Everything That Came Before Grace by Bill See

BOOK INFORMATION

Genre: Family Life Fiction, Coming of Age Fiction

• Paperback: 263 pages
• ISBN-13: 979-8697945605
• Publisher: Independently published (November 6, 2020)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B08MSMP6DW

Synopsis: A single-father comes of age as he discovers whether it’s love or fatherhood that could save him. Haunted by his mother’s death and a series of serendipitous events from his past, Benjamin Bradford desperately tries to keep his mental illness under control while raising his daughter Sophia. Set against the iconic streets of Los Angeles, there’s music always playing, heavy therapy sessions and private emails to discern, shattered friendships and betrayal, and the specter of a true love that got away. Think: Silver Linings Playbook meets High Fidelity with a dash of Eighth Grade. Can Benjamin find redemption? Can he escape his demons and find love again? Come along for the ride and find out.

Review:

This is one of the most moving books I've read this year. Single dad Benjamin is trying to raise his daughter Sophia while keeping her in the dark about his mental illness, as well as the mental illness of his mother (and its impact on his childhood). Add in losing his "one true love" in college, and subsequently seeing her married to his best friend, and life gets pretty complicated pretty fast. The main theme of the father-daughter relationship is very well-written, and its ups and downs are incredibly realistic. The fears Benjamin has about his parenting may seem a little over the top at times and make him more than a little overprotective, but it all tends to make him someone you just want to hug (and at times, shout at to get over himself). I was also glad to see that the author did not give us a predictable ending, but that it was still full of hope and promise. There are a lot of song references throughout the book, which was fun. The author has put together a Spotify playlist of all of them, which makes for a great soundtrack while reading.  Rating: Five years About the author Bill See was the founding member of critically acclaimed Los Angeles indie rock band Divine Weeks and has been a mainstay in the L.A. music and writing community since the mid-80s. His debut docu-novel "33 Days: Touring in a Van, Sleeping on Floors, Chasing a Dream" was released in 2011. His new novel, "Everything That Came Before Grace" is set to be released in December 2020. Check out the Everything That Came Before Grace Official Website at: https://www.everythingthatcamebeforegrace.com Check out the Everything That Came Before Grace Podcast: https://anchor.fm/etcbg See Divine Weeks on All Music Guide for an overview of the band's career: http://www.allmusic.com/album/never-get-used-to-it-r5916/review 33 Days Official Website: http://www.33daysthebook.com Divine Weeks' official website is http://www.divineweeks.com/

Love, Secrets and Absolution by K.L. Lovely

BOOK INFORMATION

Genre: Family life, coming of age

Paperback: 280 pages

• Publisher: Globeflower Books (November 1, 2017)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1999829409
• ISBN-13: 978-1999829407

Synopsis: People in the village gossip about Grace’s son, Alfie. 

He’s a lonely boy full of secrets, lies, and obsessive thoughts. 

How far can a mother’s love go? Will she ultimately sacrifice her life for his? 

Set in Nottinghamshire, this family drama follows the lives of Grace and Alfie as he transforms from a naïve, young boy into a teenager spiraling out of control. 

Love, Secrets, and Absolution is a coming of age story with a difference. 

Deceit, betrayal, love, and addiction, a family falling apart in the midst of teenage angst and torn loyalties; will anybody find absolution? 

Review: This book is the story of a family of a child with Asperberger's Syndrome. Although we don't learn exactly what makes Alfie so different until he is a college student, I had a strong suspicion much sooner based on his behaviors and his feelings.

The book has chapters from the point of view of Grace (the mother), Alfie (the child) and Paul (the father). I loved the chapters from Alfie's point of view as an infant and toddler--they were definitely a new perspective on things.

Reading all the challenges this family went through over the years and seeing how each of them dealt with those challenges (too much trying to keep things from the others, in my opinion!), was a deeply emotional experience. 

The ending is very realistic, giving the reader hope for Alfie's future without tying everything up in a neat little bow.

I received an ARC of this work from the author and publisher, with no expectation of a positive review. All thoughts and opinions are entirely my own.

Rating: Five stars

About the author

 K.L Loveley is an exciting new author whose debut novel, ‘Alice’ was published in February 2017. Her love of writing began with a gift of a five-year lockup diary at the age of seven and she has never stopped writing since. In addition to writing novels, the author writes poetry and will be sharing some of these on her blog.

