Book Reviews 2

I have read all of Jane Green's books.  This one wasn't my favorite but it was still a good summer read.  It is about a stepmother trying desperately to deal with a witch of a teenage stepdaughter. Green did a great job developing the characters and the storyline is  very believable. I have a feeling she may have raised a teenage daughter or two!

Elin Hilderbrand is one of my favorite authors. Again, I have read all of her books.  I bought this in the audio version for our trip to Virginia.  It was about 19 hours long so it took us through  the whole trip.  My daughter and I both thought that it was a little confusing in the beginning trying to keep the characters straight,  but that might have been because we were not reading it in book form.  Its plot is centered around a fatal car accident involving teenagers and a big "secret" that was slowly built up through the book and then seemed to lose steam at the end.

I loved Picoult's novel, "My Sister's Keeper" so much that I began a book club because I wanted to talk about the book so much.  Through the years, I have increased my knowledge on brittle bone disease, heart transplants, teenage suicide and depression, and now wolves and their packs through Picoult's writing.  It was very interesting and I feel like I know a lot more (maybe a little too much) about wolf packs by the end of the book.  Very interesting characters as well, and a dash of reality TV thrown in for good measure.  It's not her best but it was pretty close.

This book was definitely the "hit" of my summer reading. It takes place in 1938 in New York City.  There are three main characters - all very well-developed.  Towles did such a great job painting a picture of that very glamorous time I wanted to jump into a time capsule and go back to the 1930's.  I pictured Katherine Hepburn as the heroine of this most beautifully written book.
I had a chance to meet the author at a reading and book signing at the Dallas Museum of Art.  After having the pleasure of meeting Mr. Towles, I know why the book has so much charm and sophistication!  

I had very low expectations for this one.  It was on sale in Target one day and I was in the mood for a romance.  Besides... the girl on the cover was a mirror image of myself.  In three simple words... I loved it!  From the first page , I was taken with the characters and was enamored with the storyline.  Basically, it is about a woman named Anna, in her early 30's, in a relationship going nowhere (been there, done that).  She decides to get away and accepts a job tutoring a 17 year old boy recovering from cancer.  The boy's family surmises that they will spend the summer in the islands at their second home so that TJ can concentrate on his studies away from distractions.   The parents arrive ahead of time and TJ and Anna take a private plane that crashes and the two of them end up on a deserted island.  Okay, now that I type it - it sounds a little hokey but it's not. 
 I highly recommend this book - it had a lot of adventure and plenty of love and just enough lust - the perfect combination for a great read.

Have a great Wednesday!