Before the Fall by Noah Hawley

 
 

“Life is a series of decisions and reactions. It is the things you do and the things that are done to you.
And then it's over.”
― Noah Hawley, Before the Fall

Within 18 minutes of take off a private jet crashes into the ocean. Two will survive, an artist and the sole heir to a fortune.

Scott and four year old JJ float in the ocean, full of plane debris and fuel. Scott quickly realizes that he is their only hope for survival. He determines which way is to the shore and with little JJ on tow, sets off swimming, hoping that he has chosen the correct direction.

The mystery surrounding the crash is heightened by a variety of circumstances.  Is it an accident, terrorism or sabotage?

The story is told in multiple point of views. The chapters are relatively short and provide enough background characters to give insight to the story and wrap up the conclusion.

The book starts off strong and interesting. Holding ones attention and then is falters for a bit and picks back up. I was engrossed with this page turner. I loved the end but I can see how many will despite it.

I recommend this to those of you looking for a good mystery thriller.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

I was lucky enough to get an ARC (advanced readers copy) of Gone Girl back in 2012, I felt it was time to revisit it and I found that I enjoyed it now just as much as I did then! You can read my review from 2012 by clicking HERE.


‘You two are the most fucked-up people I have ever met, and I specialize in fucked-up people.”
― Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl    

Gone Girl is a fast paced, exciting read! It's about a young married couple named Nick and Amy who are down on their luck and move away from Amy's beloved New York to a Nick's small hometown in Missouri to care for his ailing mother and open up a bar on what is left of Amy's trust fund monies.

The bar allows for the Dunne's to leave a comfortable life but Amy is terribly unhappy, hates the home they are living in and their once romantic, loving marriage had turned. On the day of their wedding anniversary, Amy disappears. The crime scene appears staged and Nick is the number one suspect.

Nick pleads his innocence and go on the annual anniversary scavenge hunt that Amy has set up. The hunt and solving the too easy clues puts Nick in situations that make him more suspect to investigators. Amy is quite clever and is setting, Nick up to take the fall.

Amy is a sociopath, plain and simple. She is on crazy b***h but Nick, has weaved his own tight web of misdeeds. It's difficult to talk about the plot without revealing it but it is dark, twisted and ugly.


This is by far my favorite book by Flynn.

The Year We Turned Forty by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke

I didn't read the synopsis of, "The Year We Turned Forty" and it ended up being completely different than I anticipated and as a result of this, I was loss for a bit until I figured out what was going on!

The book starts off with our main characters about to turn 50 (see why I was lost?!?) 
Jessie, Gabriela, and Claire are best friends and have made it a tradition to celebrate their birthday's that are close in date to one another.  For their 50th birthday they have chosen Vegas as their party destination. 

A drift and secrets between the friends have changed the dynamics of their friendship in the past 10 years and they are all distinctly aware of this. The past ten years have been met with many ups and downs and some life altering experiences. There has been death, divorce, birth and career highs but when they are given the opportunity by a magician to travel back to the year their turned 40 they take it.

They are given exactly one year to relive their 40th year before deciding if the want to stay on that timeline continuum or return to their 50s. The journey they embark gives them an opportunity to fix past mistakes but new unexpected problems arise making their choice to stay or leave more difficult than the ever though possible.

This book is filled with great characters and the multiple timelines are easily identifiable. This is a perfect beach read and leaves you wondering if you'd ever redo a time period of your life. I wouldn't, would you?

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

" I miss myself." 

"I miss you, too, Ali, so much."

" I never planned to get like this."

"I know." 

-Still Alice by Lisa  Genova

 

I read, Still Alice in March of 2009 and decided it was time to revisit this story. I remain moved and heartbroken. Alice has been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease and this is her story. It is unique in that the story is told from Alice's perspective. We usually read/hear about how, Alzheimer impacts the family and not the individual.

Genova has written Alice's story so that you live if with her, through her mind. You feel her anguish, frustrations, fear and doubts. As a reader you lose your "mind" right along with, Alice. You experience the horror of watching yourself forget who you are and who those around you are. Simple, tasks that we take for granted become nearly impossible feats. 

Alice is resilient, high intelligent, fiercely educated and independent but Alzheimer's slowly eats away at those traits, turning her into a former version of herself. Imagine for a moment that you can no longer participate in your favorite activity, for example: You can no longer read a novel because you can't recall what happened 5 pages ago or you reread the same passage over and over and can't keep it in your memory. That is life with Alzheimer's in every capacity.

It is a disease with no cure. I imagine it to be a cruel disease that leave you in a perpetual state of confusion and fear. I have witnessed it. My great-grandmother was diagnosed and the last few years of her life were brutal. She couldn't remember eating, moments after you took away her plate. She couldn't remember that a glass/cup could be placed on a table, so she threw it wherever it would land instead (sometimes aiming at you).

Be prepared to self-analyze yourself while reading this. I know I did!

 

The Way I Used to Be by Amber Smith

Eden is only 14 years old when her innocence is ripped away from her. She is left broken and in a tangle of bloody sheets after her brothers bestfriend, Kevin rapes her.

He sneaks into her room like a thief and robs her of everything that made, Eden who she was. Threats force her to keep his secret and she is faced with seeing him over and over again.

