Home Before Dark

★★☆/5

Genre: Thriller
Read if you like: Lock Every Door, All The Missing Girls⁣
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This is another delayed post as I finished Home Before Dark by Riley Sager a few weeks ago. I got the ARC and have been meaning to share my thoughts- so here we are!⁣
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Americanah

★★★★☆/5

Genre: Contemporary Fiction⁣
Read if you like: An American Marriage, Becoming⁣
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This post is a little delayed, but I finished Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche while wrapping up another Forth of July weekend, and it was book that felt pretty fitting around the holiday this year.
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The Glass Hotel

★★★★✹/5

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Read if you love: Cloud Atlas, Station 11
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“Does a person have to be admirable or awful?”⁣
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The Glass Hotel by Emily St John-Mandel is one of the best books I’ve read this year. The story was crafted beautifully, and I finished feeling like I had read something poignant and substantial.⁣
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A Good Marriage

★★★☆/5

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Read If You Like: The Woman in the Window

A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight was by Book of the Month club pick for May and my first time using the service. I chose this book because I was in the mood for a fun thriller/mystery and I had also seen that Nicole Kidman's production company, Blossom Films, would be producing it at some point in the future. I am so happy I went with this pick!

Open Book

★★★★/5
Genre: Memoir
Read if you like: Pop Culture, Early 2000's, Female Memoirs, Celebrity Gossip

Open Book by Jessica Simpson was our Pittsburgh bookclub "bonus book" for April, and came highly recommended by one of my all-time besties Michelle. I don't usually read celebrity memoirs, but Michelle listened to the audiobook and loved it and we generally have similar taste so I decided to give it a go! I got my libro.fm copy from my favorite bookstore, Bethany Beach Books, and devoured it in a day and a half.

Dear Edward

★★★★/5
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Read if you like: Bel Canto (or anything by Ann Patchett)
Don't read if you get anxiety about traveling/flying - it'll only make it worse!

It's been a while since my last review and I'm happy to be back! I read Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano with my old Pittsburgh book club (we're discussing it via video) - I've really missed these ladies so I'm super excited that we're making it happen virtually!

Nine Perfect Strangers

★★★☆/5

Happy Monday! Hope everyone is doing well and had a nice Easter weekend. I don't know about you guys, but at this point in quarantine my reading needed a little bit of a pick-me-up. I found Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty at a library sale ages ago ($3 - deal of the century!) and decided now was as good a time as ever to give it a go - usually books I own are the last ones to get read because I always prioritize the library books I have out. But with everything going on and that no longer being an issue, I suddenly had plenty of time to read it. Plus, my mom and I are hoping to go to a health resort in June (fingers crossed it still happens) and this felt like a fun way to keep that vibe while stuck at home. While it was absolutely nothing like the place we're going to, it was still exactly what I needed!

The Woman in the Window

★★★/5

Hey all you cool cats and kittens! (Sorry, I had to. No more Tiger King references, promise!) This post comes on an exciting weekend - we're out of our self-isolation! We have been on a pretty strict self-imposed quarantine period for the past 15 days (only leaving the apartment to take Scout outside) because at least one case of COVID-19 was reported in our apartment building (we're committed to flattening the curve!). So happy and grateful to report that both Cook Nerd and I are feeling good and have had no symptoms. Of course, we will continue to stay at home and social distance, but getting to go outside for more than a few minutes a day is still extremely exciting. It's the little things!

Such a Fun Age

★★★★/5

I know I'm a little late to the party with Such A Fun Age by Kiley Read, but I'm so happy to have finally gotten to it! I loved the book and totally understand the hype. SAFA addresses critical issues surrounding racism, classism and female dynamics in the home/workplace - but the characters are so relatable and the writing is so upbeat that the book is still refreshingly fun. Definitely a book I really enjoyed while also gaining insight on cultural complexities that I didn't know nearly enough about.

The Dutch House

★★★★/5

I am so excited to finally be writing a review for The Dutch House! Ann Patchett is one of my all time favorite authors and this book had been on my TBR for months. I don't typically listen to fictional audiobooks (I usually use that platform for non-fiction), but my mom convinced me to give it a try and I'm so glad that I did. (It also definitely doesn't hurt that Tom Hanks reads the story and does an amazing job - feel better Tom and Rita!!!!)

Ask Again, Yes

★★★★/5

Wow - I have so much to say about Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane. This is our second Ya-Ya Book Club pick, and I think it's going to generate some great conversation. For me, AAY is definitely the type of book that proves I can appreciate a book and rate it highly without actually "liking" it very much. It's extremely thought provoking with fascinating characters and complex subject matter - let's dive in! 

