March seemed to crawl by and I know I wasn’t very good about blogging but I actually had a pretty good reading month. I didn’t realize I had read so much until I was looking at my list. Here’s what I read:

The Other Woman by Sandie Jones
The Master Key by Masako Togawa
Book Love by Debbie Tung
Blue Label by Eduardo Sanchez Rugeles
My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
The Stolen Marriage by Diane Chamberlain
The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn

Mysteries, graphic novel, and two books in translation. Yay. I absolutely loved Book Love which is a wonderful graphic novel sure to be treasured by anyone who loves books. There were several other books I really enjoyed but I think may biggest disappointment was My Name is Lucy Barton. I was expecting a lot and found it didn’t live up to my expectations.

I’m currently reading three books I’m almost done with so if only I had spent a bit more time on reading rather than housework I could have finished at least one but that’s ok. I look forward to finishing those hopefully this coming week.

I’m excited about April. There are lots of events to look forward to like National Poetry Month, National Letter Writing Month and Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon next weekend. So here we go, let’s all read wonderful books and have a great month!

“I am not the most important person in this story. That honor belongs to Meg, who is married to Jack, and they are the perfect parts of two perfect children, a boy and a girl, blond and blue-eyed and sweeter than honey cakes. Meg is pregnant again and I couldn’t be more excited because I’m having a baby too.”

The Secrets She Keeps
By Michael Robotham
Source: Advance review copy

Agatha watches Meg from the windows of the grocery store where she works. She sees Meg meeting girlfriends for lunches, she sees her looking chic and she imagines what a lovely life Meg must have.

When she finally meets Meg one day when she comes into the store, Agatha, who is also pregnant, is only too happy to have found a way to speak with her and before you know it she is finding herself getting to know Meg. The women are further connected once they learn that their due dates are just days apart.

Told in alternating chapters from Meg’s and Agatha’s viewpoint, this is a character-driven drama that explores how we envision other’s lives and the secrets we all keep. Agatha may have illusions that Meg has it all as her life seems to be so lacking. Her job isn’t exciting, her boyfriend seems to have dumped her but she doesn’t really envy Meg. At least not all of Meg’s life.

Meg’s life is unraveling just as is Agatha’s but for different reasons. Her marriage to Jack is under stress due to the unplanned pregnancy. It seems that all they do lately is fight but she hopes once the baby arrives and Jack gets his promotion all will fall back into place.

I really enjoyed the two narratives and getting to know both characters who are both far from perfect. There were some developments I fully expected and others I did not see coming so this novel definitely kept me engaged. I think my least favorite part was the ending because I wasn’t quite satisfied on the resolution for one of the characters but overall this was a winner for me.