Book Review: Grant County Series AND Will Trent Series

Yep, you read that title correctly. I am reviewing two series, each made up of six books. That is twelve books total and the best part? I read the entire twelve books over the course of three weeks. My husband thinks I have a sickness, but regardless, I hope that (combined with the craziness of the first quarter of the school year) explains me being MIA since late-August. Now on to the book review....

The weekend prior to Teacher Work Week, I read Cop Town by Karin Slaughter on suggestion from my bestie. It was fantastic and an incredibly quick read, so I decided to delve into Slaughter's first series, the Grant County series, which follows Dr. Sara Linton, the pediatrician and county coroner of Grant County and Jeffrey Tolliver, Grant County's Chief of Police and Sara'a ex-husband. All of the novels in the series (Blindsighted, Kisscut, A Faint Cold Fear, Indelible, Faithless, and Beyond Reach) read like episodes of Law and Order: SVU. Simply put, they include so much sexually-motivated killings. I love SVU, or, as my husband calls it, Rape Case, so the content of the novels really did not bother me, but I understand how someone with a queasy stomach may not enjoy them so much. The storylines are fascinating and connect well, so it was super easy to breeze through that series. There were characters in the series, though, who I began to thoroughly dislike as the series went on (stupid Lena) and the ending of the series was heartbreaking.

After wrapping my mind around the final scene of the final book, I went to the library and checked out the Will Trent series (Triptych, Fractured, Undone, Broken, Fallen, and Criminal), which takes place in Atlanta and follows Will Trent, a GBI special agent, his partner Faith Mitchell, and his sometimes wife Angie Polaski. While the two series are connected, it is not until the third book that any of the characters from the Grant County series are introduced. I really enjoyed reading the Will Trent series because I felt Will was such an interesting character and actually reminded me of some of my students. I did, however, want to punch Angie in the face on the regular because of her horrible treatment of Will.

In all, I think I liked the Will Trent series better because the storylines were so varied (rape, kidnap, drugs, etc.) and were not all SVU episodes like in the Grant County series. Plus, I liked the ending of the Will Trent series MUCH better than the Grant County series (stupid Lena). Regardless, both series completely sucked me in and I now want to read all of Slaughter's books. Definitely a 9/10 for both series!

Book Review: Pretty Baby

Mary Kubica writes some seriously twisted, psychologically creepy books. Her first book, The Good Girl, was good, but I think Pretty Baby was even better...and even more messed up.

image courtesy of Amazon.com

Like many novels that fall into the psychological thriller realm, Pretty Baby is told in the alternating voices of Willow, Chris, and Heidi. Willow is a young, homeless girl who is alone in Chicago with a baby. She is filthy, secretive, and desperate, not knowing where to go or what to do until she is noticed by Heidi while standing on the train platform in the rain.

Heidi is a mother, wife, and has a soft spot for those less fortunate, as is shown in her inner monologue when thinking about Willow and those individuals she has helped while working at a non-profit organization. When she sees Willow at the train station holding four month old Ruby, her natural disposition is to help. Heidi, however, has a sad past, one that will come into question when she invites Willow and Ruby into her house, a decision her husband, Chris, and twelve year old daughter, Zoe, are not thrilled with.

Chris is a loving husband and father who recognizes that his past with Heidi is not without sadness and hurt. However, Chris thought those wounds had long ago healed. Having Willow in his home causes him to question not only what his wife was thinking, but also how healed those traumas in his wife's past truly are.

Pretty Baby is a page turner, filled with twists that I was truly not expecting. Most of the chapters end on a cliffhanger and unforeseen circumstances had me reading well into the night (by flashlight as to not disrupt my peacefully sleeping hubby). After finishing the book in less than 24 hours, I give it a 9 out of 10 and highly recommend Pretty Baby to everyone, especially those who enjoyed The Good Girl. Well done, Mary Kubica, on another literary success. :)

Book Review: The Other Daughter

So I am going to be honest here...it took me FOREVER to get through this novel. The premise is super intriguing, but for some reason, I just had a hard time getting into it.

image courtesy of Amazon.com

The Other Daughter by Lauren Willig centers around Rachel Woodley, a governess living and working in France when she receives a telegram alerting her to her mother's failing health in England. Upon her return to England, she discovers she is too late: her mother has succumbed to influenza. While going through her mother's things, Rachel finds a picture of the father who had presumably died twenty-three years prior. The only issue is that the picture came from a recent issue of a gossip magazine and he is posing with a woman who is listed as his daughter. Rachel realizes that everything she had been told about her father had been a lie; not only is he alive, but he is an Earl and has another family.

Rachel travels to London to learn more about her father and in the process, she meets Simon, a gossip columnist who helps her to come with a plan to gain access into the high ranks of society so that she can confront her father. What follows is a really unbelievable plan in which Rachel assumes the name Vera Morton, a distant cousin of Simon's, and she is set up in a lavish London apartment complete with a new wardrobe to help her assume her new identity. 

I found the concept of being able to change a person's personality and diction in a few days to be extremely hard to believe. Even Professor Higgins took more than a few days to get Eliza Doolittle ready for society in My Fair Lady. Regardless, the story continues with numerous mysteries being uncovered, flawed characters unveiled, and emotions running wild.

I think The Other Daughter has potential, but as a historical novel, it does not quite fit the mold. Not enough is discussed about what is happening in England during the late 1920s when the novel takes place. The only detail given is to the lavish furnishings and gardens of the entitles characters in the novel, as well as the clothing and partying life. Overall, I give Willig's novel a 7.5 out of 10, as the details of the minor characters and time period were not developed thoroughly enough for my liking.

