Book Reviews – Page 2 – Zakiya N. Jamal

ARC Book Review: Kids of Appetite

Posted on September 15, 2016September 8, 2016 by Zakiya N. Jamal in ARC Reviews, Book Reviews, Books to Buy

Synopsis:

Victor Benucci and Madeline Falco have a story to tell.
It begins with the death of Vic’s father.
It ends with the murder of Mad’s uncle.
The Hackensack Police Department would very much like to hear it.
But in order to tell their story, Vic and Mad must focus on all the chapters in between.

This is a story about:

1. A coded mission to scatter ashes across New Jersey.
2. The momentous nature of the Palisades in winter.
3. One dormant submarine.
4. Two songs about flowers.
5. Being cool in the traditional sense.
6. Sunsets & ice cream & orchards & graveyards.
7. Simultaneous extreme opposites.
8. A narrow escape from a war-torn country.
9. A story collector.
10. How to listen to someone who does not talk.
11. Falling in love with a painting.
12. Falling in love with a song.
13. Falling in love.

Purchase From:

Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository

Review

*I received a free advanced reader’s copy of this book from First in Line and B-Fest. This did not influence my review of this book in anyway. This is an honest review of the novel as I saw it. This novel will be released on September 20, 2016.*

If Coco was here she would say, “Did you have any intention of reading this book? Tell the truth.” To which I would say, “No CoCo I actually didn’t plan on reading Kids of Appetite, it just fell in my lap.” Because that’s the truth. I won this book at B-Fest and although I was so happy to win an ARC I had never heard of David Arnold before and I had no idea what I was in for. But free books are free books so I happily took my winnings home, put it on a shelf, and then left it there for months on end.

Until a few days ago when something compelled me to take this book off my shelf just to see what it was all about. Intrigued by the synopsis you can read above I literally stood in front of my bookshelf (mind you it was at least after midnight at this point in time; I had just finished another book) and began to read and was immediately sucked in just with the cast of characters. How many books begin with a cast of characters? Not many. And I needed to know more about these interesting characters and why people were being referred to as chapters. So I dived in and couldn’t put this book down.

First of all, the characters in this book are so well done and I loved all the Kids of Appetite. There’s of course Vic and Mad who tell the story in alternating first person point of views. Then you have the brothers, Baz and Zuz, and then the youngest of the group, Coco. Also, can I get a nice slow clap for the diversity in this book? Arnold, I applaud you. I don’t want to give anything about anything so sorry if this is vague but just know that Arnold put together an amazing cast of characters and did so really well. He deals with two important subjects and handles them flawlessly. Honestly, reading his author’s note at the end made me cry because you can practically feel how much he cared about getting this story right.

Kids of Appetite was the perfect mix of tragedy and comedy (which is apparently called a tragicomedy). It was heartfelt, the romance was there but not in a cheesy way, and it was just the right amount funny that didn’t make it feel like it was trying to hard. I liked the running themes throughout the book, like Vic’s Super Racehorse idea and CoCo’s use of “frakking” as a substitute for the f-word. I also liked how the plot fit together and everything came together in the end. I was definitely surprised and I also appreciated the fact that this book wasn’t as predictable as I thought it would be. In summary I just really loved this book, okay?

Anyway, I’m going to go grab Mosquitoland because apparently someone forgot to tell me that David Arnold is an amazing writer. In the meantime everyone go pre-order this book.

Stars:

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Book Review: A Study in Charlotte

Posted on April 12, 2016May 11, 2016 by Zakiya N. Jamal in Book Reviews, Books to Buy

Synopsis from Amazon:

Jamie Watson has always been intrigued by Charlotte Holmes; after all, their great-great-great-grandfathers are one of the most infamous pairs in history. But the Holmes family has always been odd, and Charlotte is no exception. She’s inherited Sherlock’s volatility and some of his vices—and when Jamie and Charlotte end up at the same Connecticut boarding school, Charlotte makes it clear she’s not looking for friends.

But when a student they both have a history with dies under suspicious circumstances, ripped straight from the most terrifying of the Sherlock Holmes stories, Jamie can no longer afford to keep his distance. Danger is mounting and nowhere is safe—and the only people they can trust are each other.

