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The Dubrovnik Book Club–paralyzing fear
The Dubrovnik Book Club
By Eva Glyn
This book!
I love the title and subject.
The cover is appealing.
Glossary includes Croatian words.
Descriptions give a peek into the beauty of the country and the joy that comes from a delicious pastry.
You would think I would love this book, but I just couldn’t relate to or want to read about the circumstances that plague the characters. Four characters are consumed with paralyzing fear:
Long Term Covid
Gay
Abused by Wife, accused of murder
Refugee PTDS and survivor guilt.
The author does manage to weave their stories together through the book club. While I sympathize in general with their situations, I found that I had no empathy for any of their attempts to get over their problems. A main motif throughout the book is “fake it until you make it.” The conclusion, however, was quite satisfactory.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 3/5
Category: Fiction, Women’s Fiction
Notes: There is a lot of swearing in English. There is also a lot of swearing in Croatian, but without the glossary, which generalizes the level of offensiveness, who would know?
Publication: March 8, 2024—One More Chapter (HarperCollins UK)
Memorable Lines:
“There is just one rule; a simple one. As its name implies, this shop is for everyone and so is the book club, so all I ask is that you leave any prejudices you may have about people and their reading choices outside. Let’s learn from each other.”
“And perhaps it does not have to make sense in your head when it is about how you feel in your heart.”
That was the biggest irony of all. That now she felt ready to leave and to see the world, all she wanted was to stay.
The Guest House by the Sea–difficult situations
The Guest House by the Sea
by Faith Hogan
Esme, with the help of Marta, an energetic Basque woman, operates the Willows, a 200 year old guest house, following the tradition of the women in her family. The Guest House by the Sea focuses on several weeks during “the season” and the guests who abide there.
Esme is in a high state of frustration because she broke her leg and is mostly blind. So she spends her days in a dome chair welcoming guests and sharing wisdom with those who stop to chat with her. Some of the wisdom comes from the guest register that starts each page with a handwritten quote. When Esme has a guest read a quote, it always seems to apply to that person even though they were written in the book prior to the season’s start.
The cast of characters is diverse and each will tug at your heartstrings as they arrive at Ballycove hoping for space and peace in which to get a grip on their problems. Joel is a lonely engineer staying for weeks to help on expensive repairs to the church’s roof. Cora is a homemaker and teaching assistant with a husband set in routines. After thirty years together, she wonders if she has only staleness left in her future. Phyllis is watching her husband slip away in the same dementia that stole his father. Their son Rob, a widower, and his son Josh join them. As the result of a pregnancy test, Niamh comes to the Willows by herself with a pill to “take care of it” in the words of Jeremy. She is his long-time mistress and co-worker, but she learns a lot about Jeremy, herself, and their relationship through this process.
All of these guests are people you would want to know; they will pull you into their stories. Not all of them will have happily ever afters, but they are all seeking fulfilling lives and you will want that for them. Nothing in this book says that life is easy, but it doesn’t moan and whine while the characters deal with their problems either. Ballycove and the Willows are a great backdrop for their stories and their growth.
Faith Hogan is an Irish writer with lots of books to her credit. I plan on reading more by this author.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Fiction, Romance, Women’s Fiction
Publication: June 8, 2023—Aria
Memorable Lines:
Her heart had missed a beat, in the way it does when you’re young and it feels as if the simple things are absolutely momentous.
She was blessed to have a husband like him. Michael was a true blue. He’d be sleeping in that same bed until the day he died, if he had a choice. So why did she feel this heavy weight of emptiness instead, as if her marriage was some black hole and she was in danger of falling in and suffocating while life went on without her? Perhaps being out here in Ballycove would do her good, give her some perspective on things.
“Maybe, but I think you’ve attracted good people to you because you’re kind and you have a generous spirit. You have probably helped more people than you know over the years, with your wise words.”
Two Weeks–abort, adopt, or keep?
Two Weeks
by Karen Kingsbury
Elise is a budding artist, and Cole has a promising future as a doctor when they meet and their lives become intertwined during their last semester of high school. In Karen Kingsbury’s Two Weeks, these young people have to deal with their own pasts with single moms, their love for each other, and their relationship with God. An unplanned pregnancy, the loss of a child, and trust in God take center stage as Elise and Cole wrestle with major decisions that have wide ranging consequences.
Two Weeks is a romance but it also deals with the emotional and personal impacts of abortion outside of any political concerns. It also addresses the agony of miscarriages and infertility while holding up adoption as a difficult and complicated but positive possibility. This work of Christian fiction shines a light on a subject that is painful for many. It also examines parenthood from several viewpoints. Both topics may be sensitive for some readers, but I do recommend this work written by a prolific Christian author whose books have been made into movies.
