Leigh Kramer

Whiteout by Adriana Anders {review}

Genre: Romantic Suspense

 

My Review - 5 Stars

I’ve been a fan of Adriana Anders’s writing since the moment I picked up Under Her Skin. While I don’t read much romantic suspense, I was excited to learn she was taking on the subgenre because I knew she would do it justice and that it would avoid the aspects I typically don’t like in those stories. I was right: Whiteout was so good!

Give me a grumpy-sunshiney pairing any day and I’ll be happy. Put them together in the highest of high stakes situation and I’ll read with my heart in my throat. Angel and Ford have to flee for their lives across Antarctica, which is high stakes in itself and all the higher because the sun is about to go down for the season and there will be no hope if they’re still out in the elements. GAH. I feel cold just thinking about it.

Ford Cooper is a class Adriana Anders hero: haunted and gruff and yearning. He’s neurodiverse. He’s grumpy. He just wanted to be left alone with his ice samples. He also was very ready for chef Angel to be done with the season and out of his hair so he no longer had to think about why she affected him so strongly. But there’s no avoiding her when they’re the only two survivors after members of their team turn out to not be who they thought they were.

Angel Smith came to the South Pole as a way of starting fresh after a devastating accident. She’s there to cook and to think about what’s next. She’s not at all equipped to run for her life and I was so impressed by the way she rose to the occasion again and again, no matter what happened to her and Ford. Such a badass! It’s also worth noting that I loved the way she talked about food and feeding people. She brought such warmth and nurturing into Ford’s life and it was so lovely to watch him respond to that.

This was such an intense story. There’s only one tent! They had to join sleeping bags to stay warm! They ran out of food about halfway through the journey! I was very stressed out for them, especially because Anders kept tightening the screws. I'm generally not a fan of villain POVs but here it was used to great effect and only deepened my horror at the conspiracy at work. There are big things at play as the series continues and I cannot wait to see how they play out.

As for Angel and Ford, I simply loved them together and I’m so glad the forced proximity literally forced them to confront their feelings for one another. There are some great side characters as well and I loved the concept of Polies as found family, really highlighting Anders’s gift at crafting vibrantly complex characters. Bring on book two!

CW: hero is neurodiverse, murder, violence, crevasse and other Antarctic dangers, concern for hypothermia, past infidelity, knee injury due to past car accident, past car accident fatality, past death of loved ones, hero served in the Army, hero’s father died of alcoholism

 

Synopsis

Angel Smith is ready to leave Antarctica for a second chance at life. But on what was meant to be her final day, the research station is attacked. Hunted and scared, she and glaciologist Ford Cooper barely make it out with their lives…only to realize that in a place this remote, there's nowhere left to run.

Isolated in the middle of a long, frozen winter with a madman at their heels, they must fight to survive in the most inhospitable—and beautiful—place on earth. But the outside world depends on what Ford and Angel know and, as their pursuers close in and their new partnership burns bright and hot, they will stop at nothing to make it out of the cold alive.

 

Buy the book:

Amazon (affiliate link) | Barnes & Noble

 

Disclosure: I received an advanced copy from Sourcebooks Casablanca in exchange for an honest review. The author and I are friendly online.

Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow {review}

Genre: Nonfiction, True Crime

 

My Review - 5 Stars 

CW: sexual harassment, rape, attempted rape, sexism, misogyny, reference to attempted suicide

This was brilliant journalism. Incredibly well-written but infuriating to see what men in power succeeded in getting away with far too many years. I seriously hate those in charge at NBC for canceling this story. At so many points, Farrow could have walked away, as Weinstein and his cronies made it very difficult for him to continue. I’m so grateful he prevailed and we now know the truth about these men. He did his best to honor what women these women endured and speak truth.

Part of me wants to look up all the people who tried to suppress it (again! The number of journalists who tried before Farrow is staggering) and the larger part of me doesn't want to know they didn't face any major consequences. The rise of #MeToo has made a difference and validated so many, including me, but people who abused their power still have yet to feel the brunt of their vile actions. When men’s careers start suffering because of their mistreatment of women, then we’ll know progress is actually being made.

When I think about the women whose careers were ruined, either overtly or indirectly because of the trauma, because of these men, I could weep. The story left me incandescent with rage. I am furious about how many people protected Weinstein, how many were complicit in his horrific treatment of women, and how many years he got away with it. It's sickening.

Farrow places himself in this story because it’s not just about the reporting he did but how his personal life was attacked and spied upon. It was really interesting to see how he wasn't immune to the allure of power himself. After the story broke, he tried to toe the line with what he said about NBC trying to kill the story, not lying about it but not leading with it either, because he hoped to get his old job back. We gotta pay our bills, I get it. And yet I don't think I could work for a place that did me and so many others dirty.

Farrow wanted to believe killing the Weinstein story was a one-off at NBC, not a pattern or evidence of how deep the rot went. That’s his privilege and shows why men in power keep getting away with this BS. Ultimately, as he sees the men in charge at NBC continue to pass the buck or even try to gaslight him, and as he uncovers evidence about Matt Lauer and many other journalists and executives there, he realizes there’s no going back.

This dragged up some of my own experiences (which pale in comparison to what Weinstein, Lauer, etc's victims went through) and if this is true of you, be gentle with yourself as you read and as you process these events. It’s well worth reading about and it’s well done. But it’s proof of how much farther we have to go.

 

Synopsis

In a dramatic account of violence and espionage, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Ronan Farrow exposes serial abusers and a cabal of powerful interests hell-bent on covering up the truth, at any cost.

In 2017, a routine network television investigation led Ronan Farrow to a story only whispered about: one of Hollywood's most powerful producers was a predator, protected by fear, wealth, and a conspiracy of silence. As Farrow drew closer to the truth, shadowy operatives, from high-priced lawyers to elite war-hardened spies, mounted a secret campaign of intimidation, threatening his career, following his every move and weaponizing an account of abuse in his own family. 

All the while, Farrow and his producer faced a degree of resistance that could not be explained - until now. And a trail of clues revealed corruption and cover-ups from Hollywood, to Washington, and beyond. 

This is the untold story of the exotic tactics of surveillance and intimidation deployed by wealthy and connected men to threaten journalists, evade accountability and silence victims of abuse - and it's the story of the women who risked everything to expose the truth and spark a global movement.

Both a spy thriller and a meticulous work of investigative journalism, Catch and Kill breaks devastating new stories about the rampant abuse of power - and sheds far-reaching light on investigations that shook the culture. 

 

Buy the book:

Amazon (affiliate link) | Barnes & Noble