Book Review: Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Title: Daisy Jones & The Six
Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
ISBN: 9781524798628
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine

Synopsis:

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • OVER ONE MILLION COPIES SOLD! A gripping novel about the whirlwind rise of an iconic 1970s rock group and their beautiful lead singer, revealing the mystery behind their infamous breakup—from the author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Malibu Rising, and Carrie Soto Is Back

REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK • COMING SOON AS AN ORIGINAL STREAMING SERIES EXECUTIVE PRODUCED BY REESE WITHERSPOON
 
“An explosive, dynamite, down-and-dirty look at a fictional rock band told in an interview style that gives it irresistible surface energy.”—Elin Hilderbrand

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: NPR, The Washington Post, Esquire, Glamour, Real Simple, Good Housekeeping, Marie Claire, Parade, Paste, Shelf Awareness, BookRiot

Everyone knows DAISY JONES & THE SIX, but nobody knows the reason behind their split at the absolute height of their popularity . . . until now.

Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it’s the rock ’n’ roll she loves most. By the time she’s twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things.

Also getting noticed is The Six, a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she’s pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road.

Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend.

The making of that legend is chronicled in this riveting and unforgettable novel, written as an oral history of one of the biggest bands of the seventies. Taylor Jenkins Reid is a talented writer who takes her work to a new level with Daisy Jones & The Six, brilliantly capturing a place and time in an utterly distinctive voice.

My Review:

Pages: 1 2

Audiobook Review: Your Table is Ready by Michael Cecchi-Azzolina

Title: Your Table Is Ready Tales of a New York City Maître D
Author: Michael Cecchi-Azzolina
Narrator: Michael Cecchi-Azzolina
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
ISBN: 9781250870742
Duration: 9 Hours 20 Minutes

A front-of-the-house Kitchen Confidential from a career maître d’hotel who manned the front of the room in New York City’s hottest and most in-demand restaurants.

Description:

From the glamorous to the entitled, from royalty to the financially ruined, everyone who wanted to be seen—or just to gawk—at the hottest restaurants in New York City came to places Michael Cecchi-Azzolina helped run. His phone number was passed around among those who wanted to curry favor, during the decades when restaurants replaced clubs and theater as, well, theater in the most visible, vibrant city in the world.

Besides dropping us back into a vanished time, Your Table Is Ready takes us places we’d never be able to get into on our own: Raoul’s in Soho with its louche club vibe; Buzzy O’Keefe’s casually elegant River Café (the only outer-borough establishment desirable enough to be included in this roster), from Keith McNally’s Minetta Tavern to Nolita’s Le Coucou, possibly the most beautiful room in New York City in 2018, with its French Country Auberge-meets-winery look and the most exquisite and enormous stands of flowers, changed every three days.

From his early career serving theater stars like Tennessee Williams and Dustin Hoffman at La Rousse right through to the last pre-pandemic-shutdown full houses at Le Coucou, Cecchi-Azzolina has seen it all. In Your Table Is Ready, he breaks down how restaurants really run (and don’t), and how the economics work for owners and overworked staff alike. The professionals who gravitate to the business are a special, tougher breed, practiced in dealing with the demanding patrons and with each other, in a very distinctive ecosystem that’s somewhere between a George Orwell “down and out in….” dungeon and a sleek showman’s smoke-and-mirrors palace.

Your Table Is Ready is a rollicking, raunchy, revelatory memoir.

My Review:

Pages: 1 2

Book Review: The Newcomer by Mary Kay Andrews

Title: The Newcomer
Author: Mary Kay Andrews
ISBN: 9781250256966
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Synopsis:

Mary Kay Andrews, the New York Times bestselling author and Queen of the Beach Reads delivers her next page-turner for the summer with The Newcomer.

In trouble and on the run…

After she discovers her sister Tanya dead on the floor of her fashionable New York City townhouse, Letty Carnahan is certain she knows who did it: Tanya’s ex; sleazy real estate entrepreneur Evan Wingfield. Even in the grip of grief and panic Letty heeds her late sister’s warnings: “If anything bad happens to me—it’s Evan. Promise me you’ll take Maya and run. Promise me.”

