Posted in Jessica Knoll, Uncategorized

Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll

Posted on by roxtao

SYNOPSIS:

Her perfect life is a perfect lie.

As a teenager at the prestigious Bradley School, Ani FaNelli endured a shocking, public humiliation that left her desperate to reinvent herself.

Now, with a glamorous job, expensive wardrobe, and handsome blue blood fiancé, she’s this close to living the perfect life she’s worked so hard to achieve.

But Ani has a secret. There’s something else buried in her past that still haunts her, something private and painful that threatens to bubble to the surface and destroy everything.

With a singular voice and twists you won’t see coming, Luckiest Girl Alive explores the unbearable pressure that so many women feel to “have it all” and introduces a heroine whose sharp edges and cutthroat ambition have been protecting a scandalous truth, and a heart that’s bigger than it first appears. The question remains: will breaking her silence destroy all that she has worked for-or, will it at long last, set Ani free?

REVIEW:

I’m very rarely bothered by the style of a book and I’m usually too captivated by the story in order to notice any possible errors or any… stylistic issues. But my god, did Luckiest Girl Alive, bore me with those long, long sentences. There’s description after description for literally every single thing, important or not. Moreover, each phrase contains several metaphors and “quirky” little comparisons. It’s getting so tiring after a while that I’d just start reading a sentence, lose interest midway and skip the rest.

Anyway, I persisted and after a while I managed to get used to the style and just focus on the storyline. Or perhaps the author just changed her style? I don’t even know anymore honestly.

The protagonist couldn’t be more annoying in the beginning. She’s not just intentionally bitchy, but she wants everyone to know what a mean person she is. Page after page, every action and sentence just screams: “Look at me how rich, important and cool I am!”. Later it becomes obvious that it’s just a protection mechanism for her to deal with her past. The more vulnerable she becomes, the more you forgive her shallowness from the beginning.

The story begins to become stronger and more disturbing as you read on and at some point it’s easy to forget all the negative aspects that you observed in the first few chapters.

You start to actually love it and be captivated by it and then.. bam! You get this new age ending where she made peace with herself, with everyone around her and with her past and she’s all wise and transformed into a new person who is suddenly not craving for attention and for luxury and for that perfect image that she was dreaming about just months before.

The whole book is just a hot pot of mixed feelings. I didn’t hate it, or at least not all the time, but I can’t say that I liked it either. And despite the fact that I rolled my eyes over and over again… overall it did not actually bore me. I didn’t find it memorable but in the same time, it did keep me hooked enough to finish it in a few days.

And I guess it’s worth giving it a chance, because not a lot of books manage to trigger such confusing reactions. Plus, the fact that they made a movie out of it kind of tells you it’s not really a waste of time.

Posted in Nikki Erlick, Uncategorized

The Measure by Nikki Erlick

Posted on by roxtao

SYNOPSIS:

Instant New York Times Bestseller!

A luminous, spirit-lifting blockbuster that asks: would you choose to find out the length of your life?

Eight ordinary people. One extraordinary choice. It seems like any other day. You wake up, drink a cup of coffee, and head out. But today, when you open your front door, waiting for you is a small wooden box. The contents of this mysterious box tells you the exact number of years you will live. From suburban doorsteps to desert tents, every person on every continent receives the same box. In an instant, the world is thrust into a collective frenzy. Where did these boxes come from? What do they mean? Is there truth to what they promise? As society comes together and pulls apart, everyone faces the same shocking choice:

Do they wish to know how long they’ll live? And, if so, what will they do with that knowledge? The Measure charts the dawn of this new world through an unforgettable cast of characters whose decisions and fates interweave with one another: best friends whose dreams are forever entwined, pen pals finding refuge in the unknown, a couple who thought they didn’t have to rush, a doctor who cannot save himself, and a politician whose box becomes the powder keg that ultimately changes everything. Enchanting and deeply uplifting, The Measure is an ambitious, invigorating story about family, friendship, hope, and destiny that encourages us to live life to the fullest.

