#BookReview: The House of Hawthorne by Erika Robuck
Reviewer: Allie I received a review copy Summary: From Erika Robuck, bestselling author of Hemingway’s Girl, comes a brilliant new novel about a literary couple.…
New Book Releases: May 2015
Contributor: Allie Dear Carolina by Kristy Woodson Harvey – May 5, 2015. This debut novel is set in the south and told in two voices…
In My Mailbox: Week of April 27 #BookHaul
Title: Love At First Flight Author: Tess Woods Received: CLP Blog Tours Synopsis: What would you risk to be with the love of your life?…
Book Review: Fallen Beauty by Erika Robuck
Reviewer: Kate I received a copy of Fallen Beauty by Erika Robuck in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: Upstate New York, 1928. Laura Kelley…
In My Mailbox: Week of January 20
Title: Done With Men
Author: Shuchi Singh Kalra
Received: Shuchi Singh Kalra
Synopsis: Travel journo, Kairavi Krishna (Kay) has had it with men. After a series of disasters (losers, philanderers, leeches, mama’s boys and possessive psychos), she is all too tempted to walk out on the prospect of ever finding love. Accompanied by her best friend and flat-mate Baani, she sets off for Goa, hoping to get away from her miserable love life and vowing to stay clear of the male species.
Goa however, has a host of surprises in store for her. Ricky, her pesky ex-boyfriend, is busy painting the town red with his hot new girlfriend. Now what is poor Kay to do, other than overdose on vodka, smoke pot, get an outrageous tattoo and fall off the hotel balcony? She wakes up in the hospital to the tender ministrations of Dr.Vivian D’Mello–young, suave and handsome as hell. Will Kay stick to her guns or will she fall for his ridiculously sexy charms? And what’s up with the mixed signals he’s giving out?
Title: Lost Lake
Author: Sarah Addison Allen
Received: St. Martin’s Press
Synopsis: From the author of New York Times bestseller Garden Spells comes a beautiful, haunting story of old loves and new, and the power of the connections that bind us forever…
The first time Eby Pim saw Lost Lake, it was on a picture postcard. Just an old photo and a few words on a small square of heavy stock, but when she saw it, she knew she was seeing her future.
That was half a life ago. Now Lost Lake is about to slip into Eby’s past. Her husband George is long passed. Most of her demanding extended family are gone. All that’s left is a once-charming collection of lakeside cabins succumbing to the Southern Georgia heat and damp, and an assortment of faithful misfits drawn back to Lost Lake year after year by their own unspoken dreams and desires.
It’s a lot, but not enough to keep Eby from relinquishing Lost Lake to a developer with cash in hand, and calling this her final summer at the lake. Until one last chance at family knocks on her door.
Lost Lake is where Kate Pheris spent her last best summer at the age of twelve, before she learned of loneliness, and heartbreak, and loss. Now she’s all too familiar with those things, but she knows about hope too, thanks to her resilient daughter Devin, and her own willingness to start moving forward. Perhaps at Lost Lake her little girl can cling to her own childhood for just a little longer… and maybe Kate herself can rediscover something that slipped through her fingers so long ago.
One after another, people find their way to Lost Lake, looking for something that they weren’t sure they needed in the first place: love, closure, a second chance, peace, a mystery solved, a heart mended. Can they find what they need before it’s too late?
At once atmospheric and enchanting, Lost Lake shows Sarah Addison Allen at her finest, illuminating the secret longings and the everyday magic that wait to be discovered in the unlikeliest of places.
Title: Fallen Beauty
Author: Erika Robuck
Received: Penguin Group
Synopsis: “Without sin, can we know beauty? Can we fully appreciate the summer without the winter? No, I am glad to suffer so I can feel the fullness of our time in the light.”
Upstate New York, 1928. Laura Kelley and the man she loves sneak away from their judgmental town to attend a performance of the scandalous Ziegfeld Follies. But the dark consequences of their night of daring and delight reach far into the future.…
That same evening, Bohemian poet Edna St. Vincent Millay and her indulgent husband hold a wild party in their remote mountain estate, hoping to inspire her muse. Millay declares her wish for a new lover who will take her to unparalleled heights of passion and poetry, but for the first time, the man who responds will not bend completely to her will.…
Two years later, Laura, an unwed seamstress struggling to support her daughter, and Millay, a woman fighting the passage of time, work together secretly to create costumes for Millay’s next grand tour. As their complex, often uneasy friendship develops amid growing local condemnation, each woman is forced to confront what it means to be a fallen woman…and to decide for herself what price she is willing to pay to live a full life.
Book Review: Call Me Zelda by Erika Robuck
I received a copy of Call Me Zelda by Erika Robuck in exchange for an honest review.
Summary:
Everything in the ward seemed different now, and I no longer felt its calming presence. The Fitzgeralds stirred something in me that had been dormant for a long time, and I was not prepared to face it….
From New York to Paris, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald reigned as king and queen of the Jazz Age, seeming to float on champagne bubbles above the mundane cares of the world. But to those who truly knew them, the endless parties were only a distraction from their inner turmoil, and from a love that united them with a scorching intensity.
When Zelda is committed to a Baltimore psychiatric clinic in 1932, vacillating between lucidity and madness in her struggle to forge an identity separate from her husband, the famous writer, she finds a sympathetic friend in her nurse, Anna Howard. Held captive by her own tragic past, Anna is increasingly drawn into the Fitzgeralds’ tumultuous relationship. As she becomes privy to Zelda’s most intimate confessions, written in a secret memoir meant only for her, Anna begins to wonder which Fitzgerald is the true genius. But in taking ever greater emotional risks to save Zelda, Anna may end up paying a far higher price than she intended….
