December 10

In One Person by John Irving- Amazing book.  Really getting to love this author.  The narrator is Billy a young man who is bisexual and we follow him through his adolescence in a small town and through his adulthood on his journey.  I loved that the book spanned over such a long time so we got to see the world views changes as Billy did.  I really liked too the genetic components discussed in his eccentric/ dysfunctional family which had may views on his bi sexuality.  It was so interesting to hear the struggles and joys from the narrator who did a great job sharing his experiences and feelings, particularly the confidence and confusion that came along with his identity.  This author just has a great way of making you as a reader connect to the narrator and want to see them succeed in their troubles.

The Little Bride by Anna Solomon-  Did not like this book.  I thought it was going to be a modern day "90 day fiance" type story.  Instead it was a bit little house on the prairie in the 1800s but which you don't know until your almost finished with the book.  The whole story was just odd and I don't know why I kept with it but I did and then I really didn't like the ending.  I couldn't relate to the characters and wasn't invested in what would happen to them.  Not my cup of tea.

Secrets of Eden by Chris Bohjalian- Reverend Stephen Drew, Heather, and Katie are the narrators of this great book.  The Reverend is caught in a scandal as one of his parishioners is murdered the night after she is baptized by him.  At first it seems this is a tragic domestic violence murder/suicide of Alice and her husband, parents of teen Katie.  As the book goes on nothing is as simple as it seemed.  Heather is an author touring the country and not really related to anything happening except she happens to be in the area when the deaths occur and she herself was a child when her father murdered her mother and committed suicide.  She has since moved forward and writes books about angels.  Each narrates a piece of the story, Katie the ending.  I really liked the twists and turns and how much this book kept me guessing.  Love this author but usually his books take me a minute to get into and then I like them, this one was different in that I was sucked in right away and wanted to know what happened next.  The ending wasn't terribly surprising by the time you got to it but it was still shocking enough to hold it's own.

Room by Emma Donoghue-  Really liked this book.  So much so that I literally couldn't put it down.  I thought about canceling a coffee date with a friend just to be able to finish it but took a break for that and then came home and finished it.  It's not a long read so it's doable in a few hours but it was just so mesmerizing and I wanted so badly to know what happened.  This is the story of Jack a boy who turns 5 at the beginning of the novel.  Jack narrates the story, which I liked so much even in later chapters and really commend the author for choosing this so deliberately.  Jack lives in room with ma and doesn't know anything about the whole world outside of him.  We learn quickly as adult readers that his mother is being held against her will and raped by her captor which is how Jack came to be.  Jack knows nothing outside of the tiny space that is his whole world and is confused when ma tries to explain the world outside to him.  I was so afraid the book would end with them stuck in the room still but the first part of the book is all about their existence in the room, the second about their escape (which Jack plays such an amazing role in) and the third part is about the new world for both of them.  Again, I just couldn't put it down, what an amazing concept for a story and the author really did a good job.  I highly recommend.

Chose the Wrong Guy Gave Him the Wrong Finger by Beth Harbison-  Really started to like this author for easy light reads about women's friendships, relationship troubles, etc.  This story is about main character Quinn who runs a bridal shop.  Coincidentally she walked away from her own wedding years ago after finding out about allegations of her fiance cheating on her.  She heard these allegations from her almost brother in law who she then runs away with for a few days.  Now 10 years later she is an independent woman running her own business having put the brothers behind her.  The story shares her struggle to come to terms with all that happened in the past and finally be able to move forward.  Not my most favorite from this author but her books aren't meant to really have substance, it's just a fun light easy read that's pretty predictable.

We are All Called to Rise by Laura McBride-  Really liked this novel.  It was a little slow but the writing was so good I wanted to keep reading and then it sped up pretty quickly and connected all the dots.  We have numerous narrators from the Las Vegas area whose lives all wind up connecting over an unimaginable tragedy.  There is a middle age woman stuck in an unhappy marriage who had two kids but live didn't go the way it was planned to.  A very young boy who is first generation and who's parents cultural differences leave him proud and confused.  A soldier wounded and working on his PTSD in DC but from Vegas and who was a pen pal while in Iraq to a child in Vegas.  I didn't know how their lives would wind up connecting but each narrator held their own piece of the story and left me wanting to know more.  When the big twist played out I was then racing to the end to see how it would all work out for each of the characters.  A great book about all the things that really do matter in the end.

