Solomon's Oak by Jo-Ann Mapson

"The chapel had been Dan's final project. One summer morning over his oatmeal he'd said, "I've got a bug to build myself a chapel. Nothing fancy, just a place to worship out of the rain." Page 9

Thanksgiving day, the oldest white oak tree on the Solomon property, a chapel built by Dan Solomon, a wedding, and now a foster child dealing with grief just like Glory Solomon.

Glory had to do something since Dan died...her savings was gone, and her part-time job didn't really pay the bills.

One day she was asked/begged if a wedding and a reception could be held in the chapel that Dan had built. Glory hesitated and then decided the $3,000 she would get would definitely help pay the bills that were mounting. The wedding party wanted a Thanksgiving dinner and also a reception with a pirate theme and a sword fight.

The wedding was a huge success and brought a few surprises as well.....a former policeman who happened to be photographing the oak tree and a new foster child that unknown to Glory had some connection to her family dog. The connection was too close to home, and Juniper wasn't going to be too bad to have around or so she thought, so Glory told Caroline she would keep the new foster child.

Joseph the policeman was also pretty interesting...his grandmother had lived a few miles down the road from Glory when Joseph was a child, and he remembered the oak trees of California and especially the one on the Solomon property.

Solomon's Oak told the life stories of the three main characters who definitely fit and worked well together even though the connection was through their misfortunes. The book was a cozy read for me...family life, real-life situations, talents we all have hiding inside and waiting to emerge, and just plain heartfelt warmth in the book.

You will fall in love with Glory, Juniper will drive you crazy, and Joseph's patience will amaze you.

Enjoy the book....I definitely did.  Solomon’s Oak was very touching….it will make you smile, it will make you laugh, it will make you cry, and it will restore your faith in mankind’s goodness.
5/5

Great House by Nicole Krauss

 

An empty apartment, a friend who has furniture to give away, and now a furniture-filled apartment with lots of stories and a wonderful desk.

Then....after twenty-five years, the desk that she loved was being claimed by a relative of its original owner...she knew it would happen one day, but now that it has happened, she wasn't sure how she felt about it...not having the desk would cause a hole in her life.   She couldn't even be there when the original owner's daughter came to pick up the desk, and physical as well as mental things began happening after the loss of her beloved desk.

After the desk was gone, she got on an airplane to Ben Gurion airport...then the book went to another story.  This second story opened with a funeral in progress.

I thought it was going to be a great read since the desk plot sounded intriguing, and the cover caught my interest.

I really was lost reading this book... the beginning was good, but as the book continued, it was very puzzling, and the sections seemed detached from each other.  I had no sense of what the author was saying....the narrator talked to a "your honor," and she referred to characters by letters...R and S.

I really didn't enjoy the book because of how each chapter really wasn't connected to the others....not a continuous flow throughout the book.

I do have to say, though, that Krauss is a fantastic author....very deep and descriptive.  Krauss’s book was too over the top for me....I don't read fluff, but the book was very profound, complex, and to me disconnected.  I enjoy a flowing story that fits together.

I have seen great reviews for the book, but I just couldn't connect or follow the plot.

Best of luck with the book...I am sure it will be a best seller, but I guess I missed the point...I tried but was not able to continue reading it.  2/5.

Almost Home by Pam Jenoff

She HAD to get to London but had no explanation for her boss.  He granted her permission, and she left that very evening.

Jordan arrived in London ready to take a cab to see her very ill friend, but her co-worker met her at the airport....oh no, they do have an assignment for her.  An assignment in London wasn't the real reason she wanted to return to London, and when she does arrive, all the familiar landmarks she remembered when she was at Cambridge, make her heart twist and bring tears to her eyes as she remembers the reason that made her leave right after graduation.  Seeing Chris, a former college classmate, and then seeing him disappear from a dinner party, also didn't help with the memories.

When Chris finally does appear, he tells Jordan something that she can't ignore, and she must return to Cambridge University to find answers.  The journey back to her college days is emotionally painful, particularly since she wanted so desperately to never have to re-live an experience that changed her entire life and up to now had almost been put out of her conscious thoughts.

Meanwhile as Jordan is dealing with this information from Chris, her assignment and this situation seem to have some connection...people go missing, papers disappear, someone is following her, betrayal among friends and lovers, people are dying in "accidents" and more information comes to the surface along with a direct order to stop the investigation of a company who they know has something to hide. 

The story unravels, the mystery is solved, Jordan's pain doesn't disappear but she finally does have some hope about what caused all this in the first place.

To me the book was not as good as her other two books...it really didn't get interesting until page 200 or so…it didn’t seem tied together until toward the end.   The ending was suspenseful and a surprise, though.

I will give it a 4/5 only because it did come together toward the end of the book.

Don't Blink by James Patterson

Another masterfully-crafted Patterson (Roughan)....suspense, tension, surprises, twists and turns at every page.

“In the horror of those moments at Lombardo’s, as well as in the haze and commotion of the aftermath on the killing floor, I’d forgotten that I had already been recording when Vincent Marcozza and those cops were murdered.”“I didn’t get my interview with Dwayne Robinson.  But what did I get? Page 66

Lombardo's?  Really?  How could this happen in Lombardo's restaurant in the middle of the afternoon.  And to top it off with a reporter close by and a famous baseball player waiting to be interviewed....really?

