The Longest Ride.

GoodReads Synopsis-- Ira Levinson is in trouble. At ninety-one years old, in poor health and alone in the world, he finds himself stranded on an isolated embankment after a car crash. Suffering multiple injuries, he struggles to retain consciousness until a blurry image materializes and comes into focus beside him: his beloved wife Ruth, who passed away nine years ago. Urging him to hang on, she forces him to remain alert by recounting the stories of their lifetime together – how they met, the precious paintings they collected together, the dark days of WWII and its effect on them and their families. Ira knows that Ruth can’t possibly be in the car with him, but he clings to her words and his memories, reliving the sorrows and everyday joys that defined their marriage. 

A few miles away, at a local rodeo, a Wake Forest College senior’s life is about to change. Recovering from a recent break-up, Sophia Danko meets a young cowboy named Luke, who bears little resemblance to the privileged frat boys she has encountered at school. Through Luke, Sophia is introduced to a world in which the stakes of survival and success, ruin and reward -- even life and death – loom large in everyday life. As she and Luke fall in love, Sophia finds herself imagining a future far removed from her plans -- a future that Luke has the power to rewrite . . . if the secret he’s keeping doesn't destroy it first.

Ira and Ruth. Sophia and Luke. Two couples who have little in common, and who are separated by years and experience. Yet their lives will converge with unexpected poignancy, reminding us all that even the most difficult decisions can yield extraordinary journeys: beyond despair, beyond death, to the farthest reaches of the human heart. 

My Thoughts-- There was A LOT that I liked about this story.  First, that it took place in my hometown and at my law school alma mater!  Also, I thought the budding romance between Luke and Sophia was beautiful and genuine.  The life of love between Ira and Ruth was touching and inspiring.  Like many of his books, the author weaves parallel stories together in unexpected (and sometimes far-fetched) ways.  This one was one of the slightly more far-fetched and too-neatly-wrapped-up stories.  But the ending that had me rolling my eyes a bit did not diminish at all the beauty of the pages that came before it.

The Stranger.

GoodReads Synopsis-- The Stranger appears out of nowhere, perhaps in a bar, or a parking lot, or at the grocery store. His identity is unknown. His motives are unclear. His information is undeniable. Then he whispers a few words in your ear and disappears, leaving you picking up the pieces of your shattered world. Adam Price has a lot to lose: a comfortable marriage to a beautiful woman, two wonderful sons, and all the trappings of the American Dream: a big house, a good job, a seemingly perfect life. Then he runs into the Stranger. When he learns a devastating secret about his wife, Corinne, he confronts her, and the mirage of perfection disappears as if it never existed at all. Soon Adam finds himself tangled in something far darker than even Corinne’s deception, and realizes that if he doesn’t make exactly the right moves, the conspiracy he’s stumbled into will not only ruin lives—it will end them.

My Thoughts-- I love Harlan Coben, but this book was rather disappointing.  Of course, it was suspenseful and intriguing and kept my attention for hours on end.  But there was just something thin about the story.  Or maybe it was too complex.  Or maybe my expectations were just too high for this one.  If you're looking for a great suspenseful thriller by HC, I'd recommend you read Gone for Good or Tell No One first to see how amazing Harlan Coben can be.

Anna and the French Kiss.

GoodReads Synopsis:  Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris--until she meets Étienne St. Clair. Smart, charming, beautiful, Étienne has it all...including a serious girlfriend.  But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss?

My Thoughts:  There is no better YA author than Stephanie Perkins.  I find most YA books tedious and ridden with eye-roll worthy overdramatic teenage angst.  Not so with Ms. Perkins.  Of course there is teen drama, that's the whole point.  But her writing and characters are just so lovely.  It's a fluffy and romantic story with just the right amount of angst and problems that teenagers face.  And almost as much as a romance, it's a story of friendship.  A sweet book full of characters (and a city!!) that will draw you in.

Hide.

GoodReads Synopsis: It was a case that haunts Bobby Dodge to this day—the case that nearly killed him and changed his life forever. Now, in an underground chamber on the grounds of an abandoned Massachusetts mental hospital, the gruesome discovery of six mummified corpses resurrects his worst nightmare: the return of a killer he thought dead and buried. There’s no place to run...  Bobby’s only lead is wrapped around a dead woman’s neck. 

Annabelle Granger has been in hiding for as long as she can remember. Her childhood was a blur of new cities and assumed identities. But what—or who—her family was running from, she never knew. Now a body is unearthed from a grave, wearing a necklace bearing Annabelle’s name, and the danger is too close to escape. This time, she’s not going to run. You know he will find you... 

