Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple (audio book)

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

Bernadette Fox has vanished.

When her daughter Bee claims a family trip to Antarctica as a reward for perfect grades, Bernadette, a fiercely intelligent shut-in, throws herself into preparations for the trip. But worn down by years of trying to live the Seattle life she never wanted, Ms. Fox is on the brink of a meltdown. And after a school fundraiser goes disastrously awry at her hands, she disappears, leaving her family to pick up the pieces.

Which is exactly what Bee does, weaving together an elaborate web of emails, invoices, and school memos that reveals a secret past Bernadette has been hiding for decades. Where'd You Go Bernadette is an ingenious and unabashedly entertaining novel about a family coming to terms with who they are, and the power of a daughter's love for her mother.

My thoughts:
I love books that use emails, postcards and other written records as part of the story.  It is like peeking into the life of someone else and seeing what they do and how they live.  How they respond to requests and messages and how they cope.  Bernadette Fox picked out a run down house that used to be a school to live in with her husband and daughter, with plans to fix it up, but that never happened.  She is uncomfortable with the amount of involvement other mother's think she should have in her daughter's private school, and she outsources all sorts of jobs to a service in India so she doesn't have to deal with things.  She is wound tightly and truly seems to hate Seattle.  But this is not who she always was, prior to moving to Seattle and giving birth to her daughter she had a different life, one that no one seems to know about and that she has pushed from her mind.

Bee is a bright student who is very close to her mother who struggles with how her mother could have left her.  They did everything together, how could she have left.  The last she saw of her, her mother was watching her accompany first graders on her flute for a performance at school, and then she was gone.  Where did she go?  Why?  As pieces of the puzzle click into place a whole new portrait of Bernadette starts to emerge, it is like she has been a butterfly for years, hiding in her cocoon and now is ready to show the world who and what she has become.  I loved watching things come together from the envelope of correspondence Bee receives and the way it revealed who it came from and what she missed.  The narration of this audio book added to the story, giving each of the characters a bit of a different lilt to their voices that added to how they came across on the page.

Product Details

• ISBN-13: 9780316204262
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
• Publication date: 4/2/2013
• Pages: 330

Meet the Author

More by this Author

• This One Is Mine
• Donde Estas, Bernadette
• Até ao Fim do Mundo
• Where'd You Go, Bernadette

Maria Semple's first novel, This One is Mine, was set in Los Angeles, where she also wrote for television shows including Arrested Development, Mad About You, and Ellen. She escaped from Los Angeles and lives with her family in Seattle, where her second novel takes place.

Where She Went by Gayle Forman (If I Stay Series #2)

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

The highly anticipated sequel to the New York Times bestselling and critically acclaimed If I Stay

Picking up several years after the dramatic conclusion of If I Stay, Where She Went continues the story of Adam and Mia, from Adam's point of view. Ever since Mia's decision to stay - but not with him - Adam's career has been on a wonderful trajectory. His album, borne from the anguish and pain of their breakup, has made him a bona fide star. And Mia herself has become a top-rate cellist, playing in some of the finest venues in the world. When their respective paths put them both in New York City at the same time, the result is a single night in which the two reunite - with wholly satisfying results.

And don't miss Gayle's newest novel, JUST ONE DAY and the forthcoming companion, JUST ONE YEAR.

My thoughts:
I didn't read the inside cover before I started reading, so I didn't realize the book was going to be from Adam's perspective this time instead of Mia's.  The first paragraph made so much more sense after I realized the change!  Being inside Adam's head gave the story a whole different feel.  The first book ended with Mia waking up, but you knew there was a whole lot of healing, both physical and emotional that was going be needed, the whole focus the first time around was whether or not she was going to allow herself to wake up or if she was going to join her parents and brother who lost their lives in the accident.  I wish I remembered the details of the accident more too, but I've already forgotten the details from the first book about that.

Adam has been widely successful, but doesn't seem to like himself or his life very much.  He is no longer close to his bandmates and is dating a successful actress that he does not seem very connected to.  After Mia left and cut off contact with him he floundered and gave up on his music and college.  He moved back home and took up smoking.  He changed.  When he started writing music again and the band recorded it, success came, but he seems to have put up a wall between himself and everything else, always having the ghost of Mia and the undealt with pain from his loss of her.

