April 22

4.5 stars
I would give this book 5 stars on entertainment value- It's good read. I found all the characters very interesting and fascinating to watch as they go through what they do.

The title of the book is Perfect Peace. This is the name of the last 4.5 stars
I would give this book 5 stars on entertainment value- It's good read. I found all the characters very interesting and fascinating to watch as they go through what they do.

The title of the book is Perfect Peace. This is the name of the last child of Emma Jean, a woman who has suffered abuse and lack of love by her mother to the point that all Emma Jean wants and all she's ever wanted was a little girl to love and make right what she didn't have. Unfortunately, she has one more boy and decides to act as if Perfect is a girl, which she manages for eight years, only 1 other person knowing the truth.

The poo hits the fan as it were when everyone finds out the truth. Pretty much everyone in the Peace family suffer in their own way at finding out. Perfect the most. Everyone acts towards Perfect, now called Paul, as if it's all his fault. Paul's brothers, who have all had to sacrifice so that Perfect could have all the nice things that Emma Jean insisted on, harbor resentment toward him and their mother. Perfect's father Gus, basically treats Paul far worse than the brothers in order to make him a real boy. And of course the little town of Swamp Creek treat them all with disdain.

The whole book is an interesting study in the effects of old childhood wounds and how they have a part in the decisions we make as adults. It's also a starting commentary on nature vs nurture.

Perfect suffers an identity crisis after she learns she's a boy. She's been treated special as a girl. She felt her mother's adoring love at all times and when she finds out she will be treated as just another person as a boy in a family of boys, she suffers. She also suffers a gender identity crisis. As a boy, he has issues on what he's supposed to feel and how he should act based what his father and brothers say he should feel and do. And as he gets older, feelings towards his own sex vs opposite sex cause him some questioning and distress. However, he finds himself preferring what he had and how he was treated as a girl.

I liked that the author gave all the characters a part and say and feelings about all of this. It doesn't actually focus on 1 specific character, although Emma Jean is the polarizing character in this story.

I gave this book 4.5 starts though because there were a lot of places that the story got redundant. And while I liked that many of the characters were more than a passing mention and had some depth of their own, sometimes I felt the book's focus got scattered because of it. However, I found the story telling very compelling and enjoyed it. ...more

Still Waters (Sandhamn, #1) by Viveca Sten

March 05

This second book in the series is even more intense than the first. The hell that African Americans went through to just even get rights they should have had all along is shown in graphic detail and rightly so. I wish everyone could/ would read these This second book in the series is even more intense than the first. The hell that African Americans went through to just even get rights they should have had all along is shown in graphic detail and rightly so. I wish everyone could/ would read these books. They are eye opening for those who know of the history but not the details. On to book 3. ...more

March 03

The Belles (The Belles #1) by Dhonielle Clayton

Stealing Midnight by Tracy MacNish

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

February 25

The House by the River by Lena Manta

Sugar by Bernice L. McFadden (Goodreads Author)

Perfect Peace by Daniel Black

Ain't Gonna Be the Same Fool Twice: A Novel by April Sinclair