Stalking Jack the Ripper

Hello all! It's been quite some time since I posted anything. Between a new job and a newborn baby, my plate has been overflowing. But, I finally finished reading a book! And it was wonderful. This book was given to me by one of my best friends and I started it nearly six weeks ago. Somehow, between feedings, naps, and late nights, I finally completed Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco.

Here's the synopsis:
Seventeen-year-old Audrey Rose Wadsworth was born a lord's daughter, with a life of wealth and privilege stretched out before her. But between the social teas and silk dress fittings, she leads a forbidden secret life.

Against her stern father's wishes and society's expectations, Audrey often slips away to her uncle's laboratory to study the gruesome practice of forensic medicine. When her work on a string of savagely killed corpses drags Audrey into the investigation of a serial murderer, her search for answers brings her close to her own sheltered world.


Review:
This historical fiction/mystery crime novel was very entertaining. Though I didn't have the time to become completely enthralled, I feel like if given the proper attention, then this book could consume a reader's entire day (or night).

I really enjoy historical fiction so I also enjoyed Maniscalco's interpretation of Jack's reign of terror. She combined some interesting scientific advancements and trials of the time to add to the plot. The characters were also intriguing. I liked Audrey Rose's resistance to the typical stereotype associated with the late 1800s woman. She fought against the poufy skirts by studying science, specifically forensic science. The love interest, Thomas, who is a suspect at one point, was also intriguing. He seemed like a dark and twisty kind of guy but turned out to be a sweetheart with a scarred past. Just the way we romance readers like 'em! *wink wink*

It was also very satisfying to be right about the identity of Jack the Ripper, though the blurb "I was the girl who loved Jack the Ripper" kind of limits the suspect list.

I do recommend this book to readers who enjoy historical fiction and young adult novels. However, I feel I must add that this book has some gruesome descriptions along with a couple creepy photographs! (Add a dark and stormy night to induce chills.)

Rating: 4/5 Cups

(Can't believe I got this whole thing written while my little one sleeps! Maybe I should change the name of the blog to A Mom Who Reads so the interruptions are already implied! haha! Happy reading!) 

The Kite Runner

Amir is the son of a wealthy Kabul merchant, a member of the ruling caste of Pashtuns. Hassan, his servant and constant companion, is a Hazara, a despised and impoverished caste. Their uncommon bond is torn by Amir's choice to abandon his friend amidst the increasing ethnic, religious, and political tensions of the dying years of the Afghan monarchy, wrenching them far apart. But so strong is the bond between the two boys that Amir journeys back to a distant world, to try to right past wrongs against the only true friend he ever had.

The unforgettable, heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between a wealthy boy and the son of his father’s servant, The Kite Runner is a beautifully crafted novel set in a country that is in the process of being destroyed. It is about the power of reading, the price of betrayal, and the possibility of redemption; and an exploration of the power of fathers over sons—their love, their sacrifices, their lies.

A sweeping story of family, love, and friendship told against the devastating backdrop of the history of Afghanistan over the last thirty years, The Kite Runner is an unusual and powerful novel that has become a beloved, one-of-a-kind classic.

*May Contain Spoilers*

I should have known after I read And the Mountains Echoed that The Kite Runner would be a great book. Khaled Hosseini does an amazing job crafting a story that is both hauntingly beautiful and powerfully terrifying. To be honest, I was nervous to read it before because I'd heard about the brutality that moves the book forward, but overcoming that uncertainty rewarded me with a story that will stay with me. 

The main character, Amir, isn't the most likable or relatable, but for half of the book, he is a child who doesn't know better. Or, at least, I found myself giving him that excuse. He's a little cowardly, yet intelligent. He's a beautiful writer but suffers from selfishness. He loves his best friend, Hassan, but still recognizes that, in society, Hassan is beneath him. However, I think Amir's best trait is his guilt. Though it takes Amir a long time, years actually, Amir does get the chance to make up for everything wrong that he believes he did as a child. Emphasis on the 'as a child' phrase. As a reader, there's not as much blame to cast on Amir as his character thinks. In the face of adversity and evil, a young boy doesn't have much of a chance. And this is what is haunting about Hosseini's writing: the morally gray area that his characters live and die in. As Amir shares the truth of his childhood from a present-day point of view, readers will see that as a child, he didn't have as much power as he thought. Therefore, his lack of bravery and courage won't be seen as marks against his character, but rather as traits that had not developed yet. When those traits do appear, as an adult back in Afghanistan charged with rescuing another young boy who is being abused, Amir would choose death over inaction, demonstrating that he has evolved into the man he always wanted to be. 

