The Sparrow Sisters by Ellen Herrick

A modern day witch hunt has ensued in a small New England town. Over the centuries, the Sparrow sisters have cultivated a garden of remedies and offered their guidance to their town's medical needs.

When a new doctor arrives, doubting their "magic", Patience Sparrow will vehemently defend her practices. Anger changes to attraction, and the doctor and mysterious woman soon pair up to assist their town. But soon, it won't be just the doctor calling her into question.

Suddenly a young boy who spent his days at the Sparrow's nursery is found dead in his kitchen, traces of the herbal remedies in his system. Patience insists all she's done is help this town. The town that once came to her to solve all their problems has now placed her in a little cell, awaiting trial.

Did she knowingly put this young boy in danger? In a witch-hunt climate, can she possibly survive? Once mob-mentality takes its hold, is there any decision left to be made? Will they find the key evidence left behind, tucked neatly under Matty's bed?

The Sound of Glass by Karen White

The Sound of Glass by Karen White

At night, the soft wind rustles the sea glass wind chimes strewn across the shingles of the house. Created in the mysterious attic, they begin to unravel a mystery and connect events and lives across the years. A story of new beginnings and rushed endings; of two women: one hoping to start their life over, the other hoping to give her son the life she no longer can.

After inheriting a new house from her grandmother-in-law, widowed Merritt hopes to start her life over, leaving behind a troubled past in Maine. She comes hoping to find solace, but instead is met by her bubbly, obnoxious Southern stepmother and her quiet young son.

Merritt's husband left South Carolina years ago and never looked back. Merritt will unravel the mystery of why he left, why he found and married her, and why she was called to this house in the low-country.

The Matchmaker by Elin Hilderbrand

Dabney has lived a safe life on a beautiful island. With her stiff collars and perfectly placed headbands, she has always exuded organization and order. Dabney keeps her life perfectly placed, masking her fear of leaving Nantucket by being the island's biggest fan. Decades ago, she passed up the love of her life to stay on the island. Twenty years later, she has a seemingly happy marriage and a college-aged daughter.

While Dabney goes about making matches among her friends and colleagues, always choosing the perfect mates, her own marriage begins to quietly fall apart. With the arrival of her long-lost soulmate, back from decades abroad, her resolve to live a perfectly manufactured life begins to crumble away. 

Dabney spends her summer days carrying on and escaping reality by the pool; believing she can live two lives simultaneously.

But looming within the bright days of a Nantucket summer a deep secret festers. Bad health ignored, perfect plans intact, suddenly Dabney may not have forever to make her mind. She may have less time than she thinks. Nantucket is a summer place with summer people. As the season ends and the crowds depart, the colder seasons settle in. And with the colder seasons comes a cold, hard truth. Dabney must face a daunting reality: that life is imperfect, that love is often uncertain, and that sometimes, we don't have all the time in the world. As time ticks away, what will Dabney choose?

First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen

The summer days are dwindling and the Waverley sisters are eagerly awaiting the arrival of First Frost. It is another enchanting, captivating book sprinkled with mystical fantasy and playful magic.

It's been five years since we last met the Waverley sisters in Garden Spells. Bay is now a teenager, crafting her special talent of knowing where people belong; Claire is capitalizing off her supreme candy-making skills; Sydney is running a successful salon. But things are slowly moving off-kilter. The salon is robbed, Bay is humiliated, Claire is losing her focus.

The Waverley sisters have small, mystical talents that are just a little above normal. Sydney can give the most beautiful haircuts that will land a client a job; Claire's candies can provide insight and support; Bay can tell others where someone, or something, belongs. This quirky crew inhabits their small North Carolina town that is full of as much charm as each of its residents.

But as the hots days of summer melt into the cool nights of autumn, a different sort of breeze blows through town. Hints of smokey aromas, glimpses of a tattered coat: a vagabond named the Great Banditi.

An old, tattered stranger has made his way into this small community. The Great Banditi makes his living off of a different sort of magic: blackmail and black magic. And he is out for his next financial endeavor. But what does he have on Claire? Can the magic of this town settle on the shoulders of the Banditi like the sweet, dew first frost settles on the apple tree?

Once again, Sarah Addison Allen writes a captivating story that releases you from reality and encompasses you in its magical grasp. You leave the story fully satisfied and happy, content with the beautifully strung together words that carry you from page to page.

Hector and the Search for Happiness

Hector has a problem. He is a very good psychiatrist and everyone wants to see him. He is a good listener, but he cannot figure out what makes people happy. He can't even figure out what makes many of his clients unhappy! Hector feels dissatisfied.

And here his journey begins. Hector will travel the world discovering what makes people happy.

Lesson 18: The sun and the sea make everybody happy. Agreed!

