Cutting Teeth by Julia Fierro

Cutting Teeth by Julia Fierro
Published by St. Martin's Press ISBN 978-1-250-0402-6
Hardcover, $24.99, 322 pages

When I began reading Julia Fierro's debut novel Cutting Teeth, I thought it was going to be a novel about a bunch of whiny, overprotective, rich, Brooklyn parents and their spoiled (yet gifted or challenged) children. I didn't see how I could relate.

Then as I read the book, I saw how Fierro brought these characters I probably would not befriend to vivid life in her novel. It begins with something I wish more multi-character novels would have - a chart explaining the who the characters are and how they relate to each other. This is so helpful when you begin a book, and if a book is as well-written as this is, you find you don't need it to keep track of the characters, you are invested enough in them to know who is who.

They came together as a playgroup for their four-year-olds. Nicole, who has OCD and is afraid that the world is coming to an end this Labor Day weekend, has invited the four other couples and their children to her parents' Long Island Sound vacation cottage. Nicole's husband is rapidly tiring of Nicole's OCD behavior and her fears, her constant monitoring parenting of message boards, and has trouble relating to their son Wyatt and his behavior issues.

Leigh comes from a wealthy family who has lost much of their fortune in the economic downturn. Her husband works for her family's business, so their livelihood is in jeopardy, which causes Leigh to do something that could cost her everything she holds dear. Her son Chase may be somewhere on the autism spectrum, and she has pinned all her mothering hopes on her baby daughter, who was conceived in vitro.

Rip is the stay-at-home daddy in the group. He is an earth father, making his family organic homemade foods and loves caring for his son Hank, who is shy and wants to dress like a princess. He wants another baby but his wife refuses to consider it. She has a difficult time relating to Hank and Rip.

Rip is attracted to Tiffany, who runs a music class for children and whose daughter Harper, the only girl in the group, is a Queen Bee. Harper orders the boys around and expects them to do as she tells them. Tiffany likes to stir up trouble in the group, and when we get her backstory we see why.

Susanne and Allie have twin boys, Levi and Dash, and Susanne is now hugely pregnant with another baby. Allie is an artist, a photographer, and Susanne has started a home business renting strollers and car seats to parents. Their relationship is strained at the moment.

Maybe the most interesting person in the novel is Tenzin, a Tibetan political refugee who fled her home country leaving behind her loving husband and three children. Tenzin is nannying for Leigh, and Tiffany is trying to bully Leigh into sharing Tenzin with her. Tenzin loves and understands the children and seeing these people through her eyes in a brief chapter is interesting. I wish we had more chapters narrated by her.

There are tensions, sexual and otherwise, among the parents and between various couples, and anyone who has vacationed with a big group may recognize these scenes being played out. The weekend culminates in one big uncomfortable scene where the underlying problems bubble to the surface and explode.

Cutting Teeth is a character study of contemporary parenting in an urban setting. The competitiveness of getting your child into the right preschool, maintaining a expensive lifestyle, trying to sustain a marital relationship in the midst of all this, making friends, and the helicopter parenting that has led to children being labeled and over scheduled is all examined in this terrific novel that fans of Tom Perrotta's Little Children will enjoy.

rating 4 of 5

Thanks to TLC Tours for putting me on Julia Fierro's tour. The rest of her stops are here.

Julia Fierro’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Monday, May 12th:  Books a la Mode – guest post

Monday, May 12th:  Ageless Pages

Tuesday, May 13th:  The Well Read Redhead

Wednesday, May 14th:  Books in the ‘Burbs

Friday, May 16th:  BookNAround

Monday, May 19th:  Bookchickdi

Tuesday, May 20th:  Book Chatter

Thursday, May 22nd:  Must Read Faster

Friday, May 23rd:  Peeking Between the Pages

Tuesdya, May 27th:  Bibliophiliac

Wednesday, May 28th:  My Bookshelf

Wednesday, May 28th:  Snowdrop Dreams of Books

Thursday, May 29th:  Anita Loves Books

Monday, June 2nd:  Literally Jen

Tuesday, June 3rd:  Books in the City

Thursday, June 5th:  Bibliotica

Thursday, June 5th:  Kritter’s Ramblings

Monday, June 9th:  A Lovely Bookshelf on the Wall

Wednesday, June 11th:  River City Reading

Thursday, June 12th:  Sidewalk Shoes

Friday, June 13th:  Luxury Reading

New Books For Fans of Gone Girl

My Book Report column from the Citizen: 

One of the hottest selling books in recent years, “Gone Girl”, tells the story of a bad marriage, a missing wife and husband suspected of killing her.

