Alyssa is a wholesome teen who deals with her problems in a mature and thoughtful manner. Rabbi Pearlman is exemplary he works well with teens and is able to empathize and discuss problems with them in a realistic yet good-humored manner. The suburban middle-class setting provides a sturdy anchor for this story. Guided by Jewish precepts, she is able to make some serious decisions. Readers will enjoy the universal conflicts Wolff eloquently delineates her characters are well realized and lend additional credibility to the story."- Publishers Weekly, "Alyssa struggles with the need to examine personal priorities and commitments. Alyssa realizes that a delicate balance between avocation and responsibility can exist if she is strong enough to make difficult decisions. Her priorities shift, however, when her best friend Ellen becomes ill, and when Alyssa's Jewish identity becomes more important to her. And, instead of joining the temple's confirmation class, concentrating on schoolwork or socializing with friends, Alyssa chooses to pursue her dance lessons. "Alyssa has become an adult, according to Judaism since she has completed her Bat Mitzvah, she is expected to make her own decisions.
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Popular teen author Forman's adult debut examines just what it means to be a working mother - beholden to everyone, seemingly obligated to forget who you really are. With bighearted characters - husbands, wives, friends, and lovers - who stumble and trip, grow and forgive, Leave Me is about facing the fears we're all running from. Far from the demands of family and career and with the help of liberating new friendships, Maribeth is able to own up to secrets she has been keeping from herself and those she loves. But, as is often the case, once we get where we're going we see our lives from a different perspective. Surprised to discover that her recuperation seems to be an imposition on those who rely on her, Maribeth does the unthinkable: she packs a bag and leaves. A harried working mother who's so busy taking care of her husband and twins, she doesn't even realize she's had a heart attack. An irresistible novel that confronts the ambivalence of modern motherhood head on and asks, what happens when a grown woman runs away from home?Įvery woman who has ever fantasized about driving past her exit on the highway instead of going home to make dinner, and every woman who has ever dreamed of boarding a train to a place where no one needs constant attention - meet Maribeth Klein. A week after Mary Jane starts, the rock star and his movie star wife move in. And even more troublesome (were Mary Jane’s mother to know, which she does not): the doctor is a psychiatrist who has cleared his summer for one important job-helping a famous rock star dry out. The house may look respectable on the outside, but inside it’s a literal and figurative mess: clutter on every surface, Impeachment: Now More Than Ever bumper stickers on the doors, cereal and takeout for dinner. A respectable job, Mary Jane’s mother says. Shy, quiet, and bookish, she’s glad when she lands a summer job as a nanny for the daughter of a local doctor. In 1970s Baltimore, fourteen-year-old Mary Jane loves cooking with her mother, singing in her church choir, and enjoying her family’s subscription to the Broadway Showtunes of the Month record club. "I LOVED this novel.If you have ever sung along to a hit on the radio, in any decade, then you will devour Mary Jane at 45 rpm." -Nick HornbyĪlmost Famous meets Daisy Jones & The Six in this "delightful" ( New York Times Book Review) novel about a fourteen-year-old girl’s coming of age in 1970s Baltimore, caught between her straight-laced family and the progressive family she nannies for-who happen to be secretly hiding a famous rock star and his movie star wife for the summer. It has been named a Junior Library Guild Selection and has received a starred review from Kirkus. Burn Baby Burn releases March 8 from Candlewick Press. And while there is a cute new guy who started working with her at the deli, is dating even worth the risk when the killer likes picking off couples who stay out too late? Award-winning author Meg Medina transports us to a time when New York seemed balanced on a knife-edge, with tempers and temperatures running high, to share the story of a young woman who discovers that the greatest dangers are often closer than we like to admit - and the hardest to accept. All Nora wants is to turn eighteen and be on her own. Nora’s family life isn’t going so well either: her bullying brother, Hector, is growing more threatening by the day, her mother is helpless and falling behind on the rent, and her father calls only on holidays. DESCRIPTION OF THE BOOK (from Goodreads): Nora Lopez is seventeen during the infamous New York summer of 1977, when the city is besieged by arson, a massive blackout, and a serial killer named Son of Sam who shoots young women on the streets. And yet, in those few minutes, as man and moose, they watched the setting sun, and Arthur Less felt chosen … when it left him. “For local detail and colour headed to a hot springs recommended by his lodge … He came upon the springs, peeled off his clothes and settled naked into the pool … very quietly but startlingly … an enormous moose came out of the forest, walked over and sat beside him in the pool … Less urinated freely in pure terror. He recounts one of Arthur’s bizarre interludes early on, in the course of researching a travel piece. Our narrator, Freddy Palu, is Less’s boyfriend. Absurdity and playfulness are the crowd-pleasing hallmarks – and the same is largely true of the follow-up, Less Is Lost. Less bounces from Mexico to Morocco to India, jet-setting in a bid to distract himself from romantic turmoil back home. A ndrew Sean Greer’s Pulitzer-winning 2017 novel Less is a frenetic and often hilarious account of “minor American novelist” Arthur Less navigating zany twists of fate during a series of literary engagements across the globe. Review: As a fan of Jane