Friday Finds -- 2/25

This meme is hosted by Should Be Reading.

Happy Friday! My find this week is A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan. Here is the Barnes and Noble description:

Bennie Salazar, an aging punk rocker and record executive, and the beautiful Sasha, the troubled young woman he employs, never discover each other's pasts, but the reader does, in intimate detail, along with the secret lives of a host of other people whose paths intersect with theirs in the course of nearly fifty years. A Visit from the Goon Squad is about time, about survival, about our private terrors, and what happens when we fail to rebound.

What did you find this week?

Friday Finds -- 2/18

This meme is hosted by Should Be Reading.

Happy Friday! My find this week is The Secret of Everything by Barbara O'Neal. Here is the Barnes and Noble description:

At thirty-seven, Tessa Harlow is still working her way down her list of goals to “fall in love and have a family.” A self-described rolling stone, Tessa leads hiking tours for adventurous vacationers–it’s a job that’s taken her around the world but never a step closer to home. Then a freak injury during a trip already marred by tragedy forces her to begin her greatest adventure of all. Located high in the New Mexico mountains, Las Ladronas has become a magnet for the very wealthy and very hip, but once upon a time it was the setting of a childhood trauma Tessa can only half remember. Now, as she rediscovers both her old hometown and her past, Tessa is drawn to search-and-rescue worker Vince Grasso. The handsome widower isn’t her type. No more inclined to settle down than Tessa, Vince is the father of three, including an eight-year-old girl as lost as Tessa herself. But Tessa and Vince are both drawn to the town’s most beloved eatery–100 Breakfasts–and to each other. For Tessa, the restaurant is not only the key to the mystery that has haunted her life but a chance to find the home and the family she’s never known.

I read The Lost Recipe of Happiness by Barbara O'Neal and really enjoyed it (click to read my review). Can't wait to read this one! What did you find this week?

Review -- Finny by Justin Kramon

Finny
by Justin Kramon
Random House, 2010
384 pages
*I purchased this book.

Summary (from Barnes and Noble): We meet Finny Short as an observant, defiant fourteen-year-old who can’t make sense of her family’s unusual habits: Her mother offers guidance appropriate for a forty-year-old socialite; her father quotes Nietzsche over pancakes. Finny figures she’s stuck with this lonely lot until she meets Earl Henckel, a boy who comes from an even stranger place than she does. Unhappy with Finny’s budding romance with Earl, her parents ship her off to Thorndon boarding school. But mischief follows Finny as she befriends New York heiress Judith Turngate, a girl whose charm belies a disquieting reckless streak. Finny’s relationships with Earl and Judith open her up to dizzying possibilities of love and loss and propel her into a remarkable adventure spanning twenty years and two continents. Justin Kramon has given us a wickedly funny odyssey with a moving and original love story at its core. Finny introduces us to an unforgettable heroine, a charmingly intricate world, and an uncommonly entertaining and gifted young novelist.

Review: When the reader first meets Finny, she is a scrappy sarcastic teenager that feels out of place within her own family. Then she meets Earl and the love she feels begins to change her and as the story continues a variety of events change the course of her life. The book is a great character driven novel and a surprisingly lovely love story. Though, at the heart, it is really a story about growing up and the people and places who influence how a person sees the world and themselves. The author has a wonderful writing style that just flows and the reader gets caught up in Finny's world. A really beautiful story that I could envision as a wonderful movie. Really beautiful, entertaining, and a fantastic read. Rating:****1/2 out of 5

3 W Wednesdays -- 2/16

This meme is hosted by Should Be Reading.

What are you currently reading? On Sunday night, I started My Life in France by Julia Child and Alex Prud'homme.

What have you recently finished reading? Last week I finished Secrets to Happiness by Sarah Dunn and am hoping to have a review posted soon.

What are you reading next? My mom gave me a copy of The Red Thread by Ann Hood and recommended it as well.

What are you reading?