Clifford

Finished June 26

Clifford: A Memoir, a Fiction, a Fantasy, a Thought Experiment by Harold R. Johnson

This is an intriguing book, and the subtitle gives you an idea of the scope of the book. Johnson talks about his older brother Clifford, a man who had a major impact on Johnson's entire life. Early in life, Clifford helped him overcome a speech impediment, so important as formal assistance wasn't an option for them in their small northern Saskatchewan community. We get a great sense of what it was like growing up there and how their lives changed when they were forced to move away into a larger community. 

Their father was from Sweden and their mother was Cree, and their father assimilated into the local Cree community. Clifford died in a vehicle accident, and it was a loss to the family and the community and we get a real sense of this here. Clifford cared about people and showed it through his actions. There is humour and there is sadness, but overall we are shown an extraordinary human being. 

The book is framed as Johnson camping near the abandoned house that he and his family lived in when he was young. It encompasses memories, the nature around him, the feelings he has about the loss of his brother, the what-ifs, and the way they move forward.

From the examples of scientific discussions we get a great sense of how Clifford's mind worked, so open to new ideas and being able to connect disparate ideas across subjects. His ideas changed over time as he learned new things. 

Johnson is a true storyteller and this book is a great example. 

Down with the Shipmans

Finished April 12

Down with the Shipmans by Meg Mitchell Moore

This contemporary novels is set around a family. It is early June, and the three Shipman sisters are returning to the family beach house in New Hampshire, which was first owned by their mother's parents. Calvin, their father, has asked them to come for a family reunion. But there are also other plans to sell the house that they learn of once they get there. The atmosphere is sometimes tense and there are resentments around certain things. Calvin's second wife, of less than a year, was also the women's mother's palliative nurse before she died and is older than them, but much younger than their father. She will be arriving shortly after the women, and some of them haven't come to terms with the marriage yet. 

Mae is the youngest daughter and she is driving from Denver, where she is near the edge of what she can handle, couch surfing at friends' places, with a job training dogs. She is currently training a recovering abused dog for its owner who is traveling for work. Natalie, the middle sister, is married to a dairy farmer. Her husband grew up on a dairy farm in Montana, but the couple own and run a farm in Vermont. They have three children, and have been talking about a fourth. 

Natalie began supplementing their income with a social media channel some years ago, and has been building that presence, with a featured article in a national paper just-released. A comment that her husband made during the interview for the article has been taken somewhat out of context and has begun creating backlash for her. 

Jordan, the oldest, is a well-regarded crisis communication expert in New York City. She has been put into a situation where she must choose between her employer and the truth. 

As they handle their individual problems, reluctant to share them with each other, they must also face their father's situation and come to terms with how he is moving forward with his life. 

With everyone at a point of decision in their lives, this book gives the reader a lot to think about. I really enjoyed the depth of the characters and watching them grow through their situations. They grow closer through this few weeks of summer, as they find themselves truly reflecting on their own wants and needs not others' expectations. Moore is great with family stories and this book is great around the many emotions these three central characters have. We get glimpses of the personality of the new wife, but she is definitely a minor character. I'd love to see a follow-up around her. 

A Bramble House Christmas

Finished March 4

A Bramble House Christmas by C.J. Carmichael

This is the sixth book in the series, Carrigans of the Circle C, but the first I've read. The main female character is Willa Fairchild. As the book opens, she and her six-year-old son Scout are travelling to Marietta, Montana for a much-anticipated winter vacation. The trip is a gift from her most recent client, Mr. Conrad. Willa has worked as a private nurse since Scout's cancer diagnosis, which also marked the end of her marriage. Scout is now cancer-free and looking forward to engaging in normal activities for his age. Conrad learned enough of Willa's story to also include her in his will, something his family is surprised at, and suspicious of. 

Finn Conrad, his son, has given in to pressure from his family to find out more, and has booked into the Bramble House B&B under his professional name, Finn Knightly. He is a successful children's book illustrator. As he spends time with Willa and Scout, he learns more about them, and finds himself drawn to both of them. He also finds himself curious about his father's focus on Marietta, and begins to look more closely at the secrets in his own family history.

I liked both the main characters and found the plot believable. The setting is a real town, and is brought to life here, giving a cosy Christmas vibe. A light and enjoyable read. 

The Fiercest Joy

Finished February 9

The Fiercest Joy by Shana Abé

This is the third novel in The Sweetest Dark, a historical fantasy series. I also noted that it tied in with the Drákon series by the same author, in an interesting way. 

