Never Think About Love at Night by Valerie Nelan

Synopsis:

Cass Ingram throws a dinner party to celebrate buying her first house in midtown Memphis, Tennessee. Rye, Cass's perpetually single best friend, is obsessed with one of the party's married men but is seeing someone else. Another guest is planning an abortion without telling her husband of 15 years, and another is deep in a postpartum depression. Then there's newcomer Ben Lockhart, who has Cass's attention from the moment he appears.

With voyeuristic access into every character's head and heart, you'll soar into the wonder and hope of new love, then plunge into the deepest parts of love's madness. Friendships are cast into doubt, marriage crumbles, love begins. There's a near-murder, extra-marital sex, soul-wrenching confrontations, and brutal honesty that'll leave you cringing.

This book is interesting because for the majority of it, the setting does not change except for excerpts with flashbacks. It is about a bunch of friends at a house warming party. A party for the ages because everything goes wrong. Secrets are exposed and lives will never be the same.

For a book that deals with pretty harsh and saddening topics, it is a fairly light read. It is easy to get through without much effort. Not much happened, but a lot happened at the same time. It was interesting enough to make me keep reading it at least. 

I didn’t really understand the purpose of the “Chorus” parts of the book. They didn’t do anything for me.

I wouldn’t say this book was significant enough to change my life, but it was an interesting read overall.

3/5 stars Romance book with a side of dark topics.

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Home Fires by Judith Kirscht

What do you do when everything you thought you knew about your life comes crashing down around you?

Faced with finding out the truth about her husband’s affairs, Myra must decide what to do about her home life.

She struggles with the option of breaking up their home with the possibility of it having a hard affect on her two children, or facing the reality of being a used wife with a relationship that is beyond repair.

When Derek’s mother comes over to basically tell Myra to just deal with it because it is a fact of life for wives of professors, I could feel my jaw hitting the floor. She wasn’t only excusing his behavior by saying it was just something that happens, but she wanted Myra to see past it because, otherwise, it would ruin his career.

I know talks like this must happen a lot, but I just couldn’t believe it when I read it. I could definitely feel Myra’s confusion and disappointment with what she was hearing.

She decides to let him stick around until her oldest child goes away to college in the fall. She figures it won’t hit the family as hard that way. Little does she know, she is only adding fuel to the fire and everything will get worse from there.

Lies. Deception. Secrets.

Will their family ever return to normal?

This book has very harsh subject matters. It deals with divorce, pedophilia, and molestation within a family. Some scenes are very disturbing but respectfully written. In the hands of the wrong writer, that could turn out very badly. Judith Kirscht did a great job with her writing and handling of such damaging topics.

I feel like this book is aiming to please an older crowd of chick-lit readers. It has a very sophisticated and intelligent air to it.

I would label is as a summer read for sure. It isn’t too demanding and has a very light feel to it. Its rough subject matters give it a bit of a darker tone though.

The talking animals that she was drawing throughout the story were a little weird. I didn’t really understand why that part was necessary to the story other than to give her an escape from her real life. If anything, I wouldn’t have included them, but they are there so I dealt with them.

4/5 Stars

Memorable Quote: “Silence is wonderful, isn’t it? Erases ugly truths.”

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Read ahead for spoilers!