54 and more
54. What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty. Yes, amnesia, one of my favorite plot devices. I say this with a smile because it does sound silly and yet, in the right hands, they can be quite good stories. I was happy to see this handled with a deft hand by this author. Imagine forgetting the birth of your children and the death of a marriage trampled by too many responsibilities and not enough attention to love and the relationship. To find yourself wanting the comfort of a husband who can't stand you and you can't remember anything but how much you adore him and he loves you? To find yourself out on a date struggling to recall whether you've slept with this person yet? To find your mother married to your father in law? To find out no one wanted to tell you that they really didn't like your best friend. Really enjoyable read.
55. and 56. True Blue by Diana Palmer. This was a 2 in 1 - a new story and an old one. The re-read was better than the new one. Sad to say I believe Diana has lost her touch or - worse -been talked into entering a genre of suspenseful, true crime romance that others do so much better.
57. The Next Always by Nora Roberts Nothing wrong with Ms. Nora's storytelling skills. Very satisfying read and I loved the characters that inhabited the Inn at Boonesboro project. Looking forward to the next stories.
58. The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman. I know when I read Alice Hoffman I need to just clear the decks and give myself room to drown in her stories. Here was an epic to become immersed in with a narrative as deep and beckoning as an oasis in the desert. We meet the Dovekeepers - 4 women who had been cast out of their lands by various sets of circumstances to find themselves serving in the fortress of Masada. Whether they were child or young woman, they grew into the fullness of their lives and destiny in Masada. The intertwining of their families & their personal histories overlaid on the known biblical history was mesmerizing. I've been reading Old Testament each day as part of another book "project" I set myself and I couldn't help but wonder at the coincidence of scripture I read in this novel being the same scripture that happened to be on my calendar for the day. Like the one blue thread woven through the white linen prayer shawls of the believers that remind them that heaven is always with us.
55. and 56. True Blue by Diana Palmer. This was a 2 in 1 - a new story and an old one. The re-read was better than the new one. Sad to say I believe Diana has lost her touch or - worse -been talked into entering a genre of suspenseful, true crime romance that others do so much better.
57. The Next Always by Nora Roberts Nothing wrong with Ms. Nora's storytelling skills. Very satisfying read and I loved the characters that inhabited the Inn at Boonesboro project. Looking forward to the next stories.
58. The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman. I know when I read Alice Hoffman I need to just clear the decks and give myself room to drown in her stories. Here was an epic to become immersed in with a narrative as deep and beckoning as an oasis in the desert. We meet the Dovekeepers - 4 women who had been cast out of their lands by various sets of circumstances to find themselves serving in the fortress of Masada. Whether they were child or young woman, they grew into the fullness of their lives and destiny in Masada. The intertwining of their families & their personal histories overlaid on the known biblical history was mesmerizing. I've been reading Old Testament each day as part of another book "project" I set myself and I couldn't help but wonder at the coincidence of scripture I read in this novel being the same scripture that happened to be on my calendar for the day. Like the one blue thread woven through the white linen prayer shawls of the believers that remind them that heaven is always with us.