Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Pub Date: 1/4/2022

GoodReads Synopsis: When Lux McAllister and her boyfriend, Nico, are hired to sail two women to a remote island in the South Pacific, it seems like the opportunity of a lifetime. Stuck in a dead-end job in Hawaii, and longing to travel the world after a family tragedy, Lux is eager to climb on board The Susannah and set out on an adventure. She’s also quick to bond with their passengers, college best friends Brittany and Amma. The two women say they want to travel off the beaten path. But like Lux, they may have other reasons to be seeking an escape.

Shimmering on the horizon after days at sea, Meroe Island is every bit the paradise the foursome expects, despite a mysterious history of shipwrecks, cannibalism, and even rumors of murder. But what they don’t expect is to discover another boat already anchored off Meroe’s sandy beaches. The owners of the Azure Sky, Jake and Eliza, are a true golden couple: gorgeous, laidback, and if their sleek catamaran and well-stocked bar are any indication, rich. Now a party of six, the new friends settle in to experience life on an exotic island, and the serenity of being completely off the grid. Lux hasn’t felt like she truly belonged anywhere in years, yet here on Meroe, with these fellow free spirits, she finally has a sense of peace.

But with the arrival of a skeevy stranger sailing alone in pursuit of a darker kind of good time, the balance of the group is disrupted. Soon, cracks begin to emerge: it seems that Brittany and Amma haven’t been completely honest with Lux about their pasts––and perhaps not even with each other. And though Jake and Eliza seem like the perfect pair, the rocky history of their relationship begins to resurface, and their reasons for sailing to Meroe might not be as innocent as they first appeared.

When it becomes clear that the group is even more cut off from civilization than they initially thought, it starts to feel like the island itself is closing in on them. And when one person goes missing, and another turns up dead, Lux begins to wonder if any of them are going to make it off the island alive.

Review: Reckless Girls is the second book I’ve read from Rachel Hawkins. I loved The Wife Upstairs so I was really looking forward to reading this one. This thriller takes place on a deserted island and explores theme of trust, troubled pasts, and survival. I had mixed feelings about this book. I really loved the trapped on a deserted island vibe, but the ending was so predictable. I was able to guess the twists and predict the ending from the beginning. In my opinion, the pacing was too slow and I felt that things were repeated multiple times. I’m not sure if I had high expectations for this novel since I loved The Wife Upstairs. However, the book did have me turning the pages since I liked the atmosphere. If you like locked room mysteries, you’ll enjoy this one.

Some people may associate book clubs with celebrity book picks, elderly women, and lots of wine with no discussion of the actual book or something else. But that’s definitely false! Here are 5 reasons why I think you should join a book club:

As we wrap up 2020, reading has certainly been different this year. There were times where I could binge through book after book. Then there were times I have hit reading slumps. Here are my top 12 favorite books in no particular order – these include books published in 2020 and backlist titles that I read this year. I hope you enjoyed reading these as much as I did or that you consider adding these to your TBR list!

Books Published in 2020
Romance: The Trouble with Hating You by Sajni Patel
Fantasy: Hunted by the Sky by Tanaz
Thriller: The Night Swim by Megan Goldin
Contemporary: The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett by Annie Lyons
Nonfiction: Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
Fantasy: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Swab
Fantasy: The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune

Backlist Books I Read in 2020
Fantasy: The Graveyard House by Neil Gaiman
Classic: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Fantasy: A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
Young Adult Contemporary: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Young Adult Fantasy: A Torch Against The Night by Sabaa Tahir

What was one of your favorite books of 2020?

The second book in a series is usually difficult to write if the first book was so successful. There’s also the added pressure of the second book making or breaking the series. Below are my top 4 sequels I loved better than the first book that I’ve read this year.

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
First Book: An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

Genre: Contemporary Romance
First Book: Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
First Book: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Genre: Contemporary Romance
First Book: The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
Publication: Penguin Random House
Publication Date: 8/4/2020

Disclaimer: I received a free advanced copy of this book from Penguin Random House in exchange for my honest opinion. This has no effect on my opinion, review, or rating.

GoodReads Synopsis: “As we go about our daily lives, caste is the wordless usher in a darkened theater, flashlight cast down in the aisles, guiding us to our assigned seats for a performance. The hierarchy of caste is not about feelings or morality. It is about power—which groups have it and which do not.”

In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings.

