Book Review: "Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances" by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle

Let It Snow is a trio of somewhat-interconnected short stories about the highs and lows of love against the backdrop of a massive snowstorm.

In Maureen Johnson’s "The Jubilee Express," a girl’s holiday plans are derailed again and again. First, her parents are thrown in jail unexpectedly, then her train to Florida gets stuck in the copious snow, and she escapes the chaos of the train by heading to a Waffle House for refuge, where she meets a young man with his own troubles. But as if all Jubilee experienced wasn't enough, she must deal with the apparent disinterest of her seemingly perfect boyfriend, which she doesn't quite understand. It makes for quite a holiday!

John Green’s "A Cheertastic Christmas," told with Green’s trademark these-characters-are-more-erudite-than-me style, follows a group of friends trying to get to a Waffle House in the midst of the storm because of the unexpected appearance of a troop of cheerleaders seeking escape from their train. (This appeals to two of the three friends.) However, their mission to make it to the Waffle House before other invited males is foiled by the elements, their rivals, and the changing dynamics in their group of three.

In "The Patron Saint of Pigs," Lauren Myracle tells the story of Addie, a girl despondent about the end of her relationship (her fault). But the thing is, Addie could use a serious lesson in putting the needs of others first. It takes a strange customer and a teacup pig to help her find her way.

I don’t tend to read a ton of holiday books but this book (and these authors) really tempted me. Johnson’s story is the most straightforward and is therefore my favorite. Green’s is truly madcap and funny, and I really do love the way he writes even if his characters are funnier than nearly every adult I know, but there is only so much zaniness I can take in a story. It's literally a caper.

Myracle’s story had too many disparate parts that didn’t quite come together for me, and I felt as if everyone was trying too hard. It was an interesting concept but at one point there were so many characters in the story that I was quite confused.

Let It Snow was a very quick, fun read and it definitely put me in the spirit of the holidays, even if I’m hoping the "wintry mix" forecast for early next week here passes us by. They've also adapted the book into a Netflix movie which premieres November 8.

Book Review: "Life on Loan" by Ashley Farley

This book was so warm and sweet, it charmed me completely. You can't beat a book that does that!

Have you ever thought of running away from home? (As an adult, I mean.) Was there ever a time when you thought, if only I could leave all of this behind and just take off for someplace else and start over? Sure, it may have seemed impossible to fathom given everything that would need to be done before you could actually run away, but did the thought make you feel better, even for a split second?

When Lena and Olivia meet in an Atlanta airport lounge, both are on the verge of running away from their current lives. Lena has had it with her abusive husband and selfish daughter, and needs to find her own way after having to do everything for everyone else with little appreciation. Olivia has been living in the aftermath of a painful divorce, and the successful blog she has created has put her in an untenable position with two wannabe socialites, so she needs to escape.

The two women knew each other casually in college, but even though they haven't seen each other in years, they each sense a kindred spirit in the other, a soul desperately in need of rescue. When their initial escape plans are foiled by weather, they hatch a plan together.

"For the next thirty days, the month of October, you'll stay in my cottage in the Northern Neck and I'll stay in your waterfront condo in Charleston. We'll indulge ourselves—eat whatever we want, sleep late, and leave our beds unmade if so desired. We'll follow our hearts to wherever they may lead us."

And that's exactly what they do. Their getaways take different paths. Lena is determined to regain confidence in her photography skills and wants to become more dedicated to diet and exercise. When she meets another photographer willing to take her under her wing, she jumps at the chance—although she doesn't know the positive and negative things which will come of such an arrangement. But she falls head over heels in love with Charleston and the possibilities of a life there.

Olivia needs to find the confidence to write again, as she knows there's a novel deep inside her, but she just has to coax it to the surface. Nervous about her financial situation and still reeling from the end of her marriage, time in the sedate Northern Neck of Virginia is exactly what she needs, especially when she meets Alistair, Lena's childhood best friend who lives in the cottage next door. Alistair awakens feelings Olivia hasn't had in so long, but he has issues of his own to deal with. And is a fling what she needs?

Ashley Farley's Life on Loan is tremendously enjoyable, a bit melodramatic, and utterly compelling. I really liked these characters despite their foibles, and couldn't get enough of them. It's always great to root for characters and care about what happens to them, and if nothing in the plot seemed overly surprising, it didn't matter one bit. This was a quick, fun read that would be perfect for the beach, a plane ride, or just relaxing in your favorite spot.

