Mailbox Monday - April 30th

Aprils edition of Mailbox Monday is being hosted by  

Cindy's Love of Books.

Here's what arrived last week. (all were purchases by me, except for Gold; Chris Cleave which I received through the Amazon Vine program).

New Books

The Jewish Husband

by Lia Levi

Crusoe's Daughter

by Jane Gardam

I Hadn't Understood

by Diego De Silva

Pure

by Andrew Miller

Gold

by Chris Cleave

Sunday Salon - April 29th -

It's been quite a while since I've done a "Sunday Salon" post, but this morning felt like a good morning for babbling about life and books.

So many good things have happened this month for our family, that it's almost scary. Although I'm a positive person, sometimes I can't help but think, how much longer before something (not so good happens)?

 Do you ever think like that?

As some of you know April brought a first grandchild into my life -- last Sunday, this little sweetie made her appearance. She is just perfect, and my heart is so happy. Mom and Dad can't believe the way their little miracle has made them feel.

Then last week, my son and his wife who will be married (4) years soon, learned that their offer on their 1st house, a house they fell in love with in the woods on 6+ acres of land  was accepted.  Hopefully the home inspection will not turn up any serious problems and that they will be able to move in by the end of June......we are so excited for them. They wanted to live some place where their only immediate neighbors would be wildlife. (I've had that dream at times as well) LOL  We're taking a ride to checkout the area today.

We also learned that my husband's son from NYC, a screenwriter, spent the week in Hollywood with his agent in negotiations for a movie and a sitcom based on some of his work. Fingers crossed that things go well.

So this is why I'm feeling a bit apprehensive.

Books Read in April:

1. Lots of Candles Plenty of Cake; Anna Quindlen (5/5) - (memoir - eBook)
2. Defending Jacob; William Landay - 4.5/5 (audio and eBook) 
3. Calico Joe; John Grisham - 4/5 (ARC)
4. The Underside of Joy; Sere Prince Halverson  4.5/5 - (eBook) 
5. Woolbur; Leslie Helakowski - 4.5/5 (kids - library )
6. Odd Bird Out; Helga Bansch - 4/5 (kids-library)
7. The Busy Beaver; Nicholas Oldland - 5/5 (kids-library)
8. The Good Father; Noah Hawley 3.5/5 (ebook and audio)
9. An Uncommon Education; Elizabeth Percer - 3/5 (arc)
10. Red Ruby Heart in a Cold Blue Sea; Morgan Callan Rogers - 4/5 (eGalley)
11. The Book of Jonas; Stephen Dau - 4/5 (audio download) 

Books in Progress:

Bringing Up Bebe; Pamela Druckerman (audio)
The Lola Quartet; Emily Mandel St John

YTD: 47/125(goal)

Hope you all had a great April in books.

Happy Sunday!

Saturday Snapshot ~ She's Here!!!

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by:

 http://athomewithbooks.blogspot.com/

Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online.

 I could hardly wait to introduce you to my first grandchild.

Meet Stella

Born Sunday, Earth Day, April 22

Stella arrived Sunday morning (16 days early) by C-Section (after 26 hours of labor).  She weighed 7 lbs and 15 ounces and was 20" long.  Mom, Dad and Baby are doing well.

Happy Grammie and Stella

I said I wasn't going to be one of those obnoxious grandparents who are always raving about their grandchild's accomplishments, and showing photos, but guess what? it's inevitable --- I've already begun. LOL

The Book of Jonas; Stephen Dau

Title: The Book of Jonas

Author:  Stephen Dau

Publication Year: 2012

Publisher: Tantor Media

Reader: Simon Vance

Edition: audio

Source:  Edelweiss
Setting:  Pittsburgh

Date Completed: 4/2012

Rating: 4/5

Recommend: yes

The Book of Jonas, is an often painful story, about the trauma left behind in the aftermath of war.  The war, presumed to the Iraq war, is subject of this debut novel. 

 

Younis, is a teenage Muslim boy who survives, when his village is destroyed, and his family killed in a military operation that did not go as planned.  An orphan, he is sent to the US (Pittsburgh) to live with an American family, and his name is changed to Jonas.  He's very very smart, but finding it hard to adjust to his new life. Sick of being picked on in school, Jonas eventually retaliates. To help him with his anger issues, he is sent to a therapist, and ever so slowly, bit by bit,  pieces of his painful past begin to emerge.

