Joyce's Choices

BY JOYCE B. WILCOX

Well dear readers, it would appear that we’re celebrating an anniversary of sorts. Seems like just yesterday when you invited me into your homes to share Joyce’s Choices of books, and here we are at six Canadian Laker issues later approaching the one-year mark. And how appropriate that the recommended gift commemorating first anniversaries is paper! That’s definitely one for the books.

My original goal was to try to read an average of four books a month and out of those eight books read for each bi-monthly issue, find five that I’d recommend. So far, this method has proven to be effective, eclectic, and incredibly enjoyable. With this issue, I’ve been able to scope out thirty-one books for your reading pleasure in the course of a year. With the positive feedback I’ve received, it seems that many of you have been enjoying several of my selections and exploring new authors.

I’ve tried to reach you all, so our year together has spanned a variety of genres: from women’s mainstream to mystery; suspense thriller to senior sleuth; light fantasy to frontier; psychological to sports; historical to hysterically humorous and to everything in between. I have also attempted to offer you a variety of authors in these various genres and managed to repeat only one author over my thirty-one picks. Care to take a guess as to which author was repeated?

All of this being said, the selections for June

and July include some fabulous beach reads from some of the best. From sassy to insightful to sizzling, the sand slipping through the hourglass on the beach will be well spent this summer. And if you’re looking for a more intense escape, there’s also a political thriller as well as a suspenseful mystery to keep you beached on your blanket this season. So, escape and enjoy, because this summer, life is a beach read!

All Summer Long

by Dorothea Benton Frank

What better title for a summer beach read escape? What better author to have captured a reader’s attention and heart than prolific writer Dorothea Benton Frank? With just the right amount of family drama and life-altering transitions blended together, she manages to paint a memorable picture as charming as the lavish lowland landscape depicted in her chosen setting for this novel. It’s no surprise that so many of Benton Frank’s fans have long felt the sand between their toes as they read her books, sometimes while even sitting in their living rooms as they’re reading. This author knows how to breathe life into her characters as well as into her chosen settings.

The story begins as well-known interior designer, Olivia and her English professor husband, Nicholas, prepare to relocate from bustling New York City to the peaceful lowlands of Charleston, South Carolina. But Olivia has reservations. She’s not at all sure about their future and has a lot of ifs: if she’s ready to slow down; if they’re ready to renovate the house they’ve purchased; or if financially she can retire without some consequences from her previous business decisions. Ah, the tribulations, negotiations, and jubilations of relocations in retirement. As they say, “Been there, done that.” This is a witty and light read by the author known as “The Queen of Sassy Southern Fiction,” so be prepared to escape to the beach as you read All Summer Long by Dorothea Benton Frank.

Through the years I’ve read and enjoyed several books by this author, and it should be noted that the previous two paragraphs of this review were actually written last fall after I completed reading All Summer Long and thoroughly enjoyed the book. Quite by coincidence shortly after I began compiling my reviews recently for this summer issue, I learned that Dorthea Benton Franks had passed away and her latest novel based on her recent fiftieth high school reunion remained incomplete. I also learned that as a tribute to this legendary best-selling author, her close writing friends and colleagues wrote a moving anthology entitled Reunion Beach to pay tribute to their dear friend. That list of friends includes Elin Hilderbrand, Adriani Trigiani, and Cassandra King Conroy, to name a few. Filled with short stories, essays, letters, and poems, it has all the makings of a great read. And yes, I ordered it and am saving it to read at the lake this summer following attending my own fiftieth high school reunion in early August.

Sweet Salt Air

by Barbara Delinsky

With a B.A. in psychology and an M.A. in sociology, one need not wonder how bestselling author Barbara Delinsky is always able to weave a masterful story. Sweet Salt Air draws the reader into the lives of Delinsky’s characters as they struggle with relationships, careers, and family drama. This inexhaustible writer has combined her educational background with her writing talents and proven she’s capable of handling atonement, belonging, and redemption while she creates a captivating summer beach romance novel.

Former best friends Charlotte and Nicole have gone their separate ways for the past ten years while previously enjoying summers together at Nicole’s island house. Charlotte is now single and has become a successful travel writer while Nicole is a food blogger and married to her surgeon husband. Nicole finds herself in need of her old friend when she’s commissioned to write a book about island food and lacks Charlotte’s interviewing skills. The friends reunite for the book project in Quinnipeague, Maine and work together gathering recipes and island history from the locals. But life is never that simple. Their lives become further entangled as personal and professional problems pop-up. They also discover that they’ve kept many secrets through those ten years and that sharing the truths may come at the cost of their friendship, other relationships, and possibly Nicole’s husband’s life.

As an added bonus, Delinsky has demonstrated her exceptional skill as a writer by breathing life into Quinnipeague, Maine and transforming this enchanting island into yet another character. Her scenic sketches of a small-town atmosphere create a destination worthy of more than just a visit. Your mind is on sensory overload with the author’s detailed descriptions. There are picturesque images of the ocean with its waves with bobbing ships; whiffs of the locally grown aromatic herbs while out on moonlit walks; tastes of the mouth-watering chowders simmering in the quaint kitchens of neighbors; and tasty sensations of the macadamia brownies melting in your mouth while fresh from the oven. Finding Quinnipeague such a fascinating place, I did some additional research about this island so that I could possibly plan a trip. To my absolute delight, as well as my total disappointment, I discovered that the island is a purely fictional creation of Delinsky’s imagination; proving once again that she is an exceptional writer. However, for some reason I’d still like to travel there.

