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Rumor Has It by Jill Mansell

May 31, 2010 by

Jill Mansell‘s Rumor Has It departs somewhat from the romantic comedies she’s written previously in that it tackles tough issues of acceptance, compassion, and tragedy.  Mansell has a writing style that will make readers stand up and pay attention as well as fall of their chairs in laughter.

“Normally she could shave her legs without incident in two minutes flat, but tonight — OK, probably because she’d given herself half a dozen razor cuts and the shower had ended up looking like the one in Psycho.  Then, having stubbed her tow against the chest of drawers in the bedroom, she’d managed to drop the hairdryer on her other foot.”  (page 67 of ARC)

“‘Bloody hell,’ complained Max, just home from a meeting with a client in Bristol.  ‘You’d think I was threatening you with a night in a torture chamber having your ribs cracked without anesthetic.'”  (page 133 of ARC)

Tilly Cole leaves London for Roxborough when her live-in boyfriend abandons their apartment when she’s at work.  She becomes a “Girl Friday” for a suburban family led by an interior designer, Max Dineen.  She’s thrilled to have an out and to be near her friend Erin.

Tilly has sworn off men and is prepared to step into her role as Girl Friday until she meets Jack Lucas, a man with a severe reputation as a philanderer.  He’s to die for, but he should be ignored because all he does is break women’s hearts.  Tilly fights her passion for him on many occasions, but Mansell does not get overly melodramatic with the love triangles she creates.  In fact, she uses humor to illustrate the social ineptitude of her characters.

“But since he wasn’t stupid, he couldn’t really think that.  The chemistry between them was inescapable; there was a crackling electricity in the air that only a turnip could miss.”  (page 219 of ARC)

From down-to-earth Tilly to her loyal friend Erin and conceited Stella, Mansell creates a cast of characters who are fun to watch and be around.  At times, they make stupid decisions, but doesn’t everyone?  Rumor Has It has everything you need in a beach read, a quick read, and a moment of entertainment on a train ride.  Mansell is a fantastic comedic writer, but she also has the skill to deal with more tragic topics such as death and trying to fit in knowing that you are a social outsider.

Thanks to Sourcebooks for sending me a copy of Rumor Has It for review.  If you pick up a copy to read, you’ll probably notice a quote from my blog on the back.

Filed Under: ARC, chicklit, Read in 2010, sourcebooks Tagged With: ,

Alex Cross’s Trial by James Patterson and Richard DiLallo

May 28, 2010 by

While I attend some great panels and meet some authors and publishers in New York City this week, I didn’t want to leave my readers high and dry for reviews. My mom, Pat, has supplied me with enough reviews to get you through until my return. Please give her a warm welcome. If you want, check out my thoughts on Alex Cross’s Trial.

Alex Cross’s Trial by James Patterson and Richard DiLallo begins with Alex Cross transcribing the story of his great uncle Abraham to make sure his children know there is more than one hero in the family.  The story takes place in Eudora, Mississippi, in the 1900s.  Ben Corbett has been asked by President Roosevelt to investigate ruors of the Ku Klux Klan and lynchings of Black folk in the south.

In this story, attorney Ben Corbett heads back to his hometown in the south to investigate the rumors.  Dealing with slavery, racism, and more, Alex Cross’s Trial is an action packed, suspenseful story.  It will have readers on pins and needles at all times, keeping you interested until its conclusion.  Another five-star read from Patterson.

Thanks to Hachette for sending a free copy of this book for review.

Filed Under: Hachette Books, historical fiction, Pat review, review copy Tagged With: , ,

True Blue by David Baldacci

May 27, 2010 by

While I attend some great panels and meet some authors and publishers in New York City this week, I didn’t want to leave my readers high and dry for reviews. My mom, Pat, has supplied me with enough reviews to get you through until my return. Please give her a warm welcome.

