Book Review: The Second Ending - Michelle Hoffman

 

“The Second Ending” is a debut novel by Michelle Hoffman. This is a book about second chances. There are two main characters - Prudence, a former child prodigy, with a rough upbringing who finally escapes thanks to commercial jingles, and Alexei, a current talented pianist who has claimed fame thanks to hosting and judging a TV reality series. There are a number of supporting characters, including an ex-husband, the current husband, parents, a person seeking revenge, and music teachers. I must admit to liking the two music teachers a lot - different styles, different personalities, but they each helped their students in ways they could relate. To me, the idea of this book was fantastic - but there were a number of subplots that took away from the main characters. In one case, Alexei’s parents added to his backstory, but Prudence’s ex-husband and potential exposer didn’t work as well as background or plot advancers. That might be an unpopular opinion, but while I enjoyed the remarks about music (you need to feel it not just play the notes), at times the storyline got bogged down in - well, being bogged down. At times this book game me “Where’d You Go, Bernadette” writing style vibes - something I didn’t really like. However, this book was different, so I do give Ms. Hoffman kudos for that. I could easily see this being a TV movie and being enjoyable. Plus, a huge shout-out for that cover - it’s eye catching, colorful, and gives an idea that the book is about music - and pianos. Four stars.

Book Review: The Wishing Game - Meg Shaffer

 

“The Wishing Game” is an adorable book by Meg Shaffer. Ms. Shaffer drew inspiration from Gene Wilder in the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and it shows. If Willy Wonka had been a children’s book author instead of a chocolate maker - this possibly is the type of magical, loving, slightly crazy, maddening, yet precious person he would be. I was hooked by the premise of the book, yet fell in love with Christopher’s story (yes, he’s not the main character, but my goodness does he play a huge part). The theme of family is prevalent in this book but it doesn’t get too forced or bogged down (for the most part). Overall, I found this book to be sweet - in a good way. The word play is great and the “game” riddles good ones. For a debut novel, this was an amazingly creative one and I look forward to Ms. Shaffer’s next book. 4 stars.

Book Review: The Woman in Carriage 3 - Alison James

 

 

“The Woman in Cabin 3” is a thriller by Alison James. This had a pretty basic beginning - a group of strangers on a train bond together over a medical emergency on said train. The group decides to form a friendship, since they take the same train every workday. Over time, friendships are made - until something happens (a few things happen?) to change the group forever. I found this book taking a while for the set-up, but it was necessary for the plot to unfold. Once it becomes obvious who done what how and why, the story slows down a bit more for more set-up, but when the story’s not setting up for further action or plot advancement, the story goes at a pretty good clip. I cannot say that the main female character (Hattie) is my favorite - for someone almost 30 she surprisingly does not have her act together, which was rather frustrating. I did rather like one of the other characters, Julian, but maybe that was because he wasn’t flakey and had working brain cells to counter Hattie’s lack. Fast read that kept me interested and wanting to know how things would unfold. 4 stars.

Book Review: The King's Pleasure - Alison Weir

   

 

“The King’s Pleasure” by Alison Weir is about one of my most favorite historical figures, Henry VIII of England. I’ll admit to being a huge enjoyer of Ms. Weir’s non-fiction books about the British Royalty and I’ve read a few of her non-fiction books about the wives of Henry VIII too. So, with all that in mind, saying that I was thrilled to receive an advance copy of this book is a huge understatement.

Henry VIII is a difficult person to write about, in my biased opinion. A lot happened in his lifetime - not including the fact that he had six very different wives. So, I’m sure that for Ms. Weir picking and choosing what to include in this book was difficult. A huge majority of the book (about 80%) is devoted to his life up to the time of his third wife. The last ten years of Henry VIII’s life takes up the remaining 20%. I can understand why Ms. Weir made this decision, but I felt that his last three wives in this book didn’t have as much to contribute to the overall book.

