The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain

CeeCee Wilkes is  a naïve young woman waitressing at a coffee shop in Chapel Hill in 1977. She is lonely and ripe for being duped. Regular customer Tim Gleason is sympathetic, and her innocent attraction to him turns into her first love affair. Tim, however, has designs for CeeCee that go way beyond their romance. He tells CeeCee that his sister has been wrongly jailed and is on death row for a murder he says she did not commit, and that he and his brother plan to get her out of jail. He asks for CeeCee’s help to kidnap Genevieve Russell, wife of the governor, and  hold her hostage for ransom until the governor pardons his sister. The plan Tim believes is foolproof goes horribly wrong – he doesn’t know Genevieve is very pregnant and a high risk patient. What happens to the infant and to CeeCee Wilkes over a period of two decades makes up the suspenseful plot, with rich and mostly sympathetic characters.  CeeCee goes underground, takes a new name, and has a family of her own. Twenty years later Tim is on death row for the murder of Genevieve and her baby. Only Cee Cee knows that the baby survived. Will CeeCee tell the truth about what happened to save Tim’s life, even if it means revealing her secret and destroying her family?

Diane Chamberlain is a bestselling author of suspenseful women’s fiction richly set in North Carolina.  She lives locally in the Raleigh area, as well as out at the coast, and local venues are recognizable in her twenty novels. She is often compared to Jodi Picoult in terms of writing style, and while I do see some similarities, I find Chamberlain’s characters more realistic and believable than Picoult’s (Picoult’s children in her novels are always ridiculously wise beyond their years, I find), and Chamberlain’s writing more straightforward and less symbolic and metaphoric than that of Picoult, which is fitting since Chamberlain writes suspense novels. Very good suspense novels.

Join Diane during “Meet the Authors: A Visit with Diane Chamberlain” at West Regional Library on Sunday, February 17 at 2 p.m., when she’ll talk about writing and answer your questions. Advance registration is required. Call 919-463-8500 to register.

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Spring Fever by Mary Kay Andrews

Mary Kay Andrews, a pseudonym for Kathy Hogan Trocheck, has come through again! MKA, who lived in Raleigh for a couple of years, is well-known as the creator of sassy, southern women, and Annajane Huggins is no exception.

The setting is familiar: a small town in North Carolina that revolves around a soft-drink manufacturing plant (can anybody say “Cheerwine?). Having been divorced from Mason for five years, Annajane is as surprised as anyone to find herself sitting in the church at his wedding. As you might expect, nothing goes as planned, and Annajane finds herself wondering if leaving Mason was a mistake.

The first third of the book has a lot of flashbacks and background, and it made me a little impatient to get back to the present and move forward. But once we got going, I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Pascoe, NC. The advantage to the slow build is that the relationship between Annajane and Mason seems real and understandably complex. Andrews provides an eerily accurate description of what hard work relationships are as we watch Annajane and Mason struggle to define exactly who they are to each other. MKA is a master at including witty, bright, and fun supporting characters, including the irrepressible Pokey, Annajane’s best friend, who just happens to be Mason’s sister, and perfectionist Celia, Mason’s fiancee with a thing or two up her sleeve.

The narration of the audio is especially well-done, even Mason’s daughter Sophie, and I often don’t like how narrators play the roles of little children. Whether you read or listen to Spring Fever, you’re about to enter a town you’ll never want to leave.

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Deep Dish by Mary Kay Andrews

Meet Regina Foxton, host of Fresh Start, a local Atlanta public television cooking show. Gina is a by the book small town girl from South Georgia with superb culinary skills. Everything is going great in Gina’s world until the producer of Fresh Start, Scott does something that jeopardizes the show. Because of Scott’s actions, Fresh Start has lost their sponsor, Tastee-Town and without them on board it is next to impossible to keep the show running. Gina is furious that Scott has put their careers and relationship in jeopardy. Did I mention that Scott is also Gina’s boyfriend? When Gina’s world starts falling apart her wild card sister, Lisa and D’John, her stylist are there to give her much needed moral support.

With Fresh Start on the chopping block, Scott is working feverishly to secure his career and trying to find new sponsor s for Fresh Start. Luckily, Scott is able to land Gina an audition with The Cooking Channel, if she can wow the TCC people she could secure a spot on the popular cable network. Gina is excited about her TCC audition but it will include friendly competition from local cooking show host, Tate Moody. Tate Moody is the host of Vittles, a kill it and grill it style show. Tate is ruggedly handsome and possesses not only the skill to catch his food but he can also serve it up very nicely.

