Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman (Goodreads Author)

Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved it from start to finish. Hope to see Britt-Marie again in another book. And oh how I hope Backman revisits Borg sometime in the near future. Packed full of vivid characters with interesting stories that were just hinted at.

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Beartown (Beartown, #1)

Beartown by Fredrik Backman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Loved it!!! I made the mistake of reading Us Against You first so I expected to hate Kevin but I didn't. I am not excusing his raping Maya there is no excuse for that but I don't think it was entirely his fault, there was enough blame for everyone. The father that told him "Successful people take what they want", the Mother the pretended not to know he was throwing parties when she was out of town with his Father, Maya's parents who allowed a 15 year old girl to go to the party (and OK she lied about what she was doing but the Mom admitted she knew where Maya and Ana were going)., the coach David that looked the other way when rape jokes were told. So at the end of the book in 10 years time I am glad Kevin has a happy ending.

I also expected to loath the town for taking Kevin's side but most of them in the end did stand by Maya and her family. And Maya did make it hard to believe her by waiting to come forward and by destroying some of the evidence, in a misguided effort to protect her family. I am glad that in 10 years time she is a successful singer.

Benji, knew Maya and Ana shouldn't be at the party he told Kevin "he didn't party with little girls" and then left.I often wondered if things would have been different if he stayed. Nevertheless afterward Benji did what he could to protect Maya.

Amat actually interrupted them and gave Maya a chance to get away, he tried to follow Maya and begged her to call the cops. I often wonder if things would have turned out differently if she had. Perhaps the town wouldn't have been so divided. And Amat did speak up for her and tell what he saw both at the Hockey Club meeting where they were going to sack Peter and later to the police.

And the most unlikely heroes of all The Pack stood by Peter and Maya allowing Peter to keep his job. (sigh) I really can't blame The Pack for not liking Peter he won't fight (not even for his friends) and he isn't loyal (not even to the Pack that saved his job and protected his kids) two qualities they most admire.

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Us Against You (Beartown, #2)

Us Against You by Fredrik Backman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I wish I had read Beartown first but this book is outstanding, it's not so much about hockey as it's about people.

The book begins with the rapist Kevin leaving town after Maya confronts him with a gun. Throughout the book Maya and her family will try to put their lives back together, and Maya's friendship with Ana while a source of solace in the beginning will be tested after Ana makes a terrible mistake that almost destroys Benji's life.

Vidar will find love with Ana, and purpose in the hockey ring, they should have gotten a happy ever after but the feud between Hed and Beartown will end their chance at happiness in a brutal way.

Teemu will lose the brother he loves but will find it in his heart to accept Benji for who he is.

And through the tragedies and misunderstandings between Hed and Beartown, and Peter Andersson and the Pack, Richard Theo will manipulate and spin his webs to further his agenda.



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The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I really don't understand why this book got such a high rating I found it very disappointing. Still not sure of the plot and hated the way it flip flopped from past to present and planet to planet. Both planets had problems.

Shevek a scientist is born on Anarres (the moon) which is isolationist. Shevek wins an award on Urras and travels there even though the people on Anarres view him as a traitor. Eventually he returns home to his partner and children.

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Study/Home Office

Since Hubby turned our Eldest son's room into an Exercise room when he moved out, I wanted a sleeper sofa for when we had guest. But space is limited in the Study so I needed something small. I found this full size sleeper in a style I liked, and a size that would work. It's the Serta Augustine Sofa Bed. I love the gray color with the Glass Slipper Walls. When it first arrived it was minus a pillow but they sent a replacement right away. I ordered it from Bed and Bath.

The Secret Commonwealth (The Book of Dust, #2) by Philip Pullman

The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Not a fan of cliffhanger endings especially when I have to wait so long to read the next book. This book takes place 20 years after La Belle Sauvage Lyra is a young adult (20 something), who discovers that Professor Polstead (30s) as a young Malcolm Polstead (11) rescued the baby Lyra along with the Housekeeper at Jordan College Alice Lonsdale. She also learns about Oakley Street.

Lyra and Pantalaimon haven't been getting along and when Pantalaimon leaves to find Lyra's imagination she sets off to find him. On her journey she discovers there are other people who are without their daemons. Meanwhile Malcolm has been tasked with discovering what is going on with the Rose trade and why terrorist are killing those who work with roses and destroying the plants. A great deal is made out of Lyra still carrying a torch for Will (although supposedly they will never see each other again The Golden Compass The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass (and I have to say that I am MAJORLY annoyed he wrote the books out of order. Why can't authors have books proceed in an orderly time line anymore instead of jumping back and forth between the past and the future???) Malcolm is supposedly carrying a torch for Lyra. This to me seems weird due to the age difference, the fact he has known her since she was a baby (he actually changed her nappies) and the fact they have spent very little time together.

Unbeknownst to Lyra she has an uncle (Marcel Delamare). A man who has now positioned himself to be in control of the Magisterium, a shadowy, faction-riven church organization. Marcel blames Lyra for his sister's (Marisa Coulter) death and plans to use the Magisterium to destroy Lyra. He uses Oliver Bonneville, son of Gerard Bonneville La Belle Sauvage, a brilliant young scholar who has developed a new way to read the alethiometer in his plot to destroy Lyra. Using the power of the Magisterium Marcel tries to force Alice to tell him where Lyra is going. When she refuses he has her arrested. Alice along with other prisoners (one a young boy, Anthony) is being transported by train to an unknown destination. Oliver blames Lyra for his Father's death (apparently the fact she was a baby doesn't matter to him). Oliver actually ditches Marcel and follows Lyra to the Blue Hotel where he is prevented from shooting her by Abdel Ionides who believes Lyra is the only one who can find a great treasure.

Pan finds a young girl (Nur Huda el-Wahabi) in the desert who has been separated from her daemon due to a ship wreck. He stays with her and at the end of the book Nur Huda el-Wahabi is waiting for Lyra at the Blue Hotel

Ionides began to talk, quietly, confidently, confidentially. In the fable that Bonneville knew, it was a fox, but he enjoyed being compared to a wolf, and above all else he enjoyed the praise of older men. As the moon rose higher, as Lyra in the distance slowly made her solitary way into the dead and daemon-haunted town, Ionides went on talking, and Bonneville listened. When he looked at the dead city again, Lyra had vanished.

She was out of sight because she'd turned to avoid a broken mass of gleaming marble that had once been a temple. There she found herself at one end of a colonnade, which cast black bars of shadow across the snow-white stone of the path.
And there was a girl sitting on a fallen piece of masonry, a girl of sixteen or so, of North African appearance and shabby dress. She wasn't a phantom: she cast a shadow, as Lyra herself did, and like her, she had no daemon. She stood up as soon as she saw Lyra. In the moonlight she looked tense and full of fear.
Your are Miss Silvertongue, she said
Yes, said Lyra astonished. Who are you?
Nur Huda el-Wahabi. Come on, come quickly. We have been waiting for you.
We? Who ---? You don't mean...?
But Nur Huda tugged urgently at Lyra's right hand, and they hurried together along the colonnade, towards the heart of the ruins.

To be Continued...

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The Rise of Magicks (Chronicles of The One, #3) by Nora Roberts (Goodreads Author)

The Rise of Magicks by Nora Roberts
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There was a lot in this book that made me unbearable sad; the deaths of Lupa, Joe and Mick.

I also am sad to think I won't hear more about my favorite characters in the book.

But overall I enjoyed this book immensely. Things progressed at a steady pace and THE LIGHT triumphed over the dark in the end.

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