I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Howard Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Romance, Christian
Notes: 1. This book is the latest in an extensive series of books about the Baxter family. I read it as a standalone and had no problem following the plot.
2. There is a discussion guide at the end.
Publication: April 2, 2019—Howard Books
Memorable Lines:
Ashley would do the most powerful thing she could. The best gift a mother could give her child. Grown or not. Now and forevermore like her life depended on it. She would pray.
Their lives were a trail of broken moments and closed doors when it came to having a baby.
“I never think of them as dead.” Her eyes grew softer. “They’re alive. They just have a new address in heaven.”
Sold on a Monday–grab your heart
Sold on a Monday
by Kristina McMorris
Sold on a Monday is one of those books that keeps returning to your thoughts—sad and soul crushing, but at the same time hopeful. Even the book’s title has a haunting echo: Sold on a Monday. What would it take for a mother to give up her children or further to sell them? Just how precious is a child to a mother and how can she survive when her child is gone? Sold on a Monday contains this theme within the story of a reporter’s drive for success, a secretary’s desire for secrecy, and families’ difficult relationships.
Sold on a Monday is set in the financial desolation of 1931 in Pennsylvania where Ellis, a reporter, snaps a photo of a sign “2 children for sale.” This one picture sets in motion the events contained in Kristina McMorris’ work of historical fiction that incorporates many elements of the Depression. It shows a poverty that brings out the best and the worst in people. Orphans are “adopted” to become forced workers. Mobs control cities, and Prohibition is for those without connections. Neighbors help neighbors, and shopkeepers set aside unsold goods for for the hungry, helpless, and homeless.
I was a little troubled by the romantic triangle in Sold on a Monday. At some points I felt the secretary with reporter aspirations, Lily, is being unfair to the two men interested in her. In fairness to her, however, although she has a four year old son, she is very young. At a time when being an unwed mother is a disgrace, she is attempting to make a living, take care of her child, and help her parents without whose support she would be in desperate straits. The author works out the triangle satisfactorily, if perhaps a bit too tidily, in the end.
I do recommend Sold on a Monday. It would be especially good for book clubs as it lends itself well to discussion. In fact, the author includes a section of questions for that purpose at the end of the book.
I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Sourcebooks Landmark for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Historical Fiction, General Fiction (Adult)
Publication: August 28, 2018—Sourcebooks Landmark
Memorable Lines:
“Even when life’s downright lousy, most kids are still so resilient because…well, I guess ‘cause they don’t know any different. It’s like they only realize how unfair their lives are if you tell them. And even then, all they need is the smallest amount of hope and they could do just about anything they set their minds to…”
He dared to ask for a repeat of a point and instantly saw his mistake in the man’s hardened face. Everything about him—his eyes and nose, his build and demeanor resembled a watchful owl. Just biding his time until he swooped in for the kill.
Then she heard. “Can you tell me how it all started?” It was a standard question that blended the reporter in Lily’s head with the detective before her, and she wasn’t entirely certain which of them had asked.
Cold As Ice–trying to cover mistakes
Cold As Ice
by Julie Mulhern
At 6:30 on a Friday evening, Ellison Russell sensed Disaster, but what about her daughter going on a date to see Benji with a handsome, polite young man from their social group or her attending a cocktail party with her best friend Libba? Who could have foretold the disastrous sequence of events that would occur over the next several days?
As expected, Cold As Ice, Julie Mulhern’s sixth novel in the Country Club Mystery Series is a winner. It jumps right into the current story while catching up readers who are new to the series. With a lot of legitimate suspects, Ellison stays busy following leads as she tries to save a failing bank which is her daughter’s inheritance from Ellison’s licentious, now dead, husband and negotiate landmines in her relationships with her domineering mother and her teenage daughter. Meanwhile two love interests, a lawyer and a detective, provide aid in her investigations while vying for her affections.
All of the investigation occurs in the midst of family chaos and is delivered with a heavy dose of wry humor. Mr. Coffee continues to be the only man Ellison can truly depend on. The setting is decorated with multiple authentic touches of the seventies. It is a book I didn’t want to put down, but I didn’t want it to end either.
I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Henery Press for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Mystery, General Fiction (Adult)
Notes: # 6 in The Country Club Murders; works fine as a standalone
Publication: October 17, 2017—Henery Press
Memorable Lines:
“How was your date?” A silly question, since animated songbirds perched on her shoulders and whistled.
Perhaps the expression I allowed into my eyes stilled his tongue. It was one of Mother’s best. It spoke of impending pain and suffering and icy fury.
“Hi.” His voice was as delicious as s’mores made in the fireplace on a snow day. Melty and warm and addictive.
We need to talk. Has anything good ever followed those four words?
education pathways 