Landing by Emma Donoghue-  Great story about Sile and Jude two women who meet by random circumstance on an airplane and form a love connection.  Problem is they live countries and oceans apart.  I like this author and this story was a great novel of what we sometimes leave behind for love and how we form relationships that sometimes aren't the most convenient.  I liked both characters pretty immediately and was hoping for their romance to somehow work out despite all the odds.  I liked the realistic moments of the story and I also mostly liked the ending.

A Sudden Light by Garth Stein-   Not my usual kind of book but there was something about this story that kept me turning the pages.  This story was about the Riddell family, particularly 14yo Trevor who narrates the story.  It's part mystery, part family drama/dysfunction, and part putting the past to rest to move forward.  Trevor's father left his family home many years ago and they return now to try to move his grandfather into assisted living and sell their expensive property to developers.  Add in an eccentric aunt, a family curse, and some ghosts not ready to move on.  Again usually not my thing but this writer is just so good I kept turning the pages.  I'm still not 100% sure I liked the ending but I also can't think of how else it could have ended really.  I liked the overall theme of trying to repair the nuclear families over generations.

The Girls from Corona del Mar by Rufi Thorpe- This is the story of the friendship of Mia and Lorrie Ann.  Mia is our narrator and struggles with a hard home life and numerous hardships during her early years.  Lorrie Ann seems to be from the "perfect" family and have no difficulties.  As they get older and enter young adulthood Mia has to start to see things aren't always as perfect on the outside as they seem.  The girls seem to almost cross paths and as things get better for Mia, Lorri Ann enters hard times.  The ways their friendship at first endures and then grows apart is difficult for Mia to grasp and grieve.  I liked the realistic pictures painted rather then the often sappy perfect friendship novels, but I also struggled a bit with the ending.  I felt a bit like some pieces of the puzzle were missing in the story and didn't lead to the road we ended up on.  Overall I liked the writing and I think this was the first book by this author but I would happily read another.

Meeting Rozzy Halfway by Caroline Leavitt- Our narrator is Bess she is the younger sister of Rozzy who was always a bit different when they were growing up.  Bess grows up in her shadow but also having to sometimes be the bigger sister and take care of Rozzy.  Rozzy goes through numerous events and diagnoses and Bess is there for all of them.  The connection between them goes into young adulthood and eventually Bess has to figure out how to live her life on her own or lose herself in Rozzy.  It was a good book and I really like this author lately and this was one of her first (maybe first?) books but felt worth tracking down due to it's subject.  I was certainly not disappointed.

102 Books in 2014, quite the accomplishment and means my goal of 4 years ago is finally met.

November 7

Girls in Trouble by Caroline Leavitt- This was such a unique story.  I found it hard to put down.  There were parts I didn't like because I didn't find them to be realistic, but overall I forgave this because the writing was so good and the story was so interesting.  This story follows 16yo Sara who is pregnant and giving her baby up for adoption but not entirely by choice.  We start with Sara being bonded to the new adoptive parents, George and Eva, and getting set up for an open adoption of her baby.  While everyone has good intentions things do not go as smoothly as planned.  Once the baby arrives Sara and Eva's relationship drastically changes.  Coupled with Sara's strained relationship with her own parents, Sara makes a very poor decision which ultimately leads to Eva and George moving with the baby far away without a forwarding address.  The book shares both families journey over the next years as the baby, Sara, and Eva all grow and change.  I really got invested in these characters and what would happen next.  As I said some pieces felt a bit contrived, but for the most part this book was just great and I loved reading about the characters mistakes and growth.  I think overall the message, one I say all the time, is parents aren't prefect and make many mistakes but they do the best they can.  Sometimes it's enough and sometimes it falls short, but in the end we all have to grow up and decide for ourselves who we want to be.

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein- What a book.  If your a dog/pet lover go read it this minute.  This story is uniquely narrated by Enzo, a dog.  Denny, Enzo's master is a race car driver, hence the title.  We learn about Denny and his hardships through Enzo's view.  There were parts that were so dog like they made me laugh out loud.  There were sad parts that were so heart warming through the dog's eyes that they made me emotional.  Overall this is a great read which made me add other books by this author to my list.  This book also makes you think, if you haven't before, about what goes on in our pets minds and what they think of their humans.  A beautiful and heart breaking/warming story.

