Julie's Review: Last House on the Street

Author: Diane Chamberlain
Series: None
Publication Date:  January 11, 2022
Publisher: 
Pages: 328
Obtained: publisher via NetGalley
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction, Historical Fiction
Rating: 4.5/5
Bottom Line: Very different subject matter for the author
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Summary: 1965: Growing up in the well-to-do town of Round Hill, North Carolina, Ellie Hockley was raised to be a certain type of proper Southern lady. Enrolled in college and all but engaged to a bank manager, Ellie isn’t as committed to her expected future as her family believes. She’s chosen to spend her summer break as a volunteer helping to register black voters. But as Ellie follows her ideals fighting for the civil rights of the marginalized, her scandalized parents scorn her efforts, and her neighbors reveal their prejudices. And when she loses her heart to a fellow volunteer, Ellie discovers the frightening true nature of the people living in Round Hill. 2010: Architect Kayla Carter and her husband designed a beautiful house for themselves in Round Hill’s new development, Shadow Ridge Estates. It was supposed to be a home where they could raise their three-year-old daughter and grow old together. Instead, it’s the place where Kayla’s husband died in an accident—a fact known to a mysterious woman who warns Kayla against moving in. The woods and lake behind the property are reputed to be haunted, and the new home has been targeted by vandals leaving threatening notes. And Kayla’s neighbor Ellie Hockley is harboring long buried secrets about the dark history of the land where her house was built. Two women. Two stories. Both on a collision course with the truth--no matter what that truth may bring to light--in Diane Chamberlain's riveting, powerful novel about the search for justice. ~amazon.com

Review: I've been a fan of Diane Chamberlain's books since I read my first one a few years ago and while she always deals with serious issues, this one about race, the Klan and the South has to be one of the hardest to read. She really doesn't hold any punches in parts of the book to show how things were back in the 60's (and probably to some extent today). Yes people, the Klan still exists but just not in the same way that it used to. 

The Last House on the Street is about moving on, grieving, surviving loss and finding your purpose. It is about how the past always comes back in the present. Kayla is moving into the house that her late husband and her built together and she's already unsure of moving there when she starts getting weird visits and then strange happenings on the property. Meanwhile she befriends her neighbor, Ellie until Ellie figures out who her dad is, her old sweetheart. We get both Ellie's POV from 1965 and Kayla's from 2010 and then they come together. 

I loved Ellie's backstory and learning about the SCOPE program in the Southern states to get black people registered to vote back when they were hesitant to do so. She was the rare white Southern female to be part of the program since it was mainly comprised of Northern students. Ellie lived in a bubble so everything she was seeing and learning was opening her eyes. She even gave up her family and friends because she believed in the cause so much. I loved her gumption and that she did want to help no matter what the cost to her personally. It did alter her adult life in a way that she couldn't have possibly known. 

Kayla deals with the fallout of Ellie's story in the present because there are secrets that this small, southern town is hiding. All secrets eventually come out and it's about to for the town of Round Hill and it's residents. 

I have to stay I was stunned at the ending of the book; I kind of saw it coming but not quite how she wrapped it up. For fans of Ms. Chamberlain's previous books you will want to pick this one up and if you've never read her, The Last House on the Street is a great place to start. 

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Julie's Review: Big Lies in a Small Town

Author: Diane Chamberlain
Series: None
Publication Date: January 14, 2020
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Pages: 400
Obtained: publisher via Netgalley
Genre:  Mystery
Rating: 4/5
Bottom Line: Do we ever escape our pasts to be able to move on?
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Summary: North Carolina, 2018: Morgan Christopher's life has been derailed. Taking the fall for a crime she did not commit, she finds herself serving a three-year stint in the North Carolina Women's Correctional Center. Her dream of a career in art is put on hold—until a mysterious visitor makes her an offer that will see her released immediately. Her assignment: restore an old post office mural in a sleepy southern town. Morgan knows nothing about art restoration, but desperate to leave prison, she accepts. What she finds under the layers of grime is a painting that tells the story of madness, violence, and a conspiracy of small town secrets. North Carolina, 1940: Anna Dale, an artist from New Jersey, wins a national contest to paint a mural for the post office in Edenton, North Carolina. Alone in the world and desperate for work, she accepts. But what she doesn't expect is to find herself immersed in a town where prejudices run deep, where people are hiding secrets behind closed doors, and where the price of being different might just end in murder. What happened to Anna Dale? Are the clues hidden in the decrepit mural? Can Morgan overcome her own demons to discover what exists beneath the layers of lies? ~amazon.com 

Review: Morgan is sitting in jail for a crime that will haunt her for the rest of her life. That is until she’s released to work on a mural held onto by her favorite artist for decades. She was in the middle of her Junior Year at UNC - Charlotte studying Art, when a mistake changed the path of her life. She's not sure why Jesse James Williams chose her to restore the mural in his home town but in order to gain her freedom she agrees to restore it.  The problem is she doesn't know the first thing about art restoration and her ability to not return to jail. It doesn't really help that she's on an extremely tight deadline because of the opening of the art gallery. 

