Secrets of Eden by Chris Bohjalian *Review*

"There," says Alice Hayward to Reverend Stephen Drew, just after her baptism, and just before going home to the husband who will kill her that evening and then shoot himself. Drew, tortured by the cryptic finality of that short utterance, feels his faith in God slipping away and is saved from despair only by meeting with Heather Laurent, the author of wildly successful, inspirational books about...angels.

Heather survived a childhood that culminated in her own parents' murder-suicide, so she identifies deeply with Alice's daughter, Katie, offering herself as a mentor to the girl and a shoulder for Stephen-who flees the pulpit to be with Heather and see if there is anything to be salvaged from the spiritual wreckage around him.

But then the state's attorney begins to suspect that Alice's husband may not have killed himself...and finds out that Alice had secrets only her minister knew.

Secrets of Eden is haunting in its complexity. Chris Bohjalian writes his novel in such a way that only tiny pieces of information escape a little at a time. Important clues as to what has happened so you know what is coming up...but yet you don't. Because Bohjalians twisted course coils and snakes its way around to make you wonder if you knew as much as you thought you did.

Secrets of Eden is a compelling and disturbing look into the lives and deaths of Alice and George Hayword through the eyes of three very distinct characters; Stephen Drew, their pastor, Heather Laurent the "angel" author, and Katie Hayward, their teenage daughter. Each person voices their fears and suspicions about what probably happened that night and who most likely was involved. In Bohjalian's way, however, you don't find out what happened until the very end. As in the very last line.

But don't go thinking you can pick this book up, flip through the pages to find that last line and read it before you read the book in its totality. Not only would that be cheating, it would be cheating the author and yourself of the brilliantly flexuous way your mind will need to work to absorb this evocative thriller. 3.5/5 stars

Heaven is For Real by Todd Burpo *Review*

I'll admit. I am a very skeptical person. It's not that I don't have faith, I believe I have a lot of it. The times in my life I have gotten on my knees and asked, believed and received are numerous. But when I am looking at a book written by the father of a then four-year-old who claims he met relatives in heaven he had never seen or heard of before, a father who is faced with more medical bills then he can pay, all I can think of is what a great way to make some money and save himself from bankruptcy!

After reading this book, my viewpoint has changed...somewhat.

Colton Burpo's father, a small town pastor in Nebraska, tells the story about Colton's miraculous visit to heaven during emergency surgery for a ruptured appendix. Colton was a very sick little boy, but there was never any mention by the doctor that Colton had "died" on the operating room table, nor is there any medical proof that he had. But Colton can accurately describe what his parents, in two separate rooms in the hospital, were doing when he floated out of his body.

Colton does not tell his parents immediately what happened. Instead, over the course of months and years little snippets of revelation comes out. Finally piecing everything together and checking what their son says against what is written in the Bible, things a four-year-old can not possibly know, they come to believe that a miracle has indeed occurred. And I believe too.

What I am still a little skeptical about, however, is whether or not little Colton was led to any of the answers he gave when he was questioned by his father. Todd Burpo admits he may have asked a few leading questions when he first started examining what Colton was saying, but after realizing he was doing so made sure he asked open ended questions instead. I'm not so sure about that. A few conversations throughout the book still made me feel he was leading Colton down a particular path to get the answer he wanted to hear.

That said, there are definite descriptions of heaven and of Jesus himself that were not forced out by leading questions. Spoken simply, like a four-year-old would, Colton talks about what Jesus looked like, and how he had "markers" on him. It takes a little bit of deduction to figure out what "markers" would mean to a preschooler. Asking where the "markers" were, Colton points to the palms of his hands and the tops of his feet. The family, not being Catholic, were not exposed to the crucifix, or the crucified Christ, more often seeing only the cross hung in their church and home. It stuns Todd that Colton was so specific about where the "markers" were.

This book should give anyone who is on the fence about whether there is truly a heaven real hope. And without hope for a wonderful afterlife filled with beautiful colors, visits with our dearly departed family members, and hugs from Jesus what are we truly living for? 3.5/5 stars

Cul-de-Sac by David Martin *Review*

Donald Growler didn't do it. And he's trying to kill everyone who says he did.

