family relationships

Review: BROKEN PROMISE by Linwood Barclay

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Another book that I had for a while then got to read (on my cruise!) was BROKEN PROMISE.

I have to say, I love books like this – a little mystery, interesting and relatable characters, etc.

Here’s the description from Net Galley:

From the New York Times bestselling author of No Safe House comes an explosive novel about the disturbing secrets of a quiet small town.…

After his wife’s death and the collapse of his newspaper, David Harwood has no choice but to uproot his nine-year-old son and move back into his childhood home in Promise Falls, New York. David believes his life is in free fall, and he can’t find a way to stop his descent.

Then he comes across a family secret of epic proportions. A year after a devastating miscarriage, David’s cousin Marla has continued to struggle. But when David’s mother asks him to check on her, he’s horrified to discover that she’s been secretly raising a child who is not her own—a baby she claims was a gift from an “angel” left on her porch.

When the baby’s real mother is found murdered, David can’t help wanting to piece together what happened—even if it means proving his own cousin’s guilt. But as he uncovers each piece of evidence, David realizes that Marla’s mysterious child is just the tip of the iceberg.

Other strange things are happening. Animals are found ritually slaughtered. An ominous abandoned Ferris wheel seems to stand as a warning that something dark has infected Promise Falls. And someone has decided that the entire town must pay for the sins of its past…in blood.

Okay – that makes it sound a tad creepier than it really it. I loved this book and often laughed out loud at the main character, David, as he was rather sarcastic and often in ridiculous situations. I really enjoyed it.
This is the start of a series, but you can easily read it as a stand alone (though you will want more…)
Thanks, Net Galley and Penguin, for my e-copy to review!

Audiobook Review: IN THE UNLIKELY EVENT by Judy Blume

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I have a new job and it requires me to commute just under an hour each way. I celebrated my new position with a subscription to Audible, so that I could listen to books in the car. The very first one I chose to listen to was Judy Blume’s new novel for adults: IN THE UNLIKELY EVENT.

Here’s a book trailer from You Tube:

I’ve always just loved Judy Blume’s books. Her ability to take ordinary characters and make them so real and so unforgettable is her strength. This book was no exception. In it, she focuses on a time period in the early 1950’s when there were three air crashes/disasters in Elizabeth, NJ, from planes related to Newark airport. Her story is a story of everyday lives and of those touched by the tragedies — just normal people doing everyday things. One of the central characters is 15 year old Miri, and the story is often told through her eyes. Ms. Blume captures so well that era and what it was like to be a teenager then. Her nuances of daily life, of family life, and of an ordinary middle class existence ring so true, it’s hard to believe that this book isn’t based on real people (though it is based on real events and as Judy Blume experienced them).

If you love her writing, as I do, this one comes highly recommended!

The audiobook is just over 14 hours and is beautifully read by Kathleen McInerney (who has the propensity to change her voice for different characters).

Retro Review: LOVING FRANK by Nancy Horan

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Today for a “retro review” I’m throwing it back to 2009 and one of my first reviews. This book STILL haunts me!

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One of my book clubs recently chose “Loving Frank” by Nancy Horan as its January selection. This is the story of Frank Lloyd Wright’s rather public affair with Martha “Mamah” Cheney shortly after the turn of the century. Horan has done extensive research in order to capture Mamah (pronounced “May-mah”) as her protagonist. The book covers their relationship from their first meeting (when Wright was employed to build a house for Mamah and her then husband, Edwin) to its tragic end.

To be honest, this was not a book that I would have chosen on my own to read. I doubted that 362 pages about two married people having an affair – no matter how well-known they were – could hold my attention or interest. However, this book was oddly fascinating. Mamah is portrayed as an intelligent, independent, unique woman, while Frank Lloyd Wright is portrayed as a self-centered, driven genius. I felt that I had come to know these people, and to be honest, I did not like them. Frank’s selfishness and lack of dealing with the realities of life made me irritated with him – though I recognize that genius often comes at such a price. He had no qualms about trying to leave his wife and the six children he had by her. Mamah, on the other hand, was portrayed as sympathetic and as the proverbial butterfly trapped in a bell jar. I would have had more sympathy for her, but I personally could not move past the fact that she chose to desert her two very young children (and a very normal, though somewhat boring, husband) in order to live openly with Wright. She is portrayed as aching for her children, however, leaving them was by her choice, and she made that choice more than once. Furthermore, she left it to her maiden sister to raise them with her former husband.

As I became intrigued with this story, I made the very big mistake of googling these characters to get more real information on them. What a mistake!! I discovered the ending of this tale before I reached it, and let me warn you – it is not pleasant. In fact, I finished this book at 10:00 pm one night and had trouble sleeping. The ending is not only tragic, but haunting and disturbing – made all the more terrible by the fact that it is true.

