North of Here, by Laurel Saville (@savillel) #review #tlcbooktours

2 March 2016 by Melissa

About the book, North of Here

Hardcover: 257 Pages
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing (March 1, 2016)

Many may dream of a simpler life in the north woods, far away from the complications of the modern world. But in her absorbing and uncompromising second novel, North of Here (Lake Union; March 1, 2016), Laurel Saville reveals the dark side of such a life for four young people living in the Adirondack Mountains. This story of misguided decisions, a dangerous back-to-nature cult, and the universal search for meaning and love intertwines these troubled lives into a riveting blend of penetrating love story and persuasive page-turner. Saville, author of the #1 Kindle bestseller Henry and Rachel, once again taps her astute narrative powers in a tale of tragedy, survival, and love.

At the heart of the drama are four unforgettable, strikingly-drawn characters:

Miranda: A young “heiress” who discovers that the mountain property she has inherited is encumbered by her father’s debts and misdealing.
Dix: A self-assured “mountain man” who is really an educated, financially secure son of two accomplished professionals.
Darius: A preppy trust fund refugee who turns his own quest for meaning into a dangerous back-to-nature cult bent on healing lost souls
Sally: A brassy, street-smart social worker who, despite being perpetually unlucky in love, ultimately has the foresight to see the perils of loving Darius.

As this masterful novel unfolds, these four will become inextricably entwined in troubles that far exceed simple crimes of the heart.

Buy, read, and discuss North of Here

Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About the author, Laurel Saville

Laurel Saville is the award-winning author of the memoir Unraveling Anne, the novel Henry and Rachel, and the four-part short story “How Much Living Can You Buy,” as well as numerous essays, short stories, and articles. She has an MFA in Creative Writing and Literature from the Writing Seminars at Bennington College.

Once again, Laurel Saville applies her “poetic, lyrical voice” (Booklist) to a story that captures the complications of the lives we live—or wish to live.

Connect with Laurel

Website | Facebook | Twitter

My Thoughts

This book North of Here was my first exposure to Laurel Saville’s work, but reading her work felt like curling up in a favorite couch – her language wasn’t at all simplistic, but it was still a very comfortable narrative style.

I really liked the way the four central characters, Dix, Miranda, Sally, and Darius, had distinct voices. At first Iwas concerned the Dix/Miranda story would play out like a cheesy romance novel, but Saville made both characters so real and flawed, and then turned the trope of the rugged handyman saving the spoiled damsel on its head, which I really appreciated. Similarly, in Sally and Darius she gave us two characters who were both difficult to suss out at first – Darius seemed like a nice, if slightly misguided guy, and Sally was portrayed as a white trash bitch – but then we were shown the truth of both characters.

In any other author’s hands the events in this novel – loss, death, depression, wanderlust, soul-searching, etc., would have been a story full of cliches and annoyances, something akin to old-school soap operas, and not in a good way.

Thankfully, Saville is incredibly talented. The Booklist quote above refers to her lyrical voice, and I have to agree. Saville’s storytelling never feels redundant, never slips into cliches or overly dramatic moments. Instead it is a gentle novel full of stark sadness and incredible, naked truth.

It is that truthfulness that makes North of Here so gripping. The characters are completely vivid, and the book itself sings.

Goes well with homemade pie made with wild-picked berries, and a mug of strong coffee.

Laurel Saville’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Tuesday, March 1st: Musings of a Bookish Kitty

Wednesday, March 2nd: Bibliotica

Thursday, March 3rd: Just Commonly

Monday, March 7th: Reading is My Superpower

Tuesday, March 8th: Thoughts on This ‘n That

Wednesday, March 9th: It’s a Mad Mad World

Thursday, March 10th: From the TBR Pile

Monday, March 14th: Kahakai Kitchen

Tuesday, March 15th: Book Dilettante

Wednesday, March 16th: Kritter’s Ramblings

Thursday, March 17th: FictionZeal

Friday, March 18th: My Book Retreat

Monday, March 21st: All Roads Lead to the Kitchen

Tuesday, March 22nd: Puddletown Reviews

Tuesday, March 22nd: A Holland Reads

Wednesday, March 23rd: A Chick Who Reads

Thursday, March 24th: Why Girls Are Weird

Friday, March 25th: Walking with Nora

Monday, March 28th: Life is Story

Tuesday, March 29th: Mom in Love with Fiction

Wednesday, March 30th: A Bookish Affair

The Christos Mosaic, by Vincent Czyz

11 February 2016 by Melissa

About the book, The Christos Mosaic

Hardcover: 531 pages
Publisher: Blank Slate Press (October 27, 2015)

A suspicious death in Istanbul leaves one ancient scroll and clues to finding another in the hands of Drew Korchula, a thirty-two-year-old American ex-pat, a Turkish dwarf named Kadir, and Zafer, a Special Forces washout. Drew is desperate to turn everything over to the academic community, and in the process redeem himself in the eyes of his estranged wife, but Kadir and Zafer are only interested in what they can get for the scrolls on the black market. None of them anticipated a coven of shadowy Church operatives determined to prevent the revelations embodied in the priceless manuscripts from ever going public.

An action-packed, intellectual thriller unraveling a theological cold case more than two thousand years old, The Christos Mosaic is a monumental work of biblical research wrapped in a story of love, faith, human frailty, friendship, and forgiveness. The novel takes the reader through the backstreets of Istanbul, Antakya (ancient Antioch), and Cairo, to clandestine negotiations with wealthy antiquities smugglers and ruthless soldiers of fortune, to dusty Egyptian monasteries, on a nautical skirmish off the coast of Alexandria, and finally to the ruins of Constantine’s palace buried beneath the streets of present-day Istanbul.

