Rory's Promise

Author: Michaela MacColl
Genre: Historical Fiction, Pre-Teen
Series: Hidden Histories (#1)
Publisher: Highlight Press, 2014
Pages: 288
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: Twelve-year-old orphan Rory Fitzpatrick lives with her younger sister Violet at New York City’s Foundling Hospital in the early 1900s. But when Rory discovers that Violet will be sent to the Arizona Territory to be adopted, her world is shattered. Although too old to be adopted herself, Rory—brave and smart—is determined to stay with her sister, even if it means hiding out on a train traveling west. When Rory and Violet arrive in Arizona, everything that could go wrong does go wrong. Will Rory give up? This uplifting novel about the power of faith and the true meaning of family launches the Hidden Histories series, spotlighting little-known tales from America’s past, and the children behind those stories. Includes authors’ note and further resources.

Review: I loved this book, although the first 3/4 were stronger and more gripping to read, at least as a mom. I sobbed through the first two or three chapters. There are several moments that did more than just tug at my heartstrings and I swear my heart went out to every mother who had to give a child up and every child who was given up. I've read other books with those same themes and it really strikes a cord with me for some reason.

This is one I can see my 9 year old enjoying, and just like Freedom's Price, it's "clean."

Freedom's Price

Author: Michaela MacColl
Genre: Historical Fiction, Pre-Teen
Series: Hidden Histories (#2)
Publisher: Highlights Press, 2015
Pages: 288
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Eliza Scott isn’t quite a slave, but she’s not free either. She’s not a prisoner, but her family lives in a jail. Eliza, who attends a secret floating school on the Mississippi River because it’s illegal for her to read, says she understands how dangerous her situation is—but her parents know she’s not afraid enough. When a devastating cholera epidemic strikes the city, Eliza discovers she will have to be clever and resourceful to escape a slave catcher and the worst fire in St. Louis’ history. Will Eliza be willing to pay the price of freedom? Freedom’s Price is the second book in the Hidden Histories series, which examines little known moments in American history. Based on actual events and people, the book is extensively researched and includes an author’s note and bibliography.

Review: This is a book I would have eaten up as a 12 or 13 year old. It's always been my favorite genre, and the story was compelling. However, I think this book was actually written for kids younger than that, and I don't think it would have held their attention. I don't know how much about the Dred Scott Decision kids that young know yet.

I actually decided to read this to see if it would be appropriate for my 9 year old, and I just don't think she's old enough for the subject matter yet. The significance and backstory would go over her head since she doesn't have a point of reference yet.

I'm really conservative when it comes to the content, language, and general-age appropriateness of what my girls read (currently ages 9 and 8), and there is nothing of that nature in this book. In fact, that's why I decided to read this to see if it would be appropriate for my 9 year old, and I just don't think she's old enough for the subject matter. The significance and backstory would go over her head as she doesn't have a point of reference yet. No language, no sex scenes etc. It's "clean."

As an adult reading this, I liked it. I also learned a lot considering I never considered Dred Scott the person in all my years of studying the pre-Civil War History. A lot of the characters and situations in this story are based on real people, situations, and events. The author goes into more detail about this in the Afterward, and that was the most fascinating "chapter" in the book.

I read this series out of order because I expected this to be the better of the two books I had, but surprising to me was that I enjoyed Rory's Promise so much more.

Isabel's Bed

Author: Elinor Lipman
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Blackstone Audio Inc., 2011
Pages: 8 Discs
Rating: DO NOT RECOMMEND

Synopsis: When Harriet Mahoney first sees it, Isabel Krug's bed is covered with sheared sheep and littered with celebrity biographies. Unpublished, fortyish, and recently jilted, Harriet has fled Manhattan for Isabel's loudly elegant Cape Cod retreat, where she will ghostwrite The Isabel Krug Story,based on the sexy blond's scandalous tabloid past. Unusually "talented" in the man department ("I give lessons"), Isabel revamps and inspires Harriet as they gear up to tell all, including the tangled history Isabel shares with her odd lodger, Costas. Life according to Isabel is a nonstop soap opera extravaganza, an experience to be swallowed whole -- and the attitude is catching....

Review: I stuck with this book for the writing. There are some funny moments and interesting metaphors. The plot itself wasn't all that compelling; although I can appreciate the smattering of satire.

The narrator drove me nuts. I couldn't stand her voice, or perhaps it was Lipman's writing style in the spoken voice that was so grating. I may have liked the print book better, but this was recommended to me by someone who thought the narrator did a fantastic job.

In the end, I was glad when I finished this.

Monkeys

Author: Susan Minot
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2000
Pages: 176
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: In this luminous story of family life—the first novel by Susan Minot, author of the highly acclaimed Evening—the seven Vincent children follow their Catholic mother to Mass and spend Thanksgiving with their father's aging parents who come from a world of New England privilege. As they grow older, they meet with the perplexing lives of adults. Susan Minot writes with delicacy and a tremendous gift for the details that decorate domestic life, and when tragedy strikes she beautifully mines the children's tenderness for each other, and their aching guardianship of what they have.

Review: I liked the vignette format, but on the flip side I attribute that style to the disconnect I felt with the characters. No matter, the loosely autobiographical nature of this novel works in the author's favor.

Love Warrior

Author: Glennon Doyle Melton

Genre: Memoir

Publisher: Flatiron Books, 2016

Pages: 272

Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: Just when Glennon Doyle Melton was beginning to feel she had it all figured out—three happy children, a doting spouse, and a writing career so successful that her first book catapulted to the top of the New York Times bestseller list—her husband revealed his infidelity and she was forced to realize that nothing was as it seemed. A recovering alcoholic and bulimic, Glennon found that rock bottom was a familiar place. In the midst of crisis, she knew to hold on to what she discovered in recovery: that her deepest pain has always held within it an invitation to a richer life.

Love Warrior is the story of one marriage, but it is also the story of the healing that is possible for any of us when we refuse to settle for good enough and begin to face pain and love head-on. This astonishing memoir reveals how our ideals of masculinity and femininity can make it impossible for a man and a woman to truly know one another - and it captures the beauty that unfolds when one couple commits to unlearning everything they've been taught so that they can finally, after thirteen years of marriage, commit to living true—true to themselves and to each other.

Love Warrior is a gorgeous and inspiring account of how we are born to be warriors: strong, powerful, and brave; able to confront the pain and claim the love that exists for us all. This chronicle of a beautiful, brutal journey speaks to anyone who yearns for deeper, truer relationships and a more abundant, authentic life.

Review: I started out feeling unsure about this memoir, but it won by over pretty quickly. Her story is completely different than mine, and probably anybody's, but the message is relevant to many situations and many people. I loved it, and found it impossible to put down. This was a one-sitting read, for me.