The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown

May 9, 20162 Comments

The Weird Sisters. Finished 4-20-16, rating 4.25/5 , fiction, pub. 2011

Unabridged audio read by Kirsten Potter. 10 hours, 26 minutes.

The Andreas family is one of readers. Their father, a renowned Shakespeare professor who speaks almost entirely in verse, has named his three daughters after famous Shakespearean women. When the sisters return to their childhood home, ostensibly to care for their ailing mother, but really to lick their wounds and bury their secrets, they are horrified to find the others there.

See, we love each other. We just don’t happen to like each other very much.

But the sisters soon discover that everything they’ve been running from — one another, their small hometown, and themselves — might offer more than they ever expected.

from Goodreads

Let me start by mentioning that I went and heard Curtis Settenfeld speak tonight about her latest book, Eligible, inspired by Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice (more on that later). She talked a little about how Austen had many unlikeable, unredeemable characters and how that it was different in today’s fiction. As I sit here to write this review for a book I finished weeks ago, I have to say that in these three weird sisters, Brown has created some unlikeable characters, the biggest difference being that they all (more or less) achieved some redemption by the end. The sisters were so distinct and, yet, so flawed that it made the story recognizable.

Two Andreas sisters were called back to Barnwell, a small, fictional Ohio college town, because their mother had been diagnosed with cancer, the third was still living there. Rosiland, the responsible oldest, was afraid to leave. Bianca, the middle sister, was a mess in more ways than one, thinking nothing of stealing thousands from her boss or sleeping with the husband of a woman she respects. And, poor baby Cordelia, arrived on the doorstep preggers and unwilling to name a father. I have always wanted a sibling or two, most only kids do at some point, because when push comes to shove, whether you like them or not, there is always a bond. Stories about sibling dynamics always fascinate me and I really enjoyed this messed up family that quoted Shakespeare and would rather read books than do pretty much anything else.

The story is told from what feels like a fourth ghost sister. When I looked around, I saw it called a ‘plural collective’, ‘community voice’, and the probably most correct ‘first person plural’. At first I was a little confused about which sister was narrating the story, but (not as quickly as I should have) realized that it was really all of them. It was inventive and felt like a fresh way to tell a time-old story about sisters. I really liked this one.

I read and listened to this one and would recommend either.

At the Water’s Edge by Sara Gruen

April 26, 201614 Comments

At the Water’s Edge. Finished 4-7-16, rating 4.25/5, historical fiction, pub. 2015

Unabridged audio read by Justine Eyre. 10 hours.

After embarrassing themselves at the social event of the year in high society Philadelphia on New Year’s Eve of 1942, Maddie and Ellis Hyde are cut off financially by Ellis’s father, a former army Colonel who is already embarrassed by his son’s inability to serve in WWII due to his being colorblind.

To Maddie’s horror, Ellis decides that the only way to regain his father’s favor is to succeed in a venture his father attempted and very publicly failed at: he will hunt the famous Loch Ness monster and when he finds it he will restore his father’s name and return to his father’s good graces (and pocketbook). Joined by their friend Hank, a wealthy socialite, the three make their way to Scotland in the midst of war.

Each day the two men go off to hunt the monster, while another monster, Hitler, is devastating Europe. And Maddie, now alone in a foreign country, must begin to figure out who she is and what she wants. from Goodreads

This was a slow but rich story about a young woman coming into her own during World War II. At first, the drunken, entitled trio of Maddie, her husband Ellis, and friend Hank, were so unlikeable that I’m sure some people stopped reading. The self-absorption was just too much. Maddie and Ellis turned out of their wealthy Philadelphia home, headed to Scotland with Hank and his money. They were going to find and record the Loch Ness monster, something that had brought shame to Ellis’s father. As they crossed the ocean headed toward the war zone instead of away from it, Maddie started to see more than just herself and her own needs. To see her eyes opened to class, to war, to her husband, makes a very fulfilling journey.

We read this for book group and everyone liked it, most even more than Gruen’s Like Water for Elephants. The discussion centered around Maddie’s growth, the World War II backdrop, Ellis and Hank’s relationship, and, yes, whether the Loch Ness monster is real. As a counterpoint, Jason tried to listen to it and made it through two cds before giving up. There wasn’t enough going on for him.