Buy, read, and discuss The Christos Mosaic

Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble, Goodreads

About the author, Vincent Czyz

Vincent Czyz is the author of The Christos Mosaic, a novel, and Adrift in a Vanishing City, a collection of short fiction. He received two fellowships from the NJ Council on the Arts and the W. Faulkner-W. Wisdom Prize for Short Fiction. The 2011 Truman Capote Fellow at Rutgers University, his stories and essays have appeared in New England Review, Shenandoah, AGNI, The Massachusetts Review, Tin House (online), Boston Review, Quiddity, The Tampa Review, The Georgetown Review, and Skidrow Penthouse, among other publications. He spent a total of nearly a decade in Istanbul, Turkey before settling in Jersey City. His work often deals with the existential themes found in art, myth and religion, dreams, and primal ways of perceiving the world.

My Thoughts

I confess, it took me a bit to really get into this book. I just didn’t connect with the main character, Drew, as he was in college, and at first, I couldn’t see why the Drew-at-university chapter was even there. At some point I realized that part of my reaction was because I received this book – which is a meaty 531 pages long – later than I’d hoped, so I didn’t have the time to sit with it, and the material, which basically boils down to “Was Jesus Real?” deserves, and even requires some digestion.

In terms of the subject of his novel, the theological and historical context, the mystery of the scroll in question, etc. Vincent Czyz has shown himself to be incredibly well-read, either from intense research or lifelong knowledge (probably both). You may not agree with some of the theories this book includes, but you can’t deny that the various arguments are supported.

As a novelist, author Czyz is a bit less polished, a bit more uneven. His dialogue is good, and even engaging, but I felt that his characters, especially Drew, could have used a little more depth. The plot was interesting, but the ending was predictable. Where he excelled was with his descriptions of places. In those cases, I felt like I was in Turkey, or on a college campus, or wherever the story was taking us.

If you’re really into religious history and the ages-old argument between fact and faith, you’ll probably enjoy this novel. If not, it’s likely to be the kind of thing that will appeal if you’re in the right mood when it comes into your life.

I believe Czyz has potential to grow as a novelist, and I liked this book enough that I’d definitely read his work again, but I’d be sure to set aside more time than I had.

Goes well with honeyed lamb, couscous, and mint tea.

Vincent Czyz’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Monday, February 8th: It’s A Mad Mad World

Thursday, February 11th: Bibliotica

Monday, February 15th: From the TBR Pile

Wednesday, February 17th: Ace and Hoser Blog

Monday, March 7th: Life is Story

Date TBD: Patricia’s Wisdom

The Past, by Tessa Hadley #review #ThePastbook #TLCBookTours

13 January 2016 by Melissa

About the book, The Past

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Harper (January 5, 2016)

“An exquisite writer, a writer’s writer, with a fine eye for detail and a way of crafting sentences that make you stop and inhale . . . Hadley should be a bestseller rather than literary fiction’s best kept secret.”—The Times (London)

Three sisters and a brother, complete with children, a new wife, and an ex-boyfriend’s son, descend on their grandparents’ dilapidated old home in the Somerset countryside for a final summer holiday, where simmering tensions and secrets rise to the surface over three long, hot weeks.The house is full of memories of their childhood and their past—their mother took them there to live when she left their father—but now, they may have to sell it. And beneath the idyllic pastoral surface lie tensions.

Sophisticated and sleek, Roland’s new wife (his third) arouses his sisters’ jealousies and insecurities. Kasim, the twenty-year-old son of Alice’s ex-boyfriend, becomes enchanted with Molly, Roland’s sixteen-year-old daughter. Fran’s young children make an unsettling discovery in an abandoned cottage in the woods that shatters their innocence. Passion erupts where it’s least expected, leveling the quiet self-possession of Harriet, the eldest sister. As the family’s stories and silences intertwine, small disturbances build into familial crises, and a way of life—bourgeois, literate, ritualized, Anglican—winds down to its inevitable end.

Over five novels and two collections of stories, Tessa Hadley has earned a reputation as a fiction writer of remarkable gifts. She brings all of her considerable skill to The Past, a work of breathtaking scope and beauty—her most ambitious and accomplished novel yet.

Buy, read, and discuss The Past

Amazon | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About the author, Tessa Hadley

Tessa Hadley is the author of five highly praised novels: Accidents in the Home, which was longlisted for The Guardian First Book Award; Everything Will Be All Right; The Master Bedroom; The London Train, which was a New York Times Notable Book; and Clever Girl. She is also the author of two short story collections,Sunstroke and Married Love, which were New York Times Notable Books as well. Her stories appear regularly in The New Yorker. She lives in London.

My Thoughts

It’s a good thing this book had me gripped from page one, because my iPhone neglected to remind me I had a review due until one o’clock this morning! I’m a fast reader, but reading with any real speed requires that I find the material truly engaging.

And this novel, The Past, is truly engaging.

It’s a perfect example of contemporary fiction: a bit of family drama, a bit of the interpersonal relationships among women, a bit of loss of innocence, and a bit of coming of age, all rolled into one sometimes tense, often poignant, family holiday at the cottage they’ve owned (collectively) for years.

