Title: Kindred Spirits
Author: Sarah Strohmeyer
ISBN: 9780525952220
Pages: 304
Release Date: June 30, 2011
Publisher: Dutton Adult
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Summary:

Carol, Mary Kay, Beth, and Lynne are the closest of friends. They have been there for each other through the worst of times. Though they have drifted apart over the years, their friendships are still important. But when tragedy strikes and Lynne passes unexpectedly, the three remaining friends must band together in order to fulfill Lynne’s last wishes. In the process, they discover things about themselves they never expected.

Review:

I’ve enjoyed Sarah Strohmeyer’s previous books (Sweet Love and The Penny Pinchers Club), so I was thrilled to pick up her newest novel, Kindred Spirits. Inside, I found a lovely escape from the daily grind into a place of laughter, love, and tears.

Carol, Mary Kay, and Beth were all well developed, but Carol spoke to me the most. Suffocated by her life as a stay-at-home mom, she realized that she was in charge of taking care of everyone else’s needs, but no one paid attention to hers. She moved to New York City, leaving her husband, in order to work at a law firm and find herself. Though she has reclaimed her independence, Carol’s grown daughter, Amanda, is barely speaking to her. Carol is dreading returning home and seeing her ex-husband again. Carol’s emotional turmoil at Lynne’s death makes her realize some difficult truths about herself.

This is also a great novel to pick up when you need to remember how important female friendships are. These women go to extreme lengths to fulfill Lynne’s last wishes because they loved their friend and want to honor her memory. It’s sweet, and wonderful to see their great rapport, as well as brutal honesty when necessary.

Kindred Spirits is a wonderful testament to friendships, as well as to the curative powers of a martini. I loved the adventure that these women went on for Lynne, as well as the dual messages of love and forgiveness. It was a heartwarming read, and I can’t wait to read Strohmeyer’s next novel.

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Title: Sister
Author: Rosamund Lupton
ISBN: 9780307716514
Pages: 336
Release Date: June 7, 2011
Publisher: Crown
Genre: Mystery
Source: Amazon Vine
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Summary:

After her sister disappears in London, Beatrice travels from New York City to try and find out what happened to her. After being brushed off by the local police, Beatrice begins to conduct her own investigation into what happened to Tess.

Review:

Sister by Rosamund Lupton is a complicated and intriguing psychological thriller, told as a letter from Beatrice to her dead sister Tess.  At the beginning of the book, the reader knows that Tess is dead, and that Beatrice was the one to discover her killer.  It is also evident that the police bungled up the case, and as a result, they can’t be trusted.  This method of storytelling works surprisingly well; even though the reader has certain information at the beginning of the novel, that doesn’t mean events will play out as you expect.  Indeed, knowing these simple facts actually heightens the suspense because the reader is at a loss to decipher how events will unfold to lead to Beatrice’s present situation.

Structuring the novel as Beatrice talking to Tess also serves to increase the emotional impact of the book for the reader. Beatrice is candid about how lost she is without Tess; how guilty she feels that she wasn’t there for Tess - the list goes on and on.  It really serves to underscore the close bonds of sisters and shows how much Beatrice adored her sister.  I really appreciated this because it made me invested in the book.  No matter how ridiculous the lead was that Beatrice was following, I supported her because I understood how much she needed to find the truth about Tess’s murder.

Lupton also takes on some serious issues in Sister, but disguises her social commentary through the suspenseful narrative of the story.  Physical abuse, men taking advantage of vulnerability (whether it’s emotional or financial), single mothers - Lupton has a lot to say about how women are treated in society.  Her points are well presented and don’t overwhelm the story; in fact, they add to it, seamlessly weaved into the plot.  It’s not until after the novel is over and the reader is reflecting that they realize how clever Lupton was.

Sister takes the reader on twists and turns; this is a novel readers will tear through in breathless anticipation, so it’s a good idea to plan on reading it in one sitting.  Beatrice is a wonderful, if slightly mysterious, character and a loving sister, and it shows on every page of the novel.  It’s difficult to believe that this is Lupton’s first novel, as it is expertly crafted and tightly woven; I’ll definitely be picking up her second novel as soon as it’s released.

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Title: Best Kept Secret
Author: Amy Hatvany
ISBN: 9781439193310
Pages: 352
Release Date: June 7, 2011
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5 out of 5

Summary:

Ever since her divorce, Cadence has been scrambling to keep up with life. The money from her divorce settlement has almost run out, and the freelance writer’s market is difficult. Cadence is afraid she won’t be able to support her beloved young son, Charlie. She begins drinking as a way to take the edge off the day - a glass of wine after Charlie goes to bed. But it soon escalates to a point where the alcohol, and not Cadence, is in control, and she is in danger of losing her son.

Review:

I knew Best Kept Secret would be an emotional read, but what I didn’t expect was how it captured me from the very first page. From the very beginning, Cadence is a woman that is easy to sympathize with. Of course, she is not perfect and she’s made many mistakes along the way, but she has the reader’s heart from the first page. This is crucial, because as Cadence flashes back to her descent into alcoholism, she makes some horrible choices because of her addiction.

In hands less talented than Amy Hatvany’s, Cadence might have become an object of disgust for the reader. But instead, Hatvany’s nuanced and incredibly honest portrayal of an alcoholic will really speak to readers, mothers and non-mothers alike. Cadence is a single mom just struggling to get by - who can blame her for wanting a couple of glasses of wine at night after Charlie has gone to sleep? But the way her drinking escalates is incredibly realistic and frightening at the same time.

Hatvany also discusses the challenges facing alcoholics in an accessible way. The judgment, the idea that it is about a lack of self-control, the hesitation to call alcoholism a disease - Cadence experiences it all on her road to recovery.  The most difficult part in my eyes was the isolation Cadence felt. The people she used to know didn’t understand her anymore. She couldn’t run out to grab a martini with her girlfriends because she was an alcoholic, something they couldn’t understand and instead judged Cadence for. It was heartbreaking and beautifully portrayed.

Though my review of this novel may make it sounds difficult to read, it’s not, and I honestly found that astonishing. I was prepared for a hard read I would have to slog through, but instead, I found an accessible and gripping novel. Hatvany’s prose draws the reader in from the very first sentence; the book reads very quickly, and readers won’t want to put it down. It’s also surprisingly uplifting and heartwarming; Cadence has to work hard to come to a place of acceptance, but her journey is rewarding.

I’ve discussed the realism of this novel, and how honest it felt, so I wasn’t surprised to learn that the author is a recovering alcoholic. This is such an emotionally raw novel that will hold you from beginning to end. The story is fictional, but Hatvany understands what it is to be an alcoholic. I imagine this was a difficult book to write and share with the world, and I am so impressed by the results.

I can’t say enough great things about Best Kept Secret. It’s intense and personal and honest and emotional, yet it is beautiful and real and uplifting. I loved the contradictions in this book, how it made me want to laugh with joy and cry at the same time. I was so emotionally involved in Cadence’s journey, and I was so sorry to leave her at the end of the novel. Amy Hatvany is an author to watch for me; I can’t wait to see what she does next.