Eleanore (Lora) Jones is in her final year as a scholarship student at the prestigious Iverson School for girls, and torn between two drákon men she loves, brothers Aubrey and Armand. This year there is also another scholarship girl at the school, and it would appear that she is a drákon as well, going under the name Smith. She cannot apparently turn into a dragon, but she has other skills. The three can't help wonder what she is doing there and whether she is putting them at risk. 

When Lora gives into her intuition one night and engages in a coastal battle, she encounters another dragon, and feels threatened by his presence. 

Soon after that two drakon people, brother and sister, arrive at the school, claiming to have been searching for Eleanore for years. They intend to take her to join her family. But Eleanore is still unsure and since she is now engaged, she insists that her fiancé come as well. 

Meanwhile Aubrey is researching Lora's past with a clue from a memory of hers, by searching for ship passenger lists near the time of her birth. He and Armand have also shared historical letters regarding their family with both her and Miss Smith. 

This tale has lots of dramatic moments and suspense as well as moments of strong emotion. It wraps up this series nicely, while still offering possibilities for future books.  

Another Heartbeat in the House

Finished November 13

Another Heartbeat in the House by Kate Beaufoy

From the cover I thought this might be historical romance with a touch of mystery, but it was something with more depth than I expected. It is historical fiction, but deals with two time periods. The framing time period is late 1936 and early 1937. Here, Edie Chadwick is the main character, a young woman who works in publishing. This year had two tragedies for Edie, the death of her beloved dog and the rift in a long and close friendship with her friend Hilly. It is New Year's Eve as the book begins, and Edie is visited by another close friend, Ian Fleming, who she has known since she was a child. Yes, he is that Ian Fleming, but is a minor character here. After a couple of drinks in her flat, Ian convinces her to join him at a party he has been invited to. There, she runs into a distant relative, "uncle" Jack Frobisher and the conversation goes to a house he owns in Ireland. He and his family don't use it anymore and he needs someone to go over and shut the place up before selling it. 

After another tragic incident in Edie's life happens, she decides to take up Jack's offer and go to Ireland. She will be going through all the contents of the house, deciding what should go to auction and what should be kept or thrown away. She also plans to bring some of her copy-editing work so she doesn't fall too far behind. Ian shows up just before her train leaves and thrusts a dog on her, a Maltese with a pedigree. I love the way that she and the puppy have conversations over the course of the novel. 

In Ireland, she discovers handwritten pages in the attic, written by a woman who lived in the house in the 1840s, and that tell her story. She is a woman with ambition, one who intends to find a way to make a comfortable life for herself, but her plans find themselves getting more complicated than she intended and her life takes a different turn. The woman's name is Eliza Drury and she turns out to have a literary acquaintance that is someone who wrote a book considered a classic. As Edie learns more about Eliza, and the house itself, she finds herself learning about Ireland's history, the making of a novel, and about a woman who led a fascinating life. 

I found this novel engrossing in many ways, and enjoyed it immensely. 

The Paradise Problem

Finished July 5

The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren

This romance novel is a lot of fun to read, as one would expect from this author duo. Anna Green married Liam "West" Weston so that both of them could access subsidized family housing at UCLA. Both had needed an affordable place to live to finish their degrees, and Anna's friend Jake had suggested his brother as a solution. Anna had started in pre-med, but ended up in fine arts, and Liam was working on his graduate degree in economics. Anna signed some papers when they moved out and went on with her life, working low level jobs and painting as much as she can. She has a manager for her art, but hasn't hit it big. Liam is now a professor at Stanford, specializing in corporate culture. He is also one of the four children of the CEO of Weston Foods, one of the country's biggest grocery chains. His father has always expected Liam to take the reins as the next CEO, but Liam wants none of it. Both of his brothers, Alex and Jake, as well as his little sister Charlie work there in executive positions, but Liam has managed to make his own way after his father cut him off when he was in university. 

Now Charlie is getting married, and Liam is expected to make his appearance at the destination wedding at a resort in Indonesia. He is also expected to bring his wife. 

Anna hadn't realized that they were still married, and she also had no idea that Jake and Liam were part of this wealthy family. When Liam shows up on her doorstep to ask her to play at being in a committed marriage with him, she has to admit his timing is good. She's been trying to pay all her dad's hospital bills, but has recently lost one of her jobs, and is taking a day to distract herself. With Liam's offer to give her money in exchange for her appearance, she knows it will help her situation immensely.

