Dear Ann by Bobbie Ann Mason

 “I have often wondered what would have happened to me if I had gone to the West Coast after college instead of the East Coast…The question prompted this novel...” said Bobbie Ann Mason in the acknowledgements of Dear Ann, her latest novel.

The main character, Ann Workman, is looking back at her life when she decides to re-imagine it if she had chosen a different path from the one she chose. That different path has her going to graduate school at Stanford, smoking pot, dropping acid, and being in love. Her love interest appears to be the same boy she was in love with in her real life, Jimmy, an upper class boy from Chicago. Music and literature drive their day-to-day life while the Vietnam War overshadows their existence. This other-life Ann finds herself participating in anti-war demonstrations and visiting Haight-Ashbury.

For readers who grew up in the 1960s, an element of nostalgia comes into play as hits of the day are interwoven into the text as well as many of the works of literature that were popular in college courses at that time.

Bobbie Ann Mason’s memoir, Clear Springs, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2000. Her other titles include In Country and Shiloh and Other Stories. She lives in her native state of Kentucky.

 

 

 

Born to Fly by Sara Evans

 

Because Born to Fly by Sara Evans is part memoir, part advice book, it is not the typical biography. The first half of the book is about her life, which fans of her music will be drawn to. The second half gets very preachy about raising children, raising stepchildren, and dealing with relationships, and just is not as interesting as her life story.

Country singer Sara Evans was a hot commodity some years ago, and it may be that only her loyalist of fans will want to read her story. At her peak, she was a multi-platinum country music singer and songwriter. She was named female vocalist of the year in 2006 by the Academy of Country Music. She and her family had been living in Birmingham, Alabama, but recently returned to Nashville, Tennessee.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting September 28, 2020.

I would like to thank Howard Books and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

 

 

 

The End of Her by Shari LaPena

The End of Her by Shari Lapena starts with a pregnant Lindsey in 2009 in Colorado; her husband Patrick is going to clear the car of snow and warm it up for their trip to her mother’s house across the state. Fast forward to Stephanie in 2018 in New York who has twins who are depriving her and her husband Patrick of sleep. A bit off on his mark at work due to lack of sleep, Patrick seems to panic when someone he knows from Colorado is applying for a job where he works.

Erica Voss had been his wife Lindsey’s best friend in Colorado, but she had an affair with Patrick. Now she has seemingly followed Patrick to New York. She gets him to meet her for a drink where she tells him she thinks he killed Lindsey. Suspecting he has not told Stephanie how Lindsey really died, Erica threatens to tell her the truth unless Patrick pays her off.

Who is telling the truth? Readers will keep turning the pages until they find out.

Canadian Shari LaPena always delivers! The End of Her is a page turner and the possibilities just keep changing until the very end. Lapena is best known for her 2016 thriller novel The Couple Next Door, which was a bestseller both in Canada and internationally. 

The End of the Day by Bill Clegg

I had high hopes for The End of the Day by Bill Clegg based on my previous experience with his first novel. However, the unlikable characters and the screwball timeline left much to be desired. I found myself about 60% through the story, and I just wanted it to be finished.

Three women who knew each other as teens and one of their children are the main characters of the book. Each tells bits of the story from their viewpoint. The three women had grown up together: one was a spoiled rich girl, another her neighborhood friend, and the third a servant to the rich girl’s family. The son of one of the characters is discovering secrets about his birth.

Had the story been told by one character and in a more straightforward timeline, it might have been saved. As it was, it was just not a book for me.

Author Bill Clegg is also a literary agent. His debut novel was Did You Ever Have A Family? which I liked very much.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting September 25, 2020.

I would like to thank Scout Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

 

 

 

Anxious People by Fredrick Backman

 Set in Sweden, Anxious People by Fredrik Backman is a crazy, mixed up tale of a person under great duress who is pushed to the limit by domestic circumstances. When all else fails, the parent of two decides the only way out of personal problems is to rob a bank for enough money to cover a month’s rent.

However, while a robbery never happens, the perpetrator stumbles into an apartment open house taking those in attendance into hostage. After they are released by the criminal, eight kooky hostages bewilder the police who are trying to take an investigative report and solve the crime. The mystery starts when the police cannot find any trace of the gun-slinging would-be robber/hostage taker in the apartment after the hostages are freed.

Nothing is as it seems in this story, and several big switches take place before the denouement after which seems to be several endings to the story.

The story is supposed to be witty and entertaining, but it did not appeal to my sense of humor.

Fredrik Backman came to fame with his book A Man Called Ove, which is becoming a movie with Tom Hanks as Ove. Backman and his family live in Sweden.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting September 23, 2020.

I would like to thank Atria Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

 

 

 

Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce

 

Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce has earned many positive reviews. However, this was not the book for me. It did not resonate with me at all, and I felt misled by the positive reviews that led me to request this book as an ARC. I was rather disappointed because I did so enjoy The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.

