Book Review: "The Very Long, Very Strange Life of Isaac Dahl" by Bart Yates

Isaac is 96 years old, a historian and journalist, who is writing his memoir. But how do you summarize a life? He decides to focus on 12 different days throughout his life, days which truly had an impact.

Isaac’s story begins in Utah in 1926, when eight-year-old Isaac and his twin sister Agnes are trapped in an avalanche. From that point on, the book focuses on a specific day every eight years. Sometimes the circumstances are dramatic, like when Isaac is aboard a warship during WWII, and sometimes they’re simpler and more joyous.

While some people appear in one vignette only to never be heard from again, the core characters are Isaac, Agnes, and Isaac’s best friend, Bo. Aggie is the fiery, opinionated one, who cares fiercely for her brother, and Bo is truly affable and loyal to both Dahl siblings.

“…few things on earth are more frightening than the possibility of love.”

I enjoyed how the story was told but at times it felt very Forrest Gump-like, with Isaac popping up at different points in history. And while I’ve always been a fan of Bart Yates’ writing, some of the events chronicled seemed very overdone, like the Dust Bowl and the Civil Rights Movement.

This was our book club pick for October. Some people were conflicted, some really found the book moving. I fell somewhere in the middle, although there were places that made me feel real emotion.

Book Review: "Woman on Fire" by Lisa Barr

Woman on Fire, Lisa Barr's newest book, is both a thriller and a story of family, legacy, betrayal, and courage. It feels like a movie—and has been optioned by Sharon Stone!

Jules Roth is a courageous young journalist, determined to work for legendary investigate journalist Dan Mansfield. After she talks her way into a job, she gets a top-secret assignment: a friend of Dan’s has asked him to find a famous painting, “Woman on Fire,” which was one of many works of art stolen by the Nazis years ago. The painting matters to Dan’s friend, renowned shoe designer Ellis Baum, for very personal reasons.

But Ellis isn’t the only one who wants the painting. Gallery owner Margaux de Laurent believes the painting is part of her family’s legacy, and she’s used to getting everything she wants. She’ll do anything she needs to in order to get that painting, and she has countless resources to do so, including those outside legal and ethical channels.

It becomes a game of cat and mouse, with Jules and Dan trying to find the painting and what could’ve happened to it through the years, and Margaux working to crush them and get the painting first. Everyone is a pawn, including Adam Chase, Ellis’ grandson and a tremendously talented artist in his own right.

Shifting between the late 1930s and the present, the book explores the all-too-real costs of war, its effects on the art world as well as familial legacy, and how the quest to find truth has unexpected results.

I love the way Barr writes, and this book hooked me from start to finish. There were some elements of thrillers I wasn’t fond of—particularly how the villains always know what is happening before it does—but I was totally immersed in the story and these characters. If you know art history, you’ll find this even more fascinating!!

Thanks to Get Red PR Books and Harper Books for inviting me on the tour for Woman on Fire and providing a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review!! And thanks to my friend Louis for a great buddy read discussion as always!!

Book Review: "The Four Winds" by Kristin Hannah

The newest novel from Kristin Hannah, The Four Winds, proves that sometimes being tough is the only choice you have.

At 25, Elsa’s family has told her that she is too old and too ugly to ever find a husband, which in Texas in 1921 is the only path for a woman. So she’s expected to not make a fuss, stay out of the way, and live an uneventful life until the time comes when she must care for her parents.

But that’s not an acceptable option for her, and when she meets Rafe Martinelli, she makes a decision that changes the course of her life. When she finds herself shunned by her family and forced out of her home, her only choice is to marry a man she barely knows and move onto his family’s farm.

Thirteen years later, in the midst of the Great Depression and an unprecedented drought, the farm is dying. While Rafe is desperate to move to California where opportunities are rumored, his parents don’t want to leave their farm, and Elsa is determined to help them keep fighting. This causes friction in their marriage and with their older daughter, Loreda, who wants out of the relentless drought and dust storms, too.

When it gets to the point where the survival of her children are at stake, Elsa summons every last ounce of bravery she has and drives to California with them. Yet what they find when they get there, the lives they must pursue, will change each of them.

This is a beautifully written, emotional piece of historical fiction. Hannah once again proves herself an impeccable storyteller. Elsa is an exceptional character and her story is one of courage and exceeding what everyone has always told you that you could accomplish.

