Lunch Ladies by Jodi Thompson Carr; A Pleasant Dining Experience With Lovely Characters on The Side

 Lunch Ladies by Jodi Thompson Carr; A Pleasant Dining Experience With Lovely Characters on The Side

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: Jodi Thompson Carr’s Lunch Ladies is a tasty delightful treat that pays tribute to the unsung heroes of every school dining experience, the cafeteria workers. Through their cooking, serving, and cleaning up, they make sure that every kid has at least one hot meal a day. Now with Free Lunch programs being held under scrutiny, their role within academic settings is even more important and should be all the more recognized. This book is a lovely pleasant experience of a few weeks spent exploring the inner lives of various characters, particularly three protagonists who work at the Hanley School District’s lunch department in Hanley, Minnesota.

It's almost time for the 4th of July festivities during the Bicentennial of 1976 and the women of the lunch department are preparing for this event while serving daily meals and dealing with their own problems.

Crystal has an unusual hobby. She scours obituaries mentally matching the recently deceased up with the living, therefore creating couples in her imagination. Her active fantasy life and imagination is a distraction from her conflicts with her aging grandmother and troubled niece.

Coralene is happily married to her husband, Jasper. Her simple life is about to become complicated when her wayward nephew, Tanner moves in.

Sheila lives a life of routine, eating at the same places, watching the same shows, and indulging in her independence and predictability. That predictability goes through a severe change when she reunites with a former acquaintance only to find herself falling in love with him.

Lunch Ladies is one of those types of novels that isn't really about anything. Well no, it's about various things like love, separation, family, and death but the focus is not so much about what happens than who is affected by these circumstances. It's a few months in the lives of these characters as they deal with the various shake ups in their lives. There's enough quirky charm and harsh drama to make the Reader like, even love, these characters as they go through these shake ups.

It's the kind of book that has details that are almost too precious to be ignored like character names for example. Coralene and most of the female members of her family have names that are variations of Cora-Cora, Coralene, Coravelle, DeCora, etc.-I would comment some more but the names “Edsel” and “Jean” are frequent on my mother's side of the family, the Riopelles. 

Crystal’s late mother's name was Pearl and she had a twin sister named Ruby. Crystal's grandmother and niece lucked out by being named Leonora and Darcy respectively. (Too bad, Emerald and Sapphire or Diamond and Amethyst would have been pretty.)

There are three sisters on the Bicentennial parade committee nicknamed, Hi, Lo, and Glad. Sheila catches the attraction of a named Tom Downlane (He joked that he's “Tom who lives Down the Lane.”) One of Crystal's obituary projects is named Roger Squirrel. The names reveal the idiosyncrasies of the characters.

The characters have little traits and quirks that make them stand out and Readers infer and learn who these people are just by their thoughts and mannerisms. Crystal's obituary reading/matchmaking is certainly very strange but leads to much speculation. Perhaps she is a firm believer in life after death and wants some sign that it's possible. Maybe she is obsessed with death and wants to meet it head on. The strongest possibility is that she is in search of a story. 

Crystal is unable to take any type of charge in her life. She works at a hard job with little recognition or pay. Her mother and aunt died. Her grandmother is losing her faculties. She is at odds with her niece, Darcy who calls her out on her lack of attention to the real world around her. Crystal’s only means of escape are inside the little matchmaking fantasies inside her head. They are the only ways that she can connect and truly feel like she contributed something to someone. Inside her head is where she finds freedom and involvement.

While Crystal’s headspace is where she finds comfort, Coralene looks more outward. She wears loud printed pants suits to be seen as more modern, willing to change but still do her job. She is a very central force within her family and community. She is a warm nucleus that draws others in, particularly Tanner.

Tanner has had a difficult life with his neglectful parents. He can be polite and soft spoken but also carries a lot of anger and resentment. This attitude plus his dubious reputation adds some strife into Coralene 's home, life, and marriage. He has never been close to someone who has natural warmth like Coralene so he doesn't know what to do with it, nor does she know how to react to him. However, Coralene and Tanner are both decent enough people that the love is present even when they are at odds.

Sheila is the oldest of the trio and probably the most regretful. She is a former English teacher who had a previous romance but now has a rigid private life. She goes to the same Denny's every day to the point that she befriends Lexi, the young server. She corrects the girl’s grammar, answers her questions about life and love, and gives her anecdotes from her teaching career. That she has a close intergenerational friendship with someone who would normally be a casual acquaintance shows Sheila’s awareness that her independent life comes with strings like loneliness and emotional instincts that are aching to be filled.

Her late in life romance should be a breath of fresh air, a late flaming roar of passion. Instead it unnerves and confuses her, asking more questions than answers. It forces her to confront her feelings of love and mortality. For a woman whose life became rigid routine and living vicariously through acquaintanceship with others, Sheila can't handle the deep emotional chasms, the countering attachments, and rapid disruptions that this relationship brings to her.

The Hanley setting leads a lot to the book’s characterization. It's a small town where everything, even the seemingly most minor issues become big deals. Everyone is involved with the Bicentennial from designing floats, preparing catering services, planning themes. The changes in the lunch department becomes a source of conflict as Sheila wants to survey students and faculty over the food choices and portions. This book shows that line between networking and annoyance where it's nice to have a support system when one needs help but it can also be suffocating because everyone is in everybody's face and in everybody's way. 

Also while Hanley looks idyllic, that might be on the surface. Some characters like the slow pace and friendly neighbors but others are just used to it. Characters like Crystal and Sheila are so used to their routines, hobbies, and mindsets that they don't have any desire to aspire for something different. Why dream of getting away? There are bills to pay, shows to watch, kids to raise, committees to join, lunches to cook, and obituaries to read. Hanley is a comfort zone that they benignly accept. It's not a bad place, just ordinary, regular, typical, nice, and pleasant.

There is an edge to the book that keeps it from being too copying or schmaltzy. That edge is hinted at in some of the character's subplots though not deeply explored until late in the book. Something terrible happens that jolts the characters out of their complacency and personal conflicts. It seems to come unexpectedly though, it was subtly hinted throughout the book.