Liam's lies to his family also included Anna being in med school as he didn't realize she'd changed her career track, so there is another lie that she has to play along with. 

The setting is beautiful, a luxury private resort, with ocean cabins, exquisite food, and lots of fun activities. The family not so much. The tension between Liam and his father is huge, and hanging over Liam is a clause from his grandfather's will that means Liam won't get his inheritance until he's been married five years, which is coming up in a few months. Liam's mother, Janet is passive aggressive. His older brother Alex is just plain aggressive, and Alex's wife Blaire seems to drink an awful lot. Jake is, of course, the only one that knows the real story of their marriage, but he's only too happy to assist. I really enjoyed the parts that included Alex and Blaire's children, particularly their oldest, Reagan. She's at the age that things get hard, puberty, and Anna is only too happy to give some life advice and support. 

There are a lot of things going on under the surface here, but Anna and Liam find themselves getting along in ways that they hadn't expected, not to mention feeling some chemistry between them. There is fun banter, real attraction, and some great romance going on. I didn't put it down until I finished it. A definite winner. 

Anger Bang

Finished February 19

Anger Bang by Avery Flynn

This novel is the first in a romance series and the two main characters, Thea and Kade, had their own baggage that they are bringing to their present situation. Thea was a child actress along with her sister and their mother was a stereotypical Hollywood mom, doing everything she could to keep parts coming. But Thea's heart was never in it and she stepped back when she became a teenager and the parts dried up. She is now a paleontologist and loves her job. Kade's story is unveiled as the book progresses, but he had an unhappy childhood that is still unresolved. 

As the novel opens Thea is getting the final fitting for her bridesmaid dress. Her sister's wedding is a reality show event at a camping resort in Wyoming, with footage revealed to fans daily. Both bride and groom are stars looking for a lift in their careers and have agreed to do this as a career move. They are friends as well. As Thea is standing outside her sister's trailer, she meets Kade, the best man and brother of the groom. Kade looks like a rebel with his tattoos, long hair, and motorcycle, but he has a successful entrepreneurial career that belies his looks. 

When Thea overhears her sister say that she didn't even want Thea at the wedding, but the producers insisted, she is hurt. That evening, at the rehearsal event, Thea propositions Kade in front of everyone, on camera, and is surprised when he agrees. As the two spend time together, both trying to escape the cameras and wedding events, the find themselves confessing secrets and growing closer. 

There is lots going on here, with Thea's issues with both her sister and mom, and an unresolved situation at work that we never see resolved. Kade has issues with both his brother and his estranged mom, not to mention his dad who passed away years ago. With his mom at the wedding, things come to a head for him in a way that isn't entirely predictable.

This book has a lot of humour that really makes the story come alive. Thea is a lovely woman who has let herself be a doormat for far too long, and Kade has pushed people away in his life, focusing on his work. It was a quick enjoyable read. 

The Trouble with You

Finished January 19

The Trouble with You by Ellen Feldman

This novel is set in a time period that I haven't seen covered as often in novels, but that was very interesting in a lot of ways. The novel begins on Christmas day in 1947 as Fanny, her husband Max, and their young daughter Chloe head off to a wedding, coming home in the beginnings of a huge snowstorm. It than jumps back to 1941, when Max is leaving for Europe. He is a doctor, and we are told a little of their pasts. Fanny went to Barnard, something she has her Aunt Rose to thank for. 

Aunt Rose is also an important character in this novel. She is a woman who went to work directly from school, earning the money to put both her brothers through college, and eventually starting her own business as a dressmaker and seamstress, specializing in recreating designer dresses for those who can't quite afford the real thing. Rose's story will come to be important in Fanny's life in other ways as well. We see how, with Max off in Europe during the war years, life went on for Fanny. Chloe grew, some of Fanny's married friends found jobs that men had done before the war, and Rose was nearby and very involved in Fanny and Chloe's life, babysitting so Fanny could spend time with friends and taking Fanny to plays and on other cultural outings. Since Fanny's mother died when Fanny was young, Rose was almost a mother to her in many ways. We see how her cousin Mimi, also with a husband off to the war, goes on a different path, moving home to her parents for this time. 

Then, after the war, we watch as Max returns, they move out of the city to a house and we read our way back to 1947. Home after the wedding, the day will end in tragedy for Fanny, and she will have to find a way to move on. 

