Review: A Million Little Things

A Million Little Things 

About the Book:

Zoe Saldivar is more than just single—she's ALONE. She recently broke up with her longtime boyfriend, she works from home and her best friend Jen is so obsessed with her baby that she has practically abandoned their friendship. The day Zoe accidentally traps herself in her attic with her hungry-looking cat, she realizes that it's up to her to stop living in isolation. 

Her seemingly empty life takes a sudden turn for the complicated—her first new friend is Jen's widowed mom, Pam. The only guy to give her butterflies in a very long time is Jen's brother. And meanwhile, Pam is being very deliberately seduced by Zoe's own smooth-as-tequila father. Pam's flustered, Jen's annoyed and Zoe is beginning to think "alone" doesn't sound so bad, after all. 

My Comments:

The book is primarily about three women:  Zoe and Jen are probably in their early thirties and Pam is Jen's mom. 

 Jen is married and the mother of an eighteen month old who does not talk, at all.  She was already on the high-strung "supermom" side--organic everything, no chemicals or dirt in the house etc--but the lack of speech is highly concerning and no one else seems concerned, which makes her even more anxious. 

Zoe  just broke up with her long-term boyfriend because they wanted different things from their relationship, but now she is trying to start living the life she wants.  Part of that is dating Jen's brother. Part of that is exploring her career options.  Just when things look like they are falling into place, she gets some news that changes everything--or does it.

Pam is a couple of years younger than I am.  She's a grandmother and a widow.  She volunteers at a center that helps new businesses get off the ground or expand, though that tread of the story never really seemed to connect with the others.  She meets Zoe's dad at a party and accepts a lunch date with him, without really considering it a date.  She doesn't want to forget her husband, she really isn't ready to move on--or is she?

I liked the strong supporting characters.  Lucas was Jen's husband's partner.  During the course of the story he moves from being someone she dislikes and resents to being "like a big brother".  He is the one person in her life who seems unafraid to tell it like it is to her, and he convinces her to get the help she needs.  Steve, Jen's brother and Zoe's love is a real sweetheart.  Pam's traveling buddies, a group of widows she met on a cruise shortly after her husband died, sound like a lot of fun--women who are now alone but who aren't letting life leave them behind.  

For those who care, there are a couple of graphic romantic scenes.

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via Edelweiss.  Grade:  B. 

Review: Love Lucas

Love, Lucas

About the Book:

When Oakley Nelson loses her older brother, Lucas, to cancer, she thinks she’ll never recover. Between her parents’ arguing and the battle she’s fighting with depression, she feels nothing inside but a hollow emptiness. When Mom suggests they spend a few months in California with Aunt Jo, Oakley isn’t sure a change of scenery will alter anything, but she’s willing to give it a try.

In California, Oakley discovers a sort of safety and freedom in Aunt Jo’s beach house. Once they’re settled, Mom hands her a notebook full of letters addressed to her—from Lucas. As Oakley reads one each day, she realizes how much he loved her, and each letter challenges her to be better and to continue to enjoy her life. He wants her to move on.

If only it were that easy.

But then a surfer named Carson comes into her life, and Oakley is blindsided. He makes her feel again. As she lets him in, she is surprised by how much she cares for him, and that’s when things get complicated. How can she fall in love and be happy when Lucas never got the chance to do those very same things?

With her brother’s dying words as guidance, Oakley knows she must learn to listen and trust again. But will she have to leave the past behind to find happiness in the future?

My Comments:

This Edelweiss galley has been on my Kindle for a long time and who knows why it caught my eye today.  It is the story of Oakley, who had been the all-American high achieving, over-involved high school student until her brother became ill with cancer, at which point she pretty much dropped out of life.  After he is buried, she and her mother go to California for a few months.  Oakley is depressed and is allowing life to pass her by.  Her mother gives her a book of letters from her brother, which encourage her to move beyond where she is and live again.  Of course that is easier said than done, but the cute boy next door is there to help her.  

I found Oakley to be reasonably believable.  I would expect a high school senior who has recently lost someone she loved to be self-absorbed and emotional.  I did not find Carson to be believable--everything about him made him seen like a mature man, not a high school boy.  He wasn't a bit selfish, he showed emotional insight, and he didn't allow Oakley's rejection to dissuade him.  

The story at times could be a real tear-jerker and I found tears rolling down my cheeks so there was enough realism to tug at my heartstrings--but I found the relationship between Oakley and Lucas to be more real than the one between Carson and Oakley.  

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via Edelweiss.  Grade:  B+ 

Review: The Shift

The Shift: One Nurse, Twelve Hours, Four Patients' Lives

About the Book:

In a book as eye-opening as it is riveting, practicing nurse and New York Times columnist Theresa Brown invites us to experience not just a day in the life of a nurse but all the life that happens in just one day on a hospital’s cancer ward. In the span of twelve hours, lives can be lost, life-altering medical treatment decisions made, and dreams fulfilled or irrevocably stolen. In Brown’s skilled hands--as both a dedicated nurse and an insightful chronicler of events--we are given an unprecedented view into the individual struggles as well as the larger truths about medicine in this country, and by shift’s end, we have witnessed something profound about hope and healing and humanity.

Every day, Theresa Brown holds patients' lives in her hands. On this day there are four. There is Mr. Hampton, a patient with lymphoma to whom Brown is charged with administering a powerful drug that could cure him--or kill him; Sheila, who may have been dangerously misdiagnosed; Candace, a returning patient who arrives (perhaps advisedly) with her own disinfectant wipes, cleansing rituals, and demands; and Dorothy, who after six weeks in the hospital may finally go home. Prioritizing and ministering to their needs takes the kind of skill, sensitivity, and, yes, humor that enable a nurse to be a patient’s most ardent advocate in a medical system marked by heartbreaking dysfunction as well as miraculous success.

