2009 Book Reviews

The Girl on Legare Street by Karen White is a continuation of a book I read recently called The House on Tradd Street (review here). I was very excited to read more of Melanie and Jack’s adventures and I wasn’t disappointed. I can’t even pick a favorite between the two books because they were both great although I think maybe The Girl on Legare Street had me a little more creeped out than The House on Tradd Street.

Melanie is a woman who can see and hear ghosts. She’s been able to do this since childhood and it runs in the family; her mother and grandmother were the same. While The House on Tradd Street saw healing between Melanie and her father, the Girl on Legare Street sees healing between Melanie and her mother. Melanie’s mother left her when she was just seven years old and now over thirty years later has come back to purchase her old childhood home on Legare Street. However along with Melanie’s mothers return, a ghost from the past with revenge on her mind is forcing Melanie to put past hurts behind her in order to fight this deadly presence with her mother.

Jack is back as well and still wants more of a relationship with Melanie. She drives me crazy though as she keeps pushing him away. Unfortunately this time when she pushes him away it’s into the arms of another woman, Rebecca Edgerton. Rebecca seems to have some physic powers of her own and for some reason Melanie feels as though she recognizes her from somewhere. Rebecca isn’t Melanie’s favorite person as it seems as though she’s out to have Jack for herself and while Melanie can’t make up her mind about him; neither is she willing to give him up. It turns out though that Rebecca may have more of a connection to Melanie’s family than anyone could have expected.

The mystery that unfolds in this story is one that kept me on the edge of my seat at times with my heart pounding just a bit. I wouldn’t say the book is really scary, more like creepy when you think of ghosts wandering among us; maybe protecting us or those trying to hurt us. Karen White manages to draw us into this mystery completely and weaves the past with the present as Melanie, her mother, Jack and a few others uncover the story behind the vengeful ghost.

I really enjoyed this continuation of the story. I really like Melanie despite the fact she drives me more than a little crazy with regards to Jack but I’m hoping in the next novel she wakes up and realizes she should keep him. However she really is a likable character with her quirkiness and smart remarks that she’s either saying or thinking. I also enjoyed reading about the history of the old houses and the area so vividly described by Karen White as well. The Girl on Legare Street would stand alone but in all honestly I think it’s a good idea to read The House on Tradd Street first to have all the background information – it will make this novel much more enjoyable.

You can visit Karen White’s website here and you can purchase The Girl on Legare Street here in the US and here in Canada.

Be sure to pop in tomorrow as Karen White will be joining us here at Peeking Between the Pages with a wonderful guest post.

My Thanks…to Joy with Joan Schulhafer Publishing & Media Consulting for my review copy of The Girl on Legare Street by Karen White.

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Dear John by Nicholas Sparks has been around for a few years but is making a comeback as it’s been made into a major motion picture and I think it’s going to make a great movie! I have been a huge fan of Nicholas Sparks for years now and have read everything he’s written except for his very latest novel which I’m getting to. The thing is I had read Dear John a few years back and have to say that the mark of a really good story is when you pick that book up again and get completely immersed into the story and finish that book in one day. That’s what happened when I picked up Dear John and I’m glad it did because I so enjoyed reading it again. Dear John has all the elements of a good story – young love, romance, tragedy, heartbreak and sacrifice.

John is a young man who starts out life on the wrong track as a teenager. Eventually he realizes he’s going no where in his life and decides to join the army. It’s the best thing he could have done. It may be cliche, but it does turn him into a more responsible adult. At home on leave, while out surfing, John meets the girl of his dreams, Savannah. They are very different people but that doesn’t seem to stop the bond they are beginning to form. They realize they are in love.

Being in love is a good thing right? Well, not so if you’re heading back into the army which John has to do. They feel their love can withstand him being away and promise to write and call each other. Finally John doesn’t have much longer to go in his service to the army and he’s heading home to Savannah. However the best laid plans can get destroyed in a matter of seconds and that’s what happened for John and the world – 9/11 changed everything. John reenlisted for another couple of years and at first Savannah understood but slowly that understanding started to wear thin. Will Savannah and John’s love withstand being apart for so long or will Savannah finally move on?

One part of this story that I absolutely loved and that brought tears to my eyes was the back story of John and his father. John had never been close with his father because his father had always been a very quiet man whose only interest was his coins that he collected. When Savannah met him she realized that he may have a developmental issue and she gave John a book to read that helped him to better understand his father. John and his father were able to have a few good years together and it was really heartwarming to read.

Ultimately this book is about love and what it means to really love someone…

• ‘that love meant that you care for another person’s happiness more than your own, no matter how painful the choices you face might be.’ (pg 275)

John is faced with a huge decision in the book. Do you give up your happiness and what you want for what might be best for the person you love? John makes a heart wrenching decision that changes everyone’s lives.

