Two Truths And A Lie

Two Truths And A Lie by Meg Mitchell Moore

Published:  June 2020 – William Morrow

ARC courtesy of the publisher and Goodreads

Description:

Truth: Sherri Griffin and her daughter, Katie, have recently moved to the idyllic beach town of Newburyport, Massachusetts. Rebecca Coleman, widely acknowledged former leader of the Newburyport Mom Squad (having taken a step back since her husband’s shocking and tragic death eighteen months ago), has made a surprising effort to include these newcomers in typically closed-group activities. Rebecca’s teenage daughter Alexa has even been spotted babysitting Katie.

Truth: Alexa has time on her hands because of a recent falling-out with her longtime best friends for reasons no one knows—but everyone suspects have to do with Alexa’s highly popular and increasingly successful YouTube channel. Katie Griffin, who at age 11 probably doesn’t need a babysitter anymore, can’t be left alone because she has terrifying nightmares that don’t seem to jibe with the vague story Sherri has floated about the “bad divorce” she left behind in Ohio. Rebecca Coleman has been spending a lot of time with Sherri, it’s true, but she’s also been spending time with someone else she doesn’t want the Mom Squad to know about just yet.

Lie: Rebecca Coleman doesn’t have a new man in her life, and definitely not someone connected to the Mom Squad. Alexa is not seeing anyone new herself and is planning on shutting down her YouTube channel in advance of attending college in the fall. Sherri Griffin’s real name is Sherri Griffin, and a bad divorce is all she’s running from.

A blend of propulsive thriller and gorgeous summer read, Two Truths and a Lie reminds us that happiness isn’t always a day at the beach, some secrets aren’t meant to be shared, and the most precious things are the people we love. (publisher)

My take:  I love a good beachy read to start the summer season with so I was thrilled to win Two Truths and a Lie from Goodreads. I’ve read and enjoyed several books by author Meg Mitchell Moore. I like the way she writes about families – there’s always something familiar and relatable about her characters and that is true in this book – but there are big differences here as well. The story moves between two women, Rebecca and Sherri, with other characters filling in their POVs. There’s a lot going on in this book! If a story about a tightly-knit (and over-the-top) group of moms, a new family with secrets, and a picturesque seaside town setting is your kind of read you’ll want to pick up Two Truths and a Lie.

Note:  I also listened to the audio (used an Audible credit). Courtney Patterson’s narration was enjoyable.

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The Islanders by Meg Mitchell Moore

The Islanders by Meg Mitchell Moore

Published June 11, 2019 – William Morrow

Review copy from the publisher

My take:

The Islanders is a novel that, for me, is a good summer staycation read. Meaning, if I can’t vacation on an island I’d like to read about people who can!

Meg Mitchell Moore’s characters are people who have their reasons for being on Block Island. Joy, a divorced mom of a young teen, is a year-round resident whose business is going through a rough patch. On top of that, her daughter who used to be so easy going is now acting like a normal, emotional teen who doesn’t want to tell her mother everything.

Anthony is hiding out on the island hoping not to be recognized after a very public controversy that cost him his marriage, changed his relationship with his parents, and he hasn’t seen his young son in weeks.

Lu and her family are spending the summer in a rented house (courtesy of her in-laws). Her husband is a physician who is at the hospital more than he’s with his family. That leaves Lu as full time parent to two young sons while dealing with her judgmental mother-in-law.

Personal conflicts for all abound as they deal with family dynamics, secrets, and the truth. The epilogue wrapped things up neatly. It was an interesting trip to the island for this staycationer.

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The Captain’s Daughter by Meg Mitchell Moore

• Title:  The Captain’s Daughter
• Author:  Meg Mitchell Moore
• Genre:  Contemporary Fiction
• Pages:  320
• Pub. Date:  July 18, 2017 – Doubleday
• Source:  Publisher; NetGalley

Description:  Growing up in Little Harbor, Maine, the daughter of a widowed lobsterman, Eliza Barnes could haul a trap and row a skiff with the best of them. But she always knew she’d leave that life behind. Now that she’s married, with two kids and a cushy front-row seat to suburban country club gossip in an affluent Massachusetts town, she feels adrift.

When her father injures himself in a boating accident, Eliza pushes the pause button on her own life to come to his aid. But when she arrives in Maine, she discovers her father’s situation is more dire than he let on. Eliza’s homecoming is further complicated by the reemergence of her first love–and memories of their shared secret. Then Eliza meets Mary Brown, a seventeen-year-old local who is at her own crossroad, and Eliza can’t help but wonder what her life would have been like if she’d stayed.

