4 stars

BOOK REVIEW: The Tower by William Pauley III

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Title: The Tower

Author: William Pauley III

Audiobook Length: 2 hours and 23 minutes

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Genre: Fiction, Horror, Short Story

Read Start Date: January 27, 2023

Read Finish Date: January 31, 2023

Number of Book in Series: 1

Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: Something is happening to the residents of Eighth Block Tower…

There’s radiation in the walls. Salt covers the hallways. The food and water are poisonous. A giant green brain pulsates under the roof, pumping electric venom throughout the apartment building. The residents are trapped and losing their minds.

Sanity is a myth. Sickness is life.

My Review: I received this book from NetGalley and exchange for an honest review. The Tower is the first book in the “Bedlam Series.” I wasn’t sure what to think of this book. It was a little trippy, like what all the movies portray an acid trip to be like. But it was also a little confusing.

Although a novella, the book seems to be split into 2 separate stories. Both take place in the “Eighth Block Tower,” which is more or less an apartment building with radiation in the walls. At least that’s what the inhabitants say. The inhabitants themselves are strange. Some might even say “radiated” or “mutated.” They are too weird to leave, even if they want to.

The first story is about a killer who starts killing the women of the building. The twist at the end was weird and a little off putting.

The second story is about someone who works at a meat facility located at the apartment complex (also somehow strange). I didn’t really get the point of this story. The ending is weird and also confusing.

I read some reviews on Goodreads that said there was a third story…but actually I’m not sure what that one was…

What I did like was the futurist atmosphere of the place. But this also left me with unanswered questions. What was the outside world like? What was society like? Why were these people at this building? There were so many interesting elements of this story that weren’t explored. I’m giving it 4 stars despite the confusion because it was just so damn intriguing, the writing was good, and the idea was imaginative.

Hopefully, my questions will be addressed in the next book, which I definitely will be reading.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

BOOK REVIEW: The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan

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Title: The Bookshop on the Corner

Author: Jenny Colgan

Book Length: 384 pages

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Genre: Fiction, Romance, Chick Lit, Books about Books, Contemporary, Scotland

Read Start Date: November 18, 2022

Read Finish Date: January 26, 2023

Number in Book Series: 1

Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: Nina Redmond is a literary matchmaker. Pairing a reader with that perfect book is her passion… and also her job. Or at least it was. Until yesterday, she was a librarian in the hectic city. But now the job she loved is no more.

Determined to make a new life for herself, Nina moves to a sleepy village many miles away. There she buys a van and transforms it into a bookmobile—a mobile bookshop that she drives from neighborhood to neighborhood, changing one life after another with the power of storytelling.

From helping her grumpy landlord deliver a lamb, to sharing picnics with a charming train conductor who serenades her with poetry, Nina discovers there’s plenty of adventure, magic, and soul in a place that’s beginning to feel like home… a place where she just might be able to write her own happy ending.

My Review: Nina has always had a dream of owning her own bookstore. When she loses her job as a librarian in Birmingham, she heads to the Scottish Highlands to purchase a van that would be perfect to house a mobile bookshop. Nina hits a snag when the gruff seller won’t sell it to her. With the help of the book-starved inhabitants of Kirrinfief, the seller finally relents. The townspeople are disappointed when Nina tells them she doesn’t intend to open her shop in Kirrinfief.

While Nina had originally planned to open the shop in Birmingham, red tape prevents her from doing so. Reluctantly, she returns to Kirrinfief and rents a renovated barn from a stubborn, abrasive, hunky farmer, who goes by the name of Lennox. He is in the midst of a bitter divorce, and is more rude than welcoming. It is obvious, however, that this guy will be the love interest by the end of the book.

Despite her initial hesitance, Nina soon becomes enamored with the Scottish Highlands and its people.

One night, Nina is driving in the van, and she stalls on the train tracks as a train is coming. Luckily, the train stops. She meets Marek, the gorgeous and kind train operator from Latvia (he is living in Birmingham). They soon fall into a romantic exchange –they leave notes and books for each other by hanging them on the tree next to the spot where they first met. The romance is more emotional than physical, as they rarely see each other, and it is ill fated from the start.

By the end though, Nina is where (and with whom) she should be and has her own “happy ever after”.