At times the darkness and emotions of this story feel a little relentless even though it’s fact-based, and I’ll admit I found Loreda’s character difficult to like. But this is definitely a book that moved me and once again made me thankful to those who came before.

NetGalley and St. Martin's Press provided me with a complimentary advance copy of The Four Winds in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!!

Book Review: "Better Luck Next Time" by Julia Claiborne Johnson

Better Luck Next Time, Julia Claiborne Johnson's new book, is a fun and poignant look at marriage, divorce, friendship, love, and finding yourself.

In 1938, if women wanted a quick divorce they had to go to Reno, Nevada, where after a six-week stay which gave them residency, their divorce would be granted. Some of the wealthier women stayed at the Flying Leap, a dude ranch (also known as a “divorce ranch”), where they could enjoy pampering and companionship until their six-week time period was complete.

The women who come to the Flying Leap are either completely determined to get a divorce or they’re wavering; they either have confidence or lack it; and nearly all have moments of weakness. (Some, however, seem to be repeat customers.) Some warm to and make connections with their fellow guests, but some let the strain get to them.

The story is told through the eyes of Ward, a young, handsome man who works as a ranch hand at the Flying Leap. He recollects this time many years later as well as his encounters with Emily, a timid woman who drove herself from San Francisco after she had had enough of her cheating husband, and Nina, an heiress back for her third divorce. The relationships among the three form the crux of the story.

I thought this book offered really interesting social commentary and a fun look at women’s role in society in the 1930s. I don’t think this was necessarily “historical fiction” per se, but it was an interesting time for women in particular. There’s some romance, some emotion, some fun—it was a slow-paced but engaging read.

Custom House Books provided me a complimentary copy of Better Luck Next Time in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks so much for making it available!

Book Review: "The Astonishing Life of August March" by Aaron Jackson

Aaron Jackson's The Astonishing Life of August March is utterly charming and delightful.

August March took his first breaths in a New York City theater prior to World War II. Born to an actress during the intermission of her play, she abandoned him amidst her soiled costumes. He was found by an elderly laundress, who becomes his de-facto mother, but knowing that she wasn't truly the maternal type, she nurtures him when she's at work, but leaves him to spend his nights in the theater.

August is a wild but intelligent child, one who speaks in Shakespearean monologues and is prone to dramatic declarations because he grows up watching every theatrical production. At one point he even befriends an English actor who played King Lear. He knows what makes a good production and what makes a disastrous one, and he's more than happy to share his opinions.

But August knows nothing of the outside world and doesn’t know how to interact with people, and when his time in the theater comes to an end in the days after WWII, he must make his way in the world. His life is a continued adventure, from pickpocket to prep school student, drunkard to high-stakes con artist. But while he may have companions, he always feels alone.

Yet despite the adventures, the highs and lows he experiences through his life, August longs for some sense of normalcy, for people to care for him. He thinks he may have found that with Penny, but is it for real or is she going for the ultimate con herself?

I thought this was such a fun, enjoyable book, and the characters are truly memorable. This was a special story which would make a fun movie, because August was so fascinating.

The Astonishing Life of August March is one of those books that sticks with you. I definitely wished it were longer.

Book Review: "This Tender Land" by William Kent Krueger

For some reason I held off reading this book, but man, was it amazing.

"Everything that’s been done to us we carry forever. Most of us do our damnedest to hold on to the good and forget the rest. But somewhere in the vault of our hearts, in a place our brains can’t or won’t touch, the worst is stored, and the only sure key to it is in our dreams."

Minnesota, 1932.

Odie and his brother Albert are orphans, left in the care of a school for Native American children taken from their parents, despite the fact the two of them are white. This school uses the children as slave labor, treats them cruelly, makes them believe they are less than human, and tries to break them of ties to their heritage.

Strong-willed and searching for fairness in a cruel world, Odie is one of the targets of the school’s director, a woman he calls the Black Witch, and her henchmen.

When one day in the midst of a cruel punishment things go horribly awry, Odie realizes he must flee the school. Albert accompanies him on his escape, along with their friend Mose, a Native American boy who cannot speak, and Emmy, a young orphan girl.

The four head out on a journey, an odyssey to get as far from the school as possible. They experience more than their share of trouble as they try to elude capture, but they also encounter people down on their luck, people who teach them that first impressions do not always equal truth. They learn a lot about themselves and their relationships with each other, and how they ultimately must let themselves have hope.

