Thursday, April 30, 2015

These Things Hidden

These Things Hidden
by Heather Gudenkauf

Genre: Fiction

Synopsis:  Allison Glenn tried to hide what happened that night...and failed.  The consequence?  A prison sentence.  Now she's free.  But secrets have a way of keeping you locked up.

When teenage Allison Glenn is sent to prison for a heinous crime, she leaves behind her reputation as Linden Falls' golden girl forever.  Her parents deny the existence of their once-perfect child.  Her former friends exult in her downfall.  Her sister, Brynn, faces whispered rumors every day in the hallways of their small Iowa high school.  It's Brynn-shy, quiet Brynn-who carries the burden of what really happened that night.  All she wants is to forget Allison and the past that haunts her.

But then Allison is released to a halfway house, and is more determined than ever to speak with her estranged sister.

Now their legacy of secrets is focused on one little boy.  And if the truth is revealed, the consequence will be unimaginable for the adoptive mother who loves him, the girl who tried to protect him and the two sisters who hold the key to all that is hidden.

Review:  This is my least favorite book by Gudenkauf.  The story just wasn't compelling.  I felt like there wasn't that much of a mystery.  I didn't feel connected to the characters at all nor did I really care about what happened to them.  We are first introduced to Allison and Brynn and they take turns narrating the first chapters.  But then we meet Claire and Charm and we have no idea how they fit in the book.  That just confused me.  We do eventually find out how they fit together but it just seemed very disconnected at the beginning.  There seemed to be underlying issues with Allison's and Brynn's parents that led to the events of the book but yet those issues were never made clear nor did they seem like that severe of issues.  I wanted more from this book but it just did not deliver.

Rating: 2 stars

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Big Little Lies

Big Little Lies
Liane Moriarty

Big Little Lies

Genre: Fiction

Summary (from Goodreads): Sometimes it’s the little lies that turn out to be the most lethal. . . .
  A murder… . . . a tragic accident… . . . or just parents behaving badly?
What’s indisputable is that someone is dead.   But who did what?


  Big Little Lies follows three women, each at a crossroads:   Madeline is a force to be reckoned with. She’s funny and biting, passionate, she remembers everything and forgives no one. Her ex-husband and his yogi new wife have moved into her beloved beachside community, and their daughter is in the same kindergarten class as Madeline’s youngest (how is this possible?). And to top it all off, Madeline’s teenage daughter seems to be choosing Madeline’s ex-husband over her. (How. Is. This. Possible?).

Celeste is the kind of beautiful woman who makes the world stop and stare. While she may seem a bit flustered at times, who wouldn't be, with those rambunctious twin boys? Now that the boys are starting school, Celeste and her husband look set to become the king and queen of the school parent body. But royalty often comes at a price, and Celeste is grappling with how much more she is willing to pay.  

New to town, single mom Jane is so young that another mother mistakes her for the nanny. Jane is sad beyond her years and harbors secret doubts about her son. But why? While Madeline and Celeste soon take Jane under their wing, none of them realizes how the arrival of Jane and her inscrutable little boy will affect them all.

  Big Little Lies is a brilliant take on ex-husbands and second wives, mothers and daughters, schoolyard scandal, and the dangerous little lies we tell ourselves just to survive.
 
Marcie's Review:  I almost put this book down after reading the first 60 pages because it focused too much on mommy cliques and cattiness between moms, and I just don't care to read about those things.  But I kept reading because it had such a good rating on Goodreads that I figured it had to get better.  I was pleased to discover that it developed into a book about the importance of friendship between women and, while the moms were still gossipy and spiteful, that paled in significance to the fairly weighty issues that were dealt with later in the book.  Moriarty managed to maintain her funny tone even when discussing serious topics, and the style of flashing forward to conversations that occurred after the climax of the book, while annoying, made the book impossible to put down because I had to find out what happened.  Once again, Moriarty has written a book full of delightful characters that is captivating to read.

I cannot give this book 5 stars because I found the mothers to be too unbelievably badly behaved, and I hated reading about the stereotypes of the different groups of moms.  It makes me sad to think that some moms, or moms in some places, actually would behave like this.  But perhaps they do, and I just have a particularly nice group of moms that I hang out with.

