REVIEW: The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren

 

Synopsis

Christina Lauren, returns with a delicious new romance between the buttoned-up heir of a grocery chain and his free-spirited artist ex as they fake their relationship in order to receive a massive inheritance.A

Anna Green thought she was marrying Liam “West” Weston for access to subsidized family housing while at UCLA. She also thought she’d signed divorce papers when the graduation caps were tossed, and they both went on their merry ways.

Three years later, Anna is a starving artist living paycheck to paycheck while West is a Stanford professor. He may be one of four heirs to the Weston Foods conglomerate, but he has little interest in working for the heartless corporation his family built from the ground up. He is interested, however, in his one-hundred-million-dollar inheritance. There’s just one catch.

Due to an antiquated clause in his grandfather’s will, Liam won’t see a penny until he’s been happily married for five years. Just when Liam thinks he’s in the home stretch, pressure mounts from his family to see this mysterious spouse, and he has no choice but to turn to the one person he’s afraid to introduce to his one-percenter parents—his unpolished, not-so-ex-wife.

But in the presence of his family, Liam’s fears quickly shift from whether the feisty, foul-mouthed, paint-splattered Anna can play the part to whether the toxic world of wealth will corrupt someone as pure of heart as his surprisingly grounded and loyal wife. Liam will have to ask himself if the price tag on his flimsy cover story is worth losing true love that sprouted from a lie.

Format 352 pages, Hardcover
Published May 14, 2024 by Gallery Books
ISBN 9781668017722 (ISBN10: 1668017725)

About the Authors

Christina Lauren is the combined pen name of long-time writing partners and best friends Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings. The #1 international bestselling coauthor duo writes both Young Adult and Adult Fiction, and together has produced twenty New York Times bestselling novels. They are published in over 30 languages, have received multiple starred reviews, won both the Seal of Excellence and Book of the Year from RT Magazine, been inducted into the Library Reads Hall of Fame, named Amazon and Audible Romance of the Year, a Lambda Literary Award finalist and been nominated for several Goodreads Choice Awards. They have been featured in publications such as Forbes, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Time, Entertainment Weekly, People, Today, O Magazine and more. Their third YA novel, Autoboyography was released in 2017 to critical acclaim, followed by Roomies, Love and Other Words, Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating, The Unhoneymooners, In a Holidaze, and The Soulmate Equation, Something Wilder, The True Love Experiment and The Paradise Problem.

Lauren Billings (but everyone calls her Lo) received her doctorate in neuroscience from UC Irvine, and before she started living the dream as a full-time writer, spent her days researching neurodegeneration in aging. She lives in California with two cuddly dogs, two less-cuddly teenagers, and one mountain biking, homebrewing scientist husband.

Christina Hobbs (but you’ll always hear Lo call her PQ) used to spend her days in a junior high counseling office surrounded by teenagers. These days you can find her at her desk, writing, or watching BTS videos. She lives in Utah with her husband and daughter, thinks she’s the luckiest person in the world to write books with her best friend, and is an unapologetic lover of boy bands and glitter.

Visit their Website https://christinalaurenbooks.com/

Follow them on X (Twitter) @ChristinaLauren

Check out their Instagram @ChristinaLauren

Setting / Location

Most of this story takes place on an isolated resort tropical island.

Created by Meta AI

Two college kids had a fake marriage of convenience, and several years later the ex-husband shows back up needing his ex-wife to fill in once again as his "wife" in order to help him inherit a large family inheritance. But then romance and sexual attraction set in, and they find something more growing between them.

My Thoughts

The day my husband moves out of our apartment is also the day Resident Evil Village releases for PlayStation, and you might be surprised which of these things lands with a greater emotional impact.

Christina Lauren, the bestselling author duo behind such books as The Unhoneymooners and Love and Other Words, has done it again with The Paradise Problem. This novel of two damaged souls who find themselves faking it 'til they make it weaves together biting wit, charm, and heart, creating a captivating story that is hard to put down.

The book follows the (initially) tactless, uncouth, unpretentious and unemployed Anna Green and Liam "West" Weston (Anna's reserved and composed "ex"-husband with daddy issues) as they navigate a fake marriage on a luxurious island in an attempt to secure an inheritance. What begins as a practical and mutually beneficial arrangement soon blossoms into something unexpected and beautiful amid the bickering and biting of West's family. The characters are well-developed, with Anna's quirky and creative spirit balancing perfectly with Liam's introspective and family-oriented nature.

Christina Lauren shines in this novel with sharp dialogue, humorous situations, and heartfelt moments. The tropical island setting adds an extra layer of allure, making it a perfect escape for readers.

Five words: sexy, witty, tense, delightful, contentious

Buy Now:

See purchase options on their website.

My final word: The Paradise Problem is a delightful mix of romance, humor, family complexities, and spice, and a story that can be surprising in its emotional depth. If you're looking for a feel-good romance with relatable characters and a touch of escapism, this book is a must-read.

Warnings:

Sexual situations, vulgarity, bawdy humor

Rating

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The Cerebral Girl is a middle-aged blogger just digging her way out from under a mountain of books in the deep south of Florida.

This book was the August 2024 selection for The Booksta Book Club.

QUICK REVIEW: Lights Out by Ted Koppel

Synopsis

In this tour de force of investigative reporting, Ted Koppel reveals that a major cyberattack on America’s power grid is not only possible but likely, that it would be devastating, and that the United States is shockingly unprepared.
 