The new threat could be the dead psychopath’s copycat, his protégé—or something far more terrifying. Dodge knows the only way to find him is to solve the mystery of Annabelle Granger, and to do that he must team up with his former lover, partner, and friend D. D. Warren from the Boston P.D. But the trail leads back to a woman from Bobby’s past who may be every bit as dangerous as the new killer—a beautiful survivor-turned-avenger with an eerie link to Annabelle. From its tense opening pages to its shocking climax, Hide is a thriller that delves into our deepest, darkest fears. Where there is no one to trust. Where there is no place left to hide.

My Thoughts:  I have mixed feelings about this book.  The mystery around Annabelle Granger was fantastic, and her back story was incredibly interesting.  I only figured out who the bad guy was a bit before the protagonist, which is a sign of good mystery writing.  But I really don't connect at all with D.D. Warren or Bobby Dodge, and I'm not sure why.  Perhaps one day I'll pick up the next book in this series, but I'm not in a hurry to do so.

The Secret Life of Violet Grant.

GoodReads Synopsis-- Manhattan, 1964. Vivian Schuyler, newly graduated from Bryn Mawr College, has recently defied the privilege of her storied old Fifth Avenue family to do the unthinkable for a budding Kennedy-era socialite: break into the Mad Men world of razor-stylish Metropolitan magazine. But when she receives a bulky overseas parcel in the mail, the unexpected contents draw her inexorably back into her family’s past, and the hushed-over crime passionnel of an aunt she never knew, whose existence has been wiped from the record of history.

Berlin, 1914. Violet Schuyler Grant endures her marriage to the philandering and decades-older scientist Dr. Walter Grant for one reason: for all his faults, he provides the necessary support to her liminal position as a young American female physicist in prewar Germany. The arrival of Dr. Grant’s magnetic former student at the beginning of Europe’s fateful summer interrupts this delicate détente. Lionel Richardson, a captain in the British Army, challenges Violet to escape her husband’s perverse hold, and as the world edges into war and Lionel’s shocking true motives become evident, Violet is tempted to take the ultimate step to set herself free and seek a life of her own conviction with a man whose cause is as audacious as her own.

As the iridescent and fractured Vivian digs deeper into her aunt’s past and the mystery of her ultimate fate, Violet’s story of determination and desire unfolds, shedding light on the darkness of her years abroad . . . and teaching Vivian to reach forward with grace for the ambitious future––and the love––she wants most.

My Thoughts-- I love love loved Vivian Schuyler.  She was so cute and fun and feisty that I found myself rushing through the Violet story to get back to the Vivian story, even though Violet's was definitely more interesting.  Overall, it was a very well done story with two stories, fifty years apart, woven together seamlessly and beautifully.  I had no idea where Violet's story would end up, and it was a fantastic ending.  The only downfall was how the abuse of Dr. Grant made me cringe a few times.  Plus, the story lagged a little in the middle and lost me for a bit, so I gave it four stars instead of five.

We Were Liars.

GoodReads Synopsis: A beautiful and distinguished family.

A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.
Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

My Thoughts:  I read this book in an afternoon because I just HAD to know what happened.  This is your quintessential unreliable narrator, and we're taken on her journey of trying to remember why she can't remember anything for the last two years.  Yes, the writing is odd and took a bit to get into.  But once I just embraced it, it didn't bother me anymore.  This reminded me a lot of the movie Memento and The Sixth Sense in that once you know the truth revealed at the end, it changes the whole story you've just read or seen.  It's a wonderful storytelling technique, and Ms. Lockhart pulled it off phenomenally.

Attachments.

GoodReads Synopsis-- Beth Fremont and Jennifer Scribner-Snyder know that somebody is monitoring their work e-mail. (Everybody in the newsroom knows. It's company policy.) But they can't quite bring themselves to take it seriously. They go on sending each other endless and endlessly hilarious e-mails, discussing every aspect of their personal lives.  Meanwhile, Lincoln O'Neill can't believe this is his job now- reading other people's e-mail. When he applied to be "internet security officer," he pictured himself building firewalls and crushing hackers- not writing up a report every time a sports reporter forwards a dirty joke.  When Lincoln comes across Beth's and Jennifer's messages, he knows he should turn them in. But he can't help being entertained-and captivated-by their stories.  By the time Lincoln realizes he's falling for Beth, it's way too late to introduce himself.  What would he say . . . ?

My Thoughts-- I'm not even sure how to review this book.  It was fine.  It was entertaining and funny and cute.  But also a little creepy that some guy is reading your emails and somehow falls in love with you?  A weird concept but done well enough to get three stars from me.