Let me just start by saying that this book is adorable. "My Fairy Grandmother", by Aubrey Mace, fulfills every little girl's dream to be special. When 9-year-old Kaitlin finds out that she is a descendent of fairies she is absolutely thrilled. A part of her knows that it is most likely not true, but the greater part of her (the part that wants to be special) believes every word that her grandmother tells her. Viola, the grandmother, has an amazing past and she has been waiting for the right moment to share her heritage with her granddaughter. So when Kaitlin and her mom, Megan, come for a visit she decides that it's time to share her life story with her son's daughter.
Viola is part fairy. Because of this she has certain gifts, one of which is a heart-breakingly beautiful voice. The gifts don't come without some consequences though, and when the wrong person hears about her voice, he decides to kidnap her and make her his own personal songbird. After years of captivity she has to use one of her gifts to escape and save her only friend in the process. The book switches back and forth between the current story of Megan and Kaitlin visiting Viola, and Viola's past being told as if it were happening right then. I'm glad it was written like this because it makes Viola's story that much more engaging and I found myself not being able to put the book down until I finished a section of Viola's past.
This book was a complete surprise. I kept putting off reading it because I thought that it would be just some cheesy little kids book about a grandma with wings and a wand that makes her granddaughters wishes come true. I could not have been more wrong. It's actually a very engaging story that takes the fairytale of fairies to the next level and makes it seem very real. It is a light and easy read. This is what I would call a 'vacation book', because it's perfect for relaxing. It would also be a really neat book to read with your kids. Check it out!
I've been trying to expand my horizons a little bit and read more non-fiction books. My Mom recommended "A Lucky Child", by Thomas Buergenthal. It is an amazing tale about a young boy who survives the holocaust. I didn't know this, but apparently almost all of the children were killed instead of put in concentration camps. They were pulled away from their parents and blown up, shot, or put in gas chambers so that the Nazi soldiers wouldn't have to deal with them. Amazingly, Thomas Buergenthal, was able to avoid being pulled away with the other children. In some cases it seems like divine intervention, other times it was the ingenuity of his parents, but his mom claimed that he was just plain lucky.
His parents go through a tough time as they are driven from place to place trying to find somewhere safe for their family. They end up in a Jewish ghetto in Poland where they think they will live until the war ends. Little did they know what was in store for them. Thomas shares some very incredible stories about how his family was able to stick together for the first part of the war, and then once they were separated it gets even more amazing. He survives Auschwitz and the well-known death march. How a 10-year old boy could have the wits and courage to be able to do what he did to survive...well, it truly is just incredible.
This book probably won't make you cry; although it shares horrible ugly events, it's told in a detached way which seemed to help dampen the sadness. Only the first half of the book is on what happened during the war, the rest of the book is about what happened after the war. I love that the author included this in his book because a lot of stories end when the war ended, but there was so much that happened after that. He explains how hard it was to go back to Germany and live among people who only months before were responsible for the awful things he had to go through. Despite it all, he became a pretty incredible person. If you are into WW2 stories, then this is definitely one to check out.
My husband bought me this book for Valentine's day. It was a big surprise, I think this is the first book he has ever bought me, so I wasn't expecting it. I don't know where he found "Big Little Lies", by Liane Moriarty, but he said it was supposed to be really good from what he could tell. I started the book with a lot of excitement, but could tell pretty quickly that my husband didn't do his homework when he chose this book. It's a complex story that jumps back and forth between characters and their personal lives. So it is almost like a bunch of little stories that all tie together. All of the main characters are mom's who have kids going into kindergarten together. I only made it through the first 250 pages, but up to that point the story was all about the drama going on in each of the different mom's lives.
One mom is single and has some crap in her past that traumatized her, another mom has a great relationship but her husband occasionally beats her, another mom is controlling and judgmental and makes the other moms feel bad about themselves....really, that's the book. At the end of each chapter it jumps to the future and has a couple of paragraphs about someone that was murdered at a parent meeting at the school. I didn't get far enough into the book to find out what that was all about. Plus there was a lot of content that I would deem as 'inappropriate', which is why I didn't finish the whole book.
I know that there are people out there that feed off of other people's drama, this book is made for them. I try to stay away from 'drama' in real life, there is no way I'm wasting my precious reading time on it. There was also a handful of swear words in every chapter and some sexuality. All in all I would say that this book is probably not worth your time. The only reason I stuck with it as long as I did was because the author does have a way of making her characters come to life. I felt attached to them, almost like I was personally invested in the crap going on in their lives. Even now I can picture the fun and spunky Madeline and what she would be like if she were real.
However, that's not enough to make up for how mind numbing this book is. When I read a book I want to feel like it's impacting me in some positive way. Whether it's a story that really hits home, or the character becomes a type of role model for me, I want to have a good feeling when I get done reading. Every time I put this book down I felt the same way I feel when I browse through a magazine while standing in line at the grocery store. It's just something to distract me while I wait, just a waste of time really. If you haven't read this book, good, don't. If you have read this book, however, great tell me what you thought and I would love to know how it ends without actually having to read it myself!
Taylor Lavati, the author of "For the Love of Ash", asked me to read her book before it comes out in just a few days on the 9th. I was so excited for the opportunity and I have completely fallen in love with her characters. Maggie, the main girl, has to suddenly become an adult when her parents die and she gets custody of her nine-year old little brother. She goes from immature party girl, to 23-year old mom, and she is actually really good at it. While trying to balance parenting, work, and college, fate decides to throw her a curveball by the name of Luke. Try as she might to avoid him, she can't because he sits behind her in one of her classes and also happens to be her little brothers gym teacher. He is a ridiculously cute and caring character and is perfect in a way that only fictional characters can be.
Luke decides that he needs to get to know Maggie better. There is something about her that he just can't shake. After a lot of resistance on her part, and endless persistence on his, they finally decide to give a relationship between them a try. They go through trials together as Maggie is still figuring out this whole 'Mom' thing and Luke has to deal with his abusive family situation, but they strengthen each other and Luke almost always brightens the day by doing something cute and romantic. Maggie really grows throughout this book, she starts out as a selfish carefree young adult, but when put in a difficult situation she rises to the occasion and becomes the person that she needs to be. She kind of turned into my hero.
This book spoke to me in a personal way because I have a nine-year old little sister and I was able to picture myself in Maggie's situation. It would be so hard, opening up your life to someone new when you know how much it would affect the little person you are caring for...well, I can understand why she was so hesitant. The writing was fantastic, but it did contain quite a bit of language, and a couple of detailed sex scenes. I tried to skip over those. If you are looking for clean books, then this is probably not for you. I know it's not a book that I would want my daughter reading. However, if it sounds like something you would enjoy then don't hesitate to pick a copy of this up as soon as it comes out, and as always, let me know what you think!
