Love The One Your With by Emily Giffin

Love The One Your With by Emily Giffin
Synopsis:
Ellen and Andy's first year of marriage doesn't just seem perfect, it is perfect. There is no question how deep their devotion is, and how naturally they bring out the best in each other. But one fateful afternoon, Ellen runs into Leo for the first time in eight years. Leo, the one who brought out the worst in her. Leo, the one who left her heartbroken with no explanation. Leo, the one she could never quite forget. When his reappearance ignites long-dormant emotions, Ellen begins to question whether the life she's living is the one she's meant to live.

Review:

This is the fourth book I have read by Emily Giffin and she never disappoints. With Love The One Your With she shows love and marriage for what it really is, difficult and something you have to work at. In so many books falling in love is this perfect process where you are just drawn to someone and it is all sunshine and rainbows but Giffin does a great job writing about the different kinds of love and how you can love more than one person at the same time

Ellen is a perfectly relatable main character and I really enjoyed how human she was. I understood how she was torn between two men and why it was so hard for her to make a decision. I think it takes great character development to make readers love a character who is flirting with the idea of cheating on her amazing husband and Giffin did it so well.

The difference between Leo and Andy is night and day and Giffin did a great job making them both well-rounded characters. It was so easy to see why Ellen was drawn to both of them and by not allowing either one to be a villain, Giffin made the novel a much better read than if one was a terrible guy.

Giffin’s gift as a writer is in her characters and Love The One Your With is full of characters that will tug at your heartstrings and make you think about the definition of true love.

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

Synopsis:
When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton's type is girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact. On a road trip miles from home, this anagram-happy, washed-up child prodigy has ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a bloodthirsty feral hog on his trail, and an overweight, Judge Judy-loving best friend riding shotgun - but no Katherines. Colin is on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which he hopes will predict the future of any relationship, avenge Dumpees everywhere, and finally win him the girl. Love, friendship, and a dead Austro-Hungarian archduke add up to surprising and heart-changing conclusions in this ingeniously layered comic novel about reinventing oneself by Printz medalist John Green, acclaimed author of Looking for Alaska.


Review:
John Green is one of those authors who gets rave reviews and a ton of love in the blogosphere as well as winning lots of pretty book awards but I had never read any of his books. When I was planning for my roadtrip a few weeks ago I grabbed some audio books from the library and An Abundance of Katherines was one of them.

What Green does that I instantly fell in love with is that he wrote a really smart book that still managed to be really funny. Colin is so annoying that he becomes likeable. He is whiney and pretentious but it is genuine cluelessness that makes him an awesome character. And when he is balanced by a great supporting cast like Hassan and Lyndsay his faults become part of his charm.

I also love any story about a roadtrip and this one leads to Gutshot, Tennessee where hilarity ensues. Colin and Hassan get themselves into all kinds of ridiculous situations but they both really learn a lot during their trip and mature in ways they didn’t see coming.

Green wrote a coming-of-age novel with intelligence and humor that anyone can read and enjoy and I certainly did.

The Sweetness of Salt by Cecilia Galante

The Sweetness of Salt by Cecilia Galante

Synopsis:
Julia just graduated as her high school valedictorian, has a full ride to college in the fall and a coveted summer internship clerking for a federal judge. But when her older sister, Sophie, shows up at the graduation determined to reveal some long buried secrets, Julia's carefully constructed plans come to a halt. Instead of the summer she had painstakingly laid out, Julia follows Sophie back to Vermont, where Sophie is opening a bakery - and struggling with some secrets of her own. What follows is a summer of revelations - some heartwarming, some heartbreaking, and all slowly pointing Julia toward a new understanding of both herself and of the sister she never really knew.

Review:
I had been overdosing on the paranormal recently so I jumped at the chance to read The Sweetness of Salt which was wonderfully contemporary. It wasn’t a book I had heard much buzz about but I jumped in and found myself in a wonderful real world with well-rounded characters and a ton of crazy family secrets.

Galante does a great job in this novel of really creating layered, deep characters and showing how complicated family relationships can be. I loved Julia, who has lived an incredibly sheltered life and is naïve and quiet, and really liked being on the journey where she comes out of her shell. And this isn’t a typical girl meets boy and blossoms in to a woman story. Julie goes on a great journey, trying to create a relationship with her older sister while figuring out who she truly is. Of course, there is a boy too, but he really plays a minor role which I liked.

Sophie is an equally complicated character and her emotional, independent personality plays off Julia creating drama and love. Sophie has her own secrets and problems to deal with and what both girls learn is that they need eachother to conquer their fears.

