TODAY WE'RE ALL A LITTLE IRISH

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY

TIED TO THE TRACKS

TIED TO THE TRACKS by Rosina Lippi

From the book jacket:

Ogilvie, Georgia, is a place rooted in tradition, rich in family ties and southern hospitality.  Its most famous citizen, the legendary writer Miss Zula Bragg, has finally said yes to making a documentary about her long and storied life  But Miss Zula, who can never resist stirring the pot, insists that Tied to the Tracks - a small film company from Hoboken, New Jersey - be the one to tell her story.  The only problem?  The company is run by free spirit Angie Mangiamele, who not so long ago had a passionate love affair with John Grant, a member of Ogilvie's founding family and chair of the English Department at Ogilvie College, where Miss Zula still teaches.

When Angie comes waltzing back into his life, dragging a camera crew behind, John is put off-balance - in large part because he is now engaged to a colleague, the elegant and successful Caroline rose, daughter of a prominent local family.  As Tied to the Tracks begins to dig into Miss Zula's life and the more troubling aspects of Ogilvie's history, John and Angie find it increasingly hard to hide their own past, and the sparks that still fly between them.

And they aren't the only people keeping secrets in Ogilvie.  In the high heat of summer, Miss Zula, Caroline Rose, and a dozen other people scramble to unearth secrets, or to bury them once and for all.  With John and Caroline's wedding only days away, time is running out, and Angie finds herself torn between the easy truths and the hard ones, and pondering the repercussions of the choices she must make.

I liked this book with it's fun characters and all the secrets of the town, but I didn't love it.  It kept my attention, but it wasn't a book that I couldn't put down and walk away for a little while.  I think there was just too much going on in such a short period of time.

I've read one other book by Ms. Lippi, THE PAJAMA GIRLS OF LAMBERT SQUARE, that I liked a lot.  This one just didn't have the same attraction for me.

DEFENDING JACOB

DEFENDING JACOB by William Landay

From the book jacket:

Andy Barber has been an assistant district attorney in the suburban Massachusetts county for more than twenty years.  He is respected in his community, tenacious in the courtroom, and happy at home with his wife, Laurie, and son, Jacob.  But when a shocking crime shatters their New England town, Andy is blindsided by what happens next:  His fourteen-year-old son is charged with the murder of a fellow student.

Every parental instinct Andy has rallies to protect his boy.  Jacob insists that he is innocent, and Andy believes him.  Andy must.  He's his father.  But as damning facts and shocking revelations surface, as a marriage threatens to crumble and the trial intensifies, as the crisis reveals how little a father knows about his son, Andy will face a trial of his own - between loyalty and justice, between truth and allegation, between a past he's tried to bury and a future he cannot conceive.

This was a fantastic book.  It began with Andy giving testimony to a grand jury about the murder of Ben Rifkin, Jacob's schoolmate.  Between the actual grand jury transcripts, Andy tells the story of what happened before, during and after the trial.  Did Jacob kill Ben?  Could Jacob have killed Ben?  Who else might have killed Ben?  There was a surprise twist at the end of the book that I didn't see coming at all.

Mr. Landay is a former district attorney.  This experience shows in the courtroom and grand jury scenes.  He gives insight into the way juries are selected, opening statements are presented, and witnesses are questioned., along with the way investigations are made by the police.  Mr. Landay has written two other books and I'll definitely be on the lookout for them.

NIGHT ROAD

NIGHT ROAD by Kristin Hannah was read for the Just for Fun Reading Challenge 2012.

From the back of the book:

For eighteen years, Jude Farraday has put her children's needs above her own, and it shows - her twins, Mia and Zach, are bright and happy teenagers.  When Lexi Baill moves into their small, close-knit community, no one is more welcoming than Jude.  Lexi, a former foster child with a dark past, quickly becomes Mia's best friend.  Then Zach falls in love with Lexi and the three become inseparable.

Jude does everything to keep her kids on track for a good life and out of harm's way.  But senior year of high school tests them all, and on a hot summer's night, one bad decision will change the course of all their lives.  In the blink of an eye, the Farraday family will be torn apart and Lexi will lose everything.  In the years that follow, each must face the consequences of that single night and find a way to forget...or the courage to forgive.

Vivid, universal, and emotionally complex, Night Road raises profound questions about motherhood, identity, love, and forgiveness.  It is a luminous, heartbreaking novel that captures both the exquisite pain of loss and the stunning power of hope.  This is Kristin Hanna at her very best, telling an unforgettable story about the longing for family, the resilience of the human heart, and the courage it takes to forgive the people we love.

Ms. Hannah has become another of my favorite authors.  This book tells the story of a family torn apart by a tragic accident and by the guilt of those involved.  And it tells how that guilt and grief must be dealt with so that innocent people won't also be hurt.  People lost can never be replaced, but the emptiness in the heart can be filled by reaching out and loving others.  Ms. Hannah has written a strong, touching story.

