Finished: House of Sky and Breath (Maas) It appears that now I am hooked. This was the second book in the Crescent City series, and also very large with even more complicated characters and settings, along with characters that become favorites Bryce, Hunt, Ruhn Danaan, Ithan Holstram, Hypaxia Enador, Cormac Donnall and so many more! The plot is again far too complicated to attempt to explain with Fae, Angels, Wolf-Shifters, Demons, Asteri, Humans, and again more. Here is the recap from Amazon:

Bryce Quinlan and Hunt Athalar are trying to get back to normal. They may have saved Crescent City, but with so much upheaval in their lives lately, they mostly want a chance to relax. Slow down. Figure out what the future holds.

The Asteri have kept their word so far, leaving Bryce and Hunt alone. But with the rebels chipping away at the Asteri's power, the threat the rulers pose is growing. As Bryce, Hunt, and their friends get pulled into the rebels' plans, the choice becomes clear: stay silent while others are oppressed or fight for what's right. And they've never been very good at staying silent.

In this sexy, action-packed sequel to the #1 bestseller House of Earth and Blood, Sarah J. Maas weaves a captivating story of a world about to explode-and the people who will do anything to save it.

 Finished: Crescent City (Maas) This was a good book!! Very large and lots of complicated characters and settings. I couldn't possibly describe it lol. Here is the recap from Amazon:

Bryce Quinlan had the perfect life-working hard all day and partying all night-until a demon murdered her closest friends, leaving her bereft, wounded, and alone. When the accused is behind bars but the crimes start up again, Bryce finds herself at the heart of the investigation. She'll do whatever it takes to avenge their deaths.

Hunt Athalar is a notorious Fallen angel, now enslaved to the Archangels he once attempted to overthrow. His brutal skills and incredible strength have been set to one purpose-assassinate his boss's enemies, no questions asked. But with a demon wreaking havoc in the city, he's offered an irresistible deal: help Bryce find the murderer, and his freedom will be within reach.

As Bryce and Hunt dig deep into Crescent City's underbelly, they discover a dark power that threatens everything and everyone they hold dear, and they find, in each other, a blazing passion-one that could set them both free, if they'd only let it.

That recap barely scratches the surface! This is the 1st book in a trilogy and I'm already on to the 2nd book to see what happened to all the characters who survived the first book! 

 Finished: Orbital (Harvey) An absolutely profound, eye-opening book with beautifully descriptive prose about one 24 hour period in the lives of four astronauts and two cosmonauts as they circle the earth in their space station sixteen times in that 24 hour period. For sixteen sunrises and sixteen sunsets, they circle the earth at different coordinates each time, in awe of each view of the earth they are priviledged to see at any given moment! A very personal story is told about these human beings who are together on what will be one of the last space station missions before a crew lifts off to actually start a base on the moon. We hear a bit about each of there lives and important relationships at home, and what propelled each of them, mostly at young ages, to become astronauts or cosmonauts. They describe how it is to slowly consider this environment with no gravity and so little interaction with other living beings to be their norm. No one will ever know exactly how they feel except each other. I absolutely loved the description of earth from their view....how it's not necessarily this defined "globe", but instead, moving pieces that seem to shift based on the atmosphere and the tides down below. It's fascinating how they describe this earth with no borders anywhere and how they often don't see any sign of life until the sun has set and cities light up with electric lights. It's a book that you really have to read and digest for yourself, and one you will never know you almost missed out on if you don't read it. :-)

 Finished: Other People's Houses (Mackintosh) The third book in the trilogy about Welsh detective, Ffion Morgan, who solves mysteries in a small Welsh town, whose case almost always overlaps with British detective Leo Brady. Both excellent at what they do, and very opinionated, they began the first investigation in book one butting heads quite often, and by the end, sharing conflicting feelings for each other. Other People's Houses, like the previous two books, involves a twisty, numerous-suspect murder which they eventually do solve. By this third murder mystery, new female detective, George, has become a supporting character we also grow to care for, and one that Ffion discovers she can let her gruff guard down around and finally have an actual confidante. In this book, Ffion investigates the murder of an estate agent found drowned in the lake while on a retreat in Wales. Over the border, Leo is dealing with multiple burglaries in an upscale neighborhood that eventually escalates to murder. Ffion and Leo are a couple by this time, and most mornings have their coffee then head their separate ways for their jobs. This time, their cases overlap, along with a years ago murder of a couple in that same rich neighborhood. A popular podcast is "investigating" the unsolved murder on its own, but has developed a huge following with its excellent witnesses and theories. A following which includes Ffion! Another great book, and I hope this is not the end of the Ffion/Leo pairing for solving murders! 

Finished: The Great Alone (Kristin Hannah) Such a great book! I had danced around reading it for a long time because I didn't think a family moving alone to Alaska would interest me, but I was so wrong. Ernt is a Vietnam War vet who is never the same after coming home. He has nightmares and flashbacks, and he becomes physically violent when his temper takes over....mostly at his wife, Cora. He's lost jobs and can barely afford the family's growing bills. When Ernt gets a letter from the father of Bo Harlan, a friend who fought side by side with him in Vietnam but did not survive, he uproots his wife and thirteen year old daughter, Leni, to move to the wilderness of remote Alaska. Bo's father, Earl "Mad Earl" Harlan has gifted him the land and cabin that his son previously owned. It doesn't take long for Ernt to grasp Earl's sentiments that the government is out to get them and that they must live off the grid and prepare to defend themselves. Cora, who loves her husband desperately, goes along with the move and she and Leni try to embrace the harsh conditions and their lack of preparedness as the long Alaskan winter looms. Thankfully, Cora and Leni are embraced by the local community, especially the other strong, unwavering women. They are given a crash course in making sure they have plenty of food stores, repairing their cabin and animal pens, and accumulating the necessary clothing. Leni does get to attend the tiny, remote one room school and immediately bonds with Matthew, the only other thirteen year old in the area. Their connection is deep and they are able to confide in each other their deepest concerns and heartbreaks after Ernt's mental state continues to deteriorate and his violent episodes cause great concern to the locals who have become close to Cora and Leni. And, after the tragic death of Matthew's mother is the unforgiving wildnerness. I can't really do the story justice with a recap, as it unfolds with great detail and wonderful character development. Once again, Hannah has created unforgettable, completely relateable characters, who I couldn't help but take in and not let go of. The story continues for several years and reaches a tragic crescendo that both frees Leni and Cora, but also burdens them for the rest of their lives. Meanwhile, Matthew is sent by his father to live with his sister in Fairbanks to deal with the unbearable grief of witnessing his mother's death, and being unable to help her. It doesn't keep Matthew and Leni from writing letters every day and maintaining their unique connection long distance until they can be reunited again when they are a few years older. I feel like I've made a jumble of the plot, but you just need to read the book yourself to see where it goes, what comes of each of the characters, and how strongly the story stays in your heart. 

 Finished: My Husband's Wife (Alice Feeney) Another mystery read with a who-done-it, or rather a who-is-she. Eden Fox goes out for her evening jog along the coast line of her remote town, and when she gets back and puts her key in the front door, it doesn't work! She rings the doorbell to get her husband to answer and let her in. Instead, a woman who closely resembles Eden opens the door and insists that she is the one who lives there and is married to Eden's husband! A twisty tale ensues of impersonation, gas-lighting, mentally unstable family members, a tragic accident, a sketchy young town cop, and a company that claims to be able to predict a person's death. As the Amazon blurb says:

"One house. One husband. Two women. Someone is lying." And honestly, you won't know who until the very end! An interesting read! :-) 

 Finished: Dear Debbie (Freida McFadden) A twisty, turny thriller! Debbie is a wife and mother and advice columnist of the town newspaper. She's also a bit pyschotic, which we find out soon enough. She's happily married to Connor with two daughters in high school. We immediately get to read one of her archive "Dear Debbie" column questions, and her advice basically recommends that the wife either leave her husband...or murder him. Of course, that bit of advice was never actually printed, but it definitely came out of Debbie's mind. Anyone who crosses her or especially her children and her husband, end up either expired or set up for something like porn on their computer or set up to be accused of some crime! From the neighbor who "steals" the magazine shoot Debbie was going to have in her own garden, to the boss who refuses to give her husband a promotion, to the creepy soccer coach of her youngest daughter, to the smarmy boyfriend of her oldest daughter, no one is safe from Debbie's wrath. We finally hear about her past and why she is the way she is, but a couple of very suprising twists end up being the coup d'etat of her entire story! A definite page turner! :-) 

Finished: The Women (Kristin Hannah) An excellent, powerful book covering the life of Frankie McGrath, a young nurse who enlisted and went to Vietnam to help, and came back, like any other surviving nurse who served, with the scars and nightmares of the war etched on her heart and mind, to a family who told people she was abroad to study because they were ashamed that their daughter would even dream of enlisting in the military. I grew up in the 1960's and 70's, and can vividly recall the drafting of teenaged boys to be sent off to fight in what seemed to be, in my young eyes, this never-ending battle of so much death and destruction. I hated the war, but never once felt anything but admiration for the "boys" who went and served, and the lucky ones that actually made it home. I was almost 15 years old when the troops started coming home in 1973. Of course, my idyllic teenaged world continued on with me mostly oblivious to the actual impact that the war had on our troops, on their families, on their lives. I didn't even grasp the thought that there must be medical doctors and nurses who frantically fought to keep the soldiers alive until I was in my thirties. The Women is an incredibly vivid book about Frankie, and the other fellow nurses she grows close to, and the relationships they have and don't have amidst the war, and the lives they save and the lives they cannot, and the shattered young men they send home if they are lucky, but never quite whole again. I'm so, so glad I read this book! Kristin Hannah had so many references and conversations with people who had direct experience in the war and her book is a reflection of that. I do really like the summary that Amazon has about the book, so will include that below. This book will stay with me forever. 

"Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.

As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over-whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets―and becomes one of―the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.

But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.

The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm’s way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era."

 Finished: The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao (Junot Diaz) What a truly good book, but oh so heartbreaking for many characters! The title never grabbed me enough want to read it, even though it has been on my to read Pulitzer Prize list for awhile. I'm so very glad I finally read it. Oscar Wao is Dominican, with a long line of family from the Dominican Republic, now living in the "ghetto" of New Jersey with his tough-as-nails, native Dominican mother, Beli, and his rebellious sister, Lila. He is sweet, naive and terribly overweight. He has dreams of writing an epic tale and becoming the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkein, whose Lord of the Rings books he absolutely worships. The only dream that ever seems to top that one, is his dream to find love with a woman, but with his stature and looks, no woman will give Oscar a second glance, much less have a conversation with him. I was fascinated with the extensive notes in the book which explained every Dominican reference in detail. And...I was chagrined at never having absorbed a single bit of the history of the Dominican people living under the horrific rule of a merciless dictator. The book explores Oscar's life, and his sister's unconditional love for him, and the heartbreak they both endure as they make what appear to be the worst decisions in their love lives (or lack thereof for Oscar) and suffer the consequences. The chapters on every character are fascinating! When the book goes back in time to the history of Beli's parents, once respected medical people in the Dominican Republic, their lives are reduced to rubble by the dictator because her father tries to hide his beautiful older daughter from the lascivious man. Beli, her parents' last daughter, is actually born into the world with a father who will die in prison and a mother who dies soon after her birth. She is eventually found and raised by her grandmother and defies everyone and everything as she grows into the tough, unyielding woman she becomes. She loves only her children, Lila and Oscar, and moves to the United States to keep them safe, and to keep them under her thumb as best that she can. Until I read Beli's chapters, I could not understand how unrelenting she was, but oh my God, what a tragic family history. There are many references to the fuku, a curse that the famliy believes has haunted their family for generations. Everything is blamed on the fuku, and everyone is apparently, eventually impacted by it. Oscar's story is told by his college roommate, Junior, who was the love of Lila's life and would do anything for her, including rooming with and "keeping an eye" on the naive Oscar. Of course, Junior also has a pension for cheating on Lila, despite his adoration of her, and their relationship does not last. The book, though, is told with Junior's voice. He guides us through the relationships he has with both Lila and Oscar, and the love and respect he grows to feel for Oscar as a brother and a man. Oscar does eventually have a a couple of meaningful relationships with women, who see Oscar for who he is, but neither of them last and Oscar is plunged back into loneliness. As the title says, Oscar's life is brief but wonderous, and I don't want to give away any more details! I'm richer for having read his story, though, and those of his family members. A great book! 

