fiction – Page 3 – The Spine View

Seven Perfect Things by Catherine Ryan Hyde

Seven Perfect Things, by Catherine Ryan Hyde, was the perfect holiday lift I needed. A story of a young girl and her love for a littler of abandon puppies she is determined to raise. Truly heartwarming.

Abby, a thirteen year old girl, happens to witness someone through a sack of something into the river. When it wiggles, she dives into the river to rescue a litter of seven puppies. Her Dad will never let her keep them so she takes them to the local Animal Shelter to surrender them in the hopes they can find them a home.

When she arrives at the shelter the worker quickly informs her of the reality of pet overpopulation. In short, it is highly unlikely these puppy will be adopted. The shelter will only hold them a few days before they will be euthanized.

Out of options, she recalls an abandoned cabin on the outskirts of town. She takes them there and cares for them without her Dad knowing. Now she is able to take her time finding them a home. She settles them into the shed on the property and starts the task of feeding and caring for them.

In the meantime, Elliot, having just lost his wife to a long battle with cancer, decides to retreat to his hunting cabin he has not visited in years. When he arrives he discovers it is occupied by a girl and a litter of seven puppies. This is not the peace and quiet he was expecting and needing to help him grieve. However, he is impressed with Abby’s tenacity and decides to help her with the puppies. One thing leads to another and he finds himself offering his help to more than just a litter of puppies.

This book is all about the characters which I loved, well except for Stan. Abby will especially capture your heart. She is kind but also strong and brave as well as resourceful. Mary too is strong, though she does not realize it at first. She has been beaten down for so long it is surprising that she has the will to try to escape her circumstances.

The plot was good and the puppies made the story extra sweet. They added that special element that made the book extra special. There was just the right amount of drama to move the story on and it kept my interest. I appreciate that the author didn’t add a romance element to Mary and Elliot. Elliot was not ready for that and it would have felt forced.

While this is a somewhat predicable story, I can’t deny the fact that it gave me the warm fuzzes while reading it. This has been my year for these types of stories. I have found myself gravitating towards them all throughout the year. If you need the warm fuzzes, this is the book for you.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest opinion.

In A Holidaze by Christina Lauren

This is a super cute Christmas romance story with a side of Groundhog’s Day thrown in. Maelyn, the MC, is spending Christmas with family and close friends at a cabin in Colorado. A long standing tradition. However things go horribly wrong this Christmas. On the way back to the airport she makes a wish for the universe to show her what will make her happy.

As the saying goes, “Be careful what you wish for,” because immediately after the wish a car runs a red light and plows into the car Maelyn is riding in. When she wakes up it is no longer December 26th but December 20th and she back on the plane headed to Colorado and the cabin. She must figure out what will make her happy.

Cheesy…yes. Predictable… totally! Yet I still enjoyed it. The characters are what make this story. The plot had a great pace and even the minor characters were well done. I appreciated all the flaws of Maelyn. The author was very authentic with her handling of this character.

I can see this appealing to lovers of romance and contemporary fiction. This would make a good choice for a book club because there are a lot of life lessons that the main character must learn to move forward.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue has become my favorite book by V. E. Schwab and my favorite read this year. It is an absorbing story that is brilliantly written and absolutely flawless is execution.

Addie LeRue is born in 1741 in a small, rural French community. Her dream is to travel to bigger cities and experience the greater world. These dreams are far more than a simple girl can ever aspire to. Her circumstances, and the times, will see her wed to someone she does not love. She will die young, worn out by domestic life and children she does not want.

Addie is desperate to avoid this fate. So desperate in fact, she makes a deal with a dark god whom goes by the name Luc. The deal she strikes is simple, she wants her freedom and in return the god will get her soul when she is done with it. Luc agrees and the deal is sealed with blood.

The deal turns out to be not everything Addie bargained for. She has gained her freedom, in a sense, but the cost was high and much more than a soul. In truth, she has just traded the shackles her situation has placed on her with ones that tie her deeply to Luc. In addition, she quickly finds out that no one can remember her. There is one perk to this deal, she no longer ages. In essence she is immortal. Thus begins the second life of a forgettable girl named Addie.

