That Summer Reading Thing 2009: To Have Or To Hold - Josi S. Kilpack

To Have or to Hold - Josi S. Kilpack

Andrew Davidson is handsome, wealthy, and about to come into a two million dollar trust on his 30th birthday. He meets all the requirements except one. He isn't married, nor does he have any immediate prospects.

Emma is 22, and a single divorced mother struggling to make ends meet. One of those ends includes being Andrew's housekeeper.

So Andrew comes up with an idea. If Emma marries him he'll give her enough money to start life again once he comes into his trust fund. They will then happily divorce and go their merry ways.

Emma agrees seeing it as a good option and getting her out of the rut she's in.

Kilpack is a master at creating flawed characters that we can get angry at for being so stupid and there's a lot of stupid things they each do making the actual marriage look like the smartest idea. And yet we still want them to come to their senses and win.

And Cedar Fort isn't afraid to publish books where one night stands (who knew you could have a one night stand with the one your married to), drunkenness and really really bad home teachers exist.

I say bravo.

Often in LDS fiction the conflict happens to the main characters. They don't create the conflict, but in Kilpack's books (okay I only read one other, "Tempest Tossed" you can find my review of that book with it's flawed characters here) not only do they create the conflict, but they keep making things worse and worse before they come to their senses. Like real people.

Things I didn't like about the book. If Andrew was wealthy and on his way to creating more wealth, why was the 2 million dollars that important to him? Sure it's a lot of money, but not for a guy who owns two highly successful businesses and has a mansion in Salt Lake and an upscale apartment in L.A. The premise might have worked better if he were a struggling businessman, or heading into bankruptcy, or if the trust were bigger, like 20 million dollars.

And if Andrew is so handsome and rich why is finding a wife that difficult for him? He lives most of the time in LA, a mecca of beautiful young women with no children who would happily marry a guy for money.

The main plot has been done before. I'm sure there was even a TV show and several movies that involved getting married to your housekeeper for money.

And a minor point here, why is it in one scene Andrew, alone in the house, goes swimming in his pool in the nude, but later in the book he's alone in the house and makes a point of putting on a swimsuit? Sure he's baptized into the church by then, but really, if you're alone in the house, why would you put on a swimsuit?

Now, I don't generally read contemporary fiction to learn something. Historical yes, but not modern day. Yet I did learn something. I had never heard of Hyperemisis Gravidarium before. Yes, I'd heard of morning sickness, and my mother was even given Thalidomide when she was pregnant with me. Fortunately she listened to the spirit and didn't take the stuff. However HG is truly debilitating and dangerous. I could forgive a lot of Emma's behavior because of what she was going through. Who can possibly be reasonable or thinking straight going through that? I tell people that if I had ever suffered from morning sickness at all I would have had only one kid not seven. I hate throwing up, so I could never be bulimic. HG is far worse and I learned a great deal from this novel.

If you can overlook the done before main plot, this book is an enjoyable read and one I would recommend because of the main characters who even though I was angry with them most of the time, I still liked them.

Other Books by Josi S. Kilpack that I've Reviewed

Tempest Tossed

Other Books by Josi S. Kilpack

Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult

Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult

There is a reason why when you go to a bookstore there are shelves of Jodi Picoult's novels.

She's good.

This is the first novel of hers I've read, and I'm anxious to read more from this talented writer.

The story takes place in Amish country where a dead baby has been found on a dairy farm. Katie Fisher, the 18 year old farmer's daughter, is the one where fingers point, when it's been discovered that she had a hidden pregnancy and that evidence shows that the baby was smothered.

But Katie not only denies killing the baby, she denies that she ever had the baby, a pregnancy or sex. Enter Ellie Hathaway, a highly successful defense attorney who is going through her own personal issues as she ends another relationship while her biological clock keeps ticking. The last thing she wants to do is defend a teenage girl who has killed her baby, but before she realizes it she has volunteered for the job and has found herself living on the Fishers farm as a condition of Katie's bail.

Katie isn't very co-operative with her defense but Ellie manages to break down Katie's defenses to get to the truth with the help of an old college boyfriend who she brings in as Katie's psychiatrist.

