Spectacular Things by Beck Dorey-Stein

You know how your don't want a good book to end? You just love the characters and you look forward to being able to sit down each time to read it? Well, that was NOT this book. I almost gave up on it several times but decided to instead just skim through the last half. It reminded my of Jodi Piccoult... it was well researched and takes on some controversial topics. But also the author maybe felt she had to show off her research by mentioning every detail she learned. And the story was a little predictable. 

It's all about two sisters whose mother was a soccer star until she became pregnant with the first sister. So she raised them to love the sport and instilled in them a passion for winning. She trained with them and they became obsessed with the game. The novel starts when one of the sisters needs a kidney, and the soccer super-star sister must choose between giving her one and quitting soccer, or continuing with her career. Then it jumps back in time with all of the background.

Way too much soccer information and way too much time spent on the training and name-dropping of famous female soccer players. Why did it get such good reviews on GoodReads? I'll never know. Just not my thing. - June

Days You Were Mine by Clare Leslie Hall

After enjoying Broken Country, this novel popped by since it's by the same author. I hoped I'd love it as much as Broken County. And while it has some similarities, the story isn't as compelling. This one is also pretty depressing and deals with loss and overwhelming sadness. But this one is about adoption and how it influences the lives of the adopted child (now an adult), the birth mother, and the adopting mother.

There's a mystery element as the story bounces between the present and the past. Finding out how it was all going to come together is what kept me going. It did become a bit repetitive and slow at times, but it was worth the read. - June

Time of the Child by Niall Williams

I tried. A doctor in a small Irish town in the 1960s. Beautiful prose. A few interesting characters. But just sooooo slow. Couldn't do it. I think eventually a baby appears on his doorstep but since I was 20% into it and no baby had appeared yet, I gave up. - June 

Foster by Clair Keegan

A very short novel but packs in a lot of emotion. This is about a young girl in Ireland who is sent away from her family to live with a couple while her mother gives birth to her newest sibling. The couple fostering her is very kind and loving, and allows her to experience a different type of belonging. The Irish words and terms are a struggle some of the time, but it's a good read. Recommend it.- June

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

I'm on a streak of great books, and I'm loving it! This one was quick, thoughtful, and occasionally sad. The entire book is composed of letters, most written by Sybil, a 70-something woman who lives in Connecticut. (She reminds me of Janit in that she believes the art of letter writing is lost, and she much prefers a written letter to email or phone calls.) Sybil writes to authors, family members, customer service organizations, and more. Reading the letters provides insight into who she was and while she doesn't always make the best decisions, she is wonderfully human, honest, and sometimes flawed. I highly recommend this fabulous book. - June

Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall

This book has it all.... love, loss, excellent characters, a courtroom scene, steamy sex, major tragedy, and several twists along the way. I thought it was great! There are several threads running at the same time with the author jumping into different times through the novel. Keeping up isn't easy but doable and worth it.

I don't want to say anything because it would only ruin it. Just read it. Unless you are someone who thinks you can't love two people at the same time. - June

My Friends by Fredrick Bachman

I loved Beantown. And Us Against You. And A Man Called Ove. And Anxious People. So I was very excited to read My Friends. It has the same familiar writing style - witty, great character development, friendships among the characters. But there was part of me that was disappointed with this novel. I felt that the banter between the young friends was overdone - forced dialogue trying to be clever and funny every time. And the constant foreshadowing got tired after a while when I wanted to scream - Just get on with it!!

This is the story of friendship between 4 teenagers. They are all nerdy and come from either dysfunctional or abusive homes.  Parts of their stories are truly hard to read. But they find each other and their friendship is magical. One of them is an artist, and we meet him later in his life when his first and most famous painting has been auctioned off. 

The second storyline is Louisa's. She and Ted, one of the original four, travel back to his hometown with the painting. Ted spends most of his time sighing (I wish I'd read this on my Kindle so I could search the number of times he does this) and comes across as pretty weak. But Louisa is feisty and fun and anxious to learn the story of the four friends.

I do recommend this. I just felt it dragged a bit and the humorous dialogue got tired. - June

The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger

In the 1950's in a small town in Minnesota, a wealthy farmer is found dead by a river. This novel is about finding his killer but also about the people in this town.... the sheriff, the folks who work at the diner, a retired lawyer who moved back to town... many more. Good guys and bad guys. The book deals with racial tension when many of the people in the town point to the Native American as the person who did the killing. Or his Japanese wife who is not welcomed there. It also touches on sexual and physical abuse towards children. Lots going on here....

This was a quick, exciting read and I do recommend it. I don't think it's the best I've read by this author but it's good.  - June

Home is Where the Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose

I've been spending lots of time in the car lately so I'm trying to listen to audiobooks more and MSNBC less. That's why I end up downloading books I'd probably never choose to read. And this is one.

This one is about three siblings who gather at their childhood home after their mother dies. Their father has disappeared years earlier. Slowly they discover lots of family secrets and discover the truth about their parents. It held my interest as I drove but probably wouldn't recommend it otherwise. - June

Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera

I picked this up because it was available at the library and had good reviews... even though murder mysteries aren't usually my favorites. The format was fun as it jumped from the story to the true crime podcast about the murder. Two young women leave a wedding; one is found dead and the other has amnesia and can't remember anything about the death of her friend. The podcaster arrives in town to interview all the characters and try to solve the murder.

It was a quick, fun read with almost all of the characters sleeping with all the other ones. That was almost hard to track. And even at the end, I wasn't sure I had the whole story. This might make a good read on a long flight. - June

The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens

This novel has popped up on several "best of" lists over the past few years, and I think maybe the cover has made me think it might be boring..... the cover shows a wooden cabin partially buried in snow. But I needed an audio book and this one was available so I finally gave it a try. 

Great characters and an interesting story that kept me going. What more could you ask for in an audio book (or really any book). It's all about a college student who comes from a very dysfunctional family who is given the writing assignment to interview a senior citizen. He chooses to go to a nursing home where he meets a man who has been removed from prison because he's dying. The college student then researches the man's legal case, believes he's innocent of the crime that sent him to jail, and off we go. And all this is happening while his wacko mother is not taking care of his younger autistic brother so our little college student steps up and takes him.

A good solid read. - June

The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer

It's hard to imagine there could be another WW2 novel to recommend, but here's one for sure. This one has a very compelling story, wonderful characters, and interesting historical background. 

It's the story of Alina and her siblings and parents who live in a small town in Poland. When the Nazis invade the area, they continue to farm their land and survive as best they can. But as things escalate and people in the town are executed or disappear, things change. 

There's another storyline too. Alice and her family live in present-day America. Alice is married with two children, one who is on the Autism spectrum. Her grandmother is failing and wants Alice to go to Poland to find out some information for her about her past.

I won't say more but I highly recommend this book. There are a few sections that I think could have used some more editing, but for the most part, it's well written and certainly kept my interest until the end. - June