The Same Backward as Forward

Finished May 25

The Same Backward as Forward by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

I picked this up in a bookstore because it is one of those novels that tells the story from two points of view, flipping the book to read the second viewpoint. It sounded intriguing and I only later realized it is the sixth book in a series. However, it appears that the actions here are before most of the other books in the series, and so it is sort of a prequel. Because I picked it off a display, I also didn't realize that it was a young adult novel, and given that the two main characters are in their late twenties / early thirties, I think that classification may be from the series and not this specific title. 

Hannah Rooney is a young woman whose mother runs a local criminal empire. Hannah moved out of her home as soon as she could and is studying to be a nurse. She interacts with her family as little as possible, with the exception of her younger sister Kaylie, a wild child, who she tries to protect and keep an eye on. Along the coast where they live is a private island, Hawthorne Island, owned by a wealthy family. As Hannah's story begins, she has stopped in at a local bar to see Kaylie and notices three obviously well-off young men who seem also wild as well as arrogant. That night there is a fire on the island with no apparent survivors, and Hannah is distraught when she finds out Kaylie was out there. 

When local recluse fisherman Jackson comes to Hannah for help, she is surprised to find that there was a survivor, one of the young men she'd seen the night before. He is in bad shape, with burns and injuries. It soon becomes apparent that he also has no memory of what happened or who he is. As Hannah works to save him, partly as a punishment for the death of her sister, she and Jackson must also work in secret, hiding him from both her family and his own. 

They dub him Harry.

Harry's story is the one I read second, and it continues in time past Hannah's. It is also a story of trauma, and one can see what the two have in common. There are many secrets in both families as well as ruthless individuals. Harry loves puzzles of all kinds, wordgames, codes, and games. As he and Hannah engage in these with each other, they come to know each other better than anyone else does, and this gives them both strength and vulnerability. 

The puzzles and games were interesting and seem to a theme of the series overall. This book went in a direction I didn't expect it to,

Nurse's Date with a Billionaire

Finished August 31

Nurse's Date with a Billionaire by Amelia Addler

This is the first book in the Billionaire Date series, a romance series with no sex, a subgenre known as 'clean romance'.This story is set mostly in Madison, Wisconsin. Kali is a nurse who has just transferred to the ICU. Her first patient in a nonresponsive man found on the street with no ID. As the book begins, he has woken up and tried to walk away, and she catches him out of his room. Once he is evaluated and moved to a regular ward, he tells the doctors he remembers who he is and gets told he will be released, but leaves before being officially released. 

He still hasn't recovered his memory however and finds himself on the streets of town looking for food and shelter. He finds a soup kitchen, and coincidentally Kali is delivering leftover food from the hospital to it when she sees him and stops to say hi. She ends up taking him back to her place as she has a separate small apartment space in her basement she hasn't yet rented out. 

As he gradually begins to remember his life, with Kali's help, he returns to his life in England, where his family is extremely wealthy and owns a hotel chain. He is also engaged to a wealthy young woman there. 

There is some drama around Kali's work, with a supervisor who is a bully, and some odd rules around fraternization with patients. We also see both characters' strong family connections and how their past has impacted their lives. 

I read this to meet a reading challenge as a quick read, and found it a light and quick read in a genre I am not that familiar with. 

The Twilight Wife

Finished November 29

The Twilight Wife by A.J. Banner

This novel starts with marine biologist Kyra Winthrop walking the beach on Mystic Island, set in the San Juan islands of Puget Sound. Kyra had a diving accident a few months ago and, as a result, has no memory of the last four years of her life. Jacob, her husband has told her that she taught at Seattle University and that they've been married for three years. She goes through picture albums, both of the earlier years that she remembers and of the years she has forgotten. When she tries to force the memories, she gets headaches, so she slows down, but it bothers her a lot that she has this gap in her life. Jacob says that they recently moved to the house that he grew up in, on this remote island to allow her a quieter environment to recover. He's also told her that they spent time here on the island last summer, staying in a local bed and breakfast, before the accident.

Kyra is beginning to have spurts of memories come through. She remembers another man, Aiden and knows that she had feelings for him, and intimacy. When an older local man, Doug, seems to recognize her she wants to find out who she reminds him of. 

One of their neighbours is Nancy and her husband Van. Nancy grew up with Jacob and seems to have confused feelings about him. Nancy has befriended Kyra and yet seems to also resent her in some ways. 

As Kyra begins to remember things and learn things from the few others on the island, she also finds that Jacob has kept some information from her. Is it to protect her as he claims, or are there secrets he doesn't want her to know? 

This is a tale of narcissism, control, and manipulation, along with Kyra's struggle to find the truth about herself and the people in her life. A book that is hard to put down. 

I Found You

Finished February 28

I Found You by Lisa Jewell

Single mom Alice Lake hasn't always made the best decisions when it comes to men. Each of her three children has a different father, none of whom are present in their lives. So when she sees a man on the beach in front of her home in the resort town of Ridinghorse Bay, she resists the urge to see what he's doing there, at least at first. But eventually she approaches him and she ends up taking him under her wing when she discovers his situation. 

Her youngest dubs him Frank, and immediately accepts him, while her older two are more wary. Alice herself isn't sure about what she is doing, but it feels like the right thing to do. 

As small things gradually remind Frank of things from his life, she both hopes he will remember more and is scared of what he will remember, as is he/

Near London Lily waits at home for her husband Carl, but he doesn't arrive. She can't understand it. They've only been married a couple of weeks, and he has been hurrying home from work, eager to be with her, bringing her gifts. But the night before he didn't arrive and Lily knows that something is wrong. She knows little about her new husband, and less about where she now is. They met when he was at a conference in her country of Ukraine, and had a whirlwind romance. She's been continuing her studies online and wanting to meet his friends and family, but he wanted to keep her to himself a while longer, or so he said. 

She knows something is wrong when he doesn't answer his phone, and she isn't sure where he might be, but she is determined to find him. When the police get involved, she learns some disturbing things about him and begins to have questions herself, but it doesn't dissuade her from her search for him. 

As a reader, I sensed early on that these two situations were connected, but was very surprised to find out how. 

This is a tale of suspense, a tale of loss and grief, and a tale of hope for the future. I really liked Alice, and was intrigued by Frank. A book I found hard to put down. 

A Stranger in the House

Finished January 14
A Stranger in the House by Shari Lapena

I had read the author's earlier book, The Couple Next Door, and so picked up this one from the New Book shelf at work. Once again we have unreliable narrators. As the book opens Tom Krupp gets home one evening, a bit later than normal with unknown issues on his mind. His front door is unlocked, and dinner preparations are underway, but there is no sign of his wife Karen. He is at first annoyed, and then increasingly worried as he finds first her cellphone and then her purse still in the house. He calls the friends he knows of, and only when he doesn't know what else to do, the police.
Meanwhile, the reader is aware of a woman driving wildly through an unfamiliar part of town, panicking to get away from someone or something, before crashing into a tree.
And so, a police officer arrives at Tom's house to let him know his wife's car was in an accident and to have him come see if the driver was her.
Karen has no memory of the accident or anything else that evening. She doesn't remember why she left the house, or what happened afterward. The doctor says her memory will likely return, but it may not. The police are suspicious of her amnesia, especially after they find an unidentified dead man shot near where her car came from.
Tom begins to wonder a bit about Karen as well, realizing he knows little of her life before he met her. He feels uneasy. He knows that he's hidden things about his life from her, and so is aware she may have done the same.
Their across the street neighbours, Brigid and Tom, have been friendly. Brigid has made a special effort to be friends with Karen. But Tom and Brigid have a history that neither of their spouses is aware of. Brigid sits at home crocheting most of the time, watching their house from her front window. We wonder what has she really seen? This book has more questions like this, as the plot progresses. We gradually learn little bits of information, but even those may be unreliable. Bob is barely a character, really just a prop for Brigid.
To me, the characters in this book seemed either creepily evil or stupidly gullible. I didn't like any of them really. But the plot is a page-turner.

We Were Liars

Finished February 8
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, read by Ariadne Meyers

