Faithful by Alice Hoffman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Faithful is a beautiful book that follows the main character through many years of her life. She is a tortured soul and feels worthless to herself and anyone around her. After discovering what she had done, it was easy to immediately forgive her but to also understood why she is so hard on herself. Early in the book, I found myself rooting for her and cringing at the same time with all of her self-sabotage.

I was so touched by the characters in this book that surrounded her life...her dealer (and boyfriend), her mom, her Pet store girlfriend and finally, James. They were sweet and patient.

I don't know how it's possible, but this is the first Alice Hoffman book I have read. It will not be the last! I wanted to give it a 4.5 but am not able to.

**SPOILER ALERT**
The one thing I almost took issue with is the coincidence that you just need to accept or if not, you won't enjoy the book as much. The fact that James is writing her the postcards and then happens to be the tattoo artist in the store that she walks by and finally in to? And then she doesn't even bother to check her tattoo in the mirror before leaving? And I guess I realized at this point that perhaps the book is a little fantastical ... For example, Helene's situation and the absurdity of the visitors that go to her to be blessed. But that's all okay, I accept it and loved the story.


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The Girls by Emma Cline
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a fantastic read! I finished this Emma Cline's work a month ago and just about every day a moment from 'The Girls' has worked its way into my thoughts.

Evie Boyd is 14 years old growing up in Northern California in 1969. It was an unsettled time in political, society and she becomes entangled in a group that closely parallel the Manson "family" (although this is a work of fiction). Her parents have other things going on in their lives and trust that Evie is just fine this summer. As they become less interested in her, a chain of events leads her to a group of girls that will change everything.

The descriptions of the time period, the neighborhoods, the girls, the news events, everything left a vivid picture thanks to Emma Cline's exquisite descriptions. Things to describe everyday moments just blew me away and took me right there to wherever "she" was ...

- a party her parents held: "...the men wearing aloha shirts in a sartorial clamor for festivity."

- "the girls" walking in the park: "Sleek and thoughtless as sharks breaching the water."

- thoughts running through her head: "Death seemed to me like a lobby in a hotel..."

She takes us between 1969 and the present day as she retells the story and sequence of events that changed her. Her recollection is calm, never panicked; not even when I thought she should be terrified of what was taking place around her. She very accepting. Since she's telling the story in the present, she's a grown woman now, she's had years to reflect so she can give her account accurately, without too much emotion so you can form your own.

I would rate this in the top three books I've read in 2016, the top 10 of all time. Really. I only hope that Cline will write again. And soon.

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