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Search Results for: what she knew

Reunion Beach

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When I first heard about the anthology Reunion Beach: Stories Inspired by Dorothea Benton Frank, the first thing I noticed was that it includes “Summer Of ’79,” Elin Hilderbrand’s short story sequel to Summer of ’69. By the time I read that novel, the short story was no longer available, so I was thrilled to get the chance to read it. But Reunion Beach is so much more.

Reunion Beach is a tribute to Frank, the southern fiction author known as Dottie to all who knew her, who passed away after a short illness last year. The short stories, poems, essays, and recipes that are in the collection were contributed by such power hitters as Mary Alice Monroe, Patti Callahan Henry, and Adriana Trigiani, among others. All of them were close friends of Dottie’s and clearly loved her dearly.

At the time of her death, Dottie was working on a novel with the title Reunion Beach. All of the stories in the collection revolve around reunions – a mother meeting the daughter she gave up for adoption 40 years earlier, the second wife of a famous TV chef having to put up with the first wife during a shoot involving the family, and of course “Summer of ’79,” which didn’t so much sate my need for more of those characters as leave me wanting even more. Trigiani’s contribution is a unique and humorous one, involving letters from beyond the grave.

I guess here is where I admit I’ve never actually ready any of Dottie’s books. However, they sound charming, and I hope to rectify this soon, with a good novel set in the South Carolina Lowcountry that Dottie loved so much.

Whether you’ve read all of Dottie’s novels, or like me, none of them, Reunion Beach is an enjoyable collection that honored a woman who left her mark on everyone she met.

Don’t Look for Me

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Molly Clarke is on her way back from visiting her son at boarding school when she runs out of gas in the middle of a storm in the small town of Hastings, Connecticut. When a man driving a truck pulls over and offers her a ride she accepts, mostly because there’s a little girl in the truck who reminds her of her own younger daughter who died in a tragic accident.

Two weeks later, Molly’s older daughter, Nic, doesn’t agree with the police and her father that Molly walked away from them. Despite the note left in a hotel and charges on her credit card, Nic thinks something else has happened. But Nic also feels a large amount of guilt for the way she left things with Molly the morning of her disappearance, and is determined to find out what really happened. So when a woman calls and says she thinks she saw Molly get into a truck, Nic heads to Hastings to follow the only lead they have.

Don’t Look For Me by Wendy Walker alternates between Molly, as she tries to figure out what the man who picked her up is really up to, and Nic, not really sure who in Hastings she can trust. There are holes in the story of the woman who claims to have seen her mother, and other things that just don’t add up. She also has her father begging her to give up and come home.

This book is nice and twisty; I was positive I knew who the man was and I was wrong. There is another surprise at the end that I didn’t love, but definitely made the story a little more unique, as far as how things are connected.

Obviously I’m being vague to not give anything away, sometimes knowing there’s a twist is a spoiler in itself. But I think it’s pretty clear that things aren’t always as they seem in Don’t Look For Me.

Threadbare Prayer

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5M4B disclosure

I think that we instinctively know what is meant by threadbare prayers. In a year that has included levels and layers of loss for all of us, we may feel as if we’re worn beyond mending.

Stacey Thacker knows. As she walked through several wilderness experiences, she jotted down prayers in a notebook–prayers that sometimes were nothing more than simple phrases cried out by a hurting heart to a God who is there. Her friends encouraged her to share these prayers with others, and the result is Threadbare Prayer. The slim book is filled with deceptively simply prayers reflecting complex realities and emotions. I highly recommend Threadbare Prayer as a resource and comfort, for yourself or someone else you know who might feel she’s barely holding on.

Below is part of an interview she did about the book.

Q: Tell us a little bit about your new book, Threadbare Prayer. Who did you write it for and how is it intended to be read?

Let’s begin with who I thought about when I was writing this book. I thought about my friends, women I know from college and bump into at church or online who are feeling discouraged, overwhelmed, desperate and broken. Right now, I think that describes a lot of women—they feel worn and like they are hanging by a thread. 

At the core of her heart, I think a threadbare woman is determined not to put distance between herself and God—but to draw near, press in, and cling to the hem of his robe. She shouts her ache to Jesus who she knows is holding her heart. 

This book is a way to do just that. I wrote it so we could all focus on the Word, honestly pour out our threadbare hearts, and hold on to Jesus. He does beautiful work in our broken places if we let Him. 

Q: In the book,you share stories of some of your own threadbare moments. Can you share some of the times when you have found yourself grasping for words to pray? 

