The Lost Letter by Jillian Cantor

The Lost Letter by Jillian Cantor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book. It was bittersweet yet the ending left me feeling quite satisfied. The ways stamps were used to communicate was new to me and I kept guessing what happened to the main characters in current day. I didn't guess right until nearly the end. It was a perfect ending and a perfect book.

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The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Thanks Netgalley for a digital ARC.

I did not love this book. I understood why the story had to be the way it was because of the underlying drive of Evelyn Hugo. The writing is, as usual, amazing. The author is masterful at communicating emotion and circumstance. I didn't like any of the characters except, perhaps, Harry. I felt dirty after reading it. A lot of the subject matter was uncomfortable for me. The basic premise is that Evelyn Hugo, an American born Cuban girl, is driven to be successful in Hollywood. Her success is often attached to who she is married to. Each marriage outlines a different relationship. They are all complex yet very, very different.

This book is slightly graphic in parts and may include sexual scenes both hetero and homosexual in nature.

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How to Stop Time by Matt Haig

How to Stop Time by Matt Haig
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I forgot how well this author understands human nature and the wonderful way he has of describing people. I loved THE HUMAN but I forgot I did. Since reading HOW TO STOP TIME, I reread my review of the previous book and realized how much I enjoy this author. Great concept, amazing insights, humorous yet deep.

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A Beautiful, Terrible Thing by Jen White

A Beautiful, Terrible Thing: A Memoir of Marriage and Betrayal by Jen Waite
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Spoiler alert! The author wins.

Anybody that can write such a raw, honest, and relatively objective narrative of their own marriage deserves a standing ovation. The story itself is not unique if you know about Chump Lady. What is unique is that the author lets the reader in on the journey, the events, and the emotions. She doesn't try to pretty her own story up to make it more horrible, she simply narrates the relationship.

It's a storybook fairytale which might be a spoiler in and of itself. Marco is too perfect. He does show some of his colors by sharing a little of his past stories, but it was not authentic even then. He had something to gain by telling her. Then one day it all changed. He changed. In retrospection she realizes there were things she missed because she was unaware he was Axis II, Cluster B.

Personality disorders do not experience emotions like normal people. Relationships are utilitarian and not personal. A perfect summary of this is given by her therapist as "Idealize, Devalue, Discard." Perfect. The subject of a narcissist can't wrap her mind around being devalued and discarded after feeling so loved and believing she was in a perfect marriage. A person with a normal range of emotions would feel empathy. This is why the betrayal is so shocking and sudden. There was no personal connection for the Narc.

Jen writes an excellent narrative. For someone so new out of a NPD relationship, Jen is startlingly insightful. It's a painful read. There are times the reader wants to stop her from going back or forgiving him or believing him. Yet it's so human. That's why it's so good.

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Hello, Sunshine by Laura Dave

Hello, Sunshine by Laura Dave
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I like Laura Dave's writing. This novel explores how we exploit ourselves on social media and how we often lose our authentic selves. It's also the story of how it can backfire. Well written with nice symbolism. I didn't particularly like any of the characters except Sammy. I also felt like the perpetrator was the biggest hypocrite of all. That cost a star. Perhaps I'm too harsh but I certainly didn't buy the reasoning. Although it added to the story.

Sons and Soldier by Bruce Henderson

Sons and Soldiers: The Untold Story of the Jews Who Escaped the Nazis and Returned with the U.S. Army to Fight Hitler by Bruce Henderson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Okay, wow. There are so many points of view and facets to WWII and this one had me riveted. Admittedly, I mixed up the men until I drew pictures in my head, but it didn’t matter as much as the overall picture. Essentially, there were quite a number of German Jews that immigrated to the US, joined the military, then were trained as interrogators. Nobody knew the nuances, the culture, the psychology better than a former German rejected by his own country?

The author tells each story in different sections. All of the boys highlighted in this book arrive at Camp Ritchie with different experiences. Many were the only members of their family to leave Nazi Germany. One had already spent 2 years in Dachau which broke my heart early on. Some escaped before war broke out. Regardless of how they got there, they were each unique and more than willing to get in the war. They knew better than others what they were fighting for.

