Category: Book Reviews

Title: A Window Opens
Author: Elisabeth Egan
Published: August 25, 2015 by Simon and Schuster
Pages: 384
Source: Publisher at BEA
Rating: 4/5
Goodreads

In A Window Opens, beloved books editor at Glamour magazine, Elisabeth Egan, brings us Alice Pearse, a compulsively honest, longing-to-have-it-all, sandwich generation heroine for our social-media-obsessed, lean in (or opt out) age.

Like her fictional forebears Kate Reddy and Bridget Jones, Alice plays many roles (which she never refers to as “wearing many hats” and wishes you wouldn’t, either). She is a mostly-happily married mother of three, an attentive daughter, an ambivalent dog-owner, a part-time editor, a loyal neighbor and a Zen commuter. She is not: a cook, a craftswoman, a decorator, an active PTA member, a natural caretaker or the breadwinner. But when her husband makes a radical career change, Alice is ready to lean in—and she knows exactly how lucky she is to land a job at Scroll, a hip young start-up which promises to be the future of reading, with its chain of chic literary lounges and dedication to beloved classics. The Holy Grail of working mothers―an intellectually satisfying job and a happy personal life―seems suddenly within reach.

Despite the disapproval of her best friend, who owns the local bookstore, Alice is proud of her new “balancing act” (which is more like a three-ring circus) until her dad gets sick, her marriage flounders, her babysitter gets fed up, her kids start to grow up and her work takes an unexpected turn. Readers will cheer as Alice realizes the question is not whether it’s possible to have it all, but what does she―Alice Pearse―really want?

My review:

I've read several "woman trying to have it all" type stories this year, and this one is certainly one of the best! The characters in this were very well done, I particularly loved the storyline involving Alice's father. Alice was a character that completely immerses you into her world, and you feel every emotion right along with her. I also loved the part that books played in this novel. We had the best friend who owns a struggling bookstore, the job as book reviewer for a magazine that Alice has at the book's beginning, and the new start-up company focusing on books where Alice is eventually employed. I could not stop reading as Alice juggles so many balls in the air, to find out how things end. The only nit picking I would give would be the way her husband handles his addiction (not believable to me that he would not need some type of help), and the company Scroll was so unusual that at times I got a bit bored with the work processes. These are very minor faults, because overall this book was a treat.

You might think this subject has been done to death, but you would be missing out on a great read by not picking this book up. Alice Pearse is a character not to be forgotten.

This book is part of the BookSparks summer reading challenge. While I did not receive my copy from them, I will still link my review to the challenge.

 

 

Title: We Never Asked For Wings
Author: Vanessa Diffenbaugh
Published: August 18, 2015 by Ballantine
Pages: 320
Source: Publisher at BEA
Rating: 4.5/5
Goodreads

For fourteen years, Letty Espinosa has worked three jobs around San Francisco to make ends meet while her mother raised her children—Alex, now fifteen, and Luna, six—in their tiny apartment on a forgotten spit of wetlands near the bay. But now Letty’s parents are returning to Mexico, and Letty must step up and become a mother for the first time in her life.

Navigating this new terrain is challenging for Letty, especially as Luna desperately misses her grandparents and Alex, who is falling in love with a classmate, is unwilling to give his mother a chance. Letty comes up with a plan to help the family escape the dangerous neighborhood and heartbreaking injustice that have marked their lives, but one wrong move could jeopardize everything she’s worked for and her family’s fragile hopes for the future.

Vanessa Diffenbaugh blends gorgeous prose with compelling themes of motherhood, undocumented immigration, and the American Dream in a powerful and prescient story about family.

My review:

This was one of my most anticipated books at BEA (Book Expo America) last spring. I adored this author's novel The Language of Flowers, and couldn't wait to see if magic could strike twice. It did, and I loved this book almost as much as her first. Starting with the gorgeous cover, then immersing myself into Diffenbaugh's beautiful writing, this story was compelling and wonderful. The characters were well drawn, and you wanted to take them all under your wing and make sure that they would all be ok. The only reason this did not receive a 5 is that it wasn't quite as powerful as The Language of Flowers, but it was close. This novel took three years to write, and I can only hope that we don't have to wait that long for another novel from this author. This is a gem!

