Blogging Through the Book: Twice in a Lifetime

Twice in a Lifetime

I've gotten bored with my book review format so I'm trying something new.  Rather than reading a book and then commenting on it when done, I'm going to write a little at several points during my reading--questions in my mind, phrases that struck me, thoughts about the characters.  What do you think of my new format?

About the Book:

Isla has fled the city for small-town Missouri in the wake of a painful and exhausting year. With her chronic anxiety at a fever pitch, the last thing she expects is to meet a genuine romantic prospect. And she doesn’t. But she does get a text from a man who seems to think he’s her husband. Obviously, a wrong number—except when she points this out, the mystery texter sends back a picture. Of them—on their wedding day.

 

Isla cautiously starts up a texting relationship with her maybe-hoax, maybe-husband Ewan, who claims to be reaching out from a few years into the future. Ewan knows Isla incredibly well, and seems to love her exactly as she is, which she can hardly fathom. But he’s also grieving, because in the future, he and Isla are no longer together.

 

Ewan is texting back through time to save her from a fate he is unwilling to share—and all she can do to prevent that fate is to learn to be happy, now, in the body she has, with the mind she has. The only trouble is the steps she takes in that direction might be steps away from a future with Ewan.

 

Melissa Baron’s time-crossed romance features a quintessentially endearing and brave protagonist, and an engrossing plot that will keep you turning pages until its breathtaking finish.

My Comments:

In the Beginning...

In the first couple of chapters, readers learn that Isla, the main character, is an artist who suffers from anxiety.  She recently moved to a new city.  She is an introvert.  She gets a text message from a man who claims to be her husband and who knows enough details about her life that he can't just be dismissed as a crackpot.  Talk about a hook!

Who is this guy?  Isla recently lost her mom and it is mentioned that she suffered a nervous breakdown.  Is he a husband she has forgotten?  Is he a figment of her imagination?  Is someone playing games with her?  Is it a time travel novel?  Yup, I'm ready to read on.  

A Little Further In....

He gave Isla the answer to the "Who is this guy?" question I asked, but I'm not sure I believe him.  

Ila is an interesting character.  She clearly suffers from mental illness.  She was close to her now-dead mother but is not close to her Dad-she didn't even tell him she was moving to St. Louis but he heard about it through the grapevine.  People give her anxiety but she has best friend, Willow, who is always there for her, and at work she has made friends with two young single women.  However, for all her anxiety (or because of it?) she was eager to move away from all that was familiar and start over in life.  

I've never suffered from the debilitating anxiety that plagues Isla, but I chose to leave my hometown for the big city in part because I never felt like I belonged.  

Another Night's Reading

Now something has happened that makes me wonder even more if I was right not to trust what the husband, Ewan, said about how he fit in the story.  I'm also getting a real view of how strong Isla is, despite her mental illness.  And I LOVE her best friend. 

75% of the Way Through

The romance is progressing, and we've gotten a chance to meet Isla's dad (no mystery why she suffers from anxiety now).  I could just hug Ewan for how he handled Isla's dad, and on the other hand I can SO relate to her request to Ewan not to speak for her.  Loved a section on silence and conversation.  The last chapter of this reading session ends with what sounds like a throw-away detail--but if it isn't meaningful, why is it there?   I wonder if it relates to the set-up for the book/their relationship?  

Some Words That Struck Me

"They rarely spoke...preferring instead the silence of shared grief.  It weighed as much as wet summer air in New Orleans."  I live in New Orleans, how an I not love that sentence?  

"When there was too much noise, too much stimulation, her thoughts scattered to the four corners of the earth, and she found it hard to participate in conversations were too many people were talking.  It became harder to express her opinion because, if no one asked for it, they clearly didn't want it."  My in-laws (a boisterous loving Italian family) thought me stand-offish because I could never get a word in edgewise.  

What Worked...and What Didn't

What worked was the characters.  Isla had me in her corner from the start. She puts up a strong front and the collapses in private.  Life is hard, but she keeps on living.   Ewan is a sweetheart and his two gay friends were shown as people, not caricatures or simply walking sex lives.  Isla's dad manages to make quite an impression during his short time on stage.  

What didn't was the whole resolution to the time line thing.  It just felt forced and unsatisfying.   

Thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy via NetGalley.  Grade:  B. 

Doctors and Friends: Blogging Through the Book

Doctors and Friends

About the Book:

Hannah, Compton, and Kira have been close friends since medical school, reuniting once a year for a much-needed vacation. Just as they gather to travel in Spain, an outbreak of a fast-spreading virus throws the world into chaos.

When Compton Winfield returns to her job as an ER doctor in New York City, she finds a city changed beyond recognition - and a personal loss so gutting, it reshapes every aspect of her life.

Hannah Geier’s career as an ob-gyn in San Diego is fulfilling, but she’s always longed for a child of her own. After years of trying, Hannah discovers she's expecting a baby, just as the disease engulfs her city.

Kira Marchand, an infectious disease doctor at the CDC in Atlanta, finds herself at the center of the American response to the terrifying new illness. Her professional battle turns personal when she must decide whether her children will receive an experimental but potentially life-saving treatment.

Written prior to COVID-19 by a former emergency medicine physician, Doctors and Friends incorporates unexpected wit, razor-edged poignancy, and a deeply relatable cast of characters who provoke both laughter and tears. Martin provides a unique insider’s perspective into the world of medical professionals working to save lives during the most difficult situations of their careers.

