Category Archives: Review

Fog Island Mountains, by Michelle Bailat-Jones – Review

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About the book, Fog Island Mountains Fog Island Mountains

  • Paperback: 176 pages
  • Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc. (November 4, 2014)

What if you could rewrite a tragedy? What if you could give grace to someone’s greatest mistake?

Huddled beneath the volcanoes of the Kirishima mountain range in southern Japan, also called the Fog Island Mountains, the inhabitants of small town Komachi are waiting for the biggest of the summer’s typhoons. South African expatriate Alec Chester has lived in Komachi for nearly forty years. Alec considers himself an ordinary man, with common troubles and mundane achievements until his doctor gives him a terminal cancer diagnosis and his wife, Kanae, disappears into the gathering storm. Kanae flees from the terrifying reality of Alec’s diagnosis, even going so far as to tell a childhood friend that she is already a widow. Her willful avoidance of the truth leads her to commit a grave infidelity, and only when Alec is suspected of checking himself out of the hospital to commit a quiet suicide does Kanae come home to face what it will mean to lose her husband.

Buy, read, and discuss Fog Island Mountains

Amazon | Books-a-Million | Tantor Media | Goodreads

About the author, Michelle Bailat-Jones Michelle Bailat-Jones

Michelle Bailat-Jones is a writer and translator. Her novel Fog Island Mountains won the Christopher Doheny Award from the Center for Fiction in New York City. She translated Charles Ferdinand Ramuz s 1927 Swiss classic Beauty on Earth. She is the reviews editor at the web journal Necessary Fiction, and her fiction, poetry, translations, and criticism have appeared in a number of journals, including the Kenyon Review, Hayden’s Ferry Review, the Quarterly Conversation, PANK, Spolia Mag, Two Serious Ladies, and the Atticus Review. Michelle lives in Switzerland.

My Thoughts

I’m not sure how to describe this novel. It’s very short – under 200 pages – but those pages are meaty and rich and vibrant and there is never a point at which I felt like I was being stiffed on pagecount. Instead I felt like I was instantly immersed in a world full of interesting characters, family drama, and the ups and downs of life, as lived in a small island village.

Stories involving cancer are either grim to the point of morbidity, or sappy to the point of nausea. This book was neither. Instead, it felt like a real family dealing with real problems – sibling rivalry, love, loss, fear of losing a spouse or a parent, set against the backdrop of this village full of friends and colleagues and other locals.

It’s also about belonging…interestingly, Alec, the ex-pat from South Africa, often feels more like he belongs on this tiny Japanese island than his family seems to…it makes everything so much more poignant, and so much more complex.

I enjoyed the quietness that ran through this novel, and I also enjoyed the convention of a third party relating the story. It was an interesting stylistic choice, but it made everything feel like we were seeing it through a soft-focus lens, and that really worked for the story Bailat-Jones was telling.

Goes well with green tea, miso soup, sashimi (but no octopus because the texture is gross) and tempura. Stereotypical, I know, but appropriate.

TLC Book Tours

This review is part of a blog tour sponsored by TLC Book Tours. For the complete list of tour stops, see below. For more information, click HERE.

Tuesday, November 4th: The Discerning Reader

Thursday, November 6th: BookNAround

Tuesday, November 11th: No More Grumpy Bookseller

Thursday, November 13th: Bell, Book, & Candle

Monday, November 17th: Book Nerd

Thursday, November 20th: Too Fond

Monday, December 1st: Sara’s Organized Chaos

Tuesday, December 2nd: Bibliotica

Wednesday, December 3rd: Regular Rumination

Friday, December 5th: Patricia’s Wisdom

Monday, December 8th: Book Dilettante

Tuesday, December 9th: Olduvai Reads

Wednesday, December 10th: Svetlana’s Reads and Views

 

The Spoils of Avalon, by Mary Burns – Review

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About the book The Spoils of Avalon The Spoils of Avalon

Publisher:Sand Hill Review Press
Info:Paperback; 300p
ISBN: 978-1937818289
Series: A John Singer Sargent/Violet Paget Mystery (Book One)
Genre: Historical Fiction/Historical Mystery

The death of a humble clergyman in 1877 leads amateur sleuths Violet Paget and John Singer Sargent into a medieval world of saints and kings—including the legendary Arthur—as they follow a trail of relics and antiquities lost since the destruction of Glastonbury Abbey in 1539. Written in alternating chapters between the two time periods, The Spoils of Avalon creates a sparkling, magical mystery that bridges the gap between two worlds that could hardly be more different—the industrialized, Darwinian, materialistic Victorian Age and the agricultural, faith-infused life of a medieval abbey on the brink of violent change at the hands of Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell.

First in a new series of historical mysteries, The Spoils of Avalon introduces two unlikely detectives and life-long friends—beginning as young people on the verge of making their names famous for the next several decades throughout Europe and America: the brilliant and brittle Violet Paget, known as the writer Vernon Lee, and the talented, genial portrait painter John Singer Sargent.

Friends from the age of ten, Paget and Sargent frequently met in the popular European watering places and capitals, frequenting the same salons and drawing rooms in London, Rome, Paris, Florence, Venice, Vienna and Madrid. Both were possessed of keen minds and bohemian tendencies, unorthodox educations and outsized egos (especially Paget). Their instant, natural bonding led them to address each other as “Twin”, and they corresponded frequently when they were apart.

