The Shadow Wife by Diane Chamberlain

NOBODY HAS EVER TOLD ME HOW MUCH I HAVE BEEN MISSING BY NOT READING DIANE CHAMBERLAIN! SHE IS THE BEST!

With that said, I just finished reading The Shadow Wife (also known as Cypress Point) by Diane Chamberlain and I have so much love to express for this amazing author!

The Shadow Wife begins in 1937 on a hippie commune in Big Sur when a doctor, Caralynn Shire saves the life of a newborn baby girl. 

Thirty years later, that baby, Joelle, is now a grown social worker dealing with the fact that her best friend, Mara, is living in a nursing home after suffering from brain damage. Joelle also finds herself pregnant with Mara's husband, Liam's, baby.

The current lives of both Caralynn and Joelle are told simultaneously until they reunited 30 years later. 

Chamberlain uses beautiful prose to tell emotional stories filled with likeable characters! I absolutely loved this book and can't wait to read more!

Still Missing by Chevy Stevens

Chevy Stevens' Still Missing is a mystery/thriller that tells of the abduction of 32 year old relator, Annie O'Sullivan. The horrifying and disturbing twist that becomes exposed at the end of the novel is a haunting one that will leave your mouth agape.

The story is told to the reader through a series of therapy sessions, letting the reader know immediately that Annie escapes captivity. Throughout the sessions we discover the horrible conditions that O'Sullivan was forced to live in with her captor who she refers to as, "The Freak". 

Still Missing accurately addresses the fact that everything does not simply go "back to normal" after someone returns from such a horrific situation. The final twist comes when Annie finds out who it was that wanted her abducted and their reasoning behind it.

The Good Girl by Mary Kubica

I loved The Good Girl by Mary Kubica! It tells the story of Mia Dennett, the daughter of an incredibly wealthy judge and the black sheep of her family, who is kidnapped one night by the man she went home with from a bar. 

The Good Girl wasn't as fast paced as many other thrillers of its kind, however I still found it to be a compelling page turner. I really enjoyed that the story was told out of order and through the point of view of three different characters. It kept me interested whereas otherwise I may have been bored with the fact that the plot wasn't progressing as quickly as I am accustomed to.

Although I don't think this book should have been marketing as, "the next Gone Girl," I did enjoy it and would recommend it to fans of psychological thrillers!

Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone

Every Last Word tells the story of high schooler Samantha McAllister and her secret battle with Purely-Obsessional Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Tamara Ireland Stone delves into the stream of uncontrollable dark thoughts that Samantha is unable to turn off, and the compulsions that Samantha finds herself unable to avoid doing. Unable to ever feel truly happy despite her popularity and seemingly perfect life, Samantha's life changes when she meets Caroline, a new friend who shows her Poet's Corner, a hidden room and club of misfits who share poetry with one another. 

I loved how Sam was able to find solace through art (writing in her case) as so many are able to do in their lives. Although not necessarily the most realistic story, Stone tackled a lot of difficult concepts without holding back and told a beautiful story. Additionally the poetry included in this book was beautiful and I definitely didn't expect Stone's surprising twist towards the end of the book!

Quotes:

• "After you left I sat in silence. Missing you in a way I didn't quiet understand. Wondering if you'd come back."
• "I didn't go there look for you. I went looking for me...but now, here you are, and somehow, in finding you, I think I've found myself"
• "Everyone's got something. Some people are just better actors than others."
• "Look around at the people in your life, one by one, choosing to hold on to the ones who make you stronger and better, and letting go of the ones who don't."
• "Embrace who you are and surround yourself with people who do the same"

Poems:

Over You 

It only took two hundred and forty days

     seven hours

     twenty-six minutes

     and eighteen seconds

But I can finally say it:

     I'm over you.

I no longer think about

     the way your hips move when you walk

     the way your lips move when you read

     the way you always took your glove off

     before you held my hand so you could feel me.

I've completely forgotten about

     texts in the middle of the night, saying you love me, miss me

     inside jokes no one else thinks are funny

     songs that made you want to pull your car over and kiss me immediately.

I can't remember

     how your voice sounds

     how your mouth tastes

     how your bedroom looks when the sun first comes up.

I can't recall

     exactly what you said that day

     what I was wearing

     how long it took me to start crying.