 

Jonas uses alcohol as a way of helping him deal with the nightmares from his past and the horrors of the war. However, he is not the only one affected by the war. Chris Henderson is an American soldier serving in the Army in Iraq at the same time whose life intersects with Jonas. He is a soldier who feels deep remorse for what he has been a party to.  He ultimately is the one who saved Jonas' life, but then he goes missing.  Through the soldier's diary entries the reader learns what Chris has experienced and that he is no doubt suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  The ending is one that I did not anticipate.

 

Although it is at times a gut-wrenching read, the story gives the reader a good look at the tragic consequences of both sides of war. I was happy I listened to this book, Simon Vance did a great job as narrator, even though it was a little tough to follow at times because the story went back and forth in time.  Despite this it's and audio book that is recommended.

Red Ruby Heart in a Cold Blue Sea; Morgan Callan Rogers

 

Title: Red Ruby Heart in a Cold Blue Sea

Author:  Morgan Callan Rogers

Publication Year: 2012

Publisher: Viking

Edition: eGalley

Source: NetGalley
Setting:  Maine

Date Completed: 4/26/2012

Rating: 4/5

Recommend: yes

Red Ruby Heart in a Cold Blue Sea, is a coming of age, debut novel which takes place in a small sea-side town in Maine, in the 1960s. It's a place where most of the year round residents know each other.

 

Growing up for most young girls is hard enough, but for Florine Gilham, the story's young protagonist, it is even more painful. The summer she was 12, her mother, Carlie, who worked as a waitress, disappeared during her annual trip with a friend to Crow's Nest Harbor. The lives of Florine, her father Leeman, a lobster-man are changed forever, and although Leeman's mother Grand, is wonderful, trying to fill the void however she can, there are just some aspects of mothering that leave her feeling helpless. You just can't replace the mother a child adored.  One day when Florine is desperate to get her mother back, she throws Grand's favorite possession, a "Red Ruby Heart Necklace" into the sea, pleading for her mother to come back.

 

Red Ruby Heart in a Cold Blue Sea is a touching coming of age story.  It's sad to see a child mourning the loss of a parent, and as a reader, I was anxious to see her come around and see a bit of sunshine, once again in her life.  The novel features several great small town characters, like Stella, Leeman's former girlfriend, who add new interest to the story. The author does a great job of painting, what seems to be, an accurate picture of what life was like in the summer of the 1960s in one small Maine, resort-town.

 

Readers who like coming of age stories, and books about small town life, especially one with a protagonist that will have you rooting for through and through, will enjoy this book.

 

The Good Father; Noah Hawley

Title: The Good Father

Author:  Noah Hawley

Publication Year: 2012

Publisher: Random House Audio

Readers:  (3): Bruce Turk, Arthur Morey and Ryan Gesell (very good)

Edition: eGalley and audiobook

Source: Net Galley and Library

Date Completed: 4/23/2012

Rating: 3.5/5

Recommend: yes

The Good Father, by Noah Hawley, reminded me of another book I just finished called Defending Jacob.  It is another story, a father who questions what constitutes one being a "good father", and whether he could have prevented his son from doing what he did.

The story is told from the POV of the father, Paul Allen,  successful Chief of Rheumatology at a prestigious NYC hospital. Paul is happily married to his second wife Fran, and the couple has young twin sons.   His first marriage took place when he was much younger when Ellen had become pregnant with their son Daniel.  Ellen was somewhat of a ditz, and the marriage ended when Daniel was just starting school.  Although he tried to stay involved in Daniel's life, Daniel felt like he never fit into Paul's new life and new family, and as a result, they began seeing less and less of one another.

Paul's peaceful life, begins to fall apart when one evening over dinner, he learns that his son Daniel (a.k.a. Carter Allen Cash) has been accused of shooting and killing a leading presidential candidate. A candidate that Daniel had once worked for.  Paul cannot believe that his son could be capable of such a thing and is experiencing a deep sense of denial.

The remainder of the novel has Paul trying to understand what might have made his son possibly become another name like other political assassins who have been in the news over the years. Paul sets out to understand what has happened in Daniel's childhood, teen years and young adulthood that could have attributed to what he has been accused of.  Of course, he questions his lack of involvement in his life, and even wonders about whether genetics have played a part in the person Daniel has become.

