Book Review: "Penitence" by Kristin Koval

I had such FOMO from everyone who got to read this early, so I was excited that Celadon Books and NetGalley gave me an advance copy. This was a fantastic debut novel!

Angie and David Sheehan’s lives are completely upended when a tragic, shocking murder occurs in their home. They turn to Martine, a lawyer in their small town of Lodgepole, Colorado, to defend their family. But Martine is more than just another lawyer in town—she used to be best friends with Angie’s mother and is the mother of Angie’s first love, Julian.

Julian and Angie were part of a tragedy that occurred when they were teenagers, a tragedy which left them feeling sad and guilty nearly every day. It was the strain of this tragedy and the façade they had to keep up that ultimately doomed their relationship. It’s been nearly 15 years since they’ve seen one another.

Now, Julian is a criminal lawyer in NYC, and Martine asks him to come home and help her with the case. Julian’s return unearths emotions, secrets, and regrets long kept hidden, yet his expertise is truly needed.

This is a book about the weight of secrets and guilt, and the ripples these cause for many. It’s also a story about shared tragedy and how we can never truly move beyond it, no matter how hard we try.

Kristin Koval said in her author’s note, “Getting to forgiveness is often hard, but it can also be profound and even beautiful.” This is so skillfully illustrated in this book, which shifts from the late 1990s to the late 2010s. I’ll be thinking about this book for a while.

Book Review: "Anxious People" by Fredrik Backman

Fredrik Backman's newest novel, Anxious People, is poignant, thought-provoking, and a little bewildering.

This is a story about a bank robbery and a subsequent hostage situation. But not really. I mean, these things happen and factor in the book but in the end, this is a book about connections, how desperate we are to be seen by others, and how even those who are supposed to help us in our time of need are sometimes in need of rescue as well.

Anxious People tells a story—many stories, really—in a very roundabout way. It travels from past to present, focusing on many different people, and their stories are juxtaposed with interviews between the police and the hostages. I felt as if the interviews were supposed to provide comic relief, but they were almost too outrageous and annoying that they frustrated me more than amused me.

There are a lot of characters and situations to keep straight, and Backman throws lots of twists and turns into the story. I'll admit I had to go back and read some incidents again to make sure I was clear on what actually happened. But there is a lot of emotion here, too, and I think when Backman writes about the emotional connections we have—with loved ones, friends, strangers—and how they enrich and affect us in ways we might never know, he's found his sweet spot.

I love the way Backman tells a story. (Two of his books, Beartown and Us Against You, are among my favorite books from the last decade.) Even though this one didn’t completely click for me, my love of his writing won out. There was still a lot to love about this book.

I’ve seen mixed things on this—some have given it 5 stars while others have struggled—but it’s definitely worth a read.

Atria Books and Ariele Stewart provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!!

Book Review: "Only Mostly Devastated" by Sophie Gonzales

This book is all kinds of adorable!!

"It was late afternoon, on the very last Wednesday of August, when I realized Disney had been lying to me for quite some time about Happily Ever Afters. Because, you see, I was four days into mine, and my prince was nowhere to be found. Gone. Vanished."

Ollie and his parents moved to North Carolina from California for the summer when his aunt becomes ill. He spends most of his summer at the beach, taking care of his young cousins. There he meets Will—handsome, kind, athletic, and fun—and it's not too long before the two have completely fallen for one another. But after Will leaves the beach to head home, Ollie never hears from him again—no calls, texts, nothing.

As if that's not enough for Ollie to deal with, his family has decided to stay in North Carolina to help care for his aunt for a year. Now he has to do his senior year in a completely new school, which seems like the worst possible scenario. Then he discovers that it's the same school Will attends, which is fantastic...until he discovers that no one knows Will is gay, and worse than that, this version of Will—the cocky, clownish, closeted bro—isn't someone that Ollie likes at all.