For fans of “Gone Girl”, there are three recent novels that tread similar ground- that of bad marriages, with elements of murder and psychological twists. They have some similarities- two feature physician husbands, two feature therapist wives, and all three have psychologically damaged people.

Alice LaPlante’s “Circle of Wives” tells the story of a celebrated pediatric plastic surgeon found dead in a hotel room. At his funeral, it is discovered that he has three wives. 

His first wife lives in the big home and spends her time on charitable works. She is one tough manicured-to-the-teeth cookie, and we come to discover that not only did she know about the other wives, she carefully orchestrated her husband’s complicated life.

The second wife got out of a bad marriage and headed west with her two young sons. She became an accountant, and she and her doctor husband lived a quiet life, tending to their peaceful backyard garden.

The third wife is a pediatric oncologist, who spent little time with her husband, but understood because his practice was in another city hours away. She was a quiet, disciplined woman who gave so much of her life to her work, she never thought she’d marry.

“Circle of Wives” is the most traditional mystery of the three novels, a real whodunit.

The writing is crisp and the characters are well written, (especially wife #1) much like LaPlante’s previous novel “Turn of Mind”. Once again, she will keep you guessing to the end.

A.S.A. Harrison’s “A Silent Wife” lets you know right up front that the wife is the killer, her husband the victim. From there, we go backwards to discover why and how it happens.

The story is told in alternating chapters by “Him” and “Her”. Jodi is a 45-year-old part-time personal therapist, who sees clients in their beautiful condo with a waterfront view. She has a great life, which she fills with work, exercise classes, decorating the condo and cooking fabulous meals for her husband Todd.

Todd buys and renovates homes and office buildings, and is quite successful. He enjoys life with Jodi, but he has a wandering eye and over the years has cheated on her with several women.

Todd doesn’t know that Jodi is aware of his cheating, but she turns a blind eye to it. She is unaware that Todd’s new girlfriend is more serious; the girl is a college student and daughter of his best friend.

When the girlfriend gets pregnant, something Jodi and Todd had tried unsuccessfully to do, Todd is pushed into divorcing Jodi. Jodi falls apart, and is unwilling to believe that the life she adores is coming to an end.

Telling the story in alternating voices works well for this novel, as we can really get inside the heads of these fascinating characters and understand their actions. I liked this one better than “Gone Girl”.

The last book, Jean Hanff Korelitz’s “You Should Have Known” is more of a character study than the other two.  Grace Reinhart Sachs is on top of the world. She is a marriage therapist, with a terrific 12 year-old son and a pediatric oncologist husband beloved in his field. 

Grace has written a book titled “You Should Have Known”, whose thesis is that women need to pay attention to the signs when they are dating that the man they are with is not someone they should marry. She believes that the best way to insure that marriage will last is to choose wisely.

When she can’t reach her husband, who is supposed to be at a convention, and a mother from her child’s expensive private school is brutally murdered, these two events come together to decimate Grace’s life.

This story is more of a character study, as we watch Grace try to come to terms with the fact that she really never knew her husband. She must try to figure out how to put her and her son’s life back together. It also features a fascinating look at the culture of upper class New York City dwellers, something very foreign to most of us. This is my favorite of the three books, but each of the three book earns four stars out of five rating.

My review of Alice LaPlante's Turn of Mind is here. 
Alice LaPlante's website is here for more info on Circle of Wives.
A.S.A. Harrison, who tragically passed away, has a website here for more info on The Silent Wife.
Jean Hanff Korelitz's website is here for more info on You Should Have Known.

