Top Ten Tuesday – Books On My TBR I Predict Will Be 5-Star Reads
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!
This week’s TTT topic is Books On My TBR I Predict Will Be 5-Star Reads. This topic makes me a little nervous since it reminds me how much I’ve hyped these books in my own mind. Some, like The Queen of Nothing and The Toll, are finales for beloved series, while others like The Starless Sea, Chasing Lucky, and Ninth House are new books by favorite authors. Fingers crossed I haven’t set unreasonable expectations for them, but anyway, as of right now, these are books I’m predicting will be 5-star reads for me.
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Books On My TBR I Predict Will Be 5-Star Reads
(in no particular order)
THE QUEEN OF NOTHING by Holly Black
THE STARLESS SEA by Erin Morganstern
THE TEN THOUSAND DOORS OF JANUARY by Alix E. Harrow
THE TWO LIVES OF LYDIA BIRD by Josie Silver
A HEART SO FIERCE AND BROKEN by Brigid Kemmerer
THE DARK CORNERS OF THE NIGHT by Meg Gardiner
SHOREFALL by Robert Jackson Bennett
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What books from your TBR do you predict will be 5 star reads?
Reviews for THE LOOK ALIKE and BEHIND EVERY LIE
It’s time for another roundup of ARCs I’ve been reading. This time I want to share a couple of fantastic thrillers that I’ve read recently, The Look Alike by Erica Spindler and Behind Every Lie by Christina McDonald.
The Look-Alike Goodreads Author: Erica Spindler
Publication Date: January 28, 2020
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Thriller
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
Erica Spindler’s latest novel The Look Alike is a gripping psychological thriller that follows Sienna Scott, a young woman who, while a college student, discovered a dead body in the snow one night as she was walking back home from the campus library. The campus and local police were never able to solve the case. Sienna is also dealing with some troubles at home. Her mother suffers from a condition that makes her both paranoid and delusional. She believes that everyone is out to get her and, specifically, that they’re going to hurt her by hurting her daughter. These circumstances create such a suffocating environment for Sienna that her father finally tells her she should leave home so that she can have some semblance of a life. Sierra stays away for 10 years but returns home to care for her mother after her father passes away.
As soon as Sierra returns, that unsolved murder begins to dominate her thoughts and a nagging thought she had all those years ago returns – She and the dead woman were wearing the same jacket that fateful night. When strange things start happening – prank phone calls, a strange van driving past her house at all hours of the day and night, etc. – Sienna becomes even more convinced that she may have been the intended target and is now in danger. Is she right? Or is she just letting her imagination get the better of her? Or is it possible her mother’s condition is hereditary?
Wow, this book was such a wild ride! It was so suspenseful and filled with twists and turns that kept me guessing until the end. Every time I thought I had the murderer figured out, the author would introduce a new clue that would send me spinning off in another direction. I devoured The Look Alike in just a couple of sittings because I needed to know what happened and which girl was truly the killer’s target.
I was also very much drawn in by the characters. I felt tremendous sympathy for Sienna for all that she has had to contend with, and I felt equally sympathetic toward Sienna’s mom. Yes, she can be suffocating at times, but it’s the mental illness that makes her that way. Imagine thinking day in and day out that someone is out to hurt you and your child. That would be pure hell for any parent. With her latest novel, The Look Alike, Erica Spindler has crafted both a riveting murder mystery and an intense family drama about mental illness. I highly recommend it! 4 STARS
Behind Every Lie Goodreads Author: Christina McDonald
Publication Date: February 4, 2020
Publisher: Gallery Books
Genre: Thriller
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
With a title like Behind Every Lie, it’s a pretty safe bet that you’re in for a read filled with twists and turns, and author Christina McDonald does not disappoint. Behind Every Lie opens with a young woman named Eva Hansen frantically running down the street. She is clearly afraid, possibly in shock, and is covered in blood. She stops for a moment, to take stock of her situation and then everything abruptly goes dark. When Eva awakens, she is in the hospital being treated for, against all odds, a lightning strike. Eva has no memory of what happened to her leading up to the moment she was struck by lightning, which becomes a real problem when a police detective shows up at the hospital and tells her that her mother has been stabbed to death. Eva was found near her mother’s house and covered with blood, so she is automatically the prime suspect. Even with no memory of what happened that night, Eva is sure there’s no way she could have killed her own mother so she flees the hospital and sets out to find the real killer and clear her name.
Those who follow my reviews know that I’m a sucker for a story that features a dual timeline and McDonald uses one here to great effect. The story unfolds from both Eva’s perspective in the present and her mother Kat’s perspective in the past. As Eva uncovers more and more details about her mother’s life, the more she realizes her mother lived a life filled with secrets and lies and that by extension, Eva’s entire life has been nothing but a lie. She also realizes that whoever else knew about her mother’s secret could very easily be the person who killer her.
