REVIEW: The Wife Between Us

The Wife Between Us
Author: Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen

The blurb for this book says it all:   Assume nothing.

Don't assume this is a book about a woman half-crazed at the failure of her marriage. It's also not about The Other Woman marrying her ex-husband. And it's also not about a husband tiring of his crazy wife and finding a new lover. It's all of those things....and none of them....all at the same time.

This suspenseful story about the disintegration of a woman's marriage had more twists and turns than a soap opera. Just when I thought I knew what was going on suddenly the story would zing me with an unexpected revelation. Skillfully written and masterfully crafted!

I literally could not put this book down. The only word that came to mind as I closed the book is.....WOW. I tried to explain the plot to my husband, and finally stopped trying, telling him that he would just have to read the book. The story is too twisted and complex to pare it down to a quick synopsis.

I am not giving any spoilers about the book here. It's best for readers to come into the story with only basic information. A marriage ended. A new one is about to begin. Then things happen....    Make no assumptions. Just lose yourself in the story and enjoy. :)

This book really made me think about the secrets we all keep, and the assumptions that are so easily made about others. How well do we really know those closest to us? And how much do we just assume we know? If there are two sides to every situation....which side is more truthful? Or could both sides be a lie?

I think what made me enjoy this story so much is I kept thinking "This could happen''.....and that just made the entire thing so much more chilling. I look forward to more from these two authors -- this first collaboration is top notch! 

The Wife Between us will be published by St Martin's Press on January 9th, 2018.

**I voluntarily read an advanced readers copy of this book from St Martin's Press. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**

To find out more about the authors check out their websites: http://greerhendricks.com/ and http://www.sarahpekkanen.com/ 

REVIEW: Life Among the Savages

Life Among the Savages
Author: Shirley Jackson

I was reading The Haunting of Hill House when I discovered that Author Shirley Jackson also wrote humorous short stories about her life in Vermont raising four children in the 40's and 50's. The stories were originally printed in popular magazines and collected in two books, Life Among the Savages and Raising Demons.

I am amazed that an author I love for her incredi-creepy, low key horror stories could also write such funny commentary on being a parent. From her son's daily stories about a naughty kid named Charles at school to her daughter's imaginings of being the second Mrs. Ellenroy who has 7 step-daughters all named Martha, the tales are cute and very entertaining. They are definitely tales from a different era, with Jackson talking about smoking a cigarette while in labor with one of her babies, lamenting her bad luck when hiring household help, and the necessity of purchasing demitasse cups to be a proper host. Her stories of the gigantic old house they rented in Vermont, conversations over bridge with friends, the antics of her children, and her failings as a housekeeper are light and funny. It was a perfect Sunday read for me. I smiled at her tales of household chaos while doing laundry, housework and getting ready for the new week in my own crazy house. :)

Jackson's sense of humor in this book reminds me of Erma Bombeck. She pokes fun at her family because sometimes laughter is needed to maintain sanity. One of my favorite parts of this book is when Jackson's husband is sitting on the sofa alone reading The Wizard of Oz to one of his daughter's imaginary friends, while his daughter is up in her room. Jackson asks her daughter why she isn't downstairs listening to the story. The little girl replies that she got bored so she left...but her friend stayed to listen. Too cute!

Even though they were written decades ago, I think most moms would identify with these stories. I certainly did!

REVIEW: The Girl Who Came Home

The Girl Who Came Home
Author: Hazel Gaynor

The Girl Who Came Home is loosely based on the story of the Addergoole 14.....14 poor Irish from a single village in County Mayo who boarded the Titanic in 1912 to head to a new life in America. They were filled with dreams, hopes and expectations. Sadly, only 3 would survive the sinking of the gigantic ship in the cold, dark Atlantic Ocean.  The names of the 14 passengers, their life stories, the name of the  Irish village and some other facts are changed in the Girl Who Came Home...but the story is obviously built on the true tale of 14 immigrants whose dreams were cut short by an iceberg.

