A Distant Melody

Author: Sarah Sundin
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group, 2010
Pages: 430
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Never pretty enough to please her gorgeous mother, Allie will do anything to gain her approval--even marry a man she doesn't love. Lt. Walter Novak--fearless in the cockpit but hopeless with women--takes his last furlough at home in California before being shipped overseas. Walt and Allie meet at a wedding and their love of music draws them together, prompting them to begin a correspondence that will change their lives. As letters fly between Walt's muddy bomber base in England and Allie's mansion in an orange grove, their friendship binds them together. But can they untangle the secrets, commitments, and expectations that keep them apart? 

A Distant Melody is the first book in the WINGS OF GLORY series, which follows the three Novak brothers, B-17 bomber pilots with the US Eighth Air Force stationed in England during World War II.

Review: Predictable but sweet. 

Where this stands out from other historical romance novels is the amount of detail about missions and life for WWII airman. The author's grandfather had flown with the Air Force in England and she was able to weave some of the details of his experiences into this novel.

The Breakdown

Author: B. A. Paris

Genre: Thriller

Publisher: St. Martin's Press, 2017

Pages: 336

Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: If you can’t trust yourself, who can you trust?

Cass is having a hard time since the night she saw the car in the woods, on the winding rural road, in the middle of a downpour, with the woman sitting inside—the woman who was killed. She’s been trying to put the crime out of her mind; what could she have done, really? It’s a dangerous road to be on in the middle of a storm. Her husband would be furious if he knew she’d broken her promise not to take that shortcut home. And she probably would only have been hurt herself if she’d stopped.

But since then, she’s been forgetting every little thing: where she left the car, if she took her pills, the alarm code, why she ordered a pram when she doesn’t have a baby.

The only thing she can’t forget is that woman, the woman she might have saved, and the terrible nagging guilt.

Or the silent calls she’s receiving, or the feeling that someone’s watching her…

You won't be able to put down B. A. Paris's The Breakdown, the next chilling, propulsive novel from the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Behind Closed Doors.

Review: I was looking forward to reading this book for so long, and I hate to say it was disappointing, but it kind of was. I would have liked it more had it been published before Behind Closed Doors, reviewed here.

This was good fiction, but not so much psychological thriller since I had all but guessed who had done it along with some other details. Yes, it's good reading. No, it won't be the best thriller you've ever read. . .unless this is your first one.

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane

Author: Lisa See

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio, 2017

Pages: 9 Discs

Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Li-yan and her family align their lives around the seasons and the farming of tea. There is ritual and routine, and it has been ever thus for generations. Then one day a jeep appears at the village gate—the first automobile any of them have seen—and a stranger arrives.

In this remote Yunnan village, the stranger finds the rare tea he has been seeking and a reticent Akha people. In her biggest seller, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, See introduced the Yao people to her readers. Here she shares the customs of another Chinese ethnic minority, the Akha, whose world will soon change. Li-yan, one of the few educated girls on her mountain, translates for the stranger and is among the first to reject the rules that have shaped her existence. When she has a baby outside of wedlock, rather than stand by tradition, she wraps her daughter in a blanket, with a tea cake hidden in her swaddling, and abandons her in the nearest city.

After mother and daughter have gone their separate ways, Li-yan slowly emerges from the security and insularity of her village to encounter modern life while Haley grows up a privileged and well-loved California girl. Despite Haley’s happy home life, she wonders about her origins; and Li-yan longs for her lost daughter. They both search for and find answers in the tea that has shaped their family’s destiny for generations.

A powerful story about a family, separated by circumstances, culture, and distance, Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane paints an unforgettable portrait of a little known region and its people and celebrates the bond that connects mothers and daughters.

Review: After trying to read the print book and not being able to get into the story, I decided to give the audio version a try. I'm so glad I didn't let this one pass me by.

Lisa See brings, what I see as a mysterious culture, to life in a wonderful family saga.

Maybe circumstances and events are a little too convenient for those of us grounded in the real world, but it IS fiction. See certainly has an ability to transport readers, and listening to this book highlighted her beautiful writing style.

Other Lisa See Novels Reviewed:

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan