The Girls I've Been by Tess Sharpe

Lynnie      

Amy         

young adult, contemporary fiction, thriller

The summary of this The Girls I've Been is pretty clear about what you're getting yourself into as a reader: Nora is the daughter of a con-artist who targets criminal men and Nora has been raised in the family business. When her mom falls for the mark instead of finishing the con however, it's up to Nora to save herself. Now, 5 years after getting out, Nora has been pretending to live like a normal teenager. Unfortunately, her best friend/ex-boyfriend just walked in on her kissing her new girlfriend right before the three of them must meet at the bank to deposit some fundraising money. To make matters worse, once they get to the bank, it immediately gets robbed and they become hostages. Of course, with a lifetime as a con artist, Nora is no ordinary hostage...

Lynnie's Review

The fact that I read this book in 3 days when it has been taking me ages to read books lately should be your first clue about how much I absolutely loved it and could not put it down. It will easily make my list of favorites of 2021- without question!

That said, fair warning, this is not an easy book to read at times. There is a lot of trauma in this book and the author, Tess Sharpe is very up front about that, including a comprehensive content warning list on her own blog, but most importantly, Sharpe handles that trauma with respect. Nora's story is gripping however and I desperately wanted to find out not only what would happen, but whether or not these characters that Sharpe forced me to instantly care so deeply about (Nora, Wes, Iris, Lee...) would be okay.

While the crux of the story takes place over a few hours, the book takes place over the lifetime of a girl with many names and stories of her own. We see how experiences shape who she has become and influence not only her actions but also her decisions and ultimately her resolve. The Girls I've Been is a story about a bank robbery, yes. But it's also a story about love, friendship, family by birth, family by choice, trauma, tenacity, resilience, and the lengths we'll go to for love and survival. I'll be thinking about these characters long after I've returned this book to the library.

Amy's Review

The Girls I’ve Been has an interesting story premise. Centering around Nora, the con artist, the pacing was perfect and the suspense kept me wanting to read more. The main characters were all worthy of the reader’s sympathy and care. The crafting of the novel was compelling and kept things interesting, switching between the current situation in the bank and Nora’s past. It was well done. The more I read, however, the more worried I became about the author. I sure hope that Tess Sharpe did not have to personally go through any of the childhood traumas that Mona went through. The novel deals heavily with abuse.

The author herself narrated the audiobook and she is a terrific voice actor! My complaint is that she really doesn’t have a repertoire of different voices to give to her characters. But, thankfully, it was usually clear which characters were speaking. I’ll give her an A-.

The Eye of the World (The Wheel of Time #1) by Robert Jordan

Amy  

fantasy

In The Eye of the World, a trio of young men from a village are suddenly targeted by a long-dormant dark force and must flee their homes along with a few other villagers in order to take the danger away from their town. Along their treacherous journey, they face many foes and threats and end up being separated into three groups. Guided by a magic duo, they aim to reach a far-flung city where they hope to receive the help they need to save themselves and the world.

This epic fantasy has been suggested to me many times. I was finally nudged to make time for this long novel when I learned that a TV series based on this novel was going to be released. (Spoiler: I’ve watched the first TV episode and they’ve already changed quite a bit. Sigh.) At its heart, it’s a tale of a journey. Often, journey novels can drag because the traveling itself gets boring or is slow-moving. However, I cannot say that I was ever bored and there was very little travel tedium.  It helped that the team was split up for much of the novel so that there were multiple journeys to follow. It also helped that the characters were fun to get to know. Robert Jordan spun his tale in a very evocative way.  The intentions of the duo guiding the young villagers were unclear--were they good or evil? The people and creatures encountered during the journeys were creative and intriguing. The last quarter of the book was almost un-put-downable. It was a great tale and I’ll definitely be reading more of this series.

