How Hard Can It Be? by: Allison Pearson

 Publication Date: June 5, 2018

Description:

Allison Pearson’s brilliant debut novel, I Don’t Know How She Does It, was a New York Times bestseller with four million copies sold around the world.  Seven years later, Kate Reddy is facing her 50th birthday. Her children have turned into impossible teenagers; her mother and in-laws are in precarious health; and her husband is having a midlife crisis that leaves her desperate to restart her career after years away from the workplace. Once again, Kate is scrambling to keep all the balls in the air in a juggling act that an early review from the U.K. Express hailed as “sparkling, funny, and poignant…a triumphant return for Pearson.”

Will Kate reclaim her rightful place at the very hedge fund she founded, or will she strangle in her new “shaping” underwear? Will she rekindle an old flame, or will her house burn to the ground when a rowdy mob shows up for her daughter’s surprise (to her parents) Christmas party? Surely it will all work out in the end. After all, how hard can it be?

My Review:

I did not read Allison Pearson’s first book about Kate Reddy so I was unfamiliar with this character.  That being said, you can read this book without having read the first one as it does hold up as a stand alone.  In this sequel, Kate is approaching her 50th birthday and needs to return to work to support her family.  She has two children, one in her teens the other, almost there, and a husband who is taking time off from working to better himself.

Kate is going through peri-menopause and is finding that it isn’t easy to return to work after having raised a family for the past 7 years.  There were so laugh-out-loud moments in this book.  Even though I am not near the age of Kate, I could put myself in her shoes.  I am wondering however, if I were around that age, would I have found this book to work a bit better for me.  I am not saying that this wasn’t a good book, I am simply feeling that I was not the correct target audience for it.  It was a bit drawn out and I was getting a bit bored but I powered through.  If I were to pick up Allison’s first book on Kate Reddy, I may relate to that a bit more.

I recommend this book for anyone in their mid to late 40’s+.  I think that if you like a contemporary read with humor and realistic situations, you would enjoy this.  For me, a late 30 year old already in the workforce with children,  I couldn’t relate as much.

I gave this book 3 crowns.

I received an unsolicited ARC of this book from St. Martin’s press in exchange for an honest review.  Thank you, St. Martin’s Press.

Beach House Reunion By: Mary Alice Monroe

Publication Date: May 22, 2018

Description from the publishers through Netgalley:

Whisking you back to the shores of her bestselling Beach House series, Mary Alice Monroe weaves together a tale of the struggles and triumphs of the historic Rutledge family of Charleston, South Carolina. Beautifully wrought and rich with keen insight, this is an illuminating tale of new beginnings, resilience, and one family’s enduring love.

Cara Rutledge returns to her Southern home on the idyllic Isle of Palms. Everything is comfortingly the same, yet each detail is rife with painful memories. Only through reconnecting with family, friends, and the rhythms of the lowcountry can Cara release the hold of the past and open herself to the possibility of a new love, career, and hope for the future.

Meanwhile, her niece Linnea, a recent college graduate who doesn’t know where her life will take her, leaves her historic home in Charleston, with all its entitlement and expectations, and heads to her aunt’s beach house. On the island, she is part of the freer, natural ocean lifestyle she loves, rejoining the turtle team, learning to surf, and falling in love. Remembering the lessons of her beloved grandmother, Lovie, the original “turtle lady,” Linnea rediscovers a meaningful purpose to her life and finds the courage she needs to break from tradition.

In this heartwarming novel, three generations of the Rutledge family gather together to find the strength, love, and commitment to break destructive family patterns and to forge new bonds that will endure long beyond one summer reunion.

My Review:

This is book #5 in the Beach House series by Mary Alice Monroe and I have a confession; I have only read book #1 and that was probably a decade ago and book #4.  However, I love this series and the characters in them.

I was instantly transported to the Isle of Palms with the nicest neighbors and a great group of people.  I loved the dynamic between Cara and her niece.  Their relationship was something really special to read about.  I highly recommend this series from start to finish even though I didn’t read all of the books.

I gave this book 5 crowns.

 I received this e-ARC from the publishers through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

 

The Optimist’s Guide to Letting Go By: Amy E. Reichert

Description from the publishers through Netgalley:

Three generations. Seven days. One big secret. The author of The Coincidence of Coconut Cake unfolds a mother-daughter story told by three women whose time to reckon with a life-altering secret is running out.

