tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38738167441554867862024-03-26T23:36:29.130-07:00Trini Girl ReadsSharing my passion one book at a time Trini Girl Readshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01165431384234801755noreply@blogger.comBlogger220125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873816744155486786.post-42746364275039091282024-03-26T05:46:00.000-07:002024-03-26T05:46:58.640-07:00Book Review: Everyone Here is Lying by Shari Lapena <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnQ94dSogwVmDfPUW2YUZoUsTvpKDqtzoRQ9TiYRBUnLjUSptmd9vnC4BI8Zq0H2KKyv_0XtRT7Ju5JKClLSY960rq7MJO_nVGPP9bCBB-xCq4cECdKMNYH7kHKbdEQDLRt-H_l_d0G0pW_GS9P4tDvqssK6bHTXqVy6cQRDb6t9v36UvCRmn03PzNJHVn/s148/Everyone%20here%20is%20lying.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="148" data-original-width="98" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnQ94dSogwVmDfPUW2YUZoUsTvpKDqtzoRQ9TiYRBUnLjUSptmd9vnC4BI8Zq0H2KKyv_0XtRT7Ju5JKClLSY960rq7MJO_nVGPP9bCBB-xCq4cECdKMNYH7kHKbdEQDLRt-H_l_d0G0pW_GS9P4tDvqssK6bHTXqVy6cQRDb6t9v36UvCRmn03PzNJHVn/w265-h400/Everyone%20here%20is%20lying.jpg" width="265" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">About:</h2><p><i style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">Welcome to Stanhope - a safe neighbourhood. A place for families.</span></i><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">William Wooler is a family man, on the surface. But he's been having an affair, an affair that ended horribly this afternoon at a motel up the road. So when he returns to his house, devastated and angry, to find his difficult nine-year-old daughter Avery unexpectedly home from school, William loses his temper.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Hours later, Avery's family declare her missing.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Suddenly Stanhope doesn't feel so safe. And William isn't the only one on his street who's hiding a lie. As witnesses come forward with information that may or may not be true, Avery's neighbours become increasingly unhinged.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Who took Avery Wooler?</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><i style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">Nothing will prepare you for the truth.</span></i><p></p><p><i style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"><br /></span></i></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">My Thoughts</span></span></h2><div><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span></span></div><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><i style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: 400;">When I finish a book in a day you know it is really good. In Everyone Here is Lying, we meet Dr. William Wooler a handsome medical doctor who is having an affair with co worker and neighbour Nora Blanchard. When Nora breaks off the affair, William becomes frustrated, so much so that he takes it out on his nine year old daughter Avery, who is deemed a difficult child.</span></span></span></span></i></div><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; font-weight: 600;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: 400;">When Avery goes missing, fingers start pointing and this is when the lies and lives of the peaceful community of Stanhope becomes intertwined.</span><br style="font-style: normal; font-weight: 400;" /><br style="font-style: normal; font-weight: 400;" /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: 400;">What I like about this book is that it was very dramatic from beginning to end. Each character especially Avery was so unique that it made for a very interesting story. This is my first time reading a book by this author and of course it would not be my last. A great thriller to start my vacation.</span></div></span></span></span></span><p></p>Trini Girl Readshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01165431384234801755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873816744155486786.post-63278782409041837032024-03-26T05:40:00.000-07:002024-03-26T05:40:44.476-07:00Book Review: How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water by Angie Cruz <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfoM0GkufwzARcEM8A5i-vnw2ZGdxcYKXBm-7ps_oU2D9m23szb6SiMGhCN9_AkXsugxygSNBtVKTb8qHByHXgmuQMPOyw6CiYZUXRECqVvqmG9OO4s8QCvZ7_Gkebk6juaYNXr8ZoF3yZOOAk9vYK_QsDtpoK-13OEBGcrqetxzCH2y0HW6LiHvnh0D17/s151/How%20not%20to%20drown%20In%20a%20glass%20of%20water.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="151" data-original-width="98" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfoM0GkufwzARcEM8A5i-vnw2ZGdxcYKXBm-7ps_oU2D9m23szb6SiMGhCN9_AkXsugxygSNBtVKTb8qHByHXgmuQMPOyw6CiYZUXRECqVvqmG9OO4s8QCvZ7_Gkebk6juaYNXr8ZoF3yZOOAk9vYK_QsDtpoK-13OEBGcrqetxzCH2y0HW6LiHvnh0D17/w260-h400/How%20not%20to%20drown%20In%20a%20glass%20of%20water.jpg" width="260" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">About</h3><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: georgia; font-size: 16px;">Cara Romero thought she would work at the factory of little lamps for the rest of her life. But when, in her mid-50s, she loses her job in the Great Recession, she is forced back into the job market for the first time in decades. Set up with a job counselor, Cara instead begins to narrate the story of her life. Over the course of twelve sessions, Cara recounts her tempestuous love affairs, her alternately biting and loving relationships with her neighbor Lulu and her sister Angela, her struggles with debt, gentrification and loss, and, eventually, what really happened between her and her estranged son, Fernando. As Cara confronts her darkest secrets and regrets, we see a woman buffeted by life but still full of fight.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Structurally inventive and emotionally kaleidoscopic, <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water</i> is Angie Cruz’s most ambitious and moving novel yet, and Cara is a heroine for the ages.</div></span></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">My Thoughts</h3><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;">This was our March Book Club Pick </span><a class="x1i10hfl xjbqb8w x1ejq31n xd10rxx x1sy0etr x17r0tee x972fbf xcfux6l x1qhh985 xm0m39n x9f619 x1ypdohk xt0psk2 xe8uvvx xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x16tdsg8 x1hl2dhg xggy1nq x1a2a7pz notranslate _a6hd" href="https://www.instagram.com/we_read_books_period/" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: white; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: georgia; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation;" tabindex="0">@we_read_books_period</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;"> and it was a very interesting book indeed. Thanks for this recommendation.</span></div><span style="background-color: white;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: justify;">How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water is set in Little Dominican Republic, New York at the height of the recession that occurred in the early 2000s. In the story we meet Cara an immigrant from the DR interviewing for a job after loosing her job in a factory where she worked for over 20 years.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Every chapter of the book is a different session of the interview. It is in this job search Cara tells of the life of an immigrant in the USA the highs and the lows. I love stories like these so it really gripped me.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Cara's relationships were very notable in the book. Her sister Angela, her friends Lulu and La Vieja Caridad these women all had struggles and similar demons to deal with. It was Cara's relationship with her son Fernando that took me on an emotional rollercoaster.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Very creative and somewhat poetic, How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water is truly a MUST Read.</div></span></span><p></p>Trini Girl Readshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01165431384234801755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873816744155486786.post-8577938830721486642024-03-12T15:48:00.000-07:002024-03-12T15:48:17.286-07:00BOOK REVIEW: The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhizmIrZqYPvVfzE_7kefu2dzu8JB5iM9MmjR68d9dsNou8wJXsyoE5_ly4o0tgb_XMOAmYOxtYwNXBk-3abx87DJJTA-A6FKf0tc2-4bm4DOvuFKNGeFqSvWwnAr4vQ4sUTE19z7vqSpk7jrNM0qH_pzbnQLbeg-zSglR8AqEc8bjhcb_BfUX4Hmc5EOpa/s2417/Weight%20of%20blood.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2417" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhizmIrZqYPvVfzE_7kefu2dzu8JB5iM9MmjR68d9dsNou8wJXsyoE5_ly4o0tgb_XMOAmYOxtYwNXBk-3abx87DJJTA-A6FKf0tc2-4bm4DOvuFKNGeFqSvWwnAr4vQ4sUTE19z7vqSpk7jrNM0qH_pzbnQLbeg-zSglR8AqEc8bjhcb_BfUX4Hmc5EOpa/s320/Weight%20of%20blood.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">About:</h3><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">" New York Times bestselling author Tiffany D. Jackson ramps up the horror and tackles America's history and legacy of racism in this suspenseful YA novel following a biracial teenager as her Georgia high school hosts its first integrated prom.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">When Springville residents—at least the ones still alive—are questioned about what happened on prom night, they all have the same explanation … Maddy did it.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">An outcast at her small-town Georgia high school, Madison Washington has always been a teasing target for bullies. And she's dealt with it because she has more pressing problems to manage. Until the morning a surprise rainstorm reveals her most closely kept Maddy is biracial. She has been passing for white her entire life at the behest of her fanatical white father, Thomas Washington.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">After a viral bullying video pulls back the curtain on Springville High's racist roots, student leaders come up with a plan to change their host the school's first integrated prom as a show of unity. The popular white class president convinces her Black superstar quarterback boyfriend to ask Maddy to be his date, leaving Maddy wondering if it's possible to have a normal life.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">But some of her classmates aren't done with her just yet. And what they don't know is that Maddy still has another secret … one that will cost them all their lives. "</div></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: Proxima Nova, Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: Proxima Nova, Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;">MY THOUGHTS</span></h3><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: helvetica;">Loved It.</span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="background-color: white;"><div style="text-align: justify;">This is definitely a must read if you enjoy YA thriller.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="background-color: white;"><div style="text-align: justify;">In this book we meet Maddy Washington a shy teenager who has a deep dark secret that becomes revealed one rainy day on the track. This revelation makes Maddy's life even more miserable than it already was in a high school that does not embrace diversity.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="background-color: white;"><div style="text-align: justify;">As Maddy tries to survive at school, at home she had to deal with an abusive father who is determined at all cost to hide who his daughter really is. Maddy soon finds out a secret that could change her life forever, and that it did because the night of the prom was something that no one in the town of Springvale never forgot.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="background-color: white;"><div style="text-align: justify;">This book is the perfect example of how a thriller is supposed to be written. I hear people saying it was inspired by Carrie. I will definitely be trying to read Carrie now after reading this.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="background-color: white;"><div style="text-align: justify;">I especially loved how this book touched on serious issues and was able to do it in a very unique way. This was good.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="background-color: white;"><div style="text-align: justify;">I recommend this one.