Landline

Goodreads Synopsis:    Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble; it has been in trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her, deeply — but that almost seems beside the point now.

Maybe that was always beside the point.

Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can’t go. She’s a TV writer, and something’s come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her — Neal is always a little upset with Georgie — but she doesn't expect him to pack up the kids and go home without her.

When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she’s finally done it. If she’s ruined everything.

That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It’s not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she’s been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts...

Is that what she’s supposed to do?

Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?

My Thoughts:

-    I read this back in February, so I hope I can remember my thoughts and feelings.

-    This wasn't my favorite Rainbow Rowell book, but I still liked it. I didn't care for the characters, but the story gave me a lot to think about.

-    Georgie and Neal let their marriage drift like a lot of marriages do. Marriage isn't easy. You have to constantly work on it, and I liked that Georgie and Neal had some time apart to analyze their marriage and themselves. 

-    There was a lot of nothing that happened in the middle. It was just more of the same.

-    I wish Neal and Georgie didn't have kids. I didn't like the idea of what if they didn't get married because then their kids wouldn't have been born, and I think it was unfair to add them into the mix. Their existence shouldn't have been part of the equation. It bugged me that that was an option. 

-    This book made me think about my own marriage, and I wondered where I would be if I didn't get married. I'm happy with how my life is going. I have a wonderful husband and amazing girls. I wouldn't go back if I could. 

The Chosen One

Goodreads Synopsis:    Thirteen-year-old Kyra has grown up in an isolated community without questioning the fact that her father has three wives and she has twenty brothers and sisters, with two more on the way. That is, without questioning them much---if you don’t count her secret visits to the Mobile Library on Wheels to read forbidden books, or her meetings with Joshua, the boy she hopes to choose for herself instead of having a man chosen for her.

But when the Prophet decrees that she must marry her sixty-year-old uncle---who already has six wives---Kyra must make a desperate choice in the face of violence and her own fears of losing her family forever.

My Thoughts:

-    This is a very solemn book.  It has a lot of sadness and worry in it, but in the end, we get a bit of hope.  

-    It makes me sad and a little sick to my stomach to know that the events in this book take place in the real world.  There were certain parts that just break my heart.  

-    I love the emotion in the story.  Kyra's feelings come across so strongly that I just feel for her so much!  I feel scared, sad, happy, and everything else for this character.  I just want to hug her and tell her that everything will be alright.  It just makes me want to show my daughter 10x more love!  

-    I wish the ending held a bit more, or that there was a sequel.  There are a few questions I want answered.  

-    I want to visit a bookmobile!  Patrick is a hero in my eyes!

-    I love the format of this book.  Carol Lynch Williams knows how to get so much more out of a book by playing with the format and sentence structure.  I love it!!

-    The ending is so riveting!  Oh my gosh!!  It is one of the most heart pounding car chases I've ever read or seen.  

-    This is one of those books that you just have to finish is one sitting!  Once you start, you just can't put it down.  Thank goodness it isn't too long.

-    Carol Lynch Williams is such a pro at telling difficult stories in a beautiful way!  Her writing is like poetry, but not.  I just love her style!