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Book Review: The Secrets We Keep by Trisha Leaver

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Secrets We KeepMaddy and Ella, identical twin sisters in their senior year of high school, were best friends since birth… right up until the first week of freshman year, when Maddy’s pursuit of popularity led her to dump quiet, artistic Ella and become the belle of the ball. From that moment onward, the two occupied a home together, but had next to nothing in common. Maddy was always at the center of the in-demand social circle, busy with perfect boyfriend Alex, and obsessed with looks, clothes, and status. Ella found a new best friend, Josh, who shared her interests in art and anime and became her constant companion.

That’s all backstory. Early on in The Secrets We Keep, tragedy strikes. On a rainy night, on the way home from a party, Maddy’s car goes off the road and one twin is killed, the other seriously injured. But who survived? As it turns out, Ella had driven Maddy’s car to pick her sister up — and because Maddy’s clothes were soaked from waiting in the rain, Ella gave Maddy her coat and sweatshirt.

The driver is pulled alive from the wreck, while the other sister is dead at the scene. The car is Maddy’s; the driver is presumed to be Maddy — especially since the dead girl is wearing Ella’s clothes.

When Ella wakes up in the hospital, she at first has no recollection of her name or her circumstances. But there’s a boy holding her hand, dozens of flower bouquets in her room from her many friends, and the name “Maddy” written on the board in her room. She assumes she herself is Maddy, and it’s not until she insists on seeing her dead twin in the morgue that her own memories come flooding back.

And here’s where my belief in this story pretty much went out the window: Ella feels tremendously guilty for causing her sister’s death. She sees how happy her parents are when she wakes up and they greet her as “Maddy”, and she hears from Alex and the nurses how many of “her” friends are crammed into the halls and waiting rooms, cheering for her survival. Ella decides on the spot that her parents wouldn’t be happy if they knew the survivor was Ella, not Maddy. Furthermore, she decides that she owes Maddy a debt for killing her, and the way to make it up to her is to live her life. So Ella keeps her own identity a secret and vows to live Maddy’s life, which becomes a bit harder once she has to attend her own funeral and act like her best friend Josh means nothing to her.

Hoo boy. Things unravel from there. Ella uncovers a dark secret about a very not-nice plot of Maddy’s. Ella does a not-very-good job of impersonating Maddy when she goes back to school, breaking all sorts of rules about appearance, bitchiness, and maintaining mean girl status quo. Instead of going to her own honors classes and maintaining her perfect grades, Ella follows Maddy’s undemanding schedule and has to force herself to dumb down her test performance. In short, it’s a mess.

Does any of this make sense? Not really. Ella’s thinking can be chalked up to shock at first, but she’s really much too smart a girl to actually believe that her parents are happy that Maddy survived and she didn’t. And I couldn’t see any logic in the idea of living Maddy’s life as a way to repay her sister. Maddy is still dead, after all. How can pretending to be her make a difference? And then there’s Ella’s belief that Maddy being alive makes so many more people happy — why does this matter to Ella? She doesn’t even like these people.

It’s really a ridiculous situation, and I found it pretty much impossible to buy the premise. As clichéd as the old stand-by amnesia plot is, the whole set-up here would have been much more plausible if Ella hadn’t regained her memories. If she actually believed herself to be Maddy, it would be interesting to see her trying to piece her life back together, when it was never actually hers. But having Ella pretend to be Maddy for the flimsiest of reasons just defies all logic. The piece about her parents really irritated me, to be honest. So they bury Ella and try to rebuild their lives with Maddy — and then when the truth comes out, they’re forced into a brand-new mourning period for the daughter they believed to be alive, yet they’re supposed to now be overjoyed by Ella’s survival? It’s just weird and cruel, and I felt that Ella’s treatment of her parents was especially callous.

I realize this all sounds as though I didn’t like The Secrets We Keep at all, and that’s not entirely the case. On the more positive side, the writing itself is fast-paced and kept my attention, so even though I kept exclaiming over how unbelievable the plot was, I also didn’t want to put the book down. Granted, a part of me wanted to keep reading to see if there was some great twist coming or if the ending would justify it all. And, well, no, that’s not what happened… but still, I did keep reading and I did want to see how it worked out, so there’s that.

Not every book is for every reader, and despite having a premise — at least according to the synopsis — that sounded really intriguing, the final result just didn’t work for me.

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The details:

Title: The Secrets We Keep
Author: Trisha Leaver
Publisher: Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group
Publication date: April 28, 2015
Length: 304 pages
Genre: Young adult contemporary fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley

 

Audiobook Review: A Cold Day for Murder by Dana Stabenow

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Cold Day 2This review refers to the audiobook edition of A Cold Day for Murder by Dana Stabenow, book #1 in the Kate Shugak mystery series.

In A Cold Day for Murder, author Dana Stabenow gives us a chilly introduction to life in the Alaska Bush… and I mean that in the best way possible.

The book opens with a wonderful set piece — two men on a snowmobile crossing miles of undeveloped, snow-covered land on their way to a remote homestead, so cold that ice cracks off their faces as they talk. Their destination is the home of Kate Shugak, a former investigator for the Anchorage DA’s office, now living in self-imposed isolation way out in the middle of nowhere. The men are Kate’s former boss and lover, Jack Morgan, and an ill-prepared FBI man, dressed in a fancy suit and dress shoes under his snowsuit. Their goal? To convince Kate to resume her crazy talent for investigating and help them look into the case of a missing park ranger and the agent who went looking for him, now also missing.

Kate is 30-years-old, an Alaska native with strong family ties to the nearby Niniltna Park region and its tiny settlements. She’s also emotionally and physically damaged, having suffered a major injury on her last case in Anchorage. Kate is reluctant and hostile, but ultimately agrees to help out when she hears that the missing agent is someone she dated on and off and whom she first introduced to the park. She feels responsible, so she embarks (with her enormous dog Mutt) to visit the neighboring homesteads, the town of Niniltna, the local roadhouse — only place to get a drink in the area short of flying to Anchorage — and various relatives and townsfolk, most of whom she’s known all her life.

