Thanks to my friend for sending me this book – she’s pretty much my personal librarian/reading list. In Five Years by Rebecca Serle was a very quick read and highly entertaining. Dannie has a plan for her life and she checks off the boxes like it’s her job. Meet a man worth marrying, get her dream job, marry said man, buy a home in a specific part of town, live happily ever after. But one night that dream is sent into a tailspin by a simple dream. Or was it an actual glimpse into the future?
She goes about her life with her fiance and best friend, but always has that dream in the back of her mind. And when things start hitting too close to what she dreamed, she has to make some major life decisions. And she learns a lot about relationships along the way. My only complaint is that the end kind of leaves you hanging and wanting more. Check it out and enjoy!
My second Goodreads free book giveaway! We were able to get to the beach this week and are lucky to have family who lives on a beautiful, noncrowded beach within driving distance. One day we were literally the only people on the beach. But I had plenty of time to fly through this book on the beach and on the drive back.
The Center of Everything by Jamie Harrison is definitely a slower pace, which was different since I am used to reading thriller/suspense and historical fiction that have a lot of action. So although it’s good to switch it up something, it still felt slow and boring at times. Polly, the main character, had a recent head trauma in an accident and has a big week. It’s a holiday week in July during which she is also hosting a huge family party. Her head injury makes it difficult to focus but also brings about memories from childhood in much more vivid detail than usual. And those memories bring about a lot of questions leading up to the family party and seeing so many family members. There is also a bit of a mystery as a secondary story since in the same week, a local girl, who babysits for Polly, goes missing on the river.
Overall the story was fine, but definitely not my usual read. It rambled on at times and jumped from one thought to another, which was maybe on purpose to reflect the main character’s current state of mind. I think my giveaway copy was an early release, so check it out when it’s released! Also not sure how the title fits in – she mentions ‘the center of everything’ once in the book but I can’t remember what it was in reference to…maybe her mother? Her family? If I don’t know after reading the whole book, perhaps a different title would have been better.
There are so many ways to read books these days, especially when those ways are free! I rent most of my Kindle books from the library (you can read through the Kindle app on any device – smartphone, tablet/iPad, or actual Kindle) but can also get them through Amazon. Prime Reading is a completely free way if you have a Prime membership and Kindle Unlimited is another way if you want to pay a little more. I had a free trial of Kindle Unlimited for a while, but found that I still mostly got books from the library, so I didn’t want to pay for it. But if you have the patience to browse through Prime Reading options you can find some good ones!
The Girl Who Lived by Christopher Greyson is on Prime Reading and was such a quick read. I did enjoy it, but I may have enjoyed it more because the book before was not very good. So the bar was a little low. But I still think it was good overall! If you like trying to figure out who did it, this is a book for you.
Faith’s sister was murdered in front of her after they walked into the scene of her father, best friend, and best friend’s mother having been murdered. Somehow she escaped. The murderer and his accomplice, who she saw, got away after the police decided her father had committed the murder-suicide. And Faith’s life spiraled into a struggle with drugs, alcohol, anger, and an obsession with finding the murderers. Most of the story takes place days before the 10 year anniversary of the murders, when Faith is released from a mental hospital.
Overall, the story is great and every few chapters you think someone else did it or is involved. It definitely keeps you guessing. My only complaint is that even for someone who experienced a very traumatic event, Faith’s actions are very stupid. It’s understandable that she has trouble trusting people, but some of the things she does, whether drunk or not, are just a little unbelievable. I think the author tries to justify this at the end by making it vague whether Faith actually suffers from mental illness or not. But overall, I wanted to keep reading and find out who done it! If you like psychological thrillers, I recommend. And it doesn’t drag out at all. Enjoy!
