Review: The Goodbye Quilt” by Susan Wiggs

Linda Davis’s only child, Molly, has earned a full scholarship to the college of her choice, located across the country. Linda and Molly decide to drive there just the two of them, leaving Dan, Linda’s husband, and the elderly dog behind. An avid quilter with a love for the local fabric shop, Linda decides to finish the quilt that she is making for her daughter’s dorm room during the long journey. As Linda stitches together pieces from the past along with words of encouragement for her daughter, she reflects on her journey through motherhood and wonders who she will be as a person now that motherhood will not be her primary focus.

The Goodbye Quilt is a quiet, reflective story. Linda says goodbye to her daughter as they travel through the country and she come to realize that her identity has been so wrapped up in being a mother that she has no idea who she is as a person. Molly has been her everything for so long that she can’t imagine how she will now fill her vacant hours. The Goodbye Quilt is also a reflection of how quickly time passes you by. One moment you have a squalling newborn in your arms, and the next moment your little girl is eighteen and headed off to college on her own.

The Goodbye Quilt is a must-read for anyone who is facing the reality of sending their children off to college for the first time, or for anyone who has already been though the process of saying goodbye to their child’s final moments of childhood.

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
Challenges: 2011 100+ Reading Challenge

Review: "The First Husband" by Laura Dave

Annie Adams is quite content with the way that her life is going. A travel columnist who gets to visit interesting places on a regular basis, with a steady live-in boyfriend, Nick, in Los Angeles, she can’t imagine needing anything more. However when Nick comes home from a meeting with his therapist and he announces that he is going to take a break from their relationship so that he can pursue a relationship with someone from his past, Annie is floored. Shaken, she visits her regular neighbourhood bar in search of solace and finds Griffin instead, a handsome, comforting chef. After a whirlwind courtship Annie finds herself married and living in rural Massachusetts with her new husband where she knows almost no one and is not exactly welcomed.

The First Husband is a reflection of love and the places that it takes us. Annie didn’t realize how stagnant her relationship with boyfriend Nick had become until the rug was yanked out from under her feet, and he announces that he is taking a break from them. His dismissal forces Annie to re-evaluate her life and the choices that she has made, and she sees that perhaps her choices were not contributing to her overall happiness. She makes this extreme leap, from a creature of habit to someone entirely unpredictable, and she marries Griffin and moves with him to his hometown in Massachusetts so that he can pursue his lifelong dream of owning his own restaurant. Annie discovers that perhaps her move was a little too hasty, and finds herself struggling to find some balance between her old life and her new one.

I couldn’t help but root for the sweet yet strong-willed Annie as she struggles to find a place in her new marriage and in her new life. Laura Dave has written a poignant story about love and the choices that we make in our pursuit of happiness, and the ending will leave you smiling. The First Husband is the perfect selection to slip into your beach bag this summer, especially if you are looking for a book that explores the many sides of love.

Rating: 5 stars out of 5
Challenges: 2011 100+ Reading Challenge

Review: "Secret Daughter" by Shilpi Somaya Gowda

Somer, an American doctor, has it all- a loving husband, a rewarding career. The only thing that she doesn't have, and the thing which she can never have, is a baby. Somer decides to adopt a child at the same time that Kavita, an impovershed Indian woman living in small village, decides to do whatever it takes to save her baby girl in a culture that favours sons.

Somer adopts and raises Kavita's daughter in America, but as Asha grows and asks questions, Somer does whatever she can to hold tight to her. Asha's curiosity becomes too much for her and she seeks out the answers to the questions that surround her birth to a woman who has never forgotten about her.

It's no wonder that Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda has topped so many bestseller lists since it first came out. It is a story about family and the various ways that we can create a family. It is a story about cultural identity and the ways in which we relate to those around us. It is a story about love and how it can find ways to conquer all. These themes run throughout the book and provide the reader a lot of food for thought.

The characters were all richly drawn, even though I didn't like them all. Asha, the "secret daughter" was unlikable at times. In her quest to find her identity she seems to push her adoptive mother away, despite the fact that Somer is the one that has loved and provided for her since she was an infant. Then again, Somer was not completely innocent either. Instead of giving her daughter the space that she needed to discover her Indian culture and find out more about her orgins, Somer seems to hold tighter to Asha, which in turn suffocates her. The characters really came to life for me, and their faults made them all the more realistic.

Secret Daughter spans the globe, travelling between India and America, and I appreciated travelling through the author's eyes. I especially enjoyed the scenes set in Mumbai as they gave me a glimpse into a fascinating culture.

Well-written and interesting, Secret Daughter will certainly leave readers with a lot to think about after the last page is turned and would make an excellent book club choice.

Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Challenges: 2011 100+ Reading Challenge, South Asian Challenge 2011

Review: "Already Home" by Susan Mallery

In the midst of divorce, and after ten years of living in her husband's shadow, Jenna Stevens decides to return home to open her own cooking store. Despite the fact that she has spent the better part of the last decade behind the scenes in a kitchen rather than working retail, she signs a lease and begins preparing to open her store.

Jenna doesn't know anything about retail, though, and her store seems doomed from the beginning. With the help of a spunky assistant and Jenna's adoptive mother, Jenna undergoes a crash course in business management and the store begins to thrive. However Jenna isn't counting on the fact that her hippie birth parents will walk through the door and change her life forever. She also isn't prepared for the fact that her ex-husband will return to her armed with an outrageous request.

