Tag: fiction

One Woman Falling by Melanie Campbell – Book Review

Published on by shejustlovesbooksLeave a comment

Rating: 5 out of 5.

What I Loved:

One Woman Falling was such an emotionally impactful book, it almost hurt to read. I am so impressed with Melanie Campbells’s ability to write about the topic of domestic violence with such beautiful words. I was so drawn into this book and it deeply touched me.

How I Felt:

The characters felt so real in this story. Melanie Campbell created Cassie Peterson, a woman living a life filled with domestic abuse and made her come to life on the pages. Her story takes the reader through the emotional impact domestic abuse has on a person. Cassie comes to realize that she is worthy of love and that this relationship is not a loving one. Her faith helps to guide her to understand her own strength and empower her to make a change.

Continue reading “One Woman Falling by Melanie Campbell – Book Review” →

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

Published on by shejustlovesbooksLeave a comment

Rating: 4 out of 5.

My Thoughts:

What I Loved: The mystery surrounding this story had me hooked. I really needed to understand what happened! Jodi Picoult’s writing is always so gripping and full of questions you just need to have answered and this one did not disappoint.

How I Felt: Shattered. Utterly shattered. This book surrounds a school shooting, which is just a terrifying story line. I was devastated for the families, but sucked into the aftermath’s story.

To Read or Not To Read: With the caveat that this has trigger warnings with school shootings, gun violence, and teen death, this was a great book. Jodi Picoult fans will not be disappointed. If you haven’t read Jodi Picoult, this one does not stray from what readers love so much about her. It is a great book, and I highly recommend it.

What’s This Book About Anyway?

A school shooting has taken place in a small New Hampshire town. This book follows the aftermath of that shooting, including the trial for the shooter. There is an eye-witness that cannot remember what she saw, and she happens to be the judge’s daughter. There are a lot of mysteries to be solved throughout the story, keeping you turning the pages long into the night!

Footnotes:

#jodipicoult #nineteenminutes #shejustlovesbooks #contemporaryfiction #bookstagrammer #bookblog

Leaving: A Novel by Richard Dry

Published on by shejustlovesbooksLeave a comment

Rating: 3 out of 5.

My Thoughts:

What I Loved: The stories follow three generations of a family in American really giving the reader a full view of the initial events in the timeline and the reactions to event caused, even generations later.

How I Felt: This book is full of sadness. This is not a book meant to make a person happy, however, I felt everything the author intended us to feel.

Additionally, I noticed on Goodreads that this has a total of 13 reviews! I was so surprised. This book was at least nominated for awards, and just has not been found by many people. While I gave it a 3 star, it was still a good read, and I would recommend it to people.

My reasons for 3 stars: The book jumped around a lot in time. The writer tells the story in bits and pieces so that each story is in chronological order, but each chapter is a different part of one of her family’s lives. The reader jumps from 1950 to 1998 and back. It was an interesting way to write the story, but it did bother me. I got used to it and was able to get through the book, and I did appreciated the way the story unfolded by the end.

To Read or Not To Read: If you enjoy historical fiction, or Civil Rights books, this would be a great read for you. It’s definitely worth picking up and trying it out!

What’s This Book About Anyway?

This book tells the story of one girl’s life, along with her brother, daughter, and grandsons. Ruby Washington is newly widowed, and pregnant, and leaves South Carolina, heading to California with her brother. We follow her struggles through the 1960’s: her brother becomes a Black Panther and Lida, her daughter, has secrets that become detrimental to her. The third generation in this book is Lida’s two sons. They are constantly moving from one place to another trying to survive and find a place to call home.

Footnotes:

#leavinganovel #richarddry #shejustlovesbooks #historicalfiction #civilrightsfiction #fictionbooks

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

Published on by shejustlovesbooksLeave a comment

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

What I Loved: The way Vida tells her story. I was enraptured from the start to the end.
How I felt: I felt like quite the detective in this book. I couldn’t wait to get to the next reveal so I could see if I was right or wrong about what was happening. There were so many questions to answer in this book and they were answered so well!
To Read or Not To Read: I highly recommend reading this. It’s such a well-written story, and is so easy to follow. You won’t be sorry!

Vida, a wildly popular, but mysterious author requests Margaret to write her biography. For 60 years Vida has concocted crazy stories about her heritage, but none of them match and leave her readers unaware of her real history.
Margaret is reluctant, as she has a life and secrets of her own, but does agree, with conditions for Vida.

Vida sets her story up for Margaret with a clear beginning, middle, and end. I loved how Vida would remind Margaret that they were only at the beginning, and that part of the story was for the end. Those little reminders that Vida had a clear vision of how her story would be told, just added to my enjoyment of this book. As Vida unravels her story, Margaret finds more and more questions.
This book will keep you wondering and guessing, and up all night. It’s just what a book should be.