Category Archives: Book Review

Review: The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress by Ariel Lawhon

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the wife, the maid, and the mistressFrom Goodreads:

A tantalizing reimagining of a scandalous mystery that rocked the nation in 1930-Justice Joseph Crater’s infamous disappearance-as seen through the eyes of the three women who knew him best.

They say behind every great man, there’s a woman. In this case, there are three. Stella Crater, the judge’s wife, is the picture of propriety draped in long pearls and the latest Chanel. Ritzi, a leggy showgirl with Broadway aspirations, thinks moonlighting in the judge’s bed is the quickest way off the chorus line. Maria Simon, the dutiful maid, has the judge to thank for her husband’s recent promotion to detective in the NYPD. Meanwhile, Crater is equally indebted to Tammany Hall leaders and the city’s most notorious gangster, Owney “The Killer” Madden.

On a sultry summer night, as rumors circulate about the judge’s involvement in wide-scale political corruption, the Honorable Joseph Crater steps into a cab and disappears without a trace. Or does he?

After 39 years of necessary duplicity, Stella Crater is finally ready to reveal what she knows. Sliding into a plush leather banquette at Club Abbey, the site of many absinthe-soaked affairs and the judge’s favorite watering hole back in the day, Stella orders two whiskeys on the rocks-one for her and one in honor of her missing husband. Stirring the ice cubes in the lowball glass, Stella begins to tell a tale-of greed, lust, and deceit. As the novel unfolds and the women slyly break out of their prescribed roles, it becomes clear that each knows more than she has initially let on.

With a layered intensity and prose as effervescent as the bubbly that flows every night, The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress is a wickedly entertaining historical mystery that will transport readers to a bygone era with tipsy spins through subterranean jazz clubs and backstage dressing rooms. But beneath the Art Deco skyline and amid the intoxicating smell of smoke and whiskey, the question of why Judge Crater disappeared lingers seductively until a twist in the very last pages.

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I’m delighted to announce that this month’s She Reads Book Club Pick is by none other than She Reads co-founder and all-around awesome writer/blogger/mama Ariel Lawhon. And, of course, with such a big name to cheer on, it’s the one month I’m dreadfully late with my review.  It’s also the first month I’ve worked at my new library job and had the honor of shelving the She Reads pick in the New Release section and watching that enticing bright pink cover get checked out to its first lucky reader. Quickly.

Anything taking place during The Prohibition Era seems to be de rigueur now. T.V. series such as Boardwalk Empire and Downton Abbey and  Hollywood blockbusters like The Great Gatsby bring the seductive world of speakeasys and smooth jazz to life. It was the time of gangsters and molls, when the twenties went out with a roar just before the Great Depression slammed the nation. The lines between corruption and conscience were often blurred (by bathtub gin?) mixing judges, crime bosses, and police in a way hopefully unheard of now.

Usually depictions of this time focus on the gritty and glamorous mens’ perspective, but  in The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress, Lawton spins the tale of the women who are often in their shadows, allowing them to shine.

The real story behind Lawhon’s fictionalized tale adds to the intrigue. Judge Crater—husband to the story’s wife, lover of the mistress, and boss of the maid— was considered “The Missingest Man in New York” and held a top spot in 1930s pop culture.  “To pull a Crater” means to disappear, and for decades the judges disappearance was standard running joke with entertainers. Now Lawhon’s account introduces a new generation of readers to the mystery.

Part suspense, part women’s fiction, and seeped in period glamor,  this story is literally ripped from the 1930’s headlines. If you enjoy period pieces, light mysteries, or 20th century historical fiction, this book is for you.

If you’d like to WIN a copy of The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress: A Novel, head over to She Reads. You can check out more reviews, find out more about the author, and enter to win your copy!

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READ an excerpt from The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress HERE

Connect with Ariel Lawhon:

Facebook   |   Twitter   |   Website

 

I received this book free from Doubleday and SheReads.com as part of their Book Review Blogger program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Review & Flash GIVEAWAY: Red Rising by Peirce Brown

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red rising

Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations. Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.

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But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and sprawling parks spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.

*

Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity’s overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society’s ruling class.There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies . . . even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.

From Goodreads

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Okay, here’s the deal: I shouldn’t have even liked this book. I’ve always claimed that I don’t do dystopian novels. I’ve gone so far as to use the *h* word on occasion. (I know, I know—one should not *hate* any books.)

I hereby proclaim that I was  ignorant  wrong. Terribly wrong. Red Rising is the most dystopian book I’ve  read—and I bloody loved this book. I couldn’t put the damn thing down.

Seriously. On Christmas Eve, I sat beside the glowing tree totally ignoring It’s a Wonderful Life because I just had to finish the damn book before I went to bed. No visions of Sugar Plums for me; instead I dreamed of the red planet Mars.

