Five Fires by Laura Lippman

What They Say....Everyone in small-town Belleville is talking about a series of mysterious

fires disrupting the typically tranquil summer. The authorities attribute them to heat lightning, but some Belleville residents are not so sure…
 
High-school student Beth, like everyone else in Belleville, has been following the fires – she has plenty of time between her monotonous day job at the deli and solitary nights at home while her mom works late. The fires aren’t the only unusual occurrence – Beth’s old friend Tara, who left town the year before after a scandal, returns with no real explanation. Circumstances only get stranger when Beth unwittingly discovers clues as to what – or who – is the cause of the fires.


What I Say....I love Laura Lippman, so I was happy to get an ARC of this novella.  The thing was I didn't realize it was a novella, so I was pretty disappointed when it came to such a quick end.

I've often wondered about the people who you see in People magazine defending their town's accused rapists, what makes them so willing to defend someone in print.  In this short story, you get to see the fallout of that defense.  What is really sad is that the people who shouldn't have gotten away with their crime are the only one who escape unscathed.

This was a great short story - I just wish it had been a full length novel.

Up and In by Deborah Disney

What They Say....Maria and Joe have saved every available penny to give their daughters Kate and Sarah the best education possible, which to them means attending the most exclusive girls school in the state. But when Kate befriends the spoilt and moody Mirabella, Maria finds herself thrust into a high society of champagne-swilling mother-istas she hasn't budgeted for. Saturday morning netball is no longer a fun mother-daughter outing, but a minefield of social politics.

While the increasingly neurotic Maria struggles to negotiate the school mum hierarchy, Joe quietly battles a midlife crisis and Kate attempts to grow up as gracefully as possible (without having her life ruined by embarrassing parents).

What I Say....Ugh.  I've known women like the bea's.  They are the moms that can make a little girl's sporting event feel like you've taken a time machine back to junior high school.  Only now they have sharper weapons, and when you feel like your children are being hurt, you become even more sensitive.

Take Maria, for example.  She spends the first chapter poring over a group email, scouring every response looking for an insult, despairing that the other mother's don't sign x (the electronic kiss indicates your social standing) after their name when communicating with her, and trying to read between the lines as to who is friend or foe (hint, they are almost all foes). 

Let me preface this by saying that I don't like to get into the Mommy wars, I think stay at home moms have it rough and I think working moms have it rough.  They have so much in common, but they also face different challenges.

However, having been in both roles, I can say that this book definitely brought back some bad memories of my time at home.  I think when you are at home all day, you just have more time to get emotionally invested in these types of relationships (a strong parallel to office relationships and the politics that happen in the workplace).

Once you are working full time and trying to keep up with the kid's activiites and home life, you really don't notice these type of women anymore, their barbs either go right over your head, or you find yourself snapping back because you don't really care what they think, because can't they see how TIRED you are?????  I did find it interesting that the only character that stayed neutral and friendly with everyone, was Nicole, the hairdresser who worked full time.

Okay, I got off topic, but I think it's the mark of really good book that it made me think through the issues that all mommies face.

I liked Maria and her funny family, but by mid-book, I was getting really irritated with her for being so wishy-washy.  She hated the way the bea's treated her daughter, but she kept hanging around, setting herself up for more poor treatment.  But she didn't hang around as a syncophant, she wouldn't kiss up to Bea, but she wouldn't stand up for herself either.  I wanted to shake her and tell her to either grow a pair, and tell them to get lost or just buy the damn hair ties!  Take your daughter out of that snobby school and stop signing up for every after school activity that these beyotches take their kids to, or plaster a big fake smile on her face and play the game.

But Maria was half in and half out throughout the book.  Her husband is telling her that he is miserable in his job, and unhappy with the direction of his future, and her only thought is that if he quits his job, how will they pay for Riverton?  At that point, it seemed like Maria was the only one who cared about the school, it certainly wasn't doing anything for the rest of the family.

At the end, you see a few of the bea's get their comeuppance, but even then, Maria continues her pattern of one foot in, one foot out.  She wracks her brain to think of the perfect text to send to the woman who's life is falling apart, the same woman who has done nothing but try to make her own life miserable.

That was my only real complaint - I wanted Maria to get her head on straight and teach her kids what really matters.  But even though she could do that when they were alone, she wasn't able to do it in front of the snobs, where the lesson would have really stuck.

Thank you, Net Galley and Harper Collins, for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.  This was a 4/5 star read.

Happy Thanksgiving from Me!

Happy, Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone has a day filled with family, food and books!

