The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie (Wendy McClure)

My husband and I just got back from the beautiful city of Montreal on a short vacation. We save money in other areas so that we can go on some nice vacations (Last year's Bermuda cruise was quite memorable.). Out of all of the places I visited, where have I enjoyed going the most you ask? Walnut Grove, Minnesota and Plum Creek...a home of the legendary Laura Ingalls Wilder. Wendy McClure and I seem to have been bred from the same cloth, as both of us are obsessed with Little House on the Prairie (She more so with the books...me with the books and TV show.). This book is perfect for Little House fans like me, but really no one else.

This book is quite the extensive travelogue. McClure and her husband (my husband, being from Minnesota, was dragged along to Walnut Grove as well) decide to do everything Laura Ingalls Wilder, from churning butter to making foods she would have eaten. They travel to sites in the middle of nowhere to see the places she would have lived. Surprisingly, not many of her homes are still in existence. Many are replicas. Along the way, McClure learns about herself, having some revelations about why she is actually taking the trip.

I can completely understand this book, as I would be gung ho for a trip like this as well. I have never felt more peaceful then being on the banks of Plum Creek in the middle of nowhere. Knowing that you are wading in the same creek as Laura in her books takes you back to her time. I heartily recommend this book for true Laura fans.

MY RATING - 4

Don't Breathe a Word (Jennifer McMahon)

The trademark of Jennifer McMahon's books are "creepy-looking children" on the cover (Think Village of the Damned). I have often wondered if the kids who pose for the covers are told that they are supposed to have a "creepy child" face. I think I would be rather insulted. Oh well...on with it.

Don't Breathe a Word is a dark, sinister, unsettling book that makes your heart beat just a little faster. McMahon has a rather twisted mind, and it shows deeply here. Phoebe and Sam are a couple with a history. Sam is the brother of Lisa, a young girl who disappeared many years before searching for the Fairy King, Teilo. Strange phone messages and notes begin to be delivered to Sam and Edie, their cousin, supposedly coming from Lisa...."I am back from the land of the fairies. I'll be seeing you soon." Is this truly Lisa, or is someone playing a dark, twisted trick on everyone involved?

This book is well-written for about the first three-quarters, and then just gets too implausible for me. The ending was deeply unsatisfying, especially because I normally love McMahon's books. While certainly not my favorite (I didn't want to do anything else on my cruise vacation except read Island of the Lost Girls.), if you would like a twisted read, this may be the book for you.

MY RATING - 3

Promises to Keep (Jane Green)

As the hot weather begins to come in full force in Philly, it is natural for readers to want to get away from the "heavy hitter" lit and get into something mindless. That is what I thought I was getting when I picked up Jane Green's Promises to Keep. What I got was much, much more and truly made me weep.

Promises to Keep is Green's 11th novel. It begins with a sister, Steffi, who is struggling to find her way in the world in love and career. We then meet Callie, Steffi's older sister, who the reader jarringly finds out later, is in remission from breast cancer. Along the way, we also meet Lila, Callie's best friend; Steffi and Callie's divorced parents, Honor and Walter; Reece, Callie's devoted husband and father of her two adorable children; and Mason, a man who knows deep down that his life is not what he wants it to be, but doesn't quite know how to change it.

When Callie shockingly finds out that her cancer has returned, her family and friends pull together in a way they wouldn't have thought possible. I found myself relating the novel to Steel Magnolias (only with men included). In fact, my favorite line in that movie is by Dolly Parton. "Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion." At times laugh-out-loud funny, at times heartbreakingly sad, this is a beautiful story of what could happen when life suddenly turns upside down.

MY RATING - 5

This review can also be found on http://www.bookloons.com.

Touch (Alexi Zentner)

How do you know what is real and what is not? That is the question posed to readers of Alexi Zentner's Touch. One never knows who (or what) is going to pop up in the woods of Sawgamet. Your deceased grandmother? A golden caribou?

The setting is the best thing (to me) about Touch. Zentner vividly describes the Sawgamet woods through the seasons, including the utterly dangerous winters. This is the story of Stephen, a pastor, coming home to care for his dying mother, his father, Pierre, and his grandfather, Jeannot. Death is very prevalent in Touch. The tragedies that end Stephen's father's and sister's lives and that which ends his grandmother's, seem to interconnect in ways that the reader can only imagine.

