It has been since February since I’ve actually reviewed a book I read. This is my attempt to catch up on reviews.
Deception by Denise Mina
I listened to this audiobook because it was recommended as similar to Gone Girl. (I have a real problem with picking up books that say they are like Gone Girl…) It is set in Scotland and is told from the POV of Lachlan Harriot, whose psychiatrist wife, Susie, has been arrested for murdering her serial killer patient. Lachlan does not believe Susie to be capable of murder and becomes obsessed with trying to put the pieces together of his wife’s alleged crime. Not a bad mystery/thriller, but definitely not as special as Gone Girl. Bonus points for the thick Scottish accent of the narrator. I gave it 3 stars.
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
Eleanor & Park is the love story of two high school students in the 1980s– Eleanor, a fat, redheaded girl from the wrong side of the tracks with a seriously sucky home life and Park, a Korean-American boy with a love for music and comic books. Eleanor’s home life was heartbreaking. The romance was sweet. I’m not big on 80s’ culture or music, so that was neither here nor there for me. I’ve read all three of Rowell’s books and she really can do no wrong, IMHO. Needless to say, I really loved this book. And I don’t generally like teen romance AT ALL. Rainbow is firmly on my auto-buy list. (I don’t really have any other authors on there, tbh.) I gave a very rare 5 stars to this one.
The Death of Bees by Lisa O’Donnell
Marnie and Nelly bury their parents in the backyard and struggle to keep their orphaning a secret. Nelly is a little… off… and Marnie desperately does not want them to be put into foster care. Their next door neighbor, Lennie, a convicted sex offender, begins helping the girls, providing them with support and structure that they never received from their deadbeat parents. The story is told in the alternating POVs of Marnie, Nelly, and Lennie. I liked it a lot when I read it. It was dark, but also hopeful. At this point, though, I don’t know that I’d put it on my best of the year; it didn’t have great staying power. I gave it 4.5 stars.
Don't Take My Books Away 