Breathe To Read

Breathe To Read

Tuesday, August 30, 2022

Book: Once There Were Wolves

 Book: Once There Were Wolves

Author: Charlotte Mcconaghy

Pages: 272


This is my 75th read for the year

This is the story of Inti Flynn.  She and her sister have moved to Scotland to help a group of biologist reintroduce wolves into the Highlands.  It is an ecological move, but the locals are less than happy about the threat wolves bring to their livestock and families.  Inti has traveled with her twin sister, Aggie, who has lived through a terrible tragedy and has not spoke since.  Inti hopes getting them both out of Alaska and working on this project will help Aggie heal.  The project takes off, and is starting to be successful when a local is found dead.  Inti decides to protect the wolves against the wrath she knows is coming but it may come at a terrible cost.   As she befriends the locals and even finds love, she risks everything to protect the wolves that have always been a part of her history.

This was a pretty good book.  To start - I felt it was well written.  The story of the wolves and their part in the ecosystem was the most interesting part to me.  I feel like I learned a lot about their part in nature.  However - it is a very dark book- a lot of tragic stories for every character, to the point of it being almost overdone.  There is a love story, but I did have a hard time finding it believable.  The murderer in the end and how they handled it didn't sit well with me.  I think the author wanted to wrap up the story neatly,  but it really didn't fit with how dark the story had been up until then.  Going the way you would imagine it SHOULD would have made more sense.

Stars: 3.5


Sunday, August 28, 2022

Book: The 100 Years of Lenni and Margot

 Book: The 100 Years of Lenni and Margo

Author: Marianne Cronin

Pages: 352


This is my 74th read or the year

This is the story of 17 year old Lenni and 83 year old Margot.  They meet under the most dire of circumstances in the hospital.  Lenni lives on the Terminal ward and Margot is in the hospital for surgery for her heart that may or may not prolong her life.  They meet in an art class and Lenni decides to start an art project with Margot to make 100 pictures to represent their two ages added together.  As they draw, Margot tells Lenni the story of her life.  As their lives dwindle, the stories of these two fill their days and form a unbreakable bond.   With the help of a doting nurse and the hospital's chaplain, the group fills Lenni and Margots last days with an amazing project that help them leave their mark on the world.

This book was wonderful.  I don't cry often with books, but there were certain sections of this one that brought me to tears.  I wish I could tell you the part that got me the most, but I don't want to give anything away.  The story is sweet, the characters witty and fun (especially Father Arthur), and Margot's stories of love, friendship, loss, and hardship brought the story alive.  Even though we all know how it will end for Lenni and Margo right from the begining, the plot focuses mostly on the life of these two women outside of the walls of the hospital.  

A great lesson about living with the life you are given.  Have tissues at the ready!

Stars: 4.5

Friday, August 26, 2022

Book: The Messy Lives of Book People

 Book: The Messy Lives of Book People

Author: Phaedra Patrick

Pages: 352


This is my 73rd read for the year

This is the story of Liv Green.  A maid for a high profile recluse author, and mother of two, Liv wishes for more.  When the author (Essie) invites Liv into her studio one day to ask her opinion on her newest book Liv gives her opinion that she feels that it isn't the author's best work.  A tenuous friendship forms, and Liv starts to feel more than just Essie's maid.

When Essie suddenly passes away, Liv finds out that Essie left instructions for her to finish the author's novel.  She also has to keep the author's death a secret for 6 months while the book is finished.  Liv starts to write the book and along the way starts to unravel the reclusive author's life and finds things out that she never expected.

This book was really awful.  Liv was a horrible character.  Completely unrealistic story line with a very selfish and self centered main character.  This is a maid who barely makes enough money to scrape by, has two children going to university and a husband and a low paying job.  Yet she uses some of her money to buy fancy clothes and getting pampered when they have a pipe that burst at home and a lot of bills to pay.  She gets mad at her husband for being reasonable.

Just silly.  I should have quit reading it, but I REALLY wanted to see what Essie left Liv in her will.  Trust me - not even a little worth it.

Stars: 2

Sunday, August 21, 2022

Book: The Measure

 Book: The Measure

Author: Nikki Erlick

Pages: 368


This is my 72nd read for the year

This is the story of what would happen if you knew when you would die.  One morning, everyone all over the world wake to a box on their porch that contains a single string.  The string inside - short or long - determines the length of your life.  Not what is left, but your whole life from beginning to end.  People don't know what to make of this strange arrival.  The boxes and strings cannot be destroyed.  Some people decide not to look.  Others cannot help it and quickly turn to the scientist who start to figure out what the string lengths mean.  At first they are able to narrow your life ending withing 2 years.  Then within a month.

