Images from Goodreads

[31] What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
Fiction / Contemporary Women, recommended on Sarah’s Bookshelves Live episode 52

Synopsis: While in spin class, Alice falls off her bike and hits her head. When she wakes up, she thinks it’s 1998, that she’s twenty-nine and pregnant with her first child, and in love with her husband Nick. In reality, it’s 2008, she’s thirty-nine and has three children, and is going through a bitter divorce with Nick. Her personality has reverted back to 1998 too – she’s shy, has less confidence, and is messy and disorganized. But everyone expects her to be the outgoing, demanding, efficient super mom she is in 2008. She jumps back in to her 2008 life, trying to figure out why she’s divorcing Nick, and why she’s changed so much in ten years.

Review: This was a fun read that I flew through! I was on the ride right along with Alice, trying to figure out what happened in the last ten years to make her change so much and no longer love her husband, and lose so many friendships. I could have done without the letter format used in the book to tell her sister and grandmother’s stories. I was interested in their stories, but the letters they were writing (to their therapist, and a long lost love) were jarring when they interrupted the story. But overall, this was a fun read (that really got me thinking about what’s changed in my life in the last ten years) that made me want to read another Liane Moritary book!

[32] Neverwhere: Author’s Preferred Text* by Neil Gaiman
Fantasy, head about the author from a coworker (Stephanie) and saw this book for sale on my BookBub email
*Neverwhere was a TV series the author wrote for the BBC. With every cut line and scene, he told himself he’d add it back in to the book, which he did. He later had a chance to do a second draft, which is the version I read. 

Synopsis: When Richard Mayhew stops to help an injured young woman instead of continuing on with his fiancée to dinner with her boss in London, his life is forever changed. The young woman, Door, is part of “London Below,” and after Richard helps her, his life as he knows it is erased – no one recognizes (or even sees!) him, his bank account is empty, and his flat is on the market. Richard finds his way in to London Below to find Door and ask her for help getting his life back.

Review: I really liked this book in the beginning, then it became a quest/journey story with lots of characters and fantasy stuff to keep track of as Door and Richard try to figure out who killed Door’s family, and, meh. I didn’t enjoy it. There was too much unknown about Door and her family and London Below to even care if they found out who killed her family and why. I should have DNF’d this book.

[33] The Price of Paradise by Susana López Rubio
Historical Fiction, free from Amazon for World Book Day

Synopsis: Patricio immigrates from Spain to Havana, Cuba in 1947. He becomes a “cannonball” (a chore runner) at a luxury store in Havana and meets and immediately falls in love with a customer, Gloria, on his first day at work. Gloria is married though – to a mob boss who threatened Patricio’s life in the past. Patricio keeps his distance, but cannot get Gloria off his mind, and is determined to have some sort of relationship with her.

Review: This book was an easy read with short, fast-paced chapters, which is exactly the kind of read I’m looking for right now! I loved the vibrant description of Cuba, and how history and Cuban culture tied in to Patricio and Gloria’s lives. I loved Patricio’s charisma and hard-working attitude, and while I didn’t see any way for him and Gloria to be together, it was enjoyable to read their unpredictable story.