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Review – Tapestry of Fortunes – Elizabeth Berg

18 Mar

tapestry of fortunesTapestry of Fortunes
Author: Elizabeth Berg

Review Copy Provided by Publisher via Edelweiss

Description:
Cecilia Ross is looking for a change. She has decided to take time off from her job as a successful motivational speaker and sell her home. She moves in to a beautiful old house in St. Paul, Minnesota, complete with a big front porch, a wild garden, a chef’s kitchen-and three roommates. The four women are different ages, but all are feeling restless, and want to take a roadtrip to find again the people and things they miss. One woman wants to connect with a daughter she gave away at birth; another wants to visit her long-absent ex-husband; a third woman, a professional chef, is seeking new inspiration from the restaurants along the way. And Cecilia is looking for Dennis Halsinger, the man she never got over, who recently sent her a postcard out of the blue.

Review:
I have to admit that I am a sucker for pretty covers, and this one was eye-catching to me, the butterfly, the teacup and the flowers – I kind of wondering how (if at all), those elements were going to play into the story. And while they could have been symbolisitc, I think that in general, it was just supposed to be a pretty cover, that women would buy and hopefully talk about. That being said, I also enjoyed the story. It kind of reminded me of Kristin Hannah, but slightly less dramatic – it had some shades of Firefly Lane in it, but focusing more on the future, rather than the past/present.

I like Cecilia as a character in the beginning, although by the end, she was starting to get a bit annoying – I think she felt realer (is that a word) at the beginning when there was the emotional overload, and towards the end it was like, you saw the her that she had projected to people over the years, and I didn’t like her…I guess that is just the price you pay for private and public personas…

The road trip was the favorite part of the book for me – mostly because I am a sucker for road trip stories – and love going on them – finding the out of the way places around the country. Those little diner’s that are unique in their settings (yes, I love Guy Fieri’s Diners, Dive’s and Drive-thru’s…). One day I would love to just be able to jump in my car and travel like that…overall, i would give Tapestry of Fortunes, 3.5 stars, but rounding up to 4. I am curious to read some other books by the author, since some friends who also read this, said that they didn’t enjoy it as much…so i’m intrigued.

 
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Posted by on March 18, 2013 in Book Review

 

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Audiobook Review – Weekend Warriors – Fern Michaels

28 Sep

Weekend Warriors
Author: Fern Michaels
Series: #1 in the Sisterhood series

Narrator: Laural Merlington
Run Time: 6 hours and 6 minutes

Book Description:
The first in an exhilarating new series following a group of extraordinary women who are out to see justice done … a step at a time Nikki Quinn is devastated when her best friend Barbara is knocked down and killed by a hit-and-run driver who claims diplomatic immunity. But Nikki has her work and her lover, fellow lawyer Jack Nolan, to keep her going, whereas Barbara’s mother, Myra, has nothing. Festering in a sea of recriminations and hatred, unable to gain a sense of perspective, Myra is lost…until one day she switches on the evening news and sees Marie Lewellen, mother of a murder victim, take matters into her own hands and stab her daughter’s killer. An idea is born, and within months Myra and Nikki have drawn together a group of women who have one thing in common: they have been failed by the American justice system, they’re down but they’re not out, and they’re ready to find their nemeses and make them pay. First up is Kathryn, a long-distance truck driver who was raped at a road stop by three motorcyclists as her paralysed husband watched, helpless. Banding together, the Sisterhood plot the ultimate revenge — but with dissension from inside the group and out, there’s no saying if the plan will work until the moment of truth arrives

Review:
In the words of my non-existant Jewish grandmother, oy vey…where to start…looking back over my reading history, I don’t know if I had ever picked up a Fern Michaels book before, but after listening to Weekend Warriors, I can tell you for certain that I won’t be picking up one in the future. Whoever classifies this book as a romance has some serious delusions – there is nothing romantic about male castration as a form of revenge (yes, this is completely spoiler-ish and I don’t care). I didn’t see one whit of romance in any of the going-ons in this book. I would more accurately describe it as revenge based women’s lit and not even good on that account. Thankfully, it was only 6 hours long in audio format (so about 220 pages and I managed to listen to most of it in just over 2 days – this is one time that I wasn’t too mad at my long commute because I could simple tune out when needed). If I hadn’t had this scheduled into several different reading challenges, I might have even DNF’d it – but since I did, I persevered.

