I can’t wait for : Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult (Can’t-Wait Wednesday)

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a meme hosted by Tressa at  Wishful Endings to spotlight and discuss upcoming books we are excited about reading.

There are so many books that I can’t wait to read!

Here is my choice for this week:

Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult

Expected publication: November 30th 2021 by Ballantine Books

Goodreads Description:

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author comes a deeply moving novel about the resilience of the human spirit in a moment of crisis.

Diana O’Toole is perfectly on track. She will be married by thirty, done having kids by thirty-five, and move out to the New York City suburbs, all while climbing the professional ladder in the cutthroat art auction world. She’s an associate specialist at Sotheby’s now, but her boss has hinted at a promotion if she can close a deal with a high-profile client. She’s not engaged just yet, but she knows her boyfriend, Finn, a surgical resident, is about to propose on their romantic getaway to the Galápagos—days before her thirtieth birthday. Right on time.

But then a virus that felt worlds away has appeared in the city, and on the eve of their departure, Finn breaks the news: It’s all hands on deck at the hospital. He has to stay behind. You should still go, he assures her, since it would be a shame for all of their nonrefundable trip to go to waste. And so, reluctantly, she goes.

Almost immediately, Diana’s dream vacation goes awry. Her luggage is lost, the Wi-Fi is nearly nonexistent, and the hotel they’d booked is shut down due to the pandemic. In fact, the whole island is now under quarantine, and she is stranded until the borders reopen. Completely isolated, she must venture beyond her comfort zone. Slowly, she carves out a connection with a local family when a teenager with a secret opens up to Diana, despite her father’s suspicion of outsiders.

In the Galápagos Islands, where Darwin’s theory of natural selection was formed, Diana finds herself examining her relationships, her choices, and herself—and wondering if when she goes home, she too will have evolved into someone completely different.

My Thoughts:

I did not expect another new release from Jodi Picoult this year! I am REALLY excited.

It sounds like it’s going to be an interesting read and I honestly can’t wait!

I would love to hear what books you are excited to read!

Have a great week! Happy Reading!!

BOOK REVIEW – The Memory Watcher by Minka Kent

Published December 31st 2016 by Createspace

The synopsis for this novel instantly intrigued me. Books that have anything to do with social media are my kryptonite and from the description and the reviews I read, I knew it was one I had to read. I was pretty sure this was going to be a book I would really enjoy.

I was right.

“ I found her, it took three years but I found her“ 

The book opens with twenty-five year old, Autumn Carpenter searching online for posts that Daphne McMullen has put up of her daughter, Grace. She looks at every picture and reads every post she can find. For now social media provides access to three-year-old Grace….HER Grace. “She is theirs but she is also mine”.

But it’s not just Grace she’s taken an interest in…

Autumn likes to envision herself as other people, likes the things they like etc. She does her hair like theirs and buys the things they buy. She pictures herself in their homes. But everyone likes to pretend sometimes….

But for Autumn this is more than playing pretend.

Daphne McMullen seems to have it all. But we know that so many things can and do go on behind closed-doors (and computer screens).

Is Daphne’s life really as perfect as it seems?

Then one day Autumn is online as usual, hoping to get her “fix” of Daphne and family when a message pops up.  “No results found”. She searches everywhere but she can’t find Daphne‘s account. Everything is gone. She feels like she can’t breathe.  She doesn’t know what to do.

“My gateway to Grace’s life has come to a screeching halt just like that”

Autumn HAS to find a way to see what is going on in Grace’s life.  What will she do to make that happen?

I really enjoyed this novel. I was totally invested in the lives of the characters, anxious to find out what was going to happen next.

As I mentioned, I love stories that involve social media and the online world played a big part in this novel. But the rest of the story was great too. An intriguing and engaging story about secrets, lies, deception, obsession, and more that I finished in just a few sittings.

This was my first novel from Minka Kent, but I know it won’t be my last.

BOOK REVIEW – The Perfect Daughter by D.J. Palmer

Expected publication: April 20th 2021 by St. Martin’s Press

A fascinating and wild read!!

I’ve enjoyed D.J. Palmer’s previous novels.  After reading the description for The Perfect Daughter, I was excited to get started.

When Grace Francone returns from her evening run and realizes that her sixteen-year-old daughter, Penny is gone, she isn’t all that concerned. However, she’s a bit annoyed that Penny didn’t leave a note and that she’d taken the car without asking for permission.  Grace sends Penny a text but doesn’t receive a reply.