Thus starts people deciding what they are going to do with their strings and what they mean - short or long.  The people with short strings start to form support groups.  People decide how they are going to live given the time they have left.  However - trouble also starts to arise when panic sets in with people who only have a small window of life left.  "Long stringers" start to tout that "short stringers" are dangerous.  Military and some jobs start to state that they must know the length of your string before you get certain jobs or can join the armed forces.  Short stringers are discriminated against in all aspects of life, and a small group of people decide to fight back.

This was a pretty good book.  I liked the concept and since these dystopian type books are part of my favorite genre, I was drawn to give it a try.  It is a thought provoking book for sure.  What would you do with this box if it showed up at your door?  Would you open it?  Would knowing change how you lived the time you had left?  The type A personality in me says I would definitely look.  But then my anxiety about knowing would make me think I shouldn't.  It would be a hard call.

The book is a bit cheesy in times, but not enough to deter my enjoyment of the book.  And the message is clear about discrimination and unity in tough times.  Overall a good read.

Stars: 4.5


Friday, August 19, 2022

Book: The Paris Apartment

 Book: The Paris Apartment

Author: Lucy Foley

Pages: 368


This is my 71st book of the year

This is the story of Jess.  She has traveled to Paris to meet her brother, Ben, and hopfully crash with him for awhile.  She hasn't seen him in awhile, but finds herself in circumstances where she really needs his help.  When she arrives in Paris, Ben isn't at the apartment, and Jess can't get him on his cell.  She enlist the help of neighbors, and someone who was working with Ben to try and find out what happened to him.  What Jess finds is an apartment building full of suspicious people who seem to know something but aren't telling.  As Jess delves into Ben's life in Paris and the people who knew him, she starts to think that something terrible happened to him.

This was an okay book.  I actually liked it better than the other book I read of hers: "The Guest List".  The chracters are all terrible people, but they are supposed to be.  I thought several times while reading this that the author really doesn't seem to like the French.  Her characters were prety stereotypical. You figure out pretty quickly who is involved in Ben's disappearance, but it kept me entertained well enough.  I listened to this one and while I didn't jump to keep listening to it, when I needed entertainment during yard chores, this kept me going.

Stars: 3 


Thursday, August 18, 2022

Book: The Clockmaker's Daughter

 Book: The Clockmaker's Daughter

Author: Kate Morton

Pages: 496


This is my 70th read for the year

This is a book that travels back and forth through time.  In the 19th century, a young girl who is abandoned in London is taken in by a couple that teaches her to be a theif.  As she grows up, she catches the eye on a young, budding artist who wants her to be his muse.  Their relationship blossoms into love, but when the young girl's "family" comes looking for her, a tragedy strikes, and the girl disappears.  

Over time, Birchwood Manor where the tragedy struck ebbs and flows with people.  It is bought and sold - left to go into disrepair.  All the while it holds a dark secreat.  As the story unfolds over the course of more than a century and a half, the people who come and go have lives that entertwine and piece together what happened that one fateful night so long ago.

This was a pretty good book.  You have to be really paying attention as you read, so this one took me a longer time than I was expecting.  It was well written, but the back and forth through time and all the characters is hard to keep up with at times.  It would have been nice to have a layout of the timelines and characters somehwere to refer to so you weren't constantly trying to remember who fit where.  The ending wasn't great.  I have read several Kate Morton books and have liked them pretty well, but this one  - after 496 pages - have an ending I felt was lacking.  

I suggest if you pick this one up, you are ready with pen and paper to keep a timeline for yourself so you can refer to it as this books hops around quite a bit.  Also - it cannot be one that you read, like I did, over the course of a few weeks when you have time.  I would make the time to read this one a few days in a row to keep the momentum of all the characters straight.

Stars: 3.5


Wednesday, August 17, 2022

2022 Challenge: Duology: Vengeful

 Book: Vengeful

Author: V.E. Schwab

Pages: 480


This is my 69th read for the year

The second book in Villans Duology opens basically where we left off.  Victor is still struggling to keep his heart beating after Sydney brought him back from dying a second time.  As he searches for answers, and searches for Eli, new EOs come onto the scene.  Marcella Riggins' husband tried to murder her, but instead, turned her into one of the most powerful EOs in existence.  When she meets June, she thinks as a team they can be unstoppable.  Eli - now behind bars - and being tortured for science - is brought in to try and find Marcella and stop her.  However, his handlers are reluctant to let him out.  They want him to help them from prison.  Eventually Victor, Eli, and Marcella will face off and it is anyone's guess who will be left standing.

