Sunday, July 30, 2017

Wife Number Seven

Wife Number Seven
by Melissa Brown

Genre: Romance

Synopsis:  Lipstick. Bright, red lipstick. Nothing but lipstick. 
Even though it’s against our faith to wear a color that screams of sexual promiscuity and deviant behavior, I’m not allowed to protest. 
But, I want to. 
So badly. 

You see, there’s more to me than the braid that spills down my back. 
More to me than the layers of heavy fabric that maintain my modesty. 
And so much more than the oppressive wedding band that adorns my finger--the same band that each of my sister wives wear. 
So much more. 
To protest would be sinful. 
I must keep sweet, that is my duty. 

So I’ll wear the lipstick. I’ll do as I’m told. 
And I’ll do my best to silence the resistance within me, to push him from my mind. 
If only my heart would do the same.
from GoodReads

Review:  First off I have to start by saying that this is not my typical genre although I do rarely read light sexy romances.  My review and rating will be based on my limited knowledge of this genre.  I found this book because I recently became friends with someone and discovered that she is an author.  I was curious to see what she writes so I purchased this whole series.  To be honest, stories about polygamous sects in the FLDS church really intrigue me and I am drawn to reading them.  I read this book throughout the course of a day so clearly it was engaging!  

This is the story of Brinley who is in her very early 20s and is the seventh wife to a much older man.  She lives a submissive life in an FLDS compound with an occasional trip to the outside world.  At the beginning she is somewhat accepting of her lot in life, except for one rebellion, but then changes happen in her family and she starts to think about what more there is in life.  She comes across a man who used to be part of her church but is now a drug addict and things escalate from there.  The relationship between Brinley and Porter seems to come out of nowhere but romance novels work that way!  I got caught up in the story of Brinley trying to figure out what she wanted to do.  This book is full of drama, passion, sex, and romance.  The story leaves you wanting to know more about some characters and hoping that they are the subjects of the next books in the series (which I will be reading but not sure if I will be reviewing or not)!

Based on the storyline, I would rate this book a 4 but there were some quirks with the writing style that made me lower my rating.  These were things that bothered me as a reader but may not bother other readers.  This book was written from the first person point of view of Brinley but there were a couple chapters that were from a third person point of view and were about side characters.  The information that was presented was necessary to the book but having chapters that changed perspectives was distracting.  There were also times where there were flashbacks and we knew they were coming because of the ellipses.  Those could have been left out!  There was a fair amount of swearing from one character which I don't like but other people may not mind.  Overall this was a good read for a sexy romance novel.  There were steamy moments but not too many where the book was only about that.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Friday, July 28, 2017

The Orphan's Tale

The Orphan's Tale
by Pam Jenoff

Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis:  Sixteen-year-old Noa has been cast out in disgrace after becoming pregnant by a Nazi soldier and being forced to give up her baby. She lives above a small rail station, which she cleans in order to earn her keep… When Noa discovers a boxcar containing dozens of Jewish infants bound for a concentration camp, she is reminded of the child that was taken from her. And in a moment that will change the course of her life, she snatches one of the babies and flees into the snowy night. 

Noah finds refuge with a German circus, but she must learn the flying trapeze act so she can blend in undetected, spurning the resentment of the lead aerialist, Astrid.  At first rivals, Noa and Astrid soon forge a powerful bond.  But as the facade that protects them proves increasingly tenuous, Noa and Astrid must decide whether their friendship is enough to save one another-or if the secrets that burn between them will destroy everything.
from GoodReads

Review:  This was a good book but not a great one.  I'm having a hard time pinpointing what didn't work for me though.  I liked the premise of the story how people who were Jewish were taken in by the circus but Astrid's and Noa's relationship didn't work.  Astrid was clearly resentful of Noa but I couldn't figure out why she was so mean and unwilling to help.  Noa was such a meek girl who somehow changed to being a strong woman willing to stand up to people.  I felt like this transition and growth in Noa was unrealistic and came out of nowhere as was the development in the relationship between Astrid an Noa.  At times this book was slow moving.  I appreciated the look at WWII from a different perspective but the book fell a little flat for me.

