It All Comes Down to This by Therese Anne Fowler has been on my list for a while and finally came in from the library. What a beautiful cover! I didn’t love it at first, but it grew on me. Amazon: “Meet the Geller sisters: Beck, Claire, and Sophie, a trio of strong-minded women whose pragmatic mother, Marti, will be dying soon. Beck, the eldest, is a freelance journalist whose marriage has long been devoid of passion, and she’s recently begun to suspect that her husband, Paul, is hiding something from her. Though middle sister Claire is an accomplished pediatric cardiologist, her own heart is a mess, and her unrequited love for the wrong man is slowly destroying her. And while Sophie, the youngest, appears to have an Instagram-ready life of glamorous work and travel, her true existence is a cash-strapped house of cards that may fall at any moment. But Marti’s will surprises them with its provision that the family’s summer cottage in Maine must be sold, the proceeds split equally between the three sisters. While there’s a ready buyer in C.J. Reynolds, he’s an ex-con with a complicated past and a tangled history with one of the women.” Overall, I did enjoy this read, but I didn’t LOVE it.

I have read many Emily Giffin books. They’re like candy – easy to eat and usually satisfying and sweet. Meant to Be, while loosely based on John Kennedy Jr’s life and if it had turned out differently, was pretty candy-like. And, it had an equally pleasing cover (not that one should judge…). Amazon: “The Kingsley family is American royalty, beloved for their military heroics, political service, and unmatched elegance. In 1967, after Joseph S. Kingsley, Jr. is killed in a tragic accident, his charismatic son inherits the weight of that legacy. But Joe III is a free spirit—and a little bit reckless. Despite his best intentions, he has trouble meeting the expectations of a nation, as well as those of his exacting mother, Dottie. Meanwhile, no one ever expected anything of Cate Cooper. She, too, grew up fatherless—and after her mother marries an abusive man, she is forced to fend for herself. After being discovered by a model scout at age sixteen, Cate decides that her looks may be her only ticket out of the cycle of disappointment that her mother has always inhabited. Before too long, Cate’s face is in magazines and on billboards. Yet she feels like a fraud, faking it in a world to which she’s never truly belonged. When Joe and Cate unexpectedly cross paths one afternoon, their connection is instant and intense. But can their relationship survive the glare of the spotlight and the so-called Kingsley curse? In a beautifully written novel that captures a gilded moment in American history, Emily Giffin tells the story of two people searching for belonging and identity, as well as the answer to the question: Are certain love stories meant to be?” While it was really a beach read, it was a solid choice for the busy weekend before school starts and I enjoyed it.

Love Marriage by Monica Ali was on a number of lists this summer and I grabbed it at the library. “In present-day London, Yasmin Ghorami is twenty-six, in training to be a doctor (like her Indian-born father), and engaged to the charismatic, upper-class Joe Sangster, whose formidable mother, Harriet, is a famous feminist. The gulf between families is vast. So, too, is the gulf in sexual experience between Yasmin and Joe. As the wedding day draws near, misunderstandings, infidelities, and long-held secrets upend both Yasmin’s relationship and that of her parents, a ‘love marriage,’ according to the family lore that Yasmin has believed all her life.” (Amazon) I didn’t love (ha!) this selection. It was too long and the characters didn’t really excite me. I did want to find out how it ended, so I persevered, but I can’t recommend it.

Happy Labor Day – the weekend I publish my summer reading reviews. This summer, I held myself mostly accountable to my summer reading list (published here). I kept a printout of the covers above my desk for reference and checked off each as I completed it. For the first time, I abandoned one, and never read one of them at all – rereading about it made me just not want to pick it up at all.

So, now for the overall reviews and recommendations from those I had chosen for the summer:

The Magnolia Palace – 4.5 stars
The Ones We Keep – 4.5 stars
Book Lovers – 4 stars
This Time Tomorrow – 4 stars
Like a House on Fire – 3.5 stars
The Love of my Life – 3 stars
Unlikely Animals – 3 stars
The Dictionary of Lost Words – 3 stars
Sea of Tranquility – Abandoned
A Novel Obsession – Never Picked Up

I also read a bunch of books “off the list” and the only 5-star choice was:

Lessons in Chemistry

I’m always in need of good recommendations, so if you read anything amazing this summer, let me know! Happy school year!

An Island by Karen Jennings was a recommendation from Sarah Jessica Parker. Amazon: “Samuel has lived alone on an island off the coast of an unnamed African country for more than two decades. He tends to his garden, his lighthouse, and his chickens, content with a solitary life. Routinely, the nameless bodies of refugees wash ashore, but Samuel—who understands that the government only values certain lives, certain deaths—always buries them himself. One day, though, he finds that one of these bodies is still breathing. As he nurses the stranger back to life, Samuel—feeling strangely threatened—is soon swept up in memories of his former life as a political prisoner on the mainland. This was a life that saw his country exploited under colonial rule, followed by a period of revolution and a brief, hard-won independence—only for the cycle of suffering to continue under a cruel dictator. And he can’t help but recall his own shameful role in that history. In this stranger’s presence, he begins to consider, as he did in his youth: What does it mean to own land, or to belong to it? And what does it cost to have, and lose, a home?” It was a little confusing in parts as it jumped from past to present and, overall, I didn’t love it. As it was short, however, it wasn’t a completely terrible read.

