THE SWITCH by Joseph Finder

June 26, 2017

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Finder takes a step outside his usual corporate thriller zone into political & suburban territory when there is a computer mixup at the TSA line at LAX. I have to say I loved the premise of this book; it seemed so believable.

Michael Tanner owns a small, wholesale elite coffee business that is not doing terribly well. In fact, he’s close to closing the doors. On a return trip home to Boston from L.A., he barely gets through security in time to catch his flight. Eventually he realizes that he must have grabbed the wrong laptop. This one has a little sticky note on the bottom with the password, and he quickly finds out it belongs to a powerful U.S. Senator. Curious, he pokes around and discovers some highly classified information, which he promptly shares with a Boston Globe reporter friend. When his friend commits suicide a couple of days later, Tanner is alarmed.

Meanwhile, back in Washington D.C., the senator’s chief of staff , Will Abbott, is in a panic. He’s the one who illegally downloaded the top secret documents onto the senator’s laptop so she could peruse them on her flight home from L.A. She knows the password is available, and they both are extremely worried – this could end her career, and Will could end up in prison.

It’s a fairly simple matter for the D.C. powers that be to determine whose computer they have and where the Senator’s computer should be, but when Tanner is confronted, he denies he has the Senator’s computer – and things go rapidly downhill from there.

There are a lot of bad – and often unbelievable – decisions made along this journey, and it often seemed repetitive. The characters weren’t really fleshed out enough to make me care what happened to them and I constantly had to think about who was who – who had the crying baby? Whose wife took off? So while I loved the beginning of the book,  in the end, the premise was better than the actual story. This was a disappointment from one of my favorite authors.

6/17 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THE SWITCH by Joseph Finder. Dutton (June 13, 2017).  ISBN 978-1101985786. 384p.

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THE SECRET INGREDIENT OF WISHES by Susan Bishop Crispell

June 22, 2017

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A delicious read filled with magical realism, pie and wishes fulfilled – what’s not to like?

Rachel Monroe has a special gift, or a curse as she thinks of it. She can fulfill wishes. She first learned she had this as a child when her younger brother was annoying her and she wished him gone. He disappeared along with everyone’s memories of him – except her. Her parents took her to one psychologist after another, and eventually she was hospitalized until she agreed that he never existed.

While hospitalized, she met her best friend, the only one who really understood. As she got older she refused to wish for anything and refused to hear wishes, but nonetheless, as people around her wished for things, little pieces of paper, like the fortunes from fortune cookies, would float into her orbit. If she read them, the wish was granted so she tried very hard not to. Eventually, she couldn’t take it anymore and by the time she was 26 years old, she knew she had to escape.

Rachel takes off in her car until it breaks down in the small town of Nowhere, North Carolina. The car dies in front of an old Victorian home and the owner comes out, offers to call for help and invites her to stay until her car is fixed. Her name is Catch.

Catch also has a gift. She’s a terrific baker and supplies pies for the town’s restaurants and residents, but her real gift is the ability to make people keep secrets. A neighbor will appear at her back door and ask for help and Catch bakes them a special pie and the secrets are kept.

These two women forge a friendship based in understanding one another. Rachel is attracted to Catch’s neighbor, a young, good looking man who befriends her. But as the town learns about Rachel, things take an ugly turn. Rachel has to decide if this is where she belongs after all.

Fans of Amy E. Reichert or Menna van Praag will love it. I did.

6/17 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THE SECRET INGREDIENT OF WISHES by Susan Bishop Crispell. Thomas Dunne Books (September 6, 2016).  ISBN 978-1250089090.  304p.

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THE LIGHT WE LOST by Jill Santopolo

June 20, 2017

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Lucy and Gabe met as students at Columbia University in New York City – on September 11, 2001. Yes, that September 11th. There was that shared trauma, but something more and Lucy was upset to find out shortly thereafter that Gabe had a girlfriend. But she moved on.

Until they met again. And it didn’t work out again. Or the next time. Star crossed lovers? Perhaps. And then finally the time was right.

