Book Review: "Malibu Rising" by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Don’t you love it when a book you’ve been dying to read by one of your favorite authors lives up to the hype? That's how I feel about Malibu Rising, the upcoming book by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

It’s 1983. Superstar model Nina Riva and her siblings—surfing all-star Jay, talented photographer Hud, and Kit, the youngest, who’s ready to be taken seriously as a woman and a surfer—are getting ready to have their annual party at the end of the summer. Once again this year the party is at the Malibu mansion Nina was sharing with her tennis-star husband, although he recently left her.

The Riva party always promises to be the craziest, most epic event. You never know what celebrities you’ll see there—and what they’ll be doing. But Nina’s heart isn’t in it this year, although she’s doing it for her siblings—a role she’s played for a number of years now.

As preparations for the party roll into full swing, each Riva is trying to figure out how to unburden themselves of a secret or a wish they’ve been hiding. When all are revealed, it’s just going to be one aspect of a party—and a night—that will change their lives immensely.

I like a book that teases at one thing that’s going to happen and then builds the tension toward that incident the whole story. In this case, the story alternates between preparations for the party and the story of how the Riva siblings’ mother met their father, Mick, who became a music legend. The book then follows their childhood.

Taylor Jenkins Reid is one of the best storytellers I know. I really enjoyed these characters and honestly wouldn’t have minded if the book were longer because I would have loved to have gotten to know more about what their futures held. The party is crazy and melodramatic and there’s a lot to follow, but the core of the story—family, loyalty, love, desire—just blew me away.

There's one of her older books I haven’t read yet and I may hold on to it for a while so I have something of hers left to read!!

Goodreads, Random House, and Ballantine Books provided me with a complimentary advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!

Malibu Rising publishes 6/1. I expect it to be quite the beach read this summer, if people can go to the beach!

Book Review: "Not Like the Movies" by Kerry Winfrey

I’d love to see this book as a movie!

⁣ ⁣ Can the love that happens in movies happen in real life? If so, would we want it to? Chloe may be overwhelmed by her life, but she’s not looking for true love. Yet ever since her best friend wrote a movie loosely based on her job at a coffee shop and her playful banter with her boss, it seems that all anyone wants to talk about is whether she and Nick are in love in real life.⁣

The answer to that question is emphatically “no.” Well, isn’t it? I mean, she can’t stop thinking about wanting him to kiss her, but that’s just the movie’s effect, right? She is barely holding it all together; if she lets anyone in it will just complicate things. And besides, isn’t it disastrous to fool around with your boss, even if you’re as much the boss as he is?⁣

"But believing that would require me to be a different person—one who thinks soul mates are real, for starters. Or one who believes in rom-com perfect happy endings, instead of what I actually believe in, which is the real-life right now. Those happy endings don't exist for people like me, but joy-filled moments sure do."

⁣⁣ Kerry Winfrey’s books really feel like they belong on the screen. They’re so appealing and fun, and even though you know what will happen from the start, you’re so pulled into the story and these characters. I think Chloe was a little too much of a martyr for a little too long, but I still rooted for her and Nick just like everyone else was.⁣

⁣ If you’re looking for a fun rom-com to make you smile—and you might even get a tear or two in your eyes—read this, and Winfrey’s Waiting for Tom Hanks. They're totally engaging and so enjoyable. I easily devoured this in one sitting.

And speaking of devouring, there's lots of talk about baked goods in this book, so carb-phobes beware!!⁣

Book Review: "Regretting You" by Colleen Hoover

I’m fighting some sort of cold/flu thing and my sleep patterns are all messed up, so I read Regretting You in a few hours the other night and early into the morning. Nice to be crying when you can’t really breathe!!

Morgan was 17 when she gave birth to her daughter, Clara. She and her boyfriend Chris got married when they found out she was pregnant, and the course of her life was different than she imagined it would be. Although she wishes she would’ve been able to finish college and get a job, she doesn’t regret the years she spent taking care of her daughter.

Now, 16 years later, she wonders what’s next. Clara seems destined to follow in her footsteps in ways that make Morgan worry she’ll repeat her mistakes. It’s only when Chris gets involved that he can keep the peace between them, and try to keep Clara on the right path.

But when Chris is killed in an accident, it upends their lives in many ways, and Morgan isn’t really sure what to do now. Clara is testing her in every way and Morgan is trying desperately to protect her daughter from truths that might destroy her. Should Morgan sacrifice her relationship with her daughter to protect her, though?