If you love stories about family, rooting for the underdog, wonderful characters, and beautiful writing, you must pick this up. But please, do yourself a favor and read The Language of Flowers if you have not read that one yet.

Title: Everybody Rise
Author: Stephanie Clifford
Published: August 18, 2015 by St. Martin's Press
Pages: 384
Source: Publisher at BEA
Rating: 3/5
Goodreads

It's 2006 in the Manhattan of the young and glamorous. Money and class are colliding in a city that is about to go over a financial precipice and take much of the country with it. At 26, bright, funny and socially anxious Evelyn Beegan is determined to carve her own path in life and free herself from the influence of her social-climbing mother, who propelled her through prep school and onto the Upper East Side. Evelyn has long felt like an outsider to her privileged peers, but when she gets a job at a social network aimed at the elite, she's forced to embrace them.

Recruiting new members for the site, Evelyn steps into a promised land of Adirondack camps, Newport cottages and Southampton clubs thick with socialites and Wall Streeters. Despite herself, Evelyn finds the lure of belonging intoxicating, and starts trying to pass as old money herself. When her father, a crusading class-action lawyer, is indicted for bribery, Evelyn must contend with her own family's downfall as she keeps up appearances in her new life, grasping with increasing desperation as the ground underneath her begins to give way.

Bracing, hilarious and often poignant, Stephanie Clifford's debut offers a thoroughly modern take on classic American themes - money, ambition, family, friendship - and on the universal longing to fit in.

My review:

I have to admit that this book did not really deliver until the second half. It starts out with a great premise, but it is kind of flat. There is definitely action and stuff going on, but it's all rather boring. The bright spot in the first part of the book is Evelyn's mother, a has-been social climber, who (of course) is always trying to give her daughter advice. Once things start to go downhill with Evelyn, the book really picks up speed and my interest. I very much enjoyed the latter half of this book, and I went from kind of tolerating Evelyn, to rooting for her to get her act together. The secondary characters were well done, and while I can't profess to know anything about that lifestyle, it seemed to be on point. Writing style was fine, no issues with that. Giving this one a 3 (average of a 2 first half, and a 4 second half).

Bottom line......an enjoyable story if you can get through the beginning. I've heard from several people who gave up on it, I'm glad I kept with it since it did get better. I don't regret reading this, I'll be interested to see what Clifford comes up with next.

 

Title: The Last Summer at Chelsea Beach
Author: Pam Jenoff
Published: July 28, 2015 by Mira
Pages: 384
Source: Publisher at BEA
Rating: 4/5
Goodreads

Summer 1941  

Young Adelia Monteforte flees fascist Italy for America, where she is whisked away to the shore by her well-meaning aunt and uncle. Here, she meets and falls for Charlie Connally, the eldest of the four Irish-Catholic boys next door. But all hopes for a future together are soon throttled by the war and a tragedy that hits much closer to home. 

Grief-stricken, Addie flees—first to Washington and then to war-torn London—and finds a position at a prestigious newspaper, as well as a chance to redeem lost time, lost family…and lost love. But the past always nips at her heels, demanding to be reckoned with. And in a final, fateful choice, Addie discovers that the way home may be a path she never suspected.

My review:

This was my first Jenoff read, and she is a lovely writer! Her descriptions of the people and places in this novel were so real, it made you feel as if you were there. I loved the beginning story of Adelia, her time at the beach cottage and her comradery with the Connally boys. Her work during the war in Washington, and eventually London, was fascinating. The descriptions of the war and it's effect on everyday life and people was well documented. The only thing I didn't like was the romance aspect. Adelia drove me crazy with her desire to be with Charlie and her running away from the situation. I really didn't like her at all by the end of the story, and particularly thought the ending romance was really contrived.

While I was disappointed in the romance aspect of this book, it is still worth a read for the wonderful descriptions and lovely writing of Jenoff. I will definitely be looking out for her next book, she was a joy to read.

