"Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng is about motherhood and secrets.  I found this story to be thought provoking and heartbreaking.  It contrasts the lives of a rich upper class family of six, the Richardsons, with a single mother, Mia, who is an artist and struggles to provide for her and her teenage daughter.  Then another story line is about a Chinese birth mother who gave up her baby and now wants her back from the nice, well-to-do couple who has started the adoption process.  There is lots of emotion wrapped up in this book.  I think this would be an excellent book for a book club to discuss.  I enjoyed reading this but was a bit disappointed with the ending that was kind of left up in the air.  I think women would definitely enjoy this one more than men.      
(Karen's review, 4 stars)

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"Modern Girls" by Jennifer S. Brown (Mother/Daughter Book)

Modern Girls by Jennifer S. Brown is about some Jewish immigrant families in New York during the great depression.   The story is told from alternating views of Rosa, the mother, Dottie, her daughter who finds herself in a predicament.  Both mother and daughter get pregnant.  Rosa is 42 years old and Dottie isn't married, but has been seeing Abe for three years, waiting for him to save up enough money to rent their own place when they get married.  Abe is a virtuous Jew and Dottie knows the baby is not his, but a handsome, wealthy, playboy journalist named Willie Klein is the father.  Gossip is spreading throughout her neighborhood, her mother had saved up money for her to go to college, and Dottie is desperate to get Abe to think the baby is his.  She really wants to keep the baby, but her mother has made an appointment to have it "taken care of."  Will she be able to have her happily ever after ending with Abe?  Will she get the abortion?  Will she end up marrying Willie?  How will Rosa be able to help her daughter?

This book kept my interest, and I did like Dottie in spite of her big mistake.  I also liked her mother although she had some secrets of her own!   I also enjoyed Dottie's brothers and thought Willie and Abe were interesting characters.  I liked how they were pretty much opposites and yet Dottie liked them both.  I would have liked more of the story as it has an open-ended ending.  I think this would make a good book club read since there's much that could be discussed.
(Karen's review, 4 stars)

Teaser from page 21:  Abe would work at the store during the day.  Ma would watch the kids for a few hours, and I'd continue at the insurance company.  The picture was dreamy and I smiled before remembering I had botched it all up.

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"Tilly" by Frank E. Peretti

If you are thinking about getting an abortion or if you have had an abortion, Tilly by Frank E. Peretti is a book I would recommend you read.  It is a story about a girl named Tilly who was aborted that would be nine years old now had she lived. It is also about Kathy Ross, Tilly’s mother and how she regrets that decision but finds God’s forgiveness through a dream she has of being in heaven and spending the day with Tilly.

Teaser from page 44: Kathy leaned back from the rail. She was beginning to believe all this, and that unnerved her. “No names . . . and no parents? All of you?”

This is a quick read and I suppose is thought provoking to some degree. However, it may be beautiful and helpful to someone who has gone through the experience of aborting a child. Some of those things just rubbed me the wrong way like Jesus getting married and Tilly aging in heaven as though she would if she had been born. I realize it was all just a dream which makes it more believable because in a dream, anything can happen. The point of the story is that Kathy regretted having the abortion. I see where it may be a powerful book for someone who is contemplating having an abortion so that is who I would recommend read this one. Who knows, maybe it will help save someone’s life!
(Karen's review, 3 stars)


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"Those Girls" by Chevy Stevens is a Thriller About 3 Sisters We Both Liked!

Those Girls by Chevy Stevens is a gripping novel that is about three sisters (Dani, 17, Courtney-16 and Jess-14) who are abused by an alcoholic father and later raped and how each is affected by their experience and deals with it differently.  These sisters are very close and support each other and start a new life with help from an unlikely source, an ex-con who got a break and is plays it forward.

The girls do pretty good at putting their past behind them until Jess discovers she is pregnant by the guy who raped her and brings everything back. 

I LOVED this book in spite of some very graphic and horrifying parts which worked to get the reader to really root for those girls to succeed.  The bond between the sisters was very interesting to me and how Jess's daughter became the "best part of them."  I liked the people who helped the girls along their way with the "playing if forward" theme worked in and the way they chose their new names for the new identities. The ending had a lot of suspense and action which made me to keep reading and not put this down!
(Karen's review, 5 stars) 

Gerard's review (5++ stars):
Those Girls by Chevy Stevens is about three sisters.  One of the sisters shoots their dad to save the other one from him and they all go on the run!  They soon find more trouble.  This books is told in three parts from various points of view.  I really enjoyed the first part of the book as the girls were in big trouble with non-stop action.  The second part was pretty much rehashing what happened in the first part but part 3 when everything came together more than made up for part 2 and I got caught up in it!

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"The Cat That God Sent" by Jim Kraus is a Favorite of Mine!

Great Book--Petey even looks like me!

The Cat That God Sent by Jim Kraus is a delightful Christian fiction novel that is about a preacher who lost his faith and Petey, a cat who helps him.  I enjoyed this book very much because it is both humorous and yet deals with some serious issues.  Jake just got called to a small country church after being fired from a large one, and is very unsure of himself.  Petey, a cat, hung around him when he arrived and turned out to be quite a hit with his congregation when the cat followed him into the church and sat on the platform with him as he preached!  Parts are so funny that I actually laughed out loud!

Although the cat shares its thoughts with the reader, it acts like a real cat and does not talk English but communicates the way real cats do.  For me, this gave the book more credibility.  There are even discussion questions in the back which could make this a good book club read.  I liked the idea of how God used the cat to help both Jake and Tess and to get more people to come to church.  I loved it and look forward to reading this author's other book, The Dog That Talked to God!  This is a must read for all cat lovers!

(Karen's review, 5 stars!)

Hey, if you like cats, you have to read this one!  Petey, the cat is sent by God to help the new preacher who is struggling with his faith.  He also has to protect a young girl named Tess who got dumped by her boyfriend.  He likes going to church and people come just to see him!  He is a good cat, like me and even looks like me as you can see in the picture of me with the book.  This is a must read for all cats and cat lovers!
(Manny's review) 

Author's blog:  Jimkraus.com

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"When She Woke" by Hillary Jordan

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan is about Hannah, who had an abortion.  She refused to name the father or the doctor who performed it.  As a consequence of her crime of murder, she had to live her life as a red chrome (She turned red!).  A chrome is a criminal whose skin color is genetically altered to match the color of their crime and released back into society.  How Hannah deals with this, the people she meets and the decisions she makes is the basis for this book.

I really enjoyed When She Woke a lot!  It's a real page turner to say the least.  I cared about Hannah and looked forward to reading more.  I also thought the ending was really good!
(Gerard's Review)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it?

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"Unplanned" by Abby Johnson with Cindy Lambert

You have to read Unplanned by Abby Johnson because it's just so good! It's the true story of Abby, who was a leader of a Planned Parenthood chapter. One day she had to see the actual abortion, and that changed her whole life from then on. The story is amazing! A coalition For Life was praying right next door and she went to join them. But the part I really enjoyed in this book is her relationship with God! She shares how God can use anyone to spread His word and Abby praying is so good! I got chills reading about it.

This is a powerful book that you will not want to put down. Abby, if you are reading this, thanks for sharing and God bless your husband, daughter and you. You wrote a fantastic book!

 
Have you read this one? What did you think of it? You can help our charity of the month just by leaving a comment on any of our blogs! We will donate 50 cents per comment at the end of the month. The charity for this month is at the top of our blog.