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If you’re looking for your next book discussion selection, look no further. Melissa DeCarlo’s debut novel about a dysfunctional family set in a small town full of secrets is bound to fit the bill.

Mattie Wallace is a self proclaimed screw up. We meet her as she has packed all her belongings into several trash bags, stolen her boyfriend’s prize possession, and jumped into her old car heading off for a visit to her stepfather. There she learns that the grandmother she never knew has died and possibly left her something.

On an impulse, she jumps in her car and drives off to the small town in Oklahoma where her mother grew up and her grandmother died. Mattie lost her mother several years earlier but we don’t find out how or why until much later. The story moves and back and forth between Mattie’s childhood with her single, alcoholic mother and her present day circumstances. To complicate things further, Mattie is pregnant.

While staying in her grandmother’s house, Mattie learns more about her mother and her family than she expects, and even more about herself. At times poignant, funny and occasionally even inspirational, Mattie is a well drawn character that is simply unforgettable. Enjoy this warm, wonderful, witty read.

9/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THE ART OF CRASH LANDING by  Melissa DeCarlo. Harper Paperbacks (September 8, 2015)).  ISBN 978-0062390547. 432p.

Kindle

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Narrated by Tavia Gilbert

I read Nicolle’s first two books in this series years ago, and enjoyed them. So when I heard about this new one, I tried the audiobook. The reader was good, but didn’t really add much to the story.

The premise is that there is a female Republican president in her second term, with a newish vice president, another woman who is a Democrat. Did I mention this is fiction? It goes from the ridiculous to fairytale; one of the White House staff had a two year affair with the President’s husband. They broke up, the President knew about it and promoted the mistress to Press Secretary. Spoiler alert: The White House Chief of Staff, probably the second most powerful person in Washington after the President (yes, I watched The West Wing) is leaking information to the press. Does he get fired? Of course not. He is just trusted not to do it anymore. Call me a cynic but I just couldn’t get past any of this stuff. Especially the press secretary. Would Hilary make Monica Lewinsky her press secretary? Not on a bet. ‘Nuff said.

The story is centered around a 9/11 style attack on five cities concurrently.  Lots of deaths, lots of sadness, but that’s just the beginning and ending of the book. The middle was just ridiculous.

I like Nicolle on The View. I think she is a smart Republican, and that is not something that often comes out of my mouth. I don’t agree with her politics, or many of her opinions, but I respect her. I am at the point in my life where if I don’t like a book for any reason, I generally put it down and move on. But I kept on going, hoping it would get better, hoping for some kind of reasonable explanation for the unexplainable, but never got it. I stayed with it until the bitter end, and I’m sorry I did.

7/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

MADAME PRESIDENT by Nicolle Wallace. Atria/Emily Bestler Books (April 28, 2015).  ISBN 978-1476756899. 352 p.

Audio Book: Listening Length: 9 hours and 18 minutes

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Narrated by Kathleen McInerney

I had seen the Judy Blume interviews on TV and knew that this was a book set in the early 1950s, when Blume was a teenager in Elizabeth, New Jersey, when three airplanes crashed in her town within 58 days. But I wasn’t thinking about that on my five hour flight from Fort Lauderdale to San Francisco, until the first plane crash (in the book!) As my oh-so-smooth Virgin America flight (thanks, guys!) was an hour or so in, I decided maybe listening to this book wasn’t the best idea I ever had. I set it aside and didn’t finish it until I got home.

Right up front I have to say that I didn’t love this narrator, mostly because of her pronunciation, from the main character, Miri Ammerman, who I heard as “Mary” and couldn’t understand at all – I’ve never met a Jew named Mary – to the synagogue, B’Nai something or other, which after hearing B’Nai pronounced as “Buh Nye” when it has always been “Buh Nay” in New York and Florida, and a few other mispronunciation of Jewish phrases all just sort of confused me and frankly, pissed me off. Someone is supposed to check these things.

But the story, the story! It’s wonderful, and not only because it’s Judy Blume and I don’t think she can write a bad book. The beginning sort of sets the tone and time period; women were mostly housewives, kids were respectful and kept in the dark a lot. We meet our main character, Miri, a 15 year old in Elizabeth, NJ who lives with her single mom, Rusty, with her grandmother and her uncle right next door. Mary’s uncle Henry is a newspaper man, and covers the plane crashes in great detail. Her best friend is Natalie, and Miri guiltily fantasizes about her mother marrying Natalie’s father (with nothing too terrible happening to Natalie’s mom) and having that comfortable, upper middle class life. And then the plane crashes start happening.

The plot is out there, you don’t need me to rehash it. Instead, let me tell you about the wonderful characters that Blume creates here,  unforgettable people who experience incredible tragedy. The survivors and how they dealt with it all. The brothers who lost their mother and their father is an alcoholic, so they live in a fairly nice orphanage – no foster care tragedy here. The families, some torn apart, with real problems and real solutions. The setting of this New Jersey town and how the people there come together because of these plane crashes is completely relatable to all the tragedies that have been in the news lately. The time period is portrayed in an almost romanticized way, yet it always rings true, from 1950’s Elizabeth, then later on, the new city in the desert, Las Vegas.

I am sorry I didn’t read the print (or Kindle) version and probably will on my next vacation. In the Unlikely Event was a completely fascinating and emotional read and listening to it (albeit briefly) on a plane gave me sharp recognition of where the title came from, even with the Virgin America music video version of the pre-flight safety instructions: “In the unlikely event/ We need to get you outside/ Your exit is equipped/ With an inflatable slide.”

If you like a good character driven story, good writing, and an interesting premise, then you will love this book as much as I did. Just read it, don’t listen to it.

7/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

IN THE UNLIKELY EVENT by Judy Blume (Audio book.)  Random House Audio; Unabridged edition (June 2, 2015).  ISBN 978-1101914045. 11 discs.

Hardcover 

Kindle