The plot of this novel begins with Amir's life as a young boy and how he grew with feelings of personal disappointment. When Afghanistan becomes really dangerous, Amir leaves the country with his father to make a new life in the U.S. After he marries and settles into his adult life, Amir learns that his favorite family friend from childhood is dying and travels back to his home country. There he learns of his childhood best friend's death and the tragedy of his son. With everything to lose, Amir chooses to try to save the boy in order to pay for his past sins of not saving the boy's father. The combination of Hosseini's writing style with the realistic nature of this book, marking it as almost autobiographical, gives The Kite Runner a power that condemns, forgives, and overcomes. Though I want to say I'd recommend this book to everyone, there are a few graphic scenes that make it inappropriate for all readers. Though it truly is an extraordinary book of friendship, love, and atonement. 

Rating: 4.5/5 Cups

What's Next, Wednesday (102)

•  To play along share a book you've been looking forward to reading, whether it's new or has been on your reading list for a while.

I'm looking forward to...

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. My final class of grad school is here! Therefore, I'm prepping for my Master's Thesis. That means that up next on my reading list is this book, which I have never read before. I know, I know. I'm also shaking my head. :) But! I'm reading it now and paying very close attention to every detail. 

Love in the Time of Cholera

In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fall passionately in love. When Fermina eventually chooses to marry a wealthy, well-born doctor, Florentino is devastated, but he is a romantic. As he rises in his business career he whiles away the years in 622 affairs--yet he reserves his heart for Fermina. Her husband dies at last, and Florentino purposefully attends the funeral. Fifty years, nine months, and four days after he first declared his love for Fermina, he will do so again.

*May Contain Spoilers*

Love in the Time of Cholera is another example of a classic book that I never picked up without good reason. I've always wanted to read it, but there was also always another book that I needed to read first. Finally, with my current grad school class, I read this amazing novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 

The main characters, Florentino and Fermina, were secret teenage sweethearts in Latin America until Fermina's father found out about the connection and took Fermina away on a trip that would force her to realize that what she needed in adulthood was not love, but stability in all forms. With her hopes dashed and the crushing reality that life does not revolve around love, Fermina marries another - the serious yet quirky Dr. Urbino. More than fifty years later, the day of Dr. Urbino's death, Florentino reappears with the same promises that he loves Fermina and wants to be with her. But, Fermina still isn't sure. She's ruled by the dictations of society and the opinions of others. Through these characters, Marquez shares, with heavy doses of beautiful prose and magical realism, the story of a love that has lasted more than fifty years and now, near the end of life's cycle, has another chance. 

Though I didn't exactly like Fermina, I did understand her reasoning. Her motives and decisions make sense in a society that doesn't let anyone be who they really are. So, although I wanted her to choose love, I didn't blame her for rejecting Florentino. Though, Florentino's dedication to her was incredibly surprising. I still struggle to understand why he never moved on. He had other relationships with women and in reality, Florentino and Fermina didn't have that much time to really get to know each other's personality. So although the relationship is one that is difficult to understand, the feelings between them last nearly a lifetime. And in their old age, they get to be reunited. But then they struggle to accept the judgment that undoubtedly comes from their connection. The novel asks now that they're older, shouldn't they have grown out of falling in love? 

The plot of this novel begins with the death of one of Dr. Urbino's closest friends and the secrets revealed with it. As death becomes a reality for Urbino, it comes calling just hours later. Through flashbacks and memories, Marquez shares the story of the love that blossomed between Florentino and Fermina as young people, the rejection of Florentino by Fermina, the meeting of her and Dr. Urbino, their marriage, including their struggles, and Florentino's life without Fermina in it until they can be reunited through her widowhood. My favorite part about this book was the weight of the magic that hung on each page. Marquez writes of ghosts, feelings, and omens as if they were physical objects that could be touched. Though the novel and the details did become a little heavy at times, this book forces the reader to take it slow or risk missing an important detail. Though the characters were complex and not easy to like, or truly connect with, they were realistic and flawed. With an important focus on character and the amount of detail and subtlety in his writing style, I know for sure that I will definitely be reading more of Marquez's work and recommending him to anyone who hasn't read his books.

