Review: Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris

Jack and Grace are one of those couples you love to hate. Jack is a lawyer for battered women who charms everyone he meets with his dashing good looks and chivalrous manners. (The fact he's incredibly wealthy doesn't hurt either.) Grace is the girl-next-door who loves art and takes care of her younger sister, Millie, who has Downs Syndrome. Millie has always stood in the way of Grace getting next-level serious with a guy, but Jack accepts them as a package deal. Who wouldn't be just a little bit envious of their perfect life? I mean give me a bucket to puke in already! However, from the very first chapter of Behind Closed Doors, the reader is subtly made aware that not everything is as it seems in this fairy tale relationship and I was immediately hooked.

I've been a volunteer at my local women's center for the past few years and while I am mostly a sexual assault advocate, I did go through the training for domestic violence. I thought B.A. Paris did a great job showing all the manipulative tricks and traps an abuser subjects on his or her victim. It's very common to hear people say, "Why don't you just leave if your husband is abusing you?" No one knows how dangerous a relationship like that is until they've been in one themselves. On average, it takes seven attempts for a battered woman to successfully leave her abuser for good. Seven! And that assumes she lives through the previous six attempts, because not everyone's always that lucky.

Okay, I got off on a tangent there, but here's what you need to know about this book. I won't spoil anything for you. The writing is superb. The suspense is there from the very first chapter and never lets up.  The characters are very real and I was completely invested in Grace and her fate. The abuse/violence gets unsettling at times, but it was necessary to build to the climax. Overall, this is a great book choice if you're looking for something you could easily read in one sitting. If B.A. Paris continues to write such thrilling novels, I am prepared to become a fan for life.

My Rating: ★★★★★

Review: The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

A kidnapped baby. Sexy neighbors. A marriage with secrets. A cynical detective. Lies, lies, and more lies. Don't shoot me for what I'm about to say, but....I think I found a novel I like as much as Gone Girl.  Are you still reading? Thank you if you are! Before you begin throwing flaming pitchforks at me, hear me out.

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena is a novel so full of suspense, I would have read it in one sitting had I not adult responsibilities to attend to. (Insert dramatic eye roll here.) At the heart of this book are our two protagonists, Anne and Marco. Anne comes from a wealthy family where mommy and daddy are always nearby with a million bucks in hand to rescue her from whatever trouble a privileged white girl can get herself into. Marco is the opposite of Anne in the biggest ways; he is from a poor family and even drives a motorcycle-gasp! The two fall in love and even the looming reality that Marco will never be good enough for Anne in her parents' eyes isn't enough to keep them apart.

Enter Cora, Anne and Marco's adorable six month old baby who is probably even more spoiled than Anne. One night the sitter cancels and since the dinner party the couple are meant to attend is literally next door (the houses share a wall), they leave Cora in her crib at home. Alone. They take a baby monitor with them and check on her every half-hour, but still. When they return in the early morning hours, you guessed it- the baby is gone!  Chaos ensues as a surly detective tries to figure out what happened to baby Cora and the doting grandparents offer to pay any price for the safe return of their beloved granddaughter. Anne and Marco start suspecting everyone and anyone of taking their baby-even each other. Dun, dun, dun!

This novel picks up almost immediately with the kidnapping and things just speed along from there. I never felt like the story hit a dry spot. Every chapter was filled with suspense as we learned about the characters' secrets and motives. It had several twists and turns that I never saw coming and I enjoyed Lapena's writing style. I thought it flowed smoothly and made reading effortless. I had much the same response during and after reading as I did with Gone Girl. Let me elaborate.

