Loverboy by Victoria Reed

As I read the first few pages of this novel I came across instances where I was disturbed by the storyline.  The disturbing instances continued to get worse until the end of the novel where it was the worst. 

A child who was neglected emotionally grew up and her goal was to have a child who would love her and be loved.  The relationship between the mother and child is weird.  The child seems healthy, but the mother doesn't. 

The way the story is written is somewhat interesting.  There are flashbacks and the story is told in jumbled patches which isn't discernable until the end of the novel.

I would give this book a 5/10.

I enjoyed Daughter's Keeper by Ayelet Waldman.  I would rate it a 5/10.  It was good.  A woman named Elaine never really had a great relationship with her daughter Olivia, but she was a proficient mother.  Elaine provided for her daughter, but cut herself off emotionally.  She would not hug her and was disgusted by her when the daughter went to her for affection or help from the time she was a baby.  Olivia was a good child and grew into a good person (in my perception anyway). 

Olivia met a man named Jorge on a trip to Mexico and had a wild love affair with him.  Jorge showed up on Olivia's doorstep one day and they started living together because Olivia didn't have the heart to tell him she wanted nothing further than their relationship in Mexico where after their first intimate encounter she realized she didn't really love him. 

Jorge eventually became involved with drugs and Olivia ended up having to go to jail for four years.  She discovered she was pregnant before the trial began, gave birth to the baby and acted as it's mother for a couple of months before she had to begin serving her sentence. 

The book was sad and a random pick from the library. I just wanted a light book for entertainment and this book was good for that and not boring.  If it were a movie it would be rated R for sexual content and language.

Although it was well-written (to me at least) and not boring, it just didn't grab my heart strings as something that I became completely emotionally swept up in, but this is just my taste.  A different person may just really enjoy this book.  It's just a matter of taste.  There was something morally not far-reaching enough for me.  I don't have the words to describe it nor do I fully understand what it is myself... just my taste is all I can think of.

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith was an entertaining book reminding me of Jane Austin's novels.  The Heroine wrote the entire novel as a diary entry, which normally I find tedious, however, in this novel I found that I couldn't wait to see what she would write next.  The novel was published in 1948, two years before my mom was born, but I think the setting was actually around 1930 or so.  The book also reminded me of D. H. Lawrence's Women in Love but wasn't as slow moving.  I didn't feel quite the pitch of excitement as Jane Austin's novels when reading I Capture the Castle, but it was still very engaging in a more modern way.  I can see why one review stated that I Capture the Castle was the segway into writings such as are published by James Joyce, although I find James Joyce much more complicated and less enjoyable.  I was disappointed at the ending of the book, but explaining why may ruin it for other readers.  Ok, I'll ruin it.  If you read further, you own it, not me.  Cassandra doesn't end up with Simon!  Grrrrr.  After all that.  The possibility is open, but I don't like possibilities, I want the satisfaction of seeing it come to fruition.  I would rate this book an A.