Canadian Boyfriend

Finished July 12

Canadian Boyfriend by Jenny Holiday

This contemporary romance novel is set mostly in Minnesota, with some time in Manitoba. Aurora (Rory) Lake Evans quit advanced ballet school in New York City and returned home to Minnesota several years ago. She's now teaching jazz and tap dance at her friend Gretchen's dance school. She also works as a barista at Starbucks.

Back when she was in high school she worked at a coffee store in the Mall of America, a respite from school and dance. One day she had an encounter with two Canadian hockey players who came in to buy drinks. It was positive and fun, and inspired her to create a fake boyfriend based on one of the young men, Mike Martin. She used this fake boyfriend for years as an excuse for not going to social events she didn't want to go to, to explain her lack of close relationships at school, and as a diary of sorts as she wrote letters to him talking about her life.

Now, one of her students who has been away from classes for a few months after her mother's sudden death is returning to class, this time with her father bringing her. And her father is an NHL hockey player from Canada named Mike Martin. Rory can't believe it and she wonders if it can really be the same person. As she compares her memories with the man in front of her, she suspects it is, but is embarrassed by the whole thing. She even has a panic attack, but manages to recover and welcome Olivia back to class. As she grows closer with Olivia and spends time with her outside of class, helping when her father isn't around, as well as going out after class with the two of them, she becomes more certain, but keeps her secret about the past to herself. 

Mike and Olivia are both dealing with their grief in their own ways, and both are in therapy. Mike is learning a lot about himself, about the emotional labour his wife did that he wasn't even aware of, and about how to be a supportive father. As he begins to be attracted to Rory, he also keeps his daughter's feelings in mind and this is where things get even more complicated. 

I liked the way this book dealt with a number of issues around grief and loss, and about mental health in general. Rory's mom was more focused on her success than her health, and this is something she still hasn't dealt with. Her relationship with her mother has led to a number of issues including trust and food issues. I liked the inclusion of Olivia and her reactions, but this really fell off toward the end of the novel, which was a shame.

A captivating and enjoyable read. 

The Weekend Crashers

Finished January 16

The Weekend Crashers by Jamie Brenner

This women's fiction novel has three female characters that we follow over the course of a few days. Maggie Hodges is in her 40s, raised her adult daughter as a single mom, and works at a clothing store in New York City. She started the job when her daughter was young, and stayed. The owner, an older woman named Elaine, is a woman that has invested in a variety of businesses.

Piper Hodges, 23, daughter of Maggie has been working as a model since being discovered by a reputable agent. Piper lives with her boyfriend Ethan, and has paused her college education to focus on modelling. 

Belinda Yarrow owns a small hotel in small town Pennsylvania with her husband of 35 years, Max, something they bought into decades ago after a crisis in their marriage.

All three of these women are knitters. Belinda runs knitting retreats on a regular basis, with some people coming regularly. Elaine grew up in the town Belinda's hotel is in and told Maggie about the retreat.

As the book opens, Piper is doing a show in New York City, and Maggie has scored a ticket. For unknown reasons, as Piper is walking onto the runway, she faints and collapses. 

We can see Piper is less enthused about her modelling career than her mother is. Piper has other interests, and hasn't made big money so far, and she finds herself feeling relieved that this may end her career. Maggie is worried about her daughter in many ways, including that she is in a serious relationship at such a young age. This may be because Maggie herself got pregnant with Piper when she was quite young and gave up her college education to be a responsible mom. She wants Piper to have more options.

Maggie brings up the knitting retreat as a way to take Piper's mind off her mishap and have some mother daughter time. 

Belinda's husband has booked another group into the hotel on the same weekend as the retreat, a bachelor's party where the focus is on outdoor expertise and survival skills. They've also had an offer from a chain to buy the hotel and Max is eager to move to another stage of life. Belinda isn't so sure. 

As we see the possibilities for people who truly care about each other want different things in life, we also see how throwing two disparate groups of people together by change can create interesting situations. 

I think I liked Belinda best of the characters, perhaps because she is closest to me in age, I found her insightful, thoughtful, and good at her job. She isn't as good at communicating her own wants and isn't always diplomatic when she does.

Each women grows in some way during this weekend and its aftermath, and many of the men face issues of change as well. I enjoyed the read. 

Kym

Finished March 26

Kym by Joyce Stranger

This memoir is about the first cat Joyce owned as an adult, a Siamese cat named Kym. Joyce lived in England and her family was an active one, and after a bad boarding experience, described here, they took Kym on their travels with them. As a child, Joyce was drawn to Siamese cats and had always wanted one of her own. 

Kym has quite the personality, and engages in many adventures, some of which require veterinary care to recover from. The love the family has for him is shown by their actions and they both admire his intrepid streak, and worry about him getting into something beyond his ability to handle. He particularly took to Joyce, travelling on her shoulder and talking to her often. 

