The Year She Fell

by Alicia Rasley

When a young man with a birth certificate naming her as his mother appears at her church, Ellen O'Connor's life becomes a mystery she never saw coming.  Because while it is quite clear that the boy's father is indeed Ellen's husband, who his mother is is less clear.  Returning to her childhood home, Ellen and her sisters discover even more secrets lie in their family.

I have to admit that I went into this book with low expectations.  It was a free book on Amazon, so I skeptical.  But it wasn't Christian fiction (as most of them are) so I downloaded it.  I was surprised at how quickly I was pulled into Ellen's story, only to find that as answers started to come to light, the point of view shifted to one of her sisters.  It was disorienting at first, but I soon enjoyed the difference. 

Although the premise of all these secrets in one family was a bit much for me to swallow, I found I couldn't stop reading this book.  I know that if it was a print book, I would have skipped to the end to find out what happened, because I just couldn't wait.  Maybe this e-book thing will finally cure me of that.  I'm glad I got this book.

On another note, this was the first book I read on my Kindle.  I wasn't sure I was going to like the format, but I really did.  It wasn't at all like reading off a computer screen, which is what I feared.  It really did seem like reading an actual book.

Basket Case

by Carl Hiaasen

Jack Tagger is an obituary writer for a South Florida newspaper, plotting to revive his byline career and obsessing about whether he will die before his next birthday.  When the lead singer of  band from his youth turns up dead, Jack goes from writing the obituary to investigating the death.  It may be the kick his career needs, but it also may be the thing that causes him to kick the bucket.

I've seen this author's name over and over again and found this book at the library book sale.  It was funny and interesting.  There were a lot of characters to try to keep straight: the band members, Jack's ex and his daughter, fellow reporters at the paper, but there didn't seem to be any characters that didn't need to be there.  Jack was a funny, likeable character and even his neurotic obsession with his own death was laughable.

I look forward to reading more by this author.

Carpe Demon: Adventures of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom

by Julie Kenner

Kate Connor is your typical suburban mom: driving carpool, throwing dinner parties, parenting a teenager and a toddler.  Except before she was a soccer mom, she was a demon-hunter.  And when a demon crashes through her kitchen window hours before her husband's important dinner party, she is thrown back into the trade.

Whimsical and fast-paced, this book is an easy read.  At times I found the humor a little forced, but strangely, the story was so well-written it didn't seem as unbelievable as it should have.  This is a series and I've downloaded the next one.  I'm anxious to see if her style remains the same.  I suspect she will only get better.

Belong to Me

by Marisa de los Santos

From the city, Cornelia Brown moves to the suburbs and a totally different way of life.  There she encounters a wide variety of characters, from her snooty neighbor Piper and her cancer-stricken friend Elizabeth, to her new friend Lake and her son Dev.  They all come together to share a secret that threatens the friendships of everyone.

I started reading this in the emergency room with Mitch one night and finished all half before he was discharged.  Not that he was there a long time, but because once I started it, I really couldn't put it down.  Piper, who starts off as the woman you love to hate, becomes a well-drawn character that eventually you come to understand.  Cornelia is easy to relate to as the new girl in town, with all her insecurities and fumbles through the neighborhood hierarchy.  And Lake is a woman with secrets that even she isn't sure what to do with. 

This was a good read and I really enjoyed it.  It's been sitting on my shelf for a while and I'm glad I grabbed it on the way to the hospital. 

Shattered

by Dean Koontz

Doyle and Colin start a move from Philadelphia to San Francisco to start a new life.  Early in the drive, they realize they are being followed by a man in a van.  Nothing they do loses him.  The longer he follows them, the more worried they become.  And rightly so, because the longer HE follows them, the more unhinged he becomes.