In both novels, the characters (pretty much all of them) are unlikable, but real. The couple in this story doesn't share quite the same level of maliciousness as Nick and Amy have towards each other in Gone Girl, but they are equally devious in their actions. They both center on a spoiled rich girl and a lying husband who are struggling within their respective relationships. Probably because of all that secret-keeping, but what do I know? The only character I felt was too flat in The Couple Next Door was the detective, but I'm able to overlook that. Mental illness seems to play heavily in both, as well as the fear that you can never truly know your spouse.  And the endings! I will not spoil anything about either book, but let me say that they were both shocking and seemed to come out of left field. Both left me unsatisfied, but that's what I kind of liked about them. Flynn and Lapena had the guts to finish their books with a bang and weren't scared of upsetting their readers. I can respect that and I give them credit for being able to keep me guessing even up to the final page.

If you liked Gone Girl, then The Couple Next Door is definitely something you're going to want to check out! Honestly, I think you should check it out even if you didn't like Gone Girl. Lapena's novel is just that good!

My Rating: ★★★★★

Review: Tasty. Naughty. Healthy. Nice. by Susan Jane White

My husband and I have been experimenting with healthy eating for the last several years. I like to call myself an aspiring vegan. We eat vegan pretty regularly in our house, but do occasionally cook with meat, eggs, and fish.  The main reason we switched to a predominantly vegan diet is because of the health benefits associated with plant-based food.  My husband has MS and his symptoms can get pretty severe. I read about a doctor who reversed her MS significantly by eating a paleo-type diet. While we know a plant-based lifestyle is not going to magically fix everything, we do feel better and have more energy when eating this way. Plus, we both love and appreciate animals and do not like the thought of contributing to factory farming or animal rights violations. So I like to buy vegan or plant-based cookbooks to give us more healthy recipes to try as we continue down the path to full veganism.

The cookbook I received for review is called Tasty. Naughty. Healthy. Nice. written by Susan Jane White. White lives in Ireland and changed her eating ways when faced with a serious immune disorder. Her cookbook includes over 135 recipes that are gluten-free, sugar-free, and dairy-free. Her book promises "whole food made sinfully delicious."

It's important to note that this is not a vegetarian/vegan cookbook, but a lot of the ingredients found in typical vegan cooking can be found here.  If you're not familiar with plant-based cooking, things like nutritional yeast, brown rice syrup, quinoa, agave, buckwheat, etc. might seem very foreign to you. Since I've been cooking plant-based for a few years now, I had the majority of ingredients on hand.  There were, however, quite a few ingredients that I had not heard of and couldn't find easily.  Ingredients such as pea protein, nettle leaves, wild garlic leaves, black garlic, coconut blossom sugar, etc. were very new to me and I was only able to locate them online.  Some were quite pricey, as well.  That was definitely one of the downfalls of this cookbook. I think a reader who is new to whole foods cooking would be overwhelmed by such oddities and the expense that comes with them. In White's defense, perhaps these ingredients are easier to find and more commonly used in the UK and Europe as opposed to the US.

Another thing I disliked about this cookbook was that not all the recipes have photographs. I know that is pretty commonplace to save publishers money, but I'm one of those cooks who needs to see what I'm supposed to be making. Not only will a pretty plate get me to try a recipe I'd normally pass over, but it helps me feel more confident in the kitchen. I need to have an end picture in my mind for comparison. Especially when readers are cooking with unfamiliar ingredients, they may need the extra support that a good photograph can provide. More than half of the recipes did have photos and they were gorgeous! There were also several pictures of White herself and old-timey kitchen utensils throughout the book which I felt were unnecessary. Instead of seeing a can opener or the author smiling and standing with a bowl of fruit in her hands, I could have benefited more from another recipe picture.

I enjoyed White's backstory and felt that she gave a lot of good information about whole foods in the intro. She did an excellent job with her recipe descriptions, especially when it came to why you were doing certain things to the food.  For example, for the "Mango, Blackberry, and Buckwheat Porridge", she explains that soaking the buckwheat overnight breaks down the acid in the cereal and makes it easier to digest and quicker to cook.  I haven't seen many cookbooks like that before and enjoyed picking up new facts about the food I was cooking.