 

 

 

Title: It Started With Paris
Author: Cathy Kelly
Published: August 4, 2015 by Grand Central
Pages: 464
Source: Grand Central Publishing
Rating: 3.5/5
Goodreads

It all started with Paris. At the top of the Eiffel Tower, a young man proposes to his girlfriend. In that second, everything changes, not just for the happy couple, but for the family and friends awaiting their return in Ireland.

Leila's been nursing a broken heart since her husband suddenly left her, but she's determined to put on a brave face for the bride. Vonnie, a widow, has finally dared to let love back into her life, but a curveball arises that puts another's safety at risk. And Grace, a school principal, finds that her son's impending union brings her ex-husband back into her daily life, and starts to ponder past decisions and wonder if her divorce was in fact a mistake.

As these three women gather around the young couple to prepare for the wedding, they'll each have to address their own demons and find a way to move forward, whatever the cost.

My review:

This was a very clever concept for a book. The prologue has the engagement, then we follow people who are related in some way with the impending wedding, but who don't necessarily know each other. It takes a while to get into the swing of this book because there are a boatload of characters thrown out at the beginning. I think maybe because of the nature of the clever concept I spoke of, we end up having a lot of secondary characters that need sifting through. Once it settles down, there are 3 main storylines......the bride's best friend, the groom's mother, and the cake decorator. We then switch back and forth between their stories. I enjoyed all the stories, and went back and forth during the book about which person I liked the most at any given point. They were three diverse stories, so I think there is something for everyone to relate to. There was a nice flow to the story once we got over all the character introductions. It really came together with a nice ending, which of course was the wedding.

An enjoyable read with a different concept, do not be discouraged by all the characters thrown out at the beginning.

 

Title: The Truth According to Us
Author: Annie Barrows
Published: June 9, 2015 by Dial Press
Pages: 486
Source: Publisher at BEA
Rating: 3.5/5
Goodreads

In the summer of 1938, Layla Beck’s father, a United States senator, cuts off her allowance and demands that she find employment on the Federal Writers’ Project, a New Deal jobs program. Within days, Layla finds herself far from her accustomed social whirl, assigned to cover the history of the remote mill town of Macedonia, West Virginia, and destined, in her opinion, to go completely mad with boredom. But once she secures a room in the home of the unconventional Romeyn family, she is drawn into their complex world and soon discovers that the truth of the town is entangled in the thorny past of the Romeyn dynasty.

At the Romeyn house, twelve-year-old Willa is desperate to learn everything in her quest to acquire her favorite virtues of ferocity and devotion—a search that leads her into a thicket of mysteries, including the questionable business that occupies her charismatic father and the reason her adored aunt Jottie remains unmarried. Layla’s arrival strikes a match to the family veneer, bringing to light buried secrets that will tell a new tale about the Romeyns. As Willa peels back the layers of her family’s past, and Layla delves deeper into town legend, everyone involved is transformed—and their personal histories completely rewritten.

My review:

There were good points and bad points regarding this book. I think the good outweighed the bad, but some parts were a bit disappointing. Let's talk about the things I liked. The setting descriptions were lovely, I thought the main characters were well developed, and the plot was interesting. I liked that we got snippets of letters written to and from Layla, and there were excerpts of her history of Macedonia writing pieces. I enjoyed the mystery associated with Willa's father, and this kept me intrigued throughout the book. What I wasn't as enamored with was the length of the book. It took a long time to get into the meat of the story, and I think this may result in some readers giving up too soon. The writing was a little hard to follow as it switched between past and present, first person and third person.......all within the same chapter! As the novel progressed I got used to the format, but it was a bit of a mess in the beginning.

All in all I can say that I did enjoy this story, and I would recommend it to others with the stamina to continue past the kind of shaky start.

 

Title: All the Single Ladies
Author: Dorothea Benton Frank
Published: June 9, 2015 by William Morrow
Pages: 368
Source: Purchased
Rating: 3.5/5
Goodreads

Few writers capture the complexities, pain, and joy of relationships—between friends, family members, husbands and wives, or lovers—as beloved New York Times bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank. In this charming, evocative, soul-touching novel, she once again takes us deep into the heart of the magical Lowcountry where three amazing middle-aged women are bonded by another amazing woman’s death.

Through their shared loss they forge a deep friendship, asking critical questions. Who was their friend and what did her life mean? Are they living the lives they imagined for themselves? Will they ever be able to afford to retire? How will they maximize their happiness? Security? Health? And ultimately, their own legacies?

A plan is conceived and unfurls with each turn of the tide during one sweltering summer on the Isle of Palms. Without ever fully realizing how close they were to the edge, they finally triumph amid laughter and maybe even newfound love.

My review:

This author is another of my go-to authors for summer reading pleasure. While this book had a few features that rankled a bit, for the most part I enjoyed it. Frank has a wonderful wit (I've seen her speak in person a few times and she is delightfully humorous), and I love the funny quips that are almost always evident in her books. I also love the southern references, now that I've lived here for almost two decades, they make me feel part of the action. The aspect of this particular novel that I enjoyed the most was that the three main protagonists were all middle aged women. I've said this before, but I sometimes like to read about women my own age 🙂 That does bring me to the part that I wasn't keen on, I don't understand why they all had to have a man "swoop in and save them"? The novel was progressing well, and then I could clearly see how it was going to end, and it wasn't necessarily the way I would have liked. Couldn't one of them have been happy on her own? Aside from that nugget of disappointment, there was also a bit of a mystery going on with regards to the landlady of the deceased friend. That was a fun piece to follow, albeit not terribly scary or dangerous (which is more my style of mystery anyway).

All in all this is a quick read with lots of Southern references, and a cast of "older women". It hit the spot for me, even with the kind of sappy ending.

 

Title: Inside the O'Briens
Author: Lisa Genova, narrated by Skipp Sudduth
Published: April 7, 2015 by Simon and Schuster Audio
Pages: Audio...11 hours 13 minutes
Source: Library (Overdrive)
Rating: 5/5
Goodreads

Joe O’Brien is a forty-four-year-old police officer from the Irish Catholic neighborhood of Charlestown, Massachusetts. A devoted husband, proud father of four children in their twenties, and respected officer, Joe begins experiencing bouts of disorganized thinking, uncharacteristic temper outbursts, and strange, involuntary movements. He initially attributes these episodes to the stress of his job, but as these symptoms worsen, he agrees to see a neurologist and is handed a diagnosis that will change his and his family’s lives forever: Huntington’s Disease.

Huntington’s is a lethal neurodegenerative disease with no treatment and no cure. Each of Joe’s four children has a 50 percent chance of inheriting their father’s disease, and a simple blood test can reveal their genetic fate. While watching her potential future in her father’s escalating symptoms, twenty-one-year-old daughter Katie struggles with the questions this test imposes on her young adult life. Does she want to know? What if she’s gene positive? Can she live with the constant anxiety of not knowing?

As Joe’s symptoms worsen and he’s eventually stripped of his badge and more, Joe struggles to maintain hope and a sense of purpose, while Katie and her siblings must find the courage to either live a life “at risk” or learn their fate.

My review:

This one had everything I love in a novel!! Family dynamics, funny parts, sad parts, things that made you question what would you do, along with some medical jargon and sports thrown in for good measure.  I absolutely fell in love with this family, and my heart ached for them. The interactions between the family members was so real to me, it was like I was there with them watching all the scenes play out. The majority of the book focuses on Joe and his daughter Katie, but all the secondary characters were so well done. I adored Rosie! The ending bothered me, but after reflecting back on the book, I feel that it ended in the best possible way under the circumstances.

I listened to this on audio, and the narrator was fabulous. He had the Boston accent, which I think added to my overall enjoyment even more than if I had read it.

While this book does deal with a very emotional and sad situation, Lisa Genova writes it in the best possible way. It will make you have hope for the future, whatever life hands to you, and take time to make the most of every day. You will fall in love with this family!

