Category: Book Review

 

Six years ago Jake Fisher met the girl of his dreams.  Natalie came into his life like an answered prayer.  They had a whirlwind romance, and Jake could not imagine life ever being any better and he felt they would be together forever.  Then, as suddenly as Natalie had walked into his life, she walked out.  Claiming a love for someone else, someone named Todd Sanderson who she had once dated.

Jake, heartbroken and helpless can do nothing as his dreams of a future with Natalie vaporize into thin air.  When she marries Todd shortly after, Jake has to see the wedding for himself still not believing that his Natalie was gone.  But as he watched her say “I do”, and slip a ring on her finger, there is no denying that she has moved on.  Before Natalie leaves the chapel she asks Jake to promise to never look for her, to never try to contact her.  And helplessly, he promises.

Now, six years later and working as a College Professor, an obituary he stumbles upon on-line captures his eye.  Todd Sanderson has died.  Suddenly Jake’s promise doesn’t seem to hold as he vows to go to the funeral and see his Natalie, one more time.  Yet the woman who mourns for the loss of her husband is not Natalie, and crazier yet, this woman has been married to Todd for over 20 years.

As Todd tried to go back to where Natalie and he had met to look for clues as to what has happened and where she went people who they knew together act as they do not know him… and the more bizarre it becomes, the more Todd digs in, letting go of a six-year promise, and trying to find the truth…

 

 

 

Holy smokes…. there is nothing like a good read bu Harlan Coben to put your reading mojo on the right track.  When I opened this book a few days ago the plan was to read a few pages just to get the feel for what it was about.  That was enough to hook me and have trouble putting it down until I turned that last delicious page.

There are so many wonderful reasons I like Coben’s writing.  I tell people that Stephen King is hard and dark and sometimes far out there, than Dean Koontz is a mellower version of King, a little funnier, still dark…. then there is Coben.  Coben grabs the reader and entangles you in the story before you have a chance to walk away, he is funny and witty, rarely dark, and I love all of that.

 

The woman at the desk had a helmety beehive hairdo last seen on a senator’s wife circa 1964.  She hit me with a smile so wooden I could have knocked on it for luck.

~ page 389

 

Six Years was a delight to read.  A great protagonist, a believable storyline… do not hesitate to become a new Harlan Coben devoted fan by reading this book.  Just remember you can not be president of his fan club, because I am pretty sure that would be me.  😀

On another fun note… Six Years was part of a bidding war for rights to the movie and Paramount won and Hugh Jackman will play Jake.  Awesome right? 

April 1963.  Birmingham Alabama.  Letitia lives her young life with a family who loves her.  She enjoys the freedom of youth and loves to embark on adventures with her brother.  Her family shares a tight bond.

Martha Ann lives with her family as well and dreams of the future, pretty dresses and music feel her thoughts.  Martha Ann’s father is often angry and she can hear him from her room when he yells at her mom.  This unsettles Martha Ann’s sense of comfort in her own home, causing an almost always existing tension.

Both girls live in Birmingham.  They do not travel in the same circles and they do not know each other.  Letitia in black and Martha Ann is white.

As the story unfolds both girls witness the civil rights movement through very different eyes.  From the bombing of the Baptist Church, the assassination of Martin Luther King, and of course, the Children’s March, where briefly the girls will meet.  Letitia feels the pressures pouring down around her and her family friends of color.  A tension builds around her of the unjustness of it all.  Martha Ann witnesses what is happening as an outsider looking in, but can not help but begin to understand what prejudice is and how it is a part of her very life. 

The events of 1963 affect the girls in different ways.  As the two girls grow and mature their paths will cross again in more ways than one.

 

 

In a way, as I closed this book two words seemed to hang in the air.  Haunting and powerful.  Haunting, because the images of what happened during that time period seem to be forever etched within me, although I did not live during the time.  Powerful, because Rosalie takes this hard subject and softens it, making it personal and approachable, about two young girls who lived during a time that should not be forgotten or its importance lessened with time.

Written for a younger audience to understand, March With Me shares a powerful fictional story based on historical truths.  The truth of the children’s march for me is one that pulls at my heart and takes my breath away.  To me, this is a story based on acts that while I was not alive during the time of the march, I am well aware of it. 

Rosalie Turner uses two young protagonists, one white, one black, to tell what happened during that time.  I thoroughly enjoyed looking at this event from the two cultures, and found that a smart way to write this book.  It is so easy to think of it as one-sided, Rosalie makes us go beyond the common thinking. 

There are lessons for all of us here.  For those who lived it, whose who remember it, and even for people who like me who were not around at the time, but have learned about the civil rights movement and the children’s march.  This is a story everyone should read and really think about.  As in most things in life, it really isn’t all black and white. 

 

Ivan’s world is quickly turned upside down when one day he is happily in the care of his mother and grandmother and it feels like almost the next he is alone… abandoned, on the streets of Moscow. 

What happened?

When Ivan’s grandmother suddenly dies, his mother falls into a deep crushing depression and can not escape it.  She leaves Ivan to the man she loved who wants nothing to do with him (after all… his relationship was never about Ivan) and puts him in an orphanage.  When Ivan escapes, he finds help in the form of a pack of dogs who become his source of self-esteem and in a way his family. 

Ivan soon finds himself living a life of a pack, roaming the countryside, searching for food and adventure, wild and free.  His once gentle nature changes to a more cunning, street smart way of thinking.  When eventually help is offered, Ivan must choose to go back to being in a secure home or remain with his new friends and understanding of the world.