Picoult writes a riveting and complicated story of a teenage girl who straddles the line between the Amish world and the "English". She does it with a great deal of respect towards the Amish, a community that although we don't completely understand and often shake our heads at, most of us have a great deal of respect for.

Her characters are multi-layered and behave in ways that are both consistent and yet in-consistent, like real people.

I often wanted to shake Katie. She was frustrating and yet I couldn't help but be on her side. How could a mother kill her baby? Yet in the book you can see how a mother could, and understand and have empathy for it.

The other characters including main character Ellie (every other chapter is told in first person from her perspective) is also multi-layered and complicated. My heart went out to Samuel, Katie's Amish boyfriend who has to come to terms with the fact that since he had never slept with Katie, someone had. Jacob, Katie's excommunicated brother is also a sympathetic character and the Bishop is a flexible and caring individual. Even Aaron, Katie's father, who appears to have the traditional inflexibility we assume with those who are devoutly religious, has reasons that aren't on the surface, as Sarah, Katie's mother, a warm and loving person, explains to Ellie.

The ending was a surprise although I figured it out several chapters previously as certain scenes and conversations clicked in my head. It was perfect and added to the multi-layered story.

I did have a couple of concerns. Why was the prosecution only looking at one possible scenario and one suspect? Why didn't Ellie look for other evidence sooner than she did? And why did Ellie jump to conclusions when Katie drops a bombshell on her. I knew what Katie meant, why didn't Ellie who had just spent every moment for the past four months or so with her.

Other than those two questions, I thought the book was well-researched and written. Picoult is a master at getting into the hearts and minds of people in a difficult situation, and helping us relate to a different culture. This is definitely a writer I will be adding to my bookshelves.

Warning: Profanity although not excessive. Some sexual scenes although not explicit and they are important for the story line.

The Plain Truth a Lifetime Movie

It's hard to take a 400 page novel with several story lines and complicated characters and reduce it down to a 90 minute movie.

The result is a movie that just highlights things without really delving into the why's or how's. There's not much character development here, there isn't much room for it even though a couple of story lines from the book were dropped.

More confusing to me is why locations, names and circumstances were sometimes changed. In the book the baby is found in the barn. In the movie by a pond. Katie's younger sister falls through the ice and drowns in the book, in the movie she disappears in the summer and drowns in that pond. Even the outcome is changed somewhat. It doesn't make sense to change such things.

Mariska Hargatay (Law & Order SVU) is excellently cast as Ellie the defense attorney, and does a good job with the material she has, but the other characters were a disappointment. Either they did not fit the descriptions or they simply don't have anything to do other than be scenery dressing.

You may enjoy this movie if you've never read the book, and indeed it is a competent movie and I would have enjoyed it more had I not just read the book, but it doesn't compare in spite of good intentions. Too little time to tell too much. Read the book. It's much more satisfying.

Other Books by Jodi Picoult

That Summer Reading Thing: The Runaway Mother by Carol Lynn Pearson

The Runaway Mother by Carol Lynn Pearson

Carol Lynn Pearson was among the first to write fiction for LDS audiences and paved the way for the writers today. When I first joined the church I would delight in picking up her "Notebook" books, little books set up like a notebook that bore funny little notes.

Shortly after, although I didn't get a parts in her plays "The Dance" and "My Turn On Earth", I helped out backstage, and I did get a minor parts in "Don't Count Your Chickens" and "The Order is Love".

Since that time she has gone through difficult experiences which she has willingly shared and in turn has become a politically vocal advocate for the gay community.

It's nice now though to read a book of humor. And this book is hilarious. I read it in a couple of hours and enjoyed every page.

Allison is fed up. She's a divorced mom with two kids who don't appreciate her and a perfect neighbor that makes all of her kids clothes. The kids are perfect too. They make their mom crepes for Mother's Day and plant rose bushes for her.

Added to that there's a well intentioned but gaggy program that the men are creating at the church to celebrate Mother's Day. Feeling already unworthy, Allison overhears why her children are involved and then determines that she's running away for the weekend.

And that's where it gets really brilliant. Why didn't I ever think of this, I wonder. Allison decides to go to a hotel for Mother's Day weekend.