This novel is pure Nicholas Sparks. He just has a way of writing a book and portraying love and sacrifice in a way that always gives me the shivers. I think this is one of his more emotional books and it left me smiling one minute and crying the next but it never left me bored. I really enjoyed it, even more the second time around I think!

Hachette Book Group is re-releasing Dear John on December 7 in preparation for the movie coming out. I always like to read a book before I see the movie but I have to say that I’m pretty excited for the movie now. You can buy Dear John here in the US and here in Canada. Here’s a peek at the movie trailer…

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

I’ve got 5 copies of Dear John courtesy of Miriam at Hachette Book Group (thank you Miriam) to give away to my lucky readers. To enter…

• For 1 entry leave me a comment with a way to contact you.
• For 2 entries follow my blog. If you do already, thanks, but be sure to let me know.
• For 3 entries blog or tweet this giveaway to spread the word.

This giveaway will be open to US & Canadian residents only (no PO boxes) as the books will be coming to you directly from the publisher. I’ll draw for the winners on Sunday, December 27, 2009. Good luck to you all!

My Thanks…to Miriam with Hachette Book Group for my review copy of Dear John by Nicholas Sparks.

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Dragon House by John Shors is a book that I can honestly say has affected me. The story focuses a lot on the street children in Vietnam and I found even when I put this book down in between reading it that I thought of these children. Even now after finishing it these children are still on my mind. This novel really tugged at my heart; it horrified me to learn what these street children live through and yet to know there are people in the world trying to help them gives hope as well. To me, this is a mark of a very good novel – a book that grabs you and doesn’t let go and leaves you feeling as though you’ve experienced something that changes you in some way.

The story begins with Iris, sitting in the hospital with her father who is dying. They are talking about the past and regrets. One thing that Iris’ father regrets is not finishing the center for street children that he was building in Vietnam. Iris tells him before he passes that she will travel there and bring his dream to life; she will finish the center. Iris’ father had experienced the war firsthand and suffered from it; the center was his way of giving back. As a child Iris hadn’t gotten a lot of emotional support from her father although she believes he loved her. Traveling to complete the center is a way of healing for Iris as well, a way to become closer to her father even in his death.

Iris leaves for Vietnam with an old childhood friend, Noah, who is an Iraqi war veteran himself and been disabled by it, losing a leg. He is bitter and angry and wondering what life could ever possibly hold for him again. Noah is living life on pain pills and booze and only going to Vietnam with Iris to please his mother. They arrive in Vietnam and Iris is surprised to find that her father had named the center after her; she had never known this. She sees all he has done and all that needs to be done but in time she really realizes his dream and believes in it for herself too. What her father wanted to do for these street children was amazing and she felt that need to do the same now.

I think what I loved about this book the most was how connected I felt with the characters and the place. The way that John Shors describes Vietnam really makes you feel as though you are there on the busy streets or trying to maneuver around on the roads on a scooter. You can see vividly in your mind the bridges that street children live under or the hovels that others are surviving in and it just completely grips your heart. Yet on the other side of the coin you can also see the beauty of Vietnam and this is what struck me as well. How if you look, you can always find a small bit of beauty in something whether it be the clouds in a blue sky or a rainbow.

There isn’t a main character that I didn’t like; Iris is a kind and caring woman; she truly cares about what happens to these children. Noah, who eventually finds a way out of his fog learns that he can still love and be loved. The street people who just take your breath away like Qui and Tam. Qui is Tam’s grandmother and the love that they have for each other was a beautiful thing to read about. Mai and Minh, two street children who have been horribly abused throughout their lives and forced to work for a cruel man are two children you won’t soon forget. Then there is Thien, who was an assistant to Iris’ father and stayed on to help Iris. With her quiet strength, she really brings everyone together and you could literally feel her hope and positive outlook through the words on the page. She may not have had much but she felt lucky to have what she did. It makes you sit back and look at all you have sometimes and wonder why you may not be happy when others in countries like this can be happy with so much less.