*This book is part of my POPSUGAR 2016 Reading Challenge.*

Honestly, I don’t have a lot of knowledge about Sherlock Holmes. I definitely saw one of the movies with Robert Downey Jr. but that was about it. I’ve never even read the books and I don’t watch Sherlock. Still, when I heard about this book I desperately wanted to read it. I don’t know what but I’ve always liked Sherlock Holmes, just from a distance. Anyway, when I was finally able to grab it from the library I was super excited and immediately dived in. Thankfully, it did not disappoint.

The book is told in the point of view of James Watson, who prefers to be referred to as Watson but people keep calling him Jamie. He’s sent to an American boarding school in Connecticut where Charlotte Holmes is currently attending school. Watson has fantasied about meeting Charlotte his whole life and he imagines the great adventures they’ll go on together just like their ancestors did. Of course, things don’t happen exactly like that.

Instead, one of their fellow classmates is found dead and Charlotte and Watson are the primary suspects. But luckily for Watson, Charlotte is a Holmes at heart and she’s got a plan. However, this mystery is not as cut and dry as it first seems.

I absolutely loved this book. I loved Watson’s descriptions and how he interacts with Charlotte. His narration of the books was really fun to read and Charlotte’s character is very interesting. Like I said I don’t have much experience with the original Holmes but I think the author did a great job capturing the characteristics of Charlotte and Watson in comparison to their ancestors.

At one point Watson’s father even gives him a sort of guidebook on how to handle a Holmes and it’s hilarious. Also, the author didn’t make this book too juvenile, which I really liked. The mystery was very real and the villain was diabolical. Plus Charlotte has a lot of issues she has to work through and the author didn’t sugar coat that at all.

Honestly, this book was fantastic and now I’m impatiently waiting for the next book. Oh and the epilogue of this book will give you all the feels. I won’t say why because even though it’s not really a spoiler I still don’t want to spoil it. In summary, definitely read this book.

Borrow or Buy: Buy!

Stars:

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Book Review: The Love That Split The World

Posted on April 7, 2016July 12, 2016 by Zakiya N. Jamal in Book Reviews, Books to Borrow

Synopsis from Amazon:

Natalie’s last summer in her small Kentucky hometown is off to a magical start…until she starts seeing the “wrong things.” They’re just momentary glimpses at first—her front door is red instead of its usual green, there’s a pre-school where the garden store should be. But then her whole town disappears for hours, fading away into rolling hills and grazing buffalo, and Nat knows something isn’t right.

That’s when she gets a visit from the kind but mysterious apparition she calls “Grandmother,” who tells her: “You have three months to save him.” The next night, under the stadium lights of the high school football field, she meets a beautiful boy named Beau, and it’s as if time just stops and nothing exists. Nothing, except Natalie and Beau.

I didn’t love this book like I thought I would. I almost didn’t finish it but after I finished reading Maybe Someday I returned to it at the advise of many people on Instagram. However, it’d be wrong to say this is a bad novel. It’s not. Emily Henry crafted a well-written and thought provoking novel. It just wasn’t the book for me.

Throughout most of her life Natalie has received visits from a mysterious woman she refers to as “Grandmother.” One night during Natalie’s senior years of high school “Grandmother” warns Natalie that she only has three months to save “him” but of course, “Grandmother” doesn’t explain who the “him” she’s referring to is.

Enter Beau, an equally mysterious character that suddenly appears in Natalie’s life. And I mean that literally. He just pops up on the football field and Natalie’s the only one that sees him. Soon Natalie’s life is getting more and more strange. She’s seeing things that aren’t really there and what she thought was there one moment suddenly disappears. Beau seems to be the key to all of Natalie’s problems but she’s not sure exactly how everything’s connected and Natalie believes she must find “Grandmother” to get answers.

Unfortunately, after “Grandmother” gave Natalie the warning she didn’t come back. But with the support of her best friend who believes “Grandmother” is some version of God, and the help of a mysterious woman “Grandmother” tells Natalie to find, Natalie may be able to finally figure out the truth. But will she be too late to save someone’s life?

