Book Review: Summer Kitchen

The Summer Kitchen by Karen Weinreb

Description: Nora Banks had it all. A great house, a loving husband, children, and she wasn’t afraid to spend whatever she had to continue to keep everything going smoothly. But for her it wasn’t all about the money. Then one day she finds out that everything is gone. Her husband is going to jail and she and the children have nothing. What can she do? She no longer fits into the community that she has been making herself a part of. She has no marketable skills any more. That is where her summer kitchen comes in. She had built it as a historical piece that gave her the space to do what she loved to do – cook.

The summer kitchen and all that has happened to her, allows Nora to discover what it is that she wants. What the difference is between living and living to make yourself happy. It may be a lot of work but there is a certain amount of satisfaction involved as well.

Thoughts: This was a nice summer read. It has a lot to do with how women interact, how we feel we fulfill ourselves and how sometimes our children, families and possessions make us feel like all is well when really we are forgetting the most important thing – ourselves.

I think it ends appropriately where you don’t know if Nora belongs with someone or on her own – but that is a decision for herself to make. But either way she has finally found what makes her most happy.

What genre would you consider this?
Family Dynamics

Overall:

Book Review: Miranda's Big Mistake

Miranda's Big Mistake By Jill Mansell


Description: Miranda is a girl who only wants love. But she can't seem to find the right man for her. When she finds Greg - she thinks finally a man that is perfect for me. But instead what she finds is a man who just left his newly pregnant wife - and doesn't even tell Miranda about it. This is just the first in a variety of experiences with men that could leave any woman heartbroken.

Thoughts: It took me a little to get into this book. From the beginning I wanted Miranda to get together with Danny. But it was just mistake after mistake between them. And then with the whole Miranda/Greg/Chloe triangle - I wanted Miranda to find out so badly. But once she did the whole book started to move so much faster.

I love some books that are written in London and some I find to be hard to love because there are some differences in the cultures. But this book wasn't one of those books. This is a book about a woman who makes the wrong choices in relationships and when she isn't making the wrong choices fate steps in and does something unthinkable. Add to that everyone's propensity for miscommunication and you have someone who is just like us in that it takes a lot to find the right person for you.

What genre would you consider this?
Summer Read

Overall:

The Beach House

The Beach House by Jane Green
What was this book about?

Nan is in her sixties and known around town as a bit of an eccentric. When money problems force her to either sell the house she has loved for years or find some other way to make money – she decides that her Nantucket home would be perfect for borders.

Enter several people who will change her life in a way that she never could have imagined. There is Daniel – who is married and has two little girls who have been his life. But he has been lying to himself and his wife for years. He is really just not that into her. Daff has been left by her husband because she found out about an affair that he has been having. She can’t tell her daughter who is at fault, but instead must life with an angry teenager who blames her mother for her father not being there. Nan’s son Michael has lived a life of no commitment and has found himself in a position he doesn’t want to be in – so he returns home to the comfort of his mother.

Each finds friends in each other. Little do they know life’s secrets has another twist for all of them!

What did you think about the book?

Family is more then people who share blood. A family is a group of people who care about each other and want to share their lives together. And that for me is what this book is about.

Each person in the novel is working through their own hard times and just trying to live life. But what they find is that by sharing their problems and themselves they instead become much better then they ever could have imagined during that tough time.

SPOILER: I have to admit that I always thought that Nan’s husband was going to return in some fashion. But I have to say – it wasn’t exactly how I expected it. So it was nice to have a twist thrown in.

What genre would you consider this?
Family Dynamics

Overall:

Last Kiss

Last Kiss by Luane Rice

What was this book about?

Teenager Charlie Rice goes to New York for school and never returns. Instead he is killed by what seems to be a random mugging. He leaves so many behind that are morning him and that are unable to move on with the feelings of randomness associated with his unexpected murder. Those he leaves behind are desperate to find out what really happened and why.

There is his single mother Sheridan. Who was a famous singer and songwriter – but now that her son has died her heart is just not in it. She has been burned by several romances and the one thing she had been living for was the joy her son brought her.

Charlie’s girlfriend – the love of his life – Nell Kilvert. They grew up together and she knew they would always be together. His absence has broken her heart and she just can’t understand why she is being punished like this. Her (almost) step-mother Stevie has seen both grow up and feels like they were her children. How can she help Nell deal with the grief?

Gavin Dawson has been invited by Nell to investigate what really happened to Charlie. But he has his own connection to Hubbard’s Point, Connecticut. He once was the sould mate of Sheridan. But youth and their own pain drove them apart. Can he get another chance at this love?

What did you think about the book?

Where there is heartache and pain there can also be love and happiness. Losing someone is never easy – whether it is a husband or wife, boyfriend or girlfriend, best friend, or child there is pain for everyone. You fight a battle daily with how you wish things had been, how you wish they were there.

Time passes and your feelings begin to change – get a little less sharp – but never go away. But for all this pain the fact that you can feel also opens you up for life’s little happinesses. The joy of friendship. The joy of finding a love. The joy of having a child. The joy of sharing your gift (painting, singing, writing).

To me that was what this book was about. It was about how life is full of joy and happiness, guilt, pain and misery. Life isn’t perfect. But even the most painful things can have a silver lining.

If you are looking for something that will make you feel upbeat. I do not know if this is a book that will do it. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel and it definitely shows it to you.

What genre would you consider this?
Summer Read

Overall:

LoveHampton

LoveHampton by Tess Gerritsen


What was this book about?

Tori Miller has been dumped by her long time boyfriend and is in a rut. She has a great job, owns a company that is doing quite well, and has friends that love her. They decide they will help her get out and meet someone. She gets a makeover and becomes – Miller – housemate in a share house in the Hamptons.

The Hampton’s experience is one of both a small town and college life. Everyone knows everyone and everyone shows up at the same places. But Miller finds a way to fit in and become what she always wanted. But at what price?

What did you think about the book?

Tori is a genuine person who had a down time in her life and wants to do something to pick it up. Of course when this happens, many times it is a life of extremes. You were once behaving at one extreme and it is hard to not go to far in the opposite direction. This exploration of that and her desire to become someone new is interesting. Becoming someone new can also be difficult as the old you is always lurking in the corner and will come out at the most inopportune times.

What genre would you consider this?
Summer Read

Overall: