Reading

First Lines Fridays: December 20, 2019

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First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

  • Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
  • Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
  • Finally… reveal the book!

First Lines:

The forest had become a labyrinth of snow and ice.

Did the quote pique your interest? View this book on Goodreads!

Review: Holly Banks Full of Angst by Julie Valerie

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Holly Banks has just moved to the Village of Primm, a charming suburb full of topiaries, homemade cherry pie, and pinterest-ready porches. But Holly’s life is hectic and messy, the opposite of Primm-perfect. She worries — about her husband, about her mom, about her film career, and so much more. Can Holly find a way to become more Primm or will everything fall apart?

Rating:  ★★★☆☆ – liked it
Genre:  women’s lit, fiction
Pros:  funny, satirical, Mary-Margaret St. James, Psychic Betty
Cons:  slightly stressful, Jack

Prepare yourself for a book where everyone is at least a little bit crazy! Holly Banks Full of Angst is a funny, satirical look at suburban life.

I rated this three stars because it was good, but it was also a little stressful. It’s well written and made me laugh a lot, but from time to time while reading I found myself picking up on Holly’s stress and feeling stressed myself. Holly Banks was indeed full of angst, but I would have appreciated a break or two from the angst-y nature of her brain.

The caricature-characters that fill the pages of this book will have you laughing out loud and rolling your eyes. If you grew up in one of those neighborhoods where everyone knew everyone and everyone’s business, you will definitely recognize several characters from your own life.

I recommend this book to fans of women’s lit, satire, or psych majors who need to study some genuine loonies.

Mini-Review: The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale

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★★★☆☆ – liked it

UPDATE:  Having read this again…. I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much. There’s a lot that just made me uncomfortable actually…. I have changed the rating to 3 stars, but I will probably never read this again.

I was so hesitant to read this because I was afraid it wouldn’t be as good as Hale’s YA/Middle Grade books that I had loved since I was younger. I was so dumb. I should have known better than to doubt Shannon Hale’s ability to sweep me up in a beautiful story.

If you want a novel with healthy relationships and a focus on platonic love, read The Actor and the Housewife ASAP.