The “Food Fight” will take place on Eutaw Island, a remote South Georgia island. Gina and Tate must prepare several dishes to be judged by famous restaurateurs. The catch is that Gina and Tate can only use the very basic staples supplied to them, they are responsible for scouting the island for the remainder of their ingredients. As if having to hunt and gather their main ingredients isn’t enough, Gina has bad blood with judge, Beau and Tate is not a favorite of judge, Deidre. While each contestant is trying their best to make sure they have a surefire plan for winning there is some obvious love/hate chemistry between them. Could love be in the air? With the help of lifetime Eutaw residents, Iris and Inez, Gina and Tate are able to put together some great dishes but which of these talented cooks will rise to victory?
This tale of two cooks and their mouth-watering dishes includes a good sprinkling of romance, drama, wit and southern charm. Mary Kay Andrews easily draws you into this story and introduces you to a number of great characters who keep you wanting more.

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Don’t You Forget About Me by Jancee Dunn

Ah, high school. Some remember it fondly, others with sheer horror. Jancee Dunn’s “Don’t You Forget About Me” is a delightful romp of a novel focusing on Lillian Curtis, who was the cat’s meow twenty years earlier at a suburban high school. Lillian is now 38 years old and life is going swimmingly – or so she thinks until her husband blindsides her and asks her for a divorce. She takes a leave of absence from her TV production career in Manhattan and heads back to New Jersey to lick her wounds. Back in her old room in her parent’s house, replete with the boy band posters still on the wall and old cassette tapes of songs taped off the radio ready to pop into her cassette player. Her mom is making her breakfast every day, and calling for her to get up in the morning. Cozy and comfortable… It just so happens that her twentieth reunion for Bethel High School is coming up, and she’s fixated on reconnecting with her high school ex Christian Somers, who she remembers as the pinnacle of male perfection. As she regresses (staying out late being naughty with old classmates who live in the area among other things,) she learns that the people she thought looked up to her in high school had a very different impression of her teenage self.

 
This could have been the most shallow premise and plot, but Dunn’s hilarious writing style and knack for creating characters with depth keep this novel from being a simple read. Looking back on her teen age years, Lillian is full of nostalgia since her own present life is messy. She meets ex-classmates whom she thought were friends – but who were terrified by her. She thinks Christian is going to be her salvation – and he turns out to be something she hadn’t considered. Lillian’s world is turned upside down, by going back in time. An excellent read, especially for anyone who is feeling nostalgic for the 1980’s.

 

 

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Best ‘New to Us’ Books in 2012: Sarah K.’s Picks

This year, I decided to clump my favorite “old reads” into two categories. In one, I have stories which concern themselves with the lives of women and the other is stories which play with the Western genre in unconventional ways. On one hand you have female characters who must struggle against society’s limitations and constraints on women, and on the other you have two authors who have struggled against the conventions of a dusty genre with deep-set tropes. — Sarah K.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Nowadays, most people associate the Williamsburg neighborhood in Brooklyn with hipsters and all their accoutrements, such as fixed-wheel bikes, ironic facial hair and craft foods. However, at the beginning of the twentieth century, Williamsburg was a hard-scrabble, working class neighborhood. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn follows the coming of age of Francie Nolan, who lives there with her family as they struggle against poverty and the consequences of her father’s alcoholism. Though Smith wrote with a natural lyricism and was able to capture hope and beauty despite difficult circumstances, she did not flinch from realistic depictions of unwanted pregnancies, substance abuse and child predators. If you haven’t had a chance to read this classic or haven’t read it since your youth, give it a try and prepare to be charmed.

The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford
Fans of large country houses, large eccentric British families, and outsized personalities will enjoy The Pursuit of Love. Breezy, but sharp, Mitford based her portrayal on her own family and neighbors causing much pearl-clutching and gasps of outrage when it was published. The story follows the romantic misadventures of Linda Radlett as she seeks out true passionate love and adventure. Unsentimental, the book’s candy-coating of wit hides a deeper melancholy as it examines the conflict between seeking out romantic fulfillment or settling for domestic stability.

The Group by Mary McCarthy
The Group follows the lives of eight Vassar graduates as they navigate relationships, careers and motherhood in the mid-1930s. Think of this as the Depression-era, Girls or Sex and the City. Considered scandalous upon publication in 1963, many of the themes in the book pertaining to sex and its complications are fairly tame by today’s standards. However it’s compelling to read this and see the similarities and differences in the “women having it all” discussion that American women continue to struggle with. A fascinating aspect of the book is the section centered on new mother, Priss and the proto-mommy wars into which she gets sucked. Yes, the breastfeeding versus formula debate existed even then.

