Catching Up Again

I finished four books in November and didn't get around to blogging, so I'm doing them all here.  In my defense, November was a very busy month for me!

1) Chances Are by Richard Russo.  I had never read anything by Mr. Russo and I really enjoyed this book.  It was a book club choice and I'm glad it was!  It is about three college friends who meet up on Martha's Vineyard forty-four years after graduating from the same college.  In 1971, the three men were at the same place on Martha's Vineyard with their friend Jacy.  Jacy disappeared that weekend and no one had ever heard from her since then.  Each of the boys had been in love with Jacy while in college.  So on this weekend in 2015, three very different men got together and shared where their lives had taken them, and, again, discussed what could have happened to Jacy.  It's a good mystery with a satisfying ending.

2) The Little Shop of Found Things by Paula Brackston.  I picked this up because reading the summary on the back made me think of the Outlander series.  And that this book is the first of a series.  Xanthe was a young woman who decided to move from London with her recently divorced mother to a small town in England.  Her mother was an antique collector and wanted to open a shop in the town (Marlborough) that they moved to.  Xanthe had a gift of touching some antiques and sensing their past stories.  When she becomes enchanted with a silver chatelaine ("a decorative belt hook or clasp worn at the waist with a series of chains suspended from it"...if you want to know more, google it!). Predictably, Xanthe is went back to the 1600's while she was examining the chatelaine.  An, of course, there is a love interest that develops while she is there.  It was a sweet story, but I doubt that I will go on with it.

3) Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse.  This was another book on sale at Barnes and Noble for $5.  I knew that it was a Young Adult book, but was intrigued with the description of the story so I got the book.  The book takes place in Amsterdam in 1943.  Hanneke, a young Jewish girl, finds and buys blackmarket goods that her clients request.  One day, a client asked her help to find a young Jewish girl that she had taken in, but had vanished. Hanneke does her research and begins the search for the girl in the blue coat.  The story was well-written and, obviously, easy to read.  I'm glad that I read it.

4) And last, but not least, I spent my Thanksgiving in Mexico finishing the last of the Outlander series-Written in my Own Heart's Blood by Diana Gabaldon.  I started this book last March and just had trouble finishing it.  It is a really good read, and I finally figured out that I didn't want it to end!  But I finished it and it had a great ending!  I understand that volume nine is being written and I already can't wait to read it!