It’s Monday! What Are You Reading This Week? This is a weekly event to list the books completed last week, the books currently being read, and the books to be finish this week. It is hosted by Sheila from One Person’s Journey Through a World of Books so stop by and join in!
Harold Fry is recently retired, living with his wife Maureen in a small English village. Their marriage, on the surface, is no longer one made of love but more of convenience and habit. They no longer share a bedroom and Harold appears to annoy Maureen incessantly. One morning, among the routine mail, Harold receives a letter from a woman he hasn’t spoken with in two decades: Queenie Hennessy. He once worked alongside Queenie but he hadn’t really thought of her since, until receiving this letter. She’s in a hospice, suffering from incurable cancer.
Harold writes Queenie a short, curt response and is on his way to mail the letter when he meets a young girl who unwittingly gives him a wake-up call, convincing him that he can do something to save Queenie. He begins walking, at first from one post box to the next, but soon his journey becomes more of a mission. Harold is certain that if he walks to Queenie, who is clear across England (six hundred miles away!), he’ll be able to save her. He doesn’t alert Maureen until that evening during a brief phone call. Maureen, doubting Harold’s ability to walk any sort of distance, fails to believe her husband can make the trip. She’s certain he will call, asking to be picked up. How could he make a walk of this distance, wearing “regular” clothes and boat shoes?
Harold keeps walking, disproving all of Maureen’s assumptions. He calls her each evening, apprising her of his progress. It isn’t long before Maureen realizes Harold is set on making this trek and she begins to question if he will return. She begins to miss him, soon moving her possessions back into the room they once shared, sleeping in their marital bed.
Meanwhile, along his journey Harold begins to meet people on his journey with stories that encourage him to continue on his mission. Each of these individuals unlock a passion or a memory that Harold has forgotten all this time. As he walks, Harold evaluates his life and the decisions he’s made. He reflects on the mother who abandoned him, his harsh father. He thinks of the day he met Maureen, lost chances with his son David, who he hasn’t seen in some time. He soon mails his credit cards back to his wife, learning to live on the meager side, carrying as little as possible. He reflects on nature as he walks and it isn’t long before he is able to identify the flowers and foliage that he passes on his journey.
As he walks, he sends postcards to Queenie, begging her to hold on until he arrives. Harold hints at an act of goodwill that Queenie performed, the reason he must continue his journey. Weeks pass and he finally phones the hospice where she is residing and learns Queenie has taken a remarkable turn, once weak in bed, now sharing the postcards he sends her with hospice care workers.
It isn’t long before the media and, in turn, the public learn of Harold’s journey. His passion and dedication rub off on and influence others. Some choose to join him in his journey, attracted by this sense of accomplishment.
Meanwhile, Maureen learns a great deal herself as Harold is on his journey. Spending time with a neighbor who recently lost his wife, Maureen begins to look at the positive aspects and memories of their marriage rather than only focusing on the negatives and faults.
Ultimately, it’s not Harold’s destination but the journey itself that is the most rewarding about this novel. Harold is an incredibly flawed yet endearing character. Joining him on his journey was an incredibly insightful and positive experience. It isn’t until the ending, when Harold is so close to his destination, that Harold confesses the source of his guilt, his sadness, his need for redemption.
The pacing of this novel is slow, much like that of Harold’s journey. That said, I wouldn’t change it a bit. The reader feels Harold’s pain, his anguish. We slowly trek alongside him in his journey, both physical and emotional. The author’s writing is so beautiful, so addictive, so powerful.
“In walking, he freed the past that he had spent twenty years seeking to avoid, and now it chattered and played through his head with a wild energy that was it’s own. He no longer saw distances in terms of miles. He measured it with his remembering.”
Well worth the journey, this is a book that will linger within me. Highly recommended.
Thank you to TLC Book Tours for providing me the opportunity to review this book. Be sure to check out the official tour page and check out all the stops in the tour!
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press; First Edition edition (August 21, 2012)
ISBN-10: 0312625510
Source: Publisher
Nate Overbay is outside the eleventh story of a bank, standing on the ledge, preparing to end his life. Suffering from PTSD, separated from his wife and slowly dying from ALS, he has nothing to live for. He’s already ruined the perfect family he once had, returning from war a shell of the man he used to be. He thinks long and hard about how he’s going to end his life; he doesn’t want to cause any more inconvenience to those he loves. He has it planned perfectly; if he steps from his current position, he will land in a dumpster eleven stories below, hopefully containing any mess caused by his fall.
