Dear friends,

Here are some books I’ve been reading lately:

Searching for Sylvie Lee:

I borrowed the e-book from my library via the Libby app, at the recommendation of a friend. The story begins with a mystery, and then takes us through the complicated family dynamics of a group of cross-cultural relatives, as they strive in their different ways to discover what happened to Sylvie Lee. Sylvie Lee is a Chinese-American woman who was brought up by relatives in the Netherlands, and when her grandmother falls ill, she travels back to see her one last time – but doesn’t return. Her younger sister, Amy (who was raised in the U.S. and doesn’t know these Dutch relatives very well) travels to Holland to see if she can find her sister. As she searches, we get to know more members of this extended family, and the secrets and lies they have told each other through the years. I found the book absorbing, and an interesting character study. If you like a “quiet” book centered on feelings and family dynamics, you would like this story.  5/5 stars

Twice in a Blue Moon:

I’m ordinarily a big fan of Christina Lauren, but this book was just ok to me. My problem was with the premise, and the fact that the female protagonist reacts differently than I would have. Otherwise, it’s well written and a fun, light romance – so don’t pass it up just because it didn’t thrill me. At the heart of the story are a young man named Sam and a young woman named Tate, who had a vacation fling, and years later find themselves working together. They had fallen in love during their short affair, and had spent the years between thinking of one another, so their reunion should be thrilling – except that in the meantime, Sam betrayed her in a profound way. Now, she must decide whether, and how, to forgive him. It was the forgiveness issue that challenged me, because if I were Tate, I would have kicked this guy to the curb for what he did. Her struggle with forgiveness rubbed me wrong, and made me feel like she was weak to consider it. HOWEVER – BIG HOWEVER – that’s my personal tendency to hold grudges, and doesn’t really reflect on the quality of the book.  3/3 stars

Maid:

This was one of my “Book of the Month” selections. Maid is the memoir of a young woman who became pregnant in college, dropped out, and became determined to raise her child on her own when the baby’s father, and her own family, did not support her. She worked for a housecleaning service while trying to make ends meet, but couldn’t get ahead, and fell deeper and deeper into poverty. The book serves as an eye-opening illustration of how so many people get trapped in life circumstances that never give them room to get ahead, no matter how determined they might be. Fortunately, the author had a talent for writing, and chronicled her experiences in this manuscript that she was able to later sell. Through this book, she has been able to shed light on how servant-workers are dehumanized and devalued, and what life is like when the poverty line is only a paycheck away (and sometimes even closer than that).  4/5 stars

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Books for review can be sent to:  Annette Hamel, P.O. Box 19252, Kalamazoo, MI  49019-0252