Jean_S

I can't say that I loved Everything Lost Returns but I can't say I disliked the book either. At times Sarah Domet wrote beautiful prose. Mostly when she was describing her main characters, Opal Doucet and Nona Dixon, inner thoughts. The prologue is particularly well done and I had high hopes for this book. Domet begins her story srongly--"The first time Opal heard the voice she stood ankle deep in the Ohio River. It was night, and the river was a universe of stars. Opal wiggled her toes, then dared herself farther until she was calf-then knee-deep." The entire prologue intrigued me. Who wouldn't want to keep reading after that.

However, for me, the alternation of both time periods and characters got rather tedious. Of course, 1910 and 1986 are times when Halley's Comet appears and I understand why she had to do this. But while I quite enjoyed the chapters about Olive Doucet and I found her to be a strong interesting character, I found Nona Dixon to be much less appealing and much less interesting.

When I first began Girl Falling, I thought it should be categorized as "Young Adult". It seemed to be about young love and as a mature woman I was sure I wouldn't find it interesting. However, after a few more chapters, I found it was a much more in depth book than I had previously thought. and Scrivenor's talent as an author became evident. I much admired her use of simile as well as her skill with description. I finished the book quickly since I found my self picking it up to read whenever I had a free moment. I truly enjoyed Girl Falling.

While The Flower Sisters by Michelle Collins Anderson, is not the type of book I usually read, I have to admit I liked it quite a bit. Overall, I found Anderson to be a very capable writer, in fact, there were times when her prose amazed me with its brilliance. For example, (I think I can share with you her description of one character's mother-in-law without giving away the plot). "Gladys was a turkey vulture circling on the hot updrafts of our skirmishes waiting for first blood to swoop in with a raised eyebrow or acidic comment."

Not only was Anderson's prose engaging, I found the structure of the book to be quite interesting as well. In the first chapter Anderson propels us from 1928 to 1978. Sprinkling this fifty- year span with interesting characters whose secrets and lies kept me reading to the end.