Educated

Author: Tara Westover
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group, 2018
Pages: 352, 10 discs
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her family was so isolated from mainstream society and there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara's older brothers became violent. When another brother got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she'd traveled too far, if there was still a way home.

Review: I'm late to the party, but late is better than never.

This is a difficult book to review. The abuse, both mental and physical, is maddening. I hate that children grow up in this situations. On the other hand, this is Tara's story to tell, and I couldn't put it down. I was more fascinated than disturbed by the details. Not only did she survive, but she went on to become a PhD.

I'm by no means the perfect parent, but I think I'm doing okay.

Winter Storms

Author: Elin Hilderbrand
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Little Brown, and Company, 2017
Pages: 256
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Some of the stormy weather of the past few seasons seems to have finally lifted for the Quinns. After a year apart, and an ill-fated affair with the Winter Street Inn's old Santa Claus, Mitzi has returned to rule the roost; Patrick is about to be released from prison; Kevin has a successful new business and is finally ready to tie the knot with Isabelle; and best of all, there's hopeful news about Bart, who has been captured by enemy forces in Afghanistan.

That doesn't mean there aren't a few dark clouds on the horizon. Kelley has recently survived a health scare; Jennifer can't quite shake her addiction to the drugs she used as a crutch while Patrick was in jail; and Ava still can't decide between two lovers that she's been juggling with limited success. However, if there's on holiday that brings the Quinn family together to give thanks for the good times. it's Christmas. And this year promises to be a celebration unlike any other as the Quinns prepare to host Kevin and Isabelle's wedding at the inn. Bus as the special day approaches, a historic, once-in-a-century blizzard bears down on Nantucket, threatening to keep the Quinns away from the place - and the people - they love most. Before the snow clears, the Quinns will have to survive enough upheavals to send anyone running for the spiked eggnog, in this touching novel that proves that when the holidays roll around, you can always go home again.

Review: The Quinn family's drama continues. I like this series, and I'm glad a fourth book was added to what was originally intended to be a trilogy.

Other Elin Hilderbrand Novels:
The Five-Star Weekend
Summer of '69
The Blue Bistro
Golden Girl
The Hotel Nantucket
The Island
The Castaways

The Winter Street Series
Winter Street
Winter Stroll
Winter Storms
Winter Solstice

The Winter in Paradise Trilogy
Winter in Paradise
What Happens in Paradise
Troubles in Paradise

Winter Stroll

Author: Elin Hilderbrand
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Little, Brown, and Company, 2016
Pages: 288
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: A second Chrsitmas on Nantucket finds Winter Street Inn owner Kelley Quinn reflecting on the past as he writes a holiday letter to friends and family. Though the year has had its hsare of misfortune and worry, the Quinns have much to celebrate. Kelley, now single, at least is on better terms with his wife Margaret, who is using her celebrity status to lure customers to the inn in record numbers. Their son Kevin has a beautiful new baby, Genevieve, with the inn's French housekeeper, Isabelle; and their daughter Ava, is finally dating a nice guy - her devoted colleague, Scott.

Now the Quinns are looking forward to celebrating Genevieve's baptism, welcoming Isabelle to the family, and enjoying the cheer of Nantucket's traditional Christmas Stroll. But just when a peaceful family gathering seems within reach, Kelley's estranged wife, Mitzi, shows upo n the idlans after souring on her relationship with the inn's former Santa Claus. Soon Kelley isn't the only Quinn entertaining a suprise guest from Christmases past as lovers old and new gather beneath the mistletoe. With jealousy, passion, and eggnog consumption at an all-time high, it's going to take a whole lot more than a Christmas miracle to get the Quinns - and the inn - through the holidays intact.

Review: I like this series. If we're keeping score, the first book was better, but I'm not going to let this family go until I've read the last book. Is it awesome literature, no? But it's cute, and sometimes cute is all you need.

Other Elin Hilderbrand Novels:
The Five-Star Weekend
Summer of '69
The Blue Bistro
Golden Girl
The Hotel Nantucket
The Island
The Castaways

The Winter Street Series
Winter Street
Winter Stroll
Winter Storms
Winter Solstice

The Winter in Paradise Trilogy
Winter in Paradise
What Happens in Paradise
Troubles in Paradise

The Latecomers

Author: Helen Klein Ross
Genre: Historical Fiction / Family Saga
Publisher: Little, Brown, and Company, 2018
Pages: 432
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: In 1908, sixteen-year-old Bridey runs away from her small town in Ireland with her same-age sweetheart, Thom. But when Thom dies suddenly of ship fever on their ocean crossing, Bridey finds herself alone and pregnant in a strange new world.

