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Review: Voices of the Sea, by Bethany Masone Harar

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About the book Voices of the Sea Voices from the Sea

Publisher: WiDo Publishing (July 22, 2014)
Paperback: 285 pages

The Sirens of Pacific Grove, California are being exterminated, and seventeen-year-old Loralei Reines is their next target. Lora may look like a normal teenager, but her voice has the power to enchant and hypnotize men. Like the other Sirens in her clan, however, she keeps her true identity a secret to protect their species.

Lora’s birthright as the next clan leader seems far off, until the Sons of Orpheus, a vicious cult determined to kill all Sirens on Earth, begin exterminating her people. When an unexpected tragedy occurs, Lora must take her place as Guardian of the Clan.

Lora is determined to gain control of her skills to help her clan, but they are developing too slowly, until she meets Ryan, a human boy. When Ryan is near, Lora’s abilities strengthen. She knows she shouldn’t be with a human. Yet, she can’t resist her attraction to him, or the surge in power she feels whenever they’re together.

And the Sirens are running out of time. If Lora can’t unlock the secret to defeat the Sons of Orpheus, she, along with everyone she loves, will be annihilated.

Buy, read, and discuss Voices of the Sea

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About the author, Bethany Masone Harar Bethany Harar

Bethany Masone Harar graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in English from James Madison University and a Masters in Secondary English Education from Virginia Commonwealth University. She has enjoyed teaching high school English ever since. As a teacher, Bethany is able to connect with the very audience for whom she writes, and this connection gives her insight into their interests. As a writer, she wants to make her readers gasp out loud, sigh with longing and identify with her characters. Bethany also enjoys posting on her blog, is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and is an avid follower of literary-driven social media. She resides in Northern Virginia with her husband, two beautiful children, and her miniature poodle, Annie.

Connect with Bethany

Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter

My Thoughts

As a self-described Bathtub Mermaid, and someone whose first sound (other than her mothers voice) in the morning and last sound at night during the first two years of life was the sound of the foghorn over Raritan Bay, New Jersey, I know what it means to have the sea in your blood.

Bethany Harar obviously also knows this primal connection to the ocean, because the sirens she’s created in Voices of the Sea can hear the water sing to them, and, if they’re Guardians like protagonist Lora, can even hear it speak.

What I really loved about this book was that it’s YA that transcends age-limitations. I’m 44, and I felt the cool caress of the Pacific when Lora got her feet wet, and shivered with her when the fog rolled in (though, it helps that I lived many years near the central coast of California). I also loved that Lora felt like a real seventeen-year-old, with needs and wants in addition to her Siren-self.

All three of the men in Lora’s life, her childhood friend Will, her father, and new boy Ryan, are as dimensional as Lora herself, and I could feel the tension at being caught between these three personalities. As well, Lora’s grandmother, Devin, is someone I’d love to sit down and have a mug of tea or bowl of clam chowder with, preferably in her surfside cottage.

It took me a while to figure out who the killer was, but Harar laid out the clues nicely. It wasn’t obvious, until, finally, it was.

Harar weaves a lovely tale, and while everything was wrapped up by the end – romance, mystery, self-fulfillment, I found myself wondering if this was the first novel in a series, because I want more, More, MORE!

Goes well with A burger, a beer, and the clam chowder sampler from the Blue Mermaid in San Francisco.

This post is part of a blog tour sponsored by Wow: Women on Writing. Visit their blog, The Muffin for more information.

Review: Games Divas Play, by Angela Burt-Murray

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About the book Games Divas Play Games Divas Play

Series: A Diva Mystery Novel (Book 1)
Paperback: 340 pages
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer (July 29, 2014)

The former Editor-in Chief of Essence magazine, Angela Burt-Murrary’s new novel takes readers inside the high-stakes world of professional basketball—where everyone plays to win. In GAMES DIVAS PLAY, the first book in the Diva Mystery Series, Burt-Murray introduces an ambitious entertainment reporter battling backstabbing colleagues and reeling from murderous threats, the desperate wife of NBA star Marcus King, who’s as popular with the ladies as he is with hoops fans, and a scandalous groupie shopping a reality show based on her affair with Marcus. These three women soon learn what it really takes to stay on top when they engage in a ruthless battle for love and the limelight. GAMES DIVAS PLAY is a juicy, gossipy, and flat-out fun read; James Patterson meets Real Housewives of Atlanta.