Rating: 4/5 Cups

Ragtime

Published in 1975, Ragtime changed our very concept of what a novel could be. An extraordinary tapestry, Ragtime captures the spirit of America in the era between the turn of the century & the First World War. The story opens in 1906 in New Rochelle, NY, at the home of an affluent American family. One lazy Sunday afternoon, the famous escape artist Harry Houdini swerves his car into a telephone pole outside their house. Almost magically, the line between fantasy & historical fact, between real & imaginary characters, disappears. Henry Ford, Emma Goldman, J.P. Morgan, Evelyn Nesbit, Sigmund Freud & Emiliano Zapata slip in & out of the tale, crossing paths with Doctorow's imagined family & other fictional characters, including an immigrant peddler & a ragtime musician from Harlem whose insistence on a point of justice drives him to revolutionary violence.

*May Contain Spoilers*

Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow was an assigned reading for me, which sometimes don't start off very fun. However, I really got into this book after just a few chapters! With the combination of historical figures, some I recognized and a few I didn't, and an anonymous American family, the book's plot and connections came to life. 

There were several characters that I felt a connection with and other characters I felt an interest in. Harry Houdini was one historical figure that I felt both with. I've always found Houdini to be an interesting person and have even watched a couple of biographies about him. This book definitely hit on my interest and expanded it as Doctorow shares Houdini's feelings and experiences. Other historical figures like Emma Goldman, I hadn't heard of, but I still felt a pull toward her character as she took on the role of female immigrant revolutionary. I think readers of this book will find the depictions of historical people quite imaginative and interesting. 

The fictional family that works to unite all of these historical figures remains anonymous throughout the entire book. Mother, Father, Younger Brother, and the Little Boy all play their roles while introducing the evolution of those roles that the turn of the 20th century was challenging. What's even more interesting is the connection readers will feel emotionally with these anonymous beings, as if the reader takes them and assigns them an importance subconsciously. I personally connected, and respected, most with Mother because she challenged the gender roles of the early 1900s by taking part in her husband's work, caring for people without regard to their race, and following her heart to find happiness. Though this book isn't just about those sort of connections, it also speaks to the need for change, like in the case of Coalhouse. Coalhouse, a dignified black man, is the victim of a hate crime and demands retribution. Though he suffers for it, he eventually does witness that retribution symbolizing the evolution of equality. 

I don't know if everyone would like this book. Honestly, I probably wouldn't have picked it up had it not been assigned. However, it is sadly still relevant to what is going on in politics and society today. Therefore, I would recommend it to readers interested in history, society and politics, and the evolution of the views within each. 

Rating: 3/5 Cups

River Rising (Carson Chronicles #1)

Weeks after his parents disappear on a hike, engineer Adam Carson, 27, searches for answers. Then he discovers a secret web site and learns his mom and dad are time travelers stuck in the past. Armed with the information he needs to find them, Adam convinces his younger siblings to join him on a rescue mission to the 1880s.

While Greg, the adventurous middle brother, follows leads in the Wild West, Adam, journalist Natalie, and high school seniors Cody and Caitlin do the same in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Like the residents of the bustling steel community, all are unaware of a flood that will destroy the city on May 31, 1889.

In RIVER RISING, the first novel in the Carson Chronicles series, five young adults find love, danger, and adventure as they experience America in the age of bustle dresses, gunslingers, and robber barons.

*May Contain Spoilers*

River Rising begins another time travel series by John A. Heldt, but one that promises a little more action with characters that are constant. I always enjoy time travel novels because they give me history with the facts mixed into the fiction, which I love. This novel is no exception as Heldt takes a family of five back to the 1880s in search of their parents. With five main characters, there's a character for any kind of reader to connect with and plenty of circumstances that demand it. 

Adam is the oldest and the 'leader' of the Carson clan. He's intelligent but haunted by an old wound. His romantic history remains a mystery for most of the novel but is eventually revealed. As he falls in love with a woman from the 1880s, readers will enjoy his triumph over loss and feel connected to him emotionally. 

Natalie was my favorite character as she is witty, smart, and likes to challenge the males around her. It was enjoyable to read her chapters and she even kept me on my toes at times. She also gains a love interest (like most of her siblings) but her story is much sadder than Adam's. Her story will offer a connection through empathy and understanding as well as through her personality. 