Book Review: Yellow Crocus

The neighborhood we live in has a book group and while I have never actually been to a meeting, I do read the Facebook posts to see what book has been chosen each month and depending on how I feel about the book summary, I occasionally will read the selected book. Needless to say, when I read the summary for this past month's book, I was delighted.

image courtesy of Goodreads.com

I have been on a historical fiction kick recently and have found myself reading more and more novels that deal with slavery and the Civil War. Yellow Crocus by Laila Ibrahim follows the relationship of Lisbeth, the privileged oldest child of plantation owners, and Mattie, one of the family's slaves who becomes Lisbeth's wet nurse. As Lisbeth grows older, she finds that Mattie is more like family than either of her parents--the overwhelmed mother and cold, distant father--and her frequent visits to the slave quarters to see Mattie's own family brings them even closer together.

Yellow Crocus was a novel that I honestly could not put down. There is just so much that happens in the novel and so much that makes you think about the ways of the South during the 1800s. I was drawn into the setting and absolutely fell in love with the gentle, yet strong and brave character of Mattie. I literally finished this novel in one day; it just drew me in and kept me enthralled from start to finish. I could not put it down. The story just flowed seamlessly and you were left with a sense of satisfaction. 

I was amazed that the novel was written by a first-time author. Ibrahim's writing skills are truly fantastic. Every detail in the novel, from what Lisbeth wore for her dances to how Mattie speaks, just seems to real. I felt like I was there, watching the story unfold in person. The details, writing, and beautiful storytelling make it difficult to give Yellow Crocus anything other than a 10 out of 10. I just hope that Ibrahim decides to publish another novel (and soon!) because her writing is lovely. 

Why I Re-read Harry Potter

As I sat in the family room reading the last 130 pages of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Monday night, my husband sat on the couch across from me laughing. Why? He was laughing at the fact that I was legitimately crying over the events in the novel, a novel that I have read at least nine times. His thought process was simple: You know what is going to happen, so why do you continue to cry about it? For that, I have no response, because his logic does make sense, but regardless of how many times I have read the novels in the Harry Potter series, I get so caught up in the wizarding world that I find myself experiencing all those emotions as if I were reading them for the first time.

My students ask the same question every year when they realize that not only do I have Dumbledore's Army posters in my classroom, wear Hogwarts t-shirts with my pencil skirts, and use Ron Weasley's wand as a pointer, but I also re-read the entire series every summer (and have done so since middle school). They think I am crazy, but what I do not think they quite realize is that I essentially grew up with Harry Potter and even now as a 27 year old woman, it is a link to my childhood. 

The Harry Potter bookshelf in the office/library

My sixth grade teacher bought a copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for everyone in our class as Christmas gifts. Right after Christmas, I moved to Richmond and was so utterly upset over moving that I lost myself in books, with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone being the first that I read. Needless to say, after reading the first, I was hooked and begged my mom to buy Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban for me since those were the only books of the series that had already been released.

Fun Fact: The copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone that Mrs. Wilson gave me for Christmas in 1999 still sits on the bookcase in my classroom (and will do so until I quit teaching) and has been the most checked out book in my "library" for the past four years.

I still remember going to Barnes and Noble with my neighbor Ben to get the sixth book at midnight and rushing home to begin reading it. When my mom woke up the next morning to go to work, I was still in bed reading and when she got home from work, I was still there, except this time there were tissues all over my bed (RIP Dumbledore). Even now, after having read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince at least ten times, I still cry during Dumbledore's funeral. 

I am sure that in five to ten years when I have children of my own, I will tear up in the same parts as I always have when I read the series aloud to them. A part of me is so emotionally invested in the series that the emotions are unavoidable. Plus, the storyline is AWESOME and who in their right mind would not want to be a witch/wizard?! There is an Alan Rickman quote that I think sums up my love of Harry Potter perfectly:

All the feels!!!

Book Review: Those Girls

For the past year, there have been so many books that have been called "the next Gone Girl;" however, very rarely do they live up to that title. Chevy Stevens, though, is the closest author to Gillian Flynn in her writing that I have been able to find. Similar to Flynn's novels, when reading Stevens' novels, you get so pulled into the storyline that you begin to feel as if you are a part of the book, and Those Girls is no exception. 

image courtesy of Amazon.com

Those Girls is a crime-based psychological thriller which is full of suspense. The three protagonists, sisters Jess, Courtney, and Dani, are at the mercy of their drunken and abusive father following the death of their mother. The girls are left to fend for themselves for days on end while their father goes off on drinking benders. Their pitiful situation worsens when their father returns home and they are forced to live in perpetual fear as they endure his drunken, violet, and abusive actions.

Unable to endure another night of agony, the sisters flee from their home and are on the run when their truck breaks down in a small town. Two seemingly nice guys, Brian and Gaven, offer to help the girls repair their truck, but then find themselves abducted and abused like before. 

When the girls first meet Brian and Gaven, I found myself wanting to scream out loud and tell them not to trust strangers and do some of the things they were going. I legitimately had almost forgotten that it was a book and not real life, and the girls would not hear me yelling. That is how real Stevens' writing is.

While I very much enjoyed the novel, especially since it has such an enthralling and realistic storyline, I felt that the climax of the story was not very developed. The entire novel is extremely detailed, but the climax felt rushed and not as fleshed out as the rest of the novel. Regardless, I give Those Girls an 8 out of 10 and cannot wait until Stevens' next novel is published.