Moving from the house she and Max lived in in New Jersey, she takes a small apartment not far from Rose's in New York City. We follow her as she adjusts to her new life, providing for herself and Chloe, and we also sometimes see things through Chloe's eyes.

One element of the book that I enjoyed learning more about was that of McCarthyism. Fanny works in a field where people get blacklisted for the most minor of things: donating to a cause, a past association, an opinion stated. This is interesting, particularly in relation to the world today, where people use socialist as an accusation. I found the parallels worth thinking about. 

I also enjoyed seeing Fanny bloom as she earns a living, starts doing something she really enjoys doing for herself, and takes a chance on love again. 

His Christmas Wish

Finished December 22

His Christmas Wish by Melissa McClone

This short romance novel is set in the mountain town of Hood Hamlet near Mount Hood in Oregon. Carly Bishop has come home for the first time in six years. Six years ago, she was about to get married, when her fiance and her brother were found dead in a climbing accident. Both were very experienced climbers, and no one is sure what went wrong up there. 

Christmas was Carly's favourite holiday, and that had led her to plan a Christmas wedding. Now, she lives on the other side of the country and avoids Christmas as much as she can. This year though, her brother's widow, who has remarried, has asked for her help during the season as she is pregnant with the baby due soon, and she would like Carly's help at that time with Nick's children.

Jake Porter, whose family runs a brewpub in town, was Nick's best friend, and has done everything he can to help Nick's widow, including being very involved with the kids. Jake even introduced her to her new husband. 

Both Carly and Jake had feelings for each other, but the age difference when they were young kept them from moving forward with acting on their feelings. 

As they are increasingly thrown together, and then choose to spend time together, they find they have much in common and also that the feelings are still there. 

This is a seasonal tale of second chances, grief recovery, and family. A comforting read. 

His Christmas Wish is also the first novel in a series set around the Mountain Rescue team that Jake is a part of. 

The Light of Paris

Finished December 2

The Light of Paris by Eleanor Brown

I love Brown's books, and this is no exception. Here Madeleine is a woman who has always felt herself to be a misfit, whether in the private school her parents sent her to or in the social world of her husband's business contacts. What Madeleine loved was art, and although she'd been allowed to do art in school, her work wasn't valued by her parents, and she ended up succumbing to the pressure from her mother to get married. Phillip is a successful businessman who met Madeleine through her father's business and while moving in the world her parents expected, proves to be a very controlling husband. Phillip has an interior designer do their home, not allowing Madeleine to have any input on the minimalist style, nor does he allow her to work, or do her art. The only outlet to pleasure she has is as a volunteer docent at the art gallery, where she leads tours. The book opens on one of these tours, and the comments from the teacher escorting the students Madeleine is guiding around the gallery speak to something in her. She is due to go home to her mother for a week the following day, and while there discovers the diaries of her grandmother Margie, and finds that Margie also had an artistic bent and was denied fulfillment in her passion. The diaries reveal Margie's one experience of true freedom, living in Paris for several months, earning her own living, and as Madeleine reads of Margie's life, she determines what she has to do in her own. 

This is a novel of what happens when family expectations don't lead down the same road as one's own bent, and how hard it is to overcome the path that is set for oneself. Brown makes her scenes vivid here, so that I could experience the situations the characters were in, and found myself urging them to speak up for themselves. It was lovely to see the women bloom when they were in their element. I should note that it wasn't only the women characters who were forced into a life they wouldn't choose by family expectations, as there were men in similar circumstances, although the focus was on the women. 

A great read.

Dexter's Final Cut

Dexter's Final Cut by Jeff Lindsay

This is the seventh book in the Dexter series, but the first that I've read. I haven't watched the television series inspired by the series either. So, that being said, I quickly became aware that Dexter Morgan is a very odd character. He describes himself as a monster pretending to be human, and considers his wife and three children (two of them stepchildren) to be helpful cover for him. He refers to himself as having a Passenger, a dark force that is capable of extreme violence and behaviour outside of societal conventions. Dexter also has a dark secret. He has made a habit of finding evil people and secretly, slowly, killing them, and ensuring that the bodies won't be found. He also works for the police department in forensics, specializing in blood spatter. 

Here, he is assigned a very different task, to have an actor shadow him as he works. The actor will be playing a forensic specialist in a television movie. His sister, Deborah, is a police officer and she is also assigned an actor, a woman who will be playing a police officer. 

