The Gospel of Anarchy
Mar 30, 2011
Author: Justin Taylor
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Publication Date: February 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-188182-4
While well written, you need to have a strong stomach to read this slim, but packed, novel.
David has a dead-end job at a survey call center. Not allowed to do anything but ask the questions on the screen and check the boxes. He nearly is fired when he dares to sooth a little old lady on the other end of the phone when she begins to cry.
His life consists of his very robotic job and his strong penchant for internet porn, which receives nearly a chapter's worth of detail and instruction on the hows and whys of navigating the porn sites and finding photo sharing rooms. I believe I might be an expert now. :)
As he decides to break out of his rut and go find a stronger interest in his life than lifeless photos, he comes upon a group of people with whom he begins socializing with. By socializing I mean eating tossed, half eaten food out of dumpsters with them before heading to the flophouse for a threesome. Apparently his new friends "worship" a hobo who wrote about a Utopian society with no rules and they have decided he's to be their leader.
This is a sad book about sad, aimless people who follow anything that appears slightly better than the lives they currently lead, while not improving themselves a bit. The question here is.... will David wake up to reality and get out... while he still can?
Again, a well written book, but not what I would suggest for light reading or a time kill.
Purple Jesus
Mar 27, 2011
Author: Ron Cooper
Publisher: Bancroft Press
Publication Date: 2010
ISBN:978-1-890862-70-1
Purvis Driggers (love the name) is typical swamp trash. His low intelligence and lack of fortitude and ambition nearly guarantee that he will be a slacker loser his entire life.
Then he "lucks" upon an old man who it is rumored has money tucked away somewhere. He also happens to appear quite dead. Purvis doesn't know who killed him, but decides to treat himself to a stroll through the house to look for money.
So starts Purvis' quest for wealth and love. The love part starts when he hears singing by the river as he sneaks out of the dead man's house and spies a baptism going on. One look at the beautiful Martha in the sheer baptism gown and he's a goner.
But Brother Andrew, a monk with his own agenda that's not always God-like has also spied the damp Martha in the water and believes she could help in his "salvation".
Neither man realizes that Martha is colder and more cunning than either of them put together.
This is a novel of three people all loving, hating and using each other - sometimes for the same goal, and sometimes completely across each other's wants and needs.
The dialogue and description of this area, the people and culture is very authentic and that alone is well worth the read. Seeing if Purvis rises above his raising and life is another.
Fadeaway Girl
Mar 26, 2011
Author: Martha Grimes
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Viking Adult (February 3, 2011)
ISBN-13: 978-0670022441
A cute continuation of a story that has gone on through two prior books that involve sweet, smart and determined 12 year old Emma Graham. Emma's mother works at the Hotel Paradise and Emma spends her days helping out around the hotel (one chore is mixing interesting drinks with whatever alcohol she finds for her Aunt Aurora) and continuing to hone her sleuthing skills.
This book continues to go after the mystery of the baby who disappeared at the Hotel Belle Ruin 20 years ago. A baby who Emma is beginning to think never actually existed.
As Emma spends her days investigating, interrogating and spying, you get to meet a wonderful group of characters. This is what makes the book worth the read - I would almost say the mystery is just glue holding the character stories together. They are inventive, humorous, terribly eccentric and wonderful to meet. For them alone, this book is worth picking up.
In Due Time
Mar 24, 2011
Author: J. Keith Jones
Publisher: White Feather Press
Publication Date:2010
ISBN: 978-14537883636
The book press release describes the story as this:
"In Due Time is a suspense/thriller about America's descent into the future and a man who fights his way back through time to save the one man who can set things right. In 2036, America has just shaken off the shackles of a one world government. Led by a modern day Washington named Alexander Birch, our country is rising from the ashes, but Birch has a problem. Prompted by a mysterious stranger he reaches out to a famous writer and patriot named Howard Spence. The stranger is a time traveler named Joshua Lance who had sacrificed a life of favor serving his international masters to save the one man who could bring America back from the ashes; Birch. Spence tells how Lance had traded his own security and wealth he had carefully crafted for a larger cause and more importantly why. "
But what I found was that it's a strong character driven story with straightforward writing and a really nice story telling pace to it. While the story travels back and forth a bit in time (staying within contemporary years), there's a long and detailed build up to Joshua's life and how he makes the decisions he does. Details such as meeting his best friend, graduating, getting married and starting his own business all build up to the troubles of the country and the role that he takes in the end to help recover the country.
