The Rooster Bar

Imagine realizing you've been duped. Been in law school for three years. In over your head in student loans. So close to the finish line yet not ready for the real world. Mark, Zola and Todd attend a third-tier for-profit law school now known for producing graduates that barely pass the bar exam let alone land a good job. Through careful research, the friends learn their school is a chain of others led by one hedge-fund manager who also happens to own a bank that specializes in student loans. It's the Great Law School Scam!

Is there a way out? The trio does the unthinkable: quit law school only a few short months away from graduation and with heavy debt. Mark, Zola and Todd try to expose the scam while making a few bucks in the process and saving their own identities.

John Grisham is one of those authors that I pick up knowing it will be a good ass legal thriller. I am guaranteed to be informed about law, learn about attorneys and their reactions, and be entertained with the personal side of the characters' lives. It is not often Grisham features a woman of color as one of the main characters but he did a very good job portraying Zola in The Rooster Bar. I hope to see her again in a future work of Grisham.

Mystery and legal thriller lovers, add The Rooster Bar to your reading list. It is so worth the read!

Title: The Rooster Bar
Author: John Grisham
Published: October 2017
Pages: 368
Edition: eBook
Rating: 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤

   

The Marriage Lie

No marriage is perfect; but Iris and Will's marriage is close as it can be. Until the morning Will leaves for Orlando on a business trip and another plane headed for Seattle crashes and kills everyone on board. According to the airline, Will was one of the passengers on the Seattle plane. How could that be?

Riddled with confusion and grief, Iris is determined to find out what really happened. Why did Will lie about a business trip? Who is in Seattle? Surely it is a misunderstanding. Iris goes on a quest to see if her marriage is a lie.

Why, oh why, did it take me all damn year long to read this book?! If any book should have been called the next best psycho-thriller, it is The Marriage Lie. I was twisted, shocked and hoodwinked almost the whole book through. It was unputdownable from start to finish. Perfect to read while in for the cold weekend. I won't even tease you with quotes on this one. Go in blind! Trust me!

Title: The Marriage Lie
Author: Kimberly Belle
Published: January 2017
Pages: 352
Edition: eBook
Rating: 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤

   

Lit Tidbits - Nonfiction

Title: The Sun and Her Flowers

Author: Rupi Kaur

Published: October 2017
Rating: 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 

I damn near highlighted all of the text in this book of poetry. Only thing left unmarked would've been the art. It is about love, growth, healing and roots. The format is five chapters: wilting, falling, rooting, rising and blooming. How appropriate!

Title: A Good Cry

Author: Nikki Giovanni

Published: October 2017
Rating: 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 

No better feeling than to read something by one of the greatest writers ever: Nikki Giovanni. She shares lessons learned by the people who helped shape her. So much truth and inspiration within the pages of this compact book. We really do learn a lot from tears and laughter.

Title: Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions

Author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Published: March 2017

Rating: 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 

Fifteen incredible suggestions on how to empower a daughter to be a strong, proud, independent woman. If anyone questions what being a feminist means, this short book will be a start.

Title: We're Going to Need More Wine

Author: Gabrielle Union

Published: October 2017
Rating: 🖤 🖤 🖤 

Gabrielle Union was very candid in this collection of essays. She held nothing back and shared stories on her childhood, career, marriage and more. Thanks, girl, for telling us how you really feel!

Title: The Autobiography of Gucci Mane

Author: Gucci Mane with Neil Martinez-Belkin

Published: September 2017
Rating: 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 

Even if you don't listen to trap music or never heard of Gucci Mane, read this autobiography! At the very least, it will open your eyes to the struggles of a music artist, a young black man, a drug addict, paranoia and loyalty to a trusted few. This is one of the few autobiographies that I read nonstop. It is written so readers can really see Gucci Mane's transformation to a better, healthier and happier life. Now THAT's real icy!

Series Sunday: Still Me

(Me Before You #3) 

Series Sunday is a bookish meme hosted by Literary Marie. I encourage all of my fellow book bloggers and bookhearts to play along.

• Read an installment of a series.
• Share your review/recommendation below.
• Include the title, author and series name.

My Series Sunday pick is Still Me, the third book in the Me Before You series by Jojo Moyes.

"When you get to my age, the pile of regrets becomes so huge it can obscure the view terribly." ~ 88%

I did not like the second book of this series titled After You. Frankly, it was because I didn't care about Louisa Clark's life after losing her true love. But once I saw the movie adaptation of Me Before You, it brought the character to life. I anticipated reading this new release hoping it would renew my interest in the series.

Hmmm, not so much. Lou is still quirky and fun as ever. She is also still indecisive and sometimes flighty. Mixing in with New York high society has her torn between two worlds. Her boyfriend, Ambulance Sam, is still thousands of miles away. Then she meets Joshua Ryan who reminds her of the past. Where exactly does Lou and her heart belong?

Well before the end, I knew what the likely outcome would be. But my goodness it dragged getting there. It solidifies my original thought that there is no need for this to be a series. We were fine with just Me Before You. But for those like me who feel obligated to finish out a series, borrow it from your local public library when it is available.

Happy Early Pub Day, Jojo Moyes! Still Me will be available Tuesday, January 30.

Disclaimer: This book was received directly from the publisher for review purposes only. In no way does it influence my review. The opinions I have expressed are my own and would be the same if I spent my hard-earned coins.

