Category: Book Review

Brooke has the type of marriage that you only see on tv.  Married to her high school sweetheart for 15 years, Brooke and Scott still acted like newly weds, sneaking away for quick moments together whenever they could.

Newly married Samantha finds a disturbing email on her husband of 48 hours computer.  And she does the only thing she knows … she runs.

Katherine has not really allowed much more in her life than her career and for the most part that was pretty satisfying, even if she does work for the man who crushed her heart many years ago. After an eye-opening blind date for her 40th birthday, Katherine gets a long overdue wake up call on life.

On the outside, these three women have nothing in common, yet their worlds are about to collide in a powerful way that is more than they could ask for.

 

 

So much draws me to this book at first look… the cover is gorgeous and inviting, it is a party I hope I am invited to.  It’s written about three strong women, each very different in how they live their lives…. and probably most intriguing – it is written by a man. 

I dove into All You Could Ask For with a sense of adventure (remember the party cover?  I knew I was in for some fun)  And I was in for some fun, all three women each had qualities that appealed to me as to how they lived their lives.  Brooke’s marriage sounded amazing and fun, Samantha’s desire to push herself physically through triathlon challenges brought out the sports girl in me, and I was impressed by Katherine’s work ethics – although misplaced, she was in a good spot financially.  Of course, as in all great reads, I had a favorite character… and I am not going to tell but I will say that at the end of the book it was fun to find out that the authors favorite was the same as mine.

All You Could Ask For is a good read about women who come together under hard circumstances.  I enjoyed the quick flow of the books and the alternating chapters told by each of the main characters from their point of view.  It is not a perfect book.  I have questions. There is a huge relationship gap that bugged me and made the book feel disconnected because of it.  However,  as I processed my thoughts on this book, I think that maybe Mike Greenberg was right to leave the gap… after all real life works that way.  As much as we would love all our situations to end wrapped neatly with a bow, quite often we just run out of tape.

 

 

Abraham Lincoln was not always the President Of The United States.  He was once a young man filled with spirit and dreams.  Before he was the man we have read about and look upon the penny and the five dollar bill, he was just a poor boy from Kentucky.  He was a lawyer.  he was a member of congress.  He was a husband, and a father.This is his story.

 

Jerome Charyn takes what we know of Lincoln’s life from beginning until the end, and breathes life into the gaps in between using Lincoln’s own voice to tell this first person fictional masterpiece. In fact, I Am Lincoln, begins with the end…. in a theater in Washington DC with only the soft sound of movement and then a sting behind his left ear…

Wow.  Wow. Wow.

I have always been fascinated with Lincoln’s life and death.  He has always been my favorite of the presidents even though clearly we have never met nor even lived in the same century.  102 years after his death, I would be born.

Lincoln was the man who led us through the civil war, who pushed back against slavery, and did so with integrity.  When this book was offered up for review, I did not hesitate on saying yes.

Jerome Charyn writes I Am Lincoln from an amazing perspective; Lincoln’s.  For this I give him credit as those are big shoes to fill. Jerome Charyn not only lets us see history unfold, but through Lincoln’s own eyes and words is something pretty close to brilliant. 

I adored this book and lapped up each page seeing Lincoln’s life as I never had before.  Being able to write this review on Lincoln’s birthday is a great honor to me to be able to speak so enthusiastically about this book. 

 

I found McKinlay’s writing so delicious I had to say some of the lines out loud just to savor them on my tongue ~ Sheila

Eve Petworth finds her 40’s to be a bit of a rocky road.  Living in London on her own after a divorce, and struggling as her own adult daughter is about to be married and leaning a little too hard on Eve, Eve takes solace in books written by a popular American Novelist, Jackson Cooper.  When Eve writes to Cooper informing him of her appreciation of his books and comparing one of his lines about a watery summer day to ripe fruit, Cooper to her surprise, writes back.

Jackson Cooper has his own tales of love and loss.  Now in his 50’s and divorced twice, he really does not know what he wants.  Women fall all over him, and if that is what he wanted he would be set, but really he just wants to write that next book that seems stuck in his head without all the – well lets call it what it is:  Drama.  Writing to Eve in London is like writing to an old friend.  They share recipes, they talk about books and the weather…

and both wonder in the middle of this messed up life… if their might be something more…

 

 

I am not even sure if I can tell you how impressed I am with That Part Was True by Deborah McKinlay.  Even now weeks after I have read the book, I glance over at it as I type with a little smile on my face.

This book reminds me a little of the flow of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, but with a gentler flow to it.  This one grabbed me as I enjoyed Eve and her struggles with her every day life as well as Jackson’s struggles as he continuously (sometimes hilariously) messed everything up. 

This is the book I recommended for February in the Blogger Recommended publication.  I hope you too will take a closer look at this book and give it a read.  I seriously enjoyed it. 

 

 

As Labor Day approaches in Holton Mills, New Hampshire, 13-year-old Henry and his mother Adele head into town to pick up some groceries and supplies for their home.  This is a rare trip to town as single emotionally damaged mom Adele does not like being around people and mainly sticks to home where she lives her quiet small life.  Henry, a product of his environment is much a loner himself with no real close friends and no one he really hangs out with except his dads new wife’s kids.  Henry spends much of his time playing with his hamster, trying to make his mom feel better, and thinking of girls.

At the grocery store a limping man, named Frank, approaches Henry asking for help.  Henry sees that Frank is bleeding and takes him to his mother who in turn takes Frank home with her and Henry.  This is when Frank shares his story that he has escaped and is a wanted man (not in a sexy way…. but in a “my face is going to be on tv” way). 

Over the next five days surrounding the Labor Day Holiday Henry will learn a lot about his mom, he will learn to bake with Frank’s expertise, and how to correctly throw a ball.  And Henry will come out of the weekend a changed boy – with more knowledge about love, betrayal, and letting go… even when it is the last thing we want to do.

 

 

Uhhhhhh.

I am having a hard time spilling out my feelings regarding Labor Day.  On one hand, I want to say that Adele’s inability to use her backbone brings the”strong female characters preferred” gene in me screaming through the book like fingernails on a chalk board.

But that is harsh.

And probably not fair.

Isn’t it funny how my own preferences of how women need to be strong and able to take care of themselves  rears up out of nowhere? 

I have a hard time wrapping my head around a single woman with a young son to look after, taking home a strange man that she knows nothing about and then under the strangest conditions keeping him there. 

On the other hand, I do not know the depths of Adele’s depression, or the amount of frailness she withholds from past hurts.  It is not fair of me to judge what I do not understand.

Labor Day is told from Henry’s point of view so we (I) must be reminded that what is happening is how he see’s things with his 13-year-old mind.  (Although… I can not see how else he could have seen it) Doh!  I did it again.

I think I am in the minority as I glanced at overall reviews of this book on Amazon they rate fairly high.  I struggled personally with the probability of such a thing happening – but… we do live in a strange world. 

Here are some different thoughts on this book from Bloggers I trust:

Bermuda Onion

Alison’s Book Marks

Red Headed Book Child

I clearly did not love the book, but I did not hate it either.  It is a book that still has me thinking about it.  The fact that it creates such strong emotion in me must say something 🙂

My book club received copies of this book to read as a group in anticipation of the movie.  Tonight we are going to the movie as a group and I am hopeful that my opinion of the storyline will change after the movie.  No matter what, I still get to hang out with a great group of girls 😀