Surprise Packages

Surprise Packages

By Nancy Anderson, Lael Littke, Carroll Hofeling Morris
(Deseret Book, 2008)

Once in awhile an LDS novel comes along that is completely refreshing. Surprise Packages will, you guessed it, surprise you.

Surprise Packages is the third installment of The Company of Good Women series. It’s a story of three women who met at BYU Education week, then became lifelong friends through thick and thin. The authors themselves have self-proclaimed themselves to be Crusty Old Broads—just as the three female characters in their books.

Deenie, Juneau and Erin live in different parts of the country and lead different lives. But they write emails, make phone calls, and get together on mini-vacations, keeping their friendship alive. Their challenges and triumphs mirror real-life situations, yet I found that the solutions they came up with to handle what came their way was many times truly inspiring. I found myself reflecting on the why’s and what’s of my own life, and where I can be better and make more of a difference.

Surprise Packages was truly a delight, surprising me time and time again.

Surprise Packages is available at Deseret Book.

The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall, reviewed by Laura Craner

School starts for us on Monday. The transition is surprisingly mind-boggling. How to mark the change from sunny adventures and late bedtimes to structured classrooms and homework? The answer is obvious: a great book!

The Penderwicks, in case you haven't heard of it from your children's librarian or from all the awards it has received, is the tale of four wildly different sisters and their botanist father and the adventures they have during their summer holiday on the meticulously gardened grounds of Arundel Hall. The adventures begin when Rosalind, Skye, Jane, and Batty (whose real name is Elizabeth--after their dead mother) meet Jeffrey, "a very interesting boy", and his mother, who seems to bring out the worst in each girl. They face down a raging bull, some lost bunnies,and a Garden Society Competition (hordes of old women in heels! yikes!), but the real trouble comes when they find out Jeffrey is going to be sent away to military school. What will the girls do? The solution pushes each girl to face down her fears and weaknesses and discover the real strength of family bonds.

My favorite thing about the book was how different each girl was and how integral she was to the family's happiness. It made the book positive and empowering. As I read I found myself hoping my girls would pick up some of Rosalind's dependable nature but hold on to Skye's feistiness too. I wanted them to be a part of Jane's dreamworld and the innocence of Batty's escapades. What really surprised me though, was when I realized I was hoping that I would incorporate some of those traits into my life too.

More than anything, this book was fun--a perfect summer read.

Lucy, by Ellen Feldman

Reviewed by Brittany Mangus

I don't really remember how I stumbled upon this book, but I'm glad I read it. This is a biographical fiction novel about FDR, Eleanor Roosevelt and Lucy Mercer Rutherford (Eleanor's personal social secretary and FDR's mistress).

It's written in the first person, from Lucy's (rose-colored) point of view. It takes place from 1914-1945, focusing mostly on the time period (1914-1918) when FDR met Lucy, which was before FDR was stricken with polio.

As a fan of similar period novels (The Age of Innocence, The Buccaneers, Ethan Frome, etc.) I was fascinated by this book; the characters exude the New England Victorian culture and Lucy mentions the strict social rules of the era. (For example, a patrician woman must never occupy a man's newly-vacated chair, for fear that his body heat may still be felt.) This book even weaves in some newly-discovered and very interesting information about FDR and another mistress, Missy LeHand.

I have read other biographies about former presidents so it was especially fun to read this "sort-of" biography in the form of a fictional novel. What was very interesting to me was how each chapter began with one or two actual quotes from people who knew FDR, Eleanor and Lucy. Often, they contradicted each other, which added a human element to the story.

FDR first met Lucy Mercer around 1914 when she was working in their home as Eleanor's social secretary. A not-so-secret romance blossomed. The affair was well-known to everyone in their social circle... everyone except shy, reserved, and repressed Eleanor.

However, in the fall of 1918, Eleanor discovered love letters from Lucy to her husband in his suitcase. Historians and this author agree that "the Lucy Mercer affair" was the catalyst that defined the great leaders who FDR and Eleanor herself would one day become. At the time, Eleanor forbade FDR from seeing Lucy ever again. Lucy, however secretly came back into the President's life near the end of it (the Secret Service gave her a code name "Mrs. Paul Johnson"), and was with him on the very day he died in Warm Springs, Georgia in 1945. What was not known until very recently was exactly when she re-entered his life. They now believe that it was much sooner than earlier thought.