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div></span><p></p>Trini Girl Readshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01165431384234801755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873816744155486786.post-28990814644957955212024-03-03T16:27:00.000-08:002024-03-03T16:27:06.798-08:00Book Review: The Whispers by Ashley Audrain<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeH46GxJuU8E1DBpCP3GkKW6ZhhsWcM21FX74Fb5hZ1eatqDPTYRROo3hEQl6kf0sOK7Gl_Mx8Ik4ic1AKjcxXmbYqtZ3EWt6Od-7tvr27FG8ubjCsW8Qb-ziio_t13d5QBcQ94T0Fggd0mbCcqYv7j-QwBENT4UpC36yobf7avYDqkO2ZoNj7ncGylNCi/s2560/The%20Whispers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2560" data-original-width="1695" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeH46GxJuU8E1DBpCP3GkKW6ZhhsWcM21FX74Fb5hZ1eatqDPTYRROo3hEQl6kf0sOK7Gl_Mx8Ik4ic1AKjcxXmbYqtZ3EWt6Od-7tvr27FG8ubjCsW8Qb-ziio_t13d5QBcQ94T0Fggd0mbCcqYv7j-QwBENT4UpC36yobf7avYDqkO2ZoNj7ncGylNCi/w265-h400/The%20Whispers.jpg" width="265" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">About</h3><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">From the author of THE PUSH, a pageturner about four suburban families whose lives are changed when the unthinkable happens--and what is lost when good people make unconscionable choices</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">The Loverlys sit by the hospital bed of their young son who is in a coma after falling from his bedroom window in the middle of the night; his mother, Whitney, will not speak to anyone. Back home, their friends and neighbors are left in shock, each confronting their own role in the events that led up to what happened that terrible night: the warm, altruistic Parks who are the Loverlys' best friends; the young, ambitious Goldsmiths who are struggling to start a family of their own; and the quiet, elderly Portuguese couple who care for their adult son with a developmental disability, and who pass the long days on the front porch, watching their neighbors go about their busy lives.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">The story spins out over the course of one week, in the alternating voices of the women in each family as they are forced to face the secrets within the walls of their own homes, and the uncomfortable truths that connect them all to one another. Set against the heart wrenching drama of what will happen to Xavier, who hangs between death and life, or a life changed forever, THE WHISPERS is a novel about what happens when we put our needs ahead of our children's. Exploring the quiet sacrifices of motherhood, the intuitions that we silence, the complexities of our closest friendships, and the danger of envy, this is a novel about the reverberations of life's most difficult decisions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><b>My Thoughts</b></h3><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: start;">Wow!!! Where do I start with this review? This book was a wild ride that's for sure. One night changed everything for the ladies of the suburb of Harlow Street, when Xavier, the son of Whitney fell through the window and is at hospital fighting for his life. The question was did he accidentally fall or was he pushed.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; text-align: start;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; text-align: start;" /><span style="text-align: start;">The ladies of the area Rebecca, Blair, Mara and Whitney were all neighbours in Harlow Street but the secrets they held....</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; text-align: start;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; text-align: start;" /><span style="text-align: start;">This story is about friendship, relationships, jealousy. It really shows that as women many times we may look at someone's marriage or just their life in general and feel as if we are missing out or ask ourselves why can't I have a husband like that or a child like that.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; text-align: start;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; text-align: start;" /><span style="text-align: start;">Blair and Whitney were very well written characters. I really felt it for Rebecca though.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; text-align: start;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; text-align: start;" /><span style="text-align: start;">I highly recommend this one. It is full of drama yes. But equally it has some important life lessons for women.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><p></p>Trini Girl Readshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01165431384234801755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873816744155486786.post-89420581046101139272024-02-12T10:01:00.000-08:002024-02-12T10:01:01.049-08:00Book Review: The Street Lawyer by John Grisham<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO_RVtjc9ZNAS3rzNd3Um3kEo8CT1pMZ40m1qYWXY_BM8bCUGt2H2AZtFEFrL2_2xdjZIIijagNl4CaOpimHJtS7WSouXJyVq75XtZmG3lOJR0CO62iLOKmnw2RIyQApdrWprW0n7MtxGAxtAgCiAvEclbx62dvjwidlI-LgrUIxRD6jI_O-ld-W7ZOUHq/s400/the%20street%20lawyer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="244" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO_RVtjc9ZNAS3rzNd3Um3kEo8CT1pMZ40m1qYWXY_BM8bCUGt2H2AZtFEFrL2_2xdjZIIijagNl4CaOpimHJtS7WSouXJyVq75XtZmG3lOJR0CO62iLOKmnw2RIyQApdrWprW0n7MtxGAxtAgCiAvEclbx62dvjwidlI-LgrUIxRD6jI_O-ld-W7ZOUHq/s320/the%20street%20lawyer.jpg" width="195" /></a></div><h2 style="text-align: justify;">About:</h2><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Michael was in a hurry. He was scrambling up the ladder at Drake & Sweeney, a giant D.C. law firm with eight hundred lawyers. The money was good and getting better; a partnership was three years away. He was a rising star with no time to waste, no time to stop, no time to toss a few coins into the cups of panhandlers. No time for a conscience.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">But a violent encounter with a homeless man stopped him cold. Michael survived; his assailant did not. Who was this man? Michael did some digging, and learned that he was a mentally ill veteran who'd been in and out of shelters for many years. Then Michael dug a little deeper, and found a dirty secret, and the secret involved Drake & Sweeney.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">The fast track derailed; the ladder collapsed. Michael bolted the firm and took a top-secret file with him. He landed in the streets, an advocate for the homeless, a street lawyer.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">And a thief.</div></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: Proxima Nova, Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></p><h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: Proxima Nova, Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;">My Thoughts</span></h2><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: Proxima Nova, Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;">The master of legal drama did not disappoint with this one. Michael Brock was an amazing character. Imagine a lawyer on the fast track to being a partner of one of the top law firms in D.C., when a hostage encounter with a homeless gunman would change his career drastically, sending him to be a lawyer for the homeless, hopeless and destitute. THE VOICELESS.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: Proxima Nova, Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;">Many times persons enter the legal profession, or any profession to be of service to the community, but then when money comes in the way the focus becomes just that, getting rich. Grisham being the masterful storyteller that he is, worked in a message that persons should always try, especially as lawyers to remember that the job is there to provide a service, to be of a benefit to humanity and be a voice for those who cannot do it themselves. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: Proxima Nova, Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;">The cast of characters were amazing. The most notable being Mordecai, the head of the legal clinic that Michael eventually began working with, When I read legal books, I always look forward to a trial. I think more could have been done with the "Case of the Missing File" I wanted more drama there. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: Proxima Nova, Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;">Overall this was a good read.</span></p><p> </p>Trini Girl Readshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01165431384234801755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873816744155486786.post-29528642162499811672024-02-01T10:43:00.000-08:002024-02-01T10:43:03.621-08:00Book Review: The Wife Before by Shanora Williams <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNzuOjObuuii0lIpOaHxtUmZCLxH6QLMGT23zgBuBUGyCGJySZuj814S5OYDfwJZRiE0_NsGNBVB-FmXs2G_5q_8lvJFgnBub2sfCeeBznQSDqvmFhVmPv-414m8BT83AHB9CD1PET3Uqabfmi68VzqaA3F0GhY1qzRfMtGmjjMt7cXKG-d4KWwy29R6kI/s400/The%20Wife%20Before.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="267" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNzuOjObuuii0lIpOaHxtUmZCLxH6QLMGT23zgBuBUGyCGJySZuj814S5OYDfwJZRiE0_NsGNBVB-FmXs2G_5q_8lvJFgnBub2sfCeeBznQSDqvmFhVmPv-414m8BT83AHB9CD1PET3Uqabfmi68VzqaA3F0GhY1qzRfMtGmjjMt7cXKG-d4KWwy29R6kI/s320/The%20Wife%20Before.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">About</h2><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Samira Wilder has never had it easy, and when her latest lousy job goes south, things only promise to get harder. Until she unexpectedly meets a man who will change her life forever. Renowned pro golfer Roland Graham is wealthy, handsome, and caring, and Samira is dazzled. Best of all, he seems to understand her better than anyone ever has. And though their relationship moves a bit fast, when Roland proposes, Samira accepts. She even agrees to relocate to his secluded Colorado mansion. After all, there’s nothing to keep her in Miami, and the mansion clearly makes him happy. Soon, they are married amid a media firestorm, and Samira can't wait to make a fresh start—as the second Mrs. Graham . . .</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Samira settles into the mansion, blissfully happy—until she discovers long-hidden journals belonging to Roland’s late wife, Melanie, who died in a tragic accident. With each dusty page, Samira comes to realize that perhaps it was no accident at all—that perhaps her perfect husband is not as perfect as she thought. Even as her trust in Roland begins to dwindle and a shadow falls over her marriage and she begins to fear for her own life, Samira is determined to uncover the truth of Melanie’s troubled last days. But even good wives should know that the truth is not always what it seems . . .</span><br /> </p><p></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">MY THOUGHTS</h2><br /><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The Wife Before by Shanora Williams was a very gripping thriller.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">It follows Samira, a young woman who while taking up a waitressing gig to help pay her bills, encounters the very handsome, pro golfer Roland Graham. Roland is very handsome, rich and overall a good catch. As their relationship progresses Samira found out that Roland's ex wife committed suicide and that Roland was suspected as having something to do with it. Wanting to believe her (now husband) Samira set out on a quest to find the truth. Her curiosity is piqued further, when she finds journals from Melanie (The ex ) tucked away in a work shed.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The journals reveal a series of events and the contents could prove dangerous. Samira though becomes more determined than ever to get to the truth. It is her determination that made this book very exciting I think. I think the author was skilful in her use of the journals to dictate the past. To me that was the best part of reading the book. The ending was unexpected and this I liked as well.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">A good quick read.</span></p>Trini Girl Readshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01165431384234801755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873816744155486786.post-58313915841230934712024-01-27T07:07:00.000-08:002024-01-27T07:07:32.326-08:00Book Review: How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEb9v8lZ5cEgjdkuttgbhKta4stzwis1Vg_kR8BLTgHPbYsJykbLSGb_wO9lrIXjqv-igEpxzjJ5jZ5txFTUDOXkf74aB6sncoslc6LMYZ61hxp8mw0LVR6js9_8MKlx6OaEa5e1kAAG9YjJUToszZZ2liS6j-BdsdbNTyfviJn02hgWGI4a-36xBy7yHs/s178/How%20to%20Say%20Babylon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="178" data-original-width="120" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEb9v8lZ5cEgjdkuttgbhKta4stzwis1Vg_kR8BLTgHPbYsJykbLSGb_wO9lrIXjqv-igEpxzjJ5jZ5txFTUDOXkf74aB6sncoslc6LMYZ61hxp8mw0LVR6js9_8MKlx6OaEa5e1kAAG9YjJUToszZZ2liS6j-BdsdbNTyfviJn02hgWGI4a-36xBy7yHs/w270-h400/How%20to%20Say%20Babylon.jpg" width="270" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">About:</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">With echoes of </span><i style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Educated</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> and </span><i style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Born a Crime</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">, </span><i style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">How to Say Babylon</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> is the stunning story of the author’s struggle to break free of her rigid Rastafarian upbringing, ruled by her father’s strict patriarchal views and repressive control of her childhood, to find her own voice as a woman and poet.