Mademoiselle Chanel by C.W. Gortner (@cwgortner) #review @tlcbooktours

25 March 2015 by Melissa

About the book, Mademoiselle Chanel

Hardcover: 416 pages
Publisher: William Morrow (March 17, 2015)

She revolutionized fashion and built an international empire . . . all on her own terms.

Born into rural poverty, Gabrielle Chanel and her sisters are sent to a convent orphanage after their mother’s death. The nuns of the order nurture Gabrielle’s exceptional sewing skills, a talent that would propel the willful young woman into a life far removed from the drudgery of her childhood.

Burning with ambition, the petite brunette transforms herself into Coco, by day a hard-working seamstress and by night a singer in a nightclub, where her incandescence draws in a wealthy gentleman who becomes the love of her life. She immerses herself in his world of money and luxury, discovering a freedom that sparks her creativity. But it is only when her lover takes her to Paris that Coco discovers her destiny.

Rejecting the frilly, corseted silhouette of the past, Coco’s sleek, minimalist styles reflect the youthful ease and confidence of the 1920s modern woman. As her reputation spreads, her couture business explodes, taking her into rarefied circles of society and bohemian salons. But her fame and fortune cannot save her from heartbreak as the years pass. And when Paris falls to the Nazis, Coco is forced to make choices that will haunt her always.

An enthralling novel about an entirely self-made woman, Mademoiselle Chanel tells the true story of Coco Chanel’s extraordinary ambition, passion, and artistic vision.

Read an excerpt of Mademoiselle Chanel.

Buy, read, and discuss Mademoiselle Chanel

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Goodreads

About the author, C. W. Gortner

A former fashion executive, C. W. Gortner is a lifelong admirer of Coco Chanel. His passion for writing led him to give up fashion, and his many historical novels have been bestsellers, published in more than twenty countries. He lives in San Francisco.

Connect with C.W.

Website | Facebook | Twitter.

My Thoughts

I don’t think there’s a person in the world who hasn’t at least heard the name “Coco Chanel,” but I’m guessing most people don’t know much about her life. My mother went to fashion design school (FIT) on a Regent’s scholarship, so even though I don’t sew, I know all the icons of fashion, and understand the importance of Chanel to fashion in general and women’s fashion, specifically, and so it was with my mother in mind that I asked to review this novel.

I ended up not merely reading it, but devouring it. It’s a fantastic look at the life of one of the best-known names in contemporary history, and while it is technically fiction, I’m certain that the author C.W. Gortner has done a huge amount of research, because it all feels very real.

From a childhood in abject poverty to an adolescence in a convent, from singing in cafes to becoming someone’s mistress as a means of escaping her small-town life, Coco is a poster-girl for the concept of choice. Some of her choices are high percentage choices, some not so much, but her strong personality and desire not to be indebted people combine to make her, as depicted, a fierce, strong woman, and definitely a proto-feminist (whether or not she ever accepted the label.)

C.W. Gortner has given us Coco’s story in first person, and until I put together my review, I didn’t realize he was a man. I mean this as a compliment. Ususally when male authors write from a female POV there’s something a little ‘off’ about it. In this case, there was not. He writes a female viewpoint as deftly as Arthur Golden did in Memoirs of a Geisha, which was another novel about a strong woman making her own choices.

While I enjoyed all of the detail in this novel, I particularly loved Coco’s discovery of Jersey knits. (My mother would be able to rattle off fifty-three things you can do with Jersey, I’m sure.) That moment was really one of the ‘lightbulb’ moments in Gortner’s novel, whether he meant it to be or not, and I thought it was perfect.

Whenever you fictionalize the life of a real person you have to balance truth with facts (no, they’re not always the same). I can’t speak to whether or not Gortner got every fact correct, but I know that Mademoiselle Chanel has given us the truth of Coco Chanel’s life, and I can’t recommend this book highly enough.

Goes well with Cappuccino, chocolate croissants, and, for those who smoke, a Gauloise cigarette.

C. W.’s Tour Stops

Tuesday, March 17th: A Bookish Way of Life

Wednesday, March 18th: Books Without Any Pictures

Thursday, March 19th: A Chick Who Reads

Friday, March 20th: Kritters Ramblings

Monday, March 23rd: West Metro Mommy

Tuesday, March 24th: Walking With Nora

Wednesday, March 25th: Bibliotica – That’s ME!

Thursday, March 26th: Read. Write. Repeat.

Monday, March 30th: Drey’s Library

Tuesday, March 31st: Unshelfish

Wednesday, April 1st: Bibliophilia, Please

Thursday, April 2nd: Mom’s Small Victories

Friday, April 3rd: Svetlana’s Reads and Views

Life from Scratch, by Sasha Martin (@globaltable) #review @tlcbooktours #giveaway

11 March 2015 by Melissa

About the book, Life from Scratch

Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: National Geographic (March 3, 2015)

It was a culinary journey like no other: Over the course of 195 weeks, food writer and blogger Sasha Martin set out to cook—and eat—a meal from every country in the world. As cooking unlocked the memories of her rough-and-tumble childhood and the loss and heartbreak that came with it, Martin became more determined than ever to find peace and elevate her life through the prism of food and world cultures. From the tiny, makeshift kitchen of her eccentric, creative mother to a string of foster homes to the house from which she launches her own cooking adventure, Martin’s heartfelt, brutally honest memoir reveals the power of cooking to bond, to empower, and to heal—and celebrates the simple truth that happiness is created from within.

buy, read, and discuss Life from Scratch

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Goodreads

About the author, Sasha Martin

SASHA MARTIN is an award-winning writer and blogger who spent almost four years cooking her way around the world. Her work has been featured on NPR (Travel with Rick Steves), Whole Living, Bon Appetit, The Smithsonian, The Huffington Post, CNNgo, and Food52. Her website, Global Table Adventure, is a go-to hub for foodies around the world.

