I Read 10 Books in April! Part One

April was a great reading month for me. I plowed through 10 books. I started an 11th one, but became annoyed with it and stopped about halfway through. Life is too short to stick with a book you are not enjoying. Here are my reviews of 5 of my April Books. I will tackle the remaining 5 in my next post.

"The Comeback" by Ella Berman is the story of Grace Turner, a child actress who is burned out by addiction and abuse from her "mentor". At the age of 23, at the height of her career, she drops out of sight, retreating to her neglectful parents' home in Anaheim. She finally pulls herself together and is ready to fight back and re-enter the world. This book escapes being formulaic and is instead a character study of someone struggling with the effects of manipulation, gaslighting, and poor self-control. It is slow-moving at times, but ultimately I found it absorbing. 3.5 stars

"The Garden of Last Days" by Andre Dubus III. This is a book by the author of "The House of Sand and Fog", which you may have read a few years back. It is a gripping story of three very flawed characters who make insane decisions throughout the book. If that sort of thing frustrates you, this may not be the book for you. I found myself pulling my hair muttering "Are you kidding me? You cannot seriously think that is ok" to the characters as I read. Basically, this is the story of April, a stripper, who can't find a babysitter and takes her 3-year-old to work with her one night. (See what I mean?) There she meets a customer with money to burn, who turns out to be one of the 9/11 highjackers living it up before his suicide mission. Then there is AJ, a troubled man who has been kicked out of the strip club for bad behavior. Their stories come together and the result was page-turning for me. As gritty and far-fetched as the plot was, I enjoyed the tension of this book. 4 stars

"Good Eggs" by Rebecca Hardiman was quite entertaining. I listened to it as an audiobook and found myself laughing out loud a number of times. The narration was very well done, and I am always a sucker for an Irish accent. The story follows three generations of a dysfunctional Irish family as they navigate through a difficult period. Millie is the feisty 83-year-old grandma who seems to be in the early stages of dementia, Kevin is her middle-aged son who is aging out of his career, and Aideen is her teenage granddaughter who is going through a troubled phase. Everyone behaves badly, but is somehow redeemed by the end of the book. Except for the father Kevin, who I never did warm up to. Anyway, the story is full of hilarious moments as the characters find their ways. Every family has its ups and downs, right? It was fun and quite entertaining. 3.5 stars

"Surviving Savannah" by Patti Callahan. I love reading a book that informs me of something I knew nothing about. Surviving Savannah is a dual timeline story of the sinking of the luxury steamship Pulaski 30 miles off the coast of North Carolina in 1838. Called "the Titanic of the South", it was a massive disaster, killing two-thirds of her wealthy passengers and crew. At the time of the event, wealthy people often escaped the heat of the South to go to their second homes in Boston or other northern cities. It was faster to go by ship along the east coast of the US rather than overland. People would pack up their valuables, including trunks of cash, and travel north for the summer. Due to an error by one of the ship's crew, the steamship's boiler exploded, causing the disaster. The story has multiple points of view and flips from the story of Everly, a present-day museum consultant, and back to some of the members of a prominent family who were thrown into the sea and managed to survive the sinking of the ship. This book was excellently written and so informative about a real-life event that somehow I had never heard of. Well researched and everything historical fiction should be. 4.5 stars.

"The Sweet Taste of Muscadines" by Pamela Terry was so enjoyable. If you love family sagas set in the South, this book might be just your cup of tea. Lila's domineering mother passes away unexpectedly and she must return to Georgia and reconnect with some difficult relatives and confront some major family secrets. Lila and her brother Henry embark on a journey that will uncover the truth and change the course of their future. Great character descriptions and secondary characters who vividly come to life. It was funny, poignant, suspenseful at times, and really a very good story. Do give this one a try if Southern women's fiction is your thing. 4 stars.

Hope you enjoyed these reviews. I'll have five more for you tomorrow!

Just a note about my rating system: My highest rating is 5 stars, and I reserve that for books that blow my socks off and will stick with me forever. 4 stars from me is high praise and means I recommend the book very much. 3 stars means I enjoyed the book while reading it and think many others would as well, but it may not have "staying power". 2 stars is kind of a "meh" experience for me, and 1 star is something I regard as a poor effort.