Luanne Oleas

I loved [b:Rachel to the Rescue 57870519 Rachel to the Rescue Elinor Lipman https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1619496768l/57870519.SY75.jpg 86954008] by [a:Elinor Lipman 63681 Elinor Lipman https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1482327276p2/63681.jpg], but that may be because I so love the premise. Here's poor Rachel, working in the Trump White House when she's not really a Trump fan. Not even close. I'm not sure if Trump supporters would love this book, but everyone else will.Rachel is works in the White House Office of Records Management, which has the best acronym, WHORM. Just in general, like most of us, she's not overly fond of her boss. And like any of us who have sent one too many work emails, she accidentally hits Reply All on an email about how horrible her boss, the president, is. The next day, she's gets her walking papers. A little stunned, she actually steps into traffic and gets run over. That's when the fun begins.From her recovery in the hospital, to her doting parents, to her legally-astute lesbian roommates, to her foot-in-mouth muckraking new boss, Rachel finds ways to hold herself together (and even fall in love) while the world seems to be falling apart. The author's witty repartee keeps even the silliest parts of this novel interesting. My favorite scene was probably the Shabbat dinner with Ivanka's Hebrew tutor. Yes, it goes there.As crazy as the Trump administration was, it seems as though this screwball novel could actually have happened, which makes it just that much funnier. Check it out!

Who am I to give [a:Colleen Hoover 5430144 Colleen Hoover https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1464032240p2/5430144.jpg] 4 stars? I read the book as fast as my spare time would allow. However the constant ruminating over the inability to solve the primary conflict (reuniting a child with a bio mom) got redundant. Hence, four stars. Kenna and Ledger were well-painted characters. The premise of the story is so universal (a parent kept from a child) that the author couldn't decide where the story should take place, and, in the end, decided not to pick a city. In her words: “You might have noticed there was never a location specified for where this story actually takes place. I've never had this issue in a book—solidifying a location for the characters. I just kept placing Kenna in different towns while writing her story, and none of them felt right because they all felt right.”I did feel Ledger was too altruistic. I've only met a few men in my life who care deeply enough for someone else's child to drop a girlfriend, donate most of their free time to coaching their T-ball, and drive them to ballet, as well as keep scads of pics and videos of said child on their phone. All this and incredibly good-looking with a stable job and two houses? Of course, I loved Ledger. Who wouldn't? But he's the stuff of fairy tales. I think if he'd had a bad habit it might have made him more realistic.Kenna was fully believable for me. Maybe a bit more forgiving than the average bear (or former jailbird) but all her attempts to make nice with her daughter's paternal grandparents and her unending guilt for a horrible accident seem spot on to me.Side note: I did love Ledger's parents. Nice, secondary characters.I was happy with the ending.

This long and winding saga is a heartfelt tale about what makes us family. I love how the imagery of a French braid was used to express that point.

The Garrett family isn't perfect. Far from it. They don't always get along, like each other, or say or do the right thing. But they are family. A big, messy multi-generational bunch who try and give up on understanding each other or their relationships.

Speaking of relationships, they aren't actually all that good at them. David barely talks to his family once he's old enough to leave home. Mercy doesn't divorce her husband, she just moves down the street and says she had work to do and might not come home some nights. Alice and Lily are the anti-sisters, nothing alike and disapproving of each other's philosophies.

How can all these (and many more) family members come from the same city, the same lineage, and have so little in common? Well, that's life. In my own family, my siblings and I are nothing alike, in looks or lifestyle, but we've come to the realization that that isn't really important. We have history. We have understanding. We have each other. What more does a family need?

Perhaps it needs the members to be able to not share everything. To understand that if you think your family will disapprove of something, maybe it's easier for no one to mention it, even if everyone knows. It's a little like hiding the truth from oneself to save everyone else pain and embarrassment.

I enjoyed getting to know this large and mostly dysfunctional family just because they weren't perfect.

Just today, there was a kidnapping in the news of 17 missionaries in Haiti. It made Bel Canto seem relevant.

This story of terrorists vs. hostages starts simply enough with a birthday party in South American for a Japanese titan of industry. What happens before the end really made me wonder what relationships captives and hostage-takers really develop when the ruse doesn't work, which it rarely does.

Still, you are boxed in together, in this case for over four months. Patchett's unique set of international captives made the story even more complicated—often necessitating a translator. The reassessments that captives and rebels made in rethinking their lives and priorities add a level of intricacy I hadn't expected.

