Category Archives: Book Review

Review: The Comfort of Lies by Randy Susan Meyers

“Happiness at someone else’s expense always came at a price. Tia had imagined judgement from the first kiss that she and Nathan shared. All year she’d waited to be punished for being in love, and in truth, she believed that whatever consequences came her way would be deserved.”

Tia is a bright young woman from the South side of Boston who fell hard for a married sociology professor, Nathan. After she discovers she is pregnant with his child, Nathan urges her to take care of it, flees from the relationship, and confesses to his wife. Tia struggles to do what’s right. She places their baby up for adoption, afraid she would make a terrible single mother, and even more terrified she couldn’t handle the constant reminder of her lost love.

Caving into pressure from her husband, Caroline becomes the adoptive mother to Tia’s daughter, Savannah. Motherhood is an afterthought for Caroline, something a woman is supposed to achieve, and she is far more fulfilled in her career as a physician than her role of a mother.

Tia decides to send her old lover a letter telling of their daughters existence. When Nathan’s almost forgiving wife, Juliette, intercepts it, the lives of these women suddenly collide with unexpected consequences. The story alternates between the three women’s perspectives as they wrangle with the repercussions of that five-year-old affair, matters far more raw than just an out-of-wedlock child.

The Comfort of Lies would make a wonderful book club selection. The women, instead of falling into rigid characterizations, reveal themselves to be deeply layered and flawed. Each struggles with the pressure to do what’s right, even when the answers falls into the grey areas we are often afraid to discuss. The story calls into question what makes a good mother, who deserves to be a mother, and if parenthood is a right or a privilege. All thought provoking topics ripe for discussion.

I also must add, this book made me reflect upon my own marriage and family, and caused me to treasure these often fragile relationships no matter how imperfect they may be. The Comfort of Lies is a quietly powerful read, full of heart, both broken and mended.

Release: February 12, 2013

The Comfort of Lies
by Randy Susan Meyers
336 pages, Atria Books
$24 [hardcover], $11.99 [Kindle]

RandySusanMeyers.com/Facebook/Twitter

Fifty Shades of Chicken: Book Review and Recipe {Go Get the Butter Breasts}

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Fifty Shades of Chicken. Yes, it’s a real book. And in my humble opinion, far better than that poorly written smutty best seller.

What happens when a young, free-range chicken falls under the mercy of a dominating, ravenous chef (who happens to also sport fabulous abs)? You get a delightfully quasi-erotic collection of food porn that will leave you salivating for more.

My review, both tantalizing and freaking hilarious, is up at BookshelfBombshells.com. You know you are just dying to read it. But first, check out the dominating chef Shifty Blades’ ~~abs~~ trussing skills.

Whenever I review a cookbook, I select a recipe to sample. The selections in this book were almost just too scrumptious, too tempting— Dripping Thighs (roasted chicken thighs with sweet and sour onions), Cream-Slicked Chick (crisp baked chicken with honey mustard and lime), and yes, even Cock au Vin (braised chicken with red wine, mushrooms, and onions).

Tell me those titles would not make for some invigorating table conversation.

While many recipes appealed to my rather open-minded tastes, I decided if I was going to sample one of Shifty Blades’s epicurean fantasies, I was going to be bad—not just naughty, but slathered in sumptuous butter, calories, and decadence bad. I went all the way out of my (healthy eating) comfort zone with Go Get the Butter Breasts (sauteed chicken breasts with aromatic brown butter and hazelnuts). These babies just oozed desire—hot, gooey, and utterly sinful. I had to make them early, pounding the breasts into submission, gently spicing them, then slathering them with creamy butter. I tried to resist the fragrant flesh while I photographed them in all their glory, but I gave into temptation. No self-control. Holy shit, they were divine. Perhaps the dish was not my best culinary performance, but it was eagerly devoured by all, and a decadent aroma lingered in the house for hours. One diner innocently announced, “Like, whoa, that had some bang in it.” If only he knew.

