Exposure by Therese Fowler

This gripping read is dazzling in its ability to take a situation, grapple with the intricacies and still make it a page turner.
Essentially the story of Wilkes and Winter families and the very real but secret love shared between their children Amelia and Anthony, it is a modern day story that shows so clearly the impact that Modern Social Media has on the lives of all of us but especially the youth of today and how extremely dangerous the smallest push of a button can be. A book riven by behaviour, it takes you into choices and consequences, one ill advised action, one set of angry words in the wrong ears and life can combust in a second.
The author also shows us that Wealth and Influence can be used so cavalierly when reputation is at stake, equally she does a wonderful job of showing us how it can backfire. A wily and cunning prosecutor with his own agenda can make more trouble than is believable.
I really liked her characters, they were real to their experiences and their behaviour exemplified this, therefore they resonated especially Harlan Wilkes and Kim Winter whose backstories were defty painted into the story and heavily influenced it. Amelia and Anthony were a delight, so true to themselves and their love, I found myself walking every step of their journey with them, it takes an author well able to write, to Lead her book with such clearly defined yet work in progress characters such as Amelia and Anthony and their friends, I was struck by their Nobility, their decency, their chance taking and ultimately the importance of doing the right thing that ripped the book open in an amazing twist.
An exceptionally good book that shows us that even in such times where Social Media and the Internet are so powerful, old fashioned values can stand and people can change.
Available from the Auckland Library Service or via Special Order from your local Indie.

The Baker`s Daughter by Sarah McCoy

This is one of those very special books in that you could give or gift it to almost anyone over say 16 and they would love it. It is a wonderful story told so very well by an author who obviously does know how to write and do it well and who is able to link and make real an intergenerational story that  starts in 1945 in Nazi Germany and ends in El Paso Texas in 2008.
The story of the Schmidt's in Germany is such a touching, poignant story, a story that takes you through some very dark and gritty days indeed but a story that lights your spirit and shares the kindness and goodness that can occur even when risk is far more than greater. Quite frankly it did that very rare thing with me, it made me cry to think that people would risk their lives to save another in circumstances where it would be very easy to simply turn and walk away, however I did need to keep in mind that some kindness came with an agenda and the Schmidt`s were spared some difficulties because of their daughter`s beauty. Intertwined with Elsie`s story after she leaves Germany is the story of Reba Adams and although her challenges are of a different nature, Elsie`s role in her life is pivotal and inspires a truthfulness and a seeking which alters lives.
The characters are beautifully drawn and so real that they could be your Grandparents, friends or neighbours or in a couple of examples your worst enemy. This book draws on a  life affirming simplicity to tell its tale, love is bigger than all and reveals its self in many forms and unexpected ways. Never dull and never gloomy the tale draws you in right from the beginning. opens history`s door and takes you on a journey that has many sharp turns and decisive moments, and many characters who reveal themselves in unexpected ways, it also shows us that the desire to protect is a very strong one and even if we might make a choice that with hindsight is perhaps not right, time and happenstance can right a wrong and truth will out. Where does one start when it comes to  food which is another key element, if I had have been able to find a Bakery open at 10 at night in Aucks, I may have eaten my way to serious damage, one could simply smell the food wafting from the page and I found it particularly heartwarming that the author was able to use food in such a comforting way and also her ability to show the meaning in a non judgemental way of food in the every day cycle of life.
Grief and Healing are very real in this book especially during the Nazi  years when so many ordinary folk who thought they were making the right decision found later and with hindsight that they hadn`t and that there was a price to pay, equally modern life throws up many conundrums and many of us will face the same challenges but from a different force as we traverse life. Right and Wrong, Good and Bad, Love and Healing, Faith and Duty, Longing and Desire, Compassion and Redemption are all so beautifully weaved through this very well plotted novel.
I would wish to point out that this books ability to comfort resonates with me in a very particular way. The day after I began reading this book, our  Principal had to call us into the Staff Room at the School where I work and tell us that an 11 year old boy who had finished the year at ROPS on December 15th had passed away that morning, a fortnight after being diagnosed with Leukemia, I cannot think of a better book to be reading when such a dreadful thing happened, it highlighted for me the preciousness of life, no matter the time or place in which it is lived.
Available through the Library System, I  have a feeling this book will be released in New Zealand fairly soon in a soft cover edition, it is a great read and as I said earlier it would make a wonderful gift especially for someone you may know who is going through a rough time.Plus it has recipes in the back, so if you bake....