Summer Secrets

by Jane Green

Summer secrets sizzling on the sands on the Nantucket seashore combined with wild, glamorous nightlife in London makes for some steamy and attention-grabbing beach reading this summer. But what else would you expect from New York Times bestselling author Jane Green? This Englishborn American author of 23 novels, dubbed “The Queen of Chick Lit,” knows how to pen a compelling drama filled with family relationships, betrayals, infidelities, and confrontations of the clandestine kind. Green knows how to pace her writing, includes overlapping subplots, and keeps her readers reading. You get the sense that she’s done her homework, especially with a present-day prologue which ends with, “Surely that won’t do any harm.” Secrets, secrets, and more secrets; if you thought you were going to be in for an interesting and revealing read, you’d be correct.

Green is an adept writer who draws the reader into the story immediately and manages to achieve empathy and interest for her protagonist. Immediately in the prologue the reader discovers that Cat Coombs has been living a fast and dazzling life as a young London journalist who can skillfully fill an empty page, but unfortunately can also masterfully empty many a bottle. Her days and nights become a succession of drinking excessively, suffering black outs, and waking up in unfamiliar places. She is almost literally drowning in her sorrows before she finally seeks help.

Cat knows things have to change and her world takes a turn when she meets an understanding and supportive recovering alcoholic and falls in love. Eventually the two marry and have a daughter. While in recovery and on a writing assignment in America, she visits her family in Nantucket where she makes a terrible mistake and falls off the wagon yet again. The reader is all the while rooting for Cat as she navigates her way through her problems and relationships. Green transports the reader once again to Cat’s present-day life in her early forties, where the prologue ended, and the rest of the story begins. I’ll let you be the judge if what Cat’s about to do will surely cause any harm or not; these summer secrets are her secrets to tell.

Care for every stage of life.

Accepting new OB/GYN patients.

State of Terror

by Louise Penny & Hillary Rodham Clinton

Many of you familiar with award winning mystery crime writer Louise Penny may recognize some of her signature elements incorporated within State of Terror. Included in this action-driven storyline are many of the author’s masterfully woven literary devices including a large cast of diverse suspects; murders by unconventional means; and a few red herrings which always manage to keep the reader on his or her toes. Now combine Penny’s polished and prolific pen professionalism with Hillary Clinton’s vast experience as Secretary of State and her firsthand familiarity with Washington D.C. as well as life inside of the White House and you’ve just created a New York Times best-selling political thriller.

Readers are immediately thrust into the middle of the action of this novel. The newly elected President Douglas Williams has recently appointed his political adversary, Ellen Adams, to be his Secretary of State and the country awaits her return from her first overseas assignment as the president is about to deliver his first state of the union address. Her extremely busy and chaotic twentytwo-hour day in Seoul was unsuccessful and she soon learns that she was set up by the White House to fail in order to make the president look good.

The mistrust between these two political rivals and their staff members is instantly established but they have no time to heal old wounds as terrorists strike with calculated and horrendous attacks across the globe. With international affairs in chaos, global alliances shattered, and with distrust within America’s own governmental departments, the plausibility of additional catastrophe is always looming. As the world is on the brink of disaster, you’ll find yourself on the edge of your seat turning the pages of

Emily Bromley, MD

Cassandra Vogel, MD Christa Mohr, WHNP

Marcie StiegWilliams, PA-C Dawn Robinson, MD Geoffrey Scott, MD

Spectrum Health Big Rapids Hospital

Obstetrics & Gynecology 722 Locust Street, Big Rapids, MI 49307 231.592.4200

this book. We’re very fortunate that the experts always tell writers to write about what they know and apparently these two authors have collaborated on this novel to have very successfully done just that.

The Cornwalls Vanish

by James Patterson & Brendan Dubois

The best thing about reading a James Patterson novel is that you’re bound to be spell-bound from the first page to the last. The next best thing about reading a James Patterson novel is that like a certain potato chip, betcha can’t devour just one because you’ll want to read more. The next-to-nextbest-thing about reading a James Patterson novel is that the author has managed to pen or co-pen over 200 novels; 114 of which have been New York Times bestsellers. In other words, Patterson has put the pro in prolific and you’ll always have a good book to read.

As co-author and award-winning writer, Brendan Dubois is certainly no slacker with 29 novels and 160 published short stories under his belt. Combining the skills and experience of these two authors makes for an exciting and well-developed storyline. Nothing can go wrong for these authors, except in the lives of their main characters where little goes right.

The reader immediately learns that US Army intelligence officer, Captain Amy Cornwall, is on high alert as she enters her Virginia home and grasps the terrifying fact that her husband and ten-year-old daughter have been abducted. They are being held captive for the ransom release of another unidentified captive being held in Texas. She’s told to work alone, contact no one, and she has forty-eight hours to release the captive. Or they will kill her family. While she’s disciplined and well-trained, Cornwall never expected to have to use her skills to locate and rescue her loved ones. The reader is pulled along her cross-country mission, fighting, and agonizing along with her as the clock ticks.

The intense action of this story takes root in the first sentence of the first chapter and then expands, twists, and takes hold throughout the subsequent 94 chapters of this thriller. With an average chapter length of only 3.5 pages, the pacing is expeditious, succinct, and captivating. Even after you finish reading The Cornwalls Vanish, with 200 other novels from which to select, you’ll have no problem picking another Patterson progeny to peruse. I checked. The Morton Township Library has stocked an entire shelf with over 150 of Patterson’s novels, so make sure you pace yourself.

As to which author whose name bears repeating? It was none other than Fredrik Backman, of Bear Town and Anxious People fame. But if I would have had to guess, my money would have been on James Patterson with his 200 novels.