So begins David Martin's frightening and mysterious Cul-de-Sac, a suspense-filled triumph of degradation, desperation, and deceit. The scene of the crime is a humongous, dilapidated mansion in Maryland known as Cul-de-Sac, once the scene of a grisly murder, which Paul and Annie Milton are trying to renovate. When Growler-toughened by years of jail time served for a crime he didn't commit-begins stalking the young, attractive couple, Detective Teddy Camel is summoned.

Camel, once known as the Human Lie Detector, is officially retired, forced out for having broken as many departmental rules as homicide cases. But as a favor to Annie-his onetime lover- Camel reenters the fray and uncovers a trail of corruption and death leading all the way to the society's elite. How Camel tracks down Growler, untangles the real story behind his hideous vengeance, and finally discovers the secret prize all the players have furiously sought makes for a novel of unforgettable twists and psychological insights.

Gives you the chills doesn't it! It's been a long time since I have read an honest to goodness suspense filled page turner, and this one would definitely qualify. I started reading this one afternoon after I had put ribs in the oven to slow cook for 3 hours. Usually I am eagerly awaiting them coming out of the oven, falling off the bone, hunger pangs having beaten against my stomach for a good hour of their cooking time. I was literally shocked when the oven's buzzer went off!

This was a fast paced, albeit a little squeamishly violent, book that I could not put down. This book is rated solidly at 4/5 stars and probably would have rated higher had my stomach not flip-flopped at some of the gruesome images. Those who know me, know that I give only 2 or 3 books a year a rating of 5 (yes, I'm that tough,) so this is, after all, a pretty darn good book!

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley *Review*

Flavia de Luce is quite the little busybody. It is the summer of 1950- and at the once-grand mansion of Buckshaw, young Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison, is intrigued by a series of events: A dead bird found on the doorstep, a postage stamp bizarrely pinned to its beak. Then, hours later, Flavia finds a man lying in the cucumber patch and watches him as he makes his dying breath... Immediately enthralled with the mystery of murder Flavia decides to go about solving it. This eleven-year-old is a precocious chemist in the making who uses her scientific mind to follow the clues...and it sometimes gets her in trouble. Disparagingly looking down her nose at her two older sisters, for which she has no love, she sets out on her bike (which she has named Gladys) to begin her investigation at the library. Upon finding it closed "CLOSED? Oh Scissors!" she exclaims before coming up with this perfect thought that each book lover here will agree upon: "As I stood outside on Cow Lane, it occurred to me that Heaven must be a place where the library is open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. No- eight days a week." And that's where I fell in love with Flavia. Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie was a fun, fun book. I loved the way Flavia gets into trouble no matter what she sets out to do. In fact at one point in the story Inspector Hewitt remarks: "There are times Miss de Luce, when you deserve a brass medal. And there are other times when you deserve to be sent to your room with bread and water." There is not much I can say without giving away the mystery of the murder that is the center of the book. What I can say is if you read this book you will like it and you will absolutely adore wicked little Flavia! Author Alan Bradley shines as he pins down her scheming mind and sarcastic tongue and wraps the whole book up with a whole lot of humor that had me laughing out loud at her hijinks and predicaments. I would definitely read another Flavia de Luce mystery! My rating 4/5 stars!

Little Princes by Conor Grennan *Review*

Most children in America don't know how good they've got it. Fed three times a day in a comfortable heated home in which they stay with one or both parents, they are oblivious to how children a half a world away are living. Now, I realize we have poor and underprivileged kids right here at home in our own backyard, but even the majority of them are never exposed to what children in countries like Nepal live with.

Conor Grennan opened my eyes to the heinous crime of child trafficking. I had heard of it of course, but never really absorbed what it meant to these children and their families.

Little Princes tells the story of Golkka (even his name sounds evil) a notorious child trafficker who preys on the poor families in the far flung regions of Nepal and convinces them for a fee, which is usually most of their life savings, he will take their children out of harms way during the civil war that rages in their country and keep their children safe. And after receiving this exorbitant sum he demands, he does indeed take the children-and then sells them into slavery, thus profiting twice off these children, some of whom are only five years old.

