Secret Lives by Diane Chamberlain

Although, Secret Lives by Diane Chamberlain didn't captivate me from page one, by the end of the book I was completely enthralled. Secret Lives tells the story of A-list actress Eden Riley's decision to learn more about her mother in an effort to write a film about her life. This quest forces her confront her past and explore the secret life her mother lived that she knew nothing about. By reading the diary her mother kept from the age of thirteen, Eden learns about the hardship and tragedy that her mother endured throughout her short life. 

Although I predicted the plot twist early on, that didn't stop me from enjoying the book immensely. Chamberlain's prose never fails to captivate me and draw me in eagerly to the lives of her characters. I always hate completing one of her novels because the characters become so real that it's almost like losing a friend. (That's how you know I'm a huge nerd who gets way into books).

The Escape Artist by Diane Chamberlain

So sometimes I tell myself that I should read other authors, and then I read another Diane Chamberlain novel and I remember why I just want to read every book she's ever written!

The Escape Artist is one of Chamberlain's earlier novels, written in 1998 and tells the story of Susanna Miller, a mother who loses legal custody of her eleven-month-old son. Like any mother, she refuses to let anyone take her baby away from her. Susanna ignores the court order dictating she give up her son to his father and his new wife and instead changes her name, changes her appearance, and runs away to give both her and her a son a new start. The hardest part about leaving her old life behind is not having the chance to tell Linc, her lifelong friend and lover, about her plans to leave. 

I could not put this book down. I found myself instantly immersed into the lives of Susanna (who changes her name to Kimberly) and sympathizing with her plight. Chamberlain's beautiful prose never seems to fail to create compelling characters and moving stories. I can't wait to read even more of her work. 

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."