The story jumps back and forth in time from 1912 to 1982. In 1912, Maggie Murphy is 17 years old. Her mother has just died, and her aunt Kathleen travels from America to bring young Maggie home with her. She doesn't want to leave her love, Seamus, but she is drawn to the promise of a life in America and feels a duty to obey her aunt. She hopes Seamus will travel to America later to be with her. She misses him terribly while on board Titanic. The ship is massive and filled with more luxuries than the 14 hopeful Irish villagers have seen in their lives. They laugh, dance and joke about all the rich food...happy and delighted. Then late one night there is a slight bump and the engines go still. The night of horror has begun. In 1982, an 87-year old Maggie tells the story of that night to her great-granddaughter Grace. Grace needs to write a feature story for a Chicago newspaper and her great-grandmother decides it's time to tell someone her story. She has refused to talk about Titanic for decades, still feeling guilt that she survived and so many others died. In the attic there is a small suitcase that she carried with her the night of the sinking. She shares its contents with Grace, and the story about her memories of her life in Ireland, the voyage on Titanic and the aftermath of the sinking.

The Girl Who Came Home is a lovely and sad story. It's well-written and emotional. I listened to the audiobook version....and I think hearing it read in a lovely Irish accent added more depth to the story for me. The audiobook is narrated by Connor Kelly-Eiding and Alana Kerr. They both read at a nice, even pace and are easily understandable. I have hearing loss, but was easily able to enjoy this audiobook with no problems. I normally don't like books that jump back and forth in time as it gets tedious and often confused, but Gaynor pulls it off. I enjoyed this book from start to finish. Beautiful, haunting and just lovely -- a great book! I will definitely be reading more by this author.

I can't truly imagine what it must have been like for those on board the Titanic. For those in the lifeboats, hearing more than 1000 people screaming and dying in the cold water must have been heartbreaking. And for those in the water, it must have been horrific. Hazel Gaynor does a great job of depicting the joys of the lavish ship, the differences between steerage and the first class accomodations, the huge range of passengers aboard, the absolute horror of the sinking, and the depths of despair and loss felt afterwards. I think the most memorable part for me is towards the end....hundreds of family members waiting at the dock in New York in the pouring rain for hours. The Carpathia was due to dock, and it was carrying survivors.Some are happily reunited and others learn the final sad truth about the death of their loved ones. Very emotional scene.

Gaynor is the author of several books including The Cottingley Secret and The Girl from the Savoy.

REVIEW: The LIfe We Bury

The Life We Bury
Author: Allen Eskens

College Student Joe Talbert visits a nursing home to interview a senior citizen for a writing assignment. He's supposed to write a short biography on someone. A nurse at the facility says that most of their patients have dementia or other problems that would make them difficult to interview. One, however, is dying from cancer. His memory is fully intact. The nurse says that he might not be suitable.....the patient is a convicted child murderer, having raped and killed a 14-year old girl years before. Talbert decides that Carl Iverson is as good a subject as any for his class assignment. Iverson agrees to be interviewed. Little does Joe know that this meeting will change his life, leading him into danger to prove Iverson's innocence.

This story caught me by surprise. The book started off predictably......student meets killer, killer talks to student, student checks out killer's crime and is disgusted, killer opens up about his life and student asks questions about the murder.....the usual plot.  But this story didn't stick to the usual. This story veered off the trope path pretty quickly and morphed into something much more complex.....much more interesting. Every time I thought I knew where the plot was going, it veered off in another direction. Great suspense! Loved it!

I listened to the audiobook version of this story. The unabridged audio version (Tantor Media) is narrated by Zach Villa. He reads at a nice, even pace and he is easy to understand. I have partial hearing loss, but was able to easily hear and understand his reading. The audiobook is just shy of 8 1/2 hours long. I listened to it on New Year's Day while packing up Christmas decorations and cleaning the house after a busy holiday season.

For more information on this author and his books, check out his website: http://www.alleneskens.com/

REVIEW: Trixie Belden and the Marshland Mystery

Trixie Belden and the Marshland Mystery
Author: Kathryn Kenny

I have been happily re-reading the Trixie Belden series over the past few weeks. When I was in middle school in the 80's, this was my favorite book series. I received new books for nearly every holiday, and babysat my ill-behaved nephew to earn money to buy more of the books. Those trips to Walden Books at the mall to get another Trixie book are what started my love of bookshops! I had the entire series, and I remember being so excited when two new books came out in the late 80s. Then the series came to an end.....and I went off to college. I sold my full set of books to a middle school aged girl at a garage sale for 25 cents apiece. I hope she got as much enjoyment from them as I did!