Imagine a blackout lasting not days, but weeks or months. Tens of millions of people over several states are affected. For those without access to a generator, there is no running water, no sewage, no refrigeration or light. Food and medical supplies are dwindling. Devices we rely on have gone dark. Banks no longer function, looting is widespread, and law and order are being tested as never before. 

It isn’t just a scenario. A well-designed attack on just one of the nation’s three electric power grids could cripple much of our infrastructure—and in the age of cyberwarfare, a laptop has become the only necessary weapon. Several nations hostile to the United States could launch such an assault at any time. In fact, as a former chief scientist of the NSA reveals, China and Russia have already penetrated the grid. And a cybersecurity advisor to President Obama believes that independent actors—from “hacktivists” to terrorists—have the capability as well. “It’s not a question of if,” says Centcom Commander General Lloyd Austin, “it’s a question of when.” 

And yet, as Koppel makes clear, the federal government, while well prepared for natural disasters, has no plan for the aftermath of an attack on the power grid.  The current Secretary of Homeland Security suggests keeping a battery-powered radio.

In the absence of a government plan, some individuals and communities have taken matters into their own hands. Among the nation’s estimated three million “preppers,” we meet one whose doomsday retreat includes a newly excavated three-acre lake, stocked with fish, and a Wyoming homesteader so self-sufficient that he crafted the thousands of adobe bricks in his house by hand. We also see the unrivaled disaster preparedness of the Mormon church, with its enormous storehouses, high-tech dairies, orchards, and proprietary trucking company – the fruits of a long tradition of anticipating the worst. But how, Koppel asks, will ordinary civilians survive?

With urgency and authority, one of our most renowned journalists examines a threat unique to our time and evaluates potential ways to prepare for a catastrophe that is all but inevitable.

Hardcover, 279 pages
Published October 27th 2015 by Crown
ISBN 055341996X (ISBN13: 9780553419962) 


About the Author

Edward James "Ted" Koppel is an English-born American broadcast journalist, best known as the anchor for Nightline from the program's inception in 1980 until his retirement in late 2005. After leaving Nightline, Koppel worked as managing editor for the Discovery Channel before resigning in 2008. Koppel is currently a senior news analyst for National Public Radio and the BBC. 


My Thoughts

I've been concerned with the stability and reliability of our electrical grid for some time now. A coworker and I have talked about how an EMP (electro-magnetic pulse) or solar flare could kill all electronics in a given area. Do you have any idea what is "electronic" these days? Everything, including our cars! If an EMP hit a highly-populated area like New York or Los Angeles, most people would find themselves without electricity, cars, radios or phones. No power means no refrigeration, and people on medications that need to be refrigerated (like insulin for diabetics) would begin to die, there would be no incubators for babies or life support for patients in need. The only working automobiles would be old-fangled carburetor-driven vehicles. And getting power up again would be no easy feat. In the case of an EMP or solar flare or something that takes out transformers, it's possible that a densely-populated area could be without power for over a year, as new transformers would have to be manufactured and installed.

However this book addresses more the vulnerability our system has to hackers, and how other countries like Russia have already attempted to hack the system and come frighteningly close more than once. And we are doing alarmingly little to protect ourselves against hacking. 

This book does a great job of explaining our vulnerabilities, where we are failing, and what could be done to protect ourselves. This is an important book, and people need to be aware of the danger we face every day to being plunged back into the dark ages.

Buy Now:

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Amazon
IndieBound

My Rating:

 

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The Cerebral Girl is a forty-something blogger just digging her way out from under a mountain of books in the deep south of Florida.

I received a copy of this book to review through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers, in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not financially compensated in any way, and the opinions expressed are my own and based on my observations while reading this novel. 

QUICK REVIEW: Only Love Can Break Your Heart by Ed Tarkington

Synopsis

Welcome to Spencerville, Virginia, 1977. Eight-year-old Rocky worships his older brother, Paul. Sixteen and full of rebel cool, Paul spends his days cruising in his Chevy Nova blasting Neil Young, cigarette dangling from his lips, arm slung around his beautiful, troubled girlfriend. Paul is happy to have his younger brother as his sidekick. Then one day, in an act of vengeance against their father, Paul picks up Rocky from school and nearly abandons him in the woods. Afterward, Paul disappears.

Seven years later, Rocky is a teenager himself. He hasn’t forgotten being abandoned by his boyhood hero, but he’s getting over it, with the help of the wealthy neighbors’ daughter, ten years his senior, who has taken him as her lover. Unbeknownst to both of them, their affair will set in motion a course of events that rains catastrophe on both their families. After a mysterious double murder brings terror and suspicion to their small town, Rocky and his family must reckon with the past and find out how much forgiveness their hearts can hold.

Hardcover, 320 pages
Published January 5th 2016 by Algonquin Books
ISBN 161620382X (ISBN13: 9781616203825)


My Thoughts

This was a sort of off-beat story, quirky, a little jumbled. Some book club members complained that it was as if the author threw in everything but the kitchen sink. I liked the story well enough, but it was a bit YA "coming-of-age". We found in our book club discussion that it is one of those books with moments you don't fully understand, and then someone will explain, "No, remember he..." and someone else will say "Oh! I missed that!" or "Oh, I thought..." There's a lot going on, and it's easy to miss or misunderstand little things. But this is a good pick for those who like coming-of-age stories.

