The Favorite Daughter by Kaira Rouda FIC ROU

    Mommy Dearest - yes that is Jane.  A narcissist on steroids (or wine in this case). She was living the good life - husband, David, and her daughters in a beautiful home on the coast.  Jane has plenty of time to be the helicopter mother that is the bane of any child.
     Then a year ago her daughter Mary, home from college, disappears over a cliff and her body is recovered a few days later. Jane spends the past year trying to block out everything. She spends most of her time hiding in her bedroom- mentally and emotionally checked out.
    The book begins on the one year anniversary and she decides she is ready to join life again.  But she isn't really capable of doing that .  David is spending more time than ever at work.  Daughter Betsy is finishing up her senior year of high school and tries to avoid her mother as much as possible.
      One day Jane receives an anonymous note saying that Mary's death was not an accident.  Time for Jane to turn to her detective skills.
The story is told in Jane's voice and it is a wild ride.

Outer Calm Inner Calm by Gretchen Rubin 648.5 Rub

       
    After reading organizing and decluttering books for decades I feel that I'm finally in a good place.  However, it never hurts to get a new injection of enthusiasm and this book hit the spot. It is not a long book.  There are lots of 'try this' and 'try that' in the book and some hit home for me.
      Early in my quest I thought organizing my stuff was the answer to find inner calm.  Now I have no doubt that for me it is a matter of getting rid of stuff.  That is what helps me feel more calm!  
    If you are interested in this subject I would recommend that you spend a couple of hours reading this book,

The First Mistakes by Sandie Jones FIC Jon

     Alice is a mother and a very talented interior designer.  Her business was started with Tom, her first husband.  She was devastated by his death and had a hard time coping.  Then she met Nathan.  He bonded with her daughter and won Alice's heart.  They marry and he becomes a partner in the business that is doing very well.
      And then Nathan begins behaving strangely.  Like most women Alice confides in her best friend Beth about her worries.  Beth was abandoned by her daughter's father years ago so she understands Alice's concerns.
     There are many things that convince Alice there is an affair going on even though Nathan insists he isn't.
     This is a story that had me trying to figure out the truth but it wasn't the usual domestic psychological thriller!   Loved it.

Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center FIC CEN

   Cassie Hanwell is a successful firefighter but she is still scarred by her 16th birthday.  On that day her mother left her and her father for another man.  She has never been able to forgive her.
Cassie is happy at her firehouse in Texas and the people she works with.  Out of the blue her mother reaches out to her asking her to move to Boston and help her out for a couple of years due to a medical issue.
      An incident in Texas makes Cassie say yes to her mother and she moves to a new state and a new firehouse.  But this firehouse is quite different and she is not well-received.  Living with her mother is more than difficult.  At work she is tasked with mentoring a rookie who happens to be very hot!  But rule number one is to never date a firefighter.
      I liked the characters and the way the author brought in the past of her life and her mother's,

The Mother-in-Law by Sally Hepworth by Sally Hepworth FIC Hep

     Mother-in-law books will never go out of style!  In this novel Lucy is the DIL who struggles with her relationship to her MIL, Diana.  Lucy is never able to have the bond she wanted with her.  Diana was polite but never warm - at least with Lucy.  Yet Diana was well-respected in the community.  After all she spent her time helping female refugees become a part of the community.  Her deceased husband, Tom, had left her well off.
       Five years into Lucy's marriage Diana is found dead.  According to a suicide note she had cancer and didn't want to go through it.  Seemed like a likely reasons for suicide - except the autopsy makes it clear that there was no cancer.  But there was some poison and signs of suffocation.
    It is also discovered that Diana recently changed her will and left no money to her two adult children or their spouses.  There are some things that will have to be explained!
      I loved the book.

The Unwinding of the Miracle: A Memoir of Life, Death and Everything That Comes After by Julie Yip-Williams (available from Bridges)

A miracle?  I think when you finish this book you will truly
understand how many miracles there were in the life of Julie
Yip-Williams.  Her parents were refugees who fled from China
to Vietnam where Julie was born- blind.  She narrowly escaped being euthanized at the request of some of her family.  In the 1970's her family escaped the chaos of Vietnam by boat.  They went to Hong Kong and eventually to the U.S.
     Julie was given the gift of partial sight by a surgeon at UCLA. Unbelievably she goes to Harvard and earns a law degree.  She gets married and they have two daughters.  When she was 37 when she found out that she had colon cancer which was already metastatic .
      There is no part of her journey from birth to death that won't leave you in awe.

The Little Book of Hygge Danish Secrets to Happy Living 648.5 WIK

        I am constantly in a state of anxiety because of what is going on these days.  This seemed liked the perfect book to provide some escapism.  And it was.
      If you ever see any articles or polls on the happiest places on earth (excluding Disneyland of course!), Denmark is always leading the pack.  So what is their secret?  Part of it is Hygge.  I don't think there is an equivalent word in English that can properly translate it but here is one explanation: "Hygge is a sense of comfort, togetherness, and well-being.  It is about an atmosphere and an experience.  A feeling of home.  A feeling that we are safe."  Sounds great doesn't it?
       Part of it is physical - bringing plants into your home, paying a lot of attention to the lighting in your home, using lots of candles, having a simple approach to home decor.
       Part of it is social - spending a lot of time with family and friends, leaving work at a reasonable time so that you have that time with people.
  

      Even if you only a find a couple of take-aways from the book, I think it is worth your time to read it!