Filled with humor, insight, summer cocktails, and gorgeous sunsets, THE CAPTAIN’S DAUGHTER is a compassionate novel about the life-changing choices we make and the consequences we face in their aftermath. (publisher)

My take:  The loss of her mother when Eliza was young was instrumental in shaping her life. Raised by her lobsterman father in a small coastal Maine village, Eliza couldn’t wait to leave for college. Now she lives in an affluent Massachusetts community with her husband and two daughters where her life revolves around her children and their activities and her friends. Life changes when Eliza receives a phone call with the news that her dad was injured while working on his boat. She heads up to Maine to take care of him. That’s where she comes in contact with people from her past who make her wonder what might have been if her life had gone in a different direction. This was a rather quiet novel that kept me turning the pages. I had to know what would happen with a few of the characters. There’s a young woman, a girl really, who reminds Eliza of herself when she lived in Little Harbor. I thought Eliza’s husband was interesting in his changing professional life. I enjoyed Eliza’s daughters and even came to appreciate her mother-in-law. Perspective will help a reader and a character do that. I’d recommend this book to fans of Meg Mitchell Moore, a coastal setting, and contemporary fiction about families.

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The Admissions by Meg Mitchell Moore

• Title:  The Admissions
• Author:  Meg Mitchell Moore
• Genre:  Contemporary Fiction
• Pages:  320
• Published:  September 2015 – Doubleday
• Source:  BookSparks

Description:  The Hawthorne family has it all. Great jobs, a beautiful house in one of the most affluent areas of northern California, and three charming kids with perfectly straight teeth. And then comes their eldest daughter’s senior year of high school . . .
     Firstborn Angela Hawthorne is a straight-A student and star athlete, with extracurricular activities coming out of her ears and a college application that’s not going to write itself. She’s set her sights on Harvard, her father’s alma mater, and like a dog with a chew toy, Angela won’t let up until she’s basking in crimson-colored glory. Except her class rank as valedictorian is under attack, she’s suddenly losing her edge at cross-country, and she can’t help but daydream about the cute baseball player in English class. Of course Angela knows the time put into her schoolgirl crush would be better spent coming up with a subject for her term paper—which, along with her college essay and community service hours has a rapidly approaching deadline. 
     Angela’s mother, Nora, is similarly stretched to the limit, juggling parent-teacher meetings, carpool, and a real-estate career where she caters to the mega rich and super-picky buyers and sellers of the Bay Area. The youngest daughter, Maya, still can’t read at the age of eight; the middle-child, Cecily, is no longer the happy-go-lucky kid she once was; and the dad, Gabe, seems oblivious to the mounting pressures at home because a devastating secret of his own might be exposed. A few ill-advised moves put the Hawthorne family on a heedless collision course that’s equal parts achingly real and delightfully screwball.
     Sharp and topical, The Admissions shows that if you pull at a loose thread, even the sturdiest of lives start to unravel at the seams of high achievement.  (publisher)

My take:  This is a story about a family with hopes and dreams…and secrets. It’s about what happens when their secrets become known to others and how each person deals with it.

It’s also about how we view others – our perceptions and the actual reality of what we think we know. Does that family next door really have life by the tail? How can they be so lucky when I’m not? It’s about the expectations we feel or place upon others and the intense anxiety that almost always follows. Anyone who went to college, played a sport in school or participated in a competitive group or had kids who did the same will recognize some of the emotions felt by one or all of the characters in this novel.

There’s foreshadowing from page one but as the author revealed events I was second-guessing myself in what I thought was going to happen. Meg Mitchell Moore’s novel is a warm, entertaining and addictive read that left me missing this family after turning the last page. Recommended.

I read The Admissions as part of the BookSparks Fall Reading Challenge 2015

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The Arrivals by Meg Mitchell Moore

Title:  The Arrivals

Author:  Meg Mitchell Moore

Genre:  Fiction

Published:  May 2011 – Reagan Arthur Books/Little, Brown & Company

My take:  It’s summer and the three adult Owen children return to their parents’ home in Vermont. The eldest, Lillian, has her two small children with her. She’s left her husband after an unforgivable act. Middle child Stephen and his pregnant wife want to visit for a couple of days but a health scare forces them to extend the visit for weeks. Youngest child Rachel arrives wanting to forget about recent happenings in her life. Parents Ginny and William, both in their mid-60s, see their summer change from a quiet one to one that’s pretty much out of their control.

Meg Mitchell Moore’s character driven novel rang true for me. In fact, it made me think of how my own parents must have felt when my siblings and I (and our families) all gathered for vacations, holidays, etc. in their home. I can’t believe they still have their sanity! It was interesting to see Lillian, Stephen and Rachel move from normally capable adults to almost needy children in their parents’ home. I guess what the Owen children were seeking was a bit of security and grounding. Each was dealing with issues a bit out of their control and they needed to be taken care of by their parents – if only for a short time.

I think there’s a lot to relate to in The Arrivals. After all, we all have parents and many of us have children. My husband and I have recently moved into the roles of parents of married adult children. We’ve experienced our own ‘Arrivals‘.  The cycle continues. I enjoyed this debut novel and look forward to reading more by Meg Mitchell Moore.

Source:  I bought it.

Disclaimer:  See sidebar. I was not compensated for my review.