I can’t get this one out of my head. This is such a beautiful, thought-provoking, emotional book, the story of a harrowing journey, children forced to find the bravery of adults, with a little of the mystical thrown in for good measure. I’m once again reminded how talented of a writer Krueger is.

Book Review: "The Giver of Stars" by Jojo Moyes

"Just a little homesick, Alice answered. It was the truth, she thought. She just wasn't sure she had yet been to the place she was homesick for."

Alice Wright was suffocating in England. Her parents always treated her as an embarrassment, seeing her "emotional" nature and her free spirit as a definite liability, something which needed to be quashed. When she met handsome athlete Bennett Van Cleve, who is visiting England with his father, their whirlwind romance surprises Alice yet gives her a reason to escape her stifling life.

She quickly realizes that living in rural Kentucky in the midst of the Depression isn't much more exciting. She stands out like a sore thumb in their small town, and she and Bennett live with his domineering father, who sticks his nose into everything that goes on in his household. Alice isn't interested in attending teas with the other women, many of whom hate her for landing a man like Bennett, nor is she content simply to sit at home and be idle.

When Eleanor Roosevelt's traveling library program is brought to their town, and volunteers are sought, Alice quickly signs up, much to the chagrin of Bennett and his father. She strikes up a friendship with the library's leader, Margery O'Hare, a tough-talking, independent woman who was the daughter of the town's most notorious moonshiner, and someone who will never let anyone—especially a man—tell her what to do.

After recruiting other women to help, the library program becomes something many residents value, not only for the books, but for the companionship these so-called packhorse librarians bring. But not everyone in the area approves—some, including Bennett’s father—don’t like the "ideas" that these books put in women’s heads.

As Alice’s marriage continues to disintegrate, the library and her fellow librarians become her only source of comfort. But things are becoming more fragile at home and in town, and the librarians, particularly Margery, find themselves in danger and the library is at risk.

This was a fascinating and poignant story that I raced through. It’s funny, I am not much of a fan of historical fiction yet I’ve now read two of Moyes’ historical novels and loved both. There is mystery, romance, emotion, injustice—enough to get nearly anyone fully immersed.

I really do love the way Moyes writes, and these characters felt so real to me. I’m so glad I read this.

Book Review: "Montauk" by Nicola Harrison

It's 1938, and a large number of New York City's wealthiest residents descend upon Montauk, Long Island to spend the summer in this new East Coast playground. The wives will spend the entire summer there at the luxurious Montauk Manor, a hotel by the sea, while many of their husbands will return to their business interests in the city and then come to Montauk on weekends.

Beatrice Bordeaux is among those wives who will spend their summer in Montauk, but she is surprised to learn that her husband Harry will be leaving her during the week. One of the main purposes of this trip was that the couple could rekindle their marriage and hopefully become pregnant with the baby that has eluded them for five years. Although Bea would like to relax and read, Harry wants her to socialize with the other society matrons, so that he may find a foothold for his investment interests in Montauk.

While Bea is taken by the beauty of Montauk, she quickly grows bored of the women's talk of frivolous things, even charitable activities that seem more self-serving than generous. She befriends Elizabeth, the Manor's laundress, whose down-to-earth nature reminds Bea more of the life she knew before she met Harry, even though such a friendship would be frowned upon.

Bea is also disillusioned by the state of her marriage. Harry seems less and less interested in being with her, only wanting her to help advance his interests and make appearances at his side. When she discovers that Harry is not the devoted husband she thought he was, she begins to do things that interest her, regardless of whether they're appropriate for a married woman (or a woman at all). She also strikes up a friendship with a handsome, sensitive man who is Harry's complete opposite, a man who has a connection to her life before Harry, a time when everything changed.

As she and Harry drift further apart, and she takes her future in her own hands, she is ready to follow her heart for perhaps the first time in her life. But the course of happiness never runs smoothly, and she has to decide whether to do what she wants or do what might be best for everyone, or the risk might be too great.

Montauk is an interesting, beautifully written look at a time in history where a woman was expected to do what she was told, not to ask questions, and simply be happy being cared for by her husband. "Good wives" simply were willing to sit idly by as their husbands did as they wished, and they should be content with filling their days with superficial and social activities. Nicola Harrison did a great job capturing that time, and her descriptions of Montauk and the grandeur of the Manor created vivid images in my mind.

The story was a bit more predictable than I hoped it would be, and as it sped toward its climax things became really melodramatic, but I still found Montauk an enjoyable read. There are some interesting characters in the book, particularly Bea's friend Dolly, who flouted many of the conventions of her time and was pretty fascinating, and I liked Bea's sass and intelligence.

