Play! By Sephora June 2016

Play! By Sephora is a new monthly subscription box b Sephora. It costs $10 a month and you received 5 beauty and skincare samples plus a perfume sample each month. Previously, you needed to put yourself onto a wait-list and wait to receive an email before you could subscribe, as they were rolling it out to limited quantities. However, I think that as of the month of May it is now completely open to the public.

In addition to the products, Sephora includes a booklet that includes information about the product, the brand, and then tips of how to use the products. Also at the back of the book is a Play! PASS. This Pass gives you a complimentary one-on-one session with a Sephora artist as well as an extra 50 Beauty Insider points when you scan the pass at the register with any purchase. If you have the Sephora app, you can also scan the images of the products to learn more about them.

One of the differences between this box and other boxes is that it is not personalized. Everyone who signs up for this subscription receives the same products. The theme changes each month and the products follow that theme. This month’s theme was The Forces of Nature, featuring natural products.

As a heads up, the boxes are a little bit larger and will not fit into a small apartment sized mailbox. For reference, a Birchbox box is able to fit almost perfectly into my mailbox, but this one has no chance. Therefore, I’ve had to go to the post office both months to pick up my box.
 

This month the products I received were as follows:
 

Bumble and Bumble Don’t Blow It (Full-size $31)- This is a hair cream that is meant to enhance air-dried hair. It says that you are supposed to use this on towel-dried hair and then scrunch or twist it to add volume and wave. I’m definitely curious to use this as I always air-dry my hair.

Benefit Cosmetics They’re Real! Mascara (Full=-size $24)- This mascara is a volumizing and lengthening mascara that is one of Benefit’s most popular. The interesting thing about it is that the end of the brush almost has a ball on the end. That part of the bush works really well for getting to the corners of your lashes. I’ve used this mascara before and while it’s not one of my favorites (and I wouldn’t purchase the full size) it’s one I’m always happy to have in my makeup bag.

Tocca Beauty Florence Perfume (Full-size $68)- The notes of this perfume are Italian bergamot, grapefruit leaves, green pear, apple, ivory gardenia, crushed violet petals, jasmine, tuberose, blue iris, blonde wood, and white musk.  I don’t know exactly which note it is but oh my goodness I can’t stand this perfume. I tend not to like Tocca perfumes, and this is no exception.
 

BareMinerals bareSkin Bronzer (Full-size $28)- This liquid bronzer can be used mixed into a foundation, layered on top of a foundation, or just used over your moisturizer for some extra glow. I’m not a big liquid bronzer fan, but I did give this a try. I like the color and it did give my skin a nice warm glow, but I can’t see myself using this much. I’ll probably pass it on but it’s a nice product.

Becca Backlight Priming Filter (Full-size $38)- This product is a primer that has a bit of a highlighter mixed in. It’s meat to extend the wear of your makeup and also create a filter-like effect with backlighting. I’ve used this once and I really like the glowy-ness that it gives the skin. I am excited to keep using this product, especially in the summer to see how well it helps my makeup hold up!

Tarte Tarteguard 30 sunscreen Lotion Brad Spectrum SPF 30 (Full-size $32)- A non-chemical sunscreen! Also, how cute is the packaging? Besides the fact that it’s non-chemical, there’s not much different about this that I can tell from other sunscreens. However, I’m really excited to try this! The size is perfect for trips and that’s exactly when I’m going to use it. I am currently using a different sunscreen under my moisturizer that I’m not quite crazy about and was more expensive than this one is. It would be nice to find one a little less expensive that I like more.

Overall, this was a decent box. There are a few products I really like, but then a few I’m not crazy about at all. It’s not my favorite box I’ve gotten from Sephora so far, but I’m definitely looking forward to future boxes. 
 

The Memory of Lemon

By: Judith Fertig
Published Year: 2016
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 304

This book was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion.

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): A crisp tang of citrus that is at once poignant and familiar, sharpening the senses and opening the mind to possibilities once known and long forgotten...
 