There was also a lot of variety when it came to the plants and grains that White cooks with, which I liked a lot. More diverse fruits and veggies means a variety of vitamins and nutrients. When it came to the proteins, however, it was a different story.  The non-plant-based proteins used in this cookbook are predominantly types of fish. If you're not a huge fan of fish (raw and cooked), then most of the main dish meals won't work for you. There is only one chicken recipe and one lamb recipe.

Before I felt like I could give an honest review, I had to try some of these recipes myself.

From the "Snacks & Other Nutritional Hits" section, I made the "Strawberry & Banana Shoelaces". The shoelaces were very simple to make. I just threw some strawberries, a banana, and some flax into a blender and then spread onto a pan.  The recipe suggests cooking for 6-8 hours, but at only 4 hours, mine were already overcooked.  As you can see from the photo, my shoelaces did not have a leathery texture and instead are more like fruit chips. They tasted great either way, but I would have preferred them chewy as they were intended to be.  ★★★☆☆

From the "Soups" section, I made the "Smoky Black Bean Soup". I need to preface this by saying I'm not a big soup person. I tend to stick to chicken and noodle and the creamier, the better! However, my husband loves soups of all kinds, so I decided to have this for dinner one night because I love him and all that jazz.  It was super simple to make and I had everything except for the leek already.  This soup included leek, garlic, black beans, and some tomatoes.  A creme fraiche type topping was made using garlic, coconut yogurt, and parsley.  It had a decent flavor and I really enjoyed the depth the leeks brought to the dish. It felt like it was missing something though. Maybe it needed more heat or some noodles? Because I'm hard on soups in general, I'm going with my husband's review on this, which was "3.5 stars because it is good, but I wouldn't ask for it again." ★★★☆☆

From the "Tasty Healthy Treats" section, I tried the "Lemon Whoopie Pies".  There were a lot of delicious looking treats from this section, so it took me a little deliberating before I could decide on these little sandwiches of sunshine. The recipe was quick and easy to whip up without any over-the-top ingredients. I made a half batch because too many of these lying around would be dangerous for my waistline.  I was able to make 3 medium-sized pies. When I was blending the cream, I couldn't quite get the smooth consistency like in the photo because my Ninja blender is just not powerful enough. I wish I had $800 to drop on a Blendtec or Vitamix right now, but I don't, so I'm okay with the results.  The cream was supposed to firm up once it was refrigerated for a few hours. I left it overnight and it still had a runny consistency in the morning.  I ate a few bites of one and left the rest for my husband to eat.  I was a little disappointed I didn't like these better. ★★☆☆☆

My recommendation is that this is not the cookbook for those brand new to plant-based or whole foods cooking. The ingredients and tools required for these recipes could be very daunting and expensive for even the most determined of chefs. Without pictures for every recipe, it's easy to be unsure about how your dishes should turn out. The dinner recipes are very fish-centered and I do not think many children would find them appetizing. If you know what you're in for because you are experienced with this kind of healthy cooking, then you might be able to find a few recipes you like in this collection.

My Rating: ★★★☆☆
This title will be available for purchase on September 19, 2017.

*Thanks to Shambhala Publications, Roost Books, and NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Review: The Vegetarian by Han Kang

I first saw The Vegetarian by Han Kang when I was browsing a bookstore while on vacation in Utah. I was immediately drawn to the title because my husband and I were moving towards a more plant-based diet. I picked it up and read the back cover. When I read that the protagonist is moved to stop eating meat after she has violent, bloody dreams, I put it back down and walked away. I'm too sensitive when it comes to animals and knew I wouldn't be able to handle something so distressing.  Since that first time I saw the novel, it has received the 2016 Man Booker International Prize and been hailed as the best book of the year by The New York Times and Publisher's Weekly.

Fast forward several months later and there I am checking it out from the library.  So what changed? Well, I figured that if animals have to endure horrible abuse due to factory farming and I eat meat, then it's only fair that I should read something about their experiences, no matter how unsettling it might be. I also felt like a book with this many rave reviews had to be truly life-changing. Maybe it would be the finally push for me to finally stop eating meat altogether. Maybe it would teach me to see the world in a different light.