Buy, read, and discuss Games Divas Play

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About the author, Angela Burt-Murray

Angela Burt-Murray is the cofounder and editorial director of Cocoa Media Group, cohost of the talk show Exhale, and coauthor of two previous books, The Vow and The Angry Black Woman’s Guide to Life. She was formerly the editor-in-chief of Essence magazine, where she was the recipient of numerous honors. Her work is regularly featured in such publications as Ebony, Parenting, and Heart & Soul. She lives in Atlanta with her husband and two sons.

My Thoughts

It’s not often that you come across a mystery that is also funny and sassy, but Games Divas Play is all three. From the very first page, the reader is thrust into the action, witnessing a murder in progress, and from there, the three women at the core of the novel, Nia, Vanessa, and Laila, take us on a fast-paced journey that feels like you’re riding a roller-coaster and shopping for designer shoes at the same time.

I have to confess that Nia was my favorite character, possibly because when I’m not doing book reviews, I interview a lot of celebrities for my day job, and I know how hard it is to build trustworthy connections with publicists, agents, and managers. That said, Vanessa and Laila were no less interesting, and no less dimensional. These women were all people you could easily run into during your life.

Similarly the supporting characters were well-rounded and believable, though my favorite was the fabulous MJ, Nia’s flamingly gay assistant. With this character author Burt-Murray stays just this side of caricature, and I know this to be true, because I’ve worked with versions of MJ for most of my life.

The plot of the novel, especially the mystery, was well-crafted, with a nice balance of information, action, and intrigue. I was kept guessing til the very end, which I found to be satisfying in every way.

This novel is the first in a series, and I’m looking forward to finding out what happens in the next book.

Goes well with Cocktails and coconut shrimp.

TLC Book Tours

This review is part of a blog tour hosted by TLC Book Tours, who provided me with an ARC of the novel in exchange for my review. For more information, and to see the entire list of tour stops, visit the tour page by clicking HERE.

Review: Deadly Assets, by Wendy Tyson

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About the book, Deadly Assets Deadly Assets by Wendy Tyson

An eccentric Italian heiress from the Finger Lakes. An eighteen-year-old pop star from Scranton, Pennsylvania. Allison Campbell’s latest clients seem worlds apart in every respect, except one: Both women disappear on the same day. And Allison’s colleague Vaughn is the last to have seen each.

Allison’s search for a connection uncovers an intricate web of family secrets, corporate transgressions and an age-old rivalry that crosses continents. The closer Allison gets to the truth, the deadlier her quest becomes. All paths lead back to their sinister Finger Lakes estate and the suicide of a woman thirty years earlier. Allison soon realizes the lives of her clients and the safety of those closest to her aren’t the only things at stake.

Buy, read, and discuss Deadly Assets
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About the author, Wendy Tyson Wendy Tyson

Wendy Tyson’s background in law and psychology has provided inspiration for her mysteries and thrillers. Originally from the Philadelphia area, Wendy has returned to her roots and lives there again with her husband, three kids and two muses, dogs Molly and Driggs. Wendy’s short fiction has appeared in literary journals, including KARAMU, Eclipse, A Literary Journal and Concho River Review.

Connect with Wendy

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My Thoughts

First of all, it’s important to know that Deadly Assets is the second Allison Campbell mystery. When a representative of the publisher contacted me, because I’d reviewed another of author Wendy Tyson’s novels late last year, I was actually sent a copy of book one, Killer Image, as well. I read both books back-to-back over the last few days, and loved them both.

Tyson excels at writing mysteries that are grounded in real life, plausible situations. You never feel that her stories are complete fantasy, and some of the chill you get while reading them is because so many of the characters could be people you know. As well, she populates her novels with diverse characters – Allison herself, Allison’s ex-mother-in-law Mia, who is dating Christopher Vaughn (known by his last name) who is also Allison’s colleague in her image consulting firm, and happens to be African-American, and his computer genius brother who happens to be quadriplegic – these are just a few. This makes you really believe that the novels take place in a real version of Pennsylvania.

