Category Archives: Review

Star Trek: New Frontier – The Returned, Part 3, by Peter David #quickreview #netgalley

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About the book, Star Trek: New Frontier – The Returned, Part 3 Star Trek New Frontier: The Returned, Part 3

 

  • Print Length: 171 pages
  • Publisher: Pocket Books/Star Trek (September 7, 2015)
  • Publication Date: September 7, 2015

 

The final installment in a brand-new three-part digital-first Star Trek: New Frontier e-novel from New York Times bestselling author Peter David!

Captain Mackenzie Calhoun and the crew of the U.S.S. Excalibur are back, picking up three months after the stunning events depicted in New Frontier: Blind Man’s Bluff. Calhoun’s search of Xenex has failed to find any survivors, and now he is bound and determined to track down the race that killed them—the D’myurj and their associates, the Brethren—and exact vengeance upon them. His search will take the Excalibur crew into a pocket universe, where he discovers not only the homeworld of the D’myurj, but another race that shares Calhoun’s determination to obliterate his opponents. But is this new race truly an ally…or an even greater threat?

Buy, read, and discuss this book.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Goodreads

My Thoughts

Peter David has long been one of my favorite writers of professional TrekFic – there’s a line he wrote decades ago about human male chest hair being for traction that has stuck with me for decades – so when I saw the last installment of the ebook trilogy in the New Frontier universe on NetGalley earlier this summer, I had to read it.

Very quickly, I realized that my habit of only reading TNG novels meant I had no idea what was going on, so I bought parts I and II of this trilogy and binge-read all three volumes. I was not disappointed. This series is phenomenal, and Peter David’s storytelling reminded my why I love his take on Trek. Captain Mackenzie Calhoun is a great addition to the Star Trek universe, and both his family and his crew (which includes someone I can only describe as a demigod) are people I wish we could see on television.

So good is his writing – and this trilogy in particular – that I didn’t mind a completely unfamiliar set of characters, although, technically, Robin Lefler (whom we met in Season 5 of TNG) was familiar, though this is a much matured Robin, one whose personal laws have had to be adapted to address things like lost love and motherhood.

Like all good Trek stories, The Returned (all three parts) isn’t just about space battles and meeting new aliens. It’s also about loss – the loss of home, the loss of family, the loss of love – and how we cope with it – do we commit acts of revenge, or do we rebuild ourselves, or do we allow ourselves to die a little every day, as we wallow in apathy? In the case of the characters in this trilogy the answer is “a little of everything,” but it all fits together in a way that resounds with emotional truth.

(Plus, there are cool aliens and space battles, after all.)

Goes well with sparkling Altair water and oskoid salad.

 

 

A Remarkable Kindness, by Diana Bletter (@dianabletter) #review #TLCBookTours

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About the book, A Remarkable Kindness A Remarkable Kindness

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (August 11, 2015)

Through a largely hidden ceremony . . . four friends discover the true meaning of life

It’s 2006 in a seaside village in Israel, where a war is brewing. Lauren, Emily, Aviva and Rachel, four memorable women from different backgrounds, are drawn to the village. Lauren, a maternity nurse, loves her Israeli doctor husband but struggles to make a home for herself in a foreign land thousands of miles away from her beloved Boston. Seeking a fresh start after a divorce, her vivacious friend Emily follows. Strong, sensuous Aviva, brought to Israel years earlier by intelligence work, has raised a family and now lost a son. And Rachel, a beautiful, idealistic college graduate from Wyoming, arrives with her hopeful dreams.

The women forge a friendship that sustains them as they come to terms with love and loss, and the outbreak of war. Their intimate bond is strengthened by their participation in a traditional ritual that closes the circle of life. As their lives are slowly transformed, each finds unexpected strength and resilience.

Brimming with wisdom, rich in meaningful insights, A Remarkable Kindness is a moving testament to women’s friendship, illuminating a mostly unknown ritual that underscores what it means to truly be alive.

Buy, read, and discuss A Remarkable Kindness

Amazon | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About the author, Diana Bletter Diana Bletter

Diana Bletter is a writer whose work has appeared in a wide variety of publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Commentary. Her first book, The Invisible Thread: A Portrait of Jewish American Women, with photographs by Lori Grinker, was shortlisted for a National Jewish Book Award. In 1991, she moved from New York to a seaside village in northern Israel where she lives with her husband and children, and volunteers in a burial circle.

Connect with Diana

Website |  Facebook | Twitter

My Thoughts MissMeliss

I’ve had this novel on my kindle for months, and I read it when I first downloaded it (but stupidly didn’t write the draft for the review), so my thoughts are a bit musty, but my first impression, meeting Aviva outside the burial house, and seeing her seek shelter during a bombing was that this was no sweet piece of literary fiction, but a gem of a story that offered a great blend of contemporary Israeli/Palestinian politics, gritty reality, and excellent character work, and I was not wrong. In fact when I next met Laura, transplanted from Boston to Peleg with her new husband (well, new-ish, they’ve been married about a year) I was hooked.

But it’s not enough to have two women at the heart of this story, for author Bletter introduces us to Laura’s friend Emily, and college student Rachel, each of whom also comes to Israel for her own reason.

