BOOK REVIEW: TOMORROW AND TOMORROW AND TOMORROW BY GABRIELLE ZEVIN

ABOUT

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.

On a bitter-cold day, in the December of his junior year at Harvard, Sam Masur exits a subway car and sees, amid the hordes of people waiting on the platform, Sadie Green. He calls her name. For a moment, she pretends she hasn't heard him, but then, she turns, and a game begins: a legendary collaboration that will launch them to stardom. These friends, intimates since childhood, borrow money, beg favors, and, before even graduating college, they have created their first blockbuster, Ichigo. Overnight, the world is theirs. Not even twenty-five years old, Sam and Sadie are brilliant, successful, and rich, but these qualities won't protect them from their own creative ambitions or the betrayals of their hearts.

Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, and lands in between and far beyond, Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow 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.

My Thoughts

One word PERFECT!!!

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.

All I can say is, believe the hype. I enjoyed reading this from start to finish.

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.

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.
 

Book Review: The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

`

ABOUT 

The next electrifying novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author duo behind The Wife Between Us.

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.

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.

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.

MY THOUGHTS

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. 

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.

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. 

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.

 

Book Review: Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult

About:

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?

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.

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.

 

My Thoughts

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. 

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. 

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.

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.

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. 

In all this story was ok. It was worth the read.

Book Review: Butter Honey Pig Bread by Francesca Ekwuyasi

ABOUT

 Spanning three continents, Butter Honey Pig Bread 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.

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.

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.

For readers of African diasporic authors such as Teju Cole and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Butter Honey Pig Bread 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.

My Thoughts

Did you ever read a book that made you speechless? 

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.

In "Butter Honey Pig Bread", you meet Kambirinachi 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.

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. 

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. 

I recommend trying this one.  

Book Review: Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

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.

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.

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 New York Times bestseller list seems to agree.

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.

With its totally immersive first-person voice, Yellowface 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.

My Thoughts

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

I highly recommend this. It was very good.

 

Book Review: River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer

ABOUT

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.

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.

MY THOUGHTS

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.

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.

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.

All in all i would recommend this one.

 

Book Review: The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson

 

ABOUT

From the award-winning author of Yellow Wife, 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.

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.

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.

With their stories colliding in the most unexpected of ways, Ruby and Eleanor will both make decisions that shape the trajectory of their lives.

MY THOUGHTS

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.

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.

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. 

I gave this book five stars because it really had me gripped from beginning to end. The story was just good in every way.

Book Review: If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery

ABOUT

A major debut, blazing with style and heart, that follows a Jamaican family striving for more in Miami, and introduces a generational storyteller.

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.”

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.

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.

MY THOUGHTS

Loved It!!
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.

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.

I dont want to put too many spoilers into this review because I want people to read it.

 

Book Review: Token by Beverly Kendall

 

About

She’s brilliant, beautiful…and tired of being the only Black woman in the room.

Two years ago, Kennedy Mitchell was plucked from the reception desk and placed in the corporate boardroom in the name of diversity. Rather than play along, she and her best friend founded Token, a boutique PR agency that helps “diversity-challenged” companies and celebrities. With corporate America diversifying workplaces and famous people getting into reputation-damaging controversies, Token is in high demand.

Kennedy quickly discovers there’s a lot of on-the-job learning and some messes are not so easily fixed. When Kennedy’s ex shows up needing help repairing his company’s reputation, things get even more complicated. She knows his character is being wrongly maligned, but she’s reluctant to get involved—professionally and emotionally. But soon, she finds herself drawn into a PR scandal of her own.

My THOUGHTS

This was an interesting story with a serious message and with serious romance. I was impressed at how the author was able to mesh the themes to create this story. 

In Token we meet Kennedy Mitchell a young black woman trying to navigate the corporate world upon graduation from an Ivy League university. When she is asked to pretend to be on the board of her company (where she was employed as a temp) to close a deal with a high profile client of colour, Kennedy and her best friend Aurora decided to start Token. A company gives corporations tips on diversity and does a bit of damage control. 

The story takes a turn when Nate, Aurora's handsome brother, who runs a multi million dollar tech company is being sued by a former employee of colour for discrimination, returns from France. Let's just say that Nate and Kennedy had a past.....

The story was very realistic in my opinion and I like how it touched on real issues such as inclusivity and equality in the workplace. The passion between Nate and Kennedy was really written well, I was fully engrossed in  their relationship and that part made for fun and enjoyable reading at night for me.

This was a nice book. I will read this author again.

READ CARIBBEAN MONTH JUNE 1st to JUNE 30TH 2023

 

It's June!!! Read Caribbean Month 2023.