Book Review: Tiny Little Thing

I am a big fan of the Kennedy family. There is just something about them that I find so incredibly fascinating. The scandals, the political intrigue, Jackie's effortless beauty...no wonder they were essentially American royalty. Beatriz Williams' latest novel Tiny Little Thing has a touch of Kennedy to it, so it was no wonder is I binge-read it over the Fourth of July weekend.

image courtesy of Amazon.com

Tiny Little Thing is a historical novel set in 1960s New England's elite world of political families. It follows the main character, Christina "Tiny" Hardcastle, as she navigates her pristine world through a maze of blackmail, secrets, and betrayal. 

The narration alternates between Tiny and her husband's cousin Caspian, a Vietnam war hero who is the only man privy to Tiny's suppressed life...the life before she became Mrs. Hardcastle. Tiny is beautiful, elegant, and the perfect wife for a man who plans to run for president. However, regardless of how she appears on the outside, Tiny is unhappy in her life with the Hardcastles, especially in what is expected of her. After suffering from a miscarriage and feeling entirely alone at the Hardcastle family compound, Tiny attempts to maintain her high society Hardcastle facade, struggling internally as someone is attempting to blackmail her with incriminating photographs from her past and she suspects her husband of infidelity.

I enjoyed this character-driven novel, especially Tiny, who develops so much inner strength and growth over the course of the novel. Williams created a group of interesting characters in addition to Tiny, including her younger sister Pepper, who offered perfectly-timed humor and off-color jokes to the stuck up Hardcastle family. I also loved how Williams perfectly set up Pepper's storyline for her next novel, Along the Infinite Sea, which will round out the novels on the Schyler sisters. (See my review on the first Schuyler sister, Vivian, here.)

Tiny Little Things is an excellent novel that will open your eyes to the political world of the rich and powerful. I love Williams' writing and with each novel I read, I find myself chomping at the bit for her next. Overall, I give Tiny Little Thing a 9 out of 10. Now I just need it to be November 3rd so I can find out what happens to Pepper and just who the mysterious Mercedes belonged to....

Book Review: Go Set a Watchman

If Go Set a Watchman had been published before To Kill a Mockingbird as Harper Lee originally intended, then the novel would have been insignificant...meaningless even. Tom Robinson's trial would have just been a vague incident in Jean Louise's memory instead of the culturally iconic scene that it became. Atticus would be his daughter's fallen hero, but not ours. If Go Set a Watchman had been first, we would only know Atticus as a racist and we would not care; he would not have been an ethical role model, moral center of an entire novel, and a hero. While there would be references to Atticus' past in an effort to explain why Jean Louise's world is so shaken when she discovers her father's beliefs, we as the reader would not share them. The fact is, though, Go Set a Watchman was not published first, so Jean Louise's feelings of hurt and betrayal are our own.

image courtesy of Amazon.com

Go Set a Watchman is about fallen heroes and disillusionment. Jean Louise tries to reconcile how Atticus Finch, the archetype of morality and good, could be a racist, and that is what many readers of the beloved To Kill a Mockingbird are trying to reconcile as well. Even with all the hype surrounding the novel, I tried to reserve judgement, especially when it came to Atticus, thinking that there was no way a character could change that drastically in twenty years, and went into reading the novel somewhat in denial. When Jean Louise, who will forever be "Scout" in my mind, finds out Atticus is attending segregationist citizens council meetings, she thinks, "[He was] pulling something, [he was] there merely to keep an eye on things," a thought I, like probably many other readers, hopefully had as well.

The most painful thing about Go Set a Watchman is that this Atticus is still recognizably, unquestionably Atticus Finch. He is still a loving father, a good neighbor, endlessly reasonable, thoughtful, and giving. Regardless, his portrayal in Go Set a Watchman is still disheartening. I tried to explain it to my husband when he noticed I was becoming visibly upset after the first 100 or so pages... Reading this novel would be like if JK Rowling wrote an eighth Harry Potter novel set X amount of years in the future where Harry, an Auror, willingly casts the Cruciatus Curse against magical wrong-doers or, God forbid, Muggles, on a semi-regular basis. Fans of the series would not want to read that, regardless of whether Rowling was able to explain how Harry became that way as he grew older while making it consistent with his character from the first seven novels. It would be heartbreaking.

On a bright side, Jean Louise Finch serves as a moral compass in Go Set a Watchman. Atticus taught her well as she challenges beliefs that she knows are wrong. While not perfect, she has the potential to be better than her father and her hometown. She is also recognizably Scout Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird, the outspoken, precocious tomboy, but she is now twenty-six and still out of place in Maycomb. After living the past few years in New York City, she is unable to relate to the women in Maycomb, their interests, and their views on race.

I wanted to hate Go Set a Watchman, and I wanted to be angry at it for ruining the character that I have held in such high regard since reading To Kill a Mockingbird in Mrs. Tucker's ninth grade English class. The controversy surrounding its release would be enough: the story behind its publication is sketchy, almost certainly achieved through unethical means. Unfortunately, the book is good and its message, however painfully it hits, is important. Heroes can fall and, more importantly, that is normal. To Kill a Mockingbird is told from Scout's perspective. At six years old, Scout, like the majority of readers, have a bit of hero-worship when it comes to Atticus. Twenty years later, Jean Louise is seeing her father in a new light and stops the childlike hero worship that we practice as children when we become adults. It hurts, but it is part of life.