Throughout the book there are glimpses of some of my most threadbare moments. They include a period of three years where my dad passed away, my almost 9-year-old daughter was diagnosed with a severe and relentless chronic illness, and my husband suffered a sudden cardiac arrest. I found myself alone, fearful, weeping, and wondering what God was doing. 

During each of these times, I would describe my prayers as desperate and simple. I didn’t have fine or fancy words. I couldn’t remember long passages of Scripture. I just had small breath prayers that I repeated over and over. “Lord, you are my shepherd, and I lack nothing” (Psalm 23:1) was one that I prayed when Mike was in ICU and later in rehab. I knew, Jesus was enough. He wasn’t threadbare, He was holding on to me. 

Q: Is it always a major life event or stressor that causes threadbare periods or can these times also come from busyness and general weariness?

 I think right now we are seeing that being threadbare can actually be a lot of little things that we are faced with in everyday life. Pandemic? Suddenly being HOME for 6 months, virtual learning, having to figure out how to see our parents who live in another state during quarantine? 

I actually found the word “threadbare” in a book I was reading. As I read it, the word “stuck” in my heart, and I looked down and noticed my jeans had become threadbare and worn at the knee. Little by little with daily wear and tear, the hole got bigger. Isn’t that a picture of how little things can wear on us and we find ourselves hanging by a thread just trying to get the laundry finished or the groceries put away?

Q: How is it possible to pray when you don’t have words?

One of my favorite verses is found in Romans 8:26 and it says that “…the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” The Spirit knows our hearts, and we can trust Him to “tell the Father” on our behalf. That gives me freedom to know if I can’t call up the words, He is not speechless. The threadbare prayer in this verse, “Lord, I don’t know what to pray, but you do,” says it all.

Visit Stacey Thacker online at staceythacker.com. She can also be found on Facebook (@OfficialStaceyThacker), Twitter (@staceythacker), and Instagram (@staceythacker).

The Road to Delano

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5M4B disclosure

Jack and Adrian are best friends who just want to get through their senior years of high school. Both are avid baseball players, hoping for scholarships to UCLA. But it’s a time of unease and things are tense in their small California town.

Jack’s father Sugar Duncan worked his way through college by gambling, and later earned enough to buy land. He put away his cards when he got married, and he and his wife Shirley planted acres and acres of Thompson seedless grapes, built a house with a garden, and had a child. But Sugar’s death when Jack was 8 changed everything. Shirley tells Jack that his dad gambled away their lives. After his death, Shirley gradually lost all their land with the exception of a single acre, on which sits their dilapidated house and overgrown garden–and they’re about to lose that to back taxes. Jack’s on his way to sell their last combine when a friend of his father’s walks into his life and tells him he’s been wrong about his father’s death all these years.

Meanwhile Adrian is doing his best to navigate these rapidly-changing times. Adrian’s father, a farm worker, has been working with Cesar Chavez to organize the workers into a union, to give them some power against the grape growers. But the growers continue to provide sub-standard housing, to spray the fields with pesticides while workers are there, and to work hand-in-glove with the sheriff’s office to ensure that their power is absolute and not challenged.

While I have of course heard of Cesar Chavez and knew the basics about him, I really didn’t know much and I enjoyed learning more about both his work and his commitment to non-violence. He plays a minor role in this novel, meeting with Jack at one point, and working with Adrian’s family and even Adrian himself.

The Road to Delano takes its readers deep into a specific historic moment. It makes your blood boil with injustices portrayed, but you will also be moved by the creativity and ingenuity with which Jack and Adrian meet challenges, as well as the passion for justice shown by several characters. It’s shocking to realize how recent this history was, and how this kind of racism towards migrant farm workers is still all too evident. This is a book worth reading for the light it sheds onto these issues. It’s definitely historical fiction though, and as such is a good story, with characters you care about and several twists and turns. Highly recommended.

Goodreads:

Purchase Links:Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Rare Bird Books
Author Links:Website and Instagram

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The Impossible Girl

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5M4B disclosure

Cora Lee has an impossibility. She was born with 2 hearts. Her aunt saw the doctor’s eyebrows go up, and knew the baby’s life was in danger, so she did all she could to hide her, including raising her as a boy until she was 11. It’s the first half of the 19th century, and medicine is advancing through postmortems on people with unusual physical aspects. The body of a baby with two hearts would fetch a fortune.

As a young adult, Cora lives with her servant Leah after the death of her aunt, Charlotte. She earns a living in a somewhat precarious way. She dresses like a lady and attends funerals, finds out if the family has done anything to guard against grave-robbers by targeting a young male family member close enough to know the answer but far enough removed to not worry about not recognizing Cora. Then at night, dressed as a boy (her erstwhile twin brother Jacob), she goes out with a team of men to snatch the corpse and deliver it to either the university or a specific doctor, whoever will give her the most money.