 Opening Chapters

The book opens at a Christmas party held after the pandemic was under control.  No, not Covid, a pandemic of the author's imagination, at least according to the preface of the book. Doctors and Friends was copyrighted/published in 2021 but the preface says it was written before Covid and the world in the book is fictional.  Evidently Kira is that world's version of Dr. Fauchi--the person who would get on TV and talk about the pandemic in the name of the government.  At that party we learn that "everyone" is wearing pins that broadcast their disease status and that the virus has a hidden long-term effect on the brains of some people.  We also learn that the virus caused economic devastation.  Shaking hands is no longer popular.  I have to wonder what edits were done to the manuscript after Covid-19 hit.  

The timeline then shifts to just before the pandemic.  Kira and her medical school friends (all women) are gathering in Spain to see the sights and enjoy girl time, and Kira gets a call from work about this strange illness that starts with a cough and then kills people very quickly. 

I love the relationships I see between these women.  They truly know each other's faults and love each other anyway.  

The Story Develops

The problem with blogging as  I read, as opposed to reviewing after I read is trying to decide how much to say.  Its hard to give an "on the ground" view on the book without giving away plot points.  Since this book is neither new at this point nor famous, I guess its not that big a deal but in other stories it might be.  So, be forewarned, there may be spoilers.

I'd really like to know what, if anything, was added to the book after Covid.   I mean this is all bringing back memories--the hallway chatter about that stuff in China.  The jokes in February during Mardi Gras about how all that Chinese junk that was being thrown from floats was going to get us all sick, and then the party St. Patrick's Day weekend when we bumped elbows instead of kissing--just in case.  

In the book, the first signs are there, and the people are reacting pretty much the way we did.  Its like I can see the avalanche coming.  If the author truly wrote this pre-covid she did her homework is all I can say. 

And Further Into the Story...

At the end, the author does admit she edited the book after Covid started and added some things--like Zoom calls, which I had wondered about because I hadn't heard of Zoom pre-Covid but now we all know that tic-tac-toe screen. 

The virus in this story is much more lethal than Covid-19 and kills the young and the old so it sounds like people took it as much more of a threat than most considered Covid to be.  The US president in the story is a woman and as non-Trump as it is possible to make a character and this is no comment on policy, but on personality.  Love him or hate him, you have to admit that Trump's persona was "This is that I think and if you disagree you are an idiot", which is probably not the personality to be in charge of a situation that requires consensus from a variety of competing interests.  

In the End  

The beginning of the end of the story is back at the Christmas party and we learn how Kira and her friends made it through the pandemic and the losses they suffered.  

As the pandemic kicked off we were Kira and her medical school friends on their yearly get-together and I thought something that was said was interesting.  Basically these were women who were together for four very important years in their lives and who have since gone their separate ways, to different towns, different specialities and different relationships.  Though they keep up by all the modern forms of communication, they are only together as a group on this yearly trip, and it was noted that they tended to revert to their 24 year old personalities when they got together.  I wonder if my college friends and I do that without realizing it? 

So, Was It Any Good?

Yes, it was a good read that was close enough to the reality we have lived for the past two and half years to make me uncomfortable and far enough away so that comfortable detachment was possible.  Grade:  B+

Thanks to NetGalley for making a review copy available.  If you are a Kindle Unlimited subscriber, this is part of the subscription.   

Blogging Through the Book: The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise

The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise

 About the Book:

Twenty-one-year-old Tanner Quimby needs a place to live. Preferably one where she can continue sitting around in sweatpants and playing video games nineteen hours a day. Since she has no credit or money to speak of, her options are limited, so when an opportunity to work as a live-in caregiver for an elderly woman falls into her lap, she takes it.
 
One slip on the rug. That’s all it took for Louise Wilt’s daughter to demand that Louise have a full-time nanny living with her. Never mind that she can still walk fine, finish her daily crossword puzzle, and pour the two fingers of vodka she drinks every afternoon.Bottom line: Louise wants a caretaker even less than Tanner wants to be one.
 
The two start off their living arrangement happily ignoring each other until Tanner starts to notice things—weird things. Like, why does Louise keep her garden shed locked up tighter than a prison? And why is the local news fixated on the suspect of one of the biggest jewelry heists in American history who looks eerily like Louise? And why does Louise suddenly appear in her room, with a packed bag at 1 a.m.  insisting that they leave town immediately?
 
Thus begins the story of a not-to-be-underestimated elderly woman and an aimless young woman who—if they can outrun the mistakes of their past—might just have the greatest adventure of their lives.

First Two Chapters

So, in Chapter 1 a woman calls the police, stating that her eighty-four year old mother has vanished--none of her usual cronies have seen her, and she lives several hours away.   She wonders if her mother was abducted but the chapter ends with "Though she knew deep down that Louise Constance Wilt had never done anything against her will in her entire life."

In Chapter 2 we meet Louise, whose will is being thwarted by the one thing none of us can avoid (except by dying) namely, age.  We also meet the new housemate her children have forced on her.  Finally this chapter introduces a letter and while we don't know what it says, the chapter ends with Louise realizing "she was going to have to run".  Ok, I'm hooked, but its time to go back to work, more later.  

Zooming Through the Rest

This book was a fun read and I devoured it in one evening--so much for blogging through the book.  

There were so many things that made me smile/laugh:  The mother of a college student asking a police detective who thought a phone had been accidently left behind, if she knows any 20 year olds, pointing out that their phones are practically appendages.  The old lady telling the college student that life rarely goes as planned and we can either mourn the life we had or live the life we have.  Louise wanting to be called Mrs. Wilt because it reminded her of her late husband.  

On the other hand the whole resolution part of the plot was so....unbelievable.  By the end of the story we know Louise's secrets, and no I don't really think real life goes down that way.  But Tanner's ending was also hard to believe.  

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

How Important Are The Details?

