Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Publish Date: May 09, 2017

Read Date: 11/18/2018 - 11/27/2018

Rating: ★★★★


" My life, I realized, had gone wrong. Very, very wrong. I wasn't supposed to live like thus. No one was supposed to live like this. The problem was that I simply didn't know how to make it right"

Eleanor Oliphant is a complicated 30 year old woman with a simple life. She arrives to work in the morning and goes home at night to an empty apartment. The small joys she seems to have in her life are her nightly rituals of vodka, her Fridays of vodka and pizza, and her weekly chats with her mom.

Eleanor doesn't have any friends, and doesn't quite know how to handle herself socially. All things considered though, she is completely fine.

On her trip home from work one evening, Eleanor and a newly met co-worker, Raymond from I.T., happened to be in the right place in just the right time to encounter Sammy. Sammy is an elderly man who is in need of medical attention. Raymond and Eleanor rush over to help him.  In typical story book fashion, this leads Eleanor into her most exciting time ever.

Raymond convinces Eleanor to visit Sammy in the hospital, and while there , met his family.

Throughout the course of Sammys recovery, Eleanor and Raymond's friendship begins to blossom. Eleanor begins to grow personally and socially.

It's not all glitter and rainbows for Eleanor. Eleanor believes she has met "the one". The man who will rescue her and make everything better. In true Eleanor fashion, she latches on to this man in an unhealthy made up world. Eventually, it all crashes in.

Eleanor is left in complete despair, contemplating suicide.

To her surprise, Raymond comes through as a miraculous friend, and helps her find the courage to talk to someone and get help.

Eleanor slowly works through her personal traumas and kicks her vodka habit. Eleanor begins to emerge better than she has ever been. She adopts a tortured cat, appropriately named for her favorite vodka. She begins to see that she is loved and cared for and deserves all the good things in life.

*** Personal note:  At the beginning of reading this, I found Eleanor to be quite annoying. The type of person that you would be kind to out of humanity, but silently judge. Don't lie, we all do it. Although, I was not annoyed with her enough to give up on the book, and I am quite glad I didn't. There were many times I found myself relateable to her. The way she feels about situations, sneaks up on you and you feel it with her.***

An Anonymous Girl

An Anonymous Girl By Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

Publish Date: January 9, 2019

Read Date: 11/10/2018-11/15/2018

Rating:  ★★★★

Thank You to St. Martins Press, Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen for an advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review.


"You're invited: Seeking women aged 18-32 to participate in a study on ethics and morality conducted by a preeminent NYC psychiatrist. Generous compensation. Anonymity guaranteed. Call for more details. "


Jessica Farris is a 28 year old make-up artist living paycheck to paycheck. Her dreams of being a theater make-up artist behind her she takes on clients on a case by case basis.

During a client session, Jess learns that her client is passing on a paid study. Jess uses a  to sneak a look at her clients voicemail and get take down the details: “This is Ben Quick, Dr. Shields’s assistant. I’m confirming your appointments this weekend, for tomorrow and Sunday from eight to ten a.m. The location again is Hunter Hall, Room 214. I’ll meet you in the lobby and take you up.”

Jess shows up and and sneaks herself in the study, hoping to make a quick $500.00. Jess becomes "Subject 52".

The first session goes well, Jess reveals a little bit of secrets and returns for the second session. The second session reveals more secrets resulting in Jess being asked to return for more intimate sessions. Being promised adequate compensation, Jess agrees to continue the study.

As Jess delves deeper into the study and becomes more involved in Dr. Shields experiment, she soon learns she is in over her head.

Dr. Shields soon begins dictating how Jess dresses, where she goes and what she does. Even including who she meets and how she approaches and talks to them. Jess blindly follows the Drs requests because she believes it is all part of the study.

Jess slowly begins questioning all of her "jobs" and the trust in the revered Dr begins to fade. Before she can make a clean exit, Jess unknowingly gets caught up in a plot of revenge, second chances, lies and possible murder.

Vox

Vox by Christina Dalcher

Publish Date:  August 21 2018

Read Date:  09/04/2018 - 09/12/2018 

The average person speaks upwards of 20,000 words per day. Yes, you read that correctly TWENTY THOUSAND. Think of all of the general greetings, arguments, messages of hope, love and thankfulness that are all included in those thousands of words we speak daily. Now, narrow your limit to 100 words. A mere 0.5% of the usual vocabulary we use daily. Can you do it? Can you limit your daily spoken words to 100? Well... in this story line.. If you are a woman. You have to.

Dr. Jean McClellan is the top of her field. A renowned Nuerolinguist in the field of study for restoring speech to Wernicke's area of the brain. Dr. McClellan is also a woman. She can no longer work, read, write or surpass 100 words a day. She wears a counter on her wrist that keeps detailed track of all words spoken. She is not the only one.