Mia and Adam's night in NYC, seeing all her favorite spots while talking in circles around the important issues of their past and present, reminded me a bit of Before Sunrise, but with two people who shared a long history and a lot of emotion, who can't quite figure out how to really talk to each other again.  He is haunted by the fact that, while Mia was in a coma after the accident, he told her to stay even if she didn't stay with him.  he told her he would let her go.  But it turned out that letting her go was much harder than he ever imagined, while Mia nurses some anger that he asked her to stay, while also being glad for the life she has been able to build and have.

How do you talk to someone after years apart when their public persona looks so successful and fulfilled that you don't think they will welcome your intrusion?  How do you honor someone's wishes when you aren't fully certain what they are?  How honest can you be with another person?  How do you let go, move on, or find your way back and how do you know which one of those is the right thing to do?  Through this one night together these two characters go through it all with a lot of flashbacks to gain insight on how Adam got through the last three years.

Product Details

• ISBN-13: 9780142420898
• Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
• Publication date: 4/17/2012
• Series: If I Stay Series , #2
• Pages: 304

Meet the Author

More by this Author

• If I Stay
• If I Stay Collection
• Just One Day
• Just One Night

Gayle Forman is an award-winning, internationally bestselling author and journalist. She is the author of Just One Day and Just One Year, and the companion e-novella Just One Night, as well as the New York Times bestsellers If I Stay and Where She Went. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and daughters.

 

Julia and the Art of Practical Travel by Lesley M. M. Blume

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

When her grandmother dies and the once-majestic family estate is sold, eleven-year-old Julia Lancaster and her aunt Constance must take to the road to find Julia’s long-lost mother. They bring with them only the most practical travel things—silver candlestick holders, a few Oriental carpets, some steamer trunks, and Julia’s beloved Brownie camera, which she will use to document their journey across 1960s America.

On the road, Julia and her aunt meet a cast of peculiar characters, including guitar-strumming hippies in Greenwich Village, a legendary voodoo queen in New Orleans, the honorable proprietor of the World’s End Cattle Ranch in Texas, and the colorful sheriff of Gold Point, Nevada (population: 1), who also happens to be the town’s mayor, fire chief, and reverend. But will they find Julia’s mother and a place to call home?

Poignant, engaging, and funny, Lesley M. M. Blume’s new novel is a meditation on the thin line between being an insider and being an outsider, and the deep-rooted need we all have to find a place where we can feel at home.

My thoughts:
I really enjoyed reading this ARC.  Blume is a new author for me, but I am going to look into finding copies of some of her other books as well.  I loved how this book was set in 1968.  It is grounded in an historic period that children don't always learn about in school, especially in the age range the book is recommended for.  Even a an adult, I think I get a much better understanding of past time periods when I see them through the words of novel with people living in them.  I could see Greenwich Village and the hippies Julia's aunt talks to looking for Julia's mother.  In conversation characters work in references to Martin Luther King Jr. and the Kennedy's, giving context to the events and people they might otherwise just encounter in history books.

Julia is recounting the story of traveling the country with her aunt looking for her mother, who left when she was eight years old.  Their car is loaded down with trunks carrying all of their remaining belongings after having to sell the family home and furnishings due to falling on hard times.  The people they meet and stay with along the way are all colorful, perhaps even made more so by seeing them through an 11-year-old's eyes.  The newly rich woman who bought their home and belongings but knows nothing about society ways, the boarding house that lacks indoor plumbing and electricity, the high society woman who is friends with a voodoo queen, the mayor of a gold ghost town, the owner of a ranch and hippies on both coasts.

Since this was an ARC not all of Julia's brownie camera pictures were in the book, some spots were labeled for the pictures to come, but I loved seeing what she chose to document.  I was a bit thrown by the lack of quotation marks at the beginning, but I got used to it as I went along.  I don't know if those will be added later or if it was stylistic to show that a child was telling the story.  Either way, I enjoyed the colorful journey across the country and back.  Sometimes what we are looking for is right there in front of us, it just takes a bit to see it.

