History Lesson For Girls: A Novel by Aurelie Sheehan, is the story of two teen girls growing up in the 1970s. The teen years are difficult enough but add in dysfunctional family issues and sometimes terrible tragedy is the result.
From the back cover: In 1975, Alison Glass, age thirteen, moves to Connecticut with her bohemian parents and her horse, Jazz. Shy, observant, and in a back brace for scoliosis, Alison finds strength in an unlikely friendship with Kate Hamilton, the charismatic but troubled daughter of an egomaniacal New Age guru and his substance-loving wife. As the sincere but misguided “Women of History” plan the town’s bicentennial (complete with red, white, and blue Porta-Potties), the girls escape into the world of their horses, seeking refuge from the chaos in their lives.
I enjoyed this book even if it left me feeling more sadness for the characters than I would have liked.
Endings: A Novel is a first novel by Barbara Bergin, an orthopedic surgeon living in Austin, Texas with her husband and two children. Bergin and her husband own a ranch and she competes and has ranked nationally in the reined cow horse performance sport.
Bergin writes about what she knows, orthopedic surgery, ranching, and competition horse events. While she might go into too much detail at times, particularly during surgery, it doesn’t detract from the writing or the storyline. I enjoyed reading this book… I think.
I was expecting a different ending. I read the ending the first time and went back to read it again because I wasn’t sure I’d understood what had happened to all the characters. After a second reading I decided to read the last chapter a third time just to make sure I’d interpreted the chain of events correctly. I’m not so sure that the ending was the right one for the story but it’s the ending the author chose and it’s her story to end in any manner she chooses.
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Stripped is Brian Freeman’s second novel, a murder mystery set in Las Vegas. Detectives Jonathan Stride and Serena Dial, from Freeman’s debut novel, Immoral, are working on separate murders that end up being linked to a brutal crime from the past. It’s a race against time to try to stop a serial killer from killing again. There are plenty of twists and unexpected turns in this very fast-paced thriller. Before reading Stripped, I’d never heard of Brian Freeman. Now, he’s definitely one of my favorite mystery writers.
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Mademoiselle Victorine: A Novel, written by Debra Finerman, is a fictionalized accounting of historical events in 1860s Paris. Victorine, the lead character, is less than a courtesan but more than a streetwalker. She uses her physical beauty and sexual skills to work her way through the upper levels of Parisian society in her quest for rich men, married or not. I couldn’t find anything to like about such a self-absorbed and shallow character, but I thoroughly enjoyed Finerman’s depth of detail throughout the book. I felt that if I closed my eyes I would actually be in that period of time.
Daisy Dooley Does Divorce is a chick-lit novel by Anna Pasternak. Daisy Dooley is 39 and divorced after leaving a three year marriage, her first. Now, as her biological clock ticks madly away, she’s back living at home with her ditzy mother who raises dachsunds and taking another plunge into the dating pool. Daisy is British which means “shag” is not a hairstyle nor is “sod” something that covers the front lawn.
After Sunny’s middle-aged husband ends their marriage by running off with an old high school sweetheart, Sunny wonders if there’s anyone from her past who would have the same effect on her. Author Pamela Redmond Satran’s book The Man I Should Have Married begins with a divorce and ends with a marriage. The middle of the book tells how it all happened. Read more… »
The Men I Didn’t Marry is another uproariously funny novel by best selling authors Janice Kaplan and Lynn Schnurnberger. After reading, and thoroughly enjoying, The Botox Diaries, I had to read another book by this talented writing duo. Would I be disappointed or could they hit the mark again? I wasn’t disappointed. Read more… »
One of the most delightful writing teams for snappy, fun, light, women’s fiction has got to be the team of Janice Kaplan and Lynn Schnurnberger. If you’ve read The Botox Diaries or one of their other books, I shouldn’t have to say any more. If you haven’t read any of their recent books, you don’t know what you’ve been missing! Read more… »
Pamela Redmond Satran is the type of author I’d like to be. Her book, Younger, is the type of novel I’d like to write. It’s easy to read, inspiring without being preachy, and the main character is easy to empathize with. I have some of her earlier books on my “must read” list. Read more… »
Gigi Levangie Grazer’s book, The Starter Wife, was the basis of a 2007 television series of the same name. I hadn’t heard the term “starter wife” before and decided to add this book to my “must read” list. I almost wish I hadn’t. Read more… »
