women’s relationships

Review: LOST LAKE by Sarah Addison Allen

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Love love love…I just love the writing and characters of Sarah Addison Allen’s work. LOST LAKE is no different. I happily received this from Net Galley last month and couldn’t wait to read it. Addison Allen’s stories combine true to life characters grappling with real problems, with a little bit of magic thrown in. They are memorable and heart-warming stories – the kind of books that stay with you long after you’ve read the last page.

In LOST LAKE, young widow Kate Pheris has spent a year grieving her late husband. Her overbearing, but well-meaning, mother-in-law preps Kate and her daughter Devin to move in with her, but instead Kate takes off on a short vacation with Devin to Lost Lake. Kate hasn’t been there since she was twelve, but her memories are of a magical place and long lazy summer days, many spent with her young friend Wes. Lost Lake, though, is on the verge of being sold and turned into condominiums. The owner, Kate’s great-aunt Eby (also a widow), is going to sell and move on with her retirement since times have changed and most people no longer visit or even remember the vacation site exists. Kate’s presence and “return” to Lost Lake cause quite a stir, and soon the townsfolk, along with Kate and an interesting cast of character friends, work to help Eby keep the property.

I’m always a sucker for a happy ending! I also like stories where characters are trying to heal from a loss or past hurt. There is more than one character with wounds in this story, and each has their own storyline.

If you enjoy Sarah Addison Allen’s books (such as THE PEACH KEEPER, THE SUGAR QUEEN, and GARDEN SPELLS), you will enjoy LOST LAKE!

Thank you, Net Galley and St. Martin Press, for my copy!

Here’s a short Goodreads video of Sarah talking about the book and her own life (via You Tube):

Quick YA Review: CODE NAME VERITY by Elizabeth Wein

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Since I had recently read ROSE UNDER FIRE, I went back and read CODE NAME VERITY, which comes first (though it can be a stand alone book). This is an extraordinary depiction of a friendship during WWII, told from the writings of a British female POW, held by Germans for spying, and then from the perspective of her friend, the female pilot who flew them there. Their story is heart-breaking and haunting, and stayed with me long after I finished reading.

An intense read, I’d recommend it to older YA readers and definitely to adults who enjoy historical fiction of the WWII era.

I can’t say more without giving it all away. I’ve debated for weeks how to even write this review, and settled on this very short blurb!

See this book on Amazon where I got mine.

Review: CALL ME ZELDA by Erika Robuck

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A while back I went to a book talk and signing by Erika Robuck held at my favorite indie: The Concord Bookshop. I loved her talk about how she came to write CALL ME ZELDA, about Zelda Fitzgerald’s time spent in a mental institution while she was treated for schizophrenia and the relationship she forms with her nurse. I bought but saved CALL ME ZELDA until our trip in August so that I could take it with me (sort of like bringing along a special friend!). I enjoyed this beautiful but heart-breaking novel and didn’t want it to end.

In CALL ME ZELDA, psychiatric nurse Anna Howard is still recovering herself from the losses of WWI (her husband is MIA and her young daughter has died of pneumonia). She works at a mental hospital and has Zelda Fitzgerald (wife of F. Scott) in her charge. She and Zelda form a bond and become friends. Anna’s emotional attachment to the troubled Zelda leads her to leave her job and work privately for the Fitzgerald family, where she is privy to the highs and lows, the sweetness and the abuse, of Scott and Zelda’s relationship. Zelda, who is schizophrenic and also seems depressed, is unpredictable yet vulnerable. She shows great brilliance, yet feels smothered and held back by Scott. Scott, meanwhile, is an alcoholic who brilliance is at times eclipsed by his selfish manipulations. Anna’s own back story exists as another story line in this book: her struggle with coming to peace with her losses and her striving to begin to live life again.

All in all, I loved this book. It read easily and I felt the character of Anna was well-developed and believable. I didn’t know too much about the Fitzgeralds before reading this novel, and I realize it is fiction, but I found their portrayal quite fascinating. This is one of several books on Zelda Fitzgerald published this year and I put in with my “woman behind the man books” – e.g. “The Paris Wife”, “The Aviator’s Wife”, “Loving Frank”, etc. This was a great read and will undoubtedly be one of my top books for 2013 – made all the more special because my copy is signed by Erika!

YA Review: ROSE UNDER FIRE by Elizabeth Wein

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I found ROSE UNDER FIRE on Net Galley and thought it sounded intriguing. While presented as a YA read, this book was quite intense emotionally and I thought could be enjoyed by adults as well. In ROSE UNDER FIRE, WWII courier pilot Rose Justice finds herself downed by Nazi aircraft into German territory. Terrified, she realizes that they don’t intent to harm her, per say, but keep her in a work camp. That camp turns out to be Ravensbrück, the notorious women’s concentration camp. Rose spends several months there, through the winter, before she is liberated in a harrowing escape.

