Book Review: The Book of Rosy: A Mother's Story of Separation at the Border by Rosayra Pablo Cruz (Author), Julie Schwietert Collazo -Memoir/Immigration

Hello dear Readers,

Below my book review of The Book of Rosy: A Mother's Story of Separation at the Border by Rosayra Pablo Cruz (Author), Julie Schwietert Collazo.

Title: The Book of Rosy: A Mother's Story of Separation at the Border

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Genre: Memoir/Immigration

Author: Rosayra Pablo Cruz (Author), Julie Schwietert Collazo

Publisher: HarperOne
Publication Date: June 02, 2020

Language: English

Hardcover: 256 pages
Meet the Author: Rosayra Pablo Cruz
Buy Me: Amazon

Book Description

A searing tale of the human lives behind the immigration crisis, written by two remarkable mothers—a Central American woman whose children were taken from her and the American who helped reunite the family.

When Rosayra Pablo Cruz made the wrenching decision to seek asylum in the United States with two of her children, five-year-old Fernando and fifteen-year-old Yordy, she knew the journey would be incredibly difficult, dangerous, and potentially deadly. But violence had made life in Guatemala untenable; Rosy knew her family’s only chance to survive was to go north.

After a perilous journey that left them dehydrated, starved, and exhausted, Rosy, Fernando, and Yordy crossed into Arizona. Almost immediately, they were forcibly separated by government officials under the Department of Homeland Security’s “zero tolerance” policy.

In The Book of Rosy, Rosy and Julie Schwietert Collazo, founder of Immigrant Families Together, the grassroots organization founded to reunite mothers with their children, tell Rosy’s story. They expose the cruel conditions of the detention facilities, the unbearable anxiety of having her children ripped away, and the faith and love that helped her through the darkest time. 

A gripping, unflinching depiction of the human cost of inhumane policies and the unbreakable bonds of family, faith, and community.

My Thoughts

I devoured this book. I could not stop reading it. I have never gone through or been in the position the author was, however, I strongly believe this is in indeed an accurate representation of what people at the border experience. I know it could be seem as cliche or easy to say for me, but I admire when people like Rosy share their experiences, when they are brave enough or feel compelled to do something about it. Somehow, help the others that are living the same pain and suffering to have hope.

For us readers, it is a way to better understand and not easily judge or think all the people trying to cross the border are bad people, like they want us to believe. I can only imagine how hard and heartbreaking was for Rosy, and all the other moms there, to be separated from their children and for them as well, being without their moms, for such longs periods of times. Granted they are taking care of but is it not the same. 

This certainly won't be the last book I will be reading on the subject of immigration, border stories, border separation. I want to know of other people's stories and better educated myself. I think we as a society have the responsibility to understand that behind the pain, the suffering, the difficulties, are real people and we have an obligation not to judge but understand and be more compassionate.

Wendy

Book Review: American Dirt: A Novel by Jeanine Cummins-Fiction/Hispanic American Literature

Hello dear Readers,

My book review of American Dirt: A Novel by Jeanine Cummins.

Title: American Dirt: A Novel 

Rating: 3/5 Stars

Genre: Fiction/Hispanic American Literature

Author: Jeanine Cummins

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Publication Date: January 21, 2020

Language: English

Hardcover: 400 Pages
Meet the Author: Jeanine Cummins
Buy Me: Amazon

Book Description

También de este lado hay sueños. On this side, too, there are dreams.

Lydia Quixano Pérez lives in the Mexican city of Acapulco. She runs a bookstore. She has a son, Luca, the love of her life, and a wonderful husband who is a journalist. And while there are cracks beginning to show in Acapulco because of the drug cartels, her life is, by and large, fairly comfortable.

Even though she knows they’ll never sell, Lydia stocks some of her all-time favorite books in her store. And then one day a man enters the shop to browse and comes up to the register with a few books he would like to buy―two of them her favorites. Javier is erudite. He is charming. And, unbeknownst to Lydia, he is the jefe of the newest drug cartel that has gruesomely taken over the city. When Lydia’s husband’s tell-all profile of Javier is published, none of their lives will ever be the same.

Forced to flee, Lydia and eight-year-old Luca soon find themselves miles and worlds away from their comfortable middle-class existence. Instantly transformed into migrants, Lydia and Luca ride la bestia―trains that make their way north toward the United States, which is the only place Javier’s reach doesn’t extend. As they join the countless people trying to reach el norte, Lydia soon sees that everyone is running from something. But what exactly are they running to?