Weekend Cooking- A Few Pinterest Winners

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food. 

I haven't posted about Pinterest in awhile, so I went back and reviewed some of the winning recipes I found there recently.

Living in a small apartment makes using a fryer problematic. The entire apartment (and probably some of my neighbors' as well) ends up smelling like grease, so any recipe that calls for frying is no longer in my repertoire.

We like fried chicken and although I have tried baked chicken recipes that people swear taste as good as fried, I have never found one that can live up to that claim. Until now.

I tried this Juicy Faux Fried Chicken recipe from skinnyms.com that does taste like fried chicken, without the grease. After soaking the chicken parts in a buttermilk, dijon mustard, minced garlic and hot sauce blend for a few hours, you mix flour, paprika, thyme, salt, pepper and baking powder and place chicken pieces in and give it a good shake.

Place the chicken on aluminum foil on a cookie sheet, spray the pieces with cooking spray and bake at 425 degrees for 45 minutes. My guys loved this, it had a lot of flavor and as a bonus it was lower in calories and fat.

You can find the recipe on skinnyms.com here.

This recipe for Peanut Butter Cup Crack Brownies is definitely not low fat, but if you are heading to a picnic or potluck, this is a good dessert to bring and share, as long as there are no peanut allergies in the crowd. It's got brownie mix, peanuts, peanut butter, peanut butter cups, chocolate chips and crisped rice cereal layered together for a sinfully delicious treat that will make any Reese's Peanut Butter Cup fan very happy. 

The recipe for Peanut Butter Cup Crack Brownies came from cookiesandcups.com and can be found here.

From cookiesnadcups.com

I am hopeful that spring is finally here and I can break out the spring/summer salads that my family enjoy. Have you found any new recipes that have wowed you lately? Share them in comments.

#IndieThursday- A Pop-up Bookstore at a Long Term Care Conference

#IndieThursday is a Twitter meme that celebrates independent books stores. Jennifer Lawrence from @jennsbookshelves started the meme and it really took off, with people sharing their indie bookstore purchases and events.

Last year my husband attended a conference in San Diego, and they run a really nice spouse program. The thing that interested me most was that they had a bookstore there, run by Barbara Kennan from Books On Demand, who ran an independent bookstore in Fremont California for years, but now sells at different venues like this.

The bookstore was carefully curated, with an excellent mix of non-fiction books that appealed to the conference goers in attendance, as well as the latest in fiction, YA and children's books. I was so impressed with her selection, I ended up buying a few myself.

At the last morning's spouse's breakfast, there was a raffle of books, and the people who won were so excited when they got to choose their book. I assisted one woman, whom I saw again at this year's conference and was pleased with her choice, JoJo Moyes' Me Before You.

The conference this year was held at the Boca Raton Resort and Club, and we were all so happy to see that Barbara was back this year. Once again, she had a fantastic selection. Barbara even remembered many of us from last year, asking about children and steering us to books she thought we'd like.

She had some of my favorites, Christina Kline Baker's The Orphan Train, Jess Walters' Beautiful Ruins, Meg Wolitzer's The Interestings among them. I chose five books- Robin Roberts' Everybody's Got Something for my mom, A.S.A. Harrison's The Silent Wife, because so many of my blogger friends liked it (I did too- I read it on the plane ride home and passed it on).

I got The Boys in the Boat as a gift for someone and then I took Barbara's suggestions and bought two books I might not have except she swore I would like them and I trust her. The Little Way of Ruthie Lemming- A Southern Girl, a Small Town and the Secret of a Good Life by Rod Dreher tells the true story of his 40 year-old sister who died of cancer and the hometown filled with people who cared for her.

The River of No Return by Bee Ridgeway bills itself as a novel of of love and time travel. I normally wouldn't choose a story like this, but the cover with the collage of famous paintings and Barbara's insistence won me over. I'll keep you posted.

