Publisher: Penguin Audio
Genre: Fiction
Source: Library

Goodreads: A striking and surprising debut novel from an exhilarating new voice, Such a Fun Age is a page-turning and big-hearted story about race and privilege, set around a young black babysitter, her well-intentioned employer, and a surprising connection that threatens to undo them both.

Alix Chamberlain is a woman who gets what she wants and has made a living, with her confidence-driven brand, showing other women how to do the same. So she is shocked when her babysitter, Emira Tucker, is confronted while watching the Chamberlains’ toddler one night, walking the aisles of their local high-end supermarket. The store’s security guard, seeing a young black woman out late with a white child, accuses Emira of kidnapping two-year-old Briar. A small crowd gathers, a bystander films everything, and Emira is furious and humiliated. Alix resolves to make things right.

But Emira herself is aimless, broke, and wary of Alix’s desire to help. At twenty-five, she is about to lose her health insurance and has no idea what to do with her life. When the video of Emira unearths someone from Alix’s past, both women find themselves on a crash course that will upend everything they think they know about themselves, and each other.

With empathy and piercing social commentary, Such a Fun Age explores the stickiness of transactional relationships, what it means to make someone “family,” and the complicated reality of being a grown up. It is a searing debut for our times.

Ope’s Opinion: This book was not for me. I did not relate to any of the characters. I listened to it and I thought the narrator did a good job of distinguishing the different characters voices. I just couldn’t get into the story itself.

There were several heavy topics addressed in this book – maybe too many? I felt like it was all over the place. The foul language was constant and over used in my opinion.

Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Genre: Mystery
Source: Sourcebooks Landmark ( Netgalley )

Goodreads: When the four partners of a prominent law firm are killed in a mysterious plane crash, their widows must come together to uncover the truth in this explosive, edge-of-your-seat novel.

It’s 1985 in Providence, Rhode Island, and the four partners of a prominent, mafia-affiliated law firm have been killed in a private jet that went down outside New York City. Four very different women have just lost the loves of their lives: Justine, a former fashion model adjusting to suburban life; Camille, a beautiful, young second wife some suspect is a gold digger; Krystle, committed to leaving the firm to her sons after her husband worked his whole life to support them all; and Meredith, a stripper at the local club who was in a secret relationship with the firm’s sole female partner. While the crash is initially ruled a tragic accident, something’s not adding up: The team wasn’t supposed to be in New York that day, and it’s soon revealed that there was a very large sum of cash that burned up with the plane. The women find themselves thrown together in search of the truth, with new danger and threats unfolding at every turn.

Could a dissatisfied client be seeking revenge? Or were the partners involved in something bigger—something dangerous and deadly? What other secrets were the partners keeping, and how far might people go to ensure they stay hidden? The widows must find the answers in order to protect their inheritance, their families, and their lives.

Ope’s Opinion: This story is over the top in every way. The characters are larger than life and not relatable. It needs to be read for a moment of enjoyment.

It is easy to read, moves quickly and the multiple points of views give you a lot of information and move the story along.

It is a bit predictable, but if you are up for an easy, quick, not deep story – go for it. I did not realize while I was reading this – there is a second book. Not sure there is enough for me to want another round of these women.

Publisher: Harper Audio
Genre: Fiction
Source: Library

Goodreads: In Philadelphia, good girl Kate is dumped by her fiance the day she learns she is pregnant with his child. In New York City, beautiful stay-at-home mom Vanessa is obsessively searching the Internet for news of an old flame. And in San Francisco, Dani, the aspiring writer who can’t seem to put down a book–or a cocktail–long enough to open her laptop, has just been fired… again.

In an effort to regroup, Kate, Vanessa, and Dani retreat to the New Jersey beach town where they once spent their summers. Emboldened by the seductive cadences of the shore, the women being to realize how much their lives, and friendships, have been shaped by the choices they made one fateful night on the beach eight years earlier–and the secrets that only now threaten to surface.

Ope’s Opinion: This was just an okay story. I never really felt like the three girls were very good friends to each other. They kept a lot of secrets that I would have thought real friends would have shared.

When the secrets came out, each one seemed extremely upset, as they should have been. Then they each seem to get over it very quickly without really understanding what made the change of heart.

The ending was kind of weird. A lot of things were solved, but a lot of things were still left hanging. It needed an epilogue, another chapter or something to finish it.

