Wednesday, November 6, 2013

The Book Review Club (November 2013)




I can’t tell you how happy I am that it’s finally the first Wednesday of November and our book review club. October was tough for me. Reading-wise, that is. I had the hardest time finding a book I wanted to finish reading. I’m ready to dive into everyone’s reviews (the links are below my review) and get hooked up with some good titles!

RESCUE by Anita Shreve (adult)

The story opens on paramedic and single dad Pete Webster’s fortieth birthday. His seventeen-year-old daughter, Rowan, has fixed him breakfast. Right away, you can see the dad’s walking on eggshells, weighing every word that he says to his daughter. “Webster can feel his daughter’s impatience. Eager to be away.” As a mother of teens, it certainly rings true to me. The second chapter takes us back 18 years, to the night Webster met Rowan’s mother. Back then, Webster was a rookie paramedic, responding to a 1:10am call: “Unresponsive female half-ejected one-car ten-fifty.” Pete, our small town hero, falls hard for the female, Sheila Arsenault. Sheila is our sexy, alcoholic, street-wise, very-rough-around-the-edges heroine. Pete wants to save her. Very quickly, the two fall in love, get pregnant, get married. Sheila continues drinking. Pete keeps trying to save her. The marriage lasts two years. Sheila disappears from Pete and Rowan’s life. Now, with the daughter making some pretty poor choices, Pete reaches out to his ex-wife.

What I liked: The characters. They totally sucked me in. I felt that I knew them, that I might bump into them at the grocery store. I wanted to slap Sheila for the risks she was taking. Rowan, too. Also, there’s the language. Shreve has an incredible way with words. “Even when was an infant, she had that extra, what, quarter inch above the eyebrows. As though someone took a pair of pliers, stretched her head a little. It makes her blue eyes open up. It makes her look a bit startled by life.”

What was a little meh: Pete Webster was a good paramedic, a good husband, a good dad, a good son, a good neighbor, a good…you get the idea. He could’ve handled a flaw or two. Also, the ending felt a bit off. But that could just be me. If anyone else reads/has read this book, please let me know your thoughts.

That said, RESCUE is a good, solid book. It’ll tug at your heart. It'll make you wonder where you'd draw the line with those you love.

And, now, let’s get to everyone else’s reviews!



MIDDLE GRADE/YOUNG ADULT BOOK REVIEWS

Stacy Nyikos: MAGIC MARKS THE SPOT by Carolyn Carlson (middle grade)

Ellen Booraem of Freelance Ne'er-do-well: THE BRIXEN WITCH by Stacy DeKeyser (MG fantasy)

Lucy Sartain of Ranting and Raving: THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN by Katherine Applegate (MG)

Jody Feldman: HECK: WHERE THE BAD KIDS GO by Dale E. Basye (middle grade)
                         THE HATE LIST by Jennifer Brown (young adult)
                          KEEP HOLDING ON by Susane Colasanti (young adult)
                          ENCHANTED by Alethea Kontis (young adult)


ADULT BOOK REVIEWS

Sarah Laurence: THE PARTNER TRACK by Helen Wan (legal)

Stacy of The Cat's Meow: MONSTERS OF TEMPLETON (literary)

Alyssa Goodnight of the Writers' Road Less Traveled: THE HAUNTING OF MADDY CLARE by     Simone St. James (part historical, part romance, part mystery, seriously creepy!)

Beth Yarnall: The Opportunist by Tarryn Fisher (romance)

Prairie Rose of Prairie Rose's Garden: A FINER END by Deborah Crombie (mystery) 
 

NONFICTION REVIEWS

Patti Abbott: LOTS OF CANDLES, PLENTY OF CAKE by Anna Quindlen

Jenn Jilks of Cottage Country: BREAKING DOWN THE WALLS by Norma Yaeger (autobiography)



Note to Reviewers: Any errors (broken link, missed review, etc), just shoot me an email or leave a comment. Thank you so much for your reviews!