Jackpot Summer by Elyssa Friedland

Rating: 3 of 5 stars 

Pages: 384 pages
Published: June 2024

Jackpot Summer by Elyssa Friedland was a top pick in the Modern Mrs. Darcy Book Club's 2024 Summer Reading Guide. It was listed under family drama, and this book had plenty of that. A year after their mother dies of lung cancer, the four adult Jacobson children gather in their family's beloved beach home for one last vacation before their father sells it to retire in Florida. While cleaning out their things, the youngest sibling, Noah decides to buy a lottery ticket. The two sisters go in with him, but their older brother and his wife refuse to participate. As luck would have it, they win and are quite literally millionaires overnight. But as we have often learned in real life, money does not buy happiness. Instead this family gets a lot of unfulfilling material items, emotional baggage including guilt and resentment, and a large physical rift amongst the haves and have-nots within the Jacobson clan. 

The story was engaging and kept my interest in that I was curious to learn what happened to this fictional family, but I didn't really care. It wasn't like they were truly struggling before, and the winnings brought out some of their most undesirable traits. I do appreciate the greater lesson, the author crafted along the way. I do enjoy this particular author's writing style (see The Most Likely Club), but this story just didn't live up to the hype like I thought it would. It was a light summer read with a happy ending, and, upon reflected, I think that's all I should have expected.

Recommendation: This book was a little on the long side, and it wasn't my favorite read for the summer nor was it the worst thing I've read. I'm putting this one in the take it or leave it category. 

Until next time ... Read on!

Regardless of whether I purchase a book, borrow a book, or receive a book in exchange for review, my ultimate goal is to be honest, fair, and constructive. I hope you've found this review helpful.

Read More

Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez

Rating: 5 of 5 stars 

Pages: 416 pages
Published: April 2023

Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez is the second in a series. I purchased and read the first Book of the Month Selection, Part of Your World, in 2022. So, naturally when BOTM published the second book in 2023, I snapped it up quickly. And just like the first, this story did not disappoint. As I mentioned before, Jimenez's books are romcoms with substance. She does an delicate job of balancing sobering topics with timely humor and bringing it all together for a satisfying conclusion. 

The second book in this series focuses on the best friend, Dr. Bri Ortiz, of the main character in the first. We meet Bri, ER doctor, on the tail end of a humiliating divorce where she's trying to regain her self-worth while also attempting to beat the clock on finding a kidney donor for her brother. As it so happens in many romcoms, a timely meet-cute (or maybe in this instance meet-conflict) ensues with one Dr. Jacob Maddox who is equally good-looking as he is good-hearted and who also happens to be on the heels of a horrible break-up. To boot, he just so happens to have recently joined the ER staff at Bri's hospital. As it were, one thing leads to another and these professional colleagues move past their initial conflict and strike up a friendship through a situational fake dating scenario. 

With this being a romcom, I don't think I'd be giving to much away to say the story follows a friends-to-lovers plotline. However, that is not the jewel of Jimenez's book. In both of the books in this series, she tackles serious issues such as depression, anxiety, loss of pregnancy and thoughts of suicide. She artfully presents these in a thoughtful way while not weighing the book (or the reader!) down too much. (Hint: Think Grey's Anatomy but in book form.)  

Recommendation: I truly enjoy Jimenez's writing style, and I can't honestly say if I loved this book more than the first. They are both equally engaging on their own. The books do follow in chronological order; however, I believe they can be consumed as stand-alone stories, with some character overlap in each. So, it is my reader's opinion, that it is not necessary to read them in order. I highly recommend picking up either copy today. 

Until next time ... Read on!

Regardless of whether I purchase a book, borrow a book, or receive a book in exchange for review, my ultimate goal is to be honest, fair, and constructive. I hope you've found this review helpful.

Read More

The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

Rating: 5 of 5 stars 

Pages: 464 pages
Published: February 2021

The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah won Book of the Month’s book of the year for 2021, and I totally understand why. Unlike, The Love of my Life, this cover did not draw me in. Additionally, the synopsis did not seem like something I would enjoy reading, even though I do enjoy historical fiction. However, as I have learned first impressions can be deceiving. This book is currently one of my top 3 reads of 2022, and I’m so glad I selected it as my free book as part of Book of the Month’s BFF program. 

The story is set in the 1930s during the Great Depression in Texas and centers around Elsa, who at a young age got herself “into some trouble, in the family way.” Ultimately, she finds herself in a loveless marriage with two children and in-laws that have become her only family after her blood relatives disowned her. After suffering through the Dust Bowl, Elsa’s husband abandons his family. Elsa tries to maintain for a time but realizes she must attempt to travel west to the land of milk and honey to make a better life for her family. The remaining two-thirds of the book are about her survival as a single woman on the road to attain the American Dream by traveling west. 

This is the first book I’ve read by Hannah. Her writing is wonderful. She definitely has a gift for describing scenes in such a way that you feel as though you’re right there in that time period and in that emotion. If you read to escape your current reality, Hannah offers you that escape. The story is exceptional, and the characters are well developed and stayed with me long after I read the final page. 

Recommendation: The Four Winds is a must read for anyone, but especially for lovers of historical fiction. I highly recommend it!

Until next time ... Read on!

Regardless of whether I purchase a book, borrow a book, or receive a book in exchange for review, my ultimate goal is to be honest, fair, and constructive. I hope you've found this review helpful.

Read More