The Way We Weren't by Phoebe Fox

I don't think I've ever read a book quite like The Way We Weren't by Phoebe Fox. As a teenager, Marcie Malone found out she was pregnant just before graduation. Her boyfriend handled it well, suggesting that they should marry and deal with the pregnancy together. But, that meant giving up all of her plans. Marcie knew exactly where she wanted to go and what she wanted to do for a living and all that ended the moment she saw two pink lines.

Decades later, Marcie and Will are in their early 40s and have never had a child. The first pregnancy ended in miscarriage and they never managed to get pregnant, again, till now. But, the recent pregnancy wasn't as welcomed by her husband and ended in miscarriage, as well. On her way back to work after a few days off to recover from the miscarriage, Marcie inexplicably passes her exit and keeps driving, all the way from Atlanta to Florida. There, she is taken in by an elderly curmudgeon named Herman Flint who has his own issues to deal with. When Marcie ends up staying in Florida to consider her options, she slowly works her way into the heart of locals and eventually figures out why Flint is such an angry old man. 

As her stay in Florida keeps getting extended, she also meets a potter who is carefree, refuses to be boxed in by a traditional job, and encourages Marcie to return to her artistic roots. Will Marcie ever return to her career in hotel management and her husband? Or will temptation and frustration with a life gone in a totally different direction from her plans draw her away? Can Marcie help Flint resolve his own issues and start enjoying his life, again? 

There are some little side things happening that fill out this story. The turtles on the cover are relevant and there's a hurricane that hits the island where Marcie is staying. And, Marcie comes up with some creative ways to deal with a problem she encounters. 

Recommended - I found The Way We Weren't utterly engrossing. I couldn't wait to get back to it, each evening. My life went off the rails much like Marcie's, but for much different reasons. So, I could relate in some ways to her struggle. And, I think since it's not particularly graphic, women who've been through miscarriage and/or infertility will feel seen and understood when they read it, not doubly traumatized. So, I wouldn't say it needs a trigger warning. 

I did think the story took a slightly odd turn about 3/4 of the way into the book (and I had a few minor plot or detail quibbles — very minor) but I also felt like . . . OK, this was Marcie feeling her way, rocked by her recent loss and confused, trying to make a decision about who she was, who she wanted to be, where to take her life, next. So, while it seemed like there was a strange tack in the direction of the story, in the end it felt right because she needed that experience to help her figure out what's next. I loved this story and found it relatable and fresh. I'll be looking for more by Phoebe Fox!

My thanks to Berkley Books for the review copy!

©2021 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Unflappable by Suzie Gilbert

"I have just demonstrated one of the many advantages of being a big woman," she said, loosening her grip. "Would you like me to let you up?"
"No thanks. I like it down here."
"You're lying in a pool of wine." 
"It's called marinating." 

~p. 113

When author Suzie Gilbert sent out a promo email about her first novel, I remembered her name and her nonfiction book about bird rehabilitation, Flyaway (link leads to my review), even though it's been literally a decade since I read it. I loved Flyaway that much. So, I was very excited to find out the author has written a novel with a character who is a wildlife rehabilitator. I wrote back to tell Suzie how much I still remember loving Flyaway and wish her luck on her new release. She asked if I'd like a copy of the new book, Unflappable, and I enthusiastically replied that I would. So, full disclosure, the author sent me my copy of Unflappable. I almost never accept books directly from authors because I'm honest about books, no matter where they come from, and in my nearly 14 years of blogging, a few feelings have been hurt (not my intent, of course). But, I'll make an occasional exception.

In Unflappable, Luna is a bird rehabilitator who decides to leave her billionaire husband, who is really not a very nice man nor a person whose businesses have been good for the environment. In order to try to lure her back, he has a bald eagle named Mars stolen. Mars was snatched from a nest and raised by an individual (illegally, I presume) so he can't be released into the wild. Luna is fond of the eagle and even wears a silver bead with one of his feathers around her neck. When she steals back the eagle her husband has had stolen, Luna knows he has the money and connections to track her down. So, she goes on a road trip using her network of wildlife rehab friends as an underground railroad of sorts. She plans to take the eagle where nobody can interfere with him.

A socially awkward guy named Ned has been told he needs to do community service by the IT company he works for and he coincidentally shows up when Luna is in desperate need of help stealing an eagle and escaping. In his classic car, they head out of Florida. But, Ned's car is a little too obvious. He'll need to pass Luna off to someone else and head home so they can't be tracked. In a comedy of errors, Luna and Ned find themselves having to constantly update their plans while a friend who rehabs cougars and keeps armadillos in his house has fun scaring Adam, the billionaire, soon-too-be-ex.

Meanwhile, it's not just Adam that Luna and Ned must evade. A Fish and Wildlife agent, the police, and Adam's henchmen are all trying to track down Luna. Most of these people don't really care about the eagle (although the story serves to delineate people who are driven by strict legal guidelines versus those who only have the needs of the animals in mind) so the concept of the road trip to get the bird safely to Canada and then reunited with its bonded partner is maybe a bit far-fetched but that doesn't matter. The ending is ultimately satisfying and the fun is in the chase, capture, escape, chase rollercoaster ride. There's plenty of action for those who love a plot-driven book.

Highly recommended - What a ridiculously fun read: part road trip, part escape thriller, part romance with a theme about the importance of caring for all life, even the individual animal that's been hit by a car or knocked itself out on a window. I loved the author's sense of humor and I particularly liked the character Warren. You have to read the book to appreciate him; he's a fun character. There was only one thing I disliked about Unflappable, and it was mostly down to an editing problem. Occasionally, there would be a flashback but it was not separated from normal text by italics or some other method to show the change of timeline, although the clue was usually a lack of quotation marks in remembered dialogue. No matter how many times that device was used it always, always threw me and I'd find myself rereading to try to figure out what was going on. It was annoying but not a big deal.

There was also a huge cast and you had to keep getting to know new characters but, again, that was a shift that happened now and then because of the lengthy road trip and, ultimately, I grew to enjoy meeting the various rehabbers as they were introduced. So, while it presented a challenge to the memory (as when a character at the beginning is suddenly brought back and you struggle to sort through all those characters to remember him or her) it was not a big deal. And, it certainly gives the reader an interesting peek into the variety of wildlife rehabilitating specialties.


Fiona Friday will be moved to Saturday because I thought it was important to review Unflappable, ASAP. I meant to get to it in May. My apologies to the author for the delay and many thanks for the review copy!

©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Rosie Colored Glasses by Brianna Wolfson

Rosie and Rex are opposites. Rosie is brimming with life, loves color and sparkle and disorder. Rex is organized and disciplined. When they meet, it's because Rosie has done something Rex would never do. And, yet, there's a spark between them when they meet again, and they begin to date. He doesn't approve of her marijuana use and is uncomfortable with the chaos that surrounds her. She thinks he's a little stiff. And, yet, somehow he is charmed with her and she finds comfort in his stability. They fall in love and marry.