Eventually of course Aviva and Laura, Emily and Rachel, all become friends and true compatriots, and their burgeoning friendship is an integral part of this story, but the politics and the harsh reality of daily life in a small Israeli village are equally important, and Diana Bletter does an excellent job of giving us a look at these four women and their lives as well as the bigger picture of life in Peleg and how it relates to the region – and the world – as a home.

Literature with Jewish themes has been a recurring thing for me this year, quite by accident, and I’ve really enjoyed the various glimpses into a culture that is at once similar to and very different from the middle-class American life I lead.

Some of the most beautiful and haunting sections of A Remarkable Kindness were the scenes directly relating to burial circles, and I found myself quite drawn to the simple spirituality displayed.

Goes well with fresh baked challah with golden raisins, and strong coffee.

Diana’s Tour Stops TLC Book Tours

Tuesday, August 11th: 5 Minutes For Books

Wednesday, August 12th: Becca Rowan

Thursday, August 13th: Patricia’s Wisdom

Friday, August 14th: Into the Hall of Books

Monday, August 17th: Kahakai Kitchen

Wednesday, August 19th: Mel’s Shelves

Thursday, August 20th: I’d Rather Be At The Beach

Monday, August 24th: Raven Haired Girl

Tuesday, August 25th: Svetlana’s Reads and Views

Wednesday, August 26th: JulzReads

Thursday, August 27th: Bibliotica

TBD: Novel Escapes

 

Blue, by Kayce Stevens Hughlett (@kaycehughlett) #review @netgalley

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About the book, Blue Blue

  • File Size: 1490 KB
  • Print Length: 235 pages
  • Publisher: BQB Publishing (September 10, 2015)
  • Publication Date: September 10, 2015

One insecure perfectionist. One guilt-ridden artist. One child-woman who talks to peacocks. A trio of complex heroines on separate journeys toward a single intertwined truth.Imagine living exclusively for others and waking up one day with a chance to start over. The terrifying new beginning reeks of abandonment and betrayal. The choice for Seattle resident Monica lingers between now and then. . .them and her. Izabel’s idyllic existence on Orcas Island is turned upside down during the birth of a friend’s child. Suddenly, pain rips through her own body, and life as she knows it shifts, hinting at a forgotten past and propelling her toward an uncertain future. On another island, young Daisy awakens surrounded by infinite shades of blue. Is she dreaming or has she stepped through the portal into a fantastical land where animals spout philosophy and a gruesome monster plots her destruction? Blue – a subtle psychological mind-bender where each heroine is her own worst enemy. Eccentric. Loveable. Unforgettable.

Buy, read, and discuss Blue

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

About the author, Kayce Stevens Hughlett Kayce Stevens Hughlett

Kayce Stevens Hughlett is a soulful and spirited woman. In her roles as psychotherapist, life coach, author, spiritual director, and speaker, she invites us to playfully and fearlessly cross the thresholds toward authentic living. A strong proponent of compassionate care in the world, Kayce’s live and online work focuses on the principle that we must live it to give it. Her early career began with a multi-national accounting firm to be later refined as the path of an artist. She delights in walking alongside others as they explore and unearth their own pathways toward passionate living.

Kayce is a Certified Martha Beck Life Coach and holds a Masters in Counseling Psychology from The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology. She is the co-author of “Arts Centered Supervision” published in Awakening the Creative Spirit: Bringing the Expressive Arts to Spiritual Direction, as well as contributor to other collections and online publications. Kayce is a trained SoulCollage® facilitator, a dedicated supporter of the Soltura Foundation, and co-founder of the Soul Care Institute–a professional development program facilitating the formation, nourishment, and deep inner work of soul care practitioners. Raised in the heartland of Oklahoma, she now resides in Seattle, Washington with her family and muse, Aslan the Cat.

Connect with Kayce

Website | Facebook | Twitter

My Thoughts MissMeliss

My friend Debra mentioned to me that one of her other friends had recently published a novel. “You read a lot,” she said, “you might like it.” I immediately went looking for that novel – Blue – on NetGalley, and was approved for an advance e-copy, which I devoured in one afternoon. Then I ‘met’ the author through our mutual participation in one of Debra’s projects, and asked her if she’d prefer a specific date for the review. She chose August 20th.

Weeks after reading Blue, there are several things that linger with me, the strongest being the use of the color, blue, as the through-connection in this novel which is really the story of three different women, Monica, Izabel, and Daisy.  I’m hesitant to elaborate because I don’t want to spoil anything, but Hughlett showed how good she is with crafting plot and writing nuances with that element.

All three women had distinct personalities, and I really liked the way each interacted with the world on her own (apparent) terms, but also had some kind of secret lurking. I wouldn’t consider this novel an out-and-out mystery, but it definitely had mysterious elements.

I find that it’s easier for me to treat Monica and Izabel’s sections as one unit for purposes of review -these women were both obviously hurting, and obviously seeking things they weren’t ready to admit they needed. I found that their lives were rich and interesting and yet felt incomplete. Each lived in surroundings that completely suited her. With Izabel, I was reminded of the line from the movie The Wedding Date about how every woman has the relationship she wants.

