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