As Clara falls madly in love with a boy that her parents thought was a bad influence, she is buffeted by feelings of anger, grief, and guilt. And Morgan finds herself turning to the one person she shouldn’t, but at 34, doesn’t she deserve a future, too?

"The day I found out I was pregnant, I stopped living life for myself. I think it's time I figure out who I was meant to become before I started living my life for everyone else."

Hoover once again delivers a story with rich character development, strong emotions, and situations that could happen to real people (even though you hope not). There aren’t a lot of surprises in the book but I couldn’t stop reading it, even as it kept getting later and later!

I don’t love it when the plot of a book turns on people’s assumptions and failures to communicate with one another—and boy, is that the case here so much—but Hoover gets you so wrapped up in these characters it doesn’t matter.

This is the fourth of her books I’ve read in the last few months. (I've also read Verity, It Ends with Us, and Ugly Love.) I’m thankful she’s written a bunch, because I am a huge fan!

Book Review: "Searching for Sylvie Lee" by Jean Kwok

While its title suggests this book is a mystery, and certainly there is a mystery component, Jean Kwok's Searching for Sylvie Lee is also a study of family dynamics and an exploration of how secrets can destroy relationships.

Sylvie Lee is the daughter of Chinese immigrants. When she was very young, her parents were too poor to raise her in America, so they allowed her to be raised by cousins and her maternal grandmother in the Netherlands. Life wasn't easy there for Sylvie—an awkward child, she faced a lot of ridicule as well as racism, being one of very few Chinese among her Dutch classmates and neighbors.

While Sylvie's grandmother and her cousin Willem treated her with love, Willem's wife Helena took an instant dislike to her, and seemed to single her out for mistreatment. Sylvie didn't understand why she was deserving of such cruelty, but she took comfort in her relationship with Willem and Helena's son, Lukas.

At age nine, Sylvie returns home to the U.S. She now has a younger sister, Amy, for whom she becomes a protector, and despite there being a seven-year age difference, the two forge a very close relationship. Sylvie encourages Amy at every turn, gives her the courage and support to do anything she wants, since their parents spend most of their time working to make ends meet.

Years later, Sylvie returns to the Netherlands when she learns her grandmother is dying. As much as she has changed from the awkward, ugly girl to a beautiful, intelligent woman, returning to the Netherlands reopens old resentments with Helena, and confuses her heart. And then Sylvie vanishes. Her Dutch cousins assumed she was on her way home; her family in America thought she was still in the Netherlands.

"That had always been Sylvie's role, to go forth and have adventures. My job was to wait for her to return home safely. Now the country mouse has been forced into the great devouring world."

As Amy tries to figure out what happened to Sylvie, she begins uncovering secrets that Sylvie kept hidden from them all, things that showed her life wasn't as successful and happy as she had led everyone to believe. When Amy travels to the Netherlands—her first time traveling anywhere, much less internationally—she finds herself in the midst of the tensions of her Dutch relatives, and discovers that in the Netherlands, things for Sylvie were confusing and painful beyond simply grieving for her grandmother.

What happened to Sylvie? Did she simply need to take a break from it all, as some suggested, or was something more nefarious at play? Did someone harm her? Is someone responsible for her disappearance and perhaps her death? Amy is a stranger in an unfamiliar country surrounded by people with secrets, and yet there's even more she doesn't know.

Searching for Sylvie Lee is narrated by Amy, Sylvie, and their mother, and shifts back and forth through time. Through each woman's eyes you see things that go unsaid, emotions that are hidden, and fear of the truth being exposed. There are some powerful emotions in this story, and so many places where if only people had spoken up, things could have been different.

I'm always a fan of stories about family dysfunction, and this is certainly one of those! Kwok is a very talented storyteller; I read one of her previous books, Girl in Translation, a number of years ago, and her skills have gotten even stronger since then. Even though there is a great deal of melodrama in the plot, none of what occurs seems far-fetched or unrealistic.

I definitely figured out some of the mystery before it was revealed, and while I wasn't necessarily surprised by how things ultimately unfolded, I had hoped for a different conclusion. At times, too, the book's pacing was very slow, and I wanted less flashbacks and more focusing on Sylvie's disappearance.

If you're looking for a mystery, I don't know that this will foot the bill, but if you're looking for a well-told story of a family shattered by secrets, Searching for Sylvie Lee may be just the book for you.