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Amazon
IndieBound

My Rating:

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The Cerebral Girl is a forty-something blogger just digging her way out from under a mountain of books in the deep south of Florida.

This book was the July 2017 selection for the Cape Coral Bookies.


 

QUICK REVIEW: Rebel Queen by Michelle Moran

Synopsis

From the internationally bestselling author of Nefertiti and Cleopatra’s Daughter comes the breathtaking story of Queen Lakshmi—India’s Joan of Arc—who against all odds defied the mighty British invasion to defend her beloved kingdom.

When the British Empire sets its sights on India in the mid-nineteenth century, it expects a quick and easy conquest. India is fractured and divided into kingdoms, each independent and wary of one another, seemingly no match for the might of the English. But when they arrive in the Kingdom of Jhansi, the British army is met with a surprising challenge.

Instead of surrendering, Queen Lakshmi raises two armies—one male and one female—and rides into battle, determined to protect her country and her people. Although her soldiers may not appear at first to be formidable against superior British weaponry and training, Lakshmi refuses to back down from the empire determined to take away the land she loves.

Told from the unexpected perspective of Sita—Queen Lakshmi’s most favored companion and most trusted soldier in the all-female army—Rebel Queen shines a light on a time and place rarely explored in historical fiction. In the tradition of her bestselling novel, Nefertiti, and through her strong, independent heroines fighting to make their way in a male dominated world, Michelle Moran brings nineteenth-century India to rich, vibrant life.

Hardcover, 355 pages
Published March 3rd 2015 by Touchstone
ISBN 1476716358 (ISBN13: 9781476716350


About the Author

Michelle Moran is the international bestselling author of six historical novels, including Madame Tussaud, which was optioned for a mini-series in 2011. Her books have been translated into more than twenty languages.

A native of southern California, Michelle attended Pomona College, then earned a Masters Degree from the Claremont Graduate University. During her six years as a public high school teacher, she used her summers to travel around the world, and it was her experiences as a volunteer on archaeological digs that inspired her to write historical fiction.

In 2012 Michelle was married in India, inspiring her seventh book, Rebel Queen, which is set in the East. Her hobbies include hiking, traveling, and archaeology. She is also fascinated by archaeogenetics, particularly since her children's heritages are so mixed. But above all these things, Michelle is passionate about reading, and can often be found with her nose in a good book. A frequent traveler, she currently resides with her husband, son, and daughter in the US.

Check out the author's website
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My Thoughts

This is the tale of Queen Lakshmi and her all-female guard, and the trusted friendship she develops with her most skilled of soldiers Sita. Sita was a motherless child raised in poverty. Seeking a way out for her family and being the protector of her little sister, Sita trains to be a warrior, in hopes of being selected to join the Queen's army. And this is exactly what she does, going on to become a friend and confident to the Queen.

This story has a little of everything. Full of adventure, adversity and even a little romance, Sita is a heroine for today. The author always writes an engaging and easy-to-read story. While I enjoyed this story, it wasn't quite as good as her earlier novel Madame Tussaud. Nevertheless I would recommend this one.


Buy Now:

Simon and Schuster
Barnes and Noble
Amazon
IndieBound


My Rating:

 

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The Cerebral Girl is a forty-something blogger just digging her way out from under a mountain of books in the deep south of Florida.

This book was the June 2017 selection for the Cape Coral Bookies, although I got this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.


 

QUICK REVIEW: The Mothers by Brit Bennett

Synopsis

A dazzling debut novel from an exciting new voice, The Mothers is a surprising story about young love, a big secret in a small community—and the things that ultimately haunt us most.

Set within a contemporary black community in Southern California, Brit Bennett's mesmerizing first novel is an emotionally perceptive story about community, love, and ambition. It begins with a secret.

"All good secrets have a taste before you tell them, and if we'd taken a moment to swish this one around our mouths, we might have noticed the sourness of an unripe secret, plucked too soon, stolen and passed around before its season."

It is the last season of high school life for Nadia Turner, a rebellious, grief-stricken, seventeen-year-old beauty. Mourning her own mother's recent suicide, she takes up with the local pastor's son. Luke Sheppard is twenty-one, a former football star whose injury has reduced him to waiting tables at a diner. They are young; it's not serious. But the pregnancy that results from this teen romance—and the subsequent cover-up—will have an impact that goes far beyond their youth. As Nadia hides her secret from everyone, including Aubrey, her God-fearing best friend, the years move quickly. Soon, Nadia, Luke, and Aubrey are full-fledged adults and still living in debt to the choices they made that one seaside summer, caught in a love triangle they must carefully maneuver, and dogged by the constant, nagging question: What if they had chosen differently? The possibilities of the road not taken are a relentless haunt.

In entrancing, lyrical prose, The Mothers asks whether a "what if" can be more powerful than an experience itself. If, as time passes, we must always live in servitude to the decisions of our younger selves, to the communities that have parented us, and to the decisions we make that shape our lives forever.

Hardcover, 288 pages
Published October 11th 2016 by Riverhead Books
ISBN 0399184511 (ISBN13: 9780399184512)


About the Author

Born and raised in Southern California, Brit Bennett graduated from Stanford University and later earned her MFA in fiction at the University of Michigan, where she won a Hopwood Award in Graduate Short Fiction as well as the 2014 Hurston/Wright Award for College Writers. Her work is featured in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Paris Review, and Jezebel.

The Mothers is her first novel.  