American Dirt will leave readers utterly changed. It is a literary achievement filled with poignancy, drama, and humanity on every page. It is one of the most important books for our times.

Already being hailed as "a Grapes of Wrath for our times" and "a new American classic," Jeanine Cummins's American Dirt is a rare exploration into the inner hearts of people willing to sacrifice everything for a glimmer of hope.

My Thoughts

I finished reading/listening to American Dirt and wanted to share my thoughts. As a story teller, I think the author does a great job. The book as a whole has pretty much all the things I usually like in a book. Good writing, good pace, characters that you can somehow relate to. 

Now, that being said, I also understand where all the rejection, anger, controversy towards it comes from. See they say writers should only write what they know. I don’t necessarily agree with that. A writer can write about any subject, but if you are going to write about something you don’t know, you better do it right. And that is when I had conflict with the book. I listened to an interview with the author, where she says she did her research, and I believe she might but i don’t think her book necessarily reflects that. 

After reading other non-fiction books on the same subject, I can’t agree that American Dirt is an accurate representation of the realities of Immigrants. I am an Immigrant, however, the way I came to the US was totally different from the people on these non-fiction books I have read, and as a writer I could never feel totally confident to tell a story on the subject as if my experiences were the same as theirs. I can speak from my experience, I came here by choice not because that was my only choice. That is the issue I have with the book. 

I think when it comes to sensitive topics, situations causing so much pain and suffering in real life, you can do ‘research’ and also go for the ‘fictional’ work route but that will never be an accurate representation, that will never be the same as the non fiction, or should I say, very real stories from people who are actually living the pain and the struggles of their circumstances. We as writers need to write with purpose, need to remember that behind some story lines, narratives, there are real people and they deserve better. 

Again, this is my opinion, you don’t necessarily have to agree. I also won’t say American Dirt is a great or is a horrible book. I think each person should read it and form their own opinion.

Wendy

Book Review: Long Bright River: A Novel by Liz Moore-Literary Fiction/Thriller

Hello dear Readers,

My book review of Long Bright River: A Novel by Liz Moore.

Title: Long Bright River: A Novel

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Genre: Literary Fiction/Thriller

Author: Liz Moore

Publisher: Riverhead Books

Publication Date: January 07, 2020

Language: English

Hardcover: 496 pages
Meet the Author: Liz Moore
Buy Me: Amazon

Book Description

Two sisters travel the same streets, though their lives couldn't be more different. Then one of them goes missing.

In a Philadelphia neighborhood rocked by the opioid crisis, two once-inseparable sisters find themselves at odds. One, Kacey, lives on the streets in the vise of addiction. The other, Mickey, walks those same blocks on her police beat. They don't speak anymore, but Mickey never stops worrying about her sibling.

Then Kacey disappears, suddenly, at the same time that a mysterious string of murders begins in Mickey's district, and Mickey becomes dangerously obsessed with finding the culprit--and her sister--before it's too late.

Alternating its present-day mystery with the story of the sisters' childhood and adolescence, Long Bright River is at once heart-pounding and heart-wrenching: a gripping suspense novel that is also a moving story of sisters, addiction, and the formidable ties that persist between place, family, and fate.

My Thoughts

Seems like the last few years, the first book I read/finished the first month of that new year, turned out to be an amazing one. This 2020 was not the exception. Long Bright River is such a beautiful book, one of these books that stays with you even after finishing it. 

It is not just the plot, or the characters, or the setting, or the writing. It is absolutely everything about this book that makes it an incredible reading experience. There were moments I had a hard time putting it down, I couldn't stop reading. For a nearly 500 pages long, this book is fast paced and easy to follow along with.

This was not an easy or comfortable read. Due to the subject in display, drug addiction, the opioid crisis. This kind of topics can be a trigger for people, for different reasons. I was a little hesitant as to what to expect or the way it was going to be presented/worked but the more I read, the more I could see the author really did a great job even though the subject is not an easy one, but she managed a well, beautifully-written book, about addition, the hardships it comes with and in this story, the complications and impact that issue has in the bond, relationship sisters Mickey and Kacey had growing up.

I was certainly not expecting that twist in the story, but at the end made a lot of sense for the story. Mickey, who is our narrator, is a very reliable character. Both sisters bring a lot to the story and all the other characters. I admire both sisters for all their courage and honesty and the way they confront their own issues. When Mickey realized the possibility her sister Kacey could be missing, she feared the worst and did everything she could to find her. Something else I loved about the book is how well the author present the place the story takes place. Kensington, in Philadelphia. While reading I could feel I was there, I could easily picture the place in my head.

