THE WIDOW OF ROSE HOUSE by Diana Biller

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The Widow of Rose House is a very enjoyable and satisfying read. It is a story of second chances and redemption. This book is a mix of different genres and multiple themes - suspense, mystery, paranormal, romance, abuse, bullying, and mental illness. Above all else, The Widow of a Rose House is an engaging romance novel with a paranormal twist. Most importantly, it has an unusual take on haunting and ghosts, which I found clever and captivating. This is not your usual ghost story by any means!

Our heroine Alva is a strong woman with a traumatic past who is determined to rely only on herself.  While Alva is a complex character, she is richly developed and very likable. She has just bought an old house that is rumored to be haunted. At the same time, she is trying to overcome her past and her distrust of other people. Alva is on a journey of self-discovery to reclaim her life and her happiness.

A perfect foil and a delightful character himself is Sam Moore, a member of a family of scientists and inventors.  His family is highly appealing  and I would love to see more stories about them, especially Maggie, who loves French fashion and explosions as well as Henry who is an honorary family member since the age of 10 and Sam’s BFF.  Sam is the epitome of the absent-minded professor, interested in inventing anything that will make life easier, such as a boot lacer-upper.  He is quirky, endearing and downright lovable, determined to win over Alva.  It also helps that Sam is very interested in studying ghosts.

There is a lot of witty banter between Alva and Sam that will put a smile on your face. You cannot help but root for this adorable couple. They make for an engaging and clever team that works well together in discovering and identifying the ghost. In fact, I could totally see a series of books featuring them as ghost hunters, solving the mysteries and freeing the ghost(s). 

As a debut novel, Ms. Biller has quickly made a name for herself with The Widow of Rose House and I look forward to reading her next story. 

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press - St. Martin’s Griffin and NetGalley for an advance reader. Opt in exchange for my honest review.

THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO by Taylor Jenkins Reid

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I had such a great time with Evelyn Hugo and her seven husbands. But don’t let the title deceive you because it also includes an 8th person of significance — the true love of her life.  It is a very compelling read that I devoured in one day. The book is primarily divided up into chapters exploring each of the seven husbands, each one with a tag line capturing his essence. Sprinkled throughout the story are magazine stories announcing major news about this hugely popular actress. It was fun to follow the story through these clippings.

Taylor Jenkins Reid wowed me with her more recent book Daisy Jones and the Six and I found The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo to be just as compelling. It is the story of a larger than life Hollywood legend, nearing the end of her life, who wants to tell the world her true story. 

Evelyn Hugo is one of the biggest movie stars of all time. She doesn’t even have to have something to say for people to listen.

“I’m not a good person, Monique. Make sure, in the book, that that’s clear. That I’m not claiming to be good. That I did a lot of things that hurt a lot of people, and I would do them over again if I had to.”

Evelyn has chosen a relatively obscure junior writer to be the author of her life story and we are left wondering why. To be sure do finally learn why but not until the end, as if you need a reason to stay with the story, which you won’t. Evelyn is such a complex yet captivating character that will continuously dazzle you with her self-reflection and life choices. While you may not always agree with her decisions, you will admire her determination to live a life of her own choosing on her own terms. 

Evelyn is someone special with terrific insight. I found her to be likable, sincere and full of wisdom.

Sometimes reality comes crashing down on you. Other times reality simply waits, patiently, for you to run out of the energy it takes to deny it.

Guilt is a feeling I’ve never made much peace with. I find that when it rears its head, it brings an army. When I feel guilty for one thing, I start to see all the other things I should feel guilty for.

It’s always been fascinating to me how things can be simultaneously true and false, how people can be good and bad all in one, how someone can love you in a way that is beautifully selfless while serving themselves ruthlessly.

She tries to mentor Monique and impart some of her life lessons.

“When you’re given an opportunity to change your life, be ready to do whatever it takes to make it happen. The world doesn’t give things, you take things. If you learn one thing from me, it should probably be that.”

