The Nanny Returns

McLaughlin and Kraus team up once again to bring us Nan and her many adventures. Ten years have passed and she is back in NY fixing up a house her and her hubby have bought. While trying to remodel/ live in their falling down "dream house" Nan runs into her old charge Grayer and is instantly thrown into his life, and many family issues.   Her residual guilt causes her to feel she owes him and to take them all on and be his rescuer. Along with these problems Nan has started her own business and takes on a tough client. Finally, her man is ready to be a dad, but Nan just isn't there and isn't sure she ever will be. With all of this the novel is fairly fast paced and easy reading. Nan is a likeable heroine and since we know and love her from the Nanny Diaries we are easily forgiving of any faults and ready to watch her take on the world.

The Postmistress

Sarah Blake writes a novel about the many casualties of war from a different perspective. Set during WWI we hear the story from a postmistress in the US who finds herself in a place where a letter not delivered might make all the difference. The novel also follows a female war correspondent from the states who has placed herself in Europe among the worst of the fighting. This novel hits on many crucial topics of this era. Should the US get involved in the fighting? What is happening to the Jewish people and are they really being treated badly? Sarah Blake does a good job weaving a story through many interesting characters and topics and while it is a unique perspective it seems to fall a little short. It is very bittersweet and has very little in the way of happy endings. In fact it could be labeled more of a tragedy than anything else, and perhaps that was what Blake was striving for when writing a novel about war.

The White Queen

The White Queen! Phillipa Gregory writes again and this time it is the first in a series of books about King Richard and the era before the Tudors. Always very well done, and once again she captures your attention and draws you into the story of the war for the throne between three brothers. It is a never ending battle in this novel as the residing King and Queen are never safe for long on their newly won throne. Brothers and then cousins guided by parents and mentors stop at nothing to become the ruler of England. Even if it means destroying a family, their own family, in the process! A must read!

Her next book in the series will be called The Red Queen and is due out August 3rd. This one will pick up with Margaret, mother to King Henry VII, who will spend her life trying to get her son on the throne. Again it is a cousin's war, and set to be another must read!