And, the flash forward conversations drove me nuts.  It was a great plot device, and certainly made it so that I didn't want to stop reading, but I just didn't like knowing that there was a great big climax coming, but not knowing what happened or even who it happened to.

Marcie's Rating: 4 stars

Becky's Review:  This book had a format that could have really bothered me as a reader and made me not enjoy the book. I really don't like when an author hints at something and never tells you what really happened to the end.  Luckily Moriarty did not make you wait until the end to find out what was going on with Celeste and Jane.  We know their deep secrets pretty early (probably in the first third of the book).  You do have to wait until almost the end to find out about the tragedy at the school.  That didn't bother me and I think it is because of the flash forward conversations.  I had guesses as to what happened.  Turns out I was completely wrong!  I do like how Moriarty developed her characters although I think that some seemed like an exaggeration of a personality and not quite realistic but I think that is the quirkiness that goes along with Moriarty's writing style. I enjoyed this book and had a hard time putting it down.

Becky's Rating; 4 stars

Saturday, April 25, 2015

11 Experiments That Failed

11 Experiments That Failed
by Jenny Offill
Illustrations by Nancy Carpenter


Genre: Picture Book

Synopsis: Question: Can a kid make it through the winter eating only snow and ketchup?

Hypothesis: Ketchup and snow are the only food groups a kid needs.

What happened: Read this book and find out the results of this and ten other hilarious experiments!

Review:  This book is just so silly!  My husband was reading it to my kids and I had to stop and listen because it was funny and quirky.  I'm a sucker for quirky picture books!  I like how the author structured the book with a question, hypothesis, materials, steps and results. It was fun to see what the results were.  Hopefully it doesn't give anyone ideas!

Rating: 4 stars 

Friday, April 24, 2015

Blue Stars

Blue Stars
Emily Gray Tedrowe

Blue Stars

Genre: Fiction

Summary (from Goodreads): Book group fiction at its best, BLUE STARS explores the bonds of family and the limits of fidelity, to tell the story of life on the home front in the twenty-first century.

Emily Gray Tedrowe has written an extraordinary novel about ordinary people, a graceful and gritty portrayal of what it’s like for the women whose husbands and sons are deployed in Iraq.

BLUE STARS brings to life the realities of the modern day home front: how to get through the daily challenges of motherhood and holding down a job while bearing the stress and uncertainty of war, when everything can change in an instant. It tells the story of Ellen, a Midwestern literature professor, who is drawn into the war when her legal ward Michael enlists as a Marine; and of Lacey, a proud Army wife who struggles to pay the bills and keep things going for her son while her husband is deployed. Ellen and Lacey cope with the fear and stress of a loved one at war while trying to get by in a society that often ignores or misunderstands what war means to women today. When Michael and Eddie are injured in Iraq, Ellen and Lacey’s lives become intertwined in Walter Reed Army Hospital, where each woman must live while caring for her wounded soldier. They form an alliance, and an unlikely friendship, while helping each other survive the dislocated world of the army hospital. Whether that means fighting for proper care for their men, sharing a six-pack, or coping with irrevocable loss, Ellen and Lacey pool their strengths to make it through. In the end, both women are changed, not only by the war and its fallout, but by each other.

 
Review: This is a compelling book about two very different women who are brought together at Walter Reed hospital.  The women are struggling to help loved ones recover from wounds received in Iraq, while at the same time coming to terms with views about the war, family relationships, and personal issues.  Both main characters, liberal literature professor Ellen and staunch Army wife and personal trainer Lacey, were difficult to relate to at times, especially when their political views took over.  At times, it felt like the author was using her book to preach about her own political views, namely her dislike of President Bush and her hatred of the Iraqi war.  This aside, both Ellen and Lacey were such strong women, taking on responsibility for their loved one's treatments and disabilities, while also struggling to care for their children and make life better for other families. 

I don't have any personal experience with the army or marines, but I was appalled by the conditions that the soldiers and families were expected to not only endure, but also appreciate.  In the acknowledgments section, the author mentions that this book was partially based on the true story of the Walter Reed housing scandal of 2007, which makes this story even more upsetting. 

Rating: 4 stars

Cell

Cell
Robin Cook

Cell

Genre: Thriller

Summary (from Goodreads): The New York Times bestselling author and master of the medical thriller returns with a top-notch fusion of groundbreaking medical science and edge-of-your-seat suspense. George Wilson, M.D., a radiology resident in Los Angeles, is about to enter a profession on the brink of an enormous paradigm shift, foreshadowing a vastly different role for doctors everywhere. The smartphone is poised to take on a new role in medicine, no longer as a mere medical app but rather as a fully customizable personal physician capable of diagnosing and treating even better than the real thing. It is called iDoc. George’s initial collision with this incredible innovation is devastating. He awakens one morning to find his fiancĂ©e dead in bed alongside him, not long after she participated in an iDoc beta test. Then several of his patients die after undergoing imaging procedures. All of them had been part of the same beta test. Is it possible that iDoc is being subverted by hackers—and that the U.S. government is involved in a cover-up? Despite threats to both his career and his freedom, George relentlessly seeks the truth, knowing that if he’s right, the consequences could be lethal.
 
Review:  I found the premise of this book fascinating, given that the idea of iDoc seems plausible in the near future, but unfortunately the writing didn't deliver.  The main character, radiology resident George, seemed to be a very smart person, but was unbelievably naive and lacking in common sense.  Even worse, the conversations were so stilted and awkward that they took away from the story.  And the book needed a better editor - I noticed a few very obviously wrong word choices.  I was also disappointed at the cop-out ending.

Rating: 2.5 stars

First Frost

First Frost
Sarah Addison Allen

First Frost (Waverley Family, #2)

Genre: Fiction, Magical Realism

Summary (from Goodreads): From the New York Times bestselling author of Garden Spells comes a story of the Waverley family, in a novel as sparkling as the first dusting of frost on ne-fallen leaves...

It's October in Bascom, North Carolina, and autumn will not go quietly. As temperatures drop and leaves begin to turn, the Waverley women are made restless by the whims of their mischievous apple tree... and all the magic that swirls around it. But this year, first frost has much more in store.

Claire Waverley has started a successful new venture, Waverley’s Candies. Though her handcrafted confections—rose to recall lost love, lavender to promote happiness and lemon verbena to soothe throats and minds—are singularly effective, the business of selling them is costing her the everyday joys of her family, and her belief in her own precious gifts.

Sydney Waverley, too, is losing her balance. With each passing day she longs more for a baby— a namesake for her wonderful Henry. Yet the longer she tries, the more her desire becomes an unquenchable thirst, stealing the pleasure out of the life she already has.

Sydney’s daughter, Bay, has lost her heart to the boy she knows it belongs to…if only he could see it, too. But how can he, when he is so far outside her grasp that he appears to her as little more than a puff of smoke?

When a mysterious stranger shows up and challenges the very heart of their family, each of them must make choices they have never confronted before. And through it all, the Waverley sisters must search for a way to hold their family together through their troublesome season of change, waiting for that extraordinary event that is First Frost.

Lose yourself in Sarah Addison Allen's enchanting world and fall for her charmed characters in this captivating story that proves that a happily-ever-after is never the real ending to a story. It’s where the real story begins.

 
Review:  An entertaining and whimsical book about a family of women who possess unusual magical talents.  It was easy to see what each woman should be doing with her life, and I found the plot twists completely predictable.  While this was a quick and enjoyable read, the magical elements were a little too prevalent for my liking.

Rating: 3.5

Thursday, April 23, 2015

My Name is Resolute

My Name is Resolute
Nancy E. Turner

My Name Is Resolute

Genre: Historical Fiction

Summary (from Goodreads): The year is 1729, and Resolute Talbot and her siblings are captured by pirates, taken from their family in Jamaica, and brought to the New World. Resolute and her sister are sold into slavery in colonial New England and taught the trade of spinning and weaving. When Resolute finds herself alone in Lexington, Massachusetts, she struggles to find her way in a society that is quick to judge a young woman without a family. As the seeds of rebellion against England grow, Resolute is torn between following the rules and breaking free. Resolute’s talent at the loom places her at the center of an incredible web of secrecy that helped drive the American Revolution. Heart-wrenching, brilliantly written, and packed to the brim with adventure, My Name is Resolute is destined to be an instant classic.
 