Henry James once described Violet Paget as having “the most formidable mind” of their times, and he was an active fan and patron of John Sargent, introducing him to London society and his own inner circles of literary and artistic genius.

Watch the Book Trailer

Buy, read, and discuss The Spoils of Avalon

Amazon | Goodreads

About the Author, Mary Burns Mary Burns

Mary F. Burns is the author of PORTRAITS OF AN ARTIST (Sand Hill Review Press, February 2013), a member of and book reviewer for the Historical Novel Society and a former member of the HNS Conference board of directors. A novella-length book, ISAAC AND ISHMAEL, is also being published by Sand Hill Review Press in 2014. Ms. Burns’ debut historical novel J-THE WOMAN WHO WROTE THE BIBLE was published in July 2010 by O-Books (John Hunt Publishers, UK). She has also written two cozy-village mysteries in a series titled The West Portal Mysteries (The Lucky Dog Lottery and The Tarot Card Murders).

Ms. Burns was born in Chicago, Illinois and attended Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, where she earned both Bachelors and Masters degrees in English, along with a high school teaching certificate. She relocated to San Francisco in 1976 where she now lives with her husband Stuart in the West Portal neighborhood. Ms. Burns has a law degree from Golden Gate University, has been president of her neighborhood association and is active in citywide issues. During most of her working career she was employed as a director of employee communications, public relations and issues management at various San Francisco Bay Area corporations, was an editor and manager of the Books on Tape department for Ignatius Press, and has managed her own communications/PR consulting business, producing written communications, websites and video productions for numerous corporate and non-profit clients.

Connect with Mary

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter

My Thoughts

I love a good mystery, and I went through a phase when I was totally in love with all permutations of Arthurian legend, so when an opportunity to read and review this book landed in my inbox, I was delighted to do so.

John and Violet are a detective duo to rival Holmes and Watson, and the presence of a woman does much to open the genre. From the first page, I bought their lifelong friendship, and was laughing when their banter seemed funny, empathizing when they had different ideas. From the start, I felt like I knew these people, and would enjoy conversing at the dinner table, long after the meal’s grown cold, with them.

Similarly, the plot, taking place in two timezones (Victorian England and Glastonbury 200 years or so before that) was woven together just as the Lady of Shalott might have done, and indeed this story was a ‘magic web of colors gay,’ though, of course, as there’s a murder, some of them were also more muted. I especially enjoyed the way author Mary Burns used excerpts from The Idylls of the King as chapter headers.

As a standalone novel, The Spoils of Avalon would be a great read, and I heartily recommend it, but wait! There’s more. Or at least, I hope there will be more, because this book is being marketed as Book One in a series of adventures for John and Violet.

I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Goes well with Hard cider and a chicken pot pie, especially if it’s raining while you read.

The Spoils of Avalon Blog Tour Schedule 04_The Spoils of Avalon_Blog Tour Banner_FINAL

This review is part of a blog tour organized by Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours. For the complete list of stops, see below. For more information, click HERE.

Monday, November 3
Review at Buried Under Books

Tuesday, November 4
Review at Book Dilettante

Wednesday, November 5
Review at History From a Woman’s Perspective

Friday, November 7
Review & Giveaway at The True Book Addict

Monday, November 10
Review at Just One More Chapter
Interview & Giveaway at Unabridged Chick

Tuesday, November 11
Review at Layered Pages
Spotlight at CelticLady’s Reviews

Wednesday, November 12
Guest Post at Passages to the Past

Thursday, November 13
Review at Curling Up By The Fire

Friday, November 14
Interview at The Maiden’s Court

Monday, November 17
Review & Interview at Jorie Loves a Story
Interview & Giveaway at Let Them Read Books

Tuesday, November 18
Review at Impressions in Ink

Wednesday, November 19
Guest Post & Giveaway at Historical Fiction Connection

Thursday, November 20
Review & Giveaway at Beth’s Book Reviews

Friday, November 21
Review at Bibliotica

The News Sorority, by Sheila Weller – Review

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About the book The News Sorority, by Sheila Weller The News Sorority

A provocative look at the three remarkable women who revolutionized television broadcast news

For decades, women battered the walls of the male fortress of television journalism, until finally three—Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric, and Christiane Amanpour—broke through, definitively remaking America’s nightly news. Drawing on exclusive interviews with their colleagues and intimates from childhood on, bestselling author Sheila Weller crafts a lively and eye-opening narrative, revealing the combination of ambition, skill, and character that enabled these three singular women to infiltrate the once impenetrable “boys club” and become cultural icons.

Raised in Louisville, Kentucky, Diane Sawyer was a driven, elegant young woman in a time of societal upheaval. Her fierce intellect, almost insuperable work ethic, and mysterious emotional intelligence would catapult Sawyer from being the first female on-air correspondent for 60 Minutes to presenting heartbreaking specials on child poverty in America while anchoring the network flagship, ABC World News Tonight.

Katie Couric, always convenient l y underestimated because of her girl-next-door demeanor, brazened her way through a succession of regional TV news jobs until she finally hit it big in New York. In 1991, Couric became the Today show cohost, where over the next fifteen years she transformed the “female” slot from secondary to preeminent. Couric’s greatest triumph—and most bedeviling challenge—was inheriting the mantle of Walter Cronkite at CBS Evening News, as the first woman ever to anchor a prestigious nighttime network news program.

