Review: The Last Mrs. Summers

The Last Mrs. Summers by Rhys Bowen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4 out of 5 Stars - If you ask, I'll tell you to read it.

The Last Mrs. Summers (Royal Spyness #14) is yet another in a series of light-hearted mysteries set in the 1930s.  Lady Georgiana Rannoch O'Mara returns from her honeymoon and finds herself with little to do at her estate after her husband goes off to parts unknown for a secret mission.

Lady Georgie decides to go with her friend Belinda to visit a cottage that Belinda's grandmother has left her in her will.  Belinda and Georgie spend the night in the small, run down cottage, but they're unimpressed.  In the morning, they decide to find a local hotel to stay in while Belinda finds a local workman to fix up the cottage.  As they're in town, they meet up with Rose.  Rose is the daughter of Belinda's late-grandmother's cook, but now she's Mrs Summers, the second wife of Tony Summers.  Rose, Tony, and Belinda all were part of a group of friends in their childhood.

As Belinda and Georgie arrive at the estate on the cliffs, they begin to have an uneasy feeling (beyond just not really wanting to be there).  Mrs Mannering, the housekeeper, seems to always be around and hovering.  She has been with the household since the first Mrs Summers was a child.  Rose confides in Belinda and Georgie that she things her husband may have killed his first wife, and she is scared for her safety.

Tony and Belinda have a little history, but Belinda wants nothing to do with a married man.  When Tony tries to start something, Belinda immediately asks him to leave her room.  She then goes to take a bath and returns to a murdered body in her bed!

The solving of the mystery seemed a little far fetched in many ways, but it wrapped up nicely in the end.

The book ended quite abruptly, and I couldn't figure out why my Kindle wouldn't turn the page.  Then I realized I was at 100% and the book was over. 

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for the ARC

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Review: The Rosie Effect

The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4 out of 5 stars - If you ask me, I'll tell you to read it.

Don Tillman seems to always find a way to get himself in trouble. He and Rosie have gotten married and moved to New York, NY, to follow their passions. Rosie will be entering medical school and Don will be working at Columbia as a researcher.

The shock of the year is that Rosie is pregnant!

Don tries several ways to understand the right things to do, but nearly always manages to mess things up.

The book is a funny and heartbreaking look at relationships of all levels.

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Review: Next Year in Havana

Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4 out of 5 stars - If you ask me, I'll tell you to read it.

The story is told in alternating perspectives, 1950s Cuba and modern day Cuba, through the eyes on a woman and her granddaughter. Elisa was a member of the elite in 1950s Cuba, her father - a sugar baron - was friends with Batista. Marisol, Elisa's granddaughter, is visiting Cuba to write a travel article about tourism in Cuba as relations with America were easing. She is also there with a secondary mission - to find the perfect place to spread her grandmother's ashes.

As the chapters alternate, you get the story of Elisa and the revolutionary she fell in love with. Marisol knew nothing of this man, and she learns about him through letters left on the island with her friend Anna.

I learned a lot about Cuban history that I wasn't aware of. It was very interesting to hear about how Fidel Castro came into power and how the people of the time were living prior too the revolution.

I listened to the audio book version, and the alternating narrators were very easy to listen to.

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Review: The Rosie Project

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4 out of 5 stars - If you ask me, I'll tell you to read it.

I have really enjoyed re-reading The Rosie Project. It is a great story with some fun and well developed characters. I look forward to continuing on in the series with The Rosie Effect and The Rosie Result!

Don is a but different from everyone else. From the outside looking in, you can tell he is probably somewhere on the spectrum, but it's not mentioned. He's asked to give a lecture on Asperger's Syndrome, and when asked if the list of characteristics remind him of anyone, his response is a different professor. He has his life regimentally scheduled, including eating the same meals each week because he knows how long it will take to prepare them.

Don decides he would like a wife, so he starts "The Wife Project". This includes surveys to weed out all unsuitable possibilities... smokers, drinkers, low IQs, etc.

Enter Rosie... a "bar maid" who is sent to Don's office to ask a question to settle a bet. Don believes she is being sent as a possibility in "The Wife Project" and immediately asks her on a date. He soon learns that she has many characteristics that would disqualify her as a potential life partner based on the survey.

Rosie asks for help with a project, and the two begin seeing each other regularly to complete it. As they get to know each other better, they determine that perhaps what you're looking for isn't always the best possibility out there!

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Review: Tweet Cute

Tweet Cute by Emma Lord
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4 out of 5 stars - If you ask me, I'll tell you to read it.

Jack and Pepper are pretty ordinary high school seniors, just trying to make it to graduation at their prestigious private school in NYC. Battling through tests, college interviews, and swim/dive team.

Pepper's mom is the CEO of the 4th largest burger chain, Big League Burger. When they want to launch a new grilled cheese sandwich, they decide to launch a "Get Grilled by BLB" social media campaign. Unfortunately, their social media manager isn't really a snarky personality. Enter Pepper as social media maven for BLB.

Jack's parents own a tiny deli, Girl Cheesing, that's struggling to get by. When he sees BLB has stolen their signature grilled cheese, "Grandma's Special", he decides to tweet about it from the Girl Cheesing account.

In a modern day, young adult version of "Shop Around the Corner" from 1940 and "You've Got Mail" from 1998, the beginning of the story has 3 different story lines showing the relationship between Jack and Pepper. One is the Twitter war between the 2 businesses (the students don't realize they're battling each other at first). The second is their daily interactions at school where they sit next to each other daily in homeroom and see each other each afternoon at swim/dive practice. The third is on an anonymous app Jack created where students within the school are able to chat without knowing who they're talking to.

As the story develops, you learn to love these characters (and the supporting cast). You learn about the background of the stolen sandwich and relationships between families. You also realize that everyone has their struggles, no matter how perfect their world and life seem.

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Review: Flowers for Algernon

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3 out of 5 stars - It was ok

This book is definitely thought provoking. The writing was very good, and you could barely tell it was written in the 60s and not today (other than the lack of cell phones and social media!)

It did make me think about how people are treated differently by those who are intellectually superior or inferior.

Charlie was born with a low IQ and an inability to truly learn. Growing up, his mother was determined to make him "normal" and when she couldn't do that, she sent him away to an institution. He lived for many years as an independent adult with a lot of help from a friend of his uncle. He worked in a bakery and had a place to live. While he was working, he was also going to an adult learning institution to try to prove himself to his mother. He wanted to be "smart", which in his mind meant reading and writing.

While a student at the adult learning institution, he was recommended for a study at a local university. The study wanted to prove that a surgery would increase a person's ability to learn and thus their intelligence and IQ. Charlie goes through with the surgery (with approval from his sister aka guardian).

We then follow the case through the progression of Charlie's learning and potential complications. Charlie befriends Algernon, one of the mice in the study. He watches Algernon and can figure out what will potentially happen to him next.

The entire book is written as a set of journal entries from Charlie. The writing style follows his intelligence level, so sometimes you have to decipher words that are spelled incorrectly or used wrong.

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