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Charlie is a recently fired talk show star who feels unmoored. Her longtime lover wants to get married and is hurt to find resistance and their son off to college seems distant. She gets a call from her cousin Megan who gives her an interesting offer that she really can't refuse - Meg is dying and wants one more summer with the cousins at the family lake house in Minnesota. It doesn't matter that the aunts aren't speaking to one another or that the house has been boarded up after a tragic accident years ago or that one of the cousins is just out of prison. Charlie takes on the challenge and soon some of the family will be pulled into the snare. Spending the summer at the lake house will dredge up good times but also many unhappy memories will come to the surface. They need to go back and fix that summer to begin to survive this one. "Secrets of the YA-YA Sisterhood" meets "Young and the Restless" - this story cuts deep to the heart of the matter. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy. 
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A recently widowed woman along with her brother-in-law plan a last ditch effort to save their family fortune by going on a massive buffalo hunt. They venture from Kansas with a rag tag party and face indians, bad weather, vermin (both animal and man) all just to keep out of the poorhouse. Elizabeth is the perfect role model for the tough pioneer woman- independent, tough as nails, but still graceful under pressure and kind. Everything lives up to the title - savage people, savage animals and an even more savage landscape. Fans of the classic westerns will appreciate the author's use of language. He writes in a style that seems true to how they would have spoken. While the short formal sentences may make for more careful reading, the voice feels authentic.  Paul and his lovely wife, Mia are headed to their lake house for their best day ever. They have left their children in the hands of a young girl and are going to rekindle their marriage or are they? Paul loves his wife and has planned this weekend to show her how devoted he is or is it that Paul wants others to think he is the devoted husband and he really can't tolerate anyone who goes against his every desire. As the book progresses we begin to wonder if their relationship is all as it seems. Will this truly be their best day ever or is it the start of a nightmare they will never forget. Paul is the perfect unreliable narrator and you want to hate him but you will feel compelled to keep reading.  Jacob Koopman lives in Holland with his family as war breaks out and suddenly his world turns upside down. His father, eager to land a big account with Volkswagen for his lightbulbs, travels to Germany frequently and encourages Jacob and his brother to improve relations with them by sending the boys to a German summer camp. Soon after war is declared , the Koopmans begin to feel the sting of the Third Reich and also from the relentless bombs of the Allied troops. Jacob begins to help his Uncle sabotage the Germans while pretending to aid in ferrying troops and supplies using his Uncle's boat. With the war raining down hardships and Jacob's losses adding up he begins to lose his way and finds he can no longer help either side but just survive. He begins as a boat runner and ends as a boat runner. This tragic tale is one of many in an ugly war where families were torn apart and heroes made where yesterday children stood.  Ernst finds himself on his way to America after his Chinese dirt poor mother gives him up. Just as he finds his way at the boarding school/orphanage in Seattle, he is once again given away as the lottery prize at the World's Fair ending up at a high end brothel. After being reunited with his savoir on their dark voyage across the Pacific, Ernst meets Maisie and the three become inseparable. Fast forward to the 60's and Ernst is now fighting to help his wife remember their life together. When her memories unearth their real story, Ernst must decide to share what really happened with their daughters. This is a story of a great love, an undying spirit of hope and a true look at the immigrant experience in the States.  In early 1800's in Brittany, the Orchiere women led by Grandmere Ursule keep the old faith alive but always in secret. Persecuted by the church for witchcraft, they are hunted down and killed. Each generation of these women produce one daughter who will inherit the skill, power and the crystal tailsman but always it must be kept a secret. Some use the power for love, some for safety and others for less noble means. The book follows five generations of these women in language rich with historically vibrant stories. The storytelling of these women, both brave and devious, is magical. Historical fantasy at its best.  Classic coming of age story about the have and the have nots - about the choices we make that keep us going or haunt us forever. Mia and her daughter Pearl lead a nomadic existence but soon try to put down roots in Shaker Heights where the beautiful well off people live. They are lucky to be renting a small cottage nearby for a modest sum which still allows Mia to work odd jobs to support herself and Pearl but really focus on her art. Soon their landlords, The Richardson's lives and their own are woven tight as kids and the adults form relationships and friendships. Pearl gets on well with the Richardson kids and is soon spending more time with them than with her mom. Life is good until the past comes to light and present jealousies get in the way. There are no good guys or bad guys here - only the misguided victims. Beautifully crafted - these families are like all those around you. It stays with you long after the last page is turned.  Naomi is in search of a little girl who is lost in the woods - three years ago. She has been hired by the girl's distraught parents as her reputation for finding lost people has reached desperate ears. The story is split between Naomi and the missing "snow child". Not only did the "snow child" survive but she may not feel like a captive. A side case that Naomi is working on does not have a happy ending. We see through Naomi's eyes that the circumstances of all the missing may take many forms. Naomi herself is dealing with issues. This multi-layered novel is quiet and heartbreaking and violent all at once.  Imagine that in the not too distant future America is messed up with the majority of people crammed into living on one side of a wasteland named "The Salt Line". The well off folks can pay for the boot camp adventure of a lifetime on the other side of the salt line but with luxury camping or at least that is what they think. Instead, they are shown a vast area where if the killer ticks get you and you aren't able to catch the bug before she lays eggs goodbye camper, they visit abandoned relic museums named Cracker Barrel and try not to let anything happen to their partner. Soon things go downhill quickly and the ticks might not be the most dangerous thing out there. They all had different reasons for going on this trip but surviving it will be the one thing they all share. A touch of "Station Eleven", "The Fireman" and "Survivor" it is a thrill ride from start to finish.  |
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