 

 

The Dogs of Winter will blow you away.  Not only is this a gorgeous middle grade (and up) style of read written in beautiful chapters, it is a knock your socks off in your face reality of how quickly our world, our security can change.

Uhhh…. did I mention this is based on a true story?

I am always careful when choosing books about animals – especially dogs as they are too near and dear to my heart.  However this is not an “Old Yeller” read… it is more of an adventure, and a wild one at that.  For every young boy or girl who ever dreamed of BIG adventure, this is an incredible story… but it is also a very real and at times painful story as well of loss and crushing loneliness.  While I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I would think if middle grade students read it (ages 9- 12) they may want someone to talk to about it afterwards.

For me, I am so impressed by this book, the incredible story of the human spirit and the amazing connections we can have between dog and man.

 

 

In June of 1991, Jaycee Dugard was like any other 11-year-old.  She went to school, she had friends, and rode her bike.  She lived in California and had a one year old baby sister. 

Then just like that, she was stolen.

A van pulled up, a pretense of asking for directions and she was gone.

For the next eighteen years of her life, Jaycee was held captive by Phillip Garrido and his wife Nancy.  She was kept in a locked and hidden shed in their back yard.  During her first six years of captivity Jaycee gave birth to two of Phillips children.  By the age of seventeen she was a mother twice over all the while painfully missing her own mom and wondering if she would ever find her way home again. 

In August of 2009, Jaycee and her daughters were discovered and rescued. 

In her own words, this is her story.

 

 

 

 

 

When I first seen this book on the store shelf I was vaguely familiar with the story.  I brought it home and started reading it and be sure when I tell you this, the first 50 pages of this book are hard to read mainly because of the detailed telling of what happened to Jaycee at the age of 11.  I think it would have been easier to handle if the book would have been written by a third-party, but the fact that Jaycee wrote this book and relived the details of her early days of captivity gave it an even more impact of emotion on me. 

This is not to say it is not a worthwhile read.  What Jaycee endured all of those years is shocking, painful, insane, and yet you see this young girl hang on to hope and a dream of someday being free.

At first I was not sure I would like the writing, the beginning of the book felt a little cold and matter of fact when Jaycee described in great detail what happened those first few days and weeks.  I felt as though perhaps she had distanced herself from this painful period by writing as though she was writing about what happened to someone else.  Then, almost as quickly as I had that feeling, it went away and Jaycee’s story of eighteen years of dealing with two very disturbing people pulls you in page after page.  I found myself wanting to get back to the read whenever I could because I wanted to know what happened and how she would finally be discovered and rescued. 

 

“The more knowledge I gain, the more like an adult I feel. I never got this chance to become an adult.”

~Jaycee Dugard

I feel this is a very worthwhile read.  I have heard that this is actually the true story that inspired author Emma Donoghue to write ROOM.  Emma Donoghue also used pieces of the Elizabeth Fritzl case of the young girl who was held captive in the family basement by her father for 24 years where she bore seven of his children.

In the village of Cape Cod, the Gilly’s are known for their salt farm.  The sisters grew up working the farm and knowing the hard work of mining salt under the watchful eye and guidance of their mother.  Jo, the older of the two, embarrassed what the salt brought to her community and to her life, Claire however felt differently, being pretty and popular she could not get wait to get away from the burden that to her was all the salt offered… and she would find a way out no matter what….

even if it meant marrying the son of the family who caused the Gilly’s the most grief… wealthy Whit Turner.  When a fire destroys the relationship between the sisters, and Claire’s high school sweetheart turns his heart to other things, Claire escapes into her life with Whit.

Of course, as Claire soon learns, money and prestige are not everything. 

Then the tides turn again and Claire finds herself brought full circle, back to the past she had escaped, and along with her the pregnant mistress of her husbands.  Jo and Claire together work to make things right in Cape Cod, learning to accept each other and seeing that sometimes all you need is a little pinch of salt.

I have had my eye on this book since I first seen the cover.  The title is catching and the cover drew me in.  Thankfully, this book was not just a surface love, within its pages (or in this case, within the audio)I found a tale that was both interesting and delightful all rolled into one.  Author Tiffany Baker (who is also the author of The Little Giant of Aberdeen County) has a fun wit about her and there are so many great quotes in this book…

“There was no etiquette guide in the universe that told you how to handle waking up in a house you’d fled from as a teenager with your estranged sister in one room across the hall and your husband’s pregnant teenage mistress in the other.”

It was really interesting learning about the salt, and I liked the almost “magical” aspect they gave it… not knowing what the salt would do and believing that ones fate could be tied to the salt.  There is also the strong differences between the sisters that you can appreciate, Jo always loyal to a fault, and Claire strong and independent to the point of her own almost destruction… together they level each other out. 

Narrator Angela Brazil had a nearly flawless performance as she seamlessly made her way through the cast of interesting characters without pause.  This was one of those books you could not wait to know how it is all going to end, and at the same time you dread knowing how it is all going to end because that is of course… the end.  And honestly, I did not want it to end. 

I highly recommend picking up a copy of this amazing read.  While I listened to it on audio, I suspect it is just as wonderful and engaging in book format. Keep your eye on Tiffany Baker, with writing like this I cant wait to see what she comes up with next.

 

For a fun little extra, Esme at Chocolate and Croissants recently wrote an interesting post about salt along with incredible pictures.  Its worth taking a look at and I think it gives you a real feel for what working the salt as in this book, would be like.