"What Alice Forgot" by Liane Moriarty (We Both Liked This!)

In What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty, Alice is 29, loves her husband and is expecting a baby--life is good!  She has a fall at the gym though and has to go to the hospital.  At the hospital, she finds out she is 39 and has three kids but is getting a divorce!  What is going on?  Has she really lost the last ten years?

I enjoyed this book very much!  Alice was interesting and for sure funny!  It kept my interest throughout.
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars)

Karen's review:
What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty is a thought provoking contemporary fiction book about amnesia.  At age 39, Alice hit her head hard on the handlebars when she fell in her spin class and lost the last ten years of memory.  She forgot she had three children, forgot she was very involved in their school, forgot all the changes her and her husband made to their home, forgot her best friend, and forgot she and her husband were now separated!   Her husband, Nick, loves his kids and was a good husband but what happened?  Alice forgot and is anxious to reconcile and have Nick come back home.  What happens when she finally remembers?  Will their family reunite or will Alice and Nick go their separate ways?

This is a very interesting, thought provoking and fun read.  Makes you think what has changed in your own life in the past ten years.  This book mostly covers the week after Alice's fall but then jumps ahead at the end about ten years into the future.  I loved the humor in this and would have given it 5 stars except I did not care about the sister's infertility story line and all her miscarriages.  I thought that part was quite boring and the book would have been better if it just focused on Alice and her family.  I really enjoyed Nick and her children!  This book actually looks at love from several different perspectives:  lost love, dating love, marriage love through the ups and downs, late-in-life love, and unexpected love.  We both think this would be a great book for a book club.  It has some questions in the back.  (4 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. To find books on a specific topic, scroll to the bottom and click on the topic you want. Happy Reading!

"Paper Roses" (Texas Dreams Book 1 series) by Amanda Cabot

Paper Roses by Amanda Cabot takes place in the 1800s in Texas.  Sarah is a mail-order bride with a younger sister to care for who is angry at her father for shooting her mother and then himself.  She leaves Philadelphia and the loneliness to start a new life in Texas but finds something very different than what she expected.

I enjoyed this story because of the mystery included to make it more than just another Christian fiction romance that is predictable.  Although the romance part was predictable from the start, I did not figure out who the murderer was until it was revealed at the end.  The theme of the book is that God can bring good out of bad situations.  I liked the characters and I always looked forward to getting back to reading it to see what would happen next. 

This is the first book I've read by this author but plan on reading more by starting with completing this trilogy.
(Karen'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. To find books on a specific topic, scroll to the bottom and click on the topic you want. Happy Reading!

Teaser Tuesday

Gerard's:

Alice thought about yelling, ACTUALLY, I'M GOING OUT OF MY MIND! but she didn't want to make the nurse feel uncomfortable.  Crazy behavior made people feel awkward.

From page 54 of What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty.

Karen's:

Had it been less than an hour since she'd assured Thea everything would be all right?  How wrong she'd been.

From Loc. 229-3 on Kindle from Paper Roses by Amanda Cabot (Texas Dreams Book #1)
 
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by The Purple Booker.   Anyone can play along, so I thought  I  would play for fun! Just pick two sentences from the book you are reading.  Happy Reading!

"New Boy" by Tracy Chevalier (a retelling of Shakespeare's Othello)

New Boy by Tracy Chevalier is the retelling of Shakespeare's Othello, but I never read or saw Othello performed so can't comment on how closely this book relates to it.  This is the story of the inter-relationships of several 6th graders at an all-white school with the exception of a new black boy from Ghana.  Osei is a diplomat's son who is used to changing schools often and being the new kid.  He just thinks that getting through the school day without getting beat up would be a success.  The story is placed in the 1970s.

Using the mundane ordinary school day of a 6th grade class, the author tackles racism, bullying and friendship.  This is a quick read that shows how mean children can be to each other.  I was shocked at the ending but will not spoil it for you.
(Karen's review, 3 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. To find books on a specific topic, scroll to the bottom and click on the topic you want. Happy Reading!

"Endure" by Sara B. Larson is Heart Wrenching! (Updated)

Endure by Sara B. Larson is the third and final book in the Defy Series which we both highly recommend.   Alexa again has her hands full trying to hold off the enemy and make sure King Damian is safe!  This book is probably the best of the series.  It has tons of action from the outset and the pacing of the book is very good!  I just had to see what was going to happen next!  This is one of the top series that I have ever read!  I LOVED IT!
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars)

Karen's review 3/19/16:
Endure by Sara B. Larson is not only the third book of the Defy trilogy, but also the best! Good characters are motivated by love and loyalty while evil characters are motivated by greed and power in a struggle to survive. Alexa and Damian’s love story continues on throughout this book and is heartbreaking. Alexa’s fight against Armando and his black sorcerers is amazing! There is lots of action in this book as well as the tender moments of friendship and love.

I loved this last book of the series which is captivating and even made me cry near the end. When Alexa left King Damian after his proposal to rescue her friend, Rylan, I thought she was nuts and was proved to be right! I actually felt she made a very bad decision there and didn’t have as much sympathy for her during her captivity as I otherwise would have. I felt it was her own fault for being so stupid to go back to Dansii with Eljin to save Rylan.

At any rate, this is a very entertaining and adventurous fantasy/clean romance series I highly recommend, especially for anyone new to fantasy. I was never bored and it moved along well. 
(Karen's review, 5 stars)
This series reminded me a lot of THE THRONE OF GLASS series by Sarah J. Mass.  I discuss some differences and similarities in this video:
  



See my reviews of Defy-Book 1 and Ignite-Book #2

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. To find books on a specific topic, scroll to the bottom and click on the topic you want. Happy Reading!