Both novels, and Deadly Assets especially, are also incredibly well plotted. While it’s true that I was able to solve each cast slightly before Allison herself did, that’s only because we, as readers, see a bit more of the big picture than she does as a character. Still, I was never disappointed by any of the twists or turns that took place, and when Allison was in jeopardy, while I knew she was unlikely to die (this is a series, after all) I also knew that Tyson had no qualms about giving her serious injuries.

Where Killer Image included the requisite first-novel-in-a-series exposition of character backstory, Deadly Assets focused mainly on the current story. This in no way made the second book hard to follow, as there was enough backstory to understand the flavor of each recurring character. In fact, it could very easily be read as a standalone novel without the reader feeling like anything was missing, though reading them in order will increase your enjoyment, as it did mine.

If you’re looking for a mystery series that has believable characters, plausible storylines, and a great mix of character and action – especially if you’re looking for such a series in which women are the crime solvers and not only the victims, you must – must – read Wendy Tyson’s Allison Campbell series. Deadly Assets was just published this week, and I’m already itching for book three.

Goes well with a blueberry muffin and a cafe mocha.

Review: The Captive, by Grace Burrowes

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About the book, The Captive The Captive

Christian Severn, Duke of Mercia, is captured out of uniform by the French, and is thus subject to torture. Christian does not break, not once, and is released when Toulouse falls. Back in England, Christian has great difficulty taking up the reins of his life until Gillian, Countess of Windmere, a relation of his late wife, pointedly reminds him that he has a daughter who still needs him very much—a daughter who no longer speaks. Gilly pushes, pulls, and drags Christian back to life, and slowly, she and he admit an attraction to each other.

Christian offers Gilly marriage, but Gilly is a widow, and has fared badly at the hands of her first husband. Gillian will not pledge her heart to a man bent on violence, for Christian cannot give up his determination to extract revenge from his torturer. What will it take for them to give up their stubborn convictions and choose each other over the bonds the past?

Buy, read, and discuss The Captive

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About the author, Grace Burrowes Grace Burrowes

Grace says, “I am the sixth out of seven children and was raised in the rural surrounds of central Pennsylvania. Early in life I spent a lot of time reading romance novels and riding a chubby buckskin gelding named—unimaginatively if eponymously—Buck. I also spent a lot of time practicing the piano. My first career was as a technical writer and editor, a busy profession that nonetheless left enough time to read many, many romance novels.”

“It also left time to grab a law degree through an evening program, produce Beloved Offspring (only one, but she is a lion), and eventually move to the lovely Maryland countryside.”

“While reading yet still more romance novels (there is a trend here) I opened my own law practice, acquired a master’s degree in Conflict Management (I had a teenage daughter by then) and started thinking about writing…. romance novels. This aim was realized when Beloved Offspring struck out into the Big World a few years ago. (“Mom, why doesn’t anybody tell you being a grown-up is hard?”)”

“I eventually got up the courage to start pitching manuscripts to agents and editors. The query letter that resulted in “the call” started out: “I am the buffoon in the bar at the RWA retreat who could not keep her heroines straight, could not look you in the eye, and could not stop blushing—and if that doesn’t narrow down the possibilities, your job is even harder than I thought.” (The dear lady bought the book anyway.)”

Connect with Grace

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I’m not really a big romance reader. And I’m really not a big historical romance reader. Nevertheless, when the pitch to review The Captive arrived in my inbox, I was feeling like I should broaden my horizons a little. Besides, I’ve always maintained that what matters is the quality of the storytelling.

In this case, I was pleasantly surprised. Grace Burrowes writes historical romance that feels contemporary. She’s an amazing storyteller, and has created characters I wouldn’t mind sitting down to tea with, and a world I wouldn’t necessarily want to live in, but wouldn’t mind visiting for a few days.

I liked that she made Gilly strong and feisty while still keeping her true to the historical era of the story, and I liked that Christian was a single father, and was forced to actually address that state of affairs.

I’m always going to prefer more contemporary stories, but if all historical romances were as delightful as Grace Burrowes’s The Captive I’d consider reading period pieces of this ilk a little more often.

Goes well with a turkey taco salad and fresh limeade.