The cloud of mystery surrounding this novel was way too much for me. And I wasn’t at all interested in “Grandmother’s” stories and kept skimming through them even though I knew they were important to the book as a whole. I just couldn’t care enough to read them. I was bored. My favorite scenes were when Natalie was with Beau or talking to her best friends.

I think The Love That Splits The World falls into the magical realism category and I now know I don’t like this type of book. I didn’t like all the theoretical aspects of this book and although I think Henry did a great job of explaining why Natalie and Beau were the way they were in the end, a part of me just wished it wasn’t so complicated.

Like I said, I really wanted to like this book. I just couldn’t get into it. However, I can see why other people loved it. This one just wasn’t for me.

Borrow or Buy: Borrow.

Stars:

Favorite Line:

It’s true that nothing has the potential to hurt so much as loving someone, but nothing heals like it either.

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Book Review: Love Lies Beneath

Posted on January 26, 2016May 11, 2016 by Zakiya N. Jamal in Book Reviews, Books to Buy

Synopsis from Simon & Schuster:

Tara is gorgeous, affluent, and forty. She lives in an impeccably restored Russian Hill mansion in San Francisco. Once a widow, twice divorced, she’s a woman with a past she prefers keeping to herself.

Enter Cavin Lattimore. He’s handsome, kind, charming, and the surgeon assigned to Tara following a ski accident in Lake Tahoe. In the weeks it takes her to recover, Cavin sweeps her off her feet and their relationship blossoms into something Tara had never imagined possible. But then she begins to notice some strange things: a van parked outside her home at odd times, a break-in, threatening text messages and emails. She also starts to notice cracks in Cavin’s seemingly perfect personality, like the suppressed rage his conniving teenage son brings out in him, and the discovery that Cavin hired a detective to investigate her immediately after they met.

Now on crutches and housebound, Tara finds herself dependent on the new man in her life—perhaps too much so. She’s handling rocky relationships with her sister and best friend, who are envious of her glamour and freedom; her prickly brother-in-law, who is intimidated by her wealth and power; and her estranged mother. However perfect Tara’s life appears, things are beginning to get messy.

*This book is part of my POPSUGAR 2016 Reading Challenge.*

I absolutely love Ellen Hopkins and there’s only one book of hers I haven’t read yet but I’m hoping to change that soon. Anyway, the point it, when I discovered she had a new book out that was written in prose instead of her typical poetic style was over the moon.

I’m a big fan of Hopkin’s poetic style of writing, which is why when I discovered Love Lies Beneath was written in prose I was shocked but also intrigued because it’s new. And although the book is mainly written in prose we do get a poem every couple of chapters. But if I’m being honest, which I always am, I could’ve done without them because I felt like they took me out the story and didn’t really add anything.

If you don’t know anything about this book (because truthfully I didn’t until I stumbled upon it in the library) it’s Hopkin’s third adult novel and follows Tara, a forty year old woman who’s been divorced three times. And she’s filthy rich.

Tara also comes a pretty tough background. She grew up with just her sister, mom, and whatever boyfriend her mother had the time. Her mother wasn’t the best, to say the least, and all Tara ever wanted to do was leave her mother and past behind, which is exactly what she did.

I really liked this book. It kept me on the edge of my seat to the very end. I never knew what to expect or who to trust. Everyone was suspicious to be and Hopkins still somehow managed to hit me with a big surprise in the end. Unbelievable. Seriously, Hopkins is one of the greatest storytellers I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading and if you haven’t read any books by her yet I definitely recommend this one (and all the others!).

Really, though, this novel was excellent. It was mysterious, sexy, and I couldn’t put it down. Definitely give it a read!

Borrow or Buy: Buy!!!

Stars:

Favorite Line:

“Even as a kid I had to be the adult.”

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Book Review: Attachments

Posted on November 17, 2015November 16, 2015 by Zakiya N. Jamal in Book Reviews, Books to Buy

Synopsis from Amazon.com:

Beth Fremont and Jennifer Scribner-Snyder know that somebody is monitoring their work e-mail. (Everybody in the newsroom knows. It’s company policy.) But they can’t quite bring themselves to take it seriously. They go on sending each other endless and endlessly hilarious e-mails, discussing every aspect of their personal lives.

