5/5 ⭐ | Embracing The Shadows: Navigating a Family’s Mental Illness by Marlene Dunham

“Embracing The Shadows” shines a light on the mental illness landscape.  From the past to the present, and the impacts it has had, the research within oscillates from a medical standpoint, genealogical standpoint and that of the author’s own family. 

Author Marlene Dunham didn’t set out to simply entertain with her family’s story, but to educate and inform in a way that brings to light the conversations surrounding mental illness. Coming from a family with their own diagnosed mental illnesses, I was drawn to Marlene’s story.  “Embracing The Shadows” is laid out in such a way that provides background on the diseases within, as well as the history of treatments and their impacts.  Additionally, Dunham provides prospective from each of her surviving siblings as they reflect on their upbringing and lasting effects of living in a family with members suffering from mental illnesses.  Starting with the union of her mother and father, readers get a sense her father brought with him some baggage.  At one point it is detailed that even his psychiatrist told her mother to run prior to their union.  Regardless, the marriage took place and six children resulted over the years. 

From prolonged hospital stays to various medical treatments and the introduction of lithium, the ups and downs of her father’s manic periods and depression took its toll on the family.  As each sibling recounts their childhood, the love or lack thereof they felt, and the reverberating repercussions of living in a family with prevailing mental illness, readers are given a front row seat to the impacts it had on each of their lives.  Even our author recounts her own experiences incidentally joining a cult, which she traces back to likely stemming from her upbringing.

I related to Dunham’s story, her family and their fears and experiences.  Mental illness is rarely discussed in families, there is a negative stigma that can persist around it, but Dunham cracks the door open and allows for a dialogue to help embrace topics often kept in the shadows.  Providing both research and her own experiences Dunham has created a read that validates, verifies, and vindicates for all living with, or loving someone with mental illness.

Click HERE to get your copy today!

When We Were Young by Jaclyn Goldis

Publication Date: February 16^th, 2021

Rating: 5 Stars

As a reader, it remains entirely exciting to crack open an author’s debut book.  The thill of reading an author’s first published novel is not only an honor, but a culmination of their dreams finally being released into the world.  Yet, when I began my foray into Sarah, Bea and Joey’s world, I found myself blown away. Author Jaclyn Goldis has given readers an absolutely beautiful, heartbreaking and tender love story. 

Goldis took a winding road to writing.  Graduating from law school and becoming a lawyer for a big city firm, she eventually quit to travel and write.  Using her own journey, Goldis has debuted a protagonist, Joey, who has also left law to pursue her art.  By winding Joey’s story into that of her grandmother, Sarah, and mother, Bea, readers are introduced to three generations of women’s paths to love. 

Spanning the beaches of Florida to the beauty and history of Corfu, the lives and love of three strong women are splayed on the pages for readers to soak in.  The heartache, struggle and sacrifices of each generation are felt immensely through an assortment of emotions ranging from anger to relief and back again. 

Readers will be taken by surprise in this debut masterpiece by Jaclyn Goldis.  For lovers of historical WWII fiction, to romance readers alike, Goldis delivers.

*Disclaimer: a review copy was provided by the publisher; all opinions are my own.

The Love Note by Joanna Davidson Politano

Publication Date: October 20^th, 2020

Rating: 3 ½ Stars

Who would have thought an undelivered note, found years later amongst another’s things, could cause so much stir in an old and bitter house?  This captivating story set in simpler times reminds us to never take a moment with a loved one for granted.  Wholly enchanting with blazingly strong female characters, reader’s hearts will be ripped right out from their chest as Willa seeks to achieve her dreams and maintain her independence.

Author, Joanna Davidson Politano, transports readers back in time as Willa seeks to forage her own path a female doctor, withstanding marriage proposals in a time when marriage was a womanly duty.  The characters within are all multi-layered with individual complexities slowly unraveling as the pages unfold.  Politano uses the words within a love letter as she delivers an entirely engrossing plotline, full of historical romance, love and blazing one’s own path.

*Disclaimer: a review copy was provided by the publisher.  All opinions are my own.

An Oddity of Some Consequence by Gary Dickson

Publication Date: September 15^th, 2020

Rating: 5 Stars

I’ve had the pleasure of reading several of Gary Dickson’s works.  His writing style is distinct – formal, crisp and endearing.  His love of travel and the time he spent both domestically and abroad lend favorably to the scenery he so exquisitely details in his books. 

While his previous works, An Improbable Pairing and A Spy With Scruples, were linked by the couple within the pages, this most recent penning is so far beyond the scope of Dickson’s last two books, but enticingly similar.  For instance, the writing is exactly what you’ve come to love about Dickson, his signature of including a strong and independent female character continues, the love story within is just as engrossing and the globe trotting is excitingly far flung and numerous.  However, the story and plot are so farfetched from anything he has done before it is an exhilarating freshness I was not anticipating.

An Oddity of Some Consequence gives readers Robert, a man full of wisdom and years, but Robert has a significant secret he is holding onto tightly, one he is not willing to reveal despite the love he’s quickly feeling for Alexis.  It also gives us Alexis, a rich, well-educated, strong female lead who is intriguing in her own right and refuses to stop digging into Robert’s past to uncover the secret he firmly clings to.  The question at the forefront of Robert and Alexis’ tale is whether love can cease to exist after you’ve run away from it, and whether a person can really live a full life without it? 

