I’ll confess first, I thought this was going to be another funny crime comedy book in the vein of Stephanie Plum. While it did have some aspects of that since Maggie’s concussion gave her the magical ability to understand animals, and its all based in NJ, it has a lot more heart. Maggie has issues, and not just self deprecating single lady issues.
Her mother has a serious bipolar/schizo not quite diagnosed disorder that left Maggie feeling like she had to watch her mother and her 3 sisters. But one day, when she was busy making sure her mother didn’t cause a scene, her younger sister was kidnapped. She was never found and Maggie blamed herself (as well as resenting her mother). Especially when said kidnapped sister’s twin ended up overdosing herself to an early grave. And now Maggie has no sisters since she was in the car crash that killed her 3rd sister, the husband and left her niece in a coma.
Now that’s where the hitwoman comes in, I won’t tell you how she gets the job but I think it’s plausible enough if you hold the suspension of disbelief, and you can imagine why Maggie is desperate enough to take it to help her niece.
There is so much more to add like her hot love interest that cannot be since he’s married (to two different wives no less. There’s an explanation for it, trust me). God, short for Gozilla, her niece’s pet lizard provides the needed commentary and conscience. Not to mention there’s the supporting cast of her family members like her three crazy aunts who semi-raised her, and her jailed father (also a long story) as well as the niggling worry that maybe she is going to head to the asylum next door to her mother. Plus the emotional payoff in the end makes it all worth it.
Anyway, the second book is just as good as the first with how the character progression never remains static and the characters are always showing new sides to themselves that you’re never sure whether they are as bad as they seem (I still got my eye on you, Templeton) or that their good guy veneer hides a hot tempered psycho (I seriously want to know what is Paul’s deal?). There’s a lot more going on but I’m keeping it vague since more people should read it and then come discuss it with me.
Unfortunately only the first two are in paperback, the rest on kindle which may be more environmentally friendly but I will go cross eyed if I stare intently at a screen too long. But I still really want to know what happens next!
This was told from a one person perspective of Lindsey. Lindsey is the good girl, the smart one, the rational one in the shadow of her beautiful twin sister. Lindsey loves her sister but acknowledges that they will never be truely close.
So Lindsey works her adult life trying to become the VP of her ad company. However that dream is crushed when the company slut sleeps her way to the position, then Lindsey gets caught with the company skeeze- ball and is fired for indecent behavior.
Now here I truely feel bad and sympathesize with Lindsey and you can see how her need to succeed drives away any close relationships beyond friendship like hers with the sarcastic yet adorable Matt.
Disheartened, Lindsey returns home to help with her sister, Alex’s (now a pro model) wedding to a politician. It’s a perfect wedding and who’s there too…Lindsey’s childhood crush, Bradley who is also in love with Alex.
Now here lies the conflict as Lindsey’s life tries to get back to normal by working in a matchmaking company and developing her own friendships; Lindsey becomes more frustrated to see how Bradly consistently clings to Alex despite how Lindsey knows more about him than her sister.
However a car accident reveals Alex’s more emotional side under her shallow surface when it turns out she has a tumor and . . there is a twist that shifts Lindsey’s perspective around once more. With all these relevations, Lindsey starts to reexamine her life, and where she fits in.
I think this was a very unique book as it shows one girl’s growth in terms of love and sisterhood and personal pride and very enjoyable. But also very slow in the beginning and middle half, and I wished that there were more of the sister interaaction instead of Lindsey jealously thinking about Alex for a good 2/3rds of the book. 3 stars.
This is told through four alternating views founded on the themes female friendship and marriage, as you can tell it is a reoccurring base in her books.
Three college friends are invited by their old dorky college friend, Dwight who has become a computer millionaire. The millionaire and his wife decided to have a little reunion in their Jaimacian villa as his birthday present, oh la la.
Now Skipping a Beat was very different from the last two Sarah Pekkanen books I read since it was about one person and solely a love story. An heartfelt bittersweet love story. It’s like The Vow and I think it should become a movie too.