Just as he’s about to take that final step, he hears shouting and gunshots from the windows behind him. A crew of robbers has entered the bank, shooting employees and customers. Considering he was going to end his life anyway, Nate feels he has nothing to lose. Climbing back inside the bank, he grabs a gun that one of the robbers left sitting on a file cabinet and takes out five of the six robbers. The sixth escapes, but not before threatening Nate, stating he will pay for what he has done.
Nate winds up being the hero that saves the day, an honor he wish he didn’t have. Still feeling a tremendous amount of guilt for the death of several of his friends while serving in the war, he doesn’t give up on the plan to end his life. Unfortunately, now that he is famous and his face is flashed on television screens all over the area, Nate realizes his family is at risk from the Ukrainian mobster who threatened his life. His life, and the life of his family, will be preserved if Nate is able to follow through on the plan the robbers intended on completing that day, to obtain the contents of a security deposit box. Upon doing so, however, Nate discovers that turning over the information obtained will put more people at risk, a step he will not take.
I must say, Hurwitz writes some pretty outstanding thrillers in the past, The Survivor continuing this trend. It’s impossible to write about this book without using all sorts of cliches, like extremely addictive and captivating, heart-pounding, a real page-turner. That said, all of these statements are true! Hurwitz connects with his readers through his incredibly well-developed characters, making it impossible not to love every thing this man has ever written. While a great deal of the action and the overall storyline is quickly revealed, Hurwitz is able to skillfully contain and preserve the flow of the action throughout the entire book. Not once was there a point in which the storyline dragged or got dull. The only consequence? I couldn’t put the book down, reading it until the wee hours of the night.
What makes this unique from many thrillers is how heartfelt and emotional it is. Nate is suffering from a terminal illness, has lost his family and is ready to put an end to his life. Throughout his battles with the Ukrainian mob, he is able to reconcile and repair his relationship with his family. Hurwitz captures this, and the healing that Nate is finally able to experience, so beautifully and realistically, but not detracting from the action and intensity of the story.
In case you haven’t surmised it yet, I absolutely loved this book. You know who else loves this book? Lee Child. Yep…THE Lee Child. Check out this clip of Lee reading an excerpt of this book:
I know, right!? So, if you can’t trust my recommendations, trust the great Lee Child. C’mon…what are you waiting for!?
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; Original edition (July 31, 2012)
ISBN-10: 0062103105
Source: Publisher
After her divorce, Gretchen Waters traveled the south, writing a book about her failed marriage and the lives of country music icons like Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, and Dolly Parton. The novel, Tammyland, won her instant fame and recognition. She began writing a second book, initially a followup to Tammyland, dedicated the the men of country music. The theme of the book took a dramatic turn when her research led her to examine her own haunted childhood. The novel was never completed, as her young life was ended when she took a fall from the steps of a library after a book event. The police never officially ruled it foul play, but inklings of such a possibility were whispered by her loved ones.
Wanting her daughter’s novel to be completed, Gretchen’s mother (who was actually her aunt, raising her after her own mother was brutally murdered) asks Gretchen’s college best friend, Jamie, to serve as Gretchen’s literary executor. Nearly seven months pregnant, Jamie ignores any preparation for her unborn child and becomes obsessed with Gretchen’s research. As Jamie begins to piece together the multiple pieces of Gretchen’s manuscript, she unveils not a manuscript to the intended book, but a great deal of research about Gretchen’s hunt to find her biological father and her biological mother’s murder. The more she investigates, the more she wonders if Gretchen’s death was no accident and that her life, and the life of the child growing inside her, is now in danger. Stopping at nothing, Jamie knows she must piece together the pieces, telling a story that Gretchen was desperate for people to know.
Told in multiple narratives, using the “book within a book” technique, the author not only shows her obvious love of country music but also informs the reader a great deal about the leading women of country music, many of them with doomed and short lives themselves. A truly unique book, a memoir of sorts with a touch of mystery, this book is destined to grab the attention of a wide range of readers.
That said, I found myself more interested in Gretchen’s story than Jamie’s. Since as readers we are granted clips of her previous book, Tammyland, and excerpts from her manuscript, I feel we are granted more access to Gretchen as a character, despite the fact she is no longer living. While I understand the need for a vehicle to bring her story to life, via Jamie, I felt her character to be far less developed, and as a result, far less interesting. I looked forward more to reading the excerpts of Gretchen’s book and manuscript than Jamie’s narrative.