Willow and Asher adore their mother. On days that they go to Rosie's house, they know they'll get to watch movies, eat sugary things, wear matching pajamas, and have fun. On the days they stay with their father, they have to follow detailed lists. They never get to cook or dance. Rex doesn't pay as much attention to them as Rosie does. Rex's house is just not fun and sometimes he becomes very angry when they don't follow the rules.

But, Rosie is becoming increasingly unstable and unpredictable. Sometimes she comes late to pick them up from school. Sometimes, Rex arrives instead. Willow is stressed. She's bullied at school and the sharp differences between her parents aren't helping. When Rosie spirals out of control, what will happen? Asher is adaptable. But, can Rex be the parent that Willow needs him to be? Or, has he been showing his love all along in ways that Willow hasn't noticed?

In alternating chapters, the reader experiences the unfolding romance and collapsing marriage of Rosie and Rex alongside Willow's story as she navigates divorce and bullying then observes her mother's downward spiral.

Highly recommended - A gut-wrenching read, at times. Rosie appears to be bipolar, although that's never stated. Rosie Colored Glasses is about mental illness, love, parenting, addiction, grief, romance, marriage, divorce, bullying, and being yourself. It's heartbreaking and uplifting and sad and beautiful. I imagine this book will stick with me hard for some time to come. The author says it's based on her own childhood and I actually wondered about that, as I was reading. It seemed awfully detailed for mere imagination. Not that authors can't be that creative but often when a book is that vivid there's at least a little of the author's story tucked in there. Be prepared; Rosie Colored Glasses is an emotional read, but thought-provoking and meaningful on so many fronts.

I received an ARC of Rosie Colored Glasses from Harlequin in exchange for my unbiased review. My thanks to Harlequin/MIRA!


©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman

"That was luck. I've seen you play a hundred times, and that was the first time I've seen you beaten." He paused. "Well, apart from the semifinal last year."

"Oh, you saw that?"

He blushed deeper. "Yeah. We got knocked out in the semis, too. By the Spanish In-quiz-ition." He grinned. "Nobody expected it."

~p. 142


In The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman, many readers will find a kindred spirit. Nina is the only child of a single, traveling photographer. Mostly raised by a nanny, she's introverted, organized, a lover of books and trivia, and a bookstore clerk who takes great joy in the many bookish activities that she hosts. She's on a trivia team, in a book group, and happy with her quiet life alone.

Then, Nina's well-organized life becomes crowded with new people when she falls for one of the members of an opposing trivia team and finds out she has a large, extended family by way of a lawyer who informs her that her father has passed away. Can Nina fit all the new people into her carefully ordered life? And, what will happen to her when the landlord of the bookstore in which she works decides that he's got no choice but to find a new tenant?

Highly recommended - Ohmygoodnessgracious, I loved this book. Nina is the kind of people a bookish person can't help but love to read about. She reads avidly, loves storing up facts, has a cat, makes frequent references to books, characters, and movies, and has serious anxiety issues. Mostly with people. People are really scary. The only complaint I have about the book is that just about everyone Nina interacts with is equally witty. She may not think she's a people person but she has quite a rapport with just about everyone. But, at the same time, that makes the book a light-hearted, smart, amusing, and engaging read. I adored the witty banter. It made me happy. Totally a five-star read.

I received a copy of The Bookish Life of Nina Hill from Berkley Books in exchange for an unbiased review and it's going on that favorites list I mentioned yesterday. Wow, two 5-star books read in less than two weeks! How often does that happen? I'm going to want to press this one into the hands of a lot of people.


©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center

Cassie Hanwell was traumatized twice over at the age of 16. Since then, she's both acted and become tough. A firefighter/paramedic, she has to be physically and mentally strong to handle life in a firehouse and all of the things a firefighter sees. And, she's happy with her place in life. But, then things start to go wrong. When one of the people who traumatized her sets her off, she is given a choice: apologize to him or be dismissed from her job. At the same time, her mother is facing a health challenge and needs Cassie's help. When she ends up moving to a new fire station in an entirely different region, Cassie knows she must be extra careful about how she behaves.

Cassie isn't the only new body at the fire station she moves to, but she's the only female. The rookie is new to firefighting, though, and Cassie is not. So, Cassie is thrown together with him frequently, tasked with sharing some of her hard-won experience. When Cassie and the rookie find themselves attracted to each other, Cassie is horrified. The last thing she needs is to endanger her job with a potential romance. Will finding love wreck her life as a firefighter for good or soften her and help her deal with the trauma of her past?

Highly recommended - I could not put Things You Save in a Fire down. Cassie was a wounded soul but not in a way that felt manufactured. In fact, part of the trauma is never spelled out, as I recall. But, you can read between the lines and her story felt entirely believable to me. I cared about her and wanted the best for her. I also absolutely loved reading about what it's like to be a firefighter — the camaraderie, the type of things they have to deal with (dangerous, weird, and yucky situations), the pranks they pull on each other and the things that are completely taboo. I've read some of this, in the past, because I have a fascination with both firefighters and paramedics but there was more detail than I'm accustomed to and I think you can take the accuracy to the bank because the author's husband is a volunteer firefighter.

I jumped the gun a little on this title because I put it on the wrong ARC pile (le sigh). Things You Save in a Fire is an August, 2019 release. And, of course, it's just June. I like to wait till a lot closer than 2 months ahead of release date to review. I received my ARC from St. Martin's Press (thank you!) and I loved it so much that with it just sitting here beside me, I keep looking at the book and thinking, I want to start it all over again. Definitely a new favorite and one I'll hang onto for a reread.

©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Lottery by Patricia Wood

I first wrote this review of Lottery by Patricia Wood in November of 2007 and didn't realize I had never republished it on my blog (it was originally published at The Estella Collective) until I wrote my review of Cupidity, also by Patricia Wood, and couldn't find the review to link up to. So, this is an older review, republished to get it onto my blog. It's worth reprinting because the book is phenomenal; it was short-listed for the Orange Prize and I've been craving a reread, thanks to Cupidity. See also, my review of Cupidity by Patricia Wood. 

The man chews his cigar, looks at his watch, squeezes his fender, and talks to Gary, all at the same time. “I need to get to the San Juans . . . Friday Harbor . . . Three weeks vacation . . . Can we speed this up?” he asks. “I need to get going.” He looks at his watch, again.

Vacations are when you stop being in a hurry to go to work and start being in a hurry to go someplace else.

Lottery is the story of Perry L. Crandall, a caring and sensitive man with an IQ of 76. The L in his name, his Gram tells him, stands for “Lucky”. When Perry proves his luck by winning the Washington State Lottery, suddenly his life changes dramatically. People who were unwilling to look him in the eye now boldly ask him for money, the family members who ignored him suddenly become concerned about his well-being and clerks treat him with obsequiousness during shopping trips. But, will Perry be able to handle his windfall or is the fact that he’s slower than average likely to become his undoing?

