I feel like this book should be titled Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Rude.

Here I thought I was going to be reading a story about a lovable curmudgeon whose heart slowly thaws from the sweet people around her. But that's not Eleanor. Instead, she's mean, rude, and petty. In fact, she's dreadful in all the ways that would make a character unlikable. And since the story is written from her perspective, it was really hard to enjoy it.

We spend so much time in her head as she passes judgement on every single person crossing her way, commenting on their fashion styles, their looks, how they choose to spend their time, and so much more. She's also disparaging when people attempt to make conversations with her, but then she laments how she has no contact with anyone. She doesn't tip and is quick to blame others when she doesn't get the service she wants, even when she's the one who misunderstands.

She talks like she's the queen of holier-than-thou, with big words and obscure references. I understand she's well-read, but where could she possibly have picked up such a pompous style of conversation? And yet she doesn't understand the meaning of "pulled a late night" or how much to tip. I find it hard to believe that she hasn't come across that information in her readings, but she has come across Latin phrases and obscure references.

And herein lies the crux of the issue: Eleanor doesn't ring true to me as a person. She knows both a lot and very little about the same subject. When she talks about emotions and loneliness, she's surprisingly insightful, yet she doesn't realize that they apply to her. She judges alcoholics harshly, but doesn't make the connection to her own alcohol issue. She works in finance, but doesn't know the difference between laptops, desktops, and tablets. She falls for a guy based entirely on his looks, yet goes on about how she hopes he will love her for who she is.

This book does contain some touching and uplifting passages, mostly around Sammy, Raymond, and his mother. These supporting characters warm up their scenes with their sweetness and kind regard for Eleanor. And I found the mysteries around what happened to Eleanor during her younger years to be interesting, although I did see the smallish twist coming.

Since this story completely revolves around Eleanor, finding her character to be frustrating really hampered my ability to enjoy it. However, my experience is an outlier and so many others loved the character and the book, so please don't rule it out just based on my experience.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars

While I usually adore Jill Mansell's books, Sheer Mischief fell flat to me. One issue is that, for a good amount of this story, it felt rambling and unfocused. It took about half the book before it became clear to me who would pair up with whom; before that, every pairing was a possibility from the way it was written. I like knowing which couples to cheer for when I'm reading my chick lit, so this really confused me.

I also found the main character Janey to be pitiful and annoying in how she refuses to believe that a good guy could like her. She would turn down dates with them because she feels she isn't good enough and also they would have a better time going out with someone else. Instead, she spends all her time being stubbornly loyal and attracted to guys who treated her badly, while feeling sorry for herself that no one likes her. Puh-lease!

There are still charm and wit in this book that's so typical from the author, and a few of the lines had me bursting out laughing from the humor and well-delivered sarcasm. I'll continue to seek out Jill Mansell's books, but it's a bummer this one turned out to be such a dud.

Readaroo Rating: 2 stars

The Girl in the Tower is the sequel to The Bear and the Nightingale, and wow, does it live up to my expectations and more! Our heroine Vasya is forced to flee her village after being labeled a witch for saving her people from destruction and death. She dresses as a boy for safety and sets out for freedom and adventure, but trouble quickly finds her.

This book is action-packed from the very start. There is mystery and intrigue, magic, sinister villains, shifty characters with baffling motives, and dangers around every corner. The action doesn't seem to slow down, and once I picked this book up, I couldn't put it down.

Vasya is the same feisty and vibrant girl that I loved in the first book, but older and more mature now. Her character has grown naturally with the progression of this series, and we get to see the courageous, but also conflicted and complex person that she has become. She is everything that I love in a female protagonist--strong, brave, clever, and of her own mind, and I can't help but cheer her on at every turn.

Arden has also matured as a storyteller. Her lyrical, earthy passages bring this world into sharp relief, and her nuanced portrayal of Vasya's dilemmas and complicated relationships with those around her are real highlights of this book. Every time Morozko or Solovey show up, they just steal the scene, and my heart. The painfully conflicted relationship between Morozko and Vasya is captivating, with the vast emptiness of all that is unsaid and unrealized between them.

