Stargazey Point by Elizabeth Noble

Stargazey Point is another good beach read by Elizabeth Noble. Not a lot of action, not a lot of sex or violence (although there is one creepy uncle scene), and not a lot of drama. Just a good story about a young woman named Abbie Sinclair that goes to the home of a friend to try and get herself together after a great loss. The home is actually an estate on the South Carolina Coast that is in need of some TLC. The owners are elderly siblings that do not have the money or the inclination to fix it. Even the town itself, Stargazey Point, mimics the estate. Just a bit run down and no money to fix it. There are a few residents that hope to make some changes, and one of those residents is Cab Reynolds, a former summer worker that has his own demons to get over.

Of course, you know that Cab and Abbie are destined to meet...

Just sit back and enjoy.

Karen

Readalike author: Nancy Thayer

Revolutionary Summer: the Birth of American Independence by Joseph J. Ellis

Pulitzer-Prize-winning historian Joseph Ellis is no stranger to the history of the American Revolution.  He returns to the topic in Revolutionary Summer with a fresh look at the critical period of May - October 1776.  Instead of a reinterpretation of the time, he provides a synthesis of the political and military history, arguing that we can gain a better understanding of the period by studying them together.  All of the expected characters are here, devoted to "The Cause" of American independence, which was seen as foreordained by God.  As such, the Continental Congress looked upon military defeats as minor setbacks.  Those defeats specifically involve the invasion of New York by the Brothers Howe (Admiral Richard and General William).  This campaign was designed to crush the Colonial Rebellion in its infancy.  However, the brothers saw themselves more as emissaries of the Crown sent to negotiate a settlement with the colonists.  It's fortunate for history that they did, because the Continental Army was in "conspicuous disarray", and its military efforts were "hapless" and "hopeless."  Despite Congress' efforts to compel the states to provide soldiers, the states feared a free-standing army and resisted.  Ellis is a masterful storyteller, and the reader comes to appreciate the Divine favor the colonists enjoyed, as well as the inherent contradictions of the cause.  Those who want a clear picture of this critical period of the Revolution would do well to read this book.

Dawn

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

What do you do when you find out you’re someone’s last hope? That’s the situation Louisa Clark finds herself in after she’s hired to care for quadriplegic Will Traynor. In Me Before You, Louisa is perfectly content living her life in a small English village, working at a café, and not venturing outside her comfort zone. But when the café closes, Louisa must find another job quickly, because she is the family breadwinner. Enter Will Traynor, a man who lived life on the edge. After his accident, he is a stubborn, moody, and bossy man who is not looking to improve his situation. Louisa discovers that she’s been hired to change Will’s outlook on life. She does her best to show him what his life could be like, despite his physical challenges.

I loved this book. In fact, I think it’s one of my favorites that I read this year. I really enjoyed that the story is not only told from Will and Louisa’s point of view, it’s also told from the point of view of other important characters. This lets readers see the story from all sides, and see what other characters think of the situation. I really enjoyed Jojo Moyes’ writing, and will be reading more of her books.

If you liked Me Before You, you might also like The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison. 

Carrie

The Never List by Koethi Zan

The Never List is a very dark, very disturbing novel. Seriously - very dark and very disturbing. You have been warned...

Sarah and Jennifer are childhood friends with an unusual fixation - to document all things that may harm them. This is their Never List. They continue to add to this list even when they go away to college.  As roommates, they still pretty much do everything together - even go to parties. And one night after partying, they break their own rule and get into a taxi. And the nightmare begins...

Professor Jack Derber teaches psychology at Sarah and Jennifer's university. He is well liked and well respected, but Professor Derber has some very dark secrets...

For the next three years, the lives of these three people are intertwined in the most horrible ways imaginable. And that is just the first few chapters of the book!

For a first novel, this is really something. I cannot wait for her next one.

Karen

Read-alike: Still Missing by Chevy Stevens

The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse

Frederick Watson lost his beloved elder brother George in the Great War and is consumed with guilt, loss, confusion, and isolation. While on a prescribed driving trip through the Pyrenees, he is beset with an awareness of voices and shadows deep on an isolated stretch of road where he is briefly knocked unconscious in an auto accident. He finds his way to a tiny village and is promised aid the following day. That night, the entire village will be at an annual gathering at the village hall. He first declines to join them, but later decides to find his way to the hall alone. While not seeing his hostess from the inn, Freddy encounters the pretty Fabrissa and they strike up a conversation. As the evening progresses, they become closer and when a group of soldiers crash through the door, she shows him a hidden escape route through a tunnel. They end up hiding together and spend the night exchanging their stories of loss and grief. But Freddy begins to realize Fabrissa’s tale is an older one than his and that time and space have shifted around them. Then he awakes and finds himself in his bed at the inn.

His attempts to find Fabrissa and the conclusion to her story lead him back to the mountainside and a shattering discovery. But his actions on her behalf, to “bring them home,” mirror what he needs to do for himself and his brother’s spirit as well. In The Winter Ghosts, Mosse creates a story vaguely spooky and other-worldly but with deeper emotions subtly stirring beneath.

I listened to this on audio and felt as if I were listening to a radio play despite there being only one narrator. The flow of the words and the nature of the story were evocative of old-fashioned tales around the fire. I strongly recommend listening to this – it’s only 5 discs.

CAS 

World War, 1914-1918 -- Fiction.

Grief -- Fiction.

France -- History -- 20th century -- Fiction.

Historical fiction.

