Never in my life have I played into the "boys will be boys" mantra. Not before I had three sons, and certainly not after I had them. I am all about human decency and kindness. In this story, Nina's son, Finch (named after Atticus Finch) is accused of taking a disturbing picture of Lyla, a classmate at the prestigious Windsor Academy. Finch is wealthy; Lyla, being raised by her single father, is there on a scholarship. Lyla is passed out in the picture, laying on Finch's best friend Beau's bed. Her breast is exposed and she is holding a green Uno card. ("Green card") Lyla's mother is Brazilian. The picture is sent to Finch & Beau's friends via Snapchat. And then of course, everyone else sees it, including all the parents involved.
What is interesting is all of the different reactions. Kirk, Finch's dad, was mostly concerned how this act may affect Finch's recent acceptance to Princeton. Nina was appalled because of the act itself. "You took a photo of a half-naked girl who was passed out, and then made a racist joke about her." Finch doesn't think it's that big of deal and stated that he didn't even think Lyla would be mad about it. Lyla begged her dad, Tom, to just let it go. Basically, "this happens all the time to people" so don't make a big deal of it please. Tom was furious about the picture and reported it to the headmaster at Windsor Academy. The Academy has a Honor Code that the students are expected to follow.
One complication is that Lyla has always had a crush on Finch. Finch decides to use this to his advantage. Then Finch throws his girlfriend Polly under the bus, so to speak, and reports that Polly took the picture because she was jealous. As things unfold, Nina questions Kirk & Finch's characters and her relationship with Kirk. She realizes that her husband is not an honorable man and she has "allowed" her son to become just like his father.
We find out what happens to everyone in an Epilogue written by Lyla, ten years after the actual event happened. No one actually "changes" from the experience. The honorable are still honorable. The less honorable are still waiting for karma to strike them. Lyla, Nina & Tom are the true "success stories" in this book because they do the right thing, no matter the cost. Finch is the only question mark. He seems to finally be truly sorry at the end, but we don't really know what he is sorry about.....
Wendy's Rating: ****
Sunday, May 31, 2020
Sunday, May 24, 2020
Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn
This was a book selected by my book club and since I couldn't attend the night the selections were made, I saw the title and assumed it was a book about Patsy Cline. Ha! Imagine my surprise when I actually opened it up and started reading!
Patsy is actually about a young Jamaican woman who manages to get a Visa to visit the United States. She does not plan to return to Jamaica however, since she is in love with her best friend from Jamaica, Cicely, who left for the United States earlier and ended up marrying a man to get her green card. Patsy leaves behind her mother, who is a religious fanatic, and her five year old daughter, Tru. Patsy convinces Tru's father Roy, a police officer who actually loved Patsy but is married to Marva and has three sons, to take care of Tru. Marva really wants a daughter, so she seems to accept this new arrangement, even though Roy doesn't really give her a choice. For the most part, Marva initially seems to shine in her roll as a mother to Tru, but things eventually sour because Tru isn't having it. Tru wants her mother and won't accept her new "family". I actually felt sorry for Marva more than once. Tru won't accept her and Roy is a womanizer. Marva also gets pregnant a few more times, still trying for a daughter, but after a two or three stillbirths, she ends up giving birth to twin boys.
As a mother myself, it's hard to understand how a mother could leave her five year old, with no intention of returning or sending for her later on. Patsy also doesn't communicate with anyone in Jamaica for 10 years, other than a late Christmas card to Tru the year she left Jamaica. But Patsy's life in Jamaica was not easy. Her father dies. She is sexually abused by her "step-father"; her mother is a religious fanatic; she lives in poverty; her & Cicely are attacked one day by a man, but are rescued by Roy, who ends up getting her pregnant. This is Patsy's second pregnancy, but not a lot of details are shared about her first one, other than she didn't know she was pregnant until she gave birth and the baby died. Patsy doesn't feel like she has had any control over her life and she longs to escape it by following her true love (Cicely) to America.
Of course, things don't happen the way she thinks it will. It never does. Patsy struggles in America as well, especially since she isn't in America legally. Jobs are hard to come by without papers, so after a couple menial jobs, she end up as a nanny taking care of white people's children. This is ironic of course, since she abandons her own child. Her relationship with Cicely doesn't pan out either, since Cicely chooses to stay with her abusive husband rather than resume her relationship with Patsy.