Daisy’s story, on the other hand, was completely surreal with talking animals and a personal island paradise. My vision of her story is blend of Chagall’s art and Lewis Carroll’s stories, except that she was a lot more introspective and interesting than Alice. (Of course, Alice was a child, so…there’s that.)

Overall, I found Hughlett’s writing voice to be engaging and interesting. The opening of the novel confused me a little, but also hooked me, and made me want to figure everything out.  Her characters – even the animals – felt very real. The three central women were especially dimensional.

In anyone else’s hands, the same story would have descended into cheap comedy or depressing sadness. From Kayce Stevens Hughlett’s deft hands comes, instead, a novel that manages to be poignant, compelling, puzzling, engaging, and incredibly readable.

Goes well with lemonade, blueberry pound cake, and fresh fruit, served al fresco in a lush garden.

 

 

 

Baker’s Blues, by Judith Ryan Hendricks #review #TLC Book Tours

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About Baker’s Blues Baker's Blues

Publisher: Chien Bleu Press

In Wyn Morrison’s world a 5 AM phone call usually means problems at her bakery—equipment trouble or a first shift employee calling in sick—annoying but mundane, fixable. But the news she receives on a warm July morning is anything but mundane. Or fixable.

Mac, her ex-husband, is dead.

Ineligible for widowhood, Wyn is nonetheless shaken to her core as she discovers that the fact of divorce offers no immunity from grief. Friends and family are bewildered by her spiral into sadness, Mac’s daughter Skye blames her for his death.

For the last several years Wyn has been more businesswoman than baker, leaving the actual bread making to others. Now, as she takes up her place in the bread rotation once more, she will sift through her memories, coming to terms with Mac and his demons, with Skye’s anger, and with Alex, who was once more than a friend. Soon she will re-learn the lessons of bread that she first discovered at the Queen Street Bakery in Seattle…bread rises, pain fades, the heart heals, and the future waits.

Buy, read, and discuss Baker’s Blues

Amazon | Goodreads

About the author, Judith Ryan Hendricks Judith Ryan Hendricks

.Judith Ryan Hendricks was born in San Jose, California, when Silicon Valley was the Santa Clara Valley, better known for orchards than for computer chips.

Armed with a degree in journalism, she worked as a journalist, copywriter, computer instructor, travel agent, waitress and baker before turning to fiction writing. Her experiences at the McGraw Street Bakery in Seattle led to her first novel, Bread Alone and the sequel, The Baker’s Apprentice.

A life-long infatuation with the Southwest provided inspiration for Isabel’s Daughter and her fourth book, The Laws of Harmony. Hendricks’ fiction has been translated into 12 languages and distributed in more than 16 countries worldwide.

Her nonfiction has appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle and Tiny Lights, A Journal of Personal Essay, Grand Gourmet in Italy and The London Sunday Express. Her short fiction has appeared in Woman’s Weekly in Britain and AMERICAN GIRLS ON THE TOWN, an anthology, in the U.S. and U.K.

She lives in New Mexico with husband Geoff and dog Blue.

Connect with Judi at her website, judihendricks.com

My Thoughts: MissMeliss

I’m not going to lie: when it comes to Judith Ryan Hendricks, I’m an unabashed fangirl. So much of what she writes speaks to me, and it’s because of her that I started experimenting with baking bread again just after reading her first novel Bread Alone.

Baker’s Blues is the second sequel to that first novel, and our protagonist, Wynter (Wyn) has matured in this book. She seems much more grounded and centered, even as she’s dealing with major life events, for this book opens with the off-camera death of Mac (the lover, then husband, then ex-husband she met in the first book) and the family drama that comes with it, much of which is embodied in his adult daughter Skye.

As Wyn has matured, so has Hendricks’s writing. Always full of imagery, always replete with splendid, dimensional characterization, in Baker’s Blues we see that the author, like her character, is ‘simplified’  – honed down to the most essential words and phrases.

The result is a reading experience that’s just luscious. The dialogue sounds completely true-to-life, and I was really impressed by the way Hendricks conveys so much with body language. The prickly don’t-touch-me of Skye and Wyn’s inner battle to reach out or stay safely within herself are both particularly notable.

Where Hendricks’s writing soars is when food – especially bread – enter the story. If her first novel bordered on ‘food porn,’ this one is more a sumptuous feast: elegant, perfectly balanced, and incredibly satisfying.

But then, those words could be used to describe Baker’s Blues as a whole, as well.

Goes well with bread, cheese, olives and/or raisins, and a glass of wine….what else?

Judith Ryan Hendrick’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS: TLC Book Tours

Monday, August 3rd: Farmgirl Fare – Review & A Conversation with the Author

Monday, August 3rd: Thoughts on This and That

Tuesday, August 4th: Kahakai Kitchen

Tuesday, August 4th: Jorie Loves a Story – guest post

Wednesday, August 5th: A Chick Who Reads

Thursday, August 6th: Griperang’s Bookmarks

Friday, August 7th: Kritter’s Ramblings

Monday, August 10th: I Wish I Lived in a Library

Wednesday, August 12th: Peeking Between the Pages

Wednesday, August 12th: Time 2 Read

Friday, August 14th: Walking with Nora

Monday, August 17th: Guiltless Reading

Tuesday, August 18th: Broken Teepee

Wednesday, August 19th: Bibliotica – review and guest post

Thursday, August 20th: 5 Minutes for Books

Monday, August 24th: girlichef

Tuesday, August 25th: BookNAround

Wednesday, August 26th: Bell Book and Candle

Thursday, August 27th: Thoughts from an Evil Overlord

Andersonville, by Edward M. Erdelac #review #TLCBookTours

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About the book, Andersonville Andersonville

Hydra | Aug 18, 2015 | 272 Pages

Readers of Stephen King and Joe Hill will devour this bold, terrifying new novel from Edward M. Erdelac. A mysterious man posing as a Union soldier risks everything to enter the Civil War’s deadliest prison—only to find a horror beyond human reckoning.