These children were forced to work for up to twelve hours a day washing dishes to earn their keep in small, dark, lice infested rooms where they were underfed and malnourished until someone came along to rescue them.

Little Princes starts out as a story about eighteen children in an orphanage in Godawari who are really not orphans at all but children rescued from child traffickers. The book changes about halfway through to the story of seven children that Conor and another orphanage volunteer named Farid try to rescue from traffickers. They are literally hours away from doing so when Golkka learns of their plan and moves the children and they disappear again in Kathmandu, a city of one million people.

The search to find these seven children becomes an obsession to Conor. He is riddled with guilt. After all, he had promised the seven that he was coming for them and they would once again be safe. His days are filled with thoughts of what he can do for them. He knows he has to find them and reunite them with their parents but he doesn't know how.

The answer finally comes to him. He will start a non-profit agency to do exactly that. He spends weeks on the computer researching how to set up a non-profit organization and months raising money and planning a rescue mission to the Humla region of Nepal and finding a home to shelter these children until their parents can be found. Thus Next Generation Nepal is born.

Conor Grennan tells his story with such honesty, admitting that he volunteered at Little Princes for one selfish reason-to "impress people." Laying bare his feelings of ineptitude, weakness and fear, you can't help but fall in love with this man who is adept, strong, and brave. Conor, it is easy to see, is a very humble man. A few lines from the book clearly demonstrated this to me. After finding out one father had walked three days to make a phone call to his son he hadn't seen in three years Conor says-

"Having no children myself, I had completely underestimated the lengths to which a father would go for his son."

But what you don't know unless you read the rest of the book is the lengths Conor went to make this phone call from a father to a son possible. Written with a lot of humor, Little Princes was not the intense, depressing read I thought it would be and for that I am thankful. Too often books that are written about heavy topics such as these can be hard, emotionally, to get through. But Conor never lets its light-hearted tone underscore the seriousness of what is happening in Nepal and undoubtedly other parts of the world.

I thank God for people like Conor who can do the things I wouldn't have the courage to do. People who are risking their lives to make a difference in other's. I encourage you to read this book and I implore you to check out Next Generation Nepal's website and make a donation. No child should have to go through what Madan, Bishnu, Navin, Dirgha, Samir, Kumar, Amita, and so many others have went through. And if you want to impress people, tell them you made a donation and why. 4/5 stars

Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson *Review*

Jane Margaux is nine when her heart is broken for the first time. Her imaginary friend Michael, who is there for her all the times her mother is not, has to leave. It's in his "contract". Imaginary friends can't stay with the children longer then that. So on her ninth birthday Michael leaves her alone and sobbing with the promise that she won't remember him at all tomorrow. That's just how it works.

But little Jane is different from all the rest of Michael's children. She does remember him and longs for his friendship all these years. Then one day, in the restaurant they frequented, where Jane's favorite dessert was coffee ice cream with hot fudge sauce, she spies someone at the next table that reminds her of Michael. The smile was unmistakable, he was as good looking as ever and he had the same amazing green eyes...could it be?

And the most important question. Was she going nuts, a little crazy, hopping off the deep end? Was he imaginary? Or as she had always suspected...real?

Sundays at Tiffany's is the story of a little lonely girl who grew up to be a big lonely girl who once again meets the perfect man. But this time will he stay?

James Patterson is always an easy read for me. His short chapters and writing style generally make for a book that I can move fairly quickly through. And like the others, this one did just that. But I really felt that this one lacked a little of the substance that I have gotten from his other books. If you are looking for a nice and easy love story you would probably really like this book. If you are looking for more depth and more thrills then pick up something else.

brave girl eating: A Family's Struggle with Anorexia by Harriet Brown *Review*

The demon's voice has come again. "Why are you doing this to me?" it screams in a high pitched voice, tongue flicking in and out like a serpent. This was not Harriet's daughter speaking. Kitty wouldn't say this, this was Not-Kitty, the part of her daughter that would take over when her caloric intake would drop to low.

brave girl eating like the subtitle clearly spells out is about how a whole family struggles with anorexia. How it takes over each and every waking moment of their day. How Harriet, Kitty's mother has to be the food police and sit with her daughter while she eats to make sure she's eating everything set before her. How Kitty's dad Jamie has to be near her for an hour after every meal to make sure she doesn't escape to the bathroom to throw it all up. About the Brown's other daughter, ten-year=old Emma, who has to listen to the fights and the begging and the pleading to get through every meal and how she misses out on so much because of her parent's need to not let Kitty out of their sight.

