The Family That Stays Together by Deborah Plummer

The Family That Stays Together by Deborah Plummer is a mystery that slowly draws you in. Though it starts slowly it does end up drawing you into the mystery surrounding the main characters long time friend when her ex boyfriend is murdered. It's part of a series so you might be slightly confused at first and some of the backgrounds of the characters are missing. But the fact that one of the main characters is an ex nun is definitely interesting. Also I liked the authors take on religion and faith being balanced without over powering the novel, even when some of the characters have a crisis of faith.

Kathy and her sister Tina begin to look into the murder of their friend's ex when she becomes the target of the police investigation. Things are only made more complicated when Kathy is approached by an old friend from the nunnery who wants her to begin therapy with her sister and nephew. Kathy begins to learn new things about the case and struggles between helping a friend and her career. 

It's definitely an interesting read with some unexpected twists and turns so I give it three out 5 stars! I would definitely check this out, especially if you can find the first one!

He Belongs to Me by Theresa Rizzo

He Belongs to Me is a beautiful and moving novel about a mother's love and determination. This novel by Theresa Rizzo is moving and definitely makes me eager to find and read more of her work. I thought that she captured the crisis of losing a child very well as well as the heartache of struggling to retain the child that's left. 

Catherine begins the tale at her graduation ceremony. She is filled with pride after completing her degree and joy that now Drew can come and live with her. Drew is her young son who has been living with her parents while she finished school at Stanford. Drew spends some time with his mother and her roommate in California but when she goes to talk to her parents about him living with her full time is when she learns the horrible truth. In a moment of weakness and manipulation from her father what she thought was guardianship for a short time was really signing the rights of her son over to her parents. 

Horrified and betrayed Catherine feels like she has no one to turn to in this hour of need. With the support of her friends in California she reaches out to her estranged husband, Thomas. They had once been madly in love until one of their twins dies in his sleep and Catherine's family accuses him of murder. Torn asunder by the horror of the situation and Catherine's manipulative father, they haven't spoken in years. Until Catherine shows up on his doorstop with a strange proposal. Can they act like man and wife in an attempt to get Drew and then if Thomas wants he can walk away.

This story's over arcing story is beautiful, the two love each other so much and life just keeps forcing them apart. In the end they realize that their love can triumph over any darkness. It is so moving and beautiful how they find love again after years as they struggle with love and children and the court case. I really enjoyed this book and I recommend it to everyone who enjoys a touching love story!

Chaperones by Megan Karasch

Chaperones is an entertaining novel about Andrea Lieberman and her journey to overcome her fears and England. The author uses great detail when describing the sights and sounds of different tourist places in England. I have been to a few of them and her descriptions brought back all the wonderful things that I too had experienced so I loved that. Megan Karasch's writing is good, her moods are evocative and the imagery is beautiful and real. Conversations flow easily and seem life like which is always a bonus!

Andrea Lieberman is the main character of this quirky novel. She was raised by parents who, though well meaning, coddled her to the point where everything causes her anxiety. At 26 years old she realizes that she has missed out on so much of life because she's just too afraid. So when offered a wonderful opportunity for a 6 month job in England she takes it. Unfortunately that's the day her boyfriend chooses to propose in a wonderfully romantic way! She regretfully says no because she knows that she has to do this on her to learn that she can stand on her own and be a real equal in a relationship.

At first she is a mess being by herself but after the boys, Harry and Rob, join her everything seems to begin to move smoother, even if at first she won't enter the church. Andrea learns that she can do things on her own as she begins to take charge of the photo shoots. Even when Robin hood falls out of the tree onto the maiden Andrea is still able to take photos and try to turn it into a success. Andrea struggles between feelings elated at her success and torn between everything that goes wrong while all her fears eat at her self confidence.

Chaperones is hilarious! It's a great story about how it's never too late to find yourself or to find what you love! It looks at all of life's little ups and downs and definitely makes you realize it's what you do when the sh*t hits the fan that really counts. Andrea is such a great character that you just want to root for her the whole time. I definitely recommend this as a great read!

