This semester has been a bit nutty – and I’m teaching a graduate class on YA novels so reading is essentially my job lately…I am not complaining! BUT, it means that I haven’t had the opportunity to read a whole lot of my own choice. Last week I managed to sneak in some extra reading time and I read three books that I felt compelled to write about.

Here We Lie by Paula Treick DeBoard is a must read. I had the pleasure of meeting Paula at an author event a year or so ago for The Drowning Girls and she was so lovely. At the time, she seemed to be a bit mysterious about her upcoming novel and now I totally understand why. It would have been very hard to preview this book in a way that does it justice. Here We Lie is simply fantastic. DeBoard creates multidimensional, authentic characters that practically jump off the page to get your attention.

The story centers on two young women – Megan and Lauren – who meet in college. Lauren is everything Megan is not – polished, rich, connected. Lauren comes from an old money Connecticut family. Her father is a senator, her siblings are beautiful and successful and her mother manages all of their lives. Lauren is the black sheep – she makes mistakes, she feels entitled and untethered. Megan is none of these things. Her father died recently and she comes from a small town without any money or influence. Somehow, they both wind up at a small liberal arts school in Connecticut where they are looking to reinvent themselves. After a series of incidents, they becomes friends and roommates and discover that they actually bring out the best in each other. They remain central to each other’s lives until one night, the summer before their senior year, when the unthinkable happens. The ramifications of that evening send their lives in completely opposite directions and the consequences deeply impact each of the girls and those that love them. Told part in present day and part in flashbacks to their college years, the girls are so real and raw that you can imagine being friends with them. For me, their college years were just about the same as my own – and I also went to a small liberal arts college in Connecticut – so all of the references to current events and pop culture were easily relatable. It provided me with a personal trip down memory lane. As the story unfolds – and the past and present collide – Megan and Lauren must make decisions about when to tell their stories, who to believe and how to reconnect despite time and distance. Here We Lie is a powerful book about friendship, influence and the challenges of speaking our truth.

Second, Still Me by Jojo Moyes is the third book in the popular Louisa Clark series that began with Me Before You. From the opening pages, Lou is back and as charming, witty and authentic as ever – navigating life after Will Traynor and starting a new job in New York City. As personal assistant to Agnes Gopnik – the young, new wife of a powerful, wealthy, older man, Lou is suddenly thrust into the world of money, influence and power. From running with Agnes and her personal trainer at sunrise to ball gowns and charity dinners, Lou puts her unique stamp on everything she touches. With humor and grace, she navigates her transition while also trying to maintain her relationship with Ambulance Sam and her connection to her family and friends in England.

I LOVE Lou. I loved her in the first two books and in the movie – Emilia Clarke was amazing. Lou is messy and creative, she is kind and idealistic – she is real. I laughed out loud at parts of this story and cried at others. I found myself cheering her on and wanting to give her a hug. This story of self-discovery is incredibly well written. The first book of the series was all about Lou’s relationship with Will, the second was all about her life after his death. This book – which may be my favorite in the trilogy – is all about what comes next. Lou is trying to follow Will’s advice – to live in the moment and use her full potential. She has to decide who she is and where she belongs and she does so in true Lou fashion – with honesty, humor, a quirky sense of style and with an open mind and heart.

Finally, thanks to a recommendation on David Baldacci’s facebook page, I read Need to Know by Karen Cleveland. Trust me, just read it now. The story centers on Vivian Miller, a CIA analyst focused on finding Russian sleeper cells on American soil. After a series of disappointments, a program she designed finally begins to return results. On an otherwise normal day, she opens a file identifying “friends” of Russia working in our country and finds herself starring at a picture of her husband, Matt. Her anger, fear and confusion is almost palpable. What would you do? Do you protect your husband? Save the father of your children? Do you blow up your own life to protect your country? Can you forgive him? Can you forgive yourself if you do? Can you forgive yourself if you don’t?

Viv’s story unfolds against the real life backdrop of our country’s current investigation into Russian meddling and influence which makes it all the more powerful. The story keeps coming back to the core question: What would you do and how do you handle the consequences of your decision? Author Karen Cleveland is an ex-CIA agent and she makes Viv incredibly real (flaws and all) and paints a truly complicated and compelling scenario. As Viv fights to protect what matters most to her, she must also decide how much she is willing to do for her husband, her family and her country.

