Those Secrets We Keep by Emily Liebert

Release Date: June 2, 2015
Publisher: Penguin Group/NAL
Author Website: http://emilyliebert.com/

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars.

Synopsis:
Sloane possessed the perfect life. She lived in a great neighborhood, married to a successful husband and had a beautiful daughter. However, she felt something missing after the passing of her sister that nothing seemed to fill. Needing time away to think, she and Hillary, her best friend, took the offer to stay a few weeks at Lake George where Sloane's aunt kept a house.

When Sloane's oldest and closest friend from college invited herself along for the vacation, old wounds and new hurts came out. These left the women broken from the weight of their own secrets and seeking healing comfort from whatever source they could find. Would these three women be able to pick up the pieces of their lives? Would others pay the price for their decisions?


Review:
I tend to search through NetGalley's offerings whenever I can't sleep at night.  That was how I found the latest offering by the author. Something about the premise of women not happy with having the security that most crave tugged at my mind. When I read the first chapter, I related with Sloane's quest to fill the gaping hole that recent events created in her life. Not because I have a beautiful daughter or a great husband ready to do anything I asked, but because the sting of losing someone closest to me turned my own life upside down.

Most of the book centered around Sloane and her two best friends, Hillary and Georgina. Each women carried the weight of a secret on their shoulders as they joined together for two weeks at a beautiful vacation home in St. George. Interestingly enough, both Hillary and Georgina embodied the attributes that Sloane desired most. Hillary was calm, rational and provided guidance whenever the events of the book spiraled out of Sloane's control. On the other hand, Georgina was carefree, wild and ambitious - everything that Sloane thought was missing in her life. As the story went on, the women found that their similarities tied them together much more than their differences. The author didn't let the women hog the spotlight. The men in their lives also spent part of the time coming to terms with their own issues and inadequacies while the women were at the vacation home. This introspection on the men's part helped give the book a balanced feel.

There was a smooth buildup in the book's pacing, easing me into the middle of Sloane's life. By setting the book in modern times, the author created a seamless transition from the reader's reality to the that of the Sloane and her friends. Using the natural settings of the shoreline, rocky alcoves, and lush green areas also brought the story to life and added a sense of calm though much of the women's lives fell apart. As the secrets bubbled to the surface, they became characters themselves and drove the story forward until the women were forced to deal with the secrets or run. What the women couldn't outrun were the consequences of their secrets and their choices. Whether they came clean or chose to harbor the secrets longer, the payment for that choice was clearly laid out for them.

Overall, I liked this story because it was easy to put myself into Sloane's, Hillary's or even Georgina's shoes and carry their respective secrets. While I can't imagine making the same choices, I could understand why the women did with the way the author structured the timing of the book. The contrast between the perceived reality of Sloane's perfect world and the true reality of her crumbling world view drove home the point that a person can never really know another person simply by looking in from the outside. People are truly complex creatures that always find a way to surprise a reader by doing the opposite of rational thinking when emotions and beliefs are put into play as well. This book should definitely be on your TBR if you're looking for an examination of friendship, love and relationship or simply love a great story about longing in all its forms.

Those Secrets We Keep by Emily Liebert is currently available in either paperback or digital (Kindle) forms at several online retailers. The following link provides the book's Amazon page for purchase.
Those Secrets We Keep by Emily Liebert

Monday's Lie by Jamie Mason

Release Date: February 3, 2015
Publisher: Gallery Books
Author Website:  http://www.jamie-mason.com/

Rating: 3 out 5 stars.

Synopsis:
When your childhood was far from ordinary, the one thing you'd want in your life is normal, unremarkable normal. Dee Aldrich knew her mother was something other than the cookie-cutter version of a suburban mom. All the games she and her brother, Simon, played as children taught them much more than their alphabet and numbers. After an unexpected event in her teen years, Dee wanted no more of the surprises and did the most normal thing she could think of at the time. She got married and played house with her college sweetheart, Patrick.

