Happiness Sold Separately/Lolly Winston

This was a soap opera and not a very good one at that. I had trouble really sympathizing with the characters. Overall, they were melodramatic and the story was maudlin to begin with. There were times when Elinor seemed more interesting, like when she communed with the tree on her front lawn and spent time with her best friend and next-door neighbor. I'd categorize this as a light read for its writing style, but as I said, the subject matter was a downer.

From the Publisher:

Elinor Mackey has lived her life in perfect order: college, law school, marriage, successful corporate career. But suddenly her world is falling apart. In her late 30s, she's discovered that she and her podiatrist husband, Ted, can't have children. When Elinor withdraws from Ted into an interior world of heartbreak and anger, Ted begins an affair with Gina, the nutritionist at their gym--a young woman with an oddball son who adores Ted. Meanwhile, Elinor falls in love with the oak tree in her front yard, spreading out her sleeping bag to sleep under the stars. Gina's jealous ex-boyfriend--a charming alcoholic with a mean streak--becomes a dark presence as his passion turns to violence. Ted, who may be the only one who can help Gina and her son, suddenly finds himself in love with two women at the same time. In the tradition of Anne Tyler, John Cheever, and Tom Perotta, Winston's second novel looks beyond the manicured surface of suburbia to a world of loss, longing, lust, and betrayal.

Author Biography: LOLLY WINSTON lives in Los Gatos, California.

Skylight Confessions/Alice Hoffman

I've been a huge Alice Hoffman for years. Open this book and by the time you finish the first page you are transported. Hoffman's style is mesmerizing. This story kept me captivated though the ending was somewhat unsatisfying. Yet it is perhaps Hoffman's goal that we are left to speculate what ultimately happens to the story's final generation.

From the Publisher

A stunning new novel about three generations of a family haunted by love from the bestselling author of Practical Magic and Here on Earth.

Arlyn Singer believes in destiny and in love.

But fate seems to be playing a trick on the night when John Moody knocks on her door to ask for directions. Opposites who cannot understand each other, they are drawn to one another even when it's clear they're bound to bring each other grief. Their marriage is dangerous territory, tracing a map no one should follow. It leads them and their children to the Connecticut countryside, the avenues in Manhattan, the blue waters of the Long Island Sound, all in a search for family and identity.

There is Sam, the brilliant explosive artist who is drawn to self-destruction and dreams. Blanca, the beautiful loner who tries desperately to protect her brother from his destiny and lives her own life in a world of books. And Will, the grandson, who is left a legacy of broken pieces he needs to put together, an emotional and mysterious puzzle made up of people who don't know the first thing about love.

Here is a family so real, so tragic, so devoted it is as if they have written their own riveting history--a quest for love and truth. Glass breaks, love hurts, and families make their own rules. SKYLIGHT CONFESSIONS is a luminous and elegant work of true originality. No one who reads this novel will ever forget it or look at their own family in quite the same way.

About the Author: Alice Hoffman is the bestselling author of 18 acclaimed novels, including The Ice Queen, Practical Magic, Here on Earth, The River King, Blue Diary, Illumination Night, Turtle Moon, Seventh Heaven, and At Risk. She lives outside Boston.