The Mermaid of Brooklyn by Amy Shearn

What would you do if your husband left you with a toddler and an infant?

Jenny, Betty and baby Rose are left to fend for themselves when husband/father Henry just doesn’t come home from work one night. Nor the next, or the next or the next…. And when he does return, he asks “where’s the dog??? “

When Henry doesn’t come home from work, Jenny worries slightly, then decides to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge.  She has a life-changing experience that somehow involves a mermaid and before you know it, three months later, her husband comes home.   

Jenny transitions to a more independent person after she spends time with the mermaid who coaxes her into situations that Jenny would never do on her own.  The mermaid helps her search her soul and realize that she has something within herself that is important.  

I enjoyed reading this book especially because it’s about my birth place Brooklyn. The setting is Park Slope, Brooklyn and the neighbors are preppy types, some slightly upper crusty where the moms stay at home and meet at the park with their children and they all know each other and gossip about each other.

Fifty Shades of Grey/Fifty Shades Darker/Fifty Shades Freed by E.L. James

It took me entire year to read these 3 books. 

Anastasia “Ana” Steele is the main character.  She has no idea what is ahead for her when she meets Christian Grey.

She is a quiet person and Christian is far from that, in his own way.  He keeps to himself personally and is very private, even though he is the owner of a multi-million dollar corporation. 

Ana falls in love with Christian and eventually they get married – she to all the emotions he seems to possess, hence the name fifty shades.  At the end of book one she realizes that Christian is not capable of giving or receiving love because of his past. 

In the second book, Fifty Shades Darker, Ana ponders that she can recognize his needs and accommodate, but can she really handle them?   Oh, and by the way, everyone should know that these books are quite erotic.

In between the second and third book, someone tries to kill the happy couple, and more plots are added about the other characters in the story, so Fifty Shade of Grey is not just about sex. 

Atlantis Found byClive Cussler

A co-worker recommended this book and it turned out to be quite interesting.  It is not a book that I would have selected for myself, but I did enjoy reading it.  

Atlantis Found has to do with a long lost civilization found enshrined in ice and a German family who wants to start a new world by killing everyone else except themselves and the people they hire to pull of the crazy idea.

The Wolf family has genetically manufactured relatives.  Somehow they feel that they are the best of the best and they want to populate the world with their own kind.  They plan on causing a catastrophe where they will be the only survivors. They want to be “founding fathers.” 

I found this to be an interesting story that kept you in suspense at the end of each chapter.

Clive Cussler has written many books and has been on the New York Times fiction best-seller list more than 15 times.   He writes action adventure novels that sometimes involve the military, seas and/or civilizations.  

Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella

I have seen the author's writing change from one level to the next and I mean that on a positive note. 

Wedding Night is her latest romp about Charlotte "Lottie" Graveney who lives in her own world at times.

When her boyfriend Richard tells her that he has to ask her a question, she hears "big question" and assumes that he wants to propose.  She buys him am engagement ring but all he wants to know is what should he do with his air miles and if he should use them for a trip for together.  She is flabbergasted.  He then admits that most times he doesn’t know what she is talking about and just nods along.

Her older sister, Fliss, says she can be "starry eyed" sometimes.  She is well aware of how Lottie makes things more than what they really are.

When an old boyfriend comes out of the woodwork and proposes, Lottie accepts.  The craziness escalates when her very own sister sets up a plan to sabotage the wedding night until she arrives in Greece to break them up.  

I always enjoy Sophie Kinsella's novels!

GUTS by Kristen Johnston

Appropriately titled, it takes guts to write a book about your own drug addiction and the author almost died because her “guts” literally exploded.

This true account is from the actress Kristen Johnston.  Most people would know her from the television show “3^Rd Rock From the Sun.”

This tale takes you through a range of emotions - laughter, shame, shock to crying and all others in-between. 

Kirsten does not make any excuses for her drug addiction – she merely tells it like it was.

I appreciate her candor in telling this story.  This is not really a story about her entire life, but mostly about the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak – sprinkled with tales from her life. 

  

Yes, Chef A Memoir by Marcus Samuelsson

Marcus tells us about his life as an Ethiopian who was adopted by a family in Sweden.  Although he grew up in Sweden, his adopted mother made sure that he learned about where he was from.

The Samuelsson family gave him a well rounded life including a grandmother who loved to cook.  This is where Marcus developed his love of cooking.

He talks about the trials and tribulations of being a chef, especially a black chef.  He gives his personal reflections about what he learned in cooking school, different cooking styles, especially Ethiopian, and about his life in general.  

He is a winner of Top Chef and the James Beard Foundation Award.  Currently he has a restaurant, “Red Rooster”, in Harlem where he lives. 

I enjoyed reading about his life and the road he took to being a chef.

PLAY DEAD by Harlan Coben

I just read Mr. Coben’s last book Six Years and I liked it.  Naturally, for me, I wanted to see what his other books were like.  I got a listing starting with his first book published and this was it. 

In a nutshell, In 1989 Laura and David get married and David disappears on their honeymoon.  The book begins with a scene in 1960, so that leads me to believe the events of 1989 are the result of what happened in 1960.   Laura goes on her own mission to discover what happened to David because his body is never recovered.  It is alleged that he drowned, however he is or was a professional basketball player and experienced swimmer. 

I thought it was a great story and well written even though the author wrote a disclaimer in the beginning of the book advising the reader to read his recent work first, then read his older work.  In all honesty, there was only one section of the story, near the end, where there was a little confusion in the plot.  I won’t mention any detail, because them I would be giving away some part of the story – read it yourself.