A glamorous but unorthodox cosmopolite— the daughter of a British Catholic mother and Iranian Muslim father—Christiane Amanpour made a virtue of her outsider status. She joined the fledgling CNN on the bottom rung and then became its “face,” catalyzing its rise to global prominence. Her fearlessness in war zones and before presidents and despots would make her the world’s witness to some of its most acute crises and television’s chief advocate for international justice.

The News Sorority takes us behind the scenes as never before to track Sawyer’s, Couric’s, and Amanpour’s ascendance to the highest ranks of the media elite, showing that the compelling desire to report the news—a drive born of curiosity, empathy, and humanity—must be matched by guts, awesome competitive fervor, and rare strategic savvy.

My Thoughts

I was offered this book by a publicist who found my blog, probably through some other review campaign, and I leaped at it, because I read Sheila Weller’s previous book Girls Like Us (about women in music) and loved it. I’ve also interviewed her for All Things Girl so, I sort of knew what to expect.

I was not disappointed.

Weller takes us through the lives of three women at the forefront of news media – Christiane Amanpour, Katie Couric, and Diane Sawyer – weaving them in and out of each other, and letting us see them as girls, as women, as people, as the faces of the news.

I enjoyed learning more about these women, all of whom I’ve watched since forever, and I also enjoyed Weller’s narrative style. She makes biography read like a novel, and is always candid but seems to make an effort to do so from a place of kindness. You can tell that she may not always agree with her subjects, but she always respects them.

If you want to feel as if you truly know these women, read this book. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you’ll never look at television journalism the same way again.

Us, by David Nicholls – Review

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About the book, Us Us

Hardcover: 416 pages
Publisher: Harper (October 28, 2014)

David Nicholls brings the wit and intelligence that graced his enormously popular New York Times bestseller, One Day, to a compellingly human, deftly funny new novel about what holds marriages and families together—and what happens, and what we learn about ourselves, when everything threatens to fall apart.

Douglas Petersen may be mild-mannered, but behind his reserve lies a sense of humor that, against all odds, seduces beautiful Connie into a second date . . . and eventually into marriage. Now, almost three decades after their relationship first blossomed in London, they live more or less happily in the suburbs with their moody seventeen year-old son, Albie. Then Connie tells him she thinks she wants a divorce.

The timing couldn’t be worse. Hoping to encourage her son’s artistic interests, Connie has planned a month-long tour of European capitals, a chance to experience the world’s greatest works of art as a family, and she can’t bring herself to cancel. And maybe going ahead with the original plan is for the best anyway? Douglas is privately convinced that this landmark trip will rekindle the romance in the marriage, and might even help him to bond with Albie.

Narrated from Douglas’s endearingly honest, slyly witty, and at times achingly optimistic point of view, Us is the story of a man trying to rescue his relationship with the woman he loves, and learning how to get closer to a son who’s always felt like a stranger. Us is a moving meditation on the demands of marriage and parenthood, the regrets of abandoning youth for middle age, and the intricate relationship between the heart and the head. And in David Nicholls’s gifted hands, Douglas’s odyssey brings Europe—from the streets of Amsterdam to the famed museums of Paris, from the cafés of Venice to the beaches of Barcelona—to vivid life just as he experiences a powerful awakening of his own. Will this summer be his last as a husband, or the moment when he turns his marriage, and maybe even his whole life, around?

Buy, read, and discuss Us

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Goodreads

Watch the trailer for Us

About the author, David Nicholls David Nicholls

David Nicholls’s most recent novel, the New York Times bestseller One Day, has sold over 2 million copies and been translated into thirty-seven languages; he also wrote the screenplay for the 2010 film adaptation starring Jim Sturgess and Anne Hathaway.

Trained as an actor before making the switch to writing, Nicholls’s previous novels include Starter for Ten (originally published in the U.S. as A Question of Attraction), adapted into a film starring James McAvoy, for which Nicholls also wrote the screenplay; and The Understudy. He continues to write for film and TV as well as writing novels and adapting them for the screen, and has twice been nominated for the BAFTA awards. He lives in London with his wife and two children.

Connect with David

Website | Facebook

My Thoughts

I loved One Day, so when I was offered the chance to review US I leapt at it, and I’m glad I did. This book is wonderfully crafted, the dialogue is snappy, but realistic, and the characters feel like real people.

It takes a special kind of author to write about the (possible) end, and definite shift, of a marriage while still being witty, but Nicholls is an expert at that kind of poignance mixed with humor, and even at their worst his characters, and his plot, are thoroughly engaging. Personally, I was hooked quite early on, when there’s a bit of internal monologue from POV character Douglas about how if is son had needed another year of school, his marriage would have had one more year of perceived solidity. It’s such an unaffected observation, and on the surface it’s funny, but then you realize how very fragile he really is.

Author Nicholls was an actor before he started writing, and I suspect that’s why his use of language is so dead-on. He writes with an actor’s ear, and his words are meant to be spoken aloud. Indeed, this is one of those books that had me reading bits to the dogs (hey, any audience is better than none) and following my husband around the house telling him, “No, wait, you must listen to this scene.”

Small surprise, then, that his books end up as movies down the line. Consciously or not, they’re written to be cinematic.