Product Details

• ISBN-13: 9780385752824
• Publisher: Random House Children's Books
• Publication date: 3/10/2015
• Pages: 192
• Age range: 8 - 12 Years

Meet the Author

Lesley M. M. Blume is an author and journalist. She lives in New York City, but is a nomad at heart. When she travels the world, she always takes with her a trunk filled with glistening practical-travel things. She has written five previous novels for Knopf, including Cornelia and the Audacious Escapades of the Somerset Sisters, The Rising Star of Rusty Nail, and Tennyson, which the Chicago Tribune praised for its “brilliant, unusual writing.”

Sinner by Maggie Stiefvater

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

SINNER follows Cole St. Clair, a pivotal character from the #1 NEW YORK TIMES bestselling Shiver Trilogy.

found.

Cole St. Clair has come to California for one reason: to get Isabel Culpeper back. She fled from his damaged, drained life, and damaged and drained it even more. He doesn't just want her. He needs her.

lost.

Isabel is trying to build herself a life in Los Angeles. It's not really working. She can play the game as well as all the other fakes. But what's the point? What is there to win?

sinner.

Cole and Isabel share a past that never seemed to have a future. They have the power to love each other and the power to tear each other apart. The only thing for certain is that they cannot let go.

My thoughts:
I really enjoyed the first three books in this series, so I was excited to read a little more about Cole and Isabel.  I did miss Grace and Sam though.  Without them the story had a very different feel.

Cole is still coming to grips with the death of his friend and band mate, Victor, who died as a wolf wanting to be a man again, while Cole wants to be able to stay a wolf for longer and keeps coming back to his flawed human self.  Isabel is hurting from the death of her brother and her parent's unraveling marriage and works hard to not feel anything.

Being on an internet reality show brought Cole to LA, while his real reason for coming was Isabel, but can he convince her of that.  How does an addict move on?  Can the music and lyrics mean different things to different people?  Is there a happily ever after?

Product Details

• ISBN-13: 9780545654579
• Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
• Publication date: 7/1/2014
• Series: Wolves of Mercy Falls/Shiver Series
• Pages: 368

Meet the Author

More by this Author

• Shiver (Wolves of Mercy Falls Series #1)
• Linger (Wolves of Mercy Falls Series #2)
• Hunted (Spirit Animals Series #2)
• Forever (Wolves of Mercy Falls Series #3)

Maggie Stiefvater is the #1 NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of the novels SHIVER, LINGER, and FOREVER. Her novel THE SCORPIO RACES was named a Michael L. Printz Honor Book by the American Library Association, while PUBLISHERS WEEKLY selected Maggie's THE RAVEN BOYS as a Best Book of the Year. She is also the author of LAMENT and BALLAD. Maggie lives in Virginia with her husband and their two children. You can visit her online at www.maggiestiefvater.com.

The Revealing by Suzanne Woods Fisher (The Inn at Eagle Creek) Litfuse Blog Tour

About the book: 

 

Naomi King, soft spoken, loyal, and easily overlooked, has a gift. She sees what others can't see. Intuition, she calls it. Others in Stoney Ridge don't know what to make of it and dismiss her hunches and inklings altogether.

When a young woman arrives at the Inn at Eagle Hill with a shocking secret about Tobe Schrock, Naomi fears the worst. She can't ignore the feeling that something sinister is at work--- something more than a threat to the tenuous love begun between her and Tobe.

As signs mount, they begin to point to Jake Hertzler, the elusive mastermind behind Schrock Investments' downfall. Soon, events spiral hopelessly out of control and Naomi must decide whether to listen to her head or her heart.

In this riveting conclusion to The Inn at Eagle Hill series, bestselling author Suzanne Woods Fisher pulls out all the stops with a fast-paced tale of deception, revelation, and just the right dose of romance.

