The World of Little House

Author: Carolyn Strom Collins, Christina Wyss Ericksson
Genre: Non-Fiction / Pre-Teen
Publisher: HarperCollins, 2015
Pages: 160
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Laura Ingalls Wilder is the original pioneer girl, and her Little House books were inspired by the events of her life. This keepsake volume discusses how her real life was different from her stories, and it also focuses on her adult life and how she came to write the Little House series. In addition, it includes one chapter for each of Laura's nine Little House books, exploring in detail the stories, houses, landscapes, journeys, foods, activities, and crafts. Maps, family trees, photographs, and a timeline trace the history of Laura and her family. Meticulously researched, lovingly written, and beautifully illustrated, The World of Little House is for anyone who has ever read and loved the Little House books.

Review: I'll read anything about The Little House books and Laura Ingallls Wilder, and because of this I've read quite a few books already. This felt like a Cliff's Notes version of Pioneer Girl, which was a far better book for really studying Laura's life, but also more difficult for the recommended ages of 8-11 to read, I'm sure.

Where I found fault with this book was that it took Laura's books at face value and provided a synopsis of each. However, there was no discussion about how The Little House books fictionalized Laura's real life. I don't know, I just didn't love it.

The Lost Ones

Author: Michaela MacColl
Genre: Historical Fiction, Pre-Teen
Publisher: Highlights Press, 2016
Pages: 256
Rating: Do Not Recommend

Synopsis: Despite her father’s warnings that their tribe is always in danger, Casita, a ten-year-old Lipan Apache girl, has led a relatively peaceful life with her tribe in Mexico, doing her daily chores and practicing for her upcoming Changing Woman ceremony, in which she will officially become a woman of the tribe. But the peace is shattered when the U.S. Cavalry invades and brutally slaughters her people. Casita and her younger brother survive the attack, but are taken captive and sent to the Carlisle Indian School, a Pennsylvania boarding school that specializes in assimilating Native Americans into white American culture. Casita grieves for her lost family as she struggles to find a way to maintain her identity as a Lipan Apache and survive at the school.

Review: This book gets the biggest W.T.H. in writing and publishing that I've ever felt. It just ended. Abruptly. In the middle of the story. So many loose ends. I'm all for authors leaving the ending to the reader's imagination, but this just didn't make sense. It didn't end, it just stopped, mid-thought practically. I am so thoroughly annoyed.

Other books by this author
Rory's Promise
Freedom's Price

The Someday Jar

Author: Allison Morgan

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group, 2015

Pages: 352

Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Fans of Sophie Kinsella and the Shopaholic series will fall in love with Lanie Howard—young, fabulous, and desperate to transform her life—in this funny, quirky, and endearing story about finding perfect happiness in life’s most imperfect moments.

WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMON-DROP MARTINIS...
Real-estate broker Lanie Howard figures she has the perfect man, the perfect job, and the perfect life. Then she stumbles across her old Someday Jar, the forgotten glass relic where she stashed all the childhood wishes—no matter how crazy—that her father encouraged her to write down on the backs of Chinese restaurant fortunes. She used to be fun once! What happened to her?

DON'T CHOKE ON THE RIND.
Although Lanie is wary of uncorking her past, when an attractive stranger saves her from a life-or-death encounter with a lemon peel at the bottom of a martini glass, she realizes that life is way too short for regrets. Now, jar in hand, Lanie decides to throw caution to the wind, and carry out everything she had once hoped to do, even if it means leaving her perfectly “perfect” life behind…

Review: I read this because I had enjoyed Can I See You Again so much, and it's by the same author. This was cute. It's pretty obvious where the story is going to end up, but it's a fun, engaging journey from here to there with a couple laugh out loud moments.

Behind Closed Doors

Author: B.A. Paris

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Publisher: St. Martin's Press, 2016
Pages: 304

Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: Everyone knows a couple like Jack and Grace. He has looks and wealth; she has charm and elegance. He’s a dedicated attorney who has never lost a case; she is a flawless homemaker, a masterful gardener and cook, and dotes on her disabled younger sister. Though they are still newlyweds, they seem to have it all. You might not want to like them, but you do. You’re hopelessly charmed by the ease and comfort of their home, by the graciousness of the dinner parties they throw. You’d like to get to know Grace better.

But it’s difficult, because you realize Jack and Grace are inseparable.