</span></p><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Throughout her childhood, Safiya Sinclair’s father, a volatile reggae musician and militant adherent to a strict sect of Rastafari, became obsessed with her purity, in particular, with the threat of what Rastas call Babylon, the immoral and corrupting influences of the Western world outside their home. He worried that womanhood would make Safiya and her sisters morally weak and impure, and believed a woman’s highest virtue was her obedience.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">In an effort to keep Babylon outside the gate, he forbade almost everything. In place of pants, the women in her family were made to wear long skirts and dresses to cover their arms and legs, head wraps to cover their hair, no make-up, no jewelry, no opinions, no friends. Safiya’s mother, while loyal to her father, nonetheless gave Safiya and her siblings the gift of books, including poetry, to which Safiya latched on for dear life. And as Safiya watched her mother struggle voicelessly for years under housework and the rigidity of her father’s beliefs, she increasingly used her education as a sharp tool with which to find her voice and break free. Inevitably, with her rebellion comes clashes with her father, whose rage and paranoia explodes in increasing violence. As Safiya’s voice grows, lyrically and poetically, a collision course is set between them.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><i style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">How to Say Babylon</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> is Sinclair’s reckoning with the culture that initially nourished but ultimately sought to silence her; it is her reckoning with patriarchy and tradition, and the legacy of colonialism in Jamaica. Rich in lyricism and language only a poet could evoke, How to Say Babylon is both a universal story of a woman finding her own power and a unique glimpse into a rarefied world we may know how to name, Rastafari, but one we know little about.'</span><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">My Thoughts</span></h3><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">This memoir has to be one of if not the best memoir I have ever read in my entire life. Safiya Sinclair clearly took her time to paint a very clear picture of what her life was like growing up Rastafarian.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Hers is a story of pain and glory. What I absolutely love and appreciate about this story is the uniqueness of it. I was happy to learn more about Rastafarisnism customs especially.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Safiya and her family went through a lot, all members. Her father, I think is the most notable character. I love how in the midst of all the trauma the family experienced growing up with him, I cant help but feeling it made all of them stronger. I felt sad for him because, it seemed he had a vision of how his life would have turned out and felt like a failure in a way.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I cannot wait for my book club to unpack this.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">This is a masterpiece.</span></div>Trini Girl Readshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01165431384234801755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873816744155486786.post-12403438137437824342024-01-18T16:48:00.000-08:002024-01-18T16:48:47.068-08:00Bridgertons #1: The Duke and I by Julia Quinn<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd1FA0NddoJ7HbkQEQAXWB71xaVgT0icP2FppJ7ZT2VEYjpv_In2Z1ZtSrXWNc0uK4fWjOkeaodd6ciHQu9Yb-0AqZytBIiS3MG0hgvyUxergujKzI38uMlaOtwaiARK-se3T9cGuxGjsCeshYvGXFgI52hNjgYLPuvqVrPkXvSJEA444mz7WmHGueZE_N/s2359/The%20Duke%20and%20I.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2359" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd1FA0NddoJ7HbkQEQAXWB71xaVgT0icP2FppJ7ZT2VEYjpv_In2Z1ZtSrXWNc0uK4fWjOkeaodd6ciHQu9Yb-0AqZytBIiS3MG0hgvyUxergujKzI38uMlaOtwaiARK-se3T9cGuxGjsCeshYvGXFgI52hNjgYLPuvqVrPkXvSJEA444mz7WmHGueZE_N/s320/The%20Duke%20and%20I.jpg" width="217" /></a></div><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;"> About </h3><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">In the ballrooms and drawing rooms of Regency London, rules abound. From their earliest days, children of aristocrats learn how to address an earl and curtsey before a prince—while other dictates of the ton are unspoken yet universally understood. A proper duke should be imperious and aloof. A young, marriageable lady should be amiable…but not too amiable.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Daphne Bridgerton has always failed at the latter. The fourth of eight siblings in her close-knit family, she has formed friendships with the most eligible young men in London. Everyone likes Daphne for her kindness and wit. But no one truly desires her. She is simply too deuced honest for that, too unwilling to play the romantic games that captivate gentlemen.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Amiability is not a characteristic shared by Simon Basset, Duke of Hastings. Recently returned to England from abroad, he intends to shun both marriage and society—just as his callous father shunned Simon throughout his painful childhood. Yet an encounter with his best friend’s sister offers another option. If Daphne agrees to a fake courtship, Simon can deter the mamas who parade their daughters before him. Daphne, meanwhile, will see her prospects and her reputation soar.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The plan works like a charm—at first. But amid the glittering, gossipy, cut-throat world of London’s elite, there is only one certainty: love ignores every rule...</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600;">This novel includes the 2nd epilogue, a peek at the story after the story.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">My Thoughts </span></span></h3><p><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">This was my last book for 2023 and I enjoyed it a lot. As most people I would have watched Bridgerton on Netflix. I heard many mixed reviews about the novels.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400; margin: 0px;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400; margin: 0px;" /><span style="font-weight: 400;">I am not much of a romance reader but I fell in love with Daphne and Simon more than I did in the series. I love how complicated Simon was as a result of his childhood and how it took his one true love Daphne Bridgerton to help him conquer his fears. This whole story really showed what true love is.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400; margin: 0px;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400; margin: 0px;" /><span style="font-weight: 400;">There was humor in it as well. I especially liked Violet Bridgerton's character. She had some funny moments in the story. The book helped me to understand her a little more.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400; margin: 0px;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400; margin: 0px;" /><span style="font-weight: 400;">In all this was a great way to end the ye</span></span></p>Trini Girl Readshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01165431384234801755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873816744155486786.post-34579686685165735992024-01-18T16:43:00.000-08:002024-01-18T16:43:50.945-08:00Book Review: Too Late by Colleen Hoover <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMYhRsgeAuNIpzJf_cyxZbWpc42F6iasLVbslrMDdlZYWUwC5FeSUEBtm3tmUQifpfA9QDWBRkNRIb42xQNUQGgmodQ4gWST3Zfjt-a9AlE8kcKH3ZZCuJ_sue1WK2cE6MeHr_hieqz4iqR5QuAabsp_Q-3F5pcRSVainXPSr6UAyyrygNN3yMYnC_C-Eg/s500/Too%20Late%20by%20Colleen%20Hoover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMYhRsgeAuNIpzJf_cyxZbWpc42F6iasLVbslrMDdlZYWUwC5FeSUEBtm3tmUQifpfA9QDWBRkNRIb42xQNUQGgmodQ4gWST3Zfjt-a9AlE8kcKH3ZZCuJ_sue1WK2cE6MeHr_hieqz4iqR5QuAabsp_Q-3F5pcRSVainXPSr6UAyyrygNN3yMYnC_C-Eg/s320/Too%20Late%20by%20Colleen%20Hoover.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">About </span></h2><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Sloan will go through hell and back for those she loves. And she does so, every single day. Caught up with the alluring Asa Jackson, a notorious drug trafficker, Sloan has finally found a lifeline to cling to, even if it’s meant compromising her morals. She was in dire straits trying to pay for her brother’s care until she met Asa. But as Sloan became emotionally and economically reliant on him, he in turn developed a disturbing obsession with her—one that becomes increasingly dangerous every day.</span></p><p><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">When undercover DEA agent Carter enters the picture, Sloan’s surprised to feel an immediate attraction between them, despite knowing that if Asa finds out, he will kill him. And Asa has always been a step ahead of everyone in his life, including Sloan. No one has ever gotten in his way.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">No one except Carter.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Together, Sloan and Carter must find a way out before it’s too late…</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">My Thoughts </span></h3><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The year started off really crazy for me however, I was to get through all that was going on with yet another amazing book by Colleen Hoover. Now if you have been following my reviews you will know that I am on a mission to read all the books by this author.</span></p><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Too Late is one of my favourites. I like romantic stories with a storyline and Sloan and Luke's story was really dramatic to say the least. In Too Late we meet Sloan, a young woman who had to make some hard decisions because of the hands she was dealt in life. She finds some comfort in her boyfriend ASA.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Asa is involved in shady dealings and is dealing with demons of his own. While undercover Luke gets a first hand view of the life of Asa. He suddenly becomes very intent on saving Sloan before it is Too Late.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Filled with suspense, drama and romance. Too Late is indeed a page turner.</span>Trini Girl Readshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01165431384234801755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873816744155486786.post-78726323291671424632023-12-23T15:03:00.000-08:002023-12-23T15:03:50.090-08:00The Amendment by Kiersten Modglin<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibeQ7-0Yx0cGNwP2DWrcbXmDeorruzo4_4kgOKid5ZUCV_Y-zsfl4wzB5r6ge9aNzqBtvERYKmIsxf8LE15ca3vmHtIsG1oGsW_bvu4STmt9Y_78Efndof-_qJEnJDJX2i4dd_20Gzw6svpjJFwTD0ExgoO3K3x2_oXrd8B-9TBDdkR3DzuLaHMpUsya7r/s180/The%20Ammendments.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="180" data-original-width="113" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibeQ7-0Yx0cGNwP2DWrcbXmDeorruzo4_4kgOKid5ZUCV_Y-zsfl4wzB5r6ge9aNzqBtvERYKmIsxf8LE15ca3vmHtIsG1oGsW_bvu4STmt9Y_78Efndof-_qJEnJDJX2i4dd_20Gzw6svpjJFwTD0ExgoO3K3x2_oXrd8B-9TBDdkR3DzuLaHMpUsya7r/w251-h400/The%20Ammendments.jpg" width="251" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>About<p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The dark, scandalous, and completely twisted sequel to Kiersten Modglin’s #1 bestselling domestic thriller, THE ARRANGEMENT…</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">First, there was the arrangement.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">A simple, yet salacious fix to the problems looming in their marriage.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">But when things took a tragic turn, Peter’s and Ainsley’s lives quickly fell into disarray.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Now, their secrets have been exposed.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">They know the truth—about each other and their marriage.