Review: The Southern Side of Paradise by Kristy Woodson Harvey

The Southern Side of Paradise by Kristy Woodson Harvey

[Peachtree Bluff #3]

Expected Publication: May 7, 2019

Publisher: Galley Books

Format: arc via publisher

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis

With the man of her dreams back in her life and all three of her daughters happy, Ansley Murphy should be content. But she can’t help but feel like it’s all a little too good to be true.

Meanwhile, youngest daughter and actress Emerson, who is recently engaged and has just landed the role of a lifetime, seemingly has the world by the tail. Only, something she can’t quite put her finger on is worrying her—and it has nothing to do with her recent health scare.

When two new women arrive in Peachtree Bluff—one who has the potential to wreck Ansley’s happiness and one who could tear Emerson’s world apart—everything is put in perspective. And after secrets that were never meant to be told come to light, the powerful bond between the Murphy sisters and their mother comes crumbling down, testing their devotion to each other and forcing them to evaluate the meaning of family.

My Thoughts

In Kristy Woodson Harvey’s final installment in her Peachtree Bluff series, we once again visit the Murphy family. In each of the previous books, we get the story of each sister and this one focuses on the youngest sister Emerson. Emerson is an up and coming actress who since she has been back home has had a health scare and has reunited with an old love. She is trying to deal with all of this and is also trying to find her way in life. She loves her sisters and mother but she has doubts about her upcoming marriage, especially when her and her fiance can't decide on where to live, she has to go back for work and he doesn’t want to leave Peachtree, and it doesn't help that a man from her past in L.A. has found his way to Peachtree and her feelings are getting the best of her. I felt that Emerson had so much thrown at her in this novel between her health scare and relationship problems to her career plus finding out the truth about her family but I felt she was the most well-rounded character. She was the one who I felt grew the most in the series. Just as in life, she didn't see any of the things that happened to her coming but they suited her well and made her complete they were her blessings in disguise.

While this story mainly focuses on Emerson we also get a glimpse of her mother’s story and her life with Jack. She is finally at a place where she can feel free to love him like she wants to without worrying how this will affect her daughters but still THAT secret looms over her and she knows that this final secret has to be told in order to be free. She has always put her family first but now she needs to live her own life and that means a future with Jack, however, someone from his past is determined to get him back and Ansley doesn't know if she has it in her to fight this fight. The story of Ansley and Jack was a long time coming and their story was one I was pleased with, it truly showed how true love can endure the test of time.

I fell in love with the Murphy women from book one and this last book is the perfect send-off. I felt that everyone’s stories wrapped up nicely and everyone got their happily ever after. I loved how Kristy Woodson Harvey gave us complex yet strong women who fought for what they wanted and stopped at nothing to get it. What I loved most about this series was that the overall message and theme is family. While they might have fought and disagreed with each other when it came down to it they had each other's backs. Nothing was too hard that together they couldn't conquer. I will miss these women and their stories so much but I am so glad I got to know them and thank you, Kristy Woodson Harvey, for giving us a group of women who showed us that family dynamics can be both entertaining and emotional yet heartwarming all at the same time.

Mini Review: Bear Witness by Melissa Clark

Bear Witness by Melissa Clark

Published: April 7, 2015

Format: copy via BookSparks

Publisher: SparkPress

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis

Three years after witnessing the kidnapping of her best friend, Robin, Paige Bellen is expected to continue on with life as usual. Now, with her closest friend out of the country, a messy relationship with Robin’s boyfriend, and a family that handles her with kid gloves, Paige isn’t sure if she’ll ever be able to move forward in life. Bear Witness explores the aftermath of a crime in a small town, and what it means when tragedy colors the experience of being a young adult.

My Thoughts

This is a good quick read that shows us the aftermath of a kidnapping. Paige witness her best friend get kidnapped before her eyes and she never got over it. We see the guilt that Paige feels being there and feeling that she should’ve done more to help her friend. She also is dealing with her family situation and how she feels that no one understands her and how she truly feels. This is a very serious subject matter but it doesn’t feel too heavy though. I like how we see the subject through someone who was really there and seeing how she is trying to cope with the aftermath. We tend to always focus on the ones who were victims but they aren’t the only ones. Sometimes the ones left behind suffer just as much or even more because they will never have closure and will never know why. This is one read that gives a voice to those who were left behind and hopefully gives them a little bit of healing.