All in all, though, this novel was an engaging examination of family and friendship, of uncovering dark and painful pasts, and hope for the future. Just like Gretchen’s Tammyland, I think this novel would be a great book club discussion book for it is chock full of discussable topics and themes.
Thank you to TLC Book Tours for providing me the opportunity to review this book. Please be sure to check out the official tour page to learn more about the author and to visit other tour stops on the way.
Maxon and Sunny met as children (or, as Maxon would state, at seven years, four months, and eighteen-days old). Two very unique individuals, outcasts even, bonded because of their differences. They were devoted to one another, found happiness in each other’s presence.
Twenty years later they are now married. Maxon is a genius, literally, sent by NASA to the moon to program robots for a new colony. Sunny, now an expert in the role of housewife, stays home with their autistic four-year-old son, Bubber. Pregnant with their second child, Sunny feels pulled in all directions. Doctors want to continue to medicate Bubber to help control his condition, but Maxon sees in his son aspects of himself, qualities he feels shouldn’t be diminished. As if this all isn’t enough for Sunny to deal with, her mother is dying, slowly and painfully, from cancer. Her life is spiraling out of control, her marriage is on the rocks. Oh, and Sunny has a unique condition of her own to live with: baldness. Completely devoid of hair all her life, Sunny has relied on a wig to appear “normal.” Yet as her life spirals out of control, it is her baldness that allows her to step outside her comfort zone and to be the Sunny she was meant to be, not one governed by what is perceived as socially acceptable.
Netzer has created a family of completely unique characters, individuals destined to be adored by readers. They aren’t your typical family, an aspect about this novel I adored. They have everyday issues and problems to face: Bubber’s autism, Sunny’s baldness, Maxon’s…..well, just Maxon all together. Issues that are often sugar coated or lightened in fiction are portrayed in living color. Told in alternating points of view, Shine Shine Shine allows readers to view life from each of the main characters perspectives, giving us an unadulterated glimpse of what is like for each of the characters.
But what makes this a truly tremendous novel is the growth Sunny undergoes, and in his own way, Maxon as well. The overlying message of this novel is to accept one’s own faults instead of ignoring them, to relish in our uniqueness. Attempting to maintain a level of normalcy in many cases, to ignore the things that separate us from others, is detrimental and devastating.
Words cannot describe the brilliance of this novel. You’ll just have to trust me on this one; Shine Shine Shine is pure genius, a truly rewarding and heart-felt read. Highly, highly recommended.
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading This Week? This is a weekly event to list the books completed last week, the books currently being read, and the books to be finish this week. It is hosted by Sheila from One Person’s Journey Through a World of Books so stop by and join in!
Publisher: Reagan Arthur Books; First Edition edition (July 31, 2012)
ISBN-10: 0316097772
Source: Publisher (via BEA)
Addy Hanlon and Beth Cassidy, it seems, have always been a duo, a force to be reckoned with. They are revered, and feared, by their peers. Now at the height of their high school, career, the girls are seniors, heading up the school’s cheer squad. Beth, always the head cheerleader, is thrown off guard when a new coach, Colette French, comes to the school.
Coach French quickly forms a ring of adoring girls around her. She compels the girls to go beyond what they believed they were physically capable of, trying out stunts they wouldn’t have dared previous. Beth is the only girl who remains out outside the circle, refusing to allow someone to take over the reigns as leader of the squad. When French’s attention focuses on Addy, Beth loses it. She begins a vicious obsession with bringing down Coach French, not caring who stands in her way. She has a history of evil and deceptive moves so the girls, especially Addy, don’t doubt what she is capable of.
When a suicide hits close to home, the police investigation focuses on Coach French and the squad, especially Addy. Addy soon comes to realize how insignificant Beth finds their friendship, their loyalty to one another is truly tested.
Dare Me is a truly honest, albeit frightening, glimpse inside the world of teenage girls. It deftly explores such things as ambition, friendship, and love. The girls on the cheer team are so dedicated, willing to risk bodily harm in order to get the limelight and attention of others. Failure isn’t an option, the girls are willing to risk anything, and anyone, to protect the bond they have formed. Normally incredibly loyal to one another, that loyalty is tested when one of their own steps beyond the bonds of what is acceptable to seek revenge for the perceived attacks against them.The most frightening aspect of this thriller are the girls, their deception and pure disregard to those not in their group.
