Tell Me Lies by Carola Lovering

Hello Kittens!

Long time, no post, I know.  I have been reading faster than I have been writing, but I am happy to say I’ve got the next month of posts all ready to go for you and I hope you’ll enjoy them!  We’ll start out with a dark and sexy option to get your summer off to a steamy start.  This one comes out in a few days and while it has a limited audience, it is well-written and gripping.  Without further ado…

 

Title: Tell Me Lies

Author: Carola Lovering

ISBN:9781501169649

Publisher: Atria Books

Publish Date: 06/12/18

Genre: Women’s Fiction/ Debut Author

Author Website: http://www.carolalovering.com/

Author Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carolatlovering/

Buy the book: Amazon   Barnes and Noble

Carola Lovering’s first novel concerns the life of a young woman named Lucy and her first experiences with love. Like so many, Lucy has a lot to learn about what love is and what it isn’t. As she strikes out on her own, leaving her East coast life for a West coast college, we learn that she is fleeing a secret about her home life that has been haunting her for four years. It’s easy to blame everything that happens next on that secret and its impact on her life, but it’s too easy. As Lucy meets Stephen, a young, slightly older man, early on in her first days at Baird College, she is swept up in a completely new lifestyle of partying, drugs, and sex that will unravel her life as she knows it.

This story is a coming of age tale for Lucy, who will face secrets, lies, and emotional distress over the course of the story, covering several years of her life. Her story will be recognizable to so many young women today. Everyone has dated a guy similar to Stephen, or knows a friend who did. The story will infuriate you as you silently plead for Lucy to get a clue about what is going on and get her life together, but it feels true to life.

The story is told from Lucy and Stephen’s point of view, alternating chapters and flitting between the early 2010s and present day. The story is broken into four parts, although they are not particularly distinct from each other. If you’re looking for likeable characters, this novel is not for you. You may pity Lucy, but you probably won’t think highly of her for most of the book. While Stephen is clearly the villain, Lucy certainly has her faults. Lucy’s musings on love serve as an interesting contradiction to Stephen’s thoughts on relationships. The juxtaposition is very reminiscent of predator-prey relationships.

This story won’t give you the warm and fuzzies, but the lessons it imparts are important. This was a good debut for this author, and I will definitely be keeping an eye out for her work in the future. That being said, with its emphasis on sex and drugs, this book will not be for everyone. I would recommend it to those who like their women’s fiction gritty and raw and want a focus on the strength of women’s friendships.

And lastly, while I don’t judge books based on them, I love the cover for this one.

Disclaimer: I received an e-galley of this book from NetGalley with the expectation of an honest review.

My rating:

lemonade_icon1 glass of lemonade= a book that can only be recommended to someone whose reading taste you know well, like a best friend.  There may be a fair amount of curse words, spicy sex scenes, or potentially morally repugnant behavior.  This does not mean that the book is bad, just that the audience might be a little more limited.

The Oracle Year by Charles Soule

The Oracle Year

Author: Charles Soule

Photo of the cover of The Oracle Year by Charles Soule. Cover features a black and white eye with a red iris.
The Oracle Year by Charles Soule

Publisher: Harper Perennial

Publication Date: April 3, 2018

ISBN: 9780062686657

Get the book: Amazon, Barnes & Noble (note: these are NOT affiliate links, just regular ones.)

The Oracle Year tells the story of one year in the life of New Yorker Will Dando after he awakens from a dream with 108 predictions about the future. His average life takes a rapid turn when those predictions start coming true. He begins asking himself questions: Who sent the predictions? Why were they sent to Will? Can he change anything about the predictions? How much of what comes next is his fault? Will and his friend Hamza set up a website to begin monetizing the predictions as they release them to the world. Will and Hamza become very wealthy while Will struggles to deal with the implications of his newfound fortunes, people around the world become desperate to learn more about this person known only as The Oracle. Is he an abomination? A sign of the end of days? A threat to national security? A spy? A fraud? The quest to learn the truth consumes some of the most powerful people in the free world and Will finds himself on the run from operatives with guns and a destiny that he still cannot understand.

