Surprises, Executive Orders, and Captain the Cat

There's a new post on November Surprises blog! To read about Lucy's explicit affair (with a cat) click here.

Cystic Fibrosis in The Next Breath

Today is Thanksgiving, and as most families do, tonight we went around the table and spoke about what we are thankful for. I said that, above all, I am thankful for my health and for my family's health. I am one of several million parents who feel this way and I am lucky. I especially realize this now, since learning so much about cystic fibrosis while writing The Next Breath.

I knew very little about cystic fibrosis before I started writing The Next Breath and I don’t personally know anyone who has it. So why did I decide to write about it? Well, I wanted to put my main character, Robin, in the situation of loving someone whom she felt destined to lose. I thought it would be a good back story for her, and it would explain why present-day Robin is at once so wise and stunted.

But the more I read about cystic fibrosis, the more I realized how important it was to depict this illness realistically. People don’t die suddenly from it and there so much that patients need to do on a daily basis, like airway clearance and taking lots of medication. Their digestive systems suffer along with their lungs, and children with CF are often in and out of the hospital for weeks at a time. And when it comes to lung transplants, well, they’re the most risky type of transplant, and getting one brings on a host of all-new considerations, so CF patients really need to think hard before making that decision.

I was amazed at the generosity of so many people with CF, who share their stories online. That is where I got a lot of my research: from reading the CF blogs. The young woman who blew it out of the water was Eva Markvoort, who ran the blog, 65redroses.com. The blog still exists, but sadly, Eva died in 2010. She chronicled everything, and her brave video “goodbye” to all her readers is heartbreaking. She was suffering from chronic rejection three years after her lung transplant, and she had been told that she wouldn’t recover. But she was an amazing woman: loving, strong, and an incredible writer. There is also a documentary about her, which streams on Netflix, called 65 Red Roses. (Parents often teach their children to say “cystic fibrosis” by telling them to say “65 Roses,” hence the title. Eva added in “red” because it was her favorite color.)

Parts of The Next Breath that were really challenging to write were Jed’s hospital scenes. I wanted someone who suffers from CF to be able to read it and say, “Yeah, that’s realistic.” I also wanted someone who loves someone with CF to be able to say, “Yeah, that’s how Catherine and Robin would act.”

In the end, cystic fibrosis is only one part of The Next Breath. My aim was to write a story about loss and recovery, strength of spirit, and the power of love. I hope that’s what I did, but in the process I learned so much about what true bravery and strength really are. And I learned that even still, there’s so much that I don’t know.

Kindle Quest 2014: Dear Daughter and Bittersweet

Well, the year is coming to a close, and I've definitely downloaded more books than I've read. And as long as Book Bub, Book Gorilla, and Pixel of Ink continue to send me emails everyday with all these incredible deals, that is a trend that will only continue. Still, I've read a lot of the books I've downloaded; what I've really been negligent on is blogging about them. So, here you go, world! Two book reviews! :)

Dear Daughter, by Elizabeth Little, is supposed to be this year’s Gone Girl – at least that’s what the blurb said. It’s about Jane Jenkins, a Paris Hilton type who gets convicted for her mother’s murder, and then, ten years later, released on a technicality. However, Jane’s troubles are far from over, because the world still thinks she’s guilty, and bloggers and haters are determined to find her and bring her down. So Jane travels, in disguise, to the town where her mother grew up to look for clues and to see if she can figure out who the real killer is.

I had mixed feelings about this book. A couple of times I considered giving up in the middle, because it took me a while to care about Jane, and parts of the story dragged. However, once I got into the middle of the story, things picked up and the reader was supplied with more information about why Jane was so jaded, and I liked her more.

I did find a lot of it implausible, especially how she could have dated  all these famous men by the time she was sixteen. But the writing was ultra clever and tight, and the plot twists were well done. Does it live up to the Gone Girl comparison? Not quite, however, a lot of readers will be equally frustrated with both book’s endings, so if you decide to take a stab at it – BEWARE!