My take is it's more of a character story than a political action thriller. It does have both, and it's a book you can easily sink into with interest.
The Union Quilters
Mar 22, 2011
Author: Jennifer Chiaverini
Publisher: Dutton
Publication Date: February 22, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-52595203-9
A very well written story. Clean writing, to-the-point yet full of descriptions of the characters and events that are occurring. I enjoy this type of storytelling very much.
This book shares the stories of several women left behind when their husbands go off to fight the Civil War. Okay, I admit, they're all Union, but parts of the book were set in Virginia and I'm sure families on both sides of the war were experiencing similar issues and emotions so I went forward with the review.
The main characters are four women who join the quilting group to help send warm blankets to the soldiers as they fight. Dorothea's husband is an adviser to President Lincoln and had to go, even though he was well over the age to fight. Constance's husband isn't excepted into the army though he desperately wants to fight. Though a freeman, the Union won't put a black man into the middle of fighting. Anneke fights the embarrassment of her husband refusing to fight for personal reasons. Finally, there is Gerda, who takes a stand against Southern sympathizers and faces her own dangers.
Together these woman try their best to help their community stand firm and strong, to thrive even as war descends down on them and their fear for their lives, livelihood and men.
Again, a very nicely written book that I quite enjoyed.
The Dark and Hollow Places
Mar 21, 2011
Author: Carrie Ryan
Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (March 22, 2011)
ISBN-13: 978-0385738590
It's finally here! The third book in the series that started with The Forest of Hands and Teeth series.
These young adult books are positively addicting. They have adult situations and issues - not so much sexual as survival, but the mind set is still that of a mature teenager. An adult, as well as a teen can read these books and stay interested. I would say if your child is under 13 that it might not be for them. While there is no overt sex, there is quite a bit of hinting around and some of the violence is fairly realistic in what could lead to.
The story starts with Gabry, Elias and Catcher (from The Dead-Tossed Waves) arriving in the Dark City to find Gabry's twin, Annah, who was left there three years ago by Elias when he went into the woods as a Recruiter.
Annah has had a very hard time of it. A rebellion has occurred, the protectors of the people - the Recruiters - have gone rogue for the most part and Annah spends most of her time trying to stay out of their hands.........and the teeth of the undead.
On the day she discovers her sister and Elias crossing into the Dark City with Catcher, at the same time she's trying to leave it, she also discovers "The Horde" has reached the city's gates, awakened by Gabry and Elias when they crossed over them to get back into the city in the hopes of finding Annah.
As The Horde takes out the city, the girls and Elias are used as bait to keep Catcher in line so that he can bring food to the Recruiters on the last safe place on earth - a small island. Catcher is immune to the zombies you see and can walk right through the mass of them without fear of harm.
Non-stop action, sexual tension, (on a teen level) violence and a completely disheartening look at the future all work together to keep the pace moving in this book.
Slightly devastated to hear this is the last book in the series, but have hopes of short stories popping up down the line to keep us happy.
One Rough Man
Mar 20, 2011
Author: Brad Taylor
Publisher: Dutton
Publication Date: February 17, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-525-95213-8
Pike Logan is a man filled with guilt and remorse.
He was once a key member of a hidden government taskforce that was used to remove terrorists from the population before the general public even knew how close they were to being blown up.
Pike's guilt comes from the fact that his wife begged him to quit and stay at home with her and their little girl. He kept saying he would but something always came up. When they are brutally murdered after one more delay on his part that kept him away from his little girl's birthday party, Pike falls apart. He becomes a drunken mess.
Pike stays this way until called upon by the niece of a famous archeologist who has disappeared in the Mayan jungle, but not before sending her a coded message giving her the coordinates to............an ancient Mayan Weapon of Mass Destruction.
Excellent! Let the action begin! Pike must straighten up, get back in the game, and this time..........make sure he saves the damsel in distress.
A fun, action packed - sometimes gory - adventure hero story.
Special Note: author Brad Taylor is ex-Special Forces. So when he explains or describes something going on regarding the government, terrorists or warfare....... he knows what he's talking about.