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">As they struggle to move on from their past and the damage they’ve caused, new problems begin to surface.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Someone they love is hiding a catastrophic secret. The fragile ground they stand on is starting to crumble. Their family is being torn apart at the seams. And, maybe worst of all, a threat from the past is lurking, ready to unveil the things they’d kill to keep hidden.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">They thought the nightmare they’d made it through was over, but the worst is just beginning…</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Once, they vowed to do anything to make their marriage work.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Now, that vow will push every boundary they have left.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">In order to survive, they’ll need to completely trust each other.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">But can they?</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Last time they did, things went terribly wrong…</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">This time, it might be worse.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">If there’s one thing that’s certain, their secrets are too big to let anyone walk away alive.</span></p><p><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: Proxima Nova, Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: Proxima Nova, Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;">My Thoughts</span></p><p><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: Proxima Nova, Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;">I am obsessed with this series. <br /><br />What an ending!!! Normally when you read a sequel very often you find that the story gets boring but not this one. </span></p><p><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: Proxima Nova, Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: Proxima Nova, Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;">On to Part Three is all I can say.<br /></span> </p>Trini Girl Readshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01165431384234801755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873816744155486786.post-51060511770049782712023-12-23T14:59:00.000-08:002023-12-23T14:59:51.310-08:00Book Review: All Your Perfects by Colleen Hoover <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgesPOR8vEiav2qhUoddaSAyhz7unDnMegAbS_mgCGLsh3ImVkIAOOSraexA-zgnc2KbjZgr4YmdVXllZS7D_4QFN2KpvIwByQgEOx3w8ahyphenhyphenoR-qtTmy_KFx6CHtbbJWgDPCitwlxJfnXgmkiOI0LrCEO0mV1yErcncz8m8Msa2PTPiJ28yihyphenhyphenoaKHLfGA1/s180/All%20your%20perfects.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="180" data-original-width="116" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgesPOR8vEiav2qhUoddaSAyhz7unDnMegAbS_mgCGLsh3ImVkIAOOSraexA-zgnc2KbjZgr4YmdVXllZS7D_4QFN2KpvIwByQgEOx3w8ahyphenhyphenoR-qtTmy_KFx6CHtbbJWgDPCitwlxJfnXgmkiOI0LrCEO0mV1yErcncz8m8Msa2PTPiJ28yihyphenhyphenoaKHLfGA1/w258-h400/All%20your%20perfects.jpg" width="258" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><h2 style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />About</h2><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Colleen Hoover delivers a tour de force novel about a troubled marriage and the one old forgotten promise that might be able to save it.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Quinn and Graham’s perfect love is threatened by their imperfect marriage. The memories, mistakes, and secrets that they have built up over the years are now tearing them apart. The one thing that could save them might also be the very thing that pushes their marriage beyond the point of repair.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><i style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">All Your Perfects</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> is a profound novel about a damaged couple whose potential future hinges on promises made in the past. This is a heartbreaking page-turner that asks: Can a resounding love with a perfect beginning survive a lifetime between two imperfect people?</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">My Thoughts</span></h3><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">This is my fifth time reading Colleen Hoover. Again you fall in love with a couple which in this case is Graham and Quinn. Theirs was a chance meeting that soon turned into a deep love and a marriage.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The story is interesting because it speaks to love in the face of challenges. This couple is suffering from infertility and it caused turmoil and sadness in their marriage.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The beauty about the story is the realness of it, since many couples go through these problems and sometimes do not survive the storm. Graham and Quinn represents so many people out there so while it is a love story it is also a story of hope and survival.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">While this is not my favourite book by Colleen Hoover it is a decent read.</span></p><p><br /> </p>Trini Girl Readshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01165431384234801755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873816744155486786.post-35485851379933326032023-11-11T10:00:00.006-08:002023-11-11T10:00:55.617-08:00Holly by Stephen King<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOoCp5N8B6LpLbFus1RYjeKMnW-zWFZ4pKDC5wiSS_0MmKiRN4KjTy38L3BP0_dT2DuotFTUksj4LHZRepDO9A6dLY0hySml88RYDPzfZHp9uQXBOA8E4AUvUVD2uqYsBq0DKoxiYZbHuFjTVX5sNoeRhiUtKUlwdDGeGdR9NJIzqxYIrZw_jVUeNn3c9k/s900/Holly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="595" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOoCp5N8B6LpLbFus1RYjeKMnW-zWFZ4pKDC5wiSS_0MmKiRN4KjTy38L3BP0_dT2DuotFTUksj4LHZRepDO9A6dLY0hySml88RYDPzfZHp9uQXBOA8E4AUvUVD2uqYsBq0DKoxiYZbHuFjTVX5sNoeRhiUtKUlwdDGeGdR9NJIzqxYIrZw_jVUeNn3c9k/s320/Holly.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">About</h3><p><i style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">“Sometimes the universe throws you a rope.”</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> — BILL HODGES</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Stephen King’s Holly marks the triumphant return of beloved King character Holly Gibney. Readers have witnessed Holly’s gradual transformation from a shy (but also brave and ethical) recluse in Mr. Mercedes to Bill Hodges’s partner in Finders Keepers to a full-fledged, smart, and occasionally tough private detective in The Outsider. In King’s new novel, Holly is on her own, and up against a pair of unimaginably depraved and brilliantly disguised adversaries.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">When Penny Dahl calls the Finders Keepers detective agency hoping for help locating her missing daughter, Holly is reluctant to accept the case. Her partner, Pete, has Covid. Her (very complicated) mother has just died. And Holly is meant to be on leave. But something in Penny Dahl’s desperate voice makes it impossible for Holly to turn her down.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Mere blocks from where Bonnie Dahl disappeared live Professors Rodney and Emily Harris. They are the picture of bourgeois respectability: married octogenarians, devoted to each other, and semi-retired lifelong academics. But they are harboring an unholy secret in the basement of their well-kept, book-lined home, one that may be related to Bonnie’s disappearance. And it will prove nearly impossible to discover what they are up to: they are savvy, they are patient, and they are ruthless.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Holly must summon all her formidable talents to outthink and outmaneuver the shockingly twisted professors in this chilling new masterwork from Stephen King.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">My Thoughts</span></h3><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Well, well, well.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">As much as I read you would not believe that this was my first Stephen King novel that I read in it's entirety. I own quite a few of his books but never actually sat and read one. Last year I read about 30% of 11/22/63 and lost interest. (i will definitely be revisiting that one).</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">After reading Holly I am obsessed with King. I know to real Stephen King fans this is not maybe his best, but trust me I have been binge watching booktube for more suggestions.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Holly is a private investigator with a case that will blow your mind. What I loved is the complexity of the case because I kept wondering if she would ever figure out what the Harrises were doing....I would say no more. Read this you all.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Suggest another King book for me...</span></div><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></p>Trini Girl Readshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01165431384234801755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873816744155486786.post-9348392812714139902023-11-11T09:58:00.002-08:002023-11-11T09:58:28.717-08:00Book Review: The Arrangement by Kiersten Modglin<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPTnGzE_IAhCKykKCVaR_crQOLkBoYF9x69mUYon5ce49zhJimglD0oDBe5ey8N9ZoGVuSJ6lTVNjnyYpPDG06xBNRBvfqh6zwcMR-mgmCq5r30pbh0EUkDtmxPrivw96Uc8a0UyYw_UAhaCKV43Zs860FCNBdXgwHxaOshiIEYFDSYmO-7ZJXXJjfonK5/s4080/20231108_205111.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4080" data-original-width="3060" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPTnGzE_IAhCKykKCVaR_crQOLkBoYF9x69mUYon5ce49zhJimglD0oDBe5ey8N9ZoGVuSJ6lTVNjnyYpPDG06xBNRBvfqh6zwcMR-mgmCq5r30pbh0EUkDtmxPrivw96Uc8a0UyYw_UAhaCKV43Zs860FCNBdXgwHxaOshiIEYFDSYmO-7ZJXXJjfonK5/s320/20231108_205111.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">ABOUT</h2><br /><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Ainsley Greenburg is a fixer.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">It’s what she prides herself on.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">So, when she realizes her marriage is at its breaking point, she makes a decision to repair it, no matter the cost. Approaching her husband to propose the arrangement is supposed to be the hard part, but Peter agrees to the salacious plan almost immediately.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The rules are simple:</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">They will each date someone new once a week.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">They will never discuss what happens on the dates.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Soon, though, the rules are broken, turning terrible mistakes into unspeakable consequences.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">When the only person they can count on to keep their darkest secret is each other, new questions and deceits surface. Can they truly trust the person they share a life with, or will the vicious lies that have mounted over the years destroy everything they’ve built?</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Once, Peter and Ainsley vowed to stand together forever, but as they push boundaries of deception, suspicion, and temptation, each begins to wonder if ’til death do us part may come sooner than they’d intended.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">MY THOUGHTS</span></h3><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I was up late last night reading this book because I was really anxious to get to the end, and the ending was EXPLOSIVE!!!!</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Ainsley and Peter, upon hitting a rough patch in their marriage and after many failed attempts at reconciliation decides that the best thing for them would be an open marriage. So using a dating app that guarantees anonymity, this couple decides to "hook up" with strangers to somehow reignite a fire that they would have lost over the years. This arrangement set off a chain of events that would have you at the edge of your seat.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I came into this book thinking that it would be a very predictable story. But predictable it was not, the ending had me screaming in disbelief, now I HAVE to get my hands on the other two parts because I need to know what happened next. This is a quick read and very entertaining especially if you are a lover of psychological thrillers like me.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">READ IT!!! I am trying to get my hands on the second and third book.