The Room by the Lake

When Caitlin moved from London to New York, she thought she had left her problems behind: her alcoholic father, her dead mother, the pressure to succeed. But now, down to her last dollar in a foreign city, she is desperately lonely.

Then she meets Jake. Handsome, smart, slightly damaged Jake. He lives off-grid, in a lakeside commune whose members practice regular exercise and frequent group therapy. Before long, Caitlin has settled into her idyllic new home.

It looks like she has found the fresh start she longed for. But, as the commune tightens its grip on her freedom and her sanity, Caitlin realizes too late that she might become lost forever...

*May Contain Spoilers*

Emma Dibdin writes of how wonderful living off the grid can be... except when it comes with manipulation, a forced regimen, and unlicensed therapy. The Room by the Lake is a thrilling novel that takes a girl who is running away from her troubles and gives her peace, but the price is high. 

Almost a year after Caitlin loses her mother, and her father resumes his alcoholic tendencies, she decides on a whim to leave London. Ending up in New York with very limited money and no friends, Caitlin struggles to move forward. It's during this time of feeling lost that Caitlin actually becomes lost in a lakeside commune in upstate New York. After meeting Jake, a seemingly nice yet slightly damaged young man, he takes her to the commune. 

Caitlin is an intelligent young woman who has just graduated from Oxford. I think readers will mainly connect with her based on her emotional states and internal feelings because most of the book is focused on this in one way or the other. Whether Caitlin is examining her own feelings or being evaluated by Don, the therapy leader in the commune, readers get a very detailed look into Caitlin's psyche. However, that also includes the confusion and uncertainty that comes with Caitlin being manipulated by those around her. So at times, the reader will definitely question Caitlin's sanity. This aligns with Caitlin questioning her own sanity as the environment really starts to shift away from peaceful and toward the edges of frightening. 

The novel follows both Caitlin's entry into and exit from the commune. Though the building of suspense is a little slow, the climactic scene is worth the agony of waiting. The evolution of the story includes Caitlin wanting to leave the commune immediately and shifts to her slowly accepting the restrictions and rules that the commune shares with her (or forces upon her). At first, this new routine and the expunging of social chaos is freeing. But when Caitlin begins losing time, struggling to remember key details and finds another commune member dead -- the peaceful feeling disappears instantly. She begins to realize something is drastically wrong but can't stay conscious long enough to figure it out. During these chapters, I think readers will be unable to put the book down. I know these sections were the only parts that kept me reading at a frantic pace. The only big thing that bothered me, and though it's explained it still bothers me now, is that Caitlin trusted everyone so easily. If I was suddenly forced into a strange camping situation with rules and restrictions that I immediately felt uncomfortable with, I don't think I would have stayed for more than one night. But manipulation is a strong force so I can't really blame Caitlin for falling into this facade of peace, acceptance, and the illusion of bettering one's self. With a mixed stream of consciousness writing style and the unreliability of the narrator, I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy psychological thrillers. 

Rating: 3/5 Cups

Always There

In this fresh, poignant novel, Always There, Shelby Lynn LeeMaster grapples with her recent “orphaned” life and how to let down her guard to fully experience true love, allowing it in to her heart without fear. The mother, Betheny LeeMaster, struggles with dying before she could teach and guide her children into adulthood. The daughter cannot break from her own fears, while the mother cannot forgive herself for leaving her children too soon. The different narrators, the mother in Heaven and the daughter on Earth, tell their stories in alternating chapters. Can the two women reconcile their fears and remorse before it’s too late, and Shelby loses the one man she’s destined to be with?

*May Contain Spoilers*

Carol  Ann Albright-Eastman shares the afterlife with the living in her novel, Always There. As a mother worries about how her children turned out after she died from cancer, her daughter struggles with the fear and pain of being, and dying, alone. 

Bethany died from colon cancer when her youngest daughter was twenty. She spends the afterlife with her husband, who died before she did, and sisters. Readers will connect with this character based on her title, Mother. She wonders and worries that she didn't have enough time to prepare her children for the adult world before the cancer killed her. Readers will use this to build a relationship with Bethany, connecting with the universal fear of what happens when we aren't there to help the most important people in our lives.

Shelby was the youngest of Bethany's three children. Saying goodbye to both of her parents before she turned twenty-one took it's toll on her quirky and fun personality. Now she lives in fear. She's so afraid that her life may be stolen by cancer - the death sentence that took her Aunts as well as her mom - that she refuses to let anyone in. Readers will form a bond with Shelby based on her fears. It's too easy to shut yourself off from the world when death looms on the horizon. Especially when alone seems like the safest place from worry and pain. 

Readers will quickly form strong bonds with each of these main characters and they will only strengthen as the plot advances. The story line focuses on Shelby and how close she comes to losing everything that matters - including her destiny, Chance. As Shelby struggles to open up to love, the last Aunt of the family passes away and joins Bethany in the afterlife. When Bethany learns of her daughter's emotional conflict, she tries to find a way to help her. Highly recommended novel! 

