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Girls like us by Cristina Alger #Book review

Imagine coming back home after ten years away. Imagine the more you think about the accident that killed your father, the less you are convinced it was an accident. Imagine investigating a grisly murder and realising your father is your primary suspect. This is the reality Nell Flynn, the protagonist of Cristina Alger’s new thriller ‘Girls like us’ must face.

FBI agent Nell Flynn has never had a close relationship with her father Martin. When she was seven, her mother was brutally murdered in their home, while Nell was out camping with her father. The police quickly found a culprit, although there were some doubts voiced by an astute reporter.

Now Nell is back to Suffolk county to scatter her father’s ashes. Her father, who had a well-known problem with alcohol, had a motorbike accident which could easily and was attributed to his tiredness, slippery road conditions and old tires on the bike. The only people who come to the service are Martin’s old colleagues- cops from the local police department.

Nell herself is still recovering, both physically and mentally, from a shoot-out during her previous case, when, unexpectedly, her father’s partner and Nell’s former schoolmate Lee Davis asks her to come to a murder scene and give a consult as a behavioural profiler. The victim is quickly identified as Adriana Marquez, a young Latina girl who lived with her sister’s family and occasionally provided escorting services to make ends meet. The case bears an uncanny resemblance to another cold case her father was working on. Soon Nell begins to suspect that her father might have known a lot more and could have even been involved in these crimes either as a perpetrator, or an accomplice. Nell keeps asking questions and quickly realises that the local police officers are corrupt and cannot be trusted.

The book is extremely fast-paced and gripping. It kept me up until the small hours- I just needed to know how it was going to end. I loved the protagonist with her tenacious spirit and sense of justice. After all, Ria and Adriana were girls like us, girls who deserved a better life and a chance for happiness. At the very least, as the victims of these horrendous crimes, they deserve their case being properly investigated, the murderer punished and their death being mourned for what it was- a tragic waste of young life and hope.

Highly recommended for anybody who loves action-packed thrillers with a strong female lead. In fact, I found Nell Flynn and her no non-sense attitude fascinating and likeable, so I can only hope Cristina Alger is going to write more novels involving this new character.

Thank you to Edelweiss and G.P.Putnam’s sons for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

Have you read Girls like us or any other books by Cristina Alger?
What is the most interesting book with a strong female protagonist-police officer that you’ve read recently?

#Friday I’m in love #Book review #Our Stop by Laura Jane Williams

What if you almost missed the love of your life because you were late to catch your train?

Our Stop is a sweet and funny story of perpetually late, disorganised, honest and kind-hearted Nadia and shy, all-round-good, romantic Daniel.

Nadia has just come out of a really bad relationship and feels she needs to change her lifestyle and daily routine to make it calmer, healthier, more organised. One of the changes in her routine is making sure she does get on that 7.30 am train to work. And so she does..on Monday, sometimes even Tuesday. Then life creeps in, late nights with friends, Netflix, too much wine..and the New Routine gets abandoned until the following Monday. One day her friend Emma texts her that The Missing Connections, a lonely hearts section in the newspaper they both flick through on a regular basis, has a message describing somebody who sounds like Nadia.

Nadia is intrigued, so when her friend responds on her behalf, she is more embarrassed and excited than angry. Unfortunately, meeting each other in real life proves unexpectedly difficult as they keep missing their opportunities for months and months. Meanwhile, the story goes viral and lots of people root for the Train Guy and Girl from #Our Stop entry to meet and fall in love.

The book was a bit slow at the beginning, but by the middle I was so involved that I couldn’t put it down. It is lovely, heart-warming and very modern. Only in our times, it can be considered creepy to start a conversation on the underground train, but not so to search for somebody’s recent and not so recent photos on Instagram.

I just loved the story of Nadia’s friends Emma and Gaby. Of course, it can be quite daunting when two of your best friends from different contexts meet and seem to like each other more than they like you. But love and friendships do move in their own mysterious ways and as long as you keep laughing together, your relationship is going to thrive and survive.