Ollie makes friends with a circle of girls, each with their own challenges to deal with. Will is torn between wanting to spend time with Ollie and overcompensating whenever one of his friends from the basketball team comes by and could possibly suspect the truth about Will. It gets to the point where Ollie is tired of being treated like dirt by Will, tired of being jerked around so Will can maintain his reputation.

Meanwhile, as things with Ollie's family get tougher and tougher to deal with, Will's on-again, off-again feelings become a challenge for Ollie, too. He understands what it's like not to be ready to share your sexuality with others, but Ollie doesn't deserve to be an afterthought. But how many times can he be the butt of a joke from Will's friends or, worse, Will himself? How can he stand by and watch as Will pretends to be someone he's not at Ollie's expense?

Only Mostly Devastated is a really sweet and funny book, with an added layer of poignancy. I like the complexities that Sophie Gonzales gave her characters, so this was a little bit more than just a high school rom-com. Once again, when I read this book I found myself wishing something like this existed when I was younger and wondered whether there was anyone else out there who felt the way I did, and once again I'm grateful we live in a world where books like these are plentiful.

I've got to question the marketing of this one, though: it's being billed as Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda meets Clueless in this boy-meets-boy spin on Grease. The only similarity I see between any of those and the book is when Will's new friends realize that the boy he's been talking about is someone from their own school—a slight parallel to that scenario in the movie Grease.

As with many rom-coms, there's nothing earth-shattering about Only Mostly Devastated, but Gonzales' writing is so engaging, and its story is one you want to root for. Can you ask for much more than that?

NetGalley and Wednesday Books gave me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

Only Mostly Devastated publishes March 3.

Book Review: "Lies That Bind" by Ashley Farley

You've got to love a book that hooks you from start to finish. Ashley Farley's newest book, Lies That Bind did just that for me, so much so that I read the entire book in just a few hours.

For 10 years, Eva has wondered whether her daughter, Reese, is still alive. Eva's husband was driving Reese home from college over Thanksgiving when they were in a single-car accident and he was killed, but Reese was nowhere to be found at the scene of the accident. Did someone kidnap her? Did she flee the scene for some reason? These are questions Eva has wanted to know the answer to for far too long, but she's never given up hope.

Maggie is moving from Oregon to Richmond, Virginia, where her new husband will be working. She got married on the rebound after the end of a long-term relationship, and her family all thought she did so far too soon. Eric is a good provider and seems like a stable man, but shortly after she arrives in Richmond she discovers that what seems too good to be true often is. What Eric wants more than anything is for Maggie to have a baby, but she's not ready—she wants to pursue a career as an investigative journalist. Quickly, though, Maggie realizes Eric will stop at nothing to ensure he gets what he wants.

One snowy day Maggie meets Eva, who lives across the street from her and Eric. Maggie is utterly transfixed when she hears about Reese's disappearance, and when Eric's controlling behavior becomes physically abusive, she decides to go undercover to track Reese's whereabouts. Her investigative work takes her from Virginia to Ohio to Washington, DC, as she tries to figure out what happened the day of the accident, what possibly could have made her flee, and more importantly, what would have kept her away all these years?

While the plot of Lies That Bind isn't necessarily unique, it builds on lots of twists and turns and secrets, so I'm going to stop my summary here. Farley has created some complex, flawed, fascinating characters, and there's lots of emotion and thought-provoking events to be had. I really couldn't get enough of this story. This isn't a thriller, although there are suspenseful elements, but more than that, it's just a great story.

I first became familiar with Farley after her last book, Life on Loan, which also completely captivated me, but in a different way. Lies That Bind has definitely cemented my status as a fan.

I'm so grateful to be part of the blog tour for Lies That Bind. Kate Rock Book Tours and Leisure Time Books provided me with an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!

Book Review: "This Is Not How It Ends" by Rochelle B. Weinstein

This was a really good, emotional read!

Do you believe that everyone gets one chance at happiness and love, or are there multiple opportunities out there for everyone? How you answer that question may influence how you feel about Rochelle Weinstein's newest book, This is Not How it Ends.

