Tag Archive for: Stand-Alone

Hello Beautiful

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:
Romance Rating: 1.5 Flames

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.

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The Soulmate

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:
Romance Rating: 1.5 Flames

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.