I discovered Ms. Hannah not too long ago.  Luckily for me, there is a large backlog of earlier books that I haven't had the chance yet to read.  They're all on my wish list.

A LIFE OF BRIGHT IDEAS

A LIFE OF BRIGHT IDEAS by Sandra Kring

From the back of the book:

A secret tore best friends Evelyn "Button" Peters and Winnalee Malone apart.  Now, nearly a decade later, a secret brings them back together.

Nine years ago Button and Winnalee began recording observations in their Book of Bright Ideas, a tome they believed would solve the mystery of how to live a mistake-free life.  Now it's 1970, a time of peace, love, war, and personal heartbreak.  Button's mother is dead and her grieving father has all but abandoned his children.  Quiet, thoughtful Button has traded college for a sewing job in her mother's bridal shop to help her Aunt Verdella raise her whirlwind six-year-old brother.  In Button's free time, she writes letters to the boy she loved from afar through high school, hoping he will come to lover her as more than a friend.

Then, like that magical Wisconsin summer of '61, Button is greeted with the wild, gusty arrival of Winnalee.  Now a beautiful flower child, Winnalee is everything Button is now.  She's been to Woodstock and enjoys "free love" but their steadfast bond of friendship is tested as Button begins to notice the cracks in Winnalee's carefree façade.  And then Winnalee's mother arrives with a surprise that Button never sees coming, and the fiery determination to put things right in both families once and for all.

A few years ago, I read THE BOOK OF BRIGHT IDEAS and loved it.  I loved the characters and the deep friendship between Button and Winnalee and how that friendship changed them.  So when I saw that there was a sequel, I couldn't wait to read it.

And this one is as good as the first.  Both girls are older and have changed.   Their views of life have also changed.  Winnalee is wild as the wind, while Button is more subdued since her mother's death.  But being together again, they both have an influence over the other.  And the surprise that Winnalee's mother Freeda brings to town makes the biggest change in both of them.

I was so happy to read that Ms. Kring is planning another book about Button and Winnalee in the future.  Although untitled and unwritten, it's on my wish list.

SPRING IS COMING

 The Bradford pear trees are starting to bloom.

And tornado season is starting.

There have been some bad storms the past few days and more expected today.  If you're in any of the severe weather locations, please be safe.

STILTSVILLE

STILTSVILLE by Susanna Daniel

From the back of the book:

One sunny morning in 1969, Frances Ellerby finds herself in a place called Stiltsville, a community of houses built on pilings in the middle of Biscayne Bay.  It's the first time the Atlanta native has been out on the open water, and she's captivated.  On the dock of a stilt house, with the dazzling Miami skyline in the distance, she meets the house's owner, Dennis DuVal - and a new future reveals itself.

Turning away from her quiet, predictable life back home, Frances moves to Miami to be with Dennis.  Over time, she earns the confidence of his wild-at-heart sister and the approval of his oldest friend.  Frances and Dennis marry and have a child - but rather than growing complacent about their good fortune, they continue to face the challenges of intimacy in the complicated city they call home.

With Stiltsville, Susanna Daniel weaves the beauty, violence, and humanity of Miami's coming-of-age with an enduring story of a marriage's beginning, maturity, and heartbreaking demise.

Another ho-hum book.  Again, I didn't connect with any of the characters, especially Frances.  I didn't feel the love between Frances and Dennis until the very end of the book, and even then it wasn't what I would have expected after their long marriage.

I had anticipated a book about characters living in these homes, built in the middle of the bay.  What a fantastic place to live.  But very little of the book actually took place there.  And once everyone was back on dry land, the book became slow and not very interesting to me.

After reading some reviews, I had expected much more from this book.  Maybe other people were able to get more out of it than I did.  For me, this book will go back on the shelf and reside there until my next book-clearing binge.

ONE MOMENT, ONE MORNING

ONE MOMENT, ONE MORNING by Sarah Rayner

From the back of the book:

A masterfully written novel about the healing power of friendship, this is the story of three women whose lives become inextricably linked after a life-changing event during their morning commute into London.

The Brighton-to-London line.  the 7:44 AM train.  Cars packed with commuters.  One woman occupies her time observing the people around her.  Opposite her, a girl puts on makeup.  Across the aisle, a husband strokes his wife's hand.  Farther along, another woman flicks through a glossy magazine.  Then, abruptly, everything changes:  a man collapses, the train is stopped, an ambulance is called.  And for three passengers that particular morning, life will never be the same again.

There's Lou, who witnesses events firsthand.  Anna, who's impatient to get to work.  And Karen, the man's wife.  Telling the story of the week following that fateful train journey, One Moment, One Morning is a stunning novel about love and loss, about family and - above all - friendship.  A stark reminder that sometimes, one moment is all it takes to shatter everything.  Yet it also reminds us that somehow, despite it all, life can and does go on.

Blah.  This book never caught my attention.  I never felt any type of connection to the characters.  Set in England, there were a lot of English terms and expressions that took a moment or two to translate into American terms.

Just blah.