Already Home is a beautiful story about families and the boundaries that define them. When we meet Jenna she is determined to put her disastrous marriage behind her and begin living her own life. She has returned home to the place that she grew up, and her relationship with her adoptive parents is stable and loving. Jenna believes that she has all that she needs to begin healing. She isn't banking on the fact that her definition of "family" will need to expand when her birth parents, whom she has no desire to meet, walk in the door of her newly opened store and begin to pressure her to build a relationship with them. Beth, Jenna's adoptive mother, is not threatened by the presence of Serenity, Jenna's birth mother at first, but as time wears on and a new relationship forms Beth begins to feel that her relationship with her daughter is being challenged.

I appreciated the fact that Already Home brought a different perspective to adoption. Many adoption stories are focused on the child desiring a relationship with their birth parents, but in this case Jenna had no desire to meet the people that gave birth to her. This added a fresh dimension to the story, and one that I found incredibly intriguing.

Filled with interesting characters and complex family relationships, Already Home is a touching story about one woman and her quest to find her place in her family and in the world.

4 stars out of 5

Challenges: 2011 100+ Reading Challenge

Review: "Skinny" by Diana Spechler

One of the first things that attracted me to Skinny by Diana Spechler was that it was told from the point of view of a character with major weight loss issues. I've struggled with my weight my whole life and I can always appreciate a character who understands the ongoing battle. However Skinny was about so much more than a person with weight issues. Gray Lachmann is 26 and dealing with the aftermath of her father's death. Not on the best of terms with him when he died, Gray feels a lot of guilt and responsibility for how things ended between them. Her relationship with her comedian boyfriend, Mikey, has suffered as a result of all of her issues, and Gray has turned to food to fill the void that she feels.

When Gray is read her father's will she begins to unravel a mystery which includes a teenage half-sister, Eden, who she wasn't previously aware of. When Gray finds out that Eden will be attending fat camp in the summer, Gray manages to wrangle a position as a counselor at the same camp. Gray hopes to get to know her sister, lose weight, and take control of her life again, but she's not expecting the fact that her co-counselor will be filled with venom or that Eden will take virtually no interest in her at all. She also isn't expecting to meet Bennett, the personal trainer who consumes her thoughts during her eight weeks at fat camp.

Skinny was so much more than I anticipated. Gray is a darker character than I was expecting, yet she was so richly portrayed that I couldn't help but feel something for her. She is so confused, so heartbroken, so laden with guilt. Food is her solace and her friend, but at the same time food is her mortal enemy. Gray's unhealthy obsession with food only masks the pain that she is feeling inside. She has so many conflicting feelings battling to get out and her inability to deal with these emotions only worsens as the summer carries on.

Ultimately what I took from Skinny was a better understanding of how one's unhealthy relationship with food can be an outward indication of one's internal hidden pain. It gave me a better understanding of the people who soothe with food, of those so unable to deal with their emotions that they will do anything to mask them.

Compelling and often shocking in its honesty, Skinny is one of those books that has the power to change how people think about others. It may make you think twice before you judge the next person who walks down the street solely on how they look; a thought-provoking novel with lots of unexpected twists.

4 stars out of 5
Challenges: 2011 100+ Reading Challenge

Review: "Sweet Valley Confidential: Ten Years Later" by Francine Pascal

I grew up with the Sweet Valley twins. I devoured their books as soon as they made their way into my library. I learned a lot about growing up from them. I have very fond memories of Jessica and Elizabeth, Bruce, Lila, and Todd. I remember being shocked when Regina died from a drug overdose. I was amused by Jessica's antics and I definitely related to Elizabeth. When Sweet Valley Confidential: Ten Years Later came out I knew that I would have to read it to see how things panned out in life for the twins.

When the story begins we find out that Jessica has done something to Elizabeth that has sent Elizabeth running to New York. Jessica remains in California while Elizabeth is writing for a small magazine many miles away. The rift between them is huge, and it's quite possible that Elizabeth will not be able to forgive Jessica. When their grandmother turns 80, Elizabeth must decide if she wants to return to California and confront Jessica or if she will forgo the family party and be unable to forgive.

Quite honestly I had a few major problems with this book. My biggest problem was with the overuse of the word "like", especially during the flashbacks. Jessica, and at times Elizabeth, still talked the same way that she did back in high school. It was very annoying, and I'm sure that the author would have been able to portray the twins just as well without resorting to that. I found that endearing when I was reading the books as a tween, but I was expecting a grown-up version of the twins in this modern-day update. My other problem with the book was how quickly and neatly things wrapped up in the end. It was like the author had a certain number of pages to fill, and she raced towards a conclusion so that it fit within certain parameters. I felt like crucial scenes were omitted, and I found that disappointing.

That being said, I'm still glad that I read this book. It was fun catching up with the twins and their friends and seeing where they are now and what they're doing with their lives. I thought that Francine Pascal offered a lot of plausible and interesting updates on everyone. I also thought that the plot, the betrayal, was interesting and it certainly held my attention. Overall, though, I'll just hold on to my fond memories of the twins when they were younger.

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
Challenges: 2011 100+ Reading Challenge, 2011 Support Your Local Library Challenge