Welcome to the Stacks
Fostering the love of reading, here are several reviews from myself.
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Culpability By Bruce Holsinger
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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A high school graduate is driving his family in their autonomous minivan when it strikes and kills an older couple in another car. As the police investigate, we find that every family member is somehow implicated in the tragedy. This author knows how to take a hypothetical situation and really blow it up into a page-turner. I didn't realize he also wrote The Gifted School, which I also enjoyed. Culpability analyzes the tragedy through the dad's POV, arguably more mainstream in accomplishments than the rest of his family. I loved this perspective to tell this story because it was unexpected from reading the summer, but really made it great suspense to not know what everyone else in the family is thinking.
Yesteryear By Caro Claire Burke
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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A Tradwife influencer wakes up in the late 1800s living the life she emulates and idolizes on social media for her fans. I mean, what else can you say?! This book has been quite the heated topic in my friend circles but that is EXACTLY why I loved it. I love a book that creates unrest and discourse among its readers. This leads to more discussion and sharing your POV vs. just an echo chamber. It gives us a chance to see the same story from someone else's interpretation. Did I personally like the story? I thought there were some things at the end that didn't add up perfectly, but what book does? And what life does?
We Just Might Make it After All by Elyce Aarons
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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Elyce Aarons, co-founder of Kate Spade New York, wrote the perfect memoir and tribute to a time gone by. The pages are filled with NYC 90s fabulousness, regaling two best friends making their way in the big city at the height of glitzy magazines and high fashion. It's impossible to explain how epic 90s NYC was, but Elyce gives a sublime taste of building an iconic brand in the height of it all. The stories are rich with personable experiences that recount office pranks, conflict resolution in the office with a best friend, and ultimately knowing when the tide has changed and it is time to leave. And, also, when it's time to pick it back up and start again with another dream with your best friend and what happens when the dream shifts.
Strangers by Belle Burden
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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I blew through this book. I love memoirs and a general genre I jokingly call, "rich people misbehaving" and Strangers is the venn diagram overlap of both. Belle Burden retells the incredibly sudden destruction of her 2 decade long marriage, which occurs at the beginning of the 2020 pandemic. I finished it in two days; it was incredibly told.
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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A junior high science teacher ends up on a team (and mission) to save Earth. I'm not a Science Fiction or Fantasy enthusiast, but I really liked the writing for The Martian (as a movie), so I figured I could give this a shot. The way I felt all the emotions! This is a book about humanity and empathy. About service and friendship. I cannot wait to see the movie. I have heard this audiobook is excellent also.
The Wedding People By Alison Espach
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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I FLEW through this Audiobook. A friend warned me it wasn't exactly a light beach read, thankfully. A woman, who is in a deep depression after divorcing her husband, checks into a fancy hotel in Newport for a solo trip. Mistaken as a wedding guest as the rest of the hotel is blocked for a wedding that weekend, she is enveloped into the lavish wedding festivities and befriends the bride at one of the lowest points in her life. Is this still the end for new or a new beginning?
The Five Star Weekend By Elin Hilderbrand
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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When I heard Jennifer Garner was seen on Nantucket filming for this book, I rushed to read it. I like to read a book before casting so I can set my own images. After the Paradise Series, this is my favorite of Elin Hilderbrand's novels. Set in current times, a food influencer sets out to host a weekend on island for four friends, all from different stages of her life, to help her through the mourning of her husband's sudden death. The setting is of course stunning and the drama that ensues is incredibly unexpected and page-turning.
The Emotional Lives of Teenagers by Lisa Damour
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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Teenagers have ALL the emotions. The Emotional Lives of Teenagers is a helpful guide, built on research-informed explanations for every day examples of what any parent is encountering with their teenager these days. Does this book have every answer to immediately make me a better parent to teens? I wish. But, it does provide countless ideas for handling what we all encounter with teens with some more compassion, options for responding, and the feeling of "you're not alone in this, mom".
The Summer Pact by Emily Giffin
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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The Summer Pact marks an interesting shift for Emily Giffin, blending her signature storytelling with deeper themes of grief and renewal. The book follows college friends Lainey, Tyson, and Hannah, who vow to stand by one another after a tragedy. A decade later, when Hannah’s life unravels just before her wedding, Lainey and Tyson honor the pact and come to her aide. What unfolds is a journey through buried secrets, fractured identities, and the redemptive power of love and friendship.
