After Anna by Lisa Scottoline

After Anna by Lisa Scottoline ★★★★☆

Let me give you a summary taken directly from Goodreads before I get into my review:

Dr Noah Alderman, a widower and single father, is finally content after marrying Maggie. And they’re both thrilled when Maggie gets an unexpected chance to be a mother to Anna, the daughter she once thought she’d lost forever. But when seventeen-year-old Anna arrives, everything changes – and the darkest turn of events will shatter their lives in ways no one could have imagined.

Goodreads

Now let me start off by saying that I bought this book from a used bookstore in Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada this past summer for $1. The book is in perfect condition and I can’t believe what a bargain I got! This made me realize that I need to go to used bookstores more often, not just because of the bargain I got on the book but rather how relaxing and therapeutic walking through a bookstore teeming with books in every corner you look is.

Here’s a photo I took at the used bookstore in Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada where I purchased this book from (it obviously was not in this section of the bookstore since this novel is not a contemporary romance novel, although one could make the argument that it is). I would place this book as a psychological thriller.

For over half of the book, I literally could not put it down. Any time during the day when I had free time, I picked this book up and read it for as long as I could. Scottoline has an incredible grasp of how to write a thriller. The character development was my absolute favourite part, as well as the back and forth between the present and the past in each chapter, which was enthralling.

I felt as though the book kind of fell flat after the major plot twist was revealed closer to the end of the book, which I will not delve into, and this is why I gave it a 4/5 stars. I would still highly recommend it though. I find it somewhat difficult to write reviews for thriller / mystery novels as I don’t want to give too much away because that will ruin the surprise(s) so I’ll leave it there. Let me know in the comments if this book is something that you’d be interested in reading.

Week in Review (7)

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer in which bloggers are able to share news and happenings in their lives from the past week on their blog.

This week’s Sunday Post will mainly consist of me talking about what book I recently finished reading and what I’m looking forward to reading next.

As I talked about in my previous post, I have finally decided to come back to my blog, which I have missed dearly, as I have the time (somewhat) to write posts on a regular basis. Let’s see how long I can keep this up for.

I recently finished After Anna by Lisa Scottoline (which I bought for $1 at a used bookstore….what a bargain!) and I am in the process of writing a book review for this book so stay tuned for that!

I cannot wait to get into reading Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City by Tanya Talaga and The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley. I bought these two books from Indigo Chapters a couple of weeks back. And of course I’ll be writing a review for each once I finish reading it.

Let me know what books you’ve recently read / are looking forward to reading, I’d love to hear!

Week in Review (4)

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer in which bloggers are able to share news and happenings in their lives from the past week on their blog. 

My past week has been super relaxing, and nothing much has happened. I borrowed a new book from the library called Think Like a Freak by Stephen J. Dubner and Steven Levitt and the following is the summary of it from Goodreads:

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The New York Times bestselling Freakonomics changed the way we see the world, exposing the hidden side of just about everything. Then came SuperFreakonomics, a documentary film, an award-winning podcast, and more.

Now, with Think Like a Freak, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner have written their most revolutionary book yet. With their trademark blend of captivating storytelling and unconventional analysis, they take us inside their thought process and teach us all to think a bit more productively, more creatively, more rationally—to think, that is, like a Freak.

Levitt and Dubner offer a blueprint for an entirely new way to solve problems, whether your interest lies in minor lifehacks or major global reforms. As always, no topic is off-limits. They range from business to philanthropy to sports to politics, all with the goal of retraining your brain. Along the way, you’ll learn the secrets of a Japanese hot-dog-eating champion, the reason an Australian doctor swallowed a batch of dangerous bacteria, and why Nigerian e-mail scammers make a point of saying they’re from Nigeria.

Some of the steps toward thinking like a Freak:

First, put away your moral compass—because it’s hard to see a problem clearly if you’ve already decided what to do about it.
Learn to say “I don’t know”—for until you can admit what you don’t yet know, it’s virtually impossible to learn what you need to.
Think like a child—because you’ll come up with better ideas and ask better questions.
Take a master class in incentives—because for better or worse, incentives rule our world.
Learn to persuade people who don’t want to be persuaded—because being right is rarely enough to carry the day.
Learn to appreciate the upside of quitting—because you can’t solve tomorrow’s problem if you aren’t willing to abandon today’s dud.
Levitt and Dubner plainly see the world like no one else. Now you can too. Never before have such iconoclastic thinkers been so revealing—and so much fun to read.

It seems like a super eye-opening book, so I thought that I’d give it a try. Stay tuned for a review that will be uploaded on my blog soon. 

Other than that, I’ve been looking for a new job for the summer, and the search is going quite well. I just had a phone interview this week, and I thought it went well, so now I’ll be waiting for an email about the next steps that I need to take in this job journey. 

On the other hand, I’ve been kind of sick this week and I just cannot wait until I feel better so I can enjoy my break. I went to Nandos for lunch with my family this week (they have some pretty decent food), as well as watched Hereditary.

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To be honest, I’d give this movie a 7/10 as I found the ending rather confusing and henceforth frustrating. Overall, quite suspenseful with a TON of jump scares! 😂 What movie have you watched recently? 

Thank you for reading my post, and please feel free to leave a link to your Sunday Post below! 

Stacking it up

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga’s Reviews where bloggers discuss the books that they have borrowed from the library or bought to add to their shelves. I personally think it’s a fabulous idea as you are able to learn about books that may not even have been of interest to you!

I have added a few books to my shelf this week, mostly from the library, but nonetheless I plan on reading these books very soon! The following three books are the ones I’ll be reading.

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Please leave your ‘Stacking the Shelves’ post link below. ⬇️