The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty
July 2013, Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam


Synopsis on Goodreads: Imagine that your husband wrote you a letter, to be opened after his death. Imagine, too, that the letter contains his deepest, darkest secret—something with the potential to destroy not just the life you built together, but the lives of others as well. Imagine, then, that you stumble across that letter while your husband is still very much alive. . . .
Cecilia Fitzpatrick has achieved it all—she’s an incredibly successful businesswoman, a pillar of her small community, and a devoted wife and mother. Her life is as orderly and spotless as her home. But that letter is about to change everything, and not just for her: Rachel and Tess barely know Cecilia—or each other—but they too are about to feel the earth-shattering repercussions of her husband’s secret.

Acclaimed author Liane Moriarty has written a gripping, thought-provoking novel about how well it is really possible to know our spouses—and, ultimately, ourselves.

My Thoughts: If you remember, The Husband’s Secret is on my Must Read in 2014 list. I was very excited to read it and it definitely did not disappoint. I loved What Alice Forgot that I read a few months ago (and was our Literary Junkies April read), so when I saw that this book had come out, I knew I had to read it ASAP. Like her previous hit book, this one makes you think. I honestly thought I knew what this book was going to be about but it was completely different which was a great surprise. It contains loss, hurt, lies, betrayal and how different women deal with all of the above. It was a wonderful story that left me breathless and in tears at the end. It was beautifully written. I can’t wait to read more from Moriarty. I gave this book 5 stars.




Have you read The Husband’s Secret? What are you reading?

One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus
February 1999, St. Martin’s Griffin

Synopsis from Goodreads: One Thousand White Women is the story of May Dodd and a colorful assembly of pioneer women who, under the auspices of the U.S. government, travel to the western prairies in 1875 to intermarry among the Cheyenne Indians. The covert and controversial “Brides for Indians” program, launched by the administration of Ulysses S. Grant, is intended to help assimilate the Indians into the white man’s world. Toward that end May and her friends embark upon the adventure of their lifetime. Jim Fergus has so vividly depicted the American West that it is as if these diaries are a capsule in time.


My Thoughts: Buy it. Right now. Holy, wow that was amazing! Okay, first off, I love historical fiction. I also love Indians. I have Cherokee on both side of my family and personally inherited the dark hair, eyes, and olive skin from that ancestry. I love reading about Indians. 


This story captivated me from the first page. The story was incredible. This was a well researched work of fiction although it could have fooled me. I had to keep reminding myself that it was indeed fiction and didn’t really happen. I fell in love with May Dodd and her bravery. Every woman wants to fight among the Indians and brave the wilderness, right? Duh. 


Okay I would give this book 1,000 stars if I could. I feel like everyone should be required to read it. It is an instant favorite of mine and I am forever grateful to my MIL for loaning it to me, although I will definitely be going out to buy my own copy immediately. 


There is really no more to be said other than GO BUY IT NOW. Okay? Thanks.

*Disclaimer: I was given this book as compensation for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

A Place at the Table by Susan Rebecca White
March, 2014 Touchstone


Goodreads Synopsis: A Place at the Table tells the story of three richly nuanced characters whose paths converge in a chic Manhattan café: Bobby, a gay Southern boy who has been ostracized by his family; Amelia, a wealthy Connecticut woman whose life is upended when a family secret finally comes to light; and Alice, an African-American chef whose heritage is the basis of a famous cookbook but whose past is a mystery to those who know her.

As it sweeps from a freed-slave settlement in 1920s North Carolina to the Manhattan of the deadly AIDs epidemic of the 1980s to today’s wealthy suburbs, A Place at the Table celebrates the healing power of food and the magic of New York as three seekers come together in the understanding that when you embrace the thing that makes you different, you become whole.

My Thoughts: Love, heartbreak, loss, deception, acceptance and rejection – this book has it all! My favorite quote from this novel and the one I feel sums up the story best is “I think it is fair to say that I have become more interested in observing the world, rather than judging it.” 


I loved the stories of the three individuals – Alice, Bobby and Amelia – as well as how they all come together and are connected in a very creative way. I would have liked to see Alice’s character developed a bit more. I felt like the prologue was almost all we got of her life until closer to the end when it explains how they are all connected. I really liked her character and would’ve liked to read more about her.

Milk Glass Moon by Adriana Trigiani
Random House Publishing Group
July, 2003


Synopsis from Goodreads: Milk Glass Moon, the third book in Adriana Trigiani’s bestselling Big Stone Gap series, continues the life story of Ave Maria Mulligan MacChesney as she faces the challenges and changes of motherhood with her trademark humor and honesty. With twists as plentiful as those found on the holler roads of southwest Virginia, this story takes turns that will surprise and enthrall the reader.

Transporting us from Ave Maria’s home in the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Italian Alps, from New York City to the Tuscan countryside, Milk Glass Moon is the story of a shifting mother-daughter relationship, of a daughter’s first love and a mother’s heartbreak, of an enduring marriage that contains its own ongoing challenges, and of a community faced with seismic change.

All of Trigiani’s beloved characters are back: Jack Mac, Ave Maria’s true love, who is willing to gamble security for the unknown; her best friend and confidant, bandleader Theodore Tip-ton, who begins a new life in New York City; librarian and sexpert Iva Lou Wade Makin, who faces a life-or-death crisis. Meanwhile, surprises emerge in the blossoming of crusty cashier Fleeta Mullins, the maturing of mountain girl turned savvy businesswoman Pearl Grimes, and the return of Pete Rutledge, the handsome stranger who turned Ave Maria’s world upside down in Big Cherry Holler. 

In this rollicking hayride of upheaval and change, Ave Maria is led to places she never dreamed she would go, and to people who enter her life and rock its foundation. As Ave Maria reaches into the past to find answers to the present, readers will stay with her every step of the way, rooting for the onetime town spinster who embraced love and made a family. Milk Glass Moon is about the power of love and its abiding truth, and captures Trigiani at her most lyrical and heartfelt.

My Thoughts: I loved this one! It’s almost like this series gets better and better by the book. Etta is growing up and I love learning more about her character and getting a glimpse at her adulthood. This story takes us back to Italy twice. It also reveals a healed relationship between Jack and Ave Maria. All of the characters are back and there is never a dull moment. This novel is filled with loss, marriage, illness, healing, friendships and love. I can’t wait to read the final book in this series but I am going to miss these characters so much. It reminds me of the town of Stars Hollow in Gilmore Girls. I gave this book 5 stars.