Tru also finds her own path in Jamaica. She is smart. She is talented athletically. Her father, Roy, is one of her biggest fans. Since Roy is a police officer, she is protected. She has serious abandonment issues however, which isn't surprising. After 10 years apart, Patsy and Tru finally re-connect. They are both able to start making a life for themselves despite everything they have been through. It seems like Tru is finally able to accept her father's family as her own as well.
The most difficult part of reading this book was the Jamaican dialect. I am usually a pretty fast reader, but every time I came to a part where a character spoke in patois, the dialect spoken by Patsy and her family and friends, I pretty much stopped dead in my tracks. I also read every word of a book (I don't skim), so this really slowed me down. Although things start looking up at the end of the book, it's rather a sad read.
Wendy's Rating: ****
Patsy is actually about a young Jamaican woman who manages to get a Visa to visit the United States. She does not plan to return to Jamaica however, since she is in love with her best friend from Jamaica, Cicely, who left for the United States earlier and ended up marrying a man to get her green card. Patsy leaves behind her mother, who is a religious fanatic, and her five year old daughter, Tru. Patsy convinces Tru's father Roy, a police officer who actually loved Patsy but is married to Marva and has three sons, to take care of Tru. Marva really wants a daughter, so she seems to accept this new arrangement, even though Roy doesn't really give her a choice. For the most part, Marva initially seems to shine in her roll as a mother to Tru, but things eventually sour because Tru isn't having it. Tru wants her mother and won't accept her new "family". I actually felt sorry for Marva more than once. Tru won't accept her and Roy is a womanizer. Marva also gets pregnant a few more times, still trying for a daughter, but after a two or three stillbirths, she ends up giving birth to twin boys.
As a mother myself, it's hard to understand how a mother could leave her five year old, with no intention of returning or sending for her later on. Patsy also doesn't communicate with anyone in Jamaica for 10 years, other than a late Christmas card to Tru the year she left Jamaica. But Patsy's life in Jamaica was not easy. Her father dies. She is sexually abused by her "step-father"; her mother is a religious fanatic; she lives in poverty; her & Cicely are attacked one day by a man, but are rescued by Roy, who ends up getting her pregnant. This is Patsy's second pregnancy, but not a lot of details are shared about her first one, other than she didn't know she was pregnant until she gave birth and the baby died. Patsy doesn't feel like she has had any control over her life and she longs to escape it by following her true love (Cicely) to America.
Of course, things don't happen the way she thinks it will. It never does. Patsy struggles in America as well, especially since she isn't in America legally. Jobs are hard to come by without papers, so after a couple menial jobs, she end up as a nanny taking care of white people's children. This is ironic of course, since she abandons her own child. Her relationship with Cicely doesn't pan out either, since Cicely chooses to stay with her abusive husband rather than resume her relationship with Patsy.
Tru also finds her own path in Jamaica. She is smart. She is talented athletically. Her father, Roy, is one of her biggest fans. Since Roy is a police officer, she is protected. She has serious abandonment issues however, which isn't surprising. After 10 years apart, Patsy and Tru finally re-connect. They are both able to start making a life for themselves despite everything they have been through. It seems like Tru is finally able to accept her father's family as her own as well.
The most difficult part of reading this book was the Jamaican dialect. I am usually a pretty fast reader, but every time I came to a part where a character spoke in patois, the dialect spoken by Patsy and her family and friends, I pretty much stopped dead in my tracks. I also read every word of a book (I don't skim), so this really slowed me down. Although things start looking up at the end of the book, it's rather a sad read.
Wendy's Rating: ****
Thursday, May 14, 2020
Dreams of Falling by Karen White
I am a fan of Karen White. Her books are set in the southern US; they are romantic; they are sad; the stories usually include discovery of long-lost secrets, forgiveness and redemption. This story was no different.
In the 1950s, Margaret, Bitty and Ceecee were best friends. Margaret was the wealthy, beautiful one who attracted all the attention while Bitty and Ceecee were her "sidekicks". Margaret was used to getting her way, which did not serve her well after she makes some poor choices. People who never experience hardship in their lives don't have the willpower to trudge through and make tough choices when things go poorly. She gives up on her life way to easily and quickly, taking down her best friends in the process. Ceecee was the strongest of the three, but her character was also flawed because inside she was constantly fighting her jealousy of Margaret. Ceecee ended up having a very supportive and understanding mother though, which helped her through the difficult years. Bitty was more of a peripheral friend, always watching from the sidelines, smoking her cigarettes and eating her tootsie rolls. The reader learns pretty quickly that Margaret dies young and Ceecee raises Margaret's daughter, Ivy.
The second story is set in 2010 and the main character is Larkin, Ivy's daughter (Margaret's granddaughter), who left their hometown nine years previously because of an "incident" that happened at the end of her senior year of high school, which isn't really explained until near the end of the book. She returns only because her mother, Ivy, suffers a terrible accident. She is four sizes smaller than when she left, and as beautiful as her grandmother Margaret. She's also messed up. She was also raised, for the most part, by Ceecee and Ceecee had always treated her like she was the best thing since sliced bread. This also did not serve Larkin well since she could not face or address anything at all that was unpleasant or challenging. She would just run away from it. Ivy was comatose the entire story, so even though she was a "central" character, and we get to hear her thoughts while in a coma, she wasn't a main character.
Uneven love in a relationship always causes pain. Ivy seemed to spend her entire adult life pining after her first love, Ellis, instead of investing in her husband and daughter. And then Larkin returns after nine years and continues to be infatuated with her old high school crush, who is a womanizing jerk. So we have three generations of women who cannot adapt to changes in their lives that were completely out of their control. Margaret lost the love of her life in the war and spends the rest of her (short) life miserable and making others miserable with her. Ivy spends her life loving Ellis, who also died, instead of loving her kind, supportive and understanding husband and their daughter, Larkin. So of course, Larkin, not having good role models at all, pines after a complete jerk instead of seeing true love standing right in front of her. It was incredibly annoying!!
But Larkin redeems herself (and her family somewhat) in the end, even though the road wasn't pretty getting there. Secrets are revealed by a number of people, which enables Larkin to stop running away from her life.
Wendy's Rating: ****
In the 1950s, Margaret, Bitty and Ceecee were best friends. Margaret was the wealthy, beautiful one who attracted all the attention while Bitty and Ceecee were her "sidekicks". Margaret was used to getting her way, which did not serve her well after she makes some poor choices. People who never experience hardship in their lives don't have the willpower to trudge through and make tough choices when things go poorly. She gives up on her life way to easily and quickly, taking down her best friends in the process. Ceecee was the strongest of the three, but her character was also flawed because inside she was constantly fighting her jealousy of Margaret. Ceecee ended up having a very supportive and understanding mother though, which helped her through the difficult years. Bitty was more of a peripheral friend, always watching from the sidelines, smoking her cigarettes and eating her tootsie rolls. The reader learns pretty quickly that Margaret dies young and Ceecee raises Margaret's daughter, Ivy.
The second story is set in 2010 and the main character is Larkin, Ivy's daughter (Margaret's granddaughter), who left their hometown nine years previously because of an "incident" that happened at the end of her senior year of high school, which isn't really explained until near the end of the book. She returns only because her mother, Ivy, suffers a terrible accident. She is four sizes smaller than when she left, and as beautiful as her grandmother Margaret. She's also messed up. She was also raised, for the most part, by Ceecee and Ceecee had always treated her like she was the best thing since sliced bread. This also did not serve Larkin well since she could not face or address anything at all that was unpleasant or challenging. She would just run away from it. Ivy was comatose the entire story, so even though she was a "central" character, and we get to hear her thoughts while in a coma, she wasn't a main character.
Uneven love in a relationship always causes pain. Ivy seemed to spend her entire adult life pining after her first love, Ellis, instead of investing in her husband and daughter. And then Larkin returns after nine years and continues to be infatuated with her old high school crush, who is a womanizing jerk. So we have three generations of women who cannot adapt to changes in their lives that were completely out of their control. Margaret lost the love of her life in the war and spends the rest of her (short) life miserable and making others miserable with her. Ivy spends her life loving Ellis, who also died, instead of loving her kind, supportive and understanding husband and their daughter, Larkin. So of course, Larkin, not having good role models at all, pines after a complete jerk instead of seeing true love standing right in front of her. It was incredibly annoying!!
