This Tender Land

A wonderful tale of four runaway vagabonds who escape their miserable confinement in an Indian School/ orphanage during the thirties. Brothers, Opie and Albert are some of the few white kids at the Indian school, although that doesn't mean they're any better treated. Under the "black witch" they are often subject to beatings, nights in solitary confinement and hard manual labor. When things reach a breaking point they decide to canoe down the river with the good friend Moses, a mute Indian boy, and Emma a recently orphaned six year old girl who looks on the older boys as her protectors and older brothers. The stakes are high as the black witch has alerted the authorities that precious little Emma has been kidnapped, and the boys must use all their wiles to evade other vagabonds, police, and poor people who would be happy to sell them out for the reward money. Entrancing and wonderfully told; these four young characters will earn a place in your heart. It's a touching journey of freedom, discovery, and adventure.

Serena

Wow, all I can say is... what a stone cold bitch! Serena is like a magestic, powerful panther that will gobble you up first chance she gets! I can hardly imagine how Jennifer Lawrence is going to play such a vile and twisted woman later this year on the big screen, so obviously I'll have to go see the movie version as well.

This award winning novel takes place in the North Carolina mountains amidst the Great Depression and follows newlyweds Serena and George Pemberton as they build focus on building and improving their timber empire in the mountains. Serena has decided that nothing or no one will get in their way, she is a resourceful woman and all men lay in awe of her, even her husband. When she discovers that she can bear no children she decides that if she can't have an heir then neither can her husband and she uses her one handed servant to track down and kill the illegitimate son that George sired before they had met.

This is a dark and twisting tale that explores just how deep greed and lust can go. Violence ensues.

Great book, but not a light read.