Connect with Sasha

Website | Facebook | Twitter

My Thoughts

When this book showed up on my doorstep in the middle of an ice storm, I was pleasantly surprised to find that instead of an ARC, which is typical for someone participating in a book tour, I’d received the actual hardcover edition. I confess, I was so excited about it that I hugged it to my chest, and I’ve been reading and re-reading it ever since.

It’s a really wonderful book.

Memoirs are tricky things, riding the line between pure fact and ‘creative’ non-fiction. Even the most interesting person can come off as dry and boring if they don’t have a good writer’s voice. Sasha Martin, who honed her voice with a popular blog (which, I confess, I’d never visited until I read Life from Scratch, despite it being right up my alley), never seems dry or boring, though at times the situations she was in, whether by her own design or precipitated by others, made me want to reach into the book and throttle people.

When you have that visceral a reaction to words on a page, you KNOW it’s a good story.

And Sasha’s story, while sometimes dark, and a bit overloaded with disappointments, is a truly interesting, fairly candid account of her life, her coming of age, her relationship with family, food, and cooking.

As the daughter of a single mother, many elements of Sasha’s story were familiar to me, though I’m very lucky that, if my mother and I were ever in any situations half as dire as hers, I was never aware of it. Still, the comfort of cooking, the pops and sizzles, burbles and whistles of kitchen noises, the enticing aromas of different spices, and the gradual understanding of how those spices work with each other…those are nearly universal, and she describes them so well, that at times I wanted to reach out and steal her slice of raisin cinnamon toast “pizza.”

As Sasha’s memoir (and forgive me for referring to her by first name, but reading her book really makes you feel like you’ve met her) approaches her contemporary life, the mellowing, the settling, of her personality and the way it conflicts with the ingrained wanderlust of her childhood felt all too familiar. I know what it’s like to constantly be uprooted, to always be the new kid, to never quite belong, and though our circumstances are radically different, I think it’s this familiarity that made this book resonate with me so deeply.

That said, even if you’ve never been the child of a single parent, and never found that a favorite food from childhood (and one said single mother invented out of necessity) has lost its appeal to your adult palate – even if you’ve lived in one place your entire life, I think Martin’s book will still appeal to you. Why? Because food and cooking are universal elements of community. Because her recipes are nearly intoxicating on the page, and the itch to try them is almost palpable.

Because this is a well-written, well-crafted love story to youth and family and to the concept of the kitchen as the heart of a home, and to not read it would be to miss out on a very rare treat.

Goes well with homemade pizza made on raisin bread, and a glass of horchata.

Giveaway

One lucky reader (US only) will win a copy of Life from Scratch for their very own. How? Tweet the link to this review (tag @Melysse on Twitter), or comment on this post. Winner will be selected by random drawing on the night of Sunday, March 22, and announced on Monday, March 23.

Sasha’s Tour Stops

Tuesday, March 3rd: Books on the Table

Thursday, March 5th: The Well-Read Redhead

Friday, March 6th: girlichef

Monday, March 9th: Patricia’s Wisdom

Tuesday, March 10th: A Bookish Way of Life

Wednesday, March 11th: Bibliotica (That’s ME!)

Thursday, March 12th: Pickles and Cheese

Monday, March 16th: Ms. Nose in a Book

Tuesday, March 17th: Sharon’s Garden of Book Reviews

Wednesday, March 18th: Booksie’s Blog

Thursday, March 19th: Wholistic Woman

Friday, March 20th: I’d Rather Be At The Beach

Miramont’s Ghost, by Elizabeth Hall – #Review #Bibliotica

9 March 2015 by Melissa

About the book, Miramont’s Ghost

Paperback: 334 pages
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing (February 1, 2015)

Miramont Castle, built in 1897 and mysteriously abandoned three years later, is home to many secrets. Only one person knows the truth: Adrienne Beauvier, granddaughter of the Comte de Challembelles and cousin to the man who built the castle.

Clairvoyant from the time she could talk, Adrienne’s visions show her the secrets of those around her. When her visions begin to reveal dark mysteries of her own aristocratic French family, Adrienne is confronted by her formidable Aunt Marie, who is determined to keep the young woman silent at any cost. Marie wrenches Adrienne from her home in France and takes her to America, to Miramont Castle, where she keeps the girl isolated and imprisoned. Surrounded by eerie premonitions, Adrienne is locked in a life-or-death struggle to learn the truth and escape her torment.

Reminiscent of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, this hauntingly atmospheric tale is inspired by historical research into the real-life Miramont Castle in Manitou Springs, Colorado.

Buy, read, and discuss Miramont’s Ghost

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

About the author, Elizabeth Hall

Elizabeth Hall spent most of her life in the mountains of Colorado, working as a teacher, writer, and radio show host. She now lives in the Pacific Northwest, where she writes and plays with fiber.

My Thoughts:

I always enjoy a creepy story, especially if I can relate to it in some way. Having spent a significant portion of my childhood in the mountains of Colorado, I know first-hand the sorts of mansions, castles, and spooky houses that are tucked into the Rockies, and I’ve even toured some of them, so the latter half of this novel, in which Adrienne is in such a place – the castle in the title – and is feeling trapped really resonated with me. Author Hall did a good job of contrasting the scope of historical Colorado with the confines of a single stone building.