This year I won a book, chosen from Real Simple magazine's 50 Great Books That Will Change Your Life List. After much considered deliberation, I chose Maud Hart Lovelace's Betsy In Spite of Herself because so many people I respect (Jennifer Hart and Anna Quindlen, who chose the book for this list, just to name a few) adore the Betsy-Tacy series and I have never read one.

 I hope that we see Barbara again next year in West Virginia, I so enjoyed talking books with someone who reads as much as I do.

New in Paperback- The Supreme Macaroni Company by Adriana Trigiani

The Supreme Macaroni Company by Adriana Trigiani

Published by Harper Paperbacks ISBN 9780062136596

Trade paperback, $15.99, 352 pages

Although you may not know it from the title, The Supreme Macaroni Company by Adriana Trigiani is the third book in the saga of Valentine Roncalli, following Brava, Valentine and Very Valentine. We pick up our story on Christmas Eve as Valentine and her fiance Gianluca are headed to Christmas Eve with the raucous Roncalli family.

My favorite scene in all three books has been the family holiday dinner scene; it doesn't matter if it is Thanksgiving or Christmas Eve, these scenes are pure joy. Trigiani makes the reader feel like she is a guest, and you'll want to pull up a chair for this party.

There is Aunt Feen, who says everything that is on her mind, and that is not a good thing. When Valentine's father Dutch gets nervous, he confuses words to everyone's embarrassment. Her brother Charlie just lost his job and is getting roaring drunk. And just as Valentine has second thoughts about subjecting Gianluca to this,

"On cue, as dramatized in the biblical epics, the Israelites came pouring from out of the living room as they did during the parting of the Red Sea. In this sweet, small house, they appeared like a cast of thousands, except that unlike the people of peace, my family was arguing. They shouted. They shoved. They threw their hands in the air. "

Valentine is trying to have it all, but as most of us know, that is impossible to do all at the same time. Angelini Shoe Company, her shoe design and manufacturing business, is going great guns, until her cousin who owns the manufacturing plant in Argentina that makes her shoes decides to close her plant.

And so Valentine has to find another manufacturer, not an easy task for her labor intensive shoe creations. Thus the title of the book comes into play. The Supreme Macaroni Company is an old closed plant in the midwest that could possibly be the answer for Angelini Shoes, and I particularly enjoyed this part of the novel.

Trigiani gives the reader a look at the challenges facing small business owners, the backbone of our American economy, and I liked that her family is so involved in saving the business begun by her grandfather.

And Valentine has to balance work with family life. Gianluca left his family back in Italy to move to New York with his fiancee. He sacrificed much to make his wife happy, and is seems as if Valentine is not appreciative of this.

The author laces this novel with her trademark humor, though the reader senses something tragic lay ahead. Soon Valentine has to dig deep within herself, and allow herself to rely on those surrounding her, to make it through.

Reading Trigiani's novels is like catching up with a good friend, and I always look forward to a new novel from her. Her characters are interesting and have a sense of reality about them; they could be your friends or family. (Who wouldn't want a best friend like Gabriel?)

These novels are a treat for all of your senses. You can see the beautiful shoes she designs in your mind's eye, and smell the delicious food being prepared for Christmas Eve. They are screaming out to be put up on the big (or little) screen.

I also must mention the cover of this book. Trigiani's last novel, The Shoemaker's Wife, featured a gorgeous book cover and The Supreme Macaroni Company follows in that vein with a beautifully rich cover. What is on the outside more than matches the inside of this lovely novel that will touch your heart. This is a book to give your sister, sister-in-law or girlfriend.

rating 5 of 5

My review of Brava, Valentine is here.
My review of Very Valentine is here.

A Trio of Memoirs From Funny People

I do like to read humor books, and there seems to be a spate of memoirs by funny people published recently. I read Bob Saget's Dirty Daddy- The Chronicle of a Family Man Turned Filthy Comedian, Carol Leifer's How To Succeed In Business Without Really Crying and actress Judy Greer's I Don't Know Where You Know Me From. I'll do a short and sweet review of each here.

