Justine's Thoughts: Summer at Willow Lake by Susan Wiggs

Summer at Willow Lake
[Lakeshore Chronicles - book 2]
By Susan Wiggs

Source: Borrowed from Sarah at Read Away the Day
Pages:  534
Book Description:

Real estate expert Olivia Bellamy reluctantly trades a trendy Manhattan summer for her family's old resort camp in the Catskills, where her primary task will be renovating the bungalow colony for her grandparents, who want one last summer together filled with fun, friends and family. A posh resort in its heyday, the camp is now in disarray and Olivia is forced to hire contractor Connor Davis—a still-smoldering flame from her own summers at camp. But as the days grow warm, not even the inviting blue waters of Willow Lake can cool the passions flaring or keep shocking secrets at bay. The nostalgic joy of summers past breathes new promise into a special place and people…a promise meant to last long after the season ends.

A quote:

If you're drowning for real, and nobody believes you, then you sure as hell better figure out how to swim.

Thoughts:

Expectations: The first thing I saw was the cover, which I was much too hesitant about. I admit to be an extreme judge of book covers *shame*, but I really dislike it. However, Sarah was also much too insistent that I read it. And if she wants me to read this book so much, then it must good! In the end, she was right. Summer at Willow Lake is refreshing and lovely.

About Setting: It alternates between the city and Camp Kioga, which I had no trouble with whatsoever. The descriptions are written easily but engrossingly. You just can’t help but close your eyes and feel like transporting into the novel. For me it made me wish that I went to camp as a young teen! It sounds like a new and exciting experience.

About Characters: Olivia “Lolly” Bellamy comes from a big, wealthy family who owns Camp Kioga. She’s now a smoking, fit, professional real estate stager who used to be the lonely fat kid at camp. I found her character very appealing; she’s funny and real and serious with the right amount of strength in mind. Connor Davis is the good looking bad boy from Olivia’s past. And boy, how I love him. Together, they’re the ‘it’ couple, which makes me so, so happy. There are also many other characters who I look forward to read about in the other novels in this series. Such characters include Daisy and Julian, Max, Uncle Greg, and more.

About Plot: Olivia is in charge of reconstructing Camp Kioga for her grandparents’ 50^th wedding celebration but her contractor is Connor Davis, who she shares a past with. Together, they must work to make the place look extravagant. That takes them back to old times and memories they shared with each other. As a child every summer, Olivia goes to Camp Kioga and spends time with Connor Davis. As the story switches from present day to their pasts and back and forth, we get to see how their relationship forms and develops. The story also touches upon other characters and their main backgrounds, making it overall enjoyable as well as satisfying.

Overall Rating: Y Y Y Y Y
Summer at Willow Lake is the perfect read if you’re looking for some way of escapism. It’s even more perfect in the summer, with the fresh feelings of the sun and the sky. I enjoyed it thoroughly and it will always be one of my pleasure reads.

Justine's Thoughts: Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson

Sundays at Tiffany’s
By James Patterson

Source: Borrowed from a friend
Pages: 320
Rating: 4/5
Book Description:

AN IMAGINARY FRIEND
Jane Margaux is a lonely little girl. Her mother, the powerful head of a New York theater company, makes time for her only once a week, for their Sunday trip to admire jewelry at Tiffany's. Jane has only one friend: a handsome, comforting, funny man named Michael. He's perfect. But only she can see him. Michael can't stay forever, though. On Jane's eighth birthday he leaves, promising that she'll forget him soon. He was there to help her until she was old enough to manage on her own, and now there are other children who need his help.

AN UNEXPECTED LOVE
Years later, in her thirties, Jane is just as alone as she was as a child. And despite her own success as a playwright, she is even more trapped by her overbearing mother. Then she meets Michael again--as handsome, smart and perfect as she remembers him to be. But not even Michael knows the reason they've really been reunited.

AND AN UNFORGETTABLE TWIST
Sundays at Tiffany's is a heart-wrenching love story that surpasses all expectations of why these people have been brought together. With the breathtaking momentum and gripping emotional twists that have made James Patterson a bestseller all over the world, Sundays at Tiffany'stakes an altogether fresh look at the timeless and transforming power of love.

A quote:

Love means never having to be apart.

Any thoughts:

One of my biffles was reading this book when one day she said that Jane reminded her a little bit of me so she suggested I read it. With this book being my first James Patterson novel, in the end, I really liked it. Scratch that, the hopeless romantic I am, I loved it.