Greg is sort of the wild sibling as he is the only one who stirs up trouble in the 1880s. Though he is also quite intelligent and an outdoorsman, the role he plays is mainly doing the actual searching for the Carson parents. He does much more traveling than anyone else and introduces readers to other places in 1880s besides Pennsylvania. 

Caitlin and Cody are the youngest siblings and are also twins. They attend school in the 1880s and provide a younger perspective. Caitlin is kind of a bookworm, which I loved, while Cody tends to slip up and spout off clues to their time traveling status. He is also the youngest to fall in love with another high school senior which causes some teenage angst to enter the novel. 

With something for everyone, this time traveling novel is bound to please. I really enjoyed all of the characters and am looking forward to seeing what happens in the next installment. The series follows the plot of the five siblings looking for their time traveling parents who they thought were dead in different historical settings. Next up: the year 1918. The only thing is, Tim and Caroline Carson are also looking for them as they eventually returned to the future and saw that their children had 'disappeared.' So with more danger and intrigue lurking, the next book in the series already seems to be pulling me in. 

Rating: 3.5/5 Cups

Teaser Tuesday (298)

Welcome to Teaser Tuesday, the weekly Meme that wants you to add books to your TBR, or just share what you are currently reading. It is very easy to play along:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! Everyone loves Teaser Tuesday.

River Rising (Kindle 76%)

     - John A Heldt

"Something tells me your dilemma involves more than a desire to return to Arizona."

"It does," Natalie said. "It involves something I've been afraid to talk about for months, something that would test the limits of your imagination." 

The Married Girls (The Girl With No Name #2)

Wynsdown, 1949. In the small Somerset village of Wynsdown, Charlotte Shepherd is happily married to farmer Billy. She arrived from Germany on the Kindertransport as a child during the war and now feels settled in her adopted home.

Meanwhile, the squire's fighter pilot son, Felix, has returned to the village with a fiancée in tow. Daphne is beautiful, charming... and harbouring secrets. After meeting during the war, Felix knows some of Daphne's past, but she has worked hard to conceal that which could unravel her carefully built life.

For Charlotte, too, a dangerous past is coming back in the shape of fellow refugee, bad boy Harry Black. Forever bound by their childhoods, Charlotte will always care for him, but Harry's return disrupts the village quiet and it's not long before gossip spreads.

The war may have ended, but for these girls, trouble is only just beginning.

*May Contain Spoilers*

After WWII, England was in a time of rebuilding and her citizens were trying to move on with their lives. The Married Girls, the second in the series by Diney Costeloe, presents interwoven stories that explore marriage, love, family, finances, and loss after the war had ended focusing on members of a small village in Somerset.

Charlotte is the main character of the book and it seems that all other story lines revolve around her. She was a German refugee during the war and was taken in by foster parents during it. In this book, Charlotte (whose German name was Lisa) is married with two children. She's a strong character whose two main qualities are beauty and kindness. Many of the villagers like Charlotte and her sweet, caring nature are demonstrated with how she treats those around her. Through the novel, Charlotte has to face a few difficult situations and how she reacts to and handles these events define her strength and highlight her resolve. Readers will connect with Charlotte through her personality first and her reaction to events second. As the life she built seems to crumble in the second half of the book, readers will not only be cheering for Charlotte's emotional survival, they'll be hoping for a happy ending. 

Billy, Felix, Harry, and Daphne are the main supporting cast of characters. Billy is Charlotte's husband and is an amazing father to their children. Though he does present a bit of jealousy when Harry returns to visit Charlotte. Harry Black (also known as Victor) is a member of the criminal world. He's been hiding in Australia for a few years, hoping the England Police have forgotten him. He returns to finish up a bit of business for his dying boss and is emotionally pushed to find Charlotte again. This creates a cloud of gossip around Charlotte and marks the beginning of her struggles. 

Felix and Daphne are engaged (and married in the later parts of the book), but their relationship is one built on lies. Daphne wants to be happily married to a rich man that can provide her every wish. She sets her eyes on Felix and does everything she can to marry him. Yet, Daphne doesn't get the life she thought she would and starts to resent Felix. Her biggest secret, the fact that she has a daughter, threatens to come out and Daphne does everything in her power to keep it under wraps. Daphne is not a likeable character and readers will hope that Felix somehow escapes from her grasp. Felix is a  good, kindhearted, caring, and dependable man. When his father dies unexpectedly, he moves back to Wynsdown to care for his mother and restore the family estate. Though his married life is full of unhappiness, he tries to make it work. I think readers will feel a strong connection to Felix, as he certainly doesn't deserve the kind of treatment Daphne provides. 