Without a doubt, this series has stolen my heart. I don't think there has been a fantasy series that has so enchanted me in recent memory, and I can't wait for the next book!

Readaroo Rating: 5 stars!

Ghosts of the Tsunami is the tale of the human toll that resulted from the powerful 2011 earthquake that rocked Japan and the subsequent tsunami that killed thousands of people. It is told through the eyes of a small town in northern Japan, with a focus on its elementary school and the mystery of what happened there that led to the deaths of 74 students and 10 teachers, when safety was only a few steps away.

I found the story surrounding the elementary school to be fascinating. Parry's writing brings humanity to the suffering and grief of the parents of the schoolchildren as they battle to figure out what happened while trying to move forward with their lives. Parry also includes some background on Japanese culture, including ancestor worship and gaman, which helps to explain some of what happened afterwards and the extra layer of pain the survivors have to contend with.

What I didn't enjoy is the supernatural themes and stories in this book. Even though the book title has the word "ghost" in it, I assumed it was figurative, so having literal ghosts in the story really threw me off. I didn't quite know what to make of those passages, especially the ones of philosophical ramblings with priests. For me, these didn't add anything to the story and I would have preferred if they had been cut out altogether.

Still, this is a worthy read. The story is so moving and heartbreaking, bringing words and humanity to an otherwise unspeakable tragedy. I'm glad I picked it up.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars

On the surface, The Wife Between Us seems to be about a jealous ex-wife trying to come between her ex-husband and his new young love. But we are urged to "assume nothing". Well, the problem is, by assuming nothing, I pretty much figured out what the book was about right from the beginning, and that was that.

After that, every plot twist felt like a letdown and nothing really surprised me. Part of the problem is that the book spends a lot of its time trying to hype the reader up about its upcoming reveals and repeating itself multiple times while doing so. If a book is going to go on and on about how good a reveal is, it really needs to deliver, and this book just didn't do that for me.

The other issue is that a lot of the characters' thoughts and actions seem forced and don't really make sense to me. If I were in their shoes, I wouldn't do or say or think these things, so it's rather hard for me to relate to the characters. There is one serious issue that the book tries to tackle, and for me, it just didn't do it justice and convince me that someone going through these things would act this way.

And yet, there is a spark to the book that makes it undeniably entertaining. Even though I pretty much knew what was going to happen, I still felt compelled to keep turning the pages until the very end. So while the book wasn't particularly thrilling or mysterious, it did end up being enjoyable, and I'm glad I finally got around to reading it.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars

The Bear and the Nightingale is an enchanting folklore of Russian winters, magic, and the power of believing in yourself. Arden is a beautiful storyteller. Her book is rich with interesting characters and stories within the main story. It feels like I'm reading a fairy tale with little short stories that all tie back to the big over-arching plot line.

I do feel that for all the buildup, the ending of the story seems a bit over-simplified, in the way that fairy tales often are. I'm not sure if Arden is going off of existing Russian folklore, so it's possible there is a limit to the material she had to work with.

I particularly enjoyed the main character Vasya; she is strong-minded and doesn't just want a life of being married off and having children. Instead, she wants to have adventures and see the world. When bad things start to happen to her village, she steps in without fear and tries to help, even when she is met with disbelief and nay-saying. How could I not love a character like that?

For me, the one negative of the story is that sometimes it was hard to follow all that was going on. That may be partially due to each character having multiple Russian names and ways of being addressed, so it was a little confusing to remember who was who. Also the author doesn't quite spell out exactly why things are happening, just that they are, so that it contributes to the fairy tale feeling, but it leaves a logistics-minded person like me curious about the question "why?" and wondering about the details.

Still, I really enjoyed this book, and I'm looking forward to reading the next one in the trilogy.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars