Shadows of Pecan Hollow

Author: Caroline Frost
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers, 2022
Pages: 416
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: It was 1970 when thirteen-year-old runaway Kit Walker was abducted by Manny Romero, a smooth-talking low-level criminal, who first coddled her and then groomed her into his partner-in-crime. Before long, Kit and Manny were infamous for their string of gas station robberies throughout Texas, making a name for themselves as the Texas Twosome.

Twenty years after they meet, Kit has scraped together a life for herself and her daughter amongst the pecan trees and muddy creeks of the town of Pecan Hollow, far from Manny. But when he shows up at her doorstep a new man, fresh out of prison, Kit is forced to reckon with the shadows of her past, and her community is sent into a tailspin.

Review: First, let's talk about Shadows of Pecan Hollow. I enjoyed the story. It was fastpaced and complex enough to keep me interested. A certain level of suspension of belief is required, but it is fiction and not that outrageous so I think that's okay.

Now let's talk about how it in relation to another book in this coming-of-age genre. Shadows of Pecan Hollow has been compared to Where the Crawdads Sing, which I reviewed here. I enjoyed SoPH more. The language is less flowery and far less descriptive. If that's what you loved about Crawdads, I think you'll still enjoy this story, but you'll find Crawdads to be the better novel.

Olga Dies Dreaming

Author: Xochitl Gonzalez
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Pages: 384
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: It's 2017, and Olga and her brother, Pedro "Prieto" Acevedo, are boldfaced names in their hometown of New York. Prieto is a popular congressman representing their gentrifying Latinx neighborhood in Brooklyn, while Olga is the tony wedding planner for Manhattan's power brokers.

Despite their alluring public lives, behind closed doors things are far less rosy. Sure, Olga can orchestrate the love stories of the 1 percent but she can't seem to find her own. . .until she meets Matteo, who forces her to confront the effects of long-held family secrets.

Olga and Peitro's mother, Blanca, a Young Lord turned radical, abandoned her children to advance a militant political cause, leaving them to be raised by their grandmother. Now, with the winds of hurricane season, Blanca has come barreling back into their lives.

Review: I enjoyed this book right out of the gate. It was fast-paced and the characters were entertaining. Toward the end Olga's brother becomes the main character and Olga takes a back seat, which I found odd, and the reason I didn't give this a highly recommend rating.

The World Played Chess

Author: Robert Dugoni
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Amazon Publishing, 2021
Pages: 400
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: In 1970, Vincent Bianco has just graduated high school. His only desire: collect a little beer money and enjoy his final summer before college. So he lands a job as a laborer on a construction crew. Working alongside two Vietnam vets, one suffering from PTSD, Vincent gets the education of a lifetime. Now forty years later, with his own son leaving for college, the lessons of that summer - Vincent's last taste of innocence and first taste of real life - dramatically unfold in a novel about breaking away, shaping a life, and seeking one's own destiny.

Review: I don't read male authors often, and even more rarely do I read war novels. However, I loved The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell so much that of course I was going to read The World Played Chess. What a novel! I will read everything Dugoni writes now.

There are three timelines to follow in this book, and alternating between them is masterfully done. There isn't a thing I would change about this novel.

The Ballad of Hattie Taylor

Author: Susan Andersen
Genre: Historical Romance
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group, 2021
Pages: 400
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: In the small, bustling town of Mattawa, Oregon, the turn of the century offers a new kind of frontier for women: a vast and exciting range of possibilities - to a point. It's a time for change, and no one is more eager to embrace new paths than free-spirited outsider Hattie Taylor. If only she could embrace Jake Murdoch too.

Jack can't remember a time he was so confused. Hattie is off-limits. The provoking spitfire is under his mother's protection - his protection - and he has always belonged to another. But now, with the passing of his wife, Jake feels something shift between them. Frustratingly aware of Hattie as a woman, he struggles with new feelings, new questions, new desires.

But when a desperate decision born of good intentions turns out to have ugly repercussions, Hattie confronts a cruel reality she can no longer ignore: the truth of where women really stand and the actions men take to keep them there. To navigate her new world of tainted justice and privileged order, Hattie will draw on the strength of women around her - and Jake will learn what it truly means to support the woman he loves.

