While it’s not quite the end of April I decided it was time for a book review! This month started off with a bang but ended with a sortof dud. You win some you lose some. 😉 I managed TEN books this month! Sitting on a plane headed across the country twice (with a weird CA to Denver, then back to CA, the onto Baltimore, flight) gave me lots of time to read! I strayed from thrillers this month and found myself deep into family dramas…some really good, meaty dramas! Two books from this months roundup are in the running for my “Favorite Book of the Year”! Can you guess which ones? Read on for my lengthy book review.
BOOK ONE
Little Fires Everywhere By: Celeste Ng— It’s only April but this one is in the running for my favorite book of the year! It’s the mid-nineties in Shakerville, Ohio, and small town known for it’s order. Soon that order is shaken up and no one will be the same. The family, while seemingly all-American, is quite complex. The storyline is simple…a snap-shot in time of the day-to-day family life, but there are deep feelings and connections that build up and boil over. I loved the characters in this book, each deeper than you might think. Some might think the ending is vague, but I think it was quite fitting for the story. It’s not a thriller (my more typical genre) but I loved this book and happily give it 5 stars. I’m looking forward to reading this authors first book, “Everything I Never Told You”.
BOOK TWO
Everything She Forgot By: Lisa Ballantyne—I picked this up on a whim (something I should probably stop doing as it rarely turns out good!) from the library. I am super glad I didn’t pay anything for it as I found the storyline, set in Scotland, to be well…boring. It’s told both in the present and past. A big part of the problem with this book was that the present portions are a page or two at most and the past are pages and pages and pages long! While you get to know the people in the past really well, you never get a sense of who the present character is and why she matters. It’s disjointed and you figure out the “twist” really early on, which makes the rest of the book drag on. I finally just skimmed the last 50 pages or so, just to be done with it. I’m being generous when I give it 2 stars and that’s only because I found the descriptions of Scotland to be interesting.
BOOK THREE
The Smell of Other Peoples Houses By: Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock—Four different people living very different lives become entangled. Is this a good thing? a bad thing? I find I’m drawn to storylines where previously unrelated characters lives intersect. In fact one of my favorite movies is “Crash”, if you’ve never seen it, it’s a must! This book is short, only 223 pages…a super quick read. I enjoyed this one but it was no where close to “Little Fires Everywhere”, which was much deeper and therefore interesting. 3 1/2 stars for this one. 
BOOK FOUR
Lie To Me By: J.T Ellison— Back to my roots! LOL! This was a good ‘ole Psychological Thriller. I’ve had this one on my Goodreads list for a while. When I spotted it at Target I thought I’d give it a try. Well…..it wasn’t worth the money. I hate it when I spend money on a book that sucks! Ok, this didn’t suck necessary but it wasn’t great either. I I had solved the whole thing by page 70. I kept thinking that maybe I’d be proved wrong, that it couldn’t have been so easy…but nope. I should have quit this one at page 70! All in all I can only give this one 2 stars.Â
BOOK FIVE
Small Great Things By: Jodi Picoult– I really enjoyed this one! This was my first foray into J. Picoult’s books. I can see myself reading ore of her books over time. This was focused heavily on race relations…a highly educated, African-American nurse, a dead baby and white supremacists…throw in a a meaty court case and you’ve got a recipe for a book that really makes you think. I think my opinion of how it should end changed atleast 4 times. Was the nurse right or wrong…read it and find out! A solid four starts for this beefy book.
BOOK SIX
Four Friends By: Robyn Carr– Eh…Four neighbors who spend way too much time discussing the state of their marriages. Pretty boring actually. It wasn’t a horrible book but compared to some of the other “deep” character portrayals I read this month, this doesn’t come close to stacking up. Two stars
BOOK SEVEN
Lilli De Jong By: Janet Benton– This book…oh my gosh! This takes place in the early 1880’s in Philadelphia and follows Lilli through an illegitimate pregnancy and her quest to keep her daughter. The custom at that time was to give the “bastard” child up for adoption. Lilli decides to make a different choice. The stuff she has to go through just to survive is insane. From what I’ve read this is an incredibly well researched book and provides an accurate account of what life would have been like for a woman like Lilli at that time in our history. Be glad we don’t live in these “olden days!”. This is a heavy topic and there is a fair amount of accents to try and read through. If you can get past that, this book is well worth the read if for no other reason than to praise modern obstetrics, womens lib and sanitary living conditions! This was a solid four stars
BOOK EIGHT
If You Knew Her By: Emily Elgar–This one tells the storyline from three perspectives…an intensive care nurse, the victim (told in flashbacks), and a guy in what is thought to be a persistent vegetative state. Honestly none of the “voices” are that great. The plot was kinda all over the place. I kept thinking it would come together, but in the end not so much. I’ll give it three and a half stars just because I didn’t actually know who the bad guy was until quite close to the end.
BOOK NINE
Everything I Never Told You By: Celeste Ng– After reading (and loving!) this authors most recent book, “Little Fires Everywhere”, I went back and read her first. Everything I Never Told You follows a family living in small town Ohio during the 70’s. In the Lee family, Lydia is the shining star. When she is found dead the family fractures. This book is, quite honestly, pretty sad. There’s no outright abuse within the family but the level of emotional neglect is, at times, pretty tough to take. I can’t say that I enjoyed this book and yet I’m going to give it four stars. If it was the authors intent to make me FEEL something, then she achieved just that. There were plenty of times I just had to set this one down and walk away and yet I came back…I needed to see how the Lee family ended up. If you want a DEEP, thought provoking read, this fits the bill. Four stars.
BOOK TEN
Bringing Lucy Home By: Jennifer Phillips–Simple premise. American family living in Austrailia as missionaries wants to adopt an orphan baby from China. The ups and downs of that process are detailed. It’s likely obvious but the happy ending was certainly no surprise. 😉 This was a super quick read…it’s short and simple. I read it on one leg of my flight from Maryland to California. Probably took me an hour and a half or so to finish. Sweet story, but nothing earth shattering here. Two stars.
Thanks for reading my April book review. If you are looking for more reviews check these out…
Lot’s of Thrillers! (aka February book review)
and as always if you are wondering what I’ve read or what I’m looking forward to reading take a look at my Goodreads Lists.
Can’t wait to read Little Fires Everywhere 😊