Although I enjoyed the audio book, the (3) readers: Bruce Turk, Arthur Morey and Ryan Gesell were all good, the story itself did not wow me.  Where as Defending Jacob, by William Landay, kept me guessing from beginning to end, this book did not.  I also did not enjoy the detailed analysis into the background of other political assassins in US history. Despite these criticisms, The Good Father is still a decent book, because it is an interesting examination of  father and son relationships.  It is also a story that makes the reader realize that no matter how smoothly things seem to be going in our lives for us at times,  all that can change, for any one of us in an instant.

Waiting on Wednesday; Silent House; Orhan Pamuk

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we are eagerly anticipating! Want to participate? Post your own WOW entry on your blog, and leave your link at Breaking the Spine. My pick is one that won't be released until October, but thought it sounded like something I would enjoy.

Silent House; Orhan Pamuk

Publication Date: October 9, 2012 (Knopf)

 

Never before published in English, Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk's second novel is the moving story of a family gathering the summer before the Turkish military coup of 1980.

In a crumbling mansion in Cennethisar (formerly a fishing village, now a posh resort near Istanbul) the old widow Fatma awaits the annual summer visit of her grandchildren: Faruk, a dissipated failed historian; his sensitive leftist sister, Nilgun; and the younger grandson, Metin, a high school student drawn to the fast life of the nouveaux riches, who dreams of going to America. The widow has lived in the village for decades, ever since her husband, an idealistic young doctor, first arrived to serve the poor fishermen. Now mostly bedridden, she is attended by her faithful servant Recep, a dwarf—and the doctor's illegitimate son. Mistress and servant share memories, and grievances, of those early years. But it is Recep's cousin Hassan, a high school dropout and fervent right-wing nationalist, who will draw the visiting family into the growing political cataclysm, in this spellbinding novel depicting Turkey's tumultuous century-long struggle for modernity.

An Uncommon Education; Ellizabeth Percer

Title: An Uncommon Education

Author:  Elizabeth Percer

Publication Year: 2012

Publisher: Harper Collins

Edition: ARC

Source: Amazon Vine

Date Completed: 4/24/2012

Rating: 3/5

Recommend: yes

An Uncommon Education is a coming of age novel which takes place around Boston, Massachusetts.  The protagonist, Naomi Feinstein is a brilliant young girl destined for greatness, as a young girl she absorbs everything around her and all that she reads. In school, her teacher goes so far as to to accuse her of cheating, but that's not the caset, she's just extremely bright.

"My father claims he made headway with me as a scholar during potty training. 'A captive audience for the first time in three years. What I read to you!'  When I was four he began to buy me notebooks and pencils the Tuesday after Labor Day; by the age of seven he was slipping standardized tests into my homework pile. For entertainment I was given such things as Infamous Women coloring books; Shakespeare's plays in comic book form; my own miniature Torah, the scroll which was covered in wavy black lines; historically correct figures of Clara Barton and Abigail Adams; math games made pretty with glass marbles; and a jump rope with a booklet of illustrated counting rhymes to accompany it.  In addition to our regular visits to the Kennedy home, every April 19th we drove to Lexington before dawn to witness the reenactment of the Battle of Lexington and Concord; every July 4th er walked the Freedom Trail."

A somewhat lonely child, Naomi's mother, is a somewhat distant woman who seems to be clinically depressed (later on the reader learns more about that).  She and her father, however, have a very special relationship, and they spend lots of quality time together. On one of their routine outings, Naomi's father suffers a heart attack, and although he survives and undergoes by-pass surgery.  It is at this point that she dreams of attending Wellesley College with intentions of becoming a doctor -- hoping to save her parents in the process.

As a child, Naomi's one real friend is Teddy Rosenthal, the odd young boy from next door.

" He was a terrific distraction from everything that felt full of holes: school, my mother, my father's heart.  We had invented a world; the universe has turned upside down and given us mastery over our lives.  We felt bold together, invincible, capable of doing anything and everything, and the more this feeling overcame us, the more time we spent together, so that almost every waking moment of our lives was either at school or in each other's company, both of us delighting in our imaginary worlds as we spun them out beneath us."