Rating: 3 stars

The Ebb Tide

The Ebb Tide
by Beverly Lewis

Genre: Christian Fiction

Synopsis:  Sallie Riehl has dreamed of traveling at least once before settling down to join church, so she is thrilled at an unexpected summer opportunity to nanny in Cape May for a well-to-do family.  However, saying even a temporary good-bye to Paradise Township means forgoing baptism another year, as well as leaving behind a wood-be beau.  Yet the weeks in Cape May soon prove unforgettable as Sallie meets a Mennonite young man whose friendship she quickly begins to cherish.  Has she been too hasty with her promises, or will she only find what her heart is longing for back home?
from the back of the book

Review:  I thoroughly enjoyed this light fiction book about Sallie discovering what life is like outside of her Amish village and what the world has to offer her.  All the characters in this book were so sweet and caring that it made the book so heartwarming.  I felt like the book was a bit predictable but it was still enjoyable nonetheless.  I've read some Christian fiction books where the religious aspects of the book don't fit in but this book was so well pieced together and flowed so well.  There's not much more to say than this is a nice, quick and easy read!

Rating: 4 stars

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Speak

Speak
by Laurie Halse Anderson

Genre: Young Adult Fiction

Synopsis:  Melinda Sordino busted an end-of-the-summer party by calling the cops, so her old friends won't talk to her, and people she doesn't know hate her from a distance.  It's no use explaining to her parents, they've never known what her life is really like.  The safest place for Melinda to be is alone, inside her own head.  But even that's not safe.  Because there's something she's trying not to think about, something about the night of the party that, if she admitted it and let it in, would blow her carefully constructed disguise to smithereens.  And then she would have no choice.  Melinda would have to speak the truth.
from the book jacket

Review:  This book follows the life of Melinda, a high school freshman, through her first year of high school.  From the beginning of the book we know that something tragic happened to Melinda but we don't know what (unless you read reviews on GoodReads beforehand like I did and know what happened to her) but we do know it causes her to change and shut down.  Melinda enters high school with no friends and decides that she is not going to speak.  She retreats inside herself and stops caring about things we assume she used to care about.  Since Melinda doesn't really talk, there is almost no dialogue.  What we get is her internal monologue and her feelings about her school, former friends, her troubled home life and so much more.  She clearly needs help but yet no one recognizes it except for the art teacher which is somewhat cliche as are other parts of this book.  The fact that no adult in the school recognized that Melinda was depressed even though she had many meetings with her guidance counselor really made me angry.  Her parents made me angry as well as they did nothing to help her except for berate her about her lowering grades.  From the author's interview at the end of this book I learned that high schools are now teaching this book which I think is a smart move.  It may be a little cliche and may be outdated a bit but the message is important.

Rating: 4 stars

Before We Were Free

Before We Were Free
by Julia Alvarez

Genre: Juvenile Fiction, Historical Fiction

Synopsis:  I wonder what it would be like to be free?  Not to need wings because you don't need to fly away from your country?

Anita de la Torre never questioned her freedom growing up in the Dominican Republic.  But by her twelfth birthday in 1960, most of her relatives have immigrated to the United States, her beloved Tio Toni has disappeared, Papi keeps getting mysterious phone calls about butterflies and someone named Mr. Smith, and the government's secret police regularly search her house for evidence of her family's opposition to the country's terrifying dictator.  Even the words Anita writes in her diary about becoming a woman and about a blossoming first love must be erased so that they will not incriminate her family.

As the situation on the island becomes increasingly dangerous and her family is forced into hiding, Anita must struggle to overcome her fears and fly to freedom, leaving all that she once knew behind.
from the book jacket

Review:  Before reading this book I knew nothing about the Dominican Republic's political history and the dictator, El Jefe.  While at first Anita was shielded by her family regarding the oppression and the opposition, her parents eventually decide to tell her what is going on.  Anita struggles with being scared for her family as the situation escalates in her country.  Anita goes through a lot of changes in this book as she matures during a difficult time.  There is a lot of talk in this book about Anita becoming a woman and obsessing about that plus Anita has some crushes and fixates on that.  It's hard to place an age level on this book but due to the female content plus the seriousness of the topic, I wouldn't recommend this book for anyone below junior high age.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Friday, July 21, 2017

