A Cold and Broken Hallelujah

A Cold and Broken Hallelujah by Tyler Dilts
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a really quick read for me, and I enjoyed it for the most part. The characters were interesting, and I felt drawn into their stories. The characters felt a little familiar and put me in mind of a Michael Connelly (Bosch) book.

I liked the premise of the plot. There were a couple of times I felt that the plot was too compressed and/or there wasn't enough information or detail as to how they arrived at a certain point. Twice I found myself thinking that I must have skipped ahead somehow and missed something (on my Kindle) because I thought the story could have used a little more meat.

All in all, I'd probably give it a 3.5, wishing there was a bit more to the plot/story.

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The New Love Triangle

The New Love Triangle: Your Practical Guide to a Love-Filled Life! by Allen Vaysberg
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is a super-quick read, but provides an important way to shift your thinking about yourself and your relationships. With a few easy suggestions and simple action plans, you can start to make a difference in your life on day one. It references a great book The Five Love Languages, which is a good way of examining your life and relationships.

I really liked the author's example of Dr. Masauru Emoto studying how words can positively or negatively impact water crystals. It is a concrete image that really gets his message across and sticks with you, especially when dealing with others.

I also liked the idea of planning an activity every day that you enjoy. Even if it is only 10 minutes. I think this is a good way to get pleasure into your life and create a nice habit.

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The Animators

The Animators by Kayla Rae Whitaker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read/review this book.

This book started out slow for me and really didn't grab me at first, but I pushed through and was so glad that I did.

The story revolves around a complex friend/partnership between two women who combine to make a kickass animation team. There are uncomfortable moments and a lot of struggles through the years. Each woman is battling their own issues, family stories, and histories while creating art that will both heal them in some way and speak to others with meaning.

For me, reading this book at this particular moment was an experience of synchronicity. My best friend and I had met up two weeks ago, and we'd both been talking about childhood, teen years, experiences we'd encountered, things we'd seen that we couldn't unsee, and how those things had an impact on our trajectories and future lives. That is the main theme of the book. Sharon, the main character, grapples with that very issue, similar to what my friend and I had experienced during our childhood. It felt strange and almost eerie to read those pages and see myself and my recent conversation in them.



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The Likeness

The Likeness by Tana French
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Even though this started with a crazy and nearly unbelievable premise, I found myself liking the book and trying to get to the bottom of the mystery. I thought I knew who had committed the crime, and at the end of the book, I was pretty much right with my first thought, but it didn't bother me because there were enough questions surrounding alternate suspects... and there really wasn't a clearly-defined resolution because there were still questions remaining.

I like books like this where someone is drawn into an odd friendship, and the process shows more about their character as the relationship(s) unfold. Especially when there is such a high level of dysfunction. LOL.

On a whole different level, there was a wonderful moment in the book when Daniel is talking to Lexie, and it is something that I've been thinking a lot about lately. About fear. And how it controls us on so many levels...

Daniel said, "Part of the debtor mentality is a constant, frantically suppressed undercurrent of terror. We have one of the highest debt-to-income ratios in the world, and apparently most of us are two paychecks from the street. Those in power -- governments, employers -- exploit this, to great effect. Frightened people are obedient -- not just physically, but intellectually and emotionally. If your employer tells you to work overtime, and you know that refusing could jeopardize everything you have, then not only do you work the overtime, but you convince yourself that you're doing it voluntarily, out of loyalty to the company; because the alternative is to acknowledge that you are living in terror. Before you know it, you've persuaded yourself that you have a profound emotional attachment to some vast multinational corporation: you've indentured not just your working hours, but your entire thought process."

And this is what happens here in the US, probably even more so than what happens in Ireland. We're also indentured to "stuff" and commercialism... and fear of others... don't even get me started on that.

I'll be interested in reading her other books, especially now that I'm over the language differences. Hahaha.

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