The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton

I asked my friend (and my daughter's mother-in-law) what books she especially liked... She mentioned this one. Sylvia and I have a lot in common, so I hoped I'd like what she likes in reading. Perhaps my expectations were too high, but this book was a disappointment. When I found it used in a bookstore, I thought, "Oh, this cover looks like a Romance novel." Not a good thing, in my book. Too vapid, too one-dimensional, shallow characters and luster-less writing. But, I thought, Sylvia really likes it! So I took it home and dove in.

The writing was better than the cover promised. Descriptive and entertaining. The characters were interesting, and not one-dimensional. But the plot didn't move along, it really sauntered and took some meaningless tangents. I didn't look forward to reading it; it didn't call me like a good book does at the end of the day. The plot felt ponderous. I didn't care a lot about the characters. The plot was mildly intriguing...a daughter sets out to find out about her mother's life before she had children. The plot went back and forth between the mother's past, set in World War II and the London blitz, and the present. The backdrop of the blitz and the attendant problems was interesting but not new.

All in all, blah. With a big surprise turn at the end, but that didn't even excite me much. I may give it to Sierra and see if she likes it better. If nothing else, maybe it will give us something to talk to Sylvia about! Plus, there may be more than one book with this title, and I need to verify that this is even the right one...