The Little Women Letters by Gabrielle Donnelly

The Little Women Letters by Gabrielle Donnelly probably could have done with a closer editorial eye. I get the impression that there were passages from this book in which certain people might have been referred to by the wrong name; however, most of these were the passages in which one of Jo March's letters were being related, so I'm not sure if that was case or if it was a case of certain characters were known by more than one name and this was not explained properly. While this is a stand alone book, I recommend the reader read the book Little Women by Louisa May Alcott before reading this one or at the very least familiarize themselves with that novel's storyline and characters because Donnelly assumes her reader has more than just a passing knowledge of Little Women characters and storyline which is what I have. I've never read the book--though I have seen parts of a movie adaptation (or the entire movie adaptation, I can't really remember, it was a long time ago) that had Winona Ryder and Batman, I mean, Christian Bale, in it. Other than the confusion over characters mentioned in the letters in this book, I enjoyed Donnelly's novel.

The story follows three British sisters, daughters of an American expatriate mother and British father, who are the modern day descendants of Jo March, one of the sisters portrayed in the classic novel by Louisa May Alcott. The Atwater sisters are as different from each other as the March sisters were from each other.

Lulu is adrift in her life and her career; she's at loose ends as to what she wants to do with herself and despairs that she'll never meet a man who'll love and accept her for who she is. One can't help but feel for Lulu because she's the one that gets ganged up on by her well meaning sisters and parents who only want her to finally decide what it is she wants to do for a career. And working successive dead end jobs in an antiques store, a skeevy pub, as a dogwalker and in a toy shop are not acceptable uses of a degree in biochemistry according to Lulu's family.

Elder sister Emma, responsible, sensible, dependable, and sophisticated, is planning a wedding; youngest sister Sophie, flighty, beautiful, dramatic (and let's be honest, the one who annoyed me the most) is on the cusp of the successful theater acting career that she's always wanted. Lulu, prickly, direct, aimless professionally, hopeless romantically, is the black sheep of the family. After discovering a cache of her great-great-grandmother Jo March's letters in her parents' attic, Lulu discovers a kindred spirit in Jo who was an equally prickly, direct, socially awkward, independent, intelligent personality. It is in these letters and in what they share about Jo's life and family that Lulu finds comfort, solace, and hope because in the end her great-great-grandmother led a full life with a husband and children, and she was beloved and fiercely adored by her family.

The story follows the lives, familial relationships and dynamics of the three sisters. The sisters are vividly, distinctively portrayed as three dimensional characters individual from one another. Fans of Little Women and readers who enjoy stories with female relationships at their center will enjoy this novel. I recommend you pick it up the next time you visit the library.

--Reviewed by Ms. Angie

How To Be A Heroine: Or What I've Learned From Reading Too Much by Samantha Ellis

I feel as if I could write a book subtitled "What I've Learned From Reading Too Much" except all my lessons would be culled from Greek mythology, the Babysitters' Club, the lives of British queens, crime mysteries, suspense thrillers and celebrity and entertainment gossip. I first ran across How To Be A Heroine by Samantha Ellis in an ad in BookPage. The title sounded intriguing and once I looked it up on Amazon, I was in for reading it. It reminds me of the literacy autobiography writing assignment that I had in one of my English composition classes in college--except this is the literacy autobiography on steroids. The premise of this book is that the author revisits the seminal texts that she read in her youth by examining the lessons and impressions of the novels that she had upon her first readings when she was younger. Ellis has then re-read the novels as an adult specifically for the writing of her own book to see if the novels hold up to her original i

Heat Lightning by John Sandford

I'd previously read John Sandford's first Virgil Flowers novel, Dark of the Moon , a few years back and found it to be a quick, well written read. Recently I discovered he has since written three more Flowers titles and decided to start with the second title and read through to the fourth and most recent one. Heat Lightning is the second Flowers installment. The darkness of the crimes committed that must be solved in the novel are leavened by the lighter presentation of Flowers and the story. It works well together--a dark crime doesn't always need dark prose to back it up. Virgil Flowers is Lucas Davenport's go to man in the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension when there's a sensitive, tough or otherwise puzzling case to solve. Flowers has a high clearance rate and can often turn around a case in about a week. This particular case is especially perplexing with quite a few red herrings thrown into the mix to throw everyone--Flowers and the reader in

The Whisperers by John Connolly

If there was one thing Jimmy didn't care for, it was competition, ... There were some exceptions to that rule: he was rumored to have a sweet deal with the Mexicans, but he wasn't about to try to reason with the Dominicans, or the Columbians, or the bikers, or even the Mohawks. If they wanted to avail themselves of his services, as they sometimes did, that was fine, but if Jimmy Jewel started questioning their right to move product he and Earle would end up tied to chairs in the [bar] with pieces of themselves scattered by their feet, assuming their feet weren't among the scattered pieces, while the bar burned down around their ears, assuming they still had ears. from page 86 The Whisperers is John Connolly's newest Charlie Parker installment in which some beloved characters reappear and in which previous characters from another Parker installment reappear to shed further light on the big baddie that may or may not be coming for Parker in the future. This newest inst

A Series Of (Un)Fortunate Reviews

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