Claire “Neely” Davis is no ordinary pastry chef. Her flavor combinations aren’t just a product of a well-honed palate: she can “taste” people’s emotions, sensing the ingredients that will touch her customers’ souls. Her gift has never failed her—until she meets a free-spirited bride-to-be and her overbearing society mother. The two are unable to agree on a single wedding detail, and their bickering leaves Neely’s intuition frustratingly silent—right when she needs it most.
 
Between trying to navigate a divorce, explore a new relationship, and handle the reappearance of her long-absent father, Neely is struggling to make sense of her own conflicting emotions, much less those of her hard-to-please bride. But as she embarks on a flavorful quest to craft the perfect wedding celebration, she’ll uncover a family history that sheds light on both the missing ingredients and her own problems—and illustrates how the sweet and sour in life often combine to make the most delicious memories...

                                                                  First Impressions

Beautiful cover! It looks so summer, I know I would’ve picked it up off the shelf. When I read the summery, I knew I needed to read this book. Since I enjoyed Wedding Girl so much, which was also about a baker, this book became a must read for me.

                                                                   What I thought

In the end, I think I liked half of this book.

Claire “Neely” Davis is a baker who can taste feelings and events. Feelings such as manipulation, for example, come across as a bitter lime taste in her mouth. She uses this ability to find the perfect option for her customers. The bride and mother of the bride that she is working for, however, cannot agree on anything and Neely can’t seem to get a taste on the bride. In addition to this, flashbacks to a small hillbilly town in Kentucky are thrown in.

When I say I liked half of this book, it’s because I didn’t care for the flashbacks at all. They seemed disconnected and confused me more than added to the story. I found myself skimming these chapters just to get enough information to know if it was referenced in present day chapters.

If the book had only been about Neely and her business and her life, I think I would’ve enjoyed this book so much more. I really liked the unique ability that Neely had and it never came across as over the top. The fact that she could not only read feelings through tastes, but also occasional received visions was an interesting twist on your usual contemporary fiction story.

Neely is also dealing with a difficult divorce. Her current husband, a pro football player, is refusing to divorce her and is threatening to enforce their prenuptial agreement.  Now, there is a book prior to this one with the same characters called The Cake Therapist. I have not read that one, but I assume there is more to this relationship in the first book. I think because of that I wasn’t as fully invested in the characters and they seemed a little underdeveloped.

If I could have taken out the flashbacks and added more detail and story to the present day chapters, I think this book could have been great. As it was, it was enjoyable but it just seemed like the shell of what it could have been. The characters, while enjoyable just didn’t have much meat on their bones. 

This is enjoyable but just seemed to be missing something for me. Maybe Neely would be able to taste what ingredient that is. If you like to read books about bakers, then I recommend that you check this book out. However, I would definitely recommend Wedding Girl over this one every time. I enjoyed this book, and would probably check out the first one if I saw it, but I wouldn’t re-read this one. 
 

Sunshine Beach

By: Wendy Wax
Published Year: 2016
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 432

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I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion of this book. 

Summary (Provided by Goodreads):  After losing their life savings in a Ponzi scheme, Maddie, Avery, and Nikki have banded together to make the most of what they have left, using their determination, ingenuity, guts, and a large dose of elbow grease. It’s Maddie’s daughter Kyra who stumbles across a once glorious beachfront hotel that has fallen into disrepair. The opportunity to renovate this seaside jewel is too good to pass up—especially when they come up with the idea of shooting their own independent television show about the restoration. What could possibly go wrong?
 
Everything. With the cameras rolling, Maddie’s second-chance romance with her all-too-famous new boyfriend gets complicated, Avery struggles with grief over the loss of her mother, and Nikki’s reluctance to commit to the man who loves her could leave her to face the biggest challenge of her life. Even the hotel seems to be against them, when their renovation uncovers a decades-old unsolved murder which just might bring their lives tumbling down all over again…

                                                             First Impression

Ahhhh. This cover just whispers relaxation. This is exactly the kind of book I want to pick up to read at the pool or the lake or the beach. The summary also sounded intriguing as it is about a group of female friends working together. I love books that have close knit groups of female friends, as that is what I have in my life. It’s always fun to read about good friendships.