Follow the author on Twitter


My Thoughts

Unfortunately I did not write this review when the book was fresh in my mind. So I am hampered in my ability to thoroughly relay my feelings. However I did like the author's writing and the character development. What made my experience reading this book especially enjoyable was the fact that the book I purchased came with post-it notes written by the author marking certain passages throughout. It gave some great insight into the author's thoughts and intentions when writing the story, and it was really a great experience!

This is a great book for anyone who likes stories of family drama and gut punches, and people forced to make tough decisions.

Buy Now:

Barnes and Noble
Amazon
IndieBound

My Rating:

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The Cerebral Girl is a forty-something blogger just digging her way out from under a mountain of books in the deep south of Florida.

This book was the March 2017 selection for the Cape Coral Bookies.

QUICK REVIEW: The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

Synopsis

Hetty “Handful” Grimke, an urban slave in early nineteenth century Charleston, yearns for life beyond the suffocating walls that enclose her within the wealthy Grimke household. The Grimke’s daughter, Sarah, has known from an early age she is meant to do something large in the world, but she is hemmed in by the limits imposed on women.

Kidd’s sweeping novel is set in motion on Sarah’s eleventh birthday, when she is given ownership of ten year old Handful, who is to be her handmaid. We follow their remarkable journeys over the next thirty five years, as both strive for a life of their own, dramatically shaping each other’s destinies and forming a complex relationship marked by guilt, defiance, estrangement and the uneasy ways of love.

As the stories build to a riveting climax, Handful will endure loss and sorrow, finding courage and a sense of self in the process. Sarah will experience crushed hopes, betrayal, unrequited love, and ostracism before leaving Charleston to find her place alongside her fearless younger sister, Angelina, as one of the early pioneers in the abolition and women’s rights movements.

Inspired by the historical figure of Sarah Grimke, Kidd goes beyond the record to flesh out the rich interior lives of all of her characters, both real and invented, including Handful’s cunning mother, Charlotte, who courts danger in her search for something better.

This exquisitely written novel is a triumph of storytelling that looks with unswerving eyes at a devastating wound in American history, through women whose struggles for liberation, empowerment, and expression will leave no reader unmoved.

Hardcover, 384 pages
Published January 7th 2014 by Viking
ISBN 0670024783 (ISBN13: 9780670024780)

About the Author

SUE MONK KIDD was raised in the small town of Sylvester, Georgia. She graduated from Texas Christian University in 1970 and later took creative writing courses at Emory University and Anderson College, as well as studying at Sewanee, Bread Loaf, and other writers’ conferences. In her forties, Kidd turned her attention to writing fiction, winning the South Carolina Fellowship in Literature and the 1996 Poets & Writers Exchange Program in Fiction.

When her first novel, The Secret Life of Bees, was published by Viking in 2002, it became a genuine literary phenomenon, spending more than 2½ years on the New York Times bestseller list. It has been translated into 36 languages and sold more than 6 million copies in the U.S. and 8 million copies worldwide. Bees was named the Book Sense Paperback Book of the Year in 2004, long-listed for the 2002 Orange Prize in England, and won numerous awards.

The Mermaid Chair spent 24 weeks on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list, reaching the #1 position, and spent 22 weeks on the New York Times trade paperback list. She is also the author of several acclaimed memoirs, including the New York Times bestseller Traveling with Pomegranates, written with her daughter, Ann Kidd Taylor. Kidd lives in Florida with her husband.  

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My Thoughts

Hetty (aka Handful), a young slave on a Charleston plantation, is given to Sarah on her eleventh birthday as a handmaid. The story follows the lives of Hetty and Sarah over the course of 35 years, laying bare the differing difficulties that both endure throughout their lives.

This story is inspired by the historical figure Sarah Grimke, and it was fascinating to read more about the lives and accomplishments of her and her younger sister after finishing the story.

Hetty is indeed a "handful", and a willful young girl who grows into an impressively strong young woman. 

Sarah likewise is willful, and finds herself constricted by social standards for women. She is smart and ambitious, but trapped in a man's world. So she carves out a place for herself in a world that only views women as wives and mothers or property or burden.


My final word: I liked this story. There were a lot of hard moments to get through, but overall it was rather inspiring and perhaps even empowering. And it made me realize how closely intertwined women's rights and civil rights were, as the real Sarah Grimke was heavily involved with both. Hetty is equally impressive in her struggles, and fights tooth and nail for everything. This is a great book club read!


Buy Now:
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Amazon
IndieBound

My Rating: 

 

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The Cerebral Girl is a forty-something blogger just digging her way out from under a mountain of books in the deep south of Florida.

This book was the November 2016 selection for the Cape Coral Bookies.

QUICK REVIEW: A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

Synopsis

A grumpy yet loveable man finds his solitary world turned on its head when a boisterous young family moves in next door.

Meet Ove. He's a curmudgeon, the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him the bitter neighbor from hell, but must Ove be bitter just because he doesn't walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time?

Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove's mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents' association to their very foundations.

Hardcover, 337 pages
Published July 15th 2014 by Atria Books (first published August 27th 2012)
ISBN 1476738017 (ISBN13: 9781476738017)


My Thoughts

Ove (pronounced ooh-vey, to rhyme with you-may) is a grumpy and cantankerous old guy who has a touch of OCD. Everything must be handled in a particular way, and as part of his routine. He can be gruff with people and keeps to himself. 