 

Closer to Okay

About the Book:

Kyle Davies is doing fine. She has her routine, after all, ingrained in her from years of working as a baker: wake up, make breakfast, prep the dough, make lunch, work the dough, make dinner, bake dessert, go to bed. Wash, rinse, repeat. It's a good routine. Comforting. Almost enough to help her forget the scars on her wrist, still healing from when she slit it a few weeks ago; that she lost her job at the bakery when she checked herself in as an inpatient at Hope House; then signed away all decisions about her life, medical care, and wellbeing to Dr. Booth (who may or may not be a hack). So, yeah, Kyle's doing just fine.

Except that a new item's been added to her daily to-do list recently: stare out her window at the coffee shop (named, well...The Coffee Shop) across the street, and its hot owner, Jackson. It's healthy to have eye candy when you're locked in the psych ward, right? Something low risk to keep yourself distracted. So when Dr. Booth allows Kyle to leave the facility--two hours a day to go wherever she wants--she decides to up the stakes a little more. Why not visit? Why not see what Jackson's like in person?

Turns out that Jackson's a jerk with a heart of gold, a deadly combination that Kyle finds herself drawn to more than she should be. (Aren't we all?) At a time when Dr. Booth delivers near-constant warnings about the dangers of romantic entanglements, Kyle is pulled further and further into Jackson's orbit. At first, the feeling of being truly taken care of is bliss, like floating on a wave. But at a time when Kyle is barely managing her own problems, she finds herself suddenly thrown into the deep end of someone else's. Dr. Booth may have been right after all: falling in love may be the thing that sends Kyle into a backslide she might never be able to crawl out of. Is Jackson too much for her to handle? Does love come at the cost of sanity?

My Comments:

I'm officially tired of writing book reviews. Bet you couldn't guess that if you look on my sidebar and see how many I published back in the day vs recently.  Still I'm not ready to give up this space or my NetGalley account so...

I enjoyed this book.  Its strength was the two main characters, particularly Kyle.  The story is told through her eyes, but we also know she recently tried to commit suicide, so her observations were always a little suspect.  Still I enjoyed watching her interact, grow and change throughout the book.  Grade: B.

Let's Talk About Details:

Does it aggravate you when authors get details wrong?  I realize that no one can be an expert in everything and that authors are experts in, well....writing.  I get that given my age and my profession (paralegal) I have a lot of knowledge of particular fields that may not be common knowledge to average people.  But still, it seems to me that if you are going to include a detail in your work, you ought to get it right.

Kyle spends most of this book living at Hope House which seems to be a sort of step down from a mental hospital.  She cannot come and go at will.  Nurses check on her regularly around the clock. The other people living there are mental patients as well. There is a security guard at the door who can be summoned if there is a problem.  A psychiatrist, Dr. Booth, is in charge.  He does regular counselling with the patients but also prescribes medications. 

However, it is Kyle who cooks for the residents, not once in a while, but every meal.  She plans the meals, orders the ingredients and cooks. That's fine, she's a culinary school trained pastry chef, but what about when she leaves, or who did it before she got there?  True, the number of patients in the house is small, so it is like cooking for a family rather than an institution-sized crowd but that did not ring true. Still, I'm not an expert on treating mental illness, maybe that is a normal part of treatment.  

However, I do know enough about mental health treatment to know that psychiatrists don't do talk therapy these days.  Their job is medication managment.  Dr. Booth did that job and the job that would be done by a social worker or therapist of some sort. On the other hand, I'm sure it worked better for the plot to have one person as the authority/treatment figure, as opposed to the team that would be more realistic. 

At one point in the book Kyle is baking goods for sale to restaurants.  Great--except that she is doing it from her apartment kitchen which I'm sure would not pass any of the requirements for a commercial kitchen.  

I'm not trying to pick on Amy Watson in particular, I see a lot of things in books and on other media that are just plain wrong.  Have you every seen a movie or TV show set in New Orleans where everyone speaks with a Scarlett O'Hara drawl?  Well, fyi, that drawl would instantly label you as "not from here" in New Orleans.  We sound a lot like the people from Brooklyn or Savannah (yes, people from Savannah GA sound more like they are from New York or New Orleans they like they are from Atlanta--its a port city accent.  

As a paralegal I have great insight into how the court system works, and I can tell you it is a lot more exciting on TV than in real life--and I get that no TV audience is going to sit there while a judge reads jury charges (most judges in real life lock the doors when they are being read to keep the jury paying attention to them), but it still annoys me when an author has the characters attending a deposition in a criminal case (there have to be very extraordinary circumstances for one to be held in a criminal case but they are a normal part of civil cases) or when lawsuits are filed and then tried a couple of months later (chances are good that the defendant is just getting around to filing an answer at that point). 

How often do you read books where you find the author got details wrong, whether those details were geographic, dealt with your area of expertise or were things you thought were common knowledge?  Does it affect your enjoyment of the book?  

Review: Summer on the Island

 

Summer on the Island

About the Book:

After the death of her US senator father, Marlow Madsen travels to the small island off the coast of Florida where she spent summers growing up to help her mother settle the family estate. For Marlow, the trip is a chance to reconnect after too long apart. It’s also the perfect escape to help her feel grounded again—one she’s happy to share with friends Aida and Claire, who are hoping to hit reset on their lives, too.

A leisurely beachfront summer promises the trio of women the opportunity to take deep healing breaths and explore new paths. But when her father’s will reveals an earth-shattering secret that tarnishes his impeccable reputation and everything she thought she knew about her family, Marlow finds herself questioning her entire childhood—and aspects of her future. Fortunately, her friends, and the most unlikely love interest she could imagine, prove that happiness can be found no matter what—as long as the right people are by your side.

