Book Review: The Last One At The Wedding: A Novel by Jason Rekulak- Psychological Thriller

Hello, dear Readers,

My book review of The Last One At The Wedding: A Novel by Jason Rekulak.

Title: The Last One At The Wedding: A Novel

Rating:  5/5 Stars

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Author: Jason Rekulak

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Publication Date: October 8, 2024

Language: English

Hardcover: 352 pages
Meet the Author: Jason Rekulak
Buy Me: Amazon

Book Description

From the author of the runaway hit Hidden Pictures, comes a stunning new work of domestic suspense

“Part conspiracy thriller, part family drama, The Last One at the Wedding kept my heart racing and my mind reeling.” ―Riley Sager.

"The ultimate middle-class Dad battles the 1% for his daughter's soul in the best thriller I've read all year." ―Grady Hendrix.

Frank Szatowski is shocked when his daughter, Maggie, calls him for the first time in three years. He was convinced that their estrangement would become permanent. He’s even more surprised when she invites him to her upcoming wedding in New Hampshire. Frank is ecstatic and determined to finally make things right.

He arrives to find that the wedding is at a private estate―very secluded, very luxurious, very much out of his league. It seems that Maggie failed to mention that she’s marrying Aidan Gardner, the son of a famous tech billionaire. Feeling desperately out of place, Frank focuses on reconnecting with Maggie and getting to know her new family. But it’s difficult: Aidan is withdrawn and evasive; Maggie doesn’t seem to have time for him, and he finds that the locals are disturbingly hostile to the Gardners. Frank needs to know more about this family his daughter is marrying, but if he pushes too hard, he could lose Maggie forever.

An edge-of-your-seat thriller that delves deep into the heart of one family, The Last One at the Wedding is a work of brilliant suspense from a true modern master.

My Thoughts

I listened to the audiobook version of this book, and it did not influence my opinion in any way.

This is the second book I have read by this author, and although I absolutely loved Hidden Pictures, I have to admit that The Last One at the Wedding was fantastic. I listened to the audiobook version, and the narrator was also fantastic.

While Hidden Pictures was more of a paranormal/scary book, his new book was different in that sense. However, it still had suspense elements that made me a little afraid of the outcome. With unexpected twists and very complicated characters, this book is well-written and fast-paced and keeps you engaged from the beginning to the end. 

Thank you, Macmillan Audio and Netgalley, for the Advanced Free Listening Copy, in exchange for an honest review.

Wendy 

Book Review: The Only Plane in the Sky by Garrett M. Graff-Nonfiction

Hello dear Readers,

Below my book review of The Only Plane in the Sky by Garrett M. Graff.

Title: The Only Plane in the Sky by Garrett M. Graff

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Genre: Nonfiction

Author: Garrett M. Graff

Publisher: Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: September 10, 2019

Language: English

Hardcover: 512 pages
Meet the Author: Garrett M. Graff
Buy Me: Amazon

Book Description

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER

“This is history at its most immediate and moving…A marvelous and memorable book.” —Jon Meacham

“Remarkable…A priceless civic gift…On page after page, a reader will encounter words that startle, or make him angry, or heartbroken.” —The Wall Street Journal

“Visceral...I repeatedly cried…This book captures the emotions and unspooling horror of the day.” —NPR

“Had me turning each page with my heart in my throat…There’s been a lot written about 9/11, but nothing like this. I urge you to read it.” —Katie Couric

The first comprehensive oral history of September 11, 2001—a panoramic narrative woven from the voices of Americans on the front lines of an unprecedented national trauma.

Over the past eighteen years, monumental literature has been published about 9/11, from Lawrence Wright’s The Looming Tower, which traced the rise of al-Qaeda, to The 9/11 Commission Report, the government’s definitive factual retrospective of the attacks. But one perspective has been missing up to this point—a 360-degree account of the day told through the voices of the people who experienced it.

Now, in The Only Plane in the Sky, award-winning journalist and bestselling historian Garrett Graff tells the story of the day as it was lived—in the words of those who lived it. Drawing on never-before-published transcripts, recently declassified documents, original interviews, and oral histories from nearly five hundred government officials, first responders, witnesses, survivors, friends, and family members, Graff paints the most vivid and human portrait of the September 11 attacks yet.