Amity and Sorrow by Peggy Riley

Amity & Sorrow is a really interesting story about two children raised in a cult, their mother and their flight for freedom. It begins with Amaranth who is fleeing into the dark away from her husband, her 50 sister wives, and the horrors that lingered behind her. 4 days and nights Amaranth drove until she crashed the car and was rescued by a beaten down farmer. 

Amity and Sorrow are children who have lived their whole lives in the cult, surrounded by prayer and sister wives. Suddenly thrust into a world that confuses them, they are burdened with rules and laws that don't work in the every day world. But as they find space on the farmer's porch Amity begins to find her freedom. She begins small by breaking the rules to speak with Dust, the farmer's adopted son. Sorrow, on the other hand, can not seem to find her place in this new world where she is just like everyone else. In the cult she was the prophet's first daughter, born from his first wife, and was also the oracle. She would stand beside her father and look into the bowl of water and call out prophecies. Now in a world with no prayer, no wives, and only a broken piece of the bowl, she longs for her father and the world she knew and she will do whatever it takes to go home. 

Amaranth looks at her children and wonders were she went wrong. In the beginning they had such ideals. The religion was created with the idea that all women deserved a place where they could be safe and loved. She had been his first wife and he had been the first person to make her feel fully loved. But now years later she feels like the meaning of what they had tried to do has been lost and now, now there are hints that Sorrow might be his newest wife and that she can't allow. And so she had fled from everything familiar in the hopes of protecting her daughter who didn't want to be protected. But in getting lost Amaranth found herself.  After the farmer lets her and the girls stay on his porch she begins to find herself drawn to the this enigmatic man who continues to struggle against the dirt of Oklahoma. 

I really enjoyed this book. I thought it gave a really interesting insight as to what could start a cult and then how it can change as the people mature and change and seek things that they had never longed for before. It was entertaining to see how the girls interacted with things that we see everyday like candy and soda pop. And it even made me think much more kindly about Grapes of Wrath which is one of the few novels that I genuinely don't enjoy. 

I definitely recommend grabbing this book and reading it if you are looking for something deep and introspective! 

Tristis Manor by J.R. Wagner

Tristis Manor is an exciting novella that takes place in the Never Chronicles Universe. This book is reminiscent of great gothic literature. The atmosphere is haunting and grey while the characters are believable and well drawn out. I haven't read anything else by this author but after reading this story I am drawn to read the rest of of The Never Chronicles. 

The story begins with Margaret, a troubled child, who struggles between hurting herself and trying to find favour with her cold mother. Margaret's greatest joy is her father, when he is home she stops hurting herself as much, the bed wetting stops, she can find peace and act like a child. Unfortunately he is often gone for months at a time and Margaret doesn't feel that she has anyone she can turn to, not about the events that haunt her. 

Scratching her nails again and again over the wood comforts Margaret, easing her inner pain with one that she can control. Until her finger begins to swell, as infection rages through her body untreated causing her to fall into a coma. After a dream that will haunt her and change her life, Margaret awakens completely healed and stronger. 

It is this new found strength that will enable to her to protect and raise her sister after Margaret's mother turns her back on her daughter. But most importantly it is this strength that will lead her to protect herself against the cause of her nightmares. It will also allow her to begin a journey into an unknown future.

I really enjoyed this novella! Though it deals with some very dark aspects, they are sadly things that are more and more common in today's society. It was beautifully written with great language and emotion. Another great aspect of this book is that right now it's only 2 dollars on Amazon! And the best part is that all proceeds will be going to RAINN. To find out more about this great organization please go here http://rainn.org/

Mama's Child by Joan Steinau Lester

Mama' Child is a moving story of a bi-racial couple and the family they create. Elizabeth and Soloman met in the turbulent 50's. Elizabeth had left her home in the north to move to the south and teach black children, what she didn't expect was to lose her heart to the smooth talking musician fighting for equal rights. The chemistry was electric and from the beginning it was a done deal between the two of them, the white girl and the black man. Elizabeth stood beside Soloman with their black panther compatriots and fought for something better in the world. They brought two beautiful mixed children into the world that seemed to get crazier and crazier. Until Elizabeth couldn't even attend the meetings any longer and was forced to stay home while the children were allowed to attend. Both parents were brilliant teachers but as the topics heated up so did the sparks in their relationship until, sadly, the fire was to strong and they decided to go their separate ways. 

