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Darcy By Any Other Name by Laura Hile

June 14, 2016 by

Source: Win from Just Jane 1813
eBook, 453 pgs.
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Darcy By Any Other Name by Laura Hile will require a suspension of disbelief for both the reader and the Pride & Prejudice characters of Jane Austen.  A lightning strike outside near the Folly during the Netherfield ball renders two men in need of medical care, but what really is amiss is their spirits.  Darcy and his pride allow him to stand apart from others, but he still within the bounds of honor and morality, while Collins is shackled by his calling to the church and remains a people-pleaser with saccharine charm.  When their bodies are switched, they have little choice but to resume the role of the other, and while the results are an improvement for one, they are a disaster for the other.

“Darcy hid a grin and added (in his best Collins-like manner), ‘Such fundamental skills must surely descend from your ancient, noble, and exalted family lineage.’

Ha, this was rather fun!”

Hile has stayed true to the characters, but in this twist we see how Elizabeth would react to a changed Mr. Collins and how Darcy’s life might be if he were more like Collins.  Readers will not a larger role for Anne De Bourgh here and a minor role for Colonel Fitzwilliam, but they are well placed given the whimsical situations now that Collins and Darcy have switched places.  Lady Catherine is as “charming” as ever.

Darcy By Any Other Name by Laura Hile is a fun read, and it goes by quickly.  Hile has a witty sense of humor and she’s talented at portraying all of Austen’s characters in different and unusual circumstances.  Unique Austenesque variations are among my favorites when they are well done, and this one is one of those re-imaginings.

(My editor’s brain couldn’t turn off, and I did notice a few misspellings of names.  I also noticed that the Rose and Crown from P&P 2005 movie was in Meryton, rather than near Pemberley, in this rendition, which is acceptable as I don’t recall it in Austen’s original work.)

RATING: Quatrain

About the Author:

Faith, Hope, Laughter…and Happily Ever After.

Readers are loving Laura Hile’s joyous Austenesque Regency novels. Her signature style—intertwined plots, cliffhangers, and laugh-out-loud humor—keep them coming back for more.

The comedy Laura comes by as a teacher. There’s never a dull moment with teen students!

This autumn she will be releasing Darcy By Any Other Name, a comic ‘body-swap’ romance based on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

Laura lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and sons. Her fiction is for everyone, even teens.

Filed Under: ARC, challenges, fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2016, reviews Tagged With: ,

Follow the River Home by Corran Harrington

June 7, 2016 by

tlc tour hostSource: TLC Book Tours
Paperback, 220 pgs.
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Follow the River Home by Corran Harrington is a novella and collection of short stories that at the heart follow the Rio Grande river that splits New Mexico in two and its surrounding landscapes — the flat lands, the mountains, the dams, the dust, the heat, and heavy rains.  Harrington’s literary fiction treats the subject of PTSD with careful precision in the story of Daniel Arroyo, a Vietnam veteran unable to forget even his earliest trauma, the death of his sister.

“For Daniel, the migration of the sandhills became the promise never broken, the putting to rest of old seasons, the beginning of new.  Grandmothers would tell grandchildren, as they held hands during walks along the river, and pointed toward the sky.  His own grandmother would soon tell him about the cranes, only in Spanish.” (pg. 3 ARC)

Arroyo’s childhood was full of familial argument and happiness, but the death of his sister nearly rips them apart, sending his family flying apart.  His struggles are compounded by his guilt and by his confusion over his own feelings for his friend.  Off to war, his mind and heart returned more burdened than before, and it is clear that his nightmares are affecting his marriage to his high school sweetheart and his relationships with his son and daughter.

In the second half of the book, Harrington explores the moments in Arroyo’s life and those who lived in the home before and who purchased various pieces of furniture.  She explores the sadness these families have seen, their most intimate moments, their struggles, and even their contentment with one another.  Told through the eyes of furniture or those who have known the Arroyo family, Harrington paints a broader picture of this microcosm.  The second half may at first blush appear separate from the first, but readers will soon draw the connections from the strands she leaves.