We meet the players in ones and twos: Harriet, the pragmatic sister whose hair is going white, Alice and her quasi-stepson Kasim (age 20), Fran and her twin children Ivy and Arthur, and Roland, the brother, with his newest wife, Pilar, and his daughter from a previous marriage, Molly (age 16). In a move that would feel like something out of an Agatha Christie story if this novel were an overt mystery (it’s not, though there are little bits of mystery), everyone is together at this house, there’s no signal for anyone’s mobile devices, and the configurations keep changing.

The twins are drawn to the Anglo-Indian Kasim, Harriet and Pilar bond, Alice buries herself in nostalgia, Fran grumbles a bit (her husband didn’t join the family on this holiday). Roland is the most opaque of the characters, sort of there as a presence, but without having the strong influence of the other characters, but that makes sense, I guess, because it’s the women – Harriet, Alice, Fran, and Pilar, and the girls, Molly and Ivy, who really move the plot while Kasim, Arthur, and, yes, Roland, observe, nudge, and stabilize. New configurations come from the original ones: Kasim and Molly discover each other, for example.

While the overarching theme of The Past had a lot to do with the way women approach aging, and the way we all must let go of things from our pasts, I felt, at times, that it was almost a graceful collection of character studies, interwoven with realistic dialogue and vivid descriptions of the house and its environs.

It was a great book to read quickly, but would probably be even better if savored.

One issue I had was with the presentation: dialogue, at least in the digital proof that I read, was set off by dashes rather than quotation marks. As someone who tends to use a lot of dashes within dialogue when I’m writing my own stuff, this choice combined with the lateness of the hour to muddle some of the attributions. I don’t know if the completed copies of the novel use this structure, so consider it a word of warning – it’s good, sometimes, to know what to expect.

Goes well with endless mugs of tea, and slices of navel oranges, with the occasional butter cookie.

Tessa’s Tour Stops

Tuesday, January 5th: Sara’s Organized Chaos

Wednesday, January 6th: BookNAround

Thursday, January 7th: No More Grumpy Bookseller

Monday, January 11th: Kritters Ramblings

Tuesday, January 12th: A Bookish Way of Life

Wednesday, January 13th: Bibliotica

Thursday, January 14th: Jenn’s Bookshelves

Friday, January 15th: Thoughts On This ‘n That

Monday, January 18th: Broken Teepee

Tuesday, January 19th: Bibliophiliac

Wednesday, January 20th: Curling Up by the Fire

Thursday, January 21st: From the TBR Pile

Friday, January 22nd: A Book Geek

Monday, January 25th: Novel Escapes

Tuesday, January 26th: Dreams, Etc.

Mendocino Fire, by Elizabeth Tallent #review #TLCBookTours #MendocinoFire

23 October 2015 by Melissa

About the book, Mendocino Fire

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Harper (October 20, 2015)

The long-awaited return of a writer of rare emotional wisdom

The son of an aging fisherman becomes ensnared in a violent incident that forces him to confront his broken relationship with his father. A woman travels halfway across the country to look for her ex-husband, only to find her attention drawn in a surprising direction. A millworker gives safe harbor to his son’s pregnant girlfriend, until an ambiguous gesture upsets their uneasy equilibrium. These and other stories—of yearning, loss, and tentative new connections—come together in Mendocino Fire, the first new collection in two decades from the widely admired Elizabeth Tallent.

Buy, read, and discuss Mendocino Fire

Amazon | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About the author, Elizabeth Tallent

Elizabeth Tallent is the author of the story collections Honey, In Constant Flight, and Time with Children, and the novel Museum Pieces. Since 1994 she has taught in the Creative Writing program at Stanford University. She lives on the Mendocino coast of California.

My Thoughts

Even though Elizabeth Tallent is, by no means, a new voice in American fiction, her work was new to me, and I really enjoyed getting to know her through Mendocino Fire. I find that short stories are an excellent way to find out if you’re responding to a specific author, or jut a specific story. As well, I think they give authors a way to stretch – try on different voices. In this collection of ten stories, Tallent does both: she shows off her versatility, but she also gave me the ability to determine if I wanted to read more of her work (yes, I do.)

Critics have referred to Tallent’s short stories, particularly those in this collection, as “elegant” and “perfectly made,” and I have to agree. Though most, if not all, of her characters – a young man trying to start a life while also accepting that he isn’t the son his father wanted, a young girl exploring her sexuality and forging a future while also facing the fact that futures cost money, a woman still processing her divorce – the list goes on – are demonstrably imperfect, the author has told their stories with grace and not a little bit of dark wit.

I was particularly drawn to Tallent’s use of language throughout the collection. The way she describes David Merson, the protagonist of “Tabriz,” (one of my favorites of the bunch) as “heartsore in the way of old activists,” really struck a chord with me, perhaps because I know so many aging hippies, but that’s just one example of the way she mixes description and social commentary into a satisfying blend.

Of the collection, “Tabriz” and the titular “Mendocino Fire” were the two I most responded to, partly because of the language, and partly because the characters resembled people I’ve encountered throughout my life, which made them seem the most “real” to me.

I had several false starts reading the very first story in the collection, ‘The Wrong Son,” but not everyone will respond to every word any writer offers. Even though I didn’t truly connect with it, though, there were a couple of moments – Nate’s internal reflection about wondering if he and his young family will ever get out of the trailer he’s renting from his father, and into a real house. I remember when Fuzzy and I were first married, and facing the reality of what you can actually afford when you’re young and just beginning your adult life.

