Five Star Friday - A Good Girl's Guide to Murder

This week's Five Star read was read by Jay! 

Amazon

Synopsis from Goodreads: The case is closed. Five years ago, schoolgirl Andie Bell was murdered by Sal Singh. The police know he did it. Everyone in town knows he did it.

But having grown up in the same small town that was consumed by the murder, Pippa Fitz-Amobi isn't so sure. When she chooses the case as the topic for her final year project, she starts to uncover secrets that someone in town desperately wants to stay hidden. And if the real killer is still out there, how far will they go to keep Pip from the truth?

Genre? Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller

Backlist? Yes. Published May 2, 2019.

New to me Author? Yes.

Why I rated it 5 stars? 

Honestly, I saw a little bit of myself in Pippa. She is in her senior year of high school and she's a bit of a perfectionist and an over-worker/over-thinker. She strives to be her best and she's working on an amazing senior capstone project. Little does she know, this project is about to take over her life in a big way. 

Pippa doesn't believe Sal really murdered Andie. But to the rest of the town, there's no way it WASN'T Sal. Pippa sets off on a journey to try to figure out if she can prove Sal's innocence. Another thing we have in common - I think that would be amazing. Pippa is a bit of a True Crime junkie and I'm a self-proclaimed Murderino. I was invested from the beginning. 

I honestly did not see what was coming at the end. Things twisted and turned more than I expected, but in such a good way. Holly Jackson ties up all the loose ends in a complex, though not outlandish way. I went into this book pretty blindly, but I loved it and now I'm looking forward to the next book in the series. 

The Switch by Beth O'Leary

   Thank you to NetGalley for my free audio eARC! All opinions are my own.

Amazon

Synopsis from Goodreads: 

A grandmother and granddaughter swap lives in The Switch, a charming, romantic novel by Beth O’Leary.

When overachiever Leena Cotton is ordered to take a two-month sabbatical after blowing a big presentation at work, she escapes to her grandmother Eileen's house for some long-overdue rest.

Eileen is newly single and about to turn eighty. She'd like a second chance at love, but her tiny Yorkshire village doesn't offer many eligible gentlemen.

So they decide to try a two-month swap.

Eileen will live in London and look for love. She’ll take Leena’s flat, and learn all about casual dating, swiping right, and city neighbors. Meanwhile Leena will look after everything in rural Yorkshire: Eileen’s sweet cottage and garden, her idyllic, quiet village, and her little neighborhood projects.

But stepping into one another's shoes proves more difficult than either of them expected. Will swapping lives help Eileen and Leena find themselves…and maybe even find true love? In Beth O'Leary's The Switch, it's never too late to change everything....or to find yourself.

Genre? Contemporary Romance

Backlist? No. This was just published August 18, 2020.

New to me Author? Yes

What did I think? The Switch was a cute story, based in England, about a family (most specifically, a daughter and her grandmother, though her mother and sister play a decent sized roll as well) navigating their way through loss and grief. When Leena is given a two month sabbatical from her job, where she spends almost all of her time, she decides to go home to rural Yorkshire and spend the time at her grandmother, Eileen's house. However, Eileen needs some time away herself, so she goes and lives at Leena's for that time.

Throughout these two months, both women go through tremendous growth in figuring out who they are. Leena has been working so much and trying to control everything as a way to bury her grief. With the help of the "neighborhood watch" and all of the tasks Eileen left behind, Leena learns a lot about herself and becomes a new person. 

I really liked that this story was written through the eyes of both characters, alternating chapters. It was fun to see what each woman was up to at a certain point in time. I also enjoyed the phone calls between them, especially on audiobook. The way the audiobook was produced made it seem like you really were on the receiving end of a phone call.

The concept is pretty cliche and Hallmark-y, but it was still a fun read (or listen)! 3.25/5 stars.

Five Star Friday - Night

 This week's Five Star read was read by Jay! 

Amazon

Synopsis from Goodreads: Born in the town of Sighet, Transylvania, Elie Wiesel was a teenager when he and his family were taken from their home in 1944 to Auschwitz concentration camp, and then to Buchenwald. Night is the terrifying record of Elie Wiesel's memories of the death of his family, the death of his own innocence, and his despair as a deeply observant Jew confronting the absolute evil of man. This new translation by his wife and most frequent translator, Marion Wiesel, corrects important details and presents the most accurate rendering in English of Elie Wiesel's testimony to what happened in the camps and of his unforgettable message that this horror must simply never be allowed to happen again.