Follow the River Home by Corran Harrington is a wonderfully written look at our roots, our fears, our guilt, and all of the moments that make up our lives.  The good, the bad, the happiest, and the saddest moments.  Harrington’s work is detailed and emotionally grounded, but she never shies away from the dark moments of war and death.

RATING: Quatrain

About the Author:

Corran Harrington is a Pushcart Prize nominee, a Santa Fe Writers Project finalist, a Hidden River Arts Eludia Award finalist, a Bosque Fiction Contest finalist, and a New Millennium Writings Award semi-finalist whose short fiction has appeared in numerous literary journals. A former lawyer, Harrington also has a background in cultural and linguistic anthropology. She lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Visit her on Facebook and Twitter.

Filed Under: ARC, challenges, fiction, New Authors Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2016, reviews, tlc book tours Tagged With: , ,

Lost Kin by Steve Anderson

May 31, 2016 by

tlc tour hostSource: TLC Book Tours
Hardcover, 328 pgs.
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Lost Kin by Steve Anderson, the third book in the Kaspar Brothers series, is the search for a lost brother in post-WWII Munich, Germany.  The war has created a chaos in which the residents of the area struggle to rebuild their lives, while at the same time, people displaced by the war try to find their own way.  The Soviets are seeking traitors and those who once lived in their territories, and there are others who are running from them.  But it seems that no one wants the Jews.  Captain Harry Kaspar, a German-born man, comes upon a dead body and a Cossack refugee, Irina.  He wants to know how she knows his brother, but before he can get answers, she vanishes in the night.

Harry’s an odd fellow, a man who is eager to return to America as his stint in Munich winds down but also someone who has looked for his brother, Max, for a long time.  When Irina surfaces and knows his brother’s name, it raises those old feelings of brotherhood.  He embarks on a dangerous journey to find out what happened to Max.  But will his own darker past catch up with him before he can return home to America?

Anderson weaves in the historical elements of the occupied mansions, the found clothes, the downtrodden lives of these people, and the black market and bartering system that have now taken hold.  But his character, Harry, was a little flat.  His emotions were in check quite a lot, unless he was assessing the latest woman in front of him — whether it was his live-in Maddie, the refugee Irina, or the camp leader Sabine.

Overall, readers may feel as though they are missing something, perhaps reading the previous two novels could fill in some gaps.  It’s almost as if the reader is thrown into the action here with a modicum of explanation.  Lost Kin by Steve Anderson is part mystery, part historical fiction, and part spy novel.  The historical fiction portions demonstrating the effects of war on not only soldiers, but also society were harrowing.

RATING: Tercet

About the Author:

Steve Anderson was a Fulbright fellow in Munich, Germany. His research on the early US occupation in 1945 inspired him to write several novels centered on World War II and its aftermath. Anderson has a master’s in history and has worked in advertising, public relations, and journalism. He lives with his wife, René, in Portland, Oregon. Visit his website, on Facebook, and on Twitter.

Filed Under: 2016 World at War Reading Challenge, ARC, challenges, fiction, historical fiction, New Authors Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2016, reviews, tlc book tours Tagged With: , , , ,

United States of Books: Drown by Junot Díaz

May 30, 2016 by

Source: Public Library
Hardcover, 208 pgs.
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Drown by Junot Díaz, which Entertainment Weekly selected to represent New York, is not set in New York.  It is set in New Jersey.  In most cases, the neighborhoods in New Jersey can be transposed over those in New York City.  However, given that the young boy views a trip across the bridge as a trip to another world, these New Jersey neighborhoods are unique in terms of how many residents are Dominican and how those residents interact with other minorities.  EW said that the “book of stories stands out for its depiction of immigrants striving for their own versions of the American dream,” which is an accurate description.

There are 10 stories in this collection, and Díaz never shies away from the darkness that can envelop an immigrant’s life, especially when jobs and money are scarce and discrimination is around many corners.  A young immigrant boy must come to terms with his new life in the United States, after spending his early years feeling abandoned by his father.  Living an impoverished life with his mother and brother in the Dominican Republic, waiting for money from their father or even word from him, was somewhat easier because of its familiarity.  In the United States, these children must learn to live with a father they barely know, and it is a jarring experience.