True Blue by David Baldacci follows former Washington, D.C., cop Mace Perry and her sister Beth, who is the police chief.  Mace was kidnapped and framed for a crime, which she did not commit, and was sent to prison.  Mace spent two years in prison, lost her job, badge, and freedom.

Once released from prison, Mace sets off to right the wrong that had been done to her and find the true criminal who set her up and sent her to prison.  Beth introduces her sister to Roy Kingman, an attorney.  Together, Mace and Roy work to clear her name.  The bulk of the novel focuses on the nasty people they encounter and the people set in their path to derail the process of clearing Mace’s name.

Baldacci has written a fast-paced novel that will entice readers to keep turning the pages until the very end.  This is my first Baldacci book and would recommend this author to others.  Very enjoyable and suspenseful read.  Five stars.

Thanks to Hachette for sending along a free copy of True Blue for review.

I hope you enjoyed this latest Literary Road Trip with Vienna, Va., author David Baldacci and his Washington, D.C., cops.

Filed Under: fiction, Hachette Books, Pat review, review copy, The Literary Road Trip Tagged With: ,

The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks

May 26, 2010 by

While I attend some great panels and meet some authors and publishers in New York City this week, I didn’t want to leave my readers high and dry for reviews. My mom, Pat, has supplied me with enough reviews to get you through until my return. Please give her a warm welcome.

Nicholas Sparks’ The Last Song tells the story of Ronnie Miller, a sullen 17 year old.  She and her little brother come to visit their estranged father in North Carolina.  Her father, Steve, is a musical composer and has been on the outs with his family ever since he left them years ago.  Ronnie has musical talent like her father, and she has a criminal record for shoplifting.

This coming of age story is about redemption in the light of tragedy as a father reaches out to his estranged children during their summer vacation.  How does his daughter view him? Will their shared talents unite them once again? The Last Song is appropriately titled and is a five-star read.

Thanks to Hachette for sending along a free copy for review.

Filed Under: fiction, Hachette Books, Pat review, review copy Tagged With: ,

Worst Case by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge

May 25, 2010 by

While I attend some great panels and meet some authors and publishers in New York City this week, I didn’t want to leave my readers high and dry for reviews. My mom, Pat, has supplied me with enough reviews to get you through until my return. Please give her a warm welcome.

James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge’s Worst Case is another in the Michael Bennett detective series set in New York.  In this novel, a son of one of New York’s wealthy elite is kidnapped off the street and held hostage.  The twist is that the parents do not have a ransom demand to meet and the prospects of saving their son appear grim.

The killer seems to like playing games with his victims and their families, quizzing the kidnapped victim and killing them if the answers they give are incorrect.  Bennett must follow the clues left for him to solve the case.

However, one kidnap victim was smarter than the others and she answers all the questions correctly.  Surprisingly, she is freed.  Patterson does a great job leaving the killer a mystery; the last person readers would suspect is the killer.

Another fast read with spell-binding action.  Five stars.

Thanks to Hachette for sending along a free copy of Worst Case for review.

Filed Under: fiction, Hachette Books, Pat review, review copy Tagged With: , ,

Swimsuit by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

May 24, 2010 by

Mailbox Monday will be postponed until my return.

While I attend some great panels and meet some authors and publishers in New York City this week, I didn’t want to leave my readers high and dry for reviews.  My mom, Pat, has supplied me with enough reviews to get you through until my return.  Please give her a warm welcome.

James Patterson and Maxine Paetro‘s Swimsuit takes place in Hawaii, the perfect place to wear a swimsuit and get some sun.  It is also a perfect place to conduct a photo shoot, but that’s when the fun begins because a breathtaking model Kim McDaniels disappears.

After her disappearance, her parents, who live in Grand Rapids, Mich., receive an anonymous phone call about her disappearance, which causes them to quickly get on a plane to find out the real scoop.  Ben Hawkins, a former cop and now reporter for the Los Angeles Times, is assigned the disapearance story.  However, McDaniels’ disappearance soon spirals into an investigation of a serial killer who kidnaps and brutally murders models while taping the crimes.

