YAY Me!!

If you know me you know I am a HUGE Jodi Picoult fan. I have read a good chunk of her novels.  Well I Pre-Ordered her latest "Sing You Home" and it arrived in the mail Monday. YAY!! I can't wait to read it :)
Her previous 17 novels include "Nineteen Minutes," "Handle With Care," "Change of Heart". I suggest reading them. They are Awesome.

This is what it is about :
Zoe Baxter is 40 years old and frantic to have a child. She and husband Max have been trying for a decade and, as Jodi Picoult's latest novel, "Sing You Home," opens, she is -- at long last -- pregnant.

But good things quickly go awry. Zoe miscarries and Max throws in the towel. The couple's efforts to overcome fertility problems on both sides have left him wanting out. He divorces Zoe and moves in with his brother; Zoe, trying to move on, finds herself attracted to a new friend, a school counselor she works with.

That new friend is Vanessa Shaw, and therein lies the heart of Picoult's latest hot topic: gay rights and same-sex marriage.

The Baxters' years of in vitro fertilization left three frozen, fertilized eggs. Health issues have dealt the death knell for Zoe's reproduction efforts, but Vanessa could carry a child.

Zoe approaches Max about signing over the embryos. But Max, a recovering alcoholic, has joined the Eternal Glory Church, a Christian right congregation. He worries not only about Zoe's lesbian soul but also about the propriety of her lover and her raising their child.

A court case ensues, and Picoult leaps into the fray. There's no question whose side she's on and the plot jogs right along. Picoult is deft at her craft, knows right where she wants her readers to go, and isn't afraid to yank them there.

But it takes a certain tolerance for Lifetime movies to enjoy her books. Picoult doesn't disguise where the story is headed, and plot twists are flagged miles ahead. (One twist at the end requires quite the leap of faith to accept that neither the school nor Vanessa saw it coming.) Picoult's manipulation can be annoying; her sentimentality cloying.

Her legion of fans and book-club readers who enjoy the chance to discuss current issues, however, will find her right on target. (Picoult is no doubt thrilled that her 18th novel hits stores just after the Obama administration decided not to defend the Defense of Marriage Act, which bars federal recognition of same-sex marriages.)

With her protagonist, Zoe, a music therapist, Picoult has included a perk for her readers: a companion CD of folk songs, with one song assigned for each chapter; friend Ellen Wilber wrote the music, Picoult the lyrics.