The Secrets of Lake Road by Karen Katchur FIC Kat

This is a debut novel and I look forward to more by this new author.  It is a story of a family that has been dysfunctional because of secrets. Jo was spending the summer at her family's cabin as she did every year.  But one year her life changed for ever.  Her boyfriend, Billie, drowned.  The truth of that death has been haunting Jo ever since.

Now she is back at the lake.  But as she has for years she is dropping her children off to spend the summer at the lake with her mother.  She can never stay there long.  Jo doesn't get along well with her 12-year-old daughter, Caroline, or with her mother.  Her relationship with her son Johnny is better but maybe that is because he is always off with his friends.  As always her husband, Kevin, is off driving a truck.

Jo is itchy to take off when a tragedy occurs.  A young girl, Sara, goes missing from the beach and is presumed drowned.  The locals are anxious to find her body so that they can get back to making money.  In the process of looking for her body they discover an arm bone.  It is sent for a DNA test but everyone is sure that is belongs to Billie since his body was found with a missing arm. Secrets will be revealed!

It was an easy and entertaining read.

Click here to check our catalog for availability.

A Lucky Life Interrupted by Tom Brokaw 616.99 Bro

I have always loved Tom Brokaw on television and have read some of his books.  This book is about his latest challenge - a diagnosis of multiple myeloma (MM) which is a blood cancer that is not curable but treatable.  It began with nagging back problems that wouldn't go away.  As a very physically active man it was quite annoying.  He is on a Mayo board in Rochester Minnesota and was there for a board meeting when he decided to get a quick physical to see if they could suggest anything else to help.  The diagnosis came out of the blue (as it does for most of us).  He kept the news from his wife Meredith until he could return home and tell her in person.

Brokaw is very honest in his telling of what he went through - the pain, the cost and the new normal of living every day with cancer hanging over his head.  He also talks about his family and many of the opportunities he had a chance to witness as a newsman.

It is a very quick read.  The subtitle of the book is "A Memoir of Hope" so it also an uplifting book.

Click here to check our catalog for availability.

Long Upon the Land by Margaret Maron (MYS Mar)

In this 20th book in the series, Judge Deborah Knott with a dead body on her father's property about which he might know more than he says and questions about how her parents met (her father was a bootlegger, her mother the daughter of a respected attorney).  Trying not to interfere in the murder investigation run by her husband, Deputy Sheriff Dwight Bryant, proves almost impossible.

Opening up the pages of this book was like connecting with a long-lost friend.  Margaret Maron easily conveys the patterns and rhythms of life in rural North Carolina.  In the 22 years since the first book in this series was published, I have watched Deborah's relationship with Dwight grow, come to know her many brothers and their wives and children (although I have to admit that there are so many of them that I do get confused) and come to care about what happens in Colleton County.

A quick read that made me wish for more.

Click here to check our catalog for availability.

The Storm of the Century by Al Roker 976.4 Rok

   
Of course I have heard of Galveston (I am sure I first heard of it in the song!) and I knew that there had been an horrific hurricane there once. Now I know a lot more!  There were times when I found the first part of this book a bit slow - there is a lot of weather information.  Still I was interested in the background of the town and the background of meteorology.  I would have thought in 1900 it was more a matter of looking out the window to see if it was raining. Interspersed with this introduction to the town and weather are lots of personal stories of some of the people who lived there.  My stomach was in my throat as I read about the harrowing events. There are no accurate records but it has been estimated that 10,000 people died in that storm.

Clara Barton came to Galveston after the tragedy to help out with the Red Cross.  It was her final time in that role (of course she was 78 at the time so it was time to retire).

One little tidbit that I jumped on was the story of Indianola, Texas.  It had been destroyed by a hurricane in 1875, they rebuilt the town but in 1886 another hurricane hit.  It was followed by a fire and that was it.  Indianola, Texas is now just an historic landmark.

Click here to check our catalog for availability.

Center of Gravity by Laura McNeill FIC McN

 Ava is one of those women who thinks she has hit the jackpot when smooth-talking Mitchell Carson falls in love with her.   He has been raising his young son Jack after his wife's tragic death.  Ava was a counselor at Jack's school and that is how she met Mitchell.  He is a driven and successful man - that should make Ava's mother think more highly of her.  After a couple years of marriage things have changed.  Jack has been officially adopted by Ava and he is very happy to be a big brother to baby Sam.  Ava is no longer working (Mitchell's decision) and is instead trying to be the perfect wife and mother so that Mitchell doesn't get upset.  It has become a balancing act and she is beginning to lose her balance.  Her failures are forcing Mitchell to take drastic measures - and you know that isn't going to end well!
      A good psychological thriller of good versus evil.

Click here to check our catalog for availability.

17 Carnations by Andrew Morton 941 Mor

Love. War. British royalty. Nazi intrigue. Scandal. Espionage. Deceit. Family discord. And the future of the modern world. Andrew Morton’s 17 Carnations is a riveting, revealing account of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor’s involvement with Hitler and the Nazis, which leaves the reader with chilling thoughts of what might have been.

Click here to check our catalog for availability. 

We Never Asked for Wings by Vanessa Diffenbaugh (FIC Dif)

Letty is 33 and the single mother of two children - Alex, 15 almost 16, and Luna, 6.  For all of their lives they have lived with Letty's parents.  While Letty worked whatever jobs she could find, her parents raised her children.  Now, suddenly, her parents have decided to return to Mexico and Letty, for the first time, must be a mother to her children.