An oldie from Dean Koontz, originally published in 1973 and again in 1985.  It's funny to read this book, where the main characters today could easily head off their troubles by using their cell phones or laptops to get help or change hotels or their route.  One thing that stuck out was that Doyle had written letters and mailed deposits to all the hotels they were going to stay at.  I can barely remember a time when you didn't reserve a hotel room online with your credit card. 

But those things aside, this was a good story.  A Dean Koontz story is always fantastic and this is no exception. 

Best Friends Forever

by Jennifer Weiner

Addie and Valerie were best friends through childhood.  But once they hit high school, Val is swept into a popular crowd and Addie finds herself betrayed and left behind.  On the night of their 15th high school reunion, Val shows up at Addie's house, scared and with blood on the sleeve of her coat, begging for Addie's help.

For anyone who had a best friend in high school who dumped them for a more popular crowd, Addie and Val's relationship will ring true.  While the two come together to help Val, they also get a second chance to best best friends again.  Forever.

Anything by Jennifer Weiner is worth reading.  Characters you can relate too, real dialog, and short chapters that keep the story moving.  Another winner by Weiner.  (I know, but I couldn't resist.)

Promise Not to Tell

by Jennifer McMahon

49-year-old Kate returns home to Vermont to decide on the best care for her Alzheimer's afflicted mother.  On her first night, a young girl is murdered - a crime that mirrors the death of Kate's best childhood friend, Del.   As Kate revisits her childhood and Del's murder, she finds that the past and present combine in terrifying ways.

This book kept me riveted from beginning to end.  Who murdered Del, and who murdered the most recent victim, leads the reader on a long trail of suspects that all turn up innocent.  It's only when Kate stops and revisits what really happened to her friend Del that the truth can come out.

"Promise Not to Tell" stared out at me from the Target shelf for several weeks before I finally bought it.  The cover is intriguing and really pulled me in.  You all know by now that I don't buy many books brand new at full price, but in this case, I'm very glad I did.  I'll definitely be on the lookout for more by this author, either when the library here opens or at Target.  Do yourself a favor and get this book. 

The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc

by Loraine Despres

In Louisiana in 1956, Sissy LeBlanc is waiting for adventure to come her way.  Married at 17 and the mother of 3, Sissy lives by the "Southern Belle's Handbook", a series of rules made up in her head to help her get through.  But when her high school sweetheart, Parker Davidson, comes back to town, he brings the adventure she's been missing.  And there's nothing in the handbook that tells her what to do when Parker leans in for a kiss in her kitchen.

Starting off seemingly light-hearted and easy-going, this book snuck up on me by becoming more serious and dark late in the story.  Sissy LeBlanc is the kind of woman you'd like to sit on the porch with, having a drink and talking trash about the people walking by.  She's found herself in a life and she's not sure how she got there.  But you find out that there's more to Sissy than anyone suspects. 

I was surprised by the last third of this book.  I honestly did not see any of it coming.  Check it out.  I think you'll be surprised too.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

by Stieg Larsson

The third of the trilogy, Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist are back, trying to prove her innocence in the murder of her father as well as the guilt of a secret government agency who have tried to destroy Lisbeth's life since before her teens. 

Starting with "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" and then "The Girl Who Played With Fire", "Hornet's Nest" picks up literally moments after "Fire" ends.  For someone like me, who read "Fire" some time ago, it was hard to get back into the flow and the characters.  It would probably have been easier to read all three in succession.  Like the first book, this one spent a lot of time discussing the government, which tends to bore me.  But I stuck with it, because the other two books were so good.

There seemed to be a lot of extra in this book that could have been cut out.  Government conspiracy themed books hold little interest for me usually, but I enjoyed this series.  It's too bad Larsson died after delivering the manuscript for "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest".

The Eyes of Darkness

by Dean Koontz

Danny Evans died nearly a year ago in an accident while on a scout trip.  But now his mother is seeing him in a stranger's car.  She dreamed he was alive.  And now she's getting strange messages in Danny's bedroom.  Tina Evans must find out what really happened to her son - or where he is now.