My thoughts:

Sometimes we think we know exactly how we want things to go in our lives, but the more we push at them the less they follow that direction.  Each of the characters in this book has to do a bit of letting go of micromanaging and has to have a bit of trust that there is a plan for them. 

 

Mim is still hiding that she is writing for the Mrs. Miracle column, Bethany can't seem to get Jimmy to see that they should get engaged, Rose is torn between the past and the present what to do to make ends meet for her family, Naomi is hiding a pretty big secret and all of this is upset when a woman comes to the Inn with some big stories.  Something seems off, but they can quite decide what to do about her and her claims.

 

Having faith, working together, accepting help from the community and getting to the bottom of what really happened to Schrock Investments circle around through the every day events at the Inn and in the town.  I was sad to see that this is the conclusion of this series, as it would have been nice to visit again and see what has happened with this close knit community.

Purchase a copy: http://ow.ly/ywEHT 

 

Landing page:

http://litfusegroup.com/author/sfisher

 

 

About the author: 

Suzanne Woods Fisher is the bestselling author of the Inn at Eagle Hill series, Lancaster County Secrets series, and the Stoney Ridge Seasons series, as well as nonfiction books about the Amish, including Amish Peace. She is also the coauthor of a new Amish children's series, The Adventures of Lily Lapp. Her interest in the Anabaptist cultures can be directly traced to her grandfather, who was raised in the Old Order German Baptist Brethren Church in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Suzanne is a Carol Award winner and a Christy Award finalist. She is a columnist for Christian Post and Cooking & Such magazines. She lives in California.

Download Suzanne's free app! http://bit.ly/10Tygyi

Find Suzanne online: website, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest

Panic by Lauren Oliver

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

From New York Times bestselling author Lauren Oliver comes an extraordinary novel of fear, friendship, courage, and hope that Kirkus Reviews says "will have readers up until the wee hours," School Library Journal raves is "fast-paced and captivating," and E. Lockhart, author of We Were Liars, calls "a thrill a minute."

Panic began as so many things do in Carp, a poor town of twelve thousand people in the middle of nowhere: because it was summer, and there was nothing else to do. Heather never thought she would compete in panic, a legendary game played by graduating seniors. She'd never thought of herself as fearless, the kind of person who would fight to stand out. But when she finds something, and someone, to fight for, she will discover that she is braver than she ever thought.

Dodge has never been afraid of panic. His secret will fuel him, and get him all the way through the game; he's sure of it. But what he doesn't know is that he's not the only one with a secret. Everyone has something to play for. For Heather and Dodge, the game will bring new alliances, unexpected revelations, and the possibility of first love for each of them—and the knowledge that sometimes the very things we fear are those we need the most.

My thoughts:
I enjoy reading Lauren Oliver's books and watching how she helps her characters decide between right and wrong when they have a lot of outside forces working around them.  In this small, poor town, every high school senior contributes to a pool of money that will go to the winner of the game of Panic during the summer.  Even those who do not wish to contribute are coerced into doing so.  Heather has never planned to compete, until she finds out something shocking on the first day of the game and makes the big jump that puts her in the game.

Poverty has eaten away at many of these families.  Some are living in trailer parks, some small apartments, some in falling apart or junky homes.  Everyone could really use the pot of $67,000, the largest the prize has ever been, but the game is more than a game.  Two years ago the final challenge left one girl in a wheelchair for life.  The possibility of getting hurt is very real and increases with each secretive challenge as the number of players declines through elimination and fear of continuation.

Heather longs to be away from her single mother, who smokes and drinks inside the tiny trailer she lives in with her sister, Dodge has a very serious grudge to settle, Natalie is dreaming of a future that seems unlikely, and Bishop is supportive but staying in the background.  As secrets are revealed about each of them, along with other players, a while different picture of the town emerges.  The past winner who is now balding, heavy drinking and no more successful than he was when he won is an eye opener.  Maybe winning the big prize isn't enough to change your whole life,  maybe it takes more than money.

The ride through, the feelings of panic for the truly dangerous challenges, the angst about the future, while skating along a ledge of independence stream through this book with the addition of a couple tigers, some shot guns and secrets galore.