Go Get the Butter Breasts
(a.k.a. sauteed chicken breasts with aromatic brown butter and hazelnuts)

serves 2 to 4

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

2 boneless, skinless (about 8 ounces each), patted dry with paper towels

1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

¾ teaspoon finely grated orange zest (from one small orange)

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons chopped, toasted hazelnuts or almonds (toasting instructions here)

1. Using a mortar and pestle, or the flat side of a knife, crush the coriander seeds and put them into a bowl.

2. Using the side of a rolling pin, gently pound the breasts until they submit, flattening them ¼ inch thick. Put the chicken into the bowl with the coriander and add the salt, orange zest, pepper, and nutmeg and toss to coat. Let marinate in the fridge for at least and hour, or better, up to 6 hours.

3. Melt 1 ½ tablespoons of the butter in a very large skillet over medium-high heat and let it simmer until it turns golden brown and starts to smell nutty. Add the chicken in batches and cook until golden on both sides, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to a platter and tent with foil to keep warm.

4. Melt the remaining ½ tablespoon butter in the pan and add the nuts. Let them heat up and crisp until very fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Serve on top of the breasts.

Devour.

You know you want to read the full book review now. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll feel a tantalizing flutter down there which could be hunger…or something else…

And if I haven’t won you over yet: GO READ THE REVIEW. You won’t be sorry.

And watch this book trailer. (narrated by none other than Sir Patrick Stewart. I think.)

Review: The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro

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“No,” I cry, and it sounds like a moan.

I should have guessed from the size of the canvas. This is no ordinary Degas. It’s one of his masterworks. After the Bath, the last of five he gave the same name, but by far the most famous.

And that‘s the least of it. This painting was torn from the walls of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, ripped from its frame. It and all the other works taken that rainy night by a couple of bumbling thieves have never been recovered.

In front of me stands on of the most valuable paintings stolen in the greatest unsolved art theft in history.

Claire Roth is a talented, struggling young artist. She paints in the style of masters such as Degas. One of her works hangs in the prestigious Museum of Modern Art. Unfortunately, that painting is accredited to her former art professor and lover, and by claiming that she actually painted the work, she was blackballed by the art industry. To pay the bills, Claire paints reproductions (legal copies not passed off as originals) of masterpieces for an above board company while she waits for memories of the scandalous “incident” to fade and her own career to come alive.

Aiden Markel, one of Boston’s most powerful gallery owners, drops by her loft/studio with a Faustian deal she simply cannot refuse. If she can effectively forge a Degas missing since the still-unsolved 1990 Gardner Museum heist, he will sell the forgery to some shady art connoisseur (who doesn’t deserve the real painting anyway), return the original back to the museum for the world to enjoy, and grant Claire her own show at his gallery. Her rent will be paid, her own works will finally be acknowledged, and the missing masterpiece will be returned to the masses. “There’s illegal, and there’s illegal.” What could possibly go wrong?

Everything.

The Art Forger effectively blends fact with fiction, coloring a vivid world full of obsessed artists, connoisseurs, and criminals…yet who is who? Shapiro’s style is too simple for me to consider it “literary” but I consider that a compliment. When reading about the mysteries I don’t enjoy overly verbose clutter distracting me from the plotting. When reading about art I don’t want the writer’s judgements obscuring my visions.

And Shapiro’s descriptions of the forging process are absolutely intriguing. While the missing Degas is a work of fiction (most likely a compilation of several of Degas’ bathers series), the techniques used to create the forgery are carefully researched, vividly detailed, and completely absorbing.

Claire is by far the most fleshed-out character. While her reasoning and taste in men might be found lacking, she is engrossing, skilled, and perceptive enough to make her amateur detective skills believable. Correspondence from Isabella Stewart Gardner is interspersed throughout the story, a plot device used to clue the readers in on the true origins of the painting. While I found the tales of her journeys through Europe acquiring her impressive art collection interesting, her fictionalized relationship with Degas required some suspension of disbelief. Not that she may have had such relationship (although one has never been alluded to in reality), but that she would discuss it so openly in a letter.

While some aspects of the crime story were predictable, there were enough swerves to keep me reading until the wee hours. I’m also a sucker for novels that leave me feeling as if I’ve gained some knowledge along the way, and Shapiro expertly blends facts into a masterful tale, making me pull out some of my tomes on art history and wish I remembered more from my classes. Any art lover will adore this book.