Even though I sometimes mixed up the boys, some were crystal clear in my mind. The book is told in chunks of time and somehow makes a readable book of facts while using great novelistic strategies. I really enjoyed this book and could not put it down.

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Little Fires Wverywhere by Celeste Ng

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Great prose and insight into human nature, preconceived ideas, and those that tend question status quo.

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A Short History of the Girl Next Door by Jared Reck

A Short History of the Girl Next Door by Jared Reck
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I think this book came in a timely fashion for me because of events in my own life. Unfortunately, I can’t reveal those events in relationship to this book which is very challenging. The story is the same as others before. Best friends and one secretly loves the other. Enter new person or people. Unrequited Love has to share. But that is the crux of the story. Loving does not equate to owning. Many people love the same person, in different and similar ways.

That’s all I can say about this book without giving away the struggle. But it’s a doozie.



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The Rukes of Magic by Alice Hoffman

The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Prequel to later book, the story stands on its own. Each character develops over the course of the story and often in response to their own experiences, perspectives, and personalities. Two sisters and a brother begin their journey as they understand their own powers and gifts. The pivotal beginning is the invitation to the aunt's house for the summer where the children are taught rather loosely their own history and the rules of magic. It is their coming of age summer even though they are 18, 17, and 14. Their beginnings as who they will become happen then.

The story is told over a generation of time. The girls of this story become the aged aunts of a more familiar Alice Hoffman novel. Lovely book that simply couldn't have evolved any other way. Really enjoyed it.

Love, Life, and the List by Kasie West

Love, Life, and the List by Kasie West
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I just like Kasie West. Every story is quirky and different but the dialogue is always clever and clean. I do so enjoy an author I can count on that will entertain me, strike my happy bone, and I can pass it on to anybody without concern.

The Woman in the Window by AJ Finn

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I liked this book and I liked the concept. The writing was solid as was character development of the main character. I guess I just felt like it was too similar to some old movies I’d seen and were referenced in the book. I did like the perspective of an agoraphobic. I liked the way the flashback she’d light on the trauma she survived but scarred her. I also liked that she pushed herself to do right even when her panic attacks flared. I also liked the realistic way an anxiety attack is painted. Treatment being a process rather than a sudden realization that all she has to do is go outside. So kudos to Finn on that one!

It’s a solid book, well written, surprise conclusion, and realistic perspective.

This book was provided in exchange for an honest review from publisher.

Girl, Unbroken by Regina Calcaterra

Girl Unbroken by Regina Calcaterra
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read ETCHED IN SAND and knew I had to work myself up to read this book. Anxious as I was to know Rosie’s story, I knew it would be a difficult book. It was. While Regina suffered through her mother’s neglect then horrific abuse, her story also highlights the foster care system then continues as she works with her sisters to try to rescue Rosie from their abusive mother.

Rosie’s story is different, although her time in foster care is appalling. Rosie and her brother, Norm, are returned to their mother and the buffer Rosie enjoyed with her sisters has been removed. I can’t even begin to describe Rosie’s childhood. My imagination isn’t even that vivid.

Instead I will wander a little off the path and share a small story. I grew up in a small Utah town. So small that it was not on any maps until about 25 years ago. My life consisted of school in another town on a school bus, playing, fighting, and working with my three sisters, brother, and parents, and attending every church activity because that was so much of my social life. I grew up with the same group of girls, played competitive church sports with them, worshipped with them, and had long, deep, teenage philosophical talks for hours at sleepovers or just in our long, hot, summer days.

The years have passed and I’ve learned snippets about the lives of these girls that I thought I knew so well. Recently, we got together for dinner. One friend turned to the one I was closest with as a child and began asking her the taboo questions that we had finally pieced together as we matured after we had grown and moved away.

This woman, who I will call Jane, answered all of the questions honestly and frankly. Right up the street from me, where I had spent many hours with Jane and her sister, listening to her soft spoken but sad mother, watching her charismatic and larger than life father, Jane and her 4 siblings had endured the kind of abuse that Rosie endured. Jane stated the facts without emotion and admitted it had taken years and years of therapy in order to face the horrors of her childhood. She admitted she had probably disassociated in order to endure but she survived with the three oldest children, and left as quickly as she could. The younger two children were then left with their father’s rage and perversion and their mother who quietly slipped out the back door.

