Waiting on Wednesday

This meme is hosted by Breaking the Spine and is meant to highlight some great pre-publication books we all can't wait to get our grubby little mitts on.

Love Potion Number 10 by Betsy Woodman. The book is being released by Holt Paperbacks on May 14, 2013.

Amazon says this about the book: In the newest Jana Bibi adventure, Jana, Mr. Ganguly, and the gang are back as their small town in India is rocked by an espionage scandal and a homemade remedy that has love on everyone’s mind

The Jolly Grant House still welcomes all its visitors with the sign Jana Bibi’s Excellent Fortunes hanging proudly outside its front door. Jana’s fortune-telling has brought a lot of attention to the small town of Hamara Nagar, and now that the dust has settled and the town is safe from the threat of being flooded by a government dam, all eyes are on the Scottish-born card-reader Jana and her feisty, loose-beaked parrot, Mr. Ganguly. Some people, though, are not to be trusted, and Mr. Ganguly finds himself the target of a potential kidnapping that puts Jana and her household on edge.

Meanwhile, love is in the air and, thanks to Abenath’s Apothecary, it’s also in a bottle. Abenath has created an intoxicating brew that he calls Love Potion Number 10, which seems to have Jana in a tizzy. While she explores her newest hobby, dream interpretation, her head is swimming with questions: Is a new love possible at age fifty-nine? If so, would she ever marry again? All around her she sees different kinds of love and connection—family, arranged marriages, chemical attractions, even intercontinental romance between people who have only met through letters—so when an old flame arrives and rekindles long-gone feelings, Jana begins to think that that Love Potion Number 10 just might be the magic elixir its inventor thinks it is.

Review: Ghost Moth by Michele Forbes

Somewhere along the way in my reading I came across the myth of the selkie, the seal which can slip out of its skin and assume human form. But it is a common enough myth, especially in Irish lore, that the first scene in Michele Forbes' beautifully evocative novel, Ghost Moth, can't help but invoke echoes of it and the idea that male selkies typically appear to women dissatisfied with their lives. Opening with Katherine swimming out too far on a seaside outing and coming face to face with a seal, an encounter that mesmerizes her and almost drowns her as she alternately panics and freezes at the seal's proximity, its mournful eyes, and her imaginings of its malevolent intent, the novel captures a feeling of lament and emotional remove that reflects through Katherine's marriage and indeed much of her life. Is the seal a selkie? Not as written here but knowledge of the myth infuses the scene and sets the reader up to know that Katherine is in fact emotionally paralyzed and her twenty year marriage shows increased glimpses of tension because of long held, quietly nurtured secrets that are starting to bubble to the surface.

The novel weaves two time periods together: the year that Katherine and her eventual husband George were courting in late 1949 and the tense, rife with turmoil, bombings, and religious hatred of 1969 Belfast. George is a firefighter and in the terrible face of the bombings, he must mobilize regardless of Katherine's desperate need for him to stay home with her and the children. Alternating with the angry resignation of their marriage is the plot thread of the seemingly light and carefree time leading up to their engagement when Katherine, a budding amateur singer, was starring in a local production of Carmen and, in fact, indulging in a clandestine affair with Tom, the gifted young tailor creating her costume. The whirlwind secret of Katherine's relationship with Tom in her youth contrasts with the steady, settled married life she leads with George and their four children. But the events of the past are not content to lie dormant; they haunt Katherine's present.

Forbes has mirrored the tensions of the outside world in the claustrophobic domesticity of the Bedford family. The eruptions and the admissions of culpability are unexpected, indiscriminately hurtful, and permanently damaging. The writing throughout is intricate and lyrical but flashes of anger and belligerence break through. The back story of Katherine's affair is slow and seemingly unconnected to the reserved and distant Katherine of the later plot, at least until the shocking and unpredictable reveal. Even with the startling truth though, there is a ghostly, evanescent feel to much of the narration. Forbes has captured beautifully the tensions pulling like taffy at the Bedfords' marriage and the way in which children intuit that which remains unsaid. Replete with imagery that sometimes overwhelms the story, this novel, much like the seal did for Katherine's character in the opening scenes, mesmerizes readers, wrapping them lazily into the tale until there is no escape but by turning the final page.

Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy of the book for review.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

A good reading week but not such a good reviewing week, it's been busy here. A dance competition and my son's play both took up a lot of time but both children performed beautifully so sacrificing a little computer time to watch them was completely fine. This meme is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.

