1) The House of Gentle Men : A Novel by Kathy Hepinstall / A / ***
Favorite paragraph: "She moved around the table slowly, setting bowls of oatmeal down. The oatmeal was lumpy and unstirred and the men tho stared at it bleakly were too nervous to grumble. This was it, the first punishment handed down for their new sins. Lumpy oatmeal. What was next? Locusts, boils, high winds? Fire from an angry sky?"
This was such a strange book. I read the dust jacket and immediately thought, "This is NOT a book for me" but I'd had it recommended to me so I took the plunge. The dust jacket really did not describe the story, so that is good. But I'm at a loss to come up with a better description. There were so many story lines, many of them are wildly improbable. The whole book had this feeling of all these little story tributaries that swirled into a big stream and then finally a wild flood.
2) Nice to Come Home To by Rebecca Flowers / A / ****
Favorite line: "“Dear, he was the bad dress of men - a bit too short and clinging to you in all the wrong places.”
This was like reading a story about myself... if I was single, unemployed, and recently dumped. I enjoyed the characters in this book so much. There was a distinct SophiaKinsella-ish feel to this book. I liked the message that our best life may not be the one we've originally planned for and that our families are more than just the people who share the same blood. I liked it.
3) Between, Georgia by Joshilyn Jackson / A / ****
I'm sad to admit that I was 100 pages into this book before I realized that I had read it before. HEE HEE. I am really liking this author. I love this author's writing style and her characters. By the end of the book you really know them. The story line was laugh out loud crazy. I liked it.
From the dust jacket: Nonny Frett understands the meanings of "rock" and "hard-place" better than any woman ever born. She's got two mothers, "one deaf-blind and the other four baby steps from flat crazy". She's got two men: her husband, who's easing out the back door; and her best friend, who's laying siege to her heart in her front yard. She has a job that holds her in the city, and she's addicted to a little girl who's stuck deep in the country. To top it off, she has two families, the Fretts who stole her and raised her right; and the Crabtrees, who've lost her and can't forget they've been done wrong".
4) The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson / A / ****
Favorite line: “That was normal. That was regular and real.. It didn't look like a place [she] could get to from here.”
Another Joshilyn Jackson book. Another set of amazing, real characters and an intriguing story. I was interested the whole book to find out WHO the title referred to. This story was more dark, but still wildly engrossing. I liked it.
5) Tiger's Quest (Book 2 in the Tiger's Curse Series) by Colleen Houck / YA / ***
“One's enemy is often the best teacher of tolerance."
This is book two of the Tigers Curse Series. I learned about the series at Thanksgiving from my cousin Tosha's teenage daughter. I take pride in having read everything my kids and their friends are reading, so I of course had to read this series as she said they were her favorite.
I could basically repeat my review of the first book. It has such a great story line rich with cultural details and adventure BUT (you knew that was coming ) there are so many Twilight-esque moments that kinda drive me batty. I could even deal with that if it wasn't for the main character, Kelsey. I just don't understand why the author wrote her to be so ANNOYING. She was would be despairing one minute about the fact people she loved were trapped by an ancient curse and the next line be wondering what to wear that day. That being said, the author did introduce a rather fascinating love triangle and now I'm booking it right to the library to get the last book if possible. Yes, I'm hopeless.
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