BOOKFINDS

Fallen by Lauren Kate

Fallen by Lauren Kate

There’s something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.

Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price’s attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah, Georgia. He’s the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are all screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move.

Even though Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce–and goes out of his way to make that very clear–she can’t let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, she has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret . . . even if it kills her.

Dangerously exciting and darkly romantic, Fallen is a page turning thriller and the ultimate love story.

Where to start!? This book is a can’t-put-it-down type of book. The plot is original, creative, and captivating. Lauren Kate, the author, draws you into the world of Luce and Daniel with such dramatic visions of an unknown, uncontrollable darkness that has followed Luce all her life. Luce’s life seems tragic and destined for a dark ending. Until she arrives at the reform school, after a terrible incident involving death, Luce sees Daniel and she feels an unbelievable pull, and a knowing him that she can’t explain. No matter how mean and off putting he is, she is drawn to him. As the dark shadows befall Luce again and are increasingly more dangerous, Daniel appears to be more present to save her or guide her. Luce starts researching Daniel’s past as she is drawn to him. She has to know everything about him. This only leads to more shadows appearing and hurting those around her. Ultimately, Luce figures out why she has these vivid dreams of her past and of being with Daniel and realizes they have been together in past lives and no matter what they do they find each other, but they are soon driven apart upon Luce’s death. She only lives for 17 years each time and Daniel is heartbroken but so in love he falls for her each time. This time though things are different and Luce doesn’t die when Daniel and others expect her to and Daniel is doing everything he can do to keep her safe and break the cycle of losing Luce. As the angel war begins, Daniel is doing everything he can to keep her safe because they need her.

As the reader, we don’t find out in the book why they need Luce and what her importance is to the fallen angels, but both sides of angels need and want her and that is where we are left… with Luce safe and Daniel watching over her until he and his angel friends can figure out how to save her and win the war… One character alludes that the sanity of the world shouldn’t revolve around the love of two sick lovebirds (Luce & Daniel)… so we are not sure how important that Luce and Daniel be together really is. We are left with a lot of questions and so eager to continue the story.

I hope to hear more about Luce’s past lives and her purpose in the world of the fallen angels. Lauren Kate has such a great writing style. The story is vivid. I felt like I was there in every scene. This story would make an amazing movie if the screenwriter could capture the story and world Lauren has created.

Torment, the sequel to Fallen, comes out in August-2010. It is already pre-ordered! I cannot wait to continue this story. I was completely on the edge of my seat with this story and I did not want to turn to that last page. It was hard to close the book and have the story end. My anticipation is boiling over for this next book…hurry up August!!

The Lost Summer by Kathryn Williams

The Lost Summer by Kathryn Williams

For the past nine years, Helena Waite has been returning to summer camp at Southpoint. Every year the camp and its familiar routines, landmarks, and people have welcomed her back like a long-lost family member. But this year she is returning not as a camper, but as a counselor, while her best friend, Katie Bell remains behind. All too quickly, Helena discovers that the innocent world of campfires, singalongs, and field days have been pushed aside for late night pranks on the boys’ camp, skinny dipping in the lake, and stolen kisses in the hayloft. As she struggles to define herself in this new world, Helena begins to lose sight of what made camp special and the friendships that have sustained her for so many years. And when Ransome, her longtime crush, becomes a romantic reality, life gets even more confusing.

If you could capture summer in a book, this is it! Helena Waite is thrilled to be returning to her favorite place in the world, Southpoint. This summer she is coming back as a counselor but her best friend Katie Bell, having missed the cut-off by a few months, will have to spend one more summer as a camper. That tiny twist wreaks havoc on the girls’ tight bond and causes both to question what it means to be a child and what you have to give up to be an adult. The themes in this story are those that anyone can relate to and will have you wishing you too could return to those simple, carefree childhood days. They go by so quickly and unfortunately, Helena is reminded of that all too frequently during her first summer in the “adult” world.

Kathryn Williams has written an extraordinary book about the power of friendship, the dilemmas we face as we outgrow our childhood selves and the tug-of-war we often feel between our adult self and our childhood memories. The depiction of young love is honest and real and will have you rapidly turning the pages to find out what happens. The characters are so vivid and true that they honestly jump right off the page. An absolutely perfect read!