“The uniforms Mami could do nothing about but with the mascotas she improvised, sewing together sheets of loose paper she had collected from her friends.  We each had one pencil and if we lost that pencil, like I once did, we had to stay home from school until Mami could borrow another one for us.” (pg. 71, “Aguantando”)

The immigrants in these stories are from the Dominican Republic, but even that does not summarize the power of these tales.  A family is fractured by a man with big dreams, but even those dreams are not enough to keep his focus most of the time.  One day after pledging his devotion to his wife and children, he takes his family’s money and flies to the United States, leaving his wife and two sons behind.  They live a squalid life to say the least, and while they make the best of it with the girls and the friends they have on the dirty streets, they know that there is something missing, and in some cases even blame themselves for the empty space.

Drown by Junot Díaz is gritty.  There are dark alleys, drug deals, fights, and sexual promiscuity, but there also is a desolation as these immigrants find that they are without an anchor in American but unable to return comfortably to their former lives.  Immigration can provide opportunity, but it also can provide paths that are unsavory and dark, leading to loss and hardship, similar to those left behind in their home countries.  These stories seek to shed light on the darker side of immigration and the breakup of families in search of an American dream.

Rating: Quatrain

About the Author:

Junot Díaz was born in the Dominican Republic and raised in New Jersey. He is the author of the critically acclaimed Drown; The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, which won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award; and This Is How You Lose Her, a New York Times bestseller and National Book Award finalist. He is the recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, PEN/Malamud Award, Dayton Literary Peace Prize, Guggenheim Fellowship, and PEN/O. Henry Award. A graduate of Rutgers College, Díaz is currently the fiction editor at Boston Review and the Rudge and Nancy Allen Professor of Writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

NewYorkUUofBooks

Filed Under: borrowed copy, challenges, fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2016, reviews, short stories Tagged With: , , ,

Undercover – An Austen Noir by Cat Gardiner

May 26, 2016 by

Source: Cat Gardiner
Ebook, 220 pgs.
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Undercover – An Austen Noir by Cat Gardiner, a noir novel inspired by Jane Austen’s characters from Pride & Prejudice set in the 1950s, is a fun ride.  Elizabeth (Eli) Bennet has left her father’s garage business after being duped by George Wickham, a Navy man gone AWOL.  She’s carved out her own life in Hell’s Kitchen as a private investigator, hacking her own career path in a man’s world among gangsters, commies, and police bravado.  Her home life was complicated, and Gardiner has created a more than down-on-their-luck Bennet family, plagued by drink and poor decisions.  Despite her rough beginnings, she’s smart, savvy, and willing to make the tough choices for her clients, even though she has a personal case of her own to find the elusive Slick Wick.

“‘Dealing with Wickham can make any man brood.  It’s the smolder that I look for.'” (ARC)

On her personal case, she comes across the smoldering Fitzwilliam Darcy at the Kit Kat Club and the sparks fly even though they just ogle one another.  Her assets on display, he cannot take his eyes off of her, especially after he sees how savvy she is in getting what she wants.  Stumbling upon another machination by Slick Wick, she finds herself coming to the rescue of the man with the smolder that could make her do things she promised she wouldn’t do again.

“‘Well, since you want to know about me, then you will have to share something about yourself in return.’

‘So, you’ll make me work for your affection?'” …

‘I guess not trusting a man is a result of your occupation.  Well, you may ask questions but I may choose not to answer them.'” (ARC)

Gardiner knows her Austen, and she modifies the famous lines from the novel in inventive and surprising ways, but in ways that keeps with her own plot and characterization.

