The Homecoming of Samuel Lake by Jenny Wingfield

Well, I wasn't expecting THAT. What a great, well written story.

Every year the Moses family has a reunion. Every year Samuel Lake brings his wife, Willadee, and their three children - after all, Willadee is a Moses but this year, in the midst of the party, the unthinkable happens and the family is shaken, changing their lives forever.

Jenny Wingfield did a great job with her characters because if I'm being Just Plain Honest, I don't think I could pick my favorite character in this book but I'd say it's a toss up between Swan, Blade, Calla or Toy. However, the character I despise, with every ounce of my being, is very clear and even though I'm done with the book, Ras Ballanger, and his actions, will haunt me forever.

Don't go into this book, thinking it's at all light because it has a cute cover. This book is anything but light. It was hard to read at times. Heart wrenching. I fell in love. I was disgusted. I was happy. I was sad.

Definite recommend!

One good friend deserves another by Lisa Verge Higgins

I won this book on Goodreads! Very nice, light chick-lit... Everyone deserves a good friend or 3. Dhara, Kelly, Wendy, and Marta are a trip. They have dating rules that they expect each other to follow or you may end up in the middle of an intervention but you see, they were just watching out for each other. Here's a list of their rules that I grabbed from Goodreads because I could only remember 3 or 4:

1. Choose Your Own Man
2. Make Sure Your Friends Approve
3. No One-Night Stands
4. Trust Your Instincts
5. Never Make the Same Mistake Twice
6. After a Break-Up, Wait Six Months Before Dating Again.


So will you still get the happily-ever-after if the rules are broken? This is a story about life and what it means to be a good friend no matter what.  Definite recommend.

Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

This story was beautifully told. I loved the authors characters and descriptions, I felt like I was there but the story line didn't do it for me. I mean, the story is over and I'm still a bit confused. I wasn't sure what to believe, then when I thought I had it straight, I was wrong but how could it be really? Huh?

The story is about a couple, Mabel & Jack, who move to Alaska. Farming the land is very hard on Jack and loneliness is almost paralyzing to Mabel. One day after the first snow, Mabel and Jack build a snowman... then they decide to make it a girl and provide her with red mittens and a red hat while Jack carves a face with his knife. The next morning the snow girl is destroyed, the gloves and hat are gone and there are tracks leading from the snow girl to the woods but none leading from the woods to the snow girl.... then they spot a little girl, Faina, with blonde hair and red mittens and hat in the woods.... things that make you go hmmm.... Did the girl steal the hat and mittens from the snow girl - but what about the tracks?

Basically the story told is the re-telling of a Russian children story that Mabel loved as a child that was told her by her father from an old Russian book.

It's a story like none other. I've never read one like this and I was hoping for so much more... I mean just when I thought I had it figured out, I was proven wrong. So weird for me. My imagination just can't do the math.