The Daughters by Joanna Philbin

The Daughters by Joanna Philbin

The only daughter of supermodel Katia Summers, witty and thoughtful Lizzie Summers likes to stick to the sidelines.

The sole heir to Metronome Media and the daughter of Karl Jurgensen, outspoken Carina Jurgensen would rather climb mountains than social ladders.

Daughter of chart-topping pop icon Holla Jones, stylish and sensitive Hudson Jones is on the brink of her own music breakthrough.

By the time freshmen year begins, unconventional looking Lizzie Summers has come to expect fawning photographers and adoring fans to surround her gorgeous supermodel mother.  But when Lizzie is approached by a fashion photographer who believes she’s “the new face of beauty,” Lizzie surprises herself and her family by becoming the newest summers woman to capture the media spotlight.

The Daughters is the debut novel by Regis Philbin’s daughter, Joanna Philbin. I almost feel bad opening up the review with that statement because the book is so much about separating yourself from your famous parent and creating your own destiny. But in the same way that living in the shadow can cause a child to question where they begin and their parents end, for a writer it can provide great material! That is exactly what Joanna Philbin did with her debut novel. She took her own personal experience and wove it into an enjoyable journey for the characters of Lizzie, Carina and Hudson.

The Daughters, the first in a series, focuses on Lizzie Summers. What could have been a simple story about an ugly duckling living in the shadow of her super model mom, became a story with an interesting and complex journey. Lizzie is insecure about her looks but instead of writing an extreme makeover type of book, Philbin wrote one about fully accepting yourself, flaws and all. This is a well written story with real characters and enough drama to keep you flipping the pages (I read it in a day because I couldn’t put it down).  Philbin excels at portraying teens honestly and there isn’t a fake note in this entire book. The drama in the boy department doesn’t disappoint either. It ends on a cliffhanger that will have readers desperate for Carina’s story, which I hear comes out in November. I whole-heartedly recommend this book for both teens and adults.

Promises to Keep by Jane Green

Promises to Keep by Jane Green

Callie Perry is a successful family photographer living in upstate New York. She adores her two daughters, has great friends, and actually doesn’t mind that her workaholic husband gets home at 9 p.m. every night-that is, when he’s not traveling six months out of the year.

Callie’s younger sister, Steff, on the other hand, has never grown up. She’s a free spirit, living in downtown Manhattan and bouncing between jobs and boyfriends. Lately, she’s been working as a vegan chef, even though she can’t cook.

Lila Grossman is Callie’s best friend and has finally met the man of her dreams. Eddie has two wonderful children, but also a drama queen ex-wife who hates Lila. And then there are Callie and Steff’s parents, Walter Cutler and Honor Pitman. Divorced for thirty years, they rarely speak to each other.

The lives of these colorful characters intersect when they each receive a shocking note that summons them together for one extraordinary summer in Maine and changes their lives forever. This novel is about the hard choices we have to face, about having to be your parents’ child long after you’ve grown up, and about the enduring nature of love.

The queen of women’s fiction is back with her most emotional and powerful novel to date. Jane Green’s Promises to Keep is the story of Callie Perry, a successful family photographer in upstate New York. Callie’s younger sister Steff is a free-spirited city girl who has yet to land (in life, in love, or in work). And to complete the trio is Lila, Callie’s best friend who has finally found love (and unfortunately her love has a nightmare of an ex). The heart of the story comes when Callie is given a brutal diagnosis and must come to terms with the finality of life. This is a novel about surviving, about love and friendship and the enduring power of the human spirit. Promises to Keep is an emotional journey that is well worth the trip. It will give readers a renewed appreciation for the life we live, the friends we make, and the promises we keep. A truly wonderful story.

Some YA Sites That I’m Loving…

Teen Fiction Cafe – great collaboration site of YA writers

The Story Siren – YA Book Reviews Central!

Jackson Pearce – YA writer and active blogger

Alyson Noel – Series favorite

Megan Kelley Hall – YA writer and anti-bullying activist

Books, Boys, Buzz – Inside look into the writing life of YA writers

Sara Zarr – YA author and consistent blogger (I’ve linked to one particularly poignant blog post where she writes about patting yourself on the back…something we all need to do a lot more of)

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Authors Appreciate Book Bloggers

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman

Twelve-year-old CeeCee is in trouble. For years she’s been the caretaker of her psychotic mother, Camille— the crown-wearing, lipstick-smeared laughingstock of an entire town. Though it’s 1967 and they live in Ohio, Camille believes it’s 1951 and she’s just been crowned the Vidalia Onion Queen of Georgia.