REVIEW:

This book reminded me of World War Z (the book, not that terribly disappointing movie) and that was one of my favourite stories ever! I loved The Measure for the same reasons I loved WWZ: both writers take an impossible idea and just ask “What would the whole world do if this crazy thing happened?”
And this is how this kind of novels are born, analysing the reactions of different countries based on our current reality and the state of the world.


There is no explanation on why that major thing happened. Only suppositions that are never proven real, so everyone just has to take things as they come and deal with them as best as they can. And honestly, there was not a second when I wished for a different storyline. Personally, I care less about the reason why any sort of mystery happens and more about the reaction that follows it.


There is no hero. No main characters, even though the story is narated through the eyes of different characters. The Measure does have fewer characters than WWZ so they do become more significant and it’s easier to become interested in their destinies. But I still feel like their purpose there is to lay the bigger story and not to limit the reading experience only to their own little roles.


I think it would have been interesting if the author treated the story on a larger scale, showing the reactions of more countries. But I might be biased here because of my love of WWZ and I just dream of a reacreation of that.
Still, Nikki Erlick did a great job portraying exactly how different societies would react to… basically anything unexpected or completely out of ordinary. There is no better illustration of how everything can and will be turned into a game of power, interests and money by the higher classes, while the regular people are the ones dealing with the injustice, pain and fighting for the greater good.


Loved the idea, loved the execution! It might not completely blow your mind, especially since it lacks a clear explanation about the origin or purpose of the boxes. But it will definitely provoke your mind over and over again with each chapter that comes.

Posted in Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Posted on by roxtao

SYNOPSIS:

Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now? Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career. Summoned to Evelyn’s luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the ’80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn’s story nears its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.

REVIEW:

I am so unimpressed by this book that I don’t even know what to write in this review. I didn’t hate it, but everything in it was so bland that I find it inexplicable how it managed to create such waves in the reading communities.

The whole book revolves around the idea of the difficulties of being queer during an era when this was seen as one of the greatest possible sins. Unfortunately, for me, it just didn’t look like it was enough to center a whole novel around it. Some might say that the fame of the protagonist is adding more to the tension of the story, but objectively, the stardom (and the money and influence that come with it) only made things easier for the protagonists.

I’m always open to love a book even if the storyline is not the best, if it compensates with some good characters. But besides Harry, the longest lasting husband of Evelyn, who was really lovely (still pretty dull, but at least sweet enough to balance it), everyone else was either insipid or terribly annoying.

There’s no drama, no suspense, nothing memorable or breathtaking. Just a flat, boring and flavourless story that wants to be deep but fails. I did like the fact that there is no joyous ending. The only thing that would have made things worse would have been to turn the whole plot into a classic happy ending where everything gets bubbly and optimistic.

Posted in Deanna Raybourn

Killers Of A Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

Posted on by roxtao

SYNOPSIS:

Older women often feel invisible, but sometimes that’s their secret weapon.

They’ve spent their lives as the deadliest assassins in a clandestine international organization, but now that they’re sixty years old, four women friends can’t just retire – it’s kill or be killed in this action-packed thriller.

Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie have worked for the Museum, an elite network of assassins, for forty years. Now their talents are considered old-school and no one appreciates what they have to offer in an age that relies more on technology than people skills.

When the foursome is sent on an all-expenses paid vacation to mark their retirement, they are targeted by one of their own. Only the Board, the top-level members of the Museum, can order the termination of field agents, and the women realize they’ve been marked for death.

Now to get out alive they have to turn against their own organization, relying on experience and each other to get the job done, knowing that working together is the secret to their survival. They’re about to teach the Board what it really means to be a woman–and a killer–of a certain age.

REVIEW:

I have never read a book that wants to be a movie more than Killers Of A Certain Age. From page one, until the very end, this novel screams to be turned into a movie! It just has the perfect dose of high adrenaline and action mixed with short personal insights and equal doses of melancholy and humor. I loved it, every page kept me entertained and didn’t give me one moment to get bored.