“Those slow dances below the palm trees made her knees go weak.  It felt like pure seduction each time his hand slid down her back like an electrical frisson along a tense wire when he’d held her in his arms.”  (ARC)

The heat between Darcy and Eli will sizzle before readers’ eyes, and these characters are hot to trot.  Gardiner’s novel is fun, dark, and full of mystery, but it also provides a glimpse into what Darcy and Elizabeth’s romance would have been like in more modern days, especially after women gained a modicum of independence following WWII and were eager to remain in the workforce.

RATING: Cinquain

***Enter the Giveaway HERE***

About the Author:

Cat Gardiner loves romance and happy endings, history, comedy and Jane Austen. A member of the esteemed National League of American Pen Women, Romance Writers of America and her local chapter Tampa Area Romance Authors (TARA,) she enjoys writing across the modern spectrum of “Pride and Prejudice” inspired novels.

Winner of Austenesque Reviews Favorite Modern Adaptation for 2014, the comedic, Chick-Lit “Lucky 13” was released in October 2014. The romantic adventure “Denial of Conscience,” named Favorite “Pride and Prejudice” Modern for 2015 by Margie Must Reads and More Agreeably Engaged has set the sub-genre on fire since June of this year. Her latest release in December 2015, another romantic comedy titled “Villa Fortuna” has been voted Just Jane 1813’s Favorite Modern JAFF for 2015.

Her greatest love, however, is writing 20th Century Historical Fiction, WWII Romance. Her debut novel, “A Moment Forever” will release in Late Spring 2016 with “The Song is You” following in the winter.

Married 23 years to her best friend, they are the proud parents of the smartest honor student in the world – their orange tabby, Ollie. Although they live in Florida, they will always be proud native New Yorkers.

Filed Under: ARC, challenges, fiction, giveaway, historical fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2016, reviews Tagged With: , , ,

Rebel Sisters by Marita Conlon-McKenna & Giveaway

May 25, 2016 by

tlc tour hostSource: TLC Book Tours
Paperback, 400 pgs.
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Rebel Sisters by Marita Conlon-McKenna is sweeping historical fiction in which Ireland strives for Home Rule and many Irish men are sent off to France during WWI, as the headstrong Gifford sisters are forced to deal with tragedy, fear, and the consequences of their independent natures.  Grace, Muriel, and Nellie have lived privileged lives, but each has failed in one way or another to meet the rigid expectations of their Protestant and British loyalist mother, Isabella.  Their father often cowers in his wife’s shadow, preferring to avoid conflict, unless he means to protect his own ability to attend the Roman Catholic church.

“It mystified her that, having given birth to twelve children, they could all be so different.  When she had held each of her newborn children she had thought them so alike, cherubic mirror images of each other, but as the months and years followed, they changed, slipping away from her.” (pg. 28-9 ARC)

Through their efforts to carve out lives of their own, rather than get married and have families, each woman tries their hand at a profession.  While Muriel realizes she does not have the constitution to become a nurse, she soon finds she thrives as a wife to Thomas MacDonagh, a playwright and teacher heavily involved in the Irish Volunteers and the campaign for a free Ireland, and as a mother to their children.  Nellie’s brief moment with a man spurs her into action, helping those who need it most when the employers refuse to capitulate to the demands of their workers and the lockout leaves many families in Ireland near starving.  And when the soldiers return from war, she helps them find jobs.  Grace, however, knows that she wants to be an artist and pushes her mother and father to send her to art school where she excels.  However, as a woman, she finds that while her work is accepted, she is rarely paid.

“MacDonagh teased her unmercifully when the newspaper reports mentioned ‘the Gifford sisters looking like a musical comedy in their pretty pale linen dresses as they attended the demonstration’.” (pg. 139 ARC)

These sisters become the backbone of the Nationalist movement, doing what they can to support their husbands, lovers, and friends, as the seek justice for their fellow Irish brethren — even calling for women’s suffrage.  When it all comes to a head with the British on Easter in 1916, the Gifford sisters must rely on their inner strength to move forward.  Conlon-McKenna makes these sisters come alive, and their struggles take an emotional toll on the reader.  Rebel Sisters by Marita Conlon-McKenna is an emotional look at the families behind the rebellion and the tensions those families faced as some strove for Irish freedom and others remained loyal to Britain.

