The Courage Tree

by Diane Chamberlain

Eight year old Sophie has a serious kidney disease. She has had to have dialysis and treatments every day for five years. She hasn't been able to go to school, to sleep overs, or to enjoy the activities that other kids get too. Until now, when her mother puts her into an experimental treatment program (using herbal supplements) that seems to be working. So even though Sophie's dad and grandparents object strongly to the treatment and feel that by trying it Sophie is being cheated from medical interventions that could prolong her life, Sophie's mom decides to continue the treatment. Sophie feels better too, so when she begs to go on an overnight camp out with her girl scout troop, Sophie's mom gives in. However, when it is time to pick Sophie up, she is not with the other girls. This leads to a huge manhunt for Sophie who must be found for her treatments before her kidneys fail her.

Sophie has found a cabin deep in the woods where she is lost. A woman is there who has left her life and identify to free her daughter from prison, who she feels was convicted unfairly. She does not want to help a little girl because by doing so she'll put her own daughter in jeopardy. Only one daughter can have a happy ending.

Quote I liked:

"Today she's alive. Today she's having a good time. When all you can focus on is what the future holds, you lose today, for both yourself and Sophie. If your life is tied up in worrying about the future, you never enjoy what is possible right now."

(I need to remember this and stop worrying about the people in my town who gossip and cause me difficulties. I need to stop letting them steal my todays!"

What Memories Remain

by Cait London

I really liked the basic story line for this book. It's about a woman (Cyd) who still has nightmares from a childhood event that happened when she was six. Two men, blood, and the threat of the Nightman coming for her all blur together when she sleeps. Her mother who is in a nursing home with mental problems can't or won't help her figure out what happened to cause her such trauma. Her best friend from childhood (Hallie) and her best friend's brother (Ewan) try to help her unlock her memories at the same time that they try to uncover the real events that led to the death of their parents when they were teenagers. The Nightman really does exist and often taunts Cyd with glimpses of himself and by leaving little gifts. She won't tell anyone though because she is afraid they'll think she is crazy like her mom.

The Escape Artist

by Diane Chamberlain

Susanna Miller loses custody of her 11 month old son, Tyler. She knows that just because her ex-husband and his new wife (the woman he cheated on Susanna with)who are both attorneys, have money and can give him more things doesn't mean that they can be as loving and caring as she can be. She defies the court order and runs away with her son. She leaves without a word to anyone, even her best friend, Linc, who she's loved since childhood. She is able to start a new life but finds out that it is unpredictable at best, and dangerous sometimes too.

Susanna was a very likable character. I related a lot to her too, because I know with certainty that I would do the exact same thing. There is no way I would have ever let someone else raise my children just because they had more money then I did.

Plus, Susanna's ex was really slimy. He was an attorney and able to earn that much money because Susanna worked to put him through school. The beautiful home everyone raved about had been picked out and decorated by Susanna. When Susanna and her husband were still married, he didn't want the child. He even suggested an abortion when he found out that she was pregnant. Most of what he does is to keep his new rich wife happy!

Quotes I liked:

"You're hyper vigilant," Adam said.
"What does that mean?"
"It means that you're always on the lookout, as if you're expecting something terrible to happen."
"It's not that I expect someone to leap out of the shadows at me, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did. I don't trust the world much anymore. I don't trust it to be the same tomorrow as it is today. Things can change so quickly."

Thoughts:

In the end of this book, Susanna reflects that in the end, Peggy (the new wife) was really no different from her. No better or worse, and really equals when it came to strength and courage.

I wish that all people would start thinking like this and stop acting judgmental about others.

Her Mother's Shadow

by Diane Chamberlain

When Lacey O'Neill was 13 years old, she and her mother went to a battered woman's shelter on Christmas Eve to bring dinner and gifts to the residents. While serving the food, an angry husband breaks in and attempts to shoot his wife and son. Lacey's mom jumps in front and is shot and killed instead.

Lacey sees the entire thing and while dealing with her grief, she tries to be just like her mother, who people call Saint Anne. Then as an adult, she learns things about her mother that shock her and make her doubt her desire to be like her mother. As she is working through this and trying to get her life together, her closest friend from childhood dies and leaves her 11 year old daughter in Lacey's custody.

11 year old Mackenzie resents Lacey and her new home and makes life difficult every chance she gets. Lacey tries to bond with the girl and make them a family all while trying to fight the legal system to keep her mother's murder in jail instead of on parole.

Quote I liked:

"....when someone lets their emotions take over, they usually lose sight of reason."

Organize Your Corpses, Death is Never Tidy

by Mary Jane Maffini

Charlotte Adams is beginning a business as a professional organizer, so when her old teacher (who the entire town hates) Miss Helen "Hellfire" Henley contacts her and asks her to clean out the old house she just inherited, she agrees. Even though all of her friends warn her that this is a bad idea. Then Miss Henley is found dead under a pile of the debris and Charlotte becomes a suspect.

This book is entertaining, a quick read, and has organizing tips at the beginning of each chapter!

Quotes I liked:

"Tomorrow is another day. Not such an original statement, but hard to argue with, and anyways its a motto that works for me. Get off to a good start, don't drag yourself down with toxic memories from the day before, remember the lessons learned, and get going!"

We Are Their Heaven

by Allison DuBois

This book is written by the creater of the tv show Medium. It is her real accounts of communicating with the dead. While I believe in her abilities, and I really like the show, I did not like this book at all. I found it too depressing to read so much about death, especially when the chapters dealt with the death of a child.

Cypress Point

by Diane Chamberlain

Diane Champerlain is noted for writing novels that explore the complexities of human relationships- between men and women, brothers and sisters, parents and children. My goal is to read all of her books. This is book 2 for me.

Joelle's best friend Mara has a brain aneurysm during childbirth and is now so brain damaged that she can only move one arm, smile, and make a little puppy whine sound. Now Joelle and Mara's husband are brought together by their mutual devastation over Mara's condition. Eventually, their feelings grow into something more than friendship, and one night of passion. Now though, they both refuse to act upon their feelings and to feel anything but guilt for their night together. Out of desperation, Joelle calls the healer, who according to her parents, brought her back to life after she died at birth,hoping she can cure Mara too.

This turns into the story of the healer and her twin sister as well. It's a book about love, promises, hope, secrets, and regrets.

The Secrets of CeeCee Wilkes

by Diane Chamberlain

This book made me think a lot about people and how they grow up and change. How many of us are really the same people we were when we were sixteen? Oh, I know that buried inside of us there is still a glimpse of that person, but just barely.

It also made me think a lot about crime, jail, and the justice system.
It's easy to think that most criminals are that way because they have chosen that lifestyle. It's easy to condemn them and not even consider the circumstances that made them choose that way of life. Yet can we ever really say with certainty how we would have turned out if we'd been in the same circumstances? What about the everyday people who have never considered crime at all, and then make one poor decision that results in them being criminals? How about people who commit terrible crimes in their youth who never get caught and end up turning themselves around and leading a model life, who then get caught when they are elderly resulting in them being tried for crimes that were committed so long ago that you can't even imagine them being that person.

That's what this book is about. CeeCee at sixteen falls in love for the first time with an older man who really just wants to use her to help him commit a crime to free his sister from death row. CeeCee knows that it's illegal, but he makes it seem so simple and easy, and her involvement so slight that it won't matter. She loves him so badly and wants him to continue loving her, so she complies. This leads to her entire life changing. Now twenty-eight years later, she confesses her part in the crime and has to face her family, friends, and a jury.

Quotes I liked:

"A mother never loved her daughter more," Marian said. "Every mother I know screwed up somehow with her kids and only with the best of intentions."

"Can you think of a time when you felt really brave? The next time you're afraid of something, remember how you felt at that time. Remember everything about it. How it smells and feels and especially the calm or positive excitement you felt and try to carry that feeling with you into the new situation. Think of this as a mantra, 'Carry the Confidence.' Say that to yourself when you're afraid of something and let it remind you of how you felt in that brave situation."