The Reason for Roses by Babs H. Deal (review)

Title: The Reason for Roses
Author: Babs H. Deal
Publication Information: Doubleday, 1974
Genre: Adult Fiction

Plot: This is a melancholy look back by Spencer Howard at the last summer of her childhood in a small Alabama town, not long before WWII. Although Spencer, an orphan, is being brought up by her grandmother, her cousins and their parents converge on Bellefonte to spend summers together. It is unclear how old Spencer is in this book, probably about 15, with four attractive cousins about her age or several years older.

Heyer

It was a pleasure to meet a fellow Georgette Heyer fan, Jeannine Pellerin, on a recent trip to Montreal. We met for breakfast and, of course, talked books. I was interested to hear that she first came across Heyer when she was living in Victoria, British Columbia, and found These Old Shades in the laundry room of her apartment building. Although her native language is French, she read Heyer in English, embracing Regency slang, and moving on to other historical romance once she'd read the Heyer oeuvre. I brought her a copy of one of my favorite books, Sabrina, by Madeleine Polland, and was delighted when she reported back that she had enjoyed it and shared with a friend (I even heard about a tea shop near that very friend in Markham, Ontario that made me want to plan my next road trip). We visited a used bookstore and found a book or three before I returned to my family. As always, it is a pleasure to meet a Heyer friend in person and discuss one of my favorite authors!

Fenway

At Fenway with Sissy Andrea:

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett (review)

Title: State of Wonder
Author: Ann Patchett
Publication: HarperCollins 2011
Genre: Fiction
Plot: Dr. Marina Singh, a research scientist for Vogel, a pharmaceutical company in Minnesota, is sent to Brazil following the mysterious death there of her research partner and friend, Dr. Anders Eckman. Anders had gone to investigate the fertility work Dr. Annick Swenson has been conducting in the Amazon for their employer, as her failure to report back regularly concerned Vogel management.