Review: Tell the Wolves I'm Home

Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My heart is hurting over this book. I need a tissue. And a hug.

This book hit all of the right notes with me. Coming of age story with a quirky, misfit heroine. Dysfunctional family dynamics that seem true-to-life. Love. Introspection. Grief. What can I say? I like a few tears in my books (sometimes).

Set way back in ye old 1987 (gads, I was in high school, folks. This isn't historical fiction!), AIDS was a scandalous, secret "gays only" disease. Times were different then. June loved her uncle, and after he dies she finds out she only knew parts of him. Walk with June as she tries to discover who he really was, who she really is, and bring some tissues, because you will need them. Unless you are a robot, then you will be fine.

Loved it. 4 stars. Going to hug my kids now.


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Review: The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories

The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories by Marina Keegan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Marina Keegan was only 22 when she was died in a car accident. Newly graduated from Yale and ready to continue her budding career as a writer, we are left with a collection of work from her short life. Half of the book is short stories, and the other half essays. You can see glimmers of what she would have potentially grown into as a writer. Her voice, as you would expect, is very young. She's in college; her life has barely started. I liked some of the stories, didn't like some others. These are stories that wouldn't have been published under other circumstances.

Overall, three stars, but I'm having a hard time separating the tragedy of a life cut short from the actual work, so actually 2.5.

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Review: The Air He Breathes

The Air He Breathes by Brittainy C. Cherry
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I rarely read New Adult, and I rarely read contemporary romance. Not my genres.

I have been going back and forth on my review and rating for a few days, and I think I'm landing on 3 solid stars. I really wanted to give it 4 stars. I liked how the relationship slowly unfolded, and I like the realistic grief each of them seemed to feel. I haven't been through this, thank goodness, but it seemed like how a person should react. But you lost me with the twist ending. If this had been a story about grief and two people coming together while they are falling apart, that would have been enough. In fact, it might have been a 4-star read for me, cheesy feathers and all. But the parts with Tanner ruined the 4th star for me. We could have kept a simply lovely tear-jerker without that added layer, so I'm back to 3 stars and a handful of tissues because I got something in my eye at the end of the book. I think it was a white feather. Stop judging me!

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Review: The Amish Midwife

The Amish Midwife by Mindy Starns Clark
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Billed as Amish fiction, it's really just more of a backdrop for an adoption drama. It was still good, but not what I was expecting.

Lexie was adopted by Mennonite parents in Oregon, but she has broken from the church and works as a modern midwife in a hospital. She lost her mother at a young age and when her father dies, she finds a mysterious carved box containing clues to her birth mother's identity. This leads her to Pennsylvania, where she assists as a midwife to the Amish. Confused yet? Don't be. The real drama is about Lexie, discovering who she is and who she thinks she should be, and some needless plot twisting.

Lexie is annoying and shallow. She dates a doctor and makes several comments about his apparent wealth. She's childish and pretty unlikeable. Enough that I was tempted to take away a star, because I have to like my main character to enjoy a book. However, the complications and side plots kept me interested, and in the end I gave it a solid three stars.

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Review: The Bronze Horseman (The Bronze Horseman #1)

The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have been wanting to read this book for a long time. Glad I finally got around to it. It's a great piece of historical fiction and romance. There is something for everyone packed into these 900 pages. War. Love. Death. Starvation. History. Hope. And a cliffhanger to lead you right into book 2.

Tatiana meets Alexander by chance, and falls for him before realizing he is her older sister's boyfriend. Bad luck, Tatiana. Alex wants to end it with Dasha and be with Tatiana, but she won't allow it. They suffer in silence (mostly) through war, poverty, and terrible life in Russia. There is always hope that these star-crossed lovers will make it, and that sustains you through the cold Russian winters.

A really great book. Worth every hour I invested in it. Now to track down book 2.

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Review: Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor (Friday Harbor #1)

Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor by Lisa Kleypas

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Now I want to visit Friday Harbor. I enjoyed this cute, cheesy romance about love and second chances.

Meet Mark. He loses his sister in an accident and is suddenly the father to his niece, Holly. He's doing the best he can raising her with his brother.

Meet Maggie. She's a widow who owns a toy store at Friday Harbor. For those of you who are not new to the romance genre, I'll just bet you can guess what happens next! But I won't spoil it for you. I'll let you find out for yourself.

Maggie makes me a little crazy with her waffling and hot/cold reaction to Mark. He sounds like a saint wrapped up in a hot, coffee-roasting, lumberjack body. Grrrrr! Yummy.

It's cute. It's sappy. You might tear up a little at the end. I'm not saying I did, because I just had something in my eye. You can't prove otherwise.



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A Monster Calls

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book! So many feels. I have a knot in my chest a day later just thinking about it.

I run the risk of spoiling this story if I say too much, but it's about a boy who is coming to terms with his mother's cancer. It's amazing. The illustrations are haunting and perfect. The balance of grief, anger, and hope is perfectly struck. It seems like a children's book, but wait! It's so much more. Layered and deep and nearly perfect. Mothers will relate. Anyone whose life has been touched by cancer will relate. Read it. Read it slowly, immerse yourself in the illustrations, and then grab a box of tissues and read it again.



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Second Glance

Second Glance by Jodi Picoult

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Coincidence, or fate? That is the question. Picoult is a favorite author of mine and this one doesn't disappoint.

Part ghost story, part romance, part history lesson, we are dropped into two timelines which are intertwined over time. A 70-year-old murder mystery and a modern day story are woven together into a bundle that all makes sense by the end. You end up with a ghost story along with an interesting history of eugenics and Native American cultures that is little-known but worth the read.

Ask yourself a few questions to see if you should read this book?
1) Do you like ghost stories? Then yes, please read.
2) Do you like murder mysteries? This one will keep you guessing.
3) Do you like stories that tie in real-life history? Read this one--it's fascinating.
4) Do you like alternating timelines? This is the book for you.

This is a hard one to summarize because so much is happening, but there is a little something for everyone inside. The strong motherhood story you have come to expect from Picoult with some supernatural twists and turns.





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Tolstoy and the Purple Chair

Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: My Year of Magical Reading by Nina Sankovitch

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I love books about books, and I love books about grief. This book covers both.

Nina Sankovitch's sister was diagnosed with cancer and died four months later. In an attempt to work through her grief and terrible loss, she sets a goal to read and review a book a day for an entire year. She and her sister shared a love of books right up until the end, and she felt it would be a fitting tribute to their relationship while helping her heal.

First of all, I'm jealous. I know I shouldn't be since it took the death of her sister to help her reach this goal, but I am. I would love to have the ability to read a book a day. Fortunately the author was a stay-at-home mom during this time and had 6-8 hours of time per day to knock out her books. She has a remarkably patient husband. He sounds great and she is lucky to have him. Secondly, I found so many books to add to my TBR shelf that I may never work through them all. Conveniently the author lists all 365 books at the end so you too can load up your TBR shelf with hidden gems. But mostly I enjoyed reading how she tied the books she read into working through her grief while still being a mother of 4 and a wife of 1. Definitely a book for book lovers!



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Forever, Interrupted

Forever, Interrupted: A Novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I rarely read chick lit, but this one was pretty good.

Elsie Porter loses her new husband, Ben, after only nine days of marriage. A whirlwind, six-month romance culminating in a romantic elopement, Elsie is left to pick up the pieces and find a way to move on while faced with meeting her new mother-in-law for the first time after the accident. It's a story of grief, a story of growth, and a story of finding your way through it all.



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