Cora has a personal list of people whose corpses will fetch more money–a woman with a huge goiter, an obese man about to have an aneurysm, a man with 6 fingers. She watches with alarm as one by one, these people are murdered in the order of her list, and their bodies disappear before Cora and her team get to them. Soon she’s the only one left. In other words, she’s next. She needs to disappear, and fast!

Meanwhile she’s dealing with the irrepressible Theodore, who’s young and handsome, but who is elbowing in on her business. The two of them reach a deal, and Jacob and Theo end up becoming friends. But Cora’s worried about things long term. She doesn’t know who she can trust.

The Impossible Girl is an interesting glimpse into a New York society where things were very different. The interest in science, the ability to sell tickets to watch a postmortem, the stratified classes, the interest in discovering the natural world, all are faithfully portrayed. On top of that, the plot is interesting and twisty enough to keep you turning pages far into the night (or into the plane ride in my case!).

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Purchase Links

Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble

Connect with Lydia

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

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Girl Unknown

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5M4B disclosure

David Connelly’s life is mostly where he wants it. His career, as a lecturer at the University of Dublin, is going along and he’s got a good chance of making full professor. His marriage survived Caroline’s emotional affair with another parent the year before. His two kids are doing great. His mother is ailing, and that’s a concern, but on this September morning, the start of a new academic year, he’s infected by the energy and optimism on campus, the possibility that this might be a great year.

Then a student, a lovely waif of a young woman with a cloud of ethereal blonde curls, wafts into his office with a bombshell. “I think you might be my father,” she tells him. She has dates, and claims to have been birthed and raised by David’s former lover Linda. David is stunned–why wouldn’t Linda have told him?–but Zoe knows exactly how to play him, soothing and appealing to him, while at the same time being the one in control of the situation.

There’s something about Zoe that sets your teeth on edge right away. You know she’s not to be trusted. The book is told from alternating points of view–David and Caroline–and is so crammed with foreshadowing that I’m not giving anything away by telling you not to trust Zoe. But of course more things come out, half-truths, outright lies, the way she acts with Caroline when David’s not around, the way she gets under the skin of her half-brother and seems to be working to destroy this family.

Girl Unknown does an excellent job of portraying a mature marriage, with hurts and compromises and memories of deep happiness all called into question by the weight of everyday life. I didn’t love the ending, even though, like I said, I knew what was coming from all that foreshadowing. I didn’t find it satisfying, and the book felt a bit flat as a result. We never really know what motivates Zoe to behave the way she does; she seems more of an act of God than a fully fleshed out character. However, the meat of the book was very well done. Karen Perry is actually the pen name of writing duo Paul Perry and Karen Gellece, and I imagine each writing the part narrated by the character in their own gender–that’s how accurate and realistic it felt. Honestly, I wish the book was just a novel about a marriage struggling to put itself back together and getting a body-blow from a new daughter, rather than a psychological thriller. I think it would have been a nearly perfect book. However, there were plenty of twists and the ending was believable enough. If you like psychological and domestic thrillers, I think you’ll enjoy this one.

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Midnight Teacher: Lilly Ann Granderson and Her Secret School

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5M4B disclosure

Introducing children to history through nonfiction picture books is valuable and helps young readers access stories in ways that are developmentally appropriate to them. A book that also introduces a story to the adults sharing it with a child is a bonus win. Midnight Teacher: Lilly Ann Granderson and Her Secret School written by Janet Halfmann and illustrated by London Ladd brings to life the story of an enslaved woman in the 1800s who risked her life to share the power of education.

Lilly Ann Granderson was born to an enslaved woman in Virginia, but when she was quite young, she was sold to a family in Kentucky. At this young age, she was forced to work in the master’s house, and because of her proximity in age to the master’s children, she sometimes found ways to play with them when the adults were not paying attention. From these experiences, she came to possess a speller– an introduction to the alphabet– and she taught herself to read. Though it was not technically illegal for enslaved people to learn to read and write, even young Granderson knew to keep her speller and her practicing to herself.

As Granderson grew older and her skills grew stronger, she began to share her knowledge with others. Risking being found out, she began to gather enslaved children on Sundays when the master’s family was away at church. In this way, Granderson first became a teacher to other children forced into slavery.

