Weekly Reads: Landline

Landline is the newest book by one of my favorite authors, Rainbow Rowell. In Landline, she is going back to where she started with an adult novel (Eleanor & Park and Fangirl were two of my favorite books of 2013, and are YA books). I received an ARC of this book for review and had to hold off from reading it asap, as I wanted to read it at the same time as my co-worker to discuss. And then I went and jumped the gun anyway. Oops.

I wasn't as immediately wrapped up in this story as I have been with some of her other books. But to be fair, while I was reading Fangirl, I didn't want to stop reading because I actually felt like I was a part of their world and didn't want the spell to break, and I realize that's pretty darn rare.

This book will definitely resonate with couples that have been together for a long time, and above all is a really great love story.

Also, there were pugs. Did I mention there were pugs??  Because OMG PUGS. She didn't even need to include pugs for me to like the story, but she did anyway. This is true author/reader kinship, for sure.

Read it. Now.

My rating: 4.5 stars.

Summary from goodreads:

Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble. That it’s been in trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her, deeply — but that almost seems besides the point now.

Maybe that was always besides the point.

Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can’t go. She’s a TV writer, and something’s come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her — Neal is always a little upset with Georgie — but she doesn’t expect to him to pack up the kids and go home without her.

When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she’s finally done it. If she’s ruined everything.

That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It’s not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she’s been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts . . .

Is that what she’s supposed to do?

Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?

Weekly Reads: The One Plus One

One Plus One is the latest book from one of my favorite authors, Jojo Moyes. Previously I've fallen in love with her books The Last Letter from Your Lover and Me Before You so I was ecstatic to get my hands on an e-ARC to the book this spring. Jojo Moyes is great at telling a love story with so much more dimension than your typical love story, and this book was no different. However, it lacked some of the greatness of the previous two novels. Don't get me wrong, it was still an excellent read, but compared to the others, just wasn't as great. Still certainly worth a read!

My rating: 3.5

Summary from goodreads:

One single mum
With two jobs and two children, Jess Thomas does her best day after day. But it's hard on your own. And sometimes you take risks you shouldn't. Because you have to . . .

One chaotic family
Jess's gifted, quirky daughter Tanzie is brilliant with numbers, but without a helping hand she'll never get the chance to shine. And Nicky, Jess's teenage stepson, can't fight the bullies alone. 
Sometimes Jess feels like they're sinking . . .

One handsome stranger
Into their lives comes Ed Nicholls, a man whose life is in chaos, and who is running from a deeply uncertain future. But he has time on his hands. He knows what it's like to be lonely. And he wants to help . . .

One unexpected love story
The One Plus One is a captivating and unconventional romance from Jojo Moyes about two lost souls meeting in the most unlikely circumstances.

Weekly Reads: Catching Air

Catching Air is the newest book by Sarah Pekkanen. I received an advanced copy of this book to read and was excited to dive in. It was published yesterday, so start tracking it down! I've been reading a lot of "heavy" books and needed something light with a happy ending, I figured Pekkanen would do that justice. The story is set in Vermont in the winter in a B&B. When I say that I usually enjoy Pekkanen's books, what I really mean is I spend 250-350 pages lusting after the setting, and this one was no different. Can I buy a B&B also? Please? This was a good, fast read.

My rating: 3.5 stars

Summary from goodreads:

From the internationally bestselling author of four books, including The Opposite of Me, a vibrant, compulsively readable novel about two married couples who pursue a dream to open a bed-and-breakfast in small-town Vermont.

A chance to run a B&B in snowy, remote Vermont—it’s an offer Kira Danner can’t resist after six soul-crushing years of working as a lawyer in Florida. As Kira and her husband, Peter, step into a brand new life, she quells her fears about living with the B&B’s co-owners: Peter’s sexy, irresponsible brother Rand, and Rand’s wife, Alyssa…who is essentially a stranger.

For her part, Alyssa sees taking over the B&B as the latest in a string of adventures. Plus, a quiet place might help her recover from the news that she can’t bear children. But the idyllic town proves to be anything but serene: Within weeks, the sisters-in-law are scrambling to prepare for their first big booking—a winter wedding—and soon a shy, mysterious woman comes to work for them. Dawn Zukoski is hiding something; that much is clear. But what the sisters-in-law don't realize is that Dawn is also hiding from someone…

Relatable and dynamic, Catching Air delves deeply into the vital relationships that give shape to women’s lives.

