Conquering Darkness - A Memoir of the Serial Killer's Wife by Crystal Reshawn Choyce-Lige and Alice M Swafford

Conquering Darkness, Memoir of the Serial Killer’s Wife is a painfully candid account of the lives of two black people who grew up together in West Oakland, California. Their story, would, in a few aspects, mirror the simple plot of “boy meets girl.” Everybody knows that story—right? Boy meets girl; they fall in love and live happily ever after. However, the lives of Alice Marie Swafford and William Jennings Choyce were woven together by the threads of early parental abandonment and gross parental abuse that came creeping in from their past. Alice’s father abandoned her at the delicate age of five. That early experience filled her with an insecurity she could not shake; this, in turn, gave birth to a fragile and emotional state of mind which made Alice desperate to find a man to replace her father and the love he gave to her. William, on the other hand, grew up with both his parents in the home, but he was emotionally and physically abused by his mother. He desperately struggled to love and to please her— but to no avail. William’s misguided search for love would take him on an ill-fated journey with all kinds of dark psychological twists and turns that ruptured his childhood and split his adult mind down the middle; one side was good, and one side was pure evil. This journey started, unbeknownst to Alice, long before she joined William in marriage.

But how would the young Alice know who she was really dealing with? It would take decades for her to truly understand that question. More importantly, how would Alice ever understand who she was and is now?

This memoir, written by Alice and her daughter, Crystal Choyce-Lige, provides an up close and honest retrospective account of what life was like with a budding serial rapist and serial murderer who flew under the radar of his family and law enforcement for decades. How? He was very, very clever and cunning. All the while he was playing the part of husband and father; he was also leaving the house every night for his well thought out and stakeouts to lure and prey upon the most vulnerable people in our society. The essential questions asked and then answered are: How and why could this nightmare happen and then last for so long? Why couldn’t Alice see what was right in front of her? The answers will enlighten as well as surprise those who embark upon the riveting adventure of reading this book.

I found this book really fascinating, and that is hard to say considering the subject of the book is the rape and murder of women. I find it so fascinating because I ask myself the question (as Alice does also throughout the book) "How could she not know?", and "Why did she stay with him so long?" Although she touches on her answer to these questions throughout the book, particularly towards the ending, I would have liked to see more of their normal day-to-day lives so I could understand the answers myself. I know she says he was charismatic and a chameleon, but I felt we were given so much information of his abusive and erratic side that I sometimes found it a little hard to swallow that anyone could actually stay with him for so long.

The story itself is an inspiration and I would recommend it to all women to read. It is an uncomfortable topic but thankfully we are spared from too much graphic detail - especially when compared to the graphic nature of some of the modern movies anyway.

The book reads well, and I have seen some reviews saying that it could use with some tidying up from an editor, but I honestly think that it is fine just the way it is, and the fact that it is so raw and comes across as their own personal diary adds to its authenticity.

I sincerely hope that Alice and Crystal have found the peace they so deserve. I will be recommending this book to all my girlfriends.

Sleeping with Paris - Juliette Sobanet

Charlotte Summers is a sassy, young French teacher who is two days away from moving to Paris with the love of her life and from fulfilling her dream of studying at the prestigious Sorbonne University in France. But when she discovers her fiancé’s online dating profile and has a little chat with the busty red-head he’s been sleeping with on the side, she gives up on committed relationships altogether and decides to navigate Paris on her own.

Determined to stop other women from finding themselves in her shoes, Charlotte creates an anonymous blog on how to date like a man in the City of Love—that is, how to jump from bed to bed without ever falling in love. But, with a slew of Parisian men beating down her door, a hot new neighbor who feeds her chocolate in bed, and an appearance by her sleazy ex-fiancé, she isn’t so sure she can keep her promise to remain commitment-free.

And, when Charlotte agrees to write an article for a popular women’s magazine about her Parisian dating adventures—or disasters, rather—will she risk losing the one man who’s swept her off her feet and her dream job in one fell swoop?

This is a true example of a chic lit novel. Saucy, fun, lighthearted and humorous. It made me laugh out loud, cringe and tear up (not really) throughout. The characters were hilarious and not at all cheesy like they can be.

I have read another book along the same lines as this one - Friday Night Cocktails, but Sleeping with Paris is definitely well written with a more well rounded storyline and characters.

I am especially a soccer for novels written in or about France, I will buy (and finish reading) even the WORST book if it is based around the City of Love (case in point Love Song by Alex Miller, a painfully boring French story), but this one vibrantly described the streets of Paris and made me nostalgic to return there myself!

It won't be for everyone, but this would be a perfect book to read while on holidays - something you can easily put down but just as easily pick back up again.

Jesse's Girl - Gary Morgenstein

How much should a parent sacrifice for a troubled child? In Gary Morgenstein’s taut new thriller, Jesse’s Girl, the answer is – anything. Anchored around a floundering father-son relationship, finding roots and re-uniting vanished bonds, the timely novel about teen addiction and adoption follows a desperate father’s search for his son, who has run away from a wilderness program to find his biological sister in Kentucky.

I had kind of low expectations for this book - I picked it up on sale from Amazon.com for $4.00 and it wasn't too bad, but I wouldn't say I loved it, for no particular reason.

The story wasn't that predictable and there were a few twists and turns I didn't see coming, and the characters were well described and lively.

It was a bargain book that was good and I would recommend as a good holiday easy read, but I probably wouldn't read it again.