Life changed when Granderson was sold following her master’s death. Though life as a slave in Kentucky was obviously not pleasant in any way, it only got worse when she was sent to Mississippi and was forced into much more physical labor in field work. When Granderson wanted to continue her work educating her fellow slaves, the risks were significantly higher in her new locale, as it was illegal for enslaved people to learn to read and write in Mississippi. The details of how she managed to not only educate individuals but get them to share their newfound skills with others, as well, are incredible and nothing short of miraculous. Granderson exhibited bravery beyond what most can even imagine, and her story– one that I had never heard in my 42 years of life– needs to be told.

Of course, as a picture book geared to children in 3rd to 5th grades, this isn’t an exhaustive history recap, but Granderson’s basic story is told with a focus on how the experiences must have affected her physically and emotionally. An afterword is included that shares more specific information about life for enslaved people in the deep South in the 1800s, and over a dozen references are provided, as well.

The Girl in Times Square

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5M4B disclosure

The genre of character driven suspense, complete with twists and turns, has been quite popular since Gone Girl made a huge splash. The Girl in Times Square by Paullina Simons is a worthy addition to the genre. It did take me a few chapters to get into the novel, because the first couple alternated between two characters, neither of whom I knew or liked! I’m not sure when my interest was hooked, but once it was, this novel was full of interesting discoveries and twists and turns.

One reason I had a hard time with the beginning, is that it was a big downer. Lily’s boyfriend was breaking up with her. She was so poor, as a part-time student and part-time waitress, that she counted every nickel, including the ones she had to spend on the subway. Her roommate has gone off, and she’s not sure where she is. The narrator of the other chapter is a bitter woman angry about the man who brings her mangoes. It turns out that the woman is Lily’s mother. I was not as engaged by her story as Lily’s, but it’s there for a reason, and her story enhances the reader’s understanding of Lily.

This is the story of the disappearance of a girl, trying to get to the bottom of what happened and why, but it’s mostly Lily’s story, living in the midst of crisis — this one and others which she has to deal with during these months. Spencer O’Malley is the detective assigned to her case, and he also begins to play an important, if reluctant, role in Lily’s life.The book description doesn’t give away the turns the story takes, and I am glad. I never like to do that, and as always, your enjoyment will be enhanced if you avoid them. I was never sure how — or if — these plot twists were going to resolve or how they added to the story as a whole.

Nothing was necessarily shockingly earth-shattering, but things — real believable things — kept happening to these characters, especially the main character Lily Quinn. In one way the sheer amount of stuff being dumped on her seems unbelievable, but it’s not, I suppose. Anyone who has lived knows that life sometimes gives you much more than you bargained for, good and bad.

If you prefer fast-paced action, this might not be the book for you. There is definitely suspense and a mystery, but it definitely has that character-driven feel to it, which is exactly what I enjoy.

200 Women Who Will Change the Way You See the World, and other amazing books to give this season

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5M4B disclosure

I thought this book would be pretty amazing, and I definitely knew that my college-aged daughter would like it, but I didn’t expect it to be so phenomenal.

The women in this book are from many cultures, races, economic classes, generations, and they all have different stories to tell. There are artists, authors, activists, actors and even an anthropologist (as well as many other designations that don’t being with the letter A).

This oversize book features amazing photos, and a full page blurb about each of the women, answering questions such as

      • What really matters to you?
      • What brings you happiness?
      • What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
      • What would you change if you could?
      • Which single word do you most identify with?

One of the blurbs that jumped out to me was from feminist and author Roxanne Gay (who I’ve heard interviewed but have not yet read). When asked what she would change if she could, her answer was “a year of male silence…I think it would be so wonderful to just let women run things for a year; I don’t know if we would do better, but let’s try it! We’ve tried everything else and at the very least, it would go a long way. It would be so grand!”

The quote on the front page sums up why we should know and understand each other’s stories:

There is no ‘us and them.” There’s just us. People like us.

This book, 200 Women, photographed by Kieren Scott and edited by Ruth Hobday and Geoff Blackwell, would make an amazing gift for anyone who is interested in the history and the future of women.

More gift ideas

Check out Dawn’s post over at 5 Minutes for Mom with a full list of books for those with special interests.

The Paris Secret

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5M4B disclosure

The discovery was amazing–a forgotten apartment in Paris, dust so thick that breathing was difficult, and every room filled with stacks of pictures by artists such as Renoir, Matisse, and more. Flora Sykes, a high-end art dealer, has been called in by the very rich and famous Vermeil family to document it all. No one in the family even knew of the apartment’s existence. It had sat empty for 70 years–since the end of WWII in fact. But now someone has broken into the apartment, and instead of looting it, sent a letter to the family. Their solicitor turns out to have known about it, and produces a codicil which demanded the apartment be kept secret until the deaths of the last generation to live there, and Magda Vermeil is still alive at 93 and furious about the whole thing.

