Admission by Julie Buxbaum

Admission by Julie Buxbaum
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Children’s and Delacorte Press for the advance reader copy of Admission by awesome author, Julie Buxbaum, in exchange for an honest review. I was riveted by this ripped from the headlines novel dealing with the college admissions bribery scandal. Julie Buxbaum writes a compelling story to shed light on Chloe’s life THEN and Chloe’s life NOW as she unlocks her front door to the FBI one fateful morning. Senior Chloe was her own worst enemy at times. Her family has money, her mother is a TV star, but Chloe struggles in school, at home, and internally. As she worries over getting into a college and getting the grades she needs, her parents jump to pay for coaches to help her in writing and tutoring. Chloe’s best friend, Shola, was my favorite, a strong female character, she was always honest with Chloe and frank about her struggles as a product of Nigerian immigrant parents and their struggles with money. The THEN chapters reveal Chloe as very insecure, vacillating between trying to go along with her parents’ wishes and speaking up about what she wants. I could not stop turning the pages in the NOW as Chloe learns/lives the stark loneliness of being reviled by the world, her friends, her school. Throughout the scandal her younger, smarter sister, Isla, pushes Chloe to face reality and contemplate what exactly Chloe knew and when she knew it. Buxbaum’s novels packs a punch; I rooted for Chloe’s growth, maturity, and self-acceptance. In our world of fierce competition, what makes people do what they do, what makes people accept dishonesty? Readers will be sharing this book and talking about it often!

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The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved the narration of Ruthie Ann Miles , Kimiko Glenn , Alexandra Allwine , Gabra Zackman , Jeremy Bobb , Joy Osmanski , Emily Walton , Erin Wilhelmi in this totally absorbing historical fiction taking place in China in a remote Akha village. Life is difficult until one day a man and his son come to their village in search of PUR tea. Li-yan translates for the village elders and her family, she also goes to school for higher education, marries and moves from her mountain village. This was such a compelling story about family, tradition, culture, the modern world, and how strong women in one family share their heritage with angel tea trees. I will not soon forget Li-yan, her mother, and the daughter she gave up for adoption---they were separated but their bonds were strong and lasting.

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Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty

Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved these three sisters, their mother, their humor and their lives. With beauty and larger than life personalities we meet Gemma, Lyn and Cat in their 33rd year. The family dysfunction (Mom and Dad divorced, Daniel's infidelity to Cat, Lynn's panic attacks, and Gemma's inability to maintain a relationship) kept me turning the pages as the sisters battled and loved one another. I also enjoyed the "episodes" where others see them from afar. I laughed, I understood, and I thoroughly enjoyed these girls!

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Something In the Water by Catherine Steadman

Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This mystery was not the psychological thriller I hoped it would be; Erin and Mark are in love, the next step is marriage but Mark loses his job. As they plan their wedding and honeymoon, the plans Erin has do not match what Mark has in mind. Even as they begin their honeymoon in Bora Bora there is something not quite right. On a dive, they find something in the water and the decisions they make (yet you see it all from Erin's POV) set in motion a series of events...As Erin began taking over and thinking large, making mistakes, but not quite caring...Erin's choices and Mark's become very questionable. I was not rewarded with suspense, I did not like the characters, this mystery shows how going to the dark side ends up.

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This Is How I Lied by Heather Gudenkauf

This Is How I Lied by Heather Gudenkauf
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I usually LOVE Heather Gudenkauf mysteries but I found myself frustrated with the plot. As a detective mystery I felt there was more plot needed with going back and going over the old case of Eve Knox's murder. I really wanted to like Maggie more as both a person and a police detective; as a person she did not give people enough credit, as the reader follows her through the past and the present, she psyches herself out all the time in giving credit to how people (loved ones) will react if she tells the truth. As a police detective, she underestimates Nola Knox as every turn, both as a child and now as an adult. Why didn't Maggie ever go interview the psychologist Gonzales who met with Nola after the murder and her run in with Eve's old boyfriend? Why is Maggie taking chances when she is ready to have a baby? Of course, I could not put this book down, the suspense was thrilling but I was uncomfortable alot with Maggie, her professionalism as a cop, her choices, her secrets.

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White Dog Fell From the Sky by Eleanor Morris

White Dog Fell from the Sky by Eleanor Morse
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really wanted to like this audiobook much more than I did. Brittany Pressley does a great job with the dialects African dialects and their slower speech. But with this current covidD pandemic, I find I do not enjoy books that are heartbreaking and this one is especially gut wrenching ALL THE WAY through and the hopeful ending was TOO TOO SHORT. Eleanor Morse, to me, should have given more time to Isaac's return and his state of mind as time progressed maybe even for the first month. I also found myself frustrated with Alice and her decisions with men---maybe a follow up book with Alice and Isaac getting together (I know she is much older but they were alike in their resolve in so many ways)! I loved the beauty of Africa (Eleanor and Isaac's descriptions) but hated the REALITY of Apartheid Africa, the awful prison, their treatment of prisoners, and how life was so different for black and white. My friends loved this book and told of the redemptive ending but like the book, This Tender Land, the awful treatment of humanity was TOO MUCH and the hopeful ending was too little.

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Thief River Falls by Brian Freeman

Thief River Falls by Brian Freeman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

OMG, once again, I could not put down this Brian Freeman thriller! This mystery thrilled me, I could not stop turning the pages, as famous mystery writer, Lisa Power must match her wits with evil as she tries valiantly to save a young boy who is being pursued by police men but he cannot remember his name and much of what has happened to him. As Lisa tries to solve this young boy's mystery (his name, what happened to him) she realizes she can trust no one. Lisa was a strong female character; I loved her passion, her honesty and her vulnerability. Freeman's mystery was psychologically thrilling, taut with darkness, evil, and impending doom. And I was so not prepared with the surprise ending!

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