2 Book Lovers Reviews
Beartown
By Fredrik Backman
Week of Nov. 28/22
Week of Nov. 28/22
If you’re looking for a short
holiday story to bring a
smile to your face, this is
the one. This is the perfect
little piece of escapism to
enjoy while you’re taking
a break from everyday life.
Did I wish that this was a
longer story? Not really.
It was advertised as a short
story and that’s just what
I wanted. It delivered the
right amount of humor,
romance, and festive cheer.
November's Anticipated Reads!
November is a time to reflect and give thanks. Once again, I have a great deal to be thankful for: family, friends, health, happiness, and books, of course. During a month that is usually bleak, filled with more gray days than sunny, bare trees without any leaves, chillier temperatures, and less daylight, at least we have a way to escape, to step into a different place, season, or world. We have our books. Whether you enjoy your e-reader, a paperback, or you prefer listening to an audiobook, books are a reprieve from the everyday, a new adventure, and for that I am truly grateful. November’s new releases have made my to-be-read list considerably longer, but again, this is something to be thankful for…and I am.
- November 1 – We Are the Light – By Matthew Quick
From the author of Silver Linings Playbook! This novel is an emotional read that can't help but hit its reader right in the pit of their stomach. Read my review.
- November 1 – The Rewind – By Allison Winn Scotch
This one just screams my name. After being married for...ahem...many years, I am always drawn to novels about married couples (or, in this case, exes).
Two exes wake up together with wedding bands on their fingers—and no idea how they got there. They have just one New Year’s Eve at the end of 1999 to figure it out...
- November 1 – The Prisoner – By B.A. Paris – Thriller!
My TBR list always has a few psychological thrillers on it, and this one looks chilling.
Amelie has always been a survivor, from losing her parents as a child in Paris to making it on her own in London. As she builds a life for herself, she is swept up into a glamorous lifestyle where she married the handsome billionaire Ned Hawthorne.
But then, Amelie wakes up in a pitch-black room, not knowing where she is. Why has she been taken? Who are her mysterious captors? And why does she soon feel safer here, imprisoned, than she had begun to feel with her husband Ned?
- November 1 – Never Forget You – By Fiona Lucas
I am a big fan of serendipitous novels. A big fan. I enjoyed this author's previous novel, The Last Goodbye, and this one sounds like the ideal book for me.
When Lili meets Ben by chance one hot summer’s day, it feels like fate. But life is about to take them in different directions, and so they agree to meet next July, in the beautiful hidden garden where they first laid eyes on each other. But one of them never shows up…
- November 8 – Never Gonna Happen – By Linda Kage Young Adult! From the cover to the synopsis, this book is adorable. It's been my personal experience that you should never say never.
- November 8 – The Christmas Wish – By Lindsey Kelk A holiday romance by Lindsey Kelk? Yes, please!
Newly single lawyer Gwen Baker is hoping that a family Christmas—countryside, a mountain of food and festive films—will salve the sting of her career hanging by a thread and her heart being trampled on. Because everyone else has their life sorted: even Dev, her boy-next-door crush, is now a tall, dark and handsome stranger with a fiancée. She can’t help wishing her future was clearer.
Then Gwen wakes up to discover it’s Christmas day all over again. Like Groundhog Day but with eggnog. And family arguments. On repeat...
- November 15 – Before I Let Go – By Kennedy Ryan
I was lucky enough to get an ARC of this one, and let me tell you, it is emotional to the max, and so well written.
Their love was supposed to last forever. But when life delivered blow after devastating blow, Yasmen and Josiah Wade found that love alone couldn’t solve or save everything.
It couldn’t save their marriage...
- November 22 – Two Wrongs Make a Right – By Chloe Liese
A reimagining of Much Ado About Nothing! This looks like so much fun!
