WORDS (GINNY L. YTTRUP)

Story Description: 

I collect words.  I keep them in a box in my mind…I’d like to keep them in a real box, something pretty, maybe a shoe box covered with flowered wrapping paper.  Whenever I wanted, I’d open the box and pick up the papers, reading and feeling the words all at once.  Then I could hide the box.  But the words are safer in my mind.  There, he can’t take them.   

Ten-year-old Kaylee Wren doesn’t speak.  Not since her drug-addled mother walked away, leaving her in a remote cabin nestled in the towering redwoods – in the care of a man who is as dangerous as he is evil.  With silence her only refuge, Kaylee collects words she might never speak from the only memento her mother left behind: a dictionary. 

Sierra Dawn is thirty-four, an artist, and alone.  She has allowed the shame of her past to silence her present hopes and chooses to bury her pain by trying to control her circumstances.  But on the twelfth anniversary of her daughter’s death, Sierra’s control begins to crumble as the God of her childhood woos her back to Himself.   

Brought together by Divine design, Kaylee and Sierra will discover together the healing mercy of the Word – Jesus Christ. 

My Review: 

I have never read a more sad story of abuse and have never felt so close to a character as I did little Kaylee Wren.  What a beautiful, innocent little girl whose life circumstances have thrown her into a world of silence.   

Kaylee was only 9-years-old when her mother, Kathryn, left her leaving her all alone with a horrendous man who lords his power over Kaylee and turns her into his own private play toy.  Kaylee likes to collect words that she finds in a dictionary that was given to her parents as a wedding gift.  Kaylee and her Mom used the dictionary often to look up words they didn’t know or understand.  The dictionary makes Kaylee feel like part of her Mom is still there with her and takes special care of it so “he” won’t find it and take it away from her. 

When Kaylee meets Sierra, an equally damaged soul, the two of them form a bond of trust, respect, love, and the belief that together they can conquer all things through Jesus Christ.  However, the road to healing is a long and exhaustive one that comes with many, many pitfalls that must be traversed forward and sometimes backwards before moving on to a higher understanding of their positions and circumstances in this life. 

The characters were so well developed in this story that I felt I was living with Sierra and Kaylee and could picture in my mind’s eye the house, Kaylee’s bedroom, Van the dog, their backyard and everything else involved in this story.  My emotions were played like a flute in a concert while reading this book and it’s a story I won’t ever forget.  The unfortunate part is that there are many, many Kaylee Wren’s in this world and not all of them are fortunate enough to find someone like Sierra.  It breaks my heart to think of the number of children, who at this very moment while typing this review, are being abused in some form.  Abuse, whether it be physical, sexual, verbal, financial doesn’t matter, abuse is a cancer in our society and I pray that someday it can be eradicated.  No one deserves to live a life of abuse and the damage and fear it causes.  This book really touched my heart and to the author, Ginny L. Yttrup, I’d like to say “thank you” for having the courage to write WORDS, your own life story but injecting Kaylee as the character instead of yourself.  I’m sorry for the horror you faced as a child and I wish you all the best in your future endeavours.

WONDERLAND CREEK (LYNN AUSTIN)

Story Description: 

I was perfectly content with my life – that is, until the pages of my story were ripped out before I had a chance to live happily ever after. 

Alice Grace Ripley lives in a dream world, her nose stuck in a book.  But the happily-ever-after life she’s planned on suddenly falls apart when her boyfriend breaks up with her, accusing her of living in a world of fiction instead of the real one.  To top it off, Alice loses her beloved library job because of cutbacks due to the Great Depression. 

Longing to run from small-town gossip, Alice flees to the mountains of eastern Kentucky to deliver five boxes of donated books to the tiny coal-mining town of Acorn, a place with no running water, no electricity, and where the librarians ride ornery horses up steep mountain passes to deliver books.  When Alice is forced to stay in Acorn far longer than she planned, she discovers that real-life adventure, mystery – and especially romance – may be far better than her humble dreams could have imagined. 

My Review: 

Wonderland Creek is a beautiful and engaging story that I will remember for a long time to come.  Never before have I been so enamoured with the characters and felt such a kinship to all of them.  From the least written about characters to the main characters, I found something within each of them that held me near and dear. 

It is 1936 and twenty-two-year-old Alice Grace Ripley has been a librarian at the Blue Island Library in Illinois, Chicago for a year and a half until Mrs. Beasley, the head librarian, makes an unsettling announcement at an early morning meeting.  The board of directors have said that library operating costs must be cut due to the “prolonged economic depression” and library hours would be cut and some staff would be let go.  The last person hired would be first to leave and that was poor Alice!  Now Alice has lost both her beloved job and her boyfriend, Gordon T. Walter, after he was miffed at her for reading a book during a funeral.  Alice was quite astounded when Gordon broke up with her right there and then, on the spot, telling her she lived in a world of dreams, not in the real world and off he walked and left her standing there, alone.  Alice didn’t mention the break-up to her parents that night at dinner thinking that Gordon just needed time to cool off but she was wrong. 