Book Review: "After the Flood" by Kassandra Montag

"When I think of those days, of losing the people I've loved, I think of how my loneliness deepened, like being lowered into a well, water rising around me as I clawed at the stone walls, reaching for sunlight. How you get used to being at the bottom of a well. How you wouldn't recognize a rope if it was thrown down to you."

This book was utterly amazing. Beautifully written, bleak, tremendously poignant, and full of lyrical imagery and memorable characters, it is hard to believe that After the Flood is Kassandra Montag's debut novel. But the more you read, the more you become fully immersed in this story you realize that debut novel or not, this is one of those books you'll think about and talk about for years to come.

Just over a century from now, our world has been taken over by massive flooding which obliterated much of the landscape, leaving only mountains and random pieces of land scattered through our world, with whole cities left underwater. Myra and her young daughter Pearl live off their small boat, fishing and salvaging to make ends meet, finding people to trade with in the few outposts that are left. It's a bleak existence and Myra always exercises an abundance of caution, because the floods left many lawless people in their wake.

For seven years, Myra has mourned her older daughter, Row, every single day. Row was taken from Myra by her husband just before a massive flood hit their home in Nebraska. Myra had wanted to wait until her grandfather finished building the boat they would use to keep them safe; Myra's husband was afraid and impatient, so he took Row and never came back. Myra knows the chances that Row is still alive are very slim, and she should just focus all of her energy on keeping Pearl safe and happy, but she can't stop dreaming of the moment when she might have both of her girls together for the first time.

"The world will break you, but it's when you break yourself that you feel you really can't heal."

When Myra hears that Row (or at least someone resembling her) was spotted recently at a settlement near Greenland, she is desperate to risk everything to bring about a potential reunion with her daughter. She connects with Daniel, a troubled yet kind man with secrets and regrets of his own, and then they have to find another ship on which to make the perilous journey. When they meet Abran and his crew, she knows she has to hide her real reasons for wanting to travel so far, but she has no choice but to deceive them in order to rescue her daughter.

But there is no guarantee the ship will make it all the way there, because along the way they must battle the elements, bands of raiders bent on revenge for earlier slights, and the uncertainty of whom among them should be trusted. What will they find when they arrive at this colony? Will there be disease, killers, a lack of resources, or, perhaps worst of all, no trace of humanity?

After the Flood certainly is bleak and I kept waiting for things to completely fall apart, yet there certainly is an element of hope in the book as well—hope that Myra will be able to find Row, hope that the ship will make it where it needs to go relatively unscathed, hope that they can perhaps build a new community when they arrive. I honestly couldn't get enough of this story.

This reminded me a lot of Cormac McCarthy's The Road in its exquisite telling of how far a parent would go for their children, but Montag's imagery, her language, and her weaving of present and past made the story unique at the same time. The pacing may seem a little slow at times but it worked well for me.

Simply put, this book is worth all the hype it will get. I won't be able to put it out of my mind anytime soon.

Book Review: "Twice in a Blue Moon" by Christina Lauren

I wish I could bottle the feelings I experience when I'm reading a book by Christina Lauren. First there's anticipation, as I've now read eight of their books, and I just love the way they tell a story. Then there's excitement, as the main characters encounter one another and begin the awkward dance of attraction and emotion, tinged with the reluctance of acknowledging their feelings.

Excitement gives way to complete emotional immersion, and I find myself rooting for the characters to find their happily ever after. Then, of course, there's satisfaction, which quickly gives way to sadness...because I realize I'll have to wait at least six months for their next book! (Boy, am I fortunate they've been giving us two books a year lately!)

Their newest book, Twice in a Blue Moon, has now become my favorite. There's a love story, of course, but it's coupled with complicated family issues and the added appeal of the entertainment world. It's ironic, too, that a book which in part takes place on a movie set is one of the books I'd most love to see adapted for the big or small screen!

Tate Jones and her grandmother are on a trip to London to celebrate Tate's 18th birthday and her impending departure for college. Apart from the early days of her childhood, Tate has lived with her mother and grandmother in a small Northern California town, where everyone knows everyone and tourists are plentiful in season. She's always longed for more, but since she bears a secret that the world would die to know—she's the long-lost daughter of a famous film actor—she has always had to live life quietly.

While Tate enjoys everything about London, early on in her trip she meets Sam Brandis, a handsome college student on a similar vacation with his grandfather, who raised him. Tate and Sam are drawn to each other immediately, and over the course of a few late nights spent talking (and more), they fall in love with each other. Tate gives Sam her heart, and at the same time, shares the secret of who her father is, and all of the facts and feelings she's kept hidden deep inside. Within a day or two, her truths are exposed for the world to see, and she never sees Sam again.

