From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Jessie Sullivan, the protagonist of this rewarding second novel by the author of the bestselling Secret Life of Bees, is awakened by a shrilling phone late one night to horrifying news: her mother, who has never recovered from her husband Joe's death 33 years earlier, has chopped off her own finger with a cleaver. Frantic with worry, and apprehensive at the thought of returning to the small island where she grew up in the shadow of her beloved father's death and her mother's fanatical Catholicism, 42-year-old Jessie gets on the next plane, leaving behind her psychiatrist husband, Hugh, and college-age daughter, Dee. On tiny Egret Island, off the coast of South Carolina, Jessie tries to care for her mother, Nelle, who is not particularly eager to be taken care of. Jessie gets help from Nelle's best friends, feisty shopkeeper Kat and Hepzibah, a dignified chronicler of slave history. To complicate matters, Jessie finds herself strangely relieved to be free of a husband she loves—and wildly attracted to Brother Thomas, né Whit O'Conner, a junior monk at the island's secluded Benedictine monastery. Confusing as the present may be, the past is rearing its head, and Jessie, who has never understood why her mother is still distraught by Joe's death, begins to suspect that she's keeping a terrible secret. Writing from the perspective of conflicted, discontented Jessie, Kidd achieves a bold intensity and complexity that wasn't possible in The Secret Life of Bees, narrated by teenage Lily.

***** I had such high hopes for the book and in all honesty the book didn't live up to my expectations. I thought that Secret Life Of Bees was a great novel and thus thought that this one might be just as good. However, it was merely average for me. I didn't really like Jessie and was unable to connect with her -- in fact I rarely understood her. The story-line to me was weak and in addition was not very unique and it kept reminding me of the ya ya sisterhood. I think that I may have enjoyed it more if I didn't have expectations to begin with.

This book is on many many wish-lists, thus I have decided to turn it into a book-ray.

1. smhamn (usa) ~ usa
2. valentina1209 (usa) ~ usa
3. bookbabe71 (canada) ~ anywhere
4. sleepymom (usa) ~ usa
5. mothertoboys (usa) ~ usa
6. Sedeara (usa) ~ usa/canada
7. summerbreeze (canada) ~ anywhere
8. Ilios (usa) ~ usa/canada
9. csiwatcher (usa) ~ usa
10. BooksnBeer (usa) ~ usa
11. Busybeesfamily (usa) ~ anywhere
12. downtime (usa) ~ usa/canada
13. TracyR (uk) ~ anywhere book is here

Simmer (uk) ~ anywhere -- not responding to pm's
fluffywelshshee (uk) ~ anywhere -- not responding to pm's
gussy916 (India) ~ anywhere except canada/usa -- asked to be skipped
totoroandmei {prefers to be nearer the end} (japan) ~ prefer asia/willing anywhere
LizzieM (australia) ~ prefer australia - willing anywhere
-Bodhi- (australia) ~ anywhere
pedriza06 (spain) - anywhere
momsL8 (usa) ~ {prefers to be nearer the end}(usa)
MissGrace (usa) ~ usa



Bookray Guidelines

1. Please journal the book when you recieve it. Then journal it again and let us all know what you thought of the book. Please also inform us when you sent the book to travel to the next person.

2. When you are close to being done the book "PM" the next person in line for their address.

3. Try not to keep the book for longer than 1 month. If you need it longer please inform us and/or ask to be skipped and have your name put further down the list.

4. Most importantly ---- enjoy the book!!!!!

RELEASE NOTES:

sending to smhamn -- bookray

safe travels little book

Thanks!!! I should be able to start the book this weekend! Thanks for the goodies you sent along with the books!

Thanks for sharing this book Snowy! I actually liked it a little better than The Secret Life of Bees although I was dissappointed with the ending (as I was with the Bee's story). I'm glad I read it. Off to Valentina!! Also releasing as part of the Keep Them Moving Challenge!

Wow - look at the long list of participants waiting for this book - I'll read and get this moving swiftly!

