Review: Last Day

Last Day by Domenica Ruta
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I liked the premise of this book and certainly the hype drawn in the comparison to Station Eleven was enough to draw me to it. The problem was that the flow of the book itself didn't hold together well enough for me. It was hard to follow at times and while parts of it were decently good, other parts needed work.

#LastDay #NetGalley

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Review: All That's Bright and Gone: A Novel

All That's Bright and Gone: A Novel by Eliza Nellums
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a clever premise for a book. This is a story that is told from the POV of Aoife, a 6-year-old girl who has already dealt with some serious dysfunction in her family. The beginning is a traumatic experience that occurs while Mama and Aoife are driving to the mall to shop. Her mother receives a phone call and becomes agitated and seems to have a complete mental health breakdown, endangering both of their lives. This leaves the daughter alone and alternative care must be found. So many intriguing issues in this story. This really dove into how mental illness affects families and how sometimes trying to protect loved ones from information we think will hurt them may do more harm than good.
I work with people who have mental health issues and really appreciate a book that addresses the subject in a respectful and realistic way.

Highly recommend this book!

#AllThatsBrightAndGone #NetGalley #CrookedLaneBooks

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Review: Riots I Have Known

Riots I Have Known by Ryan Chapman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I thought that I would like this one more than I did. It is a short (novella) about prison life in which a riot occurs that appears to possibly be due to the protagonist's own making. It is meant to be satirical and dark deliberately but at times felt gratuitous and with all the usual tropes of prison life. I guess it is because those "events and characters" actually exist in prisons, but trying humor about some of the issues just doesn't do it for me.

#RiotsIHaveKnown #NetGalley #SimonandSchuster

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Review: Thirteen

Thirteen by Steve Cavanagh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Although this is book 4 in the Eddie Flynn series (he is the lawyer for the defense), this is easily readable as a standalone thriller/suspense book. Steve Cavanagh does a fantastic job of weaving several intricate plots together to an unexpected conclusion, even with all the hype and blurbs about this book out there. The initial storyline is straightforward in that Flynn is going through a rough patch in his private life due to his work and gets drafted into this case involving a Hollywood star that is accused of murdering his wife and a male friend. The trial is due to start and his defense is in need of an attorney like Flynn, someone who can be tough in the right places or take the fall if need be. He takes the job because he believes in the client's innocence and sets out to prove it. The remainder of the story is intricate weaving of the killer's moves and countermoves to continue his spree of murder and escape capture. Will he be caught? Will the correct guy be found guilty? How do you do that when the real killer is on the jury in his own trial? This is an interesting and thought-provoking story that is a thriller and legal drama simultaneously. Really well done and enjoyable.
Highly recommended.
#Thirteen #NetGalley #Flatiron

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Code Blue by Mike Magee, M.D.

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This is such an important book looking at an insider's view (from multiple perspectives) of the medical industrial complex. Some may complain or moan that Dr. Magee is selling the medical community or administrators out by telling this story but it needs to be publicly told. In this day and age, when our country, as wealthy as it is, has such awful statistics in the healthcare sector for easily preventable conditions, we need to know these facts. Washington, D.C. politics are too busy vying for power and not representing the needs of Americans when it comes to many issues, but healthcare is one that will universally affect each and every one of us.
Wake up people! Everyone dies! Therefore, preventing disease is important. Treating disease early is important. Having easy access to high quality care is important. Instead we are allowing decisions to be made by the MIC that will ultimately affect our ability to access these services (and for providers to provide them).
Thank you Dr. Mike Magee for this timely and comprehensive book outlining the background and conversation we need to be having in this country now about how we want our healthcare to be for the coming years and why it became the way that it is now.

Highly recommend!!
#CodeBlue #NetGalley

29 Seconds by T. M. Logan

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This may very well be my favorite thriller of the year. I read a fairly large proportion of thrillers in my mix of books and this is the first of the year that both kept me up way too late and didn’t disappoint at all throughout. T. M. Logan does a brilliant job with this book, despite his daughter saying “he sits in a room and makes stuff up” and his son wondering when he’s going to get a proper job. If he keeps this up, they will be excited that Dad chose writing as his proper job.
This book has a terrific plot, great characters and well-timed twists. You even find yourself rooting for characters who are not necessarily making legal choices but they have good intentions. There is a depth to the characters and their relationships that is a step above many thrillers.
This is my first and only thriller that I would recommend as a must-read, beyond a 5/5. Yes, it’s that good.

