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What would you give to have a few more moments with a loved one who has passed?  What would you do for one more hug, one more conversation, one more chance to make things right?  At Ruby's Place—a family-friendly bar that was once the most elegant place in Sullivan, Missouri, and is being newly re-opened after being closed for decades—all those things are possible.  As crazy as it sounds, Ruby's has become a gathering place for Sullivan's restless spirits.  The ghosts are helping Angela, the new owner, bring the old restaurant to life again.  They all want the downhearted citizens of the small town to feel the magic of Christmas.  All they need to do is draw the right people inside.  A push here, a nudge there, and the ghosts of Christmas past will grant the impossible ...

Last year, Holly Schindler—a poet and novelist who pens books for all ages—published a novella called Ruby's Place.  It told a warm, sweet story about a special venue where people in small town Missouri used to flock on special occasions.  Christmas was an especially magical time there.  Over the years, as the economy changed, the restaurant/bar lost money and had to close.  Decades later, a woman stumbles upon Ruby's secret magic.  Helped by a bar full of ghosts, she determines to reopen the place that holds so many sparkling memories for her.  I Remember You picks up where the novella left off, chronicling Angela's journey to successfully bring back the magic of Ruby's Place.  Like the previous story, I Remember You is filled with warmth, humor, romance, and the tantalizing idea that the people we love who have died are never that far away—especially at Christmastime.  I love the premise as well as Schindler's ability to bring her setting and characters to vivid life.  If you're looking for a light, fun holiday read, you'll want to visit Sullivan for yourself.  You never know what's in store for you at Ruby's Place!

Ruby's Place and I Remember You are available for purchase at Amazon (e-books are only $1.99 right now) and Barnes & Noble.  You can also order signed copies of these titles and some of Schindler's other books at her Etsy store.

(Readalikes:  Ruby's Place by Holly Schindler)

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(Image from Amazon)

Megan Riddick should have died when she was two years old.  The only reason she's still alive is because Bryon Exby saved her, sacrificing his own life in the process.  Now 16, Megan's a quiet, serious honor student who only feels truly comfortable when onstage performing school plays.  Which doesn't mean she needs more drama in her life.  But that's just what she gets when Charlotte Exby—Bryon's 14-year-old daughter—enrolls at Megan's high school.  Thanks to Megan, Charlotte never knew her father.  And she's not happy about that.

Although the girls don't exactly hit it off, the pair reluctantly decide to work together to fulfill the bucket list Bryon drafted prior to his death.  In the process, they learn some important lessons about friendship, family, and things both fragile and fierce.

If the plot summary for The Truth About Fragile Things by Regina Sirois seems a little thin, that's because it is.  The novel has no real driving plot, which makes the story rather episodic and unfocused.  Which isn't to say the book isn't interesting or compelling.  It is; the threads of the novel just feel as if they're very, very loosely woven together.  Megan, our heroine, isn't overly likable.  She's "fragile," which seems to mean she has to be whiny, melodramatic, and helpless.  While these things definitely bug, The Truth About Fragile Things is, overall, a hopeful novel with some thoughtful insight.  It's not a book that's really stuck with me, but it's not a bad one either.  

(Readalikes:  Hm, I can't think of anything.  Can you?)

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Living with a trash hauler may not sound very glamorous, but Auggie Jones loves it.  Her Grandpa Gus finds all kinds of treasures and plenty of adventures in his line of work.  Auggie adores her grandpa and can't imagine him having a cooler job.  She doesn't care that Gus makes little money or that they live in a rundown section of town of Willow Grove, Missouri—she's happy.

When a brand new elementary school opens, Auggie and her friends are forced to attend.  Mingling with kids they don't know, many of whom make fun of them for having no money, Auggie realizes for the first time just how poor she and Gus really are.  For the first time, she feels ashamed of her shabby clothes, ramshackle neighborhood and, especially, Gus' less-than-elegant trash hauling job.  Apparently, Auggie's former best friend feels the same way because ever since they started fifth grade, Lexie has been ignoring her.