Meanwhile, Lincoln O’Neill can’t believe this is his job now- reading other people’s e-mail. When he applied to be “internet security officer,” he pictured himself building firewalls and crushing hackers- not writing up a report every time a sports reporter forwards a dirty joke.

When Lincoln comes across Beth’s and Jennifer’s messages, he knows he should turn them in. But he can’t help being entertained-and captivated-by their stories.

By the time Lincoln realizes he’s falling for Beth, it’s way too late to introduce himself.

What would he say . . . ?

I had never read a book by Rainbow Rowell until I read Fangirl and since that was a masterpiece I knew I needed to read more. After looking around and hearing that Eleanor & Park was the greatest book ever, I naturally chose to read Attachments because I dare to be different.

First of all, I love Lincoln. He’s so weird and quirky and awkward and just plain adorable. Of course if this is real life and someone did this to me I’d probably be totally freaked out but that’s great thing about fiction. In this context all of Lincoln’s seemed kind of romantic.

Plus, the way the story is set up we follow Lincoln for most of it and only see Beth through her emails with Jennifer. Therefore I couldn’t help but feel sympathetic for Lincoln. If this was told from Beth’s point of view I might’ve felt differently but because I got to know Lincoln and understand his romantic history and why he does the things he does, I actually really liked him.

And I loved Beth and Jennifer. I kind of liked their emails more than the chapters that were about Lincoln, to be honest. They’re so funny and honest with each other and the way they emailed each other is the way I usually text my best friends.

Overall, I really liked the book. The ending was a little to abrupt for me but otherwise this one was a winner. Fangirl is better though.

Borrow or Buy: Buy! This is one you’ll want on your shelf.

Stars:

Favorite Line:

`“He knew why he wanted to kiss her. Because she was beautiful. And before that, because she was kind. And before that, because she was smart and funny. Because she was exactly the right kind of smart and funny. Because he could imagine taking a long trip with her without ever getting bored. Because whenever he saw something new and interesting, or new and ridiculous, he always wondered what she’d have to say about it–how many stars she’d give it and why.”

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Book Review: Gilded

Posted on October 1, 2015September 30, 2015 by Zakiya N. Jamal in Book Reviews

Synopsis from Amazon.com:

Sixteen-year-old Jae Hwa Lee is a Korean-American girl with a black belt, a deadly proclivity with steel-tipped arrows, and a chip on her shoulder the size of Korea itself. When her widowed dad uproots her to Seoul from her home in L.A., Jae thinks her biggest challenges will be fitting into a new school and dealing with her dismissive Korean grandfather. Then she discovers that a Korean demi-god, Haemosu, has been stealing the soul of the oldest daughter of each generation in her family for centuries. And she’s next.

But that’s not Jae’s only problem.

There’s also Marc. Irresistible and charming, Marc threatens to break the barriers around Jae’s heart. As the two grow closer, Jae must decide if she can trust him. But Marc has a secret of his own—one that could help Jae overturn the curse on her family for good. It turns out that Jae’s been wrong about a lot of things: her grandfather is her greatest ally, even the tough girl can fall in love, and Korea might just be the home she’s always been looking for.

*I received a free digital copy of this book from Skyscape via NetGalley. This did not influence my review of this book in anyway. This is an honest review of the novel as I saw it. This novel is now on sell at Amazon.com.*

According to Amazon, this book has been on my wish list since February 22, 2014. Therefore you can only imagine my excitement when I received a free copy of it. You can then fully understand my disappointment when I didn’t love it.

Now don’t get me wrong, I didn’t hate this book. It had a great plot filled with mystery and a romance that I really enjoyed. But the spark wasn’t there. I was excited to keep reading. I was never on the edge of my seat to find out what would happen next. The protagonist, Jae Hwa, didn’t draw me in. I wanted to feel bad for her and everything she was struggling with but I just didn’t. I couldn’t get invested in her character.

My biggest issue with Jae Hwa was how often she discovered she was wrong about something. “I was wrong. Again,” was one of her most popular lines. At first it was fine because of course she wouldn’t fully understand how to fight against an ancient demi-god that’s been kidnapping the ladies in her family for centuries. Who would? But after a while it just got annoying. At some point you’d think she’d get the hang of things. Or, at least not be so surprised when she was, once again, wrong.