All women, and girls, in the future United States are stripped of their right to work, read, write and use an expansive vocabulary. If they miscount or purposely go over their allotted 100 words per day, the wrist counter delivers a shock to them, reminding them of their mistake.

Dr. McClellan is at home when she is summoned by the leader of the "Pure Movement" and representatives of the President. The President needs her help, and her expertise. The Presidents brother has reportedly been in an accident causing brain trauma to Wernickes area, stripping him of his access to coherent speech. Dr. McClellan has been tasked with continuing her research to find a cure and cure the Presidents brother. At first, she refuses to comply. She is then presented with the option that should she choose to help, her wrist counter and her daughters will be removed for the duration of the project allowing unlimited access to words. Jean agrees, and is assigned her team.

She fully plans on waiting out the clock, giving her and her daughter as much speech counter- free time as she possibly can manage.

She is given access to her previous research and begins working on her task at hand. She soon learns there is more to the plan than she is being let on to believe. There are 3 teams total. Each team is assigned a different task in the master plan.

One team, the White Team, is meant to develop, test and mass- produce the Anti-Wernickes serum, meant to reestablish verbal communication. This is Dr. McClellans team.

One team, The Gold Team, is meant to develop, test and mass- produce the Wernickes serum, meant to force verbal silence on its intended victim.

and the last team, The Red Team, is meant to ecplore water solubility of Wernickers serum.

It all becomes very clear to Dr. McClellan. She was brought it to create a bioweapon, and its antidote.


With the help of her team, and the Resistance to the Pure Movement, she discovers a way to silence those in power for good, hoping to restore the world as she knows it. However, her plan doesn't go exactly the way she wanted and she may lose someone dear to her.

The Perfect Nanny

The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimani

Publish Date: January 9 2018

Read Date: 08/19/2018 - 09/04/2018

I will start this off by saying that I did not finish this book. The choice for me to not finish a book, is not an easy one. I try to push through to the end irregardless of how much I am enjoying, or not enjoying the book. I was pulled in by the first chapter, then it fell flat and simply confusing.

** THIS IS NOT A COMPLETE REVIEW. THIS BOOK WAS NOT READ IN ITS ENTIRETY****

The Baby is dead. This is the first line you read.


Myriam, a Lawyer, and Paul are busy professionals who decide that the best thing for their family is to bring in a nanny for their 2 children, toddler Mila and baby Adam. After interviewing many, and liking none, the family finds Louise. Louise is the idyllic nanny. She cooks, she cleans, she is excellent with children. It's as if the children are her entire life. Louise becomes so much part of the family that she even accompanies them on vacations.

This is where it all falls apart for me. The chapters are short, simply 2-5 pages each. The book jumps around from past to present with no warning, and no explanation. There is no segue and no flow from one jump to the other. You simply are reading the present at one moment and then about Louises daughter troubles the next.

Based on other reviews and the idea of the book, you gather that somewhere down the line Louise snaps or breaks down and murders the children. While it started off amazing, it fell quickly.

The book could almost be 2 separate books simultaneously. It is hard to follow, frustrating and confusing.


As interested as I was prior to even reading the first chapter I failed to maintain enough interest to continue reading to the end.

Friend Request

Friend Request  by Laura Marshall

Publish Date: September 5th 2017

Read Date: 08/12/2018 - 08/19/2018

Louise Williams is a divorced single mother to 4 year old Henry. Like most people Louise Williams uses Facebook to keep in contact with friends from high school, work and family and to post pictures of her son. 

Jumping back and forth between present day - 2016 and high school days -1989, Louise explains how the death of Maria came to happen. It was prom, there was pranks, and there were drugs. Louise and her best friend Sophia had a plan to slip Maria some drugs as a prank.

In 1989 Louise is in High school. After years of being left out in school, Louise is now friends with the popular girl, Sophia and her crew. In comes new student Maria. Transferred from a different school district, with rumors that followed her. Louise and Maria became friends, though Louise was never able to learn the truth behind the rumors following Maria. Being high school kids. the other students are only happy to spread around the rumors.  Eventually, Louise harshly breaks off the friendship with Maria. As quickly as high school goes by, it is soon prom time. Louise, Sophia and their group decide that they are going to play a prank on Maria during prom and spike her drink with drugs. They never expected Maria to react badly and run off into the woods, and never be seen again.

One seemingly uninteresting day in present day  2016, Louise gets an email so she checks it as she would any other. It's a Facebook friend request from Maria, except there is no way that Louise can be getting a friend request from her. Maria has been dead since high school. Louise knows this to be certain, after all she was part of the plan.. Louise is startled and confused by the request, but decides to accept to see where it goes. Shortly after, Louise begins to get cryptic, threatening messages from Marias Facebook account. Maria uses the friend request and the messages to connect with high school friends lost through the years in an attempt to find out who else has received Marias friend request and if theirs came with messages also. It is through facebook , and the re-connection of old friends that Louise learns of the planned high school reunion. 