You really can't go wrong with Dean Koontz.  This is an older book - originally published in 1981 under the name Leigh Nichols.  It was revised and re-released in Koontz's name in 1996.  Having not read the original version, I can't speak to any changes that may have been made.  But this book was very good.  

As I try to work my way through most of Dean Koontz's books - a hefty goal, believe me - I look forward to seeing how or if his style changes. 

The Woods

by Harlan Coben

Paul "Cope" Copeland is a county prosecutor trying a difficult rape case.  When the parents of one of the defendants threatens him, the past comes back to haunt him.  Twenty years earlier, his sister was presumed dead after a summer camp.  But now Cope is forced to relive that night and wonders what really happened.

This book was really good.  Shifting between Cope's rape case and the events of the summer camp murder, it was fast paced and kept me wanting to read more.  It sounds like one of the horror movie stories: 20 years ago there was a murder at a summer camp and now strange things are happening to the survivors.  But while Cope is investigating again what really happened to his sister, his current life is also in turmoil.

I look forward to reading another by this author.

Another Place at the Table

by Kathy Harrison

Kathy and her husband Bruce are foster parents in Massachusetts.  They have fostered many kids, and adopted their three daughters as a result.  Harrison tells the stories of various kids that have come through her home and the families they came from.

I don't read a lot of non-fiction.  But this one has been on my shelf for a while now and I finally decided to tackle it when I saw the dog chewing on it last week.  I am generally hesitant to read books like this because it is disturbing how horrible some people can be to children.  While Harrison doesn't shy from the terrible details regarding the backgrounds of the children she describes, she also shows the reader how wonderful these kids are.  She doesn't sugar-coat anything, and is the first to admit that some kids were beyond her ability to save or even help. 

This is a story about one foster family doing their best to help kids in terrible situations.  Harrison doesn't have the space to write about every child who came through her house, so she writes about those who changed her the most.  Their stories will change you too.

Light on Snow

by Anita Shreve

When 12-year-old Nicky Dillon and her dad find a baby in the snow in the woods near their home, the following few days are a whirlwind of activity.  And when a young woman shows up at their house, Nicky and her dad struggle with doing what is legally right and what is right for everyone involved.

Anita Shreve always presents a good read and good characters.  Told in retrospect by a grown-up Nicky, the story mostly focuses on the couple of days that Nicky, her dad and the baby's mother are snow-bound in the Dillon's home.  How did the baby end up in the snow?  Why did the mother come back?  What will happen to the baby?  The mother?  And how will all of this change the relationship between Nicky and her widowed father? 

The Doctor's Wife

by Elizabeth Brundage

Michael and Annie Knowles have it all.  He is an OB/GYN and she is a college professor.  But Annie is tired of always coming in second to her husband's career, which becomes even more hectic when he volunteers at a women's clinic run by his college girlfriend during his free time.  Simon and Lydia Haas are a troubled couple - he an artist, and she his much younger muse and model.  When the lives of these two couples intersect, a nightmare erupts.

This book was very intriguing.  The four main characters are complex and deep, and even though it seems like on the surface that the intersection of their lives would be unbelievable, it actually flows very well.  Lydia is especially deep and dark, with a family history the reader only learns about in pieces.  The book starts with an accident and then goes back to show us how it came to that point.  This is a very interesting and gripping novel that will keep you reading late into the night.

A Girl Named Zippy

by Haven Kimmel

In 1965, Haven Kimmel is a little girl in an even littler town.  With stories from her small town childhood, "Zippy" tells the reader about all of her neighbors, family and friends.

A series of anecdotes really, Kimmel tells random stories about her life in a town where everyone knows everyone else.  This book is about a happy childhood, something that probably doesn't sell a lot of books these days, but it was fun and entertaining to read. 

The Memoir Club

by Laura Kalpakian

Joining a University Extension class called Writing Your Memoir, six women come together and learn about each other's lives through their writing.  But when tragedy strikes their tight-knit group, they find their bond strengthened and draw support from each other.

