April 2023 – Stephanie Caffrey, Author

Review: In the Lives of Puppets

April 23, 2023Posted in Book RecommendationsTagged ARC, Book Review, Books, In The Lives of Puppets, Reading, TJ Klune1 Comment

IN THE LIVES OF PUPPETS by TJ KLUNE

Release Date: April 25, 2023

I received this advanced copy from NetGalley, and I’m leaving this review voluntarily.

“Heaven. I’m in Heaven.”

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune takes Pinocchio, Terminator, and Wall-E and creates a unique story about found family in the time of the apocalypse and makes it whimsical in only the way Klune can.

Klune is already an auto-buy author for me, and Puppets has really reminded me why. He paints such a wonderful picture with his storytelling and his characters. He truly is one of the best out there as far as creating spectacular characters who you only grow to love as the book progresses.

Puppets is the story of Gio, a lonely an living in a forest sanctuary that would make the Swiss Family Robinson envious, as he raises his son, Victor. Victor’s best friends are a Roomba named Rambo, and a robot nurse aptly named Nurse Ratched. The four of them live happily until Victor finds a decommissioned android, Hap, in the scrap yard. That’s when the plot really gets started, and never stops.

Rambo and Nurse Ratched are easily my favorite characters in the book, which I never thought I would consider a Roomba to be one of the best, most hilarious, characters I’ve encountered all year, but that’s what Klune does. He makes you fall in love with the most unlikely of “people.” I laughed out loud several times, and I highlighted so many passages.

In addition to his trademark humor, there are also the moments that make you cry. There is a scene near the end where I found myself crying, and had to stop myself and shake my head over what I was crying over. That’s all I’ll say. I don’t want to spoil anything.

If you enjoyed any of Klune’s previous books, I highly recommend you pick this one up. If you’ve never read any of his books before, you might as well start with this one, and then read his back list. If there’s a long wait at your library, go read the back list first.

Book Review: Five First Chances by Sarah Jost

April 18, 2023April 17, 2023Posted in Book RecommendationsTagged Book Review, Five First Chances, Netgalley1 Comment

FIVE FIRST CHANCES by SARAH JOST

Release Date: April 18, 2023

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review

Five First Chances by Sarah Jost is a Women’s Lit book that focuses around the character Lou as she falls through time, again and again, learning to become the person she wants to be.

I couldn’t put this book down. I am a sucker for time loop novels, especially ones that include romance. And while this book includes romance, it is not a romance book. This book is heartbreaking and inspirational, and it will make you cry so hard you can’t see the words on the page.

But don’t let the “heartbreak” deter you from reading this book. The Time Loop is done wonderfully, and in a way I hadn’t seen done before, which is good, because I read a lot of time loop books. The characters are beautifully written. The growth Lou and Nick make after each loop is noticeable and appreciated. And reading the book never feels repetitive, which is hard in books like these.

I highly recommend this book. But make sure you set aside ample time to read it, because you will not want to stop. And also, make sure you have a box of tissue next to you. You’re going to need it.

March 2023 Reads

April 1, 2023Posted in Book RecommendationsTagged Agatha Christie, Anatomy, ARC, Book of the Month, Book Recommendations, Books, Daisy Jones and the Six, Fortunes of Jaded Women, Georgie All Along, Ho, Hollyland, Iowa, Reading, Secret Garden, Silence of the Girls, Stamped From the Beginning, Tag Me For Murder, The House Is On FireLeave a comment

This book was okay. I expected a deeper story about Briseis and the other women, but all I got was something very surface level. The POV and tense made the story feel very cold and distant. The addition of Achilles POV really irked me. You don’t advertise a book as a feminist retelling and have half the book from a male’s POV. And this wasn’t so much as a “re-telling” it was basically the Iliad. After having read Song of Achilles, which was amazing, this book really fell flat.

I read this as an ARC, and reviewed it separately! You can read my in-depth review here.

Obligatory re-read (or re-listen, rather) before watching the Prime series. Loved the book just as much as the first time, possibly even more. This book is probably one of my favorite books of all time. It is everything I love put into a book: 70s Rock, Behind the Music, strong female characters. Camila is and always will be my favorite character. If you haven’t read this yet, get the audiobook, it’s read by a full cast, and then watch the show on Prime.

After starting the month with a couple duds, it was really refreshing to read this one. Fortunes is a fun, light story about generations of a Vietnamese Family “cursed” to only have daughters. The story really shed a light on the relationships between mothers and daughters, especially in immigrant families. The book made me laugh out loud, and it made me cry. (BOTM)

A cookbook with history! This was a very interesting read about the history of the state of Iowa through the quintessential food of the state. I learned so much I didn’t know before, AND I now have some iconic recipes I can’t wait to try out.

Levi is easily one of my favorite romance protagonists in a long time. Bearded, socially awkward, the best. Georgie and Levi’s chemistry was on fire, and I really bought into the premise. the book was really cute and I devoured it in the matter of one day. (BOTM)

Another ARC review you can check out here.

Book club picks with my sisters are often hit or miss (see: Silence of the Girls above), but this one? Hit. I loved this book. LOVED. The romace! The Science! The CLIFFHANGER! Hazel is such a great character – her drive, her gumption, her independce while staying within the confines of the time period. The slow, tender love story between her and Jack was so beautiful. I was completely enthralled and didn’t want to put the book down.

A difficult, but necessary read, Stamped is a powerful, eye-opening book about the history of racism in America. As a history major, I thought I knew everything, but I really didn’t. There was so much I didn’t know. It was upsetting to learn how much politicians throughout history have sytematically built in ways to discriminate against Black people. Also, how many films were “disguised” racism. This book should be required reading in school.

Another ARC. This was the best book I read all month, and a contender for best book I’ve read all year. You can read all about why I thought so here.

Even though it was basically Orient Express but on a boat, the mystery was still good enought to keep me interested. I honestly had no idea who had done it.

Having loved the movie as a kid, I decided to finally read the book. I was not disappointed. It was so good, and the movie adaptation was very faithful to the text. Reading this book was like being wrapped in a warm blanket. It made me so happy.