Moreover, her father infuriated me. I could understand why he wouldn’t believe that a demi-god was after his daughter. What I couldn’t understand was him not being around a lot but towards the end of the novel suddenly being really stressed about losing his daughter, especially since he lost his wife to cancer. He was so adamant about how he’d be devastated if something happened to Jae Hwa but dismissed her concerns about living in Korea over and over again. I understand plot wise why he couldn’t very well say, “Yes, Jae Hwa. Let’s leave Korea.” But if that’s the case don’t make it seem like his greatest desire in life is to keep her safe or at least don’t wait until the end of the book to make those feelings evident.

My favorite characters of the whole novel were, Marc, the love interest, and Michelle, the best friend who in my opinion did not get enough scenes in this novel. I really liked Marc. The romance between him and Jae Hwa is mostly what made me push through this novel. And I loved Michelle. She was honest and a little sassy; my favorite combination.

Overall, this book had it’s downfalls but I think the idea behind it was good and maybe it just wasn’t for me. Either way, I’d say if you’re going to read it, borrow it.

Borrow or Buy: Borrow.

Stars:

Favorite Line:

“Disbelief is the root of the impossible.”

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Book Review: Sing You Home

Posted on August 13, 2015August 17, 2015 by Zakiya N. Jamal in Book Reviews

Synopsis from Amazon.com:

In the aftermath of a series of personal tragedies, Zoe throws herself into her career as a music therapist. When an unexpected friendship slowly blossoms into love, she makes plans for a new life, but to her shock and inevitable rage, some people—even those she loves and trusts most—don’t want that to happen.

Sing You Home explores the delicate boundaries of identity, love, marriage, and parenthood. What happens when the outside world brutally calls into question the very thing closest to our hearts: family? Once again, Jodi Picoult gracefully brings the hidden tensions of life sharply into focus in this poignantly honest novel.

I’ve tried to think of a way I could do this review without spoilers and I can’t figure out a way to do that and still give this book the due it deserves. I just think there’s no physical way to do that and really discuss what makes this book so great. Therefore if you don’t want to be spoiled please stop reading here but do yourself a favor and read this book. It’s fantastic.

When I was in high school I read about 12 of Jodi Picoult’s books. I was addicted to her storytelling but after a while it just seemed like all her books ended the same way and I forced myself to stop. However, once I heard about this new book I had to pick it up. I was curious and I remembered how much I enjoyed Picoult’s books in the past. Therefore when I saw Sing You Home on the shelf of my new library I had to pick it up and read it.

A lot happens in this book but the main climax of the story is what makes it so important. Zoe is the center of the novel and all she’s ever wanted was to have kids and have a family. However, this doesn’t come easy for her. She and her husband, Max, struggle for years to have kids. They go to a fertility clinic, do in vitro, and even get pregnant but Zoe has a still born. It’s terrible and I can’t even imagine going through that.

From there it seems Zoe chances of having a child are completely done. I won’t run through the whole plot but in summary she and Max get a divorce, Zoe finds out she has endometrial cancer and she has to get a hysterectomy. Again, all of this isn’t even what makes the story really heart wrenching and thought provoking. It’s what happens after that really made my head turn.

The story is told in three points of view: Zoe, Max, and Zoe’s partner, Vanessa. In case for some strange reason this isn’t obvious Vanessa is, in fact, a woman. Zoe and Vanessa fall in love and Vanessa is ready and willing to carry the baby that Zoe believed she could never have and it’s perfect. Zoe still has three frozen embryos from her time with Max and she believes it won’t be too difficult to get Max to agree to give her the embryos; he doesn’t even want kids.

Unfortunately for Zoe and Vanessa it’s not that easy. Max has recently been saved and under the guidance of his pastor decides to sue Zoe for the embryos so the child/children could be raised in a “traditional family”.

I’m not going to spoil how this ends in case some of you who haven’t read the book have dared to read this review despite my warnings. What I will say is Picoult handled a heavy topic very well and I respect her for it. She could have chosen so many other perspectives in this story and it would have made a completely different book. If she had made the pastor a point of view then all the reader would get is this look at Christian hate, which isn’t very Christian at all.