Product Details

• ISBN-13: 9780062014559
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Publication date: 3/4/2014
• Pages: 416

Meet the Author

More by this Author

• Delirium (Delirium Series #1)
• Before I Fall
• Requiem (Delirium Series #3)
• Pandemonium (Delirium Series #2)

Lauren Oliver is the author of the young adult novels Before I Fall and Panic, as well as the Delirium trilogy—Delirium, Pandemonium, and Requiem—which have been translated into more than thirty languages and are New York Times and international bestsellers. She is also the author of two novels for middle-grade readers, The Spindlers and Liesl & Po, the latter of which was an E.B. White Read-Aloud Award nominee. A graduate of the University of Chicago and New York University's MFA program, she lives in Brooklyn, New York.

When I Fall In Love by Susan May Warren Litfuse Blog Tour

About the book: 

 

Hawaii was the last place Grace Christiansen ever imagined she'd vacation, much less fall in love. But when her family surprises her with a cooking retreat in paradise, she is pulled-or maybe yanked-away from her predictable, safe life and thrown headfirst into the adventure of a lifetime.

Max Sharpe may make his living on the ice as a pro hockey player, but he feels most at home in the kitchen. Which is why he lives for the three-week culinary vacation he takes each year in Hawaii. Upon being paired with Grace for a cooking competition, Max finds himself drawn to her passion, confidence, and perseverance. But just when Grace dares to dream of a future beyond her hometown, Max pulls away.

Wrestling with personal demons, Max fights against opening his heart to a love he knows he should never hope for. And as his secrets unfold, Grace is torn between the safe path in front of her and what her heart truly desires. If love means sacrificing her ideal happily ever after, Grace's faith will face its toughest test yet.

Purchase a copy: http://ow.ly/z5Ijj

 

My thoughts:

This book pulled me in right from the start.  It was fun to stop back in and see how Eden and Jace were doing from the book It Had to Be You.  It was nice to see them moving along and getting things squared away from their wedding.  That said, I think it would be just as easy to jump into this book even without the last one.  Everything of note that needed to be known about the last book is mentioned or reviewed so that if a reader is new, nothing will be missed.

 

Grace has lived her life being safe.  She is a homebody who hides behind her food and rarely leaves home.  She has a very hard time with change and taking a chance.  Max is a hockey player with fears about his own future, fearing the family disease that may be in the cards for him.  He never dates a woman more than once and keeps to himself, not wanting anyone to get too close and risk hurting them if he gets sick.  They are thrown together on a Hawaiian cooking vacation that Max goes on regularly during the off season and Grace has been given as a gift from her sister and her husband. 

 

Cooking together and exploring together, the two become close and Grace starts to come out of her shell.  She asks for guidance and tries to believe that it is okay to take a chance.  It takes losing what she thinks she wants to really listen to God and trust that everything will work out in the end, that there is a plan and she needs to trust.  It is hard to let go of our self made walls of self preservation, but Grace takes hers down and learns about living life to the fullest even if it may come with an expiration date.

 

 

