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!