Us is the kind of novel that turns into an immensely popular art film, the kind that all the cool people see, but that never makes it into the mainstream multiplexes. I have no problem with that, as these are precisely the sorts of novels I most enjoy.

If you, too, like wit-infused realism, then Us is the novel for you.

Goes well with Thai food and iced coffee

More About this Tour

TLC Book Tours

This review is part of a blog tour hosted by TLC Book Tours. For the complete list of tour stops, see below. For more information, click HERE.

Monday, October 6th: The Daily Dosage

Tuesday, October 7th: nomadreader

Wednesday, October 8th: From L.A. to LA

Thursday, October 9th: Spiced Latte Reads

Monday, October 13th: BookNAround

Tuesday, October 14th: Bibliosue

Friday, October 17th: 5 Minutes For Books

Monday, October 20th: Patricia’s Wisdom

Tuesday, October 21st:  A Bookish Way of Life

Wednesday, October 22nd: Vox Libris

Thursday, October 23rd: The Scarlet letter

Monday October 27th: Read. Write. Repeat.

Tuesday, October 28th: Lavish Bookshelf

Wednesday, October 29th: nightlyreading

Thursday, October 30th: Always With a Book

Monday, November 3rd: Alison’s Book Marks

Monday, November 3rd: Drey’s Library

Wednesday, November 5th: More Than Just Magic

Thursday, November 6th: Walking With Nora

Monday, November 10th: Booksie’s Blog

Wednesday, November 12th: Literary Lindsey

Thursday, November 13th: Books and Bindings

Friday, November 14th: Every Free Chance Book Reviews

Sunday, November 16th: Giraffe Days

Monday, November 17th: Doing Dewey

Tuesday, November 18th: Bibliotica

Thursday, November 20th: The Book Binder’s Daughter

Friday, November 21st: Bookshelf Fantasies

Friday, November 21st: Book Loving Hippo

Friday, November 21st: Books in the Burbs

Monday, November 24th: I’d Rather Be At The Beach

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

Wednesday, November 26th: missris

TBD: Reading in Black & White

TBD: …the bookworm…

TBD: BoundbyWords

The Dunning Man, by Kevin Fortuna – Review

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About the book, The Dunning Man The Dunning Man

• Paperback: 140 pages
Publisher: Lavender Ink (October 19, 2014)

The six stories in Kevin Fortuna’s hilarious and gripping debut story collection, The Dunning Man, feature anti-heroes who reject society’s rules, and often show a gritty, Irish American take on the worlds in which they live. Characters from all walks of life—a rogue hip-hop star, a blackjack dealing mom, a middle-aged drunk plowing through his inheritance, and an empty nester housewife trying to make peace with the past. They each exist in the here and now, living for what’s possible and what’s left—not what they’ve left behind. Redemption awaits all, but only along the rutted, gut-churning path of honest self-examination. Age quod agis.

Set in Atlantic City, New Orleans, Washington, D.C., the Hudson Valley and Manhattan, Fortuna’s stories depict the violent clash between society’s expectations and the chaotic arc of individual destiny. These are powerful tales of truth seekers imbued with larger-than-life personalities and the all-consuming need to find something worth seeking.

Buy, read, & discuss The Dunning Man


Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About the author, Kevin Fortuna

Kevin Fortuna lives in Cold Spring, New York. He obtained a Bachelors degree in English Literature from Georgetown University, where he graduated summa cum laude. He is the recipient of a Lannan Literary Fellowship, the Quicksall Medal for Writing, a Fellowship in Fiction at the Prague Summer Writers Workshop and a Full Fellowship in Fiction at the University of New Orleans, where he received his MFA.

My Thoughts

I really enjoy short stories because they have to be so well crafted from start to finish or they just don’t work. Economy of phrase is essential, but not just economy, also precision, and style.

Kevin Fortuna’s collection of stories, The Dunning Man has all three.

I enjoyed all of the pieces in the book, but the first one, which took place en route to Atlantic City, resonated most with me, probably because I know the Academy Bus gates at Port Authority so well, and understood the frustration of the crowded queues for certain routes.

Every tale in the collection is absolutely worth the read, and what I particularly appreciated was that Fortuna’s voice changes slightly for each story, to better match the protagonist he’s depicting, but still remains discernable as being the same author writing. It’s a fine line, but it proves that his point of view is clear and strong, and I look forward to more from this author.

Goes well with A slice of Famous Ray’s pizza and a cold beer.

Kevin’s Tour Stops TLC Book Tours

This review is part of a book tour sponsored by TLC Book Tours. For the list of tour stops, see below, or click HERE.

Tuesday, October 28th: A Dream Within a Dream

Thursday, October 30th: Built by Story

Monday, November 3rd: The Book Binder’s Daughter

Monday, November 10th: I’d Rather Be At The Beach

Thursday, November 13th: Bibliotica

Monday, November 17th: Conceptual Reception

Tuesday, November 25th: guiltless reading

Tuesday, November 25th: Read a Latte

Friday, November 28th: Walking With Nora

Saturday, November 29th: Tiffany’s Bookshelf

My Sister’s Grave by Robert Dugoni (@RobertDugoni) – Review

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About the book My Sister’s Grave My Sister's Grave

Paperback
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer (November 1, 2014)

Robert Dugoni’s bestselling legal thrillers have earned him comparisons to John Grisham, Scott Turow, and Nelson DeMille, among others. In MY SISTER’S GRAVE (Thomas & Mercer; October 14, 2014), Dugoni returns with the powerful and poignant story of a homicide detective determined to avenge the murder of her beloved younger sister – regardless of the cost.

