Book 35 (2011): Friendship Bread

Friendship Bread made me hungry! And wanting to cook! And made me want to have my bed and breakfast dram come true.

It's a beautiful story of an unlikely friendship between 3 women- Madeline, Hannah and Julia, who've all come together over a personal tragedy, and Amish Friendship Bread.

Julia receives a starter and a plate of bread and then it takes off. She makes the bread, out of duty to her 5 year old daughter, and then it gets passed and thus begins the unfolding of all three women. After unfolding their stories, are also the stories of Edie and Livvy.

It's a beautiful story, and it's also full of wonderful recipes. It's a good beach read, and in some ways it's reminiscent of The Friday Night Knitting Club. This novel too, is a simple story of the power of women's friendships and their strength. (400 pages)

B+

Book 34 (2011): The Peach Keepers

The Peach Keeper is part Southern magic, part mystery, part love story...

Willa Jackson came home to Walls of Water, North Carolina. She was a wild teenager but a quiet and sedate adult, single, living quietly, visiting her grandmother, and missing her dead father. She runs a sporting good store and has a coffe bar in the corner run by quirky Rachel, who sells yummy baked goods.

Then re- construction of the Blue ridge Madam, a mansion that was once in Willa's family but was sold in the middle of a 1930's scandal, is almost done, bringing ghosts that Willa knew and didn't back home. A boy who's now a man that was once a crush, a girl who's now a perfect woman who wasn't a friend in high school but is in and out of Willa's adult life but not by either woman's choice, and other ghosts she didn't know about.

Willa finds friends and secrets in strange places, and also finds a new part of herself.

This was a good read, and I always like a bit of the Southern magic- not fairies or monsters, but the illusion of Southern women's traditions and beliefs, of their sayings, some of the magic that comes from a bright moon, a scent of peaches in the air, or of a soft breeze on a still day... I love this story! (pages 272)

B

Book 33 (2011): Sisterhood Everlasting

Sisterhood Everlasting is the 5th installment of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series. Though I'm almost 40 years old, I had to read this. I'm not sure why, when I was 30, I even read the first book in the series since it's for young adults, but I did and have been hooked. Since we have the other 4 in our school library, I embraced this 5th novel and immediately squired it away for my holiday read.

This time we meet the 'sisters' as they are all ready to turn 30: Bee living with Eric in California, Carmen the actress in NYC, Lena teaching art in Rhode Island, and Tibby living in Australia with Brian. All four of them are living their own lives as adults.

On the verge of being 30, Tibby comes up with a plan to bring them all together in Greece. They all arrive and while there tragedy strikes. The story continues on, following how each of the girls (women now, I guess) deals with the blow that struck them all.

When I hit around page 100 I was sickened at what author Ann Brashares had done to the characters, to her readers, to me. I couldn't fathom how the rest of this story was going to play out. It was an excellent read for those who are fans of the Pants series, and it certainly strikes a chord.

I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll suffice it to say that the grown up Sisterhood is just as good as, or maybe even better, than the teenagers we met 10 years ago. (349 pages)

A

Book 32 (2011): Save Me

Save Me by Lisa Scottoline is a wanna be Jodi Picoult book, only minus the trial and add a mystery. And the emotional roller coaster is down played into something a bit more... light and fluffy.

I enjoyed the book and it's a quick, summer beach read, for sure. Rose volunteers as a lunch mom when her 3rd grade daughter is being bullied by another girl in her class. Then at lunch one day, tragedy strikes and Rose is forced to make a decision that no mother must have to make. In one quick thinking moment, Rose make a choice that will haunt her for the rest of her life, or at least the rest of the novel.

It's a good read for the summer... (384 pages)

B-

Book 31 (2011): The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

This novel by Aimee Bender is an adult novel recommended for teens. It's... different.

I was pretty psyched about this book and have been waiting for months to get a copy. And I feel disappointed.

Nine year old Rose can taste people's emotions when she eats food they prepared. She leans this on her 9th birthday when she learns how disappointed her mother is with her life. She struggles with this new found part of her self, thinking it's a curse rather than a blessing. Soon she learns secrets of her family members and is burdened with the knowledge: her father is distant and scared; her mother is lonely; and her brother is angry and so introverted he can't function in society.

The story follows her from age 9 until adulthood, struggling along, trying to find her place and keep her mixed up family together.

I don't know what I was completely expecting but this wasn't it. I also feel the second half of the book wasn't as good as the first part. I feel that more than one person in the book having some sort of 'special' power was weak, especially since it was introduced toward the end and really served no major purpose.

I thought with an awesome concept and with a fabulous title, this book was going to be about a million times better, but it just didn't work for me, no matter how much I wanted to love it. (292 pages)

B

Book 30 (2011): The Chamber

I have no idea how I missed this Grisham book. First, it was really good. Second, it was one of his earlier works, before he became a machine that generated one legal thriller after another.

While I found some of the tedious motions and filings a bit long in the tooth, I enjoyed this book about a first year lawyer from Chicago who moves to the South to defend his racist grandfather he'd never met until he sees him the first time on Death Row, 28 days prior to his execution date.

Adam goes South to defend his grandfather Sam (who is on Death Row for the bombing of a Jewish law office that ended up killing 2 people). Adam wanted to see if he can get a stay of execution for Sam. Adam bonds with the grandfather, and he also meets some of his other Southern relatives that he was hidden from his entire life.