Publisher: Audible Audio
Genre: Nonfiction
Source: Library

Goodreads: So begins the riveting story of acclaimed actor Matthew Perry, taking us along on his journey from childhood ambition to fame to addiction and recovery in the aftermath of a life-threatening health scare. Before the frequent hospital visits and stints in rehab, there was five-year-old Matthew, who traveled from Montreal to Los Angeles, shuffling between his separated parents; fourteen-year-old Matthew, who was a nationally ranked tennis star in Canada; twenty-four-year-old Matthew, who nabbed a coveted role as a lead cast member on the talked-about pilot then called Friends Like Us. . . and so much more.

In an extraordinary story that only he could tell—and in the heartfelt, hilarious, and warmly familiar way only he could tell it—Matthew Perry lays bare the fractured family that raised him (and also left him to his own devices), the desire for recognition that drove him to fame, and the void inside him that could not be filled even by his greatest dreams coming true. But he also details the peace he’s found in sobriety and how he feels about the ubiquity of Friends, sharing stories about his castmates and other stars he met along the way. Frank, self-aware, and with his trademark humor, Perry vividly depicts his lifelong battle with addiction and what fueled it despite seemingly having it all.

Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing is an unforgettable memoir that is both intimate and eye-opening—as well as a hand extended to anyone struggling with sobriety. Unflinchingly honest, moving, and uproariously funny, this is the book fans have been waiting for.

Ope’s Opinion: This is very hard to review. It is Matthew Perry’s truth, so you have to accept what he says. I felt like he was honest about what was going on with him. Matthew read it himself, so when I started it, it was a bit creepy to hear him, knowing he has passed away.

I did learn a few things about Matthew that I did not know, even though I am a fan of Friends and other things that he was in. His voice was easy to listen to. With all the hardships and difficulties he had, the book ended on an appreciative note for life and all those who are in his life.

Publisher: Harper Collins
Genre: Romance
Source: Library

Goodreads: Widowed by an unspeakable tragedy, Camille Palmer has made her peace with the past and settled into the quiet safety of life with her teenage daughter Julie in a sleepy coastal town. Then the arrival of a mysterious package breaks open the door to her family’s secret past. In uncovering a hidden history, Camille has no idea that she’s embarking on an adventure that will utterly transform her.

Camille, Julie, and Camille’s father return to the French town of his youth, sparking  unexpected memories — recollections that will lead them back to the dark days of the Second World War. And it is in the stunning Provençal countryside that they will uncover their family’s surprising history.

While Provence offers answers about the past, it also holds the key to Camille’s future. Along the way, she meets a former naval officer who stirs a passion deep within her — a feeling that she thought she’d never experience again.

Ope’s Opinion: I listened to this book from my library. It was just okay. It felt like a really long story. The narrator was amazing at female voices, but her male voices sounded like robots and talked real slow. I got used to that part after a while.

There are several romances going on at the same time. All of them are slow moving ones and the details are mostly left behind closed doors.

There were several places where I felt like the characters had a sudden change of attitude or change of heart. It just didn’t seem to happen naturally. The ending felt like everything was solved all of a sudden.

Publisher: Revell
Genre: Christian Fiction
Source: Revell ( Netgalley )

Goodreads: Vienna Price never intended to return for more than a passing visit to Oregon and all the bad memories she’d left behind. But when your career tanks, home is where you go to nurse your wounds and chart a new course. Only temporarily, of course–because as much as she loves her quirky mom, anything more than a short stay would drive them both crazy.

A trip to Oregon isn’t in Matt Quinn’s plans, either, until a perfectly timed appeal for help arrives from his sister. What better place to decompress after a shattering loss than a quiet, seaside town named Hope Harbor? But R&R isn’t on the agenda when he arrives to find his sister’s new enterprise on life support.

Vienna, however, may have just the skills needed to resuscitate the foundering B&B–if Matt can convince her to hang around long enough to mend an inn . . . and his heart.

Ope’s Opinion: This is the way Christian Fiction should be written. It was a clean romance, with God at the center, but no preachy feeling to it. The characters felt like real people with real life happening to them – good and bad.

The setting was one of my favorites – an Inn at the beach. I do hope her next book will take me back there.

This was Hope Harbor #10, but it seemed like a stand alone to me. I have not read the others, but now I want to go back and catch up on the others in the town.

Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Genre: Christian Fiction / Mystery
Source: Library

Goodreads: The gripping second installment of the Pelican Harbor series from USA TODAY bestselling author Colleen Coble!

Police Chief Jane Hardy has only just been reunited with her long-lost son when she learns of an impending terror attack that threatens everything she holds dear.