My Comments:

Back when I was in high school I wanted to be a nurse.  I read a bunch of nurse romance novels, nurse mystery novels and was sure I was going to be a nurse--until I took and hated high school chemistry.  Now, as a paralegal, I make my living reading medical records.  I found it interesting to contrast those nurse novels of thirty some odd years ago with the stories of what really happens in a hospital of today.  I was also interesting to see that the nurse creating those hundreds of pages that land on my desk doesn't like them any better than I do.  For those unfamiliar with electronic medical records, they have about tripled the size of the average record we get from hospitals--and yet from my standpoint (I work car accident cases, not medical malpractice) they don't contain any more information.  

Theresa Brown has a Ph.D. in English and switched careers from academia to nursing.  Her old career shows up in the book as quotes from poets and other writings.  It also shows up in the writing itself--it is clear, engrossing and fast-paced.  I could feel Brown's fatigue at the end of her 12 hour shift.  

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via Edelweiss.  Grade:  B+

Review: Somewhere There Is Still a Sun

Somewhere There Is Still a Sun: A Memoir of the Holocaust

About the Book:

Resilience shines throughout a boy’s firsthand, present-tense account of life in the Terezin concentration camp during the Holocaust, an ideal companion to the bestselling Boy on the Wooden Box.

Michael “Misha” Gruenbaum enjoyed a carefree childhood playing games and taking walks through Prague with his beloved father. All of that changed forever when the Nazis invaded Prague. The Gruenbaum family was forced to move into the Jewish Ghetto in Prague. Then, after a devastating loss, Michael, his mother and sister were deported to the Terezin concentration camp.

At Terezin, Misha roomed with forty other boys who became like brothers to him. Life in Terezin was a bizarre, surreal balance—some days were filled with friendship and soccer matches, while others brought mortal terror as the boys waited to hear the names on each new list of who was being sent “to the East.”

Those trains were going to Auschwitz. When the day came that his family’s name appeared on a transport list, their survival called for a miracle—one that tied Michael’s fate to a carefully sewn teddy bear, and to his mother’s unshakeable determination to keep her children safe.

Collaborating with acclaimed author Todd Hasak-Lowy, Michael Gruenbaum shares his inspiring story of hope in an unforgettable memoir that recreates his experiences with stunning immediacy. Michael’s story, and the many original documents and photos included alongside it, offer an essential contribution to Holocaust literature.

My Comments:

You'll see above that Somewhere There Is Still a Sun has two authors, Michael Gruenbaum and Todd Hasak-Lowey.  This is the story of Michael's childhood, a childhood of a Jewish boy born in Prague in 1930.  Those of us who know history know that means he spent WWII in hiding or prison.  As noted above, Michael, his mother and his sister (his father has already been killed by the Nazis) were sent to Terezin and were there until the camp was liberated.  This is the story of those years.  The Afterward of the book talks about how it came to be written.  Todd Hasak-Lowy worked with Gruenbaum to tell the story.  While Guenbaum had some memories of those years (and his mother's memory book); it was nowhere near enough to write a book.  Hasak-Lowy took it further, doing research on Terezin and its survivors.  As he developed information, Hasak-Lowy would consult with Guenbaum.  Finally, the book was written from Micheal's point of view, and including things Michael remembered, but also including imaginary characters and imaginary dialogue.  Hasak-Lowy said that this technique allowed him to tell a story that is more true than just the memories alone, and I agree.  What is so easy to forget is that the Nazi's didn't kill a crowd, they didn't torture a crowd, they didn't starve a crowd; they did those things to millions of individual people who had to live daily life under those circumstances.  Somewhere There Is Still a Sun tells the story, not from the view of a dispassionate observer, but from the view of someone living through it. 

The book was written for middle school children and I think it is very appropriate for that age group.  Michael's father is killed early in the book but it isn't until the endnotes, not part of the story, that we find out how he died.  I'm sure Michel's mother did not tell him the gory details until he was an adult, and as she protected him, so the reader is protected until the end.  One thing that I think both makes the book appropriate for this age group, and yet also blunts the horror of the Holocaust is that Michael, his mother and his sister all survive.  They were never unable to see each other and Michael did not witness the murder of loved ones. Looking back on his days in Terezin after the liberation, Michael has some good memories.  Toward the end of the book, Auschwitz survivors, some of whom he knew in Terezin, are brought back to Terezin, and Micheal learns what happened at the end of the ride on the train his mother worked hard to keep them off of.   That scene makes sure the reader knows "the rest of the story" without actually killing off people to whom the reader has become emotionally attached.  

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via Edelweiss.  Grade:  A.

Review: That Chesapeake Summer

That Chesapeake Summer (Chesapeake Diaries Book 9)

About the Book:

Jamie Valentine is the wildly successful author of self-help books advocating transparency in every relationship. But when her widowed mother passes away unexpectedly, Jamie discovers her own life has been based on a lie. Angry and deeply betrayed, she sets out to find the truth—which may be in a small town on the Chesapeake Bay. Cutting her most recent book tour short, Jamie books a room at the Inn at Sinclair’s Point, just outside St. Dennis.

The death of Daniel Sinclair’s father forced him to take over the family inn, and his wife’s death left him a single parent of two children, so there’s little room for anything else in his life. His lovely new guest is intriguing, though, and he’s curious about the secret she’s clearly hiding. But in the end, Jamie and Dan could discover the greatest truth of all: that the search for one thing just might lead to the find of a lifetime—if you keep your heart open.

My Comments:

I don't think it is much of a spoiler to say that the "lie" on which Jamie's life has been based is that she was adopted, and her parents never told her so.  While cleaning out her parents' house following the death of her mother, Jamie learns her parents secret and decides to try to find her birth mother and her search takes her to St. Dennis, the setting of this story.  