Bad Luck and Trouble by Lee Child

April 21, 201614 Comments

Bad Luck and Trouble. Finished 4-12-16, rating 4.5/5. thriller, 477 pages, pub. 2007

#11 Jack Reacher series (1-Killing Floor, 2- Die Trying, 3 – Tripwire, 4 – Running Blind, 5 – Echo Burning, 6 – Without Fail, 7 – Persuador, 8 – The Enemy, 9 – One Shot, 10 – Hard Way)

I went back and read my reviews of the first 10 books of the series because I’m running out of ways to describe the mysterious Jack Reacher. I’m going to give you a taste of what I’ve sad in the past.

“Jack Reacher is a man’s man, but one that women are drawn to because of his sheer masculinity and unavailability. He is who he is, take him or leave him and that confidence and physical presence makes him a force to be reckoned with.” (Die Trying)

“Many series have a main character or two and many recurring characters. This series only needs one, loner extraordinaire, Reacher. He’s a badass. He makes his way around the country righting wrongs and fighting injustices. He doesn’t have a home, an ATM card, close friends, but he does have a heart and lots of confidence. He’s retired military police so he knows his stuff and his talents and he is not afraid to give into his baser instincts for vengeance. Oh, and he absurdly attractive to women. Me included.” (Without Fail)

“Jack Reacher, loner extraordinaire, wasn’t always such a hard man. There was a time when he had a job, a family and friends. He was a star in the military police force and he was content with life.” (The Enemy)

With that out of the way, I can say that this has been one of the better ones of the series. Since 9/11 he’s been forced to get an ATM card, but other than that he’s the same Reacher. It’s the ATM card that enabled one of the members from his old elite military group to find him and get him to Los Angeles. One of their old team met a grisly death and they need to find the rest of the team to assess the damage. What Reacher finds in the those old friends shatters some of Reacher’s confidence. It was enlightening to see Reacher with his old squad, those who knew him well and respected his talents, and it was also great to see Reacher questioning his life, something we haven’t seen until this point.

Great series. It makes me want to start the next one right away. Oh, and I really should have been keeping count of Reacher’s conquests since the beginning of the series. In the span of a couple of weeks he made two this go round.

I read my very own paperback. I think I prefer reading them, the narrator of the series, Dick Hill, is good but the books read so much faster than the audio allows.

C is for Corpse by Sue Grafton

April 19, 201614 Comments

C is for Corpse. Finished 4-6-16, rating 3.5/5, mystery, 212 pages, pub. 1986

Kinsey Millhone series (A) (B)

When I linked my reviews of the first two books of the series I realize that I’m reading these books 2 years apart. If I continue at this speed I’ll finish up with Z when I’m 90. Not that there’s anything wrong with that 🙂

How do you go about solving an attempted murder when the victim has lost a good part of his memory? It’s one of Kinsey’s toughest cases yet, but she never backs down from a challenge. Twenty-three-year-old Bobby Callahan is lucky to be alive after a car forced his Porsche over a bridge and into a canyon. The crash left Bobby with a clouded memory. But he can’t shake the feeling it was no random accident and that he’s still in danger…

The only clues Kinsey has to go on are a little red address book and the name “Blackman.” Bobby can’t remember who he gave the address book to for safekeeping. And any chances of Bobby regaining his memory are dashed when he’s killed in another automobile accident just three days after he hires Kinsey.

As Kinsey digs deeper into her investigation, she discovers Bobby had a secret worth killing for–and unearthing that secret could send Kinsey to her own early death…

I like Kinsey. She’s tough and independent, but also caring and protective. She developed a soft spot for Bobby in the few days they knew each other and she was going to finish the job even if it killed her (not a big spoiler to note that this series is currently on X so don’t worry about Kinsey too much). Not only was she welcomed into Bobby’s very wealthy family, but she became a should to lean on for his mother.

Kinsey also showed how much she liked her landlord and friend, Henry, by smelling a sweet-talking, cunning, money-grubbing charmer in Lila. Lila was up to know good and Henry was falling for it hook, line and sinker. And this gave her a reason to contact an old crush, Jonah, to get some information. Jonah was back with his wife, but the embers still burned between he and Kinsey.