Molokai - Alan Brennert

This rich novel, set in Hawaii more than a century ago, is an extraordinary epic of a little-known time and place - and a deeply moving testament to the resiliency of the human spirit. Rachel Kalama, a spirited seven-year-old Hawaiian girl, dreams of visiting far-off lands like her father, a merchant seaman. Then one day a rose-colored mark appears on her skin, and those dreams are stolen from her. Taken from her home and family, Rachel is sent to Kalaupapa, the quarantined leprosy settlement on the island of Moloka'i. Here her life is supposed to end---but instead she discovers it is only just beginning. With a vibrant cast of vividly realized characters, Moloka'i is the true-to-life chronicle of a people who embraced life in the face of death.

This book came highly recommended from online book stores so I had high expectations when I started reading it, which is unfortunate because then I might not have been disappointed. It was a very fascinating topic that I didn't know too much about previously, that told the story of a strong woman who lived a fulfilled life even in some of the most heart breaking conditions, 

My reservations were solely because the dialogue sometimes got a little boring and I found myself speed reading over sections. 

Over all though the story was interesting and I would recommend it to others who were after an eye opening topic, without too much intense drama. 

The Help - Kathryn Stockett

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. 

Minny, Aibileen’s best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody’s business, but she can’t mind her tongue, so she’s lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women — mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends — view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't. 

After hearing so many people raving about the book and movie, I finally have gotten around to reading it myself, and now that I have finished I am a little disappointed in myself for waiting so long! It is one of the most enjoyable books I have read in a long time!

There had been a lot of poor reviews saying that the book trivialises the atrocious things that happed throughout history, but there was not once in the book that I myself felt this was happening, especially not deliberately. I can appreciate how hard this must have been for a white woman to write, let alone do it extremely well!

The story was enticing and engaging the whole way through, right up to the strong, hopeful ending, and the characters were larger than life and had personalities that leaped from the pages.

I would highly recommend this book, along with the other 5000+ positive reviews on amazon.com, and after seeing the movie I am glad I read the book first - the movie misses out so many key points and relationships and in this car the book really is a lot better than the movie.

Jasper Jones - Craig Silvey

Late on a hot summer night in the tail end of 1965, Charlie Bucktin, a precocious and bookish boy of thirteen, is startled by an urgent knock on the window of his sleep-out. His visitor is Jasper Jones, an outcast in the regional mining town of Corrigan. Rebellious, mixed-race and solitary, Jasper is a distant figure of danger and intrigue for Charlie. So when Jasper begs for his help, Charlie eagerly steals into the night by his side, terribly afraid but desperate to impress.

Jasper takes him through town and to his secret glade in the bush, and it's here that Charlie bears witness to Jasper's horrible discovery. With his secret like a brick in his belly, Charlie is pushed and pulled by a town closing in on itself in fear and suspicion as he locks horns with his tempestuous mother, falls nervously in love and battles to keep a lid on his zealous best friend, Jeffrey Lu. 

And in vainly attempting to restore the parts that have been shaken loose, Charlie learns to discern the truth from the myth, and why white lies creep like a curse. In the simmering summer where everything changes, Charlie learns why the truth of things is so hard to know, and even harder to hold in his heart.

A good friend recommended this book to me and she usually has been spot on the money, and she didn't let me down this time either. I would probably not have selected this book on my own, the cover didn't grab me and the story sounded like a book more suited to young adults, but I soon forgot my original preconceived ideas and was glued to the story! 

This has been hailed as the Australian version of "To Kill A Mockingbird", which was obviously what the author was trying to channel as he referenced the book and Atticus Finch several times. Like TKAM there are many themes that run through the story line: mystery, friendship, romance, comedy, betrayal, racism, but most of all I think this is a coming of age book where a child takes the first steps into young adulthood and learns that things in the adult world are more complicated than they first seem.

The whole thing is very well written and the characters are so vivid and each has an individual personality and 'voice' that is clear throughout the book.  

One I definitely recommend for all age groups, and as an added bonus of reading this book you will be helping support an Australian writer!

The Wedding Gift - Kathleen McKenna

Leann wasn’t good enough for her upper-crust in-laws, so they gave her the mansion none of them wanted. Years ago, something or someone in the house killed Leann’s brother. Will its violent secrets kill her next?“ . . . a spine-electrifying supernatural tale where a huge Southern States mansion contains one of the most terrifying, violent and indeed psychopathic ghosts to haunt any town. It is also a murder mystery—why did Robina Willets apparently kill all five of her young children, and her husband, before stabbing herself to death? And, if you are in the camp of believing that 'Justice . . . just is not,' then this will have you frothing at the mouth with righteous social fury.

Getting this book on sale from Amazon (Kindle) for 99c, I had low expectations as surely they wouldn't be practically GIVING away a book if it was really any good, right??

So I was pleasantly  surprised to discover that not only was the book actually pretty good, I was fast becoming hooked to it!

My first thought was that I wasn't going to be able to finish reading it as I thought I would find the Southern style dialogue too distracting, but now looking back after I have finished reading it I can see how this actually added to the magic of the story. 

You may be forgiven from thinking that this is going to be a story about love, which isn't strictly untrue, but there is so much drama and mystery going on that I didn't expect. 

I can't really comment on whether the characters a true to form in those parts as I have never experienced this part of America first hand, but I do know that I didn't find them ridiculous or frustrating like some other reviewers did. 

I would definitely recommend this book for those who like both love stories or murder mysteries, all in all a great read.