family relationships

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

YA Review: SIX STRINGS by Jen Sanya Williamson

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I was recently approached to see if I would like to review SIX STRINGS by Jen Sanya Williamson. I thought the premise sounded great: a teenager is dealing with her beloved grandmother’s Alzheimer’s, when she discovers that she comes from a long line of time travelers, and that her grandmother has passed this gift along to her.

This was a book I would have loved when I was a teen! Riley, the protagonist, is a typical teenager: loves music, is thinking about college, has her special group of friends. From her grandmother she learns that her father is not her father, but that her biological father is actually a famous rock star from that her mother knew when she was young. His guitar is her item that helps her time travel and she has six chances to go back and explore the past in order to better understand the present. Riley is frightened, and only half-believing, but gives it a try. She goes back to the early 80’s and finds her grandparents (so poignant) and also her teen mother (yikes!) and her uncle. Along the way, she is also drawn to a boy she meets there, but needs to keep her true self a secret.

I just loved this book, which read quickly and was appropriate for a wide range of ages. My only disappointment is that the next book in the series is not available yet! 🙂 I have to add that Ms. Williamson’s portrayal of dementia is so spot on, it brought tears to my eyes.

Thank you for my review copy, and I will look forward to reading more from Ms. Williamson.

Review: MOTHERLAND by Maria Hummel

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I came across a review of MOTHERLAND in a magazine while I was getting my hair done a few weeks back. It looked intriguing, so I purchased it for my kindle. MOTHERLAND tells the story of a German family during WWII. Frank Kappus is a doctor who is sent into military service for Germany, helping soldiers who have suffered traumatic physical injuries. At home is his new young wife, Liesl, and his three little boys, the oldest of which is ten. Frank’s first wife died in childbirth, and the youngest boy is only a baby. Liesl tries to keep things going on the home front, while faced with dwindling rations, refugees moving in, a recalcitrant youngster, and most frightening, their middle son developing odd behaviors due to lead poisoning, with no ideas as how to help him. When doctors suggest he be institutionalized, Liesl begs her husband to come home.

This book was such an interesting read to me, largely in part because I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that presented a Nazi family as sympathetic. Generally, my WWII books have focused on the Jewish experience or the American home front. This book is loosely based on the author’s father’s experience as a young boy. Liesl does not spend much time thinking about politics, the war, or other’s experience as she is so wrapped up in just keeping going day to day. Frank gets some inkling that atrocities could be happening at a nearby concentration  camp, but he writes such ideas off as too incredible and does not investigate. I think that I have always struggled with the question: “How could the Holocaust have happened?? What were people doing that all these terrible deaths occurred right under people’s noses??” This novel in part answers that: many citizens were so caught in just surviving a day to day existence that they did not take the time to think about anything else. They followed the rule of their country without much questioning and perhaps with even thinking that some of the issues did not apply to or affect them.

This story was well-written but heart-breaking. The war pretty much destroys this family, and they are irrevocably scarred afterwards. These characters and the bleak grayness of this book stayed with me long after I was done reading. A good read, but a somber one.

Review: THE DEAD IN THEIR VAULTED ARCHES by Alan Bradley

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If you read me, you know I LOVE the Flavia de Luce mysteries – focusing on the humorous exploits and detective work of a precocious eleven-year-old chemist in the 1950’s British countryside.  Book 5 is coming out in January and I was thrilled beyond belief to get it from Net Galley (adding to my thrill was a tweet from Flavia herself saying she hoped I liked it!).

THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS!

THE DEAD IN THEIR VAULTED ARCHES takes up where the last book left off: Flavia and her family are notified that her long-lost mother, Harriet, has been found and is heading home. However, when Flavia’s family arrives at the train station, it is Harriet’s body that is returning home, not Harriet herself. How exactly did Harriet die on her mountain hiking expedition? And who was with her? What was she hiding? Who is the mysterious young man who whispers to Flavia and then has an “accident” and falls under the oncoming train? And why is the great man, Churchill, himself speaking to Flavia in what appears to be code??Flavia sets about getting to the bottom of mystery of her mother’s death; but first she seeks to use her beloved chemistry in an attempt to bring her mother back to life.