That’s not to say there aren’t some great moments in the first half of the novel, because there are. We meet Adrienne as a young child, and see how her clairvoyance affects not only her, but those around her. Compounding the more typical problems of a child prone to blurting out anything she thinks or feels or ‘sees,’ there is also the mystery surrounding the specific circumstances of her grandmother’s death. Adrienne’s clairvoyance, it seems, was inherited from her.

Of course, Adrienne isn’t the only character, there’s her cousin, who is a priest when we meet him, and who builds the titular castle, there’s her Aunt Marie, a strong-willed woman not afraid to pull strings behind the scenes, and the girl’s mother, Genevieve, who probably means well but is rather weak.

Most especially, there is also Adrienne’s grandfather, the Comte, who gives every appearance of being a kindred spirit of the best kind.

Moving between joy and sorrow, laughter and tears, relative safety and constant jeopardy, Miramont’s Ghost is much akin to a modern gothic. It’s spooky enough to leave a hint of a tingle on your skin if you’re reading it all alone after dark, but it also offers enough explanations to keep the story grounded when it’s required.

Goes well with: Hot tea and butter cookies.

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

Tuesday, February 3rd: Bookchickdi

Friday, February 6th: No More Grumpy Bookseller

Monday, February 9th: Life is Story

Tuesday, February 10th: History from a Woman’s Perspective

Thursday, February 12th: Musings of a Bookish Kitty

Friday, February 13th: Book Nerd

Monday, February 16th: 100 Pages a Day

Wednesday, February 18th: Bibliophilia, Please

Monday, February 23rd: Reading Reality

Tuesday, February 24th: Luxury Reading

Thursday, February 26th: Peeking Between the Pages

Monday, March 2nd: WV Stitcher

Tuesday, March 3rd: Ageless Pages Reviews

Thursday, March 5th: Jenn’s Bookshelves

Friday, March 6th: Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers

Monday, March 9th: Bibliotica

Wednesday, March 11th: Sara’s Organized Chaos

TBD: Mary’s Cup of Tea

The Dead Key by D.M. Pulley #review @tlcbooktours #giveaway

5 March 2015 by Melissa

About the book The Dead Key

Paperback: 477 pages
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer (March 1, 2015)

Grand Prize Winner, 2014 — Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award

It’s 1998, and for years the old First Bank of Cleveland has sat abandoned, perfectly preserved, its secrets only speculated on by the outside world.

Twenty years before, amid strange staff disappearances and allegations of fraud, panicked investors sold Cleveland’s largest bank in the middle of the night, locking out customers and employees, and thwarting a looming federal investigation. In the confusion that followed, the keys to the vault’s safe-deposit boxes were lost.

In the years since, Cleveland’s wealthy businessmen kept the truth buried in the abandoned high-rise. The ransacked offices and forgotten safe-deposit boxes remain locked in time, until young engineer Iris Latch stumbles upon them during a renovation survey. What begins as a welcome break from her cubicle becomes an obsession as Iris unravels the bank’s sordid past. With each haunting revelation, Iris follows the looming shadow of the past deeper into the vault—and soon realizes that the key to the mystery comes at an astonishing price.

Buy, read, and discuss The Dead Key

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

About D. M. Pulley

D. M. Pulley’s first novel, The Dead Key, was inspired by her work as a structural engineer in Cleveland, Ohio. During a survey of an abandoned building, she discovered a basement vault full of unclaimed safe deposit boxes. The mystery behind the vault haunted her for years, until she put down her calculator and started writing. The Dead Key was the 2014 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award grand prize winner. Pulley continues to work as a private consultant and forensic engineer, investigating building failures and designing renovations. She lives in northeast Ohio with her husband and two children, and she is currently at work on her second novel.

My Thoughts

I love a good mystery. I love a mystery even more when women are at the center of it, when it’s got an interesting construction, when the story seems innovative. This book, The Dead Key, has all that and more.

The prologue had me intrigued but it was with the first pair of scenes – one in 1978, the other twenty years later – that I really got hooked. Parallel plots in different decades – what a great way to spice up what is, essentially a fairly basic story.

Beatrice (1978) was more compelling to me than Iris (1998), perhaps because Iris was a bit too self-entitled and obvious for my tastes. Too often, I wanted to shake her because she kept guilelessly giving away what she was doing. Really, if she had just announced to people, “Hi, I found an old safety deposit box key and I’m poking into what happened when the bank closed,” she would not have been much more obvious.

Also I thought her flirtation with Nick the designer was a bit random. Yes, women in their early twenties like to date, but their relationship did nothing for the story.

Beatrice, on the other hand, was a mystery unto herself. We don’t know her real background until well into the story, and she, at least, knew how to be somewhat discrete.

Minor flaws aside, this is a truly enjoyable novel. I loved the 1998 characters finding that the cafeteria (untouched for 20 years) still had working coffee machines (no, they didn’t drink any), and the setting – an abandoned bank – was just creepy enough to offset the fact that some of the twists were fairly predictable.

Pulley’s writing voice is truly engaging, her use of description and dialogue well balanced. If you want a great novel for a cozy late-winter afternoon, The Dead Key would be a perfect choice.

Goes well with Hot pastrami on rye bread and a bottle of any flavor Snapple.

Giveaway

One person (US/Canada only) will win a copy of The Dead Key. How? Comment on this post or share this post on Twitter (and tag @Melysse) to be entered. Winner will be chosen on Monday, March 16th.