I sometimes struggle to keep my attention in focus when I listen to audiobooks, but in this case, no struggle was required. I quickly became fascinated by the characters, the mystery, the setting, and the amazing descriptions. Kate is a terrific heroine — talented, sharp, tough as nails, but with a vulnerability stemming from both her own wounds and from her deep connections to every single person whom she faces as she attempts to collect clues.

The townsfolk are exactly what you’d hope for: Quirky and odd, devoted to their little patch of land, fiercely proud, gruff and lovable. They’re an interesting mix of natives, immigrants from “Outside” who came and never left, government officials, and tribal elders. Beneath the frontier attitudes, there’s passion and politics, which prove to be quite a volatile mix.

The issues in the missing persons case involve more conflicts than you might think possible — the conflict between developers, miners, and “greenies”, the urge to open the Park to all versus the locals’ desire to preserve things as they are, the demands of the tribal elders trying to maintain their community versus the aimlessness of the young who desperately seek a way out. With a deft touch, the author introduces us to all of these elements through the people Kate encounters, but it’s never heavy-handed.

The mystery itself is multi-layered, and Kate’s investigation turns up all sorts of bad apples and surprise twists before it’s all sorted out.

As you can see, I enjoyed A Cold Day for Murder very much. I’m not generally much of a mystery reader, but the plot and the characters really grabbed me from the very beginning and kept me hooked.

Will I continue with the series? There are 20 Kate Shugak novels published so far, and that seems like an awful lot to bite off. I don’t feel the need to consume them all at once in a massive binge… but I do think I’ll dip back into this series in between other books and slowly work my way forward.

Teeny confession: I’m more than a little bit in love with Alaska, so reading a book series centered on Alaskan lives and highlighting the gorgeous natural terrain and animals of Alaska is a big thrill for me.

Fun fact: Dana Stabenow won the 1993 Edgar Award for best paperback original for A Cold Day for Murder. And in the Kindle version, at least, she tells a very amusing story of herself as a young author flying from Alaska to New York City for the award ceremony. Read it, if you get a chance!

And a final note on the audiobook: Two thumbs up for narrator Marguerite Gavin! She does a remarkable job of giving the various characters distinct voices that absolutely suit them. Truly a very fun and engaging listening experience — you can hear a sample here via Audible.

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The details:

Title: A Cold Day for Murder
Author: Dana Stabenow
Narrator: Marguerite Gavin
Publisher: Various print editions available
Publication date: 1992
Length: 212 pages (print edition); 5 hours 31 minutes (audiobook)
Genre: Mystery
Source: Download via Audible

Blog Tour & Book Review: The Hurricane Sisters by Dorothea Benton Frank

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I’m delighted to be participating in the blog tour celebrating the paperback release of The Hurricane Sisters by Dorothea Benton Frank.

Hurricane Sisters

Synopsis:

Hurricane season begins early and rumbles all summer long, well into September. Often people’s lives reflect the weather and The Hurricane Sisters is just such a story.

Once again Dorothea Benton Frank takes us deep into the heart of her magical South Carolina Lowcountry on a tumultuous journey filled with longings, disappointments, and, finally, a road toward happiness that is hard earned. There we meet three generations of women buried in secrets. The determined matriarch, Maisie Pringle, at eighty, is a force to be reckoned with because she will have the final word on everything, especially when she’s dead wrong. Her daughter, Liz, is caught up in the classic maelstrom of being middle-age and in an emotionally demanding career that will eventually open all their eyes to a terrible truth. And Liz’s beautiful twenty-something daughter, Ashley, whose dreamy ambitions of her unlikely future keeps them all at odds.

Luckily for Ashley, her wonderful older brother, Ivy, is her fierce champion but he can only do so much from San Francisco where he resides with his partner. And Mary Beth, her dearest friend, tries to have her back but even she can’t talk headstrong Ashley out of a relationship with an ambitious politician who seems slightly too old for her.

Actually, Ashley and Mary Beth have yet to launch themselves into solvency. Their prospects seem bleak. So while they wait for the world to discover them and deliver them from a ramen-based existence, they placate themselves with a hare-brained scheme to make money but one that threatens to land them in huge trouble with the authorities.

So where is Clayton, Liz’s husband? He seems more distracted than usual. Ashley desperately needs her father’s love and attention but what kind of a parent can he be to Ashley with one foot in Manhattan and the other one planted in indiscretion? And Liz, who’s an expert in the field of troubled domestic life, refuses to acknowledge Ashley’s precarious situation. Who’s in charge of this family? The wake-up call is about to arrive.

The Lowcountry has endured its share of war and bloodshed like the rest of the South, but this storm season we watch Maisie, Liz, Ashley, and Mary Beth deal with challenges that demand they face the truth about themselves. After a terrible confrontation they are forced to rise to forgiveness, but can they establish a new order for the future of them all?

Frank, with her hallmark scintillating wit and crisp insight, captures how a complex family of disparate characters and their close friends can overcome anything through the power of love and reconciliation. This is the often hilarious, sometimes sobering, but always entertaining story of how these unforgettable women became The Hurricane Sisters.

My Thoughts:

In The Hurricane Sisters, we meet three generations of Southern women, including dynamo matriarch Maisie, her daughter Liz, and granddaughter Ashley. All three have secrets, all three have struggles.

Maisie is the quintessential 80-year-old who’s lived long enough to tell it like it is. Her romantic relationship with (gasp!) a younger man, the 65-year-old who was originally hired to be her driver, scandalizes Liz and Clayton, but their own relationship isn’t exactly a bed of roses. Maisie is the absolute life of the party in this book — she’s feisty, opinionated, funny, and full of passion. She’s also not afraid to tell the hard truths and give out some pretty stern advice, which is exactly what some of these confused family members need.