Title: Still Me
Author: Jojo Moyes
Published: January 2018
Pages: 368
Edition: Galley
Rating: 🖤 🖤

First Lines Friday

First Lines Friday is a bookish meme hosted by Literary Marie. I encourage all of my fellow book bloggers and bookhearts to play along.

• Grab your current read(s).
• Share the first line(s).
• Include the title and author.

"I have this secret little vocabulary for my husband. Words I've invented, just to describe him."

~ Surprise Me by Sophie Kinsella

 

Lit Tidbits - Fiction

Title: Chaos, Desire & A Kick-Ass Cupcake (Sophie Katz #7) 

Author: Kyra Davis

Published: October 2017

Rating: 🖤 🖤

Mystery writer and amateur sleuth, Sophie Katz, takes on a stalker case when her boyfriend Anatoly passes it up. Only a few chapters in and of course the stalker sets his eyes on Sophie herself. An adventure turns into an obsession. Le sigh. Why am I still reading this series? It is predictable as ever.

Title: Manhunt (Michael Bennett #10.5)

Author: James Patterson

Published: November 2017
Rating: 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤

An attack at the Thanksgiving Day Parade: is it a holiday terror or something personal? Detective Michael Bennett is on a manhunt to find out. I love these BOOKShots. They pack a powerful punch! 

Title: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

Author: Gail Honeyman

Published: May 2017
Rating: 🖤 🖤 🖤 

Eleanor Oliphant has a routine life: no social interactions, frozen pizza and vodka on weekends, and phone chats with Mummy. She is the definition of a quirky loner. But her habits change when she meets Raymond, IT guy at the office. It seems Eleanor is capable of finding friendship and love after all. This novel won so many awards but was just okay to me. Overrated.

Title: What It Means When a Man Falls From the Sky 

Author: Lesley Nneka Arimah

Published: April 2017
Rating: 🖤 🖤 🖤 

Named as one of the most anticipated books of 2017, this debut collection explores the ties that bind parents and children, husbands and wives, lovers and friends and the places they call home. It started with a bang. I literally dropped my NOOK and shouted, "Nooooo!" I was chasing that reaction through the rest of the stories. Never quite got it again but was worth the ride.

Title: The People vs. Alex Cross (Alex Cross #25)
Author: James Patterson
Published: November 2017
Rating: 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 

This time? Oh, THIS TIME? Alex Cross is the one on trial for murder. Branded as a trigger-happy cop with an authority complex, Alex Cross faces trial on the other side of the law. When his former partner, John Sampson, asks his help with an ongoing case, Alex risks what is left of his career. From the corners of the dark internet to the courtroom in media spotlight, this latest book in the Alex Cross series had me O_O until the very end.

Title: Dear Martin
Author: Nic Stone
Published: October 2017
Rating: 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤

Take a look at the cover. I wasn't sure if I could handle another book of this topic along with the nonsense in today's real world news. But Nic Stone did a wonderful job with bringing this story to pages. It is reminiscent of the "loud music" race relations case. Main character Justyce and his best friend, Manny, are riding in a car with the music turned way up. An off-duty cop riding beside them is furious. Shots are fired. And guess who is under attack in the media? Le sigh. In a letter written to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Justyce looks for justice and answers.

Title: Gus (Bright Side #2)

Author: Kim Holden

Published: May 2015
Rating: 🖤 🖤 🖤 

Yes, it took me two and a half years to drum up the emotions necessary to get me through this follow-up novel. I am still...STILL...tore up about Bright Side. But this simple black cover kept haunting me whenever I opened my Kindle. Read me! So I did. Now my face is wet with tears. Grief is tough but worth it when the healing comes.

Without Merit

Colleen Hoover is one of my trusted authors. I barely read the synopsis before downloading or purchasing a new release of hers. It is pretty much guaranteed to be worth my time and coins. She keeps it real when it comes to emotions, family drama, friend interactions and relationships. Without Merit was no exception.

"No one would be able to determine from the outside of our house that our family of seven includes an atheist, a home wrecker, an ex-wife suffering from a severe case of agoraphobia, and a teenage girl whose weird obsession borders on necrophilia." ~ 7%

No family is perfect; however, the Voss family is far from normal. They live in what used to be a church. The mother lives in the basement and never leaves. The father is remarried to the mother's former nurse. And oh, they had a son who is not allowed to eat any treats. The eldest siblings appear perfect—maybe too much. And Merit is the secret keeper.

Along with keeping everyone's secret, Merit collects trophies she hasn't earned. That's right. She goes to antique shops and buys trophies for her collection. During a visit, she meets Sagan. He is witty, a good kisser and ideal. Too bad he is already involved with Merit's own twin sister. The more Sagan hangs around, the more Merit observes her family's behavior. Fed up with all the family lies, Merit explodes. She shatters the happy family illusion and comes daringly close to losing those she loves most.

"Fucking dazing." ~ 72%

Although the main character is a young adult, the author made her mature. Adults will not be bored reading this book and could actually relate. We all belong to a family that no doubt has secrets, triumphs and traditions that could earn a side-eye or two. I would love a follow-up sequel but if not, Without Merit is a great standalone novel that I totally recommend.

Without Merit is available now!

Disclaimer: This book was received directly from the publisher for review purposes only. In no way does it influence my review. The opinions I have expressed are my own and would be the same if I spent my hard-earned coins.

Title: Without Merit
Author: Colleen Hoover
Published: October 2017
Pages: 384
Edition: Galley
Rating: 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