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Lovely story about how it feels to go home after a long time and to reconnect with your siblings whom you’d wronged a long time ago. Family, memory, parenting, sibling relationships and home are all themes in this beautiful story.
Angie Cruz is an excellent writer. I loved her first book and I loved this one. Her ability to create lively and interesting characters that have depth and stay with you is one of a kind. Her dialogue is funny and full of heart. Her stories stay with you long after you turn the last page. Loved this one.
3.5 stars Read this in one sitting. Lovely alternating stories about the main character and her grandmother and how they each find their way into becoming a matchmaker. It’s a bit magical, but full of tradition and what it means to be a woman.
3.5 stars A soft, beautiful story about a man who travels to Japan right during the pandemic to find his old love. Loved this quiet story.
The finale. Well done. It’s hard to finish a book like this in any way that feels satisfying and yet this one did.
I read the first of this series a long time ago. It was intense and crazy and fun. So was this one. Though I’d say more over the top. Perfect if you’re stuck with nothing good to read.
Loved this one, too. Not as much as the Spanish Love Deception but it was fun and sweet and if romance is your thing, I am pretty sure you will like it.
Mary Beth Keane’s characters stay with you long after you’ve finished reading her novels. The Half Moon is no exception. Malcolm, the bartender, and his smart lawyer wife, Jess make a place in your heart that is soft and permanent. This novel takes place during a giant storm and in one week. It moves back and forth in time and covers the complexities of what it means to be family. What it feels like to grow up in a small town where everyone knows each other and everyone knows each other’s business. It covers the pain for not being able have life work out the way you’d hoped and the reality of how much is outside of our control in life. How we can want something with all our soul and still not have it and how our dreams can destroy our lives, our marriages, and our souls. And despite all that how resilient we can be. An absolutely beautiful story with characters you won’t forget. with gratitude to Scribner and edelweiss for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
“Life is amazing. And then it’s awful. And then it’s amazing again. And in between the amazing and awful, it’s ordinary and mundane and routine. Breathe in the amazing, hold on through the awful, and relax and exhale during the ordinary. That’s just living heartbreaking, soul-healing, amazing, awful, ordinary life.” The quote above personifies why I love Sharon Salzberg. She does not try to create an alternate reality of what life is. She doesn’t feel like someone that’s so far away from my life that I couldn’t connect to her words. She reminds us that we get to choose how things affect us and we get to choose our spaciousness and the way we look at life. We get to choose to be full of love. “This is what I’m calling Real Life. Real Life is about what happens when we fully engage with our everyday lives, whatever shape our lives take, whatever challenges and obstacles that life may bring.” Reading Salzberg reminds me that I can be more than I am and that I am perfect just the way I am. It reminds me that I can grow and change and be expansive. She reminds me of the power of love, the power of kindness and of being good-hearted. “Joy is exactly what’s happening, minus our opinion of it. . . . This is freedom. Love is the ultimate expression of joy and freedom. Joy, freedom, and love could be considered synonyms for each other, and for belonging.” Joy is my word for 2022 and as I look to 2023 and think about how to be more expansive and more open and free, I know Salzberg’s words will guide me as they always do. I loved every moment I spent with this book and I expect I will read it again and again. with gratitude to netgalley and Flatiron Books for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review
This might be my favorite of all the Urban Sketching books. Even though it’s not focused on a particular “skill,” there is so much inspiration and so many different styles in this book that it reminds you again and again that there’s no one way to be or do if you’re interested in urban sketching. It also was interesting to see how many of the sketchers have architecture as their background. I loved the time I spent with this book and found it to be super inspiring. with gratitude to quarry books and edelweiss for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
“Mary tries to see her children as belonging to God: only borrowed. She and Mathew have agreed, finally, that there will be no more of them.” This is the story of a six-year-old boy, in 1883 in Australia, Denny, who is lost and the whole town starts looking for him in different ways. The story involves his sisters, mother and father, policemen, trackers, maids, farmers and more who all explore their own relationships as the events unfold. This story was slow for me in the beginning and the atmosphere felt stifling (I’m sure on purpose.) I kept thinking the boy would be ok but then worrying he wouldn’t be. As I kept reading I got more and more attached to the characters and I really loved the ending. A majestic story, beautifully told. with gratitude to netgalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
I really enjoyed all of Lia Louis’ previous books so I knew I was going to like this one, too, and I was not disappointed! This is the story of Natalie who lost her husband two and a half years ago and she’s still mourning him and is stuck in a house that is falling apart and a job that she doesn’t love. She gave up her musician past but now she regularly plays the piano in a subway station where no one knows her. Until someone starts leaving her the notes for songs that are meaningful between her and her dead husband. There aren’t a lot of characters in this story so the “mystery” isn’t hard to guess. But of course this story is not about the mystery. It’s about moving on, about friendship, betrayal, about living others’ lives. About friendship and honesty and beautiful characters that will stay with you long after you’re done reading. Loved this story. with gratitude to Atria Books and netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review |
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