Review: The Little Women Letters, by Gabrielle Donnelly

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About the book, The Little Women Letters The Little Women Letters

USA TODAY sings that “Fans of Louisa May Alcott can rejoice” thanks to this charming and uplifting story of the imagined lives of three of Jo March’s passionate, spirited descendants—that’s Jo March from Little Women!

With her older sister, Emma, planning a wedding and her younger sister, Sophie, preparing to launch a career on the London stage, Lulu can’t help but feel like the failure of the Atwater family. Lulu loves her sisters dearly and wants nothing but the best for them, but she finds herself stuck in a rut, working dead-end jobs with no romantic prospects in sight.

Then Lulu stumbles across a collection of letters written by her great-great-grandmother Josephine March. As she delves deeper into the lives and secrets of the March sisters, she finds solace and guidance, but can the words of her great-great-grandmother help Lulu find a place for herself in a world so different from the one Jo knew?

As uplifting and essential as Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, Gabrielle Donnelly’s novel will speak to anyone who’s ever fought with a sister, fallen in love with a fabulous pair of shoes, or wondered what on earth life had in store for her.

Buy, read, and discuss The Little Women Letters

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About the author, Gabrielle Donnelly (from her website) Gabrielle Donnelly

Gabrielle Donnelly was born in London and has known that she wanted to be a writer for as long as she can remember. She read, wrote, and daydreamed her way through grammar school in North London and to a Bachelor of Arts degree from London University; when she was 22, she got her first job as a reporter in the London office of the DC Thompson newspaper The Weekly News; she has made her living as a journalist ever since.

In 1980, realizing that she had lived for all of her life in London and deciding that she should probably at least briefly experience living somewhere else before it was too late, she moved to Los Angeles for a six-month-long working vacation. She has never returned. She writes about show business for a variety of British magazines and newspapers, and, as a member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, votes every year for the Golden Globe Awards.

The Little Women Letters is Gabrielle’s fifth novel. Previously, Holy Mother, Faulty Ground, and All Done With Mirrors were printed in Britain by Victor Gollancz; The Girl In The Photograph was printed in America by Penguin Putnam. The Little Women Letters is the first to be published in both countries, and she says it is the one she has had by far the most fun writing.

A committed singleton throughout her twenties and thirties, she surprised herself and everyone else at over forty by falling madly in love with and marrying Los Angeles-born computer specialist Owen Bjornstad. They live in Los Angeles in a spectacularly untidy house a couple of miles from the ocean, and make each other laugh a very great deal.

Gabrielle is a Corporator of Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House Museum in Concord, Massachusetts.

Connect with Gabrielle

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I don’t remember how I heard of The Little Women letters, but it might have appeared on my radar (bookdar?) around Christmas, after watching The March Sisters at Christmas and finding a forum thread talking about other contemporary interpretations of Alcott’s classic story.

I didn’t actually buy my copy until March (we got our check from the class action suit against a certain bookseller named after a river and a tribe of warrior women, and bought a ton of kindle books), but I read it in one sitting on a blustery spring day, and really enjoyed the experience.

At first, I thought it was an odd choice to have only three sisters instead of the expected four, but it made sense in the end. I also liked the twist of Lulu (the Jo surrogate) following a path slightly different than what the reader – at least this reader – was led to expect.

Overall, this is a lovely, entertaining read about fully-fleshed-out, smart, interesting young women, and the convention of treating the source material as if it were real works wonderfully.

Nothing ever seems hokey, and nothing is ever too sweet or too perfect, despite the ultimate happy ending.

Goes well with hot tea and apple crumble.

Review: Painting the Moon, by Traci Borum

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About the book Painting the Moon Painting the Moon

Publisher: Red Adept Publishing
Release Date: June 7, 2014
Pages: 300

When Noelle Cooke inherits a cottage from her British aunt, she also inherits a cottage full of secrets–a locked room, an old journal, an art gallery in financial ruin. Noelle never planned to abandon her life in San Diego, never intended to move across the ocean to live in a tiny Cotswold village. But the idea becomes irresistible, especially with the possibility of saving the gallery.

And just when Noelle settles into her new village life and starts to discover the cottage’s mysteries, someone from her past reappears—her first love, Adam Spencer. But an impossible barrier stands between them, and Noelle is forced to make a choice. Will she risk her heart? Or will she walk away…and lose him all over again?