Dirty Daddy by Bob Saget 

Published by It! Books ISBN 978-0-06-227478-6

Hardcover, $26.99, 264 pages

Bob Saget is best known for his many years playing neat freak widower and dad Danny Tanner on TV's iconic sitcom Full House. Anyone who has children in the 20s has probably seen that show, but this memoir, Dirty Daddy, shows a much different side to Saget, one that fans of his standup will know better.

Saget likes scatological humor, which can be funny in small doses, but for me a little goes a long way. He got his love of this humor from his father, whom he clearly adores, and that shines through brightly in this book.

Death played a big part in the Saget family, with Bob losing three close uncles and a cousin at a young age. His parents lost twins when they got an infection in the hospital when they were born and died. His two older sisters died at age 34 and 41, respectively. Death followed the Saget family, and that is where their gallows humor came from; it helped them cope.

There are a lot of showbiz stories here, about famous people Saget knows, like Don Rickles, Richard Pryor, George Carlin, and some fun stories from his Full House and America's Funniest Home Video days. His story of visiting Larry Fine from the Three Stooges in a nursing home when he was teen was so sweet.

One day he forgot to take his microphone off when going to the restroom during a break of AFHV and he said something rude about the audience that was broadcast to everyone. When he returned, the audience was ice cold to him. Oops.

Saget's stream--of-consciousness writing and scatological (vulgar) language will turn off some, but overall I enjoyed his memoir. Rating 4 of 5

How To Succeed In Business Without Really Crying by Carol Leifer
Published by Quirk Books ISBN 978-1-59474-677-2
Hardcover, $19.95, 240 pages

Carol Leifer's How To Succeed In Business Without Really Crying combines humor, memoir and advice in one volume. Like Saget, her love for her dad is evident, and she also shares lots of fun showbiz stories, mostly from her early days of standup.

Leifer was the inspiration for Elaine on Seinfeld, and as a writer on the show she wrote one of my favorite episodes, "The Understudy" which featured Bette Midler, whom Leifer said "had a lot of heart."

Lost of famous people are in the book, like Jay Leno, whom Leifer says is the nicest person she ever worked with. There's many photos in the book, and the early ones of her, Paul Reiser and Jerry Seinfeld, whom she has known for years, are priceless.

The book is divided into three sections: How to Handle Yourself During the Frenzied Scramble for Gainful Employment, How to Maintain Your Sanity While Stubbornly Advancing an Ever-Arduous Career, and How to Keep Your Footing When You Finally Get a Leg Up To the Top of the Heap.

In these sections, Leifer shares not only funny stories from her difficult climb up the comedy writing heap, but useful advice for anyone looking for a job. (Don't take a soda from the refrigerator at a job interview. It cost her a job with Aaron Spelling when he found out. Like Aaron Spelling can't afford another Diet Coke).

This is a terrific, funny book, and the perfect gift for a college graduate, a woman re-entering the job market or just anyone who likes comedy (especially Seinfeld). Rating 5 of 5

I Don't Know Where You Know Me From by Judy Greer
Published by Doubleday ISBN 978-0-385-53788-9
Hardcover, $25.95, 256 pages

Judy Greer is that actress who has been in everything. The title of her memoir, I Don't Know Where You Know Me From, references the fact that people come up to her, but can't quite remember what they have seen her in.

She's usually the best friend/co-worker (in 27 Dresses and The Wedding Planner) or the nerdy/oversexed TV guest star (Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, Arrested Development).  For someone who has worked with so many famous actors, Greer really doesn't dish much. If you are looking for gossip on Katherine Heigl or Jennifer Lopez, you won't find it here.

We do get a nice story about how Ashton Kutcher bought her dad a motorcycle, and the time she was in the restroom with Jennifer Lopez, but mostly it's about her life as a working actor, going from city to city and job to job.

Greer seems like the girl-next-door, and the most interesting chapters include one where she asked her closest friends (who are not in showbiz) to write about what's it's like being her friend, and how she fell in love with a man who has two tween children, and a ex-wife who is a sheriff, and how they shared two homes hours away from each other. (She made it into a sitcom, but alas it didn't last long.)