Overall, this collection is truly compelling, with stunning use of language, vivid descriptions, real, flawed characters, and a theme of broken people becoming whole that I found incredibly interesting and engaging.

Goes well with bean and cheese burritos and Indio beer.

Elizabeth’s Tour Stops

Tuesday, October 20th: Books on the Table

Friday, October 23rd: Bibliotica

Monday, October 26th: A Bookish Way of Life

Tuesday, October 27th: Back Porchervations

Wednesday, October 28th: Olduvai Reads

Thursday, October 29th: she treads softly

Friday, October 30th: M. Denise Costello

Tuesday, November 3rd: Read. Write. Repeat.

Wednesday, November 4th: Worth Getting in Bed For

Thursday, November 5th: Imaginary Reads

Friday, November 6th: Raven Haired Girl

Monday, November 9th: Lavish Bookshelf

Tuesday, November 10th: Dreams, Etc.

Wednesday, November 11th: You Can Read Me Anything

Thursday, November 12th: The Well-Read Redhead

Friday, November 13th: Sharon’s Garden of Book Reviews

Montpelier Tomorrow, by Marylee MacDonald (@maryleemacd)

14 September 2015 by Melissa

About the book, Montpelier Tomorrow

• Paperback: 318 pages
• Publisher: All Things That Matter Press; First edition (August 21, 2014)

Mid-life mom, Colleen Gallagher, would do anything to protect her children from harm. When her daughter’s husband falls ill with ALS, Colleen rolls up her sleeves and moves in, juggling the multiple roles of grandma, cook, and caregiver, only to discover that even her superhuman efforts can’t fix what’s wrong.

Buy, read, and discuss Montpelier Tomorrow

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

About the author, Marylee MacDonald

A former carpenter and mother of five, Marylee MacDonald began writing when her last child left for college. Her fiction has won the Jeanne Leiby Chapbook Award, the Barry Hannah Prize, the Ron Rash Award, the Matt Clark Prize, and the ALR Fiction Award. Her novel, Montpelier Tomorrow, was a Finalist in the 2014 IPPY Awards and the Faulkner-Wisdom Prize. She is widely published in literary magazines such as American Literary Review, Bellevue Literary Review, Folio, Blue Moon Literary & Art Review, Broad River Review, Four Quarters, New Delta Review, North Atlantic Review, Raven Chronicles, Reunion: The Dallas Review, River Oak Review, Ruminate, StoryQuarterly, The Briar Cliff Review, and Yalobusha Review.

Connect with Marylee

My Thoughts

I knew going in that this would not be the happiest of novels, since the description tells you that one of the characters is diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) right off the bat. (No pun intended.) What surprised me was that Colleen was such a three dimensional character – from the young widow left with three young children and no income, to the capable, take-charge grandmother, she’s just the kind of person you’d want to have around during a crisis, balancing the need to nurture with the equally vital need to get things done.

What surprised me is that many of the other characters are less likeable. Sandy (Colleen’s daughter) has a relationship with her mother that is prickly at best, and although I suspect she knows that her mother means well their scenes together often hold a note of antagonism. Tony, the son-in law (Sandy’s husband) means well, but he’s just been diagnosed with a disease people don’t typically get until 20 or 30 years later in their lives and a lot of his early behavior wavers between resentment and overcompensation. Then, too, his parents seem oblivious to the reality of having a (grown) son with special needs, and I found their behavior really annoying.

Which is not to say that this is a bad novel.

It’s actually a really gripping story, and while I can’t honestly use the word ‘enjoyed’ given the subject (including an unexpected death deep inside the story). The characters are well drawn, and probably fairly accurately depict what real people would be going through under similar circumstances. As well, the plot is well crafted, and the writing is clean and accessible. It a fast read, if not always an easy one, but well worth whatever time you spend on it.

Colleen, especially shines in this novel, as the perfect contemporary heroine: an everyday soldier in the battle for a good life.

Goes well with, comfort foods like tuna casserole, and homemade iced tea.

Marylee’s Tour Stops

Monday, August 24th: bookchickdi

Wednesday, August 26th: Peeking Between the Pages

Monday, August 31st: BoundbyWords

Friday, September 4th: Back Porchervations

Friday, September 4th: Queen of All She Reads

Tuesday, September 8th: Kritters Ramblings

Wednesday, September 9th: Raven Haired Girl

Thursday, September 10th: Time 2 Read

Friday, September 11th: A Bookish Way of Life

Monday, September 14th: Bibliotica

Tuesday, September 15th: Sharon’s Garden of Book Reviews

Wednesday, September 16th: Thoughts On This ‘n That

Thursday, September 17th: Seaside Book Nook

Friday, September 18th: Dreams, Etc.

Monday, September 21st: Good Girl Gone Redneck

Wednesday, September 23rd: The Diary of an Alzheimer’s Caregiver

Thursday, September 24th: Ace and Hoser Blook

Wednesday, September 30th: The Reading Cove Book Club

The Sunrise, by Victoria Hislop (@vichislop) #review @tlcbooktours

20 July 2015 by Melissa

About the book, The Sunrise

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks (July 7, 2015)

Internationally bestselling author Victoria Hislop delivers a stirring novel set during the 1974 Cypriot coup d’état that tells the intersecting stories of three families devastated by the conflict. . .

