The Promised World by Lisa Tucker

Flap Copy from ARC: "On a March afternoon, while Lila Cole is working in her quiet office, her twin brother, Billy, points an unloaded rifle out of a hotel window across from an elementary school, closing down a city block. "Suicide by police" was obviously Billy's intended result, but the aftermath of his death brings shock after shock for Lila when she discovers that her twin - the person she thought she was closer to than anyone in the world - was not only estranged from his wife, but also charged with endangering the life of his middle child and namesake, eight-year-old William."

This engrossing tale delves deep into the power of memory and the often blurry lines between actual events and the stories we're told about those events. The focus of the book are Lila and Billy, a set of unusually close fraternal twins whose lives and stories are enwtined more than anyone can imagine. After Billy's death Lila completely breaks down, leaving her husband Patrick - a man who has always valued reason and logic over emotion - to sift through what he knows and what he is told to piece together the truth about Lila and Billy's childhood.

Often poignant and incredibly readable, this novel was very well-written and I highly recommend it with 5 stars. Every family has its secrets, some more so than others - I think Tucker truly captured the quiet darkness that exists deep in the recesses of the human mind. She also tackled the very interesting topic of twins and the unique bonds they share, sometimes to the detriment of their other relationships. This book will make you think; it'll make you call your sibling or your mom; it will certainly make you want to read more from Lisa Tucker.

The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan

Flap Copy from ARC: "The year is 1915, the dawn of the hydroelectric era in Niagra Falls. Seventeen-year-old Bess Heath has led a life of comfort and ease as the younger daughter of the director of the Niagra Power Company. But when a tragedy leaves her beautiful sister dead and her family disgraced, Bess's life is transformed beyond imagination.

At a time when the stunts of daredevils are as much fodder for town gossip as her own family's plight, when fortunes are made and lost as quickly as lives disappear, Bess must navigate suddenly unfamiliar territory. There to help her is Tom Cole, a handsome, rough-hewn riverman with a mystical ability to predict the whims of the river and the falls. His daring rescues render him a local hero - while launching a string of events that casts him as a threat to the power companies and puts Bess and Tom's future together to risk."

Set in Canadian Niagra between 1915 and 1923, Buchanan's debut novel is a historical, naturalist love story. With some characters and events loosely based on true historic figures and a looming and powerful Falls dominating nearly every page, this novel was certainly interesting but fell a little short on plot strength towards the end. I liked Bess and Tom, and was certainly rooting for them to succeed in life and love. I thought Tom especially was very well drawn - I found his deep and abiding relationship with the river and the falls to be both fascinating and a little chilling - that he was based on a real riverman of the era made him even more appealing. Their lives were perhaps overfull of tragic events, but I think that the realities of the era lend themselves well to such drama.

I think Buchanan's writing is clear and strong, and her characters are well-voiced. She captured the life of the times as well as the history and power of the Falls; she also incorporated a strong environmental message that would have been important then and still resonates now. I enjoyed the book, and would definitely recommend it with 3.5 stars - be prepared however, for a rushed and perhaps overly simple ending which in my opinion greatly reduced the impact of the novel as a whole.

Testimony by Anita Shreve

Flap Copy: "Enter a world upended by the repercussions of a single impulsive action. At an exclusive New England boarding school, a sex scandal unleashes a storm of shame and recrimination. The men, women, and teenagers affected - among them the headmaster, struggling to contain the scandal before it destroys the school; a well-liked scholarship student and star basketball player, grappling with the consequences of his mistakes; his mother, confronting her own forbidden temptations; and a troubled teenage girl eager to put the past behind her - speak out to relate the events of one fateful night and its aftermath."

What a tragic yet wonderful book about the ways in which several intertwined lives can be derailed, or worse, destroyed, in one thoughtless moment. The narrative is told from several different points of view and travels back and forth through a limited period of time - this tactic might have been confusing from a lesser author, but Shreve kept each voice so clear and distinct that I had no trouble falling seamlessly into the many stories being told.

The idea of teenagers and sex isn't new, nor is it often particularly interesting - here, though, the story was less about sex and more about reason and consequence, about the fine lines between action and reaction. Four students and one night had the power to change the course of history for themselves, their parents and their school at large - a power they never considered nor ever seemed fully to realize throughout the story. Shreve captured the various characters and kept them rich and true to life, and though I had a feeling early on where the story would end, I couldn't put it down until I got there and saw for myself. I highly recommend this book - 5 stars!

The Private Papers of Eastern Jewel by Maureen Lindley

Flap Copy from ARC: "Peking, 1914. When the eight-year-old princess Eastern Jewel is caught spying on her father's liason with a servant girl, she is banished from the palace, sent to live with a powerful family in Japan. Renamed Yoshiko Kawashima, she quickly falls in love with her adoptive country, where she earns a scandalous reputation, taking fencing lessons, smoking opium and entertaining numerous lovers. Sent to Mongolia to become an obedient wife, Yoshiko mounts a daring escape and eventually finds her way back to Peking high society - this time with orders from the Japanese secret service."

First, I wish this book had been billed as pure fiction, rather than 'based on a true story'. I'm not sure how much truth Lindley managed to include in her story - I'm not sure that very much truth is actually known about Eastern Jewel. While her life and story would be riveting to explore, this novel seems taken entirely from Lindley's imagination and relies far too heavily on the princess and her supposed sexual exploits to fuel every plot twist.