If there’s a downside, it’s the fact that it is quite difficult to distinguish the four protagonists between each other. The book is separated into Past and Present chapters, with the present ones narrated from Billie’s perspective and the past ones written in third person. This would make you think that Billie is the protagonist but in reality, all four ladies “of a certain age” are main characters and play equally important roles. Unfortunately, it feels like the author created the contours of one character, made another three xerox copies of it and afterwards used different colors to paint each one of them. They’re all pretty much the same, just slightly different shades. And no matter how far you’ve reached into the book, the differences are not becoming more noticeable.

Despite the slightly confusing protagonists, I did enjoy the novel a lot. I noticed some GoodReads reviews making a fuss about the old ladies not acting or speaking like… well, proper old people. And I feel that those reviewers didn’t get to spend a lot of time with real old people. Growing old does not take the fun out of life. You don’t stop swearing or making faces or throwing dirty jokes here and there. You just stop doing that in public. But inside your intimate circle? You are still you, you don’t suddenly turn into a boring, complaining and grumpy “Karen”. I had the opportunity to grow up and spend a lot of time between elders. I’ve heard jokes that made me blush more often that you’d expect. I’ve witnessed the same dynamics in a group of old people that I’ve seen between young friends. I spent countless hours crying with laughter with a group of 80 years ladies, completely forgetting that they’re not in their thirties. Yes, there are more conversations about back pain and heartburn. But the society’s expectations are way more conservative and depressing than what reality is. So I honestly think that the author did a great job portraying her characters and the friendship they developed during the decades of working together.

The mystery at the base of the storyline is not breathtaking, but it is enough to create interest. The action and characters fill the gaps enough. I would have loved to find out more about Billie’s protégé, Minka. It could have been an interesting backstory and would have deserved more than just being left as a hanging thread, especially since Minka has a lot of potential to be a more important character. But that’s simply a wish and not a complaint.

My thoughts still drift to the book, days after I have finished it and I realised today that it’s been a pretty long time since a novel filled me with such joy. It’s a cocktail of spies, chick-lit and bittersweet old ladies and Deanna Raybourn did a great job mixing it!

Posted in Gail Honeyman

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Posted on by roxtao

SYNOPSIS:

Eleanor Oliphant leads a simple life. She wears the same clothes to work every day, eats the same meal deal for lunch every day and buys the same two bottles of vodka to drink everY weekend.

Eleanor Oliphant is happy. Nothing is missing from her carefully timetabled existence. Except, sometimes, everything…

REVIEW:

I had no idea about what to expect from Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine. I knew the book made a lot of waves when it was published, but it didn’t exactly seem to be my cup of tea. I didn’t dislike it, I didn’t love it either, but I must admit that I’ve finished it way faster than I thought I would.

I feel like the author was indecisive and constantly oscillated between making Eleanor extra weird and making her very likeable in the same time. There’s a bit of trying too much in both directions, especially since the traits that he’s given her are quite opposite and tend to repel each other. There are also things that are so, so obviously not matching or making sense. For example, how Eleanor is such an avid reader, choosing not only fiction, but also completely random topics (like management, law or… pineapples), but she is so utterly clueless about simple things like social rules, internet, music, etc. This was especially more disturbing after I read that the author declared that no, Eleanor is not on the spectrum (which might have explained better a lot of her strange behaviours), but only suffering from depression. I did enjoy the narrative most of the time, but these disparities kept bugging me every now and then.

Overall, the storyline grows warmer and warmer as you read. It was lovely to witness such an array of lovely secondary characters, to see how encouraging and supportive they were and how Eleanor’s relationships evolved in time in such an optimistic and positive way.

I’ve read enough psychological thrillers in order not to be surprised by the twist at the end of the book. I’m not completely sure if it was intended as a bombshell, but I didn’t think it came much as a surprise. Despite that, it wasn’t disappointing at all. On the contrary, it felt more like a rational and consistent ending. Also, in line with that, I should mention that I loved the fact that the author chose not to turn the story into a romantic one. There are hints here and there, but I was happy to see an open ending and nothing clearly defined when it comes to Eleanor’s love life. This way, the story grows even more into one of personal healing on all plans, without focusing on love as the only solution for all the problems.