 This incident forces the characters to come out of those benign comfort zones that they built around themselves, to make great changes, and to reshape their lives. Like many hard times, the characters’ strength and resilience comes through because of the events around them.

Lunch Ladies is filled with memorable characters and a setting that can be sweet and harsh, funny and tear jerking, vulnerable and strong, charming and realistic, beautiful and tragic. It is a delectable feast of great emotion.

New Book Alert: The Lady on the Billboard by Stefanie Hutcheson; Soap Like Contemporary Fiction Connects Various Characters

 

New Book Alert: The Lady on the Billboard by Stefanie Hutcheson; Soap Like Contemporary Fiction Connects Various Characters

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: Stefanie Hutcheson knows how to write about relationships with humor and sadness. In her The Adventures of George and Mabel: Based on an Almost (Kind of? Sort of? Could be?) True Story trilogy, a happily married couple  share a history of road trips and inside jokes only to reveal in the final book that there is a deep searing grief that is buried underneath their happiness. Her novella, Left, is about a couple dealing with the decline of their marriage after the wife abandons her husband at a convenience store. In these works, Hutcheson had a firm grip on characterization as she takes little incidents and nuances in the characters’ lives to provide commentary on them. 

Her latest book, a KindleVella called The Lady on the Billboard, takes her talents of writing characterization and humor, capturing little moments, and discovering emotional truth to new heights. She doesn’t just capture one couple and their intimate circle of friends and family. Instead she uses those gifts to capture a whole town in what is her most ambitious and probably best work yet.

The conflicts begin when Dr. Elizabeth Perkins, high school principal, gets her face posted on a billboard celebrating her achievement as “Administrator of the Year.” She is flattered but embarrassed, but that’s not all. The billboard becomes a catalyst for the large cast to open their secrets whether they are affairs, familial ties, or obsessions. Many of them involve Elizabeth and poke some holes into her reputation as a prime educator, happily married wife and mother, and proper pillar of the community.

The Kindle version of this book is available on KindleVella which means the Reader can read a chapter at a time as they are released instead of at once which actually fits the style of the book. The many characters’ relationships and various subplots seem almost reminiscent of a soap opera or episodes of a long running sitcom so the book’s format is perfect to lend itself to serialization. Sometimes the chapters get repetitive like an episode that is created to catch the audience up to speed on the various situations. The serialization format also allows the individual characters to gain focus and get their point of view across in what would be a large convoluted story otherwise. 

However, Vella has a points system in which the Reader has to pay money for a certain amount of points to read the chapters. It is very irritating especially if one doesn’t have a lot of money on hand and already has a Kindle Unlimited account. I suggest caution for Readers who have never tried Kindle Vella to be wary of the extra cost. 

Okay now the story. This is going to be fun to summarize but here goes (deep breath):

Elizabeth is unhappily married to Jason, an attorney and is the mother of twin girls, Laney and Lucy. She tries to put on a facade of a happy family but can barely stand her condescending husband. She worked hard to get to her position as principal but sometimes doubts herself and whether she is making any meaningful connections with her students or their parents. She also has nightmares of a past that she barely remembers but her memories are faint and troubling.

Her husband Jason is having an affair with Rebekah, his administrative assistant, who has enough brain to run the firm herself. Elizabeth’s old high school boyfriend, Josh, is still around reliving his glory days before an injury ended his dreams of a football scholarship and his romance with the girl he once called “Liza Jane” after the Vince Gill country song. He still reminisces about Elizabeth, the one who got away and what might have been.

Elizabeth has some other men who also fantasize about her. Brad, a college professor, hosts open poetry slams at the local coffee shop and visualizes the principal as some muse or poetic inspiration. Derrick, a barista at the coffee shop, also fancies her but his interest in Elizabeth is more of the sexual and lustful variety.

Elizabeth has some close female friends as well. Madison, a bubbly teacher, has an active love life and is more outgoing than her serious friend. However, she is suspicious of Elizabeth’s friendship with Brandi, another teacher, who has a very violent past. 

Henry, a high school senior and football star, has some unanswered questions about his past and he is unaware that the answers are all around him. Annie, a newcomer in town, is fleeing an abusive marriage with her young son. She discovers a link to her past as does a private investigator, Abby Stevenson, who has been searching for family members for years. 

Got all that? Good, I hope so.

Like I said the plot or rather subplots are numerous. Sometimes, it’s very hard to keep track. Luckily, Hutcheson has a good handle on her wide cast of characters. Sometimes they resort to archetypes (the fighting married  couple, the dogged suitor, the teen with big dreams, the dedicated detective with the important information and so on), but in this type of work, that can sometimes be expected. 

What makes them stand out are the little subtle nuances and touches. Things such as Madison's nickname for Elizabeth, "Bitsy," Josh's love of '90's Country music, and Brad's constant repetition of definitions of words make these characters fully recognized. Just like she did with George and Mabel, Hutcheson gives characters details and idiosyncrasies to make them stand out.

Those idiosyncrasies provide much of the book's humor partly because we know these characters. We understand them. They could be reminiscent of a friend, teacher, family member, or ourselves. It's a gentle humor that comes from personality and identification rather than topical jokes and snarky one liners.

There is also some drama with the character's situations. This book has a definite edge which is present throughout. Subjects like teen pregnancy, adoption, identity, parental abandonment, death, mental health, addiction, and various others come forward. Because the characters are so relatable, the darker aspects are more emotional and moving. You don't want to see them suffer because you don't want to see a close friend suffer. These troubled times could strengthen or weaken the characters. 

Of course, the nucleus and center of this entire book is Dr. Elizabeth Perkins. It is highly significant that these complications begin when her billboard appears. It reflects her image, the figure that she tries to convey. It's all surface. Administrator of the Year. Principal. Wife. Mother. Community Leader. She spends so much time maintaining this surface image that it is exhausting.

Throughout the book, she is faced with different complications and revelations that create cracks in this facade. Elizabeth questions her identity, where she came from, what pushed her forward, what truths she has to confront, and what she really wants and needs. 

