December 2020 Wrap Up

Well today is the last day of 2020. "Ole Years Day!" as we call it here in Trinidad and Tobago.

Many would say that 2020 has been an unprecedented year with the Coronavirus and all the social distancing. I actually thought that this year gave me the opportunity to embrace my love for reading and share my passion with the world through "Trini Girl Reads."

As I share what I read for the month of December, I would like to wish all persons reading this a Happy and Prosperous 2021.

DECEMBER 2020 Reads

Jihadi Bride by Alastair Luft Book Review ⭐⭐⭐

 

Title of Book: Jihadi Bride
Author: Alastair Luft
Published by: Black Rose Publishing 
Number of Pages:326
Genres: Action, Thriller
Source: Book Sirens
Format: Kindle, ARC
Trini Girl Reads Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

"....someone's freedom to do something always butted up against someone else's freedom from something."

This is the first book I have received from Book Sirens in exchange for an honest review.

This book was about Erik Peterson an army /war veteran who upon hearing that his daughter Arielle after having had a traumatic experience at her college, decided to join Islam and go to Syria to (what she thought) to fulfill a higher purpose and find peace. What she experienced was nothing she expected. Meanwhile her father Erick would stop at nothing to find his daughter even if it meant putting himself at risk.

I found this story really exciting and action packed and honestly this would make a very good TV series. This is my first time reading this author and I must say I was very impressed with the writing in this novel and the characters. I am always impressed when I can, from the description of characters picture what they look like and imagine that I am there.

What stood out was Arielle's experience upon arrival in the Middle East. It really reminded me that sometimes experiencing a traumatic experience can lead us to find comfort in things that may not necessarily be good for us.

I was excited about Mus'ab though, and felt that his character could have impacted more in the story. (I do not want to go further and spoil it).

I can definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes Action.

Best Books of 2020 by Francica aka Trini Girl Reads

Here is a list of the best books I read in 2020.

1. Game of Thrones - George. R.R. Martin

2. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

3. Kite Runner _ Khaled Hosseini

4. Americanah _ Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

5. Girl Woman Other _ Berandine Evaristo

6. My Sister's Keeper _ Jodi Picoult

7. A Thousand Splendid Suns _ Khaled Hosseini

8.The Vanishing Half - Brit Bennet

9. The Wife Between Us _ Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

10. The Silent Patient - Alex Michealides 

Merry Christmas Everyone 🎄🎅🤶

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett Book Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

THE VANISHING HALF 

FIVE STARS ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

SYNOPSIS

The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it's not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it's everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Many years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape. The other secretly passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters' storylines intersect?

Weaving together multiple strands and generations of this family, from the Deep South to California, from the 1950s to the 1990s, Brit Bennett produces a story that is at once a riveting, emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing. Looking well beyond issues of race, The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person's decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the multiple reasons and realms in which people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51791252-the-vanishing-half

MY REVIEW

This book is definitely one of the best books I have read this year. 

I connected with this book on so many levels. As a person of color sometimes we feel as if there is a need to change who we are to be accepted. The Vignes sisters, twins, belonged to this small town called Mallard where everyone was light skinned. 

They witnessed their father being killed by a gang of white men when they were children and this I think impacted on the twins during the course of their lives. The story follows Desiree and Stella  Vignes as they grow up and take two different paths in life, with Stella trying to pass for white, while Desiree wanting to prove a point by marrying one of those {"dark men" that her mother warned were trouble. 

I felt connected to all the characters in this novel. I felt mixed emotions anger, fear, sadness especially for Stella because she felt that hiding who she was would somehow erase the hurt from her past. I think that while she lived in luxury she had the harder life than Desiree. As a person of color myself. 

I could relate to the issues of colorism that came out in the book. The writer did that creatively with the character Jude who was Desiree's daughter. I felt through the words how she lacked the confidence just like most girls who are darker skinned. Reese was important too because he had his battles to fight with being transgender but in Jude he found a mirror image. 

I read this book as an e book but I am going out to the book store and getting a physical copy for myself. I am looking forward to reading more from this author in future.

I highly recommend this book. 

I also think that it is a great book for a book club discussion.

A Dark and Secret Place by Jen Williams ⭐⭐⭐Book Review ⭐⭐⭐

Synopsis

When prodigal daughter Heather Evans returns to her family home after her mother's baffling suicide, she makes an alarming discovery--stacks and stacks of carefully preserved letters from notorious serial killer Michael Reave. The "Red Wolf," as he was dubbed by the press, has been in prison for over twenty years, serving a life sentence for the gruesome and ritualistic murders of several women across the country, although he has always protested his innocence. The police have had no reason to listen, yet Heather isn't the only one to have cause to re-examine the murders. The body of a young woman has just been found, dismembered and placed inside a tree, the corpse planted with flowers. Just as the Red Wolf once did.

What did Heather's mother know? Why did she kill herself? And with the monstrous Red Wolf safely locked inside a maximum security prison, who is stalking young women now? Teaming up with DI Ben Parker, Heather hopes to get some answers for herself and for the newest victims of this depraved murderer. Yet to do that, she must speak to Michael Reave herself, and expose herself to truths she may not be ready to face. Something dark is walking in the woods, and it knows her all too well.

My Review

Three Stars - I liked this story....⭐⭐⭐

Thank you Net Galley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

A very entertaining and gripping book that is sure to keep you at the edge of your seat.

Heather, a thirty something year old journalist had no idea that her mother Colleen, who recently committed suicide had so many secrets, that is, until now. Upon returning to bury her now deceased mother Heather finds letters written by her mother to a well known serial killer Michael Reave. Intent to uncover the truth, Heather starts an investigation of her own. What she finds out is much more than she bargained for.

What I liked about this story was that it was not predictable usually in mysteries we could, about halfway into the story know what will happen but this story at least for me ended a bit unexpected.

If I had to make a criticism though, I felt that there were some parts in the middle that dragged and I would have liked more of Ben Parker especially toward the end, His character was quite good so I would have been more excited if he was more involved when Heather and Nikki went to Fiddler's Mill.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes thrillers and mysteries. I am sure you will enjoy it.