This book will stay with you as will Evelyn Hugo. I will definitely be reading more by Taylor Jenkins Reid, including all of her previous work as well as her future endeavors.

THE LIBRARY OF THE UNWRITTEN by A.J. Hackwith

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I was very excited by the concept of the Library of the Unwritten and was eager to read it. We learn that in this library, an unwritten book can wake up, manifest as one of its character and escape from the book. It was the Librarian’s responsibility to track down the escapee and return him or her to its pages. The worst thing that can happen is for the character to make contact with the author and influence them and their writing, thereby potentially changing the book and it’s direction, which may not bode well for the character’s return to its pages. Furthermore, the longer the character experiences life outside the book, the more he or she could change and as a result, no longer fit in the book.

The idea of escaped characters from unwritten books is very imaginative and my favorite part of The Library of the Unwritten was following the escapee named Hero. But I found the reading of this book to be a major chore. It took very little for me to be distracted from reading it and putting off picking it back up again. For me, the plot meandered and never fully pulled me in. I do enjoy science fiction/fantasy novels but this one just did not satisfy me. I am not exactly sure why I had so much trouble reading The Library of the Unwritten but overall, the execution of this appealing premise did not work for me. 

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group/Ace and NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

THE PERFECT WIFE by J.P. Delaney

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The Perfect Wife is a fun beach read kind of a book. It will draw you in and keep you hooked until the last word. There are some great twists throughout the story that will keep you on your toes, trying to figure out the ending. Some people didn’t enjoy The Perfect Wife because they considered it to be science-fiction. I personally do not feel that it portrays some fantastical future because A.I. is in the news nearly everyday. I believe it’s closer than you think.and that is what The Perfect Wife is about — artificial intelligence. But in this case, it’s about a cobot or companion robot. And that is all I will say about it as I do not want to reveal too much.

Philosophical and moral issues arise as well as legal ones that many of us have never contemplated, which makes the book even more interesting.

The Perfect Wife also has a sub-story about childhood disintegrative disorder (CDD) or Heller’s syndrome, which is unfortunately, real. I did not know about CDD so appreciated being informed and learning about it. It is truly a horrific disorder in which the a child regresses in terms of language, cognition and social skills.

Danny has childhood disintegrative disorder, also known as Heller’s syndrome. It’s so rare, most pediatricians have never seen a case. Instead they’d tell you patronizingly that children simply don’t reach the age of four and then get struck down by profound autism over the course of a few terrifying weeks.

            

 CDD takes your child away and swaps him for a stranger—a drooling, broken zombie who inhabits your child’s body. In some ways it’s worse than a death. Because you go on loving this beautiful stranger even while you’re grieving the sweet little person you lost.

The different educational strategies for CDD were explored in the book and again, is fodder for thought as it raises philosophical issues as well.

Perhaps the real test of someone’s humanity, you think, is how tenderly they treat those like Danny. Whether they blindly try to fix them and make them more like everyone else, or whether they can accept their differentness and adapt the world to it.

CILKA’S JOURNEY by Heather Morris

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Heather Morris, author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, has written another remarkable and important book titled Cilka’s Journey. While it is a follow-up to The Tattooist of Auschwitz, it is a completely standalone novel. Once again, Ms. Morris has done an incredible amount of research to tell this amazing story of one young girl’s harrowing journey, which began in a concentration camp and continued in the Siberian Gulag, 50 miles from the Arctic Circle. Cilka’s Journey is an inspiring testament to one women’s generosity, courage and determination to survive. While it is a novel, it is based on true events and a real person named Cilka Klein.

At the young age of 16, Cilka is taken to Auschwitz and is forced to become a Nazi officer’s sex slave. When the Russians liberate the concentration camp, they sentence her to 15 years in the Gulag for sleeping with the enemy, like she ever had a choice in the matter. 