I both read the Kindle book and listened to the audiobook, alternating between the two when it was convenient.  The audiobook narrators were the same married couple that narrates another terrific epic fantasy (Brandon Sanderson’s StormlightArchive series), Michael Kramer and Kate Reading. Since I have listened to hours and hours of their voices narrating the other series, I was concerned that their narration would cause confusion or distraction.  I can say that I was not confused but I was distracted at times. I kept recognizing how a specific voice that was used for one of the Eye of the World characters was the same voice used for one of the Stormlight Archive characters, for example. I also noticed how the narrators’ voices have aged since they narrated this novel.  But they still did a good job with voice acting most of the time and using unique voices for many of the different characters in the novel. As is always the case, Michael is the better voice actor and has a wider vocal repertoire than Kate. He read most of the novel because only a few chapters were from a female character’s perspective. What really bugged me is that there was a lack of consistency between the two narrators. They should have agreed upon the pronunciations of all proper nouns. Despite this, I will give them an A-. 

   

Slow Dance in Purgatory and Prom Night in Purgatory (Slow Dance #1, #2) by Amy Harmon

Slow Dance in Purgatory

Amy   

fantasy, romance

Maggie can see dead people. At the age of seventeen, she is working as a part-time janitor after school when she is saved from a potentially deadly accident by the ghost of a boy, Johnny, who was shot in the school about 50 years earlier.

I enjoyed reading a ghost story over Halloween. I’ve loved almost every book of Amy Harmon’s that I’ve read.  Slow Dance in Purgatory was one of her earlier novels and the very beginning was a bit clunky with too many characters. But it quickly settled down and hooked me in. Maggie couldn’t help but fall in love with a gorgeous, mysterious boy who saved her life and helped her in many ways.

It was a sweet romance seemingly destined to fail due to circumstance. And yet, I had to keep reading to find out what sort of closure Maggie and Johnny would find. Harmon is always great with romance stories and I love the way her novels are all so different. I also appreciate the way she always works music into her stories. I’m happy to see there is a sequel which is now on my To Read list!

The audiobook was narrated by Emily Woo Zeller and she did a great job. She was a skilled voice actor and had a range of voices. I’ll give her an A.

Prom Night in Purgatory

Amy  

fantasy, romance

Picking up where Slow Dance in Purgatory ended, Maggie and Johnny are recovering from their injuries in a hospital and Johnny is really there, live and corporeal!  But he cannot remember Maggie and she is devastated. Of course, this is a romance so you know how this is going to end. But it was a still a great ride. In fact, I think this one was even better than the last one. If you liked Slow Dance, you’ll definitely love Prom Night in Purgatory!

The audiobook narrator was, again, Emily Woo Zeller who has a nice vocal repertoire and does a great job voicing the characters and acting. However, her narrator voice is a bit boring and robotic, sadly.  I’ll give her an A for the things she does well.

   

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

Amy  

historical fiction, contemporary fiction, science fiction, fantasy

Cloud Cuckoo Land is actually multiple stories. It details five separate main characters living in three different points in time. Konstance is a girl living in the future on a spaceship as it heads for a planet determined to be suitable for human habitation. Zeno is an old man living in present day Idaho, who finds himself in the midst of an act of violence by a disturbed teenager, Seymour, in a library. In the 15^th century, Anna is an orphan in Constantinople and Omeir is taken from his Turkish home to join the Ottoman Empire’s army in its battle for Greece.

Typically, when reading a novel that I selected based on the fact that I’ve enjoyed other novels by the author, I don’t pay much attention to the book summary description from the publisher before reading it because I prefer to be surprised.  After 8 minutes of the audiobook, however, I was really confused and felt the need to refer to the description. That summary helped a lot. Then, I restarted the audiobook from the beginning and was much less confused.  This novel is really four separate stories: one of which is in a future world (sci-fi), one of which is in an ancient world (historical fiction), one in the current world (contemporary fiction), and one in a fantasy world. Each of the three realistic tales includes the same ancient fantasy story from Greco-Roman times called Cloud Cuckoo Land.