The End of Normal by Stephanie Madoff Mack

The End of Normal is a beautifully written story of love found and love lost. It is not always an easy read but it is informative and very,very real.
When Financer  Bernie Madoff and his Ponzi scheme came undone in December 2008, it took more than just Bernie and his wife Ruth with it, it took his family and thousands of investors, big and small who found the lives they had been living coming to an abrupt and horrible halt. None more so than Madoff`s son Mark who found the stigma and the finger pointing to much to bare, taking his life in December 2010, leaving Stephanie and 4 children behind.
Stephanie tells with such love and learned wisdom the story of all her Princess Dreams coming true, the barriers and obstacles, the path she had to forge to enable hers and Mark`s relationship to flow, she is never less than thankful for all the good times and good things that come her way...her wariness of her in laws and her husbands ex along with her husbands brother and his partner bearing fruit, the cold impenetrability of Bernie and Ruth Madoff, the pure and utter blinkered vision and the disinclination to do what might be conceived as the right thing towards those most wronged by their actions or lack of.
There is plenty of anger and righteous indignation in this book, all directed at those who most deserve it. Equally there is guts, courage, dignity and a graciousness that will well serve her children as they grow, there are rivers of tears in this book but it is not riven with sadness, it is a book in which a young woman finds herself in the worst possible situation but chooses not to let it take her down to the bottom instead she sets out to heal and to take herself and her children on a path that will allow their lives to be almost whole again while always noting that their is a much loved, missing piece.
A very good read, it also points quite clearly to the important part others play in helping us to heal and move along, Stephanie has wonderful friends none more so than RoseMarie Terenzio whose book Fairy Tale Interrupted was recentlyy published and reviewed on this blog. Both these ladies have huge hearts and a tale to tell.

The Dry Grass of August by Anna Jean Mayhew

Set in the racially divided South of the 1950`s, this book was an amazing read both for the issues it covered and the depth and breadth of the writing. Its narrative voice is that of Jubie, a vibrant, engaging 13 year old who takes us into the heart of a family that isn`t quite what it appears to outsiders to be but which would equally typify many families living through these tumultuous times, an abundant life full of riches but entangled with lies, secrets and drink the family as what was referred to in those times as a Girl or a Domestic. An African American Woman who basically ran all aspects of the families home life and who more often than not nurtured the children in a manner that would not occur to the mother to do.

In this story her name is Mary and her life like many has not been easy, and yet for all the burdens placed on her, she never failed to met the needs of the family nor to do their bidding, the hours were long and the money average at best, little courtesy or kindness was shown and racism in every day life was rife even when it moved slightly under the radar. The children however tended to love their Girls and were often slow to recognise the price that these women paid simply living their lives.

And then a ill conceived holiday trip unravels the sparse fabric that makes up the Watts families lives, the deep divides of racism rears its head in its truth and murder,accidental death,suicide, and criminal and moral illicitness take the narrative down a twisting, turning path, joy and frivolity mixed with hatred and abuse. This is a  book where each of the characters is slowly revealed, each layer adding a new perspective, a new dimension. The more unseemly aspects of the novel in the hands of this writer never render it gloomy, in fact it is a book that you can`t put down because you want to know where it is going and what will happen next. The characters are true and real, their integrity or lack of never false or misleading, their motives easily identifiable and at the end hope still remains and not one character be they major or minor is unchanged.

I loved this book, its realness and magical words, its harshness and its characters simply came alive before my eyes, the portrait this author painted with words will not easily leave me.

Available in Soft Cover and through the Auckland Library System.

Hawkesby/Hosking Candy Floss...