                                                             What I thought

This book is the fourth book in a series, which I was only vaguely aware of when I accepted it for review. I had previously read a book that was the 11th in a series without reading any of the others, so I thought that it wouldn’t make a difference. However, with this one, I think the fact that it is a part of a series influenced my reading experience.

Sunshine Beach meets up with Maddie, Avery, Nikki, and Kyra. They are currently living at Bella Mora, a beach house that they renovated in a previous book. They have all gotten together in order to figure out what they’re going to do with their renovation show that they were previously on. Apparently, in the previous book, they quit their reality show Do Over, but are looking to continue doing something similar. In order to move forward, they find a property near Bella Mora to renovate. However, they are met with multiple road blocks and need to rely on each other to push through.

I think the hardest thing for me was to get into this book. Like I said, it is a part of a series and it seems like A LOT of events have occurred in previous books. Because the history of the characters is so essential to the story line, it took me a while to connect and feel like I could get into this specific story.

While it did take me some time to become invested in the story and the characters, I was always enjoying the story. All of the characters are unique and have interesting individual story lines. I do wish that there was a bit more of the friendship within the story, but you can see that these women care for each other. It did seem that, especially towards the end of the book, the only time the friendship occurred was during their sunset beach meetings at the end of the night.

The fun thing about this book is that while it has the light beach story about a group of friends renovating a hotel, it also has a mystery story line. The hotel they decide to renovate is the scene of a murder from about 50 years ago. The story does follow the murder investigation just enough to satisfy the reader, without taking away from the type of book that this truly is.

If you’re looking for a book about adult women who have a strong friendship and support system, I would definitely recommend this book. However, even though I haven’t read it, I’d probably recommend reading them in order! Wax created vibrant characters that really touch the heart and even though I was confused for a lot, I became invested enough in the characters that I truly want to go back and read the previous 3 books. I also can’t wait for the next one to come out! It ends, not necessarily at a cliff hanger, but with a lot of unresolved business that I need to see resolved! If you’re looking for a good beach read, I would definitely recommend checking out this series. 

Book Club May 2016

This month’s book was chosen by Logan. Since Book Club is the night of the Tony’s, Logan picked something that had some Broadway involved in the story. AS a result, she picked My Awesome/Awful Popularity Plan. 
 

By: Seth Rudetsky
Published Year: 2012
Publisher: Random House
Pages: 224

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Justin has two goals for sophomore year: to date Chuck, the hottest boy in school, and to become the king of Cool U, the table in the cafeteria where the "in" crowd sits. 

Unfortunately, he has the wrong look (short, plump, Brillo-pad curls), he has the wrong interests (Broadway, chorus violin), and he has the wrong friends (Spencer, into Eastern religions, and Mary Ann,  who doesn't shave her armpits). And Chuck? Well, he's not gay; he's dating Becky, a girl in chorus with whom Justin is friendly.

But Justin is determined.

In detention one day (because he saw Chuck get it first), Justin comes up with a perfect plan: to allow Becky to continue dating Chuck, whom Becky's dad hates. They will pretend that Becky is dating Justin, whom Becky's dad loves. And when Becky and Justin go out on a fake date, Chuck will meet up with them for a real date with Becky. Chuck's bound to find Justin irresistible, right? What could go wrong?

                                                          What I Thought

This book is exactly what I expected it to be, and not necessarily in a good way.

Justin is a sophomore in high school who has recently admitted that he is gay, but only to himself and his best friend Spencer. He has a major crush on the most popular boy in school, Chuck, who is dating the most popular girl in school. Obviously, Justin thinks that he can convert Chuck and turn him into his boyfriend. In order to do this, he makes it his goal to become popular and Chuck’s boyfriend by the end of sophomore year.

Everything about this book was predictable. While this made it an easy read, it didn’t necessarily make it a very enjoyable one. Justin embodies everything irritating about a character that I hate. He is majorly in denial, obsessed with popularity and what people think of him, and majorly self-absorbed. In addition to that, there’s this underlying worry the entire book that this is going to end in major embarrassment. I do not handle embarrassing moments well in books or movies. I always start to feel sympathetic embarrassment pains and it’s super uncomfortable.

