Heart Berries

Author: Terese Marie Mailhot
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: Catapult, 2019
Pages: 160
Rating: Do Not Recommend

Synopsis: Having survived a profoundly dysfunctional upbringing only to find herself hospitalized and facing a dual diagnosis of post traumative stress disorder and bipolar II disorder, Terese Marie Mailhot is given a notebook and begins to write her way out of trauma. The triumphant result is Heart Berries, a memorial for Mailhot's mother, a social worker and activist who had a thing for prisoners; a story of reconciliation with her father - an abusive drunk and a brilliant artist - who was murdered under mysterious circumstances; and an elegy on how difficult it is to love someone while dragging the long shadows of shame.

Review: I did not care for the author's stream-of-consciousness writing style. I believe she has a story to tell, but this jumped around a lot and at times I didn't know who she was talking about, or what time of her life she was recounting. Disappointing, but it's a check mark on my read for Native American Heritage month.

The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells

Author: Andrew Sean Greer
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers, 2014
Pages: 304
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: After the death of her beloved twin brother and the abandonment of her long-time lover, Greta Wells undergoes electroshock therapy. Over the course of the treatment, Greta finds herself repeatedly sent to 1918, 1941, and back to the present. Whisked from the gas-lit streets and horse-drawn carriages of the West Village to a martini-fueled lunch at teh Oak Room, in these other worlds, Greta finds her brother alive and well - though fearfully masking his true personality. And her former lover is now her devoted husband...but will he be unfaithful to her in this life as well? Greta Wells is fascinated by her alter egos: in 1941, she is a devoted mother; in 1918, she is a bohemian adultress.

Review: This fun book is for fans of Oona Out of Order. I love time travel when it has a historical fiction slant. In fact, it felt like I was treated to three different historical fiction novels at one time. 

I enjoyed each of Greta's lives, and the lives of those who surround her in each time period. I love an author who can tie one person into multiple eras. 

This was a quick read, and if I wasn't a full-time working mom with 3 kids at home, I would have finished this faster than I did.

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.

The Jetsetters

Author: Amanda Eyre Ward
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group, 2021
Pages: 384
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: When seventy-year-old Charlotte Perkins submits a sexy essay to Become a Jetsetter contest, she dreams of reuniting her estranged children: Lee, an almost-famous actress; Cord, a handsome Manhattan venture capitalist who can't seem to find a partner; and Regan, a harried mother who took it all wrong when Charlotte bought her a Weight Watchers gift certificate for her birthday. Charlotte yearns for the yeas when her children were young, when she was a single mother who meant everything to them.

When she wins the contest, the family packs their luggage - both literal and figurative - and spends ten days traveling from sun-drenched Athens through glorious Rome to tapas-laden Barcelona on an over-the-top cruise ship, the Splendido Marveloso. As lovers new and old join the adventure, long-buried secrets are revealed and old wounds are reopened, forcing the Perkins family to confront the forces that drove them apart and the defining choices of their lives.

Review: This book is everything this genre should be.

I have a rule to not read books that have less than a 4 star rating on Goodreads. Well, as they say, rules are made to be broken. I saw this book on a library shelf and loved the title and the cover. I brought it home and started reading. I loved it. Then I looked at Goodreads - 3.10 stars. Whaaa?

Maybe it's the right book at the right time. Maybe it's the right book based on my own life experiences. It doesn't matter. I couldn't put this book down.

Interestingly, it gets compared to The Nest, which I didn't like at all and for which I could find no redeeming qualities.

Looking for Leroy

Author: Melody Carlson
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group, 2022
Pages: 304
Rating: Recommend

Review: It's official: Brynna Phillips is done with men. They only break your heart. But just when she makes this declaration, her friend Jan convinces Brynna to join her on a camping vacation in Sonoma Wine Country. As they wind their way toward their destination, spanking-new mini camper in tow, Brynna recalls her teenage camp romance with a boy named Leroy. How can it have been nearly 30 years ago? All she remembers is that Leroy was a genuinely good guy and that his family owned a vineyard - in Sonoma. She doesn't even remember his last name. Jan insists they look for him, and the search begins.

Beyond the slim chance they'd ever be able to find him are questions that have haunted Brynna for decades, including What's the point of digging up the past? and Can Leroy every forgive me for losing touch?

Synopsis: I love Melody Carson for light, fun reads. Looking for Leroy was both and it fit the genre, but I wanted just a little bit more from it. For whatever reason I felt a removed from their romance, and I missed the sweet moments of Brynna and Leroy falling in love.