life_full_ofbooks's reviews
2518 reviews

I’m not a big fan of Elvis and, embarrassingly, when I little I always thought his wife was Lisa Marie so it’s not like I was jumping to read this. When I started seeing reviews for the audiobook, those, I knew I had to give it a listen.
I love memoirs as audiobooks and I’ll listen to almost any of them. This one is unique because while it’s Lisa Marie’s memoir, it’s also her biography written by her daughter, Riley Keough. Lisa Marie died a month into writing this and Riley took the multitude of recordings Lisa Marie did and transcribed them into this book. In addition to Lisa Marie’s words, Riley includes her own memories of her Mom throughout.
The audiobook is wonderful. Julia Roberts narrated Lisa Marie’s parts and Riley narrates hers. What makes this incredibly special, however, are all of the recordings of Lisa Marie flanking every chapter. It was a beautiful way to incorporate Lisa Marie into the book.
As I stated at the beginning I really had no idea who Lisa Marie was when I was little and I didn’t grow up feeling like I knew her or Elvis. That being said, I was so taken by this book I now feel like I not only know her, but that I’ve known her for a while.

When I picked this I read the synopsis and found it intriguing. Unfortunately, that was the only intriguing part. The book itself is so predictable and I really didn’t like the protagonist, never a good sign for me.
Val Sullivan is an Oscar Award winning actor but she’s decided to make the transition to directing. She also has a PhD from Oxford University, though she hasn’t taught since she was a TA years ago. Another transition she’s made is coming out of the closet publicly. When she has a bad late night interview and feels her directorial debut flops she decides to hang up her Hollywood hat and teach at USC as a guest professor. She and Maeve Arko, the professor with whom she’s teaching, get off to an icy start, but soon both women are letting down their defenses and the sparks fly. When Val’s movie starts getting noticed by the bigwigs in Hollywood she has to decide which Val is the real Val- actor and director or college professor. She just has to hope that in finding herself she doesn’t lose Maeve.
I found this entire book vapid from the get go. In the beginning there is so much information on musicals and stage shows and it actually felt as though I was being lectured to. In later classroom scenes, however, the information is glossed over and the focus is more on Val and Maeve’s relationship. Speaking of which, the bedroom scenes are quite graphic, which I never enjoy (both straight and gay).
I wanted to like this and I’m sorry I didn’t. Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for an advanced copy of this. Director‘s Cut hit the shelves on June 11.

I thought this book was going to be like the Before the Coffee Goes Cold and The Dallerguy Dream
Department Store and in a way it is. It’s a fun story with lots of magical realism but this is based on the Japanese myth that if you help a cat they will return the favor.
The Full Moon Coffee Shop has no set location and no set time of opening. It opens whenever people nearby are at a critical junction but the most magical thing about this special cafe is that it’s managed and run by cats! Using astrology charts the cats help 4 patrons figure out why they are stuck in their lives and how to make changes that will bring them happiness.
I love the style in which this book is written. Like the two books I previously mentioned, each chapter is a freestanding vignette that has some overlap with the other chapters. I found the bits about Astrology to be interesting and I really enjoyed the lightness and length of this. It’s a great pallet cleanser for after a long and/or heavy read.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Ballentine for an advanced copy of this. I’m sorry it took me so long to get to. The Full Moon Coffee Shop hit the shelves August 20.

4.75- We all know Anne Frank from her diary which was written during her years hiding in the annex of her father’s office building in Amsterdam during WW2. Before that she was just an ordinary girl living an ordinary life, and thus we don’t know too much about who she was. Alice Hoffman has answered the question of “Who was Anne”? with this brilliantly written book.
Starting in the late 1930’s and going up until the Frank family had to go into hiding, Ms. Hoffman captured Anne’s essence perfectly and has brought her to life via the pages of her book. While the conversations are fictionalized her relationships with her friends and her family were not.
This book is a fantastic companion to The Diary of a Young Girl and is a must read for everyone 7th grade and up.

What always gets me with this book is how the Frank family and the 4 other occupiers of the Annex hadn’t been caught, arrested, and sent to the concentration camps, we likely wouldn’t have known what life was like for them as Jews in hiding.
This very important book documents Anne’s time just before her family moved into the annex to two days before they were arrested. The definitive edition contains parts that weren’t published in the first and is a more comprehensive look at a young girl who aged two years in hiding. She truly went from girl to young lady during her time in hiding and the diary allows everyone to get a glimpse as to what it was like for them.
This book is a very hard read, but it is an important one. Please don’t let the topic of this keep you from reading it. Unfortunately, a lot of Anne’s words, worries, and questions are still relevant today and her diary will help readers understand the way some Jews people feel. Anne was right when she said she believes there is still good in the world, but unfortunately it sometimes gets drowned out by the hate (I added the second part). Be the good.

I love a good family drama so when this was picked for my book club I was excited. While it’s definitely a drama I wouldn’t categorize it as a family drama. I feel like it’s more of a character driven friendship drama.
Flora Mancini’s world is shattered on the day of her daughter’s high school graduation. Everything she thought she knew about her marriage to her husband, Julian, and her friendship with her best friend, Margot, is blown apart when she finds Julian’s wedding ring, which was lost 12 years prior, in the bottom a filing cabinet. She feels like everything she’s ever known has been a lie and with her two most trusted confidants being the source of the lies she doesn’t know where to turn or how to get over it.
This book is told via alternative viewpoints and the story is flushed out through a series of back flashes. While it works really well there is no break point designating the past from the present (at least in the audiobook) so I found it to be a bit confusing at times.
Despite the tricky subject I found the characters to be likable and the writing was truly enjoyable. This is the first book I’ve read by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney but it certainly won’t be the only!

I actually don’t remember what drew me to this book when I first saw it, but whatever it was I’m so happy it did. It is such a sweet opposites attract romance.
Kieran O’Neill and Ellie Wasserman have nothing in common. He’s 27, has ADHD, and is allergic to commitment and she’s 30, lives by a plan, and is a widow who is taking care of her in-laws. When Kieran’s agent gets him a book deal and Ellie is hired to ghostwrite it the two realize they are more prone to fighting than testing recipes.
I’m not a big fan of spicy bedroom scenes and while the door is definitely open, the spiciness is not over the top. I loved all of the characters and the beautiful descriptions of San Francisco and the food Ellie and Kieran made. This is Sarah Chamberlain’s first book and I hope it’s the first of many.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy of this. I’m sorry it took me so long to get to it. The Slowest Burn hit the shelves on September 24th.

4.25

3.5