I am fortunate to be part of the blog tour for Life on Loan. My thanks to Kate Rock Book Tours, NetGalley, and Lake Union Publishing for providing me a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. I really enjoyed it!

Book Review: "The Worst Kind of Want" by Liska Jacobs

Pricilla Messing has had it with being the responsible one. She's tired of caring for her elderly mother, especially after having to care for her father before his death. She always took a back seat to the relationship between her mother and her younger sister, who was more beautiful and more exciting. Part of her wants to put her mother in an assisted living facility, sell the house, and start some new adventure, but she feels too tethered to her responsibilities.

When Cilla's brother-in-law calls from Rome, asking for help getting her teenage niece to behave, she jumps at the chance to head to Italy. She's not interested in riding herd on Hannah, however; she's more interested in absorbing every ounce of the glamorous Roman lifestyle, one she used to experience regularly as the daughter of an actress and a producer. She'd much rather be Hannah's friend than her chaperone, and it isn't too long before Cilla finds herself clubbing, drinking and eating to excess, and enjoying all the city has to offer.

Being with Hannah and her brother-in-law, Paul, does force Cilla to confront some painful memories about her difficult relationship with her sister Emily, who died of cancer a few years earlier. Hannah reminds Cilla so much of Emily at that age, and at times she has trouble dealing with the many ways their relationship was fraught with jealousy, resentment, and condescension, while at other times they were tremendously close.

Cilla's time in Rome makes her feel vibrant again, for the first time in a long while. When she realizes that one of Hannah's handsome friends, a teenage boy far younger than the forty-something Cilla, is flirting with her, it energizes her to feel desirable by someone out of her league. But as the flirtation moves to something more serious, Cilla has to decide whether the potential thrill is worth the risks. Is she willing to lose her relationship with her family for an encounter with a teenager, however handsome and flirtatious he might be? Should she risk it all to feel desirable again, no matter the consequences?

The Worst Kind of Want tells the story of a woman at a crossroads in her life. This was an interesting, thoughtful meditation on the mindset of a "woman of a certain age." And perhaps not being in that demographic made this a little more difficult for me to connect with the character, although I've not had that issue before.

Jacobs’ imagery was vivid and poetic and she created some interestingly complex, flawed characters. But in the end, although I read the book quickly, I didn’t feel fully engaged by it. I enjoyed her first novel, Catalina, a bit better.

NetGalley, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and MCD provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!

This book publishes November 5.

Book Review: "Nothing to See Here" by Kevin Wilson

This is truly an odd, funny, poignant book about finding a place and people with whom you belong, and how family can spring from the strangest of situations.

"How did people protect themselves? How did anyone keep this world from ruining them?"

Lillian has always accepted that she won’t accomplish much in life. For a brief moment in her teenage years, however, she attended a private high school and befriended Madison, a beautiful but quirky rich girl, and Lillian started to believe she had potential. But Lillian had to leave school in the wake of a scandal and everything went back to the way it used to be. And that’s the way her life went for a number of years until Madison, now the wife of a U.S. senator with greater ambitions, summons her with a proposal.

Madison’s young stepchildren have lost their mother and the right thing to do for appearances’ sake is for them to move home. But these children have been raised horribly, mistreated, all because of one thing—they spontaneously combust when they get agitated and flames ignite their skin without harming them. Is this something they can control? No one has ever really tried to figure it out.

Lillian agrees to serve as the children’s governess of sorts and keep them out of harm’s (and the media’s) way for a while. It is expected that Madison's husband will be nominated as Secretary of State, so the children need to keep a low profile through the confirmation process.

Lillian doesn’t count on how observant and desperate for love and approval the children are, and she doesn’t count on how much she has needed to be needed. She works on winning their trust, making them believe her feelings are true, which Lillian has to believe, too. Fighting for the children’s best interests—no mean feat given how the deck is stacked against them—awakens feelings of love and protectiveness she never imagined she’d feel.

This is a quirky book but it’s one that definitely worked its way into my heart. The characters aren’t sympathetic in many ways but I devoured this. Kevin Wilson, who also wrote The Family Fang, really created a moving story.

NetGalley and Ecco Books provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!

Book Review: "How the Light Gets In" by Katy Upperman

Katy Upperman's new book, How the Light Gets In, is a story of grief, recovery, letting others in, and learning to forgive—especially yourself.