Spell It Out: the Curious, Enthralling, and Extraordinary Story of English Spelling by David Crystal

OK, this book is not for everyone.  But since this is a blog devoted to the written word, it's worthwhile to include it.  Crystal is an expert on linguistics, and Spell It Out is his endeavor to help the reader understand the field of orthography (spelling).  As you might expect, English spelling has been influenced by major events over the centuries.  These include the Norman Conquest in 1066 that brought many French and Latin words into use, the Great Vowel Shift of the 15th - 17th centuries, and the rise of the printing press.  Through it all, one group of people exerted a strong influence--The Scribes.  They were the ones who eliminated some Old English letters (Eth, Thorn and Yogh) and added new letters (J and W) to the language.  Crystal examines numerous categories of words to show how they arrived at their current spellings.  Although his efforts may not help readers remember how to spell them, they will at least understand why they must spell them that way.  Crystal also touches on the future of spelling.  He posits that the Internet and mobile devices actually improve spelling, because users have to know the spelling of terms to search for them online or to abbreviate them correctly.  The only difficulty I had with the book is that Crystal is British, and some of his examples are foreign to those of us "across the pond."  Overall this is a fascinating read for those with an interest in linguistic history.

Dawn

Chose the Wrong Guy, Gave Him the Wrong Finger by Elizabeth Harbison

How can you NOT want to read this book just by the title alone? Once again, Beth Harbison brings some wonderful characters to life in this intelligent mature chick lit novel. The main character is Quinn and the book opens on her wedding day. Just moments before she is to walk down the aisle, she gets the devastating news that the love of her life, Burke Morrison, and the man she intends to spend the rest of her life with has been cheating on her. Perhaps she could believe it was a rumor or mistake, but the carrier of this tale is none other than Burke's brother and best man, Frank. Obviously, there will be no wedding that day, or any day for that matter.

Now jump ahead 10 years and Quinn is pretty much in the same place she was on that fateful day. She works in her family's shop, she dates (unsuccessfully) once in a while, and that's about it. Her good friend Glenn decides that something needs to change, and he gives Quinn a series of tasks she must do every day to get her out of her comfort zone. As the same time this is happening, guess who comes back to town?

Chose the Wrong Guy, Gave Him the Wrong Finger is a fun sweet story about forgetting and forgiving.

Karen

Readalike author: Sophie Kinsella

Detroit: An American Autopsy by Charlie LeDuff

Even though it is nonfiction, Charlie LeDuff’s Detroit:An American Autopsy reads like a hard-boiled detective story where the case is not the death of a person but the death of a city and its people. The book takes place a few years before Detroit filed for bankruptcy, when the city’s then mayor was getting investigated by the feds. LeDuff cleverly writes that “By early fall, it was apparent that the feds had been laying more wire than the cable guy” around Detroit. In addition, the chief of police, unable to lower the actual murder rate, attempted to lower it by changing the definition of murder, and the Detroit Fire Department was stealing screen doors off abandoned houses because the city did not have enough money to buy screen doors for fire stations.

LeDuff grew up in Detroit and its suburbs then left the city for quite a few years to work as a journalist for the New York Times and other papers. Detroit: An American Autopsy mostly takes place when LeDuff returns to the city to work for the Detroit News. The city is emptying out and wildlife is returning due to the many abandoned lots. It is not uncommon to see deer or coyotes in the city.

Some readers will recognize a chapter in the book titled “Ice Man,” as this story gained national attention a number of years ago. The Ice Man was a semi-homeless man found dead and frozen in a block of ice at the bottom of an elevator shaft. He’d been there for days before anyone called 911 and stayed there frozen for even longer before any responders showed up.

Detroit: An American Autopsy is a brutally honest account of the most troubled city in the United States, but somehow LeDuff manages never to wallow in the misery. The key to the book’s success is that he does not stop at the shocking headlines but really gets to know the people still in Detroit.

John

A Small Death in the Great Glen by A. D. Scott

The story opens with the murderer taking his victim’s body and dumping it in a canal. The setting is a small town in Scotland in the 1950’s. The war is over, but the town is still wary of foreigners and staunchly conservative in its views.

The mystery itself is well-written and the ultimate solution comes with a neat twist – a satisfying start to a new series. But A Small Death in the Great Glen also affords a bird’s eye view of a time, a place, and a society I found fascinating to explore. A new world is pushing at the door: many men didn't return from the war, many women need and some want to work outside the home, old ways are changing. The solving of the crime is as caught up in the old vs. the new as are the attitudes that fuel each side.

I liked the style of the telling and the depiction of the characters – they seemed as real and flawed as some I know. This is a series worth following.

CAS

Boys -- Crimes against -- Fiction.

Journalists -- Scotland -- Fiction.

City and town life -- Scotland -- Fiction.

Highlands (Scotland) -- Fiction.

The Last Original Wife by Dorothea Benton Frank

I just found my new favorite beach read this summer - The Last Original Wife. Ms. Frank has once again written an intelligent, women's novel about family life. This time, the plot revolves around Leslie Anne Green Carter, married for 30 years to the very successful Wesley Carter. On the outside, all seems well. The Carters have a lovely home, they belong to the best country club in town, travel in all the right social circles, etc., etc. But Leslie is anything but well. As a matter of fact, she is miserable. She has just lost one of her best friends, and her other closest friend is going through a nasty divorce. In both cases, their husbands (and Wesley's best friends) have all moved on to much, much younger wives. Her once wonderful social life is now a lonely disaster!

Then, Leslie discovers a secret that her husband has been keeping for years and years. She is crushed; she has always been faithful and has done everything in her power to be a perfect wife. The betrayal is just too much, and now she must decide (for once in her life) what is best for her.

With a setting in the Lowcountry, this novel is a perfect blend of southern charm, drama, and even a little humor thrown in.

Karen

Read-alike author: Nancy Thayer