A Fairy Tale by Shanna Swendson

A Fairy Tale by Shanna Swendson

 What They Say....Once upon a time, a girl named Sophie Drake danced with the fairies in the woods behind her grandparents' Louisiana home. But she closed the door to the fairy world and turned her back on the Fae when they tried to steal her little sister Emily. Fourteen years later, Sophie heads to New York City on a desperate mission. Emily, now an up-and-coming Broadway actress, has gone missing. Only Sophie suspects the Fae.

Now Sophie has her work cut out for her. Emily's abduction is part of a larger plot involving the missing Queen of the fairy realm. An upstart fairy is making a bid to assume control of the entire Realm, unite the fairies, and become master over the human world. To free her sister, Sophie must derail this power scheme and find the true Queen of the Realm.

That's a lot for a small-town ballet teacher to tackle, but with the unlikely aid of her sometimes flighty sister, a pair of elderly shopkeepers with a secret, a supremely lazy (but surprisingly knowledgeable) bulldog, and a wounded police detective searching for his own missing person, she just might prevail--if she can force herself to confront her own past and face her true nature.

What I Say.... This was a fun read.  I always say that I don't really like fantasy, but then I read books like this and I realize that I actually do enjoy fantasy.

I just need it to be fantasy that feels somewhat rooted in reality.  This book was the perfect blend of the two.  Emily is an actress in New York, who lives above an injured NYPD officer.  When she goes missing after a performance, her sister Sophie comes to New York to find her. 

Part of what kept me hooked was the way the story crossed between the Fairy Realm and New York. I enjoyed the way the different characters moved between worlds.

The climax of the book felt like an Indiana Jones type adventure, and the end didn't tie up with a "happily ever after", but it ended with me waiting for the sequel!

Top Ten Books On My Winter TBR List

Top Ten Books on My Winter To-Be-Read List.

Honest to God, I need to change my title.  I love participating in this blog roundup hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, but I can never get to ten.  It's embarrassing.
Oh well, here are my six......(hangs head in shame)

Revival by Stephen King 

In a small New England town, over half a century ago, a shadow falls over a small boy playing with his toy soldiers. Jamie Morton looks up to see a striking man, the new minister. Charles Jacobs, along with his beautiful wife, will transform the local church. The men and boys are all a bit in love with Mrs. Jacobs; the women and girls feel the same about Reverend Jacobs—including Jamie’s mother and beloved sister, Claire. With Jamie, the Reverend shares a deeper bond based on a secret obsession. When tragedy strikes the Jacobs family, this charismatic preacher curses God, mocks all religious belief, and is banished from the shocked town.

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.



The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author comes Kristin Hannah’s next novel. It is an epic love story and family drama set at the dawn of World War II.









Saving Grace by Jane Green 

Grace and Ted Chapman are widely regarded as the perfect literary power couple. Ted is a successful novelist and Grace, his wife of twenty years, is beautiful, stylish, carefree, and a wonderful homemaker. But what no one sees, what is churning under the surface, is Ted’s rages. His mood swings. And the precarious house of cards that their lifestyle is built upon. When Ted’s longtime assistant and mainstay leaves, the house of cards begins to crumble and Grace, with dark secrets in her past, is most vulnerable. She finds herself in need of help but with no one to turn to…until the perfect new assistant shows up out of the blue.  To the rescue comes Beth, a competent young woman who can handle Ted and has the calm efficiency to weather the storms that threaten to engulf the Chapman household. Soon, though, it’s clear to Grace that Beth might be too good to be true. This new interloper might be the biggest threat of all, one that could cost Grace her marriage, her reputation, and even her sanity.  With everything at stake and no one to confide in, Grace must find a way to save herself before it is too late.

The Look of Love by Sarah Jio

 Born during a Christmas blizzard, Jane Williams receives a rare gift: the ability to see true love. Jane has emerged from an ailing childhood a lonely, hopeless romantic when, on her twenty-ninth birthday, a mysterious greeting card arrives, specifying that Jane must identify the six types of love before the full moon following her thirtieth birthday, or face grave consequences. When Jane falls for a science writer who doesn’t believe in love, she fears that her fate is sealed. Inspired by the classic song, The Look of Love is utterly enchanting.


The Mermaid's Child by Jo Baker

In this fantastical novel, the acclaimed author of Longbourn brings us the magical story of a young girl in search of her mother...who just might be a mermaid. Malin has always been different, and when her father dies, leaving her alone, her choice is clear: stay, and remain an outsider forever, or leave in search of the mythical inheritance she is certain awaits her. Apprenticed to a series of strange and wonderful characters, Malin embarks on a grueling journey that crosses oceans and continents—from the high seas to desert plains—and leads to a discovery that she could never have expected. Beautifully written and hauntingly strange, The Mermaid’s Child is a remarkable piece of storytelling, and an utterly unique work of fantasy from literary star Jo Baker.