I enjoyed watching the relationship between Jamie and Daniel develop and it happened a good pace.  While they eventually ended up in bed it didn't happen right away and it wasn't graphic.  I also liked the relationship Jamie developed with Daniel's mom and enjoyed looking at back issues of a small town newspaper with them.  I also liked the fact that Jamie respected the wishes of her birth mother and did not contact her until she knew the birth mother approved.  The only thing I did not like about the book is that in a few places there were pages from the diary of Daniel's mom and she mentions that it is time to get out the Ouija board.  That did not advance the story and just pushed something I believe is wrong.  Nevertheless, both the plot and the setting make it an ideal beach read.  

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via Edelweiss.  Grade: B. 

The Great Disconnect in Early Childhood Education: My Review

The Great Disconnect in Early Childhood Education: What We Know vs. What We Do

About the Book:

Early childhood educators need to be cognizant of the disconnect between public policy and classroom practice—the success of children they teach depends on it. This book analyzes how ineffective practices are driven by unexamined public policies and why educators need to challenge their thinking in order to make a difference in children's lives. A very complex story about public policy and the importance of teaching is told while entertaining and engaging the reader throughout.

Michael Gramling is an expert in providing family literacy training and positive guidance training 

and has conducted experiential supervisor and mentor coach institutes for Head Start programs.

My Comments:

"Data-driven instruction" is one of the big buzzwords in education today.  It is something accreditation teams expect to find and something from which lots of computer companies make a lot of money.  Michel Gramling says it is hurting those it is most supposed to help--low income "at risk" kids in preschool programs.  

In short, the model of education adopted by many low-income schools is to define objectives and then plan lessons, experiences and evaluations to determine if those objectives have been met.  This leads to a process of basically "teaching the test" where the teachers constantly go over--teach in a "linear manner" the items on the test.  Making a construction paper jack-o-lantern is an opportunity to review the colors orange and black and the names of facial features.

While not denying that knowing such things is important, Gramling points out that the major difference between high-income students and low-income students is the number and quality of words to which they have been exposed prior to entering schools.  Because the high-income students' parents tend to be better educated and tend to use a more sophisticated vocabulary naturally, even when conversations are not directed at the children, the children absorb the sounds and meanings of those words.  As a result, high-income students are far ahead in language acquisition when they get to school--whether school is kindergarten or preschool.

Further, it is Gramling's belief that the way to increase the vocabulary of low-income students is not to directly teach the words, but rather to engage the children in conversations or to allow her to hear conversations where the teacher is using a variety of words, talking about a wide range of topics and using sophisticated sentence structure.

For example, using the linear model, a teacher would approach a child building a block tower and compliment him on it and then ask him questions about the shapes of the blocks he was using, how many blocks he was using or the colors of the blocks.  Using Gramling's approach, the teacher would look at the tower and ask what it was used for.  Upon receiving an answer, the teacher would continue the conversation, doing most of the talking, but giving the child a chance to analyze, think, and to hear words that would not necessarily come up in a lesson plan.

For example, a child built a house.  The teacher talked about not liking it when people barged into the bathroom and asked about building a bathroom just for the child's mother.  The child had never seen a house with two bathrooms, so she rejected that idea, but did come up with putting a lock on the door to assure privacy.  The linear model, Gramling states, exposes children to far fewer words and does so in an isolated manner.

The pre-schools of the well-to-do focus on providing a lot of experiences in a lot of areas to enrich the child's life.  The data-driven government-funded pre-schools for the poor focus on meeting objectives, many of which are developmental and which cannot be hurried along by direct instruction.  Gramling points out that unless there is a developmental problem, all children learn to sit up, roll over, stand and walk, in pretty much the same order and at about the same time--though some take longer than others, and there isn't much you can do to hurry the process.  Nevertheless, Gramling points out that many preschools attempt to do just that--to force the children to behave in school-appropriate ways with the excuse "they will have to do it in kindergarten, so we need to get them ready".  

What Gramling found most distressing, and what is alluded to in the title, is that the data-driven linear methods of instruction are not what all the research on child development or learning processes reveal to be effective.  In short, teachers and schools are teaching the way they do, not because they know or believe them to be the best way, but because the drive for accountability in schools has basically forced it on them.  Teachers have to document that they teach the defined skills and that the children have mastered them.

I found the book to be an interesting read.  My older kids attended a public school; my youngest attends a Catholic school.  One thing I like much better about the Catholic school is the lack of emphasis on testing.  Both schools are good schools with caring, nurturing, stable staffs.  However, the Catholic school's test scores aren't in the paper yearly.  The school isn't considered better or worse than the one down the street based primarily on test scores.  I'm not so naive as to think test scores don't matter to the school, or to the archdiocese, but we don't have kids getting sick because of nerves over standardized tests and if a principal or teacher loses her job, there are going to be reasons other than just test scores.  I personally think that much of the backlash against Common Core is a backlash against the whole over-emphasis on testing.  

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via Edelweiss.  Grade:  B+

Review: Last One Home

Last One Home: A Novel

About the Book:

Growing up, Cassie Carter and her sisters, Karen and Nichole, were incredibly close—until one fateful event drove them apart. After high school, Cassie ran away from home to marry the wrong man, throwing away a college scholarship and breaking her parents’ hearts. To make matters worse, Cassie had always been their father’s favorite—a sentiment that weighed heavily on her sisters and made Cassie’s actions even harder to bear.

Now thirty-one, Cassie is back in Washington, living in Seattle with her daughter and hoping to leave her past behind. After ending a difficult marriage, Cassie is back on her own two feet, the pieces of her life slowly but surely coming together. Despite the strides Cassie’s made, she hasn’t been able to make peace with her sisters. Karen, the oldest, is a busy wife and mother, balancing her career with raising her two children. And Nichole, the youngest, is a stay-at-home mom whose husband indulges her every whim. Then one day, Cassie receives a letter from Karen, offering what Cassie thinks may be a chance to reconcile. And as Cassie opens herself up to new possibilities—making amends with her sisters, finding love once more—she realizes the power of compassion, and the promise of a fresh start.