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Shelving Books: Swapna’s Picks is a series profiling books that have been released in the past two weeks, posting every other Monday (though I do realize this post is a week late - I apologize!)These are books that I am excited about, but will not get the opportunity to review for a few months.

Mysteries, Schmysteries!

I have been hearing amazing things about The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes by Marcus Sakey (Dutton, June 9, 2011), and though I haven’t read anything by him previously, I really want to read this book. The Twisted Thread by Charlotte Bacon (Voice, June 14, 2011) sounds like a twisty gothic novel, set at a girl’s boarding school. For some reason, some of my favorite gothic mysteries have been set at boarding schools and old mansions, so I’m really looking forward to this one. Mystery writing master (or is it mistress?) Ruth Rendell has a new book out. Though I haven’t actually read any of her books, I’m hoping to start with Tigerlily’s Orchids by Ruth Rendell (Scribner, June 14, 2011). Though it looks to be more of a psychological thriller than a straightforward mystery, I think it sounds fascinating.

Readers Reading about Readers Reading

I don’t know why those who love reading enjoy reading about reading, but for some reason there’s a definite lure there. Tolstoy and the Purple Chair by Nina Sankovitch (June 7, 2011) sounds like a very interesting memoir. The premise - to read and review one book per day of the year - isn’t super tempting for me, since I read and review more than that over the course of the year. It’s the reason behind the decision that I find interesting - Sankovitch turning to reading as a way to cope with her sister’s death.

Sisters and Pugs - Ah, the Joys of Life!

I’m a sucker for novels about sisters, so Her Sister’s Shadow by Katherine Britton (Berkley, June 7, 2011) immediately drew me in. It’s about a pair of estranged sisters, and (I’m hoping) their healing and reconciliation. However, I am not a sucker for books about dogs, but for some reason Alison Pace’s books appeal to me. I’m looking forward to A Pug’s Tale by Alison Pace (Berkley, June 7, 2011). It’s described as a tribute to New York City, art, dogs, with a light mystery just for fun. I think it sounds like the perfect summer read!

Pensive Literary Fiction

Though I do enjoy action-packed mysteries, sometimes I am in the mood for a quiet, pensive read, and it sounds like The Upright Piano Player by David Abbott (Nan A. Talese, June 7, 2011) will really fill that criteria. Henry Cage has had a life of success on the surface, but inside he is in turmoil - he is estranged from his son, his ex-wife is very ill, and he is being harassed and stalked. This seems like it will be an emotional work of literary fiction focusing on trying to correct the mistakes of the past.

Title: Breaking Silence
Author: Linda Castillo
ISBN: 9780312374990
Pages: 320
Release Date: June 21, 2011
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Genre: Mystery
Source: Personal Copy
Rating: 3 out of 5

Summary:

In the third book of the Kate Burkholder series (after Sworn to Silence and Pray for Silence), Kate is once again faced with crimes against the Amish.  This time, though, they are hate crimes - buggies run off the road, set on fire, etc., and Kate is at a loss as to what to do.  When she gets an emergency call about the Slabaugh farm and finds Mr. and Mrs. Slabaugh, as well as Mr. Slabaugh’s brother, dead in the manure pit, she isn’t sure whether the deaths were accidental, a result of a hate crime gone wrong, or pure, unadulterated murder.

Review:

I really enjoyed the first two books in the Kate Burkholder series, but I was unsure about Breaking Silence.  Specifically, I wasn’t certain how much longer the tortured-by-her-past, former-Amish chief of police premise could stand up, and it turns out I was right to be worried. Breaking Silence didn’t work nearly as well for me as the previous two novels.

The premise of hate crimes against the Amish was interesting and worked well for the book as a whole. However, the murders were a little more difficult.  Amish communities are small and peaceful; for the most part, the Amish keep to themselves.  Therefore, a third set of horrific murders in this small, sleepy community is pushing credulity.  Additionally, the book unfolded slowly; while it never lost my interest, I definitely wasn’t as interested in this novel as I was in its prequels.

Kate also has become difficult for me.  While her (understandably) tortured soul was appealing in the first novel, the fact that she has progressed little in terms of character development is frustrating.  In many ways, she is the exact same person as she was in the first book.  When the main character in a mystery series is so personally involved in each case, there needs to be progression, and in this case, there just isn’t really any.

While I do enjoy Linda Castillo and would be ecstatic about a new series from her, Breaking Silence just didn’t work fror me.  That being said, if I’d read it as a standalone novel, without having read the first two, I probably would have really enjoyed it. As part of the series, though, it just felt like a rehashing of the first two books, and it didn’t really seem to lead anywhere.  Here’s hoping that Castillo gives Kate a deserved rest and starts a new series with her next book!

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Title: Queen Hereafter
Author: Susan Fraser King
ISBN: 9780307452795
Pages: 352
Release Date: December 7, 2010
Publisher: Crown
Genre: Historical Fiction
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:

It is the eleventh century in Britain and William the Conqueror, a Norman, is wreaking havoc in Saxon England. In Scotland, Margaret and her family are shipwrecked and are at King Malcolm’s mercy.  Because Margaret is Saxon royalty, she knows that she will likely be used as a pawn in marriage to Malcolm, and focuses on how she can change the dismal prospects of her people and the poor.

Review:

Queen Hereafter is the story of Margaret of Scotland, a queen famous for her good works and generous heart.  At the beginning of the novel, Fraser portrays her as a young woman who wanted nothing more than to serve God.  If Margaret had her way, she would have entered a convent, rather than marrying Malcolm, a man who was more warlord than king.  But slowly, Margaret begins to understand her power as queen. She changes her husband and her court, ensuring that her priorities of helping the poor and downtrodden are fulfilled.

It’s really interesting to watch Margaret’s transformation from inward-looking, unsure young woman to a queen in every sense of the word.  She becomes so regal by the end of the book that it’s difficult to remember who she was at the beginning.  At the same time, though, the reader can’t point to one specific instance that changed Margaret; instead, King deftly weaves Margaret’s character transformation and growth into the story, such that it seems completely natural.  It was incredibly well done, and rewarding for readers who like to see character growth in their books.

The novel is told from two different points of view: Margaret’s and Eva’s.  Eva is the granddaughter of Lady Gruadh, or the famed Lady Macbeth, and is a thorn in Malcolm’s side.  She is also a gifted bard. Malcolm orders Eva to his court as a hostage to ensure the good behavior of Lady Gruadh.  Margaret and Eva quickly strike up a friendship, and Eva is surprised by how much she likes the new queen.  The tension between Eva’s loyalty to her grandmother and love of the queen makes up much of the emotional conflict of the novel.

Susan Fraser King also portrays the events of the time very well.  She brings Scotland to life, sketching out the rich history for the reader.  It provided a wonderful and exciting backdrop for Margaret’s story.

The one issue I had with Queen Hereafter is that I never felt like I really got to know Margaret.  While she was well developed and her story was interesting, I didn’t feel an emotional connection to her.  That’s not always necessary in a book, and indeed, I still enjoyed Queen Hereafter despite that.  I thought this was an excellently written story, and though it’s set during a tumultuous time in history, I appreciated that the book was about the quieter side of life during this time.