What are you reading? Any recommendations for me? Thanks, as always, for reading!

I’m so sorry for the very long break since my last post. I’ve been reading – and teaching! – but I have definitely failed at blogging regularly. I’m hoping to remedy this immediately and I thank you for sticking with me and reading my blog! 

Happy New Year! As 2018 gets underway, I have to admit that I have super mixed emotions about making resolutions. I feel like every year I say some variation of the same thing…I’ll lose ten pounds, I’ll spend less money, I’ll get more sleep (I’m guessing that these sound familiar!). That said, I do welcome the chance to reflect, reassess and recommit (when appropriate) to the things that matter. I think it is important to ask ourselves the tough questions: Am I happy? Am I healthy? Am I connecting enough to the people and causes that I value the most? Sometimes, the answers are easy. Sometimes, they are much more complicated. When it comes to the latter, we need to be willing to dig a little deeper, try a little harder to decide what we want and how hard we are willing to work for change.

I just finished reading Between Me & You and it was the perfect book to read while contemplating the start of a new year. I’ve always enjoyed Allison Winn Scotch’s books and her latest novel is no exception. I think she does a fantastic job of creating authentic characters and believable relationships and interactions. Her writing is real and engaging and it causes readers to feel invested in the lives she creates. Between Me & You introduces us to Ben Livingston, a screenwriter and Tatum Connelly, an actress. Present day, their marriage is essentially over. There are divorce papers they haven’t officially signed and thousands of regrets they haven’t voiced – to themselves or to each other. We know they still love each other, but the obstacles seem insurmountable. What follows is a story of their history told in alternating perspective and spanning two decades of memories – good and bad – as Ben and Tatum ask themselves the tough questions.

Confession – I didn’t really like the format of the novel at first. It seemed complicated and disconnected. The stories are disjointed – first a memory from 2000 and then one from 2014. First an affair, then the day when the future lovers first met. First the fallout from an argument, then the build-up. However, as I got more invested in Ben, Tatum and their family and friends, the format made complete sense. Allison Winn Scotch is brilliant because she recognizes that though we may live our lives in chronological order, we don’t necessarily remember them in the same way. Our emotions don’t always follow a logical order. Cause(s) and effect(s) aren’t always directly linked in a completely linear way. We can crash into each other without ever fully understanding how others will be impacted. The interactions that create specific outcomes aren’t always clear as they are happening – they require reflection. Mostly, our lives aren’t black and white – they are chaotic, colorful and messy. People are passionate and also fallible, they make mistakes and decisions and these can lead our lives in directions we couldn’t possibly imagine – and that is what makes life worth living.  Between Me & You reminds us that sometimes  we need to go back so that we can move forward. Sometimes we can fix our mistakes and sometimes we need to figure out how to let go. It also reminds us that fighting for what matters to us – fighting for love – is always worth it.

Some books, some characters, come to life for readers. You find yourself shaking your head, wiping away tears and swallowing down anger and frustration. And, even when you close the book, it stays with you – like song lyrics you can’t get out of your head. You find yourself using the story, or the characters, as a measure for your own actions, reactions and perceptions. Nic Stone’s Dear Martin is one of those rare and amazing books.

Dear Martin is an important book for more reasons than I can possibly outline in this post – it is raw, it is compelling and it is painfully real. Justyce McAllister is a seventeen year old high school student at a prep school in Atlanta. He is at the top of his class, on the debate team and headed to Yale. However, despite doing everything he can to be successful and respectful, he finds himself in handcuffs after trying to help a friend. This interaction with police shakes his sense of self and forces him to open his eyes to what is happening to young, black men like him around the country. To help him process what he is seeing and feeling, he begins to write letters to Martin Luther King, Jr. and begins what he calls an experiment to “Be Like Martin”.

As Justyce begins to pay more attention to what is happening around him, he finds himself at a crossroads. He is struggling with the big questions: How can he make a difference? How can he prevent himself from being drowned by hopelessness? How can he speak up about injustice and call out others for their ignorance and prejudice without resorting to violence?