Charlotte and Philip meet on a plane. At first his privileged attitude and temper tantrum about not getting his reserved first-class seat irritates her, but his good looks and English wit quickly charm her. Their intense conversation for the entire flight leaves her a bit breathless, but given that he leads a far more glamorous life than she does, she doesn't expect that she'll ever see him again.

But fate has a funny way of intervening, and it's not long before they fall in love and plan a future together. They move to Philip's home in Islamorada on the Florida Keys, and while Philip is often traveling all over the world and spending time on his business interests, she starts building a life for herself. When they are together, their love flourishes, but after a while, Philip's time at home becomes shorter and shorter, and he seems more distracted when he is home.

"Had Philip finally gotten bored with me? Was there someone else? Could the ring have been a mistake? The physical distance I could live with, I had lived with, but the emotional distance was something else. I couldn't get him to connect."

Charlotte starts yearning for more than Philip can give her. And then one day, she meets Ben, a handsome single dad, and his young soon, Jimmy, and she starts to realize what it's like to feel needed, to feel constantly cared about and cared for. She fights her attraction to Ben despite the amount of time they spend together (partially because Philip pushes Ben to teach Charlotte how to cook).

When a hurricane passes through Islamorada and Philip is away, Charlotte spends the night at Ben and Jimmy's house, and the storm causes her to reexamine her desires and begin to hope for a different future. But then an unexpected discovery changes the course of her life again, and she decides to make sacrifices for others instead of following her heart. It's a path on which she'll experience some of the highest highs and the lowest lows.

"Each of us felt loss, whether it was through a seed planted inside or one nearby that took root and grew. Loss didn't discriminate, it was a game of chance. Like love. And sometimes even love led to isolation. Loneliness, by definition, is a solitary experience, but I learned painfully fast how loneliness travels through skin and body and binds you to those with similar hurt."

This was a beautifully told, poignant story, and I was hooked from the very beginning. While I saw certain things coming before the characters did (it's amazing how oblivious people can be to things which are right in front of them), I still enjoyed this book immensely. This made me feel a range of emotions, but the book never felt contrived or manipulative in any way.

I really enjoyed these characters, and would love to see what came next for them. That, to me, is the mark of a memorable and fantastic book.

Get Red PR and Lake Union Publishing provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!

Book Review: "The Magnificent Mrs. Mayhew" by Milly Johnson

When was the last time you couldn't get enough of a book and wanted to devour it in one sitting, yet when you were finished, you were sad? That happened for me with Milly Johnson's newest book, The Magnificent Mrs. Mayhew. I wasn't familiar with Johnson's writing, but apparently she's known as "the Queen of Feel-Good Fiction" in the UK, and boy, they're not kidding!

Sophie Mayhew was raised to believe that a woman's purpose is to serve her husband, that the best thing she can do as a wife is to be a supportive and valuable spouse. And that's exactly what she has done for the last 14 years for her husband. John F. Mayhew is immensely handsome, politically shrewd, and ruthlessly ambitious, and with his glamorous, intelligent wife "Sophie the Trophy" by his side, he's one step away from becoming prime minister.

Sophie remembers when her relationship with John was full of passion rather than photo opportunities, spontaneity rather than scheduled appearances and carefully scripted remarks. But this is the role she agreed to, so even if she has had to sacrifice the things that bring her joy, even if her husband and her own family don't appreciate her for anything more than being the dutiful wife, she knows she is key to her husband's success. Even if the public and the media scrutinize her every move, her every outfit, her every expression, John is destined for greatness. That should be enough for her.

Then one day, scandal breaks. Sophie hears the allegations and is sad and angry, but not totally surprised. John's PR specialist assures them the scandal will go away quickly once Sophie lets the world know she stands faithfully by her man. Yet for some reason, Sophie can't bring herself to recite her prepared remarks and toe the line she always has. Instead, the words that spill out are spontaneous—and certainly not what John or his team wants anyone to hear. When everyone begins closing ranks around her to mitigate the damage, Sophie decides to flee to a small town on the coast where she spent the best summer of her life as a teenager.

