The first chapters of this book sucked me right in. The story starts with a tight group of friends finding out that two of their own have drowned while celebrating their wedding anniversary. The reader doesn't know the group (self-named The Castaways) yet, so we discover their reactions before we understand the relationships. Once the relationships are exposed - and that's truly what it is, an exposure - I started feeling disturbed by the secret relationships going on between these four couples. It just seems like some relationships should be sacred - life your best friend's marriage - but it seemed like each member of The Castaways were married to one person, but "preoccupied" by someone's else's spouse. It gave me an icky feeling. There were some exceptions though. Both the Chief and Jeffrey seems like good, honest, faithful men. All of the women were a mess!
Eventually though, as you keep reading, you start understanding these relationships better - and why everyone reacted the way they did to Greg & Tess' deaths. An important factor is how much Greg & Tess were loved by the rest of the group. They were the young, beautiful couple. Greg was a musician that women lusted after. Tess was beautiful, kind and a wonderful mother. Their deaths created a deep sense of loss, as well as guilt and anger. I didn't particularly like any of the Castaways (except maybe the Chief and Tess), so I was really surprised how much I liked the ending. It took awhile, but eventually this group was able to think of someone other than themselves. They started to heal in their own ways. They were (finally) open and honest about their secret relationships and what they did that made them feel responsible for Greg & Tess' deaths. It was a little weird that everyone let Phoebe off the hook for giving Tess that pill (that represents itself like heroin) to "help her relax". In my opinion, she was the only person who legitimately should feel partially responsible for what happened to Greg & Tess on their boat. But the rest of the group took her confession in stride, like it wasn't a big deal. I thought it was a really big deal!
Ultimately, this is a story of acceptance and forgiveness and friendship. Amazingly, each of the couples seemed happier at the end than they ever did when Greg & Tess were still alive. It wasn't my favorite Elin Hilderbrand novel, but the ending made it a worthwhile read.
Wendy's Rating: ***1/2
Tuesday, July 31, 2018
Tuesday, July 17, 2018
Distant Shores by Kristin Hannah
Kristin Hannah's earlier novels, like this one, focus on family relationships at home. This one hit close to home for me. Marrying young, putting every one's needs before my own for too many years, so that after a couple of decades, I didn't even know who I was as a person. You lose sight of your own passions and interests. You lose confidence in your natural talents. I completely understood what Elizabeth was going through.
Jackson was incredibly self-centered. I think many successful athletes are. They need that kind of focus to excel in their sport. It takes drive, persistence and an intense competitive spirit to be a star athlete. I admired Elizabeth for keeping their marriage and family together all of those years, because Jackson really didn't have a very large investment in it. I did understand his self-doubt after he fell out of the lime light. People like that ARE their talent, and when they lose it, they don't know who they are.
Elizabeth was so strong to take a step back from her life and spend the time necessary to figure out who she was and what she wanted in her life. I love that Anita showed up on her doorstep and forced Elizabeth to finally develop a relationship with her. I am not sure why her dad thought it would be better to stay quiet about Elizabeth's mother. I believe that it was this decision that put up a road-block between Elizabeth and Anita. If she had known the truth all along, Elizabeth could have more readily accepted Anita in her life.
I think their time apart (Elizabeth & Jackson) made their family stronger (especially Jackson's relationship with their daughters), their personal relationship stronger and it made them each stronger as individuals. I wasn't sure how they would come to terms with their two "homes" on different coasts - but I hoped they would give their marriage another chance. They didn't exactly meet in the middle regarding their residence, but I think they both won in the end.
Wendy's Rating: ****
Jackson was incredibly self-centered. I think many successful athletes are. They need that kind of focus to excel in their sport. It takes drive, persistence and an intense competitive spirit to be a star athlete. I admired Elizabeth for keeping their marriage and family together all of those years, because Jackson really didn't have a very large investment in it. I did understand his self-doubt after he fell out of the lime light. People like that ARE their talent, and when they lose it, they don't know who they are.
Elizabeth was so strong to take a step back from her life and spend the time necessary to figure out who she was and what she wanted in her life. I love that Anita showed up on her doorstep and forced Elizabeth to finally develop a relationship with her. I am not sure why her dad thought it would be better to stay quiet about Elizabeth's mother. I believe that it was this decision that put up a road-block between Elizabeth and Anita. If she had known the truth all along, Elizabeth could have more readily accepted Anita in her life.
