Holiday Review: Restoring Christmas by Kate Kasch

Restoring Christmas by Kate Kasch

Published: June 20, 2018

Publisher: Createspace

Format: free Kindle read

Ratings: 4/5

Synopsis

The Christmas season is not all sugarplums and twinkle lights – at least not for Adrienne and Gretchen Harkins. Torn apart by tragedy, the sisters have been living estranged lives in New York City. That is until a mysterious red envelope shows up on both their doorsteps with news that forces them to reconnect and return to their hometown. In order to save the house they grew up in the sisters have to work together to restore their home and their relationship . . .and they only have five days to do it.

When all the odds seem stacked up against them, Adrienne and Gretchen find help . . . and love, in the most unexpected of places. Thrown into a race against the clock, can they pull off a Christmas miracle or will they lose their home, their family and true love in another Christmas disaster?

My Thoughts

Gretchen and Adrienne are two sisters who try to ignore Christmas ever since their parents past away four years ago during the holidays. Each has gone their own ways and have lived separate lives but this holiday season they both get a letter saying that their childhood home is going to be sold if they don’t pay what is owed. So they meet up and decide to go back to the home that holds both cherished memories and sad ones at the same time. They have five days to try to get the money together and save their home.

Adrienne soon bumps into her ex-boyfriend whom she left without a trace years ago and with his help and others in town try and fix up the house in hopes of winning the town Christmas home contest and use that money to save their house. With time Gretchen and Adrienne begin to grow closer together and realize what is truly important.

I really loved this tale of family and learning what is important in life. These sisters let what happened in the past separate them but with all the time they have spent together and being back in their hometown they sense that feeling of family and don’t want that to go away. This is truly a great Christmas read that will give you that cute and cozy holiday feeling.

Review: Far from the Tree by Robin Benway

Far from the Tree by Robin Benway       

Published: October 3, 2017

Publisher: HarperTeen

Format: via Audiobook

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis

A contemporary novel about three adopted siblings who find each other at just the right moment.

Being the middle child has its ups and downs.

But for Grace, an only child who was adopted at birth, discovering that she is a middle child is a different ride altogether. After putting her own baby up for adoption, she goes looking for her biological family, including—

Maya, her loudmouthed younger bio sister, who has a lot to say about their newfound family ties. Having grown up the snarky brunette in a house full of chipper redheads, she’s quick to search for traces of herself among these not-quite-strangers. And when her adopted family’s long-buried problems begin to explode to the surface, Maya can’t help but wonder where exactly it is that she belongs.

And Joaquin, their stoic older bio brother, who has no interest in bonding over their shared biological mother. After seventeen years in the foster care system, he’s learned that there are no heroes, and secrets and fears are best kept close to the vest, where they can’t hurt anyone but him.

My Thoughts

Far from the Tree is a touching novel about three siblings who once they find out about each other try and form some sort of relationship. Each sibling is going through their own problems, some more than others but all of them thought they were alone soon discover they have more family than they ever expected. Once they met they wonder if they should try and find their birth mom, while Grace and Maya want to their brother Joaquin has his mindset and doesn’t want anything to do with that.

Of all the sibs Joaquin is the hardest, having never been adopted and grew up in the system his outlook on life and love is none existent. He has his walls put up and doesn’t let anyone close to him in fear that they will just leave him but his latest set of foster parents want to change all that, they love him and want to adopt him. Maya has always known she was adopted and her family is going through hard times, she and her adopted sister are facing their parent's divorce and she wonders if this will change how they feel about her. And Grace, she is the one who is driving this search since she recently gave up her own daughter for adoption she is craving a real family connection and wanting to know who she is and where she came from.

This is an emotional read in wanting to know your roots and finding your true self. Each of the sibling's story is heartbreaking in their own right and you can't blame them for wanting to know who they are. In trying to find their mother they establish some bumps in the road and might not find what they looking for but might just find something just as good. Far from the Tree is one read that will touch your soul and make you grateful and feel blessed for all you have, this is one read that I highly recommend.

Sam & Ilsa's Last Hurrah by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

Sam and Ilsa’s Last Hurrah by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

Published: April 10, 2018

Publisher: Knopf BYR

Format: audiobook via Overdrive

Rating: 2/5

Synopsis

Siblings Sam and Ilsa Kehlmann have spent most of their high school years throwing parties for their friends--and now they've prepared their final blowout, just before graduation.

The rules are simple: each twin gets to invite three guests, and the other twin doesn't know who's coming until the partiers show up at the door. With Sam and Ilsa, the sibling revelry is always tempered with a large dose of sibling rivalry, and tonight is no exception.

One night. One apartment. Eight people. What could possibly go wrong? Oh, we all know the answer is plenty. But plenty also goes right, as well...in rather surprising ways.

My Thoughts

Let me start off by saying I’m a fan of Rachel and David’s previous novels so when I heard they were coming out with new read I couldn’t wait to read it but sadly this isn’t one of my favorites from them. In this read, we have twins Sam and Ilsa whose lives are at a crossroads. They are about to graduate and Sam is the apple of his grandmother's eye and Ilsa isn’t sure what she wants. They are known to throw dinner parties at their grandmother's lavish apartment but this one will be their last. They soon will move on and their grandmother is giving up her apartment and moving so they want this one to be best.

Needless to say, nothing goes as planned. Each one invites three guests and when everyone arrives its all a mess, no one gets along and the food is awful which is crazy since Sam is a great cook. Soon there are arguments and Sam and Ilsa must confront each other and say whats really bothering them not only to each other but also to themselves. I was really looking forward to this one but the story just fell flat to me. I thought this was just an unbelievable story not to mention I just saw these characters as pretentious and whiny rich kids. There wasn’t any real story for me to connect to and I just found myself rolling my eyes and waiting for this short read to be over. This was one read I couldn’t wait to be done with.

Review: A Nantucket Wedding by Nancy Thayer

A Nantucket Wedding by Nancy Thayer

Expected Publication: April 3, 2018

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Format: via publisher

Rating: 3.5/5

Synopsis

A few years after losing her beloved husband, Alison is doing something she never thought she would do again: getting married. While placing the finishing touches on her summer nuptials, Alison is anxious to introduce her fiancé, David, to her grown daughters: Felicity, a worried married mother of two, and Jane, also married but focused on her career. The sisters have a somewhat distant relationship and Alison hopes that the wedding and the weeks leading up to the ceremony will give the siblings a chance to reconnect, as well as meet and get to know David’s grown children.

As the summer progresses, it is anything but smooth sailing. Felicity stumbles upon a terrible secret that could shatter her carefully cultivated world. Jane finds herself under the spell of her soon-to-be stepbrother, Ethan, who is as charming as he is mysterious. And even Alison is surprised (and slightly alarmed) by her new blended family. Revelations, intrigue, resentments—as the Big Day approaches, will the promise of bliss be a bust?

My Thoughts

In A Nantucket Wedding we met Alison who is happily in love and is planning her upcoming wedding to David, so all she wants is to get both sides of their families together as much as possible before their wedding how that is easier said than done. Alison has two daughters and each one is different as night and day. Jane is a lawyer and married with no kids and by the books and never has done anything out of sorts, Felicity is the more laid back one who is married with kids but is fearing that something is up with her husband. Now David has a daughter is plain spoiled in my opinion and is being simply difficult towards Alison and her daughters, and he also has a son who is a flat out flirt who flirts with both of Alison’s daughters despite the fact he isn’t divorced himself.

While I found some flaws with parts of the story such as Felicity’s storyline with her husband who I found to be an ass I wish she had more of a backbone and stood up for herself more. I felt like when it was useful to him that’s when he wanted to be involved with Felicity’s family. Not to mention the storyline with Jane and David’s son which I never bought from the get-go but was glad when it didn’t go where I thought it might.

However, overall I did enjoy this beach read, which this is perfect for by the way. I did like the family aspect of this read and the story of Alison and David. I liked that David stood up for Alison when his daughter was being mean and spiteful towards Alison. I loved how the more time both families spent together they slowly but surely became a great blended family, and I also liked how this felt so real. They didn’t come together as an insta-family but like reality, they had their troubles and bumps but in the end, they meshed together quite well. This was an enjoyable read one that will be perfect for the warmer months ahead so definitely keep this one on your radar.