Ultimately, Lady on the Billboard is a humorous and moving character study about a woman confronting her image, her place in the world, and her own self identity and worth.

Weekly Reader: Murder in Myrtle Bay (Ruth Finlay Mysteries Book 1) by Isobel Blackthorn; Secrets, Affairs, Lies, and Murder Surround a Small Town

 

Weekly Reader: Murder in Myrtle Bay (Ruth Finlay Mysteries Book 1) by Isobel Blackthorn; Secrets, Affairs, Lies, and Murder Surround a Small Town 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: We spent some time in the Atlantic exploring the history, current events, and legends of the Caribbean. Where to next? Why explore the danger and violence found in the Pacific Ocean of course. We saw a bit of the Pacific in Adrian Deans' Asparagus Grass beginning in New South Wales Australia but mostly it was the start of an around the world and into the stars trip.

This and the next book that I am going to review are murder mysteries set in the Pacific Islands of Australia and Hawaii respectively with the locals at their best and worst.

Cozy Mysteries usually show the best of small towns with friendly helpful residents, cute shop names, and, okay there's murder going on but there are many who want to solve it with the help of many eccentric families.

What makes Isobel Blackthorn's Murder in Myrtle Bay Ruth Finlay Mysteries Book 1 stand out is while it shows that charm and eccentricities of small town life, it isn't afraid to show these towns at their worst: the judgemental attitudes, the years long feuds, the clannish snobbishness when someone new comes along, the socioeconomic and sometimes racial divides that puts certain people in specific categories, and of course the strong emotions which result in violence and murder.

Friends, Ruth Finlay, and Doris Cleaver, are visiting the Factory, a now closed factory which has become an antiques and collectibles market. The duo find the dying David Fisk, who looks like he was hit on the back of his head and insisted that "he didn't do it" before expiring. This leaves Ruth and Doris with many questions. Who attacked David? What didn't he do? Who would dare attack him in broad daylight in an open market? How did they manage without anyone noticing? Ruth and Doris saw many friends and acquaintances that day, so which one is guilty?

Murder in Myrtle Bay is in many ways a typical cozy mystery with the usual tropes: murder in a small town, a victim with plenty of enemies and few friends, and an interesting detective, or in this case detectives, that takes their Reader through the mystery. That doesn't make Murder in Myrtle Bay, a lousy book. In fact, it's a lot of fun. It's the type of book that you want to read on the beach or on a warm summer night with a cold drink in hand.

Part of what makes this book are the lead characters themselves. Ruth and Doris are a fun fascinating duo who stand out as they try to solve the mystery of who killed David Fisk.

Ruth and Doris are an attraction of opposites. Ruth is a magazine writer in her 30's or 40's with an aging father. She grew up in Myrtle Bay, at least since high school, but she is something of an outsider, partly because of her standoffish personality and occupation as a journalist. This murder investigation also involves her asking a lot of personal questions to people that she has known for a long time making her even less liked. This scrutiny often makes her self conscious and overly serious at times.

While Ruth feels like a self conscious outsider, Doris knows she is an outsider and doesn't care. In fact, she dramatizes it. A senior, Doris dresses flamboyantly and can be very outspoken. Doris is also quite a gossip and knows the family histories in town and is even related to some of the noted families. She gives Ruth some much needed background information over who feuded with whom and who cheated on whom. Doris makes a strong presence whether it's getting a local to do some landscaping or to admit previous affairs with other women. While Ruth shies away from people, Doris is up front and center.

The mystery that Ruth and Doris find themselves in is pretty solid especially since it happened in open public and both admit that they saw friends and acquaintances coming in and out of The Factory meaning the murderer is more than likely someone that they know. 

Among the difficulties of living in a small town is that almost claustrophobic feeling of everyone knowing everybody. You go to a store and you see regular staff members or customers. You might see old school friends. Old friendships might be rekindled but also old grudges, rivalries, and fights may resurface. It's hard to live in the moment when there is someone always reminding you of your past.

Another aspect that Blackthorn's writing opens is the sharp lines that are often drawn among people in such towns. As Doris reminds Ruth of the different family rivalries and love triangles, it's clear that the two women are surrounded by a hierarchy and system where some people are on top and some are on the bottom. While that's true in most places, that's usually an abstract. In small towns, the people on top are known, usually families with a lot of wealth and connections. If not families, then institutions like the local churches or associations that shape the towns in their own images. If you are considered the wrong income bracket, live on the wrong side of town, the wrong skin color, the wrong religion, the wrong sexuality or gender identity, or become a subject of scandal, you could be made a pariah.

This claustrophobia and hierarchy is what Ruth and Doris have to muddle through as they get to the truth. There are many people, especially from certain families, that want to keep their image and reputation intact and won't let something like a dead body and a murder investigation get in the way of that. 

Murder in Myrtle Bay is a reminder that just because an area is rural doesn't mean that it isn't filled with hatred, prejudices, and violence. If anything, it's often worse than an urban landscape because Death could be wearing a familiar and even once friendly face.

Weekly Reader: Murder in Montague Falls by Russ Colchamiro, Sawney Hatton, and Patrick Thomas: Graphic Violence and Murder in a Small Town

Weekly Reader: Murder in Montague Falls by Russ Colchamiro, Sawney Hatton, and Patrick Thomas; Graphic Violence, Murder, and Psychological Terror Haunt Three Generations of A Small Town

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


PopSugar Reading Challenge: A book by an author who has written more than 20 books (Patrick Thomas, 40+ books and over 150 short stories)


Spoilers: Anyone who lives in a small town can tell you that violence and murder can happen there just as well as in any city. Anywhere people live will always have violent arguments, jealous quarrels, drug deals, domestic violence, child abuse, jealousy over possessions, and death. That's probably why small towns make such enticing settings in mysteries. The authors and creators love to poke holes into the whole "nothing can happen here" attitude and reveal these small town residents as often violent, bloodthirsty, arrogant, judgemental, hypocritical, and just as ready to pick up a gun or knife and do away with someone just as much as their urban counterparts.

