SPRING BOOK CLUB @SheReadsBookCLB @jenniferweiner @jcbaggott #MMBBR

I am part of the amazing SheReads Blog Network! Which means that I am fortunate enough to partner with some of the most savvy, talented, and intelligent book bloggers in the business. Every month we wonderful women read our selections and review them on our personal sites. We are kind and witty and love books more than air. We would love for you to visit each of us online and follow us on Facebook and Twitter. You don’t want to miss all the book goodness we have to offer! 

MY SPRING BOOK CLUB SELECTIONS

For fans of the quirky, heartfelt fiction of Nick Hornby and Eleanor Brown comes a smart, wry, and poignant novel about reconciliation between fathers and daughters, between spouses; the deep ties between sisters; and the kind of forgiveness that can change a person’s life in unexpected and extraordinary ways.

The Rockwell women are nothing if not . . . Well, it’s complicated. When the sisters—Esme, Liv, and Ru—were young, their eccentric mother, Augusta, silenced all talk of their absent father with the wild story that he was an international spy, always away on top-secret missions. But the consequences of such an unconventional upbringing are neither small nor subtle: Esme is navigating a failing marriage while trying to keep her precocious fifteen-year-old daughter from live-tweeting every detail. Liv finds herself in between relationships and rehabs, and Ru has run away from enough people and problems to earn her frequent flier miles. So when a hurricane hits the family home on the Jersey Shore, the Rockwells reunite to assess the damage—only to discover that the storm has unearthed a long-buried box. In a candid moment, Augusta reveals a startling secret that will blow the sisters’ concept of family to smithereens—and send them on an adventure to reconnect with a lost past . . . and one another.

MY REVIEW:

Did you ever read a book that made you feel like you were really observing people in their best and worst moments?  That you were really seeing what was at the heart of the person?  Well that is how I felt while reading ALL OF US AND EVERYTHING.  You are exposed to the Rockwell women and get the privilege to see what has become of them and all the moments that caused them to become the women they are today.  They are flawed, real, damaged and struggling. Then a storm (both real and figurative) changes everything.  This storm seriously changes the entire course of their lives and causes them to rethink all they once thought they knew.  What a crazy ride it was.  There were twists and turns and many unexpected moments that created a very enjoyable reading experience.  What a great read.  5 stars   

You can read the first chapter here.

You can add ALL OF US AND EVERYTHING to your “want to read” list here.

An unforgettable story about true love, real life, and second chances…

Rachel Blum and Andy Landis are just eight years old when they meet one night in an ER waiting room. Born with a congenital heart defect, Rachel is a veteran of hospitals, and she’s intrigued by the boy who shows up alone with a broken arm. He tells her his name. She tells him a story. After Andy’s taken back to a doctor and Rachel’s sent back to her bed, they think they’ll never see each other again.

Rachel grows up in an affluent Florida suburb, the popular and protected daughter of two doting parents. Andy grows up poor in Philadelphia with a single mom and a rare talent for running.

Yet, over the next three decades, Andy and Rachel will meet again and again—linked by chance, history, and the memory of the first time they met, a night that changed the course of both of their lives.

A sweeping, warmhearted, and intimate tale, Who Do You Love is an extraordinary novel about the passage of time, the way people change and change each other, and how the measure of a life is who you love.

MY REVIEW:  

I am such a HUGE fan of Jennifer Weiner.  I feel in love with her when I read GOOD IN BED.  That was the book that got me into reading.  Yes, THE first book that hooked me and has created a lifelong reader.  I owe my love of reading to Jennifer!  

So when I read WHO DO YOU LOVE I was seriously swooning!  I think it is one of Weiner's most emotionally intense books that she has written to date.  She was able to tap into what is feels like to experience first love and then subsequently the other loves that follow from multiple points of view.  I was so involved in the lives of these characters that I felt their heartbreaks, their emotions, their missteps.  I was then lucky enough to experience redemption and recovery from their broken hearts.  It was a pleasure to be part of the characters lives, it was an honor really.  That is how I felt when reading and then finishing this amazing book.  I felt changed to have read this brilliant love story.  

What I love about Wiener is that she writes believable stories about life, love, marriage, family, coming of age, personal struggles and mistakes and then she captures the struggle and work it takes to find a new normal, a new life...happiness after heartache.  She is a story telling ninja!  For real...she kicks at the heart, punches at the soul and goes for that knock out punch you never see coming but remember for ever!  

5 HUGE stars   

You can read the first chapter here.

You can add WHO DO YOU LOVE to your “want to read” list here.