As a treatment option the Brown's chose FBT, Family Based Therapy, instead of sending their daughter away to an inpatient clinic. What they chose was a much harder option but one with significantly higher recovery rates, almost 90 percent! They had a good support team behind them but the struggle was all their own. Harriet was consumed with fitting in as many calories in every meal as she could, "refeeding" their daughter, sometimes as much as 4,000 calories a day to get her up to a target weight and then being able to back off a little and let Kitty have a little control over her eating habits.

Kitty was diagnosed at the age of fourteen. At eighteen and very close to her target weight they let Kitty go away for a bit to prepare for college life. In one month she lost fifteen pounds, had relapsed, and had to return home. Kitty is still not recovered from the disease. She doesn't feel hunger and maybe never will, but Kitty's family is determined to stick by her because that's what families do.

brave girl eating is a fascinating novel about a mysterious disease. And when I say fascinating I don't mean this definition: a feeling of great liking for something wonderful and unusual. I mean this definition: the state of being intensely interested (as by awe or terror). Awe of what this horrific disease can do to the mind and the body, and terrified of every seeing it rear it's ugly head in somebody I love.

This heartbreaking novel was a real eye opener to me. Aside from a couple of chapters filled with a little too much research and studies on weight gain and loss it moved fairly quickly. I would rate this book 3.5/5 stars.

There are No Accidents: In all Things Trust in God by Father Benedict Groeschel with John Bishop *Review*

After the impact of the car shattered his body on the evening of January 11, 2004 the hospital trauma-unit staff offered little hope that Father Benedict Groeschel, C.F.FR., would survive. Then the news spread. And the prayers began.

There are No Accidents is a book in two parts. The first part of the book is a lengthy interview Father Benedict did with John Bishop before his accident. In this section Father Benedict gives his opinion on the state of the Catholic Church in society today as well as his opinion on such topics as 9/11, abortion, atheism, clergy and the sex abuse scandal, Mother Theresa, and the poor.

The second part of the book is reflections from Father Benedict while he was recovering for months in the hospital and, later, in the nursing home. He reflects on subjects like gratitude, progress, hope, keeping faith , visiting the sick, and death is never far away.

I found this quiet, simple, humble man to be quite profound in his wisdom. One thing he repeats throughout the book is- "No plans, be led." He speaks about not making plans because if you start making plans you start thinking they are God's plans. Instead, just let him lead you to whatever he wants you to do,

He talks about always knowing what God wanted him to do. He was seven-years-old when he decided he was going to be a priest! He watched as one of his teachers, Sister Teresa, everyday after school would go a deliver a tray of steaming food to an old lady on the top floor of a tenement building in a poor neighborhood in Jersey City. He was curious to see what this old lady looked like so he snuck up the fire escape of the building one day and peeked in her window. Three inches from his face was the face of the "wicked witch" from Snow White! He was so frightened he scrambled down the fire escape, ran to the church, threw himself down in front of the statue of Our Blessed Mother and prayed. He asked "How come the witch doesn't kill Sister Teresa?" Then he said to himself, "Maybe it is because Sister is nice to her. And if people were nicer to witches, maybe they wouldn't be so bad." Even at the age of seven, he was quite the thinker!

I enjoyed this short read of Father Benedict's. I found his insight after his accident to be very revealing of the way he lives his life every day, as one that is truly happy, loves to serve others, and is totally devoted to God. I rate this book 3/5 stars.

Room: A Novel by Emma Donoghue *Review*

Jack is 5. Mr. Five now since he's just had a birthday. It's now time for Jack to grow up and find out there is more to the world then just Room. He doesn't understand anything about the world since he's never seen it, only on TV which he thinks each channel is a different planet, it's all fantasy. He was born in Room and besides his Ma and mean Old Jack, that's all he's ever seen. He's comfortable there...it's his home.

