Carol_N

I thoroughly enjoyed Charlotte McConaghy's gripping novel of redemption, love, and survival, "Migrations." In this time of forced sheltered in place isolation, I found by reading her astounding novel, I was finally able to break my "lack of concentration" cycle I found myself spiraling in with other books. This is story is about loss but it is also about hope as the protagonist, Franny tells her story of wildlife's disappearance from our earth. She follows the arctic terns as they travel from Arctic to the Antarctic. She persuades a captain and crew to let her join them and allow the birds to dictate the boat's course. As the story unfolds, the author takes the reader through Franny's harrowing search for the birds and her tormented past. Interlaced in this lyrical story are interesting characters that have their own action filled stories to share with the reader. This unique heart-wrenching story slowly pieces together why Franny is driven to follow the terns and will keep any reader engaged during the difficult days ahead.

This is the second book I've read in the last two months that is set in the pre-World War II time period of the 1930s as Hitler infiltrated Germany. Though set in a similar time period, each book explored it differently. The first book was based on the author's father's diaries, very fragmented, and lacking the development of too many characters, it was so hard to follow its storyline. However, the book is told from the perspective of Hetty, the daughter of a high-ranking SS officer, wh0 was raised to be a dutiful daughter of the Reich. In her late teens, she is reunited with a childhood friend, Walter, who is perfect in every way, but one. . . He is Jewish. Realizing that he stands for every belief she had previously been warned about, the two of them end up falling in love. As the anti-Semitism escalates and Walter's existence is in question and Hetty is forced to make a decision to save his life by working to get him released from his concentration camp imprisonment to safety in England.

This book provides the reader with the feeling of being transported to a different time and place. This powerful, character driven novel looks at the brutalities as inflicted upon the Jewish people and make it difficult to read. Even though the story lugged a bit in the earlier chapters, I soon found the story engaging and filled with emotional touches. Despite the families' lies, their dark secrets, treachery, and heartbreak, the reader comes to know and honestly love each of the many flawed characters. It is filled with persons you will love or hate, and remember long after you have finished your reading.

In the "Actress", Anne Enright brings to life two generations of women with difficult sexual experiences, both having been assaulted, then silenced and striving to recover their power. This is a novel about celebrity, sexual powers, and a daughter's search to understand her mother's truths. The daughter, Norah, retraces her mother's (Katherine, an Irish theater legend) celebrated career with its long-kept secrets. With age, alcohol, and her dimming stardom, Katherine' loses her grip on reality and commits a bizarre crime. Enright's novel shares with reader the daughter's search for the truth – her father's identity, her mother's motive for shooting a producer, along with her search for a husband, family and worthwhile work. She takes the reader to the heart of the love that binds a mother and daughter. Often finding myself confused and losing interest, this novel seemed to grind on and on.

This book was sent to me by BookBrowse to review. Based on its blurb, I found this book to be not quite what I had expected. As I started to read, I soon discovered it was not as humorous as I thought it would be. The storyline jumped all over the place going haphazardly between childhood and adulthood periods while giving the reader an inside look at a musical group that made its living as a lip-syncing orchestra. Fake it until you make it is the basis of this book. That in it is an interesting concept however, it left this reader a bit bored and herself pushing through to the end in order to put this review together.

Chanel Cleeton's "When We Left Cuba" is the continuing saga of the exiled Perez sisters of her first book, "Next Year in Havana." Unconventional Beatriz is the heroine, avenging her losses, aiding her homeland while carving out a more independent role for herself. It is the story of a woman's fight to reclaim her country against all odds, not matter what the cost is. Cleeton has created an unforgettable story filled with historic events, espionage, and a Kennedy-liked romance. She has included enough twist and turns to keep a reader hanging until the very last page. Her love story is one for the ages and provide the reader with one gem of a book to enjoy.

In the Japanese culture and literature, cats hold an important place and appear as good luck charms capable of bringing blessings to their owners. This novel is narrated by Nana, a stray cat who, after being hit by a car, is taken in to recuperate by a young man named Satoru. He his provided with all he can eat, a warm bed, a friendly human and the occasional walk, He is always ready to leave but soon grows fond of his new master and, once recovered, decides to stay.

Many years later, changes in Satoru's life appear that make it necessary to find Nana a new home. Together they begin their travels in search of the cat's new home. Why Satoru has to part with his beloved friend is a mystery but soon both the reader and Nana's understanding grows to understand his predicament.

Anyone who's ever had a cat will be moved by this beautifully evoked road trip thus proofing the old adage. . . "It's not the journey that counts, but who's at your side." The author brings to the reader a powerful message about the value of friendship and solitude. It shows, above all, how acts of love, both great and small, can transform our lives. Expect this book to pull at your heartstrings – but in the best possible way, without becoming overly sentimental. This is a novel with wide appeal.

Heather Harpham "s new book, "Happiness: The Crooked Little Road to Semi Ever After" is a compassionate, intelligent story of a family's story of parenting a sick child.

Heather's writing voice is full of charm and profoundly moving as the story begins with a delightful courtship between her, a worldly California girl, and Brian, an intellectual homebody writer who doesn't want to leave his New York lifestyle. Their magical interlude ends when she becomes pregnant and her newly acquired lover doesn't want kids, even though he says he loves her. With the help of her family and friends, she returns to California to deliver their daughter alone. Within hours of her delivery she is told her baby is perilously ill. As the child's condition continues to grow dismal, the father
reappears and together they must decide what they will risk to ensure the child will reach adulthood.

Intensely moving and intelligently written, this book covers a multitude of subjects: romance, friendships, parental passion, and abiding friendships. However, ultimately it is a story about her family search for love and happiness.

An #1 Indie Next Pick, this beautifully layered novel features Paula Vauss (aka Kali Jali) who spent the first decade of her life on the road with her free-spirited mother, Kai. Her mother was a Georgia storyteller who blended Hindu mythology with southern tales to reinvent their family’s history. Soon the mother-daughter bond is fractured landing her mother in prison and Paula into foster care system.

As the story begins Paula is now a tough-as-nails divorce attorney with a successful practice in Atlanta. Even though she hasn’t seen her mother in fifteen years, she does continue her obligation by sending her monthly support monies until the day her last check is returned in the mail, along with a cryptic letter containing words about a final journey, death, and a new beginning when we met again.

Then Kai’s most treasured secret literally lands on Paula’s doorstep, throwing her life into chaos and transforming her from only child to older sister. Desperate to find her mother, Paula sets off on a journey of discovery that will take her back to the past and deep in her heart. With the help of an ex-lover and her newly discovered younger brother, she now has to figure out how the other missing family pieces are put back together.

I am a huge fan of Southern writers such as Jackson. In this book she delivers another one of her quirky, Southern-based, character-driven novels that combines writing with a vivid and imaginative storyline. This novel is an intense look at broken people and how they heal themselves and each other through forgiveness, love, and the power of “stories.” “The Opposite of Everyone” has been a bright spot in my last few months of leisure reading. Jackson hits both this reader’s emotional nerve and the funny bone by using evocative language and creating memorable characters to carry her story.