Some might call this true love. Others might wonder why Grace never answers the phone. Or why she can never meet for coffee, even though she doesn’t work. How she can cook such elaborate meals but remain so slim. Or why she never seems to take anything with her when she leaves the house, not even a pen. Or why there are such high-security metal shutters on all the downstairs windows.

Some might wonder what’s really going on once the dinner party is over, and the front door has closed.

Review: Let's just put this in the category of "could not put down." It was that good. The plot, the characters, the author's writing style. All of it was on point and fabulously disturbing.

From the outset it's no secret that something is very off with this couple, and the author patiently lets the story twist and unfold, drawing the reader in page by page, chapter by chapter.

This novel has been compared to Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train, which kills me. Why do those have to be the standard of psychological thrillers? At any rate, the book hangover is upon me. The next three or four books I try to read are going to let me down, if I can get into them at all. Good books are a blessing and a curse.

Love & Gelato

Author: Jenna Evans Welch

Genre: Teen Fiction

Publisher: Simon Pulse, 2016

Pages: 400

Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: A summer in Italy turns into a road trip across Tuscany in this New York Times bestselling debut novel filled with romance, mystery, and adventure.

Lina is spending the summer in Tuscany, but she isn’t in the mood for Italy’s famous sunshine and fairy-tale landscape. She’s only there because it was her mother’s dying wish that she get to know her father. But what kind of father isn’t around for sixteen years? All Lina wants to do is get back home.

But then Lina is given a journal that her mom had kept when she lived in Italy. Suddenly Lina’s uncovering a magical world of secret romances, art, and hidden bakeries. A world that inspires Lina, along with the ever-so-charming Ren, to follow in her mother’s footsteps and unearth a secret that has been kept for far too long. It’s a secret that will change everything Lina knew about her mother, her father—and even herself.

People come to Italy for love and gelato, someone tells her, but sometimes they discover much more.

Review: The synopsis makes this novel sound like it has more depth than it does, but it's still a super-cute story. This was a one-day read for me and I enjoyed every page.

It's teen fiction and was a finalist for the GoodReads Choice Awards, which is why I added it to my list. This is definitely worth reading.

Claudia, Wife of Pontius Pilate

Author: Diana Wallis Taylor

Genre: Christian Fiction

Publisher: Baker Publishing Group, 2013

Pages: 336

Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: Claudia's life did not start easily. The illegitimate daughter of Julia, reviled and exiled daughter of Caesar Augustus, Claudia spends her childhood in a guarded villa with her mother and grandmother. When Tiberius, who hates Julia, takes the throne, Claudia is wrenched away from her mother to be brought up in the palace in Rome. The young woman is adrift--until she meets Lucius Pontius Pilate and becomes his wife. When Pilate is appointed Prefect of the troublesome territory of Judea, Claudia does what she has always done: she makes the best of it. But unrest is brewing on the outskirts of the Roman Empire, and Claudia will soon find herself and her beloved husband embroiled in controversy and rebellion. Might she find peace and rest in the teaching of the mysterious Jewish Rabbi everyone seems to be talking about?

Readers will be whisked through marbled palaces, dusty marketplaces, and idyllic Italian villas as they follow the unlikely path of a woman who warrants only a passing mention in one of the Gospel accounts. Diana Wallis Taylor combines her impeccable research with her flair for drama and romance to craft a tale worthy of legend.

Review: I hadn't really given much thought to Pontius Pilate, the man, let alone his wife, who apparently receives one sentence of recognition in the Bible. The author had to craft this story using very little factual information, and it was quite believable and enjoyable. I thought this was better written and more interesting than Martha.

Martha

Author: Diana Wallis Taylor
Genre: Christian Fiction
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group, 2011
Pages: 254
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis:Perhaps one of the most misunderstood and misrepresented characters of the New Testament is Martha. Often painted in the colors of reproach, Martha seems to be the poster child for how not to be a follower of Jesus. From the mind of Diana Wallis Taylor comes this touching, well-researched portrayal of Martha of Bethany, sister of Mary and Lazarus. Through Taylor's lush descriptions and inspired combination of imagined and recorded dialogue, Martha's world--her trials, triumphs, and loves--vibrantly comes to life. Follow Martha as she is jilted by her betrothed, falls in love with a Roman soldier, grieves the death of her father, cares for her siblings, and serves her Lord with dignity and grace. Readers will never read the biblical story of Martha the same way again.

Review: I found fault with the flow of this novel. The author drew me in with Martha's story, only to interject Jesus' story, and then took me back into Martha's narrative. It was odd for a seasoned author, and jarring for the reader.

Claudia was better written.