I could not put this book down. While it was suspenseful and “exciting” (notice quotes), it was haunting and disturbing, and really painted such a vivid picture of Ravensbrück that I had nightmares (full disclosure: I’m a pretty sensitive person). The book starts with Rose’s daily diary of events. She’s a courier, an American actually, working for the British. Her life has been pretty innocent up until the war. She is only nineteen. She flies to Paris on a job and has a wonderful day there, including “buzzing” the Eiffel Tower. She is scheduled to fly back to England the next day, but then we realize that Rose is classified as “missing”. Family and friends try to be hopeful but presume she is most probably killed. The book then is Rose’s writings of her memoir of the time spent in camp as she stays at the Ritz in Paris to recuperate. The end of the book is in Rose’s present time, as the war ends in Europe.

Before reading this book, I had little knowledge of Ravensbrück. I knew it was a concentration camp and I thought it was for women. The portrayal of the camp in this book is really remarkable. I could see it so vividly. As with a lot of WWII literature, the resiliency of the prisoners to stay alive was incredible and awe-inspiring. I know it’s fiction, but people experienced what these women did, and it is both fascinating and horrible. A large portion of the book centers on the Polish girls in the camp who were used for experiments by the Nazi’s. Called “the rabbits”, they were experimented on so that the Germans could figure out how best to treat war wounds and infections. Wish I could say Ms. Wein made this up, but she didn’t. Wein is the author of CODE NAME VERITY, which I have not read, but which I purchased so that I could.

Highly recommended if you are a reader of this genre, but be prepared. YA doesn’t mean this book is just for the kids. In fact, I would hope that if young people were reading this book (which would be an excellent hs classroom choice) that adults are talking to them about it and discussing it with them.

Thanks, Net Galley and Miramax Publishing, for my copy!

ROSE UNDER FIRE publishes 9/10/13.

Review: THE ASTRONAUT WIVES CLUB: A TRUE STORY by Lily Koppel

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Earlier in the summer, I heard Lily Koppel being interviewed on NPR about her new novel. Then it seemed that wherever I looked, her book was there. I luckily got a copy of it from Net Galley to review. I found the story of the astronaut wives in the early years of the space program downright fascinating!

I was three years old in 1969 when men first walked on the moon. I have a vague memory of that moment – watching it on television with my family. I don’t have any real memories of the space program of that time, or the race to get men on the moon. But I do remember the culture of the 70’s, and what it was like to grow up then. Reading THE ASTRONAUT WIVES CLUB I was transported back to that era. Lily Koppel does an excellent job in capturing the essence of that time. Though this book is non-fiction, it reads very conversationally and is a quick and easy read (sometimes a little too easy – I did not appreciate reading that one astronaut “bought the farm” in an accident!). I often could not put it down because I found it so interesting.

Koppel follows the astronauts who were instrumental in the US space program by highlighting their wives and families (from the Mercury 7, Gemini, and Apollo programs). The reader becomes intimate with each woman (particularly the Mercury wives) – her background, her likes and dislikes, her strengths and weaknesses. We feel their trepidation when their husbands are in space, their relief is palpable when they return, and for those times when tragedy strikes, we can only imagine their pain and grief.

One of the striking things in this book for me was reading just how completely the wives had committed themselves to their husband’s careers. At the same time, I was rather disillusioned to read of how many of the husband’s were chronically unfaithful to their wives. I’d love to see another book written from the “astrokids” point of view!

Thanks, Net Galley and Grand Central Publishing for my copy!

Review: ALL THE SUMMER GIRLS by Meg Donohue

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I had the chance to hear Meg Donohue read from her new book at my local fave indie bookshop (The Concord Bookshop) where I purchased her ALL THE SUMMER GIRLS. This is a great summertime read as it’s set on the Jersey Shore.

Three longtime girlfriends, Kate, Dani, and Vanessa, reunite for one long weekend at the beach. Each one has her own issues and problems: Kate’s fiance has just broken up with her and she then learns she is pregnant; Dani has substance abuse problems and can’t keep a job, meanwhile she is trying to write a cathartic novel; Vanessa is feeling tied down as a stay at home mom and has learned that her husband has strayed. All three are still feeling the loss of Kate’s twin brother, Colin, who tragically drowned when they were last at the shore several years earlier. Each of them also carries her own guilt and secrets about that final night, too.

All in all I liked this book. Ms. Donohue’s writing is fluid and the characters are well-developed. I did feel a bit “old” reading this. The characters are all twenty-nine and still getting their lives together. (I’m in my forties and twenty-nine seems a long time ago!). They all also have experienced a lot of drama! While I liked the subplot of the secrets surrounding Colin’s death, I didn’t feel like I got to really know him as a character. He was definitely headed for self-destruction, and I wasn’t entirely sure why each girl blamed herself so much for his death, but I did like the theme of self acceptance and self forgiveness that came through at the end.

