The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin

I have always been told that The Stepford Wives book was better than the movie. Truth be told I'm not so sure about that opinion now.

I'm a true fan of the movie version featuring Nicole Kidman and as I began to read Ira Levin's story I felt as though the plot was sticking rather well to the movie. But somewhere around the time when there was suddenly no details to the life within Stepford did I become increasingly lost. Yes, the daily grind that Joanna goes through is described along with the sudden fear in which she harbors, but this was not until the end.

The book felt empty compared to the movie. But more compounding was my utter confusion in the end. I understand based on the movie what happens, but there was no evidence of the robotic clones as evidence throughout the book. Do the women change? Yes, but without explanation, leaving the reader lost. The behaviors of these women just changed.

Could be drugs, hypnotism, or as in the movie computer chips. Could the missing pieces to allow for the reader to build their own story? What about the politics within the community? Maybe by watching the movie more times than I can count I found myself lost on this book.

Overall it's a good read, but I found so much to be missing that the ending was more confusing than it was fulfilling. I would have to say that the movie was better than the book this time around.

Trains & Lovers by Alexander McCall Smith

Have you ever needed something to just slap you in the face and make you wake up to reality? Relationships are hard, breakups are even harder. And sometimes we get stuck in this mind set that they will start over, even though you know in your heart it's really over.

I've been in that type of relationship. I've been the one hoping it will start over, but I've also been the one to cause the pain as well. So when I picked up Trains and Lovers by Alexander McCall Smith I truly didn't know what to expect.

I truthfully just really liked the cover. What I found was much more. I read the book from front to back in one night. I have never done this, never once in my life. The stories that Smith places between these four strangers on a train will propel you into the story of love and loneliness.

Would one divulge such intricate details to someone they don't know? Have you ever been stuck next to someone on a flight across the country and suddenly they know your whole story or you know theirs? What about the person on the train next to you? Everyone has a story of love and Smith shows us very eloquently how they intertwine into an amazing lesson.

Smith takes you on a ride through each characters story of love and how they question the existence of true love, whether with "the one" or family. Each character has a story, one that defines the position of their life, another a secret that must stay hidden, and two that leave each in a question of faith, trust and understanding.

While reading this book I found myself releasing my love and guilt from past relationships, understanding that paths cross, love is meant to bloom and fade, and that sometimes secrets are ok to be left hidden. The heart is a scary place, it can shatter into pieces instantly and take years to rebuild. But Smith does a great job of throwing the existence of an awkward situation and turning it into a true love story.

I thought that I would wind up reading about how to lonely passengers fall in love, but what I got was so much more. While this is a love story, it's not one in which the title portrays. I recommend this book with my whole heart. I have never fallen so deeply in love with a book or the stories behind it.

Death of a Mill Girl (Josiah Beede Mysteries) By Clyde Linsley

This book took me three tries to get into, however I'm so thankful I stuck it out. Clyde Linsley's, Death of a Mill Girl was tantalizing and a page turner in the end. I'm not a normal mystery or suspense genre fan, which is why I think this book took me so many tries to grasp my attention.

The finding of a dead girl in the middle of a field with no possible suspects seems deterring and agonizing as the girl in herself is a complete mystery. Josiah Beede takes on the case in hopes of finding the killer and soon harbors his main suspect at his farm as a means of watching him.

The beginning of the book is very dry, but as I pushed forward I found myself increasingly interested in finding out who the murder was. The problem with this book is that I truly don't remember much about the killer or the plot, what I remember the most is that the book dived into the historical concepts of mill workers and the deplorable situations they were required to work and live in. Linsley's book while was a suspenseful mystery I stayed interested because of the history in the end more than the plot line.

While this is not a read I would pick up again I'm still interested in Linsley's work for the sole fact of bringing history to life on the pages. If you like a mixture of history, mystery and fiction this would be a great read for your library.

The Orphan Sister by Gwendolen Gross

Growing up I've always wondered what it would have been like to be a twin or even a triplet. My fascination with multiples comes from a long family line of multiples, my dad being a twin himself.

To have a built in best friend from the time of conception seems like a bond unfounded. But sometimes this concept makes a turn for the worst and instead of best friends you feel like the third wheel without direction.

In The Orphan Sister, by Gwendolen Gross, Clementine Lord is the third daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Lord and the third of a set of triplets. Clementine however is nothing like her sisters, for one she is the only one not identical within the set of three, unmarried and without a passion for healing humans. Her life has all been about being the odd one out.

Clementine is swept into family drama as her father suddenly disappears without notice and her family is in denial of the tragedy at hand. As the story moves forward Clementine faces the ideas that she never measured up to his standards or that of her sisters and mother. Her rebellion and love are torn to pieces one tragedy at a time all of which help piece her back together with her sisters in the end.

Clementine's story is refreshingly new and different. Gross is an author that is staying on my radar for the future. I highly recommend this novel as the obstetrical faced by each member of the family is one that reunites the bond that is formed from day one between the sisters.

Snow by Maxence Fermine

Falling in love is one of the easiest and hardest things to do with life. Whether it's the love of an animal, child or your soul mate, there are boundaries that have to be crossed to allow hearts to collide.

Maxence Fermine writes a poetically beautiful novel about finding love in Snow: A Novel. This is a very quick read, with only 112 pages, but it is one that will take you on a journey of a young man coming into manhood in 1884, Japan.

Yuko Akita lives in Japan where his father informs him that it is time to find an occupation. Yuko, only 17 at the time, explains to his father his love for a poetry and has determined to turn this into a career. Yuko's father resist his son's wishes in the beginning, but as his son shows him his love of snow and the color white through his poems his father soon wants to help his son flourish to fame within the imperial court.

Yuko learns that while he can portray snow and white in elegant vibrancy, he has no color to his poetry. Afraid of failure in his love of poetry Yuko seeks out on an adventure through the snowy mountains of Japan in search for Soseki, who will teach him the missing pieces of art to complete Yuko's snow white poems.

What Yuko learns is the lesson in love is not one color and builds deeply even at the end of time on earth.

This was an extremely easy read, flowing through the pages very quickly I found myself falling in love with Yuko and his journey. A page turner for sure and I'm now on the hunt for more of Fermine's work.