The Messy Lives of Book People by Phaedra Patrick

 "Not many forty-two-year-old mums, wearing bleach-specked jeans and an ancient Rolling Stone T-shirt, ever appeared in fairy tales."

The plot in brief:  42-year-old Liv Green is a wife and mother who dreams of becoming a writer one day, but right now she cleans houses to help make ends meet. One of her clients is reclusive best-selling author, Essie Starling. Liv loves working for her, but when Essie dies unexpectedly, Liv is surprised to discover that one of Essie's last wishes is for Liv to complete her final Georgia Rory novel. Only Liv can't tell anyone what she's doing, not even her husband; and she only has until November 1st to finish the book. Liv doesn't know if she can write a suitable ending to this beloved series. And as she begins to look into Essie's past for inspiration, she not only discovers several secrets about Essie, but a very startling connection. 

My thoughts: Liv is an interesting character. I liked how zen she was about cleaning, and how she tries to be brave like the fictional Georgia Rory. I disagreed with some of the choices she makes and found her frustrating at times. Her relationship struggles with her husband, Jake, felt very real, but I wasn't sure why she was so focused on investigating all of Essie's past loves. Happily, it all comes together at the end in a satisfying way. This is a quick, light read, with both humor and heart. I'd give it 3.5 stars. (And it's another good one for Susan's Bookish Books Reading Challenge.)

Happy Reading!

Similar read (but one I liked a lot more):

The Audacity of Sara Grayson by Joani Elliott

A Fire in the Night by Christoper Swann

 

The plot:  Only in his 40s, Nick Anthony is a retired professor of medieval history, a former marine, and a widower. Since his wife's death, he's retreated to an isolated cabin in the North Carolina mountains. And he just wants to be left alone. Then a sixteen-year-old girl turns up on his front porch, and he learns that she's his niece, Annalise; her parents are dead; and the men that murdered them are now after her. It's up to Nick not only to keep her safe, but to figure out the truth behind his brother's death. Good thing there's more to Nick Anthony than meets the eye.

My thoughts:  This character-driven novel is both riveting and immersive. I was immediately drawn to Nick Anthony, both for his love for and grief over his wife, Ellie, and for his stumbling but well-meaning and honest attempts to be a good uncle to Annalise. I liked their hesitant relationship with all its ups and downs, and I loved the unexpected secret from Nick's past and the way he goes after the bad guys. There's good action and suspense in this mystery. It reads very fast and it's so well-written!  ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Happy Reading!

Quick book recommendations...

 

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

Mika Moon is a witch. And while she loves her ability to do magic, she hates having to keep it secret from everyone around her. Mika is also an orphan (as all witches are). She doesn't have a home of her own, or any family. But when she's invited to Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic, she finds both. And with Jamie, the scowling and distrustful yet handsome librarian, she might have also found love. This book is enchantting, uplifting and magical. I loved it.

Off the Map by Trish Doller

I loved Doller's Float Plan and this latest book by her is almost as good. Carla is on her way to Ireland for Anna's wedding; Eamon, as best man, is tasked with picking her up at the airport. Their chemistry is immediate and off the charts. And their drive to Tralee brings several unexpected detours along the way, and a chance at love for both of them. I really liked Carla and Eamon; their relationship is full of humor, brutal honesty, amusing banter, and steamy sex. This is another captivating romance from Trish Doller. 

Happy Reading!

From the A Shelf...

 Author:  Anderson, Rachael Renee

Title:  Minor Adjustments

There are a lot of authors whose last names begin with A:  Austen, Auel, Atwood, Archer, Adler-Olsen, Adichie, Abbott. It was hard choosing just one book. In the end, I went with this novel by a local Utah author, Rachael Renee Anderson, because I was in the mood for a more light-hearted read....and it's set in Australia.

From the blurb:  "Bachelor Devon Pierce isn't sure what to think when he's appointed guardian of four-year-old Australian Ryan Caldwell--except that he's completely unprepared to be anyone's guardian. Leaving his Chicago business, he heads to Sydney to prove he isn't up for the responsibility. But Ryan's solicitor, Stella Walker, convinces him to give it a try--at least for a few weeks. Little does Devon know this 'minor' adjustment will turn his life upside down and grant him a future he never expected to have."