Georgia, 1864. Camp Sumter, aka Andersonville, has earned a reputation as an open sewer of sadistic cruelty and terror where death may come at any minute. But as the Union prisoners of war pray for escape, cursing the fate that spared them a quicker end, one man makes his way into the camp purposefully.

Barclay Lourdes has a mission—and a secret. But right now his objective is merely to survive the hellish camp. The slightest misstep summons the full fury of the autocratic commander, Captain Wirz, and the brutal Sergeant Turner. Meanwhile, a band of shiftless thieves and criminals known as the “Raiders” preys upon their fellow prisoners. Barclay soon finds that Andersonville is even less welcoming to a black man—especially when that man is not who he claims to be. Little does he imagine that he’s about to encounter supernatural terrors beyond his wildest dreams . . . or nightmares.

Buy, read, and discuss Andersonville

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

About the author, Edward M. Erdelac Edward M. Erdelac

Edward M. Erdelac is a member of the Horror Writers Association and the author of six novels (including the acclaimed weird western series Merkabah Rider) and several short stories. He is an independent filmmaker, award-winning screenwriter, and sometime Star Wars contributor. Born in Indiana, educated in Chicago, he resides in the Los Angeles area with his wife and a bona fide slew of children and cats.

My Thoughts MissMeliss

Sometimes gritty reality can be more horrific than anything supernatural, and that’s true for Edward M. Erdelac’s Civil War novel Andersonville, the prison at Camp Sumter. It’s place where prisoners fight over food and personal dignity, where darkness and misery are the only constants, and where death is often a release.

It’s also a place that Barclay Lourdes, a black Union soldier (who, it’s worth pointing out, was never a slave) is trying to get INTO so he can see the truth of what’s going on.

Erdelac tells the dual stories of Lourdes and Captain Wirz (camp commander) with as much historical accuracy as a contemporary writer can. Certainly in our world where we strive for inclusion, the use of period language was both jarring and integral to the plot (well, certain words – mostly variations of the n-word – which, no, I’m not afraid to write, but refrain for the sake of sensitive readers).

The fact that there’s a supernatural element at play is just another layer, and Erdelac makes it strangely plausible. In this place where lives are worthless, how much scarier could things possibly get?

The truth, of course, is that the supernatural elements of this story add more depth than they do horror. The real horror comes from what humans do to each other, whether or not they’re excused for their behavior because, “we’re at war.”

Erdelac’s writing hooks you from the first page, and the pace of this novel keeps you hooked. It’s part slow southern drawl and part quick, clipped, northern speech, and all of it – all of it- is incredibly lyrical and haunting.

Read this if you want a gritty, reality based horror story, if you are fascinated by the Civil War, or if you just want to dive into a story that is both provocative and perfectly chilling.

Goes well with pulled pork sandwiches, cole slaw, and lemonade.

Edward M. Erdelac’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS: TLC Book Tours

Monday, August 17th: Stephanie’s Book Reviews….100 Pages a Day

Monday, August 17th: Bell, Book & Candle

Tuesday, August 18th: Fourth Street Review

Tuesday, August 18th: Bibliotica

Wednesday, August 19th: The Reader’s Hollow

Wednesday, August 19th: Tynga’s Reviews

Thursday, August 20th: A Book Geek

Monday, August 24th: Bewitched Bookworms

Tuesday, August 25th: Kissin’ Blue Karen

Wednesday, August 26th: Kari J. Wolfe

Thursday, August 27th: No More Grumpy Bookseller

Friday, August 28th: Vic’s Media Room

Monday, August 31st: It’s a Mad Mad World

Tuesday, September 1st: SJ2B House of Books

Wednesday, September 2nd: Historical Fiction Obsession

Thursday, September 3rd: Kimberly’s Bookshelf

Friday, September 4th: Jenn’s Bookshelves

Monday, September 7th: From the TBR Pile

 

The Hypnotist, by Gordon Snider #review #TLCBookTours

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About  the book, The Hypnotist The Hypnotist

• Paperback: 324 pages
• Publisher: Helm Publishing (August 3, 2009)

In 1906, San Francisco has reached the peak of its golden age. Fortunes have created a society that attracts European opera singers and cordon bleu chefs. It is a world defined by elegant balls, oysters, and champagne. But there are darker sides to the city as well. The Mission district south of Market Street houses tenements where shanties huddle together and rats plague the streets. And nearby sits Chinatown, an endless warren of dark alleys that offers gambling, prostitution, and opium, all controlled by vicious gangs, called tongs.

Into these disparate worlds steps Marta Baldwin, a young woman who has shunned her own social background to help the poor. She is confronted by a hypnotist, a man who hypnotizes young women from the tenements and delivers them to the tongs in Chinatown to work in their brothels. Marta escapes his hypnotic trance, but when her assistant, Missy, disappears, Marta realizes she has been taken by the evil man who confronted her. She seeks the help of Byron Wagner, one of San Francisco’s most prominent citizens. Marta finds herself drawn to Byron but knows his high social standing prevents any possibility of a relationship between them. This is confirmed when Marta discovers Byron having an intimate conversation with Lillie Collins, the daughter of one of the city’s most elite families. Marta is flushed with jealousy. However, Lillie defies social customs, and her rebellious nature fits naturally with Marta’s. Despite her envy, the two women become close friends. Marta is caught up in a whirlwind of opulent balls, opium dens and brothels, and police raids in Chinatown. She cannot deny her feelings for Byron, but she must save Missy and protect her new friends from harm. For lurking in the background is the hypnotist. He has become obsessed with Marta and will use all his guile to ensnare her. When he threatens those she loves, Marta is determined to stop him, even at her own peril. Will her boldness entrap her? If so, how can she hope to escape the man’s hypnotic embrace? Then the earth trembles, and Marta’s world will never be the same.

Buy, read, and discuss, The Hypnotist

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Helm Publishing | Goodreads

About the author, Gordon Snider Gordon Snider

Gordon Snider has written three non-fiction books, including his latest, I’m Travelling as Fast as I Can, which takes a humorous journey to far-away-places around the world. When he moved to California’s Central Coast in 1999, he began writing fiction. The Origamist is his fifth novel and a sequel to his third, The Hypnotist, a very popular historical thriller that is set in San Francisco in 1906. The other novels include: Sigourney’s Quest, an adventure story about a woman’s harrowing journey across Tibet; The Separatist, a mystery/suspense novel set in modern San Francisco; and Venice Lost, an adventure/fantasy about a man who becomes lost in time in Venice, Italy.

Gordon has lived in California nearly his entire life. Home has ranged from Los Angeles to San Francisco, with stops in Santa Barbara and Pismo Beach. Currently, he and his wife, Fe, enjoy walking the beaches and observing the migrating whales from their home in Pismo Beach. It is, he says, the perfect setting for creative writing.

Find out more about Gordon and his books on his website.

My Thoughts MissMeliss

Having spent a lot of time in a more contemporary version of San Francisco’s Chinatown as a college student and bay area resident (though I don’t live there any longer), and one of the things I really appreciated about The Hypnotist was the way author Gordon Snider completely captured the fog and bustle, the overlapping conversations, and the architecture – the whole sense of the region really.

The other thing that really stood out for me was his protagonist Marta. Other reviewers (the nice thing about being at the end of a tour is that you get to see what other people thought) have pointed out that she is ahead of her time -a feminist, a woman with a strong sense of self and a strong sense of agency – and in other hands she would have felt like a contemporary character pulled out of time, but Snider has crafted his setting so well, that he keeps her progressive but still true to the period.

I also enjoyed the character of her friend Lillie (and have wondered if she was at all influenced by figures like Lillie Langtry and Molly Brown, because there were parts of her that reminded me a bit of both, especially the former), who was a breath of fresh air whenever we saw her.

The men – Byron, the Hypnotist – were less appealing to me. I found that I enjoyed the plot and the setting far more than most of  the male characters. They weren’t badly written, or unsympathetic, really, I just didn’t connect with them.

On the other hand, I’d read a whole series about the adventures of Marta and Lillie solving mysteries (human trafficking or not) in period San Francisco.

Still, this was an enjoyable read, and provoked a lot of thought as I was reading it, and not a few dinner-table conversations about the setting, the plot, etc.

Gordon Snider, in The Hypnotist, has given us a novel that is much more complex and compelling than its description implies.

Goes well with steaming mugs of Lapsang Souchong and those crumbly almond cookies that sound better than they taste.

Gordon’s Tour Stops TLC Book Tours

Monday, July 20th: The Reading Cove Book Club

Tuesday, July 21st: A Wondrous Bookshelf

Thursday, July 23rd: Dwell in Possibility

Tuesday, July 28th: It’s a Mad Mad World

Thursday, July 30th: Raven Haired Girl

Monday, August 3rd: The Bibliophile Chronicles

Tuesday, August 4th: A Fantastical Librarian

Wednesday, August 5th: 5 Minutes For Books

Thursday, August 6th: Books That Hook

Thursday, August 13th: Book Nerd

Thursday, August 13th: Mom in Love With Fiction

Friday, August 14th: Bibliotica

Monday, August 17th: A Reader’s Oasis

Friday, August 21st: Kahakai Kitchen

TBD: Lauren Hearts Books

Killing Secrets, by Dianne Emley (@DianneEmley) #review #TLCBookTours

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About Killing Secrets: A Nan Vining MysteryKilling Secrets

  • File Size: 1450 KB
  • Print Length: 273 pages
  • Publisher: Alibi (July 21, 2015)
  • Publication Date: July 21, 2015

For fans of Patricia Cornwell, Tana French, and Lisa Gardner comes a razor-sharp novel of suspense featuring Detective Nan Vining—a single mother whose worlds collide when her teenage daughter stumbles upon a grisly double homicide.

