Balk Talk Tuesday

I've been lucky to read some pretty good books lately and this next week is now at the TOP of my list.  Reconstructing Amelia is about a single mother, Kate, and her fifteen year old daughter, Amelia.  Kate is an attorney and workaholic.  She has a strong relationship with her daughter even though she isn't always there.  During a work meeting, Kate is pulled away to take a call from Amelia's school.  Amelia has been suspended.  They won't give her any details and tell her to come to the school to pick up her daughter.  After what seems like a "murphy's law" kind of trek to Amelia's school, things have drastically changed.  There are police everywhere and something is wrong.  This is when Kate learns that her daughter has fallen from the roof of the school and is dead.

So...that is basically how the first couple of chapters plays out.  I was immediately hooked.  The story continues on with Kate trying to find out why her honor roll student...her perfect daughter...had a reason to commit suicide.  

I thought this was a very in depth and intriguing story.  It does make me wonder if I know my kids as well as I think I do.  Read this book! It is easily a 4 1/5 to 5 star book!

from barnesandnoble.com

Litigation lawyer and harried single mother Kate Baron is shocked when her daughter's exclusive Brooklyn private school calls to tell her that Amelia—her intelligent, high-achieving fifteen-year-old—has been caught cheating. But when Kate arrives at Grace Hall, she's blindsided by far more devastating news: Amelia is dead. Despondent, she's jumped from the school's roof. At least that's what Grace Hall and the police tell Kate. It's what she believes, too, until she gets the anonymous text: Amelia didn't jump. Now, Kate is going to find the truth—no matter where it leads. Sifting through Amelia's e-mails, text messages, and Facebook posts, Kate reconstructs the pieces of her daughter's life and the people in it, uncovering why she was on Grace Hall's roof that day—and how she died.

Book Talk Tuesday

Several months back, I read a book by Jennifer McMahon...Promise Not to Tell.  I realize now that I never did a review on here.  The writing and story remind me of Gillian Flynn and how her stories have a twisted nature to them.  Since then, I've read another Jennifer McMahon book...Island of Lost Girls.  Equally as twisted and complex.  They were both easy reads, but so dimensional in her story.

Promise Not to Tell is about a forty something woman, Kate, who returns to her hometown to help care for her mother who has Alzheimer's.  On her first day back home, a young girl is murdered...the murder is extremely similar to one that occurred when Kate was young.  The twisted story brings Kate back to the past she fled so many years before.

I easily give Promise Not to Tell four stars.  I like to read before bed and on one particular night, I had to keep going to get the creepiness out of my head and find out what was happening before I could turn the light off and go to sleep.

Island of Lost Girls is about Rhonda....and begins with her sitting at a gas station where time sits frozen as she watches a person in a white rabbit suit kidnap a young girl.  Distraught over the fact that she didn't do anything to help the girl, Rhonda joins the search party in hopes of finding the girl alive.  What she doesn't expect is for the evidence to lead her to her best friend's brother.

This one is another four star read.  If you like twisted, you'll love the stories that McMahon weaves.  And have I mentioned that both books have pictures of some pretty creepy girls on them.  All the more reason to read them.

frombarnesandnoble.com

Forty-one-year-old school nurse Kate Cypher has returned home to rural Vermont to care for her mother who's afflicted with Alzheimer's. On the night she arrives, a young girl is murdered—a horrific crime that eerily mirrors another from Kate's childhood. Three decades earlier, her dirt-poor friend Del—shunned and derided by classmates as "Potato Girl"—was brutally slain. Del's killer was never found, while the victim has since achieved immortality in local legends and ghost stories. Now, as this new murder investigation draws Kate irresistibly in, her past and present collide in terrifying, unexpected ways. Because nothing is quite what it seems . . . and the grim specters of her youth are far from forgotten.

More than just a murder mystery, Jennifer McMahon's extraordinary debut novel, Promise Not to Tell, is a story of friendship and family, devotion and betrayal—tautly written, deeply insightful, beautifully evocative, and utterly unforgettable.

frombarnesandnoble.com

While parked at a gas station, Rhonda sees something so incongruously surreal that at first she hardly recognizes it as a crime in progress. She watches, unmoving, as someone dressed in a rabbit costume kidnaps a young girl. Devastated over having done nothing, Rhonda joins the investigation. But the closer she comes to identifying the abductor, the nearer she gets to the troubling truth about another missing child: her best friend, Lizzy, who vanished years before.

Book Talk Tuesday

This week's book is Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys...and no, this book has absolutely no relation to the 50 Shades of Grey books.

The story follows a fifteen year old Lithuanian girl at the start of WWII.  Stalin reigns in the Soviet Union and he has taken over Lithuania.  All of the people that they believe are anti-Soviet have been rounded up and are being sent to work camps in Siberia.  The conditions are cruel, the work is hard and there is little to no food.  But the heart of the people remains strong and their strength is what gets them through.

At the end of the book, I was initially in shock.  I couldn't understand why I had never heard of this happening.  It wasn't taught in my high school or college history classes.  Then, after reading the author's note at the end, I understood.  The people that were rounded up were considered criminals.  So when they were finally released and allowed to go back "home", they were treated as such.  Their homes were no longer theirs...Soviets had taken them over.  In some instances, the Soviets had even taken over their identities.  Lithuania and the Baltics were still Soviet run and so they weren't even allowed to discuss what they had endured.  If they did, they could be sent back for Anti-Soviet statements.  It wasn't until the 1990's that the Baltic Nations were finally freed from Soviet rule.  Not until then had anyone even known what had been done to the citizens of the Baltic Nations at the hands of Stalin.  