I do not what else to say about this book other than it is one of the best books I have ever read and that I cannot recommend it enough. A powerful and beautiful novel.

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 Family Upstairs: A Novel by Lisa Jewell-Domestic Thriller

Hello dear Readers,

My book review of The Family Upstairs: A Novel by Lisa Jewell.

Title: The Family Upstairs

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Genre: Domestic Thriller

Author: Lisa Jewell

Publisher: Atria Books

Publication Date: November 05, 2019

Language: English

Hardcover: 352 pages
Meet the Author: Lisa Jewell
Buy Me: Amazon

Book Description

“Rich, dark, and intricately twisted, this enthralling whodunit mixes family saga with domestic noir to brilliantly chilling effect.” —Ruth Ware, New York Times bestselling author

“A haunting, atmospheric, stay-up-way-too-late read.” —Megan Miranda, New York Times bestselling author

From the New York Times bestselling author of Then She Was Gone comes another page-turning look inside one family’s past as buried secrets threaten to come to light.

Be careful who you let in.

Soon after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she’s been waiting for her entire life. She rips it open with one driving thought: I am finally going to know who I am.

She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London’s fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, worth millions. Everything in Libby’s life is about to change. But what she can’t possibly know is that others have been waiting for this day as well—and she is on a collision course to meet them.

Twenty-five years ago, police were called to 16 Cheyne Walk with reports of a baby crying. When they arrived, they found a healthy ten-month-old happily cooing in her crib in the bedroom. Downstairs in the kitchen lay three dead bodies, all dressed in black, next to a hastily scrawled note. And the four other children reported to live at Cheyne Walk were gone.

In The Family Upstairs, the master of “bone-chilling suspense” (People) brings us the can’t-look-away story of three entangled families living in a house with the darkest of secrets.

My Thoughts

Oh God, what a book. I enjoyed every minute of it. One of the best thrillers I read this read. It started a little slow bu then it took off and was a complete delight. The way the story is told, the characters, everything works perfect on this book.

A very messed up family but as it rarely happens to me, I truly liked all of the characters. Each one brings something unique to the story. 

Captivating, disturbing, unexpected twists and characters and a very unique story line. A must read.

Thank you Netgalley and Atria Books for the advanced free copy in exchange for an honest review. 

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

Book Review: The Whisper Man-by Alex North-Mystery/Thriller

Hello dear Readers,

My book review of The Whisper Man-by Alex North.

Title: The Whisper Man

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Author: Alex North

Publisher: Celadon Books

Publication Date: August 20, 2019

Language: English

Hardcover: 368 pages
Meet the Author: Alex North
Buy Me: Amazon

Book Description

In this dark, suspenseful thriller, Alex North weaves a multi-generational tale of a father and son caught in the crosshairs of an investigation to catch a serial killer preying on a small town.

After the sudden death of his wife, Tom Kennedy believes a fresh start will help him and his young son Jake heal. A new beginning, a new house, a new town. Featherbank.

But the town has a dark past. Twenty years ago, a serial killer abducted and murdered five residents. Until Frank Carter was finally caught, he was nicknamed "The Whisper Man," for he would lure his victims out by whispering at their windows at night.

Just as Tom and Jake settle into their new home, a young boy vanishes. His disappearance bears an unnerving resemblance to Frank Carter's crimes, reigniting old rumors that he preyed with an accomplice. Now, detectives Amanda Beck and Pete Willis must find the boy before it is too late, even if that means Pete has to revisit his great foe in prison: The Whisper Man.

And then Jake begins acting strangely. He hears a whispering at his window...

My Thoughts

One of the scariest books I read this year but it was totally worth it. 

The characters is what made the book so interesting for me. Overall, a fast-paced read but at times I had to take my time to digest what was happening.  A story that definitely stays with you for long.

Wendy

Blog Tour: The Last Affair by Margot Hunt-Psychological-Domestic Thriller

BLOG TOUR: THE LAST AFFAIR

Welcome to the Blog Tour for The Last Affair by Margot Hunt

BOOK SUMMARY

Gwen Landon—poster woman for perfect wife, mother, and suburban bliss—is found brutally bludgeoned to death behind her Floridian McMansion. Beautiful and beloved by her community, Gwen makes an unlikely victim. But just a scratch below the surface of her perfectly curated world reveals one far more sinister. When looking back over the six months leading up to her death, the question of, “who would do this?” quickly shifts to, “who wouldn’t?”

