It's Monday! What Are You Reading? #200

The Meme Comes From The Book Dare

Books I Read Last Week:

Review: A Quiet Kind of Thunder by Sara Barnard

Summary from Goodreads:

A girl who can’t speak and a boy who can’t hear go on a journey of self-discovery and find support with each other in this gripping, emotionally resonant novel from bestselling author Sara Barnard. Perfect for fans of Morgan Matson and Jandy Nelson.

Steffi doesn’t talk, but she has so much to say.
Rhys can’t hear, but he can listen.

Steffi has been a selective mute for most of her life. The condition’s name has always felt ironic to her, because she certainly does not “select” not to speak. In fact, she would give anything to be able to speak as easily and often as everyone around her can. She suffers from crippling anxiety, and uncontrollably, in most situations simply can’t open her mouth to get out the words.


Steffi’s been silent for so long that she feels completely invisible. But Rhys, the new boy at school, sees her. He’s deaf, and her knowledge of basic sign language means that she’s assigned to help him acclimate. To Rhys, it doesn’t matter that Steffi doesn’t talk. As they find ways to communicate, Steffi discovers that she does have a voice, and that she’s falling in love with the one person who makes her feel brave enough to use it. But as she starts to overcome a lifelong challenge, she’ll soon confront questions about the nature of her own identity and the very essence of what it is to know another person

My Review:

Stacking the Shelves/Weekly Update #192

Stacking The Shelves

Reviews: 

Review: Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

Review: American Panda by Gloria Chao

Friday Meme: Things Coming Out This Month That I Want To Read/See/Play # 110

Books: Week of 4/30

Review: Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

 Summary from Goodreads:

Ten years after her teenage daughter disappears, a woman crosses paths with a charming single father whose young child feels eerily familiar, in this evocative, suspenseful drama from New York Times bestselling author Lisa Jewell—perfect for fans of Paula Hawkins and Liane Moriarty.

Ellie Mack was the perfect daughter. She was fifteen, the youngest of three. She was beloved by her parents, friends, and teachers. She and her boyfriend made a teenaged golden couple. She was days away from an idyllic post-exams summer vacation, with her whole life ahead of her.

And then she was gone.

Now, her mother Laurel Mack is trying to put her life back together. It’s been ten years since her daughter disappeared, seven years since her marriage ended, and only months since the last clue in Ellie’s case was unearthed. So when she meets an unexpectedly charming man in a café, no one is more surprised than Laurel at how quickly their flirtation develops into something deeper. Before she knows it, she’s meeting Floyd’s daughters—and his youngest, Poppy, takes Laurel’s breath away.


Because looking at Poppy is like looking at Ellie. And now, the unanswered questions she’s tried so hard to put to rest begin to haunt Laurel anew. Where did Ellie go? Did she really run away from home, as the police have long suspected, or was there a more sinister reason for her disappearance? Who is Floyd, really? And why does his daughter remind Laurel so viscerally of her own missing girl?

Release Date: April 24th 2018

My Review:

Waiting on Wednesday # 182 and Wishlist Wednesday # 182

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine, where you pick a book that is coming out soon that you want to read.

Teaser Tuesday #45 and Top Ten Books I Recently Bought/Borrowed/Won I Want to Read #178

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by Purple Princess of The Purple Booker.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? #199

The Meme Comes From The Book Dare

Books I Read Last Week:

Review: American Panda by Gloria Chao

Summary from Goodreads:

At seventeen, Mei should be in high school, but skipping fourth grade was part of her parents’ master plan. Now a freshman at MIT, she is on track to fulfill the rest of this predetermined future: become a doctor, marry a preapproved Taiwanese Ivy Leaguer, produce a litter of babies.

With everything her parents have sacrificed to make her cushy life a reality, Mei can’t bring herself to tell them the truth—that she (1) hates germs, (2) falls asleep in biology lectures, and (3) has a crush on her classmate Darren Takahashi, who is decidedly not Taiwanese.

