book reviews

I've been reading a lot recently (outside my book club reading) and I thought I'd recommend a few to you...

Secrets of Paris by Luanne Rice

"Passion and friendship get equal billing in this entertaining love story, shaded with dark undertones, from the author of Crazy in Love. Lydie McBride, a photographer’s stylist, and her architect husband Michael move to Paris while Michael, on a cultural exchange program, redesigns a room in the Louvre. Lydie is still reeling from the shock of her father’s recent death in a murder-suicide with the young woman who was his lover. As Lydie is befriended by sophisticated Patrice d’Origny, a young Bostonian married to the owner of a fashionable jewelry store, Michael begins an affair with an eccentric French biographer who is engrossed in her 17th-century subject, Mme de Sevigne. Asked to design the new d’Origny catalogue, Lydie decides to stage a ball in a nearby chateau. While working on their separate projects, she and Michael try to determine whether their once wholehearted love can be recovered. Lively and appealing characters–notably Lydie herself–the Paris setting and themes of betrayal and forgiveness distinguish this spirited romance. –Publishers Weekly"

This was a great, quick read. I espcially loved it because of all its descriptions of Paris. Oh, how I'd LOVE to go back!

me in Paris, circa 2006

The Deep Blue Sea for Beginners by Luanne Rice

"The amazingly prolific Rice reintroduces characters from 2009's Geometry of Sisters for this heart-tugger about a reunion of a mother and her two daughters who've been separated for 10 years due to a disturbing secret. Set on the picturesque isle of Capri, Rice's touching tale reflects on how families can survive and thrive despite tragedies. Lyra Nicholson is a lonely heiress living in Italy while her equally lonely daughters, 16-year-old Pell and Lucy, a 14-year-old math whiz, live in Newport, R.Iwith their grandmother. Lucy's already tried to contact (via equations) the ghost of her dead father with Beck, her BFF and the sister of Pell's boyfriend, Travis. Pell travels to Italy, wanting Lyra, who abandoned her and Lucy, to finally take responsibility for them. Max Gardiner, her mother's smitten playwright neighbor, encourages Pell, even as she is distracted by Rafe, Max's 19-year-old recovering addict grandson. Rice gives Pell an old-beyond-her-years stability that Lyra lacks in this beguiling beach read that would suit YA readers as well as their mothers."

I didn't realize Rice had written about these characters previously...guess I'll need to read Geometry of Sisters.

The Last Summer (of You & Me) by Ann Brashares

When summertime neighbors Alice and Paul realize their feelings for go deeper than friendshipm they're afraid to share the news of their clandestine affair with Riley, Alice's sister and Paul's best friend. But then a darker, more tragic secret threatens to come between them. The page-turning pace of Ann Brashares's The Last Summer (of You & Me) makes it a perfect beach read. -- Redbook

What have you all been reading? We are reading Wench for our book club this month. Have you read it?