Forced by circumstance to give up the baby for adoption, Bridey finds work as a maid for the Hollingworth family at a lavish, sprawling estate. It's the dawn of a new century: innovative technologies are emerging, women's roles are changing, and Bridey is emboldened by the promise of a fresh start. She cares for the Hollingworth children as if they were her own, until a mysterious death changes Bridey and the household forever. For decades, the terrible secrets of Bridey's past continue to haunt the family. And in the present day, the youngest Hollingworth makes a connection that finally brings these dark ghost stories into light.

Told in interweaving timelines and rich with detailed history, romance and dark secrets, Helen Klein Ross' The Latecomers spans a century of America life and reminds us all that we can never truly leave the past behind.

Review: I'm a sucker for family sagas, and I loved this one. I thought I was over alternating chapters in time or of characters, but this novel was so well done. I'm so glad I gave it a chance. This is my third five-star read of the month. I think I had that many in all of 2018.

I have two criticisms. 

There was no family tree in the version I read. It would have been helpful, particularly at the end of the novel when grandchildren were having children. Minor detail, it's easy enough to sketch out a tree yourself.

I don't understand the cover. While pretty, it's not reflective of the novel. I'm no artist, and not even that creative, but even I can think of better ideas.

Fortunately, neither of these details affect the story itself. Read it!

Winter Loon

Author: Susan Bernhard
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Brilliance Audio, 2018
Pages: 325
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: Abandoned by his father after his mother drowns in a frozen Minnesota lake, fifteen year old Wes Ballot is stranded with coldhearted grandparents and holed up in his mother's old bedroom, surrounded by her remnants and memories. As the wait for this father stretches unforgivably into months, a local girl, whose own mother died a brutal death, captures his heart and imagination, giving Wes fresh air to breathe in the suffocating small town.

When buried truths come to light in the spring thaw, wounds are exposed and violence erupts, forcing Wes to embark on a search for his missing father, the truth about his mother and a future he must claim for himself - a quest that begins back at that frozen lake.

A powerful, page-turning coming-of-age story, Winter Loon, captures the resilience of a boy determined to become a worthy man by confronting family demons, clawing his way out of the darkness, and forging a life from the shambles of a broken past.

Review: This was one of the books I started when I was taking a break from For Better and Worse. It's dark reading through so I'm not sure how much of a break it really was.

I saw it on a couple different "most anticipated book" lists, but the cover is what really drew me in. It's different, and the loon rising out of the snow was interesting to me. I should also note that I hate birds. They're just weird, and wings. Yuck. I know, I have issues.

What a novel. Oh my goodness. Kudos to the author for taking something so sad and heartbreaking, and turning into a story I couldn't put down. This will be one of my favorite books I read this year.

Marilla of Green Gables

Author: Sarah McCoy
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers, 2018
Pages: 320
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: A bold, heartfelt tale of life at Green Gables...before Anne: A marvelously entertaining and historical novel, set in rural Prince Edward Island in the nineteenth century, that images the young life of spinster Marilla Cuthbert, and the choices that will open her life to the possibility of heartbreak - and unimaginable greatness.

Plucky and ambitious, Marilla Cuthbert is thirteen years old when her world is turned upside down. Her beloved mother dies in childbirth, and Marilla suddenly must bear the responsibilities of a farm wife: cooking, sewing, keeping house, and overseeing the day-to-day life of Green Gables with her brother Matthew, and father, Hugh.

In Avonlea - a small, tight-knit farming town on a remote island - life holds few options for farm girls. Her one connection to the wider world is Aunt Elizabeth "Izzy" Johnson, her mother's sister, who managed to escape from Avonlea to the bustling city of St. Catherines. An opinionated spinster, Aunt Izzy's talent as a seamstress has allowed her to build a thriving business and maker her own way in the world.

