Then Came You

For those of you who despise ChickLit? Close this window and check back in about a week. For those of you that adore those fluffy, feel good novels that sometimes touch on more difficult subject matter? This novel is for you.

In Then Came You, Jennifer Weiner ties together (using a surrogate pregnancy) four women who's lives couldn't be more different. India is a forty something semi successful woman who has reinvented herself for the sole purpose of attracting an extremely rich husband. Jules is a Princeton senior looking for a way to save her addict Father from himself. Annie is a housewife struggling with finances in her otherwise happy family. And lastly, Bettina is the daughter of an exceedingly successful and wealthy business man with her own set of familial issues.

This book isn't going to go down in history as an incredible book, but I rather enjoyed it. Discovering the backstories of these four woman will pull on your heartstrings just a bit as they each struggle to find their place, really. Unexpected emotions (on the part of the characters, perhaps not so much as a reader) unfurl and complicate matters more than you would initially guess in what I would consider a beach read.

My mother lent me this book months ago, during a visit (since I had either finished what I was reading, or forgotten to bring a book at all; which would be entirely unlike me, but still possible), and I forgot to take it home with me to finish. That being said? Once I finished my previous read, I was through the remaining couple of hundred pages in a flash. Weiner's characters are well written, and what I would deem 'real'. You can picture all of these women easily in their different walks of life. Their problems and pasts, though while very different, shape them into the strong woman they all are, in their own way.

I found myself feeling different things throughout this novel, as you relate (on some level) to each of the characters. We have all known someone who suffered addiction that we prayed would recover. We all know (or have heard about) a woman who is seemingly with a man simply for his wealth. We all have family politics we have had to deal with at one time or another. Most of us have felt imbalance in our relationships, and struggled to make things right. The way they were.

If you are looking for something quick and easy during this not so quick and easy time? Give this one a try. It's not chock full of romance (for those of you that are on the fence about such novels), and there are certainly some parts that are fairly mirthful. Go in with no expectations. Let's be honest. It's still ChickLit.

Once again, dear reader. Stay safe.

Something in the Water

No. It isn't sharks.

This thriller was on Reese's list; and I must say that I was somewhat disappointed. I supposed having read so many thrillers makes you a bit more critical.

Erin is set to marry Mark, the love of her life in London. He loses his job, things get tense. They make it through, and honeymoon in gorgeous Bora Bora (you're jealous, right? I know picturing those over the water bungalows, and endless blue skies has me seeing a bit of green lol.) Life is blissful for the newlyweds. Until (you guessed it) they find something in the water. And in all likelihood, not what you would expect.

Between filming her documentary, and dealing with life after Bora Bora, Erin's life (and Mark's as well, of course) is turned upside down. She becomes entangled in things she never would have dreamed of, but finds thrilling alongside her handsome and intelligent new husband. An adventure all its own. Until (of course) things become more serious. Because, let's be honest. They always do in these types of novels.

The first chapter of this read takes place nearly at the end of the novel; rewinds to before anything at all happened, and shows you how it got to that point. I do understand that perhaps Steadman expected to engross readers from that first chapter... and I'm sure that for many readers it had them turning pages quickly, wanting to see exactly the circumstances that lead to that first chapter. For me personally? I would rather be 100 percent surprised by the ending in a thriller. (Which, if you have read enough of them, can be difficult enough without any hint of the ending at the very start of the book.)

Not exactly a ringing endorsement, is it? I didn't hate this novel, I swear. It does make me smirk after reading it to see such praise on the blurb. "Superbly written, clever and gripping" is just one of the brief reviews included. While I cannot deny that the author wrote well, I didn't find it all that clever, or gripping. But, we're all entitled to our own opinions, right?

That's all for now, readers. Stay safe.

The Familiars

From the speed with which this post follows my last, I'm sure you can tell this book must have been a good one. The title caught my eye while browsing the stacks, the colourful illustration pretty much had me sold; and after reading the book flap, I had to read this book. Set in 1612, in England, the young Mistress of an elegant manor (Gawthorpe) is having trouble carrying her pregnancies to term. After discovering a letter between her husband and a physician indicating that if "she finds herself once more in childbed, she will not survive it and her earthly life will come to an end", Fleetwood Shuttleworth becomes increasingly desperate to produce an heir and child for husband.

At the opening of this novel, Fleetwood already finds herself pregnant with the child that could end her life. She feels like a failure. Encouraged by her husband, chastised by her hateful mother, she feels betrayed that her husband would not have shared this news with her. She begins to doubt her worth as the Lady of the manor, of the affections of her husband. She stresses about what the servants and townsfolk are surely saying about her; a Lady of only seventeen who cannot carry a child to term.
When Fleetwood meets the mysterious Alice in the wood near Gawthorpe, things begin to change. The two woman become close, and bound to one another throughout the course of this novel.

You may be thinking that this is not the book for you. Let me bring in the other interesting element that ties this well written novel together - trials for witchcraft. You read that correctly. In case you didn't know (because I surely didn't!), the Pendle Witch Trials are listed among the most famous in English History. This particular books draws in characters that existed in real life, during the time of these trials. While Fleetwood herself is not a work of fiction, there is little known about her outside of that she was indeed the Lady of Gawthorpe. Her companion, Alice Gray? Is documented in these historical works as well (though I won't list anything further in regards to either character's place in history).

I honestly didn't think of The Pendle Witch Trials as being real whilst reading this book.. in all probability because it seems so ludicrous to think people suffered through the fear of these trials and being accused of witchcraft. In some cases, simply for their knowledge of herbal remedies! (If only they could behold the times we live in now, where people are always looking for such natural ways to deal with what ails them! SO many would be tried as witches!) I have read several articles after finishing this book yesterday regarding the trials. There are photographs of proposed sites for Malkin Tower (where the "witches" held their infamous meeting), drawings of these women with the devil, and a fair amount of information for an event that took place so long ago.

As much as I hate that mankind has gone through events such as these historically? They are very interesting to learn about (in my personal opinion. Salem as been on my bucket list since I was a teenager, for that very reason!), and I am sure I will be reading more about the Pendle Witches in the future. The Familiars is definitely an outsider's view on these events, as young Fleetwood deals with her own issues (which turn out, include far more than her pregnancy and impending death), and learns more about these accused witches and the events that brought them to the magistrate's attention in the first place.

I'm sorry to be so vague, readers. If you like historical fiction, and events such as the Salem Witch Trials interest you at all, I would for sure add this one to your reading list. Stacy Halls writes with passion, and while it takes a little bit of time to really get into; once you have, you just want to race to the end to see what becomes of Fleetwood, Alice, and the Pendle Witches.

https://historycollection.co/pendle-witches-twelve-steps-gallows/8/ - an interesting link to an article about the Pendle Witches.

**While the book photo is clearly my own, the other images included in this posy are from a Google image search**