"Sophie the Trophy was hardly known for being her own woman. If anything, she was the enemy of strong women. She existed in the shadow of her husband, she was good enough to work for him but not good enough to be given a wage for it. She bowed to his will, and for her pains he humiliated her in the worst way possible while lecturing the British public on keeping their own houses in order."

Sophie changes her appearance and assumes a new name, and hopes to keep a low profile. But she is shocked at how friendly the townspeople are, and how quickly they are to provide her food, supplies, smiles, simply because they recognize a person in need of help. For the first time in years, she starts to feel appreciated for her personality and her gifts, not scrutinized and criticized at every turn. And she realizes how horribly she's been mistreated, not only by her husband, but by her own family.

As she befriends Tracey, the owner of the local pub, and her brother, Elliott, the vicar, she comes to terms with the sacrifices she has made in her life. She doesn't know if she's ready to give up everything, or if she still loves her husband, but she knows that she feels freer and happier. As her feelings become more complicated, she knows she can't stay forever, but she doesn't know if she can step back into her old role, or if she's willing to give up everything she's known in order to really be herself.

"Kindness was not a weakness, it was an essential part of being a human being, a gift to be bestowed upon others, a strength."

Nothing that happens in The Magnificent Mrs. Mayhew is surprising; you've certainly seen this story before. But Johnson has created characters that you'll want to root for and characters you'll loathe, and I for one couldn't get enough of this book. Watching Sophie blossom on her own and realize she could have a life where she could make her own decisions and do what makes her happy for once was heartwarming, and I loved her interactions with Tracey, Elliott, Luke, and others.

If you like "feel-good fiction" then be sure to pick up a copy of The Magnificent Mrs. Mayhew. I read the entire book in a matter of hours, and now I'm missing the characters!

I was fortunate to be part of the blog tour for this book. Thanks to Gallery Books, Simon & Schuster, and NetGalley for giving me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review! See a Spotlight/Excerpt from the book at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2019/07/spotlightexcerpt-magnificent-mrs-mayhew.html.

Book Review: "The Butterfly Girl" by Rene Denfeld

Naomi Cottle is a child finder. She's often the investigator desperate parents turn to when they have no other avenue left to try and find their missing children, and Naomi succeeds where others have failed. But this responsibility takes a great emotional toll on her.

Naomi can find missing children because once she, too, was a missing child. But she was lucky and was able to escape from the person who had kept her captive, although she had to flee without her sister. Sadly, she had no memories of that time, and all these years later, she can barely remember anything about her sister except vague memories of a field she ran through as she escaped. She is haunted by the fact that she didn't keep her promise to protect her sister.

A year ago, Naomi decided not to take any new cases until she finds her sister. Her search takes her to Portland, Oregon, where homeless teenagers roam the streets by day and night, doing whatever they can to survive. Someone has been kidnapping young girls off the streets, and many are found dead later, floating in the river. Naomi is troubled by this epidemic of violence, and even though she doesn't want to get involved, she can't turn away, especially as she wonders what parallels these kidnappings and murders might have with her sister's case.

When Naomi meets Celia, a troubled 12-year-old who took to the streets after a horrible family situation took a bad turn, she recognizes some similarities with her own life, and she wants to protect Celia like she was unable to do her own sister. And Celia also has a sister to protect. The only thing helping Celia through her ordeal are the butterflies—the beautiful phantoms she sees on the streets, following her and keeping her company. They remind her of a happier time with her mother and her sister, and she wishes she could just fly away like they do.

As Naomi digs deeper into her sister's whereabouts, and Celia tries to right her situation and protect her own sister, they both find themselves being drawn deeper and deeper into an evil web, a web that has the potential to destroy all they love—as well as themselves.

The Butterfly Girl is a beautifully written book about those who are lost and desperate to be found, as well as those who are seen but still feel lost. It's a story about feeling powerless to change situations around you, no matter how hard you fight, and how easy it is to shut others out as you fight your battles. It's also a troubling story of how so many children on the margins can find themselves at risk, with no one to advocate for or protect them.

