Finished: AfterLives (Gurnah) A very well written book about a subject I know very little about....the colonization of parts of eastern Africa by the Germans in the late 1800's. The Germans brutally swept through the land, destroying villages and intimidating many of the men who lived in the villages to join their security forces. In AfterLives, two of the main characters join the German Schutztruppe, Ilyas and Hamza. Ilyas joins willingly after running away from home. He supports the Germans and comes to respect them. But, he is fighting against his own people. He is fighting against the tribes who try to rise up and revolt about the colonization. Hamza also joins voluntarily, but warily. He's got no other way to exist but to rely on the Germans to feed him and clothe him. The two don't know each other, but we read about their experiences in depth, while also reading about the history of the domination of the Germans in East Africa. The book is written by a Nobel Prize winner and was fascinating to me! Here is the description of the author:

"Gurnah was awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fates of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents." 

That pretty much sums up the historical, eye-opening aspect to the book. Gurnah weaves his story around Ilyas, Hamza, Ilyas' best friend, Khalifa, and Ilyas' younger sister, Afiya. Before Ilyas leaves to join the Schutztruppe, he's been away with them for years, having run away from home at the age of eleven. He returns home, only to find that he has a sister who is ten years his junior, Afiya. She's only ten when he meets her, but he immediately takes her away from her abusive temporary family. He teaches her to read and write, and both she and Ilyas live with Khalifa, who is older than Ilyas, but has become one of his best friends. When Ilyas departs to rejoin the Germans in their battles, he enlists Khalifa to watch after Afiya. She grows up with Khalifa and his wife, Asha, and never stops wondering when Ilyas will return from the wars. We then turn to Hamza and the story of his experiences in the Schutztruppe. When the Germans are finally defeated by the British, who also want to colonize East Africa, but in a different way, Hamza returns home battered physically and emotionally, seeking out anyone who he may have known from his younger years. Finding no one, he ends up working under Khalifa at his warehouse job. Of course...when Hamza and Afiya meet, they fall in love. It's a slow process, but eventually they are married. Ilyas has still never returned home after several years, and Hamza does his best to find out any information he can for Afiya. Afiya eventually gives birth to a baby boy who they name, Ilyas. When young Ilyas grows up, he goes in search of the uncle he was named after and is finally successful in learning Ilyas' fate. The book ends rather abruptly there, which was a little unsettling, but on the whole, it was a very good book, letting us get to know and care for real people who were deeply affected by the colonization of their home country, first by Germany and then the British. 

 Finished: If We Were Villains (Rio) I really loved this one! Seven students at the small, but exclusive, Dellecher Classical Conservatory are deeply immersed in their Shakespearean curriculum...so much so that they even speak to each other using quotes from Shakespeare quite often in their every day conversations...and they make sense! Oliver, James, Meredith, Richard Wren, Alexander and Filippa are fourth year students, set to graduate at the end of the year. They all live together in one old, classical building, and are the only fourth year drama students. Last year they studied all the comedies, and this year they've finally made it to the tragedies. And, there IS real life drama and tragedy! As they wonder who will be cast in each role for their upcoming main stage production of Julius Caesar, Alexander bets the others that he can name the entire cast already based on how they have all been typecast in previous productions as the hero, the villain, the temptress, the tyrant, the ingenue and the "bit parts". Sure enough, Julius Caesar is cast exactly that way. Richard is pleased to be playing Caesar and never doubted for a moment that he would get the shining lead role. He's played most of the lead roles in the previous year's productions. He's a bit arrogant, and he and Meredith, the beauty, have been dating for over a year. Interestingly, each of the students pretty much has the attributes of the characters they are usually assigned. For instance, James is always cast as the hero, Oliver as the sidekick, Alexander as the villain, Meredith as the temptress, Wren as the ingenue, Filippa as the "go to" character, and Richard as the lead, which is quite often a tyrant. James and Oliver are roommates and the best of friends. Alexander is the one to go to for drugs. Meredith is the seductive, flirty beauty. Wren is the innocent, quiet girl, etc. All of the friends have their own faults...none are perfect, but they are extremely close and the best of friends. I really loved this aspect of the book. I loved that they could all predict how one of the others would feel in a given situation, and how they all rushed to stand beside any one of them who might be hurt or in trouble. When the fourth years are assigned their roles in the annual one night performance, where they perform selected scenes from a play, they are instructed to tell no one their roles! They are to just learn their lines and scenes and be prepared to perform the night of the event. This year's selected scenes will be from Hamlet. Upon receiving their assignments, Richard is clearly livid and has some sort of internal meltdown. When the night arrives, everyone is shocked that James is playing Hamlet and Oliver is playing Banquo. Everyone had assumed Richard would be Hamlet, but he has only a minor role. His behavior becomes more and more volatile, as he becomes verbally and physically abusive to all of them...going so far as to almost drown James after the Hamlet event. We continue to get to know each of the students, and their relationships to each other to the point of really caring for each of these kids. After Richard's behavior escalates even more at dress rehearsal and the first performance of Julius Caesar, a tragedy occurs and one of the students is dead. I won't spoil who it is. This event throws the remaining students into a tailspin as they wonder who could have done what was done. Their lives implode and we only hear the details of all these experiences ten years later as Oliver is released from prison and finally agrees to tell the now retiring detective, who has been on the case since the beginning, the entire truth of what really happened. I can't tell you how much I really loved this book, despite the tragedy. I'd love for there to be a sequel, but then it might just be best left alone with it's jaw-dropping epilogue. :-)

 Finished: The It Girl (Ware) A page-turning who-done-it centered on a group of Oxford students who meet each other the first day of their first year and become best friends who do everything together. Rich and charismatic, April is the titular "it girl". She's got looks, personality, money, charm and a very mischievous, bordering on mean girl, persona. When small town, unsophisticated, not rich Hannah shows up to school, she finds that she's roommates with April. Despite their differences, they hit if of and become the core best friends of the rest of the gang: Ryan, Emily, Will and Hugh. On that first day, when Hannah meets Will, who is handsome, athletic and nice, she falls instantly in love or infatuation, but whatever it is, her feelings never abate. When she unexpectedly realizes that April and Will have become a couple, she's heartbroken, but keeps it to herself. Ryan is sarcastic and opinionated, but best friends with Will. Hugh is shy, nervous and nerdy, but also best friends with Will, having known him since they were young. No-nonsense Emily is super smart and honest. Each of them seems to bend to April's will, almost as if she has something on each one of them. However, before their first year is even over, April is dead...murdered in their dorm room, and Hannah is the person with the evidence to put the accused murderer away. One of the school porters, John Neville, has been very creepy around Hannah and made her extremely uncomfortable. When she sees John Neville exiting the only entrance leading to their dorm room right before she finds April dead, it's enough for the police to arrest him, accuse him of murder, and for a jury to send him to prison. Hannah is so devastated by April's death and the media frenzy that surrounds her as the best friend and main witness, that she leaves school and never goes back. The others manage to finish their degrees. Ten years after the murder, Hannah is now happily married and pregnant and works in a book store in Edinburgh...as far away from Oxford as she could get. Her adoring husband? Will! Will sought Hannah out after graduating and they fell in love and got married. They will never forget April, but their lives have moved on, until the day that John Neville dies in prison. The news sends both of them reeling and sends a reporter who believes in John Neville's professed innocence and wants Hannah's help proving it. This sets in motion a growing tension in their marriage, as Will wants Hannah to let it go. When it comes to light that Will, Ryan, Hugh and Emily all had motives to murder April, it puts Hannah in great danger as she digs deeper. Does she trust the right person? Did her own husband kill April? There are a few red herrings thrown in, but the truth finally comes out in the end, but I'm not giving the ending away. :-)

 Finished: Our Missing Hearts (Ng) A powerful, heartbreaking, but necessary, book! It is beautifully written and is about the very real danger of how a community can begin to ignore the oppression of and discrimination against members of their own community who happen to be "different" from them. The story is centered around Ethan Gardner and Margaret Miu, a Caucasian man and Chinese American woman who fall in love, move in together and have a child they nickname Bird. They happen to be living in an America that has recently passed the PACT act...Preserving American Culture and Traditions. The passing of this law is brought about by the growing instability of America's economy which has incited discord and violence. The leaders of America decide that China is to blame because they have a better economy, are raising prices, beating America, etc. etc. For this reason, Asian people become targets of violence and prejudice. Margaret is aware of what is going on because both of her parents have been murdered by strangers, just because of what they look like. However, when she meets Ethan, who is a linguistics professor at Harvard, and they begin to have a more fortunate income, unlike the majority of Americans, who are still struggling in long lines for food and other products, Margaret is able to put that knowledge aside and concentrate on their baby to be. During her pregnancy, Margaret writes poetry. She's a talented writer and finds a way to put her feelings about being pregnant and what other mothers must feel like into words. She writes a poem called All Our Missing Hearts, which becomes the cornerstone of the book she publishes. When Bird is born, both parents are thrilled. They are loving, caring parents who do their very best for him. In the meantime, the government has implemented a plan that gives authorities the ability to take a person's child from them, for the very slimmest of reasons, and "relocate" them to another family. Ethan and Margaret are aware of what is going on, but like everyone else, they must struggle between keeping their own family safe, or speaking up when an injustice is committed. When Bird is nine, the anti-PACT movement has become much larger and more vocal as people insist that the missing children be reunited with their parents. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to Margaret, her poem, All Our Missing Hearts, is used by the dissidents as their slogan. They begin painting red hears on public property and put up flyers demanding that their missing hearts, aka, their children, be brought home. The government now has Margaret on a list, and she and Ethan feel it's only a matter of time before they come and remove Bird from their home. They make the difficult decision for Margaret to exit their lives and go to another city...and...to burn everything that had belonged to Margaret, especially her poems, so Ethan can claim that he completely supports the PACT and has cut his wife and Bird's mother out of their lives. It is utterly heartbreaking. :-(  Bird and his mother were so very close and one day she's just gone from his life. His father refuses to speak of her and tells Bird that they must forget about her. Of course, he still loves her, but Bird looks more like his mother than his father, and he's terrified that Bird will be persecuted in some way. Because a "known dissident and author of their slogan" was his wife, things take a downturn for Ethan and Bird. Ethan loses his job as a professor and can only work as a librarian shelving books day and night. Bird is relentlessly bullied at school, and has only one friend...a girl named Sadie, who happens to be a child who has been relocated because her parents were in extreme and vocal opposition of the PACT. She wants nothing more than to find her parents and be reunited, but she is powerless to do so. When Bird is twelve and Margaret has been gone for three years without a single communication, Bird receives a cryptic letter in the mail from his mother. Bird figures out the hidden meaning behind his mother's letter and decides to go searching for her in New York City. I'm not going to go into any more detail about whether they reunite, and what Margaret has actually been doing all that time, but the entire situation is emotional in so many ways. I encourage everyone to read this excellent book and absorb these characters and situations for yourselves. Not a book to pass up! 

