It took me a while to get into reading at the beginning of the year… maybe it was because we were sick, so all I wanted to do was watch mindless TV/Movies (“Maverick” being one that was on repeat) versus getting lost in a book… either way, once I got started again, I found my groove, and also some really great books. I veered a bit outside of my favorite psychological thriller genre, but I’m looking to move back into it as we get into the second quarter…
And today I rounded up all the books I read in the 3rd quarter… with my favorites and least favorite included (I also like to note that I read for entertainment, so I’m not a reader who is reading with a super critical eye. If I like it, I like it, if I don’t, I don’t… haha. So my reviews aren’t anything other than based on entertainment.)….
And with that I hope everyone has a great day ahead!
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BOOK REVIEW
1. THE MIDWIFE OF AUSCHWITZ: This was the first book I started, and finished, in 2023, and it didn’t disappoint. I had finished “The Nightingale” towards the end of 2022, and loved it, and this book wasn’t any different. Here is a synopsis:
“Inspired by an incredible true story, this poignant novel tells of one woman’s fight for love, life and hope during a time of unimaginable darkness.
Ana Kaminski is pushed through the iron gates of Auschwitz beside her frightened young friend Ester Pasternak. As they reach the front of the line, Ana steps forward and quietly declares herself a midwife – and Ester her assistant. Their arms are tattooed and they’re ordered to the maternity hut. Holding an innocent new-born baby, Ana knows the fate of so many are in her hands, and vows to do everything she can to save them.
When two guards in their chilling SS uniforms march in and snatch a blond-haired baby from its mother it’s almost too much for Ana to bear. Consoling the distraught woman, Ana realises amidst the terrible heartache there is a glimmer of hope. The guards are taking the healthiest babies and placing them with German families, so they will survive. And there are whispers the war is nearly over… Ana and Ester begin to secretly tattoo little ones with their mother’s numbers, praying one day they might be reunited.
Then, early one morning, Ana notices the small bump under Ester’s thin striped clothing…
An absolutely heart-breaking and page-turning WW2 novel of one woman’s bravery and determination to bring life and hope into a broken world.”
10/10- highly recommend
2. LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY: This was the second book I read and I enjoyed it. I will admit that it took me a while to actually get into it, but once I did, I thought there were so many layers, and a lot of depth to the book. Characters were well developed, and I had feelings about all of them (which is, for me, usually a sign of great writing). Here is a synopsis:
“Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results.
But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo.”
9/10- highly recommend
3. MAD HONEY: I’ve been a Jodi Piccoult fan for years- I think it started with “My Sister’s Keeper…” and this one didn’t disappoint. She has a way of writing beautiful, thought provoking, storylines around pressing and relevant issues. Here’s a synopsis on this one:
“Olivia McAfee knows what it feels like to start over. Her picture-perfect life—living in Boston, married to a brilliant cardiothoracic surgeon, raising their beautiful son, Asher—was upended when her husband revealed a darker side. She never imagined that she would end up back in her sleepy New Hampshire hometown, living in the house she grew up in and taking over her father’s beekeeping business.
Lily Campanello is familiar with do-overs, too. When she and her mom relocate to Adams, New Hampshire, for her final year of high school, they both hope it will be a fresh start.
And for just a short while, these new beginnings are exactly what Olivia and Lily need. Their paths cross when Asher falls for the new girl in school, and Lily can’t help but fall for him, too. With Ash, she feels happy for the first time. Yet she wonders if she can trust him completely. . . .
Then one day, Olivia receives a phone call: Lily is dead, and Asher is being questioned by the police. Olivia is adamant that her son is innocent. But she would be lying if she didn’t acknowledge the flashes of his father’s temper in Ash, and as the case against him unfolds, she realizes he’s hidden more than he’s shared with her.
Mad Honey is a riveting novel of suspense, an unforgettable love story, and a moving and powerful exploration of the secrets we keep and the risks we take in order to become ourselves.”