Overall, I give Go Set a Watchman a 7 out of 10. While it somewhat ruins Atticus for me, and I am sure Gregory Peck would agree with that, it is still a courageous novel for a young woman to write in the middle of the 1950s. Tackling the issue of white privilege without pulling any punches might not have been received very favorably had the novel been published closer to the time it was written. Perhaps it is perfect timing for the novel to be published, as our culture wrestles with the same issues Atticus did in the 1950s, settling our own watchmen to be on the lookout for our worst fears.

Book Review: Luckiest Girl Alive

Stopping a book a quarter of the way through to google what the premise is is not a good start to any novel; however, that is exactly what happened while I was reading Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll. I could not quite figure out why I purchased the novel nor what it was exactly about. Not a good thing.

image from Goodreads.com

Throughout the first half of the novel, I kept thinking to myself, why am I reading this? Ani, the main character of the novel, is a self-indulged, miserable woman who is engaged to a perfect, wealthy man whom she does not love, and when she looks back on her past, there is nothing good there either. Ani, formerly TifAni, is all about appearances and details. She spends the majority of her time working to ensure that no one sees what a phony she is who actually had to fight her way to fit in to the role of New York Woman's Magazine writer and overcome some terrible things from her teenaged years.

While I did not hate the novel, I did not truly like it either. I disliked Ani's character. She was snobby, conceited, and shallow...things she grew into after enduring a horrible tragedy in her teenaged years. What I did not quite understand was how she could become such a nasty person after witnessing what the nastiness of others caused in high school. One would think that she would try to better herself and not become like the kids who bullied her and many others during those formidable years which led to so much tragedy. 

Overall, I give Luckiest Girl Alive a 6 out of 10, with its only redeeming factor being that it does pick up towards the end. This is the second novel I have purchased that was touted as the next Gone Girl and both have fallen incredibly short of that label. At this point, I think that the only novel that can honestly be the next Gone Girl is one written by Gillian Flynn.

Book Review: In the Unlikely Event

School is officially out for the summer, which means more time to relax, work on things around the house, and, of course, read. After a sixteen-year hiatus in the world of adult fiction, Judy Blume, who is well-known for her children and young adult titles, such as Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Superfudge, Blubber, and Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, returns with In the Unlikely Event, a hugely engaging and solid adult novel full of dept and humanity.

image courtesy of Amazon.com

In the Unlikely Event takes place in Blume's hometown of Elizabeth, New Jersey during the early 1950s, when the city was shattered by three plane crashes within two months. The neighbors in the diverse, working class city are confused and frightened--how likely is such a thing to happen not once, but three times? Unsure of what is behind such a thing, many rumors begin to fly through the town...communists, aliens, another war.

Fifteen year old Miri Ammerman lives in Elizabeth with her single mother, uncle, and grandmother. She is the center of a large cast of character who tries to navigate this strange period when passenger planes fall from the skies into the center of their lives. Miri's uncle is a newspaper reporter and he gives firsthand reports of each crash, going back and interviewing everyone, and reporting analysis of the crashes. His first hand accounts are included in the novel, in newspaper format, which adds another layer of depth to the storyline.

In the Unlikely Event is a fully engaging novel, with a cast of characters that is almost too big, I had a lot of those, "Wait a minute, who is that again?" moments while reading. That was one of the major issues I had with the novel, as it was sometimes very difficult to figure out how each character fit into the story and what their background was. 

I give the novel an 8.5 out of 10 and I really hope Blume's talk of this being her last adult novel is just that...talk.

Book Review: Finders Keepers

I do not like scary things and for some reason, I used to think Stephen King only wrote scary books, so I refused to read any of them. My husband, on the other hand, LOVES Stephen King; in fact, The Stand is one of his favorite books and he buys King's novels like I buy versions of Harry Potter. When 11/22/63 was published in November 2011, David kept telling me how awesome it was, continually mentioning that it was more of a historical/science fiction-esque novel and there was nothing scary in it. I was intrigued, mainly because I find the Kennedy's fascinating, so I decided to give it a try...and read it in three days. Since then, I have read more of King's novels, and even gave It a try (could not finish it--nightmare inducing!). 

Last summer, I bought Mr. Mercedes for David as a just because present and ended up reading it myself after not liking anything else I picked up. I really liked the storyline and that it included so many elements of the mystery/detective genre, so I was super excited to learn that it was the first book in a trilogy.

image courtesy of Amazon.com

Just like Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers opens with a grisly murder scene; however, that and the return of Hodges, Holly, and Jerome, the heroes from the first book, are really the only similarities between the two novels. Where Mr. Mercedes was more of a straightforward detective/murder mystery, Finders Keepers is a literary thriller.

Rather than picking up where Mr. Mercedes left off, we instead meet Morris, the terrifying villain, and Pete, the teenaged hero. The two characters are separated by more than four decades and are incredibly different from one another, but what causes their lives to intersect is their shared passion for the writings of John Rothstein, a reclusive JD Salinger-type author.

The first third of the novel is pure and powerful storytelling, something that I am beginning to see is what King is fantastic at as I read more of his work. This part of the novel spans four decades, from the murder of Rothstein in the 1970s to the economic downturn in the US in the early 2000s to the murders accounted for in Mr. Mercedes. With the scene set, the final two thirds of the novel are complete, white-knuckle thriller. It is a not a mystery or a "who-done-it," as the reader knows who the bad guy is from the first chapter, but regardless, you find yourself on the edge of your seat (or in  y case, awake at 2:00am) as Pete desperately tries to save his family from Morris, all while Hodges, Holly, and Jerome are trying to save Pete.