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Title: So Much Pretty
Author: Cara Hoffman
ISBN: 9781451616750
Pages: 304
Release Date: March 15, 2011
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Genre: Literary Fiction
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:

When Wendy White decides to stay in her hometown after her high school graduation, she is bucking the trend. But she enjoys her job as a waitress and even has a new boyfriend.  But when Wendy goes missing, the small town of Haeden, NY is shocked.

Alice Piper knew Wendy because they had been on the swim team together, even though Wendy was a few years older.  Alice was raised by former doctors who idealistically decided that they wanted to live sustainably on land, though they are unable to sustain themselves in practice without the help of Alice’s uncle. This book is about life in a small town, and the lasting repercussions of choices made in an instant.

Review:

So Much Pretty is a very vague, fragmentary novel, told over the course of Alice’s life.  It’s completely out of order, chronologically; chapters will jump years, even decades, and it’s up to the reader to piece the narrative together.  Additionally, there are many different narrators; though Hoffman helpfully and clearly denotes the year and point of view at the beginning of each chapter, the novel makes for a confusing read.

Though the description above may make the novel seem like a mystery, it isn’t.  That is one element to the overall book, true, but So Much Pretty is much more than that. For one thing, it’s a searing depiction of life in a small, rural town.  The Pipers are idealistic and naïve, and once they settle in Haeden, they realize it’s not what they thought.  The town’s economy is driven by one single dairy farm, rather than individual families trying to make their own way.  They also are never accepted by their fellow townspeople and are met with suspicion.

The novel also focuses on Stacy Flynn, a reporter who is in Haeden trying to make her big break.  She moved to the small town to do a story on the dairy farm, and has stayed in order to find something that will catapult her into the elite level of reporters.  After Wendy’s disappearance, she begins digging into the case, in disbelief that the people in Haeden actually claim that someone from out of town, and not one of their own, was responsible for Wendy’s abduction.

So Much Pretty is an slow novel.  It moves forward at its own pace, and is vague in many places. Some of the storylines seem underdeveloped, and other aspects (such as the relationship between Alice and her cousin Theo) are hinted at, but never fleshed out.  But this haziness gives the story its beauty and grace. While some of the details may be fuzzy, the overall storyline is always clear, and readers are not left hanging by the ending.

This is not a book for everyone. If you’re a fan of beautifully written and disturbing, yet languorous literary fiction, then I definitely think you should pick this book up.  If you’re attracted to it because of the mystery storyline, I’m not sure this is the right novel, though - the pace is slow enough to where you may become frustrated with it, especially with the choppy storytelling. So Much Pretty wasn’t what I expected, but I enjoyed it all the same and am looking forward to Hoffman’s next novel.

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Title: Murder on the Bride’s Side
Author: Tracy Kiely
ISBN: 9780312537579
Pages: 304
Release Date: August 31, 2010
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Genre: Mystery
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:

Elizabeth Parker is attending her best friend’s wedding in Richmond, Virginia and feels right at home.  After all, she grew up with their family and considers them her own.  But when the bride’s universally despised aunt is murdered and Elizabeth has the misfortune to discover the body, she begins to wonder if the family she thought she knew so well is hiding some dark secrets.

Review:

I was thrilled with the novel Murder at Longbourn by Tracy Kiely. It was an adorable cozy mystery, and completely unexpected, as I just randomly happened to pick it up. What I didn’t realize is that Kiely wrote a sequel to that wonderful book, and a third in the series is releasing later this year.  Determined to correct my mistake, I immediately picked up the second book in the series, Murder on the Bride’s Side.

Once again, I was plunged into a world where Austen witticisms abounded. The main character, Elizabeth, is obsessed with Jane Austen, and each book so far has been very loosely based on an Austen novel, this one being Sense and Sensibility.  I don’t want that to turn readers off, though. I personally am very tired of the Austen mash-ups, modernizations, and the like, and if Kiely had overdone it in her novels, I wouldn’t have enjoyed them nearly as much.  She pays homage to Austen’s novels without being too obvious.

The murder in Murder on the Bride’s Side is deliciously fun because the woman who is killed is the person everyone loves to hate.  She’s so despicable, so revolting, that I let out a small cheer when she was found murdered.  It complicates the plot, though, because pretty much every single member of the family had a reason to kill her. I enjoyed the twists and turns, especially Elizabeth’s uncertainty on whether she could really trust those around her, people she’d known her whole life. The ending was a surprise, and I appreciated the way the book turned out.

If you’re looking for a fun cozy mystery series, this one is a great one to pick up. The quirky characters really make the novel, and Kiely does a wonderful job developing each of them and making sure they are distinct. I really enjoyed this novel and can’t wait for the next in the series.

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Title: Silver Girl
Author: Elin Hilderbrand
ISBN: 9780316099660
Pages: 416
Release Date: June 21, 2011
Publisher: Reagan Arthur Books
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction, Beach Read
Source: Publicist
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Summary:

Meredith Delinn has lost everything because of her husband Freddy.  Freddy, convicted of running a Ponzi scheme, has been sentenced to 125 years in prison. Meredith herself is under investigation, as no one believes that she was unaware of Freddy’s activities. To make matters worse, Meredith is not allowed to contact her sons because it might look like conspiring. With no place to stay, no family, and no friends, Meredith is desperate. She contacts the one person who knows her best, the one person who can’t say no despite all they have been through - her friend, Connie. Together, Connie and Meredith travel to Nantucket, where they both face their hopes and fears together.

Review:

Silver Girl is a timely and important novel cloaked in the unassuming guise of a beach read.  At the beginning of this book, the main character Meredith is numb with shock and horror.  She is in disbelief that her husband would steal from his clients, but also feels horribly guilty that the money that she has been using to live her fabulous life wasn’t honestly earned. The fact that America seems to believe Meredith was colluding with Freddie makes things even worse.  From the beginning, Meredith is a complex and layered character.  She is so dejected when the book begins that it’s difficult to imagine what things were once like. But as she spends time on Nantucket, coming to terms with what’s happened, accepting responsibility where she needs to and realizing the extent of Freddie’s deception, readers begin to see sparks of the old Meredith come forth.

Connie is also an engaging character. Recovering from the death of her husband, Wolf, this is Connie’s time to heal as well.  Both Connie and Meredith are in strikingly similar positions.  Wolf and Freddie were very different, it’s true, but both women have difficult things they need to accept about their husbands.  Both Connie and Meredith are estranged from their children, and the separation is not of either of their making, and both need to learn to live life on their own terms.  It’s wonderful to see how each of these women help each other, and how they work through their problems with one another.

The importance of love (in all its forms) is a crucial theme that runs through Silver Girl, highlighted by the fact of how alone Meredith is at the beginning of the book.  The fact that Connie - someone Meredith had previously wronged - is willing to take a chance on Meredith means everything.  For every person who reviles her, there is another who offers an unexpected kindness.  These simple actions force Meredith to begin reevaluating her life, to understand that Freddy’s and her relationship was not as rosy as she thought it was.  She begins to understand she fell in love with Freddy in order to escape, and as a result he kept her from some of the things she held most dear.