Recommended for anybody who loves romcoms and believes you can meet your Special One anywhere as long as you are emotionally ready. Do you remember magical Serendipity with Kate Beckinsale and John Cusack? If you are destined to be together, you’ll find each other no matter where and when, and the 7.30 a.m. train is as good a place as any.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

#Teen tonic # Something I’m good at by Caroline Andrus

Summer Swanson has been diagnosed with lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease, which means her body turns against itself instead of fighting infections. Summer used to dream of becoming a make-up artist, but now she won’t even sigh up to help with the school play, because what if she has a flare-up, and lets everybody down at a crucial moment. She has also given up her place at a volleyball team as well as her other extra-curricular activities. Summer’s also lost her best friend who betrayed her with Summer’s boyfriend. That’s a lot to take on in a short time, so perhaps she can be excused for trying to sort her feelings on her own. One thing she knows for sure: she doesn’t want to be labelled The sick girl, so she keeps her lupus secret.

Kane is adorable and somewhat accident-prone as far as any sport activity is concerned. He spends a lot of time mastering skateboard tricks with his loyal friends Mark and Abigail, mostly without much success, but with some spectacular falls and a few broken bones. During his trip to the hospital, he meets and talks to Summer, who despite going to the same high-school wasn’t even aware of his existence.

Kane has never been good at anything apart from making people laugh. Will he be able to bring a smile back on Summer’s face? How do you make a beautiful girl like this agree to go out with you? Kane’s mom thinks you have to be romantic and respectful at the same time and things will work out. Luckily, Kane has lots of fantastic ideas and is full of enthusiasm.

Should Summer take a chance on Kane as well as giving herself a chance for happiness despite her disease? Should she keep her lupus a secret from Kane, her new friends, and everybody else at the school? Or is it a recipe for a heartbreak which is going to come sooner or later?

I didn’t know much about lupus before reading this book, but it did make me look it up and reflect on how difficult it must have been for the main character to adjust to her new life situation. It was great to have a main character who is sweet, kind and strong, but not exactly flawless as far as her decisions are concerned.

If you want to know about lupus and it’s symptoms you can visit this website:
https://www.lupus.org/resources/what-is-lupus

I had a slightly harder time with Kane. I thought he was cute, immature and a bit too persistent. After all, Summer did have good reasons to keep her distance. I would have preferred them being friends for longer time, so that Summer would have had a chance to get to know him better, which would have made her burgeoning feelings for Kane more plausible. As it was, were these feelings for Kane or for the sense of normality that had been missing for her life since her diagnosis?

Overall, it was a light enjoyable summer read, and I will definitely be checking out other titles in this new series.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

Do you know any teenagers who suffer from lupus or another chronic disease? how easy or difficult was it for them to adjust to new life after their diagnosis?

#Book Review #Her daughter’s mother by Daniela Petrova

A gripping, compelling psychological thriller that explores interesting issues related to reproductive rights, motherhood, friendships and relationships in general.

Lana Stone and her partner Tyler Jones have been trying to start family for years and have even undergone several unsuccessful IVF cycles. Lana, who is determined to continue, decides to use an egg donor. She would like the donor to have Bulgarian genes, the genes of her people. Lana’s mother defected from Bulgaria during the Cold era. When a suitable donor is found, Lana is fascinated by the photo of this beautiful Ivy League graduate girl.

When a suitable donor is found, Lana is fascinated by the photo of this beautiful Ivy League graduate girl. Unfortunately, Lana and Tyler’s relationship has been under a lot of strain with the gruelling regime of infertility treatments and heart-breaking pain of miscarriages. Tyler tells her he needs a break, although Lana suspects there has to be another woman involved for him to walk out on her in the middle of a very expensive and time-sensitive procedure.

Lana decides to go ahead without informing Tyler and gets pregnant. When she sees the familiar face of her egg donor on a train, something compels her to follow the girl. The girl falls down, Lana helps her ..and here is her chance to learn about her future baby’s mother. Katya seems to be such a spontaneous, joyful person and Lana finds herself immediately drawn to her sparkling personality. They go dancing, which is, of course, a madness in Lana’s condition. While Lana is busy dealing with an unexpected complication, Katya goes missing. The police are not sure there was any foul play involved, but Lana won’t give up on her new friend and continues investigating.