RATING: Quatrain

***Enter the International Giveaway by leaving a comment below with your email by May 31, 2016.  1 winner will be chosen.***

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED!

About the Author:

Marita Conlon-McKenna is a hugely successful Irish children’s writer. Her first novel, UNDER THE HAWTHORN TREE, sold 250,000 copies in the Irish market alone. Her debut adult novel, THE MAGDALEN, was a number one bestseller in Ireland, followed by PROMISED LAND, MIRACLE WOMAN, THE STONE HOUSE and THE HAT SHOP ON THE CORNER. She lives in Dublin with her husband and four children.

Visit Marita at her website: MaritaConlonMcKenna.com.

Filed Under: 2016 World at War Reading Challenge, ARC, challenges, fiction, giveaway, historical fiction, New Authors Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2016, reviews, tlc book tours Tagged With: , ,

Tasa’s Song by Linda Kass

May 19, 2016 by

Source: Caitlin Hamilton Marketing & Publicity and She Writes Press
Paperback, 256 pgs.
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Tasa’s Song by Linda Kass, BRONZE WINNER, IPPY AWARD for HISTORICAL FICTION, is a concerto built on the jarring experiences of young violinist Tasa Rosinski in war-torn Poland during WWII.  Poland has changed hands many times before and does so again during the war, a war that many never expected to get as far as it did. As a young girl, she’s sent for additional schooling in Brody with her cousin Danik, but even as she enjoys school, she sees how the townspeople begin to treat their Jewish neighbors.  As fear creeps along the streets, Tasa softens the sharp edges with her violin, practicing music and losing herself in its timbres.

“In conveying the complicated history of Poland, Tasa’s schoolteacher used Podkamien as an example when she said you could live and die in one spot and occupy four different countries, because this part of Poland was constantly being invaded and carved up, then ‘liberated’ by somebody.” (pg. 15)

Tasa’s Jewish family is well liked by the townspeople of Podkamien because her father invested in the town, even as his family’s wealth grew.  He helped bring electricity and infrastructure to the village, making the lives of others better.  When the Nazis move on Poland and it is caught in between them and the Soviets, her family is able to escape for the most part with the help of non-Jewish families.  However, the tensions in the village are immediate, and the fear of being discovered can be difficult to live with.  Tasa, however, finds strength in her memories of her encouraging grandfather and her supportive mother, but also in her music, which provides her an escape from fear and loss.  She’s a strong young woman, and her strength helps others to keep going.

Tasa’s Song by Linda Kass demonstrates the tension within families at a time when there is so much uncertainty, and it illustrates the changing tides in just one nation during WWII.  Being Jewish in Europe during WWII was dangerous, and while luck can be with you, that luck also can turn out to be a bad omen.  This is a story of growing up in war, but also of learning to navigate uncertainty and reach into the future for something better without losing hope or the memory of those left behind, many in unmarked graves.

RATING: Quatrain

About the Author:

Linda Kass wrote for regional and national publications, including Columbus Monthly, TIME and The Detroit Free Press, early in her career as a journalist. TASA’S SONG, her debut novel, is inspired by her mother’s life in eastern Poland during the Second World War.

Linda lives in Columbus, Ohio, where she is a strong advocate of education, literacy, and the arts. Her past experience as a trustee and board chair of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra fed into much of the music that fills the pages of TASA’S SONG. Linda enjoys long distance road cycling and rides in an annual event to support cancer research.

Filed Under: 2016 World at War Reading Challenge, challenges, fiction, historical fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2016, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , , ,

John Dies @ the End by David Wong

May 18, 2016 by

Source: Public Library and Audible
Hardcover, 362 pgs.
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John Dies @ the End by David Wong, which was our April book club selection, is like falling off the frame and into a Salvador Dalí surrealist painting and its topsy-turvy world where very little makes sense and there is no straight path to some kind of satisfactory resolution.

Wong is a long-time editor at Cracked.com, which from what I gather is a humor website, and Wong is really a pen name.  So should you take anything in his novel seriously, even if it is considered in the horror genre?  My answer would be no.