Yeah! She reclaims Mother's Day. She takes it as time to celebrate being a Mom rather than a day where everyone can feel good about themselves for making their mothers macaroni cards.

Frankly, my Mother's Days suck. There's always fights over who has to make Mom breakfast and there isn't time for breakfast anyway because we have to get to church where we do the same thing there we do every Sunday. When I get home if anyone does decide to make something to eat, I end up with the dishes, either that day, or if i don't do them, I have to do them the next day.

I want to go away for the weekend every Mother's Day. I LIKE this idea.

This is a great gift for every mom, and give it to her before Mother's Day so she can make reservations at a hotel.

Aside from the brilliant idea, Allison voice is funny. Some of the story line is a little outrageous, but it's forgivable. Okay, a lot of the story line is outrageous but then I don't really know since this is about Utah saints and I've never been one of them. Are there Mom's out there who can make their kids full Scottish outfits and play the bagpipes for Halloween? And really, did it have to be Allison to save the day at the end of the book?

No matter. The book is funny. Allison is likable and completely relatable.

Now I'm going to start saving up for next year's Mother's Day run.

Previously published as the non-Mormon story Morning Glory Mother

Other Books by Carol Lynn Pearson

Welcome to Morning Shade

A Case of Bad Taste (A Morning Shade Mystery #1) by Lori Copeland

Someone in the tiny town of Morning Shade is breaking into people's houses moving furniture around, putting ugly things away, and leaving behind nice things to take their place.

This is a job for 87 year old Stella Diamond to solve. Helped (or hindered) by the local law, Hargus, she sets out to solve the mystery.

Actually this book is told in first person from the perspective of Stella's recently widowed daughter-in-law, a successful writer - although she doesn't think so since money is always tight and she's not on the best sellers lists.

Maude Diamond's husband left her without insurance. Unable to pay for Stella's seniors residence she moves Stella in with her, closely followed by her own daughter CeeCee who has also been recently widowed. CeeCee brings three dogs and before long a cat that makes the dogs tremble in fear.

Finding time to write in a house with an active senior citizen who loves to read the obits and leaves her teeth all over, a crying thirty year old and a menagerie of animals, has Maude frustrated and disappointed with the way life has turned out. Certainly not the peaceful existence she had imagined for herself at sixty.

I found this book funny. Funny enough to want to read the rest in the series. Lori Copeland has created some humorous characters here. Characters that although seem somewhat outlandish, live and breathe. They think funny things, say funny things, do funny things and have consequences that are funny. None of the characters are perfect. Stella is thoughtless, Maude is controlling, CeeCee is weepy. But I liked them all anyway. Some similes are cliched, some are new but most made me laugh.



A Case of Crooked Letters (A Morning Shade Mystery series #2) by Lori Copeland


Someone is sending out chain letters through the mail. A definite breaking of the law. What's worse, Stella Diamond, who sent out the first batch in order to make money for her family, is horrified to realize that someone has taken her idea and upped the ante. The mystery needs to be solved and Stella is on the case.


There's a slight change of writing style in this book. It's still told in first person from Maude's point of view, but we also get third person in Stella's and CeeCee's eyes.

Introduced in the town is new guy Gary Hendricks who has his eyes on CeeCee. Trouble is although he's attractive and helps out with the local scout troop, he's a practical joker to the point of being annoying, is oblivious to CeeCee's feelings and is just plain obnoxious. I kept wondering why all the Diamond women were so nice to him even though none of them wanted him around.

This book continues on with the amusing inner and outer dialogue and situations that these women find themselves in.


A Case of Nosy Neighbors (A Morning Shade Mystery 3)

There are two peeping toms in Morning Shade. Stella Diamond and Hargus are on the case before some woman dies of a heart attack. What's more, one of them wears a size 14 shoe and the other one left behind his girdle.

The Diamond saga continues as CeeCee finds a new love interest, Maude struggles with a broken ankle and surgery on her wrist just as her latest book is due, and Stella takes up driving again.

