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Fiction, Mystery, romance, thriller

Book Review: First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston

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“There’s an old saying: The first lie wins. It’s not referring to the little white kind that tumble out with no thought; it refers to the big one. The one that changes the game. The one that is deliberate. The lie that sets the stage for everything that comes after it. And once the lie is told, it’s what most people believe to be true. The first lie has to be the strongest. The most important. The one that has to be told.”

Evie Porter has the perfect life – a fantastic boyfriend, a big house in a charming small town, new work as a gallerist’s assistant but there’s a problem: Evie does not exist. She is a made up, perfectly crafted character given to her by a mysterious voice on the phone. She has no idea who her employer is even though she has worked for him for over 8 years. Before every job, she gets a delivery that contains what her identity, future location and her mark will be.

Evie takes the time every job to research her new character and location, she is great at her job, that’s why she’s paid the big bucks but why is this particular character of Evie so unnerving for her. Evie is falling in love with her mark, Ryan, and doesn’t understand what this current job is about. She’s spent months building this relationship while waiting for instructions that never come until someone with her original identity, one that she has been protecting for years and hoping to get back to, waltzes into town.

This was my January Book of the Month pick. I really wanted to read a thriller and I think this delivered. The main character is not a stereotypically good character but you find yourself rooting for her as she exists in a morally grey area. This book won’t blow your mind but it is a fun, quick read which is what I was looking for. As we delve more into Evie and Ryan’s relationship, we wonder more and more if Ryan is more than a mark, why has she been placed in his life for several months without further instructions? Why is he always in East Texas on Thursdays everyday unfailingly? Is anyone who you think they are?

This book starts slow but picks up rapidly around the 100 page mark and doesn’t slow down till the end. I guessed both the twist and the fake out from the start. I saw what the end game was going to be so I wasn’t taken in by the fake out but I can see how people wouldn’t see it coming. I’m not the type of reader who can relax and just experience the book, I’m always wondering what the big twist is going to be and I guessed the real identity of the employer pretty early but the fake out almost made me doubt myself. I had already tweeted about figuring it out so when the fake out came, I was like wow, am I going to have to go back to Tayne with my tail between my legs?!

Anyway, if you’re looking for a fun thriller to read, this is the book for you. It reads like a movie. I gave this 3 stars on Goodreads.

Leggy

celebrity memoir, Memoirs

Book Review: Thicker Than Water by Kerry Washington

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Kerry Washington’s memoir was all the buzz last year with the big revelation that she found out her dad was not her biological dad. The book starts with the day she received the text message from her parents letting her know that they needed to talk. And from Kerry sharing her thoughts and wondering what it could be, she walks back on her life starting from her mother’s first marriage before bringing us back to the moment of her finding out.

The choice to do this was the first thing that impressed me about this book because it was a good way to just dive headfirst to the water cooler moment but then guide us through important moments that led us here. Her mother’s first marriage story was quite important as we get to understand how much she longed for a child after suffering a loss.

This book hit all the points of a memoir and she did not shy away from being open. She talks about her parents marriage, her dad’s financial flaws, sexually being abused by another kid and choosing not to reveal his identity, her abortion, falling in love with her husband, eating disorder and much more. Nothing was left unturned. It’s very easy to forget the accomplishments some actors have made in their careers but as she spoke about her work, I was taken down memory lane and was tempted to go back and rewatch all her bodies of work. The woman has an impressive list.

As always, I did this on audio and the actress in her showed in this narration and she made it enjoyable. Because Kerry is generally a private celeb, I can see how this book could be seen as a juicy tell all because most of the stories are new to us. I think it was an honest well written book with her authenticity being the best thing about it. I’d recommend.

Taynement

Book Related Topics

Our 2024 Reading Goals

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Leggy:

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas holiday season. If you had asked me right after Christmas, I would have told you that I had a fabulous Christmas, but I got ridiculously sick on the 27th and it completely ruined my holiday. I feel a lot better now but that was rough!

Last year for the first time ever, I did not meet my reading goals for the year. I read 58 books out of my goal of 70! For context, in 2022, I read over 100 books so 2023 was not a great reading year for me at all. I just could not get my head in the game. I switched jobs and suddenly found myself traveling a lot for work and trying to acclimate to a new industry that I’d never worked in before so it was tough to keep all the balls in my life juggling, so I just dropped them and let them fall where they may.