It was interesting to compare the choices made by the women who loved FDR. Lucy married Winthrop Rutherford (a man 29 years her senior), whereas Missy never married and devoted her life to FDR. Daisy Suckley likewise never married and shared a similar expectation (with Lucy and Missy) that she would someday "retire" with FDR once his 4th term in office was over. Eleanor chose to remain married to FDR, despite accounts that she "did not act like a wife." (In fact, she frequently lived separately from him.)

There are many more secrets and interesting personality quirks and flaws that I will leave for you to discover. It is a fascinating novel about fascinating people- I recommend it!

"Lucy: A President, A Marriage, A Love Affair" By Ellen Feldman
Even though this book is about an affair, true to Lucy's patrician nature, there are no "details."
Biographical Fiction/Historical Fiction
304 pages
Published by WW Norton & Co. (2004)

Grave Secrets by Marlene Austin

Grave Secrets, by Marlene Austin

Published in 2007 by Covenant Communications, softcover, 341 pages

I don't have a lot of mysteries in my life, and those that I do come across, such as who ate all my chocolate and why Legos gravitate towards my bare feet, are easily solved. This might be why I like reading suspense novels, where the mysteries are much less trivial and more life-threatening. Bethany Clarke, the heroine of the book Grave Secrets, has problems that are definitely greater than a lack of sweets and the migration patterns of plastic toys. Not only has her boyfriend Peter disappeared under mysterious circumstances, but her grandmother Amelia has up and died on her as well. Any chance Bethany might have had to form a proper relationship with the woman who brought her up, but who kept her at arm's length throughout her life, is now gone. Instead, as it says on the back cover blurb, it seems that the wealthy eccentric, and distant woman who raised Bethany has taken pains to torment her granddaughter even from the grave. Now, in order to claim her substantial inheritance, Bethany must meet the strange conditions stipulated in Amelia's will. She must spend a year at an abandoned house in Maine – and write a book.

Bethany starts to come to terms with her new life at the "hut" and is soon busy remodeling, planning her book, and researching the woman who first lived there, all the way back in 1640. The legend of the woman of Faunce Cove tells of a time when hostile Indians threatened her family and left her husband dead in the forest. She escaped by hiding in a cave on the coast, hollowed by centuries of ocean tides, which the Indians believed was the home of the Sea God and therefore did not dare to enter. Bethany is fascinated by this woman, whom she believes could have been named Patience, and begins to write her book about her. Patience's story is integral to Bethany's new life, especially when Bethany's idyllic existance is soon threatened by anonymous letters and incidents that might not be the simple accidents they seem. Soon, Bethany doesn't know whom she can trust, and even the actions of old friends appear suspicious now. When the threats become more physical, Bethany also ends up hiding in the cave of the Sea God.

I can't exactly say that this book was fast-paced, and yet there was almost always something that kept me turning the pages, whether it was scenes that served to confirm the suspicions that Bethany has of people she thought were friends, discoveries that shed more light on Patience (and Amelia,) or, best of all, thrilling action sequences where Bethany is trying to outmaneuver her enemies and escape the threats on her life. Although this book is a suspenseful thriller, there are also some threads of romance that definitely do not get woven into the pattern that the reader might expect, and are all the more satisfying for it. I also enjoyed seeing how Patience's experiences more than three hundred years before had a bearing on Bethany's life.

I particularly liked the development of Bethany's feelings towards Amelia throughout the book. At first, she's hurt and outraged when she finds out that Amelia purposely kept herself distant from her granddaughter. Her prayers and efforts to feel at peace about Amelia seem futile, and she doesn't feel any urgency about having Amelia's temple work done. In fact, the picture of the Boston Temple seems to mock her. The distant woman Patience seems closer, and her emotions more transparent, to Bethany than Amelia. But then Bethany meets people who knew Amelia in a different way than she did. One man in particular, who knew Amelia as a younger woman, gives Bethany the advice to think about Amelia's entire personality and her complete life, not just her relationship with Bethany. Bethany takes the advice, and when she has the opportunity to find out more about her grandmother's experiences, she can better understand why Amelia locked up her emotions and became cold and distant. With understanding comes a softening of her heart, forgiveness, and a happy determination to do the temple work, not just for Amelia, but for other ancesters that her research has helped her discover along the way. I liked the addition of this extra 'emotional' mystery and thought that it and its resolution added depth to the book.