This one night changes the face of, Eden, her very being. She is left broken, angry, empty and forever altered. She uses her own sexuality in an attempt to take back control of what she lost.

Eden destroys relationships with those she treasures the most to mask her own fears and to avoid making herself vulnerable.

This is an emotionally driven novel is told in four parts. It is the most realistic written fiction I have read this year.

First Comes Love by Emily Giffin

 First Comes Love will be released on June 28th, 2016!

 

Emily Giffin understands the complexity between families and it is reflected in her characters. They are real, flawed and crafted beautifully.

Nearly 15 years has passed since the death of Josie and Meredith's brother. The family is still dealing with the fallout of his death in some not so healthy ways. Josie and Meredith are as different as night and day, causing a seemingly unbreakable rift between them. They both hold secrets that are in a way connected to the death of their brother. Secrets that have put them in their current path of life.

Josie is single and a first grade teacher. An ex whom she still holds a flame for her has a daughter who has just ended up in her class. Josie spirals into a mid-life crisis and because obsessed with becoming a mother. Meredith is married, has a four year old daughter and works as an attorney. Meredith is restless, trapp
ed and unhappy. Both women will have to face the past and Dannie's death in order to find a semblance of peace and happiness.

First Comes Love is an easy, enjoyable and entertaining read. If you only read one book this summer, let it be this one.

Grade: A+

The Crown by Kiera Cass

The Crown is part of the selection series and it follows American and Maxon's daughter Eadlyn. 

Eadlyn has to step up and rule the country while trying to select her future husband. Eadyln is a brat but has good intentions. She is just young and immature but when tragedy forces her to grow up she steps up to the plate. Her new role as Queen is complicated by the fact that she has to select her future husband and no one seems quite right for her.

This characters are very different from American and Maxon as they should be, giving this book and the previous one (The Heir) deal with a different cast of characters. I like the mix up and I found that ending to be very fitting.

This is a very simple and fun read, broken down into short chapters.

Grade: A

Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben

The nanny camera captured Joe's image as he  played with his daughter but ... Joe is dead. Maya buried her husband weeks ago and she is now on a truth seeking mission.

Maya is no stranger to missions, she's a pilot for the army and has been in combat zones but this mission might prove to be more than she can handle.

Coben,  knows how to write a page turner and the ending wasn't what I expected. I thought, I had it figured out but I was wrong, wrong, wrong!

I don't want to introduce a spoiler, so all I can say is go out, pick it up and read it. You will not be disappointed.

Grade: A

A Mother's Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy by Sue Klebold and Andrew Solomon

I remember the tragedy of Columbine. It has been seared into my memory clear as day. I remember the sadness I felt for the victims and the parents of the perpetrators. To all who sit and judge, remember this could happen to you.

The Klebold's were blamed for the actions of their child and expected to have answers for why their son, helped to commit this atrocity. The answers to these questions died with those two young men who, themselves might not have even known.

Sue is candid and open about how difficult it was for her to fully accept that her son was not who she thought he was -- that he was a killer. Sue gives us a sobering look into the lives of those we love and how little we actually know about them.

There are no revelations or answers in this book. This book is about a mother coming to terms with what her son did and opening up to the public.

She will be judged critically because everyone makes the assumption that she could of, should have done more, or that they would have known. To those who sit and judge I ask you to reflect back into your life .... as a teen (and even know) and what you didn't let your family know about it. We need to stop putting blame on others and place it on those who are responsible.

[No grade because of the subject matter]

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella by Stephenie Meyer

I really hated this book when I first read it and now I really like it! I think having read the series in sequence rather than in a span of time has made me appreciate it much.

Initially I hated, hated the Bree character and now -- I really adore her.  She is spunky and her story within itself is pretty sad.  I didn't realize what a proactive, independent and free thinking characters she is.  The development between Bree and Diego is perhaps the most intriguing relationship that Meyer has even written.

Meyer often tells readers that "newborn" vampires are out of control  and have no impulse control however Bree seems to have more control than one would expect of a 3 month old vampire. I was taken back by this and have to wonder if Meyer choose to introduce a "calm" newly made vamp to make her a sympathetic character or because she can't conjure the feral atmosphere of new vamps that she had prepared readers for.


Nevertheless this novella made for a much more palpable read this time around.
This is also my favorite cover of the series.

Grade: B+

Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer

The conclusion of The Twilight Series was fitting to the story lines. A few really random, over the top and silly things happen but what do you expect from a series based upon sparkling vampire's?

The most interesting part of the series is the history and story behind vampire children. My previous review showed that I liked it more than, then I do now. I found this to be very interesting. 

I am still not a big fan of Bella or Edward but am anxious to know more about the other cast of characters. I find it very interesting that minor characters are much more alluring. It seems that Meyer is better are telling stories that aren't of a romantic human-vampire nature.

So ... Breaking Dawn is a heavy book weighing in at about 768 pages. The story could have been told in less than half of those pages essentially this is what happens. An unusual child breed from vampire and human is born. This child is special and a vampire who is not part of the Cullen clan views it and reports if to the "powers".  They believe that a vampire child was created and since this is against the rules the Volturi are out to destroy the Cullen clan. The, Cullen gather groups of friends to witness that the child was not created but born and then they all live happily ever after.

Grade: C