Summer at Firefly Beach

Author: Jenny Hale
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing, 2020    
Pages: 288
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Hallie Flynn's favorite place in the world is her Aunt Clara's beautiful beachside house, with its inviting wraparound porch and enchanting views across the sparkling turquoise ocean. For Hallie, going to Firefly Beach, filled with magical childhood memories, feels like coming home. But in one moment, Hallie's left brokenhearted when her adored Aunt Clara passes away.

In her last letter, Aunt Clara included the bucket list Hallie wrote when she was twelve yars old - and a final wish for Hallie to complete it. Stepping away from her dead-end job and predictable schedule, Hallie embraces Aunt Clara's words.

Spending the summer at Firefly Beach, Hallie begins to remember the things that matter most to her. Best of all, her childhood friend Ben Murray is there, supporting her every step of the way. But a run-in with wealthy Gavin Wilson, a newcoming to Firefly Beach, leaves her questioning her future and facing something buried deep in her heart.

Review: Why yes, I am hanging onto summer as long as I possibly can. This was a super cute beach read, totally predictable, and a wonderful escape. I'm looking forward to the other book in this two-book set. 

Tomorrow There Will Be Sun

Author: Dana Reinhardt
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group, 2020
Pages: 288
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Two families arrive in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, for a once-in-a-lifetime vacation. Jenna has organized the trip to celebrate her husband's fiftieth birthday - she's been looking forward to it for months. She's sure everything is going to be just perfect - and the margarita refills delivered by the house staff certainly don't hurt, either. What could go wrong?

Yet as the families settle into their vacation routines, their best friends, suddenly seem like annoying strangers, and even Jenna's reliable husband, Peter, is sharing clandestine phone calls with someone - but who? Jenna's teenage daughter, Clem, is spending an awful lot of time with Malcolm, whose questionable rep got him expelled from school. Jenna's dream of the ultimate celebration begins to crack and eventually crumbles completely, leaving her wondering whom she can trust, and whether her privileged life is about to be changed forever.

Review: This book opens with the character lounging poolside with a drink, and a hint of the drama to come. I was sold. This was just a fun, entertaining, escapist novel.

I'd be lying if I didn't also read this because the author's name is Dana :-)

Prairie Fires

Author: Caroline Fraser
Genre: Biography
Publisher: Picador, 2018
Pages: 656
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Millions of readers of Little House on the Prairie believe they know Laura Ingalls - the pioneer girl who survived blizzards and near-starvation on the Great Plains, and the woman who wrote the famous autobiographical books. But the true saga of her life has never been fully told. Now, drawing on unpublished manuscripts, letters, diaries, and land and financial records, Caroline Fraser - the editor of the Library of America edition of the Little House series - masterfully fills in the gaps in Wilder's biography. Revealing the grown-up story behind the most influential childhood epic of pioneer life, she also chronicles Wilder's tumultuous relationship with her journalist daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, setting the record straight regarding the charges of ghostwriting that have swirled around the books.

The Little House books, for all the hardships they describe, are paeans to the pioneer spirit, portraying it as triumphant against all odds. But Wilder's real life was harder and grittier than that, a story of relentless struggle, rootlessness, and poverty. It was only in her sixties, after losing nearly everything in the Great Depression, that she turned to children's books, recasting her hardscrabble childhood as a celebratory vision of homesteading - and achieving fame and fortune in the process, in one of the most astonishing rags-to-riches episodes in American letters.

Spanning nearly a century of epochal change, from the Indian Wars to the Dust Bowl, Wilder's dramatic life provides a unique perspective on American history and our national mythology of self-reliance. With fresh insights and new discoveries, Prairie Fires reveals the complex woman whose classic stories grip us to this day.

Review: This book is divided into three parts. The first part puts Laura's early life into historical context. It was excellent. The second part is a lot of information about Laura's daughter Rose, who in today's terms, was a hot mess. It was cumbersome, and didn't feel like the author ever really found her writing groove. The third part included more Rose than I found necessary, but she also returned to Laura and her legacy.

Had the second part been stricken from the book entirely, the reader would be no less informed and probably more satisfied overall.

As a fan of the Little House books and Laura in general, having been to several home sites, this was a must-read.