As the chapters connect and intertwine, the reader meets fantastical creatures and sometimes goes through shocking events. The atmosphere is strange but sinister. Whom to trust? When will actions that you regret come back to haunt you? They do to Jeannot in a way he cannot even begin to imagine.

Touch was a fine book until the end. The ending was too dull for such a mythical novel. Then again, can a book filled with surprises and fantasy at every turn ever really end in a traditional way?

MY RATING - 3

Sing You Home (Jodi Picoult)

As you know, I look forward to March every year (even though in Philadelphia it is still so blasted cold out), because Jodi Picoult puts out her new book. Nothing is better to me than snuggling under a warm blanket and diving in to her books. However, I must admit something to my readers. I finished Sing You Home about three weeks ago, but I just could not bring myself to write a review of it. I pride myself on being a completely unbiased reviewer, except when it comes to Miss Jodi. I sing her praises to everyone I meet. Unfortunately, and it breaks my heart to say this, I cannot sing her praises about this one.

We begin Sing You Home with Zoe, a music therapist, and Max, a couple who seem very much in love and struggling with infertility. A string of miscarriages brings them to the brink of despair, until Zoe finally becomes pregnant. Tragedy strikes at her baby shower, which tears the couple apart. Zoe begins a relationship with Vanessa, a high school guidance counselor. After legally marrying, they decide that they would like a baby. They ask permission from Max to use Zoe's stored embryos, but Max has other plans for them. What ensues is the standard trial that ends most Picoult novels.

To me, it seems like Jodi was trying to stuff as much "ripped-from-the-headlines", controversial material into one book as possible. She also tried the "free gift with purchase" approach, enclosing a CD with the book (apparently to listen to a song after each chapter? Zoe was a music therapist, get it?). I was able to put this book down a lot, which is not what I have come to know from Picoult books. Better luck next year, Jodi. I still love you.

MY RATING - 2????????????????????????

A Place of Yes (Bethenny Frankel)

Let me start off by stating that I love, love, love Bethenny Frankel. She is so refreshingly candid, funny, and down-to-earth on her reality shows (The Real Housewives of New York City, Bethenny Getting Married?, and Bethenny Ever After), that I was fully expecting the same from A Place of Yes: 10 Rules for Getting Everything You Want Out of Life. Did I get it? Read on.

Bethenny's life is an open book....natural food chef, businesswoman extraordinaire of Skinnygirl, wife to Jason, mommy to Bryn (the cutest baby I have ever seen) and Cookie the dog (who has her own Twitter feed), and boss to Julie, the assistant, and Gina, the baby nurse. On her show, she even tapes her therapy sessions. A Place of Yes sets up what Bethenny has learned along the way...from an extremely difficult childhood to the very blessed life she has now.

There is nothing new here. Rules like "Find your truth" and "Act on it" have been in every self-help book ever made. She simply illustrates each rule with anecdotes from her own life, making it an autobiography also. Bethenny definitely lives every minute of her life to the fullest; however, her life doesn't really translate well to a book. As much as I advocate reading, one can learn more from Bethenny by watching her than reading this.

MY RATING - 2

This review can also be found on http://www.bookloons.com.

The Heretic's Daughter (Kathleen Kent)

When someone mentions the witch trials to an American, they most often think of Salem. However, trials happened in the towns around Salem as well. The Heretic's Daugter is the heartbreaking story of an Andover, Massachusetts family that was unjustly destroyed during that horrible time in American history. Interestingly enough, Kathleen Kent is a descendant of Martha Carrier, one of the characters in this work of historical fiction.

While reading this, I found myself shaking my head at the trivial things that we worry about in this day and age. If a car cuts us off or we break a freshly manicured fingernail, it ruins our day. What if we had smallpox and the plague to deal with? Or being unjustly accused and held in absolutely deplorable conditions with the probability of being hanged?

The members of the Carrier family have a lot to deal with from the very beginning when they move to Andover. Horrible illness runs through the family, resulting in a death, brain damage, and the children being forced to move to a distant relative's home. Upon returning, the main character, Sarah (Martha's daughter) finds herself constantly at odds with her stern mother. The eventual reconciliation and understanding of each other is as much a part of this novel as the inevitable witch trials. Kent effortlessly weaves some of the main historical figures of the trials throughout, from Cotton Mather to Tituba.

The fact that Kent has this in her history makes The Heretic's Daughter even more compelling. I look forward to reading Kent's latest, which is a prequel focusing on Martha Carrier's childhood.

MY RATING - 4