My Comments:

As you may surmise by the dearth of recent posts, I've been in a reading/blogging funk lately.  I haven't felt like reading and I have wanted to write even less.  Given that attitude, I didn't really think it was right to blast some author about a book I didn't like primarily because I didn't want to read at all.  

However the other day I was perusing NetGalley and I saw Summer on the Island and I wanted to read it. I generally like Brenda Novak's books and the premise of this one sounded interesting.  Unfortunately, this one came out as just too predictable.  It's a romance so it was no stretch to figure that they would end up together, but the other plot threads involving Marlow's friends and family members were just as predictable.  

One first for me is that this was the first book I've read that incorporates Covid-19 and the changes it made to the world.  Marlow and her friends live in California and one has lost her business due to the pandemic.  Of course in Florida the pandemic is little more than a subject of disinterested conversation.  

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

Review: Sleigh Bells Ring

 

Sleigh Bells Ring

About the Book:

Ranch manager Annie McCade thought her twin niece and nephew could join her at the Angel View Ranch for Christmas with her absent employer being none the wiser. But when the ranch's owner, Tate Sheridan, shows up out of the blue, Annie's plans are upended. Soon she finds herself helping Tate make a Christmas to remember for his grieving and fractured extended family.

Sleigh Bells Ring is the latest heartwarming, festive Christmas story by New York Times bestselling author RaeAnne Thayne.

My Comments:

It's a Christmas romance.  Cute kids, horses, sweet woman, man who doesn't realize that something has been missing, and yes even a sleigh.  But this book goes a little (not much, but a little) deeper and looks at how guilt from the past can keep us from things (and people) we love in the present.  

Like most of Thayne's books, this is squeaky clean with no suggestion of sex outside of marriage.  

I'd like to thank the publisher for providing a review copy of this book via NetGalley.  Grade B. 

Book Review: The Gathering Table

The Gathering Table

About the Book:

Winsome Lake, Wisconsin, is postcard-pretty, but for chef Jessica Keaton it’s also a last resort. Fired from her dream job, Jess is starting over as a live-in cook and housekeeper. When she arrives, she finds her new employer is in rehab after having a stroke, and Jess expects she’ll be all alone in Elaine Haviland’s quaint house. A chef with no one to cook for.

But instead, she encounters a constant stream of colorful visitors who draw her back into the world. As Jess contends with local teenagers, a group of scrappy women and a charming football coach, Elaine faces some battles of her own that extend past her physical challenges. For both of them, all the ingredients for a fulfilling life are within reach, if they’re willing to take a leap. And maybe Jess will start to see that it’s not just what’s on the table that matters—it’s the people gathered round it.

My Comments:

I used to read a lot of Christian Fiction and this book exemplifies the good and bad of the genre.  The good is that because the authors can't develop a romance by having the characters fall in lust with each other, they actually need to make them talk to each other and to learn each other's strengths and weaknesses.  They have to be attracted to the personality, not the body.  There are two romances in this story and while the characters do find each other to be physically attractive, that physical attraction is not the main draw.  I also like the fact that one of those couples is "mature".  

The bad is that sometimes authors can't seem to resist putting in a "salvation scene", a scene where one character (or more) accepts Jesus which changes his or her life and then finds the problems of life in this world to be resolved.  Also, some of the plot turns seem a bit, hmmm, well, not quite likely.  In The Gathering Table Jess is hired over the phone to be a live-in cook and housekeeper for a lady who had a stroke.  Ok, I'll give that a pass.  Then, when she gets to town she is told the lady won't be discharged from rehab for a while, due to a fall, but that she is to go ahead and move in.  I can accept that.  However, never do we see Jess picking up the phone and calling her employer, or going by the nursing home to meet her.  Nope, she stays at the house and cooks for the neighbors.   

I liked the way the characters looked out for each other, the way they learned that three of them had a lot in common and the way the character with Down Syndrome was made into a real person rather than a caricature.  

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

 

Review: When I Found You

 

When I Found You

About the Book:

After everything she worked for is destroyed, pediatrician Natasha Gray is determined to build a new life. Divorced, bankrupt and suddenly a single mom, she’s ready to start over in Silver Springs—on her own. She certainly doesn’t need help from Mack Amos, the man who’s already broken her heart twice.

Although Mack has had feelings for Tash since they first met, too many things have stood in the way. He’s always given her the support she needs, though, and he’ll do the same now. Even if the desire he wrestles with threatens to undermine his intentions…

But her heart is not the only reason Natasha wants to keep Mack at bay. More time in her life means getting closer to her son, which could lead to a revelation neither of them is ready to face.

My Comments:

Fans of Brenda Novak will know what I mean when I say this book is Silver Springs meets Whiskey Creek.  Natasha is starting over in Silver Springs, but someone else wants a new start too--Mack Amos, one of the Amos brothers from Whiskey Creek.  While the story of how Natasha got to this point doesn't really ring true, I liked her and her son.

Those familiar with the Whiskey Creek series will remember that when the Amos patriarch was released from prison, he returned home with a wife in tow--and that wife had a daughter, Natasha.  Mack's feelings about Natasha weren't brotherly then and certainly aren't now-over 10 years after the Whiskey Creek books.  

Both Mack and Natasha have been through some rough times lately, but I loved watching them move to happily ever after.  Like the other Whiskey Creek books, the extended cast plays an important part.  Mild Spoiler:  The big Whiskey Creek secret comes out.  Still, I think you could enjoy the book even if you never met any of the Whiskey Creek characters.  

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

Review: The Stepsisters

 

The Stepsisters

About the Book:

Once upon a time, when her dad married Sage’s mom, Daisy was thrilled to get a bright and shiny new sister. But Sage was beautiful and popular, everything Daisy was not, and she made sure Daisy knew it.

