Two for Tuesday: Together Alone by Barbara Delinsky and Prodigy by Marie Lu

Together Alone by Barbara Delinsky

This is a book that was originally published in 1995...which surprisingly makes is feel really dated (even though 1995 was like yesterday in my mind).  When one character is trying her hand at dating, she uses the "personals"...as in, a print ad...I actually laughed out loud.  Imagine, there was actually a time before eHarmony, Match and the like.  That aside, I found myself really enjoying the story.  There were layers of mystery, relationships, love and lust, all interwoven throughout the book.    A good choice for fans of both mysteries and "chick lit". 

From Publishers Weekly

The author of For My Daughters sallies into Judith Krantz and Iris Rainer Dart territory with this somewhat familiar tale of angst among girlfriends. With their daughters off to college, Emily, Kay and Celeste find themselves emotionally adrift in their small Massachusetts town. Emily retreats to baking and redecorating to hide the pain of husband Doug's infrequent (and sexually chilly) visits home, while eighth-grade teacher Kay uses her work as a shield against her police chief husband's attempts to recapture their former intimacy. And divorcee Celeste celebrates her daughter's departure with a nose job and a personal ad she hopes will bring her "wine and roses and music and poetry. And sex." When recently widowed NYPD detective Brian Stasek arrives to join the local police force, Emily becomes drawn to him-and increasingly suspicious about Doug's absences. Celeste, meanwhile, finds an architect who may be too good to be true and Kay, certain that her body has lost its allure, continues to rebuff her baffled husband. Only when Brian reopens the long-closed case of one couple's kidnapped son does Delinsky's story manage a spark that keeps it from being just another suburban melodrama.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc

Prodigy by Marie Lu

This is the second in the Legend Trilogy.  I love, love, loved the first and the second did not disappoint.  Any fans of dystopian fiction will enjoy this series.

From Booklist

Taking up where Legend (2011) ended, the second book in the series finds June, patrician military star, and Day, street fighter and hero of the people, on a freight train to Las Vegas, where they hope to meet up with the Patriots—those opposed to the government of the Republic and its dictator, the Elector. It’s hard to describe the plot without giving up spoilers, but suffice it to say June and Day’s newfound attraction intensifies, even as their issues with trust—and outside sources (including Day’s old friend Tess)—threaten the relationship. Meanwhile, more backstory about the history of the Republic and the Colonies fleshes out the narrative. As in the previous book, the story is told in the alternating voices of June and Day, which are presented in two different typefaces and colors. This is a well-molded mixture of intrigue, romance, and action, where things can change with almost any turn of the page, and frequently do. A soap-operatic turn of events at the book’s conclusion doesn’t hurt at all and will only heighten the clamor for the next title. Grades 8-12. --Ilene Cooper

Three for the price of one: Wild Cards, Wait for You, and Morning Glory

What do you do for the weekend when you have a house full of sick kids…binge read of course.  Here are three wildly different, but all really good, romancy selections.

Wild Cards by Simone Elkeles

From Booklist

Everything is sliding into place for kicker Ashtyn Parker. She was just voted captain of her high-school football team, which ups her chances at a scholarship to a Big Ten college, and she’s dating Landon, the quarterback. Then bad-boy Derek Fitzpatrick shows up in her life, and everything Ashtyn has planned for is suddenly called into question. Thrown together by awkward family circumstances, Derek and Ashtyn fight their attraction for one another. When everything lines up to place them alone together on a road trip from Chicago to Texas, Derek and Ashtyn have to make some difficult choices when their passion threatens to overwhelm them both. Although this story has been told many times, award-winner Elkeles is very adept at creating three-dimensional characters and setting them up to make life-changing discoveries about themselves in believable ways. She also doesn’t shy away from realistic teen sexuality or language. In alternating first-person points of view, this start to the Wild Cards series shows that sometimes the person you’d least expect can make a huge difference in your life.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: New York Times best-selling author Elkeles created a massive following with her Perfect Chemistry and Leaving Paradise books, and fans will be clamoring for this promising start to a new series. Grades 9-12. --Charli Os

Wait for You by  J. Lynn

From Publishers Weekly

A young woman must come to terms with the secret horror in her past to find love and happiness in this predictable new adult romance by the pseudonymous Lynn (Obsession author Jennifer L. Armentrout). After five hellish years of being called a lying whore in her small Texas town, 19-year-old Avery Morgansten is more than happy to leave for college in West Virginia. There she meets gorgeous, blue-eyed Cameron Hamilton, a fellow student who seems as attracted to her as she is to him. Haunted by her traumatic past, Avery is torn between protecting herself and finding love. The path to romance is long and rocky, and Cam has dark secrets of his own, but eventually both lovers come clean and all loose ends are neatly wrapped up. While Lynn's peripheral characters are fairly one-dimensional, Avery and Cam are compelling. Fans of stories about characters healed by love will find this one moderately satisfying. Agent: Kevan Lyon, Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. (Sept. 3)