The prose was fabulous. It had an almost sensual quality to it. I once read an author’s advice about how a setting should be treated as a character and thus requires time to be spent discovering that setting. Schwab has assuredly done that here. I could smell the dirty streets of the Paris of the past and feel the energy of New York City as it is viewed from a rooftop.

This is not a novel that the plot skips along carefree in an almost haphazard way. It moves slowly and purposefully in a well thought out way. Much the way a river winds through its course, sometimes swiftly and sometimes with languid ease, on its journey to the sea. It is the trip that the reader should savor here, it is entertaining and deeply satisfying.

The story is totally character driven. To keep the reader reading, I feel that the author walks a fine between keeping the reader’s interest and boring them to death. Because Addie lives such a long life it would be easy to lose the reader in too much detail. However, Schwab has managed to straddle that line to perfection. For example, Addie’s feelings of loss and loneliness come through elegantly. I felt it especially in one particular Paris scene in which Addie sees the first man she ever loved when he is much older. It was one of those moments when she truly recognizes and acknowledges what she has given up. There are many more scenes like this that the author uses them to entrance the reader.

I could go on and on in my praise because there is a lot to love about this story. In short, this is by far Schwab’s best work. A stunning piece of fiction!

Obvious I loved this book. It should be on everyone’s to-be-read-list. In addition, this book would make a great pick for a book club. There are so many layers and themes in this book that the topics for discussion are nearly endless.

The Flip Side by James Bailey

The Flip Side by James Bailey is a laugh out loud, with just a touch of melodrama, romantic comedy set in the UK. It was highly entertaining and very funny. A great debut that should be on everyone’s to read list for the holidays.

The story begins with Josh, the main character, proposing to his longtime girlfriend, Jade, on New Year’s Eve while taking a romantic ride on the London Eye. However, all does not go according to plan. She not only says, “No”, but she then proceeds to tell him she has been cheating on him. To make matters worse, Josh has been living in her flat. Therefore, he has lost his home and his girl all in one night. But wait! It gets even better! His ex-girlfriend’s father is his boss and that means he lost his job too. Nothing like kicking a guy when he is down.

With limited financial resources and out of options, Josh is forced to move back in with his parents while he looks for another job. The welcoming committee when he arrives home is anything but appreciated. His parents had planned a congratulatory engagement party that feels like a funeral to him. When he takes a minute to escape and talks with his Pap an idea forms. To date, all his well laid plans have not worked out. So why not let chance rule his decisions for the next year? This is how the flip a coin for all decisions starts out.

Josh’s family and friends thinks he has lost his marbles with this idea. Yet, as the year wears on and Josh is sticking by his decision to flip a coin over choices, they start to warm to it or at least accept it. Leaving things to chance leads to some unexpected results. As you can imagine, some are good and some are not so good. But it does make for a great story. Especially when you consider that it forces Josh out of his comfort zone and in the process he learns a lot about himself.

Like Josh’s friends who warmed to the idea of a coin toss, I warmed to the idea of chance as a good mechanism to move the story forward. Each toss of the coin resulted in some of the most unexpected outcomes that were totally unpredictable. Events that might be seen as hooky or contrived suddenly became believable with a simple toss of a coin.

As much as I came to like the coin toss, the character of Josh is the real star of the story. He has all the best things of the average boy next door kind of guy. I can sum him up in one word, “adorable”. I loved that he was not perfect, made lots of mistakes, and in spite of being 28 still did not know what he wanted. This allowed to author to grow the character throughout the story.

Excellent debut. Loved it from beginning to end. Highly recommend to fans of Nora Roberts and similar authors. I received a free copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Last Angel Warrior by John W. Wells III

After I finished reading this book I was thinking about what I liked about books when I was younger (a lot younger). The main thing was adventure. I loved stories that had magic and characters that I pulled for and got swept into their story. This is totally what happened to me when reading The Last Angel Warrior. Definitely a great adventure tale for young (and older) readers!