The three-part novella series, Murder in Montague Falls, explores the concept of murder in a small town. Three authors, Russ Colchamiro, Sawney Hatton, and Patrick Thomas, capture three generations of secrets, gaphic violence, psychological terror, and murder in the small town of Montague Falls.

The stories are unrelated to each other. Two stories are told from the criminals' perspective and one from an amateur detective's.

No characters make appearances between the three works. One references another story in one line, but that's it. Somehow that elevates the stories to an even more sinister level. There is no suggestion that one story influences another or that the characters are destined to take a violent path. Instead it suggests that violent natures exist in anybody and that murder can occur randomly in any time and under any circumstance.

"Red Ink" by Russ Colchamiro- This story captures a youthful excitement in having an overactive imagination and shows what happens when, uh oh, those youthful fantasies turn out to be true.

Isaac Fuller, a young newspaper deliverer, finds some excitement in his tedious part-time job by pretending he's a young secret agent. He imagines that his neighbors are Communist spies and he is on their trail. (It is the '80's after all). Tension mounts between Isaac's reality and fantasy when he sees a dead body inside one of the houses and what appears to be a murderer standing over the body. Suddenly, his once wild imagination may not be so wild after all.

This novella captures that energy that is found in those kid adventures like The Goonies or The Monster Squad where it is up to the kids to face some nasty villains and save their world. It's no coincidence that "Red Ink" is set in the 1980's when those adventure films were popular.

There are also some Hitchcockian moments that hearken back to earlier more adult adventures. There is some suspense when the body is removed, the suspect provides an alibi, and no one believes Isaac's crazy story. Some psychological background is provided with the death of Isaac's baby sister and his determination to protect others. Above all, the most suspenseful passage is when Isaac learns that not only are his spy fantasies real, but he is alone with the murderer. He quickly learns that reality is a lot bloodier and more painful than his dreams.

"The Devil's Delinquents" by Sawney Hatton-If "Red Ink" is a tribute to the kid adventure films of the '80's, then Sawney Hatton's "The Devil's Delinquents" is a tribute to the '90's psychological horror films and the Goth culture which led to a lot of Generation Xers feeling like misfits and outcasts from society.

Three of those misfits are Derry Rhodes, Cal Virgil, and Natalie Glantz. Derry and Cal are in an alternative band that sing songs invoking Satan. However, these two are just pretenders compared to Natalie. She calls herself a dark witch, holds rituals, and claims to have a dead fetus of her child by Satan kept in a jar. When Ntalie gets the duo involved in her ritual, she demands a blood sacrifice....human sacrifice.

I would say that the trio are stereotypes,but that's the point. They are almost comical in their Satanic worship that they study from movies, metal music, and books. It's all based on the appearances that they see. They are basically dumb pathetic idiots playing dress up, but extremely violent idiots make no mistake about that.

They want to solicit Satan's help as a way out of their pathetic sad lives and obtain fame, attractiveness, and acceptance that they don't have at home. They are misfits that will commit even the darkest deeds to get that notice and acceptance.

There is a darkness that was so prevalent in '90's culture of suspicion, horror, and psychological thrill that this novella captures.
In a twist that is almost worthy of Quentin Tarantino, the violence is carried out in a way that is deliberately over the top. In a moment of being careful what one wishes for, one of the characters does get their fame and acceptance in the most horrific way possible.


"A Many Splendid Tthing" by Patrick Thomas-The final novella, "A Many Splendid Thing" is more of a tribute to an older genre than the previous novellas. While the book is described as noir, this story is the one with the strongest claim to the genre. "A Many Splendid Thing" hearkens back to the noir films like Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice in which a sexy femme fatale entices a poor shmo to commit murder. Then after the murder happens, the two conspire against each other.

In this variation, the poor shmo is high school senior, Jethro. He doesn't have much luck with the ladies or anyone else for that matter until he captures the interest of Rosa Carmine, his Science teacher, the aforementioned femme fatale. Rosa provides Jethro with some ,ahem, hand's on tutoring before she confesses that she is being abused by her husband and needs one little favor from her boy toy.

While all the stories are great, this is by far the best of the three because of the almost old school glamor that in which it pays tribute. Even setting the story in the 1950's reveals those Old Hollywood sensibilities that "A Many Splendid Thing" acknowledges. While violence is present and bloody, it's not as important as the aftereffects and how it resonates with the characters.

Once the violent act is committed, the novella becomes a tug of war as Jethro and Rosa turn on each other very quickly and vie to outsmart each other. The ending is brilliant and clever as both parties have one final gambit to play, even beyond death.

Murder in Montague Falls is an excellent book that honors different genres in the author's unique styles. The three works reveal the worst and the darkest aspects that exist inside those cute little houses around those slow moving streets. It reminds us that just because everybody seems to know everybody does not necessarily mean that they aren't hiding a knife behind their friendly greeting.

Weekly Reader: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout; Strong Character Driven Stories With An Unforgettable Protagonist

Weekly Reader: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout; Strong Character Driven Stories With An Unforgettable Protagonist

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


PopSugar Reading Challenge: A book that passes the Bechdel Test (Olive, Daisy, and Nina talk about Nina's health in the story, "Starving.")


Spoilers: You can't forget a lead character like Olive Kitteridge.


The eponymous protagonist of Elizabeth Strout's anthology, Olive Kitteridge is at the center of this emotional strong character driven anthology about life in a small town.

Olive is the nucleus around which this narrative functions. She is a retired math teacher who still runs into and keeps in touch with her former students. She has been married for a long time to pharmacist, Henry Kitteridge which is up and down, more negative these days with Olive's firey temper and Henry's mental infidelities. She has a son, Christopher, a podiatrist who is married to Suzanne, a woman who Olive does not like. She is known throughout town and has many friends and is involved in many organizations.

Olive is stubborn, crochety, argumentative, opinionated, warm hearted, and loving. You love her, then you hate her, then you do both. But above all, you don't forget about her.