Review:  I read Nancy Turner's These Is My Words about ten years ago, and it was one of my favorite books.  When I saw her newest novel, I was so excited to read it, and I expected to love it just as much as I did her first book.  Sadly, I didn't think it quite lived up to my expectations.

My Name is Resolute is a gripping historical fiction novel depicting the misadventures of a young girl who was kidnapped by pirates, sold into slavery in Colonial America, captured by Indians, sold into slavery at a convent in Montreal, escaped, and made a living for herself and her family in Lexington, MA around the time of the American Revolution.  If that sounds like an awful lot of events for one girl, and one novel, it is!  And that was my problem with the book.  The beginning and the middle give so much detail around Resolute's depressing life, and are rich with historical detail and Resolute's thoughts and emotions.  However, the end of the book frequently skips five years at a time, and glosses over events leading up to the Revolutionary War.  While this book was too long already, I think it would have been better if it had been broken into two books, with the second going into more detail around the latter half of Resolute's life.  It felt like the end was rushed through because the author needed to finish it up.

I certainly enjoyed learning more about the history of this time period, and I grew to respect Resolute as a woman and a character.  She had her flaws, especially as a child, but she was brave and determined and ended up being a character that I loved.

Rating: 4 stars (or maybe 3.5)

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Almost Home

Almost Home
by Joan Bauer

Genre: Juvenile Fiction

Synopsis:  Sugar Mae Cole doesn't often get downhearted, but lately it's been a struggle to keep up her spirit.  Newly homeless, Sugar and her mother, Reba, have come to Chicago to make a fresh start.  When Reba has a serious breakdown, Sugar and her beloved rescue dot, Shush, are put into foster care.

I feel I've got a sign across my forehead that everyone sees: Homeless Girl.

But Sugar still has a link to her old life through her former teacher, Mr. Bennett, who encourages her to write,  Pouring her feelings into heartfelt poems that mirror her fear and confusion, but also her dreams and her faith in people, Sugar comes to understand that home is a place you carry in your heart.
from the back of the book

Review:  This was such a great story!  The author clearly has a way of writing to younger readers in a way that grabs them and engages them in the story.  The group of sixth graders that read this at my school really enjoyed it.  Sugar is such a sweet character and readers can't help but cheer for her and hope that everything is going to work out for her at the end (I'm not giving anything away).  Sugar expresses her feelings through her writing and the poems in the book were beautifully written and very poignant.  I just loved Sugar's positivity and grateful attitude.  I think we all need some Sugar in our lives and be more like her.  Her personality was infectious.  At times Sugar seemed a little too grown up and responsible for her age.  She didn't react to the situations that came up in her life like a child would.  But overall this was a fantastic book.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Sunday, April 19, 2015

Before I Go

Before I Go
by Colleen Oakley

Genre: Women's fiction

Synopsis:  At age twenty-seven, Daisy Richmond is sure there's time: time to spend with her husband, Jack-a brilliant young veterinarian-in-training-when he finally graduates from his grueling dual degree program.  Time to complete the endless to-do list for their fixer-upper.  Time to settle on a topic for her Master's thesis.  But that was before the Lots of Cancer.  Now, at  twenty-seven, Daisy's not sure of anything except that she's dying.  The cancer she beat three years ago is back-and this time it's an aggressive stage-IV diagnosis.  A "six-months-to-live" diagnosis.  But in her whirlwind of medical decisions and raw emotions, Daisy finds her greatest fear isn't for herself, but for her husband: how will Jack-charmingly distracted and helpless with all things domestic-manage when she's gone?  In the time she has left, Daisy realizes there's only one thing she can do: find a new wife for Jack-someone who can take care of him when she won't be able to anymore.