The first time I read this book, I felt exactly like Bethany herself; not knowing whom to trust and who would turn out to be the good guy or the bad guy. The second time, I was able to see the clues that were there from the beginning, and thought that they were presented in just the right way, to keep the reader guessing, yet be convincingly explained at the end. I enjoyed reading this book both times, and would recommend it to anyone who likes a good mystery or three.

Fool Me Twice

Fool Me Twice, by Stephanie Black, is one twisty-turny book! It starts out with Megan O'Connor being bulldozed by her identical twin sister, Kristen, to take Kristen's place in caring for an aunt they never knew they had. Kristen tells Megan they're certain that Aunt Evelyn will leave all her money to them, and Megan's cut will come to half a million dollars. As the story goes on, however, the reader learns that Kristen has others plans – and so does "Aunt" Evelyn. Megan is suddenly caught up in the kidnapping of her new best friend and faces danger from a corner she didn't expect.

The story is fast-paced, especially towards the end, but doesn't skimp on characterization or description. Megan is shown right from the beginning to be a pushover, while her sister Kristen is ruthless. Megan has a conscience, whereas Kristen is lacking in that department. In the end, however, it is Megan's good and caring nature that helps her see that something's rotten in the state of Massachussetts, and by following her conscience, she can unravel all the evil snares that have been so painstakingly set up by many different people throughout the book. I particularly liked the way that Megan finally stands up to her sister at the end and is even starting to learn not to be such an easy touch by the conclusion of the story.

I also liked the little details that were scattered through the story, the mention of things that seemed so off-hand when I first read them, yet turn out to be significant later on, such as the mention of Megan's mother's car having been vandalized, or the way that Michael Drake prefers to pay a driver to chauffeur him around instead of doing his own driving. There are also scenes where details are left out, or rather, left to the reader's imagination. Later, it turns out that the scene was set up in such a way that the reader is left thinking that X must certainly have happened until the author reveals that actually, it was Y. I didn't feel cheated or frustrated in any way, however, because in the meantime, the author has filled in certain background information which helps the reader see that Y was actually the only possible outcome. An example of this is the prologue, where Evelyn comes into the house to find her husband dying after an attack by a burglar. The reader is left thinking that he does die because of the attack, but later, the true cause of death is revealed, and it's not the big shock it would have been if it had been spelled out right there in the prologue.

There were several different points of view shown in the story, which can be confusing for those of us with attention-deficit disorder, but the shifts from one person to the next were clearly marked. I only got lost once, between Trevor Drake and his brother Josh, because they were quite similar, but a quick re-read soon sorted me out. Aside from that, all the characters were so distinct that I had no difficulty in distinguishing them. I have no reservations about recommending this book to anyone who likes a good thriller.

Forged in the Refiner's Fire by Candace Salima and Elizabeth Cheever

Recently I read Forged in the Refiner’s Fire—a compilation by Candace Salima and Elizabeth Cheever. I immediately found myself caught up in the stories of the trials and tribulations that others have gone through (some are well-known LDS names such as entertainer Merrill Osmond, author Tristi Pinkston, etc.). These are stories from the heart—stories that have changed lives. From an unwanted painful divorce, to a debilitating injury, to a childless couple—many walks of life are examined. Do these stories have good endings? Not necessarily—because they are true stories—about the ebb and flow of living a good life in spite of difficult challenges. About finding and maintaining faith against the odds.

An informational video can be found here on You Tube. In it, Candace Salima discusses the purpose and impact of the book.

Copies of Forged in the Refiner’s Fire are available on Candace's Website or on Amazon.

The Journey by Jewel Adams

Fans of Jewel Adams will enjoy her latest novel--one of making choices, finding love, and returning to what is tried and true. Something that resonates with all of us.

Ciran is on a journey--a journey in another world where she is tried and tested. But this is not any ordinary test. The fate of her homeland depends on her choices. When a charming man by the name of Ubal, asks her to dance at a party, she finds herself swept up by his charisma. But Ubal holds a secret, and when Ciran discovers it, she must face her true self and make the most important decision of her life.

LDS readers will find the theme of this novel familiar, though it is set in a "new world". This book is about making the right choices, even when we are unsure of our potential. For more information about her other books, please visit Jewel's website.