The Married Girls follows the relationships of these characters as they rebuild their lives after the ending of the war. By focusing on the character's lives, this book provides readers with strong connections to its characters.  There are several side plots that build the action and evoke emotional responses from readers. Yet, the main focus of the story is love. By the end, readers will see that this whole novel has really only been about two characters who find happiness and peace with each other. However, the ending is a bit abrupt and I felt like I didn't get a sense of closure for all the characters. As this is the second in the series, I can't help but wonder if there will be a third installment. With Costeloe's writing style and her power to bring the past to life, accurately and thoroughly evoking the emotional and lifestyle struggles of the time period, I would definitely recommend this book as well as be excited to read anything else by this author. 

Rating: 3.5/5 Cups

Class of '59

When Mary Beth McIntire settles into a vacation house on June 2, 2017, she anticipates a quiet morning with coffee. Then she hears a noise, peers out a window, and spots a man in 1950s attire standing in the backyard. She panics when the trespasser sees her and enters the house though a door to the basement. She questions her sanity when she cannot find him.

In the same house on March 21, 1959, Mark Ryan finds a letter. Written by the mansion’s original owner in 1900, the letter describes a basement chamber, mysterious crystals, and a formula for time travel. Driven by curiosity, Mark tests the formula twice. On his second trip to 2017, he encounters a beautiful stranger. He meets the woman in the window.

Within hours, Mary Beth and Mark share their secret with her sister and his brother and begin a journey that takes them from the present day to the age of sock hops, drive-ins, and jukeboxes. In CLASS OF ’59, the fourth book in the American Journey series, four young adults find love, danger, and adventure as they navigate the corridors of time and experience Southern California in its storied prime.

*May Contain Spoilers*

John Heldt opens the door to a few new time travelers that stumble into and out of 1959, in his new American Journey book, Class of '59. A young man discovers the power to time travel in his Los Angeles home, a home that will someday belong to Geoffrey Bell, a common character (and time traveler) in the American Journey series. When he's caught by a present day woman, all bets are off as he tries to convince her what's he found. 

Mark and Ben Ryan and Mary Beth and Piper McIntire are the four main characters in this novel. Mark is the oldest Ryan brother and is the first to discover the time travelling tunnel beneath his house and how it works with a corresponding crystal. Mark is the typical 1950's gentleman. He's intelligent, driven, loves his family, a little adventurous, and is definitely caring. Ben, however, does not portray himself as that 1950s gentleman. He is more self-centered, conceited, egotistical, and grumpy. His teenage personality gives the story more pep and a little more sarcasm. Though there's more to Ben then that; it just takes a while for his better personality traits to actually come out. He's more of a get-to-know character. Which, Piper McIntire signs up for. 

Piper is the young McIntire sister who thinks Mary Beth and Mark are crazy when they introduce her to the time travelling tunnel. Piper is also a teenager and is prone to fits of grumpiness and uncertain emotions. Her sarcasm and banter are fun to read while her deeper, more personal thoughts are more telling of her character. She also pushes the story forward as it's Piper who decides she wants to make the most out of their experience. She decides she wants to live in the 1950s like a boarding school vacation for six weeks or so, graduate high school again, and get to have the 1950s high school experience complete with poodle skirts and tennis matches. Her sister, Mary Beth, agrees to it. 

Mary Beth McIntire is probably the character easiest to make a connection with. When the story opens, Mary Beth, and readers, witness her fiance being shot in a convenience store robbery. Losing someone she loved paused Mary Beth's happiness. With this emotional connection right at the beginning, readers will enjoy Mary Beth's view of living for the moment and experiencing all there is in 1959. Mary Beth is a very caring and loyal woman who expresses her gratitude and joy within each good moment. She graduated from college and is going into medicine to be a trauma surgeon. She's a great character that loves exploring, experiencing, and a little bit of excitement. But she's also the one who puts everyone in danger.

The plot of Class of '59 does focus on these four young adults who travel between 1959 and 2017. However, Mary Beth, before leaving 2017, buys a book that held sports scores for past championships and whatnot (think Back to the Future), in order for them to make money in the past. Because of a receipt with an unbelievable date, a very bad criminal in 1959 discovers the existence of that book and plans on tracking down Mary Beth to find it. This plot addition gives the book a little action with its adventure. 