This book is so beautiful as Dickson paints the extraordinary European scenery for his readers, bookending it with his own experience of living in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills.  An Oddity of Some Consequence is so far beyond anything you’ve read before, you will not want to miss it.  This is sure to make you an instant fan of Dickson’s storytelling.

*Disclaimer: a review copy was provided by the author. All opinions are my own.

A Reason to Be: A Novel by Norman McCombs

Publication Date: September 1^st, 2020

Rating: 4 Stars

“Up until he had laid eyes on Suzy, Douglas wasn’t sure if he had any ‘reason to be,’ as Mark had put it.  But he knew now in a way he could not have known when he awoke this morning, that one of his reasons to be was named Suzy.” – pg. 17

A Reason to Be is a romantic tale of love after 50 and the discovering of one’s past. Present day Douglas is facing the loss of his wife, with waning motivation to get up in the morning he is urged to find a renewed passion in his genealogy.  This hunger for genealogy may or may not have something to do with the librarian tasked with assisting him, but it makes for a unique courting nonetheless. Rotating between Douglas’ present-day life with Suzy, the librarian, and his ancestors’ stories through the ages this story resonates and tugs at the heartstrings of forgiveness, understanding and the finding of one’s “reason to be.”

Readers no longer have to search far and wide for an over 50 romance that isn’t over the top or forced.  Author, Norman McCombs, provides a delicate story of finding new love and a rejuvenated sense of hope and purpose.  This entangling story of how our past doesn’t define our present is the spark of excitement we all need during these times of limited travel.  As we are invited to travel back to Scotland, Europe, Canada and finally New York, readers are quickly captivated by the story of the McComb family name.

*Disclaimer: A review copy was provided by the publisher.  All opinions are my own.

Two Reviews: 100 Ways to Love Your Husband: The Simple, Powerful Path to a Loving Marriage by Lisa Jacobson & Words of Comfort for Women by Carolyn Larsen

100 Ways to Love Your Husband: The Simple, Powerful Path to a Loving Marriage by Lisa Jacobson

Publication Date: October 1^st, 2019

Rating: 4 Stars

Whether you’ve been married 50 minutes or 50 years this book has relevance to EVERYONE! It is the perfect reminder to make every second count, never take your partner for granted and be reminiscent for why you fell in love with “your person” in the first place. I loved that Jacobson put such great reminders down on paper, from simple things like continuing to create date nights to the power of handholding. Some of my favorites were:

#21 – Protect your marriage – don’t let insecurities get in the way of happiness

#42 – Admire your spouse and remind them of all their “winning” qualities

#49 – Show appreciation for the many things your partner does – like unloading the dishwasher once to your million times. It takes all of two seconds to thank them, be sincere and show gratitude. Make THEM smile.

#58 – Intertwine your lives –point to do everything together, from grocery runs to gas fills it doesn’t matter. So much of our days are spent apart at work, why not jump at the chance to do the small things together.

#70 – Listen sympathetically to their day – this is a hard one for me because I am a firm believer of leaving work at work.

#87 – Gratefully accept his gifts

And lastly, never, NEVER forget to love your spouse. These all seem so easy, but don’t let the routine of life let you forget them.

*Disclaimer: A review copy was provided by the publisher. All opinions are my own.

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Words of Comfort for Women by Carolyn Larsen

Publication Date: October 15^th, 2019

Rating: 2 stars

Words of Comfort for Women is a good book to bring along for bible chats with friends. While the description is somewhat misleading, this devotional contains 90 brief passages and then about a page of discussion that provides more simplified, layman’s terms describing the bible passage just presented. This read more like a study of God than a soothing message of comfort the title leads one to believe.

Some passages related the erasing of sin to red stains on laundry. Others related our walk in faith to that of a gymnast on a balance beam. A few comparisons often felt like a stretch, while others took on a strong female tone. But, regardless there were some great quotes that will certainly stick with me, such as “God is not some celestial Santa Claus waiting to give you whatever you want” (P.154).

*Disclaimer: A review copy was provided by the publisher. All opinions are my own.

Wooing Cadie McCaffrey by Bethany Turner

Publication Date: May 21^st, 2019

Rating: 5 Stars

All Cadie wants is for Will to propose to her. So, after his increasingly late nights and hesitant attitude she decides it isn’t worth waiting for a future that isn’t there and makes a clean break. However, Will has other plans and hopes to woo her back using every romantic movie you’ve ever loved to do it! Will even goes as far as to try to work in the Thriller scene from 13 Going on 30 (LOVE). But is it too little too late?

Bethany Turner creates an incredible romantic story that appeals to all rom-com and sports lovers alike…did I forget to mention Cadie and Will work at a ESPN-esque company that includes “guest appearances” from Venus and Serena Williams, Lebron James, Joe Montana and Willie Mayes to name a few. I was swooning all over the place as I fell in love first with Cadie’s job and second with Will, then I was further roped in with all the movie references! From the moment Will and Cadie first meet and every year thereafter, Turner creates a whirlwind of a love affair, begging to be made into its own movie rom-com.

*Disclaimer: A review copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All opinions are my own.