 Finished: Sometimes I Lie (Feeney) Oh my gosh, Alice Feeney never disappoints!! What a twisty, surprise around every corner thriller! I don't even want to do a recap because I don't want to give away any spoilers. Needless to say, she got me good! I'm just going to put the blurb from Amazon here:

"My name is Amber Reynolds. There are three things you should know about me:

1. I’m in a coma.
2. My husband doesn’t love me anymore.
3. Sometimes I lie.

Amber wakes up in a hospital. She can’t move. She can’t speak. She can’t open her eyes. She can hear everyone around her, but they have no idea. Amber doesn’t remember what happened, but she has a suspicion her husband had something to do with it. Alternating between her paralyzed present, the week before her accident, and a series of childhood diaries from twenty years ago, this brilliant psychological thriller asks: Is something really a lie if you believe it's the truth?"

I've already read several of her books, and look forward to reading more! Great page-turning reads!! 

 Finished: Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance (Lang) I'm so glad I finally read this book, which has been on my list for far too long! I loved it! It was written so beautifully and thoughtfully and believably. It's the story of Weylyn Grey, a young boy who is born in a blizzard, whose parents die when he's in kindergarten, who then becomes lost in the woods and raised by wolves in the forest. He appears to be one with nature and one with all the animals, and very protective of the wolves, as they are of him. When he's 11 years old, he meets Mary, who has just turned 11 and lost her mother to illness. She doesn't "connect" with her father, though her father is completely distraught when she runs away to the woods. She meets Weylyn, and the wolves, and lives with them for several weeks. Mary forges an unbreakable bond with Weylyn, and also with the wolves. After a few weeks, when one of the wolves is shot by a farmer among his herd of animals, Mary is found and reunited with her father. Weylyn is so distraught over the wolf's death, that he can't move, and he is taken to child protectives services. Weylyn is adopted by a preacher, his wife, and four daughters. Though, the only two people who get to know and love Weylyn are the preacher and the "misfit" daughter of the bunch, Lydia. As Weylyn moves through life, he is always fascinated with each new experience and he is very intelligent. He doesn't understand when people tease him. He also has the incredible ability to control the weather. When he gets angry or sad, a rainstorm or blizzard will occur. Control isn't really the right word, since the events are really controlled by his emotions, which as we all know, are very hard to control. When he appears to stop a tornado that is headed right for their town, the news is all about the "wolf boy who stopped the tornado and saved the town". Weylyn isn't really sure how he did it, but he stood right in its path and seemed to just absorb it. Each event like that takes energy from Weylyn. He also realizes that where he lives, storms always follow, so he decides to become a hermit to protect the people he loves. The story is just lovely as we go to different times in Weylyn's life and read about each of the interactions with the handful of people he grows close to. He searches for Mary for a long time, but I won't give the details of that. It's a story that warms the heart, though. He also reconnects with Lydia and her young family when he's older, and those times are a treasure. I really didn't want the story to end! It kept me turning pages until the very end, and it will truly resonate with me for a long time. 

 Finished: A Game of Lies (Mackintosh) The second book in a series about the investigations of Welsh Detective Constable Ffion Morgan. I really enjoyed the first one and this one was just as good! In the same small town of Cwm Coed, contestants have gathered for a reality survival who in theshow in  Welsh mountains. There are only a handful of them and they are each eager to outsurvive the other for the large money payout for the only survivor. When the first episode airs, everyone is watching the show, including the reluctant Ffion. There is a huge twist and shock to the contestants right off the bat. The smarmy show producer informs them on live television that this is not about survival at all....but about who can figure out everyone's dark secret before they figure out theirs. The secrets, ranging from bigamy, crossdressing, stealing school money, infidelity and more are each secrets that could ruin the life of the contestant back home if discovered. The secrets are kept in a locked, steel box. Each show there will be an accusation against someone whose secret a player thinks they know. If they are right, that person is eliminated. If they are wrong, the accuser must sit in the confession shack where items from there worst fears (spiders, snakes, water, etc.) will be piped in for three minutes. If they don't last, they will be eliminated. Needless to say, there is chaos in the camp when the cameras aren't rolling and a distraught contestant has gone missing. Enter Ffion to investigate what has happened and try to find him in the rough Welsh terrain. Also enter British Detective Leo Brady, who worked with Ffion to uncover the murder in the first book, and mayybbbbbe became a love interest? After acting on their feelings while the first investigation was going on, it was ambiguous at the end whether they would continue. We find out that Ffion, who has massive trouble showing her feelings, did not last in the relationship and bolted. She hasn't spoken to Leo in almost two years. And now, in he walks as the assigned lead investigator! I love reading about how each of them is so awkward and unsure, but still obviously have feelings for each other. We get to know a new detective named, Georgina (George), who Ffion finds annoying and cold, but ends up being anything but those things as she helps with the case. We get to know each of the contestants, the producer, the only camera man, the only assistant and the only security guard as well. And, we get to know all the secrets and see those families reacting! When the producer is found murdered in his editing room, the missing person investigation now expands to include a murder investigation. Everyone is a suspect! It's a fun story, reading how Ffion, Leo and George solve the crimes and reading about how everyone was impacted by their secret afterwards upon returnig home. And, especially seeing where the Ffion and Leo relationship stands at the end of the book! I will wait a bit, but definitely be reading the third installment. :-)

