I think you can tell that the Agatha Raisin series is no longer being written by M.C. Beaton (she passed away), but I like the characters and world she has created so much that I‘m still enjoying them and am grateful that the series has continued.

I listened to the audiobook of this one. It is read by Harry. I enjoyed the book. The ghostwriter did an excellent job. The book and subject matter are compelling and the book is well-written.

I really enjoyed this book. The work involved writing out your life story and then spending ten minutes per day analyzing yourself including hoe your actions/reactions are influenced by your life story. It focuses strongly on self-compassion and self-care, too.

Such a good book. Easy read and incredibly helpful

Very entertaining. Shallow, but fun, and not poorly written.

I really enjoyed this book. Jessi Klein talks about transforming from a tomboy to a woman in a very relatable voice. She‘s funny and self-deprecating. She is someone you‘d want to be friends with. During this time of self-isolation, I felt like I was spending time with a friend. Highly recommended.

Incredibly moving.

House of Anansi BookShop. Toronto, Canada 🇨🇦

Necessary.
Repetitive.
But necessary.

A man in his 70s bullied her on the world stage & not only did she win ... she got stronger.

This small voice is our future.

Let‘s all get healthier in the Roaring 20s. This is a great place to start. DM me @ kendallmhall on Twitter or @ kendallmorganhall on IG to talk about it.

Funny. Common sense advice, but sometimes it needs to be said anyway. A little repetitive, but still worth a read.

I will never stop singing the praises of Jane Harper. She is one of the best contemporary thriller writers I‘ve come across. This book is a stand alone novel (not part of the series that began with The Dry) and is extremely hard to put down. I think you‘ll enjoy it.

I was surprised by how much I liked this book. Cummings opens up a lot about her life and the things she has learned in therapy. It is part memoir and part self-help book.

I love Ruth Ware‘s writing. This book is suspenseful and scary without being too much for someone who is too 🐥 for horror.

I‘m halfway through this book and I‘ve already purchased all of her other books 📚🤦‍♀️👍 Her narrative style is so crisp and her voice so unique. I‘m absolutely loving and savouring this book. Premise: a young woman with seemingly everything going for her decides to drop out of life and sleep as much as she can for a year with the aid of prescription pills given to her by a shady doctor.

This book is a must-read for all young women, but my dad is reading it and enjoying it too. I related to this book on almost every level. Abbi talks about how to be creatively fulfilled, but also how to be a boss in a creative industry. I especially liked the chapter on letters, but I won‘t spoil it here. Premise: she takes a solo road trip after a breakup, but the book is so much more than that. Please pick up a copy today.

Hey! I‘m back after an extended absence with this amazing book. I‘m only half way through it, but the writing is phenomenal. If you are in Toronto on March 20th there is an event for this book at Henderson Brewing Co.
Great to be back!!

New book mail. Always exciting. I look forward to reading it and reviewing it on kendallsbookreviews.wordpress.com (and here of course). It is a nice thick one and the back cover says, “Dear 2018, You Have Your Thriller,” which sounds really promising. 🙂

I liked the characters in this book (especially Zee) even the unlikable ones. I found the writing to be a little over-the-top at times, especially the dialogue, which was sometimes too witty to be authentic, but overall I really enjoyed this book. Read my full review at kendallsbookreviews.wordpress.com

Read my full review at https://kendallsbookreviews.wordpress.com

I love the descriptions of the home front during WWII and especially the roles women played in the workforce. This book was incredibly well-researched. I found the character of Emmy to be a little much at the beginning of the book but she matures as a character. Read my full review at kendallsbookreviews.wordpress.com

I really enjoyed this book about how food effects the brain long-term. I didn‘t learn anything groundbreaking (saturated fat is bad for our brains, eat lots of vegetables, minimize sodium by not eating processed food, reduce sugar, one glass of wine a day is ok but not more, get 7-8 hours of sleep - no more or less - a night, etc) but I liked the light tone of the book. It wasn‘t judgmental and didn‘t advocate any drastic diet changes.

This book takes a look a commonly held beliefs about nutrition and then claims to give a definitive answer to whether these beliefs are true/false or inconclusive. I didn‘t find his analysis any more convincing than that of people saying the opposite and it is worth noting a) he is a health writer not a doctor b) this book was published in 2012. He does make a powerful argument for being skeptical about health articles/not always trusting experts

A jingle about critical thinking: “Experts are people too. They have biases like me and you. Before you follow them over the hills, find out who pays their bills.”

This is an important book to read. Rose deals honestly with her rape by one of Hollywood‘s most powerful men and the systemic way in which she was silenced in Hollywood. She compares it to her childhood, which was spent in a cult. Rose has had an undeniably hard life and it is difficult to watch her be dismissed as ‘crazy‘ by the media because she is on the bipolar spectrum (something she is honest about in the book). This book is powerful.

This was my third Gilly Macmillan book. It wasn‘t my favourite, but I think that is just because I liked What She Knew and Odd Child Out so much. I love how readable Gilly Macmillan‘s books are. I‘ve never taken more than three days to read one. And they are filled with twists you don‘t see coming.