Anna Dale is a novice artist that is picked by the US Government to create a mural in Edenton, North Carolina which is pretty much small town Americana. Which in the 1940s still means segreation and rampant racism. Anna being from New Jersey isn't sure what she steps into. For the most part, she's welcomed with open arms and even more so as she reveals her drawings for the mural which highlights signifcant areas and events for the town. Not everyone is happy and especially when she has a young black man assisting her out in the barn she's using. 

Then things change for Anna unexpectedly and she disappears from Edenton to leave no trace except for an unfinished mural. 

As Morgan works on the mural and begins to uncover some sinister pictures in it, which means that she's even more curious about Ms. Dale and exactly what happened to her. Along the way she begins to see if she can heal herself while trying to heal Edenton. 

What I really enjoy about Ms. Chamberlain’s books is that I really have no clue what she’s going to throw at me. She loves to lead you down a path and then switch it up on you. It is no different in this novel.

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Julie's Review: The Dream Daughter

The Dream Daughter

by Diane Chamberlain

Author: Diane Chamberlain
Series: None
Publication Date: October 2, 2018
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Pages: 384
Obtained: publisher via Netgalley
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction, Historical Fiction
Rating:5/5
Bottom Line: Time Travel is hard to do well but Ms. Chamberlain excelled at it
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Summary: When Carly Sears, a young woman widowed by the Vietnam war, receives the news that her unborn baby girl has a heart defect, she is devastated. It is 1970, and she is told that nothing can be done to help her child. But her brother-in-law, a physicist with a mysterious past, tells her that perhaps there is a way to save her baby. What he suggests is something that will shatter every preconceived notion that Carly has. Something that will require a kind of strength and courage she never knew existed. Something that will mean an unimaginable leap of faith on Carly's part. And all for the love of her unborn child. The Dream Daughter is a rich, genre-spanning, breathtaking novel about one mother's quest to save her child, unite her family, and believe in the unbelievable. Diane Chamberlain pushes the boundaries of faith and science to deliver a novel that you will never forget. ~amazon.com

Review: I haven't read all of Ms. Chamberlain's novels but the one's I have read I have enjoyed. The Dream Daughter catapults her into the can't miss author category because it shines! Time travel can be extremely hard to write and usually I would shy away from it but given all the fantastic buzz, I decided to give it a go.

Carly is an interesting character who definitely grows a lot during the course of the story. She's pregnant with a child that has a heart issue and just lost her husband in the Vietnam War. Her brother in law, Hunter has a way to save her unborn child; travel to the year 2001 when they have the technology to save her baby. She thinks he's lost his mind but decides to risk it to save the only thing left of Joe.  

Ms. Chamberlain definitely tugs at your heart strings and you keep going NO! These characters are complex and multi-layered and you feel for the struggles they go through. Even over a week later I keep thinking about these characters and I'm pretty sure they won't leave my thoughts any time soon. 

I would highly recommend this novel to those of you who love stories about family, love and hope. 


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Julie's Review: The Midwife's Confession

Summary: Dear Anna, What I have to tell you is difficult to write, but I know it will be far more difficult for you to hear, and I'm so sorry… The unfinished letter is the only clue Tara and Emerson have to the reason behind their close friend Noelle's suicide. Everything they knew about Noelle—her calling as a midwife, her passion for causes, her love for her friends and family—described a woman who embraced life. Yet there was so much they didn't know. With the discovery of the letter and its heartbreaking secret, Noelle's friends begin to uncover the truth about this complex woman who touched each of their lives—and the life of a desperate stranger—with love and betrayal, compassion and deceit. ~amazon.com

Review: Alice read and reviewed The Midwife's Confession last year and she really enjoyed it, thought I would like it as well, so it ended up on my List Challenge for this year. I've never read anything else by Diane Chamberlain and had heard little about her, so I was pretty much going in blind.

The Midwife's Confession is a roller coaster of an emotional ride. It starts off with a pivotal scene that pulls you in immediately and really never lets you go. I had a range of emotions going on during this book: anger, disgust, sadness and relief. Emerson and Tara have been best friends since the first day of college and now their teenage daughters, who were born a day apart, are the best of friends. Tara and Grace recently lost the patriarch of their family and when Noelle kills herself it unleashes more sadness and hurt. Tara and Grace also have no clue how to relate to each other. Tara keeps wishing for the young girl that she was able to cuddle and hold, while Grace just wishes her mom would leave her alone. 

