Clover Blue - Eldonna Edwards
              Newest on TR

Clove Blue is an 11 year old boy living in a commune in the 1960's.  To really simplify the story, Blue begins to have questions concerning is birth parents, his real name, and other things about his true identity.   All of these questions cause problems for the leader, Gogi.

This is a nice coming-of-age story set in the freedom and openness of commune living.  A place where everything is share and secrets are not kept.   Well, except maybe just a couple.

Goodreads::

Part coming-of-age tale, part love story, part mystery, Clover Blue tenderly explores an unconventional but no less complex family that resonates with our deep-rooted yearning for home.

  A Thousand Roads Home - Carmel Harrington

       Newest on my tbr - OUBC -Sept 2019

A sweet, heart-warming tale about friendships and second chances.

Ruth and her son lose their apartment and end up homeless.  They are able to live in a hotel  while waiting for a place in government housing with other people in similar situations. 

Then we have Tom, a sad old guy who lives on the streets by choice because of his deep grief.  Tom becomes friends with Ruth's son and all of their lives begin to change.   Wonderful characters and a feel-good story. 

Goodreads says it so much better:::

‘Where is home?’ DJ asked.
‘Wherever the people you love are.’ Ruth replied.

Single mother, Ruth, and her son, DJ, have never truly fitted in, but that didn’t matter, so long as they were together. When their home comes under threat, their quiet life will change forever.

DJ meets Tom, a man who ten years ago walked out of his house and never looked back. Ruth, DJ and Tom have all felt like outsiders. Burdened with grief and insecurities, they are not living their best lives. But together, these three ordinary people will do an extraordinary thing…

  Shatter   -  Michael Robotham
                "R" - author

This book could also be my guilty pleasure.  I enjoy a good suspense thriller and I found this to be one.

Joe O'Loughlin, who can be found in 2 other books by Mr. Robotham,  is a psychology professor who has been called to a bridge where a young woman is threatening suicide.  He is not able to save her because someone is talking to her on her cell phone and telling her to jump.  She says to Joe, "You don't understand".   Oh,  and she was naked!!!!  How can someone have so much control over someone just by talking to them on the phone? 

Joe gets more involved and by doing so will he be putting his own family at risk??   Then there is a second suicide, or is it?   As I said,  good suspense!!

Goodreads::
 Joe is shattered by the suicide and haunted by his failure to save the woman, until her teenage daughter finds him and reveals that her mother would never have committed suicide—not like that. She was terrified of heights. Compelled to investigate, Joe is soon obsessed with discovering who was on the other end of the phone. What could have driven her to commit such a desperate act? Whose voice? What evil?

Having devoted his career to repairing damaged minds, Joe must now confront an adversary who tears them apart: a man who searches for the cracks in a person’s psyche and claws his fingers inside, destroying what makes them whole

The Night Olivia Fell by Christina McDonald

Debut
2019 A to Z Challenge - "N"

A captivating read, alternating between 2 voices: present day Abi and the past told by Olivia.  Everyone we meet is a potential suspect!!  Well written suspense (though not a complete surprise when the whodunit was revealed), and a emotional journey of a single mother/daughter relationship.

Summary from Goodreads: In the small hours of the morning, Abi Knight is startled awake by the phone call no mother ever wants to get: her teenage daughter Olivia has fallen off a bridge. Not only is Olivia brain dead, she’s pregnant and must remain on life support to keep her baby alive. And then Abi sees the angry bruises circling Olivia’s wrists.   When the police unexpectedly rule Olivia’s fall an accident, Abi decides to find out what really happened that night. Heartbroken and grieving, she unravels the threads of her daughter’s life. Was Olivia’s fall an accident? Or something far more sinister?

Quotes: "There was never a guarantee you wouldn't lose those you loved."

"...when you start to heal you can start living again."

"Trust, I'd learned, was the greatest gift you could give, the greatest gift to receive.  The belief that a person wouldn't betray you required [a] strength and confidence..."

    Victory for the Shipyard Girls --- Nancy Revell

@AtoZChallenge2019 - "V"

This is the 5th book in the series "Shipyard Girls',    not a good time to jump into this series. 