When I spotted the book on Netgalley, I didn’t expect much. Though it had amazing early reviews,  I wasn’t a big fan of the genre (except the Hunger Games trilogy, but everyone crossed the dystopian border for that series).  I assumed I’d give it a few chapters before inevitably tossing it aside. Dystopian books must wrap their warped tentacles around my neck pretty quick if I’m going to suspend my disbelief enough to get into their bleak worlds and weird names. While I couldn’t put my finger on exactly why I pressed through the first few chapters, once Red Rising grabbed me, it formed a choke hold.

When readers first meet Darrow, an impetuous 16-year-old helldiver, he’s striving to win The Laurel, the award won by drilling the largest amount of gas to supply to the builders of society on Mars. Winning means his Township will not be hungry and might accrue some basic supplies. He and his people are Reds, all but slaves, living underground and completely dependent on the ruling caste of Golds.

Darrow should have earned the Laurel. When it goes to the same clan as always, Darrow and his young wife, Eo, realize their lives are rigged. In a world where a simple song or dance can lead to execution, Eo stages a minor act of rebellion which leads to her death. When Darrow dares to break the strictly enforced rules he too is killed…maybe.

Instead he’s smuggled to the surface by revolutionaries, to a world he and his people didn’t know existed. He is “carved” into a Gold to become a spy, someone hopefully strong enough to infiltrate the Gold society and start a rebellion.

But first he must make it through The Institute and its game.

This story certainly clung to some familiar tropes: being chosen for different houses in the “school” rings of Harry Potter, the bloodthirsty battles students must survive to become champion is reminiscent of The Hunger Games. The dissolving of civilized behavior and morals when scrapping for survival echos Lord of the Flies. Brown even works in some odes to classical mythology.

But Red Rising is far more than just a rehashing of these eternal themes—it’s a violent, cunning tale, a reflection the historical struggles for power that will echo into the future.

I dare not tell you more, except that I’m dying for the second book to come out. No spoilers here. But I will offer you an opportunity to win a copy of this bloody brilliant book.

Del Ray is hosting a RED RISING RELEASE DAY FLASH GIVEAWAY.  The winner will receive a signed copy of RED RISING and a Random House Publishing Group tote bag (US residents only). It’s a special flash giveaway, RUN FOR ONLY 24 HOURS. The winner will be announced at 10AM EST on Wednesday, January 29.

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

RED RISING
by Pierce Brown
400 pages
Del Rey (January 28, 2014)

 

RedRisingBook.com | Facebook | Twitter

 

I received this book free from Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. One link above is an “affiliate link.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers.I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

 

Lit Snapshot: Sailing Out of Darkness with Normandie Fisher

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Today I’m pleased to introduce a new feature to the blog: Lit(erary) Snapshot. My first guest is one of the kindest writers out there. Be it through the Women’s Fiction Association, Writer Unboxed, or one of the many blogs and forums writers flock to, she’s always ready with a gracious comment and encouraging words of wisdom. Her second novel, Sailing Out of Darkness, has recently been released and is receiving lovely reviews. Let’s give a warm welcome to Normandie Fisher. . . {cue applause}

normandie fisher Tell us about yourself: who are you?

I experienced the best of several worlds: a Southern heritage, access to schooling in the DC area (which meant lots of cultural adventures), and several years of sculpture studies in Italy before I returned to finish my degree here. It might have been better for me if I’d used all these opportunities more wisely, but the imperfect and the unwise also add fodder for the artist and the writer.

My life changed radically when I married the love of my life at an age when some would have said I was over the hill and way past my prime. A lifelong sailor, I was delighted to find that Michael also longed to cruise lovely waters, which is what we did from Northern CA to Mexico, spending too few years in the incomparable Sea of Cortez. Sea Venture, our 50′ ketch, is back home in North Carolina now because my mama needed care. Still, it’s gorgeous here, too, and I can write and edit from home as easily as I could on the boat.

My two grown children, son-in-law, and two step-sons are handsome (or gorgeous, as the case may be), talented, and a delight—as is my new grandbaby. I just wish they lived a lot closer to home.

We took Sea Venture north in 2013 to visit some of these young folk. Along the way, I had a delightful time hosting boat party/book signings from Beaufort to NYC. Keep a lookout for our beautiful boat with its clipper bow as we sail into various harbors in 2014.

Tell us about Sailing out of Darkness:

Love conquers all?sailing out of darkness, normandie fisher

Maybe for some people.

When Samantha flies to Italy to gain distance from a disastrous affair with her childhood best friend, the last thing on her mind is romance. But Teo Anderson is nothing like her philandering ex-husband or her sailing buddy, Jack, who, despite his live-in girlfriend, caught her off guard with his flashing black eyes.

Teo has his own scars, both physical and emotional, that he represses by writing mysteries—until one strange and compelling vision comes to life in the person of Sam. Seeking answers, he offers friendship to this obviously hurting woman, a friendship that threatens to upend his fragile peace of mind.

But not even sailing the cobalt waters of the Mediterranean can assuage Sam’s guilt for destroying Jack’s relationship and hurting another woman. Soon the consequences of her behavior escalate, and the fallout threatens them all.

Sailing out of Darkness is the haunting story of mistakes and loss…and the grace that abounds through forgiveness.

 What made you write this particular story?