Hector takes notes and make lists, learning quickly that asking people if they are happy is the LAST way to find out what makes people happy. He learns that upgrading to first class makes him happy, but the next time he flies he is expecting these amenities. So he learns a lesson: comparison is the thief of joy.

As Hector continues on his journey, travelling to his friends in a variety of countries, he continues to gather observations through his experiences and interactions. The culmination of his journey will be a meeting with a professor who is attempting to quantify and measure happiness. 

So, has Hector done it? Has he gathered the elements of happiness together in one place? Can happiness be measured or it can it only be felt in moments?

The writing is simple, fun, and amusing. Hector is lovable and his journey is remarkable; with a few mishaps along the way. His lessons are pure and simple.

One day while I was reading, I heard a clip from a facebook page playing in the background. Suddenly, my ears perked up as I heard the narrator describe travelling to Okinawa, a place of happiness and longevity, and what they discovered there. He said they went to see the youngest islanders to map where this journey to health and happiness seemed to begin. Below is the clip.

For Lifelong Happiness, Look to Okinawa

Happy: A Documentary, a clip from the documentary 

All the Light We Cannot See

As legend has it, there is a gem that possesses the ability to keep its owner safe for all time. But this gem holds a curse as well, as those around its owner will suffer immeasurably. It has been locked away in the depths of a museum in Paris, but as Nazi Germany tightens its grip on Europe, the Museum curator makes an important decision. Five men will be a given a pouch with the gem, but only one will have the real thing.

Enter the museum locksmith and his daughter: Marie-Laure is a 12-year-old blind girl who unwittingly becomes the center of so many worlds. They escape to sea-side town, but nowhere in Europe is safe from the grips of war.

Werner stares out the children's home window at the mines everyday, knowing it will soon be his turn to descend the elevator into the murky depths of this dark world. But when an opportunity arises to join the Nazi army and use his passion for radios, he sees an escape route. Naive and excited, he enrolls, sending himself into a different dark world altogether. Werner has a talent for radios, and his sharp mind earns him the admiration of a specialty unit. Their job is to locate anti-Nazi radio broadcasters and terminate the sources. But one night when he hears a soft voice over the radio, quietly whispering the words of Twenty Leagues Under the Sea, his mission changes. Werner must find her and save her in order to save himself.

The Nazi sergeant has heard the rumors. He has read the research. He knows that the gem is out there; that it has left the padlocks of the museum and ventured out into the world. The throbbing tumor in his neck is like a ticking time bomb. He doesn't have long until it is too late. The Nazi leader must find the gem: his only chance for survival. But where? And with whom would the museum trust such a rare and holy sparkling gem? He follows the path of possibilities until he sees it: the towering house left standing in the rubble of the sea-side village. The only untouched refuge. It must be there.

Their paths will cross just as the destruction overtakes the city.

This is an interesting and empathetic look at the ways all suffer in war, and the small glimmering shreds of hope that they hold on to that carry them through to the light.



NPR: World War II In A New 'Light' review

Divergent/Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Confession: I saw the movie first. It didn't ruin the book for me.

What an awesome series. A futuristic survival story with surprising grit and hardship mixed in with a little bit of romance. It is a Young Adult novel and although the thickness of the book may seem daunting, it is anything but. I found it to be a quick, engaging read.

Before we begin, a quick run-down of the different factions.

In a futuristic world, what was once Chicago is now a city divided among factions. Each faction has key qualities: Dauntless are brave and strong-willed fighters; Abnegation are conservative and selfless; Candor are brutally honest and cannot lie; Amity are community- centered and dispute-free; Erudite are inquisitive and brilliant. The premise is that when people associate with those similar to them, they can create a peaceful society and avoid war. Judging by the looming fences surrounding the city, I'd say that fear is one of the main factors in this separation, not peace. At the age of 16, children are given an aptitude test where they encounter different scenarios. Their responses to those scenarios determine to what faction they should belong.

There is one dangerous category to belong to. The category that can't be contained: Divergent. Divergents are those who do not fit into a specific faction and therefore cannot be as easily controlled.

It is here that the story begins. Beatrice is divergent, a member of the Abnegation, making her choice to leave her family and join the Dauntless initiation. Beatrice is small and seemingly meek, and as she begins her training it is evident that she will encounter many struggles along the way. The largest struggle will be to hide who she is from her instructors and train herself to think like the Dauntless. As Beatrice finds her inner strength, she also finds secrets that she is not supposed to know. Something is brewing among the factions; something dangerous is about to take place. Can Beatrice stay ahead of the game before her whole city unravels?

Insurgent picks up where Divergent ends, so you'll just have to keep reading.

Of course, anyone who has read this book must now answer the question: What faction would you belong to?

Take the quiz here