Firefly Lane - Kristin Hannah

Rating: 5

Pages: 496

Challenges: Pub Challenge, Summer Thing

Synopsis (from bn.com)
In the turbulent summer of 1974, Kate Mularkey has accepted her place at the bottom of the eighth-grade social food chain. Then, to her amazement, the “coolest girl in the world” moves in across the street and wants to be her friend. Tully Hart seems to have it all---beauty, brains, ambition. On the surface they are as opposite as two people can be: Kate, doomed to be forever uncool, with a loving family who mortifies her at every turn. Tully, steeped in glamour and mystery, but with a secret that is destroying her. They make a pact to be best friends forever; by summer's end they've become TullyandKate. Inseparable.

So begins Kristin Hannah's magnificent new novel. Spanning more than three decades and playing out across the ever-changing face of the Pacific Northwest, Firefly Lane is the poignant, powerful story of two women and the friendship that becomes the bulkhead of their lives.

From the beginning, Tully is desperate to prove her worth to the world. Abandoned by her mother at an early age, she longs to be loved unconditionally. In the glittering, big-hair era of the eighties, she looks to men to fill the void in her soul. But in the buttoned-down nineties, it is television news that captivates her. She will follow her own blind ambition to New York and around the globe, finding fame and success . . . and loneliness.

Kate knows early on that her life will be nothing special. Throughout college, she pretends to be driven by a need for success, but all she really wants is to fall in love and have children and live an ordinary life. In her own quiet way, Kate is as driven as Tully. What she doesn't know is how being a wife and mother will change her . . . how she'll lose sight of who she once was, and what she once wanted. And how much she'll envy her famous best friend. . . .

For thirty years, Tully and Kate buoy each other through life, weathering the storms of friendship---jealousy, anger, hurt, resentment. They think they've survived it all until a single act of betrayal tears them apart . . . and puts their courage and friendship to the ultimate test.

Review

This book was great!! I really felt for the characters and it may be because I am very hormonal but I cried and cried through this book! The author sets up sections by starting with a song for the era, which brings back songs that I haven't heard in a long time.

If you like books about women's relationships you will like this book!! I would highly recommend it! I will read more books about this author.

Gods In Alabama - Joshilyn Jackson

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

Pages: 320

Challenges: Summer Thing

Review (from BN.com)

When Arlene Fleet headed off to college in Chicago, she made three promises to God: She would never again lie, never fornicate outside of marriage, and never, ever go back to her tiny hometown of Possett, Alabama (the "fourth rack of Hell"). All God had to do in exchange was to make sure the body of high school quarterback Jim Beverly was never found. Ten years later, Arlene has kept her promises, but an old schoolmate has recently turned up asking questions. And now Arlene’s African American beau has given her a tough ultimatum: introduce him to her family, or he’s gone. As she prepares to confront guilt, discrimination, and a decade of deception, Arlene is about to discover just how far she will go to find redemption--and love.

Review

If you like books on relationships you will love this book! It's not your average relationship book. There is a love interest but that isn't the interesting relationship. There is also a mystery - what happened 10 years ago to drive Arlene away and why has she made a deal with God...and is the mystery really what she thinks it is? This is one of those books that is hard to put down. I enjoyed this one much better than The Girl Who Went Swimming.

There's No Place Like Here - Cecelia Ahern

Rating: 2 Drink more Mint Juleps before reading (åå)
Pages: 340
Challenges: Chick Lit, Summer Reading Thing


Synopsis (from BN.com)
Lost and found People disappear every day, some because they choose to leave their old lives behind, and some for more unpleasant reasons. Things, too, disappear: mittens and cell phones, wallets and luggage. In every case, someone is left behind; someone is left to wonder what happened.

Ever since her classmate Jenny-May vanished when they were ten years old, Sandy Shortt has been obsessed with finding things. Now grown, Sandy's obsession has become a calling, with her own agency devoted to locating missing persons. But with every failed case, Sandy is plagued with questions: Where do missing people go? Are they alive or dead? Did they intend to disappear, or did they suffer some cruel fate? As these questions threaten to consume her, Sandy suddenly finds that she, herself, has disappeared, and that she has found all the answers she's always searched for in a magical place where all lost things and people go.

A romance that explores the meaning of loss and love, There's No Place Like Here is Cecelia Ahern's most satisfying, most inspired, most entrancing novel yet.

Review
I did not like this book at all. I thought it was slow and at some points very confusing whose perspective the story was being told from (I listened to it on CD). I didn't like the story concept that there is this black hole - a mysterious world where missing things/people go. For some reason Sandy found herself here. They don't explain how or why and then mysteriously leaves with no explanation of how and why. Just weird. This is classified as Chick Lit, but it's not what my impression of Chick Lit is. Has anyone else read this? What do you think?

