Finding Our Forever (Silver Springs, Book 1)

WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS INFORMATION THAT SOME MAY CONSIDER SPOILERS.

BRENDA NOVAK

Goodreads synopsis: The search for her birth mother brought Cora Kelly to the New Horizons Boys' Ranch. Getting a job there was easy enough, but confiding in the ranch's owner that she's really her daughter? That task is daunting. Especially with Elijah Turner watching her every move.

Elijah can't deny his deep attraction to Cora. But there's something about the ranch's newest employee that has him questioning her motives. If she's there to hurt his family, there'll be hell to pay. Yet, if the feelings the lovely teacher awakes in his guarded heart are any indication, Cora's appearance might be just what they were all waiting for.

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, Harlequin Special Edition, 2017.

How acquired: Fresh Fiction Subscription Box.

First line: Cora Kelly had never met her birth mother.

My thoughts: I work in the adoption field, and I'm always a little leery of reading a book that has an adoption storyline. I can't enjoy the book if adoption is sensationalized or portrayed negatively. But while I've never read this author before, I see her name and hear about her a lot (and a quick perusal of my book collection shows I have six more of her books waiting to be read), so in I went. And I'm really glad I did, because I really liked it.

Cora has applied for and acquired a job at New Horizons Boys Ranch specifically to meet her birth mother, who owns the ranch. It was a closed adoption, so Aiyana wouldn't recognize her name, and Cora doesn't tell her or anyone else who she really is. She's had a good life, she loves her adoptive parents, but there's always been something missing, not knowing her heritage and where she comes from. Throughout the book she struggles with it, with getting close to Aiyana, and Aiyana's adopted son, Eli. Struggles with hiding the truth from them, with whether or not to come clean, or to just leave when her year's contract is up. Constantly wondering and questioning why Aiyana has adopted eight kids, but didn't want her.

Eli is an unexpected complication. Unlike Cora, he was not placed for adoption at birth. He was taken from his abusive and neglectful mother at the age of ten (if I remember correctly). So he's come from a completely different place than Cora, and isn't quite as well adjusted as she is. He loves Aiyana and his adopted brothers, he loves helping run the ranch and making a difference in the lives of the boys there, but other than that he's emotionally closed off. Until he meets Cora, and she gets into his head and under his skin.

The building romance between Cora and Eli was sweet, and I especially loved how supportive and accepting he was when he finally learned Cora's, and Aiyana's, secret. There's a wonderful and touching scene when Cora's adoptive parents learn she has found her birth mother, and Cora drops everything to run home and reassure them that she loves them and that her search for Aiyana is no reflection on them. And when Cora finally learns why Aiyana placed her for adoption, it was a sad story, but an understandable, believable, and worthy story, just like the stories of the hundreds of birth mothers the agency I work for has encountered over the years.

Well done, and beautifully written. Plus a gorgeous cover! And now I'm off to hunt down the rest of the Silver Springs series. 

Sport (Harriet the Spy, Book 3)

LOUISE FITZHUGH

Goodreads synopsis: Eleven-year-old Sport Rocque is living a happy life, keeping his father's absent-mindedness under control, and managing the family budget. When Kate, Sport's new -- and nice -- stepmother enters the picture, things couldn't be better. Then comes the news: Sport's wealthy grandfather has just died and Sport is a multimillionaire.But millions of dollars equals millions of problems, as Sport soon discovers when his mother returns and kidnaps him to double her share of the inheritance! Life at the Plaza Hotel is no fun when you're a prisoner. Will Sport manage to escape and return his life to normal?

Stats for my copy: Paperback, Dell Yearling, 1979.

How acquired: Via Book Mooch.

First lines: “Don't you understand that I was once fifteen years old! That I looked at my mother the same way you're looking at me? That I see the hatred in your eyes and the despair and the love and all of it?”

“I'm eleven,” said Sport.

My thoughts: Those opening lines set the tone of the relationship between Sport and his mother. And how many times will you see the word “goddamned” in a children's book? That took me by surprise, especially coming out of a mother's mouth to her little boy. Throughout the entire book, Sport's father very honestly talks to his son or around his son about what a horrible mother his ex-wife is, and how she lives out of the country so she doesn't have to exercise her parental rights. It was actually quite refreshing!

I think I may have liked this book the best of the three “Harriet the Spy” books. Although Harriet doesn't even make an appearance until page 110. But that was fine with me.

The book also matter of factly addresses racism, with a police officer calling Sport's friend, Harry, the N-word, and referring to Harry and another friend as “Ellis Island”.

There are lots of humorous scenes, especially some of the scenes with Sport's father's new girlfriend, which made me laugh out loud. But the best part about her was the way she quickly took to Sport and lavished him with the unconditional love he'd never gotten from his mother.

This is just a wonderful little gem of a book.  

The Long Secret (Harriet the Spy, Book 2)

LOUISE FITZHUGH

Goodreads synopsis: Who's been writing those strange notes popping up all over town? Notes like, "How sharper than a serpent's tooth is a rotten parent" or "You need more pull to get a rich man into Heaven than to get a camel through the eye of a needle"

Harriet the Spy is going to catch the mysterious note leaver if it takes her all summer! It sounds like someone religious, she reasons, like The Preacher, or his fanatical sidekick, Jessie Mae, who brings her Bible to the beach. Harriet's friend Beth Ellen is no help at all--her mother has just returned from seven years in Europe and is driving Beth Ellen crazy. But Harriet's doing fine on her own. And the secret she finally uncovers is going to surprise everyone

Stats for my copy: Trade paperback, HarperTrophy, 1965.

How acquired: Via Book Mooch.

First line: The notes were appearing everywhere.

My thoughts: I read and loved HARRIET THE SPY when I was a kid, and upon reading it again as an adult not too long ago I still very much enjoyed it. But I don't remember reading this book, or the next book, SPORT, when I was younger.

In this book, it's summer and Harriet and her mother are staying at the beach, while her father comes out on the weekends. Janie was Harriet's best friend in the first book, but Harriet muses at one point about how during the summers at the beach Beth Ellen is her best friend. Beth Ellen is very quiet and demure, and she sometimes seems weary of Harriet's company, yet at other times she welcomes Harriet's brash enthusiasm.

The book starts out with Harriet still spying on people, while Beth Ellen follows along in her wake, and determined to figure out who is leaving mysterious notes all around town, notes that are vaguely insulting to the person who receives them. But somewhere along the way the focus shifts to Beth Ellen, and ultimately this was more her book than Harriet's. Beth Ellen lives with her grandmother. One day her grandmother excitedly informs her that her mother, Zeeney, is coming home. Beth Ellen doesn't know her flighty mother, and is very apprehensive about meeting her. And rightly so. Zeeney is a flat out bitch who cares about nothing other than having money, having expensive stuff, and running around partying and being seen.

I loved the friendship between Harriet and Beth Ellen, and watching as both girls learn a bit about themselves and each other. This was a quite enjoyable little story.

“I was born in October,” said Harriet as though October were the only really satisfactory month to be born in.

Me too, Harriet, me too!