The Book of Essie by Meghan MacLean Weir FIC WEI

        Essie is 17 and the youngest in her family.  Her family is not a normal family. No, they are the Hicks family known for their wildly popular reality show Six for Hicks.  Her father is an evangelical preacher which makes being a perfect family mandatory.  Essie doesn't know any other way of life but that doesn't mean she likes it.  

     Essie's mother, Celia (perfect wife and mother), discovers that her youngest is pregnant!  This will not do.  What is a mother to do??  Of course she turns immediately to the producers of the show.  After all, they need to figure out a way to spin this story in order to save the show.  Ideas are thrown around.  Maybe a secret abortion?  Perhaps they could cover up Essie's pregnancy and Celia could pretend to be pregnant. Oh wait - the best idea ever.  Arrange a marriage (quickly of course) and of course the wedding would be broadcasted which would lead to ratings gold.  

       Naturally they picked option 3.  It is a bit tricky though because Essie doesn't have a boyfriend.  So they have to find someone willing to quickly 'fall in love' and marry Essie.  Fortunately the show has a big budget so it's just a matter of finding someone in need of money.  

In Another Time by Jillian Cantor FIC CAN

Another novel set in Europe during WWII.  I just can't seem to get enough of them!   The book also jumps to the 1940's and 1950's.  It begins with a brief introduction to Hanna. In 1958 she is playing her violin in an orchestra in NYC.  She makes reference to the time in Germany she stumbled into a church in very bad shape.  But the worse part of her condition is that she has lost ten years of her life.  She was told that no doubt it was caused by a great trauma.
      And then the story returns to the Germany of 1931.  Although her family is Jewish and they are beginning to see and more signs of hatred towards Jews they can't imagine anything bad happening to them in their own country.   It is also the time that she meets Max.  He is the owner of a bookshop that was left to him by his father.  The economy is bad - especially for someone selling books.  To better his future prospects he decides to take some classes at the University.  It is there that he enters  a building by mistake and hears the most beautiful violin music.  After following the sound he sees Hanna practicing on a stage.  And thus begins a love story. But remember -- "true love never runs smooth". That is especially true during the rise of Hitler and the war.    I really enjoyed this book!

Watching You by Lisa Jewell FIC Jew

         In Bristol, England there is a neighborhood called Melville Heights.  It is a very nice neighborhood filled with colorful, historic houses.  Among the inhabitants is the Fitzwilliam family.  Tom, the headmaster of the school, his wife Nicola, and their son Freddie.  Freddie attends a private school instead of his father's school.  He is socially awkward.  He spends most of his spare time spying on the neighborhood and writing it all down.
     Joey is a young woman who has had some big life changes.  Her mother died recently but Joey keeps her up to date through long one-sided conversations at the grave. Her big news is that she is now married to a guy named Alfie.  They really don't have any money so they are not the kind of people who live in this area.  Joey's brother, however, has recently moved into one of the houses with his wife Rebecca.  They have graciously invited the newlyweds to move in.
                                   Jenna also lives in the neighborhood.  She is a student at Tom's school.  Her young life as not been very carefree.  After a divorce her father took her brothers and moved about twenty miles away.  Jenna stays with her mother whose grasp of reality is not always the best.  She is paranoid and communicates online with groups of people who have their own paranoia.
          It is an interesting community and like any group of people there are secrets.
          Did I mention that the book begins with a crime scene?  In a kitchen there is dead body. Blood is everywhere due to the twenty knife wounds.  A vicious, personal murder.  
     It's a good book!!!