If you are one of the many, many readers who loved Holly Cupala’s Tell Me A Secret then I think you will also enjoy The Sweetness of Salt.

The Sweetness of Salt will be released November 9, 2010.
I reviewed this book as part of Good Golly Miss Holly's (ARC) Tour

Evernight by Claudia Gray

Evernight by Claudia Gray

Synopsis:

Bianca wants to escape.

At the eerily Gothic Evernight Academy, the other students are sleek, smart, and almost predatory. Bianca knows she doesn't fit in.

When she meets handsome, brooding Lucas, he warns her to be careful—even when it comes to caring about him. But the connection between them can't be denied. Bianca will risk anything to be with Lucas, but dark secrets are fated to tear them apart . . . and to make Bianca question everything she's ever believed.

Review:
I had a major love/hate relationship with this book (which my twitter friends can attest to). I loved the second half of the book but really hated the first half. Reading this book was a rollercoaster ride for me, I liked the beginning, got really ticked off in the middle and loved the second half.

My problems: I knew this book was about vampires but I didn't know much else so when the narrator didn't say anything about vampires through the first half of the book I assumed Bianca was as clueless as me. I assumed she would be let in on the secret at he same time I was. Well I was wrong and I really didn't like the way it was revealed. It made Bianca a really unreliable narrator and in my opinion, she either should have been honest with the reader from the beginning or the story should have been told from a different point of view.

What I liked: just about everything else. I love the relationship between Bianca and Lucas and the plot was great. I don't want to give too much away but this is a great story and I love the concept of the Evernight Academy I just didn't like the way it was revealed. As always my favorite character was one of the background characters, Balthazar, who seriously has the best name and it really understanding while also knowing how to kick a little behind. My suggestion, if you read this book be patient, the ending is worth it to get through parts that may be a little frustrating. In the end I was really glad I did and I can't wait to read the next book in the series, Stargazer.

Stargazer, the sequel to Evernight is released TODAY! So head out and get a copy! I have a wonderful copy from Gray sitting on my nightstand waiting to be read.

This book counts toward my Library Challenge and First in a Series

H is for Homicide by Sue Grafton

H is for Homicide by Sue Grafton

Kinsey Millhone is back at it and this time she is going undercover. In H is for Homicide we see Kinsey completely out of her element as she is forced to work well outside her comfort zone, leaving her confidence and sass in the first chapter.

So a major part of Kinsey's back story is that she rents office space from an insurance company, California Fidelity, in exchange for occasionally looking in to fraud claims for them. She is about to start a new case for them when a new boss takes over and she needs this case to keep him from booting her from her office space.

The case she takes on lands her in the middle of an insurance fraud ring run by a gang in Los Angeles. She makes friends with Bibiana, a girl who wants out of the gang because she secretly married a cop Kinsey has known since grade school. But of course the leader of the gang wants Bibiana for himself and he is a sociopath with major anger and violence issues.

This was another great book in the alphabet series and I once again loved Kinsey. Gone are all the cockiness and sass of the other books as she is genuinely scared while running with the gang and feels guilty for the laws she has to break while undercover. But it is these insecurities that make her such a great character, and Grafton such a gifted writer.

This book counts toward my Library Challenge

G is for Gumshoe

G is for Gumshoe by Sue Grafton

My love affair with Kinsey Millhone continues. I think I have a serious girl crush on her. In G is for Gumshoe Kinsey is celebrating Cinco de Mayo, her new apartment (because the other one was blown to bits) and her 33rd birthday. Although her celebrations are short lived because someone has taken out a hit on her. It is from an old case, and not one from any of the previous book, but I guess Kinsey made someone very mad because there is a very serious attempt on her life and it forces her to hire Dietz, another private eye, as a body guard. And you know sparks fly.

But of course, Kinsey has her own case to work on. This is where the novel got a little confusing for me. She is helping a woman who is very sick, although for no reason any one can figure out, track down her mother, who is also very sick for no reason any one can figure out. When she finds the mother it doesn't seem like there is more to it but of course there it. What unravels next plays such a back seat to the threat on Kinsey's life that I found it confusing and it took me a while to wrap my brain around it.

Not my favorite in the Alphabet Series but I love the relationship between Kinsey and Dietz and while the end of the novel makes it seem like the relationship ended I can't wait to see if he reappears. Also, because Kinsey is such a loner, her apartment, car and gun feel like real characters in the novels and her car was totalled in the book so I want to know what she replaces it with.

Cover Story: So I usually just post the covers with the letters on them because I think they are simple and I enjoy them. But I also love the original cover for G is for Gumshoe because, like I said, the car has felt like a character in the previous books. Which one do you prefer?

