The Nobodies Album by Carolyn Parkhurst

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Summary: When her estranged son is accused of murder, author Octavia Frost searches for forgiveness and connection.


I was given a copy of this book by the publisher.

How do I begin to describe a complicated, fascinating book that occasionally haunts me as a parent but also intrigues me as a book lover?

Let me attempt to explain:

Author Octavia Frost is doing a brave, bold thing. She has re-written the endings to all of her published novels. As readers, we get the jacket copy of her book, the original ending, and the revised ending. (Wow! What books would I wish the endings rewritten? That's a great question for my book club.) And Octavia, like author Carolyn Parkhurst, writes dark, intensely sad stories about human love and human cruelty. My favorite story of Octavia's was The Human Slice. I want to read this fictional book, so intrigued was I by the excerpt and both the original and revised endings. I knew I wouldn't read most of Octavia's stories but eagerly read through the main story: Octavia's son Milo is accused of murdering his girlfriend.

Octavia is a widow, having lost her husband and daughter in an accident years ago, leaving Octavia and teenaged Milo to stumble along with their solo grief. Octavia is eaten up by her guilt and contentious relationship with Milo.

"I did one of the following things, just one. Did I (A) Walk away, leaving him to destroy the book in private? (B) Stand in his doorway, with my face in my hands, wondering whether or not to let him see me cry? Or (C) sit next to him on the bed and say, "Let's get rid of this thing. What do you think about burning it?" 

Never mind which one is true. Tell me which one would have changed things. Tell me which one would have led us, inevitably to an ending other than this one."

As an adult, Milo is a popular, talented musician who seems to have reached happiness, until his pretty girlfriend Bettina is found murdered in their bed, with Milo as the only suspect. Milo and Octavia have been estranged for years, and Octavia is an expert on all things Milo after Milo shut Octavia out of his life.  What even more disturbing about this brutal murder is that Milo is convinced he has killed Bettina, even though he can't remember.

Feeling panicked with his upcoming trial, Milo allows Octavia back into his life, and Octavia carefully builds trust and love with Milo, without having resolved the original reason Milo cut off all contact four years ago. Octavia is dangerously curious about Milo's life without her, and yet, she still is not convinced of Milo's innocence.

Octavia revisits her parenting of Milo, recognizing only too late where she should have stepped in and where she should have backed off.  Octavia's attempt to rewrite her books despite everyone knowing the ending mirror her attempt to rewrite her own history and past with Milo, even though once said (or written or published) some things cannot be unsaid. This is a dramatic, challenging book, written with astute observations about human motive and hidden thoughts.

Lover Avenged (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 7) by J.R. Ward

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Summary: Half-sympath/Half-vampire Rehvenge is caught in the middle of vampire politics while wooing Ehlena, a struggling vampire nurse.

Lover Avenged feels like a place holder book to me. The story moves the plot of the Black Dagger Brotherhood along, but the primary romance between Ehlena and Rehvenge does not have the seemingly insurmountable problems that the other Brothers did.  My favorite story is that of Zhadist and Bella, likely because it was the first book I read of the series, as I read them completely out of order.

Author J.R. Ward thoughtfully provides a glossary of terms in the beginning of each book, so the vampire world and the relevant rules of the world she's created are spelled out before you even meet the characters.

Without sharing too much of the current vampire world, let me sum up the plot: Rehvenge is summoned to carry out the assassination of Wrath, the vampire king, head of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. Why in the world anyone with half a brain would think Rehvenge would kill the king, I don't know. On top of that, Rehvenge must seek monthly medical treatment for a chronic (sexual) poisoning he gets every month, but must keep secret from the world. The only nurse at the clinic who can handle Rehvenge's cold, calculating and leering gaze is Ehlena.

Ehlena has struggles of her own. Her father has schizophrenia (yes, apparently vampires can get schizophrenia) and she leaves her father to the care of a nurse while she serves the public. She tells herself that when she is seeing Rehvenge outside of the clinic, it's because she's doing her nursely duty, just like she'd like someone to take care of her father, but she soon realizes it's something more.

