Big Little Lies - Liane Moriarty

Big Little Lies is about three very different women going through three very different scenarios. We have ex-husbands and their new wives, mothers at war with their daughters and drama in the school play yard. With one little lie leading to the next, the women are pulled into darker depths then they initially intended for themselves. 

This book is packed with lies, honesty and cruelty and a few important messages for the reader. A quick read and entertaining it does deal with dark topics so sensitive readers be aware. I found myself being annoyed as well with the parents and how they acted as young as their kindergarten children sometimes.

I am curious to see what the HBO show did with this!

How to Love a Duke in Ten Days - Kerrigan Byrne

I received this book in a Baecrate subscription and was instantly intrigued! Though it took me a while to finally start reading it. Almost 500 pages long I was intimidated by the size of this little mass market book.

Lady Alexandra Lane experiences the most horrific night a young girl could live through. With the help of her best friends she manages to get past the night and the three form an unbreakable friendship that is called upon 10 years later.

Alexandra has been blackmailed for years, and managed to keep it from her friends. Now though, her family is in financial ruins and she is in desperate need of a rich husband that will be willing to marry her and tuck her away from society. The Duke of Redmayne needs such a bride. Though they go into the marriage with intentions of using each other by staying away, they end up falling for each other.

Though this is historical romance and the women are therefor restricted by different circumstances of the time, Alexandra and her friends are strong willed women that fight for their rights and The Duke of Redmayne appreciates this quality in the group of friends and pushes Alexandra to be the best she can.

The beginning was great, but be warned you start the first page with a graphic and violent scene. Reading the dedication you will see this is a me too movement book, so maybe skip to the 10 years later part if you are sensitive to that. You did feel some of those almost 500 pages in the middle. It slowed down a lot and I think some of it could have been skipped. At the end we got a little suspense and thrilling mystery which hooked you back in and the relationships developed between the couple became important to the story.

Overall, a great read that went fairly quickly and I would definitely look for more works by this author!

How to Walk Away by Katherine Center

Ever read a book and it just punches you in all the feelings. That was this book for me. Was it problematic at times, yup. Was is the best written, eh. This was the book my soul needed at the time I read it though.

Margaret Jacobsen has worked for a perfect life and everything is finally falling into place for her. She is dating a great guy, Chip, and she just landed her dream job. So what if Chip is trying to force her into an airplane when heights are really, really not her thing? It is his thing and Margaret has a feeling that this might be a very special night for them.

One decision can change everything though. One moment is all it takes for everything to change.

This book gutted me. Margaret had goals and life ambitions and it is all dramatically changed when her narcissistic boyfriend pushes her into doing something for him. Margaret has to learn literally how to walk away from the life she was working so hard for.  Just coming out of a terrible relationship, granted didn't end in this same dramatic way, I was able to relate to Margaret so well. She overcame the impossible. While we read about people that let things knock them down and out of life, Margaret never gives up. Even when her friends and family are giving up around her. More importantly though we do see her struggle with depression and losing herself at times.

I needed this book. I loved this book. I highly recommend this book.

Stay Sexy & Don't Get Murdered: The Definitive How-To Guide by Karen Kilgariff, Georgia Hardstark

One day I was driving home from work and saw a bumper stick saying Stay Sexy & Don't Get Murdered and I was instantly intrigued. A little research let me know this is a popular slogan from a podcast "My Favorite Murder" and that the podcast creators released a book. So of course, I had to get it.

I am not really really sure what I was expecting, but its not what was delivered in the book. That being said, it wasn't a bad book! I think I was expecting more true crime and this was more memoir and personal stories and how the podcast came to be for the duo.

I am assuming that the titles for the chapters are catchphrases from their show. For each of these the particular author for that section discusses their life experiences as it relates to that particular slogan.   Some were very relate-able like "Fuck Politeness" while others were just meh and probably would mean more if you were invested in the show and the personalities of the authors.

This book hit a variety of emotions and added humor along the way which is my answer for everything. Though it was a good read for someone that doesn't know anything about the podcast I  think the target audience, the podcast listeners, would get more out of the book and enjoy the anecdotes much more.

Get Out of Your Own Way: Overcoming Self-Defeating Behavior by Mark Goulston, Philip Goldberg

Just like most self help books a lot of this is common sense and things that you already know just presented in a slightly different way. That being said. I really enjoyed this book. I listened to the audio version and I was hooked. I would pause it think about it restart the chapters to hear it again. I am even planning on buying a copy once bookstores are open again.

I think all of us are guilty of self-defeating behavior. Everything from procrastination to chasing dead end relationships. Being a "yes" girl gets me in emotional trouble with myself. I know I am a doormat for most of my "friends".  A lot of what was in this I was able to relate to and the insights made resonated with me and I cannot wait to review my life with this new information in my pocket.

The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse by Robert Rankin

How do I even begin to explain this book...

Let me start with, this isn't for everyone. You will want unusual stories with a specific brand of humor. Though this is a mystery, I am not sure how intriguing that was and was more of a device just to keep moving through Toy Town and to the next character.

I am getting ahead of myself though. 

So this was a book club pick, and this is why I love my book club. I am being exposed to books and authors that I would never naturally gravitate to or pick up. I liked the writing style in this book. I know some of the other members did not but I was entertained by it. It is the rest that kind of fell flat for me. I felt like maybe the author was trying just a smidge too hard to make the story absurd.

Jack is heading to the city to seek his fortune. After having a rough start to his adventure he ends up in The City finally only to realize that its inhabitants are all toys. These toys are second class citizens to the humans that are nursery rhyme characters that are being murdered in the order of their fame.

In this chaos Jack meets Eddie who is an alcoholic teddy bear who is searching for the missing the Detective Bill Winkie who was tasked with finding out who was murdering the nursery rhyme characters.

I liked the play on the characters and would have been happy travelling through Toy City learning about them in this odd retelling. I think the mystery just kind of through a wrench in me liking the story.

For Better and Worse by Margot Hunt

An entertaining book I kept coming back to see what would happen next.

Natalie and Will are married with an 11 year old son, Charlie. Their marriage is okay, fraying a bit around the edges. Then everything implodes. As they pull into school one morning there are police there. As the gossip mill turns the reason is quickly spread around the small community.

The principle, Robert, is being charged with a horrible crime against one of Charlie’s schoolmates. All the parents are shocked, but Nat believes the former family friend might be painted in a bad light.. Being a defense attorney, Nat digs in to learn more and as things are revealed decides to take matters into her own hands to correct what has happened to her family.

There are many difficult topics in this book that I think for the most part were handled well. I did not like Will and this could have been by author design. He was typical party frat boy married facing midlife crisis and blaming everyone but himself for his problems. We think he sees the error in his ways but the ending leaves a lot of open story lines, which I love and hate.

Thanks to Netgalley for sharing a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.