The Lake House review

Description via Goodreads:

VICTORIA ROSE. Fifty years before, a group of teenage friends promised each other never to leave their idyllic lakeside town. But the call of Hollywood and a bigger life was too strong for Victoria . . . and she alone broke that pledge. Now she has come home, intent on making peace with her demons, even if her former friends shut her out. Haunted by tragedy, she longs to find solace with her childhood sweetheart, but even this tender man may be unable to forgive and forget.

HEATHER BREGMAN. At twenty-eight, after years as a globe-trotting columnist, she’s abandoned her controlling fiancé and their glamorous city life to build one on her own terms. Lulled by a Victorian house and a gorgeous locale, she’s determined to make the little community her home. But the residents, fearful of change and outsiders, will stop at nothing to sabotage her dreams of lakeside tranquility.

As Victoria and Heather become unlikely friends, their mutual struggle to find acceptance—with their neighbors and in their own hearts—explores the chance events that shape a community and offer the opportunity to start again.

I had trouble getting into this one -- just couldn't connect with the characters at first -- but, after about 75 pages I found myself really enjoying the story and location. Especially the location. I wanted to drive to Nagog and just summer there myself! The author did an excellent job at description when it came to the setting. 

Victoria and Heather were each complicated and difficult for me to like at first. I think their disjointed connection left me a little disjointed too, but as they start to explore the possibility of rekindling a lost friendship, I found myself investing in them more and more. When the details and focus really became about them, I was hooked.

The novel isn't perfect, but it certainly ended up being an enjoyable read for me. I read it with my feet propped up on my back porch in the sunshine, but it would be even better on an actual beach. A summer read to take on a vacation with you, for sure. 

Review copy provided.

Call Me Zelda review

In 1932, Anna is a psychiatric nurse at a Baltimore clinic. Though excellent at her job and somewhat content in her daily life, she very much still grieves the loss of her husband and daughter. Her husband, Ben, fought in the Great War and never came home. Her daughter, lost to illness shortly after. The grief pours out of Anna when confronted with anything outside of her comfort zone and it restricts her to a rigid way of life. 

When the famous Zelda Fitzgerald is admitted to Anna's hospital, having been diagnosed with schizophrenia, Anna makes the health and well-being of the woman her new mission -- and actually kind of likes her. What begins as a well-intentioned nurse/patient relationship evolves into an almost obsession on both the end of both women. Anna needs Zelda to be well and Zelda simply cannot be. Zelda needs Anna to help tell her story. 

The characters were beautifully written and incredibly complex. I wanted to wrap my arms around Anna and both comfort her and shake her, because I could definitely see myself within her. I've felt the pain of a lost child and know that when an outlet for the grief comes along, taking it is a necessity. Zelda was Anna's outlet. 

Zelda was both amazingly vivacious and yet overcome with madness and insecurity in the wake of her illness. I appreciated her being the secondary character in the story and Robuck allowing for the fictional character to take over. I didn't know much at all about Zelda Fitzgerald before reading this book, but I'm definitely hungry to know more. She led a tragically fascinating life. 

Erika Robuck has a talent for writing historical fiction, that's for sure! After reading her first novel, Hemingway's Girl, I not only read my first Hemingway book (The Old Man and the Sea), but I also browsed several biographies on the author and learned more about his life. I plan to do the exact same thing with the Fitzgerald family. 

If an author writes a fictionalized account of a person, a family, or a time period and that book results in the reader doing research on what they've just read...well, that's the mark of a successful writer. Call Me Zelda gets 5 stars from me!

Thank you to Penguin for the review copy! I loved it so much, I bought my own copy on publishing day. 

2 quick YA reviews

Being Henry David by Cal Armistead

I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I thought it would be super heavy and even depressing, but with a melancholy overtone, the thoughtful nature of the language made up for it. I loved that it was more of a mystery mixed in with self-reflection rather than a typical "finding myself" novel. This kid needed some serious healing and he was able to do that as he remembered tidbits of how he ended up where he did.

Could be a great gateway to actually reading Thoreau. As we all know, I'm not a big "classics" fan, so this book is as close as I'll get.

ManicPixieDreamGirl by Tom Leveen

This one I didn't love, but I enjoyed enough that I think it's fair to share. The jumping back and forth of time periods got to be a little annoying, but the characters were well done. Quirky, unattainable girls are the subject of many a book and movie and the author did a really good job at creating Becky and making her role believeable, as well as the ultimate ending realistic. Two thumbs up for that. I think it's really hard for adults to write a teen voice well and Tom Leven did.

 Unfortunately, my one big quibble with the book is that I really felt it was a Paper Towns wannabe. Same idea of the somewhat odd, but beautiful main girl leading on a boy who is in love with her, but without all the awesome.

Thank you to Random House for the review copies!

Elliott's Pick: Night Light by Nicholas Blechman

I don't totally understand how it happened, but Elliott has fallen in love with all things trucks, trains, and automobiles. The only books he will sit still for are those focusing on transportation. Whatever works, right? 

He always helps open my book mail and usually he'll glance at the picture books for a moment and then move on to the next pressing task of a 16-month-old. When Night Light came, he was instantly intrigued and didn't put the book down for at least 10 minutes. Amazing for his attention span and for me, that means a winner of a book. 

The book is very simple in both style and text. It's ultimately a counting book featuring different modes of transportation that the reader can guess before turning the page. It has a fire truck, a tug boat, a train, a taxi, and so on. E loved flipping the heavy-duty pages and pointing to whatever vehicle was on the next page. 