When Ashley becomes infatuated with a rising state politican, everyone in the family warns her to watch out. In Charleston, anyone of good family knows everyone else’s business, and Porter Galloway has an unsavory reputation that’s only whispered at. Meanwhile, on the surface, he’s all Southern charm and good looks, and Ashley is too swept up in her dreams of being the next Jackie O. to take the warnings seriously.

Of course, the various threads all come together in interesting and unexpected ways… and of course, Maisie is right about everything!

The dark thread throughout this mostly upbeat novel is violence against women. Liz is a fundraiser for a women’s shelter, and through her pitches to prospective donors, we learn some of the bleak and staggering facts about the incredibly high numbers of domestic violence cases in the US, as well as the fact that South Carolina is among the worst on record in terms of domestic homicide and violence. It’s not exactly a surprise when a certain character is revealed to be abusive, but it’s still startling and harrowing to read and to see how easily this person manages to hide in plain sight and continue carrying out abusive acts in relationship after relationship.

I was annoyed initially to see Ashley’s naiveté, especially knowing her mother’s work. But I think this book makes a very good point, that it’s one thing to know academically what abuse is and what it looks like, and quite another thing to recognize it in real life without prettying it up with denial and excuses. I won’t go into too much detail here as I don’t want to give away any major plot points, but let’s just say that what I initially thought was a too-light response to terrible acts turns into major empowerment as the family comes together to make sure that abusive behavior is not swept under the rug.

I ended up loving all of the family relationships, the intricacies of their connections and interdependence, and the various ways they all misunderstand one another. By hearing the story from mulitple points of view, we’re treated to the inside scoop on why an action that one family member finds incomprehensible actually makes complete sense and has a totally different meaning when explained by someone else.

An especially delightful component of this book is the lush description of the Charleston area. The author does a splendid job of conveying the beauty of the Lowcountry, and made me absolutely mad with nostalgia (I lived in Charleston once upon a time for a couple of years) and dying for a return visit.

If you enjoy books that include family drama, quirky characters, and humorous dialogue — but aren’t afraid to tackle more serious subjects as well — definitely check out The Hurricane Sisters. Now available in paperback, it’s a slice of Southern fiction that I think would make a great beach read this summer.

About the Author:

Dorothea-Benton-FrankNew York Times bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank was born and raised on Sullivans Island, South Carolina. She is the author of many New York Times bestselling novels, including Lowcountry Summer and Return to Sullivans Island. She resides in the New York area with her husband.

Find her on the web at www.dotfrank.com, and connect with her on Facebook and Twitter.

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The details:

Title: The Hurricane Sisters
Author: Dorothea Benton Frank
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication date: 2014 (paperback released April 7, 2015)
Length: 320 pages
Genre: Adult contemporary fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of TLC Book Tours

tlc logoFor further information, stop by TLC Book Tours to view other blog tour hosts.

 

Take A Peek Book Review: Prudence by Gail Carriger

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“Take a Peek” book reviews are short and (possibly) sweet, keeping the commentary brief and providing a little peek at what the book’s about and what I thought.


prudence

Synopsis:

(via Goodreads)

When Prudence Alessandra Maccon Akeldama (Rue to her friends) is given an unexpected dirigible, she does what any sensible female would under similar circumstances – names it the Spotted Custard and floats to India in pursuit of the perfect cup of tea. But India has more than just tea on offer. Rue stumbles upon a plot involving local dissidents, a kidnapped brigadier’s wife, and some awfully familiar Scottish werewolves. Faced with a dire crisis and an embarrassing lack of bloomers, what else is a young lady of good breeding to do but turn metanatural and find out everyone’s secrets, even thousand-year-old fuzzy ones?

My Thoughts:

First disclaimer: I absolutely adored Gail Carriger’s first series, The Parasol Protectorate, which is (so to speak) the parent of her new series, The Custard Protocol.

Second disclaimer: I felt mostly led down by the author’s YA series (The Finishing School), which was published in between these two, and in fact I did not continue reading past the first book.

So where do I stand in terms of Prudence?

One could not blame a people for disliking vampires. Vampires were like Brussels sprouts — not for everyone and impossible to improve upon with sauce. There were even those in London who disapproved of Dama, and he was very saucy indeed.

Like Brussels sprouts and vampires, I’m afraid that Prudence isn’t for everyone… and sadly, it ended up not really being for me. Even with sauce.

I had very high hopes. The character Prudence is the metanatural offspring of the unforgettable Alexia Tarabotti, heroine of the Parasol Protectorate books, and her ultra-sexy (and furry) Scottish werewolf husband, Conall Maccon. Prudence is also the adopted daughter of fan favorite Lord Akeldama, a highly fashionable vampire who has an impeccable sense of proper social behavior and expects his little ward to always be appropriately attired.

In the novel, Prudence (who prefers Rue, thank you very much) almost immediately takes to the air on board her very own dirigible (painted to resemble a giant ladybug), along with her best friend Primrose (that would be Ivy Hisselpenny’s daughter, for you PP fans), Prim’s twin brother Percy, and Quesnel, a dashing young man with the most exquisite violet eyes. Off they float to India, encountering along the way a variety of shapeshifters, troublesome (and unattractive) vampires, and all sorts of officials who keep getting in their way. Our intrepid little crew has a jolly time dodging danger, solving mysteries, and having many cups of tea. This being a steampunk world, there are also lots of gadgets and gizmos, steam-powered elephant head trams, and a challenging journey through the aetherosphere.

I could tell it wasn’t quite gelling for me by the very fact that I seemed to constantly find other things to do rather than read. There’s nothing terribly wrong with Prudence… but it really felt like just more of the same to me. It’s all very quippy and sharp:

“Virgil?”

“Yes, Lady Captain?”