The book would probably be even more entertaining to least opera-lovers. They would pick up even more nuances than I experienced.

At times, it seemed the story dragged a little, but it gave this reader a sense of what it would be like to be held captive in the same place with the same people wearing the same clothes for a prolonged period of time. Some were able to flourish. Others didn't. Most grew very complacent with the situation, adapting to the new life of limited entertainment, activity, and stimulation. Some found work to do. Other created work for others.

Overall, an intriguing read and a believable if unexpected ending.

What a masterfully written book! So many beautiful thoughts, expressed in beautiful sentences, to tell an honest, and by turns heart-breaking and heart-mending story. This is my first reading of a book by [a:Sabaa Tahir 7770873 Sabaa Tahir https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1637102794p2/7770873.jpg] and what a work of art. I can't wait to read something else by her. I saw that she was raised in a motel in the desert which explains the depth of her knowledge on the topic. I was right there with her.The book is so chocked full of rich, full characters that I struggled to identify whose was the protagonist. I went back and forth between Misbah, the mother, Salahudin her son, and Noor, a fellow Palestinian immigrant and Salahudin's best friend. In the end, I guess I would have to say the main character is Misbah because she begins and ends the story, the benchmark my writing teacher told me to use. However, Salahudin's story seemed almost more compelling because we see his struggles immediately throughout the book while Noor hides hers—for good reason. However, I think the author's voice sounded most grounded in Noor. The book wouldn't let me put it down. It gave great insight into the discrimination faced by immigrants in high school, and really in general, who live in a backwater towns—and front-water towns too. I learned much about the Muslim faith and really enjoyed the sayings and wisdom of Misbah.The beautiful language in general, filtered through a foreigners' ear, was captivating:- “The sky over Lahore was purple as a gossip's tongue the day my mother told me I would wed. . .”- “If we are lost, God is like water, finding the unknowable path when we cannot.”- “She is jealous. She wishes to be the biggest fish in a small pond. It bothers her that you wish to find a bigger pond.”It's a book I'd love to read again for the first time.

I don't read a lot of historical fiction and I'm not a fan girl when it comes to Jane Austen. However, this third in a series of Victorian fiction really captured my interest. From its prudish start to its sexy ending, I enjoyed it all.

I'm a big fan of Outlander (the TV series) so the title made me want to read this book. Unfortunately, it's #3 in the series and if I had known, I would have started with #1, which I haven't read yet. The author does an excellent job of describing why the characters are acting as they do in relation to the time period. Also, I found I could read this book quite well having not read the other two. So. . . it you ever wanted to jump in bed with a hot Scottish man, this book is for you.

I picked up the book partly because it had an endorsement from Jodi Picoult on the cover. It said: “ Portrait of a Scotsman sits squarely at the unique intersection of history, romance, and women's rights . . . a spot where I could happily stay forever.” One back cover, there was an endorsement by Emily Henry. How could I resist? I think I'll have to read Bringing Down the Duke next.

Normally, every book I review gets 5 stars. I'm usually very impressed if anyone writes a successful story. DEAR JOHN is an anomaly for me. It's a successful story, but I'm only giving it four stars because. . .

I was excited to read a romance, even one titled DEAR JOHN which didn't sound successful, because the author was a guy. I wanted to get his take on love. However, I felt like he wasn't truthful. Maybe I shouldn't be so hard or judgmental on Nicholas Sparks. After he is a guy. He wrote it. He ought to know about love from a man's point of view. More so that I do.

However, I felt cheated on two points. One, he didn't seem all that anxious to have sex with his girlfriend. Not in the typical guy sense. Oh several occasions he put it off and told her no. Two, when they did have sex, he described as “we had sex” (well, basically) and then went on with his story.

So, it's a heartfelt tale, for the most part, but I felt cheated when it came to John's true feelings. As if he hid from then when it mattered most. Maybe that's just me.

I am Alice Hoffman's biggest fan, so any thoughts that this will be an impartial review can be left at the door.

For this fourth and last in the Practical Magic series, it's a solid read. The other three in the series can be read in any order. They weren't written in chronological order. However, THE BOOK OF MAGIC makes more sense if you've read the other three first.