Jamie Westenberg and Bea Wilmot have nothing in common except a meet-disaster and the mutual understanding that they couldn't be more wrong for each other. But when the people closest to them play Cupid and trick them into going on a date, Jamie and Bea realize they have something else in common after all—an undeniable need for revenge.
Soon their plan is in place: Fake date obnoxiously and convince the meddlers they’re madly in love. Then, break up spectacularly and dash everyone's hopes, putting an end to the matchmaking madness once and for all.
To convince everyone that they’ve fallen for each other, Jamie and Bea will have to nail the performance of their lives. But as their final act nears and playing lovers becomes easier than not, they begin to wonder: What if Cupid’s arrow wasn’t so off the mark? And what if two wrongs do make a right?
- November 22 – The Man I Never Met – By Elle Cook
Okay, this book must have been written just for me.
When Hannah picks up a call from an unknown number, she thinks nothing of it—it’s just an easygoing American named Davey who misdialed her while calling into a job interview. And when Hannah wishes him luck after clearing up the confusion, she never actually expects to hear from him again.
Then she gets a text saying he got the job and he’ll be moving to London, and she can’t help but smile. Soon their texts become phone calls that turn into video calls, and their friendship becomes a relationship they can’t wait to start in earnest once Davey lands in London in a month’s time.
But when Hannah goes to meet him at the airport, Davey isn’t there—and the reason why changes both of their lives in an instant.
Happy Reading!
The Hollow Kind
By Andy Davidson
November's Anticipated Reads!
Wow! November is already here, time flies when you are having fun. This is the time of year when I really start to evaluate my year in reading. There isn’t much time left, only so many more books I have the time to read before the year ends. Do the new books take priority over the books that I already have in my pile? These books here beg that question.
- November 1 – The Prisoner – By B.A. Paris
As the temperature starts to fall and the light goes away earlier and earlier, it is fun to immerse yourself in a psychologic thriller. My past experience with B.A. Paris was very good, she had a great mix of taking her time and leading me down the garden path before shocking me with something I did not see coming.
Amelie has always been a survivor, from losing her parents as a child in Paris to making it on her own in London. As she builds a life for herself, she is swept up into a glamorous lifestyle where she married the handsome billionaire Jed Hawthorne.
But then, Amelie wakes up in a pitch-black room, not knowing where she is. Why has she been taken? Who are her mysterious captors? And why does she soon feel safer here, imprisoned, than she had begun to feel with her husband Jed?
Yeah, that synopsis sounds good.
- November 15 – Wayward (Wanderers #2) – By Chuck Wendig
When a five-star book that made you “feel in spades” comes out with a sequel – well no more needs to be said. I will be reading or listening to this one.
- November 15 – The Rabbit Factor – By Antti Tuomainen - Read my review.
The cover, yes, it was the cover that first pulled me into this one. That giant frickin’ rabbit, with one broken ear. It has a sinister quality to it. Then there is the premise: an insurance mathematician who loses his job and inherits an adventure park; what could go wrong? I always find it fun to see how other cultures and countries approach certain genres, so let’s give it up for “The King of Helsinki Noir.”
- November 18 – The Dismembered – By Jonathan Janz
You can count on Jonathan Janz to give you a top-notch horror story. I’ve enjoyed his classic monster stories (werewolves and vampires) and am excited to see his new gothic horror.
In the spring of 1912, American writer Arthur Pearce is reeling from the wounds inflicted by a disastrous marriage. But his plans to travel abroad, write a new novel, and forget about his ex-wife are interrupted by a lovely young woman he encounters on a London-bound train. Her name is Sarah Coyle, and the tale she tells him chills his blood.
Sarah's younger sister has been entranced by Count Richard Dunning, who is rumored to dabble in bizarre religious rites and experimental medicine. Arthur agrees to help, but he has no idea of what awaits him at Altarbook, Sarah's ancestral mansion, or the remote English countryside, where Count Dunning and his followers are about to unleash an unholy supernatural power.
What he's reading!
What she's reading!