Seattle cop Tracy Crosswhite was a high school chemistry teacher when her teenaged sister Sarah disappeared one night on her way home to their small town of Cedar Grove. A young ex-con, Edmund House, was quickly tried and convicted of her murder. Twenty years and a career change later, Tracy has dedicated her life to questioning whether the right man went to jail. When Sarah’s remains are uncovered from a newly-exposed lake bed, new evidence seems to support Tracy’s theory that the original prosecution was deeply flawed.

Working with a childhood friend, now an attorney, to exonerate House and find Sarah’s true killer, Tracy begins to uncover long-held secrets that point to a shocking – and potentially catastrophic – truth about what happened to her sister on that long-ago night. Somewhere in Cedar Grove, a killer is waiting, and Tracy must summon the strength to confront the past in order to save her future.

An explosive whodunit with a family love story at its heart, MY SISTER’S GRAVE is a thriller that’s difficult to put down, and marks an exciting new chapter for acclaimed writer Robert Dugoni.

Buy, read and discuss My Sister’s Grave

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

About the author, Robert Dugoni Robert Dugoni

Robert Dugoni is the critically acclaimed and New York Times-bestselling author of the David Sloane series: The Jury Master, Wrongful Death, Bodily Harm, Murder One, and The Conviction. Murder One was a finalist for the Harper Lee Award for literary excellence. He is also the author of the bestselling standalone novel Damage Control, and the nonfiction work The Cyanide Canary.

Connect with Robert

Website | Facebook | Twitter

My Thoughts

Part police procedural, part family drama, completely gripping, I loved this novel. Tracy, the lead character, could easily rival Temperance Brennan or Kate Beckett as a prime-time television heroine, and all of the other characters in the story were equally interesting and dimensional.

I especially loved the author’s vivid descriptions and realistic dialogue. I also appreciated that we’re in the thick of things from the first page, with no slow build (not that those are bad) which I found really effective. In fact, the experience of reading My Sister’s Grave was so cinematic that I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see it opening in theaters next year.

Oh, if only what we were given on the screen was as smart, savvy, and (in the right amount) sexy as this novel!

On the other hand, the fact that this was a novel meant that I could savor each page, until, finally, I had to stay up to the wee hours of the morning to finish the last few chapters.

If you want a novel that’s just dark enough for a gray November afternoon, one that reaches out and grabs you, and doesn’t let you go until the very last page, you will LOVE My Sister’s Grave.

Goes well with A double cappuccino with a dash of cinnamon and a slice of pecan streusel apple pie.

Robert Dugoni’s Tour Stops TLC Book Tours

This review is part of a tour hosted by TLC Book Tours. For the complete list of tour stops, see below, or click HERE.

Tuesday, November 4th: Crime Book Club

Tuesday, November 4th: Read Love Blog

Friday, November 7th: Not in Jersey

Monday, November 10th: Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Monday, November 10th: Psychotic State Book Reviews

Tuesday, November 11th: Mary’s Cup of Tea

Wednesday, November 12th: My Bookshelf

Thursday, November 13th: Inside of a Dog

Thursday, November 13th: Lesa’s Book Critiques

Thursday, November 13th: Bibliotica

Monday, November 17th: Mystery Playground

Monday, November 17th: Red Headed Book Child

Tuesday, November 18th: Words by Webb

Wednesday, November 19th: Tales of a Book Addict

Friday, November 21st: Brooke Blogs

Monday, November 24th: A Bookworm’s World

Wednesday, November 26th: Patricia’s Wisdom

Date TBD: Simply Stacie

The Heart Does Not Grow Back, by Fred Venturini (@FredVenturini) – Review

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About the book The Heart Does Not Grow Back The Heart Does Not Grow Back

Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Picador (November 4, 2014)

EVERY SUPERHERO NEEDS TO START SOMEWHERE…

Dale Sampson is used to being a nonperson at his small-town Midwestern high school, picking up the scraps of his charismatic lothario of a best friend, Mack. He comforts himself with the certainty that his stellar academic record and brains will bring him the adulation that has evaded him in high school. But when an unthinkable catastrophe tears away the one girl he ever had a chance with, his life takes a bizarre turn as he discovers an inexplicable power: He can regenerate his organs and limbs.

When a chance encounter brings him face to face with a girl from his past, he decides that he must use his gift to save her from a violent husband and dismal future. His quest takes him to the glitz and greed of Hollywood, and into the crosshairs of shadowy forces bent on using and abusing his gift. Can Dale use his power to redeem himself and those he loves, or will the one thing that finally makes him special be his demise? The Heart Does Not Grow Back is a darkly comic, starkly original take on the superhero tale, introducing an exceptional new literary voice in Fred Venturini.

Buy, read, and discuss The Heart Does Not Grow Back

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

About the author, Fred Venturini Fred Venturini

Fred Venturini grew up in Patoka, Illinois. His short fiction has been published in the Booked Anthology, Noir at the Bar 2, and Surreal South ’13. In 2014, his story “Gasoline” will be featured in Chuck Palahniuk’s Burnt Tongues collection. He lives in Southern Illinois with his wife and daughter.