This storybook tale of witches and spells travels from Massachusetts to France to England and back again. It's has all the lyricism of most of Alice Hoffman's books. Reading it is a dream, from the opening sentence: “Some stories begin at the beginning and others begin at the end, but all the best stories begin in the library.” to near the end: “Some people vow that a book contains the soul of the writer, and often the best ones are written by those who have no voice, yet still have a story to tell.”

I don't know if it was the story or the fact that it was the last in the series, but I almost cried at the end, which I won't reveal. It hit me hard, because I never cry while reading, so saying I almost cried says a lot.

If you want to read a book about true love, read this!

I think Piper Bellinger is my new favorite character in rom-com literature. It's because [a:Tessa Bailey 6953499 Tessa Bailey https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1634304355p2/6953499.jpg] has written a lovable airhead better than anyone. It's not Piper's fault that she's real world clueless. Her sheltered upbringing has left her great at selfies, makeup, and partying, but nothing that would prepare her to leave her natural habitat, L.A., for an obscure fishing village in the Pacific Northwest. However, once she is banished there, her lovable look at life follows her, as does her more pragmatic sister. In hopes of being taught a lessons, her stepfather has sent her to the village where her real father lived before his untimely death. Worse yet, she has been sent there with very little in the way of funds. Enter a fishing captain who is just as clueless about social media as Piper is about fishing boats. Opposites don't attract in this case. At least not immediately. I think my favorite part of the book was when Piper went to dinner, necessitated by a cooking mishap, with the aforementioned captain of fishing boat, Brendan Taggart. He asked Piper to explain why she had said she was spending the next three months in Westport.“Why exactly are you in Westport? . . . You said three months. That's a pretty specific amount of time.”Beneath the table, her leg began to jiggle. “It's kind of an awkward story.”“Do you need a beer before telling it?”Her lips twitched. “No.” She closed her eyes and shivered. “It's more than awkward. It's humiliating. I don't know if I should give you that ammunition.” [Note: Until this point, there interaction has been adversarial.]Man, he'd really been a bastard. “I won't use it against you, Piper.”She speared him with those baby blues and seemed satisfied with whatever she saw. “Okay, just keep an open mind.” She blew out a breath. “I had a bad breakup. A public one. And I didn't want to be labeled social media pathetic, right? So I mass texted hundreds of people and broke us into the rooftop pool at the Mondrian [a hotel]. It got out of control. Like, police helicopter and fireworks and nudity out of control. So I got arrested and nearly cost my stepfather the production money for his next film. He sent me here with barely any money to teach me a lesson. . . . and force me into being self-sufficient. Hannah [her sister] wouldn't let me come alone.”Brendan's fork had been suspended in the air for a good minute. He tried to piece it all together, but everything about this world she described was so far from his, it almost sounded like make-believe. “When was this?”“A few weeks ago,” she said on an exhale. “Wow, it sounds worse all strung together like that.”Let me just admit, as a writer myself, I wish I had written that. Or the whole book for that matter.I highly recommend you check out this book.

It sometimes take time to know and forget who our spouse might be. Just like we know and forget who we are ourselves. I think Lucy Barton didn't know herself well enough when she married William. And William had no way of knowing who he was because he'd been lied to his whole life.

The book starts with Lucy and William, long divorced, both grappling with their current states of their significant relationships. William seems happy enough with his younger wife and a new young daughter, much younger than the two daughters he had with Lucy.

Lucy is widowed from her second husband who was nothing like William. But now she's alone except for the time she spends with her grown daughters, mostly shopping. This leaves her plenty of time to wonder why her early family life left her so traumatized and why William cheated on her which led to their divorce.

I love how Elizabeth works these two characters back into each other's lives later in life. Their “necessary conversations” have them exposing one another. When the author confines them in a car or on a plane, very real conversations occur that eventually leads them to silence and thoughtfulness. Over and over. Excellent book!

Do not read this book if you think you want to do something else. . . particularly the last half of the book. Reading it was like running downhill. I couldn't stop. I needed to sleep, but I tried several times to put the book down after finishing a chapter and I couldn't. That's quite a recommendation for a nearly 400-page book.A stunning fact about this book it is really takes place in 24 hours. Sure, there's backstory, mostly in the first half, but the second half is more like a description of 12 hours and a ticking clock. Add that to the explosive family dynamics and you've got a real adventure in your hands.The whole book centers around the Riva family and their legendary party. And, trust me, [a:Taylor Jenkins Reid 6572605 Taylor Jenkins Reid https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1645653842p2/6572605.jpg] knows how to show a family coming unglued and how to write a party into legend. The setting itself is an evolving character. The Malibu she depicts used to be a sleepy surf town that got discovered and suffered the same fate as most of the movie stars who inhabited it. If you need a real romp, [b:Malibu Rising 55404546 Malibu Rising Taylor Jenkins Reid https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1618293107l/55404546.SY75.jpg 74581401] fills the bill. Just give yourself the time you need to read it. Stock up on food and drink. Lock the door. It's a masterpiece.