#29Seconds #NetGalley #stmartinspress

Gaawin Gindaaswin Ndaawsii, I Am Not A Number by Jenny Kay Dupuis

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What a remarkable book. The illustrations are beautiful and the story is compelling. I truly had no idea that this is the history of how the First Nations/Inuit/Metis of Canada were treated in the not so-distant past. And to think, the last of these "residential schools" run by so-called Christian Churches just closed at the end of the 20th Century is striking. Here in the USA, I think our schooling on the countries surrounding us is quite limited unfortunately. Other countries seem to have a better understanding of the history or politics of the USA than USA citizens have for any other country, then take a smaller fraction of that vast country that is Canada (we think Toronto/Quebec,etc) and most of us know little at all.
This is an important book for the people that it represents. It is also an important book for all those facing similar situations, separation from family due to refugee status or immigration issues or even the criminal justice system. Anytime children are in a family that they are happy and well-cared for in and then taken from against their will is a tragedy. We are seeing many examples of this scenario around the world and it is scary for those children and sad for the families. We must do better.
Highly recommend.
#GaawinNiinNdooGindaaswisiiIAmNotANumber #NetGalley #SecondStoryPress

The Orchid Sister by Anne D. LeClaire

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Let me start by saying that overall I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the characters and their POVs. There were many unique stories that all intertwine in the end. This is a story that starts with the backstory of the sisters, Maddie and Kat, whose parents were killed in a plane crash. Maddie was also involved in that crash but survives, spending months in the burn unit going through difficult treatment and being left with scars that she must live with forever. It is clear from the beginning that the two sisters are extremely close as a result of these events so that when Kat doesn't call or contact Maddie for several week, it is obvious to her that something is not right.
I thought the author did a thorough job of detailing how Maddie would go about hunting for her sister and what might clue her into there being a problem.
The issues I had with the story were 1) some pacing issues, seemed like a lot of detail in some areas and not enough in others, 2) If someone is missing, why would any solo female go off alone when she has a trusted male friend to help (in a foreign country no less) and 3) ending felt rushed compared to the build-up.
I liked the book and I am glad that I read it but there were small issues for my taste.

#TheOrchidSister #NetGalley #LakeUnionPublishing

Cape May by Chip Creek

🌟🌟 I was initially drawn to this book because my own honeymoon years ago was at a resort where couples interacted (as far as I know only at events in public) where we met a couple on their anniversary trip. This reminded me of that sort of experience but then wow. It was way too much "50 Shades of Grey" for my liking so I wound up giving it up despite trying to read it a couple of times. Just not for me. #CapeMay #NetGalley #CeladonBooks

The Rumor by Lesley Kara

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I loved the premise of this book and a thriller based on what seems like an innocent rumor is intriguing and extremely readable. The character development was good and kept the plot moving. I was surprised to see that this was a debut novel. I will definitely be looking for further work from this author and appreciate the chance to read this one. It did not disappoint.

#TheRumor #NetGalley #RandomHousePublishingGroupBallantine #BallantineBooks

Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout

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Thank you for the eARC of this sequel of Olive Kitteridge, with this ongoing view into the lives of Olive and company. This was like revisiting old friends, even when that brings challenges anew. I love this sequel and Strout is as wonderful a writer as ever. This makes me want to reread the original.
Highly recommend!

#OliveAgain #NetGalley #RandomHousePublishingGroupPandomHouse #RandomHouse

Solving For M by Jennifer Swender

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Solving for M absolutely speaks to me as an adult who has a career in one of the STEM fields and children involved in these areas as well. I love the way this book uses a POV of a young child who is going through a difficult time at home and then her interactions through her math class and the teacher she has there. She is fortunate enough to have a teacher who wants to make math fun and more than just paperwork but instead bring it to life. Anyone lucky enough to have this sort of teacher is truly blessed. This book was very sensitive to the challenges that this young girl faced in her personal life with her mother's cancer and separation of her parents. The illustrations and the use of "word problems" were a wonderful addition to this story. I will look forward to checking this out in a physical copy to see how much better it looks in that format (its good in digital but I'm guessing it will be best in physical form).

