Review: Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner

Looking for the perfect beach read this summer? Well look no further. This latest offering from Jennifer Weiner is just the thing for lounging with your toes in the sand. Actually, that’s exactly where I started it and finished it two days later. It was that good!

Bethie and Jo, Jo and Bethie. Sisters. Such a complicated word full of implications. Their lives have not been easy, and their relationship has not been ideal. But they’ve always been there for each other through a multitude of tragedies and dramas.

Over the course of their lifetimes, their paths crisscross back and forth between what they dreamed for themselves and what reality gives them. Each sister finds herself at odds with what she’d imagined for her life. There are struggles with sexuality, childhood traumas, family deaths, difficult and overbearing parents, lost loves, and so much more.

This book is so much. It’s a reflection on changing times as we begin in 1950’s era Detroit and end in the year 2016. Society changes, both a lot and not so very much at the same time. It’s a tale of family, whatever that may be. I found myself pulled in from the very first page. When the journey came to an end, I was at a loss. Definitely five stars!

~Thalia

Buy It Now: Mrs. Everything

Review: Cure by Brenda Zalegowski

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Warning:   If you are expecting an in-depth review of this book with complete character analysis and a detailed plot summary, you’ve come to the wrong place.  If, however, you’re looking for a simple directive to read an outstanding book, then carry on.

Let me also preface this very short, brief review by saying that you really must read Brenda’s debut novel, Behind the Falls.  Yes, it’s the precursor to this outstanding story.  And no, it’s not imperative to understanding and loving Cure.  But it will help you fall in love with the characters even more.

This is a story of love and loss, things that we are all familiar with.  Love never comes easy, but then most things worth having never do.  And young love, teen love especially, is that much more difficult.  There are tears and there are smiles.  There are lives lost and lives saved.  And there’s closure, of some sort at least.  Yes, you’ll recognize many of the characters from the first story.  And you’ll meet some new ones.

And that’s all you’re going to get.  I’ve never been one to write a synopsis of a story and call it a review, but I do usually give a bit more than you’re getting with this one.  But I just can’t with this one.  You’ll just have to trust me.  Read Behind the Falls.  And then read this one.

~Thalia

Buy It Now:  Cure