Current day, Oxford, England. Young American scholar Kendra Van Zant, eager to pursue her vision of a perfect life, interviews Isabel McFarland just when the elderly woman is ready to give up secrets about the war that she has kept for decades…beginning with who she really is. What Kendra receives from Isabel is both a gift and a burden—one that will test her convictions and her heart.

1940s, England. As Hitler wages an unprecedented war against London’s civilian population, hundreds of thousands of children are evacuated to foster homes in the rural countryside. But even as fifteen-year-old Emmy Downtree and her much younger sister Julia find refuge in a charming Cotswold cottage, Emmy’s burning ambition to return to the city and apprentice with a fashion designer pits her against Julia’s profound need for her sister’s presence. Acting at cross purposes just as the Luftwaffe rains down its terrible destruction, the sisters are cruelly separated, and their lives are transformed…

I read a Susan Meissner book years ago (before Goodreads) and don’t remember much about it, but I remember that I liked it, though it wasn’t my usual genre. When this came up available on Libby (audio) I decided to check it out. Set in London/England during World War II, I knew it wasn’t my favorite time period (I’m never really a fan of war dramas), but I decided to risk it.

This story is full of vivid details and rich history, but it was a bit too much for me. I would have happily cut 1/3 of the description to get back to the characters and their stories. They weren’t bad descriptions, they were just too much for me. I made it about 1/4 of the way through the book, but the slow pace and slightly predictable plot didn’t catch my interest (I read the last two chapters, and though I didn’t predict all of the details, I was right about the main plot points).

If you prefer a leisurely emphasis on the historical details, this might be the book for you. If you prefer a faster paced story, however, this might not be the right pick.

Rated PG for thematic elements. Get your copy here.

Jane falls in love with Duncan easily. He is charming, good-natured, and handsome but unfortunately, he has also slept with nearly every woman in Boyne City, Michigan. Jane sees Duncan’s old girlfriends everywhere–at restaurants, at the grocery store, even three towns away.

While Jane may be able to come to terms with dating the world’s most prolific seducer of women, she wishes she did not have to share him quite so widely. His ex-wife, Aggie, a woman with shiny hair and pale milkmaid skin, still has Duncan mow her lawn. His coworker, Jimmy, comes and goes from Duncan’s apartment at the most inopportune times. Sometimes Jane wonders if a relationship can even work with three people in it–never mind four. Five if you count Aggie’s eccentric husband, Gary. Not to mention all the other residents of Boyne City, who freely share with Jane their opinions of her choices.

But any notion Jane had of love and marriage changes with one terrible car crash. Soon Jane’s life is permanently intertwined with Duncan’s, Aggie’s, and Jimmy’s, and Jane knows she will never have Duncan to herself. But could it be possible that a deeper kind of happiness is right in front of Jane’s eyes? A novel that is alternately bittersweet and laugh-out-loud funny, Katherine Heiny’s Early Morning Riser is her most astonishingly wonderful work to date.

I’m not rating this because I didn’t finish it. I borrowed the audiobook from the library because it not only sounded interesting, it’s also set in my region of Michigan.

After an hour, however, the story wasn’t going anywhere–Jane was still watching Duncan help his ex-wife and they were still dating. I actually forgot what they plot was going to be (I had to read the back cover copy to remind myself what was going to happen). It had already been an hour, though, and I hadn’t really connected with the characters, so I returned the loan. I might go back and try again some day, but I didn’t want to keep listening to characters I didn’t really care about.

From what I can tell, PG/PG-13. Get your copy here.

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