 Finished: Long Shadows (Baldacci) Book #7 in the Memory Man series. The memory man is Amos Decker, a former NFL player (albeit briefly) turned detective, turned invaluable asset to the FBI. Amos suffered a serious head injury which ended his NFL career just a few games in. The injury left him with synesthesia and hyperthymesia. The hyperthymesia means that Amos now has a picture perfect memory, never forgetting a thing that he sees, no matter how small the detail. Unfortunately, this includes the horrific murder scene of his wife and young daughter ten years before. Now, having helped the FBI solve several cases, with his young journalist turned FBI agent partner, Alex, Amos finds himself on his own as Alex has moved to New York to finish her career there. When Amos is assigned a new partner, Freddie White, a feisty single mom who fights hard to work her way up the FBI ladder, he reluctantly goes with her to Florida to solve the murder of a popular judge. As usual, with lots of twists and turns, Amos figures out whodunnit, with some very capable help from Freddie. Suspects include her ex-husband, her security guard lover, a possessive man she dated, and even her neighbors. There's also a Slovakian element to the story! And, by the end of the book, after everything is wrapped up, Amos has gained a very high respect for  Freddie, and vice versa. They've even become friends as well as partners. I can see Freddie definitely being around for more crimes to solve. And, don't worry....Alex is around just a bit. Amos calls her a few times for info in this story and they are as close as ever. :-) I enjoy the series because I do like Amos Decker, and the stories are usually pretty good. 

 Finished: Mad Honey (Picoult and Boylan) A very good book about two teenagers, Lily and Asher, who fall in love when she moves to his small town. Both have been raised by single moms who escaped extremely abusive husbands. Both moms have tried to protect their children all their lives by keeping them away from their fathers. Asher's mom, Olivia, has moved back to the quaint New Hampshire town, back to her old family farm, where her father was a beekeeper. She now takes just as much care of the bees and sells the carefully curated honey and various honey products. Lily's mom, Ava, is a national park ranger who has taken a job in this remote town so she and her daughter can start over. Lily and Asher are just 18, but very much in love. They "get" each other...especially their like circumstances of having no father in their lives. They do go through a couple of fights, and sometimes Asher shows a temper that Olivia worries about. She worries that he may have inherited his father's abusive nature. When Lily and Asher have a big fight, and Lily won't speak to him to the point of missing several days of school, Asher is beside himself and constantly texts and calls her. When he gets no response, he finally goes over to her house, only to find her dead at the foot of the stairs. Or, at least, that's his story. Soon, Asher is arrested and put on trial for Lily's murder. That's when the story really shows it's twists and turns. We hear the story from Olivia's viewpoint, and from Lily's viewpoint. We meet both of the horrible fathers, as well as a couple of best friends, an old flame of Olivia's from her high school days, who happens to be the police chief in town now, and we meet a trans teen trying desperately to hang on to the secret they are afraid that no one would understand. I don't want to give away any spoilers. This book is good though! Jodi Picoult always tells a good story, and she does so just as well with her co-author. The characters are very well developed and you can't help but grow attached to them! :-)

 Finished: Rock Paper Scissors (Feeney) Another good book and jaw-dropping twist that I, again, didn't see coming! Amelia and Adam are married, but their marriage is very, very rocky. They've decided to go from their home in London up to a remote vacation rental in the highlands of Scotland for a weekend. For both of them, it is a last ditch attempt to either save or give up on their marriage. Adam is a screenwriter and spends more time at his writing than he does with Amelia. He's found a certain niche of turning popular books into movies, but always been disappointed that his own manuscript title Rock Paper Scissors has never been picked up by a studio. Amelia works at a local shelter for dogs, and loves her job and their dog, Bob. Naturally, as they arrive at the remote, nearly snowed in Scottish location, things are already a bit eerie and strange things start happening...beginning with the power going out. The story is told between alternating chapters by Amelia and Adam, each sharing their version of the crumbling marriage. In between chapters, there are also heartbreaking letters written to Adam each year on their anniversary that she has never sent. They follow the traditional gifts each year, but grow to not putting much thought into their gifts. Once they arrive at their rental, we also start getting chapters from Robin, the older woman who lives in the tiny shack on the grounds, and seemingly the caretaker. Things escalate when Amelia and Adam survive the frigid and creepy first night, but at first light, Bob is nowhere to be found. They look and call for him everywhere. They finally decide they'll have to trudge through the snow to visit the shack they had noticed, because, of course, there is no phone signal in the area. No one answers at the shack, but they know someone is in there. They decide to leave and get authorities to come back and help them look for Bob...but after digging their car out of the snow, they see that all four of their tires have been slashed. From here, things pick up and I'm going to leave this recap here. :-) It's another good book that left me gobsmacked by the twist! 

 Finished: Daisy Darker (Feeney) A very good book, and the first one in a long, long time that had a twist I didn't see coming at all! Daisy Darker was born with a broken heart. That's her first line in the book as she narrates her story. She's the daughter of Frank, an orchestra conductor, and Nancy, an actress who gave up acting to have children. They are already the parents of two daughters, Rose and Lilly, when Daisy is born. She's born with a serious heart defect, and despite surgery, they are told that she probably won't live past the age of twelve. Both Frank and Nancy are awful parents, but particularly awful to Daisy. They end up divorced and Frank travels the world with his orchestra, rarely seeing anyone in the family. Nancy shows favoritism to Lilly, but it very critical of all the girls. She is truly more concerned with herself than her children. When Rose and Lilly are sent off to boarding school, Daisy isn't even allowed to go when she's old enough. She's never allowed to attend school at all and simply teaches herself how to read using Nana's immense library. The only solace that Daisy finds as she grows older is spending time with her Nana (Frank's mother). Nana lives on a tiny island in the only house on the island...an old gothic house named Seaglass. Every day, twice a day, when the tide comes in, the island is unapproachable except by boat. When the tide is out, you can walk across to the beach along the coast. Daisy is Nana's favorite of the girls because she is kind and loving and curious. Rose and Lilly are both very self-centered and mean-girlish. They each do things to little Daisy when she's a baby, like wishing her dead or putting a live rat in her bassinet. Rose does grow up to be a veterinarian, but remains unmarried. She seems to prefer animals over people. Lilly was so spoiled by her mother (and her father) she was never told no and never made to get a job. She gets pregnant as a teenager and has a daughter, Trixie, but still does not work. She just mooches off of Nancy and Frank, and at times, Nana. As our story opens, Daisy is now 29. Rose and Lilly are both in their 30's and Trixie is 15. The entire family is about to gather at Seaglass for Nana's 80th birthday. Daisy is nervous because the family really hasn't been all together in years. What's more, Nana had a fortune teller read her fortune and she told her that she would die when she turned 80. By the way, you can see that Daisy lived past the age of twelve! As it turns out, we find out later, at her last hospital appointment, the last time her heart just stopped, the doctor told her mother that there was a surgery they could do that would fix her heart. However, for whatever reason, her mother refused to have it done and never told Daisy there was new hope. It's as if she really just wanted Daisy to die. :-( Everyone converges at Seaglass for Nana's birthday, and thankfully, they all make it across before the tide comes in...even Frank, who you never know if and when he will show up. There are many awkward moments as the family falls into old patterns. Nothing is more awkward, though, than when Nana decides to go ahead and tell the entire family what is in her will. As it turns out, she leaves nothing to Frank or Nancy or Rose or Lilly. She's generous with Daisy, but what Daisy had really hoped for was to be left Seaglass. It had been her sanctuary so often for her entire life. Nana leaves Seaglass to Trixie, knowing that she'll have plenty of years to love it as much as she has. Needless to say this doesn't sit well with anyone in the family. When a young man named Conor, who is Rose's age, shows up by boat, Nana welcomes him with open arms. The rest of the family has various reactions, as nearly all of the girls had had crushes on him when they were younger. Conor had been ignored and abused by his father at a young age, after his mother died. Nana had taken him in whenever he needed and even paid for his father to go to rehab. He's got a history with each family member, so it's fitting that he is there for Nana's 80th. Then...the evening changes dramatically and people start dying!!! Nana is the first one to be found dead in the kitchen! With each death, there is an old VCR videotape full of old family movies left for the rest of the family to watch. Everyone is shocked and upset at Nana's death, and Nina decides to take Conor's boat across the water to alert the police. When she comes back in and says the boat is gone and the rope was cut, the family realizes they are in for a long, scary night. One by one, the family starts to die as we go back and forth between the murders, and the past, as we see the family movies unfold. I'm not saying anymore. :-) It's a book that should not be spoiled, but it was a really good one! So much so that I'm going to read another Alice Feeney book next! 

