Tag Archives: Book Review

What I’m Reading: Big Little Lies

Posted in Book Review, Books, What I'm Reading by
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image via Goodreads

From Goodreads.com:
Big Little Lies follows three women, each at a crossroads:

Madeline is a force to be reckoned with. She’s funny and biting, passionate, she remembers everything and forgives no one. Her ex-husband and his yogi new wife have moved into her beloved beachside community, and their daughter is in the same kindergarten class as Madeline’s youngest (how is this possible?). And to top it all off, Madeline’s teenage daughter seems to be choosing Madeline’s ex-husband over her. (How. Is. This. Possible?).

Celeste is the kind of beautiful woman who makes the world stop and stare. While she may seem a bit flustered at times, who wouldn’t be, with those rambunctious twin boys? Now that the boys are starting school, Celeste and her husband look set to become the king and queen of the school parent body. But royalty often comes at a price, and Celeste is grappling with how much more she is willing to pay.

New to town, single mom Jane is so young that another mother mistakes her for the nanny. Jane is sad beyond her years and harbors secret doubts about her son. But why? While Madeline and Celeste soon take Jane under their wing, none of them realizes how the arrival of Jane and her inscrutable little boy will affect them all.

Big Little Lies is a brilliant take on ex-husbands and second wives, mothers and daughters, schoolyard scandal, and the dangerous little lies we tell ourselves just to survive.

My review:
This is the second Liane Moriarty book that I’ve finished (the first being The Husband’s Secret) and it’s safe to say that she’s becoming one of my favourite authors. Spare time to sit down and read is a rare thing for me and I found myself opening up Big Little Lies whenever I could!

I adored all of the main characters and the storyline was amazing, although at times I found Madeline to be a little bit self-absorbed and annoying. Moriarty was very clever to “give away” (kind of) what happens at the beginning of the book and use that to build up the rest of the story, which is probably why I couldn’t put it down. I needed to know what happened, dammit!

I also really loved how Moriarty used humour but still kept to the seriousness of the subject matter. The lesson learned for sure in Big Little Lies is “Nothing is ever what it seems.”

Despite me being annoyed by Madeline, I still give Big Little Lies 5 out of 5 stars. I’m looking forward to reading my next Moriarty book, for sure!

What I’m Reading: The Rosie Effect

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From Goodreads.com:
Don Tillman and Rosie Jarman are back. If you were swept away by Graeme Simsion’s international smash hit The Rosie Project, you will love The Rosie Effect.

The Wife Project is complete, and Don and Rosie are happily married and living in New York. But they’re about to face a new challenge.

Rosie is pregnant.

Don sets about learning the protocols of becoming a father, but his unusual research style gets him into trouble with the law. Fortunately his best friend Gene is on hand to offer advice: he’s left Claudia and moved in with Don and Rosie.

As Don tries to schedule time for pregnancy research, getting Gene and Claudia back together, servicing the industrial refrigeration unit that occupies half his apartment, helping Dave the Baseball Fan save his business and staying on the right side of Lydia the social worker, he almost misses the biggest problem of all: he might lose Rosie when she needs him most.

Get ready to fall in love all over again.

My review:
I finally decided to download The Rosie Effect last week after much deliberation. It’s been over a year since I read the first story of Don and Rosie in The Rosie Project (link to my review here), and I once found myself cheering for Don. There’s something strangely loveable about him and I couldn’t help but want him to “win.”

The actions of some of the characters in this book were rather irritating, however. Rosie, who should know how Don’s brain is programmed to work, should have done more to keep him in the pregnancy loop. Granted, she was busy with everything going on in her own life, but knowing that you have to give Don specific instructions if you need him to complete a task, I feel she was too quick to judge Don for his emotional detachment. And unless I missed something – why did Rosie not discuss having a baby before, *ahem*, pulling the goalie and getting pregnant?

I’m thankful for Don’s team of friends for supporting him while he tries to figure out how to be a father and how to save his marriage. The story could have done without George though; I felt he didn’t particularly add anything to the storyline that was essential to Don’s development. The only thing he seemed to teach Don was to maybe not tell your kids to go ahead and try drugs. (Parent of the Year, right there.)

Despite my slight irritations, I still really enjoyed the second instalment of Don & Rosie’s journey, and I’m going to give it 4 stars out of 5. I dare you to read it without picturing Sheldon Cooper as Don.

What I’M Reading: Who Do You Love

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From Goodreads.com:
Rachel Blum and Andy Landis are eight years old when they meet late one night in an ER waiting room. Born with a congenital heart defect, Rachel is a veteran of hospitals, and she’s intrigued by the boy who shows up all alone with a broken arm. He tells her his name. She tells him a story. After Andy’s taken back to the emergency room and Rachel’s sent back to her bed, they think they’ll never see each other again.

Rachel, the beloved, popular, and protected daughter of two doting parents, grows up wanting for nothing in a fancy Florida suburb. Andy grows up poor in Philadelphia with a single mom and a rare talent that will let him become one of the best runners of his generation.

Over the course of three decades, through high school and college, marriages and divorces, from the pinnacles of victory and the heartbreak of defeat, Andy and Rachel will find each other again and again, until they are finally given a chance to decide whether love can surmount difference and distance and if they’ve been running toward each other all along.

With honesty, wit, and clear-eyed observations about men and women, love and fate, and the truth about happy endings, Jennifer Weiner delivers two of her most memorable characters, and a love story you’ll never forget.

My review:
First of all, can I just say how pathetic it is that I haven’t read a book since April? Sad, sad, sad. Honestly, there just hasn’t been anything out there that has piqued my interest, but I knew Jennifer Weiner was coming out with a new book in the summer, so I held off.

I’m glad I did! Jennifer Weiner’s newest novel did not disappoint and was just what I needed as a post-baby pick-me-up. It was an easy read but an enjoyable one, and I finished the book (which I had bought and downloaded for my Kobo the day it was released) in just over a week! Not bad considering I only read it while I was nursing Norah; I even switched lamps around so I had better lighting and could see the screen, that’s how much I liked the book!

While the ending was rather predictable, as it is with the majority of romance stories of any form, I couldn’t help but still cheer for the two main characters, Rachel and Andy, to find their way back into each other’s arms. Their story of high school romance hit close to home for me, with Kyle and I being high school sweethearts, and I found myself with my fingers all crossed for them to cross paths just one more time.

What don’t I like about the story? Not much, however, I do wish that we got to know a bit more about Andy and his background. His “chapters” were more subdued, just like his character, and I wish more was revealed about his background. Still, I couldn’t help but love the way things worked out for both him and Rachel in the end.

Overall, I’m going to give Who Do You Love 5 stars out of 5. I can safely place it amongst my top three favourite Jennifer Weiner books.