I would recommend this book to those who have an interest in FLW, in historical fiction with real characters, and/or those who like a love story. It is well-written and well-researched, and I found that it reads easily. I can’t say I loved it as it was too disturbing, but I can appreciate its merits, so I’m giving it: 4 Stars. I purchased my copy from Amazon. (book cover image courtesy of Amazon).

Review: THE TRUTH ACCORDING TO US by Annie Barrows

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I received this from Net Galley a while back – and took my time reading it (it’s a tad long). I loved Annie Barrows’ Guernsey LIterary and Potato Peel Pie novel, so I knew I’d like this one, too.

In this novel, a young woman and senator’s daughter (Layla Beck) is sent to be part of the Federal Writers’ Project and to record the history of the small town of Macedonia, West Virginia. She boards with the Romeyn family, and throughout that hot, sticky summer of 1938, she learns about the town, the family, and herself.

The Romeyn family has a somewhat checkered past. Felix is the head of the household, but he’s a distant and somewhat mysterious man, whose past is shrouded in secrecy. His sister Jottie shares the house with him and cares for his two young daughters, Willa and Bird. Their mother has left them years ago. Jottie has a past herself, marred by tragedy and star-crossed love. Layla finds herself drawn to the family and their other relatives, all the while she is deciding what she really wants to do with her life.

The character of 12-year-old Willa tells the story along with Layla and we sometimes get Jottie’s point of view, too; but the switch is never confusing. I loved the voice of Willa. I loved, too, how Ms. Barrows’s evocative writing moved in parts with the lazy heat of summer. This book oozed with secrets kept right under the surface, and people grown complacent in keeping those secrets. Layla’s feelings and actions moved toward their inevitable conclusion with a slow trickle. The last part of the book moved quickly, though, with the climax and subsequent actions/denouement.

Loved this book – lots to discuss, too!

Find it at an Indie near you – I am an Indie Bound Affiliate.

Thank you, Net Galley and The Dial Press, for my review e-copy!

Find it at an Indie near you! I am an Indie Bound Affiliate.

My thoughts on GO SET A WATCHMAN by Harper Lee

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Well, I managed to avoid all the hype surrounding the publication of Harper Lee’s GO SET A WATCHMAN. I didn’t want to know about it in advance. All I knew was that this manuscript had been kept by Alice (Lee’s sister) in a safety deposit box and was an early draft of writing that pre-dated TKAM. It had the same characters. Considering that I have read TKAM 20 times (seriously) and it is one of my favorite books ever, I pre-ordered it months ago and waited to read it.

(As I write about my reading experience, I will note where there are SPOILERS).

WATCHMAN starts with Jean Louise heading home to Maycomb to visit her family. She lives in NYC now and is in her early twenties. I have to say, that once I started reading, I just felt enveloped by Harper Lee’s writing. It was like a warm bath. Her voice and style is so distinctive (yes, I never believed Truman Capote wrote TKAM. Sacrilege!). I nestled in to the book with the thought, “Nelle Harper, you’ve come home to your readers.” The first 100 pages not too much happened beyond Jean Louise returning home. Familiar characters became familiar once again. (SPOILER ALERT) Most notably, though, Atticus is aging and infirm from arthritis; and dear Jem is dead (passed away before the start of the book from a congenital heart issue). I have to say I was a bit startled by these changes. A new character (or at least one I don’t remember from my many reads of TKAM) is Hank, a neighbor and friend of Jean Louise. He wants to marry her and the two of them seem set for each other. Hank is taking over Atticus’ law practice.

Then a pivotal event occurs (SPOILER!!!!). Jean Louise visits the courthouse to see what the Citizens’ Council is up to and finds a speaker there who is working hard to keep segregation in the South. He spews forth some evil, racist remarks. Jean Louise is shocked but most shocking of all is that her father sits on one side of him and her intended on the other. Atticus Finch is a racist?? Well, I was as shocked as Jean Louise. I was disgusted. I felt tricked. What happened to that pillar of righteous justice from TKAM?? Jean Louise felt that same way.

The next part of the book is her trying to come to grips with this. There are flashbacks. There is a passing mention to the Tom Robinson trial – which is different from the Tom Robinson trial of TKAM but definitely based on the same trial. Jean Louise struggles and fights and rails. Her uncle plays a big role in this part of the book – but to be honest, I found him confusing. His words to her were almost all allegory and “riddles”. I was confused – but maybe that was just me. All the time Jean Louise is seeing racism and prejudice everywhere she looks.