A wonderful novel of perseverance and trust, and an exciting journey through life’s challenges and joys, Last One Home is Debbie Macomber at the height of her talents.

My  Comments:

If you click this link you'll see my post on negative reviews, and what types of books are likely to garner negative reviews as opposed to being ignored if I do not like them.  In this case, I have read and positively reviewed many of Debbie Macomber's books.  I did not enjoy this one and frankly, I believe that if it was sent to a publisher or agent by an unknown author, it would have never made it past the reject bin.  The writing is not professional quality.  While the story concept was good, and the opening strong, the book never got out of the starting blocks and the characters, usually Debbie Macomber's strong point, never really came to life.  

Cassie was a battered wife and the story opens with her supporting another battered wife as the other woman testifies in court against the man who hurt her.  We learn that Cassie left her husband after being beaten many times, went to a battered women's shelter, and is now working as a hair stylist and living in a small dumpy apartment.  However, she has just been accepted as a Habitat for Humanity homeowner, and it is while putting in the necessary sweat equity that she meets her love interest in this book.  Of course they clash, and eventually, each decides the other isn't all bad.  

While the blurb above pitches this book as being about the relationship between sisters, Cassie's sisters remind me of teenagers, not grown women.  Of course their lives aren't as ideal as they appear on the surface, but we never really get into what makes them tick either. In the end, it is happily ever after with everyone's problems solved and a big group hug--but I still didn't think I knew the characters; rather I had just been told what happened over this time in their lives. At times the writing was repetitive, and the whole story just never grabbed me, despite the potential.  The book was a disappointment to me and I'm giving it a C because so many Amazon readers gave it five stars, putting it the category of a book that I didn't like, but which  you might.

Thanks to Edelweiss for providing a review copy.

Review: The Day We Met

The Day We Met: A Novel

About the Book:

For fans of Jojo Moyes’s Me Before You comes a beautifully written, heartwarming novel about mothers and daughters, husbands and wives. The Day We Met asks: Can you love someone you don’t remember falling in love with?

A gorgeous husband, two beautiful children, a job she loves—Claire’s got it all. And then some. But lately, her mother hovers more than a helicopter, her husband, Greg, seems like a stranger, and her kids are like characters in a movie. Three-year-old Esther’s growing up in the blink of an eye, and twenty-year-old Caitlin, with her jet-black hair and clothes to match, looks like she’s about to join a punk band—and seems to be hiding something. Most concerning, however, is the fact that Claire is losing her memory, including that of the day she met Greg.

A chance meeting with a handsome stranger one rainy day sets Claire wondering whether she and Greg still belong together: She knows she should love him, but she can’t always remember why. In search of an answer, Claire fills the pages of a blank book Greg gives her with private memories and keepsakes, jotting down beginnings and endings and everything in between. The book becomes the story of Claire—her passions, her sorrows, her joys, her adventures in a life that refuses to surrender to a fate worse than dying: disappearing.

My Comments:

Claire and I have something in common.  We both had babies when we were 43.  For me, it was the continuation of life as I had lived it for some time--in other words, my answer to the "Same husband?" question some people ask when finding out I have adult kids and a ten year old is "yes". Claire was the single mother of a teen when she met Greg, and when she learned she was expecting his baby, they got married.  Finally Claire thought she had it all.  Unfortunately, it didn't last.  Shortly thereafter, Claire learned she, like her father before her, had early-onset Alzheimer's Disease.   This is the story of her life in the months after her diagnosis.  

Each chapter is titled with the name of a character--usually either Claire or her daughter Caitlyn, though her mother gets a few.  Some are also titled with a date, to give the necessary backstory. The chapters are written in the first person and give that character's view of what is happening, or in the post-dated chapters, of what did happen.  We hear Claire's frustration with the limitations her disease places on her.  Her family has taken away her car keys and her house keys.  She is not allowed out without someone (and like a teen, she rebels and runs away).  She is an English teacher who one day cannot read the often repeated favorite story of her three year old.  Some days she is better than others, but the trajectory is clearly downhill.  She knows her mother and her daughters and remembers their places in her life, but even though she is told time and again that Greg is her husband, she does not remember him.  He seems nice enough but he doesn't belong.  Then, one day when she gets lost, she meets a man--a man to whom she is attracted, a man who doesn't seem to realize that she isn't all there, a man who doesn't treat her like she is ill.  Despite her increasing failing memory, she manages several rendezvous with him.

Besides being the story of Claire, it is also the story of Caitlyn, her college-age daugther,  Caitlyn had been at the university and was dating a guy with whom she was in love.  He dumped her when she found out she was pregnant.  Because of her emotional state at the time, she failed her exams and was not invited back the next term, but she hadn't told her family any of this.  Of course a pregnancy doesn't stay secret for long, and this is the story of how Caitlyn comes to terms with hers, and about how Caitlyn finds out about her father, a man she thought had rejected her as her boyfriend had rejected her baby.

I really enjoyed this book.  At the point we meet her, Claire realizes how much she has lost, and how much more she will lose before she loses the battle for her life.  I guess in some ways it is like getting the diagnosis that you have terminal cancer when your symptoms are still at the bothersome stage, as opposed to the debilitating stage.  You are annoyed by the way things are, but you know they are going to get much worse and that there isn't anything you can do about it.  The use of the first person makes the story personal in a way that using the third person would not have.  

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via Edelweiss.  Grade: A-

By Your Side: My Review

By Your Side

About the Book:

ER nurse Macy Wynn learned essential, gritty lessons in the California foster care system: land on your feet and trust no one. Sehe’s finally located the fellow foster child she loves like a sister, but the girl’s in deep trouble. Macy’s determined to help, no matter what it takes. Her motto is to “make it happen” in any situation life throws at her—even when she butts heads with an idealistic cop.