Because Lottery is written from Perry’s point of view, there’s a simplicity and power to the story. The reader knows how Perry thinks and what’s important to him, feels the pain of condescension and insult, becomes angry at the way people speak within his hearing, assuming that he’s unable to translate their plots to take advantage of him. There’s an immediacy to the story, a feeling that one must keep rapidly turning the pages because Perry is such a delightful character that the reader absolutely must know what’s going to occur. 

In fact, Perry has difficulty remembering and understanding certain concepts, but throughout the reading of Lottery the reader gains an understanding of how meaningless an intelligence quotient really is. Perry has his own brand of wisdom and is intelligent in many ways. His translations of the implication within spoken words reflects an ability to observe and reason. Because he reads from a dictionary and takes notes, each day, Perry develops a deeper comprehension of words and their varying definitions than most of the people around him.

When the story opens, Perry has been working at Holsted’s Marine Supply in Everett, Washington for many years. His late grandfather taught him to sail and Perry knows boats and their requirements better than the other employees and often even his boss; his Gram spouts bits of wisdom and bolsters his self-confidence. When she thinks he’s out of line, she says, “Don’t be smart.” Friends Keith and Gary -- Perry’s fellow employee and employer -- along with his Gram, treat him with the respect that nobody else offers him. 

By the time Perry wins the lottery, the reader is intimately acquainted with Perry, enough to know which of his acquaintances are true friends and who will steal from him if given the chance. What the reader doesn’t know is how Perry will handle the threats and opportunities around him. 

Even while I was madly turning pages as I read this novel -- a book that I could barely stand to put down the night I began reading and snatched up the moment I had time to read, the next day -- I feared that the predictable course would unfold. Perry is a warm, generous and kind-hearted character that you can’t help but root for and fall in love with. It’s only natural to want the best to happen and to fear the fate that seems inevitable when his family swoops in and attempts to fleece him.

To avoid spoiling the novel, I can only say that the entire book was full of pleasant surprises, cringe-inducing moments, smiles and tears. Lottery is an involving book -- emotional on many levels. I laughed, I cried, I loved Lottery. Since I closed the book, nearly two weeks ago, I’ve observed that I often hear Perry’s voice when I see something awe-inspiring and remember his oft-repeated words, “That is so cool!”

In the author’s introductory note, she describes the background of Lottery and her “need to write a compelling story that people will listen to, remember, and learn from.” Did she succeed? Absolutely. Perry L. Crandall is a character I plan to revisit, both for his and his Gram’s unique brand of wisdom. Is the novel compelling? Definitely. Did I learn from the story? No doubt about it. Author Patricia Wood succeeded on all levels and I hope that she’ll publish a second novel very soon.

©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Cupidity by Patricia Wood

In a small town in the state of Washington, Tammy Louise Tyree is working herself to a frazzle. She provides for her erratic Uncle E. and her (maybe autistic) younger brother by working 4 jobs. She has to fend off her no-good cousin and annoying boss, balance her jobs, try to keep her uniform clean and arrive at work on time, and keep everyone fed. For Tammy and her family, there's no way but up. When she receives an email saying her missionary relatives in Africa have left her $5 million, she's ecstatic. But, there are conditions. She has to keep the news about the money to herself and turn over all sorts of information and fees. As she works feverishly to pay the fees that her new African friend is charging her and fill out the forms, the news slowly gets out that Tammy is about to receive a fortune. And, everyone wants in on it.

Only one person thinks Tammy is being scammed and Tammy's sure not going to listen to him. When Tammy suddenly has people all over the tiny hick town insisting on helping her out in the hopes that they can get in on the windfall, what will happen?

Highly recommended - I don't want to give away too much about Cupidity because it's far too fun experiencing the unfolding events but I found it absorbing, nervewracking, and funny. You can't help but admire Tammy Louise. At one point in the story, she asks someone what other jobs she holds and is shocked when the woman replies "This is my only job." Tammy is so accustomed to working 4 jobs that she has no idea it's actually possible to survive on a single income stream. She is the hardest-working, most likable character that you've ever worried about throughout a novel. I love her. Just as I still have not forgotten the names of the characters in Patricia Wood's first book, Lottery (that's extremelly unusual -- I never remember characters' names unless they're common knowledge like Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy), I doubt I'll forget Tammy, Uncle E., and Jar, anytime soon.


©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Between You and Me by Susan Wiggs

Caleb Stoltz is Amish. Although he once lived in the English world, he was called back when tragedy struck, his world rocked. Before his brother died, John asked for his two children to be raised Amish. More than anything, he wanted them to share his faith. Since then, Caleb has lived at home, raising his niece and nephew, Hannah and Jonah.

Reese Powell is a medical student whose parents are both physicians. For her entire life she's been groomed to become a pediatric surgeon so that she can add another dimension to her parents' medical practice. But, now that the Match to a residency program is upon her, Reese is having second thoughts about pediatric surgery, instead thinking she would enjoy the challenge of a medical specialty that draws on a wider variety of skills.

When Jonah is severely injured, Reese is on rotation in the Emergency Room at a Philadelphia hospital as the young boy arrives. His injury is severe and Reese is both drawn to Caleb and feels an unusual urge to help him because he appears so lost in her world. As Jonah begins his lengthy recovery and Caleb remains nearby, Reese gets to know him and falls for him. But, both are aware that their worlds clash and that being together may be impossible.

Between You and Me is an unusual read for me, since I don't often read romance and I've actively avoided books with Amish characters for quite some time. I read a few, maybe 10 years or so ago, and grew tired of them pretty quickly. This particular story isn't set entirely on Amish land, though. It's about the tension between the two worlds and two people who are both unsatisfied with their lives and yet feel compelled to continue on their chosen paths. Because it's clearly a romance, you can guess how it ends; it's the path to that ending that is interesting. How will the two characters work out their differences? Will both of them change their course? One of them? How will medical and legal complications, as well as a persistent family problem, effect the outcome?

Highly recommended to hopeless romantics - A sweet love story with likable characters, a number of dilemmas, and a heartwarming ending. I closed Between You and Me with happy tears in my eyes. While the prose isn't particularly brilliant, the characters are lovely, the dilemmas realistic. The "secret" noted on the cover is kind of dubious. I mean, I know what it is but I don't think it's as important to the plot as the fact that the two characters live in such different worlds and that secret may impact whether or not they will end up together. Just a lovely story.


©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Down and Across by Arvin Ahmadi

In Down and Across, 16-year-old Scott (real name Saaket) is an Iranian American with helicopter parents and a focus problem. Because he hasn't found his passion, he has a tendency to give up on everything he tries. He's distressed about it but doesn't have any idea what to do to change himself until he finds out about a professor who has dedicated her life to studying "grit" (determination). She's found that people with a high level of grit are more successful.