Over the years, I’ve met a number of women who, overwhelmed by loss and guilt, imagined themselves friendless and condemned. Some chose a final solution. Sam’s story is fictional, but I’m hoping that it will speak to hurting women and to those who know them, to those who might listen to voices crying in the wilderness after following their heart into an unhealthy place.

I also hope readers will have fun with the sailing and the visits to Italy and will come to love Sam and Teo as much as I did.

 What did you learn writing Sailing out of Darkness?

Sailing out of Darkness was, I think, my third completed manuscript, one I worked on over a number of years before my agent sold it in its present form. Because the story was dear to me, I wanted to tell it a certain way, but my husband—who always has my back—read its zillionth iteration and shook his head. “The middle has to go.”

Yikes! I loved that middle. None of my critique partners had even hinted that it should be slashed. I mean, the middle was great! It showed character development! It wasn’t fluff, but solid action! (Can you hear me? Can you see my hands raised, fending off disaster and the grim manuscript reaper?) I wanted folk to understand and sympathize with Sam. She needed that middle.

My husband is one of the smartest people I know, so I’d have to be a fool to ignore him. I took a deep breath, sighed loudly, and hit Delete. Out came chapter after chapter after chapter after chapter. Instead of beginning at the beginning, I began at the end of the middle. The old saying that writers must be willing to kill their darlings? Well, they also have to be willing to put their manuscript on a diet and lose fat that either doesn’t propel the story forward or, as in this case, propels it in the wrong direction.

 What’s your favorite paragraph/line from Sailing out of Darkness?

That’s a difficult question. I probably love the snippets of poems best, such as this from Chapter Twenty-three:

Time has a way of galloping when what we do is fun. It passes slower than a snail’s pace, Leaving a gooey snail’s trail, When what we do is wrong.

Or, from Chapter Two:

Lonely isn’t lonely if one looks from outside in; It’s just the inside out that makes a person feel so thin.

But this sums up my heroine:

…“Stefi was right.”

“What do you mean?”

“She said you’re good at guilt. Honey, you’re not just good, you’re first rate…”

Who will this book appeal to?

Readers who enjoy a bit of romance, a hint of suspense, a dash of the literary, a soupçon of fantasy, some sailing, and, of course, travel to one of my favorite countries, Italy.

What’s next for you?

I’m busy with requested revisions of Heavy Weather, the next of my Beaufort books. Readers of Becalmed will remember Hannah, who now gets her own story, one she shares with an abused mama, two wounded children, and the police lieutenant who arrested the bad guy in Becalmed. Having fun!

How can we keep up with you?

Website  | Blog  | Facebook | Twitter | Amazon | Goodreads

 

Thanks so much for joining us, Normandie—I can’t wait to pick up my copy of Sailing Out of Darkness!

 

 

 

Review: The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

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the invetion of wings, sue monk kiddFrom Goodreads:

From the celebrated author of The Secret Life of Bees, a magnificent novel about two unforgettable American women

Hetty “Handful” Grimke, an urban slave in early nineteenth century Charleston, yearns for life beyond the suffocating walls that enclose her within the wealthy Grimke household. The Grimke’s daughter, Sarah, has known from an early age she is meant to do something large in the world, but she is hemmed in by the limits imposed on women.

Kidd’s sweeping novel is set in motion on Sarah’s eleventh birthday, when she is given ownership of ten year old Handful, who is to be her handmaid. We follow their remarkable journeys over the next thirty five years, as both strive for a life of their own, dramatically shaping each other’s destinies and forming a complex relationship marked by guilt, defiance, estrangement and the uneasy ways of love.

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The Invention of Wings is a tale of two women from vastly different circumstances: a slave and her reluctant owner. Both are bound by their positions, both possess brains ahead of their times. Sue Monk Kidd alternates the narration between Sarah, the daughter of an esteemed Southern judge, and Handful, the handmaid/slave who was bestowed upon her. Even though Sarah lives in a culture where this expected and the norm, she somehow intrinsically knows slavery is wrong, and wants to free Handfull—but it is a power beyond her.

This theme of wanting to free Handful yet being powerless to do so carries on throughout the novel and Sarah’s life. She promised Handful’s mother, another one of her family’s slaves, that she would do so, yet even as an adult, she struggles with her inability to keep her promise. Eventually Sarah escapes North, fleeing her domineering and often cruel mother and her Charleston home—leaving poor Handful behind. Though she strives to rise into the ranks of the abolitionists and Quakers (and is eventually joined by her younger sister) she still can’t change the lives of the slaves in her family.  I must admit, this frustrated me throughout the story.

At times I wondered how these characters learned to think this way, rebelling against everything they had been taught and the confines of their times. This isn’t a novel romanticizing the South, brimming with gallant plantation owners and giddy Southern belles. It’s more gritty Charleston town life, with slaves in the yard enduring punishments for doing such “horrid” things as learning to read. It’s not Gone With the Wind, but it’s not Roots either.