I am going to stop here, as I don’t want to give away the story. The plot is compelling and the book is bound to keep you turning pages obsessively. Is it plausible? Well, the boundaries of what family and parenthood is are becoming blurred nowadays. More and more people become parents later in their lives and a lot of couples struggle with infertility, so the questions raised in this novel are pertinent. Who is Lana to her baby? Being pregnant, carrying a baby to term and giving birth does not make you a biological mother in the eyes of law, since the DNA is Tyler’s and Katya’s. Who is Katya to her baby? Does she have any right to know what happens to the child who is going to have her genes? Does she have any right to know if the child is happy and taken good care of? With the recent advances in fertility treatments, it is possible to remove faulty parts of DNA and replace them with a small portion of a donor’s mitochondrial genetic material, so a baby potentially can have three or even more genetic parents. These are ethical questions we will have to ponder and answer in the near future…

I really liked the characters in this book. Lana is such a positive and loyal person, who wants to know and understand the other person’s feelings and motivations. Tyler remained a bit of a mystery to me, since there were fewer chapters with his point of view. Katya…well, you will have to decide for yourself. There are also some great secondary characters such as Angie, Lana’s friend from her infertility support group and Penka Dimitrova, Katya’s mother.

I also found the New York City setting fascinating. It isn’t just the subway which is the scene of Lana and Katya’s first meeting, but also The Met where Lana works, the park where Lana and Tyler go to have their talk, the club where Lana and Katya go dancing and so on. The city contributes to the overall atmosphere of this novel, focused on strong, independent women and their longing for a meaningful connection instead of safe anonymity and indifference.

If you like psychological thrillers, you should definitely read this emotional and thought-provoking debut novel of Daniela Petrova.

Thank you to Edelweiss and G.P.Putnam’s sons for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

# Book Review # Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune

This book was a delightful surprise. Light, enjoyable, magical and, above all, delicious, as food and savouring food is an integral part of this wonderful debut novel by Roselle Lim.

Natalie Tan gets the worst kind of telephone call. Her agoraphobic mother Miranda was found dead just outside their family house in Chinatown of San Francisco. Natalie left home seven years ago, having committed the worst sin in her culture, the sin of not respecting her mother’s wishes. Natalies has always dreamt of being a cook and having a restaurant of her own, while her mother thought she would never be able to cook as well as their formidable Laolao Qiao (grandmother).

In the seven years Natalie spent away from her home community, she enrolled in and failed culinary courses, which left her with no formal qualifications and evergrowing self-doubts. She also left a lovely, gentle man at the altar. You see, she and her mother were abandoned by Natalie’s father before she was even born, so running away has become Natalie’s default mode: beter leave before being left.

Back in her home community, she is helped to organise the funeral rites for her mother. The neighbourhood itself seems to have lost all its colours. The shops are failing as only rare customers find their way to Natalie’s street and a real-estate agent-vulture is ready to sink her claws into whatever business property is left. Natalie finds out she has inherited her grandmother’s restaurant which was closed after her laolao died but still has all the necessary equipment. Miranda left her daughter her blessing to follow her dream, as well as her grandmother’s book of recipes.

For her restaurant to become successful, Natalie has to cook three dishes from this book for three neighbours who are in need of help. One of them needs more courage, others need ‘to rekindle their love gone sour’, the third…you’ll have to read the book to find out. Laolao’s food had magic healing properties that Natalie is only happy to try to recreate. Natalie gradually discovers that these people never abandoned Miranda in her time of trouble. They brought her shopping and kept her company for all the years Natalie was away. This is not the only discovery she makes. She finds out more about her family and the reasons for their choices in life:

My mother taught me to let your love make their own choice. My laolao taught that you needed to honor it.

Natalie’s road to fulfilling her dream and bringing joy and harmony to her community is not straightforward, but that’s what makes this novel such a wonderful read. Her first attempts to cook for her neighbours backfire and she needs to work out where she went wrong and what to do to make things right. There is also an added element of mystery (Why did severely agoraphobic Miranda step outside on the day she died?) and romance.

If you love food and believe in cooking with all your heart in order to take care of people around you, this book is for you. Food is one of the protagonists of this novel. When Natalie describes what she eats or cooks, she engages all your senses and focuses on colour, sound of crunching, texture, complimentarity of tastes. She makes you imagine sunshine of a spring day and delicious smells of Sunday breakfast cooked by your mom.

If you think ‘no man is an island’and we should all help each other (sometimes just by listening and respecting the other’s wishes and choices) to succeed, you’ll find Natalie’s neighbourhood full of incredible individuals who know the true meaning of the word ‘community’.

