This book tells the story of the generation who came to Britain from the Caribbean after WW2. Powerful story with many first-hand accounts. It helped me gain a sense of the Afro-Caribbean community in Britain decade by decade. Also gives the historical background to the Windrush Scandal that broke in 2018.

Although I read to the end, I disliked this book very much, and I'm surprised it has so many great reviews. The writing is stiff and cliched and the characters are the same. The narrator Anna is a missing persons detective with a troubled past that’s revealed bit by bit through flashbacks as she works on multiple cases in an "unofficial" capacity while on leave from her job. It's clear that we're expected to see Anna as compelling and sympathetic, but I found her to be unlikable and her backstory was so dragged out that it became boring. The plot jumps from one case to another without a coherent connection and there are so many characters and events jammed into the past and present scenes that it's easy to lose track of things. I was also put off by the way the author weaves the real life case of Polly Klaas into the story - this feels sensationalistic and inappropriate, and it does nothing to make the fictional part of the story seem more real.

After getting into a fight with her roommate and abandoning her at a party, Charlie Jordan has become known on campus as "the girl who let her roommate get murdered." Though few will come out with their blame towards Charlie, the same can't be said for her roommate's family. You see, Charlie was at the party her roommate was last seen at, and she's pretty sure she saw the man who killed her. Unfortunately for Charlie, she has a tendency to get lost in her thoughts and hallucinate, so she's not sure what the man actually looked like - just what the figment of her imagination looked like, and he was something out of a Hollywood movie. Unable to deal with the guilt of being useless in the investigation, Charlie decides to use the local ride board to hitch a ride off campus and go home. Cue Josh Baxter, who just so happened to be at the board at the exact same time, and who is going in the same exact direction as Charlie needs to go. It seems like a perfect match! Unfortunately for Charlie, the further along the ride she goes, the more certain she is that the man she's with is not actually Josh Baxter. And he's probably not actually going to where she needs to go. And he seems to know things about her roommate's murder that he shouldn't know, things that were never released to the public. Stuck in the car with him for the rest of the night, Charlie has to do whatever it will take to survive. This is a great quick read, but there's nothing really spectacular about it. The main character getting "movies in her mind" was kind of weird and didn't really seem necessary to the plot at all. I really loved the idea of this book, but the execution of it wasn't there. It's definition something I couldn't put down, but it's not something I'd be likely to remember in a year.

I haven't seen the movie but was generally aware of the plot and the many awards and nominations it garnered, so I thought this book might be interesting. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case - it was torturously slow and I truly couldn't wait for it to end. It reads like a very long, drawn out journal entry by the 17 year old narrator, Elio, recounting his erotic obsession and ultimate affair with Oliver, a 24 year old grad student spending the summer with Elio's family at their Italian villa. In contrast with this stream of consciousness-like tale that takes up most of the book, near the end it abruptly jumps ahead 15 and then 20 years when the Elio and Oliver meet up two more times and remind each other of their shared bond, which still exists.

In this book, Henry's parents went to the Sweetheart Dance. Henry and Mudge went to stay at Mrs. Hopper's house. While they were there they played with all her costumes. Henry dressed up like a man and Mudge was a poodle. They had so much fun. Henry's parents came back and were surprised to see them dressed up!

READ THIS BOOK. One of my absolute favorite books this year, easily. Akkad has created a beautiful and haunting tale that I loved every single moment of reading. Amir is a nine-year-old boy escaping from Syria with his family in search of a better life. His journey takes him first to Egypt, and then onto a boat heading to an island, where his family is sure they will have better chances of survival. With the chapters alternating between what Amir experiences on the boat and what happens after, every moment of this story is just tragically amazing.

Book Two in the Country Store Mystery Series. The story just continues but this time Robbie Jordan finds Erica dead on the floor of the store. She didn't hear anything and now she is scared. Who wanted to kill Erica and why? Robbie of course decides to help the police find the killer, while putting herself in danger. Quick, easy and fun read. I will continue to read the rest of the series.

This book is by a woman for women. It is about feminism and being the person you were meant to be, not the one society tells you to be. It is a memoir about one woman’s journey through this process and the lessons she learned along the way. Fast read!

This book gets a four-star review only because I lost interest in it at times. The farther I got into the book, however, the more interested I was. Overall, the book was good, very futuristic. Kudos to the author for creating such a vivid sci-fi world and such complex characters. It has a very similar plot to Hunger Games.

One of the best books I have ever read!