I didn't think about Trixie Belden for years and years. Then, I found a couple old Nancy Drew books at a local thriftshop. That got me to thinking about books I enjoyed as a kid.....and the first one that popped into my head was Trixie! I decided I needed to re-visit my old pals from Sleepyside, NY. I still enjoy this series, even though I look at things with an adult mindset now and notice things I didin't see when I was a young girl reading them for the first time.

Trixie Belden and the Marshland Mystery is the 10th book in the series. Trixie and her bestie, Honey Wheeler, venture out to a nearby swamp to gather plants. They are going to give them to a teacher, Miss Bennett, whose book of pressed herbs was damaged by a careless student. The plants will allow her to restore her book. Little do they realize they are going to uncover a mystery of sorts in the swamp as well!  Soon their club, The Bob-Whites of the Glen, are hunting for a missing child, looking for lost pirate treasure, and helping an elderly woman.

I'm not sure this story was really a mystery....more of an adventure for the teens and gathering clues to find out what exactly happened to a little girl while she was missing. Trixie learned a few lessons about jealousy, jumping to conclusions and forgiveness. All in all, despite there not really being any "mystery'', this was a fun, relaxing read and a great visit to Sleepyside!

And poor Dan Marsdon appears to have disappeared out of the books entirely. He was introduced as a new Bob-Whites member a couple books back. Then in the book after that he was mentioned only twice. And in this book.....no Dan at all. I guess Dan is a bit like Richie Cunningham's older brother on Happy Days....there one day, went upstairs.....never seen again. He never even got his picture added to the cute illustration of all the Bob-Whites on the pastedown pages at the front of the book. I wonder if he will be back? I have a theory for what happened to Dan.....     The first six books of the Trixie Belden series were written by Julie Campbell. The rest of the series was written by various authors all using the pen-name Kathryn Kenny. So perhaps one author added the Dan character, but the next book was written by someone else....and they didn't like the character? Or the books were written concurrently, and the two mentions of Dan added to the story at the beginning and end of the book were added for continuity. Then...next book, no Dan at all, with no explanation. Poor, unloved Dan. :)

There are 39 books in the Trixie Belden series, written from 1948-1986. The stories, although a bit dated, are fun, quick reads.

On to book #11! Maybe Dan will be back! ha ha :)

REVIEW: Snow Lane

Snow Lane
Author: Josephine Angelini

Antoinette Elizabeth Bianchi is the youngest of 9 children.  8 girls and 1 boy live in the house on Snow Lane. Their father works several jobs, and also works on the family farm. The kids help out, too. It takes a lot of work to keep a family of 11 going. Antoinette (called Annie) has multiple health problems. She is dyslexic, and prone to fits of vomiting and fatigue.

Slowly as Annie tells the story of her family, the truth comes out. The older children are forced to act as parents to the younger kids. There is never enough money for clothing, food and basic necessities. The children often feel sick or faint because there isn't enough food to eat. Annie can't invite friends over because she is embarrassed about their house and family life.....and other things that they never discuss. Scary things. Through it all Annie remains cheerful, although she always wonders why she is so slow compared to everyone else. Why her thoughts race at strange things. Why she counts and manipulates numbers in her head to calm herself down. Why is she so different?

I grew up Catholic, so I found it cute that every time Annie said crap or some other "bad'' word she listed the number of Hail Marys she would have to say as penance. :) I also sympathized with her for being the youngest in a large Catholic family. I was the youngest of 5, with the others many years older than me. It was awful. I was never physically abused....but there was mental abuse. This story was a bit hard for me to read because I sympathized with the main character so much. I dealt with similar problems at home and at school. I was never physically beaten, but I had a close friend at school who was. Her mother was very involved in the church, but regularly beat her daughter and locked her in a closet for minor infrractions. Finally my friend got pregnant and married in high school just to get away from her parents. Sad....but true. And in the 80's -- the same time period as this story. I don't know what happened to my friend....I lost contact with her during my college years and have never been able to find her again. I hope she is happy wherever she is. Those similarities in my background really pulled me into this story. I was a bit disappointed with the abrupt ending....the story just stops with nothing fully resolved. But...realistically...a family issue like that wouldn't be insta-fixed. The abrupt ending with things up in the air is the proper ending for this story. Disappointing, but more true than a fairy tale fix. This story is well-written. I normally don't like stream of consciousness type stories....but the author did a fantastic job with this one. I do have to admit that I found it extremely depressing though. Maybe because I identified with the main character so much.

