Three Books I Highly Recommend

I encourage you to fill your weekend with someone new book friends. May I present a woman in her thirties facing an upheaval, three guys challenging life and themselves, and an older woman and her family in Key West!

Forgetting Ophelia: A Novel by Julie C. Gardner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Do you like rollercoasters- that feeling of being strapped in a runaway car, screaming down hills and swerving around sharp corners? I do, too! This women’s fiction novel is an exhilarating shocker for the first few chapters; something wild and unexpected appears around every curve.

Thirty-five year old Lia, short for Ophelia, tells us her story in the first person. When we first meet her, she sounds almost manic as she prepares herself for a special trip with her husband, to celebrate their five-year anniversary. Everything has to be extra-special. She needs new lingerie and a wax. Maybe some plumping lip gloss?

Lia follows The Plan that her husband, Jake has created. They didn’t have a honeymoon when they married, because The Plan was to do it on their fifth anniversary. Lia and Jake do life differently.

But what if The Plan isn’t your plan? Or really isn’t a plan?

Chapter by chapter we learn that nothing is really as it seems. What a fantastic way to start a book. What’s going on? Is Jake a psycho?

Then Lia becomes much more introspective as she looks for answers. She begins to realize that Jake controlled the plans and that she changed herself to fit in his life. We get to know Lia’s best friend Maren, and Lia’s mother Regina, and several new men in Lia’s life.

Regina was my favorite character. Yes, she is a “Glass Castle” kind of mother, but she provides an interesting contrast to Lia’s timidity. Shakespeare’s Ophelia did not have a mother to guide her and so it is for Lia. Artistic Regina is not a trustworthy model for Lia.

Author Gardner is know for the deft way she creates her characters, and for her thoughtful exploration of what it means to be a modern woman. The author succeeds once again in showing us the complexities of a woman’s feelings and desires. “Loving someone is easy. Living for them is hard.”

I especially enjoyed the beginning of the book. Then, as Lia tries to find herself, I felt the story lost some intensity and focus. However, I am sure that readers will find this to be an entertaining and entrancing read. Recommend.

Thanks to Author Julie C. Gardner for an ARC. This is my honest review.

The Wayfaring Swan by Rose Schmidt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved the cover- evocative and inviting. I loved the title- ‘Wayfaring’ is a pleasing, classic kind of word that harkens back to long ago days. It means to travel, especially on foot and many times it is paired with the idea of a stranger, a wayfaring stranger or a seeker. My feeling as I opened the book and began to read, was that this would be an introspective, thoughtful tale. Nope. This book is the reincarnation of the Golden Age of Hollywood. A soulful pirate, a damaged damsel, two middle aged sisters and a supporting cast of vivid and likeable characters are ready to dance their way into your heart as they sail from one adventure to another. You will laugh, and yes, you will cry as this larger than life story dazzles and delights. There is even a featured flamingo scene. The sisters are the Mom and Aunt of Liana. Mom wants to rekindle her relationship with Liana, but she also wants to show Liana that life can be joyful and full of love. Mom plots, as mothers are known to do, and decides to create a memorable sailing vacation in the Florida Keys. That’s where the handsome pirate, hired to captain the sailing vessel comes in. “The ship of fools had somehow been transformed into the love boat.” But, of course, there can never be smooth sailing and you will delight in the pratfalls, plot twists and laugh out loud moments that occur before the boat and our characters reach safe harbor. You will be moved by the tender moments in the story. “Destiny could be shifted by hate, but it could also be reshaped by mercy and love.” I know you will love everything about this book like I did!!

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Three Men On Their Bikes by Richard Mapes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Meet the MAMLS- Ian, Harry and George. What’s that, you say? Oh, you know, MAMLS- Middle Age Men in Lycra.

I love these guys and I love their story. The three of them have been friends for fifteen years, but now life is changing for them as they enter their thirties and spend more of their time adulting. George convinces them to go on one last holiday, and he sets up a bike trip for them.

The trip is not just a leisurely Sunday pedal to the local pub. They are going to ride cross-country on a coast-to-coast cycle route through Yorkshire and Lancashire. As they say, Hilarity ensues as they join up with “scary looking cyclists in matching team colors and not enough body fat between them to fry an egg.”

The narrator, Ian, is witty, droll and accommodating. George is a thinker and a learner, and Harry is an alpha male, charging ahead through life. How they handle the literal ups and downs of cycling, and their adventures with the friends they make is entertaining and delightful. The three learn about pelotons and teamwork.

I do wish they had spent more time at some of the sites they mentioned, as it seems like a fascinating area of the UK. (I’m American, so I would have loved to learn more!)

“We were together again. Suddenly the holiday didn’t seem like such a terrible idea after all.”

At times comical, and at other points contemplative, this is a good story. “There’s all the time in the world. The only thing that changes is the number of choices you have on what to do with it.” I agree and I highly recommend this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Thistle Publishing for a review copy.

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