Hilderbrand makes Meredith’s pain real, at the same time she successfully highlights the feelings of those Freddie stole from.  Meredith never stops internalizing that hurt, that betrayal, and the emotions feel real.  Readers will become completely invested in this novel as they hope for a happy conclusion for all, as dim as that prospect might be at times.  As a result, Silver Girl makes the perfect beach read - it has a lot of heart, mixed with a gripping story and impressively real and deep characters. Hilderbrand has written a real winner with this book, and readers will enjoy immersing themselves in the beautiful island of Nantucket.

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Title: The Dark Enquiry
Author: Deanna Raybourn
ISBN: 9780778312376
Pages: 400
Release Date: June 21, 2011
Publisher: Mira
Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Warning: This summary and review may contain SPOILERS for previous books in the Lady Julia Grey series: Silent in the Grave, Silent in the Sanctuary, Silent on the Moor, and Dark Road to Darjeeling.

Summary:

Lady Julia Grey and her husband, Nicholas Brisbane, are back in the fifth installment of the Lady Julia Grey series.  The happy couple have returned to London and have settled in quite nicely, though Julia is perturbed because Nicholas has not involved her in any of his cases.  When she discovers that Brisbane is helping her oldest brother with something important, something he wants to keep a secret from Julia and the rest of the family, Julia becomes determined to get involved, with or without Brisbane’s knowledge.

Review:

I went into The Dark Enquiry like I go into all Julia Grey novels - with a little bit of trepidation.  After all, I love these books so much and am such a fan of Deanna Raybourn’s that I’m always a little bit afraid that I’m going to be disappointed, that my expectations are just too high and can no longer be met.  I should have known better, though. The Dark Enquiry was completely satisfying, as I devoured the entire delicious novel in one sitting.

Raybourn somehow manages to keep the tension between Julia and Brisbane as wonderful as ever, even though they are now married. Their relationship has really matured over the course of the books; it’s much more tender and loving, yet Brisbane is still a bit of a mystery to Julia.  He’s not one to share all of himself, and she’s not one to be satisfied with aything less than everything.  It makes for a wonderful dynamic, and keeps the reader interested in the relationship, as there is always something new to discover.

Julia begins to help Brisbane more with his investigations in The Dark Enquiry, which is a welcome change.  Though it’s always fun to see the lengths that Julia will go to in order to sneak past Brisbane, it would be easy for this argument to become old.  That’s one thing Raybourn does very well, she knows how to keep her books fresh and interesting while maintaining the aspects of the books that readers love.  The mystery is well done and interesting, and I’ll admit I never saw the end result coming.

The Dark Enquiry is a fun and fresh addition to the Lady Julia Grey series.  If you haven’t picked up these books yet, I highly recommend them and do think it’s necessary to read them in order to fully understand the characters.  They are a delicious mix of quirky and interesting characters, intriguing mysteries, and a well-written and fascinating time period. I already can’t wait for the next one in the series!

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Title: Miss Timmins’ School for Girls
Author: Nayana Currimbhoy
ISBN: 9780061997747
Pages: 512
Release Date: June 21, 2011
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Genre: Multicultural Fiction, Mystery
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Summary:

Charulata Apte is the newest teacher at Miss Timmins’ School for Girls in Panchgani, a remote hill station in India.  Shy, uncertain, and completely sheltered, Charu has always felt insecure because of the blot - a red birthmark that mars her face and has ruined her marriage prospects.  Charu slowly begins to settle in at Miss Timmins and becomes friends with Moira Prince, a fellow teacher who introduces Charu to the many pleasures of life.  As Charu spends more time with Moira, she begins to open up and accept herself as she is.  But when Moira is found dead at the bottom of a cliff, Charu is forced to reevaluate her perceptions as she becomes determined to find out what happened to her friend.

Review:

Miss Timmins’ School for Girls is a book that wears many different hats.  It’s a murder mystery and a portrait of India in the 1970’s, which was dealing with the same hippie, pot-smoking craze that the United States was.  It’s a look inside a girl’s boarding school and a commentary on the caste/class/religious difference that plague India to this day.  But most of all, it’s the coming of age story of Charulata Apte.

Charu captured my heart from the very first page of this novel.  Just twenty years old, Charu is leaving home for the first time, and isn’t sure of herself or anything around her.  All she does know is that she is ugly.  Her perception of herself is centered around the blot and she can’t see past it, so she assumes that no one around her can either.  When Moira, the glamorous rebel, seeks her out, Charu is overwhelmed by her attentions.  Moira leads Charu into a life she never thought possible, one with love and happiness, where people see her for what she is, rather than the marks on her body. 

But Charu is never completely certain of herself, even with Moira’s support.  Her self-doubt threatens to overwhelm her, and it’s only after Moira’s death that Charu begins to see the strength within her.  I absolutely loved this coming-of-age, the tension between Charu’s traditional, Brahmin upbringing and her desire to find love, from whomever is offering it.  After Moira’s death, Charu begins to see herself in an entirely new light.  Through her investigations, she finds a sense of certainty that she wasn’t sure she had.

It was Charu’s openness that I loved, her willingness to accept love in whatever form it took.  Even now, the subject of homosexuality in India is a difficult one.  I appreciated how much Charu learned about herself through her relationship with Moira.  It gave her a place in the world, and a sense of belonging; it wasn’t about being with a woman or with a man, just about love.

The murder mystery in Miss Timmins’ School for Girls is very interesting, but this isn’t the type of novel to keep the reader on tenterhooks as they await the climax of the book.  Instead, the plot unfolds slowly and sensuously as Charu comes into her own.  This is a character-driven novel, rather than one driven forward by plot, and if you come into it expecting an on-the-edge-of-your-seat murder mystery, you may be disappointed.  Instead, if you hope for a character driven book with a mystery twist (as I did), you’ll really enjoy and appreciate it.

I can’t say enough great things about Miss Timmins’ School for Girls.  Currimbhoy is a talented author, and has accomplished a great feat with her first novel.  The characters are memorable, and she really brings India to life with her prose.  I really enjoyed this book; I read it slowly, savoring it, rather than rushing through it, and that was the perfect way to experience it.  It was a beautiful novel, and I know that Miss Charulata Apte will stay with me for a very long time, as she is a woman close to my heart.

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Title: Unfamiliar Fishes
Author: Sarah Vowell
ISBN: 9781594487873
Pages: 256
Release Date: March 22, 2011
Publisher: Riverhead (Print) / Simon & Schuster Audio (Audio)
Genre: Non-Fiction, History, Audiobook
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:

In her latest work of non-fiction, Sarah Vowell recounts the tumultuous history of Hawaii.  She discusses the missionaries who left the United States for Hawaii in 1820 and their eventual coup against the queen, which led directly to the American annexation of Hawaii in 1898.

Review:

I really have enjoyed the Sarah Vowell books I’ve read (reviews of Assassination Vacation and The Wordy Shipmates), so I was looking forward to reading her new book.  Though I’ve visited Hawaii multiple times, I don’t know much about its history, so I was eager to learn something while also being entertained by Vowell’s trademark wit.