Sage didn’t have Daisy’s smarts—she had to go back a grade to enroll in the fancy rich-kid school. So she used her popularity as a weapon, putting Daisy down to elevate herself. After the divorce, the stepsisters’ rivalry continued until the final, improbable straw: Daisy married Sage’s first love, and Sage fled California.

Eighteen years, two kids and one troubled marriage later, Daisy never expects—or wants—to see Sage again. But when the little sister they have in common needs them both, they put aside their differences to care for Cassidy. As long-buried truths are revealed, no one is more surprised than they when friendship blossoms.

Their fragile truce is threatened by one careless act that could have devastating consequences. They could turn their backs on each other again…or they could learn to forgive once and for all and finally become true sisters of the heart.

My Comments:

During your teenaged years it is tough to love a sister you've grown up with, much less a step-sister your age whose strengths are your weaknesses.  No, Sage and Daisy didn't like each other, but they both loved Cassidy and by helping her they learned that the other wasn't so bad.

Sage has lived a rough life--her mother was a woman who married for money but never managed to stay that way, probably because she never learned to love.  Sage sees that she is heading down that same road and decides to change--but then there is the BIG thing.  I'm all for forgiveness but in this case that forgiveness seemed to come awfully easily.  

I enjoyed the book and enjoyed watching these three women outgrow childhood animosities and realize that they are loveable, but some of it just seemed too easy.  Grade:  B.

Review: The Summer Cottage

The Summer Cottage

About the Book:

Somerset Lake is the perfect place for Trisha Langly and her son to start over. As the new manager for the Somerset Cottages, Trisha is instantly charmed by the property’s elderly residents and her firecracker of a new boss, Vi Fletcher. But Trisha is less enchanted by Vi’s protective grandson Jake. No matter how tempting she finds the handsome lawyer, Trisha knows that if Jake discovers the truth about her past, she’ll lose the new life she’s worked so hard to build. 

Jake Fletcher left Somerset Lake after a tragic loss, but he’s returning for the summer to care for his beloved grandmother, hoping Vi will sell the run-down cottages and finally slow down. There’s just one problem: Trisha, Vi’s new employee. She’s smart, beautiful, and kind, but Jake’s job is to protect his grandmother’s interests, and his gut is telling him Trisha’s hiding something that could jeopardize Vi’s future. However, as they spend summer days renovating the property and bonding over their love for the town, Jake realizes that Trisha is a risk worth taking—if only she can trust him with her secrets . . . and her heart. 

My Comments:

While boy meets girl while they work together to renovate Grandma's property before the family talks her into selling it is a familiar troupe, Annie Raines makes her characters come alive in a picturesque setting.  Add in a cute kid, a conniving uncle and a circle of book (and wine) loving friends and you have a perfect beach (or back porch) read,  

I'd like to thank the publisher or making a review copy available via NetGalley and look forward to reading more books in the series.  I'm guessing Raines is going to marry off the book club members.  Grade:  B 

 

Review: The Summer Seekers

 

The Summer Seekers

About the Book:

Kathleen is eighty years old. After she has a run-in with an intruder, her daughter wants her to move in to a residential home. But she’s not having any of it. What she craves—what she needs—is adventure.

Liza is drowning under the daily stress of family life. The last thing she needs is her mother jetting off on a wild holiday, making Liza long for a solo summer of her own.

Martha is having a quarter-life crisis. Unemployed, unloved and uninspired, she just can’t get her life together. But she knows something has to change.

When Martha sees Kathleen’s advertisement for a driver and companion to share an epic road trip across America with, she decides this job might be the answer to her prayers. She’s not the world’s best driver, but anything has to be better than living with her parents. And traveling with a stranger? No problem. Anyway, how much trouble can one eighty-year-old woman be?

As these women embark on the journey of a lifetime, they all discover it’s never too late to start over.

My Comments:

I wonder how I am screwing up my kids and their lives.  It seems that the last batch of books I've read seem to feature young adults whose parents had been less than perfect and who caused pain to their kids. I certainly know that "less than perfect" describes me, so how am I messing up my kids' lives? 

Kathleen had been cheated on when she was young, and so protected herself by creating a life in which her job and adventures trumped her relationships, including her relationship with her daughter, Liza.  Liza in turn has created a life in which relationships came first, to the point that her family takes her for granted.  Martha has realized that what she wants in life and what her parents want for her are two different things.  In The Summer Seekers Kathleen and Martha, who are British head out on a road trip from Chicago to California.  As they travel Kathleen thinks back on her life and the choices she made.  She also realizes that her time to make changes is getting shorter.

Liza, due to some things her mother says to her on the way to the airport, decides to take some time to decide what she wants in life.  I enjoyed watching her spread her wings.  Like me, Liza was the mom of kids about ready to leave the nest.  

Usually when I think of a "road trip", I think of a trip by car where the journey is part of the fun---not just a way to get from Point A to Point B.  It's a great metaphor for life--we are all headed from birth to death--but at a lot of intersections we get to pick which way to go, and those choices, whether good or bad, make us who we are.  

I enjoyed this book and getting to know Martha, Liza and Kathleen (and yes, there are romance sub-plots but this is really a book about the women) and recommend it.  Thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy via NetGalley.  Grade:  A

Review: Confessions from the Quilting Circle

 Confessions from the Quilting Circle

About the Book:

When Lark Ashwood’s beloved grandmother dies, she and her sisters discover an unfinished quilt. Finishing it could be the reason Lark’s been looking for to stop running from the past, but is she ever going to be brave enough to share her biggest secret with the people she ought to be closest to?