“Keep an eye to the accessories, please. There may be a lioness around with a taste for parasols.”

“Is that some kind of code, Lady Captain?”

“My dear young man, I only wish it were.”

There are lots of detailed descriptions of the clothes and the machinery — but it just doesn’t feel new any more. The characters here are mildly entertaining, but there are only the briefest glimpses of Alexia and Conall, and the younger generation simply can’t hold a candle to them. It’s fun to see Lord Akeldama and some of the familiar werewolves again, but this story is really about Rue and company, and I didn’t find their characters particularly compelling or engaging.

Will I read the next book in the series (Imprudence, scheduled for release in 2016)? Let’s put it this way: If someone hands me a copy, or if I happen to see it at the library on a day when I’m in between books, then sure, I’ll give it a go. But I definitely don’t feel the need to track it down the second it’s released, and if I don’t read it, that’s okay too.

I know people have asked whether this book is for adults or young adults. My answer is — I don’t know. I believe the book is being marketed as adult fiction, but with 20-year-old main characters having very larky adventures and only a hint of romance and future lustiness, it could really go either way.

Listen, this book may absolutely delight many, many readers. For me personally, it felt like a much-anticipated visit back to a cherished vacation spot… only to find upon arrival that it’s not quite as delightful the second time around. Prudence doesn’t tread enough new ground or have characters who grab me enough to make the repeat visit to this world feel fresh.

Gail Carriger is an amazing writer with a flair for funny one-liners and a talent for inventing worlds that seem familiar but are most decidedly other. I hope that she’ll create new worlds to delight us with in the future, and I look forward to reading about them when she does.

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The details:

Title: Prudence
Author: Gail Carriger
Publisher: Orbit
Publication date: March 17, 2015
Length: 368 pages
Genre: Steampunk, adult/young adult fiction
Source: Purchased

Book Review: The Truth About Us by Janet Gurtler

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Truth About Us17-year-old Jess has what might seem to be an ideal life: She lives in a huge house in an upscale neighborhood, drives an Audi, and is sent out shopping for whatever she likes, parents’ credit card in hand. She goes to the best parties, where she and her bestie Nance get over-the-top drunk and flirt (and then some) with the best boys. Jess’s party-girl persona is a cover, though — a way for Jess to escape the worries and sorrows that have plagued her ever since a family tragedy two years earlier.

That doesn’t stop her from going too far, and when Jess is busted for daytime drinking, topless sunbathing, and a ridiculously expensive impulse buy on EBay, she’s sentenced to a horrible fate: Jess’s dad forces her to commit to daily “volunteer” work at the local soup kitchen. But Daaaaaad… you can practically hear her whining. So unfair.

Little by little, Jess comes to see the value in what she’s doing. Sure, the shelter is in a seedy part of town, serving lunch to all sorts of homeless riff-raff. And yes, the rest of the shelter volunteer crew and staff look at her as a spoiled little rich girl who’ll never fit in, unable to even walk to the corner bus stop without an escort. But when Jess meets the gorgeous Flynn and his adorable little brother, who come regularly for lunch and then stay to lend a hand, Jess’s heart begins to melt. Not only is she falling for Flynn hard, but she’s also made friends with an old man named Wilf, a widower and the shelter’s benefactor whose grumpy exterior hides the soul of a true romantic… and Wilf can’t resist imparting his own words of wisdom to Jess, including the lesson that love is worth fighting for.

There’s a lot that gets in the way of Jess and Flynn’s exploding feelings. Jess’s dad may want her to learn a lesson by working at the shelter, but he certainly doesn’t want her socializing with a poor boy from a bad neighborhood. Jess’s friends don’t understand why she doesn’t want to drink, flirt, and hook up the way she used to. Flynn’s mother isn’t a fan of Jess, either; to her, Jess is slumming and will only hurt Flynn. But as the summer progresses, Jess and Flynn grow closer, and Jess finally starts to open up about the sadness that threatens to rip her own family apart.

The Truth About Us tackles the subjects of privilege and economic challenges in a thoughtful and sensitive manner. Jess does really seem to have it all — but as the book shows us, even a perfect exterior can hide fractures and difficulty. Granted, Jess never has to worry about the roof over her head or where her next meal is coming from, so I wouldn’t say that her struggles and Flynn’s are equivalent. Still, the story forces readers to acknowledge that pain comes in many forms, and people don’t just get handed happiness alongside their gold credit cards and expensive electronics.

There are moments when the subject becomes a bit clunky:

I use the computer in Dad’s office to go online, and most of the time end up googling things like poverty. My eyes are open to a lot of things I didn’t know about being poor. I always knew my family had money, but it always seemed like everyone else did too.

Googling poverty? It’s really that foreign a concept to her? It’s hard to keep rooting for Jess in certain moments, even though ultimately we know that her heart is in the right place.

The romance in The Truth About Us is perhaps meant to be more of a “forbidden love” than it really seems. Jess’s friends are horrified that she’d get involved with a poor boy. Both Jess’s dad and Flynn’s mother are opposed to the relationship, but they come around eventually. Flynn’s own sense of responsibility toward his mother and brother keep him away from Jess for a time, but we know that these two feel instantly connected and that they’re fated to be together. The obstacles never appear to be truly insurmountable, and it’s not really a surprise when they manage to work things out.

This review perhaps sounds less positive than I actually feel about the book. The writing is witty and sensitive, and I liked the cast of characters very much. The secondary characters, especially Wilf and Jess’s former best friend Penny, are good people with a lot of heart. The story of the disintegration of Jess’s family and their slow steps toward healing is terribly sad, and it’s easy to see how Jess’s life became such a mess. She’s clearly a decent person who means well, cares for others, and wants to make a difference — and once she fights her way out from under her rich girl persona, she starts to grow into the person she wants to be.

