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Friday, March 25, 2022

Review: Lessons in Chemistry

Lessons in Chemistry Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I don't know what to say about this fantastic debut novel except WOW!

This is a must-read for BabyBoomers and Millenials alike. This book shows that as difficult it is to be a woman with a career now, you don't have anything over the women who were cracking the doors open for you. However, this is not an easy read and may set off some triggers.

At times this book is funny; at times, it is downright tragic and almost always ends up with you as a woman reader being frustrated. Unfortunately, things like this are still occurring even at the mid-turn of the century.

This book takes place in the late 1950s, then moves on to the early 1960s, when women were just starting to realize their worth as more than just homemakers and mothers. Actually, a lot of this ideology started during WWII, but that is not important to this novel.

But more than a books book about the unfairness to women searching for something different, this is a love story, a mystery, a chic-lit novel, as it were.

This was one of the most fabulous books I have read so far this year. I found myself laughing, crying, frustrated and jumping with joy. I just wish it had been longer.

I highly recommend this book to all readers.

*ARC was supplied by the publisher, Doubleday Books, NetGalley, and the author. Many thanks.
 

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SYNOPSIS:
"A delight for readers of Where'd You Go, Bernadette and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, this blockbuster debut set in 1960s California features the singular voice of Elizabeth Zott, a scientist whose career takes a detour when she becomes the star of a beloved TV cooking show.


Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it's the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel-prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with--of all things--her mind. True chemistry results.

But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America's most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth's unusual approach to cooking ("combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride") proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn't just teaching women to cook. She's daring them to change the status quo.

Laugh-out-loud funny, shrewdly observant, and studded with a dazzling cast of supporting characters, Lessons in Chemistry is as original and vibrant as its protagonist."
 

Thursday, March 24, 2022

Review: Lover Arisen

Lover Arisen Lover Arisen by J.R. Ward
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, so be prepared.

Believe it or not, I was given an ARC for this book via ATTL. But, guess what? They finally sent me the correct one, and if you are an avid fan of this series, you will not want to miss this book. Are there parts I loved? For sure! I love Devina and her Hermes/Birkin addiction. And I looked this particular purse up, and oh my goodness!

Devina is the evil you'd love to be friends with, well that is, if you like to eat human hearts! Devina really defines the fact that this book is more like a horror novel than a romance.

And guess who appears to be back? Oh really? Did you actually think I would spoil this by telling you? Go get the book, for goodness sake.

Oh, there are many, many things going on in this book with so many different people, but it was all easy to keep up with, so much angst:

1) Rahvyn -is she more powerful than The Scribe Virgin? Will she stay? Will she leave? Will she be the 'light' or will she change to the dark?

2)Lassiter - He needs some loving right this very minute! Poor Lassiter.

3)Nate-I don't know what to feel about him. He feels just too young to have a storyline/love of his own right now.

4) Just what is going to happen now that this, ahem, new guy showed up? Will it be the same old same old villains or will we be treated to something even eviler than we have seen to date?



Do I recommend you read the whole series just to read this book? Well, you should, but I found it easy to follow along. There is enough back story to get you through.

Something I'm not so happy with is the sex was just meh. It's almost like Ms. Ward has a formula and copies and pastes it into each book, only changing the names and locations. But, of course, that could just be me, and the fact that I reread all these books in one fell sweep. There was just nothing there to excite me.

Oh, I am leaving out some crucial bits, but you'll have to read the book to find out for yourself, as I said previously!

*ARC Supplied by Simon and Schuster/Gallery Books, Edelweiss/ATTL, and the author J.R. Ward. My thanks.


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SYNOPSIS: "True love brings a deadly threat to the Black Dagger Brotherhood in this sizzling new novel in J.R. Ward’s #1 New York Times bestselling series.

Possessed by the demon Devina, Balthazar is once again on the hunt for the Book of Spells—and fighting an undeniable attraction to a woman. As a thief, he has stolen a lot of things…but he never thought his heart would be taken by another. Especially not a human.

As a homicide detective, Erika Saunders knows there is something otherworldly going on in Caldwell, New York. Mutilated bodies that cannot be explained are all over her case list—and then there are her nightmares in which she’s hunted by shadows and captivated by a mysterious man who is both a suspect and a savior.

When Devina’s wish for true love is finally granted, Balthazar and Erika unwittingly become the gateway for the rebirth of an old enemy of the Brothers. Will the very thing that brings them together lead to the ultimate destruction of the Brotherhood? Or will they have to lose everything in order to save the race’s most sacred defenders?"