Stars Over Sunset Boulevard

Stars over Sunset Boulevard

Susan Meissner

Genre: Historical Fiction

Summary (from Goodreads): In this new novel from the acclaimed author of Secrets of a Charmed Life, two women working in Hollywood during its Golden Age discover the joy and heartbreak of true friendship.

Los Angeles, Present Day. When an iconic hat worn by Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind  ends up in Christine McAllister’s vintage clothing boutique by mistake, her efforts to return it to its owner take her on a journey more enchanting than any classic movie…

Los Angeles, 1938.  Violet Mayfield sets out to reinvent herself in Hollywood after her  dream of becoming a wife and mother falls apart, and lands a job on the film-set of Gone With the Wind. There, she meets enigmatic Audrey Duvall, a once-rising film star who is now a fellow secretary. Audrey’s zest for life and their adventures together among Hollywood’s glitterati enthrall Violet…until each woman’s deepest desires collide.  What Audrey and Violet are willing to risk, for themselves and for each other, to ensure their own happy endings will shape their friendship, and their lives, far into the future. 

Review: I enjoyed learning more about how people lived in 1938 and getting a glimpse of life on the set of Gone With the Wind.  I wish more of the story had focused on life at that time.  The narrative set in the present day seemed like an afterthought, and didn't add much to the novel except to let the reader know how everything turned out in the end.  A well-developed epilogue might have served the same purpose and not distracted from the historical fiction aspect, but that is just my opinion.  The settings were vividly described and the characters were well-drawn and human.  Overall an interesting glimpse into the golden age of Hollywood.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Thank You for All Things

Thank You for All Things

Sandra Kring

Genre: Women's Fiction

Summary (from Goodreads): At twelve, Lucy Marie McGowan already knows she’ll be a psychologist when she grows up. And her quirky and conflicted family provides plenty of opportunity for her to practice her calling. Now Lucy, her “profoundly gifted” twin brother, Milo, her commitment-phobic mother, and her New Age grandmother are leaving Chicago for Timber Falls, Wisconsin, to care for her dying grandfather—a complex and difficult man whose failure as a husband and father still painfully echoes down through the years.

Lucy believes her time in the rural town where the McGowan story began will provide a key piece to the puzzle of her family’s broken past, and perhaps even reveal the truth about her own missing father. But what she discovers is so much more—a lesson about the paradoxes of love and the grace of forgiveness that the adults around her will need help in remembering if their family is ever to find peace and embrace the future.

By turns heart-wrenching and heart-mending, Thank You for All Things is a powerful and poignant novel by a brilliant storyteller who illustrates that when it comes to matters of family and love, often it is the innocent who force others to confront their darkest secrets.

Review: Narrated by a precocious yet naive twelve year old girl, this novel was unexpectedly thought provoking.  It delves into complicated family dynamics as Lucy builds a relationship with her dying grandfather, while simultaneously trying to discover who her father is.  The novel focuses on the day to day interactions between a new age grandmother, an emotionally damaged mother, and a daughter trying to uncover her family's secrets.  Managing to strike a balance between sweetly funny and sorrowful, this was a very good read.

Rating: 4 stars

Too Many Cooks

Too Many Cooks

Dana Bate

Genre: Chick Lit

Summary (from Goodreads): In this hilarious, insightful new novel from the author of A Second Bite at the Apple, a cookbook ghostwriter finds that she’s bitten off more than she can chew…

When Kelly Madigan is offered a job abroad right after reading a letter from her late mother urging her to take more risks, she sees it as a sign. Kelly’s new ghostwriting assignment means moving to London to work for Natasha Spencer--movie star, lifestyle guru, and wife of a promising English politician. As it turns out, Natasha is also selfish, mercurial, and unwilling to let any actual food past her perfect lips.

Still, in between testing dozens of kale burgers and developing the perfect chocolate mousse, Kelly is having adventures. Some are glamorous; others, like her attraction to her boss’s neglected husband, are veering out of control. Kelly knows there’s no foolproof recipe for a happy life. But how will she know if she’s gone too far in reaching for what she wants?

Review: This was a quick, fun read about a cookbook writer working for a celebrity.  Kelly Madigan is a thoroughly likable character, even when she is making choices that the reader knows are completely wrong for her.  She manages to maintain her composure while working for a truly terrible boss -- think Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada.  The descriptions of her recipes were mouthwatering, and it was delightful to discover some recipes in the back of the book.  A fun and quick summer read!

Rating: 3.5 stars

Orphan X

Orphan X

Gregg Hurwitz

Genre: Thriller

Summary (from Goodreads): The Nowhere Man is a legendary figure spoken about only in whispers. It's said that when he's reached by the truly desperate and deserving, the Nowhere Man can and will do anything to protect and save them.

But he's no legend.