D. M. Pulley’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Monday, March 2nd: Life is Story

Wednesday, March 4th: Bell, Book & Candle

Thursday, March 5th: Bibliotica

Monday, March 9th: Reading Reality

Tuesday, March 10th: Rhodes Review

Monday, March 16th: Fictionophile

Wednesday, March 18th: Luxury Reading

Thursday, March 19th: Open Book Society

Monday, March 23rd: It’s a Mad Mad World

Wednesday, March 25th: 2 Kids and Tired Books

Monday, March 30th: Patricia’s Wisdom

Wednesday, April 1st: Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Monday, April 6th: My Bookshelf

Monday, April 6th: Omnimystery News – author guest post

Monday, April 13th: Lesa’s Book Critiques

Thursday, April 16th: A Bookworm’s World

Friday, April 17th: Brooke Blogs

The Reluctant Midwife by Patricia Harman (@patsyharman) #review @tlcbooktours

4 March 2015 by Melissa

About the book, The Reluctant Midwife

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (March 3, 2015)

The USA Today bestselling author of The Midwife of Hope River returns with a heartfelt sequel, a novel teeming with life and full of humor and warmth, one that celebrates the human spirit.

The Great Depression has hit West Virginia hard. Men are out of work; women struggle to feed hungry children. Luckily, Nurse Becky Myers has returned to care for them. While she can handle most situations, Becky is still uneasy helping women deliver their babies. For these mothers-to-be, she relies on an experienced midwife, her dear friend Patience Murphy.

Though she is happy to be back in Hope River, time and experience have tempered Becky’s cheerfulness-as tragedy has destroyed the vibrant spirit of her former employer Dr Isaac Blum, who has accompanied her. Patience too has changed. Married and expecting a baby herself, she is relying on Becky to keep the mothers of Hope River safe.

But becoming a midwife and ushering precious new life into the world is not Becky’s only challenge. Her skills and courage will be tested when a calamitous forest fire blazes through a Civilian Conservation Corps camp. And she must find a way to bring Isaac back to life and rediscover the hope they both need to go on.

Full of humor and compassion, The Reluctant Midwife is a moving tribute to the power of optimism and love to overcome the most trying circumstances and times, and is sure to please fans of the poignant Call the Midwife series.

Buy, read, and discuss The Reluctant Midwife
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Goodreads

About Patricia Harman

Patricia Harman, CNM, got her start as a lay midwife on rural communes and went on to become a nurse-midwife on the faculty of Ohio State University, Case Western Reserve University, and West Virginia University. She lives near Morgantown, West Virginia; has three sons; and is the author of two acclaimed memoirs.

Connect with Patricia

Website | Facebook | Twitter

My Thoughts

I won’t deny that my love of the BBC series Call the Midwife is what sparked my interest in The Reluctant Midwife, but the reality is that, except for the fact that midwifery is central to both stories, there really aren’t many similarities. The TV show, while based on memoirs, is quintessentially English, and set in the 50s and (now) 60s. This novel is a decidedly American story, and takes place during the Great Depression.

You might think that such a period would lead to a depressing story, but you’d be wrong. While Patricia Harman’s characters do experience hardship and loss, the entire novel is imbued with so much hope and humor that at times it was difficult to mute the Annie soundtrack running through my brain while I was reading it. Which is not to imply that it’s at all childish, because it’s not.

What this book is, is a very honest, human story about two couples who share the predisposition to be healers. The first is Becky and Isaac, although they’re not really a couple in the romantic sense. The majority of the novel is written in first person, from Becky’s perspective, so we come to know her best. There were times when all I wanted to do was tell her to stop being such a prude, and get her hands dirty, but that only means I was invested in her story.

Isaac, on the other hand, is the now-mute doctor Becky once worked with, and now cares for, and while his presence is a bit murky at times, ultimately he becomes at least as real as his female counterpart, his quiet contrasting beautifully with her strength and forthrightness.

The other couple, midwife Patience and her husband the local vet. This novel is actually a sequel to Harman’s previous one, The Midwife of Hope River, in which told Patience’s story. I haven’t read the first book, but I didn’t feel like I was missing key information, and I like that. I’m sure my enjoyment would only have been greater if had.

While a story set in the 30’s could easily be depressing and bleak, this book was neither. Instead, it showed us people who persevere in the face of hardship, and find solace in love and laughter. I liked that the author gave us a sense of place (Appalachia) without locking us into the landscape of a specific existing town, letting us fill in the blanks ourselves, and I really liked the way she gave us hints of the politics of the day, and of events outside the immediate environs of this tale. An oblique reference to the midwestern prairie, for example, reminds us that the Dust Bowl was a concurrent event.

Populated by flawed, feeling, incredibly real people, this novel was a thoroughly enjoyable and interesting read. The resolution of Becky’s relationship with Isaac was a bit predictable, but in no way reduced the integrity of the rest of the story.

I’m eager to go back and read the first book in this series, and I’m equally excited to explore Harman’s other work, which I hope includes another entry into this series.

Goes well with Pork and beans, homemade cornbread, and fresh lemonade.

Patricia’s Tour Stops

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, March 3rd: West Metro Mommy

Wednesday, March 4th: Bibliotica

Thursday, March 5th: Broken Teepee

Friday, March 6th: Kritter Ramblings

Monday, March 9th: Peeking Between the Pages

Tuesday, March 10th: A Novel Review

Thursday, March 12th: Life Between Reads

Monday, March 16th: Unshelfish

Tuesday, March 17th: A Patchwork of Books

Wednesday, March 18th: Buried Under Books

Thursday, March 19th: FictionZeal

Friday, March 20th: A Chick Who Reads

Cauchemar, by Alexandra Grigorescu (@a_grigorescu) – #review @ecwpress #Bibliotica

2 March 2015 by Melissa

About the book Cauchemar

Paperback: 316 pages
Publisher: ECW Press (March 17, 2015)

Gripping, fast-paced, gorgeously written, and with unforgettable characters, Cauchemar tells the story of 20-year-old Hannah, who finds herself living alone on the edge of a Louisianan swamp after her adopted mother and protector dies. Hannah falls in love with Callum, an easy-going boat captain and part-time musician, but after her mysterious birth mother, outcast as a witch and rumoured to commune with the dead, comes back into Hannah’s life, she must confront what she’s been hiding from — the deadly spirits that haunt the swamp, the dark secrets of her past, and the nascent gift she possesses. Like the nightmares that plague Hannah,

Cauchemar lingers and haunts.

