Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens - Reshelved Books

This book, you guys. 

I was debating for WEEKS if I should put myself on the hold list for it (on the list with my home library and the list at my work library.  See where I'd get it first) OR if I was going to go out and buy the book.  

MB can totally vouch for this.  We went to Barnes and Noble a few weeks ago, so he could get Howard Stern's new book, Howard Stern Comes Again (for those of you who may have been wondering). 

The hold list for this book is HUGE! Jess said it was a few hundred people deep within my hometown library system and it was just about as big within my work library system (about 240 patrons!!)! CRAZY.  I even went as far as asking Jessica if she got as an ARC. (Sadly, she didn't get an ARC)

While I was debating, I made a trip to Target.  Good ol' Target... The place where you go to buy three things and end up spending $100 on stuff you don't really need.

Went in for diapers and wipes for C and came out with not that but this book and some various other things including a pack of fancy fine tip pens. #officesupplylove

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens is one book that you should get yourself on the hold list for at your local library.  Why, you ask? Because it was just that amazing. 

After finishing the book, Jess had asked me if it was worth the hype.  I would have to say that yes, yes I believe that it is. 

(I couldn't find an article on Owen's inspiration for the book but I did find several video interviews on her inspiration.  I just didn't get the chance to sit down and watch any of them at the time of this review :(  )
The book starts in 1952, Kya is 6 years old and she is watching her mother leave.  Afraid and unsure from what's going on, Kya's older brother Jodie, tells her that her mother will come back; a mother fox doesn't leave her young behind because they won't survive without her.  Unfortunately, Jodie's words don't hold any truth to them and her mother doesn't come back.  
Soon after her mother leaves, Jodie has to leave.  The reader learns early on that Kya's father is abusive, over time he becomes increasing difficult to deal with.  Once Jodie and her mother leave, Kya (who is still 6) steps up to the plate. 

Owens flips between the past and then 10 years ahead.  10 years into the future, the reader sees that a local young man has fallen to death off of the fire tower.  There is an investigation into his death and Kya is looked at as the number 1 suspect.  Owens then tells the story of Kya raising herself alone in the marsh of North Carolina and the murder investigation of Chase Andrews. 

We learn of the few relationships that Kya has.  Growing up alone and living in the marsh is very much a taboo.  No one wants to associate with her much less speak with her.  She finds friends in Jumpin, his wife Mabel and a teenaged boy named Tate.  Tate actually helps bring Kya home after she takes her father's boat out when he left home for several days.  Tate is also the one who teaches Kya to read.  As time goes on, Kya becomes one with the marsh and all of it's living creatures.  She begins to know the water that surrounds her as well. 

The ending of this book is what got me.  I was rooting for Kya the entire time, I wanted to see her prevail and to show everyone wrong! 
Those last few chapters though, they knocked the wind outta me.  I was very much satisfied with the ending and I wouldn't have wished that it ended any other way. 

Owens wrote a powerful book that is as much beautiful as it is haunting. 

I give Where the Crawdads Sing 10 coffee beans out of 5. But seeing as how we like to stay on the side of realism here; I will give it 5 coffee beans out of 5. 

After Jess reads this book, maybe we'll bring back our Battle of the Book.  Comment down below on what you guys think about that. 

ALSO go visit our instagram! If you click on the picture up to the left of the one that's in this post, you will find a comment from Delia Owens herself! We love it when authors comment back!

~ Jillian

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 Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn - Battle of the Book

Hello everybody.

April's battle of the book is here!!

This month we're gonna be talking about The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn.

I'm hoping that this month, you guys will find this battle a little more interesting than last month's.

Jess's review can be found here.

I'm going to jump to my feelings on this book. 

(But for those who haven't read Jess's review yet; the book is about a woman who has PTSD induced acrophobia. Anna can't leave her house- so she watches her neighbors out of her window. With her Nikon camera. While she's drunk and high on her meds... Yeah.)

I give this book a 3.5 coffee beans out of 5.  (If you check out my account on Goodreads- you'll see I gave it a 4 because there are no halves there!)

Why?

I didn't like the story. 

I thought that it was VERY slow to start.  There were moments when my heart hurt for Anna. I found the story of what happened to be sad and I did hurt for her.  

But the rest of the book...? I didn't like it.  I didn't find it to psychological or to be a thriller.  It was just there.     

I was frustrated by Anna. A lot.  

I know that in order to accept help and move forward, you need to admit to yourself that you have a problem and want to make those changes.  I understand that her past was very big to her and that she wasn't able to move forward right away.  But her character did grow and I was proud of that.  Even if it was basically at the end of the story. 

I felt like the book did wrap up at the end though and that there weren't any loose ends.  

I was surprised by the character who committed the murder.  I wasn't expecting that to happen! 

The way that the murderer had approached Anna and, for lack a better word, "played" her - really WAS creepy! 


I will admit that the book was a page turner for me.  For most of the book, I kept turning the page for more.  It was just that that "more" wasn't really there. 

But it was such a short time frame for the psychological thriller part of the book.  It wasn't very satisfying, if you will.  There was such a slow and prolonged buildup to that WOAH moment in the story- that I felt like it fell short. 

If you're looking for a real thriller, I would recommend The Perfect Stranger by Megan Miranda.  I thought that was creepier and more twisted. 


~ Jillian

The Lying Game by Ruth Ware: Reshelved Books

Hello Dewey Readers! 

I recently joined a 4th book club.  That's right.  I'm absolutely insane!  This 4th book club meets for dinner one Tuesday a month and it's brand spanking new!  Can you guess what it's called?..... It's called....The Spine Breakers! 

So, for this book club we decided to read The Lying Game by Ruth Ware, which brings us to today's book review.  I heard great things about Ruth Ware so I was excited to pick up her latest novel, but unfortunately my excitement fell rather flat.  The opening of the book is spooky and great.  In the prologue, a woman is walking when she finds the remains of a body.  Where did this body come from?  Was there a murder? Who committed it?  

Once we move past the prologue we encounter the main characters, four women who were suspended from their fancy prep school many years ago... but why?  When one of the girls, Issa, receives a text message begging for her help, she returns to the town of the school where these 4 women were once friends.  Throw in a school dinner reunion that the women just happen to go to and a game called "the lying game" that the girls played and played well, we become immersed in their confusing world, a blending between truth and lies, where even the girls themselves can't differentiate between the two.

For me, the premise of the book was interesting but I wanted more.  I wanted to know more about the dinner, more about the lies, and more about the psychology of the four women.  Without that, the book seemed to be rushed over.  I found myself zoning out, and even now I am having trouble recalling what I actually read.

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