Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine By: Gail Honeyman (Reviewed by Rochelle)

Posted on February 18, 2019 by flaca63

About Book:

Beautifully written and incredibly funny, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is about the importance of friendship and human connection. I fell in love with Eleanor, an eccentric and regimented loner whose life beautifully unfolds after a chance encounter with a stranger; I think you will fall in love, too!” —Reese Witherspoon

No one’s ever told Eleanor that life should be better than fine.

Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy.

But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kinds of friends who rescue one another from the lives of isolation they have each been living. And it is Raymond’s big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.

Soon to be a major motion picture produced by Reese Witherspoon, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fineis the smart, warm, and uplifting story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey as she realizes. . .

The only way to survive is to open your heart.

About Author:

Gail Honeyman is a graduate of the universities of Glasgow and Oxford. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine won the Costa First Novel Award and the British Book Awards Book of the Year, was short-listed for the Lucy Cavendish College Fiction Prize, the Desmond Elliot Award, and the Author’s Club Best First Novel, and was long-listed for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. This is Honeyman’s debut novel and she lives in Glasgow, Scotland.

Hardcover:336 pages
Publisher:Pamela Dorman Books; First Edition edition (May 9, 2017)

My Review:

I liked it completely different than I expected, but in a refreshing way.

I did come to like and sympathise with Eleanor and the other characters in the book; but I found it a bit of a fairy tale and I wasn’t entirely convinced. The story of Eleanor’s coming to grips with her traumatising past, and overcoming it, seemed a bit too pat and simplistic. I fail to find the humor in a person who has been forever mentally messed up because they were abused and neglected. It’s not funny. It’s terribly sad.

It is well written, and I wouldn’t say I didn’t enjoy reading it, but it is not the type of book I would normally choose. I am giving it 4 stars and I will look into find outer books by this author.

The Wall by Joseph Hayes (Reviewed by Rochelle)

Posted on February 12, 2019 by flaca63

About Book:

Miguel Sanchez is a talented and dynamic attorney who has earned a reputation as a passionate crusader for immigration rights. His charisma and his accomplishments have made him a media darling and paved the way for his explosion onto the national political scene. But he is not who he purports to be. He is the nation’s most high-profile illegal immigrant, a secret known to almost no one other than his shadowy handlers. Together, they have an agenda – punish America for its past sins and undermine this country’s prosperity and way of life. Since childhood, Sanchez has been conditioned to believe in that cause and to do whatever it takes to see that mission through. Now he is on the cusp of acquiring the power to do exactly that.

Bobby Rivera is the son of Mexican parents who raised him in South Texas, where they were employed under temporary work visas. Although he grew up living in constant fear of the government and deportation, he loves America and the opportunities it has afforded him. He and Miguel share a past – a close friendship as teenagers that was marred by tragedy and dark secrets as well as Miguel’s sudden and unexplained disappearance.

Bobby’s peaceful life as a funeral director in San Antonio is thrown into turmoil when Miguel unexpectedly reenters his life. Bobby realizes that he is the only person outside Miguel’s circle who knows Miguel’s secret and his hidden agenda. Bobby’s loyalty to his old friend conflicts with his loyalty to his country, not to mention his conscience. Will this young man who has spent his entire life looking over his shoulder and running from trouble have the courage to confront it head-on? How far will Miguel go to protect his dark secret? Will the life of fame, fortune and accomplishment Miguel has achieved change his heart and cause him to embrace rather than attack his adoptive country?

The Wall is an intelligent, fast-paced thriller that combines page-turning suspense with a thought-provoking exploration of one of the most controversial, sensitive and far-reaching issues of our time – immigration. It examines the opportunities, fears and challenges of recent immigrants and their children. It portrays the changing complexion of America in a way that is sensitive and hopeful. It contrasts life on opposite sides of the border wall, but more importantly, it vividly depicts the walls that exist in the minds and hearts of those trying to assimilate and those who resist.

About Author:

Joseph Hayes is a native of Chicago, and grew up on the City’s South Side. He and his wife Susan left there in the 1980s in search of sunshine and warmer weather. They found both, and now split their time between The Woodlands, Texas and La Jolla, California.

After obtaining his law degree from Berkeley, Hayes practiced law in Chicago, San Diego and Houston. He also served for many years as the chief ethics officer for a Fortune 1000 company. He now focuses on his writing, specializing in novels that combine page-turning suspense, compelling characters and a thought-provoking exploration of issues that matter — both timely and timeless.

His latest work, The Wall, was released in October of 2018.

Print Length: 398 pages
Publisher: Shadowpoint Publishing; 1 edition (October 9, 2018)
Publication Date: October 9, 2018

My Review:

I am grateful to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for the honest review.
This is the first time I have ready anything by this author and I must say it was a great read.

Made me think of what’s going on with our country and the Government this novel hits very close to current events happening right now in the government.