An absolutely stunning wedding by the looks of it and a more in love couple probably doesn`t exist! New Zealands own Brady Bunch and everything is on view except the children`s faces but for Miss Marley who is like a little fairy peeking here and there. Good Luck to them, they seem to make a terrific couple and he is a great journalist/broadcaster.
Kate has a secret summer escape!
Demi is taken away in an ambulance but the question is why, was it drink, drugs or anorexia and what on earth was she sniffing?
My wild night inside the Dotcom Mansion... no not me, a young teacher trainee..
Paul Holmes is home from the hospital...
Heidi and Seal...what caused their split, was it parties,jealousy, lies or something else....
Celebrities who have had their faces ruined by plastic surgery... its not pretty folks!
Captain Coward...according to friends he is a pompous show-off who accidentally tripped into a life boat when it mattered,he`d just finished dining with an attractive young lady when crunch...
Cindy Crawford`s daughter hits the modelling track... at 10?
Mark Wahlbergs mouth has a major eruption, his brain obviously was a little overworked... swollen head anyone?
Jen has brought her self a bargain house...$21,000,000 we`ll have 5 at that price!
Holly Branson`s dream wedding, Oprah in India, Kelly Preston`s dream body at 50, Isabella Cruise shares some secrets, Kelly Osbourne gets grey hair and rumour has it Gwen and Gavin will split next!
Mary Lambie graces the cover of the Australian Women`s Weekly.
Michelle Obama doesn`t have any easy life...
Budget family meals,
Meryl Streep on family and Margaret Thatcher..
Gina Rinehart and the worlds nastiest family feud...
Paul McCartney and his new wife frolic poolside in Jamaica..lovely let`s hope he doesn`t drop her, he is 69 after all!!
Curtis Stone has a gorgeous wee son.
Is Rhianna showing Whitney like behaviour?
Brad and Ange may be headed for the altar...
And Camilla is a little unhappy with Kate...

best kept secret by Amy Hatvany

With alcoholism at its axis this wonderfully written book takes its reader into the deapths of despair and the freedom of knowledge.
The story of Cadence Sutter, her ex-husband Martin and their little boy Charlie,it shows in heartbreakingly real detail what the cost and pain of family secrets really can be and how a simple suggestion to relax can lead to disaster undreamed of. The author who is a recovering alcoholic herself paints an amazingly descriptive picture of how one by one all the little pieces of the picture shatter and pull away to leave a wreck of family, friends, success, love, hopes, dreams and ambitions in a heap, that slowly need to be built up so that a whole picture however altered eventually stands.
One of Hatvany`s real strengths is her ability to draw such real and believable characters and to leave you sympathetic to all of them even though their is a good chance you may not particularly like them, the book also paints a most empathetic and recognisable picture of day to day life, especially that of a mother and the little intricacies that link all of us mothers. It is a gritty book , the journey is not easy on either the characters or the reader but there is a bundle of humour and a realism that keeps you reading, the chapters and the back stories flow into the narrative particularly well and this book hums along. The love and warmth and humanity of the characters  and their stories, different as they may be are heart wrenching and yet redemptive, a hopeful book.
For me this was a page turner, I couldn't put it down.

The Bird Sisters by Rebecca Rasmussen...reviewed by Suzie Gurr.

I read, adored and reviewed this book earlier in the year. I passed it on to Suzie and she loved it so much that I think it is well worth posting a second review of this wonderful book, it took me quite while to pass my copy on and I still haven`t managed to let go of my copy of Caroline Leavitt`s Pictures of You, so book lovers will understand Suzie`s feelings!
The Bird Sisters is one of the few books I have read that, having reached the last word, made me want to turn straight back to page one so I could savour it all over again. As I handed it to the next reader in my sharing group I wanted to snatch it back and hug it tightly to me. I had to force my hands to let it go. It is that good that it must be shared!!
It is a sensitive portrait of two elderly sisters, Milly and Twiss, who live together in Spring Green, Wisconsin. and to whom locals bring injured birds for medical attention. One day, a mother and her children bring the sisters a bird they accidentally ran over. The bird is beyond help but the sisters try everything they know anyway. They understand that once a bird has lost his ability to fly, it`s like losing a leg. The freedom of movement and of spirit, it granted you are things that we cannot live without.
In the course of conversation with the family, Milly lets slip that Santa isn`t real, upsetting both the mother and her daughter. Milly is told, "Only a person without children would say something like that". This cruel, thoughtless remark transports Milly back to the summer of 1947, when the girls were young.
That was the summer of The Accident, and also the summer that cousin Bett came to visit, the summer that everything changed. The rest of the book alternates between flashbacks and glimpses of the sisters` lives in the present day. The result is a beautiful, heartbreakingly tender, poignant story of sacrifice, sisterly love, the disintegration of a family, the strengthening of self and incredibly difficult selfless decisions.
Anyone not emotionally affected by the sisters, their story and the beauty of Rebecca Rasmussen`s writing would have to be dead! I will read it again and probably again. Next time I will have a notebook handy so I can write down some of the memorable quotable phrases.

Maine by J.Courtney Sullivan.