Summer 1972—Famagusta is Cyprus’s most desirable tourist destination in the Mediterranean. Aphroditi Papacostas and her husband, Savvas, own The Sunrise, a wildly successful new luxury hotel. Frequented by only the very wealthiest of Europe’s elite, The Sunrise quickly becomes the place to see and be seen. Yet beneath the veneer of tranquil opulence simmers mounting hostility between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots. Years of unrest and ethnic violence come to a head when, in 1974, Greece’s coup d’état provokes a Turkish attack on beautiful Famagusta.

The fallout sends the island’s inhabitants spiraling into fear and chaos, and the Papacostases join an exodus of people who must abandon their idyllic lives in Famagusta and flee to refugee camps. In the end, only two families remain in the decimated city: the Georgious and the Özkans. One is Greek Cypriot, the other Turkish Cypriot, and the tension between them is palpable. But with resources scarce and the Turkish militia looming large, both families must take shelter in the deserted hotel as they battle illness, hunger, fear, and their own prejudices while struggling to stay alive.

The Sunrise is a poignant story about the measures we take to protect what we love.

Buy, read, and discuss The Sunrise

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Goodreads

About the author, Victoria Hislop

Victoria Hislop is the internationally bestselling author of The Island and The Return. She writes travel features for the Sunday Telegraph, Mail on Sunday, House & Garden, and Woman & Home. She divides her time among rural Kent, London, and Crete. She is married and has two children.

Connect with Victoria

Website | Twitter

My Thoughts

It’s both perfect timing and kind of eerie that this book has been released as the world watches Greece’s economy crumble, because while The Sunrise is technically an historical novel (though it’s difficult for me to consider events that took place within the span of my lifetime ‘historical’) it’s modern history, taking place only 40 years ago.

Victoria Hislop has taken real events – the ethnic tension between Greek and Turkish Cypriots in Famagusta, Cyprus – woven fictional stories ( a young couple building a luxury hotel, two families (one Greek, one Turkish, obviously), two sons who get lost in the conflict) into them, and created a picture of a moment in time just before a community’s bubble burst.

The story itself is, at times, both shocking and saddening – one line near the end of the novel that hit me hard was a member of one family asking “Are we supposed to hate them now?” about people who used to be neighbors, and are now, because of politics, technically enemies. It’s a line that echoes through history, because we forget that war and conflict aren’t just events on battlefields or stories in newspapers, but involve real people, with real lives.

Hislop, however, takes these moments – big and small, political and personal – and turns them into literary magic. You feel the sun, see the shine of the marble floor in the lobby of The Sunrise, hear the clinking of tableware, the murmur of conversation. You feel the stress of living in opulent surroundings, but with very little resources. Some of the language is downright brilliant, turns of phrase that really put you in 1972 Cyprus, and others are a bit simpler, but they work together to form a cohesive whole.

Famagusta is a real place, and it remains a ghost town, wrapped with barbed wire, abandoned, alone.

Still the reality is that in the novel, and in life, there is always hope. Earlier this year the leaders of both countries met in Nicosia and started the slow process of talking, and of working toward healing.

Goes well with stuffed grape leaves, kalamata olives, flatbread and iced mint tea or Turkish coffee.

Victoria’s Tour Stops

Wednesday, July 8th: Booksie’s Blog

Thursday, July 9th: Novel Escapes

Friday, July 10th: Thoughts on This ‘n That

Tuesday, July 14th: bookchickdi

Monday, July 20th: Bibliotica

Tuesday, July 21st: Lit and Life

Wednesday, July 22nd: she treads softly

Friday, July 24th: Raven Haired Girl

Friday, July 31st: Many Hats

TBD: Book Loving Hippo

TBD: TBD:A Chick Who Reads

TBD: Svetlana’s Reads and Views

Return to the Outer Banks House, by Diann Ducharme (@diannducharme) #review @hfvbt

12 June 2015 by Melissa

About the book Return to the Outer Banks House

Paperback: 418 pages
Publisher: Kill Devil Publishing; 1 edition (December 10, 2014)

She was the spirited daughter of a North Carolina plantation owner, and he was a poor fisherman who she tutored on the porch of her family’s Nags Head cottage. When we last saw Abigail Sinclair and Ben Whimble at the close of The Outer Banks House, they’d overcome their differences in life stations and defied convention to begin their new life together.

But now it’s seven years later, and Return to the Outer Banks House finds the couple married and in hard times—riddled by poverty, miscarriages, and weakened family ties. The strong bonds that once held them together have eroded over time, and their marriage threatens to unravel, particularly when relationships from the past and ambitions for the future find their way into the mismatched couple’s present predicament.

Can their love survive? Or are the challenges they face insurmountable? Return to the Outer Banks House carries readers back to 1875 to answer these questions and explore the ebb and flow of a rocky marriage set against the enchanting North Carolina shoreline. Replete with history, intrigue, and plenty of maritime drama, it’s an evocative tale of struggle in the Reconstruction-era South.

Buy, read, and discuss Return to the Outer Banks House

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Goodreads

About the author, Diann Ducharme

Diann was born in Indiana in 1971, but she spent the majority of her childhood in Newport News, Virginia. She majored in English literature at the University of Virginia, but she never wrote creatively until, after the birth of her second child in 2003, she sat down to write The Outer Banks House. She soon followed up with her second book, Chasing Eternity, and in 2015 the sequel to her first novel, Return to the Outer Banks House.

Diann has vacationed on the Outer Banks since the age of three. She even married her husband of 10 years, Sean Ducharme, in Duck, North Carolina, immediately after a stubborn Hurricane Bonnie churned through the Outer Banks. Conveniently, the family beach house in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina provided shelter while she conducted research for her historical fiction novels.

