Monday Reading Wrap-Up

One week until Christmas! I am trying to diligently work at completing the reviews I’ve committed to for the remainder of the year. My college students are now home for their winter break and with them have arrived more laundry and dishes and the need for meals to be cooked. I didn’t realize how adjusted to the empty nest we had become until it was full again. I’m also completing the December SAT essay grading, so that’s been eating up a bit of my reading time. I’m happy to say that we did get a Christmas tree this weekend so I’m beginning to get into the spirit now.  If you want to see others’ reading lists, check out The Book Date

Unfortunately, my piles just keep growing!

This post contains affiliate links, see disclosure for more details. I voluntarily reviewed complimentary review copies of many of these books. No review was required and all opinions are my own. 

Recently Read:

Give Me Your Hand by Megan Abbott, I gave this book 2.5 stars

About the Book:

You told each other everything. Then she told you too much.
Kit has risen to the top of her profession and is on the brink of achieving everything she wanted. She hasn’t let anything stop her.
But now someone else is standing in her way – Diane. Best friends at seventeen, their shared ambition made them inseparable. Until the day Diane told Kit her secret – the worst thing she’d ever done, the worst thing Kit could imagine – and it blew their friendship apart.
Kit is still the only person who knows what Diane did. And now Diane knows something about Kit that could destroy everything she’s worked so hard for.

My Thoughts:

This book was just weird. I couldn’t really connect with the storyline, and I figured out Diane’s big secret long before it was revealed to the reader. Pretty much everything about the mystery/thriller portions of this story were just downright implausible to me. 
What I did like were the facets of women pursuing scientific careers, their research was very interesting and would have been better fleshed out in the story had Kit been as astute about interpersonal relations as she was about science. I felt like she was pretty savvy, even when being shown in her high school days, yet every time she got around Diane her good sense just went out the window.
I thought this story could have been better. Had the characters been consistently portrayed and the thriller section not so completely out of left field, the core idea is interesting.

Christmas on the Island by Jenny Colgan, I gave this book 4 stars

About the Book:

On the remote Scottish island of Mure, the Christmas season is stark, windy, and icy—yet incredibly festive and beautiful…

It’s a time for getting cozy in front of whisky barrel wood fires, and enjoying a dram and a treacle pudding with the people you love—unless, of course, you’ve accidentally gotten pregnant by your ex-boss, and don’t know how to tell him. In the season for peace and good cheer, will Flora find the nerve to reveal the truth to her nearest and dearest? Will her erstwhile co-parent Joel think she’s the bearer of glad tidings—or is this Christmas going to be as bleak as the Highlands in midwinter?

Meanwhile Saif, a doctor and refugee from war-torn Syria is trying to enjoy his first western Christmas with his sons on this remote island where he’s been granted asylum. His wife, however, is still missing, and her absence hangs over what should be a joyful celebration. Can the family possibly find comfort and joy without her?

Travel to the beautiful northern edge of the world and join the welcoming community of Mure for a Highland Christmas you’ll never forget! And warm up your kitchen with bonus recipes for the Little Beach Street Bakery’s seasonal shortbread, Lanark Blue Scones, and Black Buns.

My Thoughts:

This is the third book in the series that starts with The Cafe by the Sea and is followed by The Endless Beach

I thoroughly enjoyed my third outing to Mure, and I’m very hopeful there will be a fourth because there are many loose ends that still need resolving.
The storyline with Colton was heartbreaking, I knew it was coming but it still hit me quite hard. I really loved the furthering of the relationships between Saif and Lorna, and the addition of Tripp.
Not a fan of Joel, really haven’t been all through this series. I cannot relate to his reticence and find him to be quite selfish. I wonder what Flora sees in him honestly, the past two books he’s been a very unsympathetic character, and in the last book it was understandable with all of the secrets he had been keeping. But those are out in the open now, I just wanted him to either decide to commit to and love Flora or step away completely. 
Overall, I’m bonded with all of the people on the island and want only the best for them. I particularly adore Agot, she’s so touchingly and accurately portrayed.