This book was funny and wise, which it promised on the cover.  The women who show up at the class all have pasts or secrets they want to rid themselves off by writing them down.  Francine discovers that her husband, and thus her life, were not actually as she remembered it.  Jill realizes that her past isn't as important as her future.  Rusty and Caryn and Nell find that you can't get away from your past.  It's not unbelievable to watch all their lives come together. 

There is a surprise ending, which I obviously won't spoil for you, since that's not my way.  But I honestly didn't see it coming and usually I have these things figured out by the time I get there.  It adds another layer to this book, which I didn't expect.

Check out this book for a heartwarming read.

Mockingjay

by Suzanne Collins

The final book in the Hunger Games trilogy has finally arrived!  Katniss has been rescued from the Quarter Quell at the end of "Catching Fire" to become the Mockingjay, the face of the rebellion against the Capitol.  As she struggles to come to terms with her unwanted responsibility, she worries about Peeta, who has been captured by the Capitol.

I've been waiting for this book to come out to find out what happens and who Katniss chooses - Peeta or Gale.  Although this is considered a teen book, I really got into the story in "Hunger Games" and "Catching Fire".  Most of the characters from the previous two books are back and play their part in helping (or hurting) Katniss as she works to reconcile what is expected of her versus what she expects of herself. 

If you haven't checked out this series by Suzanne Collins, I suggest you do so.  Some say it's a popular as Harry Potter or Twilight, and it does have quite a following.  It has the Harry Potter fantasy realm, but also has some older teen themes, like Twilight.  But all three books are very well written and I'm just sad there aren't going to be any more.  I look forward to seeing what Suzanne Collins comes out with next!

Possible Side Effects

by Augusten Burroughs

From the bestselling author of "Running with Scissors" and "Dry" comes a collection of essays about his life, with flashbacks to his childhood.  Generally humorous and always poignant, Burroughs opens up about the mishaps of his life.

With titles like ""Try Our New Single Black Mother Menu", "Mint Threshold" and "Killing John Updike", these essays are amusing and insightful.  Burroughs walks a careful line, telling you more about his life than regular people would, but never more than you need to know.  From alcoholic to bestselling author, life never seems to flow smoothly for Burroughs.  Lucky for us too because his experiences become fun reading.

I feel like I have read "Running with Scissors", though can't be sure for some reason.  I'll be reading it for sure, along with his others, in the future.

Icy Sparks

by Gwyn Hyman Rubio

In 1950s rural Kentucky, orphaned Icy Sparks lives with her grandparents.  But her life changes for the worse when she is suddenly overcome by violent tics and uncontrolled cursing that remains a mystery to everyone around her.  She finds solace in her grandparents and her fellow outcast Miss Emily, but loses out on most of her childhood while her afflication goes undiagnosed.

This is an Oprah's Book Club book.  I thought I had read them all, but must have missed this one.  I enjoyed about 3/4 of this book, as Icy struggles with her disorder and spends time in a mental institution for children.  However, I felt like the last 1/4 of the book dragged as Icy returns home, where she has no one but her grandparents and Miss Emily.  The bottom line is that Icy isn't diagnosed until the Epilogue, which leaves her twisting in the wind so to speak with a disorder that no one, least of all her, understands.

Who Loves You Best

by Tess Stimson

Clare Elias has it all together.  A handsome younger husband, a successful chain of flower shops and pregnant with twins.  When the twins come however, Clare finds herself lost and overwhelmed, and does what she swore she would never do - she hires a nanny.  Jenna is young, smart and organized, making Clare feel worse.  And then Clare's husband's secrets come to light, throwing the whole family, including Jenna, into turmoil.