This book counts toward my Library Challenge

F is for Fugitive

F is for Fugitive by Sue Grafton

Am I starting to sound like a broken record? I loved this book. Just like I have loved all the other books in the alphabet series. In F is for Fugitive Kinsey is living with her landlord Henry while her apartment is being rebuilt (you know, because it was blown to bits in E is for Evidence) and he is smothering her. The ever independent Kinsey doesn't like being doted on so she is quick to take on a case in San Luis Obispo.

(side note: a very dear friend of mine works at Cal Poly and when the campus was mentioned in this book I got very happy! Miss you Steph!)

In SLO Kinsey is working for the Fowler family. The son Bailey has been serving jail time for supposedly killing his ex-girlfriend but had escaped and was living a very quiet life for 17 years when he was picked up and put back in jail. Now, with both his parents dying, Bailey is determined to clear his name.

What Kinsey discovers is that the girl he supposedly killed, Jean Timberlake, was no angel and her mother didn't have a good reputation either. In a town full of secrets it is hard to find the truth and the real killer. Could it be the principal who was having an affair with Jean? The doctor who was having an affair with Jean's mother? Bailey's best friend Tap? The local bar owner and his son? The local priest? So many options and everyone has something to hide.

This was a great mystery and I really couldn't decide who was lying about Jean's death and who was just trying to cover up something else. I really liked the characters in this novel and can really relate to the feel of the small town. But I really want Kinsey back to solving crimes in Santa Teresa because something is always missing when she isn't with Henry, Rosie or Jonah.

Up Next: I already started Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty and I have a huge selection for whatever comes after that. I really can't decide.

This book counts toward my Library Challenge

E is for Evidence

E is for Evidence by Sue Grafton

I have continued my trip through Grafton's alphabet series with E is for Evidence and have fallen back in love with Kinsey Millhone after not being very happy with D. This time Kinsey is working for herself after she is framed and it seems like she has taken a bribe from the Wood/Warren company. And to make matters worse it is Christmas and the usually happily independent Kinsey is longing for some human interaction.

The trail leads her to the wealthy Wood family, whose children she went to high school with and who have been hiding a terrible secret. I usually can guess these secrets (blame it on too many years of mystery novels and marathons of Law and Order) but I never saw this one coming. Things get muddled even further when Kinsey's ex-husband shows up, wanting to make amends and promising he is no longer a junkie.

After a bomb goes off, killing one of the Wood daughters and putting Kinsey in the hospital the whole case starts to unravel. I read from the bomb to the end of the book unable to put it down...thus not getting to sleep until 3 a.m. But as is always the case Kinsey tracks down the killer, nearly gets herself killed, but comes out the other end while the killer gets taken away in handcuffs...or a body bag. Only this time it cost her the garage she called an apartment. Bombs can be pesky like that.

I really liked this book, probably because it focused so much on Kinsey and her own personal feelings and flaws and as has been stated a few times on this blog I really love her. The downside no Jonah. He was once again off trying to fix things with his wife. Why? doesn't he know Kinsey is way better?

Favorite quote: "I have to confess that in the privacy of my own home, I burst in to tears and wept with frustration for six minutes flat. The I went to work"
- This is Kinsey to a T. And why I love her

and because I couldn't pick just one this time.
"Being rejected is burdensome that way. You're left with emotional baggage you unload on everyone else. It's not just the fact of betrayal, but the person you become...usually not very nice."
those darn ex husbands!

Up next: Either The Hot Flash Club or F is for Fugitive. I can't decide.

This book counts toward my Library Challenge

Library Loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by A Striped Armchair and Alessandra that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.

I just got back from the library and I have four new books to look forward to as well as one more to read to my four-year-old sister.
The Accidental It Girl by Libby Street

Girls Guide to Witchcraft by Mindy Klasky
Excited about this book which I read about the first 30 pages of while I was at the library. It is very cute and it fits my first in a series challenge!

E is for Evidence by Sue Grafton
I am truly addicted to Kinsey Millhone.

The Hot Flash Club by Nancy Thayer
Also for the first in a series challenge

I also strayed into the children's section of the library and found a book to read to my little sister. Mostly I liked the cover of it.
The Paper Princess by Elisa Kleven

While I was at the library today I discovered there will be a book sale there this Saturday so I now have that to look forward to as well. Now I am off to read my treasures!

D is for Deadbeat

D is for Deadbeat by Sue Grafton

Well I am glad this one is Done. Of the first four in the alphabet series this one is easily my least favorite. I actually didn't care how it ended so long as it ended. As seems to be the case Kinsey starts working for someone and he ends up dead just a few days later.

