Verity by Colleen Hoover

“What you read will taste so bad at times, you’ll want to spit it out, but you’ll swallow these words and they will become part of you, part of your gut, and you will hurt because of them.”

Rating
5/5 stars

Genre
Fiction – Romance/Thriller

Goodreads Summary

Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish.

Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity’s notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn’t expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read. Page after page of bone-chilling admissions, including Verity’s recollection of what really happened the day her daughter died.

Lowen decides to keep the manuscript hidden from Jeremy, knowing its contents would devastate the already grieving father. But as Lowen’s feelings for Jeremy begin to intensify, she recognizes all the ways she could benefit if he were to read his wife’s words. After all, no matter how devoted Jeremy is to his injured wife, a truth this horrifying would make it impossible for him to continue to love her.

Review

SHOOK! MIND BLOWN!

I’m honestly still trying to pick my jaw up off the floor after reading this one! I loved the combination of genres in this book! Colleen Hoover really branched out from her usual romance novels and delivered an astonishing, mind-boggling thriller that I will not be forgetting anytime soon!

I’m going to keep this review short and sweet because I really think you should just go into this book not knowing much about it. I was sucked in from page one and would have read this book straight through if I didn’t have adult responsibilities. The story of Verity is edgy and creepy in all the best ways! The level of suspense was seriously perfection. One thing I want to mention is that this book is highly sexually graphic. If you have issues reading sexual content and details, this book may not be for you. Additionally, there are some very disturbing scenes that are explained in pretty explicit detail. However, if you don’t mind that and are looking for a thriller that will leave you reeling until the very last page, do not wait to pick this one up!

Author Colleen Hoover’s website

A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult

“It stood to reason that both life and death began with a spark of light”

Rating
5/5 stars

Genre
Fiction – Contemporary

Goodreads Summary

The warm fall day starts like any other at the Center—a women’s reproductive health services clinic—its staff offering care to anyone who passes through its doors. Then, in late morning, a desperate and distraught gunman bursts in and opens fire, taking all inside hostage.

After rushing to the scene, Hugh McElroy, a police hostage negotiator, sets up a perimeter and begins making a plan to communicate with the gunman. As his phone vibrates with incoming text messages he glances at it and, to his horror, finds out that his fifteen-year-old daughter, Wren, is inside the clinic.

But Wren is not alone. She will share the next and tensest few hours of her young life with a cast of unforgettable characters: A nurse who calms her own panic in order save the life of a wounded woman. A doctor who does his work not in spite of his faith but because of it, and who will find that faith tested as never before. A pro-life protester disguised as a patient, who now stands in the cross hairs of the same rage she herself has felt. A young woman who has come to terminate her pregnancy. And the disturbed individual himself, vowing to be heard.

Told in a daring and enthralling narrative structure that counts backward through the hours of the standoff, this is a story that traces its way back to what brought each of these very different individuals to the same place on this fateful day.

Jodi Picoult—one of the most fearless writers of our time—tackles a complicated issue in this gripping and nuanced novel. How do we balance the rights of pregnant women with the rights of the unborn they carry? What does it mean to be a good parent? A Spark of Light will inspire debate, conversation . . . and, hopefully, understanding.

Review

Where to even begin? I have heard that Jodi Picoult writes some wonderfully powerful novels. After reading my first of hers, I found that to be entirely true!

I’m honestly having a hard time figuring out what to even say about this book because I know I will not do it justice. This story is filled with heavy—and I mean heavy—content. Any book with a plot centering on abortion is sure to be. And you may be thinking to yourself, I don’t want to read a book that is going to shove either pro-life or pro-choice perspectives down my throat. But I’m telling you, this book is more without bias than I could have imagined. Picoult does a stunning job of giving equal perspectives. She communicates these issues in a way that, no matter how opinionated you are on the matter of abortion, will open your eyes to see a glimpse into the hearts of people with differing opinions than yours.

I found this book to be unputdownable—it was captivating, gut wrenching, and relevant. So long as you begin this book understanding that the timeline is told backward, I think you will thoroughly enjoy and be blessed by it. This is a piece of fiction that captures an alarmingly accurate picture of humanity today. Whether you like it or not, it’s the truth.

Pick this one up ASAP! I’d love to chat about it after you’ve read it!

Author Jodi Picoult’s website

One Day in December by Josie Silver

But I also said that sometimes, rarely, people can come back into your life. And if that happens, you should keep those people close to you forever.

Rating
3/5 stars

Genre
Fiction – Romance

Goodreads Summary

Two people. Ten chances. One unforgettable love story.

Laurie is pretty sure love at first sight doesn’t exist anywhere but the movies. But then, through a misted-up bus window one snowy December day, she sees a man who she knows instantly is the one. Their eyes meet, there’s a moment of pure magic…and then her bus drives away.

Certain they’re fated to find each other again, Laurie spends a year scanning every bus stop and cafe in London for him. But she doesn’t find him, not when it matters anyway. Instead they “reunite” at a Christmas party, when her best friend Sarah giddily introduces her new boyfriend to Laurie. It’s Jack, the man from the bus. It would be.

