Someone Else's Love Story by Joshilyn Jackson

I enjoyed this book a lot. The story is written mostly from the point of view of Shandi, a young single mother who is held hostage in a convenience store hold-up, along with her son and 3 other people. She becomes entwined in the life of William, one of the hostages, who was able to save their lives. We learn in the beginning that Shandi has been drugged and raped and has a child as a result, and William is suffering from the loss of a wife and child. As a result of their close to death experience, both she and William are able to face their pasts and move in new directions in their lives. Shandi is a smart, quirky character who becomes neither overly helpless or ridiculously independent.

The story grabbed me right from the start as Shandi is staring into the barrel of a gun, and I had a hard time putting it down. Not only did I want to find out what happened and how everything turns out, but the writing was so much more than just a simple stating of the facts.

I will definitely look for the author's other books

Imperfect Pairings by Jackie Townsend

This is the story of Jamie, who works in finance for a large company in California and is trying to achieve partnership in the firm. She meets and begins an affair with Jack who is an engineer with a company that Jamie's firm is working with. Jack is Italian, but has been in America, going to school and working, for 10 years and hardly ever talks about his heritage. Jamie is a driven, fiercely independent woman working hard to reach her goals. Early on in their relationship, Jamie travels to Italy with Jack for the wedding of his cousin. While there she realizes the large cultural divide that exists between her and Jack, as he morphs into Giovanni, his true Italian self. Back in the US, Jack wants to earn his green card but it is a long process. Jamie suggests they marry temporarily to help speed things along, even though marriage was not something she ever envisioned for herself. The two live together, but Jamie doesn't acknowledge to anyone that they are married.

 

The story progresses from here as Jamie and Jack go back and forth to Italy and Jack/Giovanni becomes more and more embroiled in the family vineyards and wine business. It seemed to me that what mostly happened throughout the book was that Jamie gradually gave up all her own existing hopes and dreams to mesh with the new life Jack had chosen for himself. I never did quite 'get' the attraction between the two. Jack was very cool and remote and spent most of his time with Jamie belittling her. I failed to see how she found that endearing. 

 

I did read the entire book. I wanted to see where it was going and how it would end. The ending wasn't as satisfying as I'd hoped it would be, but in general I think the book was well written. The exploration of differences and misconceptions between the Italian and American customs and cultures was interesting. I just didn't like what happened with the main character, Jamie.



The Son by Philipp Meyer

A family epic focusing on 3 generations of the McCullough family in Texas from the 1830's to the present. It is the story of Eli who was captured by the Comanches who brutally murder his family. He lives with them for several years, returning to his roots when the tribe dies out. It is the story of his son, Peter, who suffers moral dilemmas over the murdering of Mexicans by his family. It is the story of Jean Ann, Eli's great granddaughter, who struggles to carry on the family traditions in a man's world.

The book begins with Jeanne Ann at age 86 lying injured on the floor of her home with her life passing before her eyes. From there the story switches back and forth in time and among the 3 main characters. As a result it was sometimes difficult to follow. I often had to go back and double check who was being written about and what year it was. At least there was a family tree printed in the beginning.

There is a lot of fairly graphic violence in the book, but it didn't seem gratuitous. The author was pretty good at presenting the points of view of not just the whites, but of the native Americans and the Mexicans as well. They all seemed equally good/bad. One group would conquer another, and then be conquered themselves.

I didn't find the main characters to be too sympathetic, but at least Peter seemed to have some crises of conscience from time to time.

The book is long, but it was well written enough that I hung in there with it if for no other reason than to find out how it ended.

Vacation Reading

I read several books while on vacation the past few weeks and will post reviews as time allows. Of these, some were the quick read murder/spy mysteries that I can't seem to get enough of on vacation, some were advanced reader copies by new authors, some were new books by established authors, and some were older books that I just hadn't read before. I particularly liked Khaled Hosseini's and Chris Bohjalian's latest books, and an older book by Joseph Kanon, The Good German (I never saw the movie).

Here's the list:

The Son by Philipp Meyer
Nothing to Lose by Lee Child
The Never List by Koethi Zan
Big Girl Panties by Stephanie Evanovich
The Favor by Megan Hart
The Bookman's Tale by Charlie Lovett
The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalian
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
Somewhere Between Luck and Trust by Emilie Richards
The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
The Good German by Joseph Kanon
The Last Will of Moira Leahy by Therese Walsh
Blood Orchid by Stuart Woods
Secrets to the Grave by Tami Hoag
Cure by Robin Cook
Hell's Kitchen by David Baldacci