Luna desperately misses her grandparents and Alex is falling in love with a classmate and unwilling to give his mother many chances.  When Letty figures out a way to improve her children's chances by enrolling them in a better school district their lives change.  Luna loves her new school but Alex is torn between the many new and intellectual challenges he faces and his worry for his girlfriend who must attend the high school in their old neighborhood and faces bullying.

Determined to make this work, Letty also receives help from her co-worker, Rick, and her high school sweetheart (and Alex's father), Wes.  Torn between these two very different men and what is best for her children, Letty navigates her life doing the best she can.  Until things fall apart.

I loved this author's first book and couldn't wait to dive into this novel.  I wasn't disappointed.  She manages to make all of her characters sympathetic and believable.  While I often wanted to reach through the pages of the book and shake Letty, her guilt at how she had lived made me like her.  Alex's struggle with how to help his girlfriend made me worry but was completely understandable.  The author also managed to help me understand better the lives of people who live below the radar and just how frightening that can be.

Click here to check our catalog for availability.

Mess by Barry Yourgrau 616.85 You

This was a good book for me to read.  There haven't been any hoarding shows on tv for a while and that is where I always get some inspiration to tidy up.  When I took a break from reading I would do just that!   One day Barry was startled to hear his doorbell ring.  It was his long time girlfriend, Cosima.  Although he traveled with her for her career and they spent every night together (at her place), this was the first time she had come to his apartment in five years!!!!  She was there to get a set of keys for her place because she had locked herself out and she had bags full of groceries.  He did give her the keys but didn't let her in.  It's obvious from the title of the book what the problem was.  Cosima has had it and gives him an ultimatum.

He realizes that he doesn't want to lose her but it isn't that easy to clean up a hoarded one-bedroom apartment.  Being a writer he decided he would document his journey.  And thus we have a book.  I think it was about two years before he was finally victorious.  During that time he would visit with experts, join support groups, see his shrink, research hoarding and actually visit some hoards.  It was an interesting book.  I would tell you  more about it but I have to go unload my dishwasher and put everything away..........

Click here to check our catalog for availability.

The Third Wife by Lisa Jewell FIC Jew

If you read that Adrian Wolfe had been married, had some kids, left the family for a new wife, had kids, left the family and married a third wife you probably wouldn't like him without any more information than that.  But when you begin reading the book he is actually a likable guy. In fact my heart went out to him.  His wife (the current love of his life) had gone to help out one of the ex-wives with child care.  Adrian thought Maya would be home around 6:30.  His phone calls went unanswered.  Hours later she called him.  She was quite drunk and said she was coming home.   Instead she is killed by a bus.  A year later Adrian is not coping well with being alone.

Enter Jane, a woman who calls him after he posted on a message board in the post office.  He wants to find a home for Maya's cat.  She comes twice to visit the cat but decides it won't work out.  Jane doesn't disappear. It seems she might be stalking him.  When some poison pen letters (hidden by Maya in a folder) are discovered on Adrian's computer, he begins to think there was more to Maya's death than an accident.

There are lots of characters - five children and the two exes!  They are an odd group.  They often get together and once or twice a year they all go on vacation together.  An intriguing read.  I really liked it.

Click here to check our catalog for availability.

Old Sparky by Anthony Galvin 364.66 Gal

For some unknown reason, I chose the book Old Sparky: The Electric Chair and the History of the Death Penalty to be the book I read every night before bed last week. History books usually do make good books before bed, but perhaps not this one.

Of all the methods used to kill people, why did the electric chair gain such popularity in the United States? Author Anthony Galvin sets out to answer this question by first examining other methods used over time. So visions of garroting, beheading, and being blown from a cannon danced in my head as I slept. 

Despite its gruesomeness this book is a fascinating (perhaps not the right word) look at of the logistics of the death penalty, how our understanding of what crimes deserve death has changed through the years, and what the future might hold.

Galvin also covers sensation executions, last meals (in case you were wondering, Victor Feguer, the last person executed in Iowa in 1963, requested a single olive for his last meal), and the electric chair's rise and fall in popularity.

All-in-all, this is certainly an enlightening book. It's clearly written and engaging.  It avoids dipping into the moral arguments but sticks to a historic account. It may not change your own views on the death penalty, either for or against, but it will certainly make you think.

Click here to check our catalog for availability. 

Letters to the Lost by Iona Grey (FIC Gre)

Escaping from her abusive boyfriend, Jess seeks shelter by breaking into what appears to be an abandoned house.  While trying to decide what to do next (without much money or a permanent address she has a hard time filling out job applications), she opens a letter that is dropped through the mail slot in the front door.

Marked Personal and Urgent on the front and with the salutation of "Darling Girl", Jess finds herself unable to think of anything but the recipient of the letter.  When she stumbles across a collection of letters buried in a dresser in an upstairs bedroom, she becomes immersed in the lives of Stella and Dan.

Married at a young age in 1942 to an older vicar, Stella was somewhat relieved when her husband left to be a vicar for the British troops.  While he was gone, she met Dan, an American pilot stationed in England.  Against improbable odds they fall in love - but face many obstacles to happiness.

While trying to sort out what happened to Stella, Jess begins to put her own new life in order.  Into her life stumbles Will, also searching for happiness.  Together they put all of their efforts into locating Stella...before it is too late.

Both Stella and Jess share similar backgrounds - lonely childhoods, solitary lives and insecurity.  Throughout the novel both come to terms with who they are and learn and gain strength.  While both love stories might have seemed a little bit too coincidental, I enjoyed reading about both of them and rooted for the ultimate happy ending.

Click here to check our catalog for availability.