At the end (SPOILER!!) I thought there might be a different wrap-up. I don’t know what I expected – maybe Atticus to slap her on the back and say, “I’m only fooling with you, Scout! And with your readers!” However, I think the ending is important in that Atticus doesn’t change. Scout has seen him for what he is. She accepts him though she doesn’t agree with him. And this is the point where the story becomes a true coming of age story — Atticus is proud of her because she thinks differently from him and stands by her convictions. In her mind, she “welcomes him to the human race”. Atticus has been a demigod for Jean Louise (and for many of us readers). He’s not. He’s human – and imperfect.

So let’s think about the title here. Jean Louise hears them say it in church so I googled it and it’s a Biblical reference from Isaiah. Go set a watchman. Go set a person who will watch over us all. I am guessing Nelle Harper considered Atticus the watchman, as this was a book that pre-dated and was reworked into TKAM. To read this one, you could consider Jean Louise to be the watchman, as she has entered the fight against racism and injustice.

However, shouldn’t and couldn’t we all be the watchmen?

You can see this book at your local indie or on Amazon It’s where I preordered mine ages ago. It is less than 300 pages.

Just a note. I did find the blatant racist language and diatribes in this book hard to read. You might, too.

Review: EVERYTHING I NEVER TOLD YOU by Celeste Ng

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At BEA I had the chance to meet Celeste Ng and get a signed copy of her novel: EVERYTHING I NEVER TOLD YOU. I had heard the chatter about this book, comparing it to GONE GIRL. I was excited to read it.

First, no offense, but GONE GIRL has nothing on this book. Yes they are both about girls who are gone, and you need to learn why, but this novel is SO much more. When the story opens, Lydia’s family doesn’t realize that she’s not just late to breakfast, she is actually dead – drowned at the nearby lake. Lydia was a quiet, studious girl, but did her parents really know her? Did anyone? Lydia’s family is a study in relationships: her intense, Caucasian mother who is determined that Lydia will be the outstanding scholar that she never had the chance to be; her Chinese-American professor father, whose wish is for his children to just “blend in”; her older brother, Nathan, whom she relies on and adores; and her younger, forgotten sister, Hannah, who is the intuitive observer in the family. Told through flashbacks interspersed with current day, EVERYTHING I NEVER TOLD YOU is beautifully written and is an unforgettable novel about identity, family, and relationships. I could not put it down.

Run, don’t walk, to get this one!

You can find it at a local indie near you. I am an Indie Bound affiliate:


Find it at an Indie near you! I am an Indie Bound Affiliate.

Review: LIAR’S BENCH by Kim Michele Richardson

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Coming of age stories set in the South always appeal to me, so I chose this book from Net Galley.

LIAR’S BENCH is the story of Mudas Summers, a teenage girl living in Kentucky in the 1970’s. Her mother is found dead and suicide is the ruling. Muddy, however, believes her mother was hiding something, and perhaps was killed. Part flashback, part coming of age, and part mystery, LIAR’S BENCH chronicles Muddy’s attempts to find her mother’s story and in essence find herself.

While I liked this story, and found it to be well-written, it was fairly raw and gritty. Muddy’s existence was not an easy one, and the depiction of abuse and neglect was disturbing to me. Just about everyone in her family seemed dysfunctional, and a whole crew of townspeople were hardly more than criminals. I spent a lot of reading time anxious that Muddy and her boyfriend would be harmed or even killed.

I’d be curious what others think of this story. It was quite honestly portrayed and the writing was great. I found it a bit depressing, though I did like the uplifting ending.

Thank you for my review copy, Kensington Press!

Audiobook Review: THE GOLDFINCH by Donna Tartt

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A while back, everyone was reading THE GOLDFINCH. Thus, I stayed away. Several people told me they read it in their bookgroups. When I asked how it was, I inevitably got the same answer: long. So, when I saw it at the library on the audiobook shelf, I snatched up all 26 CD’s of it.

THE GOLDFINCH is a tale that covers years in a young man’s life – from the fatal day when a bombing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art takes his mother from him, to time with his friend’s family, to years with his father, to adulthood back in NYC where he works in an antique shop, gets involved in the “art underground”, and tries to reconnect with a girl he has always been fascinated by, a girl he first saw the day of the bombing. This story fascinated me and held me, even though it is long. I loved Tartt’s writing and how she captured the characters and sense of place.