With the help of her best friend, Kayleigh, Daisy secretly scouts local parks, coffee shops, and dating web sites looking for Jack's perfect match.  But the further she gets on her quest, the more she questions the sanity of her plan.  Could Jack really love another woman the way he loves her?  And more importantly-does she really want him to?
from the book jacket

Review:  Oh, my.  I just finished reading this book and I am trying to recover from the emotional journey that this book took me on.  When the book first started out it seemed like it was going to be a chick lit book about a woman dying of cancer which seemed like a strange theme for a chick lit book.  There was some humor throughout that one might think would be disrespectful to the seriousness of the topic but it fit so well in the book.  The book is told from the point of view of Daisy who is diagnosed with terminal cancer so we get to be a part of her emotions and she had some quirky aspects to her.  This book brought me to tears quite often throughout the story and I really cried quite a bit at the end.  I had a hard time putting this book down and I read it in 24 hours.  Normally I don't like swear words in books (or movies) but Kayleigh's swearing didn't bother me but I did want to mention that there are curse words in case you are sensitive to that.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Saturday, April 18, 2015

Expecting Adam

Expecting Adam
by Martha Beck

Genre: Memoir

Synopsis: John and Martha Beck had two Harvard degrees apiece when they conceived their second child.  Further graduate studies, budding careers, and a growing family meant major stress-not that they'd have admitted it to anyone.  It was hard enough to admit it to themselves.  As the pregnancy progressed, Martha battled constant nausea and dehydration.  And when she learned her unborn son had Down syndrome, she battled nearly everyone over her decision to continue the pregnancy.  She still cannot explain many of the things that happened to her while she was expecting Adam, but by the time he was born, Martha, as she puts it, "had to unlearn virtually everything Harvard taught [her] about what is precious and what is garbage."
from the back of the book

Review:  I had a really hard time getting into this book because of the pretentious and arrogant nature of the author at the beginning of the book.  Perhaps I had such a hard time with her attitude because things were so different 20 years ago in terms of how women, abortion and children with disabilities were viewed.  Perhaps I had a hard time because I am in the education field and work with students on a daily basis who have disabilities.  I'm not sure the exact reason why Beck got under my skin so much but the beginning definitely set me on edge.  I also was disgusted by how she used the word retarded quite often.  The book was published in 1999 and perhaps the movement for getting rid of that word had not happened yet but it was certainly hard to read.  I do have to say that I applaud Beck for being so honest.  She did not hold anything back about her feelings and thoughts about being pregnant at that particular point in her life nor did she apologize for them.

Then Beck started talking about this paranormal sixth sense that she would get.  She referred to it as The Seeing Thing and the Bunraku Puppeteers.  I just couldn't buy into this at all and this came up throughout the entire book.  It even got stranger when she and her husband "heard" their unborn child talking to them.  Just too bizarre for me.

I'm not sure why I couldn't abandon this book.  I didn't care at all about it.  I didn't care for the author's way of writing when she tried to "talk" to the readers.  I thought this book was going to be more about Beck learning from her son and learning to look at life differently.  She did look at life differently but she learned that through her "visions."  The last chapter was more about what I was looking for and I really wish the whole book could have been like the last chapter.

Rating: 1 star

Friday, April 17, 2015

Lost & Found

Lost & Found
Brooke Davis

Lost & Found

Genre: Fiction

Summary (from Goodreads): Millie Bird is a seven-year-old girl who always wears red wellington boots to match her red, curly hair. But one day, Millie’s mum leaves her alone beneath the Ginormous Women’s underwear rack in a department store, and doesn’t come back.

Agatha Pantha is an eighty-two-year-old woman who hasn’t left her home since her husband died. Instead, she fills the silence by yelling at passers-by, watching loud static on TV, and maintaining a strict daily schedule. Until the day Agatha spies a little girl across the street.

Karl the Touch Typist is eighty-seven years old and once typed love letters with his fingers on to his wife’s skin. He sits in a nursing home, knowing that somehow he must find a way for life to begin again. In a moment of clarity and joy, he escapes.

Together, Millie, Agatha and Karl set out to find Millie’s mum. Along the way, they will discover that the young can be wise, that old age is not the same as death, and that breaking the rules once in a while might just be the key to a happy life.

