Thursday, August 25, 2016

Patty Pick for 8/25/16 is "The Little French Guesthouse" by Helen Pollard



This little book will leave you laughing your head off with 
the adventures of the main character on her trip to France. The main character, Emmy, sets off for a holiday in France with her live-in boyfriend, Nathan. The first afternoon, while hunting for the wife of the guesthouse since Emmy found the owner having a heart attack in the kitchen, she finds more than she bargained for. Emmy stumbles upon her boyfriend shagging the owner's wife on the upstairs balcony! Needless to say this did ruin the trip for Emmy but she bravely stays on to help Rupert, the owner, deal with the loss of 50% of his staff.

Emmy's head in swimming and she is forced to look in the mirror and see the facts about 
their relationship and what she has been trying to avoid facing. This crossroads will lead her to look at her entire life path. She stays on in France for a while to re-access what she wants to do with the rest of her life and to avoid having to face her parents and friends. You will laugh and commiserate with Emmy as this brave new world unfolds in front of her. 

I found this book delightful and a great summer read. The characters are full and 
vibrant and you want to find out what happens as Emmy embarks on this new adventure. 
She is so likable that I plan to read the sequel, "Return to the Little French Guesthouse",
which is scheduled to come out this month. This was my book club's summer read and we all gave it a thumbs up! Let me know if you have or plan on reading it. 

Thursday, August 11, 2016

Patty Post for 8/11/16 - Books on My To-Read List

Just added another book to my Goodreads To-Read list and saw that I have 403 books on it! Do I have enough days left in my life to read all these? Ha! Ha! I keep finding new recommendations or one of my favorite authors publishes a new book and I want to add to my list all most every day. I know that I am falling behind a little. That's okay, hopefully some day you all will have one of my books on your to-read list which will make me extremely happy. I guess I understand how agents and publishers can get overwhelmed with manuscripts when I think about all the published books out there that I want to read alone. 

Since I am not ready to add a review for another book this week, I thought I would 
share with you some of the good ones I have on my To-Read list. If you have read or 
end of reading any of them, please share and let me know your thoughts. Here 
we go: 

1)  The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin
2)  Byrd by Kim Church
3)  Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin
4)  Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly
5)  Flight Patterns by Karen White (Anything by Karen White is good!)
6)  Memory Closet by Ninie Hammon 
7)  The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson
8)  My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
9)  The Opposite of Everyone by Joshilyn Jackson (Another wonderful author!)
10) Truly Madly Guilty by Laine Moriarty (Everything she writes!)

As you can see I do have my favorites, but these are a few that I am anxious to 
move to the Read list. If you get to any of them first, I would love to know your 
thoughts. Hopefully we can compare notes on some of these in the nearer future. 
Happy Reading!

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Patty Pick for 8/4/16 is "after her" by Joyce Maynard


     With references to some of the details from the true story of the Trailside Serial Killer, Joyce Maynard works her magic in this fiction tale of two sisters caught up in the midst of the tragedy. 
Rachel and Patty share a very special sister relationship. For many years, Patty, Rachel's younger sister only talks through Rachel. They lean and protect each other through life after their father left the marriage and home when they were young. Their mom lives in a deeply depressed state most of the time. She works a low wage job, but comes home to hide in her room with books from the public library for companionship. The sisters are often left to find their own food and explore the mountain trails behind their home. The fact that they use the back windows of their neighbors to watch TV 
shows that are popular during the time was a touching storyline. 
     Their father is a local police detective in Marin County, California who is picked to head the investigation of a murder on the mountain which turns into many murders.  
The charismatic officer, Anthony Torricello, leaves his daughters to move away and continue his unending affair with women when they were young. Once the murders happen, he is the face of the police department investigation. Watching him unravel, the girls try to find a way to help. 
     Rachel is a aspiring writer and continues to fill notebooks with her writing. She thinks 
solving the case will bring her father home again. Patty, the younger sister, is quiet 
and unassuming. She watches her lively sister grow up and their close relationship change. She finds out that she has athletic talent and continues to pursue her skills into adulthood. The story follows the years before the murders and what happens when Rachel tries to solve the murders and help her father. Told from the perspective of an adult Rachel, we are left to run through the slow unraveling tale to put the clues together and find out what happened. Part thriller and part coming-of-age story, I found it very interesting. It kept my interest and I will definitely by reading more by this author in the future. A definite thumbs up!