Darden North Medical Thrillers
Mar 19, 2011
Points of Origin
and Fresh Frozen
Author: Darden North
Publisher: Ponder House Press
Darden North is a Mississippi author who also happens to be a practicing MD, which leads to a true sense of realism in his books. His writing has been described : "Finally a doctor whose writing you can read." This is true. The writing is straight forward, containing healthcare issues, but not so filled with the jargon that you lose interest after trying to decipher the medical jargon.The plot of Point of Origin centers around Sher Foxworth, a young man who has every intention of becoming a doctor until a strange twist of fate heads him in the direction of firefighting and stopping an arsonist whose methods can only be described as bizarre but effective. Not your standard "medical drama".
The second book, Fresh Frozen, is more along the lines of medical thriller. It involves families struggling to conceive and a clinic that has no problem using unorthodox ways to make sure the money paid to them leads to the wanted results..... no matter what.
Nice, escapist books that won't have you running for the dictionary every three minutes.
So Close the Hand of Death
Mar 17, 2011
Author: J.T. Ellison
Publisher: Mira Books
Publication Date: March, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7783-2943-5
Taylor Jackson has a huge problem on her hands. A completely psychotic serial killer, nicknamed The Pretender, has a crush on her. That's the best way I can state it.
He's been killing for years, imitating a different famous serial killer for a string of slaughters, then moving on to his next "hero". He has never been caught.
But Taylor has caught his eye and he strives to impress her with his "talents". She has so far been unimpressed. So he's upped the game in his attempt to woo her.
Besides taking her partner/father figure, holding him long enough to have a little torture party before setting him free missing an eye, he's trained a team of serial killers who are now all over the country going on killing sprees, all in his name.
Will Taylor be able to find and stop The Pretender before it's too late for her, or the many victims being used to impress her? Will she be able to stop his entire team of killers that are loose and looking for their next kill?
A very good mystery/murder story with enough carnage to make you wince but enough plot and strong character development to make you hang in there to find out the end result.
All That's True
Mar 15, 2011
All That's True
Author: Jackie Lee Miles
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Publication Date: January 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4022-4085-0
To fans of Jackie's earlier books - Roseflower Creek and Cold Rock River - this might be an unexpected book from her. The two above-mentioned books were very dark tales. Extremely well written and gripping, but definitely not carefree, lightweight books. I adored them by the way.
This book also deals with dark issues, but in a totally different way. The story is told through the voice of a 13 year old girl who struggles with her brother's death, her mother's alcoholism and her father's adultery. Along the way her best friend is sent to boarding school and becomes friends with a shoplifter, throwing yet more angst into Andi's life. Andi has so much thrown at her in a short period of time that she must absorb and deal with, while at the same time learning to embrace her growing maturity and own teenage issues.
A well written book about a girl discovering truths in life and learning how to deal with adult issues.
Winter's Bone
Mar 14, 2011
Author: Daniel Woodrell
Publisher: Back Bay Books/Little, Brown and Company
Publication Date: 2006
Award Winning Major Motion Picture
Winner Sundance Film Festival Best Picture
Several Emmy Nominations
Wow.
This is a powerful story. Bleak, barren, no hope in sight storytelling. The story revolves around violence, desperation, starvation, deep poverty, heavy drug use.
Yet it grips you immediately and you cannot put it down. It reminds me, of my own reactions, to reading The Road a few years ago. I was sore after reading from being so tense.
Ree Dolly has a shit life. Her entire life. She's old and worn before she even hits legal age. She's 16. Always cold, always hungry. The sole caregiver of her family which includes two little brothers and a mother who's mind went on a trip and hasn't come back yet. Ree's daddy has disappeared and come to find, he's put their house up for bond for his last court appearance. He doesn't come back, Ree's out on the land with her dependents.
She decides to find Daddy and make him show at court to save the house. Only one problem. Her entire line of kin folk. Every single one of the family is involved in some way in drugs. Making, selling, passing, snorting. No one talks about other members, no one tells anything.. even to a daughter about to starve with her brothers.
As Ree goes from kin to kin trying to find her Daddy she is threatened, frightened, warned and beat. Yet bizarrely you sense caring behind it all. Ugly threats ensue and then food shows up on the steps. Beatings occur and then the care is given.
