Books with a twist

I've been reading so much that I've even suprised myself. I'm once again going through a time when I can't get enough of books.

The weirdest of these books was The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson. My book has a different dark and mysterious cover which in my opinion potrays the book's undertones much better than this one on the right. In the beginning, Laurel, living in a nice neighbourhood with her husband and one child, sees the ghost of a 13 yr old girl in her bedroom and follows her. To her horror she finds the body of the girl floating in their backyard swimming pool. What has happened? Who has done this? Laurel needs her stronger sister Thalia and fetches her against her husband's wishes to help solve the mystery. Thalia does more than that and stirs ripples into the lives of Laurel and her family exposing deep dark secrets in the process. Laurel is your regular suburban wife who just goes on with her life not really observing what is going on around her. Thalia on the other hand is eccentric and annoying, downright obnoxious - not an easy character to like. Although this book was weird, I enjoyed it, it's a real pageturner!

The other three books are all chick lit with a twist. I've been reading so many unsatisfying chick lit books that I was so happy to find these!

The first of these three is Truth about Melody Browne by Lisa Jewell. Melody is in her thirties, single and mom to a 17 year old boy. What is strange about her is that she has no recollection of her early childhood. So when she's asked on the stage at a hypnotist's show and gets hypnotised, something happens to her and she starts getting unfamiliar flashbacks from her past. Who are all these people haunting her? Bit by bit the mystery starts to unravel and Melody discovers that she isn't the woman she thought she was! The Truth about Melody Browne is a beautiful and warm story which the characters bring to life.


The Veil of Roses by Laura Fitzgerald is about Tamila Soroush from Iran. Tami's parents want her to have a chance at a better life in the US, so they have high hopes when they send their daughter to the US to stay with her olders sister Maryam and her husband Ardishir. Tami will be in the US for three months on a visitation visa and during this time, she has to find a husband in order to be able to stay in America. Tami feels freedom for the first time in her life - she can finally walk outside by herself, dress as she likes, go to cafes and sit where she wants and even make friends with men. The thought of returning to the opression in Iran is not appealing to her. Maryam and Ardishir do their best to arrange meetings with Persian bachelors but the hunt for a nice, normal husband turns out to be quite difficult especially when someone called Ike is in the picture. The Veil of Roses is funny, romantic and even though it's written in a light tone, it's thought-provoking and makes you appreciate the everyday acts of freedom we get to enjoy. It's not very realistic though but that's chick lit for you!

Midori by Moonlight by Wendy Tokunaga is about Midori, a japanese girl, who travels to the US with her American boyfriend, Kevin, for their engagement party. It seems that Kevin hasn't exactly been truthful about his feelings towards his ex, one of the party's guests. Soon Midori finds herself abandoned and alone. Like Tami, she doesn't want to return to her homeland and wants to stay in the US one way or the other. Thankfully she met a Japanese man, Shinji, at the engagement party and he's willing to help her out. Shinji has his own life and girlfriend but he goes out of his way to help Midori. Midori doesn't have a green card though, so her future in the US seems quite bleak. Midori is a cute and sweet heroine who really has determination - you'll love her!