Rating: 4.5/5 Cups

Always There

A Defensive Disguise

Do we, as people, hide behind a carefully planned disguise to guard ourselves from the cruelties of the world? 

In Sins of a Wicked Duke, by Sophie Jordan, Fallon O'Rourke believes that that is the only way for her to be safe in a world of mischievous men. Fallon has never had an easy life, working for every bit of food and any shelter that she can find. Yet she finds she feels the safest when she's disguised as a footman, working for the "demon" duke, Dominic Hale.  

Are the disguises that we give ourselves a defense tactic? Or are we simply afraid to show our true selves to those who may harm us? These questions surfaced while I was reading this novel and I found myself connecting with Fallon because of her tactics. Hiding herself away in order to achieve her long term goal, a home of her own. Many people have been in similar situations where they must act a certain way and give a specific appearance in order to blend in with the crowd. 

But just as Fallon questioned her tactics, we must also ask, when is it time to come out of hiding? 

Sins of a Wicked Duke on Amazon

rating: 3/5 cups

Internal Chaos and Expectations

The past is a common theme in novels. It's a novel in itself, the history of who we are. Heartfire by Karen Rose Smith centers around Tessa and Max, two people who let their past step in the way of their future. Their fear of rejection and the threat of giving up who they are forces the love they have for each other to become unstable.

Tessa was left by her mother when she was young. Thrown into the world of foster homes, she never felt she really belonged anywhere. A relatable thought between her and some readers. After chasing news across the world as a foreign correspondent, she knows where she wants to belong - with Max, but will she give up her life of traveling to finally put down some roots?

Max's wife died of cancer when their son, Ryan, was just a little boy. When Ryan's godmother, Tessa, comes back to town for his birthday, old feelings are rekindled between Max and Tessa. Tessa's the whirlwind where his wife was the calm and he'll have to accept that Tessa isn't Leslie.

This novel was a little slow at certain parts but after connecting with the characters during the first few chapters, I couldn't put it down. Smith writes her characters with all of their flaws put onto the table, flaws the characters themselves don't even know about. The expectations that the characters put on each other was an idea that usually goes unnoticed but Smith was focused on the details. The internal chaos of each character was almost enough to make me want to scream at the words on the pages.

Tessa's sense of adventure and fear of settling down are aspects of her character that readers can really relate to. The question between career and family appears a few times and forces the reader to question what they would do in the same situation. The answer seems easy at first, but on second thought it's much harder. Smith does an excellent job in Heartfire by showing the reader that there are different perspectives to be seen and compromises to be made in every situation.

Heartfire on Amazon

rating: 4/5 cups

To the Depths of the Disaster

Emma is two weeks away from the biggest day of her life. Her wedding. Happy with no pre-wedding jitters. Until an unexpected call from her brother forces her home to search for her missing fiance.

The apartment is empty.

Except for her fiance's unconscious brother laying on the bathroom floor covered in blood.

At the hospital, with no word from her fiance, Emma's mind starts to wonder. What could have happened to Dan? Is he missing or did he leave her? Who did this to his brother? Why isn't Dan picking up his cell phone? Emma struggles to find the answers while the questions keep piling up and the police department doesn't want to wait for an explanation - they want to find Dan and arrest him for attempted murder.

Readers find themselves along side Emma, wondering, doubting, creating theories, and hoping against hope that everything really will be all right in the end. Whether warning her or cheering her on, Pilkington pulls the reader in from the get go, never letting off the gas, dragging them down to the depths of Emma's disaster. The One You Love is a mystery novel so well threaded together that when the back cover is closed, the reader feels (more than) accomplished at helping Emma solve it.

The One You Love on Amazon

rating: 4/5 cups

The Dream of Change

"You know what'll happen if people catch us? Forget the time I accidentally use the wrong changing room down at McRae's women's wear, I'd have guns pointing at my house." - The Help by Kathryn Stockett (p192).

Miss Skeeter, one of the main characters in The Help, dreams of being a writer. The kind of writer that makes a difference. Pushed to find an idea that no one before her has thought of, Miss Skeeter decides to write the view of being a housemaid from a new perspective. She dares to dream of change.

Recruiting two housemaids, Minny and Aibileen, Miss Skeeter writes about the stories they tell her. What it's like working for a white family, raising their children, and having their own life outside of their jobs. When an editor shows interest in reading the work the three women are secretly doing, they know they must branch out and find other housemaids to be a part of the process.

With the fear of being caught wrapping around their shoulders like a shawl, the three women continue to construct their dream of change. The consequence if they are caught? Being charged with conspiring integration which could lead to beatings, jail, bombs, arson, and death.

Can these three women fight the evil hands of fate that threaten to steal their hope of change? Can they overcome the scars this battle promises to leave?

And will they have the strength and courage to say that they don't regret it?