I did feel that the realities of homelessness and poverty were a little sugar-coated, and that Jess didn’t see the truth of just how bad things could really be. However, The Truth About Us does show that it’s possible for people from such drastically different worlds to connect in a meaningful way, once they get past their preconceptions and prejudices. I haven’t seen many YA books confronting these issues, and the author should be commended for tackling the topic of economic disadvantage and differences in a way that will hopefully open readers’ eyes.

For more by this author, check out my review of her terrific previous novel, 16 Things I Thought Were True.

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The details:

Title: The Truth About Us
Author: Janet Gurtler
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Publication date: April 7, 2015
Length: 304 pages
Genre: Young adult fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of Sourcebooks Fire via NetGalley

Book Review: Inside the O’Briens by Lisa Genova

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Inside the O'BriensAuthor Lisa Genova is a neuroscientist who explores the mysteries of the brain in novels such as Still Alice and Left Neglected. In her newest work, Inside the O’Briens, she writes about the harrowing impact of Huntington’s disease (HD), explaining not just the physical symptoms and deterioration but what a diagnosis of HD means to a family.

The O’Briens are a large, working class Irish Catholic family who live and breathe the essence of Charlestown, their Boston neighborhood. They know everyone; everyone knows them. They are devoted to the Red Sox and Bruins, they give back to their community, and they raise their kids to be good Townies too. Parents Joe and Rosie married as teenagers. Now in their forties, they have a happy marriage, and enjoy the company of their four children, who — rain or shine — never miss Sunday dinner.

Joe has been a cop for 25 years. Their eldest son JJ is a firefighter who lives in one unit of their triplex building with his wife Colleen. Their second son, Patrick, tends bar and lives with Joe and Rosie. Daughters Meghan and Katie share the third unit; Meghan is a dancer with the Boston Ballet and Katie is a yoga instructor. The family is loud and boisterous, good-humored, and utterly enmeshed in each others’ lives.

And then things start to go wrong. Joe’s temper is more volatile than it used to be. He drops things more and more frequently. He’s having a hard time finishing reports, and keeps moving in ways that he doesn’t mean to. When his symptoms can no longer be ignored, he reluctantly goes to the doctor, and after testing and genetic counseling, he’s given a diagnosis no one has ever even heard of: Huntington’s disease.

HD is a neurodegenerative disease that’s unrelenting and cruel: If you test positive for the HD gene, you will get the disease — and your children have a 50/50 chance of inheriting it from you. There is no treatment and no cure. HD patients lose control of their movements, have trouble with coordination and with modulating their emotions, and eventually cannot speak, swallow, or move on their own. Symptoms typically appear in the 30s or 40s, and death follows within 10 to 20 years.

As bad as the news is for Joe, there are still more devastating implications: What about his children? Each has a 50% chance of having the HD gene. All are currently healthy, so the question is, do they want to know? There’s nothing iffy about being gene positive; it means that you definitely will have the disease. Each of Joe’s children must make the decision about testing, and each has his or her own set of fears to confront in making that life-altering decision.

Inside the O’Briens is a sad and beautiful look at the trauma and turmoil caused by fatal illness. The O’Briens are a blessedly large and loving family, but even so, there’s nothing easy about what they must endure. Joe has his pride and his sense of self-worth wrapped up in his identity as a Boston cop. If he has to give up his badge and gun, who will he be? What does it mean for Rosie if her husband becomes an invalid in his 40s? How can Rosie and Joe deal not just with his illness, but with knowing that their children may face the exact same fate?

Meanwhile, the implications for each O’Brien child are all different but equally awful: JJ and Colleen are expecting their first child. If JJ is gene positive, what does it mean for the baby? Meghan is a gifted dancer. How can she face losing her her grace and ability? Patrick is the biggest enigma in the book, and the least developed. He’s angry and volatile throughout much of the story, and it’s hard to get a sense of what he is really about. Are his fights and unpredictability just personality traits, or are they warning signs of an early onset of HD?

Of all of the O’Brien children, we get to know Katie, the youngest, best of all. We switch between Joe and Katie’s viewpoints throughout the book and see much of the unfolding drama through her eyes. Katie is practically paralyzed by fear of HD and what it may mean for her future. She spends much of the book torn between wanting to know and not wanting to know. She’s in love and on the verge of a new life with a wonderful man who loves her, but can she move forward with him if she’s gene positive? Is it fair to focus on her future when her father needs her? Every time Katie teaches a yoga class and feels a pose wobble, she launches into anxiety over whether the wobble is an early symptom — but will she feel better knowing, or is it better to hold onto a hope of escaping HD for as long as possible?

I realize that this review is full of questions, and that’s because the book raises so very many of them. From this book, I learned that most people at risk for HD choose not to undergo genetic testing unless and until they become symptomatic. There are 37,000 Huntington’s patients right now, and very little progress has been made in treating the disease other than finding ways to ameliorate some of the symptoms through medication and physical therapy. Lisa Genova includes a call to action at the end of the book, and her website (http://lisagenova.com/hdsa/) encourages readers to donate funds to support Huntington’s Disease research.

Reading Inside the O’Briens is fascinating and moving. I loved the O’Brien family — their loyalty, their faith in one another, their sense of goodness and determination. Nothing is sugar-coated — this disease is terrible, and the family members suffer tremendously. I can’t even imagine how awful it must be to watch a parent’s deterioration and the pain that causes, while at the same time knowing that you could be witnessing your own future as well.

The struggles of Joe and Rosie and their children are vivid and sympathetic, and yet the book does not bog down in tragedy. True Boston pride shines through, and the family’s humor, faith, and sense of belonging are all key components in how they cope in the face of disaster.

Perhaps the only part of the story that I felt should have been more fleshed out relates to Joe figuring out how to end his career and manage his finances so that Rosie wouldn’t be left with nothing. The legal and financial effects of a terminal illness are huge, and while I realize that the point of the story is the emotional impact on the family, I did feel that this side of the situation should have been explored further. This is my only quibble with this book, and in the grand scheme of things, it’s minor.

