I actually have no idea what I’m going to write about tomorrow. Well maybe a little idea. Anyway, another super busy week, but still a few things read. I’ve got some days off this week which I’m really looking forward to – and plotting some reading time as part of that. I’ve got to get that long-runners list down. It’s starting to get embarrassing.
As I said yesterday, I didn’t get a lot read last week – but I did finally get around to reading Jennette McCurdy’s memoir (it’s only been sitting on the shelf for fourteen months!) and hoooo boy.
Ok, so if you don’t know who Jennette is, she is a former child actress who played one of the lead characters in the Nickelodeon TV series iCarly. She won four kids choice awards for her work on that show – but as this memoir shows, behind the scenes she was suffering from the abusive behaviour of her mother, who was the driving force behind her acting career.
And this is the point where I tell you that this book needs all of the content warnings. All of them. I hadn’t read any in depth reviews but I knew a bit about what I was getting into because I had seen and heard people warning that it was a really traumatic read but even with that I wasn’t prepared for the full awfulness of what Jennette went through. I’ll put some specific warnings at the bottom for those who want to know more. But now you’re probably wondering why on earth I’ve made this my book of the week if it’s such a tough read. Well it’s just so well written and for all of the awfulness of it all, I read it in one sitting on Sunday afternoon.
I have long been convinced that a lot of the time the parents of child stars are exactly the wrong sort of people to be the parents of child stars. And McCurdy’s mother is absolutely proving that theory and then some. Debra died in 2013, but had had cancer on and off since Jennette was a toddler and weaponised this against her children. In Jennette’s case this took the form of forcing her to become an actress and become the main financial support for the family and then abusing and manipulating her throughout her acting career.
I really, really hope that McCurdy is in a better place in her life now. If I have one criticism of this memoir it’s that there is not enough of what Jennette’s life is like now and if she’s doing better to counteract 300 pages of extremely bleak stuff. But I get that she is someone who lived a life she didn’t want and is taking back control by sharing what it was really like behind the scenes in writing this and that part of the point of all the changes that she’s made in recovery is that she now has control of what she does and what people know about her life.
So if you’re feeling resilient and you want to have all your fears about child stars confirmed and then some, this is a really good book to read. But you do need to go in prepared for a lot of awful. If it helps you work out whether you can cope with this or not, I would say this is worse than Tara Westover’s Educated in terms of what Jennette goes through, but also because (as I said a moment ago) you don’t get quite the same payoff in terms of seeing how she has recovered and overcome it all.
You should be able to get hold of this really easily – it won a lot of acclaim when it came out – including Goodreads awards and the like. It was in the bookshops in the UK – even though I don’t think she was a massively big name here – as well as being on Kindle and Kobo. And Jennette herself reads the audiobook version – I had a listen to the sample and it does make it feel even more immediate and awful. So be warned on that front too.
Have a great Tuesday everyone – happy Reading feels a bit appropriate today!
Here are those more specific content warnings I promised you: emotional abuse, sexual abuse, eating disorders, alcoholism, addiction, manipulation,
I cannot tell you how busy last week was. But I am back in home in the UK and attempting to get my body clock back onto GMT. And not going to lie – I didn’t get much read last week – I mostly slept on the flights home rather than using it as reading time and I regret nothing to be honest! Anyway, this week should be a return to slightly more normal service. Possibly.
I said yesterday that whatever I chose today was going to be tricky for one reason or another, so I’ve gone for a rule breaker on the repeat front, rather than tell you (again) how much I love the Peter and Harriet books in the Wimsey series. If you want to know about that, you can go and read this post. So, instead I’m back on the Susan Elizabeth Philips train with a book from her Wynette, Texas series.
This plot is quite a lot, so hold on and bear with me. Our heroine is Cornelia Litchfield Case, widow of the President of the United States and also daughter of a former vice president. She’s found herself being pushed back into the role of First Lady and it’s killing her from the inside. So she gives her secret service minders the slip and escapes DC for a cross country road trip. Our hero is Mat Jorik, a disillusioned journalist whose ex wife has just died and is now taking charge of her children – but only to deliver them to their grandmother on the other side of the country. Nealy and Mat’s paths cross at a service station, and soon they’re on a cross country road trip together -in an RV with a surly teenage girl and a baby. The sparks fly between them – and this is the first time ever Nealy has had the chance to get to know a man who doesn’t know all about her baggage and her background, and who has no expectations of her. What could possibly go wrong?
So this is a road trip romance with a side of found family. I loved Mat from the start – he’s an absolute softie with a heart of gold that he hides behind a bit gruff exterior. And Nealy is one of the more interesting heroines you’ll encounter – her backstory is wild. I wasn’t quite sure how this was going to work itself out at the end, but it did and it was really quite neatly done – although it did all happen quite quickly, which is always annoying. But basically this is a fun read with a bit of an unusual set up and is all the better for it. I have the next two books in the series lined up (because they were on offer, although this was not) so I look forward to reading more of the series – and maybe seeing a bit more of the Wynette of the name!
I have no idea if it’s possible to get this in paperback for a reasonable price – but it’s available on Kindle and Kobo. And yes, I did break my usual pricing rules while buying it, but I’m blaming the jet lag!
Hello from a mystery location, where it is 30+ degrees and very humid and where I can’t get my head around the massive time difference to home and my brain is a little frazzled. I’m on a work trip, so it’s been super busy – and that’s why the list is a little shorter. I have no clue what I’m going to write about tomorrow, because you’ve heard about all of these authors pretty recently but I’m sure I’ll think of something, or break the rules as usual!
