Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern

On so many levels this book touched me. 

Just before the start of senior year Amy, a non-verbal young woman with cerebral palsy, convinces her mother that instead of adults helping her get from class she should have peers, other seniors, so she can work on the social skills she will need to survive in college. Matthew is one of the peers hired, at Amy's request to him to apply and her mother to hire him. 

Over the course of getting to know him Amy catches on to his OCD and tries to help him. What develops is a lesson in friendship for them both. And in love. But like anything worth having it isn't easy and it is messy. 

The relationship that develops between Amy and Matthew moved me and I enjoyed the way they grew and matured. 

The control Amy's mother Nicole tries to exert over Amy's life comes from a place of love and a desire to protect Amy, but Amy is trying to spread her wings and learn what she can and can't do as her own person and this is not easy for either of them. As a mother I can relate to Nicole's desire, especially since I have 2 kids with special needs. I need to remind myself so often not to step in before they truly need me and let them try and walk on their own in hopes they will learn to fly some day, just not too far away ;)  The down side of the control Nicole has always taken is that Amy isn't as prepared as she could be and gets herself into a situation that causes life long consequences. It serves a hard lesson for all of them. 

But the lessons learned are good ones, being a misfit doesn't mean you don't fit it, it just means you need to find the tribe of fellow misfits that you fit with. 

(Finished January 22, 2017) 

If I Stay (If I Stay #1) by Gayle Forman

A short read. If I Stay is the story of the aftermath of a tragic accident. It is also the choice that Mia must make, to stay or go.

After the accident Mia is outside herself watching the goings on in the ICU around her. She can see and hear her families and friends and the dr.'s and nurses as they talk to and care for her while her body lays broken and comatose. Her life story and the history of her family is told through her memories as she tries to come to terms with what happened and then realizes she can choose if she stays.

It is a touching and well told, if maybe rushed story.


(Finished January 19, 2017)

How to Eat a Cupcake by Meg Donohue

Sometimes things are just what they seem and sometimes they are so much worse.

How to Eat a Cupcake is a story about the hurts we can do to each other when we are young and how those hurts can stay with us and shape who we grow up to be and how they shape who we become.

What if you had the chance to right your wrongs, what would that look like and what would spur the change? And what if you were faced with the chance to have the healing you needed after something really bad?

Two women, Annie and Julia, were friends when they were little girls and grew up together. Julia is the child of very wealthy parents and grows up with all the privilege that comes with it. Annie is the daughter of a single mother who works as Julia's nanny and the family cook. The girls though just know they love each other. But then something happened in their senior year of High School that changed everything. Something that changed Annie's life and cost her so much pain and suffering. Ten years pass before they are thrown together and presented with the chance to heal and be healed. Can they? What will it cost them? And who will really be healed?

A little on the fluffy side (no pun intended), but over all a good story and an enjoyable read.

(Finished January 18, 2017)

Girls in the Moon by Janet McNally

This was my January Book of the Month Club selection and wasn't on my radar until I saw it listed there. And I am so glad I picked it.


Girls in the Moon seems to be the story of Phoebe, daughter of 90's rock stars. But it is so much more. At the end of the summer Phoebe is getting ready to leave Buffalo for a few days in NYC with her sister Luna who is set to follow in their mother's shoes.

Phoebe feels like she needs some space from her mom who wants her to talk Luna into going back to school instead of pursuing her musical career. She also needs to get away from her best friend Tessa after a falling out. And she would like to spend some time with a boy she has begun to like, a boy who happens to be in her sister's band.

And the most complicated part is that she wants to see her Dad who hasn't been in contact on almost 3 years. She needs some answers but has been unable to ask her mother.

Sprinkled throughout the book are chapters from Meg's (Phoebe and Luna's mom) point of view starting with their move into their house after the ending of her marriage and working backwards.

This gives some insight into why Meg is having a hard time with Luna's choices.

I really enjoyed the story and highly recommend it!

(Finished January 14, 2017)

The Grownup by Gillian Flynn

I got this a free gift from The Book of the Month Club with my January shipment. I wish they had kept it. I got so excited to see a FREE BOOK. And when I saw that it was by Gillian Flynn I thought I was in for a real treat. But oh no!! Not the case at all!! It looked like there was going to be a twist, I was watching for one since it is what I have come to expect from her...and there was a twist, this book stunk....it started out promising, even a little naughty judging by the first page and the profession of the main character. But then the twist came and I groaned and rolled my eyes and felt very disappointed. What a tease Book of the Month Club!!! Not nice!!

Luckily it only took me a very short time to read this 62 page waste of paper....

(Finished January 12, 2017)

The Fate of the Tearling (The Queen of the Tearling #3) by Erika Johansen

First there we meet The Queen of the Tearling then comes The Invasion of the Tearling and now in the conclusion of the trilogy we learn The Fate of the Tearling.

We last left Kelsea in the hands of The Red Queen. As could be predicted her Guard are not just going to let this go on and so a jailbreak is planned.

Questions do get answered in this conclusion to what I found to be a trilogy I enjoyed reading. As is the case with others (think Hunger Games, Divergent, Pretties, Matched) the story begins with and evolves from an idea, an idea that says if we do X than society will be a better place and the costs are worth it. Where this story leaves this pattern slightly is in the conclusion which I won't give details of so as not to spoil anyone, but I will say it is an interesting solution and slightly original in this type of story.

