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Posts: 1,686 Likes: 1
Merriwether
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Merriwether
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 1,686 Likes: 1 |
#14 Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond Matthew Desmond takes us into the poorest neighborhoods of Milwaukee to tell the story of eight families on the edge. A sad yet interesting read. The author takes a balanced approach, mentioning short comings of both the tenants and the landlords.
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Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 1,686 Likes: 1
Merriwether
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Merriwether
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 1,686 Likes: 1 |
#15 The Other Woman by Sandie JonesEmily chose Adam, but she didn’t choose his mother Pammie. There’s nothing a mother wouldn’t do for her son, and now Emily is about to find out just how far Pammie will go to get what she wants: Emily gone forever. The mother was manipulative - I got mad reading about what she did. I was disappointed that the author put in a twist that she didn't lay much groundwork for.
Last edited by scifiJoan; 04/17/19 10:42 AM.
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Posts: 1,686 Likes: 1
Merriwether
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Merriwether
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 1,686 Likes: 1 |
#16 The Immortalists by Chloe BenjaminIf you knew the date of your death, how would you live your life?
It's 1969 in New York City's Lower East Side, and word has spread of the arrival of a mystical woman, a traveling psychic who claims to be able to tell anyone the day they will die. The Gold children—four adolescents on the cusp of self-awareness—sneak out to hear their fortunes. Excellent book.
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Hack from Nowheresville
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Hack from Nowheresville
Joined: Jul 2017
Posts: 296 |
I'll join in.  I have only read 8 books so far this year (writing my own has taken up much time...). Heads up, aside from Lois and Clark fanfiction, I prefer historical romance... 1: The Redeeming by Tamara Leigh. (Book 3) 2: The Kindling by Tamara Leigh. (Book 4) 3: A Boss's Proposal by Layla Holt. -This one wasn't historical, but I was given an advanced copy and it was somewhat lacking in the writing but an enjoyable story. 4: The Longing by Tamara Leigh. (Book 5) 5: The Vexing by Tamara Leigh. (Book 6) - This and the previous books by the same author are part of a series. I thoroughly enjoyed the first and second stories in this series as well as book 5, and I'm not sure if I'll read the last 2 as they feature characters I'm not too attached to. 6: An Unlikely Courtship by Heidi Kimball. - The fact that I can't remember what happens could tell you something about this one. I rated it 4 stars though, so it must have been good. 7: A change of Fortune by Jen Turano. - I ... well ... The women's rights stuff was overdone to the point of being forced and unnecessary to the plot. 8: The Shameless Flirt by M.A. Nichols. - This one gets to join a few others on my list of all-time favorites that I would appreciate owning a copy. Surprising and Heartfelt.
"Oh my gosh! Authors really do use particular words on purpose!" ~Me, when I started writing a book. 
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Posts: 1,686 Likes: 1
Merriwether
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Merriwether
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 1,686 Likes: 1 |
#17 The Girl Friend by Michelle FrancesThe Girlfriend by Michelle Frances is a gripping and chilling debut psychological thriller, based on the fall-out following an unforgiveable lie. It looks at the potentially charged relationship between girlfriend, boyfriend and his mother, which most women can identify with, and locates it in an extreme but believable setting. Much better book than The Other Woman.
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Posts: 1,686 Likes: 1
Merriwether
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Merriwether
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 1,686 Likes: 1 |
#18 Educated by Tara Westover
Just re-read this one for book club this month. A powerful story about a girl who grew up with Mormon survivalist parents and no formal education. Yet she managed to teach herself enough to get a 28 on the ACT and get into Brigham Young University.
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Hack from Nowheresville
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Hack from Nowheresville
Joined: Jul 2017
Posts: 296 |
9: Persuasion by Jane Austen - It was referenced in Shameless Flirt and I love Jane Austen so I read it next. I thoroughly appreciated the thinly veiled insults thrown at Anne's father. If I hadn't spent the past two years reading almost nothing but historical romance and titles written during the time period, I probably would have missed them. Never thought Jane Austen could make me laugh so much.
10: My Sister's Intended by Rachael Anderson - Younger sister catches the eye of the man her sister is supposed to marry. I kept going back and forth on what I wanted to see happen as I read. I'm happy it ended the way it did.