Evan Smoak is a man with skills, resources, and a personal mission to help those with nowhere else to turn. He's also a man with a dangerous past. Chosen as a child, he was raised and trained as part of the off-the-books black box Orphan program, designed to create the perfect deniable intelligence assets—i.e. assassins. He was Orphan X. Evan broke with the program, using everything he learned to disappear.

Now, however, someone is on his tail. Someone with similar skills and training. Someone who knows Orphan X. Someone who is getting closer and closer. And will exploit Evan's weakness—his work as The Nowhere Man—to find him and eliminate him. Grabbing the reader from the very first page, Orphan X is a masterful thriller, the first in Gregg Hurwitz's electrifying new series featuring Evan Smoak.

Review: Wow!  This was a fast pace thriller full of non-stop action, with a dangerously skilled, highly trained rogue secret operative hero who has turned his considerable powers towards helping those in desperate trouble.  Full of twists and turns, lies and conspiracies, this book will keep you guessing until the very end.  I enjoyed absolutely everything about this novel, and I will definitely be on the lookout for the next book in the Evan Smoak series!

Rating: 5 stars

Somebody I Used to Know

Somebody I Used to Know

David Bell

Genre: Thriller

Summary (from Goodreads): When Nick Hansen sees the young woman at the grocery store, his heart stops. She is the spitting image of his college girlfriend, Marissa Minor, who died in a campus house fire twenty years earlier. But when Nick tries to speak to her, she acts skittish and rushes off.

The next morning the police arrive at Nick’s house and show him a photo of the woman from the store. She’s been found dead, murdered in a local motel, with Nick’s name and address on a piece of paper in her pocket.

Convinced there's a connection between the two women, Nick enlists the help of his college friend Laurel Davidson to investigate the events leading up to the night of Marissa’s death. But the young woman’s murder is only the beginning...and the truths Nick uncovers may make him wish he never doubted the lies.

Review: This book didn't hold my attention like I hoped it would.  While I was initially intrigued by the mystery surrounding the young woman, I found the main character a bit boring, and the plot twists too contrived to be realistic.  Perhaps the main character dwelt too much in the past, making it difficult to get a sense of him as a 40 year old man.

Rating: 2.5 stars

Then and Always

Then and Always

Dani Atkins

Genre: Chick Lit

Summary (from Amazon): For fans of One Day, What Alice Forgot, and the hit film Sliding Doors, comes an absorbing and surprising debut novel about a young woman who, after an accident, gets a second chance at life . . . just not in one she remembers.

Rachel Wiltshire has everything she’s ever wanted: a close group of friends, a handsome boyfriend, and acceptance to the journalism program at her top-choice college. But one fateful evening, tragedy tears her world apart.

Five years later, Rachel returns home for the first time to celebrate her best friend’s wedding. Still coping with her grief, she can’t stop thinking about the bright future she almost had, if only that one night had gone differently. But when a sudden fall lands her in the hospital, Rachel wakes to find that her life has completely changed. Now the people she loves most are not the way she remembers them. Unable to trust her own recollections, Rachel tries to piece together what really happened, and not even she can predict the astonishing truth.

Review: I was looking for a light, quick read, and this book fit the bill.  As I was reading it, I kept thinking that it reminded me of the movie Sliding Doors, which I very much enjoyed.  And lo and behold, the publisher even referenced Sliding Doors in the book summary above!  Although at times it was a little slow and predictable, overall I enjoyed the story, and especially loved the thought-provoking ending.

Rating: 3 stars

Red Queen

Red Queen

by Victoria Aveyard

Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy

Synopsis:  Mare Barrow's world is divided by blood-those with red and those with silver. Mare and her family are lowly Reds, destined to serve the Silver elite whose supernatural abilities make them nearly gods.  Mare steals what she can to help her family survive, but when her best friend is conscripted into the army she gambles everything to win his freedom.  A twist of fate leads her to the royal palace itself, where, in front of the king and all his nobles, she discovers a power of her own-an ability she didn't know she had.  Except her blood is Red.

To hide the impossibility, the king forces her into the role of a lost Silver princess and betroths her to one of his own sons.  As Mare is drawn further into the Silver world, she risks her new position to aid the Scarlet Guard-the leaders of a Red rebellion.  Her actions put into motion a deadly and violent dance, pitting prince against prince-and Mare against her own heart.

from the book jacket

Review:  This book's concept was intriguing-to have two types of people-ones with superpowers and ones without but then Mare appears and seems to be both types of people.   Mare is fairly standoff-ish and cold but through the book we grow to like her because she is standing up for what she believes in and she is not afraid of the more powerful people around her.  There is a romance story here, a love triangle between Mare and two men.  I figured there was no way for Mare to end up with the one character but that was who I was rooting for!  There was plenty of action and drama.  The twist at the end caught be by surprise.  I imagine I will eventually read the next two books in the series but I'm not rushing out to grab them like I did with other series.

Rating:4 stars