There is a much deeper and complicated story under this synopsis but the point of revisiting this friendship is that, although both of the older sisters hinted at the violence to which they were subjected, until Jane clearly stated the specifics (and I suspect she sanitized it a bit for our own sakes), I had no reference point to comprehend what they endured. All I knew was that, as a counselor, I had become accustomed to hearing about abuse yet it never ceased it surprise me. This time, however, it was much more personal. This was my dear friend that I knew so well. Or so I thought.

I never felt threatened by her father. He was always so happy to see me and said the nicest things. Jane and her siblings faithfully attended every church activity, every school day, and participated in extracurricular activities. Now I know why.

I cried every day for 3 weeks after that dinner with my friends. There was so much shame, blame, and grief heaped onto their little shoulders. I cried for the children they were. They suffered at the hands of the ones that were supposed to protect them. But there were few who knew and none who knew how bad.

Rosie’s story reminds me, in painful detail, that sometimes adults are good actors and the children who are threatened are terrified to tell. It also reminds me that, with a lot support, love, and therapy, these children, like my friends, will thrive and emerge from the chaos of their childhood, amazing, empathetic, and strong adults; scarred yet unbroken.

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If the Creek Don’t Rise

If The Creek Don't Rise by Leah Weiss
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If I could describe this book as a metaphor, it would be a quilt that, at a close look, appears to be somewhat random pieces of fabric slapped together. With some distance, the observer realizes that the pieces are interconnected and anchored by a couple of colors and themes. With a little more distance, the observer sees how each piece contributes to the tapestry to make it a whole piece. Move very, very close (and put on your reading glasses) and the observer sees that each piece of fabric has its own texture, pattern, or design that can not be easily discerned from a distance.

The anchoring character is Sadie Blue, just married, pregnant, and getting beat again by her new husband. It is 1970 in a remote town in Appalachia (another anchoring color, whatever that might be) and the characters are introduced seamlessly. Each of the main characters gets at least one chapter to tell in first person. It is less talking and more thinking, reminiscing, and doing. Sadie paints a picture of her own perspective in this sad little town yet she has the undercurrent of goodness and hope.

We then meet Sadie’s grandmother who was Sadie many years ago. Hard life and a mean husband in an inhospitable climate has jaded her and taken much of her sunshine. She’s gray and hardened. And kind of mean. Especially to her best friend, Marris. But Gladys enlightens the reader regarding her marriage to Walter and the relationship they did not enjoy. Of course, Gladys has a secret.

Marris is optimistic regardless of the circumstances and she’s seen her share of hardship. She is the yellow sunshine colors threaded throughout the quilt with a little bit of the colors of the creek. Marris let’s Gladys know that a new teacher has been hired for the children. Her name is Kate and she’s very big and old. She’s 51.

So the story continues as the people are introduced with a perspective of another character. Then that character continues the timeline and adds depth to his or her own character. Every character is carefully fleshed out and has a story, a history, a depth that contributes to their development and relationships. I found myself gaining insight and sympathy toward all of them. That is not to say that all of them had redeeming qualities. There is a lot of shades of black and gray in this quilt. But then there are surprising bursts of yellow, red, purple, orange, and blue.

The last chapter returns to Sadie Blue. The changes are subtle yet (oxymoronic) stark. In retrospect, I felt like the story wasn’t as much about the events but more about relationships that changed a perspective that may or may not alter the future.


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Little Soldiers

Little Soldiers: An American Boy, a Chinese School, and the Global Race to Achieve by Lenora Chu
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am struggling with writing this review because I have so many thoughts about the ideas presented in this book.

First of all, I found the first hand account of the author's experience to be fascinating and well written. The author is first generation American of Chinese descent, educated in Texas public schools, carrying the burden of high academic standards while balancing her own American dream. She subsequently graduates from college, marries a midwesterner, and moves to China for his career opportunities with a small child in tow and faced with the choice of participating in the Chinese education system or entering a kinder pedagogical international approach. They choose the Chinese way and suffer cultural shock which leads her to further delve into educational theories, comparing and contrasting between them.

