Tuesday, June 15, 2010

The Lost Hours, by Karen White



This is a good story, if not a little predictable. Piper Mills thought nothing could touch her. She'd already survived what she thought was the one tragedy in a person's life, losing her parents. Then years later she suffered her second tragedy in a riding accident that took away her greatest dreams.

In the home where she grew up, after the death of her grandfather, she discovers secrets about her family. After the funeral, the lawyer drops off an envelope that contains a key. The key, she discovers, is to a secret room. The search to understand this room and the life of a grandmother she barely knew, lead her to discover more than she bargained for.

The story is told through the journal entries of Piper's grandmother, a journal Piper realizes she actually helped bury as a child. Through the journal and other notes left behind she is able to piece together a story that allows her to realize there is much more to her grandmother, and to life, than she ever thought possible. She learns that through pain there is hope, and where there is pain there is life; and she finally learns to appreciate what she has right in front of her.

The backstory is a bit predictable at times. While the story is dispersed throughout the book in the journal entries. It is a little too easy to figure out what the secrets really are that are being hid.

The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman



This is the kind of book I love, full of mystery and a little air of fairy tale and hope. The kind of book that leaves you with a smile on your face at the end and just makes you feel good, even while the story itself was dark and sometimes dangerous.

The heroine, if you can call her that, is a dark and brooding woman who believes herself responsible for the death of her mother; the result of a wish come true. When she was only eight years old, in a spiteful moment, she wished her mother would disappear, only to wake up the next morning to find out she'd died. She spends the rest of her life blaming herself, cutting herself off from life as punishment for this one deed. She buries herself in books and in attempts to make amends takes care of her dying grandmother. As proof that her wishes do come true, she finally wished her grandmother's pain would end, only to have her pass in the night.

Returning home for their grandmother's funeral, her brother, Ned, finds her morose and depressed and decides that the best thing for her is a change of scenery. He moves her to Florida, where he now lives. On the drive down, she voices one more wish - that she be struck by lightening. Little does she know at the time that the town in Florida, where she is moving to, is the lightening strike capitol of the world. A few months later, yet another wish comes true. She lives and finds that the strike has changed her, taking away things she'd previously taken for granted and introducing her to people she never would have thought possible.

In a therapy group for lightening strike survivors, tales are told of other survivors who won't attend the meetings, people who hide out because of the powers or changes that have occurred within their bodies and minds. She seeks out one such man, known as Lazarus Jones. The friendship she strikes with him is like a fairy tale, removed from logic, yet true nonetheless. As she finds out his secrets she learns those of others around her, and learns about herself. In opening herself up, she finally finds herself.

This is a story about wishes, death, change and endless possibilities of hope.