She lives with her husband in a quaint village in Nottinghamshire and enjoys walking and cycling in the famous Sherwood Forest. The author and her husband own a narrowboat and spend time navigating the British waterways. She spends many cozy evenings on her boat writing additional novels which will be released in the future.

SUMMER READING CHALLENGE: 25 Sense by Lisa Henthorn #bestsummerever #src2016

BOOK INFORMATION

Genre: Contemporary women's fiction

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: SparkPress (May 24, 2016)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1940716306
• ISBN-13: 978-1940716305

Synopsis: Claire Malone didn t mean for this to happen when she moved to New York. She just wanted to live the city life and gain experience in television writing, her dream career. It s not like she meant to reciprocate when her married boss, Sean Vared, sent her flirty e-mails. And you can t blame her for coming into the office on the weekend when Sean told her he was going to be there . . . alone. She didn t mean to sleep with him but hey, she wanted to experience the city life, so no big deal, right? Wrong. By the time Claire wakes up on her 25th birthday, she s very much in love with Sean. At work, she struggles to hold it together when he passes her desk the very desk that they used to make love on. Soon Sean has turned his affection to the show s starring actress, and Claire is devastated. Can she break away from Sean without ruining her barely started career? Will someone find out what happened? Will she ever grow up and stop making stupid mistakes? 25 Sense is about the time in a young woman s life when the world starts to view her as a responsible adult but all she feels is lost.

Review: This was a fairly quick, easy read.  Unfortunately, it just wasn't a story I could find a connection to at all. I think it might be the generation gap, since I'm now more than twice 25. Maybe I should pass this on to my daughters and see what THEY think!

For me, there was a real lack of emotion between the main character and the guy that she supposedly "loved." They flirted in emails, but their actual conversations were always so formal and stilted...and even when they finally made love, neither of them seemed to enjoy it.  And from there, they both just went on with their lives as if nothing had ever happened. 

I did enjoy the tweets from Claire that headed up the beginning of each new chapter. It was sad, though, that those were the high points of the book for me.

**I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are entirely my own.**

Rating: Three stars

About the author
Lisa Henthorn is a television writer who wrote on the CBS show Swingtown, the CW show The Beautiful Life, and the A&E show The Glades. She lives in Santa Monica, California with her husband.

PROMO AND GIVEAWAY: The Starlight Chronicles by Lisa Orchard

BOOKSPARKS SUMMER READING CHALLENGE: Pieces by Maria Kostaki

Destination: Island hop to Athens, Greece

Synopsis: When her mother, Anna, abandons her to move abroad with her new husband, Sasha is passed around her three grandparents in Cold War-era Moscow, attending first grade with a Lenin star pinned to her breast. Five years later, Anna and her husband reappear and whisk Sasha off to a better life in Athens, Greece. But they are not the gallant rescuers they first appear to be, and Sasha soon finds herself caught between a violent stepfather and a psychologically abusive mother. In her struggle to survive in her new world, Sasha turns to a world of invisible friends even as she continues to long for something real. At turns haunting and uplifting, Pieces is the story of one girl s survival and self-discovery and her continual search for love in a world where she has been given none.

Thoughts: Just could never really get into this one, and had to pull out my 1/3 rule---if I'm 1/3 done, and it hasn't grabbed me, it's time to move on to the next book.

The plot was super difficult to follow, as it was all over the place time wise. The main character wasn't very likable in my opinion. Granted, she had a difficult life, but there was SO much whining!!

It is possible that readers of historical fiction would find this book more engaging than I did.

**I received a copy of this book through the Summer Reading Challenge in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are entirely my own.**

My rating: Two stars

About the author

Maria Kostaki is a native of Moscow, Russia, but has spent most of her adult life on a plane from Athens, Greece to New York City and back. She holds a master's in journalism from New York University, where she was a recipient of a grant from the Knight Foundation. She has worked as an editor and staff writer for Odyssey magazine in Athens and New York, and her nonfiction has appeared in publications including Elle Décor and Insider Magazine. Her fiction has appeared in Flashquake and Mediterranean Poetry.

BOOKSPARKS SUMMER READING CHALLENGE: The Grown Ups, by Robin Antalek

Destination: Escape to the Northeast

Synopsis: From the author of The Summer We Fell Apart, an evocative and emotionally resonant coming-of-age novel involving three friends that explores what it means to be happy, what it means to grow up, and how difficult it is to do both together

The summer he’s fifteen, Sam enjoys, for a few secret months, the unexpected attention of Suzie Epstein. For reasons Sam doesn’t entirely understand, he and Suzie keep their budding relationship hidden from their close knit group of friends. But as the summer ends, Sam’s world unexpectedly shatters twice: Suzie’s parents are moving to a new city to save their marriage, and his own mother has suddenly left the house, leaving Sam’s father alone to raise two sons.