This novel was fascinating. As with All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr tells beautiful tales with some sections that are harsh and difficult to read within a broader hopeful story arc. And, in this novel, he even added humor via the very silly ancient story of Cloud Cuckoo Land! The novel ranged from light and fanciful to deathly serious. The characters were very well drawn and I grew concerned and hopeful for all of them. Plus, I wanted to know if the three main storylines would intersect beyond the Cloud Cuckoo Land link since they were, after all, in the same novel.

There are common themes throughout the various characters’ tales: travel, nesting (in a few senses of that word), man’s impact on nature, nature’s impact on man, siblings, libraries, librarians, children, disease/disfigurement, attacks, death, deceit, education, discovery, adventure, survival, trees, and birds.

The way Doerr managed to weave these very different tales together into one novel was really stunning. I also loved the artistry he created in this novel, especially with the dedication of this novel to his niece. (It makes me wonder if there really is a niece.) In the end, the messages within and the moral of the novel was  heartwarming. It was a very well-written novel and I enjoyed it a lot.

There were two audiobook narrators. Marin Ireland was the main narrator while Simon Jones read the Cloud Cuckoo Land sections. Marin did a terrific job like she usually does, with a variety of voices and terrific voice acting. I give her an A. Simon was hilarious and perfectly cast for this role. I give him an A as well.

   

Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty

Amy     
Lynnie  

fiction

Apples Never Fall is a family drama. Stan and Joy, who met as young, successful tennis players, have been married for 50 years. They have four adult children with whom they remain close. Joy is missing. A missing person report is filed and the detectives suspect foul play.

Amy's Review

What a fun ride! Liane Moriarty does it again with a very readable story with realistic characters and situations that go just a little outside of believable but make you want to keep reading.  The detectives expect a body to be found. As more time passes, the children cope with the possibility that their father caused some harm to their mother. Anyone who knows Stan and Joy has opinions and various suspicions. The plot thickens. As the reader gets to know the characters better, little pieces of new information come to light. It was crafted well and the pacing was perfect. This is the first novel I’ve read that includes references to the COVID-19 pandemic. They were tastefully woven in at the end of the novel as storylines were wrapping up.

I listened to the audiobook most of the time but also read some parts on my Kindle when I had time. The narrator, Caroline Lee, is the same woman who narrated two other audiobooks of Moriarty’s that I’ve heard. She’s a wonderful voice actor that gives the characters such personality. I give her an A-.

Lynnie's Review

I had the "mystery" of Apples Never Fall figured out pretty early in the novel but Liane Moriarty's wonderful writing compelled me to keep reading as I wanted to see how she would unwind the story. There were a few surprises along the way. One character had a level of cruelty I hadn't anticipated, for example. But, generally, things unfolded as I anticipated. My biggest complaint was with the COVID chapters at the end which, while certainly timely, added no value to the story and, in fact, took me right out of the novel. It was a weird choice after such a well-crafted story up to that point. I think I would have gone with 4 stars if not for that, actually.

If you've enjoyed Moriarty's prior work, you'll enjoy Apples Never Fall. She continues to craft engaging stories with characters you want to read about--what more can you want from a novel?

   

The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell

Amy  

mystery

Kim’s 19 year old daughter and her daughter’s boyfriend go out on a date night to have a break from raising their newborn son and never return home.

The Night She Disappeared is a gripping missing persons story which grabs you from the beginning. This is the third novel I’ve read by Lisa Jewell and she has that skill of placing the reader in a potentially tragic and confusing mystery to which they simply must learn the answers. It was a compelling story full of interesting situations. I can’t say too much without giving away any revelations so I’ll just say that I really enjoyed it.

My big complaint is that it bounced between three separate time periods and it took me a while to orient myself in the proper time/place at the start of each chapter. This was difficult while listening to the audiobook since the narrator didn’t pause much after announcing the date at the start of each chapter. So, I often had to rewind 15 seconds to reset the timeframe in mind properly.

Speaking of the audiobook, it was narrated by Joanne Froggatt. Her voice acting was good and she did have a bit of a voice repertoire so I’ll give her an A-. It would’ve been a solid A if she’d somehow emphasized the date at the beginning of each chapter better.