The Wedding People by Alison Espach

It took me some time to get into this book. I guess I didn't find it "wickedly funny" or "hilarious" like so many other people have. But, the longer I read, the more value I found in it. On the surface, Lila drove me crazy. She was so spoiled and entitled. Spending a million dollars on her wedding? What a waste! And I couldn't figure out why the beautiful, privileged, self-involved young woman would spend her time in a stranger's (Phoebe's) suite instead of celebrating her wedding week with her friends and family. Although she was so self-absorbed, she didn't even seem to like her friends and family. Meanwhile, Phoebe is trying to follow through with a plan to kill herself because she felt her life was at a dead end.

Once I got past all of that, I started seeing each character for the multi-layered people that they were - and I could actually identify with some of the decisions they were making. Phoebe's husband cheated on her with her best friend; she was in a dead end job - at the same school that her husband, Matt, and her friend, Mia taught at too; she was infertile; she was depressed; her beloved cat died. So, she booked a room at an extravagant hotel (where she had wanted to vacation with her husband but he planned a different, ordinary trip for them) so that she could end her life. The first thing I loved about Phoebe was her deciding to spend the last day of her life being brutally honest about everything. It's so hard to tell the truth. She boldly tells Lila that she came to the hotel to end her life. Lila gets upset because she doesn't want Phoebe's death to ruin her wedding.

Phoebe and Lila strike up an unlikely friendship, but once the reader gets to know Lila better, it's more understandable. Lila is also very unhappy in her life, despite "having it all." Her finance, Gary is also not really himself. He is chasing happiness while being very sad (still) about the death of his first wife. Then there is Jim, Gary's best man and the brother of his dead wife, Wendy. All four of these people are struggling and they have spent too many years living their lives being pushed into a direction that isn't right for them, simply because they don't know how to get out of the choices they have made. And it's too hard to tell people the truth of how they are feeling.

I absolutely loved the last 100 pages of the book. Phoebe explains to the bride and bridesmaids what Cubism is. There is a painting of Lila's naked mother painted in the Cubism style that was gifted to Gary after he visited the gallery that Lila worked at. She thought he loved it and understood art. He didn't realize it was Lila's mother. Anyway, Phoebe explains that, "...it was an artistic and intellectual movement in the early twentieth century. They believed if you aren't seeing something from all sides, you aren't seeing it fully." This, of course, is the theme of the book. Then, Marla (Gary's sister who had an affair), told Phoebe that "[t]he affair is the easy way out - the fantasy of believing someone else can give you what you don't know how to give yourself." Another quote from the end of the book explains the same sentiment in a different way. Phoebe contemplates that "[i]t is so much easier to sit in things and wait for something to save us. Phoebe sat in the bad things the way she used to sit in the snow as a child."

I loved the people these characters decided to be by the end of the book. Lots of honesty (finally) and lots of growth. 

Wendy's Rating: ****

The Closers by Michael Connelly

Harry Bosch #11. Harry is finally back in the LAPD after a three year retirement. Yay! He is partnered up again with Kiz Rider and they have been assigned to a new branch of the Robbery-Homicide Division called the Open-Unsolved Unit. Basically, they will be looking at cold cases. Abel Pratt is the officer in charge of the unit and he seems to like and respect Harry. Double yay! This gives Harry a fighting chance. Ha! Harry & Kiz' first case comes from a "cold hit", meaning that there is a DNA match on a 17 year old case of a murdered 16 year old girl taken from her home one night and found murdered near her home days later. The killer was never caught; a motive never discovered. Now they have a DNA match on the gun that was used in the murder, but the gun is missing from the evidence room.

Harry and Kiz start by reviewing the murder book and interviewing the applicable people attached to the original investigation. One of the original detectives committed suicide a few years after the murder, but the second detective had been promoted a few times and was a Commander now in the LAPD. With Harry's luck, it doesn't take long for him to suspect a cover-up by none other than Deputy Chief Irvin Irving, his nemesis. He also suspects a racial motive to the murder since the victim, Rebecca, was bi-racial and it was 1988 in Los Angeles, CA. There was no mention of a racial motive in the murder book, but the DNA match ties the gun to Roland Mackey, a member of the white supremist group called the Chatsworth Eights.

What I love about Harry is how persistent he is. He is a man of action. He comes up with a plan to "trap" Roland Mackey so they can figure out who he gave the gun to, which ended up being the murder weapon. He doesn't necessarily think that Roland killed Rebecca, but he believes that Roland knows - or helped - the person that did. Unfortunately, Harry's plan goes awry. The unexpected happens and it's not good. With Harry's new job on the line, he goes home and independently starts over again with the murder book. Back to the drawing board. All I will say is "a picture is worth a thousand words". Harry figures out what's been bothering him about the crime scene photos from 1988. Not only does Harry find the murderer, but there is more good news at the end of this book. There is your incentive to read it! :)

Wendy's Rating: ****

All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker

I loved, loved, loved this book. It is so well written. The writing is intelligent, thought-provoking, insightful, painful, heart wrenching, sad, and ultimately hopeful. It's almost 600 pages long, but I didn't want to put it down. These characters touched my soul. There were also twists and turns that I absolutely didn't see coming.

The main characters are Patch and Saint. They are young teens when the novel begins. Patch only has one eye, so he wears a patch over his missing eye. Therefore his name. He is also referred to as the Pirate, which he is fine with. Pirates are his passion and he knows a lot about them. He and his mother are dirt poor, and his mother spends her days & nights drinking. His uniqueness keeps potential friends away, with the exception of Saint. (On a side note, I happened to rewatch the movie Forrest Gump while reading this book and Patch & Saint's relationship reminded me a lot of Forrest & Jenny's!) Anyway, Saint befriends him, accepting his uniqueness and less desirable activities (ie stealing). She accepts him for who he is. 