 Finished: Waypoints: My Scottish Journey (Heughan) A touching memoir written by actor, Sam Heughan, who opens up about his childhood, and then, the long road to becoming a successful actor. The book alternates between personal chapters about his early life and the current journey he is physically tackling as he dictates notes to himself that will become this book. The journey...the 96 mile West Highland Way a challenging walking trail that leads from Milngavie, Scotland to Fort William, which sits hear the highest mountain in the UK, Ben Nevis. At the end of the five day, 96 mile trek, exhausted, but determined, Sam climbs Ben Nevis. The entire feat is quite impressive, but more impressive is the heartfelt rendering of Sam's personal journey from his father leaving the family when he was 18 months old, to his mother successfully raising two sons on her own, to the struggles of becoming a working actor, to finally realizing the success of recent years. The writing is lovely and humorous and serious and entertaining. Loved it! 

 Finished: Fire and Blood (Martin) A very good, and typical George R.R. Martin book chronicling the beginnings of the Targaryen family in his fictional Westeros set 172 years before the birth of Daenerys Targaryen, a major character in The Game of Thrones books. The book starts with Aegon the Conquerer, the Targaryen king who united the Seven Kingdoms after his fiery conquest with his dragons. King Aegon is the 1st of the Aegons, but certainly not the last. In this wordy book, with many, many, many names, we follow the lineage of Aegon down through the years as it gets to the crucial war that led to the beginning of the end of the Targaryen dynasty...the war known as the Dance of Dragons. At this point, the king is Viserys Targaryen. He and his wife, Aemma, have only one child, a daughter named Rhaenyra. When Aemma dies in childbirth and people start to question the succession of the throne with no son as an heir, Viserys declares that Rhaenyra will be his heir. He has all the families of the kingdom "bend the knee", swearing oaths to support Rhaenyra as the first queen upon his eventual passing. A bit of a conundrum occurs when Viserys remarries, the young Alicent Hightower, who proceeds to give him three sons and a daughter. Of course, the firstborn is Aegon II and talk by many soon turns to Rhaenyra being passed over as the heir by her half-brother, Aegon II. Talk by many people, but not Viserys. He always insists that Rhaenyra is his heir and that oaths were sworn. Rhaenyra has three sons with her first husband before marrying Daemon, her father's brother, and giving birth to two more sons, the first one naturally named Aegon, or Aegon III. When Viserys eventually dies, when Aegon II is 23 years old, Aegon II claims the throne, and of course, is challenged by Rhaenyra in the bloody Dance of Dragons war, where nearly all of the children and grandchildren of Viserys parish. We DO know that a Targaryen king named Aegon succeeds Viserys, but which Aegon will it be?? I really enjoyed reading this book, especially since I'm in the middle of watching the series and wanted to learn more about all the characters. :-) 

 Finished: The Winners (Backman) This is the final book in the Bear Town trilogy, and Bear Town is one of my favorite books in recent years. The characters just grab your heart and don't let it go through the entire series. They are flawed and messy, but also so deserving of love. The entire story is about a remote town called Bear Town, a town that centers around the hockey club for the youth. It is also the story of it's bitter rival from Hed, the next town over. But, it's about so much more than hockey. In the first book, when the former "best player ever to come out of Bear Town, who also made it into the NHL", Peter Andersson, moves his family back to town so he can take over coaching the team, the relationships all intensify, and the hockey team excels until...Peter's teenage daughter, Maya, is assaulted by the star player of the team. Events unfold that alter everyone's history and the team's success. Things in Bear Town seem as if they'll never be the same again. There are many characters I loved in Bear Town, but the one who stayed with me the most was Benji, the right hand man of the star player both on and off the ice. He's a character with an incredible conscience and a huge heart, but has an innate toughness from a very hard childhood. No one wants to cross him on the ice. He's one of my favorite literary characters, which is a big deal for me. :-) He's got a few demons that come to light at the end of the first book, and continue on through the second book. By the end of the second book, he's quit hockey and left town, and his three older sisters, to go and "roam". Maya also leaves town by the end of the second book as she heads off to college. So, The Winners starts with the death of a fairly major character who is instrumental in many of the townspeople's lives...particularly in Benji's life and in Peter's. She's very much like a second mother to Benji and becomes a tell-it-like-it-is friend to Peter. With her passing, the entire town mourns, and both Benji and Maya travel back to Bear Town for her funeral. Hockey in Bear Town is thriving again, but some of the favorites from last season's team have had to move on in various ways. The author foreshadows the death of another beloved character throughout the book, and of course, my hugest fear is that it will be Benji. I'm not going to give it away here, but I will say that the death was heartbreaking, no matter who it was, and was completely indicative of how this particular person would have sacrificed him/herself. :::sobs::: Before the tragic death, though, Maya and Benji and Bobo and Amat and Ana, who had all grown close in the previous books, are able to spend some quality time together and it's magical to witness. The writing of Fredrik Backman, who also wrote A Man Called Ove and Anxious People, among others, is outstanding as usual. He knows how to get to the heart of each character and each story and make the reader love, ache and particularly, relate. I just wish there was more to come about the people from Bear Town, but he says that story is now done. Here's a favorite passage of mine from The Winners. 

"In a crisis we instinctively seek out the only thing that really matters, even in our sleep: the breath of others, a pulse for our own to keep time with. Every now and then their dad gently puts one hand on his sons' and daughter's backs, one at a time, to make sure they're still breathing. There's no good reason to suspect that they aren't, but there's nothing reasonable about being a parent. The only thing everyone said when he was about to become a father was: 'Don't worry.' What a meaningless thing to say. There's an immensity of love that bursts from your chest the first time you hear your child cry, every emotion you've ever felt is amplified to the point of absurdity, children open the floodgates inside us, upward as well as down. You've never felt so happy, and never felt so scared. Don't say 'don't worry' to someone in that position. You can't love someone like this without worrying about everything, forever."

Sigh, I will miss this series and these characters so much! 

 Finished: The House Across the Lake (Sager) A good page turner! Casey Fletcher is a successful actress, both on Broadway and in a few films. She is currently staying at their family lake house in Vermont by orders of her mother, an even more famous Broadway actress, who insisted that she go there to dry out. She'd started becoming dependent on alcohol after her husband, Len, had died the year before by drowning in the lake! So much so that she'd started a matinee performance drunk and passed out on the stage within the first few minutes. Fired from the show, and with very few friends, she does go to the lake house, but she definitely doesn't stop her drinking. There are only five big lake houses on Lake Greene, most that have been in families for generations. Casey can't help but think about her wonderful marriage to Len, how they were a perfect match, and how he died at the lake. While she drowns her sorrows, she sits on the back porch overlooking the lake and realizes that the newly renovated house directly across the lake is currently occupied by its new owners, Katherine and Tom Royce. Katherine is a famous model, and stunningly beautiful. Tom has created his own software company and appears to be very controlling of Katherine. As Casey gazes out to the lake, she's sees a body floating face down!! She rushes down to her motor boat and gets there as quickly as she can. She realizes that its Katherine, who she's never met. She jumps in and turns her over and she appears to be quite dead, blue and not breathing. As Casey begins to swim with her towards the boat, Katherine suddenly starts coughing and spitting water. Casey takes Katherine home and warms her up and the two talk and begin to become fast friends. Katherine is super appreciative that Casey saved her life, and she also opens up a bit about her struggling marriage. In the days that follow, Casey begins to spy on Tom and Katherine with binoculars and she comes to the conclusion that she thinks Tom is somehow responsible for Katherine almost drowning...even though Katherine says she was just out for a swim, but then became exhausted and cramped up and couldn't go on. Meanwhile, a good looking stranger, Boone, moves into the house right next to Casey's. He's a friend of the owners and they're letting him stay there while he, in return, does some repairs around the house. Soon enough, suspicions begin to turn to reality, as Tom's behavior across the lake becomes stranger and stranger, and Katherine appears to be more and more frightened. Meanwhile,  Casey continues to drink herself into oblivion every day. When it comes to light that three other women have disappeared near the lake in the last few years, Casey realizes there is a serial killer around. Nothing is as it seems and there are some pretty surprising reveals. At a point, Casey doesn't even know if she can trust Boone, who she has become friends with. When Katherine appears to go missing, Boone is the one who calls a detective friend of his who, it turns out, he used to work with on the force. The actual truth of what has happened to Katherine requires a bit of suspension of belief, but it's definitely an ending I've never read before. :-)

