"It’s the summer of 64 in High Cotton, Texas, a small town that’s struggling to accept the passing of the Civil Rights Act. Tensions are high but Katherine "Corky" Corcoran is mostly oblvious. All she cares about is the girls Summer softball game between the Methodists and the Baptists. And with her new friend, America, a black girl from the Southside of town, Corky knows this is the Summer they could actually win! Unfortunately, not everyone is as open and accepting as Corky and she'll soon learn that the world can be a very cruel place. Though Corky's inability to grasp social cues was extremely irritating, the overall message of the book was a good one." ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Pros: I liked the bits of history peppered into the narrative. It helped with perspective/I did enjoy the ending, it made up for Corky's complete lack of social graces and gave the reader a bit of hope that things could get better. Cons: I get it, Corky was a 13 year old girl and just h...
"Tom and Isabel live a quiet, isolated life on Janus Rock, where Tom is the lighthouse keeper. Their attempts to start a family have been met with tragedy and they've all but given up hope of having children of their own until one day a boat washes ashore and in that boat, is a perfectly healthy, baby. They're faced with a decision and the one that they make will cause a ripple effect that will alter the course of not just their lives but everyone around them. This was a deeply emotional, heart-wrenching novel about love, grief, morality and the impossible choices people make for those they love." ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐ Pros: Tom such a good, kind, gentle person who would do anything for Isabel/The Piano tuner at the end of Part One, like ❤️😢 Cons: The choice that Tom and Isabel make isn't necessarily the right one but I completely understand why they did what they did/The ending wasn't the ending I wanted but it worked, in a gut wrenchingly realistic way. Full Review...