Julie Garwood

Julie Garwood was my first introduction into adult romance books.  Mostly I was fascinated by the setting of the stories - I liked the historical ones that happened in medieval England with castles and Scottish lairds. I don't know if I liked them cuz that's what my fantasy books were like (kings and wizards and magic), or because my mom liked them and that's what she had at home.  :)  Anyway, my two favorites by Julie Garwood were "The Prize" and "The Bride."

In "The Prize," it's a Norman vs. Saxon setting.  The guy is the big bad Norman ("baron warrior," according to the back of the book) and the girl is the gentle Saxon, with a strong spirit (they're always like that).  What I liked about this one is the depth of the characters - they all had their personal motivations for the way they behaved (the interaction between the hero and the heroine's brother is great, and I like all the pages and lower ranking knights), hobbies that make them interesting (chess was a big factor in this book), and, of course, there's always a bad guy that they all hate and bond over.

"The Bride" is similar (of course), but in this case, the heroine is English and the hero is a big bad Scottish laird.  This one is more of a mystery suspense than a straight up boy meets girl story.  This sounds ridiculous, but my favorite thing about this book was the description of the characters.  Jamie (the girl) had black hair and violet eyes!  I thought it would have been the coolest thing in the world to have violet eyes.  :)  And horses played a big role in this book and I was horse crazy at the time, lol!  The ending has a really memorable scene as well - the Scottish lairds are all divided (think Braveheart) and Jamie does something for each of them throughout the story that make them all loyal to her and they protect her from being stolen by this sniveling, greedy English lord.  Woot!  :)

Unbroken interview

CBS Sunday morning did a profile on Louis Zamperini yesterday!  I was all excited cuz I actually knew what they were talking about, having read "Unbroken" at your suggestion a couple months ago.  :)  Here's a link to the video.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7409886n

I'm actually more interested in Laura Hillenbrand's life now.  She fleshed out Zamperini's in such detail, I feel like I know the guy.  Meanwhile, her life seems to be incredibly private.

Family Trust

Standard chick lit - I'll type out the description on the back of the book:

"Firmly planted on the Wall Street fast track to success, Becca Reinhart has no desire to marry and raise a family.  Ditto Edward Kirkland, a charming playboy who has never known what it means to work for a living - and hopes never to find out.  Enter Emily, who becomes Becca and Edward's common denominator when a quirk of fate gives them joint custody of the precocious little girl.  Suddenly, two people who have never met find themselves sharing the trials and tribulations of domestic life as they navigate the rocky shoals of parenthood, from naptime to pay dates to preschool admissions.  And amid the daily demands of raising a young child, Becca and Edward discover something else: They're made for each other."


I bought the book because it's by the same author that wrote Legally Blonde and I love that movie!  Amanda Brown is not a subtle author - she sort of slams you over the head with what the characters are feeling.  There's no room for interpretation - you don't have to think much reading this book, but it is amusing, in part because of the supporting cast of characters.  Nice, simple summer romance!

The Rocky Road to Romance

Janet Evanovich is famous for her Stephanie Plum series, but before she started that immensely popular character, she wrote short romance novels.  But these aren't your typical Harlequin romances - she describes them as "red-hot screwball comedies."  And they really are very amusing.  It's great summer reading and the characters are pretty charming in a typical Evanovich way.  I've read all twelve that she wrote and never got bored.  Each book features a new pair of main characters, but the same quirky sidekicks show up multiple times.  Instead of Grandma Mazur, there's a shotgun-toting older woman named Elsie and each book has a dog.  The original "Bob" makes his very first appearance in this book!

Anyway, if you haven't read the the Stephanie Plum novels and think you might be interested (I haven't met anyone who doesn't like them), you might want to start with one of these and see if Evanovich's style is to your liking.  If you have read the Plum novels and need your Evanovich fix while she's writing the next one, this is a great choice!

June Book Club

June is the most popular month for weddings and one of our members is getting married in a few weeks!  So our theme for this month is romance, weddings, marriage, and all that other relationship stuff.

Things I Want My Daughters to Know

This book really brought home the overriding theme of our book club meeting last weekend.  Basically, the idea is that our mothers all had lives before they were our mothers and most of us don't know anything about them!  In this book, the mother of four daughters is dying of cancer and leaves a journal and letters to her children about her life as a woman, a mother, and a cancer patient.  The story itself focuses more on the daughters and their struggles with relationships and life after your mom dies.  Lots of not-so-subtle advice about communication being the cornerstone of any healthy relationship (parent-child, boy-girl, sibling-sibling). 