I did enjoy Becky and Spencer, but hated Chuck and Justin. Like I said, Justin is completely delusional. Even though Chuck has never shown any indication that he is interested in anyone other than girls, Justin seems to think that he can change that just by being funny. He starts to pretend date Becky, just so that he can spend more time with Chuck. Justin is also insanely obsessed with being popular. While I understand some of this, because he is teased a lot, he brings it to a whole new level of obsessed. It becomes all that h wants and he ends up sacrificing a lot for it.

I appreciated that this book was easy to read and quick to get through, but it’s not something I would have picked for myself. The one plus side is that I enjoyed the writing style of Rudetsky, and would possibly pick up a book by him again if the topic interested me.

                                                    What Book Club Thought

We were split 3/2 on how we felt about the book. I was one of the two that didn’t enjoy the book. The book club members that enjoyed the book did feel as though it wrapped up a little too perfectly though. The two of us that didn’t enjoy the book disliked it because we felt it was super predictable and had no patience for the main character. We were interested how Logan came to choose this book as it’s not the type of book that any of us typically read. She mentioned that she has read another of Rudetsky’s books and enjoyed it, so she picked this one because it sounded interesting. While I didn’t necessarily agree that this book sounded interesting, I did agree that his writing was enjoyable.

Next Book Club

The Assistants By Camille Perri

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Book Club Date: July 13th 2016
 

Radio Girls + Giveaway

By: Sarah-Jane Stratford
Published Year: 2016
Publisher: NAL
Pages: 382

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I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion of this book.

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): The Great War is over, and change is in the air, in this novel that brings to life the exciting days of early British radio…and one woman who finds her voice while working alongside the brilliant women and men of the BBC. 

London, 1926. American-raised Maisie Musgrave is thrilled to land a job as a secretary at the upstart British Broadcasting Corporation, whose use of radio—still new, strange, and electrifying—is captivating the nation. But the hectic pace, smart young staff, and intimidating bosses only add to Maisie’s insecurity. 

Soon, she is seduced by the work—gaining confidence as she arranges broadcasts by the most famous writers, scientists, and politicians in Britain. She is also caught up in a growing conflict between her two bosses, John Reith, the formidable Director-General of the BBC, and Hilda Matheson, the extraordinary director of the hugely popular Talks programming, who each have very different visions of what radio should be. Under Hilda’s tutelage, Maisie discovers her talent, passion, and ambition. But when she unearths a shocking conspiracy, she and Hilda join forces to make their voices heard both on and off the air…and then face the dangerous consequences of telling the truth for a living.
 
                                                           First Impressions

This cover is gorgeous! It is so pretty and immediately made me want to read the summary. I wasn’t as intrigued by the summary as I was the cover, but it still sounded really interesting and different from what I’ve been reading lately.

                                                            What I thought

This book was definitely interesting!

Maisie is a young woman in the mid-1920s who is looking for work. She gets a job at the BBC as a secretary in the company’s infancy. She works under the Director General and Hilda Matheson who is the Director of the Talks department (the department that puts together different Talk segments on different topics). Soon, as a modern woman, she realizes that she would really like to work solely for Hilda and begins doing so. This story follows Maisie as she figures out whom she is in this new world and accidentally discovers information about the Fascists of Britain prior to World War 2.

What I found so interesting about this book was the different opinions on women in the mid-1920s-early 1930s. When Maisie first starts working for the BBC, her goal is to work there long enough to find a husband and then quit. She views Hilda as odd and couldn’t understand why a woman would even want to be in such a high position. While I expected this opinion from the men in the story, I was surprised that some women didn’t believe in the power of other women.

It was also fascinating to see Maisie grow over time. She really changed as a person and it was fun to follow her on her journey from a Mousey girl who wasn’t even sure who she was or if she wanted to work to someone who is confident in whom they are and love what they do. Maisie wasn’t my favorite person when the story started, so I was glad to see that she grew and matured.

Another interesting part of the book is that Hilda Matheson and other main characters in this story were real people! I didn’t expect that this book was going to use real people for characters. Hilda Matheson is a fascinating individual and even though this story involving her is completely fictional, you can tell that the author did her research on the person and she is true to character. I am fascinated by Matheson as a strong working woman in a time that this was so rare. I with this was someone that more women knew about.

One of the issues that I had with this book was the timeline. I will preface this by saying that I was reading an ebook ARC, so it very much could have been due to the format in which I was reading the book. I found that a lot of the time there were these time jumps that seemed to come out of nowhere, especially at the beginning of the story. When Maisie started working at the BBC, a lot happened and I assumed it was all within the first month of her being there. Then it mentions that it’s 6 months or a year later and I was so confused. There was nothing to indicate that that much time had passed. This happened a few times within the story and it always threw me off. The book does span 1926-1932, but I didn’t see any definition between the years. Whenever moments like that happened, I was a bit thrown off and taken out of the story.
 

Radio Girls is such a unique and interesting book. I think that is would be a great book for any woman to read as there is a strong feminist storyline with even stronger female characters. The setting of this story is also really unique and intriguing. I don’t tend to re-read historical fiction books, so wouldn’t purchase this for my shelf and therefore, give this a Borrow rating. It is truly well-written and has some wonderful characters.

The wonderful people over at Berkley/NAL publishing are offering the chance for on of you to win a finished copy of Radio Girls! 


Giveaway ends June 17th 2016 at 12:00am CST. Open to residents of the US only. Winner will be selected using Rafflecopter and will be notified by email. Winner has 48 hour to respond before a new winner is selected. The product offered is free of charge, no purchase necessary. 

-The Giveaway is now over!

Flawed

By: Cecelia Ahern
Published Year: 2016
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Pages: 336

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Celestine North lives a perfect life. She’s a model daughter and sister, she’s well-liked by her classmates and teachers, and she’s dating the impossibly charming Art Crevan.

But then Celestine encounters a situation where she makes an instinctive decision. She breaks a rule and now faces life-changing repercussions. She could be imprisoned. She could be branded. She could be found flawed.

In her breathtaking young adult debut, bestselling author Cecelia Ahern depicts a society where perfection is paramount and flaws lead to punishment. And where one young woman decides to take a stand that could cost her everything.

                                                         First Impressions

The cover caught my eye because it was white, but if it wasn’t by Cecelia Ahern I would not have picked it up. It is very obviously a dystopian cover and I’ve been a bit burned out on them, so I think that’s why put me off a bit. My very first impression was “Yay! Cecelia Ahern is writing a YA novel! Not only am I super excited but this will also count towards the Debut Author’s Challenge!”

                                                           What I thought

Cecilia Ahern can do no wrong in my world.

Flawed is a dystopian novel in which a government funded group called the Guild has created a system in which they make people as Flawed in order to keep society pure and perfect. If you are branded (literally, branded with a symbol) as Flawed, not only do you have a set of rules you have to follow (such as curfew), but you cannot ever hold a position of power. Celestine has strived for her entire life to be perfection, but one day that changes. She aids a Flawed man, who reminds her of her Grandfather and, as a result, ends up on trial as being Flawed herself.

There are five different brandings that are given to the Flawed. You can receive a branding on your heart/chest for a betrayal to society, on your tongue for lying, on your temple for bad judgement, your foot for walking with the Flawed (aiding them), and on your hand for a reason which escapes me at the moment.

The interesting thing about the setting for this novel is that it seems more modern than some other dystopian novels in that it is set in a time very similar to the present. I also thought it was interesting that the Flawed/Guild system is very much stated as something that is only occurring in the country the novel occurs in. The characters mention that Judge Crevan (the bad guy) wants to bring the Guild and Flawed system to other countries, so obviously the entire world has not adopted this reality.