Rene Denfeld's first two books, The Enchanted and The Child Finder (in which Naomi's character was introduced) were emotional, gorgeously told stories. While The Butterfly Girl started a bit slowly for me, it picked up steam as the book went along, and there is so much poignancy and vivid imagery in this story.

Even though this features the same character from The Child Finder, you could read this book without reading its predecessor. But I'd definitely recommend that you pick that one up, because once again, Denfeld's talent with prose and imagery is something to behold.

This book definitely made me think, and it made me sad for those who have to fight these battles. It once again proves what an amazing storyteller Denfeld is.

NetGalley and HarperCollins provided me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!

This book will be published October 1, 2019.

Book Review: "Drawing Home" by Jamie Brenner

"Someday you will find your own superpower."

Henry Wyatt was once one of America's most famous artists, but after years of success he decided he was more interested in a quieter life in beautiful Sag Harbor, where he could enjoy fishing, spending time with good friends, and being a regular at the bar at The American Hotel.

Choosing this life over a life of celebrity and excitement in New York City wasn't something his good friend and former business partner, Bea Winstead, ever understood about Henry, and it strained their decades-long relationship.

When Henry suddenly dies while sitting at the hotel bar at the start of Memorial Day weekend, Sag Harbor's residents are saddened by the loss of their most notable neighbor. Much to the surprise of everyone, Henry leaves his entire estate, including the beautiful waterfront home he designed himself, to Penny Mapson, a teenage girl and the daughter of The American Hotel's front desk manager, Emma, who grew up in Sag Harbor and has practically been in the hotel her entire life.

While over the last few years, Henry and Penny had struck up a friendship of sorts, and he gave her drawing lessons at the bar, no one understands why he would make such an impulsive decision about the disposition of his estate. Bea is the most aggrieved party, since Henry had once promised her the house and all of his work, and she descends upon the town, determined to right this most grievous wrong. She's convinced that somehow Emma had gotten her hooks into Henry and defrauded him, and she'll stop at nothing to prove that she's right—no matter who gets hurt in the process.

As Emma tries to figure out what this utterly unexpected windfall could mean to her and Penny's life, everything else seems to be falling apart. Henry's death has made it even harder for Penny, who is struggling with OCD and is becoming more rebellious to express her displeasure at being stuck in this small town. Her boss is unhappy with the burst of publicity that is following Emma as a result of Henry's bequest to Penny. And to top it off, her ex (and Penny's dad) resurfaces, suddenly wanting to be closer to his daughter. (Could it have anything to do with the house she just inherited?) The last thing Emma has energy for is to battle Bea over Henry's will.

In her effort to prove her suspicions, Bea combs through Henry's work that he had done since settling in Sag Harbor. She finds that Henry has left sketches scattered all around the town, and she's convinced that if she tracks all of them down and studies them, she'll find some clue that explains Henry's actions. It isn't until she gets Penny involved, and begins understanding what Henry was working on in his last days, that she starts to realize what Henry's intentions really were.

Jamie Brenner's Drawing Home is a wonderfully compelling story about friendship, love, art, and both the positive and negative aspects of small-town life, not to mention how the family we choose sometimes means more to us than the family we're born into. It's a book about the importance of communication, of second chances, and of not being afraid to lean on others when we're at our most vulnerable—as well as actually admitting we're vulnerable in the first place.

This is the first of Brenner's books I've read and I really enjoyed it. This was such a captivating, beautiful story, full of emotion and even a little intrigue, as I wondered what would possess Henry to leave Penny his estate? I will admit I found two of the characters in particular immensely annoying through a good portion of the book, but in the end, I really appreciated the progress they made.

I've never been to Sag Harbor, but Brenner's use of imagery really helped me envision it, and it couldn't have been more appropriate for a holiday weekend! She is an excellent storyteller, and I'm definitely going to check out some of her earlier books, because I can see why so many people are fans of her work!