I think their time apart (Elizabeth & Jackson) made their family stronger (especially Jackson's relationship with their daughters), their personal relationship stronger and it made them each stronger as individuals. I wasn't sure how they would come to terms with their two "homes" on different coasts - but I hoped they would give their marriage another chance. They didn't exactly meet in the middle regarding their residence, but I think they both won in the end.
Wendy's Rating: ****
Sunday, July 15, 2018
Behind Closed Doors by BA Paris
I read this book in two sittings. I would have read it in one, but I needed to go to bed! It is fast-paced and disturbing. It is really well-written, moving between the past and the present, although the difference in time between "past" and "present" is only 15 months or so.
I love how Grace thought things through. She was always trying to outsmart Jack, which would not have been an easy thing to do! I love how she never gave up and never succumbed to depression, which many people would have in her situation. Millie was awesome! She had this innate sense that something was wrong with Grace - and came up with a solution. Kudos to her! She truly saved her sister's life - and her own. The George Clooney saying was brilliant! "I like you Jack but I don't like Jorj Koony". Jake may have been incredibly intelligent, but a young girl with Down's Syndrome pulled one over on him. I knew without a doubt that he had pushed her down the stairs at the time it happened - and certainly that is why he wouldn't let Grace see Millie before their honeymoon. I think Grace handled Millie really well by letting her see that she was scared and unhappy, but not allowing Millie to take any responsibility for what ultimately happened.
The whole message-in-the-book thing was great. Again, Grace thought through the situation before acting on it. Jack was really, really good at trapping her. As time went on, Grace got better about seeing the traps. And then there was Esther! It was hard to know what she was thinking, and it didn't seem like she liked Grace originally, but I was hoping she would see through Jack and help Grace. I did not predict how she would end up helping her though. I really loved the last chapter of this book. It was an extremely satisfying end. Jack got what was coming to him, trapped in "Millie's room" while dying of thirst. (Poor Molly! I knew exactly what Jack meant in Thailand when he told Grace that there was no housekeeper. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately because she couldn't have done anything about it anyway, Grace did not understand what his comment meant until they arrived home.)
Anyway, I really loved this book! Despite the disturbing subject matter, it's a must read!
Wendy's Rating: *****
I love how Grace thought things through. She was always trying to outsmart Jack, which would not have been an easy thing to do! I love how she never gave up and never succumbed to depression, which many people would have in her situation. Millie was awesome! She had this innate sense that something was wrong with Grace - and came up with a solution. Kudos to her! She truly saved her sister's life - and her own. The George Clooney saying was brilliant! "I like you Jack but I don't like Jorj Koony". Jake may have been incredibly intelligent, but a young girl with Down's Syndrome pulled one over on him. I knew without a doubt that he had pushed her down the stairs at the time it happened - and certainly that is why he wouldn't let Grace see Millie before their honeymoon. I think Grace handled Millie really well by letting her see that she was scared and unhappy, but not allowing Millie to take any responsibility for what ultimately happened.
The whole message-in-the-book thing was great. Again, Grace thought through the situation before acting on it. Jack was really, really good at trapping her. As time went on, Grace got better about seeing the traps. And then there was Esther! It was hard to know what she was thinking, and it didn't seem like she liked Grace originally, but I was hoping she would see through Jack and help Grace. I did not predict how she would end up helping her though. I really loved the last chapter of this book. It was an extremely satisfying end. Jack got what was coming to him, trapped in "Millie's room" while dying of thirst. (Poor Molly! I knew exactly what Jack meant in Thailand when he told Grace that there was no housekeeper. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately because she couldn't have done anything about it anyway, Grace did not understand what his comment meant until they arrived home.)
Anyway, I really loved this book! Despite the disturbing subject matter, it's a must read!
Wendy's Rating: *****
Sunday, July 8, 2018
The Atomic City Girls by Janet Beard
This is the second book I have read about the girls working and living in Oak Ridge, TN during the top secret mission of building an atomic bomb to end WWII. They are very different from each other. The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan is a biography. It is a true story of some of the women and scientists who lived in Oak Ridge during this time. It is a mix of the women's lives there - and very detailed scientific explanations of what the scientists were doing (meaning, how to build an atomic bomb). This book, The Atomic City Girls, is fiction. It does include actual pictures taken in Oak Ridge at the time, although the pictures don't really match the story that is unfolding, which is weird.