She has three beach-loving children and a border collie named Toby, who enjoys his sprints along the shore. The family lives in Manakin-Sabot, Virginia, counting down the months until summer.

Connect with Diann

Website | Blog | Twitter | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

In Return to the Outer Banks House, Diann Ducharme brings us back to Nag’s Head seven years after we first met Abigail and Ben in The Outer Banks House, but this novel, set against the Reconstruction of the South is also about the deconstruction of a marriage. The lovers from the first novel have gone through so much, that it’s actually pretty realistic that their relationship is strained, and I applaud the author for writing such an open, honest story, and trusting that we readers will get it.

At the same time, though, the ultimate resolution of Abbie and Ben’s issues is a sad one, and comes as a bitter blow after all the love and hope that existed between them in the first novel. Ducharme does give us a secondary character to follow, Eliza, replete with her own love story, but while she’s an interesting character, it’s not quite the same, and I felt like the whole tone of this book was a subdued one.

Still, it was a great read, even if the ending wasn’t what I expected. Ducharme’s descriptions of the land and sea and sky are almost photo-realistic, and this novel is almost worth it just to get to read more of that. As well, she continues to excel at writing dialogue that feels both natural and period at the same time, using dialect effectively to show differences in class, status, and origin.

This novel can be read alone, but is much more effective, and makes more sense, if you read The Outer Banks House first, though, now that I’ve written that, I wonder if the focus would be more on Eliza, and the readerly response a bit brighter if it’s read as a standalone, without the investment in Abigail and Ben as the primary couple in the tale. Something to ponder, I suppose.

Again, this novel takes place at the shore, but it isn’t at all a typical “beach read,” and I believe it will appeal both to casual readers and those who prefer more literary fiction.

Goes well with fresh caught fish, homegrown tomatoes, and sweet corn.

The Outer Banks Series Blog Tour Schedule

Monday, May 25
Spotlight & Giveaway at Raven Haired Girl

Tuesday, May 26
Guest Post & Giveaway at Susan Heim on Writing

Wednesday, May 27
Review (Book One) at Back Porchervations

Thursday, May 28
Review (Book One) at In a Minute

Friday, May 29
Interview & Giveaway at Historical Fiction Obsession
Spotlight at The Never-Ending Book

Saturday, May 30
Spotlight at Becky on Books

Sunday, May 31
Review (Book One) at Book Nerd

Monday, June 1
Review (Book Two) at Let them Read Books
Spotlight at I’d So Rather Be Reading

Tuesday, June 2
Review (Book One) at Book Lovers Paradise

Wednesday, June 3
Review (Book Two) at Back Porchervations

Thursday, June 4
Spotlight & Giveaway (Book One) at View from the Birdhouse

Friday, June 5
Review (Both Books) at Bibliotica

Sunday, June 7
Review (Book One) at Carole’s Ramblings

Monday, June 8
Review (Book One) at Ageless Pages Reviews
Guest Post at Curling Up With A Good Book

Tuesday, June 9
Review & Giveaway (Book One) at A Literary Vacation

Wednesday, June 10
Review (Both Books) at Unshelfish
Spotlight at CelticLady’s Reviews

Thursday, June 11
Review (Book Two) at Book Lovers Paradise
Interview at Boom Baby Reviews

Friday, June 12
Spotlight at Caroline Wilson Writes

Sunday, June 14
Review (Book Two) at Carole’s Ramblings

Monday, June 15
Review & Giveaway (Both Books) at Genre Queen

Tuesday, June 16
Interview at Books and Benches
Spotlight at The Lit Bitch

Wednesday, June 17
Review (Both Books) at Luxury Reading

Thursday, June 18
Review (Book One) at Books and Benches
Interview at Layered Pages

Friday, June 19
Review (Book One) at Build a Bookshelf
Review (Book Two) at Ageless Pages Reviews

Trail of Broken Wings, by Sejal Badani #review @TLCBookTours

3 June 2015 by Melissa

About the book, Trail of Broken Wings

Paperback: 378 Pages
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing (May 1, 2015)

When her father falls into a coma, Indian American photographer Sonya reluctantly returns to the family she’d fled years before. Since she left home, Sonya has lived on the run, free of any ties, while her soft-spoken sister, Trisha, has created a perfect suburban life, and her ambitious sister, Marin, has built her own successful career. But as these women come together, their various methods of coping with a terrifying history can no longer hold their memories at bay.

Buried secrets rise to the surface as their father—the victim of humiliating racism and perpetrator of horrible violence—remains unconscious. As his condition worsens, the daughters and their mother wrestle with private hopes for his survival or death, as well as their own demons and buried secrets.

Told with forceful honesty, Trail of Broken Wings reveals the burden of shame and secrets, the toxicity of cruelty and aggression, and the exquisite, liberating power of speaking and owning truth.

Buy, read, and discuss Trail of Broken Wings

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-A-Million | Goodreads

About the author, Sejal Badani

Sejal Badani is a former attorney. She currently lives on the West Coast with her family and their two dogs.

My Thoughts:

Everyone knows that old saying about how there are three sides to every story, yours, mine, and the truth, and never has that been more true than in Sejal Badani’s new novel Trail of Broken Wings, where each of the four women in the story (mother, Ranee, and her three daughters, Marin, Trisha, and Sonya) has her own story and her own truth, but so do the men in their lives, although those truths are more quietly spoken.

