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The Break-Up Book Club by Wendy Wax

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Click here to purchase from Amazon I had to start my summer reading in May when I purchased this novel and couldn't be disciplined enough to wait for June.  I've read a number of Wendy Wax novels and am never disappointed. Her latest, The Break-Up Book Club was the perfect read to finish up on a holiday weekend and darn it all, gave me a few book recommendations, too.  There are quite a few characters telling their stories in alternating chapters: Jazmine, Judith, Erin, and Sara are the main characters. There's also Dorothy and Meena, and Annell.  It may seem like a lot of characters to keep straight, but it's really pretty easy. Annell owns the Between the Covers bookstore where their monthly book club meets. It sounds like a dream place (for me, it certainly is!) and the book club sounds pretty wonderful, too. It is the landing space for all of these women who live around Atlanta, Georgia and at first don't have much in common except this book shop a...

The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan

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  I've been reading a lot of historical fiction this month. Maybe I'm trying to make up for the lack of it in my 2020 reading list? I have been ping-ponging between quite a few books, and not making a big dent in any of them. So, what I do when that happens is start another book. Ha! This was a quick read, and I enjoyed it very much. It was just what I needed to read. The Kitchen Front is based on an actual World War 2 contest that was sponsored by the BBC. In this novel, four women in the small town of Finley Village enter the contest hoping to be the winner. For each of them, it means a chance to change their lives for the better. Audrey is a widow with three children, barely hanging onto her home by baking pies and scones for the locals. Lady Gwendoline is Audrey's estranged sister. She is all about appearance and making her stuffy, nasty husband proud. Nell is a servant for Lady Gwendoline, and a very talented young cook. She dreams of leaving her position for somethi...

The Last Garden in England by Julia Kelly

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  I needed to escape from my October reading for a bit and found the perfect book to do just that. This novel will be out in January, 2021 so if you're a fan of Julia Kelly you'll have a few months to wait.  I'm one of those people who love all things gardening-especially flower gardens. I am, however, not one to be out in a garden working on it every chance I get. I love the results, but not so much all the work to get there. I used to have a lot of flowers in my yard, but I've scaled back massively the past few years because I don't have the time, and I've realized that whomever follows me in my house may not want a lot of flower beds around. I still have perennials, but I've gone to simple, easy to care for summer flowers and plants in pots. I still have a wish for a forever home with a field of wildflowers somewhere on the property. My partner has agreed on this, so hopefully in the future I'll have that gardening wish come true.  This novel has quit...

I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown

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I'm not usually one to immediately jump on the bandwagon and read a celebrity book club selection right out of the gate. However, when I saw this memoir was picked for Reese Witherspoon's book club, I thought I'd read an excerpt. I was hooked from those few paragraphs, and immediately bought the ebook for my Nook. I knew, based on bestseller lists, and my library's holdings, that any book I wanted to read regarding racial issues would be hard to come by because of demand.  I'm still processing all that Austin had to say. I'm still thinking about all the things I say, do, and think that have a basis in racist thinking that goes so deep I'm not even aware of it. That is comes from simply being born and growing up white in middle-class Midwest America in the 1970's and 1980's. And that, I believe, is what white people struggle with-those people who want change, that is. I struggle to comprehend the enormity of the road we have ahead of us, and the road ...

Recipe for a Perfect Wife by Karma Brown

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I zipped through this novel in a day--my first of 2020. It read very quickly, and I had a hard time putting it down.  Why was it so compelling? I'm not sure. It's a dual storyline, between two women: Nellie in 1956, and Alice in 2018. Both are living in the same home, and married. Nellie is married to a man who swept her off her feet, and she quickly realizes he's not a nice man. Not nice at all. He wants a wife who is pretty, looks perfect all the time, cooks, cleans, and has babies. He's not afraid to use some physical force to keep her in line.  Alice is a modern woman, who recently left her job in New York City under a cloud--although she's kept that bit of information from her husband Nate. He thinks she quit. Nate wants to move out of the city and start a family in a home set in the suburbs. Alice, very reluctantly, agrees. She's a big city lady, and used to working a lot. Nate makes enough money that she can stay home and write her novel. Alice and Nate b...