Strout earned a much deserved Pulitzer Prize for this wonderful anthology, because she fills it with such memorable rich characters that are recognizable, understandable, and identifiable. The strongest character of course is Olive herself. There are many stories that explore her immediate surroundings. The first story, "Pharmacy" covers her husband, Henry's involvement in the life of his employee, Denise as his compassion for her turns into an unrequited infatuation. Another story, "A Different Road", involves a hostage situation in which Olive says the wrong things to Henry in an argument that haunts them for the rest of their lives.


Olive can be extremely steadfast in her opinions. In the stories, "A Little Burst" and "Security," Olive makes perfectly clear that she does not approve of Christopher's significant others. In fact, many make the argument that she wouldn't like any of the women in her son's life. She befriends a man in the story, "River", but their differing political beliefs almost causes the friendship to end almost before it begins. Olive dominates any conversation and situation that she is in. (Even the accompanying Reader's Guide interview with Strout becomes a two-way interview with Strout and her main protagonist.)


Despite her prickliness, Olive is one that is always willing to help out those in need, particularly younger people. She uses her own experiences with a suicidal father and a family history of mental illness as an aide to help others such as Kevin, a former student contemplating suicide in "Incoming Tide." Her former life as a teacher and current life as a sometimes-busybody gives her a good handle at recognizing the difficulties that another person is going through, even a total stranger. In the story, "Starving," she instantly knows that Nina, a young woman who is new in town, is anorexic so Olive, and Olive's friends, lovers Daisy and Harmon, help get Nina the treatment that she needs.


While Olive is certainly the most engaging, other characters are quite interesting in their own right. Many of them sparkle even in stories where Olive only has a slight mention if at all. Angela O'Meara, the main character in the story, "The Piano Player" knows and plays everyone's favorite song at the local hangout. However, she also suffers through life with her dying mother, a former prostitute, and a joyless relationship that causes her to feel lonely.

Another story "Ship in a Bottle," involves a troubled relationship between a mother and her two daughters. Julie, the eldest has clinical depression and has to watch helplessly as her mother is jilted at the altar by her faithless boyfriend. Even when Olive isn't involved, Strout's gift for characterization is still present.


Olive Kitteridge and the rest of the characters are well-written and brilliant. They leap off the page and go from being characters that are interesting to read about to becoming good friends.

New Book Alert: Saving Grace (Fox River Romance #4) by Jess B. Moore; Be Thankful for This Moving Book About Romance and Family Secrets

New Book Alert: Saving Grace (Fox River Romance #4) by Jess B. Moore; Be Thankful for This Moving Book About Romance and Family Secrets

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Holidays are the times that bring out the best and worst in people. Either friends and family get together and keep people up to date while reminiscing about old times and enjoying the food and fellowship of those days or they live in hotbeds of trauma, conflict, and tension with buried hostilities that explode.

Thanksgiving in particular can be a scene of conflict. Amidst the turkey eating, the family visiting, and the Black Friday shopping, that finely decorated table of good china becomes the center of plenty of arguments, rivalries, and secrets left out in the open.

Jess B. Moore’s novel Saving Grace is about that. A family reunites for Thanksgiving, but brings up old resentments and secrets that challenge their current lives and romances.
The family that has the Thanksgiving from Hell are The Grace Brothers. In their small town of Fox River, North Carolina the Grace Family had something of a reputation. Their father was an alcoholic criminal. The boys were frequently abused and went through school with reputations as bullies and juvenile delinquents.

Years have passed and two of the brothers settled into respectable lives. Asher has become the serious head of the family and has a wealthy girlfriend, Annabelle Dare. Hudson has grown into a lovable goofball and peacemaker and has a cute-as-a-button daughter, Emily.

Unfortunately, their brother Brandt has suffered the most from the family reputation and continues to bring animosity wherever he goes. In fact, Asher would prefer that Brandt not be at the Thanksgiving dinner hosted by him and Annabelle. But Hudson reassures Brandt with “F#@k it, it's Thanksgiving.” Sure enough Brandt is going.

On the way, Brandt encounters Lola Donovan, a schoolteacher who remembered the brothers from when they were kids. Lola has a reputation of being a good girl with a close family. However, Lola has her own secrets that she tries to keep from her family. Her family knows that she broke up with her long-term boyfriend, Vincent, but they don't know exactly what happened: that Lola cheated on him.

During Thanksgiving dinner, Brandt and Lola encounter each other trying to keep their obvious chemistry to themselves. However, Asher makes his point clear that he doesn't want Brandt to mess with Annabelle or Lola.

So in the vein of any romance, Lola and Brandt disobey the warning and become a couple.

Saving Grace is a sweet romance with two very damaged but likable characters. While Brandt is someone who is saddled with a bad record and reputation, he is also sincerely trying to rebuild his life. He finds his gift in tattoo art. He bonds with Emily and has some sweet moments teasing the little girl. While he is initially uncomfortable with Annabelle because of her wealth, Brandt warms up to her willing to spend time with her and Asher, enduring Asher’s derision. When he and Lola get together, he becomes a thoughtful and understanding boyfriend sympathizing with her earlier lapse in fidelity.

However, Brandt still suffers from the pain of his troubled childhood. He still remembers his father's abuse and how he helped him with his criminal activities. Brandt tries very hard to rebuild his life, but there is always someone to remind him who he used to be.

Lola too emerges as a good love interest for Brandt. She is recognizable in her town because of her prominence as a teacher, her family which play at the local bluegrass festival, and her remarkable eyes where one is brown and the other blue. Since she is well known in Fox River, she is concerned about what other people think. She never told her family the circumstances of her break up with Vince partly from shame, but also because he is still a friend of theirs.

Lola is a very warm-hearted individual. She enjoys talking about books with Emily and clearly loves teaching. When Brandt tells her that he has been evicted from his apartment, she lets him temporarily live at her home. A bit of a plot hole occurs that she does this not too long after she and Brandt meet, but the sudden offer could be attributed to the fact that she has known Brandt for years and due to her own kind nature. Plus, it helps that Brandt doesn't stay too long at her place and moves in with another friend.

Lola also tries to break through the animosity that the Grace Brothers share helping to bring them together while withdrawing from a romantic relationship with Brandt because of her own guilt of how her previous relationship ended.