This teen novel is told from the point of view of Cadence Sinclair Eastman. She is the granddaughter of Harris and Tipper Sinclair, a wealthy couple who owns their own island Beechwood, near Martha's Vineyard. The Sinclairs had three daughters, Carrie, Bess, and Penny. Cadence is the daughter and only child of Penny. Her cousin Mirren is the daughter of Bess, and has younger twin sisters Liberty and Bonnie, and a younger brother Taft. Her cousin Johnny is the son of Carrie and has a younger brother Will. The summer that Cadence, Mirren, and Johnny turn 15 is the summer that everything changes. Cadence's father left them earlier that year, making Penny the last of the three sisters to get divorced. Carrie is the only one in a new relationship, but her boyfriend Ed is not acceptable to the Sinclairs, despite the many years Carrie and him have been together. Ed's nephew Gat has been coming to the island every summer for years as a companion for Johnny. The four teenagers have formed a tight bond over the years. The summer they turn 15 is also the first summer without Tipper, who has died recently, and that has affected the dynamic of the family, causing the sisters to vie for the inheritance. As they try to involve their children in the competition, Cadence, Mirren, Johnny and Gat, the Liars as they term themselves, do what they can to thwart this rivalry, wanting to return to a time of happy families. But something very bad happens as a result of their actions, and Cadence is injured. She has only spotty memories of that summer, severe migraines, and other injuries. The summer she was 16, she was kept away from the island by her parents, and the threat is there for the summer she is 17 as well. When they give in and Cadence returns to Beechwood, she finds that even her cousins will not tell her what happened that summer, and as she goes about the activities they all enjoy, she finds the memories gradually returning. She must discover if she is willing to face the truth about that summer, the guilt, and the loss.
This is a powerful story of the emotional life of teenagers, the immediacy of everything, and their not always good reactions to situations. I recently read this article from the Globe and Mail on teen brain development that really is relevant to this book. There is a great Tumblr page that has been put together on this book showing a map of the island, a family tree, and using images and quotes from the books to give a sense of this book.

Another teen novel that has a character struggling with difficult emotional baggage is The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson.

Before I Go to Sleep

Finished April 6
Before I Go to Sleep by S. J. Watson

This novel was one I could barely put down. Christine wakes up in the morning to a bedroom she is not familiar with, beside a man she does not recognize, a man with a wedding ring on his finger. When she goes to the bathroom, she finds that she is twenty years older than she expects to be, and the photos taped around her mirror tell her that the man in bed with her is her husband, whose name is Ben.
When she returns to the bedroom and asks questions, she is told there was an accident, when she was twenty-nine and she is now forty-seven. Later that day, a Dr. Nash phones her and says that he has been working with her without Ben's knowledge in hopes of making some progress with her memory. He gives her a blank notebook and encourages her to begin keeping a journal to see if she remembers different things and to see what things might trigger her memory.
As she begins to have different memories, she finds that Ben has been lying to her. But is he lying to make things easier, so he doesn't have to explain things that will upset her over and over again. So that he doesn't have to talk about the things that upset him. Or is there something more sinister to his behaviour?
This book had me, wanting to know what Christine discovered next, what new things she learned about her life. But the twist at the end took my by surprise, and yet seemed inevitable at the same time.
A great psychological thriller with a plot that is original and gripping.

Stella Bain

Finished December 19
Stella Bain by Anita Shreve, read by Hope Davis

This novel follows a woman from the time she awakes in a field hospital in northern France in early 1916. She was found wearing a British nurse's aide uniform, but has an American accent. She has no personal memory and has difficulty coming up with a name for herself, but feels that Stella Bain is right. She does know that she can drive an ambulance, and as she recovers, she is put to use as both nurse's aide and ambulance driver. When someone mentions the admiralty it strikes a chord with her and she is driven by the certainty that somehow the admiralty holds the key to recovering her memory. As she makes her way to London, she loses her way and is found by a woman in a residential square in London. The woman, Lily, takes her in and Lily and her husband Dr. August Bridge, nurse her through illness and the doctor, once learning of her plight, is fascinated and does everything he can to help her recover her memory.
In the second part of this novel, Stella has recovered her memory and her identity and knows the reason she came to France and the reason she must return home to America. As she fights to regain her family, and find a new life for herself, she is also drawn back to England and those she cares for there.
With themes of love, memory, loss, and forgiveness, this novel has a strong protagonist with a unique story that resonates.

Chick Lit

Finished July 20
Anybody Out There? by Marian Keyes, performed by Terry Donnelly
The reading of this novel was especially good and I think it really made the book come alive for me. Anna Walsh has a great job as a PR rep for a hot cosmetics company in New York City. She meets a wonderful man and has a whirlwind romance before they marry.
But the book doesn't begin there, it begins with Anna waking up in her parent's home in Ireland, with some bad injuries. She is on heavy duty painkillers and her story is revealed to us as she comes to terms with it herself.
Anna has a dislocated knee, facial lacerations, and badly injured hands (including missing fingernails). As Anne deals with her family's compassion and protection, she continues to call her husband Aidan and can't figure out why he isn't answering her or returning her calls or emails.
Anna determinedly returns to New York and to her job, and begins to search for her husband. Her search takes her to interesting places and into interesting situations and she meets people that will become longterm friends.
Meanwhile her family's lives and her friend's lives continue and she gets caught up in their situations as well.
Highly entertaining and touching, this is a great summer read.