This book is fast-paced and loaded with adventure, and is divided into the seasons of the year portrayed. I appreciated the modern touches to this story, including the use of Tor browsers and the creation of (almost) untraceable websites elevated this story of the Everyman Prophet. It will also have readers pondering the greater questions in life about what we were each put on this Earth to do. What is our purpose?

Rating: lemonade_iconlemonade_iconlemonade_iconlemonade_icon

4 glasses of lemonade. This one would be great for book clubs. I can certainly see it being made into a movie, and I sense that a lot more people are going to be talking about this title in the next few weeks. The only reason it falls a glass of lemonade short is a little cursing and some hefty religious questions. The story poses the theory that major religious beliefs would not respond well to a prophet suddenly appearing on the scene. Some people might be offended to see religion portrayed in a short-sighted fashion, and others might completely agree with the way religion is portrayed in the book and be offended by the idea that the prophecies did not come from God (although that question is not specifically answered in the book).

I chose this book as part of my Book of the Month Club subscription. I’m really enjoying this service and you might too. Check it out here. (Disclaimer: This is a referral link and I will get a free book credit from BOTM for every person who signs up for the service using my link.) The service costs 14.99/ month and you can add extra books for 9.99. The cool thing that some of the books are pre-publication, so you will literally be getting your hands on them before they even hit stores, and you can skip months anytime you want if there are not titles that appeal to you.

Reading as fast as I can

Every now and again, I go into a reading mania. I love reading, but often I experience a kind of distress that I can’t read as much as I would like to. And no, in case you haven’t heard, most librarians do not get to read while they are at work (but if you know of a place that allows that, seriously let me know…especially if they are hiring) Especially in my line of work, I see so many wonderful books come across my path each day and I know that I will never be able to read them all…but I can try. In the past week, I’ve read:

  • The Oracle Year by Charles Soule- my review will post Monday
  • The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (part of my Popsugar challenge this year, a book that I meant to get to in 2017 but didn’t)
  • Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
  • Ban This Book by Alan Gratz (a middle grade children’s book that was unexpectedly fabulous and also fulfilled part of my Popsugar challenge, a book that was mentioned in another book)
  • The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (how did I not know about this series that came out in the early 2000s? I heard about this one on a BookRiot All The Books podcast and I have already checked out the next 2 books in the series from the library.)

All of that, plus I went to mt library’s Friends of the Library Book Sale and rounded up a mess of fabulous looking paperbacks, including one that is a romance centered around the general manager of a phone sex company called Call Girls and that same company’s new programmer (Something to Talk About b Dakota Cassidy). It will be a new series for me, but books with a wild and crazy premise are a delight to read sometimes. I also get a little thrill from thinking of the scandal it would cause if I recommended a book like this at work.

Image features a selection of paperback books, 24 in total, that I bought at my library's Friends of the Library Book Sale
FOL Book Sale haul

Trying to get through as many books as possible is a lofty goal that many people undertake. The popularity of the Goodreads Annual Reading Challenge is evidence of this. This is the first year that I have actively participated in the challenge (as well as the Popsugar and Read Harder Challenges at work). At first I set myself the goal of 52 books this year. It seemed lofty when I started out because I had been in a little bit of a reading slump at the end of 2017, but as my love for reading reignited, I updated the goal to 100, but I will probably be pushing that even farther to really challenge myself. I have to say, it’s way better than challenging myself at the gym or trying to pay off my student loan debt.

Up next on my TBR pile:

Small Country by Gael Faye

What You Don’t Know About Charlie Outlaw by Leah Stewart

The Marsh King’s Daughter by Karen Dionne

Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett

All Rights Reserved by Gregory Scott Katsoulis

Wicked by Gregory Maguire (Popsugar challenge)

Interested in the Popsugar challenge? Check it out here. It’s a fun way to expand your literary reach and find new authors and genres.

I Was Anastasia by Ariel Lawhon

Book Stats:
I Was Anastasia by Ariel Lawhon
http://www.ariellawhon.com/
Published: March 27th, 2018
Publisher: Doubleday
ISBN: 9780385541695
Buy it:  Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Book Cover Image of Ariel Lawhon's historical fiction novel titled I Was Anastasia. The image features a woman whose face is obscured by a hat in clothing from another decade perched delicately on top of a suitcase.

