Month: August 2021

Lake Life

Pamela SimboliLeave a comment
The novel is less concerned with the origins of dysfunction than with how it plays out.

Lake Life follows the Starling family during their last summer before they sell their vacation home. The parents, Richard and Lisa, are successful academics working at Cornell. Their two sons, Michael and Thad, arrive with their partners, Diane and Jake. On the brink of retiring, the parents have decided to downsize and move to Florida. The sons aren’t happy that their childhood getaway is about to be taken away from them. Both children have more serious and immediate problems to be faced. Diane is pregnant despite their promise never to have children. Michael also has a drinking problem he is hiding and denying. Thad’s two year relationship with Jake is about to be put to the test when they visit Jake’s ex. The parents are transitioning as well as they must choose to separate or stay together when their marriage is tested. Underneath the backdrop of a North Carolina town, the chapters rotate among the characters as each one is forced to confront hard choices. Recommended.

The Invisible Husband of Frick Island

marybethLeave a comment

Piper Parrish’s husband goes out fishing one day from Frick Island in the Chesapeake Bay, and never returns. But why is Piper acting like he is still alive? She walks around town, pretending that Tom is beside her, making conversation. When Anders Caldwell, a young newspaper reporter living on the mainland, is assigned a story about the Frick Island Cake walk four months later, he takes the ferry out to the island. Unbeknownst to him, Anders life is about to undergo a huge change. Can he figure out the mystery behind Tom’s disappearance? Read this quiet love story about the power of faith to find out…

Stranger in the Mirror

Pamela SimboliLeave a comment

The Stranger in the Mirror starts off strong and then the plot seems to go off the deep end. The main character, Addison, is about to get married to a wonderful man, but has a past that haunts her. Actually, she can’t remember anything about her past beyond two years ago when she was found walking on the side of the road and rescued by a kind stranger. In those two years her memory has failed to return and she has moved on. Alternate chapters are from the point of view of Addison’s husband, Justin, who has been looking for her for the past two years after his beloved wife and mother of his young daughter suddenly went missing. The obvious questions arise: why/how did Addison lose her memory? Is her new husband-to-be or old husband dangerous? Will she recover her memory and remember her old life? Stretching the limits of the reader’s suspension of disbelief, The Stranger in the Mirror entertains for the first half of the story until the plot gets a bit far beyond believable. An entertaining summer suspense read.

When Harry Met Minnie: A True Story of Love and Friendship

marybethLeave a comment

When I first saw this title, I thought it would be a happy-go-lucky tale of two canine friends. Well, spoiler alert: It contains a lot of sadness as well. It’s a new memoir by Martha Teichner, a New York City dweller and a correspondent for CBS’s Sunday Morning, who happens to also be a bull terrier owner and lover. It’s well worth reading if you are a dog person, and I did enjoy it, but there were tears involved…