Author: tamaramorning

Book Review: The Long Ride Home, by Tawni Waters

Harley lost her mother a few months ago, and she hasn’t even begun to recover. But it’s summer now, and summer is a time of change. So, Harley sets off on a road trip to come to terms with her loss, find out more about her mother’s past, and scatter her mother’s ashes. Her best friend, Dean, goes along for the ride, but Harley doesn’t know what to do about their relationship—which caused her to shut Dean out when they became more than friends.

Soon enough, Harley realizes she’s pregnant with Dean’s child. Hiding her secret as she learns more about her mother’s life, she realizes her mother faced the same choices she now does. If she is ever to know what the right decision for her is, she’ll have to find out the truth about her mother’s past.

From the first page, Harley’s voice drew me into this story. She’s hurting so badly from her loss, and she’s shut everyone out as a result, but she wants to change. Her internal journey is as compelling as it is painful, and the reader is dragged along for the ride, over the bumps and through the bruises, until Harley finds clarity.

Tawni Waters grew up near an abandoned hippie commune in New Mexico. The Long Ride Home is her newest novel.

(Galley provided by Sourcebooks via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: The Salt Line, by Holly Goddard Jones

In the future, life in the United States has contracted behind a wall of scorched earth—The Salt Line—that keeps citizens safe from deadly ticks that carry a horrific disease. Social media is ever-present, and life isn’t too different from now. Instead of going on big-game safaris to Africa, the wealthy pay to travel outside the safe zone, into the America outside the salt line.

A pop star’s girlfriend, Edie; tech genius Wes, and housewife Marta are all part of the same excursion, but once through their three weeks of survival training, they realize their vacation trip has more in store than they ever suspected. Ending up as hostages to a group of outer-zone survivors, they discover the darker secrets holding up their world, and find themselves at the mercy of everyone who wants to keep those things secret.

At first the idea of a tick causing everyone to retreat behind walls was a little bit hard for me to adjust to, but yeah, I’d run from these things, too. The world of The Salt Line is just familiar enough to make the idea of killer ticks even more scary, with social media a constant focus of every life (sound familiar?). This is a novel about an ensemble cast, which can be hard to pull off, but Jones nails it, and the backstories and motivations of her characters kept me just as engaged as the “current” action.

Holly Goddard Jones’ newest novel is The Salt Line.

(Galley provided by Penguin Group/Putnam via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: Bitter Past by Caroline Fardig

Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000038_00074] — Image belongs to Caroline Fardig.

Ellie Matthews teaches forensics at a private college now, but she used to be a crime scene investigator, until one horrifying murder case turned personal. Now she teaches aspiring CSI students, and dotes on her young nephew. Then she finds the body of a murdered student, and suddenly her world is in chaos.

Ellie’s mentor asks her to consult on the case, and soon Ellie is in the thick of a murder investigation in which her closest academic colleague is the chief suspect. While Ellie races to make sense of the evidence and identify the killer, more bodies pile up, and soon Ellie has no idea who she can trust.

I’ve read—and loved—all the Java Jive books, so I was excited to read Caroline Fardig’s newest endeavor, and I was not disappointed. Ellie is a complex character, and her past haunts her, no matter how much she tries to pretend otherwise. She likes her quiet life as a professor, but her past as a CSI calls to her as well. I had to keep changing my guesses as to who the murderer was, and I didn’t quite get it right. I loved the premise, and the setting, and I look forward to reading more of Ellie’s adventures.

Caroline Fardig is the best-selling author of the Lizzie Hart Mysteries and the Java Jive Mysteries series. Her newest novel, Bitter Past, is the first book in the Ellie Matthews series.

(Galley provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.)

Books I Read in August

August was a good reading month. I read seventeen books.

any dream will do

Any Dream Will Do, by Debbie Macomber. (Read to review.) I thought this romance was a bit different from this author’s usual fare–not that I’ve read all of her works–but a pastor struggling to raise his kids after his wife’s death and a just-out-of-prison woman working to create a new life for herself made a nice change of pace.

The Almost Sisters, by Joshilyn Jackson. (From my TBR pile.) How can I forget how much I like this author? gods in Alabama introduced me to the world of Southern fiction, and this tale of a comic book author pregnant with a mystery Batman’s baby who goes back to a tiny Southern town when her grandmother starts going crazy and ends up finding a skeleton in a trunk in the attic and a dark family secret is a gripping, wonderful read. bonus points for the sweet tea love and the handling of race issues.

earthquake

Things that Happened Before the Earthquake, by Chiara Barzini(Read to review.) Um. Literary fiction is hit or miss with me. The writing was evocative, but the family this was about was a big turn-off for me. The MC was self-destructive, and I could never get a sense of the why for her actions.