 Finished: The Love of My Life (Walsh) A very good book about a couple whose blissful marriage almost implodes when a secret she has kept since she was nineteen comes to light. Emma is a marine scientist who would love nothing more than to find the new species of crab. Her husband, Leo, is an obituary writer for a prestigious newspaper. They've been happily married for five years and have a three year old daughter, Ruby, who is the light of their world. Emma has just finished chemo for breast cancer and they nervously await her latest scan results. They are both very aware of how fragile life can be. As obituary writers often do for aging stars (apparently), Leo decides to start getting all his facts straight about Emma's college years because he wants to write her the most beautiful obituary he can if it becomes necessary. In digging through some old papers, he starts to find facts that are completely inconsistent with what he has always known about Emma's college and career. He wonders why she would have ever felt the need to lie to him. He's already feeling a bit upset about it when they finally go for the doctor appointment. It's good news! There is no more sign of Emma's cancer. Leo and Emma can celebrate, but the lies keep pestering him. When Leo comes across a journal entry of Emma's that says "You're the father of my child", he flips out. Is she saying that Ruby is not his?? Then, when he realizes the man is someone he knows, he doubly flips out. But, the secret is much more complicated than he thinks. I don't want to give it away because it turns out to be a pretty good twist. You definitely root for Leo and Emma to stay together and repair their marriage by the end of the book. A good read! :-)

 Finished: One Step Too Far (Gardner) The second book in the Frankie Elkin series. Frankie is a middle-aged, recovering alcoholic with many past demons. She has given up all her worldly goods and travels the country looking for missing persons whose cases have gone cold. She's not a private investigator or with any police force. She's just a woman who wants to make a difference, and in doing so, maybe atone for her past sins. In the last book, she found her first live victim after the other 14 she'd found had been just bodies. In this book, Frankie travels to a small town in Wyoming to help search the remote woods for a young man, Timothy O'Day, who disappeared one night when camping with his four groomsmen-to-be. It has now been five years that he's been missing, and his mother is dying of cancer. Her one wish is that her husband finally find their son's remains and bring them back to be buried with her. Frankie ingratiates herself into the hunting party along with the hunting guide, a cadaver dog and her owner, the father of the missing man, an affable second guide who is mostly a hunter of Bigfoot, and three of the groomsmen who still feel a huge amount of guilt for what happened on the mountain that night five years ago. Of course, the groomsmen have a secret about that night, and only Frankie, with her good people skills, can get them to open up with one-on-one talks. In the meantime, their hunting party is in grave danger. There is a killer who knows the woods better than any of them who is hunting them down, determined not to let them see a cave where he's buried not just Timothy's remains, but the remains of seven other people as well. Frankie grows close to the groomsmen, the Bigfoot hunter, Bob, and Luciana, the owner of the cadaver dog, Daisy as they all face the obstacles and dangers together. Another great book by Gardner. I do hope she writes another Frankie Elkin book, but would also love it if she wrote more with old favorites Rainie and Quincy. :-)

 Finished: Before She Disappeared (Gardner) I think I've read every Lisa Gardner book. She captured me long ago with her books because she'd use some of the main characters over and over. Then, every so often, she creates a new main character, and this one is Frankie Elkins. Frankie is a middle-aged, white woman, sober alcoholic, with extreme baggage of her own. She's given up all her worldly possessions to travel the country and help to find missing persons. She's got no family attachments to hold her in any one place. Frankie scours the internet for cold cases...those that law enforcement have given up on. And, usually those who law enforcement would prefer NOT to have a civilian coming in and asking questions about. She reaches out to families of victims and lets them know she's not a journalist, a cop or a private investigator. She's just a woman who wants to bring home people who have been missing. She's brought home 14 people so far, many of them teens or children, but none of them have been alive. She's only been able to bring them home for closure for their families. Now, Frankie makes her way to Boston where a 15 year old Haitian immigrant has been missing for eleven months. Angelique had walked out of her high school one afternoon, and not been seen again. One minute she was on the cameras near the school, and the next, she had vanished. Frankie won't take no for an answer as she questions the police and talks to the family. She's determined this time to bring Angelique home alive. However..the more she finds out, the less time she has to save Angelique. Can she do it? I'm really liking this new character and think I may just pick up the most current Gardner book which happens to be another Frankie story. :-) 

 Finished: Fairy Tale (King) I haven't read a Stephen King book since one of my favorites, 11/22/63, and this one was very good, with characters I'll not forget: Charlie, Radar, Mr. Bowditch, Dora, Leah, Iota, the Snab, and more...but mostly, Charlie and Radar. Fairy Tale is the story of Charlie, a 17 year old boy whose mother dies when he's 7 and whose dad he watches live in a stupor of alcohol for years until he finally gets sober. Charlie is a great son, a great student, and a great athlete. One day on his way home from school, he's passing the neighborhood "Pyscho" house when he hears a long, sad howl coming from the backyard. He hears is again and again, and decides he must go back and see if everything is okay. He comes across the elderly man who lives there by himself, Mr. Bowditch, who has fallen off a ladder and broken his leg. His 14 year old German Shepard, Radar, is by his side and pleading for someone to help his master. Charlie calls 911 for the very grumpy and suspicious Mr. Bowditch, and so begins a relationship between Charlie and Mr. Bowditch, which turns into one of complete trust and caring. Mr. Bowditch has to be in the hospital for several weeks and Charlie promises to take care of Radar. He even quits the baseball team when it comes down to Mr. Bowditch coming home and having no one to stay with him. This is a good story in of itself, but this is Stephen King, so you know it's just beginning. :-) It's not long until a few unusual things start happening...especially pertaining to a shed in the backyard and a pot full of gold pellets in Mr. Bowditch's safe. After Mr. Bowditch passes away a few months later (not related to the fall), Charlie finds out that he's left his house and everything in it, including Radar, to him. Of course, this also includes the gold, the mysterious shed and a message about what exactly is underneath that shed, and where Charlie must take the rapidly failing Radar to help him live longer. Charlie and Radar basically enter a whole new world that looks as if it once belonged in a fairy tale, but now has a horrific, evil enchantment cast over it that is killing most of the residents. Charlie meets unforgettable character after character, most of whom call him the Prince who had been foretold to come and save them all. The adventure ensues. There's an old woman who repairs shoes, instead of living in one. There's a princess who no longer has a mouth. There's a giant red cricket. There's a very nasty Rumpelstiltskin type man. There are two giants. There is evil everywhere as the few good people try to prevail. I'll have to let you read for yourself and see what happens. :-)

 Finished: The Missing Sister (Riley) Book 7 of the Seven Sisters Series! At this point, we have met all six sisters who were adopted by Pa Salt, who were all given clues to their biological families after he died...plus the exact coordinates to where they were born. The individual stories of Maia, who found family in Rio, Ally, who found family in Norway, Star, who found family in England, CeCe, who found family in Australia, Tiggy, who found family in Spain, and Electra, who found family just a few blocks from where she lived in New York, were all fascinating and heartwarming and ended up positively for all the sisters. However, one thing that haunted their father for as long as they could remember was the missing seventh sister. They'd all been named for the Seven Sisters constellation and that included  the missing sister, Merope, even though she was never found. It was as if Pa Salt already knew who she was, but had lost her somehow. Now, as the one year anniversary of his death and burial in the Aegean Sea approaches, the sisters receive a big clue from their father's longtime attorney and friend, and they are determined to find the missing sister before they set sail on the anniversary to toss a wreath in the exact spot where Pa Salt was buried at sea. The clue takes them on a wild chase from New Zealand to Canada to London to Ireland, with different sisters picking up the trail depending on how quickly they could get to a location. They are basically chasing Merry McDougal, a 59 year old woman who has recently lost her husband, and whose son, Jack, and adopted daughter, Mary-Kate, hold down the fort in New Zealand. As the sisters realize that the near misses of meeting Merry aren't accidental, and that she doesn't want to be found, they begin to think that maybe she's afraid of losing her adopted daughter, and so doesn't want to be found. Of course, we go back in time to both the 1920's and the 1950's in Ireland, when the country was in the middle of a war for their independence. The times for the Irish people are very, very rough, but we do meet some very strong women who end up being related to Merry. It's another great story! I loved having a book where all the sisters were together and also having their own personal things going on as life moved forward for everyone. At the end of the book, we DO discover who the missing sister is...and we're also given a huge clue in one last letter that Pa Salt has written to that sister. Then the book ends!! None of the questions about Pa Salt's history and how and WHY he picked each of the girls is answered. In his letter he says..."It's all explained in the included journal." And, as it turns out, that is what the next and final book of the series will be. It's out in May of 2023 and called Pa Salt. You can bet I'll be reading that one! :-)

 Finished: The Sun Sister (Riley) Book 6 of the Seven Sisters Series! Six sisters gather at their childhood home to mourn the loss of their very wealthy father, who adopted them all as babies from different parts of the world, and named them all for the Seven Sisters constellation. The sixth sister, twenty-six year old Electra D'Apliese, is the sister who was the most difficult baby and child. Always screaming and crying and arguing. She's now a 6'1" beautiful, ebony skinned, supermodel who is known all over the world. She's the only famous sister, and fame has taken its toll on her in the way of alcohol, drugs and men. As she gathers with the other sisters, she's angry at Pa Salt for leaving them. She wants nothing to do with the letter he has left her or the coordinates to where she was born. She just wants to get back to the rock star she's dating and her whirlwind life. Her life quickly takes a downturn when her boyfriend dumps her and she sinks more into the oblivion of her alcohol and drug use. Those who really care for her finally convince her to go to rehab. Before she goes, she comes face to face with her biological grandmother, who she looks exactly like! Her grandmother is a Harvard educated, well-known activist for black rights. While in rehab, Electra must come face to face with all her insecurities and fears, as well as decide if she really wants to explore her biological family. And, that family is so interesting! She is descended from African royalty, and her backstory is set in beautiful, but wild, Kenya. The beginning of the story really throws you for a loop, though, as it seems as if there is no way it could be related to Electra...but when it all comes to light, you fall in love with a woman named Cecily who sets everything in motion. Another great book! On to the last book, which is The Missing Sister...and then a long wait until May 2023 to get the book about Pa Salt that wraps everything up  and shows us how he picked each of the babies! 

