Please note: Links pointing to Amazon contain my affiliate ID. Sales resulting from clicks on those links will earn me a percentage of the purchase price. So buy and read now!
Summary: A single mom falls in love with the married plastic surgeon who's treating her injured son.
I was given a copy of this book by the publisher.
Oh. My. God. Emily Giffin gets it. Did I get kidnapped without knowing it and have my brain harvested for thoughts? I laughed, cried, winced at the truths in this book. If you haven’t yet read Emily Giffin, pick up this book, because this is the one book everyone will be talking about this summer. You’ll see it at the beach, on airplanes, coffee shops and in book clubs. I’m suggesting it to my book club and I know we will continue to discuss it long after we meet, because it’s so relevant, so true, so compelling.
The story, Heart of the Matter, is told from two points of view; Tessa, a mother who recently started staying home with her kids, and Valerie, a single working mother whose son Charlie is seriously injured in a freak accident. When Tessa’s husband Nick becomes the surgeon assigned to Charlie, Valerie cannot help being captivated by the man who will save her son.
From the very first chapter, Tessa’s restlessness and anxiety instill a sense of dread in the reader and I know something bad will happen. I had to read on, because I know just how Tessa feels.
“I still love having sex with my husband, as much as ever once we’re under way. It just so happens that I know prefer sleep to most everything else- chocolate, red wine, HBO, and sex.”
When Tessa’s 5-year-old is fussing in Target, in front of another mother and her docile daughter: “I flash a fake smile of my own, refraining her from telling her what I’m really thinking: that it’s an unwise karmic move to go around feeling superior to other mothers. Because before she knows it, her little angel could become a tattooed teenager hiding joints in her designer handbag and doling out blow jobs in the backseat of her BMW.”
Tessa’s life rung true for me, and will for thousands of stay-at-home moms. Tessa’s life is laugh out loud funny, and so apt. When Nick suggests bringing Oreos to school as the snack for the day, I wanted to reach through the pages to smack him myself.
Yet Valerie, as the other woman, won my heart. Valerie’s intense love for her child, her loneliness, her fragile hope, and Charlie’s brave struggle made me hug my own kids (and my husband) a little tighter.
Strangely enough, my book club is also reading “Free-Range Kids” where the author tells parents to relax, because statistically, it’s unlikely that anything really bad will happen to your child. So when I read about Charlie’s accident, I panicked internally. What if it were my kid? And God, I hope I never find out. Valerie’s helplessness, her anger, her relief at having competent surgeon Nick tell her that he can help, that he will help, makes their relationship not only probable, but plausible. How could you not fall in love with the person who helps heal your child?
The book ends in the best and worst way possible. I was absolutely satisfied with the way things had turned out and would have been just as pleased if things had been different.
Jodi Picoult denied that her books are formulaic in an interview, and I snorted with derision. What’s wonderful about Emily Giffin’s books is that even though she does focus on adultery (a painful subject) she writes such heartfelt, often sympathetic characters in a realistic and funny way. And the book is absolutely up-to-date, with Facebook etiquette dilemmas, and mommy one-upmanship, and preschool applications.
I mean, Giffin really gets it all – the boredom and competition of being a stay-at-home-mom, the anguish of being a single parent, the loneliness of being a working, adult female. Even as Nick, Tessa and Valerie make choices, heart-breaking, anguishing choices, Giffin writes so well, that each action and each character will relate to some part of you and you not only understand why they are doing it, you know that you would do it too.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Blood Oath by Christopher Farnsworth
Please note: Links pointing to Amazon contain my affiliate ID. Sales resulting from clicks on those links will earn me a percentage of the purchase price. So buy and read now!
Summary: A vampire sworn to protect the President of the United States battles enemies, both foreign and domestic.
I was given a copy of this book by the publisher.
At this moment, there are eight separate conspiracy groups plotting to destroy the U.S. government. And Nathaniel Cade, the President’s Vampire, is working against the non-humans who would bring us down.
This book was awesome! From the very first page, when Zach Barrows, a self-titled “young Karl Rove,” is reassigned as the presidential liaison to the President’s Vampire, I read with accelerated heartbeat and eager anticipation. His new job: “Forget the War on Terror, Zach. This is the War on Horror. And you’ve just been drafted.” Cheese ball line, I know, but it totally works.
Cade is a newly-formed vampire about to be executed when President Andrew Johnson pardons him. Johnson hired voodoo priestess Marie Laveau (yes, that Marie Laveau) to bind Cade to protect and serve whomever is the President of the United States. What a premise, and one that leaves me begging for the next in what I hope is a long series of books about the President’s Vampire.