 Finished: Nobody's Fool (Coben) I will always read the next new Harlan Coben book, but this one was very slow to get started for me. It's the story of Sami Kierce, an ex-police officer who lost his partner, and lover, Nicole, a fellow police officer at the hands of an evil man who has been behind bars for 20 years. Sami is now happily married to Molly with a baby son, Henry. Sami teaches criminal investigation at a local night school and has quite an array of super-sleuthing characters in his class. When a woman walks into the back of the room during one of his classes, Sami can see immediately that it is Anna, a woman he met in Spain when he was 18 and on "holiday".  After a whirlwind romance, where Sami and Anna fell hard for each other, Sami wakes up one morning to find Anna covered in blood and dead next to him in bed. Sami reports it immediately to the police, who go with him right away to the hotel room, but the room is perfectly clean and there is no sign of Anna. His father advises him to get on an airplane back to the U.S. right away, and he does. Sami has been wracked with guilt all these years not knowing what happened to Anna, and wondering if he may have been responsible for her death. In the time that has passed, he has become a detective on the police force, put away various bad criminals, lost his aforementioned partner in a tragic killing, left the police force, married Molly and become father to Henry. When the woman, who he is certain is Anna, walks into his classroom, and immediately flees when he sees her, Sami starts down the path of tracking her down. This leads to a rather convoluted story about Victoria Bellmont, a local heiress to a fortune, who disappeared after a New Year's Eve party over twenty years before when she was just 17years old. She was never found or heard from again, and her family has been distraught ever since. When Sami finds out that Anna and Victoria are, in fact, the same person, he is determined to find out what happened to Victoria, how she became Anna, and how she could possibly be alive as either Anna or Victoria after all these years. Oh, and the man who killed Nicole has just been release from prison, and vehemently proclaims his innocence, so of course that story has to be thrown into the mix. A pretty good page-turner, once it got going, but just a few too many tangents for me in this Harlan Coben book. He's still my favorite crime author though. :-) 

Finished: My Friends by Fredrik Backman. It took me a bit to warm up to this book, but when I did, I couldn't put it down, and as usual with Fredrik Backman's books, I fell in love with every single imperfect character. He has a way of making you feel exactly what that character must be feeling and rooting for them. They all have their flaws, and do things that are questionable, but never with malice in their hearts and never anything to hurt someone. In this story, the friends are 14 year olds, each with a troubled home life, either physically or mentally. They are often bullied at school and feel like they have only each other to rely on. Every day they meet down on a pier in their fishing town and talk, and joke, and dream and goof around with each other. Ted, Joar, Kimkim and Ali. Every day as it gets to be dusk and time to go home, as they get to the parting point in their neighborhoods, each one shouts "Tomorrow!". It's their way of saying goodbye and their promise to each other that they will always be there the next day. Kimkim is the artist of the group and has a notebook full of drawings. When Joar sees an article for an art contest with prize money in the newspaper, he insists that Kimkim draw something and enter it in the contest. He just knows that he'll win. Kimkim doesn't have the confidence in himself that his friends do, and certainly not the support of his parents at home who just want him to excel and be "normal". As the deadline approaches, Kimkim finally draws a picture of the long pier that is their sanctuary, with the huge ocean all around it. He calls it "The One of the Sea". However, it's really the one about his friends, because if you look very closely, you'll see three tiny figures sitting on the pier. 

Twenty-five years later, the painting has become one of the most famous in the world and Kimkim is a renowned artist. In another city, several train rides away, Louisa is a child who has grown up in the foster care system. She has just turned eighteen, and is an aspiring artist. Of course, her favorite painting is "The One of the Sea". When she sees that it is to be auctioned off at a high end auction, she makes her way there and ends up on a journey she never dreamed she could have. Honestly, the story is heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. Every single person she meets along the way gets her closer to each one of the old friends, whether in the flesh or in spirit, and by the end of her journey she is literally and figuratively one of them. She's finally got a family to belong to. Just such a good, good book!! 

 Finished: James by Percival Everett

Pulitzer Prize winning novel, James, is an excellent piece of literature! It's been awhile since I've read such significant prose in this story of heartbreak, hopefulness, and the absolute travesty of slavery; the aberration and audacity that some people believed it was their right to own another human being. The book is the re-telling of the story of Huck Finn and the slave, Jim from the viewpoint of Jim or James, as he thinks of himself. James can read and write and speak in complete, coherent and intelligent sentences! But, he doesn't ever in front of white people. He would be beaten and/or hanged for less. Any outward dialogue in the book by James is the cowering, obedient language of "yessa masta" and "I'se goes, suh", etc. However, all of James' inner thoughts, of which we blessedly hear alot, are deeply thoughtful and meaningful soliloquies and introspections, as he tries desperately to formulate a plan to get back to his wife and child, and escape to freedom. And, he remains loyal to and protective of Huck along the way, setting a prime example of the decency with which to treat a fellow human. There is a shocking surprise toward the end that is such a perspective-changer. And, the ending was intentionally left part hopeful and a bigger part trepidatious, forcing any reader to truly examine the horror of slavery in the real world, and not the fictional one, if they hadn't already in the previous pages. 

