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Lila Alders has it all: a steady job as the host of a late-night television program, a large, lavish home, the perfect husband, and a loving set of parents who dote on their only child.  Then, in the blink of an eye, most of it vanishes.  Grieving the loss of her father, the collapse of her marriage, and the end of her career, the 29-year-old has no idea what to do with herself.  Her sudden cash flow problem leaves Lila little choice but to move in with her widowed mother.

Hoping to lay low and lick her wounds under the guise of helping her mom, Lila soon realizes that there is no hiding for the former golden girl of Black Dog Bay, Delaware.  Everywhere she looks, she sees old friends, former classmates, and a small army of ex-boyfriends.  Lila longs to start fresh, but how can she when her old life is staring her in the face every single day?

When Lila discovers her parents' fortune has disappeared, forcing the sale of  their beloved seaside home, she knows it's time to take drastic action.  Money has to start flowing—and soon—or the Alders women will be living on the street.  Lila has no idea how to manage a business, but opening a vintage clothing store seems to be an answer to their problems.  Although the plan leads to some major challenges, it also teaches Lila some of the biggest, most surprising lessons of her life.  It also guides her toward a boy whose existence she barely registered in high school who's somehow becoming the man she can't forget—not even for a minute.

Lila knows the time is ripe for taking chances, but is she willing to risk everything, even her fragile heart, for a life she never imagined?  Even if it might be the one she's been after all along?

I don't read a lot of romance novels, but I do find something alluring about a good shattered-woman- returns-to-her-hometown-to-start-over story.  Sure, they're cliché and overdone and, yet, apparently, I'm a fan.  Which explains why the premise of New Uses for Old Boyfriends by Beth Kendrick appealed to me.  Not surprisingly, I enjoyed the book.  It's warm, funny, upbeat, and just a fun, fluffy read.  Yes, it's predictable.  Yes, things go too smoothly for our heroine.  Yes, it's unrealistic.  No, I don't care.  When it comes to easy, breezy chick lit, I just want an entertaining story.  New Uses for Old Boyfriends fits the bill quite nicely, thank you very much.

(Readalikes:  the first Black Dog Bay book, Cure for the Common Breakup by Beth Kendrick; also reminds me of Robyn Carr's Virgin River and Thunder Point books)

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Although her professor father can hardly contain himself at the prospect of studying history from the inside, 17-year-old Lucy Aimes isn't quite as enthusiastic.  She'd rather be hanging out with her friends in Chicago than playing Gone With the Wind all summer in hot, humid New Orleans.  Lucy promised her family she'd give life in Louisiana a shot and there is one thing she's excited about—interning with the preservation department of Le Ciel Doux, the antebellum sugar plantation/living history museum of which her father is the new curator.  It's impossible not to be intrigued by the elegant old mansion with its stately columns and ancient secrets.  Capturing it all with her trusty Canon is the one thing Lucy is looking forward to doing.

Le Ciel Doux's otherworldly atmosphere invades not just Lucy's camera, but also her dreams.  At night, she's plagued by vivid, unsettling scenes from a distant past she shouldn't recognize, but somehow remembers.  When she spies a mysterious stranger she's seen only in her night visions roaming the grounds of Le Ciel Doux, Lucy thinks she might be going crazy.  How can she feel so much for a person she doesn't know, a boy she's not even sure actually exists?

When a local girl is brutally murdered, Lucy knows the incident is somehow related to her strange visions.  Evil has descended on Le Ciel Doux once again and it's up to her to stop it, before it destroys everyone she loves—in the past and the present.