The Art Forger is the January She Reads book club pick. She Reads is GIVING AWAY 10 COPIES of The Art Forger (courtesy of Algonquin Books). Enter to win and check out more reviews of the book by clicking here.

The Art Forger
by B.A. Shapiro
368 pages
$23.99 [hardcover] $9.58 [Kindle ed.]
Algonquin Books

*I received this book courtesy of Algonquin Books and the She Reads Blogger Network. All opinions are my own.

Review: The Serpent’s Ring by H.B. Bolton

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“Evan, an enormous flying fish swooped down and stole the Serpent’s Ring from your arm. We are in a Model T with an imp, and the sky is tangerine with rainbow-colored clouds. Humor me, and try to move this blasted car with your mind!” said Claire, grabbing Evan’s shirt collar. “If you don’t, I will make your life miserable. Got it?”

Evan and Claire Jones are typical teenagers, forced to go with their parents to yet another boring museum…that is, until something extraordinary happens to make their day a little more than interesting. After following a strange little creature into a closed exhibit, Evan and his older sister, Claire, discover the Serpent’s Ring, one of the magical relics formed from the shattered Mysticus Orb. Purely by accident, they have awakened its powers and opened a portal to Sagaas, Land of the Ancient Gods.

Before the siblings can comprehend what has happened, the Serpent’s Ring is wrenched from Evan’s hand by and enormous bird and flown back to Aegir, the Norse God of the Sea. Evan and Claire, accompanied by a band of unlikely heroes, must retrieve the Serpent’s Ring before Aegir uses its immense powers to flood all the lands on Earth.

Let me start by mentioning this is a middle grade (ages 8 to 12) book. That being noted, even though I happen to have a middle grade reader running around my house, I don’t read any of his books. With the exception of the Harry Potter series (which ends being more YA) I don’t think I’ve read a middle grade book in thirty years. And even then, I didn’t read fantasy (yes, I was the freaky book lover who hated A Wrinkle in Time—you may hurl virtual books at me now).

All that said, I enjoyed reading The Serpent’s Ring. It was a quick and easy read (obviously, as I’m not the target market) full of action, adventure, and some cool mythology.

The story moves quickly. Once fourteen-year-old Evan stumbles upon a strange critter hiding under the eves of Dr. Irvings residence in the historic Greenfield Village, things are never the same. He found the Serpent’s Ring, a key that can be used to unlock Jormundang, the sea serpent who holds the world in his balance. He and his older sister, Claire, fly in a Model T with an imp to the magical world of Sagaas on a quest to save the world.

The story mostly follows the classic hero’s tale format:

A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.

While many stories deal with Greek and Roman mythology, Bolton takes us to a world where Norse gods and goddesses rule. Honestly, most of my Norse knowledge comes from the Avengers and Thor movies. It was intriguing to learn about the sea goddesses Ran, who rips sailors from the sea with her magic net, and watch Claire develop crush on Sigurd, the legendary hero.

Both teens discover they have magical powers: Evan can make things fly with his power of telekinesis and Claire learns to shape ordinary objects into whatever she desires via transfiguration. Every kid wants to create glass ships and fly, right? The relationship between the siblings was fun to read and reminded me of The Magic Treehouse‘s Jack and Annie—only a couple of years older.

The Serpent’s Ring should be a fun read for 8 to 12-year-olds. While many girls may enjoy the tales of dragons, mermaids, trolls, and angry sea gods, I think those characters will attract boys more. I can’t wait to pass this along to my little reader. He’s been dying to get his hands on it since he spied the gorgeous cover.

I’m looking forward to the next book in the Relics of Mysticus series, The Trixter’s Totem.

The Serpent’s Ring (Relics of Mysticus, #1)
by H.B. Bolton
{ebook currently on sale for $2.99 or FREE to Amazon Prime members}

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

H.B. Bolton also writes women’s fiction under the name Barbara Brook. (Read my review of her novel Glimmers here.)

**I received a copy of this book from the author, whom I am pleased to say I know IRL.

Review: Man in the Blue Moon by Michael Morris

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Ella Wallace is sinking faster than a brick-bound body in a Florida swamp. Her opium-addicted husband, Harlan, ran off leaving her with three boys to raise, a county store to run, and a second mortgage she didn’t sign for and can’t pay. This is no great surprise to many townsfolk in the panhandle town of Dead Springs; they’d been waiting for her fall since she threw away her chance to study art in Europe and made that charming scoundrel her husband.

