Nothing tickles my literary fancy quite like a good, old-fashioned family secrets novel. Especially one set in the South. Everything just seems more sinister when hidden behind soft drawls, magnolia-scented breezes and Tara-esque plantations, you know? I mean, you expect malevolence from broody northern climes and everyone knows how lawless things are out here in the west, but in the land of blushing belles and Southern gentleman - well, the appearance of evil is always surprising. Add in a spunky kid narrator, some quirky sidekicks and a nice, curvy plot, and voila! You've just created my absolute favorite kind of book. It's really no surprise, then, that I fell so hard for Lesley Kagen's spellbinding new novel, Tomorrow River.
Our heroine is Shenandoah "Shenny" Carmody, one of the the 11-year-old daughters of the most prominent man in town. Her family might as well be royalty in Rockbridge County, Virginia, for all their wealth and power. At least that's how things look from the outside. On closer inspection, one might notice what Shenny does - things are not exactly what they seem. The family's rambling mansion is looking decidedly grubby, the lady of the house is nowhere to be seen, His Honor's reeling in a manner unbefitting a man of his station, and his twins, well, something about the one is just a little off. An even closer look - assuming, of course, that prying eyes could get actually get anywhere near the property - would reveal that whatever is wrong over to the Carmody place is no small thing.
Ever since the disappearance of her mother, Shenny's been noticing things, things she'd never considered before. Things about her family. Troubling things. All she wants is for everything to go back to normal, the way it was when she spent her afternoons giggling with her sister in the treehouse, listening to her mother sing in the kitchen, and waiting breathlessly for nightfall, prime stargazing time for her and her daddy. But those carefree days are gone, vanished as surely as Evie Carmody. Shenny's twin, Woody, no longer giggles - she doesn't talk anymore, either. And His Honor? Well, when he's drunk (and when isn't he, these days?), he's disorderly. In the calmest, most terrifying way possible. The only way for Shenny to remedy the situation is to figure out what happened to her mother. Her own memories of that fateful night are sketchy, but someone has to know something. As she makes the rounds through her mother's motley collection of friends, Shenny comes to realize that the person most likely to know the truth is also the one least likely to say anything at all - her mute twin.
As desperate as Shenny is to find her mother, others are just as happy to shove the unpleasantness behind them. Evie Carmody was a Northerner, after all, a foreigner who didn't even know enough to stay away from "the help." Whatever happened to her - well, maybe it was for the best. There's the Carmody image to think of, after all. There's just one niggling question, the thing that bugs Shenny most of all, especially considering what she now knows about the Carmody clan: If her mother was going to leave, why oh why, did she leave her beloved girls behind?
I don't know about Kagen's other novels (although you better believe I'll be getting my hands on both Whistling in the Dark and Land of a Hundred Wonders just as soon as I'm able), but her latest blends all my favorite elements into one taut, riveting thriller. Intensity isn't all the book has going for it, though. Woven through all the mystery is a coming-of-age story that's both funny and surprisingly tender. Pitting the innocence of youth against an aged evil works to near perfection here, creating the kind of book that you will simply not be able to put down. You can try, but in the end, you'll cave and devour it in one sitting. I guarantee it.
(Readalikes: Whistling in the Dark by Lesley Kagen; Karen White's books, The Lost Hours and The Memory of Water come to mind.)
Grade: A
If this were a movie, it would be rated: PG-13 for violence, mature themes and sexual innuendo
To the FTC, with love: I received Tomorrow River from the generous folks at Dutton. Thank you!

Well, my first Bloggiesta didn't turn out quite the way I planned. It fell on a weekend that turned out to be more demanding than I thought it would be (the fact that I had to prepare and teach a Sunday School lesson [the Ten Commandments, Jeopardy-style] to a dozen rambunctious 9-year-olds; finish up an LDSFSA newsletter that was due about two months ago; rally the troops to help clean my very messy 5,000 square foot house; and run errands that I'd been avoiding since my van decided to be finicky about how many times a week it actually starts; should probably have been a clue), leaving me feeling so fatigued that I fell asleep around 7:30 last night. So, yeah, I didn't quite accomplish the goals that I set in response to the mini-challenge hosted by Kim and Jackie at the Blog Improvement Project blog . Here's what I tried to do:

- Update blog roll - This is the main thing I wanted to accomplish and ... I did it. Woot! It took me a good 2 hours to delete dead links, add new ones from my Google feeder, change URLs, etc. I also realized that I'll never be completely done with this project, as I'm always finding new book blogs to add to my list. If I missed your link, and you want your blog on my list (and who wouldn't?), please let me know!

