REVIEW - The Forever Moment by Paul A. Mendelson

 Synopsis:

When an acclaimed Scottish author, on a book tour to the US to promote his latest romantic novel, The Forever Moment, meets a young woman who looks strikingly similar to a long-lost love from a high-school exchange to Kentucky, he wonders if he left behind more than memories twenty-two years ago.

But when he digs deeper and is finally reunited with his lost love, who he thought had abandoned him after a whirlwind romance, he discovers that life isn’t quite like the plot of a trashy novel. And some memories can hold you back as well as spur you on.

The Forever Moment is a wryly funny, dramatic and gripping story that takes us back to the first heady stirrings of teenage romance. It examines how we hold onto and romanticise the past, which can stop us moving forward. And that, with maturity, comes a deeper understanding.

REVIEW:

'The Forever Moment' sounded like a fun book and both the synopsis and the cover made me want to pick it up. And I wasn't disappointed, kind of. 

I liked the idea of the book and how the plot developed and I enjoyed how fast it read and how it made me think that in fiction as in life things don't go as planned. I couldn't get used to the long chunks of narration, description or monologue that went sometimes for pages and pages, which made me read slower and sometimes even lose focus. I also wasn't a fan of the information put in brackets that most of the time, personally, I could've done without, because I didn't feel like it added something and also it took me out of the story. These are very subjective so maybe you won't have a problem with them.

I didn't feel anything as I read and for me is very important to get close to the characters, to understand them or at least feel something when I'm reading. But I couldn't have been more neutral or far from these people as the pages went on and the plot unraveled. Which made me ask myself for a second if is my fault or I can't just gel with the writing or maybe the characters aren't as deep or layered or alive as I would've liked them to be. Even though for a bit I understood Laura and how she reacted in some parts when Charlie tried to talk to her and they had their discussions.

Also, I know this is seen as a romance and for me it wasn't really. Because when I got to the end, Laura and Charlie seemed on different pages and wanting different things and besides the conversations they had, their past and what else linked them, they had nothing else. Maybe it was romantic and I missed it, but for me there was no emotion or love or desire to have anything or do something forward. Just coming back full circle to the beginning just with some blanks filled and a very short past together which to me one doesn't know what it wants about and the other might be more in love with the idea of her and a relationship than the real thing. 

Putting these aside, I'm happy to say that I managed to read this pretty quick (~ 3 hours) and that overall I liked it. 'The Forever Moment' could be considered a fast and breezy read, maybe something you read when you're on vacation or in a plane or going to work or you're home and you just want something to keep you busy, but you don't want to read something too long or that's gonna take you a while to get into. 

Also, if you like writer characters or books that have to do with writing or books maybe this one's for you, cause you get a bit of that in this one. 

I'm glad I read 'The Forever Moment' and I'll say you could give it a try. Maybe you'll love it more than I did. 

Thank you to The Book Guild and NetGalley for the review copy.

3/5

REVIEW - His & Hers by Alice Feeney

 Synopsis:

There are two sides to every story: yours and mine, ours and theirs, His & Hers. Which means someone is always lying.

When a woman is murdered in Blackdown, a quintessentially British village, newsreader Anna Andrews is reluctant to cover the case. Detective Jack Harper is suspicious of her involvement, until he becomes a suspect in his own murder investigation. Someone isn’t telling the truth, and some secrets are worth killing to keep.

His & Hers is a twisty, smart, psychological thriller. A gripping tale of suspense, told by expertly-drawn narrators that will keep readers guessing until the very end.

REVIEW:

This is my third book from the author (after Rock, Paper, Scissors and Sometimes I Lie) and I think is one of my favorites. And for sure I'll read everything that Alice Feeney has out or is gonna publish in the future.

I loved how 'His & Hers' was written and that we got multiple perspectives. All of them were engaging and I was glued to the pages from the very beginning. And even though I liked one more than the others, they all were interesting and I was happy to follow and see what happened and how the things would unravel.

Without being spoilery, I liked seeing how Anna and Jack dealt with the whole situation and how they tried to figure out both the crimes, but also to deal with the relationships between them two or with the other characters in the story. It was fun to see that in the end no character was good or bad, but just caught in some shitty circumstances.

Even though, yes, there was one specific character that I thought was mostly living the life that this person chose and the consequences of their actions were rippling through their life and also the lives of other people. And god, I felt... for a moment I felt like they got away so easily considering all that they've done. But, oh well. Like them and all that part from the book made me so... angry.

