[#Netgalley] The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda

Thank you Netgalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for providing me an eARC

Genre: Mystery & Thriller

My Rating: ⭐⭐1/2

Publication Date: June 18, 2019

I loved All The Missing Girls and was hoping to get the same high with this one. The Perfect Stranger was a complete flop for me and resulted in a DNF. But I believe in second chances and the premise for this one sounded VERY promising.

Unfortunately, I find myself chasing the dragon here.
This was every bit as slow as her last novel in my opinion. The only reason I pressed on was cause I wanted to know what REALLY happened with Sadie, which I had already guessed after the first few chapters.

Although my review sounds mainly negative, there were a couple of things I enjoyed. Megan Miranda managed to create a very picturesque setting, which I liked and I appreciated the alternating timelines. She did manage to throw in a bit of a twist, but nothing that took my breathe away.

Sorry..I really wanted to love this one and hoped it would be the IT book of summer 2019. But sadly, there was no redemption here for me.

Have you read this yet? Or any other Megan Miranda books?

Littleport, Maine is like two separate towns: a vacation paradise for wealthy holidaymakers and a simple harbour community for the residents who serve them. Friendships between locals and visitors are unheard of – but that’s just what happened with Avery Greer and Sadie Loman.

Each summer for a decade the girls are inseparable – until Sadie is found dead. When the police rule the death a suicide, Avery can’t help but feel there are those in the community, including a local detective and Sadie’s brother Parker, who blame her. Someone knows more than they’re saying, and Avery is intent on clearing her name before the facts get twisted against her.

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[#Netgalley] The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

Genre: Chick Lit, Contemporary Romance

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2

Chick flicks are a guilty pleasure of mine, and this read very much like one.

It was cute, funny & cheesy at times. But it was a nice quick read, making it the perfect beachy read.

Olive annoyed me at times, but I enjoyed some of the banter that went on between her and Ethan.

**Thank you Netgalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for my ARC**

Have you read this or any other books written by Christina Lauren?

[#BookReview] The Unlikely Adventures Of The Shergill Sisters @WmMorrowBooks @HarperCollins @HarperCollinsCa

Genre: Contemporary Women’s Fiction, Multicultural

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Balli Kaur Jaswal is such a talented storyteller and has managed to write yet another memorable and captivating story. One that is rich in culture, traditions and sisterhood.

I loved how imperfect Rajni, Jezmeen & Shirina’s relationship was, and how one trip to India brought them together. Their childhood and relationship with each other felt authentic.

I don’t want to give too much away since it’ll ruin the story for those who haven’t read it. But there’s some drama along the way with some despicable characters.

I highly recommend it, especially if you enjoyed Erotic Stories For Punjabi Widows 🙂

Have you read this one yet??

The British-born Punjabi Shergill sisters—Rajni, Jezmeen, and Shirina—were never close and barely got along growing up, and now as adults, have grown even further apart. Rajni, a school principal is a stickler for order. Jezmeen, a thirty-year-old struggling actress, fears her big break may never come. Shirina, the peacemaking “good” sister married into wealth and enjoys a picture-perfect life.

On her deathbed, their mother voices one last wish: that her daughters will make a pilgrimage together to the Golden Temple in Amritsar to carry out her final rites. After a trip to India with her mother long ago, Rajni vowed never to return. But she’s always been a dutiful daughter, and cannot, even now, refuse her mother’s request. Jezmeen has just been publicly fired from her television job, so the trip to India is a welcome break to help her pick up the pieces of her broken career. Shirina’s in-laws are pushing her to make a pivotal decision about her married life; time away will help her decide whether to meekly obey, or to bravely stand up for herself for the first time.

Arriving in India, these sisters will make unexpected discoveries about themselves, their mother, and their lives—and learn the real story behind the trip Rajni took with their Mother long ago—a momentous journey that resulted in Mum never being able to return to India again.

June TBR #BOTM

Holy Crap it’s already June!

Do you tend to lean to certain genres or themes during certain seasons? I know I do! I usually enjoy more chick lit and beachy type reads (i.e mermaids)

LIBRARY BORROWS

The Unlikely Adventures Of The Shergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal

Finale by Stephanie Garber

NETGALLEY

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda

BOOKCLUB READ

Miracle Creek by Angie Kim

MIDDLE GRADE

Maybe A Mermaid by Josephine Cameron

The Remarkable Journey Of Coyote Sunrise by Ben Gemeinhart

The Monster Catchers by George Brewington

Are any of these on your list? What’s your most anticipated read this month??

May Wrap Up #monthlywrapup

I can’t believe May is already over! It went by so fast!!

Who’s ready for the summer heat? Not me..I actually don’t like the hot weather. But I do enjoy taking a dip in the pool and going to the beach (when it’s not scorching out).

Alright. So I wasn’t as successful this month at tackling my reading list, but I did manage to read most of what I had planned:

ARC’s

Birthday by Meredith Russo ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The East End by Jason Allen – DNF
Middlegrade ARC’s

Carmen Sandiego: Endangered Operation – UNREAD

Maybe A Mermaid by Josephine Cameron – currently reading

The Startup Squad by Brian Weisfeld & Nicole. C. Kear ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

NETGALLEY

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren- Started

AUDIOBOOKS

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon – ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2
BOOKS

Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman – ⭐⭐⭐

[#BookReview] When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

Genre: YA

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2

This was a highly talked about book last summer. I literally saw it on every bookstagrammer’s feed! And of course, I fell victim to FOMO and wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

I alternated between audiobook and ebook, but somehow I still found myself struggling a bit to finish it.

Unfortunately, this was just another overhyped read for me.

What I did like..

It was a cute rom-com and I liked that it wasn’t your typical YA novel. Dimple & Rishi were college bound.

I thought Rishi was really sweet despite his initial treatment from Dimple.

I actually liked Dimple’s headstrong attitude. Yes, she came off as being rude, but it was honest.

What didn’t work for me..

Rishi’s insta love was like a double-edged sword. On the one hand I liked it was the guy who fell in love first, but I just wasn’t entirely convinced. I get the whole arranged marriage set up, but something was missing from this love story.

I also thought this story was cheesy at times. When I wasn’t reading it, I found myself not really caring to pick it back up. I know..that’s bad right?!

Overall, it was still an enjoyable read, but I wasn’t over the moon about it.

Have you read it? Did you love it?

Dimple Shah has it all figured out. With graduation behind her, she’s more than ready for a break from her family, from Mamma’s inexplicable obsession with her finding the “Ideal Indian Husband.” Ugh. Dimple knows they must respect her principles on some level, though. If they truly believed she needed a husband right now, they wouldn’t have paid for her to attend a summer program for aspiring web developers…right?

Rishi Patel is a hopeless romantic. So when his parents tell him that his future wife will be attending the same summer program as him—wherein he’ll have to woo her—he’s totally on board. Because as silly as it sounds to most people in his life, Rishi wants to be arranged, believes in the power of tradition, stability, and being a part of something much bigger than himself.

The Shahs and Patels didn’t mean to start turning the wheels on this “suggested arrangement” so early in their children’s lives, but when they noticed them both gravitate toward the same summer program, they figured, Why not?

Dimple and Rishi may think they have each other figured out. But when opposites clash, love works hard to prove itself in the most unexpected ways.

[#BookReview] Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Genre: Contemporary

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

It’s as unfair to dislike someone because they’re attractive as it is to dislike someone because of a deformity.

Have you ever read a book where the story turns out completely different than what you thought it would be about?

Eleanor Oliphant was soo not what I was expecting and caught me by surprise.

I liked Eleanor and really wanted to fall in love with this story like everyone else who raved about it did, but I just didn’t.

What didn’t work for me..

– The story was off to a great start, but after about 30%, it started to feel tedious. I felt like I could skip ahead a few chapters, not miss anything, and still know what was going on.

To be honest, I nearly DNF’d this one a couple of times.

– The book was described as “funny” and “hilarious”. I somehow failed to see that. Exactly which parts were funny? 🤷‍♀️

What I did like..

The characters:

Eleanor’s mom was just plain awful and evil! I hated how degrading she was, but I also thought she was a very well-written character.

I enjoyed getting to know Eleanor and Raymond.

Raymond was a good guy and found myself rooting for him.

Overall, this book was overhyped for me. I can see why so many readers loved this one, unfortunately, I wasn’t one of them. 🤦‍♀️

Have you read it? What did you think??

No one’s ever told Eleanor that life should be better than fine.

Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy.

But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kinds of friends who rescue one another from the lives of isolation they have each been living. And it is Raymond’s big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.