Saving Ruby King

I was honestly surprised at how much I enjoyed this book.

I went into Saving Ruby King having no idea what the book was actually besides the quick synopsis.

So, the majority of the book takes place in a church in Chicago's South Side. It deals with many topics such as religion, alcohol abuse, domestic violence, incest, suicidal tendencies, and gun violence. But it also deals with deeper topics like mortality and guilt. Lots of hard hitting topics smashed into one book, and it definitely worked.

Ruby King, the girl, cannot bare the thought of having to live with her father Lebanon after her mother is shot and killed trying to unlock their front door. Everyone knows whose behind her murder. She never could quite hide the scars and bruises Lebanon left on her. He fits the description of her murderer and everyone knows it. Ruby thinks she's tough, tougher than her mother ever was. She will not let Lebanon lay a hand on her, even if that means killing him herself.

Layla Potter, Ruby's best friend and confidante, will fight to the death to save her friend from suffering the same fate as Auntie Alice. Layla has an innate need to protect Ruby from everyone. Now, she is a tough cookie. She stands up to her father, the Reverend. She believes there is more to life than doing the bidding for someone like Lebanon. She believes there is a life outside the church that her father is downright oblivious to.

But there's a history between Ruby and Layla's dads. Once upon a time they were the best of friends. They would, and did, do everything together. They protected each other. They had secrets buried that could destroy the lives they built.

But the aspect that really got me, and got me a turned around a few times, was that their GRANDPARENTS were all friends. Which came with a whole slew of secrets they kept from their children and grandchildren. Forever, and to the end.

This book was actually really good for a number of reasons.

Besides being a debut author who happens to be black and a woman, it fits a new genre that I'm dying to read more of. Ruby and Layla are both in their early-mid twenties. It's hard to find books that tackle this many topics, let alone one that features characters my own age. It was amazing and heartbreaking to set foot into Chicago's South Side with Catherine Adel West's words.

Huge thanks to NetGalley for sending me an e-arc of this book!!

Saving Ruby King hits shelves June 16, 2020!

Looking for the rest of the series?

The Two Lives of Sara

Before and After

Before and After: The Incredible Real-Life Stories of Orphans Who Survived The Tennessee Children's Home Society

This book is unlike any other book I've read.

For those who don't know about the Tennessee Children's Home Society (TCHS), founder Georgia Tann was essentially running a black market baby business under the guise of an adoption agency. Tann preyed on young women who were forced into motherhood, unwed mothers, and pregnant teenagers. Many didn't understand that when they signed papers with Georgia Tann they were effectively giving up their parental rights. Many thought they would be reunited with their children. However, some mothers are suspected for actually selling their babies to Tann.

Tann had many tactics, some of which included telling the birth mothers that their babies had died shortly after birth. She altered birth certificates, forged documents, and in some instances changed birthdays and names in an attempt to make the child harder to trace.

Authors Judy Christie and Lisa Wingate set off on an unknowing adventure to bring some of these adoptees together for a reunion of sorts. They had no idea what would happen or how many of the adoptees would even want to talk to them. Over the course of this book we get to know several of the families directly affected by Georgia Tann and her baby selling business. Some feel that Tann helped put them into a life worth living. Others remember being placed in homes where families constantly fought and ended up in shattered homes. Regardless of where the ended up, they all came to the same conclusion....something was missing in their lives and they never could place it. Many sought out their adoption records in the hopes to meet their birth families, to meet the people who gave them up and learn their stories. Judy and Lisa recognized this fact and decided to help them right the stories these families wanted to share.

This book was absolutely awe-inspiring and heartbreaking all at once.

The lives these adoptees have lived and the lives they've created along the way will forever be tied to Georgia Tann and TCHS. We may never know how many children were separated from their families. We may never see these families come together with children lost. But one thing is for sure, these adoptees will always have one another.

Looking for the companion novel?

Before We We Yours

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Coriolanus Snow is a douche.

Sorry for that blunt comment, but it's true.

The long awaited prequel to The Hunger Games is finally here!

 

This book follows Coriolanus Snow, better known as President Snow.

 

So, this takes place during the 10th Hunger Games and for the first time, the Capitol is allowing academy students to act as mentors to their district tributes. Obviously, Snow gets the short stick and ends up with a small girl from District 12. But he admires her fierce snake attack on another potential tribute; what really does it for him is the moment she starts singing. Snow cannot imagine a world where Lucy Gray could ever possibly win the Hunger Games. The odds are not in her favor when lined up with the rest of the tributes. But Snow is determined to find a way to make this girl a winner.

Having the academy students mentor this tributes gave a new perspective to the Hunger Games. It created a hands on experience for the students involved. The games are very simple, kids get thrown into an arena to fight to the death. The games were originally created as punishment for Districts revolting against the Capitol. They want the Districts to suffer. But the games needed some improvements and the floor was open to the academy students. But it's Coriolanus's idea that sticks, let people make bets on who they believe will win. They can show their support by donating money to their very own tribute. The money can be spent on food, water, basic necessities and it's up to their mentor to get these items delivered into the arena.

Now there's some twists and turns that I'd really love to spill but I don't want you guys to hate me for posting spoilers.....so I can't even really talk about part 3 of the book.

BUT, I do see many, many connections that I'm dying to get off my chest so if you're interested in spoilers and are dying to know what I'm not posting....PLEASE MESSAGE ME.

Looking for The Hunger Games Series?

The Hunger Games Trilogy

Six Months Later

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Natalie D. Richards is my go-to author for YA thrillers.

So, turns out Sourcebooks Fire is re-releasing a bunch of her books with new covers, which is great for me because I just found her a few years ago, so yay for matching covers!

