My Reading Blog

Goodreads Summary:  "Love can redeem a man...but secrets and lies can condemn him. A handsome stranger comes to the sleepy New England town of Salem Falls in hopes of burying his past: Once a teacher at a girls' prep school, Jack St. Bride was destroyed when a student's crush sparked a powder keg of accusation. Now, washing dishes for Addie Peabody at the Do-Or-Diner, he slips quietly into his new routine, and Addie finds this unassuming man fitting easily inside her heart. But amid the rustic calm of Salem Falls, a quartet of teenage girls harbor dark secrets -- and they maliciously target Jack with a shattering allegation. Now, at the center of a modern-day witch hunt, Jack is forced once again to proclaim his innocence: to a town searching for answers, to a justice system where truth becomes a slippery concept written in shades of gray, and to the woman who has come to love him." Another thought provoking Picoult novel about a very touchy and prominen...

Goodreads Summary:  "One miscarriage too many spelled the end of Max and Zoe Baxter's marriage. Though the former couple went quite separate ways, their fates remained entangled: After veering into alcoholism, Max is saved in multiple senses by his fundamentalist conversion; Zoe, for her part, finds healing relief in music therapy and the friendship, then romantic love with Vanessa, her counselor. After Zoe and Vanessa, now married, decide to have a baby, they realize that they must join battle with Max, who objects on both religious and financial grounds. Like her  House Rules  and several other previous Jodi Picoult novels,  Sing You Home  grapples with hot button issues." Picoult has a way of "hitting" those difficult issues that I try not to ponder on, but when it's in black and white and is written in such a way that makes me wonder exactly how I feel about the subject of homosexuals, I find that I need to think about it.  I know people who are "...

This book and "Handle With Care" dealt with moral and ethic issues.  I'm finding that Picoult writes in a manipulative way.- trying to convince the reader that as long as it's right in a person's mind, it's okay to take the law into your own hands and I found it difficult to accept. Book Cover:  What does it mean to be a good mother?  For career-driven assistant district attorney Nina Frost, the question inspires pangs of guilt familiar to all parents torn by the demands of home and office.  But whereas most parents lie awake at night vividly conjuring the worst scenarios that could befall their children in their absence, Nina lives the reality of such crises - and it's her job to do something about them.  Nina Frost prosecutes child molesters - and in the course of her everyday work, she has endured the frustration of seeing too many criminals slip through the system and walk free. A man as methodical and careful as his wife is instinctive and mercu...

I listened to this book during my drive to Illinois and then finished it while the girls were sleeping. Book cover:  "When their daughter, Willow, is born with osteogenesis imperfect, a rare and painful disease, Charlotte and her husband watch their perfect lives fall apart.  As medical bills mount and Willow's pain becomes too much to bear, Charlotte has no choice but to sue her doctor, her one-time best friend.  While her husband is uncooperative, Charlotte must set personal feelings aside for the well-being of her daughter and financial security of her family." This was a very painful and thought provoking book to listen to.  The OI disease was not something I had heard about and fortunately it is a rare condition.  OI is a disease of the bones, where they are so brittle that they break even while in the womb.  Willow was born with five broken bones and two more were broken after birth.  The story gives you the insight to the problems and diffic...