Review: Witches of East End

Title Witches of East End (The Beauchamp Family #1)
By Melissa de la cruz
Genre Adult Paranormal/Supernatural
Format Audiobook
Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis
The three Beauchamp women--Joanna and her daughters Freya and Ingrid--live in North Hampton, out on the tip of Long Island. For centuries, all three women have been forced to suppress their abilities. But then Freya, who is about to get married to the wealthy and mysterious Bran Gardiner, finds that her increasingly complicated romantic life makes it more difficult than ever to hide her secret. Soon Ingrid and Joanna confront similar dilemmas, and the Beauchamp women realize they can no longer conceal their true selves. (From Goodreads)

First Sentence

Freya Beauchamp swirled the champagne in her glass so that the bubbles at the top of the lip burst one by one until there were none left. 

This book has been sitting on my shelf forever! While looking for an audiobook to listen to while working, I decided to finally read it. 

It's so hard to review a book you give three stars to. Am I right? I feel like I'm saying I didn't like it and that's just not true. Three stars is a nice, solid, rating. No, I didn't LOVE the book and, no, it's not a new favorite but I liked it. It had a great story, fun, likable characters and was very readable. I enjoyed it and am eagerly looking forward to jump into the sequels. 

That said, I don't have much else to talk about. That's why I hate three star reviews. If you want me to point out why it's not four or five stars I can. Let's just go ahead and do that to take up a bit more space, shall we? 

It's not a five star because that's reserved for books I adore! Books that I'll definitely be reading again. It's not a four star read because there was nothing horribly memorable and I'm pretty sure it'll be one of those series I enjoy and then promptly forget about. I was also bothered a tiny bit by the writing. Notice that first sentence? It's just needlessly wordy. Right? 

And there you have it. my three star review of a fun new world and characters I want more of.   

Review: A Gathering of Finches

Title A Gathering of Finches
By Jane Kirkpatrick
Genre Historical Fiction
Format Print
Rating ⭐️⭐️

Synopsis
When her father dies, Cassie feels pressured to marry Josiah Stearns to help her destitute mother and sister. Traveling west with her new husband brings Cassie to the wilds of Washington. Seemingly the girl who has everything with a doting husband,  a beautiful daughter and her mother and sister close, Cassie still longs for something more. When she meets the handsome Louis Simpson a forbidden love affair will end with the woman behind the man who founded North Bend, Oregon and inspired the most beautiful mansion and gardens on the Oregon coast.

First Sentence 
My friend Annie and I sat in our family's closed Victoria carriage peering out through the round, isinglass window.

Though I love the history of North Bend (the town my husband grew up in) and can imagine the beautiful house that once stood on Shore Acres, I never would have picked this book up. My husband is a little bit (okay, A LOT) obsessed with Louis J. Simpson and Shore Acres State Park. When he saw this book he bought it for me and eagerly awaited my thoughts.

The book is a historical fiction and a slow one at that but I did find it interesting. I liked that the author wrote the story from Cassie's point of view. Everything about this story and history is ALWAYS about the man. Typical. So, getting the woman's point of view was nice.

Sadly, I couldn't quite find it in my heart to care for Cassie. She was pretty selfish which always makes it hard to sympathize with. Still, the history was fun and now I know almost as much as my husband about his home town. Not a complete loss.

Review: Baby Teeth

Title Baby Teeth
By Zoje Stage
Genre Adult, Fiction
Format Audio book
Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis
Life was supposed to be good for Suzette now. She has her crohn's under control and is married to a wonderful man. Her seven year old daughter, Hannah, however, doesn't speak, has been kicked out of every school she was enrolled in and is growing increasingly more violent. In her father's eyes, Hannah is the perfect angel but Suzette is starting to feel like Hannah would prefer her out of the picture. Permanently.

First Sentence
Maybe the machine could see the words she never spoke.


I've been eyeing this one for a long time. For some reason I'm fascinated with stories of psychotic children. I think I was expecting a disturbing horror like book and while I found this one incredibly disturbing, I think the author was going for a more serious issue-y book???

I'm not sure. All I know is I couldn't put it down. I was disturbingly fascinated from the get go.

There were a lot of plot holes in this one. I highly doubt the father would be THAT blind to how psychotic his daughter was and there was no way Suzette wouldn't have thought to record her daughter's behavior. I feel like those things were left out just to keep the story going. So, yeah, like I said, holes.

Still, the book was a page turner and all in all I enjoyed it. It was very disturbing and I kept shaking my head and muttering, "what the hell is wrong with this kid" but I couldn't look away.

Review: Bring Me Back

Title Bring Me Back
By B.A. Paris
Genre Adult, Psychological Thriller, Suspense
Format Ebook
Rating ⭐️

Synopsis
Finn and Layla were in love and Finn was about ready to propose. On a road trip he stops at a rest station and leaves Layla sleeping in the car while he uses the restroom. When he comes back, Layla is gone. That's the story he tells the police, but it's not the whole truth. Years later Finn's grief and Layla's sister Ellen's grief have brought the two together. But when they get engaged everything starts falling apart. Item's from Ellen's childhood with Layla start to show up and an old neighbor claims to have seen Layla. Could Layla be back? What does she want? Is she seeking revenge?

First Sentence
We were on our way back from skiing in Megeve.



I really loved Paris' other two books, Behind Closed Doors and The Breakdown so I was eager for this one. However, instead of buying it I borrowed it from the library and, boy, am I glad I did. Spending a  single dime on this would have been as bad as spending all that time reading it.

I kept seeing disappointed reviews so I should have known but I still had my hopes up. This book was one big mess! It honestly felt like Paris grabbed an old rejected manuscript from ages ago and polished it up a bit and her publishers published it now that she's made a name for herself.

It was awful. The twist wasn't surprising at all and completely unbelievable, the characters were all flat and uninteresting and the plot was boring and repetitive and made me lose interest 50 pages in.

Please, please, please don't let this one deter you from her others, though, they were both very good. This one should have been left at the bottom of her rejected manuscripts pile.

Oh well. Every author  usually has a book or two that disappoints us. I intend to read anything else she publishes so it wasn't a complete loss.

Review: First Comes Love

Title First Comes Love
By Emily Giffin
Genre Adult, Romance, Chick-lit
Format Audio book
Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis
Sisters, Meredith and Josie couldn't be more different. Josie is spontaneous, extroverted and goes after what she wants, Meredith is quiet, stoic and does what's best for everyone else but herself. When their brother dies in a car crash the two sisters deal with their grief differently and those differences drive them apart. Fifteen years later as they both are at a crossroads in their lives that tragedy will either drive them further apart or bring them closer together.

First Sentence
Time is a tricky thing, Daniel said to his mother when he was still very young.

And now I've finished all of Giffin's published books. After the last one, All We Ever Wanted, I wasn't so sure I wanted to ever read another one of her books but this one restored my faith in her storytelling abilities and reminded me why I love her books so much.

This one tells the story of two very different sisters. These characters were wonderfully flawed. There were things about each of them that drove me absolutely nuts and things I really loved too. Watching their all too relatable struggles puts you right in that understood and validated space. I love that about books.

I didn't expect to love this one as much as I did. It's probably my favorite of Giffin's books and I'm glad I didn't let that last one turn me off.

If you love stories about people and family struggles with flawed characters you can root for, you should read this one. I've been thinking about Joise and Meredith long after I closed the book.