I loved Audrey Niffenegger’s debut novel, The Time  Traveler’s Wife, so I thought this book had to be good. I was let down.

Twenty one year old twins, Julia and Valentina, are given their aunt’s London flat in her will. They have never met their aunt but seize the opportunity. It just so happens that their mom and aunt are also twins. Their mom left London with their American father before they were born and did not keep in touch with their aunt. Their mom will not explain why so that intrigues them more to live in London. The will comes with stipulations about the flat: their parents are not allowed to come into it and they must live in it for one year before they sell it.

The twins look and act younger than they are. They still dress alike and hold hands in public. They did not complete college and don’t have much depth. You think that they would discover themselves in London and make something of their lives. As predicted, one of them wants to break away from the other and lead her own life. Then ghosts enter in the picture. I do believe in ghosts but the way it was presented in the book was not well done.

The book was slow until the last third and you finally find out why their mom and aunt stopped talking. Then their is another twist in the story. I kept hoping for a good twist or ending but neither happened.

When I picked up this book and read the summary, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to read it. The author of The Help has a rave review on the front cover encouraging book clubs to read it so I thought the book had to be good. Two teenage (half) sisters lose their parents in an airplane crash. The older sister, Julia, moves to live with her biological father, stepmother and half brother. Ruthie, the younger sister, goes to live with her aunt and uncle. The book spans about fifteen years after the crash and how they dealt with their grief and moved on. Ruthie has the love and stability of her aunt and uncle but Julia grows up with her strict stepmother and pushover father. Once they part from each other, their lives are so different yet they have their love for each other and the parents they lost.

I liked the book because I love my sister dearly. We actually didn’t  get along until I went to college but now I tell her everything. I also liked this book because their hometown is in Atlanta so I knew a lot of places the author referenced. Maybe I had high expectations but I thought the book would be better. I did like it but not as much as I thought I would.

This book is a great chick lit book. It is very similar to Beaches. Two friends that meet at a young age and remain friends over thirty years.

Kate is unsure of herself as a teenager and lost her best friends. She is a good Catholic girl with her All American family of parents and a brother. Then Tully moves in across the street. She is beautiful and lives with her mom. Tully used to live with her grandparents but her hippie mom takes her to live with her. One night, the two become friends and promise to be best friends forever.

After decades and significant life events, they remain friends even if distance keeps them apart. Then of course one of them betrays the other, they don’t speak and then they become best friends again. It is so similar to Beaches but still very good.

This book was hard to put down. I just wanted to find out everything. I won’t ruin anything or tell you anything that is not in the book summary.

Annie is a real estate agent that is abducted from an open house. The book consists of her sessions with a therapist recalling the events of the year she was taken and her life after returning. She is bitter and it’s been hard for her to adjust. She’s feel like there has to be more about her abductor because of all the details that he knew about her. She is also obsessed with finding out the truth about why she was taken and more about her captor. There is a surprising  twist ending that makes the book even better.

Although it was hard to put down the book, most of the book was hard to read because of the story line. I have no idea how I would handle if such a horrific even happened to me. This was the author’s first book and I was really impressed. If you think you can stomach it, I would recommend reading it.

Mary Beth is a typical mom with a daughter in high school named Ruby and fraternal twin boys, Alex and Max, who are in middle school. Ruby is self confident and smart. She is popular at school and also writes for the literary magazine. Alex is the athletic outgoing twin. Max is the quiet twin. Mary Beth’s husband has his own practice as an ophthalmologist and she owns her own landscaping business.

The first half of the book describes their routine daily lives and also gives background information. She details her marriage, her friendships and her children’s friendships.  I really liked this part because she made it realistic in showing multiple characters. I feel like so often there are books that only involve five characters but in real life, there are multiple people that make up a story. And since I am not a mother, it helped me understand her life from a mother’s perspective.

Then, as the book summary tells, a tragic violent act happens that changes her life. The second half of the book shows how she deals with loss and her way of coping. I didn’t expect the act of violence but there was some foreshadowing if you really wanted to figure it out.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book. It gave insight to how a “typical” suburban mom feels about life and a realistic way of how one woman dealt with the tragedy that happened to her.