Another action filled novel from James Patterson that takes you to new locations in Hawaii and Europe and keeps you reading until the very end.  Another five star read.

Thanks to Hachette for sending a free copy of Swimsuit for review.

Filed Under: fiction, Hachette Books, Pat review, review copy Tagged With: , ,

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman

May 21, 2010 by

Beth Hoffman‘s debut novel, Saving CeeCee Honeycutt, has become a New York Times bestseller, and what a debut it is.  Her novel is a prime example of what’s great about southern fiction from the enveloping summer heat of Georgia to the fragrant aroma of orchids and other flowers.  CeeCee Honeycutt is a young girl living in Ohio mainly with her mother as her father travels weekly for his job, but she’s got more worries than just school and peer pressure — her mother is slowly losing her grip.

“‘Oysters are a lot like women.  It’s how we survive the hurts in life that brings us strength and gives us our beauty.’  She fell silent for a moment and gazed out the window.  ‘They say there’s no such thing as a perfect pearl — that nothing from nature can ever be truly perfect.'”  (page 255)

Eventually, CeeCee comes to live with her great aunt Tallulah “Tootie” Caldwell, who is a busy society woman interested in preserving the historical structures in Savannah.  In many ways the restoration of these homes resembles the rebuilding CeeCee must accomplish after her life is irrevocably altered.  At the young age of 12, CeeCee must contend with tragedy, being an outcast, the confusing emotions about her parents, and fitting in with a society that is foreign to her.

“Momma left her red satin shoes in the middle of the road.  That’s what three eyewitnesses told the police.”  (Page 1)

Hoffman creates dynamic characters in CeeCee, Mrs. Odell, Oletta, and Tootie, but she also has crafted a supporting cast of eccentric older women who are neighbors and have their own problems and tensions with one another.  Picture large hats, garden parties, and soirees, and you’ll be transported in CeeCee’s Georgia, away from her hometown in Ohio.

“The bedsheets were damp with humidity and sleep, and from the pillowcase I detected a familiar scent:  it was just like the lavender sachets Mrs. Odell made every year as Christmas gifts.  I rubbed my eyes and tried to sit up, but I was nestled deep in the feather bed, like a baby bird in a nest.”  (page 57)

“Though she’d long since passed the zenith of youth, unmistakable remnants of a mysterious beauty oozed from the pores of her porcelain-white skin.  Swirling around her ankles, as light as smoke and the color of midnight, was a silk caftan splashed with bits of silver glitter.”  (page 81)

Readers will be absorbed in CeeCee’s evolution from young, responsible woman caring for her mother to a mischievous child lashing out and back to a young lady becoming content in her own skin.  Hoffman does an excellent job of painting Georgia and its traditional society in a nostalgic hue that enables readers to grasp that CeeCee is remembering this period of her life fondly and with greater clarity than she probably did as a child.  Saving CeeCee Honeycutt is captivating debut novel and coming-of-age story about a young lady who has lost her way, only to find a new chapter has begun.

About the Author:

Beth Hoffman was the president and owner of a major interior design studio in Cincinnati, Ohio, before turning to writing full time. She lives with her husband and two cats in a quaint historic district in Newport, Kentucky. Saving CeeCee Honeycutt is her first novel.

Thanks to Penguin and Inkwell Management for sending me a free copy of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt for review.

Check out the other tour stops:

5/17 & 5/18 – Devourer of Books

5/19 & 5/20 – Diary of an Eccentric

5/21 – Savvy Verse & Wit

5/22 – Medieval Bookworm

5/23 – lit*chick

5/24 – A Novel Menagerie

5/25 – The Tome Traveller’s Weblog

5/26 – Peeking Between the Pages

5/27 – Steph Su Reads

5/28 – Galleysmith

5/29 – The Literate Housewife Review

Giveaway details — three copies for US/Canada readers and one copy for an international reader:

1.  Leave a comment about why you want to read this book; don’t forget to let me know if you are living outside the United States or Canada.

