Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

When I received my ARE of Katherine Center’s Things You Save in a Fire, I was entering into the end-of-the-school-year busyness that every parent of elementary schoolers can sympathize with.  (The awards ceremonies!  The programs!  The recitals!  The EVERYTHING!)  By the time I made it out of the school year alive, however, we jumped into swimming lesson madness, and THEN there was only a brief hiatus before the JULY OF ALL THE TRIPS.  (I told Britt at one point that July was only about 6 seconds long, and she replied “Yes–and you spent all of them packing.”  SO true.)  And while life doesn’t necessarily seem like it’s slowed down ALL that much (sorry, this is also the post of all the caps), Center’s book became available in audio through my trusty county library system, and so I finally got to enjoy it.

And seriously–did I ever enjoy it.  First of all, if you can swing it, the audio is sheer pleasure if you’re an East Coast transplant and get sentimental at the sound of pretty much ANY New England accent.  (Props to the narrator, because she was awesome.)  Even if you stick with the hard copy, however, you won’t be disappointed.  Cassie’s voice is funny, poignant, and honest, and I liked the supporting cast as well.  There were a couple of descriptions of people that dipped into straight-out romance-y language, but Things You Save isn’t just fluff–it’s like a good pillow top mattress.  I need the pillowed top so that my muscles can relax and my edges don’t get sore, but the support underneath matters just as much.  It’s the combination that makes for a good night’s sleep…or a thoroughly enjoyable read.  This is a book about reconciliation and healing as much as about love, with a happy ending and an impressively rendered (read:  successfully but not explicitly) love scene.  If any of that sounds appealing to you, you’re pretty much guaranteed to like this book; it’s going with me on my next trip to Idaho so that my sister can borrow it.*

*Just borrow, though.  Sorry, Favorite Sister–you can’t keep this one!