The Au Pair - Review

The Au Pair  🌟🌟🌟🌟

by Emma Rous
Published January 8 2019 by Berkley Books

This was a mighty good suspenseful tale of family secrets and misfortunes never told, and what can happen when one starts asking questions.  The inquiring mind belongs to Seraphin (a name new to me and highly distracting, since I kept wondering how it's pronounced, why didn't they just call her Sara for short instead of Seph, etc., etc.).  Her chapters were less interesting, as her character seemed shallow and undeveloped.  After finding a snapshot of her family taken on the day of her birth, and the day of her mother's suicide,  she becomes obsessed with finding out if she actually belongs in this family or if something shady transpired that day.  There are rumors of there being only one baby born, rather than two, or maybe there were three.  

The alternating chapters belonged to the au pair, spanning the eleven months just before Seraphin and her twin brother were born.  Here's  where we see how the secrets came into being.  The au pair knows everything, it appears, but someone is threatening her not to talk about it. 

As all is finally revealed, you had better be paying attention or it could become downright confusing.  I had most of it figured out but there still remained some details, which kept coming and coming and coming.  Maybe the final chapter could have been eliminated altogether to give the reader more to imagine.   Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.

The Girls at 17 Swann Street - Review

The Girls at 17 Swann Street  🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
by Yara Zgheib
Publishing Feb 5 2019 by St. Martin's Press

I do not cry over books.  I might tear up a bit, but seldom is there actual crying.  This book made me cry, multiple times.  

Anna was a ballet dancer, was living in Paris with her French husband, eating fine meals, drinking wine.  Ballerinas are pressured to stay thin, get even thinner, so eating habits had to change.  She also had lost some family members, tragically.  Anna did not choose to become anorexic; she did not consciously decide that 88 pounds was her ideal weight, or that fruit and popcorn  were her main food groups. It just happened as the disease aggressively and stubbornly took over her mind and body.

Now in Midwestern America, she goes for treatment at 17 Swann Street and so much happens in such a short time for her.  I was taken in by all the young women there and their daily struggles.  A very emotional  journey, for me at least.  

A quote from the preview copy I read:  "Only 33% of women with anorexia nervosa maintain full recovery after nine months . Of those, approximately one-third will relapse after the nine-month mark." 

Thank you to the publisher St. Martin's Press for offering me a copy through NetGalley. I will be recommending this one to all my reading friends.   

In the Blink of an Eye

In the Blink of an Eye  💔💔💔💔
by Jesse Blackadder
Published March 2019 by St. Martin's Press 

In the blink of an eye is how long it can take to lose track of where your beautiful and smart 2 year old has wandered off to, and how long to realize that someone <spoiler alert> left the pool gate unlatched and your son is lying face down in the water.

This is a very sad (understatement) rendering of something that happens all too often, as the author knows all too well.  To watch this family, already with some rips in its seams, get completely shred to pieces is difficult  and emotional.  It's really well thought out and told.  I loved the epilogue.

My only complaints are these:  Telling the mother's  version of the story  in second person.  "You" did this and then "you" did that. Who is saying this and to whom?  Caught me off guard but I did get used to it.

1/2 star deducted.

Also there are paragraphs and paragraphs of incomplete sentences, which always throws off my rhythm until I see why it is so. For example, instead of someone saying, "I got up and I walked  to the kitchen," it would be more like "Got up.  Went to the kitchen.  Remembered something."  I mean, I write personal emails like that in the interest of time, but find it unprofessional otherwise.  Just my own opinion and personal preference.

Another 1/2 star deduction. 

Otherwise, let me say that I couldn't put this down.  I cared about the family and whether they would heal themselves as individuals and help each other to heal as a unit.  A big thank you to NetGalley and to Jordan Hanley of St Martin's Press.

The Kennedy Debutante - Review

The Kennedy Debutante   3.5 stars
by Kerri Maher
Published October 2 2018 by Berkley  Books

The Kennedy family makes for interesting story fodder, that's  for sure.  If nothing else, they provide a look into surviving multiple tragedies while maintaining a pretty charmed existence. Joe Sr. and Rose had nine children and tragedies befell five of them, six if you include Teddy's story that was mostly covered up.  Then there was John Jr. and his wife, and I'm purposely leaving out the other grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  But it makes me wonder and marvel at their history.