Nic Stone is a remarkable writer. She creates incredible characters that grab you and don’t let go. She also brilliantly weaves the lives of Justyce, and his friends and family, with current events and overall themes of social justice, history, racial profiling, community and more. Stone also doesn’t pretend everything is “fixed” as the book ends. While there is a satisfying conclusion to the novel itself, the book offers more questions than answers and the distance between the two remains with readers – as it should.

Read this book. Open your eyes. Force yourself to examine what is happening in our country and ask yourself why. Put yourself in Justyce’s shoes. Let yourself feel…and then do something.

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

There is nothing like a book about winter and the holidays to make you forget – at least momentarily! – about the 90 degree temperatures and 100% humidity here in Connecticut! So, needless to say, I was thrilled to get the opportunity to read an advanced copy of Winter Solstice, the fourth book in Elin Hilderbrand’s hugely popular Winter series. I missed the memo that there was going to be a fourth book – it was originally publicized a trilogy – so I was very excited to reconnect with the beloved Quinn family.

Winter Solstice picks up where Winter Storms left off. Ava is happily teaching in NYC and enjoying her relationship with Potter, Bart is readjusting to life after his time held as a United States Marine in captivity, Jen and Patrick are getting their lives back on track after prison and addiction, Margaret is closing in on her retirement from the television network and looking ahead, Mitzi is back at the Inn with Kelly, and Isabelle and Kevin are happily married with two small children. However, as we learned at the end of the third novel, Kelly’s health is not good and his condition is rapidly deteriorating. This becomes even more obvious from the opening pages of Winter Solstice and raises an important question for each of the characters – how do you say goodbye and how do you honor a man as incredible and unforgettable as Kelly?

Elin Hilderbrand is well-known for bringing characters from previous novels into new books but – before Winter Solstice – the Winter series seemed to do a bit less of this. However, early on in this newest book, “Fast Eddie” Pancik and his family (from The Rumor) become part of the story. Though at first it seemed unexpected, ultimately intertwining the two stories creates great material for this novel. The characters are relatable, they are likable and their interactions drive the storyline. There are also clearly common issues and themes that resonate for both families – hope, forgiveness, second chances and, most importantly, love,

Fans of Elin’s work will definitely enjoy Winter Solstice. The end of the Winter series will make you laugh out loud and also bring you to tears. However, when the book ends, you can’t help but have a renewed sense of appreciation for love, community, family, and friendship.

*I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for providing a review. Thanks! 

I am not a fan of heat and humidity but one of my favorite things about summer is that I actually have time to read for pleasure – a lot! This month I have had the opportunity to read some fantastic books though sadly my massive reading binge will slow down soon as prep for the upcoming semester begins. In the meantime, I wanted to share a few highlights:

• Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker
  This books is the very definition of psychological thriller – fast paced, complex and full of twists. Three years ago, sisters Cassandra and Emma disappeared one night without a trace and despite an exhaustive investigation and the passionate work of forensic psychologist Dr. Abby Winter, the case went cold. When Cass arrives home with a detailed story of where she has been and an emotional plea to go save Emma, the roller coaster ride begins. The story is dark at times, with the worst of human nature on display in some of the key characters, but readers will slowly begin to understand Cassandra’s desire to bring light to the truth and the underlying reason for her actions.  I thought Walker’s earlier novel All is Not Forgotten was fantastic – and the issues raised stuck with me for quite a while after finishing it – and Emma in the Night is just as compelling and thought-provoking.
• The Captain’s Daughter by Meg Mitchell Moore
  I really liked this book because of the underlying questions is poses: What if our life isn’t exactly what we thought it would be? What if we aren’t where we are supposed to be? What if we are? Eliza Barnes is forced to take an honest look at herself – her past, her present and her choices – when her widowed father has a boating accident and she must leave her “perfect” life in Massachusetts to return to her childhood home in Maine. There she finds herself questioning her decisions and her future as she faces past mistakes and crosses paths with a young woman also at a crossroad and in need of compassion and perspective. I think we all have moments where something unexpected happens and we need to reexamine our lives and Eliza does so with humor, empathy and heartbreaking honesty.
• Secrets of the Tulip Sisters by Susan Mallery
  This is the perfect summer read – family secrets, romance, rediscovery, friendship and forgiveness all set against the backdrop of an colorful small town and a beautiful tulip farm. Kate and Olivia Murphy have been estranged for more than a decade but when Olivia returns home they find themselves together in their childhood home both at somewhat of a turning point in their lives. The sisters – along with Kate’s best friend Helen – must each examine their own lives, their hopes for the future and their willingness to forgive if they hope to be a family. Although the story does look at real life issues – abandonment, family dynamics, business challenges/successes, personal fears – the book is completely enjoyable – funny, romantic and heartwarming. I found myself rooting for all three women- Kate, Olivia and Helen – and being genuinely satisfied by the ending.