 Finished: The Moon Sister (Riley) Book 5 of the Seven Sisters Series! Six sisters gather at their childhood home to mourn the loss of their very wealthy father, who adopted them all as babies from different parts of the world, and named them all for the Seven Sisters constellation. The fifth sister, twenty-six year old Taygete D'Apliese (or Tiggy as she was called), is the sister who is kind and very spiritually attuned with nature. She has a great love for animals, and believes that people do become spirits after they die. Tiggy is working at a deer rescue program in the Highlands of Scotland when her father dies. She rushes home, like the other sisters, and is also given her letter from Pa Salt, and the coordinates for where she was born. Tiggy doesn't feel an instant need to go and discover her roots, though. She's already got another job lined up on an estate in Scotland whose owner, Charlie, has dreams of turning his beautiful Scottish land and woods into an animal sanctuary. Tiggy's first duty is to bring some Scottish wildcats to the estate and get them acclimated to their new home. From Charlie's jealous (horrendous) wife, to his impetuous teenage daughter, to a visitor at the estate who won't take no for an answer when he becomes smitten with Tiggy, there are many drawbacks and stresses to her job. On the plus side, she meets Chilly, an old man who can take one look at her and tell her what is going to happen in her life, and what's more...tells her that he's been waiting for her because he promised Angelina he would bring her back to her home. She also sees a beautiful, rare white stag in the forest who she develops a connection with. However, the stresses and the insistent, rich visitor become too much for her. When Chilly tells her the story of her grandmother, the famous flamingo dancer in Spain, Tiggy is floored by the details that Chilly knows which match Pa Salt's letter. She decides to head to Granada, Spain to find out more about her family. Of course, then we are taken back to the early 1900's when the dirt poor Lucia, Tiggy's grandmother, starts flamenco dancing brilliantly at a young age. We are then thrown into the story of her and her family and her own fascinating life, the good and the bad, before as always, coming back to Tiggy in the present day and how all the people she has met recently come to be a part of her life. (Except the stalker visitor lol) It's another good book in the series!! :-) 

  Finished: The Pearl Sister (Riley) Book 4 of the Seven Sisters Series! Six sisters gather at their childhood home to mourn the loss of their very wealthy father, who adopted them all as babies from different parts of the world, and named them all for the Seven Sisters constellation. The fourth sister, twenty-seven year old Celaeno D'Apliese (or CeCe as she was called), is the sister who is practically a twin with third sister, Star. She's also blunt, outspoken, and feels she's not nearly as pretty as all her other beautiful sisters. She's short and stocky and of an exotic lineage. She doesn't realize that she's beautiful as well, but the lack of confidence she has in herself plays a huge role in her personality. As all the sisters gather at home, along with their longtime female caregiver, Marina (Ma for short). They are devastated that they can't see their father, Pa Salt (as they called him) one last time. He's already been buried at sea privately, per his last wishes. However, he has left them all a letter and the coordinates for the locations where they were born. He encourages them to go out and find their biological families when they are ready. Cece is an extremely talented artist, but is also dyslexic and simply can't do well at school. After years of traveling with Star, she has been accepted into a prestigious art university and struggles with the criticism of her professors. With her dreams of college imploding she goes into panic mode, especially since Star has begun to pull away from her as she looks for her biological family. As Cece feels more and more like Star has deserted her, she decides to quit college to follow Pa Salt's advice and look for her own biological family. She had been intrigued when she met with the family lawyer and he handed her a black and white photo of a man and a boy and...a million dollars which the man had sent to the lawyer, claiming it was her share of an inheritance. Cece's coordinates take her to Australia! She is to look for the history of a woman named Kitty McBride who lived in a northwestern coastal town in Australia. As she begins to investigate, of course, we are sent back 100 years to Edinburgh, Scotland, where we meet 18 year old Kitty who is about to be sent across the ocean to Australia as the companion of an older, wealthy, female friend of her parents, who is going to visit her sister. The plan is for her only to be gone for nine months, but once there, Kitty is introduced to the twin sons of the sister, Drummond and Andrew Mercer, and both fall instantly in love with her. Drummond, being the second born, is who she meets first and is carefree and funny and they hit if off instantly. Andrew is the first born and set to take over the family Pearl fishing business, and is more serious and responsible, but very sweet to Kitty. This is another great story about a strong woman and love and duty and what wins out in the end. It's also the story of the extreme prejudices and miscarriages of justice that are carried out against the mixed-race population. The Aboriginal people are left alone in their own world, as most Europeans who move to Australia are afraid of them. However, if there is a ever a mixed child born between and Aboriginal and a white person, the child is instantly taken away and sent to a convent to be "turned Christian". Cece comes to discover that she's got Aboriginal blood, and what's more, that her grandfather was a talented, famous artist. As she finds her way in this hot, vast country, tracking down her clues, she meets a good friend, Christi, who looks just like her and she finally feels at home. She also meets her grandfather who is the one who sent her the inheritance and the picture, and he is able to tell her the entire family story. It's another good book. :-) Cece wasn't my favorite sister, but through this journey she learns and grows and becomes much more likable and relatable. On to book five....

  Finished: The Shadow Sister(Riley) Book 3 of the Seven Sisters Series!  Six sisters gather at their childhood home to mourn the loss of their very wealthy father, who adopted them all as babies from different parts of the world. The third sister, twenty-seven year old Asterope D'Apliese (or Star as she was called), is the sister who was very quiet and introverted as a child. So much so that the fourth adopted daughter, CeCe, who was only 3 months younger than Star, was the complete opposite and spoke for Star all the time. Star and CeCe were like twins, adopted so closely in time. And now, even as young adult women, they were still constantly together, living together, traveling the world together, with Star hardly speaking, and CeCe doing all the talking. As all the sisters travel to their home on an island in Lake Geneva, they gather, along with their longtime female caregiver, Marina (Ma for short). They are devastated that they can't see their father, Pa Salt (as they called him) one last time. He's already been buried at sea privately, per his last wishes. However, he has left them all a letter and the coordinates for the locations where they were born. He encourages them to go out and find their biological families when they are ready. Star and CeCe have recently moved to London, and into a fancy new townhouse that CeCe has bought with money, which we will find out about in her book. :-) Star is beginning to feel suffocated, feeling as she doesn't have her own purpose in life...her own dreams and goals. She'd even given up enrolling in Cambridge after accepted, because CeCe wasn't accepted there. After reading her letter from Pa Salt, she is ready to finally go out on her own and follow the clues. Does it hurt CeCe's feelings that suddenly Star is off and doing stuff without her? Yes, it does. They have their ups and downs as Star spreads her wings. Stars coordinates point her to an antique book store in London. When she visits the shop, she meets the eccentric Orlando, the bookstore owner. They make an instant connection as friends and he hires Star to work there. She tells him about her letter and how she's searching for her family and is supposed to look for someone named Flora MacNichol. Of course, Orlando knows who that is and as he begins to tell her the story, we are transported back 100 years earlier to the life of Flora. I really love the twists and turns of Flora's story. She the oldest sister of two, and her parents live on a huge estate, but like many of the "old" rich gentry, having fallen on hard times, they are wealthy in name and home, but not in actual money. They tell Flora this is the reason she can't be presented to society when she comes of age, but the very next year her sister is presented into society. There is definitely something her parents are keeping from Flora, and the mystery unwinds in a jaw dropping way. Meanwhile, to make things particularly difficult for Flora, the young man she loves, and who loves her back, is one of the most coveted matches in London and Flora's sister has fallen in love with him after meeting him at one of the balls. He doesn't lead her on in any way, as he truly does love the more down to earth Flora, but in the world of arranged marriages, he has no choice but to marry Flora's sister. It's a very good story which really sucked me in, so it was always shocking when the story popped back into current time as Star grows closer and closer to Orlando and his family, who she is very likely related to...and closer to finding (perhaps) one of her parents actually living! Another great tale in the Sisters Saga. :-)

  Finished: The Storm Sister (Riley) Book 2 of the Seven Sisters Series!  Six sisters gather at their childhood home to mourn the loss of their very wealthy father, who adopted them all as babies from different parts of the world. The second sister, thirty year old Alcyone D'Apliese (or Ally as she was called), is the sister who shared both a love of music, specifically the violin, and a love and obsession for sailing, with her father, Pa Salt. He raised the girls on a huge estate on Lake Geneva, only accessible by boat. As they gather, along with their longtime female caregiver, Marina (Ma for short), they are devastated that they can't see him one last time. He's already been buried at sea privately, per his last wishes. The thing is...Ally had actually been out on a boat with a friend and they'd seen her father's yacht from a distance. Radioing that they were coming, the yacht quickly pulled away from them. On her visit back home, Ally finds out that she actually just missed seeing Pa Salt's burial at sea. This makes her feel even guiltier for not being there when he died. This story begins with sailing mates Ally and Theo and the newfound love they'd just discovered before Pa Salt died. When tragedy strikes for Ally again, she decides to pursue the clue that Pa Salt left her about her birth origins and it takes her to Norway! We then travel to the past and read about the life of Anna Landvik, a mountain girl with a beautiful voice, who was discovered in Norway over a hundred years ago and sang the lead vocal for the first ever performance of another favorite of Ally's, Grieg's musical "Peer Gynt" based on Ibsen's play. We are thrown into the life of Anna, her rise to success and her love for violinist, Jens Halvorsen, and all the trials that she encounters in her young life before the connection between Ally and Anna is finally revealed...along with a surprise, living relative that Ally is able to welcome into her life! Another good book! :-) 

