Three Books: The Vast Strength of Women When We Work Together

Though I am fine-tuning my new young adult manuscript, a process alternately frustrating and satisfying, I continue to read voraciously, because--and thank everything that's holy--more fabulous books come to my attention everyday, and every discovery leads to a new cherished author. I've recently had the pleasure (and sadness) to finish two exceedingly different but equally well-done novels, The Divorce Papers by Susan Reiger and Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein. Each alternates points of view, but again, each does it so distinctly. More importantly, each celebrates the unique relationships which women forge to support one another in times of adversity and darkness.

The Divorce Papers, a modern-day epistolary saga of Mia and Sophie, a scorned woman and her reluctant lawyer, told through legal memoranda, email, letter, newspaper article, and even floral arrangement card, lets their words speak for them and their actions follow. Lawyer and client both grow and bloom, despite heavy, often hilarious, sometimes heart-wrenching obstacles. I cheered.

http://crownpublishing.com/news/susan-rieger-makes-her-debut-with-a-masterfully-clever-novel-the-divorce-papers/#.VXWqKM9VhBc

Code Name Verity alternates the voices of Maddie and Queenie, two women best friends and active participants in the English war effort during World War II, and had more surprises--and casualties--than I was in any way prepared for, though of course ultimately neither were they. The supporting cast of family, friends, superiors, allies, and enemies paled beside the grit and daring of the pilot and the spy and their real-time selves, too. I cried. Hard. 

http://www.elizabethwein.com/code-name-verity

You can see my ratings at Goodreads. I rate every book I read. 

And now back to Lala, Vero, and Gracie, the trio of sister heroines at the heart of my next book set deep in the rural upstate and full of bogeymen. The girls have several family secrets on their side, including Gracie herself, who sees more than even she knows.

http://anetaivanova.com/

http://myrevelment.com/post/10334497651