In a Dark, Dark Wood

Author: Ruth Ware
Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Galley/Scout Press, 2016
Pages: 352
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Sometimes the only thing to fear. . .is yourself.

Leonora, known to some as Lee and others as Nora, is a reclusive crime writer, unwilling to leave her nest of an apartment unless it is absolutely necessary. When a friend she hasn't seen or spoken to in years unexpectedly invites her to a weekend away in an eerie glass house deep in the English countryside, she reluctantly agrees to make the trip. Forty-eight hours later, she wakes up in a hospital bed injured but alive, with the knowledge that someone is dead. Wondering not "what happened?" but "what have a I done?", Nora tries to piece together the events of the past weekend. Working to uncover secrets, reveal motives, and find answers, Nora must revisit parts of herself that she would much rather leave buried where they belong: in the past.

Review: This is Ruth Ware's debut novel. Not my favorite of her novels, that honor goes to The It Girl or The Turn of the Key, but if you can let yourself fall into the story this was a solid book. My biggest criticism that I never really did get past, was why did Nora attend the girls weekend in the first place? She's reclusive, she hasn't kept in touch with Claire, and didn't seem interested in addressing events that happened 10 years ago. Had the author done a better job convincing me as the reader that this hen party was Nora's jam, getting into the story would have been easier.

Ruth Ware Novels
One by One
One Perfect Couple
The Death of Mrs. Westaway
The It Girl
The Lying Game
The Turn of the Key
The Woman in Cabin 10
The Woman in Suite 11
Zero Days

A Happier Life

Author: Kristy Woodson Harvey
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Gallery Books, 2024
Pages: 384
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: The historic houses in the seaside town of Beaufort, North Carolina, have held the secrets of their inhabitants for centuries. One of the most enduring refuses to be washed away by the tide: What happened to Rebecca and Townsend Saint James on that fateful night of their disappearance in 1976.

Now, the granddaughter they never knew, Keaton Smith, is desperate for a fresh start. So when her mother needs someone to put her childhood home in Beaufort on the market, she jumps at the chance to head south. But the moment she steps foot inside the abandoned house, which has been closed for nearly fifty years, she wonders if she's bitten off more than she can chew. Wading through the detritus of her grandparents' lives, Keaton finds herself enchanted by their southern traditions - and their great, big love. As she gets to know her charming next-door-neighbor, his precocious ten-year-old son, and a flock of endearingly feisty town busybodies, Keaton begins to wonder if the stories she has been told about her grandparents are true.

Keaton's grandmother, Rebecca "Becks" Saint James' annual summer suppers are the stuff of legend, and locals and out-of-towners alike clamor for an invitation to her stunning historic home. But, in the summer of 1976, she's struggling behind the facade of the woman who can do it all - and facing a problem that even she can't solve.

As Keaton and Becks face new challenges and chapters, they are connected through time by the house on Sunset Lane, which has protected the secrets, hopes, and dreams of their family for generations.

The historic houses in the seaside town of Beaufort, North Carolina, have held the secrets of their inhabitants for centuries. One of the most enduring refuses to be washed away by the tide: What happened to Rebecca and Townsend Saint James on that fateful night of their disappearance in 1976?

Now, the granddaughter they never knew, Keaton Smith, is desperate for a fresh start. So when her mother needs someone to put her childhood home in Beaufort on the market, she jumps at the chance to head south. But the moment she steps foot inside the abandoned house, which has been closed for nearly fifty years, she wonders if she’s bitten off more than she can chew. Wading through the detritus of her grandparents’ lives, Keaton finds herself enchanted by their southern traditions—and their great, big love. As she gets to know her charming next-door neighbor, his precocious ten-year-old son, and a flock of endearingly feisty town busybodies, Keaton begins to wonder if the stories she has been told about her grandparents are true.

Keaton’s grandmother, Rebecca “Becks” Saint James’s annual summer suppers are the stuff of legend, and locals and out-of-towners alike clamor for an invitation to her stunning historic home. But, in the summer of 1976, she’s struggling behind the facade of the woman who can do it all—and facing a problem that even she can’t solve.

As Keaton and Becks face new challenges and chapters, they are connected through time by the house on Sunset Lane, which has protected the secrets, hopes, and dreams of their family for generations.

Review: This book is so much better than the cover, and even the title, might suggest. A little bit of romance, a little bit of mystery, family drama, and still with a beach read feel.

The First Ladies

Author: Feather Schwartz Foster
Genre: Non-Fiction
Publisher: Sourcebooks, 2011
Pages: 192
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: As a young nation grew into its own, it was not just the presidents who led the way. The remarkable women of the White House, often neglected by history, had a heavy hand in the shaping of America. The earliest First Ladies of the United States left countless untold legacies behind after their role at the White House was over. 

Decidedly different from their modern day counterparts, the nation's first presidential wives made their impact not only in terms of political policy or broad social and civic service, but with unique, personal, and often long-lasting accomplishments.

Review: I read a book about Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ike & Kay, so my next choice was a book about Mamie. I located this one, but it was just a brief chapter. However, I like reading little tidbits about people so I opted to read the whole book, all 192 pages. It was interesting and worth the time.

