Inside the O'Briens by Lisa Genova

From award-winning, New York Times bestselling author and neuroscientist Lisa Genova comes a powerful new novel that does for Huntington’s Disease what her debut Still Alice did for Alzheimer’s.

Joe O’Brien is a forty-four-year-old police officer from the Irish Catholic neighborhood of Charlestown, Massachusetts. A devoted husband, proud father of four children in their twenties, and respected officer, Joe begins experiencing bouts of disorganized thinking, uncharacteristic temper outbursts, and strange, involuntary movements. He initially attributes these episodes to the stress of his job, but as these symptoms worsen, he agrees to see a neurologist and is handed a diagnosis that will change his and his family’s lives forever: Huntington’s Disease.

Huntington’s is a lethal neurodegenerative disease with no treatment and no cure. Each of Joe’s four children has a 50 percent chance of inheriting their father’s disease, and a simple blood test can reveal their genetic fate. While watching her potential future in her father’s escalating symptoms, twenty-one-year-old daughter Katie struggles with the questions this test imposes on her young adult life. Does she want to know? What if she’s gene positive? Can she live with the constant anxiety of not knowing?

As Joe’s symptoms worsen and he’s eventually stripped of his badge and more, Joe struggles to maintain hope and a sense of purpose, while Katie and her siblings must find the courage to either live a life “at risk” or learn their fate.

Praised for writing that “explores the resilience of the human spirit” (The San Francisco Chronicle), Lisa Genova has once again delivered a novel as powerful and unforgettable as the human insights at its core. @ goodreads

MY REVIEW:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1240196992

Read from May 05 to 06, 2015

I would like to thank Netgalley and Gallery books for an opportunity to read this book.

I'm rating this book a 3.5 only because of the ending, it left me wanting to know what happened.

This book is so sad. I feel so bad for this family and all of the real families out there struggling with Huntington's Disease! To find out that you have a disease that is going to eventually kill you, but first stripping you of your motor function, all of your control is beyond devastating!

Joe is the dad of 4 children and he's married to Rosie. He's a Boston Cop. He starts doing some weird stuff that no one can understand. He gets very angry, forgets stuff, starts moving around weirdly both at home and at work. Rosie finally gets him to go to the doctor. He thinks it's his bum knee giving out and making him fall, etc. He doesn't understand the other stuff going on. They find out he has the dreaded HD and their world is shattered. He inherited it from his mom who was always called a drunk and carted off to the mental hospital, when in reality she had this horrible disease that finally killed her in that mental hospital. To make this even worse, they find out he could have transmitted the gene to the kids. They can all have tests to see if they have it. I feel so bad for Joe and Rosie.

Their kids are Katie, who wants to run her own Yoga Studio. Patrick, who is an idiot that just bums around. J.J., who is a firefighter and gets married to Colleen. And Meghan, who is a dancer at the Boston Ballet.

One of the children refuses to get tested. Two of them do and have the gene. And one goes around and around through the whole book about trying to find out or not. I mean I would be right down there getting it done. This is what has me mad at the ending, they finally decide to find out and we are not told!!!! I want to know, because they have two decisions they are making about their life depending on this diagnosis.

I don't want to give any spoilers out so I just want to say the story is really good. It's really sad and I very much enjoyed it accept for the end. I didn't enjoy the bad things, but I enjoyed getting to know the family, even though this particular one isn't real, but they are out there.

And I have to add that I love Yaz the dog. All dogs get a love in my reviews :)

I recommend this to anyone that likes stories that are based on real life tragedies, but see them for real people.  3.5 Stars

Wild by Cheryl Strayed

At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother’s death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life. With no experience or training, driven only by blind will, she would hike more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State — and she would do it alone.
Told with suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her. @ goodreads

MY REVIEW:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1269907595

Read from May 02 to 05, 2015

I just recently watched the movie "Wild." I have actually watched the movie several times now. When I saw that it was based on a true story I immediately logged onto Amazon and ordered the book. I am so glad I did as this is a wonderful book.

Of course there are different things in the book than in the movie, but that just made it better, it was liked I was learning more about Cheryl's life.

I have always wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail when I would see the signs to it not far from where I live. But I got sick and that never happened. If you get a thought to try something, don't wait, DO IT, because you never know what is going to happen.

I never even knew anything about the PCT. I want to get books on it and read about it. I want to see in a book the actual places that Cheryl was in the book. I want to recognize some of the places.

I can't state enough how much I loved the book. It was so moving and hard. I can't imagine the things she went through, what anyone that hikes like that goes through. I love hiking but this is beyond hiking in my opinion.

Cheryl found out a lot of things about herself while on the trail. She met a lot of nice people along the way as well.

Sometimes a person's life is so sad and seems so horrible and then something wonderful comes along. Cheryl eventually found that in her life and I'm happy for her.

