This is the story of Jane, through two decades, after she falls in love with a man with a big history in a small town. It was a light read - nothing spectacular - but reminded the reader that people are complicated, and life doesn’t always turns out in ways you anticipate.

I read this book but wish I had not wasted my time. It had a surprising ending but the whole story really annoyed me. It is taken from the point of view of two parents and the dilemma concerns one of their children and also a huge family party. I did not empathize with the characters and that is probably why I was not gripped.

I've read many Lisa Jewell books and consider myself a fan. She does a great job of creating a realistic and vivid picture of her characters and their lives, and I usually enjoy following along as she tells their stories and gradually puts pieces together to solve a mystery or a puzzle of some kind. This book felt like Lisa Jewell "light," and read more like a romance novel. The book alternates between the lives of two young women making their way in London 70 years apart - Betty in the 1990s and Betty's step-grandmother Arlette in the 1920s. Both of them are extraordinarily beautiful, and other characters comment on this so often that it starts to seem ridiculous. I liked the story of Betty more than that of Arlette, but overall the characters in both time periods were flat, their problems were predictable and the book dragged on way too long. I had to force myself to finish it.

This was rather a difficult book to read not only from the point of view of the subject but also because of my lack of Russian knowledge. The names were tricky too, however it was very interesting and well worth persevering. The subject is the world's worst nuclear disaster which took place in Chernobyl in April 1986. We are taken through the events as they happened as well as the subsequent efforts to contain and clear up the fallout both literally and within the Russian government. It is a tragic tale but an important and noteworthy piece of history.

Its a novella, which means it is a shorter book. It's a quick read, not an in-depth story. I like the characters but it wasn't long enough to fully develop them. After reading the book, I did go see that there are a few more books in the series. So maybe that is a way to get to know more of the characters. I did like the setting and the background that the author set up for the books. I would recommend it.

The next book in the Maze Runner series has basically the same review as the Maze Runner. The stakes are higher, and it turns out that escaping the maze was only the beginning. I was gripped at some times, wanted to give up on the book at other times. Overall, the book was rather exciting and really had me thinking.

Slow to start and difficult to keep the characters straight. Ending left a lot to be desired. The overall story was enjoyable. The side story about the best friend was not needed and I felt like it was just something to fill pages and was not at all relevant to the murmur plot.

Active action, good concept, good book for certain people.

Fun summer read! Quick read and love that it takes place in NYC and Westchester County. Also a story line very much in the news concerning college admissions with a different twist. Her characters are always so true to life and always get a good laugh from her stories!

Set in a world where Slasher films really did happen, Lynnette is a member of what's known as the "The Final Girls Club." The club is made up of women who meet a very specific criteria - they all were the only survivors of two massacres, and they all killed the person responsible. They meet once a month to support each other and work towards moving on with their lives - until one day one of the members doesn't show up on time. Her monster has come back to kill her. Now, Lynnette is on a race to not only keep herself alive, but to keep the members of her club alive as well. This probably would have worked pretty well as a movie, honestly, but as a book it didn't quite work for me. First, Lynnette as a narrator was awful. She's unreliable from the start, so I found myself utterly distracted the entire book because I was always trying to figure out if I should believe what was happening. I know a lot of books use the unreliable narrator trope now, but it was a difficult sell in this book. I would have much preferred if a different narrator (Heather?) was responsible for telling us what was going on. Or if Lynette's character was tweaked a little. Second, the plot twists were not really plot twists. It was really easy to figure out who was going to be responsible for the killings happening, so that was disappointing. The twists didn't leave me going "oh wow!" so much as "ugh, finally, we got there." My third issue is that it seems like Grad Hendrix either didn't keep track of everything, didn't want to explain everything, or thought that no one would pay attention. For example, at one point a character is mentioned to have a cell phone that they are going to use to keep track of Amber Alerts and to check in with every five hours. Three sentences later, they say that they're going to keep the phone turned off and only have it on for the check in times. How...how are you checking for Amber Alerts? Why did you make a big deal about checking for Amber Alerts, only to then say you're turning the phone off and not getting them anyway? In another scene, Lynnette is dictating a message for someone to send. She claims that it was a difficult process, and that she had to spell out a lot of the words. The example given is using "p as in Paul which is fascinating, because the only words with "p" in her message are purchased, photos, people, and peace. Am I really supposed to believe that someone couldn't spell one of those words without help? Really? I could go on and on, but honestly? I had high hopes for this book. The summary sounded great, and I was really excited to read it. I'm glad I didn't spend money on it. The writing is just not good.