This is a fun series. I like Kinsey, the short length of the books, and the well-woven mysteries. Maybe I’ll even pick up the pace and read D before 2018 🙂

11/22/63 by Stephen King

April 12, 201610 Comments

11/22/63. Finished 3-16-16, rating 5/5, fiction, pub. 2011

Unabridged audio perfectly read by Craig Wasson. 31 hours.

Life can turn on a dime—or stumble into the extraordinary, as it does for Jake Epping, a high school English teacher in a Maine town. While grading essays by his GED students, Jake reads a gruesome, enthralling piece penned by janitor Harry Dunning: fifty years ago, Harry somehow survived his father’s sledgehammer slaughter of his entire family. Jake is blown away . . . but an even more bizarre secret comes to light when Jake’s friend Al, owner of the local diner, enlists Jake to take over the mission that has become his obsession—to prevent the Kennedy assassination. How? By stepping through a portal in the diner’s storeroom, and into the era of Ike and Elvis, of big American cars, sock hops, and cigarette smoke. . . . Finding himself in warmhearted Jodie, Texas, Jake begins a new life. But all turns in the road lead to a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald. The course of history is about to be rewritten . . . and become heart-stoppingly suspenseful. from Goodreads

Stephen King sure does know how to tell a story. Everyone knows how imaginative he is based on his otherworldly horror novels, but what gets lost sometimes is just how good he is at drawing you in and keeping you there in his world well after the last page has turned. This book is a departure of sorts and showcases just how well King can charm any reader.

In this ambitious novel, Jake Epping tries to become the hero the world needs. In many ways he succeeds just by trying and in others his personal steadfastness saves the day. In 2011, Jake is a high school teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, when he is approached by Al Templeton, owner of a local diner. Al has a fantastical story to tell. There is a time portal in his diner that goes back to 1958 and he wants Jake to go back in time to save President Kennedy from assassination. Al has gone back many a time and gives Jake money, a plan, and all he needs to know to stop Oswald. Is this a time travel story? Sure, but it’s also a love story, an inspirational story, a historical story…it packs a punch. As it should since it’s over 800 pages!

I’m no JFK expert but I’ve read a few books and seen a few movies, so I was intrigued by the possibilities. What if JFK had never been shot? King weaves a thrilling story and the ending, haunting in its bleakness, will stay with you. But so will Jake, and Sadie, and Jodie, Texas, and the many other colorful characters that fill the pages. And if you’ve read It you’ll enjoy the stop in 1958 Derry.

Don’t miss this one!

Orphan Number 8 by Kin van Alkemade

April 5, 201610 Comments

Orphan #8. Finished 3-17-16, rating 4/5, historical fiction, pub. 2015

In 1919, Rachel Rabinowitz is a vivacious four-year-old living with her family in a crowded tenement on New York City’s Lower Eastside. When tragedy strikes, Rachel is separated from her brother Sam and sent to a Jewish orphanage where Dr. Mildred Solomon is conducting medical research. Subjected to X-ray treatments that leave her disfigured, Rachel suffers years of cruel harassment from the other orphans. But when she turns fifteen, she runs away to Colorado hoping to find the brother she lost and discovers a family she never knew she had.

Though Rachel believes she’s shut out her painful childhood memories, years later she is confronted with her dark past when she becomes a nurse at Manhattan’s Old Hebrews Home and her patient is none other than the elderly, cancer-stricken Dr. Solomon. Rachel becomes obsessed with making Dr. Solomon acknowledge, and pay for, her wrongdoing. But each passing hour Rachel spends with the old doctor reveal to Rachel the complexities of her own nature. She realizes that a person’s fate—to be one who inflicts harm or one who heals—is not always set in stone. from Goodreads

The synopsis that you just read makes it seem like this showdown with Dr. Solomon is going to be the focal point of the book and it really isn’t. This book spent just as much or more time on Rachel being a lesbian and what that meant at the time. Aside from a fairly contrived scene with her getting a little naked and making out with a stranger early on, I liked the way this part of the story was addressed. I was heartbroken for Rachel who continually thought herself unnatural because that’s how society saw her. I liked the stories, both past and present, but the Dr. Solomon dilemma was just a small part of a very full story.

Rachel was a character who was hard to feel a close connection with, but she did elicit a lot of sympathy. Watching your mother murdered is not something that most of us can imagine, nor can we really appreciate what it meant to be sent to a Jewish orphanage, housing a thousand kids. Barium force-fed so that Dr. Solomon could do experiments, children up to 5 kept in their cribs all day long, babies kept in isolation for no reason, this story was full of horrifying scenes. Rachel’s baldness caused by the radiation from all of the x-rays she was subjected to, just made her life that much more difficult and lonely.