Anyway, this year, I’ve set my Goodreads challenge to 70 books as always and we’ll see where the year takes us! Definitely going to be more consistent with the blog, especially consistent with our Instagram, so follow us on there (nightstands2)! Can’t wait to share all the books we’re reading this year with y’all.

Taynement:

I had a good reading year last year and I think the key was reading mostly books that I enjoyed and anything that was not sparking joy, I did not hesitate to DNF. Naturally, when I enjoy books I tend to read faster which allows me to fit in more books. I also downloaded Libby on my phone which is always with me so now whenever I get a free moment I can read vs. when I used to read on my iPad which I couldn’t take everywhere with me.

So since that worked for me, I am going to keep doing that this year. I always set my goals at 30 books because Goodreads asks me for a number but I am not under any pressure to meet it. I hope to have a healthy amount of black/African authors and also fit in my quota of 1 fantasy/scifi book (maybe I should read the fourth wing).

All in all, we hope everyone has a good reading year in whatever way that looks like for you. Have an amazing year everyone!

Leggy & Taynement

african author, african stories, Fiction, literary fiction, Nigerian Author

Our Best and Worst Books of 2023

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“Tis the season where we round out our faves and not so faves of the year. Without further ado, here we go:

Taynement’s Best:

“How do you know if you’re genuinely happy or if you’re just mostly all right, with sprinkles of laughter and occasional shit storms of sadness?”

It’s so funny that this ended up being my favorite book of the year because when I started, I was so irritated by Maddie’s mom and feeling so bad about Maddie’s situation. By the time the book ended, I knew it would be my favorite read. I best describe this book as well rounded and very well written. You feel like you know Maddie. You can see my full review on this book here.

I had a good reading year and liked most of my reads. I read Purple Hibiscus for the first time and what a book! I didn’t include it because it’s old. I also liked as usual my reality show niche books.

Here are some of my other faves:

  • Yellowface by R.F Kuang (love me a book that makes me think. Full review is here)
  • Wellness by Nathan Hill (a real life depiction of a couple’s marriage and how their childhood played a part. Really liked this one)
  • My Last Innocent Year by Daisy Alpert Florin (another one that made you think. Full review here)
  • Rootless by Krystle Zara Appiah (Everyone I know hated the ending but it made sense to me. Our chitchat on it here)
  • Everything Is Fine by Cecilia Rabess (Such a complicated read and annoying character but truly enjoyed this one)

Leggy’s best:

“The power to protect is the highest of responsibilities, Diago. When a man is given it, his duty is not only to the people he thinks are worthy.”

I reviewed this book on our Instagram page. We do mini reviews over there during the week so follow us at @nightstands2. Anyway, I remember reading this book and just loving it. I would read a particular exciting chapter and immediately reread it at the end.

Vic Telimus enters the a powerful academy and uncovers the layers of mysteries and world changing secrets that are way bigger than his quest for revenge, bigger than his family and bigger than what he ever envisioned. I love fantasy books with heros who you want to root for and revenge stories are my kryptonite.

Here are some of my other faves of the year:

  • Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
  • Blood Over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang (full review here)
  • Drowning by T. J. Newman (I reviewed this on our Instagram!)
  • Everything Is Fine by Cecilia Rabess (full review here)
  • The Measure by Nikki Erlick (Full review here)

Taynement’s Worst:

After much thought and deliberation, it pains me to say that this was my least favorite book. Upon reflection on this book, I don’t know if it had a redeeming quality. It tried so hard to be different. From the characters not having a name, no punctuation, vague ending. I did not have any positive feelings when I was done. Full review here.

Leggy’s Worst:

This is basically a book where the protagonist is hung up on a relationship she had when she was 17 for one summer. She saw this boy every summer from 5 to 17 but they only had an actual relationship for one summer that she never got over even though our protagonist is now 31. I could not get over this premise and it colored the entire book for me in a bad way. I still gave this one 2 stars. I did not give any book 1 star this year. At least not yet.