Deputy Fletcher Holt believes in a higher plan, the fair outcome—and his ability to handle that by himself if necessary. Now he’s been yanked from Houston, his mother is battling cancer, and he’s attracted to a strong-willed nurse who could be the target of a brutal sniper.

When everything goes wrong, where do they put their trust?

My Comments:

I really enjoyed the contrasting personalities of the main characters in this book.  Macy counts on herself only; Fletcher knows that he is loved and that makes a difference in his life.  While this is a Christian romance, for the most part it means it is a clean romance.  It is full of hospital action and full of scenes between the two leads.  I've said before that Christian romance authors can't send their characters to bed to advance the relationship; they actually have to have them talk to each other and do things together.  Calvert does as good a job as any author at writing authentic romance with a Christian background.  Thanks to the publisher for making a review copy available via Edelweiss. Grade:  B+

No Bow On This One: Accidents of Marriage

Accidents of Marriage: A Novel

About the Book:

From the bestselling author of The Comfort of Lies, an engrossing look at the darker side of a marriage—and at how an ordinary family responds to an extraordinary crisis.

Maddy is a social worker trying to balance her career and three children. Years ago, she fell in love with Ben, a public defender, drawn to his fiery passion, but now he’s lashing out at her during his periodic verbal furies. She vacillates between tiptoeing around him and asserting herself for the sake of their kids—which works to keep a fragile peace—until the rainy day when they’re together in the car and Ben’s volatile temper gets the best of him, leaving Maddy in the hospital fighting for her life.

Randy Susan Meyers takes us inside the hearts and minds of her characters, alternating among the perspectives of Maddy, Ben, and their fourteen-year-old daughter. Accidents of Marriage is a provocative and stunning novel that will resonate deeply with women from all walks of life, ultimately revealing the challenges of family, faith, and forgiveness.

My Comments:

Interesting tile.  Catholics consider marriage to be a sacrament. Another sacrament is the Eucharist and part of Eucharistic theology is a discussion of "accidents" vs. substance.  "Accidents" are defined as  physical attributes - that is, what can be seen, touched, tasted, or measured, which is different from "substance", or deepest reality.  As Catholics we believe that during the Mass, the accidents of the bread and wine remain the same, but the substance, the deepest reality is changed to the Body and Blood of Christ.  In this book the accidents of Maddy and Ben's marriage are changed, but is the deepest reality?  You'll have to read the book to find out.

As noted above, Ben has anger problems, and one day that anger leads to a car accident that leaves Maddy with a traumatic brain injury.  She is in a coma for weeks and when she wakes, she has a lot of deficits to overcome.  This is the story of her family and her marriage during those times.  

Ben was raised Catholic; Maddy as a Jew.  As a married couple, they have not raised their children in either faith, or any faith.  When their mom is injured some of the kids seek God and pray but they never learn enough to understand the whole concept.  At the end of the book Maddy explains to her daughter that they didn't want the kids to hate--that's why they aren't religious. 

There are intimate scenes in the book but the conversation and situation is far more important than the mechanics, and if you are looking for an instruction manual, this isn't it.  

I read a lot of romance novels and one thing I like about them is their happily ever after tied up in a bow endings.  This book doesn't have that.  It ends with hope, not with finality and not with everything settled.  

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via Edelweiss.  Grade:  A

The Summer Girls: My Review

The Summer Girls (Lowcountry Summer)

About the Book:

From New York Times bestselling author Mary Alice Monroe, the heartwarming first installment in the Lowcountry Summer trilogy, a poignant series following three half-sisters and their grandmother.

Three granddaughters. Three months. One summer house. 

In this enchanting trilogy set on Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina, New York Times bestselling author Mary Alice Monroe captures the complex relationships between Dora, Carson, and Harper, three half-sisters scattered across the country—and a grandmother determined to help them rediscover their family bonds. 

For years, Carson Muir has drifted, never really settling, certain only that a life without the ocean is a life half lived. Adrift and penniless in California, Carson is the first to return to Sea Breeze, wondering where things went wrong…until the sea she loves brings her a minor miracle. Her astonishing bond with a dolphin helps Carson renew her relationships with her sisters and face the haunting memories of her ill-fated father. As the rhythms of the island open her heart, Carson begins to imagine the next steps toward her future. 

In this heartwarming novel, three sisters discover the true treasures Sea Breeze offers as surprising truths are revealed, mistakes forgiven, and precious connections made that will endure long beyond one summer.

My Comments:

This week I got the closest I've ever been to the South Carolina Low Country--I visited Savannah Georgia with the Girl Scouts and we got there via school bus.  I had a lot of time to read and as I'd read, sometimes I'd look up and out the window.  As we were heading north from the Florida Panhandle through Georgia to Savannah, I think I got an idea of how the Low Country must look, as the descriptions in the book matched the scenery out my window.  

The relationship between sisters is often complex, and these sisters were really more like cousins--they only lived together during the summers, at Mawmaw's house on the beach.  None of these sisters had a conventional childhood and all bear scars because of it.  Mawmaw carries her own scars but wants her girls to heal.  

As noted above, Carson is the focus of this book but her sisters are more than bit players.  There is a little romance, a little introspection and a lot of family love.  It is a perfect beach read and I recommend it.  Grade:  B+.  

Cancel the Wedding: My Review

Cancel the Wedding: A Novel (P. S.)

About the Book:

A heartfelt fiction debut that will appeal to fans of Emily Giffin’s Southern charm and Jennifer Weiner’s compelling, emotionally resonant novels about the frustrations of blood ties, Cancel the Wedding follows one woman’s journey to discover the secrets of her mother’s hidden past—and confront her own uncertain future.

