Summers At Blue Lake by Jill Althouse-Wood

You can tell it is summer.  Everything I read has a lake or beach in the title.  Crazy. 

I'm not sure why I bought this one on Nook.  Probably the cheapskate in me again.  I also figured it was one book the girls might like. 

Summers At Blue Lake was an interesting summer read.  Barbara Jean is the narrator, so this is her story.  Recently separated from her husband who has a new pregnant girlfriend, she escapes to the house on Blue Lake where she had spent summers as a child.  The first part of the story jumps between her childhood at the lake and her life today.

As a child, she went to the lake to spend time with her lesbian grandmothers. (It was their house.)  As an adult, she is working her way through her broken marriage and the broken marriages of her past.  Her parents divorced and her grandmothers had broken relationships also.  She is incorporating the diamonds from the engagement rings of those broken relationships into her art.  (She makes her living as an artist.)  Those broken relationships are tightly wrapped up in her own.

The 2nd half of the story is her discovery of her grandmothers as girls and the experiences that brought them together. She learns a lot she never knew, and it explains some of the mystery of her childhood.

Usually, I can figure out the ending of the book.  This one caught me off guard.  It was an enjoyable, interesting read, though I will admit to being a bit disappointed with the ending.  I can't say anything more without spoiling it.  When you finish the book, we'll talk. 

Need a summer read?  This would be a good one.