Book Review: "The Overdue Life of Amy Byler" by Kelly Harms

"I have suffered plenty. I am a poster child for low-grade chronic suffering. If an ad agency wanted to make suffering into a thirty-second spot, they would make a time-lapse video of me in my three colors of elastic-waistband teacher pants shoveling eight inches of snow at five a.m. so my kids can get to their early-bird activities on time, then teaching 250 overprivileged kids how to not use computers for porn for ten hours, and then collapsing in front of Outlander too tired to even find, much less turn on, my vibrator at the end of the day."

For the last three years, Amy Byler has been the sole provider for her two children: 15-year-old Cori and 12-year-old Joe. She's barely keeping her head above water financially, working as a school librarian in order to keep her kids in private school, tending to the myriad repair needs of their beautiful yet historic (read: old) Pennsylvania house, and doing all of the disciplining, the chauffeuring, and everything else. That's been the drill since her husband left for a business trip in Hong Kong and decided not to come back.

But now, John is back. He's realized he has been a terrible father and he wants to be a part of his children's lives again. He asks Amy to give him a week with the kids so he can begin seeking their forgiveness. (Much to Amy's chagrin, he accepts all of her criticisms and angry insults, and keeps apologizing, but he doesn't seem too interested in her forgiveness.) Reluctantly, she takes him up on his offer, and heads to New York for a week to attend a library conference.

When Amy arrives in New York, the scene of some crazy college days, she's looking forward to a week of professional development, sleeping in, and reading a ton of books. Instead, she starts to let her hair down a little bit, and even meets a handsome librarian along the way. But she still can't stop worrying about her husband spending time with the kids, whether he's going to make some colossal mistake, or—worse—whether her kids will even miss her.

Her old college friend, now the editor of a lifestyle magazine, convinces/orders Amy to get a total makeover, and sets her on a course for a real vacation from parenting, a #momspringa, if you will. When her husband asks to spend the summer with the kids, Amy's newfound freedom turns into a real adventure followed by the magazine's readers. She takes advantage of all the city has to offer and starts finding herself again, even going on a few blind dates. But when one man threatens to steal her heart, she has to decide whether this "new Amy" will still exist when she returns home, and what it means for everything—and everyone—if she doesn't.

The Overdue Life of Amy Byler was utterly charming, laugh-out-loud funny in parts, and an enjoyably thought-provoking read. Not being a woman or a parent, I may have missed some of the nuances of the story, but I think the book did a great job exploring the challenges women face as mothers, when they sacrifice everything else for their children and supporting their family. But when they do that, do they put their relationship with their spouse at risk, too, or is that something they shouldn't worry about?

I enjoyed many of the characters in this book, from Amy to her former-nun-now-teacher best friend Lena, "hot librarian" Daniel to self-absorbed magazine diva Talia. Sure, the plot is a bit predictable, and I felt like it dragged a bit in the middle, but I was looking for a lighter read and this book definitely delivered. This definitely fits the bill when you've been reading a lot of brooding thrillers or books heavy on emotion—while there is still poignancy here, Kelly Harms keeps the tone light as she explores serious issues.

Are you in need of a #momspringa? Wish you could have had one? The Overdue Life of Amy Byler will give you the lowdown, and entertain you, to boot.

Lake Union Publishing and Amazon First Reads provided me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!

The book will be published May 1, 2019.

Book Review: "The Winter Sister" by Megan Collins

Life changed completely when Sylvie was 14 years old. Her older sister, Persephone, disappeared one night, after sneaking out to meet her boyfriend, whom her mother forbade her to date. Sylvie kept lots of Persephone's secrets—because that's what sisters do—and she keeps hoping that Persephone will come home. It seems even more unfathomable when Persephone's body is found just a few days later.

Sylvie is wracked with grief and guilt, and she tries to get the police to focus on whom she believes the suspect is. She's unprepared when they really don't share her suspicions, but she's even more unprepared for the depth of her mother's anger and guilt. Her mother takes to violent expressions of grief, and long bouts of drinking, and Sylvie can't handle it any longer, so she leaves town and moves in with her aunt and cousin.