We hope you have enjoyed talking books with us this year. We’d love to know what your best and worsts were so, let us know in the comments! Have an amazing Christmas and we’ll see you in the New Year. Happy reading everybody!

Leggy & Taynement

Fantasy, Fiction

Book Review: Blood Over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang

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“Because good people can turn desperate when the horrors are upon them—especially people whose culture of plenty has left them with no systems to cope with scarcity or cataclysm. Good people will turn monstrous when it’s down to their survival or someone else’s.”

Sciona has devoted every moment of her waking life for the past 20 years on magic and it might finally pay off, she is about to achieve the impossible: to be the first woman ever admitted to the High Magistry in Tiran. When she finally breaks that glass ceiling, she realizes that she will never get the respect she has desired all her life from the male highmages.

Her new colleagues will stop at nothing to let her know she is unwelcome, beginning with giving her a janitor position instead of a qualified lab assistant position. What no one realizes is that Thomil was a nomadic hunter from beyond Tiran’s magical barrier, working for a highmage. He’s finally able to understand the forces that decimated his tribe, drove him from his homeland and keep Tiranish in power. When Sciona and Thomil discover an ancient secret that the order has spent years protecting, Sciona is faced with the most difficult choice of her life.

“Truth over delusion. Growth over comfort. God over all.“

This book is a standalone book which is rare in fantasy, and it is a dark academia fantasy novel filled with mystery, tragedy and questions of morality. I think in our capitalist world today this book is not that farfetched. How much are you willing to give up the comforts that you’re used to just because you’ve realized that it’s at the expense of other people who you don’t know?

The clothes we wear, the phones we used, the stability we have in our different western countries all come with a cost and how much are we willing to turn a blind eye. Even though this book makes you wonder what you would do if you were Sciona and the people of Tiran, it is also not preachy at all. You only start linking these themes to real life once you’re done. You think more deeply about the book and that’s when the threads start connecting in your head.

“It matters because you’re a child. The future ultimately isn’t mine or Sciona’s. It’s yours.”

I wondered what I would have done if I was in Sciona’s shoes and I realized that all the technology and magic we harness is at the expense of the rest of the world and frankly, I would have done the opposite of what she did. I understand her actions to be noble and the right thing to do but I know that I wouldn’t have been a good enough person to do it.

Also, everything Thomil predicted would be her people’s reaction proved to be accurate. People do not want to be bothered by you exposing that their comforts come at the expense of other people. People might claim to want to be do the right thing but when push comes to shove the majority of human beings will choose their group being on top over doing the right thing that benefits other groups.

“You’re the worst kind of murderer, I think… The kind who won’t even acknowledge her crime. You’ve never worshipped a god of truth… You worship a delusion.”

This stand alone adult fantasy forces you to think but ultimately, with the way Sciona’s noble intentions turned out, it also forces you to face the reality of the world. People are good, yes, but people are also incredibly selfish. I recommend this book. I gave this 4 stars on Goodreads.

Leggy

african author, Fiction, literary fiction, Nigerian Author

Book Review: The List by Yomi Adegoke

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Ola is a well known journalist who writes for an online magazine. She is engaged to Michael, who is a former podcast pro and about to start a new career. The two are what the kids call “Couple Goals”. She is also an outspoken feminist and makes her voice loud and clear on social media. She is the first to believe women and call out badly behaved men. Ola is knee deep in wedding planning and everything is going well until 2 weeks before the wedding, their whole lives are turned upside down.

A list has been shared on Twitter. It’s an anonymous list that consists of men accused of varying degrees of sexual assault or inappropriate behavior. Michael is on the list. Suddenly Ola finds herself having to put money where her mouth is. Does she cancel the wedding this close or is this a set up from a disgruntled woman from Michael’s past?

I thoroughly enjoyed this book because of how realistic it was. It’s very easy to spout “believe women” when it is hypothetical but what would you do when it hits home directly. I like how Adegoke depicted Ola’s turmoil between doing what she would have done and grappling with not being able to reconcile the accusation with the Michael she knows.

Adegoke was able to weave past back stories and really flesh out Ola and Michael’s lives separately so we get a good picture of the characters we are following. I liked how Adegoke kept the friends as supporting characters that moved the story along but never overtook or felt like an unnecessary storyline.