With a trunkful of emotional baggage…

So Letty grabs her sister’s Mercedes and hits the road with her wailing four-year-old niece Maya. Letty is determined to out-run Evan and the law, but run to where? Tanya, a woman with a past shrouded in secrets, left behind a “go-bag” of cash and a big honking diamond ring—but only one clue: a faded magazine story about a sleepy mom-and-pop motel in a Florida beach town with the improbable name of Treasure Island. She sheds her old life and checks into an uncertain future at The Murmuring Surf Motel.

The No Vacancy sign is flashing & the sharks are circling…

And that’s the good news. Because The Surf, as the regulars call it, is the winter home of a close-knit flock of retirees and snowbirds who regard this odd-duck newcomer with suspicion and down-right hostility. As Letty settles into the motel’s former storage room, she tries to heal Maya’s heartache and unravel the key to her sister’s shady past, all while dodging the attention of the owner’s dangerously attractive son Joe, who just happens to be a local police detective. Can Letty find romance as well as a room at the inn—or will Joe betray her secrets and put her behind bars? With danger closing in, it’s a race to find the truth and right the wrongs of the past.

My Review:

Pages: 1 2

Audiobook Review: The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks, Sarah Pekkanen

Title: The Golden Couple
ISBN: 9781250835628 (audio), 9781250273208
Author: Greer Hendricks, Sarah Pekkanen
Publisher: Macmillan Audio (audio), St. Martin’s Press
Narrator: Karissa Vacker, Marin Ireland
Duration: 11 Hr 5 Min

Synopsis:

The Golden Couple is the next electrifying novel from Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, the #1 New York Times bestselling author duo behind You Are Not Alone, An Anonymous Girl, and The Wife Between Us.

If Avery Chambers can’t fix you in 10 sessions, she won’t take you on as a client. Her successes are phenomenal–she helps people overcome everything from domineering parents to assault–and almost absorb the emptiness she sometimes feels since her husband’s death.

Marissa and Mathew Bishop seem like the golden couple–until Marissa cheats. She wants to repair things, both because she loves her husband and for the sake of their 8-year-old son. After a friend forwards an article about Avery, Marissa takes a chance on this maverick therapist, who lost her license due to controversial methods.

When the Bishops glide through Avery’s door and Marissa reveals her infidelity, all three are set on a collision course. Because the biggest secrets in the room are still hidden, and it’s no longer simply a marriage that’s in danger.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press

“THE GOLDEN COUPLE is my favorite kind of thriller: a guessing game filled with characters you care about and twists you don’t see coming. THE GOLDEN COUPLE takes a deep dive into a marriage, where what you see on the surface is not necessarily the truth, and the results are mesmerizing. Add to this a therapist who doesn’t play by the rules and you have an utterly compelling, spellbinding read.” — Lisa Jewell, Author of THEN SHE WAS GONE and INVISIBLE GIRL

“THE GOLDEN COUPLE is a propulsive, twisty, unputdownable thriller – with two heroines you won’t be able to get enough of… and a twist you’ll never see coming. Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen have outdone themselves!” — Laura Dave, Author of THE LAST THING HE TOLD ME

“THE GOLDEN COUPLE is propulsive and thrilling. It grabbed me from the first page and didn’t let go. A page-turner that will keep you keep you guessing until the very end.” — Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of MALIBU RISING and DAISY JONES AND THE SIX

My Review:

Pages: 1 2

Audio Book Review: A Boring Wife Settles the Score by Marie-Renée Lavoie

Title: A Boring Wife Settles the Score

Author: Marie-Renée Lavoie

Translator: Arielle Aaronson

Narrator: Justine Eyre

Publisher: Dreamscape Media

ISBN: 9781666502114

Duration: 5 Hours 57 Minutes

Description:

A Boring Wife Settles the Score marks the return of Diane, the raunchy and entertaining heroine of the prize-winning and bestselling Autopsy of a Boring Wife. Despite the end of her marriage, Diane still has plenty of love to give. Determined not to waste her days—that’s just not her style—she finds a job in a daycare and solace in cocktails with her best friend, Claudine, who convinces Diane her love life is not over. Diane wants romance and sees no reason why she shouldn’t have it, but she soon discovers, in her typically chaotic and hilarious manner, that the task is not as simple for a woman approaching her fifties as it is for a man.

