Book Reviews & Stories by Danielle
I finally finished reading my Spooky Reads Week book. It’s about time right. Well, with work and wedding planning my reading time has become very limited. During the last few weeks, I’ve only had time to read on the train to and from work. That’s only about an hour of reading per day (sad face).
The busy season has hit at work and I’ve had to stay later than usually. Then with the wedding being only 5 months away we’ve been busy trying to put all the little things together like finalizing the invitations and figuring out wedding bands. That’s just two things on my long list of wedding stuff to do and it doesn’t help that I’m a control freak and like to do everything myself.
Now that I’m done with Gone Girl, it’s being added to my Upcoming Reviews. Here’s a little blurb about the book just in case you’ve never heard of it (highly unlikely).
“On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy’s diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer? As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister, Margo, at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn’t do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?”
What did you think of the book?
Today would’ve been my mother’s 51st birthday. If she were alive today, my siblings would all come together to make the day special. We’d decorate the house with balloons, streamers, and confetti. Her birthday gifts would be neatly placed on the dining room table, ready for her to open. She’d walk in and find all these wonderful things her children did for her.
My mother didn’t need anything extravagant. It was always about the simple things. She loved her Starbucks iced frappuccino drinks. I used to get her a four pack every year. She loved her handmade cards. She loved her cupcakes or cakes we’d bake (or bought from Albertson’s down the street). And she just loved spending time with her children on her birthday.
This is exactly how I remember the last birthday I spent with her. On her last birthday, my siblings and I cleaned the house and set up posters and decorations. We waited for my mom to get home and jumped up yelling, “Surprise” when she finally walked in. I really miss those days.
If I could celebrate with her today, I would take her to a Hollywood Bowl concert to see some country star she loved; she loved Carrie Underwood and Blake Shelton. I would take her to dinner to a restaurant she’s never been to. We’d stop and get ice cream on the way home.
I really wish I could’ve had more time with her. I wish she could have seen me graduate from college. I wish she could have comforted me when job interviews were going nowhere. I wish I could have told her when I finally landed that full time job. And I wish she could’ve met my fiance and had a chance to know the man that makes me happy. I wish I could’ve told her how he proposed.
On her 51st birthday, I’m going to remember all the good times I had with my mom. I will think about watching Friends with her. I will think about when she asked me to name my baby sister. I will think about all the school projects she helped me with. I will think about how much she loved us.
Happy Birthday to my wonderful, sweet, and amazing mother.
I went to Barnes & Noble a few weeks ago with my fiance and my brother. I love going to B&N! Specifically, I love the B&N located at the Americana in Glendale, CA. It has three stories and I feel like I can get lost in it. Which wouldn’t be a bad thing for me until my fiance starts wondering where I am.
While my fiance made his way to the Apple store, I probably spent a good hour browsing B&N during the Columbus Day sale and twenty minutes of that was hovering over the “For Sale” items. You know…the small discounted table with books for like $4-$8.
Did I mention how much I love to be in bookstores?! There’s nothing better than looking through the aisles of your favorite genre and reading the back covers of books that catch your eye.
So, I wanted to share the four books I bought as my Friday Finds.
“Grace Winter, 22, is both a newlywed and a widow. She is also on trial for her life.
In the summer of 1914, the elegant ocean liner carrying her and her husband Henry across the Atlantic suffers a mysterious explosion. Setting aside his own safety, Henry secures Grace a place in a lifeboat, which the survivors quickly realize is over capacity. For any to live, some must die.
As the castaways battle the elements, and each other, Grace recollects the unorthodox way she and Henry met, and the new life of privilege she thought she’d found. Will she pay any price to keep it?
The Lifeboat is a page-turning novel of hard choices and survival, narrated by a woman as unforgettable and complex as the events she describes.”
***
“Set in a rural community steeped in silence and denial, So Much Pretty explores all parents’ greatest fear, that their child will be hurt. But it also examines a second, equally troubling question: What if my child hurts someone else?
The disappearance and murder of nineteen-year-old Wendy White is detailed through the eyes of journalist Stacy Flynn and a host of other richly drawn characters, each with their own secrets and convictions.
After Wendy’s body is found, Flynn’s intense crusade to expose a killer draws the attention of a precocious local girl, Alice Piper, whose story intertwines with Wendy’s in a spellbinding and unexpected.”
***
“Marian Caldwell is a thirty-six-year-old television producer living her dream in New York City. With a fulfilling career and picture-perfect relationship, she has convinced everyone, including herself, that her life is just as she wants it to be. But one night, Marian answers a knock on the door . . . only to find Kirby Rose, an eighteen-year-old girl with a key to a past that Marian thought she had locked away forever.