Interspersed throughout the latter half of the novel are some truly chilling scenes between Hodges and Brady, the psychopathic murder from Mr. Mercedes, that seem to be setting us up for a terrifying final novel.

I give Finders Keepers a 10 out of 10 and highly recommend it (especially to David who needs to get in gear and read Mr. Mercedes as well).
  On a completely unrelated side note, I literally had to stop reading about 100 pages in, go into the office to grab a highlighter, and mark this line: "For readers, one of life's most electrifying discoveries is that they are readers--not just capable of doing it, but in love with it." Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone did that for me in sixth grade, but never have I seen such a beautiful way of describing it. This line is definitely going to be prominently displayed on my book wall when school starts back up in September, so thank you, Mr. King. :)

Book Review: The Mapmaker's Children

It is no secret that I love historical fiction; however, when the book is set in a location that I know and have been to....I am sold! When I saw that The Mapmaker's Children by Sarah McCoy was set fairly close to where David and I used to live in Northern Virginia, I was intrigued and knew I needed the book.

image courtesy of Amazon.com

Set in the Harper's Ferry/Charlestown area on the border of Virginia and West Virginia, The Mapmaker's Children by Sarah McCoy tells two stories: one set pre-Civil War and the other in present time.

In 1859, Sarah Brown, the daughter of abolitionist John Brown, chooses to follow her own path in life, rather than conforming to the expectations of society. She is a talented artist and uses this skill to create maps for the Underground Railroad, since many of the escaping slaves were illiterate, but could understand pictures. She even tries to save her father from being put to death by smuggling a map to him in prison, but to no avail.

Sort of, but not exactly, mirroring the same story line of rebellion in present time, Eden is a woman who gave up her PR/marketing job to move to a historic home in West Virginia with her husband Jack. She and Jack have been unsuccessfully trying to have a baby, which is putting a major strain on their marriage. 

Eden's storyline starts off a little dull and she comes across as a serious brat towards the little girl whom Jack is paying to care for their new dog, but I eventually warmed to her, especially when the two main characters' rebellions became more clear. While Sarah's rebellion is very in-your-face, Eden's is quieter. She is rebelling against what contemporary society deems to be female--someone who selflessly gives herself to her family, bearing her husband children, while also being independent and working...obviously not realistic, but that is how women are portrayed in the media today.

I absolutely adored Sarah's chapters and found her to be incredibly strong, both as a character in a novel and as a historical figure of that time period. And while I appreciated the juxposition of the two women, I really could have done without the hot and cold nature of Eden. I could not decide if I liked her or wanted to throttle her because of her treatment of everyone around her, including her new dog. All in all, though, The Mapmaker's Children was a fast read, one where I found myself wishing it had gone on for another few chapters, and I give it a 9 out of 10.

Book Review: The House of Hawthorne

I was first introduced to Erika Robuck a few years ago when I stumbled across a copy of Hemingway's Girl at the library. I found the story enthralling and finished it in a day. It did not take me long to read all of Robuck's other novels that had been published up until that point and then I began pre-ordering her novels each year. Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres, so it is no surprise that I would enjoy Robuck's novels; however, what makes me love them is that she chooses to writer about people who are associated with famous writers....writers whom I adore and teach in school. So far, Robuck has written about those associated with Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Edna St. Vincent Millay, so when she announced her newest novel, I was really excited to see what would she come up with about Nathaniel Hawthorne. 

photo courtesy of Amazon.com

Let me start by saying that prior to reading The House of Hawthorne, I knew next to nothing about Nathaniel Hawthorne and his life. While I teach The Scarlet Letter and various short stories to my 11th graders each year, my knowledge beyond his writing is minimal. The House of Hawthorne, rather than focusing on the more well-known author, focuses primarily on his wife Sophia.

Sophia is a young, sickly woman, who spends part of her early years in Cuba in order to have some time to recuperate in a tropical climate. Cuba changes Sophia'a life. The exotic atmosphere and environment inspire her as an artist. She feels her first attraction to a man and gives up all thoughts of remaining unmarried and dedicated to her art. She also encounters the horrors of slavery, something that stays with her throughout her life.

Upon returning from Cuba, she meets Nathaniel Hawthorne and the two immediately become enamored with one another.

The love between Nathaniel and Sophia is intense and is evident in their letters and other artifacts used to recreate their story; however, there is more to the novel than just a love story. The reader is able to live through Nathaniel Hawthorne's struggles of trying to make a living as a writing right alongside him. There are mentions of the Hawthorne's lives and friendships with Henry David Thoreau, the Emersons, and the Alcotts; the impact of the fighting in the colonies and how that directly influenced the family as they settled in England; and the tragedies and hardships of simply living during that time period. 

It is evident that Robuck did an immense amount of research and the result is a story that is not only believable, but exciting about two well-known literary and historical figures. Overall, I give The House of Hawthorne an 8.5 out of 10, as there were a few slower-paced parts of the novel. For the most part, though, I found the novel to be incredibly well-written and engaging.

