The Other Me by Saskia Sarginson

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Maybe it's because I'm a sucker for a complicated father/daughter relationship, maybe it was the WW2 elements, I'm not sure. But I devoured it and wished that there was more! Either way I look forward to reading another book from this author. 

This story is told between three points of view: Klaudia, a high school student with a German father who may or may not have been part of Hitler's crew, Eliza, a dancer who has to face up to her past, and Ernst, a young man who eventually joins the war along with his brother, regardless of his stance on it. There is a lot to dissect here, but it's hard to do without giving away the story, so I'll try to keep this review vague for those who want to read it. 

One thing that stuck with me about this book is that it begs the question, how much of our family history do we take responsibility for? With the movie about Ted Bundy (played by Zac Efron) that recently came out on Netflix, we see the guilt that his girlfriend at the time bears. She felt as though she could have done more and possibly saved those girls lives. It would be easy to see why she'd feel as if their blood was on her hands-- even though she was not the one who killed them. The Other Me gives us the daughter of a Nazi soldier. Should she feel guilty about some of the unspeakable things that her father may or may not have done during the war? Is it better for him as a parent to keep her wondering her whole life, or should he face up to his past for the sake of his family? 

There of course is a connection between the three characters, one that is given away toward the middle of the book, and the other not until closer to the end. Even though I was able to figure it out pretty early on, it didn't take away from the story at all. There was also a romance, because isn't there always? And it was sweet but not overly pushy. It wasn't really the point of the story and the author used it as an additive not a focal point, which I liked. I would definitely recommend this book to patrons looking for a good read with some historical basis. 

I'm Not Dying With You Tonight by Kimberly Jones & Gilly Segal

**I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. My opinions are my own. **

It took me longer than I would have liked to finish this book, mostly because it was a book that I felt I needed to devote my attention to, and with a sick baby I didn't have the time to read it like I would have wanted. With the amount of racial tension that is still occurring in America today, I thought this book did a great job of handling the topic in an interesting but educational way. 

The story is told in alternating points of view between Lena, a young black girl, and Campbell, a young white girl. While at a football game, the girls get caught in a shooting that incites a riot. Neither of them truly has a way to escape, so they decide to stick together and try to make it to Lena's boyfriend, so that he can take them home safely. Throughout the night they both learn things about themselves and about each other. They do not trust one another, barely know one another, but have to work together in order to survive. Each girl sees people of her own race, that she knows well, behave in ways she didn't think they were capable of. 

They both make it home safely, but the reader is left knowing that these two girls' lives are changed forever, and wondering if there is a friendship building between the two girls. I for one was impressed with the writing and the way the topic was handled. We all have our misconceptions of people and this book proves that sometimes it's the people you least expect that you need in your lives the most. I could see this book being turned into a movie, and would definitely recommend it to some of our YA readers. 

Save Me by Kristyn Kusek Lewis

This was the second book in a week that I read with a cheating husband, and at this point mine better sleep with one eye open. Just kidding! But really. This book was a mess. I wanted to slap the main character in much the same way I wanted to slap the last one. Stop letting these dog men treat you like dirt then walk right back like nothing happened! LOVE YOURSELF GIRL. 

At the beginning of this book, the main character, Daphne, is planning her husband's birthday. Daphne is a doctor just like her man. They were childhood sweethearts who moved apart and found each other again as adults. Her life is perfect, or so she thinks. When her husband comes home he tells her that he has been having an affair and that he has feelings for the other woman. He leaves her for the woman, and later on she gets a phone call from him saying that his mistress has been in an accident and that he needs her shoulder to cry on. 

At this point, I wouldn't have even answered his calls much less entertained the thought. But she does. And even though she starts seeing someone else (way too soon IMO) she does this back and forth thing with Owen for a while, which was more irritating than anything else. I get that they had a history and that she loved him, but come on. He didn't want kids and she did, he treated her job like a joke even though they BOTH went to medical school, and let's not forget HE CHOSE SOMEONE ELSE and only went back to his wife because his other woman DIED. (spoiler alert). Eventually she realizes what I did on page one: she needs to be alone and fix her own life before depending on a man to fix it for her. So she dumps both men and hopefully grows a spine and a brain (we don't know what happens to her after that because that's where it ends) 

This whole book was just nah for me. It went way too fast, the characters were ridiculous and it honestly just made me angry. There are enough doormats in the real world, do we have to expect them from our female book characters as well? 

Mine by Courtney Cole

**I was given this book as an ARC from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.**

This book was crazy pants! The premise of the story is that while preparing for a storm, the main character, Tessa, finds out that her husband has had an affair with a much younger woman, Lindsey. Tessa (while pretending to be her husband, Ethan) convinces Lindsey to come over. She does, and Tessa has to figure out how she is going to react. 

