OCTOBER WRAP UP
Freckles
- AUTHOR: Cecelia Ahern
- TOPIC: Novel
Rating: 1 out of 5.
I cannot tell you how excited I was when this book came out. Cecelia was one of the reasons I got back into reading. I have read every single one of her books and was also in my top three favorite writers.
Until this book…
It was painful to read…difficult to follow…I am not exaggerating when I say it was torture to finish it.
The main idea, that you are the sum of the five people you spend most time in the world, was a good one to start with.
But I feel simply unable to even write a summary…It’s simply not worth it.
What a shame.
The Match
- AUTHOR: Sarah Adams
- TOPIC: Novel
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Sarah did it again in this second book of hers I have read.
She is always able to mix a romantic tale with a witty and funny prose, and an underlying lesson of life and people.
Evie fought hard to get her independence. Born in a family where wealth and appearances seems to be everything, when diagnosed with epilepsy, she was scared to go alone in the world. Until she got her own support dog and it opened the world for her.
Though she is living salary to bills on a monthly basis, often falling short, she would never give it up. She is fulfilled and happy as she is able to help others like her for a living: helping finding the right support dog for the right owner.
When a small girl tricks her architect father into meeting Evie by sending an email to her faking to be him, things become complicated, but Evie doesn’t give up…the girl also has epilepsy and she is the right person for the job.
It will take some time to get Jacob to accept Evie’s intentions to help, but when he does, he will discover a talented, caring, motherly woman, who wants to do nothing else than making her daughter happy.
Afraid to let go and be hurt again and scared of his daughter being disappointed again by a mother figure, it will be soon clear that Evie is what they need in their lives.
And it will be more than a just a match from support dog to owner…it will be the start of their forever.
The Top Five Regrets Of The Dying
- AUTHOR: Bronnie Ware
- TOPIC: Authobiography
Rating: 2 out of 5.
I have been wanting to read this book for a very long time.
Maybe my expectations were wrong and I was looking forward to something totally different.
I had no idea this book was an autobiography…or better said, I knew it was but I certainly didn’t imagine it to be so focused on the author’s life.
I was attracted to it even more due to a recent personal lost, that made me question everything about life, and I was curious to see if the obvious is taken for granted as much as I thought it was.
And unfortunately it is. We realize too late that our time on this planet is limited and can be taken away from us any second, and still we arrive to our death bed wishing we did everything different.
This book is meant to remind you of what’s important in life, but were it fell short for me, is how this message was delivered.
Never the less, it was an inspiration for a tattoo that I got recently: DIE WITH MEMORIES, NOT DREAMS.
Bearing The Unbearable
- AUTHOR: Joanne Cacciatore
- TOPIC: Self-help
Rating: 5 out of 5.
I recently lost my mom, and as I am a reader, I needed a book to help me out during this time.
I loved going through these pages because they were written in an easy way to understand, full of real life and author’s experiences and examples, and not like a mechanical to do list…because with a loss like this, there is no right or wrong way. Everyone feels and reacts differently, and it is good to read that it’s ok to feel in any way I feel. It is good to read that there is no manual for this. It is good to read that everyone’s experience is unique and worthy. It is good to read that I am allowed to feel different emotions at different times. It is good to read that I don’t have to justify myself to anyone. This is my journey of pain and loss, mine alone. And I am allowed to go through it the only way I know how…one step at the time.
The Women at Hitler’s Table
- AUTHOR: Rosella Postorino
- TOPIC: Novel
Rating: 2 out of 5.
I should have read this book in original language and probably I would have understood it and loved it more. It was a bit heavy to follow, I could see in the prose that the translation was not giving it justice. I was initially attracted by the story, but it just didn’t make it for me. Shame.
I wish I could write a summary but it really all revolves around the ladies that were hired to taste all the food that was going to be consumed by Hitler, to ensure he wouldn’t be poisoned by his enemies. Of course, there are other nuances to the story, but as mentioned, it didn’t leave any emotional mark on me.
The Bride Test
- AUTHOR: Helen Hoang
- TOPIC: Novel
Rating: 5 out of 5.