 Finished: Beautiful Ugly (Alice Feeney) I've enjoyed many of Feeney's books, and this one was certainly page-turning, but had too shocking a twist for me at the end. Grady Green is a struggling author who is married to investigative reporter, Abby. They'd fallen for each other quickly and have been married for several years and, to Abby, they seem in a rut. She's not sure that Grady even loves her anymore, seemingly loving his books and their characters more. One evening when Abby is late coming home from work, as often happened in her line of work, she gets a call from Grady in her car and he's a bit annoyed that she's not home with him right now when he's expecting a call any minute to let him know if his latest book made it to the New York Times Best Seller list. She apologizes, says she's on her way home with his favorite, fish and chips, and tells him to hang up in case they're trying to call him right now. He does get the call and his book does make it on the list! Grady calls Abby back with the good news and she can hear his voice beaming with happiness. She tells him she's just down the road from the house but then he hears the screeching of tires. Abby tells him that there's a woman laying in the road in front of her that looks like she's been hit by a car. She must go and see if she's ok. Grady begs her not to get out of the car for her own safety, but she tells him she'll leave the phone on but she must go and check on her. Abby never comes back to the phone, and her red overcoat is found washed up on the shore of the beach their neighborhood bluff overlooks. A year later, Grady is down and out. Abby was never found and the mystery hasn't been solved. He hasn't been able to write anything at all, and his agent, Kitty, who was Abby's godmother, is getting worried about him. She calls him in for a meeting and offers him the keys to a cabin on a remote Scottish island where another author, more famous than he, had gone to write his string of successful books. From there on out, the story turns a bit creepy. All the folks on the island are strange...there is no communication with the mainland...there are only 25 residents of the island....they all have walkie talkies to stay in touch with each other...and to make matters worse, Grady keeps thinking he's seeing Abby in her red coat every time he turns around. The story unfolds as we find out the weird but tragic history of the Isle of Amberley, the stories of most of the unusual inhabitants of the island, and finally, what actually happened to Abby! It's a pretty good book, but as I said, I wasn't fond of the twist at the end. 

 Finished: Night Watch (Jane Anne Phillips) This year's beautifully written Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction takes us to the backwoods of West Virginia, right after the Civil War. ConaLee is a 12 year old girl who has become responsible for the upkeep of the house and caring for her three younger step-siblings ever since a man who calls himself Papa invades their home. ConaLee's mother, Eliza, is really married to her true love, and ConaLee's father, Ephraim Connolly, who has gone off to fight for the cause of the North in the war. He manages to stay in touch until he is severely injured, barely surviving a horrific head injury, but forgetting who he is and everything about his life. The kind doctor that makes sure he lives is named Dr. O'Shea, and when Ephraim is well enough, he's intregal in helping with and encouraging other victims of the war. Seeing what a good person he is, Dr. O'Shea says he'd be honored if Ephraim takes his name, John O'Shea, and then recommends him to a highly rated asylum, established by an honorable doctor, and still run by that doctor's honorable nephew, Dr. Story. Eliza and ConaLee live just down the ridge from Ephraim's adoptive mother, Dearblah, who has become like a mother to Eliza and grandmother to ConaLee. Despite the fact that Dearblah has an incredible sixth sense and medicinal abilities, she's no match for the interloper who takes over Eliza's home, raping her at will, impregnating her with three children, and treating ConaLee like a slave. Eliza has become mute and nearly unresponsive, which has left ConaLee responsible for the house and also very vulnerable, as she ages. Thankfully the interloper doesn't ever sexually abuse ConaLee. He does tire of the whole situation eventually. He is very greedy and truly wants whatever "class" and money the homestead can bring him. He ends up making ConaLee pawn off all her younger siblings on neighbor people who have sadly lost children in the war, and he sells the house and everything Eliza owns to go off and hobknob with and/or con the richer class. He takes ConaLee and the still mute Eliza to within walking distance of the nearest asylum, dressing Eliza in some stolen fine clothing and instructing ConaLee to tell them she is her mother's nurse, and that her charge is a genteel lady. ConaLee doesn't realize that she is also being dropped off permanently. When she and her mother finally make it to the asylum door, the sun has set and they bang on the door. Answered by a tall and stern looking man known as the Night Watch, he takes pity on them and receives them into the asylum despite not having the authority to do so. Eliza improves drastically under the care of the kind Dr. Story, and the book unfolds in such lovely prose as we get to know the characters and all their relationshiops and stories. I'll not be spoiling the ending of this book, but will only say that characters like ConaLee, Dearblah, the Night Watch, Weed (the young orphan taken in by the cook), Dr. Story and Eliza herself are all compelling and I really rooted for them all to have happy endings amidst a few surprises! 

 Finished: The Sequel (Jean Hanff Korelitz) The Sequel is, well, a sequel...to the book The Plot. I loved that first book, and it ended up having several twists and turns with the wife of plagerizing author, Jake Bonner, coming out on top. But...was Anna Williams-Bonner a nice person? No! It turns out she was literally the murderous and insane subject of the book that Jake had claimed as his own (which had actually been written by a deceased former student of Jake's, who never sent his book to anyone before he died). Anna ended up being the sister of that former student, and she ended his life when she found out his book was going to be about her former years, when she murdered her own daughter, assumed her identity, and then murdered her own parents. Yes, insane! Anyway, at the end of The Plot, Jake is no more...done in by his beloved wife, Anna. In The Sequel, Anna goes on to write her own extremely successful best-seller, Afterward, her life story as she wants to tell it. Then, when she's at her highest of highs, Anna starts getting cryptic messages about HER book, the same kind she sent to Jake when he claimed her brother's book as his. Someone is tormenting her...telling her they know who she really is and all about the horrific things she did, including killing her own daughter. I won't spoil the ending, but the book takes a few too many turns for me this time before revealing who is responsible for the messages. And, the winner in the end is disappointing to me. I'd still read another sequel related to The Plot if Korelitz wrote one, though. :-)

 Finished: Onyx Storm (Yarros) The third installment in what used to be the Empyrean trilogy by Rebecca Yarros, is now the third of five books, so there was no nicely wrapped up ending to the series. Not that I mind, since I love the books, but waiting to read the next one is hard! At the end of the second book, Violet Sorrengail discovered that her love, Xaden, had given in to the evil Venin just to save her. When she sees his eyes with an ever so small red ring around the iris, she knows that he's fighting it, but spends most of this book trying to figure out a way to rid him of his Venin poison. The couple is as in love as they always were, but each spends so much time sacrificing themselves for the other that I wonder if they will really end up happy at the end of the series. Greater things are happening worldwide than Xaden's slow Venin decline. Many of the professors who Violet once trusted have ended up being on the side of the Venin, the darkweilders. And, many of her allies, including her mother, who Violet counted on, have perished. There's a war coming between the Venin and what is left of the handful of loyal dragon riders. The story does delve into the ellusive "seventh" dragons...the very rare seventh species of dragon, who have the same incredible abilities that Violet's second dragon, Andarna, possesses. And of course, the one of a kind older dragon, Tairn, is again prominent in the story. With the war looming, despite Violet's superior signet power, the wielding of lightening, the book rushes to the end with several things hanging in the balance, especially the mystery of what last happens between Violet and Venin-turning Xaden before she wakes up to find him missing. Can't wait for the next book! 

 

Finished: Demon Copperhead (Kingsolver) Barbara Kingsolver won the Pulitzer Prize for this modern-day retelling of Dickens’ David Copperfield. It is a beautifully written book that transported me immediately to the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia and into the thoughts and experiences of Damon Fields, aka, Demon Copperhead. Though it seems unfathomable, I believe Demon Copperhead was even more intense and tragic than David Copperfield. David Copperfield is #10 on my list of Top Books and #36 on my list of Favorite Books.

When I re-read my blog recap of several years ago about David Copperfield, I could see that I used to write much longer, more detailed, and introspective recaps. Personal time has not been as readily available these last few years, but it was interesting to go back and read that one to compare. I will include that blog entry, and some character “who’s who” at the end of this one!

Demon Copperhead is set in the 1990s when the oxycontin crisis struck, planting very deep roots. Born in a small town in the Virginian Appalachian Mountains, Demon lived a very poor existence as a child. Both stories are about a boy who is orphaned at the very young age of 9, after being raised by a single mother, their fathers having died before they were born. In Demon’s case, his mother is also a recovering drug addict. They live in a trailer on the land of the generous Peggot family, the grandparents of Demon’s best friend, Matt. The Peggots become practically surrogate grandparents to Demon. Demon’s mother (who is never given a name in the story) falls for Murrell Stone, a man who charms her and marries her, and then shows his true colors, turning physically and emotionally abusive. He thinks that her love for Demon, and their close relationship is weird, so he 8insists that she distance herself from Demon. He sends Demon off to a horrible boarding school and proceeds to get Demon’s mother hooked on drugs again. Demon comes home on a break to find out that his mother is pregnant, and he is happy at the thought of having a little brother. That happiness is short-lived when Demon’s mother dies of a drug overdose, taking her future child with her. Thankfully Demon isn’t left to be raised by the evil Murrell Stone, but he does become the victim of two different nefarious foster homes. At the first one he meets some friends for life, Fast Forward, who became tragic and Tommy, who made something of himself. In the second home he was basically just being used for the foster care money. The first home is run by tobacco farmer, Mr. Crickson. Mr. Crickson is physically and emotionally abusive to the boys living there and expects them to miss school to bring in the tobacco at harvest time. Fast Forward is a former football star at the high school Demon will attend. He introduces Demon and the rest of the boys at the home to drugs. He is very charismatic, however, and has them all under his spell and thinking he is their best friend. Tommy, who enjoyed drawing like Demon did, actually goes and makes something of himself. After leaving the farm, Demon doesn’t see Tommy for several years, but when he does, Tommy is working at the local newspaper.

Demon’s next foster home is only minimally better, when he goes to live with the McCobb’s and their young children. His room is in a dingy, large closet and he’s made to either starve or work for money to pay for his food…food that is supposed to be paid for by the foster care stipend they receive each month. Demon soon wearies of this life as well and sets out to find his father’s mother and see if he’s still got some familial connection. He finds his grandmother, Betsey Woodall, who lives with her physically impaired brother, Dick. Betsey can’t believe how much Demon looks like her deceased son and is happy to have him in her life. Paying all the bills, she arranges for him to go and live with the football coach in town, to attend high school and hopefully make something of himself. Coach Winfield is a widower who has a quirky daughter, Angus, who is the same age as Demon, now 14. They become the absolute best of friends. Both having lost their mothers at a very young age, they teach each other things. For instance, Angus has not celebrated Christmas since her mother died and Demon shows both Angus and Coach how to bring that season back into their home and hearts. And Demon, having never really known the embrace of a loving family and comfortable home, learns to accept that Coach and Angus both really care for him.

By the next year, the naturally talented Demon has become a football star under the tutelage of the coach. Despite his talent and finally being someone at school that people not only recognized, but admired, Demon’s football career ends after the first season when, at the championships, he suffers such a hard tackle that his knee is horribly displaced. The team doctor, who we later find out dispenses illegal prescriptions to oxycontin addicts, insists that Demon will be fine with some pain pills, so the coach goes along with it. Everyone else recommends surgery so that he will eventually be able to actually use his knee again, but the doctor convinces the coach that the pills are the way to go. Of course, those pills are oxycontin and Demon becomes addicted when he's only 15 years old.

Unlike David Copperfield, who goes on to make something of himself with the benefit of his aunt, Demon sinks further into oxycontin addiction. When he falls for a new girl, Dori, fentanyl is added to the addiction as well. He feels like he fails the team, fails the coach and fails at life so he drops out of school to live with Dori, who also dropped out of school to take care of her sick father, her mother having passed away a few years before. They are both only about 16 when they fall in love but it's a spiral of mutual addiction and they both go further and further down the drain. Demon’s grandmother comes to visit and when she sees that he's dropped out of high school and is spiraling on drugs she withdraws the money she has supported him with. Both Demon and Angus, who often nurses Demon through drug hangovers, hide the truth about Demon’s drug addiction from the coach. He also hides his level of pain from the coach, but Coach soon sees for himself that Demon will not be playing football again.

Demon sinks to his lowest low when Dori who is just not interested in life after her father dies, stops eating and dies from a drug overdose. Following almost immediately Fast Forward, who is still driving around trying to influence boys and sell drugs, insists that Demon meet him at the Devil’s Bathtub, a local swimming spot that happens to be the same spot where Demon’s father drowned. The Devil’s Bathtub is described as having crystal-clear, aquamarine-colored water and being cold enough to "squelch the fires of hell".  Demon has never been there, but goes there to confront Fast Forward, who, in his arrogance, decides he can dive off a cliff into the water. When he does, he hits the rocks instead and dies. After so much tragedy in his recent past, Demon finally takes Mrs. Peggott's daughter, June, a nurse, up on her offer that she’ll pay for him to go to rehab to kick his drug addiction. (June is a great character who becomes an instant advocate against doctors prescribing oxycontin, to no avail.)  Demon spends three years away, gets clean, meets and sees a wonderful therapist and stays away from his hometown. When the high school decides to throw Coach a retirement bash, Demon cautiously returns to his hometown. By now his touchstone Angus, who he's been able to call on throughout the years, arrives back in town from college. Rather than attending the celebration for Coach because he thinks it will be too difficult, Demon goes to see his grandmother who's very proud of him for getting his life cleaned up. He tells her he’s nervous to see the coach and Angus, who he has started to wonder if he has more than feelings of friendship for. His grandmother implies that Angus has loved a boy for many years but would be happy to see Demon. Demon thinks he's walking into Angus having a boyfriend when he visits their old house that is now being packed up. Little does he know that it's Demon himself who Angus has been in love with all these years. When they see each other in person, the more-than-friendship looks between them are clear.  They share a first kiss and decide to drive to Virginia Beach so Demon can finally see the ocean he’s always been hours away from, but never seen. As the book ends, they drive away with Demon’s arm tentatively placed around Angus’ shoulder.  Unlike in David Copperfield, we don’t get the happily ever after chapter of marriage and children with newfound love. We are left to assume that ending, or not, for ourselves. I’m definitely assuming the happy ending for Demon and Angus. 😊

Here are how some of the Demon Copperhead representing David Copperfield characters:

Damon Fields (Demon Copperhead)                                             David Copperfield

Angus Winfield                                                                              Agnes Wickfield

Mrs. Peggott                                                                                   Pegotty (Tiny David’s loving nurse)

Murrell Stone                                                                                  Edward Murdstone

Fast Forward                                                                                   Sterling Ford

Tommy Waddell                                                                              Tommy Traddles

Grandma Betsey Woodall                                                               Aunt Betsey Trotwood

Dick, Betsey’s brother                                                                     Mr. Dick, Betsey’s boarder

Dori  Spencer                                                                                   Dora Spenlow

Jip (Dori’s dog)                                                                                Jip (Dora’s dog)

Mr. Crickson                                                                                    Mr. Creakle

Mr. & Mrs. McCobb                                                                        Mr. & Mrs. McCawber 

Last but not least…U Haul                                                              Uriah Heep

(U Haul is a menacing character who terribly mistreats Demon but has the trust of Coach and ends up swindling him. Uriah Heep is an equally despicable character in David Copperfield!)

 

Here is my blog from years ago about David Copperfield:

Finished: David Copperfield (Dickens) Oh my, what a good book! Of course, with an opening line like..."Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show", I couldn't have expected any less! In this journey of reading books, I can always count on Dickens to give me beautiful writing that draws me into the joy mixed with heartbreak, terrible reality mixed with hopeful dreams, and such vivid characters, descriptions and conversations, that it is like I'm always there viewing the action from a little corner of the horse cart. As I approach having read 250 books in the past 19 months, I am pretty sure I can count on ONE hand the number of books that have had a happy ending, and David Copperfield turns out to be one of them. Oh, poor David goes through so many horrific, abusive experiences to get there, but he does in fact get a happy ending. :-) It was so difficult to read about the early years of his life, though. I just wanted to snatch him right out of the pages! David's father having died before he was born, David's mother and nurse, and David become a tight, inseparable, loving trio until David is about 8 years old. Then, David's mother is courted by a horrific man named Mr. Murdstone. Just the name brings shudders! Of course, Murdstone pulls the wool over the eyes of Mrs. Copperfield, and pretends to be a pal to David, but the minute she marries him, he becomes the domineering, evil man that he is and bullies her into submission to the point where she's not even allowed to hug or kiss her own son, or show any emotion towards him whatsoever. Then, he arranges for David to be sent to an awful school for boys where the headmaster, a former prison warden, is mercilessly, physically abusive to the boys. When David goes home for the Christmas break, he is made to feel like an unloved stranger in his own house. And...he's just a little boy. :-( We are privy to all his thoughts and emotions, and it's just heartbreaking. Mr. Murdstone's evil sister, Miss Murdstone, has also moved in with the family at this point and between the two of them, they keep David's mother browbeaten into submission. The loyal nurse and friend, Pegotty, can't defy them or they'll fire her and she wants to stay close to David's mother to help her as much as she can. When David arrives home, he sees that he has a new baby brother, who he instantly loves! His mother is thrilled to let him hold him. David's mother, Pegotty, David and the new baby have a wonderful evening like old times, because the Murdstones are out on a social call. When they arrive back home, though, the horror continues. David's not allowed to go anywhere near the baby, and his mother must refrain from showing any emotion towards him. His mother is also a bit sickly and weak after the birth. There is one moving page of dialogue where David sums up his feelings of not being wanted around the house, and of him actually looking forward to going back to the abusive school for boys, since he has made a couple of good friends there. One snippet of the lament stayed with me...."What meals I had in silence and embarrassment, always feeling that there were a knife and fork too many, and that mine; an appetite too many, and that mine; a plate and chair too many, and those mine; a somebody too many, and that I! - what a blank space I seemed, which everybody overlooked, and yet was in everybody's way". David hasn't been back at school long when his 9th birthday arrives. He's called to the headmaster's office, hopefully wondering if maybe they do something nice for a boy on his birthday, only to be told of a letter from home that his mother and baby brother have both died. His mother had been sicker than anyone knew after the birth, and the baby brother didn't live much longer after she died. Poor David is devastated. He goes home for the funeral, not realizing that it is also the last time he'll see his good friends he has made. With his mother dead, Mr. Murdstone doesn't send David back to school. He sends him to work with the lowest of the low in his run down, rat infested wine factory. David's one hope for the future before that was that he was at least being somewhat educated and surrounded by other boys being somewhat educated. Now, he is thrust into the life of the lowest socioeconomic status, made to live by himself in a rundown "let", made to fare for himself in terms of food, comfort, etc. Again, he's only 9 years old. :-( David finally makes up his mind to run away and find the long lost aunt he had always heard about, Miss Betsey Trotwood. He does this, and shows up on her doorstep as a dusty, starving urchin. Having only heard stories of how rigid and unloving she had been to his own father for years and years, David is desperate to beg her for her help. Moved beyond words, and not nearly the old bitty that he had come to expect, Aunt Betsey Trotwood takes David into her home and her heart. His turnaround is immediate! :-) David is sent to a wonderful school, he is fed, and clothed, and most of all nurtured by his aunt and her friends. I can't possibly recap the entire book here, or I'd be typing forever. I'll just smile in the knowledge that even though there are many more hardships to come, David does end up happy in the end, and with the one true love he didn't realize was his one true love until he grew wise enough from his experiences to realize it! Yes, there were some of the most evil characters that David has to face: Mr. Murdstone & Miss Murdstone, making appearances throughout his life; the slimy, duplicitous Uriah Heep; Mr. Creakle, the evil headmaster with the zealous whip. And, there are some of the kindest characters who help develop every good and strong aspect of David: Pegotty, the faithful and beloved nurse from the time he is born; Aunt Betsey, his benefactor in heart, strength, advice, and means; Mr. Dick, the "simple" friend of Aunt Betsey's who teaches David that there is always honesty and honor to be found in that simplicity; Mr. Pegotty, Pegotty's brother, who teaches David about compassion, fierce love, determination; Tommy Traddles, who teaches David the true meaning of friendship; Dr. Strong, David's second, schoolmaster, the antithesis of Creakle, and a lifelong mentor and friend; even David's mother, Clara, who at least starts him off in life with kindness and love, even though she is tortured into not demonstrating those feelings; and last, but not least, Agnes...the true love of David's life, and his guide, his angel, his conscience, who teaches him, without him even knowing it, about true unconditional love. Of course, there are also the "characters" of the book, and I mean true "characters", who David meets along the way who have great influences on his life: James Steerforth, his charismatic, charming, too-good-to-be-true friend who David adores and worships, who ends up selfishly performing an act that devastates many characters, including David; Mr. Micawber, with his verbose letters of woe and conundrum and his wife, Mrs. Micawber, who float in and out of David's life in their poverty, and unconventional means of surviving in London, but who also become the saviors of the day against the evil Uriah Heep; and Dora...sweet, beautiful, silly, "childbride", Dora. Though David's age, they are only about 18 when they meet and fall in love. Married when they are about 20, David has continued to grow, mature and have deep feelings about the world and issues and their future, while Dora, who grew up rather wealthy, is thrown off by the merest of household duties. She is content to just be happy with David and her dog, Jip, but doesn't really provide David an equal partner that he truly needs. After about a year of marriage, David comes to realize this, and decides to just be happy with his sweet young bride and not try to mold her into something she isn't. She is his first true love, and he doesn't really realize that he rushed into that marriage unwisely until he hears Dr. Strong's wife reassuring Dr. Strong that she loves him and not her first love of her youth. The following words stick with David for long after: "There can be no disparity in marriage like unsuitability of mind and purpose. If I were thankful to my husband for no more, instead of for so much, I should be thankful to him for having saved me from the first mistaken impulse of my undisciplined heart." David repeats the first line over and over to himself and realizes that there will always be unsuitability of mind and purpose between himself and Dora, because she will never "grow up" with him. He adores her, though, and is determined to make the best of their marriage. Sadly, Dora has a miscarriage and grows weaker and weaker afterwards until it is clear she is on her deathbed. :-(  David is devastated by Dora's death, and comforted by Agnes, who has loved him all these years, but also been a true friend to Dora, comforting her in her time of death. Aunt Betsey and Agnes both encourage David to travel abroad for awhile to overcome his grief. David, who is by this time working his way to being a pretty successful writer, travels to Switzerland, where he stays for three years, writing. He realizes in this time, what he never allowed himself to realize during his life with Dora....that he has also truly loved Agnes all his life! At the old and ripe age of about 25, lol, David travels back home, and it takes him awhile to admit his feelings for Agnes, since he's the only person in all their circle of family and friends who has never realized that Agnes has loved him forever. When they do both finally make their admissions, they are married, surrounded by loved ones, and are shown ten years later, happily, in their little home, surrounded by a passel of children. :-) Oh, and Uriah Heep has been locked in prison for the rest of his life! Getting into the why's of that, is a whole other story. I only wished that the book had wrapped up with Murdstone in prison somewhere as well...but that would be my only disappointment in the book! A wonderful, deep, story full of all the highs and lows of life, and full of all manner of characters, and most importantly, full of David Copperfield, who indeed, did become the hero of his own life, with a little help from others along the way. :-)