By then Lucy was a successful children’s television producer and Gabe had found his calling in photojournalism. They quickly moved in together and were deliriously happy. At least Lucy was. They were in love, but Gabe was feeling stifled in his career. He wanted to go to where there were wars, where he thought his photographs might make a difference. And without telling Lucy, he arranged for such a job. Until he had to tell her because he was leaving. She was crushed.

Lucy eventually moved on. She met a man and slowly, very slowly, he wooed his way into her heart and eventually they married. But Gabe kept popping up every few years or so. At a reunion. On a stopover in NY. Lucy’s husband wasn’t a fan, but he dealt with it as best as he could. And Lucy was happy, for the most part. But Gabe was always there in her heart and after thirteen years, their history would finally catch up with them in a devastating way.

This book was unputdownable and I loved it, despite shedding tears along the way. The writing reminded me of Rainbow Rowell and especially Me Before You by Jojo Moyes, so if you are fan of those authors, try this one.

A terrific, terrible modern romance.

6/17 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THE LIGHT WE LOST by Jill Santopolo. G.P. Putnam’s Sons (May 9, 2017).  ISBN 978-0735212756.  336p.

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THE ALICE NETWORK by Kate Quinn

June 18, 2017

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She resisted.

The Alice Network was a real spy ring comprised of women during World War I led by Louise, the “Queen of the Spies.” This completely fascinating book is historical fiction based on rather mindblowing facts. It moves back and forth between World War I and the end of World War II with one character, Eve, the link between the wars.

Eve was a young girl with a stutter who really wanted to contribute during the war. She was recruited into the elite Alice Network, where she worked undercover as a waitress named Marguerite in a restaurant in Lille, France during the war.

The owner of the restaurant, René Bordulon, was a collaborator with the Germans, and all the top German brass frequented his restaurant. Eve was fluent in French, English and German but because of her stutter, she was able to play the simpleton who barely spoke French. Eventually René made his move on Marguerite, and they began an affair. She was petrified but got so much good information over pillow talk that it was worth it.

Meanwhile American Charlie St. Clair was on the hunt for her cousin, missing since the end of WWII. Charlie had a “little problem,” she got pregnant while at college and her mother has taken her to Europe for her “appointment” to get rid of the little problem. But Charlie wants to find her cousin Rose, her best friend growing up, and she refuses to believe that she is dead as her parents have told her. Shortly after arriving in Europe, she runs away from her mother and meets Eve, an older woman now with horribly disfigured hands, a vile mouth, and a severe case of PTSD. Nonetheless, Eve agrees to help and her driver, a big Scotsman, drives off with the women in search of Rose.

The story moves back and forth between Eve’s time as a spy during the war and the search for Rose, and eventually the story becomes even more intertwined. This is riveting stuff even though at times, it was quite difficult to read. The author’s notes at the end parses fiction from fact and the facts heavily win out. An excellent read for fans of historical fiction, especially with a women’s bent. This would be a fabulous choice for a book discussion as well.

6/17 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THE ALICE NETWORK by Kate Quinn. William Morrow Paperbacks (June 6, 2017).  ISBN 978-0062654199.  528p.

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BEFORE GREEN GABLES by Budge Wilson

June 16, 2017

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The Prequel to Anne of Green Gables

Yes, that Anne of Green Gables, most recently reimagined as a Gothic nightmare on Netflix as “Anne with an E.” The Montgomery book was one of my favorites in childhood. Then I reread it in my children’s lit class in library school and loved it even more. Gothic nightmare is so not for me, but this book, this prequel, most certainly is.

The original (and subsequent sequels) are ostensibly children’s books but adults will certainly find much to enjoy as well. This prequel is an adult book and I don’t think it works the same way backwards; most children would probably not enjoy this but I sure did.

I have a new supervisor at work and she asked about a shelf full of children’s books that were in the reference workspace, including several copies of Anne of Green Gables. I explained that one of our librarians had attempted an adult book group that would read children’s literature, including Anne. It didn’t go well, I’m very sorry to say. But I mentioned how much I loved that book and she asked if I had read the prequel that came out a few years ago and my jaw dropped – I had missed it completely!

In the original, we meet Anne around age twelve when she is adopted. The book hints at some unhappiness in her past, and this prequel expands on it. We learn what happened to Anne Shirley before she got adopted and I was mesmerized, first by the writing, so reminiscent of the original, and then by the story itself. If you are a fan, you probably read this already but if, like me, you somehow missed it, do yourself a favor and find a copy. I’m so very glad I did.

