Review: Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane

Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane

Published: Scribner

Publisher: May 28, 2019

Format: via audiobook

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis

A profoundly moving novel about two neighboring families in a suburban town, the bond between their children, a tragedy that reverberates over four decades, the daily intimacies of marriage, and the power of forgiveness.

Francis Gleeson and Brian Stanhope, two rookie cops in the NYPD, live next door to each other outside the city. What happens behind closed doors in both houses—the loneliness of Francis’s wife, Lena, and the instability of Brian’s wife, Anne—sets the stage for the explosive events to come.

Ask Again, Yes is a deeply affecting exploration of the lifelong friendship and love that blossoms between Francis and Lena’s daughter, Kate, and Brian and Anne’s son, Peter. Luminous, heartbreaking, and redemptive, Ask Again, Yes reveals the way childhood memories change when viewed from the distance of adulthood—villains lose their menace and those who appeared innocent seem less so. Kate and Peter’s love story, while tested by echoes from the past, is marked by tenderness, generosity, and grace.

My Thoughts

Ask Again, Yes is the story of two families who endure a tragedy and how they overcome and try to move on from it. Francis and Bruce were two rookie cops who worked briefly together but later find themselves neighbors. When they moved in Francis wife, Lena wanted and needed a friend but Brian’s wife Anne was very closed off from the get-go. Soon Kate, Francis and Lena daughter and Peter, Brian and Anne’s son become close friends. Over the years we see their friendship grow and they become each others consent.

Peter has always known his mother is different than other moms, she has episodes and doesn't come out of her room for days or weeks and her highs are highs but her lows are really low. She continues to have these manic episodes and Peter doesn't know what exactly is wrong with her and his father is no help at all. She needs help but doesn't know what to do and all of this comes to a head one night and what happens as a result of it could end Peter and Kate’s friendship but also tie the families together forever.

This novel spans over 40 years and shows us overtime how these two families lives are embedded into each other. We see Peter and Kate grow up and apart but are always thinking of each other until they finally reunite. Kate’s life while it has its struggles family wise isn't as hard as Peter's. His family life is all but destroyed after that one night, his mother is in a mental institution and his father basically leaves him behind with his uncle never to be heard from again. Of all the characters I felt for Peter, his life is the one that could've destroyed him but his uncle and Kate were two people who wouldn't give up on him. As he got older he family problems and his past got the better of him which led to a dark period in his life but once again Kate was there to help him through it.

This is a story of love, friendship, hardships, mental illness, and addiction. We get the highs and lows of these two families who were destined to come together for better or worse. I loved the spanned of decades and how we see them grow and overcome their demons with help from each other. Ask Again, Yes is a wonderful yet gritty story at times that shows us we can overcome anything in life.

Review: IT by Stephen King

It by Stephen King

Published: September 1986

Publisher: Scribner

Format: purchased

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis

Seven adults who return to their hometown to confront a nightmare they had first stumbled on as teenagers…an evil without a name: It.

Welcome to Derry, Maine. It’s a small city, a place as hauntingly familiar as your own hometown. Only in Derry the haunting is real.

They were seven teenagers when they first stumbled upon the horror. Now they are grown-up men and women who have gone out into the big world to gain success and happiness. But the promise they made twenty-eight years ago calls them to reunite in the same place where, as teenagers, they battled an evil creature that preyed on the city’s children. Now, children are being murdered again and their repressed memories of that terrifying summer return as they prepare to once again battle the monster lurking in Derry’s sewers.

My Thoughts

With October being the month of scary and frightening things I thought I would challenge myself like never before, I wanted to read my first Stephen King book but not just any old book I wanted to read IT. Was the pay off worth it? YES! I really did love this book while some of the language I didn’t agree with overall the storytelling was superb.

We met a group of teens who are known as The Losers and they are brought together when they take on the mission of finding and destroying …IT that is killing kids. Children keep going missing in the town of Derry and while everyone knows something is odd no one is willing to talk about it out loud, and when the teens start to see the clown they know this is what is killing the kids in town.

I liked how this novel has two timelines, we get the story of what happened when they were younger and then we get the story of when they come back together as adults. We see what has made them come back and what has become of them decades later, and if what happened in the past had any effect on their present lives.

