Rescue by Anita Shreve

Title:  Rescue

Author: Anita Shreve

Narrator:  Dennis Holland

Genre:  Fiction

Peter Webster rescues people for a living. One night he helps to save a woman involved in a car crash. Later he can’t stop thinking about her so,despite all obvious signs that she is trouble, he pursues a relationship with her. When Sheila tells him she’s pregnant with his baby he marries her. For a while it seems he really has saved her but then Sheila starts to fall back to old habits and becomes a danger to herself and their child. Flash forward several years: Rowan is seventeen and acting out. History seems to be repeating itself. Webster is afraid his daughter is becoming just like her mother. Will he be able to rescue Rowan?

Rescue would make a good book club selection because of  the discussion possibilities: Can people who don’t ask for help be saved when it seems they desperately need it? What might the ramifications be? Shreve works through those questions with her characters. While it’s not my favorite by the author I found it thought-provoking. I listened to the audiobook ably narrated by Dennis Holland.

Source:  My local library

The Last Time I Saw You by Elizabeth Berg

Title: The Last Time I Saw You

Author: Elizabeth Berg

Genre: Fiction

About: (from the book flap):  From the beloved bestselling author of Home Safe and The Year of Pleasures, comes a wonderful new novel about women and men reconnecting with one another—and themselves—at their fortieth high school reunion.

My thoughts: Imagine getting ready for your 40th and final class reunion.  That’s what the characters in Elizabeth Berg’s latest novel are doing.  Everyone is a little nervous but since it’s the last one they make the effort to attend.  We meet the popular jock, the beautiful cheerleader, the nerds, and a host of others.  It was easy to fill in with my own high school classmate version of each character.  The event finally arrives and it was interesting to watch it unfold.  Berg made me laugh out loud one minute and feel the ache of sadness the next.

Since there are several characters some of them are not as developed as I’m used to finding in Berg’s novels – probably due to the fact that the book is only 244 pages. There are comic moments as well as bittersweet but, as with most Berg novels, the end is hopeful – not wrapped up with a pretty bow – but hopeful nonetheless. I liked that.

Recommend? Yes, for Elizabeth Berg fans and anyone who has contemplated going to a high school class reunion.

Source: Library

Goodnight Tweetheart by Teresa Medeiros

Title: Goodnight Tweetheart

Author: Teresa Medeiros

Genre: Fiction

About: (Back of the book) Abigail Donovan has a lot of stuff she should be doing. Namely writing her next novel. A bestselling author who is still recovering from a near Pulitzer Prize win and the heady success that follows Oprah’s stamp of approval, she is stuck at Chapter Five and losing confidence daily. But when her publicist signs her up for a Twitter account, she’s intrigued. What’s all the f…more

My thoughts: At first glance, Goodnight Tweetheart is a light-hearted novel.  The tweets are witty and clever and filled with of-the-moment social references (songs, movies, tv shows, etc). Little by little Medeiros revealed details about Abby and Mark that drew me in and made me care about them.  I went into the book thinking this could never happen in real life. Though I’m still a skeptic, what surprised me was how much I wanted to see a happily-ever-after for the two characters.  I enjoyed their story.

Rating: 4/5 stars

Recommend? Yes.  Perfect for the beach, a cross-country flight or a cold winter night.

Source: Library

Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor by Lisa Kleypas

Title: Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor

Author: Lisa Kleypas

Genre: Fiction

My thoughts: I listened to this holiday romance. It’s a sweet and enjoyable novel about Mark Nolan who seems quite willing to settle for a relationship with the wrong woman and Maggie Conroy, a young widow, who thinks she’s had her one chance at love so she’s not interested in anything more than friendship.

Mark became his young niece Holly’s guardian after the tragic death of his sister. The woman he’s been dating seems to think Holly shouldn’t be considered Mark’s child because he’s not her father. Mark starts to feel not so willing to settle with that woman. He’s becoming more attracted to Maggie anyway but she isn’t interested in dating – ever.

Surprisingly this is the first Lisa Kleypas novel I’ve ever read. I like her easy style as she takes the reader through a not-so-unusual plot but makes it seem fresh, just the same. This is a light, feel-good read that is perfect for the season. It combines Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Why I chose: I read it for the Holiday Reading Challenge.

Recommend? Yes, to fans of holiday romance fiction and Lisa Kleypas.  I listened to the unabridged audiobook performed by Tanya Eby.  I enjoyed her presentation.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Source: Library

Stay by Allie Larkin

Author: Allie Larkin

Genre: Fiction

About: It’s the funny yet poignant story of Savannah (Van) who has experienced some great loss in her life.  She grew up without a father, her mother died a few years ago, and her best friend just married the guy Van loved. Distraught after the wedding she has a pity party for one that involves Kool-Aid and vodka, a Rin Tin Tin marathon and her computer – resulting in a purchase she barely remembers.