Watching You by Lisa Jewell, I gave this book 4 stars

About the Book:

Melville Heights is one of the nicest neighborhoods in Bristol, England; home to doctors and lawyers and old-money academics. It’s not the sort of place where people are brutally murdered in their own kitchens. But it is the sort of place where everyone has a secret. And everyone is watching you.

As the headmaster credited with turning around the local school, Tom Fitzwilliam is beloved by one and all—including Joey Mullen, his new neighbor, who quickly develops an intense infatuation with this thoroughly charming yet unavailable man. Joey thinks her crush is a secret, but Tom’s teenaged son Freddie—a prodigy with aspirations of becoming a spy for MI5—excels in observing people and has witnessed Joey behaving strangely around his father.

One of Tom’s students, Jenna Tripp, also lives on the same street, and she’s not convinced her teacher is as squeaky clean as he seems. For one thing, he has taken a particular liking to her best friend and fellow classmate, and Jenna’s mother—whose mental health has admittedly been deteriorating in recent years—is convinced that Mr. Fitzwilliam is stalking her.

Meanwhile, twenty years earlier, a schoolgirl writes in her diary, charting her doomed obsession with a handsome young English teacher named Mr. Fitzwilliam…

My Thoughts:

Solid domestic thriller. 
Kind of a slow burn, but once I could keep all of the characters straight, it was interesting to follow each of their storylines and see how they all intersected in the end.
I liked the exploration of good vs. evil vs. caught-in-the-middle. There is at least one definite evil character, but it isn’t clear until the very last paragraph just how evil that person is. There are also quite a few characters that do unsavory things–from spying to cheating to skating on a thin line of acceptable behavior. Jewell does an excellent job at looking at those characters’ actions and exploring the grey areas of what they do, and then showing those characters’ growth over the course of the novel.
I wasn’t a particular fan of Joey, I thought by her age she should have had it a bit more together, but as I followed her arc I came to understand more about her and appreciated her development throughout the tale. I thought Freddie was a fascinating guy and looked forward to his scenes.

Moondust Lake by Davis Bunn, I gave this book 2 stars

About the Book:

A top executive in the family business, Buddy Helms lives and works under the thumb of his powerful father. He’s proved himself time and again to the manipulative patriarch—even saving the company from financial ruin. Yet for six years Buddy’s waited to hear that he’s worthy of his father’s love and respect. Now, after another cold dismissal, Buddy’s slamming the door on everything he’s strived for.When his church counselor recommends a soothing tonic for his disillusionment, frustration, and rage, he grabs at it: the solitude of Moondust Lake, a retreat just outside Miramar Bay.

Believing in others comes easily—it’s believing in herself that’s a risk . . . 

Kimberly Sturgiss is a professional psychotherapist, whose tragic past has granted her a rare ability to gently release her patients from their self-made prisons. She’s well acquainted with the Helms family and the dark burdens that come with them. But the most intriguing challenge of all is Buddy. He and Kimberly share more than she’s prepared to admit—the same emotional cage, the guarded heart, and the broken trusts that come with being alive. Maybe it’s finally time that Kimberly finds herself, too—by reaching out to the man who’s reaching out to her.

My Thoughts:

I didn’t like this book as much as the first two in the series. I found the entire thing quite disjointed and never connected with any of the characters.
I appreciated the themes of forgiveness and needing to come to terms with what happens in the past in order to move forward to a positive future. Each of the characters completes this journey and it is meaningful. However, Jack is the antagonist and is portrayed as a villain, and most of his scenes don’t even appear on the page, and those that are are just him blustering around trying to bully everyone. I just never got a true sense of him and why people would be bowing to his will, because his character was just not fleshed out at all. And his redemption again occurred off the page and didn’t feel real or convincing.
The therapy sessions that many of the characters were experiencing were again, never incorporated into the story so we could see growth or change. It just all seemed to happen instantaneously. There were also a lot of privacy and ethical violations that seemed like they would never happen in real life, they were just put in as part of the drama.
And the conclusion–we were told that things were happening behind the scenes, Buddy was drawing everyone together and working out deals–yet this drama happened off the page and was never really revealed to the reader.

