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ClareR (6074 KP) rated Send For Me in Books

Sep 7, 2021  
Send For Me
Send For Me
Lauren Fox | 2021 | Fiction & Poetry
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Send For Me is an emotionally charged look at the lives of three generations of women: Klara, Annalise and Clare. Annalise is German, a Jew living in Feldenheim at a time when it was dangerous to be Jewish - whether you were a practicing Jew or not. After years of persecution, Annalise, her husband and her toddler daughter, manage to get permission to leave for the USA. But she has to leave her parents behind.

This was a different take on other books set at this time, and I liked that about it very much. I haven’t read many books about those who managed to escape the Nazi regime and immigrate to safe countries before the Holocaust really began. But it’s no less saddening for that. Annalise desperately misses her parents, and life is so utterly different in the US.

The story swaps between Annalise and her granddaughter, Clare, whose life couldn’t have been any more different. Clare has the much more liberated life of an American woman - whether that’s what she really wants, remains to be seen.

I really enjoyed seeing the juxtaposition between a 1930s immigrant and a modern young woman. Annalise’s fear of being in a big city with no English is palpable - I panicked along with her. It must be so scary to move somewhere that’s completely different to your own life experience, and not even have a common language - something that people have always had to endure for their own safety throughout the ages.

This is a really moving novel, made more so when I learnt that the letters between Annalise and her mother Klara were real - just that the names were changed.
  
The Girl from Widow Hills
The Girl from Widow Hills
Megan Miranda | 2020 | Fiction & Poetry
8
7.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
55 of 235
Book
The Girl from Widow Hills
By Megan Miranda
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Everyone knows the story of “the girl from Widow Hills.”

Arden Maynor was just a child when she was swept away while sleepwalking during a terrifying rainstorm and went missing for days. Strangers and friends, neighbors and rescue workers, set up search parties and help vigils, praying for her safe return. Against all odds, she was found, alive, clinging to a storm drain. The girl from Widow Hills was a living miracle. Arden’s mother wrote a book. Fame followed. Fans and fan letters, creeps, and stalkers. And every year, the anniversary. It all became too much. As soon as she was old enough, Arden changed her name and disappeared from the public eye.

Now a young woman living hundreds of miles away, Arden goes by Olivia. She’s managed to stay off the radar for the last few years. But with the twentieth anniversary of her rescue approaching, the media will inevitably renew its interest in Arden. Where is she now? Soon Olivia feels like she’s being watched and begins sleepwalking again, like she did long ago, even waking up outside her home. Until late one night, she jolts awake in her yard. At her feet is the corpse of a man she knows—from her previous life, as Arden Maynor.

I actually wasn’t expecting to like this as much as I did! The story was really good and was written really well. I wasn’t expecting the end either. It was nice to have not worked out the culprit before the end for a change.
  
To Sir Phillip, With Love (Bridgertons, #5)
To Sir Phillip, With Love (Bridgertons, #5)
Julia Quinn | 2009 | Fiction & Poetry, Romance
8
7.5 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Bridgerton stories just get better and better. This one has definitely been my favourite so far, but I think that might be because Eloise was my favourite female Bridgerton anyway.
I wondered how Julia Quinn was planning on replacing the Lady Whistledown’s Society Paper excerpts at the start of the chapters after she retired, but having excerpts from Eloise’s letters seemed like the perfect replacement throughout this book. It really gave an insight into Eloise’s thoughts at each of the important points in her life when she was writing to someone she loved.
As much as it was difficult to read about Phillip and his struggles to control his temper, it was very well done and knowing the background behind his temper helped to understand his character too. I was glad that from the moment Eloise entered his life he tried to be a better father to his children and also appeared a lot calmer than he was at first. This is the opposite to the previous books where most of the men seems to become angry quite quickly at their future wives as they’re “infuriating” before it quickly turns into love. So it was quite nice to have it a different way where he didn’t frequently fly into a rage over something that his wife had said.
I think the Bridgerton books are very clever, as they don’t give too much away about each sibling, making you want to read the next book to learn more about them and not just the snippets that you see of them in each book. I will be starting the next book asap!
  
The Memory of Animals
The Memory of Animals
Claire Fuller | 2023 | Contemporary, Dystopia, Fiction & Poetry, Science Fiction/Fantasy
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I’m completely braised. I love Claire Fullers writing, I’ve loved everything I’ve read by her and The Memory of Animals is no exception. And the fact that this could be described as a dystopian or even an apocalyptic novel made it even more fascinating. I love this genre - even though it usually enters my dreams and makes for an interesting nights sleep!

This is a pandemic novel - but not our pandemic, not Covid. This is a dropsy-type disease, where those infected swell up, their brains swell up too, they forget - and more often than not, they die.

Neffy (Nefeli) and a group of young people volunteer to be vaccinated against, and then infected by, the virus. Something goes wrong, and it looks as though Neffy and four other test volunteers are the only ones who are alive and well. But they can’t leave the building they’re in and the food is running out.

Neffy is a Marine Biologist, an Aquarist, and my favourite parts were her letters to ‘H’ as well as her flashbacks to childhood and pre-pandemic.

This isn’t *just* a speculative, science fiction book, it’s a story about the human condition, about the human drive to survive against the odds, regret, loss, grief, memory, love and above all, hope.

I could go on and on about this. I would never have expected a novel like this from Claire Fuller after reading her previous novels, but that’s what makes it even better. I actually read this twice (unheard of for me, actually). I finished it and immediately started reading again.

So yes, I would most definitely strongly recommend this book!