Purchase a copy: http://ow.ly/z5Ijj About the author:  Susan May Warren is the bestselling, RITA Award-winning author of more than forty novels whose compelling plots and unforgettable characters have won acclaim with readers and reviewers alike. She served with her husband and four children as a missionary in Russia for eight years before she and her family returned home to the States. She now writes full-time as her husband runs a lodge on Lake Superior in northern Minnesota, where many of her books are set. She and her family enjoy hiking, canoeing, and being involved in their local church. Several of her critically acclaimed novels have been ECPA and CBA bestsellers, were chosen as Top Picks by Romantic Times, and have won the RWA's Inspirational Reader's Choice contest and the American Christian Fiction Writers Book of the Year award. Five of her books have been Christy Award finalists. In addition to her writing, Susan loves to teach and speak at women's events about God's amazing grace in our lives. She also runs a writing community for authors. Find Susan online: website, My Book Therapy, Twitter, Facebook  Blog Tour Schedule         Landing page: http://litfusegroup.com/author/swarren 7/24/2014Rachel | Crafts-n-fitness Victor | Vic's Media Room Cindy | Cindy's Book Reviews Margaret | Frugal-Shopping 7/25/2014Nise | Under the Boardwalk Stacey | WORD Up! Beth | for the love of books Alison | NOVA Frugal Family Lisa | A Rup Life Heather | The Sunset Won't 7/26/2014Susan | Let's eat 2 day 7/27/2014Rebecca | A Bookworms Corner Angela | A Busy Mom of Two Amanda | Semel insanivimus omnes Revka | Our Family Porch Margaret | The World As I See It 7/28/2014Renee Ann | Doorkeeper 7/29/2014Chelsey | Charming Chelsey's Veronica | Veronica's 'Views 7/30/2014Jenny | Book Reviews By Jenny Melanie | Christian Bookshelf Reviews Jessica | Jesus Freak Reader Heidi | Heidi Reads... Tressa | Wishful Endings 7/31/2014Abbi | Christian Novels Jennifer | Adventures in Unsell Land Rosie | Writings of Rosie 8/1/2014Sharon | Sharon's Garden of Book Reviews Bethany | Perfect Beginnings Amber | snidbits Vera | Reader's Haven Reviews Jill | I am believing God Cassandra | Cassandra M's Place Jennifer | Mother of Three Wendy | Life at Rossmont Deb | Deb's Book Review Hallie | Book by Book Kellie | Nothing Less Andi | Radiant Light Ramona | Create With Joy Amber | Amber Writes Virginia | Bigreadersite Cindy | All Things Are Possible 8/2/2014Mindy | A Room Without Books is Empty Melissa | Mel's World with Melissa Mashburn Lizzie | A Dusty Frame Crystal | krystlbears Corner Amanda | Books By Amanda Katie | Too Read or Not Too Read 8/3/2014Abi | 4 the LOVE of BOOKS Edythe | Ski-Wee's Book Corner Michelle | Our Little Corner of the World Kristin | Kritters Ramblings Ladette | the life and times of a pwnmom... 8/4/2014Julie | Julie ArduiniCrystal | Sweet and Sour Reviews Tiffany | The Crafty Home Erin | For Him and My Family Sarah | Life isn't always a Fairytale 8/5/2014Victoria | deal sharing aunt Debra | 3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy, & Sissy, Too! Jalynn | A Simple Life, really?! Megan | When life gets you down...read a book 8/6/2014Laura | Lighthouse Academy Jasmine | the bookish mama Jennifer | Jen's Journey JoJo | JoJo's Corner 8/7/2014Jill | Book Books Everywhere Faith | Found a Christian by His Grace Becky | Christian Chick's Thoughts Lindsey | The IE Mommy 8/8/2014Nancy | Neatly-Packaged Joan | Book Reviews from an Avid Reader Andrew | Andrew Smith's Blog Amanda | Amanda's Pile of Books 8/9/2014Linda | Mocha with Linda Shecki | Greatly Blessed Amy | A Nest in the Rocks Debra | Footprints in the Butter Billy | Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer Dianna |Savings in Seconds Nancy | sunny island breezes Maureen | Maureen's Musings Charity | Giveaway Lady Mary | Mary's Cup of Tea

 

Rival Hearts by Tara Randel (Litfuse Blog Tour)

About the book: 

 

They both want the promotion. But will they find out that it is worth the cost?

Molly Henderson and Ben Weaver have been rival magazine writers for the same publishing group for years. When both come up for the same promotion, they find themselves in an unexpected competition to win the spot. Molly, editor of Quilter's Heart, and Ben, editor of Outdoor Adventures, must switch roles, each working for the other for one month, then submit an article at the end of their quests.

Can girly-girl Molly survive the outdoor adventures that Ben has planned? Can Ben navigate the perils of the social dynamics of quilting events without destroying a valuable quilt in one short month? More importantly, in this he-said, she-said situation, will Molly and Ben give in to their attraction and fall in love, no matter who wins?

