I just finished Susan Mallery’s A Million Little Things, and found it to be a very appropriate read over the Mother’s Day weekend. This story surrounds three women’s personal stories of grief, family, romance and difficult choices. The story starts off with Zoe who gets trapped in an attic and begins to think of the choices she made in her life, such as changing her career to satisfy someone she thought she loved. Zoe’s best friend, Jen, is struggling as a first-time mom hovering over her toddler son and constantly worrying that he hasn’t spoken a word yet. Finally, Jen’s mom and Zoe’s friend, Pam, cannot seem to move on from her late husband and rejects any idea of falling in love again. These women’s stories intertwine with each other’s as they all have a kind of relationship with one another. Because of these intertwined stories, I was never left wondering what was happening to any character at a particular time. Continue reading
Tag Archives: romance
Caraval
Enter the magical world of Caraval, where nothing is what it seems and magic is around every corner. Scarlett Dragna has been writing to Legend, the mysterious game master behind Caraval, since she was a little girl, hoping to receive an invitation to play the game and escape with her sister, Tella, from their abusive father. In order to leave their homeland without their father’s notice, Tella makes a deal with handsome sailor Julian to secure safe passage on his ship to Legend’s island. As the game begins, Scarlett soon discovers it is more than she bargained for. When Tella is kidnapped, Scarlett forms a tentative alliance with Julian to navigate the streets of Caraval, not knowing whom she can trust, and solve a number of clues in order to find Tella and win the game.
I had a major case of TEABS* when I finished this book. I just wanted to stay in Stephanie Garber’s fantasy world and find out what other surprises mastermind Legend has in store for his Caraval guests. Although I found Tella super annoying and sometimes got frustrated with Scarlett as well, I did enjoy the mysterious characters Julian and Legend. As I was reading the book I didn’t quite know what was real and what wasn’t, which made me want to rush through to the end. Recommended for fans of fantasy and romance.
*The End of an Awesome Book Syndrome
Small Admissions by Amy Poeppel
What would you do if you were dumped by what you thought was your true love in the middle of an airport before heading off to Paris? In Small Admissions, Kate faces this reality and becomes depressed. She loses interest in working, maintaining a social life, and simply, just doing something with her life. This is understandable, especially when she had let go of her aspirations in graduate studies to be with her “true love” in Paris.
So, what does Kate do now that she’s heartbroken and with no job? Fortunately, her sister, Angela, vows to lift her spirits and help her get her life back on track. Angela is a caring and concerned sister; yet, despite her good intentions of helping her sister out, I find her to be too overprotective and judgmental. Kate is on the way of getting her life back on track, and even so, Angela does not trust her and firmly believes that Kate will fall apart at any moment. I find Angela’s untrustworthiness and lack of confidence in her sister disappointing. However, what would have been more disappointing is if Kate didn’t have the confidence in herself, but I’m glad she did and had the determination to succeed in her career. Continue reading