But Larkin redeems herself (and her family somewhat) in the end, even though the road wasn't pretty getting there. Secrets are revealed by a number of people, which enables Larkin to stop running away from her life.
Wendy's Rating: ****
Sunday, May 3, 2020
In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware
I really like this author. This is the third book I have read by her and I love how fast-paced they are. The setting of this story is actually creepy, to start things off. Leonora (aka Nora, Lee and Leo) Shaw joins a good friend, Nina, at an old friend's bachelorette party, or as the British call it, a "Hen" party. Nora has not seen their mutual friend, Clare, for ten years, since she was 16 years old and still in school. Nina, who is a doctor, has not seen Clare for three years. They are both invited to Clare's hen party regardless. Nora is confused by this invite, especially since she was not invited to Clare's wedding. (Nina was). She doesn't really want to go, but Nina tells Nora that they can go together.
So the setting is a "glass house" deep in the woods. Since it's isolated from other homes and has a long, unpaved driveway, it's the perfect setting for mayhem and murder. At night, the woods get extremely dark and the guests at the hen party feel like they are "on stage" at night when the lights are on in the house. Throw in fresh-fallen snow (it's November); mysterious footsteps in the early morning hours before anyone is (presumably) awake; a gun loaded with blanks hanging on the wall; a Ouija board; a party activity shooting clay pigeons at a shooting range; drugs and alcohol; sarcastic wit; cruel jabs; secrets; old unresolved feelings between some of the guests; and you have a nice set-up for a scary story.
Nora has never been able to move on from an event that happened when she was 16 (the last time she saw Clare), so Nora spends a lot of time regretting coming to the party. In fact, one of the other guests, Melanie, leaves the party early. No one can get service on their cell phones and the landline service gets cut off after the first night. Melanie, being a new mother, can't handle not being in touch with her husband and baby and leaves after one night. Lucky her. The rest are "stuck" there with Clare's seemingly disturbed best friend and maid of honor, Flo.
The weekend ends with a death, although whether it's an accident or murder is not clear at first. Nora also loses her memory surrounding the events of their final night due to a head injury after being involved in a car crash, which she can't remember either.
There is foreshadowing and clues thrown in throughout the story. I definitely picked up on most of them, which Nora did not. I guess she was too emotionally involved. ;) It was a good read.
Wendy's Rating: ****
So the setting is a "glass house" deep in the woods. Since it's isolated from other homes and has a long, unpaved driveway, it's the perfect setting for mayhem and murder. At night, the woods get extremely dark and the guests at the hen party feel like they are "on stage" at night when the lights are on in the house. Throw in fresh-fallen snow (it's November); mysterious footsteps in the early morning hours before anyone is (presumably) awake; a gun loaded with blanks hanging on the wall; a Ouija board; a party activity shooting clay pigeons at a shooting range; drugs and alcohol; sarcastic wit; cruel jabs; secrets; old unresolved feelings between some of the guests; and you have a nice set-up for a scary story.
Nora has never been able to move on from an event that happened when she was 16 (the last time she saw Clare), so Nora spends a lot of time regretting coming to the party. In fact, one of the other guests, Melanie, leaves the party early. No one can get service on their cell phones and the landline service gets cut off after the first night. Melanie, being a new mother, can't handle not being in touch with her husband and baby and leaves after one night. Lucky her. The rest are "stuck" there with Clare's seemingly disturbed best friend and maid of honor, Flo.
The weekend ends with a death, although whether it's an accident or murder is not clear at first. Nora also loses her memory surrounding the events of their final night due to a head injury after being involved in a car crash, which she can't remember either.
There is foreshadowing and clues thrown in throughout the story. I definitely picked up on most of them, which Nora did not. I guess she was too emotionally involved. ;) It was a good read.