Reading it, I felt like I was talking to my best friend, and that is the reason to read this book, not for juicy Hollywood gossip. You'll have to watch TMZ for that. Rating 4 of 5

One Hundred Names by Cecelia Ahern

One Hundred Names by Cecelia Ahern
Published by William Morrow ISBN 978-0-06-224863
Trade paperback, $14.99, 480 pages

When Katie Couric anchored The CBS Evening News, one of my favorite segments was Steve Hartman's Everybody Has A Story. He would shoot a dart at a map of the United States, and wherever that dart landed, he would get a telephone book from that city and randomly choose a name. He would call that person and then ask to interview them.

Each person he interviewed was astonished that someone who want to do a story about them, but inevitably there would be a fascinating something about them. Irish author Cecelia Ahern's newest novel, One Hundred Names, has an intriguing spin on that same thing- that everyone has an interesting story.

Kitty Logan is a TV journalist whose last story was about a teacher accused of sexual misconduct. It is discovered that Kitty had been the unwitting collaborator of two high school girls who had a vendetta against the teacher. Kitty did not do her job properly, and ruined a man's entire career and life by broadcasting false accusations.

Her career in shambles, Kitty goes to visit her mentor Constance, the editor of a serious magazine where Kitty got her start. Constance is dying in a hospital and she convinces Kitty to finish a story she had been working on. She believes that Kitty is a good journalist if she just gets back to her roots.

After Constance dies, Kitty goes to Constance's home office and finds the file; it's just a list of one hundred names and nothing else. Kitty is devastated by Constance's death, but she wants to make Constance proud of her and so she sets out to find the connection among these names and what the story is.

Kitty manages to find six of the people on the list to interview, but none of them seem to have a connection to anyone else on the list. There is Archie, a lonely man whose daughter was murdered sixteen years ago. Archie killed the man he suspected of the crime and went to prison. Now he claims to hear other people's prayers.

She meets Ambrose, a woman who has a disfigured face and lives her life secluded from society next to a butterfly museum. Eva Wu is a woman who built a successful business as a personal gift shopper. She meets with a person, finds out whom the gift is for, and does extensive research to choose the perfect gift. There are the two immigrants who are trying to set a Guinness Book of World Records feat, and a young woman whose best friend 'fake proposes' to her in bars to get free drinks and good wishes from strangers.

The most interesting person on the list is a woman who lives in a nursing home. Birdie was a sickly child, and when she was a teen, she placed a bet with her hometown bookie that she would live to be 85 years old. The bookie took the bet, sure Birdie wouldn't live long.

Birdie is turning 85, and wants to collect her money. Somehow Kitty manages to collect all six of the people on the list, as well as assorted friends and family, for the trip to collect on Birdie's bet, hoping to discover what they all have in common and why they are on Constance's list.

Ahern takes what could have been a trite story and creates something beautiful. We don't like Kitty very much at first, she did a horrible thing to the teacher. But her project is sincere and whereas she initially takes it on to rebuilt her career, she eventually becomes the person Constance knew her to be.

The people on the list all have fascinating stories, and one thing this book will reinforce is that everyone truly has a unique, interesting story. After reading it, you won't look at people on the street in the same way, wondering what their interesting story is.

rating 4 of 5

Weekend Cooking- Lucca at the Boca Raton Resort and Club

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food. 

Last week my husband had a conference at the Boca Raton Resort and Club. We had been there fifteen years ago and had a wonderful meal at their restaurant located at the top of the tower. We had chateaubriand for two and a gorgeous chocolate dessert, served in a chocolate cigar box filled with little  chocolate treats.

Boca Raton Resort and Club (from their website)

We visited the tower restaurant again, now called the blue, for dinner. The view of the Intercoastal Waterway and the ocean is lovely; unfortunately, the view was the best part of the meal. The food was OK, but nothing spectacular.

The view from the blue restaurant

On our second night, friends we know from Central New York were vacationing two and half hours away, and they drove all that way to come have dinner with us at the Italian restaurant located in the resort, Lucca.