Flora begins to catalogue the find. She has to prove provenance, and follow the paper trail of ownership, but soon scents a scandal, and the possible reason for the apartment’s being kept hidden all these years. Meanwhile she’s staying with friends in Paris, where she keeps bumping into the youngest generation of the Vermeil family–a brother/sister duo famous for being boorish, loud, spoiled, and completely out of control. Yet there’s an undeniable attraction to Xavier, he of the black diamonds for eyes and crumpled linen shirts for fashion. Flora won’t be stopped until she determines the truth behind the secret apartment, whether it ruins or saves the family before her.

And she (and we, the readers) are in for an exciting ride! You will think you see what’s coming, but then there will be another twist and you’ll be wrong. (Except for the romance part. You are right about that. Sorry for the spoiler)

Author Karen Swan, according to her bio, began her career in fashion journalism, and it shows. The main characters swan about (see what I did there?) in well-described designer clothing. I didn’t mind though. It fit the upper crust, magazine quality life of the characters. The action moves between all the European cities where you wish you were living your best life…London, Paris, Vienna, Provence.

I really enjoyed the main plot line of The Paris Secret, and Flora is a smart and determined protagonist. I could have done without the romance–the smoldering glances, the “we don’t even know each other but the air is crackling between us”, the “he’s a playboy and all wrong for me” cliches. I rolled my eyes and skimmed. However, lots of women like that sort of thing and you might enjoy it. If you don’t, don’t be afraid of this book. There’s a lot more to it. Plus it’s even semi-based on a true story! I know! I’m about to loan my copy to a friend. Highly enjoyable overall.

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Seven Days of Us

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Complicated family relationships. The holidays. Romantic entanglements. A deadly virus.

Ooh, yes please: the first topic is a topic to which I always gravitate, a little romance isn’t bad, especially if there are twists and turns, the holidays make a good backdrop to any story, especially because it acts to intensify any family issues while also adding a nice layer of nostalgia.

But a deadly virus? How does that factor in to this commonplace setting?

Olivia Birch is a doctor. She’s a “doctors without borders” type, feeling the call to serve others who are less fortunate. She’s just served the maximum amount of time in Liberia, treating the highly contagious (fictional) deadly virus Haag. Because of that, she has to spend seven days in quarantine when she returns. She can be with her family, but everyone has to stay in quarantine as she takes her temperature and monitors her symptoms daily. Olivia hasn’t been home for Christmas in a while, using her work as an escape from the family with which she doesn’t feel much connection. Her return has only confirmed that feeling. No one seems to want to really hear about what she’s seen or what she is feeling. She knew that her self-absorbed younger sister Phoebe wouldn’t be bothered to care, and her hovering mother Emma would probably want to ignore the tough realities, but she thought that her father Andrew, a former war correspondent, would understand and maybe they’d finally connect?

Andrew has been thinking about those days. His restaurant review column has been very successful, and he enjoys it, but is it really what he’s meant to do? He is experiencing more writer’s block than normal. He is also wrestling with the contact he’s recently received from a stranger in his past that would really blow things up for his family if it were to be revealed. He isn’t connecting with Olivia, because maybe he’s a bit jealous of her life.

Phoebe has just gotten engaged. He’s cute, he’s wealthy, so who cares if the proposal was a bit orchestrated and impersonal, and if the ring — though big and beautiful — is not “her”? She jumps right into wedding planning, even hoping to have it at the maternal family estate Weyfield Hall, which his new money doesn’t appreciate.

Emma is hovering as usual, trying to take care of Olivia, wondering what’s up with her husband’s secrecy, and cooking up a storm. She is always cheery, but this Christmas she is hiding a secret of her own. She’s just gotten a cancer diagnosis. She’s only told her best friend, because she doesn’t want to ruin Christmas. Who cares if it might be a bit risky with the possible contagion. Her family is finally all together, and she wants to enjoy the entire week of Christmas.

The story is advanced in chapters in alternating POVs, which is another device that I love. Oh yeah — and it’s set in the British countryside, in a drafty old estate home with no cell service and more rooms than anyone knows what to do with.

This is a debut novel by Francesca Hornak, and I’ll definitely put her on my list of authors to watch.

Emma in the Night

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5M4B disclosure

It wouldn’t be summer without a page-turning psychological thriller, right??

It’s not always my favorite genre, because they can be quite dark, but twists and turns and pages that beg to be turned are quite appealing, especially when I have lots of time to read.

Cass and Emma are sisters who disappeared three years ago when they were 15 and 17 years old. There was an extensive investigation, but there weren’t a whole lot of leads. Any that were explored by special agent Leo Strauss and Dr. Abby Winter, forensic psychologist, did not lead to answers.