Ike & Kay

Author: James MacManus    
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Overlook Press, 2018
Pages: 288
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: In 1942, Kay Summersby's life is changed forever when she is conscripted to drive General Eisenhower on his fact-finding visit to wartime London. Despite Eisenhower's marriage to Mamie, the pair takes an immediate liking to each other, and he buys Kay a rare wartime luxury: a box of chocolates. So begins a tumultuous relationship that, against all military regulation, sees Kay traveling with Eisenhower on missions to far-flung places before the final assault on Nazi Germany. The general does dangerously little to conceal his affair with the woman known widely as "Ike's Shadow," and in letters Mamie bemoans his new obsession with "Ireland." That does not stop him from using his influence to grant Kay citizenship and rank in the U.S. Army, drawing her closer still when he returns to America. When officials discover Eisenhower's plans to divorce from his wife, they threaten the fragile but passionate affair, and Kay is forced to take desperate measures to hold onto the man she loves.

Based on the scandalous true story of General Eisenhower's secret World War II love affair, Ike and Kay is a compelling story of love, duty, sacrifice, and heartbreak, set against the backdrop of the most tumultuous period of the twentieth century.

Review: With a trip to Kansas in the near future, we were looking for sites to see and things to do. We saw that Dwight D. Eisenhower's boyhood home, museum, and library are located less than an hour from where we are staying.

I was interested in learning more about him (and Mamie) prior to our trip, and discovered several books.

This book is a little juicier than I was expecting to find, and it's unlikely his driver will be mentioned at the museum/library. However, it's an interesting (and plausible) story. 

Update: There's no mention of Kay at the museum, as expected, but one of the cars he was driven in is on display.

Cruisin' Route 66

Author: Joe Loesch
Genre: Non-fiction
Publisher: Oasis Audio, 2009
Pages: 3 discs
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: For three generations of travelers, Route 66 was the highway that linked America together. Stretching from Grant Park to the Pacific Ocean, this remarkable highway winds its way through eight states and ends at the Santa Monica freeway after 2,278 miles. Experience pure nostalgia as you hear the stories of tourists, merchants, Okies, and GIs who traveled this mother road. Meet the famous and infamous. Discover a snowstorm in Flagstaff, a blazing hot sun in the Mojave Desert, historical monuments in the Land of Lincoln, a cave in Missouri, Indian jewelry in New Mexico, and even a jackalope in Arizona. The road has seen it all.

Review: I had a bit of a road trip to watch my son play in a soccer tournament. He and my husband went up a day early so I took advantage of being in the car alone. I love the history and spirit of Route 66, and we've even worked it in to a few road trips. I first learned of it on a trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico when I was freshman in college. There are original sections of Route 66, on which you may still drive, in both Illinois and Oklahoma. And, possibly other places as well. Additionally, we've been to the terminus in Santa Monica.

Summers at The Saint

Author: Mary Kay Andrews
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group, 2024
Pages: 448
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: Everyone refers to St. Cecilia as "the Saint." If you grew up coming here, you were "a Saint." If you came from the wrong side of the river, you were an "Ain't." Traci Eddings was one of those outsiders whose family wasn't rich enough or connected enough to vacation here. But she could work here. One fateful summer she did, and married the boss' son. Now, she's the widowed owner of the hotel, determined to see it return to its glory days, even as staff shortages and financial troubles threaten to ruin it. Plus, her greedy and unscrupulous brother-in-law wants to make sure she fails. Enlisting a motley crew of recently hired summer help - including the daughter of her estranged best friend - Traci has one summer season to turn it around. But new information about a long ago drowning at the hotel threatens to come to light, and the tragic death of one of their own brings Traci to the brink of despair.

Review: This book quickly went in a direction I did not foresee. It's a hot book in my Facebook reading groups, and I can see why. Perfect summertime novel, by a bestselling author.

This novel has quite a few characters and several subplots, but for me, it works. I found myself (mentally) at my favorite resort hotel - The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. Summers at The Saint captures all the moving parts, the energy, and general hubbub of a summertime resort. 

Other Mary Kay Andrew Novels
Ladies Night

The Weekenders

Reckless Girls

Author: Rachel Hawkins
Genre: Thriller
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group, 2022
Pages: 320
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Beautiful, wild, and strange - Meroe Island is a desolate spot in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with a mysterious history of shipwrecks, cannibalism, and even rumors of murder. It's the perfect destination for the most adventurous traveler to escape everything. . .except the truth.

Six stunning twenty somethings are about to embark on a blissful, free-spirited journey - one filled with sun-drenched days and intoxicating nights. But as it becomes clear that the group is even more cut off from civilization than they initially thought, it starts to feel like the island itself is closing in, sending them on a dangerous spiral of discovery.

When one person goes missing and another turns up dead, the remaining friends wonder what dark currents lie beneath this impenetrable paradise - and who else will be swept under it's secluded chaos. With its island gothic sensibility, sexy suspense, and spine-tingling re-imagining of an Agatha Christie classic, Reckless Girls will wreck you.

Review: I really like this author. Her novels are clever and entertaining. When I saw this is a re-imagining of an Agatha Christie novel, which could only be And Then There Were None, a book I thoroughly enjoyed, I knew it would be for me.

Rachel Hawkins Novels
The Villa