Although much of the book was funny (Stella has the church carpet cleaned on a Saturday so that all the church goers have to take off their shoes on Sunday so she can sort through them while they're not looking. Not finding what she's looking for she leaves them all in a jumbled pile), some things in the book started to annoy me. There was a lot of controlling going on with these women. Stella felt it was her responsibility to arrest any citizen caught smoking (a new bylaw in town prevented everyone from smoking anywhere), and for some reason these men went along with it. Maude felt it was her job to decide when Stella could go out and when she couldn't. And they both wanted to control the love lives of others. It stopped being endearing and became annoying.

The other thing that bothered me was the complete character change of Gary Hendricks. He suddenly became the good guy who got away. Gone were the mean practical jokes and obnoxiousness. In it's place was a kind, considerate person. I kept scratching my head trying to figure out what happened.

Still these books were all a fun read. If you like light mystery with lots of laughs, quirky characters, and a Christian viewpoint, you'll enjoy these.

Lori Copeland has written over 95 books. 95! She started off in romance under the banners of Harlequin and Avon and then later switched to Christian. Her first book was published in 1982 when she was forty. I don't know how she does it.

Other Books by Lori Copeland

LDS Fiction Summer Reading Thing

The LDS Fiction Summer Reading Thing is starting off soon. My list of books are on the sidebar, one for each week. I never finish all of them, but I always say "Aim for the stars, you may just get over the back fence. If you aim for the back fence you'll fall into the prickly bushes."

Might As Well Laugh About It Now - Marie Osmond

Might As Well Laugh About It Now by Marie Osmond

I didn't mean to read the whole thing right away. After all, I was already reading another book. I just meant to dip into it.

So I glanced through it and then read the first chapter, and then the second and before I knew it, I had read the whole thing.

Marie doesn't give us a chronological biography here. Instead she highlights particular things that happened in her life, both recently and growing up, and then relates them to what she's learned along the way.

More positive and lighter than her previous book - understandably so since the last book was on post-partum depression and this one is on finding joy in life - she relates funny stories (a blind date at an amusement park), heartbreaking stories (the birth of a niece that didn't survive but inspired one of the most successful charities ever), and introspective memories of her own insecurities growing up. So while girls like me wished that we could be as beautiful and talented as Marie Osmond, she was comparing herself negatively to all the lesser talented and not as beautiful women that she had worked with.

It just goes to show that none of us are immune to self-esteem issues.

I had to go to You Tube to look at the tango dress she talks about in one chapter. From the sound of it, it was put together with tape and glue, but you can't tell by looking at it.

What comes across here is a warm, witty woman who's made mistakes, had successes and failures, and is just trying to do the best she can.

Great fun and inspirational read.

Other Books by Marie Osmond

Merchants of Deception - Eric Scheibeler

Merchants of Deception by Eric Scheibeler

Eric Sheibeler reached Emerald status in the Amway company. Yet in spite of his high status and apparent wealth his paycheck from the company put him at the poverty level.

He was shocked when he discovered how those above him (Diamonds) actually made their money and bought their mansions and expensive cars. Money was not made from the products, a concept that was taught through the ranks, but instead came from the instructional tools that were "required" to build the business.

Risking everything he wrote this book telling of his experience in the Amway company, the reasons why he went from being financially stable to having to declare bankruptcy and unable to put food on the table, and how he lost his friends and even almost his family in his desire to obtain the dream.

This is a free e-book that can downloaded from Eric's website. Having been approached by MLM's (multi-level marketing) schemes in the past, and having a husband who would sometimes join up only to have to give up because it simply didn't work, I found this book fascinating. I meant to only read a chapter or two at a time, but I ended up reading the entire thing in one day.

Much of this stuff I already suspected and wrote about. This is must reading for those looking into Amway/Quixtar or any other MLM company. It's wise reading for the rest of us who will at one point be approached.

I applaud Eric for being brave enough to publish his experiences. Apparently other websites like his have been shut down through the legal powerhouse of Amway.

This book is bound to make a lot of people angry. Either at Amway or at Eric depending on where you stand on the whole MLM thing.

To get the free book go to Merchants of Deception.

And to read what I wrote about this subject a few years ago for my column (but wasn't run due to the editor deeming it too controversial) go to The Dream Scheme - Part 1.