As a cat lover, I loved to see the personality of this cat really come through in the memoir, and could picture his adventures and his tales of them in my head easily. A great book for cat lovers. 

Summer Constellations

Finished October 26 

Summer Constellations by Alisha Sevigny

This teen novel takes place at a family-run lakeside campground. Julia's grandfather started the campground, and now her mother runs it. Her grandfather and his main handyman Red ensured Julia was training in all the skills necessary to look after such a place, so whether it is boating, canoeing, cleaning, mending carpentry, she can jump in where it is needed. The family has had it tough lately, dealing with her father leaving a few years ago, and more recently her younger brother, Caleb's illness. 

Julia has been looking forward to this summer as regular camper Dan and his family return. Last summer, she and Dan began a romance and she's looking forward to picking up where they left off. But Dan has unexpectedly shown up with a new girlfriend, and with the additional news that her mom is looking at selling the campground, Julia is dealing with loss on more than one level.

When she goes to the dock to look at the night sky, something that has always comforted her and helped her focus, she finds a handsome young man who offers a sympathetic ear for her troubles. But while he may be cute and empathetic, he also turns out to be the son of the man who is looking to facilitate the sale of the campground. 

As Julia tries to find a way to stay at the only home she has ever known, and to draw her brother out of the self-imposed shell he has retreated into, she also finds that she wants to let hope in.

A great summer romance novel, with additional plot lines that add to the suspense.

Timo Goes Camping

Finished December 7
Timo Goes Camping by Victoria Allenby, illustrated by Dean Griffiths

This delightful chapter book is due to be released in March 2018, plenty of time before camping season here in Canada kicks in. The characters in the book are young animals who've never been on a camping trip before. Their reactions to the suggestion of camping, and to the actual experience show their personalities across a range that young readers will be able to compare to their own friends and family. Suki, the squirrel is the one with the idea of going camping and her optimism, eagerness to try new experiences and spontaneity show in the suggestion and her subsequent actions. Bogs, the toad, is enticed by his anticipated role as entertainer, while Hedgewick the hedgehog is flattered to be chosen as camp chef. Rae, a young badger is assigned the role of engineer. Time, the young rabbit was concerned about everyone's lack of camping experience, and tries to make a list to help, but doesn't know where to start.
He's a smart young bunny, and goes to his local library to find the information he needs. Once he identifies a useful book, he makes notes on the different tasks associated with camping to ensure he remembers and understands.
When the trip begins, Timo immediately finds his knowledge useful, helping tie the frying pan to Hedgewick's pack with the knots he learned about. As the trip progresses, Timo's knowledge continues to come in handy. There is much teasing from Suki about the mistakes made along the way, and even about Timo's book-learning until Timo gathers the courage to discuss how teasing can hurt people's feelings. I liked the opportunity taken for this discussion and the way it came up naturally through the plot. I liked the topic of a typical Canadian pastime such as camping.
Of course, the thing I loved most about this book was how even Suki agreed by the end that every adventure needs a librarian.
This is a good book for kids to introduce the idea of camping and some of the activities involved in such an adventure, the importance of not going into an adventure without some knowledge and preparation, and about ensuring that teasing doesn't become hurtful. The illustrations are lovely, bringing the animals to life, along with their environment.

Happiness for Beginners

Finished July 16
Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center

Helen Carpenters is 32. She's been divorced for a year from her immature husband Mike. She's trying to figure out how to give herself a kickstart to a new beginning, and decided to sign up for a wilderness survival course that her younger brother Duncan mentioned. When she gets to Duncan's to drop off her dog, she finds that he has forgotten entirely (typical for him) and she must take the dog to her vet to board. She also finds that Duncan's long-time best friend James is also going to the course and is expecting to drive out to Wyoming with her.
Helen is disgruntled by all these surprises, especially as she was looking forward to some solo driving time to belt out the tunes, and a good visit with her grandmother, who brought up her and Duncan in Evanston, along the way. She gets more surprises along the way, from James, from her beloved Grandma Gigi, and from the company, BCSC, who is running the course.
Helen finds the group taking the course mostly consists of university students: guys wanting a near death experience to fuel their adrenaline, and sorority girls wanting to tone their bodies. She ends up befriending a young woman named Windy, beautiful and nice, and a good listener. The challenges of the trek are daunting to many: no soap, no washing, no deodorant, no toilet paper, sleeping under tarps rather than in tents, and only one book each. But Helen welcomes these, reading the company's guide as her book, and relying on the advice in Chuck Norris jokes she has grown to know from her boss at work. She also learns that she must deal with all the issues of her past to move forward.
This is a story of learning one's strengths, working as a team, and recognizing that we sometimes need help in recognizing love when it comes along.