This was a good book.  I didn't like it as much as the first one - I was kind of hoping they would focus just on Victor and Eli and their own hunts.  But most of the story is about Marcella and June.  Marcella was not likable at all - although I am beginning to think that is the idea with this author.  A lot of time jumps.  I didn't find myself jumping to finish this one like I did Vicious.  It wraps up nicely - I don't think there will be a third. But who knows.  And if there is - we shall see if I pick it up.

Stars: 3


Friday, August 12, 2022

2022 Challenge: Duology: Vicious

 Book: Vicious

Author: V E Schwab

Pages: 400


This is my 68th read for the year

This is the story of Victor and Eli.  Two friends who met in college ad quickly hit it off.  They were both incredibly intelligent as well as arrogant, and they liked to challenge each other.  When Eli picks to do his final college thesis on how someone could develop Extraordinary (EO) abilities Victor becomes wary.  However when the experiment moves from the classroom to real life, things take a turn that neither saw coming.  

10 years later, Victor is on the search for Eli.  While Victor has been in prison for a crime, Eli has been on the search for EOs to erradicate them all for the abominations he believes them to be.  With the help of an unlikely sidekick, both Victor and Eli come head to head once and for all.  

This was a pretty good story.  A clever idea of people who get abilities after they die and are brought back to life by resucitation and the abilities they develop due to that resucitation.  Victor and Eli are on opposite sides when it comes to EOs abilities and if they should be allowed to exist.  Both of the main characters are extremely arrogant, and honestly - I didn't love either that much.  Victor is probably the better of the two as far as likability, but he still wanted these abilities for himself, so he isn't much better than Eli in the end.

I am anxious to read the second book in this series to see where it is going.  It was well written, and entertaining, and the first book did end on a cliff hanger.  If you are interested in the supernatural, this book is for you.

Stars: 4.5 


Tuesday, August 9, 2022

Book: The Wife Upstairs

 Book: The Wife Upstairs

Author: Rachel Hawkins

Pages: 336


This is my 67th read for the year

This is the story of Jane.  She is a dog walker in a rich part of Alabama.  She spends her days taking care of other people's pet and wishing she could have their brightly colored lives.  One day, she meets Eddie - a wealthy man whose wife has died in a tragic accident along with her best friend.  What happens next is a whirlwind romance that Jane never saw coming and before she knows it, she has moved in with Eddie and they are planning a wedding.  Jane cannot shake the feeling that she will always be in Eddie's wife Bea's shadow.  Soon, things start to unravel, and Jane can't shake the feeling that things are not as they seem.  How can she makes sure that Bea stays buried?

This book was just okay.  I listened to it and it passed the time while I was working in the yard.  But it is not good literature. I hated all the characters.  The twist you can see coming.  I felt bad for no one in this book - they were all awful.  Didn't care what happened to any of them!

Skip it

Stars: 2





Saturday, August 6, 2022

2022 Challenge: A Book Set In A Foreign Country: The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany

 Book: The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany

Author: Lori Nelson Spielman

Pages: 400


This is my 66th read for the year

This is the story of Emilia.  She is a second born daughter in a family that has a legend that all second born daughters are cursed.  A curse that was set generations ago between two sisters that states that all second born daughters will live a life cursed to be single and never find love.  But Emilia has never been sure of this myth - feeling that it cannot possibly be true.  Even though she has never really found love, she states she has never really looked.  She is content to keep her head down working for her families business and doting on her nieces.  One day, her great aunt Poppy calls and invites her on an all expense paid trip to Italy for Poppy's 80th birhtday.  Emilia's grandmother has long stopped talking to her sister Poppy and tells Emilia she cannot go.  Emilia goes against her grandmother's wishes and heads out on a trip that will answer so many questions, reveal many family secrets, and hopefully break the family curse once and for all.

I did not like this book.  It is very poorly written.  I found myself eyerolling over the lines over and over again.  I almost DNF the book, but decided to push on to see if it ended the way it was heading.  And it did.  Very predictable and easy to figure out from the beginning.  I didn't like a single character, except maybe Poppy, but even she was just tolerable.  The story was just not good.  A lot of cliche writing, and jumbled plot.  It had some potential - traveling back and forth between the present and the past to piece the story together of Poppy, her long lost love, and her sister.  But the writing was just so poor that I just wanted to get through it.

Stars: 2


Friday, August 5, 2022

Book: Magic Hour

 Book: Magic Hour

Author: Kristin Hannah

Pages: 432


This is my 65th read of the year

This is the story of Julia.  A psyhiatrist that has been thrown into the public eye after one of her patients killed several people.  The media and everyone involved felt that Julia should have seen the signs.  When the court deems Julia innocent of any wrong doing, Julia hopes to get her life back on track.  Soon she discovers that this is harder than she realizes.  When her sister calls her to help with a little girl that was found in the woods, Julia jumps at the chance to get away and start fresh.  As Julia starts to work with the little girl, she rekindles old friendships and a relationship with her older sister, and discovers that she can still do some good when it comes to troubled children.

This was an okay book.  I am an on again/off again Kristin Hannah fan.  She has written some books that I really love, and some books that I just could not get into.  This unfortunately was not one of the good ones, in my opinion.  The writing was just so/so.  There were a lot of side stories going on, and so for me the main focus - the little girl and where she came from, who captured her, etc - got lost in the mix.  The characters and predictable and not all that likable.  The author spent too much time developing side love stories rather than focusing on the main objective of the book.  Ending was predictable.

Eh - not one to jump on if you are a fan.  Honestly - the only two books of hers I really liked were Nightengale and Winter Garden.  Not sure if i wil put up her stories in the future.

Stars: 3


Tuesday, August 2, 2022

Book: Book Lovers

 Book: Book Lovers

Author: Emily Henry

Pages: 400


This is my 64th read for the year

This is the story of Nora.  A hard working literary agent that is passionate about getting her clients the best deals on their books.  Her sister, Libby, asks Nora to take a few weeks and go with her to Sunshine Falls to get away from it all before Libby has her 3rd child.  Nora agrees to go with the sister she has always felt responsible for since their mom died years ago, and embark on a sister trip with a "bucket list" that Libby has put together.  While there, Nora runs into editor Charlie Lastra whom she tried working with in the past.  Charlie asks to be the editor on Nora's client's new book, and Nora reluctantly agrees.  AS they are thrown together into this project, Nora starts to find out things about herself and let's Charlie glimpse a little into her past.  Meanwhile, Libby seems to be on her own mission in Sunshine Falls and Nora fears she is keeping deep secrets from her. 

This was a pretty cute book.  Sometimes in the summer I need a cute read just because and this one hit the spot.  I normally steer pretty clear from Rom/Com books (even though I do love a good Hallmark Christmas movie), but there was enough banter between the main characters here to make this book enjoyable.  It was fun writing - the lines clever and quick witted making me think of Gilmore Girls styl writing.  It is a slow burn as far as the romance was concerned, so much more of a "com" than "rom" but I was okay with that.  There were some plot holes (of my own making- like how did the mom die? Did I miss it?  Why was it a secret?) that could have been filled in, but overall - a cute read ful of fun and fluff.

Stars 3.5


Monday, August 1, 2022

Book: Upgrade

 Book: Upgrade

Author: Blake Crouch

Pages: 352


This is my 63rd read for the year

This is the story of Logan Ramsay.  On a raid, an explosion cuts through his Biohazard suit and a mysterious substance gets into him.  At first - nothing seems out of sorts.  But soon, Logan starts to notice subtle changes.  Little things at first - he is clearer, sharper, faster.  Soon, he knows whatever was in that explosion has changed his DNA.  It won't be long until the people he works for find out.  And knowing Logan's past, they are going to come after him because of it.  As Logan starts to uncover what has happened to him, he realizes that this is just the start of a bigger plan.  Logan knows he must stop it before the past is repeated.

This was a pretty good book.  I am a Crouch fan, and was excited to see he had a new book available.  I didn't like it as some of his past books (Dark Matter and the Wayward Pines series being my favorites) however I am glad I picked it up.  It is a fast paced book, but so technical that sometimes I felt it was too much.  A lot of overexplaining.  I never really felt connected to the main character, Logan.  You get tidbits of his past but not enough to make you care.  If the author would have concentrated more on character development and relationship development and less on technical descriptions that didn't propel the story forward, I would have enjoyed it so much more.

Stars: 3