When it comes to Hawaii, Vowell does have some biases, but she’s very up front about them.  It’s difficult not to have an opinion after hearing how the missionaries inadvertently destroyed the native culture of Hawaii, all while thinking they were doing good.  At the same time, Vowell presents the other side - the missionaries helped the native Hawaiians turn their backs on unhealthy practices such as royal incest.  While she acknowledges that they did do some good, overall it’s clear that the missionaries’ lasting impact wasn’t a positive one.

While Unfamiliar Fishes is well-researched, it isn’t quite as engaging as some of Vowell’s other works.  It’s never dry or boring, but Vowell clearly doesn’t have the same passion for Hawaiian history as she does for presidential assassinations.  Her enthusiasm doesn’t come through as much in this book, unfortunately, and as a result, it went slower for me than I would have liked.

I listened to Unfamiliar Fishes on audio, which I’ve learned is the best choice for Sarah Vowell’s books.  She narrates her own audios, and while her voice takes some adjustment, it’s perfect for her dry wit.  The audio version is unabridged and runs seven and a half hours.

Unfamiliar Fishes is a brief but interesting history of a part of the United States that many of us aren’t familiar with, beyond its sandy beaches and Pearl Harbor.  This isn’t a rigorous, in-depth history, but it provides a great overview and introduction to those who aren’t overly familiar with Hawaiian history.  I learned a lot, and the fact that I enjoyed the experience only serves to underscore my love for Sarah Vowell and her books.

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Title: Alexander the Great
Author: Philip Freeman
ISBN: 9781416592808
Pages: 416
Release Date: January 4, 2011
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Genre: Non-Fiction, History, Biography
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:

In this biography of Alexander the Great, Philip Freeman takes the legendary leader and shows readers the man underneath.  He illuminates Alexander’s prowess on the battlefield, helping readers see the genius behind the leader’s tactics. 

Review:

In Alexander the Great, Philip Freeman delivers a comprehensive biography of the man who conquered the known world.  Starting with Alexander’s father, King Philip of Macedonia, Freeman shows how Philip’s diplomatic and battlefield skills helped shape the young Alexander.  In particular, the development of the sarissa battlefield technique (in which troops hold very long spears and march together in tight formation) contributed significantly to Alexander’s conquest of Persia.  Freeman gives Philip his due credit moving onto Alexander himself.

Freeman portrays Alexander as a tactical genius with an unquenchable thirst for conquest.  Convinced he is descended from a god rather than his own father, Alexander seeks to outdo what Philip did.  Once he accomplishes that, though, it’s not enough for him.  And so begins Alexander’s march across Asia. 

Alexander wasn’t perfect, and Freeman doesn’t try to make him so.  For the most part, Alexander treated the people whose land he conquered well, but sometimes he had lapses in judgment.  Allowing his soldiers to rape and pillage Persepolis and then setting fire to Great King Darius’ palace are the most memorable instances of this.  Freeman tries to provide context for Alexander’s behavior whenever possible, but he doesn’t apologize for him.  As a result, the reader receives a balanced and unbiased account of Alexander the Great.

The biggest lapse in judgment Alexander made, though, was his continuing conquest, his inability to slake his thirst for more land.  He thought his army would march to the ends of the earth with him.  Considering how brilliant of a tactician he was, this inability to factor in the human element was a glaring oversight on Alexander’s part.

Much of Alexander the Great consists of descriptions of the battles Alexander undertook.  Never dry, Freeman succeeds at creating a sense of excitement and adventure around each and every one of these engagements.   The reader really gets a sense of just how brilliant Alexander was and why.  While he never condescends to the reader, Freeman explains clearly and concisely exactly how Alexander won each battle and why it was important.

Though Alexander the Great would have benefitted from a stronger overall narrative structure, it was an interesting and well-written biography.  I enjoyed learning about the legendary Alexander the Great; Freeman succeeded at putting a human face on this larger-than-life man.  I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in biographies or in the ancient world.

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Title: To Darkness and to Death
Author: Julia Spencer-Fleming
Source: Personal Copy
Rating: 3 out of 5

To Darkness and to Death is the fourth installment of the Rev. Clare Fergusson mystery series (reviews of In the Bleak Midwinter, A Fountain Filled With Blood, and Out of the Deep I Cry).  While I loved the first three installments in this series, this one didn’t work quite as well for me.  The focus isn’t on Clare, and there are just too many characters, making it difficult to keep track of what is going on.  Additionally, this is more of a suspense novel than a mystery, since the reader knows what is going on the whole time because of the multiple narrators.  I didn’t love the shift away from Clare, and the story didn’t work for me either.  Despite my dissatisfaction with this book, I’ll definitely continue with this series, as Clare is a wonderful character.

Title: Ghost Interrupted
Author: Sonia Singh
Source: Personal Copy
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Anjali Kumar can speak to ghosts.  She’s always had the ability, though her family keeps it quiet.  When Anjali is approached by former stockbroker Scott Wilder to form a ghost-hunting task force, she is intrigued.  Anjali’s an appealing, honest main character that readers will enjoy getting to know.  The ghosts are appropriately chilling, but the novel has a lighthearted tone that makes the book easy to read.  The novel’s pacing is strange, though.  It moves a little too quickly, focusing on four or five cases, rather than one or two.  As a result, there isn’t much depth.  It would have worked well as the first book in a series, to have more of the mechanics established later, but since it’s a standalone, it leaves the reader wanting.

Title: Shift
Author: Jeri Smith-Ready
Source: Library
Rating: 4 out of 5

Picking up where Shade left off, Aura is still feeling pulled between Logan, her former boyfriend who is now a ghost, and Zachary, the new kid with whom she has a lot in common.  Smith-Ready continues to explore the Shift as Aura and Zachary try to discover the secret behind it and how Aura’s mother is connected to it. This book does have more teen angst than I usually prefer, as Aura struggles to put aside her relationship with Logan but finds trouble with Zachary. Still, the mystery behind what’s going on is solid, and Smith-Ready’s world building definitely will leave readers curious.  I won’t hesitate before picking up the final novel in this trilogy.

Title: Sisters of the Sari
Author: Brenda L. Baker
ISBN: 9780451233219
Pages: 352
Release Date: June 7, 2011
Publisher: NAL Trade
Genre: Multicultural Fiction
Source: Publisher
Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Summary:

When Kiria Langdon, the CEO of a popular video game company, decides to travel to India, she doesn’t want the glitz and glamour - she wants to see real India. She travels to Chennai, a city in Southern India, where she meets a woman named Santoshi. Santoshi is a former slave living at a homeless shelter in appalling conditions. Inspired to help women in need, Kiria decides to build a home for women, with Santoshi’s help.

Review:

When I first heard about Sisters of the Sari, I was intrigued.  I knew that the author, Brenda L. Baker, had lived in India and so I hoped that the main character’s experiences would ring true.  Additionally, having seen the soul-crushing poverty of urban India, I could understand Baker’s desire to write a book about a woman with no limits who decided to help in the most grandiose of ways.