Having recently read Elizabeth Gilbert’s The Signature of All Things, I was caught by the parallels in the stories. Both featured strong female protagonists whose lives did not revolve around marriage and family, something rare in literature and in life. Both characters broke societal molds and strived to make significant impacts on the world beyond running a household and raising children. If you enjoyed Gilbert’s work, you should certainly read Kidd’s.

This work of historical fiction was inspired by the real Sarah Grimke and her sister Angelina, two of the early suffragists and female abolitionists. The Invention of Wings is the story of two radically different women searching for freedom. You’ll have to read it to discover if they ever spread their wings and soar.

The Invention of Wings
by Sue Monk Kidd
Hardcover, 384 pages
January 7th 2014, Viking Adult

This book was provided to me by Netgalley for review. All opinions are my own. Link above is a part of the Amazon affiliates program.

Review: Love Water Memory by Jennie Shortridge

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love water memoryIf you could do it all over again, would you still choose him?

At age thirty-nine, Lucie Walker has no choice but to start her life over when she comes to, up to her knees in the chilly San Francisco Bay, with no idea how she got there or who she is. Her memory loss is caused by an emotional trauma she knows nothing about, and only when handsome, quiet Grady Goodall arrives at the hospital does she learn she has a home, a career, and a wedding just two months away. What went wrong? Grady seems to care for her, but Lucie is no more sure of him than she is of anything. As she collects the clues of her past self, she unlocks the mystery of what happened to her. The painful secrets she uncovers could hold the key to her future—if she trusts her heart enough to guide her.

(from Goodreads)

 

Lucy Walker has no idea who she is—or who she was.  Her memory is wiped clean, though she feels anything but. Why did she forget everything? Why did she flee to San Francisco, and how did she end up standing in the Bay? And did she really love her handsome fiance, Grady?

Her closets are filled with designer clothes, many still with the price tags. Her home is cool and elegant. But her reception is chilly—no one seems to like her, well, the old her, except her faithful fiance. Why?

Love Water Memory is a quick read—in a good way. Readers are lured along as Lucy slowly uncovers clues to her past. Something traumatic MUST have happened when she was a teen—even her fiance knows nothing about her life before they met except that her parents died and she lived with an aunt. When that aunt sees Lucy’s story on the news, the chain of events to discover Lucy’s real past begins.

I’ll admit: I grew a little anxious wanting Lucy to hurry up and remember already and hoping she wouldn’t suddenly go back to the person she had been. I was afraid her fiance, Grady, would chicken out or that he’d snapped and done something bad to Lucy making her flee. I worried that Lucy’s secret was something she wouldn’t be able to forgive herself for, and that’s why she blacked out her past.

All in all, Love Water Memory was an entertaining read. The characters were likable. Though the plot circled around the mystery of why Lucy lost her memory and who she was, it’s not categorically a novel of mystery or suspense.  Both Lucy and Grady seemed to come of age on the cusp of 40, accepting their pasts and growing into their futures. It didn’t make me double over with laughter or draw tears, but was an enjoyable story. The end cut short just a bit (I wanted to find out more!) but left me satisfied.

she reads

 

To celebrate its paperback release, Love Water Memory is the She Reads January book club selection. Visit She Reads for a chance to win one of FIVE copies of this fab read!

 

 

LOVE WATER MEMORY
by Jennie Shortridge
Gallery Books; 352 pages
First Edition edition (April 2, 2013) Paperback (January 14, 2014)


 Connect with Jennie Shortridge: Website | Facebook | Twitter

Thank you to Gallery Books and She Reads for my review copy. All opinions are my own.

What I’m Reading: Fall Edition

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This has been a banner year for books. From sentimental journeys to fast-paced thrillers, I’ve been overwhelmed with the number of amazing books released this year.  I simply don’t have time to write reviews for all the novel’s I’ve fallen in love with (and in a few cases, eloquent masters of the craft have already written glowing reviews—I’m talking about you Margret Atwood reviewing Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep).

Some of the books below are new releases, some have been out a few months. Those library wait lists can take a while.  All are highly recommended.

 

The Signature of All Things: A Novel
by Elizabeth Gilbert

Spanning much of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the novel follows the fortunes of the extraordinary Whittaker family as led by the enterprising Henry Whittaker—a poor-born Englishman who makes a great fortune in the South American quinine trade, eventually becoming the richest man in Philadelphia. Born in 1800, Henry’s brilliant daughter, Alma (who inherits both her father’s money and his mind), ultimately becomes a botanist of considerable gifts herself. As Alma’s research takes her deeper into the mysteries of evolution, she falls in love with a man named Ambrose Pike who makes incomparable paintings of orchids and who draws her in the exact opposite direction—into the realm of the spiritual, the divine, and the magical. Alma is a clear-minded scientist; Ambrose a utopian artist—but what unites this unlikely couple is a desperate need to understand the workings of this world and the mechanisms behind all life.

Quick thoughts: Don’t go into this holding onto any memories of Eat, Pray, Love. The two works cannot compare. The Signature of All Things is a complex historical tale, in which Gilbert skillfully weaves family saga, the world of botany, and a pioneering woman’s journey to discover herself. Though not quite as lyrical, it reminded me of Isabel Allende’s mesmerizing novels.