Scott's parents are traveling to Iran for a month because his grandfather is ailing and his father has arranged for Scott to spend the month doing an internship in which he has zero interest. After giving the internship a try, Scott quits and takes a bus to Washington, D.C. to seek out the professor. Maybe she can teach him how to discover grit. On the bus to DC, Scott meets Fiora Buchanan. Fiora is spontaneous, whimsical, and fun but her delightful personality hides the darker side of her life. While Fiora and a friend of hers from Charleston help Scott navigate the area, Scott pursues his search to discover grit and learns some surprising things about himself in the process.

Recommended - Within the first 50 pages of Down and Across I was almost certain I was going to have to painfully force myself through it or give up. But, eventually the author began to woo me and in the end I found it quirky, surprising and endearing. I loved the uniqueness of its plotline, using crossword puzzles as a metaphor for life, and the fact that I never knew quite where the author was going to take me, next. I'm quick to abandon books that don't grab me up front but I'm glad I stuck this one out.

©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal

In winter, the days lost their shape early. The streets were blurry with shadows and traffic lights as Kulwinder walked home and thought about her day. 

~p. 37 of Advance Reader Copy, Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows (some changes may have been made to the final print version)


Nikki is a modern, independent woman and the rebel of her family. The daughter of Sikh Indian immigrants, she is a university drop-out, formerly in law school, who lives above the pub where she tends bar. Her sister Mindi is Nikki's opposite; she just wants a traditional marriage. When Mindi asks Nikki to put her profile on the marriage board at the Punjabi community center in London's Southall, Nikki  discovers a job opening for a writing teacher.

Nikki gets the job but she's surprised to find that the class is entirely composed of widows who don't know how to write in English. And, one is completely illiterate. Nikki assumes the entire scope of the course will have to change; she'll be teaching her students to write, instead. But, the widows object. They really want to tell stories, even if it means dictating them. And, the stories they want to tell are very colorful. Nikki agrees to their wishes but does so knowing that if her boss finds out what they're doing, she'll lose her job.

While Nikki encourages her students to write what they love, she also gets to know them as individuals and learns about the secrets they keep. But, what she doesn't realize is that in seeking the answers to the mystery of what happened to her boss's daughter, she is putting her own life in danger.

Recommended - I added a family warning in my blog labels because of the short stories by the widows, interspersed throughout the book, for those who may have sneaky young readers with whom one should probably read and discuss if the book gets away from you. Having said that, there's a good deal about being empowered by creativity and the fact that women become invisible as they age - both important topics - so I wouldn't panic if a youngster gets hold of Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows. I'd just discuss the story and its positive lessons.

There's a lot more going on than the erotic stories written by the widows that are interspersed throughout the book. Nikki starts to date someone but there are complications. Mindi is looking for love and wants encouragement from her sister but Nikki is skeptical of arranged marriages. Nikki's mom has been widowed for a couple years and Nikki still wonders if quitting law school contributed to her father's sudden death. Nikki's mother's income is becoming tighter, so Nikki really needs to keep her job but she knows it's likely not to last. And, then there's the mystery of a young woman's death, a gang of young Sikh men who go around harassing women about abiding by rules, and the fact that Nikki's first job at the pub is already threatened by loss of revenue.

Sometimes the widows made me laugh. And, toward the end of the book, there's a scene so tense that I went from lying against two plushy pillows to sitting bolt upright, hanging on every word. An excellent story with a good blend of darkness and light.

©2017 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Same Beach, Next Year by Dorothea Benton Frank

This is going to be one of those reviews that I quickly bury because I really don't like writing overly negative reviews and this one is going to lean negative (but I'll mention the positive and try to keep it as balanced as possible, no worries).

Same Beach, Next Year is about two couples who become lasting friends. Adam and Eve were lovers, way back in high school, but both are happily married when they and their spouses vacation in the same condominium complex in South Carolina. Adam's wife Elyse notices the looks that pass between the former lovers while Eve's husband Carl is too busy flirting with Elyse to pay much attention. The two couples become fast friends after Carl, a doctor, puts his doctoring skills to use when one of Adam and Elyse's twins is injured. For twenty years they vacation together while weathering the trials that come of parenting and living near their extended families.

Then, one day Adam and Eve are at their respective condominiums alone. Adam sees a light in Eve's place and goes to check it out, staying to talk late into the night when he finds that all is well. Elyse and Carl find the two asleep on Eve and Carl's sofa in the morning and both Elyse and Carl go ballistic, believing the two must have slept together. Their marriages crumbling, Carl leaves Eve and Elyse takes a long-desired trip to Greece to visit the family she hasn't seen since her childhood. When tragedy strikes, will Elyse and Carl find it in their hearts to forgive?

Okay, let's start with the positive: Same Beach, Next Year has good bones. Unfortunately, that's about all I can say I liked about the book, the fact that "stuff happens". It's got some interesting plot points. The problems with Same Beach, Next Year are, in my humble opinion, manifold. One is the lack of distinction between the two viewpoints: Adam's and Elyse's. When you're in Elyse's head, she is thinking about her life - the meals she cooks, the children and her husband and how perfect their life is, descriptions of various home interiors, her thoughts about the people around her. And, guess what? Adam is all about Elyse - what a perfect cook and hostess she is, how lucky he is to have her, blah, blah. He doesn't think like a man; he sounds exactly like a mirror image of Elyse.

My second problem with the book is that there are a lot of throw-away lines. For example, at some point Elyse thinks it would be nice to try for a little girl. But, then nothing happens. There is never a discussion between Adam and Elyse about having a third child and the line fits absolutely nowhere in the plot. She never becomes pregnant, never thinks about a third child again. And, this:

I had prepared an early supper of spaghetti with tomato sauce and lots of grated Asiago cheese instead of Parmesan. ~ p. 52

WHAT? I don't know how long I stared at that sentence, just wondering what the author was trying to say. Parmesan is what you're supposed to eat on spaghetti? Is she trying to tell me how to eat my pasta? What is the purpose of "instead of Parmesan"? Incidentally, "Maybe a girl would come to us?" is on the next page. I probably should have put the book down, at that point. But, I used to really enjoy Frank's books and continued, thinking it would undoubtedly improve. Nope. The throw-away lines continue. Late in the book, Elyse muses about social media ("a colossal waste of time") and one of the women says, "Wow," when another mentions that an elderly character gets all of her clothing from consignment shops. Just "wow", whatever that means. Are we supposed to frown upon her for not buying new items? Are they saying they're impressed at how well she chooses her clothing? I don't know.

