Monday Mini-Reviews on Tuesday

I had such a great weekend of reading.  My oldest daughters are back from college which has added a little more noise and excitement to the house.  The Christmas tree did finally get put up - although we didn't do nearly the amount of decorations as normal since our puppy may destroy them.  And I went shopping twice, and yet I still managed to get four books read.  

 

The Ingenue by Rachel Kapelke Dale is the sophomore novel, following up The Ballerinas.  I liked this one, a story centered around a piano prodigy who has returned home to Milwaukee after her mother's death.  The mansion she grew up in is bequeathed to the man with whom Sas has a troubled past, and Sas is left to determine if she should fight for the home she grew up in - and make this man pay for what he did to her and other young girls.

Flight by Lynn Steger Strong - this is a dysfunctional family story - although I am not really sure how dysfunctional this family is.  The dynamics seem fairly normal as three adult siblings and their spouses get together for their first Christmas after their mother's death.  I loved all the siblings' stories and the way the story is resolved.  While not truly a Christmas/holiday story, this may be as close to one as I get this year.

We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman- this one has been reviewed all over social media.  The premise is unbelievably sad - Ash is busy saying goodbye to her best friend, Edi, who is in hospice care.  And while the book is sad, there is humor to it and a great story of friendship.  Despite the many reviews I've read, no one has mentioned Ash's bad decisions (at least bad IMO), which I found a little bizarre.

The Family Game by Catherine Steadman - fast, fun and forgettable.  This was such an easy book to get into and the plot twists were enough to keep me guessing.  I didn't love this one, but it is also set around the holidays, so again, not a true Christmas book, but did a nice job of making feel like I was reading a Christmas story.

This is making me look forward to having a break from work and enjoying more leisure reading like the kind I got to do this past weekend.