When a body is found all four of them end up at the scene, and Dexter is able to make some astute observations as a result of the body and it's condition. As he gets drawn into the case, he and Deborah make connections to the female actor and Dexter finds himself losing his focus on his dark side, getting drawn in to the perks of high living that he is exposed to. 

When more bodies appear, the Morgans attempt to move forward with the case, but it is assigned to a different officer, one known for his ineptitude. And so they start a parallel investigation.

As Dexter's family gets drawn into the story, from his children to his wife, Dexter finds that his life begins to unravel, and his secrets may not be able to be secret anymore.

The character of Dexter is a very unusual one. He thinks himself superior to most other people, and incapable of emotions. But in his experience here, he finds himself being led by feelings that he hasn't had before and betraying those he is closest to. 

A very unusual read. 

Girl, Forgotten

Finished July 5

Girl, Forgotten by Karin Slaughter

The beginning of this book has a day from the early 1980s, where a young woman, Emily Vaughn, is planning to go to her high school prom. She hasn't been to high school in months, and no one wants her there. The reason for that is her pregnancy. Here we see Emily encounter several young men, classmates as well as a teacher, and defy her parents' wishes to head to the school. She gets there, but never gets back home. 

This novel follows U.S. Marshall Andrea Oliver from her graduation day as a marshall through her first assignment. Andrea grew up in the witness protection program, although she wasn't aware of that until recently. Her biological father is a man who is in jail partly due to her mother's testimony. He was also one of the men suspected in Emily Vaughn death. 

When, on her graduation day, Andrea is offered the job of protecting a judge in Delaware who has been receiving death threats, she finds that the judge Esther Vaughn is Emily's mother, and there is a hidden agenda to her posting. Someone wants her to find Emily's killer, and they think it is Andrea's father. 

As Andrea gets her bearings in the small town, getting to know her partner, an experienced marshall with a quirky sense of humour names, Leonard (Catfish) Bible, as well as the locals, she finds there is more going on than she expected. 

As she learns how Bible thinks, she also learns that many people from Emily's life have secrets, and most of them are still in town. 

This is a book that has a lot going on, and some of the plotlines are eye-opening. Andrea has training, but she is learning her job as she goes, and sometimes, she makes a mistake. A book that will keep you guessing until the end. 

Rules for Visiting

Finished February 16 

Rules for Visiting by Jessica Francis Kane

This novel intrigued me from the descriptions and I borrowed it from my local library. The narrator of the story is May Attaway, a forty-something landscaper who lives with her father in the house she grew up in and works as a university gardener at the local university there in Anneville, PA. Some time ago, she ordered a cutting from the Fortingall Yew, a famous tree in Scotland that is believed to be at least three thousand years old. The UK Forestry Commission had announced the plan to offer cuttings, and she jumped at it. More recently someone has written a poem about the yew that grew from the cutting she took, and the poem won an award. The university has decided to give her some extra time off in honour of this and she has decided to use some of that time to visit friends. Two of the friends she decides to visit are from high school and two are from college.

The first friend lives in Connecticut and she flies to see her. Lindy is married and has three daughters, and May spends a few days with her and her family. The second friend is Vanessa, who is also married with one child. Vanessa has been married only a couple of years, but has two young stepsons. 

The third friend is Neera who lives in New York City and and has one child. May discovers when she gets there that Neera is in the early stages of ending her marriage. The situation is more awkward because May introduced her to her husband Adam.

The last friend is Rose, and Rose is also a landscape architect. May had not entered this program directly from college, so she is a few years older than Rose. Rose lives in London England and has a job creating attractive vegetable gardens for her clients. Personally, I found this visit the most interesting, and the friendship the most sharing, perhaps because Rose isn't married either.

From each visit, May takes something from her friends' homes, that represents something for her. I found this intriguing. Also, for the last three years, her father, who is in his eighties, has been leaving her copies of information on trees, for consideration as a memorial after he has died. The ones that he leaves for her during the novel's timeline are included her at the beginning of chapters, along with her thoughts on each.

We also gradually see how May's life has got to where it is. We find out what happened to her mother, and see her relationship with her father in its complexity. May's journeys also bring her out of her routine, and get her trying different things. She engages more with her neighbours and coworkers, takes the first step towards a possible romantic relationship, and more fully engages in life. 

One of the things May travels with is an older edition of Emily Post, and she tries to follow the Rules for Visiting enclosed therein. These rules are included near the end of the novel. 

I really enjoyed this book, for its thoughts on friendship, for its quirkiness and for its character May.