TAKING THE LEAD: LESSONS FROM A LIFE IN MOTION (Derek Hough)

I love watching dancers dance.  Gene Kelly is my all-time favorite and Derek Hough is running a close second,  He is a wholesome looking, disciplined, multi-talented young man who has won an Emmy, choreographed a gold medal winning Olympic ice dance (for Meryl Davis and Charlie White), and won a record 5 mirror ball trophies on Dancing with the Stars.  I know that some of my reading comrades will be snickering over my choice of this book to read.  I thought it would be interesting to browse through, to get a little hint of how Derek arrived at the level of success that he has achieved at age 28.  Surprise!  This is a well-written, thoroughly inspirational, non-self-aggrandizing book.  Even the little Reflections on Derek sections at the end of each chapter, which could seem a little egotistical (you're not going to ask someone to write something bad about you, are you?) offer insight into his work ethic and empathy of his partners' fears and limitations.

There are no "scoops" here, no salacious stories of back-stage romances, no tell-all details of relationships gone bad, no criticism of fellow competitors or stars on DWTS.  This is Derek's story from start to finish.  He was hyperactive as a child and was bullied often, a fact that he kept a secret from his parents.  He was a wild teenager in some respects and describes his adventures (and several lucky escapes) with fellow dancer Mark Ballas in the UK during those important formative years.  He uses various negative incidents in his life to illustrate how he used them to become a stronger, more positive person.  Most of all, his love of family and commitment to constantly changing and progressing comes shining through on every page.  Derek did plenty of drinking, smoking, and making out with girls, as many normal boys do.  What makes him unique is that he has been able to analyze his motivations, reactions, and emotions, take that knowledge, and use it to keep improving and evolving, not just as a professional, but as a person.  This would be a great book for a younger person looking for inspiration and motivation, or for anyone who enjoys Dancing with the Stars and is curious about Derek Hough.  You won't be disappointed!

HELLO FROM THE GILLESPIES (Monica McInerney)

Every year Angela Gillespie sends out a Christmas letter from Erigal, her family's sheep station in Australia.  For more than 30 years Angela has detailed the ups and downs of her family, which includes husband Nick, twin daughters Genevieve and Victoria (age 32), daughter Lindy (in her 20's), and 10-year-old son Ignatius (know as Ig).  This year has been difficult.  Lindy is back home after having launched a new and, so far, unsuccessful business, Genevieve, in California, and Victoria, in Sidney, are both on the verge of career ruin after being involved in separate scandals, an Ig has an imaginary friend named Robbie.  Nick has kept the station's financial problems to himself, trying to protect Angela from the hard truth about the future of their property, and has shut himself off emotionally from her, leaving her lonely and wondering about the future of her once happy marriage. 

Frustrated, Angela decides this year to write what she REALLY thinks in her Christmas letter.  The result is a scathing and brutally honest expose of all that she is feeling, of the mistakes and poor decisions of her daughters, her worries about Ig (whom she describes as "weird,") and Nick's coldness and distance from her.  She includes a fantasy (in which she has begun to indulge frequently of late) of what her life could have been if she had married Will, the architecture student that she was dating back in England when she met Nick. The catharsis of putting all of her thoughts and feelings on paper helps Angela to vent and to put her problems into perspective, but she realizes that she can never send this letter out as she traditionally does on December 1.  When a family crisis necessitates her leaving Erigal for a few days, all Hell breaks loose after her angry Christmas letter is accidentally sent out by email to 100 people.

Angela is a woman that will be familiar to many of us: taken for granted by her family, overworked, and in a rut.  She suffers from headaches, and when she travels to Adelaide for some medical tests a surprising turn of events results in her family seeing her in whole new light.  I won't say any more because I don't want to ruin the book for you.  I will say that Hello from the Gillespies is more than 600 pages of pure pleasure.  I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone!

BLACKBERRY WINTER (Sarah Jio)

I will never get tired of Jio's incredible ability to blend past and present so perfectly!  "Blackberry Winter" refers to a freak spring cold snap or snow storm, and when such a storm hits Seattle journalist Claire Aldrich is asked write a feature article on a similar storm that happened 100 years ago.  In 1933, single mother Vera Ray tucks in her son Daniel, reassuring him that he will be safe in their cold apartment, then leaves for her job at a local hotel.  When she returns, Daniel has disappeared.  The police assume that he ran away and the mystery of his disappearance is never solved.

Claire, who works for the newspaper owned and managed by the family of her husband, Ethan Kensington, welcomes the challenge of investigating the mystery of Daniel.  Having recently lost a child of her own, Claire can sympathize with Vera and her profound loss.  As the facts of Daniel's case emerge Claire discovers an unexpected connection with her own story.