Austen, I routinely find myself picking up books that have any hint of similarities. When Jane realizes that one of Melody’s suitors is set on taking advantage of her sister for the sake of her dowry, she pushes her skills to the limit of what her body can withstand in order to set things right-and, in the process, accidentally wanders into a love story of her own. Jane and her sister Melody vie for the attentions of eligible men, and while Jane’s skill with glamour is remarkable, it is her sister who is fair of face. Norrell.” It is an intimate portrait of a woman, Jane, and her quest for love in a world where the manipulation of glamour is considered an essential skill for a lady of quality. Book: “Shades of Milk and Honey” by Mary Robinette Kowalīook Description: “ Shades of Milk and Honey” is exactly what we could expect from Jane Austen if she had been a fantasy writer: “Pride and Prejudice” meets “Jonathan Strange & Mr. I would recommend this book/series to other fans of historical fantasy books. And while the series is a bit lighter on the romance than a lot of the fantasy books I’ve read, I enjoyed the development of her bond with Morozko, and how it felt authentic and beautiful in spite of the barriers between them. Vasya has truly grown as a heroine in this one, and I like how she still is a flawed heroine while also being incredibly easy to root for. And given that this is the one where the historical influences feel most apparent, I like that the stakes feel heightened, and that there is both a sense of adrenaline leading up to the big climactic battle and a sense of loss due to the casualties, including a character or two we’ve gotten to know of the course of the trilogy. I continue to be awed by Katherine Arden’s world-building, as she once again shows her deep love for Russian history and folklore in this seamless fairy tale/historical piece that combines real historical figures like Dmitrii Donskoi, her own fictional characters, and folkloric creatures like the Baba Yaga and the domovoi into a gorgeous, epic story. This was one of my most anticipated books of 2019, and I must say that it definitely lived up to the hype, both as a book in its own right and as an epic conclusion to a trilogy, wrapping up everything I wanted answered. It is the third novel in the Winternight trilogy.2 The Winter of the Witch is set in medieval Russia and incorporates elements of Russian folklore.3456 The Winter of the Witch is a 2019 historical fantasy novel written by Katherine Arden. Hardcover | $28.00 USD | ISBN-13: 978-1101885994 | 372 pages | Historical Fantasy The Winter of the Witch is a 2019 historical fantasy novel written by Katherine Arden. Buell then moved on to Rod Stewart and in the summer of 1978, she began a tempestuous affair with the married but separated Elvis Costello which continued on and off until 1984. Buell allowed her daughter to believe that Rundgren was her father until the late 1980s, as Tyler was still deeply addicted to drugs at the time. In the fall of 1976, she unexpectedly became pregnant by Tyler, and gave birth to daughter Liv Tyler on July 1, 1977. Many people assumed they were married and Bebe was often referred to as Bebe Rundgren in the media. During and after her sometimes open relationship with Rundgren, she also became intimate with many other famous musicians, including Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, and Steven Tyler while maintaining homes with Rundgren in both New York City and the Woodstock, New York area until late 1977. In 1972 while working as a teenage model in New York City, Buell met and dated rock star Todd Rundgren for several years. Buell is also known for dating and marrying rock musicians. Bebe Buell (born Beverle Lorence Buell) is an American fashion model and singer, and Playboy magazine's November 1974 Playmate of the Month. Alternating chapters focus on the differing perspectives of Kate, 48, and her three daughters: Blair Foley Whalen, Kirby Foley, and Jessie Levin. Using the turbulent backdrop of the Vietnam war and the civil rights and feminism movements, Hilderbrand depicts how personalities change during a family stay on the islands of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. The plot follows his mother, Kate Levin, and her three daughters-Blair, Kirby, and Jessie-as they navigate personal drama and the changing times. The family’s world is shaken when 19-year-old Tiger Foley is drafted into the Vietnam War. Hilderbrand’s Summer of ‘69 follows the Foley-Levin family, particularly its female characters, during the spring and summer of 1969. In addition, some characters discuss racial and ethnic prejudice or use racial slurs, which are replicated in this guide only in quoted material. This guide uses the hardbound version of Summer of ‘69, published in 2019 by Little, Brown and Company.Ĭontent Warning: The novel contains scenes depicting domestic violence and physical fights, references to abortion and drowning, and alcohol misuse. After attending South River High School, she became the first in her family to attend college when she enrolled at Douglass College, part of Rutgers University, to study art. She has over two hundred million books in print worldwide, and her books have been translated into over 40 languages.Įvanovich is a second-generation American born in South River, New Jersey, to a machinist and a housewife. Evanovich has had her last seventeen Plums debut at #1 on the NY Times Best Sellers list and eleven of them have hit #1 on USA Today Best-Selling Books list. The novels in this series have been on The New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal and Amazon bestseller lists. She began her career writing short contemporary romance novels under the pen name Steffie Hall, but gained fame authoring a series of contemporary mysteries featuring Stephanie Plum, a former lingerie buyer from Trenton, New Jersey, who becomes a bounty hunter to make ends meet after losing her job. Janet Evanovich (née Schneider April 22, 1943) is an American writer. |