Hannah can’t believe she’s back in Bear Creek, the tiny town she sacrificed everything to escape from. The plan? Help her sisters renovate her grandmother’s house and leave as fast as humanly possible. Until she comes face-to-face with a man from her past. But getting close to him again might mean confessing what really drove her away...

Stay-at-home mom Avery has built a perfect life, but at a cost. She’ll need all her family around her, and all her strength, to decide if the price of perfection is one she can afford to keep paying.

This summer, the Ashwood women must lean on each other like never before, if they are to stitch their family back together, one truth at a time...

My Comments:

There was a lot to like in this book, which is why I stayed up to 1:00 a.m. on a work  night reading it.  Three sisters and their mother are working together to close out their grandmother/mother's estate. While cleaning out the house they find fabric for a quilt that Grandma never got around to making and through journals found with the fabric, learn about women in their family's past, including Grandma.  Each of the four women was working with a different piece of fabric and of course they all end up with the one that they really needed to see, the ancestress who had a story that for whatever reason, came close to hers.  

Lark and Hannah both left town with secrets, and Avery has now acquired one.  As they sit and sew and as they live their lives that summer, they share their secrets and gain the strength to move beyond them.  Unfortunately to me, it seemed there were just too many secrets that were just too serious to believe they all belonged to one family.  Also the book had two romantic subplots and except for the fact that the men had different names and one man had a child and the other didn't, I really couldn't tell them apart.  Either of the romance subplots was believable on its own, but having two so similar just didn't ring true to me.

 

One thing I liked about the book was that the girls' mother was a strong secondary character.  While the sisters were in their 30's, their mom was about my age and she was a doer, like me.  Like me she wanted to be closer to her grown kids but didn't quite know how to reach out.  Like I hope I'd be, she was there for her girls when the chips were down and she knew they needed her. 

 

The book has a couple of bedroom scenes--too much to make it a "clean" romance but nothing anywhere near an instruction manual.  

 

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

Review of A Song for the Road by Kathleen Basi

 

A Song for the Road

About the Book:

It's one year after the death of her husband and twin teenagers, and Miriam Tedesco has lost faith in humanity and herself. When a bouquet of flowers that her husband always sends on their anniversary shows up at her workplace, she completely unravels. With the help of her best friend, she realizes that it's time to pick up the pieces and begin to move on. Step one is not even cleaning out her family's possessions, but just taking inventory starting with her daughter's room. But when she opens her daughter's computer, she stumbles across a program her daughter has created detailing an automated cross-country road trip, for her and her husband to take as soon-to-be empty nesters.

Seeing and hearing the video clips of her kids embedded in the program, Miriam is determined to take this trip for her children. Armed with her husband's guitar, her daughter's cello, and her son's unfinished piano sonata, she embarks on a musical pilgrimage to grieve the family she fears she never loved enough. Along the way she meets a young, pregnant hitchhiker named Dicey, whose boisterous and spunky attitude reminds Miriam of her own daughter.

Tornadoes, impromptu concerts, and an unlikely friendship...whether she's prepared for it or not, Miriam's world is coming back to life. But as she struggles to keep her focus on the reason she set out on this journey, she has to confront the possibility that the best way to honor her family may be to accept the truths she never wanted to face.

Hopeful, honest, and tender, A Song for the Road is about courage, vulnerability, and forgiveness, even of yourself, when it really matters.

My Comments:

I'm writing this post a week after a man who was very dear to my girls when they were babies was buried, a few days after the mom of a high school classmate--the mom who allowed homecoming floats to be built at her house for six years straight (which meant that she had 50+ teens there every night for a week)--was buried and the day after I heard that my pastor's mom died.  Despite the fact that we are in the holiday season, despite the fact that we are no longer close to that man, that the classmate was never a close friend of mine and that I'd best characterize my pastor as an acquaintance, having three deaths touch me during this supposedly joyful time of year has got me tearful.

How awful must it be to lose your whole family is one split second?  That's what happened to Miriam a year ago, and though she has buried much of her grief for the last year, something happens and now she knows she has to deal with it--and, as noted above, finds a program her daughter designed with the idea of sending her and her husband on a road trip.  

As Miriam travels across the country we learn about her family history and why things were not exactly how they appeared to outsiders.  We "see" some attractions that are not at the top of most people's "must see" list but which are interesting and charming in their own way (I've been to one of them several times, guess which one).  

The author, Kathleen Basi, is a composer and musician, along with being a writer, and she has made music a part of the story.  Miriam's son was a composer and left an unfinished piece, and she, who has spent her adult life as a church musician, is trying to finish it.  Basi uses terms known to musicians and which brought back memories of the piano class I took one semester in college, though I hadn't a clue what they meant--I just translated those passages as "she's writing fancy music now" and let it go at that.  Hopefully the words would mean more to a musician.  Her son's music wasn't the only unfinished business in the book, and Miriam's journey leads her to confront and deal with at least two big unfinished things.     I loved watching her journey not only through the country but through her grief and into the lives of others. 

I'll be the first to admit that my opinion of the book may be affected by the fact that the author, Kathleen Basi, is someone I've gotten to know via the internet.  I've watched her kids grow up and discussed the challenges of parenting special needs kids.  I've followed the Facebook page on which she has shared her progress with this book and now I'm glad to give this book an A, because it was an engaging read that touched my heart.  

I'd like to thank her publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley.       

If you click on the book title in the labels below, you can read other things I've written about the book.                                                      

Review: Real Presence

 

Real Presence

About the Book:

Most Catholics don’t believe that Jesus is really present in the Eucharist. Rather, they see the bread and wine of Holy Communion as mere symbols of Christ’s body and blood. Is that disbelief just a misunderstanding or is it a blatant rejection of one of the central beliefs of the faith?