Genre? Non-fiction, Classic, Memoir, Historical

Backlist? Yes. It was first published in 1956.

New to me Author? Yes.

Why I rated it 5 stars? 

I lack the proper vocabulary to explain how powerful this book was to me. I've always heard about how great it was but: A) I don't really read the Classics (I'm trying to start though!) and B: I don't much care for historical novels, fiction or non-fiction. However, when this became available at my library I decided to give it a shot.

It was breath-taking in both the best and the worst ways. The best, because Elie Wiesel had such a way with words and with writing. He includes every detail of the things he experienced in Auschwitz. That's the worst part - the astonishing things that Elie was put through were heartbreaking. None of it was necessarily ground-breaking, new information, but it hits just the same every time you hear about or read another survivor's story. 

This book was a quick read. I actually listened to the audiobook version and I cried my way through it in one sitting. 5/5 Hands Down.

Jay's Book Challenge by Erin 13.0 Final Tally

Remember the post a few months ago where I told you about my Book Challenge by Erin 13.0 list? 

If you've forgotten, twice a year, I like to take part of a fun reading challenge called Book Challenge by Erin. There are ten categories and you get to choose your own book. The only rules are: you have to start and finish the book within the timeframe of the challenge, books must be over 200 pages, only one re-read allowed.

Before this, I had only successfully completed this challenge twice (once being earlier this year!), but I made 13.0 another success by squeezing in my last completed book just hours before the deadline. Here are a look at the books I chose or changed and what I rated them. 

Freebie - Read any book that's at least 200 pages: Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evanovich 

☕☕☕☕

Starts with an "S": Sizzlin' Sixteen by Janet Evanovich ☕☕☕☕

Preposition in the Title: The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver ☕☕☕☕

Odd Number in a Series: Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich ☕☕☕☕

Set in a Different Country: The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye by David Lagercrantz ☕☕☕.25

Female Police Officer/Detective: Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich (I was told a bounty hunter worked) ☕☕☕☕

Immigrant Main Character: The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez 

☕☕☕☕☕

"Thing" in Title: Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin (Yes, I'm aware of the controversy with her, but I've owned this for a long time)

Cleo McDougal Regrets Nothing by Allison Winn Scotch ☕☕☕.75

October themed: Home Before Dark by Riley Sagar

The Shadows by Alex North ☕☕☕

City/Town/Village in Title: Misadventures of a City Girl by Meredith Wild ☕☕☕

October Reading Round-Up

Wow! How is October already over? Is Christmas tomorrow? Who knows. But what we do know is how much we love talking books. Here's a look at the books we loved, didn't love, read, rated, or DNF'd this month!

Jay's Reads (10):

What I Rated Them:
The Beauty in Breaking ☕☕☕☕.75

Truly Madly Guilty ☕☕

Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus ☕☕☕☕

The Gifted School ☕☕☕

Al Capone Throws Me a Curveball ☕☕☕☕

Night ☕☕☕☕☕

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder ☕☕☕☕☕

My Sister, the Serial Killer ☕☕☕☕.25

Never Let You Go ☕☕☕☕.5

Cleo McDougal Regrets Nothing ☕☕☕.75

Favorite Read:
I can't choose between Night or A Good Girl's Guide to Murder. They were both five stars but for wildly different reasons. 

Honorary mention to Never Let You Go. That book was really good! I didn't want to put it down and I automatically went and checked out another by the same author. 

Least Favorite Read:
Truly Madly Guilty

DNF?:
None this month! I'm getting better....

Rolling over to next month: 

The Friend Zone

The Gambler
Craigslist Confessional

Go See the Principal

Heart Bones

Meg's Reads (7):

What I Rated Them: 
Life and Other Inconveniences ☕☕☕☕

Our Stop ☕☕☕

Good Enough ☕☕☕

Up in the Treehouse ☕☕☕☕

Where the Crawdads Sing ☕☕☕

Big Summer ☕☕☕☕

Wyoming ☕

Favorite Read: Life and Other Inconveniences

Least Favorite Read: Wyoming

DNF: Nada. 

Carrying Over to Next Month:
Johnny Cash the Life
Beach Read 

Under the Bleachers