Baker’s novel does highlight many of the problems and frustrations of modern-day India.  From the sheer poverty to dowry and mother/daughter-in-law issues to preference for sons, Sisters of the Sari does not shy away from the more difficult parts of modern Indian culture.  It’s interesting to see these problems through Western eyes, from someone who isn’t familiar with the culture upon arriving in India.

However, I also had some issues with Sisters of the Sari that I couldn’t get past while reading.  The book was very choppy and random - characters would jump situations from one paragraph to another. The book would sometimes be in first person, sometimes in third, with no warning. At first I thought it was just a narrator shift, with Kiria in first person, until I read some chapters where the narrator was Kiria, yet it was in third person - I found this to be confusing. 

There were also way too many plotlines, and the book would jump between each too quickly and randomly. For example, ::minor spoiler:: at one point early in the book, it’s revealed that Kiria gave a son up for adoption. This son, now grown, makes contact with Kiria. ::end spoiler:: To me, this storyline had no real relevance to the overall narrative. There were many instances of this, trying to do too much in one book, and it made the novel clunky.

I also had problems with Kiria over the course of the novel. From what I understood from the description of the book, it was supposed to be about Kiria thinking she would magnanimously change the lives of these poor Indian women, and instead, Santoshi changing Kiria’s life. However, I didn’t see that come across in the book.  I didn’t feel like Kiria changed very much, and she continuously discussed how she was trying to help Santoshi, and getting herself in messes because of it. At one point, Kiria even lists out the things she’s done to help Santoshi - it just left a bad taste in my mouth. I came into this novel thinking that there would be an east meets west balance, but instead it just seemed to focus on the darker sides of India.

In the end, Sisters of the Sari just didn’t work for me.  I really appreciated what Baker tried to do, but I ended up confused and a little put out by quotes like “Let’s face it. India is practically synonymous with poverty.” If you’re looking for an introduction to some issues of India through the eyes of a Westerner wanting to help, this might be a good book to pick up, but if you’re well versed in South Asian literature, I’d choose another novel.

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Title: Wherever Grace is Needed
Author: Elizabeth Bass
ISBN: 9780758265944
Pages: 352
Release Date: June 1, 2011
Publisher: Kensington
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Source: Author
Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:

Grace Oliver has always felt like she’s on the outside of her family; after all, when her parents were divorced, Grace’s two brothers got to stay with their father while Grace was forced to move to Austin, Texas with her mother. Now, Grace’s father has had a car accident, and she goes to care for him while he is recuperating. What she doesn’t realize is that her father’s problems are larger than they appear, and when Grace becomes involved with the family next door, she begins to find more reasons to stay in Portland than to return to her life in Austin.

Review:

The title of Wherever Grace is Needed is completely apt and works in multiple ways for this book.  On one hand, the traditional meaning applies - each of the characters in this novel needs some grace, some charm, some wisdom.  But it also works as a pun on the main character’s name - Grace goes where she is needed.  When her father needs her, she’s there.  When the children next door need her, especially since their own father is mired in grief at the loss of his wife and one of his daughters, Grace is present.  It’s that constancy, that loyalty, that resilience that really defines the character of Grace and make her an immensely appealing narrator for this enjoyable book.

And indeed, Grace is the highlight of this book.  I loved getting to know her, her compassion and caring.  It is telling that she was willing to put her life and relationship on hold in order to help our her father.  Yet Grace is not perfect; she is insecure and unsure of herself.  Because she left Portland at a young age, but never really fit in with her mother in Austin, she isn’t sure where she belongs.  She doesn’t feel like a part of the family she so desperately aches for, and in some ways, she is trying to prove her worth by taking care of her father.  It’s wonderful to watch Grace come to a place of understanding and realize that she is loved for who and what she is, not what she does for others.

Though the book revolves around Grace, there are many secondary characters in Wherever Grace is Needed.  From Grace’s father to Jordan, the rebellious teenager next door who feels responsible for the death of her mother and sister, Bass crafts each of these characters very intricately. Readers won’t have a problem telling each person apart despite the large cast in this book because Bass took time to develop the personality of every character, major and minor. It makes for a wonderfully immersive read, as the reader feels they are peeking into someone’s life instead of simply reading a novel.

I haven’t said much about the plot of the book, and that’s because, for me, the strength of Wherever Grace is Needed is in its characters, major and minor. The story is entertaining and heartfelt, and may tug on the reader’s emotions more than a little bit.  But it’s because the characters are so real that readers become emotionally invested in the story.  Between Miss You Most of All and this new novel, Elizabeth Bass has become a women’s fiction writer that I will be watching very closely going forward.

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Title: Sometimes I Feel Like a Nut: Essays & Observations
Author: Jill Kargman
ISBN: 9780062007193
Pages: 192
Release Date: February 1, 2011
Publisher: William Morrow (Print) / HarperAudio (Audio)
Genre: Non-Fiction, Essays, Memoir, Audiobook
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:

In this series of essays, novelist Jill Kargman reflects on her childhood, life in New York City, motherhood, her first jobs out of college, and more.

Review:

Jill Kargman has always been a nerd, or a “nut” as she calls herself in the title of this small book of essays.  She is immensely relatable in her quirkiness - her love of the smell of gasoline at a young age, her fear of clowns, and her hatred of exercise fanatics.  She’s not afraid of being her own person or of standing apart from the crowd, which is very refreshing.  She’s proud of her oddities, and that really comes across in her book.

Sometimes I Feel Like a Nut is very funny.  Kargman’s observations are sharp and true, and she doesn’t hold herself back.  Anyone who is offended easily should steer clear of this book, if only for the generous amount of profanity Kargman uses in her essays. She’s witty and smart, and it made this book a lot of fun to read.

However, Sometimes I Feel Like a Nut also has a lot of heart, heavily disguised by Kargman’s hilarious observations. Specifically, in an essay about her cancer treatments, Kargman describes how she was throwing a small fit about a procedure she was about to undergo.  Then, in walks an eight year old girl, ready to undergo the exact procedure that Kargman was hyperventilating about. In that moment, Kargman realized that her wishes and prayers had come true.  Instead of her young, precious children being afflicted with this horrible disease, she had gotten it.

“Of course I always knew there were sick kids, but when faced with my own mortality I spun into self-protection mode and never realized how lucky I was that it was me and not one of my three children. I thought about this cute girl’s mother, sobbing there in the claustro waiting room with tattered issues of National Geographic. I pictured it being me and how I would pray to switch places. So, see, my wish came true.”

I listened to Sometimes I Feel Like a Nut on audio, with Jill Kargman herself as the narrator.  She did a good job with her material, though it took me awhile to adjust to her voice. Because she knew her book well, she spoke a little fast at the beginning. However, once I got used to it, it was fine. The production runs 3 hours (hey, it’s a short book!) and is unabridged.

I enjoyed Sometimes I Feel Like a Nut and it made me curious to go back and read Kargman’s previous novels.  She is an appealing, funny writer, and I do hope she pens another set of essays, as these were a delight to listen to.