Inside the O’Briens is a deeply affecting look at a horrible disease, but it’s also a beautiful portrayal of the strength, caring, and love of a very special family. Lisa Genova does a wonderful job of bringing us into the O’Briens’ lives and making us care about them, while at the same time imparting vital information about a little-known disease. Highly recommended.

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The details:

Title: Inside the O’Briens
Author: Lisa Genova
Publisher: Gallery Books
Publication date: April 7, 2015
Length: 352 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of Gallery Books via NetGalley

A two-person review: Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

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Good Omens 2I had the great fortune of attending a Neil Gaiman appearance two weeks ago, which occurred on the day of the late Terry Pratchett’s death. Hearing Neil Gaiman speak with great warmth and emotion about his long friendship with Terry Pratchett and their marvelous collaborations made me realize that I had to read Good Omens without further delay… and many people felt the same way, including my good friend Heidi.

Heidi is a real-life friend who is also one of my very favorite book people. She attended the Neil Gaiman event with me**, and  also just read Good Omens this past week. (Her second time; my first). I was going to get to work on a review of Good Omens, and then I saw Heidi’s Goodreads review, which is wonderful and really says it all.

**We even got a picture with Neil Gaiman! However… I think I look hideous and she looks great. Heidi is convinced that she looks hideous and I’m actually okay. End result? We’re not posting the picture.

With Heidi’s permission, I’m featuring her words on Good Omens as a guest review:

4751840Heidi‘s review

Mar 28, 15
5 of 5 stars

This was my introduction to Neil Gaiman. I have a first edition hardback, thanks to my dad, who, browsing in a bookstore one day in 1990, picked it up and thought: “This is something my daughter would like.” He had no idea. He subsequently read it himself, and to this day nurses a crush on War.

This past March 12, the date on which you might remember Sir Terry Pratchett took one last walk with an old friend, I had the improbable good/bad luck to attend an evening of conversation with Neil Gaiman. It was clear Neil was tired, and sad, but he was there. He didn’t cancel, and he very gracefully took time to chat and pose for pics at the reception beforehand. He was exactly as charming and approachable as any fan could hope.*

The talk itself, with Gaiman’s close friend Michael Chabon acting as interviewer, was meant to support his new story collection Trigger Warning, but we were in for an unscheduled surprise when it turned into a sad, funny, moving eulogy for Sir Terry. Gaiman, as he does so well, told stories. He told us about how, as a young journalist, he met his early mentor and lifelong friend Terry Pratchett. He talked about long phone calls during their pre-Internet collaboration on Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch. He told funny Terry stories. And he spoke proudly about Pratchett’s brave struggle with Alzheimer’s and his very public campaign for death with dignity.

And finally, he read from this book.Which is a round-about way of getting to why I decided to reread Good Omens when I have a giant stack of new books waiting for me. This book — the story of the coming of the Antichrist (a spunky boy called Adam who’s maybe a little too rebellious for the position), and of an angel and a demon who team up to thwart the Apocalypse because they kind of like things just as they are, thank you very much — is just as delightful as it was in 1990. And from here in 2015, it gains unexpected emotional heft as a Bradbury-esque fable of that not-so-long-gone time when kids actually went out to play and make trouble of a summer day. It’s still Douglas Adams-level silly, but there’s nothing wrong with that, and its influence on the fantasy genre is undeniable. And under the comic veneer is a keen study of human (and angelic and demonic) fallibility, and the joys and responsibilities of exercising our freewill. Upgraded from four to five stars. A classic.

*In case anyone is interested in what happened when I had my chance to chat with Neil-freaking-Gaiman, I have to admit I was a little star-struck. I managed to blurt out how much I loved his screenplay for the Doctor Who episode “The Doctor’s Wife.” In it, the TARDIS is enabled to manifest in a human body, and for the first time actually “meet” the Doctor. There’s a moment, after she’s been embodied for a while, she points out how humans are rather like a TARDIS — much bigger on the inside. Neil’s eyes — I swear — actually twinkled, and he replied: “Yes . . . that was one of those moments when I thought — yes, I’ve done something clever right there.” That episode won the 2011 Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation and the 2012 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.

Heidi is an amazing reader and writer, and is a horror aficionado too — so if you’re looking for great reviews and recommendations, you should check her out on Goodreads!

My thoughts:

I’m not sure what I can say to add to Heidi’s words. I’m annoyed with myself for waiting so long to read Good Omens, when it was clear to me all along that I’d be sure to love this book. All the folks who say that Good Omens will appeal to Douglas Adams fans are entirely correct. There’s humor to be found in the bleakest of circumstances (like, oh, the end of the world), and Gaiman and Pratchett manage to keep Good Omens clever and funny even when it’s raining fish, Atlantis rises from the depths, and the Four Horsemen are abroad in the land, on motorcycles this time but utterly bad to the bone.

How can you not love a book in which Famine amuses himself in the 20th century by creating a calorie-less diet craze? Or where an angel and demon agree that the world is pretty okay, and that the true problem is nasty humans, not the temptations of hell? Throw in a vast assortment of characters, including a gang of four children known collectively as the Them (one of whom is also the Antichrist), a Hellhound who’s mostly a cuddly mutt, witchfinders, satanic nuns, and a very important delivery man, and you’ve got a book that’s just a pure joy to read.

I’ll wind up with a few random quotes and passages that made me chuckle:

It’s like you said the other day,” said Adam. “You grow up readin’ about pirates and cowboys and spacemen and stuff, and jus’ when  you think the world’s all full of amazin’ things, they tell you it’s really all dead whales and chopped-down forests and nuclear waste hangin’ about for millions of years. ‘Snot worth growin’ up for, if you ask my opinion.”

cropped-flourish-31609_12801.pngThe kraken stirs. And ten billion sushi dinners cry out for vengeance.

cropped-flourish-31609_12801.png“Oh, come on. Be sensible,” said Aziraphale, doubtfully.

