Review: The Mothers by Jennifer Gilmore

Jesse and Ramon are a happy, loving couple but after years trying to get pregnant they turn to adoption, relieved to think that once they navigate the bureaucratic path to parenthood they will finally be able to bring a child into their family. But nothing prepared them for the labyrinthine process—for the many training sessions and approvals, for the ocean of advice, for the birthmothers who would contact them but not choose them, for the women who would call claiming that they had chosen Jesse and Ramon but weren’t really pregnant. All the while, husband and wife grapple with notions of race, class, culture, and changing family dynamics as they navigate the difficult, absurd, and often heart-breaking terrain of domestic open adoption (Goodreads)


 This book was brought to my attention last fall as one I would really love. The rep who had me in my mind was correct! I did really enjoy this one. It was right up my alley. It was indeed a character driven story of Jesse and Ramon and their quest to create a family. With my own quest for having a second child, I identified in the couple's views on the what ifs of adoption. Though my husband and I have not explored it as heavily as Jesse and Ramon, the questions that arise when you are venturing down this road are heavy and endless, it seems. 

Their story is laid out in a somewhat scattered way, going back and forth in time to when the couple met, to their childhoods, to their own experiences with their own mothers, to their current experiences with meeting other couples seeking adoption. At times it leaves the reader feeling a bit vacant when trying to grasp the emotions of the characters but most often, the author ties it all in.

The overall feel of the book was sad but hopeful. I enjoyed it in the sense that I looked forward to getting back to it and caring about the fate of the characters. It's not a light read, though moments of humor are sprinkled in. You find that the couple are good people and you ultimately want them to succeed and find the family they crave. 

Another layer to the book is the question of motherhood. What is a mother? What makes a mother good? Jesse and Ramon's mothers are vastly different and they explore where they came from and assess how they will be as parents.

Overall, I recommend this for fans of fiction with a familial drama plot line. It's well written, intense at times but hopeful overall. 

Author Website: Jennifer Gilmore
Release Date: April 2013
Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child

DNF Review: Touch & Go by Lisa Gardner

This is my family:  Vanished without a trace…

Justin and Libby Denbe have the kind of life that looks good in the pages of a glossy magazine. A beautiful fifteen-year old daughter, Ashlyn. A gorgeous brownstone on a tree-lined street in Boston’s elite Back Bay neighborhood. A great marriage, admired by friends and family.  A perfect life.

This is what I know:  Pain has a flavor…

When investigator Tessa Leoni arrives at the crime scene in the Denbes’ home, she finds scuff marks on the floor and Taser confetti in the foyer.  The family appears to have been abducted, with only a pile of their most personal possessions remaining behind.  No witnesses, no ransom demands, no motive.  Just an entire family, vanished without a trace.

This is what I fear:  The worst is yet to come…

Tessa knows better than anyone that even the most perfect façades can hide the darkest secrets.  Now she must race against the clock to uncover the Denbes’ innermost dealings, a complex tangle of friendships and betrayal, big business and small sacrifices.  Who would want to kidnap such a perfect little family?  And how far would such a person be willing to go? 

This is the truth:  Love, safety, family…it is all touch and go. (Goodreads)

I was extremely excited about this one when I received it but it didn't hit me like her others did.

I didn't care for the family so I guess I wasn't really interested in what happened to them. That sounds harsh but I am a character gal. I need to feel some investment in them to care.

I did like Tessa's character so I'd be willing to give another book with her a shot. I've got nothing against Lisa Gardner's writing. She knows how to whip it all together and dish out plenty of twists. This one was no exception. 

I ended up getting about 3/4 of the way through it and lost interest. For fans of Gardner, you get what you get. It is another suspense filled tale. Maybe you will like the characters a bit more!

Author Website
Lisa Gardner

Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child

Must read before seeing movie!

Finally reading these two dystopian/paranormal teen sensations!

I'm enjoying Beautiful Creatures much more than Matched.

What do you all think?

I've always been a late bloomer, so to speak, when it comes to reading what's hot.

Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child

Children's Book Review: Exclamation Point by Amy Krouse Rosenthal & Tom Lichtenheld

From the bestselling creators of Duck! Rabbit!, an exciting tale of self-discovery!

He stood out here.

He stood out there.

He tried everything to be more like them.

It's not easy being seen. Especially when you're NOT like everyone else. Especially when what sets you apart is YOU.

Sometimes we squish ourselves to fit in. We shrink. Twist. Bend. Until -- ! -- a friend shows the way to endless possibilities.

In this bold and highly visual book, an emphatic but misplaced exclamation point learns that being different can be very exciting! Period. (Goodreads)

It's been a little while since I've highlighted a children's book that I am reading. I couldn't possibly keep up reviewing all the books I read with my son. We read up to five daily. Since he just turned five, he is actively reading now. We are knee deep in the first step of chapter books. Frog and Toad are our good friends!

I've been getting some wonderful books sent to me from Scholastic and I just have to share them with you all. 

Exclamation Point by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld is absolutely delightful. When teaching our son how to read, we emphasized the importance of using emotion in your voice when you read a sentence ending in an exclamation mark. He would do it so over the top it was adorable. I just knew he would love this book and he did.

It's sweet. It's simple. The illustrations are just right on. I love that the Question Mark can only ask questions and once the Exclamation Point gets going, lets out his excitement! It has a sweet message. Finding who you are and being proud of it!

Thank you to Scholastic for sending me a copy to enjoy and share with you all.

If you have a young child in your life, this is a wonderful pick to read to them. Any of Amy or Tom's books do the trick. All of them are so lovely and well done.

Book Details:
Exclamation Point
978-0545436793
Price: $17.99
56 pages
Scholastic Press
Release Date, March 1

Author Websites:
Amy Krouse Rosenthal 
Tom Lichtenheld

Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child

Audio Review Part 2: 11/22/63 by Stephen King

If you caught one of my earlier posts in December,you will remember I reviewed the first half of this audio book at that time. It is a total of 30 discs and I was only at 15 but really, really excited to talk about it even if it was just a little. I knew with the holiday coming up that it would take me awhile to finish it. I ended up shelving it for a month while I listened to two other audio books, just to mix it up.

I finally finished it three days ago and I am in a Stephen King fog. Now I just want to listen to more! Like I said previously I hadn't really read Stephen King since I was a teenager. I am a child of the 80s and he was the shit for a long time. Maybe it was just my lack of knowledge at the time but books and authors seemed different back then. There just weren't that many that were marketed as heavily as Stephen King, Danielle Steel, John Grisham, Mary Higgins Clark, that sort of thing. These are who you read if you wanted horror, romance, mystery. 

I miss that. Also, Stephen King's books just conquer some weird nostalgia in me, like the feeling I get when I hear wind chimes on a windy evening in the country. Spooky, yet comfortable. I can't really explain it that well. All I can say is that I loved this audio book and I absolutely loved the narrator. He was amazing!!!!  And King was at his finest. Yes, it was lengthy and involved but damn, he did it well. It had all the politics and the drama and the love story that just kept it going.

I was also big into the Kennedy family when I was a teen. I did a lot of papers on them so to have the underlying story here be about the assassination of JFK really intrigued me.

I was hitting a wall previously with a certain disc/hour limit before this but now I am really opening my eyes up to other books that are longer. I don't mind investing the time if the story is going to rock my socks. 

For audio fans, pick this one up. It's well worth it. My husband picked up the book and read it along with me. He finished the book in less than a week. He is amazing like that! It was fun to talk about it together.

I'm off to placed a request for Under the Dome by him as well. Let the horror begin!

Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child

Review: Always Watching by Chevy Stevens

As a psychiatrist, Nadine Lavoie has a true desire to help people put their demons at rest, but she has demons of her own, some she can barely think about, and some she can’t even remember. Nadine’s mother was a wildly unpredictable manic depressive, her father an alcoholic, and there are whole chunks of Nadine’s life that are black holes. It takes all her willpower to tamp down her recurrent claustrophobia, and her daughter, Lisa, is a runaway who has been on the streets for eight years.

After she’s attacked outside her office, Nadine decides to take a job at a hospital in Victoria as a staff psychiatrist. It’s the perfect opportunity: She won’t get as attached to her patients and she’ll be closer to her daughter. But when a distraught woman, Heather Simeon, is brought in to the Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit after a suicide attempt, Nadine gently coaxes her story out of her—and learns of some troubling parallels to their lives. Digging deeper, Nadine is forced to confront her own history, and the damage that began when she and her brother were brought by their mother to a remote commune on Vancouver Island. What happened to Nadine? Why was their family destroyed? And why does the name Aaron Quinn, the group’s leader, bring complex feelings of terror to Nadine even today?  (Good Reads)

My review:

Chevy Stevens had one of those debut novels that kicked the ass of many readers. Still Missing terrifies me to this day when I think of it. Because of the impact it had on me I have eagerly anticipated each book she has written. Her second Never Knowing packed a punch as well. I was fortunate to receive a galley of her third, Always Watching, due out in June of this year. It didn't take me long to get wrapped up in the crazy story she created.

It seems that Stevens is hitting her stride. The story was a bit more refined, less flashy and startling than her other two. There were still twists and turns and "holy shit" moments but it seemed a bit more fleshed out. More character development, more back story. 

The story included a twisted tale of a cult like leader which for some insane reason always fascinates me. How people could blindly follow the voice of another and have them completely control every aspect of their lives, I'll never know.

Nadine was a tough cookie but still had her vulnerable side. I did figure out some of the secrets within the book over half way through but it really didn't ruin it all for me. Overall, I thought it was a pretty decent thriller. I'm hoping Stevens takes longer breaks between her books so she doesn't get too formulaic. The authors that tend to churn them out lose their flash after awhile, in my opinion.

For readers new to Stevens, I would start out with Still Missing. I think it's her best but they are all worth reading.

Author Website: Chevy Stevens

Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child 

A wonderful quote

Indeed.