The main focus of the novel is Yeong-hye, who lives in South Korea. One day she decides to stop eating meat because of these nightmares she's been having. She's hoping that by no longer eating meat, her demons will disappear. What she doesn't realize, however, is that changing her diet is going to drastically affect the lives of those closest to her and cause Yeong-hye herself to fall into a life-threatening mental illness.

The novel is written in three parts. Each part is told from a different narrator. Interestingly enough, none of these narrators are Yeong-hye. The reader watches through the eyes of her husband, brother-in-law, and then finally her sister. Yeong-hye is oppressed as a female in her culture. Her husband treats her poorly and shows no sympathy whatsoever to her ordeal. He rapes her whenever he feels like it and is verbally abusive. This is apparently the role of women in that culture and I can easily see how Yeong-hye could be pushed to madness from such horrible mistreatment. Yeong-hye is abused by her other family members, as well. There's a very disturbing scene where she is held down and force-fed meat.  They refuse to respect her diet choices and while I've never endured anything so extreme, I was able to relate to Yeong-hye here. As someone who's an aspiring vegan, I often bring vegan food to work and my coworkers make off-hand comments that embarrass me or make me feel inferior because my dish doesn't contain meat. Certain areas are very unforgiving when it comes to going against the norm. The first part of this novel was the most interesting for me. It was unsettling, yes, but the pages kept turning as I rooted for Yeong-hye to stick to her beliefs and stand up for herself.

The other two sections were too slow and just...weird. The second section of the story drags on as we learn how Yeong-hye's brother-in-law uses his art as an excuse to sexually objectify and take advantage of her while she is clearly ill. Despite this being my least favorite section of the three, it is here where we find some of the beautifully-written passages at which Han Kang excels. Her descriptions of their bodies, painted to look like vibrant flowers, made me feel like I was physically in the same room, watching the chaos unfold with my own eyes. For the final section, the reader follows Yeong-hye's sister as she does little to help and is later haunted by the guilt she feels for her involvement in her little sister's illness. There's nothing too remarkable here.

While I understand that this novel is exceptional for its depth, social themes, and descriptive prose, I just did not enjoy it. My enthusiasm for the book paralleled Yeong-hye's dwindling sanity. I loved it at first and was completely sucked in. It was horrifying and unsettling in a way that kept me reading, but by the second part, I was simply just reading to get through the abuses endured by this broken woman. I wanted her to rise up and empower herself.  I wanted some resolution at the end, but there was none. I'm not a reader that always needs stories to end perfectly, but when you get involved with a story so twisted, you need something to restore your faith in humanity, if even just the littlest bit. I can clearly see why others would appreciate the creativity and writing skills of the author, but for me the overall story did not satisfy.

My Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Review: The River at Night by Erica Ferencik

It's so easy to get stuck in the motions of daily life.  We have jobs, responsibilities, and relationships that need constant attention.  Sometimes you just need a little getaway to recharge your batteries and renew your vigor for life.  The characters is The River at Night by Erica Ferencik are searching for just such a getaway, but they got much more than they bargained for in the Allagash wilderness of rural Maine.

In this suspenseful survival story, four average, middle-aged women embark on an adventure in the name of tradition.  They hire a guide to lead them as they white-water raft their way through the unfamiliar terrain.  Mixed with emotions of fear and excitement, the women plan to use this vacation as a reprieve from the struggles of their daily lives: addiction, loneliness, illness, and abusive relationships.  When plans go terribly awry, these women are faced with dangers they did not prepare themselves for.  They must lean on each other for support as they try to survive the elements and unforeseen violence that's waiting for them in the woods.  This novel is like a female rendition of "Deliverance" and it lives up to its expectations.