Beginning in the predawn hours of airports in the Northeast, we meet the ticket agents who unknowingly usher terrorists onto their flights, and the flight attendants inside the hijacked planes. In New York City, first responders confront a scene of unimaginable horror at the Twin Towers. From a secret bunker underneath the White House, officials watch for incoming planes on radar. Aboard the small number of unarmed fighter jets in the air, pilots make a pact to fly into a hijacked airliner if necessary to bring it down. In the skies above Pennsylvania, civilians aboard United Flight 93 make the ultimate sacrifice in their place. Then, as the day moves forward and flights are grounded nationwide, Air Force One circles the country alone, its passengers isolated and afraid.

More than simply a collection of eyewitness testimonies, The Only Plane in the Sky is the historic narrative of how ordinary people grappled with extraordinary events in real time: the father and son working in the North Tower, caught on different ends of the impact zone; the firefighter searching for his wife who works at the World Trade Center; the operator of in-flight telephone calls who promises to share a passenger’s last words with his family; the beloved FDNY chaplain who bravely performs last rites for the dying, losing his own life when the Towers collapse; and the generals at the Pentagon who break down and weep when they are barred from rushing into the burning building to try to rescue their colleagues.

At once a powerful tribute to the courage of everyday Americans and an essential addition to the literature of 9/11, The Only Plane in the Sky weaves together the unforgettable personal experiences of the men and women who found themselves caught at the center of an unprecedented human drama. The result is a unique, profound, and searing exploration of humanity on a day that changed the course of history, and all of our lives.

My Thoughts

The best book I read this year, period. Very different perspective from all the other things I read or watched about 9/11 before. 

Hearing from actual survivors (I listened to the Audiobook) was so heartbreaking, but that was what made this book so real and unique for me.

That is the word I use to describe this book and my experience reading it, real. I cannot think of sometime else. All the feelings, all the sadness, all the heartbreak I felt was real, and I think the people on this book was very brave to share that painful experience they went through this way with the world, with us the readers.

The Only Plane in the Sky is one of these books that you don’t forget, that you cannot forget, a must read, a book I will never get tired of recommend. 


Wendy

Book Review: The Good Immigrant by 26 Different Writers-Nonfiction/Immigration

Hello dear Readers,

Below my book review of The Good Immigrant by 26 Different Writers.

Title: The Good Immigrant

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Genre: Nonfiction/Immigration

Author: 26 Different Writers

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Publication Date: February 19, 2019

Language: English

Hardcover: 336 pages
Meet the Author: 26 Different Writers
Buy Me: Amazon

Book Description

"This collection is a resounding success on multiple fronts. Its righteous rage is perfectly matched by its literary rewards...a surround-sound chorus that bristles with an unpredictable, electric energy." -- The Washington Post

From Trump's proposed border wall and travel ban to the marching of White Supremacists in Charlottesville, America is consumed by tensions over immigration and the question of which bodies are welcome. In this much-anticipated follow-up to the bestselling UK edition, hailed by Zadie Smith as "lively and vital," editors Nikesh Shukla and Chimene Suleyman hand the microphone to an incredible range of writers whose humanity and right to be here is under attack.

• Chigozie Obioma unpacks an Igbo proverb that helped him navigate his journey to America from Nigeria.
• Jenny Zhang analyzes cultural appropriation in 90s fashion, recalling her own pain and confusion as a teenager trying to fit in.
• Fatimah Asghar describes the flood of memory and emotion triggered by an encounter with an Uber driver from Kashmir.
• Alexander Chee writes of a visit to Korea that changed his relationship to his heritage.

These writers, and the many others in this urgent collection, share powerful personal stories of living between cultures and languages while struggling to figure out who they are and where they belong. By turns heartbreaking and hilarious, troubling and uplifting, the essays in The Good Immigrant come together to create a provocative, conversation-sparking, multivocal portrait of America now.

My Thoughts

A necessary and timely book. I really enjoyed every essay. They are very deep and on point as to the message intended. Reading about other people’s experiences in specific subjects. Not every story occurs the same way but on each one there is always something you can relate to, one way or the other.

Wendy

Reading Goals 2018

Hello dear Readers,

With the new year just starting I set some reading goals for 2018. 

As I have done the last few years, I set my Goodreads reading challenge to 35 books and a few other goals which you can see on my picture below. However, what I really hope I can accomplish this year is go back to where I was before and that is to read everyday. 2017 was a pretty busy year and there were days I simply didn't have time to read at all and honestly I don't like that so we will see how it goes.

Wendy