On the surface, Olivia has it all: a high-powered career, a loving family, and a handsome fiancé. She even seems to be coming to terms with her mother Jane’s premature death from cancer. But when Jane’s final wish is revealed, Olivia and her elder sister Georgia are mystified. Their mother rarely spoke of her rural Southern hometown, and never went back to visit—so why does she want them to return to Huntley, Georgia, to scatter her ashes?

Jane’s request offers Olivia a temporary escape from the reality she’s long been denying: she hates her “dream” job, and she’s not really sure she wants to marry her groom-to-be. With her 14-year-old niece, Logan, riding shotgun, she heads South on a summer road trip looking for answers about her mother.

As Olivia gets to know the town’s inhabitants, she begins to peel back the secrets of her mother’s early life—truths that force her to finally question her own future. But when Olivia is confronted with a tragedy and finds an opportunity to right a terrible wrong, will it give her the courage to accept her mother’s past—and say yes to her own desire to start over?

My Comments:

I loved this one and I'm giving it an A.  Here is a favorite quote (realizing that I had a digital ARC and the final version may have changed, but I hope not too much) "I was realizing more and more that I was just letting life happen to me.  Letting it flow downstream and take me with it.  I wasn't participating in its course correction anymore."  

The story is told in the first person by Olivia as she travels to her mother's hometown, learns her mother's secrets and slowly starts to correct the course of her life. She realizes that by not making choices she is making choices, choices that are  not making her happy.  The research into her mother's past introduces Olivia to people who knew her mother and to a man who is very different from her fiancee.  The setting in a lake town in rural Georgia is symbolic.  The lake is man-made and it covers what used to be her mother's hometown.  What secrets does the water cover?  

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via Edelweiss.  

Monogamy: The Practical Form of Marriage

Marriage and Civilization: How Monogamy Made Us Human

About the Book:

William Tucker documents the historical and anthropological story behind how monogamous, lifelong partnerships are the driving force behind the creation and rise of civilization.

My Comments:

Not exactly a long blurb, is it?  Nevertheless, it was a very interesting and very readable book.  

Those favoring modern morality (or lack thereof) often say that monogamy is unnatural.  Those in favor of traditional values often say that sexual arrangements other than monogamy are immoral.  William Tucker agrees that monogamy does not come naturally, but opines that those societies that have chosen and enforced monogamy have been far more economically successful and far more peaceful than those which have chosen other mating schemes.

Tucker begins by looking at the animal world, particularly at our cousins, the primates.  In most species, males try to mate with as many females as possible, while females try to mate with the superior or alpha males.  The problem with this system is that the males put forth a lot of effort to keep other males away and even kill infants fathered by other males.  

Next Tucker takes us through the stages of civilization from early hunter-gatherers to early herders and farmers and onto the famous civilizations of the past.  He looks at their marital relationships and comes to the conclusion that for monogamy to work it needs to be supported and enforced by the culture, but that cultures that practice monogamy are the most successful.  

One interesting observation was that today's well-educated economically comfortable Americans are quick to hypothetically deny the need for monogamy in child-rearing.  They say it is ok to have children outside of wedlock, to have multiple partners of whatever persuasion, but when it comes to action, these are the people who will delay childbearing until after marriage and who will stay with their spouses (at least) until the children are raised.  These, of course, are the economically successful people in our society.  It is the poor who have children early and without a permanent partner.  This contrasts with earlier generations who, if they weren't married before conception, got married shortly thereafter.  One quoted statistic was that years ago (can't remember the date) 40% of first babies were conceived out of wedlock, but only 5% of babies were born out of wedlock.  

One point  Tucker makes is that for monogamy to succeed, society has to support it, and lately our society has not.  Prior to "The Great Society", it was expected that a man would support his family.  Married women, particularly those with children, were not expected to work.  Keeping them out of the workplace (or in "women's" jobs) kept unemployment among men low and wages high enough to support a family on one income.  Like all systems, this one had winners and losers.  The losers here were highly educated ambitious women; the winners were married women with children. Now many lower class women, instead of looking to husbands for support, look to the government.  

All in all, I found this to be a very interesting book and I'm glad to recommend it.  Grade:  A.

Review: The Last Forever

The Last Forever

About the Book:

Beginnings and endings overlap in this soaring novel of love and loss from bestselling author and National Book Award finalist Deb Caletti, whose writing SLJ has called “reminiscent of the best of Sarah Dessen.”

Nothing lasts forever, and no one gets that more than Tessa. After her mother died, it’s all she can do to keep her friends, her boyfriend, her happiness from slipping away. And then there’s her dad. He’s stuck in his own daze, and it’s hard to feel like a family when their house no longer seems like a home.

Her father’s solution? An impromptu road trip that lands them in a small coastal town. Despite all the beauty there, Tessa can’t help but feel even more lost. Her most cherished possession—a rare plant of her mother’s—is starting to wither, and with it, Tessa’s heart and her hope.

Enter Henry Lark. He understands the relationships that matter. And more important, he understands her. Though secrets stand between them, each has a chance at healing…if first, Tessa can find the courage to believe in forever.

My Comments:

Losing your  mother is hard, even when you are a mom in your forties yourself.  I can't imagine how awful it must be to lose your mom when you are a teenager.  In Tessa's case, she not only lost her mom, in some ways she lost her dad too.  Instead of parenting her, he chose to spend his time stoned, until one day when he realized that a change of scenery might help and he packed her off to his mother's (who Tessa didn't know) while he found himself.  During her time there Tessa gets to know new people who give her a dream and help make it come true.  

One of the major characters in the book is a plant, yes, that's right, a plant, and no, it's not one that talks or eats people or anything like that.  Pixiebell was planted by Tess' grandfather and kept by her mother.  She has always been told it may be the last of its kind.  When Tess and her father head off on their road trip Pixiebell comes too, and starts to die.  