11: My Brother's Bride by Rachael Anderson - Hmm... I'm not sure what to say about this one that wouldn't spoil it too much. I'm not even sure how much I liked the plot. I loved the characters though.
"Oh my gosh! Authors really do use particular words on purpose!" ~Me, when I started writing a book.
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Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 1,686 Likes: 1
Merriwether
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Merriwether
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 1,686 Likes: 1 |
#19 Zucked: Waking up to the Facebook Catastrophe by Roger McNameeThe story of how a noted tech venture capitalist, an early mentor to Mark Zuckerberg and investor in his company, woke up to the serious damage Facebook was doing to our society and set out to try to stop it. While the author had many valid points, this was a slow read.
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Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 1,686 Likes: 1
Merriwether
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Merriwether
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 1,686 Likes: 1 |
#20 The Girls at 17 Swann Street by Yara ZgheibAnna Roux was a professional dancer who followed the man of her dreams from Paris to Missouri. There, alone with her biggest fears – imperfection, failure, loneliness – she spirals down anorexia and depression till she weighs a mere eighty-eight pounds. Forced to seek treatment, she is admitted as a patient at 17 Swann Street, a peach pink house where pale, fragile women with life-threatening eating disorders live. Women like Emm, the veteran; quiet Valerie; Julia, always hungry. Together, they must fight their diseases and face six meals a day. Short story collection Anything Is Possible explores the whole range of human emotion through the intimate dramas of people struggling to understand themselves and others. At first I wasn't thrilled that it was just inter-related short stories. You'd get to know a character and only catch a peak of them later. Yet, I liked that most of the characters had dealt with significant struggles and managed to find peace afterwards. That was encouraging.
Last edited by scifiJoan; 05/12/19 11:00 AM.
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Posts: 1,686 Likes: 1
Merriwether
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Merriwether
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 1,686 Likes: 1 |
#22 The Girl with all the Gifts by M.R. CareyEvery morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant Parks keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don't like her. She jokes that she won't bite, but they don't laugh.
Melanie loves school. She loves learning about spelling and sums and the world outside the classroom and the children's cells. She tells her favorite teacher all the things she'll do when she grows up. Melanie doesn't know why this makes Miss Justineau look sad. I'm not usually a zombie fan but this one had some interesting parts to it.
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Posts: 1,686 Likes: 1
Merriwether
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Merriwether
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 1,686 Likes: 1 |
#23 After the End by Amy PlumWorld War III has left the world ravaged by nuclear radiation. A lucky few escaped to the Alaskan wilderness. They've survived for the last thirty years by living off the land, being one with nature, and hiding from whoever else might still be out there.
At least, this is what Juneau has been told her entire life.
When Juneau returns from a hunting trip to discover that everyone in her clan has vanished, she sets off to find them. Leaving the boundaries of their land for the very first time, she learns something horrifying: There never was a war. Cities were never destroyed. The world is intact. Everything was a lie. I didn't realize this was a YA book but with that teaser, it seemed like it shouldn't matter. It quickly became predictable and ended rather abruptly.
Last edited by scifiJoan; 05/20/19 04:28 PM.
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Posts: 1,686 Likes: 1
Merriwether
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Merriwether
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 1,686 Likes: 1 |
#24 American Overdose: The Opioid Tragedy in three Acts by Chris McGreal Journeying through lives and communities wrecked by the epidemic, Chris McGreal reveals not only how Big Pharma hooked Americans on powerfully addictive drugs, but the corrupting of medicine and public institutions that let the opioid makers get away with it. This wasn't an easy book to read due to the subject matter but it was very informative.
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Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 1,686 Likes: 1
Merriwether
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Merriwether
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 1,686 Likes: 1 |
#25 An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah PekkanenWhen Jessica Farris signs up for a psychology study conducted by the mysterious Dr. Shields, she thinks all she’ll have to do is answer a few questions, collect her money, and leave.
But as the questions grow more and more intense and invasive and the sessions become outings where Jess is told what to wear and how to act, she begins to feel as though Dr. Shields may know what she’s thinking… and what she’s hiding. Decent suspense story.
