Sweet Water by Christina Baker Kline

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publish Date: May 1, 1993
Format: Hardcover
Pages:285
ISBN: 978 0060190330

When a grandfather she never knew bequeaths her a house and 60 acres of land in Sweetwater, Tenn., a restless young artist leaves New York to recover her past and rethink her future.  Cassie Simon’s mother Ellen died when Cassie was only three; raised in Boston by her grieving father, she never knew her maternal relatives.  Unprepared for the thick veil of mystery that surrounds them, Cassie is especially bewildered by her brusque grandmother, whom rumor credits with hiding a terrible secret about Ellen’s death.  In alternating sections told from their respective points of view, Cassie and her grandmother fight their separate battles to cope with the truth about the tragedy.  The result is a powerful, immensely readable tale of loyalty and betrayal, family and memory, made fresh by Kline’s often beautiful and always lucid prose.

My Thoughts

I had recently purchased Orphan Train and then this book came up in a book club and realized it was by the same author.  Sweet Water is Kline's first novel and the first I have read of hers.  Yet again it is one of those tricky 3 star books.  There were a number of good aspects to this novel and then there were some that were not so good.  I liked the concept, of a young girl needing to find herself, and part of the search is to know who her family is and where she came from.  Returning to her birth town after the death of her grandfather, whom she had never met, she starts to develop relationships with her grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins.  While the description states that the book is shroud is mystery...the mystery was a real let down.  Instead of having the mystery aspect woven it I would have rather preferred for the whole novel to focus on relationship building, self discovery and letting go and moving on.

I liked hearing Clyde's point of view and why she was so stand offish - which in my opinion was unnecessary.  I would have preferred Clyde and Cassie to have a typical grandmother granddaughter relationship.  Yes I understand her heartache, but it was not Cassie's fault for everything that happened in her grandmother's life. The ending was terrible - in that it didn't really end.  It almost seemed like the author just got tired of the story and just said the end.  I was also not a fan of the character Troy.  I found him as a love interest was just wrong.  While I liked that the author gave her a love interest I just did not like that it was him. 

You could defiantly tell that it was a first novel by an author - and I'm sure that writing her following novels she developed more depth.  Well I'm hoping so anyways, as I plan to read more of her. 

My Rating: «««

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The reviews made here are my personal opinion. I’m not being paid to review any of these books. I am by no means a professional book reviewer or editor.  I do this for the love of books.

Firefly Lane (Firefly Lane #1) by Kristin Hannah

Publisher:

Publish Date: February 5, 2008

Format: Audio

Discs: 15

ISBN:

In the turbulent summer of 1974, Kate Mularkey has accepted her place at the bottom of the eight-grade social food chain.  Then, to her amazement, the “coolest girl in the world” moves in across the street and wants to be her friend.  Tully Hart seems to have it all – beauty, brains, ambition.  On the surface they are as opposite as two people can be: Kate, doomed to be forever uncool, with a loving family who mortifies her at every turn.  Tully, steeped in glamour and mystery, but with a secret that is destroying her.  They make a pact to be best friends forever, by summer’s end they’ve become TullyandKate.  Inseparable.

For thirty years, Tully and Kate buoy each other through life, weathering the storms of friendship – jealousy, anger, hurt, and resentment.  They think they’ve survived it all until a single act of betrayal tears them apart…and puts their courage and friendship to the ultimate test.

My Thoughts

This novel can truly be described as a trip down memory lane.  Starting in the 70's, it takes you all the way to present day and all the heartbreak, jealousy, loyalty, friendship that life throws at you.  While I really enjoyed the premises for this story I found parts to drag on a bit and become a bit boring.  Then there were some really great parts that held the story together for me.  I found this a very long book to get through - however I listened to this on audio are thoroughly enjoyed the narration, which in my opinion can make or break an audio book.

I was not a fan of Tully.  I found her character to be obnoxious and over bearing.  Kate was obsessive and was driving me crazy how she was so insecure about Tully and Johnny.  She was staring to sound like a broken record and just down right annoying.  Even to the very end she still couldn't get past it.