[b:One to Watch 53103895 One to Watch Kate Stayman-London https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1584401917l/53103895.SX50.jpg 73881997] manages to plumb the depths of some pretty heavy situations while remaining mostly positive. Weight is a HUGE issue for women in America and many of us feel left out of society because of it. [a:Kate Stayman-London 19676884 Kate Stayman-London https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1587071593p2/19676884.jpg] takes on a plus-size problem with a noble spirit.Bea Schumacher is not your typical fashion blogger. By that, I mean she isn't a size zero. Far from it. When she expresses her frustration to her followers about Main Squeeze (a The Bachelor/The Bachelorette-type reality show) never casting less than beautiful people, her followers agree with her. When producers pick her to be the next main squeeze, in hopes of raising ratings, everyone gets more than they bargained for, and not just in pounds either.While Bea is portrayed as insecure due to her weight, she is also smart and resilient. She accepts the offer to be the star of the next season of Main Squeeze, hoping to boost her following for her fashion blog. Falling in love seems pretty much out of the question because she really doesn't believe a man would fall for a woman of her size. She's been disappointed in the past. I think [a:Kate Stayman-London 19676884 Kate Stayman-London https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1587071593p2/19676884.jpg] of [b:One to Watch 53103895 One to Watch Kate Stayman-London https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1584401917l/53103895.SX50.jpg 73881997] does a great job of creating Bea's virtual life as well as her real one. For this main character, it's important to include what happens online and how it affects her outcome on the show—no spoiler—but it wasn't what I guessed and I liked that. Of course, Bea had the general experience of both people rooting for her and dissing her. The cruel internet and real life comments were painful. However, this book kept me reading because of all the twists and turns in the plot. Had it been a real TV show, I would have been hooked for sure. Absolutely a topic I'd like to see more written about.

I'm tempting to read everyone else's reviews before I write mine. I have to say, this book isn't what I expected. I'm attempting to read all of Kristin Hannah's books, though not in chronological order. I can see her progression as an author from some of her earlier, more fanciful works, to some of her later, more literary works, such as Nightingale.I'll have to say, [b:The Four Winds 53138081 The Four Winds Kristin Hannah https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1594925043l/53138081.SY75.jpg 79888572] blew my socks off. I'm stunned. Her detailed knowledge of the Dust Bowl era surprised me. From the number of days a dust storm would last to the need to wear gloves to pump water because the handle had been out in the sun, I felt like I was in Texas during the drought of the early - mid-1930s. . . and I needed a drink of water.The main character, Elsa, ignored by her own family, has a severe inferiority complex that predicates everything she does for 3/4ths of the book. Her ill-advised affair with Rafe, sets in motion a destiny that seems out of her control. She reacts more in life than most. She believes in God, good people, and her duties as a mother above all else. The ending floored me. I don't want to give it away. What I thought would happen is that Rafe would come back into her life. That would have been a typical, early Hannah novel, but this is not your mother's Kristin Hannah. When reading this book, it wasn't hard to believe she wrote it during a pandemic. In an author's note at the end of the book, she says: “As I write this note, it is May 2020, and the world is battling the coronavirus pandemic. My husband's best friend, Tom, who was one of the earliest of our friends to encourage my writing and who was our son's godfather, caught the virus last week and has just passed away. We cannot be with his widow, Lori, and his family to mourn.”Like the Dust Bowl era, this are trying times for America. This book fits now. I grew up in Steinbeck's home town and thought I understood the trials of “Okies” who migrated to California. Hannah tells us this story from a single mother's point of view and boy, is it an eye-opener. Be prepared.