- Link up reviews for "Baby Steps Authors," "LDS Authors," "Arizona Authors," and "Back to School Authors" - Another thing I've been meaning to do for quite some time. It was a bit tedious, but I got this done, too. It took me around 40 minutes.

- Update review schedule - This would have taken me all of 30 seconds, but I still haven't done it. Yo soy un(a?) slacker.

- Create BBB Facebook page and add link - I actually made a page weeks ago, it's just blank. I'll finish this one another day.

- Add new review books to Google spreadsheet - My spreadsheet was actually pretty up-to-date, so doing this only took me about 5 minutes.

- Update "My Kids Recommend" section - I had planned to add pictures of each kid, along with their favorite books. It didn't happen. Another time.

- Create a BBAW post with links to best posts - I'm still stewing over which posts are my best. I also feel extremely awkward about "nominating" myself for an award. I'll get around to it one of these days.

I also did the review policy mini-challenge and wrote a review that will go up tomorrow.

Total time spent on Bloggiesta: a piddly 5 hours

All in all, I feel like I accomplished something, even though I didn't do everything I planned. Really thinking about my blog also made me realize that I'm pretty happy with it. Obviously, there's always room for improvement, but I'm proud of what I've created here at BBB. What changes would you suggest? What would you like to see more/less of?

Thanks to Natasha over at Maw Books for hosting Bloggiesta 2010. 'Til next time - adios!

So, according to my 11-year-old son (who has done nothing but eat, read, swim, watch t.v. and play video games), this is "the most boring summer ever." My 8-year-old is going to Boredom Busters, a great day camp at a nearby school, but my 5-year-old wasn't old enough to attend and my aforementioned 11-year-old declared, "Do NOT sign me up for that." The two oldest will be attending a neighborhood nature camp in a couple of weeks. Other than that, we got nothing. The most exciting thing that's happened so far is the nasty flu bug that seems to have taken up residence in our house. Throw up galore. Thrilling, I tell you.

Personally, I think excitement is overrated. I'm all about boring - as my kids will readily attest. I prefer to lay around, relax, read, swim and forget about any and all responsibility. Except for the vomit cleaning (a responsibility which always seems to fall in my lap - sometimes literally), I've been pretty successful.

Even though things have been a bit dull around my house, lots of fun stuff is going on in the blogging world. Three things that I'm pretty stoked about are:




This weekly event is just so much fun. I love finding new book blogs. New ones are being created every day, and I don't want to miss out. Click on over to Crazy For Books to join in the fun.



I've never participated in Bloggiesta, but BBB could sure use some sprucing up. These are the tasks I plan to complete this weekend:

- Update blog roll - 90 minutes and counting
- Link up reviews for "Baby Steps Authors," "LDS Authors," "Arizona Authors," etc. - 40 mins.
- Update review schedule
- Create BBB Facebook page and add link
- Add new review books to Google spreadsheet - 5 mins.
- Update "My Kids Recommend" section
- Create a BBAW post with links to best posts

I think that's it for now. I've actually got a lot I need to accomplish this weekend, so I don't want to get too carried away.

If you're interested in joining the Bloggiesta, find all the info on Natasha's blog.

You probably know all about BBAW, the weeklong celebration of book blogging. There are daily blogging topics, an interview swap, awards and lots, lots more. Last year, I was absolutely thrilled to have BBB nominated in the category of Best Written Blog. This year, the awards/voting component has changed. I'm not thrilled about the self-nominating thing, but I'm going to bite the bullet and do it anyway. A post will be forthcoming. Check out all the details about this fun annual event here.

Told ya there was lots going on. Sounds fun, huh? I think I'll get started on my blog improvement for Bloggiesta. Or maybe I'll go back to my siesta, since it is summer and all ...