In this month Caribbean Book Influencers, Readers and others celebrate the work of Caribbean Authors and Poets past and present. If you are a follower of mine, you would have noticed that I absolutely love Caribbean writing. So as I celebrate this month, you can look forward to me posting about my favourite books and other things uniquely Caribbean.

Happy Reading!!!! 

BOOK REVIEW: DAISY JONES AND THE SIX by TAYLOR JENKINS REID

Book Description

Everyone knows DAISY JONES & THE SIX, but nobody knows the reason behind their split at the absolute height of their popularity . . . until now. 

Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it's the rock 'n' roll she loves most. By the time she's twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things. 

 Also getting noticed is The Six, a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she's pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road. 

 Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend. 

 The making of that legend is chronicled in this riveting and unforgettable novel, written as an oral history of one of the biggest bands of the seventies. Taylor Jenkins Reid is a talented writer who takes her work to a new level with Daisy Jones & The Six, brilliantly capturing a place and time in an utterly distinctive voice.

MY THOUGHTS

Loved this!!! Now I want to see the series.

I am on a mission to read all the books by Taylor Jenkins Reid. This is the fourth book I read by her and it was not a disappointment at all. I absolutely loved the oral history style of this novel. It just flowed and made it so easy and entertaining to read.

The story Daisy Jones and The Six was a Grammy award winning fictional rock and roll group in the 1970s and their way of navigating fame and relationships. It really was about sex, drugs and rock and roll.

Daisy was an interesting character, she was a young singer songwriter who while trying to make it in the music business jumped at the opportunity to join the rock and roll group The Six. Her talent was what the group needed to make it big. Front line singer for The Six, Billy Dunne, trying to overcome his demons felt for Daisy more than he was willing to admit. Their relationship was the main idea of the story.

For me though Billy's wife Camilla was the character I loved. She was THE WIFE...and that's all I'm going to say, because I want people to read this book. I cannot wait to read another book by Taylor. Her stories are really good

 

BOOK REVIEW: THE GOD OF GOOD LOOKS BY BREANNE MC IVOR

ABOUT 

This entertaining, transportive, and luminous debut novel follows a young Trinidadian woman finding her voice and a new kind of happy ending.

Bianca Bridge has always dreamt of becoming a writer. But Trinidadian society can be unforgiving, and having an affair with a married government official is a sure-fire way to ruin your prospects. So when Obadiah Cortland, a notoriously tyrannical entrepreneur in the island's beauty scene, offers her a job, Bianca accepts, realizing that working on his magazine is the closest to her dreams she'll get.

As Bianca begins to embrace her power and creative voice, she starts to suspect Obadiah is not the elite tyrant he seems. She's right. Born in one of the poorest parts of Trinidad, Obadiah has clawed partway up society's ladder and built his company around his meticulously crafted persona. Now, he's not about to let anyone, especially Bianca, see past his façade.

When Bianca's ex-lover threatens everything she's rebuilt, jeopardizing all she's come to love about her new life, she's surprised to find support from the most unlikely ally and, finally, draws the strength to fight back like her mother taught her.

Sharp-witted and fiercely fun, The God of Good Looks alternates between Bianca's diary entries and Obadiah's first-person narrative to portray modern Trinidad's rigid class barriers and the fraught impact of beauty commodification in a patriarchal society. Boisterous, moving, and full of meaty, universally relatable questions, Mc Ivor's sparkling debut is an open-hearted, awakening tale about prejudice and pride, the masks we wear, and what we can become if we dare to take them off.

MY THOUGHTS

If you grew up in Trinidad and Tobago in the 90s, there was a local show on TV called "Westwood Park." The show depicted the twin island in a more glamourous way and it was in my opinion quite different to what you would expect a local show on TV to be like. This book The God of Good Looks gave me that "Westwood Park" vibes in 2023 (if that makes sense). Actually, I think this book should be a series because I want to know Obadiah's story. So Ms. Mc Ivor if you are reading this, I want a sequel.

I really connected with the book's main character Bianca Bridge in a way that is strange (because of course my experience is so far from what she went through). Something about her though connected with me. I think this author is one to watch because she really put a lot of thought into every character that draws you in from the very beginning. Eric Hugo was brilliantly written because I could not stand him. (I admit I was trying to look at our current ministers of government to figure out which one he could be lol).

I need some people to discuss this book with because I would like to know what they thought about OBADIAH.