 

Fangirl
by Rainbow Rowell
Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan, but for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.
Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

 Quick thoughts: This story could have been about me. I’ve never gotten into the world of fan fiction, and Harry Potter (whom I assume Simon Snow is based on) didn’t swoop in on his broom until I was an adult, but Rainbow Rowell has expertly captured the quiet yet deeply-felt world of the bookish clan. Those of us who would rather sit home with a good book or a pen in hand instead of donning stilettos and hitting a frat party will instantly bond with Cath. Rowell nails it.

 

The Theory of Opposites
Allison Winn Scotch

What happens when you think you have it all, and then suddenly it’s taken away?

Willa Chandler-Golden’s father changed the world with his self-help bestseller, Is It Really Your Choice? Why Your Entire Life May Be Out of Your Control. Millions of devoted fans now find solace in his notion that everything happens for a reason. Though Willa isn’t entirely convinced of her father’s theories, she readily admits that the universe has delivered her a solid life: a reliable husband, a fast-paced career. Sure there are hiccups – negative pregnancy tests, embattled siblings – but this is what the universe has brought, and life, if she doesn’t think about it too much, is wonderful.

Then her (evidently not-so-reliable) husband proposes this: a two-month break. Two months to see if they can’t live their lives without each other. And before Willa can sort out destiny and fate and what it all means, she’s axed from her job, her 12 year-old nephew Nicky moves in, her ex-boyfriend finds her on Facebook, and her best friend Vanessa lands a gig writing for Dare You!, the hottest new reality TV show. And then Vanessa lures Willa into dares of her own – dares that run counter to her father’s theories of fate, dares that might change everything…but only if Willa is brave enough to stop listening to the universe and instead aim for the stars

 Quick thoughts: What happens when an established, traditionally published (and much beloved) author goes indie? She puts out a kick-ass story, sells a zillion copies (I hope) and readers win because the book is on Amazon for only $2.99! (whoo-hoo!). Scotch’s funny, clever, and heartwarming story about what happens when a young woman dares to stop wallowing in what life just hands her and “grows some balls” may send you chasing after your dreams.

 

Doctor Sleep
by Stephen King

Stephen King returns to the character and territory of one of his most popular novels ever, The Shining, in this instantly riveting novel about the now middle-aged Dan Torrance and the very special twelve-year-old girl he must save from a tribe of murderous paranormals.

On highways across America, a tribe of people called the True Knot travel in search of sustenance. They look harmless—mostly old, lots of polyester, and married to their RVs. But as Dan Torrance knows, and spunky twelve-year-old Abra Stone learns, the True Knot are quasi-immortal, living off the steam that children with the shining produce when they are slowly tortured to death.

Haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel, where he spent one horrific childhood year, Dan has been drifting for decades, desperate to shed his father’s legacy of despair, alcoholism, and violence. Finally, he settles in a New Hampshire town, an AA community that sustains him, and a job at a nursing home where his remnant shining power provides the crucial final comfort to the dying. Aided by a prescient cat, he becomes “Doctor Sleep.”

Then Dan meets the evanescent Abra Stone, and it is her spectacular gift, the brightest shining ever seen, that reignites Dan’s own demons and summons him to a battle for Abra’s soul and survival. This is an epic war between good and evil, a gory, glorious story that will thrill the millions of devoted readers of The Shining and satisfy anyone new to this icon in the King canon.

Quick thoughts: Wowza. I was terribly worried this book would disappoint. Most sequels leave you shaking your head in disappointment. The Shining reigns as one of King’s greatest works—how could he pull off a sequel that would instantly draw us back into Danny’s world and make us grip the pages wondering what comes next?  No need to be worried. This book was like catching up with an old friend—granted, he’s a damaged old friend who sees dead people, can tell when you’re going to die, and battles a horrifying clan of child-killers, but you’ll love him just the same. Make sure you’ve read The Shining first—even if it was twenty years ago. It will all come back to you.

 

The English Girl
by Daniel Silva

When a beautiful young British woman vanishes on the island of Corsica, a prime minister’s career is threatened with destruction.  Gabriel Allon, the wayward son of Israeli intelligence, is thrust into a game of shadows where nothing is what it seems…and where the only thing more dangerous than his enemies might be the truth…

Silva’s work has captured the imagination of millions worldwide; his #1 New York Times bestselling series which chronicles the adventures of art-restorer and master spy Gabriel Allon has earned the praise of readers and reviewers everywhere. This captivating new page-turner from the undisputed master of spy fiction is sure to thrill new and old fans alike.

Quick thoughts: So many of my favorite mystery and thriller series have petered out lately and I’ve wistfully given up on them. But in Silva’s sixteenth spy story, the stakes are still astronomically high, the characters sharp, and the pacing whisks readers through the world of international intrigue. The English Girl is a smart thriller that will challenge your views on international politics—and leave you wondering about this underground world people like super-spy Gabriel Allon inhabit, saving us from from the bad guys out there we can’t even imagine.