I cried and held the book to my chest when I was done.  I have no doubt I will read this again someday and I hope I can get my kids to read it too.  It truly is an amazing story of strength and survival.

from barnesandnoble.com

Fifteen-year-old Lina is a Lithuanian girl living an ordinary life—until Soviet officers invade her home and tear her family apart. Separated from her father and forced onto a crowded train, Lina, her mother, and her young brother make their way to a Siberian work camp, where they are forced to fight for their lives. Lina finds solace in her art, documenting these events by drawing. Risking everything, she imbeds clues in her drawings of their location and secretly passes them along, hoping her drawings will make their way to her father's prison camp. But will strength, love, and hope be enough for Lina and her family to survive?

Book Talk Tuesday (on a Wednesday)

My latest book read is a little of the norm for me...it's a book called Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune.  This story is truly perplexing and if you actually might of heard about Ms. Clark and just don't realize it.  In fact, the morning after I finished it, the Today Show was discussing the pending litigation in relation to her will.

Huguette Clark was the youngest daughter of W.A. Clark, a self made millionaire in the late 1800's and early 1900's.  Huguette was born to Clark and his second wife when he was in his sixties and she in her thirties.  W.A. built his fortune doing just about everything.  He had an amazing ambition and almost 6th sense of where to land in order to make money.  He was copper industrialist, state senator, railroad builder and founder of Las Vegas...does Clark County ring a bell to anyone?

When W.A. died, he had 5 living heirs...Huguette and four children from his first wife.  Huguette's mother, Anna, received only a small portion in his will.  His children then received equal amounts of what was left.  So, Huguette, only 19 when her father died, was now a millionairess.  What is most extraordinary is that the last twenty years of her life were spent in isolation in a hospital room even though she was perfectly healthy.  

When Huguette died at the age of 104 only weeks from her 105 birthday, she left a will of $300 million that was quickly contested by 19 descendants of the Clark family.    

The story of the Clark's is a very interesting one.  The book was a long read, but very worth it.  I believe Huguette was probably an amazing woman to have known and anyone who had the opportunity to call her friend was greatly blessed to have known such an eccentrically generous woman.

from barnesandnoble.com

When Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Bill Dedman noticed in 2009 a grand home for sale, unoccupied for nearly sixty years, he stumbled through a surprising portal into American history. Empty Mansions is a rich mystery of wealth and loss, connecting the Gilded Age opulence of the nineteenth century with a twenty-first-century battle over a $300 million inheritance. At its heart is a reclusive heiress named Huguette Clark, a woman so secretive that, at the time of her death at age 104, no new photograph of her had been seen in decades. Though she owned palatial homes in California, New York, and Connecticut, why had she lived for twenty years in a simple hospital room, despite being in excellent health? Why were her valuables being sold off? Was she in control of her fortune, or controlled by those managing her money?
 
Dedman has collaborated with Huguette Clark’s cousin, Paul Clark Newell, Jr., one of the few relatives to have frequent conversations with her. Dedman and Newell tell a fairy tale in reverse: the bright, talented daughter, born into a family of extreme wealth and privilege, who secrets herself away from the outside world.
 
Huguette was the daughter of self-made copper industrialist W. A. Clark, nearly as rich as Rockefeller in his day, a controversial senator, railroad builder, and founder of Las Vegas. She grew up in the largest house in New York City, a remarkable dwelling with 121 rooms for a family of four. She owned paintings by Degas and Renoir, a world-renowned Stradivarius violin, a vast collection of antique dolls. But wanting more than treasures, she devoted her wealth to buying gifts for friends and strangers alike, to quietly pursuing her own work as an artist, and to guarding the privacy she valued above all else.
 
The Clark family story spans nearly all of American history in three generations, from a log cabin in Pennsylvania to mining camps in the Montana gold rush, from backdoor politics in Washington to a distress call from an elegant Fifth Avenue apartment. The same Huguette who was touched by the terror attacks of 9/11 held a ticket nine decades earlier for a first-class stateroom on the second voyage of the Titanic.
 
Empty Mansions reveals a complex portrait of the mysterious Huguette and her intimate circle. We meet her extravagant father, her publicity-shy mother, her star-crossed sister, her French boyfriend, her nurse who received more than $30 million in gifts, and the relatives fighting to inherit Huguette’s copper fortune. Richly illustrated with more than seventy photographs, Empty Mansions is an enthralling story of an eccentric of the highest order, a last jewel of the Gilded Age who lived life on her own terms.

Book Talk Tuesday

I have a little bit of an author crush going on right now.  I've discovered Jen Lancaster in the last few weeks and I've devoured three of her ten books.  If you've read Jen, then you know how snarkily funny she is...OMG!  I think I've actually spit a drink out of mouth at least once.  I like her so much, I think if we were to meet, we would be instant best friends. :-D

All of her books are memoirs and her first book Bitter is the New Black: Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass, Or, Why You Should Never Carry A Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office just happens to be the first one I decided to read.  I've seen it on the shelf multiples times, but for some reason, I just hadn't pulled the trigger on reading it.  The timing is pretty incredible that I decided to read it now though...since it is about her job loss and the following two years of unemployment.  Not to mention to life changes that had to be made during this time. 

from barnesandnoble.com

Jen Lancaster was living the sweet life-until real life kicked her to the curb.

She had the perfect man, the perfect job-hell, she had the perfect life-and there was no reason to think it wouldn't last. Or maybe there was, but Jen Lancaster was too busy being manicured, pedicured, highlighted, and generally adored to notice.

This is the smart-mouthed, soul-searching story of a woman trying to figure out what happens next when she's gone from six figures to unemployment checks and she stops to reconsider some of the less-than-rosy attitudes and values she thought she'd never have to answer for when times were good.

Filled with caustic wit and unusual insight, it's a rollicking read as speedy and unpredictable as the trajectory of a burst balloon.

One of my favorite parts of the book is when she decides she must get a temp job to bring in money.  She is temping as an executive's assistant and the receptionist is giving her the lay of the land...

“This is a Lucent PBX with Audix voice mail, right? I used this kind at all of my old jobs, so I'm pretty familiar with them."

