Winter in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand- Battle of the Book

I would like to say that I am the world's worst blogger. 

I thought that having these themes would help me stay on top of the task at hand but I only lied to myself... (I watched a RawBeautyKristi video last week where she said that if you announce something before actually making the accomplishment, that you are less likely to complete the task.  Why you may ask? Well, it's because you've made the announcement out loud.  This is something that I'm wholeheartedly agreeing with!)

For the "holiday" theme that I had planned for this month, I read "Winter in Paradise" by Elin Hilderbrand.  It's no big secret, that I am a big fan of Elin Hilderbrand (I don't think it is anyway). 

I looooved loved loved "The Perfect Couple" which was released this summer.  (Jess and me both read and reviewed that book - those reviews can be found by clicking on our respected names)

I was super excited to learn that she was releasing another book this year!  Usually, Hilderbrand's books take place in Nantucket but this one is different in that it takes place in St. John, US Virgin Islands.  It's also takes a similar path to "The Perfect Couple" in that involves a death! 

What kind of death? You'll just have to go and read it for yourself.  I'm not going to ruin it for anyone.

My only issue with this book is the title. I don't get it. Yes, the book starts at the New Year. Yes, they're travelling to an idyllic place.  However, they didn't spend the entire winter there and, the stuff that the Steele family had to deal with, doesn't make me think of St. John's as being a "paradise" for them. 

Aside from the title, the stuff that made the book was good.  

Irene Steele was spending New Year's Eve at dinner with one of her best friends.  Irene is a married woman, in her late 50s with two grown sons (one is living in CO and the other is living in TX with his wife and young son).  Irene is under the impression that her husband of 35 (?) years is away on a business trip.


Little does Irene know, her life is going to change for forever.

One phone call changes everything that Irene believed and known.  Her entire world is turned upside down.

A phone call that leads Irene and her sons to go down to St. Johns in the Virgin Islands.  Where they discover secrets that have been hidden for 12 years. 

Not only is she dealing with the fact that her husband is dead but she is also dealing with the fact that her husband was hiding a HUGE secret. I must say, Irene's character handled everything with dignity and grace. 

In a bizarre twist of fate, Irene's sons Cash and Banker both fell for the same girl (who's name I don't remember).  This was probably the one thing that I didn't like about the book.  I thought that Banker was a jerk about the whole thing- I wasn't really feeling how he pushed his way into going out on a date with said girl.  (In my mind, I saw Cash as being the better fit.)

Hilderbrand pens a story is able to hold the reader's attention.  In many ways this book was like her others.  The relationship that characters have, the stories that they have to tell. 

I give this book 4 coffee beans out of 5.   

~ Jillian

The Winter Sister by Megan Collins

Hello Dewey Readers!


I received an ARC of Megan Collins' The Winter Sister from Baker and Taylor.  (Library perk.)  This book is set to be published in February 2019 and opens with a murder. 

Persephone used to sneak out of her bedroom window to meet her boyfriend.  Her sister, Sylvie, used to leave the window open so that Persephone could return home in the middle of the night.  Persephone always comes home with bruises, which Sylvie believes are from Persephone's boyfriend, and Sylvie paints beautiful images over these bruises to hide them. But one day Sylvie gets sick of the lies and shuts the window behind Persephone so she'll be forced to use the front door and thus expose what she has been doing.  Only Sylvie's plan backfires and Persephone goes back out only to never return again.  

So, I'm not a big fan of thrillers because they always seem a little bit far fetched, but this one I liked.  Here's why:

• It tackles grief 
• It touched upon mortality from illness 
• It discusses drug abuse and addiction 
• It also exposes how sometimes justice can't always be served even when everyone knows who the killer is because of "evidence"    

That being said, while I did enjoy reading this book, I did not enjoy the ending. Without giving too much away, I felt that the ending came too abruptly and from basically out of nowhere.  Maybe that's just how it goes with novels of this genre.  

So Dewey Readers, I leave you with a rating of 4 out of 5 Coffee Beans!

Until the next read!

~Jessica   

Winter in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand - Battle of the Book

Hello Dewey Readers!