The Girl He Used to Know by Tracey Garvis Graves (FIC Gra)

Jonathan and Annika (rhymes with "Monica") meet as seniors in college when he joins the university chess club.  Annika has difficulty relating to other people but Jonathan is completely different.  In fact, each feels immediately comfortable with the other.  Over the course of that year, their relationship grows.  Until something happens that tears them apart.

Now, ten years later, they run into each other again while standing in line at the grocery store.  Can they move on from their past and rebuild their relationship?  And survive the threat that current events present?

This is a sweet novel.  The author (from the Des Moines area) draws her characters well.  The story moves back and forth in time and is told from the point of view of both Jonathan and Annika.  I really had a lot of sympathy for Annika and, I must admit, a bit of a crush on Jonathan.  This is the first book I've read by Graves and I think I'm going to add her to my author list.

The Enlightenment of Bees by Rachel Linden (FIC Hol)

At 26, Mia has her whole life planned out - her boyfriend of six years will propose to her, they will live in a Craftsman cottage in Seattle, and she will continue baking at the job she loves.  But then, suddenly, that boyfriend can't bring himself to propose to her and tells her instead that he "needs a break" and he doesn't think they "work together" anymore.

Mia finds herself having to create an alternate life than the one she planned.  Mother Teresa was a childhood hero and she herself would like to become Saint Mia.  But baking is all she really likes to do and that just doesn't seem like enough.  So on a whim, she joins her roommate on  a humanitarian trip around the world, hoping to figure out what it is she's meant to do while she's gone.  They visit Mumbai and then are called to the Hungarian border to help with the refugee crisis there.  Will she ever be able to figure out what she is called to do?

This was a good, quick read.  (Which seems to be what I've been reading lately!)  But it isn't necessarily a light-hearted book.  We visit the slums of Mumbai with Mia and her teammates and see and feel their frustration at how little they can do.  And that frustration is only strengthened when they have to deal with the hordes of people trying to escape such difficult lives that living as a refugee is better than what they left.

The romance may be a bit too obvious but the characters are likable and worth rooting for.  I enjoyed it a lot.

P.S.  This book is NOT about honeybees in the obvious way.  You won't learn anything about how bees produce honey but you MIGHT learn something about how bees can guide you on your path.

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes (FIC Hol)

A year after her husband's death in a traffic accident, Evvie Drake rarely leaves her large house.  The exception is her weekly breakfasts with her best friend, Andy.  Everyone, including Andy, thinks Evvie is keeping her grief locked inside.  In fact she can't bear to tell anyone the truth.

When Andy asks her if his childhood friend, Dean, can rent her apartment, she welcomes the extra income.  Dean is a professional pitcher who can't pitch.  He's done everything but nothing has worked.  And the media and public don't seem to understand.

Dean moves into the apartment and they immediately make a deal:  He won't ask about Evvie's husband and she won't ask about baseball.  But can they stick by the rules they have established?

I liked this book.  The author has a real way with dialogue, which is something I never thought I would say!  But the way the characters speak are never stilted and seem tuned into modern speech patterns.  Probably not the best reason to read a book, though!  So, I liked the characters and found them both to be sympathetic.  The setting was also great - a small town in Maine.  Oh - and I learned about "the yips."  Google it - it's a real thing.

You have a great setting, sympathetic characters, and you learn something, too.  What more could you ask for?

Betrayal in Time by Julie McElwain (MYS McE)

Transported back to the early 1800s in the first book in this series, Kendra Donovan is still trying to fit into the world in which she landed.  Everything is different - manners and customs, everyday living, how crimes are solved.

And it is solving crime that Kendra is still drawn to.  Before she landed in the 1800s, she worked for the FBI.  Now, safely under the wings of the Duke of Aldridge as his ward (something that grates on her), she has become known as someone with the ability to solve crimes.  And the current crime to involve her is the murder of Sir Giles Holbrooke.  Left naked and strangled and with his tongue cut out in a church, the other puzzling thing is the symbols that show up during his autopsy.  Are they crosses or something else?

With the help of Bow Street Runner Sam Kelly, the Duke's goddaughter Rebecca, and his dashing nephew and heir Alexander Morgan, Kendra sets out to solve the puzzle.  And just as she is used to, the murder is solved one step at a time with careful footwork and questions.  Will they be able to solve this one before someone else is killed?

This is the fourth book in the series and I have enjoyed all of them.  To be honest, I enjoy time travel books.  The author does a good job of showing Kendra's frustrations as the strictures that exist in this time period, especially those for women.  But as Kendra finds out, solving crimes in any century follow basically the same path.  So maybe life wasn't really so different?

The Cliff House by RaeAnne Thayne (FIC Tha)

After their mother died and after a year spent in the foster care system, Daisy and Beatriz were reunited with their aunt, Stella.  The house that they lived in, on a cliff, became the focus of their lives together.

Now, Daisy is an accountant and the sensible one.  But she's hiding a big secret from her sister and aunt.  And then there's the handsome stranger in town who's very presence upsets her carefully balanced world.

Beatriz was a wild child and married her high school flame after she became pregnant.  Now her ex-husband is a famous rock star who wants to re-unite with her but Bea is sure that isn't what she wants.  If only she can convince him that her heart lies elsewhere.

And then there's Stella.  She sacrificed a lot to raise her two nieces, including the love of her life.  Just ten years older than Daisy, she is still able to have the one thing that she craves. 

Told in alternating chapters that focus mostly on the women in the story, there is really no doubt how the book will end.  But I still liked it and kept reading.  I enjoyed feeling as though I lived in a coastal town in Northern California (in a house with a pool, of course!) and liked the characters (even if they were all beautiful and handsome!).

A quick read perfect for summer.