A Series Of (Un)Fortunate Reviews

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline is the first book by this author that I've read.  I'm not sure how I first came across it, but it's been on my books-to-read list for a while.  Recently my library acquired a copy, and since I was between books, I thought, hmm, let me try this one and see if it sticks.  Sometimes when I'm between books I have a problem starting and actually sticking with a book to the end. The historical part of the story of Orphan Train is actually inspired by true events.  There really was a train in the 1920's that took orphaned children from the Children's Aid Society in New York City out to the Midwest in a quest to find families to place them in.  Some of these children are still alive today.  However, I don't think that the characters of Molly and Vivian are based on any real life people. Molly Ayer has spent the last nine years bouncing among over a dozen different foster homes.  She's developed a tough shell and a ...

An Inquiry Into Love And Death is the second novel by Simone St. James.  I previously read and reviewed and loved her debut The Haunting of Maddy Clare .  Her third novel is set to come out later this spring.  This second novel has everything its predecessor has: period drama, mystery, ghosts, romance, thrills, and suspense.  It's a terrifying, atmospheric, scary, creepy page turner.  AND the ghost hunters, Gellis and Ryder, from Maddy Clare get a shout out in this novel.  I will admit--I'm wondering what happened to Gellis and Ryder and Sarah from the first novel, but I loved the characters in An Inquiry as much as I loved the ones from  Maddy Clare .  The debut novel took place in 1922; this novel takes place in 1924. The English seaside village of Rothewell is possibly the most haunted place in England, this according to its residents.  The main manifestation dealt with in the story is a mysterious, mischievous and possibly hostile...

Heat Wave is the first novel I've read by Nancy Thayer.  She lives and writes on Nantucket, and the setting for this novel is Nantucket.  In the beginning of the book the story of Carley and her daughters is what captured my interest as opposed to the writing (which nearly made me ditch it)--there were several pages that I skipped/skimmed over because they were a little boring.  Several chapters in is when the major drama starts. In the wake of her husband's sudden death, Carley is struggling--with her finances, with the tension that occasionally blooms into conflict with her eldest daughter, and with the increasing tensions between herself and her in-laws, especially her meddling and interfering mother-in-law.  After Gus' death, Carley discovers that due to some bad investments her husband made, she's left penniless to raise their two daughters.  A stay-at-home mother, Carley never went to college, never pursued a career, has no job skills to speak of, and...

Between the Tides is the second book I've read by Patti Callahan Henry.  I previously read and reviewed her book Coming Up For Air here on the blog (click the link to read that review).  I really enjoyed Between the Tides, and it was a quick read.  This is a lyrically written family drama steeped in the south and the mystery of a childhood tragedy that revealed a devastating family secret. Catherine Leary is a woman who believes she's moved on from the childhood tragedy that ripped up her roots in the family's beloved Seaboro, South Carolina, but if moving on means not allowing herself to feel joy or love, has she really moved on?  Catherine reluctantly returns to Seaboro, the seaside village her family fled in the wake of a childhood tragedy for which Catherine has accepted and carried the guilt, shame and grief for nearly twenty years.  In Seaboro, Catherine is determined to make a short trip--in and out before her old friends know she's there--to toss...

The Haunting of Maddy Clare is Simone St. James' first novel; it's a ghost story set in 1920's England.  It was a page turner and hard to put down, and it was suspenseful and scary, and there was a ghost, a mystery, and a romance, and I loved it, and no library in Lebanon County has An Inquiry Into Love And Death , St. James' follow up to her debut!  So now I'll have to see if I get it from outside the county.  Her third novel will drop in April 2014.   The Haunting of Maddy Clare is a historical/period drama combined with a ghost story mystery (which basically means, it's right up my alley because ENGLISH PERIOD DRAMA and GHOST STORY) populated by characters each in their own way equally damaged and scarred by tragedy. 1922.  Rural England.  London city girl, Sarah Piper, comes to the English countryside in the employ of the young, handsome and charming Alistaire Gellis.  Gellis, a veteran of World War I, has parlayed a lifelong fascination with...