Book Review: The Fair Weather Friend by Jessie Garcia

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The Fair Weather Friend  by Jessie Garcia  opens with Faith Richards, a popular meteorologist in Detroit, never returning back to the news station after her dinner break. The next day, her news station releases a story that she's been found, strangled to death not far from the station. The Fair Weather Friend , as Richards is referred to by adoring fans, had some deep, dark secrets. As those skeletons come to light, other peoples' lives start to unravel, and things are not what they seem. I'd like to thank NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for approving my request for an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of Jessie Garcia's The Fair Weather Friend . A digital copy was provided to me for free in exchange for my honest review. All opinions of the novel are my own. There were many things I absolutely enjoyed about Jessie Garcia's sophomore novel including multiple point of views, the character development, and numerous red herrings. Overall, the story being told from a var...
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Book Review: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

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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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