Neither recommended or not recommended - The ratings at Goodreads are high and I confess I was never Dorothea Benton Frank's best audience, even though I enjoyed some of her earlier titles. I'm not a big fan of Southern fic; I simply liked them for the change of pace. If you like Frank's books, especially her recent work, you may enjoy Same Beach, Next Year. It's a "beachy" read, very brain light. I was disappointed with the last Frank book I read but thought she deserved one last chance. I will not read another book by this author, but I do think the book is well plotted and interesting things happen. It's just a very awkward read with a lot of meandering detail, the romance between couples is not very convincing, the heroine's world is too perfect, and I never really did like any of the main characters. It was not for me.


©2017 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

We're All Damaged by Matthew Norman and a Fiona Friday pic

I've been failing at blogging and a lot of other things, this week, due to the overwhelmingness of life, so I'm going to review my most recent read because it's an easy one to talk about.

We're All Damaged is contemporary fiction about a man whose wife divorced him after she became involved with a paramedic. Andy was devastated and escaped to New York City after making a fool of himself at his former brother-in-law and best friend Neal's wedding. It's been nearly a year since he left, but now Andy's grandfather is close to death and his mother has called him home. Back in Omaha, Andy spends time with his grandfather and meets a mysterious, tattooed woman who claims she can help him recover from his divorce. He blindly trusts her advice while dealing with the fallout from his self-destruction at the wedding and trying to protect his right-wing, radio-host mother from the Glitter Mafia (although he's pretty much on their side), a group of gay men who are dedicated to giving her a hard time.

Once again, I had to peek at the reviews to see what exactly it was that the people who disliked this book had to say. Meh, nothing major. It's basically lad lit, the male verson of chick lit, and I think most of those who read the book thought it was in some way lesser to their favorite contemporary male authors. That didn't bother me because I wasn't comparing anyone to anything. The reason I ended up reading We're All Damaged, in fact, was the fact that I'd just finished reading No Man's Land, a book in which a young man faced the hardship of life in poverty and then on the front lines of WWI. I was specifically looking for something a little low on depth, something light-hearted and fun.

We're All Damaged was perfect for the moment. I didn't see anything on my shelves that appealed to me so it was a Kindle download (from a recent Kindle First promotion) that grabbed me, for once. You know how often I read e-books, right? Almost never. I set down my iPad and forget about them. A book has to really grab me and suck me in to get finished if it's in electronic form. And, the thing is, We're All Damaged made me laugh out loud that first night when I opened it. That was enough for me. I was definitely going to finish that e-book.

There are really only two negative things worth mentioning about We're All Damaged and one is not an original thought, but I'll save that for last. I was not thrilled with the heavy use of pop culture references. I tend not to be up on my pop culture and, yes, a lot of those references were unfamiliar to me. You need to know what the author is referring to in order to fully understand the meaning behind the use of  chosen references and I opted to just read between the lines -- I think I got out of it what he desired, but in a more oblique fashion and that was mostly because I didn't feel like looking anything up (my fault - feeling lazy). The second thing is only a realization thanks to one of the reviews I read. Yes, the mysterious, tattooed girl, Daisy, fits the "manic pixie girl" concept. She appears for no apparent reason, magically helps Andy understand and work through his problems, and . . . well, I won't tell you what happens but she definitely plays a magic poof role. Having said that, I don't care. I enjoyed the book and that's what counts. It was a 5-star read for me because it was perfect for the moment, I liked the storyline, loved the characters, and it made me happy while I was reading.

A favorite feature (of course): There's a stray cat that Andy occasionally cares for and feeds in the New York City scenes. Thumbs up for the =^..^= scenes, particularly the final one.

Highly recommended -  Save We're All Damaged for when you've read something heavy and your head is about to explode if you don't get a light-reading break. You may or may not fall in love with Matt Norman's sense of humor but the story is nice and light, a little slapstick, with a tiny touch of romance and a satisfying dash of redemption. Personally, I love the author's sense of humor. I pretty much smiled all the way through the book.

Sweet Fi Closeup for Fiona Friday:

I've paired Fiona Friday with a review because I had such an incredibly busy week that I couldn't fathom not sneaking in a review while I have the time to write. Happy Weekend to all!

©2017 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Ones Who Matter Most by Rachael Herron

The Ones Who Matter Most by Rachael Herron
Copyright 2016
NAL Accent - Contemporary Fiction
416 pp.

When Abby is suddenly widowed, she makes a shocking discovery: she was not her husband Scott's first wife. Curious, Abby seeks out first wife Fern and discovers that Scott had a son, Matty. Fern is a bus driver who struggles to get by, living in a small house with Matty, Scott's father and his father's girlfriend. Although Scott never had anything to do with Fern or his son, he did at least send regular support checks. Now, Fern will have to find extra work to get by.

Abby's parents both died long ago and although they left her well off, there is really nothing she desires more in life than a family. But, she has been unable to carry a child and now she no longer has a man in her life. Seeing young Matty makes her long to get to know him and his family. But, Fern is not interested in Abby's yearning for friendship or her offers to help out. With Fern's financial situation increasingly falling apart and Abby charming young Matty, will Fern give in and let Abby become a part of their world?

Here's the interesting thing about The Ones Who Matter Most, at least to me. I thought it was going to be terrible for at least the first 30 pages. Abby has a crunchy hippie friend who sets her to work getting rid of unwanted possessions a mere two days after Scott has died. I just couldn't fathom that. The first couple of weeks are so overwhelming, with people visiting and bringing casseroles, offering their sympathy, and all the decisions about burial and funeral service that it was hard to believe Abby would even have a moment alone with only one friend. That was my personal experience getting in the way of the storyline, of course. I also wasn't sure I was going to like Abby because I didn't know her motivation for what happens in the opening pages.

Fortunately, that hesitation didn't last long. Yes, the opening is flawed. But, Abby quickly becomes endearing. She's got boatloads of money but she has not had an easy life. She lost both parents early on, has been unable to carry a pregnancy, and now she's a young widow. When she offers to help Fern financially and starts spending time with Matty, she means well. She's really quite sweet.

Fern, on the other hand, is tough. She's got a huge heart but she's had to work hard to keep her odd little jumble of a family fed and she's constantly facing new challenges like broken appliances. It's only natural for her to put up a defensive wall; more than anything, she wants to protect her family.

Highly recommended - I absolutely adored the characterization, the challenges to the characters, and the way Abby slowly hacked down Fern's defenses. While the beginning of The Ones Who Matter Most was a bit rocky because it didn't feel like it had the ring of truth when it came to the aftermath of a sudden death, that rapidly changed and I felt the long, drawn-out process of softening Fern was believable. There was only one plot point I didn't adore (a suggestion by her hippie friend) beyond the beginning but it had a purpose and, in the end, I had to acknowledge it helped lead to the absolutely perfect, happy-tears ending. I just want to clutch this book to my chest, I love it so much.


