Then She was Gone

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Talk about creepy & emotional.
This story of a missing girl & what happened to her really got to me. It held my attention & kept me wrapped up in how it was all going to end. I ended the book so sad for Ellie & her family & just so super freaked out at the crazy mentality of people.
I'm still a little confused about what happened to Frank - I mean, I know what happened to Frank - but the why. I dont think he deserved that ending really.
I really enjoyed the style of writing - seeing everyone's story from different time lines of the events. It makes me want to check out this author again & see if the suspense & the story telling is just as good.

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THEN
She was fifteen, her mother's 
golden girl. She had her whole life ahead of her. 
And then, in the blink of an eye, Ellie was gone. 

NOW 
It’s been ten years since Ellie 
disappeared, but Laurel has never given up 
hope of finding her daughter.
And then one day a charming and charismatic stranger called Floyd walks into a café and sweeps Laurel off her feet. 
Before too long she’s staying the night at this house and being introduced to his nine year old daughter. 
Poppy is precocious and pretty - and meeting her completely takes Laurel's breath away. 

Because Poppy is the spitting image of Ellie when she was that age.
And now all those unanswered questions that have haunted Laurel come flooding back. 

What happened to Ellie? Where did she go? 
Who still has secrets to hide?

The Wife Between Us

The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

*Would like to give 3.5 stars*
I saw everyone reading this & excited to find it in the library.
I was into it from the first chapter & it held my attention it all the way through. Love the little turns & surprises in the story. I will say, I wasn't as shocked by Daniel as I think I'm supposed to be - I think I've read a lot worse in books about some crazy characters.
But I did enjoy the twists throughout the book. You really have to pay attention because the story jumps back & forth throughout & it could be easy to get lost in what period of time you are in.

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When you read this book, you will make many assumptions.
You will assume you are reading about a jealous wife and her obsession with her replacement.
You will assume you are reading about a woman about to enter a new marriage with the man she loves.
You will assume the first wife was a disaster and that the husband was well rid of her.
You will assume you know the motives, the history, the anatomy of the relationships.
Assume nothing.

The Outsiders

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I cant believe I had never read this book. I remember the movie so clearly & reading the book, I could envision it all over again. & of course, the book is so much better. I even had to look up the movie cast to get who played who so I could envision them while reading. I'm a sucker for Patrick Swayze in my mind for any novel. But it was just as heart wrecking reading it as watching it on the screen. This is one book that I can say was really true to the movie - or vice versa. Glad I took the time to read it. Stay Golden Ponyboy

View all my reviews The Outsiders is about two weeks in the life of a 14-year-old boy. The novel tells the story of Ponyboy Curtis and his struggles with right and wrong in a society in which he believes that he is an outsider. According to Ponyboy, there are two kinds of people in the world: greasers and socs. A soc (short for "social") has money, can get away with just about anything, and has an attitude longer than a limousine. A greaser, on the other hand, always lives on the outside and needs to watch his back. Ponyboy is a greaser, and he's always been proud of it, even willing to rumble against a gang of socs for the sake of his fellow greasers--until one terrible night when his friend Johnny kills a soc. The murder gets under Ponyboy's skin, causing his bifurcated world to crumble and teaching him that pain feels the same whether a soc or a greaser

The Vegetarian

The Vegetarian by Han Kang
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I know I'm not on the majority of this.
This book just left me disturbed & bothered, which shows a book moves you - but it just left me angry that I wasted my time.
I think something got lost in the translation for me & just the story with 3 different points of views of a woman who seems mentally is, it just made me glad to close the cover & walk away from it.

View all my reviews Before the nightmare, Yeong-hye and her husband lived an ordinary life. But when splintering, blood-soaked images start haunting her thoughts, Yeong-hye decides to purge her mind and renounce eating meat. In a country where societal mores are strictly obeyed, Yeong-hye's decision to embrace a more “plant-like” existence is a shocking act of subversion. And as her passive rebellion manifests in ever more extreme and frightening forms, scandal, abuse, and estrangement begin to send Yeong-hye spiraling deep into the spaces of her fantasy. In a complete metamorphosis of both mind and body, her now dangerous endeavor will take Yeong-hye—impossibly, ecstatically, tragically—far from her once-known self altogether.