Miguel Sanchez is an immigration attorney who wins a case before the Supreme Court on immigration. His background is rather unusual. Twenty years ago he was a different young man. This story takes you on the changes in his life and his friend, Bobby. It also shows what powerful men behind the man can make happen. Well worth the read.

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The Death of Mrs. Westaway By: Ruth Ware (Reviewed by Rochelle)

Posted on February 4, 2019 by flaca63

About Book:

On a day that begins like any other, Hal receives a mysterious letter bequeathing her a substantial inheritance. She realizes very quickly that the letter was sent to the wrong person—but also that the cold-reading skills she’s honed as a tarot card reader might help her claim the money.

Soon, Hal finds herself at the funeral of the deceased…where it dawns on her that there is something very, very wrong about this strange situation and the inheritance at the centre of it.

About Author:

Ruth Ware grew up in Sussex, on the south coast of England. After graduating from Manchester University she moved to Paris, before settling in North London. She has worked as a waitress, a bookseller, a teacher of English as a foreign language and a press officer. She is married with two small children, and In a Dark, Dark Wood is her début thriller.

My Review:

This book was so creepy. In a great way. I have read all of Ruth Ware’s books. And this book had me completely hooked from page one!

This book follows the story of Hal; She has no family, she lives alone in a decaying flat, she makes her money by tarot reading during the day, she’s mainly broke and she owes a lot of money to some loan sharks. When Hal receives a mysterious letter addressed to her- a letter concerning an inheritance- she is keen to find out more.

I have read all of Ruth Ware’s books and I am looking forward to reading her new Book, The Turn of the Key, which is scheduled to come out in August. I am giving this 5 stars. LOVE LOVE LOVE IT.

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Happy Readying

A simple Favor By: Darcey Bell (Reviewed By Rochelle)

Posted on February 1, 2019 by flaca63

About Book:

“Riveting and brilliantly structured, A Simple Favor is an edge-of-your seat domestic thriller about a missing wife and mother that relies on a rotating cast of unreliable narrators to ingeniously examine the cost of competitive mom-friends, the toll of ordinary marital discontent and the fallacy of the picture-perfect, suburban family.”—Kimberly McCreight, New York Timesbestselling author

She’s your best friend.

She knows all your secrets.

That’s why she’s so dangerous.

A single mother’s life is turned upside down when her best friend vanishes in this chilling debut thriller in the vein of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train.

It starts with a simple favor—an ordinary kindness mothers do for one another. When her best friend, Emily, asks Stephanie to pick up her son Nicky after school, she happily says yes. Nicky and her son, Miles, are classmates and best friends, and the five-year-olds love being together—just like she and Emily. A widow and stay-at-home mommy blogger living in woodsy suburban Connecticut, Stephanie was lonely until she met Emily, a sophisticated PR executive whose job in Manhattan demands so much of her time.

But Emily doesn’t come back. She doesn’t answer calls or return texts. Stephanie knows something is terribly wrong—Emily would never leave Nicky, no matter what the police say. Terrified, she reaches out to her blog readers for help. She also reaches out to Emily’s husband, the handsome, reticent Sean, offering emotional support. It’s the least she can do for her best friend. Then, she and Sean receive shocking news. Emily is dead. The nightmare of her disappearance is over.

Or is it? Because soon, Stephanie will begin to see that nothing—not friendship, love, or even an ordinary favor—is as simple as it seems.

A Simple Favor is a remarkable tale of psychological suspense—a clever and twisting free-fall of a ride filled with betrayals and reversals, twists and turns, secrets and revelations, love and loyalty, murder and revenge. Darcey Bell masterfully ratchets up the tension in a taut, unsettling, and completely absorbing story that holds you in its grip until the final page.

About Author:

Darcey Bell is an American author and teacher. She was born in 1981 and grew up on a dairy farm in western Iowa. She teaches preschool in Chicago. A Simple Favor is her first novel.

Hardcover:304 pages
Publisher:Harper (March 21, 2017)

My Review:

So I have heard a lot about this book, and was checking some of the reviews, and let me say I found that the reviews were not the best. But I took the chance and bought the book. I really found this book to be really good; I know that there are a lot of you who didn’t.

Stephanie and Emily are best friends. Emily asks a favor of Stephanie – to watch her son one afternoon and she’ll pick him up that evening… but Emily never comes back. This had me wondering how a mother could just leave here child. But reading further into the book you found out that it was a plan to get money. I found that Emily like to use people including here sister to get what she wanted.

There were some interesting concepts in here, but the way it was written, was a little different than I was used to. But the ending well I could say or hope that there will be a sequel as it just left you hanging. I have seen that there is a movie on this and so I am now looking to rent that. I have heard that there are mixed reviews on it also. Over all I really enjoyed this book and I am giving it 4 Stars.

Happy reading everyone.

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