Your Perfect Life

Your Perfect Life
by Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke

Genre:  Chick Lit

Synopsis:  Best friends since childhood, Casey and Rachel couldn't lead more different lives.  While workaholic Casey rubs elbows with celebrities daily as the host of Gossip TV and comes home nightly to an empty high-rise apartment, stay-at-home mom Rachel juggles an oops baby, two fiery teenagers. and a husband who only physically resembles the man she fell in love with two-decades before.  After an argument at their twentieth high school reunion, they each throw back a shot to try and save the evening.  Instead. they get a life-changing hangover.

Waking up in each other's bodies the next morning, they must figure out how to navigate their altered realities.  Rachel is forced to face the broadcasting dreams she gave up when she got pregnant in college and Casey finally steps out of the spotlight to confront the real reason why she's alone.  Each woman will soon discover she doesn't know herself-or her best friend-nearly as well as she thought she did.
from the back of the book

Review:  This book was different than most chick lit books out there.  The women in this book were not in their 20s, they were in their late 30s like me which made for chick lit that was more relatable to an older audience but perhaps not the younger crowd.  Though this book does check off several of the chick lit necessities: partying (alcohol), fashion, celebs, etc.  All that aside, this was a great summer read.  Rachel, a mom to three, seems to be stuck in a rut and changing lives with Casey, a single, workaholic, famous, live-in-the-moment kind of woman gives her an out of motherhood for a while.  I think most mothers could relate to Rachel.  Casey, who has worked in television for her whole career, gets to live out a fantasy she didn't know she had while living in Rachel's life.  The women learn much about themselves and what it takes to change back into their own lives.

Rating: 4 stars

Thursday, July 13, 2017

The Sound of Gravel

The Sound of Gravel
by Ruth Wariner

Genre: Memoir

Synopsis:  Ruth Wariner was the thirty-ninth of her father's forty-two children. Growing up on a farm in rural Mexico, where authorities turn a blind eye to the practices of her community.  Ruth lives in a ramshackle house without indoor plumbing or electricity.  At church, preachers teach that God will punish the wicked by destroying the world and that women can only ascend to Heaven by entering into polygamous marriages and giving birth to as many children as possible.  After Ruth's father--the man who had been the founding prophet of the colony--is brutally murdered by his brother in a bid for church power, her mother remarries, becoming the second wife of a another faithful congregant.

In need of government assistance and supplemental income, Ruth and her siblings are carted back and forth between Mexico and the United States, where Ruth's mother collects welfare and her stepfather works a variety of odd jobs.  Ruth comes to love the time she spends in the States, realizing that perhaps the community into which she was born is not the right one for her.  As she begins to doubt her family's beliefs and question her mother's choices, she struggles to balance her fierce love for her siblings with her determination to forge a better life for herself.
from the book jacket

Review:  This is going to be a hard review to write without giving anything away that is not included in the synopsis.  Yes, this is a book about a girl who grew up in poverty and squalor in a polygamous community but yet this is also a book about another topic that is not mentioned in the synopsis and that topic plays a large role in shaping Ruth, her relationships, her family, and her ultimate decision to leave LeBaron.  Ruth tells about her childhood in a somewhat matter of fact way without asking the reader to pity her.  I spent a lot of the book wondering why any woman would choose to live in polygamy and be brainwashed by the doctrine but as an outsider it will be something that I will never understand.  I very much disliked Ruth's mother, Kathy, for the choices she made and how much she overlooked what was happening with her children and failed to defend them.  Tragedies happened that could have been prevented (at least in my mind) which made me angrier at Kathy.  Ruth, however, was able to love her mother despite everything and learn from her.  I was amazed at Ruth's strength, commitment to her family, and ability to persevere.  She amazingly escaped from her life in the LeBaron community and raised her younger siblings even though she was only 15 years old herself.  This story is captivating, hard to read at times, emotional, and ends on a positive note.

Rating: 4 stars