©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Heart by Maylis de Kerangal

The tension has very quickly risen at this point on the earth's surface. The plant's leaves seem to tremble, the water in the glasses to ripple; the light in the room seems to grow suddenly brighter, making them blink, and the air to vibrate as if the motor of a centrifuge was slowly turning above their heads. Thomas is the only one to remain completely immobile, to show no emotion. Keeping his gaze steady on their pain-creased faces, ignoring the tremors of their jaws, the shaking of their shoulders, he goes on unflinchingly: The purpose of this interview is to discover and formulate the expression of the dead person's wishes [. . . ]

~from p. 101 of Advance Reader Copy (some changes may have been made to the final print version)

Early on a cold morning in France, three young surfers set out together in an aging van on a jaunt to the shore, dressing in warm gear and catching the waves until they're chilled and numb. Worn and satisfied, they pile back into the van and head home. But, tragedy strikes and one of the young men sustains unsurvivable injuries. When his family is informed, they must make the decision about what is to be done.

While physicians are mobilized in the hope that several transplants will take place and potential organ recipients are notified, the family of a vibrant young man whose life is being sustained only by machines must come to terms with their grief and make a decision in a limited amount of time. Machines can keep his heart pumping but only for a matter of hours, then it will begin to deteriorate and the hope of saving other lives will end.

The Heart by Maylis de Karangal is unexpectedly gripping. I was skeptical when I began reading, thinking it would probably end up being fairly dull, but within the first few pages I was hooked. Not only is the writing beautiful but it's also compelling enough that the pages practically flew, probably because the author did such an excellent job of portraying urgency. It quickly becomes apparent that the clock is ticking and everyone involved in the transplant process is eager for the donation process to be facilitated. It's only toward the end that you get to know the potential recipient of the young man's heart but in that brief space where her life is described, you're rooting for her, knowing that with so little time left, someone else's tragedy may be her last chance to live.

Translated from the French, I was surprised to find The Heart is not the first translation by Sam Taylor that I've read. In both cases, I found the writing was so smoothly handled that I would never have guessed the book was a translation, if not for the fact that it's mentioned on the cover and the book takes place in France. His bio says Taylor is also a published writer and that may make the difference. I've read a number of clunky, confusing translations, at least one so difficult to read that I abandoned it. Clearly, Taylor knows how to stay true to the story and the beauty of its original prose. I was impressed.

Highly recommended - Surprisingly taut, lyrical, engrossing reading. While heartbreaking because you must experience the grief the family is going through, the ending is uplifting and makes the journey worthwhile. I found it particularly interesting that the French system of organ donation requires a person who does not wish to donate to fill out a form refusing automatic donor status, although the surviving family members still may choose not to donate, the opposite to how it's done in the U.S., where you can have the donor option added to your driver's license but if you're not a donor your survivors can still choose to donate viable organs. Also of note is the fact that a French physician who declares someone dead cannot be involved in the surgical process.

Reading The Heart brought back a little of my own frustration with our inability to get my father's organs donated. When my father was declared brain dead, we asked if it would be possible to donate his organs and were told he was too old at 62. The idea of someone else being saved by your loss seems pretty powerful to me. But, it's clearly a very individual choice and I appreciated being walked through the opposite feelings.

©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Catch-up #1: Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck, A Survival Guide for Life by Grylls, Tomorrow We Die by Grady

I had such a fantastic reading month in September that my sidebar has been taunting me for ages. Yes, true, I am under no obligation to write about every book I read (I do skip a book if I feel like there's nothing to say and the book in question is from my personal library). But, the whole point of blogging is to keep a record of what I've read and my thoughts about each of those books so I'm going to do some catch-up posts. The following were either recently purchased or on my home shelves. I absolutely loved and highly recommend all three.

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck - I just found out I'm not the only person in America who missed out on reading and discussing Of Mice and Men in school, yesterday! Whew! Good to know.

Short version of the storyline, lacking spoilers: Two friends travel around working odd jobs together. Lennie is intellectually challenged; George watches out for his friend. When they end up in trouble -- which invariably happens because Lennie has difficulty understanding boundaries and doesn't know his own strength -- George takes charge of their escape. When Lennie does something so horrific their lives are both put in danger, what will George do?

I love Steinbeck. For such a small book, Of Mice and Men certainly packs a wallop. Definitely one of my favorite reads of the year. I wish I'd read it in a group setting. When I closed the book, I was dying to discuss the moral dilemma.

I love Bear Grylls and have been thinking, "I need to read one of his books" for quite a while. So, when I indulged in some stress shopping in September I went in search of a book by Grylls. Any title would do -- and since I was looking at a discount website I took what was available.

A Survival Guide for Life by Bear Grylls is about achieving your goals, with focus on paying attention to what makes you happy, maintaining enthusiasm, dealing with adversity, working on strength of character -- really great advice. The author refers to the book as "self help" within its text. I'm not generally a fan of self-help because I've found the majority of such books are not particularly helpful or their effects are short-lived. However, I do love books on positive thinking and have several favorites that I periodically reread when I need an upper.

A Survival Guide for Life definitely falls into the "uppers worth rereading" category. Although much of Grylls' advice is common sense or already in practice here, there is still plenty to think about and his infectious can-do attitude just can't be beat. I haven't yet talked my youngest into reading the book because he's been reading business books recommended by his father while working on his second degree but I think there are aspects to A Survival Guide for Life that are particularly relevant to young people on the verge of entering the work force so I hope he'll find the time to read the book soon. In the meantime, I may even give it a second go. A Survival Guide for Life is definitely a book I plan to reread repeatedly. And, I would especially recommend it for those who need a little mental boost. It would also make a fabulous graduation gift. Bear Grylls is truly an inspiration.

I've already talked about Tomorrow We Die by Shawn Grady a bit, here, but without describing the storyline.

Jonathan Trestle is a paramedic working for a private ambulance service. When he's called to a cardiac arrest, he manages to revive the patient, an unkempt man who may have overdosed. Before the patient slips back into unconsciousness, he hands Jonathan a note and tells him to give it to Martin. Of course, Jonathan has no idea who Martin is.

There is so much going on in this book that I realize now why I didn't post a synopsis, before. First, there's the patient with the note. Jonathan tracks down the patient and goes in search of Martin. There's an old girlfriend Jonathan keeps running into; they have a lot of baggage but the mutual attraction is still there. His alcoholic dad is fading. Jonathan has flashbacks to his mother's death. And, when the ambulance company gets after Jonathan for not meeting the city's standard response time because there aren't enough ambulances to cover the quantity of calls coming in, he stumbles across a corporate cover-up that puts his life (and the lives of several other people) in danger.

I have a feeling there's more that I've forgotten but the bottom line is that Tomorrow We Die is action-packed, well paced and the pages absolutely flew. I loved this book. My only problem with it was that it could be a little too descriptive. But, that's something you just have to be prepared for when you're reading a book written by a paramedic. The things they see are not pretty. I'm currently reading Bringing Out the Dead by Joe Connelly (yet another novel written by a paramedic) and it is equally stomach-turning, at times, but I love this stuff. Tomorrow We Die was definitely the most exciting novel I've read by a paramedic, so far. We'll see how the next one goes.