Buy, read, and discuss Cauchemar

ECW Press | Amazon (US) | Amazon (CA) | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About the author, Alexandra Grigorescu

Alexandra Grigorescu has a Master’s degree in creative writing from the University of Toronto, where she attended writing workshops led by George Elliott Clark and Jeff Parker and wrote her thesis under the guidance of Camilla Gibb. She works as a freelance writer and lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Connect with Alexandra

Website | Facebook | Twitter

My Thoughts

When my husband asked me what it was that kept me in the bathtub reading until I’d turned into a prune, I told him it was a novel called Cauchemar, and that it was a sort of spooky, supernatural coming-of-age story that was both beautiful and haunting.

The story itself, Hannah’s story, is compelling: a young woman loses the maternal figure (not her biological mother) whom she’s lived with for most of her life, and is forced to face her family history, her mother’s reputation, and her actual mother while she tries to find herself.

Hannah’s love interest, Callum, reminded me of every working musician I ever dated before I got married. He’s not a superstar, he’s the kind of guy who plays gigs and has a couple groupies and is happy to share a beer after the show – but then he meets Hannah.

It could have been a perfunctory love story with a young woman, and an older (but not OLD), more experienced man, but author Alexandra Grigorescu mixes in a bayou setting, a dash of supernatural intrigue, and enough music and cookery to fill anyone’s plate. Even better, she does it well: you can hear the rippling of the river, the buzzing of the mosquitoes. You can smell the herbs in Hannah’s cooking, feel the way Callum’s music thrums through the floorboards, and, if you’re really receptive, you might even convince yourself you’ve seen something spooky out of the corner of your eye.

What I love about Grigorescu’s prose is that it’s lush and hearty, with enough vivid description to really give you a sense of place, but without any affectation. Likewise, her dialogue seems appropriate for a small town in the American south, with each character having a distinct voice that never detracts from the work as a whole.

For me, personally, an added benefit was that this story hit me in the sweet spot of my amygdala, the one that makes the spooky stuff seem spookier and the romantic parts seem even more romantic. I finished the novel sitting up in bed in the middle of the night, because I HAD to finish the story before I could sleep.

This is Alexandra Grigorescu’s debut novel, and I’m a little worried that she won’t be able to top it when she produces her second book, because it hits all the right notes (musical and foodie), and leaves you satisfied but willing to have more.

Goes well with Fresh-caught fish, gumbo, and sweet tea.

Alexandra Grigorescu’s Blog Tour Stops

This review is part of a blog tour sponsored by the publisher, ECW Press. For the complete list of tour stops, see below. For more information, click HERE. For a guest post from the author, Alexandra Grigorescu, click HERE.

MARCH 1: Review and giveaway at The Book Binder’s Daughter
MARCH 2: Review and guest post at Bibliotica (That’s ME!)
MARCH 3: Review and excerpt at Bella’s Bookshelves
MARCH 4: Guest post at Write All the Words! for their International Women’s Week feature
MARCH 5: Interview and excerpt at Editorial Eyes
MARCH 7: Review at Lavender Lines
MARCH 9: Review at Svetlana’s Reads
MARCH 10: Review and interview at The Book Stylist
MARCH 11: Review, guest post, and giveaway at Booking it with Hayley G
MARCH 12: Guest Post at Dear Teen Me
MARCH 13: Review and giveaway at The Book Bratz
MARCH 14: Interview and excerpt at Feisty Little Woman

In Flames, by Richard Hilary Weber – #review #giveaway #Bibliotica

26 February 2015 by Melissa

About the book, In Flames

On Sale: February 03, 2015
Pages: 188
Published by: Alibi

In Richard H. Weber’s passionate new thriller, a smoldering mystery ignites on a tropical island as lust, murder, and politics collide.

San Iñigo is a jewel of the Caribbean, a playground paradise for the foreign elite, a hell for unfortunate locals. For recent Princeton grad Dan Shedrick, San Iñigo promises the fulfillment of too many desires.

Dan hires on at a powerful American firm as a junior architect, but still finds time for tennis, booze, a reckless affair with the sexy wife of a resort owner—even a bit of reconnaissance for the U.S. cultural attaché. But soon he discovers that nothing on San Iñigo is without consequence. When a much-loved local radio personality is found on a beach with his head blown off, Dan’s lover becomes a suspect. And not long after his foray into espionage, he’s dragged away on a brutal journey into the heart of darkness.

Buffeted by aggression, depraved ritual, and personal betrayal, Dan discovers fierce truths about San Iñigo . . . and himself. In the island’s forbidding mountain jungle, his life goes up in flames—a deadly inferno that will forever change him, if he survives at all.

Buy, read, and discuss In Flames

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-A-Million

About Richard Hilary Weber

Richard Hilary Weber, a native of Brooklyn and a Columbia University graduate, has taught at the universities of Stockholm and Copenhagen, and has been a scriptwriter for French and Swedish filmmakers. He lives in Provence, France.

My Thoughts

In Flames is labeled as a thriller, but while it was definitely a crime story, albeit on specific to certain parts of Latin America, I wouldn’t classify it as a thriller myself. Mostly this is because the story was fairly predictable. As soon as Dan arrives in San Iñigo and begins talking about the levels of crime, you know he’s going to end up getting involved.

