Cannonball Read- Book 2

Well, I'm definately going past the 200 page requirement again. This book has 555. It is very well written and I was sad when I finished it because I became so attached to the main character.

This is a work of fiction based loosely on the life of Laura Bush. The main character, Alice Lindgren, marries into the Blackwell family, a wealthy family in the meat business who also has a son that is a congressman. Alice marries Charlie who works for the family business but is never satisfied and wants to leave a great legacy for himself. He goes on to buy a baseball team, become governor and later president. The book begins with Alice's childhood and takes us all the way through the second term of the presidency. What struck me was a fact of her life I had not previously known. This fact laid a backdrop for the rest of the book was mentioned at intervals thoughout her life in the book. Laura Bush was involved in an automobile accident in high school that killed a former classmate whom I guess was also a former boyfriend of hers. In the story, Alice and the boy have crushes on each other but have never been an item. The accident and death are something that haunt Alice her entire life. Not only for the sorrow, pain and guilt that it caused but also the feeling of fresh, young love that she experienced with him but never was able to play out. A feeling that she never felt again in her life. The book made me consider Laura Bush as a person and not as the wife of the president everyone loves to hate. It also lets you feel how it would feel to love the man that is her husband as she sees him and not as the world sees him. It was very refreshing and actually gave me a lot of sympathy for their family.

Rating: A (so far good ratings and this one does not disappoint)