Completely ignoring me, Pat continues to demonstrate every single one of the phone's features, half of which she describes incorrectly. I don't bother taking notes because I've used this system a thousand times. I have no need to transcribe an erroneous refresher course. "Hey, you should be writing this down."

Like I said, I've used this system extensively and--"

WRITE IT DOWN," Pat growls. "If you screw up the phone, Jerry's gonna be on my ass."

No problem." I'm slowly learning to choose my battles and figure this isn't the hill I want to die on. I pull a portfolio out of my briefcase and begin to take notes.

When the phone rings and Jerry isn't there to answer, you pick it up and hold it to your mouth like this. You say, 'Hello, Jerry Jenkins' office.'"

I write: When phone rings, place receiver next to your word hole and not your hoo-hoo or other bodily aperature, and say, "Shalom.”

The second book I read was Pretty in Plaid: A Life, a Witch, and a Wardrobe, Or the Wonder Years Before the Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-centered Smart-ass Phase.  I didn't connect with this one as much, but it was still just as funny.  She writes about her childhood and college career and how she completely screwed up in college and basically flunked out and went in to crazy credit card debt.  Ok, I can relate a little to that last part...at least about almost flunking out.  Let's just say, my first semester was not an easy one.

from barnesandnoble.com

Before she was bitter, before she was lazy, Jen Lancaster was a badge- hungry Junior Girl Scout with a knack for extortion, an aspiring sorority girl who didn't know her Coach from her Louis Vuitton, and a budding executive who found herself bewildered by her first encounter with a fax machine. In this hilarious and touching memoir, Jen Lancaster looks back on her life-and wardrobe-and reveals a young woman not so different from the rest of us.

Prepare to take a long walk in her (drool-worthy) shoes in this hilarious and heartwarming trip down memory lane.

Here are a couple of good quotes from Pretty in Plaid...

“As I examine my life through this book, I can't help but wonder if my mother was right. Maybe I really was what I ate. And maybe if she'd let me eat a little more sugar, I'd have come out sweeter.” 

“Seriously, our nation is never going to be on the same page on issues like gun control, welfare, the economy, the environment, etc. I doubt we'll ever come to terms on tastes great or less filling and hybrids versus Hummers, and there will always be Yankees fans and Red Sox fans, and never the 'twain shall meet. Fortunately, all it takes for us to be of one mind is some buttercream frosting.” 

The third book I've just finished is My Fair Lazy: One Reality Television Addict's Attempt to Discover If Not Being A Dumb Ass Is the New Black; Or, A Culture-Up Manifesto.  I absolutely, 100%, completely related to this book.  After many embarrasing situations where Jen can't "keep up" with the cultured crowd, she decides she needs a renaissance or Jen-aissance.  A time to give herself some culture and make herself more well rounded.  The hilarity that ensues is just too much.  Have I mentioned that she cracks me up?

from barnesandnoble.com

Readers have followed Jen Lancaster through job loss, sucky city living, weight loss attempts, and 1980s nostalgia. Now Jen chronicles her efforts to achieve cultural enlightenment, with some hilarious missteps and genuine moments of inspiration along the way. And she does so by any means necessary: reading canonical literature, viewing classic films, attending the opera, researching artisan cheeses, and even enrolling in etiquette classes to improve her social graces.

In Jen's corner is a crack team of experts, including Page Six socialites, gourmet chefs, an opera aficionado, and a master sommelier. She may discover that well-regarded, high-priced stinky cheese tastes exactly as bad as it smells, and that her love for Kraft American Singles is forever. But one thing's for certain: Eliza Doolittle's got nothing on Jen Lancaster-and failure is an option.

There are seriously 7 more books of hers that I am now dying to read...I already have another queued up in my library app.  I seriously hope to meet her someday.

Book Talk Tuesday

Over the last few weeks, I've read the Divergent series books...Divergent, Insurgent and Allegiant.  I have to admit that I devoured these books.  I couldn't put them down...until about the last 100 or so pages of each one.  I found that I was deliberately slowing down because I didn't want them to end.

This series is by far a favorite of mine now.  Better even than Hunger Games or Twilight.  The love triangle in both of those series just wore me out.  Instead of the stuggle with which guy do I love, the struggle was with Tris (the main character) and who she felt that she truly was.

The series is set in a post apocolyptic Chicago.  Humanity has crumbled and in an attempt for peace, the people are separated into five factions based on particular virtues...Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful) and Erudite (the intelligent).  Each faction is needed for the societies success, but by separating them, the hope is that peace will easier obtained.  At the age of 16, each member is given the chance to choose which faction they will join.  Once chosen, they must say goodbye to their family and start the initiation process.  If they don't succeed in initiation or realize they made a wrong choice, they will live out the rest of their lives factionless.

The main character, Beatrice Prior, has grown up in Abnegation, but never felt like she selfless enough to truly belong.  At her chosing ceremony, she choses to be true to herself rather than stay with her family and she becomes Dauntless.  Changing her name to Tris, the initiation for Dauntless is harder than she realized and she fears she will become factionless in the end, as only the top 10% of the initiation class will be welcomed in to Dauntless.

All three books kept me engaged and wanting to know what was going to happen.  I was also thrilled by the movie.  It is true to the book and brought to life what I had imagined in my head as I was reading it.

I highly, highly recommend this series.  I have no doubt I will read it more than once.

Book Talk Tuesday

I've read a lot books since I last did a book review.  But I won't bombard you guys with a review of each one.  That would just be too overwhelming for us all.

Yesterday, I finished listening to The House Girl by Tara Conklin.  I loved it.  It's the story of Josephine Bell...a young house girl on the Bell Plantation in the late 1840's and early 1850's.  But the story also follows Lina Sparrow, a young lawyer in present time.  Lina's law firm takes on a class action reparations case for descendants of slavery victims.  During Lina's research in an attempt to find a plaintiff for the case, she uncovers the story of Josephine and the potential descendant to use as the plaintiff.