I was fortunate to be part of the pop-up book tour for Montauk. Thanks to BookSparks and St. Martin's Press for providing an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review!

Book Review: "Truly Devious" by Maureen Johnson

Stevie Bell has always been a bit different than her peers, much to her parents' chagrin. Much of her childhood and teenage years have been spent feeding her obsession with true crime and mysteries. Her parents wanted her to do the things "normal" teenagers do—hang out with friends, participate in extracurricular activities, maybe even date. But what Stevie wants more than anything is to solve crimes, to one day be as revered as some of the legendary detectives she loves reading about.

When she learns about Ellingham Academy, a prestigious private school in Vermont, she is absolutely desperate to attend. Not only does Ellingham essentially design each student's curriculum around their own interests, but back in the 1930s, the Academy was the scene of one of the most notorious mysteries and unsolved crimes ever. The wife and young daughter of the Academy's wealthy founder were kidnapped and the kidnappers demanded hundreds of thousands of dollars from Ellingham, but he never got his family back. The only clue to the kidnapping was a ransom note in the form of a mocking poem, signed by "Truly Devious."

Stevie wants to solve this mystery once and for all, and her passion for doing so is the criteria that gets her admitted to Ellingham. But even though she has a real purpose, and attends a school that supports that purpose, adjustment isn't as easy as she had hoped. She's never really made friends before, and isn't sure of what to make of her eccentric and creative dorm-mates, including a scientist and inventor, a popular and handsome web-series actor, a novelist, an artist with a penchant for alcohol and the saxophone, and David, a coder, who seemed to get under Stevie's skin from the moment they met.

One night, when she is participating in the filming of a web series about the kidnapping, it appears that "Truly Devious" has returned to the scene of their original crime, when Stevie sees another mocking ransom note. Not long after, someone is found dead—but did they fall prey to an accident, or was it murder? And is the murderer one of her classmates? Despite being warned about playing detective, that is exactly what Stevie does. But along the way she needs to realize that what she discovers may not make her a hero among her peers as she always imagined it would—and it could threaten the future of the school, or at least her enrollment. Is solving the crime worth the potential damage to the one place she finally feels she fits in?

Maureen Johnson's Truly Devious is truly terrific. It's a great read, full of really interesting characters, a dynamic setting, and a compelling mystery that definitely hooked me from the start. I love how the book shifted between the present day and the original kidnapping back in the 1930s, and looked at the way that case unfolded. Ellingham seems like the perfect place to go to school, and I wish a place like that existed when I was younger! (Without the murders and stuff.)

Johnson is a great storyteller. Her use of imagery was so evocative and I could picture the Academy in both past and present. She is also tremendously skilled at creating tension between characters and situations—I really wasn't sure whom to trust and it's rare that I feel that way when reading these books. I also liked the way she had diverse characters without making a big deal out of them; it was just matter-of-fact.

This is the first book in a series, so the ending was a bit of a confusing cliffhanger, but you can bet I'll be picking up the next book, The Vanishing Stair. I really thought this was a lot of fun, and a great read.

Book Review: "White Houses" by Amy Bloom

Fifty-five years after her death, and more than 70 years after she left the White House following her husband's death, Eleanor Roosevelt remains one of the most intriguing women in history. She certainly was a role model for trailblazing women not interested in being confined to the boxes in which society wants to contain them, but rather working to bring about change wherever it is needed.

While much is known about her public persona, her personal life has always remained more of an enigma. More and more, it is understood that her marriage to FDR was more one of convenience than romance, and while his affairs were the stuff of gossip, hers, with women, were kept more secret.

Perhaps Eleanor's most notable relationship was with Lorena "Hick" Hickok, once the most prominent female reporter in the U.S. Hick and Eleanor met in 1932 when Hick was covering FDR's campaign for president. Instantly smitten although the two come from vastly different worlds—the patrician Eleanor was both enchanted and horrified by Hick's rough-and-tumble exterior—after spending some time together their friendship deepens into intimacy.

Hick moves into the White House and becomes known as Eleanor's "first friend." Their relationship is as talked about within White House circles as FDR's are, but the president seems content if his wife is, and he gives Hick a job within the administration. And while it is clear both women love each other, Eleanor is conflicted about her feelings for Hick, her role as First Lady, and whether she should continue to enjoy her relationship, or whether she isn't a suitable match, and if she should set Hick free.