Then a family moves into the neighborhood, and they seem to be able to overlook his crotchety demeanor. They insert themselves into Ove's life, perhaps against his will. Before he knows it, this family has turned his life upside-down, and Ove is doing things he probably never would have done before.

This is a charming story, reminiscent of Major Pettigrew's Last Stand. It disproves the old adage that you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Ove is an old dog who definitely learns some new tricks. The author deftly writes the character to make him quite likable by the end of the story, and you can't help but like the family that infiltrates his life.

An easy read. Cute, sweet, and funny.


Buy Now:
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Amazon
IndieBound

My Rating:

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The Cerebral Girl is a forty-something blogger just digging her way out from under a mountain of books in the deep south of Florida.

This book was the April 2016 selection for the Cape Coral Bookies.

QUICK REVIEW: The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson

Synopsis

A devious tale of psychological suspense involving sex, deception, and an accidental encounter that leads to murder. This is a modern re-imagining of Patricia Highsmith’s classic Strangers on a Train from the author of the acclaimed The Girl with a Clock for a Heart.

On a night flight from London to Boston, Ted Severson meets the mysterious Lily Kintner. Sharing one too many martinis, the strangers begin to play a game of truth, revealing intimate details about themselves. Ted talks about his marriage and his wife Miranda, who he’s sure is cheating on him. But their game turns dark when Ted jokes that he could kill Miranda for what she’s done. Lily, without missing a beat, says calmly, “I’d like to help.”

From there, Ted and Lily’s twisted bond grows stronger as they plot Miranda's demise, but soon these co-conspirators are embroiled in a game of cat-and-mouse--one they both cannot survive--with a shrewd and very determined detective on their tail.

Hardcover, 312 pages
Published February 3rd 2015 by William Morrow
ISBN 0062267523 (ISBN13: 9780062267528)


About the Author

Peter Swanson is the author of two novels, The Girl with a Clock for a Heart, and The Kind Worth Killing, available from William Morrow in the United States and Faber & Faber in the United Kingdom. His poems, stories and reviews have appeared in such journals as The Atlantic, Asimov’s Science Fiction, Epoch, Measure, Notre Dame Review, Soundings East, and The Vocabula Review. He has won awards in poetry from The Lyric and Yankee Magazine, and is currently completing a sonnet sequence on all 53 of Alfred Hitchcock’s films. He lives with his wife and cat in Somerville, Massachusetts.


My Thoughts

Ted has a fortuitous meeting with Lily on a long plane flight. By the end of the flight, they are plotting the murder of his wife Miranda.

My final word: This book is written in the style of Gone Girl, switching narratives between characters, so it gives you that interesting perspective of seeing both sides. First you see one side of the story and perhaps sympathize with the narrator. Then you see the other side and sympathize with that narrator. Or maybe you see things through one set of eyes and think the other person is benign, but when you see things through their eyes you realize how malicious they really are. The switching of perspectives was handled really well. Great character development, smooth writing. Then there is a plot twist that had our whole book club gasping with surprise! This was my first novel by author Peter Swanson, but I have a feeling it won't be my last!


Buy Now:

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Amazon
IndieBound


My Rating: 

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The Cerebral Girl is a forty-something blogger just digging her way out from under a mountain of books in the deep south of Florida.

This book was the March 2016 selection for the Cape Coral Bookies.

QUICK REVIEW: The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

Synopsis

At the heart of The Husband’s Secret is a letter that’s not meant to be read

My darling Cecilia, if you’re reading this, then I’ve died...

Imagine that your husband wrote you a letter, to be opened after his death. Imagine, too, that the letter contains his deepest, darkest secret—something with the potential to destroy not just the life you built together, but the lives of others as well. Imagine, then, that you stumble across that letter while your husband is still very much alive. . . .
Cecilia Fitzpatrick has achieved it all—she’s an incredibly successful businesswoman, a pillar of her small community, and a devoted wife and mother. Her life is as orderly and spotless as her home. But that letter is about to change everything, and not just for her: Rachel and Tess barely know Cecilia—or each other—but they too are about to feel the earth-shattering repercussions of her husband’s secret.

Acclaimed author Liane Moriarty has written a gripping, thought-provoking novel about how well it is really possible to know our spouses—and, ultimately, ourselves.

Hardcover, 396 pages
Published July 30th 2013 by G.P. Putnam's Sons (first published 2013)
ISBN 0399159347 (ISBN13: 9780399159343)
 

About the Author

Liane was born on a beautiful November day in 1966 in Sydney. A few hours after she was born, she smiled directly at her father through the nursery glass window, which is remarkable, seeing as most babies can’t even focus their eyes at that age.

Her first word was ‘glug’. This was faithfully recorded in the baby book kept by her mother. (As the eldest of six children, Liane was the only one to get a baby book so she likes to refer to it often.)

As a child, she loved to read, so much so that school friends would cruelly hide their books when she came to play. She still doesn’t know how to go to sleep at night without first reading a novel for a very long time in a very hot bath.

She can’t remember the first story she ever wrote, but she does remember her first publishing deal. Her father ‘commissioned’ her to write a novel for him and paid her an advance of $1.00. She wrote a three volume epic called, ‘The Mystery of Dead Man’s Island’

After leaving school, Liane began a career in advertising and marketing. She became quite corporate for a while and wore suits and worried a lot about the size of her office. She eventually left her position as marketing manager of a legal publishing company to run her own (not especially successful) business called The Little Ad Agency. After that she worked as (a more successful, thankfully) freelance advertising copywriter, writing everything from websites and TV commercials to the back of the Sultana Bran box.