I started reading this book back in November, 2022, when my daughter was in the hospital with a bad case of bronchitis. I needed something light and fluffy, and this book fit the bill. Jenny Colgan writes with a nice and easy prose that begs the eyes to keep reading. It took me a while to finish it, because recently I’ve only had time to read at bedtime, and I have been trying to read paperbacks before bed (to avoid screens). As I was reading this via the library app Libby on my ipad, I turned to this book only when my mood couldn’t handle the subject matter of the true crime books I’ve been reading.

It is a bit sappy in parts — like how Nina calls her bookshop “The Little Shop of Happy-Ever-After” — but overall a good book.

This is a great read for when you are in a bad or sad mood and need something light and uplifting.

BOOK REVIEW: The Book Woman’s Daughter by Kim Michele Richardson

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Title: The Book Woman’s Daughter

Author: Kim Michele Richardson

Audiobook Length: 10 hours and 29 minutes

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction,

Read Start Date: January 7, 2023

Read Finish Date: January 18, 2023

Number in Book Series: 2

Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: Bestselling historical fiction author Kim Michele Richardson is back with the perfect book club read following Honey Mary Angeline Lovett, the daughter of the beloved Troublesome book woman, who must fight for her own independence with the help of the women who guide her and the books that set her free.

In the ruggedness of the beautiful Kentucky mountains, Honey Lovett has always known that the old ways can make a hard life harder. As the daughter of the famed blue-skinned, Troublesome Creek packhorse librarian, Honey and her family have been hiding from the law all her life. But when her mother and father are imprisoned, Honey realizes she must fight to stay free, or risk being sent away for good.

Picking up her mother’s old packhorse library route, Honey begins to deliver books to the remote hollers of Appalachia. Honey is looking to prove that she doesn’t need anyone telling her how to survive, but the route can be treacherous, and some folks aren’t as keen to let a woman pave her own way. If Honey wants to bring the freedom that books provide to the families who need it most, she’s going to have to fight for her place, and along the way, learn that the extraordinary women who run the hills and hollers can make all the difference in the world.

My Review: This book is both a standalone book and a sequel to The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek. This book is told from Honey Mary Angeline Lovett’s POV. If you haven’t read the first book you will still be able to read and enjoy this book, but you will miss out on some of the backstory of Honey’s mother and the packhorse project.

The story starts off with Honey’s parents going to jail for violating Kentucky’s misogyny laws, which outlaws the marriage of two different races. Honey and her mother, Cussie, are carriers of a genetic trait that led to the blood disorder methemoglobinemia, turning their skin blue. Therefore, in the eyes of the racist, ignorant Kentucky folk, the marriage between Cussy and her husband, a white man, violates the law. They are sent to prison for 2 years.

Honey, nearly 17 years old, is at risk — the authorities want to send her to a reform school until the age of 21 — which is little more than a child prison — even though she would legally be an adult at the age of 18. Luckily, a guardian (an elderly woman and friend of Cussy’s named Loretta) steps forward, keeping her out of prison for the moment. That path is shattered when Loretta dies, leaving Honey again at risk.

But Honey is resilient and a tough cookie, as my boyfriend would say. She gets a job and makes a salary (the same one her mother had bringing library books on mule back to the disadvantaged folk in the Kentucky mountains). She makes friends, she pays her own way, and she even researches a landmark case in Kentucky for emancipation. She is determined to gain her freedom.

This is a story about friendship, overcoming adversity, and about standing up for your beliefs, even in the face of danger.

I found this book slow at times, and I couldn’t put it down at other times. Trigger warning for elements of domestic abuse and violence against women. Although I did enjoy it when the villain got the comeuppance he deserved at the end.

All in all a great book. I would recommend it along with the first one.

For some interesting book club questions, I would recommend visiting Three Sisters Read blog post here.

Other Books in this Series: 

Title: The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek

Author: Kim Michele Richardson

Audiobook Length: 9 hours and 26 minutes

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction

Read Start Date: September 13, 2022

Read Finish Date: September 23, 2022

Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: In 1936, tucked deep into the woods of Troublesome Creek, KY, lives blue-skinned 19-year-old Cussy Carter, the last living female of the rare Blue People ancestry.

The lonely young Appalachian woman joins the historical Pack Horse Library Project of Kentucky and becomes a librarian, riding across slippery creek beds and up treacherous mountains on her faithful mule to deliver books and other reading material to the impoverished hill people of Eastern Kentucky.