This was the easier book to read for sure! It's actually a very quick read. There are basically two story lines: June, a young white woman (18) who goes to Oak Ridge for employment. Her older sister already works there. It's odd that her sister is rarely mentioned. I forgot she even had a sister until "Mary" is mentioned again at the end of the book. Anyway, the second storyline is about Joe, a black man who goes to Oak Ridge so he can support his wife and three children back home.
What's interesting is that the characters I liked the most, June and Joe, didn't seem to understand the significance of what was happening at the time. June was in love with Sam, but Sam couldn't accept the consequences of the US sending the atomic bombs to Japan to end the war. He was a mess, but I totally understood why - and June did not. She was focused on his drinking too much. She didn't see WHY he was drinking so much. Sam was deeply disturbed about killing innocent people - and the aftermath of the survivors of the bomb (basically, a slow death vs. a quick death). It was frustrating to me that she couldn't think past Sam's drinking.
Then there was Joe, who couldn't understand what Ralph was fighting for. Ralph saw the injustice of the way the black people were treated - their pay, their housing, their food, their entertainment - in comparison to the white people living at Oak Ridge. Ralph was fighting for what was right, in a peaceful manner none-the-less. Joe just wanted Ralph to accept the way things were - not rock the boat. So, even though I liked June and Joe's characters the most, I thought they were both naive. The only character I really disliked (intensely) was Cici. Love must be blind, considering that Tom seemed like a really good guy and he married her.
I liked the book. It gave a good overview of why everyone was there - and the difference between how white people were treated there vs. black people. Through Sam, it talks about the negative impact on innocent lives and it also describes how excited people were that the war was over after the bombs were dropped, which would be the common sentiment of the average person who didn't understand the damage done to Japan.
Wendy's Rating: ****
This was the easier book to read for sure! It's actually a very quick read. There are basically two story lines: June, a young white woman (18) who goes to Oak Ridge for employment. Her older sister already works there. It's odd that her sister is rarely mentioned. I forgot she even had a sister until "Mary" is mentioned again at the end of the book. Anyway, the second storyline is about Joe, a black man who goes to Oak Ridge so he can support his wife and three children back home.
What's interesting is that the characters I liked the most, June and Joe, didn't seem to understand the significance of what was happening at the time. June was in love with Sam, but Sam couldn't accept the consequences of the US sending the atomic bombs to Japan to end the war. He was a mess, but I totally understood why - and June did not. She was focused on his drinking too much. She didn't see WHY he was drinking so much. Sam was deeply disturbed about killing innocent people - and the aftermath of the survivors of the bomb (basically, a slow death vs. a quick death). It was frustrating to me that she couldn't think past Sam's drinking.
Then there was Joe, who couldn't understand what Ralph was fighting for. Ralph saw the injustice of the way the black people were treated - their pay, their housing, their food, their entertainment - in comparison to the white people living at Oak Ridge. Ralph was fighting for what was right, in a peaceful manner none-the-less. Joe just wanted Ralph to accept the way things were - not rock the boat. So, even though I liked June and Joe's characters the most, I thought they were both naive. The only character I really disliked (intensely) was Cici. Love must be blind, considering that Tom seemed like a really good guy and he married her.
I liked the book. It gave a good overview of why everyone was there - and the difference between how white people were treated there vs. black people. Through Sam, it talks about the negative impact on innocent lives and it also describes how excited people were that the war was over after the bombs were dropped, which would be the common sentiment of the average person who didn't understand the damage done to Japan.
Wendy's Rating: ****
Saturday, July 7, 2018
Silver Bay by Jojo Moyes
Another enjoyable read by Jojo Moyes. This one didn't leave me sobbing at the end, like "Me Before You", and that's okay. I can only take so many books like that! Early on the reader realizes that Mike is engaged to the wrong person for him. He has feelings for Liza almost instantly - which is a bad sign when you are engaged to your boss' daughter. I was hoping that Vanessa would realize the same thing - that Mike wasn't the man for her - but unfortunately, she wasn't willing to let him go. I hated that she promised him that she would make sure the development would not go through if he returned to her. Why would you want a man who loved another woman anyway??
I couldn't really figure out what Liza was running from. At first I thought it was an abusive husband (like in Sleeping With the Enemy). Then I thought she killed her abusive husband and she was running from the law. I couldn't really believe that she had killed her younger daughter. I thought maybe she was driving the car that killed her daughter. But would she really run away from that? It didn't seem likely. I thought it was really interesting that she thought she was in hiding but Steven knew where she was the entire time. That was a twist I didn't see coming.
