The Spanish Love Deception

Catalina Martín desperately needs a date to her sister’s wedding. Especially since her little white lie about her American boyfriend has spiraled out of control. Now everyone she knows—including her ex and his fiancée—will be there and eager to meet him.
She only has four weeks to find someone willing to cross the Atlantic and aid in her deception. New York to Spain is no short flight and her raucous family won’t be easy to fool.

Enter Aaron Blackford—her tall, handsome, condescending colleague—who surprisingly offers to step in. She’d rather refuse; never has there been a more aggravating, blood-boiling, and insufferable man.

But Catalina is desperate, and as the wedding draws nearer, Aaron looks like her best option. And she begins to realize he might not be as terrible in the real world as he is at the office.

My rating: four of five stars

I thought this was a cute book. Parts of it were a little expected, but it wasn't in a bad way. I loved the end of the story though and really love that this is book one. That means there will be more Catalina and Aaron. They are so cute together. TSLD includes several racy love scenes, so if those aren't your thing, either be prepared to skip a few pages or maybe skip this book. The main characters in this story were loveable and fun. Sometimes you wanted to slap them for the stupid decisions they were making. 

Flawed

Flawed by Cecelia Ahern

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Celestine North lives a perfect life. She’s a model daughter and sister, she’s well-liked by her classmates and teachers, and she’s dating the impossibly charming Art Crevan.

But then Celestine encounters a situation where she makes an instinctive decision. She breaks a rule and now faces life-changing repercussions. She could be imprisoned. She could be branded. She could be found flawed.

In her breathtaking young adult debut, bestselling author Cecelia Ahern depicts a society where perfection is paramount and flaws lead to punishment. And where one young woman decides to take a stand that could cost her everything.

This book is a difficult one to review. The concept is new and different. Basically, a country is striving to perfect it's gene pool, so anyone who makes a grave error of judgement is literally marked as flawed with a brand on their skin. Where the brand goes depends on what kind of error they made.

From the get go I knew that this Flawed system wasn't going to "last." You could see the ways that this would go wrong in so many ways. What happens isn't' what I was expecting at all. I loved the main character. Watching her learn and grow as she learns more about the system was interesting.

Cannot wait to read the next in this series! 

A Bookshop In Berlin

The memoir of a Jewish bookseller on a harrowing fight for survival across Nazi-occupied Europe.
In 1921, Françoise Frenkel--a Jewish woman from Poland--fulfills a dream. She opens La Maison du Livre, Berlin's first French bookshop, attracting artists and diplomats, celebrities and poets. The shop becomes a haven for intellectual exchange as Nazi ideology begins to poison the culturally rich city. In 1935, the scene continues to darken. First come the new bureaucratic hurdles, followed by frequent police visits and book confiscations.

Françoise's dream finally shatters on Kristallnacht in November 1938, as hundreds of Jewish shops and businesses are destroyed. La Maison du Livre is miraculously spared, but fear of persecution eventually forces Françoise on a desperate, lonely flight to Paris. When the city is bombed, she seeks refuge across southern France, witnessing countless horrors: children torn from their parents, mothers throwing themselves under buses. Secreted away from one safe house to the next, Françoise survives at the heroic hands of strangers risking their lives to protect her.

Published quietly in 1945, then rediscovered nearly sixty years later in an attic.

This was a simply beautiful story of survival during WWII. Maybe I'm the only one that never heard of all these other biographies published of survivors and those who lived through these horrific times. This woman was made to flea all over the countryside to avoid capture by the Germans. From Paris to the south of France, from safe house to safe house. Relying on the kindness of strangers to remain free, Francoise takes things day by day. It really is an amazing story. 

The List

The List by Patricia Forde

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions remain my own.

In the city of Ark, speech is constrained to five hundred sanctioned words. Speak outside the approved lexicon and face banishment. The exceptions are the Wordsmith and his apprentice Letta, the keepers and archivists of all language in their post-apocalyptic, neo-medieval world.

On the death of her master, Letta is suddenly promoted to Wordsmith, charged with collecting and saving words. But when she uncovers a sinister plan to suppress language and rob Ark’s citizens of their power of speech, she realizes that it’s up to her to save not only words, but culture itself.

Letta is the main character in this book. She is the wordsmith's (basically word keeper) apprentice.

I loved following her journey through this story. From the naïve girl to the one beginning to see the error of Ark's ways. Seeing how she learns things and grows. The way that she is torn between what she's grown up knowing and what she is being presented with. It all felt very real. It is definitely aimed for a bit of a younger reader. The language is simple, but not overly so. It was a captivating story that kept pulling me back into the world of Ark. To me, it was a different spin on the end of the world stories. The more I think on this book, the more I love it. 

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The Fearless Travelers' Guide to Wicked Places

The Fearless Travelers' Guide to Wicked Places by Pete Begler

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Although I received a copy of this ebook from the publisher, all opinions are my own.