From the moment Kirby appears on her doorstep, Marian’s meticulously constructed world will be shaken to its core, resurrecting memories of a passionate young love affair that threaten everything that has come to define her. For the precocious and headstrong Kirby, the encounter will spur a process of discovery that ushers her across the threshold of adulthood, forcing her to reevaluate her family and future in a wise and bittersweet light.
As Marian and Kirby embark on a quest to find the one thing missing in their lives, each will come to recognize that where we belong is often where we least expect to find ourselves.”
***
“Darcy Rhone has always been able to rely on a few things: Her beauty and charm. Her fiance, Dex. Her lifelong best friend, Rachel. She never needed anything else. Or so she thinks until Dex calls off their dream wedding and she uncovers the ultimate betrayal. Blaming everyone but herself, Darcy flees to London and attempts to re-create her glamorous life on a new continent. But to her dismay, she discovers that her tried-and-true tricks no longer apply–and that her luck has finally expired. It is only then that she can begin her journey toward redemption, forgiveness, and true love.”
What did you find this week?
Book Review | The Forgers
“The rare book world is stunned when a reclusive collector, Adam Diehl, is found on the floor of his Montauk home: hands severed, surrounded by valuable inscribed books and original manuscripts that have been vandalized beyond repair. Adam’s sister, Meghan, and her lover, Will—a convicted if unrepentant literary forger—struggle to come to terms with the seemingly incomprehensible murder. But when Will begins receiving threatening handwritten letters, seemingly penned by long-dead authors, but really from someone who knows secrets about Adam’s death and Will’s past, he understands his own life is also on the line—and attempts to forge a new beginning for himself and Meg.”
***
I was a little unsure about requesting this book because it’s based on a field that I know nothing about; rare book collecting, inscriptions, and forgery. It caught my eye anyway because it’s full of mystery and suspense. Two things I like to read.
Honestly, you don’t have to know anything about the rare book collecting community to understand what was going on because it’s essentially about a murder. Who killed Adam Diehl? Who would want to kill a man who kept to himself and his books?
Adam’s sister Meghan was distraught, as he was her only family. She tries to pick up the pieces and come to terms with her brother’s death, but finds it difficult since the police can’t determine who did it.
The story is told in the perspective of Will, Meghan’s long time boyfriend. He is a man of many secrets. Secrets of his and that of Adam’s. He knows what Adam was up to before he died…or so he thinks.
Will is also the kind of man that’s a bit full of himself and his abilities. He believes that he’s the best forger out there. Perhaps he is, but much of what he says about his work is very egotistical.
When Will starts being blackmailed he knows that someone from his past has emerged once again. It was the same person who sold him out to the police about his forgery and dragged his name in the dirt of the book collecting industry. Will does everything he can to safeguard his future with Meghan and tries to stay one step ahead of this ghost from the past.
You don’t find out the true killer until the very end and you’re kind of left a bit shocked by it, but then you can see why this person had the motive to do it.
Overall, I couldn’t put the book down and wanted to find out what happened next. When I finished the book it was like I didn’t want the story to end. I feel like this book can easily have a sequel to it and I would definitely read it.
Favorite Quotes
“Isn’t the butterfly whose wings have been plucked by a heedless child better off crushed beneath his heel than left in the grass gazing up at the sky, flightless?”
“Books make us feel alive, and though we obviously won’t live forever, they make us feel as if we might.”
Overall Rating
Author Links: Website, Twitter
Publishing Company: Grove Atlantic | Mysterious Press
Release Date: November 4, 2014
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
This is the second book I read and reviewed for #NetGalleyMonth!
Today, I’m sharing the Top Ten Books I Want To Re-Read hosted by The Broke and The Bookish blog. I wonder when I will get the chance to re-read some of these books because I have such an ENORMOUS reading list. I swear I can make a book just listing all the books I need to read. Can anyone relate?
Well, here are my top 10 books to re-read:
Fifty Shades of Grey, The Longest Ride, and Mockingjay are all books I want to re-read before the movies come out.
Where Are The Children? is the very first mystery/thriller book I remember reading and I would just love to re-read it.
The Last Song is one of the few books that had me really crying. I had to stop and just sob during parts of the book. So, apparently I want to torture myself again.
Out Of The Silent Plant and Island of the Blue Dolphins are books that I loved when I was a kid. I’d like to re-read these to see how I interpret them now.
Harry Potter and The Sorcerers Stone is a book I didn’t really get when I was younger, but then I started watching the movies and never finished reading the series. I want to re-read this book and read the rest of the series as well.
