The Flight Girls by Noelle Salazar

This is another one I got to read as a sneak preview and I'm so glad I did!

This is the story of Audrey Coltrane a young Texan woman who loves to fly and dreams of one day owning her own airfield. WWII is happening overseas, but the people of Texas are largely unaffected. Audrey gets an opportunity to go to Hawaii as a flight instructor and she jumps at the chance. Life in Hawaii is good, she's a highly respected flight instructor, she has wonderful friends and there's handsome Lieutenant Hart who has caught her eye. Everything seems perfect until Pearl Harbour is attacked and America joins the war.

Audrey returns to Texas until she receives an invitation to join WASP, the Women's Airforce Service Pilots. Female pilots from all across America are invited to receive military training which will allow them to do jobs left vacant by men who have now gone to war. Men like Lieutenant Hart.

WASP was a real program, although the characters in this book are fictitious. These women all trained in Sweetwater, Texas, without being given full military status. After their graduation from the program they were given jobs like ferrying planes across the country where they often faced the sexist attitudes of the men working at the airfields where the women were landing planes.

Noelle Salazar created a great cast of characters, strong women blazing the trail for all of us who came after them. These women were breaking down barriers long before most of Western society knew they could be broken. There was a bit too much talk about make-up and lipstick for my liking. I would have liked to see women who weren't worried about those sorts of things, but I'm not sure what women in that time period would have thought about that. Maybe they did still want their lipstick to be perfect before they took off in their planes.

Part historical fiction and part romance, I thought the two blended together well. I was spellbound while reading of the attack on Pearl Harbour and the aftermath. I was brought to tears on a couple of occasions as scenes of war played out and lives were lost.

All in all, I found this to be a very entertaining and informative read. I didn't know about the WASP program before and now I'd love to learn more. This one will be available in early August and I highly recommend it.

Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane

This one is exciting for me. This is the first (of many, I hope) opportunity I have had to receive an advance copy of a book for review before its publication date. So cool!

Ask Again, Yes is the story of two families who live next door to each other just outside of New York City. Both husbands are police officers in New York City and were even partners as rookies. They are looking for a safe place to raise their families and Francis Gleeson discovers the town of Gillam and lets Brian Stanhope know when the house next door to him is up for sale. Brian and his wife, Anne, buy the home next to Francis and his wife Lena. Francis and Lena already have two daughters, Natalie and Sara and are expecting a third baby. Brian and Anne have dealt with a pregnancy loss but soon discover they are expecting again.

The two babies (Peter and Kate) are born 6 months apart and as children become best friends. However, issues develop between the two families, mainly revolving around the mental health of Anne. As Peter and Kate prepare for high school and their blossoming romance a horrible incident involving both families causes the Stanhopes to move away and the Gleesons to deal with the repercussions.

Peter and Kate always wonder what happened to the other and find each other again as adults. But with all that happened between the two families, can they (and should they) be together?

The story takes place over several decades and is told from different character's perspectives throughout the book. I really liked that. Years would go by from the perspective of one character and you are temporarily left to wonder what is happening to the others at the same, with small clues sometimes appearing.

I also felt the characters were really well developed and strong.

All in all, it was a good, quick read and was very compelling. It really helped get me through my sick day yesterday! I highly recommend you check this one out when it is in stores at the end of this month.

The Bookshop of Yesterdays by Amy Meyerson

Not surprisingly, I follow a lot of book sites on my different social media platforms. About a year ago this book was being hyped as a new book to watch so it caught my eye. Then someone in my book club chose it as our selection for April so I finally had a chance to read it.

This is the story of Miranda, a young woman who receives a mysterious package from an uncle she hasn't seen in 16 years. When she was little, Uncle Billy used to create special scavenger hunts for her, so when receives this package she knows a new hunt is about to begin. But immediately following the arrival of the package comes the news that Uncle Billy has passed away. She leaves her home in Philadelphia to attend his funeral in Los Angeles and hopes to discover where this new scavenger hunt will take her.

Uncle Billy was the owner of Prospero Books, a charming bookstore where she loved to spend time as a child, and he has left the store to her. The store is struggling financially and may have to close. Miranda is a history teacher in Philadelphia, so what can she do with a struggling book store in Los Angeles?

The clues of the scavenger hunt take her through different books that Uncle Billy loved and lead her to people who were important in his life. What will she discover about why he disappeared from her life all those years ago? What made him stay away?

Anyone who loves books and books stores will enjoy this story. Everyone in our book club agreed that the mystery was fairly easy to guess, but it was still fun getting there. There are some interesting characters to meet along the way, although I was frustrated with Miranda's treatment of some of them, especially her boyfriend back in Philadelphia. She wasn't always a very thoughtful person.