From the moment I read Gary Paulsen's Hatchet in the fifth grade, I've always been drawn to survival stories. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. There were slow parts here and there, but the characters were deep and real. Each woman had a unique story and believable flaws. Ferencik did a great job making the characters relatable to the targeted female audience. The tension continued to build on itself throughout the last two-thirds of the book, and I found myself staying up late into the night so I could read just one more chapter.  There was quite a bit of violence, but I never felt as if it was unnecessary or just thrown in for the shock value.  Everything that happened to this group of friends advanced the plot and kept me turning the pages. If you're looking for a page-turning summer read, you could certainly do much worse than The River at Night.

My Rating: ★★★★☆

Review: Shelter by Celine Claire

In today's world, we are taught to fear the unknown. We are weary of strangers and stingy with our possessions. We distrust those who are different from us and let our ignorance keep us from seeing the similarities we share. In times like these, it's comforting to know there are books out there like Celine Claire's Shelter.

This beautifully illustrated picture book is reminiscent of "The Little Red Hen." It teaches readers that by helping others, we are also helping ourselves. Set in the forest, this story shows various animal families as they prepare for an incoming blizzard. Birds, foxes, hogs, and rabbits work together to gather food and firewood so they can outlast the storm. While the storm is raging, two mysterious strangers appear and ask each animal family for help. One by one, they are turned away.  The only animal to show the strangers any kindness is a young fox. When disaster threatens the fox family, they are able to rely on the strangers to help them in return.

The illustrations in Shelter are done with pen, ink, and watercolor by Qin Leng. With soft colors and adorable anthropomorphic animals, children of all ages will enjoy the pictures that accompany the story. As an adult reader, I found the illustrations to be very whimsical. They left me with a strong feeling of nostalgia for certain books of my childhood, such as A.A. Milne's Winne the Pooh.

There is great value in the message of this book.  As a teacher, I can see it being used to teach lessons about kindness, acceptance, and friendship.  Shelter was a joy to read and would be a worthy addition to your home or classroom library.

My Rating:★★★★★

*Thank you to Kids Can Press and NetGalley for a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Ready to Read with Me?

As you've probably guessed, I'm a bibliophile and have created this blog to share my thoughts on all things reading.  I'll be including reviews of all the books I read, and I really hope you'll comment on any post that connects with you.  I love a good literary conversation and have yet to find a book club in my area, so all discussions welcome!  I know there are probably a million reading blogs out there written by people far more qualified than me, but if for nothing else, this will serve as a personal reading journal.

Before I jump into posting book reviews, I'll give you a little background about myself and my reading habits.  I'm a 30-something woman who lives in America's heartland.  I am married to a wonderful guy who is an amazingly talented artist.  We "met" on the Internet over a decade ago, back when online dating wasn't even a thing.  Our tastes in books differ greatly, but each year we get to choose a book for the other to read.  This is a great way for us to step out of our reading comfort zone and discover great works that we might not normally be drawn to.  We live together with our three cats (Moxie, Finn, and Atticus) and a puppy (Lucy).  I work as a 6th grade teacher and believe in sharing my love of learning with my students.  Besides reading, I also enjoy being crafty, playing games, and going to the movies.  My ultimate goal would be to become a published author.  I have my "Great American Novel" all planned out, but my perfectionism and fear of failure keep getting in the way of me actually getting any writing done.  Some day!  But until then, I immerse myself in the written word.

If I had to choose, my top three favorite genres would be: 1) Mysteries & Thrillers, 2) Historical Fiction, and 3) Biographies & Memoirs.  I will occasionally read outside of those genres if a book really catches my eye or if I hear a lot of good things about a particular title.  Every now and then I'm in the mood for a good classic.  Because of my job as a teacher, I also read a lot of picture books and young adult novels.

I'm not sure what else there is to say.  I think you can tell a lot about a person from their favorite books, so I'll list my top 5 (in no particular order) and let you infer what you will.

1) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
2) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
3) Whistling Past the Graveyard by Susan Crandall
4) Half Broken Things by Morag Joss
5) The Help by Kathryn Stockett

I'd love to connect with other readers like me.  You can find me on Goodreads by clicking here.  I'm also looking for good reading blogs to follow, so if you know of any or have one of your own, please link it below!

Thanks for reading!
Rebby