Amy Bloom's White Houses is a fictionalized account of the decades-long relationship between two women who have seen so much, yet still find wonder in each other, even at a time where such relationships could mean ruin. It's a story about how the power of love isn't always enough to see you through, but the strength of a friendship can power a relationship. It's also a story of a woman who grew up poorer than poor finds herself in the midst of a life she couldn't even begin to dream of, yet she can't have everything she wants.

"I wasn't in love with Eleanor. We had agreed that 'in love' had burned out after four years for us, the way it does for most of us, in two months or two years and, I guess, never for some lucky people. Instead of a trail of fire roaring through, those people get small candles steadily lighting the way home until death do they part, and only the young are stupid enough to think that those two old people, him gimping, her squinting, are not in love. I got by. I lived amputated, which sounds worse than it felt. I learned to do all kinds of large and small tasks, with part of me missing, and I feel pretty sure that the people who watched me in the world thought that I was entirely able-bodied."

White Houses follows the two women through three decades of their relationship, and flashes back to Hick's hardscrabble childhood and young adulthood, where she learned how to fend for herself. Although it moves a little slowly at times, it's a poignant love story and a look at history that I found fascinating, moving, and thought-provoking. Hick is brash and confident, yet she has a tender, vulnerable side that Eleanor often brings out in her, while Eleanor had two faces—the public woman bent on saving the world, and the private woman who just wanted to be loved but didn't know if she was worthy.

I have been a big fan of Amy Bloom's for a number of years and find her writing absolutely dazzling. This book is beautifully written, and while I didn't completely warm to Bloom's last few historical novels, preferring her more modern fiction, I really enjoyed this one. Her words conveyed the emotional conflict, the longing, and the protectiveness both women felt, and brought so much depth to this story.

NetGalley and Random House provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

Book Review: "I Will Send Rain" by Rae Meadows

I love it when a book slowly takes you by surprise, as you realize what on the surface seemed like a fairly simple story dazzles you with emotion and beauty of its telling, when a story about a family tested by difficult times and tragedy reveals its richness, layer by layer. Rae Meadows' newest book, I Will Send Rain, is definitely one of those books.

The town of Mulehead, Oklahoma, as with many towns in the Great Plains region of the U.S. in the mid-1930s, cannot escape the drought. It's wrecking havoc on farming families everywhere, including Annie Bell and her husband, Samuel, who moved to Oklahoma as homesteaders and little by little, built a farm they were proud of, then a family. But now the Bells are suffering—their crops yield little, and the whole town is paralyzed by the economic and emotional effects the drought is having.

When the dust storms start hitting Mulehead, the Bells truly feel they're close to rock bottom. Samuel, who tries valiantly to keep his farm limping along, is suddenly plagued by dreams of severe rain that he cannot explain, nor can he explain what he is compelled to do as a result of those dreams. Their 15-year-old daughter, Birdie, is in the flush of young love and wants much more out of life than Mulehead can offer her, but doesn't think anyone can understand her hopes and dreams, even if she is risking her chance at freedom. The Bells' young son, Fred, a sensitive, old soul, is plagued by dust pneumonia, and Annie herself finds herself tempted by a new admirer for the first time in her life, and is unable to understand the fervor of her husband's actions.

"More and more, he saw the drought as a test of faith. More and more, she feared the drought would free this tight coil of restlessness in her, expose her as someone less than steadfast."

As conditions in Mulehead worsen, Annie is torn between the path she has taken her entire life and the chance for something new, something that might offer her a way out of the crushing devastation the community is experiencing. But can she risk everything she has, everything she knows, for the slim hope of a chance? Does she really want to? And as Annie tries to make sense of what is happening to her family, her home, and her faith, she knows that problems won't simply be solved with much-needed rain, but she has to decide whether to see things through or finally live life for herself.

I thought this book was truly lovely, full of tension, emotion, anguish, and hope. Meadows so perfectly captured the anxiety and fears of this terrible period in American history, how people were affected and how they coped. As I mentioned earlier, this seemingly simple story of a family dealing with adversity packed so much power, so much beauty, that even when you had a feeling how certain plot threads might resolve themselves, you felt the story and these characters in your heart.

I'll admit that at first I was hesitant to read I Will Send Rain because historical fiction doesn't always resonate with me. But this book was really just so good, and Meadows' storytelling ability shone through a book which takes place in such a drab time and setting. This is a book—and an author—worth taking into your heart.