Haha... yeesterday when I took out my yellow nalgene bottle I suddenly realised what I wanted.... an "easy sipper" for my wide mouth bottle. http://www.nalgene-outdoor.com/store/subcategory.asp?categorysubcategorycode=194

by Santa Montefiore
A touching story that traces the growing up of Federica who grew up in a dysfunctional family. Her father, a noted Chilean travel writer is never around for long. Her English mother craves for the constant company of the drifting husband finally issues the ultimum: divorce; in hope that it can cause her husband to change and settle down with the family.
Divorce came, and Federica's mother packs her and her younger brother back to her maternal grandma's home in the chilly British Cornwell. Uprooted from her childhood, Federica seeks solace in the last gift from her father: a butterfly box. Federica developed a big crush on Sam, her neighbour-cum-best friend's elder brother. Sam's wavering interest in her made Federica's heart grow cold, and she left Cornwell to work in the big city- London.
In London, she found her father's shadow in the perfect man- Torquil. But the resemblance is only limited to Torquil dictation of what Ferdica can or cannot do, and his demand to produce babies for him. Fed up with his dominace, Ferdica left him and finally found true love with Sam.

A simple story with a sweet ending. What drew me to it was the old-fashioned romance it speaks about.

This book is written by Anita Shreve which I like it better compared to the other one she wrote titled "The Pilot's Wife". The latter is supposed to be No. 1 bestseller in US. However the plot in Fortune's Rocks develops more steadily and has more substance. Fortune's Rocks is set in 1899, where social decorum is much revered. It talks about the development of an impossible love between a teenage Olympia with a respected doctor/writer who is a friend of Olympia's father. After a chanced meeting in the summer beach house of Olympia, the two fell deeply in love despite all odds, changing their lives and people around them. The 2 parts I liked were in the development of their love affair, and later on when Olympia decided to fight alone for her child as a single mother (which was frowned upon in that era). This book offered a different perspective that defied the expected behaviour of people from that period of time.

NB: try not to read her books together as the author tends to set the stories in the same places, and also explore similar themes.

Did a complete revamp on my own blogpage... all by meself. Quite happy with the results, though it looks pretty cluttered. May do some fine tuning later along the way as I go. :D