Fourteen years later, Tate has made a name for herself as an actress. She's been lucky professionally, but romantically, not so much. She is set to make a movie with her father for the very first time, a movie she believes might change the course of her career, and perhaps the dynamics of her relationship with her father. And when she steps on to the set, one of the first people she sees is the one who betrayed her trust all those years ago, leaving her life and heart in turmoil.

Twice in a Blue Moon is a story of whether love can withstand anything thrown in its path, and whether a second chance is really ever possible. It's a story of the complicated relationship between fathers and daughters, particularly when both are in a business where image is everything, as well as a story of the sacrifices parents are willing to make for their children. The book also explores the idea of whether there's really one true love out there for everyone, or whether you can find it in yourself to move on.

Christina Lauren's books are always full of humor, emotion, steamy sex, chemistry, and an immense amount of heart, and Twice in a Blue Moon is no exception. Most importantly, though, the way they tell a story (Christina Lauren is the pen name for the collaboration of two writers who are best friends) is so compelling that I can never seem to tear myself away, even though I know I might be left without one of their books for a while.

I can't recommend this or any of their other books enough. Love and Other Words was my favorite until now, mainly because, like this book, I tend to like love stories that have some emotional history to them. But every single one of their books that I've read have left me in awe of their talent and left me a little teary-eyed at the end.

NetGalley and Gallery Books 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 22, 2019.

Book Review: "Miracle Creek" by Angie Kim

If you've ever watched one of the many iterations of the Law & Order series on television, you know that every episode follows a similar pattern, at least at the start—an incident occurs, every sign points to a particular perpetrator, everyone starts to wonder if they've caught the right person, and as the story veers to its conclusion you're not sure exactly what is going to happen.

This is exactly how I felt reading Angie Kim's debut novel, Miracle Creek, a story that seemed so clear-cut at first had so many layers, so much going on, and I couldn't stop reading it. Were the characters as straight-forward as they were being portrayed, or were they hiding secrets? Would the actual perpetrator ever be brought to justice?

Amazingly, the book's courtroom drama was only a part of this book's appeal—it was a tremendously compelling and poignant story about the struggles of parenting, particularly when your child has special needs, the desire to protect your family and yourself, and the lies we tell ourselves to get by.

"Tragedies don't inoculate you against further tragedies, and misfortune doesn't get sprinkled out in fair proportions; bad things get hurled at you in clumps and batches, unmanageable and messy."

Korean immigrants Young and Pak Yoo run Miracle Submarine, a device that delivers hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) through pressurized "dives." Some believe HBOT can treat diseases like cancer, diabetes, or infertility, and others believe in its effectiveness to help treat children with autism and cerebral palsy. The Yoos have a regular group of customers, but they also have attracted a fairly energized group of protestors, who believe HBOT is a sham, and that Miracle Submarine should be shut down.

One day, in the midst of protests, power outages, and drama among the patients, a fire breaks out and the oxygen tank explodes, killing two patients and injuring others, including Pak and his teenage daughter, Mary. After their investigation, law enforcement apprehends their suspect, and a sensational, emotional trial is about to begin. Everyone wants to put the events of that day behind them and get to the truth.

But what really happened that day? Were the protestors that warned of the threat of fires to blame? Was it the mother of one of the autistic children being treated, had she finally cracked under the pressure of caring for her son? Was it Pak and Yoo themselves, hoping to take the insurance money and cash in on a better life? The lies, the secrets, the painful truths will all collide as everyone tries to make sense of that fateful incident which affected far more lives than at first glance.

Miracle Creek is a beautifully written and emotional story. The further you get into the book, the more you realize that the pervasive pall of sadness than hangs over the story is caused by more than the tragic explosion—it's an emotional heaviness surrounding all of the characters for different reasons, each of which played a contributing factor in what occurred.

Kim does such a masterful job telling this story. There were characters I disliked at the outset that I started to warm up to as the story unfolded, and others that became less sympathetic. There also were a few characters that I didn't feel quite transcended stereotypical roles, but the book would have been much longer if Kim had spent time dwelling on their motivation, too.

There has been a lot of hype surrounding Miracle Creek in the months leading up to its publication. That hype really is justified. Much like the incident that is at the book's core, the book itself is far more complex, complicated, and compelling than it initially seems. It's both cerebral and sensational.