Review: Etched on Me by Jenn Crowell

Etched on Me by Jenn Crowell

Published: February 4, 2014

Format: via NetGalley

Rating: 3.5/5

Synopsis

On the surface, sixteen-year-old Lesley Holloway is just another bright new student at Hawthorn Hill, a posh all-girls prep school north of London. Little do her classmates know that she recently ran away from home, where her father had spent years sexually abusing her. Nor does anyone know that she secretly cutting herself as a coping mechanism...until the day she goes too far and ends up in the hospital.

Lesley spends the next two years in and out of psychiatric facilities, where she overcomes her traumatic memories and finds the support of a surrogate family. Eventually completing university and earning her degree, she is a social services success story;until she becomes unexpectedly pregnant in her early twenties. Despite the overwhelming odds she has overcome, the same team that saved her as an adolescent will now question whether Lesley is fit to be a mother. And so she embarks upon her biggest battle yet: the fight for her unborn daughter.

My Thoughts

Etched on Me is a well written tale of Lesley who it seems life it’s taken its toll on. It’s at times a hard to read tale of rape and mental illness and it’s effect on her life. I definitely feel for Lesley and all the hardships she suffered growing up. She fought for her voice to be heard and believed when she said her father raped her. She had to deal with the after effects of that coming out and how her mother knew what was going on yet didn’t do anything to stop it. Then having to deal with mental illness and fighting for her daughter. 

Throughout the book all I kept thinking about was can't this girl catch a break? There is only so much a person can handle before they break into pieces. Mental illness is still something people don’t want to talk about, even in this day and age its taboo. People think “mental illness” equals plain crazy and it’s way more than that, it’s a disease, just like any other.

While this novel is very informative it is very raw. It pulls no punches and at times it was a tad to gritty for me. I do like that it does deal with topics that need to address and can potentially help many people who may need it. So if you want a read a story that tells it like it is and touches on social topics this maybe the one for you.

THE BOTTOM LINE...IT'S...

Review: We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates

We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates

Published: September 30, 1997

Publisher: Plume

Format: Purchased

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis

The tale of a family struggling to cope with its fall from grace into a deeply moving and unforgettable account of the vigor of hope and the power of love to prevail over suffering. The Mulvaneys of High Point Farm in Mt. Ephraim, New York, are a large and fortunate clan, blessed with good looks, abundant charisma, and boundless promise. But over the twenty-five year span of this ambitious novel, the Mulvaneys will slide, almost imperceptibly at first, from the pinnacle of happiness, transformed by the vagaries of fate into a scattered collection of lost and lonely souls. It is the youngest son, Judd, now an adult, who attempts to piece together the fragments of the Mulvaneys' former glory, seeking to uncover and understand the secret violation that occasioned the family's tragic downfall. Each of the Mulvaneys endures some form of exile--physical or spiritual--but in the end they find a way to bridge the chasms that have opened up among them, reuniting in the spirit of love and healing. Profoundly cathartic, Oates' acclaimed novel unfolds as if, in the darkness of the human spirit, she has come upon a source of light at its core. Rarely has a writer made such a startling and inspiring statement about the value of hope and compassion.

My Thoughts

We were the Mulvaneys is a story that takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions and will stay with you long after you read it. The story is told to us by the view point of the youngest brother Judd, it’s the story of the Mulvaney family, they are the ideal picture of what a family should be. A great mother and father who are pillars of the community and three boys and one girl who are what every parent hopes their child would turn out to be.

Everything changes in a course of one night. Marianne, the daughter is raped and she tries to cover up the incident but eventually tells her mother what happens. That one tragic event turns their lives upside down. From that point on they will never be the same. The town turns against them accusing she was at fault and not the guy. Marianne leaves home thinking this will help her family and especially her father whom this has taken the toll on the most. He has lost his company and prestige in the community and can never see his daughter in the same light again. However the one who is hit the hardest is Marianne’s twin brother Patrick. He feels that he should’ve known and he was at fault for not protecting her. He vows to seek revenge on the guy who basically destroyed his family.