Book Review: Where They Found Her

I LOVED Reconstructing Amelia, so when I found out Kimberly McCreight had recently published a new book, Where They Found Her, I was super excited about reading it. When it was delivered on Friday, I immediately delved into the twisty story and did not stop reading until it was finalized.

image courtesy of Goodreads

The setting of Where They Found Her is Ridgedale, New Jersey, a small college town. Molly Sanderson and her husband are recent transplants with Justin's new teaching position in the English department and Molly branching out as a reporter for the local newspaper. She is still grieving the loss of their second child, a stillborn daughter. Filling in for another reporter, Molly is called out to report on a body that has been discovered near a bridge, adjacent to the college.When she learns that the body is that of a newborn baby girl, she must not only face her continued grief over her loss, but also report the story to the best of her ability.

Where They Found Her is narrated by three women: Molly, Barbara, the mother of one of Molly's daughter's classmates, and Sandy, a teenager whose drug addicted mother has gone missing. Intermingled are flashbacks from other characters, Molly's new reports on the case, and transcripts from Molly's therapy sessions following the death of her baby. There are a TON of characters thrown at the reader in a very short time, along with numerous details, so it almost seems necessary to keep notes in order to keep track of all the characters, how they are related, and how each piece fits into the puzzle. Characters who do not, at first, appear to be part of the overall picture end up playing vital roles as the story unfolds. Little snippets are dropped and it is ultimately up to the reader to put all the parts together. It, at times, was a bit confusing.

While I really enjoyed the story (evidently, since I finished it in less than a day), I think the biggest issue was that there were just so many different stories in the novel that McCreight was trying to have come together. At times, it felt a little forced. Overall, I give Where They Found Her a 7.5 out of 10, but trust me when I say that should not stop you from reading the novel. It is still very captivating. :)

Book Review: The Secrets of Midwives

On a rainy, gross day, snuggling up with a book and a sleepy kitty is pretty great. What makes it even better is when the book is so well-written, it captures your attention early on and holds it until the very end. That is the case with The Secrets of Midwives by Sally Hepworth. 

image courtesy of Goodreads.com

Hepworth's in-depth research offers an intriguing view into the world of midwifery, something I know absolutely nothing about, and covers a period of sixty years. Beyond the midwifery, and at the heart of the novel, are well-developed characters: three women from three generations who explore the mother-daughter relationship.

The chapters alternate from the first person point of view of grandmother Floss, to mother Grace, to daughter Neva, all three of whom are midwives. This structure, while not unique, works well to build the tension as the characters share their individual secrets and issues with the reader, but not with one another. Grace tends to be the least likable of the three; she is overly opinionated and slightly offensive with her intense hatred of doctors and hospitals. While Neva is easier to care about, it is Floss, a retired midwife, who is the most interesting of the three women. Her story transports the reader back in time to England, where she rides a bicycle to make house calls and deliver babies, before she comes across the Atlantic with her newborn daughter and settles in Rhode Island.

Floss carries a secret that she fears with destroy her relationship with Grace and Neva; however, she wonders if continuing to hide her secrets is perhaps more harmful than actually sharing them. Grace's secrets are of a totally different nature, but could have serious consequences if they are revealed. Neva is reticent, single, and pregnant. She hides her pregnancy for as long as possible, refusing to name the father of her child.

A strong thread throughout the novel examines marriage and adoption, as well as the concept of what makes a family a family, something that I feel resonated very strongly with me as a newly married woman balancing my new family (David and Warren, the cat) with that of my "old" family (my parents and sister). Hepworth not only examines multiple relationships in the novel, but she also moves flawlessly from one character's voice to another.

The Secrets of Midwives starts a bit slow, but the momentum begins to pick up by page thirty. This introduction is necessary, though, in order for Hepworth to establish the groundwork to create the story. Overall, it was a quick read and the characters were extremely well-written: fully fleshed out with their thoughts, feelings, and emotions brought into the story. I give The Secrets of Midwives an 9 out of 10.

Book Review: The Girl Who Came Home

Like most elementary-aged girls in the 90s, I became fascinated with the Titanic when James Cameron's film was released. I remember going to see the movie with my dad (and feeling really uncomfortable sitting next to him during the sex scene) and finding the story so beautiful--while also hating Rose because she let Jack die. More importantly, though, after watching the movie, I wanted to learn everything I could about the Titanic. I read books, watched documentaries, re-watched Titanic a million times, and even played a board game where, if I remember correctly, the premise was to see if you would live or die. Needless to say, when I saw The Girl Who Came Home: A Novel of the Titanic by Hazel Gaynor at Books-a-Million last weekend, I had to buy it.

image courtesy of Goodreads.com

Like many novels that have been published recently, The Girl Who Came Home is told in alternating viewpoints, switching back and forth between Maggie Murphy, a seventeen year old girl who is traveling on the Titanic with her aunt and twelve others from her village in Ireland in 1912, and Grace Butler, Maggie's great-granddaughter and a budding journalist in Chicago in 1982. Grace, having just lost her father in a tragic car accident and with it, her love of journalism, appears to be in a life slump, that is until Maggie opens up to her about her experience on the Titanic. 

Maggie relives her life changing tragedy for her great-granddaughter, telling her of the young steward who saved her life, the girls she traveled with from her Irish village, and her experiences with the social class differences aboard the ship. All the while, Maggie tells Grace of how often her mind turned to Seamus, the young man from back home whom she was desperately in love with, and how deeply she cared for him. By reliving the past, Maggie is able to learn to let go, while, in turn, Grace learns how to hold on to the things she cares about.