If you are looking for a summer read about friendship and self growth, then take a look at ALL THE SUMMER GIRLS!

Review: DOLLS BEHAVING BADLY by Cinthia Ritchie

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A while ago, Cinthia Ritchie contacted me and asked if I’d like to read and review her book DOLLS BEHAVING BADLY. It sounded interesting and funny, so I said yes. In the course of reading this book I misplaced it (it fell under the seat in my car!) so it took a while for me to read and finish it.

DOLLS BEHAVING BADLY is the story of Alaskan single mom, Carla, and her attempts to make it through the grind of daily life. She has a highly gifted young son, Jay-Jay, a pregnant sister, Laurel, an ex that she still hooks up with (Barry), a long dead but still present Polish grandma, and a teenage babysitter who pretty much has moved in with them (Stephanie). Her best friend has her own issues and Carla and she work together at a Mexican restaurant  – “Mexico in an Igloo”. Carla has been inspired by a speaker on Oprah to keep a diary and take control of her life. Add to this a new love interest, anthropologist Francisco, and Carla’s secret side occupation (making erotic, X-rated Barbie dolls) and you have the makings of a laugh-out-loud story with zany antics and characters that are so human and flawed that they become highly lovable.

I laughed out loud while reading this book and couldn’t help but root for Carla and her family. I loved the setting of Alaska (the only state I’ve never visited!) and the fact that while all these people had their problems, they were all just doing their best to get through life.

Thanks, Cinthia, for sending me your book to read!

Review: LOOKING FOR ME by Beth Hoffman

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I really enjoyed Beth Hoffman’s first novel, SAVING CEE CEE HONEYCUT. (Here’s a link to my earlier review of “Saving Cee Cee Honeycut”: https://drbethnolan.wordpress.com/2010/03/21/review-saving-ceecee-honeycutt-by-beth-hoffman/). I follow Beth on twitter and she seems like an incredibly nice person. Plus she has that “Southern writer touch” that I love so much in novels. So – I was quite thrilled to receive a copy of LOOKING FOR ME through Net Galley recently. I saved it a bit so that I could savor it while I read it. I love Ms. Hoffman’s characters and I knew that I would not want this story to end!

In LOOKING FOR ME, Teddi Overman is an artist – a furniture restorer – who owns her own shop in Charleston, S.C. Teddi comes from a humble family in Kentucky, and in flashback we are told her back story. Years ago her beloved and sensitive brother, Josh, has left and not returned. The family comes to believe that he is now dead, perhaps dying in an accident in the woods or from exposure. Teddi has some ghosts from her past to deal with, along with her incomplete grieving of her loss of Josh. Then events occur which suggest that maybe Josh is still alive. Teddi must return home and face the past – and the present.

Once again, I loved Ms. Hoffman’s characters and her story-telling! These people stayed with me so much, I actually dreamed about them one night. 🙂 This story’s sense of hope and strength left me feeling positive. I highly recommend it -especially as a summer read!

Thanks, Net Galley and Pamela Dorman Books, for my copy – it made my day!

Review: “The Forgotten Garden” by Kate Morton

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I’ve been on a Kate Morton kick lately, started by “The Secret Keeper”. I also loved “The House at Riverton”, but had some problems getting through “The Distant Hours” (I found it too gothic and too much like “The House at Riverton”). Friends had suggested “The Forgotten Garden”, but it was always out at the library. I finally broke down and purchased it for my kindle. I think this may be my favorite of her books.

Similar to her other books, “The Forgotten Garden” moves back and forth in time as we learn the story of Nell, a little girl found on the Brisbane docks by a dock worker and taken home as raised as one of his own. Nell is much beloved by her family, but her father feels he must tell her the truth on her twenty-first birthday: she is not their biological child and she most probably has family in England. Nell is crushed by this news and becomes determined to figure out where she is from and how she ended up on a ship going to Australia. She has vague memories of being taken there as part of a game by “the authoress”, and waiting for her or her mother or father to return for her, but no one did. She also has distant memories of playing in a garden maze and going through to a little cottage where “the authoress” lived.  Nell starts to piece together the story of her life, and travels to England to see where she is from and to see what she can learn. However, she unexpectantly “inherits” her granddaughter, and her plans are put on hold. Eventually, time passes and Nell does not return to England; her granddaughter, Cassandra, grows up, and Nell decides, as she is dying, to tell Cassandra her secret so that she can figure out the rest of the story. Cassandra then travels to England to figure out the mystery of who her grandmother really was.

I loved reading this story, which switched viewpoint and time period often. At points we were with Nell in the 70’s. Some times we were in present day. Some times it was a young girl, Eliza’s, story from the turn of the century – or Eliza’s story when she was living at the manor in 1910. As the book progressed,though, the viewpoints and storylines converged into one, and at the end, all the questions were answered. Of course a forgotten garden plays a large role here – complete with all that symbolizes!

Highly recommended!