Along her dangerous route, Cussy, known to the mountain folk as Bluet, confronts those suspicious of her damselfly-blue skin and the government’s new book program. She befriends hardscrabble and complex fellow Kentuckians, and is fiercely determined to bring comfort and joy, instill literacy, and give to those who have nothing, a bookly respite, a fleeting retreat to faraway lands.

See my review of The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek here.

BOOK REVIEW: Took by Mary Downing Hahn

/ E.A. Hoffmann / 1 Comment

Title: Took

Author: Mary Downing Hahn

Book Length: 272 pages

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Genre: Fiction, Horror, Middle Grade, Mystery, Paranormal, Ghosts

Read Start Date: December 24, 2022

Read Finish Date: December 28, 2022

Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: “Folks say Old Auntie takes a girl and keeps her fifty years—then lets her go and takes another one.”
 
Thirteen-year-old Daniel Anderson doesn’t believe Brody Mason’s crazy stories about the ghost witch who lives up on Brewster’s Hill with Bloody Bones, her man-eating razorback hog. He figures Brody’s probably just trying to scare him since he’s the new kid . . . a “stuck-up snot” from Connecticut. But Daniel’s seven-year-old sister Erica has become more and more withdrawn, talking to her lookalike doll. When she disappears into the woods one day, he knows something is terribly wrong. Did the witch strike? Has Erica been “took”?

My Review: Daniel and Erica are forced to move to rural West Virginia when their father losses his job. Once a successful businessman, their father (and mother) take retail jobs at a local store. As an adult, this didn’t make sense to me — why would they leave a NYC suburb where all the business-esq jobs are, only to move to a rural community where only retail jobs are available?–but as this story is for Middle-Grade readers, I guess it’s not much of a problem. Or rather, a kid probably wouldn’t think in such terms.

To me, it seemed to be just a vehicle for moving to West Virginia, the location of the ghost story. It also helped explain the kids picking on them, and why they wouldn’t be aware of the history of the house. But again, these are adult thoughts and will not affect the storyline for the kids.

Anyway, they move to this rural area, to this house where 50 years ago, a child was kidnapped. All the kids at school make fun of Daniel and Erica because of where they live. At first, Daniel doesn’t believe them, but then strange things start to happen e.g. his sister starts talking to her doll and acting like it can talk back. Daniel doesn’t get any help from his parents, as things for them are also difficult. Their parents are working a lot to make ends meet, and they are constantly fighting with each other. The kids are also quarreling as siblings often do. So to say, the kids are having a really hard time with the move.

When the ghost of an old witch sets her sights on Erica, will Daniel be able to save her in time?

This book was being given away for free at a South Carolina library near where my parent’s live. Despite being Middle Grade, it sounded interesting and was highly enjoyable even for me, an adult. I think that kids will really enjoy this book, especially if they like books about ghosts.

BOOK REVIEW: Suspicious Minds by Gwenda Bond

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Title: Suspicious Minds

Author: Gwenda Bond

Book Length: 304 pages

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Genre: Fiction, Horror, Science Fiction, Thriller

Read Start Date: December 9, 2022

Read Finish Date: December 24, 2022

Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: A mysterious lab. A sinister scientist. A secret history. If you think you know the truth behind Eleven’s mother, prepare to have your mind turned Upside Down in this thrilling prequel to the hit show Stranger Things.

It’s the summer of 1969, and the shock of conflict reverberates through the youth of America, both at home and abroad. As a student at a quiet college campus in the heartland of Indiana, Terry Ives couldn’t be further from the front lines of Vietnam or the incendiary protests in Washington.

But the world is changing, and Terry isn’t content to watch from the sidelines. When word gets around about an important government experiment in the small town of Hawkins, she signs on as a test subject for the project, codenamed MKUltra. Unmarked vans, a remote lab deep in the woods, mind-altering substances administered by tightlipped researchers . . . and a mystery the young and restless Terry is determined to uncover.

But behind the walls of Hawkins National Laboratory—and the piercing gaze of its director, Dr. Martin Brenner—lurks a conspiracy greater than she could have ever imagined. To face it, she’ll need the help of her fellow test subjects, including one so mysterious the world doesn’t know she exists—a young girl with unexplainable, superhuman powers and a number instead of a name: 008.

Amid the rising tensions of the new decade, Terry Ives and Martin Brenner have begun a different kind of war—one where the human mind is the battlefield.

My Review: I have loved the show Stranger Things since it premiered. I am waiting eagerly for the next season to drop, which by all accounts might not be for a while. When I was in Nashville for a girls weekend, I visited a book shop of course, because well, I am addicted to books. As I was perusing the shelves, I saw Suspicious Minds and was instantly intrigued. I hadn’t known there was a book — actually there are several!