I did not know much about the fourth oldest, Kathleen, aka Kick Kennedy, maybe the most tragic and short-lived of them.   Because the family was living in London during Joe's term as Ambassador, Kick's debut took place there.  These were her formative years and so she made her best friends and social connections in London.  She would always consider London her home, not America. Her true love was an English noble who would one day become Duke of Devonshire.  He was Protestant, which was a major issue with his family, with the Catholic church, and the Kennedys, especially Rose.  Most of the book delves into Kick's conflicted feelings about marrying for love or marrying to keep the peace in the two families.  I hope today religion isn't as big an issue, but I don't  know.

This kept me interested, even though it felt like a really long time before Kathleen and Billy finally found happiness.  Actually it was about 5 years, and then very short-lived because, again, tragedies ensue.  The author gives some additional history at the end, and then Google led me to reading about the Astors  and Fred Astaire's sister. Thanks  to  NetGalley and the publisher for this enjoyable preview copy.   

Night of Miracles - Review

Night of Miracles  🌟🌟🌟🌟
by Elizabeth Berg
Published November 13 2018 by Random House

Books that are very sweet or saccharine are usually a big turn off.  But when there is literally sugary sweetness, as in cookies and cakes, and lots of them, count me in.  And with this author,  I am 100% in, knowing it's going to be a moving experience, as it was.

Lucille, alone in life but never lonely with all her good friends, has opened her house to baking classes, so there is much to drool over while she describes her goodies. Ancillary characters either work  in or go to the local restaurant for breakfast -- some will order an Overnight French Toast which makes its own syrup.  Yes, lots of sweetness.

As in Arthur Truluv, the characters that Berg has created are people you would want to know.  My favorites were Iris, a recent divorcee from Boston, trying out small town Missouri for the first time, and Tiny, a thoughtful, kind taxi driver and friend to all.  Oh, and little Link, Lucille's precocious neighbor boy whose mother has cancer.  

I enjoyed this tremendously, through lots of tears (happy tears and sad too), and recommend to anyone, especially if you liked Arthur Truluv.  If Ms. Berg writes more of these small town tomes, count me in.  

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.  4.5 stars.

Bring Me Back - Review

Bring Me Back  🌟🌟

by B. A. Paris
Published June 19 2018 by St. Martin's Press 

I have read all three of B A Paris'  books and find they follow a pretty similar pattern:  Intriguing start; slow, repetitious and annoying in the middle; and a surprising, out of left field ending.  At least she has had in all her efforts two-thirds of a good book in the making.  But to me that's not really enough.  When I read a chapter detailing events from one perspective,  and then the very same events are recounted from another perspective, the progress of the story stalls out and makes zero headway.  Even moreso when characters are on the unlikeable side.  My mind starts wandering...and wondering if I should finish.

I finish most things that I start, but here I admit to skimming some of the Russian doll rhetoric and much of the dialog.  The Layla and Ellen "transformations" were quite unbelievable in my opinion but I won't say any more than that.

An ARC  from NetGalley and the publisher.

Leave No Trace - Review

Leave No Trace  🌟🌟🌟
by Mindy Mejia
Published September 4th 2018 by Atria/Emily Bestler Books

This was a comp copy from the publisher that I was thrilled to read since I enjoyed the author's first book so much.  She has a writing style that is easy to understand and get sucked into.  She also develops her stories slowly and methodically.  Unfortunately, this one moved too slowly in the beginning for me and became repetitive when Luke was in the care facility and acting out quite violently in his attempts to get back to his sick father somewhere in the wooded Boundary  Waters area of rural Minnesota. I guess I was hoping to know more about the father and son missing for ten years, and less about the young woman speech therapist, whose story did not seem credible.  The ending chapters tied it together, and even that had parts not entirely believable. 

 This took me a long time to finish so I wish it could give it a higher rating than 2.5 stars, so I'm  rounding up.