Sea View 12

My2 cents: Andrea Cheng has been busy the past two years writing the first two books in a series for middle-age readers called The Year of the Book and The Year of the Baby. Anna Wang, a young ABC (American Born Chinese) girl, tells us the story of her life in the series. In The Year of the Book, Anna is in fourth grade, living with her mother, father, younger brother, Ken, going to Chinese School on weekends to learn Chinese and accompanying her mother to her cleaning job on Saturdays. Oh, and reading lots of books. Anna celebrates Thanksgiving, sews beautiful drawstring bags, makes paper airplanes with her brother, and learns what it means to be a friend, when her neighbor Laura's parents divorce. It's a delightful book, full of fourth-grade doings and mother-daughter angst. The Wangs adopt a baby girl from China in The Year of the Baby. Little Kaylee becomes part of Anna's fifth grade science project. Friends Camille and Laura join in to help Kaylee adjus...

My 2 cents: The Lucy Variations is a very interesting book. Author Sara Zarr is a National Book Award Finalist and has written four previous YA novels, including Story of a Girl. Zarr's newest book, barely out on bookshelves this summer, is destined for critical acclaim. Set in San Francisco (Zarr's hometown), The Lucy Variations is a page-turner from the first page, with Lucy unsuccessfully giving CPR to her 10-year-old brother's piano teacher, to the very last, with Lucy grandly making “her entrance” in a surprise ending. I love a flawed heroine. 16-year-old Lucy is that. She's also a brilliant pianist, beautiful, wealthy, confused, traumatized, and a bit self-absorbed. She's a sister, a best-friend, a daughter, grand-daughter, and high-school student who's trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life. She's crushing on her English teacher and fighting with her mother. In short, Lucy's sixteen. Young adults will identify...

My 2 cents: Bestselling Author Beverly Lewis said she's “been waiting nearly a lifetime to write this book!” The Fiddler, first in her Hickory Hollow fiction series, weaves a compelling story of first loves and heart's desires, talents and spiritual beliefs. Amelia Devries is a well-known, classical violinist, who goes by “Amy Lee” when she plays her fiddle at a Tim McGraw concert. Trained to travel the world and become a famous solo musician, Amelia is engaged to Byron, an ambitious trumpeter, and is beginning to wonder if all that is what she really wants. A stormy night and a wrong turn bring her to the doorstep of Michael Hostetler, a burgeoning architect reared in the Pennsylvania Amish faith, who is also questioning his upbringing … and his future. What happens when their worlds collide? Captivating characters and a beautiful setting, rich in Amish culture and Amelia's lovely music, combine to make an interesting tale. Length: 326 pages ...

My 2 cents: Have you ever heard of a God box? Anne Lamott explains what she does with hers in a new little volume full of grace, mirth and truth called Help Thanks Wow (The Three Essential Prayers). “ I do not know much about God and prayer, but I have come to believe, over the past twenty-five years, that there's something to be said about keeping prayer simple,” says Lamott. “Help. Thanks. Wow.” I like Lamott's style: “ If you told me you had said to God,” she writes. “It is all hopeless, and I don't have a clue if You exist, but I could use a hand, it would almost bring tears to my eyes, tears of pride in you, for the courage it takes to get real – really real. It would make me want to sit next to you at the dinner table.” Just over 100 pages, this gift of a book is divided into five short sections: Prayer 101 (Prelude), Help, Thanks, Wow, and of course, Amen. Length: 102 pages Worth Your Time? Very, and it doesn't take much...

My 2 cents: Beverly Lewis writes about Joanna Kurtz in The Bridesmaid , a 24-year-old Amish girl who harbors a secret, two secrets, actually. She loves to write stories about the Amish people in her notebooks, and she's been exchanging letters with Eben Troyer, an Amish farmer who lives 10 hours away from Hickory Hollow, for over a year. Are Joanna's secrets creating a wedge between Joanna and her younger sister, Cora Jane? Is the prized, antique wedding-ring quilt Joanna receives from her great-aunt a sign? The Bridesmaid is the second book in Lewis's popular Hickory Hollow series, novels set in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country. Length: 314 pages Worth Your Time? Yes.

My 2 cents: Lauren Oliver may be the best Dystopian writer of Young Adult Literature out there. Requiem , the final book in the Delirium trilogy, is out this summer, and is hot, hot, hot. Lena, Alex (who is not dead), and Julian must find their way out of The Wilds as attacks from the “cureds” heat up in intensity and frequency. Portland's cruel, new mayor is Hana's husband-to-be, and Lena faces danger on every side, even as she learns that feelings make life worth living, as well as messy and complicated. The book's stunning conclusion is still reverberating inside me, days after I've finished reading the final pages. “ Take down the walls.” “ I will do it if you will do it, always and forever.” Length: 391 pages Worth Your Time? Yes!! Bonus: An exclusive short story for readers about Lena's first love called “alex.” 

My 2 cents: June is the month for weddings and Jennifer Chiaverini delivers with another bestselling Elm Creek Quilts Novel, The Wedding Quilt. When Sarah's daughter, Caroline, returns home to Elm Creek Manor at age 25 to celebrate her wedding, Sarah is thrown into a “trip down memory lane.” Reminiscing about Elm Creek, preparing for Caroline's wedding, and opening the manor to a full house of family and guests fills Sarah's week brimming full to overflowing. And, as always, there's a quilt to make – this time, it's a Memory Album quilt to commemorate Caroline and Leo's nuptials. Length: 321 pages Worth Your Time? Yes, especially if you're a Chiaverini fan or a quilter.