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt
Reminiscent of the tone and style of Charles Portis’ True Grit, The Sisters Brothers tells the tale of Charles and Eli Sisters, as they pursue Herman Kermit Warm at the behest of the Commander, a powerful tycoon who wants to cash in on Warm’s chemical formula for finding gold. The book is narrated by Eli, a reluctant murderer who is plagued by self-doubt, yet stays in the business to remain close to his reckless and callous brother. DeWitt uses deadpan formalized 19th century vernacular as a gateway to melancholy dark humor, and his portrayal of lonely, woebegone Eli is the highlight of the book.

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
Not for the faint of heart, Blood Meridian follows the bloody trail of ‘the kid’ as he joins a violent band of mercenary scalp hunters as they tear through the borderlands of the U.S. and Mexico during the mid-1800s. A meditation on the nature of violence, embodied by the grotesque character of the Judge, McCarthy explores the myth and reality of the Westward Expansion. What elevates this book from merely a laundry list of gratuitous acts of violence is McCarthy’s piercing, hypnotic prose and surreal imagery.

Best New Books of 2012: Heidi B.’s Picks

I read lots of best sellers, suspense/thrillers, biographies, and women’s fiction. My picks for 5 of the best new books this year kept me turning their pages, and I hope they’ll do the same for you.  — Heidi B.

Trust Your Eyes by Linwood Barclay
Ray is a gentle paranoid schizophrenic obsessed with conspiracies and maps, obsessed with the computer program Whirl360 (think: Google Earth) that allows him to traverse the cities of the world. But what is that image in the window of a New York apartment building that he sees? It sure looks like a woman being smothered by a plastic bag over her head… Ray and his caretaker brother Thomas are thrown head-first in to a web of crimes and murders that leave the reader on the edge of the seat.

The Good Father by Diane Chamberlain
Travis Brown is single parent struggling in a bad economy to make end’s meet and care for his daughter baby daughter, Bella. He is offered what sounds like a great job in Raleigh, only to discover that the job actually is the offer to commit a crime, with the offer of a lot of money.  How far will Travis go to keep his daughter? Chamberlain is a master storyteller  who combines the elements of family issues and suspense in this highly readable, tug-at-the-heartstrings novel set in North Carolina.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Five years of marriage is turned upside down when Nick’s wife Amy vanishes from home. This dark, character-driven novel is told from the point of view of Nick and Amy, a young couple who are both untrustworthy and full of their own secrets. Did Nick kill Amy? The police think so, as the damning evidence mounts against him in this roller-coaster ride of a story. This is a dark, rich thriller, with a complicated plot full of twists and turns. Anyone who enjoys a story full of head games will enjoy this one.

Defending Jacob by William Landay
How far will you go to protect your child? Andy Barber is an assistant district attorney with twenty years on the job in a rural Massachusetts county.  Then the unthinkable happens; his teen son Jacob is accused of murdering a classmate and charged with the crime. Landay’s plot line and twists and turns harken back to the early writings of John Grisham. I tell everyone to whom I recommend this book, “I’ll give you $10 if you can guess the ending.” So far, no one has collected.

Elizabeth the Queen: the Life of a Modern Monarch by Sally Bedell Smith
One of the best biographies I have read – ever – of anyone. This exhaustively researched biography reads like a novel and is based on hundreds of interviews to tell the story of the woman who has ruled Britannica for 60 years. Bedell Smith has chronicled other royals as well as the Kennedys and has a knack for retelling stories that really give reader insight into the personality of the Queen. A must for any Anglophile! Grab a cup of tea and a scone and dig into this lengthy book.

Wife 22 by Melanie Gideon

I’m fascinated by fictional studies of marriage and what they reveal about people in general. Wife 22 does not, as fans of TLC’s Sister Wives might think, refer to the 22nd wife of a polygamist, but rather the pseudonym that’s been given to Alice Buckle as part of her participation in a survey about marriage.