On the flip, sometimes the book leaned heavy into being social media buzzy. What do I mean by that, you ask? Well, it had a heavy social media emphasis and at some point it seemed like she was speaking social media language to appeal to that audience. I didn’t mind it so much because I think that was part of what Adegoke was trying to convey, the pressures that come with that world.

I am not sure how this would be received by sexual assault survivors because in some way, it provided an out. The fact that the list was anonymous and unverifiable and anyone could add to it made it seem like it couldn’t be taken seriously. The twist at the end was interesting, to say the least.

Overall, I did like the book but I feel like it would be a divisive one where you either really like it or you don’t. If you have read it, I would love to know what you thought about it. Let us know in the comments!

Taynement

Fiction, literary fiction, women's fiction

Book Review: Evil Eye by Etaf Rum

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“To surrender to the vulnerability of love and allow ourselves to be loved by others—isn’t that the most courageous act of all?”

Raised in a super conservative Palestinian family in New York, Yara thought she had escaped the fate of most of the women in her community by marrying a charming entrepreneur, Fadi who let her finish university and find work outside the home. Even though she is still a traditional wife who is in charge of her two daughters, takes care of the house and has dinner ready when her husband gets home, she still finds her life infinitely more rewarding than her mother’s life was. After she responds to a colleague’s racist provocation, Yara is put on probation at work and must attend mandatory counselling to keep her position.

As more things in her life come tumbling down, she finds herself increasingly uneasy with her mother’s warnings of a family curse and old superstitions. To save herself from her increasingly chaotic behaviors, Yara must face the reality of her childhood and the reality of her current life and marriage to prevent her daughters from the same fate in the future.

Yara continues to explore the nuances between culture, motherhood, marriage, benevolence sexism and female autonomy. If you have ever wondered what benevolence sexism means, look no further than Fadi. Fadi is a representation of men who think they are so magnanimous to allow women have a little bit of freedom as long as it doesn’t disrupt the labor that they believe they are owed from women.

Fadi thinks he has been a better husband and father than Yara’s father, which is objectively true, but the freedom he allows Yara is just enough freedom to think she’s escaped her mother’s life and broken the cycle and that gratefulness that he’s not as bad as the other men, keeps her on a tight leash. When Yara dares to try to test the limits of her leash, she discovers that Fadi is not the man she had built him up to be.

I loved Etaf Rum’s debut book – A Woman is No Man. It was my favorite book of 2019 and I couldn’t wait to read what Rum came out with next. I have to say that this book did not live up to her debut work. The name of the book and the description made it seem like we were going to go into superstitious territory. Rum kept telling us stories that never built up to be anything or mean anything. The future Yara’s grandmother saw for her daughter before she left for America, was never explored, the fact that Yara’s mother kept saying she was cursed, was never explored. Rum kept mentioning storylines and effectively dropping them. When the truth about Yara’s mother and their constant communication came to light, I did not think it did anything for the plot or moved me in anyway. I was like okay, another story where she’s not going to explore the reason why.

When Yara finally made a decision at the end about her marriage, everything just seemed to be wrapped up in a bow. No mention of any blow back from her family and her overall community. Honestly, nothing happens in this book. Etaf Rum is a fantastic writer and it kept me reading this book but ultimately, it didn’t do what I expected it to do when I rushed to get it immediately after publication. I’m going to definitely pick up her next book but this was a 3 star read for me.

Have you read Etaf Rum’s new book? Did you enjoy it? Let me know in the comments.

Leggy

celebrity memoir, Non-Fiction

Book Review: The Woman In Me by Britney Spears

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“I wanted to hide, but I also wanted to be seen. Both things could be true.”

It’s crazy the things we experienced in real time that we kind of just shrugged or looked away from e.g when R. Kelly married Aaliyah when she was just 15. Britney’s ordeal is another thing that I can’t believe we lived through and just chucked it up to her being out of control until a few years ago when the ugly truth about her conservatorship came out and it was like “wow!”. When it was announced that she will be releasing her memoir, I knew I was going to be on it ASAP.

“The saddest part to me was that what I always wanted was a dad who would love me as I was—somebody who would say, “I just love you. You could do anything right now. I’d still love you with unconditional love.”