2.  Leave a comment on the guest post.

3.  Blog, Tweet, Facebook, or otherwise spread the word about the giveaway and leave a comment on this post.

4.  Become a Facebook fan of the blog and leave a comment.

Deadline is June 2, 2010, at 11:59 PM EST.

This is my 33rd book for the 2010 New Authors Challenge.

Filed Under: giveaway, New Authors Challenge, Penguin, Read in 2010, review copy, reviews, young adult fiction Tagged With: ,

On Folly Beach by Karen White

May 13, 2010 by

Karen White‘s On Folly Beach shifts between two time periods — 2009 and 1942 — and between two women’s lives — Emmy Hamilton and Lulu.  Emmy lost her husband six months ago to the war in Afghanistan and loves solving mysteries with old documents and books, and Lulu is a complicated older woman with a lot of secrets and a penchant for bottle tree artistry.

“The shirt was a poor substitute for his arms, and wearing it in Ben’s absence was something her mother had told her was like swimming with a raincoat.”  (page 2)

Emmy is empty in her grief and unwilling to move on, but her mother convinces her to move from Indiana to South Carolina and buy a bookstore, Folly’s Finds, which served as the model for her mother’s bookstore.  Once in her newly rented house, she meets Lulu, her grandson Heath, Heath’s mother Abigail, and the rest of the family.  But her journey begins with a box of old books, and she strives to unravel the mystery of two star-crossed lovers.  Emmy has a journey back to the living to embark upon as well.

“‘Like right now? Don’t you need a bathing suit?’

He smiled and the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes reminded Emmy of his mother.  ‘Don’t need one.’  He walked past her, then stopped when he realized she wasn’t following him.

‘I’ll wait here.’

“I’ll keep my shorts on, promise.'”  (page 129)

White’s characters have their own personalities and evolve carefully over the alternating chapters.  The WWII chapters transport readers back in time, making the fear of war as vivid as the dances on the ocean pier.  But with the prevalence of chapters in the present, it is clear that this is Emmy and Lulu’s story. Emmy becomes the amateur detective that Lulu played when she was a young girl living with her sister, Maggie and cousin Cat.

On Folly Beach by Karen White uses a variety of water and wind imagery to mimic the foolish choices made by the main characters and mirror the dramatic choices that they make out of loyalty and love.  White creates dynamic characters who are deeply flawed and who are in search of peace and love, like many of us.  Bibliophiles will enjoy the literary references, the characters named for Elizabeth Bennet and Heathcliff of Wuthering Heights, and the quotes in the margins.  Another Karen White novel that engages, mystifies, and satisfies readers as they unwind the puzzles of On Folly Beach.

Please check out the rest of the stops on the tour. And check back tomorrow for a guest post on Karen White’s writing space.

About the Author:

Karen’s novel The Memory of Water was a WXIA-TV Atlanta & Company Book Club Selection. Her work has been reviewed in Southern Living, Atlanta Magazine, the Atlanta  Journal-Constitution, and by Fresh Fiction, among many others, and has been adopted by numerous independent booksellers for book club recommendations. Last year her 2007 novel Learning to Breathe received several honors, notably the National Readers’ Choice Award and the Booksellers’ Best Award, which in 2009 was again presented to Karen, this time for The Memory of Water.

US/Canada Giveaway for 2 copies of On Folly Beach by Karen White:

1.  Leave a comment about what historical period fascinates you and why.

2.  Blog, Tweet, Facebook, or otherwise spread the word about the giveaway and leave me a link.

Deadline May 20, 2010, at 11:59PM EST.

Filed Under: giveaway, historical fiction, Penguin, Read in 2010, review copy, reviews Tagged With: ,

Fool by Christopher Moore (audio)

May 11, 2010 by

Christopher Moore‘s Fool is loosely based upon William Shakespeare’s King Lear.  If you haven’t read King Lear, what are you waiting for?  Talk about a tragedy of one’s own making.  The source material centers on a king who splits up his kingdom between his daughters based upon their professions of love for him, but of course, one daughter deigns to tell the truth rather than gush and engage in hyperbole.

“‘I’ve never even seen them,’ Taster said.

‘Oh, quite right.  What about you, Drool? Drool? Stop that!’

Drool pulled the damp kitten out of his mouth.  ‘But it were licking me first.  You said it was only proper manners–‘” (page 40)

In Moore’s version, King Lear’s fool of many years — an appropriately named Black Fool — Pocket plays a significant role in the downfall of a king and a kingdom.  Pocket has a hidden past of his own that involves an abbey, an ankress, witches, and more.  He’s sarcastic, runs rampant with his verbal barbs at the royal family, but he’s got a darker streak that trends toward manipulation behind the jokes.  Pocket is great at planting the seeds in the players’ minds from the Bastard Edmund to Lear’s daughters Regan and Goneril.  In a way, Pocket is a comic relief fool, but he does have a sidekick who is — Drool.

“‘I shagged a ghost,’ said Drool to the young squires.  They pretended they couldn’t hear him.

Kent shuffled forward, held back some by the alabaster grandeur of my nakedness.  ‘Edmund was found with a dagger through his ear, pinned to a high-backed chair.’

‘Bloody careless eater he is, then.'”  (page 168)

Some of the best parts of the book are the jibes at the main royals, but also the references to other works by Shakespeare.  Moore definitely knows his literature, and is a master at rearranging syntax to create new images and environments within the Shakespearean middle ages  He stretches the edges of that world and tosses it out into the moat.  Readers who need a laugh out loud book to chase away the blues, are looking for clever prose and outlandish characters, and seeking a literary jaunt should pick up Fool.

“‘So, it sounds as if you’re thinking of conquering more than just the petting zoo?’

‘Europe,’ said the princess, as if stating the unadorned truth.

‘Europe?’ said I.

‘To start,’ said Cordelia.

‘Well, then you had better get moving, hadn’t you?’

‘Yes, I suppose,’ said Cordelia, with a great silly grin.  ‘Dear Pocket, would you help me pick an outfit?'” (page 255)

However, the ending of the novel could leave readers feeling flat or unsatisfied.  Overall, Fool by Christopher Moore is a “bawdy tale.” Moore has a number of fun books, and readers who enjoy humor, particularly dark or raunchy humor with a bit of whimsy, will love his books.  Moore is always a riot.

My husband enjoyed the audio version on our daily commute, laughing and giggling into work, but was seriously disappointed with the ending.  In his words, “The sexual jokes were funny and the ending sucked.”

Check out this great video:

FTC Disclosure:  I listened to the Fool by Christopher Moore on audio CD, which I borrowed from the library, and read portions of the book from another library copy.

Filed Under: audiobooks, borrowed copy, fiction, Harper Collins, Read in 2010, reviews Tagged With: ,

Bite Me: A Love Story by Christopher Moore

May 7, 2010 by

Christopher Moore‘s Bite Me: A Love Story continues to the trials of the Countess Jody, Lord Flood, and their minion Abby Normal.  It is the third book in the series set in San Francisco and focuses mainly on Goth teenager Abby Normal, her boy-toy and ultra-nerd Foo Dog (aka Steve), and her gay BFF Jared as they battle a city of vampyre cats . . . and rats.  The Emperor of San Francisco and Detectives Cavuto and Rivera return along with the Animals, Flood’s former colleagues of the Safeway stocking crew.

“I am Nosferatu, bee-yotch.”  (page 176)

“It just goes to show you, like Lord Byron says in the poem:  ‘Given enough weed and explosives, even a creature of most sophisticated and ancient dark power can be undone by a few stoners.’

I’m paraphrasing.  It may have been Shelley.”  (page 6-7)

Moore’s writing is crass and humorous and will have readers laughing out loud about how thick Abby is and yet so smart about the magical.  He has a way with language and creating and adopting slang for his characters, like booticuity, ownage, Mombot, va-jay-jay, and Skankenstein boots.   The vampyres are equally good and bad in this novel, but Abby and her friends are all that stand between San Francisco and total annihilation.  From katanas to LED sunlight jackets and UV lamps to flame throwers and Grandma’s special tea, these kids have tricked out rides and kung-fu skills like no one else.

“The outside city people live on, like, a different plane of existence, like they don’t even see the inside people either.  But when you’re a vampyre, the two cities are all lit up.  You can hear the people talking and eating and watching TV in their houses, and you can see and feel the people in the streets, behind the garbage cans, under the stairs.  All these auras show, sometimes right through walls.  Like life, glowing.” (page 226)

Even more enjoyable is how Moore intertwines other story lines from his previous books, particularly Dirty Job.  It is fun for readers to see how characters from other novels pop in and add spice to the vampyre mayhem.  Moore is a very talented writer with a gift for making readers laugh.  Those who love vampire novels should read the entire series — Bloodsucking Fiends and You Suck.  Bite Me is another laugh-out-loud novel from Moore for those of us who need to step into another world, destress, and laugh intelligently.

This is my 1st book for the 2010 Vampire Series Challenge.

***

Don’t forget to vote for your favorite National Poetry Month Blog Tour post.

FTC Disclosure:  I got my copy of the book from the local library!

Filed Under: 2010 Vampire Series Challenge, borrowed copy, fiction, Harper Collins, Read in 2010, reviews Tagged With: ,

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann

May 6, 2010 by

What do you do when your world spins out of control and changes so drastically that you begin to feel adrift?  Colum McCann‘s Let the Great World Spin examines these issues, while at the same time demonstrating how individuals can be connected to one another without even realizing it.

“But it struck me, as I sketched, that all I wanted to do was to walk out into a clean elsewhere.” (page 153)

“No newspapers big enough to paste him back together in Saigon.” (page 81)

McCann focuses his story in 1974, mostly in New York City, where a tenuous thread is stretched between a series of characters from an Irish monk and a grieving mother who lost her son in the Vietnam War to a young artistic couple and a black prostitute. That thread is the a tightrope walker, Philippe Petit who traversed the still under construction World Trade Center towers.

“It was the dilemma of the watchers:  they didn’t want to wait around for nothing at all, some idiot standing on the precipice of the towers, but they didn’t want to miss the moment either, if he slipped, or got arrested, or dove, arms stretched.” (page 3)

In a way, the tightrope walker is all of us, teetering on the edge of every decision we make, but what we often do not have is the courage to enjoy the moment or revel in the thrill of each step we take in our lives.  McCann is a gifted storyteller, but some readers may find the shifts between story lines hamper their ability to become emotionally tethered to the characters.  There are some moments where the prose takes on a list making quality, which is a bit overdone and jambs up the narrative.

The Vietnam War plays a significant role in the novel, touching lives in immediate ways and peripherally.   In many ways the tightrope walker symbolizes the perceived precariousness of the world at large in the 1970s, with the threat of communism and the deteriorating situation in Vietnam.  Overall, Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann is a satisfying examination of the 1970s, the Vietnam War, and modern society, and would be a good selection for book club discussions.

About the Author:

Colum McCann, a Dublin born writer, is the internationally bestselling author of the novels Let the Great World Spin, Zoli, Dancer, This Side of Brightness, and Songdogs, as well as two critically acclaimed story collections. His fiction has been published in thirty languages. He has been a finalist for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and was the inaugural winner of the Ireland Fund of Monaco Literary Award in Memory of Princess Grace. He has been named one of Esquire’s “Best and Brightest,” and his short film Everything in This Country Must was nominated for an Oscar in 2005. A contributor to The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, and The Paris Review, he teaches in the Hunter College MFA Creative Writing Program. He lives in New York City with his wife and their three children.