She also wrote short stories and many first chapters of novels that didn’t go any further. The problem was that she didn’t actually believe that real people had novels published. Then one day she found out that they did, when her younger sister Jaclyn Moriarty called to say that her (brilliant, hilarious, award-winning) novel, Feeling Sorry for Celia was about to be published.

In a fever of sibling rivalry, Liane rushed to the computer and wrote a children’s book called The Animal Olympics, which went on to be enthusiastically rejected by every publisher in Australia.

She calmed down and enrolled in a Masters degree at Macquarie University in Sydney. As part of that degree, she wrote her first novel, Three Wishes. It was accepted by the lovely people at Pan Macmillan and went on to be published around the world. (Her latest books are published by the equally lovely people at Penguin in both the US and the UK)

Since then she has written two more novels for adults, as well as a series of books for children.

Liane is now a full-time author. She lives in Sydney with her husband, her new baby daughter Anna, and her son George, who likes to sit on her lap while she works, helpfully smashing his fist against the keyboard and suggesting that she might prefer to be watching the Wiggles instead.

Once upon a time she went heli-skiing and skydiving* and scuba diving. These days she goes to the park and ‘Gymbaroo’ and sings ‘I’m a Little Cuckoo Clock’ at swimming lessons. She has discovered that the adrenaline burst you experience from jumping out of a plane is remarkably similar to the one you get when your toddler makes a run for it in a busy car park. 

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My Thoughts 

It was all because of the Berlin Wall.

A small town. One wife confronted with the end of her marriage, another confronted by a husband's deep secret. Another reminisces about her marriage before her husband's death years earlier and the loss of their daughter.

My final word: I just don't know what it was about this book. I liked the concept, the characters were okay, development was okay-- but there was just something about it that I found a little boring and maybe a little slow. I initially had trouble keeping track of the characters. I could keep track of the three main women, but when they would start out talking about other characters, it would take me a minute to figure out which woman those characters were associated with, in order to understand whose perspective we were following this chapter. Overall the book was "okay to good". 

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The Cerebral Girl is a forty-something blogger just digging her way out from under a mountain of books in the deep south of Florida.

This book was the November 2015 selection for the Cape Coral Bookies.

QUICK REVIEW: The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Synopsis

A debut psychological thriller that will forever change the way you look at other people’s lives.

Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. “Jess and Jason,” she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.

And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel offers what she knows to the police, and becomes inextricably entwined in what happens next, as well as in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?

Compulsively readable, The Girl on the Train is an emotionally immersive, Hitchcockian thriller and an electrifying debut.

Hardcover, 325 pages
Published January 13th 2015 by Riverhead Books
ISBN 1594633665 (ISBN13: 9781594633669)


About the Author

Paula Hawkins worked as a journalist for fifteen years before turning her hand to fiction.

Born and brought up in Zimbabwe, Paula moved to London in 1989 and has lived there ever since. The Girl on the Train is her first thriller.

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My Thoughts

There is a pile of clothing on the side of the train tracks.

Rachel is a lonely divorced alcoholic who rides the train to and from work everyday, and who has become familiar with a couple that she regularly passes on her ride. She's made up lives for the couple, given them names, and feels as if she knows them. One day she sees something, and later  learns that the woman she's watched every day has been reported missing. Rachel finds herself enmeshed in the drama surrounding the disappearance of Megan (the real name of the woman she's been watching from the train), while having things further complicated by her raw emotions regarding her ex-husband Tom and his new wife Anna.

She’s a cuckoo, laying her eggs in my nest.

Since separating from her husband, Rachel has been living with Cathy, and things are wearing thin for both of them.

Cathy’s a nice person, in a forceful sort of way. She makes you notice her niceness. Her niceness is writ large, it is her defining quality and she needs it acknowledged, often, daily almost, which can be tiring.

Suffice to say, things get very complicated.

My final word: A little reminiscent of Gone Girl, with varying narratives and perspectives, it has some twists and turns that keep you guessing. You think you know what's happening, but then a twist is thrown in and you realize maybe you were wrong. And as with Gone Girl, I didn't find any of the characters very likable. They were all self-absorbed and annoying. So...it was okay...pretty good. I don't quite understand what all of the hullabaloo was, but it was okay. It was a pretty good mystery, keeping you guessing, and very readable.

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The Cerebral Girl is a forty-something blogger just digging her way out from under a mountain of books in the deep south of Florida.

This book was the October 2015 selection for the Cape Coral Bookies.


 

QUICK REVIEW: The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

Synopsis

On the faded Island Books sign hanging over the porch of the Victorian cottage is the motto "No Man Is an Island; Every Book Is a World." A. J. Fikry, the irascible owner, is about to discover just what that truly means.

A. J. Fikry's life is not at all what he expected it to be. His wife has died, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. Slowly but surely, he is isolating himself from all the people of Alice Island-from Lambiase, the well-intentioned police officer who's always felt kindly toward Fikry; from Ismay, his sister-in-law who is hell-bent on saving him from his dreary self; from Amelia, the lovely and idealistic (if eccentric) Knightley Press sales rep who keeps on taking the ferry over to Alice Island, refusing to be deterred by A.J.'s bad attitude. Even the books in his store have stopped holding pleasure for him. These days, A.J. can only see them as a sign of a world that is changing too rapidly.

