Book: The Party Crasher

 Book: The Party Crasher

Author: Sophie Kinsella

Pages: 368

This is my 80th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

It's been almost 2 years since Effie's beloved parents got divorced, destroying the image of the happy, loving childhood she thought she had.  Since then, she's become estranged from her father and embarked on a feud with his hot (and much younger) girlfriend, Krista.  And now, more earth-shattering news: They've sold Greenoaks, the rambling Victorian country house Effie has always called home.  When Krista decides to throw a grand "house-cooling" party.  Effie is originally left off the guest list - and then receives a last-minute "anti-invitation" (maybe it's because she called Krista a gold-digger, but Krista TOTALLY deserved it, and it was mostly a joke anyway).  Effie declines, but then remembers a beloved childhood treasure is still hidden in the house.  Her only chance to retrieve it is to break into Greenoaks while everyone is busy celebrating.  As Effie sneaks around the house, hiding under tables and peeping into Greenoaks while trapdoors, she realizes the secrets Greenoaks holds aren't just in the dusy passageways and hidden attics she grew up exploring.  Watching how her sister, brother, and dad behave when they think no one is looking, Effie overhears coversations, makes discoveries, and begins to see her family in a new light.  Then she runs into Joe - the love of her life, who long ago broke her heart, and who's still as handsome and funny as ever - and even more truths emerge.  But will Effie act on these revelations?  Will she stay hidden or step out into the party and take her place with her family?  And truthfully, what did she really come back to Greenoaks for?  Over the course of one blowout party, Effie realizes that she must be honest with herself and confront her past before she'll ever be able to face her future.

This was an okay book.  It was cute and had some good funny lines.  Joe is a great character.  And Effie's sister is so sweet.  But I didn't care for Effie.  She was so immature.  Those kind of characters that are adults make me crazy in books.  I don't find it endearing or cute.  She is so stubborn and silly.  There are a few fun moments between she and Joe but otherwise, just an okay story.  It made a good audiobook.

Stars: 3

Book: Peach Blossom Spring

Book: Peach Blossom Spring

Author: Melissa Fu

Pages: 400

This is my 79th read for the year

What Amazon says:

China, 1938, Meilin and her 4 year old son, Renshu, flee their burning city as Japanese forces advance.  On the perilous journey that follows, across a China transformed by war, they find comfort and wisdom in their most treasured possession, a beautifully illustrated hand scroll filled with ancient fables.  Years later, Renshu has settled in America has Henry Dao.  Though his daughter, Lily, is desperate to understand her heritage, he refuses to talk about his childhood in China.  How can he tell his story when he's left so much behind? Spanning continents and generations, Peach Blossom Spring is a bold and moving story about the haunting power of our past, the sacrifices we make to protet our children, and one family's search for a place to call home.

This was a great book.  I enjoyed the generational story and the move from China to the US for Henry, and the other half of the story with Meilin who stays behind in China.  We learn a lot of history of China and the war with Japan.  Interwoven in the history and Meilin's hope to get Renshu/Henry out of the China while she can is the stories she tells him from a special family scroll.  Overall the book is well written and the story well told.  Henry's character gets a little harsh mid/late book, but it evens out as the story progresses.

Stars: 4

Book: Insomnia

 Book: Insomnia

Author: Stephen King

Pages: 912

This is my 78th read for the year

What Amazon says:

Since his wife died, Ralph Roberts has been having trouble sleeping.  Each night he wakes up a bit earlier, until he's barely sleeping at all.  During his late night walks, he observes some strange things going on in Derry, Maine.  He sees colored ribbons streaming from people's heads, two strange little mn wandering around town after dark, and more, H begins to suspect that these visions are something more than hallucinations brought on by lack of sleep.  There's a definite mean streak running through this small New England city; underneath its ordinary surface awesome and terrifying forces are at work.  The dying has been gnig on in Derry for a long, long time.  Now Ralph is part of it - and lack of sleep is the least of his worries.  Returning to the same Maine town where IT took place, a town that has haunted Stephen King for decades, Insomnia blends King's trademark bone-chilling realism with supernatural terror to create yet another masterpiece of suspense.

This was an interesting book.  It is very long.  I saved it to listen to on a very long car trip and got it finished in a few days.  It is an interesting concept and has some interesting characters.  There is supernatural (shocking) elements throughout.  I liked the beginning where we are eased into the main character's life.  It just was way too long, and I started to wish he would wrap it up.  Overall a solid read, but could have been about 200 pages shorter.

Stars: 4

Book: The Inheritance Games

 Book: The Inheritence Games

Author: Jennifer Lynne Barnes

Pages: 400

This is my 77th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Avery Grambs has a plan for  better future: survive high school, win a scholarship, and get out.  But her fortunes change in an instant when billionaire Tobias Hawthorne dies and leaves Avery virtually his enitre fortune.  The catch?  Avery has no idea why - or even who Tobias Hawthorne is.  To receive her inheritance, Avery must move into sprawling, secret passage-filled Hawthorne House, where every room bears the old man's touch - and his love of puzzles, riddles, and codes.  Unfortunately for Avery, Hawthorne House is also occupied by the family that Tobias Hawthorne just dispossessed.  This includes the one day, they would inherit billions.  Heir apparent Grayson Hawthorne is convinced that Avery must be a conwoman, and he's determined to take her down.  His brother, Jameson, views her as their grandfather's last hurrah: a twisted riddle, a puzzle to be solved.  Caughter in a world of wealth and privilege with danger around every turn, Avery will have to play the game herself just to survive.