Books I completed this past week are:

The Time of My Life by Cecelia Ahern
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeannette Winterson
The Love Wars by L. Alison Heller
The Repeat Year by Andrea Lochen

Bookmarks are still living in the middle of:

Better Than Fiction edited by Don George
Replacement Child by Judy Mandel

Reviews posted this week:

The Gods of Heavenly Punishment by Jennifer Cody Epstein
The Time of My Life by Cecelia Ahern

Books still needing to have reviews written (as opposed to the ones that are simply awaiting posting):

Ghost Moth by Michele Forbes
The Silence of Bonaventure Arrow by Rita Leganski
The One-Way Bridge by Cathie Pelletier
Float by JoeAnn Hart
Nowhere Is a Place by Bernice L. McFadden
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeannette Winterson
The Love Wars by L. Alison Heller
The Repeat Year by Andrea Lochen

Monday Mailbox

My mailbox has once again offered up a staggering bounty and I couldn't be happier. This past week's mailbox arrivals:

David by Ray Robertson came from Biblioasis.

The tale of a man born a slave and raised free who rebels against his emancipator to live an eccentric and sometimes wild life in a free black settlement, this one sounds like it is chock full of difficult issues.

The Lake House by Marci Nault came from Gallery Books.

I am a lake girl so a book with the word lake in the title is an instant attraction and this one about two women who become unlikely friends sounds really appealing.

The Purchase by Linda Spalding came from Pantheon Books.

An historical novel about a Quaker who becomes the owner of one slave boy and the repercussions of that purchase, this looks fascinating.

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie came from Knopf.

Adichie is such a well-regarded author and I'm excited to read this tale of two Nigerian teenagers who fall in love, emigrate to different countries, and reconnect years later back in Nigeria carrying the weight of their different and difficult experiences with them.

A Half Forgotten Song by Katherine Webb came from William Morrow and TLC Book Tours for a blog tour.

Centered on a lonely teenaged girl who becomes infatated with an artist, his mistress, and their daughters, this novel of long buried memory and art holds a lot of enticing promise.

The Original 1982 by Lori Carson came from William Morrow TLC Book Tours for a blog tour.

Two different realities and possibilities for one woman during one year, this novel runs along the same alternate reality theme as many I've been reading and enjoying lately.

A Far Piece to Canaan by Sam Halpern came from Harper Perennial TLC Book Tours for a blog tour.

A tale of the past, friendship, and redemption, I am very curious to see what this novel holds.

Love All by Callie Wright came from Henry Holt.

Three generations of a family living uneasily under the same roof and discovering a copy of an old, racy book that once scandalized the village which even now brings secrets out, this sounds like a fantastic read.

If you'd like to see the marvelous goodies in other people's mailboxes, make sure to visit 4 The Love Of Books as she is hosting this month's Mailbox Monday and have fun seeing how we are all doing our part to keep the USPS and delivery services viable.

Facebook Statuses

I figure it's been a while since I did this and there might be some of you out there who don't know me in person or on Facebook so here's a little insight into who I am outside of my book opinions, the way I tick, and a side of my nutty family. A short collection of my recent status updates from Facebook (oh how I love posting status updates!) follows, with apologies to those of you who saw them the first time around. A moment of silence for my late, lamented sports bra. Felt an ominous pop this morning on my way to a match and discovered afterwards that one hook and eye were all that stood between me and flopping humiliation. That's just too much to ask of one small hook and eye and so it has been laid to rest in the garbage with appropriate honors and much mourning. Turned the car around while driving to Myrtle Beach so R. could take a picture of a sign with a misplaced apostrophe (Fresh Egg's For Sale) for her English assignment. She needs twenty instances of real world grammatical errors. On the drive, I also saw a sign that offered DVD's [sic] in its list of items but as it was on an adult bookstore, I didn't turn around to let her photograph that one. After all, her teachers don't need *actual* proof that I'm crazy. A sign D. and his neighborhood friends might actually have matured at least slightly beyond their college years? The customized beer pong table they ordered was damaged in shipping and they actually seriously considered returning it. When scooping dog poo, it's best not to scoop it in the general direction of the soccer rebounder, especially if said rebounder works as billed. Lesson learned. Probably not a good idea for a chubby girl to wear jammies printed with pigs. Just one of those revelations that hit me in the middle of the night last night. Refrained from honking at the driver's ed car sitting unmoving at a green light. Figured it would be bad form to honk impatiently and then have to follow said car all the way to school to pick R. up from her driver's ed class (the classroom portion). Today marks the first day of the year that I am the answer to life, the universe, and everything. Add this to the fact that as my children already know, I am always right (correct) and I know everything and I could be more annoying than usual this coming year. :-) Totally giggling as I sit and watch the first time parents carefully wipe off each toy as their smiling baby happily chucks them to the floor repeatedly. Stress eating works. I ate an entire bag of cookies and W. made the tennis team. 3 (4?) Hurricanes. 4 (5?) jello shots. 6 voicemails from my children. 17 missed calls from home. 1 fantastic party cut short by husband seeing disgruntled child's facebook post about the overflowing toilet leaking through the ceiling into the basement and his partying parents not answering their phones. :-P Screw red meat, cigarettes, and alcohol. The number one risk factor for heart attack and stroke is teaching teenagers to drive. Made mashed potatoes for dinner tonight. T.'s comment? "Yay! You made the chunky ones." His future wife can thank me later for setting his standards so low. Went to Costco to start stocking up for the trip and had to get new moisturizer. They didn't have my brand. The one I got is an anti-wrinkle cream with anti-aging serum. R. looked at it on the counter and sweetly and completely unsolicited said, "Mom, you don't need anti-wrinkle cream. You don't have wrinkles." Would have been sweeter if she could have gotten the whole thing out before she started snickering.

