Katie Sise

We Were Mothers by Katie Sise is a so-so soap opera of a novel full of secrets.

The novel is set in an upscale suburban neighborhood and the story unfolds through the points-of-view of four characters. Cora is the mother of two year old twins and understandably tired while trying her best. She finds a dairy of the neighbor's college-aged daughter, Mira, claiming that Cora's husband kissed Mira after a baby sitting job. Laurel is the neighbor, mother of Mira, and has secrets of her own. When show more Mira disappears, she is frantic. Jade is a friend of Cora. Her husband wants them to have a baby. Sarah is the mother of Cora and is still mourning her deceased daughter Maggie.

The narrative unfolds over the course of one weekend when events trigger a chain of circumstances that begin to slowly expose more and more secrets. Every chapter exposes a new secret and reveals a tangled mess of new information. All the women are distraught victims and all the men are scoundrels in this over-the-top melodramatic story. All the improbable twists affecting every character during this one weekend are farfetched and left me shaking my head.

If you enjoy scandalous melodramatic novels where everyone has a trunk full of secrets and can suspend disbelief when everything is exposed and hits the fan all at once AND don't mind that all the women are victims and the men villains, then by all means pick this novel up. Or if you want to read something mindless and fluffy with a flimsy soap opera plot full of caricatures without distinct voices or character development, then give it a try. There is, ostensibly, a message about empowerment for women at the end, but it arrived way-too-late to the plot. At least one character should have had the enlightenment to be true to herself long before this weekend happened.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of the publisher.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2018/11/we-were-mothers.html show less

This review originally appeared on Book.Blog.Bake.

I’m not sure I’ve ever been more conflicted on what to rate a book as I am with The Boyfriend App. On one hand, it was a cute and charming read with a fresh premise and a technology-focused female lead–all things I love. On the other, there’s a serious ethical issue in They Boyfriend App that is never addressed, and I would have given almost any other book 1 star for that alone. So let’s talk about the good first, shall we?

Audrey is show more a fantastic main character. She’s smart, capable, and interesting. She really does have the hacking and technology skills she claims to have, because we see evidence of her using these skills throughout the story. Audrey’s cousin, Lindsay, is a bit of a cliche as a fashion-focus almost-hipster, but I didn’t mind because Lindsay is super great at social media, which I loved, and also they have a wonderful friendship. Friendship in books is always a huge plus for me.
I sighed over the love interest in The Boyfriend App. The actual app definitely proved to set up a road block to relationships, and this made the main love story move nice and slowly. We really got to see the character development before the characters every got together. At this point, The Boyfriend App would have received a solid 4 stars. I mean, great romance, friendship, and a main character? Yes please!

However, about halfway through the book, Audrey realizes she needs to take the app to the next level. So she launches the Boyfriend app 2.0. Girls can use their phones to make boys fall instantly in love–or lust–with them. This sounds weird, but it’s actually explained in The Boyfriend App pretty well, so I didn’t have a problem with the reasoning behind how this technology worked.

The problem is, however, that the girls are completely in control of the app, and once it’s activated, the guys have no control over whether to deny it or not. The girls can just press a button–IT’S ON–and the boy will instantly be head-over-heels in love, happy to make-out or kiss or do ANYTHING for the girl. The girl can stop the app by pressing a button saying IT’S OVER, and everything apparently goes back to normal.

This is totally not okay. The app doesn’t just make a guy look in the direction of the girl who turned the app on–he’s completely infatuated. When Audrey tests the app out in the cafeteria, the guy she uses it on starts kissing her, lifts her up, and lays her down on a cafeteria table. It’s a heavy make-out session, and he had no say in it. At one point, Audrey uses the app to get a guy to do what she wants because she promises if he does, she’ll kiss him. That’s not as bad was what could have happened–the app basically gives girls complete control over the boys.

If the genders were reversed in this situation, it would have NEVER gone over. I mean, can you imagine a book in which a male main character invented an app that men could use to make girls instantly attracted and in lust with them? The lack of agency would be addressed immediately. When this plot element came up in the book, I went along with it because I was certain the ethical issues would be addressed. If this had been clearly shown as wrong and Audrey felt even the tinniest bit of remorse, I could have been fine. But the issue–this huge ethical issue–was never even acknowledged in The Boyfriend App. And frankly, that made me mad and totally ruined a book I loved otherwise. show less

Excellent sequel to the Boyfriend App. What stands out to me is how well the author makes mean girl Blake's behavior and the reasons for it understandable. I suspect a lot of teens will see themselves, or parts thereof in the cast of characters. Blake's sister, Nic, is really likable and it was good to see how Blake and her ex-best friend reconciled. There's enough material for a third book and I'm hoping that happens.

It has been quite some time since I have read a funny, smart, romantic, and thrilling contemporary ya book. It's hard to find all four of those in one binding, but The Boyfriend App delivers!

Audrey is really cool and I'd love to spend a day with her and her friends (they're kinda like my friends, except with the coding and what not).

The story line is a first for me. An app building contest for an overrated phone cooperation (ahem, Apple). So. Freaking. Awesome. Honestly, it's an app that I show more wouldn't mind giving a shot actually (for Android, please!)

I loved that Audrey is smart as hell and didn't underplay that for anyone. Aidan is so sweet! Lindsey reminded me of the closeness that my cousin and I share. Nigit and Mindy are GREAT supporting characters.

Sise knows how to surprise and I was down for the ride the entire way. I was laughing, shocked, and at one point, crying.

I really don't have a single thing to complain about. show less