What We Keep

What We Keep by Elizabeth Berg
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm trying to catch up on Elizabeth Berg's writings and this one, as usual, didn't let me down. Berg's exquisite sense of sister/daughter/mother relationships shine through in What We Keep.

Looking back, a woman flying to a reunion of sorts, thinks back to the summer when everything went wrong... At 12 years of age, Ginny Young and her 13 year old sister Sharla felt safe in the cusp of their parent's love. Life was boring and predictable but that's what made them feel safe and secure. When a new neighbor moves in, right next door, the girls are excited to find that Jasmine is a very attractive woman, who dresses in the latest styles. The summer starts out well but begins to fall apart as Jasmine's influence takes over...

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Once Upon a Time, There was You

Once Upon a Time, There Was You by Elizabeth Berg

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Irene and John, never should have gotten married. Now divorced, the only thing they have in common is their beloved 18 year old daughter, Sadie, who is on the verge of going away to college. Living for the most part in California, with a few weeks spent in Minnesota with her Dad, Sadie tells a lie about going rock climbing with friends to her over protective mother - but instead has plans to spend a few days with her boyfriend, Ron. When Ron doesn't arrive on time at the rendezvous spot, Sadie makes a huge mistake and catches a lift with a older, handsome man. In the meantime, Irene has been plagued with doubts about letting Sadie go on her trip, but is told over and over that she has been smothering her daughter. Days later, after filing a missing person report, even the local police station racks it up as just a teenage prank. When Sadie still doesn't come home, Irene finally sounds the alarm and reaches out to John for help.



Elizabeth Berg has a way of reaching into our lives and putting into words how we think and feel. Although this is not my favorite read of hers, I still enjoyed the characters and trying to figure out why John and Irene were married in the first place, with such a cold and tragic background between their childhood lives. I also enjoyed the thoughts of Irene and Sadie as they were both trying to loosen the smothering bond between them.











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All She Ever Wanted

All She Ever Wanted by Lynn Austin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Another book on how secrets and poor choices can affect many generations. Even though the book begins in the present day with secretive Kathleen distraught over her teenage daughter, Joelle, caught shoplifting - it all began in Ireland, with lovely, young Fiona moving to America with her father in a quest for all that they couldn't have back in the green Isles. Fiona's choices affect her son and daughter, Elenore, in turn during the war years, whose bad choices and secrets affect Kathleen - who only wants to forget her shameful childhood years. It's also a book about laying down one's fear, shame, and offering forgiveness.

It was very easy for me to get caught up into the life of each of the female characters and the times they lived in. The ending is a little far-fetched where almost everything seems to be resolved, but all in all, it was very good read.



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The Beach House

The Beach House by Mary Alice Monroe

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This would be a wonderful summer read - however I read it in the dead of winter! Maybe I needed to feel a hot summer breeze and pretend I was at the ocean after all the cold and snow we have had here in Western MD. Did you know that a loggerhead is called Caretta caretta in Latin? I've always been interested in those big old sea turtles and how they travel what seems like millions of miles to lay their eggs. This wonderful book of fiction about a lovely older woman nicknamed Lovie, who loves loggerheads and who is hiding the fact that she is dying from cancer from her two adult children, is mixed with factual tidbits about the Caretta caretta. Lovie wants her last summer in South Carolina to be one to remember.



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