A Bookworm's Book Reviews

The Secret Life of Sunflowers – Marta Molnar

Title: The Secret Life of Sunflowers

Author: Marta Molnar

Genre: Historical Fiction, Realistic Fiction

Plot: Emsley Wilson is an auctioneer for the rich and famous in Hollywood. When her grandma Violet has a stroke, Emsley flies out to New York City to take of things. Violet gives Emsley some family heirlooms, including a diary from a distant relative from the Netherlands. Emsley learns about Johanna Bonger, Vincent van Gogh’s sister-in-law. Through the diary, Emsley connects with Johanna. It helps her navigate through a death in the family, a failing business, and relationship troubles. Emsley slowly starts healing. Then she figures out plan for the business, but will it be enough?

Rating: 3.5 – a good story about finding yourself and overcoming obstacles

Opinion: This was a great book. I enjoyed learning more about Vincent Van Gogh. I didn’t know anything about his family. I did a little research about the book and it’s very accurate. It made me happy to see that the author did her research. I liked how the characters were strong and independent and knew what they wanted after a struggle. But they supported each other, at least the not slimy characters supported each other. They didn’t give up once they knew what they wanted. It’s a great story about overcoming obstacles and finding support and love. I liked that it took hard work and determination to achieve their dreams. Overall, this was a really good book. It’s a great book for anyone who loves history and duel timelines.

Ordinary Grace – William Kent Krueger

Title: Ordinary Grace

Author: William Kent Krueger

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Plot: Frank is the son of a pastor in the 60’s. He enjoys running around town with his brother. One summer everything changes. Their sister disappears and is found and is found dead. Frank learns how people deal with sudden changes and develops a deeper understanding of consequences. Franks wants to help those who search for his sister and whomever killed her, but can he? What will happen to his family after all of this tragedy? What really happened to Ariel?

Rating: 3.5 – a good coming of age story

Opinion: This was a good book. It was a good change of pace. It was a well written book. It was easy to see how quick people are to make assumptions based on the information presented. Then how quick those same people turn on others when the information changes. I felt bad for Frank because he was a kid who kept finding all of these things out about what happened to his sister. But a little bit not because he was a pretty typical nosy kid. This was a good coming of age book. It made you feel for the characters and understand where they’re coming from. This is a good book for anyone who needs a slow and steady coming of age book.

The Road to Paradise – Karen Barnett

Title: The Road to Paradise

Author: Karen Barnett

Genre: Historical Fiction

Plot: Margie has just arrived at Mount Rainer National Park. She’s been assigned to work under Park Ranger Ford Brayden. He’s hesitant to work with Margie because she’s got only book knowledge. But Margie is a quick learner and a good tour guide. But complications arrives when Philip Carmichael arrives. He’s bound and determined to make everyone’s lives harder. Can anyone find a way to halt Charmichael’s plans? Can Margie and Ford work past their differences?

Rating: 4.0 – a cute, sappy historical fiction book

Opinion: This was a good book. I didn’t know that Mount Rainer was/is a National Park. I enjoyed learning about the park’s history and the locals fighting to preserve the mountain. I liked the book’s theme of overcoming fears and obstacles in your life. It’s good to do those, and other things in life, together and with faith and courage. I enjoyed the way the characters worked together to defeat the antagonist. It was a very clever way to do it. I liked how the author wrote the romance. It was built slowly and sappy. The author did a good job weaving faith into the book and a strong part of the characters. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It’s a very cute, sappy, historical fiction book that recommend to anyone who loves this genre.

The Violin Conspiracy – Brendan Slocumb

Title: The Violin Consipiracy

Author: Brendan Slocumb

Genre: Mystery, Realistic Fiction, Historical Fiction

Plot: Ray MacMillian grew up in poor in rural North Carolina. He found a talent a dream when he learned how to play the violin. Despite his mother’s dismissal of his learning violin, Ray continues to learn and grow. One Christmas, his grandma gave Ray her PopPop’s violin. Ray finally has his own violin. After entering a competition, Ray catches the eye of a music professor at a nearby university. He’s given a full ride scholarship. Then Ray’s career as a soloist gets going. Then Ray gets his violin fully refurbished and learns he’s got a 10 million violin. And Ray’s thrust into stardom. Everyone wants a piece of his violin, or money. Ray decides to enter the Tchaikovsky Competition. It’s the most the prestigious classical violin competition in the world. He’s one of the few Americans to be accepted into the competition. Then someone does get their hands on Ray’s violin and leave a ransom note for $5 million before a month and he gets the violin back. Can Ray get his violin back? Can he get the money to ransom it back? How will Ray do in the Competition without his violin? Can he still play in it?