This novel spans over two decades and we come to see how one action can change the course of an entire family’s life. Joyce Carol Oates beautifully writes this tragic tale of a family’s story as they try to fight and find their way back to each other and how they were. But what we come to find out is that as much as they try to regain their past glory their future is way better than they ever use to be. While their journey is a rough one of loss, humiliation, and pain this is a course they had to take to allow themselves to heal. To heal physically and spiritual are the things that finally brings them back together after all this time. They each must grow and learn who they were before they could truly love each other again.

In the end the story comes full circle as they are reunited as a family. Life has taken its course over the two decades there are losses and gains. As in everyone’s life they had their ups and downs but like us all we all learn from life’s mistakes and gifts, but in the end it all boils down to faith, at least that’s how I see it. No matter what you believe in if you have faith that will pull you through anything. This is a rich complex story but one that is so worth the read.

Review: The Sister Season by Jennifer Scott

The Sister Season by Jennifer Scott
Published: November 5, 2013
Format: provided by publisher
Publisher: NAL Trade
Rating: 4/5

Synopsis:

Three sisters who discover that coming home for the holidays isn’t as easy as it seems…
Sometimes coming home for the holidays isn’t as easy as it seems….

It’s December 21, and the Yancey sisters have been called home. When the girls were young, holidays at their family farm meant a tinsel-garnished tree, the scent of simmering food, and laughter ringing through the house. But as the years unfolded, family bonds fractured, and the three sisters scattered and settled into separate lives. Until now. The Yancey sisters are coming to spend the holidays with their mother. They’re also coming to bury their father.

Claire, the youngest, a free spirit who journeyed to California, returns first. Then comes Julia, the eldest, a college professor with a teenage son of her own. And finally there’s Maya, the middle child, who works so hard to be the perfect mother and wife. During the sisters’ week together, old conflicts surface, new secrets emerge, and the limits and definitions of family are tested. And as the longest night of the year slips by and brightening days beckon, the sisters will have to answer one question: When you’re a sister, aren’t you a sister forever?

My Thoughts

The Yancey sisters were brought together over Christmas for the funeral of their father. However they weren’t really there for his sake but more for their mothers. While throughout the book we come to learn more about each sister they have one thing in common, how they feel about their father.  We learn that their father via flashbacks wasn’t the kindest person. He was a cruel and a mean man who tortured his wife and was physically, verbally and emotionally abusive to his daughters also.

Each sister reveals they all have their own family drama. However at the root of it all it all goes back to their childhood. Each has trust issues and the inability to open up and connect with their partner and kids. But can we really blame them? As children don’t we only know what we’ve seen? Can you really truly love if you’ve never felt that yourself?

During the week they are forced to stay together and secrets are revealed and wounds are healed with time. This is a story of hope and redemption. It’s one that’s shows how family secrets can destroy but that with time and patience things can be forgiven. Most importantly I took away was that family is all you need. While you might have disagreements and misunderstanding family will always be there. Together we can make each other stronger and there’s nothing better than that.

Review: The Whole Golden World by Kristina Riggle

The Whole Golden World by Kristina Riggle
Expected Publication: November 5, 2013
Format: E-ARC provided via NetGalley
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Rating: 5/5

Synopsis

To the outside Diana and Joe have a perfect family-three lovely children, a beautiful home, and a café that's finally taking off. But their world is rocked when it's discovered that their oldest daughter, 17-year-old Morgan is having an affair with her married teacher, TJ Hill.

Their town rocks with the scandal. When the case goes to trial, the family is torn further apart when Morgan sides not with her parents-as a manipulated teenage girl; but with TJ himself-as a woman who loves a 30-year-old man.

Told from the perspectives of Morgan, Diana, and TJ's wife, Rain, this is an unforgettable story that fully explores the surprising, even shocking, events that change the lives of two families.

My Thoughts

We start off at the trial of TJ Hill then gradually go back in time to reveal the reason why. Teenager Morgan is an average girl who is having problems that she refuses to share with anyone. She feels she can’t confine in her parents or even her friends so one day she feels that trust in her teacher Mr. Hill.