Morning Glory by Sarah Jio

From Publishers Weekly

Jio's fifth novel, following The Last Camellia, explores the degree to which time and distance give comfort to those who have experienced loss. In 2008, Ada Santorini's life in New York as deputy editor of Sunrise magazine is shaken by personal tragedy. She leaves her job and rents a houseboat on Seattle's Lake Union, hoping a change of location will provide the healing she needs. Yet her new home has its own tragedy—the disappearance in 1959 of a local woman, Penny Wentworth, which no one in the small, tight-knit community will discuss. When Ada finds a trunk in her houseboat and realizes it belonged to the missing woman, she and her new friend Alex, a neighboring houseboat renter, decide to uncover the truth. The growth of Ada and Alex's relationship as they work together is satisfying, but the beautifully rendered setting emerges as an equally important character. However, the flashbacks to 1959 are so strong that readers may lose patience with the present-day narrative, while the town's secret is too easy to figure out. Fans of Jio's previous works should find that the depth of feeling in her writing overcomes the drawbacks. Agent: Elisabeth Weed, Weed Literary. (Dec.)

Foreplay by Sohie Jordan

Ok, I am not going to lie, I was just the teensiest bit embarrassed to write that title.  That said…people, this was SO good...like so, so, so good.  Put aside any feminist leanings and the idea that the woman has to get "rescued", just lose yourself in the deliciousness that is Reece and Pepper.  This definitely falls under the "new adult" genre and therefore has lots of naughty bits….you have been warned

Book Description via Amazon

Pepper has been hopelessly in love with her best friend's brother, Hunter, for, like, ever. He's the key to everything she's always craved: security, stability, family. But she needs Hunter to notice her as more than just a friend. Even though she's kissed exactly one guy, she has the perfect plan to go from novice to rock star in the bedroom: take a few pointers from someone who knows what he's doing.

Her college roommates have the perfect teacher in mind. But bartender Reece is nothing like the player Pepper expects. Yes, he's beyond gorgeous, but he's also dangerous and deep—with a troubled past. Soon what started as a lesson in attraction is turning both their worlds upside down, and showing them just what can happen when you go past foreplay and get to what's real...

The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick

If you liked Silver Linings Playbook and enjoy quirky characters (and I mean quirky with a capital Q), this is a must read.  

There was so much about this book I liked…first the characters, you just have to love Bartholomew.  His sweet, gentle, innocent nature made me root for him (and perhaps, he reminded me just a bit of my sweet girl.)  That he is secretly in love with the Girlbrarian and goes to the library everyday, well just icing on the proverbial cake. 

The setting was no surprise for this local author…Philadelphia.  It is always cool to read about places that you have been to and can actually picture that exact spot.  Bartholomew and I share a favorite location in the city…right behind the Art Museum looking at the Delaware, perfect.

Another home run for Matthew Quick!!!


Book Description via Amazon

From Matthew Quick, the New York Times bestselling author of The Silver Linings Playbook,comes The Good Luck of Right Now, a funny and tender story about family, friendship, grief, acceptance, and Richard Gere—an entertaining and inspiring tale that will leave you pondering the rhythms of the universe and marveling at the power of kindness and love.

For thirty-eight years, Bartholomew Neil has lived with his mother. When she gets sick and dies, he has no idea how to be on his own. His redheaded grief counselor, Wendy, says he needs to find his flock and leave the nest. But how does a man whose whole life has been grounded in his mom, Saturday mass, and the library learn how to fly?

Bartholomew thinks he’s found a clue when he discovers a “Free Tibet” letter from Richard Gere hidden in his mother’s underwear drawer. In her final days, mom called him Richard—there must be a cosmic connection. Believing that the actor is meant to help him, Bartholomew awkwardly starts his new life, writing Richard Gere a series of highly intimate letters. Jung and the Dalai Lama, philosophy and faith, alien abduction and cat telepathy, the Catholic Church and the mystery of women are all explored in his soul-baring epistles. But mostly the letters reveal one man’s heartbreakingly earnest attempt to assemble a family of his own.

A struggling priest, a “Girlbrarian,” her feline-loving, foul-mouthed brother, and the spirit of Richard Gere join the quest to help Bartholomew. In a rented Ford Focus, they travel to Canada to see the cat Parliament and find his biological father . . . and discover so much more.

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty and First Love by James Patterson

Two very different but AMAZING books...sadly no pictures...blogger is acting weird.

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

I have seen this book pass the circulation desk a lot, read all the great reviews but I waited.  I actually got this from the library awhile ago but returned it unread because I had so many other great books to read (#nerdgirlproblems).  It wasn't until my good friend and co-worker started reading it and convinced me to give it another go...and WOW... I am so glad I did.  The way Moriarty intertwined these three different stories into an unbelievable ending was brilliant...best epilogue I have read in a long time.  This would make a great book club selection...lots of discussion.