I recommend this book to anyone that loves hiking, to anyone that loves stories about finding yourself, to anyone that loves stories about the hardships of life.

Totally awesome! 5 Stars

Little Girls by Ronald Malfi

From Bram Stoker Award nominee Ronald Malfi comes a brilliantly chilling novel of childhood revisited, memories resurrected, and fears reborn… When Laurie was a little girl, she was forbidden to enter the room at the top of the stairs. It was one of many rules imposed by her cold, distant father. Now, in a final act of desperation, her father has exorcised his demons. But when Laurie returns to claim the estate with her husband and ten-year-old daughter, it’s as if the past refuses to die. She feels it lurking in the broken moldings, sees it staring from an empty picture frame, hears it laughing in the moldy greenhouse deep in the woods…
At first, Laurie thinks she’s imagining things. But when she meets her daughter’s new playmate, Abigail, she can’t help but notice her uncanny resemblance to another little girl who used to live next door. Who died next door. With each passing day, Laurie’s uneasiness grows stronger, her thoughts more disturbing. Like her father, is she slowly losing her mind? Or is something truly unspeakable happening to those sweet little girls? @ goodreads

MY REVIEW:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1268909657

I would like to thank Netgalley and Kensington books for an ARC reading of this book.

I have read a few of this author's books and they are just creepy.

I was thinking this book was going to be about little girls creeping around which would have freaked me out because anything with little kids in horror books just gives me the heebie jeebies. That being said, there is really only one creepy little girl in this book. Who is she really? She reminds Laura of a little girl from her childhood that was wackadoo. But... there is a real reason for her being that way, which I'm not going to tell you!

Laura, Ted and their 10 year-old daughter Susan move temporarily into Laura's father's house when he commits suicide. Laura just wants to get in there, get stuff sold and get the house sold.

A creepy little girl named Abigail starts creeping around to play with their daughter Susan. Laura doesn't like this one bit but Ted, the all knowing man, thinks it's just fine. Goes to show what he knows at the end of the book, but I digress!

So all of this really bad stuff comes to light when Laura finds some things in the well on their property. Lets just say, I never saw that coming.

This is a well thought out book with a good storyline. I look forward to reading more from this author and reading some of his older stuff.  3 Stars

World After by Susan Ee

In this sequel to the bestselling fantasy thriller, Angelfall, the survivors of the angel apocalypse begin to scrape back together what's left of the modern world.

When a group of people capture Penryn's sister Paige, thinking she's a monster, the situation ends in a massacre. Paige disappears. Humans are terrified. Mom is heartbroken.

Penryn drives through the streets of San Francisco looking for Paige. Why are the streets so empty? Where is everybody? Her search leads her into the heart of the angels' secret plans where she catches a glimpse of their motivations, and learns the horrifying extent to which the angels are willing to go.

Meanwhile, Raffe hunts for his wings. Without them, he can't rejoin the angels, can't take his rightful place as one of their leaders. When faced with recapturing his wings or helping Penryn survive, which will he choose? @ goodreads

MY REVIEW:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1250128079

Read from May 01 to 03, 2015

I'm loving this trilogy! Just a few more days until the new one!

This one picked up right where the other one ended, which was awesome!

*Few SPOILERS*

So, Paige runs away after getting attacked by the Resistance and Penryn and her mom go out to look for her. They end up getting taken to Alcatraz with Clara, a woman they saved, who turned around and saved them when they were imprisoned in a cop car by the Resistance. The three of them and a group of humans get hoarded there to be used to make more scorpion people the Angels are calling, "Locusts".

Penryn gets to find out a few things about Paige when she was taken in the first book by Beliel. It's pretty cool finding that stuff out. She also finds out from a Doctor what he did to Paige. That's pretty horrific.

Some good things end up happening and what I'm hoping will happen in the next book.

I love several characters in the book but I'm really loving Paige right now. I feel really bad for her and her condition but she is bad to the bone and now she can control, in a sense, some other evil creatures.

Awesome book! Can't wait to read the final one!  5 Stars

The Diabolical Miss Hyde by Viola Carr

Magic, mystery, and romance mix in this edgy retelling of the classic The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde-in which Dr. Eliza Jekyll is the daughter of the infamous Henry

In an electric-powered Victorian London, Dr. Eliza Jekyll is a crime scene investigator, hunting killers with inventive new technological gadgets. Now, a new killer is splattering London with blood, drugging beautiful women and slicing off their limbs. Catching "the Chopper" could make Eliza's career--or get her burned. Because Eliza has a dark secret. A seductive second self, set free by her father's forbidden magical elixir: wild, impulsive Lizzie Hyde.

When the Royal Society sends their enforcer, the mercurial Captain Lafayette, to prove she's a sorceress, Eliza must resist the elixir with all her power. But as the Chopper case draws her into London's luminous, magical underworld, Eliza will need all the help she can get. Even if it means getting close to Lafayette, who harbors an evil curse of his own.