Snow Lane is a hard hitting, masterfully written tale about a family....a family in trouble. But even in the darkness, there are bright spots. Annie is definitely a bright spot. She chooses to find the good in all things.....and that attitude and the promise of the life ahead of her is what leaves hope at the end of this tale.

I think I will try one more time to find my friend from school. This book really has me thinking about her. Maybe this time I will get lucky and one of my old classmates might know where she is. I can only try.....

To learn more about this author and her other books, check out her website: http://www.josephineangelini.com/

**I voluntarily read an advanced readers copy of this book from Feiwel & Friends (Macmillan) via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**

REVIEW: Call the Midwife

Call the Midwife
Author: Jennifer Worth

I have had this series by Jennifer Worth sitting on my bookshelves for a year. My sister in law let me borrow the five books -- Call the Midwife, Farewell to East End, In the Midst of Life, Shadows of the Workhouse and Letters to the Midwife -- because I enjoy the PBS television show. I got so tied up in adulting, working, reading new releases for review and other books on my TBR stack, that the books sat there on the shelf.  Then I signed up for a 2018 reading challenge.....Beat the Backlist.....that challenges readers to enjoy books published before 2018.  I started looking at my shelves....seeing all the lovely books I had intended to read....some have been on my shelves for years waiting for their chance!  Since I borrowed the series by Jennifer Worth, I decided Call the Midwife would be first! Knowing how busy the holidays are and to squash any excuses, I found the audiobook version from my local library's digital site. I listened while wrapping presents, putting up the tree, travelling to family's homes, running errands....it all worked out perfectly! The book is just as enjoyable as the PBS show! And the show actually follows the book very closely! Excellent!!

Jennifer Worth was a midwife in the East end of London in the 1950s. She and the other midwives rode bicycles to prenatal exams, deliveries and other midwife duties, providing care for the poor women that lived there. The book has tales about problem deliveries, dealing with STDs, vermin and other concerns, domestic violence, large families and antiquated opinions about childbirth and women. The book is heart-warming, alarming and nostaligic, all at the same time. Just a lovely read! I don't know how women survived before modern medical care, birth control and increased opportunities that we have now. Plus, changes in public opinion on some things -- like teenage and single mothers. Unwed mothers are no longer shunned in our western culture and left with nothing, their babies sometimes adopted out without consent. I hope that sort of horror never comes back!

The audiobook I listened to (HighBridge Company) is just over 12 hours long & unabridged. Nicola Barber narrates. Because of my hearing loss, I sometimes have problems hearing and understanding female voices, but I was able to completely understand Barber's narration. She reads at an even pace with great tone and animation in her voice. I loved the audiobook! I kept seeing Chummy wrecking her bicycle,  Fred with his pigs and all the action from the TV series in my head as I listened. :)

I will definitely be reading (or listening) to the rest of the series! Especially since my reading goal for the new year is to read more books off my shelves.  The Midwife series might be a bit of a cheat....  I borrowed the books months ago. And I hate hate hate it when people borrow my books and take ages to bring them back. So, I am going to return my SIL's books.....and borrow the books online to read. I'm still counting them as backlist off my shelf, but giving them back immediately because they belong to someone else. :) Sort of a cheat -- but not really. :)

Given the subject matter....this book does talk a lot about child birth, vaginas, STDs, medical procedures, family problems, etc.....and might not be something to listen to in front of very young children, unless you want to be answering questions. lol.  My son is 13...walked into the room, listened for a moment and ducked out of the kitchen. I heard him telling his dad "Oh mom is doing the dishes and listening to some book about vaginas.'' LOLOLOL   If all it takes to keep the men out of my kitchen when I'm working is to listen to books on vaginas.....I'm going to find more! ha ha

All in all, a great book! I will definitely be reading/listening to the rest of the series!