Weekly Reads: Good Luck of Right Now

The Good Luck of Right Now is the second book I've read by Matthew Quick, (Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock was the first, my review here). The Silver Lining Playbook's author went back to an adult book with his latest release. The story is told in letters from our main character, Bartholomew to actor Richard Gere, and I'm quite the sucker for unique perspectives (I really enjoyed Where'd You Go, Bernadette for this same reason). I wasn't as immediately sucked in to this book as I was Forgive Me, LP, and I wasn't as emotionally drained after finishing it either, which is a good thing. I'm currently trying to take a break from soul crushing, spirit draining reads that make me want to save everyone from everything. That gets exhausting.

Definitely a worthwhile read, but if you're only going to read one thing by Quick, I would still recommend Forgive Me Leonard Peacock as the one to read.

My rating: 3.5 stars.


Summary from goodreads:

Call it fate. Call it synchronicity. Call it an act of God. Call it . . . The Good Luck of Right Now. From the New York Times bestselling author of The Silver Linings Playbook comes an entertaining and inspiring tale that will leave you pondering the rhythms of the universe and marveling at the power of kindness and love.

For thirty-eight years, Bartholomew Neil has lived with his mother. When she gets sick and dies, he has no idea how to be on his own. His redheaded grief counselor, Wendy, says he needs to find his flock and leave the nest. But how does a man whose whole life has been grounded in his mom, Saturday mass, and the library learn how to fly?

Bartholomew thinks he’s found a clue when he discovers a “Free Tibet” letter from Richard Gere hidden in his mother’s underwear drawer. In her final days, mom called him Richard—there must be a cosmic connection. Believing that the actor is meant to help him, Bartholomew awkwardly starts his new life, writing Richard Gere a series of highly intimate letters. Jung and the Dalai Lama, philosophy and faith, alien abduction and cat telepathy, the Catholic Church and the mystery of women are all explored in his soul-baring epistles. But mostly the letters reveal one man’s heartbreakingly earnest attempt to assemble a family of his own.

A struggling priest, a “Girlbrarian,” her feline-loving, foul-mouthed brother, and the spirit of Richard Gere join the quest to help Bartholomew. In a rented Ford Focus, they travel to Canada to see the cat Parliament and find his biological father . . . and discover so much more.

Weekly Reads: Twisted Sisters

I put in a purchase request at my library for Jen Lancaster's newest book, Twisted Sisters as soon as I heard its release date, so I was the first one to get my hands on it at the library. 150 pages in, I was wishing I didn't pick it up at all. Lancaster's memoirs are pretty hilarious, but her last three works of fiction have fallen miserably short IMO. The only funny parts of the story were pieces of current pop culture rewritten in a humorous way. The main character was deplorable, which was the intention, but it was so hard to give a $#!+ if she righted her ways in the end. And don't even get me started on the body swapping crap. Ugh.

Oh! And my super nit-picky complaint about the book--the main character is a runner, and spouts her Chicago Marathon PR as 4:28 (or something close to that) and that her goal is to make it sub 10 minute miles. And then she goes on her usual five mile training run and runs it in 29 minutes. Um, nope.

My rating: 2.5 stars

Summary from goodreads:

Reagan Bishop is a pusher. A licensed psychologist who stars on the Wendy Winsberg cable breakout show I Need a Push, Reagan helps participants become their best selves by urging them to overcome obstacles and change behaviors. An overachiever, Reagan is used to delivering results.

Despite her overwhelming professional success, Reagan never seems to earn her family’s respect. Her younger sister, Geri, is and always will be the Bishop family favorite. When a national network buys Reagan’s show, the pressures for unreasonably quick results and higher ratings mount. But Reagan’s a clinician, not a magician, and fears witnessing her own personal failings in prime time. (And seriously? Her family will never let her hear the end of it.) Desperate to make the show work and keep her family at bay, Reagan actually listens when the show’s New Age healer offers an unconventional solution…

Record Nielsen ratings follow. But when Reagan decides to use her newfound power to teach everyone a lesson about sibling rivalry, she’s the one who will be schooled…

Best Adult Books Read in 2013

The following are my favorite adult books that I've read in 2013. A lot of them were published in 2013, but not all of them were. The book covers and hyperlinks will take you to amazon where you can purchase the books and I'll get a few pennies for the purchase. Otherwise you can get them from your local library. :)

Best Adult Books

5 stars


The Girl You Left Behind


Where'd You Go, Bernadette


Along Came a Spider

4 stars


Honeymoon in Paris


The Cuckoo's Calling


Attachments


Me Before You


Hansons Marathon Method: A Renegade Path to Your Fastest Marathon


The Best of Us


When She Woke


Chi Marathon: The Breakthrough Natural Running Program for a Pain-Free Half Marathon and Marathon


Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore


The Time Keeper

What adult books did I miss this year, so I can add them to my monster to be read pile????