It's a tearful read, mostly because you spend a lot of it thinking about how you would feel if your mom died and you were in the same situation.  It would SUCK if my mom died.  I wouldn't know who to talk to about silly stuff (last week I called her to find out what kind of vegetable oil I should buy), serious stuff (luckily, not a lot of that has happened recently), secret stuff (sh!  it's a secret!)...   My mom and I have a great relationship and I wasn't too much of a brat during my teenage years (I don't think), so we kind of grew into our adult interactions pretty smoothly. 

But to go back to my original point, moms aren't just moms and I think it would be great if we all took the time to find out who our moms were before they were ours!  I have this sort of odd perspective with a lot of my friends who are now becoming mothers.  I knew them before they were moms and yet sometimes it's difficult to focus on the part of them that isn't a mom because it becomes so much of their identity.

In any case, this was a great book to read in honor of mothers - it made me REALLY APPRECIATE mine!

Maine

If you love Maine, you'll love this book. But, in addition to the scenery, it deals with 3 generations of women -- the matriarch, her daughter and daughter-in-law, and her granddaughter. It gives realistic characterizations of these women and the dialog is spot on. Yes, the women appear guilt ridden and scheming and probably should not talk so much, but their flaws are believable, and the interactions between them are funny. There certainly are generational divides. Good read!

Winter Garden

Kristin Hannah pulls all my heartstrings!  I'm sitting in the Starbucks with a java chip frappuccino and tears running down my face as I finish this book.  I cried the first time I read a Kristin Hannah book too.  I simply devour them.  It's almost impossible for me to put them down. 

"Winter Garden" is about the relationship between a mother and her two daughters.  It's a tense relationship because the mother seems to be completely emotionally disconnected from her daughters.  It's the father that holds the family together and when he dies of a heart attack, he makes the mother promise to finish the fairy tale story she used to tell her daughters when they were children.  The mother is reticent, but after a series of personal crises in the daughters' lives, they convince her to tell the story. 

This is an amazing story of love, pain, and forgiveness.  It really stresses the impact a mother has on her children's lives and how a person's identity is defined by their parents.  It's also about making the most of every moment and not being afraid to love, even after you've lost everything.  Must read!

The Accidental Mother

My husband read the title and immediately guessed the plot of this book, so I guess that tells you a little about the predictability of books I read...  :)  In any case, the accidental mother here is an event planner (Sophie) for wealthy corporations and becomes the caretaker for two girls (Bella and Izzy) who lost their mother (Carrie) in a car accident.  Carrie and Sophie used to be best friends and Carrie named Sophie the guardian of her children in her will.  Since then, Carrie and Sophie have drifted apart and haven't really been in contact.  What will Sophie do?!  :)  As you can imagine, Sophie first views the two girls as rather a burden, interfering with her career goals.  Time passes, and the bond between Sophie and the girls strengthens.  A wrench is thrown into the gears when the girls' father, who had not been in the picture, is found.  I think Coleman does a good job dealing with the childrens' perspectives on losing their mother at such a young age as well as the not-so-smooth transition into a new mother-daughter relationship. 

The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes

I first read this book a few years ago when Corrie invited me to join one of her book club meetings.  I'd forgotten most of it except I liked it enough that it stayed in my bookcase.  :)  It was a great read the second time around too!  It's sort of hard to discuss relationships with mothers in this book without giving too much away, though.  I will say that Diane Chamberlain is really into writing about secrets mothers keep to protect their children. Basically, there are three major mother-daughter relationships that influence the characters in the book and a couple peripheral ones dealing with the siblings of the main characters.

CeeCee Wilkes lost her mother to breast cancer when she was twelve and her mother left her with a series of letters that she was supposed to open throughout her life.  (Totally cool idea, by the way.)  Genevieve Russell is kidnapped and has her baby while being held captive.  Genevieve dies in childbirth and the fate of the baby is a major part of the story.  (There's some interesting nature vs. nurture here.)  CeeCee becomes a mother at the tender age of 16 and is petrified that something will happen to her daughter, Corinne, who grows up with a series of phobias because of her mother's overprotective behaviors.  (Corinne is actually the first character you meet in the story, even though her mother is the focus.)  Anyway, it's quite a roller coaster ride of a book - you're not sure whether you feel sorry for the characters or if they're just getting what they deserve.  Lots of secrets and betrayal throughout, but it all ends well without being too unbelievably sappy.  Hooked me from the beginning!

My Two Moms

Recommendation by Avi, who has two moms!

May Book Club

Happy May Day!  May is the month for Mother's Day, so our theme for this month will be relationships with mothers.