This book serves a very important purpose in that it exposes the horrors of the Gulag and the oppression and inhumanity that many dealt with at the hands of the Russians. There are many reasons that individuals were imprisoned in the Gulag, such as marrying a foreigner, making garments for a Nazi General’s wife, etc.

Cilka is haunted by her time in Auschwitz-Birkenau and feels cursed. Death is her constant companion and is always around her. She fears she will bring it to those she befriends. Cilka also feels she loses people from her life, not necessarily by death, all too often. Eventually, her fellow prisoners in her hut become her family and help her to survive.

She has lost everything — her childhood, family, dignity, hope, and a future. Yet in the face of all this atrocity , she strives to make a difference at the Gulag and yearns to help those around her. Cilka easily overcomes any fear in order to save others. She will walk into a collapsing mine to look for survivors. 

Cilka’s Journey is sad and heartbreaking yet compelling and triumphant. Cilka is a strong character that you will admire, care about and hope for during the telling of her story.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an advance reader’s copy in exchange for my honest review.

OLIVE, AGAIN by Elizabeth Strout

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How do you write a sequel to a Pulitzer Prize winning novel?  It is probably a rare occurrence and may never have even happened before.  But Elizabeth Strout takes on the challenge and is triumphant. Now that gets me wondering if a sequel to a Pulitzer Prize winning book has ever won a Pulitzer Prize? 

I was thrilled to see the story of Olive Kitteridge continue into a second volume and jumped at the chance to read it. Not surprisingly, Elizabeth Strout did not disappoint. While she is a brilliant storyteller, she never ceases to amaze me with her insight into human nature.

It was delightful to be able to visit again with Olive and the inhabitants, both old and new, of Crosby, Maine. The structure of the book is the same as previously — short stories which feature Olive while others focus on other people living in Crosby. But once again, Olive is the thread that ties all these stories together. 

Olive continues her psychological evolution, becoming more self-aware and gaining a better understanding of herself. She comes to to appreciate universal truths about the human condition. Her growing insight into herself comes from many sources. 

Olive sees some of her flaws in others and then makes the connection to herself — for instance, she sees her daughter-in-law yelling at her son in front of others and realizes she did the same thing to her husband. 

She reflects on her past, recognizing her mistakes as well as her psychological shortcomings. Olive realizes that she has become a somewhat better person over time and regrets that Harry was unable to benefit from it. 

She overhears her daughter-in-law describe her as narcissistic, looks it up in the dictionary but cannot see how it applies. Later, she comes to understand that she talks a lot about herself and encourages her companion at the time to take over the conversation, assuring her that she’ll return to talking about herself.

Olive contemplates moments of regret, wishing she could have done things differently. She realizes that she was unkind to her husband in his final years and she feels remorse. Also, she comes to understand that her relationship with her son is lacking in so many ways,

It came to her then with a horrible whoosh of the crescendo of truth: She had failed on a colossal level. She must have been failing for years and not realized it. She did not have a family as other people did.

Olive reads a poem about herself written by the Poet Laureate, a former student of her’s who she recently met up with, and while dismissing it at first, she comes to see the truth in it. She is positively amazed that the author, knowing so little about her, had more insight into her than she did. 

Many characters in this book wonder who they are and how others perceive them. We meet them when they are reflecting on their lives and questioning their identity. We learn how fragile those identities can be. For example, one character learns later in life that contrary to what he believed at the time, he was not responsible for a tragic event. While relieved, he feels that he has lost a little bit of his identity.

The writing is just as wonderful as Olive Kitteridge — the world is richly described and the characters have tremendous depth.

The truth is that Olive did not understand why age had brought with it a kind of hard-heartedness toward her husband. But it was something she had seemed unable to help, as though the stone wall that had rambled along between them during the course of their long marriage—a stone wall that separated them but also provided unexpected dips of moss-covered warm spots where sunshine would flicker between them in a sudden laugh of understanding—had become tall and unyielding.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group/Random House and NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for my honest opinion.