In Real Presence, University of Notre Dame theologian Timothy P. O’Malley clears up the confusion and shows you how to learn to love God and neighbor through a deeper understanding of the doctrine of real presence.

A 2019 study by the Pew Research Center found that almost seventy percent of Catholics don’t believe that Jesus is really present in the Eucharist.

O’Malley offers a concise introduction to Catholic teaching on real presence and transubstantiation through a biblical, theological, and spiritual account of these doctrines from the early Church to today. He also explores how real presence enables us to see the vulnerability of human life and the dignity of all flesh and blood.

O’Malley leads you to a deeper understanding and renewed faith in Catholic teaching about transubstantiation and real presence by helping you learn

• how the doctrine of real presence is rooted in divine revelation and how the Church’s teaching regarding transubstantiation is spiritually fruitful for the believer today;
• how to make your own the doctrine of real presence by worshipping Christ in the Eucharist and therefore making a real assent to real presence;
• how the Eucharist, although not the exclusive presence of Christ in the Church’s liturgy and mission, is crucial in growing our capacity for recognizing those other presences; and
• the important relationship between Eucharistic communion and adoration.

My Comments:

I've had an hour of Adoration--prayer in the chapel where the Eucharist is exposed--for over ten years now.  I have committed to my parish to be the person in the chapel during that hour each week.  Some weeks it is a great way to end the work week (I go on Friday nights); other weeks, I'll admit that skipping crosses my mind.  Sometimes I really feel His presence in the chapel; other times I don't.  I've always accepted the doctrine of the Real Presence in much the same way I've accepted a lot of other things I've been taught over the years--the people who were supposed to know this stuff taught it to me and I never came across a reason to disagree.  

I selected this book hoping for fodder for meditation or inspiration or something.  As I had read another book in the same series I was expecting a relatively easy read. Unfortunately I never really connected with this book.  It talked a lot about Eucharistic theology and quoted some mystics from the middle ages as well as relatively modern people like Dorothy Day.  Still, I'd read a few pages and when I thought about them, I'd have a hard time recalling what I read.  I tried reading big chunks and small and in the end I abandoned the book about 3/4 of the way through. 

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley.  Hopefully it will speak to you more than it did to me.  Grade:  C.  

A Road Trip to Remember: My Review

 

 

A Road Trip to Remember  

 

About the Book:

 After agreeing to enter the New Life Assisted-Living Community outside of Boston, Agatha “Aggie” Robard talks her devoted, serious granddaughter, Blythe, into driving her to Florida, stopping to see old college friends along the way. She particularly needs to speak to Donovan Bailey, the man she’d thought she would marry right after graduating from college. By asking Blythe to go with her, Aggie is hoping to prove to her that life should be about having fun too. Their road trip is a great idea for both of them as long as Aggie’s son and his wife, Blythe’s difficult stepmother, don’t find out. 

While the rest of the family is away on vacation, Aggie and Blythe set off on their secret adventure. All goes well until Aggie falls while dancing on the beach with Donovan, breaking a bone in her leg. Then Blythe’s father is seriously injured in an automobile accident. Blythe and Logan Pierce, Donovan’s young assistant, do their best to step in for them at The Robard Company working together, fighting the attraction they feel for one another. 

The road trip brings about happy memories, surprises, and love as Aggie and Blythe meet others and discover new possibilities for everything they’ve ever wanted. 

 

My Comments:

Since I've been stuck at home a lot lately, I've taken to reading road trip books and when I saw this on NetGalley it looked like too much fun to pass up. 

I find myself more and more drawn to books with "mature" heroines and in that Judith Keim does not disappoint.  Aggie wants to see her old college friends before they die and decides that this is the time.  Her grand daughter becomes her partner in crime as they head for Florida.  

Some of us have people in our lives who were very important during one part of that life, but who have spent the rest of the years as happy memories.  I wasn't particularly close to anyone in my high school class, but I enjoy our reunions and am looking forward to our 60th birthday party this summer--who better to celebrate turning 60 with than the people with whom you were a teen?  Seeing Aggie with her college friends made me smile and remember mine.  

I wish I could tell you that this book touched me deeply or had some twist I didn't see coming, but I can't tell you that.  While a fun read, it was also very predictable--but that's not always a bad thing.

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

Review: Home to the Harbor

 

Home to the Harbor

About the Book:

Despite the charms of Pleasant Shores, coming home is a last resort for William Gross. The few happy memories he has here all revolve around Bisky Castleman, and she’s still every bit as kind and strong-minded as he remembered. But William is reeling from loss, and seeing Bisky with her daughter is a painful reminder of his mistakes.

Between running her family’s fishing business and being a single mom, Bisky finds her days are full. Yet there’s always been room in her heart for William, her one childhood friend who never teased her about her height or her toughness. Through their shared volunteer work with local teens and rescue dogs, their feelings deepen into something much stronger. But is their growing bond strong enough to heal the past and forge a new beginning…together?

My Comments:

This was a sweet book which would be right at home with hundreds of self-published romances you can read for the price of a Kindle Unlimited subscription.  However, that's not what this is--while the $8 Amazon wants for the book isn't a fortune, I found the book to be trite and the characters to be caricatures.  The plot was unlikely, especially how different parts of it tied together.  

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

Review: Bookstore on the Beach

 

Bookstore on the Beach

About the Book:

Eighteen months ago, Autumn Divac’s husband went missing. Her desperate search has yielded no answers, and she can’t imagine moving forward without him. But for the sake of their two teenage children, she has to try.