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Posts: 1,686 Likes: 1
Merriwether
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Merriwether
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 1,686 Likes: 1 |
#26 The Resurrection of Joan Ashby by Cherise Wolas
An accomplished writer gets married. When she becomes pregnant, she decides to embrace her new life. When the kids are grown, she attempts to restart her career.
While this book was well written, I didn't really like Joan. She was selfish. The author also kept posting huge excerpts of Joan's work, which got old fast.
#27 Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty
Nine strangers have an odd experience at a high end health retreat.
I enjoy this writer but this was not one of her best works.
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Posts: 1,686 Likes: 1
Merriwether
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Merriwether
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 1,686 Likes: 1 |
#28 The Diversity Delusion: How Race and Gender Pandering Corrupt the University and Undermine Our Culture by Heather MacDonald
Interesting points.
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Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 1,686 Likes: 1
Merriwether
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Merriwether
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 1,686 Likes: 1 |
#29 The Outliers by Kimberly McCreightWylie hasn’t heard from Cassie in over a week, not since their last fight. But that doesn’t matter. Cassie’s in trouble, so Wylie decides to do what she has done so many times before: save her best friend from herself.
This time it’s different, though. Instead of telling Wylie where she is, Cassie sends cryptic clues. And instead of having Wylie come by herself, Jasper shows up saying Cassie sent him to help. Trusting the guy who sent Cassie off the rails doesn’t feel right, but Wylie has no choice: she has to ignore her gut instinct and go with him. I've enjoyed other books by this author. Not this one. The plot goes downhill so fast it's ridiculous. Yeah, two teenagers getting into a car with strangers in the middle of the night is such a good idea! And it gets worse! All these secret groups interested in Emotional IQ research? It's just silly. I won't be reading the next book in this series.
Last edited by scifiJoan; 06/13/19 04:33 PM.
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Merriwether
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Merriwether
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 1,686 Likes: 1 |
#30 House on Fire by Bonnie Kistlern the bestselling tradition of Jodi Picoult and Celeste Ng, a tightly wound and suspenseful novel about a blended family in crisis after a drunk driving accident leaves the daughter of one parent dead—and the son of the other parent charged with manslaughter. Parts of this book were good but some of the subplots got a little silly.
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Posts: 1,686 Likes: 1
Merriwether
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Merriwether
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 1,686 Likes: 1 |
#31 Good Riddance by Elinor Lipman Daphne Maritch doesn't quite know what to make of the heavily annotated high school yearbook she inherits from her mother, who held this relic dear. Too dear. The late June Winter Maritch was the teacher to whom the class of '68 had dedicated its yearbook, and in turn she went on to attend every reunion, scribbling notes and observations after each one—not always charitably—and noting who overstepped boundaries of many kinds.
In a fit of decluttering (the yearbook did not, Daphne concluded, "spark joy"), she discards it when she moves to a small New York City apartment. But when it's found in the recycling bin by a busybody neighbor/documentary filmmaker, the yearbook's mysteries—not to mention her own family's—take on a whole new urgency, and Daphne finds herself entangled in a series of events both poignant and absurd. This was a light read, which I needed, being in the airport for hours. I didn't like the main character that much and I felt the writer could've done more with the premise.
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Posts: 1,686 Likes: 1
Merriwether
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Merriwether
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 1,686 Likes: 1 |
#32 Tell Me Lies by Carola Lovering Thrilling, sexy coming-of-age story exploring toxic love, ruthless ambition, and shocking betrayal, Tell Me Lies is about that one person who still haunts you—the other one. The wrong one. The one you couldn’t let go of. The one you’ll never forget. I did not find this book to be thrilling or sexy. The main character was an idiot to put up with that guy as long as she did.
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Posts: 1,686 Likes: 1
Merriwether
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Merriwether
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 1,686 Likes: 1 |
#33 Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist by Eli Saslow From a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, the powerful story of how a prominent white supremacist changed his heart and mind It is encouraging that Derek met so many people at college who were willing to build a relationship with him while slowly challenging his beliefs.
Last edited by scifiJoan; 06/25/19 11:20 AM.
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