Buy, read, and discuss Painting the Moon

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About the author, Traci Borum Traci Borum

Traci Borum is a writing teacher and native Texan. She’s also an avid reader of women’s fiction, most especially Elin Hilderbrand and Rosamunde Pilcher novels. Since the age of 12, she’s written poetry, short stories, magazine articles, and novels.

Traci also adores all things British. She even owns a British dog (Corgi) and is completely addicted to Masterpiece Theater-must be all those dreamy accents! Aside from having big dreams of getting a book published, it’s the little things that make her the happiest: deep talks with friends, a strong cup of hot chocolate, a hearty game of fetch with her Corgi, and puffy white Texas clouds always reminding her to “look up, slow down, enjoy your life.”

Connect with Traci

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My Thoughts

A couple of weeks ago, I received an email from the author of this novel, asking me if I’d consider it for review. Her email was so sweet, and her bio resonated so much with me, that there was no way I could say no. Besides, I’ve been reading so much heavy, serious fiction – which I love – that it’s nice to review something a bit lighter from time to time. Painting the Moon came into my life exactly when I needed it, and I stayed up all night because I was so absorbed with the story.

On the surface, it’s a somewhat predictable “twinkling brown eyes” novel – cute English village, American relative inheriting adorable cottage, handsome and mostly-single male childhood friend looking to reconnect – but that’s just the surface. Author Borum takes those elements and really makes them sing with vivid descriptions of people and places – I could taste the shepherd’s pie, smell the paint on the canvas, feel the English rain – and I could also hear the characters’ distinct voices, especially Noelle herself, but also the pub owner and the gardener/handyman.

One thing I particularly loved about this novel was the use of Nioelle’s aunt’s (well, great aunt, but why be picky) advice on painting at the head of the chapters. It really made you feel like the aunt was a character in the story, rather than just a reason for Noelle to move from San Diego to the Cotswolds.

Painting the Moon is a fabulously entertaining story about love, art, and the choices we make as adults, and should not be overlooked. It’s the perfect novel for a lazy summer afternoon. If there’s a thunderstorm brewing while you read it, so much the better.

Goes well with hot tea and peach-rhubarb pie.

Review: the New Men, by Jon Enfield

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About the book, The New Men The New Men

Publisher: Wayzgoose Press (May 14, 2014)
Print Length: 303 pages

For us, the new man, he is one of two things. First, he is the new worker, a man we instruct and investigate until his probation is complete. But also he is an idea. In the foundry, they make parts. On the line, they make autos. But in Sociological, we make men.

Tony Grams comes to America at the start of the twentieth century, set on becoming a new man. Driven to leave poverty behind, he lands a job at the Ford Motor Company that puts him at the center of a daring social and economic experiment.

The new century and the new auto industry are bursting with promise, and everyone wants Henry Ford’s Model T. But Ford needs men to make it. Better men. New men. Men tough enough and focused enough to handle the ever-bigger, ever-faster assembly line. Ford offers to double the standard wage for men who will be thrifty, sober, and dedicated… and who will let Ford investigators into their homes to confirm it.

Tony has just become one of those investigators. America and Ford have helped him build a new life, so at first he’s eager to get to work. But world war, labor strife, and racial tension pit his increasingly powerful employer against its increasingly desperate enemies.

As Tony and his family come under threat from all sides and he faces losing everything he’s built, he must struggle with his conscience and his weaknesses to protect the people he loves.

Buy, read, and discuss The New Men

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About the author, Jon Enfield Jon Enfield

Jon Enfield has written for a range of audiences and publications. His work has appeared in Conjunctions, Poetry Ireland Review, Underground Voices, Xavier Review, and Forbes.com. He is a former fiction editor of Chicago Review, and he taught writing at the University of Southern California for several years. He received his Ph.D. in English from the University of Chicago for his dissertation on the relationships between American film and fiction 1910-1940.

The New Men arose from his longstanding fascination with America in the early twentieth century and from his sense that the emergence and evolution of the American auto industry shed light on some fundamental realities of present-day America.

Connect with Jon

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My Thoughts

I was a bit concerned when I agreed to review this book. I mean, the concept and plot sounded interesting, but it had the potential to be a lot dryer than I typically prefer. I’ve never been more pleased to be proven wrong.