And then a mysterious package appears at the bookstore. It's a small package, but large in weight. It's that unexpected arrival that gives A. J. Fikry the opportunity to make his life over, the ability to see everything anew. It doesn't take long for the locals to notice the change overcoming A.J.; or for that determined sales rep, Amelia, to see her curmudgeonly client in a new light; or for the wisdom of all those books to become again the lifeblood of A.J.'s world; or for everything to twist again into a version of his life that he didn't see coming. As surprising as it is moving, The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry is an unforgettable tale of transformation and second chances, an irresistible affirmation of why we read, and why we love.

Paperback, 288 pages
Published December 2nd 2014 by Algonquin Books (first published April 1st 2014)
ISBN 1616204516 (ISBN13: 9781616204518) 


About the Author

Gabrielle Zevin has published six novels. Her debut, Margarettown, was a selection of the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers program. The Hole We’re In was on Entertainment Weekly's Must List and was a New York Times Editor’s Choice. Entertainment Weekly wrote, "Every day newspaper articles chronicle families battered by the recession, circling the drain in unemployment and debt or scraping by with minimum-wage jobs. But no novel has truly captured that struggle until now." Publishers Weekly called the novel "a Corrections for our recessionary times."

Of all her books, she is probably best known for the young adult novel Elsewhere. Elsewhere, an American Library Association Notable Children’s Book, was nominated for a Quill Award and received the Borders Original Voices Award. The book has been translated into over twenty languages. Of Elsewhere, the New York Times Book Review wrote, “Every so often a book comes along with a premise so fresh and arresting it seems to exist in a category all its own... Elsewhere, by Gabrielle Zevin, is such a book.”

She is the screenwriter of Conversations with Other Women (Helena Bonham Carter, Aaron Eckhart) for which she received an Independent Spirit Award Nomination. In 2009, she and director Hans Canosa adapted her novel Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac (ALA Best Books for Young Adults) into the Japanese film, Dareka ga Watashi ni Kiss wo Shita. She has also written for the New York Times Book Review and NPR’s All Things Considered. She began her writing career at age fourteen as a music critic for the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel.

Zevin is a graduate of Harvard University. After many years on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, she recently moved to Silver Lake, Los Angeles. 

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My Thoughts

On the ferry from Hyannis to Alice Island, Amelia Loman paints her nails yellow and, while waiting for them to dry, skims her predecessor's notes. 

AJ is the ornery proprietor of a small island bookstore. He lost his wife sometime ago, and his life is changed for the better when he unexpectedly finds himself the adopted father of a little girl. Meanwhile he navigates the complicated path to love with a book sales rep, all while dealing with some very Asperger-like qualities. And he does it all quite well.

There is a little mystery wrapped up in this romantic literary fiction, and I don't want to give away the mystery. Suffice to say that this was a pleasant and quaint read, and I rather enjoyed it. AJ's transformation warmed my heart, and I liked sales rep Amelia's quirkiness, along with precocious daughter Maya. They made for a charming trio! This would make a nice cozy winter read by the fireside!

My Rating:

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The Cerebral Girl is a forty-something blogger just digging her way out from under a mountain of books in the deep south of Florida.

This book was the September 2015 selection for the Cape Coral Bookies.


 

REVIEW: A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute

Synopsis

Nevil Shute's most beloved novel, a tale of love and war, follows its enterprising heroine from the Malayan jungle during World War II to the rugged Australian outback.

Jean Paget, a young Englishwoman living in Malaya, is captured by the invading Japanese and forced on a brutal seven-month death march with dozens of other women and children. A few years after the war, Jean is back in England, the nightmare behind her. However, an unexpected inheritance inspires her to return to Malaya to give something back to the villagers who saved her life. Jean's travels leads her to a desolate Australian outpost called Willstown, where she finds a challenge that will draw on all the resourcefulness and spirit that carried her through her war-time ordeals.

Paperback, 359 pages
Published 2000 by House of Stratus (first published 1950)
ISBN 1842323008 (ISBN13: 9781842323007)


About the Author

Nevil Shute Norway was a popular British novelist and a successful aeronautical engineer.

He used Nevil Shute as his pen name, and his full name in his engineering career, in order to protect his engineering career from any potential negative publicity in connection with his novels.

He lived in Australia for the ten years before his death.


My Thoughts

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true;
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face.
-- W.B. Yeats

This book takes place in the years during and after World War II, so it probably spans the '40s and into the '50s.

Jean Paget is a young woman who finds herself the recipient of a large trust fund. The story flashes back to a time during WWII, when Jean was essentially a prisoner of war amid a large group of women in Malaysia. They spend months being marched all across the region where no one wants responsibility for them. During their time on foot, Jean meets another prisoner of war by the name of Joe.

Joe is cow wrangler from the outback of Australia, and a captured prisoner of war. The Japanese have discovered he is handy, and have put him to use as a mechanic. Joe and Jean become friends, with Joe mistakenly believing that Jean is a married woman separated from her husband by war, like most of the other women in her group. He takes to jokingly calling her "Mrs. Boong" (and I never really got why he did this). NOTE: The aboriginal workers on the ranches in Australia are referred to as "boongs", which is thought of as a derogatory term. Wikitionary says that this is also a Malayan term for "brother". Hence my confusion regarding Joe's humorous use of it as a nickname for Jean.