The main character is Julia, who has been faithfully married to her high school sweetheart Micheal for years. But the thing is with both of them busy with their companies the spark has waned. Especially as Micheal keeps bailing on their plans together. Yet one day as the story began while Julia is setting up for an opera benefit, Michael has a heart attack and dies for four minutes and 30 secs. His life flashed before his eyes, he realizes how much he has neglected her and wants to make a fresh new start.
However Julia who had been considering divorce, doesn’t know what to do with this change of heart. Could they really revive their marriage? What if with his newfound enthusiasm and willingness to neglect his company for her, he will end up regretting his decision? What if this is just a phase and things end up as they were before? Moreover she already feels that Michael has changed so much, it’s not like he can go back in time and be how he was, and how they were.
As you can see I haven’t said much because to do so would give away the best parts. However I do feel free to say that the emotional core is the main draw of this book as Julia navigates there feelings for the old Michael, this new Michael, the past of her suspicions of cheating and feelings of abandonment, how corporate greed and ruthlessness had changed Michael, trying to redo life, and moving forward.
The ending of which I shall saying is a real heartbreaker but not for the reasons you would think.
This is a great book for any romantic and features so much heart pun intended.
This book is about three roommates, Cate, Abby and Renee all as they navigate love and work as 20-30 somethings. Once again, Sarah brings realism and heart to her work as she weaves their lives together. They make mistakes, they hurt people, but they also stand by each other and that’s what makes me love the characters and the book too. This review has some spoilers below.
The Perfect Neighbors by Sarah Pekkanen is the first book I’ve read by the author and it was so good, I went on to read the rest of her realistic fiction catalogue. At least the ones available in my library.
I read this memoir every summer, it’s just so good. Starting from her childhood in Puerto Rico, Moreno paints a rich picture of the world and the brother she left behind when her mother unexpectedly picks her up to travel to New York for new opportunities and a new husband. There it is a dull, grey place full of ticks, snow and some harassers who shout insults at her in a foreign tongue but if there was one thing that was always with her, it was spirit and talent. She delves into her career from being discovered as the Latina Liz Taylor, her new name and the sterotypical roles she got before she became a bonafide hit with West Side Story.
She also delves into her low points like her suicide attempt brought on by her tumultuous relationship with Brando, among other things as well as the other loves she had like Elvis Presley before meeting her husband where it was not always the perfect marriage as it was praised for. Self-reflective without being too deprecating, this is a honest look into her life, her insecurities and flaws. However if you’re not a reader, you can just watch her documentary which is basically the same thing. She did this memoir as a play too so she’s memorized huge swaths of this.
I read this series from its beginning back in 2009 up until 2015 when I grew out of it and addmittedly, didn’t like the art change. I’m kind of picky about those things. Also very nostalgia-biased as you can tell by my choices. Anywho this will include Super specials, but exclude the Thea Sisters at Mousefords since that came out later and I never read them. However, I did get a copy of one of those books in Brazil back in 2012, years before they came out in the U.S. so can someone explain why it was released there and not in the U.S. to me?
Thea Stilton and the Ghost of the Shipwreck
This was my favorite because not only is it like two stories in one, but also features Violet in the second half who was my favorite of the mouselets. Featuring devious villains and beautiful illustrations, it was very enjoyable. Also loved their fashions here.
Thea Stilton and the Mountain of Fire
The second adventure of the Thea Sisters is where I believe the author really cemeted the premise of the series with having the girls travel around the world. I enjoyed getting to see Nicky’s family and a bit of life on the sheep ranch. What was always so cool to me was how it included vital facts of each country, its customs, its geography etc. that was very educational but with its cartoony style, kept it fun. I’m not sure if they still keep that.
Thea Stilton and the Dragon’s Code
The first book in the series brought the girls together and was really the only to include Thea Stilton in it. I believe they stopped having her as a framing device later on the series which sort of a shame. She was the one wh brought them together. Anyway, Thea is invited to her alma mater to become a guest speaker where she meets the girls who are clashing roommates. But a mystery in the halls of Mouseford and a missing teacher brings them together and thus the Thea Sisters are born. Plus it has the original profiles, map of Mouseford and its falculties that were such a nice touch. Or maybe I’m just very nostalgic for this book.
Rachel Reads & Reviews 