The Newlyweds by Nell Freudenberger- This book wasn't quite what I expected it to be but I think overall I enjoyed reading it.  It's the story of Amina and George.  Amina is from Bangladesh and George is living in America.  It's a bit mail order bride but with technology twists and Amina winds up married to George and adjusting to American life.  We follow the newlyweds through adjusting to cultural/religious differences, married life, and leaving their pasts behind to figure out some sort of future together.

The Summer We Fell Apart by Robin Antalek- Four siblings: Amy, George, Kate and Finn narrate this story about the summer after their father dies.  Each sibling takes us through pieces of their childhood in a dysfunctional family and how it has affected their adulthood in present day.  The parents in the Haas family weren't very involved and each adult child has had to find their way on their own.  The book shares the story in some ways of how they found their way back to each other.  I didn't like how chopped up the book was and I struggled to like the characters until the narrated but overall there was something appealing about the book and the way the family was trying to pick up the pieces.

Shoe Addicts Anonymous by Beth Harbison- What a cute story.  By far not the best book ever but a cute easy read about 4 women who are bonded by their addiction to shoes.  Lorna, Helene, Sandra, and Jocelyn are strangers until their addiction to shoes and a common size brings them together, sort of.  Lorna is in debt due to her addiction and places the internet ad that brings the ladies together.  Helene is married to a high powered man and living the high life but with her own secrets she pays a high price to have her "perfect" marriage.  Sandra lacks the confidence to be herself but challenges herself to go to the original meeting and we watch her transform throughout the book.  Jocelyn is a nanny for a not so nice family and is hiding some secrets of her own from the group.  I loved reading this funny story about the women forming friendships and making changes in their lives.

Secrets of a Shoe Addict by Beth Harbison- A follow up to the book above which was also a cute story about women and their friendships.  We have a reappearance of Sandra who helps her sister Tiffany and her friends Abby, and Loreen.  The book starts with the women, aside from Sandra, on a school trip with their kids to Las Vegas.  There Tiffany gets in a little trouble trying to make herself over by shopping for a new wardrobe that she can't afford but also can't return.  Abby is a minister's wife but her secret past finds her in Vegas and follows her home.  Loreen is recently separated and mistakenly hires a prostitute (poor girl thought the man was interested in her).  The women all need to make money fast to cover up their mistakes and Sandra helps them by sharing how she works for a phone sex hotline and makes a lot of money.  Though some parts of the book were a bit silly/unrealistic the overall theme of the women coming together and fixing the issues themselves was great.  It was fun to read about their adventures and see where each of them would move forward to.

Who by Fire by Diana Spechler- Really liked this book.  I thought about it long after I put it down.  Bits and Ash are the main characters and are now adults but when they were children their little sister Alena was kidnapped.  Now all these years later they and their mother, Ellie, narrate pieces of the story.  Ash is living in Israel trying to be an orthodox Jew.  Bits is unable to commit to any relationship and playing middle man between her family members.  Ellie is a grieving mother and still overly anxious about her remaining children.  The women of the family have been trying to get Ash to return, believing he will outgrow this new change but also worrying for his safety.  When Alena's body is at last found so many years later, the family is determined to get Ash home for the funeral.  I did not see the twists and turns the story took coming and really enjoyed turning the pages to find out what would happen next.  There were pieces I found a bit much or unrealistic but overall each character held their own and conveyed their story in a way that you wanted each of them to win.

October- 9

The Godmother by Carrie Adams-  This story was about a 30something woman at a crossroads.  The title is referencing the about a dozen god children she has.  Tessa, our narrator, is a wonderful godmother to numerous children of her friends.  She is single and just back in her home after getting some time off work due to her ex boss stalking her and taking some time to travel (eat, pray, love style) to get back to herself.  The book focuses on really looking at what she wants in life.  Marriage, family, kids?  I liked the exploration from a new standpoint and after a semi traumatic event.  I liked the humor that Tessa brought to a subject that could be taken very seriously  It was cool to be with her on her journey to decide/discover what really matters most in life for her as an individual.  I got, and liked, the overall message from the author that we each choose our own way that is best for us as individuals.  

Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes-  This book was scary creepy good.  The main character Catherine narrates from the present and takes us back to the past as a parallel to the present.  Catherine in the present lives alone and at first seems very paranoid.  As the book goes on and the past and present connect we see the reasons for this current state.  Catherine dated a psychopath Lee for some time and had to escape from him (the parallel story line) and the terribly abusive relationship they had.  Now far away she learns he has been released from prison and she knows he will come after her again.  This book was terrifying and great.  I loved the strength of Catherine's character.  I liked the ending of the book too and think it really wrapped it up while also leaving the reader to think.  

