Me Before You Jojo Moyes

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


*I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review*

Me Before You was my introduction to Jojo Moyes, and boy was it and introduction! This was an extraordinary tale of two people brought together due to very difficult circumstances. Lou, a very ordinary, unmotivated young women and Will a charismatic, handsome man struggling to come to terms with becoming a quadriplegic. I really hated every character in this book, but Moyes had a way of making me care even though I hated them and eventually she made me love and respect the two main characters.
I knew nothing of this story before I began reading it, thinking, based on the cover and a few quick synopsis's that it was a romance. I'm not a big fan of romance and so I had no expectations for this book, which may have been for the best.
This is a love story, but not a romance. Its the story of two people bringing our the best in one another and pushing one another to live their fullest life possible. Its a story of letting go and saying good bye, a story of facing our greatest fears and coming out stronger.
The novel packs a punch, throwing the reader for a loop and tackling the incredibly tough and controversial issue of assisted suicide. Moyes does so in a way that does not leave you feeling judgmental, but rather sympathetic for all those facing tough decisions. Have your Kleenex box handy, I shed more than a few tears as I finished this novel, but walked away feeling oddly uplifted.
I look forward to reading more of Moyes novels and have an ARC of her latest novel, One Plus One awaiting me!





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The Winter People Jennifer McMahon

The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Set in 1908 and the present day, The Winter People, weaves a mildly spooky and gruesome tale of people brought back from the dead and the consequences. In 1908, Sara Harrison Shea's daughter, Gertie, dies in a sudden accident leaving the mother mad with grief. Recalling a letter her auntie left her, explaining how to bring the dead back to life for seven days, Sara calls Gertie from the grave with many unexpected consequences. In the present day, Ruthie returns home to discover her predictable mother missing and in her attempts to locate her, solves the mystery surrounding the deaths of Gertie and Sara Shea.
The book began with a lot of promise and based on the reviews I read I had high hopes for it, however, the second half of the book was to ridiculous, quickly wrapping the book up in a way that took removed any of the spook factor.
Initially, the novel was hard to get into, the first three chapters were confusing and it took me a bit of time to sort out who was who and in what time period they were in. Once I had the characters sorted out, I was quickly drawn into the story with the initial disappearances of Gertie Shea and Alice Washburn. I liked how the author switched between the two stories slowly sharing details from Sara's secret diary and the search for Alice Washburn.
Beginning with Part 4, this novel began veer towards ridiculous and convenient, with kooky characters such as Candace, Katherine and Auntie the perfectly timed trip to Sara Shea's former home and the Devil's Hand. And then, I promise no spoilers, that darn camera bag!! This book had plenty of opportunities to be spooky, like Sara Shea wondering through town and folks putting out food for her or the sleepers in the woods. But instead it went down a predictable and silly path that destroyed any creep factor.





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Un-Remarried Widow Artis Henderson

Unremarried Widow by Artis Henderson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


***I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for a fair review.***
Un-remarried Widow is hands down the best memoir I have ever read, and simultaneously the saddest book I have ever read. Summer of 2004 Artis Henderson finds herself working an unfulfilling job, lonely and spending her spare time reading travel books in the library. During a night out with her roommates, she meets Chief Warrant Officer 2 Miles Henderson. Despite describing herself as being the type of girl guys didn't pick up, Miles easily won her over, she liked that he had a job, his easy smile and the way he leaned into listen to her. He was at Fort Rucker for flight school and spent his weekends pursuing Artis, and when he graduated in December and relocated to Fort Bragg Artis moved with him.
Life as a military girlfriend/wife was a hard adjustment, moving to Fort Bragg to Fort Hood and back to Bragg, working jobs Artis was over qualified for and always preparing for Deployment. On July 1st, 2006, three weeks before his first deployment Miles and Artis married on a Florida Beach and than quickly began the preparations for his fifteen month deployment to Iraq. The night before he left as he frantically rushed around their house packing Artis struggled to stay awake, as she drifted off, Miles said, "You're going to feel bad if something happens to me over there and you spent our last night together sleeping."
November 2006, Artis returns home to find the soldiers waiting with her mother in their living room, Miles helicopter had gone down, he would not be coming home. Artis is officially classified as an un-remarried widow and begins a journey of grief, acceptance and healing.
Artis and I are approximately the same age and in her stark, poetic writing she was able to describe so many of the emotions of navigating through your early twenties in a way I could truly understand. Our stories are vastly different, however, I could identify with so many of her experiences. The loneliness and struggles that followed graduation, relationship struggles, career woes etc. In 2006, I was with an ex-boyfriend as he packed all his gear into tough bins the night before he deployed, and I was with him in the armory as the buses pulled in and he left. And I understand the struggle of maintaining a relationship during war. Being a soldier myself, I then waited for my turn to deploy. Years later I experienced giving up my career and home to follow my fiancé half way across the county for employment, struggling to find a new job, filling my long hours alone and making new friends.
I sobbed through more than half of this memoir, pages of my copy are wrinkled and tear stained. My sadness was only a small fraction of Artis's and as I read and sobbed I admired her courage in sharing this story, her raw emotions and her darkest hours. I read some reviews that described the author as cold and detached, I don't understand how a reader could view her this way, especially when her emotions spilled out on every page.
As I was reading this book, I did a google search for Artis Henderson, and amongst the images on my computer screen was one of her and Miles sitting on a concrete floor the day he deployed, she had her had on on Miles knee and the look being shared between them was on of pure love. That image was seared inside my head as I finished her memoir and made reading her story more painful but more real, to see them frozen in time, to see real people touched me very strongly, this is a story I won't forget.



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Belle Cora Phillip Margulies

Belle Cora by Phillip Margulies

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Bella Cora is an epic historical saga which captivated me early on but sadly loosed its grip as it drug to an end.  Arabella Godwin, born to a middle class New York family in the early 19th century had a wonderful childhood until her mothers death from consumption, quickly followed by her fathers sudden death. With her rebellious brother Lewis, Arabella is sent to live on a farm with relatives in upstate New York, to prevent them from becoming consumptive. It is with this move that Arabella's life takes a dramatic turn away from her puritanical up bringing and begins her journey to becoming one of San Francisco's most famous madams.
Spanning from 1828-1919, Bella Cora gives readers an intimate look at a rapidly growing and changing United States. From New York City, early farm life, the Gold Rush and westward expansion, Civil War and finally the great San Francisco earth quake.
Arabella, in an unlikeable, unsympathetic character right from the beginning. As a young child her drive to be good and to always do the right thing is sickeningly sweet. Once she is sent to relatives her story becomes focused on the injustices heap upon her by her aunt and her cousin Agnes, however, Arabella is almost never completely innocent, often finding herself in sticky situations.  Despite her character faults, she weaves a compelling story and you can't wait to find out what her next sticky situation will be.
The first half of this book is fast paced and full of dramatic situations and I quickly devoured it, not wanting to put the novel down.  The second half, beginning with her arrival in San Francisco slowed, became wordy and full of confusing characters and political situations as San Francisco and Belle Cora's house of ill-fame grew together.  I struggled through this section and had a difficult time understanding Belle's motivations, finding much of it unbelievable and to coincidental. 
Despite the books weak ending I still found it to be a great romp, full of murder, love, scandal and sex.  I recommend this for anyone looking for a light historical novel.




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