 Finished: The Seven Sisters (Riley) Well, I have fallen down the rabbit hole of what appears to be an 8 book series! This is the first book in the series, and I really liked it. :-) Six sisters gather at their childhood home to morn the loss of their very wealthy father, who adopted them all as babies from different parts of the world. The oldest, thirty-three year old Maia D'Apliese, is the only sister who still lives on the fairy tale estate on an island in Lake Geneva. Her father, Pa Salt as they call him, is often away on business, but Marina, who has been their mother figure since childhood, is still there as well. As the sisters gather from all locations, Marina (or Ma as they call her), tells them that Pa Salt died a few days ago, and at his request, he didn't want them to know he was ailing. Nor, did he want them there for a funeral, so per his instructions, he'd already been buried at sea in the Aegean Sea. The sisters, of course, are devastated and wish they could have seen him one last time. He'd spent all the time he had at home teaching them about the things he loved, and encouraging them to follow their passions. From astronomy to violin to sailing to languages he filled their childhood with his loves. He even named them after the constellation known as the Seven Sisters in the Pleiades Cluster: Maia, Alcyone, Asterope, Celaeno, Taygete, Electra and Merope. Or, Maia, Ally, Star, CeCe, Tiggy and Electra, as they are otherwise known. Pa Salt had never been able to find a seventh baby girl to adopt, but considered Merope his lost daughter. As their father's attorney visits, he hands them each a letter and a clue from their father. Each clue is a hint as to where they come from in case they ever want to find their biological families. Pa Salt has also commissioned a sculpture for his garden that is a spherical astrolabe, with seven bands of gold encircling it...each with a set of coordinates engraved giving the specific location where he adopted them. So, book one is all about Maia and her adventure. Her clue takes her to Rio de Janeiro where she is soon thrown into a whirlwind of discovering her family origins through a series of letters written by her great-grandmother, Izabela Bonifacio. As she begins to read, we are taken back to Izabela's time in the 1920's and read the story of her life, her loves, her obligations, and just how, eventually, Maia is related to her...and how she was put up for adoption. And, we get an inkling as to what caused Pa Salt to seek her out and adopt her as an infant. I really enjoyed reading about Izabella's life, and about her true love (who was not the man who had been arranged for her to marry.) Of course, on her adventure, it is also possible that Maia finds true love after years of being the sister who'd stayed at home. There are also sprinklings of real historical characters throughout that was very clever. I thought I'd just read one of the books and be done, but I'm already well into the second book and enjoying it as well. :-)

 Finished: The-Mother-in-Law (Hepworth) A very good book about a woman, Diana, and her daughter-in-law, Lucy, who at first seem to have a contentious relationship...but as you read chapters from their viewpoints, you come to understand what exactly they were feeling at certain moments, and how they just couldn't communicate their feelings...especially Diana. I'm going to put the Amazon blurb below, because I like it, but I just want to say that there are so many details and relationships that make the book really good and let you get to know the characters pretty precisely. You come to understand Diana's motivations AND I disagree with that last line in the blurb that says Lucy is glad she's gone when she dies. Lucy is actually devastated, which shows how their relationship grows over the years. Lucy and Diana seem to be the strongest characters among Ollie, who is an affable guy, but is making some risky business decisions; his sister, Nettie, wants only one thing..and that's to have a baby, especially after Lucy and Ollie are on their third; Nettie's husband, Patrick, wjo really just wants the inheritance Ollie and Nettie will get after their parents are gone; and Tom, Diana's husband, who is a loving father who can't say no and tends to give his children money instead of letting them work out their adult lives on their own. Diana is very much against bailing out her grown children when they have financial problems, feeling like they've got to go through the hard times. Plus, she is heavily involved in an Afghan rescue and relocation charity where she sees people who have nothing trying to make their way. So...the blurb...and it is a mystery to find out exactly who is responsible for Diana's death, and a very well written one. :-)

Amazon Blurb: 

From the moment Lucy met her husband’s mother, she knew she wasn’t the wife Diana had envisioned for her perfect son. Exquisitely polite, friendly, and always generous, Diana nonetheless kept Lucy at arm’s length despite her desperate attempts to win her over. And as a pillar in the community, an advocate for female refugees, and a woman happily married for decades, no one had a bad word to say about Diana…except Lucy.

That was five years ago.

Now, Diana is dead, a suicide note found near her body claiming that she no longer wanted to live because of the cancer wreaking havoc inside her body.

But the autopsy finds no cancer.

It does find traces of poison, and evidence of suffocation.

Who could possibly want Diana dead? Why was her will changed at the eleventh hour to disinherit both of her children, and their spouses? And what does it mean that Lucy isn’t exactly sad she’s gone?

Fractured relationships and deep family secrets grow more compelling with every page in this twisty, captivating new novel from Sally Hepworth.

 Finished: Such A Fun Age (Reid) What a good book! Emira is a 25 year old African American woman who babysits 3 days a week for a wealthy family, mainly responsible for 2 year old Briar. Alix and Peter are the couple, but most of the story is really about Alix and Emira. Alix is a successful business woman with two young daughters. One late night, an egg hits and breaks their front window, and they call the police. Not wanting Briar to wake up frightened, they quickly call Emira while she's out with her girlfriends and ask her how quick she can get there to get Briar out of the house. She drops everything and rushes over, but she's dressed for a night out and party and not in her regular conservative clothes she wears at the house. She walks with Briar three blocks down to the fancy grocery store and they walk through the aisles pointing out things. (Something Briar likes to do). A security guard stops Emira and asks her if that is her child. She says no, she's the babysitter, and the guard doesn't believe her. He thinks she kidnapped Briar! The situation escalates and Emira finally convinces the security guard to let her call Peter. He's there within three minutes and clears everything up. Of course, the security guard apologizes to Peter, but not to Emira. Emira is completely humiliated. As she steps outside, another white man, Kelley, a few years her senior, approaches her and says he filmed the whole thing; that she should press charges. She has no intention of letting that video go anywhere, so he agrees to delete it, but not until he sends it to her email so she at least has a copy if she wants to change her mind. Kelley and Emira get to talking, and when she runs into him a few days later on the train, they hit if off again and end up becoming a couple who care very much about each other. Emira is upset with herself for having her college degree, but not having figured out what she wants to do with her life. She's still on her parents' insurance and has only temporary jobs...the babysitting and a typist job. Her three best friends who we see a lot in the story, are all working and successful, but they are 100% there for each other, and for Emira. Alix also has three best friends who are all moms of young children, but they all live in New York. Alix and Peter have just moved from her beloved New York to Philadelphia and she hates it. I'm not going to spoil the book, but Alix is still traumatized by something that happened between her and her high school boyfriend. And to be honest, it was all her fault. Alix is a bonafide narcissist. She's not even sure she likes her own daughter Briar, because she's so chatty and busy all the time. She adores her baby Catherine who is only a few months old. After all...Catherine looks just like her. ugggg. Anyway, something happens and a previous relationship is revealed that throws Alix, Emira, Kelley and all their friends into an unstoppable drama that includes that video being releases against Emira's wishes. Accusations are made. Racism is always bubbling right between the surface. It's a really good story and has an appropriate ending. You will find yourself rooting for Emira and her loving, close relationship with the precocious little Briar. :-)

 Finished: The Paris Apartment (Foley) When down-on-her luck, Jess, messages her step-brother, Ben, in Paris to tell him she needs a place to stay for a few months, he's hesitant at first, but then says of course. Given up to foster care by their parents as preteens/teens, Ben was adopted by a wealthy, loving family. Jess spent the rest of her adolescence going from foster home to foster home. One raised in near poverty, and one raised in a nurturing environment. Ben texts Jess the day she's arriving and tells her the address and apartment number and says he'll be waiting for her. However, when Jess arrives at the very wealthy apartment building, no one answers the gate buzzer and Ben isn't answering his messages or calls. Jess manages to get in the gate by watching another resident punch in the numbers. As she ascends in the elevator, Beth realizes that each floor of the old, gothic building is actually an entire apartment! There are five floors and five apartments. Finally getting into Ben's apartment (by picking the lock) Jess finds it empty, except for Ben's keys and wallet. That's not like Ben and Jess becomes alarmed. Something is eerie about the place, and right off the bat strange things start happening. There are six other occupants of the building, including the "concierge" who lives in a tiny, one-room shed in the courtyard. As Jess begins to ask questions about her brother to the people who live there, we begin to see what Ben was up to and what may have happened to him. Meanwhile, Jess has to figure things out with very little to go on. Another good page-turner of a book! There's a big twist in the middle of the book that I didn't see coming, so that was a nice surprise. :-) I won't spoil any more, but it was a good read. 