The love story developed quickly, because this book was more used to establish that: Lash, a former Vampire, is a successful son of the Omega; that John Matthew and Xhex have a connection that neither of them can admit without losing face; that Wrath is now officially blind and can serve his people best by administrative purposes instead of fighting lessers; that Tohrment has snapped out of his grief; and that the Black Dagger Brotherhood needs more fighters. There was only one mention of Marissa, and I wasn't even sure if she and Butch were still an item.

I'll be waiting for the next book, which I hope features Payne, and develops the story between John Matthew and Xhex.

Godmother by Carolyn Turgeon

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Summary: Cinderella’s Fairy godmother seeks a chance to redo a mistake she made 300 years ago.

That sweet old lady who smiles at you as you rush by is not someone’s doting grandmother, or an active senior, but a banished fairy, forced out of Fairyland because she did the unthinkable – she fell in love with a human.

To make matters worse, Lil fell in love with Cinderella’s prince instead. No, no, no, you can’t change the story, so of course Lil is exiled.

Fairy Godmother Lil was supposed to change Cinderella’s life forever when she transformed the abused maid into a vision of loveliness, but Lil had been dreaming of the prince too, and when Cinderella got cold feet (glass slippers, remember?), Lil went in her place. And Lil has been suffering alone ever since.

We meet Lil when she’s reached her lowest point, barely eating enough to stay alive and working in a used bookstore. Then Veronica walks in. Veronica is a flamboyant hair stylist (but not flamboyant in the the NYC way you're thinking) and Lil thinks she would be a perfect match for her boss George. Lil is supposed to help people find true love, and sets out to make a match between her George and Veronica. Maybe she can redeem herself that way.

This book dragged on in spots, constantly emphasizing Lil’s loneliness and exile. Every other chapter takes place in Lil’s modern life, while opposing chapters explore Lil’s early life in fairyland and how she came to fall in love with the prince. This book was about 20% too long.

Lil was so welcomed by humans that I just kept wanting to say, “Take some Prozac and move on.” That’s a dreadful thing to say to someone (even a fairy) with depression, but I kept reading in the hopes that Lil would finally make a perfect match and get to go home to her sister and fairy friends.

She sets them up, helps them pick out clothes, and the very last chapter of the book deals with the morning after the modern ball.

The surprise ending redeemed this book, although I did feel that this should have been more of a Young Adult novel, instead of adult fantasy fiction. 

Bucking the Sarge by Christopher Paul Curtis

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Summary: Humorous look at how a book-smart but socially naive teen struggles to deal with his mother's powerful but illegal empire in Flint, Michigan.


It’s hard growing up in Flint, Michigan and even harder when your ambition is to be America’s most successful and wealthy philosopher. “Doing the right thing is like that, you get a strong feeling of relief, sort of like a giant rock has been lifted off your back. Or like the dump you take the day after you eat the ten-taco special from Los Aztecos.” Yet fourteen year-old-Luther T. Farrell has dreams and ambitions, and nothing, not even his mother, the Sarge, can stop him.

I kept laughing at Luther’s life:

“I’ve always thought of myself as being handsome but in an unusual sort of way. And if that Clearasil really works it won’t be too much longer before I’ll be handsome in a more normal sense of the word.” I mean, the honesty and the self-deception is so perfect, written in the voice of a black teenager in Flint. The humor kept me hooked, wondering just where the author would take Luther, and us.

“Holding your blindfolded best friend’s hand in a cage so he can get bit by a diseased rat isn’t as easy to do as it sounds.”

Luther also has a job as a housekeeper/driver/cook/health aide in one of his mother’s nursing homes, $92,000 in a savings account, a fake driver’s license and the Sarge as his mother.

The Sarge.

Whew! I have mother issues, but I’m glad I don’t have the Sarge.

The Sarge has a mandate against PDA, even with her son. With the Sarge, “Break a rule, lose your allowance; break a mandate, lose your life.” So no hugs for Luther, ever. Oh, Sarge is not a loan shark, Sarge distributes what she calls Friendly Neighborhood Loans. Sarge does not cheat the system, Sarge will milk the system. “If it’s got nipples, I’m going to milk it,” Sarge explains to Luther when Luther thinks about getting a different job. “The daily nine-to-five action is purely for the sucker.”

Perhaps because I lived near Detroit for three years, I felt right at home, reading descriptions of life in one of Sarge’s rental homes and the dialogue rings true, too.

