Category Archives: Fiction/Literature

“The House of Hawthorne” is the first book I have read by Erika Robuck though it will certainly not be the last. While I am not generally a read of historical fiction, this one simply grabbed my heart.

The story is told is such beautiful and lyrical fashion, it reads as prose which is completely appropriate for a book written about the love story of two artists – Nathaniel Hawthorne(a renowned writer) and Sophia Peabody Hawthorne(painter and illustrator.)

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When I first sat down to read “Carry Her Heart”, I was expecting a fairly traditional romance. Instead, the book was a beautiful love story that, while it did certainly encompass a romance, dealt primarily with the absolute and complete love of a mother for her child.

From the first few paragraphs, I was completely caught up in the world of Piper George. I cared about her and how her life would turn out. I spent more time weeping than I thought possible while reading a love story which was certainly more amusing than not. By the end of the book, I felt as if I had closed the book on a friend who I would miss while at the same time, knowing that she would have a good life made parting okay.

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This is a lovely story told via letters, emails, instant message, and other forms of written correspondence. It is the story of Rosie Dunne, and to some degree, that of her best friend Alex. I have read many of Cecelia Ahern’s books over the years, including this book when it was first published under another title. This is one of my favorites and it was wonderful to have a chance to read it once again.

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I have read several books by Marian Keyes prior to reading “The Woman Who Stole My Life.” What I have found with all of these books is that the author has a beautiful way of encasing serious subjects within a humorous story. In “The Woman Whole Stole My Life”, the primary subject of the story is Stella Sweeney – a woman who has beaten the odds and recovers from a tremendously serious case of Gullain-Barre Syndrome. The story is told both in the present and in flashbacks to the past. The actual story begins with a flashback to a car accident which deals with Karma. As it turns out, the idea of Karma (or lack thereof) is one that we will read about throughout the book.

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The first forty or so pages of this book were not very pleasing to me. The characters seemed shallow, self-serving, and bent only on their own satisfaction – whatever the cost. My thought was that the book was going to be a real chore to read through. As it turns out, that very selfishness was needed to set up the rest of the story. Once a very life-changing event takes place, each individual in the book comes to life. Some of the characters are ones that you would want to know, some you would pass on; however, they are very representative of individuals you have met in your life.

The story revolves around Claire Montgomery and her relationships with her son, Nick, and her husband, Michael. Claire has done something wrong and because of it, life will never be the same. She watches as her son struggles to regain a semblance of his prior life and her marriage, such as it is, falls apart.

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“Early Warning” is the second book of a trilogy. I high recommend that you read “Some Luck”, the first in the trilogy before reading this book. The set of books is about a family that start out as farmers and how and where they end up. The end of the first book is 1953 – which is also where the second book picks up.

Where the first book focused on a little more than a handful of characters – telling the story via each of their standpoints (from third person narrative), the second book covers many more people from the same sort of point of view. I found myself constantly referring to the genealogy listed at the beginning of the book to try to keep track of how each of them were related. Without having read the first book, I really would have felt lost.

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“Some Luck” is the story of an American family over a period of 33 years, beginning in 1920 and finishing in 1953. It is the first of a trilogy about the family. Walter and Rosanna are the parents of a young baby boy, named Frank, when the story begins. The story is told from the perspective of each of the members of the family (even Frank as a six month old.) As the story goes along, the individuals who tell the story (in third person) are: Walter, Rosanna and their children: Frank, Joe, Mary Elizabeth, Lillian, Henry, and Claire. The family farm the land that Walter bought in his early twenties. We hear the history of their family along with the social and world events that were occurring during that time period.

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“Last One Home” is a stand-alone novel by Debbie Macomber. Most of the books I have read by Ms. Macomber are parts of long-standing series, so it was a treat to read this book.

The story is about three sisters, though the story focuses mostly on Cassie. Cassie is the rebellious one. She ran away from home thirteen years before – abandoning her family to make a new life with her boyfriend and the baby they are expecting. Life turns rough – really rough for her and her daughter and she is trying desperately to find her way home again.

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My knowledge of the fashion industry frankly is limited to watching a few seasons of “Project Runway”, the entirety of “Ugly Betty” and both reading the book and watching the movie “The Devil Wears Prada.” Before choosing this book, “The Knockout”, I wondered if I would glean much from reading it. My trepidation was completely unfounded as the book is as much about office politics as it is fashion and, unfortunately for me and for most of us, office politics are present in most industries.

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When I first started reading “In the Shadow of Winter”, I was struck by the beautiful descriptive prose of the story. It was almost as if I were reading poetry rather than a novel. Then the plot caught me in its grasp and I found that the book was as much as mystery as it was a romance.

The story is about Eleanor Phillips, a young woman who is struggling to keep her Cotswold family home after the deprivations of World War II. She has lost her mother long since and her father more recently. Her engagement to the man she loved was abruptly broken years before. She has picked up her broken pieces and is trying to make a home and living for herself and the young boy she has taken in during the war years.

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