There’s something special about Ella’s land, the only thing she has left from a family long gone. The unscrupulous banker who holds the mortgage thinks so, too. There’s an old spring bubbling up on the back of her property, and the local Indians believe it may have some special healing properties. Enter a big time evangelist itching to build a retreat to help heal his sickly, wealthy wife. Some men will do anything to make a hearty profit in a hardscrabble town.

On the verge of financial and emotional collapse, Ella gambles on a special delivery her husband arranged before going AWOL, and sets of a chain of events testing her faith in everything she’d ever known. When the mysterious Lanier Stillis, claiming to be her husbands relation, suddenly appears on the scene, no one quite knows quite what to do with him. Women on their own don’t take in strange men, especially when those men are on the run and tainted or blessed with some peculiar powers. But Ella needs any break she can get, and with Lanier’s help she fights to save her family and her land.

****

As a native Floridian, I gravitate towards any book set in this colorful, often corruptible state. Dead Springs, set just outside the then busy port town Apalachicola, exemplifies Old Florida. It’s Southern to the core, filled with honest folks, scoundrels, and those just scraping by working the soggy land.

Setting is often a character. In Man in the Blue Moon, Morris intimately captures the languid sway of Spanish moss in a breath of breeze, the sodden weariness after working in the brutal heat of a late-summer day, the complex organic scent of a cypress swamp after a storm. He puts you there.

Southern fiction has a tendency to move slowly, yet Morris manages to propel the reader on currents of suspense, drama, and some curious elements of mysticism. While some characters at first exemplify the archetypes of the time (the no-good husband, single schoolmarm, small-minded sheriff), Morris rounds them out and captures their weariness and hopes as they rebel against circumstance. And I couldn’t help rooting for the tenacious Ella, a strong mother fighting for what is hers, on a quest to banish the snakes from her Eden.

Man in the Blue Moon is a beautifully rendered a turn of the century tale, vivid in colors and contrasts, so rich you feel as your sitting around a campfire fire listening to a master storyteller spin a yarn.

Southern Grit Lit at its finest. Read it.

Man in the Blue Moon
by Michael Morris
$13.99 [paperback] $3.99 [Kindle]
Tyndale House Publishers
400 pages

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Man in the Blue Moon is the November She Reads Book Club selection. If you’d like to win a signed copy of the novel or a “blue moon” necklace head over and comment or join in the book club conversation. For more about Michael Morris, links to other blogger’s reviews of the book, or suggestions for other great reads visit SheReads.org.
*I received this book courtesy of Tyndal House Publishers and the She Reads Blogger Network. All opinions are my own.

My Berlin Kitchen: Review and Recipe

Review: Blackberry Winter by Sarah Jio

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BLACKBERRY WINTER: a period of cold weather in late spring when the blackberries are in bloom.

As a native Floridian, I had never herd the term blackberry winter. A late-season snowstorm? In MAY? I was intrigued. Then the story began…

May 1, 1933. A late-season snow storm blankets Seattle. Struggling single-mom Vera Ray must leave her young son bundled in their shabby apartment while she slogs through the snow to work her night shift as a maid in the upscale Olympic Hotel. She kisses her son good-bye. . .and never sees him again. Police refuse to search for the boy and consider the 3-year-old to be a runaway, just another faceless loss during the class struggles plaguing the Depression Era. Her simple life disappears faster than the snow melt, and Vera forces herself to grasp ANY option that may help her find her beloved Daniel.

May 1, present day. A late season snowstorm surprises Seattle reporter Claire Aldridge. She has been stumbling through the last year in a haze of grief, unable to come to terms with the results of a horrific accident. With a marriage on the rocks and a disintegrating career to save, she delves into the 80-year-old mystery of the missing boy.

The story bounces in time between the two women, sharing snippets of their stories, pulling us along until we find the connections which bind them together. And whether it be fate, serendipity, or artistic license, the coincidences cropping up during Claire’s search for the truth are as heavy as a foot of wet snow.