In the beginning, Theo Decker is just thirteen and living with his mother in New York. They go to see some art at the MET that his mother likes and it is clear that they share a special relationship. Theo is enjoying himself and has his eye on a red-headed teenage girl with her grandfather when the bomb blast happens. Theo panics. He  can’t find his mother. In his confused state he finds the grandfather and takes a ring from him. He then takes a picture his mother loves – The Goldfinch – from the wall and puts it in his bag. Within days, Social Services arrives at this apartment as they know his mother is missing/dead. Theo goes to live with a wealthy classmate and his family, the Barbours. The family is fairly dysfunctional, though Theo and Andy get along well. Andy’s older brother terrifies Theo and his younger sister is rather annoying. In time his father comes to look for him, with his girlfriend Xandra, and Theo heads out to live with them and their small dog in Las Vegas. In Vegas he meets Boris, his only friend, and together they spend a lot of time hanging out. In time, Theo’s father dies and he heads back to NYC, to an antique shop where the friend of the girl’s grandfather lives. The parts of his life begin to merge together at this point as Theo tries to win over Pippa (the girl), makes a name for himself in antiques with the older gentleman, has Boris re-enter his life, gets into the art forgery business, and grows into adulthood and into a relationship with Andy’s younger sister. All the time, the priceless portrait of the Goldfinch is hidden in his bag.

Okay – that is way more summary info than I usually give in a review, but it gives you an idea of the scope of this book. That said, when I finally got to the end I was a bit disappointed as I felt that I was left hanging. What happened? What did he decide? Is there a sequel?? The writing is beautiful and the narration was truly spectacular — this was my favorite audiobook narration ever! David Pittu was the narrator and he did an amazing job. I LOVED his husky-voiced Xandra; I LOVED his spot-on accented Boris. He was one reason I liked this book so much.

So apparently I’m not the only one who thinks this is a well-written story, as it won the Pulitzer for Fiction for 2013.

Highly recommended – but also a really great listen! Let me know if you’ve read it already and what you thought about it.

Review: DOWN BY THE RIVER by Lin Stepp

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I received a copy of DOWN BY THE RIVER through Net Galley to review. It looked like a nice story line: widow starts over by taking on a bed and breakfast in the Smoky Mountains. Apparently this is the sixth book in the Smoky Mountain (Christian) series, though I haven’t read any of the others. It can be read on its own.

The story line is fairly straightforward: widowed Grace Conley feels ready to start over. Her children are grown and her former life no longer holds her since her businessman husband passed away. She sells her large house as she is no longer entertaining or helping with his family business, and takes on a beautiful little bed and breakfast in a small town. Grace is learning to rediscover herself and her emotions. There is an interesting cast of characters along the way.

The following contains SPOILERS – beware!

So here’s the thing — I didn’t dislike this book, however, I didn’t really love it. The setting and the characters of Grace and her daughter Margaret and the young twins: yes, I liked them a lot. I liked the underlying Christian themes and messages. Jack grew on me but I found him intolerable at the beginning. (Yes, he changes – predictably – over the course of the book). What I really did not like was the “crazy man” story line. It was odd and disturbing and then suddenly there’s a hasty wrap up of the situation near the end that involves rape, murder, and mental illness. Also the two characters who moved the plot along through their clairvoyance, or whatever you want to call it, bothered me, too. How handy to have a gift that you can know the future and know, according to this story, what God wants from you and what you should do. And there were two characters like this! I don’t know – didn’t work for me.

So – at the end of the day – if I don’t like a book, I don’t finish it and I don’t review it (hence the overwhelming positive “voice” of my blog). I liked it enough to finish it, just not enough to want to gush about it. I would read another one by Ms. Stepp, though, and I do like reading Christian books as they are “clean reads” with positive messages.

Find it at an indie bookstore near you — I am an indie bound affiliate:


Find it at an Indie!

REVIEW: My Thinning Years by Jon Derek Croteau

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A while back I received a note from a publicist asking if I would read and review Jon’s book: MY THINNING YEARS, which is subtitled, “Starving the Gay Within”. It had published this past fall. It took me FOREVER to get to the book, and then it took me a while to read it as Jon’s story is so heart-wrenching (though the book is under 300 pages).

This book is a memoir of Jon’s life growing up in Massachusetts and how he was stifled by an incredibly overbearing, opinionated, and demanding father. Jon’s life was made to be sports (whether he liked it or not). Jon’s proclivities as a child leaned more towards theater, dress-up, and singing, but his father was having none of it. As Jon matured, his tried to hide and deny his sexuality, instead exercising and running relentlessly, and dieting to the point of anorexia. Eventually, Jon is able to accept himself and make a life for himself, find love, and be happy.

I have to say – this book is at some points just heart-breaking. Jon’s father is determined to turn him into his ideal of “American boy” and it’s not a pretty process. Jon’s mother is the one who accepts him unconditionally, but she is just not strong enough to take on his father. It’s basically disaster after disaster and I just felt terrible for young Jon as he went through his younger years trying to escape his father’s wrath and trying to deny or hide his natural proclivities and talents.

Thankfully, this story has a happy ending. It’s brave of Jon to share his story with the world, and I hope that it helps other young people who may be at the point he was when younger.

Thank you for my review copy, Claire McKinney PR!

You can find this book at an indie bookstore near you — I am an Indie Bound Affiliate:


My Thinning Years