A Series Of (Un)Fortunate Reviews

I finished this book earlier this week.  It's the fourth book by Patti Callahan Henry that I've read.  If you click here , here , and here , you can read the three previous novels that were reviewed on the blog.  I've now exhausted the Henry books available in the local library system.  I may request some of her others from outside the county, but I have a pile of books at home to read (or not read as the case may be) before I do that.  The novel has similar themes to the later novel, Coming Up For Air : relationships, mistaking controlling tendencies for love, keeping secrets from those we love, etc.  There were some parts of this novel that were hard for me to read because I was worried that things would go to hell in a hand-basket before they got better, but they didn't, and I was glad for that. Annabelle has spent the last two years mourning the death of her husband, Knox, a pilot whose plane went down in flames in the isolated wilderness of Col...

So in the last review I had lots of opinions, mostly because I think that book really chapped my ass.  I also have opinions regarding this book, specifically about the two younger sisters who spend about half the book being insufferable, self-centered wenches.  (That's right.   I said it. )   Driftwood Summer is the third book by Patti Callahan Henry that I've read and reviewed on the blog.  You can read the other reviews here and here .  I've become a fan of her books.  This one has family drama--specifically prickly, resentful sisterly relationship drama. Riley's mother takes a tumble down the staircase of the family home and breaks several bones in the process.  As a result Riley's sisters, Maisie and Adalee, must come home to assist with their mother's convalescence as well as the huge, week long bicentennial celebration of the cottage that houses the family owned bookstore.  There's much more riding on this celebration than the fam...

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...