My thoughts:  This is a sweet and heartwarming story. At just 214 pages, it's not very long, and it reads fast. I really liked Devon, and enjoyed watching his transformation from single guy to loving Dad. The sparks between him and Stella were fun, too. And there's a lot of humor and a happy ending. All in all, this was a good pick from the A shelf, and it wraps up my Reading the Alphabet project....although I now have a list of other A authors I want to read. Like Mona Awad, Tahmina Anan, and Jeff Abbott. But that was kind of the whole point of this alphabet reading project:  to discover new books and new authors from the library shelves. And it definitely worked. Maybe someday I'll start back at Z and do it all over again. 

Happy Reading!

Snowed In For Christmas by Sarah Morgan

 

5 Things I loved about this heartwarming Christmas novel:

✷ It's set in Scotland! 

✷ Lucy Clarke gets snowed in with Ross Miller and his entire family over Christmas. 

(I love that snowed-in trope!)

✷ Nanna Jean's unapologetic outspokenness & advice when it comes to matters of the heart--"because she's 86 and not getting any younger!"

✷ The banter and loyalty between Ross and his two sisters, Alice and Clemmie.

✷ The romance, friendship, and love between Alice and Nico, Clemmie and Fergus, and Ross and Lucy. 

In tone and content, this one reminded me a lot of my favorite Rosamunde Pilcher books. It's all about family, finding love, and having the courage to speak up and tell your truth. This novel is charming and fun, and all the happy endings made me smile. 

Happy Reading!

The Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin...

The 3 main characters:

Jake Stevenson sports the tallest mohawk in Hood River County. He's also a talented trumpet player. And he's a paraplegic. One year ago, just before he graduated from high school, he cracked his back in a stupid accident and now he's confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Now everything is messed up and he feels like he's "just killing time in the jail that was his life. This life (that) had replaced the life he was supposed to have--one of music and promise, the other life that now felt like something he had imagined."

Alice Holtzman is forty-four years old. She's a beekeeper, and still grieving the death of her husband. And recently she's been struggling with panic attacks. She tries not to let anyone see that she "was made of a million tiny broken pieces held together by cookies, solitary driving, and the sheer determination not to go crazy in public."

Then there's Harry Stokes, twenty-four, balding, and riddled with a paralyzing social anxiety. He struggles to talk to people, to find a job, to make decisions. He's good at writing lists, but his lists never seem to help him figure out life.

The rest of it:

These three characters are an unlikely trio of misfits that somehow form a family, first as Alice teaches Jake all about her bees, and then when they draw Harry out of his shell. They work together, and help each other; and when Alice's bees are threatened, they join with the community to try and save them. In the process, they find friendship, hope, newfound peace, and joy. 

What can I say? I loved this book. I loved all the quirky characters, and the bees, and the happy ending. The Music of Bees is poignant, touching, uplifting, and heartwarming. And I definitely recommend it. 

Happy Reading!

The Book Charmer by Karen Hawkins...

 

First line:  On the Saturday after her seventh birthday, a book spoke to Sarah May Dove. 

Plot summary:  The small town of Dove Pond is in financial trouble. Businesses are closing, people are leaving. But Sarah Dove, Dove Pond's librarian, has hopes that things are about to change. Because Grace Wheeler has just moved to Dove Pond with her eight-year-old niece, Daisy, and her former foster mother, Mama G, who's struggling with Alzheimer's. For Grace it's a temporary move, but the books are whispering to Sarah that Grace is just what Dove Pond needs. She might be just what Sarah's gruff neighbor and best friend, Travis, needs, too.

My thoughts:  Like its title suggests, this book is a charming and heartwarming read. The town of Dove Pond is full of quirky, fun characters--I mean, who could resist a character that can speak to books, or a library full of books that know just who needs to read them but won't always say why? Grace is another easy-to-like character. I had a lot of sympathy for her as she struggled to deal with her grief over her sister's death, and be a good mom to her niece. And I loved her relationship with Mama G! And I loved how the entire town of Dove Pond turned out to help them when they needed it. Her reluctant friendship with Travis also made me smile.  There's a bit of magical realism in this one, too, which just added to the enchantment. Family and friendship, humor and heart...this book has it all. 

Happy Reading!

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

     "I don't know what the country's comin' to," the fat man continued. His complaint had shifted and he was no longer talking to or about the Joads. "Fifty-six cars a folks go by ever' day, folks all movin' West with kids an' househol' stuff. Where they goin'? What they gonna do?"

    "Doin' the same as us," said Tom. "Goin' someplace to live. Tryin' to get along. That's all."

