Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

Big Little Lies by Liane  - still no pics on account of iPad limitations - not of the iPad, but of the user.

What They Say.... A murder… . . . a tragic accident… . . . or just parents behaving badly?  

What’s indisputable is that someone is dead.  

But who did what?

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.

What I Say.....Wow!  This was not a short book (480 pages) and it's not a light book, but I willingly dragged it on the plane to Hawaii with me in order to have a beach read (I live in fear of dropping my ipad in water).

I'm traveling with friends, and going to different beaches every day, but you know it's a good book when you are thinking about how much longer it will be before you can start reading again.

The Mommy Wars are always interesting to me, because I don't have to participate anymore.  But this book took the battle to a whole other level.

The characters were well-written and engaging.  Even at her most annoying, Madeline was understandable and lovable.  But you couldn't hate Bonnie either, even though you wanted to for Madeline's sake.

Celeste was cool, aloof, and also understandable as a woman in a violent marriage, wondering how much was normal, how much was her fault.  I have heard that this is going to be some kind of television mini-series starring Nicole Kidman, and I think she would make a perfect Celeste.

I figured out what the twist was going to be wih Jane's one night stand, but I didn't see who the murderer or who the murdered was until it happened (I had to force myself not to look ahead!).

A compelling read, as most of Moriarty's books are.  She's a favorite of mine.

New Books.....December 7, 2014

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer, Showcase Sunday is hosted by Books, Biscuits and Tea, and Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

All three are blog roundups giving you a chance to share what your weekly book haul!

This week's post is going to be very sad and pictureless because I'm on VACATION!! And.... I haven't figured out how to put pictures on via my iPad to Blogger. Sorry, I know a book's cover DOES matter!


From NetGalley.....

Save Me by Kristyn Kusek Lewis....Daphne Mitchell has always believed in cause and effect, right and wrong, good and bad. The good: her dream job as a doctor; Owen, her childhood sweetheart and now husband; the beautiful farmhouse they're restoring together. In fact, most of her life has been good--until the day Owen comes home early from work to tell her he's fallen head over heels for someone else.

Unable to hate him, but also equally incapable of moving forward, Daphne's life hangs in limbo until the day Owen's new girlfriend sustains near-fatal injuries in a car accident. As Daphne becomes a pillar of support for the devastated Owen, and realizes that reconciliation may lie within her grasp, she has to find out whether forgiveness is possible and decide which path is the right one for her. 

A Small Indiscretion by Jan Ellison.....At nineteen, Annie Black trades a bleak future in her washed-out hometown for a London winter of drinking to oblivion and yearning for deliverance. Some two decades later, she is married to a good man and settled in San Francisco, with a son and two daughters and a successful career designing artistic interior lights. One June morning, a photograph arrives in her mailbox, igniting an old longing and setting off a chain of events that rock the foundations of her marriage and threaten to overturn her family’s hard-won happiness.

The novel moves back and forth across time between San Francisco in the present and that distant winter in Europe. The two worlds converge and explode when the adult Annie returns to London seeking answers, her indiscretions come to light, and the phone rings with shocking news about her son. Now Annie must fight to save her family by piecing together the mystery of her past—the fateful collision of liberation and abandon and sexual desire that drew an invisible map of her future.

A Small Indiscretion is a riveting debut novel about a woman’s search for understanding and forgiveness, a taut exploration of a modern marriage, and of love—the kind that destroys, and the kind that redeems.

The Witch of Painted Sorrows....Possession. Power. Passion. New York Times bestselling novelist M. J. Rose creates her most provocative and magical spellbinder yet in this gothic novel set against the lavish spectacle of 1890s Belle Époque Paris.

Sandrine Salome flees New York for her grandmother’s Paris mansion to escape her dangerous husband, but what she finds there is even more menacing. The house, famous for its lavish art collection and elegant salons, is mysteriously closed up. Although her grandmother insists it’s dangerous for Sandrine to visit, she defies her and meets Julien Duplessi, a mesmerizing young architect. Together they explore the hidden night world of Paris, the forbidden occult underground and Sandrine’s deepest desires.

Among the bohemians and the demi-monde, Sandrine discovers her erotic nature as a lover and painter. Then darker influences threaten—her cold and cruel husband is tracking her down and something sinister is taking hold, changing Sandrine, altering her. She’s become possessed by La Lune: A witch, a legend, and a sixteenth-century courtesan, who opens up her life to a darkness that may become a gift or a curse.

This is Sandrine’s “wild night of the soul,” her odyssey in the magnificent city of Paris, of art, love, and witchery.

C 

Melancholy and the Infinite Marisa de Los Santos

What They Say....In all her life, Eustacia “Taisy” Cleary has given her heart to only three men: her first love, Ben Ransom; her twin brother, Marcus; and Wilson Cleary—professor, inventor, philanderer, self-made millionaire, brilliant man, breathtaking jerk: her father.