Moore does a brilliant job bringing many of the supporting characters to life as well. Annabelle is kind of dizzy but is never an entitled snob. She just feels out of place when her expensive gestures make others feel uncomfortable.

While Asher could be a one-dimensional killjoy, he is instead someone who has spent his life taking care of his family and enduring his father's abuse. He has been the de facto parent for so long that, he doesn't know how to let go of his now-grown brothers.

The Fox River setting is described in a way that is recognizable for anyone who grew up in a rural community. There are some beautiful descriptions of autumn leaves and snowy landscapes. There are the town traditions that people participate in whether they want to or not with music, dancing, food, and good times.

There are also some genuinely kind folks that know each other from school, church, or the local supermarket that would do anything to help each other.

However, Moore also captures the dark side of such a community. There is judgement from the locals which motivates much of Lola's behavior. We see the lack of job opportunities that draws people away from the town in which they grew up towards a more accommodating life out of town.

There are the poor families that are derided as trailer trash and ignored even when violence occurs. Then when those kids grow up, we see the stigma never really disappeared as these former kids try to rebuild their lives that have been branded by history.

There is also the closeness between residents that can embrace but also suffocates those who want a different life elsewhere and are unsure how to pursue it without hurting anyone in the process.

Saving Grace is a sweet love story with a realistic setting. It is a book to be thankful for.

Weekly Reader: Cogrill's Mill by Jack Lindsey; Cute Charming Romance Has A Lot of Laughs and Weirdness

Weekly Reader: Cogrill's Mill by Jack Lindsey; Cute Charming Romance Has A Lot of Laughs and Weirdness

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Jack Lindsey's novel, Cogrill's Mill is sort of what would happen if you transported P.G. Wodehouse's characters to modern day and had someone like Richard Curtis write about their current love lives.

It is a cute and charming story about a spoiled rich man with very little common sense who goes into a business partnership with a Bohemian photographer and he opens his business to her artist friends. You just know this is one of those types of books where people will fall in love and hilarity will ensue. Luckily, it is a genuinely funny sweet book that even though the journey is familiar, it is also a lot of fun.

On his 30th birthday, George Cogrill is given the riot act by his Aunt Jane. He is not married, has not held down a job, and has done nothing with the money he inherited from his father. There is a codicil in the will that states that if he hasn't done anything with his fortune by the time he is 30, then he forfeits his inheritance.
Aunt Jane has a suggestion to start. Years ago, George's father cheated his former business partner, Victor Gloam, and built his financial empire off of that. Jane commands that George give half of his inheritance to Gloam. Unfortunately, Gloam died leaving his daughter, Vicky.
When George is ordered to give that half to Vicky, Vicky has some ideas to create business. One of them is to market and sell the delicious apple cider that George produces from his mill. The cider is highly recommended but only available at the local pub. Vicky also wants to expand the mill to open a fashion photography studio and maybe an artist's colony inside the small English village inhabited by George and Aunt Jane.

Cogrill's Mill is hilarious, partly because it deviates from expectations.
While Aunt Jane seems to be borrowed from Wodehouse's elderly pesky dictatorial aunts, she is not from the Edwardian Age so much as she is a retiree from the Age of Aquarius. Instead of the stereotypical “old lady” hobbies like gardening or crocheting, Aunt Jane likes to ride motorcycles. She has plenty of them but only British variety: Triumph Bonnevilles, Norton, and BSA. “These Japanese and continental machines are much too inferior,” she insists. Later, when someone mentions Harley-Davidson, she asks who that is. Though nationalistic in her choice of vehicles, Aunt Jane welcomes Vicky and her new friends. She finds new people to befriend and be nosy towards while biking across country roads.


Lindsey also does a great job of writing George, Vicky, the villagers, and the visiting artists making them a delightful community of likable characters.
Jack, a local pub tender, is the first to cheer lead for George's cider and ends up being at the forefront of selling the stuff. The cider makes a killing of Jack's pub business, much to his chagrin, when tourists keep arriving at his pub for the cider.

There is Justin, an artist that George believes is involved with Vicky until he is informed that Justin is involved with Jonathan, a model. Justin and Jonathan are frequently together so it is no surprise to the Reader as it is to George, thereby showing that George really needs to get a clue.

There is Tom Firkin, a gamekeeper who hides artistic talent and develops a romance with Vicky’s model friend, Miranda, despite his bucolic shy exterior. His dialect reveals that he is far from the dumb rural stereotype. Instead he is a sweet man who just needs encouragement from the right woman.
Miranda inadvertently causes a running gag by revealing her real name, Mabel, to George. George covers up for Miranda's embarrassment by telling Vicky that Mabel is the name of Jane's cat which she doesn't have. Vicky then spends some of the book looking for Aunt Jane's nonexistent cat.

Of course George and Vicky have some cute moments where the ambitious Vicky bickers with the complacent, George. There are also plenty of misunderstandings such as George proposing a business idea to Vicky and both she and Aunt Jane think it's a marriage proposal.
These humorous moments are driven by the characters’ personalities and behaviors giving a sweetness and gentleness to the events.

There are some weird moments towards the end. A smooth relative of Vicky's turns out to be a crook who takes some unnecessarily violent repercussions on the other characters. One wealthy character dies and leaves their fortune to their dog and another character gets amnesia and spends some time with a British Country-Western band.
The last third of the book becomes silly and farcical instead of the gentle character-driven comedy but most of the book produces some sweet moments that make you root for the characters and want to see them succeed.

Underneath the sweet characters and humorous plot points, there is an underlying theme of moving out of one's comfort zone and taking chances. Once George and Vicky share the fortune, they discover hidden talents in other people like Tom, Jack, Justin, Miranda and other characters. They also discover talents within each other.

George is revealed to make a great cider that he has never wanted to market until Vicky convinces him to. He also has a good eye for photography so he starts taking his own pictures becoming an honorary member of the artists’ colony.

Vicky also has some talents that encourages her to step onto the other side of the camera. She is very photogenic and becomes a model. She also acquires an acting talent and accepts the lead in a romantic comedy (inside the romantic comedy that is the book, Cogrill's Mill). The two achieve success once they display those talents to the world.

