Sea View 12

My 2 Cents: It's not too late! Even though Labor Day Weekend's passed, and school's back in, temperatures are still climbing past 90 during the day, and the calendar says it's still officially summer until September 23. Indian Summer is what my grandmother used to call it. So I got my hands on the audio book of Mary Alice Monroe's new book, The Summer Girls, which hit shelves just in time for beachgoers and vacationers this summer. And, let me tell you, MAM has really hit her stride. I became a fan of Monroe's fiction with Swimming Lessons and The Beach House, having spent time in and around the Isle of Palms. But, The Summer Girls, set on Sullivan's Island in South Carolina's Lowcountry, is, I believe, her best novel, yet. 34-year-old Carson Muir leaves L.A., broke and jobless, to spend the summer with the grandmother who raised her, Marietta Muir, who's celebrating her 80 th birthday, at Sea Breeze, their beloved Sullivan's I

My 2 cents: Something Told the Wild Geese by Rachel Field Something told the wild geese It was time to go Though the fields lay golden Something whispered “snow.” Leaves were green and stirring Berries, luster-glossed But beneath warm feathers, Something cautioned “frost”. All the sagging orchards Steamed with amber spice But each wild breast stiffened At remembered ice. Something told the wild geese It was time to fly Summer sun was on their wings Winter in their cry. That poem is my favorite fall poem. I thought about it when a loud, honking “V” of geese flew over my head on the Friday before Labor Day, just at dusk. What fall means to me: my birthday, chilly nights and warm days, Indian Summer, school starting, football games (even if I don't go), shorter afternoons, a feel of poignancy, endings and beginnings, cozy nights under covers. Happy September.

My 2 cents: Sisterland by Curtis Sittenfeld is worth a second look. Narrated by Daisy, a 30-something former social-worker, stay-at-home mom who is married to Jeremy, a loving husband and professor of geophysics. Daisy and Jeremy live in St. Louis, Missouri near the giant arch and are parents to Rosie, 3, and Owen, 1. Daisy is also an identical twin. Her sister, Violet, is a psychic/medium who often talks to her spiritual guide, Guardian, is perpetually short of cash, and generally drives her twin crazy on a regular basis. Daisy also has “senses,” but works hard to shake them off, and be a “normal” wife and mother. Things get shaky when Violet publicly predicts a major earthquake for the St. Louis area and names a date for the event, October 16. Something earthshattering does happen on the 16 th , but it's not the earthquake Vi and Daisy expected. Sittenfeld's novel, both dark and enlightening, is also funny and sweet in places. Some of the best dialogue comes

My 2 cents: History and romance buffs alike will swoon over Nora Roberts' newest novel The Perfect Hope. Set in real-life historic Boonsboro, Maryland, The Perfect Hope is the third book in the Inn Boonsboro Trilogy. Filled with the camaraderie of the Montgomery brothers; together with their mother, Justine, the three brothers proudly own and operate a booming construction business. Beckett Montgomery is married to his high-school sweetheart, Claire, who has three young sons and is expecting two more. Owen Montgomery is engaged to red-haired fireball Avery McTavish , who runs Vesta Pizza and dreams of opening her own upscale r estaurant and bar in the town square. Ryder Montgomery, a diamond in the rough, falls hard for Hope Beaumont, the bed-and-breakfast's innkeeper. Also keeping company at the Inn is Lizzie, a ghost from Civil War times, who is waiting faithfully for her soldier lover, Billy Ryder. Lizzey likes to play with the doors and the lights at I

My 2 cents: Activate Your Goodness by Shari Arison is subtitled Transforming the World Through Doing Good. Which says it all. A second-time author, Shari Arison is an Israeli-American mother of four and the leader of an international business empire, as well as a generous philanthropist. Arison was ranked one of the World's Most Powerful Women in 2011 and 2012 by Forbes Magazine. Not too shabby. This little orange book is both anecdotal and informational. Arison tells story after story of people doing good, thinking good and speaking good. Arison talks about her own life, her own tumultous childhood (which included the divorce of her parents, her father's banruptcies, and her bouncing back and forth, by herself, from New York City to Israel). Arison's early adulthood included three marriages … and three divorces. She talks about all this and more, and how learning to do good transformed her life. Arison also instituted an annual Good Deeds Day through her c

My 2 cents: No One Could Have Guessed the Weather by Anne-Marie Casey had me at the title. Lucy finds herself living in New York City with her British husband, Richard, and their two young sons, Max and Robbie, at the start of a blazing hot September. “ It was, as the forecast told them one day, as if a blowtorch had gone through the city.” With the downtown of the stockmarket, Richard lost his job, and Lucy lost her nanny, housekeeper, home, and her luxury life as she knew it. Richard gets a new position in NYC, and the family moves into an 800-square-foot apartment that Richard had previously used for a hotel room. Optimistic and energetic, Richard believes the new lifestyle will be good for their family. After a rocky start in the heat of the city, weeks of sobbing and the death of her mother, Julia opens herself to her new home, and finds a new life. Reminiscent of Nora Ephron's witty, meaty style, Casey posts this quote by Ephron at the beginning of