A delightful read, with its summery cover it would be easy to guess that this was light beach fluff, it is not although there is humour and a sprinkling of magic throughout this book that alleviates some of the darkness.
The Kellehers an old Maine family anchor this book with the Matriarch Alice in the lead and Maggie, Kathleen and Ann Maire following in her formidable wake. At the heart of the book lies secrets and alcohol and the power they have to wreck and destroy lives.
Even the supporting characters are beautifully etched and realistic, with all their joys and sorrows, triumphs and achievements they are quite beguiling and with each chapter of this book narrated by either Alice, Kathleen, Ann Maire and Maggie the fullness of each life is developed, the back story to the families tale is brilliantly told.
I particularly enjoyed the intergenerational aspect of this book and how stories can be linked through the simplest of twine.
The book is faced paced and gritty, Alice and Ann Maire in particular are both formidable and vulnerable, peppered with humour, at its heart it is a book that shows you that the power of love is immense, you can love someone but not much like them at the same time. It would certainly make a great beach read but it is testimony to the writers ability that I could love this book during a cold, rainy winter right across the world, I have already ordered her first book as this is her second and I hadn't read her before.

the book thief by Markus Zusak

This may be one of the best books I have ever read.
First published in 2005 its subject was just not my thing and so I never ever picked it up, it was recently a Book Club Pick so I nabbed a copy and never put it down.
Set in Germany during WWII, it tells the story of Liesel, her family, neighbours and her wonderful love affair with books. Narrated by Death it is lyrical, captivating, horrifying and redeeming, the words dance, they skip, they rush, they drag, they pull you along into a time and a place that is so hard to describe, na time when the normalcy of humanity is turned on its head, infected with hatred and yet such grace. Such dignity and such compassion run right alongside all the Nazi atrocities with beautifully drawn characters no matter their views and actions and it shows us that fear of the magnitude of that which Hitler inflicted on all Germans can result in behaviour that only the strongest can survive. It also shows us that Hitler failed to wipe out the power of love and compassion and even in the hardest of times a kind of life was lived and that joy could still be found.
The books power lies in its ability to entrust the reader to challenge their own perceptions, to absorb life experiences that are not their own and to realise the magnificent power of the written word.
If you haven't read this book, please do.

The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown

A family saga with a dollop of the bard himself, like any number of families you might call the Andreas family slightly eccentric. In this modern age books not television is their thing and the love of the works of William Shakespeare fit right on in.  Mum, Dad and 3 sisters who have a relationship characterised by disconnection, secrets and  a desire to get right the things that they appear to be rather unsuccessful at: work, life and that bigee Love.
When illness strikes their Mother they troop home, each most upset to find the others there, and so begins a journey to understanding, healing and reconciliation.  Each character has his/her own defining characteristics and perception of life even when reality may be a different story, each has a story to tell but it takes a lot of prising to get the secrets that underlay their lives out into the open, a lot of bridges need to be burned and a lot of paths crossed before true acceptance can be reached.
The writing is delightful and the story buzzes along, serious issues certainly but a lightness of touch and a wonderful dose of humour serve this book extremely well, very acerbic in places you can just feel yourself having the exact same reaction to a conversation or situation, in way particular passage I could just see myself and worst still hear myself answer in the same way, inflection, language features and all!! A delightful read, a great first novel from  a writer we will hear more from, especially nice to tuck yourself up with on a now chilly night, a gorgeous cover to remind you of the now departed summer and William Shakespeare to boot! Go buy it!  http://www.eleanor-brown.com

While My Sister Sleeps by Barbara Delinsky

A family saga that has at its core the question of what it means to be a member of a family, and what links and binds us. The sudden collapse of world class runner Robin Snow leaves her family wrestling with terrible choices, unresolved issues and a cupboard full of secrets that come rapidly tumbling out. How do they handle it, How would you handle it? A very powerful novel that packs a real punch especially when it comes to the question of integrity and choices, easy to read but challenging at the same time. This book has characters you will immediately relate to and others you may very well loathe but your early assertions may turn out to be rather set on their head as you power through the pages and become aware of snippets and fragments of back story that in an instant give you a new spin or clarity on circumstances that you may have felt lead one way, reality can often be very blurry and human nature can be tricky at best. The author dealt with an often contentious issue (organ donation) in a very compassionate manner as she also did with the frailty and capriciousness of being part of a family that presents so well in the public spotlight,she resolved issues and tidied up the bits and pieces that circled the story in a very satisfying manner.