On a separate note, writing about depression and its influence not just on the person who is suffering from it, but also their family and friends. Roselle Lim’s portrayal of Miranda is sensitive and full of love and understanding. The use of magical realism – the bowl of tears, the criss-cross cut wounds of angry words, the magic flutter of birds flying away to mark and celebrate the feeling of freedom- all these images add to the beauty of the novel and make it even more memorable.

Definitely recommended. I’ll be looking forward to reading Roselle Lim’s future books, hoping they will be as enjoyable as her debut novel.

Thank you to Edelweiss and Berkley for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

The Friends We Keep…The Life We Choose…

I am a big fan of Jane Green and have read quite a few books of this talented writer over the years. I believe ‘The friends we keep’ is her best, although it doesn’t focus on romance, but on something else equally important: on friendships and our life choices that can either destroy our closeness or help us love and support each other unconditionally.

Evvie, Maggie and Topher meet on the first day of University. They become great friends and even, share a house at some point. Evvie, half-Jamaican, half-American, is a former child-TVstar. She has a few weight-related issues she is going to struggle with through all her life. Pretty and stylish, she is also the only one who doesn’t come from a wealthy family and has to work to earn her living. While working in a pub, she meets Ben, a fellow-bartender, who she calls Evil Ben because he behaves in a particularly unfriendly way towards her. Maggie, on the other hand, develops a crush on him and even has a drunken snog, only to be disappointed to find out that Ben didn’t remember much about that evening. Topher is sensitive, witty, supportive, and very uncertain of his sexuality.

After the graduation, Evvie and Topher find jobs in New York, while Maggie is about to start working in London. Evvie has to stay in the town for another week and what happens to her during this week is going to mark all her life one way or another.

The story moves easily between the three protagonists as years go by. We see how Evvie becomes an internationally famous model, but still makes dubious choices as far as men in her life are concerned. Topher lands a role in a soap opera and has a great relationship with Larry built on trust and understanding. Maggie marries Evil Ben, who turns to be sweet, vulnerable, and great in bed. The three friends reunite on the wedding day and make a pact that if they happen to be alone in their 50s (very unlikely in case of Maggie, they think), they will come and live together.

As the story continues, they mature, make choices, wise and not so wise, and… drift apart. Until they all meet together for their thirtieth university reunion. As their lives haven’t turned out as they expected, isn’t this a great opportunity for re-discovering themselves and their friendship? Only there are a few secrets and betrayals that might threaten this newly-found happiness unless they are honest with each other and try to understand and forgive past mistakes.

All the characters in this book are fully-developed and feel so real, that you get attached to them and keep turning pages to find out what happens next. I loved the way Jane Green chose to tell the story over three decades. This is life, and every friendship, every relationship develops in time.

I can highly recommend this great book to anybody who has wondered about the importance our friends have in our lives, about the reasons we drifted apart with some of our friends, about choices we made in life and how they played out, and anybody who believes in forgiveness and second chances.

Thank you to Edelweiss and Berkley for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

The book is out on the 4th of June 2019.

Five reasons why reading to children is SUPER important!

Reading to children is essential if you want to help them grow creative, articulate, emotionally well-adjusted human beings. Thank you to Ragamuffin Books for this wonderful post and lots of other useful tips. Please, check her website for book reviews and everything related to children’s literature.

Ragamuffin Books

We all know that reading to children is important and that we should do it. But do you ever wonder why it’s so important? Other than the fact that it will improve literacy?

See below to see some reasons and get motivated to start reading!

View original post 649 more words

# Sunday Morning for Kids #The way to Treasure Island by Lizzy Stewart

Is it possible to be best friends with a member of your family? Do you think it is easier to be friends with somebody who is similar to you in character or is your opposite?

# Sunday Morning for Kids is a variation on the meme started by Rae Longest at Powerful Women Readers.

I have recently discovered a wonderful blog Ragamuffin Books (All Things Children’s Literature) with book reviews and tips on how to write children’s fiction. I really encourage you to check out her posts on the importance of reading to children to help them develop their creativity, empathy and confidence at school.

The book I spent this Sunday morning reading to my little ones is The way to Treasure Island by Lizzy Stewart.

This is a sweet story of a girl and her Dad trying to find a treasure island and having a fun day together.