Thoughts: I liked most of the characters in Allie Larkin’s charming debut novel but especially Joe, the pity party purchase (and star of the book cover).  Because of Joe, Van meets Alex, a veterinarian who is also a nice guy with a great smile.  Van starts to see new possibilities in her life (thanks in part to Joe and Alex).  She begins to more clearly understand some of the events in her past.  The end result is a satisfying story that had me smiling as I turned the last page.

Source: Library

Why I Chose: Bloggers I trust gave it good reviews.

Recommend? Yes, especially if you’re in the mood for some entertaining chick lit.

Rating: 4/5 stars

The Perfect Love Song: A Holiday Story by Patti Callahan Henry

Title: The Perfect Love Song

Author: Patti Callahan Henry

Genre: Fiction

About: (book blurb) Jimmy Sullivan has been living on the road with his brother, Jack, and his band The Unknown Souls. Without a place to call home, Jimmy and Jack lead a nomadic life filled with music and anonymous cities. When they return to a place Jimmy never wants to see again —their old hometown of Seaboro, South Carolina —he falls in love with Charlotte Carrington. With his soul now filled with hope, Jimmy writes his first love song. When he performs it at a holiday concert to a standing ovation, the lyrics are dubbed the ““Perfect Love Song,” so much so that Jimmy finds himself going on tour with famous country music stars, catapulted into a world where the trappings of fame and fortune reign supreme. All too soon, the hope that had once inspired Jimmy to write such beautiful, genuine lyrics is overshadowed by what the song can do for him and his career. In his thirst for recognition, he agrees to miss Jack’s wedding in Ireland to sing at a Christmas Eve concert. And his ties to Charlotte seem to be ever so quickly slipping away. Alone in New York City on Christmas Eve, Jimmy finally sees —with the help of a Christmas miracle or two —that his material gains are nothing compared to love, that he is losing all that really matters in his life. Is it too late to find his way to Ireland, to his brother, and to love?

Descriptive Words: A sweet and magical tale of love and forgiveness.

Thoughts: Grab a cup of tea and curl up with this love story.  If you read the author’s novel When Light Breaks you’ll be pleased to know that characters from that book are in The Perfect Love Song. Brothers Jimmy and Jack Sullivan are musicians on the rise to fame.  They also happen to love Charlotte and Kara who are best friends.  One Christmas Jimmy’s gift to Charlotte is a song that he wrote.  That song eventually attracts attention from a concert producer which changes things for the brothers, their band, and most importantly, Jimmy and Charlotte.

This is a light tale of love and forgiveness and the chance that is taken by being open to both.  I enjoyed the magical, almost mythical, tone of the novel. I wasn’t sure who the narrator was until the end but it made sense and made me smile.  I wish the main characters had been a bit more developed.  I’m not sure if it’s because I haven’t read When Light Breaks, the fact that it’s a short book (224 pages), or if it’s just me,  but I didn’t connect with them.  That said, if you’re looking for a bit of an escape during the busy holidays, this could be the book for you.

Source: Library

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Why I Chose: I’ve enjoyed other books by the author;  it’s on the Okra Picks challenge list.

Recommend? Maybe, to fans of Patti Callahan Henry and a sweet love story.

Show Me 5 Saturday – Pieces of Sky by Kaki Warner

a meme by That’s A Novel Idea

now hosted by Jenners at Find Your Next Book Here

1. Book title:

Pieces of Sky by Kaki Warner

2. Words that describe the book:

Western, suspense/romance

3. Settings or characters:

* Jessica Thornton – a long way from her home in England, she’s seeking a new life and hoping to find her brother.

* Brady Wilkins – a cattle rancher who runs the RosaRojo ranch.

* The New Mexico desert location

4. Things I liked/disliked about the book:

* liked the author’s descriptive writing. I could imagine the gorgeous sunsets and the odors and aromas of the ranch.

* Jessica and Brady are opposites so it was fun to watch the attraction grow. The pace of the story was great.

* I liked that the minor characters (passengers on the stagecoach, for example) didn’t distract from the story. They were a bit over the top but they served a purpose.

* I’ve never read a historical western novel so I wasn’t sure how I’d like it. I really enjoyed it and look forward to the second in the Blood Rose Trilogy.

5. Stars or less: 4.5 stars

Library copy

Goodreads synopsis (not my review):

On a stagecoach traveling through New Mexico Territory, Jessica Thornton is a long way from the cool mists and lush gardens of her native England. An authoress and milliner, she carries the weight of a scandalous secret-a horrible shame that has brought her to the West on a desperate search for the only family she can trust: her brother.

No one prepared Jessica for the heat and the hardships. And no one prepared her for a man like Brady Wilkins. For, despite the rancher’s rough-hewn appearance and her own misgivings, Jessica must put her life in his hands after their stagecoach crashes. And she begins to see the man behind the callused hands and caustic wit. A man strong enough to carve out a home in the wilderness, brave enough to fight for his own, and passionate enough to restore her faith in herself-and in her heart.

