Love and Treasure by Ayelet Waldman- What a story this was. This story alternates from the 1940s during the war and present day. During the present day Jack gives his grand daughter Natalie a necklace and asks her to find the owner. The story then weaves back and forth on how the necklace came to be in Jack's hands after he was a soldier in the war and Natalie's search to help her grandfather's guilt. The story was just wonderful and I was turning the pages as fast as I could to see what would happen next. The author had a way of keeping us as readers interested in both stories too which is what I think is hard sometimes about going back and forth like this. I liked that the ending wasn't quite what you wanted it to be or how you thought it might go. I liked that she took a more realistic approach and went for something different. A great read.
The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown- I didn't really care for this book. It had an interesting concept, three sisters raised by a father who was somewhat of an expert in Shakespeare as a professor at a local college. The girls are all grown up but each take turns narrating pieces of their current lives and childhood. The girls mother is sick with breast cancer and each young adult ends up back at home to help as they themselves are each at their own cross roads in life. Rose, the oldest, is choosing between the quiet home life she has always desired or making the brave decision to move to London to be with her fiance. Bean, the middle child, has had to move back from New York with a secret about why she had to leave her supposed successful career and life. Cordy, the youngest, is returning home pregnant after wandering around the country and not really ever having to grow up on her own. I think the author relied too heavily on the Shakespeare references and on the birth order of the girls.
Four Friends by Robyn Carr- This book was about 4 women who form somewhat unlikely friendships and all going through rough spots in their lives. I found myself waiting for the novel to get good for as long as I was reading it but it just fell short in a lot of ways. It never really connected the women realistically and sort of threw them and their problems together and then boom happy endings for each of them. I didn't really care for the book.
After You
by Julie Buxbaum- This is a story about a woman named Ellie living in the United States but temporary living in London since her best friend was murdered. Her best friend, Lucy, was murdered in front of her young daughter Sophie. Ellie movies in with Sophie and Lucy's husband to help get Sophie through the trauma. The story has several stories within it. The marriages of Lucy and Ellie, motherhood for Lucy while Ellie remains childless until she steps in as a mother figure and contemplates if motherhood is for her after all, the friendship of Lucy and Ellie and the secrets they kept from one another. Overall I liked the book and found myself turning the pages to see what would happen next for Ellie.
Love Water Memory by Jennie Shortridge- This book starts with the main character Lucie waking up in San Francisco bay not sure of who she is and why she is there. From there Lucie's fiance, Grady, sees her on the news and gets her back home. The book is narrated by both characters and we travel with Lucie on her journey her to try to find out who is now and also where she came from. Secrets from her childhood and past unravel and she gets a chance to decide who she will be going forward. Overall I liked the book but wish it had been longer and more developed. Everything seemed to move very fast with little time to really process what was going on.
Red Hook Road by Ayelet Waldman- This was a story about a young couple who die in a tragic car accident on their wedding day. The book is about their families and what happens in the years after their deaths. The family had been waiting at the reception while the young couple went to take pictures and the police show up at the reception. The book opens with this scene which was written well. The rest of the book fell a little flat for me. It felt like the main characters were the people that had died and maybe that was part of the point of the book but it just didn't work for me. I really like this writer and her books and I'll keep reading more from her, this one just wasn't a favorite.
The Office of Desire by Martha Moody- I picked this book up since I really liked the first book I read by this author last month, Best Friends, but I didn't like this book nearly as much. This is the story about a doctor's office with two doctors and 3 medical workers who do various tasks for them. The office is changed when one of the medical workers has an affair with one of the doctors. The problem for me was that none of the characters, all who narrate at some point in the book, were really that likable. I didn't really care what happened next for them in the book which spans over their lives over the course of years.
The Gift by
Cecelia Ahern- This is a very short novel about a police officer telling a story to a young man brought in on Christmas. The story is about anger and time. The police officer tells about a man he met that was essentially cloning himself to be in two places at once and the disastrous results. I liked the main story line but the story within the story was a bit unrealistic. It worked for some time but then some key details just didn't work out. It's possible if the story within the story had been the only story it may have worked, but because someone else was narrating there was just something about it that didn't work for me.
The Girls of August by Anne Rivers Siddons- Overall this was an easy light read. The story if about 4 women who began renting a beach house in August when they were in their 20s and their husbands were in medical school. One of the women has since died and the new wife of the man who was married to her sets up another summer vacation after years of the tradition not having happened. The characters were likable and I wanted a strong female friendship novel. Instead what I got was a novel about women keeping big secrets from each other and then revealing them in a big dramatic fashion towards the end of the book and then everything wrapping up somewhat unrealistically at the very end. It wasn't bad but not at all what I thought I was getting.
Where She Went by Gayle Forman- This is the continued story of Mia and Adam after the same author's first book If I Stay which I read last month. This book was told from Adam's prospective which I really liked since both stories were his stories too. It's again a teen novel and I wasn't expecting a whole lot, more just wanted to see what happened next for the characters. The story takes us to a few years after the accident and after Mia has awaken from her coma. Getting the story from Adam's point of view rather then Mia's allows the reader to stay more neutral and see things from his perspective. Adam and Mia meet again for one day in NYC where she is playing a concert and living, and where he is visiting as a professional musician and about to leave on another tour, which he doesn't want to go on. We find out about their struggle to maintain their love after the accident and see how the accident changed both of their lives. Overall a short easy read that I enjoyed since it means seeing what happened next for the characters.
Tempting Fate by Jane Green- I go back and forth with this author sometimes but really liked this newest book of hers. This was the story of Gabby and her husband Elliot and their marriage. Gabby winds up having an affair and the consequences of that to her husband and two children are long term. I liked that the book was very real at times and didn't sugar coat anything. I thought the author made the book relatable. You felt for both characters and their situations as the story unfolded. I'm still torn on the ending though as that was where it felt to me where things were a bit unrealistic.
The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern- I like this author, but the thing with her books is they have really interesting concepts and sometimes she makes them believable and other times she doesn't. This was the case where it just wasn't believable what was happening with the main character, Tamara. Tamara is moved to her aunt and uncle's house after her father dies and her mother is overcome with grief. They both make this move together but her mother is entirely not available to her. Tamara as a teen is used to the big city life and having lots of money and friends. Now she is living in a very small town with no friends and with the loss of her father, the loss of all her financial security too. Tamara finds a diary which is her's and each night she reads and learns of what will happen the next day. This leads to a dramatic ending with all secrets revealed but by the time I got there I just didn't believe any of what was happening. For me this was a case of too many ingredients being added without thought to how to develop them.
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