©2014 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Humans by Matt Haig

The Humans by Matt Haig
Copyright 2013
My edition: Canongate Books
Source: Purchase

Then she raised her eyebrows at me. It meant something, clearly, but I had no idea what. It was frustrating. You see, the Language of Words was only one of the human languages. There were many others, as I have pointed out. The Language of Sighs, the Language of Silent Moments and, most significantly, the Language of Frowns.

~p. 113

Life, especially human life, was an act of defiance.

~p. 172

On Earth, social networking generally involved sitting down at a non-sentient computer and typing words about needing a coffee and reading about other people needing a coffee, while forgetting to actually make a coffee.

~p. 184

Love is scary because it pulls you in with an intense force, a supermassive black hole which looks like nothing from the outside but from the inside challenges every reasonable thing you know. You lose yourself, like I lost myself, in the warmest of annihilations.

~p. 196

I'm going to write the description from the back of the book and then my own.

First the cover description:

After an 'incident' one wet Friday night where he is found walking naked through the streets of Cambridge, Professor Andrew Martin is not feeling quite himself. Food sickens him. Clothes confuse him. Even his loving wife and teenage son are repulsive to him. He feels lost amongst a crazy alien species and hates everyone on the planet.  Everyone, that is, except Newton, and he's a dog. 

Who is he really? And what could make someone change their mind about the human race . . . ?

Synopsis in my words:

Andrew Martin has just recently made a mathematical breakthrough that could change the world when suddenly someone else takes his place. Stuck in a body identical to that of the human he has replaced, an alien must find out who else knows about the professor's brilliant work and kill them all. Then, he can return to his home planet. But, after spending time on Earth, the alien comes to a few brilliant realizations of his own. Humans, in fact, are not all that bad, life is worth living, even if it doesn't last long, and love is a wonderful thing.

My thoughts:

I ordered a copy of The Humans from The Book Depository because I wanted a copy with the British cover shown above.  I like it a lot better than the American cover because it's colorful and eye-catching. And, I also wanted to read the book, of course.  I was prompted to read it just a little bit sooner when Stephen Fry tweeted that the book is "fantasically funny and brilliant".  On the day Fry tweeted, I was packing for my trip to attend Simon Van Booy's fiction writing workshop in New York. The book was on my shelf already and I'd been eyeing it but I had not gotten around to reading it because of all the ARCs demanding my time. The tweet convinced me. I needed to read it now.

Thank you Stephen Fry and Matt Haig. As it turned out, The Humans was the perfect book for that particular set of flights. Because it has a little bit of an other-worldly aspect with an alien figuring out how to be human and I've been in a mood for other-worldly books (time travel, dystopian and sci-fi books are the ones that have been calling to me the loudest, lately), the storyline sucked me right in, thank goodness. I'd have hated to be without a really terrific read on a day when there were storms at both ends of a flight and I spent a solid 8 hours hanging out with other humans at a single gate (terrific humans, I must add -- the kind who were cheerful and chatty when sharing information about their delayed flight but who also didn't bother you when your nose was tucked into your reading material).

The most brilliant part of the book is near the end, when the alien who has become Andrew writes a list entitled "Advice for a human" for his earthly son. I would happily quote the entire list but instead I'll just tell you that you need to read The Humans because it's such a lovely, creative, uplifting story. The Humans is also light enough for vacation reading but deep as the ocean you'll be lying next to while you read . . . or the canyon. Whatever. It's a great read; that's all you need to know.

Highly recommended - A new favorite, a book to read and reread, about what it means to be human and how love makes life worth living.  Light reading, deeply meaningful. Don't let the word "alien" frighten you away  The Humans is not science fiction and not about aliens; the alien taking on human form is simply the author's way of looking at humanity and it works. It works beautifully.

It's notable that one of the characters is suicidal and Matt Haig is known for his advocacy for mental health, having been through a suicidal phase of his own. I love following him on Twitter (he tweets as @matthaig1) because his tweets are wise, witty, smart and deeply felt; and, I adore where he takes the part of The Humans that deals with suicide.

Today is Matt Haig's birthday. I recommend buying a copy of The Humans as a birthday gift to him.  He deserves the gift of a purchase and you, of course, deserve the entertaining and meaningful read.

©2014 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Delicious! by Ruth Reichl

Delicious! by Ruth Reichl
Copyright 2014 
Random House - fiction
Source: Random House via TLC Tours

Brief synopsis:  

WARNING - If you like to go into a story not knowing all the strands before they occur, please skip the description because it may contain some minor spoilers.  I went into the reading of Delicious! completely blind -- no reading of the cover blurb, no idea of what it was about -- and enjoyed the way the threads of the story were revealed and then tied together.

Something has driven Billie Breslin out of college and far from her California home. In New York, she finds a job writing for Delicious!, a magazine that has been published for over 100 years. As she slowly gets to know the people she works with, mysteries emerge about the characters and the building itself. Then, Delicious! is suddenly shut down and Billie is left alone to answer complaint calls and piece together the mystery of a hidden room, a series of letters written during WWII, and what became of the young lady who wrote to chef James Beard. As she works, both in the mansion that used to house Delicious! and the store of a cheesemonger, Billie slowly develops new friendships and begins to face the tragedy that drove her far from home.

My thoughts:

When I saw that Ruth Reichl had a new book coming out, I jumped right on the bandwagon. I didn't even notice that it was a novel!  No matter, though. Like her nonfiction, Ruth Reichl's first novel is full of descriptions that will make your mouth water, her first attempt at a novel surprisingly well-balanced and gripping. I particularly loved the WWII portions of the book. There's an interview with Ann Patchett at the back of the book -- a conversation, really -- in which they discuss the writing, the WWII letters and how the elements came to Reichl as she wrote. She claims to have known very little about WWII, which is surprising. Obviously, she's a very good researcher as she handled that well.

There were little things I disliked about Delicious!  Because Reichl's writing is very descriptive, the book is a bit over-long and probably could have been tightened a little. There's a lot of "savoring".  I honestly grew weary of that word, after a time.  And, the tragedy is completely transparent. I knew what had happened (not the details -- just in general) within 50 pages, although it's not revealed for quite some time.  I also have to admit that Sammy is a character I found a bit hard to believe in, although I liked him, and I didn't think there was a need for the ugly ducking to swan transformation. Billie was an interesting enough person to draw interest on her own merits before she was pushed to transform (by getting contacts, a haircut and a new wardrobe), which is good . . . but love doesn't fully come her way till after, which I found tad annoying.

None of the things I disliked about the book were enough to make me even remotely consider setting Delicious! down. I gobbled it up in a day, although it's nearly 400 pages and I'm a pretty slow reader.