The day CeeCee discovers Camille in the front yard wearing a tattered prom dress and tiara as she blows kisses to passing motorists, she knows her mother has completely flipped. When tragedy strikes, Tootie Caldwell, a previously unknown great-aunt comes to CeeCee’s rescue and whisks her away to Savannah. Within hours of her arrival, CeeCee is catapulted into a perfumed world of prosperity and Southern eccentricities—a world that appears to be run entirely by women.

While Tootie is busy saving Savannah’s endangered historic homes from the wrecking ball, CeeCee encounters a cast of unforgettable, eccentric characters. From the mysterious Thelma Rae Goodpepper, who bathes in an outdoor tub under the watchful eyes of a voyeuristic peacock, to Oletta Jones, the all-knowing household cook, to Violene Hobbs, the loud-mouthed widow who entertains a local police officer in her yellow see-through peignoir, the women of Gaston Street keep CeeCee entertained and enthralled for an entire summer.

But CeeCee’s view of the world is challenged in ways she could have never imagined: there are secrets to keep, injustices to face, and loyalties to uphold. Just as she begins to find her ballast and experiences a sense of belonging, her newfound joy collides with the long-held fear that her mother’s legacy has left her destined for destruction.

Laugh-out-loud funny, at times heartbreaking, and written in a pitch-perfect voice, Saving CeeCee Honeycutt is a spirited Southern tale that explores the intricate frailties and strengths of female relationships while illuminating the journey of a young girl who loses her mother but finds many others.

I absolutely adored this book and I think Beth Hoffman is a writer who is going to be delighting readers for years to come. But this particular post is about much more than just her novel, SAVING CEECEE HONEYCUTT, it’s about her journey as a debut novelist. Beth recently guest-posted on The Book Lady’s Blog about the importance of book bloggers and the impact they have on the success of a book. Essentially book bloggers are readers who like to share the good books they’ve read. Read the essay here and check out Beth Hoffman’s website here.

Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner

Sometimes all you can do is fly away home . . .

Written with an irresistible blend of heartbreak and hilarity, Fly Away Home is an unforgettable story of a mother and two daughters who after a lifetime of distance finally learn to find refuge in one another.

When Sylvie Serfer met Richard Woodruff in law school, she had wild curls, wide hips, and lots of opinions. Decades later, Sylvie has remade herself as the ideal politician’s wife—her hair dyed and straightened, her hippie-chick wardrobe replaced by tailored knit suits. At fifty-seven, she ruefully acknowledges that her job is staying twenty pounds thinner than she was in her twenties and tending to her husband, the senator.

Lizzie, the Woodruffs’ younger daughter, is at twenty-four a recovering addict, whose mantra HALT (Hungry? Angry? Lonely? Tired?) helps her keep her life under control. Still, trouble always seems to find her. Her older sister, Diana, an emergency room physician, has everything Lizzie failed to achieve—a husband, a young son, the perfect home—and yet she’s trapped in a loveless marriage. With temptation waiting in one of the ER’s exam rooms, she finds herself craving more.

After Richard’s extramarital affair makes headlines, the three women are drawn into the painful glare of the national spotlight. Once the press conference is over, each is forced to reconsider her life, who she is and who she is meant to be.

Jennifer Weiner shines in her latest novel, FLY AWAY HOME. Touching on current events and what happens when famous men cheat (Tiger? John Edwards?) and what the repercussions are to the family left in the wake of the storm, Weiner explores three women and how their lives are changed. Sylvie Woodruff learns that her husband, Senator Richard Woodruff, has had an affair with one of his aides. While Sylvie tries to pick up the pieces of her life, her daughters, Diana and Lizzie both struggle with the ramifications of their father’s indiscretion. What is most enjoyable about this story are the differences that lie between these three women. Sylvie has done everything to be the perfect wife and partner to her husband. She has sacrificed her own goals in the name of her husband’s career. Meanwhile, Diana has done nothing but focus on perfecting her own life. She is as structured about her medical career as she is about her fitness and diet. She is trying to build a perfect life but in the meantime she is in a loveless marriage and cheating on her husband. And then their is Lizzie, a recovering addict trying to build her own life from the ground up. The tragic circumstances surrounding Richard’s affair bring these women together as they try to understand where they are in their own lives and where they are going.