Suspicious Minds is a prequel to the events of Stranger Things. Even though this book is set in the world of the Netflix show, there is a whole new cast of characters (99% of whom we have never met before) and so if you have never seen the show (stop reading this blog and go watch it now!), you will still be able to read the book and enjoy it. The three characters from the show are Dr. Martin Brenner, the head of the highly classified “research” Project at the Hawkins laboratory in Indiana, Terry Ives, the mother of Eleven, and Eight (as a child in the book), one of the test subjects who exhibit special powers. In Eight’s case it is the ability to make people see illusions/what she wants them to see.

It’s 1969 (14 years before Season 1 of Stranger Things) and Terry Ives, a college student and waitress, takes her roommate’s place at a government sanctioned (paid) test program. Terry needs the money — and she is more than a little intrigued. Terry is currently involved in a relationship with another college student named Andrew, who is luckily not eligible for the draft as he falls under the college exception. I liked how Gwenda Bond included the history and politics of the era (namely the Vietnam war), so this book not only takes place at the lab, but also out in the larger world, with all the angst, protests and sentiments of that time in US history.

While the show eludes to the testing that Terry Ives had undergone at the hands of sinister Dr. Martin Brenner, the book really goes into the details of what happened to her, and really showed that the indifference to human life that Brenner exhibited in Stranger Things is a character trait he has been exhibiting for some time. We never learn why Brenner is performing these tests or for what purpose though, so this was a little disappointing.

The show also never mentioned that Terry and Kali (Eight, who we meet briefly in Season 2 of Stranger Things) knew each other or had such a prolonged interaction. However, in the book, the relationship between Terry and Kali is very important to the plot. There was also never any mention of the other test subjects in the show and I liked learning about them in the book.

While I definitely liked this book, I came away from it with more questions than answers. Yes, now we know the origin story of Eleven and how she came to be in the clutches of Brenner. We know the backstory of Terry Ives. However, the book ends with the birth of Eleven, but we don’t really meet Eleven in the Netflix show until she is basically a teenager, and in later seasons, they show her as a young child (maybe around 8 years old?). What happened from her birth until then? What happened to the other test subjects?

We learn in the book that Alice (one of the test subjects) when given LSD and electroshock therapy, could see into the Upside Down (and into the future), and that Brenner becomes aware that such a place exists. However, we never learn whether this was the catalyst for what happened with Eleven, or whether it was merely a coincidence. In other words, what did Brenner actively do with this information?

I guess if you read this book without watching the show first, these same questions may not pop up and your experience of the book might be different. It might just add to the mystery of the story, rather than prompting more questions.

I know there are other Stanger Things books out there, but I don’t think they are a sequel to Suspicious Minds. I want to know what happens between 1970 and the start of the show! We need another book! Universe, please work on this!

At the moment, this book has only a 3.61 rating on Goodreads, which I feel is not a true reflection of my experience. I tried to find other reviews on WordPress, but found only one (and great) review from G does Films.

While I think that anyone can read and enjoy this book, I think that it definitely helps if you are already a fan of the show.

BOOK REVIEW: Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

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Title: Carrie Soto is Back

Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid

Audiobook Length: 10 hours and 30 minutes

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Contemporary, Sports

Read Start Date: December 9, 2022

Read Finish Date: December 18, 2022

Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: Carrie Soto is fierce, and her determination to win at any cost has not made her popular. But by the time she retires from tennis, she is the best player the world has ever seen. She has shattered every record and claimed twenty Grand Slam titles. And if you ask Carrie, she is entitled to every one. She sacrificed nearly everything to become the best, with her father, Javier, as her coach. A former champion himself, Javier has trained her since the age of two.

But six years after her retirement, Carrie finds herself sitting in the stands of the 1994 US Open, watching her record be taken from her by a brutal, stunning player named Nicki Chan.

At thirty-seven years old, Carrie makes the monumental decision to come out of retirement and be coached by her father for one last year in an attempt to reclaim her record. Even if the sports media says that they never liked “the Battle-Axe” anyway. Even if her body doesn’t move as fast as it did. And even if it means swallowing her pride to train with a man she once almost opened her heart to: Bowe Huntley. Like her, he has something to prove before he gives up the game forever.