Though he doesn't quite get the counting part yet, I can definitely see that coming soon. He will hopefully count the different holes that give "clues" as to what's on the next page, before turning to discover the train or tugboat. The illustrations are bold, but simple, letting the image standout. Always nice for a toddler. 

As a mom, I really loved the thick pages -- less ripping! Once we ditched the dust cover, the book was almost as durable as a board, which means it will last a long time in our house. 

We really loved this one! Thanks to Scholastic for the review copy~

The Best of Us review

Ahhh....Sarah Pekkanen!!! I'm lucky enough to live fairly close to Sarah, so she has been to my local indie bookstore a couple of times and her latest visit was just a couple of weeks ago to talk about The Best of Us with another author, Dana Bate (on the blog tomorrow). She's truly a lovely person, which makes me so happy her books are such fun to read. 

As for the book, it's probably the perfect beach book. It has romance, scandal, a tropical setting, and was definitely a page-turner. Great for reading in the sun and imagining you're on a tropical island, which is exactly what I do on my back porch in Northern Virginia. Not exactly Fiji. 

Four friends and their husbands are invited to a luxurious getaway to relax and catch-up after years of only seeing snippets of each other's lives. Beautiful location, no children, and college friends mixed together to create a pretty crazy vacation -- complete with more than a few secrets. Paradise isn't exactly what was expected for any of the couples.

Each of the four women is well-drawn and her story as compelling as her counterparts. I didn't really have a favorite character, though I did really love to hate Savannah! The impending hurricane was both literal and metaphorical and was a nice addition to the story. Now I can only hope one of my college friends got rich and plans to invite Aaron and I out for a week on an island (minus the scandalous parts, please)!

Looking Ahead: Hello, My Name is Ruby

Looking Ahead is a new series of posts I've written, highlighting the books I'm anticipating being published in the next few months. If you have a recommendation to send my way, please do! 

Philip Stead makes my heart sing. I've loved every book he's written and I can't wait for this one to come out. Elliott probably won't appreciate picture books like this for a few more years, but I can't help myself. 

Hello, My Name is Ruby by Philip C. Stead

Join Ruby, a plucky little bird, as she ventures through life, making new friends, learning new skills and asking questions which may have some very suprising results.  Fearless Ruby's search for adventure, friendship and her place in the world comes to life through acclaimed author/illustrator Philip C. Stead's whimsical illustrations and succinct, charming text.

Description via Goodreads. 

Stitch Fix #4

If you haven't figured it out by now, I'm more than a little addicted to Stitch Fix. I've been getting a box about once every 6 weeks and this latest just came last week. They always manage to show up on a day where I needed a little cheering up some extra motivation to just make it to bath time/bed time for Elliott, knowing that an end to the day is in sight and I'll have a box of FUN to open. Retail therapy right? Except with this therapy I don't have to leave my house. 

In my box this time, I had quite a few things I liked:

After opening the pretty tissue paper wrapping, I found 2 dresses and 3 tops, each of which I really liked at first glance. A couple I knew were out of my comfort zone, but I was happy about that -- in the past those have been the items I ended up keeping. 

Cute, flowy bird top and a purple jersey cowl-necked top. I had received what Aaron has now dubbed my "bird shirt" in my first Fix, so I didn't really want another top with birds all over it. Super cute though! 

The purple shirt was really flattering, but I didn't feel it was quite special enough to justify the price.

The blue dress was SO PRETTY. The cut was really flattering and the color made my eyes super blue. If I had the option of exchanging for a different size, I totally would have... this one was a tad bit too small. I have a really large rib cage and dresses that have a snug band in the middle are always too tight. Fit nicely every where else!

The flower dress was the only item I really didn't like at all. The concept was really fun though! It's pretty much one big piece of sheer fabric that you tie at the waist with the included band. A dark slip went underneath. Unfortunately, when I put it on, it was really, really, really short. Now, I'm a modest dresser and I typically prefer dresses and skirts to hit at the knee, but this was so far above the knee I wouldn't have even showed a friend how it looked. Peep-show short! 

Finally, my favorite. Right out of the box, I knew I was going to love this tank. The jersey material was flattering and the embroidered detail was really pretty. Perfect for spring and summer. Unfortunately, the cheapskate in me just could not justify spending $50 for a tank top. I sent it back. I totally regret not keeping that tank and wish someone would have talked me into it!

This is the first box I've sent everything back. I there would eventually be one, so I'm glad I got that out of the way! I've already scheduled my next Fix, so you know it hasn't deterred me any :)

Thank you to everyone who has used my link to sign up for Stitch Fix! Once you sign up, if you refer friends and blog readers, you'll get a credit to your account too. Lots of fun!

If you're interested in my other posts, I've talked about previous Fixes here, here, and here.

The details:

-Head on over to Stitch Fix and sign up for an invite. It may take awhile, but I received mine in less than a week. 

-Fill out an extensive style profile. Everything from hair color and height/weight to clothing likes and dislikes. Lots of great questions. 

-Schedule your fix. It costs $20 to have a Fix sent to your house. If you decide to purchase an item(s) that $20 is credited to the cost. You're basically paying for someone to hand-pick clothes for you and ship them to your house. Return shipping is included too. 

-If you like it all, keep it all and they charge you for everything, minus a 25% discount for keeping the whole box! Send back whatever you don't want in the postage-paid envelope. 

-You choose when you get a Fix. You don't have to sign up for a monthly box or anything like that. Just whenever you want.