That Just Happened!

Meacham, Leila. Roses.  Hachette Book Group (2010).

Spanning the 20th century, the story of Roses takes place in a small East Texas town against the backdrop of the powerful timber and cotton industries, industries controlled by the scions of the town’s founding families. Cotton tycoon Mary Toliver and timber magnate Percy Warwick should have married but unwisely did not, and now must deal with the deceit, secrets, and tragedies of their choice and the loss of what might have been–not just for themselves but for their children, and children’s children.

HachetteBookGroup.com

I loved it!!!  Oh my goodness at the end of this book all I could do was exhale.  Don’t let the size intimidate you; it may be a chunkster, but it reads like a novella.  This really was like Gone With The Wind (as if Scarlet had never been written).  Absolutely fantastic!  It is on my list of top 15 books I have ever read.  (Don’t judge me, I like reading about other people’s problems).  I read this book in 4 days and it kept me on the edge of my seat/bed.  I hated putting it down.  I don’t want to say anything else about it because it is going to give it all away.  Maybe I was just in the mood for a little drama and that’s why it appealed to me so much.  This is a MUST READ for anyone who loves Southern Belles, hard women, harder men and a lot of star-crossed lovin’. 

Must Read.

I read this towards my Twenty Ten Challenge.

Efaw, Amy.  After.  Penguin Group (2009).

An infant left in the trash to die. A teenage mother who never knew she was pregnant . . .

Before That Morning, these were the words most often used to describe straight-A student and star soccer player Devon Davenport: responsible, hardworking, mature. But all that changes when the police find Devon home sick from school as they investigate the case of an abandoned baby. Soon the connection is made—Devon has just given birth; the baby in the trash is hers. After That Morning, there’s only one way to define Devon: attempted murderer.

And yet gifted author Amy Efaw does the impossible— she turns Devon into an empathetic character, a girl who was in such deep denial that she refused to believe she was pregnant. Through airtight writing and fast-paced, gripping storytelling, Ms. Efaw takes the reader on Devon’s unforgettable journey toward clarity, acceptance, and redemption.

Penguin.com

I had heard good things about this book and I was very excited to finally have my turn come up at the library.  I must say this is a troubling story.  A young girl, who until then had been pretty close to perfect, throws her baby out with the trash.  I liked how the author dealt with the psychological aspects of the event.  The dissociation Devon feels with what happened and her life immediately after the event.  The legal aspects of the case are outlined, both for and against her being tried as an adult.  This does give the Reader pause for consideration.  If she is old enough to have sex, is she old enough to face the consequences, or is she just a scared child who was in way over her head?  Although you may have an opinion one way or another, Devon’s story definitely makes you think about your stance and question it just a bit.

As a Reader I flipped between feeling sorry for her and extremely annoyed at how immature she was acting.  Then I reminded myself she’s just 15 years old.  How did I act at 15?  What would I have done if I were in that position?  What would I do now?  The conflicting emotions we feel as Readers is reflected in the attitudes of the Devon’s lawyer.  Part of the time you feel so sad and the other part you think “grow up”. 

Themes are accountability, life decisions and legal vs social norms.  I would not recommend this book to everyone, but I would say it was a pretty good book if you don’t like a tidy ending and your teen isn’t pregnant.  I would Keep This Book in Mind.

I read this towards the 2010 YA Challenge.

Baker, Tiffany.  The Little Giant of Aberdeen County.  Hachette Book Group. (2009).

When Truly Plaice’s mother was pregnant, the town of Aberdeen joined together in betting how recordbreakingly huge the baby boy would ultimately be. The girl who proved to be Truly paid the price of her enormity; her father blamed her for her mother’s death in childbirth, and was totally ill equipped to raise either this giant child or her polar opposite sister Serena Jane, the epitome of femine perfection. When he, too, relinquished his increasingly tenuous grip on life, Truly and Serena Jane are separated–Serena Jane to live a life of privilege as the future May Queen and Truly to live on the outskirts of town on the farm of the town sadsack, the subject of constant abuse and humiliation at the hands of her peers.

When Serena Jane flees town and a loveless marriage to Bob Bob, it is Truly who must become the woman of a house that she did not choose and mother to her eight-year-old nephew Bobbie. Truly’s brother-in-law is relentless and brutal; he criticizes her physique and the limitations of her health as a result, and degrades her more than any one human could bear. It is only when Truly finds her calling–the ability to heal illness with herbs and naturopathic techniques–hidden within the folds of Robert Morgan’s family quilt, that she begins to regain control over her life and herself. Unearthed family secrets, however, will lead to the kind of betrayal that eventually break the Morgan family apart forever, but Truly’s reckoning with her own demons allows for both an uprooting of Aberdeen County, and the possibility of love in unexpected places.

Publishers Web Site

As you may remember, I won this book in a giveaway hosted by Darlene @ Peeking Between the Pages (Thanks, Darlene!).  I was so excited to receive it in the mail (because I love  getting mail!) and I emailed Darlene right away to tell her I had the book in my hot little hands and it was next on my TBR list.  Well, that was true, but it has just taken me a while to post my review, so here we go.

I really, thoroughly, truly enjoyed this book.  I thought it was so well written and it definitely pulled at my heartstrings (the two that are left, that is).  Truly is so misunderstood due to her size, but she has a wealth of feelings that lay just under the surface.  We see them start to break through when she starts dabbling with “witchcraft” and it starts to affect the people in her town.  The Reader really sees Truly walk on a path of self-discovery, but the path has some surprising twists and turns.  I like how Truly is not perfect.  She has flaws and makes mistakes, but she loves dearly, which makes her so relateable.  Although she was ostracized from society, this is not a story about an underdog.  For the most part Truly is very accepting of the way things are and does not try to change until she moves in with Bob Bob.  There is no spectacular, magical ending where all her troubles go away and she just loses the weight and is as pretty as her sister.  Truly is how she is and that won’t change, but the way she feels about it does.

Themes in this book were family, love, and self-discovery. 

I would say this is a Must Read.