The story follows Kalib Andrews as he approaches his sixteenth birthday and discovers that there are, among other things, demons and magic in the world. A stranger tries to kill him one evening walking home from his job at the local diner. That same evening he sees a stranger with yellow eyes outside of his bedroom window. Then things get even creepier when a new teacher at school has the same symbol on a charm that they both wear and was a patron that asked too many questions when Kalib served him at the diner. This teacher seems just a little too interested in him. Then did I mention his parents tried to kill him just a couple of days later.

The world is not what Kalib thought it was. Then he finds out he is actually the last Angel Warrior. Whatever that is! Kalib will need to figure everything out soon because there is a prophecy that says he will be killed and his blood used to release a goddess from a prison of magic on his sixteenth birthday.

There was a lot of action in the book. Loved that! You know something big is going to happen from page one. Therefore, I was invested in the outcome from the very beginning. The action and mystery elements are the main star of the story. They are what made the book for me. The author was able to surprise me a couple of times with events I was not expecting. The unpredictability of the story was another plus.

There was not a great deal of character development which I missed a little. Yet I can’t fault the author because the type of development I like would bore a younger reader to dead. So taking into account the intended audience, I think there was enough to hold the story together. I also liked the various characters and how they interacted. The theme of true friendship was subtle but well done.

This story was described as young adult, but it read and felt more like a middle grade tale. Which was OK, since I read both. However, if you don’t care for stories geared toward the younger side of young adult this may not be the book for you. If that does not matter, then I recommend this to you. Lastly, there is no foul language or inappropriate scenes in this book making it suitable for readers as young as 8 provided they are not bothered by a story that is a little scary.

I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for me honest review.

Bluff by Jane Stanton Hitchcock

Bluff, by Jane Stanton Hitchcock, gives new meaning to the idea that revenge is a dish best served cold. Maud, the main character, not only serves it up cold but in a big heaping portion! Full of intrigue, wonderful characters and a nasty plot of revenge to pay back the bad guys, this book is absorbing from page one all the way through to the end.

Maud is a 50ish divorcee who is primed and ready for a fight. She has always suspected that Burt Skylar, an accountant to the rich and famous in NYC, swindled her mother out of over 100 million dollars. She has spoken against him for years and has earned the nickname “Mad Maud”. However, she has never been able to prove anything.

Finally all the right cards are in her hand and she sees her chance for revenge. She enters The Four Seasons, one of the swankiest restaurants in the city, and pulls the trigger and shoots Sun Sutherland, a wealthy and prominent businessman, who is dining with Skylar. Did she miss or is there more to this story than meets the eye?

Love, love, loved the character of Maud. She has a brilliant mind and is downright devious. I also loved how she played people like she played poker. Most everyone is totally taken in by the frumpy middle-aged woman act that she carried off better than a Broadway actress. I would hate to get on her bad side and can only pity those she plays poker against. The supporting characters also hit the mark with me. They helped round out the revenge plot nicely.

The plot has more twists than the Mississippi River and it was fast paced. I really appreciate the balance the author was able to achieve between pace and character development. I find that in this type of book one or the other is lacking. Brilliantly done!

I highly recommend this book to readers of mystery and thrillers. In addition, if you love strong female characters you will enjoy Maud and her story.

I received a free copy from the published in exchange for my honest review.

The Friend Contract by Dria Andersen

Paranormal romance books are a guilty pleasure of mine and I just love finding new (to me) authors and books in this genre. This is exactly what I have been needing lately. This book was a wonderful escape from reality and it was highly entertaining.

Gabriel Hamilton is a bear shifter and he has been in love with Naomi a member of the Ayala Panther Prowl for the longest time. Gabriel also knows that Naomi is his mate. Naomi is resistant to the notion because she is latent, meaning she does not have the ability to shift, and because of this she believes she can never be mated to a shifter. She also has some issues from a past relationship with a fox shifter that I feel clouded her judgement a little.