The biggest takeaway from this book is how much Britney’s family hated/hates her. Sounds like a strong choice of word but that is the best way to describe it. Britney starts the book by saying that “tragedy runs in her family”. Her grandfather passed down his traumas to her father which manifested in him being an alchoholic and not being kind to his family. She grew up in turmoil and music was her escape.

“I was quiet and small, but when I sang I came alive”

The book also conveys how much Britney enjoyed performing and how much it fed her soul. So when we get to the part when the conservatorship started and stripped her of this joy, it’s more palpable. We get to understand more of her mind state and how much grief and pain she was going through. And instead of creating a safety circle, her father and mother because if you say nothing, you are complicit, decide to exploit her and put her in a mental prison.

I did both the audio and read the book and it’s amazing how even though Michelle Williams voiced the audio, you can hear it in Britney’s voice. You have to look at the book as not a literary masterpiece, but as one long rebuttal from Britney to share her side of the story. She does a good job of letting us know all the events that led to the world thinking she was “crazy”. She makes mention many times of being like Benjamin Button and aging backwards mentally like a little girl, which makes more sense of why her Instagram is the way it is (plus regaining the freedom she lost).

It’s crazy that this lasted for 13 years. Britney doesn’t shy away from the details of all the unfortunate incidents in her life and my God, the paparazzi was relentless. Were there parts of the books that remained surface? yep. She doesn’t get into detail on getting with Kevin Federline while he had an 8 month pregnant girlfriend, just saying she didn’t know. But it happens again when she dated a paparazzo. I was interested to know more about her dating life while under the thumb of her father and in one case where her most recent husband, Sam Asghari was, when she went to the many unnecessary rehabs her dad whisked her to.

“If you stood up for me when I couldn’t stand up for myself: from the bottom of my heart, thank you.”

But she did all this for her babies because they kept dangling it as a threat. Also, once again we see how our legal system fails people. She wasn’t even against the conservatorship but just anyone but her father. It’s crazy how the “Free Britney” movement is what saved her and she specifically thanks her fans on this one. The book does not take into account her current divorce and she is full of praises for him in this book.

Overall, this was a quick easy read/listen that provides a different perspective. The book made me very, very sad because how can you be so wicked to your own flesh and blood. She’s just never had anyone in her corner and I wonder how she can proceed when she has clearly been looking for stability and love in her life and every single person keeps failing her. How do you trust anyone?

In one part, she mentions how everyone keeps saying that the conservatorship saved her life and she says physically, maybe but mentally, it crushed her soul. I hope she finds a way to move forward. If you’d like more Britney, the Britney vs. Spears documentary on Netflix puts faces to the names in the book.

Taynement

african author, african stories, literary fiction

Book Review: Maame by Jessica George

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“Maame (ma-meh) has many meanings in Twi but in my case, it means woman“

Maame is the nickname given to Maddie by her mother. A name she resents because it comes with a lot of responsibility in her everyday life. See, Maddie lives in London with her dad who is ill from Parkinson’s. Her mother has decided to spend most of her time in Ghana and her brother spends his time being part of his friend’s entourage.

Her mother decides to come back to London and encourages her to start living. Maddie finds a place to rent, starts dating and tries to keep her work struggles at bay. When something major happens within the family, it rocks Maddie’s world and she has to rediscover herself and determine the life that she wants.

“We grow up fast. Not by force, but because we are needed.’ ‘I think sometimes we’re needed for the wrong reasons.”

I didn’t relate to Maddie but I could see many people in Maddie because she was a people pleaser. She is a familiar character in many African cultures and because of that I felt so triggered by it. I wanted to shake Maddie and I wanted to shake Maddie’s mom. Maddie so clearly was depressed and noone was looking out for her but she was expected to still figure things out and make things happen. George wrote Maddie as a character so well that you just wanted to protect her. Her early twenties confusion and naivete would be relatable to many.

“Everyone talks about the importance of standing out but never the benefits of fitting in.”

The best thing about this book is the writing. It’s never easy to weave in so many topics without making it complicated but George is able to make all the things that happen blend in seamlessy in Maddie’s life – grief, mental health, career dissatisfaction, race, culture, family and so much more – having this front row seat, gives us a better understanding of Maddie’s headspace. I really enjoyed Maddie’s life when she decides to take a chance and start living. The juxtaposition of the friction between her roommates and the security her friends provided was interesting.