When she gets the call, Nan Vining responds as a mother first and a detective second. Her daughter, Emily, has made a gruesome discovery in a secluded section of a Pasadena park: a pretty, popular young teacher from Emily’s high school and a bright yet troubled transfer student—both dead and bloody in a copse of trees. But the crime scene isn’t the only thing that seems off to Detective Vining. There’s also the cocky classmate who was with Emily in the park—the boyfriend she never knew about. What else doesn’t she know about her daughter?

As she attempts to channel both her maternal and investigative instincts into one single point of focus, Vining’s superiors at the Pasadena Police Department are moving at lightning speed. Before the evidence has even been processed, the case is closed as a clear-cut murder/suicide: a disturbed teenager murders his teacher, then takes his own life. Vining doesn’t buy it. Now she’s chasing dangerous, powerful people with secrets they would kill for—and taking them down means risking her own flesh and blood.

Buy, read, and discuss Killing Secrets

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

About the author, Dianne Emley Dianne Emley

Dianne Emley is the bestselling author of The Night Visitor and the Nan Vining series: The First Cut, Cut to the Quick, The Deepest Cut, and Love Kills. A Los Angeles native, she lives in the Central California wine country with her husband, Charlie.

Connect with Dianne

Website | Facebook | Twitter

 My Thoughts MissMeliss

Killing Secrets was my first introduction to both author Dianne Emley and character Nan Vining, although this is hardly the first book in the Nan Vining series. While I’m certain reading of Vining’s previous adventures would have enriched my experience, I had no problem jumping into her world, or following all the elements of the story: solving a murder/suicide, dealing with the internal politics at play in the police department, or parenting a teenager. (This latter element, by the way, made me glad that I only ever have to deal with adolescent dogs.)

I felt that Nan’s internal conflict – her paid job as a police detective vs. her role as a single parent – really permeated the story, because motherhood never stops being part of your psyche, and I liked that author Dianne Emley reflected that struggle so realistically.

I also enjoyed the plot of the novel. I tend toward more cozy mysteries than not, and this book struck me as riding the edge of contemporary cozy. Certainly, it had dark moments, and a fast-paced action-filled plot, but it also had the lighter, more human moments that really “sell” stories for me, and I thought everything was really well balanced.

Nan, herself, is an easy character to like: flawed, fierce, dimensional, real. I’m pretty sure I’ve met her – or versions of her – during my lifetime.

These books are Kindle only, but at roughly $3/pop they take the ‘guilty’ our of ‘guilty pleasure,’ and leave just ‘pleasure’ behind. And Killing Secrets was absolutely a pleasure to read: well crafted with believable situations and characters, and a version of reality that closely matches our own.

Goes well with Chinese take-out and jasmine tea.

Dianne Emley’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS: TLC Book Tours

Monday, July 20th: I Wish I Lived in a Library

Wednesday, July 22nd: Buried Under Books

Thursday, July 23rd: A Book Geek

Thursday, July 23rd: Open Book Society

Monday, July 27th: Book Babe

Tuesday, July 28th: Kay’s Reading Life

Wednesday, July 29th: FictionZeal

Monday, August 3rd: From the TBR Pile

Tuesday, August 4th: Bewitched Bookworms

Thursday, August 6th: The Novel Life

Monday, August 10th: Peeking Between the Pages

Wednesday, August 12th: Patricia’s Wisdom

Thursday, August 13th: Bibliotica

TBD: Bell, Book & Candle

 

The Ones We Trust, by Kimberly Belle (@kimberlysbelle) #review #TLCBookTours

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About the book, The Ones We Trust The Ones We Trust

  • Paperback: 304 pages
  • Publisher: Mira (July 28, 2015)

When former DC journalist Abigail Wolff attempts to rehabilitate her career, she finds herself at the heart of a US army cover-up involving the death of a soldier in Afghanistan—with unspeakable emotional consequences for one family. As the story of what happened comes to light, Abigail will do anything to write it.

The more evidence she stumbles upon in the case, the fewer people it seems she can trust, including her own father, a retired army general. And she certainly never expected to fall in love with the slain soldier’s brother, Gabe, a bitter man struggling to hold his family together. The investigation eventually leads her to an impossible choice, one of unrelenting sacrifice to protect those she loves.

Beyond the buried truths and betrayals, questions of family loyalty and redemption, Abigail’s search is, most of all, a desperate grasp at carrying on and coping—and seeking hope in the impossible.

Buy, read, and discuss The Ones We Trust

Amazon | Indie Bound | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About the author, Kimberly Belle Kimberly Belle

Kimberly Belle grew up in Eastern Tennessee, in a small town nestled in the foothills of the Appalachians. A graduate of Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia, Kimberly lived for over a decade in the Netherlands and has worked in marketing and fundraising for various nonprofits. She’s the author of two novels, THE LAST BREATH and THE ONES WE TRUST (August 2015). She divides her time between Atlanta and Amsterdam.