Sixteen years later, Sylvie's aunt summons her home to care for her mother, who has been diagnosed with cancer. The last thing she wants to do is return to the memories of Persephone's murder, especially since the crime was never solved, and her feelings about it, as well as her mother, who changed so drastically after Persephone's death.

"I couldn't pretend that, just by turning thirty, I was old enough now to have outgrown my feelings of motherlessness."

As she tries to negotiate her relationship with her mother and her always-mercurial moods, Sylvie finds it difficult to dwell on anything other than Persephone, especially when she encounters her sister's ex-boyfriend Ben, who now works as a nurse at her mother's cancer center. Sylvie has always believed Ben had something to do with Persephone's death, and tries to convince the police they should still consider him a suspect after all these years, but little by little, she comes to understand that the situation regarding her sister's death was more complicated than she could imagine.

She feels like she owes it to her sister to figure out what happened to her. It may resolve her own feelings of guilt, but at the same time, it could further destroy her mother and their relationship. Sometimes secrets are kept for a reason, and sometimes unearthing them only causes more heartache than good.

The Winter Sister is more of a mystery than a thriller, but along with the whodunit comes a healthy dose of family dysfunction. It's an interesting story about how the simplest of actions can scar us in ways we never realize, and how those scars affect us and our actions for the rest of our lives. It's also a look at how one secret can lead to a tangled web of them, a web that it is often difficult to escape.

This is Megan Collins' debut novel, and its strengths definitely show that she has a terrific future ahead of her. I thought at times the pacing of the book was a little slower than I would have liked, and some of the characters needed a little more complexity. But I thought she showed restraint where she could have taken the book down a very melodramatic path, and I definitely appreciated this.

Maybe reading a book called The Winter Sister made me feel even colder these last few days, but Collins' storytelling was worth the extra blanket!

Book Review: "I'm Fine and Neither Are You" by Camille Pagán

"It takes courage to be yourself when everyone expects you to be someone else."

Penelope Ruiz-Kar is the glue holding her family together. She's the breadwinner, working in the development office of a medical school. But much to her chagrin, she's also the disciplinarian of her two children, and often the cook, cleaner, and organizer, despite the fact that her husband Sanjay is a stay-at-home dad while picking up some freelance writing jobs.

All too often she's frustrated with everything and everyone, and wonders how she's strayed so far from her dreams of being a writer of children's books.

Penelope is also tremendously envious of her best friend, Jenny. Jenny always looks like she's posing for a magazine, her house is always perfectly clean and inviting, her daughter is polite and charming, her lifestyle blog influences many women, and she and her husband still have passionate sex—a lot. How can Jenny accomplish it all without breaking a sweat when Penelope just wants a do-over, perhaps of her whole life?

When a sudden tragedy illuminates the fact that Jenny's life isn't quite as perfect as it seems, Penelope is thrown for a loop. She has to stop pretending everything is fine in all aspects of her life, and she needs to be more honest—and that needs to start with Sanjay. They both agree that things in their marriage could use some work, so each makes a list of changes they want the other to make, and each promises complete honesty.

"Something between us had shifted over the course of our marriage, particularly the last two to three years. We had gone from being lovers to best friends to...roommates who routinely irritated each other. If I was honest with myself, that was what it felt like most of the time."

Total honesty seems like a good idea...but in reality it causes more problems than it solves, especially as Penelope starts becoming a little too honest with people around her. And while she and Sanjay want to commit to fixing their marriage, it isn't as easy as they thought it would be. Is it possible at all? Is their marriage destined to fail and are they powerless to stop it, or is there something they need to do?

Camille Pagán's I'm Fine and Neither Are You is a funny, thought-provoking, poignant look at how difficult it can be to balance marriage, work, and family, and not kill yourself—or each other—in the process. It's also a look at the lies we tell each other—and ourselves—and how uncovering the truth is so difficult and often painful, but it's truly necessary.

