Heartwood:A Novel by Belva Plain

This book is the final book by Belva Plain. It is a sequel to the characters that were first met in Evergreen, a book I greatly enjoyed many years ago. This author delves deeply into relationships: in this book especially between parents and their adult children. Iris and Theo Stern, a Jewish-American couple, are well-educated and have a devoted marriage. Though their sons have been a worry to them they've always depended on their daughter, Laura. However, when Laura has marriage difficulties and returns to New York to establish herself in a career, her choices are questioned.

Also, a long-held family secret is discovered. Iris remains strong amid family difficulties. This book is more simplistic than Evergreen but was enjoyable. Remembering the characters of books read long ago in this series and what has happened in their lives was interesting.

I'll Walk Alone by Mary Higgins Clark

I have read a few of Mary Higgins Clark's books and I found this one to be really slow going. This is a typical Mary Higgins Clark book. It was very predictable. I was able to predict the criminal in the first 100 pages. I wasn't disappointed in my conclusion. In this book the main character Zan has a lot on her plate. She is a working mom trying to make a name for herself in the interior design business when her son is kidnapped. She spends every spare penny on trying to find him. Then she becomes a victim of identity theft putting her in even more financial trouble. The story take many twists and turns but in the end it was there was an obvious outcome.

The Ridge by Michael Koryta

A lighthouse in rural Kentucky? A policeman in love with the woman who shot him? These seemingly odd elements add up to a very suspenseful read. For years, the town eccentric has operated a lighthouse in the Kentucky woods. When he is found dead, strange things begin to happen, and more deaths follow.

Koryta is one of my new “must read” authors, and this is his best book yet.

Room by Emma Donoghue

This is the story of a boy named Jack. He is five years old and tells about his life in "room". It is home for Jack, but is a prison for his mother who has been kept there for seven years. She tries to make life fun for him in the confines of this small space. She realizes that they can't go on like this forever.
This was an interesting read told from the point of a child - read it and find out what happens in the end.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

This book is not new and I had been told by many that I must read it. I finally got to it by listening to the book on CD. I heartily recommend this book.
If you haven't read it yet put it on the top of your list! I also recommend listening to the book on CD; the reader does an excellant job with the accents. This book is set in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960's. It is a story about white women and their black maids but really the story goes much deeper than this. Stockett develops her charachters well and you really feel like you are part of these women's lives. A movie based on this book comes out this summer, I hope it can do justice to this well written book.