Not a bad read, and it makes me want to plow through Grisham's earlier works like The Firm, The Pelican Brief, and A Time to Kill. (640 pages)

B-

Book 29 (2011): Linger

Linger is the second book in the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy, which is a young adult series.

Picking up in the days that followed Sam's permenent turn from wolf to human, we get to see how happy he and Grace are in their relationship and how Sam is adapting to being simply Sam all the time, without turning.

But the new wolves Beck turned are not like the others. One can't seem to turn and stay a wolf, even though it's a bitter Minnesota cold. One can't seem to stay in either form for very long, and goes through the agony of turning from human to wolf every few minutes.

Isabel is struggling with the loss of her brother and her father is still hunting the wolves.

Then Grace gets sick and no one knows what's wrong or how to save her from dying, other than one horrible act that might let her live but change all of them forever.

This is a great series. I like it much better than Twilight, actually. When I read the first one- Shiver- I had hopes it would be a stand alone book and not attempt to franchise it out. I'm glad to know it's just a trilogy and won't be a series of 20 books, like so many teen novels.

I still like the characters and the dialogue. I found it is a little long "maudlin" but still good enough to keep reading and to engage me, and I'm certainly not the target author since it's definitely teen literature.

And this is silly but I liked it- the cover is green, as you can see, and the text color of the novel is... green. Very cool! (360 pages)

B+

Book 28 (2011): deep down true

I picked up this book because of the pretty cover and in the end, I was glad I did, even though it's a sort of romance type of stuff that I wouldn't normally read. Fay 's book was funny and serious all at the same time, with a nice blend of focus on post divorce life and her "romance" blended together so I didn't feel like I was just reading a romance novel, straight up.

The main character, Dana, is recently divorced and she finds out she has to go back to work, which she does, par time, at her dentist office. Her middle school age daughter is struggling with her recently divorced parents and with middle school. Dana starts dating her son's football coach and her stray nice shows up and moves in. She also has an ex-husband who is living with the woman with whom he was having an affair.

It sounds like a lot of "schtick" but it's well written and funny, upbeat, and of course serious when necessary but not dragging out the serious to the point where it becomes depressive. The ending is cliched, but I don't think happy endings have to be a bad thing. (432 pages)

B

Book 27 (2011): Mourning Gloria

China Bayles the herbalist from Pecan Springs, Texas has returned and is following a possible missing person/ kidnapping in relation to an arson that happened near her house. She follows the leads and hunts for the bad guy. McQuaid, her husband is on a case out of town and Brian is away working at a camp so it's just China and her newly adopted daughter Caitlin who are home, watching the house and China watches for the bad guys.

Good story and since China is one of my favorite series, it was nice to have her back. Though there are many books in the series, this one felt fresh and fun and I'm certainly not tired of her or the entire Pecan Springs crew! (301 pages)

A

Book 26 (2011): Tick Tock

Tick Tock is the latest in the Micheal Bennett series, by James Patterson.

It's a super quick read and follows Irish- American detective Bennett, a NYC Cop and widowered father of 10 children, on his latest case: hunting a serial killer who likes to copy other famous serial killers. And in his personal life, the doting dad is juggling his new found feelings for the live in nanny Mary Catherine and those for an FBI agent, Emily. And, of course, his 10 kids and his Irish Catholic Priest grandfather is there in the middle of it all.

A quick beach read, and one of the better Patterson books of late. (448 pages)

B-

Book 25 (2011): Rescue

Rescue is a novel by Anita Shreve, and it's one I thoroughly enjoyed. I have no idea why, through the years, I thought I disliked Shreve's writing but I was certainly wrong. This is the second book of her's I've read this year and I'm even more impressed.

(On a personal note, I think it's ironic, for those of you who are familiar with my personal life will understand this, that the 2 books of her's I've read focus on father/ daughter relationships.)

This story tells, in flashback, how Webster met Shelia and their brief life together in small town Vermont. Then forward to now, and we have the story of Webster and his daughter Rowan, her senior year of high school.

This is a great book. I like the characters and the story. I like the setting as well. It feels "real"; Shreve captures the voice of the father and the daughter perfectly.

An excellent read. And for some reason, I find Shreve a quick read, too. Maybe it's just the novels I'm selecting or maybe it's her writing style or my own mood, but whatever the reason I just seem to fly through her books, usually about 4-5 hours and I'm done!

Great read! (288 pages)

A-

Book 24 (2011): Mothers & Other Liars

I liked this book. I have a feeling once I think about this story for a few days, it will become a book I could add to a favorite list. AND this is certainly one of the best books I've read this year.

Mothers & Other Liars (written by Amy Bourret) is the unpredictable story of Ruby and her daughter Lark. When Ruby was 19 and wandering aimlessly through Oklahoma when she finds an abandoned baby in a trash can. Now Lark is 9 years old and something happens and the story starts spilling out, legal charges, the media, lawyers... and in the middle are Lark and Ruby, loving each other worried about being ripped apart. There are also several twists and turns to the story but no spoilers here.

I love the characters. They are so strong and detailed. Their voices are smart and powerful. This story of motherhood and choices is compassionate. I love this story. (288 pages)

A+