As well, I had a hard time connecting to any of the characters. Dan immediately falls into a pattern of boozing after work, and we never really see redeemable qualities in him. Erica, the wife of the Saint Ignatius Club owner, is treated more like an object than a person, and Ferg, the actual owner is only seen in small bits – we never really get to know him.

The locals aren’t treated any better. Vinny, who apparently has connections with everyone, seems more annoying than connected. The fortune teller could be interesting, but she isn’t really given the opportunity to be.

If it seems like I’m shredding this book, please understand: it’s not a bad read if you suspend disbelief at the door. There are, in fact, some things the author does really well. For example, the life of alcoholic semi-somnolence that many expats fall into is one I’ve witnessed in my visits to expat communities on the Pacific coast of Mexico, and he captures this brilliantly.

Similarly, the Club felt very real to me, with its perceived separation from the ‘locals’ and the ability to allow its patrons to act as though they’re in a remote part of Florida rather than a foreign country.

Erica’s clipboard and apparent focus on running her business seemed drawn from real life as well, in the best way possible.

Author Weber has a knack for description, but, to me, In Flames felt more like a choking campfire than a conflagration of suspense and intrigue, and I’m sorry about that, because Alibi’s offerings are usually incredibly well written, entertaining works of fiction.

I don’t want to say this book was BAD, more that…it’s a somewhat disappointing first effort from an author who has a voice but needs polish it a bit more.

Goes well with Carnitas and any rum-based tropical drink.

Enter to Win a $25 Gift Card and a Copy of the Book

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Richard Hilary Weber’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

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

Monday, February 2nd: Life is Story

Wednesday, February 4th: Sara’s Organized Chaos

Thursday, February 5th: Dwell in Possibility

Monday, February 9th: Booked on a Feeling

Tuesday, February 10th: Mom in Love with Fiction

Thursday, February 12th: Joyfully Retired

Tuesday, February 17th: Read and Shelved

Thursday, February 19th: Reading Reality

Monday, February 23rd: Book Nerd

Tuesday, February 24th: Rhodes Review

Thursday, February 26th: Bibliotica

Monday, March 2nd: It’s a Mad Mad World

Thursday, March 5th: Patricia’s Wisdom

TBD: Queen of All She Reads

The Thing About Great White Sharks, by Rebecca Adams Wright (@rvleeadams) – #Review #Bibliotica

24 February 2015 by Melissa

About the book, The Thing About Great White Sharks

Paperback: 182 pages
Publisher: Little A (February 10, 2015)

In this collection’s richly imagined title story, our brutal and resourceful protagonist is determined to protect her family from a murderous, shark-ridden world—at any cost. Elsewhere, an old woman uncovers a sinister plot while looking after a friend’s plants (“Orchids”), and a girl in the war-torn countryside befriends an unlikely creature (“Keeper of the Glass”). In “Barnstormers,” a futuristic flying circus tries to forestall bankruptcy with one last memorable show. At the heart of “Sheila” is the terrible choice a retired judge must make when faced with the destruction of his beloved robotic dog, and “Yuri, in a Blue Dress” follows one of the last survivors of an alien invasion as she seeks help.

Extending from World War II to the far future, these fifteen stories offer a gorgeously observed perspective on our desire for connection and what it means to have compassion—for ourselves, for one another, for our past…and for whatever lies beyond.

Buy, read, and discuss The Thing About Great White Sharks

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

About the author, Rebecca Adams Wright

Rebecca Adams Wright is a 2011 graduate of the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Workshop and a former University of Michigan Zell Writing Fellow. She has an MFA in fiction from the University of Michigan and has won the Leonard and Eileen Newman Writing Prize. Rebecca lives in Ypsilanti, Michigan, with her husband and daughter.

Connect with Rebecca

Website | Facebook | Twitter

My Thoughts

Short stories are a great way to get to know an author if you’re unfamiliar with her work, or if you don’t have the time to really sink into a novel. (Personally, I like to keep collections of short stories in the bathroom. Oh, come on, you all know you read there, too.)
I’ve come to think of them as a textual sampler platter. You get all sorts of characters and voices, and you don’t have to choose one to stay with.

Rebecca Adams Wright’s collection of short stories, The Thing About Great White Sharks (and Other Stories), is a prize among short story collections, because it’s fresh and unique, and just a little twisted in places…all things I appreciate.

While the title of the book (and the eponymous short story within) are what drew me to this collection (because I do have a ‘thing’ about great white sharks), and while that story – a whole new way to look at post-Apocalyptic society that (thank you, Ms. Wright) does not involve any humans shambling around or moaning for brains – was compelling, and dark, and even a little dangerous, it wasn’t my favorite of the fifteen.

That honor went to “Orchids,” which starts out as a simple little tale of a woman watering her neighbors plants and turns into something that would make Hitchcock sit up in his grave and demand to film, were that possible.

I also want to give a shout-out to “Sheila” which was sweet and sentimental without being sappy, and reminded me of both the questions that will start to come up as AIs become more widespread and more advanced (Siri has some growing up to do) and of the contemporary, and very real, issue of Breed-Selective Legislation (the laws which ban people from owning “bully” breed dogs like American Staffordshire Terriers, and other ‘pit bull types’).

But those are just three of the collection, and there are twelve others that take us back in time to World War II, and forward to when aliens are a real presence, and span many years and moods in between.

I would say that I’d love to see Ms. Wright give us a whole novel, but I’ve enjoyed her short stories so much, that my greediest self wants to demand another volume.

Goes well with Tapas and sangria or sushi and plum wine – anything that involves small bites of diverse flavors.

Rebecca Adams Wright’s TLC Book Tours Tour Stops:

This review is part of a tour organized by TLC Book Tours. For a guest post from the author, click HERE. For the complete list of tour stops, see below. For more information, click HERE.

Friday, February 13th: Book Snob – author guest post

Monday, February 16th: No More Grumpy Bookseller

Monday, February 16th: Bibliophilia, Please

Wednesday, February 18th: From the TBR Pile

Thursday, February 19th: 5 Minutes for Books

Thursday, February 19th: Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

Monday, February 23rd: Conceptual Reception

Tuesday, February 24th: Bibliotica review and author guest post

Tuesday, February 24th: Savvy Verse and Wit – author guest post

Wednesday, February 25th: Bibliophiliac

Thursday, February 26th: The Relentless Reader

Monday, March 2nd: A Lovely Bookshelf on the Wall

Tuesday, March 3rd: Patricia’s Wisdom

Thursday, March 5th: Guiltless Reading

Monday, March 9th: Kahakai Kitchen

Thursday, March 12th: The Book Binder’s Daughter – author guest post

TBD: Bound by Words

TBD: Life is Story

The Fairytale Keeper by Andrea Cefalo (@AndreaCefalo) – #Review #Bibliotica #contest #giveaway

18 February 2015 by Melissa

About the book The Fairytale Keeper

Re-Release Date: February 1, 2015
Publisher: Scarlet Primrose Press, 262 Pages
Formats: eBook; Paperback

Adelaide’s mother, Katrina, was the finest storyteller in all of Airsbach, a borough in the great city of Cologne, but she left one story untold, that of her daughter, that of Snow White. Snow White was a pet name Adelaide’s mother had given her. It was a name Adelaide hated, until now. Now, she would give anything to hear her mother say it once more.

A rampant fever claimed Adelaide’s mother just like a thousand others in Cologne where the people die without last rites and the dead are dumped in a vast pit outside the city walls. In an effort to save Katrina’s soul, Adelaide’s father obtains a secret funeral for his wife by bribing the parish priest, Father Soren.

Soren commits an unforgivable atrocity, pushing Adelaide toward vengeance. When Adelaide realizes that the corruption in Cologne reaches far beyond Soren, the cost of settling scores quickly escalates. Avenging the mother she lost may cost Adelaide everything she has left: her father, her friends, her first love, and maybe even her life.

Seamlessly weaving historical events and Grimm’s fairy tales into a tale of corruption and devotion, The Fairytale Keeper, leaves the reader wondering where fact ends and fiction begins. The novel paints Medieval Cologne accurately and vividly. The story develops a set of dynamic characters, casting the famous villains, heroes, and damsels of Grimm’s fairy tales into believable medieval lives. Though historically set, The Fairytale Keeper brims with timeless themes of love, loyalty, and the struggle for justice.

Buy, read, and discuss The Fairytale Keeper

Take the The Fairytale Keeper Playbuzz Quiz

About the Author, Andrea Cefalo

Besides being the award-winning author of The Fairytale Keeper series, Andrea Cefalo is a self-proclaimed medievalist, hopeless bookworm, and social media junkie. She graduated with honors from Winthrop University in 2007 where she studied Medieval art history and children’s literature. The next three books in The Fairytale Keeper series—The Countess’ Captive, The Baseborn Lady, and The Traitor’s Target—will debut in 2015 and 2016. She resides in Greenville, South Carolina—ever perched before her trusty laptop—with her husband and their two border collies.

Connect with Andrea

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest.

Follow The Fairytale Keeper Pinterest Board.

My Thoughts

I’m a big fan of people who find new ways to share old stories. With The Fairytale Keeper, Andrea Cefalo has given us a reality-based version of the classic tale of Snow White that is every bit as magical as the versions we all grew up with (and I’m not talking about Disney), even though there’s no actual magic in it.

Set in medieval Cologne, Cefalo’s story is of a young girl on the brink of womanhood, growing up at a time when reading and writing were not the norm, and the Church had the power over the life and death, not just of individuals, but of entire communities. She turns archetypical characters -Snow, her father, her (future) stepmother into three-dimensional begins, with lives and wants and personalities and in doing so, she shows us that life is complicated, and that even the best of us sometimes make poor choices.

I loved that Adelaide (Snow White is a hated nickname bestowed upon her by her storytelling mother) is a feisty, empowered (for the time) young woman. She’s a problem solver, but one whom the real world hasn’t quite touched, and it’s her mixture of innocence and knowledge that really make the character live. I also liked that she has a friend – a young man named Ivo – who she’s on the brink of romance with (he brings her jars of fireflies), but that it’s handled in an appropriate way.

Adelaide’s father, too, is complex: mourning his wife, doting on his daughter while also teaching her his trade, and trying to find a future. Similarly, Galadriel, the woman who (it’s foreshadowed) is likely to become Adelaide’s stepmother at some point in the future (she’s living with them) is an all-too-human figure: caring, but lost, and somewhat broken.

Together, this cast of characters form a family, and the other characters in the story broaden it to a whole community that seems every bit as real as any historical village from a textbook, but with more color and life.

Fairytales are woven through the novel, of course – often representing stories told to Adelaide by her mother, who, in a flashback, tells the child her story isn’t written.

And that’s really the point of this whole novel: we can learn from the stories of others, but ultimately, each of us has to also write our own story.

The book is an easy read. It sucks you in, and is paced well, with accessible language that never feels too contemporary – a trick that can be hard to pull off.

I’ve got the sequel as well, waiting to be read for review next month, and I’m eagerly awaiting another visit with Adelaide, and watching to see how her story evolves.

If you love fairytales and folklore, if you love strong women, and complex characters, if you love believable plots and rich descriptions of place and things, you will – as I do – LOVE The Fairytale Keeper.