Elle ran an in-depth interview with Jennifer Weiner where she discusses her latest novel, what inspired the plot, celebrity infidelity and body-image issues in our society.

A perfect, perfect read…great for the beach, vacation or just about anywhere! I loved this book and was immediately reminded why Ms. Weiner is so successful, because she explores women’s complicated lives beautifully and honestly with a perfect blend of humor, sadness and joy…just like life.

A Brand New Me: The Movie

A Brand New Me by Shari Low

Shari Low’s bestselling British chick lit, A BRAND NEW ME, is in production with Working Title Films. Mimi Hare and Clare Naylor, screenwriters of The Accidental Husband, are adapting the screenplay.

Here is the description of this wildly popular novel:

Leni Lomond isn’t one of life’s risk-takers. A creature of habit, she’s been stuck in her comfort zone for so long she’s practically asleep.

So, on December 31st, she vows that things will be different this year – new job, new man, new life.

Less than a month into the New Year, Leni’s first resolution is fulfilled when she accepts a job as PA to TV astrologer Zara Delta. And her new assignment – to date men from every sign of the zodiac – looks like it might just help her with the second.

As the year goes by, the men Leni has to date include wannabe rockstar Matt, who sees Leni as his ticket to fame and fortune, overgrown teenager Harry – a man whose idea of a good date is a night at the amusement arcade – and therapist Craig, whose psycho babble is even of a turn-off than his beard…

But just when Leni’s ready to give it all up her fortunes take a turn.

Will this year finally be the one in which Leni changes her life – or is her destiny already written in the stars?

Backseat Saints by Joshilyn Jackson

Rose Mae Lolley is a fierce and dirty girl, long-suppressed under flowery skirts and bow-trimmed ballet flats. As “Mrs. Ro Grandee” she’s trapped in a marriage that’s thick with love and sick with abuse. Her true self has been bound in the chains of marital bliss in rural Texas, letting “Ro” make eggs, iron shirts, and take her punches. She seems doomed to spend the rest of her life battered outside by her husband and inside by her former self, until fate throws her in the path of an airport gypsy—one who shares her past and knows her future. The tarot cards foretell that Rose’s beautiful, abusive husband is going to kill her. Unless she kills him first.

Hot-blooded Rose Mae escapes from under Ro’s perky compliance and emerges with a gun and a plan to beat the hand she’s been dealt. Following messages that her long-missing mother has left hidden for her in graffiti and behind paintings, Rose and her dog Gretel set out from Amarillo, TX back to her hometown of Fruiton, AL, and then on to California, unearthing a host of family secrets as she goes. Running for her life, she realizes that she must face her past in order to overcome her fate—death by marriage—and become a girl who is strong enough to save herself from the one who loves her best.

BACKSEAT SAINTS will dazzle readers with a fresh and heartwrenching portrayal of the lengths a mother will go to right the wrongs she’s created, and how far a daughter will go to escape the demands of forgiveness. With the seed of a minor character from her popular best-seller, GODS IN ALABAMA, Jackson has built a whole new story full of her trademark sly wit, endearingly off-kilter characters, and utterly riveting plot twists.

Joshilyn Jackson writes real, raw and emotional stories about flawed women and the powers of faith. In her latest novel, Backseat Saints, Rose Mae Lolley has lived a bleak life. Abandoned by her mother and raised by an abusive father, Rose has become hardened and tough. When a gypsy tells her that she is going to be killed by her abusive husband unless she kills him first, Rose has no choice but to act. When her plans backfire, Rose is forced to run. As the saying goes, women are like tea bags, you don’t know how strong they are until you put them in hot water. This is exactly what Jackson does with Rose Mae. The strength of Jackson’s characters lie in their ability to overcome obstacles, rise above difficulty and hardship and stay true to themselves. Her novels are riveting, emotional and passionate and this one is not to be missed.