Category Archives: Books

What I’m Reading: The Husband’s Secret

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What I'm Reading

From Goodreads.com:
At the heart of The Husband’s Secret is a letter that’s not meant to be read

My darling Cecilia, if you’re reading this, then I’ve died…

Imagine that your husband wrote you a letter, to be opened after his death. Imagine, too, that the letter contains his deepest, darkest secret—something with the potential to destroy not just the life you built together, but the lives of others as well. Imagine, then, that you stumble across that letter while your husband is still very much alive. . . .
Cecilia Fitzpatrick has achieved it all—she’s an incredibly successful businesswoman, a pillar of her small community, and a devoted wife and mother. Her life is as orderly and spotless as her home. But that letter is about to change everything, and not just for her: Rachel and Tess barely know Cecilia—or each other—but they too are about to feel the earth-shattering repercussions of her husband’s secret.

Acclaimed author Liane Moriarty has written a gripping, thought-provoking novel about how well it is really possible to know our spouses—and, ultimately, ourselves.

My review:
The Husband’s Secret was such a good read! I honestly had a hard time putting it down once I started reading. Between the chapters alternating between each character’s storyline, and the intense, “What is going to happen? What is she going to do?” feeling I had at the end of every chapter, I haven’t read a book so fast in a long time! And the ending! It’s always amazing how the innocent are the ones to suffer. (Vague reference there to avoid any spoilers ;))

My only wonder was how Tess’ character tied into everything. Really, I felt that if her character was omitted from the main story line, the plot of the story would still remain relatively the same. Not to say that I didn’t enjoy her story — I think there could be an entire novel based solely on her. (Although I’d say that Emily Giffin’s Something Borrowed, has a slightly similar plot).

The whole point of The Husband’s Secret was to focus on all of the “what if’s” there are in life, as noted in the epilogue. After reading that, I really couldn’t help but think about some of my own “what if’s.” What if I didn’t do journalism? What if I went to a different university altogether? What if Kyle and I never started dating? There are so many of those questions that we’d never know the answer to.

Overall, I give The Husband’s Secret 4.5 stars out of 5.

 

What I’m Reading: The Rosie Project

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I use Grammarly’s plagiarism checker online because who likes reading the same thing twice?

What I'm Reading

From Goodreads.com:
An international sensation, this hilarious, feel-good novel is narrated by an oddly charming and socially challenged genetics professor on an unusual quest: to find out if he is capable of true love.

Don Tillman, professor of genetics, has never been on a second date. He is a man who can count all his friends on the fingers of one hand, whose lifelong difficulty with social rituals has convinced him that he is simply not wired for romance. So when an acquaintance informs him that he would make a “wonderful” husband, his first reaction is shock. Yet he must concede to the statistical probability that there is someone for everyone, and he embarks upon The Wife Project. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which he approaches all things, Don sets out to find the perfect partner. She will be punctual and logical—most definitely not a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker, or a late-arriver.

Yet Rosie Jarman is all these things. She is also beguiling, fiery, intelligent—and on a quest of her own. She is looking for her biological father, a search that a certain DNA expert might be able to help her with. Don’s Wife Project takes a back burner to the Father Project and an unlikely relationship blooms, forcing the scientifically minded geneticist to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie—and the realization that love is not always what looks good on paper.

The Rosie Project is a moving and hilarious novel for anyone who has ever tenaciously gone after life or love in the face of overwhelming challenges.

My review:
I think anyone who loves the Big Bang Theory and Sheldon Cooper would love this book. I couldn’t help but compare Don Tillman and Sheldon as their mannerisms are so unbelievably similar.

I found The Rosie Project to be a very amusing book, and very thought provoking as well. Don lives with Asberger syndrome, and while he struggles in social situations, he his a brilliant geneticist and his passion for his projects is astounding. He goes through life with a strict schedule, until he begins his “project” to find a suitable wife. Enter Rosie, who has a project of her own she’d like Don’s help with. This ultimately puts the Wife Project on the back burner and throws Don’s clockwork schedule out the window.

Normally when I read books and there’s a character that just doesn’t “get” what’s going on, it angers me, but in the case of The Rosie Project for some reason, I felt more compassion towards Don. Perhaps it was because it was let known that he has Asberger’s. I enjoyed reading about his personal quirks and “matter of fact” thinking.

Overall, I give The Rosie Project 4 stars out of 5. I really found myself cheering for the character’s of the book, and I would definitely recommend it!

What I’m Reading: Wild

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What I'm Reading

From Goodreads.com:
A powerful, blazingly honest memoir: the story of an eleven-hundred-mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe—and built her back up again.
At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother’s death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life: to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State—and to do it alone. She had no experience as a long-distance hiker, and the trail was little more than “an idea, vague and outlandish and full of promise.” But it was a promise of piecing back together a life that had come undone.
Strayed faces down rattlesnakes and black bears, intense heat and record snowfalls, and both the beauty and loneliness of the trail. Told with great suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild vividly captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her.

My review:
I’m no hiking expert, but I’ve scaled a small hill or two and it’s no easy feat. Then I read this book and I’m taken away by the strength and courage that Cheryl displayed on her journey.

I’ll have to say, I first heard about this book maybe a year ago, but when I read the jacket cover all I could think of was, “Meh, a book about hiking, whatever.” But then I heard that it was being turned into a movie and thought to myself that it was maybe worth reading. All I can say is, why didn’t someone make me read this book sooner??

I’m not 100% sure I can relate to any part of Cheryl’s story; I don’t think anything in my life thus far can sum up to the hard times and sorrow that she experienced, at least not to the level at which she experienced everything. But the way she tells her tale – through her journey along the PCT and the people she meets … It’s just captivating. Really. I don’t think I’ve loved a book anymore than this one and I was SO sad when it was over. It makes you want to DO something. Something big, something life changing. It makes you think about those you love and think you love.

I really recommend this book to anyone out there. It’s honestly a, “I don’t care if it’s passed my bedtime, I need to read one more chapter,” book.

And clearly, I give “Wild” 5 stars out of 5.