The adopted son of Jewish Orthodox parents, Teddy's mother does not like Naomi or her family. She calls her a "shiksa" and she doesn't want her son to associate with her.  When Teddy's father dies, his mother sells the house and the two of them move away to New Jersey just two weeks after. The friends miss each other terribly.

Up to this point, the story held my interest, and I was curious what else the author had in store.  However, once Naomi was accepted at Wellesley, the story seemed to fall apart a bit.  While at Wellesley, Naomi joins a Shakespeare Society, and develops a close relationship with a Japanese exchange student named Jun.  It is here at college that Naomi really begins to come to terms with who she is and the things that are most important to her. She finds out more about her old friend Teddy as well. Yes, it's all part of maturing and figuring out one's direction in life, but as far as making for a memorable novel, it just didn't happen for me.  In the end I was left disappointed.

I'll be curious to read what other reviewers had to say about this novel.

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - The Lola Quartet; Emily St. John Mandel

Every Tuesday, I'll be posting the opening paragraph (sometimes maybe a few) of a book I decided to read based on the opening paragraph (s). Feel free to grab the banner and play along.  This week's selection is a book I've been curious about. 

 The Lola Quartet; Emily St. John Mandel

Unbridled Books - May 15, 2012

 "Anna had fallen into a routine, or as much of a routine as a seventeen-year-old can reasonably fall into when she's transient and living in hiding with an infant.  She was staying at her sister's friend's house in a small town in Virginia."

 "The baby always woke up crying at four-thirty or five a.m. Anna got up and changed Chloe's diaper, prepared a bottle and bundled her into the stroller and then they left the basement where they were living, walked three blocks to the twenty-four-hour doughnut shop for coffee and across the wide empty street to the park.  Anna sat on a swing with her first coffee of the morning and Chloe lay in the stroller staring up at the clouds.  They listened to the birds in the trees at the edges of the park, the sounds of traffic in the distance. The climbing equipment cast a complicated silhouette against the pale; morning sky." 

 WOULD YOU CONTINUE READING?

(I'll need to read more to decide - weekend reading plans)

Mailbox Monday - April 23rd

Aprils edition of Mailbox Monday is being hosted by  

Cindy's Love of Books.

Here's what arrived last week. (Loving the covers and they sound like great summer books).

• The Cottage at Glass Beach; Heather Barbieri - (Harper Collins)
• The Folded Earth; Anuradha Roy - (Free Press)

Saturday Snapshot - April 21st

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by http://athomewithbooks.blogspot.com/

Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online.

Many of us in New England (at least)

 have one of these stores close to home right?

 I noticed a family living here last year.
 I just never seemed to have my camera at the right time.

This year I was ready for them..

Maybe there will be little ones soon?

Woolbur; Leslie Helakowski ~ Odd Bird Out; Helga Bansch ~ The Busy Beaver; Nicholas Oldland

Still on my quest for the perfect young children's books,  I wanted to share some recent finds.

Woolbur; Leslie Helakowski

(Illustrations by Lee Harper)

Harper Collins - 2008

Ages 3+

A sweet book with an important message -- It is okay to be different!

Woolbur is the cutest little sheep who loves trying new and different things, His Maa and Paa worry about him, but Grandpaa tells them not to worry. He likes to run with the wild dogs; he doesn't want to have his wool sheared; he tried to card his own wool which made him look kind of funny, but he liked the way he looked all the same.  He also finds out riding on the spinning wheel instead of spinning the wool is a lot more fun.  These things along with many more funny antics cause Woolbur's Maa and Paa to become concerned.  They take him aside and have a talk, telling him,  "you must follow the flock--it's what sheep do", but Woolbur has a better idea, he taught the flock to do as he did and becomes a leader not a follower.

Knitters will love this, but even if you're like me and don't knit, it's a great book, full of colorful and imaginative illustrations and most of all an important message. RECOMMENDED

Odd Bird Out; Helga Bansch

Gecko Press - 2011

Ages 3+

Another cute book about being different!

Robert the Raven was a s happy as a lark and wanted all the other ravens to be as happy as him.  He loved to dress up (not in black like the other ravens). He loved to dance, tell jokes and even sing (even though he wasn't very good at these things).

On concert night he dressed in bold colors, looking somewhat like a parrot. The other ravens asked him to leave. Robert was so sad because of this, he flew far away. When he grew tired he landed in a tree and sang himself to sleep. In the morning he found lots of colorful birds cheering him. The obviously enjoyed having Robert there.   Back home, the ravens were surprised that things seemed less happy and the world  a bit empty with Robert gone.  These birds learned an important lesson, because as new birds arrived they became more patient and tolerant to those who were a bit different.

