Another good one...

The book for today is "The Murderer's Daughters" by Randy Susan Meyers.

This book follows Lulu and Merry, from the time they are 10 and 8, right after their father murders their mother, stabs 5-year-old Merry and tries unsuccessfully to kill himself.  The girls' family basically abandons them and are forced to live in a scary group home.

Merry makes the decision to stay in contact with her father while Lulu spends her life pretending that he is dead and although her husband knows the truth, her children do not.  

This book is so much about the power of family love Merry and Lulu share, the ups and the downs they endure, and then finding a way to deal with the past and move on.

Let me know what you think...

Heavy Stuff...

Today's book is "The Invisible Bridge" by Julie Orringer.  The main character is Andras Levi, who leaves Hungary and moves to Paris to study architecture in the late 1930's.  But soon the scholarship is soon revoked due to anti-Jewish laws.  

The book as a whole was quite good.  I do think the beginning was a bit slow and hard to get into, but all-in-all it was like a mini history lesson too.  It deals with the war in Europe and the effect it has on Andras, his wife and their extended families.  

While I was reading this I felt such a Jewish connection to such a horrific time in history.  This was definitely a hard book to read because I knew the outcome as well, but would recommend it.

Warning...fluff alert

The book for today is "The Best of Me" by Nicholas Sparks.  This is what I  would call a "fluff" book.  But it was an easy and enjoyable read and did not require much thought.  Sometimes I really enjoy reading this type of book, and enjoy it I did.

The characters are easy to relate to, the story-line was interesting, but it was also extremely predictable.  

The main characters, Dawson and Amanda, were high school sweethearts.  Amanda was from a rich family and Dawson a poor one and their relationship was doomed from the start.  However, they meet up unexpectedly at the funeral of someone they both knew and loved, a mentor really, and what unfolds over a long weekend has to do with their unresolved feelings for each other and lots of family drama for each of them.

I did enjoy the book though and would definitely read more by this author...

Loved it...

Today's book review is "Sister" by Rosamund Lupton.

I quite enjoyed this book.  The thing I like best was the way it was written in the form of a letter from Beatrice, the narrator, to her missing sister, Tess.  I felt drawn in from the very beginning and looked so forward to reading it everyday.


It was definitely a page turner in my opinion and the author did a  great job of making me wonder which of the other characters were suspects in the disappearance (and then death) of her sister.  Police are calling it a suicide but Beatrice is certain that her sister would never had killed herself and sets out to find out who killed her sister.


I can honestly say I would never had guessed at who the murdered turned out to be. At some point I did have that "A-HA" moment when I figured out who it was and totally did not see it coming.


If you read the book, please let me know what you think of it!

Here we go again!

The book I am going to talk about today is When We Danced on Water, by Evan Fallenberg. I actually finished this book a few days ago but have been purposly waiting to write about it because I am still not sure how I feel about the book.  


First off, it was an easy and fast read.  The descriptions were quite good, and I could visualize a lot of what the author was saying.  The characters are Vivi, a 40-ish waitress/artist, and Teo, an 84 year-old man who was a ballet dancer in his youth and now is a renowned choreographer. 


 I did enjoy how the book would go between the present and the past.  I liked the characters but it seemed an unlikely friendship to me and that made it a bit harder to get into the book.


It does have some disturbing parts, sexual abuse, just an FYI.


On the whole, I did not love it nor did I hate it.  I am somewhere in the middle.


Read it and let me know what you think...

Welcome...

This is my first attempt at letting the masses know about the books I am reading.  I am not a professional reviewer, I am just a mom who wants to share with you about the good and bad of each book I read.  Thanks for visiting and read on...

The book for today is Half a Life, by Darin Strauss.

This is a memoir and from the moment you open the book, the first line grabs you.  It starts by saying that the author killed a girl.  The book follows Darin from the time he was 18 and delves into his life after "the accident."  It mostly focuses on Darin's grief and how he copes with it and how finally he learns to deal with it and move on to where he can enjoy the life he has instead of living his life for the girl that was killed.

I would definitely recommend this book....