I love political thrillers and this has black ops, treason, betrayal and vampires. Books written by journalists always tend to be better written, because they know how to tell a story efficiently without falling in love with their own words. There is just enough plausibility about real threats that you almost wonder… “Could there really be…? Nah! Right? No!… But maybe…”
The back of the book reads: Enough action to out-Bourne Jason Bourne and out-Bauer Jack Bauer. I loved most of the Jason Bourne books, and the movies as well. Never quite got into “24” but I know that Jack Bauer does torture. So I chuckled when Cade says with no irony, “The United States doesn’t torture.”
There are some other bits of humor scattered throughout this action-packed political thriller. Certain lines will have you racing to Google and then laughing once you realize what it really means.
If you like any David Baldacci, any Brad Meltzer, any Dan Brown, any Tom Clancy, any James Rollins, you will devour this book. (Sorry, couldn’t resist a little vampire humor.)
My minor criticism:
As the monsters rampage through the White House, “Bits of human flesh and blood spread out over the wallpaper selected by Jackie Kennedy.” Poor Mrs. Kennedy. Don’t we have enough visions of her covered in the bits of human flesh and blood belonging to her husband? It was a gruesome reference that wouldn’t have been so distracting had it been any other first lady (with the exception of Mary Todd Lincoln, of course).
I could also see almost every scene in my head as I read along, so clear and descriptive was the writing. We could spend hours discussing the casting for when this is made into a movie – and I do hope it is made into a movie. Once you read it yourself, I hope you’ll chime in with your casting suggestions.
Bottom line: Sink your teeth into this one, with relish!
Summary: A vampire sworn to protect the President of the United States battles enemies, both foreign and domestic.
I was given a copy of this book by the publisher.
At this moment, there are eight separate conspiracy groups plotting to destroy the U.S. government. And Nathaniel Cade, the President’s Vampire, is working against the non-humans who would bring us down.
This book was awesome! From the very first page, when Zach Barrows, a self-titled “young Karl Rove,” is reassigned as the presidential liaison to the President’s Vampire, I read with accelerated heartbeat and eager anticipation. His new job: “Forget the War on Terror, Zach. This is the War on Horror. And you’ve just been drafted.” Cheese ball line, I know, but it totally works.
Cade is a newly-formed vampire about to be executed when President Andrew Johnson pardons him. Johnson hired voodoo priestess Marie Laveau (yes, that Marie Laveau) to bind Cade to protect and serve whomever is the President of the United States. What a premise, and one that leaves me begging for the next in what I hope is a long series of books about the President’s Vampire.
I love political thrillers and this has black ops, treason, betrayal and vampires. Books written by journalists always tend to be better written, because they know how to tell a story efficiently without falling in love with their own words. There is just enough plausibility about real threats that you almost wonder… “Could there really be…? Nah! Right? No!… But maybe…”
The back of the book reads: Enough action to out-Bourne Jason Bourne and out-Bauer Jack Bauer. I loved most of the Jason Bourne books, and the movies as well. Never quite got into “24” but I know that Jack Bauer does torture. So I chuckled when Cade says with no irony, “The United States doesn’t torture.”
There are some other bits of humor scattered throughout this action-packed political thriller. Certain lines will have you racing to Google and then laughing once you realize what it really means.
If you like any David Baldacci, any Brad Meltzer, any Dan Brown, any Tom Clancy, any James Rollins, you will devour this book. (Sorry, couldn’t resist a little vampire humor.)
My minor criticism:
As the monsters rampage through the White House, “Bits of human flesh and blood spread out over the wallpaper selected by Jackie Kennedy.” Poor Mrs. Kennedy. Don’t we have enough visions of her covered in the bits of human flesh and blood belonging to her husband? It was a gruesome reference that wouldn’t have been so distracting had it been any other first lady (with the exception of Mary Todd Lincoln, of course).
I could also see almost every scene in my head as I read along, so clear and descriptive was the writing. We could spend hours discussing the casting for when this is made into a movie – and I do hope it is made into a movie. Once you read it yourself, I hope you’ll chime in with your casting suggestions.
Bottom line: Sink your teeth into this one, with relish!
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Schooled by Gordon Korman
Please note: Links pointing to Amazon contain my affiliate ID. Sales resulting from clicks on those links will earn me a percentage of the purchase price. So buy and read now!
Summary: A home-schooled teenager raised by hippies is thrown into a modern-day middle school. Classic fish out of water story.
You need to be an adult to appreciate the humor of a 13-year old boy spouting off 60s commune propaganda. I giggled thru most of this novel. Capricorn Anderson was raised on a commune by his grandmother Rain.
“Rain always said that anger upsets the balance inside a person. So when you yell at somebody, you’re attacking yourself more than whoever it is you’re yelling at. Falling out of the tree must have made her forget this. Because when the nurses finally let me in to see her, she was screaming at the doctor at full volume. “I can’t do eight weeks of rehab! I can’t do eight days.” “
When Rain falls and breaks her hip, requiring eight weeks of rehab, a social worker invites Cap into her home and has Cap attend the local middle school. On the first day back, rising bully Zach Powers removes the L from the sign, reducing Claverage Middle School to a sign announcing C Average Middle School. Throwing a hippie into a modern day middle school is one of the most unique (and humorous) plot devices I’ve read. When Zach shows Cap his locker, Cap responds, “When we lock things away, we’re really imprisoning ourselves.”
The best part about this book was how true Cap remained to his values, despite the social pressure middle school has. It seems that peer shame contributes to a lot of middle school misery. Every year, the students select the nerdiest person to be elected school body president. This year, they select Cap and expect to mock him unknowingly all year. Since Cap is clueless, the kids enjoy making up impossible tasks for him, and watching him try to accomplish them. One running joke is that he has to learn all the names of the 1100 students in the middle school.
Yet Cap is charming and clueless as to how the real world works. Cap, honest as can be, is given a school checkbook to pay for the school dance. When asked for donations, he freely writes checks, because he doesn’t understand how a checking account works. “It was funny – a money-obsessed world was the main reason Rain had dropped out and formed Garland. Yet, in my experience, money was really excellent, and every time I spent it, someone ended up smiling.” Giving away this money makes Cap very popular, but it doesn’t affect his personality at all.
The sheep mentality of middle school becomes so great that when they don’t hear from Cap (he’s gone back home to Garland) his friends hold a memorial service for him. Cap missed his friends so much and never even got to say goodbye, that he decides to visit, right in the middle of his own memorial service, of course.
And during his memorial service, he says goodbye to every single student by name. Perfect scene.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
The Council of Dads by Bruce Feiler
Please note: Links pointing to Amazon contain my affiliate ID. Sales resulting from clicks on those links will earn me a percentage of the purchase price. So buy and read now!
Summary: Upon learning of his cancer diagnosis, Bruce Feiler creates a council of dads to mentor his soon-to-be-orphaned daughters.
I was given a copy of this book by the publisher.
"Take a walk for me."
I cried at page 32. But the good kind of tears, where you remember the awe-inspiring moments of delivering your child and knowing you have a loving partner who has your back, for life. Though I’ve never met Bruce Feiler and his wife Linda, I wish that I could be a part of their lives.
Bruce Feiler, the man who wrote “Walking the Bible,” is suddenly told he has a seven-inch tumor in his left femur.
He will die.
He panics about leaving his twin girls fatherless and so, with his wife, decides to create a “Council of Dads” to mentor his daughters and also serve as a testament (and memorial) to his life after he dies. As readers, we meet each member of the Council of Dads and Bruce reviews their shared history and also asks what each member can provide to his girls. Male friendship is so different from female friendship (and we recognize that Bruce is so lucky to have these men in his life) and their shared memories offer much-welcomed comic relief to a sad, but also uplifting true story. The true tragedy is that a man who made his living walking is now unable to do so.
Interspersed with the intros are composites of actual e-mails that Bruce sent out, chronicling his diagnosis, treatment and progress. The e-mails are the best parts of the book - so full of raw honesty, joy in his silly daughters, aching with love for his wife, and always ending with, "Take a walk for me."
I predict that this book will become a popular book club selection over the next three years, as both women and men analyze their past and current friendships and ask themselves, "What will my friend say my life meant?"
Read this book. You don't want to miss it.
Summary: Upon learning of his cancer diagnosis, Bruce Feiler creates a council of dads to mentor his soon-to-be-orphaned daughters.
I was given a copy of this book by the publisher.
"Take a walk for me."
I cried at page 32. But the good kind of tears, where you remember the awe-inspiring moments of delivering your child and knowing you have a loving partner who has your back, for life. Though I’ve never met Bruce Feiler and his wife Linda, I wish that I could be a part of their lives.
Bruce Feiler, the man who wrote “Walking the Bible,” is suddenly told he has a seven-inch tumor in his left femur.
He will die.