Emerson is determined to find the reason why Noelle killed herself. How could they have not seen the signs? Did they just ignore them because they saw what they wanted? She become so immersed in the mystery of Noelle that she can't see straight.

There are so many twists and turns in the novel that when I thought I had it figured out Ms. Chamberlain would throw something new at me. This story is about friendship, love, loss and forgiveness. It also examines the "how well do really the people closest to you" question that I think everyone goes through at least once in their life.

I have to say I didn't like Noelle. She really did pretend to be someone she wasn't for a good portion of her life. She betrayed both of her best friends after inserting them into their lives. She was never honest with anyone especially herself. She had this notion of who she was supposed to be but it wasn't who she really needed to be. She thought the only way her friends could forgive her was if she wasn't alive to ask for that forgiveness. How sad is that?

My only issue with the book is that the ending seemed rushed. It was all this build up and then a quick resolution. Not that the resolution had a neat bow because it didn't but it just was finished. I think an epilogue might have helped me with the ending a bit better.

Ms. Chamberlain definitely has a way of writing that pulls you in quickly. I will definitely be seeking out some of her other novels to read in the future.

Final Take: 4.25/5

And The Winner Is...

Congratulations to Tiffany Drew you have won a copy of Diane Chamberlain's The Midwife's Confession .

Please email Alice your mailing address so that we can get you the book right away.

As always, Girls Just Reading uses Random.org to generate the winner.

Author Interview: Diane Chamberlain

Last week I reviewed the wonderful The Midwife's Confession  by Diane Chamberlain.  Today I am please to share with you our interview with Ms. Chamberlain.

GJR:  I love that ultimately, The Midwife’s Confession is about friendship. What is the difference in writing friendships of adult women compared to that of teenage girls?


Diane Chamberlain (DC):  What a super question! First of all, I’m an idealist when it comes to friendships. I rarely write about cattiness and backstabbing and I’m very turned off by the representation of friendships between women and girls when they’re presented that way. So whether I’m writing about women or teenagers, the relationship between them is usually based on caring and love. Although there are inevitable conflicts, there’s also a deep desire to make things work out. The major difference, I think, is in the issues they’re dealing with. With women, I often write about motherhood and marriage, with teens I write about guys and putting up with parents. The level of love and caring is generally different between women and teens as well. In The Midwife’s Confession, grown-ups Tara and Emerson have a solid love between them that nothing can harm. Their daughters are only discovering that sort of love and that it can exist with people who are outside their own family.

GJR:  I love Grace’s strength. Is she modeled after anyone?

DC:  I really like Grace, too. I tend never to model characters after real people, because it makes it harder for the characters to “grow” into themselves in my imagination if I’m trying to fit them into the mold of a real person.

GJR:  What was the most difficult part in writing this novel?

DC:  The hardest part came after I’d written several drafts. I thought I was finished, yet I felt as if something was missing in the story but wasn't sure what it was. It took my editor to point out to me that what was missing was the midwife, Noelle, herself. She dies in chapter one, so it hadn’t occurred to me to give her a point of view. I then added eleven chapters from Noelle’s point of view and the novel really took off. Noelle revealed secrets to me even I didn’t know she had.

GJR:  What motivates you to write? How do you overcome the dreaded writer’s block?

DC:  My first four novels flew out of my fingertips, but then my first marriage fell apart in one of those horrible, sickening, sudden ways and I believe I’ve had writer’s block ever since (although, I hasten to add, the end of that marriage turned out to be a gift, as those things often do). So since The Midwife’s Confession is my 20th book, I can say I’ve written 16 of them with writer’s block. How do I do it? I just do. There’s no easy way around it. I put words on paper. They are usually pretty bad in the beginning, but then I revise and revise. My good friend, author Mary Kay Andrews, says “You can’t revise what you haven’t written,” and it really helps me to remember that.

GJR:  Are you currently working on another novel? If so, what is the premise?

DC:  Actually, I’ve already finished another novel, called The Good Father, which will be published June 2012. My editor has it now, and I’m sure she’ll have some suggestions, so I’ll be revising in the coming month. Then it’s on to the next one.

GJR:  Who are your favorite authors?

DC:  So many! Luanne Rice, Kristin Hannah, Elizabeth Berg, Alice Hoffman, Barbara Kingsolver, Anne Rivers Siddons, Mary Alice Monroe, Emilie Richards. . . I could go on forever!

GJR:  What are you currently reading?