One day, Patch witnesses the potential abduction of a female classmate and he intervenes. The girl, Misty, is saved, but Patch disappears. No one knows what happened to him because Misty ran away when Patch told her to run. So there were no witnesses. Everyone searches for Patch, but he is not found and eventually the whole town thinks he is dead except for Saint. She continues to persistently search for Patch, knowing that he is alive. She has the support of the police chief, Chief Nix, who looks out after her on a personal level. Saint's mother is dead and her grandmother is raising her. Chief Nix doesn't exactly believe that Patch is still alive, but he believes in Saint.

Saint eventually (after several months) finds Patch alive, although he is traumatized. Patch insists that he was taken care of by a girl named Grace all the months he was missing. He was kept in a dark place. No light at all. He never saw the girl, but she told him stories and fed him antibiotics when he was ill, and held him. She would leave at times when summoned by the man that took him. Patch's fear was that one day she wouldn't return. When Patch is rescued, there is no sign of Grace. Patch is consumed by her, however, and this changes the trajectory of his life again: looking for Grace. No one knows if Grace actually existed, or if Patch's traumatized brain imagined her.

Meanwhile, Misty, the wealthy and beautiful classmate that he saved from abduction, is eternally grateful for Patch saving her life. She wants to be near him. So does Saint. Patch wants to find Grace. The focal point in the lives of these three people stems from Patch's abduction. It changes the rest of their lives. The rest of the book (which is incredibly written) is Misty loving Patch; Saint loving Patch - and believing in him, which is most important; Patch searching for Grace.

I can count on one hand how many books I have wanted to start over after finishing it. This is one of them.

Wendy's Rating: *****

Swan Song by Elin Hilderbrand

I don't typically read a lot of "beach reads", but when I do, I usually like them. I found myself rolling my eyes, sighing heavily and putting the book down with this one. It just seemed so superficial. You have a group of wealthy, entitled people living on Nantucket worried about what they are wearing and who gets accepted in the privileged club of the hour. I guess I like my books with a little more "meat" to them. I did not care about these people. I could not relate to these people. Their problems were clearly and abundantly "First World". Upper class First World.

The new couple in town, Bull & Leslee, drove me crazy. These are not people I would want to spend my time with! Leslee fawning over every young attractive man who enters her presence. Bull casually overlooking how foolish Leslee makes him look. Leslee treating Coco like a servant, always at her beck and call. The whole thing was ridiculous. People just throwing their money around.

So, now for what I liked about the book. I liked the budding relationship between Sharon and Romeo, until she derailed it by thinking she should give her loser, cheating husband a second chance. Seriously, what was that about? Romeo was my favorite character in the book. He seemed to be the only person who was loyal, honest, and living his life with the best of intentions. I pretty much guessed how the Richardson's house burnt down, but I really didn't know what happened to Coco. I was interested in finding out what happened to her. I wasn't sure what to think of her relationship with Lamont. For a long time I thought Lamont was simply a womanizer, so I wasn't sure he was a good fit for Coco. I was happy to find out he was a good guy who actually loved Coco. Finally, the end of the book threw me for a loop. I wasn't expecting it, so that was a surprise for sure.

I can honestly say this was my least favorite Elin Hilderbrand book, and I've read a few.

Wendy's Rating: ***

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

I never know how much I'm going to like "much-hyped" books, but I really did love this one. It's my first book by this author. The story is set in 1789 Maine. The main character is Martha Ballard, a midwife. Martha is married to a wonderful man, Ephraim, and they are happily married. This is always a refreshing change! They love each other, respect each other, support each other and trust each other. They had nine children, six still living. (Three children died from illness when they were young.) Their oldest son, Cyrus, is mute. This seems to be a result of the illness that killed his siblings. Unfortunately this fact hinders his chances at finding a wife and having the children he would love to have. Back in the 1700s, many people were illiterate. So even though Cyrus could write his thoughts (thanks to Martha), most people couldn't actually read them!

One night at a "Frolic", which is like a town dance, a man (recently accused of rape) tries repeatedly to get one of Martha's daughters (Hannah) to dance with him. Hannah does not want to and Cyrus steps in and this interference ends up in a fist fight between the two men. Later that night (after midnight) this same man is found dead in the river. Cyrus is accused of murdering him (eventually). The complication is that Martha sees the dead man first and declares it a murder by hanging, but the new Harvard-educated medical doctor in town insists that it's an accidental drowning. A third party eventually agrees with Martha, but then Cyrus is accused of the murder.

The wealthy Judge North, who runs the town, was also accused of raping the same woman as the man who was murdered. He exerts his power continuously to shape the narrative. Martha's goal is to expose him for the man he is. Martha also wants to defend the honor of the woman who was raped, Rebecca Foster, who happens to be the wife of the minister. He was out of town when it happened. Rebecca finds herself pregnant as a result of the brutal rape. Ultimately, North wants to beat the rape charge and take over the majority of the town's property, including the homestead, mill, and acreage of the Ballards. They have lived there for 12 years. Martha & Ephraim have their work cut out for them as they try to stop this evil man they have actually known since they were young teenagers.

Great storytelling! Lots of different things happening between the births, rapes, court cases, children finding their "mates" for life, and of course the frozen river, which is a central piece of the landscape.

Wendy's Rating: *****