The Why of Things

The Why of Things: A Novel by Elizabeth Hartley Winthrop
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Winthrop pens a well written fictional story of a daughter's suicide and her family's loss, grief, and return to hope centered around their summer home and a nearby deep, dark quarry. Like the quarry, a gaping hole has been left in the Jacobs' family and each member has their own way of dealing with the heart-wrenching aftermath and the sometimes non-answer of why bad things happen.

View all my reviews

Unwritten

Unwritten by Charles Martin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Two hurting people with secrets and painful memories - one that has already fallen off the map and another that's ready to make the leap...and a priest in the center willing to help both. The Ten Thousand Islands, off the west coast of Florida, is just the place to hide...

Could NOT put this book down....be sure to check out the afterword and Reading Club Guide.

View all my reviews

Glimpse

Glimpse by Carol Lynch Williams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lizzie and Hope, sisters and only a year apart in age, look out for each other - with no Dad and a Momma who works more hours than ever - it's a necessity. Nice Miss Freeman, from next door, checks on them now and then - but more often than not, it's just the two of them. Then comes the morning when Hope walks into the bathroom and finds Lizzie fingering the trigger of a shotgun. She's fourteen and thinking about leaving by killing herself. As Lizzie is hauled away by the cops to an institution, Hope immediately absorbs all the guilt, not their momma, for not seeing the warning signs. When the hospital psychiatrist starts chipping away at the months before Lizzie's attempted suicide, Hope slowly starts putting together the pieces of what drove Lizzie to even consider such a thing.

Gutsy, rough, disturbing, heart-breaking and written in verse - my daughter and I consumed this work of fiction too quickly!

View all my reviews

Folly Beach

Folly Beach by Dorothea Benton Frank

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I admit that I'm a big fan of Dorothea Benton Frank and her lowcountry novels. I love the way her characters talk off the cuff and are a bit zany and this book, even though it begins with a tragic suicide, didn't take long to get me giggling because of the main character's thoughts and antics. This novel is a bit different than her others - interwoven throughout the book is a one woman play featuring DuBose and Dorothy Heyward of Porgy & Bess fame.

Cate Cooper, in the days following her husband, Addison's suicide, is more relieved than saddened. Throw in anger because he left her almost penniless - within hours of the funeral, repo men appear to claim most of her furniture and home. To worsen matters, Cate finds that Addison had been having more than one affair. The only answer is to pack what little she has left and head south to her beloved Aunt Daisy and Folly Beach. When Cate settles into the small, comfy Porgy House her aunt owns, will the spirits of DuBose and Dorothy also console her?





View all my reviews

The Book of Tomorrow

The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Tamara Goodwin, 16, lived in a 7,000-square-foot, six-bedroom mansion, complete with a swimming pool, tennis court, a private beach in Killiney, Ireland. That is, she did live there until her father committed suicide and Tamara and her mom discovered they were bankrupt. Needing a home, they moved to the middle of nowhere with Tamara's aunt, Rosaleen and uncle, Arthur - the Deliverance Duo - as Tamara calls them. Her mom, once settled in, seems to go into a dark depression and barely stirs from her bed, while her aunt is acting rather strange and seems to be hiding something. The house they live in is the gatehouse that once protected the side entrance to Kilsaney Castle, built sometime between 1100 and 1200. Tamara is drawn to the rundown castle and the secrets it hides.

When a traveling library stops at the gatehouse one day, by mistake, she unconcernedly hops aboard and finds a leather-bound book and takes it back to the gatehouse. After prying open the lock, Tamara, sees her own handwriting - but dated for the next day. Can she change the series of events, happening around the castle, before they unfold?



View all my reviews