The book was based on true events. The story of Rachel running away from the orphanage at 15 was compelling and hard to put down, but for me, the fact that this story was based on the author’s own family history made the story so much better. I liked the story (well, it could have used another page or two at the end) but the author’s notes at the end explaining how this book came to life added a richness to the story after it was told. I won’t be forgetting it anytime soon.

I read this one for a new book group and everyone liked it. It led to some great discussion. I would recommend it and if you interested in the real story behind the fiction you can can visit the author’s site here.

Tempest in Eden by Sandra Brown

March 28, 2016March 29, 20164 Comments

Tempest in Eden. Finished 3-24-16, rating 1.5/5, romance, pub. 1983

Unabridged audio performed by Renee Raudman. 5 hours 39 minutes.

A renowned artist’s model, Shay Morrison thinks nothing of exposing her body to inspire great works of art. Hidden inside her, where no one can see, is the pain of a failed marriage. Then she accidentally walks in on Ian Douglas as he steps from a shower. Every gorgeous bit of him is immediately apparent — as is his disapproval of Shay. What isn’t so obvious is his profession: Ian is a minister in a very staid community. Challenged and hurt, Shay decides to seduce him. But waiting for her are the traps of her own weaknesses and the potent force of sexuality … from Goodreads

I’d been reading some heavy things lately and thought this quick romance by an old favorite would be a fun, light listen. Well, it was light and fit my needs in that area, but I spent at least half of the book rolling my eyes at the characters. Shay was insufferable and every time I thought she’d turned a corner I was disappointed. A minister and nude model fall in love over a weekend, after finding themselves in bed together? Of course.

There were one or two nice moments, so it wasn’t a total loss.

The Gates of Evangeline by Hester Young

February 23, 20169 Comments

The Gates of Evangeline. Finished 2-20-16, rating 4.25/5, fiction, 416 pages, pub. 2015

When New York journalist and recently bereaved mother Charlotte “Charlie” Cates begins to experience vivid dreams about children she’s sure that she’s lost her mind. Yet these are not the nightmares of a grieving parent, she soon realizes. They are messages and warnings that will help Charlie and the children she sees, if only she can make sense of them.

After a little boy in a boat appears in Charlie’s dreams asking for her help, Charlie finds herself entangled in a thirty-year-old missing-child case that has never ceased to haunt Louisiana’s prestigious Deveau family. Armed with an invitation to Evangeline, the family’s sprawling estate, Charlie heads south, where new friendships and an unlikely romance bring healing. But as she uncovers long-buried secrets of love, money, betrayal, and murder, the facts begin to implicate those she most wants to trust—and her visions reveal an evil closer than she could’ve imagined. from Goodreads

From the beginning I’m drawn into Charlie’s world, not as a driven, successful New York professional, but as a mother, one who has a son the same age that Keegan, Charlie’s son, was when he unexpectedly passed away. Charlie is in a tailspin professionally and personally. When she begins having dreams/visions of children she thinks that she is losing her grip on reality and she makes a drastic decision. From suburban Connecticut to the swamps on Louisiana, Charlie’s journey is one full of unexpected friendships, mystical visions, a cold case kidnapping, and healing. There is also romance, but that storyline is the weak link for me and I could have done with less of it.

I loved the atmosphere of Evangeline. Not only was the heavy, steamy air full of evil, but the Deveau family itself harbored long kept secrets. Hettie, the dying matriarch, managed to raise two annoying daughters and a son who managed the family business. Charlie was there to write about the family and a 30 year old kidnapping but ended up finding a purpose for her visions.

This was a fun southern gothic read for me. And I admit that the last scene in the book had me in tears (and not in a bad way). This is the first of a trilogy and I’m looking forward to seeing what Charlie does next.

I want to thank She Reads and the publisher for sending me a copy of the book to read. She Reads is an excellent group and if you aren’t reading their blog then you are missing out!