6/17 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

BEFORE GREEN GABLES by Budge Wilson. Berkley; Reprint edition (February 3, 2009).  ISBN 978-0425225769.  400p.

 

 

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COME SUNDOWN by Nora Roberts

June 11, 2017

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I spent a lot of time trying to figure out who was who in this book about four generations of women living and working together on a ranch/resort in Montana. I finally got it but not until most of the way through the book but that’s on me. And really, it wasn’t all that important in the scheme of things.

Bodine runs the resort side of the family business and she’s really good at it. As a child she had a crush on her older brother’s best friend, Cal, but he left to do horse work in Hollywood before she grew up. Now he’s back and the chemistry between them is definitely there. He’s been hired on the ranch side of the business but when some employees retire, she hires him for the resort and things start heating up.

The day after Bodine’s mother got married, her sister Alice ran away from home. She never came back and Bodine and her brother never knew her. The story moves back and forth occasionally between Alice’s life and the rest of the family and the difference is stark, to say the least.

Bodine and Cal are out riding one morning when they find a woman’s body on the side of the road. It is one of the resort’s bartenders and she’s been murdered. Then a short time later another body turns up, and the small town sheriff has his hands full with the murders as well as his deputy who has some bad blood with Cal from when they were kids.

You can see the ending coming from a mile away and frankly, I wasn’t even looking so that was a bit of a disappointment. I’ve only read one other Nora Roberts book (I know, I know, she’s written well over 150 books!) and I loved that one (The Obsession) but this was one was just okay.

6/17 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

COME SUNDOWN by Nora Roberts. St. Martin’s Press (May 30, 2017).  ISBN 978-1250123077. 480p.

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THE SUNSHINE SISTERS by Jane Green

June 9, 2017

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I always look forward to the new Jane Green book and she never disappoints. The Sunshine Sisters is a terrific read and the first beach read I’ve really enjoyed this year.

Ronni Sunshine is a movie actress of some renowned. As she gives birth to each of her three daughters, her life changes just a little bit. Luckily, her husband is happy to step up and be the parent while Ronni focuses on herself and her career. She is no one’s idea of a good mother and her kids all eventually figure that out.

The girls aren’t especially close as children and they drift further and further apart. Nell, the oldest,  gets pregnant in college, drops out and the father takes off, leaving her to raise her son alone. She moves only 20 miles away to a farm, where she finds her happiness.

Meredith, the middle child, moves a bit further away – to England, where her grandparents are. She is convinced that she is fat and unloveable after a lifetime of her mother telling her so. She is engaged to a good looking but dreadful man, and her family can’t stand him.

The youngest, Lizzy, is a celebrity chef and the most like her mother, selfish and narcissistic. Her husband gave up his job to take care of their son and Lizzy repays his kindness by having an affair with her business partner.

Ronni demands all three children come home and when they do, they see that she looks awful. She tells them she is dying, wants to kill herself, and wants them all to bear witness. Needless to say, no matter how they feel about each other and their mother, none of them are on board with that idea. The week before the big event is supposed to happen brings the sisters together in a way they have never been before.

This is a compelling read with terrific characters. It was a one night read for me, so now I’m sorry, once again, that I have to wait a year for another Jane Green book. Take it to the beach and have fun.

6/17 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THE SUNSHINE SISTERS by Jane Green. Berkley (June 6, 2017). ISBN 978-0399583315. 384p.

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THE GIRL WITH THE MAKE-BELIEVE HUSBAND by Julia Quinn

June 7, 2017

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A Bridgertons Prequel: Rokesbys, Book 2

Cecelia Harcourt is in trouble. Her brother is in the army, fighting in the colonies when she gets a letter informing her that he has been injured and is in the hospital. Her father has just died, her mother died many years earlier, and a loathesome cousin has come sniffing around, trying to talk her into marrying him. He suspects he may inherit if her brother is dead, but Cecelia wants no part of him. She could go live with an aunt, but that doesn’t appeal either.