 I did like Celistine, even though I could see a lot of people being annoyed with her. She is a very logical person who has always been perfect until that moment on the bus. She still holds a lot of that logic after she becomes Flawed, but the annoying thing is that she magically says all the right things. I enjoyed that she is reluctant from the beginning to be any kind of leader or martyr. She knows where she stands and doesn’t trust anyone easily.

The one aspect that irritated me so much was the love triangle. Ugh, whhhhyyyy???? It is not a rule that dystopian novels need love triangles. She is already dating the Judge’s only son which in and of itself is drama. The love triangle was so undeveloped and felt very shoved down my throat.

The concept of the Flawed does bring up a lot of interesting questions. What Celestine does is seen as compassionate, and at the same time is seen as Flawed. How can someone with positive qualities be seen so negatively? How can people who are passing such harsh judgement be seen as perfect? Who gets to decide what perfection is? Can a government ever not be corrupted? 
 

While this isn’t the most creative story in that it follows a lot of dystopian stereotypes, the world is unique and the writing is strong. I enjoyed the pace of the story greatly and found myself not only unable to put the book down, but yelling at it the majority of the time. I definitely would give this more of a 3.5 than a 3, but I did struggle a little bit with how similar it was with other dystopian novels and a bit of the irritation with the love triangle. If you love dystopian novels, you should definitely pick this up. I am looking forward to the next book in the series, and it seems as though it’s a duology which is nice since that means I won’t have to wait even longer to finish the story.  
 

Eligible

By: Curtis Sittenfeld
Published Year: 2016
Publisher: Random House
Pages: 492

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): A Modern Retelling of Pride and Prejudice

This version of the Bennet family—and Mr. Darcy—is one that you have and haven’t met before: Liz is a magazine writer in her late thirties who, like her yoga instructor older sister, Jane, lives in New York City. When their father has a health scare, they return to their childhood home in Cincinnati to help—and discover that the sprawling Tudor they grew up in is crumbling and the family is in disarray.

Youngest sisters Kitty and Lydia are too busy with their CrossFit workouts and Paleo diets to get jobs. Mary, the middle sister, is earning her third online master’s degree and barely leaves her room, except for those mysterious Tuesday-night outings she won’t discuss. And Mrs. Bennet has one thing on her mind: how to marry off her daughters, especially as Jane’s fortieth birthday fast approaches.

Enter Chip Bingley, a handsome new-in-town doctor who recently appeared on the juggernaut reality TV dating show Eligible. At a Fourth of July barbecue, Chip takes an immediate interest in Jane, but Chip’s friend neurosurgeon Fitzwilliam Darcy reveals himself to Liz to be much less charming. . . .

And yet, first impressions can be deceiving.

                                                             First Impressions

Beautiful cover! This immediately made me want to read this book. Then when I saw it was a Pride and Prejudice retelling I was even more intrigued. Those two things were all I needed to know to know I wanted to read this book.

                                                              What I thought

This book markets itself as a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice and it is definitely modern! I really enjoyed this book and found myself unable to put it down once I got into it.

One of the aspects that make this book different from the original story, besides the fact that it’s set in present day, is that the Bennett sisters are a lot older. Jane is almost 40, Liz is 38, Mary is also in her 30s, Kitty is 26 and Lydia is 23. I liked this twist because it definitely made the book feel more modern. Another interesting twist is that a lot of modern attitudes and lifestyles are a major part of this book. For example, Liz, when she moves back home, is seeing a married man and Jane is trying to get pregnant through a sperm donor. I really liked that these new storylines were added because it made it feel like a fresh story instead of just a retelling of a classic.

It was refreshing that Sittenfeld didn’t just think that moving the story to present day was enough to create a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice. She didn’t just move the story, add some cell phones, texting, and other technology and say it was a modern story. She truly transported the original characters into a modern lifestyle and she did it wonderfully.

Another aspect that I greatly enjoyed was the short chapters. Some of the chapters were as short as a half a page and I think the longest chapter was maybe 5 pages long. This kept the story moving and definitely made it harder for me to put the book down. There was never a dull moment and I really enjoyed Sittenfeld’s style of writing. I also found this book to be funnier than I expected it to be.