Honestly, I thought I had this all figured out, certain I knew who was behind the act that sent ripples through the stability of the squad. When the truth was revealed, however, I was completely stunned! Abbott through me for a complete loop, leaving me cheering for her in the end! A perfectly executed thriller, one that took this former cheerleader back to high school. I thought my high school experience was tough…
Dare Me is a completely chilling, incredibly creepy yet addictive read. Abbott has already proven herself to be a truly talented writer of thriller, this novel just verifies it even more. How is it possible that an author so sweet and adorable in person can write such a disturbing novel? Talent, pure talent! Highly, highly recommended.
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer; First Edition edition (July 31, 2012)
ISBN-10: 1612183506
Source: Publisher
In all his years as an investigator for the Vatican’s Office of the Devil’s Advocate, over 700 cases, Daniel Byrne has yet to come across a legitimate miracle. His most recent assignment is to investigate a tent-show televangelist who seems to be able to foresee the future, predicting weather and other events with remarkable accuracy. This televangelist, Tim Trinity, also happens to be Daniel’s estranged uncle. Tim has a history of cons, one of the many reasons Daniel ceased communication with him. Intent on debunking his uncle, Daniel reluctantly accepts the case.
One of the trademarks of Trinity’s abilities include speaking in tongues. It isn’t long before Daniel discovers a meaning behind this speech and the improbability that it is an act that is impossible to perform. Is it a coincidence that Trinity’s abilities were granted after he survived (albeit in a cowardly fashion) the devastating Hurricane Katrina? Daniel, questioning his own devotion to his faith, begins believing his uncle’s talents are genuine, risking his life to protect a man he always assumed was a fake. Several individuals are out to put an end to Trinity’s sermons, including government agencies, religious leaders, and finally sports bookies, out of business due to Trinity’s ability to predict the outcome of sports events before they occur. Daniel relies on a connection he has with his former girlfriend, Julia Rothman, a journalist, to give Trinity the screen time to speak a message only he can relay.
For all those wary of the religious aspect of The Trinity Game , you need not worry. Chercover presents a truly thrilling storyline without being preachy or overwhelming the reader with religion. On the reverse side, he doesn’t bring disrespect to religion, either. Instead, gives readers a truly remarkable novel, finely balancing the battle between good versus evil, filled with truly engaging characters and a well thought out plot.
Daniel’s character is an incredibly remarkable one. A man of faith, he’s forced to come to terms with a failed relationship with his uncle, his own positions on faith, and a relationship with his ex-girlfriend within days. By far, his character is the one who undergoes the largest transformation in this novel. His uncle, Tim Trinity, on the surface lives up to all preconceived notions of those eccentric televangelists: loud, bright “costumes,” boisterous voices, etc. And, like many of these individuals who have fallen from fame, Tim uses this “character” he has created as a mask to hide his true identity, shielding himself from judgement.
This novel has frequently been compared to Dan Brown’s work. In my opinion, I don’t see that as a compliment at all, a comparison that clearly shouldn’t be made. Chercover’s novel is incredibly well-written, devoid from unrealistic and unbelievable probabilities and shuns on faith. It is a novel that stands on its own, not requiring a comparison to any other novel, because frankly, it is so unique that it is incomparable.
The Trinity Game is truly a well-plotted, incredibly engaging thriller. I cannot wait to read more of Chercover’s work! Highly recommended.
I just happen to have an extra copy of THE TRINITY GAME for giveaway. To enter, please fill out the form below. Open to US & Canadian residents only. Winner will be contacted on Saturday, August 18th. Good luck to all who enter!
In the follow up to Flock’s Me & Emma, nine-year-old Carrie and her mother are now transients, attempting to start anew, escaping a life of abuse and rejection from their small town in the mountains of North Carolina. Carrie’s mother, Libby, unable to cope with the way their life has turned out, takes out her abuse, verbally, on poor Carrie. Never short on complaints about her daughter, Libby often leaves Carrie alone in the hotel room they now call home while she looks for a job. Libby often forgets to leave her daughter food, so Carrie is forced to eat whatever she can find, in some cases just paper, to sustain herself. She’s beings to make a practice of going to the nearby Wendy’s, stocking up on croutons and ketchup packets. Her only solace is her memories of her sister, Emma, a name Libby forbids even mentioning.