“A person’s troubles are not measured by the size of those troubles, but by how much they weigh on the individual carrying them.”

This was a great representation of what it’s like to be influenced by culture and family and trying to find your voice when all you have heard your whole life has been one thing. It was the little things like her mom telling her to keep secrets and never confide in anyone or pushing her to get married even though she had never dated. Any book that can make me so angry where I had to take a step away from the book to cool down has done its job in writing a great narrative that makes me feel that deeply. I fully recommend this one.

Taynement

dystopian, Fantasy, Fiction, romance

Book Review: Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

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“Hope is a fickle, dangerous thing. It steals your focus and aims it toward the possibilities instead of keeping it where it belongs—on the probabilities.”

Violet Sorrengail has studied all her life to enter the Scribe quadrant. Her father had always taught her that the scribes hold all the power – the power to erase history, reframe history, and rewrite history. When he dies, Violet’s mother – the commanding general in Navarre- orders her to join the hundreds of students who are striving to become one of the elite dragon riders. Violet is weak and has no fighting experience and now has to join the hundreds of kids who have trained for this all their lives. With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, people are willing to kill to be successful especially when they perceive weakness. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter especially Xaden Riorson whose father her mother executed for treason.

“Fascinating. You look all frail and breakable, but you’re really a violent little thing, aren’t you?”

I started this book when it first came out, read the first 50 pages and dropped it. I picked it up again sometime in August because Tayne told me her coworker asked her about it. So, I decided to finish it so I could properly talk about how terrible it was, but I ended up really liking it. My problem with the first 50 pages of this book is my problem with most female characters in fantasy – the description of their bodies. Yarros spent every second reminding us how weak and slender but oh so beautiful Violet is. The number of times Yarros describes Violet’s porcelain skin is actually quite insane. Then the exaggeration of the villains in this book is utterly laughable. Right from the parapet to enter the riders’ quadrant someone who literally just met Violet and has no history with her, or her family was already chasing her down to kill her because she looks weak.

“A dragon without its rider is a tragedy. A rider without their dragon is dead.”

When I continued with this book, what won me over was how weak Violet actually was and the numerous ways she had to work to overcome her weakness. I like that at the end of the book she didn’t still transform into some physically strong rider who could beat anybody in a fight. I enjoyed the cunning ways she had to survive the violence of the cadets in the riders’ sect. I started rooting for her once I realized she wasn’t going to be a Mary Sue. If you spend 50 pages telling me your protagonist is weak, you better not suddenly have her beating everybody in a physical fight. Another misconception I had going into this one that I want to correct for everybody is that this is NOT a YA fantasy book. The cadets are young but are all in their twenties. The youngest class in the cadet is 20. Also, there is sex aplenty and it is not implied, it is explicitly stated that everyone is sleeping with everyone and there’s no shame surrounding it, unless of course you’re sleeping with a superior. This is an open door book.

“One generation to change the text. One generation chooses to teach that text. The next grows, and the lie becomes history.”

I’m glad there is actually a bigger story here than the love story between Violet and Xander. There is much more at stake, and I honestly guessed what the big conspiracy was within the first 100 pages of the book when certain things that seemed like passing conversation was mentioned. I’ve read way too many fantasy books to ever gasp at the ending of this one. I enjoyed Xander as a character. I thought all his decisions were right and correct even if the protagonist did not see it that way. I understand the path that led Violet and Xander to each other even thought their families had violent histories with each other. At the end of the day though, their relationship is the least interesting thing about this book. When certain secrets were finally coming to light, I just wanted Violet to get over the feeling of being betrayed so Xander could get on with telling us what the whole picture actually was. Yarros also makes you care about the supporting characters so deeply that you care about what happens to them and when anything happens to them you are so invested that you’re bawling at 5am in the morning. Okay, that was just me.

“Coming in last is better than coming in dead.”

All in all, I recommend this book. It’s 600 pages but a very quick read once you get out of those first 50 pages. I gave this one 4 stars on Goodreads and I’m looking forward to the next book.

Have you read this one? What did you think?

Leggy