My Review:

Audiobook Review: The Show Girl by Nicola Harrison

Title: The Show Girl
Author: Nicola Harrison
Narrator: Imani Jade Powers
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
ISBN: 9781250803245
Duration: 11 Hours, 10 Minutes

Synopsis:

Nicola Harrison’s The Show Girl gives a glimpse of the glamorous world of the Ziegfeld Follies, through the eyes of a young midwestern woman who comes to New York City to find her destiny as a Ziegfeld Follies star.

It’s 1927 when Olive McCormick moves from Minneapolis to New York City determined to become a star in the Ziegfeld Follies. Extremely talented as a singer and dancer, it takes every bit of perseverance to finally make it on stage. And once she does, all the glamour and excitement is everything she imagined and more—even worth all the sacrifices she has had to make along the way.

Then she meets Archie Carmichael. Handsome, wealthy—the only man she’s ever met who seems to accept her modern ways—her independent nature and passion for success. But once she accepts his proposal of marriage he starts to change his tune, and Olive must decide if she is willing to reveal a devastating secret and sacrifice the life she loves for the man she loves.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press

My Review:

Pages: 1 2

Book Review: I Owe You One by Sophie Kinsella

Title: I Owe You One
Author: Sophie Kinsella
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 9781524799014

Synopsis:

From the author of Surprise Me comes an irresistible story of love and empowerment about a young woman with a complicated family, a handsome man who might be “the one,” and an IOU that changes everything.

Fixie Farr has always lived by her father’s motto: “Family first.” And since her dad passed away, leaving his charming housewares store in the hands of his wife and children, Fixie spends all her time picking up the slack from her siblings instead of striking out on her own. The way Fixie sees it, if she doesn’t take care of her father’s legacy, who will?

It’s simply not in Fixie’s nature to say no to people. So when a handsome stranger in a coffee shop asks her to watch his laptop for a moment, she not only agrees—she ends up saving it from certain disaster. To thank Fixie for her quick thinking, the computer’s owner, Sebastian, an investment manager, scribbles an IOU on a coffee sleeve and attaches his business card. Fixie laughs it off—she’d never actually claim an IOU from a stranger. Would she?

But then Fixie’s childhood crush, Ryan, comes back into her life, and his lack of a profession pushes all of Fixie’s buttons. As always, she wants nothing for herself—but she’d love Seb to give Ryan a job. No sooner has Seb agreed than the tables are turned once more and a new series of IOUs between Seb and Fixie—from small favors to life-changing moments—ensues. Soon Fixie, Ms. Fixit for everyone else, is torn between her family and the life she really wants. Does she have the courage to take a stand? Will she finally grab the life, and love, she really wants?

My Review:

Book Review: Confessions of a Domestic Failure by Bunmi Laditan

Title: Confessions of a Domestic Failure
Author: Bunmi Laditan
ISBN: 9780990592808
Publisher: Mira Books

Synopsis:

From the creator of The Honest Toddler comes a fiction debut sure to be a must-read for moms everywhere

There are good moms and bad moms—and then there are hot-mess moms. Introducing Ashley Keller, career girl turned stay-at-home mom who’s trying to navigate the world of Pinterest-perfect, Facebook-fantastic and Instagram-impressive mommies but failing miserably.

When Ashley gets the opportunity to participate in the Motherhood Better boot camp run by the mommy-blog-empire maven she idolizes, she jumps at the chance to become the perfect mom she’s always wanted to be. But will she fly high or flop?

With her razor-sharp wit and knack for finding the funny in everything, Bunmi Laditan creates a character as flawed and lovable as Bridget Jones or Becky Bloomwood while hilariously lambasting the societal pressures placed upon every new mother. At its heart, Ashley’s story reminds moms that there’s no way to be perfect, but many ways to be great.

My Review:

Book Review: Talking as Fast as I Can by Lauren Graham

Title: Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls (and Everything in Between)
Author: Lauren Graham
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN:978-0-425-28519-0

Synopsis:

In this collection of personal essays, the beloved star of Gilmore Girls and Parenthood reveals stories about life, love, and working as a woman in Hollywood—along with behind-the-scenes dispatches from the set of the new Gilmore Girls, where she plays the fast-talking Lorelai Gilmore once again.