Connect with Fred

Website | Twitter

My Thoughts

As a digital diva and comicbook (Stan Lee says it should be one word, and you do NOT argue with Stan Lee) geek, I love a good superhero story no matter what the format is.

With The Heart Does Not Grow Back Fred Venturini has given us not only a good superhero story, but a just plain good story. I would happily have read about Dale’s life even if he hadn’t been able to regenerate most of the vital bits of his body (hint: there’s one he can’t; spoilers, sweety: it’s in the title).

While I confess, the first chapter was a bit difficult for me – I have a hard time reading about kids being bullied, despite the fact that I was never bullied myself – but I stuck with it, and I’m glad I did, because ultimately, this story is funny, poignant, and comes from a place of emotional truth.

As I learned as an improvisational actor, if you start from truth, you can do anything you want, no matter how implausible, and your audience will take the journey with you.

I enjoyed my journey into Fred Venturini’s world immensely, and I recommend it for anyone who has a taste for superheroes, sci-fi, or underdogs saving the day.

Dear Mr. Venturini: MORE PLEASE?

Goes well with A foot-long chili cheese dog, crinkle cut fries, and a cherry Coke.

About the Tour

TLC Book Tours

This review is part of a blog tour sponsored by TLC Book Tours. For the list of tour stops, see below. For more information click HERE.

Tour Stops

Monday, October 13th: Benni’s Bookbiters

Tuesday, October 14th: Books a la Mode – author guest post

Wednesday, October 15th: Read a Latte

Thursday, October 16th: Benni’s Bookbiters – an unofficial soundtrack

Monday, October 20th: Bell, Book & Candle

Wednesday, October 22nd:  My Shelf Confessions – Wonderfully Wicked Read-A-Thon Giveaway

Thursday, October 23rd: Saints and Sinners

Monday, October 27th: A Fantastical Librarian

Wednesday, October 29th: In Bed with Books

Tuesday, November 4th: Read-Love-Blog

Thursday, November 6th: Sweet Southern Home

Friday, November 7th: The Steadfast Reader

Monday, November 10th: Fourth Street Review

Monday, November 10th: Guiltless Reading

Tuesday, November 11th: Bibliotica

Wednesday, November 12th: From the TBR Pile

Thursday, November 13th: More Than Just Magic

Friday, November 14th: The Feminist Texican [Reads]

Monday, November 17th: A Book Geek

Thursday, November 20th: Bibliophilia, Please

Monday, November 24th: Tiffany’s Bookshelf

TBD: Book Marks the Spot

The Unforgivable Fix, by T.E. Woods (@tewoodswrites) – Review

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About the book, The Unforgivable Fix The Unforgivable Fix

Publisher: Alibi (October 14, 2014)
Pages: 320

On the heels of her runaway hits The Fixer and The Red Hot Fix, T. E. Woods ratchets up the tension with her newest explosive thriller in the fast-paced Justice series.

The killer won’t come for you, you fool. He’ll come for me.

Detective Mort Grant of the Seattle PD has finally decided to sell. The home where he and his late wife raised two kids feels too large and too full of old memories. His son is married and raising a family of his own, and despite desperate efforts to find her, Mort has lost touch with his wayward daughter. That is, until the day she walks back into her childhood home and begs for his help.

For the last four years, Allie Grant has been the lover—and confidante, confessor, and counselor—of one of the world’s most powerful and deadly men. But a sudden, rash move has put Allie in the crosshairs of a ruthless Russian crime lord. Mort knows of only one place where Allie will be safe: with The Fixer.

As a hired desperado, The Fixer has killed twenty-three people—and Mort was complicit in her escape from the law. She has built an impregnable house, stocked it with state-of-the-art gear, armed it to the teeth, and locked herself away from the world. But even The Fixer may not be able to get justice for Allie when real evil comes knocking.

Buy, read, and discuss The Unforgivable Fix

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

About the author, T. E. Woods T.E. Woods

T. E. Woods is as eager as her fans to return to the thrilling world of the Justice series. She’s busy writing the next installment and is developing a new series set in Madison, Wisconsin.

Connect with T.E.

Facebook | Twitter

Connect with T.E.’s publisher, Alibi: Facebook | Twitter

My Thoughts

I’ve just read all three “Fixer” books back to back, so the plots of each are a bit muddled in my head, but it doesn’t matter, because whether you read these in order (beginning with The Fixer) or not, you will be plunged immediately into a fast-paced story of action, adventure, and intrigue.

You will also see that T.E. Woods is incredibly deft at weaving those three elements together without ever ignoring plot or characterization. Whether the character in question is an embezzling corporate executive about to get his just desserts or the owner of the local coffee joint, everyone you meet in the pages of one of these novels feels incredibly real.

Since one of those characters – the main character – is a hired assassin, the incredible dimension and depth of each personality can feel a bit creepy at times, but that vibe actually works, making the books seem that much more visceral.

What I loved about this series -all of it- is that the dialogue is always both snappy and appropriate. Adults sound like adults, and their language always fits their station in life. The pacing, also, is excellent. Nothing is a constant rush; when the reader needs to breathe a bit, we’re given the chance.