 

How about you? Which books make your fall must-read list?

Review: Someone Else’s Love Story by Joshilyn Jackson

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I fell in love with William Ashe at gunpoint, in a Circle K. It was on a Friday afternoon at the tail end of a Georgia summer so ungodly hot the air felt like it had been boiled red. We were both staring down the barrel of an ancient, creaky .32 that could kill us just as dead as a really nice gun could.

I fell in love with Someone Else’s Love Story the first time I read those opening lines in a teaser post a few months ago.

From Goobiger someone elses love storydreads:

At twenty-one, Shandi Pierce is juggling finishing college, raising her delightful three-year-old genius son Natty, and keeping the peace between her eternally warring, long-divorced Catholic mother and Jewish father. She’s got enough complications without getting caught in the middle of a stick-up in a gas station mini-mart and falling in love with a great wall of a man named William Ashe, who willingly steps between the armed robber and her son.

Shandi doesn’t know that her blond god Thor has his own complications. When he looked down the barrel of that gun he believed it was destiny: It’s been one year to the day since a tragic act of physics shattered his universe. But William doesn’t define destiny the way other people do. A brilliant geneticist who believes in science and numbers, destiny to him is about choice.

Now, he and Shandi are about to meet their so-called destinies head on, in a funny, charming, and poignant novel about science and miracles, secrets and truths, faith and forgiveness,; about a virgin birth, a sacrifice, and a resurrection; about falling in love, and learning that things aren’t always what they seem—or what we hope they will be. It’s a novel about discovering what we want and ultimately finding what we need.

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Oh, Lord, have I ever mentioned how much I adore Joshilyn Jackson books? Almost to the point where I have a writer-crush on her. (I think actually stuttered when I met her a year or so ago. Writers are my rock stars. It was rather embarrassing.) My cheapskate-butt actually paid FULL PRICE for a hardcover of her last book, A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty just so she could sign it. Needless to say, I had big expectations for Someone Else’s Love Story—the kind that can be scary for a writer if they know how much we anticipate from their shiny strings of words and disappointing to a reader if those words don’t flash like diamonds.

Someone Else’s Love Story did not disappoint.

The opening scene is like a bad joke: a meth head, an autistic genius, a too-young mom, and a brilliant toddler born from a virgin walk into a convince store . . .   What happens next is far from convenient. (Oops. I almost wrote covenant. Nuns play a role in this story, too.)

If you’re held up at gunpoint, your life MUST change in some earth-shattering ways, right? Since almost all the characters involved were already living beside the river DENIAL, things start flowing.

This book deals with a smorgasbord of heavy stuff: crime, trauma, grief, child-loss, rape, religion, autism, drugs, and more. But before your forehead gets all scrunched up—this book is also damn funny. In between, Jackson manages to wriggle in destiny vs. choice, science vs. religion, chemistry vs. friendship, miracles vs.explanations—and fireworks, birdhouses, and sweet poets named Walcott.

I couldn’t help being engaged by William and Shandi, flaws and all. The characters are just so colorfully drawn. Even little Natty is divine (I pictured him as that precociously adorable blond kid from Jerry Maguire). And although some of the secondary characters come off as a might-bit brash, a little off, or lacking morals, I came to see the motivations for their ways.

These characters, even the ones I held dear, fight against things they know to be true. They banish their golems to the closet even though they know the door locks are broken, and eventually the bad is going to bust out. They make choices the reader may not agree with, but hey, it’s the character’s choice.

So much of this tale is backstory. Technically, all the answers must be found there, and the reader is lured along as hunks of the characters pasts are unveiled, sometimes even to the characters themselves. This can be clunky in novels, but here it’s integrated so well, I hardly noticed the jaunts from past to present. Jackson also knows her way around imagery and metaphor [“walking into air so thick with cat-fight tension that to me it tasted just like estrogen”] saturating the prose with a style I can only think of as deliciously Southern.

The novel is short—a scant 300 or so pages—and while I was dying to know how certain storylines would play in the future (which I can’t mention due to spoilers), I admire her restraint in just letting the ending be. Good things must come to an end.


Oh, and did I mention that she released an e-original short story that gives a fierce and funny character from Someone Else’s Love Story a standalone adventure all her own? Check out My Own Miraculous: A Short Story currently on sale on Amazon for a steal at $1.99 $0.99!! Yeah–ninety-nine cents! (Thanks for the heads-up Mom.)

 

she readsSomeone Else’s Love Story is the She Reads Book Club November pick. If you head over there, you can WIN 1 of 5 beautiful copies they’re giving away before the book releases November 18th. Ms. Jackson will be dropping by She Reads all month sharing  exclusive content including pictures of her writing space, the inspiration behind the novel, and the short story prequel to the novel (among other things). Make sure you check it out. I certainly will.

 

Someone Else’s Love Story: A Novel
by Joshilyn Jackson
Print Length: 320 pages
Release date: November 19, 2013

*Joshilyn Jackson narrates the Audible Audio Edition herself. I’ve heard her audio books are absolutely amazing.