“That’s not good advice,” said Crowley. “That’s not good advice at all. If you sit down and think about it sensibly, you come up with some very funny ideas. Like: why make people inquisitive, and then put some forbidden fruit where they can see it with a big neon finger flashing on and off saying ‘THIS IS IT!’?”

“I don’t remember any neon.”

cropped-flourish-31609_12801.pngSome police forces would believe anything. Not the Metropolitan police, though. The Met was the hardest, most cynically pragmatic, most stubbornly down-to-earth police force in Britain.

It would take a lot to faze a copper from the Met.

It would take, for example, a huge, battered car that was nothing more nor less than a fireball, a blazing, roaring, twisted metal lemon from Hell, driven by a grinning lunatic in sunglasses, sitting amid the flames, trailing thick black smoke, coming straight at them through the lashing rain and wind at eighty miles per hour.

That would do it every time.

If you’ve grinned a bit reading these passages, there’s nothing to do but rush right out and get a copy of Good Omens. It’s amazing. Enjoy!

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The details:

Title: Good Omens
Author: Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
Publisher: Various editions
Publication date: 1990
Length: 367 pages
Genre: Fantasy
Source: Borrowed (stolen) from my daughter’s bookshelf

Blog Tour & Book Review: The Witch of Painted Sorrows by M. J. Rose

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04_The Witch of Painted Sorrows_Blog Tour Banner_FINAL

I’m delighted to be participating in the blog tour ( courtesy of Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours) for the newest historical fiction release from M. J. Rose, author of The Collector of Dying Breaths, Seduction, and The Book of Lost Fragrances.

Publication Date: March 17, 2015
Atria Books
Formats: Hardcover, Ebook
Pages: 384

Genre: Historical Mystery

Possession. Power. Passion. International bestselling novelist M.J. Rose creates her most provocative and magical spellbinder yet in this erotic, gothic novel set against the lavish spectacle of 1890s Belle Époque Paris.

Sandrine Salome runs away to her grandmother’s Parisian mansion to escape her dangerous husband, but what she finds is even more menacing. The house, famous for its lavish art collection and elegant salons, is mysteriously closed up. Although her grandmother insists it’s dangerous for Sandrine to visit, she defies her and meets Julien Duplessi, a mesmerizing young architect. Together they explore the hidden night world of Paris, the forbidden occult underground and Sandrine’s deepest desires.

Among the bohemians and the demi-monde, Sandrine discovers her erotic nature as a lover and painter. Then darker influences threaten – her cold and cruel husband is tracking her down and something sinister is taking hold, changing Sandrine, altering her. She’s become possessed by La Lune: A witch, a legend and a sixteenth-century courtesan, who opens up her life to a darkness that may become a gift or a curse.

This is Sandrine’s “wild night of the soul,” her odyssey in the magnificent city of Paris, of art, love and witchery.

 

My thoughts:

The Witch of Painted Sorrows surprised me in all the right ways! Elegant, steamy, and haunting, The Witch of Painted Sorrows follows a young woman, Sandrine, as she seeks a new beginning away from her cruel husband and painful memories. She takes refuge with her grandmother, a renowned and sought-after courtesan, who seems fearful when Sandrine arrives unexpectedly in Paris. Sandrine’s grandmother’s cardinal rule has always been to never fall in love — but why? To remain free and unattached, admired but never trapped? Or is there something more to the warning, something perhaps much more sinister?

There’s so much to enjoy in The Witch of Painted Sorrows. We view the thriving, competitive world of art academies and ateliers, as Sandrine pursues her new-found calling. We see a young woman’s awakening to lust and sexual satisfaction. We also see the hidden world of occult enthusiasts, séances, alchemists, and more, as the odd occurrences that surround Sandrine become harder and harder for her to ignore.

I loved the many layers of the story, as the writing takes us through hints of dark secrets, supernatural phenomena, and human emotions. The answers aren’t as easy as they might seem, and it becomes increasingly difficult to know whether we’re seeing through Sandrine’s eyes or through the eyes of the obsessed spirit of La Lune. As an added bonus, the depiction of Paris at the end of the 19th century is stimulating and visceral, capturing the sense of grandeur on the cusp of a new, exciting era. The familiar Parisian landmarks add a touch of realism to the story, rooting it deeply in a particular time and place, and at the same time conveying the wonder of it all.

There are some wonderful characters in this story. Sandrine herself goes through the most startling and dramatic transformation, but I also really enjoyed her grandmother, a woman of sixty-six who’s vital, sexy, and smart, and absolutely knows how to use her brains and beauty to get her way. It’s refreshing to see a woman of her age who so clearly is still at the center of a non-stop crowd of adoring men. Sandrine’s lover, Julien, is also quite wonderful, and it’s easy to understand Sandrine’s connection to him. The sparks practically fly off the page!

All in all, I’d say that The Witch of Painted Sorrows is a skillfully drawn portrait of a moment in history, infused with a chilling supernatural element that adds a real shiver of fright to the story. And just wait until you get to that ending! With an enveloping atmosphere, characters who break free of their gender-defined, society-approved roles, and a family past shrouded in secrets, The Witch of Painted Sorrows is a compelling read that’s hard to put down. Don’t miss it!

Buy the Book

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About the Author

03_M.J. Rose AuthorM.J. Rose grew up in New York City, mostly in the labyrinthine galleries of the Metropolitan Museum, the dark tunnels and lush gardens of Central Park and reading her mother’s favorite books before she was allowed.

She is the author of more than a dozen novels, the co-president and founding board member of International Thriller Writers and the founder of the first marketing company for authors: AuthorBuzz.com. She lives in Greenwich, Connecticut. Visit her online at MJRose.com.

