Fiction | Book Chatter

More Than You Know
By Nan Rossiter
(Kensington, Paperback, 9780758283894, April 30, 2013, 352pp.)

The Short of It:

A wonderful, heartwarming tale about family, faith and the memories that bind us.

The Rest of It:

This is a feel-good book. The kind that warms you from the inside out and puts a smile on your face. I know what you are thinking, “But Ti, you always read such heavy books!” Yes, I know! I do prefer a meaty chunkster to most mainstream fiction but I also like to feel good too and Nan Rossiter has perfected the art of writing books that fall into the feel-good category and her latest is no exception.

Mia Graham’s world changes in an instant when the sudden death of her husband is immediately followed by the delivery of her beautiful baby girl. Beryl and her older sisters Isak and Rumer, grow-up under Mia’s watchful gaze. She is always there for them, helping them through the challenges of life and when the girls are grown and Mia is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, it’s the girls, especially Beryl who come to her aid. But after a long battle, Mia is taken from them and they are forced to return to their childhood home to go through her belongings and lay her to rest. While going through her things they discover her diary and realize that their mother had been keeping a secret from them for years. Curious, they dive into her story.

There is a lot of “wonderful” in this novel. When the girls gather at their childhood home in New Hampshire, it’s as if they’ve stepped back in time. Suddenly, they are young girls again and remembering all the special little things that their mom did for them. Simple things like making them cinnamon toast and a good cup of tea. The work of preparing the house for sale is bittersweet but its weight is made lighter by the casual conversations and the meals they share together as a family. Their interactions with close friends and the rest of the town, are enough to sustain them. And let me tell you, if you are a foodie, you will want some comfort food on hand as the food talk really got to me at times! Rossiter must have known this because she included recipes of some of the dishes mentioned in the book.

Of course, I made the one dish that was not included in the back of the book! A dip using cream cheese, chili, green chiles and cheese and let me tell you, my family gobbled it up.

More Than You Know Hot Dip

As far as the story goes, I loved the way Rossiter handled the diary aspect. Shared in sections and read by the girls, it took on a very personal tone and when all was said and done, I really felt as if I got to know Mia quite well which made her passing all the more real.

If you’ve not read Rossiter’s work before, I should tell you that she is a dog lover from way back. Her books always include a canine companion which I find especially nice. And this particular book has some surprises in it. Readers of her other books will notice right away what they are. I enjoyed discovering them on my own so I won’t mention any more about them here.

Overall, a very touching and enjoyable read. I can see LOTS of you reading this one over the summer while sipping a tall glass of iced tea. Gosh, I adore Rossiter’s books.

And a little surprise for you, the author has provided a copy for me to giveaway! If you’d like a chance to win a copy, check out the details below.

Source: Review and giveaway copy provided by the author. Thank you!
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION

This giveaway is for one copy of More Than You Know and is open to the US and Canada. A winner will be chosen randomly by me. The book will come directly from the author. Only one entry per person. Giveaway closes on May 17, 2013 (pacific). I will contact the winner for his/her mailing address.

CLICK HERE TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY!

Is This Tomorrow
By Caroline Leavitt
(Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, Paperback, 9781616200541, May 2013, 384pp.)

The Short of It:

A compelling plot with imperfect, sometimes frustrating characters but the honesty in the writing won me over.

The Rest of It:

Caroline Leavitt is a “new to me” writer. I’ve seen her books around but it wasn’t until I started reading her posts on Facebook that I really became interested in her writing. First off, she is constantly writing. I respect that and what I respect most is that even though she is an accomplished author, she still works (really hard I might add) at what ends up on the page. The other thing to note, is that she can be pretty funny. I love a good sense of humor. When her new book, Is This Tomorrow showed up on NetGalley, I snatched it up.

In a Boston suburb during the mid-fifties, Ava Lark rents a house for her and her son Lewis. Recently divorced and working full-time, Ava struggles to find a balance between work and caring for her son. What makes it even more difficult is that she’s Jewish and the rest of the neighborhood already considers her an outcast. She works, dates around and isn’t home as often as she’d like. But the neighborhood is safe and the house is comfortable and even more important, affordable. Ava hopes to buy the house one day.

But something horrible happens. Jimmy, best friend to Lewis and Rose goes missing and leaves all of them, including Ava, questioning the safeness of the neighborhood. With all of the unknowns involved in his disappearance, Ava’s lifestyle is put under a microscope and Lewis and Rose find themselves completely lost without their childhood friend.

Missing children seem to be a popular subject for books these days. I thought this book would walk down the same path as some of the others I’ve read but there is more to this story than a missing child. For one, Ava’s wrecked marriage and her struggle to keep it together is enough to be a book on its own. But then you add this horrible thing and suddenly what you have is a snapshot of time that no one wants to revisit, but can’t seem to get away from. It’s compelling and to be honest, Ava is not likable. At least, she wasn’t likable to me. She is head-strong, kind at times but also a little selfish. She is one of those women that trouble tap-dances around. At the same time, some of the decisions she makes are ones that I’d expect a strong woman to make so I found myself conflicted over my feelings for her.

The kids. We don’t get to know Jimmy all that well before he goes missing, but we see the devastation in Lewis and Rose and that was enough for me to become one of those nervous readers, wringing my hands at the thought of him not turning up. But what goes on during this time, during this search for Jimmy is well… life. Life goes on and it’s sad to think that a neighborhood can move on, but it does and Leavitt captures this in the honest way she has with words. It’s not pretty, but did it feel real? Yes, yes it did.

There is one part that seemed a bit too convenient but I was okay with it because something good had to come out of all of this and I was happy with the direction the story took. It’s sad, but ultimately hopeful which is a bonus when reading a story like this. I can’t say that I liked Ava any better by the end of the book, but I can say that I understood her better. She’s not perfect and as a mom, I could relate to a lot of what she was going through. I guess what I am saying is that I appreciated that she wasn’t perfect and accepted her for who she was even though I had a harsh opinion of her mid-way through.

There is a little bit of everything here. The mystery surrounding the disappearance, the challenges of being a single parent and the effect that relationships, both past and present have on you.

Overall, well done and compelling.

Source: Sent to me by the publisher via NetGalley.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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