Recommended - Foodies will particularly love reading the descriptions in Delicious! but it's a good novel, in general, so I also recommend it to those who like contemporary fiction, women's fiction, and romance. If you prefer minimalist writing, you might find yourself growing a little weary, but tight writing is my preference and I still enjoyed the various threads of the storyline enough that I was never tempted to set Delicious! aside.

Addendum:  Is that cover fabulous, or what?

2014 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Brain: The Man Who Wrote the Book that Changed the World by Dermot Davis

Brain: The Man Who Wrote the Book that Changed the World is a self-published book and I just about never say "yes" to self-pubs for review because [deep sigh] I read a few too many truly appalling self-published novels in my early blogging years and quit accepting them entirely, for a while. Occasionally, the intriguing synopsis of a self-published book keeps me from even noticing the fact that it's a self-pub, though, and I'm truly glad that happened when Dermot Davis asked me to read Brain.

At the beginning of Brain, you're introduced to its hero, Daniel Waterstone, as he accepts a literary award that a young woman nicknamed "Crazy Mary" believes she deserved.  Rather than just accepting the award politely and returning to his seat, Daniel gives a lengthy speech that clearly highlights his arrogance. 

A few years later, Daniel is living in Los Angeles, where he has been attempting to launch his fabulous literary career. After completing the sequel to his Great American Novel, Daniel prepares to meet with his agent. He has been published but his novels are too literary for the average American and aren't selling well.  Daniel is nearly out of money, his car is a beater that's likely to stop for good at any moment, he's late on all of his bills and he's hoping his agent, Suzanne, will spring for lunch. When Suzanne tells him she can't sell his Great American Novel, much less a sequel, he begs her to tell him what he should write. What will sell? Whatever it takes, he'll write it.

Daniel settles on writing a satire, feverishly researches satire writing and then begins to write obsessively. Starving because he can't afford groceries, he becomes crazed and delirious but he finishes his novel and sells it.  Unfortunately, it's marketed as a self-help book and the "advice" Daniel gave in the book -- never intended to be serious -- is taken as instruction.  Daniel finds himself stuck touring and doing seminars for a bestselling book whose principles were meant to take a stab at all the people who are making him wealthy.

"Mr. John Fox, Tutorsfield, Wisconsin," Daniel read from the envelope as he opened it.  "Walking backwards blindfolded while banging two sauce pan lids together and singing If I Were a Rich Man at the top of my lungs really helped me improve my concentration, as your book said it would. I fell over a couple of times and needed to be treated for a mild concussion and some minor cuts and bruises but the weeklong stay in the hospital was a small price to pay for the heightened awareness which I felt as a result of the exercise.  If you're ever in the Wisconsin area . . . " Daniel stopped reading and looked at Suzanne with a mystified expression. 

"Read some more," encouraged Suzanne, handing him his refill.

"How to be a forest fairy, as described in your book, was a hard exercise for me at first.  However, as I followed the exercise further and yelled out for all the other forest fairies to come gather round, sure enough, they did reveal themselves from their hiding places and I soon felt myself as one of them.  My view of life has changed dramatically as a result." Daniel stopped reading and picked up another letter.

[. . . ] "These people are nuts," said Daniel.  "We have names and addresses here . . . we should call the mental health services or something."

"Don't be ridiculous, Daniel," Suzanne said casually.  "These are your fans.  You've earned quite a following with just one book."

"Yeah, I'm king of the loonies."

"It's the follow-up book that always sells even better."

pp. 90-91

I won't give away anything else that happens because Brain is quite a wild read and I'd hate to ruin any of its surprises. The writing itself could stand some tightening but the story is so delightful that it's worth ignoring Brain's shortcomings for the sheer entertainment value. 

What I loved most about Brain -- besides the fact that the author kept surprising me -- was the hero's growth. Daniel's book is not just a bestseller but a book that changes how people think and, in the long run, changes the world. And, yet, the author knows what the book really is about and in his inability to simply accept his success and continue playing the role of the self-help guru, he shows his humanity. 

There is a romantic subplot and I confess to not quite understanding whether the female is (as I suspected) "Crazy Mary" reinvented and, in fact, much more stable than Daniel or if I misread that entirely but I liked the romance. Before I accepted the book, I read a few reviews and there were a lot of complaints about the ending so I was expecting a far-fetched end to the romantic subplot. But, I had no problem with the romance at all. There is also a lovely character, an elderly librarian, whom Daniel considers his only friend. I loved where the author took that relationship.  

Recommended - A delightful, humorous satire that pokes fun at the world of publishing via a flawed character who, in becoming a success for all the wrong reasons, emerges a better person. There are quite a few crazy, slapstick scenes in Brain; it is nothing if not wildly creative. Like most self-pubs, Brain could use a bit of editing for small mistakes like misspellings and larger ones like excessive description (particularly at the beginning of the book), but the pacing is excellent and, in the end, it's just rollicking good fun. 

©2014 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Someone Else's Love Story by Joshilyn Jackson

I rated Someone Else's Love Story 4 stars at Goodreads, then cleared my rating and gave it 5 because I couldn't think of a single thing I disliked, although all the way through the book I kept visualizing Hemingway and Jackson in a fist-fight over the use of adverbs.  Jackson loves them as much as Hemingway hated them. It took me a while to get used to her style but by the end of the book I adored it.

Someone Else's Love Story is about a young lady with a 3-year-old son and a poetry-spouting male best friend. Shandi is telling herself a big, fat lie.  Her best friend, Walcott, has been there for her through thick and thin and he knows the truth but he'll let her come to it in her own time.  When Shandi and her son are held hostage during a gas-station robbery, she falls for the tough but temporarily suicidal geneticist who saves the day. But, what Shandi doesn't realize is that she's telling herself stories about the hero, William, as well.

I'm not going to spoil the story by going into any detail but there are really 3 different love stories interwoven throughout Someone Else's Love Story. It's serious and funny and sweet.  I've seen the words "darkly comic" used to describe Someone Else's Love Story.  Excellent word choice; wish I'd thought of it, myself.  In spite of the fact that some very, very bad things have happened to some of the main characters, there is humor throughout and I adored the relationships between Shandi and her son Natty, Natty and Walcott, Natty and William (the guy who saves the day in the convenience store) . . . actually, I could go on.  Joshilyn Jackson doesn't just make you fall in love with her characters as individuals; she makes you love the relationships.  I laughed, I cried.  I hugged the book to my chest when I finished it.  Marvelous story.

Highly recommended - Although I'd call Someone Else's Love Story a character-driven story and I tend to shy away from them, there's plenty of action and the characters and relationships are so wonderful that I think even the plot lovers like myself will find it enjoyable.  Well, I did, anyway. Someone Else's Love Story is actually the first Joshilyn Jackson book I've read.  I want to read them all, now.

©2014 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.