My second book from Helen and it was just as good as the first. Funny, witty, romantic, a true pleasure to read.
Mi makes the weirdest encounter while cleaning toilets at the hotel where she works in Vietnam. A woman is looking for a wife for her son Khai, and thinks Mi would be a perfect fit. After much thinking, she decides to accept, to provide her family and her daughter with the opportunity of a better future. Once in America with her name changed to Esme, she meets Khai, who is obviously not thrilled to have her live with him. On top of everything else, Khai is autistic, so he is very particular about his schedule, his things, his feelings and people in general. He avoids relationships at all costs, and thinks he has a heart made of stone. Feeling guilty for the death of this best friend Alex 10 years prior, doesn’t help. But Esme has 3 months to make Khai fall in love with her and marry her, and she needs to seduce him. What she doesn’t realize is, that just being herself is making an effect of Khai, who mistakes the love he is starting to feel for her, for addiction to her presence. When Esme’s time in America is coming to an end and its clear that Khai doesn’t love her, she needs to try a way to stay. Luckily she saved money from working at Khai’s mother’s restaurant, and her evening studies have paid off, granting her the high school diploma she never had. But when her university scholarship gets rejected, she tries one more time to tell Khai how much she loves him, but to no avail. Only thanks to a genius idea from Khai’s brother, he will come to his senses, and will be forced to understand he was wrong all along.
Dilemma
- AUTHOR: B.A. Paris
- TOPIC: Novel
Rating: 5 out of 5.
This was a super interesting and totally unexpected book. My second from B.A. Paris and a genre that is usually not my go-to, but I loved it. So full of twists, beautifully written, keeps you glued to each word of each page. I really enjoyed it.
Livia cannot think of anything else: her 40th birthday is around the corner and she is throwing the biggest party ever. A party she has been thinking of and saving for, her whole life. Her obsession comes from the need to make up for the wedding she never had. Fallen pregnant too young, estranged by her uber-catholic family, she never had a chance and now she will make up for it. The only black stain on this celebration is the fact that her daughter Marnie will not be able to make it as she is studying in Hong Kong. What she doesn’t know is that Marnie and her father Adam are planning a surprise. But everything shatters when Adam hears the news of an airplane crash in Cairo. Marnie was supposed to be on that flight, but she might have missed it because her previous connection was delayed. It’s the morning of the party and Adam cannot reach Marnie. What should he do? Livia sees that Adam is worried, but a whirlwind of misunderstandings take place. Livia discovered time back some awful secrets about Marnie, and while Livia is trying to find the right moment to confess everything to Adam, Adam is trying to cling to hope that Marnie wasn’t on that flight and struggles to decide: shall he inform Livia or let her have the last few hours of joy?
We are taken on an emotional trip between Adam’s and Livia’s thoughts, until the news of Marnie’s death is confirmed to Adam during the night of the party. And than, everything comes falling apart.
A Million Dreams
- AUTHOR: Dani Atkins
- TOPIC: Novel
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Wow, what a novel. I absolutely loved it. So complex, so well written, so full of sentiment and feelings, so gripping. A story of motherhood and hope, of family and second chances, of love and loss.
Highly recommend it.
Beth has a decision to make. When her husband Tim died of cancer, they had one frozen embryo left to fulfill her dream of having a child with the love of her life. And she wants to try again, without telling anyone to avoid disappointment. But when the clinic calls, they ask her to come in person to discuss.
Izzy, on the other hand, is struggling to come to terms that her marriage might be over. Separated from her husband since a year, they only have their 8 year old son Noah to keep them together. When the time comes to renew the contract to keep their frozen embryos in the clinic, despite the circumstances, they decide to keep them. But they also receive a call from the clinic to come in person to discuss.
What happens next is nothing short of a nightmare. Beth embryo’s was mistakenly implanted into Izzy 8 years ago.
So is Noah Beth’s or Izzy’s son?
While Beth comes to terms with the fact that her dream to have Tim’s child is now gone forever, Izzy needs to fight to keep the child that she birthed and taken care of since the day he was born.
How will these two women find a way to cope? to live? to compromise? to get back what was taken away from them?
Books & Mon 