Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – The Perfect Divorce (Jeneva Rose)

Hey Dearies!

So, since I finished The Perfect Marriage, I saw there was a sequel and had to know how that one turned out. The first book didn’t necessarily turn into a cliffhanger, but I really wanted to know what was going to happen after Adam’s trial since the only thing we knew was that he was charged with the murder of Kelly Summers and was sentenced to death.

If you haven’t read The Perfect Marriage, I really suggest that you do first before reading this review because there is a HUGE spoiler that I’m going to talk about that happened in the first book, and I would hate to ruin that for anyone.

Spoiler Alert is in place.

At the end of The Perfect Marriage, I never would’ve thought it was Sarah. Out of all people, I honestly thought it was Bob, which I was half right about because it was both of them working together to pin the blame on Adam.

I also figured the sheriff had something to do with it because he was always lingering around the Kelly Summers case and seemed to want to close it as soon as possible, just because he didn’t want anyone to know that his DNA was also in Kelly Summers, as well.

The beginning of the book starts out with Sarah and Bob talking about getting a divorce because Bob cheated on her- how fitting. Her first ex-husband had a full-blown affair while her new husband had a drunken one-night stand.

I honestly don’t blame her for wanting to divorce Bob over it. Of course, Bob is trying to fight for the marriage and saying they can work on things since he only made one mistake versus what Adam did way worse. It is still cheating, and I can understand her not wanting to forgive or deal with what Bob did.

Now, the tricky thing is they do have a child together, named Summer. I was honestly shocked that they even thought about naming her that, knowing they both killed Kelly Summer. Anyway, the more Bob keeps delaying the divorce, she is asking for more and more out of the divorce as well as full custody of Summer.

Here is where everything starts to cause problems.

While this is all happening, the former sheriff who was on the case for the murder of Kelly Summers ends up in a car crash from drinking and driving, kills someone, and they end up having to arrest him. Which then means his DNA is entered into the system, and lo and behold, it shows up as the mystery 3rd DNA that was in Kelly Summers, so then the case is reopened.

Then, the woman that Bob had a one-night stand with goes missing, Stacy, and the last texts she sends to her roommate say that she was meeting up with Bob. Bob gets interviewed, and the only person he can think of who would be blamed for this kidnapping would be his wife, Sarah.

Knowing that they both worked together to kill Kelly Summers and pin the blame on Adam, he knew that she could do it again, but this time, pin the blame on him so that she could get full custody of Summer and not have to lose anything in the divorce.

However, Bob is the only one who could blow the secret out on the Kelly Summers case and the kidnapping of Stacy. This would make sense why Sarah would want to get rid of him; getting rid of him would get rid of the only other person who knows the truth about Kelly Summers.

Not to mention, a surprised visitor shows up at Sarah’s house in the middle of all this crazy stuff going on: Adam’s mother. Yes, the mother-in-law from hell shows up to Sarah’s door because she wanted to not only give her crap about how she didn’t defend her son as best as she could, but also to sue her for defamation because of her comment to the press about her.

Don’t worry, she isn’t in the picture for long, but I was shocked that she was back, and all I could think of was, out of everything going on and in her old age, why would she even bother with suing Sarah? That woman is impossible, I swear.

Anyway, without spoiling what happens at the end, it isn’t as shocking as the first book, especially when you know Sarah was the murderer and you already expect it, but they do try to pin the blame on Kelly Summer’s ex-husband, or you even think it’s Bob at one point.

Overall, it wasn’t a bad sequel; I still will add this to my shelf just because I did like both of them a lot. I also really like the author’s writing style too; I was completely zoned in. However, I zoned in on the first one a lot quicker than I did the second one.

Plus, having read both of these, it has added a few more books of thrillers to my recommendations for my Kindle Unlimited. Which I’m not mad about; I actually have come to really like them. Although my friend has recommended 2 more thrillers to check out, and then I might go back to the cheesy romance stuff because I might need a break in between!

What did you think about the sequel? Did you like the first one more than the second? Also, have I gotten you in the “thriller-kick” more than what you are normally used to reading? Let me know in the comments!

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – The One & Only Ivan (Katherine Applegate)

Hey Dearies! Since one of my goals for this year was to read more books for 2025, I’ve started trying to do that. Granted I haven’t been able to finish a book with how crazy the beginning of the year has been for me, but I finally finished a book!

So, The One & Only Ivan, I actually saw the movie first before I knew that there was a book. This is usually what happens to me, I’ll see the movie or series and then find out that it was based off of a book. At that point, I’ll either get the book or have it saved on my Amazon list and then forget its still there. 

I ended up getting The One & Only Ivan at my daughters book fair. I figured, why not. As adults, we don’t really tend to read books our kids are reading and I figured since my daughter has started reading, I figured why not read it. 

The book is actually very interesting because its in the perspective of Ivan, a gorilla. So, it was a very quick read because most of the pages were short and sweet. If you wanted to, you could finish this book in a day.

Basically, the book is about Ivan who is an act at a mall circus with a few other animals, including an elephant Stella. Also, can’t forget about the stray dog named Bob. Anyway, when a new act, a baby elephant named Ruby, comes into the picture, Stella has Ivan promises her that Ruby will not be stuck at the mall as a circus act. 

Ivan uses his creativity to communicate to the humans to get Ruby and him out of the mall. Which is pretty much the just of the story. The best part was that Ivan was based on a true story. Most of the story is fictional, but Ivan was based on a real gorilla.

I really enjoyed both the movie and the book, but there are some differences between the two. After reading the book, I noticed that the tone was different from the movie when it came to a few aspect. 

In the book, for example, Mack, the mall owner, is more aggressive in the book than in the movie, especially when it comes to when he’s training Ruby. In the book, he uses a “claw stick”, to train Ruby and Mack uses it in the book, but in the movie, he doesn’t. 

Other than that, I think Disney did a great job with the movie, they didn’t follow the book completely, but I’m kinda glad, I don’t want to spoil the book, but there was a scene that they described that I’m just glad Disney didn’t add in, it was a minor detail, but it was still heartbreaking to read. 

I will say if you do watch the movie, you might cry like I did at a few parts. They did a good job with the movie and every time I was reading parts where Bob was talking, all I could hear is Danny DeVito’s voice since he voices Bob in the movie. 

Have you read The One and Only Ivan? If so, what did you think of it and did you like the movie afterwards? Let me know down below!

The picture above is Ivan the gorilla, which was what the story was based on.