Last One Home by Debbie Macomber: Reshelved Books

Happy Sunday reading everyone!  I'm terribly busy with school and work, and slightly overwhelmed.   Nonetheless I give you our For the Love of Dewey book review of Debbie Macomber's latest book Last One Home and a rating of 4 out of 5 coffee beans!

Let me start by saying I absolutely devoured this book, and read it under two days!  (Way before I actually got a chance to post this.) You know how sometimes you need  a book that just makes you feel good?  One that balances out your current life with one that is fictional and leaves you feeling hopeful and happy, but not in an overly sappy way?  Well, this book did just that for me. 

In my Currently Reading post I gave you a bit of a synopsis of the first 50-something pages of this novel.  I also mentioned that while the main character Cassie appeared to have a lot of good things going for her, I feared that by becoming involved in too many good things, she would begin to wear herself thin, in turn causing all of these good things to become a bad thing.  Well, this kind of happened.  Cassie had lost the extra part-time job that she took on and had some emotional set backs regarding new relationships.  However, she did learn the importance of taking a step back, keeping her mind clear, and moving forward, which is perhaps one of the greatest lessons this novel has to teach us.

In this novel, Macomber reminds readers that no matter how bad life gets, or how down you feel, everything works in a cyclical motion.  Just because you're down now, does not mean that you can't get back up again.  But this works both ways.  Cassie's sisters appeared to have perfect lives with perfect husbands.  However, this idea of perfection did not last for long and eventually they too hit low points.  Through this, Macomber reminds the reader that nothing lasts forever, both the good and the bad.  While this can be scary -- that fear of being happy only to have the other shoe drop -- it is also reassuring to remember that life, just like fortune, is fluid. 

~Jessica

Currently Reading: Last One Home by Debbie Macomber

Hello all!  

     I recently started reading Last One Home by Debbie Macomber.  This book is supposed to be about "new beginnings" and "fresh starts."  And boy oh boy, after the rough last week that I've had, I can sure use a fresh start.

     Right now, I am on page 56 of this book and I am loving it.  Last One Home opens with a scene of three young sisters playing outside on a perfect summer evening.  They're carefree and their outlook on life is the ideal image of childhood innocence.  We're talking warm summer breezes, fireflies, porch lights, games of tag as dusk approaches....Actually, a scene very similar to the cover of this novel (minus the children, of course). 
      Fast forward and the reader meets one of the sisters, Cassie, who is now estranged from the other two.  At one point Cassie ran away from home in the name of "love,"where she got married and had a baby, only to be tragically abused and beaten by her husband.  One day, Cassie gets the strength to say that enough is enough and escapes her abuser with her daughter, files for divorce, and makes a fresh start all on her own.  Things seem to be working in Cassie's favor, as she qualifies for a home through Habitat For Humanity, she is a hairdresser at a salon and has her own set of loyal customers, is picking up an extra side-job, and volunteers by helping other women who are victims of domestic violence.  However, I wonder if by doing too many good things Cassie will end up spreading herself thin and regressing in her good fortune... I guess I'll go back to reading now so I can find out!

Comment below with what you're currently reading!  & don't forget to check out our Instagram for more reading suggestions and #bookish things! 

~Jessica  

Between Friends by Debbie Macomber: Reshelved Books

**Attention For the Love of Dewey Readers! 5 out of 5 coffee beans for this book!!!***

Between Friends is unlike any of the other Debbie Macomber books I have read, which at times can be a little sappy, homey, and Hallmark Movie-esc.  On the other hand, this novel is deep, powerful, and tear jerking in a way that touches your soul, makes you think about life, your values, the world, and the role you play in it.  The closest book that I have read which I can compare this novel to is Kristin Hannah's Firefly Lane.  (Which is one of my favorite books.)

      To give you a bit of a summary, this novel is written in the form of both letters and journal entries between two best friends, Jillian Lawton and Lesley Adamski.  I thought that a novel written in this format would make me feel disconnected to the characters, but I have never felt like I was present in a novel quite as intensely as this. The novel begins in 1948 with the birth of Lesley, and follows the girls up into 2010, showing them first as young girls and how they mature and grow.  Jillian is strong willed and independent, and is perhaps the character that I most identify with.  She very pro-women's rights, pro-choice, yearns to advance in her career, and follows her own heart and dreams - even if these dreams disagree with others.  (This next sentence may be considered a spoiler.) Jillian falls in love at a young age with a man named Nick, who tragically dies in Vietnam and leaves her heartbroken for many years.  This untimely loss of what she believes to be her soulmate, effects her deeply.  Part of Jillian's story is learning how to become whole again, to live her life, and not let life slide by wasted.
     Lesley may be considered to be the weaker of the two girls, and for me personally, Lesley symbolized the parts of myself and even of life that scare me.  I think that as women, we often feel pressured to be able to do it all.  From young girls, we are told that we can be anything we want to be.  We go to school to have a career, but we want a family of our own, and even sometimes feel pressured to have one.  There's a certain balance that we strive to find between independence, a successful career, and raising a family. And there's a lot of guilt that get's thrown into the mix.   Lesley grew up in a poor family with a mother who became pregnant at a very young age, only to marry the father who became an abusive alcoholic.  When Lesley becomes a teenager, she was raped by her boyfriend (newly ex-boyfiend), ends up pregnant, and marries him, thus sort of reliving her mother's mistakes.  While reading this novel I wanted Lesley to be strong.  At first I wanted her to get an abortion.  Then I wanted her to raise her child, go to school, and leave her husband.  However, she kept giving her marriage another shot, and giving her family all that she had and who she was. Lesley came close so many times to leaving her husband, but just about every time she did, she always returned.
     This novel tackles to many topics such as war and the importance of supporting men who dutifully go to war (even if you don't believe in the war yourself) so that loved ones do not pass away in vain, marriage, alcoholism, rape, Catholicism vs. Protestantism, female reproductive health, birth control & abortion, career & family, cancer, etc.  I honestly feel like I could talk about this book forever, and delve into all these topics so deeply it could take up the entire blog space.  But rather than do that I'm just going to beg you all to read it.  And when you do read it, let's talk!
~Jessica      

Between Friends by Debbie Macomber: Currently Reading

I am so in love with Macomber's Between Friends so far!  This novel is different from the other novels by her that I have read in the past, those of which I think can usually be seen as neat little happy ending stories inside cute Hallmark movie towns.  However, right from the beginning this novel appears to dive so much deeper, following the lives of two best friends, Lesley and Jillian, and their journey from young girls to grown/aging women.  This novel tackles topics such as woman's rights & birth control, the Vietnam War, love, cancer, and so much more.  This novel is also written in the form of journal entries and letters, which I found to be quite different.  I thought that this letter correspondence would make me feel disconnected from the characters, but I am actually so absorbed in their lives and thought processes, that putting it down to type this little blurb is painful!

I can't wait for this review! Happy Reading!

~Jessica