I was happy that Kathleen finally came to her senses and married Nino! That was a long time coming. This book had a happy ending, which isn't always the case these days. True love conquers all, and all that. Hopefully the whale population will eventually recover. Do humans ever learn from their previous mistakes?? So many animals come close to extinction due to humans hunting them for profit. It happens again and again. Apparently when money is involved, there are always people who don't care about the long-term consequences of their actions.
Wendy's Rating: ****
I couldn't really figure out what Liza was running from. At first I thought it was an abusive husband (like in Sleeping With the Enemy). Then I thought she killed her abusive husband and she was running from the law. I couldn't really believe that she had killed her younger daughter. I thought maybe she was driving the car that killed her daughter. But would she really run away from that? It didn't seem likely. I thought it was really interesting that she thought she was in hiding but Steven knew where she was the entire time. That was a twist I didn't see coming.
I was happy that Kathleen finally came to her senses and married Nino! That was a long time coming. This book had a happy ending, which isn't always the case these days. True love conquers all, and all that. Hopefully the whale population will eventually recover. Do humans ever learn from their previous mistakes?? So many animals come close to extinction due to humans hunting them for profit. It happens again and again. Apparently when money is involved, there are always people who don't care about the long-term consequences of their actions.
Wendy's Rating: ****
Sunday, July 1, 2018
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
I bought this book for my 10 year old son to read, and decided to read it myself. After all, I loved Harry Potter! It is similar to Harry Potter in that Percy & Harry have two best friends that help them on their quest; their home life is challenging; they don't know their own strengths or where they really come from; they don't know who to trust. There is also a summer camp (similar to Hogwarts) where Percy can learn skills with others like him.
What is different is that Percy's story deals with Greek mythology - which I remember next to nothing about! The last time I took a Greek mythology class was when I was starting High School, a very long time ago! Fortunately, the author explains who all of the gods are and what they represent throughout the novel. Percy finds out that he is a demigod (half god/half human) and that he is the only son of Poseidon (since the gods promised not to sire anymore children with humans).
Percy's quest in this book is to find out who stole Zeus' master lightning bolt and return it to him before the summer solstice and pending war between the gods. Although this is a major feat in itself, it is a small problem in the big scheme of things. Evil is lurking in the name of Kronos (Voldemort-like) who is fighting his way to becoming relevant again - by using others to do his evil deeds. That will be the main battle in this series of books. One of Percy's "friends" at camp is actually working for Kronos. (Which becomes obvious as an adult reading this book - but I don't know if all children would pick up on it).
I like Percy and his friends, Annabeth and Grover. What is a tad unique though is that Annabeth and Grover have their own quests. They help Percy in this novel, but I'm not sure if they both come into play in the next one. Grover becomes the seeker he wanted to be - and leaves in search of Pan. Annabeth returns home to be with her father & step-mother. I'm pretty sure we will see Annabeth again, but I'm really not sure about Grover. I ordered the next four books though, so I guess I will find out!
Wendy's Rating: ****
What is different is that Percy's story deals with Greek mythology - which I remember next to nothing about! The last time I took a Greek mythology class was when I was starting High School, a very long time ago! Fortunately, the author explains who all of the gods are and what they represent throughout the novel. Percy finds out that he is a demigod (half god/half human) and that he is the only son of Poseidon (since the gods promised not to sire anymore children with humans).
Percy's quest in this book is to find out who stole Zeus' master lightning bolt and return it to him before the summer solstice and pending war between the gods. Although this is a major feat in itself, it is a small problem in the big scheme of things. Evil is lurking in the name of Kronos (Voldemort-like) who is fighting his way to becoming relevant again - by using others to do his evil deeds. That will be the main battle in this series of books. One of Percy's "friends" at camp is actually working for Kronos. (Which becomes obvious as an adult reading this book - but I don't know if all children would pick up on it).
I like Percy and his friends, Annabeth and Grover. What is a tad unique though is that Annabeth and Grover have their own quests. They help Percy in this novel, but I'm not sure if they both come into play in the next one. Grover becomes the seeker he wanted to be - and leaves in search of Pan. Annabeth returns home to be with her father & step-mother. I'm pretty sure we will see Annabeth again, but I'm really not sure about Grover. I ordered the next four books though, so I guess I will find out!
Wendy's Rating: ****
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