Tag Archive for: Book Club

My FriendsTitle: My Friends
Author: Fredrik Backman
Genre: Contemporary
Format: Audio
Pages: 436
Length: 13h 7m
Narrator: Marin Ireland
Source: Owned
Reason: Book Club, Book of the Month
Rating:

My Thoughts

I don’t know what it is about Fredrik Backman, but he has the ability to tell a story with so much feeling and depth without it being boring or seeming contrived. He writes characters, situations, and the feelings of both better than any other author I’ve read. I love his ability to tell his stories in parts.

MY FRIENDS was a beautiful story about growing up, found family, resilience, and finding the silver lining in really shitty circumstances. It deals with hard topics like bullying, immigration, abuse, sickness, and grief. Even though the story is sad, it’s interspersed with laughter and happiness, and ends with a feeling of hope. There are also a lot of farts (iykyk). This one kept me guessing until the end and I loved taking the journey with the characters.

Hello BeautifulTitle: Hello Beautiful
Author: Ann Napolitano
Genre: Historical Fiction
Format: Audio
Pages: 383
Length: 15h 6m
Narrator: Maura Tierney
Source: Library
Reason: Book Club
Rating:

My Thoughts

HELLO BEAUTIFUL is a touching story about love, loss, depression, betrayal, forgiveness, and second chances. Even though I’m not a huge fan of Little Women, I liked how Napolitano used it to shape the Padavano sisters. (And, in this case, Laurie ended up with the right sister.)

This book will definitely give my book club a lot to discuss. Also, while I didn’t mind the audio for the most part, there were times that I thought the narrator sounded robotic and with no emotion in her voice.

The SoulmateTitle: The Soulmate
Author: Sally Hepworth
Genre: Thriller
Format: Audio
Pages: 327
Length: 7h 44m
Narrator: Barrie Kreinik, Jessica Douglas-Henry
Source: Owned
Reason: Book Club, BotM Backlist
Rating:

My Thoughts

This is the second Hepworth book I’ve read. With both books, I really enjoyed the suspense, but I struggled with the mental health aspects. I feel like Hepworth uses diagnoses like Borderline Personality Disorder or Bipolar Disorder as a crutch to explain why her antagonists are psychotic. Also, the ending in this one wasn’t very satisfying.

Despite THE SOULMATE’s flaws, the story was intriguing. I liked the dual narrators and the back and forth between the then and the now. The suspense kept me reading because I wanted to know the whole story.