Six Months Later tells a very confusing tale. Main character, Chloe, has what she believes is amnesia. She falls asleep in study hall, when suddenly six months of her life have vanished. She literally became a new person overnight. She bailed on her best friend Maggie, she's dating the high school heartthrob Blake, and secretly fawning over bad boy Adam. 

Oh, and she somehow scored at 1540 on her SAT's even though she's slacked off for the past three years and is barely passing her classes. 

None of this makes sense. She has no idea how she became this person. She has no idea why everyone is suddenly accepting her into the popular crowd at school. Even her mother has fallen for this new and improved Chloe. So why does she hate this life so much? Her life has officially been made.

But obviously there's some deep dark secrets lurking around this small Ohio town. So when a trip to California arises and they can visit Chloe's friend Julien who moved to California out of literally nowhere....that might be the answer to all her questions.....

Looking for other books by Natalie D. Richards?

One Was Lost

We All Fall Down

What You Hide

Gone Too Far

My Secret to Tell

Five Total Strangers

Seven Dirty Secrets

The One and Only Bob

Yall remember Bob?

Little pup with a taste for adventure?

Best friends with a gorilla named Ivan?

That's right, The One and Only Bob picks up right where The One and Only Ivan drops off.

Ivan gets a new home, in a new zoo, where Julia's dad works....which means Bob, Ivan, and elephant Ruby can hangout ALL THE TIME!

Obviously, this story is about far more than just the unlikely friendship of dog, gorilla, elephant. 

It's a story about fear, courage, and love.

So, this book follows Bob's story of abandonment, homelessness, finding his zoo pals, and settling into his furever home with Julia, George, and Sara. He's becoming a soft pup, maybe even a little lazy. He gets to lay in his own bed all day, watch tv, and wait for Julia to walk him down the street to see all his neighborhood friends, minus his lifelong enemy, Nutwit the squirrel. But other than that, he is living his best life. But when a hurricane blows through town and he get separated from his family, he begins panicking....is he.....flying? 

Dozens of thoughts are spinning through his head but the only thing he can think of is getting tossed on the side of the road with his brothers and sisters so many years ago. He couldn't save them, but he's going to try his best to save all the creatures in the zoo, wolves and all.

This was just so stinking cute and I loved it just as much as The One and Only Ivan. I hope Katherine Applegate keeps up with this series because I am OBSESSED.

Looking for the rest of the series?

The One and Only Ivan

The One and Only Ruby

The Grass Harp

I love Truman Capote so much.

I constantly picture him as one of his characters and it's always easy to pick which ones he seems to base off of himself. Whether it's a small characteristic or a story literally based during his childhood, this aesthetic is immediately identifiable. It also helps that I'm from Alabama, just like him. It's so comforting to be reading about streets I've been on, towns I've been in, and places I've just passed through. It almost gives me a nostalgic feeling for my own childhood.

Anyway, you guys probably want to hear about the book.

So The Grass Harp focuses on Collin who lives with his quirky aunts, Dolly and Verena. These sisters have their fair share of problems and Collin quickly finds himself in the middle of it. During a disagreement, Dolly and her friend Catherine run into the woods with Collin in tow, to start their new lives in their treehouse. They want to live on their terms, they want to become themselves, they want Verena to let them make decisions for themselves without her hateful eye watching over them. It was a story of friendship, love, and growing up. Definitely everything I expected from a story like this.

Now this book also included some of Capote's short stories. Some of my favorites were "Children on Their Birthdays," "Miriam," and "The Headless Hawk." Each one had just the right amount of quirk that kept me drawn in until the very end!

Looking for other Truman Capote books?

In Cold Blood

Other Voices, Other Rooms

Breakfast at Tiffany's

The Complete Stories of Truman Capote

Music for Chameleons

Answered Prayers

Looking for other books about Truman Capote?

Tru & Nelle (Tru & Nelle #1)

Tru & Nelle: A Christmas Tale (Tru & Nelle #2)

No Saints in Kansas

Home Sweet Murder

Home Sweet Murder

Imagine you're getting ready for dinner with your significant other when the doorbell rings. There's a man claiming to be an SEC agent. Maybe your lawyer husband is getting files dropped off on a Sunday night? You think nothing of it.....but suddenly a taser has been drawn and your husband is flopping on the floor with taser coils protruding from his chest. Panic sets in and you realize you guys need to SURVIVE.

This is exactly what happened to Leo and Sue Fisher in November 2016.

This fictionalization of their night was traumatizing. Leo thought he and his wife were as good as dead. The man torturing them was convinced he murdered them both and was getting ready to light the house on fire when the alarms started blaring. Sue held her own and literally fought for their lives....over a misunderstanding at Leo's law firm.

Murder on the Run

 Imagine coming home from work and seeing your housekeeper with a knife in her neck, even worse....picture your son nearby, also with a knife in his neck. You're a doctor, you know as soon as you see them that they're both dead. But why? Why would this happen?

The detectives originally believed the 11 year old boy may have been talking to a sex offender in the private message of XBox Live. When that angle didn't work out, the case went cold for a little over five years. Until another doctor and his wife are found murder in their home with, you guessed in, knives in their necks. That's when it all clicked for the detectives, these murders are connected through the university the doctors work for. It couldn't have been more obvious. A mere 36 hours later, they knew exactly who they were looking for.

Now, I am not a James Patterson fan by any means but his true crime series is one of my favorites! Quick and easy to read.

Looking for the rest of the Murder is Forever series?
Murder, Interrupted

Murder Beyond the Grave

Murder Thy Neighbor

Murder of Innocence 

Till Murder Do Us Part