Jean was a young girl in her early 20s during this period (the youngest of the women in the group), but very bright and a skilled office worker (which was why she was in Malaysia). She seems to know a little about a lot of things, she speaks some of the native tongue, and she becomes something of a spokesperson for the female POWs. She often quotes the Koran to her captors and Malayans (although she herself is not Muslim).

She said, "It is also written, 'If ye be kind towards women and fear to wrong them, God is well acquainted with what ye do.'"

Eventually Joe's attempts to help the women catches the wrath of the Japanese Captain in charge. The Captain reminded me of the camp commander in the movie Unbroken.

It is doubtful if the West can ever fully understand the working of a Japanese mind. When Captain Sugamo saw that the Australian recognized him from the threshold of death, he bowed reverently to the torn body, and he said with complete sincerity, "Is there anything that I can get for you before you die?" 

Years after the war, after Jean has inherited her fortune, she remembers the conversations that she and Joe had about a town called Alice in Australia. She heads to Australia to see this land for herself, and to try to find Joe again. And that is where the second half of the story occurs, as Jean finds Australia holds an adventure for her that she never expected.

The story is narrated by Noel Strachan, the attorney who wrote up the trust fund and is the executor of the estate. He and Jean form a relationship that lasts until his death.

My final word: I liked this story. I liked the female empowerment storyline. I enjoyed the first half more than the second half (the first half taking place in Malaysia), but there was a certain charm to be found in the second half. I was disturbed at how easily Jean seemed to accept bigotry and cruelty, but perhaps that was a sign of the times and era. Overall this was a nice introduction to Nevil Shute. Using Noel as the narrator was an interesting choice. Some in my book club thought the story would have been better narrated by Jean herself. I do think the story would have been a totally different animal if that choice had been made, but I understand the need to have Noel narrate. Otherwise you would have lost all of his insight concerning his complex relationship with Jean. This was a nice, quick read.

My Rating:

 

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The Cerebral Girl is a forty-something blogger just digging her way out from under a mountain of books in the deep south of Florida.

This book was the August 2015 selection for the Cape Coral Bookies.


 

REVIEW: The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

Synopsis

An international sensation, this hilarious, feel-good novel is narrated by an oddly charming and socially challenged genetics professor on an unusual quest: to find out if he is capable of true love.

Don Tillman, professor of genetics, has never been on a second date. He is a man who can count all his friends on the fingers of one hand, whose lifelong difficulty with social rituals has convinced him that he is simply not wired for romance. So when an acquaintance informs him that he would make a “wonderful” husband, his first reaction is shock. Yet he must concede to the statistical probability that there is someone for everyone, and he embarks upon The Wife Project. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which he approaches all things, Don sets out to find the perfect partner. She will be punctual and logical—most definitely not a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker, or a late-arriver.

Yet Rosie Jarman is all these things. She is also beguiling, fiery, intelligent—and on a quest of her own. She is looking for her biological father, a search that a certain DNA expert might be able to help her with. Don's Wife Project takes a back burner to the Father Project and an unlikely relationship blooms, forcing the scientifically minded geneticist to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie—and the realization that love is not always what looks good on paper.

The Rosie Project is a moving and hilarious novel for anyone who has ever tenaciously gone after life or love in the face of overwhelming challenges.

Hardcover, 295 pages
Published October 1st 2013 by Simon & Schuster
ISBN 1476729085 (ISBN13: 9781476729084)


About the Author

Graeme Simsion is a former IT consultant and the author of two nonfiction books on database design who decided, at the age of fifty, to turn his hand to fiction. His first novel, The Rosie Project, was published in 2013 and translation rights have been sold in over thirty-five languages. Graeme lives in Australia with his wife, Anne, and their two children. 


My Thoughts

I may have found a solution to the Wife Problem.

Don works in Genetics, and he has some form of Asperger's.

"Fault! Asperger's isn't a fault. It's a variant. It's potentially a major advantage. Asperger's syndrome is associated with organization, focus, innovative thinking, and rational detachment."

Being someone who is adept at organizing data and making logical decisions, he has begun what he calls the Wife Project. He has made the determination that he needs a wife, but is having difficulty finding one suitable. In his case, "suitable" means finding a woman that can score high on Don's questionnaire, which is designed to help him filter out women who are unsuitable wife material, such as women concerned with their appearance, those who are late for appointments, who smoke, or who like the wrong flavor of ice cream.

Don's best friend is Gene, a psychology professor who spends his time trying to sleep with exotic women from around the world, supposedly with the consent of his wife Claudia. Then one day Don meets Rosie, who is on a mission of her own. She is trying to find her father, but she has very little to go on. She and Don team up for the Father Project, as he assists her in her endeavors.

This book was a book club selection, and one of the women in my book club has an adult son with Asperger's. So she could really identify with this book, and said that the depiction of Don was done very well.

I really liked Don. He knew he was different, he knew his condition makes him a little "weird" to others, and that his behavior is sometimes considered rude or inappropriate. He tries to conform when necessary, but sometimes falls short. He tries-- he really does! And Rosie is her own woman. She's offbeat, marches to the beat of her own drum, and she takes no guff from anyone!

My final word: I enjoyed this story, which I believe has been optioned for a movie. It's quirky, and at times is even slapstick humor. I liked the characters. The story could be a little preposterous at times, but that lent well to the "slapstick" feel of the story. Overall this was a fun and fast read.

My Rating: