A List

Just wanted to keep track of everything that I have read this year, though I know I haven't written reviews for some of it. In no particular order: 1. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn 2. What Alice Forgot 3. The Little Dragons by Rowan Starsmith 4.I Read It, But I Don't Understand by Cris Tovani 5. The Last Rominov by Dora Levy Mossanen 6. Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult 7. Divergent by Veronica Roth 8. Insurgent by Veronica Roth 9. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand 10. The Journey Home by Michael Baron 11. The Castaways by Elin Hilderbrand 12. Tumbleweeds by Leila Meacham 13. The House at Riverton by Kate Morton 14. Killing Lincoln by Bill O'Reilly 15. The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks 14. The Reading Promise by Alice Ozma and Jim 15. Blood of Requiem by Daniel Arenson 16. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell 17. The Leftovers by Tom Perotta 18. Enchantments by Kathryn Harrison 19. Fifty Shades of Grey 20. Fifty Shades Darker 21. Fifty Shades Freed 22. The Submission by Amy Waldman 23. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline 24. Still Alice by Lisa Genova 25. Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult 26. Defending Jacob by William Landay 27. Liberation of Alice Love by Abby McDonald 28. War Horse by Michael Morpurgo 29 The Next Always by Nora Roberts 30. Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe 31. You Against me by Jenny Downham

Meacham Delivers Again

Leila Meacham's book, Roses, was hailed as the 21st century's Gone With the Wind. I read the book and LOVED it. I loved it so much, that when I saw she was releasing a new book, I didn't even read the synopsis. I just bought it. At the very beginning of the story, I thought that Meacham was retelling Roses from a slightly younger perspective. I was preparing myself for a let down, but let me just say that Leila Meacham delivered again and delivered in a BIG way! Tumbleweeds is the familiar story of three friends - two boys and a girl. Predictably both boys fall in love with Catherine Anne; but her heart only has room for one. Which will it be? There are some familiar plot twists if you read Roses and others that you will never see coming. Every character, from the main characters of Cathy, Trey and John, to the smallest characters like Donny - each character is well thought out and developed. Each character contributes something to the story and moves the plot, providing greater understanding to all that happens. I was shock and awed by this book. I never saw it coming and all I can say is that I truly hope Ms. Meacham writes another!!! BRAVO!

The Beginning of the Summer Reads

I usually enjoy a good, easy beach read and Erin Hillenbrand is one of my favorite authors from this genre. This book definitely was not one of her best. The story is about Tess and Greg MacAvoy, their lives, their loves, their friends and ultimately their deaths. Greg and Tess go for a sail to celebrate 12 years of marriage and never come back. There is some mystery involved - a chunk of her hair missing, toxicology reports coming back with unexpected results, etc.... Hillenbrand does a good job of selling the mystery. The reader wants to know what happened on that boat and why. The trouble is, you have to wade through 300 pages of crap about miscellaneous characters that you never truly care a thing about, to get to those answers. What a let down.

Sometimes he's lucky, sometimes he's not!

I find Nicholas Sparks to be extremely hit or miss. I LOVED The Notebook and A Walk to Remember, not so much for The Wedding and The Best of Me. I also hated Message in a Bottle. I know some Sparks fans will find that sacrilegious but I couldn't find a single character to relate to in this fan favorite. It seemed that after A Walk to Remember, Sparks seemed to have lost his way. He was looking for a magic formula that would speak to readers that had come to expect a certain type of book from him. The trouble is, what he ended up with was a writing formula that felt like just that - a FORMULA. I mean, I knew what was going to happen in The Best of Me less than 50 pages in. Why bother reading when you have it, literally, all figured out? I picked up The Lucky One reluctantly. I just wasn't sure I could handle another disappointment, since this year hasn't exactly been stellar so far. Happily though, The Lucky One was a refreshing return to all those things that I loved so much about the Notebook. The characters were real, believable and likable - all of them. Except for the ones who aren't supposed to be likable that is. I loved Beth, Ben, Nana and Zeus. I really loved Logan but hated that he is called Thibault for most of the early part of the book. Thibault is the name of an old man or a character in a Shakespearian play, not a romantic lead. Once I got past that though, it was a wonderful story. If you enjoyed early Sparks works like Notebook and A Walk to Remember, then I highly recommend The Lucky One.

My Russian Fascination Must Be Over

I have an intense interest in all things Russian. I love Rand, Solzhenitsyn, tales of Anastasia and all Russian history. This book though left me colder than the steppes of Siberia. The premise is that the older daughter of the deceased Rasputin, Masha, is called to the aid of the young czarevich, Alexi. History tells us that young Alexi was a hemopheliac and that Rasputin, a revered holy man and believed healer was entrusted by the Romanov family with the care of the young czarevich. The story had some interesting details in it, but was otherwise almost completely unbelievable. I had little care for the character of Masha and the only one who seemed even human to me was Alexi, whom Masha calls by another name. Seriously, even if you are a history buff and love Russian history, I wouldn't waste my time.

I choose this book because I thought it would be a wonderful way to embrace Father's day, which in recent years has become a somewhat difficult holiday for me. I was right, this book was an excellent choice. I laughed, I cried. It brought back wonderful and less than wonderful memories of being a teenage girl whose parents are divorced. This is a heartfelt memoir of a young girl growing up with her father. I was surprised by the life lessons cunningly wrought into the various stories that made up this book. I think some visuals, like the bike and the prom dress and the dead body of JFK (yes, I said that) will stay with me forever. I highly recommend this book! It is a wonderful read and reinforces once again the importance of literature in our lives.

This book is for fantasy/sci-fi/ and dragon lovers everywhere. I bought it on a fluke - found it online for a 99 cent download. Considering most of what I've read lately, I figured it was worth a try. This book has a very interesting premise. The children of Requiem ruled the land and sky - they were a people who could take the shape of dragons, at will. Then, one among them, born without the magic to transform turned against them. A terrible war was fought and only a few children of Requiem survive. The traitor, Dies Irae, rules over a new land with fear and a terrible might. Can Benedictus, king of Requiem, find the survivors of his people and save the land from his terrible brother? If you enjoy this genre, I recommend this book, especially for young lovers of fantasy.