Grade: B-
Profanity: Minimal
Graphic content (sex, murder,etc.): None
February's Book Club choice was The Silver Spoon by K. T. Archer. She is actually a friend of one of our members AND she did my hair for my wedding! : ) Since one of my lifelong dreams is to have a novel published, I was very excited to read a book by someone local who had accomplished that.
The story is about a young woman who finds out her mother is dying of cancer, so she moves in with her to care for her in her final days. In turn, she also cares for her grandmother who suffers from Alzheimer's, who had previously moved in with the mother. To make matters worse, there is a lot of family drama with the woman's aunt, her mom's only sister, who seems to only care about getting her hands on a set of silver that belonged to the grandmother.
The book is 259 pages, but it was a very fast read. I actually read it in two days... It was pretty well written; it kept my attention the whole time, and I was drawn into the story easily. As you can imagine, it got pretty sad at times. And the aunt's character continuously infuriated me, so the book did well with drawing out strong emotions... in me, at least. Archer threw in a little comic relief at times, so that helped the book from being a complete downer.
I enjoyed the story line, but it didn't end how I was hoping it would. I don't want to give too much away, but I suspected that there was more behind the aunt's attitude and actions than there ended up being. There was also a mention of an ex-husband that really had nothing to do with the story. It was almost like she just needed to fill the page a little more.
Overall, it was a nice, easy read. And those are good every once in a while. I also believe it's healthy to work the old tearducts from time to time, and this book definitely helped with that.
Since K. T. Archer is a friend of one of our Book Club members, we were actually able to have her come to our meeting this month to discuss her novel. Unfortunately... I just so happened to develop a fever the night we were to meet. Sucks, right?! : ( So I missed it. I was able to score an autographed book though:
I'm almost done with Mr. Darcy, Vampyre, so look for that review soon...
I am always looking for new books to read and had heard (but forgotten) all bout this one. How awesome that she did your hair, lol.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to invite you to join my Shabby Apple Dress Giveaway :)
From time to time I pop out on the web to see where my novel may end up (so far a bookseller in India as it listed!) and I ran across your review. I hate you were sick the night we discussed it but this is great! Let me say I LOVED your review.
ReplyDeleteBecause it is so emotionally packed I wondered how it might perceived by the reader. I have to agree with you about Aunt Tanya's storyline. Your mouth may have just fallen open that even the author wanted to do/reveal more with Aunt Tanya but the editors felt bad is bad no matter how many words you give it so two chapters on her were cut.
As for the ex-husband, he is playing dual duty. It was just an introduction into how fast and hard life changes when so much is put on your plate but their whole story comes out in the next Lizzy Wallace book, due out this summer. For the tears shed over Spoon I hope that's all replaced with laughter in the next one.
Thank you again for reviewing my book because all the comments help make me a better writer! :)