After the Flood - Kassandra Montag

“I had waited so long to prove myself wrong. To prove that I have room in me for everything I’ve lost and will lose, that the room in my heart will grow with loss and not contract. And I hadn’t just found it to be true; I’d made it true. I am not the shards of a broken glass, but the water let loose from it. The uncontainable thing that will not shatter and stay broken.” Kassandra Montag has written a 1st person, novel that takes place years after both the 100 year flood and the 6 year flood that followed it in its wake. While the state of the planet and the lack of land is important to the story, the main character does not discuss what caused it in detail, only guessing and relating what she’d heard over time; she doesn’t ponder the why, only the fact that it is. It is not the story of a world nearly underwater; it is a story of a women who has lost her entire family except for the child that she gave birth to after the flood had caused her to take to the water in a boat. It is the story of a mother that doesn’t give up searching for the child that her husband abducted from her months before the newest baby’s arrival. It is a story of introspection, what a mother would be willing to sacrifice if there was even a small chance to save her child, even if it meant putting her other child at risk. Other characters lend their stories, their losses, their struggles as they all look for a way to survive, to figure out how to live in this new world. Man’s inhumanity to man plays its role in this new world, highlighting to what degree people can excuse their own darkness when it comes to survival. The trading posts, the barter commerce, the groups that are taking over the seas and the colonies by force are all discussed and acknowledged by the main character, much as a mother would discuss the world today or her neighborhood: these are the realities she must face or avoid in order to keep her children safe. “I had feared losing them, but there were moments that desire lurked tight at the edge of that fear. Set loose form them, I could give up, I told myself. I could stop away into the water, no longer fighting, no longer pretending to be strong.” Thank you to the publisher and Edelweiss for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Third Daughter - Talia Carner

This historical fiction is based on a near century long practice of a legalized union of pimps in Buenos Aires luring and kidnapping hundreds of thousands of struggling and starving girls and women from Eastern Europe under the false pretenses of marriage or employment in hopes of saving their families back home only to sell them into prostitution. This was a difficult story to read, a young girl, in desperate circumstances finds herself betrothed to man and whisked away from her family that very night to begin her journey to what they have all been led to believe will be a life of privilege and wealth. Batya, only 14, quickly learns that she and her family have been lied to and her only goal is to find a way to save her family. The reader is given a look into brothel life in Buenos Aires and the levels of corruption and contempt. This is a fast paced read and a sure-fire recommendation for any reader who loves historical fiction. Thank you to the publisher and to Edelweiss for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

Pretty Guilty Woomen - Gina Lamanna

When Whitney DeBleu and her soon-to-be-husband invite friends and family to attend their week-long wedding festivities, they never anticipate what could go wrong. After checking in to the resort where the wedding will take place, 3 of the bride’s college roommates meet and become friends with a couple of the groom’s distant relations. When a man is murdered at the rehearsal dinner,4 of the women confess to killing him. This novel moves back and forth through the POV of the main characters, revealing parts of their past and their time at the spa. Each chapter ends with a few interrogation questions aimed at getting to the bottom of the story. This is more a story of how convoluted relationships can be and what people are willing to do in order to do the “right” thing. The format: many woman, a murdered man, and the tangled relationships that get the reader from point A to point B is vaguely reminiscent of a blockbuster novel. This would make a good beach read. Thank you to the publisher and Edelweiss for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

Crown of Coral and Pearl - Mara Rutherford

This is an interesting story. Twins live in an impoverished settlement, kept poor and farming pearls for the wealthy to pay a century-old debt. The most beautiful girl is chosen each time the kingdom’s price is old enough to marry. For many this is considered an honor, especially Zadie and Nor’s mother, who groomed the girls since birth to always protect their beauty. That dream ends for Nor when an accident leaves her with a scar on her face.

Although the village elders choose Zadie to marry the prince, Nor must go in her place, disguising her scar as best she can. 

The story had a little bit of everything, action, intrigue, myths and legends and bit romance. It also did an interesting job of showing how different cultures are taught to understand legends and how the powers that be dictate the belief systems in communities. And how the environments can play a role in people’s abilities – natural and mystical.

If not for certain sections involving romance and violence, this book would be best suited for the middle grades. 

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publishers for the eArc in exchange for my honest review. 

The Nanny - Gilly MacMillan

When she is a little girl, Jo's nanny, Hannah disappears into the night. Jo has never had a close relationship with her mother and leaves the family estate tat Lake Hall to head to America where she falls in love, marries and has a child. Shortly after her father's death, Jo loses her husband to suddenly and has no choice but to return to Lake Hall with her daughter Ruby as they try to find a way forward. While showing Ruby around the property, they discover a skull in the lake. It is assumed that it must be the missing nanny... until it becomes clear that it is not. This reminded me of an English mystery on the moors style tale. Family secrets, hidden histories and tangled motivations play out, for the most part, within the walls of the family estate.

A Nearly Normal Family - M.T. Edvardsson

I knew it and I knew I knew and then.... well, that was a twist I hadn't seen coming.

I didn't love this story but it was good.  It was told from three different perspectives.  Father, Mother, and Stella, who is accused of murder.  

It is an interesting telling of family and perception or what lengths we go to and what excuses we are ready to give.

Things You Save in a Fire - Katherine Center

Let me start by saying that I chose this book based solely on the title. I will do this when I find a title to be evocative or provocative and I will read it without even reading the publisher’s synopsis.   And that may have been a great thing because had I read “Because she doesn't fall in love. And because of the advice her old captain gave her: don't date firefighters. Cassie can feel her resolve slipping...”  I likely wouldn’t have chosen the book and that would have been a huge mistake on my part.

After her long-estranged mother asks her for help, an incident at an award ceremony and a near-firing, 26 year old Austin firefighter, Cassie Hanwell,  must leave her firehouse, her job and her life in order to relocate in a Boston suburb to take care of her ailing estranged, mother.    This means not only having to put aside her feelings of rejection and resentment towards her mother but also starting her life and career again, in a new firehouse, with a new group of firefighters that don’t want women on the force.

Cassie is a tough, competent paramedic and firefighter who also happens to be a women.  She works in a male dominated profession, she lets her expertise speak for itself, she is a problem solver and never a whiner.  But she is more than that, she is an abandoned child, a cynic, a loner, and a person that wants to be loved but is afraid to be vulnerable.

She learns that her mother misrepresented her health concerns and that though she may have won over the majority of her new co-workers, there is at least one that wants her gone.

And then there is a fire that tears through Cassie’s new life.

I began this book thinking about the things one would save in a fire, mementos, loved ones, important papers, etc.  but as the story went on, I realized that the things Cassie saves in that fire were much more intangible and important. 

The author does a great job giving the majority of the characters personalities, most particularly, “the rookie”.  I have to admit that his character made me smile on more than one occasion.   Although there were a few times when Cassie needed to get things off her chest or come clean that I found a little hard to swallow in their neat packages, I feel that overall this is a great book.

Thank you to the Publisher and to Edelweiss for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review.