What I didn’t love about this series: these books move so quickly, that one doesn’t merely read them, one devours them, and then one is left waiting for more. I was having such a great time immersed in The Fixer’s world that I really didn’t want the experience to end.

Goes well with champagne, strawberries, dark chocolate, and baked brie en croute.

TLC Book Tours

This review is part of a blog tour sponsored by TLC Book Tours. For the complete list of tour stops, see below. For more information, click HERE.

Monday, October 6th:  A Fantastical Librarian

Monday, October 6th:  Patricia’s Wisdom

Monday, October 6th:  Kritter’s Ramblings – Red Hot Fix

Tuesday, October 7th:  Tiffany’s Bookshelf

Tuesday, October 7th:  Kritter’s Ramblings

Monday, October 13th:  Patricia’s Wisdom – Red Hot Fix

Thursday, October 16th:  FictionZeal

Friday, October 17th:  Mystery Playground – “Drinks with Reads” guest post

Monday, October 20th:  She Treads Softly

Tuesday, October 21st:  Kahakai Kitchen

Monday, October 27th:  From the TBR Pile

Wednesday, October 29th:  Bibliotica

Wednesday, October 29th:  Queen of All She Reads

Thursday, October 30th:  Mockingbird  Hill Cottage – Red Hot Fix and The Unforgivable Fix

Friday, October 31st:  Back Porchervations

Friday, October 31st: The Novel Life

Olde School by Selah Janel – Review

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About the book Olde School Olde School

• Paperback: 428 pages
• Publisher: Seventh Star Press, LLC (March 18, 2014)

Kingdom City has moved into the modern era. Run by a lord mayor and city council (though still under the influence of the High King of The Land), it proudly embraces a blend of progress and tradition. Trolls, ogres, and other Folk walk the streets with humans, but are more likely to be entrepreneurs than cause trouble. Princesses still want to be rescued, but they now frequent online dating services to encourage lords, royals, and politicians to win their favor. The old stories are around, but everyone knows they’re just fodder for the next movie franchise. Everyone knows there’s no such thing as magic. It’s all old superstition and harmless tradition.

Bookish, timid, and more likely to carry a laptop than a weapon, Paddlelump Stonemonger is quickly coming to wish he’d never put a toll bridge over Crescent Ravine. While his success has brought him lots of gold, it’s also brought him unwanted attention from the Lord Mayor. Adding to his frustration, Padd’s oldest friends give him a hard time when his new maid seems inept at best and conniving at worst. When a shepherd warns Paddlelump of strange noises coming from Thadd Forest, he doesn’t think much of it. Unfortunately for him, the history of his land goes back further than anyone can imagine. Before long he’ll realize that he should have paid attention to the old tales and carried a club.

Darkness threatens to overwhelm not only Paddlelump, but the entire realm. With a little luck, a strange bird, a feisty waitress, and some sturdy friends, maybe, just maybe, Padd will survive to eat another meal at Trip Trap’s diner. It’s enough to make the troll want to crawl under his bridge, if he can manage to keep it out of the clutches of greedy politicians.

Buy, read, and discuss Olde School

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Goodreads

About the author, Selah Janel Selah Janel

Selah Janel has been blessed with a giant imagination since she was little and convinced that fairies lived in the nearby state park or vampires hid in the abandoned barns outside of town. The many people around her that supported her love of reading and curiosity probably made it worse. Her e-books The Other Man, Holly and Ivy, and Mooner are published through Mocha Memoirs Press. Lost in the Shadows, a collection of short stories celebrating the edges of ideas and the spaces between genres was co-written with S.H. Roddey. Her work has also been included in The MacGuffin, The Realm Beyond, Stories for Children Magazine, The Big Bad: an Anthology of Evil, The Grotesquerie, and Thunder on the Battlefield. Olde School is the first book in her new series, The Kingdom City Chronicles, and is published through Seventh Star Press. She likes her music to rock, her vampires lethal, her fairies to play mind games, and her princesses to hold their own.

Connect with Selah

Blog | Facebook

My Thoughts

I don’t read a lot of true fantasy anymore, but there was a time when I was reading it voraciously. Still, it’s a genre I go back to when something interesting or original crosses my path, and in this case, the result – reading Selah Janel’s Olde School – was a sheer delight.

From the first scene in Trip Trap’s diner (frequented mainly by trolls and shepherds) I was hooked on Janel’s writing style, and on the world she created. Paddlelump, her main character, is fantastically different from any character I’ve ever read, and Kingdom City is a place I’d love to visit for a couple of days.

Janel spins a fun-filled yarn that gives a nod to pop culture and the current love of modernizing classic tales, but it’s just a nod. There’s nothing in Olde School that doesn’t feel fresh, interesting, and completely awesome.

So many times we forget that reading is entertaining as well as educational. Olde School is a reminder that it’s okay for something to be funny, smart, and completely engaging without necessarily requiring us to be made aware of the popular cause of the moment or disease du jour. Moreover, it reminds us that the best thing any of us can be is ourselves.

Read this book. Seriously, you won’t stop smiling for like a week, after.

TLC Book Tours

This review is part of a blog tour sponsored by TLC Book Tours. To see the complete list of tour stops, scroll down. For more information, click HERE.