  What have you been reading? Any recommendations? I’d love to hear about what you have been loving this summer!

  

  

  
  
  * I received early access to Emma in the Night from NetGalley in exchange for providing a review. 

Imagine how many words you speak, read and hear each day. Think about how many choices you have in terms of deciding what you want to say and why and the images that your words can paint. Think about the impact that nuance, tone and irony can have on the words you deliver and the way that they are received by others. Consider how may words have multiple meaning based on culture, region or slang. Now imagine that the leader of your society limited those words more and more each year (only 500 words allowed) and put strict rules in place for the language you could speak, the tone you use and the images they evoke. Crazy, right?

This is exactly the premise of Patricia Forde’s brilliant new YA book The List. Part apocalyptic/dystopian novel and part social commentary about courage, morals and the power of words, I had a very difficult time putting this book down. The story is set in a place called Ark, the surviving society after a catastrophic event called “The Melting” – think worst case scenario climate change impact. Letta, the main character, is the wordsmith’s apprentice and one of the few people “allowed” to know about the full range of language of the past and speak freely. It is her job to write out lists of acceptable words and provide the lists to the people of Ark. John Noa, the leader of Ark, believes that words are the cause of all of humanity’s problems. He decrees that the list of words be cut again and again to the bare minimum required to function as a society. Words including art, hope, love, freedom are all banned and deemed unnecessary. Letta accepts this as simply the way things are until a series of events force her to question Noa’s intentions including the disappearance of Benjamin (the wordsmith) and the appearance of Marlo, a teenage boy who knows about all of the words and is a dissenter living outside of Ark’s society.  As the story unfolds, several interactions make her question Noa’s limits on language and the validity of his vision for humanity. The novel is fast paced and engaging as Letta must decide whether to ignore her own values and accept the status quo or face her fears and become part of a revolution.

Most compelling about this story are the parallels between the fictional world of Ark and our own current events – climate change, global warming, narcissistic leadership, the truth behind our words (fake news claims, anyone?), conflicting visions for society and humanity….sound familiar? Letta is just a teenager in the novel but the conflict she faces in both universal and relatable: Who can we trust? What do we do when our leadership if failing us? What are our options to create change? What are we willing to risk to do what we think is right? How far do we go for the people we love? Though the end of the book is satisfying in many ways – these questions and the links to current events today resonate long after the story is over.

*I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for providing a review. 

I had no idea that Marcia Clark was also a novelist until about two years ago when a friend recommended her Rachel Knight series. I quickly read all of those and moved on to the Samantha Brinkman books. I was immediately struck by Clark’s talent as a writer – she creates honest, compelling characters tackling incredibly interesting cases with legal and social implications. What I particularly love about Samantha Brinkman is that though in theory she fights for “justice”, she defines it in her own way and it often changes as she investigates each case. Sam lives in the gray area. Things aren’t black and white for her, instead she understands the nuance and takes incredible risks to get to the truth.

Snap Judgment is the third book in the Samantha Brinkman series. Without giving away too much about the plot, the book centers around the death of Alicia, a college student and daughter of a prominent local lawyer Graham Hutchins. Days later, the young woman’s boyfriend – and prime suspect in her case – is also dead and Graham fears he will be arrested for murder and there is only one person he can trust. Enter Sam and her fabulous team including best friend/office manager Michelle, investigator/hacker Alex and dad/former client/police detective Dale. Together, they find themselves in the middle of a much larger case that hits very close to home – family drama, revenge, secrets and danger.

