Gap Creek

Fiction by Robert Morgan

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

The author states in the afterword of this book that he has been telling the story of his maternal grandparents in their first year of marriage around 1900. The book follows Julie and Hank, aged seventeen and eighteen respectively, as they try to start their married life in a little house in Gap Creek, South Carolina. 

It’s a really wonderful story with great characters. The hardships that the couple, especially Julie, faces, are so big as to seem almost insurmountable. It’s amazing to think of the things our ancestors had to overcome. 

TWO THUMBS UP

Waiting for the Moon

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

In 1882, an unknown young woman tries to kill herself just off the coast of Maine. She doesn’t succeed; instead she ends up at a mental institution nearby, one with only a few forgotten patients and run by Ian Carrick, a lonely doctor who needs his own healing. It’s obvious to the reader that Ian and the amnesiac woman he names Serena will fall in love, but many contrived plot devices will stand in their way. 

This is a romance novel, one of Kristin Hannah’s early writings, and it is not nearly as good as her later works. I didn’t really like it. 

THUMBS DOWN 

Infinite

 Fiction by Brian Freeman

https://www.amazon.com

Dylan and his wife Karly are in the midst of an argument and driving through a storm when a tragic car crash occurs. Karly drowns and Dylan is left bereft, wracked with the guilt of being unable to save her. But when he meets a psychiatrist named Eve and hears of her “Many Worlds” theory, he begins to hope that there may be a way to somehow save Karly after all. 

This was an okay thriller but I didn’t love it. 

I also read recently by this author: Thief River Falls

Love You More

 

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

In this story, detective D. D. Warren has to solve a mystery involving Tessa Leoni, a woman who has apparently shot and killed her abusive husband after a severe beating. But she is more concerned about her nine year old daughter, who is inexplicably missing from the house.

But the picture doesn’t add up: Did Tessa’s husband actually beat her? And where is her little daughter?

This was a pretty good mystery story. 

ONE THUMB UP

Between, Georgia

 Fiction by Joshilyn Jackson

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Nonny is from Between, Georgia, a small town where her birth family and her adopted family both live in an uneasy truce that could erupt into a full scale war at any time. Meanwhile she is trying to make a life in nearby Athens, and wavering about finalizing her divorce from Johnno, her charming but unfaithful estranged husband.  But a crisis will call Nonny back to Between, and she will have to finally make some hard decisions. 

This was a really good story with great characters. 

I also read recently by this author: The Girl Who Stopped Swimming

Sparkle's Story

 Non fiction by Louise Allen

https://www.amazon.com

Sparkle is eleven years old and has been caring for her two younger siblings, and shielding them as best she can from their irresponsible parents, for years. When she is removed from her home, Sparkle is separated from the younger two kids and sent to foster carer Louise Allen. There Sparkle begins to try to confront her identity issues in some unhealthy ways and brings in a world of trouble for Louise and her family. It complicates things greatly when Sparkle begins identifying as pangender, and Louise is required to navigate a world she's never experienced.

This was an interesting story with some things to think about. It was complicated somewhat by a lot of interior monologue from Louise, which may have been important to understanding her reactions as a foster carer but also got a little boring.

I also read recently by this author: Max and Mia's Story

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming

 Fiction by Joshilyn Jackson

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This book should be called The Drowned Girl, in my opinion. That’s what the girl is called when her ghost comes to Laurel in the middle of the night at the beginning of this story. She seems to be calling to Laurel to save her, but it’s too late. The girl didn’t stop swimming; she simply drowned in Laurel’s backyard pool. 

The rest of the story is about trying to unravel the mystery of what really happened that night. 

This was a really good story with great characters and a surprise ending. 

TWO THUMBS UP

I also read recently by this author: The Almost Sisters