I have PS I Love you in a challenge and I am hoping that it is better!

Harvesting the Heart - Jodi Picoult

Rating: 2 Drink more Mint Juleps before reading (åå)
Pages: 464
Challenges: Summer Reading Thing, Reading Full Circle Challenge

Synopsis (from BN.com)
Paige has only a few vivid memories of her mother, who left when she was five. Now, having left her father behind in Chicago for dreams of art school and marriage to an ambitious young doctor, she finds herself with a child of her own. But her mother's absence, and shameful memories of her past, make her doubt both her maternal ability and her sense of self worth.


Review
I really like Jodi Picoult books but I struggled with this one. I had a hard time with first I cannot believe that a child who was abandoned would abandoned her own. OK she just left for a while, but when she left she didn't have any intent on coming back. Second, she seemed to have very little anger against her mother for leaving her. I just really struggled with Paige and didn't believe she would react the way that she did. Also I struggled with her as a mother leaving her child. So needless to say I struggled a lot with this book but FINALLY finished it. If you are interested in Picoult I would start with Salem Falls and skip this one!

Sugar Queen - Sarah Addison Allen

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

Pages: 267

Challenges: Summer Thing (swap), Pub Challenge

Synopsis (from BN.com)
Sarah Addison Allen tells the tale of a young woman whose family secrets—and secret passions—are about to change her life forever.Twenty-seven-year-old Josey Cirrini is sure of three things: winter in her North Carolina hometown is her favorite season, she’s a sorry excuse for a Southern belle, and sweets are best eaten in the privacy of her hidden closet. For while Josey has settled into an uneventful life in her mother’s house, her one consolation is the stockpile of sugary treats and paperback romances she escapes to each night…. Until she finds it harboring none other than local waitress Della Lee Baker, a tough-talking, tenderhearted woman who is one part nemesis—and two parts fairy godmother…

Fleeing a life of bad luck and big mistakes, Della Lee has decided Josey’s clandestine closet is the safest place to crash. In return she’s going to change Josey’s life—because, clearly, it is not the closet of a happy woman. With Della Lee’s tough love, Josey is soon forgoing pecan rolls and caramels, tapping into her startlingly keen feminine instincts, and finding her narrow existence quickly expanding.

Before long, Josey bonds with Chloe Finley, a young woman who makes the best sandwiches in town, is hounded by books that inexplicably appear whenever she needs them, and—most amazing of all—has a close connection to Josey’s longtime crush.

As little by little Josey dares to step outside herself, she discovers a world where the color red has astonishing power, passion can make eggs fry in their cartons, and romance can blossom at any time—even for her. It seems that Della Lee’s work is done, and it’s time for her to move on. But the truth about where she’s going, why she showed up in the first place—and what Chloe has to do with it all—is about to add one more unexpected chapter to Josey’s fast-changing life.Brimming with warmth, wit, and a sprinkling of magic, here is a spellbinding tale of friendship, love—and the enchanting possibilities of every new day.

Review -

I really liked this book. I liked that the chapters were named after Candy! Here are some quotes that I liked:

This is about a new maid (Helena) who spoke very little English that was hired
to help Margaret after a hip replacement (including bathing which this quote is
about). “But Helena could never quite grasp what was required of
her. She would sit on the lowered toilet lid, her eyes adverted, anxiously
wringing her hands while Margaret sat in the tub and played charade to get her
to understand soap.(7)”


“Della Lee, you’re living in my closet, you’re blackmailing me over candy, and you are currently wearing 16 articles of clothing. It’s amazing to me that you think I have problems. You need to form a plan for yourself (60).”

“’Why do you buy books you don’t even read?’ our daughter asks us. That’s like asking someone who lives alone why they bought a cat. For company of course. (180)”

This book made me laugh out loud during many times! Chloe has books that just appear when she needs him – bad break up with a boyfriend a book on forgiveness appears. I think if I was to die before my daughter was an adult this is what I would want to do…send her books on whatever I thought she needed to learn or should read for enjoyment. And the books relentlessly follow Chloe around until she reads them…doesn’t that just sound like a mother?!

I did have one problem with this book and that is the cover. The book main character is a "thick" girl. The girl on the cover certainly is not. It is possible that it is a different character by why wouldn't they put the main character on the cover...things that make you go hmm...

