Review: Just for the Summer

Just for the Summer by Janna Rutland

This fun little romance novel was easy to become invested in. The story was both believable and interesting: a woman who meets face to face with the man who adopted her child. 

The entire novel reminded me of the feeling you get when you are at the top of the roller coaster, ready to make that first decent.  I knew ultimately Dani would have to tell Matt her secret, I just wasn't sure when. As my progress bar on my kindle kept inching towards 100%, I began to get anxious!

With the constant point of view changes between Dani and Matt, it's easy to understand the two's feelings and emotions which to me gave a comfortable "everything's going to work out in the end" feeling. You trust both characters to be good people who will make good choices. 

I particularly enjoyed the way Rutland accurately writes in the child's voice of Sam. This one is hard for people to write in sometimes and have it come off as accurate as she has. It's one thing to hope for a happily ever after for the adult characters you come to love while reading, but it's another all together to hope for one for a child. Sam's character is an instant hit. 

On the subject of voice, I also enjoyed Dani's. I felt she was a very strong and well developed character who was easy to identify with.  

One line that truly stuck with me was: "He wouldn't exist if I had thine through a the pain and grief." I feel this line, as well as several others suggest the theme: everything you go through brings you to where you are today. Another notable theme was that of second chances.  

If you want a sweet love story with a real life conflict that the characters must overcome, this novel is a good one for you. 

In fact, I plan to buy a few more of her novels in the near future. 

Review: Ladder of Years

Ladder if Years by Anne Tyler

This book was a lot of fun! As usual with AnneTyler it was an overly ordinary story with not big moments of excitement. No more than in any other normal life that is.  

The characters were fresh and fun. I enjoyed all the quirky traits of Tyler's characters. 

This book revolved around one year in the life Delia Grinstead: wife, mother, sister, and daughter in law. 

This year for her is a unique one because at the start of the novel her and her family visit the beach for their annual vacation. Then, quite suddenly, Delia decides to leave her family and impulsively and with no plan, hitch a ride out of town and begin her life again. 

That's all. Just simply rent an app attempt, buy a few new dresses and get a job. 

The novel tells of her day to day life as her new self and her journey back home. 

So ordinary yet so unique and interesting.

She is by far one of my favorite authors. 

Review: Wife in Name Only

Wife in Name Only by Hayson Manning

I have just finished this book a few hours ago and instead of writing the review immediately I instead chose to listen to the entire soundtrack to Mamma Mia. Maybe twice.

Thank you Manning for reminding me just how much I adore the music of ABBA.

Anyways. Book review time.

First of all these characters are BOLD. I had no idea anyone could think so sexually until I got to know these characters.

The whole basis for the story is that Zoe and Rory were married and happy until they gradually drafted apart as Rory became more and more engulfed in his work. It's a classic husband and wife problem: man measures his relationship success with how much he can provide and how much career success he has while the wife bases her relationship success on their quality time.

So here they are in a failed marriage where she has run off to an island somewhere and started a honeymoon resort. He's stayed in the big city waiting for her to come home because he fails to see the problem.

Then he comes to her resort to help her with some PR that they both need. And they get stranded alone together.

They were a total mess! The whole book was one big pile of frustration leading up to the ending. "I love you I hate you I love you I hate you." What a mess. Most of us have been there. Ugh I just wanted to shake them both. I guess that made them more believable. If they had patched things up immediately we just wouldn't have a book now would we.

This novel is very sexual. That is not my style so I won't talk much about that. Just know of that's not your thing you've been warned.

It is written from a very different voice than I've ever read. And it's so different than my own. It was very conversationally written and modern. You could get a sound for the way these two quirky characters voices and thought processes. I enjoyed it.

Last but not least, the Mamma Mia/ABBA references. Zoe is always listening to ABBA. She explains that it is her happy music which is a result of her mothers enjoyment of the music which I completely understand. However, I found so many similarities between the musical and this book.

Listening to the title track "Mamma Mia" I kept nodding and saying "yep, yep that fits too". How about the jealous number "Lay All Your Love On Me" that I swear could have been Rory's theme song. And then there's "Honey Honey" which I could imagine being sung by Zoe. I'm sure I could go on and on but I won't. These references most defiantly are what made me most excited about this book.

Over all this was a challenge for me. This fits in the category of books that aren't in my comfort zone. It was overly sexual, spoke in a voice foreign to me and I couldn't completely envision myself in the place of these characters. However I had a great time getting to know them and trying something new bits kind of line when I go out to eat with my in laws who often convince me to try something new that seems weird but turns out to be good after all.

If romance novels are your thing, I recommend this one!

Review: Interview With The Vampire

Interview With The Vampire by Anne Rice

Over all I am excited about this series. I am not a fan if Vampires necessarily however I had read Rice's memoir previously and therefore knew what aspects of her personal life were written into the novel both intentional and unintentional.

I would strongly recommend her memoir, "Called Out Of Darkness" as a prequel to this book or for further reading if you are already a fan of her work.

The imagery was so vivid throughout. There was a strong masculine feel as it was written in the first person as an interview of the vampire Louie.

The descriptions are so intense that any scene involving blood made me squirm as if I were really seeing the images. It was not grotesque however though extremely dark. It is a reselling of a damned immortal life, of course it is dark.

There are love interests but none are conventional. The entire sense of gender is obscured as there are sexual and/or Intimate moments between characters of all genders. From reading her memoir first I can see from her personal detachment from gender how this would come so natural to Rice. She wrote it in a way that felt natural as a reader as well.

The entire sense of life and death are different through the lens of an old world vampire. The same is true for the idea f religion. Though I can clearly see the vampires search for a higher power as a predominant theme throughout.

I will admit this book was a bit harder to get into at first but I stuck it out. In the end I enjoyed the story. I have begun to read book number two: The Vampire Lestat which I have found Much more interesting seeing as I now know the story through his partner Louie.

Over all I am impressed with this novel and even more impressed with the idea of all the books as a whole.