Class of '59 is a great story, rich in detail and character connections, but I had trouble with the dialogue again. To me, there are a few too many "OK, I will"s and "Let me explain"s. These repetitive phrases seem to take away the individuality of each character, because they all use them. I also had an issue with Mark Ryan meeting Mary Beth's father. In the first half of the book, Mary Beth takes Mark to lunch with her parents in 2017. Toward the end of the book, Mark is again introduced to Mary Beth's parents with, I believe, only a few weeks apart. If I were one of her parents, I would remember having lunch with a Californian gentleman for longer than two weeks after I had that meal. That makes me wonder what Mary Beth would have told her parents if they would have realized it was the same man. Regardless, this installment of the American Journey series does not disappoint. 

Rating: 3.5/5 Cups

What's Next, Wednesday (38)

•  To play along share a book you've been looking forward to reading, whether it's new or has been on your reading list for a while.

I'm looking forward to...

Class of '59 by John Heldt. The American Journey series continues with this fourth installment, but with one main difference. The time traveler doesn't make it through the tunnel without being seen. Thus begins the journey of Mary and Mark. Mark, a man from the 1950s, takes Mary back in time with him to explore the decade. We'll have to see if this involves the well known Dr. Bell or if this is a story set apart from him and his studious excursions. All I know is that Heldt writes great historical fiction and it always comes with a bit of drama. 

The Taste of Air

A simple phone call disrupts Nell Williams’s well-ordered life. Her mother, Mary, is in a hospital in Vermont. But her mother is supposed to be safely tucked away in an assisted-living facility in Massachusetts, so Nell can’t fathom why she would be so far from home.

After notifying her sister, Bridget, Nell hops on a plane and rushes to her mother’s side. There, she discovers that her mother has been living a second life. Mary has another home and a set of complex relationships with people her daughters have never met.

When Nell and Bridget delve deeper into their mother’s lakeside hideaway, they uncover a vault of family secrets and the gateway to change for all three women.

*May Contain Spoilers*

One mother's secret becomes a beacon of hope and freedom for her two daughters in Gail Cleare's novel, The Taste of Air. An unexpected illness uncovers Mary's secret hideaway in Vermont when her daughter Nell is called to her hospital bedside. What begins as anger and confusion as to why Mary would keep a second life hidden from her family, becomes understanding and newfound confidence, as Nell and her sister, Bridget, dig to find out why their mother kept the secret at all. 

Mary, Nell, and Bridget share the narrator position as this novel unfolds, spanning decades. Mary's story is told in the past, sharing her time as an army nurse. As readers see her fall in love with Thomas, struggle through his MIA status, and seek comfort in the arms of another man, they'll slowly begin to understand why she had her secret hideaway. Mary worked as a nurse and that defined her personality throughout the book. She was always caring, loving, and willing to provide comfort. She also had a strong sense of duty that she let direct her life. Yet she craved freedom from the role. Readers may be just as confused as her daughters as they discover Mary's secret, but throughout the flashbacks, her decisions become crystal clear and readers will undoubtedly understand her motives. Though they may not completely understand why she kept the secret from Nell and Bridget for so long, as this was one main point I struggled with. 

Nell is semi-happily married with children of her own, yet she also craves freedom from her role as mother and wife. Nell is a strong woman who can carry a lot on her shoulders, but this secret life of her mother's definitely throws her for a loop. She also has the gentle, caring spirit of her mother, but she wants answers and she's determined to find them. Readers will most likely side with Nell immediately. She feels like her mother lied to her and is understandably upset. Though as the novel progresses, Nell realizes that she wants, and needs, exactly what her mother wanted -- room to breathe and be herself. 

Bridget experiences nearly the same thing, but with different factors. She's in a loveless marriage that borders on abusive. She's determined to leave her husband and rediscover herself as a single woman. Though she's upset by her mother's secrets, it doesn't seem to affect her as much as it does Nell. Bridget's attitude and personality are also a lot different from Nell's. Bridget is more flirtatious, open-minded, and playful. She gives the story an air of fun while also tackling a couple big issues like finding the daughter she was (unoffically) forced to give up and escaping an abusive, manipulative husband. Readers will enjoy watching Bridget grow and evolve while she's trying to help unravel her mother's mystery. 