This book was terrific.  I found it fun, well written, and I loved the mystery.  The house and the puzzles were fantastic.  Even the Hawthorne family grew on me. There is a good twist at the ending I actually didn't see coming that leads into the next book.  There is good character development and it was well plotted.  I really surprsied myself that I liked this book since it is definitely YA.  This was a win.

Stars: 5  

Book: Before I Go to Sleep

 Book: Before I Go To Sleep

Author: SJ Watson

Pages: 371

This is my 76th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Memories define us.  So what is you lost yours every time you went to sleep?  Your name, your identity, your past, even the people you love - all forgotten overnight.  And the one person you trust may be telling you only half the story.  Welcome to Christine's life.  Every morning, she awakens beside a stranger in an unfamiliar bed.  She sees a middle-aged face in the bathroom mirror that she does not reognize.  And every morning, the man patiently explains that he is Ben, her husabnd, that she is 47 years old, and that an accident long ago damaged her ability to remember.  In place of memories Chistine has a handful of pictures, a whiteboard in the kitchen, and a journal, hidden in a closet.  She knows about the journal becasue Dr. Ed Nash, a neurologist who claims to be treating her without Ben's knowledge, reminds her about it every day.  Inside its pages, the damaged woman has begun meticulously recording her daily events - sessions with Dr. Nash, snippets of information that Ben shares, flashes of her former self that briefly, miraculously appear.  But as the pages accumulate, inconsistencies begin to emerge, raising disturbing questions that Christine is determined to find answers to.  And the more she pieces together the shards of her broken life, the closer she gets to the truth - and the more terrifying and deadly it is.

This was a decent book.  It was a good one to listen to.  It flowed okay.  There were some plot holes, and I knew pretty much from the beginning who the bad guy was.  I would say that SJ Watson is a bit wordy.  A lot of "filler" among the dialogue.  Over discriptions of the mundane just to increase pages.  I found my self telling him to get on with it more than a few times.  I liked the idea of the story - a woman with no memory waking up every single day and not knowing who or where she is - very frightening.  

Stars: 3

Book: The Ministry of Time

 Book: The Ministry of Time

Author: Kaliane Bradley

Pages: 352

This is my 75th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she'll be working on.  A recently established government ministry is gathering "expats" from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible - for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time.  She is tasked with working as a "bridge": living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as "1847" or Commander Graham Gore.  As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore ided on Sir John Franklin's doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic so he's a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by outlandish concepts such as "washing machines", "Spotify" and "the collapse of the British Empire".  But with an appetite for discovery, a 7 a day cigarette habit, and the support of a charming and chaotic cast o fellow expats, he soon adjusts.  Over the next year, what the bridge initially thought would be, at best, a horrifically uncomfortable roomate dynamic, evolves into something much deeper.  By the time the true shape of the Ministry's project comes to light, the bridge has fallen haphazardly, fervently in love, with consequences she never could have imagined.  Forced to confront the choices that brought them together, the bridge must finally reckon with how - and whether she believes - what she does next can change the future.  

This was a really good book.  I liked the characters and the story flowed well.  You get drawn into the story of the expats and how they are trying to fit into timelines 100s of years after they lived and what that would be like for them.  Required to spend a year basically sequestered with their "bridge" helped them adjust, but keeps you wondering if they ever really would and wouldn't ultimately just like to go back to their timeline.  Most of the story revolves around two main characters, but we get to learn the dynamics of others who work at the Ministry as well as other Expats.  It is an interesting take on time travel.  I wish the ending would have been stronger and was groaning a bit when it didn't work out how I had hoped.  Overall a solid read.

Stars: 4.5

Book: The Sun Does Shine

 Book: The Sun Does Shine

Author: Anthony Ray Hinton

Pages: 368

This is my 74th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

In 1985, Anthony Ray Hinton was arrested and charged with two counts of capital murder in Alabama.  Stunned, confused, and only 29 years old, Hinton knew that it was a case of mistaken identity and believed that the truth would prove his innocence and ultimately set him free.  But with no money and a different system of justice for a poor black man in the South, Hinton was sentenced to death by electrocution.  He spent his first 3 years on Death Row at Holman State Prison in agonizing silence - full of despair and anger toward all those who had sent an innocent man to his death.  But as Hinton realized and accepted his fate, he resolved not only to survive, but find a way to live on Death Row.  For the next 27 years he was a beacon - transforming not only his own spirit, but those of his fellow inmates, 54 of whom were exected mere feet from his cell.  With the help of civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson, Hinton won his release in 2015.  This is an extraordinary testament to the power of hope sustained through the darkest times.  Destined to be a classic memoir of wrongful imprisonmetn and freedom won, Hinton's memoir tells his dramatic 30 year journey and shows how you can take away a man's freedom, but you can't take away his imagination, humor, or joy.

This was a good book.  It is terrible what happened to him and as anyone who is wrongfully charges - unimaginable what it was like for him and continues to be like for him even after his release almost a decade ago.  His lawyer - Bryan Stevenson - wrote Just Mercy - a fantastic book about his work with ciminals wrongfully accused.  He works to get Anthony off Death Row for over 15 years, which is incredible dedication.  The story of trying to get him out of jail was aggrevating on how long things took.  What I didn't like about the book is how much time was spent on minute details and not more on the overall feeling of what it was like to be on death row for 30 years.  Large gaps of time would pass without us getting much of an idea of what was going on in those gaps.  Overall - a solid read, and it will leave your seething about the justice system.

Stars: 4