6/10/06
I thought this was a very difficult book to read, and at times I found myself just plodding through it rather than truly enjoying it. As someone around the same age and in a similar stage of life, I expected to strongly relate to Jessie, and at times I did. But for the most part, this was a very well-written novel that fell short of its potential to keep my interest or move me. In an amazon review, someone compared this book to a Harlequin with superior writing style/talent, and to me, that's a highly accurate evaluation.

ariesgirl29's has already read this book and asked to be skipped.

contacting bookbabe71 for her address

Release #60 in the Keep Them Moving challenge to read and release books received from other bookcrossers.


on its way to bookbabe71 in Nova Scotia

The book was well written but I did not find myself as absorbed in it as I did her first novel. Interesting topic, interesting plot. I will be contacting the next person on the list (sleepymom) to send the book on. Thank you for including me in this book ring!

Received yesterday as part of a bookray. Will read it next. Thanx again for including me.

I also did not like this book as much as the Bees book and had a hard time getting into this story. At times I did consider not finishing it but am glad I hung on to see what had happened to cause the characters to act the way they did.

greenmtx asked to be skipped as she got the book elsewhere so I have PM'd Gothamgal for her address.

Thanx again for including me in this ray.

This book was mailed last week.

received this in the mail and will be starting it as soon as I finish my current book.

I just finished this and I really liked it. I will be sending it on it's way to the next bk'er on this list.

edited to say it'll be on it's way to Sedeara within the next couple days.

Just got this book in the mail yesterday. I'm in the process of studying for the GRE so haven't had much time for pleasure reading. :( I hope I don't hold the bookray up TOO much. It looks like a great read!

CAUGHT IN DULUTH MN USA

That last "anonymous" entry was from me. I forgot to log in. :)

I wasn't thrilled with this book and can get pretty snarky in book reviews where I wasn't thrilled, so I don't want to bog down my journal entry with my snarkiness. You can read my review at http://community.livejournal.com/ilikebooks/34648.html

Have FINALLY gotten to the post office after being snowed in and sent the book on to SummerBreeze. :)

I just got the book today, apparently we have a new postal person and mail is really slow getting delivered to us. I miss the other guy, I think he is just on vacation. Anyway, I also want to apologize in advance. I may be taking longer than a month for the book because my sister in law is waiting for a kidney transplant and she has been in and out of the hospital a lot. Reading books has been my escape and I didn't want to skip my place because well, that would leave me with not much to read and also, no surprise parcels in my mail box hehehee.

So, between working full time, visiting my sil, daily house chores, my schedule gets full quick. I will try and get through this quickly as I can because there is a huge long list of names and people anxious to read this novel...don't blame them.

First of all I would like to thank you for your incredible patience as I battle through a difficult time with my family. Things are looking up, my husband will be a kidney donor to his sister and life can carry on as usual. It has been a very bumpy 8 month ride here, and I am so grateful that you can be patient with me.

That said, this is a very very beautifully written novel. I enjoyed the relationship and ideology between a monk and a "normal" person.

I will move this on to the next person.

I just received this book, as I was finishing my previous read. I am looking forward to reading this because I loved The Secret Life of Bees. Thank you so much for sharing this! I will update this entry once I am done.

I finished this book earlier this morning and although I wasn't disappointes as other BXers were, it wasn't a earth-shattering read either. I enjoyed the passages about life in the barrier island and the characters who inhabit it, but I wasn't as interested in Jessie and her middlelife crisis. It was hard to sympathize with her when her mother's story was so much more compelling. I was drawn by the characters of the three older women (Kat, Nelle, and Hepzibah) and I wish the book had focused on them instead. However, it was a pleasant read and I would definitely read other books by this author. Thanks again for sharing this!

I will be contacting kayjay33 today to pass this book along.

7/11/07 Update
kayjay33 asked to be skipped, so I contacted Cyndi1966 today to get her address.

7/15/07 Update
Cyndi1966 owns the book, so she asked to be skipped. I will contact the next BXer in line.