An Amazon Best Book of the Month, August 2013: Liane Moriary is probably doomed to be forever labeled a writer of “chick lit.” But despite its dopey name, her new novel, The Husband’s Secret, is better described as a comedy of manners and one with a serious undertone. As in her previous books, most successfully What Alice Forgot, Moriarty here wittily and observantly chronicles the life of middle aged, middle class Australian women, suburbanites who grapple with prosaic issues like marital fidelity and torturous ones like moral guilt and responsibility. You can’t help but laugh along with the small observations--“And there was poor little Rob, a teenage boy clumsily trying to make everything right, all false smiles and cheery lies. No wonder he became a real estate agent.” But it’s the big ones--Can good people do very, very bad things, and what, exactly, are we responsible for, and for how long?--that will make you think. This is a deceptively rich novel that transcends its era and place at the same time that it celebrates same. --Sara Nelson

First Love by James Patterson

Oh boy, this book.  First a warning, that might be kind of a spoiler, but you will need TISSUES, lots of them.  Reading this makes you remember falling in love for the first time and just how amazing and powerful and terrifying and wonderful it is.

Book Description via Amazon

Axi Moore is a "good girl": She studies hard, stays out of the spotlight, and doesn't tell anyone that what she really wants is to run away from it all. The only person she can tell is her best friend, Robinson--who she also happens to be madly in love with.

When Axi impulsively invites Robinson to come with her on an unplanned cross-country road trip, she breaks the rules for the first time in her life. But the adventure quickly turns from carefree to out-of-control...

A remarkably moving tale with its origins in James Patterson's own past, First Love is testament to the power of first love--and how it can change the rest of your life.

Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen

This is the perfect book to read during a cold winter storm...just like the one that is approaching us on Thursday...I kind of wish I had saved it for a bit longer.  It is has a very similar to feel to all her other books, mostly realistic fiction with just a touch of magic.  I loved the characters and I desperately want to spend a summer at Lost Lake, it just churns up memories of lemonade, and stars, and summer love.

My favorite quote:

"You can't change where you came from, but you can change where you go from here.  Just like a book.  If you don't like the ending, make up a new one."

BOOK DESCRIPTION VIA AMAZON

From the author of New York Times bestseller Garden Spells comes a beautiful, haunting story of old loves and new, and the power of the connections that bind us forever…

 

The first time Eby Pim saw Lost Lake, it was on a picture postcard. Just an old photo and a few words on a small square of heavy stock, but when she saw it, she knew she was seeing her future.

 

That was half a life ago. Now Lost Lake is about to slip into Eby’s past. Her husband George is long passed. Most of her demanding extended family are gone. All that’s left is a once-charming collection of lakeside cabins succumbing to the Southern Georgia heat and damp, and an assortment of faithful misfits drawn back to Lost Lake year after year by their own unspoken dreams and desires.

It’s a lot, but not enough to keep Eby from relinquishing  Lost Lake to a developer with cash in hand, and calling this her final summer at the lake. Until one last chance at family knocks on her door.

Lost Lake is where Kate Pheris spent her last best summer at the age of twelve,  before she learned of loneliness, and heartbreak, and loss. Now she’s all too familiar with those things, but she knows about hope too, thanks to her resilient daughter Devin, and her own willingness to start moving forward. Perhaps at Lost Lake her little girl can cling to her own childhood for just a little longer… and maybe Kate herself can rediscover something that slipped through her fingers so long ago.

One after another, people find their way to Lost Lake, looking for something that they weren’t sure they needed in the first place:  love, closure, a second chance, peace, a mystery solved, a heart mended.  Can they find what they need before it’s too late?

At once atmospheric and enchanting, Lost Lake shows Sarah Addison Allen at her finest, illuminating the secret longings and the everyday magic that wait to be discovered in the unlikeliest of places.

Midwinter Blood by Marcus Sedgwick

Where to start??? First, this was this year's ALA Michael L. Printz award winner…and I am scratching my head.  It is not that it is not a great book, it is, but Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park was ROBBED with just an Honor nod…but I digress.  It is a haunting love story, beautifully written and the structure is so different and wonderful…and the last page makes the whole read worth the trip.  I just don't see this as the BEST read of the year for teens….I actually am not sure why this is even classified as a teen read at all, the majority of the characters are adults.   That aside, it is definitely worth checking out, especially during this month of love, the ending made my heart ache…lovely.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* In the year 2073, a reporter named Eric is sent to Blessed Island to research a rare flower called the Dragon Orchid. There he finds an insular community of mysterious villagers, a delicious tea that has him losing days at a time, and a beguiling girl named Merle. In just 50 pages, we reach a shattering conclusion—and then start anew in 2011. An archaeologist is digging on Blessed Island, where he meets a quiet boy named Eric and his mother, Merle. So begins this graceful, confounding, and stirring seven-part suite about two characters whose identities shift as they are reborn throughout the ages. Sedgwick tells the story in reverse, introducing us to a stranded WWII pilot, a painter trying to resurrect his career in 1901, two children being told a ghost story in 1848, and more, all the way back to a king and queen in a Time Unknown. It is a wildly chancy gambit with little in the way of a solid throughline, but Sedgwick handles each story with such stylistic control that interest is not just renewed each time but intensified. Part love story, part mystery, part horror, this is as much about the twisting hand of fate as it is about the mutability of folktales. Its strange spell will capture you. Grades 9-12. --Daniel Kraus