While it all starts out innocent enough it soon starts to cross the line. TJ meanwhile is having problems of his own back home. His wife is desperate to have a child and his jealousy towards his brother is mind blowing. He takes out his frustrations about his life towards his wife who loves him despite everything.

Although this story of teacher/student seduction has been told time and time again this one had a different feel to it. The characters were all very rich and although it’s easy to hate TJ, he has a menacing vibe to him that’s almost genius. He is one who has issues yet you can see how easily he can flip from victim to martyr in a split second. While he is an adult and should know better you also see how calculating Morgan’s moves can be. She sets her plan in motion and is determine to not let anything stand in her way.

However my favorite character was Rain, TJ’s wife. While some might see her as a delicate shrinking flower I saw her as a strong woman who simply hadn’t yet to find her inner voice. She stayed with a man who had many problems because she loved him. Was that wrong? Maybe. I think she saw him as a person who needed help…he needed her. She thought she could fix him. All signs showed he didn’t love her, in fact all he looked after was himself, and anything that could help him he went after. And in the end Rain finally realized that and did the only thing she could, for once she did what was best for herself and no one else. I love how we get to see all angles in this twisted tell.

In the end it’s a great story of justice and in a way of learning who you are and becoming stronger like you never knew you could. We all learn from our mistakes even if they hurt us to the core. This is for anyone who loves a story of redemption and frankly just a well written read from an awesome storyteller.

Review: Lies You Wanted to Hear by James Whitfield Thomson

Lies You Wanted to Hear by James Whitfield Thomson
Expected Publication: November 5, 2013
Format: E-Arc via NetGalley
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Rating 4/5

Synopsis

A deeply moving, beautifully-written picture of how the smallest crack in a relationship slowly, over decades, becomes a canyon too wide to bridge.

When Lucy meets Matt on a blind date, Matt is instantly hooked; he sees Lucy as the fun, sexy, and wickedly smart girl of his dreams. Although she’s still getting over an old lover, Lucy is won over by Matt’s sweet, thoughtful nature. But 20 years later, alone in an empty house trying to imagine the lives of her two young children, Lucy comes to realize that the little lies you tell can create more damage than the truth you’re hiding.

My Thoughts

The story of Matt and Lucy was doomed from the get go. Lucy was a wild, fun sexual woman while Matt was the honest to god good guy every mother wants for her daughter. Lucy had been and quite honestly was still in love with her ex Griffin. Lucy and Griffin had that kind of raw magnetic pull to each other that was all wrong; they only things they shared were sex and drugs, nothing “real.”

Lucy decides to go out on a blind date with Matt and wasn’t really interested but kind of used him to get over Griffin. After months of dating Matt, she finds out she is pregnant and just when she was going to tell him Griffin shows up. Instead of pushing Griffin away she spends one last night with him. Fast forward a few years and Lucy and Matt are married and have one child and another on the way. Lucy is starting to feel trapped; she thought she could be happy with Matt and live that “perfect” family lifestyle. After having her son she suffers from post-partum depression. She feels lost but with the help of Matt she begins to find her way and decides to get a job to help her get out of the house for a few hours. That’s when it happens…she spots Griffin.

Lucy just can’t help herself and she begins to have an affair, soon after Matt founds out and the drama begins. Griffin is like Lucy’s drug. All she thinks about is him, knowing he doesn’t want anything serious. While filing for divorce Matt wants custody but at that time the mother always got custody. Matt doesn’t give up hope; he wants his kids after realizing Lucy is unfit to take care of their children. With drugs and other men around he wants better for his kids, so he decides to take matters into his own hands. On a family vacation he decides he will kidnap the kids and start over.

Not to give it all away but let’s just say there are years of being on the run and things aren’t so easy for Lucy either. While I didn’t like the character of Lucy, being selfish and all you can’t help feel her pain in wanting to find her children. But was it all Lucy’s fault? She was always very clear to Matt about who she was and about her past. Matt always knew he was second in Lucy’s life…after Griffin but he always thought he could change her.

