The novel is about Hana, present day librarian in Minnesota and past teenager during the Bonsai war in 1995. Her friend Amina’s mysterious death in the beginning of the book, keeps you eagerly reading to figure out the reason. The book educate me about the Bosnia war and the Srebrenica massacre. It made me understand more about the horrors of that war and the impact it has on individuals and communities that were involved.

The book was good but I thought it was too long. I think she could have told the same story in fewer page

I have to be in the right mood for literary fiction, but the audiobook narrator hit this one out of the park. He captured both the dry humor Kenney is known for as well as Bud's emotional growth so fantastically. The book flew by for me with no boring spots, which is a high compliment for literary fiction.

This is a young adult, dystopian novel. It is the first in a series of six novels. It is set in a period where the world is basically dying, and a new form of government is in power, and they are exploiting the people and hording resources. Juliette has a lethal touch where she cannot touch anyone, or they will die. This book follows the story of Juliette as she is seen in different ways due to her power. I really liked this book. It is a bit of an introductory book into the series as it sets up the characters, setting, and plot so it might be a little slow at times. The romance is good. I enjoyed the writing style a lot. It was really unique in that it showed Juliette's growth as a person and really represented her internal turmoil. I really like the dystopian genre, like the Hunger Games, so I really enjoyed the book. I recommend this book to readers who like the dystopian genre and are willing to stick through the series because it gets so much better!

Fredrik Backman has a way to write broken people that you fall in love with. A priceless painting is gifted to a runaway foster kid by the artist himself. Can Luisa handle the responsibility of having such a priceless gift? As she travels with the artist’s best friend to sell the painting, the full story of the artist, his friends and growing up in a poor neighborhood is unfolded. This book weaves past and present together creating an intriguing story.

This book was really well written and was very interesting. A lot of the book was fun since it mentioned a lot of literary classics. The first 3/4 of the book are great. Once you get to the end and they start revealing the twists is when things go off the rails. I am all for twists, red herrings and suspending belief for the sake of the story, but the biggest reveal felt so arbitrary, it really felt tacked on. I wish the author worked harder on the reasoning for that instead of adding so many reveals.

I don't like rating political books. Nothing in this novel was surprising to me, anyone could see the decline in the President and I think it was more about what people would justify of our leaders to prevent an outcome they didn't want. I read this book because I think it's important to hear from all sides about the truths hidden and manipulated to us from people in power. I also recognize the divisiveness of politics now and I don't want to contribute to that so if this review isn't posted, I completely understand.

Songs of Summer by Jane L Rosen is another enjoyable "Summer Reads" (If you haven't read it, SPOILER ALERT STOP READING HERE. The central plot takes place of Fire Island. The story while a little predictable still kept me interested. I was impressed by the characters back story. I would have preferred a few more surprises. I liked the ending BUT, it was for me, cookie cutter - It is as if Ms. Rosen didn't try hard enough to be creative which is why a 4 and not a 5.

Ruth Franklin did a lot of research to fill in the gaps about Anne Frank's life and death, Anne's writing and rewriting of the diary, Anne's father's editing of the diary through the years, and Ruth discusses the plays, books and movies based on Anne's life.

A good summer read about two writers competing to tell the story of an infamous woman.