nothingforpomegranted's reviews
643 reviews

It was a privilege to get an advance readers edition of this book and, though I didn’t end up reading it ahead of its publication date, I am so glad I read it now. Too many of my friends are military wives these days, and I have a much more profound sense of what that means. This book and life during this war informed each other. I am not a miluim wife, and there is a tremendous amount of privilege in that fact. It was heartbreaking and important for me to read about some of Simone’s internal processing and, especially, about the way the wives held each other up. 


Shift Happens - a memoir of a woman in unexpected circumstances in a world somewhat dominated by men, finding her community and making her way 

I loved this completely. Duncan and Georgiana were so sexy and fell so hard for each other. The problems with their relationship never diminishes their love for each other, which is so much more enjoyable than when the characters fall in and out of love over the course of the novel. 

Lady Georgiana was ruined at the age of 16 by a tryst with a stable boy that ended with the birth of her daughter Caroline. In the ensuing ten years, she has assumed two secret identities—that of Chase, the leader of the Fallen Angel, and Anna, the madam of the club, assumed to be Chase’s mistress. Duncan West is society’s most prominent newspaper man with a dark past and a long-term symbiotic epistolary relationship with Chase by which they exchange society’s secrets. 

Duncan quite quickly figured out that Georgiana is Anna, which is most of the tension in the novel because he is insistent that Anna is beholden to Chase, which infuriates him. There are super sexy scenes in here—a balcony makeout scene, oral sex in Duncan’s pool, and sex on Chase’s desk. 

Nothing much happens in this book, and while I often really enjoy books that are so character driven, I think the characterization in this one wasn’t quite strong enough to make me fall in love with it. Perhaps it was the translation, but I think more likely it was the characters themselves. I was curious about their stories and invested enough to stay up reading, but I don’t feel like I loved it. Indeed, I think I am liable to forget elements of it quite quickly. 

So for my own recollection, here’s a quick summary of the standout moments:
We are introduced to Paulette at the very beginning of the novel as an elderly woman who has started to struggle to remember how to take care of her garden and herself. Her neighbor and friend, Yvonne, is determined to get her instituted at a retirement home, and she enlists vagabond grandson Franck to contribute his own pressure. Franck, for his part, loves his grandmother (who raised him) very much, but he struggles to show it, squeezing in visits on his day off from his very busy schedule as a chef in a restaurant and hesitant to show emotion. However, Franck is also resistant to the idea of moving his grandmother out of the house she loves and that he grew up in. These emotions are further compounded by the change in his living arrangements due to the choices of the other two protagonists. 

Camille is a waif. She works as an overnight cleaning lady and rarely (and barely) eats, particularly after interactions with her mother, whose depressive impulses have long made her anxious and miserable. Having entered into something of a depressive episode herself, Camille has lately stopped drawing and socializing, and she has moved into a flat owned by a family friend—up seven flights of stairs, under the roof, and absolutely freezing. Camille is drawn to the strange, stuttering character dressed in the clothing of the nobility who she encounters on the stairs, and they strike up a friendship that neither one is quite certain of. However, when Camille falls ill and disappears for several, Philibert finds himself obligated to check on her. Discovering her nearly unconscious and shivering, he carries her down the stairs to the apartment he shares (incidentally) with Franck. As Camille convalesces, both men are drawn to her, and it initiates a friendship that none of the three had been expecting. All socially awkward, their interactions are twinged with strangeness and tension, but the bonds they form are strong and meaningful. Eventually, Camille and Franck develop their own emotional connection through cooking, arguing, and drawing. 

Camille creates a plan to resolve Franck’s struggles with his grandmother by bringing her to live with them, which adds life and levity to all of their relationships, even as her health deteriorates, and the quartet travel to Tours for the final (somewhat saccharine) section of the novel. 