The writing reminded me a bit of Nicholas Sparks’ style -- lovely and simple with an excellent ability to tell a story smoothly. The characters were developed nicely and I actually did relate to Jane at many times. The storyline is original as it is, with the concept of imaginary friends bidding their time, being assigned to a kid and caring for them. It’s a fantasy story with a mix of romance. The only thing that I didn’t like was the tiny sense of pedophilia. At first I thought Michael would be the same age as Jane at a young age, but it ends up that he’s just a compassionate thirty-something-year-old guy doing his job. On the other hand, the overall plot is sweet. It will move you if you have a thing for sappy, delightful stories.

Justine's Thoughts: The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

The Notebook
By Nicholas Sparks

Source: Library
Pages: 207

Rating:

5/5

Book Description:

At thirty-one, Noah Calhoun, back in coastal North Carolina after World War II, is haunted by images of the girl he lost more than a decade earlier. At twenty-nine, socialite Allie Nelson is about to marry a wealthy lawyer, but she cannot stop thinking about the boy who long ago stole her heart. Thus begins the story of a love so enduring and deep it can turn tragedy into triumph, and may even have the power to create a miracle...

A quote:

Silence is holy. It draws people together because only those who are comfortable with each other can sit without speaking. This is the great paradox.

Any thoughts:

At last, I have read the famous novel, The Notebook, the tale of love. Some have called it cheesy and sappy. Some have claimed it their ultimate favourite. Me, a hopeless romantic although I cannot relate to a love as deep as this, I found it poetic.

Nicholas Sparks’ beautiful imagery and unique voice is captivating. The way it is told is like a story within a story in which Allie and Noah bring up sweet memories from the past. Their connection intensely develops in a short period of time at the mention of the summer they had spent together years ago. Their love is so profound and breathless, that it appealed to me.

Of course, it also made me cry my eyes out. Noah has a true heart and he is willing to do anything for Allie. It even breaks my heart when he aches for her, especially in the states that they’re in when they’re living in the nursing homes. That part tore me into pieces.

The book focused more on the part before Allie’s engagement, when she visits Noah at the house he built, however, the present time introduces and concludes the entire story. In the movie, it is the same with the present, but it is mostly based on the summer when Allie and Noah first met. If I had to choose which I like more, it would be the movie, which I initially watched first quite a long time ago. Something about Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling’s chemistry and acting and real relationship made it believable. And it made me cry as well.

An unforgettable love story, indeed, as they say. I wish I had my own copy. I could definitely read it again and again.

Justine's Thoughts: The Tempest's Roar by R.A.R. Clouston

The Tempest’s Roar
By R.A.R. Clouston

Source: the author, R.A.R. Clouston
Pages: 348
Rating: 2/5

This is a story of the whales and dolphins who rule the Seven Seas and the odyssey of a white dolphin named Apollo whose destiny is to save whalekind from destruction on this planet man calls Earth but whales know as Planet Ocean. Whether you choose to believe it or not, humans are not the only intelligent beings on this endangered blue marble drifting silently through space; for that reason, Apollo’s story must be told lest you and your kind live on in ignorance of the complex civilization that lies beneath the waves. If you dare to join him, Apollo will take you into a world filled with mystery and magic, mayhem and madness—a place of budding life and sudden death where the light of the sun penetrates only the upper layers, leaving the rest of its vast dominions inked in eternal darkness. You will find pleasure in clear, sunlit shallows above rippled sandy bottoms where tiny fish zoom and zip, and feel terror in deep, dark, cold waters where monsters dwell. And when your journey is done, you will never again look upon the oceans that surround you through the same eyes, or think about the whales and dolphins who dwell within them with the same mind, for this is a true tale of life, and death, and renewal that exists beyond the thin blue line that divides Apollo’s world from yours: it is a world unlike anything you have ever known and you ignore it at your peril.

A quote:

You are precious to me than any treasure in the ocean.

Any thoughts:

In The Tempest’s Roar, Clouston directs the story to the reader and addresses him or her as if a story is being spoken. He tells a tale of a dolphin named Apollo who is known to be different amongst all dolphins because of his rare, white skin. Although the story is centered on him, there is also a little purpoise named Pan, who we are first introduced to. I imagine him as a young child that provides the entertaining parts in the book due to his silly behaviour at times. He happens to be my favourite out of all the characters. There were quite a lot of them, which became puzzling because their names were based on Greek gods that were often hard to remember. One I found memorable though was Zeus, a great whale. The problem was, I didn’t imagine him as a great whale because I would forget what species he belongs to. This was the same for other minor characters.

