an invitation to spend a weekend in a waterfront Cape Cod mansion. When Drue begs and pleads and dangles the prospect of cute single guys, Daphne finds herself powerless as ever to resist her friend’s siren song. A sparkling novel about the complexities of female relationships, the pitfalls of living out loud and online, and the resilience of the human heart, Big Summer is a witty, moving story about family, friendship, and figuring out what matters most. ~amazon.com  


Review: What would you do if the person you thought was your best friend scorned you years ago but then shows up back in your life? Would you forgive but not forget? More so, would you stand up in her wedding?!! This is exactly the things that Daphne needs to decide when Drue enters her life again and pretty much just when Daphne was heading in the right direction. Will being in Drue's orbit throw off her plan? Will she get sucked in again?

The answer to that last question is yes, otherwise we wouldn't have a novel. 😀 Daphne is a good hearted person who wants to believe that Drue has changed, but has she really? Even Daphne's good friend Darshi is wondering why she let her back into her life.  As Daphne is thrust in Drue's high flying life and wedding, she begins to understand that things are always what they seem and people have facades. They only show you what they want you to see.

I don't want to get into the details of the story but we all have that one friend who can rope us into their orbit again if they should reappear. Sometimes that's a good thing and sometimes it's not. For Daphne it was a mixed bag. 

What Jennifer always does amazingly well is write colorful characters that we can identify with as women. Our friendships aren't perfect and they are most certainly complex but she gets that and writes about those things. Female friendships are not easy when you ar young but as you get older they can become more complex as your life changes, so does your group of friends. It's not always easy opening yourself up to new people or old people who re-enter your life but sometimes you can get something out of them.