July 2012 reads

41. The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty (Jul 31 NOOK)

40. The Kitchen Daughter by Jael McHenry (Jul 28 Nook)

39. Sacre Bleu by Christopher Moore (Jul 27- NOOK)

38. The Mill River Recluse by Darcie Chan (Jul 24 NOOK)

37. The Motion of the Ocean by Janna Cawrse Esarey (Jul 21)

36. Come Home by Lisa Scottoline (July 16)

35. Unholy Night by Seth Grahame - Smith (Jul 13, NOOK)

34. The Next Best Thing by Jennifer Weiner (July 10, NOOK)

33. Born To Rise by Deborah Kenny (July 9, NOOK)

32. Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe (July 8, NOOK)

31. Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult (July 6)

30. Shift by Jennifer Bradbury (July 4)

Book 46 (2011): Then Came You

Then Came You is told in the voice of 4 women, all with different stories, who are joined together by infertility.

India re-makes herself and find her dream husband but the only thing lacking is their ability to have a child. Jules needs money to save her father so she sells her eggs while she's a poor college student. Annie is a young women with a family who's been beaten by the economy and she and her husband decide she can be a surrogate to bring in extra cash, and there's Bettina, India's step-daughter who is unsure of her place in her family's life after he parents divorce, and who wants to protect her beloved father from making a terrible mistake of having a late in life child.

All four women come together with unexpected twists and turns. Not only does this novel explore their own individual stories but of how these characters meld together. Great work by Jennifer Weiner! (352 pages)

B

Book 51- Fly Away Home

When Sylvie Woodruff was in college and when she met Richard she was a wild bohemian girl. Now in her mid 50s she's a politicians wife: put together, elegant, perfect, and stand behind your man sort of woman. Who just found out, in a very public way, that her politician husband Richard screwed a woman.

Sylvie goes into hiding at her family summer home while she tries to decide what she wants to do with her life and her marriage.

Her daughters are as different as night and day. Dianna the doctor has it all but feels her life is terrible and in the midst of it all, she takes a leave of absence from work and goes to the beach house with her mother. The other daughter, Lizzie, is the family screw up who's been in and out of rehab. She's trying to get her life right this time, but she makes a new type of mistake and she too flees to the beach house to be with her mother.

None of these women were close to each other, but now they all come together, each with her own struggle, and try to find a way to survive, and they are all brought closer together.

This was a well written story (who could've used a better editor because I found 4 glaring errors) but it was predictable. It became a pretty traditional romance novel combined with chick lit. It's good for a beach read, but wait for it to come out in softcover. I was so disappointed because I wanted something more. I loved author Jennifer Weiner's In Her Shoes and felt it had a dash of the unpredictable and wish she would be more daring in her writing again.