Commercially successful food blogger and mother of three, Nora Holliday never imagined she would have the nerve, let alone time, to get involved an affair. Trapped in an unhappy marriage, she does whatever it takes to keep it all together. But when Nora runs into Gwen Landon's husband at a hotel in Orlando, his easy kindness and warmth proves too tempting to resist. As their affair spirals dangerously out of control, it seems things can’t get more complicated—until Gwen turns up dead.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Margot Hunt is a critically acclaimed author of psychological suspense. Her work has been praised by Publisher's Weekly, Booklist and Kirkus Reviews.

EXCERPT

The Last Affair, Margot Hunt

Prologue

Other than the woman’s blood-covered body splayed facedown in the grass, it could

have been any typical upscale Floridian backyard.

There was the ubiquitous pool with a water fountain feature, a patio furnished with

both a dining set and outdoor sectional couch, and an enormous gas grill capable of

cooking hamburgers by the dozen. A large pergola with a tropical vine trained over it

covered part of the patio. The dining area was shaded by a black-and-white-striped

awning. It was the very picture of suburban domestic bliss. It could have been the set

for a commercial advertising anything from laundry detergent to allergy medicine.

Again, except for the dead body.

The area had already been taped off. The first officers on the scene appeared with an

ambulance in response to a frantic 911 call placed by the woman’s daughter. The

paramedics had assessed the situation, and quickly determined that the woman was

dead. The fact that the back of her head had been bashed in with what looked like a

paving stone, conveniently dropped next to her prone body, made it immediately clear

that it had not been a natural death. The responding officers called the sheriff, who

responded by sending in a full investigative team. The medical examiner was now doing

a preliminary examination of the body, while police officers combed the area for

additional evidence. Two detectives, Mike Monroe and Gavin Reddick—separated by

twenty years and sixty pounds—were overseeing the operation, standing at the edge of

the patio under the shade of the pergola. It was the third week in April, but this was

South Florida and the temperature had already climbed into the low nineties.

“The paving stone came from the stack out in the front yard. They were delivered last

week by the company who’s installing the driveway,” Detective Reddick said. He was

the younger of the two men and had a wiry frame and angular face.

“Weapon of convenience. Suggests it wasn’t premeditated,” Detective Monroe said.

He had a ruddy complexion and a full head of thick dark hair, swept back off his face. A

strand never moved out of place, even in a strong wind.

“Plus he dropped the weapon, rather than taking it with him. Probably panicked.”

“Could be a she,” Monroe said mildly.

Reddick shrugged. “Blunt force trauma to the back of the head? You know the stats.

Overwhelming likelihood that it’s a man, and probably someone the victim was

intimately involved with. Husband, maybe a boyfriend.”

“The husband was with the daughter when she called it in.”

“Doesn’t mean he didn’t do it, and then had her place the call.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

The family had been sequestered indoors, both to keep them out of the way, and so

that the officers waiting in the house with them could observe anything they did or said.

Other than the husband, there was a daughter in her early twenties and a teenage son.

The daughter was reportedly distraught, while the husband and son had both been

eerily quiet. It was possible they were in shock.

“Do we have an ID on the victim?” Reddick asked.

“It’s her house,” Monroe grunted.

“Yeah, but I like doing things the official way, you know? I’s dotted, t’s crossed, all of

that. Building a case, basic detective work.”

Despite the chilling scene in front of them—the woman’s body still sprawled on the

grass, the back of her head a pulpy, bloody mess—the corner of Monroe’s mouth

quirked up in a half smile. “Sure, kid, tell me all about basic detective work. I’ve only

been doing this for, what…thirty-two years now? The husband ID’d her. Victim is Gwen

Landon, age forty-nine. Married, mother of two. Husband said she hasn’t had any recent

conflict with anyone.”

“Other than the person who caved in the back of her head with a paving stone,”

Reddick pointed out.

“Wouldn’t be the first time a husband didn’t know his wife as well as he thought he

did.”

“Possible. But there’s another possibility, too.”

“What’s that?”

Reddick turned to look at his partner. His eyes were small and dark, and he had a

habit of squinting when he concentrated intently on something.

“The husband is a liar,” Reddick said.

BUY LINKS/SOCIAL LINKS

THE LAST AFFAIR

Author: Margot Hunt

ISBN: 9780778309222

Publication Date: November 26, 2019

Publisher: MIRA BOOKS

SOCIAL:

TWITTER: @HuntAuthor

FB: @AuthorMargotHunt

Insta:@margot_hunt

Goodreads

BUY LINKS:

Harlequin

Indiebound

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Books-A-Million

Target

Walmart

Google

iBooks

Kobo

Thank you to Justine Sha at Mira Books for inviting me to the Blog Tour.