Watching as her parents’ marital troubles escalate, Suzie takes on the responsibility of raising her two younger brothers and plans an early escape to college and independence. Though she thinks of Sam, she deeply misses her closest friend Bella, but makes no attempt to reconnect, embarrassed by the destructive wake of her parents as they left the only place Suzie called home. Years later, a chance meeting with Sam’s older brother will reunite her with both Sam and Bella - and force her to confront her past and her friends.

After losing Suzie, Bella finds her first real love in Sam. But Sam’s inability to commit to her or even his own future eventually drives them apart. In contrast, Bella’s old friend Suzie—and Sam’s older brother, Michael—seem to have worked it all out, leaving Bella to wonder where she went wrong.

Spanning over a decade, told in alternating voices, The Grown Ups explores the indelible bonds between friends and family and the challenges that threaten to divide them.

My review: I loved this book! It follows a group of friends from 1997 to 2012...from teens to adults. It shows how the lives of their parents, and the issues of their childhood, impact them for the rest of their lives.

The characters are so well written that you are drawn into their stories and feel as if you know them. I hated to have to put the book down for even a few minutes while I was reading, as I was eager to find out how things were going to turn out.

Even with all the ups and downs of their lives, there were no loose ends left at the completion of the book. We see where adulthood leads each of the main characters...and it left me sad and happy at the same time.

My rating: Four stars

About this author:

Robin Antalek is the author of The Summer We Fell Apart (HarperCollins 2010) which was chosen as a Target Breakout Book. The Summer We Fell Apart was also published in Turkey by Artemis Yayinlari. Her non-fiction work has been published at The Weeklings, The Nervous Breakdown and collected in The Beautiful Anthology, Writing off Script: Writers on the Influence of Cinema, and The Weeklings: Revolution #1 Selected Essays 2012-1013. Her short fiction has appeared in 52 Stories, Five Chapters, Sun Dog, The Southeast Review and Literary Mama among others.  Robin has received three honorable mentions in Glimmer Train's Family Matters and New Fiction Writer's contests as well as an honorable mention for the Tobias Wolf Fiction Award.

No Such Thing As Perfect, by Sarah Daltry

Synopsis: College was supposed to be perfect. She was supposed to be perfect. 

For Lily Drummond, life is about following the rules. To be specific, her mother’s rules. College fit into the plan – maintain perfect grades, date the perfect guy, and live the perfect life. On her own, though, Lily realizes that she doesn’t actually have a plan. Without being told what to think and do, she fears she keeps making mistakes. 

Away from home, the perfect facade begins to shatter and Lily realizes that things have grown toxic. After things are pushed too far, Lily determines to let go of what is good enough for everyone else - and to define herself by her own standards.

Thoughts: This is a coming of age story that really struck a chord with me. There was a period of time in my life where I wanted to be perfect: the perfect daughter, the perfect student, the perfect wife, the perfect mother. So as I read this book, I could feel Lily's pain at never being enough, and I was constantly rooting for her to find herself.

The story is very well written, and goes deeper into the feelings of the characters, especially Lily and Jack, then I originally expected. And I was also thankful that the author didn't give Lily a "happily ever after" ending, but showed that sometimes "happy for now" is good enough.

**I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are entirely my own.**

My rating: Five stars

Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya

Synopsis: Stories filled with wonder and the haunting beauty of his culture have helped make Rudolfo Anaya the father of Chicano literature in English, and his tales fairly shimmer with the lyric richness of his prose. Acclaimed in both Spanish and English, Anaya is perhaps best loved for his classic bestseller ... Antonio Marez is six years old when Ultima comes to stay with his family in New Mexico. She is a curandera, one who cures with herbs and magic. Under her wise wing, Tony will test the bonds that tie him to his people, and discover himself in the pagan past, in his father's wisdom, and in his mother's Catholicism. And at each life turn there is Ultima, who delivered Tony into the world-and will nurture the birth of his soul. 

Thoughts: I saw previews for the movie of this book on several videos we've rented recently, so I decided I wanted to read the book before watching the video. The book was a little difficult to read, a bit draggy for my taste. The story is a good one, though....a nice coming of age story from another culture. 

My rating: Two stars