A little while later, Grace looks out her window and sees two police cars in her driveway, their red and blue lights flashing. Immediately she wonders if Penny has been in a car accident. She opens the door to two men who introduce themselves as Detective Jay Allio and Sergeant Brent Adams.  They ask Grace if Penny Francone is her daughter.

“We came here to tell you that we’ve arrested her”. 

But what they say next shocks Grace even more…

“We believe she killed a woman.”

Grace can’t believe what she is hearing. How could Penny be involved in something like this?

Grace is shaking as they tell her that Penny has told them that she can’t remember anything that happened. Then they tell her that Penny is calling herself by a different name from the one on her driver’s license. She says her name is Eve. They ask if it’s a nickname and Grace tells them it’s more complicated than that.

When Penny was very young she’d been found abandoned in a local park. Grace and her husband, Arthur brought her home, eventually adopting her.  They were thrilled to have her as a part of their family. Penny had a few strange behaviours along with mood swings and gaps in her memory. But as she got older, her behaviour became more disturbing and she ended up in some trouble after an incident in the ninth grade. When the different “personalities” started to appear, they tried to get help for Penny with little results. Some psychiatrists even thought Penny was faking or putting on a show. But Grace believed in her daughter. There was no way that Penny could consistently fake such realistic personas…Right?

Now Penny is in serious trouble. Grace knows she needs to call someone who can help them.

Could Penny have really committed such a heinous act?

Grace works with Penny’s doctor and lawyer to try and learn more about Penny’s past in hopes that they may find something that will help her case. But they may uncover much more than they expect when those secrets come to life.

Will Grace be able to save her daughter from life in prison?

A thrilling medical and courtroom drama!!

This was a clever and gripping novel that also has some fantastic twists.

We learn a lot about Penny’s mental health and her possible diagnosis of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID).  I’ve always found the subject of DID interesting. Back when I took psychology it was referred to as Multiple Personality Disorder and was commonly confused with Schizophrenia. Over the years, more has been made known about the disorder and I find it fascinating.

The plot was intriguing and I liked hearing the different perspectives from many of the characters throughout the novel.

The Perfect Daughter has some mixed reviews, but I really enjoyed it. It has suspense, medical drama, courtroom drama, family drama as well as some excellent twists!  It was an exciting read for me and I flew through it in just a couple of sittings.

A gripping story about murder, mental illness, secrets, lies and more!

I’d like to thank the publisher for providing me with a copy of this novel. All opinions are my own.

BOOK REVIEW – Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

Published April 24, 2018 by Atria Books

 

 

 A terrific read from Lisa Jewell!

I have read and listened to a few of Lisa Jewell’s books and I have enjoyed them all. This one kept me gripped and I finished it in just a couple of sittings.

Ellie Mack was fifteen when she went missing over ten years ago.  Ellie was a very smart, lovely girl whose disappearance left a hole in the lives of those who loved her. Ellie’s mother, Laurel Mack has never given up hope of finding her daughter.

The book opens from Ellie’s point of view ten years earlier.  Life is going great for Ellie. She’s doing well in school and the boy she’s had her eye on seems to like her too. Her future is bright.

Then she leaves home one morning to go to the library and doesn’t return.

The police thought Ellie might have run away. But Laurel knew that wasn’t possible. The years went by and although Laurel kept pushing the police to do more…there was only so much they could or would do.

Ten years later, Laurel is still struggling. She doesn’t socialize. She just works and visits her mother once a week. Though it seems everyone else has moved on, Laurel feels stuck in place. But then, she meets someone new. Suddenly, all of those thoughts and questions come rushing back with a vengeance.

What happened to Ellie Mack?  Will her mother ever learn the whole truth?

Once again, I am impressed with Lisa Jewell’s storytelling. I thought this was a terrific story. Told from multiple points of view, alternating between ‘then’ and ‘now’, I was enthralled as everything was revealed.

Populated with fantastic characters, this was a fascinating and moving story about obsession, loss, and family. Some suspension of disbelief may be necessary, but it didn’t really bother me, I just enjoyed what I found to be a unique and absorbing story.

Gripping and heartbreaking, I shed more than a few tears as the book came to an end with a gut-wrenching epilogue.

As you can tell I, loved this novel. I can’t wait to read more of Lisa Jewell’s previous novels and of course, I’m looking forward to reading what she writes next.