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Street in Siena, Italy

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Title: Such a Pretty Face
Author: Cathy Lamb
ISBN: 9780758229557
Pages: 472
Release Date: August 1, 2010
Publisher: Kensington
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Source: Curled Up With a Good Book
Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:

When Stevie Barrett had a heart attack at the tender age of 32, she immediately knew that nothing would be the same. She had always drowned her insecurities and unhappiness in food, but after a weight loss surgery and losing 170 pounds, that’s no longer an option. Stevie is haunted by the memories of her schizophrenic mother and Sunshine, the younger sister that Stevie couldn’t save. After her mother killed herself and Sunshine, Stevie was sent to live with her Aunt Janet and Uncle Herbert. Growing up, Herbert made Stevie feel unwelcome and terrorized his entire family. As a result, Stevie’s cousin Polly is still struggling with anorexia – another eating disorder that stemmed from the same place.  As Stevie tries to muddle through the (many) difficulties in her life, she begins to realize who she really is, and which people lift her up as well as which try to tear her down.

Review:

Such a Pretty Face by Cathy Lamb is a novel that deals with many different issues. Stevie is still insecure after her surgery. Though she may have been transformed on the outside, nothing has changed on the inside. As a morbidly obese woman, Stevie had perfected the art of being as quiet as possible. She never stood up for herself because she didn’t want people to notice her. When they did, all they saw was her weight. As the novel progresses, Stevie beings to find herself, and she realizes that there is more to her than her weight. She sees that she needs to stand up for herself. Stevie is an incredibly endearing and sympathetic character and it’s gratifying to watch her find her voice and use it.

The novel flashes back and forth from Stevie’s present to past. The reader sees the person she has become, as well as the story of how she became who she is. While the situation with Helen, Stevie’s mother, is completely heartbreaking, it’s not quite as compelling as Stevie’s present day journey. As a result, readers may become impatient with the constant flashbacks, eager to return to the Stevie they have come to know and love.

The secondary characters in Such a Pretty Face also play an important role. From Stevie’s cousin Lance to her neighbor Jake, these personalities are unique and interesting. The supporting cast of the book really make it worth reading, as they are the challenges Stevie has to face. From encouraging Polly to seek treatment for her anorexia to standing up to Herbert and Eileen, Stevie’s growth is fostered through the people around her. It’s very well done and emphasizes how important the people in Stevie’s life are to her.

Such a Pretty Face was a gratifying read with an amazingly written main character. Readers will wrap themselves in Stevie’s life, not wanting to let go. Her joys and sorrows become the reader’s as they become emotionally involved in her journey. Though the flashbacks can be tedious at times, overall this is an engaging and well-written novel that fans of women’s fiction should definitely pick up.

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Title: Dreams of Joy
Author: Lisa See
ISBN: 9781400067121
Pages: 368
Release Date: May 31, 2011
Publisher: Random House
Genre: Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Multicultural Fiction
Source: Publisher 
Rating: 4.25 out of 5

Summary:

Warning: This summary and review may contain spoilers for Shanghai Girls by Lisa See.

Picking up where Shanghai Girls left off, after learning about the truth about her origins, Joy has taken off to China to find her father.  Devastated, Pearl goes after her, worried about what Joy will find in Communist China and whether she will be able to return to the United States.

Review:

When I first picked up Dreams of Joy, I had no idea it was a sequel to Shanghai Girls.  I didn’t need to know what it was about to want to read it, just because Lisa See is such a talented author.  Upon opening it, though, I was very happy I’d read Shanghai Girls first because I would have missed out on a lot of emotional connections with the characters, and specifically, with Pearl.  Only by understanding the hardships she’d come through in order to find safety in America, and the horrors she’d experienced since, can the reader really understand how difficult it is for Pearl to put aside everything and return to China for her daughter.

Joy is a difficult character at the beginning of the novel.  I had a lot of trouble with her in Shanghai Girls, and she wasn’t any better in this book.  To me, she seemed spoiled, unappreciative, and completely misguided.  I wanted to reach out and hug Pearl at the same time I wanted to give Joy a good shaking.  That should tell you how realistic these characters were - I felt like I was hearing someone’s story, rather than reading it in a novel.

However, Joy really changes over the course of the book.  She begins to understand more about her past, about her family, as well as how much her mother and aunt sacrificed for her.  She makes some incredibly poor decisions, and Pearl is wise enough to realize that she can’t stop her.  Joy learns the hard way, and grows up very quickly.  I absolutely loved witnessing her transformation, at the same time I ached for how much pain she had to go through.

See presents a very interesting and complicated portrait of Communist China. She details the inefficiency, the contempt of luxury, and hostility towards the West at the same time we see hints of how, for some people, things really haven’t changed.  Everyone is under suspicion, and for the most mundane and simple of reasons.  It was certainly an interesting atmosphere, and See portrayed it well. The difficulty in the book comes as things get more desperate in China.  During the Great Leap Forward, there was a famine in the countryside and millions of people died.   And it’s here the novel becomes really haunting.  Days after I’ve finished reading it, I cannot get these descriptions out of my head.  The desperation, the horror - there were times I had to put the book down just to absorb what See was telling me.  The lengths people went to in order to eat, the sheer number of people that died - it was completely and utterly horrific, and that part of the book will be with me for a very long time.

From the characters to the setting to the amazing writing, Dreams of Joy is a well-crafted and engaging novel.  Joy can be very difficult at times, and she is clearly completely deluded and makes hard-to-believe decisions, but despite this, I found this novel to be very powerful.  Its strength is in the history and the time period, and See does an incredible job bringing it to life.  I’m glad that I got to continue Pearl’s story, and am excited to see what Lisa See does next.

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Good morning everyone! This weekend has been a relaxing one, though not as productive as I’d have hoped. I always have high hopes for things I’m going to accomplish over the weekend - blog work, finishing books, etc., but I’m always overly optimistic.  Today, though, we’re trapped in our building by a bike race that has shut down all the streets in our area. I don’t have much to do except read and blog, which is great! Maybe I can be productive by the pool…

I may not be checking in next week with Sunday Salon because I’ll be traveling for my sister’s engagement party! It should be a lot of fun and I’m very excited.  April, May, and June have been a little insane both traveling and work-wise, so I’m looking forward to a long stretch of no traveling in July and August. I’m hoping to get some great reading done in the next few months!

This week I posted a monthly review of May, 2011 and did a Shelving Books: Swapna’s Picks about the books from BEA that I was excited about.

Reviews posted this week:

Title: The Way Things Look To Me
Author: Roopa Farooki
ISBN: 9780312577896
Pages: 352
Release Date: April 12, 2011
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Literary Fiction, Multicultural Fiction
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:

After Asif’s mother dies, he moves home in order to take care of his sister, Yasmin. Yasmin has Asperger’s Syndrome, and even now at 19, she is unable to take care of herself. Asif is just 24, and he sees his life unfolding before him in a bleak, unending stretch, dominated by Yasmin’s routines and need for order. Meanwhile, Lila, the middle child, acts out, unable to feel comfortable in her own skin. When a documentary filmmaker asks to make a move about Yasmin, it brings forth deeply held resentments and heartfelt anger, but will it also uncover love and hope?

