I knew more than Mom in the Mother’s Day Race

May 12, 2017May 12, 2017 ~ Book Club Mom

Honor our mothers, who know better than us, but let us believe in ourselves. Thanks Mom!

The only thing I knew that summer day was that I was right and Mom was wrong. We sat stalled in my Pram sailboat, and felt the waves and chop slap against the flat front of the boat and push us backwards. And when the wind picked up, we watched in helpless frustration as the mothers in charge of the other boats sailed past us, as if they knew exactly what they were doing and we did not. It was the day of the Mother’s Day Race and Mom and I had been winning. Our lead had been huge, almost an entire leg of the race course. But something had happened.

It was one of those awkward times when, with no graceful transition, the child, with puffed up confidence, seems to know more than the parent. I was eleven and I was sure I knew everything about how to win…

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Calmer Secrets by Jennifer Kelland Perry

April 15, 2017August 24, 2017 ~ Book Club Mom ~ 9 Comments

Calmer Secrets
by
Jennifer Kelland Perry

Rating:

Samantha and Veronica Cross had to start fresh when they moved with their mother Darlene from Newfoundland’s Calmer Cove to St. John’s. Attending a new high school and making friends were their first challenges and soon they discovered the charms of Ben Swift, a handsome local boy with his own troubles. As the sisters rivaled for his attention, jealousy and misunderstandings threw the Cross family off balance into a spiral of disaster.

Calmer Girls is Perry’s first coming-of-age novel about the Cross sisters. Calmer Secrets picks up in 1998, four years later. If they thought the teenage years were turbulent, they are now learning that relationships in their twenties can be just as complicated.

Veronica is a single mom to three-year-old Henry and Samantha is an art student at Grenfell, seven hours away. Their old friend Ben may be far away at the moment, but he’s on the minds of both girls, for different reasons, and it will be a long time before the sisters forget what happened. Veronica copes by finding, then quickly discarding boyfriends. And while on break, Samantha takes up with her old friend, Kalen O’Dea. He’s charming and gorgeous, and fronts a popular cover band in town, but there’s something puzzling about his behavior. Veronica warns her, but who is she to give advice?

The real elephant in the room, however, is Darlene’s drinking. She’s met a new man, Cash, who owns the Bambury Tavern and the two work side-by-side. He’s a great guy, but can he see the problem? How long can the family look the other way? In addition, painful secrets about the Calmer sisters’ past are coming to the surface. Are these secrets best confronted or pushed back down?

Calmer Secrets is an excellent story about the difficult and unsettled years that are the twenties. As with all quality writing, Perry’s storytelling flair is enhanced by her descriptive talent. Reading about St. John’s makes me want to move there and, thanks to Perry’s introductions, I feel like I already have some friends in town. As with Calmer Girls, Calmer Secrets includes many enjoyable and relatable details about the 1990s, as well as local customs, foods and phrases, giving the Calmer series a unique brand. In addition, Perry integrates themes of family, friendship, love and second chances, giving the reader a great deal to think about afterwards. I especially enjoyed seeing her characters transform and step up when they are needed most. And an extra treat are the quotes from classic literature at the beginning of each chapter, a smart detail that ties her story to larger ideas. I’m looking forward to reading more about the Calmer sisters!

I recommend Calmer Secrets to all readers who like realistic stories about family and community in a friendly and colorful setting.

Thanks for visiting – come back soon!

Click here for a review of Calmer Girls.

A Fortunate Life by Fred H. Rohn

January 25, 2017March 11, 2017 ~ Book Club Mom ~ 37 Comments

I am very excited to share the cover to a special project I have been working on for the past year.

A Fortunate Life is written by my father, Fred H. Rohn.

Author Fred H. Rohn grew up on Hurden Street in Hillside, New Jersey, a place that played a pivotal role in his upbringing.

From bike rides and street games in Hillside, to marriage and children in the town of Madison, Rohn shares his experiences of growing up during the Depression, attending college, serving in the Navy, embarking on a business career, and marrying his best friend and high school sweetheart.

Offering an important historical perspective on growing up in the twentieth century, this memoir shares what Rohn considers to be the factors of a fortunate life. Interspersed with photographs from past and present, he shows how one small life fits, as a microcosm, into the fabric of family, friends, and an ever-changing world environment.