From the opening notes, where author Jon Enfield warns us about specific spelling and dialogue choices to the very last page, I was never bored. In fact, it would be fair to say that I was riveted, because I read this book last weekend, cover to cover, in one night.

We often hear about the concept of a “company town,” and I’ve certainly experienced a few: Marshalltown, IA, for example, is pretty much dominated by Fisher, and my husband and I worked in the Sioux Falls, SD campus of Gateway, back when they were a new-ish corporation. In The New Men, however, Enfield shows us the best and worst of company town culture – the progressive programs put in place to create the perfect workers, and the strictures that came with working for such a business.

After spending roughly half of the last decade doing corporate blogging for auto sales and auto insurance companies, it was incredibly interesting to me to see, in this novel, how the industry began, and to reflect upon the way it’s changed. Through his protagonist, Tony, and through all the other characters in The New Men Enfield shows us, not just a version of what was, but lets us glimpse what could have been, as well.

Sometimes gritty, sometimes poignant – often at the same time – The New Men is a period piece that manages to comment on contemporary culture without feeling as if it’s doing so. Taken as pure fiction, however, it’s a compelling story about people who aren’t that different than most of our grandparents. If you want something a bit toothier than typical summer fare, this novel is an excellent choice.

Goes well with Baked ziti, garlic bread, and a huge salad with fresh tomatoes.

TLC Book Tours

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

Review: Love & Treasure, by Ayelet Waldman

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About the book, Love & Treasure Love & Treasure

Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Knopf (April 1, 2014)

A spellbinding new novel of contraband masterpieces, tragic love, and the unexpected legacies of forgotten crimes, Ayelet Waldman’s Love and Treasure weaves a tale around the fascinating, true history of the Hungarian Gold Train in the Second World War.

In 1945 on the outskirts of Salzburg, victorious American soldiers capture a train filled with unspeakable riches: piles of fine gold watches; mountains of fur coats; crates filled with wedding rings, silver picture frames, family heirlooms, and Shabbat candlesticks passed down through generations. Jack Wiseman, a tough, smart New York Jew, is the lieutenant charged with guarding this treasure—a responsibility that grows more complicated when he meets Ilona, a fierce, beautiful Hungarian who has lost everything in the ravages of the Holocaust. Seventy years later, amid the shadowy world of art dealers who profit off the sins of previous generations, Jack gives a necklace to his granddaughter, Natalie Stein, and charges her with searching for an unknown woman—a woman whose portrait and fate come to haunt Natalie, a woman whose secret may help Natalie to understand the guilt her grandfather will take to his grave and to find a way out of the mess she has made of her own life.

A story of brilliantly drawn characters—a suave and shady art historian, a delusive and infatuated Freudian, a family of singing circus dwarfs fallen into the clutches of Josef Mengele, and desperate lovers facing choices that will tear them apart—Love and Treasure is Ayelet Waldman’s finest novel to date: a sad, funny, richly detailed work that poses hard questions about the value of precious things in a time when life itself has no value, and about the slenderest of chains that can bind us to the griefs and passions of the past.

Buy, read, and discuss Love & Treasure

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About the author, Ayelet Waldman Ayelet Waldman

Ayelet Waldman is the author of the recently released Love and Treasure (Knopf, April 2014), Red Hook Road and The New York Times bestseller Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities and Occasional Moments of Grace. Her novel Love and Other Impossible Pursuits was adapted into a film called “The Other Woman” starring Natalie Portman. Her personal essays and profiles of such public figures as Hillary Clinton have been published in a wide variety of newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, Vogue, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. Her radio commentaries have appeared on “All Things Considered” and “The California Report.” Her books are published throughout the world, in countries as disparate as England and Thailand, the Netherlands and China, Russia and Israel, South Korea and Italy.

Connect with Ayelet

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My Thoughts

You wouldn’t think that a novel that spends fully half it’s pages dealing with the immediate aftermath of the Holocaust could be magical and amazing, but Ayelet Waldman’s Love & Treasure manages to be so.

To be clear, those magical moments come between a lot of candid, even gritty, scenes. The first half of the book is the story of Jack Wiseman, an ethnic Jew and American soldier, in Europe at the end of World War II. Largely due to circumstance he is put in charge of a warehouse which holds the contents of a train, which, in turn, was full of the stolen, stripped down belongings – everything from ceramics to jewelry to bed linens to art – of Hungarian Jews who were either sent to concentration camps or sent to forced labor camps by the Nazis.

