A WELL BEHAVED WOMAN by Therese Anne Fowler

A WELL BEHAVED WOMAN  by Therese Anne Fowler

Alva Smith Vanderbilt Belmont was anything but a well- behaved woman. Left near penniless as she approached marriageable age in the 1870’s, she set her aim for a wealthy man.  William Vanderbilt, a younger son in the ultra-wealthy but socially ignored family, caught her eye, as she caught his.  This fictionalized account of her life as a philanthropist, sufferage activist, society hostess and intelligent, opinionated woman is a bit too long, but is vastly entertaining.

Alva, her sisters, her children, her husbands, the Vanderbilts, the Astors and others of upper crust New York society are clearly, and unsparingly, drawn. The day to day life of Gilded Age society is the backdrop and conformingly repressive constraint her friends and “frenemies” endured. Told with clear eyed sympathy, the novel follows Alva from age 17 to her death in 1933.

 

Book groups will enjoy discussing the differences between women today and the women who found themselves painted, pampered, polished, packaged and utterly controlled by their fathers and husbands.

4 ½ of 5 stars

EVERLASTING NORA by Marie Miranda Cruz

EVERLASTING NORA  by Marie Miranda Cruz

Nora, 12, lives in her father’s grave house in a Philippine cemetery.  Written for middle graders, this novel will be eye opening to adults as well.

Nora and her mother have descended into crushing poverty and survive because Nora makes and sells flower garlands to visitors to other graves.  Her friend JoJo, 13, and his grandmother assist as well as they can when Nora’s mother becomes quite ill.

Nora is well defined as a normal child who wants normal things. American preteens will easily identify with her and also with JoJo, a child who has never attended school and is his grandmother’s support.  The “bad guys” (who are truly bad) are somewhat glossed over. 

Friendship, initiative, caring, hope, forgiveness, determination are all traits exhibited by those Nora learns to trust. A heartwarming story that is ideal for a parent/child book club.

5 of 5 stars

THE GREAT ALONE by Kristin Hannah

THE GREAT ALONE by Kristin Hannah
Which would you rather do? Die by freezing, starving or being mauled to death by “Alaska” or die at the hands of your abusive, PTSD addled father?

 Hannah has written a tense, terrifying love story. But is it a story of love for the beautiful wildness of Alaska or the wildly beautiful love of a father for his wife and daughter?

 Leni’s father has decided the family will move to Alaska where he will finally be happy. They are woefully unprepared for the rigors of homesteading in America’s last wilderness. Taken under the wings of Large Marge, a successful homesteader and formerly successful big city prosecutor, the family quickly learns to be relatively self-sufficient. Leni learns to love Alaska and the “wild” life style her father has decreed for the family. Unfortunately, Leni’s father is friend and compatriot with Mad Earl, a rabid anti-government survivalist. Matthew, a classmate of Leni’s, becomes her only friend.

 The wildness of nature and the difficulties of surviving in Alaska during the 1970’s and 80’s is made excruciating clear. The terror of living with an out of control abuser suffering from PTSD after surviving as a POW in Viet Nam is also clear. The relationships between mother and daughter, mother and father, Leni and Matthew, father and Mad Earl, among others, are clear and determine the vector and velocity of the plot.

 5 of 5 stars

DUEL TO THE DEATH by J A Jance

DUEL TO THE DEATH by J A Jance I love Jance’s Brady and Beaumont mysteries, but am not so enamored of the Ali Reynolds series. Consequently, I have read a few of the series, but not all. I picked this one up because I was in need of a book and away from home. This one was available, so I gave it a try. I liked it – a lot! Ali is now married and no longer a journalist. She and her husband, along with a few others, run a cyber security firm. They find themselves in the midst of a mafia/drug lord war when their unassuming, slightly shy, perhaps autistic, computer genius employee finds himself suddenly possessed of a fortune in bitcoins – likely all the profits of said drug lord/mafia kingpins. The twists and turns of this – how to get rid of said bitcoins without going to jail or getting killed – makes a great mystery. The computer stuff is understandable. The danger is palpable. Now I want to go back and read the preceding novels to discover the character development I missed. 5 of 5 stars

FIELD OF BONES by J A Jance

FIELD OF BONES  by J A Jance

Joanna is on maternity leave, but her responsibilities as Sheriff keep getting in the way. A group of teenagers find, and then hide, a human skull. When a parent discovers the skull, Joanna’s leave comes to a screeching halt. A serial killer is on the loose. In the meantime, Joanna is reading her long dead father’s diaries and discovering traits she would rather not know. 

Jance writes intelligent mysteries carried by her carefully drawn and fully fleshed out characters. You could read this as a stand alone, but the nuances of plot and character will be better understood if you are familiar with the series. 

5 of 5 stars

THE WRONG CHILD by Patricia Kay

THE WRONG CHILD  by Patricia Kay

In the midst of a blizzard, in an understaffed hospital and when the only labor and delivery nurse has  a heart attack and dies, two infants are switched.  Years later the awful truth comes out. This tale tells what happens next.

Several startling instances of happenstance and the plot thickens.  The story is interesting. The characters have life to them. The plot is a tearjerker – but then you knew that, right?

There is no foul language. There is one sex scene.  Altogether, not a bad way to spend a lazy afternoon or two.

3 of 5 stars

THE DAISY CHILDREN by Sofia Grant

The Daisy Children  by Sofia Grant

I’m disappointed in this one. I was imagining a treatment of the tragic explosion in a Texas school that killed most of the children in the town of New London 1937. Unfortunately this tale was only superficially about that and much more about a dysfunctional family and the unfortunate choices they made.  The “love” story is barely there, the characters are stock, the story could take in Anytown, USA.

The one redeeming feature is the twist that is revealed in the last few chapters. Is it worth reading the other 300 pages?  I don’t think so.

2 of 5 stars