Tag Archives: Meg Mitchell Moore

Two Truths and a Lie

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Author: Meg Mitchell Moore
Publisher: William Morrow
Genre: Mystery
Source:  Kristin of Kritters Ramblings

Goodreads:  From the author of The Islanders comes a warm, witty and suspenseful novel filled with small-town secrets, summer romance, big time lies and spiked seltzer, in the vein of Liane Moriarty.

Truth: Sherri Griffin and her daughter, Katie, have recently moved to the idyllic beach town of Newburyport, Massachusetts. Rebecca Coleman, widely acknowledged former leader of the Newburyport Mom Squad (having taken a step back since her husband’s shocking and tragic death eighteen months ago), has made a surprising effort to include these newcomers in typically closed-group activities. Rebecca’s teenage daughter Alexa has even been spotted babysitting Katie.

Truth: Alexa has time on her hands because of a recent falling-out with her longtime best friends for reasons no one knows—but everyone suspects have to do with Alexa’s highly popular and increasingly successful YouTube channel. Katie Griffin, who at age 11 probably doesn’t need a babysitter anymore, can’t be left alone because she has terrifying nightmares that don’t seem to jibe with the vague story Sherri has floated about the “bad divorce” she left behind in Ohio. Rebecca Coleman has been spending a lot of time with Sherri, it’s true, but she’s also been spending time with someone else she doesn’t want the Mom Squad to know about just yet.

Lie: Rebecca Coleman doesn’t have a new man in her life, and definitely not someone connected to the Mom Squad. Alexa is not seeing anyone new herself and is planning on shutting down her YouTube channel in advance of attending college in the fall. Sherri Griffin’s real name is Sherri Griffin, and a bad divorce is all she’s running from.

A blend of propulsive thriller and gorgeous summer read, Two Truths and a Lie reminds us that happiness isn’t always a day at the beach, some secrets aren’t meant to be shared, and the most precious things are the people we love.

Ope’s Opinion: There are a lot of people with a lot going on in this book.  It is not hard to keep it straight because each chapter is labeled.  One of the things I really liked about this story was that the secrets came out throughout the whole book, little by little.  There were some things that were held to the end, but it didn’t all come out at once.

The Mom Squad was a bit over the top for me, but I am sure they exist some where.  They were a bit too catty for my liking.  I was glad I was not the move-in of their group, actually I was glad I was not a part of their group at all!

Although this book is the mystery category, I think it more women’s fiction with a little mystery on the edges of it.

The Admissions

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Author: Meg Mitchell Moore            Admission cover
Publisher:Doubleday
Genre: Fiction
Source: Booksparks

 

This is how Booksparks sent the book!

 

 

 

This the cover of the book!  What a beautiful way to start reading.

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Goodreads:  One of People magazine’s  Great Beach Reads: “This novel about a striving, upscale California family is a bracing entertainment that zeroes in on the modern pressures put on teens–and their folks.”

The Admissions brilliantly captures the frazzled pressure cooker of modern life as a seemingly perfect family comes undone by a few desperate measures, long-buried secrets—and college applications!

The Hawthorne family has it all. Great jobs, a beautiful house in one of the most affluent areas of northern California, and three charming kids with perfectly straight teeth. And then comes their eldest daughter’s senior year of high school . . .
Firstborn Angela Hawthorne is a straight-A student and star athlete, with extracurricular activities coming out of her ears and a college application that’s not going to write itself. She’s set her sights on Harvard, her father’s alma mater, and like a dog with a chew toy, Angela won’t let up until she’s basking in crimson-colored glory. Except her class rank as valedictorian is under attack, she’s suddenly losing her edge at cross-country, and she can’t help but daydream about the cute baseball player in English class. Of course Angela knows the time put into her schoolgirl crush would be better spent coming up with a subject for her term paper—which, along with her college essay and community service hours has a rapidly approaching deadline.
Angela’s mother, Nora, is similarly stretched to the limit, juggling parent-teacher meetings, carpool, and a real-estate career where she caters to the mega rich and super-picky buyers and sellers of the Bay Area. The youngest daughter, Maya, still can’t read at the age of eight; the middle-child, Cecily, is no longer the happy-go-lucky kid she once was; and the dad, Gabe, seems oblivious to the mounting pressures at home because a devastating secret of his own might be exposed. A few ill-advised moves put the Hawthorne family on a heedless collision course that’s equal parts achingly real and delightfully screwball.
Sharp and topical, The Admissions shows that if you pull at a loose thread, even the sturdiest of lives start to unravel at the seams of high achievement.

Ope’s Opinion:  This story is like a vine on a trellis.  All the characters are intertwined and effect each other.  The stories twist and turn around each other.  It was great to hear this story from each perspective.

My perspective on this story is unique – I worked in a guidance office and I watched students going through the admissions process.  Each student handled it differently and the families always had their expectations, which influenced the whole process.

Meg Mitchell Moore really made the characters come off the page and feel like someone you might know and care about.  They each had flaws, secrets and agendas of their own, as well as for each other.  It felt very real to me.

Rating:  4 – I like this book so much I know several friends to share it with.

The Arrivals

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Author: Meg Mitchell Moore
Publisher: Reagan Arthur Books
Genre: Fiction                                                  arrive
Source: Kristin of Kritters Ramblings

 

 

 

Goodreads:  It’s early summer when Ginny and William’s peaceful life in Vermont comes to an abrupt halt.

First, their daughter Lillian arrives, with her two children in tow, to escape her crumbling marriage. Next, their son Stephen and his pregnant wife Jane show up for a weekend visit, which extends indefinitely when Jane ends up on bed rest. When their youngest daughter Rachel appears, fleeing her difficult life in New York, Ginny and William find themselves consumed again by the chaos of parenthood – only this time around, their children are facing adult problems.

By summer’s end, the family gains new ideas of loyalty and responsibility, exposing the challenges of surviving the modern family – and the old adage, once a parent, always a parent, has never rung so true.

Ope’s Opinion:  At first I thought the mother of the adult children was intrusive and overbearing.  She said what she thought without taking into consideration of how other people might be effected by her opinion.  As I read the book she grew on me.  I saw that she really did love her children and wanted what was best for them.  Late in the book her husband asked her why she took how the children were doing so personally – she said “Because they’re my life work.”  It made me realize how deeply she loved each one of them.  

The reason I was most effected by the mother in this book is because I have been in her position.  My husband and I had an empty nest.  Our children came home with their significant others.  It was a wonderfully hard time for all of us.  Once again, we are back to our empty nest. I love my adult children – they are now my friends.

I think no matter your place in your family, you could see yourself in one of the characters in this book.

Rating: 4 – I like this book so much I know several friends to share it with.