The Dashwood Sisters Tell All By Beth Pattillo

Love, Laughter, Family these are things any parent would wish for their children and Caroline Dodge is no exception to this rule. So it is when she learns that she will no longer be around to guide the girls to lives full of everything she dreams of them having she spends her final days planning a guided tour of all that is Jane Austen for her two daughters Ellen and Mimi to go on and hopefully bring them closer together.

After their mother's funeral Ellen and Mimi travel to England to go on the Jane Austen tour and make the important decision of where to scatter their mother's ashes and they have to agree to the location. This could be no easy task seeing as sensible Ellen and free spirit Mimi have never quite seen eye to eye. This emotionally trying situation is not made easier by a mysterious package their mother has left them with strict instructions not to open until they arrive in England. When they arrive and open the package they are in disbelief when they find the package contains the diary of Jane Austin sister Cassandra's diary. What follows is mystery, romance and the bond between sister's.

I found this book to be very entertaining. It was an easy read but it did not take long for me to become engrossed in the intrigue of it all and I quickly began to make comparisons between Pattillo's characters and the characters in Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. This book has a rich cast of characters, some lovable, some despicable and some just plain confusing but in the end this is a sweet book about sisters who are trying to find themselves, find each other and find a place to put there mother to rest all on walking tour of Jane Austen.... whats not to love?

A Cup of Friendship By Deborah Rodriguez

A Cup of Friendship is a wonderful book about an American women named Sunny who has come to Afghanistan, Kabul specifically and opened a coffee shop. Working along side Afghans, Sunny learns to toe the line between her American ways and respecting Afghan traditions.

A colorful cast of characters are introduced to you through the doors of the coffee shop each one of them opening themselves up to growing and learning about love, life and themselves during their time in the coffee shop. Working alongside Sunny in the cafe there is a maternal older women name Halajan who has lived through several different regimens and knows the peace Kabul could have if the Taliban were not in charge, everyday she hopes for   tradition to meet modern half way so she can marry the love of her life. Right now she as to settle for hiding this modern romance from her ultra traditional son Ahmet who unbeknownst to her is facing his own religious doubts and is having a struggle in himself to practice the Love the Koran teaches but not the hate that is reflected in his country.

Then into the cafe comes Isabel, a British journalist who has followed a risky story to Kabul and is searching for meaning and purpose in her life after a traumatic past; Jack, who left his family in Michigan to earn "danger pay" as a consultant but he doesn't know if the marriage he left behind is worth returning for; and then there is Candace, a wealthy, well-connected American who wants to help so badly that she allows her judgment to be clouded and puts herself in harms way.

The cafe is changed when a young Afghan women with beautiful green eyes named Yazmina is brought in after being kidnapped from her home to pay a debt and then left on a city street when her captors find she is pregnant from her beloved husband who died in violence after conception; leaving her terrified and alone. Sunny wants to help and asks Yazmina to live and work in the cafe but Sunny's American ways prevents her from seeing their danger of having an unmarried women with child in her home and its not until later everyone finds out just how much her secrets could put all their lives at risk.

As this group works and lives together they find that there is more to one another then meets the eye, they will form an unlikely friendship that will change their lives and hopefully one day the entire country. Full of friendship, love and purpose this book will open your eyes to a whole new culture and not just the injustice of it but the beauty of it as well. A cup of Friendship is a remarkable story about what is possible when people rise up for change, whether its is changing one life, dozens or thousands   this book is a book that celebrates new and old as one, rising up against oppression and hate. In one word I found this book to be inspiring.

The Bird Sisters by Rebecca Rasmussen

When thinking of ways to describe the bird sisters I thought of an ice cold glass of fresh squeezed lemonade on a hot summer day, extremely satisfying.

The story opens with two elderly sisters, Milly and Twiss who live alone in their childhood home together. They are known as the bird sisters because people bring injured birds for Twiss to tend to while Milly tends to the people who bring them. The bird Sisters, weaves a beautiful story that takes you from past to present seamlessly and introduces you to characters you will care deeply for.

Milly is the elder sister and is infinitely kind and considerate. She is one of those people who are always put upon. Her mother and father are dysfunctional at best and Milly steps in to their shoes and nurtures and cares for her younger sister Twiss who is the opposite of Milly in every possible way. Twiss is rambunctious, irreverent, and at times quite cruel but there is nothing and no one she loves like her sister.

The Bird sisters really takes place in a summer, the summer when their cousin Bett from deadwood comes to visit. In this summer parents fall in and out of love, the family fights poverty, they fight each other, Milly and Twiss find and lose true loves and determine the course of their futures. This book is beautifully written and is a story about the true love and fierce loyalty between sisters. This novel is full of quirky, unique characters and Milly and Twiss will no doubt find a way into your heart. I would suggest this beautiful story of life, love and sisterhood to anyone who loves a well-written book, that submerges you into a whole different world.

What Would Mr.Darcy Do? By Abigail Reynolds

Jane Austen is one of my favorite authors of all time. Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma all these books are classics and lovely in every way. Which is why I am usually against any tampering of the original stories being that they are all so perfect. With that being said I thought that What Would Mr.Darcy Do?  was a wonderful rendition answering the question of "what if?"

If you do not know the story of Pride and Prejudice it is a story set in a time where men hold all the power and the only hope a women has at survival is to marry and marry well. The problem for a women like our heroine Elizabeth Bennett is that her dignity and being in Love is far more important then marrying for money and stability, much to her perpetually anxious mother's disappointment. Enter the hero Mr. Darcy his reputation precedes him, he is a man of wealth and class and considered to be a very handsome and desirable catch. Both of these characters have fatal flaws in Mr. Darcy's famous Pride and Elizabeth Bennett's well meaning, but misplaced prejudice. This is a story of family, humor, love and of course Pride and Prejudice. Its is a rocky road to a fairytale ending for our two lovers with many "what if" moments laced into the story.

What Would Mr.Darcy Do? Is a book that examines one of those very moments. At the inn where Darcy and Elizabeth choose to keep their feelings for one another concealed in the original, this retake examines what could have been if they had opened their hearts to one another right then and there with Darcy proposing.

This is a quick read but is beautifully written and for all you Jane Austen fans out there keeps the most beloved characters Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy alive and evolving. The Original Masterpiece of Pride and Prejudice is an absolute must read, and this new version What Would Mr.Darcy Do? Is most definitely worth your time!!!!!!

Happy Reading!