Happy Wife by Meredith Lavender and Kendall Shores

"As Will's twenty-eight-year-old second wife, I'm something between arm candy and dinner theater to most of his friends. A spectacle to be sure. At best, I am a strange interloper, someone new who doesn't know any of their inside jokes. At worst, all the wives jeer at me like I'm the Ghost of Christmas Future, a harbinger of younger second wives to come. Never mind that Will's divorce from his first wife, Constance, is well behind him---a divorce she initiated."            -from the novel

 

I really enjoyed this novel! I am not sure if I would have liked it quite so much if the setting had not been in my own backyard, Winter Park, Florida. Normally, I would not choose a book that sounds like a romance. This one did involve a romance but also a mysterious disappearance that kept me turning pages. I will give it a 5 rating for its entertainment value.

Nora Davies is a newcomer in Winter Park and working two low-level jobs to eke out a living when she meets Will Somerset, a rich, well-respected lawyer who hob nobs with the elite. He is almost 20 years older than she but there is undeniable chemistry between Nora and her "mean, hot lawyer." This is the backstory because...

The real plot is woven when Will disappears after the birthday party Nora has thrown for him. Gone without a trace! While Nora and others try to find clues as to Will's whereabouts there are flashbacks to the beginnings of their romance and marriage.

When Nora feels she is a suspect in Will's disappearance, she is desperate to find who is really responsible.

I mentioned that the novel is set in the city where I live. It was so much fun to be familiar with so many places in the story----Rollins College and Annie Russell Theatre, Park Avenue, the Morse Museum, the Winter Park Chain of Lakes, Fiddlers Green Irish Pub, Hannibal Square, the Farmer's Market and the famous peacocks of Genius Drive. And much more!

Blue Marlin by Lee Smith

 "I saw myself as an island with time stretching out before me and behind me, all around me like a deep lake, mysterious and never-ending, like Lake Nantahala, where I lost my ring, where a person might lose anything. This precarious view made everything that happened to me seem very, very important. I had to see as much as I could see, learn as much as I could learn, feel as much as I could feel. I had to live like crazy all the time, an attitude that would get me into lots of trouble later."    -Jenny, from the novel

Our Page Turners' September selection, Blue Marlin is the story of a feisty 13-year-old girl trying to cope with her father's infidelity and her mother's depression. I found Jenny to be very likeable and believable as a teenager with the usual growing pains with added on family dysfunction. I was cheering her on as I often do with youngsters in fiction, probably a result of having taught those of a similar age.

One of my favorite parts is when the family tries a "geographical cure," a trip from their home in Virginia to Key West. Some Florida landmarks along the way were very familiar to me and I enjoyed visiting Key West again vicariously. The 1959 time setting brought back memories to this baby-boomer with mentions of current events and popular culture of the time, like movies, songs and celebrities.

I also liked the last portion of the novella in which the author tells how her own youth was the inspiration for the story. She calls it "autobiographical fiction, with the emphasis on fiction."

I am rating Blue Marlin a 5. I'd definitely recommend it for middle schoolers and above...and/or former schoolteachers!

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien

 "The real point is this: We don't know where to go because we don't know what we are. Do you want to go back to living in a sewer pipe? And eating other people's garbage? Because that's what rats do. But the fact is we aren't rats any more. We're something Dr. Schultz has made. Something new. Dr. Schultz says our intelligence has increased more than one thousand per cent. I suspect he's underestimated; I think we're probably as intelligent as he is---maybe more. We can read, and with a little practice, we'll be able to write, too. I mean to do both. I think we can learn to do anything we want. But where do we do it? Where does a group of civilized rats fit in?"

           -Nicodemus, from the novel

This book is likely recommended for upper elementary students so why would this 70-something woman be reading it? I had discovered it as a 5th grade teacher, and it was a favorite of mine: a delightful fantasy with loveable animal characters. I needed something light and fun and Mrs. Frisby.. filled the bill. A rating of 5.

Mrs. Frisby is a mouse widow and mother of four, one of whom is very ill. She knows a wise mouse, Mr. Ages, who has cures to offer so she goes to seek his help. He gives her medicine for son Timothy but warns he will not completely recover for weeks. Further complicating matters the Frisbys will have to move soon because their home is in a field that will be plowed in early spring. She will need serious help to move the family. 

After Mrs. Frisby rescues Jeremy the crow, he suggests the owl may have a solution to her problem and he flies her there. The owl is familiar with her name, having known of her late husband, Jonathan. The owl simply says, "You must go to the rats."

There is a group of rats who are seen going to and from a huge rosebush by the barn on the property of the Fitzgibbons, where the Frisbys also live. Mrs. F summons her courage and goes there. She eventually meets Nicodemus who tells her the story of the rats' escape from NIMH, National Institute for Mental Health, where they were kept in a lab and given injections for intelligence, strength and longevity. She also finds out how the rats were familiar with her husband.

You will have to discover the details for yourself.

Two Old Men and a Baby by Hendrik Groen

 

"'Evert, Evert, Evert, what have you got us into now?' I knew my pal could sometimes be a bit impulsive, but this was especially ill-thought-out, even for him. A baby as a surprise Santa gift! I was finding it hard to hide my anger and irritation."

    -from the novel

In March I read The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83 1/4 Years Old and loved it so much that I read a sequel, On the Bright Side, The New Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen. Both were very entertaining. When I noticed there was another by this Dutch author, I tried to find it in my local library and finally received it as an interlibrary loan. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the other two, but it was a page-turner. I will rate it a 4.

Occurring 9 years before The Secret Diary setting, Hendrik and good buddy, Evert Duiker have a crazy, exciting adventure. The subtitle: Or How Hendrik and Evert Get Themselves into a Jam, hints of such.

Hendrik ducks into a school to use the restroom and finds an unsupervised baby asleep in a carriage. Without thinking he leaves with the carriage and when he comes to his senses, goes to Hendrik for help. See Hendrik's reaction above. Repeatedly they try to return the child to the parents with no success. 

The action alternates between the Princess Margriet School, Hendrik's apartment, the Verbeek home (baby's parents), the police station or town hall and the home of Wil, a deceitful fellow trying to capitalize on the "kidnapping" by asking a ransom with NO child. Add in some incompetent police and a nosy neighbor and you have some amusing incidents.

I should add that the first two Groen books I mentioned were very relatable to me as Hendrik is living in what he refers to as a "care home" and so do I although we call it a continuing care retirement community, CCRC. So many familiar occurrences! Those two novels earned 5 ratings from me.