Seventeen years ago, Wilson ditched his first family for Caroline, a beautiful young sculptor. In all that time, Taisy’s family has seen Wilson, Caroline, and their daughter Willow only once. 

Why then, is Wilson calling Taisy now, inviting her for an extended visit, encouraging her to meet her pretty sister—a teenager who views her with jealousy, mistrust, and grudging admiration? Why, now, does Wilson want Taisy to help him write his memoir?

Told in alternating voices—Taisy’s strong, unsparing observations and Willow’s naive, heartbreakingly earnest yearnings—The Precious One is an unforgettable novel of family secrets, lost love, and dangerous obsession, a captivating tale with the deep characterization, piercing emotional resonance, and heartfelt insight that are the hallmarks of Marisa de los Santos’s beloved works.


What I Say....This post comes to you from sunny Kauai.  I am happy to say that read this book from front to back on the flight.  It was incredible.  Marisa de los Santos has always written melancholy so very well that you find yourself pulled into the sadness of the characters, identifying with your own life.

"The Precious One" was one of those books for me.  The family relationships were written so well.  Some people aren't born into the families that they deserve.  Some people shouldn't get to have a second family that they treat better than the first.  But they do.  And even though it's not fair, those you leave behind have to live with your choices, and the impact that it has on their sense of self-worth.  "I wasn’t stunned. I knew how easily some people could let go of their children.", says Taisy as her boyfriend stared at her "full of the bewilderment of one who’s been adored by at least two, sometimes three, sometimes four parents his entire life.".   This for me has always been the hallmark of de los Santos's writing, those truths laid bare.

The parallel story to Taisy was told by 16 year old Willow, her sister that she has never had any type of relationship with.  Willow is trying to navigate high school for the first time along with feelings of guilt for her father's recent heart attack.  She has a lecherous teacher, who is quietly grooming her sexually, although she is much too innocent to realize what is happening.

The character tying them together is their shared father, Wilson.  And his story is just as compelling.  When you finally learn his backstory, it helps to make sense of his behavior, but it doesn't excuse it, it doesn't take it away or make the damage that he has done over the years any less tragic.

No spoilers here.  This is a book everyone needs to read for themselves.

Thank you, Edelweiss and William Morrow for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.  I honestly give this book 5 stars.

Top Ten (really Eight) Books That I'm Looking Forward to in 2015

I am part of a blog round up every Tuesday hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, with a new top ten theme every week.

This week was Top 10 Books I Am Looking Forward to in 2015. I always have a hard time getting to ten, but this week I got to eight!  Mad props to myself.

1.  Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll.  See my review here.  I've already read it, but I can't wait for this to be released on May 12, 2015, so I can discuss it with everyone.  This book is going to be big.  Gone, Girl big.  I can see it being turned into a movie.

2.  First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen.  I'm sick of adding this to every top ten list I write! LOL!  I just want to read it!!!

3.  Nightbird by Alice Hoffman.  Because, duh, Alice Hoffman.

4.  The F Word: My Life in Stories by Jennifer Weiner.  I love her books, and anything using the F word in the title wins my vote.

5.  Things You Won't Say by Sarah Pekkanen.  I've always liked her books and this looks like a really timely read about a police shooting and the calls for justice afterwards.

6.  Anything By Jane Green.  My most favoritest English chick lit writer.  She can do no wrong.

7.  Well, hello, Maria Semple.  It's been two years and I'm waiting, waiting for your next book.  I LOVED "This One is Mine".

8.  The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah.  I cried my face off when I read, "Night Road".  Kristin Hannah is my go to cryfest author.

That's it, only eight.  But the best part of book blogging is that I don't know what I'm missing in 2015 yet!

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? December 1, 2014

 Well, this was a most awesome of Thanksgiving weekends.  It was so nice to have a four day weekend to spend lounging around, seeing family, and reading.

That being said, I also watched a lot of TV.  My daughter has recently discovered The Gilmore Girls, so we watched the first two seasons of that in true binge format.  

Then I started thinking about what Lorelei Gilmore (aka Lauren Graham) was doing now, which led me to start watching Season 1 of Parenthood, and btw, she looks incredible.  I don't think she ages.  

I read her book, Someday, Someday, Maybe, a few years back and it was pretty good.  She's beautiful and multi-talented.  

This week I read and posted:

Fairy Tale by Shanna Swendson

Up and In by Deborah Disney

Five Fires by Laura Lippman

I'm currently reading:  

I'm trying, but this is slow going.  The story is interesting, but it's the main character that's killing it for me.  He's so boring!!!  I'm hoping that this will pick up soon.

What is everyone else reading?  I'm getting ready to go on vacation, any beach read suggestions?