Lisa Tucker

When I started reading my e-galley of The Winters in Bloom, I noticed first the page at the beginning where the publisher was talking about how much she loved this book and how it was the best one of the year. Her praise was so high that I kind of rolled my eyes, thinking that she loves it because it will make her money. I am happy to report that the book really was that good. From the absolutely incredible first chapter, I was totally involved in the story.

My one previous experience with show more Lisa Tucker proved disappointing (The Song Reader), perhaps because my expectations were really high. I own a couple of her other books, but haven't gotten to them yet. I am now super glad that I have them.

So yeah, I mentioned how mindblowing the first chapter was. The book opens from Michael's point of view (although in third person) and you can see how much he has been affected by his parent's worries. Young as he is, he has already inherited their fear of everything, as evidenced in the first line: "He was the only child in a house full of doubt." Five years old and he looks around thinking about the many ways he could get injured. This is what he was doing in his time in the backyard by himself when the nice lady came and asked him if he wanted to go on a ride. Wow. Just wow.

While the rest of the story was not as dramatic and intense as this one, the story definitely maintained its beautiful simplicity. I loved finding out what had happened to the various characters to make them into who they now were. There are a lot of hints as you go along, allowing you to make your own suppositions (I was right about David/Courtney, but wrong about Kyra).

If you like stories of family drama and broken people, this is one that is not to be missed. What a completely beautiful, depressing, uplifting story! show less

In today's climate, with the news full of stories men turning to mass murder and suicide, The Promised World seems an even more fitting book for the times. Unlike the men in the news stories, however, Billy Cole had no intention of killing anyone other than himself the day he aimed his unloaded rifle at an elementary school. His pain had become too much for him to bear. Lisa Tucker offers a firsthand look at a family in crisis and the impact suicide can have on such a family.

Billy had been show more everything to his twin sister, Lila. Billy was her hero and her mentor. He had been her support for many years, nurturing her and rescuing her from a past she has no memory of. Billy was the person who filled in the gaps of her memory and inspired her love for books. His death shattered not only her heart, but her world as well--everything she thought she knew and believed suddenly came into question. Lila's husband could only watch his wife unravel before him, unsure of what to do and how to help her. His wife was not quite the woman he thought she was. What seemed to be a perfect marriage, suddenly was falling apart.

Billy's death left his own family, his three children and estranged wife, confused and angry. His teenage daughter, Pearl, wants to understand her father and why he would do such a terrible thing. William, Billy’s 8 year old son, continues to hang on to the promises he made to his father, wanting to make him proud even after death. Ashley had loved Billy but also been afraid of him. He was the perfect father one minute but his mood swings and secretiveness proved more than the couple could bear.

I was intrigued when I first read the description of this novel and jumped at the opportunity to be a part of the book tour. The Promised World sounded liked something I would like. And it certainly was. I was especially mesmerized by the momentum the author built as the story went along. I was caught up in the downward spiral leading up to the climax, wondering where the author would take me next. How much worse could it get for this family as they struggled to come to terms with the past and move forward in their own lives?

I went back and forth in my opinions of the characters, sometimes liking them and sometimes wondering what the heck they were thinking. Each was flawed, dealing with a catastrophic event that would scar anyone in his or her shoes. Everyone dealt with Billy's death in different ways. Still, they all felt a similar pain and anger, and even the shame. My heart especially when out to the children.

There is so much to this novel. The author took on the issue of child abuse, looking at it from varying angles: from false allegations to the lasting damage and impact of long time abuse. The novel also delved into the fragility of memory--how easily it can be manipulated or colored by perception and time or forgotten all together, repressed. Secrecy also plays a role in The Promised World. Billy and Lila kept their past well hidden. They lied to those they loved. When the truth came out, was it any wonder their loved ones felt betrayed?

Lila and Billy both shared a love for books. There are many book references that will attract fellow book lovers. Lila used books as an escape from her past, and most especially to keep her memories from overwhelming her, however unconscious that may be. “I’m a great believer in stories. I used to tell Billy I was afraid we loved stories more than real life, but he said, ‘What is life but a story we don’t know the meaning of yet?’” [pg 10]

It was not until a few hours after I had finished reading The Promised World that I could fully appreciate all the author had set out to accomplish. While on the surface, the novel is entertaining and a page turner, in its depths it is a story about lost innocence, betrayal and the complexity of relationships. show less

The Winters in Bloom is a chilling portrait of a modern family and how they react when their greatest fear is realized. As the story goes back and forth from David and Kyra's memories to their present-day sufferings, the reader is left to guess as to Michael's whereabouts and to the identity of his kidnapper. Ms. Tucker explores the long-lasting impact of secrets on relationships.

Kyra and David are so filled with fear that they make one uncomfortable. How they can say they are living life is show more completely questionable. As for the impact of their fears on Michael, one's heart goes out to him for being hampered by his parents' rules, which do nothing to protect him in the end anyway. In seeing Kyra and David's rules through Michael's eyes, the reader is left questioning whether Michael's parents are causing more harm than good.

As for the much-touted secrets harbored by both Kyra and David, they are decidedly anti-climactic. Both are so scared, that the reader's expectations are artificially raised. The secrets, when finally exposed, are serious but nothing that would require keeping it private from everyone, at least in my opinion. The reader can all but feel the tension leave the story after the big reveal as a result.

There is something fundamentally lacking in The Winters in Bloom that prevented me from enjoying the novel as much as I hoped. Considering a large majority of the action dealt around keeping secrets from loved ones, I struggled finding common ground with any of the characters. I do not buy the fact that two people who are supposedly so in love would hide such secrets for such a long time. The fact that they do is ultimately the root of all their problems and is depressing for how avoidable it all is. While I understand that this is the point, it is a rather gloomy image of trust in relationships that forces the book to fall flat for me.

Acknowledgements: Thank you to Atria Books for my review copy! show less

After reading Lisa Tucker's recent A Cure For Modern Life, I promised I would make my life happier by reading more of her novels. And I did. Once Upon A Day was my next dip into her oeuvre.

Dorothea and her brother Jimmy are the children of Charles O'Brien, and never, in Dorothea's memory, have they stepped one toe outside The Sanctuary, their beautiful, reclusive New Mexico home. Charles keeps them safe there, safe from everything from sunburns to corrupt pop culture. Finally Jimmy has had show more enough and he leaves; when he stops writing, Dorothea knows she has to go find him. But first she finds Stephen, a widowed cab driver who helps her navigate the scary new world she finds herself in; and then she finds that nothing - literally nothing, not even her own name - is quite as her father explained it.

Just like A Cure For Modern Life, none of this is QUITE believable. But what the heck. Tucker is a wonderful storyteller, and I do love a writer who piles on the plot. Tons of plot in this one - a real Gothic, with scandalous family secrets, ambiguous villains, a pretty and innocent heroine, and a wounded hero. If I wanted real life, I'd read...um...non-fiction, I guess. show less