It seems as if things can't get any worse for Auggie—until they do.  The father of one of her wealthy classmates launches an aggressive town beautification project targeting homes like the one Auggie shares with Gus.  If the homeowners do not comply with improvement "suggestions," they will be slapped with an enormous fine.  Auggie knows people in her part of town can't afford to fix up their houses, let alone pay exorbitant fees to the city.  Desperate to save her neighborhood, Auggie starts her own project.  But what begins as an effort to beautify her part of towns becomes a crusade to answer some important questions:  What is beauty?  What is art?  And why should one person's opinion on the matters outweigh another's?  As Auggie finds the answers for herself, she realizes an undeniable truth—beauty exists all around her, even if she's the only one who can see it.

The Junction of Sunshine and Lucky, the first middle grade novel from YA author Holly Schindler, offers a quirky, upbeat story about one girl's determination to be heard.  It's a sweet tale, one that resounds with both spunk and heart.  Kids of all ages will relate to Auggie's feelings of otherness and celebrate as she discovers not just herself, but her own voice.  Triumphant and compelling, this is one of those books that will make you cheer.  And look a little bit closer for the unique beauty in all of us.

(Readalikes:  Um, I can't think of anything.  Can you?)

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Architect Vance Nolan has created something both unique and amazing—luxury apartments that float in a quiet cove on the Mississippi River.  If the costly condos don't quite fit the 31-year-old's more altruistic vision for the property, well, what's done is done.  Without financial help from wealthy real estate developer Tony Dean, the project never would have happened in the first place.  Despite his contempt for Dean, Vance is determined to make the buildings on the water as sound and safe as he can.  The well-being  of the apartments' occupants, a few of whom have already moved in, are his first priority.

One day, while working at the site, Vance notices something strange—he can't hear the birds.  This departure from the norm sends shivers of warning down his spine.  Moments later, a sinkhole gives way.  A wild storm follows in its wake, unleashing torrential rain on the cove.  In the chaos, condos sway on their foundations, the electricity goes out and massive flooding makes escape impossible.  Vance is trapped on the isolated cove along with a small group of construction workers, residents and investors.  As days pass without rescue, those who remain must make a choice—hunker down in the unstable condos until the storm subsides or brave the heaving waters in hopes of reaching safer ground.  

As tension mounts between the survivors, alliances are formed and broken, shocking secrets are brought to light, and a blind man may be the only one who knows the way out.  The old man's visions, along with the strange, supernatural lights shimmering beneath the water convinces Vance of an otherworldly presence in the cove.  He just can't decide what it means.  Does Vance have any hope of saving his motley band of survivors from this and every other potential threat?  Or are they all doomed to dark, watery graves? 

When I read the plot summary for Afloat by Erin Healy, I couldn't help being intrigued by its eerie tone.  I wasn't sure quite what to expect from the story, but I'll tell you what I got:  a tight, complex plot; intriguing characters; an uplifting Christian vibe; and a captivating supernatural element that gave the book an ethereal, almost dream-like quality.  Afloat tells an intense survival story, yes, but there's so much more to the novel.  It's a unique, faith-promoting read that achieves something a lot of inspirational-type tales don't—it inspires while giving readers a gripping, well-constructed story that they won't want to put down.  A winning combination, for sure.      

(Readalikes:  Afloat actually reminded me quite a bit of the t.v. show Lost)

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To the FTC, with love:  I bought a copy of Afloat at Target with a portion of the millions I make from my lucrative career as a book blogger.  Ha ha.

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Toni Ashton never planned to return to Blue Hills, the small Missouri town where her family has been making  wine for over 100 years.  Not permanently anyway.  The 46-year-old has worked hard to make a successful life for herself in St. Louis.  With a flourishing wedding planning business and a relationship that could produce an engagement ring any day now, Toni's content in the city.  But when her mother, the indomitable Evie Ashton, suffers a devastating stroke, Toni knows she has no choice—she must go home.  