I read this book in a day.  Granted, it was Sunday and I didn't do anything else all day - literally - but it was that good.  Told in alternately viewpoints - Clare's, Jenna's, Clare's husband's, her brother's and her mother's - I knew exactly what everyone was thinking throughout the entire novel.  The only thing that bothered me was that near the end, the scenes overlapped a lot, with everyone telling their side and it got tedious in some parts. 

Any woman who has had a baby and then wondered what they got themselves into can identify with Clare.  Jenna is a young woman, trapped in a relationship she doesn't know how to end, loving babies that don't belong to her. 

Overall, a very good book.  I would read more by this author for sure.

Mothers & Other Liars

by Amy Bourret

An article in a magazine takes Ruby Leander back ten years, to when she was a 19-year-old who made a shocking discovery at an Oklahoma rest stop.  Now, Ruby learns the truth about what really happened that day and must make a decision that may cost her everything, and everyone, she loves.

An interesting and intriguing read, Ruby and her daughter Lark are two characters who have literally grown up together.  But Ruby soon learns that "Finder's Keepers" isn't applicable to babies.  She makes the hard choices and is forced to deal with the circumstances.  It's in turn funny, heartbreaking, and heartwarming.  And Ruby's decision as to how to get her daughter back is shocking.  The chapters are short, some are literally less than one page, which normally I really like.  But sometimes in this case, I felt like it was a distraction from the storyline. 

I was not a fan of the ending.  Ruby is a sympathetic character, but the ending left the whole story feeling unrealistic. 

Certain Girls

by Jennifer Weiner

Cannie and her daughter Joy are back in the sequel to "Good in Bed".  Joy is almost 13 now, Cannie is married to Dr. K, and her friends and family are all back to help get her through Joy's bat mitzvah.  But Cannie is still Cannie, and along the way she and Joy face unforeseen obstacles.

This book is as good as the first.  Though Cannie is finally happy in her own skin, her daughter Joy is the one who is self-conscious about her mother and all her ways.  When Joy reads Cannie's first book, a version of "Good in Bed", she sets off to discover the line between fact and fiction in her mother's life.  If you've ever been an almost-13-year-old girl, or you have had an almost-13-year-old girl, you will recognize and cringe at the changing dynamic between Cannie and Joy, complete with eye rolls, slammed doors, and one-word sentences. 

Weiner's books are like talking to a friend.  They are easy to read, realistic, at times both humorous and heart-breaking.  I look forward to reading more.

Down Came the Rain

by Brooke Shields

Brooke's book (and yes, we ARE on a first name basis now) details her struggle to get pregnant and then the devastating effects of her postpartum depression after the birth of her first daughter. 

This book was honest and forthright, all the things you think Brooke Shields would be if you met her in person.  Having read another autobiography from a different "celebrity" about postpartum depression that pretty much said, yeah, I was sad and then got some drugs and now I'm fabulous, it was refreshing to read an honest account.  There was a little too much time spent on how Shields is going to be a better mother than her own mother, and sometimes it was annoying to hear "We just got settled in our New York apartment, and it was time to head back to our Los Angeles house", but overall, a good book that shows us that Brooke Shields is really just a regular person.  Mostly. 

Good in Bed

by Jennifer Weiner

When her ex-boyfriend writes a magazine article entitled "Loving a Larger Woman", Cannie Shapiro's life goes into a tailspin.  She wants him back, she wants to lose weight, and she wants to sell her screenplay.  But none of these are happening.  Quite unintentionally, Cannie is on a path to figuring out who she is, who she was, and who she's going to be.

When the cover of the book proclaims it to be "This season's beach-book", you almost always can find a light-hearted chick-book.  And this book did start off that way - Cannie's life falls apart quite spectacularly and she begins to put everything back together with amusing levels of success.  But about halfway through this book, it took a little bit more of a serious turn.  It didn't lose its humor, or entertainment value, but I did find myself tearing up a few times, which rarely happens with me. 