True Biz by Sara Novic was another buzzy title that was cheap on Kindle, so I grabbed it (even though I have still not quite finished my summer reading list. “True biz? The students at the River Valley School for the Deaf just want to hook up, pass their history finals, and have politicians, doctors, and their parents stop telling them what to do with their bodies. This revelatory novel plunges readers into the halls of a residential school for the deaf, where they’ll meet Charlie, a rebellious transfer student who’s never met another deaf person before; Austin, the school’s golden boy, whose world is rocked when his baby sister is born hearing; and February, the hearing headmistress, a CODA (child of deaf adult(s)) who is fighting to keep her school open and her marriage intact, but might not be able to do both. As a series of crises both personal and political threaten to unravel each of them, Charlie, Austin, and February find their lives inextricable from one another—and changed forever. This is a story of sign language and lip-reading, disability and civil rights, isolation and injustice, first love and loss, and, above all, great persistence, daring, and joy. Absorbing and assured, idiosyncratic and relatable, this is an unforgettable journey into the Deaf community and a universal celebration of human connection.” (Amazon) I really enjoyed learning more about sign language and the conflict between cochlear implants and sign language. The extra information about deaf culture and history made it even more interesting. Terrific book, though terrible ending.

I am not sure how The Ones We Keep by Bobbie Jean Huff ended up on my TBR and summer reading list, but I am so glad it did. “A quiet lakeside resort in Vermont seems like the perfect summer getaway for Olivia and Harry Somerville and their three young boys. But in a single moment, their idyllic family retreat becomes a mother’s worst nightmare. Returning from a solo hike one afternoon, Olivia learns from a passing stranger that one of her sons has drowned—but not which one. In that moment, Olivia makes a panicked decision that will change her family forever. If she never knows which son has drowned, can Olivia convince herself that none of them have? By shielding herself from reality, can she continue to live in a world where all three boys are still alive?” (Amazon) While it was really sad and hard to believe, I really enjoyed it and cried at the end. It wasn’t a long read and I really liked it.

I chose Under the Banner of Heaven to listen to on the 1700 mile road trip I took with my 17 year old. My son and I have read Jon Krakauer in the past, so it seemed like a good compromise. However, while interesting, we didn’t change to 1.5x speed early enough and suffered a bit as I mandated that we finish what we had started. Amazon: “Defying both civil authorities and the Mormon establishment in Salt Lake City, the renegade leaders of these Taliban-like theocracies are zealots who answer only to God; some 40,000 people still practice polygamy in these communities. At the core of Krakauer’s book are brothers Ron and Dan Lafferty, who insist they received a commandment from God to kill a blameless woman and her baby girl. Beginning with a meticulously researched account of this appalling double murder, Krakauer constructs a multi-layered, bone-chilling narrative of messianic delusion, polygamy, savage violence, and unyielding faith. Along the way he uncovers a shadowy offshoot of America’s fastest growing religion, and raises provocative questions about the nature of religious belief.” While overall, there were interesting things to learn, it was too long and too boring. Not Krakauer’s best.

I am not sure how Widowland by CJ Carey landed on my list, but it was cheap on Kindle, so I grabbed it. “LONDON, 1953. Thirteen years have passed since England surrendered to the Nazis and formed a Grand Alliance with Germany. It was forced to adopt many of its oppressive ideologies, one of which was the strict classification of women into hierarchical groups based on the perceived value they brought to society. Rose Ransom, a member of the privileged Geli class, remembers life from before the war but knows better than to let it show. She works for the Ministry of Culture, rewriting the classics of English literature to ensure there are no subversive thoughts that will give women any ideas. Outbreaks of insurgency have been seen across the country with graffiti made up of seditious lines from forbidden works by women painted on public buildings. Suspicion has fallen on Widowland, the run-down slums where childless women over fifty have been banished. Rose is given the dangerous task of infiltrating Widowland to find the source of the rebellion before the Leader arrives in England for the Coronation ceremony of King Edward VIII and Queen Wallis.” (Amazon) It was certainly interesting and I enjoyed it, but I didn’t love it.

It wouldn’t be summer without a new Elin Hilderbrand. I didn’t love the ghost in Hotel Nantucket, but otherwise, it was pretty standard Hilderbrand fare. And, overall, it was an enjoyable diversion. Amazon: “Fresh off a bad breakup with a longtime boyfriend, Nantucket sweetheart Lizbet Keaton is desperately seeking a second act. When she’s named the new general manager of the Hotel Nantucket, a once Gilded Age gem turned abandoned eyesore, she hopes that her local expertise and charismatic staff can win the favor of their new London billionaire owner, Xavier Darling, as well as that of Shelly Carpenter, the wildly popular Instagram tastemaker who can help put them back on the map. And while the Hotel Nantucket appears to be a blissful paradise, complete with a celebrity chef-run restaurant and an idyllic wellness center, there’s a lot of drama behind closed doors. The staff (and guests) have complicated pasts, and the hotel can’t seem to overcome the bad reputation it earned in 1922 when a tragic fire killed nineteen-year-old chambermaid Grace Hadley. With Grace gleefully haunting the halls, a staff harboring all kinds of secrets, and Lizbet’s own romantic uncertainty, is the Hotel Nantucket destined for success or doom?” Looking for an end-of-summer breezy read, this is a good one.