Room is told from the perspective of five-year-old Jack. It’s just him and his Ma in the Room. It is 11′ by 11′ big. Jack has spent his entire life in this room. He knows that “Old Nick” comes sometimes at night but he’s never seen him before. His mom tells him that they need to escape from the room and she needs his help.

Although overall a sad book, it was so interesting because it is from his perspective. Despite the limited environment he has, his mom teaches him, keeps him entertained and raises a smart child. And it’s really intriguing to see how he adjusts to the “outside” real world once they escape. It’s different than when a person comes from another country because he doesn’t even know the basics of human interaction.

A great book and a fast read. I would recommend this to anyone.

This is the final book of the trilogy by Stieg Larsson, following The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo and The Girl Who Played With Fire. It was my least favorite.

Lisbeth amazingly survives her death attempt by her father and brother. She is in critical condition and is confined to the hospital until she gets better to be arrested for attempted murder, among may other crimes.

There is lots and lots of information about the start, past and current activity of the organization that protects her father. I am all about giving a full understanding but I felt like it was half the book.

She gets her revenge and clears her name, just as the book summary implies. There aren’t any big surprises or twists. There is a random story line with Erika Berger. I thought for sure that her twin sister would pop up in this book but she never does.

I still liked the series overall but a disappointing ending. I would recommend it to anyone that enjoys reading but wouldn’t say it’s my favorite.

I was very intrigued to find out that Stieg Larsson passed away in 2004. He wrote the manuscripts to the trilogy and they were converted into books. I wonder who inherited his money or his estate because I know the series is very popular!

Another great book by Jennifer Weiner! I love her writing style. She usually structures the separate chapters from the perspective a different character so you get everyone’s point of view. She keeps you engaged and definitely a page turner.

Sylvie just found out her New York senator husband had an affair. Devastated by the news, she retreats to her family’s vacation home in Connecticut. She tries to figure out what she should do and who she is and can be without her husband. Although they met at Yale law, once they were married, she basically became her husband’s main support system and mother to their two daughters. She has been identified by her husband her entire adult life and doesn’t know what to do.

Diana is the older daughter. At the age of thirty, she seems to have it all. She is an emergency room doctor, has a loving husband and an adorable seven year old son. She realizes that in trying to control her life, she married a “safe” choice for a husband and is now no longer in love with him. She doesn’t want to lose her son and lifestyle. She ends up having an affair with a male intern. She gets in over her head, has to face the music and realizes she doesn’t have to be perfect.

Lizzie is a recovering drug addict.  She feels like she is the disappointment of the family. At twenty-four, she has only caused trouble and heartache for her family. She lives with Diana and helps take care of her nephew. Everyone is still watching over her and she wants to change her life. She meets a wonderful man that she spends time with but has never had long term friends or a boyfriend. With the chaos in her family, she slowly is able to help and starts building her confidence.

While reading, I thought that I knew what would happen but there were some good twists. The ending tied well together without being the perfect “happily ever after” ending. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend to anyone.

Tilly is thirty two, married to her high school sweetheart, high school guidance counselor and attempting to get pregnant. She feels like her life is perfect. She runs into an old friend that claims to be a psychic. She touches Tilly and Tilly’s life is changed. She starts having fainting spells and has brief dreams. She starts realizing that these dreams are actually of the future and she is not happy at all. As the optimistic problem solver, these dreams are not aligning with her perfect life.

Although it is strange about her dreams and a little bit slow in the middle, the ending was really good and made it a very good book. I liked it overall. I would recommend this to any woman, especially ones that think their life is right on track.

Another novel by the authors of The Nanny Diaries! “Girl” is unnamed to represent all women after college. She works at a non profit organization for women’s rights where she is underpaid, overworked and belittled by her boss. She is fired and is desperate need of a new job. She finally finds a job at a prestigious company after many unconventional interviews. She is unsure of her actual job description but sticks with it.

I thought this book would be fun to read since I loved the Nanny Diaries and every college graduate goes through what Girl goes through. But the writing style was completely different. It was like what was in her head was put into text. I’m okay with inner dialogue but it was not very well written and I had to keep re-reading paragraphs over to understand. I only finished it because I wanted to know what would happen to her. I would say that this book was only okay and not worth reading.