Dona's Book Blog

Thank you to the author Olivia Worley, and publishers Wednesday Books, for an advance copy of PEOPLE TO FOLLOW. Thank you also to NetGalley for the widget. All views are mine. Three (or more) things I loved: 1. The details are really doing it for me and possibly even glue this story together. 2. Elody is a very interesting piece of character work! ( But that linguistic quirk ("Babe!") of hers becomes annoying bordering on rage-inducing.) Three (or less) things I didn't love: This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love" or some interpretation thereof. 1. I don't really believe the story parameters; even the producer in the book says how unbelievable and unprofessional it is that producers would leave all these people alone on this island. And yet, the story proceeds with those parameters. 2. There are so many different perspectives,  and with the exception of Elody...

Thank you to the author Lauren North, publishers Bookouture, and as always NetGalley, for an advance digital copy of SHE SAYS SHE'S MY DAUGHTER. We’re almost there. Trepidation burns like acid in my veins. Suddenly, I’m not so sure we should be rushing. I’m not so sure I want to know. p249 This but, it turns out, is many things. It is part women's fiction, with the FMC's question throughout the book of healing from loss and hetting to a better place. It is part psychological thriller: who is pulling the strings of the vulnerable characters in this book, and keeps everything moving forward? What motivates them? What ripples might their actions leave behind? I don't alway care for the armchair psychology like that found in some of the later chapters in this book. Sometimes the narrator and characters accidentally seriously stigmatize common mental illnesses or psychological issues when it seems they are trying to be informative. The book is very good besides t...