Other than that it was an enjoyable read, and a great homage to independent book stores.

The Giver by Lois Lowry

This book was recommended to me a few years ago but I never got around to reading it. It is in constant use in the library as a novel study so it can be hard to get your hands on it. Then it was chosen as a book club selection and returned to the library at the same time so I took it as my lunch break reading.

I don't always love utopian/dystopian books but something about this one grabbed me right from the start. I loved it and have Darcy reading it now.

This is the story of Jonas a young man about to become "a twelve". You quickly learn that in his society, uniqueness is not valued. You don't get to choose your spouse, when you will have children or even how many children you will have. Once your spouse is chosen for you and you spend a few years together then you will have the opportunity to apply for a child. You will eventually apply for two children, one male, one female. These children are born to assigned birth mothers, so very few women have to undergo pregnancy. No one has their own birthday, all children born in a year advance ages at the same time. In fact, there is a ceremony each year where the milestone is marked and some new privilege is granted (such as a coat with pockets, a haircut that allows you to remove your hair ribbons or a bicycle). However, when you turn 12 your life's work is assigned to you. You will have had the opportunity to volunteer in different areas of the community so you will know where your aptitudes lie. Jonas, however, has enjoyed many different types of work so he has no idea what his assignment will be and he is very nervous about the different possibilities. But when he does finally receive his assignment, it is completely different from what he expected and it begins to change him in ways he didn't think possible. He learns that their perfect society may not be so perfect after all. What will that mean for him?

This is a short book, really aimed at younger readers so it is a quick read. I loved the characters, I loved the questions it raised. Yes, having these life decisions made for you can save a lot of pain and sadness in life, but it also removes a lot of joy. How do you balance that? What is more important?

There are more books in the series but not with the same characters. I am hoping to read those too but our library doesn't have them. I'm definitely interested to read more about this society.

All in all, this was a big hit for me. A great read!

Perfect by Rachel Joyce

Someone returned this to the library at the high school a couple of weeks ago and I decided to take a look at it on my lunch break instead of putting it right back on the shelf. I absolutely loved The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessey so I was curious to read more by the same author.

The book has two parallel stories being told, one starting in the summer of 1972 and the other in the present day. In 1972 a young boy named Byron finds out that two seconds are being added to the world's clocks, a prospect that terrifies him. He's afraid of the repercussions of interfering with time in that way. What kind of ripple effects will that cause? He becomes consumed with these two seconds and how that will affect the world. One morning while driving to school his mom takes a different route through a poor neighbourhood and while Byron is convinced he sees his watch go backward for two seconds his mom gets distracted and unknowingly hits a young girl riding her bicycle. This sets off a chain reaction of events in their family that cannot be undone.

Alternating chapters tell the story of a man named Jim, living in the same town in the present day. Jim has no family and struggles with some serious mental health issues. He has been in and out of the local mental health facility but that has now closed so he lives alone in a broken down van. He works in a cafe located inside a store and hides his OCD rituals from the few people in his life. Through his job he meets an exciting woman named Eileen and tries to get to know her better.

Little by little you see how these two stories could be intertwined. Byron's mother also struggles with mental health issues, and it is heartbreaking to see her health deteriorate as their story progresses, while Jim begins making progress. The mental health stories were written with great respect and understanding. I think books like this can go a long way towards continuing to break down mental health stigmas and bringing greater understanding to these issues and to the people who live with these struggles and illnesses each day.

While I didn't love it as much as I loved Harold Fry I still enjoyed it quite a bit and read through it quite quickly. There was a good twist at the end as the two stories came together. All in all, I felt it was an enjoyable read. I'll read more from Rachel Joyce for sure.

The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor by Sally Armstrong

I think it is safe to say I am in a reading slump. It is March 14th and this is only the second book I have managed to finish this year. Both books have been complete misses for me, so it has been hard to get motivated to pick them up.

This one was my book club choice for February. I was fortunate that the meeting got canceled and rescheduled for next week because I just couldn't get into it at all.

A blend of fiction and history, this book tells to story of Charlotte Taylor, the actual great-great-grandmother of the author. Charlotte was one of the first women to settle on the east coast of Canada (in what eventually became New Brunswick) and was a tough cookie. She fled a fairly affluent life in England to be with the man she loved, her family's black butler. They dreamed of a new life together in the West Indies, but that wasn't meant to be.  She ended up in what was then known as Nova Scotia, a woman alone.

