Overcoming

Ariel Crashes a Train by Olivia Cole is a 2027 Nutmeg nominee, and is my first read from the list.

This book is a novel in verse telling Ariel’s turmoil with violent thoughts and her obsessive coping mechanisms.

The book takes place during summer break. Ariel works at Wildwood, and it’s the first summer her best friend Leah won’t be with her. Her sister moved away for college the year before. Without these pivotal people nearby, Ariel is forced to navigate through her spiraling psyche.

New friends, Ruth and Rex, help Ariel face her illness along with faraway support from her sister. She realizes that she is experiencing OCD and that it can be controlled.

This book may resonate with anyone experiencing OCD symptoms and feelings of not belonging. Ariel struggled with this (on top of her OCD) as a large-sized gay female.

For me, this book rates a 1.

Not So Charming

Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochhauser is a unique twist on the classic tale of Cinderella.

In this perspective, Lady Ethel Tremaine is a strong, resourceful woman trying to keep her family in good standing despite dwindling resources after the death of her second husband.

Her daughters, Rosie and Mathilde, are also hard working. Her stepdaughter Elin is not. She is the only daughter with a dowry and chooses to spend her time relaxing and spouting virtues from a book left to her by her mother.

At first it’s only Elin who receives an invite to the prince’s ball. It turns out there is some bad blood between Ethel and the current queen around her first husband. Their history is rehashed.

Eventually she secures an invite for her daughters as well. It takes everything they have to scrape together the ability to make suitable dresses to attend. Elin’s laziness prevents her from making her dress in time. However, she ends up getting help from a traveling musician – wearing Ethel’s first wedding dress.

The story progresses with a hidden agenda for the sudden ball and hurried marriage proposal to Elin. The handsome prince is actually a monster in disguise. Ethel needs to decide whether to risk their standing forever by blocking the marriage, or overlooking Elin’s safety for her family’s advancement.

While the story got a little draggy at times for me, it was an interesting perspective.

Strange Families

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë was recently made into a movie, so I thought it would be a good time to read it.

It took a bit to acclimate to the old-fashioned writing style, but once I got going it was fine. Mr. Lockwood is a visitor intending to lodge at Thrushcross Range. He accidentally gets snowed in at the neighboring Wuthering Heights. He meets the odd collection of people living there, including Heathcliff, Catherine Linton, Hareton and some of the help. He experiences strange occurrences in the room he stays in. Upon returning to Thrushcross, he asks the housekeeper, Nelly, to fill him in on the people of Wuthering Heights.

From here she takes over telling the story of the Earnshaws and Linton families who lived in the two homes. She grew up with the Earnshaws and recounts their upbringing and dynamics once Heathcliff was brought home to live with them.

Heathcliff and the late Catherine developed an intense relationship that was never to be due to his station. She married Linton and moved to Thrushcross, leaving her brother and Heathcliff behind. Her brother’s child, Hareton, is born of a sickly mother who passes away. Heathcliff marries her sister in law. The story details all the drama across the two households leading up to and beyond Catherine’s death and the turmoil that follows.

It’s a convoluted love story with intense emotions.

Two for Two

Why two for two? Well these first two reviews are good reads, but not personal favorites. Next up is Hiddensee by Gregory Maguire. Tough one for me. It was the type of book that I wasn’t really into, but felt compelled to finish since it was recommended by a respected library friend.

I enjoyed Maguire’s Wicked when I first read it quite a while back. This book didn’t match up. It was long, wordy and left me waiting for some excitement. It’s the tale of Drosselmeier’s back story from his childhood as a foundling, through his wanderings into adulthood. The book comes to a close with the story of how the infamous Nutcracker was built, and how it waited through a couple generations before becoming a gift to his goddaughter Klara. Intertwined with this was the strange near-death experience as a child in which Drosselmeier encounters Pan and Pythia. I have to admit my Greek mythology knowledge isn’t too strong. Perhaps I could appreciate this underlying story better if I did my research first.

I think Hiddensee will appeal to those into fairy tale worlds and language. For me, my mind wandered a bit too much through the tale to keep it all straight.