Today’s Steals and Deals at AAR…..
It has been a long time since a book kept me up until 3 a.m. reading. I tried to turn out the lights at 12 a.m but lay there unable to sleep, thinking about the characters’ journey. I had to know how it ended. Beautifully written Where We Belong is a novel teeming with a myriad of emotions laid bare after years of suppression.
Thirty-six-year-old Marian Caldwell has finally achieved her professional goals and, after two years of being in a good relationship, she is ready to move forward. She wants to get married and have a family. However Peter, her significant other, is not ready for that step. After a night out she finally broaches the subject and Peter deftly dances around it. Out of sorts and hurt, she ends their evening and goes home alone. Later that night when the doorman buzzes her apartment she is elated thinking that Peter has come by to make up. But she opens the door to her past and a secret she has kept hidden for eighteen years. Her daughter is on the other side wanting answers.
It’s on sale for 1.99 here.
This is a realistic, feel good novel about everyday heroes.
The story revolves around the lives of three close-knit sibling firefighters in a New York suburb about an hour north of New York City. Mitch Malvaso, the oldest of the clan, is a captain in the department and, despite his own troubled marriage and rebellious children, the de facto patriarch of the extended Malvaso family. Middle sister Jenny is a tough, capable firefighter and an utter failure at romantic relationships. Playboy Zach basically threw away his marriage and a relationship with his sons in order to party.
When the book opens, all three Malvasos are on the scene of a roaring fire in a warehouse that injures all of them and nearly claims the life of one sibling. Shaken by the experience, together they vow that after the fire, they won’t take their time for granted anymore and each vows to better their lives.
Promises made in the heat of tragedy are easier made than kept, as the three discover as they set out to change their lives. Mitch wants to work harder at his failing marriage and to reconnect with his troubled teenage children, but he’s struck unexpectedly by a strong (and unwanted) connection to Megan Hale, a new police detective in town. Jenny wants a baby, and she wants her best friend, fellow firefighter Grady O’Connor, to be the “donor,” but Grady wants more than that – he wants to be the baby’s father, too. And Zach wants to atone for his past actions, but his ex-wife has moved on and created a new life for herself in the two years since their divorce. He struggles to come to terms with his wife’s mistrust and his children’s wariness.
It’s free here.
Originally published in 1963, this book was considered racy at the time. I remember reading it in the 70s and thinking it was lovely. Smith, better known for A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, is a terrific writer.
In 1927, in Brooklyn, New York, Carl Brown and Annie McGairy meet and fall in love. Though only eighteen, Annie travels alone halfway across the country to the Midwestern university where Carl is studying law—and there they marry.
But Carl and Annie’s first year together is much more difficult than they anticipated as they find themselves in a faraway place with little money and few friends. With hardship and poverty weighing heavily upon them, they come to realize that their greatest sources of strength, loyalty, and love, will help them make it through.
It’s on sale for 1.99 here.
While not as amazing as The Frozen River, this dual time line story of Anastasia is a compelling read.
Russia, July 17, 1918: Under direct orders from Vladimir Lenin, Bolshevik secret police force Anastasia Romanov, along with the entire imperial family, into a damp basement in Siberia, where they face a merciless firing squad. None survive. At least that is what the executioners have always claimed.
Germany, February 17, 1920: A young woman bearing an uncanny resemblance to Anastasia Romanov is pulled shivering and senseless from a canal. Refusing to explain her presence in the freezing water or even acknowledge her rescuers, she is taken to the hospital where an examination reveals that her body is riddled with countless horrific scars. When she finally does speak, this frightened, mysterious young woman claims to be the Russian grand duchess.
As rumors begin to circulate through European society that the youngest Romanov daughter has survived the massacre at Ekaterinburg, old enemies and new threats are awakened. The question of who Anna Anderson is and what actually happened to Anastasia Romanov spans fifty years and touches three continents. This thrilling saga is every bit as moving and momentous as it is harrowing and twisted.
It’s on sale for 1.99 here.