But Ma yearns for the life she had before Room. The life her JackerJack has never seen. And one night she comes up with a plan...

Room was a very unique story. I really enjoyed reading about the life Ma had created for her and Jack within the confines of an 11 x 11 room. The importance she placed on cleanliness so they wouldn't get sick, the Phys Ed they did so their bodies wouldn't atrophy, the games she invented and the stories she told to keep their minds sharp. She loved Jack immensely- he was all that she had.

Made up almost entirely of dialog, Room is a quick read once you finally get the rhythm of the way Jack speaks, as it is him that is telling the story from his own perspective. For the creative way Ms. Donoghue chose to tell Jack's story I give this book 3/5 stars.

**My friend Sheila from Book Journey has a great review of this book as well, with a Spoiler Button page to fully discuss the book without giving things away to those still reading it. Check it out here!

Somebody Else's Daughter by Elizabeth Brundage *Review*

A young couple, strung out on drugs and one dying of AIDS decide to give up their infant daughter in the hopes of giving her a better life. And all seems to go well for Willa as she grows up. Her parents are wealthy and able to give her what she wants and they love her very much on top of it all.

Her biological father, Nate, now clean from drugs and living a respectable life as a teacher and struggling writer has a yearning to get close to her. He doesn't want her to know who he is, he just wants to be able to see her and reassure himself that she's doing okay and he's done the right thing. He accepts a position as a teacher at the same private school that Willa attends. In fact, she is one of her students.

But Nate is not the only one at Pioneer Academy that has secrets. And some secrets could be deadly!

Somebody Else's Daughter was not what I had thought it would be about. I was hoping for more of a focus on the father/daughter/biological father relationship as the dust jacket had hinted. Instead I was broadsided with something I was not expecting about halfway through the book. It made me squirm... it was a little uncomfortable... and quite graphic but having already invested enough time to get halfway through I decided to stick with it and see where it was heading. I still don't believe the book needed this "secret" to get to where the story needed to go and because it was not a subject I felt comfortable with I chose to give this book 2/5 stars.

Eye Contact by Cammie McGovern *Review*

Two children disappear into the woods beside Woodside Elementary School. Hours later one of them, nine-year-old Adam, is found alive, the sole witness to his playmates murder. But Adam is autistic and can say nothing about what he saw. Only his mother, Cara, has the power to penetrate his silence. When another child goes missing and Cara's unsettling past emerges from the shadows, she has to ask herself whether her efforts to protect her son have exposed him to unimaginable danger.

Cara has tried to protect her son all of his life. When he has a fear of digital clocks, she tries to walk ahead of him and cover up the ones she sees before he does. When Adam is upset by the erratic movements of skateboarders, she drives blocks out of her way to avoid the places they tend to congregate. Cara works for hours teaching him to make eye contact, to answer people's questions and to try to make friends even though "friend" is a concept foreign to Adam. But when a murder happens just outside the school in the woods next to the playground, Cara wonders if she should have done more. Has she, in her eagerness to help Adam verbalize his thoughts and to trust in people because they want to help you taught him the wrong things? Like maybe you shouldn't talk to strangers? That possibly there ARE bad people that could hurt you?

The author, Cammie McGovern, is the mother of an autistic child. She knows the ins and outs of the autistic mind and how thoughts can take different pathways to get to the same conclusion that we would come to. Her insight is what made this book so real. I have read a couple of books featuring autistic characters and none of them came close to helping me understand the complexities of the human mind and the difficulties that the children and their parents face on a daily basis. The fact that parents of autistic children have to learn the subtle cues of facial expressions, for instance the raise of an eyebrow or the slight tilt of the head, as a form of communication was incredibly revealing.

As a murder mystery, Eye Contact starts out strong. There are a number of characters involved who could have done it, and at various times you are convinced they have done it. The conclusion of the book however gets a little confusing. The story took so many different twists that I found myself getting a little lost and at the end not really caring that much who the killer actually was.

It's strength instead is in the relationship between single mother Cara and her son Adam. The love with which Cara will do or try almost anything to draw Adam out of his silent shell is potent. For that reason alone I give this book 3/5 stars.

Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez *Review*

Four slave women meet up every year at a resort called Tawawa House. Brought as mistresses by their slave masters, these ladies share a special bond. Not only are they faced with the same circumstance, but they finally have someone they can talk to who understands the different role they play in the lives of their masters.

More privileged than the field slaves and more special than the other house slaves, the mistresses are resented not only by their master's wife, but by some fo the other slaves as well. Their children, being part white are not accepted by the other slave children, and not quite accepted by their own father's as well.

Wench is the story of Lizzie, Sweet, Reenie and Tawu who spend 3 months each year sharing their hopes and their dreams for the future. The dream of one day being free. The dream of their children not having to suffer the same indignities they have. The dream of never having to suffer at the hands of their masters again. But just how far are they willing to go to make their dreams come true? And what will happen if they try?

Wench is a uniquely different angle to the slave sagas I had read in the past. It is one that was seldom written about or talked about but most certainly existed. It is a story that touched me deeply as I read about each character's tragic and confining life.

The book club that I am in reviewed this in March and I think most of the women were pleasantly surprised by the book. To see another review, and to see how our book club puts a fun spin on the books we review go to my friend Sheila's website Book Journey. The club's overall rating was a 4, my rating 4/5 stars.

Unsolved Crimes by John Wright *Review*

True Crimes. Is there anything that makes your hair stand on end like a true crime? How about a true unsolved crime with the murderer still lurking about?

Unsolved Crimes, a Reader's Digest Book written by John Wright is filled with the creepy and the mysterious. Broken down by sections like Murders, Assassinations, Kidnappings, Robbery's, etc., John Wright gives a detailed background of the victim, the evidence (or lack thereof), the list of suspects and an included sidebox of lingering doubts.

The lingering doubts section really intrigued me because it drew on what was known of the murder or suspects and asked some additional tough questions that haven't been answered, and probably never would be. Filled with the well known- Jon Benet Ramsey, the Black Dahlia and D.B. Cooper, as well as some not so well known victims from all over the world, Unsolved Crimes is a detailed account of some of the most famous crimes of the century. With photographs and information on DNA processing John Wright had me transfixed from the very first page. 3/5 Stars

Left to Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza *Review*

Growing up, Immaculee never realized she was different from some of her childhood friends. During ethnic roll call in her school one day she was asked to stand up and proclaim whether she was from the Hutu or Tutsi tribe. She couldn't respond because she didn't know. Her parents had never taught her the difference, because to them there was none. People were people and God loved them all.

Unfortunately, not all Rwandans felt the same way, and by 1994 after the death of their Hutu president a genocide of the Tutsis started that would last a little more than three months and would leave over 1 million of her friends, neighbors and family members dead.

Left to Tell is the horrifying account of how Immaculee spent 91 days hiding in a pastors bathroom with 7 other women while Hutu rebels hunted for them right outside their door. Immaculee's courage as she prayed, read the Bible and even learned English during her "captivity" is an incredible inspiration.

Even more inspiring is how she has put her life back together after her parents and 2 brothers were brutally murdered and how she has helped people get back on their feet and continues to help them today.

Imaculee is an amazing woman who has put God in the center of her life and has become richly blessed because of it. This Lenten season, if you're looking for a book to fill your heart and enrich your soul I recommend you read about Immaculee's harrowing 91 fear-filled days. You won't regret it. 5/5 Stars

Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris *Review*

Framboise's tale starts decades ago, in the village of Les Laveuses during the German occupation of France. Masterfully, she tells us about her childhood, playing along the river Loire with her brother Cassis, her sister Reinette, and her childhood friend Paul. She describes her obsession with catching Old Mother, the large pike rumored to curse anyone who sets eyes on it, but if caught will make your wish come true. Days are long, but happy until the darkness that is their mother envelops them.

Framboise's mother, Mirabelle Dartigen, is a widow struggling to keep the family orchard going after her husband is killed in the war. She's a stern, unyielding woman who is plagued by intense migraines that start with her smelling oranges, real or imagined. She is not loving or comforting to her children and that's why Framboise feels no shame in hiding orange peels around the house to help trigger one of her mother's migraines. The quiet, idle time while their mother recuperates is one they look forward to.