This book was SCARY! Stephen King went into massive details and yes the gore and guts of it all are disturbing but it’s the psychological aspects of the book that really got to me. There were numerous times that I wanted and needed to step back and just let this book sit there. Heck, now I know what people mean when they say they needed to put the book in the freezer…I really wanted to! All in all, I’m so glad I made this my first Stephen King experience it was all I had hyped it up to be and boy oh boy what a wild ride this was if you get the chance read it it’s well worth the time.

Review: His Favorites by Kate Walbert

His Favorites by Kate Walbert

Published: August 14, 2018

Publisher: Scriber

Format: audiobook via Overdrive

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis

They were on a lark, three teenaged girls speeding across the greens on a “borrowed” golf cart, at night, drunk. The cart crashes and one of the girls lands violently in the rough killed instantly. The driver, Jo, flees the hometown that has turned against her and enrolls at a prestigious boarding school. Her past weighs on her. She is responsible for the death of her best friend. She has tipped her parents’ rocky marriage into demise. She is ready to begin again, far away from the accident.

Taut, propulsive and devastating, His Favorites reveals the interior life of a young woman determined to navigate the treachery in a new world. Told from her perspective many years later, the story coolly describes a series of shattering events and the system that failed to protect her. Walbert, who brilliantly explored a century of women’s struggles for rights and recognition in her award-winning A Short History of Women, limns the all-too-common violations of vulnerability and aspiration in the lives of young women in this suspenseful short novel.

My Thoughts

His Favorites is a story that is very relative to what’s going on at this moment. After a night of drinking Jo crashes a golf cart and kills her best friend and soon she decides to leave her school and hometown and goes to a private school. Thinking that this school will protect her she soon learns this is far from the truth, the ones that are there to protect her are the ones that hurt her the most.

This short novel gives us complex characters that are raw and flawed but no matter how messed up someone is that doesn’t give others the right to violate them. You feel for these girls who are taken advantage of but they won't let this define them. This is one jam-packed read that is very important, while it is sad and messed up it also shows you that you can be strong and stand up for yourself no matter what. His Favorites is a huge read despite its small size.

Review: The Summer Fletcher Greel Loved Me by Suzanne Kingsbury

The Summer Fletcher Greel Loved Me by Suzanne Kingsbury

Published: March 19, 2002

Publisher: Scribner

Format: Purchased copy

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis

Set in Houser Banks, Mississippi, a fictional town frozen in time, Suzanne Kingsbury's debut is an intense and evocative tale of young people coming to terms with the legacy of racism over the course of a sultry Southern summer. Deserted by her mother and raised by her whiskey-drinking, gun-shooting father, beautiful Haley has broken the heart of every boy in town. Yet she hides two intimate and explosive secrets that empower her just as they threaten to undermine everything she holds dear. Haley is engaged in a dangerous flirtation with one of her father's friends when Fletcher Greel, the Judge's son, comes home for the summer, having just graduated from a New England prep school. Fletcher's friend Riley is in love with a blues-singing black girl named Crystal, and Fletcher falls instantly for Haley. These four soon become inseparable, intoxicated by love, desire, and the new-found freedoms of late adolescence.

But Houser Banks is a small town where attitudes hearken back to a time of racism and hatred. As the summer wanes, disapproval of Riley and Crystal's romance takes increasingly violent turns, and Haley's secrets surface to devastating results.

My Thoughts

This is one of my favorite books ever. I actually found this gem at BN in the bargain bin years ago and was instantly taken by the synopsis that I had to have it. I loved this story of Haley and her summer with Fletcher Greel. Fletcher is everything that Haley isn’t and she finds that intimating at first but then she can’t help but fall for him. Haley is from the south where people are stuck in their ways and are stubborn to change. While Fletcher is a guy whose smart and has everything easy in his life. He thinks everyone has his way of thinking. I’m a sucker for the whole opposites attract thing so I enjoyed the romance between these two. However Haley’s has secrets that could change everything she holds dare. Their summer of love is not only fun and adventurous but also has a dark underside.

This is a true coming of age story that will have you glued to its pages. Between the hot summer south and the budding love you can’t help but fall in love and feel for all the characters. It’s equal parts love story, suspense and adventure. Suzanne Kingsbury writing is simply breathe taking and beautiful. She writes of the south with both beauty and darkness with both equally represented in the read. It will make you remember your first love and also make you think. It makes you realize that sometimes love isn’t just enough that sometimes the world isn’t so nice and can be downright cruel at times. I recommend this read to everyone! Afterwards you will feel like you learned and were part of something. It touches all points in what a great read should have. This is the ultimate summer book to read on one of these hot summer days.

