February Books

The Wolves of Andover by Kathleen Kent -- A somewhat interesting book, but not what I consider an easy read in that it was written in a more old-fashioned way, or, rather, with older phrases and such. Martha Allen is sent to stay with her cousin's family as her cousin gets ready to have her third child. Martha assists Patience around the house while two hired men - Thomas and John - help around the farm while Patience's husband travels for work. Pretty good story.



Round Robin by Jennifer Chiaverini -- This is book 2 in the Elm Creek Quilts series which I decided to start from the beginning (as I mentioned in last month's books post). This book delves into more of the stories of the ladies making up the quilt club - introducing their families, past conflicts, and current ones. A decent, easy read.




Live to Tell by Lisa Gardner -- another D.D. Warren novel featuring the Boston Police Department trying to solve crimes where whole families were killed. They were staged as if the fathers killed the mothers and children before they killed themselves, but is that what happened? This was an interesting look into children's psych wards and into families who deal with mentally ill children.




When Light Breaks by Patti Callahan Hentry -- an easy read for museums and parks while Sophie is in town; Kara is engaged to a PGA star, but thinks back to her old childhood friend Jack Sullivan and wonders whatever happened to him; an OK book

The Lost Man by Jane Harper -- as the book jacket states: "Three brothers, One death, No answers..." ; this book takes place in the Australian Outback, and while reading it, I'm amazed at the planning these people must make in order to survive. When the river floods without it raining (due to rain hundreds of miles north), you may be trapped in your house for a couple of weeks. When you need supplies, you better think what you want for your meals for a few months. When the cooler room needs fixing, the repairman won't come unless he has a few other people's properties to be serviced because it costs a hundred in fuel to drive there and back. When you see someone stranded, you better stop to help as it may be a death sentence for the stranded person. It's the code of that part of the land. When Cam - the clever, well-liked middle brother - is found dead several kilometers from his well-equipped and supplied vehicle, people wonder. Was this Cam's way of killing himself?  I discovered this author last year, and enjoyed her mysteries from Australia so I was glad to see this on the new books list at the library. 

Fear Nothing by Lisa Gardner -- Adeline was born with a genetic condition which allows her to feel no pain. She can feel the pressure of scissors or a razor blade, but she won't flinch or scream from the pain of cutting. She's the daughter of a serial killer who died decades ago, but her father's murders are back in the headlines after a couple of murders in Boston which have similar aspects to her father's MO. This book also deals with Shana, Adeline's older sister who was incarcerated at age 14 after being accused of murdering a neighborhood boy while she was in foster care. This was another good book in the D.D. Warren series by this author.

The Patchwork Bride by Sandra Dallas -- a rather cute, easy read on the New Books shelf; Ellen tells her granddaughter about a friend of her's - Nell - who worked as a hired hand on a ranch, as a waitress, and as a teacher - and she also broke off 3 engagements  of marriage.  What a gal!

Saints at the River by Ron Rash -- Which side would you be on? A 12 year old girl vacationing in a SC mountain area is stuck under the water, caught behind a rock in a hydraulic. This river is designated Wild & Scenic and protected by federal law. Yet, the parents from Illinois understandably want a temporary dam built so they can retrieve their daughter's body for burial! Yet, the local environmental types argue for the sake of the river: it cannot be altered since this sets a precedent for future alteration, for developers to come in and ruin the river. That's essentially what this book dealt with from the point of view of Maggie, native of this area who now is a photographer based out of Columbia.

The Unwomanly Face of War by Svetlana Alexievich -- "an oral history of women in World War II" -- this book was highly recommended by Bridget, and her mom spoke highly of it, too. So I got it for Christmas from my Amazon Wishlist; a great look at the tasks women performed, the unique hardships they faced as women fighting for the Motherland (Russia) during the war shared through interviews with dozens of women

The Hope Jar by Wanda E. Brunstetter -- I saw this online as a new book and put it on hold; book one in The Prayer Jars series; an easy read; Michelle, a former foster child on the run, is mistaken by an Amish couple as their just-discovered (by letter) granddaughter, Sara. Michelle decides to pretend to be Sara and spends weeks with the Lapps. What could go wrong?