I do have to say the ending was extremely gruesome, but also took away from the realistic feeling that I had to the book beforehand. I could envision the entire book, but the end went off the scale.
I'm not sure I want to see the movie, it might be too dark to enjoy. But I do highly recommend the book, I tore through it and was engrossed to the last page.
Daniel has a trilogy collection coming out that that Dew will be reviewing on April 28th - The Bayou Trilogy. Same great writing style, but set in a more urban setting.
Matched
Mar 12, 2011
Matched
Author: Ally Condie
Reading level: Young Adult
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile (November 30, 2010)
ISBN-13: 978-0525423645
First off, I have to say that this is a very pretty book. Eye catching when you first come across it. The cover art and colors in general are very soothing. Of course the green goes along with the green pill in the story - the pill that calms you down.
Many people may start to compare this book to the other young adult dystopian society series - The Hunger Games, but this is definitely more along the lines of A Brave New World.
Everyone is bland, calm, secure in the equality of the world and the fact that the government cares for them. They are assigned jobs based on their talents (some jobs appear completely made up just to occupy the mind.), they are assigned recreation time, their food - not just what they eat but how much........they are told when they will die. They are also assigned their mates. They are matched.
But now and again glitches occur. Cassia is told her match, her good friend Xander, who's she's known forever. But when she puts in the microchip to see his information another face pops up on the screen. Ky, the boy down the street.
Does Cassia take the government worker's word that it was a strange mistake and means nothing, or will she start to actually question the government that claims to know what's good for them...regardless of their thoughts?
This book is definitely set up for a series and I'm sure that many will be ready to follow Cassia on her journey.
If Wishes Were Horses
Mar 9, 2011
If Wishes Were Horses
Author: Robert Barclay
Publisher: William Morrow/HarperCollinsPublishers
Publication Date: February 15, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-196688-0
This is another Nicholas Sparks type book filled with hope and redemption of lost souls.(I did not copy that from the press release, I wrote it and then realized the release agreed with me.) Not that it's a bad thing to be compared to Nicholas. The books generally have happy endings, strength of character and found love.
This story starts off with the phone call no one ever wants to receive. Wyatt is celebrating his birthday when his wife and young son run out to buy more ice cream. They are hit by a drunk driver and never make it home. The other driver also dies.
5 years later Wyatt is slowly starting to wake up from his years of existing instead of living and decides to once again open his wife's dream - a ranch camp for troubled teens. He tells his idea to his pastor who immediately propositions him with a great challenge.... to take into the program the troubled teen son of the man that killed his wife and child. The boy has not had it easy in those 5 years either.
Wyatt reluctantly agrees, not only because his pastor asks, but because the boy's mother, the widow of the drunk driver, looks at him with such hope and desperation in her eyes that he can't say no. Gabby is so concerned about her son that she's willing to face a man still very, very angry about what her husband did.
Slowly Gabby and Wyatt come to know each other and other feelings start to grow, feelings neither believe they have the right to feel. Will they be able to overcome the guilt they feel from becoming closer to each other, or will the memory of their dead keep a wedge firmly between them?
Read and find out!
Life is Short Series by Ann Ipock
Mar 7, 2011
Life is Short, I wish I was Taller
Life is Short, So Read This Fast
Life is Short, But It's Wide
Author: Ann Ipock
Publisher: Goody 2 Shoes Publishing
Ann is a "humor" columnist whose often been compared to Celia Riverbark. While Ann does have a regular column and these books are compilations of Ann's columns throughout the years, I would say the comparison stops there.
Ann's column range toward the humorous, but to me are more of a gentle telling of everyday events that can inspire a smile or a thought with the occasional outright chuckle thrown in. They are not overly biting or sharp of teeth in their wit.
These are stories that leave you nodding with agreement or recognition of similar things that also happen in your own home. Sweet little vignettes of everyday life.
As these are slimmer books kept to short chapters from her published columns, they are perfect books to throw into your bag for light lunch reading.
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Whiskey Before Breakfast
Mar 5, 2011
Author: Benjy Griffith
Publisher: Mercer University Press
Publication Date: 2009
ISBN: 978-0-881-46123-7
Set in Middle Georgia during the Depression, this is the story of 2 boys, one drunk man and an abusive father. Together this group is working to find a way to survive during the hard times and the way they come up with is moonshine.
Newt is told by his father that he and Jefferson - who works for whiskey - will venture into another moonshiner's territory and work to sell their liquor there. Not a safe area to send your son and a drunk into.
While attempting to keep himself safe, bring his father the money he demands and get a drunk Jefferson out of situations, Newt is also trying to protect and comfort his mentally handicapped younger brother - who his father has little to no use for and recommends he be shipped off somewhere.
Newt has a lot of responsibility on his young shoulders. That responsibility only grows when his father is accused of murdering a deputy sheriff and Newt has to decide whether to tell all he knows about his father, or find a way to continue protecting his mother and brother.
A very good story about a boy who's too young to have to be dealing with what's handed to him in life, but does it anyway.
Softly and Tenderly
Mar 4, 2011
Author: Sara Evans with Rachel Hauck
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Publication Date: January 4th, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-59554-490-2
As most of you are aware, Sara Evans is an exclaimed Country Star who has gone through a very nasty divorce a few years ago. Quite a bit of that frustration and anger made it's way into the plot of this story. This book is also written with Rachel Hauck, who, as an established author, I would assume had a larger role in the actual writing of the story.
I went into this the reading of this book extremely dubious as to it's quality or if it would just be a man bashing recreation of a true event. On top of that the writing style has a tendency toward unfinished sentences with question marks left dangling, which I found annoying - but that could just be my pet peeve.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that the story is interesting, the women likable - even humorous at times and the situations they found themselves in and the decisions needing to be made intriguing. (The men are not so likable...of course.)
Jane, June and Beryl are three woman all dealing with major issues in their lives. Jade can't complete a pregnancy to term and is experiencing huge pressure from her husband to take in his son from an affair, June's husband is a serial cheater that's she's put up with for many years now and Beryl is in the final stages of her life as cancer eats away at her body. Combine major decisions to be made and a road trip in a giant pink convertible and you have a surprising amount of interest, angst, and humor in the story.
Another example of not judging a book by it's cover - or how much of a celebrity the author is.
Walking Toward the Sunset
Walking Toward the Sunset
The Melungeons of Appalachia
Author: Wayne Winkler
Series Editor: N. Brent Kennedy
Publisher: Mercer University Press
Publication Date: 2005
ISBN: 978-0-865-548695
This is just one book in a series of 12 that Mercer University Press has published throughout the years about a very fascinating topic.
Melungeons - who they are, where they descended from, are they a separate race of people - have been hotly debated for well over 100 years now. The arguments started with equality of their rights in the beginning to the present where most just want to know where they came from.
The general belief about Melungeons is that they are a mix of white, African-American and Indian. But history goes deeper, from the lost colony of Roanoke, to slaves of all races brought over by the Spaniards to Portuguese pirates stranded during storms.
This series of books doesn't skim the surface - it digs down deep into letters, journals, personal histories, old photographs and yes, modern DNA testing.
The writing is not dry, the accounts lively and the author well informed. If you have always been interested in the Melungeon people, or have that ancestry yourself, this is a great series of books to start collecting.
Browse through the entire series HERE.
Across the Universe
Mar 3, 2011
Author: Beth Revis
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Publication Date: March 2011
ISBN: 978-1-59514-397-6
This is a very good young adult book that asks the question - how to control people in a very claustrophobic, no hope of escape setting.
The Godspeed ship has taken great minds of the earth, all with needed skill sets, and cryo-frozen them before sending them off on a 300 year trip to the edges of the universe to populate another planet. They are to be the salvation of an overpopulated planet. Amy, a teenager, was allowed to go along with her parents to the new world.
But Amy suddenly awakens and finds that she's still on the ship and it doesn't arrive at the planet for another 50 years. She also finds out that she wasn't supposed to wake up but someone tampered with her cryo-box. Why this occurred is a mystery, as are an entire population of people she had no idea were to be living and breeding on the ship while it traveled to the destination.
Generations of families have lived on the ship to grow food, keep records and make new discoveries and inventions while traveling through space to their new home - where at that time - they would awaken all of the "experts" to make the planet habitable. Meanwhile, history has been forgotten and most of the people appear to be nothing more than placid inbred field workers....... except for the crazies.
