Ellis Island (Ellis Island #1) by Kate Kerrigan

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Publish Date: June 28, 2011
Format: Paperback
Pages: 356
ISBN: 978 0062071538

Sweethearts since childhood, Ellie Hogan and her husband, John, are content on their farm in Ireland – until John, a soldier for the Irish Republican Army, receives an injury that leaves him unable to work.  Forced to take drastic measures in order to survive, Ellie does what so many Irish women in the 1920’s have done and sails across a vast ocean to New York Coty to work as a maid for a wealthy socialite.

Once there, Ellie is introduced to a world of opulence and sophistication, tempted by the allure of grand parties and fine clothes, money and mansions…and by the attentions of a charming suitor who can give her everything.  Yet her heart remains with her husband back home.  And now she faces the most difficult choice she will ever have to make; a new life in a new country full of hope and promise, or return to a life of cruel poverty…and love.

My Thoughts

This novel started out good and pulled me right in.  I loved the concept and if I were Ellie I probably would have been mesmerized by all the glitz and glamour of a big city in America if I had come from poverty ridden Ireland.  But once Ellie got there and settled in she transformed into a completely different character I could hardly stand to read about.  Her and her husband John decided she would travel to American and for one year then she was to return home.  When you begin to part one and it's titled 1920-1024 you know it just isn't going to be a year.

What transpires over the last half of the novel is a whiny, selfish, uninspired Ellie returning to Ireland kicking and screaming.  And then continues to do so for the rest of the novel.  All I wanted was the be swept away in Ellie and John's love story and instead got an ungrateful Ellie.

This is the first in a trilogy and although I was not a fan of Ellie's character at the end of the first novel I am still interested in the story line and where the author intends to take her.  I just feel like this novel had so much potential - I hope the next 2 redeem themselves.

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.

Love Anthony by Lisa Genova

Publisher: Gallery Books
Publish Date: September 25, 2012
Format: Audio
Discs: 8
ISBN: 978 1442354128

Two women, each cast adrift by unforeseen events in their lives, meet by accident on a Nantucket beach and are drawn into a friendship.

Olivia is a young mother whose eight-year-old severely autistic son has recently died.  Her marriage badly frayed by years of stress, she comes to the island in a trail separation to try and make sense of the tragedy of her Anthony’s short life.

Beth, a stay-a-home mother of three, is also recently separated after discovering her husband’s long-term infidelity.  In an attempt to recapture a sense of her pre-married life, she rekindles her passion for writing, determined to find her own voice again.  But surprisingly, as she does so, Beth also finds herself channeling the voice of an unknown boy, exuberant in his perceptions of the world around him if autistic is his expression – a voice she can share with Olivia – (is it Anthony?) – that brings comfort and meaning to them both.

My Thoughts

I've had a hard time writing this review as the book and author came highly recommended by a number of people and it just fell flat to me and was rather disappointing  I'm not a fan of a story told from multiple POV and 2 separate story lines when they have no connection to each other until later on in the book.  This is a huge pet peeve of mine.  While I loved the audio narration,  done by Debra Messing, I found the story to be pretty boring and uninteresting.  Olivia's life is boring.  Beth's is equally as boring.  There was no character development  Then Beth starts writing a very unrealistic novel about a boy with autism, who happens to be exactly like Anthony, Olivia's son.  Her novel is told from his perspective which I found to be a bit far fetched. Beth's novel ultimately ties her and Olivia together (shocker) which I felt was an awkward friendship.  Overall I just wasn't a fan of this novel, my first of Lisa Genova's.  I fell like 3 stars was being generous with his one, it just wasn't for me.

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.

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.

Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman

Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Publish Date: March 8, 2011
Format: Paperback
Pages: 352
ISBN: 978 0385523394

With a career, a boyfriend, and a loving family, Piper Kerman barely resembles the reckless young woman who delivered a suitcase of drug money ten years before.  But that past has caught up with her.  Convicted and sentenced to fifteen months at the infamous federal correction facility in Danbury, Connecticut, the well-heeled Smith College alumna is now inmate #11187-424 – one of the millions of people who disappear “down the rabbit hole” of the American penal system.  From her first strip search to her final release, Kerman learns to navigate this strange world with its strictly enforced codes of behavior and arbitrary rules.  She meets women from all walks of life, who surprise her with small tokens of generosity, hard words of wisdom, and simple acts of acceptance.  Heartbreaking, hilarious, and at times enraging, Kerman’s story offers a rare look into the lives of women in prison – why is it we lock so many away and what happens to them when they’re there.

My Thoughts

Everyone is raving about the Netflix tv series Orange is the New Black and friends kept telling me that I have to start watching it.  So I finally gave in and said that I would, but I needed to read the book first.  Everyone's first reaction was "There is a book?"  Yes there is a book.  So instead of basing a review on comparing the tv show to the book I needed to do the opposite.   After finishing the book I then watched the 2 seasons of the show in just a few sittings.  While the tv show is solely for entertainment purposes the book is fact, and I enjoy that much more.  Not saying I didn't enjoy the tv show, I just find it quite far fetched to what prison is actually like (although I can't say for sure having never been there.)

I really enjoyed Piper's story of having to fess up to a crime that she committed nearly 10 years ago and reading about how she dealt and coped with her ordeal.  I found the "characters" she encountered while in prison quite entertaining and liked seeing prison through her eyes - from someone who you wouldn't think would land them self in prison.

Was it a memoir that tugged at my heart strings and left me wanting more?  No, not at all.  While I did enjoy the read it wasn't one that I probably would have read without encouragement.  I felt like the ending was a little rushed and just abruptly ended and I would have liked to seen an afterward of where she is now.

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.

Confessions of a Wild Child by Jackie Collins

Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publish Date: February 4, 2014
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 304
ISBN: 978 1250050939

Confessions of a Wild Child takes you on trip and navigates the teenage years of a wild child who will eventually rule an empire. Lucky Santangelo is a powerful and charismatic woman. But how did she become the woman she is today? Many people have asked, and in Confessions of a Wild Child we discover the teenage Lucky, and follow her on her trip to discover boys, love and how she fought her father, the infamous Gino Santangelo, to forge her own individual and strong road to success.

My Thoughts 

I have long since been a huge fan of Jackie Collins - she is to me the original smut writer.  Her Lucky Santangelo novels are what she is known for.  While this is her 9th installment of the series it is probably the weakest.  You don't need to read the first 8 novels (I haven't) to understand this one.  This takes you back and reiterates everything about Lucky's teenage years that you have already found out if you have read any other books in the series.  This one just seemed like a time filler while Collins contemplated her next move with Lucky. 

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.