I Liked My Life by Abby Fabiaschi

April 5, 2017 By Leave a Comment


I Liked My Life by Abby Fabiaschi
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Full Length (272 pgs)
Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by Cholla

Maddy is a devoted stay-at-home wife and mother, host of excellent parties, giver of thoughtful gifts, and bestower of a searingly perceptive piece of advice or two. She is the cornerstone of her family, a true matriarch…until she commits suicide, leaving her husband Brady and teenage daughter Eve heartbroken and reeling, wondering what happened. How could the exuberant, exacting woman they loved disappear so abruptly, seemingly without reason, from their lives? How they can possibly continue without her? As they sift through details of her last days, trying to understand the woman they thought they knew, Brady and Eve are forced to come to terms with unsettling truths.

Maddy, however, isn’t ready to leave her family forever. Watching from beyond, she tries to find the perfect replacement for herself. Along comes Rory: pretty, caring, and spontaneous, with just the right bit of edge…but who also harbors a tragedy of her own. Will the mystery of Maddy ever come to rest? And can her family make peace with their history and begin to heal?

Maddy Starling had it all. A beautiful house, fulfilling volunteer work, a successful husband and a beautiful daughter. She is the glue that holds her family’s world together. But when she commits suicide unexpectedly, everyone’s world is rocked to its core, leaving her family to wonder what they missed. How could they not have known she was so unhappy?

I Liked My Life is told through three alternating points of view – those of Maddy, the deceased mother who isn’t ready to let go of her family, Eve, the almost seventeen-year-old daughter, and Brady, the devoted if absent husband. Sometimes I’m wary of being in so many characters’ heads at one time, but this really works as you get a more complete view of how the family worked prior to Maddy’s suicide and the obstacles they now have to overcome.

This novel touched me in several ways. First, as the mother of two teenaged girls, I saw a lot of them in Eve. In her rebellion, her sarcasm, and her pain. I could also related to Eve’s situation as a daughter myself. I’m lucky enough to still have my mother in my life and couldn’t imagine what would have become of me if I’d lost her in my teens. I could also relate to Maddy’s view on her relationship both with her daughter and her husband. It’s such a fine balance between giving them a little leeway and letting them run all over you. Maddy seemed to have found the balance of power that worked for them all, even if she wasn’t always completely satisfied with the outcome.

I Liked My Life is a rollercoaster of emotions. There are moments that tug at your heartstrings, others that make you laugh or rage in anger. In the end, it’s a story of a life cut short and those that are left behind wondering what happened. It’s also a story about how life goes on and that through the pain, you can find happiness again.

Filed Under: Mainstream Fiction, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

Crimes Against a Book Club by Kathy Cooperman

March 30, 2017 By Leave a Comment


Crimes Against a Book Club by Kathy Cooperman
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Full Length (320 pgs)
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Cholla

Best friends Annie and Sarah need cash—fast. Sarah, a beautiful, successful lawyer, wants nothing more than to have a baby. But balancing IVF treatments with a grueling eighty-hour workweek is no walk in the park. Meanwhile, Annie, a Harvard-grad chemist recently transplanted to Southern California, is cutting coupons to afford her young autistic son’s expensive therapy.

Desperate, the two friends come up with a brilliant plan: they’ll combine Sarah’s looks and Annie’s brains to sell a “luxury” antiaging face cream to the wealthy, fading beauties in Annie’s La Jolla book club. The scheme seems innocent enough, until Annie decides to add a special—and oh-so-illegal—ingredient that could bring their whole operation crashing to the ground.

Hilarious, intelligent, and warm, Crimes Against a Book Club is a delightful look at the lengths women will go to fend for their families and for one another.

A mother will do anything for her child, that much is a given. So when it becomes clear that Annie’s autistic son needs expensive therapy, she turns to her best friend, Sarah, for help. Since Sarah, desperate for a baby of her own, needs some quick cash of her own for pricey IVF treatments, they put their heads together and come up with a plan. Although a crazy, outrageous plan that might just land them in the hottest water of their lives, it’s the only shot they have.