Emboldened by her aunt, Marilla dares to venture beyond the safety of Green Gables and discovers new friends and new opportunities. Joining the Ladies Aid Society, she raises funds for an orphanage run by the Sisters of Charity in nearby Nova Scotia that secretly serves as a way station for runaway slaves from America. Her budding romance with John Blythe, the charming son of a neighbor, offers her a possibility of future happiness-Marilla is in no rush to trade on farm life for another. 

She soon finds her self caught up in the dangerous work of politics, and abolition - jeopardizing all she cherishes, including her bond with her dearest Mr. Blythe. Now Marilla must face a reckoning between her dreams of making a difference in the wider world and the small-town reality of life at Green Gables.

Review: While I was never a fan of the Anne of Green Gables books, I adore the movies. In fact, my younger daughter's middle name is Anne with an E, as a nod to this story.

Marilla is such an interesting, three-dimensional character in the movies, that I couldn't resist reading this novel when I saw it had been published. 

Unfortunately, the author didn't suck me in and while I read a few chapters, it was due back to the library before I could finish it. I requested it again and finally, months later, I got it back.

McCoy's writing is easier to read than the author of the "Anne books," Lucy Maud Montgomery, but I think maybe a flair for storytelling is missing. I'm glad I revisited this novel because I always would have wondered, but I'm sure by the end of the year, there will be little I remember about it. 

You know Marilla and John cannot end up together, but it was heartbreaking to read Marilla's and Matthew's failed attempts at love with their respective "partners." We all know the story has a happy ending, but this was hard to read.

If you're an Anne fan, how can you not read it? If you're not, it's skippable.

In the Midst of Winter

Author: Isabel Allende
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Atria Books, 2018
Pages: 352, 9 discs
Rating: Do Not Recommend

Synopsis: In the Midst of Winter begins with a minor traffic accident - which becomes a catalyst for an unexpected and moving loves story between two people who thought they were deep into the winter of their lives. 

Richard Bowmaster - a 60 year old human rights scholar - hits the car of Evelyn Ortega - a young, undocumented immigrant from Guatemala - in the middle of a snowstorm in Brooklyn. What a first seems like just a small inconvenience takes an unforeseen and far more serious turn when Evelyn turns up at the professor's house seeking help. At a loss, the professor asks his tenant Lucia Maraz - a 62 year old lecturer from Chile - for her advice. 

These three very different people are brought together in a mesmerizing story that moves from present-day Brooklyn to Guatemala in the recent past to 1970s Chile and Brazil, sparking the beginning of a long overdue love story between Richard and Lucia.

Review: Mesmerizing this was not. Ludicrous, yes. Far-fetched may be less harsh. I had to check at one point and make sure this wasn't classified as "magical realism." Waste of time. I only finished it because I didn't feel right reviewing a book I didn't complete.

What Have You Done

Author: Matthew Farrell
Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Amazon Publishing, 2018
Pages: 318
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: When a mutilated body is found hanging in a seedy motel in Philadelphia, forensics specialist Liam Dwyer assumes the crime scene will be business as usual. Instad, the victim turns out to be a woman he'd had an affair with before breaking it off to save his marriage. But there's a bigger problem: Liam has no memory of where he was or what he did on the night of the murder.

Panicked, Liam turns to his brother, Sean, a homicide detective. Sean has his back, but incriminating evidence keeps piling up. From fingerprints to DNA, everything points to Liam, who must race against time and his department to uncover the truth - even if that truth is his own guilt. Yet as a he digs deeper, dark secrets come to light, and Liam begins to suspect the killer might actually be Sean.

When the smoke clears in this harrowing family drama, who will be left standing?

Review: Fantastic thriller. I wasn’t expecting to like it, but once I started reading, I couldn’t put it down. I finished it in hours. It's not flawless, but it's definitely a page turner. Not the usual trite and predictable plot that I've been finding lately in this genre.

Winter Street

Author: Elin Hilderbrand

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Little, Brown, and Company, 2015

Pages: 272

Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Kelley Quinn is the owner of Nantucket's Winter Street Inn and the proud father of four, all of them grown and living in varying states of disarray. Patrick, the eldest, is a hedge fund manager with a guilty conscience. Kevin, a bartender, is secretly sleeping with a French housekeeper named Isabelle. Ava, a school teacher, is finally dating the perfect guy but can't get him to commit. And Bart, the youngest and only child of Kelley's second marriage to Mitzi, has recently shocked everyone by joining the Marines.