While much of The Girl Who Came Home contained stories (a man who snuck onto one of the lifeboats disguised as a woman) and imagery (the little boy spinning a top on one of the decks of the ship) that I was already aware of, and, coincidentally enough, James Cameron showed in his film, Gaynor provided me with a story I was unfamiliar with. The characters and village in the novel, while fictional, are all based on real people and a real village near Killala in County Mayo in Ireland. "The Addergoole Fourteen" were a group of men and woman from there who sailed on the Titanic. Only three survived. Even though the characters in the novel are fictitious, their stories are riveting nonetheless.

The details that Gaynor provides are what gives the story depth, though. She richly details the aesthetics of the ship and how those on board behaved during the voyage. Also, sprinkled throughout the novel are telegrams sent and received by those on board the Titanic, as well as letters between the characters to further the plot. The book tended to be a little slow moving at times, but even so, the ending was unexpected; I did not think there were going to be any surprises, but I was very happy for the last reveal. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the story and there were times that I wanted to reach into the pages and rescue the people from the freezing waters of the Atlantic. I could physically feel Maggie's longing for Seamus, as well as her devastation of that horrible night. I give The Girl Who Came Home an 8.5 out of 10 and recommend it for anyone who is interested in this moment in history, with an appreciation for romance.

Book Review: The Secret Life of Violet Grant

Beatriz Williams can do no wrong. I am officially convinced of that. I just finished reading The Secret Life of Violet Grant (why it took me so long, I have no idea), and it was wonderful. I was previously introduced to Williams' writing when I read A Hundred Summers last summer while on our honeymoon and I thought it was beautiful, so when The Secret Life of Violet Grant came up as a suggested read on Amazon last week, I wasted no time in purchasing it.

image courtesy of Goodreads.com

Vivian Schuyler was born wealthy, but is trying to make it on her own as a journalist, and is living in New York City in 1964 when a mysterious suitcase comes into her possession. The suitcase, at one point, belonged to Vivian's great-aunt Violet, a woman even more daring and independent than Vivian, who left her family behind to study physics in England in 1911 before disappearing. This suitcase potentially holds the key to her disappearance. Alternating between narrators, Violet's story is revealed; although, for decades, her family has managed to keep it under wraps, which adds a bit of mystery.

Secrets that have been long tucked away are revealed as Vivian tries to locate her great-aunt. While Vivian has hopes of writing a story about Violet and finally achieving her dream of becoming a full-fledged journalist, she is also curious about her mysterious disappearance and the accusation that Violet is an adulterer who murdered her famous physicist husband.

As we read Violet's narration, we see that Violet's marriage was not a happy one: her husband is extremely controlling and manipulative, and he does not value his wife in any way beyond being an attractive, younger woman on his arm. We also learn that Violet's scientific work, as well as the people she spent time with while working, somehow played a part in her disappearance. 

Williams is able to recreate the era in which Violet lived and while I was reading, I was able to imagine Europe in the early 1900s. The twists in the story kept me guessing and I found myself caught up in both Violet and Vivian's stories. Williams' work is quickly making her one of my must-read authors and I give The Secret Life of Violet Grant a 9 out of 10.

Addendum: With spring break next week, I just ordered Overseas, which was published in 2012, to have something exciting to read while lounging around the house in my pjs (I live an exciting life) and I cannot wait until Williams' next book, Tiny Little Thing, is released on June 23rd! 

Book Review: The Magician's Lie

I am not going to lie, I have been in a bit of a book slump recently. It seems that almost every book I start, I get only a chapter or two in before I put it down. I just have not been able to get into a book recently. I bought The Magician's Lie by Greer Macallister a month or two ago and I am pretty sure I read the first two chapters five times. I just kept starting it, not being able to get into it, putting it on my nightstand, reading other things, then coming back to it. I was not sure what was going on because based on everything I had read about The Magician's Lie, it seemed like the kind of book I would really enjoy. 

This past Friday, I brought the novel to school to read during SSR (on Fridays, every one of my classes, and I see three each day, starts class by doing Sustained, Silent Reading for the first 15-20 minutes), thinking that by having 45-60 minutes of reading would get me to focus on the novel and not worry about anything else, and I would finally be able to read more than just the first two chapters. That thought process worked; I was finally able to get in to the novel and I could not really figure out what had stopped me before.

image courtesy of Goodreads.com

The Magician's Lie is a unique historical novel, one that ties a woman's determination to be free, independent, and strong with some dark undertones. In Macallister's debut novel, Arden (born Ada) is the country's most famous female illusionist who is arrested for her husband's murder. She has one night to convince Virgil Holt, a small-town police officer, of her innocence.

Arden spends the evening telling her story, starting with her childhood. Her mother, a musician born into a wealthy family, has Arden out of wedlock and then elopes with another man, landing them on a remote, struggling farm. Although Arden finds joy in learning ballet, she is systematically stalked and terrified by Ray, her stepfather's psychopathic nephew. Ray is obsessed with the idea that he can injure people and then heal them. While he begins with torturing animals and cutting himself, it is clear his real goal is Arden. Ray goes out of his way to stop Arden from achieving her goals of entering the world of professional ballet and leaving the farm, including breaking her leg so she cannot dance. 

While Arden tells Holt she is not an escape artist, she spends most of her life escaping. After her mother refuses to believe her account of Ray;s abuse, Arden escapes to the Biltmore. There, she finds a job as one of the mansions numerous servants. She falls in love with a handsome young gardener named Clyde, who has ambitions to escape the Biltmore and become a landscape artist in New York. At first Arden trusts Clyde completely, but then she realizes she trusted him too much, so she flees from him.

