Change in Altitude

By Anita Shreve
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I think I've said it before, but I'll say it again...Anita Shreve is one of my most favorite authors!! Each one of her novels keeps me enthralled and waiting with ever fiber of my being for her next novel! This most recent novel is no exception. Shreve delivered a novel that not only pries into the very heart of a relationship but also deals with the power of love to overcome loss and desperation.

The story centers around a couple living in Africa who are new in their relationship and struggling to get used to their marriage. After befriending another couple, they decide to summit Mount Kenya together. When an unforeseeable accident occurs and a life is claimed, the couple is left to deal with the fallout. The rest of the novel centers around their struggle to maintain their marriage with feelings of betrayal and mistrust.

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Similar Novel: All He Ever Wanted by Anita Shreve
Length: 307 Pages
Copyright: May 2010

Finding Noel

By Richard Paul Evans

I borrowed this book from a friend and found myself dragging my feet to read it. I'm usually not one for the sappy or feel good novels and this looked (I stress the word looked) like one of those types of novels. I started reading this book and finished it in two days. I actually had to make myself put it down to get sleep at night. I took it to work so I could finish reading. I had forgotten that I read and like The Christmas Box by the same author about a decade ago and loved it. This novel delivered the message of family and forgiveness for the Christmas season. I'm planning on reading it again this Christmas.

The main character, Mark Smart, has had enough of all that life can throw at him. On the night that he plans to take his life, his old car breaks down in front of a diner. This turn of fortune leads him to another lost soul, Macy Wood. After a whirlwind romance, Mark proposes to Macy only to be turned down. Hurt and alone, Mark decides to leave town and start life over again somewhere else until a close friend of Macy's shows up and gives him some insight. What follows is Mark's decision to help Macy come to grips with her past and possibly give them a future together.

Warning: Please don't read this novel when you are pregnant. I made that mistake and cried for hours and hours on end!!

Similar Novels: Deck the Halls by Mary Higgins Clark and Visions of Sugarplums by Janet Evanovich

Length: 320 pages

Copyright: 2006

Empire Falls

By Richard Russo

This novel quickly became a national bestseller and a Pulitzer Prize winner. Within the first few chapters, it's easy to see why. This novel expounds on the devotion of a father to his daughter and does so by explaining the relationships around them. The first chapter explains the background of the small town and the history that shapes the drama to come. This novel is heavy with foreshadowing and has a dramatic twist close to the end.
Miles Roby is manager of the Empire Grill. He is a middle class worker who is divorced and shares custody of his daughter, Tick. He dropped out of college to take care of his sick mother and ended up at the Empire Grill for 20 years. His devotion to the Grill and relationship with his daughter come into question after a terrible incident occurs. I enjoyed this novel immensely and quickly checked the library for others written by this author.

Warning: There is a school shooting towards the end of the novel that is described in detail. The violence could be upsetting for some.

Similar Novels: Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult and Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler
Length: 483 pages
Copyright: 2001