#TheWeirdSisters – Rosepoint Publishing

Rosepoint Reviews-May Recap

May proved to be very busy and confirmed that once again, I’ve overwhelmed my schedule. June will be busy with both the CE’s and our son’s birthdays celebrations near the end of the month. We’ve tossed some ideas around and, like everyone, antsy to hit the road. This year with the country celebrating 250 years, there are a lot of stories about historic sights within the state. Do you do Airbnb?

The water garden in a 26" bowl.

My little water garden still looks anemic, waiting for the plants to fill in. Decided in order to kill any population of mosquito larvae, I needed mosquito fish and a couple snails, so that’s been added along with a solar fountain, and discovered something called Rosy Red Minnows (they aren’t goldfish). They are handling the less-than-desirable container conditions as well as temperature fluctuations.

It’s taken us awhile to get the front and back yards cleaned up—still burning twigs and small branches yesterday (low wind)—trying to keep up with the grass growing inches within a week. The critters discovered the seedlings and started trying to get to them. Lots of bunnies this time of year and they are all hungry. The construction in the neighborhood behind us has pushed the deer looking for greener pastures and better hiding places.

The CE and I read or listened to a total of twelve books in May. Our major source of books is the library (audiobooks and ebooks), although we obtain ARCs from NetGalley and author and publisher requests.) The links on titles are to our reviews that include purchase information.

Rosepoint Publishing - May Recap

eBooks

The Colonel’s Revenge by Jeffrey K Schmoll (CE review-5 stars)
If Walls Could Talk by Jean Grainger
The Caretaker by Marcus Kliewer (CE review)
Christophber Hawkins and His Daring Escapes by Jeanne Brownlee Becijos (CE review -5 stars)

Audiobooks

Where the Wildflowers Grow by Terah Shelton Harris
This Story Might Save Your Life by Tiffany Crum
Trust No One by James Rollins
The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown (book club book)
Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth
Dear Debbie by Freida McFadden
The Moonshine Women by Michelle Collins
Long Road to Mercy by David Baldacci

Favorite Book of the Month

The CE is always generous with his stars and I had one five-star read in May. It was unique and fun. The favorite book for May:

Favorite for May – Mad Mable

My Reading Challenges page…I’ve not caught up. My Goodreads count will never be right now. The landing page shows 67 of a challenge of 175 with three books owing a review from May and five books behind schedule. Oops. Obviously, someone is having too much fun.

To all my dear readers and fellow bloggers, thank you so much for taking the time to check out my posts and leave your comments. Blog hopping is on my priority list.

Editors’ Pick Best Books of the Year 2011

Book Blurb:

The beloved New York Times bestseller from acclaimed author Eleanor Brown about three sisters who love each other, but just don’t happen to like each other very much.

Three sisters have returned to their childhood home, reuniting the eccentric Andreas family. Here, books are a passion (there is no problem a library card can’t solve) and TV is something other people watch. Their father—a professor of Shakespeare who speaks almost exclusively in verse—named them after the Bard’s heroines. It’s a lot to live up to.

The sisters each have a hard time communicating with their parents and their lovers, but especially with one another. What can the shy homebody eldest sister, the fast-living middle child, and the bohemian youngest sibling have in common? Only that none has found life to be what was expected; and now, faced with their parents’ frailty and their own personal disappointments, not even a book can solve what ails them…

My Review:

OMG! A book club book and I missed the meeting! I’ll never know if I’m the only one who found the book dull as gray paint! Surely, there must have been some kind of consensus on the characters (or lack thereof) and the plot (so trope).

A storyline quickly recognized by anyone who ever had a sibling or read about them, particularly of the feminine variety. Three sisters who couldn’t be more different in looks (were they described?), size, temperament, or intelligence. With a slight spread in ages, a deeper division of experience not only with home life, but all aspects of education as well. Basically, a plot of the difference in the experience of how each saw their position in the family. Their relationships all varied with each other as well as their parents.

The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown — The Weird Sisters – UK cover

The father is a well-educated Shakespearean scholar. The younger sisters can’t wait to escape their small Ohio town, the school experience, or the books. Cordelia, the youngest and a wild child pregnant with an unknown donor, is ostensibly back to help with an ailing mother. (Not) Rose, the oldest and the one who thinks it’s up to her to run the household—it’ll positively shrivel up without her control. And Bianca—a middle child as messed up as she can get. Does it even make sense to try?

Nope. I didn’t care for any of them. I did have serious sympathy for the mother, trying to survive cancer, but really for what? She was curious about the grandchild? As it was, the plot plods along, through months, through years. Was it years? Seemed like it. And thank heaven it does end. Everyone finds her happy ever after (maybe I shouldn’t always hope for that), and even the mother survives and the father goes on to continue quoting Shakespeare. I wonder if anyone cared.

The star rating at Amazon is currently 4 of five and at Goodreads 3.37. Once again, I have a difficult time understanding how it was picked as the best book of the year. I think it’s a solid 2 stars, but then again, I admit to getting bored easily and perhaps others saw it as classic family drama. I’ll have to go the extra half star for the fact that it’s been chosen as fodder for book clubs. Including mine. I’m sure sorry I missed that one!

Many thanks to my local library for providing me with the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Rosepoint Publishing: Two point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Family Life Fiction, Coming of Age Fiction, Literary Fiction
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Narrator: Kirsten Potter
Release Date: January 20, 2011

Title Links:

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Eleanor Brown is the New York Times, national, and international bestselling author of The Weird Sisters, Any Other Family, and The Light of Paris.