Monday, October 13th: Must Read Faster

Tuesday, October 14th: Booksie’s Blog

Wednesday, October 15th: Priscilla and Her Books

Thursday, October 16th: Sidewalk Shoes

Friday, October 17th: Reading Reality

Thursday, October 23rd: Bibliotica

Monday, October 27th: Dab of Darkness

Tuesday, October 28th: Ms. Nose in a Book

Wednesday, October 29th: Fuelled by Fiction

Thursday, October 30th: Book Marks the Spot

Monday, November 3rd: Bookie Wookie

The Betrayed, by Heather Graham (@heathergraham) – Review

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About the book, The Betrayed The Betrayed

Series: Krewe of Hunters

Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages

Publisher: Harlequin MIRA (September 30, 2014)

One night, New York FBI agent Aiden Mahoney receives a visitor in a dream—an old friend named Richard Highsmith. The very next day he’s sent to Sleepy Hollow because Richard’s gone missing there.

Maureen—Mo—Deauville now lives in the historic town and works with her dog, Rollo, to search for missing people. She’s actually the one to find Richard…or more precisely his head, stuck on a statue of the legendary Headless Horseman.

Mo and Aiden, a new member of the Krewe of Hunters, the FBI’s unit of paranormal investigators, explore both past and present events to figure out who betrayed Richard, who killed him and now wants to kill them, too. As they work together, they discover that they share an unusual trait—the ability to communicate with the dead. They also share an attraction that’s as intense as it is unexpected…if they live long enough to enjoy it!

Buy, read, and discuss The Betrayed

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

About the author, Heather Graham Heather Graham

New York Times and USA TODAY  bestselling author Heather Graham has written more than a hundred novels and has been published in more than 20 languages. An avid scuba diver, ballroom dancer and the mother of five, she enjoys her south Florida home, but loves to travel as well, from locations such as Cairo, Egypt, to her own backyard, the Florida Keys. Reading is still the pastime she still loves best, and she is a member of many writing groups. She’s a winner of the Romance Writers of America’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Thriller Writers’ Silver Bullet. She is an active member of International Thriller Writers and Mystery Writers of America, and also the founder of The Slush Pile Players, an author band and theatrical group.

Heather annually hosts the Writers for New Orleans conference to benefit both the city, which is near and dear to her heart, and various other causes, and she hosts a ball each year at the RT Booklovers Convention to benefit pediatric AIDS foundations.

Connect with Heather

Website | Facebook | Twitter

My Thoughts

After I reviewed Heather Graham’s The Hexed a few weeks ago, I fell so much in love with the world she’s created that I ran right out and bought (well, okay, I used my iPad in my pajamas and clicked to get the kindle edition) the second in this Krewe of Hunters series, The Cursed.

And, just as when I read The Hexed, once I started reading The Cursed, I couldn’t put it down. The same is true of this book, The Betrayed.

This one takes place in Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow, and while it’s a more reality-based Sleepy Hollow than the popular TV series (which, I confess, I enjoy despite the many, many historical inaccuracies), it at least acknowledges that the series exists (and that it’s good for tourism). The new hunter, Aidan Mahoney is everything you want in a paranormal romance hero: sensitive, strong, protective, but never patronizing.

The new female lead, Maureen “Mo” Deauville (who comes with a sidekick in the form of giant Irish Wolfhound Rollo) is funny, spunky, smart, and just a little bit reckless – all the perfect traits for a paranormal romance heroine.

Together they fight crime – cliche, I know, but, it’s what happens. What is NOT cliche is Heather Graham’s uncanny ability to weave historical subplots with contemporary plots, and give us just enough romance to keep the homefires burning softly, but not so much that the plot is overshadowed.

Yes, there are ghosts, and people talk to them, but Graham makes that work, as well, treating the ability to see and speak with the dead as something special, to be savored, and used on the side of good, rather than something sinister.

If you, like me, prefer your spooky stories with believable characters and accurate history, you should grab a copy of The Betrayed right now. Then you should read the rest of Heather Graham’s amazing novels, because you will NOT be disappointed.

Goes well with roasted pumpkin seeds (with garlic salt) and spiced apple cider.

TLC Book Tours

This review is part of a blog tour sponsored by TLC Book Tours. For the complete list of tour stops, see below. For more information, click HERE.

Monday, September 15th: From the TBR Pile

Monday, September 15th: Books a la Mode – Spotlight and giveaway

Tuesday, September 16th: Bewitched Bookworms

Wednesday, September 17th: Snowdrop Dreams of Books

Friday, September 19th: Supernatural Snark – Spotlight and giveaway

Monday, September 22nd: Read – Love – Blog

Tuesday, September 23rd: A Chick Who Reads

Wednesday, September 24th:  Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile

Thursday, September 25th: Queen of All She Reads

Monday, September 29th: Saints and Sinners Books

Tuesday, September 30th:  Mom in Love with Fiction

Thursday, October 2nd: Musings of a Bookish Kitty

Thursday, October 2nd: Ladybug Literature

Monday, October 6th:  Bibliophilia, Please

Wednesday, October 8th: Sara’s Organized Chaos

Thursday, October 9th:  No More Grumpy Bookseller

Monday, October 13th: Peeking Between the Pages

Wednesday, October 15th:  Bibliotica

Monday, October 20th:  Tiffany’s Bookshelf

Thursday, October 23rd: My Shelf Confessions – Wonderfully Wicked Read-A-Thon Giveaway

Thursday, October 23rd: Harlie’s Books