If I Forget You
by Thomas Christopher Greene
If I Forget You (4/9/2016)
Sadly, this one was all too predictable. Poor boy Henry meets rich girl Margo and they fall madly in love. She becomes his muse for prize-winning poetry. Then they are forced to part and return to their own worlds. Margot marries and lives the predictable lifestyle expected of her. Henry's poetry fades without Margot, so he takes a teaching position at NYU, gets married and divorced, left with a little girl he sees on weekends. Then, by chance, they meet and a secret is revealed that has been kept for many years, but the secret is as predictable as the rest of the book. So, okay for light reading, but definitely not a book club book.
I'll See You in Paris
by Michelle Gable
I'll See You in Paris (1/21/2016)
A very entertaining read, with laugh-out-loud moments and others of sorrow and loss. The setting is Banbury, Oxfordshire, England, where Annie and her mother, Lauren, are to stay while Lauren conducts some mysterious business. Annie, left to her own devices, discovers that the later years of Gladys Spenser-Churchill, the Duchess of Marlborough, were spent at the Grange, a decrepit old manse located in Banbury. Annie, intrigued, begins to investigate, even breaking into the Grange, and is shocked by what she discovers concerning her own mother's earlier years. The story takes the reader into a book-within-the-book, regaling the reader with the adventures of Mrs.Spencer, who has no qualms about appearing half-dressed with rifle in hand, in a home filled with spaniels and chickens. The story reaches its conclusion in Paris where Annie learns the truth about her father and leads Lauren to her long-lost lover, who was there all the time. And they find that Mrs Spencer, knew exactly what needed to be done. You will love this character!
The Good Neighbor
by Amy Sue Nathan
Truth Be Told (8/26/2015)
Izzy Lane told a lie. The divorced mother of five-year-old Noah is a successful school counselor and a loyal friend. But Izzy is lonely and begins writing a blog to cheer herself up, not realizing that others are reading it, also. Then temptation arises when her friend Jade offers her the opportunity to write a blog called Philly at Forty for Jade's online hub. Izzy, who needs the money to pay for childcare, agrees to become an advice columnist for the over-forty, the divorced and the still single.
Izzy is a great success, but managing the column, her child and her career gets very complicated. When she finally tells the truth about the fake boyfriend she created and the other lies, she opens up to her former babysitter, her brother and her cousin, but she can't bring herself to tell Jade. Then a bigger opportunity arises, and she realizes that the trouble that had been threatening, was finally there. Izzy stands up at her fortieth birthday party surrounded by friends and family, readers and her new employers and spills it all. She loses her new job, her friend Jade and the man who could have been the Right One. Izzy ultimately realizes it is completely up to her to create a new life in a new place.
The Good Neighbor is a good read that takes a little too long to reach the conclusion, piling up complications after complications that involve too many of the secondary characters. Izzy has enough of her own!
Still Life Las Vegas
by James Sie
Not a favorite of mine. (5/20/2015)
I was overwhelmed by the sadness surrounding Walt, the main character, throughout this book. He is a 17-year-old dealing with the tragic death of his younger sister, the disappearance of his mother and the deep depression of his father, which makes Walt the dispenser of meds and the breadwinner. He is a talented, gay artist who left high school early to avoid the bullying he received.
With plenty of spare time he discovers and is entranced by the living statues at Venice Venice, formerly the Venetian. He is there every day sketching them and falling in love. When he finally meets Chrysto, they spend their making love or with Chrysto posing naked for Walt. This is the best time of his life, but it all goes wrong.
When he discovers other devastating truths about his past, he rides out of Vegas on the scooter Chrysto left behind to build a new life.
The writing is very good and you will be amazed by the illustrations. If you can handle the depressing tone, it is a very different read that others may appreciate.
A Fireproof Home for the Bride
by Amy Scheibe
A Fireproof Home for the Bride (12/23/2014)
This book didn't come alive for me until Emmy, the main character, decided to leave her strict, controlling mother and chosen bridegroom. Then almost too much happens! She finds new family members, a boyfriend and a job. From such a sheltered upbringing in the fifties to her discovery of racism in her own family and the town's dislike of immigrants she has known for years and worked with on the family farm, every page is a revelation for Emmy. I began to feel that the author crammed everything that was happening in that time period into Emmy's experiences until it became unbelievable that so much could happen to her and around her in the course of the story. She was a likable character, but I found it hard to believe that she could move so quickly from a planned life as a farmer's wife to a career that was very unlikely for a woman at that time period.
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