Review: This book is a challenge to review. I liked it, but it contains a lot of graphic sex, not all of it consensual. There are cringe-y moments, and there are moments that are completely sweet and endearing. Women are tough, and women have been under-estimated throughout history.

Tumbleweeds

Author: Leila Meacham
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing, 2013
Pages: 480
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Recently orphaned, eleven-year-old Cathy Benson feels she has been dropped into a cultural and intellectual wasteland when she is forced to move from her academically privileged life in California to the small town of Kersey in the Texas Panhandle where the sport of football reigns supreme. She is quickly taken under the unlikely wings of up-and-coming gridiron stars and classmates John Caldwell and Trey Don Hall, orphans like herself, with whom she forms a friendship and eventual love triangle that will determine the course of the rest of their lives.

Taking the three friends through their growing up years until their high school graduations when several tragic events uproot and break them apart, the novel expands to follow their careers and futures until they reunite in Kersey at forty years of age.

Review: Full disclosure, while Leila Meacham is one of my favorite authors, I struggled three times prior to read this novel. I just couldn't get past the first chapter, for whatever reason. I decided 2022 was my year. 

For some reason, it clicked this time.

In typical Meacham fashion, this is a family saga, though it doesn't cover the breadth that Roses, along with it's prequel and sequel do. We meet the main characters when they are 11 years old. However, it wasn't until they turned about 18 that this novel really took off, and I was hooked.

It took time, but these characters worked their way into my thoughts throughout the day, always the sign of a good novel.

Sadly Leila Meacham passed away from cancer in 2021 with an unpublished manuscript. From what I've read, her family plans to release this novel as well, which I also cannot wait to read.

Other Leila Meacham Novels
April Storm
Aly's House
Crowning Design
Roses
Ryan's Hand
Somerset
The Dragonfly
Titans

Send for Me

Author: Lauren Fox
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Knopf Publishing Company, 2021
Pages: 272
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: Based on the author's own family letters, Send for Me tells the story of Annelise, a young woman in prewar Germany. Growing up working at her parents' popular bakery, she's always imagined a future full of delicious possibilities. Despite rumors that anti-Jewish sentiment is on the rise, Annelise and her parents can't quite believe it will affect them; they're hardly religious. But as she falls in love, marries, and gives birth to her daughter, the dangers grow closer. Soon Annelise and her husband are given the chance to leave for America, but they must go without her parents, whose future and safety are uncertain.

Two generations later in a small Midwestern city, Annelise's granddaughter, Clare, is a young woman newly in love. But when she stumbles upon a trove of letters her great-grandmother wrote from Germany after Annelise's departure, she sees the history of her family's sacrifices in a new light, leading her to question whether she can still honor the past while planning for her future.

Review: This is my favorite book of the year thus far. I started reading and was hooked on the first few pages, and I flew through it. I loved the story and I loved the way it developed. The format of this won't appeal to everyone, but it spoke to me.

Digging In

Author: Loretta Nyhan
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Amazon Publishing, 2018
Pages: 252
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Paige Moresco found her true love in eighth grade - and lost him two years ago. Since his death, she's been sleepwalking through life, barely holding on for the sake of her teenage son. Her house is a wreck, the grass is overrun with weeds, and she's at risk of losing her job. As Paige stares at her neglected lawn, she knows she's hit rock bottom. So she does something entirely unexpected: she begins to dig.

As the hole gets bigger, Paige decides to turn her entire yard into a vege
table garden. The neighbors in her tidy gated community are more than a little alarmed. Paige knows nothing about gardening, and she's boldly flouting neighborhood-association bylaws. But with the help of new friends, a charming local cop, and the transformative power of the soil, Paige starts to see potential in the chaos of her life. Something big is beginning to take root - both in her garden and in herself.

Review: I plucked this book off the shelf as I was passing through the library. I liked the cover, and it sounded like it had potential. I was drawn into this cast of characters in chapter 1. I could relate to the main character as a mom who's gone on remote control at work. Loved this novel.