In spite of it all, Carrie Soto is back, for one epic final season. In this riveting and unforgettable novel, Taylor Jenkins Reid tells her most vulnerable, emotional story yet.

My Review: Originally introduced to us in Malibu Rising (see my review of that book here) as the girlfriend of Nina Riva’s husband, Carrie Soto Is Back is the story of Carrie Soto, the best female tennis player in the world. The book spans the period of her life, from childhood to her late thirties. Carrie retired from tennis with the record of winning the most Grand Slam titles…a record that is about to be beat by another tennis player, Nicki Chan. The Goodread synopsis does a good job of summing up the story, so I won’t go too much into plot detail here.

Overall, I liked this book. Currently, it has a 4.26 rating on Goodreads (I am giving it 4 stars), so lots of other people feel the same way about it.

There is a lot of tennis in this book, a sport I don’t know too much about — my lack of knowledge didn’t take away from the story so if you’re like me, then you won’t be lost with all the tennis references. The author does a good job of making the actual tennis playing accessible to people who don’t know the rules of the game.

The Candid Cover states “As a reader, I was pulled right into the matches and the intense drama that unfolds. These aspects are really exciting, and I really loved the commentary on the politics of sport and some of its sexism, making for a thought-provoking read.”

I agree regarding the commentary! When you listen to the audiobook, it adds something special because there is typical “sports commentary” music and there are different narrators for the voices of the pundits.

Through the book we see Carrie “The Battle Axe” grow as a human being. Despite being 37 years old, Carrie still has a lot to learn about love and life. Tennis had been her entire life. She wanted to be the best, and she didn’t care who she hurt along the way — even her father, who she fired as her coach because he couldn’t get her to be where she needed to be professionally. At 37, she is alone, never having a serious boyfriend or love interest.

As she reconnects with her father (who is coaching her once again), and with a tennis player she slept with once years before, Carrie slowly begins to learn there is more to life than tennis.

Mrs. B’s Book Reviews says of the father / daughter relationship: ” The most touching part of Carrie Soto is the unconditional relationship that she holds with her father. Reid does a truly excellent job of portraying a realistic, respectful and loving father /daughter relationship.”

I’m not usually a fan of child / parent relationship stories, because often times they come off really sickly sweet, but I have to agree that Reid did a really good job of keeping it touching / sentimental without getting to barf level sap.

I have read a bunch of books by Taylor Jenkins Reid (click on the author tag at the end of the post to see the other reviews) and I am blown away each time. Reid’s books are always well researched, well written and well developed. She is a fantastic writer and weaver of tales and this book was no exception.

I would definitely recommend this book.

BOOK REVIEW: Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin

/ E.A. Hoffmann / 1 Comment

Title: Rosemary’s Baby

Author: Ira Levin

Audiobook Length: 6 hours and 9 minutes

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Genre: Fiction, Horror, Thriller, Paranormal

Read Start Date: November 27, 2022

Read Finish Date: November 28, 2022

Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: Suppose you were an up-to-date young wife who moved into an old and elegant New York apartment house with a rather strange past.

Suppose that only after you became pregnant did you begin to suspect the building harbored a diabolically evil group of devil worshippers who had mastered the arts of black magic and witchcraft.

Suppose that this satanic conspiracy set out to claim not only your husband but your baby.

Well, that’s what happened to Rosemary… Or did it…?

My Review: I read this book 10 years ago and saw it for rent as an audiobook at the library and figured why not. This book is one of those classics that never seems to get old (except that some of the language used in the book, while it may have been normal in the 1960’s when it was written, did not age well.) Mia Farrow is the narrator of the audiobook which is a nice touch (she played Rosemary in the movie in 1968).

Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse jump at the opportunity to move into a recently empty apartment at the Branford–an elegant apartment building. The apartment is just fantastic, and a perfect size for the eventual family the couple wants to have. A stay-at-home-wife, Rosemary slowly adjusts to life at the building, befriending a woman of a similar age in the laundry room. Terry, a now sober drug addict pulled off the streets by the Castevets (Rosemary’s neighbors), wears a strange bauble around her neck containing a foul smelling “tannis root”, given to her by the Castevets for “luck”.

When Terry suddenly plummets to her death, things at the Branford start to take a terrifying turn. From odd chanting and flute playing coming from the Castevets apartment, to the horrible dream Rosemary had of being raped by a demon with yellow eyes, things at the Branford aren’t looking rosy as they once had. Except Guy all of a sudden starts getting bigger and better acting roles, and Rosemary finds out she’s pregnant. Was her dream really just a dream?