He panics about leaving his twin girls fatherless and so, with his wife, decides to create a “Council of Dads” to mentor his daughters and also serve as a testament (and memorial) to his life after he dies. As readers, we meet each member of the Council of Dads and Bruce reviews their shared history and also asks what each member can provide to his girls. Male friendship is so different from female friendship (and we recognize that Bruce is so lucky to have these men in his life) and their shared memories offer much-welcomed comic relief to a sad, but also uplifting true story. The true tragedy is that a man who made his living walking is now unable to do so.
Interspersed with the intros are composites of actual e-mails that Bruce sent out, chronicling his diagnosis, treatment and progress. The e-mails are the best parts of the book - so full of raw honesty, joy in his silly daughters, aching with love for his wife, and always ending with, "Take a walk for me."
I predict that this book will become a popular book club selection over the next three years, as both women and men analyze their past and current friendships and ask themselves, "What will my friend say my life meant?"
Read this book. You don't want to miss it.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Women Who Try Too Hard: Breaking the Pleaser Habits by Dr. Kevin Leman
Please note: Links pointing to Amazon contain my affiliate ID. Sales resulting from clicks on those links will earn me a percentage of the purchase price. So buy and read now!
Summary: Women try to create a positive relationship with their husbands but only know how to relate to their fathers instead.
I loved Leman's The Birth Order Book
but when Dr. Leman says "Bravo" to a woman who stays with her husband after his affair, I just got sick to my stomach.
The writing is old-fashioned and sexist. He describes each composite woman (individual case studies) as "attractive" or "slim and graceful" or as a "faded beauty." It felt like something the writers of TV's "Mad Men" would consult if they needed to create a therapist character.
You'd be better off watching an episode of "Bewitched" or maybe even "The Burning Bed
."
Summary: Women try to create a positive relationship with their husbands but only know how to relate to their fathers instead.
I loved Leman's The Birth Order Book
but when Dr. Leman says "Bravo" to a woman who stays with her husband after his affair, I just got sick to my stomach.The writing is old-fashioned and sexist. He describes each composite woman (individual case studies) as "attractive" or "slim and graceful" or as a "faded beauty." It felt like something the writers of TV's "Mad Men" would consult if they needed to create a therapist character.
You'd be better off watching an episode of "Bewitched" or maybe even "The Burning Bed
."
Friday, April 16, 2010
The Promise of Morning (At Home in Beldon Grove series) by Ann Shorey
Please note: Links pointing to Amazon contain my affiliate ID. Sales resulting from clicks on those links will earn me a percentage of the purchase price. So buy and read now!
Summary: A pastor's wife grieves the death of her children while her husband struggles with a challenge to his ministry.
I was given a copy of this book by the publisher.
Love is not enough to keep a marriage going. Faith in God is not enough to keep a marriage going. But faith in God, and love, and a commitment to living your best life all help, no matter what era you live in. This tender, poignant story shares a marriage in crisis, as two people try to get their needs met while staying happily married. I love stories with happy endings, too.
I can't imagine the pain of losing a child, and so while I ached for Ellie, I winced reading this. Reliable birth control in 1846 was rare, so when Ellie refuses to have sex with her husband to avoid giving birth to another child who might die in infancy, I fumed.
Ellie and Matthew are growing apart, with the stress of following a budget, farming, raising their children and dealing with family secrets. And then they're not even having sex? And the rain threatens to destroy the crops?
The problems just keep appearing. When each character focuses on what God wants for them, or the lessons the Bible teaches, things get better. But it was not preachy-preachy, as so many Christian fiction books can be.
Matthew is forced out of his church and feels so insecure he doesn't want to fight back. It doesn't help that Matthew rails against a public performance of Macbeth, without knowing the story.
Reading this story was a treat, reminding me that people have ordinary stresses, no matter the time period they live in, but it was also absorbing watching the characters dealing with problems exclusive to that time - like flies in the butter, kids running off to fight in wars, itinerant preachers, corsets, and wagons with flat tires - ooops, broken axles.
I enjoy reading romance novels where the characters have a real relationship with God, and this book was no exception.
Summary: A pastor's wife grieves the death of her children while her husband struggles with a challenge to his ministry.
I was given a copy of this book by the publisher.
Love is not enough to keep a marriage going. Faith in God is not enough to keep a marriage going. But faith in God, and love, and a commitment to living your best life all help, no matter what era you live in. This tender, poignant story shares a marriage in crisis, as two people try to get their needs met while staying happily married. I love stories with happy endings, too.
I can't imagine the pain of losing a child, and so while I ached for Ellie, I winced reading this. Reliable birth control in 1846 was rare, so when Ellie refuses to have sex with her husband to avoid giving birth to another child who might die in infancy, I fumed.