I’ve been so enjoying plodding through Sarah MacLean’s backlist and reading every one of her books. This was the third book in the Rules of Scoundrels series, and it was the story of Temple, the biggest of the four owners of the Fallen Angel and well-regarded for being the winningest bareknuckle boxer in all of London as well as the Killer Duke, assumed to have murdered his father’s sixteen-year-old bride-to-be on the eve of their wedding twelve years before the beginning of this novel. 

For years, Temple has been avoiding fighting with Mara’s brother in the ring, anxious that he may actually have to assume guilt for a crime he can’t remember committing (but also isn’t certain he didn’t). When Mara—the bride herself—appears on the street outside Temple’s flat in the middle of the night, begging to wager with Temple in order to absolve her brother’s debts, Temple’s world is thrown off-axis. Despite being drugged by Mara (for a second time), he becomes desperate to see her, leaning in to twinning emotions of anger and desire. The pair come up with a deal in which Mara will reveal herself to be alive and redeem the Duke in the eyes of London while he will subsidize her financially throughout the process, ensuring the continued viability of her orphanage. 

The development of feelings throughout the novel was tense and exciting in all the best ways, and as Sarah MacLean always does well, the side characters really make this story shine (I LOVED the reveal in the epilogue—even though I knew it was coming—and I thought Rosalyn Landor narrated it perfectly.) Bourne rocked the angry best friend role, protecting Temple from Mara’s antics and his suspicion that she was certain to betray him again, and Chase’s protectiveness was even more fun than her meddling in previous books. 
On the other hand, though, the physical development was a bit strange. From the outset, Mara and Temple were not only fiercely attracted to each other but acting on that attraction. As another reviewer put it: Why are you kissing?? Indeed, the makeout sessions were steamy and fun, but they didn’t really align with the plot or further the plot, which was odd. Nonetheless, this was fun and sometimes made me laugh out loud, and I just love this series and this author!

Emmett Watson has just returned to Nebraska after eighteen months (cut short because of good behavior and his father’s death) at a juvenile detention farm to which he had been sent after a punch in the face led to the death of a taunting classmate of his at the fair. Looking forward to a new start for himself and his eight-year-old brother Billy, Emmett has made a plan to invest the limited cash his father left them in a house to refurbish and sell, making a profit and buying themselves a new life. However, not only has Billy been creating his own plan for their fresh start (based on his compendium of adventure stories, his love for heroic journeys, and his desire to reconnect with the mother who abandoned the family eight years earlier), but also two of Emmett’s fellow inmates from Salina—Duchess and Wooly—secretly hitched a ride out of the farm and intend to join Emmett and Billy’s road trip with an adventure of their own. This motley crew finds themselves traveling along the Lincoln Highway to New York, jumping trains, stealing cars, and climbing through barbed wire fences, meeting lots of other adventurers along the way. 

I loved Emmett and Billy, but Duchess made me absolutely crazy. I couldn’t quite get past his good intentions given the utterly ridiculous and harmful consequences of his actions. I cringed reading each of his chapters, even as I developed somewhat more sympathy for him throughout the novel. Wooly’s story was confusing and sad and heartbreaking, and I just wanted to give him and his sister Sarah a big hug. I also enjoyed meeting the side characters and would have loved to learn more about Townhouse and Ulysses, especially (and I hope he eventually found his family!). Overall, my primary criticism of the book, other than my distaste for Duchess, was the feeling that some of these storylines were left so unresolved, and I really cared about the characters. Most simply, I actually wanted to follow Emmett and Billy’s journey along the Lincoln Highway, and the story was almost exclusively about the detours. Amit Towles’ writing is absolutely beautiful, at both the sentence level and the story level, and I was truly engrossed throughout the story, even remarking on a few particular sentences and observations. The characterization had great depth, and the shifts in perspective were masterful. Each character truly had their own voice, and Towles created a fabulous mosaic of intertwined histories. 

was removed from the Everand library, and it was hard to follow along. I think Aaron and I need to choose more snappy, memorable books to listen to together 

Review after completing the novel: 
A quick summary:
Gwendolyn and Daniel meet at a gambling club in Germany at the beginning of the novel, as Gwendolyn discovers the thrill of winning. Of course, before the night is out, she has lost a round, and when she returns to the house in which she is staying, she learns that her family has lost their home and their funds, requiring her to return from vacation immediately. Determined to save her family, Gwendolyn chooses to sell a brooch and to use the money to earn back their funds at the roulette table. She is subsequently shocked and a bit disturbed when the brooch is returned to her, understanding that it was repurchased by Daniel Deronda. 

As it turns out, Deronda’s gesture is less a flirtation than an indication of his desire to save others, which continued to play out throughout the novel. He rescues Mirah from drowning  herself, and he is drawn to Mordecai, the sickly bookseller who is seeking a learning partner and is struck immediately by Deronda. As the novel proceeds, we learn of Gwendolyn’s romances and eventual marriage to Grandcourt, a difficult, unsupportive man whose funds can keep her family in nice estates. We also see Deronda’s increasing fascination with Judaism and early Zionism, as well as his increasing desire to understand his own family origins, inspired perhaps by his attraction to Mirah, which he won’t admit even to himself until he discovers that it may be attainable. Indeed, as Gwendolyn’s story becomes more and more depressing, her husband drowning, ostensibly by her own hand, and her own attraction to Deronda becoming stronger just as his interest in her wanes, Deronda’s story becomes more joyful as he embraces his heritage and his future with Mirah. In fact, this sequence of events is surprising because on the surface it appears that Gwendolyn, now a wealthy widow, would be in a better position than Deronda, who descends from the ranks of a beloved ward of an English gentleman to the status of an abandoned, orphaned Jew. 

I enjoyed the plot and, especially, the humor throughout the novel, though certainly in such a long book, a lot of the details and nuances got lost. I would love to listen to or read a discussion of the novel and its impact, but it seems rather understudied, unfortunately. 

Apparently this was written for young adults, but I think it’s just a publisher’s gimmick. This was engaging, well-written, clear nonfiction about a group of devoted, patriotic Black aviators, determined to fly the skies and to serve their country. Wein and Smith review the history of Black military pilots with a particular focus on the four founders of the Challenger air program. Though I found it a bit challenging to follow along with each person’s arc, the overall story was clear and moving. I learned a lot about true pioneers, and I suspect that I will remember the names of Bessie Colman (the first black woman pilot) and Cornelius Coffey (one of the founders and a skilled auto mechanic). Though Johnny Robinson (who served in Ethiopia), Willa Brown (a dedicated teacher), and Janet Harmon (a nurse) may escape my memory, I enjoyed reading about them and especially appreciated the strong sense of patriotism demonstrated by these figures. Despite the challenges, difficulties, and discrimination that these pioneers faced, they still loved their country and wanted to serve their country. I hope that kind of patriotism can return to the spirit of American youth. 

I absolutely loved this and can’t wait to read the next installment. Pippa was hilarious, and Cross had so much depth and love and passion and smolder! I laughed out loud more than once listening to Pippa’s antics, and Cross’s attempts to resist her were endearing. I loved that there was recognition in both of the characters, who resisted each other out of a sense of duty, not out of a denial of their true feelings for each other, and it helps that the steamy scenes were super steamy. 

Another book where I was far more impressed by the premise than the actual book. I loved the grimy street life of London and the nightclub dynamics, but I don’t think the characters were well-developed enough to grip me. The connections between scenes and the attention to detail was thoughtful, but I found the digressions and repetitions to be overdone, and I just didn’t love the book overall. 

I love Sarah MacLean’s writing and the worlds that she builds, but while the set up here was excellent (with a lost childhood friendship turned into a marriage of convenience), I didn’t think the characters actually had the chemistry that they needed to have to make this story truly excellent. Nonetheless, the characters were fun, and I was happy for Penelope to get her own story after she was so jilted in the previous series. And this ended on a great note: the epilogue had me laughing out loud and immediately downloading the next book in the series.