As a mother this story hit me with a a punch. Losing a child is a parent’s greatest fear, and watching both women throw themselves into the search for the vanished toddler and cope with a devastating loss will pull at any parent’s heartstrings. Claire’s quest to discover what happened to Daniel is really a quest to save herself. If she can just find out if that lost child survived, if his story had a happy ending, perhaps she can start living her own life again.

Both women’s stories are revealed with an air of mystery. In Claire’s present day story we wonder what happened to her marriage. Will she be lured away from it by the kind guy at the coffee shop? What’s the major trauma that broke her spirit? Yet I found Vera’s strength and story far more gripping. Who is Daniel’s father? Why is he allowing her to live such a destitute life? And will she ever find her child?

And if you loved Sarah’s debut novel The Violets of March, you will appreciate a cameo appearance during Claire’s visit to Bainbridge Island. Sometimes it’s so nice to catch up with old friends.

I’ve been a fan of Sarah’s since her days on The Debutante Ball blog, and Blackberry Winter did not disappoint. While the plot is slightly predicable, the story is highly readable and tough to put down. Blackberry Winter is a perfect light read to snuggle up with during an early fall cold snap. Keep a box of tissues nearby, just in case.

Blackberry Winter
by Sarah Jio
$15 [paperback] $9.99 [Kindle]
320 pages

Sarah’s website | Twitter | Facebook

Blackberry Winter is the October She Reads Book Club selection. For more about Sarah Jio, links to other blogger’s reviews of the book, or suggestions for other great reads visit SheReads.org.

*I received this book courtesy of Plume and the She Reads Blogger Network. All opinions are my own.

Island Dreams: Indie Phenom Tracey Garvis Graves

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Have you read On the Island yet? If not, you absolutely should. Go over to Bookshelf Bombshells for the full book review.

On the Island‘s author, Tracey Garvis Graves, could be the poster girl for Indie publishing success stories.

She wrote a compelling, risky, and slightly addictive romance about two people who shouldn’t be together stranded on a desert island. She sent off the dreaded query letters hoping to find an agent to represent her. Instead of snapping up the debut author’s intriguing story, agents quickly ripped off rejection letters. The book didn’t quite fit into the right genres. The storyline could be dangerous. It just wasn’t for them.

While most writers would crawl into a cave of self-doubt and shove their precious manuscript into the back of a drawer to rot, Tracey fought back. She decided to self-publish On the Island.

Now, many of us are scared of self-publishing. I know I am. There is the stigma that if you self-pub it’s because your book isn’t good enough for the mainstream bookstore shelves, it’s a sad reject filled with poor grammar, typos, and a plot seemingly contrived by a sixth-grader.

If you have read any of the millions of Indie self-published books out there (and if you haven’t, why not?) you know this is not always the case.

She uploaded her edited manuscript onto Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords.

Then this suburban mom harnessed the power of the internet, promoting her book to the top of the best sellers lists. On the Island became a word-of-mouth (and blog) phenomena.

I learned about the book through another blogger. Actually, several blogs, but when someone who normally doesn’t talk about books mentioned it was a must read (thanks MomJovi), I downloaded it that day. Once I pulled up that first page, I was hooked. I stayed up past midnight finishing the book in one day.

Tracey’s book sales and loyal fans finally caught the attention of the “big boys.” She got an agent, a two-book deal from Penguin, and MGM even optioned the book for a feature film.(And there’s constant online chatter about just which actors should play main characters T.J. and Anna.)

Word of mouth sales keep going up. I should get credit for a few copies in my Costco. Twice I watched a woman pick the paperback up, skim the back cover, look slightly puzzled, and set it down. “That was a great book!” I gushed. “It’s not smutty? It sounds … just … “ “It’s not a 50 Shades. At all. Trust me. Not creepy at all. I read it in a day.” They slipped the book into their carts.

Word. Of. Mouth.

Stop by Bookshelf Bombshells to read the full review. Come on: a 30-year-old teacher, her 16-year-old student, a plane crash, a deserted tropical island. Can love conquer all despite the odds? Should it? You know you’re intrigued.

The Meryl Streep Movie Club: A SheReads Review

Review: Wallflower in Bloom by Claire Cook