Cover Crush – 2021/10/28

This week, I came across this cover that I am obsessed with. I’ve never heard of this book before or seen anyone on any of my social medias talk about it, but when I found it I was very intrigued!

Goodreads Synopsis:

Born just ten months apart, July and September are thick as thieves, never needing anyone but each other. Now, following a case of school bullying, the teens have moved away with their single mother to a long-abandoned family home near the shore. In their new, isolated life, July finds that the deep bond she has always shared with September is shifting in ways she cannot entirely understand. A creeping sense of dread and unease descends inside the house. Meanwhile, outside, the sisters push boundaries of behavior—until a series of shocking encounters tests the limits of their shared experience, and forces shocking revelations about the girls’ past and future.

Sisters is a one-two punch of wild fury and heartache—a taut, powerful, and deeply moving account of sibling love and what happens when two sisters must face each other’s darkest impulses.

I love a good romance as much as the next girl, but I really enjoy when books focus on something other than that. This cover drew me in because I love how you can’t really decipher what the face looks like, even though all the pieces are right there in front of you. Sometimes, you can be looking right at someone and not really see them, and that is what this cover conveys to me.

If anyone has read this book, I would love to hear your thoughts 🙂

– Catherine

Let’s connect! Goodreads | Twitter

---

Review// Confessions on the 7:45 by Lisa Unger

Author: Lisa Unger
Series: Standalone
Genre: Mystery/ Thriller
Release Date: October 6, 2020
Book Length: 368
Publisher: Park Row
Review: 2/5

My Review:

I realize this is a very niche preference, but something about a book with characters that meet on a train, or where is train is involved in some way instantly intrigues me, so of course I had to read this.

This book follows Selena, a working mother of 2 young boys, who misses her usual train one day after spying her nanny, Geneva, and husband, Graham, cheating on their nanny cam. On the 7:45 train home, she has an eerie encounter with a stranger whom she confides in about what she just witnessed. A few days later, their nanny mysteriously vanishes without a trace. The book goes back and forth between a few POV’s as the reader tries to piece together what has happened.

I have a love/hate relationship with books that have multiple POVs. On one hand, I think this style works so well with mystery/ thrillers because it keeps you guessing for longer and allows for so much anticipation from all the cliffhangers each person’s unique POV leaves you on. On the other hand, when you have too many cooks in the kitchen, the recipe can get messy, fast. Some of the POVs confused me to the point where I had to back track to make sure I was understanding correctly, and while it’s not a huge deal, it can be annoying to continuously feel like you’re not quite caught up on who is who and what is going on. I think half of the POVs weren’t even necessary, which made me so bored when those ones came along.

This book gave off a major ‘man hating’ vibe as well, which was quite strange. How it is that not one man in that town was faithful or trustworthy!?

*MINOR SPOILER AHEAD

Not to mention, how far fetched is it that on the night of the nanny’s disappearance, Selena’s young son who couldn’t have been more than 10 years old had recorded her unbeknownst to her on his iPad? Aside from the fact that it’s highly coincidental and pretty creepy, are iPad-quality videos even that good? * Spoiler ended.

I get that coincidences happen in life, and they have to happen in books to move the plot along, but it was a bit much.

Anyway, this book was okay – it had some interesting moments, but the switching between characters and one character having multiple aliases and names in the midst of all of that really did me in. This could have been better if at least one character was likable, but I was not rooting for anybody in the book. The only person I was rooting for was myself to finish this as soon as possible to get on with something better.

– Catherine

Let’s connect! Goodreads | Twitter

---

Books As Outfits – Mini Reviews

I remember when the books as outfits trend was going around last year (or was it this year – I can’t keep up), and I thought it was such a cool trend. I kind of wanted to bring it back in a way, but instead of me dressing up to match the aesthetic of the book, I wanted to find outfits online that both resembled the vibe of the cover / the book’s contents, or would be something I might wear if I were a bit bolder with my looks.

So, here are mini reviews of the last 3 books I’ve read, and outfits I think would accompany them.

Okay I really liked this one! The whole time I was reading, I was picturing the show (which I can’t wait until it returns for S2). I really like the aesthetic of books or shows set in the 1800s – give me a ball scene and I’m in! The reason I chose this outfit is because the time period definitely gives this book a bit of a conservative undertone, and I think this outfit is both conservative and classy. The sparkly shoe gives me a Princess / Duchess vibe and brings something fun to the whole ensemble; just like the book, it is classy but fun.