There is much to be said about the educational system in Shanghai which is why this book was written. It is fascinating and multi-faceted with different results. I read the study performed in 2012 PISA results and came to a conclusion that differed from the author's. That said, I found merit in the conversation she had with the Father of the test.

One sentence in the book undid all the fascination and good I got out of the book which is terribly unfair to the book. I believe it was a manner of opinion but I vehemently disagree with one part of a statement while agreeing wholeheartedly with another part; "The quality and status of American teachers have declined alongside levels of content mastery..."

Ouch.

As a public school guidance Counselor in her 28th year, I believe my experience merits a voice. In fact, I vehemently disagree that the quality of educators that surround me has declined. Only a few weeks ago, I was asked if I noticed any marked differences between students from the beginning of my career to now. The answer to that question was difficult to quantify because the biggest difference between the students occurred with changes of demographics. The elitist, more monied group are more entitled and parents are more invested in their students' grades and ACT or SAT scores. Some parents doing their children's homework and hiring expensive tutors for taking the exams. On the other end of the spectrum, I had immigrants whose parents spoke no English and had 2and 3 jobs, encouraging their children to work hard. That was the population I preferred, frankly. Through grit and hard work, they were improving their lives.

The answer I gave the person who posed this question was completely different, however. I've seen an increase of quality of educators over the years. The status of educators has declined but the quality is exceptional in most cases.

Today's American educators are expected to educate every child that is assigned to them, regardless of disability and laws of inclusion. While the Chinese laggards eventually drop out, we are expected to retain every student. Every student is expected to be successful and the teacher is expected to teach every student at their level. In the same class. The elementary school teacher is expected to be master of all academic content, maintain classroom management, deal with behaviour problems without being punitive, appease hovering parents, and keep up with legislators who are so far removed from the classroom yet feel entitled to tell teachers versed in pedagogical theory how to teach, how they will measure them yet recently allowing truancy court to be abandoned because a certain legislator needed his son to be free of such constrictions to pursue his basketball career.

In secondary schools, the issues are the same except teachers must be highly qualified in their area which may mean they are still teaching physics, astronomy, chemistry and 7th grade science. They are also expected to regularly attend collaboration, professional development, be trained in spotting child abuse and know how to handle it, implement a suicide prevention program, remediate students who have been attending a charter school which has little to no oversight and did not progress in the content while they attended said charter school, and placate parents who are upset because the homework is too hard for their little nuggets.

And these teachers do all these things.

Tangent over. Back to the book.

Neither educational system is perfect and much can be gleaned and emulated from one another. The Chinese are attempting to make changes in a culture that resists change and in a space that can not tolerate much individualism. The American system is at the mercy of legislators who don't have a clue while incredible teachers continue to teach the curriculum without public respect and against the backdrop of more constrictive laws, different student needs with IEP's and 504's and behaviour problems when really, they just want teach because they love teaching. And there are no kickbacks like expensive Coach purses. Although sometimes I get a potted plant at the end of the year or maybe a mug.

I still highly recommend this book. It's an excellent read with good comparisons drawn. The problem arose when I finished the book when I was tired and my obsessiveness can. Not. Sleep. Until I've said my peace.

My apologies to the author for getting hung up on that sentence.

This book was provided to me by publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig

Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Solid novel in the mind of an autistic child. Frustrating as they may seem to someone on the outside, there is a method and order in their minds. Ginny is no different. This novel is told from Ginny's POV. There are some surprises that I found interesting and disturbing.

The Rules of Magic

The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Prequel to later book, the story stands on its own. Each character develops over the course of the story and often in response to their own experiences, perspectives, and personalities. Two sisters and a brother begin their journey as they understand their own powers and gifts. The pivotal beginning is the invitation to the aunt's house for the summer where the children are taught rather loosely their own history and the rules of magic. It is their coming of age summer even though they are 18, 17, and 14. Their beginnings as who they will become happen then.