Christmas Camp by Karen Schaler

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I had my doubts about this one when I started reading it. It's so much like a Hallmark Christmas story that I thought surely the "soon to be a major tv movie" blurb on the cover meant for sure it was on Hallmark. But it's not. I've checked Karen Schaler's website and scoured the internet and while it is going to be a TV movie, there's no date and no telling which network will air it. And interestingly enough, the movie was written and produced, then the novel was written--just in time for a holiday release in bookstores.  I ended up enjoying this novel for a few different reasons. At first, I wasn't connecting much with Haley Hanson, the main character. She's risen in the advertising world, and now is just one step away from becoming partner in her Boston advertising agency. She works round the clock, and has been very successful. Her Christmas holiday involves taking her parents to the Caribbean for a week of no Christmas, just sun, sand, and be...

Christmas Wishes and Mistletoe Kisses by Jenny Hale

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Well, here's number 2 of my holiday reads, and the cheese factor on this one was pretty high.  Abby is a single mom who has a natural talent for interior decorating, but chose the practical career of nursing to be able to provide a steady income for herself and her son Max. Caring for an elderly woman as a private nurse, she's given the chance of a lifetime: decorating a mansion for millionaire Nick Sinclair, the grandson of her client. Nick's rich, a workaholic, and very alone in his sparsely filled home. His family is coming to his home for Christmas, so he's got to have it decorated ASAP. Based on his grandmother's recommendation, he gives Abby the job, his credit card, and the opportunity to do whatever she wants to his home. He also pays her a tidy sum, one that will help her provide for her ailing Grandfather and provide a Christmas for her son that she's never been able to do.  Of course Nick is handsome, and plays a mean piano. He also writes h...

The Patchwork Bride by Sandra Dallas

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It's a lucky year for me when Sandra Dallas has two novels come out within months of each other. I reviewed Hardscrabble   in May, and now it's time to review The Patchwork Bride. What I love so much about Sandra's novels are the female characters. They are all strong, capable women who face hardships and tragedy straight on. They work hard, love well, and see the joy in the quiet moments of life. They always have stories to tell.  This novel was no different. Ellen is an elderly  woman living and working on the ranch she shares with her husband, Ben. He's a cowboy through and through, but he's becoming more forgetful, and Ellen's heart isn't as strong as it used to be. They may have to sell the ranch and move into town, and that would be the death of both of them. Ellen's making a wedding quilt for her granddaughter's upcoming wedding, and her granddaughter has come to the ranch because she's having second thoughts about marriage. This all takes...

Still Me by Jojo Moyes

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Well, since  After You had me bawling at the end, I had to wait months before I found out just what adventures awaited Louisa Clark in New York City.  Yes, this is the third book with Louisa Clark, who became a very well known character when Me Before You  became that novel you had to read, even knowing it would completely wreck you. Well, the follow up, After You, wrecked me, too.  I felt hopeful reading Louisa's adventures in New York City, and expected they would end happily.  I'm not going to tell you if that is what happens, because that would just spoil the whole book for you.  What I will tell you is that Louisa is still on her journey to discovering just who she is, and just what makes her happy.  She's decided to accept a job, working as the assistant to a very rich woman-Agnes Gopnik- leaving Ambulance Sam, who helped her grieving heart heal.  A very new relationship, it will need to stand the test of long distance.  Anyone wh...

Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue

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This was a powerful novel, and if not for folks around me talking about it, I probably would have passed it by.  However, fate intervened, and I'm happy to have spent the time reading about Jende and Neni Jonga's experience as immigrants in America.  There is so much to talk about, it is definitely a novel you'll want to discuss with friends.  Jende is a native of Cameroon, and is living in New York City with his wife Neni and their young son, Liomi.  Jende had arrived in New York City alone, and spent a few years working hard, scraping up enough money to marry Neni and bring her to America.  His dream was to leave Cameroon, where opportunities to succeed were slim to none.  Jende is extremely hard working, of noble character, and polite to a fault.  He's also living in the U.S. without a green card, and an expired visa.   Jende's chance to make a huge leap in providing for his family comes when he's offered a job as the chauffeur to Cla...