 

Title: The Summer Wind
Author: Mary Alice Monroe
Published: June 17, 2014 by Gallery books
Pages: 384
Source: Purchased
Rating: 3.5/5
Goodreads

It’s midsummer and Eudora, nicknamed Dora, is staying at Sea Breeze, the family’s ancestral home on Sullivan’s Island. For years, Dora has played the role of the perfect wife and mother in a loveless marriage. Now her husband filed for divorce, her child is diagnosed with autism, and her house is on the market. Dora’s facade collapses under the weight of her grief and she suffers “broken heart syndrome.” Mamaw and the girls rally around Dora—but it’s up to Dora to heal herself as she spends the summer prowling the beach, discovering the secrets of the island and her heart. This is a summer of discovery for all the women of Sea Breeze. Carson returns from Florida to face life-changing decisions, Lucille confronts a health scare, and an unexpected visitor has Harper reconsidering her life’s direction.

When tropical storm winds batter the island, the women must band together and weather the tempest—both the one outside their windows and the raging sea of emotions within each of them. They must learn again what it means to be a sister. It is up to Mamaw to keep the light burning at Sea Breeze to guide the girls through the lies, the threats, and the rocky waters of indecision to home.

My review:

This book is the second in the Lowcountry summer trilogy, following The Summer Girls (which I reviewed here). While each book encompasses all three of the stepsisters, they each have their own book that is more heavily devoted to them. This book was Dora's, and I enjoyed it much more than the first book. I still don't care for the sister Carson (who was the main character in the first book), but while her story was still present, this one was more about Dora and her struggle to regain control over her life, and learn to love herself again. Of course we still had grandmother Meemaw, who is a delight, and sister Harper (who will be the focus of the third book). I really liked the character of Dora, and I thought the author did a good job of making you feel for her, but not invoking pity. Instead, you were rooting for her to recognize what a great person she is. I was a bit annoyed with the love interest, I don't know why these books always have to have one. I didn't have anything against the character, but I sometimes wish a character could just stand on her own without someone swooping in. I knocked off a star for this, for me it makes a great book into a bit of a cookie cutter mold.

A great middle book to a series that I am anxious to see how it all ends. A definite beach read with all the fabulous beach descriptions.

 

 

Title: Dietland
Author: Sarai Walker
Published: May 26, 2015 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Pages: 310
Source: Publisher at BEA
Rating: 3/5
Goodreads

Plum Kettle does her best not to be noticed, because when you’re fat, to be noticed is to be judged. Or mocked. Or worse. With her job answering fan mail for a popular teen girls’ magazine, she is biding her time until her weight-loss surgery. Only then can her true life as a thin person finally begin.

Then, when a mysterious woman starts following her, Plum finds herself falling down a rabbit hole and into an underground community of women who live life on their own terms. There Plum agrees to a series of challenges that force her to deal with her past, her doubts, and the real costs of becoming “beautiful.” At the same time, a dangerous guerrilla group called “Jennifer” begins to terrorize a world that mistreats women, and as Plum grapples with her personal struggles, she becomes entangled in a sinister plot. The consequences are explosive.

Dietland is a bold, original, and funny debut novel that takes on the beauty industry, gender inequality, and our weight loss obsession—from the inside out, and with fists flying.

My review:

I almost want to divide this book into two parts. The beginning of the book focuses on Plum, who is overweight, working a lackluster job as a teen advice columnist (that she's not even getting credit for), and certain that her real life will begin once she has weight loss surgery. It also delves into her past, with all of the stigmas associated with being "the fat girl", as well as her attempts to lose weight. She ends up meeting someone who takes her on a journey of challenges that are ultimately aimed at causing her to recognize that weight loss is not the end all to problems. I enjoyed this part of the book very much.

Then we have the other part which takes place concurrently with Plum's challenges. There is a vigilante group going after all of those who victimize, sexualize, and mistreat women. While I totally agree that this is indeed happening in our society, and the beginning of the book was about trying to achieve beauty at all costs, it just didn't exactly seem to fit together for me. I found myself feeling rather uncomfortable in parts, and it was just a bit weird. I think I would give Plum's struggle a four, and the vigilante group part a two, so there you have my 3 star rating.

Do not be put off by this one. It was a bit quirky, but still an enjoyable read, especially the parts about Plum's weight loss struggles.