This was a quick, enjoyable book that I read over the course of the day. I had never read anything of Pagán's before, but I really liked her balance of humor, poignancy, emotion, and soul-searching. This is definitely a book that made me realize that whenever I think a person may have it all and I'm envious, that I don't really know the challenges they're facing.

Lake Union Publishing and Amazon First Reads provided me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!

The book will be published April 1, 2019.

Book Review: "Things You Save in a Fire" by Katherine Center

Add Katherine Center to the list of authors I've discovered this year whose work has utterly wowed me. Between her newest book and How to Walk Away, which I read earlier this year (see my review), I've become a big fan while becoming emotionally unglued. Because that's how I roll, y'all!

Cassie has always been tough as nails. As one of very few female firefighters at her Austin firehouse, she knows that she has to do everything better, be stronger, faster, and tougher, and never show one ounce of emotion. It's something she's been comfortable with since her mother abandoned her and her father on Cassie's 16th birthday. Cassie has never really let anyone get too close to her, because vulnerability means weakness in her book.

But on a night that should be one of her proudest achievements, Cassie's carefully constructed façade cracks, and the results are shocking, to say the least, to those who know her best. She creates quite a mess for herself—so much so that when her estranged mother calls and asks her to move to Boston for a year to help her through some serious health issues, Cassie ignores her gut instincts and agrees. But she makes it perfectly clear that she's not there to reminisce or be friends with her mother, she's only there to help.

"I reminded myself again that she was only Diana. Of course, our parents get an extra dose of importance in our minds. When we're little, they're everything—the gods and goddesses that rule our worlds. It takes a lot of growing up, and a lot of disappointment, to accept that they're just normal, bumbling, mistaken humans, like everybody else."

Cassie takes a job in the small town of Lillian, a town which has never had a female firefighter and isn't interested in one. In fact, the captain thinks female firefighters may very well lead to the decline of Western civilization. So once again, she's bound and determined to do everything better than any of the men on the squad, and not allow them to treat her like a girl. She ignores the hazing, the teasing, and those who want to see her fail, and she outdoes them at every turn.

The one thing she can't seem to ignore, however, is the rookie—Owen Callaghan, son of a retired firefighter, who joined the squad in Lillian the same day Cassie did. Sure he's good-looking, fit, and can cook like nobody's business, but Cassie knows she is a better firefighter and EMT than he is. But why does her stomach flip every time she seems him? It's not like she hasn't worked around gorgeous men before, but for some reason, she can't get him out of her mind, and it doesn't help that they get paired up for everything.

Cassie came to Lillian to work, not to date, and besides, dating a fellow firefighter is career suicide. That's the one main thing her captain in Austin told her before Cassie left—never date firefighters. So no matter what, she's just going to ignore the rookie and treat him like one of the guys. Because in Cassie's eyes, love equals vulnerability, which equals failure.

If you've spent your entire life guarding yourself from any sign of weakness, keeping everyone at arm's length, can you be truly happy? Which is harder, forgiving someone for hurting you or forgiving yourself? How do you decide whether it's worth risking everything you've built your life around to pursue something that might not work out, and might hurt you?

Things You Save in a Fire is one of those books where you can probably guess most (if not all) of what will happen, but it doesn't matter one iota, because you're totally hooked. Once again, Center creates vulnerable, likable, relatable characters and makes you care about them, makes you root for them, makes you angry when roadblocks occur, and makes you fearful that something bad will befall these characters you've come to know.

This is a book about how the walls we build to protect ourselves often keep more people out than we realize, and before we know it, we're safe but alone. This is a book about realizing that being a little vulnerable doesn't mean you're still not tough or brave, and it's also a book about when you know it's right to sacrifice what you want for those you care about.

Like any story where matters of the heart, family issues, and relationships are dealt with, Things You Save in a Fire is moving at times, a little poignant, and you might find something is in your eye once or twice. But this is one of those books that wins you over from the very first page, and doesn't let up, so it's worth a few tears (at least).

NetGalley and St. Martin's Press provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!