That meal was much better. It started with our Romanian waiter who went into extensive detail on just about every item on the menu- how it was created, what was in it, why it is the best thing you will ever eat. While Gabriel was entertaining, it was a bit overwhelming.

We all shared appetizers. I ordered the burratini special- a homemade burrata with peaches, arugula and prosciutto that was refreshing and delicious. The eggplant rollatini was the consensus best appetizer, maybe the best dish of the meal.

Burrata appetizer

My husband had the Veal Scallopini Marsala, and he declared it the second best veal dish he has ever had, after Michael's Restaurant back in our old stomping grounds of Auburn, NY. My rigatoni with meatballs was very good as well.

Rigatoni with meatballs

For dessert, we all shared the Chocolate Fondue, or maybe I should say we all fought over it. They serve it for $9 person, and you get the chocolate fondue in the center, served with fresh strawberries, homemade angel food cake cubes, brownie bites, biscotti and homemade marshmallows that were heavenly. I'm not a marshmallow person, but man, those were tasty.

Mmmm...chocolate fondue

There is also a Serendipity 3 located in the resort, and I had a marinated grilled chicken sandwich served with a mustard-mayo spread that was fantastic. It was the best chicken sandwich I have ever had. I wish they served at the Serendipity 3 here in NYC.

The resort is beautiful, it opened in the 1920s and has the elegant feel of that era. It was nice to see the sun for a few days too, as the weather back in NYC has not been so nice this spring.

The Orphans of Race Point by Patry Francis

The Orphans of Race Point by Patry Francis
Published by Harper Perennial ISBN 978-0-06-228130-2
Trade paperback, $15.99, 544 pages

Almost exactly a year ago, I read an early copy of Anthony Marra's The Constellation of Vital Phenomena and was so knocked out by it, I told anyone who would listen (and even some who wouldn't) to read this book. I was so thrilled when it began to get great buzz and win many awards.

Reading Patry Francis' The Orphans of Race Point made me feel the same way. From the very first page, I fell in love with the story and the writing and the characters. Reading it, I was lost in the pages, and when people spoke to me, I did not hear them. I wanted to race through it, yet at the same time savor this incredible story and not have it ever end.

It begins in 1978, with nine-year-old Hallie Costa, whose mother died tragically in a drunk driving accident and whose father is the town's beloved doctor, willing to help anyone in anyway he can, whether medically or assisting them with a family situation.

Her father is called to a neighbor's home where a woman was murdered by her husband and their nine-year-old son Gus had been found catatonic in a closet. It was thought he witnessed the murder of his mother, but he was too traumatized to talk.

Hallie's dad Nick went to visit Gus, and after a five hour staring contest in which Nick "looked into Gus' sorrows and he looked into" Nick's, Gus spoke his first words in weeks- "I give." Hallie and her friend Neil, who was Gus' best friend, visited Gus every day, and Hallie came up with the idea of reading David Copperfield to him. She thought the story of an orphan who mades good might inspire Gus.

By the time they are in high school, Gus has become a football hero. He and Neil are still best friends, and Gus and Hallie have fallen in love. An incident happens at a beach party, and Gus' turbulent past plays a part in it, changing the three friends' lives forever.

Fast forward and Gus has become a priest, Neil is an actor and Hallie is a doctor like her dad. Father Gus is approached by a woman who has been beaten by her husband and asks for his help. Father Gus advises her to get away from her husband and offers to help her, but the situation escalates and Gus is convicted of a murder he did not commit.

This amazing story has so many compelling elements to it- there is the murder mystery, the love story and the true meaning of faith, friendship and family. The way it deals with faith and family also reminded me of Jennifer Haigh's gorgeous Faith, with its story of a priest mistakenly accused of a crime. The family that Hallie creates with people who are literal and figurative orphans is a beautiful one, and shows us that you don't need to be related to truly love someone deeply.

Like Constellation, Francis weaves her story elements together to a surprising conclusion. I did not see it coming in any way, and was as blindsided just as much as the characters were. The writing is lovely and the characters Francis creates are so real, I wanted to reach out to these lost souls. I don't know who I could call my favorite- Hallie _"dutiful on her dad's side, unruly on her mom's side", Gus, who cared deeply for his flock and yet led a tortured life, or "misfit princess" Mila, the murdered woman's daughter.