In this novel, the soy sauce is a drug that enables John and David to see ghosts, demons, and other underworld-like things, and these unsuspecting and slacker heroes are less-than-motivated to take action, unless they have to.  Our unreliable narrator, David Wong, is socially inept and ogles women everywhere he goes, but readers are not even sure if he is David or John or someone else because the names of been changed.  In B-horror movie fashion, plots are introduced, left hanging, and reworked into even more ridiculous adventures.

“‘I call it Dante’s Syndrome,’ John said.  I had never heard him call it any such thing. ‘Meaning, I think Dave and I gained the ability to peer into Hell. Only it turns out Hell is right here, it’s all through us and around us and in us like the microbes that swarm through your lungs and guts and veins. Hey, look! An owl!'” (pg. 7)

“‘But I can bless water to make it holy. The ice statue, I mean.’
John’s face brightened and he said, ‘That’s perfect!’ He thrust his index finger into the air. ‘We bless the ice, then we just have to somehow get all hundred or so of those monsters to lick the statue!'” (130 pgs.)

These examples should provide you with the humor in this book, but some of this just seemed inserted for humor’s sake and did little to add to the story.  My final impression of John Dies @ the End by David Wong — the narrator for Audible was Stephen R. Thorne — is one of being overwhelmed by the descriptive info-dumps and the absurdity.  Because of the overwhelming and topsy-turvy nature of the narrative, this one did not work well on audio at all, leaving me lost most of the time, which is why I switched to the book.

RATING: Couplet

What the book club thought:

Sounded like most everyone thought the book was OK, but was not overly excited about the book. One member who said they were not sad to have read the book, said that they were not interested in reading any of the sequels. Another member said that the book was humorous, but most members said that the book had a plot that went nowhere and where there were no consequences for anything that happened.

Filed Under: borrowed copy, challenges, fiction, New Authors Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, purchased, Read in 2016, reviews, St. Martin's Press Tagged With: , , ,

Yellow Brick War by Danielle Paige (audio)

May 17, 2016 by

Source: Purchased
Audible, 8+ hours
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Yellow Brick War by Danielle Paige, narrated by Devon Sorvari, is the third part of this young adult series in an alternative world to the one we grew up with in Oz. This is a series that would be hard to follow without having read the first two books in the series — Dorothy Must Die and The Wicked Will Rise.

Amy Gumm finds herself back in Kansas, but she’s not alone.  The Wicked are with her as well, and she must find something to help get them back to Oz before Dorothy destroys everything.  This is Amy’s worst nightmare — returning to high school where she’s picked on by her peers and her mother is too drunk to even care where she is or if her homework is finished.  However, the witches show her that things have changed since her disappearance, and her mother is now sober and her former bullies are nicer now that they’ve been ostracized.

In this installment, the action is much slower as Amy reunites with her mother and the peers that once tortured her.  She feels just as out of place here as she did in Oz, but at least in Oz she could use magic and had a purpose.  She meets up with the former quarterback and his former girlfriend — Amy’s nemesis — and they strive to uncover the truth about the real Dorothy from Kansas.  It’s clear that Dorothy’s story was real and that no one believed her, but there is something magic still hidden in Kansas, and Amy must find it.

Yellow Brick War by Danielle Paige, narrated by Devon Sorvari, is a unique retelling of the Oz story, and readers will enjoy the characters and plot twists.  However, the dangling cliffhanger means there is sure to be another book in this series.  When the action abruptly ends, readers can be frustrated, especially in the case here where there is a big question mark over everyone’s fate.

Rating: Tercet

About the Author:

Danielle Paige is a graduate of Columbia University and the author of Dorothy Must Die and its digital prequel novellas, No Place Like Oz and The Witch Must Burn. Before turning to young adult literature, she worked in the television industry, where she received a Writers Guild of America Award and was nominated for several Daytime Emmys. She currently lives in New York City.