Gina Zoberski wants to make it through one day without her fastidious mother, Lorraine, cataloguing all her faults, and her sullen teenage daughter, May, snubbing her. Too bad there’s no chance of that. Her relentlessly sunny disposition annoys them both, no matter how hard she tries. Instead, Gina finds order and comfort in obsessive list-making and her work at Grilled G’s, the gourmet grilled cheese food truck built by her late husband.

But when Lorraine suffers a sudden stroke, Gina stumbles upon a family secret Lorraine’s kept hidden for forty years. In the face of her mother’s failing health and her daughter’s rebellion, this optimist might find that piecing together the truth is the push she needs to let go..

My Review:

Gina’s world has been crashing down around her since her husband’s unfortunate death.  Her relationship with her teenage daughter is one of stress and turmoil.  She doesn’t know how to communicate with her and barely does until she is forced into it.  Adding to her lists of stress, her mother suffers a sudden stroke and long held secret is forced into the light.

I liked this story but I am finding that it was a bot forgettable.  I finished this book at the beginning of the week and have found myself having to read the description in order to recall the plot and my feelings about it.  Amy writes well and is descriptive but maybe this wasn’t the story for me.

I gave this book 3 crowns.

I received an E-ARC of this book from the publishers through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

#TheOptimistsGuideToLettingGo #NetGalley

The High Tide Club by: Mary Kay Anderson

Description from the publishers through Netgalley

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Weekenders comes a delightful new novel about new love, old secrets, and the kind of friendship that transcends generations.

When ninety-nine-year-old heiress Josephine Bettendorf Warrick summons attorney Brooke Trappnell to her 20,000 acre barrier island home, Brooke is puzzled. Everybody in the South has heard about the eccentric millionaire mistress of Talisa, but Brooke has never actually met her. Josephine’s cryptic note says she wants to discuss an important legal matter, but why enlist Brooke and not the prestigious Atlanta law firm she has used for years? Brooke travels to Shellhaven and meets the cagey Josephine, whose home is a crumbling pink mansion at the edge of the turquoise sea.

Over the course of a few meetings, Josephine spins a tale of old friendships, dark secrets, betrayal, and a long-unsolved murder. She is hiring Brooke for two reasons: first, to protect her island from those who would despoil her land, and second, to help her make amends with the heirs of the women who were her closest friends, the girls of The High Tide Club—so named because of their youthful skinny dipping escapades—Millie, Ruth, and Varina. To fulfill a dying woman’s wishes, Brooke must find Josephine’s friends’ descendants and bringing them together on Talisa for a reunion of women who’ve actually never met. But in doing so, Brooke unleashes the makings of a scandal that could make someone rich beyond their wildest dreams…or cause them to be in the crosshairs of a murderer….

My Review

I didn’t really know what this about as I skimmed the description before reading it.  I assumed it was a beach-y read due to the cover and previous books I had read by Mary Kay Andrews.  I WAS WRONG!  This was a fast paced, suspenseful, contemporary novel with a wonderful story at its’ center.  I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it.

If you like “chick lit” story lines with a bit of mystery in them, I think you will enjoy this book.  Mary Kay Andrews is a trusted author and this is the proof.

 

I gave this book 5 crowns.

 I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

How to Walk Away by: Katherine Center

  Publication date: May 15, 2018

I was pleasantly surprised to come to this #Bookmail recently.   I hadn’t heard of this book before receiving it but then all of a sudden, it was everywhere I looked.  I really didn’t know too much going into this but what an amazing read!

Synopsis:

Margaret Jacobsen has a bright future ahead of her: a fiancé she adores, her dream job, and the promise of a picture-perfect life just around the corner. Then, suddenly, on what should have been one of the happiest days of her life, everything she worked for is taken away in one tumultuous moment.

In the hospital and forced to face the possibility that nothing will ever be the same again, Margaret must figure out how to move forward on her own terms while facing long-held family secrets, devastating heartbreak, and the idea that love might find her in the last place she would ever expect.

My Review:

This novel blew me away.  I had no idea that a fictional book could touch my heart the way this one did.  It was a pleasure to read and I found myself thinking about Margaret when I wasn’t reading the book and long after I was done.

I highly recommend this book.  The cover art is stunning and the words in pages create such a impactful experience for the reader.

I gave this book 5 crowns.

A big THANK YOU to St. Martin’s press for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.  #WalkAwayGirlfriend #HowToWalkAwayBook