The thing I enjoyed best about this book was its realistic voice.  It was like reading an e-mail from a good friend, where you can picture her sitting at her computer writing to you about what's happening in her life.  I have another book by this author, and it features the same characters, but I think I have to check and see if there are others in-between that I need to read first.  I hate reading a series out of order!

Live Bait

by P.J. Tracy

Book 2 in the Monkeewrench series brings us back to Minneapolis and Detectives Magozzi and Rolseth.  This time, an elderly man, a man who everyone in town loved, is murdered in his greenhouse.  Soon there's a disturbing pattern to the murders: someone is killing elderly Jewish concentration camp survivors.  And the questions grow beyond who? to why?

I wasn't sure who would return from the original Monkeewrench book and my question was answered with "just about everyone":  Detective Magozzi, Gino, Grace, Harley, Roadrunner and Annie - plus all the other cops we met in "Monkeewrench".  As Magozzi and Gino struggle to figure out who would be killing the elderly Jews in their community, they enlist Grace's help with a new computer system she and her crew have developed and soon find out that their murders go beyond their community, 

Beyond the usual "who done it?" questions in a murder, I feel like this also asked a bigger question: "where must revenge stop?"  The murder victims have secrets of their own, which as the detectives uncover them, lead them down a road they never thought they'd travel. 

This series is shaping up to be very good and I look forward to reading more.  As soon as I find a library, that is. 

Monkeewrench

by P.J. Tracy

A mystery written by a mother/daughter team.  Ranging from Wisconsin to Minneapolis, police are stumped by two different sets of murders: an elderly couple found shot to death in their church and a serial killer copying a yet-to-be-released video game.  As the police race to find the killer before the next murder, they discover that the video-game creators have secrets of their own that may have come back to haunt them all.

This book has been riding around in the back of my van (or my "mobile library" as some like to call it) for a few months now.  It promised to be "Janet Evanovich meets Fargo", and anything claiming to be like Janet Evanovich will find its way into my hands eventually.  I actually did find this book good, though it was not what I expected.  There were some funny parts, but mostly it was a good old-fashioned mystery.  Just enough background on the main police characters to make them real people and just enough clues to make you think you have it all figured out.  And I did too - well, for the most part.  Like any good mystery, there's a twist.

There's another five "Monkeewrench" series books by this writing team and I'm reading the second one now.  (And this is where not having a library is going to be a pain in the butt, since I only have these two.)  I wasn't sure while reading "Monkeewrench" which characters will carry into subsequent books, since there were quite a few that seemed like they could be substantial enough to base a series on.

The Help

by Kathryn Stockett

You know how you hear about a book that EVERYONE is reading and EVERYONE loves it and the list at the library is like 60 people long?  So you put yourself on the list and wait.  And wait some more.  And then you wait again.  And then your name FINALLY comes up on the list and you rush right down to the library and pick up the book. 

Then you get home and open it and start reading and like 30 pages later you're like, "This?  This is what everyone was talking about?  This is what I waited so long for?  Why?"

This book is not at all like this.

It definitely lived up to the hype.

Skeeter is a young woman who has moved back to her parent's home in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960s, after finishing college without obtaining a husband.  The maid who raised her has disappeared and no one will tell her where she went.  Skeeter, determined to become an author, hatches an idea to write a book of stories from the African-American maids who take care of the families in her community.  She doesn't get much help initially, finding only a kind hand from Aibileen, who has raised 17 white children, and Minny, who can't keep a job due to her penchant for talking back.  But eventually, others join in the cause and Skeeter finds that writing her book is eye-opening for everyone.

This book was interesting because it was told in alternately points of view: Skeeter's, Aibileen's and Minny's.  Three vastly different characters, relaying the events of the book as they go, giving the reader an insight into not only how everyone feels, but how they are viewed by the other characters.  There are the universally hated characters, such as Hilly, that tie everyone together, and the project of the book. 

This was an excellent book and all I had heard it would be.  I look forward to her next one.