The story is told over a generation of time. The girls of this story become the aged aunts of a more familiar Alice Hoffman novel. Lovely book that simply couldn't have evolved any other way. Really enjoyed it.

The Secrets She Keeps

The Secrets She Keeps by Michael Robotham
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Excellent character development of every major character and a few minor ones. The reader knows at the outset that Agatha is a little off. Just how off is yet to be determined. Additionally, the perfect couple has a few secrets to be uncovered and processed. The pace of the story is well timed as are the revelations. I really liked the book and most of the characters.

The Orphan Keeper

The Orphan Keeper by Camron Wright
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The real reason I wanted to read this book so badly is that I stumbled upon LION, a movie based on the true story of a boy in India who finds himself far from home then further from home via adoption, and his quest to find his Indian family. I was fascinated and memorized by his account.

The truth about children in India who become homeless or sold is horrific and not for the faint of heart. In fact, I just finished another book (I forgot which one) of a girl raised to be a prostitute and her experiences in the sex trade, held hostage for years. The boy in ORPHAN KEEPER has a unique story in that he is kidnapped from a loving home and sold to an orphanage to be adopted out. He is treated well and ends up in a loving home in Utah where his new parents have no idea he is not an orphan. Because of the language barrier, the newly named Taj is incapable of communicating this until much later.

What I learned from the previous books I read about children in India, particularly when they don't even know the town they are from, is that most children die in the streets or in the sex trade. Which is why I am befuddled why he was targeted to be kidnapped with so many homeless children. The true story of how he was kidnapped is probably not well remembered and the recounting is postulated. But finding his way back home would take nothing short of many miracles to reunite himself with the family he forgets for a time in order to focus on going on in this new culture. In fact, I watched a short review of his story with the author of the book so I know some events were postulated, some were skipped, while others were simplified.

The story of Taj's memories returning was simplified for the sake of the flow of the book. In fact, Taj serves a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in England and is reintroduced to the foods and smells he knew so well as a child which stimulates brief snippets of memory. This is introduced differently but with a great deal of clever artistic license.

Great story. Recommend book for book clubs.

The Lost Letter by Jillian Cantor

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book. It was bittersweet yet the ending left me feeling quite satisfied. The ways stamps were used to communicate was new to me and I kept guessing what happened to the main characters in current day. I didn't guess right until nearly the end. It was a perfect ending and a perfect book.

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women by Kate Moore
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm not going to sugar coat this. It is a heart breaking book. It is also incredibly inspiring. The author personalizes the girls that worked as dial painters beginning in the 1920s where radium was the new magic chemical. It healed, made your cheeks rosy, and was completely harmless. The girls were mostly very young, loved life, and had an optimistic future ahead of them. They were paid well to paint the dials with preciseness using their lips to point their brushes.

Naturally, we know how very dangerous radium is. One fact I found extremely fascinating is that radium consists of three known radioactive rays; alpha, beta, and gamma. Alpha rays do not do much damage as they can be stopped by something as thin as a piece of paper or skin. The other rays are the ones that burn the skin and cause damage from the inside out. Yet alpha rays are the most damaging if they get past the epidermis. Like if you lick your paintbrush into a point in order to paint a dial.

The book follows the women personally through their deteriorating health and then efforts to find medical help, compel the companies to pay for the medical help, and change practices. The corruption in the companies is appalling. The women use every bit of their waning energy to make changes in policy and be reimbursed for medical bills which have devastated them particularly in the wake of the Depression. They are pioneers in changing the policies of safety in the workplace and holding companies accountable for injury.

I feel like I got to know so many of the women personally through the narrative provided. It was historical and biographical yet almost written as a novel.

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Wait for Me by Caroline Leech

Wait for Me by Caroline Leech
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Excellent historical fiction for YA. Based on real events, the author tells the story of Lorna, a Scottish young woman at the end of WWII living near a prisoner of war camp. With men off fighting and labor left wanting, German and Italian prisoners were leased out for day work. Here Lorna meets Paul, a former German soldier from Dresden, badly scarred from Normandy. They strike up a close friendship in a village far too small to tolerate the humanity of the enemy.

Well written, rich with heart and history.