Now I didn’t intend for this to be the BotW because I’ve already mentioned it a few times, but it has one of the best grovels that I have recently seen in a romance so I couldn’t help myself so here we are!
How does Athena Grayson find herself living in a tiny house in between her former fiancé and his brother? Well it’s because she impulsively bought the spite house as a wedding gift for her husband before the engagement imploded. Now she’s stuck living in it – attached to her ex’s house and with the man who is the reason her fiancé broke up with her across the alley from her – and visible from every window. So she does what every woman living in a house with spite in the name would do – tries to get petty revenge. Except that Doctor Matthew Vine the Third may not be quite the uptight judgemental jerk she thought he was.
You know where this is going, but I will admit to having my doubts when I read the blurb about how Matthew was going to be redeemable. But luckily it’s pretty clear early on what his issue with his brother’s marriage is and that makes it all better or easier for the reader anyway. This has however got a portrayal of serious depression in it, which there is a warning for at the front so I’m not spoiling anything, and may mean that you need to approach with care depending on your own situation.
This is the first book in Olivia Dade’s new series set in Harlot’s Bay and it sets up a delightful community and set of secondary characters for the reader to revisit in the next books in the series. I’m really interested to see who the next person to get a book is – it feels like it maybe should be Athena’s ex, and yet I’m not sure how I feel about getting on board with him as a hero – he doesn’t seem to fit the sort of hero that Dade creates. So I look forward to seeing what the next one is when we get more information on that – whenever it maybe!
I had my paperback copy preordered, but you can also get it on Kindle and Kobo.
Well this list looks a lot longer than it should because of the short stories from Improbable Meet Cute and a graphic novel. And obviously it has last week’s BotW on it because it was one of those weeks too. I’m off on my travels for work this week – proper travels out of the country – so we’ll see what that does to the list. I’m going to try and get that long running list down, but we will see. Service here should continue as usual though, even if I am in a different time zone.
Yes, yes, yes, I finished it on Monday. It would have been on the train in to work on Monday, but just as I was reading the last couple of percent as we came in on the final stretch into Euston someone phoned me, and it was the train home instead – in fact I was so near the end, I had finished it before the train had finished pulling out of the station!
This is a friends to lovers, fake dating sort of romance where our hero and heroine, Hallie and Jack, meet at a wedding, have a one night stand and then meet again on a dating app. Hallie is trying to get her life back on track after a messy breakup with her high school boyfriend and she and Jack are definitely not interested in each other so make a bet on who can find true love first. And you know where this is going.
I found this really easy to read and a lot of fun. It reminded me a lot of some of the “chick lit” romances I read back in the day and has a nice sense of humour about it. The hero and heroine are quite young, but it didn’t feel quite as New Adult-y as some of the other romances I have read recently with similarly aged couples. But once I had finished reading it and started thinking about it there were a few things that jumped out at me – Jack does some questionable things during the bit of the bet where he’s catching feelings for Hallie, and actually when it comes down to it neither of them have a lot of character beyond being hot and liking tacos. But it’s one of the books where I didn’t notice that in the moment (well except that thing that Jack did where my first thought was “well there’s the final act breakup moment set up”) and it’s funny so I didn’t care too much. But your mileage may vary, depending on how much late 90s/early 00s romance you have read and your feelings and tolerance of that.
This is my first Lynn Painter – I picked it up because it was on offer (yes the Kindle offers post research costing me money again!) and I keep seeing her books recommended. And it was definitely worth 99p, and I’ll have a look out for more from her in Kindle Unlimited as well (there’s one at the moment). It’s in Kindle and Kobo and claims to have a paperback.
A pretty good week all in all. Very busy but some good stuff read amid it all. A distinct romance turn to the list though – but then it was Valentine’s Day so that might only to be expected!
Five books bought – two kindle and three paperbacks. And a preorder arrived too, although that was the Susan Elizabeth Philips, which I read immediately so that’s already off the backlog, so maybe it doesn’t count?!
Bonus photo: it’s starting to get lighter in the mornings on the walk to work. If only it was lighter when I get on the train!
*next to a book book title indicates that it came from NetGalley. ** indicates it was an advance copy from a source other than NetGalley.
I mentioned this on release day the other week, but I really did enjoy it and the list was short last week, so here we are…
When Paul Delamare’s old friend Christian inveigles him into teaching a course at a Belgravia cookery school in his place, he doesn’t expect to end up as the prime suspect in a murder investigation. But that’s what happens when after the first night of the course a body is discovered. And of course it doesn’t help that Paul taught a knife skills class in the first day and everyone knows that chefs are short tempered don’t they? Except that Paul’s pretty sure there are some people with secrets among the people at the school and that they had much better motive and opportunity than he did. And as the course continues alongside the murder investigation, he tries to solve the crime and avoid being arrested for murder himself.
I really liked this. I was hoping it would be good and fun, and it actually exceeded my expectations. And a lot of that is because Paul is a much more interesting character than you expect from the blurb so it makes a change from the usual cozy-crime sleuths. The actual murder mystery plot is also good and plenty twisty enough for me although I’ll admit to having some doubts about the solution. This is written by a cookery writer so it has recipes as well as the murder and .I really liked them too – I know a lot of American mysteries have recipes but they’re often not ones I actually want to cook and of course the measurements are all wrong (how much butter is a stick anyone?) but with these ones I did think “oh that sounds nice”. I hope there is a sequel – there was certainly enough left hanging when it comes to Paul’s life to sustain another book with him at the centre…
My copy came from NetGalley, but as you can see from the photo it’s out in the shops now and should be fairly easy to get hold of in hard copy as well as on Kindle or Kobo.
Verity Reads Books (lots of them) 