Book Reviews

I am an avid reader, I simply love to read and with Chris being gone so much lately I find that I have more time to read at night and I'm able to get through books quicker.  With it being summertime, anyone who knows me knows that I love to lay out by the pool and enjoy the sunshine just reading a good book.  I don't really have a particular type of book I read I usally just get recommendations from family memebers and friends, or I like the ones that "People" magazine recommends.   I've recently read two pretty good books and thought I would share them with you all, because if you are like me you might be in the market for a new book.

Sister: A Novel

by Rosamund Lupton

When Beatrice gets a frantic call in the middle of Sunday lunch to say that her younger sister, Tess, is missing, she boards the first flight home to London. But as she learns about the circumstances surrounding her sister's disappearance, she is stunned to discover how little she actually knows of her sister's life - and unprepared for the terrifying truths she must now face.

The police, Beatrice's fiance and even their mother accept they have lost Tess but Beatrice refuses to give up on her. So she embarks on a dangerous journey to discover the truth, no matter the cost.

I really liked this book, it was written from Beatrice's viewpoint after she flew to London once she found out that her sister went missing and then later found out that she committed sucide and choose to stay there to prove that her sister was murdered. I  have a little sister I am close to so this book hit me emotionally. I could very well picture Bea's anger and frustration that no one would believe just how well she knows Tess. I would feel exactly the same under those circumstances.  I found this book to be very captivating because it was written as a farewell letter to Tess, from Bea explaining to her what had happened since the day of her disappearence.  It is a thriller which engages you from the very beginning. It is a compulsive read with a strong lead character, whose relationship with her sister is constantly questioned and disbelieved.  It's a great book about  loss, grieving and regret, and about the roles we play with those we are closest too.This book was hard to put down, causing me to stay up way later than I normally would in hopes of getting closer to the last page and finishing the book.  The ending is a surprise twist that you will not be prepared for, but it was such a good one at that.  I would definitely recommend this book for all those avid readers out there who are looking for a new book to read this summer.

Not My Daugher 

by: Barbara Delinsky
When Susan Tate's seventeen-year-old daughter, Lily, announces she is pregnant, Susan is stunned. A single mother, she has struggled to do everything right. She sees the pregnancy as an unconceivable tragedy both for Lily and herself. Then comes word of two more pregnancies among other high school juniors who happen to be Lily's best friends. The town turns to talk of a pact. As fingers start pointing, the emotional ties between mothers and daughters are stretched to breaking in an emotionally wrenching story of love and forgiveness.

I'll start by saying that I did enjoy reading this book. Overall it was interesting, exciting and suspenseful. It dealt with problems that our society is dealing with on an everyday basis nowadays as more and more teens are getting pregnant. Fathers have rights when it comes to their children. What started out being interesting ended up being irritating and yes, irrelevant.  The book was published right as a big story was making headlines the plot mimicking the Gloucester, MA pregnancy pact. Four high school girls decide that they are going to get pregnant together and thus support each other through the ordeal. The girls are but 17, high school seniors, and all seemed extremely immature despite the author telling us constantly that these were honor students and exemplar leaders of their class.  All in all, this is a book.  To that end, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Did the girls make a stupid decision? Absolutely! Would you, as a parent, react in the same way? Probably not. But that's the whole point. We all think we know how we'd "do better" when faced with similar issues.  But I personally, like this author, was it one of her better books, not really. Would I recommend the book as an easy beach/pool read to a friend, yes.