Daughter’s Keeper by Ayelet Waldman-  I really like this author, but this was not my favorite book of her's.  This is about a young 20 something Olivia and her mother Elaine.  The woman live in California and are extreme opposites of each other.  Olivia winds up arrested and having to move back in with Elaine to be released while waiting for her trial.  During this waiting time Olivia also finds out she is pregnant and against Elaine's wishes decides to keep the baby even though the father is also in jail and his family is in Mexico.  Both woman narrate and while I saw lots of potential I just couldn't like either character enough to like the story overall.  The mom Elaine was not very motherly and the story for her was more or less her journey to figuring out what it meant to be a mom even though she had been one for some time.  Olivia's story of figuring out who she is in the world as an adult, a daughter and an almost mother is interesting but just fell a little flat for me.  Overall I felt like the concept was great but the novel took too many twists and turns away from the storyline.  

Sometimes Mine by Martha Moody-  Liked the first book I read by this author but since then I haven't connected as much to her novels.  This one was about Genie a single middle age doctor with a teenage daughter.  Genie has a relationship with a man she sees infrequently because he has a wife and kids.  Their relationship changes when the man is diagnosed with a terminal illness and all parties have to confront their interactions and how they will move forward.  I bought the concept but I just didn't see the growth in the characters I had wanted to see.  Mostly the novel kept going back to the past and how the couple met or other things from the past.  I appreciated the main character's journey to figuring out who she would be without this affair and also at the same time accepting her teenage daughter would be moving away to college shortly.  I just didn't really get that invested in her as a character though to really sympathize with her journey.  

The Cider House Rules by John Irving-  I can't say enough good things about this book.  I read my first book by this author last month and found this was a good second one.  I had a vague idea on what this was about having seen clips from the movie made.  This is the story of Homer Wells, an orphan coming up in an orphanage in St Cloud's Maine in the 1940s.  We hear narration from the founder of the orphanage Dr Wilbur Larch, and later after we watch him grow up into a teenager from Homer.  Homer is returned to the orphanage several times after possible adoption but never finds a suitable home and grows up in the orphanage.  Homer becomes a doctor in training knowing how to perform abortions and births but not having the formal education or licensure to legally be doing these things.  As a young adult Homer moves away from the orphanage following a young couple coming in together who he ends up in a love triangle with.  This couple takes him to live on an apple orchard that one of their parents owns.  Homer spends some years living in the cider house with the African American workers.  During this time we hear also from several of the other orphans who are having their own journeys into the world.  In the meantime Dr Larch's hope is Homer will return home and take over the orphanage/clinic so he can die in peace.  This is a long book with so much packed in.  We hear Dr Larch's story of becoming an abortionist, we hear about political debates, racial difficulties, the Vietnam War, and ultimately about an orphan finding his way.  It was a great read.   

All Fall Down by Jennifer Weiner-  Like this author, did not like this book.  Maybe "like" is not even right word for it.  I just didn't find it to be realistic at all.  I felt indifferent to the main character, Allison. She's a mom to one, sometimes difficult, young daughter.  The book opens with her at the pediatricians office taking an addiction quiz in a managing in the waiting room.  We then follow Allison down the path of past stories that led her to her pill addiction, present day consequences, and on her path of recovery.  Though I liked pieces of the story, as someone who works in addiction this book was not a realistic portrayal.  The timing of everything was way of.  I mean I get you only have so many pages, but then do a "one year later" or something.  It felt too rushed for such an important topic.  

China Dolls by Lisa See-  Love this author and was excited to learn she had a new book out.  This is the story of Ruby, Helen, and Grace.  3 women living in California in 1938.  We hear narration from each character over the next few years of their lives.  Grace is an American born Chinese woman escaping her abusive father.  Helen is a Chinese woman from a well known family in China town.  Ruby is a Japanese woman trying to pass as a Chinese woman during an anti Japanese climate due to the war.  Each woman is keeping her own secrets. The three become friends while trying to become performers in a show in China town.  We follow the girls through their joys and sorrows in a difficult historical time for their cultures.  We also watch as their secrets unfold and their friendships are tested.   