In Talking as Fast as I Can, Lauren Graham hits pause for a moment and looks back on her life, sharing laugh-out-loud stories about growing up, starting out as an actress, and, years later, sitting in her trailer on the Parenthood set and asking herself, “Did you, um, make it?” She opens up about the challenges of being single in Hollywood (“Strangers were worried about me; that’s how long I was single!”), the time she was asked to audition her butt for a role, and her experience being a judge on Project Runway (“It’s like I had a fashion-induced blackout”).

In “What It Was Like, Part One,” Graham sits down for an epic Gilmore Girls marathon and reflects on being cast as the fast-talking Lorelai Gilmore. The essay “What It Was Like, Part Two” reveals how it felt to pick up the role again nine years later, and what doing so has meant to her.

Some more things you will learn about Lauren: She once tried to go vegan just to bond with Ellen DeGeneres, she’s aware that meeting guys at awards shows has its pitfalls (“If you’re meeting someone for the first time after three hours of hair, makeup, and styling, you’ve already set the bar too high”), and she’s a card-carrying REI shopper (“My bungee cords now earn points!”).

Including photos and excerpts from the diary Graham kept during the filming of the recent Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, this book is like a cozy night in, catching up with your best friend, laughing and swapping stories, and—of course—talking as fast as you can.

Review:

I listened to the audio version of this book before receiving a physical copy from the publisher.  Even though having Lauren Graham narrates the book makes it 10 times better, I suggest readers don’t be lazy like me and skip all the photos.  She does tell reader when to look at them.  P.s. she really does talk really fast.

I was hoping there is more about her and Alexis Bledel or Scott Patterson.  However, the person from Gilmore Girls she talks about the most is Amy Sherman-Palladino, the creator.  Since Amy is more like a backstage staff, so I do not feel as connected.  I have not had the chance to watch Parenthood yet, so nothing much to say about that section.  Still, it is nice to read about how actors think more their works.  Also there is a lot of spoilers, so watch the shows before reading this book.

3.5 out of 5 stars
Received a free copy from LibraryThing Early Review Program in exchange for an honest review.

Book Blitz: All That Doesn’t by Tracy Krimmer

This is my stop during the book blitz for All That Doesn’t by Tracy Krimmer. This book blitz is organized by Lola’s Blog Tours. The book blitz runs from 20 till 21 August. See the tour schedule here.

All That Doesn’t (All That #2)
By Tracy Krimmer
Genre: Contemporary Romance/ Women’s Fiction
Age category: Adult
Release Date: August 20, 2018

Blurb:
After a devastating end to her marriage, Dory Walker has rebuilt her life in her hometown of Sycamore Bay. She’s left her music career behind and is only looking forward to her future with her rekindled love, Harris Malone.

Single dad Harris is doing his best to guide his young daughter and take the reins of his soon to be retired dad’s hardware store. With Dory by his side, he can do anything.

But just when Dory thought she had it all, a surprise visitor turns her world upside down with a revelation that threatens to tear her family apart. She turns to Harris for help, but he’s caught up trying to save his relationship with his daughter. Can the bond between Dory and Harris survive these turbulent times?

You can find All That Doesn’t on Goodreads

Don’t miss the special release day price of $2.99!
You can buy All That Doesn’t here:
– Amazon
– B&N
– Kobo
– iTunes
– All vendors

First book in this series

“A has-been country music star. A divorced dad from a small town. Almost a decade of bottled up passion…”Links:
– Goodreads
– Amazon
– B&N
– Kobo
– iTunes
– All vendors link

About the Author:
Tracy Krimmer loves coffee, popcorn, Drew Barrymore, and the movie Saving Silverman. She enjoys reading great books (of course) and writing realistic characters for you to enjoy. When she listens to music she prefers the 80s and 90s music she grew up on. In a typical day you’ll find her writing at one of her favorite spots–on the couch, at the kitchen table, or at her favorite hometown coffee shop.

You can find and contact Tracy here:
– Website
– Twitter
– Facebook
– Reader Group
– Goodreads
– Amazon
– Bookbub
– Instagram
– Newsletter

Giveaway
There is a tour wide giveaway for the book blitz of All That Doesn’t. One winner will win a Bath & Body Works gift set. US Only.The set contains:
– 1 Hello beautiful Shea & vitamin e shower gel
– 1 Hello beautiful fragrance mist
– 1 Hello beautiful Shea butter & coconut body lotion
See picture below

For a chance to win, enter the rafflecopter below:
a Rafflecopter giveaway