Ellie and Matthew are growing apart, with the stress of following a budget, farming, raising their children and dealing with family secrets. And then they're not even having sex? And the rain threatens to destroy the crops?
The problems just keep appearing. When each character focuses on what God wants for them, or the lessons the Bible teaches, things get better. But it was not preachy-preachy, as so many Christian fiction books can be.
Matthew is forced out of his church and feels so insecure he doesn't want to fight back. It doesn't help that Matthew rails against a public performance of Macbeth, without knowing the story.
Reading this story was a treat, reminding me that people have ordinary stresses, no matter the time period they live in, but it was also absorbing watching the characters dealing with problems exclusive to that time - like flies in the butter, kids running off to fight in wars, itinerant preachers, corsets, and wagons with flat tires - ooops, broken axles.
I enjoy reading romance novels where the characters have a real relationship with God, and this book was no exception.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
On Mystic Lake by Kristin Hannah
Please note: Links pointing to Amazon contain my affiliate ID. Sales resulting from clicks on those links will earn me a percentage of the purchase price. So buy and read now!
Summary: Housewife Annie is lost after she and her husband separate and she moves back to her home town.
My husband asked me, "Is that the Sean Penn movie you're reading?" and I said, "No, that's Mystic River, not On Mystic Lake." I was so disappointed in On Mystic Lake. Kristin Hannah writes such well-thought out, full, compelling characters that I had really high expectations. (Firefly Lane
is amazing!) When Annie's teenage daughter leaves for a semester abroad, Annie thinks she and her husband can finally reconnect. Instead, he tells her he's in love with another woman and leaving her. Cliche, sure, but Hannah would handle it well, I believed. Annie spent her whole life being a mom, and housekeeper, so I thought this would be a novel about finding yourself, and what makes you happy. So Annie runs home to Mystic River and her father and promptly hooks up with her high school sweetheart, Nick, who married her best friend, Kathy. Kathy committed suicide eight months ago, leaving a floundering Nick, and lonely daughter Izzy, who became mute suddenly and is convinced she's disappearing. Annie becomes Izzy's housekeeper, despite her father's concern. Annie rants to him, "You told me I need to find a project. What am I supposed to do - cure cancer? I'm a wife and mother. That's all I know. All I am." Okay, Annie, how about finding a therapist? Or a career counselor? Did feminism pass Mystic River by? Ridiculous. Especially since she starts living at Nick's house, cooking meals, planting a garden, doing crafts. Finally, Annie's friend Terry asks what I was hoping to ask Annie, "You just spent twenty years waiting for a a man to come home - now you're waiting for another man?" Exactly, Terry. Apparently, it's fine to be a housekeeper/wife/mother if it's the right man, and he doesn't cheat on you. I was so disappointed. Co-dependent love story - almost worrisome, overly-sentimental reflection, but no real growth in any of the characters.
Summary: Housewife Annie is lost after she and her husband separate and she moves back to her home town.
My husband asked me, "Is that the Sean Penn movie you're reading?" and I said, "No, that's Mystic River, not On Mystic Lake." I was so disappointed in On Mystic Lake. Kristin Hannah writes such well-thought out, full, compelling characters that I had really high expectations. (Firefly Lane
is amazing!) When Annie's teenage daughter leaves for a semester abroad, Annie thinks she and her husband can finally reconnect. Instead, he tells her he's in love with another woman and leaving her. Cliche, sure, but Hannah would handle it well, I believed. Annie spent her whole life being a mom, and housekeeper, so I thought this would be a novel about finding yourself, and what makes you happy. So Annie runs home to Mystic River and her father and promptly hooks up with her high school sweetheart, Nick, who married her best friend, Kathy. Kathy committed suicide eight months ago, leaving a floundering Nick, and lonely daughter Izzy, who became mute suddenly and is convinced she's disappearing. Annie becomes Izzy's housekeeper, despite her father's concern. Annie rants to him, "You told me I need to find a project. What am I supposed to do - cure cancer? I'm a wife and mother. That's all I know. All I am." Okay, Annie, how about finding a therapist? Or a career counselor? Did feminism pass Mystic River by? Ridiculous. Especially since she starts living at Nick's house, cooking meals, planting a garden, doing crafts. Finally, Annie's friend Terry asks what I was hoping to ask Annie, "You just spent twenty years waiting for a a man to come home - now you're waiting for another man?" Exactly, Terry. Apparently, it's fine to be a housekeeper/wife/mother if it's the right man, and he doesn't cheat on you. I was so disappointed. Co-dependent love story - almost worrisome, overly-sentimental reflection, but no real growth in any of the characters.
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