Book Review: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

 

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid / ★★★★★

Movie star Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the story of her life, of her rise to fame and fortune, and of her seven marriages. She chooses unknown journalist Monique Grant to do the job, and no one is more surprised than Monique herself. As Evelyn’s story unravels, however, the connection between them begins to unravel, in a story of tragedy and love.

Movie stars are movie stars are movie stars. Sure, we all fade after a while. We are human, full of flaws like anyone else. But we are the chosen ones because we are extraordinary.

Book Review: Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee / ★★★★★

Summary: Pachinko follows a Korean family through the 20^th century, beginning with an unplanned pregnancy in the 1900s that ignites a story filled with struggle, war, discrimination, and unexpected blessings.

“You are very brave, Noa. Much, much braver than me. Living every day in the presence of those who refuse to acknowledge your humanity takes great courage.”

Book Review: Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones / ★★★★★

Summary: When The Witch of the Waste puts a spell on young, sensible Sophie that turns her into an old woman, she leaves home to pursue a new life. When she boards the moving castle of the infamous wizard, Howl, who loves to make young  women fall in love with them only to break their hearts, things in her life get interesting for the very first time.

“Yes, you are nosy. You’re a dreadfully nosy, horribly bossy, appallingly clean old woman. Control yourself. You’re victimizing us all.”

Book Review: The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey (The Monstrumologist #1) / ★★★★★

Summary: Twelve year old Will Henry is the assistant of Dr. Warthrop, a Monstrumologist, or a studier of monsters. It’s the late 19th century and a horrifying discovery is made in their small New England town. Dr. Warthrop and Will Henry must undertake their most deadly case yet- that of the Anthropophagi, who thirst for human flesh and will tear them limb from limb to get it.

If the doctor had known what horrors awaited us not only at the cemetery that night, but in the days to come, would he still have insisted upon my company? Would he still have demanded that a mere child dive so deep into the well of human suffering and sacrifice- a literal sea of blood? And if the answer to that question is yes, then there are more terrifying monstrosities in the world than Anthropophagi. 

Book Review: The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden (The Winternight Trilogy #1) /★★★★★

Summary: Vasilisa is a creature of winter and nature. When her father brings home a stepmother who forbids her family from honoring household spirits, and a priest arrives who teaches her happy village to fear, Vasilisa must defy even the people she loves and call on gifts she has long concealed to protect her family.

You are. And because you are, you can walk where you will, into peace, oblivion, or pits of fire, but you will always choose.

Book Review: The Absolutist by John Boyne

The Absolutist by John Boyne / ★★★★★

Summary: Tristan Sadler personally delivers a package of letters to the sister of the deceased Will Bancroft, a man he fought alongside during World War I. But the letters are not the real reason for Tristan’s visit. As Tristan recounts the past, the true nature of his relationship with Will and the burden he has kept hidden surrounding Will’s death is reluctantly revealed.

And if I don’t see him, I will convince myself that he has been picked off in the last few hours and I will throw myself over anyway, an easy potshot for the snipers, for what is the purpose of continuing if he does not?

Book Review: Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng / ★★★★★

Summary: Lydia is dead. She is the favorite child of the Lee family, a mix-raced Chinese American family living in 1970s Ohio, and as the causes of her death unravel, the family tumbles into chaos, forcing them to confront the long-kept secrets that have been slowly pulling them apart.

Up there – eighty-five miles high, ninety, ninety-five, the counter said – everything on earth would be invisible. Mothers who disappeared, fathers who didn’t love you, kids who mocked you – everything would shrink to pinpoints and vanish. Up there: nothing but stars.

Book Review: The Ship of the Dead by Rick Riordan

The Ship of the Dead by Rick Riordan (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #3) / ★★★★★

Summary: Magnus, his best friends Samirah and Alex, and the rest of his crew, must sale across the Atlantic to prevent Loki from sailing his own ship and setting the end of the world into motion.

No matter how magical Kvasir’s Mead was, how could it possible help me beat Loki at his own game?

No pressure, of course. If I lost I’d just be reduced to a shadow of myself and imprisoned in Helheim while all my friends died and Ragnorok destroyed the Nine Worlds. 

Book Review: The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne

The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne / ★★★★★

Summary: In 1945, pregnant sixteen year old Catherine Goggin is thrown out of her tiny Irish town and goes to Dublin, where she gives up her baby. Her son, Cyril, is adopted by the Averys, who constantly remind that he’s “not a real Avery,” and he falls in love with his childhood best friend Julian, a love that goes on to pervade his life, which is full of coincidence, tragedy, wonder, and fate.

It was a difficult time to be Irish, a difficult time to be twenty-one years of age and a difficult time to be a man who was attracted to other men. To be all three simultaneously required a level of subterfuge and guile that felt contrary to my nature.

Book Review: A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara / ★★★★★

Summary: Former college roommates Jude, Willem, JB, and Malcolm traverse life in the decades after college. Friendships shift, careers are made, lives change as the future unfolds, but the past haunts Jude, who suffered unspeakable childhood traumas, and who holds them together more than anything, for better or for worse.

They all hold their positions, and it reminds him of a set, in which every scene can be redone, every mistake can be corrected, every sorrow reshot. And in that moment, they are on one edge of the frame, and Jude is on the other, but they are all smiling at one another, and the world seems to hold nothing but sweetness.