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></p>Trini Girl Readshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01165431384234801755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873816744155486786.post-89656645404739657722023-10-13T11:00:00.001-07:002023-10-13T11:00:23.068-07:00Book Review: Men Unleashed by Vaugh T. Stanford<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPyJxxXMpUr-Jd7SjdJggkVia9J46HkD3TAcWUU4tfDriIerl3t3A4L4YWHw5N7JuDqsLTDPOEW8piki0a-RLurNEwdZ0TOHorJN-pP0ADqXVdxnzZqVFf0i12TD84iA9GAYWMANj8f1gqlfpQMP3iDLNEphr7BZaUxGALkAZJAlehCQvd3ruWOq0J4IQm/s475/Men%20Unleashed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="312" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPyJxxXMpUr-Jd7SjdJggkVia9J46HkD3TAcWUU4tfDriIerl3t3A4L4YWHw5N7JuDqsLTDPOEW8piki0a-RLurNEwdZ0TOHorJN-pP0ADqXVdxnzZqVFf0i12TD84iA9GAYWMANj8f1gqlfpQMP3iDLNEphr7BZaUxGALkAZJAlehCQvd3ruWOq0J4IQm/s320/Men%20Unleashed.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">About:</h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Are Men Dogs? Steven Gardner thinks they are. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">He grabs the chance to highlight, through his feature in The National Standard , the myriad ways that men in his country abuse the women in their lives. Week after week, Gardner churns out story after story of women's dreadful mistreatment at the hands of the men they had the misfortune to love. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">This journalist is on a mission to change all that. He wants women to stand up and demand that men do better. But Gardner does not foresee the storm that breaks over his head in the form of pushback from colleagues, from random haters – and even from himself. Can one flawed man change a nation?</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div><h2 style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">My Thoughts</span></h2><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Domestic violence has been something that we as Trinbagonians have been grappling with for decades, maybe centuries. In some cases, it has has led to broken homes, individuals and in other cases it has led to death women in most cases have been on the receiving end of this type of violence.</span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Men Unleashed is a book like no other. I am so happy that I was given the opportunity to read this book where the author creatively addressed this issue in a work of fiction.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">In the book we meet Steven Gardener, a journalist from Trinidad and Tobago, upon his sister being held for the attempted murder of her husband, was inspired to write a column entitled "Men are Dogs". The stories that this column shared made for very good reading in my opinion because they were so raw and realistic, some of them I could personally relate to in terms of similar things that have occurred to family members and even friends. I really like books that make you think.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">While the book addressed some hard topics, there were also some fun sides to it as well. Steven was such an interesting character I actually wished to read more about him. A sequel perhaps??</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">I hope more people can put their hands on this book. Trust me you would not be disappointed.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">I highly recommend.</div></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><br /> <p></p>Trini Girl Readshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01165431384234801755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873816744155486786.post-73275978912256151742023-10-01T11:44:00.003-07:002023-10-01T11:44:39.026-07:00Book Review: One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtsmFgY-Ukvdq8iMDX6x0kkROjJoQnULNcadc9YGkeRhlvp-wMe5hOsOGm4UoZS3MzJYh-ms8Y2R6D5KnMd0OzO2naH0qhiDONDkoPoehObgHW-jrGZ4sZY0d-MHi6JDVfIyBHlRa9yMR4PFWBOHiX_QGJRHYfz4JSINV8203OJraufFcrzGCwUNRsynun/s180/One%20true%20Loves.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="180" data-original-width="115" height="397" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtsmFgY-Ukvdq8iMDX6x0kkROjJoQnULNcadc9YGkeRhlvp-wMe5hOsOGm4UoZS3MzJYh-ms8Y2R6D5KnMd0OzO2naH0qhiDONDkoPoehObgHW-jrGZ4sZY0d-MHi6JDVfIyBHlRa9yMR4PFWBOHiX_QGJRHYfz4JSINV8203OJraufFcrzGCwUNRsynun/w253-h397/One%20true%20Loves.jpg" width="253" /></a></div><p> </p><p>ABOUT </p><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">In her twenties, Emma Blair marries her high school sweetheart, Jesse. They build a life for themselves, far away from the expectations of their parents and the people of their hometown in Massachusetts. They travel the world together, living life to the fullest and seizing every opportunity for adventure.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">On their first wedding anniversary, Jesse is on a helicopter over the Pacific when it goes missing. Just like that, Jesse is gone forever.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Emma quits her job and moves home in an effort to put her life back together. Years later, now in her thirties, Emma runs into an old friend, Sam, and finds herself falling in love again. When Emma and Sam get engaged, it feels like Emma’s second chance at happiness.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">That is, until Jesse is found. He’s alive, and he’s been trying all these years to come home to her. With a husband and a fiancé, Emma has to now figure out who she is and what she wants, while trying to protect the ones she loves.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Who is her <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">one true love</i>? What does it mean to love truly?</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Emma knows she has to listen to her heart. She’s just not sure what it’s saying.</div></span><p></p><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">My Thoughts </h2><p><br /></p><p>This has been my fifth time reading Taylor Jenkins Reid and if you have been following my blog, you could tell that I am a big fan of her work. It seems that everything she writes grips me from the very beginning. One True Loves is no exception.</p><p>Imagine thinking your husband, your first love is dead and as soon as you move on with a fiancé' no less, after three years, he returns very much alive and anxious to begin where you guys left off.</p><p>This was exactly the case with Emma Blair. Emma, upon hearing that her husband Jesse was found alive had to make a decision. Jesse had been Emma's "One True Love" since high school. It was difficult for her to move on, but her fiancé Sam, (who loved Emma from the sidelines since high school) made it easy for her to get over Jesse's death with his charming ways.</p><p>She was now in a situation where she had a husband and a fiancé. Emma had a decision to make. Sam or Jesse?</p><p>I loved everything about this story, there was love, sadness, loss. But what stood out for me was the theme of grief and starting over. Too often many people who lose someone like a spouse, feel bad I think to move on. Emma's story in how she dealt with grief and starting anew was handled quite well by the author which made for excellent reading,</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Trini Girl Readshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01165431384234801755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873816744155486786.post-59892548531002049122023-09-24T10:38:00.006-07:002023-09-24T10:38:55.941-07:00Book Review: The Day I Fell off My Island by Yvonne Bailey-Smith<p> </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidLSAT0VadhJlQRNjAYuF6V2D3ptPPafbyAP_JTU9Hn12jBqBiXpLaS-A5mEfdEp6plo50pcAdnuwXl-qpbSWL5y8tifQ7JFSPgwlpELGeJeZBfqsRimmFmXvDwCmNyOg0N3M5z3WwedeUJtNqCFe7Xbrd7ZI-0GT8G9Ulnm4BA3eNOZVoHphG8JGM4nLO/s2241/The%20Day%20I%20fell%20of%20my%20Island.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2241" data-original-width="1400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidLSAT0VadhJlQRNjAYuF6V2D3ptPPafbyAP_JTU9Hn12jBqBiXpLaS-A5mEfdEp6plo50pcAdnuwXl-qpbSWL5y8tifQ7JFSPgwlpELGeJeZBfqsRimmFmXvDwCmNyOg0N3M5z3WwedeUJtNqCFe7Xbrd7ZI-0GT8G9Ulnm4BA3eNOZVoHphG8JGM4nLO/s320/The%20Day%20I%20fell%20of%20my%20Island.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><h3 style="clear: both;">ABOUT:</h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><span face=""Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-size: 16px;">The Day I Fell Off My Island tells the story of Erna Mullings, a teenage Jamaican girl uprooted from her island following the sudden death of her beloved grandmother. When Erna is sent to England to be reunited with her siblings, she dreads leaving behind her elderly grandfather, and the only life she has ever known. A new future unfolds, in a strange country and with a mother she barely knows. The next decade will be a complex journey of estrangement and arrival, new beginnings, and the uncovering of long-buried secrets.</span><div><span face="Proxima Nova, Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1e1915;"><br /></span></div><div><span face="Proxima Nova, Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1e1915;"><br /></span></div><h3><span face="Proxima Nova, Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1e1915;">MY THOUGHTS:</span></h3><div><span face="Proxima Nova, Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1e1915;"><br /></span></div><div><span face=""Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-size: 16px;">This was indeed a page turner. Another great Caribbean novel. I love stories about migration since this is very much a part of Caribbean life.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span face=""Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-size: 16px;">In this novel we meet Erna Mullings a young girl who lives in rural Jamaica with her grandparents. Having no relationship with both her parents, Erna spends her childhood happy in the humble home of her grandparents.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span face=""Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-size: 16px;">When Erna's grandmother Melba dies, and after her siblings " devil" dad kidnaps them. She is forced to go live with her mom, husband and siblings in England.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white;"><span face="Proxima Nova, Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1e1915;">Life in England proves hard for Erna as she realizes that all is not well with Violet (her mom) and especially her sister Patsy, whose behaviour reveals something sinister.</span></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span face=""Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-size: 16px;">Erna's determination to improve her situation in spite of everything is what made the book so wonderful for me. Her love for her island home and her grandparents was also very moving.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span face=""Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-size: 16px;">This story was tragic, yet very beautiful. I highly recommend this one.</span><span face="Proxima Nova, Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1e1915;"><br /></span><p><br /></p></div></div><p><br /></p>Trini Girl Readshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01165431384234801755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873816744155486786.post-57020178923018887102023-09-13T17:47:00.000-07:002023-09-13T17:47:09.767-07:00BOOK REVIEW: When We Were Birds by Ayanna Lloyd Banwo<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijGwVZlPx--xhZ61PF95rZBys4N73jOP2QfF5_LQR6wXpDSQmw5qPmagaDqrIL6NLGlxo2ddACA22uQXgIV3ubtXIsV90cxPR0XPZahNOVorkljePUHTxNC_aTOopJdyegepSqVSsVJbAjdNL0jYdPfjBe1omYC9pdeMg8FYQ0cHf2B9es9YY4VRUFczN4/s4080/20230902_073346.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4080" data-original-width="3060" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijGwVZlPx--xhZ61PF95rZBys4N73jOP2QfF5_LQR6wXpDSQmw5qPmagaDqrIL6NLGlxo2ddACA22uQXgIV3ubtXIsV90cxPR0XPZahNOVorkljePUHTxNC_aTOopJdyegepSqVSsVJbAjdNL0jYdPfjBe1omYC9pdeMg8FYQ0cHf2B9es9YY4VRUFczN4/s320/20230902_073346.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><h3 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">About</h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: georgia; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600;">A mythic love story set in Trinidad and Tobago, Ayanna Lloyd Banwo's radiant debut introduces two unforgettable outsiders brought together by their connection with the dead.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915;"><br /></span></div><i style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><i style="box-sizing: border-box;">You were never the smartest child, but even you should know that when a dead woman offers you a cigarette, the polite thing to do would be to take it. Especially when that dead woman is your mother.