But as the years went by, some things began adding up in all the wrong columns. When the illusion of normal, boring marriage came crashing down around her, Dee used each of the tools she'd been taught to discover her husband's dark secrets. If he was simply having an affair, she'd be overjoyed, but something nagged at her. Can she uncover the truth before it's too late?

Review:
Offered at NetGalley, I requested the title because the description intrigued me by how much of an opposite it was to the usual way life went. The fact that Dee, the main character of the book, wanted nothing more than the "normal" life after all she went through in her childhood seemed different, unusual and exciting. The lengths she went to in order keep everything to her degree of normal was more than expected. Honestly, I thought it bordered on crazy when I first began reading the book, but as the story continued, I began to understand why she wanted the Ozzie and Harriett style of marriage.

The book was written in first person point-of-view through Dee's eyes. Privy to her reasons and thoughts, it became easier to understand her decisions that looked out of place or strange to others. Other major players in the book included her mother, Annette; her brother, Simon; her husband, Patrick; and her mother's unusual co-worker, Paul Rowland. There are a few others that play important roles in the action toward the end of the book, but revealing them at this point would spoil the story. Each of them were well fleshed out and interacted well with one another. In the beginning of the book, it was a bit difficult to figure out how Dee kept much of her emotional reactions under such tight control. Once that was explained, the rest of the pieces fell into place. By the end of the book, I was wanting to know more about Dee, Annette and even her smarmy handler, Paul.

At the beginning of the book, Dee recounted an event in her childhood that left her and her brother traumatized for many years later. It was a little difficult to get into the groove of reading the book after that because traveled up and down a chronological timeline little warning. Lots of flashbacks to her childhood and the night their lives changed added weight to their decisions as well as substance to their characters. The only drawback was that the transition between the past and the present was always seamless. Although bumpy at times, the transitions weren't always so distracting. By the middle of the book, the story had its teeth into me and I had to read until the end to see whether I was right or wrong in what I thought of Paul, Patrick and Dee.

Overall, this book was pretty entertaining. Definitely not your average, marriage in midlife crisis type of story by any stretch, the work Dee's mother did flavored the story from the beginning. I had a little trouble believing some of Patrick's reactions until the final few chapters of the book. The very last chapter of the book had me intrigued for whatever may come next for the likes of Dee and her brother, Simon. Lots of unanswered questions were poised in those few pages. The door was definitely left open for another look at the Vess family. If you're looking for book that's different with a cloak-and-dagger bent, then this is the book to be on your list!

Monday's Lie by Jamie Mason is currently available in hardcover, Kindle and audio-book formats. It can be purchased from various online retailers as well as local bookstores. The following link will bring up the book's page at Amazon.
Monday's Lie by Jamie Mason

Bridge to Destiny by April Marie Libs

Release Date: November 10, 2014
Publisher: Soul Mate Publishing
Author Website: http://aprilmarielibs.com 

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

Synopsis:
Avery Lawson's life was perfect in her eyes. She married her sweetheart, Mitchel, and had a smart, precious little girl, Hannah. In one fateful night her life was changed, leaving her lost and broken in so many ways. As she fought her way back from the edge, she took solace in her daughter. But life wasn't through with her and once again, Avery found herself nearly losing the last ray of sunshine in her life.

Pediatric neurologist, Dr. Nathan Banst, wasn't going to let anything happen to Hannah on his watch. As he and Avery's small support circle helped to put the broken pieces back together, Avery and Nathan grew closer than either of them anticipated. Was she really ready to love again so soon after losing Mitchel? Would she be betraying all their memories and their love by going with her heart?

Review:
Though I read a large variety of books by authors of all types, one of my favorite aspects of having this blog has always been giving a previously unknown or little-known author a platform to get their works out there. When the author of this particular book contacted me, I was happy to read the novel in exchange for an honest and fair review. Now, I did have some reservations about the book due to the women's fiction/romance aspects - only because I'm still fairly new to reading books within those genres. However, those disappeared within the first few chapters as the author made certain that this book was much more than the simple love story we've all come to expect.