Show Me 5 Saturday – On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

a meme by That’s A Novel Idea

now hosted by Jenners at Find Your Next Book Here

1. Book title:

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

2. Words that describe the book:

Life-changing misunderstandings

3. Settings or characters:

* Edward

* Florence

* England

4. Things I liked/disliked about the book:

* I love McEwan’s spare writing.

* I like the way the characters’ back stories are revealed and the similarities they unknowingly share.

* I’m intrigued by a novel about two people whose lives are forever changed by one misunderstanding.

* I liked the audiobook.

5. Stars or less: 4 stars.

From Goodreads:

It is 1962 when Edward and Florence, 23 and 22 respectively, marry and repair to a hotel on the Dorset coast for their honeymoon. They are both virgins, both apprehensive about what’s next and in Florence’s case, utterly and blindly terrified and repelled by the little she knows.

McEwan is the master of the defining moment, that place and time when, once it has taken place, nothing will ever be the same after it. It does not go well and Florence flees the room. “As she understood it, there were no words to name what had happened, there existed no shared language in which two sane adults could describe such events to each other.” Edward eventually follows her and they have a poignant and painful conversation where accusations are made, ugly things are said and roads are taken from which, in the case of these two, the way back cannot be found. Late in Edward’s life he realizes: “Love and patience–if only he had them both at once–would surely have seen them both through.” This beautifully told sad story could have been conceived and written only by Ian McEwan. –Valerie Ryan

Library copy – audiobook

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman

Goodreads synopsis:

Twelve-year-old CeeCee Honeycutt is in trouble. For years, she has been the caretaker of her psychotic mother, Camille-the tiara-toting, lipstick-smeared laughingstock of an entire town-a woman trapped in her long-ago moment of glory as the 1951 Vidalia Onion Queen. But when Camille is hit by a truck and killed, CeeCee is left to fend for herself. To the rescue comes her previously unknown great-aunt, Tootie Caldwell.

In her vintage Packard convertible, Tootie whisks CeeCee away to Savannah’s perfumed world of prosperity and Southern eccentricity, a world that seems to be run entirely by women. From the exotic Miz Thelma Rae Goodpepper, who bathes in her backyard bathtub and uses garden slugs as her secret weapons, to Tootie’s all-knowing housekeeper, Oletta Jones, to Violene Hobbs, who entertains a local police officer in her canary-yellow peignoir, the women of Gaston Street keep CeeCee entertained and enthralled for an entire summer.

* * * * * * *

CeeCee Honeycutt has been taking care of her mentally ill mother for most of her twelve years. Her father is absent much of the time so it’s been up to CeeCee to tend to her mother. After Camille’s death, CeeCee’s great aunt Tootie arrives to take her home to Savannah. That’s the start of a new chapter in CeeCee’s Life Book.

All I knew for sure was this: I had been plunked into a strange, perfumed world that, as far as I could tell, seemed to be run entirely by women. 

 

CeeCee’s new life is filled with caring and eccentric women. Each one seems to have a special lesson to impart. Little by little, like the fragile orchid, CeeCee begins to bloom in their warm and gentle care.

If there’s one thing I’d like most for you, it’s that you’ll find your calling in life. That’s where true happiness and purpose lies. Whether it’s taking care of abandoned animals, saving old houses from the wreckin’ ball, or reading to the blind, you’ve got to find your fire, sugar. You’ll never be fulfilled if you don’t.

 

Beth Hoffman’s charming debut novel is filled with wit, wisdom, and love. The characters will stay with me for a long time. I recommend Saving CeeCee Honeycutt, it’s a wonderful book.

 

 

 

Lakeshore Christmas by Susan Wiggs

Maureen Davenport lives for Christmas—and there’s nothing more magical than Christmas on Willow Lake.

The prim librarian is finally getting her chance to direct Avalon’s annual holiday pageant, and she’s determined to make it truly spectacular. But it might just require one of those Christmas miracles she’s always read about.

Because her codirector is recovering former child star Eddie Haven, a long-haired, tattooed lump of coal in Maureen’s pageant stocking. Eddie can’t stand Christmas, but a court order from a judge has landed him right in the middle of the merrymaking.

Maureen and Eddie spar over every detail of the pageant, from casting troubled kids to Eddie’s original—and distinctly untraditional—music. Is he trying to sabotage the performance to spite her? Or is she trying too hard to fit the show into her storybook-perfect notion of Christmas?

And how is it possible that they’re falling in love?

* * * * * * *

The library in the small town of Avalon, NY is on the brink of closing – forever. Can it be saved? Susan Wiggs takes a few new characters, adds a dash of some familiar, stirs in the emotions that tend to appear at this time of year, sprinkles a Christmas pageant over it all and the result is a sweet story – especially for fans of The Lakeshore Chronicles.

Library copy