Review:
I have been reading a lot lately about the Fitzgerald’s and their seemingly glamorous lives in the 1920’s, and I was looking forward to reading Call Me Zelda. I enjoyed the spin on this book in that it wasn’t just about the Fitzgerald’s, or even Zelda. We are given the viewpoint of Anna, a fictitious psychiatric nurse that finds Zelda Fitzgerald in her ward one day. Readers go on quite a journey with Anna, as she befriends the increasingly erratic Zelda throughout her hospital stay, crosses paths with the famous Scott Fitzgerald, and essentiality becomes a part of their family. The book isn’t only about the Fitzgerald’s though, as we see Anna struggle with losing her husband to the war and her daughter to illness, to her trying to find love, and then of course – to her trying to understand her relationship with the Fitzgerald’s. This book was quite intriguing, and I loved being able to open my mind to different scenarios. I liked Robuck’s writing and style, so I will be sure to check out Hemingway’s Girl as well!
4 stars
In My Mailbox: Week of April 21
In My Mailbox: Week of April 21
Title: Somewhere Between Black and White
Author: Shelly Hickman
Received: Via CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: Romance, humor, family drama, with a touch of Buddhism. Sound interesting?
When approaching life’s problems, Sophie sees in black and white. That is, when they’re someone else’s problems. So when it comes to her sister, Sophie is sure she has all the answers, and offers them without hesitation. If only her sister would listen.
Then, through a series of chance encounters, she meets Sam, who is witty, kind, and downright unflappable. Sophie has the overwhelming sense that she’s known him before, and as a relationship builds between them, odd visions invade her mind. Though she tries to dismiss them, their persistence will not allow it.
As someone who is quick to judge others, she is intrigued by Sam’s ability to accept people as they are. She begins to see him as a role model, but try as she may, his accepting nature is difficult to emulate.
Will Sophie ever be able to put her hasty judgments aside and realize not every problem has a simple solution?
Title: Getting Skinny
Author: Monique Domovitch
Received: Via CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: Owning a restaurant is as crazy for Nicky Landry as an alcoholic owning a bar. But despite having to cram herself into a body shaper to look decent in a dress, life is pretty good. She’s throwing the party of the year for her graduating doctor boyfriend, Rob, who she’s sure is going to propose—until his new girlfriend shows up at the party.
After ordering Rob to get his stuff out of her house and get lost, Nicky finds him faceup with her expensive Chroma knife sticking right out of his cheating heart.
As the prime suspect, Nicky is in hot water. And no matter how hard she tries to clear her name, her problems only mount. She’s convinced she can solve the murder—if only she can figure out the identity of the skinny person seen walking away with Rob after the party.
Getting “Skinny” won’t be easy for Nicky, but she never imagined it would be life or death…
Title: The Comedy Diva Diaries
Author: Kirsten Van Ritzen
Received: From Kirsten Van Ritzen
Synopsis: The Comedy Diva Diaries is the tale of a twenty-nine year old comedienne who gives herself an ultimatum: achieve success before her next birthday, or die trying.
Our sassy, deluded and insecure heroine endures disastrous stand-up gigs and humiliating TV commercial auditions. Her rich boyfriend, pampered pooch, flamboyant agent, dysfunctional family and back-stabbing rivals aren’t much help. On the brink of emotional collapse, Diva finds inspiration in a self help book, and makes the fateful decision to move across the continent in pursuit of the Hollywood dream.
Will Diva admit defeat? Or will she find fame and fortune before turning thirty?
Title: Call Me Zelda
Author: Erika Robuck
Received: Penguin Group
Synopsis: Everything in the ward seemed different now, and I no longer felt its calming presence. The Fitzgeralds stirred something in me that had been dormant for a long time, and I was not prepared to face it….
From New York to Paris, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald reigned as king and queen of the Jazz Age, seeming to float on champagne bubbles above the mundane cares of the world. But to those who truly knew them, the endless parties were only a distraction from their inner turmoil, and from a love that united them with a scorching intensity.
When Zelda is committed to a Baltimore psychiatric clinic in 1932, vacillating between lucidity and madness in her struggle to forge an identity separate from her husband, the famous writer, she finds a sympathetic friend in her nurse, Anna Howard. Held captive by her own tragic past, Anna is increasingly drawn into the Fitzgeralds’ tumultuous relationship. As she becomes privy to Zelda’s most intimate confessions, written in a secret memoir meant only for her, Anna begins to wonder which Fitzgerald is the true genius. But in taking ever greater emotional risks to save Zelda, Anna may end up paying a far higher price than she intended….
Title: What She Left Us
Author: Stephanie Elliott
Received: From Stephanie Elliott
Synopsis: Jenna and Courtney are dealing with the unexpected death of their mother in different ways. Jenna broke off her engagement to the man she thought she’d love forever, while Courtney headed back to college to take charge of a dorm-floor full of college students as a resident assistant.
Six months later, Jenna is fueled by panic over the news that the sisters may have the same disease that caused their mother’s death and she makes an irrational decision – she packs it up and heads to college to be with Courtney. The timing couldn’t be worse for Courtney, who’s discovering love for the first time with Mitch, a sexy guitar player who may just be off limits.
Emotionally unstable, Jenna wonders if she made the worst mistake of her life by breaking off her engagement with Darren, and when he shows up to make amends, she can’t help but second-guess her decision. But then there’s Clay, the compassionate bartender at Klippy’s who seems to understand everything Jenna’s going through. And those hazel eyes just seem to see right through to Jenna’s soul…
As the girls maneuver through their unpredictable futures, trying to manage their new health risks as well as tumultuous love lives, Courtney finds a disturbing photograph that indicates there may be more to their family than she ever imagined.
This stunning revelation could shatter the sisters to the very core, making them question everything they thought they knew about their family, their faith, their past and, most of all, each other.