The second half of the book is mostly the story of Jack’s granddaughter Natalie, and her quest to fulfill her grandfather’s dying wish: track down the owner of a necklace he took from the warehouse, and return it. To do this, she travels to Europe and Israel, hooking up with an art dealer named Amitai who operates just at the surface, or maybe slightly below, the law. He isn’t a bad person, but he doesn’t make high-percentage choices. Also, he’s not that interested in the necklace – he’s trying to track down a painting done by the same artist. (He is, however, increasingly interested in Natalie.)

The problem is that Natalie’s story, which I referred to as the second ‘half,’ ends in such a way that it feels like an ending, but there’s a third part of the story, the history of the necklace’s original owner.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved learning the story of the necklace, loved a glimpse into early twentieth century feminism in Europe, it just felt like the novel would have been even more magical and amazing than it already is if Jack had been part one, Natalie had been part two, and the rest had been woven through in bits and glimpses.

But that’s me, who sometimes likes books to be ideally structured even though life never actually is, and the reality is that this minor structural issue didn’t detract from the story in any way. Jack’s section is heartbreaking, Natalie’s is a grand adventure, and all the rest? Quiet magic and amazing history.

Is this a beach read? Maybe not.
But it’s a great book for a lazy summer Sunday.

Goes well with: Organic eggs scrambled with spinach, salmon and cream cheese, a toasted bagel with butter, and a few chunks of really ripe cantaloupe.

TLC Book Tours

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

Review: A Case of Spontaneous Combustion (Displaced Detective #5), by Stephanie Osborn

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About the book, A Case of Spontaneous Combustion A Case of Spontaneous Combustion

Publisher: Twilight Times Books
Print Length: 344 pages

When an entire village on the Salisbury Plain is wiped out in an apparent case of mass spontaneous combustion, Her Majesty’s Secret Service contacts The Holmes Agency to investigate. Unfortunately Sherlock Holmes and his wife, Dr. Skye Chadwick-Holmes, have just had their first serious fight, over her abilities and attitudes as an investigator. To make matters worse, he is summoned to England in the middle of the night, and she is not — and due to the invocation of the National Security Act in the summons, he cannot even wake her and tell her.

Once in London, Holmes looks into the horror that is now Stonegrange. His investigations take him into a dangerous undercover assignment in search of a possible terror ring, though he cannot determine how a human agency could have caused the disaster. There, he works hard to pass as a recent immigrant and manual laborer from a certain rogue Mideastern nation as he attempts to uncover signs of the terrorists.

Meanwhile, alone in Colorado, Skye battles raging wildfires and tames a wild mustang stallion, all while believing her husband has abandoned her.

Who — or what — caused the horror in Stonegrange? Will Holmes find his way safely through the metaphorical minefield that is modern Middle Eastern politics? Will Skye subdue Smoky before she is seriously hurt? Will this predicament seriously damage — even destroy — the couple’s relationship? And can Holmes stop the terrorists before they unleash their outré weapon again?

Buy, read, and discuss A Case of Spontaneous Combustion

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Please note: at this time, this title is only available in digital formats. A print edition is planned.

About the author, Stephanie Osborn Stephanie Osborn

Veteran of more than 20 years in the civilian space program, as well as various military space defense programs, she worked on numerous space shuttle flights and the International Space Station, and counts the training of astronauts on her resumé. Her space experience also includes Spacelab and ISS operations, variable star astrophysics, Martian aeolian geophysics, radiation physics, and nuclear, biological, and
chemical weapons effects.

Stephanie holds graduate and undergraduate degrees in four sciences:
astronomy, physics, chemistry and mathematics, and she is “fluent” in several
more, including geology and anatomy.

In addition she possesses a license of ministry, has been a duly sworn, certified police officer, and is a National Weather Service certified storm spotter.

Her travels have taken her to the top of Pikes Peak, across the world’s highest suspension bridge, down gold mines, in the footsteps of dinosaurs, through groves of giant Sequoias, and even to the volcanoes of the Cascade Range in the Pacific Northwest, where she was present for several phreatic eruptions of Mount St. Helens.