Not a single character even blinks when attorney Dontay Orlando Gaddy (or D.O.G. to his clients) cries out, “Ask not for whom the Taco Bell tolls, it tolls for thee!”

And Luther’s philosophy cracks me up.

“Sometimes being stupid is like falling down a flight of stairs: once you trip on that first step, there’s not a whole lot you can do to stop from going down, down, down.”

This is a Young Adult novel. It’s not “Twilight,” and it’s not “The Giver.” If you’re looking for an uplifting story with a message, find something else. If you want to be deeply moved, ask a librarian for a recommendation, but if you want a light, funny, poignant sample of teen life, then pick this book. Once you fall into Luther’s life, there’s not a whole lot you can do to stop yourself from enjoying this book. 

I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have To Kill You by Ally Carter

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Summary: A private all-girls school is an excellent cover for training the next generation of spies. Teen novel. 

Gallagher Academy is the school to which I’d like to send my daughters. Not only do they train young ladies in social graces, foreign languages and biology, but the students also learn Covert Ops, Data Encryption and Garbology.

Cammie, the daughter of the headmistress, and her friends Liz and Bex are asked to show a potential new student around the school. And why?:

“The juniors are beginning their semester with interrogation tactics, so they are all under the influence of sodium pentathol at the moment, and the seniors are being fitted with their night-vision contacts, and they won’t un-dilate for at last two hours.”

You’ll find yourself chuckling as not only do these girls deal with all the stresses that spies-in-training must pursue, but ordinary teen girl angst as well. They miss breakfast to primp for their hunky new Covert Operations teacher, and they pass notes in class written in disappearing ink.

“I can only imagine the misery of a girl going to a normal school, since she probably isn’t going to spend her Saturday nights helping her best friend crack the codes that protect U.S. spy satellites. (Liz even split the extra credit she earned from Mr. Mosckowitz with me - the cash prize offered by the NSA, she kept.)”

When a boy from town expresses interest in Cammie, the girls make it their mission to find out if he really likes her or not. Expected hijinks ensue. The casual way that Cammie’s high-tension life is treated makes the humor of this book come alive, even if the plot is typical teen fiction. 

“I think he was dazed – I know I definitely was. After all, it’s not every day you A) break up with your secret boyfriend, B) get kidnapped by (sort of) former government operatives, and C) have the aforementioned secret boyfriend attempt to rescue you by driving a forklift through a wall.” 

Enjoyable, light teen reading. I'm looking forward to future Cammie adventures with the Gallagher Girls.

Betsy's Return (Brides of Lehigh Canal, Book 2) by Wanda E. Brunstetter

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Summary: A woman returns to her hometown to care for her ailing minister father and falls in love with the pastor who replaced her father. 


I was given a copy of this book by the publisher.


As you can guess from the title, Betsy returns to the Lehigh Canal region in Pennsylvania to care for her ailing father, the former pastor of Walnutport. Soon after her arrival, she meets the replacement pastor, Reverend William Covington of Buffalo.  

This is William's first position as pastor and his wealthy family would prefer that he minister to a wealthier community as well as one closer to home. But having been jilted at the altar by his fiance, William needs to escape and heal from his hurt and humiliation. As William vows never to let his heart be vulnerable, we, as readers, know that he and Betsy will eventually find each other in their loneliness.  

Betsy was an interesting character. From lines in this book, I can tell that Betsy was pretty much a bitch in the first book in this trilogy. Her sharp comments, snobbery and ego seemed to have made her a lot of enemies in the first book. Betsy seems unsure of her reception in Walnutport, as she now recognizes all she had done to hurt people. I always like it when characters develop and grow during a book or series, and although I haven't read the first book, I can appreciate Betsy's new maturity, even though it interferes with her romance.

"She had noticed how handsome the pastor was, and if she were still the old flirtatious Betsy, she might be tempted to let her interest in the man be known. But she had changed and would not throw herself at any man, no matter how much he might interest her. If God ever decided that she should have a husband, then He would have to cause that man to make the first move."