Therefore, Gabriel cooks up a fake marriage plan. He tells Naomi that he is betrothed and wants to get out of the arranged marriage, but the only way to do so is to tell his family he has found his mate… her. Now he just has to find a way to convince her she is his mate.

I enjoyed this book a lot more than I expected despite the very familiar plot of a convenience marriage. On top of that you also have the best friends to lovers story. Both are well used in romance books. However, the author introduced elements of humor and family along with a few other things to make the story interesting and updated. It is also a feel good story and that is just want I wanted and needed.

The plot moved nicely and I enjoyed the characters a lot. The interaction with other characters was genuine and overall the story had a “real” quality despite being a paranormal book. I also thought the setting in the book worked well for the story. Lastly, I appreciate that the author ended the story and didn’t leave us hanging in order to sell her next book. That to me is always a big turn off.

While this book is one I would but into the beach read category, it is still a great story with characters that are well done. So don’t overlook it because of how people tend to stereo type romance stories, you will miss out on this little gem. Needless to say, I recommend this book and I am looking forward to reading more about some of the minor characters in the book.

I used my Kindle Unlimited account to read this book, though the author did request a review.

When We Were Young and Brave by Hazel Gaynor

Will I ever get enough of historical fiction books? Not if they are told as eloquently as this story. I am especially drawn to fictional stories that are based on real events and this one is beautiful, and at times heart wrenching. A story of courage and resilience that will touch you.

When Great Britain enters WWII, a group of teachers and students, from a British missionary school in occupied China, are forced into a Japanese internment camp. Their story is told from two points of view. Partly told through the eyes of a young British girl, Nancy Plummer, whose parents are missionaries in the interior of China. The rest of the story is told from Elspeth Kent’s view as a teacher at the school.

Elspeth has been in China trying to escape a past she would rather not remember. She is finally ready to put that behind her and return home. She is packed and has her letter of resignation ready to hand in when the war in Europe comes to her.

Nancy Plummer is looking forward to finally seeing her parents for Christmas. Though she loves her friends at school, Dorothy and Joan (aka Sprout and Mouse), and her older brother, she longs for her family, especially her mother. When Japan declares war on Great Britain she starts to wonder if she will ever see her family again.

As the teachers try to acclimate to the Japanese occupation, Elspeth and her fellow teaches are determined to see that the children continue their lives in as normal a way as possible given the circumstances. There is also the promise Elspeth made to Nancy’s mother to watch over her daughter. Yet, how can you achieve this when the enemy is unmerciful and is always watching? She and the other teachers have to become more, so much more, and assume the roles of surrogate mothers and fathers.

Not only is this story beautifully told, it is sure to strike a chord with readers because you will feel like you are living the events with the characters. The author presents them in a believable way and gives them with multiple challenges to overcome. They must endure hardship, longing, lost and yet remain courageous despite their circumstances.

The prose is richly detailed and the plot is perfectly paced. This book does not contain a lot of plot twists or unexpected events, instead it works it magic in a slow and deliberate way in which the characters are built. I especially liked the eloquent way in which the author weaves the two points of view together to make one seamless story, just divine.

The last item I would like to mention is how well researched this book is. The attention to detail shines through in the period details.

I recommend this book to all lovers of fiction. For historical fiction readers in particular, you need to add this book to your to be read list. You won’t regret it. I received a free copy from the publisher via Library Thing’s Early Reviewer program in exchange for my honest opinion.

Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane

This book took me by surprise. It had been on my TBR list for over a year. I just kept putting it off for other books. Now that I am finished with it, I truly wish I had read it earlier. It is a look at mental health and the lasting effects it has on those surrounded by it. There is much heart ache, drama, loss and love in this book and the author handled it with elegance and grace. It is a story that will touch you and keep you contemplating for a long time after the last page is read.