Now retired from space work, Stephanie has trained her sights on writing. She has authored, co-authored, or contributed to more than 20 books, including the celebrated science-fiction mystery, Burnout: The mystery of Space Shuttle STS-281. She is the co-author of the “Cresperian Saga,” book series, and currently writes the critically acclaimed “Displaced Detective” series, described as “Sherlock Holmes meets The X-Files.” She recently released the paranormal/horror novella El Vengador, based on a true story, as an ebook.

In addition to her writing work, the Interstellar Woman of Mystery now happily “pays it forward,” teaching math and science through numerous media including radio, podcasting and public speaking, as well as working with SIGMA, the science-fiction think tank.

The Mystery continues.

Connect with Stephanie

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My Thoughts

Sherlock Holmes and Skye Chadwick-Holmes are back in the fifth installment of Stephanie Osborn’s fabulously entertaining Displaced Detective series, and while this story is complete in one volume (unlike the others which were pairs of companion stories), it feels just as meaty and satisfying as its predecessors.

What I really love about this series is that Osborn bases her mysteries in real (if sometimes theoretical) science, and that she relays the science in ways that are easy for people like me, who were music and theater majors, to understand. From the moment the mass disappearance (death) of an entire town was described, I was able to make reasonably accurate guesses about the technology that caused it, but this in no way spoiled the story, because knowing the cause wasn’t enough, the real mystery was as much in the “why” as in the “how.”

As well, I love that, a year into their marriage, Skye and Sherlock are evolving as individuals and as a couple. While they are separated from each other for much of this story, when they do come together, the reasons for their separation explained, we see two people who have become better because of their relationship. Anyone can write “falling in love” reasonably well. Writing about a couple who can stay in love takes finesse, which Osborn has in great amounts.

Over the last several years, Sherlock Holmes has been reintroduced to us in many, many guises, and the beauty of the character is that there’s room for every version, and enjoying one doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy others. Regular visitors to this blog know that I’m a massive fan of Laurie R. King’s Sherlock Holmes/Mary Russell series, and that I especially love that she’s incorporated early feminism and the art culture of the early twentieth century into her work.

This doesn’t mean that I like Osborn’s work any less. In fact, I think these two series make really good bookshelf buddies, because both give us a glimpse at Holmes as a married man, and both do it in unique ways.

Back to Stephanie Osborn’s latest offering, though, I’ll confess that at one point I, who was an original viewer of Sex and the City felt that Skye and Sherlock’s relationship was a bit too restrained, even when they were out of the public eye, until Skye herself reminded one of their friends, and we readers as well, that Holmes is from a more restrained time and culture. It’s worth noting, also, that the relationship they have is absolutely true to the characters Osborn has created, and that these are genre-defying science-fiction/mysteries and not romance novels.

While A Case of Spontaneous Combustion is best enjoyed after reading books 1-4 of the Displaced Detective series, fast reads all, it also has enough backstory to be a satisfying standalone.

Goes well with: Falafel, with extra-garlicky tahini sauce, tart strained yogurt and cucumbers, and a side of tabouleh, with mint tea.

Review: A Life of Death, by Weston Kincade

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My Thoughts

Weston Kincade sent me this book directly, months ago, in multiple installments, which is how it was originally published. More recently, he asked people to re-post reviews for the current “complete” edition.

As my original review was lost in a database glitch, I sat down to re-read Kincaid’s work, in order to update my thoughts, and I’m not sorry.

On the surface, Kincaid’s story is a simple mystery, but once you look past the surface, you see a family drama, a battle between natural and supernatural, and a close look at what it means to be a victim, and to overcome victimhood.

Kincade’s characters are all fully realized, dimensional people, but what I really liked about them is that they’re not all “pretty” people. They are human, they get into fights, aren’t all rich and well-to-do, and sometimes, aren’t even all that likeable.

And yet, the story – Alex’s story, and that of his son – is compelling. You want to find out why Alex sees the visions he does, and you really care about his relationship with his son.

Marketed primarily to YA/NA audiences, A Life of Death has something for everyone, of every age, which is as it should be when it comes to good storytelling.

Goes well with Open face meatloaf sandwiches and RC cola.