The setting in my opinion is all the same: oceans. There is one exception in which a story is being told by Apollo and it took place in the aquariums in Oceania. Still, I could not grasp the details of the oceans. Phrases such as “following the migration routes” and “flows in a counter clockwise motion around the vast South Atlantic gyre” were difficult for me to imagine since I don’t have the sufficient knowledge to imagine it. I would end up either reading it gradually or skimming the paragraph to get past through it.

The writing is well done but with one important downside. Most sentences are way too long, which led me to losing what I was just reading and eventually reading without comprehending. The parts with dialogue were good and interesting, but the stories as well lasted a long time. Both Pan and Apollo have the opportunity to retell a story with formal prose that seems too unrealistic for me, even past the viability of all ocean creatures having a gathering once every year.

Themes and morals were ever present throughout this novel. Although there was a lot that was happening (war, family, God, love), one thing for certain is that this novel contains truth. Clouston addresses us, the readers, for a purpose and that is to spread his word about oceans and its creatures. We are not the only ones that God created for he created everything in existence and we must do everything we can to support life in different forms.

While this book may not be for an average teen like me, I am certain it will be a pleasure to those who strongly believe in the world’s oceanic creatures and are dedicated to helping them.

Thank you to Geri and R.A.R. Clouston for providing me a copy of this book!

Justine's Thoughts: Perfect Nightmare by John Saul

Perfect Nightmare
By John Saul

Pages:

365

Book Description:

When Lindsay Marshall mysteriously vanishes from her bedroom during the night, her mother, Kara, fears the worst. Their neighbour Patrick Shields can easily relate to Kara’s grief -- he is still dealing with the pain of losing his wife and two children in a devastating fire. But heartache isn’t all that draws Patrick and Kara together. He, too, senses the hand of a malevolent stranger in this strategy. And as more people go missing, Patrick’s suspicion, like Kara’s, blooms into horrified certainty. Someone is trolling this peaceful community -- undetected and undeterred -- harvesting victims for a purpose no sane mind can fathom. Kara and Patrick, alone and desperate, are determined to unmask the monster who even now is watching, plotting, keeping a demented diary of unspeakable deeds. . .and waiting until the time is ripe to make another fateful move.

A quote:

All she wanted to do was slip into that blissful unconsciousness where there was no pain, no fear, no terror, where nightmares were something from which she would awaken...

Any thoughts:

• John Saul certainly knows how to tell a story with such words that can make you cringe. The plot itself was enough to make the hair on the back of my neck stand on end, especially when I read the diary entries the “monster” had written. Boy, that was creepy, but this is one of the things why Perfect Nightmare is such a great thriller/suspense novel.

• It’s the first one I’ve read, to be honest. I never really bothered to try and pick one out, but once I saw a review about it, which outlined how great of a novel it is, I decided to give it a shot. Then after I read it, I was glad I did because this is so good, I want to keep reading more of John Saul’s books, which are also of the thriller/suspense genre. So I should definitely keep that in mind.

• One of the thoughts I had throughout the novel was “Poor, Kara.” It was difficult to understand what she was feeling, what she was going through and how she could possibly cope with the situations she was in. But she doesn’t give up; she’s determined to find her daughter, because she believes she’s still out there, somewhere. The dreams she have keep her hopeful. It was like there was a connection between her and Lindsay that keeps her hopes up.

• The psychopath...or the “monster”, as he was described, is really that - a psychopath. A sexual psychopath who hunts for his victims undetected so he could take them to a “children’s playhouse” and do awful things to them. His diary entries will make you shudder, as I’ve said before, because of the reasons for his doings. They’re just so horrible and insane.

• There’s an unexpected twist at the end of the novel, which is when the monster is unmasked. Of course, I’ve been trying to figure out who it was the whole time. And once only did the actual character popped in my mind. I was never really sure, though, because it couldn’t be. However, once things were explained, it all made sense.

• Written in third person through the eyes of different characters in each chapter, this book will keep you turning the pages, just to, you know, take a tiny peek. But really, it’s a page turner, one that’ll be difficult to put down.