Unreliable narrators can be hit or miss for me, but I really like the way it was used here. Eva is unreliable quite simply because she has amnesia brought on by the lightning strike. I loved the twists and turns that each returning memory added to the story, especially when the doctor said that she couldn’t necessarily trust those memories at first. The bits and pieces Eva keeps remembering have her doubting her own innocence even as she’s finding evidence that there may be a real killer out there somewhere.
Behind Every Lie grabbed me from the opening scene and kept me riveted to the end. If murder mysteries, dual timelines and unreliable narrators are your thing, be sure to add Christina McDonald’s Behind Every Lie to your must-read list. 4 STARS
MIni Reviews: The Historical Fiction Edition
It’s time for another roundup of the ARCs I read in January. This time I want to focus on a couple of lovely historical fiction novels that I read, one set in WWII and the other set during WWI.
The Whispers of War Goodreads Author: Julia Kelly
Publication Date: January 14, 2020
Publisher: Gallery Books
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
Julia Kelly’s The Whispers of War is an engaging work of historical fiction that focuses on three friends, Marie, Nora, and Hazel, and the challenges they face when World War II reaches the shores of England. The author deftly uses a dual timeline to both ground her readers in the present and take us back in time. She begins in the present with Marie’s granddaughter, Samantha, who has travelled to London after Marie’s death to present Nora with a keepsake Marie wanted her dear friend to have. Samantha has also been charged with writing a eulogy for her grandmother so she takes the opportunity of meeting Nora to pick her brain about Marie’s early life. Although Nora is the gateway to the past, the author presents the WWII timeline from the perspectives of Nora, Marie, and their other good friend, Hazel.
As much as WWII historical fiction has always fascinated me, the friendship of these three women was what really sold me on this book. Marie is German-born, and although she has lived in England nearly all of her life, the threat of war with the Nazis has her on edge, especially as rumors abound that those with German blood could be placed in internment camps. Nora, on the other hand, is English by birth and actually works for the British government at the Home Office. She takes advantage of her position to keep Marie apprised of what’s really going on with respect to possible internment camps. In sharp contrast to both Nora and Marie is Hazel, who works for a matchmaking company. Ever the optimist and even in the face of war, she’s in the business of helping people find love. These three women are such an unlikely trio, but the bond of friendship they share is just beautiful to see, especially when contrasted with the ugliness of war as more and more people turn on Marie because of her German background.
Using WWII and Marie’s experiences as its backdrop, The Whispers of War explores some pretty big themes – friendship, sisterhood, what happens when loyalties are tested, politics, women’s rights issues, and even a little romance. Marie’s story is pretty incredible and I loved learning more about her alongside her granddaughter. If you’re into WWII historical fiction and/or stories that feature strong female characters, you’ll want to check out The Whispers of War. 4 STARS
The Vineyards of Champagne Goodreads Author: Juliet Blackwell
Publication Date: January 21, 2020
Publisher: Berkley
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
Set in the beautiful Champagne region of France, Juliet Blackwell’s latest novel The Vineyards of Champagne follows Rosalyn, an American woman who is traveling to France to find new wines for her company to distribute in America. Rosalyn, still reeling from the loss of her husband, isn’t excited about the trip but her boss thinks it will be good for her. On the plane, Rosalyn meets Emma, an Australian woman with a larger-than-life personality and who is working on a project that piques Rosalyn’s interest.
Emma has a packet of letters that belonged to her grandmother, who was corresponding with a young French soldier named Emile LeGrand during WWI. The letters were written by Emile, and Emma is heading to France in hopes of finding out more about the French soldier and hopefully finding her grandmother’s side of the correspondence. Rosalyn is drawn in by Emma’s enthusiasm for the project, and so what started as a business trip for Rosalyn slowly becomes a trip about healing and moving forward, as she and Emma dive deeper into the letters and learn more about Emile and about what life was like in the Champagne region during WWI.
This was such an easy book to fall in love with. I adored both Emma and Rosalyn from the moment they met. I felt tremendous sympathy for Rosalyn because of her loss and how much she was struggling to cope but could tell right away that Emma was going to be good for her with that live-out-loud personality of hers. I also loved the quaint little town that Rosalyn stays in while she’s there, as well as the array of wonderful secondary characters, especially Jerome, a champagne maker who catches Rosalyn’s eye.
The biggest draw for me in The Vineyards of Champagne though was what I learned about WWI. The history that unfolded through the letters just made for such a fascinating read. I had no idea that the citizens of this region in France had taken shelter during the war in underground caves beneath the champagne houses. The women and children basically lived in underground cities, educated the children there, and periodically came up to harvest the grapes to keep champagne production going. How amazing is that?
The Vineyards of Champagne is a story of love and loss, resilience and survival, and above all else, friendship and hope. 4 STARS