Recent Reads
Nothing To See Here by Kevin Wilson
Not my normal and I'm just too much of a realist to be able to fully enjoy a story like this.
Lillian and Madison were once close friends. They each came from very different backgrounds but bonded in an elite high school.
Then there was a scandal for which Lillian took the fall for Madison.
Years later Madison needs Lillian to save her once again.
She is now the step-mother to twins.
Twins that when agitated, spontaneously combust into flames...
These flames are dangerous to everyone and everything around them but the twins remain unharmed.
3 Stars
If The Tide Turns by Rachel Ruecker
Poverty, Pirates and true love.
This is historical fiction. One of the main characters, Samuel Bellamy, was a real life pirate back in the day.
The Salem witch trials are still in recent memory and becoming a Pirate may be the only way to find your way out of poverty.
Maria has the unfortunate lot in life to fall in love with Samuel. Maria's parents say he isn't good enough for their daughter.
Romantic and sad this was an entertaining story.
4 Stars
The Lioness of Boston by Emily Franklin
I wish I had known about Isabella Gardner before I went to Boston. I was introduced to Isabella when I toured her magnificent museum.
I was excited to read this book and learn more about this amazing woman. A woman who struggled to find her purpose in this world.
She was determined to follow her own heart and mind. Refusing to subscribe to what society told her (and all women) how they should behave.
After reading about her story I want to return to the museum and see it all again.
4 stars
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The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant
Addie narrates her own story as she explains her life to her granddaughter.
The central question -
"How did you get to be the woman you are today?"
A young, Jewish immigrant who isn't interested in the expected role assigned to her as a woman at the beginning of the the 20th century.
Addie explains her journey into becoming the woman her granddaughter knows today.
If you enjoy books with strong female characters this would be a good choice.
4 stars
Wartime Book Club by Kate Thompson
Loved It!
This lovely novel begins in 1943 on the Isle of Jersey. A small island between France and England which is occupied by Nazi, Germany.
Grace and Bea are the main characters. Who each fight against the Nazi's in their own way. One fights to keep the library open. The other steels mail meant to inform on their neighbors.
Grace is the town's librarian and has chosen at great personal risk to lock up and hide the books the Nazi's have band. If she doesn't they will be burned and lost to history forever.
She finds ways to get precious books to her Jewish neighbor in hiding, to the wife who has sent her husband to war and to the children who's lives are so disrupted.
I love how this novel highlights the value of reading. Being allowed to read and think freely.
Each chapter begins with a quick paragraph highlighting a book banned by the Nazi's.
This book is also about the courage and importance of those who found their own ways to fight the war.
The best part is the end. Where the author has included details of the heroes that did survive the occupation of the island. Including some really interesting mail.
5 stars
Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting by Clare Pooley
This was this months book club pick.
It's a heartwarming, charming story of strangers who have nothing in common, other then commuting in the same carriage.
These strangers have all created nicknames and assumptions about each other.
As the reader, I really enjoyed how each individual was revealed as their true self.
A lovely novel
4 Stars
