Celia at 39 - 5 stars - Delicious self discovery!

Celia at 39 
by Jason Pomerance
5/5 stars
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐


Celia Bernhart, almost 39, thinks her life is all planned. She has a successful career selling pharmaceuticals. She's engaged to marry her longtime fiancé, a doctor. Then a package unexpectedly shows up at her door -mailed nearly forty years earlier, along with a sealed note from a daughter to her mother. Celia decides to deliver the package and a delicious adventure of self-discovery ensues.

Jason Pomerance spins a wonderful tale, in a fast, fun read. I loved the story of Celia, and there were so many great nuanced details that were clearly well researched. The BBQ details in particular really resonated for me. Even the many small steps involved in properly building a fire for a smoker (which I have personally done many times and learned from a real pitmaster) rang 100% true. The reader can easily see the iconic car that figures into the story in their minds eye, and its eventual transformation. Celia’s “work uniform” is easy to picture, including her made-up face vs. her more laid-back self once she meets the grandson of the person who originally mailed the mystery package.

I really felt like I wanted to take a vacation down to the BBQ shack in Macon and eat Belle’s biscuits for breakfast after reading this book. (We won’t even start on Daisy’s Coconut cake!)
The food descriptions are so good I can’t believe I didn’t gain 5 lbs. just reading it.
But, as good as the food descriptions are, the descriptions of the action going on around Celia, are awesome. There is a scene where she goes for a night-time dip in a river, and you can almost feel the water and see the steam coming off the bodies.

In the long run, this is a story about listening to your heart, and finding second chances, and you should absolutely take a chance on this book and author!

When I'm Gone -A great read with surprise plot twists

When I'm Gone
by Emily Bleeker
4/5 stars
⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is the second book by author Emily Bleeker I've read.
When I'm Gone is the story of Luke, who is mourning the loss of his wife Natalie to cancer.
The day of her funeral, letters begin to arrive from Natalie, written beginning with her diagnosis.
Secrets are uncovered, and Luke begins to question everything.

The book starts off quick, and catches you right away,
it's very well written, and there are some excellent surprising plot twists at the end that I did not see coming, (again, very nice because I almost always see things a long way off)
however, I did feel like the book dragged a bit in the middle, and there were a few plot developments that were kind of predictable. But overall I felt like this was a very enjoyable read, and made me want to read on with Emily.

The Third Daughter - Go Read IT!

The Third Daughter
by Talia Carner
4/5 Stars
⭐⭐⭐⭐

I just loved this book!
Batya, the third daughter in a family of poor Jews forced out of their home in a Russian pogrom, is married off to an apparently wealthy and kind American businessman. Unfortunately, his “America” is Buenos Aires, Argentina, where Batya is forced into a life as a prostitute.

It was such a captivating story. Although parts of the story were brutal, it is actually based on true events, in that this happened to many, many innocent young women, and there was a large Jewish syndicate of pimps called Zwi Migdal in Buenos Aires at the time period. The author has done a thorough and excellent job of researching this, basing many details on fact. Police and courts were paid off, and girls legally "belonged" to their madames or pimps.

The author also does an excellent job of evoking the time period and painting the scene with word pictures, you really can see in your mind's eye, the things that Batya/Esperanza is seeing and experiencing. You feel her conflict and her longing for her family. Her bravery is so inspiring, and the descriptions of the tango costume are phenomenal. You can almost see her hairstyle and the sequins on her dress.

Batya's bravery throughout the story is admirable, and this was a real page-turner. I just zipped through it in no time at all. This is a great book- don't miss it

Eli's Promise- somewhat suspenseful historical fiction across 3 eras

Eli's Promise
by Ronald H. Balson
3/5 stars 
⭐⭐⭐


Eli’s Promise is a historical fiction tale jumping through three eras; Nazi-occupied Poland, the American Zone of post-war Germany, and Chicago at the height of the Vietnam War. The author explores the human cost of war, the mixed blessings of survival, and the strength of love. Even though the book is named Eli's Promise, it actually revolves more around Max, a "fixer" in a Polish town during World War II, his betrayal of Eli's family, and Eli's ultimate search for justice 25 years later.

I'm never the biggest fan of stories that jump back and forth, however, this book did a good job of titling each chapter so that the reader knows where and when they are. This is key to making a book like this a success. Being from Chicago, I particularly enjoyed the more modern parts of the story, which are set in Albany Park, and at one point they even reference having a deli tray from Kaufman's, one of my favorite haunts in Skokie. There is also a great description of making and eating babka (coffeecake) which really resonated for me as well. That detail aside, I did find the modern part of the story the most compelling, because, well we all know what happens to the Jews in Nazi times, and it isn't anything good. This part of the story I didn't know what was going to happen, so it was like reading a thriller, and it kept me in suspense. Although I was a bit disappointed with the ultimate resolution between the two protagonists. (no spoilers)

The post-war part of the story was also interesting because I wasn't aware that victims of atrocities continued to live in DP camps for SOOOO long after the war ended and that the US had such a strict quota on the immigration of Jews after the war. So it was good to be educated on that.

I didn't like the Nazi era storyline as much, it just felt so frantic to me. I know it was a frantic time, but I've read a lot of Jewish literature, and this part of the story just wasn't as satisfying, it just felt like the characters were running back and forth saying oh me, oh my...
The author does a great job of conveying the uncertainty of the time, and how there are always people trying to go around the system, as well as balancing out how hopeless things can be with how some people continue to hold on to hope.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing a free ARC of this book. My opinions are my own.

Paper Wife - An Entrancing Cross- Cultural Story

Paper Wife 
by Laila Ibrahim 
4/5 Stars
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Paper Wife is the story of Mei Ling, who becomes Wong Lew She, as she travels to America and starts a new life as the second wife of a man she has never met. This was a fascinating story, and very well written. The author does an excellent job of spinning the tale, and painting the picture of the main character and the other characters in the story. I felt like I could truly see June, Bo, Siew, and all the rest. I also really loved the cover of this book, it was so pretty and just "other-worldly" enough. This was a very interesting story to me, many Americans are unaware of the story of Paper sons, etc. One of my good friends has a father who was a paper son from China, so this was an entrancing tale for me. Highly recommended, I just flew through this one.