I had so many passages that I read and reread but here are a few of my more favorite ones…

• ‘Mai understood because she also knew how to place herself in the company of others, to pretend that she inhabited other worlds. Minh was better at the game, of course. But she still played, still imagined that she walked among schoolgirls, ate pho on the street with her father, read a book while waiting for her mother at the market. Mai, like Minh, played the game because it transported her from a place of hunger and pain, weariness and fear. In the pretend worlds she didn’t have to worry whether or not Minh would win, whether Loc would beat them, whether she’d have to someday sell herself to survive. In these worlds she went to school, Minh was her brother, and she was loved and protected by those who had given her life. (pg 35, eBook edition)
• ‘It wasn’t just happiness, or love, or contentment. It was a sense that the human spirit wanted to soar. Despite all the suffering, pain, betrayal, and ugliness of life, the human spirit couldn’t be easily beaten, easily caged. (pg 286, eBook edition)

While Dragon House is difficult to read at times, it also offers us hope. Hope that centers such as these will be built and will help street children to build a life where they can be normal kids and have a life that isn’t full of pain. John Shors is planning to donate some of the funds generated by the sale of Dragon House to an organization called Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation. This is a group that works with children in crisis throughout Vietnam. It offers them this chance at a different life than they’ve been dealt so far. Be sure to visit John Shor’s website to learn more about him, his books and this charity.

I would absolutely recommend Dragon House, not only because it transports you to another world but it addresses an important issue which is the plight of many homeless children throughout our countries. John Shors has brought a great story to life in Dragon House and I certainly look forward to reading more from him. You can purchase Dragon House here in the US and here in Canada.

My thanks… to Diane and the author John Shors who sent me my review copy of Dragon House for his blog Tour but I did actually purchase my own eBook copy after reading that part of the proceeds would go to the Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation.

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Now & Then by Jacqueline Sheehan incorporates a couple of my favorite things into a novel – time travel, Ireland, and a connection to dogs as you can see by the very cute and adorable one on the cover of the novel. In Now & Then we are transported back to 1844 Ireland and it’s a great journey.

At the beginning of Now & Then we meet Anna, in her thirties and recently divorced. Anna has had a rough time of it wanting a child and only having miscarriages. On top of it all she finds out her brother has been in a serious car accident and is in a coma and her sixteen year old nephew Joseph is in jail. She’s the one who has to go pick him up and she’s none too happy about it. He’s been nothing but trouble since he grew up and he used to be such a sweet kid but there is a history of fathers abusing son’s in Anna’s family and her brother hasn’t taken much of a different route than their father had.

Anna picks Joseph up and tells him about his dad. He’s shocked and upset and is blaming himself. She takes him back to her place so they can sleep the night and head to the hospital in the morning. During the night Joseph has a dream and gets up and starts going through Anna’s suitcase (which had been packed from a trip she had just taken to Ireland in which a mysterious woman had given her something to take back with her). Anna hears him so she gets out of bed and sees him and figures he must be trying to steal from her. She goes to grab this mysterious object she had gotten in Ireland and all of a sudden they both find themselves tumbling through time via water – they feel as though they are drowning – they are on their way to Ireland 1844.

When Anna awakens it is by the ocean with a severely injured leg. Her clothes are torn away, she is freezing and completely confused. Finally someone finds her and they take her home. When she wakes up there she has no idea where Joseph is but knows she has to find him. The family that has taken her in is wonderful though but they are very poor. They don’t have a lot to share but in Glennis, the mother of the family, she finds a soul sister and they become fast friends.

On the other hand, Joseph wakes up and finds himself laid out on a table with voices all around. Joseph has been lucky enough to land in the area of Ireland where the privileged reside. The woman who has been caring for him, Diedre, is a woman who has the sight. She can run her hands on people and know what’s ailing them and how to fix it. Her daughter Taleen is no different although just coming into the ‘sight’. She is in love with Joseph as soon as she sees him laid out on the table and Joseph is no different – he never realized he could feel this way about someone.

From this point Now & Then takes us through the hardships and triumphs that Anna and Joseph experience in Ireland of the past. Joseph finds a life he never had while in America and he likes it. He likes being in love as well. Anna, who has been struggling with believing in love again may just find it where she least expects it. Along the way the dog Madigan works his way into the story and everyone’s hearts in a magical way. Now & Then is full of wonderful characters and has a magical feel to it. You feel drawn into this story and the people within it. It’s a story of hope, love and the healing that comes with facing the past (in an unforgettable way) and working towards a better future for all!

Now & Then is a great story. I absolutely loved the time travel and being that it was to Ireland in 1844 made it even better for me. From reading a few novels this past year dealing with Ireland, a few of the places and incidents going on were familiar to me and I enjoyed that. This is a novel I would recommend to everyone but especially those of us who loved Galway Bay and Outlander.

Now & Then can be purchased here in the US and here in Canada. Be sure to visit Jacqueline Sheehan’s website as well and take a look at her past works. I’ve not read any of her previous work but I intend to and I really look forward to what she brings to us next.

My Thanks…to Stephanie with Harper Collins for my review copy of Now & Then by Jacqueline Sheehan.

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