Check out the other tour stops.  Thanks to TLC Book Tours and Random House for sending me a free copy of Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann for review.


This is my 5th book for the 2010 Vietnam War Reading Challenge

This is my 31st book for the 2010 New Authors Challenge.

This is my 2nd and final book for the 2010 Ireland Reading Challenge.

Filed Under: historical fiction, Ireland Challenge, New Authors Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, random house, Read in 2010, review copy, reviews, Vietnam War Challenge 2010 Tagged With: ,

Letter to My Daughter by George Bishop Jr.

May 4, 2010 by

George Bishop Jr.’s Letter to My Daughter is narrated by a Louisiana mother whose daughter has just run away from home after a typical fight with her parents.  To cope with the anxiety, the mother writes a demonstrative history of her own teenage angst to provide them some common ground from which to begin anew.

“But believe it or not, I was your age once, and I had the same ugly fights with my parents.  And I promised myself that if I ever had a daughter, I would be a better parent to her than mine were to me.  My daughter, I told myself, would never have to endure the same inept upbringing that I did.”  (Page 4 of ARC)

Laura Jenkins takes her daughter back in time to when she is a young high school girl during the 1970s and the Vietnam War.  She falls in love with a young man, Tim Prejean, but he’s the wrong kind of man in her parent’s eyes.  How can she make them see that he’s exactly the man they should want her to be with and love.  But it all hits the fan one night and she’s sent away to Catholic school even though her family is Baptist.  Charity runs deep at Sacred Heart Academy, but Laura’s love still burns for her sweetheart, Tim.

Bishop’s prose is conversational as Laura continues to write her letter to Elizabeth, whom she named after the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning.  Browning’s Sonnets from the Portuguese #43 says, “I shall but love thee better after death,” and her poems would complement this novel well.  There is a great sadness and love in this letter.  Laura wants to make amends to her daughter and to generate the closeness she always dreamed would be between them.

“Up until that day I had known her only as a pale older nun who seemed unnaturally preoccupied with grammar; she smelled musty, like a library, and she rustled when she walked, like her very insides were made of parchment.”  (page 35 of ARC)

“And then there was silence:  black silence, that in the moments as I gripped the phone seemed to grow deeper and deeper until it was black as the dark spaces between the stars.” (page 59 of ARC)

Bishop’s prose is poetic and easily absorbing, transporting readers to a tumultuous time in U.S. history when the country was divided about war.  But as young men and women engaged one another in high school, how would these larger issues have impacted them?  Letter to My Daughter answers these questions in a way that will tear into the hearts of readers, generate a profound sympathy and confusion about what motivates humans to make war, and how teens handle not only the typical struggles they face of which boy to date and which dress to wear, but also the larger issues that permeate their lives.

About the Author:

George Bishop, Jr. graduated with degrees in English Literature and Communications from Loyola University in New Orleans before moving to Los Angeles to become an actor. He later traveled overseas as an English teacher to Czechoslovakia, Turkey and Indonesia before returning to the States to earn his MFA in Creative Writing at the University of North Carolina in Wilmington, where he studied under Clyde Edgerton, Wendy Brenner, and Rebecca Lee.

Giveaway; I have one copy of the book for U.S./Canada only:

1.  Leave a comment about whether you think a male can do justice to the mother-daughter relationship.

2.  Blog, Tweet, Facebook, etc. the giveaway and leave me a link.

Deadline is May 11, 2010, 11:59 PM EST.

Check the other stops on the tour.


This is my 4th book for the 2010 Vietnam War Reading Challenge.

This is my 30th book for the 2010 New Authors Challenge.

Filed Under: ARC, giveaway, historical fiction, New Authors Challenge, random house, Read in 2010, reviews, tlc book tours, Vietnam War Challenge 2010 Tagged With: ,