Everything Beautiful is Not Ruined

Finished February 18
Everything Beautiful is Not Ruined by Danielle Younge-Ullman

This wonderful young adult novel has a strong young woman, Ingrid at the center. The story is told in alternating "then" and "now" sequences, gradually revealing Ingrid's life up until the wilderness trek she is on in the "now" portion.
Ingrid spent her early years travelling with her mother, Margot-Sophia Lalonde, an accomplished opera singer. They had fun together, visiting museums and parks and enjoying each place while they were there. But then Margot's career came to a sudden end, and the two retreated back to Toronto, to the house that Margot inherited from her parents. Ingrid was enrolled in the local school and she tried to adjust to her new life. Margot struggled with depression. It had tough moments, but did show improvement in at least some areas. It wasn't the colourful, glamorous life they's led before, Ingrid made friends and found her niche.
In the now, Ingrid has been enrolled by her mother in a wilderness camping trip as the price of going to the school of her choice for her final year of high school. Ingrid's choices aren't the ones her mother would make for her, but Ingrid has determination and knows that this is what she wants. But the camping trip is rougher than what Ingrid was led to believe, and her companions on the trek are all working through their own issues. During this three weeks, Ingrid will have to find inner as well as outer strength beyond what she thought she had.
This is a story of families, of how we treat those around us, of depression, and of resilience. It is a story of finding the beautiful that remains even when tragedy strikes. I loved it.

Destroyer Angel

Finished July 23
Destroyer Angel by Nevada Barr, read by Barbara Rosenblat

I've read a lot of the books in the Anna Pigeon series, and this is one of the more recent ones, #18 in the series. Here, Anna has joined her friend Heath, a paraplegic; Heath's teenage daughter Elizabeth, their dog Wylie; Leah, an inventor of camping equipment; and Leah's teen daughter Katie on a vacation that is also a trial of some of Leah's more recent creations, camping in a Minnesota forest.
One evening Anna takes a solo canoe excursion to enjoy some solitude, and while she is gone the camp site is invaded by four armed men who take the other campers hostage. They specifically name Leah and Katie, indicating they are looking for ransom for them. Anna is given enough warning to keep away, but she has no gear and no weapons and must resort to monitoring the situation as closely as she can while looking for opportunities to either facilitate an escape or disable the captors.
This is a story told over a few days, under conditions difficult for all involved. People get hurt, people are hungry, and there is constant worry over the possible killing of some of the hostages.
The details take up a lot of the story, details of the women's thoughts and reactions, of the environment and the obstacles to the forced trek across country to an airfield. There are advances and setbacks for Anna and the other women, and lots of suspense. An engrossing read.

Lumberjanes: A Terrible Plan

Finished February 14
Lumberjanes Volume 3: A Terrible Plan created by Shannon Watters, Grace Ellis, Noelle Stevenson and Brooke Allen

This third volume continues with the adventures of April, Molly, Mal, Ripley and Jo at Lumberjanes camp. Badges covered in the four chapters are If You Got It, Haunt It; Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fondant, Go Ball-istic, and Oldie But Goodie. The other badge covered is Grungeon Master. This collection brings back Bear Woman from the first volume and looks at how competitiveness can impact fun. Here the girls split into two groups for most of the action.

Lumberjanes: Friendship to the Max

Finished February 13
Lumberjanes Volume 2: Friendship to the Max created by Shannon Watters, Grace Ellis, Noelle Stevenson and Brooke Allen

This is the second volume in the collection featuring the five Lumberjanes of Roanoke cabin. Again it contains 4 chapters, each focused on a badge. They are: Friendship to the Craft, Jail Break, Friendship to the Max, and Space Jamborie. There is also reference to the Con-Quest badge. This continues the story from the first volume. Jen starts to get more involved.
Friendship is a strong theme here, and each girl has her own skill set that contributes to the group. Bubbles the raccoon was a nice addition.
This book also contains a preview of the graphic series Giant Days, which follows three girls at university. I enjoyed it as well.

Lumberjanes: Beware the Holy Kitten

Finished February 13
Lumberjanes: Volume 1: Beware the Holy Kitten created by Shannon Watters, Nicole Stevenson and Grace Ellis, and Brooke Allen

This teen graphic novel features a group of five girls: Jo, Molly, Mal, April, and Ripley. They share the Roanoke cabin at the Lumberjanes camp. Their cabin counsellor is Jen. The girls are up for any adventure, and this volume contains four. Each of the four chapters focuses on a badge the girls can earn. Some of them already may have the badge, others get it through the events in the chapter. Here the four badges are Up All Night, Naval Gauging, Everything Under the Sun, and Robyn Hood. There is also reference to another badge one of the girls earns, Pungeon Master.
These books illustrate girls being outdoorsy, adventurous, caring, and helpful. I won the first three books in the series recently, and enjoyed the characters as they dealt with monsters and other troublesome creatures.