But just how do they spend their days alone? And with whom are they secretly meeting? And how does this mystery figure play into the war, the deaths of 10 people in the town, and the public outcry of the rest of the townsfolk while at Framboise's door with torches and rocks? And why, after 55 years, is Framboise still desperate to hang onto this secret?

The tragedy that weaves itself throughout this book will have you turning page after page to get to the end of the mystery that is Mirabelle Dartigen, and maybe more importantly, who is Framboise.

An excellently crafted story that flashes subtly from present day Les Laveuses to past, Joanne Harris is an author whom I have never read, but am now eager to explore. 4/5 Stars

The Recipe Club by Andrea Israel and Nancy Garfinkel *Review*

Lilly and Val are young friends who write back and forth about their hopes and dreams, their loves and losses, their families, their friends, and recipes.

The Recipe Club takes the two friends from 1963-2003 in the epistolary style that I so enjoyed in The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. What starts as a young innocent friendship turns into almost a competitive, resentful relationship between the two.

Lilly's mother is a mostly absent, self absorbed woman who has multiple affairs throughout the book while Lilly's father spends the majority of his time with Val's mother trying to cure her of her mental illness. This leads to Lilly being jealous of the attention Isaac (her father) lavishes on Val, and you see how Lilly easily turns into a spoiled, demanding young woman who just like her mother can easily drop relationships when she has nothing more to gain from them.

Val, who's agoraphobic mother loves her but is never there for her in other ways (piano recitals, school conferences) strives to hold onto the friendship she has with Lilly, the one person she feels has always been there for her. As Val excels in school and love- Lilly competes for her attention yet at the same time leaves her hanging in things they have always done together.

To me, Lilly did not seem like a friend I would want and Val's neediness and dependency on Lilly's friendship began to irk me. The one redeeming factor of this book were the recipes. There were a lot of recipes sprinkled throughout the book and while not all of them were much different from what you find in any other average cookbook, the names given to them were lighthearted and fun.

By flipping to any recipe in the book I can tell you what happened in the preceding chapter by the name given the recipe. Lovelorn Lasagna, Conspiracy Apple Pie, Diploma Dip with Veggies, Confetti Spaghetti, and First Kiss Caramel Almond Kisses are all recipes that reflect their feelings or what was going on in their lives at the time.

While not a great book, it was an easy read so I'll give it 2/5 stars.

Lipstick in Afghanistan by Roberta Gately *Review*

Elsa wants to help. In her young life she has already went through a lot with her own family, and now that they are all gone she wants to reach out and take care of someone else. Seeing an ad in a magazine for Aide du Monde, a relief organization, she decides to give them a call. But what she lacks at this point as a young nurse in the local hospital is experience. Not giving up, she joins the ER/Trauma unit and not only gains experience, but confidence as well. Six months later she gets her assignment- Afghanistan.

Then, 9/11 happens and her assignment is put on hold. She's crushed but lets them know she's still interested in helping out and she would still go to Afghanistan if called. The following spring that's exactly what happens.

Dropped off by jeep in the dusty mud plastered village of Bamiyan, Elsa begins her year of working with the sick and the injured at the little clinic. At first, met with resistance by the male Afghani doctor, she quickly gains friends and respect as she treats the patients and vllagers with love.

Then she meets Parween, and though they are world's apart, they become fast friends. She's with Parween when Parween loses her dear friend Mariam, and Parween is there when Elsa falls in love with Mike, a soldier close by on assignment.

This novel starts out so realistically I had to keep looking at the back cover to see if it was autobiographical, and indeed, it just might be. The author Roberta Gately served as a nurse and humanitarian aid worker in third world war zones ranging from Afghanistan to Africa. But I believe, realistic as it sounds, it is just a novel with some very real touches from the author who lived what she writes about.