Filed Under: audiobooks, fiction, Harper Collins, Publishers/Publicists, purchased, Read in 2016, reviews, young adult fiction Tagged With: , , ,

The Murder House by James Patterson and David Ellis (audio)

May 13, 2016 by

Source: Public Library
Audiobook, 9 CDs
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The Murder House by James Patterson and David Ellis, narrated by Therese Plummer and Jay Snyder, is a thrill-a-minute, as Det. Jenna Murphy gets re-acquainted with Bridgehampton at a time when Noah Walker is on trial for murder.  7 Ocean Drive, the Murder House, has a violent and unforgiving past, and Walker finds that he gets caught up in that darkness no matter how much he wants to stay under the radar.  Murphy has resigned from her Manhattan police gig and returned to a place she hasn’t been in more than two decades.  As she strives to put the man in jail who she believes killed her uncle, the police chief of Bridgehampton, she’ll have to compromise the one thing she’s held onto since then — her integrity.

Therese Plummer and Jay Snyder do an excellent job of narrating this suspenseful murder mystery, with Jay’s voice even creepier as the killer’s, whose identity remains unknown until the end.  In this twisted tale, Jenna and Noah embark on parallel journeys that lead them into one of the darkest places in the tourist trap — the Murder House.  It’s history dates back to the 1800s, and the family that owned it was always under suspicion but never tried or convicted of any crimes.  Long-since dead, the family’s secrets come to light, and one of them hits very close to home for Murphy, who has lost her uncle and her job as she continues to ask questions about the recent murders of a powerful Hollywood player and his mistress and Walker’s role in them.

Despite moments that seem forced and lines that are repeated a little too often, as well as bad decisions that are made by a supposedly talented cop, The Murder House by James Patterson and David Ellis, narrated by Therese Plummer and Jay Snyder, is a heart-pumping thriller that will leave readers on the edge of their seats.

Rating: Quatrain

About the Author, David Ellis:

David Ellis is a lawyer and the Edgar Allan Poe Award winner for Best First Novel for Line of Vision. Ellis attended Northwestern Law School and began his legal career in private practice in Chicago in 1993. He served as the House Prosecutor who tried and convicted Illinois Governor Blagojevich in the Impeachment Trial before the Illinois Senate. He was elected to the Illinois Appellate Court in 2014 and took office December 1, 2014. Ellis currently lives outside Chicago with his wife and three children.

About the Author, James Patterson:

James Patterson has created more enduring fictional characters than any other novelist writing today with his Alex Cross, Michael Bennett, Women’s Murder Club, Private, NYPD Red, Daniel X, Maximum Ride, and Middle School series. As of January 2016, he has sold over 350 million books worldwide and currently holds the Guinness World Record for the most #1 New York Times bestsellers. In addition to writing the thriller novels for which he is best known, he also writes children’s, middle-grade, and young-adult fiction and is also the first author to have #1 new titles simultaneously on the New York Times adult and children’s bestsellers lists.

Filed Under: audiobooks, borrowed copy, fiction, Hachette Books, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2016, reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Secrets of Flight by Maggie Leffler

May 12, 2016 by

tlc tour hostSource: TLC Book Tours
Paperback, 368 pgs.
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The Secrets of Flight by Maggie Leffler is a stunning mystery that unravels piece by piece, and readers will first meet Mary Browning, an elderly woman in a writer’s group.  She believes she sees an apparition of her sister, Sarah, as a young lady walks into their public writing group.  This vision prompts her memories to resurface, and with the help of this young transcriptionist, she begins again on her memoir.  Leffler deftly weaves between the past and present, creating a multi-layered story that will capture not only the nostalgia of a former airplane pilot during WWII but also the immediacy of a young woman’s search for herself among the detritus of family drama.  Her characters resonate off of one another, like echoes of the past pushing forward the lives of the present into the future.  This ripple effect builds throughout the novel, until the final mystery is revealed.

