I'm a senior reader who is not "in to" rock music, so I was prepared not to like this book. I must say I was pleasantly surprised. The author, quite skillfully, told the story of a mother and daughter's estrangement and some of the reasons behind their distant and difficult relationship. Mary Saint's rebellion against convention, and her mother's, "oh my, what will the neighbors think" attitude. As the story built toward Mary's coming home concert, I found myself hoping things would turn out well and unable to put down the book until the lovely ending.
I doubt that I will suggest it to my book club for I don't think it would generate much discussion, but it certainly was a pleasant read. It would probably appeal more to those who are not so far over the hill as this reader.

This was my first Camilla Gibb book, but it certainly will not be my last. She has a lovely style that paints beautifully descriptive pictures of a land and it's people with whom I'm not well acquainted. My husband was a Vietnam vet who often wished to return to see the aftermath of the war. Ms. Gibb revealed the struggles of just simple day to day living. The loyalty of Mr. Hungs friends, the love of his neighbor, and his innovative diligence to his craft of making soup was heartwarming. I had trouble with some of the language, but with the help of my Vietnamese manicurist was better able to understand some of the terms. This was a simple story about a simple man that was very well written and left this reader wanting to know more about the "after the war" life of his people. I plan to recommend this book for our book club's reading and discussion list.

Carolyn Parkhurst had a wonderful story to tell, but in my opinion an awkward approach to it's telling. I loved the analogy between life's consequences and book endings, However, the randomly placed variations of other books into the central story about Milo were distracting. I felt she could have fleshed out Milo's life and the loss of her husband and child rather than muddy up the story with other novel endings. That said, she did write a great story that captivated this reader to the end. I found myself hurrying through the alternate endings to get back to Milo's story so I could find out "who done it"!.

This was my first Michael White novel, but it certainly will not be my last. He hooked me right from the start and held my attention through the end. I was originally drawn to this book because I had visited Russia and some of the places mentioned were familiar to me. It was obviously a well researched book. The story gave a look at the harsh life of the Russian people in an important time in Russian history. It also gave the reader an interesting look at the political climate during the Roosevelt presidency. White was able to create such vivid word pictures that one could almost feel the discomfort of the character about whom he was writing. His ability to gradually reveal the story made this a real page turner. I just couldn't put it down until I found out how he handled Eleanor Roosevelt's involvement with the assassin. I thought he did a wonderful job of revealing the human side of seemingly ruthless soldiers during times of war. I really did not want this book to end, I wanted to hear, "the rest of the story." That makes this book one I would definitely recommend to my reading friends.

I really enjoyed this book. It was written in such a way that I "felt the pain" of all the major characters.

With this book, Ms. Moran has woven the basic facts from a court case into a tapestry of life's difficulties. Poor Henry Oades was in a no win situation with two legal wives. It was interesting to me to observe and compare the cruelty of the uncivilized Maori tribe who kidnapped the Oades family with the cruelty of the supposedly civilized citizens of Berkeley. The Maoris were physically cruel, but the unrelenting maliciousness of the community where Henry Oades lived was in many ways even worse. For Margaret Oades and her children to have survived captivity and the devastating news that their husband and father was now married to someone else spoke volumes about her strength and courage. I was impressed with the kindness and generosity to each other shown by both Nancy and Margaret Oades. They made a difficult situation tolerable by their concern for each other. A very interesting story with a satisfying ending - well done Johanna Moran.

As a somewhat “over the hill” reader, I enjoyed Serena. I have some letters written by my grandfather describing his life in a logging camp during the Depression. Ron Rash’s description of the harshness of the times was much the same as those described by my Grandfather and it made me sympathize with the loggers and dislike the Pemberton’s even more. Serena’s greed and ruthlessness was the focus of the story, but the lives of her victims were what made the book such a page-turner. The irony in the final pages when the pearl-handled knife that we read about early in the book, showed up in the ending of the story was a brilliant twist to a gruesome tale.

I have recommended this book to our book club. I think it will generate some lively discussion. I’m sure there will be some varied opinions about Galloway’s complete subservience to Serena. What made him a tool for her unconscionable behavior puzzled me throughout the book. I thought the author was successful in creating fictional tale that, was also a glimpse into the lives and times of those who lived during a very difficult period in our nation.

My reaction as I read this book was "sweet." The repetitive detail about cakes and the tea were almost too much at first, but later on I began to see that there was more to Angel. Her wisdom and compassion and sometimes devious methods made for an interesting read. I loved all her matchmaking, and I cheered at the faked female circumcision. I've traveled in Tanzania and camped near the hippos, so Angels' description of the sound from Omar's nose really cracked me up. Although the stories are completely different, the writer's style is very much like that of Alexander McCall Smith. If I were the editor of this book, I would suggest less cake and tea and more about Angel's friends and family.

This book covered everything - suspense, love story, geography and history lessons, and human relations.

The descriptions of the landscape and gentle people encouraged me to include Cornwall in my list of places I would like to visit. The writer has talent for revealing the strength and character of the inhabitants of the village. I thoroughly enjoyed this delightful story.