Books and Ladders: girly book club

#Review: THE THINGS WE CANNOT SAY by Kelly Rimmer

Jamie @ Books and Ladders 17 February 1 Comments

THE THINGS WE CANNOT SAY

Author: Kelly Rimmer
Series: N/A
Source: Purchased from Audible
Publisher: Graydon House
Publication Date: October 17, 2019
Overall Rating:
Diversity Rating:

Summary:
In 1942, Europe remains in the relentless grip of war. Just beyond the tents of the Russian refugee camp she calls home, a young woman speaks her wedding vows. It’s a decision that will alter her destiny…and it’s a lie that will remain buried until the next century.

Since she was nine years old, Alina Dziak knew she would marry her best friend, Tomasz. Now fifteen and engaged, Alina is unconcerned by reports of Nazi soldiers at the Polish border, believing her neighbors that they pose no real threat, and dreams instead of the day Tomasz returns from college in Warsaw so they can be married. But little by little, injustice by brutal injustice, the Nazi occupation takes hold, and Alina’s tiny rural village, its families, are divided by fear and hate. Then, as the fabric of their lives is slowly picked apart, Tomasz disappears. Where Alina used to measure time between visits from her beloved, now she measures the spaces between hope and despair, waiting for word from Tomasz and avoiding the attentions of the soldiers who patrol her parents’ farm. But for now, even deafening silence is preferable to grief.

Slipping between Nazi-occupied Poland and the frenetic pace of modern life, Kelly Rimmer creates an emotional and finely wrought narrative that weaves together two women’s stories into a tapestry of perseverance, loyalty, love and honor. The Things We Cannot Say is an unshakable reminder of the devastation when truth is silenced…and how it can take a lifetime to find our voice before we learn to trust it.

Purchase:

Amazon | Chapters | TBD

I liked this one as a romance novel but it really didn't feel all that historical imo. I liked the dual narrative and seeing how they connected but I am meh about the historical aspects of it.

I think the synopsis is a little misleading because it focuses so much on Alice's life and the modern setting. The historical aspect felt like an afterthought. In all honesty, it could have easily just been a romance novel of like a grandmother telling her story and a granddaughter living her life and it would have had the same impact, but probably resonated better.

I was waiting for the WW2 aspects to be more fleshed out and really truly delivered to us but they just weren't there. It felt like there was a war in the background and while that made the characters move around and do what they did, it didn't really impact them. We knew that nothing too bad was going to happen and while a lot of it was heartbreaking, it wasn't a war love story but a love story with a background war.

I didn't really like or connect to a lot of the characters but I definitely hated Alice's husband and I hated that she conceeded to him so often, especially at the end. He was a terrible father, supporter, and provider and straight women shouldn't have to deal with shit like that.

Overall, I'm not sure if I would recommend it if you're looking for historical fiction, but if you want a heartbreaking love story with some modern aspects, this is definitely the book for you!

Have you read this one? What was your favourite part?

#Review: THE SCHOLAR by Dervla McTiernan

Jamie @ Books and Ladders 12 February 1 Comments

THE SCHOLAR

Author: Dervla McTiernan
Series: Cormac Reilly #2
Source: Purchased from Audible
Publisher: Sphere
Publication Date: March 7, 2019
Overall Rating:
Diversity Rating:

Summary:
When DS Cormac Reilly’s girlfriend Emma stumbles across the victim of a hit and run early one morning, he is first on the scene of a murder that would otherwise never have been assigned to him. The dead girl is carrying an ID, that of Carline Darcy, heir apparent to Darcy Therapeutics, Ireland’s most successful pharmaceutical company. Darcy Therapeutics has a finger in every pie, from sponsoring university research facilities to funding political parties to philanthropy – it has funded Emma’s own ground-breaking research. The investigation into Carline’s death promises to be high profile and high pressure.

As Cormac investigates, evidence mounts that the death is linked to a Darcy laboratory and, increasingly, to Emma herself. Cormac is sure she couldn’t be involved, but how well does he really know her? After all, this isn’t the first time Emma’s been accused of murder...

Purchase:

Amazon | Chapters | TBD

This one was okay. I think if it hadn't been for the fact that I had to read it for the book club, I probably wouldn't have (1) picked it up or (2) finished it.

It was kind of disappointing to me because really I just needed to read the first couple chapters to get the gist of what was going on, maybe one or two chapters in the middle, and then the last five chapters and that's it.

Which is pretty par for the course for mystery/detective novels, but still really disappointing. There was no big "twist" or anything - it was all pretty predictable.

I thought that the semi-queer bait of lesbians was not in good taste though. I thought the fact that it was said because a man was rejected and then it wasn't really proven one way or the other and then said casually like "well they COULD have been lesbians" was really off putting. Either commit to lesbians or leave that section out.

Overall, I am not sure I would recommend this - and while it was a standalone, I'm sure there would have been more context to this story if I had read the first one. This is a meh from me!