Even if it means risking everything and setting vengeful Lizzie free . . . @ goodreads

MY REVIEW:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1190608696

Read from April 26 to May 02, 2015

I kept going back and forth with this book. I wasn't sure if I liked it or not, but then all these twists and turns started happening and I liked it :) I was not expecting some of the things that happened AT ALL. I was quite surprised. I hope there is going to be more books on Miss Hyde!

So, Dr. Eliza Jekyll is the good girl and Lizzie Hyde is well, you know :) They call each other sisters. Eliza takes and elixer to keep Lizzie in or have her come out in the beginning. I like both of the characters in the book. And Lizzie only kills bad people so there :)

I love the character Lafayette! I hated him at first but then fell in love with him when I found out his secret. Things in this book are just not what they seem.

Sometimes I was confused with different people and things going on so this will definately be a re-read in the future.

Oh and how could I forget Hippocrates! I love him, he is Eliza's clockwork dog. How cool is that!!

Anyway, I would recommend this to anyone that loves this kind of genre with a little gore thrown in :)  4 Stars

The Well by Catherine Chanter

'One summer was all it took before our dream started to curl at the edges and stain like picked primroses. One night is enough to swallow a lifetime of lives.'

When Ruth Ardingly and her family first drive up from London in their grime-encrusted car and view The Well, they are enchanted by a jewel of a place, a farm that appears to offer everything the family are searching for. An opportunity for Ruth. An escape for Mark. A home for their grandson Lucien.

But The Well's unique glory comes at a terrible price. The locals suspect foul play in its verdant fields and drooping fruit trees, and Ruth becomes increasingly isolated as she struggles to explain why her land flourishes whilst her neighbours' produce withers and dies. Fearful of envious locals and suspicious of those who seem to be offering help, Ruth is less and less sure who she can trust.

As The Well envelops them, Ruth's paradise becomes a prison, Mark's dream a recurring nightmare, and Lucien's playground a grave. @ goodreads

MY REVIEW: 

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1262735530

Read from May 01 to 02, 2015

I would like to thank NetGalley and Atria for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

I don't know what it was specifically but this book just wasn't for me. I didn't like too much about it. The only characters I really cared for was the poor little boy Lucien.

This book has gotten so many 5 star reviews so I'm sure it's good to a lot of people and a lot more people will love it, but I just could not get into it at all. I did like the beginning and thought it was going to be good, then it just fizzled out for me. I don't know if it was my mood at the time or if it just wasn't my kind of book. I thought it was going to be some kind of science fiction type book or even paranormal but it was just a little off to me.

I might read it again in the future and see if I can get into it better. 2 Stars

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days.

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war – and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior. @ goodreads


MY REVIEW:


https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1264966591

Read from April 26 to May 01, 2015

Holy butt-crack! I loved this book! Yay! Another trilogy for me. I already have the other books. You can seriously go broke on Goodreads!

Sooo.. I think I'm going to have to add **SPOILERS**! Read at your own risk :)


This book captured me from the start! Juliette has lived in a type of mental ward for 264 days. She doesn't get to talk to anyone or do anything. It takes a good bit of time for them to tell you why her parents threw her in this place. She killed a little boy just by touching him. If she touches you, she sucks the life right out of you. Soooo... she hasn't touched anyone in 264 days either. She was devastated, she just wanted to try to give the little boy some comfort when his mom was being horrible to him.

I love the way the author has her repeating sentences two or three times to herself or in her little notebook. I do that myself when I'm in one of my moods! It made her seem real. I mean who wouldn't be a little nutzy cuckoo locked up alone for that long and knowing you couldn't touch anyone. Well, it would come in handy for your enemies!!

Out of the blue one day they announce they are going to give her a roommate. She gets Adam. Lovely, yummy Adam :) Come to find out she has known him all of her life, from childhood.

Anyhoo, then we find out Adam is a soldier to some wicked dude that pulls her out of the place. This man named Warren wants to use her as a weapon to kill people. I mean what evil villain wouldn't right? He also has a little crush on her but he's a jerk and evil so that's a no go.

She is in love with Adam and he with her. They have loved each other all of their lives and guess what? He can touch her without being killed :)

They break out and go to Adam's home to see his younger brother. It's in a place where the bad people don't generally go. Some other soldier ends up coming to the house all shot and what not and telling them he knows of a safe place for them to go.

They start to head out as the bad guy finds them, Adam gets shot but will be ok. And for some reason that jerk can touch Juliette now too. She shoots him, but we all know he's not dead!

They make it to the safe house and all I can say from there is it reminds me of X-Men. There are a whole crew of "different" peeps there.

I'm excited to find out what will happen with all of these new friends.

Awesome book! 5 Stars