That just might be the theme of this novel: regular, ordinary people doing the best they can, "tryin' to get along", in a world where the cards all seem stacked against them. Just out of prison, Tom Joad comes home to find his family driven off the land they've farmed for generations. These sharecroppers are hard workers, but what are they without their land? So, they sell everything they own and set out for California, hoping to build a better life there. But there aren't jobs for them in California, at least not ones that pay enough for them to live on; and though they scrimp and scrabble, they never seem able to get ahead. Loss and tragedy seem to be their lot in life. 

In this novel, John Steinbeck skillfully depicts what life was like during the great Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s, as well as the hardships, hopes and defeats of the Joad family. At 455 pages, this isn't a fast read. But there's a rhythm to Steinbeck's prose that I really appreciate; it's almost poetic. Like in this paragraph:

"66 is the path of people in flight, refugees from dust and shrinking land, from the thunder of tractors and shrinking ownership, from the desert's slow northward invasion, from the twisting winds that howl up out of Texas, from the floods that bring no richness to the land and steal what little richness is there. From all of these the people are in flight, and they come into 66 from the tributary side roads, from the wagon tracks and the rutted country roads. 66 is the mother road, the road of flight."

Did I love this one? Not exactly. But only because the Joads' story is so sad. No matter how hard they try they never get ahead; things just keep going from bad to worse for them. And I hated the hopelessness of their journey. But I do like the way Steinbeck writes. He tells a powerful and sweeping story, and I can see why The Grapes of Wrath is considered a classic. And I'm very glad I read it. Written in 1939, this one counts as my 20th Century Classic for Karen's Back to the Classics Challenge.

Happy Reading!

A desperate plea for help...

 The Unanswered Letter by Faris Cassell

From the blurb:

Dear Madam — You are surely informed about the situation of all Jews in Central Europe and this letter will not astonish you.

In August 1939, just days before World War II broke out in Europe, a Jewish man in Vienna named Alfred Berger mailed a desperate letter to a stranger in America who shared his last name.

By pure chance I got your address . . . I beg you instantly to send for me and my wife...

Decades later, journalist Faris Cassell stumbled upon the stunning letter and became determined to uncover the story behind it. How did the American Bergers respond? Did Alfred and his family escape Nazi Germany? Over a decade-long investigation in which she traveled thousands of miles, explored archives and offices in Austria, Belarus, Czech Republic, and Israel, interviewed descendants, and found letters, photos, and sketches made by family members during the Holocaust, Cassell wrote the devastating true story of The Unanswered Letter.

My thoughts:

I loved this book so much! It's poignant and heartbreaking, thoughtful, gripping, unforgettable and beautifully written. Once I started, I didn't want to stop. No matter how many books I read about the victims or the survivors of the Holocaust, their stories always get to me. This one is no different. The history of the Berger family made me smile...and cry. And Faris Cassell is such a good writer! I was drawn to her own part in this story as well.

"Alfred and Hedwig Berger had been ordinary people, like most of humanity--like me. They were important because they were human. ... This dramatic letter had drawn me irresistibly and haunted me with questions that reverberated through my life. I hoped to understand, at least a little, how divisions that separate people could grow to Holocaust dimensions."

This is a such a compelling story. In a lot of ways, it reminded me of another favorite nonfiction read: The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million by Daniel Mendelsohn. Both are amazing books and well worth reading!

Happy Reading!

The Lost and Found Bookshop by Susan Wiggs

 

Short summary of the plot: 

Natalie Harper has a safe job she doesn't really like, and a safer boyfriend she just doesn't love. But everything in her life changes when her mother unexpectedly dies. Now Natalie is in charge of her mother's beloved bookstore, The Lost and Found Bookshop, and she's also responsible for her aging grandfather who's been experiencing memory issues. To make matters worse, the bookstore is drowning in debt and unpaid bills. The logical answer is to sell it. Only the historic San Francisco building that houses the bookshop belongs to her grandfather, and he refuses to sell because he's convinced there's a treasure hidden somewhere inside. But the old building is practically falling down around them and in need of some serious repairs, none of which Natalie can afford. So, to keep her grandfather happy, Natalie has to figure out some way to save her mother's bookshop. 

My thoughts:

The thing I loved most about this book is Natalie's sweet relationship with her grandfather, and how she tries so hard to honor and take care of him. I also loved the bookstore and its interesting history. Bookstores have always been a favorite setting of mine. Then there's Peach Gallagher, the ex-marine Natalie hires to do some repairs on the bookstore, and his cute daughter Dorothy. They're both such great characters; I loved them, too. Books, family, friendship, loss, hope, and love. All of these things make this novel a joy to read. And it's got a happy ending, too! And right now, don't we all need one of those?

