The Beekeeper's Ball

by Susan Wiggs
Hennepin County Library audiobook 10 CDs
read by Christina Traister
genre: good question . . . read below

Clearly, this book was "good" enough (so subjective!) for me to "read" the entire thing start to finish. It is a bit bizarre, though, in its identity. I see it as an odd three-part story: bee science (and recipes including honey), traditional romance ("bodice ripper"), and historical fiction (WWII, Nazis, and resistance).

There was some very serious content woven throughout the book - women abused by boyfriends (in one case, causing a miscarriage), war and PTSD, infidelity and unwanted pregnancies, . . . and of course, Nazi Germany and all the atrocities of pogroms, concentration camps, etc.

To have that content alongside the cliched attraction between Isabel and Cormac was odd. Of course, they're finally going to give in to their mutual attraction and have sex. Duh.

The reader did an excellent job with the huge cast of characters - male and female, Danish accents, young and old - it was very good.

Bella Vista sounds heavenly, and I liked the themes of community, family, and acceptance.

I liked learning that "Helsingor" became "Elsinore" and was what Shakespeare referenced in Macbeth.

There are too many characters to even go into it here! I'm not sure how I feel about this author's choice to weave such serious historical content into a romance story . . . or even which I liked better! On the other hand, if I liked the taste of honey, I'd be getting a print copy of the book to try some recipes. The bee information was fascinating.

The Summer Hideaway

by Susan Wiggs
Hennepin County Library audiobook 10 discs
genre: romance

This was so much better than the last few I've tried! There was actually a plot and some character development. Claire Turner is a private duty nurse. She's been on her own and on the run since she was 17 years old and saw her foster dad (a respected cop) murder her two foster brothers. Ross Bellamy is coming home after two years in Afghanistan and is dismayed that his grandfather is "giving up" on medical treatments for his brain tumor. I didn't enjoy the back story quite as much . . . every time the story went back to the 1940s and 50s, I urged it to hurry back to the modern story. (Yeah - what's dumber - talking to my stereo while I drive, or continuing to check out romance stories?)