Lock Every Door

★★★☆/5

Lock Every Door by Riley Sager was my first thriller of the year. I picked it up because two of my best book lover friends, Michelle and Claire, convinced me we should all read it together. I'm so glad they did!

The Giver of Stars

★★★☆ (3.75/5)

The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes was a book I was both hesitant and excited to start. There had been so much hype about it that I expected it to be decent, but having read a Jojo Moyes book years ago, wasn't sure if I should expect a lot of fluff. Also, I believe this is her first attempt at historical fiction so I wasn't sure how that would affect her storytelling style. I have to say - I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this book! The concept of a female-driven team of traveling librarians was a little unusual to me at first, I'll admit, but it was definitely something I was interested in learning more about. Moyes instantly creates characters that you can invest in, which set the framework for a good read off the bat. 

The Whisper Network

Wow. I don't even know where to start with The Whisper Network. Chandler Baker's novel struck me in a way I haven't had a book do in a long time. It's entertaining, gripping, but most importantly relatable. She takes the extremely important and relevant subject of sexual harassment of women in corporate America and sends home a message in a manageable way. Without going into too much detail about my own personal life, I loved this book because it felt like there were parts where she was telling pieces of my own story. It always shakes me when I come across a book that does that.

Circe

★★★ (3/5)

I was so excited to finally read Circe by Madeline Miller when it came in from the library. It had been very hyped on social media, had an extremely high Goodreads rating, and had even won a few awards. I'm also a huge fan of historical fiction, and was excited about the story's concept of diving into Greek mythology through the character of the lesser known goddess, Circe. Sadly, I didn't click with this book the way I thought I would. I don't know why I struggled so much with it, so I'm curious to hear if anyone else felt the same way after reading. If you disagree with my thoughts and loved this book, I'm really interested to hear what you most enjoyed!

The Secrets We Kept

★★★★ (4/5)

Happy 2020 everyone! So excited to be kicking off with my first 2020 review, and The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott was a great way to start the year. I should preface by saying that I love most historical fiction, but I am especially into Russian historical fiction. I have absolutely no idea why (I've never actually been there), but if you were to check my favorites bookshelf on Goodreads, you'd see that 3/30 are Russian historical fiction. That's a solid 10%! So needless to say, when I saw the description of this book and found out it was also a Reese's BookClub pick, I was immediately on board (I was on hold at the library for WEEKS)- the book takes place shortly after the cold war across Soviet Russia and the US, has three very strong female protagonists, plus spies helping to spread manuscripts of Doctor Zhivago. Count me in!

The Tattooist of Auschwitz

★★★★ (4/5)

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris is a WWII novel based on the true story of Lale Eisenberg (later Lale Slovak) during his imprisonment at Auschwitz-Birkenau. It's the first read of our new quarterly "Ya-Ya" Book Club (don't ask on the name), and I'm so happy this is what we started with! It has received a ton of hype and I feel like I finally got to find out what all the fuss has been about.

Orange is the New Black

★★★ (3/5)

Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman is another stray from my typical reads (I generally stick to fiction); the book is a memoir about Piper's time spent in federal prison which was eventually turned into a popular show on Netflix. I'll admit - I was interested in the book because of how much I loved the first few seasons of the show. I was especially drawn in by the dynamics and back stories between the prisoners, which I thought were extremely insightful. I'll be honest, though, this book was a little tough for me to stick with (hence another hiatus between posts), but I think that may be because of my general aversion to reading non-fiction and/or my expectations of similarity to the show, and not because it's a bad memoir in any way. 

Red, White & Royal Blue

★★✩ (2.5/5)

Hey all - it's been a little while! After a brief hiatus, I'm happy to say that I'm back and ready to jump into some 2019 reads - let's see if I still remember how to do this!

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston was a stray from my typical reads; it's a "rom com" -which I rarely go for - that takes place in hypothetical 2019 US/UK. I read this book because it kept popping up all over #bookstagram and I was intrigued by the concept. I've been really busy traveling recently (hence my break from posting), so a light read was definitely welcome.

Daisy Jones & The Six

★★★★☆ (4.5/5)

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid was a book I was extremely excited to get started on: it was a Reese’s Book Club pick, I loved the last book I read by Reid, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, and my Pittsburgh friends gave it raving reviews. Additionally, I’m a sucker for anything musically inclined, especially if it’s set during the 60’s or 70’s. So I was ready for a great ride! Let me tell you – I have a lot of thoughts on the book, but it did not disappoint.

First and foremost, I love the format of the novel – I loved it from the start, and it only developed further as I got to the end of the book. The novel is told in an interview format, with the main characters retelling their accounts for their time in/around Daisy Jones and the Six. The way the story is told from the perspective of each character really develops your understanding of their perspectives of the inner workings of the band and sets a really strong foundation for character building.