Alice, a wife and mom who is a former playwright and current elementary school drama teacher, impulsively answers an email looking for volunteers to fill out surveys about their marriages. Answering the questions proves more complicated than she expected, especially when her correspondence with Researcher 101, her liaison at the sponsoring institute, becomes personal. Her growing relationship with Researcher 101, along with revisiting the high and low points of her marriage, has Alice wondering what she really wants. “I don’t know why,” Alice’s husband, William, tells her at one point, “you insist on keeping yourself from the things you love.” William’s lament, in many ways, sums up the novel for me. I found myself mad at both Alice and William on more than one occasion because they couldn’t seem to get together in the same place at the same time. They appeared to be deliberately turning away from one another, almost punishing themselves for some unnamed wrong. Yet this is not uncommon. Why do we restrain ourselves from whole-heartedly enjoying those things that make us happy?

For all the seriousness involved in watching someone figure out if she still wants to be married, there’s lots of humor and lighter moments throughout the novel. Alice is surrounded by a wide variety of people. She suspects her twelve- year-old son may be gay and just can’t admit it; her fifteen-year-old daughter is being stalked, albeit romantically, by an ex-boyfriend; her best friend has a fondness for hosting festive dinners of food from other cultures; and a friend from her past not only sends her daughter to live with the Buckles, but soon arrives, husband in tow, on the Buckles doorstep as well.

Alice is far from perfect, even a bit selfish, but that helped me see her as a more three-dimensional character. I enjoyed getting to know Alice, even if I was slightly disappointed not to get to know William a little better. Gideon’s technique of writing not only in prose, but also in emails, Facebook posts, and play dialogue successfully offers different perspectives on Alice’s dilemma.

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The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman

For fans of Alice Hoffman this book is a mixture of the new and the familiar. Devotees will recognize the strong women with unusual, even magical abilities. What’s new is the historical setting and time—the fortress of Masada in the year 70 CE. Also, Hoffman’s language struck me as different in this book.

I think whether or not readers like this book will hinge on their reaction to the language the author uses to recreate the world of her women. I loved the level of detail. I felt the sea salt in my hair, the rocks pricking my bare feet, the sun beating mercilessly on my head. I tasted the saltiness of the olive crop. I realized how central religious beliefs were to how the women lived their daily lives, and how gender affected their choices. I understood when they chose to break the rules and empathized at the price they paid.

One of the themes of this story is the value of words; their meaning and use are important to the characters. Words are cited as the first thing created by God. Hoffman uses this novel to give words to the women of the time, to let their voices be heard.

Words can be spoken or written. This book did for me what I love about books—it used the written word to create a world for me as real as the one I’m living in now.

View a short video interview with Alice Hoffman about the writing of The Dovekeepers on YouTube here.

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Falling Together by Marisa de los Santos

I’m a huge fan of Marisa de los Santos, so I was greatly looking forward to this most recent book (she’s also the author of Love Walked In and Belong to Me). At the end of Pen and Will and Cat’s story, am I’m still meandering over it and deciding exactly what I think. The writing, of course, is beautiful. I love the way her sentences sort of go on forever and then I’m disappointed when they come to an end. Her use of language to invoke just the right feeling is extraordinary.

This particular story, that of the friendship of Pen and Will and Cat and how it’s affected by time and distance, seems familiar, yet has the added twist that they were once inseparable friends but are brought together now only by a strange email from Cat asking Pen and Will for help. As is typical of the author, it’s told backwards and forwards, through flashbacks and memories. It’s a technique that has worked well for her, though some may be a touch irritated at the slow pace in the beginning.

This is a wonderful, lovely book that has a lot to say about friendship and relationships and whether they can really ever be gone. It’s a treat just to read her writing, as very few writers seem to make me feel the characters as she does.

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Deep Down True by Juliette Fay

This week we’re featuring some of our favorite Audio Books, just in time for planning your summer road trips. You can also click the Audio Books tag at the bottom of this post or at the top of the tag cloud on the right hand side of our blog’s home page for more great audio book suggestions!

I actually listened to this book as a downloadable audio book, and I was afraid that the narration, which I didn’t like initially, was going to keep me from enjoying it. But, as it turned out, the narrator positively influenced my perception of the protagonist. I ended up loving it, and I think those of you who like good women’s literature will also fall in love with it. Juliette Fay is also the author of Shelter Me.

Dana, a recently divorced mom, job-challenged, with a wayward and slightly goth niece having shown up on her doorstep, struggles to figure out who she’s going to be now and how to be true to herself when everyone else needs a piece of her. She’s uncertain of what she wants, and at the same time, afraid of finding out what that is. It’s my favorite kind of book that can make me feel like I’m right there, feeling everything the main character feeling. I think I especially liked that she was a bit afraid, like she was never sure she was doing the right thing. Ultimately you have to be true to who you are beyond the surface, and if you are, whatever you do is the right thing.

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