by: Colleen Hoover

😊😊😊😊🌗 (4.5 happies)

Description:

Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish.

Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity’s notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn’t expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read. Page after page of bone-chilling admissions, including Verity’s recollection of what really happened the day her daughter died.

Lowen decides to keep the manuscript hidden from Jeremy, knowing its contents would devastate the already grieving father. But as Lowen’s feelings for Jeremy begin to intensify, she recognizes all the ways she could benefit if he were to read his wife’s words. After all, no matter how devoted Jeremy is to his injured wife, a truth this horrifying would make it impossible for him to continue to love her. 

My Review:

Ummm…wow. This book sucks you in from the first page…no, the first SENTENCE and never lets go! I read the entire thing in 1 day. It didn’t hurt that we were on a 6 hour road trip, but as soon as we got home and settled I hopped in bed only meaning to read a few more chapters and ended up finishing it. This is the first book of hers I have read so I don’t know if it’s the norm for her, but I will warn you it was explicit…definitely rated R. But whether you consider that a good thing or a bad thing, don’t really take it into account when deciding whether or not to read this book. It isn’t just in there unnecessarily and is definitely part of the character building and there is a whole lot more going on that you don’t want to miss out on.

I came sooo close to giving this 5 happies. The only thing that stopped me is I’m still sitting on how I feel about the ending. There is a major plot twist and it definitely doesn’t wrap everything up with a pretty bow and end happily ever after for everyone but I can’t decide if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. I think my mind says the ending is smart and brilliant, but my heart my be a little disappointed. Also, there is a bit of a cliffhanger. I could see a sequel or another book written from a different character’s point of view.

😊😊😊🌗 (3.5 happies)

by Kristin Hannah

Description:

In the rugged Pacific Northwest lies the Olympic National Forest—nearly a million acres of impenetrable darkness and impossible beauty. From deep within this old growth forest, a six-year-old girl appears. Speechless and alone, she offers no clue as to her identity, no hint of her past.
 
Having retreated to her western Washington hometown after a scandal left her career in ruins, child psychiatrist Dr. Julia Cates is determined to free the extraordinary little girl she calls Alice from a prison of unimaginable fear and isolation. To reach her, Julia must discover the truth about Alice’s past—although doing so requires help from Julia’s estranged sister, a local police officer. The shocking facts of Alice’s life test the limits of Julia’s faith and strength, even as she struggles to make a home for Alice—and for herself.

My Review:

My feelings about this book and how I thought I was going to rate it were a bit of a rollercoaster. I loved the original plot idea so that got me excited to read it from the start. I had a bit of trouble relating to the main characters from the beginning and wasn’t sure I really even “liked” them. Also, I wasn’t sure they were believable at first either. Not that they were people who couldn’t easily exist, but the more I read about them in the beginning, the more often I found myself thinking “That doesn’t seem like how I would have pictured this character”. This happened with everything from personality, relationships with others and even their physical descriptions. Then after a few chapters I felt like NOTHING was happening. The interesting plot was spilled out there early but then very little happened for most of the middle of the book. I got bored. Instead of being a book that was hard to put down, it was kind of hard to pick up. Also, the author has a great gift for using very descriptive words but does this almost TOO MUCH. Instead of painting a picture the scene in my mind, it was to the point of boring me and taking me out of the story with all of the similes and metaphors.

We had a long car trip to see family though and so I had a long time to sit and read and not many better options so I got back into it and started getting really into it the last third of it. I really enjoyed the remainder of the book and it even almost brought me to tears a few times towards the end. The characters began to grow on me and became more interesting and there were a few events both unexpected and expected that made it much more interesting. In the end I think I would recommend it however would warn people of the fairly dull middle, but to stick with it. I gave it 3.5 happies because it started at 3 for me with the interesting plot to build on, was maybe a 2 throughout much of the middle, but ended at about a 4 so I think both the story and Author were redeemed.

😊😊😊😊

by Alice Hoffman

Description:

For the Owens family, love is a curse that began in 1620, when Maria Owens was charged with witchery for loving the wrong man.

Hundreds of years later, in New York City at the cusp of the sixties, when the whole world is about to change, Susanna Owens knows that her three children are dangerously unique. Difficult Franny, with skin as pale as milk and blood red hair, shy and beautiful Jet, who can read other people’s thoughts, and charismatic Vincent, who began looking for trouble on the day he could walk.

From the start Susanna sets down rules for her children: No walking in the moonlight, no red shoes, no wearing black, no cats, no crows, no candles, no books about magic. And most importantly, never, ever, fall in love. But when her children visit their Aunt Isabelle, in the small Massachusetts town where the Owens family has been blamed for everything that has ever gone wrong, they uncover family secrets and begin to understand the truth of who they are. Back in New York City each begins a risky journey as they try to escape the family curse.

The Owens children cannot escape love even if they try, just as they cannot escape the pains of the human heart. The two beautiful sisters will grow up to be the revered, and sometimes feared, aunts in Practical Magic, while Vincent, their beloved brother, will leave an unexpected legacy. Thrilling and exquisite, real and fantastical, The Rules of Magic is a story about the power of love reminding us that the only remedy for being human is to be true to yourself.

My Review:

I enjoyed this book a lot. It was a quick read for me and I found myself picking it up any time I got a free moment instead of scrolling on my phone. The descriptions of the settings was written very well, and I could picture them in my mind easily. I enjoyed the fact that the book was somewhat fantasy, but not so over the top that you have to be a fantasy-lover to enjoy it. The characters were interesting and the plot was not too predictable and kept you wondering what would happen next. This book spans over many years and life events of the main characters without either being too long or feeling rushed. This was the first book of Alice Hoffman’s series I have read and will definitely start another one soon.

Recommend Read!