What Was Mine by Helen Klein Ross

February 4, 2016February 4, 201611 Comments

What Was Mine. Finished 1-31-16, 4,25/5 stars, fiction, 336 pages, pub.2016

Lucy Wakefield is a seemingly ordinary woman who does something extraordinary in a desperate moment: she takes a baby girl from a shopping cart and raises her as her own. It’s a secret she manages to keep for over two decades—from her daughter, the babysitter who helped raise her, family, coworkers, and friends.

When Lucy’s now-grown daughter Mia discovers the devastating truth of her origins, she is overwhelmed by confusion and anger and determines not to speak again to the mother who raised her. She reaches out to her birth mother for a tearful reunion, and Lucy is forced to flee to China to avoid prosecution. What follows is a ripple effect that alters the lives of many and challenges our understanding of the very meaning of motherhood. from Goodreads

Having your baby kidnapped is right up there with the top parent nightmares. Any parent can tell you the first moment that they lost sight of their child for a few moments and the panic that crawled through their body. For new mother Marilyn that moment changed her life and the life of her four month old daughter, Natalie. While Lucy didn’t go out that morning looking to kidnap a baby, she was unhinged enough in her overwhelming desire for a baby that the opportunity was too much for her to resist. As she kept telling herself that it was just for a few minutes, or a ride, or the night, she had to know that she was never giving baby Mia back.

The book was told in alternating chapters mainly by the three main characters, Lucy, Marilyn and Mia, but it was the shorter chapters told by the bit players and supporting cast that really rounded out the story and moved it forward. The current and ex-husbands, Aunt Cheryl, Nanny Wendy, the security guard at IKEA, etc. were expertly woven into the fabric of the story. You know from the beginning that eventually Mia will find out the truth about her mother(s), but it was told in such an easy to read way that it was a riveting page-turner that had me promising myself “just one more chapter” more than once!

I think the addicting short chapters that made this hard to put down also led to some parts that felt glossed over or not addressed. There were several parts where I wanted more story, no place more than the end, which felt incomplete to me. But that being said, I loved the book and think it would make a FANTASTIC book club selection.

I want to thank She Reads and the publisher for sending me a copy of the book to read. She Reads is an excellent group and if you aren’t reading their blog then you are missing out!

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

February 2, 201613 Comments

The Language of Flowers. Finished 1-16-16, rating 4.5/5. fiction, 323 pages, pub. 2011

The Victorian language of flowers was used to convey romantic expressions: honeysuckle for devotion, asters for patience, and red roses for love. But for Victoria Jones, it’s been more useful in communicating grief, mistrust, and solitude. After a childhood spent in the foster-care system, she is unable to get close to anybody, and her only connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings.

Now eighteen and emancipated from the system, Victoria has nowhere to go and sleeps in a public park, where she plants a small garden of her own. Soon a local florist discovers her talents, and Victoria realizes she has a gift for helping others through the flowers she chooses for them. But a mysterious vendor at the flower market has her questioning what’s been missing in her life, and when she’s forced to confront a painful secret from her past, she must decide whether it’s worth risking everything for a second chance at happiness. from Goodreads

Why don’t we use flowers to convey feelings anymore? It’s such a romantic and mysterious thing to do and I think communication these days could use a little more nuance. I loved learning about the hidden language of flowers as I read this intriguing and beautifully written debut novel.

The novel tells the two stories of Victoria, the nine-year old foster care kid who doesn’t believe she will ever find a home and the 18-year-old who is homeless, friendless and in love with flowers. At nine, Elizabeth became her last hope for a mom and her brash decision severed the chance. At 18, she just wants to make enough to eat and if she can do it by working with flowers, all the better. Renata, that friend that we all should have, gives Victoria a job and an opportunity at a relatively normal life.

Victoria was a tough character. Even though, by the end, I came to the point of wishing her a happily-ever-after, it took me a while to get there. She was a foster care survivor (32 foster families before being set free on her 18th birthday) and was so detached, prickly, defiant and complicated that I didn’t realize how much I cared about her until the end. So many of her 18-year-old decisions were tragic and damaging, and had me wanting to shake her out of her own psyche.

This book will rip your heart out with the deeply flawed Victoria and her journey to make a life that she never really let herself think was possible. I loved the people who were there for her to make the journey possible, equally flawed but maybe a little less complicated. Victoria is not a character I will be forgetting about any time soon.

I am so glad that Lloyd loved it and that I won his giveaway a few years ago. I’m even happier that I finally read it!

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