I was reminded of Jimmy Buffet "Parrot Heads" as I read this book. The colorful illustrations are awesome. An important message as well. RECOMMENDED

The Busy Beaver

 Nicholas Oldland (author/illustrator)

Kids Can Press - 2011

Ages 3+

A Book about being considerate to others and about caring for the environment.

Busy Beaver was also busy, BUT he was also, careless and messy.  His dams leaked, he left trees half-chewed, and once he even topped a tree on a bear's head, and chewed the leg of a moose, thinking it was a tree.  He made the birds leave their homes as he felled their nests to the ground, not even realizing the problems he was causing.  

One day his carelessness landed him in the hospital with some nasty injuries when he made a tree fall -- this time on top of himself.  While he was recuperating in the hospital, he had a chance to see from his window all the injuries and mess he caused for his "forest friends".  He practiced saying "I am sorry" while in the hospital.  When the other animals saw him later in the forest, frightened they ran away.  He found a way to apologize, to clean up his messes, and planted new saplings to make up for the trees he destroyed.

Such a beautifully illustrated book; the colors are so beautiful and visually pleasing.  I really loved this one a lot. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake; Anna Quindlen

Title: Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake

Author:  Anna Quindlen

Publication Year: April 24, 2012

Publisher: Random House

Edition:eGalley

Source: Publisher/Edelweiss

Date Completed: 3/30/2012

Rating: 5/5

Recommend: yes

Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake, is a wonderful memoir about the author, Anna Quindlen's life.  Written as a series of short essays, it's just over 180 pages, but full of so much wisdom which comes from life experience. 

The author reflects on her childhood, young adulthood, the middle years as a working parent of three, and her life now, as she approached her 60th birthday.  Quindlen, claims to still feel like 40," even though the body might have shifted a bit."   She covers such topics as marriage, advice for young people about the the things that really matter the most in life, raising children, careers, aging parents, being raised Catholic, and faith in general.  Her observations about the lives of women in the 50-60 year-old age group, are dead-on-accurate.

Being born in the same year as Quindlen, so much of what she had to say about her life resonated with me as well. For example, 

• "We were the first generation of women who are intimately involved in the lives of our children and in the lives of our parents while trying to hold down jobs outside the home at the same time. Someone even came up with a name for this: the sandwich generation...."
• "When I was young I was loath to admit that I liked being alone, but not anymore.  By the time you've lived for fifty or sixty years, you are better armored to embrace the things about yourself that are true, even if the you think the world sees them as odd, eccentric....."
• "What a time we've live through so revolutionary that the list could go on and on: the Pill, the heart transplant, the moon landings, cell phones, cable television, computer communication,.....and  as Quindlen's father said..."I'm glad I lived long enough to see the Phillies win a World Series and a black man elected President."  [ for me, it's seeing the Boston Red Sox win 2 World Series]
• "I am a liberal because......as I said often, much to the consternation of friends of other faiths who have come to see Catholicism as narrow, conservative, and antediluvian, I am a liberal because I was raised Catholic.  In a typically thoughtful and searching speech he gave at Notre Dame, former New York Governor Mario Cuomo, the most intellectual of non-clerical Catholics referred to practicing the work of Christ in our life, 'I practice it especially where the love is most needed, among the poor and weak and the dispossessed.' That's the lesson I took away from the New Testament, the requirement that if you had two cloaks you should give one to the person who had none that you love your neighbor as yourself. It's a lesson that never left me."

For such a short book, I spent an entire week reading, rereading and reflecting on what the author wrote.  Her story made me appreciate, so much more, being born in a decade that was followed by so many positive changes and choices, especially for women.

This book would make a perfect birthday or Mother's Day gift for the "baby boomer" woman in your life.  In my opinion, this is the targeted age group that will enjoy this book the most. 

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - LOVED IT!