With four main characters, you might think the narrative would be a little bit confusing, but Badani makes all the characters – not just Ranee and her daughters – distinct and dimensional, just each of their stories is distinct. I especially liked the subtle ways in which Badani used language – Ranees is more stylized, highlighting her status as someone who immigrated as an adult, while the daughters are all much more American in their speech patterns.

The mostly male supporting characters – Gia (Marin’s teenaged daughter) Raj (Marin’s husband by an arranged marriage), Eric (Trisha’s husband), and David (the handsome doctor destined to be Sonya’s love interest) are all fully realized – something a lot of women don’t always do well, just as a lot of mean never fully realize their female supporting characters. Of all of them, Raj was the least open to us, as readers, and I have to confess, I’d have liked more of him.

Then there’s Brent, Ranee’s husband, and father of her girls. Also an immigrant (he and Ranee married and started their family back in India), he spends most of the novel in a coma, but his presence is strongly felt throughout the novel, even so, and, as his actions dictate almost everyone else’s choices, without ever speaking a line, he becomes one of the most influential characters in the book.

I liked the structure of this novel – alternating chapters, headed with the POV character’s name, and I liked the way the past both formed the present, and became a release, as well. It was a satisfying read, and ended with a note of hope, if not a perfect pat ending, and I like that better than pretty bows, anyway.

The use of Indian culture as both a grounding mechanism and as counterpoint to modern American life worked really well, and the constant descriptions of food made my mouth water, and might seem out of place, unless you believe, as I do, that food is a source of both culture and comfort.

While this book does deal with very dark subjects (child abuse, domestic violence, rape), it does so in a sensitive manner based in truth, and never sensationalized.

If you’re up for a good family drama that straddles the line between contemporary and literary fiction, you will not be disappointed by Trail of Broken Wings.

Goes well with: chai tea, garlic naan, and whatever other Indian food suits your fancy.

Sejal Badani’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Monday, May 4th: Patricia’s Wisdom

Tuesday, May 5th: Books a la Mode – author guest post

Wednesday, May 6th: Lit and Life

Thursday, May 7th: She Treads Softly

Monday, May 11th: Kritter’s Ramblings

Tuesday, May 12th: Book Nerd

Wednesday, May 13th: BookNAround

Thursday, May 14th: Bell, Book & Candle

Monday, May 18th: Thoughts on This ‘n That

Tuesday, May 19th: Peeking Between the Pages

Wednesday, May 20th: Unshelfish

Tuesday, May 26th: Life is Story

Wednesday, May 27th: Svetlana’s Reads and Views

Thursday, May 28th: A Reader’s Oasis

Wednesday, June 3rd: Bibliotica

Thursday, June 4th: Broken Teepee

TBD: Ageless Pages Reviews

Five Night Stand, by Richard J. Alley (@richardalley) #review #giveaway @TLCBookTours

14 May 2015 by Melissa

About the book, Five Night Stand

Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing (May 12, 2015)

Legendary jazz pianist Oliver Pleasant finds himself alone at the end of his career, playing his last five shows, hoping the music will draw his estranged family back… Frank Severs, a middle-aged, out-of-work journalist, is at a crossroads as his longtime dreams and marriage grind to a standstill… And piano prodigy Agnes Cassady is desperately grasping for fulfillment before a debilitating disease wrenches control from her trembling fingers… When Frank and Agnes come to New York to witness Oliver’s final five-night stand, the timeless force of Oliver’s music pulls the trio together. Over the course of five nights, the three reflect on their triumphs and their sorrows: families forsaken, ideals left along the wayside, secrets kept. Their shared search for meaning and direction in a fractured world creates an unexpected kinship that just might help them make sense of the past, find peace in the present, and muster the courage to face the future.

Buy, read, and discuss Five Night Stand

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-A-Million | Goodreads

About the author, Richard J. Alley

Richard J. Alley is an award-winning reporter, columnist, and editor from Memphis, Tennessee, where he lives with his wife and four children.

Connect with Richard

Website | Facebook | Twitter

My Thoughts

I’ve loved music for as long as I can remember – I even think in music most of the time. My first instrument is cello, but that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate jazz, and, in fact, one of my early teachers was starting to teach me slap cello (yes, it’s a thing) before we moved away.

It should be no surprise, then, that I responded to Five Night Stand very favorably.

The plot, while simple, was captivating – three people brought together by music – all for different reason. The individual stories, especially those of Oliver and Agnes were poignant, bordering on sad in some places, but all three characters seemed to sing, their perfectly captured voices projecting far beyond the margins of the printed page. By the end of the novel, I felt like I knew these people.

The structure of the novel also worked: five nights, a finite space of time, but so much character development, so many nuances, filled those five nights. I felt like, more than writing a story, Richard Alley was conducting a symphony. A jazz symphony, with surprises of syncopation and deviations of meter that worked together to enhance the whole. Even the dissonant moments only added to the whole competition.

The language, though, is what hooked me. At first, like some of the other reviewers on this tour, it felt poetic to me, and then I realized, no, it’s not poetry, it’s a riff. It’s this wonderful booze-y, blues-y use of language that combines the sharp notes of New York with the softer ones of the South, where jazz and blues were really born.

Usually, when I finish reading a novel that I acquired solely for the purpose of reviewing, I delete the file from my over-packed Kindle to save space. Five Night Stand, however, has been moved to my ‘favorites’ collection, where, much like a much loved album, I can revisit it at my leisure and see what new things I find upon rereading it.

