Toss Me That Book

Format:  Kindle Date started:  February 4, 2019 Date Finished:  February 9,2019 A quick glance at Goodreads proves that I'm of the minority opinion on this book - it was not good.  The building blocks of a great book were there - unreliable narrators, a murder mystery, and shifting points of view -- but I think it was the time loop that sunk the ship so to speak.  A-hahaha -- alliteration!  :)  Just when I found myself beginning to grasp into which body Aidan Bishop had currently been thrust, he switched hosts again.  I can see where this is a compelling plot device, but I quickly gave up even trying to keep track of who Bishop was, who he'd already been, and who he was going to be.  It was too, too much, and because it was too much I found that I didn't really care about where the story was going or who killed Evelyn Hardcastle 7 1/2 times or even why they did it. 

Format: Kindle Date Started:  January 30, 2019 Date Finished: February 4, 2019 I became Cuban by marriage in 2014.  My husband's paternal grandparents immigrated from Cuba in the 1940s well before the revolution.  Though my husband's uncles live there now, the family didn't settle in Florida but in Washington DC.  Their family being infinitely pragmatic, I've learned that there wasn't a lot of rhapsodizing over what was lost in Cuba.  They had to make a new life in America, and so they did.  When my husband's grandfather's law degree from Cuba wasn't recognized, he retrained as an engineer.  My father-in-law is like that, too.  If something needs doing, you do it.  What other choice is there?  And, I recognized those same traits in Cleeton's characters as well. I wasn't sure what to expect with this book.  The beautiful cover hints at throes of passion and romance, and while the main thrust of the story's action was driv...

Format: Kindle Date Started: January 26, 2019 Date Finished: January 30, 2019 I identified so much with Julia, the narrator, of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez.   At first glance, you wouldn’t think so.   I live in the suburbs, not a city.   I am not Mexican.   And most importantly, I am definitely not a teenage girl.   Even if it were actually possible, you couldn’t pay me enough money to go back and repeat my teenage years.   They were horrible.   The only thing I hated more than middle school was high school. Like Julia, I just wanted out.   I wanted to be somewhere new and away from everyone.   Julia wanted to get away from her parents and the pressure she felt from her family.   I wanted to get away from everyone that I had gone to school with my whole life.   And, I had a chip on my shoulder that I was invisible.   I knew I was great, but no one else see...

Format:  Kindle Date Started:  January 23, 2019 Date Finished: January 26, 2019 I discovered Kristin Hannah by accident in 2016.   I needed a new audio book for my commute, and her book, The Nightingale, popped up in the “You Might Like” section of my library’s app and was helpfully also available.   I had to wait about 2 months for The Great Alone to be available, but, boy, it was worth it!  What I loved about The Nightingale is also what I loved about The Great Alone – Hannah’s prose.   Without a lot of flowery detail, she describes both people and places so that you can picture them perfectly as well as understand their inner workings.   She also write about the lives of women maybe as only a woman can – about the nuances of relationships and the thousands of choices that shape our lives.    I also liked learning about all of the skills and work that are necessary to live in a climate like Alaska, and the discussion q...

Format:  Kindle Date Started:  January 16, 2019 Date Abandoned: January 23, 2019 Well, it finally happened -- the first Did Not Finish (DNF) of the year was Sally Thorne’s The Hating Game .  A quick internet search reveals that I’m in the minority onthis one.  The story’s rating on Goodreads is 4.5 stars. It had potential for sure.  Lucy and Joshua work together and hate each other with a passion.  Okay, great.   I can work with this as a set-up for a romance.   However, I only made it halfway through the story when I gave up because the only things that had happen were a ridiculous amount of clever banter and food poisoning.  And while I’ll admit that I’ve read and enjoyed stories with less action in them, this was so boring that I couldn’t keep going because I didn’t care about either of the characters, I wasn’t invested in the outcome of the plot, and I value my time -- if you’re writing a romance story, I’m going t...