Laurie and Sarah, best friends since college, are beginning their adult lives as roommates in London. A dilapidated flat is their home sweet home. Parties, work, and living on a shoe string budget is the faze of life, and they live it with vigor. One day, Laurie is riding the bus home, it stops, the doors open, and she locks eyes with a handsome stranger. The attraction is instant, not just physical, but an unspoken connection. The bus doors close, the handsome stranger is gone. Laurie is left haunted, wondering and longing to know who he was. Laurie and Sarah go through many fazes together, but Laurie’s flame for this mysterious man remains.
This book was a welcome respite from holiday hustling. It is simple, charming, but not cheesy or forced. There were plot turns that I didn’t always see coming. It is a love story, reminiscent of the greats, Pride and Prejudice, Bridget Jones Diary, or You’ve Got Mail. I deeply appreciated the sweet unfolding of the romance, the painful upsets, and unexpected joys. One Day In December is a light and lovely read for December coziness, or to beat the January blues.
To Purchase this book on Amazon, click here: One Day in December: A Novel
Anna has not left her house in a long while. She feels safe and secure at home, and that is where she stays. Her New York City home sits across from a park, looking straight into the neighbor’s window. Anna is not working right now, she is on a break from her practice as a child psychologist. With so much time on her hands, she begins to watch the neighborhood with detailed intensity. When a new family moves in across the park, something does not seem quite right. As she gets to know them more, she is convinced they are suspicious. When she believes she has witnesses a crime in the neighborhood, Anna loses all sense of reality and fiction. The story unravels in unpredictable twists, and devastating back story all woven into a suspenseful read.
Clementine has written a deeply moving account of her life as a Rwandan Refugee. At six years old she survived the genocide in Rwanda. For years, she lived through conditions that would break any human in two. The book travels back and forth from Clemetine’s adult life to her childhood in Africa. I learned so much about the roots of conflict and the ripple of devastation it spread. Clementine’s description of her feelings, how she wrestled with the residual trauma are beyond moving. Without empathy for what others have suffered, we cannot treat others with compassion and kindness. I was gripped with sorrow, and amazed at the author’s fighting resilience. This memoir is necessary and worth every moment. I am thankful she was brave enough to put this story into words, and I am thankful I read every one of them.
Best Overall Character: Emily Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman– Emily is the most real, quirky, and charming character I have read in a long time. She has been through very difficult circumstances, and we meet her just as she is beginning to step out of a safe, but isolated life. I was moved, laughed, cringed, and cheered for her the whole way through.
Best Historical Fiction: The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict– Did you know Albert Einstein’s wife was also a genius mathematician and physicist? This is a riveting and heartbreaking story of their love affair. It was fascinating.
Best Middle Grade Novel: Wishtree by Catherine Applegate– Told from the perspective of a tree, the history, heartache, and hope of a little town is revealed by one little tree. Beautiful, imaginative, and wonderful.
Best Sophisticated Brain Candy: When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandya Menon– When Dimple heads to Standford for a summer program, she has no idea her traditional Indian parents have betrothed her to another student in the program. Calamity ensues, and it is funny, sweet, and light. Sometimes you just need a light read, this is it, but well written.
Best Non-Fiction: A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park– A simply stunning novel about the lost boys of Sudan. Everyone should read this book, and teachers or parents of 4th graders and up should add it to their read aloud list.
Charlie boards a ship to Europe with her mother, pregnant, unwed, and a little angry. The Second World War has just ended, and nothing is right in Charlie’s life, or the world. Fed up with her mother, she sets out on her own as soon as she reaches England. Charlie’s cousin Rose, is missing in France. She has one lead, a woman named Eve, and all the determination in the world.
Beginnings and Book Ends 