Shocked at the shabby state of her mother's property, Toni begins digging through the clutter, intent on finding something—anything—to help her understand the enigmatic woman who gave birth to her.  The two have never really seen eye-to-eye and Toni's determined to find out why.  As her mother lays comatose in a nearby hospital, Toni slowly sifts through Evie's debris, uncovering long-buried mysteries that could change the course of her life forever.  When Toni slips on the little black dress Evie was wearing when she had her stroke, she knows she's found the key to unlocking the secrets of the past, but does she dare confront the visions it's showing her of her own future?  Especially when they feature cozy scenes between her and the man who's trying to take over her family's vineyard?  Opening up the scars of the past is one thing, but toying with the perfect future Toni's so painstakingly built for herself is quite another.  

Can Toni trust the dress' peculiar magic to reveal the truth about her family's past?  It's powerful enough to shatter hearts, but can it mend them, too?  Toni's about to find out ...

After reading—and loving—Susan McBride's The Truth About Love & Lightning, I rushed over to my library's website to check out everything the author had ever written.  Neither her Cougar Club or The Debs series sounded like my kind of thing, but Little Black Dress sure did.  I wanted another atmospheric contemporary tale sprinkled with magic and I got it with this older novel.  True, the story's quite similar to Love & Lightning—a little too similar, in fact—but it's just as engaging.  The complex characters spoke to me, the vineyard setting enchanted me and the magical elements of the story tickled my imagination.  I enjoyed Little Black Dress for the same reasons I liked McBride's newest—it's a warm, magical read that's both sweet and satisfying.  Would I have liked a teensy bit more originality?  Sure, but overall, I'm not complaining.  I dig McBride's writing and will be keeping a lookout for more winsome books from this delightful, new-to-me author.   

(Readalikes:  Reminds me a lot of The Truth About Love & Lightning by Susan McBride and a little of both The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares and The Best Man by Kristan Higgins)

Grade:  B

If this were a movie, it would be rated:  PG-13 for language (no F-bombs) and mild sexual content

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find 

     

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There are many things 39-year-old Abby Brink doesn't know about her father—like where he's been for the last 40 years and why he left in the first place.  She's heard stories about him all her life.  Some of them can only be myths, made-up tales to explain the great emptiness her mother's felt ever since Sam Winston disappeared.  Because, surely, the skies don't weep over human folly and walnut trees don't stop producing fruit when their favorite son vanishes, never to return.  These things can't be true, but Abby believes them because she, too, has a Sam-shaped hole in her heart.

When Abby finds herself unexpectedly pregnant, she doesn't know how to feel.  It's not that she doesn't want a child, it's only that she thought her time had passed.  Like her relationship with the baby's father.  Not knowing what else to do, she heads home to Missouri.  She craves the quiet and calm she can only find at Walnut Ridge, the land once owned by the Winston Family, now cared for by Abby's mother, Gretchen.  

But, a mysterious tornado blows in just ahead of Abby, leaving something odd in its wake:  a man.  The stranger can't remember who he is or how he arrived in Walnut Ridge.  Abby, Gretchen and Gretchen's blind  aunts are all convinced he's Sam Winston.  Others believe he's a con man, out to steal Gretchen's heart, along with her land.  Is the man really Sam, or are the women just seeing what they want to see?  And if it is Sam, will he reveal the damning secret Gretchen's been keeping all this time?  What will happen if the truth comes out?  Can Gretchen survive having her heart ripped apart again?  Can Abby?  

There's much to praise about Susan McBride's newest novel, The Truth About Love and Lightning.  First, there are the complex, but relatable characters; then, the vivid, atmospheric setting; also the story's gentle, engaging tone; and, of course, the mysticism that lends an otherworldly magic to this compelling family drama.  I pretty much adored everything about the book.  It kept me reading, it kept me hoping, it kept me smiling, it kept me believing.  If you enjoy uplifting stories that renew your faith in the powers of family, forgiveness and love, then this is most certainly the book for you.  Give it a whirl and you'll see what I mean.    

(Readalikes:  Hm, I can really think of anything.  Can you?)

Grade:  B+

If this were a movie, it would be rated:  PG-13 for language (no F-bombs) and mild sexual content/innuendo

To the FTC, with love:  I received an ARC of The Truth About Love and Lightning from the generous folks at Harper Collins.  Thank you!