While at the reunion a classmate dies, sparking an investigation. Old memories are brought up. Louise is scared of her involvement in the death of Maria coming out, so she scrambles to hide it as best as she can.

In the end, Louise learns the truth about the death of Maria, and the classmate at the reunion and its not at all what she expected.

*** Personal note: This book was an easy read, but I did not find it exactly enjoyable. The characters were hard to connect with, and the story line slow. There was also random entries that could be an blog post or a diary entry, and the writer is never explained. They didn't fit with the rest of the story.

Everything We Give (Everything series #3)

Everything We Give (Everything Series #3) by Kerry Lonsdale  

Publish Date: July 3^rd 2018

Read Date: 07/14/2018 – 07/18/2018

 This book is the third and final installment of the Everything series. While you can read each book as a stand alone, they will make far more sense when read in order. If read as a stand alone, you may be confused and end up with spoilers from the other 2 books in the series. Each book of the Everything series is an individual story, but each story is intertwined with each other creating additional moments not shared and story continueation.

Ian is married to Aimee and they have a daughter Caty. Ian is an award winning photographer who is on a mission to photograph for National Geographic.  A mission that Ian has recently found out he has succeded in. Ian is waiting for just the right time to tell Aimee his exciting news. But with everything going in Aimees life, the potential opening of a new coffee shop and most pressing the return of her ex fiance, James.

James disappeared years ago just before Amiee and James were set to get married.  James was believed to be dead, only to be found alive in Mexico with no idea who he is, living a life as someone else.  Now, James remembers who he is, and who Aimee was to him. This return has caused an interruption in Aimees life and more stress than Ian and Aimee know how to properly handle.

Ian eventually decides to tell Aimee that he has been selected to be an on location photographer for National Geographic and will soon be sent to Spain.  Ian buys plane tickets for both him and Aimee, with the intention of whisking her away from her troubles.  However, those plans quickly change as Aimee begins to hide things from Ian.

Ian packs up and leaves abruptly for Spain.  Aimee decides to meet him, so she boards a plane and off she goes.

Upon returning from spain Ian locates his long lost mother and finds his father.

In the end on relationship is rekindled and another is lost, but will it be who you think it is.

**** Personal attribute ***** I disliked this book the most out of the 3. I felt that the story was drawn out much more than it needed to be and did not resovle or answer any question left over from the previous books.

The Book of Essie

The Book of Essie by Meghan Maclean Weir

Publish Date: June 12 2018

Read Date: 07/19/2018 - 07/21/2018

Esther Ann Hicks (Essie ) is the 17 year old daughter of an Evangelical Preacher on a TV reality show, and the youngest of 6 children of the Hicks family.  Due to the faith of the family, she is strictly regulated and regimented in her daily activities and lifestyle. Every part of her life is broadcast as she is followed by cameras and voice monitors throughout her house. The only privacy she has from the cameras is at school, since they can film only school functions , not on campus. 

The image the family displays is the most important thing, because this is their paycheck, their lively hood. The Hicks children are expected to show their best side and and their best behavior at all times.

Essie has a secret. One that must be dealt with, and hidden from the public veiw.

Essie is pregnant. For now, only a select few know. Her Mother, Celia, has discovered the pregnancy and with the help of the shows producer go through the available options. They have decided on 3 options. They can send Essie out of the country on a “ mission Trip”. They can alow the birth of the child and convince the world that the child is Celias. Or they can go big and marry Essie off,  thus providing a storyline explaining the pregnancy and boosting the ratings.

Essie has learned to listen in on the conversations that occur in the office from one of her sisters. She uses this skill to eavesdrop on the decisions being made on her behalf.

Celia tells Essie that they have decided to marry her off in a quick wedding, and they will need to find a willing counterpart to go along with their plan.

Essie acts the obeident daughter, and agrees to go along with her mothers choice. But, Essie has other plans.

Essie starts showing interest in a boy from her church and her school, Roarke Richards. Quickly her mother gains interest and sets a meeting with Roarkes parents to pitch the wedding plans.

With the promise of financial gain and stability the Richards family agrees to go along with the ruse. Essie and Roarke begin to fabricate the backstory of their relationship, creating pictures and stories in an attempt to present to the public that the relationship is real.

Essie grants infamous investigative reporter Liberty Bell an exclusive on the wedding, in return for a secret favor, and Libertys trust.

The wedding is fast approaching and the plan made by Essie and Roarke is in full effect. They just have to make it through the wedding.

The day of the wedding arrives. Essie and Roarke are married in an extravagant and televised event. After the marriage license is signed and safe in the hands of Liberty Bell, Essie stands in front of the press and begins to speak.

The words spoken shock the world, they cause her mother to faint, and they can’t be taken back.

The truth is out.