</i></div></i><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">The St. Bernard women have lived in Morne Marie, the house on top of a hill outside Port Angeles, for generations. Built from the ashes of a plantation that enslaved their ancestors, it has come to shelter a lineage that is bonded by much more than blood. One woman in each generation of St. Bernards is responsible for the passage of the city's souls into the afterlife. But Yejide's relationship with her mother, Petronella, has always been contorted by anger and neglect, which Petronella stubbornly carries to her death bed, leaving Yejide unprepared to fulfill her destiny.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Raised in the countryside by a devout Rastafarian mother, Darwin has always abided by the religious commandment not to interact with death. He has never been to a funeral, much less seen a dead body. But when his ailing mother can no longer work and the only job he can find is grave digging, he must betray the life she built for him in order to provide for them both. Newly shorn of his dreadlocks and his past and determined to prove himself, Darwin finds himself adrift in a city electric with possibility and danger.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Yejide and Darwin will meet inside the gates of Fidelis, Port Angeles's largest and oldest cemetery, where the dead lie uneasy in their graves and a reckoning with fate beckons them both. A masterwork of lush imagination and immersive lyricism, <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">When We Were Birds</i> is a spellbinding novel about inheritance, loss, and love's seismic power to heal.</div></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />My Thoughts</h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">This was one of my book club picks a while ago and I would be the first to admit I could not get past the first fifty pages. Fast forward to April 2023 at the Bocas Lit Fest in Trinidad and Tobago, this book was displayed everywhere. I said to myself "nah" there has to be something that I am missing with this, so after purchasing a physical copy (cause I was reading it on my kindle before), I decided to give it a second chance. All I can say I am glad I did.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">This book was out of my comfort zone, but I liked it very much. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Magical realism is what it is most described as. This writer is skilled and brave because to write a story with complexed characters like Yejide and Darwin takes guts because it could either have been a hit or miss. I for one am glad she challenged herself.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">After arriving to Port Angeles to take up a position as a grave digger (which is totally against his rastafarian beliefs), Darwin intends to make something of himself. However, danger lurks in the form of his coworkers. Yejide is a woman with a strange gift that comes to life upon the death of her mother Petronella. She has the ability to connect with the dead. A blessing or a curse inherited from her female ancestors, Yejide will soon find out the extent of her power when hers and Darwin's path collides.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Adventurous, Exciting, A real page turner, When we were birds will keep you at the edge of your seat.</div></div><p><br /> </p>Trini Girl Readshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01165431384234801755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873816744155486786.post-8767357728116977992023-09-03T13:42:00.006-07:002023-09-03T13:42:48.600-07:00BOOK REVIEW: TOMORROW AND TOMORROW AND TOMORROW BY GABRIELLE ZEVIN<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjttH-kkjG9QCjDv0c00Eq2SSdzTSnS873es_yOUDV1zYXwo5WLh0z6FlIhi0s1moHyKs4c476TDHnJL7oviD3Wd4bBSBKG28C0wERewggcsI69an7IUM-qs3129ufRKLMUzKjwYctWlA2lHpIgj0wbdEvD3ltvQhkLH-C1iAiDywzwYXGc7gZqHOnTpVjc/s400/Tomorrow%20and%20Tomorrow%20and%20Tomorrow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="263" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjttH-kkjG9QCjDv0c00Eq2SSdzTSnS873es_yOUDV1zYXwo5WLh0z6FlIhi0s1moHyKs4c476TDHnJL7oviD3Wd4bBSBKG28C0wERewggcsI69an7IUM-qs3129ufRKLMUzKjwYctWlA2lHpIgj0wbdEvD3ltvQhkLH-C1iAiDywzwYXGc7gZqHOnTpVjc/s320/Tomorrow%20and%20Tomorrow%20and%20Tomorrow.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">ABOUT</h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600;">In this exhilarating novel, two friends--often in love, but never lovers--come together as creative partners in the world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">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, </span><i style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Ichigo</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">. 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.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, and lands in between and far beyond, Gabrielle Zevin's </span><i style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> is a dazzling and intricately imagined novel that 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. Yes, it is a love story, but it is not one you have read before.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />My Thoughts</h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">One word PERFECT!!!</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I am in no way a fan of videogames so when I saw that this book was voted as one of the best books of 2022 by goodreads I was curious.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">All I can say is, believe the hype. I enjoyed reading this from start to finish.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">This story spoke to the power of friendship. It taught us the real meaning of LOVE (all types). the fact that the author used the creation of the game "Ichigo' to connect the three main characters Sadie, Sam and Marx was genius.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I am not going to write a very long review for this one because I really do not want to spoil it for anyone. I highly recommend this.</span><br /> <p></p>Trini Girl Readshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01165431384234801755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873816744155486786.post-2661320150813984342023-08-20T00:09:00.003-07:002023-08-20T00:13:15.068-07:00Book Review: The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYitvF4oFg9t-rOjG45PCBgRAHld1mjZdpT8tOThUYrNZf7aAAq-o3nEDYDRjPGGisDK70K9gjfMlAjj1GG_boGy6qrS6OHLdI1GmKLOjMqTbKnKHhwkjCkT594GVr3sRxPXL_eEX1D1eEuD2xvSRrL8Lrz6lE2XnYnVxKj4AhDphNy74pYUHePn8HoETj/s180/The%20Golden%20Couple.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="180" data-original-width="119" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYitvF4oFg9t-rOjG45PCBgRAHld1mjZdpT8tOThUYrNZf7aAAq-o3nEDYDRjPGGisDK70K9gjfMlAjj1GG_boGy6qrS6OHLdI1GmKLOjMqTbKnKHhwkjCkT594GVr3sRxPXL_eEX1D1eEuD2xvSRrL8Lrz6lE2XnYnVxKj4AhDphNy74pYUHePn8HoETj/w232-h352/The%20Golden%20Couple.jpg" width="232" /></a>`</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">ABOUT </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span face=""Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600;">The next electrifying novel from the #1 <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">New York Times</i> bestselling author duo behind <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Wife Between Us</i>.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span face=""Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-size: 16px;">Wealthy Washington suburbanites Marissa and Matthew Bishop seem to have it all—until Marissa is unfaithful. Beneath their veneer of perfection is a relationship riven by work and a lack of intimacy. She wants to repair things for the sake of their eight-year-old son and because she loves her husband. Enter Avery Chambers.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span face=""Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-size: 16px;">Avery is a therapist who lost her professional license. Still, it doesn’t stop her from counseling those in crisis, though they have to adhere to her unorthodox methods. And the Bishops are desperate.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span face=""Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-size: 16px;">When they glide through Avery’s door and Marissa reveals her infidelity, all three are set on a collision course. Because the biggest secrets in the room are still hidden, and it’s no longer simply a marriage that’s in danger.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">MY THOUGHTS<br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span face=""Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-size: 16px;">After reading "The Wife Between Us" I was very excited for this book, but while I enjoyed the storyline it was just ok in my opinion. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span face=""Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span face="Proxima Nova, Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1e1915;">I think Avery's character is what drew me into the story the most. She was a therapist/counsellor who upon loosing her license to practice, chose an unconventional way to provide therapy with her ten session approach. Her methods while different, seem to have had great success, so it was not unusual when power couple Marissa and Matthew entered her office with a marital issue. It was not long before Avery realized that there is something more sinister beneath the surface.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span face="Proxima Nova, Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1e1915;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span face="Proxima Nova, Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1e1915;">The story was written quite well and it was easy to get through the novel which I liked. I think however, I was expecting more drama at the end (while the story had some excitement it was not nearly enough). I would like to read the other books by these authors though so I can say which one is my favourite. While it was not my best book for the year it was ok nonetheless. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The Golden Couple was my book club pick for the month of August. Feel free to join my book club Between the Pages on goodreads. Click the link in the sidebar.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div> <p></p>Trini Girl Readshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01165431384234801755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873816744155486786.post-40471191662738680082023-08-08T07:32:00.001-07:002023-08-08T07:32:28.609-07:00Book Review: Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEu-ZLVhmotOQxyqhm_8_EVxOG7hG_2mwTIVmh_XCFATKXy_zsr8ko6LUwtkt0HmFhmQzw9tI36ppubj3vZjA0POOOGROHTXMxivIjPpnnUHYMfXHFpC4ZX9cVm0qCYqGNqpXPe_ZsbUJOm7KI-SVN1m7JvJZW2W8wA3tc1D9pSoXvNUMlYFGFZwW8fqtA/s500/Small%20great%20things.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="334" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEu-ZLVhmotOQxyqhm_8_EVxOG7hG_2mwTIVmh_XCFATKXy_zsr8ko6LUwtkt0HmFhmQzw9tI36ppubj3vZjA0POOOGROHTXMxivIjPpnnUHYMfXHFpC4ZX9cVm0qCYqGNqpXPe_ZsbUJOm7KI-SVN1m7JvJZW2W8wA3tc1D9pSoXvNUMlYFGFZwW8fqtA/s320/Small%20great%20things.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><h4 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">About:</h4><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-size: 16px;">Ruth Jefferson is a labor and delivery nurse at a Connecticut hospital with more than twenty years' experience. During her shift, Ruth begins a routine checkup on a newborn, only to be told a few minutes later that she's been reassigned to another patient. The parents are white supremacists and don't want Ruth, who is African American, to touch their child. The hospital complies with their request, but the next day, the baby goes into cardiac distress while Ruth is alone in the nursery. Does she obey orders or does she intervene?</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Ruth hesitates before performing CPR and, as a result, is charged with a serious crime. Kennedy McQuarrie, a white public defender, takes her case but gives unexpected advice: Kennedy insists that mentioning race in the courtroom is not a winning strategy. Conflicted by Kennedy's counsel, Ruth tries to keep life as normal as possible for her family—especially her teenage son—as the case becomes a media sensation. As the trial moves forward, Ruth and Kennedy must gain each other's trust, and come to see that what they've been taught their whole lives about others—and themselves—might be wrong.