J by Howard Jacobson - Steer Clear, Oh Fearless Readers!

I can honestly say that this was the absolute weirdest work of fiction that I have ever read in my 32 years. The only reason that I continued until the final page is because part of me was hoping that I could figure out what in the heck was going on with the plot. However, sadly, this never happened. Alas, I wasted my time reading a book that made absolutely no sense to me. The title J doesn't even make sense. Part of the story is that the people are not allowed to utter words with the letter "j" in them so the letter j has two lines crossing it out in the actual text wherever it appears. Very strange, indeed. I wanted to find out what the big deal was with the letter "j", but that never happened either. There was quite a bit of misplaced use of very inappropriate words, extremely strange sexual acts or talk of such, as well as a few murders. If you happen to be a glutton for punishment or want to try to decipher this strange work of fiction for yourself and let me know if you can figure out what in the heck is going on, please let me know. But, I wouldn't advise it. Thumbs down.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review from Blogging For Books.

My Sunshine Away by M.O. Walsh

This was a wonderfully written novel. The author himself is narrating the story of his own childhood, growing up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The vivid details and descriptive writing throughout the entire book provide the reader with the sense of being there witnessing all of the events as they unfolded. The story provides a little bit of mystery, and the narrator gives away only tiny pieces of the puzzle at a time, before finally in the final few pages the pieces all fit together. I hope the author writes more novels, because his writing style is beautiful. I plowed through this book in a day and a half because I wanted to find out where all of the characters ended up after their childhood is sweltering hot Baton Rouge in the early 90's. Great, great book!

The book will be published on February 5, 2015.

The Accident by Chris Pavone

This was the perfect suspenseful mystery read for a librarian like myself. The suspense is attributed to an anonymously written manuscript called The Accident, which is sent to a literary agent and then shared purposefully and inadvertently with many other agents, book editors, and publishers. The manuscript contains incriminating material about a top media mogul, so incriminating that the holders of the manuscript begin to disappear. The book was well written, as it jumped back and forth between the different characters and their situations, as related to the reading and receiving the manuscript. The pace increases substantially as the characters' paths begin to cross in more ways than one, and not always in positive ways. I really enjoyed the book, especially learning more about the inside world of book editing and publishing. That is my other dream job. Great book!

The Mistletoe Promise - by Richard Paul Evans (Why Did This Story Have to End?!)

Wow! This is a powerful little book by one of the greats, Richard Paul Evans. I read the book in one evening, because I couldn't put it down. At times, I laughed out loud at the arrangement (the Christmas season promise) that was set up by two lonely individuals, Elise and Nicholas. And, of course, I cried during much of it. Richard Paul Evans has a knack for writing stories that you could imagine happening in any family, especially in this story as both Elise and Nick's tragedies could easily be found on the evening news. The beauty of this book is that no matter how terrible the tragedy, an individual can overcome grief with love and companionship of another with a similar set of circumstances. This book doesn't include any negative language or steamy scenes. The romance is hinted at, but not explicit. Make sure you are prepared for crying, because I can almost guarantee you it will happen. However, I didn't say the crying was because of bad things. Much of the book is very touching and heartwarming. Your favorite librarian says: Read It!!

Thank you for reading my blog. I hope you enjoy reading these fabulous book as much as I do.

Merry Christmas to you and your families.

If We Survive by Andrew Klavan

I normally do not read much YA (even though I am a K-12 Librarian and should read much more of it). However, I heard about this book at the last library conference that I attended. This book is on the 2015 Elliot Rosewater Award nominee list (which is an Indiana state book award). After reading the blurb, I decided to give it a try. I am really glad I did. The book was action packed from beginning to end. It reminded me of a younger version of a James Rollins (my fav author) adventure novel. There weren't any adult themes, and the language was very mild. However, the author did a great job of keeping readers on the edge of their toes with building suspense. I can certainly see why this book was chosen as a nominee for the Rosie awards. The short synopsis is that a group of 4 missionary kids and a young pastor are in Central American ready to fly back home when a revolution begins and they are captured by rebel leaders. The group, along with their pilot (who happens to be an ex Marine) are on the run from the rebels, as well as the government. They go through many trials and near death misses in order to get out of Santiago and closer to safety and civilization. This is a page turner! I would highly recommend it.