Uninvited by Lysa TerKeurst

I always enjoy Lysa's writing.  It is so honest.  This book did not disappoint.

Lysa lets the reader look into her own insecurities to teach the reader lessons when we feel rejected.  She gives lots of personal stories and plenty of scripture for the reader to hide in her heart.  "Live from the abundant pace that you are loved, and you won't find yourself begging others for scraps of love" is one of the author's quotes that I feel sums up the point of the book.  Highly recommend.

All but Normal

This is a touching story about a (current) pastor's childhood growing up with a mother who had traumatic brain injury. 

The GOOD - I really enjoyed this book.  There are a few things that would have made it better (see the BAD), but overall it was a book that I looked forward to reading and wondered what was going to happen next.  I would recommend this book to anyone who has dealt with a loved one with mental issues.  The title of the book is what the author dealt with constantly - his life was "all but normal" even though most people would have thought that he had a pretty normal life, his life at home was a disaster in about every sense of the word.  This author is currently a pastor and he does a great job of showing how God used his "not normal" childhood to shape him into the man he is today.

The BAD - The only bad thing I have to say about this book was that some of story was a little redundant.  I am sure that the author felt like each outburst from his mother was significant, but to the reader, it gets a little mundane. 

The UGLY - Nothing! This was a wonderful book that I highly recommend!

Dead and Buried by Helen Durrant

Thanks to Netgalley for giving me an ARC digital copy of this book.

The story started out gripping my attention.  A young girl in the 60s shows up at a country house almost dead and the reader is trying to figure out what is wrong with her and what the woman who lives in the house did to her.  Then the book takes the reader to present day where a lady is found dead and the police are investigating.  The book then shifts to what is going on in the drug underground in the same city.  I won't go any further in the plot.  I could not keep up with all the shifting characters and scenes.  This is the first book I have read in this series, so I probably would have felt more connected to the characters if I had read the previous books.  After reading the preliminary scene, I wanted to know more about those characters, but most of the book was spent on the lives of the detectives.  I did not enjoy the book.

The Blackbird Singularity

  

Definition of Singularity - "a point at which a function takes an infinite value, especially in space-time when matter is infinitely dense, as at the center of a black hole." or "a hypothetical moment in time when artificial intelligence and other technologies have become so advanced that humanity undergoes a dramatic and irreversible change"

This book is probably one of the most unique, intriguing, brain-tickling, unusual books I have read in a long time.  I will try to explain it.  The story is about a man who recently lost a young son and experienced a nervous breakdown because of it.  He is an author and decided that he should stop taking the prescribed Lithium so that he could focus better on his new novel and also have a clear head to be a father to the new baby that he and his wife are expecting.  The book takes the reader through lots of bizarre thoughts and hallucinations that the main character goes through while experiencing withdrawal from the medicine.  While he is going through the medicine withdrawal, he experiences his wife leaving him, difficulties with friendships, and close encounters with a blackbird.  The entire book has lots of science and philosophy intertwined in it.  Although I am still not exactly sure how all the events fit together in the story, it was a very enjoyable read.  

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

Owl Song at Dawn by Emma Claire Sweeney

Summary from Goodreads: Fresh, poignant and unlike anything else' -- Jill Dawson, Whitbread and Orange Prize-shortlisted author 'Tender and unflinching, a beautifully observed novel.' -- Carys Bray, Costa Prize-shortlisted author 'It crept under my skin and will stay there for a long time' -- Emma Henderson, Orange Prize-shortlisted author 'Amazing: fierce, intelligent, compassionate and deeply moving' -- Edward Hogan, Desmond Elliot Prize-winning author 'Funny, heartbreaking and truly remarkable' -- Susan Barker, New York Times bestselling author Maeve Maloney is a force to be reckoned with. Despite nearing eighty, she keeps Sea View Lodge just as her parents did during Morecambe's 1950s heyday. But now only her employees and regular guests recognise the tenderness and heartbreak hidden beneath her spikiness. Until, that is, Vincent shows up. Vincent is the last person Maeve wants to see. He is the only man alive to have known her twin sister, Edie. The nightingale to Maeve's crow, the dawn to Maeve's dusk, Edie would have set her sights on the stage all things being equal. But, from birth, things never were. If only Maeve could confront the secret past she shares with Vincent, she might finally see what it means to love and be loved a lesson that her exuberant yet inexplicable twin may have been trying to teach her all along. (less)

Now my 2 cents:  Thanks to Netgalley for giving me a ARC of this book.  In my opinion there were too many flashbacks.  It was hard to hold my attention.  I did not love it.

The Young Widower's Handbook by Tom McAllister

Summary from Goodreads: "For Hunter Cady, meeting Kait was the greatest thing that ever happened to him. Otherwise unmotivated, he spent roughly half his twenty-nine years accomplishing very little, which makes him about fifteen in terms of real-life experience. But he’s the luckiest man on earth when it comes to his wife. Beautiful and confident, Kait is somehow charmed by Hunter’s awkwardness and droll humor. So when she dies quite suddenly, Hunter is crushed. Numb with grief, he stumbles forward the only way he knows how: by running away. To the dismay of her family, Hunter takes Kait’s ashes with him and heads west.

They had always meant to travel. Soon enough, he finds himself--and Kait--in encounters with characters even quirkier than he is: an overzealous Renaissance Faire worker; a raucous yet sympathetic troop  of bachelorettes; a Chicago couple and their pet parrot, Elvis. He meets a much older man still searching for the wife who walked out on him years ago. Along the way are glimpses of Hunter and Kait’s beautiful, flawed, very real marriage and the strength it gives Hunter, even when contemplating a future without it. Insightful, wry, and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, The Young Widower’s Handbookis a testament to the power of love."

Now for my 2 cents - I appreciate Netgalley letting me have an ARC in exchange for an honest review.  Unfortunately, I did not love this book.  It was very hard for me to get into.  There were parts that were pretty boring to me.  I honestly couldn't finish it.

The Stolen Years by Kazia Myers

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC digital copy of this book.  One of my favorite periods for historical fiction is the WWII period.  This is a really good read!  The book is about a young Polish girl, Anna, who left her family to "work" for the Germans during WWII.  She was under the false impression that she would be getting a nice job to earn some money and would be returned to her family soon.  She ends up spending years working like a slave for a few farmers and their families.  Through her experience, she endures heartaches, disease, and mistreatment.  She also finds love, motherhood, and great life-long friends along the way.

This is a great book with a realistic, yet suspenseful plot.  I love a book where I can "fall in love" with the characters, and wonder about them after the book is finished.  

This book was recently published in June 2016.  I highly recommend!