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">With incredible empathy, intelligence, and candor, Jodi Picoult tackles race, privilege, prejudice, justice, and compassion—and doesn't offer easy answers. Small Great Things is a remarkable achievement from a writer at the top of her game.</div></span></span> <p></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">My Thoughts</h2><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;">If you have been following my blog for a while you would know that I am a bit of a Jodi Picoult fan. This is the fourth book I have read from her having previously read My Sister's Keeper, The Pact and Nineteen Minutes. While Small Great Things was not my favourite from her, it was a good story and a very important one to be told. As a person of colour from the Caribbean it pains me when I read stories that are about racism in any form. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;">Ruth's story had to be told in my opinion. Many persons of colour have been subjected to discrimination in the workplace in some form. In Ruth's case she was a brilliant nurse, a graduate of Yale, one of the best universities, living a decent life and yet her co workers and superiors were quick to throw her under the bus when little Davis Bauer, newborn son of White Supremacist parents Turk and Brittany. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;">In true Picoult style this book was well written. The most interesting character was the lawyer Kennedy McQuarrie. Kennedy prior to Ruth's case maybe had no idea that she herself was a bit prejudice. She represented most people who are not of colour who sometimes feel that they have no ill feelings towards others because of the colour of their skin. As Kennedy works on the case she unpacks some truths about herself that she never even thought about.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;">Ruth unpacked some truths as well, one of them being that all her life she had been trying to toe the line, do the right thing (which was the same values she taught her son Edison) but then she had to face the reality that no matter what you achieve in life, society will still see you as you are "a black face". What I admired was Ruth's passion for the nursing profession. so much so that she was willing to go to jail instead of the public going away thinking that she did not do all in her power to save Davis.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;">Turk, Francis and Brittany represented the fact that there are people in this world with so much hatred in their hearts that it blinds them and clouds their better judgement. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;">In all this story was ok. It was worth the read.</span></p>Trini Girl Readshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01165431384234801755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873816744155486786.post-27408058928791586212023-08-05T09:43:00.007-07:002023-08-05T09:43:47.487-07:00Book Review: Butter Honey Pig Bread by Francesca Ekwuyasi<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGB0EehZpFWmUQLT3bPT3I-3wOiBPippC_CpfQTFBU1S_p4x5YMXASjAPUVj0RYgD2hTjvN5VuEVjjLuLsRNRHYf1_cQ30spTApDBi6ywr9Bu9WSOJgiq49U7wbpNMZAWgQZBRQO-lkGZPLfC9ui9ZzgUFXedTU3gMtoMR-q7sipbqpuTh5b0FV7N3N4Xd/s400/Butter%20Honey%20Pig%20Bread.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="267" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGB0EehZpFWmUQLT3bPT3I-3wOiBPippC_CpfQTFBU1S_p4x5YMXASjAPUVj0RYgD2hTjvN5VuEVjjLuLsRNRHYf1_cQ30spTApDBi6ywr9Bu9WSOJgiq49U7wbpNMZAWgQZBRQO-lkGZPLfC9ui9ZzgUFXedTU3gMtoMR-q7sipbqpuTh5b0FV7N3N4Xd/s320/Butter%20Honey%20Pig%20Bread.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><h3 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">ABOUT</h3><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> <span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Spanning three continents, </span><i style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915;">Butter Honey Pig Bread</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"> tells the interconnected stories of three Nigerian women: Kambirinachi and her twin daughters, Kehinde and Taiye. Kambirinachi believes that she is an Ogbanje, or an Abiku, a non-human spirit that plagues a family with misfortune by being born and then dying in childhood to cause a human mother misery. She has made the unnatural choice of staying alive to love her human family but lives in fear of the consequences of her decision.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Kambirinachi and her two daughters become estranged from one another because of a trauma that Kehinde experiences in childhood, which leads her to move away and cut off all contact. She ultimately finds her path as an artist and seeks to raise a family of her own, despite her fear that she won't be a good mother. Meanwhile, Taiye is plagued by guilt for what her sister suffered and also runs away, attempting to fill the void of that lost relationship with casual flings with women. She eventually discovers a way out of her stifling loneliness through a passion for food and cooking.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"><div style="text-align: justify;">But now, after more than a decade of living apart, Taiye and Kehinde have returned home to Lagos. It is here that the three women must face each other and address the wounds of the past if they are to reconcile and move forward.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"><div style="text-align: justify;">For readers of African diasporic authors such as Teju Cole and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Butter Honey Pig Bread</i> is a story of choices and their consequences, of motherhood, of the malleable line between the spirit and the mind, of finding new homes and mending old ones, of voracious appetites, of queer love, of friendship, faith, and above all, family.</div></span></span><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">My Thoughts</span></h2><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Did you ever read a book that made you speechless? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">After finishing Butter Honey Pig Bread a few days ago I am still at a loss for words. This book was very good for a number of reasons, but for me it spoke to the importance of healing and forgiveness. While the author indeed explored a number of themes in the story the relationship between the twins Taiye and Kehinde was most notable.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">In "Butter Honey Pig Bread", you meet <span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-size: 16px;">Kambirinachi</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-size: 16px;"> and her twins Taiye a chef and Kehinde an artist. These women all have unresolved trauma and issues. For Kambirinachi, her struggle is with death of loved ones before and a struggle to stay alive in this world. She finds love in Banji but eventually he also dies leaving her with the twin girls. So immense was her grief, that Kambirinachi disappears within herself leaving her daughters at risk for "a bad thing" to occur. This "bad thing" (you will read about it) caused a separation of both sisters expanding years and across continents.</span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white;">Upon returning to Lagos. Kehinde and Taiye struggle to repair their relationships with one another and repair what has been broken within themselves. Why I liked this book is because I think that unresolved hurt can harm you throughout your life if it is not dealt with by way of forgiveness. This book reminded readers of the power of forgiveness. </span></span></div><div><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white;">I also liked learning about the different dishes that Taiye made throughout the book. There were even some recipes which I may even attempt because the foods are new to me. It was a nice touch to add food to the dynamic. <br /><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white;">I recommend trying this one. </span></span></div><div><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: Proxima Nova, Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>Trini Girl Readshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01165431384234801755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873816744155486786.post-22966627260294083372023-07-26T14:28:00.000-07:002023-07-26T14:28:29.354-07:00Book Review: Yellowface by R.F. Kuang<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTSLQ3BmkX_Bb6YADIOdOdoDeabvHho-PSujZ6wqyNX3a3Ppyo2S__XMSYBHzxdYlISCwUO9nzAlJDB9uLGoyZzMPAKFBsas0_2_H6ihNcD9mnLMhvSUNeUtScnjiiv9R-nEIM2DLefnYsADCLxXNDjuQyyTY4kx0fIFOdqv8FTodlZk5rgRcdYbNLO5sm/s2361/Yellow%20Face.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2361" data-original-width="1560" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTSLQ3BmkX_Bb6YADIOdOdoDeabvHho-PSujZ6wqyNX3a3Ppyo2S__XMSYBHzxdYlISCwUO9nzAlJDB9uLGoyZzMPAKFBsas0_2_H6ihNcD9mnLMhvSUNeUtScnjiiv9R-nEIM2DLefnYsADCLxXNDjuQyyTY4kx0fIFOdqv8FTodlZk5rgRcdYbNLO5sm/s320/Yellow%20Face.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars: same year at Yale, same debut year in publishing. But Athena's a cross-genre literary darling, and June didn't even get a paperback release. Nobody wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">So when June witnesses Athena's death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena's just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers to the British and French war efforts during World War I.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">So what if June edits Athena's novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song--complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? Doesn't this piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller? That's what June claims, and the </span><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">New York Times</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> bestseller list seems to agree.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">But June can't get away from Athena's shadow, and emerging evidence threatens to bring June's (stolen) success down around her. As June races to protect her secret, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">With its totally immersive first-person voice, </span><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Yellowface </em><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">takes on questions of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation not only in the publishing industry but the persistent erasure of Asian-American voices and history by Western white society. R. F. Kuang's novel is timely, razor-sharp, and eminently readable.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">My Thoughts</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">This book is very popular so of course I jumped in and picked this one for my Goodreads Book club pick (Between The Pages) for the month of July. Yellowface was very good indeed. Very interesting. In the story we have Athena Liu a very popular Asian American author who is looked at among the writing community as the next big thing to come to the literary world. Her friend (perhaps only friend) June Hayward who is also a writer but not as successful. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">When Athena suddenly dies June steals Athena's manuscript for her latest work "The Last Front". June edits the manuscript and publishes it with resounding success. But soon she begins getting negative social media posts, describing her as a thief. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I found that this was a really good look into the life of a writer and the publishing industry. This author was really descriptive of June and Athena's lives as writers and it was skillful how she went into detail of the pros and cons surrounding this industry. I have always been curious myself as an avid reader about what goes into writing a book and publishing it. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: Proxima Nova, Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;">What was also interesting was how Juniper was viewed by the book community as a Caucasian person who was writing about the Asian community. I found that very exciting about the book no wonder this is a best seller. After reading this book maybe I could become a writer myself hahaha. Who knows. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: Proxima Nova, Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: Proxima Nova, Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;">I highly recommend this. It was very good.