Waiting on Wednesday - Crusoe's Daughter; Jane Gardam

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we are eagerly anticipating! Want to participate? Post your own WOW entry on your blog, and leave your link at Breaking the Spine. My pick is one that will be released next week and seems to have just enough quirkiness to score big with me:

Crusoe's Daughter; Jane Gardem

Europa Editions 

Publication Date: April 24, 2012 

(originally published in 1986)

In 1904, six-year-old Polly Flint is sent to live with her aunt’s in a house by the sea. Orphaned shortly thereafter, Polly will spend the next eighty years stranded in this quiet corner of the world as 20th century rages in the background. Throughout it all Polly returns again and again to the story of Robinson Crusoe, who, marooned like her, fends off the madness of isolation with imagination.

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros

Every Tuesday, I'll be posting the opening paragraph (sometimes maybe a few) of a book I decided to read based on the opening paragraph (s). Feel free to grab the banner and play along.  This week's selection is a book I've been curious about. 
 

 An Uncommon Education; Elizabeth Percer

Harper Collins - May 2012

"On the day after my mother's death, I returned to 83 Beals Street for the first time in fifteen years.  I had stolen something from there when I was almost nine years old and kept it long after my father was well again and it was clear that my mother was in the final stages of her decline.  I suppose it was one of many talismans, real and imagined, I began collecting around that age to help me believe that what I told myself just might be true.  Perhaps the strongest of these convictions, and the one it took the longest to let go of, was that believing that I needed to save those I loved from harm also meant that I could."

 Have you read this one? Would you continue?

Mailbox Monday - April 16th

Aprils edition of Mailbox Monday is being hosted by Cindy's Love of Books.

Here's what arrived last week. Have you read any of these yet?

Thanks goes to Penguin and a Paperback Swap member for this week's new books.

Book Giveaway Winners

Winner is  Sara - Congratulations

Winner is pburt - Congratulations

Thanks to all who entered!

The Underside of Joy; Sere Prince Halverson

 

Title: The Underside of Joy

Author:  Sere Prince Halverson

Publication Year:  2012

Publisher: Dutton

Edition: eGalley

Setting: California and LasVegas, NV

Source: Net Galley

Date Completed: 4/7/2012

Rating: 4.5/5

Recommend: yes

After her first marriage ended in divorce, Ella Beene thought she would never experience motherhood.  Plagued by infertility, Ella's dreams of being a mother came true when she moved to the small, picturesque town of Elbow, California. It is there that she met Joe Capozzi, a handsome, single father and his  (2) very young children:  Zach, a few months old and Annie just 3-years old. Seeing Joe struggle to juggle the demands of being a single parent, she offered to help out with the children, and their relationship grew to something more.  All along she is careful not to pry into Joe's situation by asking too many questions.  She loves her life with Joe and the children.

 

Joe loves photography, and one day while trying to take the perfect photo, he falls off a rock and drowns.  Ella is devastated, but not only is she without her husband, he leaves behind a lot of debt caused by the family's failing business, a local market.  Debt and business failure which Ella had not been aware of.  

 

When Paige, Joe's first-wife and mother of Zach and Annie shows up at Joe's funeral, it isn't long before her intentions are made clear.  With Joe gone, Paige wants to raise her children, claiming to have the means and stability to support them.  Just where will this leave Ella, who has been in the childrens lives all this time? Why did Paige leave her children and Joe? Slowly through discovered letters the truth is revealed.

 

Told through Ella's POV, the author has done a very good job examining the complexities of motherhood, and outlining both women's situations and positions.  Ella, who is the only mother the children have really known,  has had to stay strong and pull together not only the children, but to she has also had to  find ways to make the family business viable once again.  Paige's story is compelling as well, and deals with a very sympathetic issue.  Each woman envies the other in some ways and both want what is best for the children as well. 

 

I could see both sides of this story, and was unable to put this book down until I found out how things worked out.  Although the were a few moments when things seemed to fall into place a bit too easily, it was still a compelling read.  I think this book will appeal to a lot of women. It's a very good debut novel; I look forward to more novels by this author -- recommended.

Saturday Snapshot - 4/14/12 Window Shopping

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce - http://athomewithbooks.blogspot.com/ 

Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online.

Last month we were doing a bit of window shopping when I saw an interesting piece of art which called my name. Curious, I slipped inside the store with my handy dandy Nikon camera.  The piece was almost $3,000, so all I left with was this photo (and the store owner was not too happy about that either).  I've got a bit of a rebellious side to me, what can I say:)

Wouldn't this be perfect for a Bibliophile By the Sea?