Rating: 4.0 – a good look at the world through another’s eyes

Opinion: This was an interesting book. It’s been on my bookshelf for a while. I started thinking I’d never read it, but I’m glad I did. The author did a good job making me relate to the main character. He also did a good job making me angry with some of the people Ray interacted with. I wanted to smack some sense into them, but there’s no seeing sense for some people. This was a different style of mystery. It started with the theft and went back and gave the history behind the story. I’m was kinda sad that I figured out parts of the story long before the ending. But overall, this was a good story with good characters. I recommend this book for anyone who needs an easy read and good mystery and realistic fiction.

A Talent for Murder – Peter Swanson

Title: A Talent for Murder

Author: Peter Swanson

Genre: Mystery

Plot: Martha’s new husband, Alan, is a traveling salesmen. He sells nerdy merchandise for teachers and does well. Martha notices some blood on Alan’s shirt after a trip. She mentions it to him but he brushes it off. Still, something about it seems suspicious. Martha searches unsolved murder from his recent trips and there’s a murder in every city at the time Alan was there. Martha goes to her friend Lily for help. Lily’s a private detectives and can keep a level head. Lily believes Martha’s story and promises to look into Alan. But then she finds Ethan Shultz, an ex-boyfriend of Martha who also seems to be looking into Alan. But why is Ethan looking into Alan? Is Alan hiding something? Is he behind the unsolved murders? Or is someone else behind everything?

Rating: 4.0 – a different take on a murder mystery

Opinion: This was an interesting book. I was expecting more of a slow build story, but the plot jumps right into the mystery. There are also some interesting plot twists in the book that I wasn’t expecting. It was one of those ‘well that was different’ and ‘I didn’t expect that’ kind of plot twists. Part of me thought the plot twist was for shock value. But it made the book a little more interesting. Another part of me thought the person behind everything could’ve been developed a little better. The plot was still well paced. It kept me interested and I wanted to see where the mystery went and how it was solved. But overall this was an interesting book. I enjoyed it and would recommend to anyone who wants a different a different style of murder mystery.

The Midnight Library – Matt Haig

Title: The Midnight Library

Author: Matt Haig

Genre: Sci-Fi

Plot: Nora Seed isn’t happy with her life. Life didn’t turn out how she thought. She’s not sure she wants to continue on. Then Nora’s transported to the Midnight Library. The librarian is Mrs. Elm, her middle school librarian. She tells Nora that all the books in the Midnight Library are variations of her current life, if she’d made other choices. There are obvious choices but none of them are what Nora truly wants. Will Nora ever find the life she truly wants? Or will she stay in the Midnight Library forever?

Rating: 4.5 – a good book about living life

Opinion: This was a great book. I really need to read this book at this point in my life. I found it really relatable because it’s easy to not be happy with where you’re at in life and wish that you’d made different choices along the way. It makes it easy to relate to the characters, too. I liked the choice Nora made at the end of the book. It was different than what I was expecting, but in the end it was the right choice. It made sense in the end. Parts of the book felt similar to the movie Soul. Overall, I loved this book. I really needed this book right now. It’s one of the few books that spoke to me in this moment of my life. I highly recommend this book for anyone who needs a reminder that you made the right choices.

Pet Semetary – Stephen King

Title: Pet Semetary

Author: Stephen King

Genre: Horror

Plot: Louis Creed has just taken a job with a local university in Ludlow, Maine. He and his family live on a busy road with lots of semi-trucks. On a path in the backyard, there’s a pet cemetery. The neighbor Jed takes them there. Rachel, Louis’ wife is terrified of the cemetery. On Louis’ first day, a student dies. Then Louis sees the student in what feels almost like a dream. The student takes him to the pet cemetery and warms him of what can happen there. Louis is cautious at first. Then the family cat dies while Rachel and the kids were out of town. Jed shows a different place to bury the cat. The next day, the cat returns home. But the cat isn’t acting like its normal self. It stinks of death. It brings home dead birds. Then something tragic happens. What will Louis do? Will he fix the tragedy? Or let it be? Can anyone stop what’s been done? Or will the tragedy continue?