Connect with Kimberly

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

My Thoughts MissMeliss

I know it’s a completely unfounded bias, but I’m always a bit wary when I crack open a book from Mira, because I know they’re a Harlequin imprint. Most of the time, my wariness is completely unwarranted, and with The Ones we Trust that was absolutely true. This novel is intelligent, interesting, and completely engaging.

I really liked main character Abby. Specifically, I liked her as much for her spunk and resolve as I did for her mad research skills and for the fact that even with all her good points, she was still a flawed, faltering human being. Similarly, the male lead, Gabe, was a compelling, dimensional character, not just a cookie-cutter romance hero.

The plot was well-paced and I liked that elements like PTSD, while integral to the story, were never treated exploitatively. There’s a fine balance with things like that, and in less able hands, the story could have gone in unfortunate directions.

That said, Belle’s writing voice is fresh and compelling.

If you want to read a novel that blends political intrigue and believable romance, you can trust The Ones We Trust.

Kimberly Belle’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

TLC Book Tours
Tuesday, July 28th: Books a la Mode – author guest post

Wednesday, July 29th: Life is Story

Thursday, July 30th: Sara’s Organized Chaos

Tuesday, August 4th: Mom’s Small Victories

Thursday, August 6th: Kritter’s Ramblings

Friday, August 7th: Romancing the Book – review & interview

Monday, August 10th: Books and Spoons

Monday, August 10th: Just One More Chapter

Tuesday, August 11th: Just One More Chapter – author guest post

Tuesday, August 11th: Jorie Loves a Story – author guest post

Wednesday, August 12th: Bibliotica

Friday, August 14th: From the TBR Pile – review and author Q&A

Monday, August 17th: Feminist Reflections

Wednesday, August 19th: Read Love Blog – author guest post

Thursday, August 20th: The World As I See It

TBD: Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

 

The Reinvention of Albert Paugh, by Jean Davies Okimoto #review #TLCBookTours

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About the book The Reinvention of Albert Paugh The Reinvention of Albert Paugh

Page count: 288 pages

Publisher: Endicott and Hugh Books

Dr. Albert Paugh is flunking retirement. After selling his Vashon Island veterinary practice, he soon finds himself not only lost without his work, but suddenly single. His efforts to carve out a new life, both as a bachelor and a retiree, only leave him feeling like his golden years are fast becoming years of gloom. His regrets pile up until he moves to Baker’s Beach where he gets to know a very special neighbor, learns that friends are the family you choose, and finds a new sense of purpose. The Reinvention of Albert Paugh is a sweet, funny love story about retirees that will delight readers (and dog lovers) of any age.

The Reinvention of Albert Paugh is the third book in Jean Davies Okimoto’s Island Trilogy, following The Love Ceiling and Walter’s Muse.

Buy, read, and discuss The Reinvention of Albert Paugh

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Books-a-Million

About the author, Jean Davis Okimoto Jean Davies Okimoto

Jean Davies Okimoto is an author and playwright whose books and short stories have been translated into Japanese, Italian, Chinese, German, Danish, Korean and Hebrew. She is the recipient  of numerous awards including Smithsonian Notable Book, the American LibraryAssociation Best Book for Young Adults, the Washington Governor’s Award and the International Reading Association Readers Choice Award. Her picture book, Blumpoe the Grumpoe Meets Arnold the Cat was adapted by Shelly Duvall for the HBO and Showtime television series “Bedtime Stories.” Her debut novel for adults The Love Ceiling was a season’s pick by the King County Library System, named to the ABA Indie Next Reading Group List and ebook Fiction Winner in the 2009 Indie Next Generation Awards. She has appeared on CNN, Oprah, and The Today Show. Jeanie, who is also a retired psychotherapist, began writing for adults when she and her husband Joe retired to Vashon Island in 2004 where they (and their dogs Bert and Willie) are visited by deer families and their six grandchildren.

For more information on Ms. Okimoto, please visit her website at www.jeandaviesokimoto.com.

My Thoughts MissMeliss

The Reinvention of Albert Paugh is a quirky and sweet novel, with an idyllic Pacific Northwest island setting and a cast of characters that can charm the pants off you, even while they’re driving you crazy. Reading it is like visiting the village you never knew you wanted to live in.

If I had to pick a word – a single word – to describe the eponymous title character, I would describe Albert as ‘befuddled,’ and while this novel could be considered to be ‘about’ his love of animals, his divorce, his post-retirement lifestyle, in many ways it’s really about Albert clearing away his terminal befuddlement and seeing the world with fresh, new, eyes.

As someone who has watched her parents move through many post-retirement configurations, and as someone who is no longer in any of the ticky-boxes that are anything other than ‘middle aged’ (this despite the fact that I got carded buying wine on Friday) this story felt especially relevant and poignant. We will all wake up one morning and realize our lives are not what we planned or hoped, and that the only people who can change that is ourselves.

Author Jean Davis Okimoto has a knack for characterization – every person (and dog) in this novel felt completely real, from the annoying woman with the corgi to the wife who demands a divorce in the early chapters, and the settings also felt incredibly cinematic.

This is the third book in a trilogy, but I haven’t read the first two. While I’m certain doing so would have given me greater familiarity with Vashon Island and it’s denizens, I did not feel like I was coming into the middle of a story at all.

