Although the reviews have been pretty quiet around here, I have still been slowly getting back to reading now that my own book is finally written! I am so excited to share with you just a few of the gems I have been enjoying these last few months and also excited to hear what you have been working on.
Even more exciting (for me), is that I now have an Author Profile on GoodReads and my book is listed there too! I would be ecstatic if you became a fan of my writing and would love to see my book listed as something you might be wanting to read in 2013.
I have also listed my second book signing in Goshen, Indiana at Better World Books. Please accept my heartfelt invitation to come to this book signing. I would love to meet you!
As always, if you are looking for a little inspiration this new year, be sure to check our MomAdvice fan page for a weekly check-in on what everyone is reading each week on our Facebook Fan Page. I hope you will swing by on Fridays and share about the books you are working on or request recommendations with one another. So far it is a huge success and I have gotten a few new ideas for my own stack!
Just as a reminder, I read many more books than are just featured here, but try to feature the ones that are my absolute best picks of the month here. If you want to read more, please feel free to friend me on GoodReads! You can find me right here and I am always happy to connect with people there too! There is nothing more motivating than seeing what other people are raving about and my to-be-read pile continues to grow with all of my new friends on there! In fact, many of the books featured are ones that I have found through my friends on GoodReads.
Heft by Liz Moore
Heft is truly one of the best books that I have read this year and I know that this is a novel that can be appreciated by all. It is a story that leaves you rooting for some of the most unlikely characters and showcases the beauty of unlikely friendships.
Eighteen years ago, Arthur had a promising career as a professor, and loved his work. He is now a 58 year-old man who cannot leave his home due to his incredible size of 500 pounds. Since 2001 he has managed to stay within the confines of his home relying on services like grocery and food deliveries that can be ordered from his own computer. He has no friends, no family, and the only bit of human contact he receives are letters occasionally sent to him from his old student, Charlene Turner.
When Charlene contacts Arthur, out of the blue, to see if he will help her with her son Kel Keller and offer guidance to him to help him, Arthur hires a cleaning service to help him get his house back in shape. His house is a place that has been grossly neglected because Arthur has lost the will and lacks the energy to clean it, due to his size. When a young 19 year-old Yolanda shows up on his doorstep, he can never know how this will change his life. An unlikely friendship unfolds and brings new purpose to Arthur’s life that he never expects.
The author not only takes you through Arthur’s difficulties in his life, but the story of Kel and his mother Chelsea alternate in these chapters as you see the difficulties that this young man has had to overcome and will leave you begging for the happy ending that this boy so deserves.
Beautifully written and great stories that are woven together in such a way that you can vividly picture each of these characters and feel their stories resonate in your own heart. You will have a hard time putting this one down and I look forward to reading more from Liz Moore in the future!
MomAdvice Rating- 5 Stars out of 5 Stars
There is a certain richness that comes with great Southern storytelling and this amazing book by Jenny Wingfield is laced with that type of richness I am speaking of and beautiful storytelling that you can picture just like a movie screen.
Samuel Lake, his wife Willadee (Moses), and their three children find themselves back home in Arkansas after Samuel finds himself out of work as a minister. When tragedy strikes, the family bands together in unlikely ways and find their faith is challenged to the core of even God’s most faithful. The book offers the story of spunky Swan Lake (yes, her family did name her that), an unlikely little boy that the family takes in as their own, a town villain that has made it his life’s mission to make their family’s life miserable, and Toy, Swan’s uncle, who becomes her unlikely hero.
Each character is so vividly told with his/her own story line that Wingfield magically weaves together to create an incredible story that will stick with you long after you close the book. I can’t recommend this one enough!
MomAdvice Rating- 5 Stars out of 5 Stars
For a long time I have had, “These Is My Words,” in the back of my mind as a great book to tackle this winter and I am so glad that I finally did. This story is inspired by the author’s own family memoirs, and the words belong to Sarah Prine. Sarah is a spunky young woman who finds herself a pioneer as they travel the frontier in search of a place to call home.The story is told in diary format and records her steps beginning from her childhood to a young adult to becoming a mother. What truly makes the book is the beautiful love story between herself and cavalry officer Captain Jack Elliot. It is a love story that rivals great love stories like Gone with the Wind and the Outlander series.