Rating: 4.0 – a different take on local legends and death and resurrection

Opinion: This was an interesting book. I liked that it combined local legends and lore with horror. It made it feel more real and spooky. I liked that the characters had good reasons and motivations for what they did and how they acted. Though it was a little distracting to the main story. The one thing I didn’t like was that the main character kept doing stupid stuff. It was the classic horror story stupid decisions that put others in danger. It was the first time in a while that I’ve yelled at a character out loud while I’ve been reading. It made for an interesting book, but I also just had to face palm a lot and think ‘did you not learn the first time?’ But the plot was interesting so I kept reading. I kept thinking some of the characters were behind it, but then it was something else. It made it more chilling. Overall, this is another classic horror book. It made me realize why Stephen King is such a good writer. I recommend this book who loves a good thriller.

The Ministry of Time – Kaliane Bradley

Title: The Ministry of Time

Author: Kaliane Bradley

Genre: Sci-Fi, Historical Fiction

Plot: A British Ministry worker receives a promotion for a new, top secret department. The Ministry has a time travel door. They’ve picked seven people from history to see if they’re able to adjust to modern times. Everyone in the program is assigned to a time traveled person. The modern day person is called a bridge to their assigned time traveled person. Our narrator is assigned to Commander Graham Gore who was a commander in the doomed Arctic expedition of 1847. Commander Gore adjusts well to modern day life. But there are others after Commander Gore and his bridge. But what do they want? Can Commander Gore and his bridge escape them? Or can they find a way to stop them?

Rating: 3.7 – a different take on time travel

Opinion: This was an interesting book. I liked this book’s idea of time travel. It took a more psychological take on time travel. Like how can a person from the past to the modern day. It was an interesting idea and was interesting how the author wrote about it. The book kept me interested. The plot was slower but steady. The one thing that that kinda bugged me was that that the main character didn’t have a name. It made sense after reading the book, but it took me by surprise. I just found it strange everyone else was named when the main character wasn’t. But it was an interesting book and was well written. I liked the different take on time travel. I highly recommend this book who likes time travel and historical fiction.

Cujo – Stephen King

Title: Cujo

Author: Stephen King

Genre: Horror

Plot: In the little town of Castle Rock, Maine, nothing really happens. There was that one thing, but that was a while ago. One summer, the Camber’s dog Cujo gets bit by a bat. The Cambers don’t think much of it at first. Charity Cambers takes Brett, her son, to visit her sister’s family. Joe, Charity’s husband, decides to take a secret trip with a friend. Across town, the Tadmores need to get their car fixed. But Vic, husband of Donna and father of Tad, goes out of town for a business conference. Donna reluctantly takes their car to Joe Camber, a local mechanic. Tad insists on coming along. But he’s missing. And Cujo is keeping guard. Something is wrong with Cujo. He’s rabid and has taken Donna and Tad captive inside the car. Can Donna and Tad escape? Will someone save them? Or will Cujo get them? And can Cujo be stopped?

Rating: 4.0 – a good slow build up horror

Opinion: This was better than I expected. I see why this book is a classic. I was expecting a more edge of your seat thriller through the whole book. It more of a slow build thriller. I found it interesting that there were character switches that paused the thriller. Though the storylines were a little confusing at first, but it sorted itself out. The one thing I didn’t love about the book was the lack of chapters. There were double spaces when there was a character perspective change, there were no set chapters. It made it hard to find a good pausing points in the book. There were a couple scenes towards the end that grossed me out. It was a very well written book. But overall, I really enjoyed this book. It kept me wanting to read more. I recommend it for anyone who wants to try a Stephen King horror book.

The Watchmaker’s Daughter – Larry Loftis

Title: The Watcher’s Daughter

Author: Larry Loftis

Genre: Historical Fiction, Christian Living

Plot: Corrie ten Boom is the daughter of a watchmaker. She dreams of following in her father’s footsteps. As she does, WW2 breaks out. She and her family start hiding Jewish people in the house and shop. But her and her family are found out, separated, and sent to concentration camps. Corrie and her sister Besty are always together. They find hope in each other and in Jesus. They tell others about Jesus and share in their hope. When Betsy dies, Corrie learns to live without her. Corrie renews her faith in Jesus and keeps sharing with everyone. She learns forgiveness, too, as she speaks to the Germans.

Rating: 3.6 – a different viewpoint of Corrie ten Boom’s story

Opinion: This was an interesting story. I thought it would focus more on Corrie ten Boom’s story. Instead, it focuses on the overarching facts and history that connects to Corrie’s story. The author talks about Anne Frank and her family, as well as Audrey Hepburn. I didn’t know that Audrey was Dutch and helped the Dutch Resistance. While I liked the additional information, it kinda took away from Corrie’s story. This was a great story about faith, hope, love, and forgiveness. I recommend this book for anyone who loves historical fiction from a Christian perspective.