The book is great if you remember that it is a period piece written and taking place in the 1960’s. There are lots of elements of the story which would not work today in 2022…and it is these elements which add the tension to the story. In 2022, Rosemary would be able to search the internet, she would likely have a job, have more access to friends with whom to speak about her constant abdominal pains while pregnant. Her OBGYN’s instructions “not to read books or talk to friends–because every pregnancy is different” would probably go over as well as a cockroach in a bowl of cherries.

Rosemary seemed very isolated in the story. Her one friend, Hutch, mysteriously fell into a coma after telling Rosemary of the sordid history of the Branford. I don’t think this isolation would have been the same had the story taken place in the present day.

But somehow that is part of the appeal and charm of Rosemary’s Baby, and other books from decades ago. You don’t need the big thrills or “gotcha” moments like today’s horror (okay, maybe this is mostly in movies). The horror in this book is subtle, it creeps up on you like lions hiding in the tall grass. It builds and builds, and finally climaxes in an ending that is expected, yet somehow not at the same time.

I’m glad I read this again and I recommend this book to anyone who hasn’t read it yet.

BOOK REVIEW: American Mother by Gregg Olsen

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Title: American Mother: The True Story of a Troubled Family, Motherhood, and the Cyanide Murders that Shook the World

Author: Gregg Olsen

Audiobook Length: 14 hours and 7 minutes. Book length: 496 pages

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Genre: Nonfiction, True Crime

Read Start Date: November 10, 2022

Read Finish Date: November 14, 2022

Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: At 5.02 pm on June 5, 1986, an emergency call came into the local sheriff’s office in the small town of Auburn, Washington State. A distressed housewife, Stella Nickell, said her husband Bruce was having a seizure. Officers rushed to the Nickell’s mobile home, to find Stella standing frozen at the door… Bruce was on the floor fighting for his life.  
 
As Stella became the beneficiary of over $175,000 in a life insurance pay-out, forensics discovered that Bruce had consumed painkillers laced with cyanide.
 
A week later, fifteen-year-old Hayley was getting ready for another school day. Her mom, Sue, called out ‘I love you’ before heading into the bathroom and moments later collapsed on the floor. Sue never regained consciousness, and the autopsy revealed she had been poisoned by cyanide tainted headache pills. Just like Bruce.
 
While a daughter grieved the sudden and devastating loss of her mother, a young woman, Cindy, was thinking about her own mom Stella. She thought about the years of neglect and abuse, the tangled web of secrets Stella had shared with her, and Cindy contemplated turning her mom into the FBI…
 
Gripping and heart-breaking, Gregg Olsen uncovers the shocking true story of a troubled family. He delves into a complex mother-daughter relationship rooted in mistrust and deception, and the journey of the sweet curly-haired little girl from Oregon whose fierce ambition to live the American Dream led her to make the ultimate betrayal.    
 
Originally published as Bitter Almonds. Revised and updated edition.

My Review: I received this book as an audiobook and ebook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. With respect to the different formats:

Audiobook: The audiobook was great. I also really liked the interview with the author that was included in the end.

Ebook: The ebook was also great. It was easy to read and it was organized well.

With respect to the story itself, American Mother is the true crime story of a woman, Stella Nickell, who murdered her husband Bruce by giving him Excedrin capsules filled with cyanide. The medical examiner initially stated that the cause of death was emphysema. Stella was free and clear of the murder — that is — until she became greedy. You see, if the death was accidental, then Stella would get a bigger payout from the life insurance.

Sickly inspired by the “tylenol murders”, which was a series of poisoning deaths resulting from drug tampering in the Chicago metropolitan area in 1982, Stella formulated a plan: she would contaminate Excedrin bottles with cyanide filled capsules and put them on the shelves at drug stores. Then, when someone else took them and died, it would be seen as another “drug tampering” case, and Bruce’s death would be ruled an accident. This plot is sick and twisted, and Stella almost got away with it. Who would think that someone would be so callous as to murder complete strangers to cover up the murder of her husband?

A short while after Stella put the bottles on the shelves, a woman named Sue took those cyanide pills and died. This time the medical examiner found the cyanide in her system. After Sue’s death hit the news, Stella started calling authorities stating her belief that her husband had also taken contaminated pills. It was found to be true.

