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A Circle of Wives by Alice LaPlante

March 2014

A few years ago, I read TURN OF MIND by Alice LaPlante and was crazy about it; I have told many people the plot of that book, which inspired them to read it. I hope I can do the same with A CIRCLE OF WIVES, her new one, which is just as strong.

Dr. John Taylor is found dead in a hotel room in Palo Alto, and it looks like he may be a victim of foul play. Then we learn that this respected doctor has been harboring a secret. He's a polygamist married to three women in three separate cities. All three women are at his funeral, and their individual stories collide, with a very interesting twist we learn that one of the troika was the mastermind of this arrangement. A young female detective is assigned to the case and finds herself trying to figure out who is telling the truth and who is lying, while (let’s get real) they all are living a lie.

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Until I Say Good-Bye: My Year of Living with Joy by Susan Spencer-Wendel

March 2014

Just about a year ago, I read UNTIL I SAY GOODBYE by Susan Spencer-Wendel (with Bret Witter) right before it was published in hardcover. I was so very, very moved by this story. I had read some of her Palm Beach Post columns where she had been documenting her journey with ALS, which is a truly hideous disease with no cure. From the start, she knows her fate. She also is a journalist and a very take-charge person. So instead of crying “woe is me,” she has gone on to live life joyfully, all the while the disease is zapping her muscle control. She has traveled with family and friends, planned memories for her children, and focused on doing rather than weeping.

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The Innocent Sleep by Karen Perry

February 2014

THE INNOCENT SLEEP is by Karen Perry, which is the pen name of the Dublin-based writers Paul Perry and Karen Gillece. This is their first novel together (they are married but not to each other --- just friends). It opens in Tangiers where Harry and Robin are living with their son, Dillon. Harry is home with Dillon making Robin a special birthday dinner when he realizes he has forgotten her present. Dillon is asleep and makes a quick decision to race over to their friend's home to pick up the gift. While he is gone, an earthquake occurs. The building where Dillon was sleeping is destroyed, but his body is never found.

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Runner by Patrick Lee

February 2014

Last April, I read RUNNER by Patrick Lee in manuscript and still remember being breathless when I read it. Thrillers that give you many “aha” moments are the ones you don’t forget --- and RUNNER certainly has many of those!

Sam Dryden is a retired Ranger special forces agent who once was part of a team that ran a lot of his operations off the grid. Now he has rebuilt his life in a small Southern California town. He’s a loner, having lost both his wife and young daughter in an accident. As an aside here, I knew someone who was a special agent for the FBI, and we talked one night about how one adjusts after having lived that kind of an adrenaline-filled life. How does one go from missions at Ruby Ridge, Waco and Yemen, to carpooling, grocery shopping and normal life? He told me that between the memories and the change in the pace of your life, it’s a real challenge. For years, he was the guy coaching baseball who might get a call in the middle of a game. It would not be that his wife needed milk, but rather he was wheels up on an assignment in two hours.

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The Deepest Secret by Carla Buckley

February 2014

When reading THE DEEPEST SECRET by Carla Buckley, I felt the same way that I did reading DEFENDING JACOB by William Landay; it’s that good! This book is destined to be BIG. When I was three chapters in, I said to my husband, “I am in trouble…this one is an all-nighter.” There is a really exciting feeling that comes when you find a book like this.

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Unremarried Widow: A Memoir by Artis Henderson

January 2014

Last summer, I never had heard the term “unremarried widow” until a friend on Facebook explained what is was in military terms. It means the wife of a dead soldier who has not yet remarried.

Artis Henderson was widowed when her husband’s Army helicopter crashed in Iraq in 2006; she was 26 and newly married. She, like her mom, was widowed by a husband dying in a plane crash. What she writes in UNREMARRIED WIDOW is a love story, as much as a story of survival. She writes about the stress and strain of surviving military life while, at the same time, the joy of falling and being in love. One of the references on it is to THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING, and I can see why. It’s the kind of a book that will stay with me in much the same way. After finishing the book, I wanted to see Artis and hear her talk about the story, thus I was lucky enough to find this video where she does just that. 

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In the Blood by Lisa Unger

January 2014

I read Lisa Unger's first book, BEAUTIFUL LIES, back in 2006 and knew then with her debut that she was a talent to watch. Reading IN THE BLOOD, her eighth book, I am reminded I was right. This is a taut psychological thriller that reels you in from the start. It's hard to talk about it without revealing anything, a true sign that it is so well done. I do know two things. One, when I was finished reading it, I wanted to start reading again to see how the story was constructed. Two, I would not want to read it at home...alone...in the dark.

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The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly by Sun-mi Hwang

November 2013

I love when a slim novel packs a powerful punch. That is what happened when I read THE HEN WHO DREAMED SHE COULD FLY. On the surface, it’s a story about a hen named Sprout who is trapped in a chicken coop and dreams of hatching an egg and nurturing a chick. Instead, she is sentenced to a life where her hatched eggs slowly roll away from her and are then collected each day and taken to market. The numbing experience of loss and longing is her companion every day. From her perch, she watches animals in the yard milling about and hatches a plan to escape beyond the walls of the hen house and roam freely, in the hopes of becoming a mother.

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The Whole Golden World by Kristina Riggle

November 2013

I heard about THE WHOLE GOLDEN WORLD by Kristina Riggle at a librarian conference where it was pitched something like this: “A teacher is charged with having an affair with a high school student, and at the trial she chooses to sit behind the defendant in a show of solidarity instead of sitting with those who plan to prosecute him.” I heard that, and a lot of questions came to mind. This scenario had a number of ways it could be handled, and thus I wanted to look at how the author would take it on. What I found was a story well-told in three voices --- that of the girl, Morgan; her mother, Dinah; and Rain, the wife of T.J Hill, the defendant.

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Leaving Haven by Kathleen McCleary

October 2013

LEAVING HAVEN by Kathleen McCleary will take you on an emotional ride. Georgia, who has a daughter, longs for a second child as she suffers miscarriage after miscarriage. Then her best friend, Alice, who has a teenage daughter, offers to be her egg donor, and her dream of having a baby become real. But then she discovers something that changes her mind about how much she really wants baby Haven, and what love is. I knew the “reveal” before I read the book, but it did not take away from the story. If anything, it made me wonder how it would unfold. It still took me through all kinds of wonderful twists and turns. I was not sure what was going to happen to Haven until the last page.

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