Two Kisses For Maddy and On Writing are two memoirs I really loved. I would re-read these in a heartbeat.
What books do you want to re-read and why?
My busy work and wedding planning schedule really put a dent in the blog this last month. I didn’t do nearly as much as I would have liked. We are less than 6 months away from the wedding and now it’s all about getting the little things done…and little things add up.
Even though it was pretty busy in my personal life, I think I accomplished a lot on Stories Unfolded this month. Again, not as much as I would have hoped. I still have some catching up to do on book reviews.
Here’s my October in review:
Very short list of books I read this month. I usually like to read at least 5 per month, but I’m happy with the books I did get to read.
Here are my October posts (excluding my weekly Sunday Quotes) –
I participated in the Sideswiped Blog Tour and posted a review that included two giveaways. Look out for more giveaways in November!
Book Review | Sideswiped by Lia Riley
Announcing Sideswiped Giveaway Winner
To get in the Halloween spirit, I participated in Paris Baker’s Spooky Reads Week. I picked Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn to read during that week. Still working on this book and a review will follow soon. After I’m done reading it, I’m going to see the movie with a friend.
Spooky Reads Week & Giveaway | Oct. 27th – Nov. 2nd
This month I received two blog awards! Yay! Thank you to all my followers for making it possible.
Stories Unfolded | Liebster Award Nomination
I’ve been trying to attend more book events. I went to an author panel hosted by the Women’s National Book Association and an author reading event called Book’d in Burbank. Look out for the posts about these two events.
In October, I was trying to be more active with my social media efforts for my blog. I think I’ve been doing a pretty good job.
Follow me on:
Twitter: @elise_dani
Instagram: @storiesunfolded
Facebook: Stories Unfolded
How was your October?
Guess what today is? It’s Halloween! Tonight, my fiancé and I will be sharing a nice meal (that I’m cooking), some special Halloween inspired cocktails, and watching a scary movie. Shhh…this is a surprise! He doesn’t know that I’m doing all this for him.
In honor of Halloween, I added the following books to my reading list as Friday Finds. These were approved Net Galley books.
***
“After years as a patrol cop, detective Jocelyn Rush is almost immune to the depravity that stalks the meaner streets of Philadelphia…almost. After saving her three-year-old daughter from a carjacking, she ends up in the emergency room—and discovers that Anita, a former prostitute and acquaintance from her old days on the beat, has been hideously mutilated in a brutal assault.
With the help of her partner and Philadelphia’s Special Victims Unit, Jocelyn discovers that Anita isn’t the first victim of these attacks and it looks like she won’t be the last. When the violence hits closer to home, Jocelyn knows she must do whatever it takes to stop the sadistic attacker—even if it means confronting a terrible secret from her painful past.”
***
“Nik is an eccentric art student obsessed with painting his dancer girlfriend, Jennifer. When one day she inexplicably disappears, Nik’s world is shattered. Determined to find her, he embarks on a cross-country journey following a scant trail of clues. He doesn’t anticipate how far he’ll have to travel, what he’ll do when he runs out of money, or the fact that an intimidating stranger is looking for Jennifer, too.
Nik and Jennifer fade into the background of their own tale, surfacing now and again like ghosts as the rest of their mysterious story unfolds through a series of chance encounters with intricately linked strangers. An English professor coping with a dying mother, a rebellious teenage girl, a debt-ridden civil servant, a disillusioned ex-anarchist documentary filmmaker, and other disparate characters who encounter the separate couple as they circle one another in a tentative dance.
I hope that everyone has a safe and fun Halloween. Let me know what books you found this week.
I purchased this book during one of my trips to Target. I had been wanting to read it since it was getting good reviews and I’ve been wanting to see the movie. I refuse to watch the movie before reading the book. Anyone else agree?
Well, this is being added to the list of book reviews I need to catch up on. Wedding planning is in full swing, so book reviews have been pushed back. The fiance and I just sent out the save-the-dates and we have our menu tasting this Saturday. I’m really excited to try the food that we will have at our wedding, plus I just love good food.
So for now, here’s a brief description of the book:
“In the blink of an eye everything changes. Seventeen year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall what happened afterwards, watching her own damaged body being taken from the wreck. Little by little she struggles to put together the pieces- to figure out what she has lost, what she has left, and the very difficult choice she must make. Heartwrenchingly beautiful, this will change the way you look at life, love, and family. Now a major motion picture starring Chloe Grace Moretz, Mia’s story will stay with you for a long, long time.”
If you’ve read this already, let me know what you think.
Stories Unfolded 