</span></span></div><br /> <p></p>Trini Girl Readshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01165431384234801755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873816744155486786.post-83236002505446803442023-07-14T16:56:00.000-07:002023-07-14T16:56:02.324-07:00Book Review: River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjasNZDA2AYkA2YLuq2yZR17tI7_Lfhzv4gawglPCtIAPhb4RS50r08JoEIU_bGYCYbHYlJgyx9zmHllaKkjzBVP-6JwU8FMGoTEngH3x5g-OyLFxu9J8MnQKQg9YCTWGkrinWLf6YUiDFjby2ydw6JBxq--7hqj1TLL2OeTjTPxRCKU6-exPy5uYZoanpk/s4080/20230612_102703.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4080" data-original-width="3060" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjasNZDA2AYkA2YLuq2yZR17tI7_Lfhzv4gawglPCtIAPhb4RS50r08JoEIU_bGYCYbHYlJgyx9zmHllaKkjzBVP-6JwU8FMGoTEngH3x5g-OyLFxu9J8MnQKQg9YCTWGkrinWLf6YUiDFjby2ydw6JBxq--7hqj1TLL2OeTjTPxRCKU6-exPy5uYZoanpk/s320/20230612_102703.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">ABOUT</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The master of the Providence plantation in Barbados gathers his slaves and announces the king has decreed an end to slavery. As of the following day, the Emancipation Act of 1834 will come into effect. The cries of joy fall silent when he announces that they are no longer his slaves; they are now his apprentices. No one can leave. They must work for him for another six years. Freedom is just another name for the life they have always lived. So Rachel runs.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Away from Providence, she begins a desperate search to find her children--the five who survived birth and were sold. Are any of them still alive? Rachel has to know. The grueling, dangerous journey takes her from Barbados then, by river, deep into the forest of British Guiana and finally across the sea to Trinidad. She is driven on by the certainty that a mother cannot be truly free without knowing what has become of her children, even if the answer is more than she can bear. These are the stories of Mary Grace, Micah, Thomas Augustus, Cherry Jane and Mercy. But above all this is the story of Rachel and the extraordinary lengths to which a mother will go to find her children...and her freedom.</div></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">MY THOUGHTS</span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">This book was a rollercoaster of emotions. At some points it was sad at other times it made me angry but all in all it was hopeful. I love historical fiction especially those that highlight key aspects of Caribbean history. Ms. Shearer did her homework with this one, making it a good book to read for someone who knows little about the period of apprenticeship in the Caribbean.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Rachel was a former slave, who after escaping her plantation was determined to find her children who were taken away from her. Her journey starts in Barbados to Demerara and ends in Trinidad where she finds answers to her questions as to what happened to each of her children. I loved how the author gave the story of each child to illustrate the hardships that each one had to face.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">As a lover of Caribbean History, this book was very enjoyable to me. Keeping in mind that any account of slavery can be a heavy read, in my opinion books such as this one could be used as a teaching tool and not only entertainment. Rachel's story and those of her children Mary Grace, Thomas Augustus, Mercy, Micah and Cherry Jane remind us of the trials and hurt that came along with slavery.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">All in all i would recommend this one.</div></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><br /> <p></p>Trini Girl Readshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01165431384234801755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873816744155486786.post-76066318047509986832023-07-10T13:30:00.001-07:002023-07-10T13:30:31.069-07:00Book Review: The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTUHIR__vQvNIrrOV5ocOFhi9QsMrGaxq3foujChPMDSmQQzQqol_m20VC2cE3LYaYpcMPpvLr6cr9qnmvbEZ7C1N9lWNVtp9hLbG_FA16dYnKpiol-7IIybDVqA7jR_6y4oRR9hEzHLvlxvmJqIqlILGfrqcCeFX6ndXlVoDUjz_jFI8opIm83wfOWKQ2/s500/tHE%20hOUSE%20OF%20EVE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="331" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTUHIR__vQvNIrrOV5ocOFhi9QsMrGaxq3foujChPMDSmQQzQqol_m20VC2cE3LYaYpcMPpvLr6cr9qnmvbEZ7C1N9lWNVtp9hLbG_FA16dYnKpiol-7IIybDVqA7jR_6y4oRR9hEzHLvlxvmJqIqlILGfrqcCeFX6ndXlVoDUjz_jFI8opIm83wfOWKQ2/s320/tHE%20hOUSE%20OF%20EVE.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">ABOUT</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600;">From the award-winning author of </span><i style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600;">Yellow Wife</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600;">, a daring and redemptive novel set in 1950s Philadelphia and Washington, DC, that explores what it means to be a woman and a mother, and how much one is willing to sacrifice to achieve her greatest goal.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">1950s Philadelphia: fifteen-year-old Ruby Pearsall is on track to becoming the first in her family to attend college, in spite of having a mother more interested in keeping a man than raising a daughter. But a taboo love affair threatens to pull her back down into the poverty and desperation that has been passed on to her like a birthright.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Eleanor Quarles arrives in Washington, DC, with ambition and secrets. When she meets the handsome William Pride at Howard University, they fall madly in love. But William hails from one of DC’s elite wealthy Black families, and his parents don’t let just anyone into their fold. Eleanor hopes that a baby will make her finally feel at home in William’s family and grant her the life she’s been searching for. But having a baby—and fitting in—is easier said than done.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">With their stories colliding in the most unexpected of ways, Ruby and Eleanor will both make decisions that shape the trajectory of their lives.</div></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">MY THOUGHTS</span></h3><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I have had Yellow Wife on my TBR list since it came out and still I did not get around to reading it. This book had a long waiting list on Libby so when it became available I decided I had to see what had people so excited. Let's just say, I read it and hands down this is a five star read. WOW. This book had me up in the middle of the night reading so you know it had to be something special.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: Proxima Nova, Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;">Eleanor's and Ruby's stories were both heartbreaking in different ways. Eleanor, a first generation college student, intent on fulfilling her dreams at Howard University meets the charming soon to be doctor William Pride. He comes from an affluent family and is everything she could dream of in a boyfriend. Upon getting pregnant William does the "right" thing in spite of his mother's protests and marries Eleanor. Unfortunately a chain of events happen that will test the couple in more ways than one. I don't want to spoil the story but when you read what happens you will have mixed emotions.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Ruby however, is a teen, from a poverty stricken family who desires to be a doctor. She is part of a program that can promise girls like her poor and of colour, an opportunity for a scholarship. When her stepfather attempts to molest her she was sent to live with her aunt by her mother Inez. It is while there she meets Shimmy (a white Jewish boy) who soon becomes head over heels. Their romance is forbidden, so when Ruby becomes pregnant, she had no alternative but to choose being sent to a home for unwed mothers. It is here where the story between Eleanor and Ruby comes connected. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I gave this book five stars because it really had me gripped from beginning to end. The story was just good in every way.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p></p>Trini Girl Readshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01165431384234801755noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873816744155486786.post-11085411750788776402023-07-04T16:57:00.005-07:002023-07-04T16:57:45.130-07:00Book Review: If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfGXPxF1UIwnj2na9jsawBJNwc4t9RcvIcAdaPLXzy8dA-tVxjWTL2FymXkJBwQO0rg7pAZ5fzzQygThUzLoymTBzt-5Sql8wNuTzqMrUJptFUcGQWH1E-1cgoZQGW0_pQj0O0ebySBGqVYMXQdaO4H2-wxp35Z_Rqhw4PCR7O4taUWK_Wb0o5SEaltN1g/s2475/If%20I%20survive%20you.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2475" data-original-width="1613" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfGXPxF1UIwnj2na9jsawBJNwc4t9RcvIcAdaPLXzy8dA-tVxjWTL2FymXkJBwQO0rg7pAZ5fzzQygThUzLoymTBzt-5Sql8wNuTzqMrUJptFUcGQWH1E-1cgoZQGW0_pQj0O0ebySBGqVYMXQdaO4H2-wxp35Z_Rqhw4PCR7O4taUWK_Wb0o5SEaltN1g/s320/If%20I%20survive%20you.jpg" width="209" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">ABOUT</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;">A major debut, blazing with style and heart, that follows a Jamaican family striving for more in Miami, and introduces a generational storyteller.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;"><div style="text-align: justify;">In the 1970s, Topper and Sanya flee to Miami as political violence consumes their native Kingston. But America, as the couple and their two children learn, is far from the promised land. Excluded from society as Black immigrants, the family pushes on through Hurricane Andrew and later the 2008 recession, living in a house so cursed that the pet fish launches itself out of its own tank rather than stay. But even as things fall apart, the family remains motivated, often to its own detriment, by what the younger son, Trelawny, calls “the exquisite, racking compulsion to survive.”</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Masterfully constructed with heart and humor, the linked stories in Jonathan Escoffery’s If I Survive You center on Trelawny as he struggles to carve out a place for himself amid financial disaster, racism, and flat-out bad luck. After a fight with Topper, Trelawny claws his way out of homelessness through a series of odd, often hilarious jobs. Meanwhile, his brother, Delano, attempts a disastrous cash grab to get his kids back, and his cousin Cukie looks for a father who doesn’t want to be found. As each character searches for a foothold, they never forget the profound danger of climbing without a safety net.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Pulsing with vibrant lyricism and inimitable style, sly commentary and contagious laughter, Escoffery’s debut unravels what it means to be in between homes and cultures in a world at the mercy of capitalism and whiteness. With If I Survive You , Escoffery announces himself as a prodigious storyteller in a class of his own, a chronicler of American life at its most gruesome and hopeful.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">MY THOUGHTS</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">Loved It!!</span><br style="animation-name: none !important; background-color: white; text-align: left; transition-property: none !important;" /><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">I went into this book completely blind just from seeing it everywhere and all I can say is WOW. I love stories about the Caribbean diaspora. If you do too you need to read this one.</span><br style="animation-name: none !important; background-color: white; text-align: left; transition-property: none !important;" /><br style="animation-name: none !important; background-color: white; text-align: left; transition-property: none !important;" /><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">In the story which reads like a short story collection, we meet several characters Jamaicans trying to survive life in the USA. The most notable character is Trelawney, a young man trying to deal with identity and what I would say a series of bad decisions. We also meet his parents, brother Delano and cousin Cukie whose stories were equally interesting.</span><br style="animation-name: none !important; background-color: white; text-align: left; transition-property: none !important;" /><br style="animation-name: none !important; background-color: white; text-align: left; transition-property: none !important;" /><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">I dont want to put too many spoilers into this review because I want people to read it.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p></p>Trini Girl Readshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01165431384234801755noreply@blogger.com0