The book follows two NYC officers, Francis Gleeson and Brian Stanhope, whom settle next door to each other in the same small commuter community outside of the city and they both raise their families there. Kate, who is one of Francis’s daughter, and Peter, who is the only child of Brian, grow up together and are fast friends. They do everything together. Then tragedy strikes and the two are separated for many years.

Some years later neither of them has totally forgotten the other. It seems that they are both castaways adrift in the world and without realizing, they both are waiting for the other. They reconnect when, on what appears to be a whim, Peter writes a letter to Kate. What was once a fast friendship quickly develops into much more. While they think they have put the past behind them, it is only festering under the surface and they both will have to come to terms with their shared past.

The book started out slow, but the story did build to the epicenter of the tragic event (no spoilers here) that would change the lives of both families forever. While I struggled to reach this point, once there, I could not read fast enough.

There is not much in the way of a plot. Instead, it is all about the characters and understanding how events shape and guide our lives. It is a contemplative book. It draws you in and has you agonizing over things that seem obvious to the reader yet the character(s) refuse to recognize to the detriment of all.

They say to be able to move on you have to accept the past and forgive. While words are easy to say, it is never easy to do and both families struggled with this. Some members more successfully than others. This made for a roller-coaster of emotions. The author presented the major and minor characters in all their faulted human glory. While the tragedy permeates most of the story, subtly most times, you do get a feeling that there will be a light at the end of the tunnel. I liked that the author gives you hope so that the reader is not drowning in despair. It would have been too difficult for me to read if that had been the case.

This was a wonderful story and I highly recommend it to readers who love a story with drama while still remaining hopeful. In addition, it would make a good choice for a book club because there are many layers to this story and it would make for a lively discussion.

I received a free copy a t BookExpo 2019 in exchange for my honest review.

The Lost and Found Bookshop by Susan Wiggs

I wanted to read The Lost and Found Bookshop, by Susan Wiggs, as soon as I saw the title. It was really a no-brainer since it has the word books in the title. I have this thing for stories about books and bookshops. Lucky for me this book turned out to be everything I enjoy in a good book.

Natalie Harper is working for a winery in California. The job pays well, but she finds the work unrewarding. She also feels stuck in an unfulfilling relationship and is planning to break things off just when tragedy strikes. Her Mother dies suddenly and she inherits a small bookshop in San Francisco. Her world is suddenly turned upside down and she is devastated.

In an act of rashness, she quits her job and moves into her Mother’s apartment above the bookshop. As Natalie sorts through the mess that was her Mother’s life and livelihood, she discovers that the bookshop is in dire financial straits. To make matters worse, she finds out, after meeting with her attorney, that her grandfather owns the building. This is were he was born and has lived all his life. She knows he will never agree to sell. Therefore, she decides to tackle the problem and see if she can revive the store.

Natalie has taken on a lot. The building is old and on the historic registry and old means issues. The roof leaks, there are some electric problems, along with a slew of other issues. She reaches out to a contractor and in steps Peach to the rescue. Natalie is immediately attracted to him but feels it is too soon to invest herself into another relationship.

However, her luck seems to be turning when Peach finds some historical items of value hidden in the walls of the store. Then she is able to secure an author signing with the top local children’s author. Maybe there is hope for the store yet.

I adored Natalie. She is strong and humble but also has some issues with opening up to be loved because of a Father that was absent all her life. It made me want to hug her and assure her that not everyone is like her father and encourage her to take a chance so she can be happy. In short, Natalie felt like a real person. The supporting characters had a lot of charm also and rounded out the story nicely.

The plot did not move very fast, but that was OK. It did not need to. The characters are the true driving force behind this story. The only thing I was not crazy about in the plot was how these unexpected lost items kept popping up in walls and in the basement. It just was not believable and it took away from the story a bit. I know this is a minor thing and the story was really good otherwise. I enjoyed it and everything does not have to perfect for me to love a story. After all, it is fiction.

This would make a great book to take on vacation, beach or to the pool. I recommend it to readers of all ages who enjoy a story about love, loss and hope.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.