It only took two hundred and forty days

     seven hours

     twenty-six minutes

     and eighteen seconds

     to wipe you from my memory

But if you said you wanted me again today

     or tomorrow

     or two hundred and forty days

     seven hours

     and eighteen minutes from now,

I'm sure it would all come back to me.

Untitled

I like it when you're here.

Everything is quiet.

     Peaceful.

          So silent, I almost feel sane.

You take my mind off my mind.

Stay.

     Just one more page.

Please?

Untitled

I'm not allowed to want you,

And you're not allowed to want me.

So I'll just wait here patiently,

Hoping you'll break the rules.

          

The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry by Jon Ronson

I was immediately intrigued upon hearing about The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry by Jon Ronson, which is probably fitting seeing as I was a psychology major during my undergrad years at UCLA. 

People use the word "psychopath" flippantly in every day life to excuse the somewhat offbeat things that others do. But what is a psychopath? I turned to Ronson and The Psychopath Test to find out more. The statistics mentioned in the overview are baffling: "They say one out of every hundred people in a psychopath. You probably passed one on the street today." How is that possible? It's a statistic that's difficult to wrap your mind around. It's a fact that suggests that many of the people we interact with on a day-to-day basis could very well be psychopaths. 

I found Ronson's personal experience in The Psychopath Test to be fascinating. He tells what he has recently learned about psychopaths and how at a chemical level their brains are wired differently. It is a condition that is incurable causing their brains to be unable to experience empathy, leaving them to be "manipulative, deceitful, charming, seductive, and delusional."

During the course of the novel, Ronson meets an influential and well respected psychologist who strongly believes that many of the business leaders and politicians in our world are in fact high-functioning psychopaths who have managed to use their condition in order to succeed in the professional world. 

I found The Psychopath Test to be a fascinating read and loved accompanying Ronson on his "journey through the madness industry".


Quotes

• "There is no evidence that we've been placed on this planet to be especially happy or especially normal. And in fact our unhappiness and our strangeness, our anxieties and compulsions, those least fashionable aspects of our personalities, are quite often what lead us to do rather interesting things."
• "Feeling no remorse must be a blessing when all you have are your memories"
• "If you're beginning to feel worried that you may be a psychopath, if you recognize some of these traits in yourself, if you're feeling a creeping anxiety about it, that means you are not one."

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah is definitely a tear jerker. The story takes place in France during World War II. It tells of the Nazi occupation of France and the way that this impacted the women and children who were left behind while their husbands and fathers went to war. The Nightingale is the often untold story of what happens on the home front. It is a story of fear, loss, love, survival, and strength. 

Vianne and Isabelle are two very different sisters who do their best to survive during wartime. Vianne tries to maintain a sense of normalcy for her daughter, Sophie, while her husband is at war (and eventually put into a Nazi war camp). Her life is upended as Nazi soldiers move into her home, her best friend is taken away because she is Jewish, and food becomes scarcely available. At the same time, she struggles to deal with her rebellious younger sister, Isabelle, who, despite her good intentions, always seems intent on causing havoc. 

Isabelle is intent on joining the resistance and risks her life in order to save many who would have otherwise been killed. Vianne, too, ends up saving the lives of many through her selfless and brave acts.

The Nightingale is both tragic and moving. It really makes you think about what so many families had to endure during the years of the war. The fear that became such a normal part of their lives is a heartbreaking reality that we too often forget. Both women in this story are inspirational, and represent the many war heroes that are too often forgotten. 

Despite the fact that I do not usually read historical fiction, I absolutely loved The Nightingale and think that Hannah did an amazing job of capturing the essence of the time period and creating moving and multidimensional characters. 

Me & Emma by Elizabeth Flock

Me & Emma by Elizabeth Flock tells the story of an 8 year old girl, Carrie, and her younger sister, Emma, and the tragic and horrifying home life they both have to endure. This book is not for the faint hearted as it's theme revolves greatly around child and familial abuse and neglect.

After the brutal murder of her kind-hearted father, Carrie has difficulty keeping up in school, making friends, and staying out of trouble. Her mother's new husband is both physically and mentally abusive and her mother is often neglectful. Carrie's only salvation is her brave and daring younger sister for whom she would do anything. 

The plot twist at the end really hit me hard. I had a ton of speculations, but I definitely didn't guess the ending. It was even more heartbreaking than anything I could have imagined. The final message definitely stayed with me long after I closed the book.