Abby took a special interest the case, because their mother, Mrs. Judith Martin, displays classic traits of a narcissist. Abby recently published a paper on the connection between narcissistic mothers and their daughters, and as the daughter of a narcissist herself, she has a personal connection. She wonders if there’s a connection between Judy’s behavior and the girls’ disappearance.

Emma in the Night did have some disturbing plot points, but it wasn’t overly explicit. It did carry the trademark dark feeling from the very beginning. I knew that I couldn’t trust Cass or maybe the mother 100%, but I wasn’t sure why, except that it just didn’t seem right.

The story is advanced in alternating chapters from Abby’s and Cass’s points of view. Leo’s and Abby’s investigation and hunches finally help them solve not only the who, what, and where, but the why as well. The ending did not feel rushed or pulled out of thin air as they sometimes do in these cases. The perspective of a true psychologist elevated the back story in this psychological thriller.

As my summer winds to a close, I have enjoyed squeezing in some great reading this month taking on all 3 Triple Threats in the Pop-up Blog Tour. Click the link for more information about Wendy Walker and Emma in the Night. You can also read my review of The Goddesses.

The Goddesses

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5M4B disclosure

I did not know a whole lot about this book. I knew that it was predicted to be a hot summer title, and I had heard some pre-pub buzz. I knew that it was about a woman who moved to Hawaii with her husband and twin sons who were in their last year of high school, who embarked on a little reinvention project. I’m not sure if I knew, but I soon found out that her marriage had been struggling, and her sons were struggling a bit too.

I love a good starting over story, so the idea of moving and reaching for a new beginning is always one that I enjoy. I’ve also realized this summer especially that I really enjoy a strong setting, and if it’s an amazing setting like Hawaii, it entices me even more.

For the triple threat, the fact that it’s a novel which focuses on women’s relationships is almost a sure guarantor that I’ll enjoy it. Because Nancy is taken away from her regular circle of Suburban water polo moms. she’s able to focus more on who she wants to be rather than who she has become. Instead of hanging out by default with the other khaki capri-wearing wife who has recently moved there from San Diego, she reaches out in friendship to the yoga instructor whose class she pushed herself to attend.

Ana is free. Whereas Nancy feels bound to her role as wife and mother and her past, Ana is uninhibited, which helps Nancy discover new things about herself. Their relationship grows close quickly as they try to influence fate by doing good deeds.

I was not sure from where the title of the book came, but almost halfway in, the name surfaced. I’m not sure it’s the most evocative title for the story. I also love the cover, but I also don’t think that it hints at what it is inside. Regardless, what is inside is amazing. I had been in a bit of a reading slump, and I read this book in two days. The characters are well-written, the dialogue is true, and the writing is beautiful. When there was a bit of a twist towards the end of the book, I wanted to keep turning the pages all the more.

I highly recommend The Goddesses by Swan Huntley for it’s beautiful setting, complex characters and story, and wonderful writing. Now that I zipped through it, I’m going to lend it to a friend, because I need to talk about it! This would be a great book club pick.

Click on the graphic to find out more about the book and the author.

The Bookshop at Water’s End

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Isn’t that cover lovely? Perfect for this beach read. And with school starting soon, at least for my kids, The Bookshop at Water’s End is the perfect selection if you’re trying to hold on to summer as long as possible.

Bonny Blankenship has just accepted a position at a new hospital when a blast from the past comes into her ER. When another patient dies, possibly because of her distraction, her world is turned upside down. She decides to finally leave her husband, taking their teenage daughter, Piper, with her, and escapes to Water’s End, the place her family vacationed for a few summers when she was a child.

Bonny convinces her best friend Lainey to join her at the river house but Lainey has bad memories of the island where her mother disappeared. And Piper, who has been roped into babysitting Lainey’s two kids, is nursing a broken heart thanks to the boyfriend who dumped her for her best friend.

The story alternates between the three women’s point of view as each works through their issues. Will Bonny lose her new job, and does she want to keep her old one? What did happen to Lainey’s mother? And will the cute boy who works at the grocer’s help Piper move on?

All of these questions and more are answered in The Bookshop at Water’s End. The titular book shop makes an appearance now and then, along with the bookshop’s owner who knew Bonny and Lainey as girls and may know more about what happened to Lainey’s mom than she lets on. There are other colorful locals, including an elderly woman who forms a connection with Lainey’s son, who add some spice to the story.

If you’re looking for a last-ditch summer read, then you can’t go wrong with The Bookshop at Water’s End.

A Mother Like Mine

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5M4B disclosure

A Mother Like Mine is listed as Kate Hewitt’s third Hartley-by-the-Sea novel. It seems that these novels are simply tied together by a place and a town. I certainly did not feel as if I were missing anything. Looking at the two other novels, they do feature characters who were mentioned in this one, and I’m sure that the main characters in this one might figure in the others, which would be interesting. I certainly enjoyed the setting and would like to read more about those from this mostly working class British town by the sea. I loved the British setting and the slightly different language, weather and custom that makes it feel a bit like an armchair travel adventure.

Abby Rhodes runs the local cafe with her grandmother, who actually raised her for most of her life. She left the small town to attend college, but returned a couple of years ago after some personal setbacks and after her grandmother got ill with heart disease. When she came back, she didn’t feel like she had many other options, but she’s actually happy. Her son is settled well in the local school, they both have friends, and though business isn’t really booming, Abby has made a few changes at the cafe of which she’s proud.

She’s worried about her grandmother’s health. She’s not sure she should be working as much as she does, and she does a lot so that Abby can also look after Noah. When Abby’s mother shows up out of the blue, Abby feels completely out of control of her life. Why is she here? What is her plan? When is she leaving? And if she’s here, why can’t she at least help out?

Laura left when Abby was two years old. Their relationship has consisted of a few visits but has been virtually non-existent, especially since her mother moved to New York City. Her stylish clothes, makeup and hair make her appear an outsider, even though she was raised in Hartley-by-the-Sea just like Abby was. Laura wants a relationship with her mother and daughter and grandson, but she’s not sure she’s earned it. There is so much bitterness there, mostly because Abby never knew exactly what happened, and Laura certainly didn’t come with an explanation or apology.

The relationships between the women — and between the other characters in the novel — are sincere and likely mirror something in your own life. Many of us have obstacles that impede closeness in relationships, whether they are created by choice or circumstance or mistakes, and so it was interesting watching the characters navigate through them.

I enjoyed this novel. It was a simple easy “beach read,” yet had enough character development to keep me interested. I’ve found lately that books are nothing but fluff — with no humor or conflict — just don’t keep me turning the pages.

The cover is odd. I don’t think there’s a dog in the family, and there was certainly never a scene like that in the novel.

The Girl Who Ran: Bobbi Gibb, The First Woman to Run the Boston Marathon

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You must be crazy. You’ll hurt yourself. It’s not allowed. Women can’t run a marathon. These are the messages Bobbi Gibb received when she expressed interest in running the Boston Marathon and had her application subsequently rejected. Authors Frances Poletti and Kristina Yee present this courageous and powerful woman’s story in the new picture book The Girl Who Ran: Bobbi Gibb, The First Woman to Run the Boston Marathon, with illustrations by Susanna Chapman.

As a young child, Bobbi loved to run, just like many little ones, but she found that as she got older, her female peers stopped doing so. But to her, it remained a passion and a challenge she made for herself. In the woods, she would push herself to run farther and faster. When she became aware of the Boston Marathon, she knew she just had to run it.

But, in 1966, women were not allowed to enter the competition, so Bobbi took matters into her own hands. Dressed in a way to conceal her gender, Bobbi hid in bushes adjacent to the starting line and joined the crowd of men running the race. Not only did she finish, she beat about half of the competitors! She went on to run the marathon again in 1967 and 1968, and she also pursued higher education in fields predominately filled with men. In multiple aspects of her life, Bobbi Gibb worked hard to break through barriers in place against women’s pursuits.

This picture book tells her story at a level most appropriate for young elementary school children, with illustrations that truly capture the feeling of running, “like the wind in the fire.” Bobbi Gibb’s story of tenacity and determination is an important one for children of all genders to learn, for she stood up for her right to participate in an activity that interested her, a lesson applicable to all.

Among the Lesser Gods

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5M4B disclosure

Elena has grown up under a burden of guilt and loss. When she was 10, playing behind the garage with a friend on a hot Californian day, a fire they lit and extinguished got out of control and destroyed 27 houses and killed 3 people. The shame led her mother to abandon the family, leaving young Elena to be raised by her father, who carries his own burdens from childhood. Although Elena has just graduated with a degree in physics, she often makes poor personal choices, including the one-night stand that left her pregnant. Now she’s on her way to Colorado to spend the summer with her grandmother, babysitting 2 kids whose mother just died in a car accident.

Elena’s grandmother, Tuah, spends her summers in a ghost town–her cabin the only one still habitable from the small town of Hat Creek where she raised her kids and knew her neighbors–and her winters in nearby Leadville. Elena knows her from childhood visits, but this is her first longtime stay in the small town, where everyone seems to know everyone else’s stories. Elena stays with Kevin, 11, and Sarah, 5, while their dad, a truck driver, is gone for days on end. She is wary of the children and their needs, but evinces real compassion and wisdom in helping them begin to come to terms with their great loss. When their dad is home, she stays with Tuah, and meets the genuinely nice Leo, who takes her horseback riding and tells her local folklore. She finally learns the story of her aunt Benencia, a developmentally-disabled child who disappeared into the forests when she was about 11 or 12 and Elena’s father was even younger.

Margo Catts is a talented writer, and her characters are compelling and believable. Her descriptions of the high forest in summertime practically have you feeling the aromatic heat and dust. Her grieving children are heart-breaking, and we happily follow along with Elena’s somewhat awkward attempts at adult female friendship, as she has a hard time knowing who to trust. The stories of her with the children are the strongest part; emotionally wrought yet clear-eyed and believable.

Among the Lesser Gods is a story of redemption, of beauty from ashes, of the way that even terrible events can eventually have good consequences. It’s sensitively written and overall author Margo Catts does a good job, although I felt that the ending veered into sentimentality and was a bit heavy-handed. It should have ended earlier, without neatly wrapping up all the loose ends. However, it’s well-written, with realistically flawed characters who come alive on the page. I will definitely read more from this author.

Are you ready for the #EverythingEverything movie? #Giveaway

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everything everything movie

I read this book earlier this year when the ebook was on sale in anticipation of Nicola Yoon’s new book (which I still haven’t read!). I loved it, and my 18-year-old daughter read it after I did, because she knew the movie was coming out.

Well, it’s almost here — May 19 — and we have partnered with Warner Bros Pictures on a giveaway. Click through to 5 Minutes for Mom to find out more about the movie, including the trailer, and to enter to win a great prize pack that includes

  • a $50 Visa gift card to see the movie
  • a copy of the book
  • a movie tank top and backpack

EE-PrizePack

I Found You

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I Found You

When Alice sees a man sitting on the beach in the rain with no coat, against her better judgment, she invites him inside. He doesn’t know his name, where he is or how he got there, but he knows he doesn’t want to go to the police.

Newlywed Lily worries when her husband, Carl, doesn’t come home from work, and is frustrated by the police’s lack of urgency in finding him. But when they tell her the man she married doesn’t really exist, she questions everything she thought she knew about her new life.

Over 20 years earlier, Gray and his sister Kirsty are enjoying a family seaside holiday when they meet Mark, a local who takes a liking to Kirsty. But she doesn’t know how to handle his advances, and when he won’t take no for an answer, Gray and Kirsty find themselves fearing for their lives.

I Found You flips between these 3 characters, and while it’s clear they are related, how they tie together is not revealed until late in the book and there are lots of twists and turns before we get there. I figured some of these out early on but the details were slowly filled in.

The characters have their flaws – Alice is drawn to Frank but her history with men makes her afraid to trust him, even as she helps him recover his memory. Lily simpers and frets, ignoring the one bit of evidence that could lead to her husband’s whereabouts, until she finally believes the truth about who he really is. And Gray seems overly jealous of his sister’s relationship with Mark.

I Found You is the type of suspense novel I enjoy, and I couldn’t put it down until all the loose ends were tied up. You too can get drawn into this mystery in the British seaside, enter below to win a copy.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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The Twilight Wife

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The Twilight Wife

Kyra Winthrop remembers nothing of the last 4 years of her life after hitting her head during a diving accident. She’s come to Mystic Island with her husband, Jacob, to get away from Seattle and hopefully recover her lost memories.

As Kyra explores the island and meets locals who knew her when they visited the previous summer, bits and pieces come back to her and they don’t all add up. Jacob is very patient with her, answering questions again that she doesn’t remember asking only a few days earlier, but she can’t help but feel that he’s hiding something from her. She begins having memories of being with Jacob’s friend, Aidan, and isn’t sure what they mean — was she having an affair with Aidan? Jacob reassures her that their relationship was not in trouble, but she isn’t sure what to believe.

The Twilight Wife is a page turner and I enjoyed listening to the story unfold. As someone commented when I included this in my Nightstand post, amnesia books are unusual because the reader is finding things out at the same time as the character who is telling the story, especially if it’s in first person, and that adds to the intrigue.

Kyra’s background as a marine biologist adds to the story as well, as she reveals tidbits about marine life and the Pacific Northwest.

Notes on the audiobook: The Twilight Wife is read by Cassandra Campbell, who is well known in the audiobook world. She has a pleasant voice and keeps my attention, which is really all I ask for in a narrator.

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