Sam is a compelling and complicated character. She believes in doing the right thing. She has a clear sense of what is right and wrong – even if her definition isn’t quite the same as others. She believes in doing everything she can to help the people that she loves.  She believes in the law. However, she knows the system has flaws and that you can’t always follow the rules. She also knows that sometimes you can do the wrong thing for the right reason and that often the ends justify the means. What is most intriguing about Sam is that she doesn’t stop fighting for what she believes in – even when it puts her in danger and even when she doesn’t have things all figured out. She follows her gut. Even when you don’t agree with what she does, you can understand why she does it. Clark makes you root for Samantha, her team and for justice.

As Sam tries to keep Graham away from law enforcement, she also fights to find out what really happened to Alicia and hold those accountable responsible. Snap Judgement is a great read and a reminder that things – good and bad – aren’t always what they seem.

* I received access to an advanced copy of Snap Judgement as a reviewer for NetGalley. Thank you!  

I literally just closed the final page of The Chalk Artist and felt compelled to write about it immediately. Reading this book, released last month by New York Times bestselling author Allegra Goodman, is an oddly emotional experience. The story is beautifully written – every character is fully developed – and you find yourself truly engaged in the lives of each of the main characters: Nina, an idealistic young teacher; Collin, a charming artist who prefers to use chalk as his medium; and teenage twins Aidan and Diana who are struggling to find themselves. Each is unique and engaging in their own way – fighting private battles as they determine who they are and what matters to them. The Chalk Artist is a love story but also a social commentary about class differences, about potential and possibility and about the reality of the world we live in.

All of the primary characters in the novel are in some way impacted by the world of gaming – Nina’s father runs Arkadia, a video game company where she helps to get Collin a job because she sees his potential. Nina wants nothing to do with the world that only exists online and Collin finds himself unable to balance his life outside of work. They struggle to find each other as she works to prove herself as a teacher and he works to prove himself worthy of her confidence. Aidan is obsessed with Arkadia’s new game that creates an alternate reality for him to redefine himself. His sister Diana feels like she is losing her brother and herself as his obsession grows and she is forced to figure out who she is separate from her twin. I’m not a video game fan, nor do I read much sci-fi, and despite the above description – this story isn’t focused on either. Arkadia is more like an integral part of the backdrop for which the rest of the story takes place. Each of the characters is forced to figure out who they are and how they impact each other – both actually and virtually.

The thing that resonated most with me was the question of how we define who we are and when, if ever, we should give others the power to help define us. Nina comes from money and privilege. She doesn’t have to work but becomes a teacher because she believes in the power to make a difference. However, she questions whether she is good enough to teach. Collin is broke, a college drop-out and enjoys art most when he can erase his images he makes with chalk. Why? I believe he is hesitant to make things permanent, to allow others to judge his work and to make a real commitment to anything. They see something in each other that they can not quite see in themselves and they struggle to find compromise, to respect differences and to encourage without controlling or delegitimizing.

As I read this book, I kept asking myself the following questions: how to we determine our own worth? Who measures happiness and success? How do we know when we are reaching too far or holding ourselves back? When do we hide and when do we let people see who we really are? The characters in the book each go on a journey – metaphorically speaking – in an attempt to answer these questions and the outcomes, though at times unexpected, are authentic and believable. These are characters you want to root for – event as they occasionally make monumental mistakes – because you can see yourself in their struggles and, more importantly, in their triumphs.

Thanks for visiting my blog! Confession time right from the beginning…I have an obsession with books. I read constantly – typically I’m reading at least a book or two at once and listening to a few others. I have always loved reading and writing and someday, my goal is to publish one of the many, many stories that live only in my head right now.

In the meantime, I plan to use this site to write reviews, make recommendations, chat books, make links to current events, etc. Several conversations with my friends and coworkers each week start with “Have you read the one about…?” or “Have you read the new book by….?” so I’m hoping that this page gives me a place to share. I’ve been thinking about doing a blog again for a LONG time and I’m very excited to start writing again on a consistent basis.

When I occasionally take a break from reading I teach college level writing and Women’s Studies courses, review books for AudioFile Magazine and work as an Event Host at the fabulous Bank Square Books and Savoy Bookshop & Cafe. In other words, even when I am not reading I am surrounded by authors, students, fellow readers and book lovers. Am I lucky or what?

Recommendations for books? Ideas for something to check out or a great discussion topic? Send them my way. I’d love to hear from you. Thanks!