Happy Reading!

Salvage the Bones

Jesmyn Ward's novel takes place in Bois Sauvage, Mississippi, during the 12 days leading up to Hurricane Katrina. But in Esch's family, only her often-drunk father seems concerned about the approaching storm. He's running around gathering plywood for the windows and filling empty moonshine jugs with water. Esch and her brothers, on the other hand, are too consumed with their own problems to worry about a hurricane they don't believe is actually going to hit their town. After all, 15-year-old Esch just found out she's pregnant; her oldest brother, Randall, is  trying to figure out how to pay for basketball camp; Skeetah, the middle brother, can't think about anything other than his pit bull, China, and her brand new puppies; and Junior, the youngest, is too young to understand what a real hurricane can do.

This novel is "a wrenching look at the lonesome, brutal, and restrictive realities of rural poverty." It's gritty and raw, from its f-word filled prose to its tough-to-read dog fighting scenes. While I had the most sympathy for Esch and her struggles, I actually liked Randall and their friend, Big Henry, the best. Skeetah was equal parts likeable and frustrating. All of Ward's characters though felt very genuine and real. Overall, while good, this is not an easy book to read. At times it feels like a punch in the gut. Which made it hard for me to love it, or even like it that much. But I will definitely never forget it.

Happy Reading!

Some bookish advice:

If your mom hands you a book this week and tells you to read it because "It's such a good book; you'll love it!" -- Read it. Especially if the book happens to be Take Me With You by Catherine Ryan Hyde. Because she's right. It's not only a really good read, it's also touching, well-written, and the perfect summer road-trip book.

Here's what I loved about it:

1. August Shroeder, the lonely high school science teacher who's headed to Yellowstone National Park with his dog, Woody, in order to sprinkle some of his son's ashes there.
2. Seth and Henry, the two young boys who end up traveling with August while their Dad spends ninety days in jail. (Especially Henry.)
3. The fact that on their way to Yellowstone they also visit Zions and Bryce Canyon...two national parks that I love because they're right here in Utah and they're amazing!
4. The poignant relationship that develops between August and the two boys over the course of the summer and where it eventually leads these three unique and extremely likeable characters.

You know what? My mom was right. I did love this book. Makes me think I should've read those other books she was always telling me to read when I was growing up. Oh, well. Live and learn!

Happy Reading!

R Shelf Serendipity...

Author: Vaddey Ratner

Title: In the Shadow of the Banyan

Smoke was everywhere, as black as the soldiers' clothes. On sidewalks, books and papers burned in piles. Ashes flew up into the air, like burnt butterflies. I wondered why they were called Khmer Rouge--"Red Khmer." There was nothing red about them ... I wondered what they were really. Soldiers or peasants? Children or adults? They looked neither like devarajas nor rakshasas, the mythical gods and demons I'd imagined them to be; in those plain black clothes they looked more like a race of shadows, each one a repetition of the others.

Raami is seven when the Khmer Rouge overrun Phnom Penh and her family's life of royal privilege quickly comes to an end. They're forced to leave their home in Phnom Penh and flee to the country. Then the Kamaphibal, the leaders of the Revolution, make them move again. And when they discover that her father is Sisowath Ayuravann, a well-educated prince and poet, they take him away. Raami, her mother, and her little sister are soon separated from the rest of their family and sent to a poor village among the rice paddies to work. Raami is bereft without her father, as is her beautiful mother. Somehow they must learn to survive in a Cambodia they no longer recognize.

Lightning struck, the sky roared, and the night cried a giant's tears, thunderous and inconsolable.

Ratner based her novel on her own life and her writing is magical. If I tried to write down all of my favorite passages I'd end up copying the entire book. It makes my own words feel so inadequate. Saying that this novel is compelling and powerful; sad, but somehow still full of hope, does not do it justice.  Ratner's writing is storytelling at its finest.

Needless to say, I loved this book. I was lucky enough to visit Cambodia six years ago and reading this book brought it all back:  theBuddhist temples, the tall gum trees, the thatched houses on stilts, the ox-carts, the rice fields, and most of all, the resilient people. This is definitely one of the best books I've read all year!

Words, you see, allow us to make permanent what is essentially transient. Turn a world filled with injustice and hurt into a place that is beautiful and lyrical.

Happy Reading!