The premise had potential – a group of women, gathering to together to right the wrong’s done to them by the legal system. But it was the execution that just didn’t hold water – one of the main characters was a lawyer and she almost immediately says that she’ll be involved…now, I know there are corrupt lawyers (as there are individuals in any career field), but to knowingly agree to commit the crimes that were discussed as revenge just made me cringe. Not only that but this super rich woman decides to essentially invest all her money into this scheme (since it was her idea to begin with) and all of a sudden she has a technology suite to rival something you might see in the Batman movies for technical prowess and a “butler” who is like an ex-CIA agent…and it just doesn’t improve much from there…

I wish I could say that the narration helped to improve on a bad book, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case either. I’m not sure if I have ever listened to anything narrated by Laurel Merlington before, and am not sure if I will seek her out again in the future. Maybe if it were for a book by a favorite author, but I wouldn’t listen to anything by an unknown author and narrated by her because in general I struggled. Yes, she was a competent narrator, but it just seemed like there was something missing. I had a hard time visualizing the different characters in my head because there didn’t seem to be much vocal differentiation between them – and when you have a cast of 10 women, 5 of whom are fairly dominate that is something that is needed.

I know that I could not recommend the author, and would hesitate to recommend the narrator to anyone. But that being said, I would be more inclined to give the narrator a second chance than the author…overall, 1 star for the book, 2 stars for the narration – 1.5 stars overall.

 
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Posted by on September 28, 2012 in Book Review

 

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Review – A Gift For My Sister – Ann Pearlman

04 Sep

A Gift for My Sister
Author: Ann Pearlman

Book Description:
Tara and Sky share a mother, but aside from that they seem to differ in almost every way. When a series of tragedies strikes, they must somehow come together in the face of heartbreak, dashed hopes, and demons of the past. The journey they embark on forces each woman to take a walk in the other’s shoes and examine what sisterhood really means to them. It’s a long road to understanding, and everyone who knows them hopes these two sisters can find a way back to each other.

Review:
The first thing that drew me to this book was the cover, there was just something whimsical about it, but then reading the cover copy, I knew going in that it was likely going to be a gut-wrencher and was it in a way. Not a complete blubbering mess like some books i have read recently (Yes, Kristin Hannah, I’m looking at you..) but still an emotional read. I loved how the author not only choose to use an alternating view point between Sky and Tara, but that the each chapter was titled the same as it alternated, so you saw each scenario through both of their eyes. The use of the two different font styles in the books, further emphasized the different POV’s.

That being said, Sky bugged the ever living shit out of me…I know that everyone grieves differently, but damn, she was just a bitch. Although, I also don’t think Tara was completely innocent in the whole scenario either. It was nice seeing their relationship start to mend over the course of the book – while I realize that it won’t ever be tied up in a pretty bow, you could see the inroads that were made. Bonus in the book, there were recipes at the end! I photo-copied a couple of them and can’t wait to try them out! Overall, I’d give it 3.75/5 and might possible seek more out by the author in the future.

A Gift for My Sister (Hardcover)
A Gift for My Sister (Kindle)

 
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Posted by on September 4, 2012 in Book Review

 

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Review – Night Road – Kristin Hannah

13 Jun

Night Road
Author: Kristin Hannah

Book Description:
For a mother, life comes down to a series of choices.
To hold on…
To let go..
To forget…
To forgive…
Which road will you take?
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 safe and on track for college. It has always been easy– until senior year of high school. Suddenly she is at a loss. Nothing feels safe anymore; every time her kids leave the house, she worries about them.
On a hot summer’s night her worst fears come true. One decision will change the course of 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.

Review:
This is a hard review for me to write because I love Kristin Hannah’s books and while I did give it 4 stars, I had some serious issues with a few of the characters in it. Anyone who has read Ms Hannah’s books before, knows that she takes a family type issue and expounds on it in a way to everyone can try to relate to, however, unlike other authors who write similar stuff, she does provide a concrete ending to the situation and doesn’t leave the reader hanging. In the case of Night Road, she takes teenage drinking, teen pregnancy and consequences of those respective actions and ties it up on a well-written book.

Personally, my issues with it stem from the character of Jude, the mother. Through-out the book, in the lead-up the the tragedy (which at least I saw coming), she is portrayed as being this mother who some would call (and even I would), a helicopter mother. Always hanging around her kids, making sure that they have everything that they need – which in itself is good, however, there is a point when it almost becomes too much and for me she reached that point when she was still acting this way when her kids were seniors in high school and about to head out into the world on their own. However, it wasn’t only that that pissed me off about her character, it was her actions in specific part of the book and what appeared to be her inability to take responsibility for the role that she played in the outcome.

She had always told her children (Mia and Zach) that they could always call her no matter what and she would come to pick them up from wherever they were no questions asked. The one time that they did get drunk and doing the right thing called her like she asked, they were punished for their behavior. Now, I know that they weren’t innocent in the situation, but at their age, doing what she did, was just asking them to not repeat the action (calling her) in the future and while ultimately playing a major contributing role to the tragedy.

I still can’t figure out, however, if her actions following the tragedy were due in part of her denial of her role in it, or her consuming guilt over what happened. I want to say the former, but looking back now (it has been several months since I read this), I’m leaning towards the latter.

Someone on goodreads.com posted a discussion question asking if this book would be appropriate for high school students. My resounding answer is yes.

 
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Posted by on June 13, 2012 in Book Review

 

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