But when Mei reconnects with her brother, Xing, who is estranged from the family for dating the wrong woman, Mei starts to wonder if all the secrets are truly worth it. Can she find a way to be herself, whoever that is, before her web of lies unravels?


From debut author Gloria Chao comes a hilarious, heartfelt tale of how unlike the panda, life isn’t always so black and white.

My Review:

Stacking the Shelves/Weekly Update #191

Stacking The Shelves

Reviews: 

Review: Sleeping Giants (Themis Files #1) by Sylvain Neuvel

Review: Fierce Kingdom by Gin Phillips

Friday Meme: Things Coming Out This Month That I Want To Read/See/Play # 109

Books: Week of 4/23


Films: Week of 4/23

Review: Sleeping Giants (Themis Files #1) by Sylvain Neuvel

 Summary from Goodreads:

A girl named Rose is riding her new bike near her home in Deadwood, South Dakota, when she falls through the earth. She wakes up at the bottom of a square hole, its walls glowing with intricate carvings. But the firemen who come to save her peer down upon something even stranger: a little girl in the palm of a giant metal hand.

Seventeen years later, the mystery of the bizarre artifact remains unsolved—its origins, architects, and purpose unknown. Its carbon dating defies belief; military reports are redacted; theories are floated, then rejected.

But some can never stop searching for answers.

Rose Franklin is now a highly trained physicist leading a top secret team to crack the hand’s code. And along with her colleagues, she is being interviewed by a nameless interrogator whose power and purview are as enigmatic as the provenance of the relic. What’s clear is that Rose and her compatriots are on the edge of unraveling history’s most perplexing discovery—and figuring out what it portends for humanity. But once the pieces of the puzzle are in place, will the result prove to be an instrument of lasting peace or a weapon of mass destruction?

An inventive debut in the tradition of World War Z and The Martian, told in interviews, journal entries, transcripts, and news articles, Sleeping Giants is a thriller fueled by a quest for truth—and a fight for control of earthshaking power.

My Review:

Waiting on Wednesday # 181 and Wishlist Wednesday # 181

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine, where you pick a book that is coming out soon that you want to read.

Teaser Tuesday #44 and Top Ten Books I Want to Read This Month #177

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by Purple Princess of The Purple Booker.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? #198

The Meme Comes From The Book Dare

Books I Read Last Week:

Review: Fierce Kingdom by Gin Phillips

 Summary from Goodreads:

The zoo is nearly empty as Joan and her four-year-old son soak up the last few moments of playtime. They are happy, and the day has been close to perfect. But what Joan sees as she hustles her son toward the exit gate minutes before closing time sends her sprinting back into the zoo, her child in her arms. And for the next three hours—the entire scope of the novel—she keeps on running.

Joan’s intimate knowledge of her son and of the zoo itself—the hidden pathways and under-renovation exhibits, the best spots on the carousel and overstocked snack machines—is all that keeps them a step ahead of danger.

A masterful thrill ride and an exploration of motherhood itself—from its tender moments of grace to its savage power—Fierce Kingdom asks where the boundary is between our animal instinct to survive and our human duty to protect one another. For whom should a mother risk her life?

My Review:

Stacking the Shelves/Weekly Update #190

Stacking The Shelves

Reviews: 

Review: The Perfect Nanny by Leïla Slimani

Review: Still Me (Me Before You #3) by Jojo Moyes

Friday Meme: Things Coming Out This Month That I Want To Read/See/Play # 108

Books: Week of 4/16


Films: Week of 4/16

Review: The Perfect Nanny by Leïla Slimani

 Summary from Goodreads: 

When Myriam, a mother and brilliant French-Moroccan lawyer, decides to return to work, she and her husband are forced to look for a caretaker for their two young children. They are thrilled to find Louise: the perfect nanny right from the start. Louise sings to the children, cleans the family's beautiful apartment in Paris's upscale tenth arrondissement, stays late whenever asked, and hosts enviable kiddie parties. But as the couple and the nanny become more dependent on each other, jealousy, resentment, and frustrations mount, shattering the idyllic tableau.