Review: The Time of My Life by Cecelia Ahern

Have you ever wondered what your life looks like to others? What if you had to face a personification of your life? Would your life look good? Or would it look rumpled and unkempt? Would it look cared for? Or would it look neglected and unloved? In Cecelia Ahern's newest novel, Lucy Silchester's Life isn't very happy with her and he's about to introduce himself to her, interfere for her own good, make her face the realities of her life, and then hopefully help her change.

Lucy is living in a tiny, tatty bedsit, working in a job she doesn't like to the extent that she pretends to be a smoker so she can take smoke breaks, avoiding her friends, ignoring her family, and still mourning the loss of her five year relationship to perfect Blake, who has gone on to have a travel television show and become famous without her. The end of her relationship with Blake signalled the end of quite a lot for her and the lie that they agreed upon, that she left him rather than the reality that he dumped her, has snowballed out of control and negatively impacted every aspect of Lucy's life. Not that she realizes it. But her life is about to perform a life audit on her, whether she wants an intervention or not.  And she most assuredly doesn't, convinced that she's happy enough in her life as it is.

Lucy is shocked when her Life shows up to meet her. Her Life is a sloppily dressed, dishevelled looking man with scruffy hair, bad breath, clammy hands, and black circles under his bloodshot eyes. Worse than his appearance is the fact that he knows everything about her. After all, he is her Life. This means that all the protective lies that Lucy has told over the years, all her embarrassments and missteps, he knows them all. And he is determined to force her to face the state of him so that she comes to understand just how little consideration she's actually giving her own life. Cosmo (this is the name they decide on together) will shadow her, meet her friends and family, follow her to work, and just generally observe her daily life unless he needs to step in and keep her accountable. He might even throw her a curveball here or there if she's being particularly obstreporous.

This is a creative idea and Ahern mostly pulls it off. Lucy's life is definitely not on the right track and as a character she's only reliable because after spinning a long and rose-colored tale, she will tell the reader outright that she lied. Her idea that lying is okay as long as the outcome is the same as it would be if she was not lying is a little odd but it suits her. She's not the most sympathetic character but she does grow on the reader as the novel progresses. The rest of the characters are only briefly sketched and their involvement in Lucy's life is really only explored tangenially since Lucy is supposed to be learning how to be there for herself and how to tell the truth before she can concentrate on her relationships with others. Despite this, there is a love interest and, of course, the mythically perfect Blake. The pacing of the novel is a tad uneven as the reader struggles a little to get into the story but by the end is being pulled along happily. A fun story for the coming summer, this would be the perfect combination of light entertainment and yet still a bit thought provoking to read while sitting by the pool or on the beach.

For more information about Cecelia Ahern and the book check out her website or find her on Facebook. Follow the rest of the blog tour or look at the amazon reviews for others' thoughts and opinions on the book.

Thanks to Trish from TLC Book Tours and the publisher for sending me a copy of this book to review.

Waiting on Wednesday

This meme is hosted by Breaking the Spine and is meant to highlight some great pre-publication books we all can't wait to get our grubby little mitts on.

The Glass Wives by Amy Sue Nathan. The book is being released by St. Martin's Griffon on May 14, 2013.

Amazon says this about the book: Evie and Nicole Glass share a last name. They also shared a husband.

When a tragic car accident ends the life of Richard Glass, it also upends the lives of Evie and Nicole, and their children. There’s no love lost between the widow and the ex. In fact, Evie sees a silver lining in all this heartache—the chance to rid herself of Nicole once and for all. But Evie wasn’t counting on her children’s bond with their baby half-brother, and she wasn’t counting on Nicole’s desperate need to hang on to the threads of family, no matter how frayed. Strapped for cash, Evie cautiously agrees to share living expenses—and her home—with Nicole and the baby. But when Evie suspects that Nicole is determined to rearrange more than her kitchen, Evie must decide who she can trust. More than that, she must ask: what makes a family?