As with the original Pride and Prejudice, Darcy and Lizzie aren’t the most likeable of characters but somehow the reader enjoys them anyway. I liked that the characters still had their core characteristics, making the books still have the same heart that the original had. 
 

I will preface this by saying I’m not a hard core Pride and Prejudice fan who has read the original multiple times, but I think Sittenfeld did a wonderful job writing this retelling. It is an interesting story in and of itself and even if you haven’t read Pride and Prejudice, I think it’s different enough that it stands on its own. I would definitely read this book again and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys romance or Pride and Prejudice (obviously). 

Flight Patterns

By: Karen White
Published Year: 2016
Publisher: NAL
Pages: 416

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I received this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion.

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Georgia Chambers has spent her life sifting through other people’s pasts while trying to forget her own. But then her work as an expert of fine china—especially of Limoges—requires her to return to the one place she swore she’d never revisit...

It’s been thirteen years since Georgia left her family home on the coast of Florida, and nothing much has changed, except that there are fewer oysters and more tourists. She finds solace seeing her grandfather still toiling away in the apiary where she spent much of her childhood, but encountering her estranged mother and sister leaves her rattled. 

Seeing them after all this time makes Georgia realize that something has been missing—and unless she finds a way to heal these rifts, she will forever be living vicariously through other people’s remnants. To embrace her own life—mistakes and all—she will have to find the courage to confront the ghosts of her past and the secrets she was forced to keep...

                                                             First Impressions

The cover of this book reminded me of summertime and I definitely wanted to pick it up. It looked like it would be a fun light book. The summary also sounded interesting with a main character who was returning to her family after thirteen years away.

                                                               What I thought

The cover for this book totally does not fit the actual story. As much as I love how pretty t is, it is completely deceiving. Based on the cover alone, you would get the impression that this book is going to be a light chick-lit. It is definitely so much more and darker than I ever would have thought it would be. I feel like it’s going to miss some of the market that would enjoy it because they won’t realize how much mystery there is to this story just by glancing at the cover.

In Flight Patterns, Georgie Chambers returns to her hometown after 13 years away to find a piece of china that she remembered seeing years ago. She works for a firm that valuates old items and estates and she specializes in china. James Graf comes from New York with his grandmother’s china set, sparking the search for a piece of matching china Georgia remembers from her childhood home. Heading back she has to face a sister who she hasn’t talked to in 13 years, a mother who hasn’t spoken in 10, a niece who she hasn’t seen since she was a baby, and her Grandfather the beekeeper.

Oddly enough, one of my favorite parts of this book was the beekeeping. The beginning of each chapter had a piece of information about bees taken from the Grandfather’s beekeeper journal. It was obvious that White did a lot of research on bees and beekeeping and I enjoyed all of the interesting facts about the bees.

I also felt like the alternating chapters worked very nicely. It was helpful to be able to see two parts of the arguments and history. White also included chapters from Birdie’s (the mom who had a mental breakdown) point of view. It was a unique perspective because it showed home sometimes what a person is hiding inside of their head is so different from what they show.

While on the surface this book seems like it would be a cute romance with some family drama, there is a lot of depth to the characters and what they go through. There is mystery in how James Graf’s grandmother’s china ended up with the Chambers as well as some family relations. While I was able to predict some of the twists, there were a few (darker) ones that I definitely did not predict! 
 

This book was enjoyable and the characters very strongly developed. However, the overall story oved a bit slowly for my tastes. I also wish there had a little bit more of the romance, since I had expected more. If you’re looking for a book that straddle chick-lit with contemporary fiction with a bit of mystery this book is for you. It is well written and enjoyable and I never felt like I didn’t want to read it. I don’t think I would read it again or purchase it for myself, but I would recommend it if someone picked it up!

Edit- This is a book that has stayed with me weeks after reading it. I have found myself thinking about parts of the story line and the characters. Because of this, I bumped up my original rating. Originally I had this book at a Borrow, but because it left such an impression I felt like I needed to move it up to a Borrow-Beloved.