This is the world Amy wakes up to. One leader, Eldest, always with an apprentice beside him, and one doctor - their goal is to keep the ship running, the people calm and the generations growing, at a controlled rate. But at what cost? What will they do with Amy, who clearly doesn't fit in and might make people start to question what they've been taught for the last 250 years?
And what of Elder, the apprentice to the Eldest who is Amy's age, looks at her with longing, and already questions how he's supposed to shortly run this entire ship and maintain the people.
Note - while this is a very gripping book and set in a YA setting for it's readers, there are some very adult sections of the book, including attempted rape. I would say the Young Adults need to be on the more mature side of that group.
In the Sanctuary of Outcasts
Mar 2, 2011
Author: Neil White
Publisher: Harper Perrenial
Publication Date: Hardback 2009,
Paperback June 2010
ISBN: 978-0-06-135160-0
Paperback: 978-0-06-135163-1
This is a very moving, and yes, inspiring, book about human nature.
A true story, Neil White made some bad choices in life and ended up in low security prison for bank fraud. He was sent to Louisiana, to Carville Prison. He was to be interred there for 18 or so months and thought he could handle this punishment easily.
Until he noticed that Carville seemed a little "off". There seemed to be a lot of older folks wandering around loose, perhaps not convicts like himself? Additionally, they all appeared to have a lot of injuries or missing limbs.
Imagine Neil's shock, and yes horror, to find out that his low security prison shared rent with the last remaining Leper colony in the United States! When assigned to the kitchen where he had to work around the patients all day he pretty much just waited for leprosy to jump onto his body.
But as time went by and he learned more about not only his fellow inmates (a few incredibly eccentric) but the poor patients who had been basically kidnapped out of their homes and placed in this isolated community the minute their condition was discovered - some had been there for 60 years.
This is a year in Neil's life where he learns about life, living and compassion. A growing year.
A great book filled with humor - many a time I found myself laughing out loud. The Dew highly recommends it.
Go HERE to get an inside glimpse of the book.
Video courtesy of Hoover Public Library Southern Voices Conference 2011
Save the Date
Mar 1, 2011
Save the Date
Author: Jenny B. Jones
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Thomas Nelson (February 1, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1595545395
ISBN-13: 978-1595545398
This is a very cute, clean romance novel. A nice story that leaves you feeling happy and satisfied.
Lucy runs a home for foster girls who've turned 18 and been turned out by the system. She survives on donations from the wealthy people that she's pretty much held a grudge with since her mother used to clean houses for them all.
When very wealthy, attractive Alex Sinclair has his assistant announce that his family is cutting donations to Lucy's home by 40%, she's devastated and has no idea where to turn. She can't turn these young women out.
Alex meets Lucy when she confronts him about the donations and an idea blossoms in his mind. You see, he's running for Congress and his reputation has taken a beating by a few too many women. Lucy has the small town appeal that voters like. He proposes to Lucy that she pretend to be his fiance for 5 months (until after the election) and he will in turn make sure she gets to keep her halfway house, along with a sizable donation.
Can Lucy fake a romance for 5 months with a man that she's trying hard to pretend isn't actually a nice guy? What about her boyfriend - the one that dumped her 2 years ago and is suddenly back in town?
Add to all that the fact that she finds out a huge secret about her own past and heritage and you have a fast-paced romance with interesting characters.
Friday's Daughter
Author: Patricia Sprinkle
Publisher: NAL Accent Trade Paperback Original
Publication Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-451-23219-9
What would you do if you gave up your youth to take care of family members with the expectation that you yourself would be taken care of when they passed..... only to find out that's not the truth and you are on your own?
This is what has happened to Teensie. She passed up chances of love and independence for 15 years to take care of her father only to find out not only did he not leave her the house like he stated he would, he also left her little money.
Her sister offers to let her move in with them - to take care of the children. But Teensie is done taking care of others, she decides to take her life into her own hands and break free of the family restraints.
This is the story of Teensie unexpectedly facing a brand new life and independence, much later than planned. It's a nicely written book, the characters take on a life of their own, Teensie is very likable - and you find yourself rooting for her to stand firm with her decisions and not let the family sway her.