The literary talent coming out of the Caribbean is exciting to me. This was well done. Highly recommend

BOOK REVIEW: AN AMERICAN MARRIAGE BY TAYARI JONES

 

ABOUT

Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. He is a young executive, and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined. Roy is arrested and sentenced to twelve years for a crime Celestial knows he didn’t commit. Though fiercely independent, Celestial finds herself bereft and unmoored, taking comfort in Andre, her childhood friend, and best man at their wedding. As Roy’s time in prison passes, she is unable to hold on to the love that has been her center. After five years, Roy’s conviction is suddenly overturned, and he returns to Atlanta ready to resume their life together.

This stirring love story is a profoundly insightful look into the hearts and minds of three people who are at once bound and separated by forces beyond their control. An American Marriage is a masterpiece of storytelling, an intimate look deep into the souls of people who must reckon with the past while moving forward—with hope and pain—into the future.

MY THOUGHTS

I do not know how to feel about this book. Roy and Celestial's relationship made me really think. You know no one ever thinks about prisoners, especially those that are found innocent after some years, and how hard it is for them to get back to normal.

After Roy spent five years in prison for a crime that he did not commit, he thought that the marriage bond he had with his wife Celestial was rock solid. Upon his release what he met was just some broken pieces and a lot of loss. While I felt sorry for Roy, I felt it for Celestial.

I can only imagine how a wife feels when her husband is incarcerated, and the questions that swirl around in her head, the uncertainty of whether freedom is ever going to be a possibility. I felt it for her because she didnt know which way to turn. Andre was just in the right place I guess.

This was a good story and really worth the read.

Book Review: It Starts With Us by Colleen Hoover

 Lily and her ex-husband, Ryle, have just settled into a civil coparenting rhythm when she suddenly bumps into her first love, Atlas, again. After nearly two years separated, she is elated that for once, time is on their side, and she immediately says yes when Atlas asks her on a date.

But her excitement is quickly hampered by the knowledge that, though they are no longer married, Ryle is still very much a part of her life—and Atlas Corrigan is the one man he will hate being in his ex-wife and daughter’s life.

Switching between the perspectives of Lily and Atlas, It Starts with Us picks up right where the epilogue for the “gripping, pulse-pounding” (Sarah Pekkanen, author of Perfect Neighbors) bestselling phenomenon It Ends with Us left off. Revealing more about Atlas’s past and following Lily as she embraces a second chance at true love while navigating a jealous ex-husband, it proves that “no one delivers an emotional read like Colleen Hoover” (Anna Todd, New York Times bestselling author).

My Thoughts

This sequel was highly anticipated by me because I loved 'It Ends With Us'. While Colleen Hoover's writing in this book was excellent and did not disappoint, it was not my favourite by her so far.

It was a very romantic story though. Lily and Atlas had so much love for one another. It was really nice to read. The story gave the ending that these characters deserved so because of that the story was meaningful. It could have had a little more action for my taste but in all it was a good story.

BOOK REVIEW: YOU MADE A FOOL OF DEATH WITH YOUR BEAUTY BY AKWAEKE EMEZI

 

Feyi Adekola wants to learn how to be alive again.

It’s been five years since the accident that killed the love of her life and she’s almost a new person now—an artist with her own studio, and sharing a brownstone apartment with her ride-or-die best friend, Joy, who insists it’s time for Feyi to ease back into the dating scene. Feyi isn’t ready for anything serious, but a steamy encounter at a rooftop party cascades into a whirlwind summer she could have never imagined: a luxury trip to a tropical island, decadent meals in the glamorous home of a celebrity chef, and a major curator who wants to launch her art career.

She’s even started dating the perfect guy, but their new relationship might be sabotaged before it has a chance by the dangerous thrill Feyi feels every time she locks eyes with the one person in the house who is most definitely off-limits. This new life she asked for just got a lot more complicated, and Feyi must begin her search for real answers. Who is she ready to become? Can she release her past and honor her grief while still embracing her future? And, of course, there’s the biggest question of all—how far is she willing to go for a second chance at love?

Akwaeke Emezi’s vivid and passionate writing takes us deep into a world of possibility and healing, and the constant bravery of choosing love against all odds.

My Thoughts

I went into this book not knowing what it was about because the title gripped me. What I enjoyed was the concept, what I did not enjoy was the execution.

In this book we meet Feyi, a young artist, who upon losing her husband is trying to get her life back on track. In comes the handsome Nasir who tries the subtle approach to sweep Feyi off her feet.

On a trip to the islands, Feyi meets celebrity chef Alim who is none other than Nasir's father. This encounter will change the whole direction of the story as Feyi and Alim share a connection that is very deep.

While this book was not a favourite of mine. I will still recommend it to someone. I think it started well but somewhere around the middle the concept was lost.