While not overly plausible. Jio's story is written with a sense of sadness and empathy that envelopes the reader.  It's impossible not to care about Claire and Vera. 

THE HAUNTED ABBOT (Peter Tremayne)

Set in the year 660, this novel was a change of pace for me.  Sister Fidelma and Brother Eadulf are Catholic clergy as well as lovers (apparently things were VERY different back then and this was OK), traveling in a bitter storm to answer the summons of Brother Botulf, Eadulf's childhood friend.  Botulf has asked Eadulf to meet him at Aldred Abbey before midnight on the eve of the pagan feat of Yule.  Fidelma and Eadulf are greeted at the gates with the news that the abbey is now a cloistered house for men only and that Brother Botulf has been found dead.  Since Fidelma has been taken ill, the couple are allowed to rest at the abbey with strict orders that Fidelma remain in her room at all times.

Tremayne, who is a historian of note, breathes life into 7th century England.  As brother Eadulf investigates the death of his friend and the strange behavior of Abbot Cild, the reader is transported back to time, with details of everyday life in the 7th century represented in descriptions of medical care,. travel, superstitions, religious customs and life, food, and landscape.  The atmosphere in this novel is wonderful.  It takes a bit of time to get used to the Celtic names and large cast of characters, but the era is fascinating and the main characters are very appealing.  I would definitely read more!

QUEEN BEE GOES HOME AGAIN (Hayward Smith)

Haywood Smith fanes will remember Linwood Breedlove Scott from Queen Bee of Mimosa Branch (2003).  Ten years after the disastrous end to her marriage, Lin has hit rock-bottom yet again.  Lin is now 60 years old and moving back to her mama's house in Mimosa Branch.  Her greedy ex-husband has been living on high on the hog on Lin's money with his stripper girlfriend, far away from the long arm of the law.  Lin has been working as a successful real estate agent, but now that the market has dried up she has lost both her house and her livelihood.  Her father, the general, and his brother are in a nursing home suffering from dementia, her brother Tommy is a recovered alcoholic who finds himself running for mayor, and 90-year-old Mamie, Lin's mother, is trying desperately to hang on to her family home and pay for her husband's medical needs.  When Lin sells the house next door to Connor Allen, the new Baptist preacher in town, she ends up with both a commission and the
potential for a new romance. 

Queen Bee Goes Home Again will make you laugh and cry.  There's something about a 60-year-old woman with guts, determination, and incredible love for family that makes this a winner.  It's not highbrow literature, but it will touch your heart, proving that you CAN go home again.

THE LOVELIEST CHOCLATE SHOP IN PARIS (Jenny Colgan)

I didn't enjoy this quite as much as Colgan's other books (overload, maybe?), but it was cute novel featuring the parallel stories of Anna Trent and her former French teacher, Claire Shawcross.  Anna is aimless, unfulfilled, and simply treading water in her life and relationship when she is injured in freak accident in the chocolate factory in which she works.  Her accident results in a long sojourn in the local hospital after she loses two of her toes to an infection that she apparently picked up at the hospital.  Her roommate is Claire, Anna's former French teacher.  Anna was a mediocre student at best, but Claire saw promise and begins to tutor Anna, despite the pain of chemotherapy and her losing battle with cancer.

Claire has long held a torch for Thierry, the handsome young chocolatier who stole her heart the summer of her 18th year when she was working as an au pair in Paris.  After her return to England, Claire never heard from Thierry again, but despite her reasonably happy marriage, which ended in divorce, and her two sons, she has always wanted to return to Paris and find out what happened.  Through friends, she arranges a job for Anna in Thierry's Chocolate Shop in Paris.  Anna has issues with her new deformity and has lost her job in the factory, so she travels to Paris to try out a new life.  Of course, things don't work out exactly as planned.

This is a novel of healing, new beginnings, and tying up loose ends.  I enjoyed it, but I think that I never really connected with Anna, which is probably because of me rather than the author.  If you have enjoyed jenny Colgan's novels before, you'll like this one, too.

THE DIVORCE PAPERS (Susan Rieger)

If you've ever read an epistolary novel you might understand what attracted me to this book.  I wasn't sure about the subject matter - divorce - or the characters, since we never really meet them.  Rieger's novel is written entirely in a series of emails, interoffice memos, letters, cards, and legal statutes.  It is set in the fictional state of Narraganset (obviously located in New England), where young, single litigator Sophie Dielhl ends up with her first divorce case.  The reader's only insight into the lives of the characters is through their communications, formal and informal, with each other, and it makes for an intriguing novel.  Reiger is a former Dean at Yale and she is also the mother of Maggie Pouncey, author of Perfect Reader.  If you are looking for something different in terms of style, I would recommend this novel!