Book Review: The Last Carolina Summer by Karen White

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The Last Carolina Summer by Karen White is the story about Phoebe Manigault returning home to Mt. Pleasant, a suburb of Charleston, South Carolina, to help her sister with their ailing mother. When past memories resurface, Phoebe is thrown back into some childhood turmoil. I requested an Advanced Readers Copy ARC of The Last Carolina Summer from NetGalley, and I was ecstatic when the provided me with a copy for free in exchange for my honest review. So, a big thank you goes out to them! When I began reading this story, I just happened to be vacationing in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. I loved hearing about the different places, including streets and a bridge called the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, which I had to cross to get into Mt. Pleasant as well as Isle of Palms. It's always nice to be able to visualize the places and author writes about. With that being said, I'm not a fan of traveling over bridges, and one of the scenes of The Last Carolina Summer mentions a car going off ...

Book Review: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

new york times bestseller book reviewBarcelona, Spain:  In the summer of 1945, an antiquarian book dealer takes his son, Daniel, to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a library that houses books that are long forgotten. When you visit this library for the first time, you must choose a book and make sure that it lives on, that it is never forgotten. Daniel chooses The Shadow of the Wind by Julian Carax. He becomes obsessed with the book and author, so much so, he spends his life trying to track down the author and find out what happened to him.

When I picked up the New York Times Bestseller, The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, I was intrigued by the premise of the book and had to read it. However, I was a bit uneasy about reading a book that had been translated . . . would it translate well? Those worries were soon squashed as I became absorbed in the book. There really aren't any words that can aptly describe how much I enjoyed The Shadow of the Wind, and it stayed with me long after I closed the book. With that being said, I will be the first to admit that this book isn't for everyone.

I can say that I'm glad that I hadn't heard any hype about The Shadow of the Wind, or for that matter, heard of the author, before reading this book. This allowed me to read the book without any preconceived ideas. Where it is a mystery, it doesn't read like your typical mystery. It doesn't have a crime that has been committed or a detective (or policeman, sleuth, reporter, etc.) that is searching for clues to solve the crime. It has a Gothic tone to it as well. Where as it doesn't feel like a translated work, it does feel otherworldly, so I have to give huge props to Lucia Graves, who is the translator, as she did a fabulous job of translating The Shadow of the Wind

As I mentioned before, there really aren't any words to describe this book and how much I enjoyed it. It's one of those you have to read and experience for yourself. I gave it five out five stars.


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