A couple of good reads

Have you sampled these books yet?

If you haven't, I think you should.

The "Newport Ladies Book Club" will (by the end of this year) be a set of four books written by four different female authors (Julie Wright, Josi Kilpack, Annette Lyon and Heather Moore...learn more about them and the series by visiting  http://thenewportladiesbookclub.blogspot.com/).  The first two books in the set, "Olivia" and "Daisy," are already out.  The intriguing thing about this series is that each book covers basically the same span of time, but is written from the point of view of each of the main characters.  So, although some of the events from the books overlap, the thoughts and feelings of each piece of the story are completely unique. 

I thought this was a really fun idea and it has been fun to indulge in the first two books so far. 

I have read and enjoyed Julie Wright and Heather Moore before, but the other authors are new to me so it is fun to bathe in their literary voice and story timbre. I love that the characters are each created by different women because it forces a completely unique tone into each heroine. 

The novels (at least the first two) each delve into the life of a woman facing a difficult, but very real problem. 

Olivia is a mother of four and step mother of two.  She adores her husband and family, but her husband, Nick, has become very distant and closed of late.  As she tries to draw him back into family life and help him see how much she loves him, he seems to pull further and further away.  She watches helplessly as her life slowly tears into ragged fragments.  Olivia must find strength in new friends (welcome adorable book club ladies) and within herself to stitch things back together with a hopefully happy, if unexpected, ending.

Daisy is a forty-something mother of two grown daughters.  As her youngest girl approaches high school graduation, Daisy is desperately looking forward to returning to a life focused on her own desires rather than absorbed by her daughters.  However, an unexpected series of events leaves Daisy facing a path she never imagined and forcing her to make choices she didn't think she would ever face.  Her support system shatters (pretty heart achingly) around her and she is left to pull herself out of despair and turmoil (with a bit of help from her book club buddies).

Mostly I love that these books are so real.  These seem like women I know, women I have talked to, women I would be glad to be in a book club with (if I happened to be in a book club...oh, wouldn't I love that).  I may not know people with this exact set of trials and struggles, but their lives ring true to me and that really pulled me into the stories.

As an added bonus, the books that the ladies in the stories read for their monthly book meeting have tempted me as well.  I have put a couple of them on hold at the library and am looking forward to indulging in some new paper and ink adventures.

Anyway, I think you should read them (the Newport series books, I mean).  Click on each of the titles in my "Books Read in 2012" sidebar to learn what Goodreads has to say about the tales.