I sort of jumped into Book #3 of the Brown Sisters series by [a:Talia Hibbert 17088554 Talia Hibbert https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1544037896p2/17088554.jpg], but that's only because the others weren't available at the library. I'd been hearing Hibbert's name come up, associated with some pretty incredible praise in my “Summer of Smut” (TM) reading. The praise was warranted.This quirky book with its quirky love interests turned out to be good company while I was sick with kidney stones. (I'm only recommending the book; avoid kidney stones.)Eve Brown was a true classically spunky dame. Her ability to carry on through life travails with a smile on her face kept the book light-hearted, even when her love interest, Jacob, could be a grump. However, all was revealed eventually about both characters off-the-wall reactions to each other. I'm not sure if this was a grumpy-meets-sunshine romance or enemies-to-lovers, or both, or if it matters. But it was definitely one where both parties thought they were doing the right thing by restraining their emotions for the other. After eventually passing that phase while working together at Jacob's B&B, things got steamy rather quickly. DO NOT MISS THE SCENE WITH THE PURPLE THING. I won't say what it is, but it's a hoot. Along the way, the characters learn enough about each other to understand why they are alike and why they both struggle with normal, everyday things. I won't spell it out, but it make total sense when it's revealed.I'll have to go check out the books about Eve Brown's sisters, Chloe and Danika. Read this book!!

It took a bit to get vested in this book, but when I realized I had a day to finish it, it was a blessing. I sat for hours with the story of January and Augustus, enjoying each tearful, angsty, delirious, sexy moment.

I love how the author delves deeply into the emotions of her main character, pondering the curveballs that life throws at everyone and how the characters reach tiny resolutions along with way.

It would seem that a book titled BEACH READ would be destined to have a happy ending, but it is by no means a shoe-in here. And what is a considered a happy ending to one could be completely different to someone else.

I appreciate the premise of two writers challenging each other to write in the other's genre. In real life, there seems to be so little time to write what writers want to write, that it wouldn't leave time to dabble elsewhere, but it works great in this story.

I love how Emily Henry brought January's whole family into her character makeup. We are many times the sum of so many disparate and cracked parts. This comes through glowingly, as well as the influence and stability we receive from our best friends. Overall, a wonderful book.

I love all the Irish characters in Tana French's novel, especially when she details them talking to one another. Oh sure, occasionally I had to re-read passages. Irish isn't my native tongue. But overall, I think she did a commanding job of expressing the euphemisms used.

That said, I'm not giving her my usual five stars. It's still an awesome story, but at time she got carried away adding her well-drawn characters. I struggled to keep them straight and it detracted at times from the story.

It's interesting how she has an American moving to Ireland and trying to leave his old job as a cop behind, only to have it follow him across the pond. Cal still suffers the PTSD most cops have, from seeing too much and neglecting family to see it. When 14-year-old Trey comes along, it's a relief and a curse. Trey wants Cal's help to look for a lost brother, Brendan.

Or is he lost? Some folks think Brendan just skipped town, but Trey isn't convinced. Trey and Cal become the odd couple, refurbishing his neglected cottage while they explore each other and the townspeople.

Their idyllic village in the West of Ireland has a pub and a grocery store, but it's not as pleasant as it might seem. Everyone has a secret and no one is giving up any information about the missing Brendan. The search for clues requires every ounce of Cal's experience and even more. Trey isn't patient with his long, slow investigation.

Some interesting details reveal the difficulty of getting a gun and permit in Ireland as well as getting accepted into the community. Not everyone who moves to Ireland becomes a permanent resident and many don't last the first winter, but Cal is determined to make it. His loneliness is often a factor and he occasionally calls his grown daughter or thinks of what advice his ex-wife might give him.

Overall, the story was satisfying, if at times a little drawn out. It had all the wrong turns and twists needed in a good mystery.

I really enjoyed Alex and Poppy's story. The author has a wonderful ability to get into exactly what emotions the characters are experiencing and explaining how those emotions change the lives around them.

The scenes where Alex and Poppy are giddy together, mad together, sad together, and lost together all come with crisp dialogue that reaches past the obvious. They are crazy, charming, insane, and somehow, not obviously, in love. It's like they just act like they are for fun.

So much of the characters' background makes it impossible for them to be forthcoming with each other. What ensues, instead a quick romance that stumbles and fails, is a slow burning friendship that allows them to explore the depths of each other and have the time to understand.

What an excellent read!

I can't stress how amazing this book is. It made me feel like I was the main character, examining my regrets and life choices. I also appreciated the dabbling in philosophy and physics.

