Blue Moon - Luanne Rice

Rating: 2 Drink more Mint Juleps before reading (åå)

Challenge: Themed Reading, Spring Thing, Reading Full Circle

Publishers Weekly (From BN.com)
Though its setting is quite different, this highly readable, richly detailed slice of life offers the same absorbing vision of a single family in a particular time and place as do Elizabeth Jane Howard's Cazalet Chronicles. Set in a Rhode Island fishing village-cum-resort town, the narrative focuses not on the upper-middle-class, white collar characters that Rice has heretofore brought to life in such well-reviewed novels as Crazy in Love and Secrets of Paris , but on a family of hardworking restaurateurs. The action revolves around Cass Keating Medieros, the youngest granddaughter of Sheila and Eddie Keating, founders of the family's successful restaurant, Lobsterville. Though Cass and her fisherman husband Billy have been ``madly in love since eighth grade, and proud of it,'' their marriage has begun to show the strain of caring for their partially deaf daughter Josie. Meanwhile, their teenaged son is experiencing his own first grand passion; their nephew dabbles in Satan worship; and Cass's embittered sister Nora blossoms when romance unexpectedly comes her way. These and other engaging subplots keep the narrative sailing briskly along; frisky sex scenes are another plus. A dangerous sea storm clears the decks for this multigenerational saga's unabashedly teary and heartwarming resolution. Rice writes with assurance and is particularly adept at illuminating the inner lives of the novel's youngest characters. 35,000 first printing; Literary Guild selection; author tour. (Sept.)

Review

I was really disappointed in this book. I kept thinking it would get better or there would be something that happened, but not until the last few chapters was there a conflict. Now the question is why did I continue a book that nothing happened in? I don't know. I wasn't committed to finding out what happened to the characters or anything, so I don't know why I kept up with it. I guess I need to get better at giving books up! Also I listened to this on audio and am wondering why on a book with a majority of female characters was a man picked to narrate? Seems odd...

Has anyone else read Luanne Rice? I am not sure if I will read any of her other books (unless some of you have some good reviews).

Family Tree - Barbara Delinsky

Rating: 4 Tell a Friend over a Derby pie (ääää)

Challenges: Spring Thing, A-Z Challenge (D Author)

Synopsis from B&N

Dana Clarke has always longed for the stability of home and family—her own childhood was not an easy one. Now she has married a man she adores who is from a prominent New England family, and she is about to give birth to their first child. But what should be the happiest day of her life becomes the day her world falls apart. Her daughter is born beautiful and healthy, but no one can help noticing the African American traits in her appearance. Dana’s husband, to her great shock and dismay, begins to worry that people will think Dana has had an affair.The only way to repair the damage done is for Dana to track down the father she never knew and to explore the possibility of African American lineage in his family history. Dana’s determination to discover the truth becomes a poignant journey back through her past and her husband’s heritage that unearths secrets rooted in prejudice and fear.Barbara Delinsky’s Family Tree is an utterly unforgettable novel that asks penetrating questions about race, family, and the choices people make in times of crisis—choices that have profound consequences that can last for generations.

Review

I really enjoyed this book. I really wanted to find out the mysteries that were going on around Lizzie’s birth. How was she born inter-racial while both her parents were white? It was interesting some of the genetics information. I also liked the knitting references and could picture the great knitting store. This book made me want to attempt knitting again! I can make a scarf but for now that is my skill level! This book was read by the book club I am in and it was a great discussion! It is interesting to debate on how we would handle the situation.

A Great and Terrible Beauty - Libba Bray

Rating: 4 Tell a Friend over a Derby pie (ääää)

Challenges: Spring Thing, First in a Series, A-Z Challenge: G Title

Synopsis (from BN.com)

It’s 1895, and after the suicide of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma’s reception there is a chilly one. To make things worse, she’s been followed by a mysterious young Indian man, a man sent to watch her. But why? What is her destiny? And what will her entanglement with Spence’s most powerful girls—and their foray into the spiritual world—lead to?

Review I liked this book a lot and really wanted to continue reading (really listening) to it. It reminded me some of Harry Potter but it was very different from Harry Potter. If you like Harry Potter I think you will like this book. I liked the characters especially Gemma and her Mom and the worlds that were created. I thought that Libba did a great job of researching girls in boarding school in this time period. On the audio version there is an interview with Libba Bray reading parts of her diary in trying to get the book published. It was great I really felt like she could be one of my good friends or my next door neighbor. She was so down to earth.