Landing page: 

http://litfusegroup.com/author/trandel

 

My thoughts:

We all get into our comfort zones and then have a hard time getting out of them.  Molly had a lot of allergies when she was young so, while her older brother played tons of sports and spent hours outdoors, her parents kept her inside where she was safe from harm.  She translated that into her adult life and never tried anything outdoorsy until the day he boss issued a challenge.  Molly, the editor or a quilting magazine, and Ben, the recently hired editor or a outdoor adventure, are both up for a new position.  The challenge is they each have to do a task for the opposite magazine.  Ben has to make a quilt with a quilting group and Molly has to enter a kayaking competition. 

 

Ben and Molly get a chance to go outside of their comfort zones, get to know one another and grow and change.  By the end of the story they are both different than how they started due to their own journeys and the friendships they form along the way.  I love this quote from page 186 made by one of Molly's quilting friend. "The moral of the story is about supporting each other.  No one is an island, Molly.  Having people in our lives enriches us.  It is as simple as that."  Meeting new people, being in new situations and getting to know others is what life is all about.  If we allow ourselves to get too comfortable, we stop growing and living.  Through making quilts and getting outdoors and helping women in need, these characters learned about themselves and enriched their own lives.

Learn more about this book and the series at the Quilts of Love website.

About the Author: 

Tara Randel is the author of five romance novels including Lasting Love, Melody of Love, and This Time Love. A member of ACFW, Tara is also the lead author of the new Annie's Mysteries series (see AnniesMysteries.com). Tara lives in New Port Richey, Florida.

Connect with Tara: website, Facebook

 

 

About Quilts of Love: Quilts tell stories of love and loss, hope and faith, tradition and new beginnings. The Quilts of Love series focuses on the women who quilted all of these things into their family histories. A new book releases each month and features contemporary and historical romances as well as women's fiction and the occasional light mystery. You will be drawn into the endearing characters of this series and be touched by their stories.

Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home by Rhoda Janzen

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

Shortly after Rhoda Janzen turned forty, her husband of fifteen years left her for Bob, a guy he met on Gay. com, and a car accident left her with serious injuries. What was a gal to do?

Rhoda packed her bags and went home to her Mennonite family, who welcomed her back with open arms and offbeat advice. It is in this safe place that Rhoda can come to terms with her failed marriage, her desire as a young woman to leave her sheltered world behind, and the choices that both freed and entrapped her.

Written with wry humor and tackling faith, love, family, and aging, Mennonite in a Little Black Dress is an immensely moving memoir of healing, certain to touch anyone who has ever had to look homeward in order to move ahead.

My thoughts:
This book has been on my shelf for a while.  A few weeks ago I chose it as one to take on a beach vacation.  While I have read a lot of mixed reviews of it online, I personally enjoyed it.  Parts of it had me laughing out loud on the beach, which can be embarrassing I suppose, but I decided to try to enjoy it and stay in the moment.  I did feel as though she harped a bit on the fact that her husband left her for a man he met online.  That was repeated more often that I felt was necessary.  I got it the first time, so the repeated references felt unnecessary.  I would have liked to have learned more about why both Rhoda and her sister decided to leave the Mennonite faith while her two brothers decided to remain.  Memoirs are one of my favorite genres, they are like stepping into someone else's life for a short time.  A vacation of sorts into a life you are not living, that you may either wish you could have or conversely feel thankful not to have to live.  This one was simply humorous and fast paced.  It was perfect to read on the beach.

Product Details

• ISBN-13: 9780805092257
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Publication date: 4/13/2010
• Edition description: First Edition
• Edition number: 1
• Pages: 241

Meet the Author

More by this Author

• Does This Church Make Me Look Fat?: A Mennonite Finds Faith, Meets Mr. Right, and Solves Her Lady Problems
• Mennonite Meets Mr. Right: A Memoir of Faith, Hope, and Love
• Babel's Stair

Rhoda Janzen holds a PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles, where she was the University of California Poet Laureate in 1994 and 1997. She is the author of Babel’s Stair, a collection of poems, and her poems have also appeared in Poetry, The Yale Review, The Gettysburg Review, and The Southern Review. She teaches English and creative writing at Hope College in Holland, Michigan.