Beyond race, class, or other factors, there is a powerful caste system that influences people’s lives and behavior and the nation’s fate. Linking the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany, Wilkerson explores eight pillars that underlie caste systems across civilizations, including divine will, bloodlines, stigma, and more. Using riveting stories about people—including Martin Luther King, Jr., baseball’s Satchel Paige, a single father and his toddler son, Wilkerson herself, and many others—she shows the ways that the insidious undertow of caste is experienced every day. She documents how the Nazis studied the racial systems in America to plan their out-cast of the Jews; she discusses why the cruel logic of caste requires that there be a bottom rung for those in the middle to measure themselves against; she writes about the surprising health costs of caste, in depression and life expectancy, and the effects of this hierarchy on our culture and politics. Finally, she points forward to ways America can move beyond the artificial and destructive separations of human divisions, toward hope in our common humanity.

Beautifully written, original, and revealing, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents is an eye-opening story of people and history, and a reexamination of what lies under the surface of ordinary lives and of America life today.

Review: Caste is the first book I’ve read from Isabel Wilkerson. I’m kicking myself for not picking up Caste earlier. What an incredible book! Though I’m familiar with American and German history, I was blown away on Indian history regarding caste. It was fascinating to learn the caste systems in the U.S., Germany, and India and how each of those similar. I also liked the way that the author not only objectively explained what happened in the past, but how those actions have affected present day. Overall, I highly recommend reading this book. As others mentioned, I agree that this should be required reading for everyone.

Rating: 5/5

The Return by Nicholas Sparks
Publication: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: 9/29/2020

Disclaimer: I received a free finished copy of this book from Grand Central Publishing in exchange for my honest opinion. This has no effect on my opinion, review, or rating.

GoodReads Synopsis: Trevor Benson never intended to move back to New Bern, NC. But when a mortar blast outside the hospital where he worked as an orthopedic surgeon sent him home from Afghanistan with devastating injuries, the dilapidated cabin he inherited from his grandfather seemed as good a place to regroup as any.

Tending to his grandfather’s beloved bee hives while gearing up for a second stint in medical school, Trevor isn’t prepared to fall in love with a local . . . and yet, from their very first encounter, his connection with Natalie Masterson can’t be ignored. But even as she seems to reciprocate his feelings, she remains frustratingly distant, making Trevor wonder what she’s hiding.

Further complicating his stay in New Bern is the presence of a sullen teenage girl, Callie, who lives in the trailer park down the road from his grandfather’s cabin. Claiming to be 19, she works at the local sundries store and keeps to herself. When he discovers she was once befriended by his grandfather, Trevor hopes Callie can shed light on the mysterious circumstances of his grandfather’s death, but she offers few clues — until a crisis triggers a race that will uncover the true nature of Callie’s past, one more intertwined with the elderly man’s passing than Trevor could ever have anticipated.

In his quest to unravel Natalie and Callie’s secrets, Trevor will learn the true meaning of love and forgiveness . . . and that in life, to move forward, we must often return to the place where it all began.

Review: Nicholas Sparks’s latest novel, The Return, was my most anticipated autumn read. As a fan of his previous work, I had mixed feelings about this book. There were so many times I wanted to DNF this book in beginning, but I ended up finishing the book. Surprisingly, I liked the ending. First half the book is a one star, but I thought the second half of the book was four stars. The premise of the book seemed promising. I had two main issues with this book: 1) writing style and 2) main characters. In terms of the writing style, it’s told from male POV which I had no issue with, but often times the narration was tedious, most of the inner dialogue could have been skipped, and the dialogue between characters seemed forced and uncharacteristic. The second half of the book had more of the writing style that I’m familiar with from Nicholas Sparks and wished more of the book was written in this style. One of the biggest issues I had was with the main character, Trevor. Trevor was completely unlikable, too aggressive, and was trying too hard to be a southern gentleman when he isn’t one. It rubbed me the wrong way that he was basically stalking Natalie when he was perusing her. I also didn’t like that we barely knew much about Natalie and yet we are supposed to be okay with Trevor and Natalie’s sudden budding romance out of nowhere. However, I really loved the secondary characters, Callie, and Trevor’s grandfather, along with the mystery behind them. I was craving more of Callie’s story than Trevor’s. If you are a fan of his work, you may enjoy this one. If you aren’t familiar with Nicholas Sparks, I’d recommend checking out his previous books before diving into this one.

Rating: 3/5