The Cross-Country Quilters by Jennifer Chiaverini -- This is book 3 in the Elm Creek Quilts series; it follows the lives of a group of mostly-strangers (the actress Julia; the quilt historian Grace; Megan and Donna, who are already online friends; and Vinnie, a camp regular)  who meet at the quilt camp. They leave that week with promises to overcome challenges and to work on a quilt that they will complete together the following year.

Save Me by Lisa Scottoline -- Rose is one of the two volunteer lunch moms when a small explosion in the cafeteria causes a deadly fire. Rose doesn't know whether to rush three girls in her charge out the door to the playground or go back for her own daughter Melly who had fled to the bathroom after one of the girls bullied her. As Rose tries to clear things up, she takes it upon herself to figure out what caused this explosion in the first place.

Home Front by Kristin Hannah -- A family in Washington - Jolene, the Black Hawk helicopter pilot, her attorney husband, Michael; preteen daughter Betsy and four year old Lulu.  Life is already a struggle, but then when Jolene is called up to go to Balad as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Michael has to learn how to be there for his daughters. Jolene has to decide how much to tell the family back home. And the girls have to adjust to their mom being overseas, in a war zone.

The German Girl by Armando Lucas Correa -- A look at the passengers of the St. Louis, desperate German Jews, who thought they would have a place to stay in Cuba. But the Cuban President passed an order that allowed a fraction of them to disembark. That story told through the eyes of Hannah, the German girl.  A touching story.

The Decision by Wanda E. Brunstetter -- I often like having a soft-cover, easy read when the kids are in town, and while I mostly read this one after Sophie was back home, it was an OK story about Prairie State Friends (book 1). It takes place among the Illinois Amish, and talked about Elaine who was struggling with her forgetful grandmother, and about Jonah who was getting over a failed marriage attempt. Maybe a predictable story, and at times a bit too ... simplistically annoying, but, eh, I might find book 2 just to read more about these folks.

The Next Accident by Lisa Gardner -- this was not a D.D. Warren novel, and, frankly, probably one of my least favorite books by this author. It was OK, but the story of Rainie and the FBI profiler Pierce Quincy wasn't that great to me. Maybe if I'd read the previous books featuring these two, I'd like them more, but the library didn't have those so I had to start with this one. Pierce's oldest daughter and ex-wife are murdered by someone targeting those close to him, and so it's off to looking for this person.

Searching for You by Jody Hedlund -- Final book in the Orphan Train series; this one focused on the youngest Neumann sister, Sophie, who had run away from her older sisters when she thought she would have to give up the care of the two little children, Olivia and Nicholas, whom she had cared for after their mom abandoned them. Sophie is struggling to provide for them, and decides to join the orphan train as an orphan. They head west to a farm in Illinois where they come across a couple of familiar faces. 

The Runaway Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini -- This is another in the Elm Creek Quilt series and combines modern-day Sylvia and her friends who run the quilting retreat with glimpses of Sylvia's ancestors who lived around the time of the US Civil War. I got many more glimpses of the people familiar to me from the first book I read in this series which happened to be way later in the series if I were going in order. It was nice reading more about Anneke and Hans Bergstrom and Gerda, Han's older sister who lived with them. Sylvia found Gerda's memoir which revealed some family secrets and kind of created more.  Good story!

Death Books a Return by Marion Moore Hill -- this book from the Scrappy Librarian Mystery series was displayed at my local library so I decided to give it a try. It was decent and an easy read while I was at the beach and riding home from the beach today (2/26.)  Juanita, the public librarian, is trying to write a history of the town and is tracking down people who might know something about an unsolved murder involving some high schoolers back in the late 1950s. A black teenager was killed and his murderers were never arrested.  A decent book.

Maid by Stephanie Land -- "hard work, low pay, and a mother's will to survive"; I saw this offered online in the new books section of the library's website so I put it on hold a few weeks back. It was an interesting look at the author's life as a single mother working hard to provide for herself and her daughter.  I admire her hard work, but not her life choices.

A Desperate Hope by Elizabeth Camden -- Eloise returns to the valley near where she grew up as part of New York City's accounting department. She's there on official business as the City plans to buy out the folks in Duval Springs so they can dismantle the town and flood it. NYC needs drinking water, ya know! This book wasn't my favorite of this author's, but it was a decent, easy read.