10/10- recommend
4. TOMORROW AND TOMORROW AND TOMORROW: I had a lot of mixed feelings about this book- I didn’t like it (was hard to get into it), then I liked it, then I was bored with it, I cried, and then I was engaged with it again, and then I was really into it… I loved some characters, had a love/hate with others, felt sorry for some… In the end, I do think that it was a book with well developed characters and depth. It did consist of a lot of “gaming” talk, which I know nothing about, but I also don’t think you have to know a lot about this topic for the book to be interesting and relevant. See a quick synopsis below:
“On a bitter-cold day, in the December of his junior year at Harvard, Sam Masur exits a subway car and sees, amid the hordes of people waiting on the platform, Sadie Green. He calls her name. For a moment, she pretends she hasn’t heard him, but then, she turns, and a game begins: a legendary collaboration that will launch them to stardom.
These friends, intimates since childhood, borrow money, beg favors, and, before even graduating college, they have created their first blockbuster, Ichigo. Overnight, the world is theirs. Not even twenty-five years old, Sam and Sadie are brilliant, successful, and rich, but these qualities won’t protect them from their own creative ambitions or the betrayals of their hearts.
Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, and lands in between and far beyond, Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow examines the multifarious nature of identity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play, and above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love.”
8/10-recommend
5. TWENTY YEARS LATER: I grabbed this one as a book to read on our flight to Hawaii- I was wanting to get back into my favorite genre of psychological thrillers and this one has such good reviews. It was just okay for me. I felt like it was sort of “flat.” I didn’t finish it on the flight, and didn’t find myself itching to pick it back up again on the car ride to the hotel. All that to say, it was an easy read. Here’s a glimpse below:
“Avery Mason, host of American Events, knows the subjects that grab a TV audience’s attention. Her latest story—a murder mystery laced with kinky sex, tragedy, and betrayal—is guaranteed to be ratings gold. New DNA technology has allowed the New York medical examiner’s office to make its first successful identification of a 9/11 victim in years. The twist: the victim, Victoria Ford, had been accused of the gruesome murder of her married lover. In a chilling last phone call to her sister, Victoria begged her to prove her innocence.
Emma Kind has waited twenty years to put her sister to rest, but closure won’t be complete until she can clear Victoria’s name. Alone she’s had no luck, but she’s convinced that Avery’s connections and fame will help. Avery, hoping to negotiate a more lucrative network contract, goes into investigative overdrive. Victoria had been having an affair with a successful novelist, found hanging from the balcony of his Catskills mansion. The rope, the bedroom, and the entire crime scene was covered in Victoria’s DNA.
But the twisted puzzle of Victoria’s private life is just the beginning. And what Avery doesn’t realize is that there are other players in the game who are interested in Avery’s own secret past—one she has kept hidden from both the network executives and her television audience. A secret she thought was dead and buried . . . “
7/10
6. VACATION WARS: I received this “advanced copy” and thought it would be a light, easy, read for Hawaii and brought it along with me. It’s a cute romance story, and as I anticipated, an “easy beach read.” My only issue with it, and this is just me, but the steamy love scenes make me laugh (probably the opposite of what they’re supposed to do, haha), like literally out loud. They didn’t start until a little over halfway through the book, so it was all good until that point. If you love steamy novels, this one is great… if you’re sort of impartial to them, take the meat of the story, skim through steamy, and it’s still a “fun” read. Synopsis below:
“Prepared for a good time, Tessa is thrilled to spend the weeks before her sister’s wedding at their family’s favorite vacation spot: Santorini. Sandy beaches, stonewashed houses, attractive men―it’s heaven.
But Tessa’s idea of a girls’ trip comes to a screaming halt when her sister thinks it’s high time Tessa finds some love herself. Unfortunately, Tessa forgot about the deal she made back in high school: she has to find her soulmate before her sister’s wedding. Or else.
As she dodges suitors and her sister’s pranks, Tessa finds an ally in the oh-so-dreamy Myles, her childhood crush who just so happens to work at the resort. But Myles is dealing with some family conflict of his own. He’s elated at being reunited with Tessa, but his father’s refusal to acknowledge his interest in the family business and relegating him to only grunt work casts a dark cloud.
As Tessa and Myles help navigate their way through their families’ antics, they begin to realize that their past feelings may have a future―if only they can turn their island fantasies into something real.”
7/10