As Christmas approaches, Kelley is looking forward to getting the family together for some quality time at the inn. But when he walks in on Mitzi kissing Santa Claus (or the guy who's playing Santa at the inn's annual party), utter chaos descends. With the three older children each reeling in their own dramas and Bart unreachable in Afghanistan, it might be up to Kelley's ex-wife, nightly news anchor Margaret Quinn, to save Christmas at the Winter Street Inn.

Before the mulled cider is gone, the delightfully dysfunctional Quinn family will survive a love triange, an unplanned pregnancy, a federal crime, a small house fire, many shots of whiskey, and endless rounds of Christmas caroling, in this heart-warming novel about coming home for the holidays.

Review: I love this family! The Quinns. They're delightfully dysfunctional.

This Christmas story is told from many points of view, but the way it's structured, makes it easy to follow. 

Looking forward to book number two. That's right, all four books in the series have already been published. Yay.

Other Elin Hilderbrand Novels:
The Five-Star Weekend
Summer of '69
The Blue Bistro
Golden Girl
The Hotel Nantucket
The Island
The Castaways

The Winter Street Series
Winter Street
Winter Stroll
Winter Storms
Winter Solstice

The Winter in Paradise Trilogy
Winter in Paradise
What Happens in Paradise
Troubles in Paradise

For Better and Worse

Author: Margot Hunt

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Publisher: MIRA Books, 2018
Pages: 336

Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: On their first date back in law school, Natalie and Will Clarke bonded over drinks, dinner and whether they could get away with murder. Now married, they'll put the latter to the test when an unchecked danger in their community places their son in jeopardy. Working as a criminal defense attorney, Nat refuses to rely on the broken legal system to keep her family safe. She knows that if you want justice, you have to get it yourself.

Shocked to discover Nat's taken matters into her own hands, Will has no choice but to dirty his, also. His family is in way too deep to back down now. He's just not sure he recognizes the woman he married. Nat's always been fiercely protective, but never this ruthless or calculating. With the police poking holes in their airtight plan, what will be the first to fall apart: their scandalous secret - or their marriage?

Review: Margot Hunt is a new author for me, and not a name I've seen bandied about in my various book clubs and reading circles. I imagine that will change because this really was a solid thriller. I flew through this book until I couldn't handle the stress of not knowing what was going to happen next, and had to put it down to read something in a totally different genre. Then I'd come back to it, fly through pages once again, and then have to stop. Eeek. 

I did take some issue with the details, and the ending seemed a bit far-fetched, but the premise was new for this genre. I liked it. 

Will there be a sequel? The potential is there.

Note: Margot Hunt is a pseudonym for author Whitney Gaskell.

The Lacemaker

Author: Laura Frantz
Genre: Christian / Historical Fiction
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group, 2018
Pages: 416
Rating: Do Not Recommend

Synopsis: When colonial Williamsburg explodes like a powder keg on the eve of the American Revolution, Lady Elisabeth "Liberty" Lawson is abandoned by her fiance and suspected of being a spy for the hated British. No one comes to her aid save the Patriot Noble Rynallt, a man with formidable enemies of his own. Liberty is left with a terrible choice, Will the Virginia belle turned lacemaker side with the radical revolutionaries, or stay true to her English roots. And at what cost?

Review: I have read all of Laura Frantz's novels and I'm excited that a new one will be out this year, but this one missed the mark a little. 

The very premise seemed farfetched for the times - both her mother and father leaving her alone in Williamsburg at a time of impending war, her parents going their separate ways, that she changed her name to Liberty, and was still questioned as to where her loyalties lay. I couldn't do the "suspension of belief" thing enough with this novel.

The relationship between Noble and Liberty developed too slowly, and with not enough substance or meaningful dialogue. 

I pains me to give this a Do Not Recommend rating, but really, what that means in this case is, if you've never read Laura Frantz, do not start with the novel. It isn't her best.

What I did love about it was all the talk of Williamsburg, the layout of the town and mention of various sites. We visited Colonial Williamsburg last summer, and Frantz stayed true to its history. 

Other Laura Frantz Novels:
The Frontiersman's Daughter
The Colonel's Lady
Courting Morrow Little 
The Mistress of Tall Acre
A Moonbow Night
A Bound Heart

The Ballantyne Legacy:
Love's Reckoning
Love's Awakening 
Love's Fortune