Essentially, what it boils down to, is that Stella murdered Sue so that Bruce’s death would be ruled an accident and Stella could get more money. What a heartless piece of garbage!

Gregg Olsen tells the story of not only the murder and the victim, Sue, but also the background on the Nickell family. While I’m not a big fan of focusing on the killer (because the focus should be on the victim instead), it was important to see Stella’s family dynamics, as there was some speculation, although never proven, that Stella’s daughter was in on the plot as well.

I really like how Olsen told the story — it wasn’t dry like some true crime books, and it held my interest. There was some repetition of the facts when Olsen wrote about the trial (and honestly this was my least favorite part), but on the other hand it really drove home the point that Stella was a heartless monster who killed 2 people for the money.

If you like true crime, I would definitely recommend this book.

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Professional Reader
10 Book Reviews

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

BOOK REVIEW: The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

/ E.A. Hoffmann / 4 Comments

Title: The Girl on the Train

Author: Paula Hawkins

Book Length: 316 pages

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Contemporary

Read Start Date: November 7, 2022

Read Finish Date: November 13, 2022

Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: Rachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens. She’s even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. “Jess and Jason,” she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. If only Rachel could be that happy. And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Now Rachel has a chance to become a part of the lives she’s only watched from afar. Now they’ll see; she’s much more than just the girl on the train…

My Review: The book tells the story from 3 POVs:

Rachel is having a hard time of it. Spiraling downward, she has lost her husband, her job, and many times her dignity (she often gets blackout drunk and does things she regrets in the morning). Fooling her roommate into believing she still has a job, Rachel takes the train each morning into London, drink in hand. Every morning she passes by the house that used to be hers — the one that her husband now lives in with his new wife and baby girl. A few doors down lives another couple, whom Rachel watches through the train window, creating a perfect life for them in her mind.

One day, this perfect image is shattered when sees the wife cheating on the husband with another man. Shorty thereafter, the wife goes missing and is feared dead. What happened to her? Was it the man Rachel saw her with? Did the husband find out and kill her in a jealous rage? Rachel was there that night–the night that Megan went missing–but she was drunk and doesn’t remember a thing.

Rachel becomes obsessed with trying to solve the mystery, as she is convinced she knows more than she remembers.

Megan: The story of Megan is told in the past and leads up to the circumstances surrounding why she goes missing. Something horrific happens in her past (I won’t spoil it), but it left me bereft for days afterward.

Lastly, the story of Anne, Rachel’s ex’s new wife. Anne views Rachel much like everyone else — a drunk, a nuisance, crazy. Rachel is constantly leaving messages for Tom (the husband) and Anne is becoming fed up. I wasn’t too crazy about Anne’s POV and it didn’t add that much to the story until the ending when it all came together.

Down the Rabbit Hole sums it up best: “The characters in this book were all so frustratingly imperfect. Each time I wish they would make some good decisions, but they wouldn’t. I think all in all that speaks to the author’s prowess at creating these characters that you can’t help but root for, or at least wish the best, and then have that all crumbling down around you all the time. It truly made for a frustrating yet impressive experience of impending dread.”

I love Paula Hawkins’s writing. Both its imagery and the mystery aspect. The ending had a big twist that I did not see coming and it tied the whole story into a neat little bow. Although Rachel’s actions are cringe worthy sometimes, she is a sympathetic character. She has been done wrong — and by the end it is clear why she is (justifiably) a mess.

I would definitely recommend this book.

As a last point, I would like to share a couple of quotes that I took note of:

My heart breaks for Rachel here in this moment.

I liked my job, but I didn’t have a glittering career, and even if I had, let’s be honest: women are still only really valued for two things — their looks and their role as mothers. I’m not beautiful, and I can’t have kids, so what does that make me? Worthless.

The Girl on the Train page 85

The below quote as a really awesome element of foreshadowing in it, that you don’t pick up until much later in the book. It’s just really fantastic, actually, when I think about it.

Blackouts happen, and it isn’t just a matter of being a bit hazy about getting home from the club or forgetting what it was that was so funny when you were chatting in the pub. It’s different. Total black; hours lost, never to be retrieved.

Tom bought me a book about it. Not very romantic, but he was tired of listening to me tell him how sorry I was in the morning when I didn’t even know what I was sorry for. I think he wanted me to see the damage I was doing, the kind of things I might be capable of. It was written by a doctor, but I’ve no idea whether it was accurate: the author claimed that blacking out wasn’t simply a matter of forgetting what had happened, but having no memories to forget in the first place. His theory was that you get into a state where your brain no longer makes short-term memories. And while you’re there, in deepest black, you don’t behave as you usually would, because you’re simply reacting to the very last thing that you think happened, because — since you aren’t making memories — you might not actually know what the last thing that happened really was.”