Betsy is struggling with her obligations to her father, feeling displaced since she is no longer the pastor's daughter, and finds herself tentatively intrigued by the new minister. And when she advises the pastor on ways to better serve the community, they find themselves enjoying their time together. Who better to advise a novice pastor than the pastor's daughter, right? William's grouchy housekeeper Mrs. Bevens resents the entire Lehigh Canal community and does her best to distance William from his church community and especially Betsy. Of course, Mrs. Bevens becomes the biggest obstacle to the relationship between William and Betsy, although Betsy is seen kissing another man. Of course that man kissed Betsy first and she rejected his advances but Betsy's landlady Freda

"explained that she'd walked away after she'd seen them kissing, so she hadn't witnessed whatever had followed."

Puh-leeze. You mean to tell me that Freda wouldn't have stared at some big burly canal man kissing the former reverend's daughter? Not a credible scene. 


I was so astonished that a character talks about making a salad for supper that I immediately searched for when Americans started serving salad. I was convinced that 1896 was too early, but I was wrong. That makes me think that the author really did research about canal life at that time. 


This was a nice, sweet Christian romance. The plot moved along fairly quickly and the writing was easy and simplistic, with more than a few Scripture quotations thrown in. I do read Christian fiction, but this one seemed to have more than the usual amount of Bible quotes. Given that the hero was a minister and the heroine a minister's daughter, this did make sense.

By the Time You Read This by Lola Jaye

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Summary: After his death, a girl is given an advice manual written by her deceased father, with advice for her life from age 12 to age 30. 


Having just read Council of Dads, I feel slightly disappointed in this book. The concept is really touching. Knowing he has only a few months left to live, Kevin Bates writes The Manual, yearly advice for his daughter Lois, to be opened when she turns 12. 


Lois is very lonely and struggling with her mother's remarriage when she is given The Manual, but when Lois feels as if everyone has abandoned her, she knows that her dead father has not.


The book gives us a glimpse into Lois' life at each birthday and each chapter opens with a new letter from her father.  This is where the amateurish writing showed the most. 

"Miscellaneous: Your first real kiss

I couldn't figure out where to put this, so I stuck it in the miscellaneous section (if I had my own way it wouldn't even be a section, because I'm not sure I want some guy kissing you). But if my dreams of you having kids and growing old with your family around you are ever to materialize, then a kiss is probably likely.

Sooooo . . .

Here goes (deep breath, deep breath).

Your first kiss.

You've probably just had it or are about to. All I can say is, it will feel ... well, rather crap actually. The good (or bad) news is, it definitely gets better with practice."

Lois lives in south London and has what may or may not be a typical English teen upbringing. She goes to school dances, deals with first kisses, bullies, and decides to continue her education. Lois, at age 18, claims she has never known anyone to get a divorce before. She also spends three months in America, where she has sex for the first time. Lois gets a temp job, which leads her to get a degree in IT. She gets more and more financial success, but keeps her family at bay, still resenting her mother for remarrying and then having the nerve to have another child, whom Lois only identifies as the Sprog. We don't get an actual name for her sister until the sister is six. 


The concept was so good, but I felt like Lois was cold, reserved and rather uninteresting. (Is it just because she's British?) She dates men, and then gets annoyed with them (hey, join the club, sister, that's half the women in America!) and dumps them. She makes no real friends, really only staying close to her childhood friend Carla because her dead father advised her too. Once Lois continues on to school, she is only friends with Carla, despite their obvious lack of shared anything - values, lives, interests, jobs. Carla is, of course, her childhood next door neighbor and I was left feeling that Lois usually chose the path of least emotional resistance when it came to relationships or letting people in. 

"Luckily, traveling to different sites meant "friendships" could be kept brisk and light, just the way I preferred things."

My other quirk was the poor transcontinental idiom editing.  Her father Kevin played football, what we Americans call soccer, yet it's referred to as soccer in the book, instead of football the way a Brit would. And Lois gets paid in dollars, not pounds, even thought it's obvious from all the references that she is English and living in London. And when Brits get more money, it's called a "pay rise," not a "pay raise." And potato chips in a bag are called "crisps" overseas, not chips, as we do here in the U.S.


I'm gonna leave you with one last quote to show you what I mean about the writing:

"The only good thing about losing someone at five years old is the strange luxury of not recalling the actual moment it happened. The moment the first man I have ever loved was ripped away from me like an errant chin hair by a angry pair of tweezers."

I know I should be sympathetic, but that sentence just makes me want to make an appointment with my waxer. 


Consider instead Things I Want My Daughters to Know.