With Max’s point of view you see his contemplation. His questions about what is right in the eyes of God and why is it if God is love then why is his ex-wife’s new love invalid? I also loved that Vanessa, who’s known she was gay her whole life, was raised in a Catholic household. I liked that Zoe wasn’t sure if she was gay and didn’t like the label even though she loved Vanessa.

Picoult deals with so many issues in this book: gay rights, the Church, the idea of the “traditional family”, belief systems in general, what defines a life, etc. This book had me on a emotional roller coaster the whole way through and I found it interesting getting all three different perspectives. Each one of the narrator’s were such complex characters. I understood Max’s struggles with his faith because I’m a Christian. I understood Zoe’s frustration because I think no woman, even a woman who doesn’t want kids, want’s to be told they don’t have a choice in the matter at all. I can’t say I understand Vanessa’s frustration of this idea that being gay may be tolerated now but it’s still not accepted because that’s not something I personally have to go through. What I will say is Vanessa’s frustration with never being able to be fully comfortable in her skin and always feeling like her sexual identity above all her other characteristics would always define her made my heart break.

If you haven’t read this book yet I seriously recommend it. This one is, without a doubt, a buy.

Borrow or Buy: BUY!!!

Favorite Line:

The only difference between a wish and a prayer is that you’re at the mercy of the universe for the first, and you’ve got some help with the second.

Stars:

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Book Review: Hereafter

Posted on January 2, 2014May 21, 2015 by Zakiya N. Jamal in Book Reviews

I love Kate Brian (aka Kieran Scott). Literally, I’ve read almost every book she’s written and I just believe she’s generally a great person. I hope to meet her in person one day but until then I’m totally happy stalking her on Facebook and Twitter.

That being said it should be no surprise that I loved Hereafter, the latest book in her newest trilogy, Shadowlands.

The premise of this trilogy (*spoilers ahead if you haven’t read Shadowlands yet*) is Rory along with her father and sister, Darcy, were killed by a serial killer who was stalking Rory. The family was supposed to be on their way to a safe haven to hide from their killer, Stephen Nells, but died before they made it. However, they don’t know this and believe that they are actually in a town called Juniper Landing. The truth, however, is that Juniper Landing is a sort of purgatory where souls go until they are either sent to the Shadowlands (hell?) or the Light (heaven?).

Rory, however, is a special case; she is a Lifer. Its her job along with the other Lifers to help these souls get to their next destination. The Lifers themselves, however, never leave unless they did something really terrible. In this second installment of the trilogy things at Juniper Landing are getting weird; there’s changes in nature that shouldn’t be happening and a lot of suspicious activity occurring including more souls going to the Shadowlands than should be.

Plot summary out of the way I thought this book was fantastic. Brian presented an interesting concept with this new trilogy and in an interesting way. Though the majority of the novel is written from Rory’s point of view there are small chapters every few chapters or so that are written from the “villian’s” point of view. In the first novel it was clearly Nell’s point of view but in this novel Brian adds more mystery by not telling us who that is until the end. Or so she leads us to believe.

I’m not sure I trust Brian enough to believe that we’ve fully solved the case in this last novel. She’s left us with a viable suspect and Rory and her friends seem to believe they’ve caught the culprit but I’m not sure I believe it. Or maybe I’m in denial. Who knows?

Sadly, we won’t know for sure until July 22, when the next and last book in the trilogy is released. That’s a book I’ll definitely be pre-ordering to be directly delivered to my Kindle as soon as it’s out.

I would highly recommend reading this book and obviously the first book in this trilogy. Amongst all the death and souls drama this novel also includes love triangles, family drama, mystery, and of course a lot twists that will keep you guessing until the very end.

Brian has continuously succeeded in writing dark and mysterious novels since the success of her Private and spin-off series Privilege books and it’s evident that she has not lost her touch.

Stars: 5 out of 5

Borrow or Buy: Definitely buy. This is a book you’re going want to read again and again looking for more clues. Unless you’re going to borrow it from a friend who you know will let you read it more than once, this is one you’ll definitely want on your own bookshelf.