Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Release Date: July 8, 2014 | Macmillan Audio on July 8, 2014
Format: MP3
Pages: 310 (Hardcover) / Audio Length: Approx 10 hours
Narrator: Rebecca Lowman
Source: Macmillan Audio
Genre: Contemporary Adult
Review Date: Recorded December, 2014
Rating: 4 bookmarks

Synopsis: Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble;it has been in trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her, deeply — but that almost seems beside the point now.

Maybe that was always beside the point.

Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can’t go. She’s a TV writer, and something’s come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her — Neal is always a little upset with Georgie — but she doesn't expect him to pack up the kids and go home without her.

When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she’s finally done it. If she’s ruined everything.

That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It’s not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she’s been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts . . .

Is that what she’s supposed to do?

Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?

I found Landline to be a fun and light holiday read. While the book was released back in the summer, the story takes place over the week of Christmas which makes it a perfect holiday read.  

If you're looking for a easy going contemporary read, then I recommend this title.  If you've read Landline please share your thoughts. I'd love to hear what you have to say. Have you read any of Rowell's young adult titles? If so, please recommend your favorite one.

Want to see a more in depth review? Check out my coordinating video review.  

Happy Reading & Listening,
~Tamara
On a mobile device? Watch the coordinating video here!

Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books/ Viking
Release Date: December 31, 2012
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 369 (Hardcover)
Source: Viking
Genre: Romance / General Fiction
Review Date: November 5, 2013
Rating: 4 bookmarks


Synopsis: Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick.

What Lou doesn't know is she's about to lose her job or that knowing what's coming is what keeps her sane.

Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he's going to put a stop to that.

What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they're going to change the other for all time.

Disclaimer: I received this book as a courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Publisher: Viking Adult
Release Date: July 3, 2013
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 304
Source: Viking/Penguin
Genre: General Fiction
Review Date: July 15, 2013
Rating: 3 bookmarks 

Synopsis: Regina Gottlieb had been warned about Professor Nicholas Brodeur long before arriving as a graduate student at his prestigious university high on a pastoral hill.  He’s said to lie in the dark in his office while undergraduate women read couplets to him. He’s condemned on the walls of the women’s restroom, and enjoys films by Roman Polanski. But no one has warned Regina about his exceptional physical beauty—or his charismatic, volatile wife.

My Education is the story of Regina’s mistakes, which only begin in the bedroom, and end—if they do—fifteen years in the future and thousands of miles away. By turns erotic and completely catastrophic, Regina’s misadventures demonstrate what can happen when the chasm between desire and duty is too wide to bridge.

Disclaimer: I received this book as a courtesy in exchange for an honest review.

I first took a peak at My Education while doing a Page 99 Challenge. Want to see my first impression of this book? Check it out here!

First and foremost, because I review both Adult and YA, I wanted make very clear this is an 18+ book. Seriously. No minors aloud. If you're under 18, just stop right now...don't even read this review.

Throwback Thursday is my weekly feature which I created to post a review that I've written from the past. Every week I will post a review that I've written prior to my blogs existence. I'll be sharing both the books that I think you'd enjoy and the books that I should warn you against wasting your time on! ;-)

This book was amazing.  I didn't have high hopes when I picked it up, but I was most pleasantly surprised.  Like historical fiction? I completely recommend Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet!

Publisher: Ballantine Books
Release Date: January 27, 2009
Format: Kindle
Pages: 290
Source: Amazon Purchase
Genre: Historical Fiction, General Fiction
Original Review Date: December 28, 2011
Rating: 5 bookmarks 

Synopsis: In the opening pages of Jamie Ford's stunning debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle's Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol. 

This simple act takes old Henry Lee back to the 1940s, at the height of the war, when young Henry's world is a jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father, who is obsessed with the war in China and having Henry grow up American. While "scholarshipping" at the exclusive Rainier Elementary, where the white kids ignore him, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American student. Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship - and innocent love - that transcends the long-standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors. And after Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left only with the hope that the war will end, and that their promise to each other will be kept. cont.

This was one of the best books I've read in the last 6 months. This story is riveting, sad, and heartwarming. I could tell that Mr.Ford did his homework. All of the history seemed so detailed and he brought that era of the 1940's and the late 1980's to life. 

I really felt for Henry and Keiko. They went through so much as young preteens during the 1940's. From dealing with their own individual identities, their families identities and how those meld together as Americans born with Chinese/Japanese heritages, respectively. Even though Henry's father seemed harsh, I could see what he was trying to accomplish with his son. He went about it in an more traditional Chinese manner, in my opinion the wrong way, but I believe that he felt in his heart, he really felt he was doing what was best for Henry.

Throwback Thursday is my weekly feature which I created to post a review that I've written from the past. Every week I will post a review that I've written prior to my blogs existence. I'll be sharing both the books that I think you'd enjoy and the books that I should warn you against wasting your time on! ;-)

Randomly I was thinking about book to movie adaptations that sucked. This was one of them. The book was very good and movie was a major let down. So, if you saw the movie and thought it was "blah", try the book, I'll enjoy it much more.