Review: The Carriage House by Louisa Hall

The Carriage House: A Novel by Louisa Hall

Publication: March 5, 2013
Publisher: Scribner
Format: ARC provided by publisher
Rating: 2/5

Summary

After suffering a stroke, patriarch William Adair wakes up in his hospital bed and realizes that his family has changed: they are less extraordinary than he had remembered. For more than thirty years, his faith in life was grounded on two indisputable principles: his three daughters’ exceptional beauty and talents and the historical resonance of a carriage house built by his grandfather. Now, both have begun to collapse.
The carriage house, held captive by a neighbor since a zoning error classified it as her property, has decayed beyond recognition and risks being condemned. William’s daughters—all tennis champions in their youth—are in decline. Having lost their father’s pride, the three sisters struggle to define themselves. William’s ailing wife is suffering from dementia. As she forgets her daughters, they forget themselves.
To help him recover, William’s daughters take on the battle for the carriage house that once stood as a symbol of their place in the world. Overcoming misunderstandings, betrayals, and wrong turns deep in the past, each of the Adairs ultimately finds a new place of forgiveness and love. The Carriage House is a moving, beautifully wrought novel about the complex bonds of siblings and about rebuilding lost lives.

My Thoughts

When I first read what this story was about I was really tempted to read it. I seemed like a great story of a family brought together after their father’s stroke. Boy was I disappointed. I couldn’t for the life of me get into this story. I tried several times but just couldn’t. I never like to not finish a book so I struggled several times to get to the end.

I wasn’t connecting to the characters. The patriarch William was a man who in my opinion was just plain mean and insensitive to his daughters. All he cared about was imagine, the old carriage house and what others thought of him and his family. All three daughters tried so hard to live up to his expectations that they failed to really live their lives for themselves. Not to mention their mother who was suffering from dementia was mainly unheard of since she was isolated upstairs most of the time. Then there was her caretaker, who if you asked me was a character one too many. I mean there were so many characters it was kind of hard to keep track of them all. If William had put more of an effort into caring for his daughters much as he did trying to save that carriage house maybe I’ve enjoyed the story more.

In the end there were just too many loose ends and things I didn’t get to truly enjoy this book. It wasn’t a bad book there were some good parts, just not enough for me to have this book worth it for me.

Review: American Ghost by Janis Owens

American Ghost by Janis Owens
Expected Publication: October 9, 2012
Format: ARC from publisher
Publisher: Scribner
Rating: 5/5

Synopsis
An engrossing novel inspired by a true event about unresolved family history and racial tensions that threaten a Florida community.

With American Ghost, Janis Owens offers an evocative southern novel continuing in the tradition originally established by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and brought into the new millennium by writers like Karen Russell and Kathryn Stockett. Inspired by Owens’s extensive research on a real lynching that occurred in the 1930s, American Ghost is a richly woven exploration of how the events of our past can haunt our present.

Jolie Hoyt is the daughter of a Pentecostal preacher living in small-town Florida. Disregarding her family’s closet full of secrets and distrust of outsiders, she throws caution to the wind when she falls in love with Sam Lense, a Jewish anthropology student from Miami in town to study the region. But their affair ends abruptly when Sam is discovered to have pried too deeply into the town’s dark racial past and he becomes the latest victim of violence. Years later, Sam and Jolie are brought together again, and as they resolve the mistakes of their early love, they finally shed light on the ugly history of Jolie’s hometown.

My Thoughts:

This book had me from the very beginning. Inspired by true events and family history while tackling race in the South, Janis Owens told a rich and complex story with such easy it's amazing. With all the twist and turns and layers for upon layers this book simply can't be denied.

Janis Owens is an amazing storyteller that you can't help but to be drawn into this remarkable story. Just when you think you have something figured out she suprises you with something totally different.

While this novel has a handful of colorful characters, the main one, Jolie Hoyt is the star. A very true Southern character without being overdone or a joke. I LOVE how Janis Owens has given us one of the most bold, real, and strongest character in books this year. All in all this book is one of my favorite reads this year. Truly brilliant. I cannot wait for what Janis Owens has in store for us next.