 
Review: I seem to be on a trend reading books that I would describe as quirky, and this is another that fits the bill.  It reminded me in some ways of Kent Haruf's Plainsong, simply written, about two old people who befriend a child in her time of need.  But it was actually quite different because the two old people are completely fun and a little bit crazy, and the child is actually a precocious young girl who is trying to deal with immense loss in her life.  There were some parts that were completely unrealistic, and I don't care for the way the dialogue was written (not in quotes), but overall I found it to be a very enjoyable read.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Pioneer Girl

Pioneer Girl
Bich Minh Nguyen

Pioneer Girl

Genre: Fiction

Summary (from Goodreads): From an award-winning author, a novel about a Vietnamese American family’s ties to The Little House on the Prairie

Jobless with a PhD, Lee Lien returns home to her Chicago suburb from grad school, only to find herself contending with issues she’s evaded since college. But when her brother disappears, he leaves behind an object from their mother’s Vietnam past that stirs up a forgotten childhood dream: a gold-leaf brooch, abandoned by an American reporter in Saigon back in 1965, that might be an heirloom belonging to Laura Ingalls Wilder. As Lee explores the tenuous facts of this connection, she unearths more than expected—a trail of clues and enticements that lead her from the dusty stacks of library archives to hilarious prairie life reenactments and ultimately to San Francisco, where her findings will transform strangers’ lives as well as her own.

A dazzling literary mystery about the true origins of a time-tested classic, Pioneer Girl is also the deeply moving tale of a second-generation Vietnamese daughter, the parents she struggles to honor, the missing brother she is expected to bring home—even as her discoveries yield dramatic insights that will free her to live her own life to its full potential.

 
Review:  This book is a bizarre combination of a second generation Vietnamese American daughter trying to figure out how she fits into her family and the tale of Laura Ingalls Wilder's daughter Rose as she helped her mother write the Little House on the Prairie series.  I didn't exactly buy into why Lee became so easily obsessed with Rose Wilder Lane, and I found her behavior at times to be a little unrealistic (would a woman with a PhD in literature steal from a museum?).  It was interesting to learn about the dynamics of Vietnamese families, and the descriptions of Vietnamese food made me hungry to try some.  I came away from the novel disappointed to learn that Laura didn't actually write the books, or at least she didn't write them by herself.  And the ending seemed to tie some things up too neatly while leaving others completely open ended.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Spiral

Spiral
Paul McEuen

Spiral

Genre: Thriller

Summary (from Goodreads): In this riveting debut thriller— the winner of Best First Novel at the 2012 Thriller Awards and a nominee for a Nero Award—the race is on to stop the devastating proliferation of the ultimate bioweapon. Spiral is perfect for fans of Michael Crichton, Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child, and Richard Preston.

When Nobel laureate Liam Connor is found dead at the bottom of one of Ithaca, New York’s famous gorges, his research collaborator, Cornell professor of nanoscience Jake Sterling, refuses to believe it was suicide. Why would one of the world’s most eminent biologists, a eighty-six-year old man in good health who survived some of the darkest days of the Second World War, have chosen to throw himself off a bridge? And who was the mysterious woman caught on camera at the scene? Soon it becomes clear that a cache of supersophisticated nanorobots—each the size of a spider—has disappeared from the dead man’s laboratory.

Stunned by grief, Jake, Liam’s granddaughter, Maggie, and Maggie’s nine-year-old son, Dylan, try to put the pieces together. They uncover ingeniously coded messages Liam left behind pointing toward a devastating secret he gleaned off the shores of war-ravaged Japan and carried for more than sixty years.

What begins as a quest for answers soon leads to a horrifying series of revelations at the crossroads of biological warfare and nanoscience. At this dangerous intersection, a skilled and sadistic assassin, an infamous Japanese war criminal, and a ruthless U.S. government official are all players in a harrowing game of power, treachery, and intrigue—a game whose winner will hold the world’s fate literally in the palm of his hand.

 
Review: This was a seriously creepy thriller if you are paranoid about biological warfare and terrible diseases like I am.  Other than the disturbing torture scenes, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and couldn't put it down.  The characters had a depth that can be unusual in a thriller, and the science at least seemed like it could be believable.  Some things were a little predictable, but overall it was an exciting read.

