I do a lot of reading during the summer. Part of it is because our library has a summer reading program that gives prizes for the amount of books read. And part of it is because I just seem to have more time to myself when the kids are playing by themselves outside for hours and we don't need to rush off anywhere. This summer, I have read some really good books and want to share them with other readers!
Barefoot Season (1) by Susan Mallery
Three Sisters (2) by Susan Mallery
These two book are books 1 and 2 of at least a 3 part series about a small town, Blackberry Island, WA. I read the second book first because I didn't realize it was a series when I grabbed it off the library shelf, but that didn't seem to confuse my reading. The two books follow a different group of people living in the town and although they interact with each other, their lives do not directly affect the other.
The first book follows a long time resident, Michelle, who returns to town after serving in the military, mostly overseas, for ten years. She owns a bed and breakfast, but while she is gone, a former friend, Carly, has been overseeing the operation. The two women have a troubled past, and is the main cause of why Michelle left to join the military. Upon her return, the B&B is in trouble and Michelle wants to blame Carly, when actually she has been the one who has made it stay above water. The two find friendship again as they both try to get the B&B back to a profitable business. It was a really fun and easy read. I love reading small town books because they make me feel homey and warm!
The second book is about a woman, Andi, who is from Seattle, but gets left at the altar by her fiancé and comes to Blackberry Island to start anew. She buys a run down old house on a block of three identically built houses and intends to fix it up and make it her residence and medical practice. One of her neighbors is an eclectic artist who is suffering the loss of a child and struggling with her husband due to that situation. The other neighbor has six girls and is struggling to appear perfect to make up for her imperfect upbringing. Her perfection, and need for her family to be perfect, is causing troubles in her marriage. The three women find friendship through helping each other with their struggles. It was, again, a really fun read with likable characters!
The Secrets of Mary Bowser by Lois Leveen
This book is a historical account set in Virginia in the years just prior to the Civil War. Mary is a slave girl who is freed at a young age by her owner and whose parents send her to Philadelphia for an education. She has a gift of an incredible memory and is a quick learner. While in Philadelphia, she becomes involved with anti-slavery campaigns and, unknowingly, the Underground Railroad. She does well in Philadelphia, but returns to Virginia after she receives word that her mother died because she wants to be near her father. Her friends from Philadelphia encourage her to help the Union cause while living in the South. She becomes a hired girl for Varina Davis, the wife of the Confederate president Jefferson Davis and in so doing, spies on the Confederacy to help the Union. It was a really fun book to read with historical significance as well as a personal story of this brave woman.
The Obituary Writer by Ann Hood
This book is set in two time periods, the 1960s and the 1910s. Claire is a housewife and mother in 1960 who realizes she wants more in her life. Vivien is a young woman who loses the love of her life in the San Francisco 1906 earthquake. Vivien cannot get past her grief and becomes a sought after obituary writer because she can share in others grief and knows how to comfort them. Claire is in love with a man who she is not married to and has to chose the life she wants to lead. The book goes back and forth between the two women/years. It was an okay read.....but the author would build up this great anticipation of something wonderful to come and then it would fall flat. Not my favorite book I read this summer, but I at least finished it!
What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
This is one of my favorite book I read! Alice hits her head while at the gym one day and when she regains consciousness, she can't remember the last 10 years of her life. She thinks she is 30 years old and pregnant with her first child with the husband she loves more than anything, when actually she is almost 40 years old and has three children and is separated from her husband. Alice learns that she is a completely different person at 40 than she was at 30 and can't believe she became that way. She tries to put her life back together and be the girl she remembers. Wow! It was so great to read and think about how life's circumstances can change our attitudes.
A Certain Summer by Patricia Beard
I chose this book because there was a woman walking along a beautiful white sand beach and I thought it would be a fun book to read during the summer! It was not a great book, but I at least finished it, which is saying something because I often stop reading books that hold no promise for me (Casual Vacancy, The Summer We Read Gatsby to name a few recent attempts). Helen's husband has been missing for years following WWII. She and her son are not sure if he is dead and live as if he will return. The book follows them as they summer on a private-ish island that they have been visiting since she was a little girl. Helen meets a new man and has to decide if she should pursue a relationship and live as if she was a widow or hold out hope that her husband will return. The book was really flat. The only character I really cared about was a dog. Not my favorite read this summer.
Beautiful Day by Elin Hilderbrand
I liked this fluff read about a family who is hosting a wedding for the youngest daughter. Jenna's mother has passed away years ago, but left a notebook of instructions for how to host her wedding when the day comes. Jenna, who is the youngest of four children by quite a few years, has her older sister help her carry out every wish their mother had about the wedding. Every one of the characters has some kind of relationship issue, however, so the wedding is a bit bittersweet. It was fun, though, and I think I read it in 4 or 5 days.
The Truth About Love and Lightning by Susan McBride
I loved this book! Gretchen lives with her blind, twin sisters in a very old farmhouse. As a teenager, she had a very close friend, Sam, who left for a mission trip to Africa and never returned. Sam is descended from a line of medicine men who can control the weather with their emotions. After a tornado rips through Gretchen's farm, she discovers a man laying in her walnut grove who is disoriented and dirty. She believes it is Sam, her long lost friend, who came back to the farm through the tornado. I am having a really difficult time describing this book because I don't want to give too much away, but it is really good and everyone should read it!
These are the books I have in my possession now to read. I am into Life After Life and The Astronaut Wives Club and really enjoying both! Stay tuned for future book reviews!
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
The Astronaut Wives Club: A True Story by Lily Koppel
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Love and Honor by Randall Wallace
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
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