Publisher: Algonquin Books
Release Date: May 1. 2007
Format: Kindle
Pages: 448
Source: Amazon Purchase 
Genre: Historical Fiction, General Fiction
Original Review Date: April 16, 2011
Rating: 4 bookmarks 

Synopsis:  Though he may not speak of them, the memories still dwell inside Jacob Jankowski's ninety-something-year-old mind. Memories of himself as a young man, tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Memories of a world filled with freaks and clowns, with wonder and pain and anger and passion; a world with its own narrow, irrational rules, its own way of life, and its own way of death. The world of the circus: to Jacob it was both salvation and a living hell.

Jacob was there because his luck had run out—orphaned and penniless, he had no direction until he landed on this locomotive "ship of fools." It was the early part of the Great Depression, and everyone in this third-rate circus was lucky to have any job at all. Marlena, the star of the equestrian act, was there because she fell in love with the wrong man, a handsome circus boss with a wide mean streak. And Rosie the elephant was there because she was the great gray hope, the new act that was going to be the salvation of the circus; the only problem was, Rosie didn't have an act—in fact, she couldn't even follow instructions. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust, and ultimately, it was their only hope for survival. 

Very good book. It took a chapter or two for me to get into the author writing from an old man's point of view. It was kind of fun reading about circus life in the early 1930's. At first I wasn't sure it would be my thing, but it was entertaining. A good story is a good story, no matter the setting.

Overall, the book was a fast read with an interesting discovery at the end. After reading the first few pages I had one thing in my mind until the event resurfaced again much later in the book...then I understood that it was totally a different situation. I also liked that it had an sort of an happy yet realistic ending, which was nice.

Happy Reading
~Tamara

Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover
Release Date: Illustrated Edition, October 4, 2007
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 352
Source: Library Borrow
Genre: Historical Fiction, General Fiction
Review Date: December 31, 2012
Rating: 4 bookmarks

Synopsis: A novel set mostly in Afghanistan. The introverted and insecure afghan narrator, Amir, grows up in Afghanistan in the closing years of the monarchy and the first years of the short-lived republic. His best and most faithful friend, Hassan, is the son of a servant. Amir feels he betrays Hassan by not coming to his aid when Hassan is set on by bullies and furthermore forces Hassan and his father Ali to leave his father´s service. Amir´s relatively privileged life in Kabul comes to an end when the communist regime comes to power and his extrovert father, Baba emigrates with him to the U.S. There Amir meets his future afghan wife and marries her. Amir´s father dies in the U.S. and Amir receives a letter from his father´s most trusted business partner and, for a time, Amir´s surrogate father, which makes Amir return, alone, to a Taliban-dominated Afghanistan in search of the truth about himself and his family, and finally, a sort of redemption.

This book isn't something I would have chosen to read on my own. A coworker talked to me about this book over and over...and over again. ;-) Basically I felt I had to add it to my TBR list at that point. Why not!? So, I added it into my book club's voting poll and it was selected by the majority. Thus, here I am, reviewing The Kite Runner.

Publisher: Harper Perennial
Release Date: Reprint edition (June 9, 2009)
Format: Audio CDs by HarperAudio; Unabridged edition (June 9, 2009) Pages: 321 (Paperback) / Audio Length: Unknown (6+ hours)
Source: Library Borrow
Genre: General Fiction
Review Date: November 20, 2012
Rating: 5 bookmarks

Book Synopsis: Enzo knows he is different from other dogs: a philosopher with a nearly human soul (and an obsession with opposable thumbs), he has educated himself by watching television extensively, and by listening very closely to the words of his master, Denny Swift, an up-and-coming race car driver. Through Denny, Enzo has gained tremendous insight into the human condition, and he sees that life, like racing, isn't simply about going fast. Using the techniques needed on the race track, one can successfully navigate all of life's ordeals.


On the eve of his death, Enzo takes stock of his life, recalling all that he and his family have been through. In the end, despite what he sees as his own limitations, Enzo comes through heroically to preserve the Swift family, holding in his heart the dream that Denny will become a racing champion with Zoë at his side.


A heart-wrenching but deeply funny and ultimately uplifting story of family, love, loyalty, and hope, The Art of Racing in the Rain is a beautifully crafted and captivating look at the wonders and absurdities of human life...as only a dog could tell it.

Who would have thought I would have enjoyed a book narrated by a dog? How about a book with an underlined theme related to car racing?  Not me, on either account. But I was wrong. This book is amazing. Well written. Thought provoking. Intense.

It's been a while since I've felt so strongly about a book in the general fiction genre. This book is approachable and easy to read for all.  It's not one of those "literary fiction" book where if feels like your sitting in a college Lit course.   You don't even have to be into racing to enjoy this book. The themes in the book apply to basically everyone.  I was able to draw on several things that Enzo said that were pretty enlightening, especially for a "dog".  In my personal opinion, this book talks about a lot of life lessons that we all need to remember at one time or another.  It will make you think about what's important in life and focus on that.  We all need to be brought back to that sometimes in a world where what's really important seems to get lost.