Rating: 4 stars

Vintage

Vintage
Susan Gloss

Vintage

Genre: Fiction

Summary (from Goodreads): A sparkling debut novel in the vein of The Friday Night Knitting Club, centered around a Midwestern vintage clothing shop and a group of women who eventually transform the store and each others' lives.

At Hourglass Vintage in Madison, Wisconsin, every item in the boutique has a story to tell . . . and so do the women who are drawn there.

Yellow Samsonite suitcase with ivory, quilted lining, 1950s...
Violet Turner had always dreamed of owning a shop like Hourglass Vintage. Though she knows the personal history behind each precious item she sells, Violet refuses to acknowledge her own past. When she is faced with the possibility of losing the store, she realizes that, as much as she wants to, she cannot save it alone.

Taffeta tea length wedding gown with scooped neckline and cap sleeves, 1952...
Eighteen-year-old April Morgan is nearly five months along in an unplanned pregnancy when her hasty engagement is broken. When she returns the perfect 1950s wedding dress, she discovers unexpected possibilities and friends who won't let her give up on her dreams.

Orange sari made from silk dupioni with gold paisley design, 1968...
Betrayed by her husband, Amithi Singh begins selling off her old clothes, remnants of her past life. After decades of housekeeping and parenting a daughter who rejects her traditional ways, she fears she has nothing more ahead for her.

An engaging story that beautifully captures the essence of women's friendship and love, Vintage is a charming tale of possibility, of finding renewal and hope when we least expect it.

 
Review:  I generally like books where different women come together, forge friendships, and support each other through various life issues, and this book was no exception.  It reminded me of Debbie Macomber's The Shop on Blossom Street and Mary Alice Monroe's The Book Club and several other books that I've read and enjoyed.  The major difference is that this book is set in a vintage clothing shop, and each chapter starts out by describing a vintage item that is important to one of the main characters.  Violet was a beautifully drawn character, a strong modern woman who goes after what she wants; she has a love for discovering the story behind the old pieces of clothes that she owns, and also has an interesting tattoo.  April was very mature and responsible for her age, it was difficult to believe that she was only 18, but she immediately tugged on my heartstrings as she prepared to shoulder single-motherhood.  Amithi was the least sympathetic character, simply because it didn't feel like she got as much story time.  I think this book would have benefited from being a little longer, so that more could be revealed about Amithi, and so that the love story between Violet and her boyfriend could have taken longer to develop.  There were times the dialogue didn't ring quite true, and I felt like the characters in general didn't act very practically, but overall this was a delightful book to read on a beautiful spring day.  Oh, it was also fun that it was set in Madison and that I recognized some of the places and traditions.

Rating: 4 stars

Saturday, April 11, 2015

Powerless

Powerless
by Matthew Cody

Genre: Juvenile Fiction

Synopsis:  As Daniel and his family drive to their new home, he spots the sign "Welcome to Noble's Green-The Safest Town on Earth."  Couldn't sound lamer.

But Daniel's new friends-who are nice but odd, with a tendency toward mysterious disappearances-are far from lame.  In fact, he comes to learn that they each have a power, a superpower: one can fly, another can turn invisible, yet another controls electricity.  Incredible.  Together, this secret group of six superkids watches over Noble's Green while its residents enjoy their safest town on earth, oblivious.

But not for long.  The young superheroes are fading away, one by one: the moment they turn thirteen, their special abilities disappear.  is a supervillain sapping their powers?  The answer lies in a long-ago meteor strike, the green-flamed Witch Fire, a World War II-era comic book, a hidden Shroud cave, and-possibly, unbelievably-powerless, regular old Daniel himself.
from the back of the book

Review:  At first I thought this was going to be a very boy-oriented super hero book but I was pleasantly surprised.  I read this book as a book club with fifth grade students who really enjoyed the book as well.  There was a lot of action in this book and it kept the reader engaged.  There were times that I didn't want to stop reading but had to because of book club.  I thought the end was a little confusing though.  There was a big fight going on and I just couldn't figure out exactly what was happening. There is a sequel to the book and I think I will have to pick that up at some point!

Rating: 4 stars