One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid

My Rating: 4.8

Emma marries Jesse, her high school sweet-heart. On their first wedding anniversary, Jesse is on a helicopter that goes missing...and is gone. Fast forward 10 years and Emma has rebuilt her life, now running her parent's book store and engaged to Sam, her childhood friend. It feels like Emma’s second chance at happiness, until Jesse is found, alive!

I admit, I thought this was going to be cheezy. I wasn't expecting to fall in love with it, let alone wish that I had read this for bookclub as it would have made a GREAT discussion. The characters were real and well developed and nothing felt pat or easy. It was a quick easy read without being fluffy. I loved how it unfolded as well as the ending. 

The Face On The Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney

My Rating: 3.4

A 16 year old girl recognizes herself as the face of the missing child on the milk carton. Janie can't believe her loving parents kidnapped her. She realizes that there are no photos of her before she was 5 years old and other things don't add up. She starts to have memories and can't let go of wondering if she was kidnapped twelve years ago.

I enjoyed this book enough to get out book #2 and #3 from the library but, also was disappointed to discover that, despite being made into a movie, this is not based on a true story. I also felt that this was REALLY long and am concerned the sequels will be 'milking' (ha!) this even further. It definitely should have been edited down so it didn't drag so much. Still, a quick easy read.

The Night Before by Wendy Walker

My Rating: 3.2

Lori falls fast and hard for the wrong kind of men. Her sister Rosie who is happily married with a child is the 'steady' one in the family. You know that something has happened in Lori's past and you just aren't sure if it happened to Lori or she was the one who did something. Lori decides to try online dating and meets a man but doesn't come home from the date. Rosie and her husband and their childhood friend Gabe all try to track down Lori and it unfolds from there.

I loved the timeline going from Rosie and her husband in current day looking for Lori to the flashbacks to childhood as well as to Lori going out on the date. I enjoyed this until the last 1/4 which took a sudden turn in the plotline and got so horrifically cheezy that it lost me. So sad as I really did enjoy the first 3/4 of this book.

Bookmarks Sept/Oct 2019

I am always SO excited to get my Bookmarks magazine!  It has been crazy insane (more on what is going on in a video this Tuesday) but this couldn't have been more perfect timing! I don't know how to procrastinate so, when I walked to my mailbox and discovered this gem waiting for me, I immediately sought out a quiet corner in my house to curl up and devour this fabulous magazine. Such a needed escape!


      

      
   

The Baker's Secret by Stephen P. Kiernan

My Rating: 4.7

Emma is 22 years old and learning to bake since she was 13 under the tutelage of Ezra. With the Nazi occupation of her town, life changes completely. Emma has no hope of the Allied forces rescuing them but she can't handle seeing her fellow townfolk starving so, she does what she can to help them.

I really enjoyed this. Even though Emma didn't have hope of rescue, she provided hope to her fellow townfolk. It is amazing how much the human spirit can endure and survive and this captures the feeling of being one of the townfolk trying to survive.

The Winter Soldier by Daniel Mason

My Rating: 4.9

Vienna, 1914. Lucius is a twenty-two-year-old medical student when World War I explodes across Europe. Enraptured by romantic tales of battlefield surgery, he enlists, expecting a position at a well-organized field hospital. But when he arrives, at a commandeered church tucked away high in a remote valley of the Carpathian Mountains, he finds a freezing outpost ravaged by typhus. The other doctors have fled, and only a single, mysterious nurse named Sister Margarete remains.

This book won't be for everyone as it does lag at times. For me, the beautiful writing propelled it along. I truly FELT each scene - the weather, the war, the emotions - and that will stay with me. Absolutely gorgeous but not a light fluffy read and at times, I didn't like where the plot went but again, the writing held me to the end. Will definitely get more by this author.

The Story of Arthur Truluv by Elizabeth Berg

My Rating: 4.6

Three different people. who find their way back from loss and loneliness to a different kind of happiness. Arthur, a widow, meets Maddy, a troubled teenage girl who is avoiding school by hiding out at the cemetery, where Arthur goes every day for lunch to have imaginary conversations with his late wife, and think about the lives of others. The two strike up a friendship that draws them out of isolation. With Arthur’s nosy neighbor Lucille, they create a loving and unconventional family, proving that life’s most precious moments are sweeter when shared.

This was a heartwarming story that I didn't want to end. I particularly loved Arthur - the epitame of the sweet quirky old man that captures your heart