With success comes problems like the rush of tourists, sycophants who suck up to the newly famous, and in one chapter, George having to speak at conferences while hung over. But those problems help turn the lives of George, Vicky, Aunt Jane, and their friends around into something different.

The characters in Cogrill's Mill move on from their lives into new experiences that change them, sometimes better and more fulfilling and sometimes worse and with more headaches. But, the new experiences move them beyond their exteriors to become characters that are sweeter, funnier, more authentic, and more real.

New Book Alert: Confessions of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell; Charming and Funny Look At the Life of a Scottish Bookseller

New Book Alert: Confessions of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell; Charming and Funny Look At the Life of a Scottish Bookseller

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews




Shaun Bythell's Confessions of a Bookseller is not long on plot. In fact there is hardly any plot in the book. Instead this sequel to Bythell's previous book, Diary of a Bookseller has plenty of charm, humor, witticisms, and eccentric characters that would be unbelievable in fiction were they not real people.

Bythell owns and operates The Book Shop, Wigtown the largest second hand bookshop in Scotland. This book covers 2015, a year in which he dealt with quirky colleagues, eccentric customers, and the difficulties of running a book store.

Bythell was surrounded by a colorful group of colleagues that could have come out of fiction themselves. There is Granny, an Italian woman, who earned the nickname because she talked about aches and pains and talked about death. Another one is Petra who rented the upstairs apartment to host belly dancing classes. (“Shake, Read, and Roll” would make a good slogan.)

One of the stand outs in this kooky cast is Nicky, Bythell's main employee. She arrived fashionably late, wore black clothes, and brought food on Foodie Fridays (usually stuff that Bythell didn't like.). Often she and Bythell bickered about how the store was run. Nicky gave her two weeks notice once, but the two relied on each other for help and friendship.

Nicky is like most friends and co-workers. You fight, sometimes you want to see the back of each other. But you also rely on each other for loyalty, laughs, strength, and friendship.

As humorous as Bythell's colleagues are, his exchanges with customers are equally as memorable.
One of the struggles Bythell had were donations that meant more to the customers than to Bythell. Many entries feature Bythell driving several hours out of his way to investigate boxes of books only to return with less than a handful because the books were either damaged beyond repair, written by authors that are widely distributed like Dan Brown or Stephanie Meyer, or of only personal interest to the donor. (Family Bibles are out for that reason.)

Another issue the introverted Bythell often had to deal with were talkative customers, who began discussing reading habits then talk about family struggles and personal habits. “NEVER ask for an anecdote when you work in a bookshop,” warned Bythell.

One hilarious roundabout conversation occurred between Bythell and a customer who had to learn the difference between a bookshop and a library.
“Will to live rapidly diminishing,” Bythell inwardly moaned as he said for what seemed like the hundredth time that no she didn't have to return the books once she bought them.

Bythell also had to contend with weird questions asked by customers about what books he had. One asked for a childhood book that she didn't know the name but featured a koala stealing berries. Anyone who works in a book store or library will understand the vague requests. (“I don't remember the name of the book but it has a red cover.”)

Bythell also had to contend with his share of unusual requests both in person and online. One online request asked for Mein Kampf along with other pro-Nazi materials. Bythell didn't know why and didn't want to know.

There were also customers that asked for specific books about certain subjects every day from Scottish genealogy to trains. One of those types of customers was Bythell's father, an avid fisherman who always asked for books about anglers and fish.

Along with colleagues and customers, Bythell also wrote about the advertising that he did to draw in customers, particularly online where he received interest from as far away as Asia, the Americas, and the other European countries. For Christmas, he and Nicky posted two different videos and had the visitors vote on their favorite.

He also wrote about the various quotes that he and other co-workers displayed on Facebook that deal with books and reading. One of those reads “You passed by a Book Shop. Is something wrong with you?”

As much as the Internet was a boon to Bythell's business, it could also be a curse. Bythell became so irritated with customers realizing that they had books on their Kindle that he and a colleague designed and sold “Death to Kindle” mugs at the Book Shop.
In his previous book, Bythell displayed a broken Kindle on the wall of the Book Shop. The display went viral earning Bythell some extra online celebrity.

By far the most eventful time for the Book Shop is the Wigtown Book Festival which takes place during the final week in September. Bythell wrote about the planning, preparation, and organizing an event from a village of less than 100 citizens welcoming people from all over the world. Besides offering discounts, Bythell participated in various events like the Literary Quiz, the optimistically titled Wigtown's Got Talent, and the Fun Run (which he admits is an oxymoron).

While the plot of Confessions of a Bookseller is slight, there is one plot thread that dangles throughout the book. That is Bythell's relationship with his partner, Anna. Anna created different things associated with the Book Shop, like the Writer's House, which offered courses in reading, writing, and art and the Open Book, in which renters can temporarily operate and organize their own bookshop, like an Airbnb. Granny started working there.
As good as Anna was for business, and as good as she and Bythell were personally, they had differences that could not be met. In his mid-forties, Bythell wanted to start a family, Anna was much younger and did not. They broke up and Anna returned to the United States.

Some of the most moving chapters are when Bythell encountered old friends and explained why he was alone, feeling a lump in his throat. During Christmas, he sent her a cordial happy holidays email and wished he could see her in person.

Despite the quirky colleagues, odd customers, and demands on his personal time, Bythell is clearly a man who loves books and loves sharing them with others. This is shown in the first entry when he writes, “The pleasure of handling books that have introduced something of cultural or scientific significance to the world is undeniably the greatest luxury that this business affords and few -if any-
walks of life provide such a wealth of opportunity to indulge in this. This is why, every morning getting out of bed is not an anticipation of a repetitive drudge but in expectation that I may have the chance to hold in my hands a copy of something that first brought to humanity an idea that changed the course of history….That is what it's all about.”

Any of us who work with books whether selling, lending, publishing, appraising, editing, writing, teaching, or reviewing them understand completely.