So it is true we only believe what we want to believe? We all know deep down what is right and what is wrong but sometimes our hearts lead us and not our heads. This is what makes me love this story however the ending….made me want more! I'm that kind of person who needs everything tied up in bow and wants no stones left unturned. This is a wonderfully written story about family, love, and sometimes doing the wrong things for the right reasons.  I highly recommend this…PLEASE READ THIS! It will definitely make you question if we are really truthful with the people in our lives, but most importantly are we honestly truthful with ourselves.

Review: Loteria by Mario Alberto Zambrano

Loteria by Mario Alberto Zambrano
Published: July 2, 2013
Publisher: Harper
Format: Copy via publisher
Rating: 2/5

Synopsis

A young girl tells the story of her family's tragic demise using a deck of cards of the eponymous Mexican game in this spellbinding debut novel that marks the arrival of a powerhouse new talent.

With her older sister Estrella in the ICU and her father in jail, eleven-year-old Luz Castillo has been taken into the custody of the state. Alone in her room, the young girl retreats behind a wall of silence, writing in her journal and shuffling through a deck of Lotería cards-a Mexican version of bingo featuring bright, colorful images.

Neither the social worker assigned to her case nor her Aunt Tencha, who desperately pleads for her niece's release, can cajole Luz to speak. The young girl's only confidant is her journal. Within its pages, Luz addresses an invisible higher power, sharing her secrets.

Using the Lotería cards as her muse, Luz picks one card from the deck with each shuffle. Each of the cards' colorful images- mermaids, bottles, spiders, death, and stars-sparks a random memory. Pieced together, these snapshots bring into focus the joy and pain of the young girl's life, and the events that led to her present situation. But just as the story becomes clear, a breathtaking twist changes everything.

My Thoughts

I received this a few days ago and was really taken by the description so I dived right in. This reads more like novella than a novel; it’s a fast and easy read. The cover and illustrations are so vivid in color very true to the Loteria cards.

I was very intrigued by Luz’s story, the story is told by her conversions to someone who is simply called YOU. She tells her story by shuffling the deck and pulling the cards of the Loteria game. However I felt by doing that it was just a bunch of random stories, I just didn’t feel a connection. I really wanted to like the story; it had a good premise maybe it was just the way it was formatted that I didn’t like.

I was very interested in knowing the story of how her sister was in the ICU and why her dad was in jail. I also enjoyed her telling of family memories when things were good. Like all good things they must come to an end though. The root of it all is family, loyalty and the cards that life has dealt you. I think I would’ve rather had more of a story minus feeling that the story was forced by the cards.

Review: The Time Between by Karen White

The Time Between by Karen White

Expected Publication: June 4, 2013
Format: Finished copy provided by publisher
Publisher: NAL Hardcover
Rating: 3/5 stars

Summary via Goodreads

Thirty-four-year-old Eleanor Murray is consumed with guilt for causing the accident that paralyzed her sister—and for falling in love with her sister’s husband. But when her boss offers her a part-time job caring for his elderly aunt, Helena, Eleanor accepts, hoping this good deed will help atone for her mistakes.

On the barrier island of Edisto, Eleanor bonds with Helena over their mutual love of music. Drawing the older woman out of her depression, Eleanor learns of her life in Hungary, with her sister, before and during World War II. She hears tales of passion and heartache, defiance and dangerous deception. And when the truth of Helena and her sister’s actions comes to light, Eleanor may finally allow herself to move past guilt and to embrace the song that lies deep in her heart.

My Thoughts

I was pleasantly surprised when I received this book for review. Karen White is an author who while I haven’t read a lot of her books; I have enjoyed the ones I have. I thoroughly enjoyed this beautifully written story. While it was a tad slow for me at certain parts, I felt like overall it was a lovely and touching story. A story of getting past guilt, allowing you to move on and allowing yourself to love, this is one that can speak to all of us on different levels. I loved the interactions between Eleanor and Helena. As you read their stories you can see the likeness between both these women. How some of their own past actions, emotions and lives definitely mirror each other.

My favorite part is the setting of the book. I can resist a good beach read that can make you feel as if you there. I felt as if I was there in Edisto, feeling the warm summer breeze. Helena’s old beach house and all her eccentric finds just seem like a wonderful place I would love to visit.

This is a fabulous summer read that you easily enjoy on a hot lazy summer day, surely worth the read.