My Review:

Waiting on Wednesday # 180 and Wishlist Wednesday # 180

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine, where you pick a book that is coming out soon that you want to read.

Teaser Tuesday #43 and Top Ten Books I Loved but Will Never Re-Read #176

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by Purple Princess of The Purple Booker.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? #197

The Meme Comes From The Book Dare

Books I Read Last Week:

Review: Still Me (Me Before You #3) by Jojo Moyes

 Summary from Goodreads:

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Jojo Moyes, a new book featuring her iconic heroine of Me Before You and After You, Louisa Clark

Louisa Clark arrives in New York ready to start a new life, confident that she can embrace this new adventure and keep her relationship with Ambulance Sam alive across several thousand miles. She steps into the world of the superrich, working for Leonard Gopnik and his much younger second wife, Agnes. Lou is determined to get the most out of the experience and throws herself into her new job and New York life.

As she begins to mix in New York high society, Lou meets Joshua Ryan, a man who brings with him a whisper of her past. Before long, Lou finds herself torn between Fifth Avenue where she works and the treasure-filled vintage clothing store where she actually feels at home. And when matters come to a head, she has to ask herself: Who is Louisa Clark? And how do you reconcile a heart that lives in two places?


Funny, romantic, and poignant, Still Me follows Lou as she navigates how to stay true to herself, while pushing to live boldly in her brave new world.

My Review:

Stacking the Shelves/Weekly Update #189

Stacking The Shelves

Reviews: 

Review: The Party: A Novel by Robyn Harding

Review: In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware

Friday Meme: Things Coming Out This Month That I Want To Read/See/Play # 107

Books: Week of 4/09



Films: Week of 4/09

Review: The Party: A Novel by Robyn Harding

 Summary from Goodreads:

In this stunning and provocative domestic drama about a sweet sixteen birthday party that goes horribly awry, a wealthy family in San Francisco finds their picture-perfect life unraveling, their darkest secrets revealed, and their friends turned to enemies.

One invitation. A lifetime of regrets.

Sweet sixteen. It’s an exciting coming of age, a milestone, and a rite of passage. Jeff and Kim Sanders plan on throwing a party for their daughter, Hannah—a sweet girl with good grades and nice friends. Rather than an extravagant, indulgent affair, they invite four girls over for pizza, cake, movies, and a sleepover. What could possibly go wrong?

But things do go wrong, horrifically so. After a tragic accident occurs, Jeff and Kim’s flawless life in a wealthy San Francisco suburb suddenly begins to come apart. In the ugly aftermath, friends become enemies, dark secrets are revealed in the Sanders’ marriage, and the truth about their perfect daughter, Hannah, is exposed.

Harkening to Herman Koch’s The Dinner, Christos Tsiolkas’s The Slap, and Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies, The Party takes us behind the façade of the picture-perfect family, exposing the lies, betrayals, and moral lapses that neighbors don’t see—and the secrets that children and parents keep from themselves and each other.

My Review:

Teaser Tuesday #42 and Top Ten Characters from Books I Did Not Care For #175

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by Purple Princess of The Purple Booker.

Waiting on Wednesday # 179 and Wishlist Wednesday # 179

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine, where you pick a book that is coming out soon that you want to read.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? #196

The Meme Comes From The Book Dare

Books I Read Last Week:

Review: In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware

 Summary from Goodreads:

In a dark, dark wood

Nora hasn't seen Clare for ten years. Not since Nora walked out of school one day and never went back. 

There was a dark, dark house

Until, out of the blue, an invitation to Clare’s hen do arrives. Is this a chance for Nora to finally put her past behind her?

And in the dark, dark house there was a dark, dark room

But something goes wrong. Very wrong.

And in the dark, dark room.... 


Some things can’t stay secret for ever. 

My Review: