"All The Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr is Fantastic

This novel is actually two stories and both are excellent!  Story one is about a blind young girl living in Paris.  When the Germans come to take control of their city, her father and her escape.  Story two is about a young German orphan boy who is an expert in putting together and fixing radios.  He is soon enlisted in the German army.  When the two stories collide near the end, I could hardly put this book down!  It's a fantastic read and my book of the month so far.  It sort of reminded me of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.
Gerard's review, 5++ stars)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

Teaser Tuesday

Gerard's:

Her father lifts her, holds her to his narrow chest.
"It's so big," she whispers.
"You can do this, Marie."
She cannot.

From page 59 of All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. (large print edition)



Karen's:

I almost cannot contain--the rage and the tenderness together like a boiling weather front.  I stand beside her and breathe.  The two of us just stand there.

From page 32 of The Painter by Peter Heller.  (Gave up on this one due to the awful language and crude content.)

Instinct whispered that if she could only screw up the courage to pry open her eyes, she would see the world hurtling past with the breathless rush of a roller coaster.  But that kind of courage had deserted her.

From page 1 of What She Saw by Sheila Lowe.  (reading on Kindle)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should  Be Reading. Anyone can play along, so I thought  I  would play for fun! Just do the following

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page (well, we cheat and choose specific ones)
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on  that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away!   You don’t  want  to  ruin the  book for others!)
• Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can  add the book to their TBR  Lists  if they  like your teaser.   

Happy Reading!

"The Black Hour" by Lori Rader-Day

The Black Hour by Lori Rader-Day is about a woman professor who is shot.  The shooter is dead.  The professor comes back to campus to continue her teaching career and to find out why she was the one shot.  When a young male student wants to help her, is he doing it for good or does he have other motives?  There is not much action in this, just the mystery of why she was shot and why the student wants to help her find out.  It’s not bad, worth reading. 
(Gerard's review, 4.5 stars)


Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

"What Has Become of You?" by Jan Elizabeth Watson (Writer's Workshop)

What Has Become of You by Jan Elizabeth Watson is about a young woman named Vera who is a substitute English teacher at an all-girls school and one of her students named Jensen.  I loved the character of Vera and Jensen too.  Much of the book is journal entries the girls write to Vera.  If you are familiar with The Catcher in the Rye, you may find this book more interesting because that is the book the English class is discussing and there are a lot of references to it.  Gerard thought it moved along at a good pace and kept his interest; however, Karen was completely bored with it for the most part and kept dozing off when reading it, not even making it to the end.  Gerard thought the ending was a little strange and gives it 4.5 stars.  Karen hopes to go back to it someday to finish it, but is taking a break from it for now and will read something else.  

Now you should read it to see which of us you agree with since we both had different opinions about this one.
(A combined review by Gerard and Karen)

We received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop prompt:  post a book review.

"Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands" by Chris Bohjalian is Fantastic!

Close Your eyes, Hold Hands by Chris Bohjalian is told by Emily Shepard who is a homeless teen who lives in an igloo made of ice and trash bags!  Half a year earlier, her parents caused a nuclear disaster.  Emily does not want anyone to know who she really is because she fears people will blame her too.  This is a fantastic page turner that I enjoyed.  Emily is a great character.  SPOILER ALERT, STOP NOW IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW THE ENDING! I loved the ending when she reunites with her dog!  
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!