A lie changed her world. Police Chief Jane Hardy is still reeling from the scandal that rocked her small-town department just as she took over for her retired father—the man who wrecked her life with one little lie. Now she’s finally been reunited with her presumed-dead fifteen-year-old son, Will, and his father, documentarian Reid Dixon.

When a murder aboard the Gulf Coast oil platform Zeus exposes an environmental terrorist’s plot to flood Mobile Bay with crude oil, Jane and Reid must put their feelings for each other aside and work together to prevent the looming sabotage.

When the terrorist puts Will’s life on the line, protecting him could be the common ground Jane and Reid need . . . until ghosts from the past threaten to ruin their fragile relationship for good. Jane has plenty of reasons to run. But what if she stays?

Ope’s Opinion: I think this would have been better if I had read the first book in the series more recently. I didn’t remember a lot of background things. I enjoy Christian fiction, but this one felt like God was just put in the story every so often so it would be put in the Christian fiction category. The mystery was fun to try to figure out. I did feel like I was missing a few pieces of the puzzle. It also felt over the top at the end. It was very action packed.

Goodreads: Vienna Price never intended to return for more than a passing visit to Oregon and all the bad memories she’d left behind. But when your career tanks, home is where you go to nurse your wounds and chart a new course. Only temporarily, of course–because as much as she loves her quirky mom, anything more than a short stay would drive them both crazy.

A trip to Oregon isn’t in Matt Quinn’s plans, either, until a perfectly timed appeal for help arrives from his sister. What better place to decompress after a shattering loss than a quiet, seaside town named Hope Harbor? But R&R isn’t on the agenda when he arrives to find his sister’s new enterprise on life support.

Vienna, however, may have just the skills needed to resuscitate the foundering B&B–if Matt can convince her to hang around long enough to mend an inn . . . and his heart.

This one looks really good!
My review will be coming soon.

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Genre: Historical Fiction
Source: Library

Goodreads: Four siblings experience the drama, intrigue, and upheaval of the ’60s summer when everything changed in Elin Hilderbrand’s #1 New York Times bestselling historical novel.

Welcome to the most tumultuous summer of the twentieth century. It’s 1969, and for the Levin family, the times they are a-changing. Every year the children have looked forward to spending the summer at their grandmother’s historic home in downtown Nantucket. But like so much else in America, nothing is the same: Blair, the oldest sister, is marooned in Boston, pregnant with twins and unable to travel. Middle sister Kirby, caught up in the thrilling vortex of civil rights protests and determined to be independent, takes a summer job on Martha’s Vineyard. Only-son Tiger is an infantry soldier, recently deployed to Vietnam. And thirteen-year-old Jessie suddenly feels like an only child, marooned in the house with her out-of-touch grandmother and her worried mother, while each of them hides a troubling secret.

As the summer heats up, Ted Kennedy sinks a car in Chappaquiddick, man flies to the moon, and Jessie and her family experience their own dramatic upheavals along with the rest of the country. In her first historical novel, rich with the details of an era that shaped both a nation and an island thirty miles out to sea, Elin Hilderbrand once again earns her title as queen of the summer novel.

Ope’s Opinion: I am a big fan of family drama and siblings with good relationships. This book had both of those. The family drama was a bit over the top. There was a whole cast of characters – this made it hard to get any depth to any one of them. The historical facts were accurate and made the story seem realistic. This was a superficial look at a summer on Nantucket.

I liked the ending. It was a happy time for the family, but it was not perfect.

Publisher: Revell
Genre: Christian Fiction
Source: Revell ( NetGalley )

Goodreads: Ginny Masters manages a popular boutique hotel in Seattle and manages it with aplomb. But the daily challenges and irritations of a fast-paced job and a demanding boss are starting to get to her. Jacqueline Potter manages her grandfather’s fishing lodge in Idaho because it was the only job she could find after graduating with her hospitality degree. She’s grateful for the work but longs for a more sophisticated and cosmopolitan life she’s just not going to find in this backwoods town.

The solution to both their problems seems obvious. Just for the summer, they’ll swap jobs and lifestyles. But they never anticipated swapping love interests . . .

In this fabulous new twist on an age-old fable, award-winning and bestselling author Melody Carlson introduces you to two career-focused women who are about to discover that there’s more to finding happiness than just switching up the scenery.

Ope’s Opinion: Oh, Melody Carlson knows how to write a story that keeps my interest from the beginning to the very end. The characters are well developed with relatable flaws. It was great to see their growth.

It was a heartwarming, easy read. A perfect light beach read that leaves you with a smile.

The ending was very satisfying. My only wish was that there was an epilogue, so we knew where they were now.