John Daggett is fresh out of jail when he shows up in Kinsey's office asking her to track down a fifteen year old boy and give him a check for $25,000. But when Daggett ends up dead a few days later and the police rule it an accident Kinsey is off on a wild goose chase trying to figure out if there is anyone in Santa Theresa that wouldn't want him dead. There are the family members of the people he killed in a car accident, his own wife and daughter and the woman he "married" when he got out of jail just to name a few.

I found that I didn't care who killed him and I didn't care about the people left behind when he died so this book just didn't captivate me like the first three in the series. There were a few redeeming moments however, like an appearance from Mike, who's hair is now purple instead of pink and he has traded in the mohawk for a spiky do. Also Kinsey and Jonah get together in this book...OK so its just margaritas and dancing but his wife wants an open relationship and I hope it opens the door to Kinsey. My favorite line of the book is the banter between these two.

Up Next: well I am not sure. I am headed to the library tomorrow to pick up the next in the alphabet series and whatever else catches my eye.

This book counts toward my Library Challenge

C is for Corpse

C is for Corpse by Sue Grafton

So far C is definitely my favorite in the alphabet series. Kinsey is hired by a young guy she meets at the gym (where she is rehabbing after getting shot in B) and when he ends up dead just a few days later Kinsey is determined to find out why. And suspects are everywhere from his stepfather and anorexic step sister to the parents of his best friend who died in a car accident that was meant for him.

There was just something about Bobby Callahan that Kinsey felt the need to help him, and it was the same thing that had me attached to this book. I needed to know what had happened to get Bobby killed and it certainly wasn't what I expected. I was a little disappointed I figured out who killed him so early (the doctor) but I NEVER saw the motive coming, now that was a twist (Bobby was in love with the doc's wife). And I certainly never would have guessed where the murder weapon was hidden (inside a John Doe corpse at the morgue).

And of course Kinsey almost gets herself killed tracking down the doc. There is a little more Jonah in C but not enough for me. He is back with his wife but I can't imagine it stays that way for long.

Up next: D is for Deadbeat and then I think I might switch gears for a few books. All the murder mysteries are making me jumpy. I about had a heart attack when my mom came in to say goodnight.

This book counts toward my Library Challenge

B is for Burglar

In book two of the Kinsey Millhone alphabet series Kinsey is hired to track down a woman she has never met but who no one seems able to locate. The case begins with a he-said, she-said between the missing women's sister and brother-in-law but it turns out the death is connected to the mysterious fire in a neighboring house.

Kinsey befriends a high-school drug dealer named Mike, who is one of my favorite characters right down to his motorcycle and pink mohawk. He proves to be full of useful information about the burned house, which belonged to his aunt and uncle. But there is more to his aunt who supposedly died in the fire and his uncle who is grieving at his sister's house.

B is also the introduction of Jonah, a local cop who you can tell will have a future with Kinsey despite the pity he feels for himself since his wife left him. I can't wait to see more of him.

I have to say I can't decide if I like B more than A but I adore Kinsey and her sarcastic, no-bull ways. Now on to C is for Corpse.

This book counts toward my Library Challenge

A is for Alibi

A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton

Confession time: I love a murder mystery, crime novel or legal thriller. I haven't met a version of CSI, Law and Order or Without A Trace that I didn't love and I haven't found a John Grisham, James Patterson-esque novel I didn't devour. So my latest project is to read the alphabet series by Sue Grafton from A to Z (or T because that is as far as she has written.) I was very happy to realize the local library has all of them sitting in a pretty little row so I checked out A-D and am well on my way.

A is for Alibi introduces Kinsey Millhone who I must admit I adore immediately. She is a twice-divorced, rebellious, minimalist who prides herself on being a good liar and, oh yeah, solves mysteries. Its like Nancy Drew all grown up with an attitude and I love her.

In A Kinsey is hired by a woman just out of prison for the murder of her husband to find out who actually murdered her husband. Turns out there were lots of people who wanted the guy dead but it wasn't his wife and it wasn't his supposed mistress who was also murdered.

Kinsey gets tripped up when she starts sleeping with the dead guys former business partner. She figures out the ex killed the guy but the trick is that his business partner killed the supposed mistress to cover up his embezzlement. And he nearly kills Kinsey when she figures it out but she kills him instead. Just another day in the office.

Favorite quote: "You try to keep life simple, but in the end it never works, and all you have is yourself."

This book counts toward my Library Challenge and First in a Series

Other reviews
Robin from My Two Blessings
Dorte H