Hello, Fellow Readers!

I just finished a gem of a book Almost Sisters by Joshilyn Jackson.

Have you ever read a book that you didn’t want to end o just connected with the story? This was one of those for me. Not that my family is from the South or that I was pregnant and single when I was 38. It was the main character’s relationship with her Garmma. It reminded me of my feelings for my dear Gramma Shane.(I am spelling Gramma like they do in the South!) 🙂

  I stumbled onto this book by total chance. I went to my local bookstore to see if my ordered books had arrived and of course I was too eager…no books. The gal at the book store, Pam and I started chatting about books. She had just finished Almost Sisters and gave it a great review along with a high recommendation. So how could I pass it up? I started it as soon as I got home…and haven’t put it down until I was done!! It is such a wonderful, loving, sad and touching story between Leia, her unborn baby, her gramma: Birchie and Birchie’s BFF, Wattie.

When I rate a book, I think about if I can’t wait to read it, if I take it with me to pick up Jack (I go early so I can read) or if I think about it during the day. I did all  of those with this book. I hope you do too!

I give this book a definite 5 out of 5 stars.

Hello!

I just finished a really good non-fiction book…

American Fire
by Monica Hesse

On November 12, 2012, in a rural county called Accomack on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, an abandoned house blazed. While no one was hurt, it was a long night for the firefighters — not because that particular fire proved a challenge, but because they were called to put out two more that night. Over the next five months, they’d be called out again and again, sometimes several times a night, often several nights in a row. “The county went about its business,” Hesse writes. “The county burned down.”

The culprit, and the path that led to these crimes, is a story of twenty-first century America. Washington Post reporter Monica Hesse first drove down to the reeling county to cover a hearing for Charlie Smith, a struggling mechanic who upon his capture had promptly pleaded guilty to sixty-seven counts of arson. But as Charlie’s confession unspooled, it got deeper and weirder. He wasn’t lighting fires alone; his crimes were galvanized by a surprising love story. Over a year of investigating, Hesse uncovered the motives of Charlie and his accomplice, girlfriend Tonya Bundick, a woman of steel-like strength and an inscrutable past. Theirs was a love built on impossibly tight budgets and simple pleasures. They were each other’s inspiration and escape…until they weren’t.

As a reader who enjoys fiction over non-fiction, I must admit this NF book ranks as one of my favorite books I have read this year.  It reads like a fiction book, it’s suspenseful, a page turner, focuses on the characters, I mean “real” people, and the effect of the fires that rage every night in their county for six months. The biggest question isn’t Who is doing the fires, but ends up being Why.

I would give this book 5 out of 5 stars.

 

Welcome Back!

I just finished the book The Girl Before by JP Delaney.
(don’t confuse with the Iowa author of the book with the same title)

Oh. Boy. I liked this one!

EMMA
Reeling from a traumatic break-in, Emma wants a new place to live. But none of the apartments she sees are affordable or feel safe. Until One Folgate Street. The house is an architectural masterpiece: a minimalist design of pale stone, plate glass, and soaring ceilings. But there are rules. The enigmatic architect who designed the house retains full control: no books, no throw pillows, no photos or clutter or personal effects of any kind. The space is intended to transform its occupant—and it does.

JANE
After a personal tragedy, Jane needs a fresh start. When she finds One Folgate Street she is instantly drawn to the space—and to its aloof but seductive creator. Moving in, Jane soon learns about the untimely death of the home’s previous tenant, a woman similar to Jane in age and appearance. As Jane tries to untangle truth from lies, she unwittingly follows the same patterns, makes the same choices, crosses paths with the same people, and experiences the same terror, as the girl before.

One “chapter,” anywhere from 2-4 pages, is told by Emma who lived in One Folgate first. She was looking for a new place to live because she was burglarized at her old house, loves the idea of the minimalist house and being controlled. The next chapter (2-4 pages) is told by Jane, who is currently living at One Folgate. With the chapters switching each time, you follow the women’s lives in the same order as they happened to each girl. (Make sense?) I loved how this was written…no trying to remember what happened to whom and when it happened, because it’s answered in the next chapter. I can’t say much more without telling too much. It’s a great mystery and does some twisting, which is always a bonus!

I would give this 4.5 out of 5 stars. I really enjoyed this one!