Although I am not typically a fan of writing that is written in diary or letter form, I did truly love this book, mostly, for the beautiful love story it offered. I understand that there are two more books in this series to tackle and I look forward to reading those in the upcoming year!
MomAdvice Rating- 4 1/2 Stars out of 5 Stars
Wow! It’s been a long time since a thriller kept me up all night, but Into the Darkest Corner is just the book for you if you are looking for a book that you just can’t turn the pages fast enough and causes you to be groggy the next day because you just had to finish it!
Catherine Bailey is a young, single, and beautiful woman that catches the eye of a guy named Lee who is working at a night club one night that she is at one night with her friends. She is quickly taken in by him and she isn’t the only one. All of her friends seem just as smitten with Lee as she is.
While their relationship starts out with a passionate fury and a surprising attentiveness that Catherine has never experience before, she soon realizes that there is also another darker side to Lee that, frankly, scares her. Lee continually is both physically and mentally abusive to Catherine and begins to wedge doubt of her own character by planting seeds in the minds of all of her friends who all begin to question Catherine’s own stability.
Four years later, Lee is behind bars and Catherine, who is now going under the name Cathy, has become a shell of her former self, and is riddled with obsessive compulsive disorder as well as post-traumatic stress disorder. Although she has no friends and no one to lean on, an unlikely relationship blossoms between herself and the her upstairs neighbor, Stuart. Just when she begins she thinks she can find happiness, Lee is released from prison and first on his agenda of people to visit….Cathy. What happens though when everyone believes you just have OCD and there really IS someone after you?
At several points I realized I was holding my breath because the book was so suspenseful as the character, Lee, is in pursuit of her. For those of you left wondering is there any life after, “Gone Girl,” this book is for you. This book is perfectly timed with a great story build of a woman before and after an abusive relationship came into her life. This is a fantastic read, but not for the faint of heart due to extreme violence and graphic sex scenes. This is just as dark and twisted as Gone Girl, but brings a level of suspense that I have been waiting a long time for in a book.
MomAdvice Rating- 5 Stars out of 5 Stars
Lisa Genova is an author that does not disappoint and has become one of the authors I rely upon for a great story. Love Anthony is a heartbreaking and also endearing story that will pull upon your heartstrings as a mother and would lend itself well to any book club discussion.
Olivia had always dreamed of being a mother, but her idea of what life would be like as a mom is changed when her son Anthony is diagnosed with autism at the age of three. Anthony struggles with sounds and crowds and “normal” childhood experiences and Olivia works hard to make sense of what life is like for Anthony when he cannot speak to her. Just when Olivia begins to make sense of what her new life with Anthony will look like, he unexpectedly dies.
She finds herself alone in a cottage on Nantucket, newly separated from her husband, and desperate to understand the meaning of her son’s life when a chance encounter with another woman facing her own loss brings Anthony alive again for Olivia in a most unexpected way.
The two stories of these women is beautifully woven and what I truly appreciated about this story, as heartbreaking as it was, is how Genova seems to get inside the head of what it would be like to live as an autistic child and how she seems to really bring light to the difficulties an autistic child would have to endure.
Beautiful and a sweetly satisfying ending for a heartbreaking tale, Genova continues to weave beautiful stories that linger in my mind long after I close the book.
MomAdvice Rating- 4 Stars out of 5 Stars
Not enough great reads for you? Check out our Books section of our site for monthly recommendations and ideas for making reading a priority again in your busy mom life!
Books I have read in 2012 (so far):
Disclosure: All of the links above are affiliate links and are provided so you can locate the books quickly and easily. Feel free to order a book, but we encourage utilizing the library system and buying me a latte instead. Then we both would be really happy and we could have our own little book club together! Wouldn’t that just be so much more lovely? Happy Reading!
What has been in your book stack this winter? Feel free to share your book recommendations or feedback on any of the books that have been mentioned above! I love getting new suggestions for my book pile!
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