The Plot

Ominous and unsettling this story of a cursed family is compelling, but leaves the readers full of questions. When a successful businessman and his wife are killed by a weird swamp creature, the man's estranged brother becomes caretakers for the two children he left behind while the police investigate to figure out what happened. Chase doesn't want to take them back to his stuffy studio and he doesn't want to stay in the house where they were murdered so he takes the kids to Maine, where the old family home is. Right off the bat weird stuff starts happening and the head of the police department is not happy to see Chase, accusing his family of always being trouble. Visions and monsters lurk around every corner. What is going on with the house and the surrounding bog and does it have anything to do with the death of his brother. The artwork is great but I have a lot of questions, I guess, I'll have to wait for part two to come out!

Olive Kitteridge

I enjoyed this book but it wasn't remotely what I thought it would be. Olive Kitteridge is the common thread between all the stories in this novel. Set in a small town in Maine, Olive is a retired school teacher who loves her son (too fiercely perhaps), enjoys in the goings on of others, and tries to make sense of her life as she ages. Some of the stories are from her perspective and many others are from other townsfolk as they view her, sometimes from a far distance. She is a bit prickly and stoic but she is also very relatable and sympathetic. An interesting and complex  look at an aging woman and then lens through which she sees the world around her and the way that others perceive her as well.

Enchanted August

Bowen, Brenda. Enchanted August. 7 CDs. unabridged. 8.5 hrs. Books on Tape. 2015. ISBN 9781101915028.

Bowen, an award-winning children's book author, makes her adult debut with this captivating beach read. Young mothers, Lottie and Rose, spy an ad for a cottage for rent on Little Lost Island in Maine. Neither can afford it, but they are desperate for some space from their families, so they place ads of their own looking for two other boarders to share the rent. Their ad turns up the brilliant (albeit publicly shamed) actress, Caroline Dester, and stodgy old Beverly Fisher, who is trying to recoup after the loss of his pet. This quartet of quirky renters fall in love with the island and its ways and despite their differences, start to befriend one another. The island is the perfect place for them to come to terms with failed careers, marriages, dreams, and heartbreak. Narrator, Sierra Boggess, does a fantastic job of bringing to life the flawed, yet beautiful characters. Verdict For fans of light, breezy, beach reads. - Erin Cataldi, Johnson Co. Public Library, Franklin, IN