Goes well with Strong black tea with either milk or honey (never both) and toasted rustic bread with cheese melted on top.

The Fairytale Keeper Blog Tour Schedule

Monday, February 16
Spotlight at Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers

Tuesday, February 17
Review at Book Drunkard

Wednesday, February 18
Review at Bibliotica
Review at With Her Nose Stuck in a Book

Thursday, February 19
Review at Cheryl’s Book Nook

Friday, February 20
Review at Back Porchervations
Spotlight at Caroline Wilson Writes

Saturday, February 21
Spotlight at I Heart Reading

Monday, February 23
Review at Bookish

Wednesday, February 25
Review at 100 Pages a Day – Stephanie’s Book Reviews

Thursday, February 26
Review at Carpe Librum

Friday, February 27
Review at The Bookish Outsider

Monday, March 2
Review at A Bibliotaph’s Reviews

Tuesday, March 3
Spotlight at A Literary Vacation

Wednesday, March 4
Spotlight at The Lit Bitch
Spotlight at Let Them Read Books

Friday, March 6
Spotlight at What Is That Book About

Monday, March 9
Review at Shelf Full of Books

Wednesday, March 11
Review at Brooke Blogs
Review at Boom Baby Reviews

Thursday, March 12
Review at A Leisure Moment
Guest Post at Brooke Blogs

Friday, March 13
Review at Library Educated
Review at Oh, For the Hook of a Book

Giveaway

To enter to win a Fairytale Keeper Clutch Purse & $25 Amazon Gift Card please complete the giveaway form below.

* Giveaway is open to US residents only.
* Giveaway ends at 11:59pm on March 13th.
* You must be 18 or older to enter.
* Only one entry per household.
* All giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspect of fraud is decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be disqualified at our discretion.
* Winner will be chosen via GLEAM on March 14th and notified via email. Winner have 48 hours to claim prize or new winner is chosen.
* Please email Amy @ hfvirtualbooktours@gmail.com with any questions.

The Fairytale Keeper

The Swimmer, by Joakim Zander (@JoakimZander) – #Review #Bibliotica

10 February 2015 by Melissa

About The Swimmer

Hardcover: 432 pages
Publisher: Harper (February 10, 2015)

A deep-cover CIA agent races across Europe to save the daughter he never knew in this electrifying debut thriller— an international sensation billed as “Homeland meets Stieg Larsson”—that heralds the arrival of a new master.

Early 1980s, Damascus. A nameless American spy abandons his newborn child to an uncertain fate. His inability to forgive himself for what he has done leads him on a lifelong quest to escape his past that will take him to Lebanon, Afghanistan, Iraq—anywhere where the danger and the stress allow him to forget.

Thirty years later, EU aide Klara Walldéen is learning to navigate the world of politics—the lines between friend and enemy, truth and lies. But Klara has just seen something she should not have: a laptop containing information so sensitive that people will kill to keep it hidden. Suddenly she is thrown into a terrifying chase through Europe, with no idea who is hunting her or why.

Their stories converge one stormy Christmas Eve in the Swedish archipelago, where blood is spilled, shocking discoveries are made, and the past inevitably catches up with the present.

Buy, read, and discuss The Swimmer

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Goodreads

About the author, Joakim Zander

Born in Stockholm, Sweden, Joakim Zander has lived in Syria and Israel and graduated from high school in the United States. He earned a PhD in Law from Maastricht University in the Netherlands and has worked as a lawyer for the European Union in Brussels and Helsinki. The Swimmer is his first novel; rights have been sold in 28 territories. Zander currently lives in southern Sweden with his wife and two children.

Connect with Joakim

Twitter.

My Thoughts

I love a good political thriller, and I was really excited to be given a chance to read The Swimmer. I’m told it’s likely to be popular among fans of Stieg Larsson’s work, but with all the reading I do, I’ve managed to miss reading any of his work, so when I tell you this novel will suck you in gently with it’s opening involving a baby saved from a bombing, and keep you hooked until the very last page, know that I do so without a direct contemporary comparison, but that’s okay, because really, this thriller has more in common with old-school writers like Frederick Forsyth and Robert Ludlum.

Zander’s writing voice is clear and unaffected, sometimes even stark, and yet his characters leap of the pages, and his descriptions of places are as three-dimensional as if you walked into them yourself. What’s more, this is a book originally written in the author’s native Swedish, and translated to English, but it never feels like a translation…that’s how well-crafted it is.

Then there’s the pacing. After setting up the characters, Klara, the young woman who was orphaned as a baby and raised by her grandparents, and the aging spy half a world away from Klara’s home in Brussels, where she works as as political aide, the story ramps up, ever increasing the suspense until it comes to a finish that’s almost explosive.

If you want the feeling of a really gripping old-school thriller, but with contemporary characters and an absolutely modern setting, dive into The Swimmer. You’ll hate it when the book ends and you’re forced to come up for air.

Goes well with A cappuccino and a butter croissant, eaten from behind a newspaper in an outdoor cafe.

Joakim’s Tour Stops

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, February 10th: Bibiotica

Wednesday, February 11th: Man of La Book

Friday, February 13th: Dreams, Etc.

Monday, February 16th: My Bookish Ways

Tuesday, February 17th: Staircase Wit

Wednesday, February 18th: Jorie Loves a Story

Thursday, February 19th: Annabel & Alice

Friday, February 20th: Kritters Ramblings

Monday, February 23rd: Stephany Writes

Tuesday, February 24th: A Dream Within a Dream

Wednesday, February 25th: Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks

Thursday, February 26th: Ace and Hoser Blook

Monday, March 2nd: The Discerning Reader