Crimes Against a Book Club hit me right where I live – my kids. Even though I can’t relate to Sarah’s plight with infertility, I can relate to how Annie was willing to go to jail to get her son the treatments he so desperately needed. I loved her relationship with Sarah, and it reminded me of my best friend who is also named Sarah. She’d never think twice to help me or one of my kids out in a time of need. Annie and Sarah have their ups and downs during the course of the story, but in the fashion of true, lifelong friends, they always find a way to meet on common ground.

Funny, heartwarming and a little left of center, Crimes Against a Book Club is a story about real life struggles tackled in an unconventional manner. The characters are real and relatable, even the upper crust members of the book club that Sarah and Annie target with their scam. It’s a story that proves the old saying that necessity is the mother of invention. My only complaint is that I wish there was a follow up novel telling us about Sarah and Annie’s life post book club, but I’m quite happy with what I got in the end. For a first novel, I’m impressed and cannot wait to see where the author takes us next.

Filed Under: Mainstream Fiction, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

Forever is the Worst Long Time by Camille Pagan

March 28, 2017 By Leave a Comment


Forever is the Worst Long Time by Camille Pagan
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Full Length (284 pgs)
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Cholla

When struggling novelist James Hernandez meets poet Louisa “Lou” Bell, he’s sure he’s just found the love of his life. There’s just one problem: she’s engaged to his oldest friend, Rob. So James toasts their union and swallows his desire.

As the years pass, James’s dreams always seem just out of reach—he can’t finish that novel, can’t mend his relationship with his father, can’t fully commit to a romantic relationship. He just can’t move on. But after betrayal fractures Lou’s once-solid marriage, she turns to James for comfort.

When Lou and James act on their long-standing mutual attraction, the consequences are more heartbreaking—and miraculous—than either of them could have ever anticipated. Then life throws James one more curveball, and he, Rob, and Lou are forced to come to terms with the unexpected ways in which love and loss are intertwined.

What do you do when you meet the love of your life? A better question is: what do you do when the love of your life is engaged to your best friend? This is the question that struggling novelist James Hernandez finds himself contemplating the day he meets Louisa Bell – the woman about to marry his longtime friend, Rob.

In a way, I can relate to James’ life. Never able to finish that novel, unable to move past his love for Lou, he stagnates, stuck on his dreams. But on the other hand, he doesn’t try very hard to move on from his feelings either. That’s where he and I differ. If he were a teenager, his inability to find happiness with someone other than his best friend’s wife would be understandable. However, as the years go by and his relationships continue to fail and his manuscripts never get finished, it gets to be a bit old. He has very little character growth until the last quarter of the novel.

Lou was much less annoying in the sense that she did everything she could to make her marriage to Rob, James’ best friend, work. Even when Rob wasn’t on board with it all. She doesn’t give in to her suppressed wishes until she realizes that things aren’t as perfect as she wants them to be. By that point, I couldn’t blame her, honestly. You can only give so much without getting anything in return before you stop giving.

I really struggled with the first half of this novel. It felt like it took a long time to get to the point where the ‘big thing’ happened and the story really started. Once we hit that point, I felt more invested in the characters and became involved in what was happening. The story that unraveled in the last third to half of the book was fascinating, engaging, and heartbreaking. I only wish that it had engaged me sooner. Overall, I did enjoy the story and the characters, but for me, it took entirely too long to set up what I felt to be the meat of the plot.

Filed Under: Mainstream Fiction, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

15th Affair by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

November 11, 2016 By Leave a Comment

affair
15th Affair by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Genre: Contemporary, Suspense/Mystery
Length: Full Length (351 pgs)
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Cholla

Detective Lindsay Boxer has everything she could possibly want. Her marriage and baby daughter are perfect, and life in Homicide in the San Francisco Police Department is going well. But all that could change in an instant.

Lindsay is called to a crime scene at the Four Seasons Hotel. There is a dead man in one of the rooms, shot at close range. The man checked in under a false name with no ID on him, so the first puzzle will be finding out who he is.

