Book Review: What Luck, This Life

What Luck, This Life by Kathryn Schwille

My readers know I am often a fan of depressing books. However, I do like my depressing books to come with a bit of hopefulness. Unfortunately, What Luck, This Life is just bleak and hopeless.

The novel is a collection of vignettes about the lives of those in the small, economically ravished town of Kiser, Texas in the days surrounding when the pieces of the Columbia Space Shuttle made their way from outer space to the grounds of Kiser.

Generally, I like novels that are composed of a wide cast of characters tied together by one commonality. In What Luck, This Life, the author does an excellent job of developing the characters within just a few pages before moving on to describe a new character in the next chapter. There were characters that disgusted me and characters I felt drawn to. Overall, character development was the highlight of the novel for me.

There is not a linear plot in this novel. Instead, each chapter tells the story of the space shuttle's break-up and how it affected the life of the character whose life is the focus in that particular chapter. In this case, the reader gets to meet several different people in this town and experience the tragedy from various viewpoints.

Ultimately, this novel is depressing. There is little hope - or any at all - for the town and its inhabitants. While the writing was strong, it was not a book that was easy to read.

Thanks to the author and Hub City Press for providing me with this review copy. 

Book Review: Lies

Lies by T.M. Logan

This book is bonkers! The book cover says "What if your whole life was based on lies," so the bonkers level should be obvious. But, even after finishing it, I still feel like everything that happened was nuts.

Don't get me wrong - it is fun to read things that are crazy every once in a while. In this novel, a man is continually trying to unravel what appears to begin with one little lie from his wife. But the lies grow and grow until it is difficult to tell what is real and what is not.

Joe is a good father and a good husband, but he also appears to be incredible trusting and super naive. When he sees his wife meeting with her best friend's husband at a hotel, some red flags are raised. But, when he learns from her they were just meeting for business, he accepts it.

However, when he sees his wife meeting this man at the hotel, Joe also confronts the man. An altercation happens. And everything begins to fall apart. For example, he learns his wife and this man were having an affair. Then, the best friend discovers the illicit relationship.

Throughout the book, Joe is convinced that the other man is trying to ruin his family and get him sent to jail for a crime he didn't commit. What crime? His murder. Joe is convinced the other husband is framing him and will stop at nothing.

But, as Joe learns, nothing is what it seems.

It is a fast read that will leave you turning pages to discover what is true and what is false. With that being said, when I reached the conclusion, I was disappointed because the truth seemed so insane to me. If you read this one, I would love know your thoughts too!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with this copy for review purposes! It was just released in the US. Happy reading.