Tag: book of the month

Book Reviews

Anxious People by Fredrik Bachman

My Reading Nest

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Synopsis

Looking at real estate isn’t usually a life-or-death situation, but an apartment open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes a group of strangers hostage. The captives include a recently retired couple who relentlessly hunt down fixer-uppers to avoid the painful truth that they can’t fix up their own marriage. There’s a wealthy banker who has been too busy making money to care about anyone else and a young couple who are about to have their first child but can’t seem to agree on anything, from where they want to live to how they met in the first place. Add to the mix an eighty-seven-year-old woman who has lived long enough not to be afraid of someone waving a gun in her face, a flustered but still-ready-to-make-a-deal real estate agent, and a mystery man who has locked himself in the apartment’s only bathroom, and you’ve got the worst group of hostages in the world.

Each of them carries a lifetime of grievances, hurts, secrets, and passions that are ready to boil over. None of them is entirely who they appear to be. And all of them—the bank robber included—desperately crave some sort of rescue. As the authorities and the media surround the premises, these reluctant allies will reveal surprising truths about themselves and set in a motion a chain of events so unexpected that even they can hardly explain what happens next. 

My Review

I found this book to be everything a book should be. Funny. Cute. Heartwarming. Mysterious.

Bachman did a great job of keeping some of the mystery alive until the very end. Definitely a character driven story with a large cast of people that you’ll actually get to know really well. It was enjoyable to watch the relationships grow. They were all easy to picture. And I adored getting to know the 10+ people during the course of the story.

To make things even more exciting Netflix is coming out with a series based on this very book! I can’t find a date on when it’ll be out yet – so if you have that info I’d love to get it! Everything I find just says “In Production.” When it does come out I’ll do another review to compare the book with the screen version.

Somethings to be aware of…

  • there is a lesbian couple
  • suicide is talked about
  • there is some violence – the book is about a bank robbery and hostage situation
  • adultery is referred to

I definitely loved this book. Believe it or not, it gave me all the happy feelings that I like when reading a story. And everything was wrapped up at the end – which was incredible because there was a ton of storylines going on here people.

So grab a copy. I bet ya you’ll devour it quickly.

I received this beautiful hardcover book from Book of the Month. Want to try them out? Click here and receive your first book for only $5 – Seriously! What a deal!!!

With the referral link I’ll also receive a book credit with your purchase.

Book Reviews

People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

My Reading Nest

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Synopsis

Poppy and Alex. Alex and Poppy. They have nothing in common. She’s a wild child; he wears khakis. She has insatiable wanderlust; he prefers to stay home with a book. And somehow, ever since a fateful car share home from college many years ago, they are the very best of friends. For most of the year they live far apart—she’s in New York City, and he’s in their small hometown—but every summer, for a decade, they have taken one glorious week of vacation together.

Until two years ago, when they ruined everything. They haven’t spoken since.

Poppy has everything she should want, but she’s stuck in a rut. When someone asks when she was last truly happy, she knows, without a doubt, it was on that ill-fated, final trip with Alex. And so, she decides to convince her best friend to take one more vacation together—lay everything on the table, make it all right. Miraculously, he agrees.

Now she has a week to fix everything. If only she can get around the one big truth that has always stood quietly in the middle of their seemingly perfect relationship. What could possibly go wrong?

My Review

This book was super cute. It had love. it had romance. It had friendship. It had family. It had travel – lots or traveling around the world. What else can you ask for?

It was honestly really hard for me to put down. I easily could’ve read it one sitting but I do most of my reading before bed and for some reason my hubby has this hang-up about the light being on while he’s trying to sleep! Which is why most of books are on my Kindle. This book happens to be a beautiful hardback copy from Book of the Month though. So I waited in suspense each day… until I reached the incredible ending.

The story does take place over a 10 year period and it skips back and forth from the current time to different years in the past. So be aware – if you’re not a fan of this kind of book then I’d do a pass. Cuz the whole book is written this way.

Emily Henry also wrote Beach Reach which I also enjoyed (although not as much as this one). With writing like this she is on my watch list now.

Some things to be aware of:

  • There was some sex – not a lot and it definitely was not graphic
  • There was a homosexual wedding but it was a side story and I didn’t feel like anything was being pushed on the reader

Overall all I LOVED the book. Such a great book to come out during the summer. Especially this summer when we are itching to leave our houses and go some where.

Have you read it? I’d love to find out what you thought of it?