The story switches between present day and antebellum Virginia.  I thought the story was beautifully written, but wish there would have been a little more character development.  I do recommend this book and give it 3 1/2 stars.

from barnesandnoble.com

Lina Sparrow is an ambitious young lawyer working on a historic class-action suit seeking reparations for the descendants of American slaves. Josephine is a seventeen-year-old house slave who tends to the mistress of a Virginia tobacco farm—an aspiring artist named Lu Anne Bell. Alternating between antebellum Virginia and modern-day New York, The House Girl is a searing tale of art, history, love, and secrets that intertwines the stories of two remarkable women.

Book Talk Tuesday

How does one catch up on book reviews when it's been 3 months?  I guess the best thing to do would be to pick some favorites and then just attempt to stay current going forward.  Here are three of my favorites from the last three months.

from barnesandnoble.com
France, 1916:  Artist Edouard Lefevre leaves his young wife, Sophie, to fight at the front. When their small town falls to the Germans in the midst of World War I, Edouard’s portrait of Sophie draws the eye of the new Kommandant. As the officer’s dangerous obsession deepens, Sophie will risk everything—her family, her reputation, and her life—to see her husband again.

Almost a century later, Sophie’s portrait is given to Liv Halston by her young husband shortly before his sudden death. A chance encounter reveals the painting’s true worth, and a battle begins for who its legitimate owner is—putting Liv’s belief in what is right to the ultimate test.

First off, I have to admit that I really like Jojo Moyes.  So this review is a little biased.  With that out in the open, this book is breathtaking.  Both female leads are strong in their own right.  And both face future's of questionable security.  This book is a favorite and will be kept in collection and read more than once.

from barnesandnoble.com
With a career, a boyfriend, and a loving family, Piper Kerman barely resembles the reckless young woman who delivered a suitcase of drug money ten years before. But that past has caught up with her. Convicted and sentenced to fifteen months at the infamous federal correctional facility in Danbury, Connecticut, the well-heeled Smith College alumna is now inmate #11187–424—one of the millions of people who disappear “down the rabbit hole” of the American penal system. 

From her first strip search to her final release, Kerman learns to navigate this strange world with its strictly enforced codes of behavior and arbitrary rules. She meets women from all walks of life, who surprise her with small tokens of generosity, hard words of wisdom, and simple acts of acceptance. Heartbreaking, hilarious, and at times enraging, Kerman’s story offers a rare look into the lives of women in prison—why it is we lock so many away and what happens to them when they’re there.

Unless you live under a rock, you know about this book and the series that has since come out on Netflix.  I loved the memoir and thought Kerman did a beautiful job of explaining her emotions and experiences inside Danbury prison.  Now, the TV series, while it is based on the memoir, obviously had to sensationalize it for TV entertainment.  Don't get me wrong, I loved the series just as much as I loved the book.  But differently.  Kind of like a red headed step child...j/k.  I highly recommend you read the book.  (The TV series recommendation only goes out to those that I know can handle the graphic nature that is included.)

frombarnesandnoble.com

The names Elizabeth Eckford and Hazel Bryan Massery may not be well known, but the image of them from September 1957 surely is: a black high school girl, dressed in white, walking stoically in front of Little Rock Central High School, and a white girl standing directly behind her, face twisted in hate, screaming racial epithets. This famous photograph captures the full anguish of desegregation—in Little Rock and throughout the South—and an epic moment in the civil rights movement.

In this gripping book, David Margolick tells the remarkable story of two separate lives unexpectedly braided together. He explores how the haunting picture of Elizabeth and Hazel came to be taken, its significance in the wider world, and why, for the next half-century, neither woman has ever escaped from its long shadow. He recounts Elizabeth’s struggle to overcome the trauma of her hate-filled school experience, and Hazel’s long efforts to atone for a fateful, horrible mistake. The book follows the painful journey of the two as they progress from apology to forgiveness to reconciliation and, amazingly, to friendship. This friendship foundered, then collapsed—perhaps inevitably—over the same fissures and misunderstandings that continue to permeate American race relations more than half a century after the unforgettable photograph at Little Rock. And yet, as Margolick explains, a bond between Elizabeth and Hazel, silent but complex, endures.

This is one of those stories that needs to be read by everyone.  It is remarkable how one image can transcend time and label a situation so emphatically.  The era was before everyone had a camera in their pocket..which makes that lasting quality of this image so powerful.

Book Talk Tuesday

I bought this book about four years ago and didn't hesitate to buy it...I mean that cover photo is just gorgeous.  But for some reason, I was never drawn to actually pick it up and read it.  Until this last week...and I am glad I finally did.  The story was a lot of fun and kept me pretty engaged.  It was a little predictable at the end, but I still enjoyed it and liked how the story turned out.

from barnesandnoble.com
Inspired by the classic folk ballad "Scarborough Fair," this is a wonderfully riveting novel of suspense, romance and fantasy.  Lucy is seventeen when she discovers that she is the latest recipient of a generations-old family curse that requires her to complete three seemingly impossible tasks or risk falling into madness and passing the curse on to the next generation.  Unlike her ancestors, though, Lucy has family, friends, and other modern resources to help her out.  But will it be enough to conquer this age-old evil?

Balk Talk Tuesday

My book this week is A Field Guide to Burying Your Parents by Liza Palmer.  This is the second book I've read recently by Palmer (click HERE for my other review) and I really enjoy her writing style.  She writes in a manner that is like sitting down and talking to a girlfriend.  And this book was no different.  But that title.  What were they thinking?  I really wish it had a different title, but alas, it does not.  So I hope you won't let the title throw you off.  I hope you will give it a chance.

The story is about Grace who has not spoken with her family in five years.  Because five years ago, her mother died and Grace fell apart.  Now five years later, she is faced with her family again while they gather at the bedside of their estranged father who walked out on them all 22 years before.  