Matilda and her Dad are very different. In fact, in many ways they are the opposites -she is tidy, he is messy; she is fast, he is slow; she is quiet, he is loud. Naturally, they don’t always agree on how to do things. Despite this, they are best friends and have a lot of patience for each other. They complement one another: without Matilda’s ability to lead and pay attention to detail, her Dad would be lost, without Dad’s ability to notice exciting things, Matilda’s life would be so boring.

One day, they decide to spend a day at the beach. Matilda has a special map, but in order to follow it you can’t get distracted. They find a boat and set off on an exciting adventure. Although they do things their own way, in the end, they do discover the most wonderful treasure at all, that of each other’s company.

A delightful book with beautiful illustrations, this little book provides an example of a great father-daughter relationship.

Thank you to NetGalley and Frances Lincoln Children’s Books /Quarto Publishing Group for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

Title: The way to Treasure Island
Author: Lizzy Stewart
Published by: Frances Lincoln Children’s books
Expected publication Date: 4th of June, 2019

Have you read The Way to Trasure Island? if yes, did you like it?
Is this the kind of book your little readers might be interested in?

# Sunday Morning for Kids #Patience, Miyuki…Appreciate the beauty of the moment…

This is a variation on the meme started by Rae Longest at Powerful Women Readers. Thank you to Carla from Carla loves to read for wonderful posts encouraging people to share old and new favourite children’s books.

The book I read today is the second story about a little girl called Miyuki. She is a lively child who wants to live her life to the fullest and like many children sometimes lacks patience.

She notices a little flower which is yet to bloom, as if it hasn’t noticed that the spring is already there. Miyuki would like to help it wake up, but it needs the purest water, so Miuki sets off on her quest. The story gets more and more magical as she has to speak to the clouds, the waterfall and the river to get a bucketful of precious water to wake up her little flower.

Miyuki gets a lot of help and the same advice: patience, Miyuki, sometimes you have to wait and appreciate the beauty of the moment which you might miss if you rush around.

I was really impressed by the beauty of the artwork in this book: delicate, sweet, and gentle. Absolutely delightful. The message is philosophical and might be easier to grasp for an older child.

My favourite quote:

Neither flowers nor anyone in the world deserves to be watered by tears.

Title: Patience, Miyuki
Authors: Roxane Marie Galliez,Seng Soun Ratanavanh (illustrations)
Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
Date: October 1st, 2019

Thank you to NetGalley and Princeton Architectural Press for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

Have you read ‘Patience, Miyuki’ or the previous story in the series ‘Time for bed, Miyuki’?
How important is the artwork in a children’s book in your opinion?

‘Books live your life while you live theirs’ # ‘Reading quirks’ by the Wild Detectives

What is the strangest thing you’ve done for the love of reading?

I once read a book… half an hour at a time, 20-30 pages at most, for two weeks…in a bookshop! I’d come, read a bit, sigh at how expensive it was and leave… After two weeks somebody bought the book. Can you imagine my despair? I had almost finished it. Luckily, two things happened the following day: a new copy arrived and my pay check got through.

I just adored ‘ Reading Quirks’ by Javier García del Moral, Andrés de la Casa Huertas and Laura Pacheco and couldn’t help sharing this discovery with my bookloving tribe.

This is a series of vignettes on strange things we do for the love of books. The characters are cute and come from all walks of life. You are bound to find the situations described in this collection all too familiar:

Have you ever…

waxed lyrical about the merits of a book to a total stranger who might or might not have been interested?
been desperate because you lost a book you were just about to finish?
found irresistible the smell of a new book?
packed way too many books in a suitcase (and left out most clothes)?
liked the book so much that you felt sad that you were about to finish it?
realized you love somebody because they get your reading habits?

For some of them I thought: No, surely not. Actually, let me think…Yes, I have done that.

I know some of my friends are going to find these pictures irreverent. I love you for the respect you pay to your books and the way you treat reading not as a pastime, but almost as a religion.

My favourite vignette?

Thank you to Edelweiss and Deep Vellum Publishing for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

Title: Reading quirks
Authors: Javier García del Moral, Andrés de la Casa Huertas, Laura Pacheco (illustrations)
Publisher: Deep Vellum Publishing
Expected date: October 8th 2019