Instead, she gathers up the strength and the courage to sail to the colonies, try and find her brother and nurse him back to health. But when she finally arrives, no one seems to know where her brother is, he is presumed missing. But she does find her brother’s best friend, Captain Edward Rokesby. He is lying in a makeshift hospital and has been unconscious for a week after receiving a terrible head wound.

The doctor in charge won’t let her help Edward until she blurts out that she is his wife, and that changes everything. She is permitted to sit by his side and nurse him back and a few days later, he regains consciousness – along with amnesia. He has no memory of the previous few months.

Oh what a plot we weave when first we practice to deceive – and while deception seems to be at the heart of a lot of romance novels, Quinn’s expertise and experience really show here. The story is believable and compelling, and I finished it in one very late night. Another excellent read from a Romance Writers of America’s Hall of Fame author.

6/17 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THE GIRL WITH THE MAKE-BELIEVE HUSBAND by Julia Quinn. Avon (May 30, 2017). ISBN: 978-0062388179. 384p.

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ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE by Gail Honeyman

June 6, 2017

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Quirky, heartwarming books seem to be more abundant than ever and I couldn’t be happier. I generally will read anything that the Pamela Dorman imprint puts out. She finds a lot of these quirky books and is responsible for some bestselling authors you may have heard of, like Luanne Rice and Jojo Moyes, and one of my favorite books, Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal.

Eleanor Oliphant lives alone. She has some personality quirks, to say the least, and speaks to her mother on the phone every Wednesday night. It is never a pleasant conversation. She works in an office and has no friends or social life. My first assumption was that she was somewhere on the autism spectrum – but you know what they say happens when one assumes.

One day Raymond, the new IT guy, stops by her desk and is friendly. She doesn’t know quite what to make of him but agrees to have lunch with him, even though it disrupts her routine. They go outside and see an old man fall down. Raymond rushes to help but he is passed out, so they call for help and ride with him to the hospital.

That tenous connection is enough for Raymond and Eleanor to become friends, a new experience for Eleanor. Raymond is the perfect friend for Eleanor, easy going and undemanding. Eventually as they get to know each other, we get to know them too, especially Eleanor, and realize that she has had a horrendous life. It slowly unfurls as we get drawn deeper into her world, until the whole truth comes out. Raymond is there for her throughout and we can’t help but root for him to win the girl, damaged though she may be.

A lovely, funny novel that is truly unique and memorable. Don’t miss it.

6/17 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE by Gail Honeyman. Pamela Dorman Books (May 9, 2017).  ISBN 978-0735220683.  336p.

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RABBIT CAKE by Annie Hartnett

June 2, 2017

If you like charming, quirky books – and I love them – then you need to read Rabbit Cake. It got some starred reviews, was a “People Magazine Book of the Week,” and it lived up to all the hype.

Elvis Babbitt is the twelve year old girl at the heart of this book. Her mother, a scientist and professor, was a sleepwalker who accidentally drowned one night. Elvis’s father is dealing with his grief by wearing his wife’s robe and her lipstick. Elvis’s older sister Lizzie, always a rebellious, problematic teen, becomes even worse. Lizzie is also a sleepwalker and after her mother’s death, she becomes a sleep eater as well.

Elvis wants to continue her mother’s work, writing a book on the sleeping habits of animals. She is a very bright, very precocious child, to say the least, and for much of the book seems more mature than most of the adults in her life. The counselor at school tells Elvis that grief takes about 18 months to run its course, and Elvis takes her at her word and creates a grief chart to help her cope.

There are lots of quirky goings on throughout the story, from the Jesus statue made from beach debris that arrives one day, the bird that imitates the mother’s voice perfectly, to Lizzie’s baking 1000 rabbit cakes to get into the Guinness Book of World Records, and much, much more.

The characters are so well developed I couldn’t help but be drawn into their world and I was sad to leave them at the end of the book. This was a most enjoyable read, esepcially if you like family stories. The quirkiness is sure to appeal to readers who loved Maria Semple’s Where’d You Go, Bernadette, Gabrielle Zevin’s The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, and Frederik Backman fans.

6/17 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

RABBIT CAKE by Annie Hartnett. Tin House Books (March 7, 2017).  ISBN 978-1941040560.  344p.

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