We do learn the fate of The Red Queen, what happened in The Tear, what the deal with The Children is and how it began, and what happened to Jonathan.

I will say that I was a bit surprised by the ending but then again not really because it fit with who Kelsea is inside after all her transforming externally.

I found this trilogy an enjoyable read that also made me think about what we do to each other, how people are driven by the desire to be loved no matter the time or place, and the danger in thinking one can create a utopian society and not really learning from history.

(Finished January 8, 2017)

The Invasion of the Tearling (The Queen of the Tearling #2)

Going to try to do this without spoilers.

Kelsea is now well established as The Queen of the Tearling and after her actions in book 1 a war with The Red Queen seems inevitable.

As has begun in book 1 the Kelsea looks is evolving but so is who she is and what she can do. But because she can do should she, that is a question she has to face many times leading up to the cliffhanger ending. Much of this story is also the story of Lily, a pre-crossing woman that Kelsea somehow finds herself linked to.

And just who is the dark man in the fire? And who is The Red Queen really? And what is the deal with the sapphires? Some of these are answered in this book but things are teased just to the edge of an answer that won't come it seems until the final book of the trilogy The Fate of the Tearling, which I am anxiously awaiting delivery of.

This is a very well done and engaging story. The heart of it is the question of what people do and become. What would happen if people with a like mind of an egalitarian (socialist?) society could start over without the corrupting influence of others and without technology and weapons? Will it work or will human nature end up bringing things back to where we are now? It is an interesting thought experiment.

(Finished January 2, 2017)

2017 Book List

1. The Invasion of the Tearling (The Queen of the Tearling #2) by Erika Johansen
2. The Fate of the Tearling (The Queen of the Tearling #3) by Erika Johansen
3. The Grownup by Gillian Flynn
4. Girls in the Moon by Janet McNally
5. How to Eat a Cupcake by Meg Donohue
6. If I Stay (If I Stay #1) by Gayle Forman
7. Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern
8. At Mama's Knee: Mothers and Race in Black and White by April Ryan
9. Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly
10. Victoria: The Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire by Julia Baird
11. Rest in Power: The Enduring Life of Trayvon Martin by Sybrina Fulton, Tracy Martin
12. Carve the Mark (Carve the Mark #1) by Veronica Roth
13. The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
14. Red Rising (Red Rising #1) by Pierce Brown
15. Golden Son (Red Rising #2) by Pierce Brown
16. Morning Star (Red Rising #3) by Pierce Brown
17. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
18. The Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak
19. A Colony in a Nation by Chris Hayes
20. Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
21. The Love Interest by Cale Dietrich
22. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
23. Rivals Unto Death: Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr by Rick Beyer
24. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
25. The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende
26. In Other Words by Jhumpa Lahiri
27. The Sweetness of Forgetting by Kristin Harmel
28. I Am Not Your Negro by James Baldwin, Raoul Peck (Editor)
29. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
30. Final Girls by Riley Sager
31. The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
32. My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman
33. Behold the Dreamers: A Novel by Imbolo Mbue
34. The Windfall by Diksha Basu
35. Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America by Michael Eric Dyson
36. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
37. Becoming Nicole: The Transformation of an American Family by Amy Ellis Nutt
38. The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu: And Their Race to Save the World's Most Precious Manuscripts by Joshua Hammer
39. Turtles All the Way Down by John Green
40. We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy by Ta-Nehisi Coates
41. The Thief (The Queen's Thief #1) by Megan Whalen Turner
42. The Queen of Attolia (The Queen's Thief #2) by Megan Whalen Turner
43. All American Boys by Jason Reynolds, Brendan Kiely
44. Bonfire by Krysten Ritter
45. The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware
46. Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
47. Red Queen (Red Queen #1) by Victoria Aveyard
48. Unbelievable: My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History by Katy Tur
49. COMING SOON
50. COMING SOON
51. COMING SOON
52. COMING SOON
53. COMING SOON
54. COMING SOON
55. COMING SOON
56. COMING SOON
57. COMING SOON
58. COMING SOON
59. COMING SOON
60. COMING SOON <-----My Reading Goal For The Year

The Queen of the Tearling (The Queen of the Tearling #1) by Erika Johansen

Another Christmas gift book. The first in a trilogy I had heard was good.

I thoroughly enjoyed this opening and immediately started book 2, Invasion Of The Tearling.

As a babe Kelsea was marked, given a special jewel, and sent to live with guardians who were tasked with protecting her and raising her until she came of an age where she could take the throne left vacant by the death of her mother.

Her mother was not at all the kind of Queen Kelsea wants to be and from her first moments back in her keep she has set in motion a new world order. One that will likely bring destruction down on her kingdom at the hands of the Red Queen from the neighboring kingdom.

Action, adventure, intrigue, magic, it is all here.


I found myself liking Kelsea, she has a strong sense of right and wrong, she loves books, values learning, and isn't the typically written female lead who is usually so good looking that it becomes a liability, but instead she is slightly overweight and rather plain looking (her words).

(Finished December 31, 2016)