It Ends with Us

It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am so emotionally vested in this book. It wasn't what I was expecting & I didnt realize the topic this book was going to take but man, it held me in. I was rooting for each person in their own way - to be stronger, to get help, to get better, to walk away, to stay... what a wonderfully written book this was. Completely grabbed me in. & I loved the history in the story of Atlas & Lily growing up & reading her journals from being a teenager. I really am glad I finally got around to this book. What a insightful look inside of domestic abuse. Loved reading the epilogue as well to find out more about the story behind the book. Makes it even more powerful to me.


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Sometimes it is the one who loves you who hurts you the most.

Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up
— she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life suddenly seems almost too good to be true.

Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt. Lily can’t get him out of her head. But Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his “no dating” rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place.

As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan — her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.

Behind Closed Doors

Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book totally disturbed me - so I guess that's the mark of a good book.
It made me angry, it made me frustrated, it made me sad, it made me fist pump with excitement, & it so ticked off. I could just put myself in Grace's position & I could think of 100 ways I'd handle the situation.... all of them totally different from Grace. Of course.
I really enjoyed the pace of this book going back & forth from the past to the present, tying the full story together... & I especially got excited as the end came closer & seeing how Jack & Grace would end up.
Side note - I feel like everyone needs a code for HELP now. & I'm going to be the Esther in every day life now.

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Everyone knows a couple like Jack and Grace: he has looks and wealth, she has charm and elegance. You'd like to get to know Grace better. But it's difficult, because you realize Jack and Grace are never apart. Some might call this true love.

Picture this: a dinner party at their perfect home, the conversation and wine flowing. They appear to be in their element while entertaining. And Grace's friends are eager to reciprocate with lunch the following week. Grace wants to go, but knows she never will. Her friends call—so why doesn't Grace ever answer the phone? And how can she cook such elaborate meals but remain so slim?

And why are there bars on one of the bedroom windows?

The perfect marriage? Or the perfect lie?

Thirteen Reasons Why (Reread)

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

SO I see I read this in 2011. 6 years. No wonder I didnt remember all the details watching the show.
But it was so interesting reading it again after watching the show & comparing. All the differences & all the things that are similar. All of it heartbreaking.
I do have to say, I like the order they did the tapes in the show compared to the book... I rarely say this, but I think I actually like the show better than the book.

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This is Where It Ends

This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I wasn't sure if I should give it one star or be generous & give two... but I just really didnt like much about this book at all.
First, I knew the topic of a school shooting was going to be intense. I just didnt realize how intense this was going to be. Like a little too much for me. A little too much in the sense that it was too fast & too scattered in the story telling.
We're seeing this story of a teenager come to an auditorium & lock the students in & go on a shooting rampage. Why? Because he obviously is troubled. He's lost his mother - his father is abusive - & apparently he can't handle his sister's sexuality. It all just angered me because it felt like none of it made any sense. I guess in reality, most shootings dont make sense - so I'll give it that.
& in each chapter, we are visiting with each of the 4 people centrally involved - Ty's sister, her girlfriend, the girlfriend's brother & Ty's ex girlfriend.
To say there were a lot of characters to keep up with is an understatement. For every 4 of the stories, there are a few more people connected to each one. It can get sketchy on whose who.
& in the end? I was just angry at who didn't make it out of the school at the end of the day & the results for Ty.
I didn't find any enjoyment in this book at all. Left angry & frustrated. Again, could make it a better than 1 star rating? But let's just chalk this rating up to my anger speaking.

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10:00 a.m. The principal of Opportunity High School finishes her speech, welcoming the entire student body to a new semester and encouraging them to excel and achieve.

10:02 a.m. The students get up to leave the auditorium for their next class.

10:03 a.m. The auditorium doors won't open.

10:05 a.m. Someone starts shooting.

Told from four different perspectives over the span of fifty-four harrowing minutes, terror reigns as one student’s calculated revenge turns into the ultimate game of survival. 

Heart of Tin

Heart of Tin by Danielle Paige
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Oh wow.. my ratings are just going down & down in this series. & I was a big promoter of this Dorothy Must Die series. But something has been going downhill after the first book & the first 3 novellas....

This was another one of the novellas - a quick read to catch up on the story of the Tin Man & all about his heart & how much he loved Dorothy & was so ready to woo her when she returns to Oz.

It just sort of got irritating to me. The helpless puppy act was just getting old.

& then when it talks about the change that occurs with him & slightly with the Scarecrow (his novella is out next) - it honestly just is getting a little too dark for me. Parts of me made me literally nauseated. It seems to have gone from a young adult novel to some sort of twisted story.

This makes me very nervous for the next book... I'll give it one more shot. Hoping for the best, not sure what to expect.

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