I enjoyed this journey to another country and another culture. Gately writes well and I grew to love her characters, especially Parween. 3/5 stars

Flower Children by Maxine Swann *Review*

A swing hangs in the middle of the living room. The house was built by the parents. The children- two girls and two boys- run free all day, dance naked in the rain, climb apple tress, ride ponies, press their faces into showers of leaves, rub mud all over their bodies and sit out in the sun to let it dry. When their parents invite other adults for skinny-dipping in the creek, the children memorize all the body parts to discuss later among themselves.
Maxine Swann's Flower Children is the intimate, shocking, funny, heartrending, and exultant story of four children growing up in rural Pennsylvania, the offspring of devout hippies who turned their backs on Ivy League education in favor of experiments in communal living and a whole new world for their children. The children, in turn, find themselves impossibly at odds with their surroundings, both delighted and unnerved by a life without limits. But as the parents split, and puberty hits, the ground seems to shift. The children's freedoms have not come without a cost to their innocence.

Based on the author's childhood, Flower Children was originally a short story. Now expanded to include many vignettes of the children's early life, we come to know the four siblings throughout their teen years as well.

What most kids these days would have thought of as an ideal childhood with no rules was at first a wonderful exploration period for Lu, Maeve, Tuck & Clyde. But upon entering school, the older children realize they know more then they should at such a tender age. They have been exposed to naked bodies being-allowed to take baths with their father and pot smoking parties. This embarasses them once they realize other children do not live like they do and they become shy and keep things to themselves.

Flower Children was an interesting account of an alternative lifestyle that I have not been exposed to before. That being said, I did not like the book. I can't give you a good reason why, it just was not what I thought it would be. 2/5 stars

The Boy on the Bus by Deborah Schupack *Review*

I wish I knew what to say about this book, but I don't. I wish the author knew where she was going with this story, but she didn't. I wish there had been a satisfying conclusion to the story, but there wasn't.

I was very disappointed in The Boy on the Bus. This short novel starts out with a mother who is waiting for her son to come home from school. But when the bus pulls up to her house, the boy on the bus is not her son. At least that's what the mother is sure of. He acts different, he seems strangely unfamiliar, and he even looks a bit older and more robust.

The author then takes us through a few days in their life as her and her partner Jeff and her daughter Katie try to know sort out what is going on. Jeff is away for months at a time at a job site in Canada- would he know if his son was acting different if he hasn't seen him in that long? Daughter Katie, away at boarding school gets called back for her opinion. She just thinks Charlie's acting weird.

Mother, Meg, left at home to shoulder the load of taking care of the household and her sickly, asthmatic eight-year-old is a little overwhelmed with life. She doesn't know what happened with her "real" son but she is determined to find out.

If this book would have been a mystery like it implied it could have made a good one. But the story went nowhere and with no resolution I was left hanging and a little stumped. Did I miss something? Did I not get it? More confused after I finished then when I started I would only give this 1/5 stars.

The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain *Review*

A few weeks ago when I was looking for a shorter books to read for an all day reading marathon I came across a classic called The Postman Always Rings Twice. Never having read it, watched the movie, or read anything by this author, I pulled it off the library shelf.

The back cover proclaims it was "banned in Boston for its explosive mixture of violence and eroticism." Written in 1934, I was curious to see what made this book so controversial it had to be banned.

This short novel is about Frank, a bum who never stays in one place for long, and Cora, the wife of a Greek restaurant owner. The two fall in love and can't keep their hands off each other. Theirs is a violent love full of ripped blouses, bitten lips and deliberate punches. It's a love you know can only end the way it started.

Cora can't stand being married to Nick Papadakis, especially when Frank enters her life and she sees what passion is. Frank and Cora come up with a plan to murder Nick and make it look like an accident. But when their plans are foiled and a local cop gets suspicious, Frank decides the best thing for him to do is to leave town and try to get Cora out of his system for good. Unable to forget about her, he returns and the affair picks up again hotter and wilder than before.

Again they come up with a plan. This time it's foolproof. It's the perfect murder. The Postman Always Rings Twice is a dark book full of cheating, lies, passion, murder, blackmail and double crossing. The violent tendencies during their lovemaking scenes were disturbing and I can understand how, in 1934, this book would have shocked a lot of people. That being said- I can honestly say I enjoyed this classic and would even consider nominating it for our book club's classic read month in October. 3/5 stars