Twelve-year-old Nell Perkins knows there is magic at work that she can’t yet understand. Her mother has been taken by witches and turned into a bird. Nell must journey to get her mother back, even if it takes her deep into the Wicked Places — the frightening realm where Nightmares resides. There she must break the spell and stop the witches from turning our world into a living nightmare.

This book was seriously amazing. The writing paints such a vivid picture that I could actually see what was happening. You can see the characters developing from children to fearless travelers, especially the main character, Nell. But you can see it in other characters too. I genuinely hope this book has more to come, but even if it doesn't, the book is amazing standing all on its own. Another thing I wish this book had was some images, even just at the beginning of each chapter. I think it would add to the already amazing imagery.

If you have the opportunity to read this book, I seriously recommend it.

The Surgeon's Daughter

Women's work is a matter of life and death.

Nora Beady, the only female student at a prestigious medical school in Bologna, is a rarity. In the 19th century women are expected to remain at home and raise children, so her unconventional, indelicate ambitions to become a licensed surgeon offend the men around her. Under constant scrutiny, Nora's successes are taken for granted; her mistakes used as proof that women aren't suited to the field.

Everything changes when she allies herself with Magdalena Morenco, the sole female doctor on-staff. Together the two women develop new techniques to improve a groundbreaking surgery: the Cesarean section. It's a highly dangerous procedure and the research is grueling, but even worse is the vitriolic response from men. Most don't trust the findings of women, and many can choose to deny their wives medical care.

Already facing resistance on all sides, Nora is shaken when she meets a patient who will die without the surgery. If the procedure is successful, her work could change the world. But a failure could cost everything: precious lives, Nora's career, and the role women will be allowed to play in medicine.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I have been waiting to read this book since finishing The Girl in His Shadow. This story follows Nora as she goes to Bologna, to medical school. Being the only woman in a male field puts her right in the light for scrutiny and as the description puts it "her mistakes used as proof that women aren't suited to the field." Nora pushes to prove herself and earn her license to practice surgery.

The cases that are discussed in this book, the ones that the fictional character Nora helps with, are based on real cases. That makes the drama all the more real. I felt like I was right there next to her, witnessing history.

I found this an amazing historical story. To imagine the things they used to have to do to bring children into the world (and the other things they had to endure in the name of "practicing medicine!) I love how the author wove the real stories of history into the fantasy of this imagined character. She felt like a real person to me and I love her!

A few quotes I found that I loved: 

"The law cannot change behavior,” pronounced Mrs. Russell. “Nor will it alleviate poverty.”

Unless we try to find ways for ourselves, there won’t be any. 

In the shadows, in the woman’s realm—that is where life happens. 

“If is a terrible word.” He cut her off. “Let’s not use it.”

Accounting is dismal at the best of times and especially now, but your sound decisions will always outweigh your mistakes.

"The pain will be felt in its full power, no matter how long you have kept it at bay."

All Good People Here

This is a book I have been looking forward to and it did not disappoint. This is the synopsis from goodreads: 

In the propulsive debut novel from the host of the #1 true crime podcast "Crime Junkie," a journalist uncovers her hometown’s dark secrets when she becomes obsessed with the unsolved murder of her childhood neighbor—and the disappearance of another girl twenty years later.

Everyone from Wakarusa, Indiana, remembers the case of January Jacobs, who was found dead in a ditch hours after her family awoke to find her gone. Margot Davies was six at the time, the same age as January—and they were next-door neighbors. In the twenty years since, Margot has grown up, moved away, and become a big-city journalist, but she’s always been haunted by the fear that it could’ve been her. And the worst part is, January’s killer has never been brought to justice.

When Margot returns home to help care for her sick uncle, it feels like walking into a time capsule. Wakarusa is exactly how she remembered: genial, stifled, secretive. Then news breaks about five-year-old Natalie Clark from the next town over, who’s gone missing under eerily similar circumstances. With all the old feelings rushing back, Margot vows to find Natalie and solve January’s murder once and for all.

But the police, the family, the townspeople—they all seem to be hiding something. And the deeper Margot digs into Natalie’s disappearance, the more resistance she encounters, and the colder January’s case feels. Could the killer still be out there? Could it be the same person who kidnapped Natalie? And what will it cost to finally discover what truly happened that night?

I will start with a few trigger warnings. This book includes lots of talk of child death and or murder, missing children, abuse of an already deceased animal, violence. This may not cover all triggering topics, read with caution if you are sensitive to this kind of content. 

I really did enjoy reading this story. The pace was fast and kept me really guessing who the "bad guy" was. It was suspenseful without being too much. I think the only thing I didn't love is that the end was so open. While you know what happened, you don't know everything. If you have read it, you know. 

I hate it when that happens. 

I've upgraded this one from my original review to four stars. The open-ish ending didn't change how I felt reading this book. 

Would recommend this to any true crime fans (likely you have heard about it already if you listen to any true crime podcasts).