A Merry Little Lie

Finished August 7

A Merry Little Lie by Sarah Morgan

I found this a delightful read. There's a lot going on and I found it hard to put down. Set mostly in Northumberland, UK, the novel finds Becky, an IT worker in London, stranded at the airport when a snowstorm downs flights. She is rescued by Will, her brother Jamie's best friend, a doctor in London, who is also going home for Christmas. He has a car and offers her a ride so they can share driving. With weather and road conditions, they have to stay overnight at an inn and must share a room. Becky finds herself thinking about Will in new ways, but isn't sure how to deal with that. 

Rosie, Becky's twin married Becky's former co-worker and friend Declan in the spring after a whirlwind romance. Becky's been less close with both as she gives them space, and they both miss her. Rosie is a costume designer for a ballet company, while Declan works in IT. The two have had a few bumps in their relationship recently and haven't worked it out yet. This will be Declan's first Christmas with Rosie's family and as a married couple and there are things that are new for him, who doesn't have a close family.

Jamie is also bringing someone home for Christmas, Hayley, who he met only a few months ago, and has told the family they have an announcement. The family is worried about how fast this relationship is moving, as Jamie had a previous long term relationship that broke up when the woman left. Jamie is a doctor in Edinburgh, and Hayley is an illustrator who has lived a nomadic life, growing up in care and not having a home base as an adult but travelling a lot. She longs for a real family Christmas, but worries about being accepted.

Add in a nosy grandmother who asks probing questions, a father who has retired recently and finds himself unmoored, and mothers who worry about their grown kids and also have some secret agendas of their own, and this book kept me wanting more. A feel good, cosy, Christmassy, romantic novel.

I loved the varying points of view, the snowy setting, the lovable dog, the thoughtful presents, and the family nature of the situation. 

Bleeding Hearts

Finished August 5

Bleeding Hearts by Susan Wittig Albert

This is the fourteenth book in the China Bayles mystery series set in Pecan Springs, Texas. China runs and herbal shop and café with a friend and they've recently added a new partner and expanded into catering. The book includes herbal information and lore and recipes. 

Here China is approached by the local high school principal to discreetly look into the past of the high school football coach. The principal recently received an anonymous call that the coach has been involved with female high school students before. Her legal advisor downplayed it, but she's worried enough to want it looked into. China's mom lives near the town the coach worked in previously and goes to visit the mother of the girl he was supposedly involved with. She discovers that the accusations were dismissed by the school, police, and church there, and the mother was frustrated with the situation, but had let it go until recently, when her daughter, now in college, was found dead in a hotel room.

The death was deemed a suicide, but as China looks into things further, she has more and more questions and concerns. 

On the home front, her partner McQuaid has taken a case in New Mexico, where his ex lives, her stepson Brian has something with a friend that he's worried about, and China's mom has been contacted by her late husband's late secretary's son about some letters he found in his mother's belongings. She's asked China to deal with it and let her know if there is anything she needs to know.

There is a unique cultural part of this novel about the way US football is treated. High school coaches are paid very well, often higher than any other school employee, not always required to teach any classes, and treated as heroes and celebrities when the teams are doing well. This gives a coach a layer of untouchability when rumours arise, and this is definitely in play here.

We also see a lot of China's professional life, with her business partners who are also friends. She's concerned about things in their lives, and about the employees they share. There is a real sense of the community nature of a small town, the politics and social structure, and the activities that have people's lives overlap in unexpected ways. 

Kitty St. Clair's Last Dance

Finished August 1

Kitty St. Clair's Last Dance by Kate Robb

I enjoyed Robb's first novel and was excited to see this one at my local library. I'm glad I picked it up as this is a definite winner. Set mostly in the small Ontario town of West Lake on Lake Huron, the main character here is a local girl, Julia (Jules) DeMarco. Jules works at the local retirement home, Sunnydale, as does her best friend Zoe. Jules had wanted to go to med school, and had taken her MCAT, but financial and family issues made that not an option for her. She loves West Lake, and has seen the influx of tourists and the introduction of more vacation homes in the nearby towns drive out local residents and small businesses, such as her favourite butter tart bakery. 

When one of the residents, Kitty St. Clair, dies, Jules is surprised to learn that Kitty left her a building in town. It used to be a dance hall, but has been sitting empty for years. When Jules comes across Kitty's diary from the months before she married a Toronto man, she begins reading it for clues to why Kitty left her the building. Instead, each time she reads a diary entry, she finds herself back in the past as she sleeps, existing there as Dotty O'Brien, one of Kitty's friends. Her first dream visit takes her to May 1949, where Kitty and Dotty go to the dance hall one night where Kitty hopes to meet Beau St. Clair, a young man from Toronto she's been corresponding with since the previous summer. She also sees a local boy, Knots, who works at the dance hall, and who is very interested in Kitty himself. 

As the dreams give Jules more knowledge of Kitty's circumstances, she also considers that the building, once probate goes through, may offer her a chance to pursue her dream of med school after all. When she finds out that a man from Toronto is in town looking to acquire the property for a condo development she is torn in two ways. The first is whether to sell for her own future, but draw the town into the real estate issues she's seen in nearby towns. The second is when she realizes that the man is one she has a past with. Two years earlier, she spent a night with Reeve Baldwin and never heard from him again. Can she trust him? Why is she drawn to him still? 

I enjoyed the characters here, seeing both Kitty and Jules deal with their dilemmas, and the other small town residents, both those in the retirement home, and the locals like Zoe, and Donny at the Legion, the centre of the town's social life. I got a real feel for the community and the way people look out for each other and are involved with their community. 

