In the Mirror by Kaira Rouda

In the Mirror  by Kaira Rouda was an amazing book. Although the topic is sad, cancer, there was some humor in the book as well.  Jennifer Benson is a young mother who has an aggressive form of breast cancer.  This book drew me right in, the characters were believable and you could immediately make connections with them.  This book stirred up many emotions, sadness, humor, dislike, friendship, loyalty.  In this story you will laugh, you will cry, you will feel angry.  I could not put the book down and read it in a day.

Jennifer wants to throw a goodbye party so she can say goodbye to all the important people in her life, which seems kind of morbid but at the same time hard to say what I would do in the same situation.

There are some characters you will connect with and pull for and some who will make you angry.  Don't hesitate to pick up this book, it is worth the read.

Top 10 Reads of 2012

It has been a long time since I last blogged, I am embarrassed to say over a year! One of my New Year's resolutions is to blog more often, at least once a week.  So I finished the year with 64 books, enjoyed many of them.  I am going to list my top 10 for the year in no particular order, and would love to hear your favorites as well.  My goal for this year is to read 75 books and blog about every one of them!  Happy Reading and Happy New Year!!

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Driftwood Summer by Patti Callahan Henry

Driftwood Summer   by Patti Callahan Henry was a book about a family in a small beachside town who have many conflicts and have gone their separate ways.  The family owns a bookstore on the beach run by one sister, Riley who is a single mom, never revealing the father of her son.  One sister, Maisy is an interior designer in California and escaped the family running away from something terrible she did to her best friend.  And then Adalee who is a college student.  They all come back together to the beachside bookstore, Driftwood Cottage to help their mother celebrate the anniversary of the bookstore with a week of special events.  It is during this time they face all the conflicts that tore them apart.  In trying to right their wrongs many secrets are revealed making this an interesting read.

I enjoyed all the story lines but it has always been my dream to open a bookstore on the beach and I loved reading that part of the story of how they ran the bookstore, the layout, the events they held and more.  I have never read a book by this author but I am sure I will be picking up more by her.  The descriptions of the characters made you invest in their lives and want them to work everything out.  It was easy to sympathize with them and what they were dealing with.  Definitely worth a read.

Kindred Spirits by Sarah Strohmeyer

Kindred Spirits is a book about 4 women who are always there for each other.  When one of the friends dies suddenly she leaves a note for the group that reveals a stunning secret they never knew about her.  She asks them to fulfill this final wish for her.  The remaining 3 women go on a road trip to do this one last thing for their friend Lynne.  During there trip they learn secrets about each other and become closer through their journey.  They are able to help each other through some tough times.

I enjoyed this book of women friendships, I could relate to these women.  The book reminded me a lot of Second Time Around, which I reviewed earlier.  The author, Sarah Strohmeyer writes so that you can picture each character and feel their joy and pain as though you were going through it.  I would recommend this book. It is another author I have never read before but will look for other books by her.

Some Assembly Required by Lynn Kiele Bonasia

I picked up Some Assembly Required by Lynn Kiele Bonasia because it was set on Cape Cod, my childhood home away from home.  It is a book about a 39 year old named Rose, she breaks up with her longtime boyfriend and heads to Cape Cod to start over.  She ends up with some very eccentric neighbors who you can't help but love.  There is an autistic boy who lives next door that holds the community together after his mom dies, he has no father, so the community bands together to take responsibility for him.  There is also a mystery of a man who went missing many years ago who has connections to Rose's neighbor, she wants to help out by trying to find out what really happened.  It is surprising what she finds out.

I thought it was a great book of love, loss, friendship with a little mystery thrown in.  I recognized some of the places they mentioned in the story.  I read her other book Summer Shift a couple years ago about a woman who runs a crab shack on Cape Cod, also a good book.  If you are looking for a quick read with lovable characters pick this one up.

Second Time Around by Beth Kendrick

Second Time Around by Beth Kendrick was a book recommended to me.  I really enjoyed it.  It is about a group of women who were all English majors at the same college in New York. After graduation they meet at one of the woman's family home each Fourth of July weekend.  They all talk about how they wish they were all doing something else with their careers and often talk about how maybe English wasn't the best major to have. They inherit $250,000. each and have a second chance at doing what they really want. They end up testing other things, some are happy and some not so much.

I loved and could relate to each of the characters, I could easily see myself being friends with these women.  It is a story of love and loss, finding new beginnings and moving on with life.  It would make a great movie as opposed to all the old movies they are now remaking :)

Beth Kendrick is another new author I have found this summer and will definitely look up some other books by her to read.

A great quick read, read it in a day.

Still Missing by Chevy Stevens

One of my book clubs chose Still Missing by Chevy Stevens, not sure if I ever would have picked it up otherwise but I must say I enjoyed it.  It is a psychological thriller about a realtor who is having an open house and as she is packing up, a man shows up and talks her into letting her look at the house.  He abducts her and puts her through a year of hell.

I like the way the book is written, each chapter is her session with the psychiatrist she is seeing.  The content of the book is disturbing but I found I could not put it down.  There are some twists and turns I did not see coming.  It kind of reminded me of a Nicci French book, which are disturbing but always hold my attention.

The book shows all the emotions a woman who was abducted goes through and how she can move on with her life.  Interesting format to the chapters.  I will be looking up more of Chevy Steven's books and will try another one.  That is what I love about book clubs, it introduces me to so many books I would not normally read.

This book is not for the weak, if you are looking for a quick, easy read this isn't it, it is a bit more intense.