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Reviews by Debra F. (Alton Bay, NH)

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Happy Land
Happy Land
by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
The Kingdom (10/31/2024)
It is amazing how little we know of the history of certain people & places. I never knew there was a 'Kingdom of Happy Land" up in the North Carolina mountains with an honest to goodness King & Queen.

This story is about resilience & family & everything people can and will do for freedom & love. I particularly enjoyed the back story of the Kingdom, how it came to be, what the people had to endure, how they came together for each other, cooking, helping, loving. This story is about family, particularly mothers & daughters. What it takes to survive, how we sometimes have to understand that we don't always want the same things, how to respect our differences while still holding onto our history.
I really loved this story!
The Very Long, Very Strange Life of Isaac Dahl
The Very Long, Very Strange Life of Isaac Dahl
by Bart Yates
pleasantly surprised (5/20/2024)
I was very hesitant to read this book, it didn't sound like something I would like but I was pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed the character of Isaac Dahl, his ruminations, his relationships, his take on life.

I would definitely recommend this story, told over 96 years, in the course of 12 chapters of 8 year intervals.
The Funeral Cryer
The Funeral Cryer: A Novel
by Wenyan Lu
Funeral Cryer (2/4/2024)
It was very interesting to learn about funeral crying, Chinese culture, chinese food. The narrator, while sometimes wandering, expressed thoughts & feelings about her life, her responsibilities etc. Her life isn't easy, her husband not always nice...but there is the barber for a slight distraction.

She tells us her thoughts on love, life, family. While it is not an action-packed story, rather a narrative, it was enjoyable and very readable.
The House on Biscayne Bay
The House on Biscayne Bay
by Chanel Cleeton
Is it the House? (1/3/2024)
When Anna Barnes moves to Miami with her husband in the early 1920s, she is not thrilled, even though her husband has built her a gorgeous home there. What is wrong with this house?
Set in two time zones, exploring long ago secrets, a murder, a re-building & another murder...well this kept me turning the pages well into the night. I have never read anything by this author but will
be sure to pick up her earlier works. Gothic & haunting, I'm hoping for a sequel!
The Waters
The Waters: A Novel
by Bonnie Jo Campbell
Beware The Waters (11/28/2023)
A bit slow in the beginning. I really enjoyed the setting & the characters.

It is set in the swampy area of Michigan. A healer of sorts & her granddaughter live in an old cottage, with a dog, donkeys and chickens. Donkey is more comfortable around the donkeys, which gave her her name, & the chickens than people. Hermine/Herself take care of the people with folk medicine & 'herbs'. So many things occur throughout the book & it takes a while for things to start to come together & make sense, but it is worth the wait. Part dark fairy tale, part coming of age & adventure.
Wild and Distant Seas
Wild and Distant Seas: A Novel
by Tara Karr Roberts
Call me Ishmael (10/5/2023)
First off, being from Boston, I love books where I'm familiar with the territory. And I love historical fiction. And books about strong women. This story had everything I love about reading. I was transported back to a 'simpler' time. Using Moby Dick as a starting point was so clever.Evangeline has to continue on to live her life and we follow her and her descendants throughout their own lives. At it's heart this is a story about loss & hope. How women navigate through the ages.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
Niceville
Niceville: A Novel
by Carsten Stroud
Nice or not (5/17/2012)
I enjoyed this story, told from multiple characters about a long-ago disappearance, cop killings, a bank robbery, and family. There is alot going on here and it took me a while to get into the story but once there, I didn't want it to end. A little thriller, a little horror, a little humor make for a good read.
Cloudland
Cloudland: A Crime Novel
by Joseph Olshan
Based on a true story?!? (2/29/2012)
Cloudland is a murder mystery with strong psychological twists and turns. The setting of Vermont (with wee bits of New Hampshire) highlights the rural landscape. Catherine Winslow finds a body while walking up her road. Her neighbor, a forensic psychiatrist as well as other characters in the rural area slowly ramp up her involvement. She begins to recognize too many coincidences as the story webs out and then tightens.

I found the book an easy read that slowly wound itself into my subconscious. I had many questions and found myself reacting strongly to the violence that Catherine had been exposed to that intertwined with the story.I heard that his book is based on a true crime story that was never solved - six women murdered by a serial killer in the Connecticut River Valley between Vermont and New Hampshire.
Recommended!
The Healing
The Healing: A Novel
by Jonathan Odell
The Healing (2/16/2012)
I really enjoyed this book from beginning to end. It was sweet, funny, and sad. You know a book is great when that happens. I loved the way the story unfolded, and thought the author did a good job of developing characters relevant to the time period and believable. I felt Gran Gran's loneliness and Polly's inspiration. There were certain things left for the reader to wonder, for example, how Shineville comes to be, why Granada chose her path and what happened in the years she did, but overall a very good effort.
Falling Together
Falling Together: A Novel
by Marisa De Los Santos
Not a Love Triangle... (9/6/2011)
Marisa De Los Santos takes three young people, Pen, Will, and Cat, and gives then quirks, beliefs, errors, and hardship. They love one another as friends until they don't.

The blow-up among them leaves each adrift. A college reunion promises to help them sort things out, but it's not that easy. To say they would travel to the ends of the earth to redeem their friendship is putting it lightly.

But what emerges is a portrait of people growing, changing, and learning to live their lives with joy, dumping guilt and past grievances.

"Falling Together" is an uplifting and powerful story of friendship, finding love, and looking at the world each day with the idea of living the moment for its beauty. Highly recommended!
The Language of Flowers
The Language of Flowers: A Novel
by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
Flowers in Bloom! (6/7/2011)
I can't say enough in praise of this debut novel about the facets of relationships between mothers and daughters, friends and lovers. The story is filled with heartache, heartbreak, small miracles, and love, and it's all pulled together with the meanings and messages of the Victorian flower language. A perfect page-turner of a summer read!
Outlander
Outlander
by Diana Gabaldon
Time and Love (2/26/2011)
Probably the best love story ever written! Gabaldon is a genius! Yes the book is violent and the premise seems unplausable, but it is amazingly well done. The characters are so full of life and dimension. They come to life in your head, and you can almost hear them speaking, with the lovely Scottish expressions and dialect. Great, great book!
Outside Wonderland
Outside Wonderland: A Novel
by Lorna Jane Cook
Watching from "Here" (2/1/2011)
You will journey into the lives of three adult siblings who lost their parents as children; Alice, Dinah, and Griffen, (named after the characters in the Lewis Carroll stories).
Each one, in very different ways, tries to cope and to find happiness in their lives and the world. As you watch them try and navigate their way in the world, you will also see their lives through their 'parents' eyes up in Heaven, ("Here").
Loss, betrayal, faith, love and family are some of the themes running through this novel
If you are not open to religious themes, this novel may not be for you.
The Tenth Song
The Tenth Song
by Naomi Ragen
Just okay for me... (10/9/2010)
This story is about a Jewish family in the "middle" of a financial scam to fund terrorism. The scandal brings out the "true" colors of the the family members; Shoshana, Josh, and Kayla and their significant others. Abigail, the wife, notices her friends vanishing, her rabbi turning his back and her daughter Kayla runs off to the Israeli desert leaving behind her family and her fiance. Self-discovery, a little romance, and a pleasant surprise at the end kept me reading, but somehow the whole thing didn't quite work for me.
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