let your sun shine

The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren

Genre: romance

Rating: 5 stars (out of 5)

Review: Rom-com heroines tend to be a spunky, sassy bunch, but even among her compatriots Anna Green stands out.  She's self-aware, determined to be true to herself, and totally unimpressed with the opulence with which she finds herself surrounded.  Not only is she one of the few willing to speak truth to power, but she's determined to save her partner from his family.  This being a romance novel, it spoils nothing to say that she succeeds quite nicely.  Going along for the journey is a real treat.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

just the surface

The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post by Allison Pataki

Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)

Genre: historical fiction

Review: If asked, I wonder which aspect of  Marjorie Post's magnificent lives Allison Pataki would name as more meaningful: her 4 marriages (and 4 divorces), her astounding wealth, her philanthropy, or her ability to design, build, and inhabit multiple luxurious properties.  Because as far as I can tell from this hagiography, Pataki doesn't think there's much else to say about her (aside from a bit about her refusal to be subservient to any man).

Somehow, Pataki has managed to fill up 400 pages with descriptions of jewels and houses and travel and marriages going down the drain.  To be fair, there's also a lot about Post's drive to give back, to make her wealth useful not just to herself, but to her country.  But all of it, from Fabergé to feminism, is given only the most surface treatment, which is a shame, because the worthiness of Post as a subject comes through loud and clear.  I think I'll have to read one of the biographies recommended at the end if I want to get anything like a real sense of the woman, though.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

the hazards of wealth

All We Ever Wanted by Emily Giffin
Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review: From the outside, Nina has everything she could ever want.  She has a successful (and rich husband), a son on his way to Princeton, a beautiful home, and time to charity work.  But that's not really who Nina is, as she finds out when scandal strikes, in the form of a picture of a nearly nude girl that her son snapchats to a few friends.  The repurcussions of that force Nina to really examine her life and whether it reflects her values.  Her introspection forms one theme of the story, and the did-he-didn't-he question of who actually sent the picture and what the consequences will be, form another.  Add to that Lyla, the girl in the photo, who has her own story to tell, and her father, and you get a complex, layered book that explores issues of privilige, complicity, and redemption.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.