Susan Meissner has written a touching novel of the Bright family who move from a rural Pennsylvania town to the city of Philadelphia for a better life. Their uncle has given the father, Thomas, a job at his funeral home where the family will live upstairs.

The chapters are headed by Pauline, the mother, and the daughters Willa, Evelyn and Maggie. Even though they go back and forth among these characters, the chapters are easy to follow. Within a year their lives are in turmoil with WW1 ending and the men coming back home and then the Spanish flu epidemic.

This is a story of love lost and love regained, of secrets made and secrets undone, and most of all of compassion and love in the worst of circumstances.

Happiness (The Crooked Little Road to Semi-ever After) is the best book I have read this year. I was a little hesitant when I received the book to review because of the subject matter - I didn't want to read a "downer". It was a "happy" memoir and I was quickly immersed in the story and could not put it down. Heather Harpham is an outstanding journalist and her story should be read by all who have a perilously ill child, new parents, people contemplating having children, people who have raised children, etc. Heather, Brian, Gracie and Gabe's story was an eye-opener as to what is involved in the care of desperately sick children. It brought out a wealth of emotions in me that I won't soon forget.

The peaceful, ridged, waspy community of Avalon off the coast of Long Island is disrupted when a prodigal daughter, Leslie Day Marshall returns to the island with her two children and her black husband Julius. Leslie and Julius met during the protests and peace marches when they were in college. His was a humble upbringing and hers was of wealth and prestige. Her family led by her militarily strict father "The Colonel" built "The Castle" which was the largest home on Avalon. Her father built the Grudder plant where war missiles were produced and made his fortune from it.

After her parents died, she was left "The Castle". Leslie has an agenda that her husband doesn't know about, but he will slowly find out about it. They live in a small house on the estate until the castle will become habitable, and although Julius didn't want to live there he becomes caught up in the gardens and the flora and fauna that surround it.

The residents are having to put up with the gypsy moths which are doing a lot of damage to the environment and Julius takes on the project of getting rid of them with a vengeance.

There is also a lot of teen angst in this story which at times seemed like a young adult book.

Our Short Story is a touchingly poignant sad/glad story that I could not put down. I had to keep reminding myself that this was not a memoir, but a novel.

Karen, a single mother and her young son Jake move to Mercer Island from NYC to be close to her sister Allison and her family. She has ovarian cancer which is now in remission and she wants her son to know his future family. Karen is a political consultant but she has always wanted to be a writer. She wants to have Jake remember her after she is gone and she begins the story of their life together.

She left her boyfriend Dave when she was pregnant because he didn't want to have any children. Now, 6 year old Jake is curious about his father. When they eventually meet, Dave wants to be a part of his son's life much to the chagrin of Karen. She soon finds out the cancer has returned and she is more adamant than ever that Dave should not be involved with Jake.

Ever since Kon-Tiki enthralled me as a grade school student, I have been in awe of the people who have ventured out into the unknown with only their determination and a few guidelines to explore the South Pacific.

Dane Huckelbridge has written a captivating book, Castle of Water, about two people stranded on a miniscule island after a plane crash, who slowly go from being antagonists whose sole thoughts are survival, to caring helpmates who establish a "home" under the most primitive conditions possible.

Although it is a novel, the book has many well researched areas that will keep the reader turning the pages and in the end wishing for more.

Cara Brookins has certainly written a memoir that is inspiring and heartbreaking. Reading this book made me want to join the family in their endeavor to build a house and solidify their love for each other. Their step-by-step process and the knowledge gained from YouTube is a wonder in itself and gives a new meaning to determination.

Cara and her children have shown through their spunkiness, optimism and strength that even though there were many obstacles in the way they could eventually overcome them.

News of the World got me from the first page. I am not much of a fan of westerns, but this is more than a western; it's a story of an elderly man, Captain Kidd, who makes his living telling news in a townhall-like setting to the outback Texans who are eager to hear what's going on in the world.

His routine is interrupted when a young girl who was captured in a Kiowa indian raid that killed her parents is traded back. She now needs to be returned to her relatives but they are 400 miles away. For a $50 gold piece Captain Kidd takes on the responsibility and their adventure together begins. (The map provided with the book was very good to help show the route of the journey.)

Miss Jiles has written a poignant story of learning to trust and in the end love.

There are many women in the world who are more male than female. Irina Reyn created one -Tanya Vandermotter and the Russian Empire created another - Catherine the Great. The story's chapters switch back and forth between Catherine and Tanya.

The thing that brings them together over the centuries is a beautiful pendant called the Order of St. Catherine.

Tanya, a Jewish-Russian émigré works in the Russian art department of Worthington's Auction House. She tries to get an oligarch to bid on the pendant but before this can take place it has to be authenticated.

I learned a lot about the auction world and enjoyed the descriptions of the New York neighborhoods.

As a long-time married man, Arthur Pepper thought he knew everything about his wife, Miriam - until she died. While cleaning out his wife's possessions, he discovers a charm bracelet hidden in a boot and this sets him off on a sometimes dangerous and often comical adventure that takes him from the U. K. to Paris and to India.

Along the way, he meets several people that relate to the charms and tell him stories of his wife that he found hard to believe.

Phaedra Patrick has written a charming and interesting book about discovery and change that opened new horizons for a man who resisted, then accepted change.