The Art of Mending by Elizabeth Berg

The Art of Mending is a story of family relationships. Told from Laura's point of view, it details the unraveling of a family that wasn't particularly tight knit to begin with. Laura is 50ish and the oldest of three children. Steven and Caroline are her younger siblings. One day Caroline, who has always been "difficult", calls up Laura right before a family reunion of sorts, and alleges terrible things about their mother, things that Laura at first doesn't believe can be true.
As the story unfolds, Laura begins to reexamine her family's past and her own childhood. She realizes that things were not as happy as she thought they were and that on some level, she had known about what was going on. Nothing was ever acknowledged by any of the members of this family, including their father, who is almost a non-entity in this story. His role is one of overlooking all things, especially when it came to his wife.
Throughout this story, which was relatively quick and easy to read, I was struck by how unlikable the characters are. Even Laura, as our main character, seems to want to hide in her quilting room (she's a professional quilter) all the time and not deal with anything that happens. This includes Caroline as the injured party. She's portrayed as whiny and difficult (although after years of emotional abuse, who wouldn't be?), and Steve, the youngest sibling, is much like Laura, just wanting to get back to his own easy life, not caring much about anything other than himself.
I enjoyed very much the author's descriptions of quilting, which is something I know nothing about. I enjoy learning about something I have no experience with, and this fit the bill. It was also an interesting metaphor for a family rent apart, then attempting to stitch itself back together, even so many years later.
I found the writing to be very good, especially since such a topic can inspire some authors to extreme wordiness. This was not the case here. The writing was judicious and inspired sympathy without being overly saccharine or emotional.
I would recommend this book to all readers.

Next Up

Darkfever, the first in Karen Marie Moning's Fever Series

Since I am quite obsessed with Urban Fantasy, I thought I'd post a link to the first of the MacKayla Lane series (Fever Series) by Karen Marie Moning. I have many favorites amongst this genre, but this series rocked my world.

A Comment on Laurel K. Hamilton's Anita Blake Series

I posted below the link to the newest Anita Blake book, #21 in the series. Just to clarify, I absolutely adored this series for about the first 9 or 10 books. Then it got bad. I loved it enough to keep reading them, always hoping for better. It just gets weirder and weirder, and unfortunately, not in a good way. But I still hope....so maybe this next one will be good. Or not.

A New Anita Blake Book, #23

50 Shades of Grey

As in my previous post, a warning about this book. It does contain explicit sexual content, not necessarily any more explicit than many so-called "romance" novels (or some of my other book suggestions on this blog), but this content is of a particular sort: Bondage and Domination.
Anastasia Steele is an almost-college-graduate who is pressed into last minute service by her roommate, Kate, to interview Christian Grey, a young billionaire, for the college paper. When Anastasia meets Christian, they have an instant attraction and a romance of sorts ensues.
Unfortunately, Christian is damaged goods. He is only interested in a Dom-Sub relationship with Ana, and wants to control her in all ways within the confines of their contractual agreement (yes, he actually draws up a non-legally-binding contract to set out all of the limits and rules). Ana tries to create more of a relationship with him, and Christian comes to realize that while he is falling for her, she doesn't make a good Sub, except of course in the bedroom.
This book doesn't skirt around things or suggest as much as many books of this ilk do. Everything is plain and simple. And whoa, is it hot. The sex scenes (there are many, many of those) are well-explained, and the author refreshingly does not use many euphemisms for body parts (I am really tired of reading the word "core" for a woman's intimate anatomy).
I enjoyed the origins of the relationship between Ana and Christian, and they do seem to be very hot together.
I have a few issues here, however. One of my first thoughts about this book is how similar the characters are to Edward Cullen and Bella Swan from Twilight. Odd, I know, but there are plenty of parallells. Christian has "bronze" hair (whose hair is bronze??), he is extremely rich, tries to prevent Ana from being with him because he's "a bad guy", buys her many gifts, a car included, and is obscenely rich and young. Where Edward wanted to protect Bella's virtue is where Christian departs from the similarities. However, Ana is a virgin, like Bella, she has no idea that she's good looking, doesn't think Christian could like her because he's a "god" and she's just a plain girl, she doesn't like receiving gifts and gets mad when Christian buys her things. Also, Ana's mom is much like Bella's, on her 4th husband, and Ana went to live with her stepfather when her mom married "Husband #3" because they didn't get along. Ray, her stepfather, is quite similar to Charlie Swan, Bella's father. The list goes on. The stories themselves are not similar, but the characters are much alike in their demeanors and backgrounds.
All that being said, I did enjoy this book very much. I don't think it necessarily needs to be analyzed, as it is not intended as fine liturature, but it is extremely entertaining and very hot.
The bondage scenes are relatively mild, gaining intensity throughout the story, as Ana and Christian's relationship progresses, but they never get too out there or too odd for the average reader (at least in my opinion). Some may not agree, I suppose, so I would recommend this book, with caution for any that might possibly be offended by the content.

Coming Soon* Warning! Explicit Content!