It’s been nearly a year since Callie’s younger sister Chloe died, and she and her family are still the worse for wear. The two were inseparable for so long. Callie has quit swimming and avoids social contact, spending her days getting stoned and blaming herself for what happened, while her mother spends most days in a depressed, alcohol-soaked haze.

With summer approaching and her father at his wits' end, Callie is given an ultimatum: go to a wilderness survival camp and straighten herself out or go live with her aunt in the small town of Bell Cove and help her get her house ready to become a B&B. While it seems like an easy choice, Bell Cove is where everything happened with Chloe last summer, and Callie isn't quite sure she's ready to reopen those wounds. But it's still better than living in the wilderness!

"Sometimes, I'm desperate to remember, to dissolve into remembering. Sometimes, I want to light my memories on fire, so they burn until nothing's left but ash and despair."

Callie arrives, hurting, resentful, and just wanting to stay in bed for the summer. She doesn’t count on the persistence of her aunt or the appearance of Tucker, a handsome local guy hired to work in the house’s garden. Tucker’s easy, carefree charm is able to make some cracks in Callie’s armor, although she tries not to let herself be vulnerable. But Tucker’s family has secrets of their own.

As Callie fights her attraction to Tucker and her guilt and sadness about Chloe, she doesn’t count on chilling encounters with what appears to be a ghost. Is it Chloe? Will Callie get the chance to resolve the unfinished business she and her sister have? What does this ghost want?

I liked this story very much but thought the mystical, spiritual elements didn’t work as well as everything else. I felt that part of the story dragged everything else down although I understood the point. At its core, this is a story about recovering from grief and finding hope again, and that's what I enjoyed the most.

Upperman is a great writer and I’ll definitely want to read more of her books.

Book Review: "Find Me" by Andre Aciman

Find Me was altogether different than I expected, but it was utterly, gloriously moving.

"...the magic of someone new never lasts long enough. We only want those we can’t have. It’s those we lost or who never knew we existed who leave their mark. The others barely echo."

While Find Me is, in essence, a sequel to Call Me By Your Name, for the most part it’s more a book that follows some of the characters. If you go in expecting another whole book about Oliver and Elio you’ll be disappointed.

This is a book about love, longing, all-consuming desire and the fear it might suddenly disappear. It’s also a book about what the heart wants and how strongly it clings to some people and some memories despite the passage of time.

Find Me is a novel with several parts. The first follows Samuel, Elio’s father, as he travels by train to Rome to visit his son, a pianist and teacher. He meets a much younger woman, Miranda, and the two feel a connection more powerful than anything they’ve ever felt. Can the course of your life change so completely because of a stranger?

In the second part, a few years later, Elio has moved to Paris. While attending a concert one evening he meets a much-older man and the two are instantly attracted to each other. Their connection is intense, emotional, and it reminds Elio of the one man he has held in his heart all these years.

The briefer third part follows Oliver as he and his family are preparing to leave their latest academic post. As he considers matters of the heart, he realizes there is one place he needs to be, with the one person whom he still loves completely.

I am and have always been in love with the way Aciman writes. His words are poetic, gorgeous, at times erotic, romantic, and melancholy. That mastery is once again on display in Find Me.

Did I want more Oliver and Elio? Yes. I could’ve used another 100 pages of their story. But this book in its own right is beautiful and poignant, and so worth reading, so I choose to focus on all that it is rather than what it isn’t.

Book Review: "Olive Kitteridge" by Elizabeth Strout

Time for an unpopular opinion.

Olive Kitteridge just didn’t work for me. Yes, I know it won the Pulitzer, but interestingly enough, in looking at the list of Pulitzer winners over the last 20-25 years, a number of those books didn’t quite wow me either.

Like a number of Strout’s books, Olive Kitteridge is a series of interconnected stories taking place in the small town of Crosby, Maine. Olive is a main character in some, a supporting character some, and just passes through others. On the surface, Olive appears to be your garden-variety curmudgeon, the type who makes up phrases like "sicky-wicky" and exasperates her husband and son. But the more you get to see, you realize she’s far more complex—emotional, she has difficulty expressing what she thinks, and she’s uncomfortable with certain social interactions.

I’ve read a few of Strout’s other books so I do like the way she writes, but this one just didn’t quite draw me in. One reason for that is I couldn’t get the image of Frances McDormand, who played Olive in the television adaptation, out of my mind. I love her as an actress but I found her image in my head while reading a little jarring.

Still, I know how many people love Olive and her stories, so don’t let my negativity deter you.