How to Walk Away by Katherine Center

Okay gushing review here.

ALL THE STARS for How to Walk Away by Katherine Center. 

Just please, please trust me and read this book. 

It's not very often that I find something so compelling that I can't put it down. I'm a fast reader, but this book took less than a day to read and I enjoyed it so much. I think that there will be a lot of people comparing this to Me Before You - and I can see some similarities, but this book is just so much more hopeful than MBY is, it's about recovering and getting up out of the ashes when life literally shatters your plans. It's about finding that there are all types of happy endings and how to move forward through hardship. It's about self love and acceptance, and finding value in yourself as a human being who is worthy of loving oneself and accepting the love of others. And this book doesn't do this by glossing over the emotional hardships and challenges that come with a life altering injury. I thought the author did a great job of addressing the emotional state of her main character and the way she worked through her recovery in a way that was accessible and easy to empathize with. It's an emotionally engrossing read that I think many will enjoy.

Margaret's first person narrative reads like a conversation with a friend. It's warm and inviting, even though the hard parts. She's surrounded by a quirky sister, sometimes overbearing mother, and supportive father. These characters are flawed, but still relatable and I loved hanging out with them, and watching them work through their fears and conflicts together.

Overall this is probably going to be one of my favorite books this year, it's the one I immediately told my bestie to grab a copy of and will be recommending to all my friends this summer.

Book Gawker's buy it or borrow it recommendation: Buy It

A free finished copy of this book was provided to me by Booksparks for their Summer Reading Challenge 2018.

All opinions are my own

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The Perfect Mother by Aimee Molloy

Those who know me - know that Suspense/Thrillers are not my typical reading fare. But I really enjoyed Aimee Molloy's The Perfect Mother .

I read this for a book club and was blown away by the expert pacing and plotting of this domestic suspense novel. I also never saw the twist coming in the end - so points to Molloy for stumping me and keeping me on the hook all the way to the end. It reads similarly to Liane Moriarty's work ( Truly Madly Guilty and Big Little Lies) - so if you're a fan of hers, check this one out.

In this quickly paced novel, a group of first time mothers work together to bring home an abducted baby. On a sweltering Fourth of July night, during a Mom's Night Out, a baby is stolen from his crib. His mother and her friends, members of a mommy group called the May Mothers (named for the month of their children's births) all blissfully unaware that anything has happened until the babysitter calls telling them that the baby is gone. Reeling from the shock that something this tragic has happened so close to home and to one of their own the women work to unravel the events of the evening.

The story is told from the perspectives of three of the women, all with their own secrets to hide. Loyalties are tested, each chapter more revealing than the last. The narrative is clever and wonderfully misleading, causing the reader to second guess every move the characters make. Also, those snarky May Mothers emails that arrive daily in the women's inboxes - man I wanted to push delete so badly!

Molloy does an incredible job of misdirecting her reader - I was stumped throughout and never saw the end coming. She does an amazing job of revealing the insecurities, pressure and judgement that comes along with motherhood - especially the misconceptions we believe about ourselves and other moms out there. The writing is nuanced and never overwrought - the characters are relatable and realistically flawed, each with her own issues. It's very well done.

I'll definitely be checking out Aimee Molloy's next book.

Book Gawker's buy it or borrow it recommendation: Buy It

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When Life Gives You Lululemons by Lauren Weisberger

Lauren Weisberger is back with yet another Devil Wears Prada novel and it’s a catty, hysterical page turner. It’s likely that if this book is on your radar, you’ve either read Lauren Weisberger’s other books or are at least familiar with the film version of TDWP. This stays true to her style and is full of snappy one liners, over the top characters and my favorite – sarcasm.

Emily Charlton, former first assistant to Miranda Priestly (as if you could forget the devil herself), has made a name for herself as a sought after image consultant. She’s married, living in LA and making a living keeping Hollywood’s starlets out of hot water. She’s at the top of her game until a younger, hipper version of herself begins poaching her clients. Where better to gather her thoughts and nurse her wounded ego than at her friend, Miriam’s, house in the suburbs of Connecticut?

Miriam thought moving to the suburbs would be a great way to raise her young family in a safe, family friendly environment. The only problem? She has nothing in common with the uber-wealthy, plastic surgery savvy, lululemon clad housewives of Greenwich, Connecticut. After having left her high profile job in the city, she’s about one goldfish cracker away from actually going crackers.

Enter Karolina Hartwell – former supermodel turned Senator’s wife (how very Kennedy-esque) who finds herself in jail for a night after being pulled over for a DUI. Who could need Emily’s image consultant prowess and Miriam’s legal aid more than Karolina, whose life is now turned upside down after such a public arrest? 

When Life Gives You Lululemons is full of the snark and sass that we would expect from Weisberger’s cattiest characters. It’s a quick, laugh out loud read with a few cringe worthy moments thrown in for good measure. Pick this one up for your book club/cocktail night with the girls, your next trip or just for a fun weekend read. It’s plenty of fun and perfectly suited for readers who prefer lighter fare in their reading. I would expect nothing less from this author and look forward to her future novels. 

A Review EGalley was provided by the publisher and netgalley for honest review. All thoughts are my own. 

Bookgawker's Buy it or Borrow It suggestion: Buy It

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All We Ever Wanted by Emily Giffin

Every time Emily Giffin releases a book I'm not quite sure how she can top her last - but she does.

Every. Dang. Time. 

Here's what I love about her work, she's not afraid to tackle relevant issues or messy relationships and does so with great finesse with her approachable, easy to relate to writing style. Her previous work has always been page turning prose that takes on social issues, delves into familial drama or navigates tricky relationships - but I'm not sure I've read another book by her that is as timely, powerful and emotionally charged as All We Ever Wanted.

Nina Browning has everything she could ever want. She belongs to Nashville's elite and uber-wealthy Belle Meade community, her son Finch is a star student at an elite prep school and is headed to Princeton and her husband Kirk is a successful businessman and devoted father.

Tom Volpe's life is a little less glamorous. By day he works a blue collar job as a carpenter, and by night drives Uber on the side. He hasn't been lucky in love and money is tight, but he makes enough to get by. He's a single dad - doing the best he can to provide for his daughter, Lyla.

Then an obscene photograph of a passed out girl at a party, complete with blatantly racist caption surfaces. The girl is Lyla and the photo originated from Finch's phone.

Nina and Tom find themselves in uncharted territory as parents, navigating what happened that night and questioning everything they thought they knew about their kids, parenting, ethics and those around them.

In a post Weinstein, #MeToo era - I think that many readers will find this book to be an incredibly relevant commentary on race, sexism, elitism, social class and a parent's approach to all of the above. It's a novel that is easily digestible, accessible and thought provoking that will resonate with Ms. Giffin's demographic. This isn't to say that there aren't a few weaknesses - I for one, really felt that the last 25% of the book was rushed and wish that the conclusion would have been a little more satisfying. I wanted a little more gumption from certain characters, but at the end of the day this is not my novel. These are not my characters. More importantly, I think what this book does really well is pose the question - "What would you do?" And to me, I think that exploration is really the point of this book.

Well done, Ms. Giffin, I can't wait to read what you come up with next!

Thank you, Random House / Ballantine Books and NetGalley for an advanced copy for review.
All opinions are my own.

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