It is at Wendy’s that Carrie meets Cricket Chaplin (yes, those Chaplins) and her mother Honor. Honor sees how starved Carrie is, also noticing the uncanny resemblance she has to her dead daughter. It doesn’t take long before Cricket and Carrie become close friends. Cricket introduces Carrie to a world she’s never experienced: clean clothes, an iPod, computers. Carrie provides Cricket with the companionship she has missed since the passing of her sister. The three generations of Chaplin women-Cricket, Honor, and her mother Ruth, provide Carrie with a live she’s longed for. Yet, the secrets that each family holds dear begin to unravel, altering both families lives forever.
As mentioned above, What Happened to My Sister is the follow up to the author’s previous book, Me & Emma, taking place with only a short span of time between. Told in alternating chapters, What Happened to My Sister is told from two completely different voices, young, abused and naive Carrie and a more mature Honor Chaplin. Certainly not a light read, this novel focuses a great deal on Carrie’s abuse and neglect. That said, there is a great deal of hope, for Carrie rises above her painful past and transforms into an incredibly strong, brave, and resilient heroine.
I do recommend reading these two books in the order they were published. While What Happened to My Sister does give a brief summary of the saga that transpired in the previous novel, it is my opinion that a reader cannot fully comprehend the magnitude of the story without reading it, first hand.
These two novels have truly made an impact on my life, for the incredibly young Carrie Parker will have a place in my heart for some time. Highly recommended.
Thank you to TLC Book Tours for providing me the opportunity to review this book. Please be sure to check out the other stops in the tour.
Set in 1943 Berlin, the midst of World War II, the majority of the men have been sent to the battlefront. Berlin has essentially become a city of women: wives, mothers, sisters of German soldiers living off of rations and meager wages to get by. Sigrid Schröder is one of these women, her husband Kasper shipped off to Russia to fight in the war. Singrid holds down a job, reluctantly putting up with her meddling mother-in-law. Despite the tough economic times and food shortages, Singrid continues to seek solace and an escape from the crumbling, war-torn world around her.
It is at the theater that she meets Egor and the two embark upon a sensual love affair. Infidelity was never something Sigrid ever thought she was capable of committing, but in a war savaged by war, frequented by air raids, her body was one thing of which she had control. Her affair is just the cusp of the risks Sigrid takes on, for after she befriends Ericha, the young nanny for other tenant in her building, she soon finds herself immersed in the practice of protecting Jews and other individuals from detection by the Gestapo. Sigrid, a woman once so set on creating the perfect home for her perfect German husband now forced to risk her life to protect dozens of individuals, families who are strangers to her. The risk is high, Sigrid has to watch every step she takes, every person she confides in. For all it takes is a accusation of crimes against Hitler for her to be carted away to an internment camp.
One might wonder why Sigrid would risk all this, her life, her future with her husband. Admittedly, her marriage was never a happy one. She conceded to living with her mother-in-law after she miscarried their first and only child. She goes to work daily at the patent office, a thankless job overseen by a brutal, uncaring woman. The steps she takes to ensure the freedom of these individuals may seem small, but to Sigrid they are huge. In a world she has little control over, in a life she’s forced to live in, this is her way of having an impact on the fate of these poor individuals.
What was truly remarkable about this novel was the level of sensuality amidst a cold, dark & brutal Berlin. The feelings she has for Egor are genuine, the two of them relying on their sessions of lovemaking to get them through the tragedies of war. Their love is a forbidden one, and not simply because Sigrid is married. Sigrid feels dead inside, her happiness crushed by the war surrounding her. This affair bakes her feel alive again, makes her feel as though she is needed, wanted.
Another paramount theme within this novel is the idea of trust. Sigrid had to be incredibly discriminating when it came to who she could rely upon, who she could talk to, who she could confide in. Several times throughout the novel her decisions were tested and she learned, unfortunately, what it meant to be betrayed by those for which she had great respect.
I was truly amazed at how well the author captured the life and beliefs a young female. Obviously not a woman himself, he so eloquently captured her essence, her feelings and emotions. While reading the novel, I frankly forgot it was written by a man, a true testament to his skill of writing.
City of Women is a brilliant, completely unique perspective on World War II and the individuals (while fictional) who survived it. That said, I wouldn’t refer to this as a war story but instead a personal story of love, perseverance and hope. Not a small book at 400 pages, I found myself unable to put it down, staying up until literally the early hours of the morning to finish it. Highly, highly recommended.
