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books_baking_brews's reviews
231 reviews
The Good Luck Charm by Helena Hunting
3.0
This is what I call a popcorn book. It's the kind of book where you can devour a whole bunch of it but still feel like you need some substance later. That's not a bad thing. Sometimes you need to sit down, grab a glass of wine, eat popcorn for dinner and take a break. This is a second chance modern romance. Eight years ago Ethan broke Lilah's heart when he unceremoniously broke up with her over the phone to pursue his NHL career. Now he's back. I'm not a huge fan of second chance romances to begin with and at times Lilah caves way too much for my liking, add in an unbelievable coincidence at the end and this book was just okay for me. I would say this was heavily leaning toward 2.5 stars, it's not that it was horrible I just didn't like any of the characters that much. This was a Goodreads giveaway, and I do love romances so I was a bit disappointed I didn't like it more.
Less by Andrew Sean Greer
4.0
This book was a jumble of emotions for me. But maybe that's the point. Arthur Less is certainly experiencing that. On the verge of turning 50, Arthur is at a crossroads. His lover of nine years is about to get married and he cannot bear to stick around pretending everything is okay, even though he said it was okay, even though he let Freddy leave. He decides to take the quickest exit to the farthest destinations he can find. There were times when I didn't want to put this book down but had to, and times where I didn't want to pick this book up but also felt compelled to; it's less than 300 pages and it took me almost a week to read it. Greer has a way with words, I thought so back in 2005 when I read The Confessions of Max Tivoli, and I think so even more now. He's funny, I laughed out loud at times. Arthur isn't the most sympathetic character, he's much like the character within the novel inside this novel. There are layers here. I don't know, this novel left me feeling some type of way. Worth a Pulitzer? Again, I don't know. But I'm still thinking about this book, and if his other novel is any indication I'll be thinking about it for years to come.
Educated by Tara Westover
5.0
I am not that in to memoirs but this has been the year of them for me, so I may have to revise this claim. Educated is the tale of a woman who grew up in a Mormon survivalist family in the hills of Idaho and then makes it all the way to the halls of Cambridge. This book was really good, but beyond giving me a glimpse into life so different than my own, it also really encouraged me to want to learn and educate myself. The way Westover makes it from never having gone to school to getting into prestigious BYU and then on to Cambridge and Harvard with little help and sheer force of will is inspiring. I really appreciated that she is very forthright in her telling that some of her memories are different than those of her siblings after all a large part of the book takes place in her younger years. I picked this book for my IRL book club after seeing it on Obama's summer reading list, and I am happy I did so. Reading to me has always been about gaining new experiences through eyes of other people whether they are imaginary, real, or loosely based, and and this was certainly a new experience. This book is not really about Mormonism, though it is clear her faith is an important part of her life; it is more about family dynamics. Westover writes, "It's strange how you give the people you love so much power over you." This is really the heart of the matter. Fair warning there are descriptions of abuse (physical and emotional) in this book. I would give this book 4.5 stars.
Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
5.0
Yes. Yes. Yes. Fantastic series from Leigh Bardugo. This picks up right after the events of Six of Crows. Kaz and his his crew have been double-crossed and it's time to show the world who this six-man bottom of the barrel team is. This book has everything: love, action, humor, fights, shoot outs, magic, tragedy, slight of hand. Just everything. I highly recommend this duology. I don't want to spoil anything but . . . Inej and Kaz forever. I really hope Bardugo adds to this series, I just really want more. I'm going to have to reread this one over and over. "No mourners. No funerals."
Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell
4.0
I practically read this in one day while traveling. I continue to be impressed by the power of airports to get me through my TBR lists. Ellie Mack, a 15-year-old golden girl with everything ahead of her, has vanished without a trace. Years later, her family, though they are fractured, has moved on the best they can. Ellie's mother (Laurel) and father (Paul) are divorced, and Laurel has started dating a single father. When she meets one of his daughters, Poppy, Laurel sees Ellie. But how can this be? Told through multiple narrators both in the present and past, the story unfolds to answer that question. I think the twist here is that it was not as twisted as I was expecting. But Jewell keeps the tension throughout, there were moments where I was thinking "Why are you going in there Laurel?!" Jewell even jokes about it in the novel. If you like thrillers/mysteries/suspense novels then this is a good one to pick up.
The Broken Girls by Simone St. James
4.0
There's something wrong at Idlewild Hall, an all-girls boarding school in Vermont. The isolated school has been shuttered for decades but a new owner has bought it with the intention of reopening the school, or so it appears. Journalist Fiona Sheridan is out to figure out why. There are multiple stories here, and the narrative is both past (1950s) and present (2014) and told from different points of view. This is a historical fiction that's part eerie ghost story and part true crime. I really enjoyed the parts that were set in the 50s and the friendship between the girls, I could've easily read an entire book on just them. Overall, pretty gripping read!
The Lying Game by Ruth Ware
3.0
This is my second book in a row that involves four girls at a boarding school (the first was The Broken Girls), so maybe that's why I didn't enjoy this Ruth Ware outing as much as I thought I would. It also could be that I didn't like any of the characters. isa, Kate, Fati, and Thea have a game, the lying game. It involves lying to anyone and everyone to trick them, and the more fantastical the tale the better. They're clique-ish and definitely on the bully-ish side. But the girls have a secret, and it's one they've held onto for over a decade. But the past has a way of not staying buried. This book took well over 200 pages to start to grab my attention, and I'm just not sure it was worth the wait. I have enjoyed some of Ware's other outings, so I'm disappointed here, but I'm still going to pick up the last novel of hers I haven't yet read, In a Dark, Dark Wood. 2.5 stars here.
The Autobiography of Gucci Mane by Neil Martinez-Belkin, Gucci Mane
4.0
Guicci's story takes him from his time as a 13-year-old drug dealer in the streets of Alabama to a dealer and rapper in the street of Atlanta; from the red carpets of music and film events to jail and federal prison. It's a story of making something out of nothing.
So far this year, I have read Trevor Noah's and Tara Westover's memoirs and now Gucci's autobiography, and while they are all very different, they all give interesting looks into lives very different than my own, and I have a great appreciation for that. I have to admit some ignorance here, I knew generally who Gucci was, but I don't know much about music, and I did not know much of his music. By the end of the book, I got curious and listened to a some of his songs and his proteges songs, and while it is not my cup of tea, I definitely have a new appreciation for not only Gucci's particular style of trap music but also his work ethic and dedication to his trade; the man is prolific.
Memoirs/Autobiographies are hard for me to rate. This did not have the humor of Born a Crime or the intellectual flair of Educated, which makes sense. That is not who Gucci is. He is not a comedian and he didn't go to Cambridge, his education was of a different sort. Some things of note with this one: there is a lot of name dropping and due to my ignorance it was sometimes hard to grasp the importance of whom he was working with on songs. Gucci got help writing this book from Neil Martinez-Belkin, but I think his personality comes through. He's straightforward in what he's done to get where he's gotten in life. Finally, Gucci doesn't apologize for his past, he simply presents his story, and as Gucci said himself, this "is just a fascinating story."
So far this year, I have read Trevor Noah's and Tara Westover's memoirs and now Gucci's autobiography, and while they are all very different, they all give interesting looks into lives very different than my own, and I have a great appreciation for that. I have to admit some ignorance here, I knew generally who Gucci was, but I don't know much about music, and I did not know much of his music. By the end of the book, I got curious and listened to a some of his songs and his proteges songs, and while it is not my cup of tea, I definitely have a new appreciation for not only Gucci's particular style of trap music but also his work ethic and dedication to his trade; the man is prolific.
Memoirs/Autobiographies are hard for me to rate. This did not have the humor of Born a Crime or the intellectual flair of Educated, which makes sense. That is not who Gucci is. He is not a comedian and he didn't go to Cambridge, his education was of a different sort. Some things of note with this one: there is a lot of name dropping and due to my ignorance it was sometimes hard to grasp the importance of whom he was working with on songs. Gucci got help writing this book from Neil Martinez-Belkin, but I think his personality comes through. He's straightforward in what he's done to get where he's gotten in life. Finally, Gucci doesn't apologize for his past, he simply presents his story, and as Gucci said himself, this "is just a fascinating story."