Throughout the novel, she is running from Ray, sometimes physically and always emotionally. As a professional illusionist, first under the tutelage of another female illusionist and then with her own show, she is always on the road...always escaping from one town to the next. As she tells her story, though, she is also trying to escape from Holt, whether on her own by convincing him of her innocence, or with assistance from another unknown source.

The entire time I was reading The Magician's Lie, I kept waiting to find out what the lie was. That word is part of the title, so it had to be important. What was it that Arden was lying about? That question lingers in the back of the reader's mind throughout the entire novel.

Once I was able to actually focus on what I was reading, I was completely caught up in Arden's journey. The story arc was well-structured and I really liked how everything came together in the end. On occasion, it felt like the story dragged a bit because there were just so many details, but that being said, I think the attention to detail is what created such a rich and vivid story. I give the novel an 8.5 out of 10 and I cannot wait for Macallister to write a second novel.

P.S. Let me know if you have any suggestions for what I read next. My "to read" pile has significantly dwindled and I need ideas as to what I should get lost in next. :)

Book Review: Leaving Time

Jodi Picoult is one of the few authors who I preorder books for. Whenever I see that she has announced the release date for an upcoming book, I immediately add it to my phone's calendar and sometime before it is released, I will preorder it to make sure the book is on my doorstep on the day of release. 

I have been completely hooked on Picoult's writing ever since I read Nineteen Minutes during my freshman year of college. As someone who was going into the field of education, the whole premise of the novel shook me, but, oddly, in a good way; in a way that made me want to continually read every book that is released by Picoult, including her Wonder Woman comic book. Her novels make you think about things in a way you never have before, and that is something every writer should strive to do.

image courtesy of Amazon.com

Leaving Time was released this past fall and I devoured it. Like many of Picoult's other novels, and what is becoming increasingly popular in today's fiction, each chapter is told from the perspective of a different character and part of it is told in past tense in order to fill in the necessary back story. It does not take very long for the reader to care about the characters.

The main protagonist is an intelligent, funny teenage girl named Jenna who is the perfect mix of curious and stubborn without being annoying or precocious; she immediately endears herself to the reader. Jenna is being raised by her grandmother and is trying to figure out the puzzle of why her mother, Alice, disappeared from the New England Elephant Sanctuary. 

This plot line ties in beautifully with another that is heavily centered on elephants--how they grieve and how scientists try to reckon what can be observed logically and what can be discovered by observing emotion. It ties in so well to the human drama, that the elephants are not unnecessary background, but are just as vital in their personalities as the human characters are. Family dynamics and their impact, whether in terms of elephant families or people families, are the heart of the novel.

Towards the middle of the novel, it starts to descend into psychics and one of the main characters is a disgraced psychic, but even with bringing that additional element into a novel with so many other things going on (missing mother, endangered species, a skeptical ex-police officer, scientists), the novel somehow works. Picoult's deft writing brings all the elements together in a way that not only makes sense, but feels right. Not many writers can do that.

Leaving Time is an engaging read, one where you will be shocked at the ending and feel the need to sniffle into some tissues at the same time. You may even want to search out elephant sanctuaries like I did. I give Picoult's novel a 9 out of 10. 

Book Review: The Girl on the Train

A few weeks ago, I came across the synopsis for The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins in some magazine I was flipping through. It was a premise that I really could not say no to, so I immediately bought it from Amazon, especially since so many people were making comparisons between it and Gone Girl. However, now that I have read the novel, I am not sure those comparisons are warranted. 

Image courtesy of Amazon.com

Rachel Watson is a divorced woman who is a somewhat functioning alcoholic whose life has essentially fallen apart because of her need for the bottle. Her husband had an affair that resulted in a pregnancy. He divorces Rachel, marries his mistress, and now the two (with their baby) live in the house that used to belong to Rachel.

From the window on her train, Rachel watches the world, including a couple who are frequently out on their balcony as her train passes by each day. She creates a make believe, almost fairy tale-like story for the couple, imagining their lives in a way hers never was. Then, the woman, Megan, goes missing and Rachel's missing memories from the night she disappeared might be the key to the puzzle. Unfortunately for Megan, as well as for Megan's doting husband, the reason Rachel cannot remember the events of that fateful night was because of one of her alcohol-induced blackouts.

I found The Girl on the Train to be too full of paranoia on Rachel's part and I was completely unable to feel any sympathy for her. Rachel is an alcoholic who is obsessed with her ex-husband and what her life used to be. She is compromised by her own weaknesses and forever caught in self-pity and lack of character. She only focuses on herself, going so far as to insert herself into the police investigation of Megan's disappearance and lying to the missing woman's husband in order to make herself feel more important. It is actually pretty pathetic.

The redeeming factor for the novel is the skillful writing of Paula Hawkins. Honestly, if she did not write so well, I would have stopped reading after the first 20 pages or so. Very few authors can move between three narrators as effectively as she did. There is Anna, the ridiculously happy new wife of Rachel's ex-husband; Megan, who does not see to quite fit into her world of pilates, coffees, and perfect wife-dom; and Rachel. While I wanted to punch Rachel in the face whenever it was her "turn" to serve as narrator, I felt like Hawkins did an excellent job capturing the personalities of Anna and Megan and making each narrator distinct.

With an unreliable narrator (Rachel, ugh) and a vanished wife, I understand the comparisons to Gone Girl; I just do not agree with them. That being said, I give the novel a 6 out of 10 for its unique structure and eloquent writing.