I Was Anastasia by Ariel Lawhon is the story of two women and a shared life. Anastasia Romanov’s life story and tragic end have been well documented, including all of the speculation about whether she was murdered with the rest of her family following the Bolshevik Revolution. Anna Anderson’s life story has also been well-documented, and this story might be a little bit of a letdown in terms of suspension of disbelief if you are familiar with the facts of both women’s lives. My knowledge was limited in this case, which made this historical novel extremely enjoyable.

You meet the narrator on the very first page, and she issues a warning to any reader that they may not like what lies ahead. On the whole, she comes off sounding like an old woman who has told this story many times, so settle in and do not interrupt. From there, the story is told from Anastasia Romanov’s early teens until the night her family is murdered, alternating chapters with Anna Anderson’s life as it regresses to the moment she becomes Anna Anderson.

This is historical fiction in the truest sense. Lawhon adds just enough romance to provide depth without watering down a fascinating life. Moments in the story will make your heart race and other times will shatter it as you feel the frustrations and terror of a family held captive and a young woman whose life seems to do nothing but unravel. If you’re looking for a happy ending, this title is not the one for you. If you love an intricately told story that features a couple of extremely spunky women then I Was Anastasia is a jackpot. It’s only been out for about a month at this point, but this novel has been mentioned on multiple review sites and blogs. In my opinion, if it’s not already on your TBR list, it should be.

lemonade_iconlemonade_iconlemonade_iconlemonade_icon4 glasses of lemonade= a book you could recommend to a book group or anybody who reads.  You might find controversial subject matter, but it is handled delicately.

************Spoilers below****************

This book would have been a 5 glasses of lemonade, recommend to anyone, rating except for two things:

  1. There are about a dozen curse words sprinkled throughout.  While cursing does not bother me, I know some people would rather not have it as part of their reading experience.
  2. There is a scene involving multiple rapes.  While it is not incredibly graphic, it’s there.

Flat Broke with Two Goats by Jennifer McGaha

 

Flat Broke with Two Goats: A Memoir by Jennifer McGaha

Hi, I’m Dani and I am an emotional reader.

Flat Broke with Two Goats: A Memoir

I cry when a character dies or goes through a hardship, I blush when things get steamy, and I get indignant with the best of them when I read about social justice issues. I am aware of this. Nonetheless, as I have been reading Jennifer McGaha’s memoir this week as part of the Big Library Read campaign facilitated through OverDrive, I truly believed that the work was not having an effect on me. I believed that up until the point tonight when I picked up a barbecue sandwich and a Diet Cheerwine from the store for dinner before ending the evening drinking wine on my deck. Unbeknownst to me, my Southern done snuck up on me, and I blame the book.

I am a modern Southern woman. This means I can turn the charm and drawl on and off at will depending on the situation. But this book brought it all out in the open. McGaha’s authenticity, her connection to the places she is talking about, had me hooked early on. While I suspect the audience might be primarily those below the Mason-Dixon on this one, I still think it can resonate for anyone with an affection for nature and the strength of the human spirit.

Flat Broke with Two Goats is McGaha’s tale of trials post-Recession while she rode out some hefty financial troubles with her husband in a shack in the mountains of Western North Carolina. She went from the dream suburban life back to living off the land (sort of) and while she describes their tribulations with the melodies that are so true to Southern identity, she makes sure the reader knows it was no picnic in the park.

My rating: lemonade_iconlemonade_iconlemonade_iconlemonade_icon4 glasses of lemonade= a book you could recommend to a book group or anybody who reads.  You might find controversial subject matter, but it is handled delicately.

Despite the fact that this title was marketed as a global read, there are some things that might turn away a few readers. I counted a total of 3 curse words (one somewhat warranted, two that probably weren’t), but it is a memoir…so you get the real language. Probably more concerning is that there was no mention in the summary I read about domestic violence, and the author is a survivor who spends one chapter describing some of what she went through. It was graphic enough that I would give this read a trigger warning.

I got this title from my library’s OverDrive subscription with no expectation of a review.

For more from Jennifer McGaha, check out her website: https://jennifermcgaha.com/

To purchase the book, check out Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Flat-Broke-Two-Goats-Memoir/dp/1492655384