Quite simply, the book described Avery's journey through some of the most horrifying events that could take place in a person's life. Her world was a typical one, full of friends and family, good times and magical moments that she thought would last forever. Within moments that life became a dream as her husband was taken from her, leaving her to struggle to find meaning in what was left. In her grief she discovered a small circle of people who became the lifelines she needed to regain control of her world. Her daughter, Hannah, and neighbors, Rebecca, Tom and Max, helped to make her life meaningful once again. Of course, life has a funny way of making you think everything's okay before it pulls the carpet from under your feet. And that's the point where Avery met Dr. Nathan Banst, pediatric neurologist at the local hospital.

Much of the first few chapters dealt with revealing Avery's world and the tragedy she overcame. I found the pace of the novel slow to start, but ramped up as the book continued. There were equal moments of sadness and comedy that kept me turning the pages. Now and then I felt that a few of the scenes were predictable in such a novel, but overall I think the author did a good job in keeping a fair balance of the ups and downs that are typical of life nowadays. For me, the meat of the story took place shortly after Avery found her spirit again right before another devastating accident threatened to break her heart once and for all. At that moment, the book took hold and I wanted to see the characters succeed instead of fail. It was easy to get caught up in the story and root for them.

In the end I have to say that I enjoyed the book a lot more than I initially thought. There were plenty of times when the sadness of the book weighed heavily, but then Hannah came in and brought her charismatic rays of sunshine with her. While a little of the book was predictable, the reactions of the characters differed from my expectation. I was pleasantly surprised by this book. While this was the author's debut novel, it didn't read that way to me. If you're looking for a novel with nearly true-to-life characters experiencing all the ups and downs that life can throw their way, this is the novel you should be reading!

Bridge to Destiny by April Marie Libs is currently available at several online retailers such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. It can be purchased in digital format. The following link will bring up the book's page at Amazon.
Bridge to Destiny by April Marie Libs
  

All We Had: A Novel by Annie Weatherwax

Release Date: August 5, 2014
Publisher: Scribner


Rating: 3 out of 5 stars.

Synopsis:
Rita and Ruthie Carmichael have always known hunger and homelessness, but they've always kept their dreams of a big house with a pool and a full scholarship to Harvard alive. After breaking off a disaster of a relationship, the two set off on a cross-country drive with their eyes set on the East coast. Best laid plans often went wrong and for Rita and Ruthie, their plans go haywire before they could get close to their destination.

Stranded in a small town called Fat River, Ruthie and Rita find a sense of stability that they'd been missing for as long as they could remember. Their life took them on a new path, leaving them both scared and excited all at once. But a series of events test their long-held beliefs and the very relationship between mother and daughter. Will they be able to get through the tough times together? Will they find their paths going separate directions after all?

Review:
I found this book on NetGalley while I was browsing for something out of my comfort zone to read. The description provided by the publisher intrigued me. The book sounded like a mix of a down-on-your-luck type of story and a coming-of-age novel. Much of the book surrounded a portion of Rita and Ruthie's life that brought profound change and put them each on a path that they least expected.

Though the story is told through Ruthie's point-of-view, both Ruthie and Rita are the main characters in this memoir-like retelling of their lives. For as long as Ruthie can remember, life with her mother was always a series of jobs with low pay, men with hidden secrets or horrible qualities, and the ever-present dream for Ruthie to attend Harvard. The author set the story in recent times but with the struggle the gals are going through, it almost seemed as though they were living in an earlier decade. A small group of characters, which included a married diner/gas station owner, a transgender waitress, and a head waitress with powerful hot flashes, played crucial parts within the story. I think they had more of an affect on Ruthie than Rita, but there were plenty of moments where the secondary characters had their time in the spotlight as well. These added more depth to the story and the small town of Fat River itself.

One of the things I liked about this story was the pacing. Not only did the story start out with a decent pace and a bit of truth and action, but the pace of the story stayed steady until the end. The author didn't allow the story to become stagnate by recounting each and every detail of the hard life that the characters were living. Time did pass while Ruthie and Rita lived in Fat River, but the routines of their lives were acknowledged without overwhelming the main incidents. I can't say that I could relate to everything that the characters went through, but the feelings of worthlessness and dreams of becoming something more are something I believe most people can understand.

I have to say that I enjoyed this book and the way it looked at the American dream. It's not hard to look around and see people in our neighborhoods that resemble Rita and Ruthie (or any of the other characters, for that matter). The hard part would be in doing something to ease the burden for those whose weights are too much. Though it's not a book I would read over and over, I'm very glad to have gotten a chance to see life through Ruthie's eyes. The relationship between mother and daughter provided both comfort and conflict, which truly made for really good reading. If you're looking for something a little out of the ordinary in a small town with a flavor all its own or a story about overcoming the odds, this is the one you should be reading.

All We Had: A Novel by Annie Weatherwax is currently available at many online retailers as well as local bookstores in your choice of Kindle or hardcover format. The link below will take you to the book's Amazon page.
All We Had: A Novel by Annie Weatherwax

Ten Tiny Breaths: A Novel (Ten Tiny Breaths #1) by K.A. Tucker

Release Date: February 12, 2013
Publisher: Atria Books
Series: Ten Tiny Breaths

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

Synopsis:
Kacey Cleary thought she had it all figured out. Four years after a devastating crash took the lives of her parents, best friend and boyfriend, she held herself together in order to care for her younger sister, Livvie. They made the move to Miami to bury the past and start a new life.

Within weeks the carefully constructed facade began to crumble as Kacey noticed chinks in her armor. People began to worm their way into her heart. For Kacey, that can only spell trouble, but she can't stop herself from falling. Can she survive without facing the past? What will she do when the past no longer wants to stay buried?

Review:
Okay, I'll confess. I heard the buzz about this book while surfing around on Goodreads. When NetGalley had the book available, I requested to read it and was accepted. Truthfully, I was a little nervous of what to expect because I have only read a handful of YA and NA titles to date. Despite my reservations, this book turned out to be dramatically good book.

Firstly, all of the characters were flawed. Not just the main characters, as one expects in many books nowadays, but each and every one of them had their own pronounced flaw. We, the readers, knew right away that Kacey was intensely troubled by the events of her past and the issues that surround her in the present. Her sister, Livvie, took a little longer to show her flaw - her goodness. She was so caring, trustworthy and good that it becomes a fault. She needed the connections with others in order to thrive. Some were too intense, too superficial, too unconventional or simply made bad choices.

Coming in under 300 pages, the book is a quick read. It was hard to stop reading at the end of the page, or even a chapter, when the events of the book kept pushing forward to the climax of the story. By the time I hit the twist in the book, I was already caught up in the emotions of Kacey that I felt anxious for her. When the truth was revealed, my heart sank. I wanted to help make things better but all I could do was turn the page to see what else was coming her way. Needless to say, if you have important things to do, wait until you have them finished before picking up this book.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It felt like the story had a grip on me that wouldn't ease until I reached the epilogue. Though the ending was about what I had expected, it still provided the perfect ending to the whole of Kacey's story. Buried beneath and within the words of the story was the cautionary tale of not drinking and getting behind the wheel of a vehicle. Period. I have to give the author much respect for pointing out the damage done to each side when an event such as an accident happens. If you're looking for something to sink its claws into you and lead you through a roller coaster of emotions, I would most definitely buy this book.


Ten Tiny Breaths: A Novel (Ten Tiny Breaths #1) by K.A. Tucker is currently available at many retailers in paperback, Kindle or audiobook editions. You can purchase a copy from Amazon by clicking the link below.
Ten Tiny Breaths: A Novel (Ten Tiny Breaths #1) by K.A. Tucker