I don’t have TikTok, but I believe this book was blowing up there originally at one point because I saw a lot of people tweeting about it in the last few months. This book was addictive. It does deal with some pretty heavy topics like alcoholism, sex addiction, and sexual assault, but it does not sugar coat them at all. It set the stage well for the other books in the series – I really liked the characters, especially the side characters. I chose this outfit because the colour and cut outs resemble the torn up heart on the cover. Though I don’t know where I would wear it, I reaaaallly like this outfit.

It had been a while since I last read a classic before this one. Sometimes it can be easy to think that in the grand scheme of things you don’t matter, and that you are just one of billions in the world, which is what the protagonist, Eddie, felt. However, each of us does have a great impact on other people’s lives whether we realized it at the time or not, and that is mainly what this book is about. This book was sad and touching, and made me think very deeply about my life. I chose this outfit to accompany the book because like the book, it is a classic, and you can never go wrong with a monochromatic look. If you told me people wore this outfit in past decades, I would believe you just as much as if you told me you were wearing it today. Just like the outfit, The Five People You Meet in Heaven is timeless.

– Catherine

Let’s connect! Goodreads | Twitter

---

Top 5 Wednesday | Bookworm Characters

Top 5 Wednesday is a weekly prompt originally created by Lainey @GingerReadsLainey on Youtube. Every Wednesday, you are presented with a new topic and list your top 5 books related to that topic. You can join the Goodreads group HERE!

This week’s prompt focuses on characters that love to read. Not gonna lie, when I pick up a book and the characters also talk about loving to read, it ups the star rating immediately, so I was really excited to see this prompt for the week!

Matilda Wormwood from Matilda

This list just wouldn’t be complete without Matilda; she stole my heart immediately. Not only does she love to read and is super smart, but she is also such a sweet little girl and you can’t help but root for her to succeed.

Alex Nilsen from People We Meet on Vacation

Alex is top tier book boyfriend material! In the very first chapter of the book, he was sat at a bar reading a book, and from that moment on, I knew I would fall in love with him. Spoiler Alert: I did.

Klaus Baudelaire from A Series of Unfortunate Events

I was obsessed with this series as a kid, and I really enjoyed the movies too! I love all the Baudelaire siblings, but I think I relate the most to Klaus’ personality, and I like that his bookish nature and photographic memory can help him and his siblings escape precarious situations.

Elena Greco from the My Brilliant Friend Series

My Brilliant Friend is an underrated book that I don’t see being posted about often, if ever. The series follows Elena Greco and her best friend, Lila Cerullo starting in the 1950s in Naples. Both girls are very smart and love to read, but live in a pretty poor neighborhood where the opportunity to advance their studies is not a given. The dynamic of their friendship is an interesting one to read about, and it is high on my list of best historical fictions I’ve read.

Joe Goldberg from You

I read the book before it became a Netflix series, so when I heard that it was going to be adapted for TV, I was really excited because I loved Joe. Not only does he enjoy reading, but he manages a bookstore. I definitely think he is a terrible person, but the way he was written made me enjoy being inside his mind, regardless of how twisted it is.

These are my top 5 book characters that love to read (off the top of my head) – who are yours? 🙂

– Catherine

Let’s connect! Goodreads | Twitter

---

Review// The Guest List by Lucy Foley

Author: Lucy Foley
Series: Standalone
Genre: Mystery/ Thriller
Release Date: June 2, 2020
Book Length: 330
Publisher: William Morrow
Review: 5/5

My Review:

On an eerie, seemingly haunted island off the coast of Ireland, a beautiful, successful couple – he a television star, she a magazine publisher – celebrates their wedding. The happiest day of their lives, right? Wrong. As the events of the weekend start to unfold, secrets are spilled that link the guests, who otherwise have never met, in ways you wouldn’t imagine. At the end of the wedding day, someone ends up dead, but who is it, and why?

Picked this one up on a whim and my mind is blown; I was not expecting to love it as much as I did! The ambiance of the book was amazing. It felt like I was there on that spooky island, a fly on the wall listening in on all the private conversations that held tantalizing secrets – one more shocking than the last. There were quite a few different points of view in this book, and while that can sometimes be confusing, it was done so well! Although some of the characters annoyed me, I enjoyed all viewpoints, and after every chapter, there was a cliff hanger that made me want to read “just one more”. This book kept me guessing who the killer was, right up until it was revealed.

I flew through this book in 48 hours, and if I hadn’t stopped myself multiple times, I would have easily finished it much quicker. Gripping, scandalous, and cryptic: all words I would use to describe The Guest List. It’s no wonder it won Goodreads Choice as best mystery/thriller of 2020. 

– Catherine

Let’s connect! Goodreads | Twitter

---