Book Review: I Owe You One

Something comes over me when fall starts to transition to winter and there's that noticeable anticipation of Christmas. For the rest of the year, I tend to be pretty snooty when it comes to movies. I love a captivating story with strong character development, more often a drama than a comedy. However, there is something about the genre of holiday movies that has me throwing all discernment to the wind. They are formulaic as all get out, I mock them mercilessly, and yet I keep coming back for more.

I found myself reflecting on this tendency I have to recognize how these stories are far from great and are the opposite of surprising, and yet for a couple weeks every year, I seek them out. There's a comfort in knowing all will end up well and nothing truly horrible will happen; any losses or shortcomings will be redeemed by the end.

I Owe You One by Sophie Kinsella has some of those similarities for me. Fixie is our protagonist. She's clever at solving problems and has a close relationship with her widowed mother as they run the family store. However, when her mom goes abroad and entrusts the store to Fixie and her siblings, tension arises. There's the brother with aspirations of greatness, who wants to take the comfortable store and the ordinary customers they have and transform them into something flashy, in hopes of catering to a new crowd, expenses and relationships be damned. There's the glamorous sister who is self-absorbed and all about projecting the right image. And then there's Fixie, whose weakness is her inability to stand up for herself since she feels inferior to her siblings. She lets an infatuation from her childhood steer her off course. Then there's a chance coffee-shop meeting, where Fixie, doing what she does best, earns an IOU from a stranger.

I couldn't help but get annoyed by specific plot points and anxious about business decisions. I Owe You One is predictable, it's not great literature, and the characters could accurately be called caricatures. Readers will easily spot the relationships that are strong and for the mismatched ones, readers will be quick to know the right pairings (and don't get me started on how frustrated I get when there's this clear longing and yet they stay with the miserable partner until circumstances change and there's no grieving the loss as they jump, without pause, into a new relationship). I have to suspend disbelief that some of the characters make the marked changes that they do. However, there was something delightful about turning off my brain and just going along for the ride as Fixie wrestles with what it means to put "Family First," both in who falls into the family classification, as well as what it truly means to sacrifice for them. I'd give this read 3.5 stars; pick this up if you want the equivalent of a story that won't stretch you but will resolve well in the end. Given the right mood, I can see myself seeking out another Kinsella title when I need a comfortable read.

(I received a digital ARC from NetGalley and Random House in exchange for my honest review. I've used Amazon Affiliate links here; should you purchase through these links, I receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you.)

Book Review: The Red Address Book

In The Red Address Book by Sofia Lundberg, Doris is an elderly woman who acknowledges her death is imminent. She has one great niece who is dear to her; as they live in different countries, their connections are limited to Skype sessions. While Doris values those encounters, she doesn't want Jenny to be unaware of the life Doris lived as a young woman, a life that spans countries, beginning with the circumstances that cause Doris to be sent away from home at a young age to work as a servant, only to be welcomed into the live mannequin world, filled with glamour and drudgery. Love, loss, and heartache follow.

Doris takes to typing up her life story, both in hopes Jenny will be able to come into possession of the stories and to fill her empty days. The story is framed by the entries in her red address book, nearly all of whom are deceased. Some individuals only warrant one chapter, others we return to repeatedly.

Both the flashbacks and the present-day sections are engaging and their juxtapositions give us pause as we try to make the transition, much as Doris experiences when she's deep in a captivating flashback, only to be returned to the present day with an impatient caregiver and the reality of her failing body.

The Red Address Book is a solid story. It may not linger with me after having completed it, but the experience was pleasant.

(I received a digital ARC from NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in exchange for my honest review. I've used Amazon Affiliate links here; should you purchase through these links, I receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you.)

Book Review: The Rock That is Higher

In The Rock That is Higher: Story as Truth, readers are offered a collection of essays as Madeleine L'Engle describes a pivotal time in her later life. Madeleine L'Engle, at 72, was in a serious car accident that led to a long rehabilitation. As she recounts her experience and speculates on why her life was spared instead of being allowed to die, she reveals her frank reflections at that vulnerable time.

Sarah Bessey wrote the foreword; Bessey recently had a car accident that left her with a long recovery and persistent health issues/pain; during that time, she encountered this book and it had special significance for her.

While L'Engle's accident and recovery are the framework, returned to time and again, this book centers around the power of stories, how they can transcend and connect us. Each chapter focuses on a separate component of stories: "Story as the Search for Truth," "Story as a Redemptive Act," and so on. Madeleine L'Engle also uses this book to reinforce how her faith impacts her views on stories.

I found this a thoughtful book with many insights I marked because of the way they would make me pause to take them in.

(I received a digital ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. I've used Amazon Affiliate links here; should you purchase through these links, I receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you.)