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2023 Bookish Books Reading Challenge

My Progress:


9 / 30 books. 30% done!

2023 Literary Escapes Challenge

- Alabama (1)
- Alaska (1)
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- Australia (3)
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My Progress:


26 / 51 states. 51% done!

2023 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

My Progress:


19 / 25 books. 76% done!

2023 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge


32 / 50 books. 64% done!

Booklist Queen's 2023 Reading Challenge

My Progress:


36 / 52 books. 69% done!

2023 52 Club Reading Challenge

My Progress:


41 / 52 books. 79% done!

2023 Build Your Library Reading Challenge

My Progress:


27 / 40 books. 68% done!

2023 Pioneer Book Reading Challenge


15 / 40 books. 38% done!

2023 Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge

My Progress:


9 / 25 books. 36% done!

2023 Medical Examiner's Mystery Reading Challenge

Book Bingo Reading Challenge


19 / 25 books. 76% done!

2023 Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge

My Progress:


57 / 109 books. 52% done!

Children's Book Reading Challenge...For Adults!

Saturday, September 05, 2020

Whiny Heroine + Overly Long Story = Putdownable Family Secrets Novel

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

When Patrick Walsh's dementia gets too debilitating for him to live alone, his children relocate him to a nursing home.  Since she's on maternity leave, child psychologist Beth Evans volunteers to clean out her father's house.  The place has always been spic-and-span, so she's stunned when she discovers that a padlocked room holds a chaotic mess of Patrick's paintings, papers, and assorted junk.  Among the detritus, she discovers loose pages from a journal that seems to have been written by her mother.  Patrick always told his kids that their mother died in a car accident when they were small.  The diary entries tell a different story.  Beth reads about her mother's struggles with postpartum depression—which mirror her own—as well as descriptions of a Patrick Beth doesn't recognize at all.  Who are her parents, really?  What was their marriage truly like?  And why is Patrick hiding dark secrets from his own children?

I'm always up for a tantalizing family secrets novel, so I was intrigued by the premise of Kelly Rimmer's newest, Truths I Never Told You.  While the book is definitely about secrets, they're not all that tantalizing.  Plus, the plot crawls along at such a glacial pace that I struggled to stay invested in the story.  While I empathized with Beth, I found her to be a difficult MC to care about.  She's whiny, self-centered, and victimy—my least favorite kind of heroine.  Add in about 100 pages of unnecessary text and, yeah, this novel is just ... putdownable.  It took me a few days, but I did finish it.  Unfortunately, I didn't really enjoy it.  Bummer. 

(Readalikes:  Hm, I can't think of anything.  Can you?)

Grade:


If this were a movie, it would be rated:


for language (a handful of F-bombs, plus milder expletives), violence, disturbing subject matter, and references to sex

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find

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Reading

<i>Reading</i>
Zero Days by Ruth Ware

Listening

<i>Listening</i>
Counterfeit by Kirstin Chen



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