What I liked - I’m a big fan of Margaret George’s historical fiction book about Henry VIII, so I was thrilled to see Will Somers make an appearance (although Ms. Weir has included him in one of her fictional books too). I liked the set-up of the Tutor court buildings, food, pageantry, and overall excess descriptions. A family tree was marked as “to come” in my pre-release, which I think will be helpful. I liked how Ms. Weir wove historical bits into her story, including some I looked up to learn more about (and refresh my memory). Overall, this was a hugely enjoyable book - and coming in at 512 printed pages, I’m glad it was so enjoyable. My one comment - and it’s an author’s choice - is how when someone is bestowed a title, they are mentioned as that new name henceforth. I usually end up checking online to see who is who as I can get a bit confused, especially with those bestowed multiple times (looking at you Thomas Boleyn).

Overall, if you enjoy Ms. Weir’s historical fiction books, especially her six devoted to Henry VIII’s queens, I would suggest giving this book a try as Henry VIII finally has his own version told. I applaud Ms. Weir for that - it’s not an easy task.

Book Review: The Senator's Wife - Liv Contantine

 Four star read

 

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher, for which I thank them.

I’m a huge fan of this writing duo’s previous book “The Last Mrs. Parrish,” so I had really high hopes for “The Senator’s Wife.” Once I finished reading the book, I had to sit on my review for a day to figure out how I felt about it.

On one hand, this book is probably one of my family member’s largest fears - having someone unknown enter the house to give care. Between a stranger being there all the time and things going downhill medically - yep, not good. On the other hand, this book I didn’t feel a lot of sympathy for many of the main characters (I liked two of the side characters, though - Doris and Emmy). I’m not sure why Madelyn was there - other than be to be stereotypical “bad woman”; she’s hurtful and mean, but didn’t contribute much other than red herringness, if even that. This book was really a slow-burn, which this duo is known for writing well, but there seemed to be a lot of detail that didn’t necessarily tie into the plot, even once the plot was speeding down a hill toward the conclusion. I found the research done on Lupus to be interesting as it’s a disease I know very little about. I’ve seen other reviews refer to this book as a “soap thriller” and I have to admit, that’s a great description - I can see this being a TV movie. This book has a lot of gas lighting, a lot of hidden agendas, and a lot of mystery. The ending seemed to be a bit too quick, but it did clear up some things and expose the character of the character more fully. I’m glad to have read this book and I do recommend reading it.

Book Review: Seven Rules for Breaking Hearts - Kristyn J. Miller

  

“Seven Rules for Breaking Hearts” is a rom-com, enemies to lovers book by Kristyn Miller. What I enjoyed about this book was that while it was about a podcast, the podcast’s role as a character decreased as the story progressed. It’s difficult to balance a podcast in a book, but I felt that Ms. Miller did a fine job. I enjoyed that this book was mainly set on Catalina, with a shout-out to the bison. I also liked some of the word play between the two main characters and that there was both “band geek” and “engineering nerd” humor bits. I felt like the beginning half set up the story a bit too much, but I did like that all that set up had parts addressed later in the book. I’d say that this was a bit of a predictable book but sometimes that’s comforting - you know what you’re going to get but it’s okay. Overall, 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 as this is the author's debut novel.

Book Review: The Collected Regrets of Clover - Mikki Brammer

  

Book Review: 4 stars

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher, for which I thank them.

“The Collected Regrets of Clover” is a debut novel by Mikki Brammer. Having lost a parent about 18 months ago, I knew this was going to be a difficult book for me to read. In some points, it was - but it was also comforting (except when I wished that my parent had had someone like Clover to have been in the room upon the time of passing). I greatly enjoyed the depth that went into the “death doula” concept. I also liked how Clove had her routine and while a bit lonely, she was content. Around the 60% mark, the book took a wander into a direction I had hoped it wouldn’t, but I realized that it was necessary for the book - and Clover - to grow. I greatly enjoyed the sensitivity around grieving (and, yes, I too was tired of the questions asked upon my parent’s passing). I liked how Clover tried to fulfill the regret of those who passed under her care (while dying my hair blue wouldn’t make my top 10 list of regrets, I can see how for someone it could be). There’s a lot to think about from this book - not only about death, but also life. A well written book - and I can understand why some have suggested that if you liked “The Midnight Library” (Haig) that you would like this one. I’d say that if you felt the feels reading Midnight Library, you’ll (again) feel the feels. BTW, I feel compelled to note, I read this book in one day.