Others can tell you what this book is about. I'd like to tell you—and the author if I knew him—what this book meant to me. We all have those deriding thoughts... Are we living our best life? Why are we comparing ourselves to others? Though this book claims to be fiction, and it is, it could in fact be very true. For we don't really know what happens when we stop living. And I don't necessarily mean when we die.

This book clicked with me on so many levels, explaining logical and illogical reasons why events happen the way they do. And what it means to each of us personally. Most of all, it gives us the strength and faith to believe in that self that is just ordinary, boring, but indescribably unique. Our true, plain self.

It's so worth the read. Beware. If you pick it up, you may not move for a while. Set aside some time for yourself and this book to get to know each other. You'll be so glad you did. I'd give it six stars if I could.

What a quick and quirky novel! I enjoyed every chapter. I loved the main character Micah Mortimer, aka the Tech Hermit. Maybe it's because I've worked in high tech and I've known guys, lots of guys, like Micah. The introverted, too smart, too organized geeks who really are good at their jobs, but barely fit into society.

Why can't the world be well-ordered? Why can't girlfriends tell you exactly what they want? Or maybe that's Micah problem. He's given up on being himself and is waiting for someone else to tell him who he should be.

Each of his computer-illiterate customers has a unique story that they can't wait to tell him. He's so polite and so often mistaken for interested. Instead he tries to tell his customers what he thinks they want to hear. Does the dating service-addicted lady know that she's probably making the same mistake over and over? Does his cancer-ridden tenant know she's never getting well? Micah's overly honest when it comes to writing invoices for his clients, not wanting to charge them for what he couldn't do for them. But they usually pay him gladly, when their computers “act up.”

Of course, Micah, just turning 40, in one day is faced with two crises. His girlfriend is being evicted and needs a place to stay while his old college sweetheart's son looks him up to ask if Micah is his father. Micah manages to blunder through both situations in an endearing way, just trying to be perfectly what everyone else wants.

Yes, there's a tiny epiphany at the end for Micah, but really, it's his day-to-day life that's fascinating with his exchanges with the God of Traffic, the dreams Micah has but doesn't understand, and the fireplug on the corner that he mistakes every day for a child.

I wish Micah lived near me.

There were times I wondered if I was smart enough to keep up with this book, but it was soooo worth it. I love all of Picoult's books, but this is my favorite and that is saying a lot. I was somewhat skeptical when I started it, since I'm not one who likes books that involve infidelity in marriage. This one completely won me over. And the topics covered ranged from hospice care to physics. Egyptology plays a major role in the story, again, not something I normally read about.

The main character's occupation as a death doula really gave me a lot to consider. Having recently experienced death in my own family, it helped to read this book. It's definitely a topic most people avoid and really shouldn't.

Start to finish, this may be the best book I've read this year, or at least tied with Alice Hoffman's MAGIC LESSONS. I highly recommend it.

This is the first time I've read a paranormal romance. It's the first time [a:Colleen Hoover 5430144 Colleen Hoover https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1464032240p2/5430144.jpg] has written one. I have no clue whether she followed the appropriate tropes, but I stayed hooked on the story, just as I always do with her books. While the story centers on the couple, Leeds and Layla, but it's told from Leeds' point of view. I think this is a real departure both for the author and for romances in general. While Hoover did a masterful job of thinking like a guy (I think), I was often left wondering about his reasoning. Not enough to put me off the story, but enough to wonder if he was not as nice a guy as he was initially portrayed to be.The spiritual depth attracted me. Where do we go, if anywhere, after death? Do we move on or just move over? Can some people sense spirits that might still be around without a body? Are there folks that know more about this phenomenon than most?I don't want to give away any of the plot. I'll just say I enjoyed the struggle between the two (or is it three?) main characters. Now, when something falls over near me for no discernible reason, I'm left wondering why—and if I'm really alone. Great read! One I might actually read it again, just like I rewatched the movie, The Sixth Sense, once I knew the ending.

