Showing posts with label birthday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birthday. Show all posts

Friday, August 4, 2023

Book Review - Little Monsters by Adrienne Brodeur

 


 Little Monsters by Adrienne Brodeur is about two siblings who come together to celebrate their dad’s seventieth birthday. Ken and Abby Gardner lost their mother when she was giving birth to Abby. While their mother is gone, her presence still haunts the Gardner family. Their father, Adam, is a renowned oceanographer/whale expert who is bipolar. Since the death of his wife, he has raised both of them mostly on his own.

Ken and Abby were raised in a remote location in Cape Cod. They spend most of their time together until their relationship develops into something more complicated. As adults their relationship has become strained with neither of them not knowing exactly what went wrong and how to move forward.

Even though years later the siblings still spend a lot of time together, they still end up resenting or arguing with each other.  Ken is a successful real estate developer who plans to run for political office. By all accounts, he has a successful life and a perfect family. He is married to Abby’s best friend, Jenny. Abby is a talented visual artist and works as a teacher to supplement her income. She depends on her brother’s goodwill for her survival because he owns the studio that she lives and works in.

In 2016, Adam is approaching his milestone birthday,  and is faced with his fading relevance at work and his mortality. He has always managed his bipolar disorder with medication but he wants to leave a mark  and make one last scientific breakthrough. He decides to stop taking his medication even though his kids would be upset by his decision in hopes to make one last discovery.  

Adam isn’t the only one who is keeping secrets from his loved ones. Abby and Ken are keeping their own secrets from everyone and there is a mysterious person connected to the family, Steph, who keeps her presence a secret. She tries to get to know the family without telling them her true motives. As Adam's birthday approaches, each of his children plan on personal and elaborate gifts for their father in hopes that Adam knows how much he is loved, while Adam is more focused on the whales in the deep sea than his family.

The book is told from alternating viewpoints of each of the characters. Each of the characters is multi-faceted and flawed. The story takes time to develop as it goes into each character’s backstory and motivations along with how their daily life progresses. At times, I felt like the story developed too slowly for my liking. 

The story doesn’t have any surprise twists that weren't easy to guess. It took a bit for me to get into the plot, especially Adam’s story, but once I read more, I was invested in each character’s journey.  I was hoping that there would be a big reveal but the ending was predictable with a few things that weren't resolved in the end.  I felt that there was a lot going on in the book and it could be narrowed down to give more closure at the end. If you like cozy beach reads about family drama, then you will enjoy this book.

 

Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Book Review - The Birthday Girl by Melissa de la Cruz

 

Before Ellie de Florent-Stinson became renowned fashion designer, she was a trailer park teen about to turn sixteen. Ellie plans a big celebration for her birthday but, her night doesn't go exactly as she planned. Ellie is celebrating her fortieth birthday and it appears that Ellie has everything she ever wanted. She has a successful business, an accomplished stepdaughter, a handsome husband, and beautiful children. She has several homes and huge circle of well-to-do friends.

However, not everything is what it seems. Ellie is keeping secrets from family and friends. She is struggling to keep all her skeletons buried. She fears all her secrets might be expose on her big night with all her old and new friends at her party. As Ellie's carefully curated life begin to crumble, will she be able to survive the aftermath?
 
This novel was a boring waste of time. The book was filled with fillers and lacked substance just like its vapid characters. I couldn't find a single thing I enjoyed about the book. This seems like a type of novel that takes a few weeks to create because there really isn't any story. The one "twist" could be seen miles away. This book isn't a thriller but, a fluff piece.

Monday, July 2, 2018

Book Review - The Dinner List by Rebecca Serle

Photo Credit - Amazon

Imagine for one dinner, you can invite any five people,  dead or alive, to have dinner with you. While the possibility is endless, most people already have a set list of people, they would choose. "The Dinner List", is about a young woman, who on her thirtieth birthday is surrounded by her five chosen dinner companions. Sabrina, at first, is bewildered to be surrounded by these people, especially by, Audrey Hepburn's presence. However, she quickly learns, there is a reason, why everyone has gathered here. Will Sabrina be able to figure out the reason behind the dinner? 

The novel had an interesting premise about choices people make. As we learn in the novel, each of the characters has a specific reason for being there. I felt the novel was well done, even if it was a bit predictable. The characters were all lovable and flawed but readers can't help to love them. I found the ending to be interesting and different. I am looking forward to reading other books by the author. 

**Disclosure - I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion**

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Philosophy Vanilla Birthday Cake Shower Gel, Shampoo and Bubble Bath


Photo Source - Sephora


The soft scented shower gel smelled like vanilla cake batter. The scent did not last long after leaving the bottle, which was very disappointing. The shower gel did moisturize the skin but the lather was quite poor. It is a nice calorie free way to treat yourself.