If you want to read something that will charm the pants off you, and then get you out of your chair to play fetch with the dog in your life, The Reinvention of Albert Paugh would be an excellent choice.

Goes well with fried chicken, mashed potatoes, cole slaw, and a cold locally brewed craft beer.

Jean Davies Okimoto’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS: TLC Book Tours

Monday, August 3rd: Book Dilettante

Wednesday, August 5th: Mama Vicky Says

Monday, August 10th: The Book Wheel

Tuesday, August 11th: Bibliotica

Wednesday, August 12th: Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Thursday, August 13th: BookNAround

Friday, August 14th: Peeking Between the Pages

Monday, August 17th: Patricia’s Wisdom

Wednesday, August 19th: Life is Story

Monday, August 24th: Joyfully Retired

Wednesday, August 26th: From the TBR Pile

Friday, August 28th: View from the Birdhouse

The Uninvited by Cat Winters (@catwinters) #review #TLCBookTours #TheUninvited

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About the book, The Uninvited The Uninvited

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (August 11, 2015)

Twenty-five-year-old Ivy Rowan rises from her sickbed after being struck by the great influenza epidemic of 1918, only to discover that the world has been torn apart in just a few short days.

But Ivy’s lifelong gift—or curse—remains. She sees the uninvited ones—ghosts of loved ones who appear to her, unasked for and unwelcomed, for they always herald impending death. On that October evening in 1918, Ivy sees the spirit of her grandmother, rocking in her mother’s chair. An hour later, she learns her younger brother and father have killed a young German out of retaliation for the death in the Great War of Ivy’s other brother, Billy.

Horrified, she leaves home and soon realizes that the flu has caused utter panic and the rules governing society have broken down. Ivy is drawn into this new world of jazz, passion, and freedom, where people live for today, because they could be stricken by nightfall. She even enters into a relationship with the murdered German man’s brother, Daniel Schendel. But as her “uninvited guests” begin to appear to her more often, she knows her life will be torn apart once again, and terrifying secrets will unfold.

Buy, read, and discuss The Uninvited

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound  | Goodreads

About the author, Cat Winters Cat Winters

Cat Winters’s debut novel, In the Shadow of Blackbirds, was released to widespread critical acclaim. The novel has been named a finalist for the 2014 Morris Award, a School Library Journal Best Book of 2013, and a Booklist 2013 Top 10 Horror Fiction for Youth. Winters lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and two children.

Connect with Cat

Website | Facebook | Pinterest | Tumblr | Twitter

My Thoughts MissMeliss

From the first page there’s a slow, sort of watery feeling to this book, as if you’re seeing everything through a lens coated with vaseline, or looking through pond ripples, are recovering from a deadly fever. Its a feeling that is obviously intentional, as even a few scenes that should be brutal have a touch of unreality to them – not in the sense that they’re not plausible – but in the sense that a sort of dream-state is still lingering.  Partly, this is because protagonist Ivy can see ghosts, and her long-dead grandmother has just visited. This means someone else’s life has been lost.

As we are introduced to Ivy and her family, all reacting to the combined forces of an influenza epidemic that has taken over their small town, and the war that would come to be known as World War I having taken over the planet, that watery feeling pays off. Ivy has had the flu, and when she overhears that her father and brother have murdered the German owner of a local furniture store, she insists she has to leave home. (She is, after all, twenty-five.)

Author Cat Winters has a great feel for tone. Ivy’s walk felt ploddingly long and her arrival at the hotel was such a relief but the other-ness of the story never really left, so much as it was driven back to the corners as Ivy claimed her own agency.

The characters we meet later, especially Lucas, May, and Daniel, are all fascinating studies in extremes – the fervent idealistic patriot, the wounded widow, the immigrant who fees downtrodden – they are archetypes, but they are also so much more. Rich and layered, all the characters in this novel feel like people we all might have been related to, once upon a time. That sense of familiarity makes them seem all the more dimensional. It’s quite a trick.

I felt The Uninvited was well paced, and well plotted. I especially liked the way the twist near the end was handled so subtly. Like M. Night Shyamalan’s vintage work (you know, back when his stuff was good)  the clues are all there, and things that are easily missed on a first read seem painfully obvious once all is revealed.

I’m not sure if this novel is horror or supernatural romance or kind of both…but it was a gripping read, and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Goes well with homemade apple pie, served warm with vanilla bean ice cream and a cup of strong coffee.

Cat’s Tour Stops TLC Book Tours

Tuesday, August 4th: 100 Pages a Day … Stephanie’s Book Reviews

Thursday, August 6th: No More Grumpy Bookseller

Friday, August 7th: Bibliotica

Monday, August 10th: Kritters Ramblings

Tuesday, August 11th: From the TBR Pile

Wednesday, August 12th: Jenn’s Booshelves

Thursday, August 13th: Bookshelf Fantasies

Thursday, August 13th: Sidewalk Shoes

Monday, August 17th: The Reader’s Hollow

Tuesday, August 18th: Bibliophilia, Please

Wednesday, August 19th: Peeking Between the Pages

Thursday, August 20th: Raven Haired Girl

Friday, August 21st: A Chick Who Reads