The story is told through alternating views of Tessa and Lindsey. We find out how the affair started, and essentially what was going on in Tessa's life at the same time, along with current day happenings. I think by alternating the characters, it allows the reader to get a bigger picture of what is actually going down, because you hear both characters' sides, rather than just that of the scorned wife, or the lover. 

Honestly, I didn't really understand Tessa's reaction. I understand her frustration, and her anger, but to react that way toward Lindsey seemed pointless to me. Lindsey wasn't the one who owed her any loyalty, her husband was. Lindsey wasn't the one who broke up her family, HER HUSBAND WAS. If you want to get mad, sure, get mad AT HIM. If she needed "answers" she could have had a phone conversation with Lindsey, or just waited until her husband got home. I guess, had she not done what she did though, there wouldn't be a story. 

I also read that the author wrote this after having found out that her own husband was having an affair. I hope that she was a lot calmer than Tessa was, but that writing this gave her some peace. 

3/5 stars! 

How She Died, How I Lived by Mary Crockett

I was originally drawn to this book because of the title, but then when I read the description I immediately thought "yup, gotta read that one". All in all, I liked it, but it wasn't what I thought it was going to be. Kinda like ordering a red snowcone thinking it was cherry and getting strawberry instead-- still good just not what you wanted. The premise of the story is that the narrator (who's name we never find out) and three other girls are all texted by the same guy on the same day. One of them goes to meet him, and she gets raped and murdered. As expected, the narrator goes through a ton of survival guilt. She also hooks up with the dead girl's boyfriend, which increased the ick factor for me to about 100%. 

The other part of this that bothered me did so on a completely personal level, and if you're not a big believer in the death penalty, you probably won't feel the same way I did. I hated how she treated Charlie when he said that he wanted revenge for losing his girlfriend, and that he wasn't ever going to forgive her murderer. She essentially told him he was wrong and acted like he was an evil person for feeling this way. After losing someone he loved, he had every right to feel the way he did, to be angry and want to lash out at the person who caused his pain. The author could have done so much more with that and she botched it. To each his own but the narrator's holier than thou "I forgave him so you should too" attitude was a definite turn off for me, and had it not been toward the end of the book anyway I would have DNF'd. 

2/5 stars

The Last Look by Lauren Eckhardt

*I am grateful to have been given this book as an ARC from NetGalley. All opinions are mine.* I finished this book in four hours. I had to. Couldn't put it down. Even still, it took me a bit of time to be able to formulate exactly what I thought about it. I know that I definitely had a Josh of my own (I think most of us do) and while my heart went out to Haleigh, I also wanted to climb through the book and shake her. I don't know why she married him in the first place, because I didn't feel like she really loved him. I think she wanted to, but I don't think she really did. I also thought her reaction to his secret was a bit hypocritical. I am usually a sucker for a happy ending, but I felt like this book needed the ending it got. Sometimes women need to be able to be on their own, and Haleigh was definitely one of them, especially after everything she'd been through. All in all, I enjoyed the book. It wasn't a hard read but it was a difficult one, especially if you've been in Haleigh's place (which I have). It frustrated me a bit when her friend said that she "approved" of Josh, but later on in the relationship she says "I never liked him, I don't understand why you stayed". I know people like that with my own relationships and I don't know if the author intended for that to happen to show how peoples' attitudes can change when a relationship goes sour, or if she just genuinely forgot that she had the character say that. Either way, if you hated him you hated him, if you liked him just own it--keep the same energy! 3/5 Stars

Little Earthquakes by Jennifer Weiner

At first I wasn't sure I wanted to read this. I've read a few of Weiner's other novels and enjoyed them, but I don't typically like to read fiction that is similar to my own life. I read to get out of my own head, and so a book about moms isn't exactly that big of a stretch from my own life. I did read it though, and will say that I enjoyed it. I was able to finish this in a day at work, which is typical for me with chick lit books, especially on a slow day. 

I know how hard it is as a new mom to make friends and these girls were lucky to have found each other. Kelly was probably the mom I related to the most, with Becky (and her mother in law issues) coming in a close second. I liked that these women were real, with real problems rather than just being the typical I can do it all I can have it all type of mom we tend to see in chick lit. It's nice to know I'm not the only one who feels like she's failing sometimes. I like the fact that you see women from different walks of life bonding because sometimes the best of friends don't have anything in common, and it's those differences that allow us to look on someone's situation and give them a different perspective from one that they may not necessarily have had before. 

The storyline itself kept me hooked. I wanted to know what was going to happen with each character although there was so much switching between them I would somewhat forget what I last read about that person because it had been a while since I heard from them. Not a total issue, but maybe the book would have been better had she had one or two of the ladies telling the stories rather than all six of them. Five of them. I don't know. Either way, am I going to read more of Weiner's work? Yep. 

3 out of 5 stars!