I've read that all of us have a God-shaped hole in our heart and those who don't know God seek other things to fill that hole, most of them destructive.  I think part of that seeking of God is a seeking for immortality.  Because we are meant to be with God, the idea of ceasing to exist bothers us.  Religion is not mentioned at all in this book and Pixiebell is how Tessa seeks immortality.  

This is a coming of age novel.  Tess moves from her first boyfriend to her first love and then to realizing that love can mean a lot of different things.  She watches her dad grow from a pothead she has to care for to a father who can care for her.  She learns that dreams can come true--and that sometimes they aren't meant to.  

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via Edelweiss.  Grade:  B+

Review: The Runaway Wife

The Runaway Wife

About the Book:

Remembering the letter that says, “You are a remarkable woman and you deserve all the happiness, contentment, and love in the world. I, for one, know that I have never met anyone quite like you,” Rose Pritchard turns up on the doorstep of a B&B in England’s lake district. It is her last resort, as she and her seven-year-old daughter Maddie have left everything behind. They have come to the village of Millthwaite in search of the person who once offered Rose hope.

Almost immediately Rose wonders if she’s made a terrible mistake—if she’s chasing a dream—but she knows in her heart that she cannot go back. She’s been given a second chance—at life, and love—but will she have the courage to take it?

Blending wit, insight, and emotion with a sensitive touch and a warm dose of humor, Rowan Cowan has crafted a poignant novel that will linger with you long after the final page has been turned.

My Comments:

It is so easy to see where other people are doing it wrong.  Why does she let him treat her like that?  Why does he drink so much?  Why does he chase all those loose women?  Why does she dress like a tramp?  What do people say about me?  What do I do that "everyone" sees and shakes their head over?  

Rose is a woman who has been emotionally abused for years by her husband.  But one night she  had enough and fled.  Did she head to the local women's shelter, or the police station or any such  place?  No, she follows a dream; she goes looking for a man she met once.  In the process she finds the father who abandoned her years ago.  Her new life is wonderful; she has friends, she has men interested in her, she is creating a new relationship with her father.  Can it last?  Should it last?  

This is one of those books that is much more about the characters than about the plot.  Rose could easily see what was wrong in the lives of those in her path; this book is about her learning what is wrong in her life and putting it to right.  It is the story of a woman who is learning what love is and reaching out to gain it in her life; however it is not a romance novel.

The other character who fascinated me was Rose's daughter, Maddie.  Maddie is different that other children. She is very bright and very socially inept.  She doesn't like change.  She is a picky eater.  My "mother of autistic child" radar went off right away predicting that autism would be Maddie's diagnosis.  In this case Maddie was not diagnosed; rather, she was loved and cherished for who she was and it became obvious that what happened at home had far more effect on her than her mother ever realized.  

If it is important to you, there are references to intimate activity but no actual intimate scenes.  

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via Edelweiss.  Grade:  B+

Review: Starry Night by Debbie Macomber

Starry Night: A Christmas Novel

About the Book:

’Tis the season for romance, second chances, and Christmas cheer with this new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber.

Carrie Slayton, a big-city society-page columnist, longs to write more serious news stories. So her editor hands her a challenge: She can cover any topic she wants, but only if she first scores the paper an interview with Finn Dalton, the notoriously reclusive author. 

Living in the remote Alaskan wilderness, Finn has written a megabestselling memoir about surviving in the wild. But he stubbornly declines to speak to anyone in the press, and no one even knows exactly where he lives.

Digging deep into Finn’s past, Carrie develops a theory on his whereabouts. It is the holidays, but her career is at stake, so she forsakes her family celebrations and flies out to snowy Alaska. When she finally finds Finn, she discovers a man both more charismatic and more stubborn than she even expected. And soon she is torn between pursuing the story of a lifetime and following her heart.

Filled with all the comforts and joys of Christmastime, Starry Night is a delightful novel of finding happiness in the most surprising places.

My Comments:

I didn't have any expectations of a sophisticated novel with deeply layered characterizations when I picked this up.  I figured on a quick heart-warming read, that while perhaps a little overly sweet, would make me smile.  I was disappointed.  I've read 47 of 142 pages (yes, it's that short) and I don't like either him or her and find the whole set-up silly.  When I saw that Amazon wanted $9.99 for the Kindle edition, well...let's say there are better freebies out there.  DNF.

Thanks to the publisher for making a review copy available via Edelwiess.  

ADDENDUM:  While the price was $9.99 when I first wrote this  post, as of 10/30/13, it is $7.99

Review: Rose Harbor in Bloom

Rose Harbor in Bloom: A Novel

About the Book:

Since moving to Cedar Cove, Jo Marie Rose has truly started to feel at home, and her neighbors have become her closest friends. Now it’s springtime, and Jo Marie is eager to finish the most recent addition to her inn. In memory of her late husband, Paul, she has designed a beautiful rose garden for the property and enlisted handyman Mark Taylor to help realize it. She and Mark don’t always see eye-to-eye—and at times he seems far removed—yet deep down, Jo Marie finds great comfort in his company. And while she still seeks a sense of closure, she welcomes her latest guests, who are on their own healing journeys.

 

Annie Newton arrives in town to orchestrate her grandparents’ fiftieth wedding anniversary celebration. While Annie is excited for the festivities, she’s struggling to move on from her broken engagement, and her grandparents themselves seem to be having trouble getting along. Worse, Annie is forced to see Oliver Sutton, with whom she grew up and who has always mercilessly teased her. But the best parties end with a surprise, and Annie is in for the biggest one of all.

 

High-powered businesswoman Mary Smith, another Rose Harbor Inn guest, has achieved incredible success in her field, yet serious illness has led her to face her sole, lingering regret. Almost nineteen years ago, she ended her relationship with her true love, George Hudson, and now she’s returned to Cedar Cove to make amends.