I really liked the story and the level of forgiveness shown by the characters.  It proves true that when all is said and done, your family is all you will have to lean on.  I highly recommend this book. Palmer has also written a third book, Conversations with the Fat Girl.  I plan to read this one pretty soon too.

from barnesandnoble.com

Grace Hawkes has not spoken to her previously tight-knit family since her mother's sudden death five years ago. Well, most of the family was tight-knit-- her father walked out on them when she was 13 and she and her two brothers and sister bonded together even closer with their mother as a result.

She's been doing her best to live her new life apart from them, but when their estranged father has a stroke and summons them, Grace suddenly realizes she's done the same thing he had done...abandoned those who need her most. 

And need her they do, for inside the hospital walls, a strange war is unfolding between the pseudo-kindly woman who is their father's second wife and the rest of the original Hawkes clan. Upon reconnecting with her brother and sisters, Grace will find a part of herself she thought was lost forever. As they unravel the manipulative deception of the second Mrs. Hawkes, Grace will finally be able to stand up for her family-- and to remember what a family is, even after all these years.

Book Talk Tuesday

So I totally have an author crush on Kate Morton.  I haven't read a book of hers yet that I didn't like.  And her latest book The Secret Keeper is no exception.

Like most of her books, it takes place in present time as well as the past.  There is always a mystery that needs to be solved and some deep, dark family secret to revealed.  This story takes place between 2011 and WWII.  But it starts in the 1960's when 16 year old Laurel is hiding in a tree house and sees her mom murder a man that has walked up to their house.  If that doesn't make you want to read the story then I'm not sure what will.

I loved the story and this thing kept me guessing the whole time.  In the middle of the book, I emailed my friend Crystal and told her what I thought was happening.  I just wanted to document it in case I was really right.  Then 50 pages later, I decided I was way off base and had no idea what I was talking about.  Then at the end, it turns out I was right...but man, it totally still side swiped me and had me shocked and surprised.

This is a page turner and a book I highly recommend.

from barnesandnoble.com

During a picnic at her family’s farm in the English countryside, sixteen-year-old Laurel Nicolson witnesses a shocking crime, a crime that challenges everything she knows about her adored mother, Dorothy. Now, fifty years later, Laurel and her sisters are meeting at the farm to celebrate Dorothy’s ninetieth birthday. Realizing that this is her last chance to discover the truth about that long-ago day, Laurel searches for answers that can only be found in Dorothy’s past. Clue by clue, she traces a secret history of three strangers from vastly different worlds thrown together in war-torn London—Dorothy, Vivien, and Jimmy—whose lives are forever after entwined. A gripping story of deception and passion, The Secret Keeper will keep you enthralled to the last page.

Book Talk Tuesday

For the drive to Wisconsin, I picked The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks for our audio book.  This is the story of high school sweethearts, Amanda and Dawson...set in Oriental, SC.  Typical of Sparks, the couple is torn apart and now 25 years later, they are brought back together to say goodbye to their mutual friend and mentor, Tuck.

This was a good story and kept me linked in to the characters.  There was a twist that I didn't see coming, but most of the story I was able to guess at before it happened.  If you need a good cry, then pick up this book.  Because all know that Sparks is gonna manipulate some tears from you before the story is said and done.

from barnesandnoble.com

In the spring of 1984, high school students Amanda Collier and Dawson Cole fell deeply, irrevocably in love. Though they were from opposite sides of the tracks, their love for one another seemed to defy the realities of life in the small town of Oriental, North Carolina. But as the summer of their senior year came to a close, unforeseen events would tear the young couple apart, setting them on radically divergent paths.

Now, twenty-five years later, Amanda and Dawson are summoned back to Oriental for the funeral of Tuck Hostetler, the mentor who once gave shelter to their high school romance. Neither has lived the life they imagined . . . and neither can forget the passionate first love that forever changed their lives. As Amanda and Dawson carry out the instructions Tuck left behind for them, they realize that everything they thought they knew -- about Tuck, about themselves, and about the dreams they held dear -- was not as it seemed. Forced to confront painful memories, the two former lovers will discover undeniable truths about the choices they have made. And in the course of a single, searing weekend, they will ask of the living, and the dead: Can love truly rewrite the past?

Book Talk Tuesday (a day late)

The two books I'm going to tell you about today are Unbroken and The Samurai's Garden.  Let me first say, that when I started these books (one in audio and one in paper), I didn't realize they took place around the same time in history (pre-WWII and WWII).  It made the experience very enlightening. 

First up...The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama

The daughter of a Chinese mother and a Japanese father, Tsukiyama uses the Japanese invasion of China during the late 1930s as a somber backdrop for her unusual story about a 20-year-old Chinese painter named Stephen who is sent to his family's summer home in a Japanese coastal village to recover from a bout with tuberculosis. Here he is cared for by Matsu, a reticent housekeeper and a master gardener. Over the course of a remarkable year, Stephen learns Matsu's secret and gains not only physical strength, but also profound spiritual insight. Matsu is a samurai of the soul, a man devoted to doing good and finding beauty in a cruel and arbitrary world, and Stephen is a noble student, learning to appreciate Matsu's generous and nurturing way of life and to love Matsu's soulmate, gentle Sachi, a woman afflicted with leprosy.

This book is written through journal entries written by Stephen.  the young with tuberculosis.  It is short book and an easy read.  I enjoyed it and thought the story and relationship between the two men, one Chinese and one Japanese, during such a volatile time was touching.  I would highly recommend this one!

Next up is Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand.  Taking place 10 years later when the US has joined the war.

On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood.  Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared.  It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard.  So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War.

The lieutenant’s name was Louis Zamperini.  In boyhood, he’d been a cunning and incorrigible delinquent, breaking into houses, brawling, and fleeing his home to ride the rails.  As a teenager, he had channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics and within sight of the four-minute mile.  But when war had come, the athlete had become an airman, embarking on a journey that led to his doomed flight, a tiny raft, and a drift into the unknown.

Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, a foundering raft, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater.  Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion.  His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will.

I loved this story!  It is beautifully written and such a compelling story of survival.  In the audio version, this is ready by Edward Herrmann.  I love him as an actor and his voice was fantastic for this.  There was definitely an added element with the audio version.  I highly recommend this one as well. 

Book Talk Tuesday

I've got three more books to review for you today and I would recommend all of them.

from barnesandnoble.com

Elisabeth Page is the daughter of Ben Page, yes, that's right, THE world famous novelist. And yes, she's also the sister of Rascal Page, world famous novelist in his own right. So what does Elisabeth do? Much to her family's disappointment, Elisabeth is a pastry chef. And a pretty damn good one, at Beverly, the hottest restaurant in LA.
The last relationship Elisabeth had was with Will, a man she grew up with and whose family ran in the same social circles as her family. But Will's constant jaunts around the world have left her lonely and brokenhearted in L.A.
That is until Daniel Sullivan bids on one of Elisabeth's pastry tutorials at a charity auction. Daniel is everything her family is not: a basketball coach, a non-intellectual, his family doesn't summer on Martha's Vineyard, and the only metaphors he uses are about passing the ball and being a team player. But somehow they fit.
Between her family, Will, and the new cooking show that Elisabeth is recruited to star in, Elisabeth's life is suddenly incredibly new and different--the question is, can she embrace being happy or has her family conditioned her to think she's just not good enough?
Liza Palmer expertly depicts a woman trying to come to terms with professional success, personal success, and finally dealing with a family that might love her from the bottom of their heart but doesn't necessarily have her best interest always at heart.

I really enjoyed this one.  Very light hearted.  Somewhat predictable.  But I liked the characters and I had several of them to cheer on as the story developed.

from barnesandnoble.com

In the small village of Edgecombe St. Mary in the English countryside lives Major Ernest Pettigrew (retired), the unlikely hero of Helen Simonson’s wondrous debut. Wry, courtly, opinionated, and completely endearing, the Major leads a quiet life valuing the proper things that Englishmen have lived by for generations: honor, duty, decorum, and a properly brewed cup of tea. But then his brother’s death sparks an unexpected friendship with Mrs. Jasmina Ali, the Pakistani shopkeeper from the village. Drawn together by their shared love of literature and the loss of their spouses, the Major and Mrs. Ali soon find their friendship blossoming into something more. But village society insists on embracing him as the quintessential local and regarding her as the permanent foreigner. Can their relationship survive the risks one takes when pursuing happiness in the face of culture and tradition?

I have to admit that I almost gave up on this.  I was listening to it on my Overdrive app and for some reason wasn't connecting.  Luckily, I kept listening.  I enjoyed how this progressed and the relationship between the Major and Mrs. Ali.  The characters are quirky and the humor is a little dry (British humor usually is), but I was glad I kept going and enjoyed how it wrapped up.

from barnesandnoble.com

In nineteen minutes, you can mow the front lawn, color your hair, watch a third of a hockey game. In nineteen minutes, you can bake scones or get a tooth filled by a dentist; you can fold laundry for a family of five.... In nineteen minutes, you can stop the world, or you can just jump off it. In nineteen minutes, you can get revenge.

Sterling is a small, ordinary New Hampshire town where nothing ever happens -- until the day its complacency is shattered by a shocking act of violence. In the aftermath, the town's residents must not only seek justice in order to begin healing but also come to terms with the role they played in the tragedy. For them, the lines between truth and fiction, right and wrong, insider and outsider have been obscured forever. Josie Cormier, the teenage daughter of the judge sitting on the case, could be the state's best witness, but she can't remember what happened in front of her own eyes. And as the trial progresses, fault lines between the high school and the adult community begin to show, destroying the closest of friendships and families.

Told with the straightforward style for which she has become known, it asks simple questions that have no easy answers: Can your own child become a mystery to you? What does it mean to be different in our society? Is it ever okay for a victim to strike back? And who -- if anyone -- has the right to judge someone else?

This is my favorite of the three.  I was a little nervous reading this.  Afraid that in my current state of emotion, I wouldn't be able to handle it.  But the approach that Picoult took in documenting each person's relationship and reaction to the tragedy that strikes their town is absolutely beautifully written. 

Book Talk Tuesday on What I'm Up to Wednesday

I am a bad, bad, bad blogger as of late.  Goodness, I just can't get back in the swing of things.  I'm doing a combined post today for both Book Talk Tuesday and What I'm Up to Wednesday....chock full of books that I haven't reviewed for you guys.

So buckle up....this a long list....

from barnesandnoble.com

Written in 1948, 1984 was George Orwell’s chilling prophecy about the future. And while 1984 has come and gone, Orwell’s narrative is timelier than ever. 1984 presents a startling and haunting vision of the world, so powerful that it is completely convincing from start to finish. No one can deny the power of this novel, its hold on the imaginations of multiple generations of readers, or the resiliency of its admonitions—a legacy that seems only to grow with the passage of time.

Examines different aspects of Orwell's anti-utopian classic, with a biographical sketch of the author and critical essays on this work.

I wish I could say that I loved this book.  After all, Orwell is the father of distopian classics.  But alas (hehehe, alas) I just didn't love it.  I'm listened to this in audio form and am grateful for that.  Cause I don't think I would've made it through the whole book without someone reading to me.  But I can totally see how this book is a classic.  Seriously, in 1948, this was a stretch and a complete leap of faith for Orwell.

frombarnesandnoble.com

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.

Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning-author John Green's most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.

I thought this story was beautiful and emotionally impactful.  It's a YA book, so the writing is not complex, but I don't think a story has to be complex to be good or even wonderful!  I dare to say that I thought this story was wonderful!  I was completed drawn in by Hazel and Augustus.

from barnesandnoble.com
An internationally bestselling phenomenon: the darkly suspenseful, highly controversial tale of two families struggling to make the hardest decision of their lives — all over the course of one meal.