Bittersweet, by Miranda Beverly Whittermore, is another suspenseful story of privilege gone wrong. Mabel’s roommate, Genevra, comes from an elite, white-bread family, and Mabel wants nothing more than to be a part of them. So she jumps at the chance to spend the summer with them on their compound, and the entire time she’s there, Mabel tries to figure a way to become a permanent fixture in the family. This includes chatting up an eccentric aunt, falling for Genevra’s older brother, befriending her younger sister, and doing research on the family’s history. But the more research Mabel uncovers and the longer the summer stay becomes, the closer she gets to unearthing the deep, dark secrets that could bring the entire family down!

I liked this book a lot. A few times the pacing was a bit slow, but the prose was beautifully done, and Mabel really grew on me as the book wore on. The ending brought together all the plot points, and culminated in a satisfying end. I definitely recommend it. This is the sort of book that will still be good ten years from now, when it’s no longer trendy.

Ebola, Zombies, and Midterm Elections

There's a new post on November Surprises Blog! To read about Lucy's zombie run-in with her high school bully Reggie, and their argument about Ebola and politics, click here.

Kindergarten, Narcissists, and the Harkin Steak Fry

There's a new post on November Surprises Blog. To find out about Abby's first day of Kindergarten, the Harkin Steak Fry, and why FDR could never be elected today, click here.

Kindle Quest 2014 - The Husband's Secret, The Grisha Trilogy, and More

So I've been pretty remiss about charting my progress through all the books on my kindle. What's worse is, I keep downloading more so there's no way I'll ever read them all. But then again, does anyone actually read these posts? Probably not, so it doesn't really matter.

That said, I still don't have the heart to pan the books I didn't like. Yes, I did give Hopeless a snarky review, but Colleen Hoover has thousands and thousands of five star ratings on Goodreads and Amazon, so I expect she'll get over it. Other authors, who don't get reviewed often and who might have a Google alert on their name or on the title of their book, might take a bad review more to heart. So I'll just say that there were several books I'd started in the last few months, but was unable to finish because they were boring or just BAD. Oh well, it happens. Now I'll move on to the good ones.

First, I was pleasantly surprised with Shadow and Bone, the first book in the Grisha trilogy, by Leigh Burdugo.

It's another one of those books with a strong, young heroine who has to fight to save herself, the world, and the man she loves. It's like Hunger Games in that sense, but this is more fantasy than dystopian, and interestingly, a lot is based off of Russian history. The Russian names for places, characters, and fantastical elements were a little hard to keep track of at first, but I got used to it and was glad I did. This story held some genuine surprises, and it's about how everyone, even a protagonist, has a dark side. I strongly recommend it!

I definitely enjoyed Still Missing, by Chevy Stevens. It was very dark, but not so much that there wasn't a chance for things to (sort of) work out. The main character had a strong voice and the suspense was gripping. I guess I'm into suspense novels lately; I'm not really sure why.

Speaking of suspense, Omens, by Kelly Armstrong, was pretty good. It's about this young woman who finds out that not only was she adopted, but her birth-parents were serial killers. So she of course questions her identity, and her relationships with her mom and her fiance become quite strained. She sets out on her own, to this town called Cainesville, and teams up with a hot lawyer to try and prove her parents' innocence. Oh, and she can read omens and Cainesville is a spooky town.

I thought the writing was good and I really liked the human drama element of the story. The omens thing, however, got a little tedious. Still, I plan to check out the next book from the library - it's a series. I'm hoping it will be on audio. That will be perfect to listen to in my car.

Now, finally, I read The Husband's Secret, which was fabulous! I had heard a lot about it, and it had been on my kindle for a while, and I was finally in the mood to tackle it. None of the secrets were things I couldn't see coming, and I expect other readers figured it out easily too. But this book is more about WHY we keep secrets, and how we come to terms with keeping things both from ourselves and from those whom we love.

The story has three main characters - Cecelia, Tess, and Rachel, and they each are at a crossroads. Each, in her own way, becomes connected to the murder of Rachel's daughter, Janie, which happened years ago. Liane Moriarty does and excellent job of weaving these stories together, all with the through line of the Berlin Wall. Yes, it sounds strange, but I thought it was pretty brilliant.

All of these books were downloaded for cheap on my kindle.

James Brady, Real Fears, and the End of the Bathroom Ghost

There's a new post on November Surprises Blog! To read about James Brady and the conclusion to the bathroom ghost, click here.