But in the end everyone gets what they deserve, right? Like, I can't say I was happy, but it was definetly very satisfying to see everything develop and unravel and even when I thought it was over, that last reveal. I was shocked, surprised, blown away and also it made me laugh, weirdly. Because it was always there and I thought of everything and everyone, but not that. 

Going back to the characters and the plot - I liked how no one was perfect and everyone had flaws, but also they tried to be better and move through life, sometimes making good choices and other times fucking it over, knowingly or not. Also, it might sound weird, but this felt realistic and also like karma served right, even though it was after such a long time. I don't exactly agree with killers or think 'ah, yes, that character deserved to die or be tortured', but in this case I'll make an exception. Because the reason wasn't crazy or irrational or something done on a whim... no. It was thought throughout, it was planned and I feel like everyone deserved what came after them. Maybe some even got even less.

'His & Hers' is for sure one of my favorite reads of this year and I don't think I will forget it too soon. It's one of those books that deserves the hype and I can understand how why everyone was so blown away by this book and by that ending. Alice Feeney delivered with this one and for me this will be a thriller and a book that I'll always consider a favorite.

5/5

6 thrillers pe care le-am citit recent

 Iată 6 thrillers pe care le-am citit recent și mi s-au părut doar ok. Voiam mai mult de la ele și cred că n-o să înțeleg de ce sunt așa de populare și lăudate. 

Rating - 3/5 

N-a fost o carte rea, dar voiam mai mult. Din punct de vedere al acțiunii și finalului a fost ok, însă n-am fost fan al stilului în care e scrisă, iar faptul că toate personajele feminine s-au amestecat în capul meu și n-am putut să le diferențiez (deși teoretic erau diferite din multe puncte de vedere) m-a făcut să-mi placă și mai puțin. 

E o lectură rapidă, ușoară, bună mai ales dacă nu ai mai citit thrillers și poate că intorsaturile de situație și finalul o să-ți placă mai mult decât mie. 

Momentan am zis că mai citesc de la autoare și vreau să văd dacă a fost doar cartea sau autoarea asta nu-i pentru mine.

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Rating -  3/5

Am avut-o pe listă de când a apărut și chiar am fost entuziasmată. Acum că am citit-o pot să înțeleg popularitatea ei, dar în același timp m-așteptam la mai mult? Să fie mai complexă, mai dark, poate și puțin mai lungă.

 Încă mă gândesc dacă scriitura mi-a dat senzația că ce-a fost în ea n-a fost destul or chiar în unele locuri se putea insista și să primim încă ceva, în loc să se meargă pe repede înainte. 

E o carte atmosferică, uneori chiar horror-ish, și cred c-ar fi perfectă într-o zi de toamnă sau când vrei ceva care să te țină în priză și nu neapărat să te sperie... dar să te facă un pic să te uiți peste umăr. 

Overall, nu mi-a displarut, n-am ghicit cine e vinovatul și personajele mi s-au părut ok. Însă doar atât a fost toată cartea - ok.

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Rating - 3/5

Un alt thriller ce l-am tot văzut menționat și care a fost doar ok. Cred că e mai mult un mister oricum și deși mi-a plăcut stilul autoarei, a fost atmosferică, personajele au fost bine scrise, twist-ul m-a surprins, parcă tot lipsea ceva. 

Poate pentru că după dezvăluire m-am uitat în urmă și mi-am dat seama că n-aveam cum să ghicesc? Poate. Or pentru că deși a avut toate elementele, mi s-a părut mai mult alt gen de carte decât ce trebuia? 

Or poate am avut atâtea păreri și laude, încât inconștient mă gândeam că o să mă dea pe spate. 

Un roman bun, rapid, poate un pic cam lung și care discută niște teme interesante și poate un pic deranjante pentru unii. Oarecum. 

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Rating - 2/5

Nu cred că-i o carte rea, ci nu a fost pentru mine. N-am putut să empatizez cu Molly și mi s-a părut extrem de copilăroasă și aproape un stereotip sau o caricatură (m-a făcut și să mă gândesc dacă nu o suferi și de ceva sau are o condiție ce o face să acționeze așa și poate vedele lucrurile diferit); așa cum au fost și celelalte personaje.

 Tonul romanului mi s-a părut total nepotrivit pentru ce se întâmplă, iar cum se rezolvă misterul și care a fost motivul m-au lăsat ridicând din sprâncene și pufnind ca la o glumă proastă.

 În cazul asta aș zice că e mai mult vina mea și nu a cărții, iar dacă-ți plac mai mult misterele ce nu se iau în serios, care au un aer tragi-comic sau care nu sunt sângeroase, dark și apăsătoare, atunci asta e pentru tine. 