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Take A Peek Book Review: Black Dove, White Raven by Elizabeth Wein

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“Take a Peek” book reviews are short and (possibly) sweet, keeping the commentary brief and providing a little peek at what the book’s about and what I thought.


Black Dove White Raven 2

Synopsis:

(via Goodreads)

Rhoda and Delia are American stunt pilots who perform daring aerobatics to appreciative audiences. But while the sight of two girls wingwalking – one white, one black – is a welcome novelty in some parts of the USA, it’s an anathema in others. Rhoda and Delia dream of living in a world where neither gender nor ethnicity determines their life. When Delia is killed in a tragic accident, Rhoda is determined to make that dream come true. She moves to Ethiopia with her daughter, Em, and Delia’s son, Teo.

Em and Teo have adapted to scratching a living in a strange land, and feel at home here; but their parents’ legacy of flight and the ability to pilot a plane places them in an elite circle of people watched carefully by the Ethiopian emperor, Haile Selassie, who dreams of creating an air force for his fledgling nation. As Italy prepares for its invasion of Ethiopia, Em and Teo find themselves inextricably entangled in the crisis — and they are called on to help.

My Thoughts:

Sigh. I was so looking forward to this book, having absolutely loved (and been emotionally wrecked by) Code Name Verity and Rose Under Fire, also by Elizabeth Wein. Sadly, this new book simply does not measure up.

The synopsis is a bit misleading, for starter. Delia’s accident happens quite early in the story, and we get only a few glimpses of Rhoda and Delia’s friendship and flying adventures. Most of the book takes place in Ethiopia, after Rhoda brings Teo and Em there to start a new life. The book is told via Emilia and Teo’s flight logs, as they record their flying lessons plus their impressions of everything going on around them. While there are interesting snippets, in many ways the overall story feels disjointed and choppy. I didn’t feel that Rhoda’s plans were clearly established, and the ups and downs of their life in Ethiopia are conveyed in choppy episodes that don’t add up to a cohesive whole.

As an added distraction, the book seems to presuppose a certain amount of knowledge of the history of Ethiopia in the 1930s — and I’d guess that most of the target audience would have not the slightest clue. (I relied on Wikipedia to get a basic foundation for appreciating the geopolitics of the time, but how many YA readers would take the time to do this?)

There are some very interesting moments in Black Dove, White Raven, along with a series of dramatic and horrifying events toward the end of the book, but mostly it was a long haul that lacked a real sense of rhythm and flow.

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The details:

Title: Black Dove, White Raven
Author: Elizabeth Wein
Publisher: Electric Monkey
Publication date: March 5, 2015
Length: 480 pages
Genre: Historical fiction/young adult fiction
Source: Purchased

Take A Peek Book Review: In Falling Snow by Mary-Rose MacColl

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“Take a Peek” book reviews are short and (possibly) sweet, keeping the commentary brief and providing a little peek at what the book’s about and what I thought.

In Falling Snow

Synopsis:

(via Goodreads)

Iris Crane’s tranquil life is shattered when a letter summons memories from her bittersweet past: her first love, her best friend, and the tragedy that changed everything. Iris, a young Australian nurse, travels to France during World War I to bring home her fifteen-year-old brother, who ran away to enlist. But in Paris she meets the charismatic Dr. Frances Ivens, who convinces Iris to help establish a field hospital in the old abbey at Royaumont, staffed entirely by women—a decision that will change her life. Seamlessly interwoven is the story of Grace, Iris’s granddaughter in 1970s Australia. Together their narratives paint a portrait of the changing role of women in medicine and the powerful legacy of love.

My Thoughts:

In Falling Snow was my book club’s pick for March, and chances are it would never have crossed my radar otherwise. Written by an Australian author, In Falling Snow creates a fictional portrait of life at Royaumont, a real-life field hospital run by a completely female staff during World War I. I found the historical elements of this book the most compelling, witnessing the amazing bravery of the women doctors, nurses, orderlies, and drivers who refused to be pushed aside or belittled, who didn’t accept that women weren’t skilled or tough enough to perform surgery and treat wounded soldiers. The fact that this hospital really existed as described is so inspiring, and I was thrilled to read the author’s afterword with citations of her non-fiction sources.

The fictional characters and the structure of the novel are only middling successful, in my opinion. The storyline shifts between Iris as an old woman and her granddaughter Grace, an Australian obstetrician, and Iris’s memories of her war-time experiences at Royaumont. We’re meant to focus on Iris’s friendship with a fellow hospital staffer named Violet; Iris abruptly cut ties with all of her friends from that time immediately after the war, and it’s around Violet that her thoughts circle, but I didn’t feel the chapters on life at the hospital ever really convinced me that their friendship was so exceptionally special.

Iris is tormented by guilt over her younger brother Tom, and learning his fate and what it meant for Iris is one of the more compelling parts of the story. Early on, I was much more interested in Grace and her family, but her story comes and goes throughout the book and loses steam somehow, even though all the pieces come together by the end.

Overall, I’d say this historical novel is quite interesting in parts, but lacks momentum until about the last third of the book, making big pieces of it feel like a slog. I can’t quite put my finger on why, but there’s an odd detachment in long sections of the book. The events of Iris’s experience are described, but I couldn’t get any sense of feeling from them. On the positive side, the elements of the war experiences taken from the historical record are fascinating and horrifying, especially reading about the senseless deaths and terrible experiences of the young men who suffered so horribly in the trenches and battlefields. By the end, the revelation of the secrets that Iris carries throughout her life is a good one, and helps make sense of certain pieces of the novel that seemed random or disconnected.

In Falling Snow takes a bit of patience in parts, but ultimately, I’m glad to have read it. I recommend In Falling Snow for anyone interested in women’s roles in medicine and in reading about World War I- era history.

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The details:

Title: In Falling Snow
Author: Mary-Rose MacColl
Publisher: Penguin
Publication date: 2012
Length: 448 pages
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Purchased