Review: The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin

The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin

Published: January 9, 2018

Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons

Format: audiobook via Overdrive

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis

If you were told the date of your death, how would it shape your present?

It's 1969 in New York City's Lower East Side, and word has spread of the arrival of a mystical woman, a traveling psychic who claims to be able to tell anyone the day they will die. The Gold children—four adolescents on the cusp of self-awareness—sneak out to hear their fortunes.

Their prophecies inform their next five decades. Golden-boy Simon escapes to the West Coast, searching for love in '80s San Francisco; dreamy Klara becomes a Las Vegas magician, obsessed with blurring reality and fantasy; eldest son Daniel seeks security as an army doctor post-9/11, hoping to control fate; and bookish Varya throws herself into longevity research, where she tests the boundary between science and immortality.

My Thoughts

That one question in the synopsis: If you were told the date of your death, how would it shape your present, is what pulled me to this novel. In The Immortalists, we met the Gold siblings and through sections in the novel we see how each one’s lives play out over the years. I liked this style because we get their full life story in one sitting and see what becomes of each one. Each sibling always has the one day etched into their brains, that date that the psychic told them that they would meet their fate. So my question is did they truly live life to the fullest knowing what day they would die or did knowing the date cause them more harm than good?

Each of them knew when she claimed they would die but they never told one another. Did this cause them to live a more carefree life doing what they truly wanted or did this wreck their lives to the core? I connected with some of the siblings' stories more than the others and the ones that I did have truly stayed with me till this day, I won't say which ones so I won't spoil anything, but there are parts of this book that wrecked me.

As you can tell I truly loved and enjoyed this book, but what I loved most was that it makes you think and question life, it is beautifully written with a powerful message and I hope everyone gets the chance to explore this magical read.

Review: The Sunshine Sisters by Jane Green

The Sunshine Sisters by Jane Green

Published: June 6, 2017

Publisher: Berkley

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis

Ronni Sunshine left London for Hollywood to become a beautiful, charismatic star of the silver screen. But at home, she was a narcissistic, disinterested mother who alienated her three daughters.

As soon as possible, tomboy Nell fled her mother's overbearing presence to work on a farm and find her own way in the world as a single mother. The target of her mother's criticism, Meredith never felt good enough, thin enough, pretty enough. Her life took her to London and into the arms of a man whom she may not even love. And Lizzy, the youngest, more like Ronni than any of them, seemed to have it easy, using her drive and ambition to build a culinary career to rival her mother's fame, while her marriage crumbled around her.

But now the Sunshine Girls are together again, called home by Ronni, who has learned that she has a serious disease and needs her daughters to fulfill her final wishes. And though Nell, Meredith, and Lizzy are all going through crises of their own, their mother's illness draws them together to confront old jealousies and secret fears and they discover that blood might be thicker than water after all.

My Thoughts

Hands down this is my favorite Jane Green book! This story of Ronni Sunshine and her three daughters was touching, funny and thoroughly enjoyable. We meet Ronni who is an actress as she tries her hardest to make it in the industry. From the very start, she chooses her career over her family including her three daughters whom each have their issues with her.

We get to know the Sunshine Sisters through the years but the storyline comes to life when they are summoned back home by their mother who has some bad news for them. Ronni is terminally ill and wants them there so she can take her life on her terms and most importantly she wants her daughters to reconnect after years of estrangement. Nell, Meredith, and Lizzie hadn’t ever been close not even growing up so when they all come back home it’s a little awkward, to say the least. All have problems in their lives but as soon as they are together they slowly reconnect like never before.

What I loved most is that this story is all about family. The relationship with their mother was a hard one, one that definitely shaped their future, especially on how they viewed themselves. It's really hard to have the self-love and confidence in yourself if the one person who should’ve given you that from day one never did. While I felt for Ronni, her illness and death did bring her daughters together in a way I don’t think they would’ve otherwise. Each one's story comes full circle and each finally finds the peace and love they deserved their entire lives. I found myself laughing and crying, which to me is the sign of a truly amazing book!