In the room next door are a dead young man and woman, also shot. They are surrounded by high-tech surveillance equipment. Could they have been spying on the man now dead in the room next to them?

And in the utilities cupboard down the hall is the dead body of a house maid. The murders are all clearly linked and professionally executed. But what is the motive behind it all? Lindsay will need to risk everything she has to find out.

Lindsay Boxer thinks she’s finally figured it out. She’s settled into her competing roles of mother, wife, and detective, and has even figured out how to balance the three (mostly) and keep everyone, including her dog, Martha, happy. But is it all a well-constructed façade or does she really have it all? Everything she knows and believes about her life is about to be rattled when a woman linked to the CIA disappears.

From the first pages of 1st to Die, I’ve loved Lindsay Boxer. She’s plucky, she’s smart, and she’s tough as nails. But, when it’s needed, she can be loyal, loving, and the best friend you’ve ever had. This kind of contrast can be rare in a female detective. In 15th Affair, Lindsay is knocked off her game and is walking a thin line between sanity and absolute chaos. As much as I hated to see her so out of sorts, it was a different sort of Boxer to watch.

My one complaint is that with every novel, the mysteries seem to get more and more convoluted. Generally, I don’t have a huge issue following along and understanding everything that’s happening, even when there are two separate cases happening. This time, and it very well could have been me being distracted, I had a hard time keeping things straight, even though the two incidents weren’t similar at all.

I think I probably say this every time I review one of James Patterson’s books, but I adore his work. The Women’s Murder Club series has long been my favorite and this newest installment isn’t any different. Although I was shaken and a little upset by the way it ended, there was purpose and reason behind it. I’m hoping that in the next book we get more information so I can go back to loving a particular character. Even though I wound up feeling a little lost as far as the mysteries went, I still enjoyed this book and can’t wait for number sixteen to arrive.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

Crazy Blood by T. Jefferson Parker

November 10, 2016 By Leave a Comment

blood
Crazy Blood by T. Jefferson Parker
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Contemporary, Suspense/Mystery
Length: Full Length (303 pgs)
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Cholla

The Carson dynasty rules the ski resort town of Mammoth Lakes in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. Founded by patriarch Adam, the town is the site of the Mammoth Cup ski race-a qualifier for the Olympics. But when Wylie Welborn, Adam’s illegitimate grandson, returns after a stint in Afghanistan, it reopens a dark moment in Carson family history: the murder of Wylie’s father by his jealous and very pregnant wife, Cynthia. Her son Sky, born while his mother was in prison, and Wylie are half-brothers. They inherit not only superb athletic skills but an enmity that threatens to play out in a lethal drama on one of the fastest and most perilous ski slopes in the world.

Three powerful and unusual women have central roles in this volatile family feud: Cynthia, bent on destroying Wylie; his mother Kathleen, determined to protect him; and April Holly, a beautiful celebrity snowboarder, on track to win Olympic Gold. But, as Wylie falls in love with April and they begin to imagine a life away from the violence that has shattered his family, history threatens to repeat itself and destroy them both.

Are things like jealously, greed, and craziness inherited? Are some people just born with crazy blood? That’s the question when half-brothers Wylie Welborn and Sky Carson set their sights on beating the other at the Mammoth Cup skiing competition. But which one will come out on top? Will slow and steady win the race or will the day be won by sheer audacity?

Wylie Welborn was once on top of the world. Now, upon his return home after a long stint in Afghanistan, he’s finding himself at a loss, trying to rebuild the life he’d had before. He’s a complex and interesting character, one I enjoyed very much, in spite of his struggles and inner demons. Although Wylie is content to ski and help out his family, when the chance at love comes around, he throws himself all into the opportunity. I found it interesting how, even though he was the illegitimate son of the town’s patriarch, Adam Carson, said patriarch embraced Wylie with open arms. It was a refreshing approach to an age-old situation. Even Adam Carson’s oldest grandson, Robert, treated Wylie like a brother. Adam’s younger grandson, Sky, on the other hand, had nothing but vitriol for Wylie.