The end of the novel was very heartbreaking - probably the saddest that I have read in a very long time and it was very well written and constructed.  The ending is the reason for the 4 star rating, or else it would have just been a 3 star for me due to the dragginess of the novel.  And my constant want to slap Tully.

My Rating: ««««

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The reviews made here are my personal opinion. I’m not being paid to review any of these books. I am by no means a professional book reviewer or editor.  I do this for the love of books.

Necessary Lies by Diane Chamberlain

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Publish Date: September 3, 2013

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 368

ISBN: 978 1250010698

After losing her parents, fifteen-year-old Ivy Hart is left to care for her grandmother, older sister and nephew as tenants on a small tobacco farm.  As she struggles with her grandmother’s aging, her sister’s mental illness and her own epilepsy, she realizes they might need more than she can give.

When Jane Forrester takes a position as Grace County’s newest social worker, she doesn’t realize just how much her help is needed.  She quickly becomes emotionally invested in her clients’ lives, causing tension with her boss and her new husband.  But as Jane is drawn in by the Hart women, she begins to discover the secrets of the small farm – secrets much darker than she would have guessed.  Soon, she must decide whether to take drastic action to help them. Or risk losing the battle against everything she believes is wrong.

Set in rural Grace County, North Carolina in a time of state-mandated sterilizations and racial tension, Necessary Lies tells the story of these two young women, seemingly worlds apart, but both haunted by tragedy.  Jane and Ivy are thrown together and must ask themselves: how can you know what you believe is right, when everyone is telling you it’s wrong?

My Thoughts:

WOW! Where has Diane Chamberlain been all my life?!  Set in the rural deep south of the 1960's comes this compelling read that blew me away from the beginning.  I had never heard of the Eugenics Sterilization Program before reading this book and to think that something like this existed is horrifying.  Between 1929 and 1975 over 7000 North Carolina residences who were considered "feeble minded" were sterilized for the "good of the public."  The way the story was beautifully woven with fact and fiction - I found myself quickly wrapped up in the lives of these families.

I absolutely devoured this book, my first of Chamberlain's in just a few sittings.  The characters are deeply developed and believable.  I found much of the book to be very sad, both for Ivy and Mary Ella and the lives they lived but also for Jane and the tough position she was put in by "caring too deeply."  Although it was sad there was never a depressing tone to the book and I think that is something very difficult to do.  And just when I thought my emotions were in tact something would happen that would infuriate me.  I loved the alternating voice between Ivy and Jane and seeing both perspectives of these girls.  Everything about this story was powerful and I really liked the subtle twists in the story.

I've found myself telling everyone who will listen about this book and saying "Please, please read it!"  This is defiantly a book I will re-read again and again and I'm sure Ivy and Jane will stay with me for a very long time - if not forever. 

My Rating: «««««

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The reviews made here are my personal opinion. I’m not being paid to review any of these books. I am by no means a professional book reviewer or editor.  I do this for the love of books.

Family Pictures by Jane Green

Publisher: Macmillan Audio

Publish Date: March 19, 2013

Format: Audio

Discs: 8

ISBN: 978 1427229069

The gripping story of two women who live on opposite coasts whose lives are connected in ways they never could have imagined.  Both women are wives and mothers to children who are about to leave the nest for school.  They’re both in their forties and have husbands who travel more than either of them would like.  They are both feeling an emptiness neither had expected.  But when a shocking secret is exposed, their lives are blown apart.  As dark truths from the past reveal themselves, will these women be able to learn to forgive, for the sake of their children, of not for themselves?

My Thoughts

I absolutely loved the concept of this story because although it seems it could be far fetched this is something that actually happens in real life!  And that's a scary thought.  I really loved both Sylvie and Maggie and how their completely different lives get intertwined in ways they never thought possible.  I listened to this on audio and it was on of these that I never wanted to get out of the vehicle - I sat and listened long after I had no where to go.  It's one of those stories that captivated me right from the beginning and has stayed with me of the past week after I finished.

