Tell the Machine Goodnight
by Katie Williams

Synopsis:
Pearl's job is to make people happy. Every day, she provides customers with personalized recommendations for greater contentment. She's good at her job, her office manager tells her, successful. But how does one measure an emotion?

Meanwhile, there's Pearl's teenage son, Rhett. A sensitive kid who has forged an unconventional path through adolescence, Rhett seems to find greater satisfaction in being unhappy. The very rejection of joy is his own kind of "pursuit of happiness." As his mother, Pearl wants nothing more than to help Rhett--but is it for his sake or for hers? Certainly it would make Pearl happier. Regardless, her son is one person whose emotional life does not fall under the parameters of her job--not as happiness technician, and not as mother, either.

PH Blog Tour: Films That Remind Me of LIFEL1K3 by Jay Kristoff

Listen up, sprogs! Today is the glorious day of my stop for the PH Blog Tour of LIFEL1K3 by Jay Kristoff and I am so excited to welcome you all. Huge thank you to Rafael of The Royal Polar Bear Reads for hosting. 

Reading is like watching a film in your head using the author’s words and your own imagination, true cert'. So for my stop, I will be dishing out a list of 20C virtch that are a lot like reading LIKEL1K3. Fizzy, eh? (Ok guys, sorry if I am using too much of the book slang here. Blame book hangover.)

Review: The Good Son by You-jeong Jeong

The Good Son
by You-jeong Jeong
Translated from Korean by Chi-Young Kim

Synopsis:
The Talented Mr. Ripley meets The Bad Seed in this breathless, chilling psychological thriller by the bestselling novelist known as "Korea's Stephen King" 

Who can you trust if you can't trust yourself?

Early one morning, twenty-six-year-old Yu-jin wakes up to a strange metallic smell, and a phone call from his brother asking if everything's all right at home - he missed a call from their mother in the middle of the night. Yu-jin soon discovers her murdered body, lying in a pool of blood at the bottom of the stairs of their stylish Seoul duplex. He can't remember much about the night before; having suffered from seizures for most of his life, Yu-jin often has trouble with his memory. All he has is a faint impression of his mother calling his name. But was she calling for help? Or begging for her life?

Review: The History of Jane Doe by Michael Belanger

The History of Jane Doe
by Michael Belanger

Synopsis:
A poignant, deeply funny coming-of-age story about first love, first loss, and the power of history to give life meaning.

History buff Ray knows everything about the peculiar legends and lore of his rural Connecticut hometown. Burgerville's past is riddled with green cow sightings and human groundhogs, but the most interesting thing about the present is the new girl--we'll call her Jane Doe.

Inscrutable, cool, and above all mysterious, Jane seems as determined to hide her past as Ray is to uncover it. As fascination turns to friendship and then to something more, Ray is certain he knows Jane's darkest, most painful secrets and Jane herself--from past to present. But when the unthinkable happens, Ray is forced to acknowledge that perhaps history can only tell us so much.

Review: The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

The Kiss Quotient
by Helen Hoang

Synopsis:
A heartwarming and refreshing debut novel that proves one thing: there's not enough data in the world to predict what will make your heart tick.

Stella Lane thinks math is the only thing that unites the universe. She comes up with algorithms to predict customer purchases--a job that has given her more money than she knows what to do with, and way less experience in the dating department than the average thirty-year-old.

It doesn't help that Stella has Asperger's and French kissing reminds her of a shark getting its teeth cleaned by pilot fish. Her conclusion: she needs lots of practice--with a professional. Which is why she hires escort Michael Phan. The Vietnamese and Swedish stunner can't afford to turn down Stella's offer, and agrees to help her check off all the boxes on her lesson plan--from foreplay to more-than-missionary position...

Wandering Thoughts: Things That I Inadvertently Revealed About Myself in the Blog

Photo by Marc-Olivier Jodoin on Unsplash

Wandering Thoughts is where I let my mind stray, think and talk about non-routine things. This is an avenue for bookish personal stories, fun posts, musings and discussions.

The Slytherin in me loves to win in blogging by having interaction in the comments so I am going to link up this post in both the Book Blogger Hop and Discussion Challenge.