Personal nu înțeleg hype-ul, vreau să uit c-am citit-o și mi-aș cam vrea orele alea înapoi.

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Rating - 2/5

Ideea m-a intrigat, personajele au fost ok și prima jumătate a cărții chiar mi-a plăcut. Însă apoi când am văzut cum evoluează lucrurile și care devine punctul central al acțiunii... tot entuziasmul meu și curiozitatea s-au dezumflat. Căci am avut impresia că acum ideea centrală era ignorată și citeam altă carte. 

Da, spre final își revine, dar și când se întâmplă asta... cred că țînând cont de idee, de situația în care e personajul și de așa zisele consecințe, totul s-a rezolvat prea ușor și a fost un fel de "și-am trăit fericiți până la adânci bătrâneți." 

Poate greșesc, dar asta n-a fost ce voiam și cred că dacă n-o citeam și rămâneam doar cu ce mi-am imaginat eu, m-aș fi distrat mai mult.

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Rating - 2/5

Din punctul meu de vedere ăsta a fost un alt caz de idee bunicică, dar executată într-un mod ce-a lăsat de dorit. M-a făcut curioasă la început și chiar dacă stilul autorului nu m-a prins, măcar a fost un pic atmosferică, crimele au fost interesant executate și speram că finalul să o salveze. 

Dar nu, nu a fost așa. Îmi pare rău că nu mi-a plăcut, mereu caut thrillers sau povești ce au de-a face cu tehnnologia și aplicațiile, dar rar se dovedesc a fi bune. 

Un thriller dezamăgitor, personaje de carton, o scriitură de lemn și niște întorsături de situație și o dezvăluire care m-au făcut să pot da timpul înapoi și să n-o fi citit vreodată sau să o fi cumpărat.

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Atât pentru moment. Iar dacă voi le-ați citit și v-au plăcut, atunci nu luați în seamă ce spun eu. Iar dacă vreți să le citiți și știți că or să vă placă, go for it. Întotdeauna cred că trebuie să-ncerci pe pielea ta și să vezi cum e. :)

REVIEW - The Ivies by Alexa Donne

 Synopsis:

Enroll in this boarding school thriller about a group of prep school elites who would kill to get into the college of their dreams...literally.

Everyone knows the Ivies: the most coveted universities in the United States. Far more important are the Ivies. The Ivies at Claflin Academy, that is. Five girls with the same mission: to get into the Ivy League by any means necessary. I would know. I'm one of them. We disrupt class ranks, club leaderships, and academic competitions...among other things. We improve our own odds by decreasing the fortunes of others. Because hyper-elite competitive college admissions is serious business. And in some cases, it's deadly.

Alexa Donne delivers a nail-biting and timely thriller about teens who will stop at nothing to get into the college of their dreams. Too bad no one told them murder isn't an extracurricular.

REVIEW:

I kinda had my eyes on the 'The Ivies' since it came out, cause 1. the cover looks amazing! and it really intrigued me, but also 2. the synopsis sounds great, I wanted to know what was gonna happen and if someone was truly going to die.

Before I start going long word on this, I can say I enjoyed it a lot, I was always flipping pages cause I needed to know what was happening and who was behind everything, and as we got closer to the end.. I wanted to know what the ending was gonna be.

 Because, even though you might say 'ah, the plot doesn't sound realistic, who would do that?', I think that there's always someone who would and also thinking that most of these people have a specific way of thinking and going through life and for what they want, it made it plausible in my eyes.

'The Ivies' is a fast paced read and is also very voicy, which made me feel like I could relate to the characters, but also made them seem real and not just people that had stuff happen to them and they had to react to those. Another thing that made me love it was that even though is dealing with lots of emotions and drama and backstabbing and gossip, it wasn't over the top or I think it wasn't so much that I had to roll my eyes. I think it was enough or just enough too much, without going to an extreme; which is subjective of course.

I had a fantastic time reading 'The Ivies' and I devoured in two sitting, which is mostly due to me starting it in the evening and having to go to bed afterwards, and then picking it up back when I had time. I think that if you're close to the characters age you might love it more, but also as someone in her late 20s I really enjoyed it too and I didn't feel like it read young for me or that I couldn't put myself in the characters shoes.

So, if you like how it sounds or you want something fun, quick, a mix of realistic struggles, rich teens/people, boarding/prep school vibes, groups and scheming and even a sprinkle of romance, this is for you. I'm definetly gonna think about it for a while and for sure I'll buy and read the next books that Alexa puts out.

4/5