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Review: Karma Gone Bad: How I Learned to Love Mangos, Bollywood and Water Buffalo by Jenny Feldon

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karma gone bad reviewReview: Non-fiction, travel, memoir

Imagine you are a chic Manhattanite, living a Sex in the City-ish (freshly married) life filled with yoga lessons, designer duds, and your daily Starbucks hit. (I know, it’s a far cry from my life. Ever.) Now imagine your new husband’s employer “asks” him to start up a new office in a far-flung local. (Uhm–yay? I get to be a world traveler?) You think London, Paris, maybe even Amsterdam or Istanbul. Instead you get…Hyderabad, India. (Where?)

As Karma Gone Bad opens, our narrator, 27-year-old blogger, writer, and yoga enthusiast Jenny, is worried about having enough time to get a blow-out and which stilettos to pair with the gorgeous Diane von Furstenberg gown she’s wearing to her goingaway party. Though she adores NYC, she’s turned off by the trash in the gutters, rude taxi drivers, and the ‘grit’ of the Big Apple. India will be a jet-setters paradise, right? She ever-so-reluctantly packs her novel-in-progress, designer shoes,  cocktail dresses, and her dog’s teddy bear for the journey of a lifetime. And her beloved dog, Tucker, of course.

Yes, dear readers, at this point I was shaking my head, too.

We know this isn’t going to go smoothly. Someone is ripe for a major wake-up call.

And that call came before she could find any coffee.

You see, coffee isn’t really prevalent in India. Not a Starbucks to be found—at least when Jenny arrives. She endures a (chauffeured) drive through the congested Third-world city only to find overpriced chai tea (costing ten times what it does for natives) —then realizes she left the house with no rupees, only a worthless AmEx card.

It takes Jenny a while to truly awaken to life in India. Her journey is as much internal as learning the lay of this strange land.

She hadn’t planned on finding “help,” but in India, she’s expected to have servants. Her driver, cook, housekeepers, security guard, and water tank watcher (you’ll have to read the book to understand that one) become stifling. She hardly ever sees her overworked husband, and she grows desperately lonely though she’s never alone.

Jenny tries to forge a sense of community through the few other corporate wives and expats who seem to have acclimated to Indian life easier, yet they’re carefully elated when their short times are up and they return to the states. Jenny is in it for the long-haul.

Now, this story could have stalled if our plucky-yet-somewhat-spoiled heroine remained stagnant in this world of frustration, desperation, and denial. But instead of withering in the Hyderabad heat, she grows.

Karma Gone Bad is a well-spun tale about discovery—not only of a foreign culture, but of self. Jenny’s brutal honesty about her decent into travel-induced depression, strained marriage, and inability to grasp her purpose in Indian life endears her to readers, but it’s her humor that keeps us going as we cross our fingers hoping she finds her way.

When I read stories of Upper West Side wives, I often feel as if I’m reading a travel memoir. These women live in a place I’ve never been doing things I can only imagine—the smells, sights, and experiences seem foreign to this suburban Floridian. Jenny’s journey from that NYC world to Hyderabad allowed me to live vicariously through her, as I’m pretty sure now I never want to spend two years in India. Visit—sure. I’ll travel anywhere. But spend two years? ::shaking head::  Though she may not have seemed it in the beginning, that girl was brave.

Karma Gone Bad will sate your travel bug and leave you laughing, worrying, and cheering as you follow Jenny’s humbling and enlightening journey. Thanks for taking us along for your beautiful, bumpy ride, Jenny.

 

 Jenny’s Blog: Karma Contiued | website | Twitter | Facebook |

 

Karma Gone Bad: How I Learned to Love Mangos, Bollywood and Water Buffalo
by Jenny Feldon
Sourcebooks (November 5, 2013)
336 pages

Review: The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes

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the girl you left behind

From the cover:

France, 1916:  Artist Edouard Lefevre leaves his young wife, Sophie, to fight at the front. When their small town falls to the Germans in the midst of World War I, Edouard’s portrait of Sophie draws the eye of the new Kommandant. As the officer’s dangerous obsession deepens, Sophie will risk everything—her family, her reputation, and her life—to see her husband again.

Almost a century later, Sophie’s portrait is given to Liv Halston by her young husband shortly before his sudden death. A chance encounter reveals the painting’s true worth, and a battle begins over its troubled history. Was the painting looted during the war? Who is to pay retribution? And who is the true owner now? As the layers of the painting’s dark secrets are revealed, Liv’s life is turned upside down all over again. And her belief in what is right is put the the ultimate test . . .

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First of all, have you read Jojo Moyes’s previous book ME BEFORE YOU? If not, go pick it up now. Or order it along with this one. Make it a bookish double feature. Done? Okay. Moving on.

THE GIRL YOU LEFT BEHIND is nothing like ME BEFORE YOU. I would have never guessed that they were written by the same person. And that’s perfectly okay. I read an advance digital copy without any book jacket description—at one point, I double-checked that I downloaded the right book.

