The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle by Leslie Connor ★★★★★ #bookreview

This is a gem of a book. I just love discovering books like this and I can’t praise it enough. It is a super emotional middle grade book about a young boy with a learning disability who recently lost his best friend and is relentlessly bullied by the neighborhood kids. I fell in love with Mason and just wanted to

The Dry by Jane Harper ★★★★☆ #bookreview

This was a debut novel and fantastic Australian whodunit/ mystery/thriller.  I almost don’t want to provide a synopsis of this book for fear of providing any spoilers, but suffice it to say a Federal Police member returns to his hometown during a drought for the funeral of a friend. He becomes caught up in a murder investigation that ultimately reveals long buried secrets.

This is a quick read for me, yet the pace felt steady and slow as it built up to the reveal.  The writing was excellent – very atmospheric,

The Collector’s Apprentice by B. A. Shapiro ★★☆☆☆ #bookreview

I loved The Art Forger and The Muralist by this author, but this one fell flat for me. Like Shapiro’s other books the story is about art/paintings, this time focusing on recovering a “stolen” art collection and seeking revenge. To me it seemed overlong and wasn’t nearly as interesting as the other books by Shapiro I mentioned above. This was more of a tedious read than an intriguing read. The book was filled with long stretches of repetitive and ultimately boring storylines. And honestly, while it had an art theme, it wasn’t an art focus like her other books and I think this one lacked because of that.  Shapiro obviously has a passion for painting and I just didn’t feel that passion come through this time. I won’t give up on Shapiro though. I will read more of her work.

Published October 16th 2018 by Algonquin Books

My rating – 2 out of 5

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Bright Side by Kim Holden ★★★★★ #bookreview

I don’t often cry when reading books and I’m not typically an overly emotional person. But this book brought a few tears to my eyes. Won’t give away any spoilers here for those that haven’t read it and may want to, but generally it is about a college age girl that is known as Bright Side (Kate) by her best friend (and budding rock star) Gus. He calls her Bright Side because she ALWAYS finds the bright side, no matter what horrible events may befall her. This is a generally predictable love story between Kate and a guy she meets in college. They both have secrets (don’t they always?) and it isn’t long before you know exactly the story will end, YET THE ENDING STILL HITS YOU IN THE GUTS – HARD. It is difficult to say I enjoyed a book like this… perhaps it would be more accurate to say I appreciated this book. The positivity was a nice message and it was well written.

Published July 4, 2014 by Do Epic LLC

My rating – 5 out of 5

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