That was not an easy time or place to be a woman, especially a woman without the protection of a husband or father. But Charlotte wasn't going to let that stand in her way. She is bold, unconventional and fierce. She befriends the settles and the People (how our First Nations were known at that time) which makes it hard for her to be accepted by either group properly.

Yet Charlotte manages to build a life for herself, overcoming many huge obstacles.

As I write this, it sounds super interesting to me. The summary seems good. However, for me, the book itself was just a complete dud. I found the writing style to be very boring (I wonder if it was self-published because I found a couple of spelling and grammatical errors). This is a very timely book, bringing greater understanding to the difficulties faced by our First Nations in the early days of Canada's history, with an incredibly strong female lead character. I just wish I was enjoyed it more.

Maybe it's just my slump talking. I'm taking a break from book club reading to read a book I picked up on my lunch break at work last week. It's by an author I've loved in the past so I'm hoping that will get me excited about reading again.

Marilla of Green Gables by Sarah McCoy

I should have known better than to read this book. I know myself well enough to know that I don't like other authors taking on my favourite characters and I should have left this one alone. But I had read some good reviews and curiosity got the best of me so I read it. It took me a month to get through and I just didn't enjoy it.

Sarah McCoy was intrigued by a paragraph towards the end of Anne of Green Gables where Marilla reveals to Anne that Gilbert's father, John Blythe, had once been her good friend, even her beau. Sarah wondered what had happened and wrote this book to answer that question. She begins the story when Marilla Cuthbert is 13 years old living in a newly built house (the Gables) with her parents and brother Matthew. Their mother is expecting a new baby and her twin sister comes from Ontario to visit in preparation for the new arrival.

The story goes on to tell what Marilla's life might have been like in Avonlea in the mid-1800's. She develops a friendship with Rachel White (Lynde) and John Blythe. She becomes involved with the political uprisings in Canada before Confederation and also in the Underground Railroad. There are deaths in the family and she learns how to deal with those and carry on.

Sarah McCoy isn't Lucy Maud Montgomery and doesn't claim to be. Sometimes I felt her take on Marilla was right on the money but most of the time I just wasn't feeling it. Aside from that, I just found the story to be incredibly boring. It didn't draw me in at all, which is mostly why it took me so long to read it.

I felt the characters to be fairly true to the originals with some small things that didn't sit right with me. I didn't feel like she got Rachel Lynde's character right at all, and there were a few things about Matthew that I didn't agree with either (in Anne he says he had never done any courting, so why is he courting in this book???) . In the original books we can see that Marilla has some political leanings so I feel like her exploring these areas was pretty realistic for her. I liked how the author wove some of the old Avonlea families into this story, it was good to see some familiar names.

If it wasn't for the Green Gables connection I wouldn't have read this book. That was barely enough to keep me going to the end. Maybe if you haven't read Anne of Green Gables 7,000 times you might like this more than I did. I think my expectations were just too high.

Educated by Tara Westover

I have had this book recommended to me by several different people but never got around to reading it. Then it was chosen as our January book for book club so I was excited to get reading.

I'm not always a lover of non-fiction but there have been some recent exceptions to that (Unbroken, The Glass Castle and Thunderdog immediately come to mind). If you liked any of those books, you will probably enjoy this one as well.

This is the story of Tara Westover who grew up in rural Idaho. Her father, a devout Mormon, doesn't believe in government, medicine, or education. As a girl, Tara is being raised to be a wife and mother. Her father owns a junkyard and often puts all his children to work there, frequently in unsafe conditions. Tara is the youngest of seven children and by the time she comes along, homeschooling has been mostly forgotten and she is put to work in the junkyard, or occasionally helping her mother as the local midwife.

Eventually, at the urging of one of her brothers, Tara takes the ACT and earns a scholarship to university. Once there she realizes how unprepared she is for life in the real world and how little knowledge she has of anything that wasn't on the ACT. She learns how to learn and becomes a dedicated student.

At the same time her family is in turmoil, their unsafe working/living conditions cause several family members to be injured in accidents. The family doesn't believe in modern medicine (Tara never even took Tylenol until she was at a friend's house as a teenager) so many of them don't receive the proper care for their injuries. She suffers horrible abuse at the hands of one of her brothers and her parents turn a blind eye to it.

In spite of all this, Tara rises above her circumstances to move on to a life outside of Idaho. Her strength and resilience are inspiring.

Some members of her family are speaking out against the book so it can be hard to know where the truth lies. However I still found this to be a compelling read (I read most of it on a 2-hour flight yesterday). I highly recommend it and would love to talk it over with anyone who has read it.