The opening tale of strong, young Sophie hiding a pig from the German Kommandant in 1916 occupied France drew me in even though it was nothing like I expected. Both Sophie’s husband, Edouard, an artist who studied under Matisse, and her sister’s spouse are off fighting the war. Their once grand family-owned hotel has been pillaged and fallen into disrepair, as has the rest of the small town, and residents scrape by with barely enough to fend off hunger pains. When the Kommandant declares that his men shall eat at the hotel’s bar, the townsfolk begin to titter. When he looks lustfully at Edouard’s painting of Sophie, we know major complications will arise.

Since I’m a sucker for light historical fiction, I was riveted by Sophie’s WWI tale. About a third of the way through the book, the plot flashes forward almost a century, and I once again checked that I was reading the same novel. (Proving I should have read the book jacket.)

Suddenly, we meet Liv Halston, a young widow living in a breathtaking London flat her late husband designed. She hasn’t recovered from his death and is up to the ceiling in debt. After Sophie’s WWI struggle to survive, Liv’s misery of enduring dinner parties seems slightly shallow.  But when she meets former NYPD cop Paul after a drunken purse-snatching episode, she opens up. At a rather unfortunate moment in their blooming relationship, Paul spies the painting The Girl You Left Behind on Liv’s bedroom wall. Paul is really an investigator, specializing in the restitution of lost art and the spoils of war. And he’s been looking for that painting.

The story shifts again, this time to a light courtroom drama. Will Liv be forced to give up the painting, which she clings to not for it’s worth, but for sentimental value? Who really owns the painting, and how did it end up as trash on a Spainsh street? And whatever happened to dear Sophie all those years ago?

You’ll have to read it and find out for yourself.

THE GIRL YOU LEFT BEHIND is the She Reads October book club selection. Visit SheRead.org all month long to find out more about the story, read about bestselling author JoJo Moyes, and have a chance to win one of three copies of THE GIRL YOU LEFT BEHIND.

 

The Girl You Left Behind
by Jojo Moyes
Pamela Dorman Books (August 20, 2013)
384 pages

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Review: The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty

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the husbands secret

 

This month’s She Reads Book Club selection has spent weeks topping the bestsellers lists. (See—Women’s Fiction does sell!) It’s a smart, spellbinding read that has captured audiences around the globe. Australian author Liane Moriarty’s  previous novels The Hypnotist’s Love Story and What Alice Forgot drew rave reviews and are going on my to-read lists immediately.

From the inside cover:

From the author of the critically acclaimed What Alice Forgot comes a breakout new novel about the secrets husbands and wives keep from each other.

My Darling Cecilia
If you’re reading this, then I’ve died . . .

Imagine your husband wrote you a letter, to be opened after his death. Imagine, too, that the letter contains his deepest, darkest secret – something so terrible it would destroy not just the life you built together, but the lives of others too. Imagine, then, that you stumble across that letter while your husband is still very much alive . . .

Cecilia Fitzpatrick achieved it all – she’s an incredibly successful business woman, a pillar of her small community and a devoted wife and mother. Her life is as orderly and spotless as her home. But that letter is about to change everything, and not just for her: Rachel and Tess barely know Cecilia – or each other – but they too are about to feel the earth-shattering repercussions of her husband’s devastating secret.

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This is the story of three women and the secrets that hide within marriages. Cecilia is your typical Type-A suburban mom—a PTA queen bee and Tupperware diva whose life is perfect because she organizes it that way. Rachel is a grandmother mourning the possible loss of her beloved grandson after his parent announce a move across the globe. More importantly, she’s still grieving her daughter, murdered 28 years ago. Rounding out this trio is Tess, who hides the secret of her social anxiety disorder as she struggles with her own husband’s admission that he’s in love with her best friend/cousin.

But that’s not this story’s BIG secret.

When Cecilia finds a letter from her husband in an old box—a letter to be opened only upon his death—she stares at the temptations of Pandora’s box.  She wavers: should she open it? Throw it away like he insisted? Forget she ever saw it? What could he possibly have done? They’d been married for decades. She knew everything about her spouse, right? After a few strange circumstances and odd comments, she give in. She reads the letter. And everything  changes.

Most of this novel takes place inside these three womens’ heads—a running commentary of their fears, their hopes, their desperation. It’s almost a comedy of manners, tossing observant snippets of suburban melodramas across the page—until the issues grows too big for the page to contain.

I suppose I related to Tess the most, with her self-diagnosed social anxiety disorder and undying love for her son—not the husband/love triangle part. (This made me just go take one of those online tests, and what do you know, I have severe social anxiety. Back in my day we called it painfully shy.)  Or perhaps the parts of the other women I did relate to, were parts of me I don’t like. If the women had been perfect (as they tried to be on the surface) they would not have been as intriguing; instead we were drawn to their flaws.

Overall, The Husband’s Secret is an engrossing read that you’ll stay up late reading. And you’ll never want to dig through old boxes of paperwork again . . .

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, film rights have been snapped up by CBS Flims. Read it before it hits the screen. The book is ALWAYS better.

she reads
The Husband’s Secret
by Liane Moriarty
Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam
Released July 30, 2013
416 pages