You may have noticed that I have a thing for novels set in The Big Easy.  The colorful, atmospheric portrayals of the city, with its unique history, culture, and customs, always capture my fancy.  So, when a book fails to bring all that richness to life, I feel a bit let down.  Which might explain why I found Sweet Unrest, a debut YA novel by Lisa Maxwell, disappointing.  The book's premise is intriguing enough, though not very original, so I had high hopes for a good read.  While the mystery did keep me flipping pages and I did enjoy the back-and-forth in time narration, Sweet Unrest just wasn't anything special.  The characters felt flat and cliché; the prose did a whole lot more telling than showing; the plot had some big holes; and the setting failed to come alive for me like it usually does in a NOLA novel.  I definitely wanted more from this book—better character development, a stronger voice, more dynamic writing, etc.  In the end, I felt this one was just okay.  Not horrible, not wonderful.  Okay.

(Readalikes:  Reminded me of Transcendence by C.J. Omololu and Ruined by Paula Morris)

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Some books are so hard for me to describe that I don't even bother trying to write my own plot summary.  Such is the case with Laura Ruby's newest YA novel, Bone Gap (available March 3, 2015).  I don't have the words to tell you just how original and mesmerizing it is.  So, I'm just going to whet your appetite with the book's official back cover copy:

Bone Gap  is the story of Roza, a beautiful girl who is taken from a quiet midwestern town and imprisoned by a mysterious man, and Finn, the only witness, who cannot forgive himself for being unable to identify her kidnapper. As we follow them through their melancholy pasts, their terrifying presents, their uncertain futures, acclaimed author Laura Ruby weaves a heartbreaking tale of love and loss, magic and mystery, regret and forgiveness—a story about how the face the world sees is never the sum of who we are.

While the text doesn't seem to say a whole lot, it actually does a nice, succinct job of outlining the story without giving too much away.  I don't want to be spoiler-y either, so I'm just going to say that I loved this compelling, genre-twisting mystery.  The plot kept me guessing and the ending stunned me with its never-seen-it-done-before brilliance.  Bone Gap may be difficult to describe, but reading it was no trouble at all.  I sped through the book as fast as I could, hardly daring to breathe for fear I'd miss something.  Putting it down?  That was the hard part! 

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

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To the FTC, with love:  I received an e-ARC of Bone Gap from the generous folks at HarperCollins via those at Edelweiss.  Thank you!

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I've long been a fan of Jacqueline Woodson, an African-American author who writes books about race relations in a way that's realistic, but also fresh and thoughtful.  Her novels always make me think.  Several of them are written in verse, so it's not too surprising that her newest book is as well.  Brown Girl Dreaming is not, however, a novel.  It's a memoir.  The tale of Jacqueline Woodson herself.  And it's just as impacting as any of her other stories. 

Woodson was born in Columbus, Ohio, not far from where her slave ancestors toiled from sunup to sundown in someone else's fields.  She came into the world on an ordinary day in 1963.  At that time, the South was simmering, about to explode.  People like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X were stirring the pot, calling for equality, for new laws that would ensure little brown girls like Jacqueline would grow up with the same rights as their white counterparts.  

In the middle of all that, Jacqueline had her own, more personal trials.  Moving from a mixed neighborhood in Ohio to a colored one in North Carolina brought new experiences.  When her mother took off for New York, leaving her children to be raised by their maternal grandmother, Jacqueline was introduced to the Jehovah's Witness religion.  A later move to Brooklyn, New York, caused her to feel even more displaced.  

As Jacqueline struggled to make sense of her world and the unique circumstances of her life, she realized she had a gift.  Her ability to capture thoughts and ideas in words helped her to discover who she was, where she'd been, and who she was meant to be.  

Like Woodson's previous work, Brown Girl Dreaming exudes warmth and tenderness.  It's a touching book, but one that's surprisingly funny.  Although it discusses serious subjects (racism, child abandonment, etc.), it's uplifting, encouraging and hopeful.  Woodson's poetry has a richness to it that just shouldn't be missed.  As soon as my own little girl gets old enough, you can be sure I'll be thrusting this remarkable, Newbery Honor-winning memoir into her beautiful brown hands.

(Readalikes:  Reminded me of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou)

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