Once again, I enjoyed Flavia’s exploits and especially her uniquely intellectual voice and dry witticisms that had me laughing out loud while reading! Flavia’s attempt to bring her mother back was so poignant – there is hardly anything so heart-wrenching as a young child who yearns for their deceased mother. This time the de Luce family is shown in more of their moral and emotional complexity, and you come to know them as a family torn asunder from the loss of Harriet. Along with this is a rollicking mystery of the family’s involvement with WWII, and a finale that makes the reader think that while we will hear more from Flavia, it won’t be same as when she is toodling around the family estate.

While the first book in this series remains my most favorite, I recommend this to readers of the series. I find the stories follow best if you read them in order.

Thank you, Net Galley and Delacorte Press, for my copy!!

Review: THE LONGINGS OF WAYWARD GIRLS by Karen Brown

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Just published this past week, I received THE LONGINGS OF WAYWARD GIRLS as an ARC through Net Galley last month. I really enjoyed this book, in part for the nostalgia I felt for the lazy summer childhood days of the 70’s that are so aptly depicted in this intriguing and sometimes disturbing story within a story.

As the novel starts, Sadie is an adult and trying to regroup after the losing her baby. She lives in the town where she grew up and where, twenty years earlier, two girls disappeared. One girl had been in Sadie’s class, and she was never found again. The other girl was a sometimes friend of Sadie, and she still harbors guilt for her disappearance. Through flashback, we learn of Sadies’ childhood in her dysfunctional family, with an alcoholic actress mother and often absent father. Sadie is somewhat of a ringleader amongst her friends, and they spend their days in complex imaginary dramas, dressing up in the basement or creating forts in the woods surrounding the Connecticut neighborhood (I loved this depiction of childhood before everyone became “plugged in”!). The lost girl, assumed abducted, hangs as a specter over them all. Then Sadie and her friend play a trick on another (unpopular) girl, and she goes missing, too.

Back in the present day, Sadie is just trying to get by when a man who was a childhood friend returns to the neighborhood, setting into motion a chain of events that bring the past and present together in a tumultuous crash.

I really enjoyed reading this book and couldn’t put it down! I wanted to know what would happen, would the mystery be solved, and what would become of Sadie. I can’t say I loved Sadie as a character, but I did feel sympathy for her. And I really liked the depiction of pre-adolescent Sadie. I enjoyed Ms. Brown’s writing and will look for her other works – which are short story collections.

Highly recommended as a summer read!

Thank you, Net Galley and Washington Square Press, for my copy!

YA REVIEW: “Stones for My Father” by Trilby Kent

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As some of you know, I know Trilby Kent and have posted short interviews with her here (for instance, see: https://drbethnolan.wordpress.com/2011/03/31/author-interview-with-trilby-kent-2/). I was excited this week to read Trilby’s new YA book, “Stones for My Father”, which I downloaded for my Kindle.

“Stones for My Father” follows young Corlie Roux as her family fights to survive during the Boer War in South Africa. Corlie’s father has passed away and her mother, a cold, stern woman, works to keep the family – Corlie and her two younger brothers – alive. The encroaching British soldiers cause the family to flee their farm and they live in a circle of wagons with other settlers. Soon, though, they are discovered by British soldiers and taken to an internment camp for refugees. Corlie must face hunger, sickness, and loneliness in an effort to survive.

I LOVED Trilby’s novel and the character of Corlie. This novel has several layers to it – the story of the Boer War (which I knew only a little about), the story of Corlie’s family, Corlie’s relationship with her young African friend (their servant’s son), Corlie’s relationship with her brother Gert, Corlie’s mother (a complicated and not terribly likable character who is abusive to Corlie), and the role of a young Canadian soldier who befriends Corlie and her brother. This is a quick read – less than 200 pages – but compelling and at times intense. Some of the passages are heart-wrenching – even disturbing – and this novel can be read on more than one level. While YA readers will most certainly focus on Corlie’s trials and tribulations in her efforts to survive, older readers will also want to analyze Corlie’s family structure, the role of Boer women at that time (1899), and the bigger issues of war and land control in Africa by other countries. I would have loved to have read this novel as a  middle schooler — and I think adult fans of good historical fiction will like it as well.

Hats off to Trilby for a great read!