Forgotten Favorites: September by Rosamunde Pilcher; A Sweet Novel With A Memorable Ensemble of Characters And A Lovely Scottish Setting

Forgotten Favorites: September by Rosamunde Pilcher; A Sweet Novel With A Memorable Ensemble of Characters And A Lovely Scottish Setting


By Julie Sara Porter


Bookworm Reviews





Spoilers: Rosamunde Pilcher's novel, September is one of those sweet novels like the works of Maeve Binchey with a fascinating lovely setting, in this case Scotland in September and a memorable ensemble of characters. Quite often there's a kind wise elderly woman, a pair or two of young lovers, an eccentric older character who might be crazy or just odd, a feuding couple on the brink of divorce or separation, and a figure, usually an elegant lovely woman, who is the source of much rumors and speculation. These characters go through some struggles within their families, friends, and romances. There are some vague attempts at real world issues like divorce, unemployment, war, mental illness, and death but ultimately the characters shine through and the Reader is guaranteed a happy ending in which lovers are united and ties are strengthened.





This description makes it sound like I don't like these type of books. On the contrary, it’s impossible not to like these books, as formulaic as they can be, and September is a sweet book. It is the type of book that is filled with beautiful description and such lovely characters that this Reader considered booking a flight to Scotland just to see if they exist so she could hang around with them.





The book starts with the overbearing, Verena Steyton who wants to give a party in September for her daughter, Katy’s 21st birthday. September is the perfect time of year for such a party. It's after summer when the American tourists have left and when the weather is the most beautiful in Scotland. The book is filled with wonderful descriptions of Relkirkshire (a fictional village) in autumn. The senses are given a full workout picturing morning's light frost giving the countryside’s colors a brighter shade, the golden fields, the rain drizzle, and the scent of full bloomed heather.





While Verena is handing out invitations, booking a rock band for the entertainment, and overseeing the hors d’oeuvres, the Readers meet the other characters, each with their own issues that hopefully will be resolved by the big day. There's Edmund Aird, a businessman who wants his 8-year-old son, Henry to begin boarding school against the wishes of his second much younger wife, Virginia. Virginia despairs of letting her little boy go and feels a combination of separation anxiety and empty nest syndrome. Alexa, Edmund's adult daughter, a freelance chef lives happily with her boyfriend, advertising executive, Noel Keeling (who incidentally is the son of the protagonist of Pilcher's previous novel, The Shell Seekers). But Alexa is concerned about how her family feels about her common law relationship and Noel is debating whether or not to take their relationship to the next level. Edmund's mother, Violet Aird is a kind matronly woman whom everyone goes to with their problems but is beginning to feel the twilight of her years and is concerned about her friend, Edie whose mentally ill cousin, Lottie is staying with her and causing trouble.





Besides the Steyton and the Airds, the other important family is the Blairs, the family of Lord Archibald Balmerino, titled landowners. Archibald feels useless with a prosthetic leg shot off during a conflict in Northern Ireland. Nowadays, he putters around in his workshop carving wooden statues while his wife, Isobel runs a lucrative tourist business catering mostly to rich Americans. Their daughter, Luciella seems to have rejected a life of riches and titles to go backpacking on the Continent with her Australian boyfriend, Jeff. Then there's Pandora, Archibald's sister who moved from Relkirkshire nearly 20 years ago and left a trail of former husbands and lovers behind everywhere she went, one of whom was Edmund Aird.





The beauty of Pilcher's novel is not just in the setting. The characters are just so darned likeable that everyone is given a moment to show that they are more than they seem. Verena is nosy and overbearing but clearly loves her daughter, Katy and only wants what's best for her. Edmund can be a boorish stiff so bound in tradition that he is willing to pack off an 8-year-old kid to boarding school despite objections from everyone else. He sees the error of his ways when Henry returns after running away from school to tell his parents that he is unhappy there. So unhappy that even the headmaster thinks Henry's too young to be in boarding school.


Virginia feels that her marriage is loveless so she begins an affair with Conrad Tucker, a former American boyfriend and considers leaving with him. In the end, she decides not to when she realizes how much Edmund loves and needs her.


Archibald is filled with PTSD about his military experiences and conflicted about his current role as a wounded Lord. However he bonds with Conrad as the two share experiences in wars, they felt were unjust and unnecessary: Archibald’s in North Ireland and Conrad’s in Vietnam. Archibald also shows great creative talent as he carves a sculpture of Katy Steyton for her birthday giving him an opportunity for a future possibility of earning money.


Even characters who fill the others with fear and loathing like Lottie have memorable moments. While Lottie flies off into unpredictable rants, she also reveals the truth in the most inopportune times. For example she reveals to Virginia that Edmund and Pandora were once lovers and the reason Edmund flew off on a sudden business trip was to avoid meeting her.





The most fascinating character in the bunch is the beguiling Pandora Blair. After leaving Relkirkshire, she never returned even to attend her parent's funerals. The free-spirited enthusiastic woman traveled through Europe, North America, South America, and everywhere else ultimately settling in Majorca, Spain where she meets Luciella and Jeff. Verena Steyton’s invitation sends her home for the first time in a long time.


Pandora is a whirlwind who catches everyone else up in her elaborate plots such as taking Isobel, Alexa, Virginia, and Luciella on expensive shopping sprees for clothes for Katy's birthday party in which she pays for everything. She also encourages Archibald to wear their father’s formal clothes even though he long rejected them and to sell his carved wooden sculptures.


Like a pixy, Pandora spreads advice to the people around to make them happy. She suggests that Noel marry Alexa, a woman that he loves, to avoid a lifetime of regret and loneliness like she had.


Pandora is a strange figure that fills the characters and the Reader with curiosity about her and her motives. Why did she come back after all this time? Does she want to resume an affair with Edmund? Why is she excitable one minute and sleepy the next? Is she bipolar or is there something else wrong with her? The final pages reveal that Pandora was a complex woman with plenty of regrets but a zest for life that was undeniable.





September is a delightful book. While there are some sad moments, it is the enchanting setting and the brilliant characters, particularly Pandora, that the Reader will hold onto after the book is closed.