Alice’s mother was a “saintly” woman and her younger sister, Lydia, was referred to as “fragile”.  Lydia and her husband Cecil had money and an enormous home even during the depression years but no one knew where their money came from.  Alice was convinced that Cecil must be mixed up with one of Chicago’s gangsters!  Aunt Lydia and Uncle Cecil were taking a road trip to Kentucky to visit a spa for a few days in March.  Since Alice had lost her job at the library, she asked if she could hitch a ride with them so she could deliver in person, the five boxes of books and magazines she’d collected to donate to the poor people in a little place called Acorn, Kentucky, and they could pick her up on their way back for the return trip home.  Alice arrives in this little podunk place known as “Acorn” but it wasn’t at all what she was expecting nor was Leslie MacDougall, the librarian!  Nothing about this town or its people was what anyone would expect. 

Alice ends up having the adventure of her life…no more dream world, Alice is about to face a stripped bare reality so startling and so real that the life lessons she will learn will stay with her the rest of her life, and yours! 

For me, Wonderland Creek was a book I couldn’t put down until I was done.  You are simply going to fall in love with these characters.  Thank you, Lynn Austin, for providing me with the best reading hours I’ve had since your last book!!!  You’ve done it again! 

***Preview copy courtesy of the author and Bethany House Publishers, with thanks!***

THE END OF EVERYTHING (MEGAN ABBOTT)

Story Description: 

Thirteen-year old Lizzie Hood and her next door neighbour Evie Verver are inseparable. They are best friends who swap bathing suits and field-hockey sticks, and share everything that's happened to them. Together they live in the shadow of Evie's glamorous older sister Dusty, who provides a window on the exotic, intoxicating possibilities of their own teenage horizons. To Lizzie, the Verver household, presided over by Evie's big-hearted father, is the world's most perfect place. 

And then, one afternoon, Evie disappears. The only clue: a maroon sedan Lizzie spotted driving past the two girls earlier in the day. As a rabid, giddy panic spreads through the Midwestern suburban community, everyone looks to Lizzie for answers. Was Evie unhappy, troubled, upset? Had she mentioned being followed? Would she have gotten into the car of a stranger?

Lizzie takes up her own furtive pursuit of the truth, prowling nights through backyards, peering through windows, pushing herself to the dark center of Evie's world. Haunted by dreams of her lost friend and titillated by her own new power at the center of the disappearance, Lizzie uncovers secrets and lies that make her wonder if she knew her best friend at all.
My Review: 

I felt so badly for Lizzie throughout this story.  She missed her friend Evie so very much after she disappeared and talked to her regularly, got up in the middle of the night to go on these neighbourhood sojourn’s searching for clues as to her disappearance.  Lizze also has feelings of sadness and regret for Evie’s father, Mr. Verver who was always so kind to the two girls often playing games with them and taking them places.  I don’t think she can really understand his pain. 

Lizzie’s own pain is palpable and you can’t help but feel like transposing yourself into the pages of the story to help her look and walk the streets hand-in-hand.  Her focus on the one man she thinks took Evie almost becomes all consuming to her and she remembers the car and knows it is his. 

This was an enjoyable yet sad in a good way read and I would highly recommend it to anyone.  I wish I could tell you the ending of the story but you’d all scream at me if I did that! 

IN TROUBLE (ELLEN LEVINE)

Story Description:  

A film noir atmosphere weaves through this unabashedly political novel that addresses issues of abortion and free speech. Levine (Henry’s Freedom Box) evokes nostalgia for an era of multigenerational families living together, Automats, soda fountains, and Bogart films, while emphasizing the power wielded by social taboos. Sixteen-year-old Jamie tells the parallel stories of two teenage pregnancies in McCarthy-era New York City and her father’s recent imprisonment for political activism. In a first-person narrative that focuses on Jamie’s feelings of helplessness and anger, she reports occasional thoughts or memories that frighten her as if writing a screenplay: “Tight close-up on striped shirt with bull’s-eye on back.” When her friend Elaine gets pregnant by her boyfriend, she imagines they will get married, though Elaine’s ashamed Catholic parents have other ideas. Jamie’s pregnancy results from a violent rape; terrified of confiding in her family, she attempts various “remedies,” such as drinking vodka and throwing herself down the stairs. Encouraging historical awareness and personal empowerment, an author’s note compares 1956 attitudes about women and abortion with the present, noting that obtaining a legal abortion has become increasingly difficult. A gripping, relevant read. Ages 12–up. 

My Review: 

Seventeen-year-old Elaine becomes pregnant in the 1950’s during a time when girls are blamed for the pregnancy.  The guys were rarely even thought of and the girl was usually slapped with labels such as: slut, whore, loose woman, and considered dirty.  In typical fashion from that era, Elaine’s parents force her to sign documents to turn the baby over to Catholic Children’s Services when the baby is born although Elaine wants to marry Neil and keep the baby.  Her best friend Jamie is raped by a friend of a cousin who takes her to a wine tasting party and although asked to “stop” many times over, he didn’t.  How the parents of these girls handled their pregnancies were quite different.  