Currently Listening to:

Sweet Little Lies by Caz Frear

Twenty-six-year-old Cat Kinsella overcame a troubled childhood to become a Detective Constable with the Metropolitan Police Force, but she’s never been able to banish these ghosts. When she’s called to the scene of a murder in Islington, not far from the pub her estranged father still runs, she discovers that Alice Lapaine, a young housewife who didn’t get out much, has been found strangled.

Cat and her team immediately suspect Alice’s husband, until she receives a mysterious phone call that links the victim to Maryanne Doyle, a teenage girl who went missing in Ireland eighteen years earlier. The call raises uneasy memories for Cat—her family met Maryanne while on holiday, right before she vanished. Though she was only a child, Cat knew that her charming but dissolute father wasn’t telling the truth when he denied knowing anything about Maryanne or her disappearance. Did her father do something to the teenage girl all those years ago? Could he have harmed Alice now? And how can you trust a liar even if he might be telling the truth?

Determined to close the two cases, Cat rushes headlong into the investigation, crossing ethical lines and trampling professional codes. But in looking into the past, she might not like what she finds. . . .

Currently Reading:

Hunting Annabelle by Wendy Heard

Sean Suh is done with killing. After serving three years in a psychiatric prison, he’s determined to stay away from temptation. But he can’t resist Annabelle—beautiful, confident, incandescent Annabelle—who alone can see past the monster to the man inside. The man he’s desperately trying to be.

Then Annabelle disappears.

Sean is sure she’s been kidnapped—he witnessed her being taken firsthand—but the police are convinced that Sean himself is at the center of this crime. And he must admit, his illness has caused him to “lose time” before. What if there’s more to what happened than he’s able to remember?

Though haunted by the fear that it might be better for Annabelle if he never finds her, Sean can’t bring himself to let go of her without a fight. To save her, he’ll have to do more than confront his own demons… He’ll have to let them loose.

Up Next:

A Bound Heart by Laura Frantz (Releases Jan 1)

Though Magnus MacLeish and Lark MacDougall grew up on the same castle grounds, Magnus is now laird of the great house and the Isle of Kerrera. Lark is but the keeper of his bees and the woman he is hoping will provide a tincture that might help his ailing wife conceive and bear him an heir. But when his wife dies suddenly, Magnus and Lark find themselves caught up in a whirlwind of accusations, expelled from their beloved island, and sold as indentured servants across the Atlantic. Yet even when all hope seems dashed against the rocky coastline of the Virginia colony, it may be that in this New World the two of them could make a new beginning–together.

Flights of Fancy by Jen Turano, releases January 1

Miss Isadora Delafield may be an heiress, but her life is far from carefree. When her mother begins pressuring her to marry an elderly and uncouth duke, she escapes from the high society world she’s always known and finds herself to be an unlikely candidate for a housekeeper position in rural Pennsylvania.

Mr. Ian MacKenzie is known for his savvy business sense and has built his reputation and fortune completely on his own merits. But when his adopted parents are in need of a new housekeeper and Isadora is thrown into his path, he’s unexpectedly charmed by her unconventional manner.

Neither Isadora nor Ian expected to find the other so intriguing, but when mysterious incidents on the farm and the truth of Isadora’s secret threaten those they love, they’ll have to set aside everything they thought they wanted for a chance at happy-ever-after.

An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, releases January 8

Seeking women ages 18–32 to participate in a study on ethics and morality. Generous compensation. Anonymity guaranteed.

When Jessica Farris signs up for a psychology study conducted by the mysterious Dr. Shields, she thinks all she’ll have to do is answer a few questions, collect her money, and leave.

Question #1: Could you tell a lie without feeling guilt?

But as the questions grow more and more intense and invasive and the sessions become outings where Jess is told what to wear and how to act, she begins to feel as though Dr. Shields may know what she’s thinking…and what she’s hiding.

Question #2: Have you ever deeply hurt someone you care about?

As Jess’s paranoia grows, it becomes clear that she can no longer trust what in her life is real, and what is one of Dr. Shields’ manipulative experiments. Caught in a web of deceit and jealousy, Jess quickly learns that some obsessions can be deadly.

Question #3: Should a punishment always fit the crime?

Tell me what you’re reading and what you’re looking forward to! I’m hoping to put up some post of my most anticipated upcoming reads soon, as well as highlight my favorites from 2018.