There are too many powerful scenes to choose a favorite- Hallie reading to young Gus, Mila visiting Gus in prison, Hallie ministering to her ill father, Nick's talk with Gus at the cottage- they all just touched my heart in a profoundly unforgettable way.

The Orphans of Race Point is the must-read book this year. It is big- over 500 pages- but you will find yourself lost in the lives of these loving, sometimes tragic, people. If you happen to see me anywhere, I warn you, I will tell you- READ THIS BOOK.

rating 5 of 5
My review of A Constellation of Vital Phenomena is here.
My review of Faith is here.
Patry Francis' website is here.

Thanks to TLC Tours for putting me on Patry Francis' tour. The rest of the tour is here.

Tuesday, May 6th: The Book Wheel

Wednesday, May 7th: Tutu’s Two Cents

Thursday, May 8th: bookchickdi

Friday, May 9th: Sweet Southern Home

Monday, May 12th: Book-alicious Mama

Wednesday, May 14th: 5 Minutes For Books

Tuesday, May 20th: All Things Girl

Wednesday, May 21st: Doing Dewey

Thursday, May 22nd: BoundbyWords

Tuesday, May 27th: My Book Retreat

Author Erin McHugh at Barnes & Noble

Like My Mother Always Said by Erin McHugh

Published by Abrams Image ISBN 978-1-4197-1173-2

Hardcover, $14.95, 133 pages

Erin McHugh, author of Good Deeds, recounting her journey to do one good deed each day for a year, has written the perfect book for Mother's Day- Like My Mother Always Said...Wise Words, Witty Warnings, and Odd Advice We Never Forgot.

Recently she spoke at Barnes & Noble on the Upper East Side in New York City in front of a large, appreciative crowd of fans. When we arrived, each of us was asked to write down our favorite "momism" for a drawing to win a free book.

McHugh got the idea for the book while staying with friends. Her friend said that McHugh should write a book called Like My Mother Always Said because McHugh frequently repeated that during her visit.

She asked people on Facebook and Twitter to send her their favorite sayings from their own moms. She was surprised that 35% of the respondents were men, but as she said, "Men LOVE their mothers!" (As the mother of two grown men, that brought me joy.)

Men shared touching memories, women shared funny ones or zingers from mom. McHugh's Facebook page became a "nutty eparlor game of top this", with everyone trying to top the others with their memories.

McHugh read some sayings from the book, like Potsie (a great mom name!) who told her daughter "If you marry for money, you earn every penny." And one Southern mom who, when seeing her adult daughter come home for a visit, said "Well aren't you wearing your hair just the way you like it?"

Wearing clean underwear was a popular momism, though no one topped the woman who was hit by a car on 96th Street and Park Avenue, and ended up in the middle of the busy intersection with her skirt in the air and her clean underwear on display for all. Good thing she listened to her mom.

McHugh was appalled to get this momism more than once-"If you do that again, I will rip your arms and legs off and hit you with the stumps."

Erin McHugh reading at Barnes & Noble

The ones that affected McHugh most of all came from Tina's mom, Hertha. Hertha fled Germany just before the Nazis began their reign of terror. Many of her family, including her mom, were left behind. Tina shared several of mom's sayings with McHugh, and McHugh noticed a recurring theme. All of her sayings dealt with survival, something that Hertha learned very early on.

McHugh read the crowd's momisms and the winner was "You don't look good in hats", which drew a huge laugh from the crowd. As we adjourned, someone asked McHugh if her next book would be Like My Father Always Said. McHugh told us to talk to her publisher, and the general consensus was that we would all love to read that one as well.

if you are looking for the perfect gift for Mother's Day, for Mom or anyone who has a mom (that would be everyone), run out and get Like My Mother Always Said. You'll laugh and tear up reading this sweet, funny book.

To see my full review on auburnpub.com, filled with lots of momisms, click here.
My review of One Good Deed is here.