Abortion was illegal and often time girls would try to end the pregnancy themselves, at times ending up bleeding to death or doing so much harm to themselves as to prevent any further pregnancies in the future and carrying a baby to full term.

Ellen Levine has penned a novel about a very delicate subject during a delicate time in history and I would encourage all young girls and guys between the ages of 12 and 18 to read it.  It also makes for good reading for parents as well.

SAVING RACHEL (JOHN LOCKE)

Story Description: 

What if the best morning of your life suddenly turned into your worst nightmare?  Sam Case is about to find out.  Saving Rachel is the story of what happens when killers force a man to choose between his wife and his mistress…and the one he rejects must die.  But wait – all is not as it appears to be.  In fact, nothing is what it appears to be! 

Saving Rachel is a scary, funny, roller coaster ride through hell, with twists and turns that will slap your face and suck you in! 

My Review: 

This story had me pulled in right from the beginning.  This was definitely some riveting reading that kept me turning the pages faster and faster and faster.  I felt like I was running on a treadmill that was picking up more and more speed the further the story went along and didn’t know how or when I was going to be able to get off. 

The characters were so well developed in this novel and so well thought out that each person depicted was so clearly vivid that you felt you knew them and were afraid of the ones you needed to be afraid of and befriended the ones that needed befriending.  Never before have I felt a ‘fear’ towards a character and this was a huge thrill for me in this book.  The story is intelligent and extremely clever.  Mr. Locke certainly did his homework in preparing to pen this book.  I would highly recommend this to everyone as a DON’T MISS IT!!

FOXGLOVES, FANCY FUNGUS AND FATAL FAMILY FUEDS (J L WILSON)

Story Description:

Cassie Whittington’s inheritance of $15 million is on hold while vengeful family members contest the will.  But the potential loss is the least of her worries – her ex-husband has re-entered her life and is wreaking havoc on her relationship with Sam Barlow, her boss at the landscape company.  Cassie has to make a choice: return to her old life with Charlie or start a new life with Sam.  An added complication is a police investigation involving Livvie, Cassie’s dearest friend, and Livvie’s fiancé, who is accused of murdering the head chef at a prestigious local restaurant.  Truffles and treachery may combine, preventing Cassie from making any choices ever again. 

My Review: 

Poor Cassie, I don’t think she knows if she’s coming or if she’s going.  I love her character and her wit!  On the one hand she appears a bit like an airhead but really she’s sharp as a tack and nothing escapes her.  I think the hardest part of her relationship with Sam is putting up with his ex-wife Sheilah who, in my opinion, is a real witch.  Between being there for Livvie, sorting out her feelings for her ex-Charlie, keeping her relationship with Sam going, and being forced to make decisions that are difficult, Cassie handles herself with a tempered hand but still can’t decide what she ultimately wants to do.  I can’t wait to read the last book in this series so I can find out! 

This was an excellent read, had me pulled in from page one and I’d highly recommend it to anyone. 

**Thank you to J L Wilson for the preview copy which I won in a contest!!**

THE TRUE CONFESSIONS OF A HEARTLESS GIRL (MARTHA BROOKS)

THE TRUE CONFESSIONS OF A HEARTLESS GIRL (MARTHA BROOKS) 

Story Description: 

She turned onto the main street -- the sound of the lake a whisper behind her, the leaves of the tall trees now talking overhead -- she saw his truck parked in front of the café and Wesley sitting inside it....
He didn't seem to notice as she got closer, his eyes closed as if he was concentrating on something. With her hand on her stomach, she steadied herself. The window on the passenger's side was open and she could see the distinct curve of his dark lashes as they rested against his cheek.
"Wesley," she said quietly.... She felt a hot sting of shame. She wanted to hide. But in Pembina Lake, beside a truck, in front of a café, wheat fields and sky flaming pink and orange and gold all around, there was absolutely nowhere to go. 

In the midst of a heaven-rattling summer storm a young stranger blows into a small prairie town. On the run after taking her latest boyfriend's truck, with a pocketful of stolen money and a heart full of pain, seventeen-year-old Noreen Stall seems to invite trouble.  

And trouble comes soon enough, as Noreen's new mistakes trigger calamities that shake the lives of the residents of Pembina Lake. 

My Review: 

Seventeen-year-old Noreen Stall is pregnant and frightened and not knowing what to do, steals her boyfriend’s money, truck, and begins driving until she reaches the sleepy-eyed town of Pembina Lake.  She soon discovers that everyone in this crazy town has a secret, for her, it’s the perfect place to hide!  But Noreen has a knack for stirring up trouble and it follows her wherever she goes drawing unwanted attention to herself. 

This wasn’t a novel that rated high on my reading list, cute enough, but not anything even close to serious literature and fiction.  Unfortunately, this not the type of book that I would recommend to anyone.