 

Compassion and joy await Jo Marie, Annie, and Mary as they make peace with their pasts and look boldly toward their futures. Rose Harbor in Bloom is Debbie Macomber at her heartwarming best.

My Comments:

This is the second book in Macomber's latest series.  I reviewed the first back in July.  These books are set at an Inn in Cedar Cove, Washington, and a couple of the characters from Macomber's Cedar Cove sagas make cameo appearances but you don't have to know anything about them to enjoy this book.  Unlike the Cedar Cove books with their multiple threads and soap-opera-ish pace, these Rose Harbor books, while connected by a common setting and a few common characters, each stand alone well.  We find out in this book that the main characters from the last book all headed to the altar, but that really has nothing to do with the story here.  Both of the main romantic plots in this book feature couples who have known each other for a long time; couples who were each other's first love.  Both of the couples have been apart; will they get back together?

Like Macomber's other recent works, no one ends up in bed, and while you would be no means characterize the book as religious fiction, prayer is mentioned.  There is also a pro-life message.  

I'd like the thank the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley.  Grade:  B.  

Other Debbie Macomber Books:

Review: The Wishing Hill

The Wishing Hill: A Novel

About the Book:

Years ago, Juliet Clark gave up her life in California to follow the man she loved to Mexico and pursue her dream of being an artist. Now her marriage is over, and she’s alone, selling watercolors to tourists on the Puerto Vallarta boardwalk.

When her brother asks her to come home to wintery New England and care for their ailing mother, a flamboyant actress with a storied past, Juliet goes reluctantly. She and her self-absorbed mother have always clashed. Plus, nobody back home knows about her divorce—or the fact that she’s pregnant and her ex-husband is not the father.

Juliet intends to get her mother back on her feet and return to Mexico fast, but nothing goes as planned. Instead she meets a man who makes her question every choice and reawakens her spirit, even as she is being drawn into a long-running feud between her mother and a reclusive neighbor. Little does she know that these relationships hold the key to shocking secrets about her family and herself that have been hiding in plain sight.…

My Comments:

Family relationships are always complicated and in this book they are more complicated than most. People have kept secrets to protect themselves, to protect others and to manipulate those they profess to love.  It’s one of those books that shows many of the bad consequences of modern sexual morality (or lack thereof).  Throughout the course of the book Juliet grows from a woman who, after being dumped by her husband, learns via a fling, that the reason she has never conceived a desired child is because her husband secretly had a vasectomy, to being an expectant mother considering a new relationship built on honesty and respect.  She grows from a woman who allows her mother to emotionally manipulate her into one who accepts her mother, but chooses the course of their relationship.  She learns family secrets, is hurt and comes to accept that her family members are just flawed people making the best decisions they could at the time and place they were making them.  

My two favorite characters were Giles and Claire.  Claire was Desiree’s neighbor and more.  She’s a senior citizen who has never been married.  She meets Giles at the pool one morning and he starts pursing her with romantic intentions.  He was unfailing patient, kind, self-giving, -- all the things most of the other characters in the book are not.  Life has dealt Claire some bad hands, but she’s made her mistakes too.  Still, she is a nice person who cares about others.

Desiree seems totally unlovable throughout most of the book. At the end her only real friend, a gay man, explains why he remains her friend.  Evidently there is more to her than meets the eye--but can’t you say that about  most of us?

I’d like to thank the publisher for providing a complimentary review copy via Edelweiss.  Grade:  B+

Review: The Face of the Earth

The Face of the Earth: A Novel

About the Book:

When Mitchell Brannon’s beloved wife of twenty years kisses him goodbye one morning, he has little idea that his life is about to change forever. Mitch returns from work early that evening, surprised Jill’s car isn’t in the garage. But her voice on the answering machine makes him smile. “Hey, babe, I’m just now checking out of the hotel, but I’ll stop and pick up something for dinner. Love you.” Hours later, Jill still hasn’t returned, and Mitch’s irritation turns to dread.

When the police come up empty, Mitch enlists the help of their next-door neighbor, Jill’s best friend, Shelley, to help search. As days turn into weeks and weeks into months, Mitch and Shelley’s friendship grows ever closer––and decidedly more complicated. Every lead seems to be a dead end, and Mitch wonders how he can honor the vows he made to a woman who has seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth.

My Comments:

None of  us like death, but at least with death you know where you stand.  In this book Mitch doesn't know where he stands.  When his wife disappears the police question him as if he might be the reason for her disappearance, or whether she chose to disappear.  As they look into clues Mitch  finds he has his moments of doubt--doubt she will be found, doubt about their marriage, doubt about himself.  In a non-preachy manner this book looks at what fidelity means in a Christian marriage and at what point the bond of marriage is broken.  It is a book about people of faith, about churchgoers who pray, but it is also a book about very real, very human people.  I enjoyed this book, which I received through Edelwiess and recommend it.  Grade:  B+.

Deborah is celebrating with a fun "Date Night" Giveaway (win a $200 Visa Cash Card!) and an Author Chat Party on Facebook! {5/30}

   One winner will receive:

• A $200 Visa Cash Card (Use that to catch up with a loved one – your spouse, friend, sister, mom…whomever!)
• The Face of the Earth by Deborah Raney

Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on May 29th. Winner will be announced at the "The Face of the Earth" Facebook Author Chat Party on May 30th. Connect with Deborah for an evening of book chat, trivia, laughter, and more! Deborah will also be sharing a sneak peek of her next book and giving away books and fun gift certificates throughout the evening.

So grab your copy of The Face of the Earth and join Deborah on the evening of May 30th for a chance to connect and make some new friends. (If you haven't read the book, don't let that stop you from coming!)

Don't miss a moment of the fun; RSVP today. Tell your friends via FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning. Hope to see you on the 30th!