Basically, this is the story of two women who were most unlikely to become friends…but they did. Margery Benson had a startling end to her happy childhood in England at age 10 when her father committed suicide after learning about the death of all four of his sons in World War I. Margery and her mother lose their home and are forced to move in with her fathers’ sisters.

Jump ahead to Margery’s life in her 40s. She’s never had a friend or a husband. She thought she had a romance once, but she was disappointed. She did have a dream of finding a gold beetle on the island of New Caledonia, but over the years that dream had faded until the day Margery just had more than enough and decided to cast everything aside as she figured out how to take this journey to search for the gold beetle on the other side of the world.

She needed an assistant for this expedition, and four candidates were considered. In the end, the least desired candidate, Enid Pretty, was the only one who wanted to go on this adventure. It is Enid who causes so many complications to the story starting with not having her passport for the voyage. Enid is a non-stop talker, while Margery has little to say. Margery early on figures she just needs to dump Enid and find a suitable assistant.  A series of events changes everything.

A third character, an unsuccessful candidate for the assistant, was a former POW who became obsessed with being Margery’s assistant even though he was unstable. The book would have been much stronger without the distraction of this character.

Rachel Joyce, the author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, has written radio plays for BBC Radio 4. Prior to becoming a writer, she was a performer in theatre and television.  

 

 

 

The Law of Innocence by Michael Connelly

Be on the lookout for the return of The Lincoln Lawyer! The Law of Innocence by Michael Connelly finds Micky Haller arrested for murder of a conman whose body is found in Haller’s Cadillac. Haller brings in his half-brother Harry Bosch to his team to help solve the case and prove that Haller is not guilty, as innocence is not a legal term, and that he was framed.

Thwarted at every turn by a die-hard prosecutor, Haller, free on bond, gets creative as he acts as his own council. Haller and his team stay at least one step ahead of the prosecutor who drags him back in court and gets him returned to jail.

Lincoln Lawyer fans will not want to miss this latest adventure that includes the beloved Harry Bosch.

After Michael Connelly spent three years covering crime in Los Angeles, he wrote his first novel featuring LAPD Detective Harry Bosch (The Black Echo) which he based partly on a true crime. He is the man behind the series “Bosch” on Amazon Prime.

 

 

 

Where I Come From by Rick Bragg

 

Where I Come From by Rick Bragg is a collection of his columns from Southern Living and Garden & Gun. Whether he is writing about a beloved dog or driving a new-fangled truck, Bragg can touch the heartstrings and tickle the belly laugh. Whether he is writing about his photographer friend Ken Elkins or his mother Margaret, Bragg is a terrific storyteller.

He brings a unique perspective to each situation he writes about. His food critiques make this reader’s mouth water.  

Alabama native Rick Bragg is a celebrated author and newspaper columnist. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1996 recognizing his work at The New York Times. He has written books about the people of the foothills of the Appalachians including  All Over but the Shoutin, Ava's Man, and The Prince of Frogtown.

Horse Crazy by Sarah Maslin Nir

Horse Crazy by Sarah Maslin Nir is the book many of us horse crazy girls could have written about our own horse experiences. I enjoyed it very much. Part memoir, part nonfiction about various horses, horse breeds, and stories of other horse owners, this is a great book for all readers who admit to being “horse crazy.”

The truly “horse crazy” are no doubt acquainted with Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry; Nir has gone to the root of the story that was highly romanticized in the book. For readers of the book, they might be surprised by the reality of the story.

She has visited the museum of the black cowboy in Texas and trainer Monty Roberts in California. She even has a chapter about Breyer horses. In a trip to India, she fell in love with the Marwari horse, brought illegally to America by Francesca Kelly, a wealthy London socialite whose love for an Indian nobleman shaped her life’s mission: to rescue an endangered Indian breed of horse.

Sarah Maslin Nir, an accomplished equestrienne, is a staff reporter for The New York Times. Nir was a Finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for “Unvarnished,” a controversial investigation into New York City’s nail salon industry.

Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman

In Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman, the story of Maria Owens is revealed as the matriarch of the Owens line that are characters in two earlier Hoffman books, Practical Magic and The Rules of Magic. Maria was abandoned in 1644 (1620 in another of the books) as a baby in England. She was found by Hannah Owens who taught her all she knew about “Unnamed Arts.” Her biological mother Rebecca houses Maria when Hannah turns her loose into the world but because of her birth father who is NOT Rebecca’s husband, Rebecca sends Maria half a world away to the West Indies.

Young Maria is taken advantage of by John Hathorne – yes, that John Hathorne of the Salem Witch Trials -- and is left pregnant. She seeks him by securing passage on a ship to Massachusetts, where he denies her and his child. Because of her use of the herbs and such to help women in the community, a jealous woman reports to the courts that Maria is a witch. Hathorne would like nothing more than to solve his problem by having Maria drowned as a witch.

The book is beautifully written, and the plot is one that readers will want to read straight through. I am now primed to read the other two books in this series.

Alice Hoffman writes short stories as well as novels. Born in New York, Hoffman lives in Boston.