There are so many attributes that make this such a great novel: family drama, illness, betrayal, love and most of all self discovery.  Although the story is pretty predictable right from the beginning I still found the woven story line very intriguing.  In the beginning it was Sylvie's story that  captivated me but in the end it was Maggie's path to finding herself that left me wanting more.

The only thing I wasn't a fan of was that I felt like there wasn't much closure with Mark and his "situation."  He just kind of fell out of the story and the author just washed her hands of him.  I realize he wasn't the focal point of the outcome but I would have been interested in a chapter from Mark's perspective.  Also I didn't like where the story was going with Eve and Chris...I just found it...weird.

This is my first Jane Green novel and will certainly not be my last!

My Rating: ««««

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The reviews made here are my personal opinion. I’m not being paid to review any of these books. I am by no means a professional book reviewer or editor.  I do this for the love of books.

Defending Jacob by William Landay

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Publish Date: January 31, 2012

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 432

ISBN: 978 0385344227

Andy Barber has been assistant district attorney in his suburban Massachusetts county for more than twenty years.  He is respected in is community, tenacious in the courtroom, and happy at home with his wife, Laurie, and son, Jacob.  But when a shocking crime shatters their New England town, Andy is blindsided by what happens next: His fourteen-year-old son is charged with the murder of a fellow student.

Every parental instinct Andy has rallies to protect his boy.  Jacob insists that he is innocent, and Andy believes him.  Andy must.  He’s his father.  But as damning facts and shocking revelations surface, as a marriage threatens to crumble and the trial intensifies, as the crisis reveals how little a father knows about his son, Andy will face a trial of his own – between loyalty and justice, between truth and allegation, between a past he’s tried to burry and a future he cannot conceive.

My Thoughts

This is another one of those books that I wanted to love (cause everyone else has) but it was just ok.  I found parts of it rather slow and boring and wondering when it was going to pick up.  One aspect I really enjoyed was the transcript conversations with Andy Barber and Neal Loguidice, totally led me down a different path than what I was expecting.  There was not one character I enjoyed or was attached to, Laurie just drove me up the wall.

The redeeming quality was the end.  Oh the end.  Mind hole blown.  Was not expecting that what so ever.  The end is want bumped this novel up from a 2 to 3 star.  This was my first book by William Landay and would be willing to give one of his others a read, I never judge an author having only read one of their books.

My Rating: «««

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The reviews made here are my personal opinion. I’m not being paid to review any of these books. I am by no means a professional book reviewer or editor.  I do this for the love of books.

The House at Riverton by Kate Morton

Publisher: Washington Square Press
Publish Date: March 3, 2009
Pages: 473
Format: Trade Paperback
ISBN: 978-1416550532

On the eve of a glittering society party, by the lake of a grand English county house, a young poet takes his life.  The only witnesses are sisters Hannah and Emmeline Hartford.  This story unfolds both in the 1920’s and 1999.  Grace Bradley, in the 1920’s is a housemaid of Riverton Manor and in 1999 she is an old lady living in a nursing home approaching death, is visiting by a young director making a film about the poet’s suicide and is looking to Grace to fill in the missing pieces.

The reader knows that Robbie McCourt, the poet, who commits suicide at Riverton in 1925, really didn't  that the suicide story is a cover-up to a scandal.  Grace knows what really happened that night and has kept that secret he entire life – until now, in her final years of life when she starts at the beginning, when she starts work at Riverton for the Hartford family.

My Thoughts
In the page-turner of a novel, beautifully written and reminiscent of the era in England prior to and after World War 1, the author succeeds in weaving a complex tale of passion, jealousy and intrigue utilizing the past memories of 98 year old Grace Bradley and the secret she has guarded for over 60 years.

This story combines love, war, honour, family, money and scandals in an intricately woven web of deceit and secrets.  This book has so many twists and turns that you never really know what is going to happen – until the very last page when the entire story is finally revealed.

This book is a must read for lovers of historical novels and well written mysteries.  The House at Riverton is a literary feast.

My Rating: ««««

Buy it Now!

The reviews made here are my personal opinion. I’m not being paid to review any of these books. I am by no means a professional book reviewer or editor.  I do this for the love of books.