Sky Carson is everything Wylie is not. Although an excellent skier, he’s headstrong, arrogant, and reckless. Aided and abetted in his hatred by his mother, the jilted Cynthia Carson, Sky makes it his mission to drive Wylie out of town, but not before he beats him at the Mammoth Cup. Despite the fact that practically every scene with Sky made me seethe with anger and frustration, I honestly felt awful for the kid. His mother was pregnant with him when she caught her husband cheating – of which Wylie was the result – and therefore spent the first thirteen years of his life without his mother. But the way he internalized all of his mother’s ‘crazy blood’ left me feeling out of sorts at times.

Crazy Blood is a sit on the edge of your seat kind of novel because you never know what kind of crazy is going to crop up next. Even though I have very little interest in competitive skiing, the descriptions were exciting and described in a way that even a novice could fully envision them as they happened. There is one serious twist near the end that caught me completely by surprise and stuck with me long after I finished the novel.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

Eating Bull by Carrie Rubin

November 7, 2016 By Leave a Comment

bull
Eating Bull by Carrie Rubin
Publisher: Sciencethrillers Media
Genre: Contemporary, Suspense/Mystery
Length: Full Length (310 pgs)
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Cholla

Jeremy, a lonely and obese teenager, shoots into the limelight when a headstrong public health nurse persuades him to sue the food industry. Tossed into a storm of media buzz and bullying, the teen draws the attention of a serial killer who’s targeting the obese. Soon the boy, the nurse, and their loved ones take center stage in a delusional man’s drama.

Through fiction, “Eating Bull” explores the real-life issues of bullying, fat-shaming, food addiction, and the food industry’s role in obesity.

You hear it every day – obesity is becoming an epidemic in our country. But what can we do about it? Are we becoming overweight simply because we’re too lazy to exercise and eat right or is something more sinister afoot? Public health nurse Sue Fort is leaning towards the latter.

Jeremy Barton represents a huge portion of our youth these days. He’s the son of a single mother who works two jobs in an effort to keep her head above water. Despite her love for her son, she finds herself feeding him too much fast food and leftovers from the buffet restaurant where she works, just to streamline her life somewhat. Because of this, Jeremy is grossly overweight. As a mother, my heart went out to him in so many ways. I know the struggle to put healthy, tasty meals on the table every night after working a full day. I also know the struggle involved in motivating your children to be active and healthy when you can barely bring yourself to get out of bed in the mornings. It’s a real fight, and the author portrays it in excruciatingly real detail.

The public health nurse that comes to Jeremy’s rescue is Sue Fort. Jeremy describes her as the ‘warrior woman’ from the moment he first sees her in the ER. This is the perfect description for Sue because she essentially goes to war with the food industry over Jeremy and cases like his. At times, Sue was too sunshiney and annoying for my tastes, but she always meant well, even when she temporarily lost sight of her initial goal.

The premise of Eating Bull intrigued me. Having struggled with my weight all my life, I was interested to see how this would all play out. While exciting and suspenseful, this novel was also quite educational as well. I learned a lot of things reading this book, many of which hadn’t ever occurred to me before reading Eating Bull. One of my favorite quotes from the book aptly sums it all up: “Everyone blames the individual. ‘Eat less,’ they say, or ‘take more stairs.’ Yes, those are important things to do, but what these people don’t understand is how hard society makes it.” The thing is, society doesn’t make it tough simply by making fast food and pre-packaged goodies taste so yummy, but they also put this enormous pressure on you to start exercising today and be ten pounds lighter by tomorrow. Sadly, it doesn’t work that way. If it did, we’d all be bikini models.

Eating Bull is a medical thriller for the new millennium. Forget that there’s a serial killer targeting overweight people and focus more on the fact that our country in and of itself is trying to kill us all. That alone ought to be enough to keep you awake at night. Well written and engaging, I found myself reluctant to put this book down.

Filed Under: Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , ,
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