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"I didn't care whether the kids liked sailing or not.  I wanted them to like being a family."

--Emily Orton (from an uncorrected proof of Seven at Sea)

In an effort to downsize, minimize, simplify, and focus on the things that matter most in life, my family and I have decided to sell our houses, get rid of all our stuff, and buy a boat.  The six of us will be living on a 38-foot catamaran for a year while we sail around the Caribbean, the Bahamas, and anywhere else that takes our fancy.  We'll be leaving behind jobs, friends, school, and most of my books (gasp!) for this once-in-a-lifetime chance to experience real family togetherness while exploring new places and testing our gumption on the open sea.  Never fear—I will continue blogging from the "road".  At least when I have Wi-Fi.  And access to new books.  Or maybe I'll just write my own story.  Sound good?

Yeah, right!  April Fool's!  I'm not actually crazy enough to do something like this.  Not even a little bit.  You know who is bonkers enough, though?  Erik and Emily Orton, a couple from New York City.  Back in 2014, they felt like their lives were being overtaken by the inconsequential and mundane.  Despite the fact that they and their five children—aged six to sixteen—lived in a 900-square foot apartment, in which the children were homeschooled and Erik worked, they wanted more togetherness.  The family took sailing classes, bought a boat, and headed to the Caribbean.  Ten months later, they returned to New York sunburned and happy, a strengthened family who had gone through a difficult and unique learning experience which earned them confidence, experience, perspective, and unity.

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for non-graphic references to sex and scenes of peril

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10-year-old Virginia Wrathmell is glad to be out of the orphanage where she has lived since her parents died, but she's not quite sure what to think of her adoptive home and family.  Salt Winds is a strange, lonely place.  With its remote location on the moors, it feels otherworldly, sad, and somehow, dangerous.  While Virginia's new father, Clem, is warm and kind, the same can't be said of Lorna, her new mother, whose glamorous facade hides a temperament as shifting as the tides.  While she can't quite understand the tension in her adoptive parents' marriage, she knows it has something to do with Max Deering, the charismatic widower who lives nearby. 

With war raging in other parts of Europe, it's only a matter of time before the conflict comes to Salt Winds.  When Clem and Virginia spy a German airman making a risky parachute landing on their beach, Clem rushes to help him.  His kind act sets in motion events that will rock young Virginia to her core and threaten everything she's come to love about the place she's just beginning to think of as home.

The Orphan of Salt Winds, a debut novel by Elizabeth Brooks, features some of my favorite fictional elements—a moody, broody setting; a haunting Gothic vibe; and family skeletons bursting from hidden closets.  Unfortunately, for me, these appealing pieces didn't quite come together to create a satisfying whole.  While I found the story compelling enough to keep me reading, I also thought it was cold, stark, sad, and depressing.  Overall, I just didn't love it.  It turned out to be an okay read, but definitely not a memorable or captivating one.

(Readalikes:  The book's setting and premise reminded me of Kate Morton's novels, although the former lacks the warmth and charm of the latter.)  

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for language (a couple F-bombs, plus milder expletives), violence, sexual content, and disturbing subject matter

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find

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There is plenty about her confinement in the Crystal City internment camp during World War II that Elise Sontag Dove would gladly forget.  But as Alzheimer's slowly eats away her 81-year-old memory, there is one part of her internment experience she's desperate to remember—her best friend and fellow internee, Mariko Inoue Hiyashi.  After being repatriated to Japan, Mariko's parents forced her to remain in their homeland.  Elise hasn't heard from her in almost seven decades.  Now, with the help of Google, Elise must secretly engineer a reunion so she can—at last—thank Mariko for the girlhood friendship that changed Elise's life.

As Elise makes her clandestine plan, she reminisces about her unbelievable experience as the American-born daughter of unnaturalized German immigrants during the war.  From internment to expatriation to seeing firsthand the awful devastation of bombing in Germany, it's a harrowing story of sorrow, injustice, and, ultimately, hope.

I've read dozens of novels set during World War II, but I think this is the first time I've really encountered one about the plight of German-Americans during the war.  I knew about people of Japanese descent being interred, but not about those of German lineage suffering the same fate.  It's a fascinating piece of history about which I definitely wanted to know more.  The premise of The Last Year of the War, the newest dual-timeline historical novel by Susan Meissner, definitely interested me.  Unfortunately, the plot itself gets uneven and disjointed.  While the story centers on a friendship forged in the dusty Texan desert, only a tiny part of the tale actually takes place there, making the key theme of the novel feel less significant than it should have.  Other than that, The Last Year of the War is an enjoyable novel that stars sympathetic characters acting against a fascinating historical backdrop.  While I didn't end up loving this one, I did find it an intriguing and moving tale.  

(Readalikes:  Reminds me of other novels by Susan Meissner, including A Sound Among the Trees; A Fall of Marigolds; Stars Over Sunset Boulevard; A Bridge Across the Ocean; and As Bright As Heaven)

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for brief, mild language (no F-bombs), violence, and mild, non-graphic sexual content

To the FTC, with love:  I received an e-ARC of The Last Year of the War from the generous folks at Penguin Random House in exchange for an honest review.  Thank you!

--

As part of the blog tour for The Last Year of the War, Penguin Random House has authorized me to give away a paperback copy of Susan Meissner's last book, As Bright As Heaven.  It's a heart-wrenching novel about a mother and daughter living in Philadelphia during the horrific outbreak of the Spanish flu in 1918.  Good luck!

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Nestled on the floor of a canyon at the place where Sulphur Creek and the Fremont River meet sits tiny, remote Junction, Utah.  It's 1888 and seven families affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) live in the small community, which has become an in-between place for in-between Saints.  

Raised in a polygamist family, Junction resident Deborah Tyler wants nothing to do with the practice.  More devout members of the faith may question hers, but Deborah's happy with her two decades of marriage to kind, hardworking Samuel, even if their union has not produced the children they long to have.  Still, Deborah has much to keep her busy—household chores, her glove-making business, and finding ways to fill the long hours she spends alone while Samuel is working in southern Utah and Arizona as a traveling wheelwright. 

One night while Deborah is worrying about Samuel, who's been gone much longer than expected, a stranger shows up at her door seeking refuge.  Helping a polygamist on the run from the law—which is what this man obviously is—could get her in big trouble.  Still, her bleeding heart gets the best of her.  When a U.S. marshal comes along soon after, Deborah finds herself in deeper trouble than she could have ever imagined.  With Samuel away, she has only his stepbrother, Nels Anderson, to help her.  And he's just as guilty as she ... 

As the two try to figure out how to get themselves out of the very hot water they're now in, Deborah must wage a fierce internal battle between right and wrong, justice and safety, and hope and despair.

The Glovemaker, a new historical novel by Ann Weisgarber, tells a tense, compelling tale that kept me turning pages to find out what was going to happen next.  The setting is unique, the historical details intriguing, and the characters sympathetic.  Deborah and Nels are both realistically flawed, making them relatable in their authenticity.  While Weisgarber in no way romanticizes plural marriage, her portrayal of the practice among early Church members is surprisingly sensitive, even empathetic, which makes the story even more absorbing.  Overall, The Glovemaker is engrossing, interesting, and hopeful.  I enjoyed it.

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

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for brief, mild language (no F-bombs) and violence

To the FTC, with love:  I received an e-ARC of The Glovemaker from the generous folks at Skyhorse Publishing via those at Edelweiss.  Thank you!