Nine Inches by Tom Perrotta-  I like this author and enjoyed this book of several short stories of his.  I enjoyed the way he developed the characters in each story.  I think the common themes were typical of this author: relationships, sex, growing up, change, regret, etc.  I didn't see a huge connect between the stories but I also didn't feel like the stories left me hanging as I usually do with short story books.  

Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult- I'm so torn on this one.  This is my favorite author and I love love love elephants.  Usually this author puts out a book every March but this one didn't come out until October so I waited even longer for a new one from her.  When I saw months ago what the newest story would be about I was incredibly excited.  This story was about the unsolved murder/disappearance of a young girl's mother from an elephant sanctuary.  We hear from several narrators including the girl in present day, her mother from the past sharing the story of falling in love with her father, and a former psychic/communicator with the dead.  I love love loved all the great information about elephants in the book, but I think for anyone who doesn't love elephants the way I do it might have been overkill.  I also liked the story but couldn't figure out where it was going and then when it started to come to a close I was very upset with the ending.  Having stepped back for awhile and looking back at the ending I'm not as upset by it but I still feel like I was lied to throughout the book in some ways.  I feel a little more now as though I understand why the author may have made some of the choices she made and why she choose to end the book the way she did.  That being said though I had, maybe too, high expectations for this book that just did not get met.  

September 6

The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling- An interesting story with many stories within the story.  This novel shares the story of a small town and it's political elections due to a vacancy seat on the parish council due to the untimely death of one of the council members.  There are many characters involved and many unique individual story lines going on at the same time with the main story being about the election.  We as readers know more then the towns people know about one another and can see things more objectively because we see the background stories of the characters.  The one thing I didn't like was how graphic the novel was.  I don't mind sex scenes but I feel like the author was trying to prove something with her first adult novel.  Some of it just was not necessary and was too much detail.  Other then that I really liked the book

The Other Family by Joanna Trollope- I didn't care for this story.  It was about two families.  One with 3 young women and the mom and dad and one with a single mother with an adult son.  The dad dies unexpectedly which brings the two families together in some ways since the single parent and adult son were his first family.  The story had potential but it was very slow moving and I still don't quite get what the point of it was.  The characters weren't likable and the story didn't really move anywhere. 

The One I Left Behind by Jennifer McMahon- I like this author because her books are unpredictable and take twists and turns.  This one's main character is named Reggie and when she was a young girl a serial killer was in her town.  The killer would cut off the victims hand leave it to be found and then 3 days later the rest of the body.  Reggie's mom was a victim but her body never turned up.  25 years later her mother shows up in a hospital/homeless shelter and she has to confront her past and how it affected her future.  A good mystery that kept me guessing until the end, I definitely could not have predicted how this one would end.  

The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick- The main character, Bartholomew, has lived with his mother for 38 years, after she dies Bartholomew has to figure out life on his own.  The book is a series of letters to actor Richard Gere who the character's mother seemed obsessed with and now the character is.  It's never said but the character seems to have something wrong with him mentally.  It was interesting to read about Bartholomew's adventures trying to navigate the world and make friends after so many years of isolation.  I was pretty confused on the ending though and what the book's message was overall.  

The Accidental Bestseller by Wendy Wax-  It's a book about an author who needs to come up with a story to turn in to her publisher but hasn't written anything and who's husband ends up leaving her so she doesn't seem able to get the novel done.  Her 3 writer friends try to rescue her by creating characters but the characters are based on themselves.  The women have an agreement not to tell that they helped write the book so the book ends up being about 4 women friends each struggling with something and keeping secrets.  I got a little lost to be honest.  It was a book within a book but it just didn't work overall.  I liked the realistic pieces where the story didn't just have a great happy ending but I didn't really understand the overall point either.  

A Widow for One Year by John Irving- Really liked this book and now this author.  The main character of this book is Ruth and we follow her through her childhood and adulthood.  The book starts with Ruth being 4 years old, the summer her mother leaves her family.  Ruth's father, a writer, takes on an assistant for the summer and he narrates parts of the book as well.  Ruth grows up in the shadow of her dead brothers who died when they were teenagers before she was born.  Ruth's mother leaves her and her father that summer and we follow Ruth and her family and the young assistant through the next decades of their lives.  I just loved the author's writing style and how many stories within the story there were.  Each worked in it's own unique way and I never felt lost trying to connect the characters.  As a reader I identified with each character when they were narrating and wanted to know more about what would happen for their lives.  

August 12

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.