I met 5 women who are working in a shipyard in England during WWII.   Rosie, Helen, Gloria, Hannah and Pearl.   There was a lot of backstory on each one of them that I missed by reading the 5th book in this series.  I think these would be good chick-lit books, but really need to start at the beginning.  There will be lots of life drama and situations.

Goodreads says::


With the war showing no sign of abating, Helen is thriving in her role as shipyard manager. But at home the return of her father brings a shocking discovery that tears her family apart.

Gloria is shouldering the burden of a terrible secret. If the truth comes out there could be dire consequences, and it will take all her resolve to resist the pressure around her.

Meanwhile Rosie is throwing herself into her work, taking on as many shifts as she can. Anything to keep her mind off the fact that she hasn’t heard from her sweetheart in months…

With life in the shipyards tougher than ever, will the strength of their friendship see them through to victory?

the Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman

Guilty Pleasure
2019 A to Z Challenge - "Q"

An old school fairy tale including the ever afters; what makes them happily ever after?  I suppose, like real life, its more perspective than anything else.

There was a little bit of repetition in this tale, but not enough to annoy, just enough to notice.  Nonetheless, I felt connected to the story yet I can't exactly say why.  Maybe because I just needed reminding to live in the now; to not wish for more or less, to just be present.

Summary from Goodreads: Be careful what you wish for. A small town librarian lives a quiet life without much excitement. One day, while standing in her house, she is struck by lightning. But instead of ending her life, this cataclysmic event sparks it into a new beginning.  She goes in search of Lazarus Jones, a fellow survivor who was struck dead, then simply got up and walked away. Perhaps this stranger who has seen death face to face can teach her to live without fear. When she finds him, he is her opposite, a burning man whose breath can boil water and whose touch scorches. Will Lazarus prove to be the talisman that restores her to girlhood innocence and possibility?

Quotes:  "People expected certain things of me: assistance, silence, comfort."

"Our house was littered with books...far too many for her to ever finish."

"In every fairy tale the right way was the difficult path, the one that led over boulders, through brambles, across a field of fire."

"'I don't want to hurt you,'...That's what they all said, and then they went ahead and did anyway."

"...love and why it mattered.  It was an idea,...nothing real, nothing lasting, nothing to live or die for."

"Happily ever after doesn't mean happy forever."

    The Sugar Queen -- Sarah Addison Allen

#2019AtoZChallenge - "Q"
MonthMotif - October - Tricks and Trades

This story is a bit of a love story, new friendships and some magic thrown in.  Cute chick - lit book.

Josey's life is a bit boring.  She live with her mother, answering her every beck and call as Josey waits for the mailman,  the hi-light of her day. Josey has a secret crush on him)
She hides sweets and romance novels in her closet where she escapes to each night.   One night, when she goes to her closet,  she finds Della Lee hiding in her closet.!!!!    So while Josey tries to get Della Lee out of her closet,  and out of her hidden sweet stash,   Della Lee helps Josey to get out of her shell.

Goodreads::

Twenty-seven-year-old Josey is sure of three things: winter in her North Carolina hometown is her favorite season; she's a sorry excuse for a Southern belle; and sweets are best eaten in the privacy of her hidden closet. For while Josey has settled into an uneventful life in her mother's house, her one consolation is the stockpile of sugary treats and paperback romances she escapes to each night ...Until she finds her closet harboring none other than local waitress Della Lee Baker, a tough-talking, tender-hearted woman who is one part nemesis - and two parts fairy godmother 

the Magician's Lie by Greer Macallister

New Author
2019 October Motif - Tricks and Trades

What an intriguing book.  I enjoyed everything about it.  The back and forth from Arden's interrogation in the police station to her back story; the historical aspects of the first female magician, Adelaide, the construction of the NYC public library, the Iroquois Theater; and the whodunit of the dead husband.  I look forward to reading more of Macallister's historical mystery/fiction novels!

Summary from Goodreads: a debut novel in which the country’s most notorious female illusionist stands accused of her husband's murder --and she has only one night to convince a small-town policeman of her innocence.


Quotes: "now you know one of my weaknesses.  I believe the things people tell me."

"Days that change your life don't always feel momentous."

"Sorting the wheat from the chaff was more effort than I cared to expend."

"...despite the differences between men and women, they came apart just the same way under a blade."

"It's amazing how well you can know someone, how much you can love them, and still not really know what it is they're thinking."