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2020

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#partner @booksparks | ✨Book Review✨| This one sure has had its share of controversy leading up to its publication date (out on Tuesday)! While I can't even pretend to know all the nuances of the debate, I can say that I was absolutely spellbound by this book. . It was very reminiscent of the movie, #SinNombre, which I also love and have watched repeatedly. In a way, I guess I'm confused because this movie was written and directed by Cari Joji Fukunaga, a Japanese-American, and he hasn't come under fire for not being an #ownvoices director. He researched a story, wrote it, and then directed it...allowing his viewers a portal into a world they're not necessarily privvy to. That movie truly impacted my life, so when the migrant caravans of 2018 were happening, I was already aware of the poverty and fear and hope that drove the thousands of Central Americans to abandon all they knew about life thus far to journey thousands and thousands of miles searching for a better, less violent life for themselves and their families elsewhere. How can that awareness be anything but a good thing for people who are outside this situation? . Others on the #bookstagram community have raised points to both sides of this debate…do your own research and make your own decisions. Please don’t succumb to the thought that you’re a bad person if you chose to read this book and if you enjoy it. . As a book consumer, I search out books by a wide variety of authors - both white and otherwise. I enjoy reading diversely and take valuable insights from every book I read - including books I absolutely dislike and/or DNF. I'm certainly not an author or a publisher, but as a reader, I believe there is room at the table for all of us and believe we should be celebrating books that are well-written, that open our eyes and worlds to new perspectives, and further the tough conversations. #AmericanDirt has done exactly this...and I hope to see more reviews coming now that it's finally about to hit the shelves!

#partner @booksparks | ✨Book Feature | My second book from the #WRC2020 campaign has arrived and it has my heart pounding just from reading the synopsis! (This book was just published on Tuesday - January 14, 2020.) . Synopsis from the publisher: When a young woman is discovered brutally murdered in her own apartment, with an intricate pattern of lines carved into her face, Copenhagen police detectives Jeppe Korner and Anette Werner are assigned to the case. In short order, they establish a link between the victim, Julie Stender, and her landlady, Esther de Laurenti, who’s a bit too fond of drink and the host of raucous dinner parties with her artist friends. Esther also turns out to be a budding novelist—and when Julie turns up as a murder victim in the still-unfinished mystery she’s writing, the link between fiction and real life grows both more urgent and more dangerous. . But Esther’s role in this twisted scenario is not quite as clear as it first seems. Is she the culprit—or just another victim, trapped in a twisted game of vengeance? Anette and Jeppe must dig more deeply into the two women’s pasts to discover the identity of the brutal puppet-master pulling the strings in this electrifying literary thriller. . What’s the last thriller that got your heart pounding?

#partner indicated by *** | My motivation for all things #bookstagram has disappeared since the New Year arrived. Hopefully, it’ll be back soon…I miss you guys! . Here are some quick mini reviews…follow the #linkinprofile for a little bit more! . *** #SuchAFunAge - #unpopularopinion alert: I was extremely underwhelmed by this story and won’t find myself joining everyone else on the bandwagon. 😬 . #TheLibraryBook - This book truly is a love letter to libraries, librarians, and even LA itself. It’s worth the read, but also not as good as I was hoping! . *** #ALongPetaloftheSea - Overall, the book is a little heavy on the factual information. This kind of detracted from the character development and prevented me from becoming fully immersed in the story. However, learning about something new – something I’ve never even heard about – made this such a worthwhile book for me! . What did you read (and hopefully) love last week?

#partner @booksparks | Imagine my surprise when I was selected to be on the #WRC2020 campaign! The lineup of books they’ve selected are incredible, starting with the most buzzed about book AMERICAN DIRT by @jeaninecummins! . I’ve posted a video in my stories of the unboxing for this welcome kit (complete with the most annoying filter instagram offers. 😬 I probably should have realized that sooner!). . Have you read American Dirt yet? How was it? (No spoilers, please!)

#partner | The next addition to Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children Series, The Conference of Birds (#5), will be released on Tuesday, January 14, and I can’t wait! . From the publisher: “Do you trust me?” . An instant bestseller, A Map of Days launched readers into the previously unexplored world of American peculiars, one bursting with new questions, new allies, and new adversaries. . Now, with enemies behind him and the unknown ahead, Jacob Portman’s story continues as he takes a brave leap forward into The Conference of the Birds, the next installment of the beloved, bestselling Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children series. . Filled with old-time pictures that spur the story along, this book is just pure fun! Also, the movie (based on the first book of the series) is AMAZING! My daughter and I are fighting over who gets to read this one first (…she won. 😣) . Have you read any of these books? Thoughts?

#partner | ✨feature | Thank you, @tlcbooktours, for sending this book my way! I am so intrigued with the synopsis and I can’t wait to read this one. It’s available now! . From the publisher: For fans of The Invisible Bridge and The History of Love, a lyrical and exquisitely moving novel about a writer who embarks on a transformative journey in Amsterdam, where he discovers the shocking truth about his mother’s wartime experience—unearthing a remarkable story that becomes the subject of his magnum opus. . At the behest of his agent, renowned author Yoel Blum reluctantly agrees to visit his birthplace of Amsterdam to meet with his Dutch publisher, despite promising his late mother that he would never return to that city. While touring the Jewish Museum with his wife, Yoel stumbles upon a looping reel of photos offering a glimpse of pre-war Dutch Jewish life, and is astonished to see the youthful face of his beloved mother staring back at him, posing with her husband, Yoel’s older sister, Nettie…and an infant he doesn’t recognize. . This unsettling discovery launches him into a fervent search for the truth, revealing Amsterdam’s dark wartime history and the underground networks which hid Jewish children away from danger—but at a cost. The deeper into the past Yoel digs, the better he understands his mother’s silence, and the more urgent the question that has unconsciously haunted him for a lifetime—Who am I?—becomes. Evocative, insightful, and deeply resonant, House on Endless Waters beautifully illustrates the complex nature of identity and belonging, and the inextricability of past and present.

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