Definitely recommend
#SolvingForM #NetGalley #RandomHouseChildrens #CrownBooksforYoungReaders

Operatic by Kyo Maclear (author) and Byron Eggenschwiler (illustrator)

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This book was a gem for me. I thankfully discovered it through NGs BookBuzz selections earlier this year where it was featured with excerpts and then a link to selecting the ARC was included. 
I love the cover and hope that the actual final cover is the same or close. 
The story was a sweet, middle school tale of a music class being instructed to come up with a song that represents them personally. Their teacher wants to create a “playlist” for their class that they can take with them that will remind them of who they were at this age. Brilliant idea. Obviously, many eras and genres of music will need to be explored and I appreciated the bouncing around from one type of music to another for this reason, recreating a true classroom feeling. 
There was diversity with both different ethnicities and LGBTQ representation, which felt authentic to a middle school class, especially in the arts. But the love interests were awkward and sweet, as expected for this age as well. 
I completely enjoyed the mentioning of the various artists representing the various genres and laughed at how some of the “classics” were standards when I was a kid. I made my own playlist by looking up the songs or artists that I was less familiar with and listening to their music as I read. This was a very pleasant way to read this ARC. 
My only negatives are in formatting: the digital ARC was very difficult to follow because the dialogue was not always in sequence correctly and the artwork was small. And I read this on an iPad Pro, so it has a fairly large screen and well lit. I know this will be fixed for the final physical release but just as a point in reviewing, it was difficult. 
Thank you for introducing me to Maria Callas and her stunning voice. I have heard some of the titles she has covered by other singers and wow. She is amazing. 

#Operatic #NetGalley

26 Marathons by Meb Kefezighi

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I love Meb. I will unapologetically state that he is such an amazing human and such a joy to watch run. I did not grow up a runner, I was much more of a swimmer or other activities but when I transitioned into running in the winter after my first child was born, in the basement of our midwestern home, on our treadmill, painstakingly slowly, it suddenly hit me why they do it. I was slow but I understood the draw and reason for the love of running. I have never achieved any real speed and have since injured my knee in an unrelated incident that has kept me away from running myself, but I will record the NYC Marathon or the London Marathon and be disappointed when they cut away from the runners even for a few minutes. I am so entranced by what people like Meb can do physically it just is amazing to watch. I have appreciated everything he does for the sport and for the country as well as on the community level, giving back to promote the sport at the youth level. I know he has given a lot and deserves all the respect in the world. Thanks for another memory Meb! #26Marathons #NetGalley

Melmoth by Sarah Perry

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Gothic novel with atmospheric setting in Prague. Overall, the story sounded intriguing but the plot was too meandering to really be easily followed. It is not a bad story but not necessarily one that I would pick up again.

A Decent Life: Morality For the Rest of Us by Todd May

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I'm not certain why I initially was drawn to this book. I don't usually go for philosophical works that become complicated by their own meandering topics. This was different. I was drawn into the discussion, just as I imagine Dr. Todd May draws students into discussions within his classrooms. He begins with a review of some of the more theoretical aspects of decency and morality and so forth, but he does it in a way that kept me with him and I continued on into the later chapters that really get into more "bread and butter" topics, like how do you apply the theoretical to real life, especially in this day and age when everyone seems to want to be on one team or the other with zero commonality? 
I really appreciated the eye-opening views covered in chapter three: "Widening the Circle" and chapter five: "Politics and Decency". Both of these chapters were a refreshing look at how to think about treating our fellow human beings, how to care for the environment and how to be civil in a discordant environment. There were some terrific examples of these scenarios that occur in all of our daily lives that we can choose to handle one way or another and how to think about what would be a moral, decent approach to a given situation. 
This will be a book that I go back to I'm sure and consider the ideas repeatedly.
Thank you Dr. May for this jam-packed book that has me thinking.

#ADecentLife #NetGalley