Update 7/23/07
I have not received any response from the next bxer. I will try one more time and then move on to the next person.

Update 7/30/07
I am sending a 2nd PM to Miss Grace today, as I have not received any response to my previous message. I will keep going down the BXers list as needed.

Update 8/5/07
I guess this book is not going through a very popular phase. I haven't heard from MissGrace, so I am contacting csiwatcher, the next BXer in line, today.

UPDATE 8/11/07
I am contacting CSIwatcher today for the second time. I am definitely not having any luck with this book! :o(

UPDATE 8/18/07
CSIwatcher has not responded, so I will continue to go down the list. I hope AuburnCaMom answers my PM.

UPDATE 8/19/07
AuburnCaMom just had a baby, so she asked to be skipped. Congrats to the new mom! I will be contacting the next person in line today.

Second update of the day: Lise46 asked to be skipped because she has read the book already. I'll keep going down the list.

DianaCoats also asked to be skipped, but CSIwatcher finally got my PM. I will be sending the book on its way tomorrow.

So here is the new list after me so far:

Ilios, then
14. kayjay33 (canada) ~ canada ---asked to be skipped
15. Cyndi1966 (canada) ~ anywhere ----asked to be skipped
16. MissGrace (usa) ~ usa ------no response after 2 PMs
17. csiwatcher (usa) ~ usa----- RECEIVING THE BOOK NEXT
18. AuburnCaMom (usa) ~ anywhere-----just had a baby, asked to be skipped
19. Lise46 (usa) ~ anywhere----asked to be skipped
20. DianaCoats (usa) ~ anywhere----asked to be skipped.

the next person in line after CSIwatcher would be CynthiaA.

Good luck, little book!

Hey - this arrived in the mail a couple days ago. Looking forward to reading it and passing it along on it's journey.

I was not able to truly get into this book. I'm not sure if it was story related or life events related. Either way I am passing it along so I don't hold up the ring. Thanks for letting me participate! Going to try and send it to CynthiaA

CynthiaA all ready read this book trying to send it to the next person - beckerbuns

Still trying to pass this book along. Beckerbuns has asked to be skipped for now. Checking for next on the list ...mysterylady36

Mysterylady has all ready read the book - on to busybeesfamily. Trying to pass the book along...

Trying to get busybeesfamily still... sending another pm and also to snoopy3 just in case

Still trying to pass this book along in the US. I have sent an email to MissGrace.

I just emailed the last US person PJmom that is on the list for mermaid chair. I'm getting disappointed. This is the first book ring I have done. Is it common to have this problem??? I hope not. I'm trying to pass this along.

I have emailed all us people on the list and the book is at a dead end there. I am contacting snowy652 to check and see what she wants to do. Help!!!

I have sent an email on to booksnbeer to find out an address to forward the book.
Thanks to snowy652 for the extra boost.

Yea!! I will be passing this book along either today or tomorrow to booksnbeer. Hope it is enjoyed:)
thanks!

Received this in the mail last night. I look forward to reading it - I have heard alot of possitive reviews for this Author. I have a few others in front of this - but, I read fast.

This has been back and forth to Canada a number of times - this book has a lot of miles on it. I will get it back out onto the road as soon as possible.

I believed this to be an OK to good book. I read it in one gulp on a long flight and that probably was the best way. The reason as to why she needs the self discovery didn’t come through. I did like the monk’s self discovery but, was surprised about his ending.

An OK read - I guess I won’t recommend it big time.

Bet you guys wondered where this had gotten to? So sorry to hold things up. I am ready to pass it along.
It was well written, but a little too close to home for me right now, so it was hard for me to finish.

Finally found someone who wants to read it next! Sending to TracyR in Wales!

Book has arrived safely with me.
Have just finished my last ring so will get on to this straight away.
Thanks for sending it my way.

An average kind of read. Jessie did annoy me a little though. I liked the character of Whit and thought the ending for him was quite fitting.
will send this on its way once i have a forwarding address.
thanks for sharing it with me.