Greenwich by Kate Broad
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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The summer of 1999 finds 18 year old Rachel Fiske begging to escape some friend drama at home. She sets off to Greenwich, CT to live with her aunt and uncle for the summer to help her aun as she recovers from an injury. Rachel is awkwardly situated in the world here, not quite an adult and not needing a babysitter. She finds friendship in her cousin's nanny, Claudia. As summers are want to do, Rachel finds herself hoping for romance with Claudia. Suddenly, a tragedy occurs and Rachel is forced to choose a side between her family and the nanny.
Troubles in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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The 3rd in the Paradise series, Irene Steele travels one last time back to the beautiful island of St. John to deal with the mess her late husband left behind. But, now she has roots of her own on the island. And so do her grown sons. Will they tie up loose ends and leave once and for all or will they choose to tend to the roots now growing on this tiny island?
The Last Ferry Out by Andrea Bartz
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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Driven by grief, Abby returns to the remote Isla Colel where her fiancée, Eszter, died—only to suspect the tragedy was no accident. As she befriends a tight-knit group of expats, one hints at the truth about Eszter’s final days—but disappears before he can speak. Amid hurricane-scarred beaches and simmering secrets, Abby must confront a tangled web of lies before she becomes the next victim
The Andy Cohen Diaries by Andy Cohen
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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A very candid look at one year of Andy Cohen's life. It's 2013-2014 and he does not hold back. Name drops left and right, shamelessly discusses hitching helicopter rides to the Hamptons with Kelly Ripa, and honestly assesses his ability to care for a dog while debating how selfish he truly is. I loved this book. It's diary format and so easy to pick up, read a little, and put down. I scatter it in while reading other books because I didn't want it to end!
Sunburned by Katherine Wood
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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A fantastic murder mystery set in St. Barth's among a tech billionaire's friend group. It's what all summer beach reads should be! Audrey Collet gets a phone call from her high school sweetheart, Tyson, out of the blue. He wants her to come down to St. Barth's and see which of his friends is disloyal. A foot has washed ashore in Florida that Audrey and Tyson have a shared connection to (well, the foot and its deceased owner). But, who knows of this shared past and is now extorting Tyson? Is it Audrey? Is it one of his business partners or friends?
The Measure by Nikki Erlick
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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At the exact same time, everyone around the world is delivered a small wooden box with a string inside it, which measures their lifespan. The Measure follows 8 people and their decision to look at the string, to not look at the string, to measure it and know the exact time you have left, etc. A fascinating concept that I am finding myself asking everyone over cocktails or dinner. I still don't know what I would do in this situation! The Measure isn't sad at all, in my opinion. Moreover, it's a fascinating look at human behavior when having to reconcile one's own mortality.
The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris by Evie Woods
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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Edie Lane leaves her home in Ireland to start fresh at a bakery in Paris. Except, whoops. It's not in Paris, but rather a small town in France on Rue de Paris. As she tries to settle into this new realization, she also realizes the bakery she has come to work in has an air of mystery about it. Edie finds working at the bakery to be not what she signed on for, but instead exactly what she needs. I liked this later "coming of age" story where we follow someone who doesn't have it all together still as an adult, but comes into her own in due time and with the right life experiences.
Mansion Beach by Meg Mitchell Moore
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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Readers of Pineapple Street and Bad Summer People will love Mansion Beach. Set on Block Island, RI, Mansion Beach follows people summering and working on the island. A mix of old money, new money, and no money, everyone's summer story becomes intertwined. Some congenial relationships are formed, and some are not so congenial. The summer tension and heat rise in tandem together in this book and come to an apex when a dead body is discovered. Mansion Beach was a great summer escapist novel to dive into while on vacation!
Dinners with Ruth by Nina Totenberg
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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A really fascinating read from a NPR journalist who covered the courts and befriended a judge (RBG) as they were both building their careers. And, interestingly, how they chose to respect their friendship first over using the connection of each other to help their careers. It was a heartwarming read.
Be Ready when the Luck Happens by Ian Garten
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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I knew very little about Ian Garten. So, why did I pick this up? I was just curious about how she got to be the Barefoot Contessa! And I learned so much. What a fun listen to hear her sharp pivots in her career. I really enjoyed learning about her persistence in purchasing the land adjacent to hers to build out a barn to film!
What Happens in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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What Happens in Paradise picks up in the story of Irene Steele. The 2nd novel in Elin Hilderbrand's Paradise series is a page turner! So much of the plot from the first book thickens in this second book. I could not put it down and immediately ran to the library to grab the final book in the series upon finishing!