Autumn takes her kids home for the summer to the charming beachside town where she was raised. She seeks comfort working alongside her mother and aunt at their bookshop, only to learn that her daughter is facing a huge life change and her mother has been hiding a terrible secret for years. And when she runs into the boy who stole her heart in high school, old feelings start to bubble up again. Is she free to love him, or should she hold out hope for her husband’s return? She can only trust her heart…and hope it won’t lead her astray.

My Comments:

With a cover like this I didn't expect anything to emotionally taxing.  I was wrong. Honestly, I don't know how I would react if I was in Autumn's place.  So much of what she thought she knew about her family turned out to be wrong.  She made decisions based on information she had at the time and then that information turned out to be wrong.  Should she stick to old promises, or do what feels right today?  Those are the kinds of decisions none of us can make for others.  Honestly I disagreed with the choices of many of the characters but have to admit that I don't know what I would really do in a similar circumstance.  

Overall I enjoyed the book, but my disagreement with the choices did affect my enjoyment of the story.  

Thanks to the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley.  Grade:  B. 

The Last Carolina Sister: My Review

 

The Last Carolina Sister

About the Book:

Meredith Ventner knows a wounded creature when she sees one. Though her temporary new neighbor may be—on the surface at least—a successful, drop-dead gorgeous doctor, she recognizes the deep hurt Ryan Sorensen is carrying, and it’s catnip to her soul. But even though Meredith is the youngest, scrappiest and single-est of Magnolia’s most famous sisters, she’s committed to expanding the animal shelter on her newly inherited farm. She can’t waste her energy on a man who’s only passing through town.

Ryan is hoping that after a month of small-town living he’ll be healed enough to return to his busy ER. His injured leg isn’t half as painful as his guilt from the tragedy he’s trying to forget. Yet somehow, helping feisty, tenderhearted Meredith care for her menagerie is making him question his career-first priorities. Here in this quirky small town another future is coming into view, but can he change his life, and open his heart, to claim it?

My Comments:

This is the third book in this series and I reviewed the second one here.  

Basically this is a sweet predictable romance set in a charming small town.  It not only features the relationship between him and her but also her relationship with her half sisters, though in this book the sisters have a much reduced role and we are introduced to the characters in Major's next book.  While there is nothing wrong with this book, there is nothing particularly interesting either.  I saw every plot twist coming and like most romance novels, the end was a forgone conclusion.  

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

Review: Protecting His Pregnant Ex

 

Protecting His Pregnant Ex

About the Book

Grieving over the terminal diagnosis for his sister, Navy SEAL Brock Hardy tries to bury his pain in the arms of the only woman he’s ever loved, Monica Ingram. It’s a mistake; the last thing he wants to do is bring his damaged, personal baggage into Monica’s life and hurt her. Things get even more complicated when he returns home for the funeral and a caseworker with a baby shows up at his late sister’s door the same time as Monica. Turns out Brock’s sister was a foster parent, and with a blizzard brewing, the caseworker has nowhere else to leave the baby. Brock has the house, still set up for childcare, and Monica has experience caring for infants, so they team up…just for now. Meanwhile, Monica has her own surprise for him—she’s pregnant.

As Brock and Monica set up house during the storm, an unexplained broken window and snowy footprints outside puts them on edge. Is someone trying to harm the baby?

Monica only wanted to let Brock know she was pregnant, but after volunteering to help the desperate caseworker, she’s now staying in his house, caring for an adorable baby, and feeling things for the sexy SEAL she’d rather not. It’s hard to resist a man as gorgeous and nice as Brock, even if he does try to hide his softer side. Their attraction smolders beneath everything they do, and it doesn’t take much for that spark to turn into a flame. When it’s clear their lives are in danger, Monica’s never been so happy to have a tough Navy SEAL by her side. But after the storm is over and the danger is gone, will Brock be gone too, running away from commitment like he’s always done before? Or will he finally realize love is the best baggage of all?

My Comments

Sometimes you are in the mood for a serious read--and other times you pick up a book like this.  All you have to do is read the blurb above to realize that this book is going to start with an improbable premise and it wasn't hard to imagine that a lot of other things that wouldn't be likely in real life would happen in this book.  No, I can't say there was anything about the book that surprised me or made me think the publisher tried a bait-and-switch with the blurb.  I got exactly what I expected, including a happily ever after and some vivid bedroom scenes.  If excessive realism in a romance novel is not necessary for you to enjoy it, this could be right up your alley.  

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley.  Grade:  B-.  This book can be accessed via a Kindle Unlimited subscription.  

Children's Book Review: Teensy Weensy Virus

 

Teensy Weensy Virus

About the Book:

COVID-19 is a big deal—but with all that adults have to worry about, it’s easy to overlook the pandemic’s impact on children. This book provides a great way for parents and caregivers to introduce and reinforce the importance of safety measures to children, while giving kids the opportunity to ask questions and share their feelings. Embracing the latest science, The Teensy Weensy Virus pairs simple, kid-friendly explanations with bright, colorful illustrations, while offering additional resources for adults and an informative song to help lighten the mood as families engage with this serious topic.

My Comments:

If this book was new a year ago, or even as the kids went back to school in the fall, I'd say it would fill a real need to simply explain what "the virus" was and what we need to do to keep each other safe--yep, masks, handwashing and social distance.  It has a nice cadence for reading aloud and the illustrations feature people of various ages, ethnicities and even someone on crutches, making it a very inclusive book.  The only problem I have with the book is that it just repeats (but in a very engaging way) the same message that has been sent out in so many ways for so many months.  On the other hand, repetition is a key item in teachers' toolboxes, so this may be great for some.  

Thanks to the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley.  Grade: B