“But my greatest fear of all was not having a voice of my own.” (pg. 5 ARC)

We all fear losing ourselves and not having a voice.  We are individuals in search of ourselves, but we also are sisters, mothers, daughters, and friends, among other roles that we play.  These connections can help us breathe life into our passions and desires, or they can stifle them.  The trick is to balance the needs and expectations of others with our own without hurting ourselves or those we care most about.

“… I learned how to squeeze my face closed and let myself soundlessly shudder, imagining my tears deep inside, dripping off my organs.” (pg. 31 ARC)

Mary has lived her life, much of it on her own terms, and while she has had a hard time compromising, she was able to do it for love, even to her own detriment.  When WWII was in full swing, she left home to do what she loved even as many told her she shouldn’t, and when she fell in love, she made a sacrifice that many would now see as unnecessary without having lived with the fear of persecution.

Very rarely is there a book that can equally make emotions soar and crash, taking readers on a complete journey wrought with obstacles and choices that you can only imagine facing.  For Mary Browning to have survived them and to have created a satisfying, but not ideal life, is nothing short of miraculous — much like when a heavy metal plane takes to the air with the birds and clouds.  The Secrets of Flight by Maggie Leffler is equal parts coming of age story, WWII historical romance, and mystery, and it is so well balanced and amazing, readers will be left spent at the end of the runway.

RATING: Cinquain

About the Author:

Maggie Leffler is an American novelist and a family medicine physician. A native of Columbia, Maryland, she graduated from the University of Delaware and volunteered with AmeriCorps before attending St. George’s University School of Medicine. She practices medicine in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she lives with her husband and sons. The Secrets of Flight is her third novel.

Find out more about Maggie at her website, and connect with her on Facebook.

Filed Under: 2016 World at War Reading Challenge, ARC, challenges, fiction, Harper Collins, historical fiction, New Authors Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2016, reviews, The Literary Road Trip, tlc book tours Tagged With: , ,

Cross Justice by James Patterson (audio)

May 6, 2016 by

Source: Public Library
Audiobook, 8 CDs
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Cross Justice by James Patterson, narrated by Ruben Santiago Hudson and Jefferson Mays, is another fast-paced thriller in the Alex Cross series of books, and this one has a lot of twists and turns that will provide even greater insight into the character of Cross and where he comes from.  Alex Cross returns to his North Carolina hometown for the first time since the death of his parents and his grandmother, Nana Mama, moved him and his brothers north.  He’s on vacation, but we all know that never lasts.  He, his wife, and the kids are quickly enveloped into the loving arms of Cross family, but they also find themselves unraveling the mystery behind their cousin’s arrest for the murder of a young boy.

Patterson is a great artist when it comes to creating suspense and chapter cliffhangers that will force readers to keep going, even as he shifts points of view between Alex Cross and a killer.  The narrators for this one did a great job, especially Jefferson Mays who narrates several characters — male and female. Patterson tied up the crimes in this novel very neatly, with socialites being murdered for jewels in one case and finding the killer of a young boy in another. While these cases connections often seem unlikely, somehow Patterson seems to make them plausible.

The backstory of the Cross family is a stunner, and even Alex Cross is thrown for a loop.  Nana Mama doesn’t figure into this one as much, but the kids are front and center, as is his new wife, Bree.  The family history and the unraveling of Cross’s past are riveting.  Cross Justice by James Patterson, narrated by Ruben Santiago Hudson and Jefferson Mays, is a nice mix of murder, mystery, and family secrets.

Rating: Quatrain

About the Author:

James Patterson has created more enduring fictional characters than any other novelist writing today with his Alex Cross, Michael Bennett, Women’s Murder Club, Private, NYPD Red, Daniel X, Maximum Ride, and Middle School series. As of January 2016, he has sold over 350 million books worldwide and currently holds the Guinness World Record for the most #1 New York Times bestsellers. In addition to writing the thriller novels for which he is best known, he also writes children’s, middle-grade, and young-adult fiction and is also the first author to have #1 new titles simultaneously on the New York Times adult and children’s bestsellers lists.

Filed Under: audiobooks, borrowed copy, fiction, Hachette Books, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2016, reviews Tagged With: , , , ,