Sweep of the Heart (5 stars)-
This was freaking fantastic. Dina and Sean definitely show us what two innkeepers can do when everything they have is on the line. I can’t wait for the next book!
“Sweep of the Heart” follows the awesome events in the last book and novella. Dina and Sean have hit a nice rhythm until things take a turn and one of Sean’s werewolves friends gets kidnapped. The kidnappers have dropped him on a planet with a portal that will be hard for them to get access to. Dina and Sean are there offered the chance to host the Dominion’s version of “The Bachelor.” There are great callbacks to all of the books and we get even more insight into Dina’s powers and the powers of the innkeepers.
The illustrations that are included are awesome. I loved the pictures that Ilona Andrews had on their blog while they were publishing the chapters to “Sweep of the Heart” this summer, but these ones are next level.
I loved the ending and I feel so greedy because Ilona Andrews set up a perfect pivot point to have us follow up with Maude.
Taste: My Life Through Food (4 stars)-
The book was uneven at times. And the chronology jumps back and forth so it was hard at times to follow. The earliest chapters depicting his mother and family’s cooking was great, everything else after didn’t really work for me. I think it’s because we jumped back and forth between Tucci’s first and second marriages and there were so many kids at one point I needed a flow chart to figure out where they came from.
“Taste: My Life Through Food” feels like half a true title in retrospect. We do get the beginnings of Tucci’s love of food and how his mother sounds like the best cook ever. But he pretty much skates by most of his Hollywood career and a few times though he does talk about dishes with costars (the meal that he, Meryl Streep, Streep’s brother and Messina had in France is still cracking me up) the book started moving more towards other things. I just thought after a while the book could have either been cut, or the food aspect needed to really be brought back in to make it work.
“I’m Glad My Mom Died (5 stars)-
Trigger warning: There’s enough here that it may affect your reading enjoyment. Assault, definitely. But just verbal abuse too.
Jennette McCurdy really gets into what her life was like as a child star before she found fame on Nickelodeon. It’s just heartbreaking and funny at times but mostly heartbreaking. I definitely wish her peace.
I think the biggest takeway for me was that until fairly recently McCurdy didn’t really have the words to describe what her childhood was like with her mother and the rest of her family. She was very focused on making her mother happy even when she wasn’t happy. I think there were a few things that had me shuddering while reading. Definitely the recollections of her mother not allowing her to shower alone and also needing to “check” her. This woman needs all of the hugs. I think the title for the book could have been harsher.