I‘m having trouble getting into this one but I loved the description and really want to love it. Has anyone here read it? I‘d love to hear what you loved about it? Note: when I searched for it there were a few blurbs but no reviews.

I‘ve been going through all the Gilly Macmillan books recently and loving them. This is the first book in the Jim Clemo series. It centres around a child abduction in which the mother is blamed by the court of public opinion. Macmillan‘s books are definitely worth a read if you like thrillers and mysteries.

“You just want to get your home to the point where a drop-in guest doesn‘t send you into a tailspin of panic, and where you can live your everyday life without being disgusted or depressed by your surroundings.”

I‘d love to be hardcore enough about my diet to attempt this, but getting rid of all grains, beans, dairy, etc is too much for me. I still found it to be an interesting read, but i‘ll read anything about nutrition. I don‘t see anything wrong with a book that encourages you to eat mostly plant food, I just personally couldn‘t give up quinoa or beans or cheese or a bit of milk in my coffee. Has anyone tried this diet?

This book was totally worth the wait. I‘ve been looking forward to this book since I read The Dry (the first book in the Aaron Faulk series) and Force of Nature didn‘t disappoint. Plot: on a corporate nature retreat one of the women goes missing and the other women have slightly different stories about what happened out in the wilderness. I can‘t recommend this book, or The Dry, enough.

Worthwhile reading for anyone who wants to write detective fiction or who reads a lot of detective fiction and want to think more critically about why they like it.

I‘m not sure how, but I never read this book as a child. I wouldn‘t say fantasy is really a genre I‘m drawn to as an adult, but I really liked this book and can see why people feel so attached to it. It will be interesting to see the movie when it comes out. I must admit I looked up who was playing each character so I pictured them while I was reading - especially the characters played by Oprah, Reese, and Mindy.

What a fantastic book. I can‘t wait to read the first one (although this book can be read as a standalone).
Plot: When Noah (a 15-year-old boy with cancer) falls into a canal and almost dies, did he fall or did his Somali best friend push him? Neither boy is saying. Noah can‘t (he‘s in a coma) and Abdi won‘t say a word. Detective Jim Clemo is in charge of figuring out what happened that night. A well-written mystery/thriller.

A pretty good thriller with a twist you probably won‘t see coming. It is interesting that the author “Liv Constantine” is actually two sisters.

I wasn‘t sure if I was going to like this book (written in part by the actor Jason Segal), but I ended up really enjoying it. It has a Hunger Games feel in places, if Hunger Games had been a video game. There are some smart lines (some of them pretty funny) and it ends up being a pretty quick read.

Well-crafted characters who come alive on the page are the main reasons to read this book. A main theme in the book is “what makes a mother?” I gave this one 4/5 stars on Goodreads. It lost a star because the teenage angst of some of the characters got a little grating at times, but otherwise it is an intensely readable book. I‘m going to circle back and read Celeste Ng‘s “Everything I Never Told You,” which somehow I missed out on reading.

This book is dark in places and potentially triggering. I was surprised that it was well-written though. Sometimes actresses get book deals more because of their name then their actual ability to write. If you like semi-dark thrillers this might be right up your alley. I liked that the protagonist was an environmental lawyer. I haven‘t read a book like that in a while but it is very relevant in the era of Flint.

I mean, it is a good book. Don‘t get me wrong. I just didn‘t love it. I‘ll read the same Agatha Christie 30 times and be engaged every time but once was enough for this book. I‘ve heard crime novelists rave about this book and I just didn‘t get that excited about it.

I loved this book! The premise: A Japanese business man goes to an unnamed South American country to hear his favourite opera singer sing at a birthday party the government is holding for him for his birthday hoping to lure his business to the country. Then they all get held captive. I know it sounds a little strange but this is a very readable and well-written book. I couldn‘t put it down.

What a weird, weird, weird book. I don‘t know what to say about it without including spoilers like crazy. I wish I was in a book club so I could hear other people‘s take on the ending. I would definitely recommend this one, but it is probably not for everyone.

Admittedly, I‘m the target audience of this book in that I fervently think Trump is dangerous. This book talks about tyranny in general terms and how to prevent it from taking hold but makes frequent references to Trump, which his supporters will resent. I, however, found it educational and engaging. It is also a read-in-a-day kind of book

I thought I would love this book. It was on so many Best of the Year lists, and I would still love to talk to someone who loved if about why they enjoyed it, I just couldn‘t devote any more hours to it when there are so many better books to read.

I heard this is going to be made into a movie with Julia Roberts so I started it this weekend. It is good so far.

What is your favourite spy novel or non-fiction book about spies during WWII?

This book was absolutely captivating. I honestly could not put it down. It is about a drought in Australia, a childhood secret, and a murder-suicide (or was it?) and has a truly satisfying ending.

"Her paintings formed a visual diary, an outward manifestation of her inward dialogue that was, all too often, a scream of pain."

"Pierrot had never considered that. He had been a child for his whole life, so it seemed reasonable to expect that he would continue to be one for the rest of it."