The romances between Kitty and her suitors, and between Jules and Reeve were well written and I could feel the attractions. Jules' and Zoe's friendship is also drawn well, and Zoe is a real character. A book that I found hard to put down. 

August Reviews for the 20th Annual Canadian Reading Challenge

 This is where you add the links for the reviews of books that meet this challenge that you finished in August. 

The One Day You Were My Husband

Finished July 29

The One Day You Were My Husband by Rosie Walsh

This compelling read takes us through Carrie's situation as she is faced with revising her past. Carrie is married with six year old twins and is feeling ready to return to her career as a surgeon after stepping back when her children were born prematurely. Her mother is less present in her life; her stepmother is preparing to move her father, who suffers from advanced dementia, to a care home; her sister is now living in the U.S. and her husband is supportive of her decision. 

While planning a trip to Sweden to reconnect with her surgical mentor, and attend a conference for the short-term rental company she is part of, she comes across a rental owned by her first husband, Swedish Johan. She is taken aback. Twelve years ago, the two met through a patient brought into the hospital she was interning at and felt an instant connection. They had moved in together, and impulsively married when she visited Thailand to meet him when he was on location in Cambodia. Johan was apprehended violently by armed police on the evening of their wedding day as they were dancing on the beach. Despite her efforts, Carrie was unable to get Johan released and was actively discouraged from doing more by the threat of violence against both of them and others. It took her years to move on. She wasn't even aware he'd been released from Thailand. 

At first she isn't sure whether she should cancel her trip but, even after talking to her sister and mother, she checks that he isn't on the list of attendees at the conference and decides to go, as meeting with her mentor is important to her and will give her a better restart to her career. But she still wonders about what really happened back then, why he's been released, and why she didn't know about it. When she runs into him in person, the questions are even louder, and she decides she needs answers, even if they are difficult. 

I found this to be a real page-turner, with interesting plot twists and character dynamics. 

The Midnight Train

Finished July 25

The Midnight Train by Matt Haig.

This book came out of the responses from his previous book The Midnight Library, compelling him to explore these ideas about life in another way. Since I loved that book, I decided to try this one as well. 

The central character is Wilbur. First we see a vignette from his life, when he is on his honeymoon in Venice. Then we see him in the present, as he is nearing the end of his life, in his 80s, with regrets over his choices. He had a successful life, founding a bookstore chain and making lots of money, but he has sacrificed people and personal life over those choices. Unexpected contact with someone from his past gets him thinking and he finds himself in death, which is nothing like what he expected.

He is by train tracks, waiting for a train, greeted by someone from his past who will guide him on his journey, explaining the rules of travel and helping him understand what is happening. He is a version of himself where he was most himself, on that trip to Venice. The train will take him through time, over the course of his life. It will stop and key moments where he must get off and observe them, feeling the joy or pain or other emotions again and perhaps noticing things he hadn't noticed in the moment. The purpose of the journey is to help him better understand his life. When he hears the train, he must reboard and travel forward in time again. The train is a larger version of a toy train he had as a child.

As Wilbur witnesses his life, seeing things he hadn't noted, feeling the feelings again, he wants himself to have noticed, to choose differently, but that isn't how this journey works. But he can't help wondering whether it is possible to influence his younger self and make different decisions.

This is a fascinating read, that had me as a reader considering my choices, and what I might have done differently. What moments would my train stop for? This is a book that will stay with me.

The Secret Book Society

Finished July 19

The Secret Book Society by Madeline Martin

This historical novel focuses on a group of women struggling for control in their own lives in 1895. A widow, Lady Duxbury, has invited select women to tea at her home. She has sent a separate note via private means letting them know that it will involve more than tea, and that they have been asked for a reason. 

Eleanor Clarke is a young woman from a titled background, whose American husband wanted her to elevate his standing in society. He is brutish and cruel, limits her time with their young son, and controls almost everything in her life. The one thing she still has some autonomy for is her clothing. He also beats her in private, leaving marks mostly hidden by her clothing. 

Rose Wharton is an American woman from a loving family and married her husband, the second son of an Earl for love. But now his elder brother, the present Earl, is ill and Rose's husband will become the Earl soon. The current Earl is, for lack of a better word, training his brother for his duties and sets expectations on Rose as well, none of which she meets. It doesn't seem to matter how hard she tried, the Earl is always disappointed and Rose feels her husband is also disappointed in her. He has begun to limit her reading material, and be critical of her. Rose has struggled to be accepted in English society, due to her being American, and longs to make friends and have a happier life. She also suspects that she might be pregnant and is worried about telling her husband. 

Lavinia Cavendish is the oldest daughter in a titled family. She is emotional and bookish, and her grandmother was sent to a madhouse. Her father has been critical of her strong emotions lately, and has limited her reading material, and also her mother's reading material. It was her mother who was invited to tea, but she feels Lavinia will benefit from the opportunity. Lavinia's younger sister is soon to be presented and her father is worried about reputation. There is the threat of sending Lavinia away, similar to how her grandmother was treated. 

As the women open themselves to each other, connect through reading books, and begin to have that external support system, they also become more confident in themselves. Lavinia, in particular, finds writing poetry lets her express her emotions safely on the page and lets her be more calm in her daily life. She also attracts a suitor who is more progressive and understanding in nature than her father. 

This was an interesting study of women's lives in high society at a certain time, and emphasizes how little control they had over their own activities. I enjoyed it, and the ending seems to open the possibility for future books.