Nick Daniels was the unlucky reporter who had been in the restaurant when the murders occurred...he actually had recorded it and didn't realize it....he hoped the murderer didn't realize it either....but could that really be kept a secret when it is common knowledge that reporters carry habitually-on tape recorders especially when they are planning to interview someone?

Restaurants, tape recorders, reporters, organized crime, a woman...all this wrapped up into one to make Nick's life miserable and dangerous, but thrilling.

Don't Blink was very fast paced (maybe in honor of its title?) and a gripping page turner....the author(s) left a thought hanging at the end of one section and immediately picked it up within two sentences at the start of the next chapter.   Storyline was excellent.  I really enjoyed the book.  5/5 

Room by Emma Donoghue

What hold could Old Nick have over Ma that would make that room her world? Why didn't she just leave? Or maybe she wasn't able to leave?

Jack's fifth birthday definitely wouldn't be what a normal five-year-old would be delighted with, but Jack was happy to spend the day with his Ma in their ordinary, same-as-always routine. They spent every day in the "room" with the food and clothing that Old Nick provided for them.

Ma doesn't allow Old Nick to see Jack but she never tells Jack why. Ma and Jack's days are creatively spent inventing things, measuring everything in the room that has been Ma's space for the past seven years, reading books and changing the characters to suit them, and watching the clock so they know when it is time to eat or sleep. They never leave their "room," and Jack really doesn't know any better or know anything about the outside world except what his Ma tells him when they read books.

As much as Ma tries to protect and shelter Jack, he begins to question what is beyond the walls they live in. Ma tries to divert Jack's attention to other things, but sometimes it is unavoidable......especially the night when Jack overheard a conversation between Ma and Old Nick about him and the life Old Nick provides for her.

One comment made by Old Nick that stuck in my mind was: "I don't think you appreciate how good you've got it here," "Do you?" Page 69 To me that would be highly questionable....how good could life be simply living in a room and never going outside?

I grew to hate Old Nick and how he treated both of them. When you find out the "whole" story, you won't want to stop reading.

This book is about fear, abuse, control, a mother's love, and wanting the best for your child. At first you may want to put the book down, but don't do it....you will share Ma's feelings of fear for Old Nick and her dependence on him and also the heartbreak of Jack's acceptance of the only life he has known. You will fall in love with sweet, innocent, literal Jack, and you will think about both characters and their experience long after you turn the last page.

To me this was actually a "creative" thriller...excellent storyline. I really liked the book. 5/5

I'd Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman

Wow...another remarkable read by Laura Lipmann.  Ms. Lippman has excellent portrayals of the characters, a great storyline, and vivid descriptions of situations and gripping scenes.  You can just feel the emotions of each character.

A perfect family, a tranquil life and then......after 20 years a letter arrives in the mail.   Not a friendly letter, but one from someone you would not want to remember. Eliza lives with her husband and two children in Maryland and has a secret from her teenage years that she wants to forget, but the letter brings the nightmare back and also brings a decision about whether to reply or just ignore the communication.   After she makes a decision, a phone call from the sender, along with his continued, manipulative influence further complicates the situation. 

We, the readers, relive Eliza's nightmare of the terror and control she had to endure as we also follow Eliza in her present life.

“There was a bond.  He could make her do anything.  Wasn’t that proof of something between them?  He had granted her life.”   Page 276   My rating is 5/5 – you won’t want to put it down.  It is pretty intense and frightening how someone could have such power over another human being.

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman

Flying dishes, prom gowns, red high-heeled shoes, embarrassing school days....what more could a child take.  

Cee Cee Honeycutt lived with her parents who consisted of a mother who thought she missed out on life since she left her home town in Georgia to marry an older man and her father, an absent traveling salesman.  Life didn't really turn out very well for anyone in the family, but once Cee Cee met Great Aunt Tootie, her life was something she never would have imagined.

Here is how she happened to be with Aunt Tootie.....one day as Cee Cee's mother was coming back from the Goodwill store wearing her newest prom gown, she absentmindedly ran into the street and was hit by an ice cream truck and died.  Cee Cee was then moved to Savannah, Georgia, with her Great Aunt Tootie, but not before her loving neighbor, Mrs. Odell, told her about the Life Book we all have with pages that need to be turned when the time comes. 

And what a page in Cee Cee's life was turned when she arrived in Savannah....loving people to surround her and protect her, especially Oletta, Aunt Tootie's cook, and of course Aunt Tootie who showered Cee Cee with hugs and affection that had been lacking in the previous twelve years of her life.  Cee Cee’s unconventional neighbors and a beautiful home also helped add pages to her Life Book.

You will absolutely LOVE this book especially if you like sweet, nostalgic, heartwarming reads with a Southern charm...some of the scenes were laugh-out-loud and others brought tears to your eyes with the tenderness.  

The characters were lovable and genuine.  It is a beautiful, touching read...just like a BIG hug. 

Going to end my review with a quote from Oletta, my favorite character:  "Don’t go wastin’ all them bright tomorrows you ain’t even seen by hangin’ on to what happened yesterday.  Let go, child.  Just breathe out and let go.”  Page 290    Cee Cee definitely had “bright” tomorrows to put in her Life Book thanks to all the loving women in her life.

Thanks, Miss Hoffman… This is going to be one of my all-time favorite books.

5/5