It's a summer's evening in Amsterdam, and two couples meet at a fashionable restaurant for dinner. Between mouthfuls of food and over the polite scrapings of cutlery, the conversation remains a gentle hum of polite discourse — the banality of work, the triviality of the holidays. But behind the empty words, terrible things need to be said, and with every forced smile and every new course, the knives are being sharpened.
     Each couple has a fifteen-year-old son. The two boys are united by their accountability for a single horrific act; an act that has triggered a police investigation and shattered the comfortable, insulated worlds of their families. As the dinner reaches its culinary climax, the conversation finally touches on their children. As civility and friendship disintegrate, each couple show just how far they are prepared to go to protect those they love.
     Tautly written, incredibly gripping, and told by an unforgettable narrator, The Dinner promises to be the topic of countless dinner party debates. Skewering everything from parenting values to pretentious menus to political convictions, this novel reveals the dark side of genteel society and asks what each of us would do in the face of unimaginable tragedy.

Mediocre.  That is really the best I can say about The Dinner.  It is touted as being the European Gone Girl, but I didn't like it near as much as I liked Gone Girl.  I didn't feel connected to the characters and thought the story was lacking.

from barnesandnoble.com

An Invisible Thread tells of the life-long friendship between a busy sales executive and a disadvantaged young boy, and how both of their lives were changed by what began as one small gesture of kindness.

When Laura Schroff brushed by a young panhandler on a New York City corner one rainy afternoon, something made her stop and turn back. She took the boy to lunch at the McDonald’s across the street that day. And she continued to go back, again and again for the next four years until both their lives had changed dramatically. Nearly thirty years later, that young boy, Maurice, is married and has his own family. Now he works to change the lives of disadvantaged kids, just like the boy he used to be.

An Invisible Thread is the true story of the bond between a harried sales executive and an eleven-year-old boy who seemed destined for a life of poverty. It is the heartwarming story of a friendship that has spanned three decades and brought meaning to an over-scheduled professional and hope to a hungry and desperate boy living on the streets.

I listened to this in audio and thought it was a very touching story.  It reminded me of Same Kind of Different as Me and I liked it just as much (you can read my review of Same Kind of Different as Me by clicking HERE).

from barnesandnoble.com

An emotionally complex, heart-wrenching novel about love, motherhood, loss, and new beginnings, Fly Away reminds us that where there is life, there is hope, and where there is love, there is forgiveness. Told with her trademark powerful storytelling and illuminating prose, Kristin Hannah reveals why she is one of the most beloved writers of our day.

I've actually left a lot off the description from B&N...this book is the continuation of Firefly Lane and if you haven't read it yet, I don't want to give anything away.  But let me say first....I loved Firefly Lane.  It brought out so many emotions and I can truly see myself reading it again someday.  Now for Fly Away....Yep!  I loved it too.  It was a beautiful continuation to the story and I think it perfectly brought us back in the world of TullyandKate.  (You can my read my review of Firefly Lane by clicking HERE.)

Book Talk Tuesday

The list of books that I've read, but not shared with you is long.  So the next couple Book Talk Tuesday posts are going to be lengthy.  (Especially since I've spent the last week without TV...I've been reading a lot!!)  For this post, I have four books to share with you.  So let's get to it!!!

from barnesandnoble.com
Paige has only a few vivid memories of her mother, who left when she was five. Now, having left her father behind in Chicago for dreams of art school and marriage to an ambitious young doctor, she finds herself with a child of her own. But her mother's absence, and shameful memories of her past, make her doubt both her maternal ability and her sense of self worth. Out of Paige's struggle to find wholeness, Jodi Picoult crafts an absorbing novel peopled by richly drawn characters and explores issues and emotions readers can relate to.

Harvesting the Heart from Jodi Picoult is raw and full of extreme emotions.  My heart ached for Paige and her insecurity with being a good mom.  When my kids were babies, I felt the same sadness and insecurities with my abilities as well. 

from barnesandnoble.com

She gave him her innocence . . .Lady Aline Marsden was brought up for one reason: to make an advantageous marriage to a member of her own class. Instead, she willingly gave her innocence to John McKenna, a servant on her father's estate. Their passionate transgression was unforgivable — John was sent away, and Aline was left to live in the countryside . . . an exile from London society . . .and he took her love.

Now McKenna has made his fortune, and he has returned — more boldly handsome and more mesmerizing than before. His ruthless plan is to take revenge on the woman who shattered his dreams of love. But the magic between them burns as bright as ever. And now he must decide whether to let vengeance take its toll . . . or risk everything for his first, and only, love.

Lisa Kleypas has never failed me.  She is a gifted story teller and even though they are full of smut, they are so mesmerizing.  I devour these books each time I read one. 

from barnesandnoble.com

Kate Raab's life seems almost perfect: her boyfriend, her job, her family . . . until her father runs into trouble with the law. His only recourse is to testify against his former accomplices in exchange for his family's placement in the Witness Protection Program. But one of them gets cold feet. In a flash, everything Kate can count on is gone.

Now, a year later, her worst fears have happened: Her father has disappeared—into what the WITSEC agency calls "the blue zone"—and someone close to him is found brutally murdered. With her family under surveillance, the FBI untrustworthy, and her father's menacing "friends" circling with increasing intensity, Kate sets off to find her father—and uncover the secrets someone will kill to keep buried.

This book is intense from beginning to end.  I don't read a lot of suspense thrillers, so I don't have much to compare it to, but The Blue Zone was a really good story. 

from barnesandnoble.com

From the privileged streets of modern Brooklyn to the heart of the French Revolution, Jennifer Donnelly, author of the award-winning novel A Northern Light, artfully weaves two girls’ stories into one unforgettable account of life, loss, and enduring love. Revolution spans centuries and vividly depicts the eternal struggles of the human heart.

