Book reviews presenting honest opinions on various books/titles.
To be honest, after reading the synopsis for this one, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I loved Before We Were Yours so much that I fully trusted Wingate. Part coming of age, part adventure story, part crusade, this book doesn’t shy away from the shadowy bits of history we might want to sweep under the rug.
The Secret Keeper of Jaipur by Alka JoshiPublished by: Mira BooksPublish Date: 2021Genre(s): Fiction, Historical Fiction, Cultural - IndiaHB&W Rating: 4View on GoodreadsBuy on Amazon: Barnes & Noble, Book Depository Synopsis It’s the spring of 1969, and Lakshmi, now married to Dr. Jay Kumar, directs the Healing Garden in Shimla. Malik has finished his private … Continue reading The Secret Keeper of Jaipur
There are so many twists and turns in this book and they kept me guessing the whole way through, right up until the end. The story was a very original concept and totally gave me the Get Out meets Stepford vibes that it was touted as.
it makes me glad to see YA books like this out there because I think they help the younger generations process things they might themselves be feeling or going through. I think that Ms. Rishi did a lovely job of working out the character's inner conflicts, showed a mature viewpoint of romantic relationships, and resolved the story in a very satisfying way that was reflective of Muslim values, with love and kindness.
Racism is driven down into the bedrock of our (western and white colonized) society, culture, and economy in a way that is so pervasive it's like we need a red pill from The Matrix to see it clearly. If only it were that easy.
I had nothing but good feelings toward Hoover going into reading this book, but I also had reservations because...her books are...angsty. But this book, while an angsty romance, has motherhood and parent-child relationships at its core, and that was enough to draw me in.
There are so many books on WWII out there now, a trending topic that doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon, so while I am getting little burnt out on it, personally, I wanted to give this one a shot because the story is set in Italy, which interested me, and I'm glad I did.
The inspiration behind this story was the reimagining of the author's mother's life had she not wed at 18 and had 3 children by age 22, had she been able to choose her own path instead of uphold the cultural responsibilities of her sex. The vivid descriptions of the sights, sounds and smells really took me to India and had me dreaming of it for days after finishing.
Nature v nurture, the age old debate. What makes a good mother? If your mother was a no-show in your life, did that mean you were doomed to be a bad mother? Blythe’s mom left her and her dad when she was a little girl, and when her husband, Fox, starts talking babies, Blythe is doubtful about motherhood, but is desperate to keep Fox happy. Motherhood is hard, anyone will tell you that, but is it supposed to be THIS hard? And when tragedy strikes the family and the blame game starts, lines are drawn and sides are taken, for better or worse.
As someone who was raised in the North, I used to believe that I was not racist, particularly because I hail from the northern states, and frown at the outright, in-your-face racism of the South. I mean, the North won the Civil War after all. Clearly we're the good guys, right? I'm ashamed to say that I thought that way for far too long, blind to the systemic racism inherent in everything, even here in the North, and especially that within myself. Thankfully, books like this one were written.