 Finished: The Forest of Vanishing Stars (Harmel) Such a good book! In 1922, in Berlin, an old woman sneaks into the home of a German couple and takes their two year old daughter. The woman sees visions, and all she knows is she has to take the baby and keep her safe. She raises the girl, Yona, in the forest, never letting her interact with any other human beings. She teaches her, though, how to live off the land, how to build shelter, how to protect herself, how to read, how to speak several languages, and how to kill someone with her hands. Yona questions why she needs to know all these things, and the woman just tells her that she needs to be prepared...bad times are coming. The old woman teaches Yona as many faiths as she can, but basically raises her in the Jewish faith. As time goes on and World War II begins, the old woman and Yona often hear planes overhead, and finally even bombs dropping. They are very careful to move their camp often to avoid meeting any soldiers. In 1942, when Yona is 22 years old, the old woman dies. On her deathbed she tells Yona where she lived and the name of her parents. She tells Yona that they were evil people, but that she must tell her in case she ever needs to use her father's name for safety. Yona has flashes of her parents' faces and wonders if she would know them if she saw them. For the first time in her life, Yona is alone in the world. She loves the forest, feels connected to it, and doesn't want to leave it. One day, as she wanders near a river, closer to a village than usual, she comes across two emaciated men who are trying to catch fish with just their hands. She's shy at first, but happy to show them how to catch fish for their dinner. When they tell her that they are villagers, escaped from their village when the German Nazis came through killing Jewish families, she's appalled. They tell her that there are eleven others back at their camp, all of them having lost loved ones to the brutality. She shows them how to build a net and a basket, and helps them catch more than enough fish to feed everyone. They ask Yona to come back to their camp, and she agrees. Once there, she meets all the other people, including three young children, all of them dirty, ragged and hungry. Yona realizes she needs to stay as long as it takes to teach them to survive in the forest. This must be her mission, she thinks. I can't go into all the detail, but the stories they tell of dead loved ones, and the jobs they used to do in the village, and the fear they feel of the Germans, who could hunt for them any day, are heartbreaking. As you might imagine, Yona stays with the camp for a long time, even falling in love. Something happens that makes her leave the camp and her new Jewish family, though, and she packs up and leaves in the middle of the night. They've already lived through a harsh winter in the woods together, so she knows they'll be all right. Yona decides to go into a nearby village to see how things are there, and is shocked to see it occupied by German soldiers and nearly destroyed. I don't want to give away too much, but she grows close to some nuns, and then is instrumental in trying to save them when the Nazis are about to line them up and kill them. The German soldier in charge? Yona stands frozen as she recognizes him. It's her father! She yells out his name right as the nuns are about to be shot. As he turns to see her, he can't believe it. He comes closer to see if it's really his daughter...the one with two different colored eyes...the one with the birthmark shaped like a dove on her wrist. And, it is. He's beside himself with happiness and temporarily halts the execution. But as he takes her to the house he's commandeered, to eat and clean up, she can't believe that her father is one of the evil men who has been killing Jewish people. She tells him this and he pleads his case, trying to convince her that the people of the Jewish race aren't even human. He tells her that the Germans plan to search and attack all the runaway Jews in the forest in two weeks time. Yona is torn that she feels love for this man who is nothing but a monster. And, it's clear that he's so happy to have his baby back. Yona's mother had died of a broken heart two years after she was kidnapped. But, they are so at odds about the basic tenets of human decency, that she knows she can't stay there. She must go back to warn her friends in the forest. Does she succeed? Can she save those people and maybe more? Does she even survive the end of the war? hmmmmm :-)

 Finished: The Family Remains (Jewell) The sequel to The Family Upstairs, this book is as good as the first one. It kept me reading and wondering and at times worrying. :-) The story opens not long after the end of the first book. This time the story follows Lucy, Henry Jr., and Phin to see how they are handling life after all the truths came out at the end of the first book. Lucy is living with her brother, Henry, and waiting to purchase her own house for herself and her kids. Henry is bored with his life and as obsessed as ever with Phin. Phin, got almost as far away as he could. He's working as a safari guide in Africa. When Lucy and Henry get together with Lucy's newfound daughter, Libby for her birthday dinner, her boyfriend surprises her with tickets to Africa. She's going to finally get to meet her biological father, Phin. Upon hearing this, Henry decides to go as well, against Lucy's advice. When Phin finds out everyone is converging on  him, he hightails it out of Africa and heads to Chicago. Of course, Henry tracks him down there and we spend much of the book wondering what Henry has actually done to Phin when he surprises him at his door. Meanwhile, Lucy and her kids follow Henry to Chicago, afraid of what he'll do and they end up always one step behind him. Back in London, a detective is trying to solve the mystery of the 25 year old bones that have washed up on the banks of the Thame. It doesn't take him long to connect the bones to a murder that occurred back in the Lamb mansion all those years ago. Now, both Lucy and Henry (The Lamb children) have the London authorities after them in the U.S., while Lucy is still after Henry and Henry is nowhere to be found (but we know he's with Phin). Whew! I strongly suggest reading the first book before reading this one. Both are good reads! 

 Finished: The Family Upstairs (Jewell) A good, rather convoluted book, but still another page-turner. Twenty-five years in the past three bodies are found in a prominent mansion in, Chelsea, an upscale neighborhood in London. Even more mysterious, a baby girl is found upstairs in a crib, left all alone in the huge house. In the present day, twenty-five year old Libby, who was adopted at ten months old, receives a letter that she has inherited an estate in Chelsea today, on her twenty-fifth birthday. What follows is a wild story going back and forth in time. The family growing up in the estate,years before is the Lamb family, Henry Sr., Martina, Henry Jr., 11, and Lucy, 10. They are a happy family until they let various strangers start "staying" with them, who actually end up moving in and never leaving. A family moves in with two children the same age as the Lamb children, Phin, 12 and Clemency, 10. Their father, David, is a con-man, but becomes like a cult leader as things get worse and worse, especially after Henry Sr. suffers a stroke. The women of the house become mesmerized by David even as he continues to liquidate all the Lamb assets in the name of charity donations, but keeps the money for himself. Meanwhile, Henry Jr. becomes obsessed with Phin "the most beautiful human he's ever seen" and Lucy becomes best friends with Clemency. By the time the kids are teenagers, they've been abused, starved, held prisoner in their rooms, and more. They all know that they need to escape somehow. When Martina becomes pregnant, and not by her disabled husband, Henry Jr. has had enough. When the police find the three bodies that night, there are no teenagers to be found in the house...just the baby. Do they make it out okay? Have they become victims? Are they around when Libby turns twenty-five? You'll have to turn those pages like I did and find out how it all goes. :-) It took me until about the third chapter to really get into it because so many new characters were being introduced...but once things got going, they never stopped. 

 Finished: The Good Sister (McAllister) Another book I couldn't put down by the author I just read (Wrong Place Wrong Time)! This book is about two adult sisters who live in England, both married, one with a ten year old and one with an eight week old. They are very close and have shared everything all their lives. When the younger sister, Becky, calls her older sister, Martha, complaining about her horrible job working as a set designer and all the pressure she's under, Martha puts aside her own stresses, as she usually does, and listens to Becky. Martha, though, is the one at home with a newborn who won't stop crying. She cries constantly and very little will soothe her. Martha, who also runs a charity she set up for Greek refugees, is desperately in search of a nanny who will take care of little Layla. When a frustrated Becky calls with the same problems the next day, Martha asks her, why don't you quit your job and come be Layla's nanny? Of course, we'll pay you, etc. etc. So, when Becky says yes and starts, she has no idea how hard it will be. Layla is so difficult and her son, Xander, had been so easy. When Martha has to fly out of town for two days to buy a building to put a school in for the refugees, and her husband also has an out of town conference, Becky is charged with caring for Layla. When Becky wakes up in the morning that both parents are supposed to return, little Layla is cold and not breathing. Nothing will revive her and the officials declare that it was most likely cot death. Forty-eight hours later, Becky is arrested for her murder! The cause of death has been determined to be deliberate suffocation. What comes next is the heartbreaking trial with all the witnesses, most of them digging into past experiences they had with Becky. Martha thinks there is no way that her dear sister can be guilty, but as the testimony goes on, she starts to have her doubts. She's already just a shell of her former self, grieving her baby. A few more suspects come into play and the book really keeps you guessing. Another good book! :-)

 Finished: Wrong Place Wrong Time (McAllister) Another great page-turner which just took up the next day and a half of my reading life. :-) Jen is a happily married mother of 18 year old Todd. She's waiting up for him one night, just watching out the front window, when she spots him coming. Then, something goes terribly wrong. There is an older man lurking near Todd and Todd takes out a huge knife and stabs him to death. Jen screams for her husband, Kelly, and they run out to Todd, who is just standing there staring, with no emotion on his face. The police come and he's arrested. They won't allow Jen and Kelly to see him until the morning, so they reluctantly go home and try to fall asleep. When Jen wakes up the next morning, it is the not the next morning, but the day before! She's waking up on the morning of the murder. She has no idea what is going on except that she has somehow gone back in time by one day. Is there a way she can stop what is going to happen? It takes her all day to try and figure out what to do. She tries telling her husband, who is in her husband from the day before, so he doesn't know about the murder yet, but he thinks she's losing it. Then, the next day she wakes up and it's two days earlier! This pattern keeps going on until one morning it's a week earlier...one morning 3 months earlier...one morning a year earlier, etc. She realizes that there must be something important about each of the days that she's being "sent" to and starts trying to figure out why Todd would kill the man. She discovers the man's identity and soon some eye-opening connections to different members of her family come into play! It's a really good book with this fierce mother determined to do anything to protect her son and keep the murder from happening, even if people think she's out of her mind along the way. Loved it! 

 Finished: The Lies I Tell (Clark) Such a great page-turner! I read this book in a day and half. It's the story of Kat, a reporter who is determined to get close to a con artist named Meg, who Kat feels ruined her life 10 years before Meg, is a brilliant con artist who is back in town after ten years to finally pull her biggest con yet on the man who stole her dying mother's house out from under her, leaving teenage Meg and her mother living out of a car. Meg spent the years since conning men...but only men who had done irreparable harm to women. Women must stick together and look out for each other, and if they can't look out for themselves, Meg will do it! Of course, the way she goes about it is totally illegal, usually scamming the men out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Unfortunately, on her scam that put a high school principal in prison for having sex with students, Kat became a victim as well. Sent to report on the scandalous story, she wanted to dig further and expose the person who pulled the con. Ignoring her superiors, she took a call from Meg who gave her information that led to her being traumatized herself. It's a great book and I quickly came to root for Meg to get revenge (or justice?) on these predatory men. I also loved the ending on this one! :-)

 Finished: When The Emperor Was Divine (Otsuka) A vivid, heartbreaking YA book that has been banned from middle and high school reading lists. A Japanese American mother and her two young children are ripped from their home in California, are reclassified as enemy aliens and sent to an incarceration camp. The father had already been taken in the middle of the night after Pearl Harbor was bombed, and imprisoned in Texas. The horrific conditions of the camp, and the terrible treatment of their belongings and home when they finally return are awful to read. Not to mention how former friends have turned their backs on them. What a terrible, terrible ordeal for these American people! The book could have had a bit more substance and character development, but there is no shading over the horror of the situation. What a terrible time in American history, a time that students today should definitely be learning about. I shake my head at so many of the banned books in this day and age! 

 Finished: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (Reid) I don't know why I waited so long to read this book! It was as good as everyone said. :-) Evelyn Hugo was a huge star in Hollywood, who made her way there in the 1950's from Hell's Kitchen, was the "it" girl in the 1960's and 70's, and then left show business in the 1980's. Along the way, some for love, and most for other reasons, Evelyn had seven husbands. Now, she's insisting that an unknown reporter for a magazine, Monique Grant, perform the only interview she's done in years. Monique's bosses are chomping at the bit...but why Monique? Evelyn says it's Monique or the deal is off. Monique meets with Evelyn and it comes to light that what Evelyn Hugo really wants is to narrate her biography and for Monique to write it. What ensues is Evelyn's story about how she made it to Hollywood and IN Hollywood; her competitors and her friends; her movie successes and her failures; how the studios were all about making money and would drop you in a dime; and, of course, about her seven husbands! The number one question that Monique wants answered is: Who was the love of your life? I won't spoil the book, but the answer is revealed in Evelyn Hugo's good time. Also, the answer as to why Evelyn wanted Monique and only Monique to write the book is answered at the end of the book. I love Taylor Jenkins Reid's writing, and this book was certainly another fun one! My favorite passage is below, but it does spoil the book, so don't read it yet if you want to be surprised. 

Spoiler below:

    "I would imagine, back then, it wasn't a conclusion you'd come to easily--being in love with someone of the same sex."

    "Of course not! Maybe if I'd spent my whole life fighting off feelings for women, then I might have had a template for it. But I didn't. I was taught to like men, and I had found--albeit temporarily--love and lust with a man. The fact that I wanted to be around Celia all the time, the fact that I cared about her enough that I valued her happiness over my own, the fact that I liked to think about that moment when she stood in front of me without her shirt on--now, you put those pieces together, and you say, one plus one equals I'm in love with a woman. but back then, at least for me, I didn't have that equation. And if you don't even realize that there's a formula to be working with, how the hell are you supposed to find the answer?"

 

 Finished: The Foundling (Leary) A pretty good book that I started reading at the beginning of vacation, and then finished after it was over. Based on a true story, it was horrific that women were treated this way and put in asylums so easily, for instance, if their husbands just wanted to be rid of them to be with a new woman. I'm just going to put the Amazon write up here, because I'm still exhausted. :-) 

It’s 1927 and eighteen-year-old Mary Engle is hired to work as a secretary at a remote but scenic institution for mentally disabled women called the Nettleton State Village for Feebleminded Women of Childbearing Age. She’s immediately in awe of her employer—brilliant, genteel Dr. Agnes Vogel.

Dr. Vogel had been the only woman in her class in medical school. As a young psychiatrist she was an outspoken crusader for women’s suffrage. Now, at age forty, Dr. Vogel runs one of the largest and most self-sufficient public asylums for women in the country. Mary deeply admires how dedicated the doctor is to the poor and vulnerable women under her care.

Soon after she’s hired, Mary learns that a girl from her childhood orphanage is one of the inmates. Mary remembers Lillian as a beautiful free spirit with a sometimes-tempestuous side. Could she be mentally disabled? When Lillian begs Mary to help her escape, alleging the asylum is not what it seems, Mary is faced with a terrible choice. Should she trust her troubled friend with whom she shares a dark childhood secret? Mary’s decision triggers a hair-raising sequence of events with life-altering consequences for all.

Inspired by a true story about the author’s grandmother, The Foundling offers a rare look at a shocking chapter of American history. This gripping page-turner will have readers on the edge of their seats right up to the stunning last page…asking themselves, “Did this really happen here?”

 Finished: Trust (Diaz) I picked up Trust to read after I saw that Kate Winslet has signed to do the upcoming series. It is a book about capitalism in America in the 1920's with all the financial ups and downs, so I wasn't sure I'd really be that interested, but what a good book! It begins with a book inside a book. The book, written by Harold Vanner in 1937, is called Bonds and is the story of American finance tycoon Benjamin Rask and his equally brilliant wife, Helen. Both very antisocial, they appear to be a perfect match and live the wealthy life in New York as the genius Benjamin, able to constantly predict exactly what the market is going to do, proceeds to multiply his already vast family fortune. Meanwhile, Helen is enthralled with music and philanthropy and spends her time having world renowned musicians of all types to their mansion for private concerts for a very small group of people, and donating to vast charities that interest her. Right before the stock market crash of 1929, Benjamin suspects that the historical increase in the Dow Jones numbers in the past few years can't go on forever, and he begins liquidating most of his own stocks. This, many claim, actually starts the downward spiral of the stock market crash, but Benjamin doesn't see it that way. Soon, the reclusive couple is shunned by the few people in their inner circle and Helen falls into some sort of mental illness. Benjamin takes her to the best sanatorium in Switzerland, where she declines into delirium and develops debilitating eczema. Her renowned doctor convinces Benjamin that Helen can be cured with a new therapy that will eventually come to be known as shock therapy. After her third treatment, Helen's heart gives out and she dies. Benjamin is bereft. He goes back to New York, where he has actually let his business suffer, and people who once respected his financial prowess begin to think of him as getting old and losing his touch. 

So, just when you are getting into the story of the Rasks, part one is over! The book within in a book, which I forgot I was reading, was done. Part two of Trust is all about real financier, Andrew Bevel and his wife Mildred. Andrew, whose wife Mildred was lost to him years before, is livid when Bonds comes out and the author has let it be known that it is based on the Rasks. He doesn't like the way he is portrayed and he most definitely doesn't like the fact that Mildred, who died a painful death from cancer, is portrayed as having lost her mind and died from psychiatric experiments. He begins to write his own memoir, and you can tell that much of what he says does coincide with the Bonds book, but he paints himself in a much better light, insisting that he lives by his father's favorite saying which was, "The best kind of financial profit is the profit that also helps the community as a whole." He also paints Mildred as fascinated by music, for certain, but also meeker and less influential to Andrew than she actually was. Part two ends abruptly with Andrew deciding he'll need a ghostwriter. 

Part three picks up with the story of Ida Partenza, daughter of a widowed Italian immigrant who is a printer and barely makes ends meet. Ida has written fascinating stories since she was a young girl. Realizing she needs to earn more money than her jobs in the bakery and the supermarket afford her, she answers the ad for a secretarial position. The hiring process is several interviews worth, but the end result is that Ida is hired to be Andrew Bevel's ghostwriter. He insists that she find "his voice", which means, make something up that is nicer and more exciting than his true boring, reserved voice. He also insists that this story is to redeem his wife's "reputation", yet he can give Ida no details in particular regarding any kind of intimate stories with his wife. Even though Mildred famously wrote everything down in diaries, there are no diaries made available to Ida and Andrew tells her to just make up some nice stories. There's a push and pull between Ida and Andrew and she manages to stand up to him at times. When he is finally satisfied that the book is almost done and to his liking, and that both he and Mildred have been portrayed exactly as he wanted....he dies!! Ida isn't even officially notified, and there are no instructions given in his vast will about the memoir she'd been working on, so it goes unfinished. Ida puts all her notes and manuscripts aside, makes enough money being Andrew Bevel's former secretary to put herself through school, and does eventually become a journalist and an author. Decades later when she is 70 years old, years after the Bevel mansion has been made into a museum, Ida sees a notice that the personal papers and letters of Mildred Bevel are going to be put on display for the first time. Ida, always feeling like she'd never found the true Mildred in all of Andrew's edits, makes her way over to the mansion for the first time since Andrew's death. She's on the last of four boxes, searching and beginning to question whether Mildred ever even had a diary, when she comes upon it slipped inside an old ledger. She quickly slips it inside her own papers (yes, she steals it lol), because as it turns out, no one else has ever really been interested in finding out who the "real" Mildred was. 

Then, we get to Part four. This is all comprised of Mildred's diary. The notations begin when she is already at the sanatorium, but she is not mentally ill. She IS wracked with cancer and doesn't have very long to live. I'm not going into any more detail, because we finally hear in Mildred's words exactly  how the Bevel finances and household and social life and relationship truly were. In the midst of her every day entries of how she's feeling and what her treatments are for the day, we hear the anecdotes we've wanted to hear all along, and they are eye opening. :-) I really can't wait to see Kate Winslet portray who I'm sure will be both Helen and Mildred!