DC:  I’m reading my own book, Kiss River, because it’s to be reissued in the fall and I need to see if I want to make any changes. Kiss River is the second book in the Keeper of the Light trilogy, and Keeper of the Light was just reissued a few weeks ago. I have a list a mile long of books I want to read, though, and I hope as soon as I’m done with Kiss River, I can dig into one of them.

GJR:  Once a novel is complete, are you ever tempted to revisit past characters and shake up their lives a bit?

DC:  Very rarely. The one exception is with Keeper of the Light. It was originally published in the early 90s, and readers kept asking me about those characters. So twelve years later, I decided to see what they were up to. It was so much fun to revisit them and see what had happened during the intervening years. The teenagers were now grown up with their own sets of problems. I absolutely loved seeing them again, but I usually like to leave my characters alone once I’ve written 'The End'.

GJR:  When you write, do you have total quiet or background noise? How has that changed over the years?

DC:  It’s strange. At home, I listen to soundtracks that have no lyrics. I’m very distracted by lyrics, but I love soundtracks that are highly emotional. Some of my favorites are Blood Diamond, Out of Africa, Braveheart, and Dances with Wolves. However, I often spend my mornings in Starbucks where the music is quite loud and usually does have lyrics. Somehow I’m able to tune the sound out there and still get a lot done. Must be the caffeine.

GJR:  How do you decide to whom to dedicate a novel?

DC:  It often depends on the subject matter or on something that happened in my life during the writing of the story. I dedicated The Midwife’s Confession to a ten-year-old girl who inspired me during the writing. One of my characters has childhood leukemia, and I followed her father’s blog as the girl underwent treatment. I became friendly with the family and remained so even once my research was finished. The girl lost her fight with leukemia just as I was finishing the book. I’m still heartbroken for her and her wonderful family.

GJR:  Something Different: As a fellow Jersey girl, I have to ask…You can take the girl out of Jersey, but can you really take the Jersey out of the girl?

DC:  No, you certainly cannot and who would want to?? I left New Jersey at age 20. Since then I’ve lived in California, Virginia and North Carolina and I loved every place I’ve lived and totally adore the south. But I will always have a place in my heart for diners and Taylor pork roll and Springsteen and the Jersey Shore. Getting misty-eyed just thinking about it!

Thank you Ms. Chamberlain for taking the time from you busy schedule to answer our questions.

Giveaway: The Midwife's Confession

We are excited to have one copy of Diane's Chamberlain's The Midwife's Confession for giveaway.

Please fill out the form below by midnight EST on Sunday, May 8th and be a resident of the U.S. or Canada only.



Girls Just reading uses Random.org to choose our winners.

Alice's Review: The Midwife's Confession

Summary: Dear Anna,
What I have to tell you is difficult to write, but I know it will be far more difficult for you to hear, and I'm so sorry. . .

The unfinished letter is the only clue Tara and Emerson have to the reason behind their close friend Noelle's suicide. Everything they knew about Noelle-her calling as a midwife, her passion for causes, her love for her friends and family-described a woman who embraced life. 

Yet there was so much they didn't know. With the discovery of the letter and its heartbreaking secret, Noelle's friends begin to uncover the truth about this complex woman who touched each of their lives--and the life of a desperate stranger--with love and betrayal, compassion and deceit. Told with sensitivity and insight, The Midwife's Confession will have you turning pages late into the night.
http://www.dianechamberlain.com/

Review:  The novel starts with the mysterious suicide of Tara and Emerson’s closest friend, Noelle. And everything, I mean everything is shroud in mystery. It had so many twists and turns, I had no idea what would come next. The Midwife’s Confession is told mostly in the present with four of the major characters narrating. Although each chapter is told in someone else’s point of view, the story moves along smoothly.

Two things really stand out in this novel for me, the first being Noelle. I enjoyed the Noelle chapters, they added insight from her past that helped me understand her better. Truth be told, I still don’t understand her fully. After reading the novel, I realize that above all, she was a woman who was too afraid to tell the truth. Who, in love, did something that was so unimaginable that her guilt consumed her. What upset me the most is that she took a cowards way out instead of admitting the truth to her two close friends. Even so, like Tara and Emerson, I can’t be mad at her. She was beautifully flawed.

The second was Ms. Chamberlain’s ability to write about relationships among women, specifically those with the mothers and daughters. I especially loved the relationship between Tara and her daughter Grace. I loved how they found their way back to each other after the death of Sam. He was the thread that tied them together. I was both surprised and moved how they reconciled. I thought above all, their struggles were the most honest account of a mother/daughter relationship.

This novel was perfect in about every way. There were some flaws. Noelle was far from perfect and there are a few holes in her history, things I thought should have been revealed to make the story more cohesive. Overall, The Midwife’s Confession is excellent: mysterious, sad, a page turner from the word She and a must read.

Final Take:  4/5