The Girl on the Train page 74

BOOK REVIEW: The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn

/ E.A. Hoffmann / 1 Comment

Title: The Woman in the Window

Author: A.J. Finn

Book Length: 427 pages

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Genre: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Crime

Read Start Date: October 30, 2022

Read Finish Date: November 7, 2022

Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: Anna Fox lives alone, a recluse in her New York City home, unable to venture outside. She spends her day drinking wine (maybe too much), watching old movies, recalling happier times . . . and spying on her neighbors.

Then the Russells move into the house across the way: a father, a mother and their teenage son. The perfect family. But when Anna, gazing out her window one night, sees something she shouldn’t, her world begins to crumble and its shocking secrets are laid bare.

What is real? What is imagined? Who is in danger? Who is in control? In this diabolically gripping thriller, no one—and nothing—is what it seems.

My Review: Anna Fox, a child psychologist, is bound to her home after a traumatic event left her with agoraphobia. We don’t find out what this traumatic event is until nearly the end of the book, so I won’t spoil it here. To fill her days, Anna drinks, mixing the alcohol with prescription medication, and watches her neighbors. For the first 115 pages of the book we learn about Anna — her (bad) habits, mostly. How she likes to watch old movies, play on-line chess, and dispense advice to other agoraphobes in an online chatroom. She has a cat, named Punch, and is separated from her husband and daughter. Anna speaks to them on the phone a few times, but hasn’t seen either of them for what seems like a long time.

Although I never felt like this was overkill per se, I feel basically nothing happened in these 115 pages and it probably could have been shortened. We get a lot of conversations between her and the online people, a lot of quotes from her black and white movies. Unnecessary fillers perhaps?

Anyway, at some point the neighbor, Ethan Russel, and then shortly thereafter, Jane Russel (Ethan’s mother), comes over and they have a night of fun. Drinking wine, playing chess, just chatting. Anna is concerned because Alistair Russel can be violent sometimes, and controlling — or so says Jane. Anna has never met him before, so all she has is Jane’s word for it. Other than this unexpected visit, everything seems a bit mundane, I guess maybe that is how it feels for Anna too.

Finally, on page 115, the thrills begin. Anna hears a scream coming from the Russel’s house. Anna immediately calls Ethan, who tearfully tells Anna that “he just lost his temper.” Anna is convinced that Alistair hurt Jane.

The next evening, Anna is drinking and watching TV as usual, when she turns her attention to the Russel house. While Anna is listening to the TV in the background (the quotes from the movie are interspersed with the narrative, which honestly was distracting), Anna sees Jane shouting at someone, and then:

Once more Jane enters the frame–but walking slowly, strangely. Staggering. A dark patch of crimson has stained the top of her blouse; even as I watch, it spreads to her stomach. Her hands scrabble at her chest. Something slender and silver has lodged there, like a hilt.”

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn, page 144

Anna phones the police and the gaslighting begins. Anna was so drunk when she made the police call, she was slurring her words. Almost unintelligibly. No one believes that she saw someone get murdered, mainly because the woman she thought was Jane Russell, was in fact, not. She was someone using Jane’s name. Who was this woman? Does she even exist? Or could mixing the pills and alcohol have given her a hallucination?

Overall, I liked the story. I found it intense at times and I did not see the ending coming. I found myself getting annoyed that no one believed Anna — I found her to be a very sympathetic character and though I couldn’t relate to her completely (as I’m not in her circumstances), I could relate to the gaslighting, the not being taken seriously. I think most women can.

It was easy to read and I got through the 400+ pages in about a week (around 50 pages per day). I only gave it four stars, however, because at times it dragged on. I felt there were too many movies quotes, too many days that were the same; there was a lot of repetition. Despite that, if you haven’t read it already (it’s been out since 2018) I would recommend it.

SIDE NOTE: I was wondering why this book wasn’t listed as “women’s fiction”, but then I just read on Goodreads that the author is actually a man! That answers that! I had just assumed that the author was a women. I’m not sure why I thought that honestly…I guess because the main character is a woman? It doesn’t change my opinion of the book at all, I just found it interesting and though I’d share.