Rated of 5
by Sherrill B. (Columbia City, In.) the first warm evening of the year
It was a very easy read and it definitely held my attention to the end. I liked the idea; I didn't know how it was going to end until the end of the story. The book is full of emotion, as the characters try to figure out just how they fit together in the puzzle of life: Whether to hold on to the past all their life, or move on to new territory and love.
Rated of 5
by Marie A (Warner, NH) Out of the Past...And Into?
When I received this novel, I couldn't wait to read it. I wish I could say that it held my interest. I can't because as I read page after page, I became like the characters--stuck in the past with ghosts from the past, waiting for and hoping for something to happen, waiting for e-mails or phone calls, and ruminating about what might/could happen in the future. I found the characters unremarkable in a plot that lacked depth. Without hesitation I can say that this is not a book I shall reread, readily recommend, nor long remember.
Rated of 5
by Diane D. (Blairstown, NJ) Interesting Characters
I liked the book, though it bothered me that Marian didn't seem to be able to get past the death of her husband. After all those years, you would think she'd be able to get on with her life. The characters in the book were interesting and described in depth; I had to feel sorry for what they put each other through. At times I wanted to shake all of them!
It surprised me that I wasn't sure, till the end, HOW it was going to end. That was unusual.
I imagine it would provide enough discussion for a reading group, so I would recommend it.
Rated of 5
by Sandra H. (St. Cloud, Minnesota) The First Warm Evening of the Year by Jaime M. Saul
How easy it can be for our lives to fall into a pattern, to accept the known over the unknown, and fall into a never-ending routine. We can be so accustomed to the everyday that we forget a time when life was exciting, when we welcomed the new and looked forward to the unexpected. That is where the characters in Jaime Saul’s novel find themselves. All are in their 40’s and have put behind them the exciting days of their youth and early adulthood. Laura and Geoffrey shared a unique friendship in college. Laura married a fellow musician and became part of a well-known jazz group that had gigs worldwide while Geoffrey remained a bachelor who became successful in the arts, had sophisticated friends and a girl friend who demanded nothing of him. Marian, Laura’s best friend, married her brilliant high school sweetheart and together they developed an innovative and successful landscaping business. But then Laura dies of cancer at age 42 and names Geoffrey executor of her will. Arriving in her home town of Shady Grove, NY, he meets Marian and suddenly realized that “No one had ever quite looked at me like that. That’s when I fell in love with her.” But this is not a harlequin romance. Rather, it is a beautifully written story of how love can, if we are willing to let it, change our lives. As the title suggests, for Geoffrey and Marian their meeting is indeed “the first warm evening of the year” that suggests many more to come. 5 stars
Rated of 5
by Marjorie H. (Woodstock, GA) Love??
I liked this book at first. The author gets inside the head of Geoffrey in a very interesting way. Somewhere along the line, the book fell apart. Yes, it's a story about love. Love reflecting, love looking forward, tenacious love and love that is unsure and undefined. I think I understand where Mr. Saul was trying to go, but somehow it never took off. Marian was profoundly irritating and I wished, more than once, that Geoffrey had taken the hint and gone home. Eliot's loyalty, or whatever it was, his basketball, tennis, etc., kept him in his own little world. The repetition of the Marian/Geoffrey theme held the story back and the ending was anti-climactic. I wished it could have been better. Mr. Sauls is an excellent writer who could have done better.
Rated of 5
by Catharine L. (Petoskey, Not Much Going On
Geoffrey, a 42 year old bachelor, is asked to be the executor of his friend Laura's estate. Once, best of friends, he hasn't seen her in 20 years. He meets Marion, her best friend, who lost her husband 10 years before and is still mourning. Both Geoffrey and Marion are in convenient relationships, but that changes when Geoffrey falls in love with Marion and convinces her to take a chance on love again. This book wasn't stimulating enough for me. A book for a lazy afternoon at the beach - quickly read and forgotten.
A bold, mesmerizing novel about the woman known as "Typhoid Mary," the first known healthy carrier of typhoid fever in the burgeoning metropolis of early twentieth century New York.
Z, the novel about the life of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald is at points charming and; like another reviewer, I kept thinking of the movie, "Midnight...
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Although heavy on the scientific details, which slowed down the story for me (OK, I admit, I was one of those liberal arts majors who skipped out on...
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British Parliament asks Amazon to clarify why it pays $9 million in income tax on $23 billion of UK sales.(May 20 2013) Amazon will be called back to give further evidence to members of the British Parliament "to clarify how its activities in the U.K. justify its low corporate...
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of 5
by Sherrill B. (Columbia City, In.) 
of 5
by Marie A (Warner, NH) 
of 5
by Diane D. (Blairstown, NJ) 