The focus of this novel is on the relationship between Elizabeth, Lizzie as she asks the children to call her after the divorce, and her daughter Ruby. She only reluctantly allows Soloman to take Che in the divorce and only then because he is coming home drunk and she hopes her soon to be ex husband can help him. Ruby sees this as the ultimate betrayal and maybe that's what begins the spiral downwards in their relationship. They fight constantly between moments of deep closeness like any mother and daughter. 

Lizzie struggles to find herself after losing her husband, she tries to identify with the feminist morals and even has a lesbian relationship. Her daughter disagrees with each of these decisions and hates being dragged to protests for any of the things her mother is passionate about. Until ultimately as an adult a therapist convinces her to stop communication with her mother. Her mother, heartbroken, tries to give her daughter what she needs as years of silence go by. 

I was very excited to read this book, I am white but my middle brother is mixed and I always wondered how life was for him living with an all white family, if he felt like he was missing out on something or felt something lacking because he had no black parent to lead or teach him. If you are reading this book for this reason then I sadly don't suggest it. I did enjoy the book, it's well written and the action moves smoothly. Lizzie is amusing with all of her imperfections and I enjoyed not liking Ruby. It's good to have those characters that you just love to hate. Lizzie isn't a perfect parent, not by any means, especially right after the divorce and as a teenager you always struggle with your parents. But as an adult to constantly accuse your mother, the activist, of being a racist? Ruby nit picked over the smallest things and made her mother feel horrible over them. Even over something as small as a crystal trinket she had picked up at a street vendor and then cutting her mother out of her life. 

It's an interesting read, especially for the descriptions of the 60's and 70's and the activism that was going on at the time. It gives a great idea as to what a lot of black families possibly went through as well. At one point Soloman is writing Ruby about some of his ancestors, slave women who fought and ran for their freedom, which is so amazing, I loved that part. So all in all a great read for entertainment value! I would recommend it for that reason. 

The Plateau: Voices of the Earth by Maureen Dudley

The Plateau ..... Please don't be scared off by the cover, I know it seems like it might be a children's novel but it's not. It's remarkable in so many ways. The story begins with Catherine, an environmental engineer, who feels overwhelmed both by what happens around her and by what happens in her dreams. Henry is the faithful husband who tries to understand the things that he can't see or feel while encouraging her to experience them rather then fear them. And there is Keitha, the archivist from the future and a possible descendant of Catherine's family. Keitha is a powerful perceptive who has seen images of Catherine since she was young.

Keitha, with the help of her mother and father, realizes that she has to connect with Catherine on a deeper level. Not only to save herself and her colony but to stop the Machiavellian's from changing an event that could possibly affect the future in unspeakable ways. To gain Catherine's trust Keitha begins by appearing to her on Mesa filled with animals that are near extinction. Catherine, flanked by her greyhound Addy, is mystified by these animals some of which she has no way of knowing. After a few mistakes on Keitha's part, Catherine begins to grudgingly trust that these dreams aren't her subconscious but a real visitation.

Both Catherine and Keitha are strong females fighting for what they believe in. Survival. The overall theme of this first novel is what are really doing to the world that we life in and what possibly could our descendants end up living in. How would you feel if you met a descendant of yours from 200 years in the future and they told you that they had to live under ground because it was the only place safe anymore. How sad would that realization be? This book raised so many questions for me and inspired me to do research of my own. But honestly everything was so beautifully outlined that I could easily understand all the topics and what it meant for the world around us.

The characters are so real and  engrossing that I literally missed my bus stop one morning on the way to work. This book just sucks you in and makes you want to care about Henry, Catherine, Keitha, Greer and so many other characters. It makes you care about their issues and which way their lives could possibly end up. Maureen Dudley was able to spin magic with her words, creating a world so close to our own along with a world that may be our ending place if things don't change. It was wonderfully written and quickly paced.

The e version is available through amazon and barnes & noble for only $10! I would definitely recommend this as a must read! Thankfully for me it was only the first one of a series and I can't wait to read the rest when they are released!