Wendy's Rating: ****
Friday, May 1, 2020
The September Society by Charles Finch
This is the second book of this series with Detective Charles Lenox. Lenox lives in London and it's 1866. His best friend, and love of his life, Lady Jane, lives next door to him. This is actually the book where Lenox acknowledges that he loves Lady Jane as more than a friend and that he wants her to be his wife. It takes him the entire book to get his nerve up to express his feelings to her though. ;)
What I love about Lenox is that he is not easily rattled in his detective work. He seems to take everything in stride. He gets woken up at 4am and he simply gets up, gets dressed, and goes downstairs to meet his unexpected visitor. In this case, it's Lady Annabelle Payson. Her son George has gone missing at Oxford. Lady Annabelle had also discovered George's cat, dead, in his room. I find it interesting that Lady Annabelle doesn't involve the police in this matter - and neither does Lenox. He simply takes a train to Oxford, his old stomping grounds, to see what he can discover. I am not sure if this is the way things were actually handled in the 1800's in London, or if it just makes these stories more interesting.... Of course the police (Scotland Yard) is eventually called in after George's dead body is discovered in one of the college's courtyards.
Lenox is a man of clues and lists. He simply writes down each clue and studies it. He has a couple of helpers in his sleuthing. His butler, Graham, helps him by questioning servants and other people of his similar "station" in life. Servants know a lot about what goes on around them! Graham is Lenox' "Holmes" so to speak. We also get introduced to a new helper in this book. His name is Dallington. He is the third (screw-up) son of a prominent family. He comes to Lenox to ask him if he can be Lenox' detective apprentice. Dallington has decided that being a detective is what he is called to do. Lenox likes Dallington, despite his drinking and womanizing, and agrees to this new arrangement. There is also Lenox' best friend, Thomas, who is a doctor (and alcoholic) who always assists with the medical issues surrounding each death. So, Lenox is building a solid team.
Lenox is also extremely interested in politics and has always wanted to be a part of the London Parliament, like his older brother. I am not exactly knowledgeable about the 1860's British government, but it is discussed quite a bit in these books. I read it all, but the political activities and parties that are important to Lenox don't really sink into my brain. Ha!
Anyway, Lenox' mission in this book is to find two missing young men, George Payson and his best friend, Bill Dabney, and then figure out how their disappearance connects to a military "club" called The September Society. These current events also connect to a previous death of an officer in the military (murder? suicide?) from 19 years ago. Lenox is successful in this mission. ;)
Wendy's Rating: ****
What I love about Lenox is that he is not easily rattled in his detective work. He seems to take everything in stride. He gets woken up at 4am and he simply gets up, gets dressed, and goes downstairs to meet his unexpected visitor. In this case, it's Lady Annabelle Payson. Her son George has gone missing at Oxford. Lady Annabelle had also discovered George's cat, dead, in his room. I find it interesting that Lady Annabelle doesn't involve the police in this matter - and neither does Lenox. He simply takes a train to Oxford, his old stomping grounds, to see what he can discover. I am not sure if this is the way things were actually handled in the 1800's in London, or if it just makes these stories more interesting.... Of course the police (Scotland Yard) is eventually called in after George's dead body is discovered in one of the college's courtyards.
Lenox is a man of clues and lists. He simply writes down each clue and studies it. He has a couple of helpers in his sleuthing. His butler, Graham, helps him by questioning servants and other people of his similar "station" in life. Servants know a lot about what goes on around them! Graham is Lenox' "Holmes" so to speak. We also get introduced to a new helper in this book. His name is Dallington. He is the third (screw-up) son of a prominent family. He comes to Lenox to ask him if he can be Lenox' detective apprentice. Dallington has decided that being a detective is what he is called to do. Lenox likes Dallington, despite his drinking and womanizing, and agrees to this new arrangement. There is also Lenox' best friend, Thomas, who is a doctor (and alcoholic) who always assists with the medical issues surrounding each death. So, Lenox is building a solid team.
Lenox is also extremely interested in politics and has always wanted to be a part of the London Parliament, like his older brother. I am not exactly knowledgeable about the 1860's British government, but it is discussed quite a bit in these books. I read it all, but the political activities and parties that are important to Lenox don't really sink into my brain. Ha!
Anyway, Lenox' mission in this book is to find two missing young men, George Payson and his best friend, Bill Dabney, and then figure out how their disappearance connects to a military "club" called The September Society. These current events also connect to a previous death of an officer in the military (murder? suicide?) from 19 years ago. Lenox is successful in this mission. ;)
Wendy's Rating: ****
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