BROOKLYN: Andi Alpers is on the edge. She’s angry at her father for leaving, angry at her mother for not being able to cope, and heartbroken by the loss of her younger brother, Truman. Rage and grief are destroying her. And she’s about to be expelled from Brooklyn Heights’ most prestigious private school when her father intervenes. Now Andi must accompany him to Paris for winter break.

PARIS: Alexandrine Paradis lived over two centuries ago. She dreamed of making her mark on the Paris stage, but a fateful encounter with a doomed prince of France cast her in a tragic role she didn’t want—and couldn’t escape.

Two girls, two centuries apart. One never knowing the other. But when Andi finds Alexandrine’s diary, she recognizes something in her words and is moved to the point of obsession. There’s comfort and distraction for Andi in the journal’s antique pages—until, on a midnight journey through the catacombs of Paris, Alexandrine’s words transcend paper and time, and the past becomes suddenly, terrifyingly present.

This one is my favorite out of these four.  I listened to this one on my phone's library app...and I think it needs to be enjoyed in just this format.  The narration is very well done and the accents are doing beautifully.  I liked it so much I bought it so I could share it with my book club.   

Book Talk Tuesday

I'm super excited to review this next book.  Nicole was reading it while I was there visiting and she sent it back with me so I could read it and share it with our book club. 

The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult is a story, within a story, within a story kind of story.  It's hard to tell you about this book without telling you too much.  The interweaving of the characters lives and stories was beautifully done.  I felt connected to each character and couldn't wait to see where each turn would take me as the narrator switched between them.

This is on my favorite list now and will probably end up in my "keep forever" pile.  I will probably give the book a big hug before it is sent back to Nicole (after EVERYONE in book club reads it first).

from barnesandnoble.com

Sage Singer is a baker. She works through the night, preparing the day’s breads and pastries, trying to escape a reality of loneliness, bad memories, and the shadow of her mother’s death. When Josef Weber, an elderly man in Sage’s grief support group, begins stopping by the bakery, they strike up an unlikely friendship despite their differences.

Everything changes on the day that Josef confesses a long-buried and shameful secret—one that nobody else in town would ever suspect—and asks Sage for an extraordinary favor. If she says yes, she faces not only moral repercussions, but potentially legal ones as well. With her own identity suddenly challenged and a special friendship compromised, Sage begins to question the assumptions she’s made about her life and her family. When does a moral choice become a moral imperative? Where does one draw the line between punishment and justice, forgiveness and mercy?

Book Talk Tuesday

I have two more books to review for you today.  And they are miles apart from each on topic.

The first is Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson.  I first heard about this book at book club.  It was really just a discussion on the book, but no one had it with them.  Ugh!  Luckily, my friend, the Other Becky, brought it the following month and I snatched it right up.  Speak is about a young girl that is affected by a tragic event the summer before her freshman year in high school.  As she transitions into high school, she basically stops talking....and NO ONE questions it.  This girl is tough though and I thought the book was a fantastic story.  It was a little painful at times (especially since I have a daughter), but I'm glad to have read it.  I can see why the book has multiple awards.  I plan to have Ashton read it soon. 

from barnesandnoble.com
Melinda is a friendless outcast at Merryweather High. She busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, and now nobody will talk to her, let alone listen to her. As time passes, she becomes increasingly isolated and practically stops talking altogether. It is through her work on an art project that she is finally able to face what really happened at that terrible party: she was raped by an upperclassman, a guy who still attends Merryweather and who is still a threat to her. It will take another violent encounter with him to make Melinda fight back. This time she refuses to be silent.  





The next book is book ten of the House of Night Series....Hidden.  And yes, you read that correctly...so far there are ten books in this series.  I was feeling a little frustrated since this series seems to be lasting forever, but I've gotten this far so why stop.  There is a moment though when I start each new book that I kinda sigh because I am reunited with this great cast of characters.  But through the ten books, can you believe they only span a couple months of time?  It's like reading a day to day soap opera it is so detailed.  There are supposed to be five more books and I am sure I will finish them out.  If you are into the vamp thing, then I say read these.  (I love that they are set in Tulsa, OK and the authors are local!)

from barnesandnoble.com

Neferet’s true nature has been revealed to the Vampyre High Council, so Zoey and the gang might finally get some help in defending themselves and their beloved school against a gathering evil that grows stronger every day. And they’ll need it, because Neferet’s not going down without a fight. Chaos reigns at the House of Night.

Book Talk Tuesday (On Wednesday)

I am epically failing with my blog lately.  Geez!

I have a list of books that I have read that are waiting their turn to be part of Book Talk Tuesday.  But when I finished this book on Monday night, it immediately jumped to the front of the line.  The other books will just have to wait, because I MUST tell you about this book now.

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

This book was introduced by Hayley at our book club a couple months ago, but the copy wasn't one that she could share.  I wrote down the title and thought I might eventually buy it.  So, when I was in Ohio, I found an AUTOGRAPHED copy at The Book Loft!  And it was 20% off!  Score!

From the first minute I started the prologue, to the last few sentences of the epilogue, this book had complete hold on me.  There was no need for character build-up.  It was like I immediately knew them and they were in my life.  This book made me laugh and cry, get angry and frustrated, and it even made me giddy like a schoolgirl.  I hope everyone that reads it will love it as much as I did.  This will be a "forever in my collection" book!

from barnesandnoble.com

They had nothing in common until love gave them everything to lose . . .

Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady boyfriend, close family—who has never been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex-Master-of-the-Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life—big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel—and now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.

Will is acerbic, moody, bossy—but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.

A Love Story for this generation, Me Before You brings to life two people who couldn’t have less in common—a heartbreakingly romantic novel that asks, What do you do when making the person you love happy also means breaking your own heart?