What follows for Laurie, Sarah and Jack is ten years of friendship, heartbreak, missed opportunities, roads not taken, and destinies reconsidered. One Day in December is a joyous, heartwarming and immensely moving love story to escape into and a reminder that fate takes inexplicable turns along the route to happiness. 

Review

This book is getting all the attention pretty much everywhere you look! It has been the talk of bookstagram, was a Book of the Month pick for December, and was chosen as Reese Witherspoon’s December pick for her highly renowned book club. I’m not going to lie—I went into this with high hopes. I love a good romance and am such a softy for a sappy love story. With that being said, I never fully got into this book. There was never a point for me where I felt like I could not put it down because it was so good. Was it fine enough? Absolutely! I was just hoping for more, I think. One of the big issues for me was that I was never fully invested in the characters. I didn’t feel like I was ever really rooting for them or tied to their story. This is in no way to say that this book was not well-written—it just wasn’t something that captured my heart in the way other books have. There were a few occurrences within that definitely surprised me and picked up the story a bit for me, but it wasn’t enough to make this an unforgettable read. I’m still giving this book 3 stars because the premise is a great one that I know many people would thoroughly enjoy and resonate with. Since I have heard many other book lovers rave about One Day in December, I would still suggest you pick this one up and give it a shot. For me, it is by no means a book I’ll be talking about for months to come.

Author Josie Silver’s website

Watching You by Lisa Jewell

Rating
4/5 stars

Genre
Fiction – Thriller

Goodreads Summary

Melville Heights is one of the nicest neighbourhoods in Bristol, England; home to doctors and lawyers and old-money academics. It’s not the sort of place where people are brutally murdered in their own kitchens. But it is the sort of place where everyone has a secret. And everyone is watching you.

As the headmaster credited with turning around the local school, Tom Fitzwilliam is beloved by one and all—including Joey Mullen, his new neighbor, who quickly develops an intense infatuation with this thoroughly charming yet unavailable man. Joey thinks her crush is a secret, but Tom’s teenaged son Freddie—a prodigy with aspirations of becoming a spy for MI5—excels in observing people and has witnessed Joey behaving strangely around his father.

One of Tom’s students, Jenna Tripp, also lives on the same street, and she’s not convinced her teacher is as squeaky clean as he seems. For one thing, he has taken a particular liking to her best friend and fellow classmate, and Jenna’s mother—whose mental health has admittedly been deteriorating in recent years—is convinced that Mr. Fitzwilliam is stalking her.

Meanwhile, twenty years earlier, a schoolgirl writes in her diary, charting her doomed obsession with a handsome young English teacher named Mr. Fitzwilliam…

Review

This book sucked me in from page one and kept me intently reading until the end. Lisa Jewell’s writing is very captivating, as shown in her enthralling new psychological thriller Watching You. I love books that keep me wondering how everything is possibly going to fit together, and this book did just that and more! The slow build of suspense was exceptional—it allowed time for me to analyze the story and form some ideas of what was going on. The storyline was a little slower than some may prefer, but it worked for the reading mood I happened to be in. The ending was fine, but it didn’t necessarily wow me. That was probably my least favorite part of the book. I think I was hoping for something really crazy and out there. Instead, I felt like I was left with a few unanswered questions that I would have liked to see addressed. However, the majority of this book was exceptional! Overall, I would recommend this book to fans of psychological thrillers and Lisa Jewell.

Enjoy! And don’t forget to let me know what you think of Watching You!

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for an Advance Reader’s Copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
This title will be published on December 26, 2018.

Author Lisa Jewell’s website

Christmastime 1939 by Linda Mahkovec

Rating
3.5/5 stars

Genre
Fiction – Holiday

Goodreads Summary

CHRISTMASTIME 1939 introduces the reader to the world of Christmastime. Set in Brooklyn, we meet the young widow Lillian Hapsey and her two sons, Tommy and Gabriel. Even though the Christmas season is just around the corner, Lillian has no Christmas spirit. Alone, unhappy with her job, and plagued by financial concerns, Christmas has become a burden to her. 

Overshadowing everything is the war in Europe. Despite the setbacks, Lillian is determined to give her sons a happy Christmas. Can she rekindle her girlhood love for the holiday season? Rediscovering her touchstone just might be the key to unlocking the excitement and magic of Christmas.

Review

Christmastime 1939 is a sweet, wholesome story centered on the Christmas season and all that it entails. I really enjoyed this as a quick read as Christmas approaches. This book contains a little bit of something for everyone: talk of World War II for history lovers, holiday traditions and festivities for Christmas lovers, and struggles of expectations and loneliness for heartfelt readers. While being a rather short book, the author still did a nice job of establishing the characters and storyline without it feeling rushed in the least. I really connected with these characters and was hopeful that they could overcome their difficulties. This is a prequel to Mahovec’s Christmastime Series, which I now look forward to reading sometime soon. If you are looking for a Christmas book to read in December, I suggest picking this one up!