So Jillian let me borrow her copy of Elin Hilderbrand's new novel Winter in Paradise.  I absolutely LOVE Elin Hilderbrand so I was over the moon when Jillian passed her copy on to me (and grandma).  So this novel is in the vein of the Perfect Couple where someone dies.  It appears to be an accident, but it's a little weird and a little bit shady. *cough, cough* Did someone say double life?  

Anyway, like all Elin Hilderbrand books, I devoured this story.  Seriously, I read it in like 2 days.  I couldn't stop.  However, I didn't like the way that it was marketed.  When one reads the title Winter in Paradise,  it becomes easy to assume that this novel is like Hilderbrand's other winter novels (Winter Street, Winter Stroll, etc.) which take place over the holidays.  This novel does not, and actually there's not really any winter vibes at all except for where it mentions that this novel takes place shortly after the new year.  Also,  I'd be lying if I didn't note that I was a little disappointed the novel doesn't take place in Nantucket.. or even briefly in New England at all.  Instead the novel takes place in St. John and Iowa.   

Did I like the novel? Yes. 

Would I have liked it better if I wasn't looking for something of the Elin Hilderbrand brand?  Probably.

I guess this is why established authors sometimes use pen names.  So Dewey Readers, I give you a rating of 4.5 out of 5 Coffee Beans.

Until the next read!

~Jessica 

P.S.  Check out Jillian's review coming soon!

Christmas Joy by Nancy Naigle- Reshelved Book

'Tis the Holiday Season!

For December, I thought I would be basic and choose a holiday theme for the books I read. 

Kicking the theme off (for me) is Christmas Joy by Nancy Naigle.  (This book would actually be a nice transition, IF I had watched the Hallmark Channel's movie.  Which I did not.  If anyone happened to be around Tuesday, December 4th, Hallmark did show the movie! Totally not a sponsored shoutout. The Hallmark Channel doesn’t know this blog exists. Haha)

I found out about this book when I was looking up holiday books.  Never heard of it until then.  I've never read anything by Nancy Naigle either before this book. 

This book did skew my schedule for December.  Mainly because it took forever and a day to read. 

I found this book to be one that was painfully boring.  There was nothing that grabbed at my attention and held it. Once I was done reading it, it promptly was donated to the book nook at work.

Christmas Joy is about a woman (who is around my age?) named Joy (shocker).  Joy is go-getter, hard working marketing research analyst.  She's always putting her job first before her family.  Joy's only surviving relative, her aunt Ruby falls and break her ankle.  An injury that requires surgery!  Due to the extent of Ruby's injury, Joy goes down to North Carolina to be with her. 

Like any good Christmas story, there is turmoil!  Ruby's injury happens weeks before the annual Cookie Crawl!! (Oh nooooo!) But it's a good thing that Joy will be coming down.  Ideally, she'll be able to help decorate Ruby's house and work with the handyman Ben.  

I think that this is the point in the book where I became TRULY annoyed with Joy and the entire scenario. 

Instead of accepting the help from someone who is aware of the efforts and the demands that are associated with decorating and prepping for the cookie crawl; Joy decides that she's able to do everything all on her own and that she doesn't any help from Ben. 

Of course, while she's struggling to deal with her past and what's going on in the now- she has several epiphanies! All of which Joy basically fights- she accepts them but then she fights Ben still.

The book was just boring (Ugh. It wasn't even boring because Ben was an accountant.)  There wasn't a spark between them.  There wasn't any development between Ben and Joy as characters.  Then out of nowhere, Joy's ex-boyfriend, Todd shows up!  The book also just abruptly ended. 

I am confidently going to give this book 2.5 coffee beans out of 5.  I feel like that rating is rather unfair but I just could NOT stand it.  I could not stand Joy.  She was self described as being stubborn.  I just don't feel like that was the best way to describe her?  That really would not be the adjective that I would choose to use. 


Joy's attitude really ruined the book for me.  As silly as that may sound. 

I wish everyone a Happy Holidays!

~ Jillian
 

Ready Player One (Ready Player One) by Ernest Cline- Reshelved Books

Yes. I know that November was over almost a month ago now and yes, this post is waaaaay late but life happens, you know? 

Anyone who has been following us since the beginning, knows that we don't read dystopian books.  (I think that Jessica *may* have posted a review on one a while ago... I can not recall though...)

But that's okay because I'm going to be shaking it up today!

The book featured in this review was ranked #76 out of 100 books for PBS's Great American Read.  This is also our first Great American Read reviewed on the blog! 

This book was reccommended by someone who was #helpingtheblog. (Shout out to M.B. for #helpingtheblog)

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline takes place during 2044, where poverty is a real and feared thing.  People are being mugged and murdered.  While there is all of this going on, there is one place where people can go to escape reality.  That place is called OASIS.  (Which is a video game!)

I found this book to be super eyeopening.  Virtual reality video games already exist.  With the way that 2018 has been going, I could see the world falling into despair and everyone seeking refuge in a video game....

This book is crazy long! (It’s alittle over 600 pages) but it grabbed your attention and it made you keep wanting to know more. 
I loved the imagery that was created by Cline. This book did not lack to any attention of detail. You could visualize everything.  It was really impressive and awesome. 

Now for the movie... 

The movie didn’t really follow the book. There was a big change between the movie and what Cline had painted as pictures in the book. I understand that though. If the movie followed the book, you’d be watching the movie for like 6 hours. 

The movie did include the key parts of the book. So nothing here was missing. 

How do these rate?
Book: 5 coffee beans out of 5
Movie: 4.5 popcorn kernels out of 5

- Jillian

The Adults By Caroline Hulse - Reshelved Books

Hello Dewey Readers!

It's time for another Holiday novel review!  The Adults by Caroline Hulse was in my TBR pile for quite a while when I received it as an ARC from Baker and Taylor over the summer and let me tell you this book is FABULOUS!!!

This novel is about four adults: Matt and Claire who are divorced, and Alex and Patrick the respective new girlfriend / boyfriend.   The  two new couples decide to go on a holiday together along with Matt and Calire's young daughter Scarlett and her imaginary friend who is a really tall rabbit named Posey.  Posey wears silver shoes.  With a setup like that, nothing can go wrong, right?  Well... the novel opens with a 911 call (999 because it's England) because someone has been shot with an archery arrow.  

This novel is an absolutely wonderful and captivating read.  It's also extremely funny, which I think is partially because some of the ridiculous moments in the novel could probably happen is real life... or at least the sitcom version of our lives.

While this novel takes place over the Christmas period, it's not primarily a Christmas novel, which is another thing that I love about it.  Quite frankly, I'm sick of reading the sappy, neat, and tidy holiday novels. This was just the book that I needed to read right now.

So Dewey Reader's I leave you with a rating of 5 out of 5 Coffee Beans.

Until the next read!
~Jessica   

Remembrance by Mary Monroe - Reshelved Books

Hello Dewey Readers!

Keeping up with December's bookish theme, tonight's review is Mary Monroe's novel Remembrance, which is also a novel that I remember scoring as an ARC with Jillian at this year's Book Con. 

This novel follows the story of Beatrice who was a victim in a hit and run attack while she was jogging in her twenties.  It was bad. She almost died.  BUT death did not come on that terrible day.  Beatrice moves on with her life, marries a decent and wealthy man, and keeps herself busy.  But keeping busy isn't necessarily a good thing, especially when she uses being busy to curb the crippling anxiety caused by the hit and run attack.

I think that we can all sort of relate to Beatrice and her need to stay busy.  When you're busy it's hard to find time to think, and when you can't think your anxiety can't consume you... or at least it pauses for a little bit.  Beatrice's husband fears that she is spreading herself too thin and should probably talk to someone.  Beatrice thinks HE needs to talk to someone.

Beatrice volunteers her time at the local soup kitchen, where she meets a man named Charles.  Charles has become homeless after a series of terrible losses and betrayals in his family.  They develop a friendship that helps to teach Beatrice about all that she has to be grateful for in her life.  

I thought this book was written sort of simplistically, but I think that's what one expects when picking up a "holiday" read.  Did I love it? Not really.  Did I hate it? Nope.  So Dewey Readers, I leave you with a rating of 3 out of 5 Coffee Beans. 

Happy Reading!
~Jessica

Hocus Pocus & The All New Sequel - Reshelved Books

Hello Dewey Readers!

There is nothing better than the movie Hocus Pocus.  It's 90s nostalgia at it's very best.  BUT the one thing that might even come close to being better than the movie is the book.  

Hocus Pocus & The All New Sequel is JUST like the movie.  Yes you read that right.  I am super excited that the book (based off the movie) is just like the movie.  It's like the movie is playing in my head right down to the dialogue and I am in love with it.  But while I was loving part 1, I became worried.  Would I love the "all new sequel"?     

I didn't.  An that's why this review has taken me so long to type. This is also why you are now reading a witchy book review at the very end of November.  While I devoured part 1, part 2 left me bored.  In fact, it left me so bored that I put down this book and read a few others in between. 3.5 others to be exact.  

So why didn't I love it?  Really it's mainly because I don't know what I read.  Hocus Pocus part 1 (and the movie) set the bar incredibly high.  I really don't know what I read in part 2 or why I finished it.  I guess I just wanted it to count in my GoodReads 2018 challenge.  

So Dewey Readers, my advice to you: read part 1, but don't other with part 2. I give it 2.5 out of 5 Coffee Beans.  

Until the next read!
~Jessica 

Someone like You and That Summer (How to Deal) by Sarah Dessen- Reshelved Books

I know... I know... 

Ya’ll can say it: “Jillian, you were doing so well for the last two weeks with posting every Saturday about a book and it’s moving!” and I would have to agree.  I was impressing myself! Which is why, I’m feverishly writing this to get it up from the stroke of midnight meaning that it would be Sunday. 

Aye!

This week we have a movie from the early 2000s! When I was a tween... (gosh that feels like a million years ago).

How to Deal is the movie this is being reviewed next to the, not one but TWO books that inspired it, That Summer and Someone Like You both of which are written by Sarah Dessen. 

I happened to be talking to my sister last week about these two books. She made a good point, between the two of us, at one point we had almost every book Dessen had written. About four years ago on my Goodreads, I gave these two books stars and saidthat I had read them. I don’t remember reading them. Even while reading them, I could not recall...

Someone Like You focuses on 15 year old Halley, her friend Scarlett and her budding relationship with Macon and the change in the relationship with her mother. 
That Summer tells the story about Haven (also 15 years old), how she’s coping with her father getting remarried, her sister’s marriage and how she reflects on a summer from so many years ago. 

In true form, Dessen focuses and discusses real life issues.  Dessen is really good (in my humble opinion) at handing the reader relatable topics. 
I think that every teenager out there has faced that shift in the relationship with their parents from sharing everything to wanting to be left alone. Every teenager has felt like they know better (even when you don’t have enough life experience yet). 

In Someone Like You, Halley went from telling her mother everything, to telling her nothing and wanting to make her own decisions because she felt she knew best. 
In That Summer, Haven was still looking for her mother’s guidance until the end, when she kinda had a nervous breakdown. (I did not like Haven. She was okay in the beginning but as the story went on, I was turned off to her character. She became whining and child-like. She started out as being naïve but then she digressed). 

I can totally see and understand why the movie writer(s) mashed the two up. It was fun to see that take.  I want to say that How to Deal focused more on Someone Like You and less on That Summer.  Yes, Ashley and Lewis were from That Summer (as was Haven's father and Lorna Queen BUT Halley's father was the radio DJ). 
Halley was the main character, unlike the book Halley, movie Halley had a sister, Ashley (this was Haven’s sister in the book.) I feel like Someone Like You’s charactes were used in the setting for That Summer. If that makes any sense at all. 

Now for the moment of truth! My ratings. 

Someone Like You gets 4 coffee beans out of 5. 
That Summer gets 3.5 coffee beans out of 5.
How to Deal gets 4 popcorn kernels out of 5.

- Jillian

Simon vs. The Homo Sapien Agenda (Love, Simon) by Becky Albertalli- Reshelved Books

Helloooooo.

So, last week we learned that Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist was a movie I had seen but a book that I had not read.

This week I'm focusing on the book and the movie that made me think of doing this book and it's movie month.

Drum roll please.... 

*drum roll*

Simon vs. The Homo Sapien Agenda and it's accompanying movie Love, Simon!

Guys... this movie was very cute!  My supervisor at work suggested that I watch the movie because as she said "it's cute".  She did not lie, the movie was very cute. (We have already established that though, didn't we?)

A few months ago, the book had come through as a donation.  I grabbed the donation, where it lived in my desk for some time before I actually had the availability to read it. 

For Simon, I followed the universal rule of reading the book before watching the movie. (Which is totally worth it). 

In Simon vs. The Homo Sapien Agenda, Simon has a secret, that he's not ready to share yet, he's gay.  Simon, under the pen name "Jacques", confides to another student at his high school, "Blue".  Simon doesn't know who Blue is and at first, he's okay with that.  As time goes on, he starts to develop feelings for Blue and protecting who he is, is becoming harder. 

In a twist of events, Simon is outed by one of his classmates.  His outing threatens the relationship that he has developed with Blue- especially once Blue puts two and two together. 

The book brings to light real issues, there wasn't anything that was sugarcoated. You could feel Simon’s emotions. The book was about more than what I’m typing out here now. I think it’s important to mention that. 

Love, Simon stayed pretty close to the content of the book.  There were a few differences- the biggest on that I found was that in the movie, Simon had one sister and in the book, he has two...

I must say, Albertalli did a great job of keeping me guessing and wondering who Blue was!  I was following Simon and I was totally agreeing with who he thought they might be.  I never would have ever guessed who it actually was! (No, I will not be giving the spoiler here). 

Book: 4 out of 5 coffee beans!
Movie: 4 out of 5 popcorn kernels!

I liked both the book and the movie.  I would definitely recommend them :) 

~ Jillian

Every Breath by Nicholas Sparks - Reshelved Books

Hello Dewey Readers!  

At least the book is kind of pretty.

I usually adore Nicholas Sparks novels.  Who doesn't like a romance novel every now and then that could make even the coldest of hearts believe in love?  So I was super excited to get my hands on Sparks' latest novel Every Breath.

What a disappointment it was.  

This novel follows the story of two people who fell in love over the course of a couple days.  Hope, from North Carolina, is having relationship troubles with this man the she's been with for 6 years.  She wants to get married and have kids, while Tru is from Zimbabwe.  He has a son and is now sterile due to a complication from an illness.  They live in different countries, and Hope wants kids so their romance ends.  

Or does it?

Eh.  You can probably can guess what happened and how the story ends.   

I used to feel like I was immersed inside the the text of Sparks' novels.  I DEVOURED At First Sight, The Best of Me, The Choice, etc.  With those novels I felt like I was with the characters.  The writing style of Every Breath lacked this quality and I became bored with it. 

So Dewey Readers, I leave you with  a rating of 1.5 out of 5 Coffee Beans.

Until the next read!
~Jessica 

P.S.  The epilogue left me with weird stalker vibes from the narrator (who may be Sparks? I skimmed through it.)  Did anyone else feel this way?

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan- Reshelved Books

I'm kicking off my book to movie adaptation month is...

Let us all ignore the fingerprints on my iPad. 'Kay? Thanks!

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist!!! (Which I am sure that you have gathered from the title)

This book, originally published in 2006 was turned into a movie in 2008.  The storyline follows two teenagers, Nick and Norah, over the course of 1 night in NYC- where they navigate the city and their feelings for one and another. (You guys, I remember when this movie came out! I lived for this movie.  I remember when VH1 did a special on the movie before it came out.)

When I thought about doing this theme, it occurred to me that while this is one of my favorite movies, I never have read the book.  (I've read and watched both Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List though!)

I would say that you should always ALWAYS read the book first and then go see the movie.  Sometimes, when you see the movie before reading the book, the book doesn't live up to your expectations.  (If you're with me on this, raise your hands!).

Having waited ten plus years to read the book... after seeing the movie COUNTLESS AMOUNTS OF TIMES- I hate to say this... I feel like a traitor... I LIKE THE MOVIE BETTER!!!

 :((((

I'm going to be honest and it kills me to write this but... 
If I had read the book first, I probably wouldn't have gone to see the movie ><

What can I say? Reading the book, I was envisioning and imagining how Nick (Michael Cera) and Norah (Kat Dennings) were in the movie.  It just did not compare.  No way, no how. 

They took some stuff from the book changed it and rearranged it around.

What was weird was that they had flipped how Nick and Norah ended up getting together for the movie.  I didn't realize it at first, even when I read it (!), I automatically was re-playing the movie in my head.

Dev in the book is Thom in the movie.
A lot of what Norah said in the movie, was said by Nick in the book. 

Yes, it is rather cool to see how the book influenced a new and different take in the form of the movie. 

I liked how Caroline, Thom and Dev were more involved in the movie. Their characters had more lines and more interactions. Even though, it was a little trippy to see their lines all flipped around.  It was fun to see their adventure around NYC looking for Where’s Fluffy? too. Only a few scenes from the book seem like they were used in the movie. Book Norah didn’t mind sharing who her father was. Unlike movie Norah, who didn’t want anyone to know.  

Book Norah though...?  She was crazy and not in a good way.  I would describe it as psycho crazy. 
Book Nick though was very true to movie Nick. At least, I thought he was. haha. 

Because we love to be original here with our ratings...

I give the movie Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist 5 popcorn kernels out of five!!
I give the book Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist 2 coffee beans out of 5 :(

Come back next weekend for the next book to movie adaptation! 

~ JMB

Carrie by Stephen King - Reshelved Books

Hello Dewey Readers!

It's the end of October. (Okay, it ended yesterday.  I forgot to post).  The end of the month of witches, goblins, and ghouls, scary movies, and horror novels.  This October, I decided to give the horror genre a try with Stephen King's Carrie.  

Carrie is about a girl with telekinetic powers triggered by stress and a crazy religious mother who is quite psychotic.  In the novel, Carrie gets her period at 17.  Her mother never told her anything about menstruation (apparently the school didn't either), which lead to a very embarrassing event during gym class.  Carrie even grew up thinking that tampons were lipstick blotters. Anyway, throw in a prom, a contest for prom queen and king, a bucket a pigs blood, and a fire that destroys the town all on prom night, and you get Carrie.    

I was disappointed that this particular example of "horror" was not as scary as I thought it would be.  It wasn't terrifying, it was just dark.  However, I was immersed in the story and read it pretty fast.  I liked how King told the story from different POV's, and included segments of research papers and thesis about Carrie and here telekinetic energy within the novel to tell the story of the town as a whole.  

I'd give it 4 out of 5 Coffee Beans, and because it wasn't scary I'll be giving it to my grandma to read as well.

Until the next book!
~Jessica 

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes - Reshelved Books

Hello there once again Dewey Readers!

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes has been in my to-read pile for a quite some time.  It's a hot checkout item at the library AND it's a movie.  It's a love story that even Oprah raves about and it was time to finally sit down and give it a read.  

So a bit about the book.  This novel takes place in England and it opens with a scene of a young businessman who works too much, loves his motorcycle, and is always rushing around.  Well, it's raining one day and he gets into a motorcycle accident.  NOPE he wasn't driving!  He was walking.  This accident left him paralyzed, thus changing his life forever.  

Tragic. 

So, flash forward a bit and we meet a young woman who lives with her family.  Her father fears that he is going to lose his job, and eventually he does, so they pretty much depend on her pay check to pay the bills.  Unfortunately, she loses her job as well.  She begins working as the companion / caregiver for the paralyzed man and makes it her mission to make his life worth living.  

Romantic?  I guess for some.  Did I love it? Nope.  I wanted to love this book and walk away with a mushy heart just like I would after a Nicholas Sparks read, but unfortunately I just thought it was kind of silly.   

So Dewey Readers, I leave you with a rating of 2.5 out of 5 Coffee Beans.

Until the next read!
~Jessica 

Ghosted by Rosie Walsh- Reshelved Books

Another review, another psychological thriller. 

Ugh. 

I firmly believe that this will be the last psychological thriller for me for a while. 

At the same time, I am a firm believer that every book I've been picking up lately HAS been a psychological thriller.

The psychological thriller in this review is "Ghosted" by Rosie Walsh.  "Ghosted" is her American Debut.  It did get good reviews on Goodreads and on Amazon. 

The cover on this book is sooooo pretty! It's flowy and the colors are beautiful.  The synopsis of the book had me interested in it. 

The book didn't live up to the synopsis. It just fell flat. 

Sarah Mackey is a 37 year old woman, who is recently separated.  She and her husband, Reuben had decided that it was best that if they ended their marriage and moved forward with their lives.  Every year around the beginning of June, Sarah flied back home to England to visit the site of a fatal accident. 

This time, her visit is different.  Sarah meets a man named Eddie David.  Eddie is sitting in the grass, playing with a sheep when Sarah approaches him. 

Sarah and Eddie hit it off immediately! They happen to go to a pub, where they drink cider and share chips. Sarah leaves with Eddie to spend the night and thus, begins a torrid affair between them that lasts for 7 days. 

On the seventh day, Eddie and Sarah part ways- Eddie is heading on a holiday with his friend and Sarah needs to return to San Francisco. 

Eddie is supposed to call Sarah from the airport but he never does. 

He just disappears into thin air. 

Sarah has been... ghosted...

Sarah firmly believes that something might have happened to Eddie.  That he just wouldn't have gone off and left, and not try to reach out and communicate with her. 

Like any 37 year old woman, Sarah decides that she is going to basically try and stalk Eddie, reach out to his friends and find out what the heck actually happened to him. 

Gah! NO. 

Just noooooooo.

No one wants to be ghosted but you can't just stalk people and be creepy.

Sarah's character was very pushy.  I didn't really care for her as a character for her personality. 

In a way, I felt like the story was a little disjointed?  There was an element of mystery, yes. There was also a component that was a love story...?  The ending wasn't like any other psychological thriller I've read before. 



With that, I give Ghosted 2 coffee beans out of 5.  

~ Jillian

To Make Monsters Out of Girls by Amanda Lovelace

Hello Dewey Readers!

We are interrupting our normally scheduled novel book review for a review of poetry.  Poetry is HOT right now and Amanda Lovelace's latest collection, To Make Monsters Out of Girls, is on FIRE.  

This book is the first in her Things That Haunt series, which focuses on heartbreak and laying the past to rest.  It is moving.  It's a quick read.  AND it's currently being sold in hardcover, which just goes to show you how big this revival in the popularity of the poetic verse is becoming, and is also something that I find especially inspiring because Lovelace is an example of many popular poets who got their start through self publishing.  

There is a lot of critique in the poetic world regarding "Instagram Poets" and the validation of their work.  Right now, it's trendy to write poems in all lowercase, with very short lines, and little to no punctuation.  Many of you who read our blog may know that I too write poetry, and had gone to school for it.  While this isn't how I was taught to write, or how I choose to express my writing, I have come to appreciate it.  Publishing poetry isn't like publishing a novel.  Many agents won't even consider representing poets, mainly because for years it hasn't sold that well at all.  In order to get published, poets usually submit to literary magazines.  A poem here, a poem there, followed my rejection letters, acceptances, and maybe eventually a published chapbook.  Social media is changing this.  It's allowing people to read poetry and to share their work, it's allowing for a rebirth in the freedom and expression of verse, and it's allowing people to appreciate words and the emotions behind them.  Basically, its allowing for poetic exposure, showing people that there are many different forms that poetry can encapsulate, forms quite different from the Shakespeare and Wordsworth that are taught (and dissected) in schools.

Lovelace's collection is an excellent example of how poetry is growing and changing.  Would Lovelace's poems be able to stand alone amongst others in a literary magazine, maybe but probably not.  But is her poetry strong as a collective whole? Definitely.  

I would rate this 5 out of 5 Coffee Beans.  

P.S.  I bought this collection after I gathered my quite scary to-read pile into the center of my room, to celebrate new organization.  You can thank my sister for this photo.  

P.S.S.  Follow my poetry instagram @JessicaBielenPoetry and stay tuned for my book coming soon.  

~Jessica 

The Fall of Innocence by Jenny Torres Sanchez

Hello Dewey Readers!

I've had an ARC copy of The Fall of Innocence by Jenny Torrres Sanchez in my to-read pile for quiet a while now.  Well, the book has long been published and I'm finally getting a chance to read it!  Better late than never, right? 

So about the book.  This book is about a girl named Emilia who was attacked in the woods outside of her elementary school.  The novel is for the most part psychologically driven where we see how the attack has effected Emilia, who is now a teenager, as well as the people in her life.  The boy across the street is in love with her, but because of the emotional trauma of the attack, Emilia can't open herself up to be with him physically or emotionally.  We also see the ramifications the attack has had on Emilia's family.  Her parents no longer live together, and for a long time Emilia was told that her father was in Alaska.  He was not.  

I think the strongest part of this novel is the perspective of Emilia's psychological state.  Emilia had thought that the man responsible for her attack was in prison.  Turns out Emilia named the wrong guy and the one responsible for it has been walking amongst society the entire time.  We see Emilia spiral downward further, and we see the flashbacks of memories suffocate her.    

Did I enjoy this book?  Yes.
Did I LOVE it?  Well... I liked it.  

So Dewey Readers, I leave you with a rating of 3 out of 5 Coffee Beans.
~Jessica 

The Space Between by Dete Meyers - Reshelved Books

Hello Dewey Readers!

Check out this cool rock necklace the book came with!

I have read only a few books in the past few weeks.  It has been quite the reading slump!  But now that summer is over, there really is no better time than to curl up with a new book.  The Space Between by Dete Meserve was the latest pick for the Once Upon a Book Club Box and it did not disappoint.  

Sarah Mayfield is an astronomer that works for NASA, she is a mother to a teenage son, and she is a wife to a well-off restaurant owner.  Sarah's relationship with her husband, Ben, used to be the love story that so many of us read about in books- the perfect romance, but throughout the years it has begun to unravel.  Between work, busy schedules, and just life the two don't see each other very much.  In fact, Sarah actually considered asking Ben for a divorce.  Then Ben goes missing.  

Suspicions lie all over the place.  Did Sarah killer her husband?  Was Sarah having an affair?  Was it the co-owners of his restaurants that he was suing?  Or was it the shady father of a woman that recently disappeared as well? Is Ben even dead?

The security footage at Sarah's house was mysteriously erased, which means that someone had something they wanted to hide.  But what and who was it?  

I absolutely adored the way that Dete Meserve wrote this novel.  It was just the right amount of mystery, of family drama, and of thriller to keep me intrigued and pull me out of the dreaded reading slump that I was in!

Would I recommended this book? Yes!  Will I keep and eye out for her other novels?  Of course!  Would I give it 5 out of 5 Coffee Beans?  You bet!

Until the next read!
~Jessica 

Hurricane Season by Lauren K. Denton - Reshelved Books

Hello Dewey Readers!

It's HOT here in northern New Jersey and dare we say it's Hurricane Season?  Well, it's definitely been thunderstorm season.  I absolutely adore thunder and lighting, which Jillian thinks is absolutely insane.  She's probably right.... I recently finished Lauren K. Denton's novel Hurricane Season.  I'm guilty of the fact that I smuggled this book of the donation cart at work and brought it home because I fell in love with the cover.  Isn't it gorgeous?  I also spilt ginger tea on this lovely cover last night about 40 pages before I finished it. 

Before the ginger tea spillage.

I almost wasn't going to write a review of this novel 1) Because I've been busy writing other stuff and 2) I just didn't love it as much as I thought I was going to.  I guess what they say is true.  You shouldn't judge a book by it's cover... but do I really want to waste my precious book space by not bringing home a book that's pleasant to look at?  

Onto the book!  This novel is about a young single mother of two named Jenna.  Jenna works in a coffee shop to support her family even though she dreams of pursuing her passion for photography. Now, Jenna's sister Betsy lives on a dairy farm with her husband Ty.  Yup, they have cows AND chickens.  Betsy does not have a good relationship with her parents because she married a farmer rather than a business man, but she lives a somewhat happy life with the man that she loves.  The one problem the couple faces?  They can't get pregnant.  (Is this bringing up memories of Colleen Hoover's All Your Perfects!?)  Then Jenna decides to go on a photography retreat and she leaves her children with Betsy and Ty for a couple of weeks.

I felt that this book was too neat, and even the problems resolved themselves almost too happily.  I also felt as though I was heading towards a reading slump and this book just pushed me into it a little bit quicker than I would have liked.  (Does anyone ever really like to be in a reading slump?)  When I finished reading this book I had trouble remembering what I read.  

So Dewey Readers, I leave you with a rating of 3 out of 5 Coffee Beans. The cover IS really pretty.  

Until the next read!
~Jessica