Hidden - Shelley Shepard Gray

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

Pages: 272

Challenges: Pub Challenge, 1st in a series (Sisters of the Heart), Summer Thing

Synopsis (from BN.com)
When Anna decides it's time to leave her abusive boyfriend, she doesn't know where to turn. Rob has completely won over her parents, and the entire community, with his good looks and smooth charm. Only Anna has seen his dark side.
Desperate, she runs to the only place she's ever felt completely safe—the Amish Brenneman Bed and Breakfast, where Anna met life-long friend Katie Brenneman. The family welcomes her in, and with few questions asked allows her to stay, dressed in Plain clothing, and help around the inn.
Katie's older brother Henry is the only one who doesn't take too kindly to the intrusion. He tries to ignore Anna, knowing no good would ever come from caring for an Englisher like her. But as he gets to know Anna, he discovers her good heart and is surprised with her readiness to accept their lifestyle.
The more time Anna spends with the Amish, the more she feels she's found a true home. But how can she deny the life she left behind? And will her chance for happiness be stolen away by the man from her past?

Review

Fabulous! I really enjoyed this and it was a great book to read during the Read-a-thon. I liked that a majority of the characters were Christians when the book started, so it wasn't the Christian formula that someone finds God - they have God from the beginning. It was entertaining and kept me turning the pages. I even gave this to my friend who was doing the read-a-thon with me and she read it in one sitting too! I can't wait to the other books of the series come out!

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - Lisa See

Rating: 4 Tell a Friend over a Derby pie (ääää)
Pages: 258

Challenges: Summer Reading Thing, TBR

Synopsis (from BN.com)
In nineteenth-century China, in a remote Hunan county, a girl named Lily, at the tender age of seven, is paired with a laotong, “old same,” in an emotional match that will last a lifetime. The laotong, Snow Flower, introduces herself by sending Lily a silk fan on which she’s painted a poem in nu shu, a unique language that Chinese women created in order to communicate in secret, away from the influence of men. As the years pass, Lily and Snow Flower send messages on fans, compose stories on handkerchiefs, reaching out of isolation to share their hopes, dreams, and accomplishments. Together, they endure the agony of foot-binding, and reflect upon their arranged marriages, shared loneliness, and the joys and tragedies of motherhood. The two find solace, developing a bond that keeps their spirits alive. But when a misunderstanding arises, their deep friendship suddenly threatens to tear apart.

Review

I liked the fact that this book takes you to a completely different place that I wouldn't have experienced without it. If you enjoyed Memoirs of a Geisha you will enjoy this book. I thought parts were heart breaking and it was a difficult book to read, but the story was very good and it was great learning about Chinese culture.

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming - Joshilyn Jackson

Rating: 3 Will make a good movie (···)

Pages: 320

Challenges: Pub Challenge, Summer Thing

Synopsis (from BN.com)
Laurel Gray Hawthorne needs to make things pretty, whether she's helping her mother make sure the literal family skeleton stays in the closet or turning scraps of fabric into nationally acclaimed art quilts. Her estranged sister Thalia, an impoverished Actress with a capital A, is her polar opposite, priding herself on exposing the lurid truth lurking behind middle class niceties. While Laurel's life seems neatly on track--a passionate marriage, a treasured daughter, and a lovely home in suburban Victorianna--everything she holds dear is suddenly thrown into question the night she is visited by the ghost of a her 13-year old neighbor Molly Dufresne. The ghost leads Laurel to the real Molly floating lifelessly in the Hawthorne's backyard pool. Molly's death is inexplicable--an unseemly mystery Laurel knows no one in her whitewashed neighborhood is up to solving. Only her wayward, unpredictable sister is right for the task, but calling in a favor from Thalia is like walking straight into a frying pan protected only by Crisco. Enlisting Thalia's help, Laurel sets out on a life-altering journey that triggers startling revelations about her family's guarded past, the true state of her marriage, and the girl who stopped swimming.

Review

I really liked the characters in the book and the funny happenings with Laurel's back woods relatives. I also liked the relationship with her and her sister and I thought that the mysteries developed well!

Summer Thing Challenge

I joined the Summer Reading Thing! My goal is to read 26 books.
Here is my list but it is likely to change.

Here are the rules:
What: A summer reading challenge for everyone. Set your goals and track your progress. No goal is too small; no ambition too great. Feeling overwhelmed? Make your list small or use the same list from any other reading challenge. Make changes to your list as needed as desired. Finish early? Add more books (or not). Change your mind on a title? Drop it. No pressure, no minimums.Post a short review on your blog of at least one of the books you read during the challenge.

When: Friday, June 2oth through Sunday, September 21st, 2008.

Where: Sign up with Mr Linky at the Summer Thing post.