TGIF Friends! I’m back today with another round of book reviews! I can’t believe it’s been so long since I posted one of these! As always, I’m giving you my honest opinion on some of my latest reads. This set is a mix of thrillers, YA, chick-lit, & beach reads, so there’s something for everyone!
1. The Perfect Nanny by Leila Sliamni
This book was on so many lists of must-read thrillers that I finally picked it up. It begins at the end, with the death of two children at the hands of their seemingly perfect nanny. Louise, the nanny, began working for the family when Miriam decided to return to work as an attorney, quickly becoming an integral part of their lives. The book attempts to unravel the question of how Louise could be responsible for the horrific deaths of her two charges. You guys know that I love a good psychological thriller, but I just could not get into this one. I couldn’t relate to any of the characters. While the book did take on some interesting issues, like motherhood, class, power, and even mental illness, I just wish the characters had been developed better.
2. The Thousandth Floor and The Dazzling Heights by Katharine McGee
Oh, how I miss Gossip Girl on TV! This series is giving me everything I miss in the TV series, set in a futuristic NYC that is mainly comprised of a single, thousand-story skyscraper. The higher up you live, the higher your social status is. There are great futuristic details, like the genetically-engineered-to-be-perfect girl on the thousandth-floor, combined with scandal & intrigue – which girl fell to her death from the skyscraper’s roof in the prologue & will anyone be held responsible? There are characters to root for, characters to hate, & characters to envy. And they all have secrets to guard. Many thanks to Grace & Becca of the Bad on Paper Podcast for recommending this one! Now I just have to wait for book three to be released!
3. The Royal We by Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan
It’s no secret that I have a fascination with all things British, especially the royals, so I read this one around the time of Harry & Megan’s wedding. It was another Bad on Paper Podcast book – I’m telling you guys, they have great recommendations! This book is Williams & Kate fan fiction at its best. American girl Bex meets British Prince Nick when the two are in school at Oxford. They start as friends, but fall in love & complications ensue with his family & fame. It was a fun, easy romantic comedy.
4. The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen
The description of this book tells you to “assume nothing.” This is the kind of psychological thriller that I love! The characters are interesting & I was kept guessing until the end. From the beginning, you learn that a woman has been cast aside by her husband for a younger woman. She is not taking it well, drowning her sorrows in wine, which she hides from the aunt she lives with. She becomes obsessed with her replacement when she learns that her husband is engaged to the younger woman. But nothing is really what it seems & there are so many twists & turns! I don’t want to give anything away, but this was one of the best thrillers I’ve read in awhile.
5. Rich People Problems by Kevin Kwan
This is the third book in Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians series (the movie comes out this summer). All of the great characters are back & they’re fighting over the inheritance of Tyersall Park, the largest private residence in Singapore, now that Nicholas Young has been disinherited by his dying grandmother & the matriarch of the Young family. You don’t have to come from the world of extreme wealth & privilege to appreciate the hilarious family dynamics at play. This book is so entertaining, funny, & is a perfect beach read! I highly recommend starting with Crazy Rich Asians & making your way through the series.
6. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
When Jodi Piccoult recommends a book, I’m in. This one did not disappoint. Mia Warren & her daughter Pearl move to the idyllic Shaker Heights, renting a house from the Richardson family. The Warrens begin to affect each of the Richardson in different ways, challenging their previously very ordered lives. Mrs. Richardson takes up the cause of a friend, who is in the process of adopting a Chinese-American baby, when the child’s birthmother resurfaces & wants the child back. Mia takes the opposite side, causing rifts in the Richardson family that have explosive consequences. Overall, an incredibly poignant & moving story about motherhood, family, & friendship.
7. When Life Gives You Lululemons by Lauren Weisberger
Emily Charlton is back in the third Devil Wears Prada book! I enjoyed this one so much more than the second book, Revenge Wears Prada. I laughed out loud at Emily in the suburbs, surrounded by Lululemon-wearing, Range Rover-driving mothers. The basic plot is that Emily’s PR business is not doing well, so she escapes to the Greenwich home of an old friend, Miriam. As luck would have it, Miriam’s friend Karolina, a former supermodel now married to a senator, is arrested for DUI & her husband files for divorce. Emily throws herself into helping Karolina revive her image & Miriam get her groove back after having two kids & moving to the suburbs. It’s a fun look at friendship, with Weisberger’s signature wit.
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