Goes well with: bbq ribs for an early dinner, followed by a glass of Scotch during the show.

Giveaway

If you live in the U.S.A. or Canada and want to experience Five Night Stand for yourself, leave a comment here on the blog telling me about your favorite musicians. Make sure you provide a valid email address (only I will see it) because winners will be contacted by email. Alternatively, find my twitter post about this review, and re-tweet it, tagging me: @Melysse.

Richard J. Alley’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Monday, May 11th: The Avid Reader

Tuesday, May 12th: Books a la Mode – author guest post

Tuesday, May 12th: Bell, Book & Candle

Wednesday, May 13th: Ageless Pages Reviews

Thursday, May 14th: Bibliotica – That’s ME!

Monday, May 18th: BookNAround

Monday, May 18th: Palmer’s Page Turners

Tuesday, May 19th: Mom’s Small Victories

Thursday, May 21st: Colloquium

Friday, May 22nd: Tina Says…

Tuesday, May 26th: My Book Retreat

Wednesday, May 27th: Unshelfish

Thursday, May 28th: A Lovely Bookshelf on the Wall

Monday, June 1st: Priscilla and her Books

Tuesday, June 2nd: Patricia’s Wisdom

Wednesday, June 3rd: Fictionophile

Friday, June 5th: The Well-Read Redhead

The Mapmaker’s Children, by Sarah McCoy (@SarahMMcCoy) #review @TLCBookTours #Giveaway

7 May 2015 by Melissa

About the book, The Mapmaker’s Children

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Crown (May 5, 2015)

When Sarah Brown, daughter of abolitionist John Brown, realizes that her artistic talents may be able to help save the lives of slaves fleeing north, she becomes one of the Underground Railroad’s leading mapmakers, taking her cues from the slave code quilts and hiding her maps within her paintings. She boldly embraces this calling after being told the shocking news that she can’t bear children, but as the country steers toward bloody civil war, Sarah faces difficult sacrifices that could put all she loves in peril.

Eden, a modern woman desperate to conceive a child with her husband, moves to an old house in the suburbs and discovers a porcelain head hidden in the root cellar—the remains of an Underground Railroad doll with an extraordinary past of secret messages, danger and deliverance.

Ingeniously plotted to a riveting end, Sarah and Eden’s woven lives connect the past to the present, forcing each of them to define courage, family, love, and legacy in a new way.

Buy, read, and discuss The Mapmaker’s Children

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Goodreads

About the author, Sarah McCoy

SARAH McCOY is the New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author of The Baker’s Daughter, a 2012 Goodreads Choice Award Best Historical Fiction nominee; the novella “The Branch of Hazel” in Grand Central; The Time It Snowed in Puerto Rico; and The Mapmaker’s Children (Crown, May 5, 2015).

Her work has been featured in Real Simple, The Millions, Your Health Monthly, Huffington Post and other publications. She has taught English writing at Old Dominion University and at the University of Texas at El Paso. She calls Virginia home but presently lives with her husband, an Army physician, and their dog, Gilly, in El Paso, Texas.

Connect with Sarah

Website | Facebook | Twitter

My Thoughts

There are novels that you pick up thinking, “Hmm, this might be interesting,” and then you forget you have them until weeks later, when they resurface and you find yourself gripped – completely gripped – by the story, and kicking yourself for not reading it the second you got home. The Mapmaker’s Children was almost like that for me, because the original galley provider ignored my request for it more than once, and then when I finally got it, I was convinced it wasn’t going to be my cup of tea at all.

I was wrong.

I was so very wrong.

First, the historical part of this story – a fictional possibility of what the life of Sarah Brown, daughter of famed abolitionist James Brown (and, yes, you will have the song rolling through the back of your mind as you read this) may have been like, suggesting that she might have followed in her father’s footsteps, and put her artistic talent to use making maps for use on the Underground Railroad, is amazing. Yes, it’s fiction, but it’s fiction that feels completely plausible, especially since the author worked in real world touches. I especially liked the fact that Louisa May Alcott’s book of fairy stories was an important element of the story, and that so many real historical figures (including Louisa and her father Bronson) were rubbing elbows with the fictional, and quasi-fictional characters.

Then, there’s the contemporary part of the story. As a woman in her 40s who has had two miscarriages, Eden’s desperation to have a child resonated with me (though in my case, dogs are totally a substitute for children; I have five.) in a way that I wasn’t expecting. Her story was one where at times I wanted to hug her, at times I wanted to throttle her, and most of the time, I wanted to bake her some scones, brew some really good coffee and sit down for a cathartic venting session.

Author Sarah McCoy wove both stories, one based on history, one based on so many contemporary stories, into one lovely, gorgeous, satisfying tapestry of a novel. It made me want to go upstairs, pull out a quilting book and FINALLY learn to do something beyond hemming pants with my sewing machine. It also made me want to bake organic meatloaf suitable for all members of my family, whether they have two feet or four.

The Mapmaker’s Children is a well-crafted, brilliantly written novel, and I highly recommend it, especially to animal lovers, childless adults, and history buffs.

Goes well with Roasted free-range chicken with buttered carrots, and a spring green salad. Homemade cornbread on the side.

Giveaway

One lucky reader in the USA or Canada will win a copy of this book. How? Leave a comment on this post (include a valid email address in the comment form – only I will see the email address) telling me what historical figure you’d most like to hang out and have coffee with. Alternatively, find my post about this book in my twitter feed (I’m @melysse) and retweet it.

The winner will be announced next Thursday.