The Taste of Air begins with Mary's illness and the discovery of a secret second life in Vermont by her daughters, Nell and Bridget. The main plot line follows them as they sort the clues and piece them together to form a bigger picture. It's a family mystery that is both intriguing and nerve-wracking, though it becomes completely understandable. Nell and Bridget discover so much about themselves, their family, their past, and their mother. The story is very well written and the pieces are placed perfectly so that readers begin to make connections just as Nell and Bridget are finding them, leading to the fact that everyone needs a little freedom in their lives to just be themselves. 

Rating: 4/5 Cups

What's Next, Wednesday (37)

•  To play along share a book you've been looking forward to reading, whether it's new or has been on your reading list for a while.

I'm looking forward to...

The Existence of Pity by Jeannie Zokan. Since the first time I saw this book cover, before it was even finalized, I knew I would want to read it. And it is exactly because it has coffee beans all over it and sometimes I live for coffee. This book is about a teenage girl who tries to save her family. Different beliefs have separated them, and regardless of the lies, Josie wants to help her parents. But as the synopsis says, what happens if they don't want to be saved?

Absalom's Daughters

Self-educated and brown-skinned, Cassie works full time in her grandmother’s laundry in rural Mississippi. Illiterate and white, Judith falls for “colored music” and dreams of life as a big city radio star. These teenaged girls are half-sisters. And when they catch wind of their wayward father’s inheritance coming down in Virginia, they hitch their hopes to a road trip together to claim what’s rightly theirs.

In an old junk car, with a frying pan, a ham, and a few dollars hidden in a shoe, they set off through the American Deep South of the 1950s, a bewitchingly beautiful landscape as well as one bedeviled by racial strife and violence. Suzanne Feldman's Absalom’s Daughters combines the buddy movie, the coming-of-age tale, and a dash of magical realism to enthrall and move us with an unforgettable, illuminating novel.

*May Contain Spoilers*

Absalom's Daughters is the debut novel of Suzanne Feldman, containing beautiful prose that is laced with mysticism. Two girls, Cassie and Judith, discover they're half-sisters and are pushed into finding their father in order to claim an inheritance after a death in the family. They escape rural Mississippi in a junked, and stolen, car, traveling to Virginia where their father resides. With equal doses of help and prejudice, Cassie and Judith have the adventure of a lifetime, learning about the importance of the past and how it lives in the present. 

Cassie, with cinnamon colored skin, has grown up working with her mother and grandmother in the laundry business on Negro Street. She's heard the rumors that her father is a white man and knows that Judith is her sister. At first, the two girls don't exactly get along but there's something that ties them together. After she learns of the inheritance, Cassie's mother tells her to go, escape Mississippi and find something better. Cassie is an open-minded character who grows into her past as she travels. She discovers her history and learns to accept it. She's a brave girl, setting off for Virginia with only a few dollars. Cassie is cautious but friendly, with an air of naivety and hope. Though she's uncertain about what an inheritance really means to her, Cassie takes the chance that the road trip will lead her somewhere better. 

Though Cassie is the main focus of the novel, Judith plays an important role. Judith is the force that moves Cassie forward. Even though she's constantly making up stories and really only dreams of becoming a famous singer, she provides a way for Cassie to grow. Judith isn't the most likeable character at first, but she becomes more understandable as the novel progresses. Struggling with the idea that her father abandoned her and experiencing a miscarriage along the way, Judith is revealed as a strong character who doesn't let anything stop her from dreaming. 

My favorite thing about this book is the dialect. Feldman uses this tool to really bring the characters to life. I always love when an author represents a culture through speech, especially when they're successful. It pulls readers deeper into the story, immersing them in the time period and making the story more realistic. 

In the afterword, Feldman thanks William Faulkner as man of inspiration, the title of this book echoing Absalom! Absalom! The name Absalom comes from a biblical story in which Absalom, son of David, rebelled against his father and went to war. In the war he was killed by one of his father's generals. Absalom was said to have a daughter in the bible, though he did not have two. However, this novel echoes the themes of rising up against familial wishes and becoming something more. Another common theme is that the past is part of the present and Feldman demonstrates that belief through the use of mysticism and myth. She allows her characters to grow into the past as they learn to understand it, ultimately giving Cassie a new life, a life she can be proud of. 

Rating: 5/5 Cups

(Note: The information about Faulkner's Absalom! Absalom! and the biblical stories are available on Wikipedia at the following pages: Absalom! Absalom! and Absalom.)