The book is well-written and was a fast and enjoyable read, but I'm left with a definite distaste for Lindley's portrayal of life in Asia during such a tumultuous historical period. Eastern and Western characters alike are presented as stereotyped caricatures of real people, while the placement of plot points in actual history seemed disjointed - time is skewed, as 'years passed' but Eastern Jewel had only aged one year.

I give Lindley 3 stars for her vivid descriptions and smooth, easy writing style, but I wish she'd chosen pure fiction and left claims to historical accuracy for another genre.

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Flap Copy from ARC: "When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. He has no recollection of his parents, his home, or how he got where he is. His memory is blank. But he's not alone. When the lift's doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade, a large expanse enclosed by stone walls.

Just like Thomas, the Gladers don't know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning, for as long as anyone can remember, the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night, for just as long, they've closed tight. Every thirty days a new boy is delivered in the lift. And no one wants to be stuck in the maze after dark.

The Gladers were expecting Thomas's arrival. But the next day, a girl is sent up - the first girl ever to arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers. The Gladers have always been convinced that if they can solve the maze that surrounds the Glade, they might find their way home ... wherever that may be. But it's looking more and more as if the maze is unsolvable.

And something about the girl's arrival is starting to make Thomas feel different. Something is telling him that he just might have some answers - if he can only find a way to retrieve the dark secrets locked within his own mind."

Kudos to Dashner for writing a fast-paced and riveting young adult novel, one that kept me questioning right along with the characters and still guessing at the end. The Maze Runner is an easy and engaging read and I highly recommend it for teens and adults alike - 4 stars.

That being said, I am extremely frustrated by the abrupt ending both to the adventure and to the book itself. I understand there's a trilogy, but I want each book to function as well as a stand-alone read, either with some resolution or with an actual ending. I was so caught up in the boys' struggle, so ready for them to solve the Maze, or at least escape it, and then suddenly we're at an epilogue, written from a different narrative point-of-view, and I'm left only with clear foreshadowing of events to come in later books. But what about this book?

I found Dashner's writing to be clear and age appropriate, and his character development was very good, especially considering that none of the kids actually have any memories of themselves before the Glade - he still created distinct and realistic personality traits and flaws. But I was disappointed at the end of my reading - I will certainly look for the next book in the series, but I wish I felt like I had truly finished this one!

Mercury in Retrograde by Paula Froelich

Flap Copy from ARC: "In this debut novel, the lives of three women intersect when they each decide to move into the same SoHo apartment building. Penelope Mercury is an intrepid reporter at the New York Telegraph who spends her days pounding the pavement in every borough to meet the unreasonable demands of her boss. She aspires to covering courtroom drama for the paper, but on one disastrous day, instead of being promited, she gets fired. Lena 'Lipstick Carcrash' Lippencrass is an Upper East Side socialite who works at the high fashion magazine Y and loses her perfect apartment after her wealthy parents cut her off from her trust fund. And Dana Gluck is a corporate lawyer on the verge of becoming a partner who has seen her marriage and prospects for motherhood disappear, leaving her almost comatose with depression.

As these three very different women become friends, they soon discover that having their carefully planned lives fall to pieces might have been the best thing that could have ever happened to them."

Despite a mildly formulaic feel and a very happy but a little too pat ending, I was surprised at how thoroughly I enjoyed reading this book. Three down-on-their-luck women end up in the same SoHo apartment building and rebuild their lives largely through their helpful and often hilarious interactions with one another. Each character is well-conceived and carefully drawn, and watching them wrestle with personal and professional failures (and eventually successes!)was made highly engaging by Froelich's strong and confident prose. This book is definitely worth the read, and proves that even when the stars are aligned against you, anything can happen.

American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld

Flap Copy: "On what might become one of the most significant days in her husband's presidency, Alice Blackwell considers the strange and unlikely path that has led her to the White House - and the repercussions of a life lived, as she believes, "almost in opposition to itself."

A kind, bookish only child born in the 1940s, Alice learned the virtues of politeness early on from her stolid parents and small Wisconsin hometown. Alice candidly describes her modest upbringing and the tragedy that shaped her identity; she recalls her early adulthood as a librarian, and her surprising courtship with the man who swept her off her feet; she tells of the crisis that almost ended their marriage; and she confides the privileges and difficulties of being first lady, a role that is uniquely cloistered yet public, secretive yet exposed.

As her husband's presidency enters its second term, Alice finds herself increasingly conflicted. Ultimately she must confront contradictions years in the making and face questions nearly impossible to answer."

Curtis Sittenfeld's novel, loosely based on the life of Laura Bush but clearly more full of fiction than reality, was interesting and frustrating at the same time. Divided into four parts that represent the major periods in Alice's life, the book explores a coming-of-age in Riley, Wisconsin, the steady life of a public school librarian, the early days of married life and then finally the mystique of the White House. The first parts of the book were definitely more engaging and better written - by the time we hit the grat denouement, I was so tired of Alice and Charlie that I couldn't have cared less.

My biggest frustration came from the face that Alice is a study in contradictions, some too implausible for me to bear. She's a well-read, intelligent woman who makes every effort never to speak for herself. She is actively passive, always holding back, soothing ruffled feathers and letting her own thoughts and needs fall by the wayside. She is a liberal Democrat who marries into a staunchly Republican family and somehow supports her husband's political ambitions.

As a complex look at marriage, loyalty, responsibility and choice, Sittenfeld's third novel succeeds and even shines. But as a story that should engage and question the reader, the book falls a bit short. Still worth the read though, if only for the voyeuristic thrill of a novel that may contain just a bit of truth!