Review:

Resentment is part of childhood and growing up. It’s part of being a sibling - you always think the grass is greener on the other side, that your sibling has it better.  But what happens when that resentment is bottled inside, when you are responsible for your younger sibling and required to face it every minute of every day?  That’s the situation the reader finds Asif in at the beginning of The Way Things Look To Me.  He has no hope for his life; he is held captive by Yasmin’ rigidity, by her inability to cope with change. At the same time, though, he doesn’t really blame Yasmin - while frustrating, her difficulty is a result of her condition.  No, Asif blames his mother for dying, for leaving him to care for Yasmin, for making him put his life aside for his youngest sister.

Lila, on the other hand, is the complete opposite end of the spectrum.  Her resentment for Yasmin threatens to consume her.  Growing up, she saw Yasmin stealing her mother’s attention away from her and Asif, so demanding and unrelenting.  Yasmin got everything she wanted handed to her, and when Lila would point out the unfairness of this to those around her, they would highlight Yasmin’s Asperger’s.  Lila doesn’t care about Yasmin or her condition, and isn’t about to get sucked into Yasmin’s drama and become like Asif.

These two perspectives on Yasmin’s Asperger’s were really fascinating.  I’ll admit, though Lila’s attitude was atrocious and made me cringe at times, I also found her honesty refreshing.  Lila was crass, yes, but she also made some very good points - it’s difficult to live with someone who is physically or mentally disabled. But I think what I found the most interesting was that it wasn’t Yasmin that Lila hated, but herself.  She despised the horrible things that came out of her own mouth, and hated herself once she said them.  It takes a lot for Lila to begin to realize that just because her mother paid more attention to Yasmin, didn’t mean she loved Yasmin more.  Once Lila begins to understand this, she begins to come to terms with her own issues.

The Way Things Look To Me does have its share of challenges: the plot is murky at times and doesn’t seem to be heading in a clear direction.  The “power of love” message is a little overwhelming, and it happens all too easily, especially for Lila.  However, these issues didn’t prevent me from enjoying the story that Roopa Farooki had to tell, especially because these characters spoke to me on such a deep level.  Additionally, the depiction of Asperger’s is very interesting, as Farooki gets the reader inside Yasmin’s head.

Just as in her previous novel, Half Life, The Way Things Look To Me’s strength lies in its characters.  They are each so real, their pain so raw and edges so sharp, that readers will be drawn into each of their stories and will ache for them to find some sort of happiness.

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Title: All Mortal Flesh & I Shall Not Want
Author: Julia Spencer-Fleming
ISBN: 9780312933982 & 9780312933999
Pages: 400 & 410
Release Date: March 4, 2008 & April 28, 2009
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Genre: Mystery
Source: Personal Copy
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Summary:

In the fifth and sixth installments of Julia Spencer-Fleming’s Rev. Clare Fergusson/Russ van Alstyne mystery series, the two beloved main characters continue to deal with their feelings for one another.  In All Mortal Flesh, the murder of Russ’s wife not only is tragic, but also leaves Russ and Clare as the two prime suspects.  In I Shall Not Want, Russ and Clare’s relationship has still not recovered, but the murder of Mexican laborers requires them to put their differences aside and once again work together to solve a mystery.

Review:

I have thoroughly enjoyed the Rev. Clare Fergusson/Russ van Alstyne mysteries (reviews of In the Bleak Midwinter, A Fountain Filled With Blood & Out of the Deep I Cry, and To Darkness and To Death), so I was excited to continue with the series in order to catch up to the seventh volume in the series, the just released One Was a Soldier.  Julia Spencer-Fleming is an excellent mystery writer, and she has created vibrant and realistically flawed main characters that the reader will root for.

The mysteries in both of these novels are very personal for Russ - one is the murder of his wife, the other is the murder of a laborer, whose body was found on Russ’s sister’s farm.  His family is so dynamic and appealing, so it was wonderful to have an excuse to read about more of them.  Of course, Russ’s personal feelings and emotions also play a large role - after all, he and Linda were separated at the time of her murder because he admitted to her that he had feelings for Clare.  His guilt overwhelms him in both of these books, and he is unable to treat Clare as the friend she has become because he can’t process his emotions

Clare also has important developments for her character in these books.  She is, of course, devastated by the loss of Linda van Alstyne.  She completely understands why Russ shuts her out, even if the reader is indignant on her behalf.  Instead of focusing on the difficult personal situations at hand, she throws herself to work at St Albans, in the process acquiring a deacon that she doesn’t want, courtesy of the bishop trying to keep a closer eye on her.

As always, the mysteries in these books are excellent.  Additionally, with the introduction of a new police officer in I Shall Not Want, Spencer-Fleming is ensuring that she has a lively and endearing cast of characters for readers in future books.  I can’t say enough amazing things about this series; if I somehow haven’t convinced you yet, then please pick up these books as soon as possible if you are a fan of mysteries.  I can’t begin to describe how much you’re missing out on!

Title: Come and Find Me
Author: Hallie Ephron
ISBN: 9780061857522
Pages: 288
Release Date: March 22, 2011
Publisher: William Morrow
Genre: Mystery
Source: Publisher
Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Summary:

Diana Banks is a hacker-turned-computer security expert living in Boston, Massachusetts.  Agoraphobic since the death of her lover two years earlier, Diana conducts all her business with her partner via the virtual reality site Otherworld.  But when Diana’s sister Ashley goes missing, Diana is forced to once again face the real world as she races to find her.

Review:

When I first heard about Come and Find Me, I thought the premise sounded fascinating. The idea of an agoraphobic woman living her life through an online environment presented very interesting psychological issues.  I was curious as to how Diana would work through them in order to find her sister.

The first third of the novel was really engaging.  The author set up Diana’s life, giving the reader a glimpse into how far gone she really is.  Even Diana’s meetings are conducted in Otherworld, though the author never elaborates on why CEO’s of large companies are willing to set up avatars in a virtual reality online game in order to conduct business.  Once Ashley comes into the picture, the reader can see how devoted Ashley is to Diana. While she encourages Diana to leave the house, she doesn’t press the issue and understands it will all happen when Diana is ready.  It was a great depiction of a sisterly relationship.

Once Ashley goes missing, the suspense really ratchets up.  It moves along smoothly for awhile as Diana frantically tries to find her sister.  She forces herself out of her house and into the real world.  While I admired Diana’s strength, I couldn’t help but feel her journey into the outside world was a little too easy.  Once she got out the front door, her agoraphobia became somewhat of an afterthought, resurrected at convenient moments in the plotline.

The novel took a drastic turn in the last third, and unfortunately, I can’t discuss it without giving away key plot points and ruining the entire story of the book.  I will just say that this is where the book completely lost me.  There were so many plot holes and so little explanation for what happens, and it required a leap of faith that I wasn’t willing to take.  I couldn’t buy the direction this book took, and as a result, I ended up disliking it.

I haven’t seen many reviews around the blogosphere for this book, but I think I’m in the minority with my opinion according to reviews on sites such as LibraryThing and Amazon.com.  This book just didn’t work for me, but if the premise intrigues you, you should give it a try and see what you think.  Maybe you’ll appreciate it more than I did.

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