On the recommendation from a friend, I read [a:Nic Saint 8132159 Nic Saint https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1598905453p2/8132159.jpg]'s mystery, [b:Purrfect Murder 50385637 Purrfect Murder (The Mysteries of Max, #1) Nic Saint https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1578658406l/50385637.SY75.jpg 55760781]. I'm not normally a “whodunit” reader, so maybe it's my unfamiliarity with the genre that colors this review.I found it entertaining, but not over sophisticated. Some days, that's just what I want to read. But the talking cats and their perception of human's lives seemed less feline and more juvenile.I did enjoy the story and I stuck with it know the resolution of two of the main story threads. Who killed Paulo Frey, an author and victim of the “purrfect” murder, referenced in the title. Also, was the new cop in the small town of Hampton Cove a upstanding guy or was he someone who carried on an affair with an official's wife in NYC and got drummed out of the NYPD for it?The first story thread was answered sufficiently, thanks to the cats' detective work. The second, well, I guess that's what sequels are for. Overall, I enjoyed the read but often found it a little on the juvenile side. I would have liked to have seen the main love interest fleshed out more. Did Odelia, the cats' owner, ever get it together with the new cop with the soap opera name, Chase Kingsley? It started at as a enemies-to-friends sort of trope, but left the reader out of any key scene between them. However, it is a murder mystery, not a romance.The four main cats did have distinct personalities. In ways, they were more three dimensional than the humans in the story.

Okay, I think I might have figured out why I love [a:Colleen Hoover 5430144 Colleen Hoover https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1464032240p2/5430144.jpg]'s books. It's simple really. I care about what happens to her main character—and not in a superficial way. It's more in a “if I don't find out, I'll go nuts” kind of way. But why?In [b:Heart Bones 51007311 Heart Bones Colleen Hoover https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1580936060l/51007311.SY75.jpg 75856512], the first chapter introduces 19-year-old Beyah, who comes home to find her mother dead from an overdose. We find out that Beyah has basically been raising herself, though her “real” father did send support checks. He had little visibility into Beyah's existence. Not trusting men became a way for a young girl to stay alive in her household. So, even if she visited her father once a year, she told him nothing about her home life. Only a heartless creep wouldn't care what happens to Beyah. Just to flip the script, the author takes the main character from the depths of poverty to a very comfortable lifestyle in the matter of 24 hours. Crazy!But still, I found myself overly concerned about Beyah in her new world and what she didn't know to expect there. Just having regular meals was a real treat for her. She isn't the least bit interested in Samson (or any guy) at the beginning. It's takes a lot to turn that around. Almost every chapter holds a new nugget of information about Beyah (and Samson) until the reader starts to get comfortable with their connection. Then, BOOM, the slap in the face you didn't expect. Overall, I loved this book. I read it in 24 hours, not bad for a 324-page novel. Make sure you have the time to devote to it. You won't want to put it down.

I'm now reading the first book of the series ([b:Bringing Down the Duke 43521785 Bringing Down the Duke (A League of Extraordinary Women, #1) Evie Dunmore https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1554743971l/43521785.SX50.jpg 67688634]), having stumble on the book #3 ([b:Portrait of a Scotsman 55053187 Portrait of a Scotsman (A League of Extraordinary Women, #3) Evie Dunmore https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1607447624l/55053187.SY75.jpg 85846250]) first. So even having read them completely out of order, I'm in love with them. Apparently, book #4 is coming in March 2023 (The Gentleman's Gambit). I mean, something needs to happen with Catriona, right?However, I love [b:A Rogue of One's Own 49202118 A Rogue of One's Own (A League of Extraordinary Women, #2) Evie Dunmore https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1578931679l/49202118.SX50.jpg 73028567] not just because of the chemistry between Lucie and Ballentine, but because of the political setting as well. What was it like for women not to have the vote? To not own property? To lose what few rights they did have if they married? In this book, Lucie is shouting from the rooftops and still she has no voice. Maybe that frustration led to great sex, but it didn't resolve much else. Despite her love for Ballentine, she doesn't believe that marriage to anyone is in the cards for her unless she wants to become even more of a person non gratis than she already is because she was born female.So much of the author's appeal comes from her depth of characterization. I love that she gives her heroes and heroine real fault as well as outstanding good looks and principles. Overall, a great history lesson and a stimulating story.

This interesting tribute to Jane Austen is wonderful both in style and plot. Not only are all my favorite characters brought back to life, but the author has done it in a way that I thought only Jane Austen could.

I love the premise of “death” visiting Pemberley with plot twists that not only keep the reader guessing, but provide a fast-paced story to satisfy the expectations of today's readers. The way all the familiar characters interact, as well as the nod to culture, are consistent and well done.

The ending is unexpected, but satisfying. There are plenty of scenes that reveal Darcy and Elizabeth's true love for one another, all tastefully done. Bravo!!