Blackhearts and Blacksouls, by Nicole Castroman (The first has been sitting on my Kindle for months.) I really enjoyed these two books, which are meant to be Blackbeard’s origin story–and romance, of course. Teach and Anne are great characters, and their relationship and backstories are both well-developed. Very enjoyable reads.

wonder

Recapturing The Wonder, by Mike Cosper. (Read to review, plus a spiritual book.) Very good read from an author with a great voice.

if the creek don't rise

If the Creek Don’t Rise, by Leah Weiss (Read to review.). Um…I did not care for this one much. The setting—Appalachia–was tough to read about, as was the poverty and mindset of the characters.

atwg

All the Wicked Girls, by Chris Whitaker (Read to review). Great Southern Gothic about a teenage girl who disappears and the entire town’s search for what happened to her.

mask of shadows

Mask of Shadows, by Linsey Miller (Read to Review.) Fantasy with a gender-fluid main character. This was a pretty unique read that I enjoyed, despite some contradictions.

Dumplin’, by Julie Murphy (Has been languishing on my Kindle for months.) Loved this! A teenage girl grapples with her body image in a small Southern town. The characters in this novel are fantastic! Seriously. You must read this!

Side Effects May Vary, by Julie Murphy (Because I loved Dumplin‘.) I did not care for the MC, who is a teenage girl with cancer. She was pretty mean to everyone around her, and I found her mostly unlikable.

On the Wings of a Whisper, by Lynette Bonner (From a different culture.) Short. Too short. I enjoyed what there was of it, though.

The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Arthur Conan Doyle (Classic book of the month.) Can’t believe I’ve never read this before!

tgwtrb

The Girl with the Red Balloon, by Katherine Locke (Read to review.) Time-travel via balloon into Berlin Wall-era Germany, Loved the characters, the world, and the story!

Bitter Past, by Caroline Fardig (Review forthcoming.) The beginning of a new series for this author, about a forensics professor asked to assist in a murder investigation that has swept over her small college.

Boundaries, by Dr. Henry Cloud.

The Salt Line, by Holly Goddard Hones (Review forthcoming.) Very unique dystopian tale where America has retreated behind walls to escape the deadly ticks found outside. Not what I was expecting at all!

Linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy for Quick Lit.

Book Review: The Girl with the Red Balloon, by Katherine Locke

For Ellie Baum, being in Berlin on a school trip is little unsettling: she’s grown up listening to tales from her grandfather, who escaped from a death camp in 1942. She loves her grandfather, but his stories don’t always make sense. Like the ones of the balloons carrying people to safety. She’s heard his stories, she just doesn’t believe them. Until she catches the string of a red balloon, and ends up in East Berlin in 1988, before the Berlin Wall fell.

Stranded in the midst of an oppressive regime, Ellie meets Kai, one of the Runners who help balloon passengers escape over the wall. But no one knows what happened to Ellie’s balloon; they just know its real Passenger is dead. With the help of Kai and Mitzi, Ellie must unravel the mystery of her time travel if she’s ever to return to her own time. But someone want to use time travel to change history. And that person doesn’t care who has to die to do so.

At first, I wasn’t too sure about this book and Ellie herself, but I ended up really loving it. This is such a unique concept, and I’ve personally not read much—if anything—set in East Berlin while the Wall was still up. The tale of Ellie’s grandfather is just as enthralling as Ellie’s is, and Kai and Mitzi are so intriguing I wanted to know much more about them. A very compelling book, set in a bleak time in history.

The Girl with the Red Balloon is Katherine Locke’s first YA novel.

(Galley provided by AW Teen via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: Recapturing the Wonder, by Mike Cosper

Mike Cosper is a writer, speaker, podcaster, and founder of Harbor Media. His newest book is Recapturing the Wonder.

I can’t give a “normal” review of a spiritual book, so I’m not going to try. Instead, I’ll say this: this book was a very good, personable read. It wasn’t a how-to manual, but did offer some wonderful suggestions for seeing the wonder in the everyday of life, like children do. (I miss that sense of wonder.) some of the suggestions were fantastic, including the prayers, but the author’s voice made you feel like you were sitting and chatting with him, not being lectured to. Definitely worth reading if you’d like to re-capture that childish sense of wonder, of seeing God amid the everyday.

(Galley provided by InterVarsity Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: Mask of Shadows, by Linsey Miller

*Just to be clear, the main character of Mask of Shadows is gender-fluid, and the author would like reviews to use they/them pronouns for continuity, so that’s what I’m doing.*

Sallot Leon is the only survivor of a shadow war that sacrificed their entire nation years ago. More than anything, Sal wants revenge. When one of the Left Hand—the queen’s elite quartet of assassins—dies, Sal decides to stop being a thief and become Opal.

But competition for the spot of Opal is fierce. It’s more than fighting. The competition also includes lessons in healing, poisons, and even reading—where Sal meets Elise, a scribe who’s also frustrated with the status quo at court. Only one apprentice becomes Opal. The rest die. And meals and lessons are the only violence-free times, so Sal must be alert always if they want to stay alive, while trying to find out just who was behind the massacre of their people so they can finally have their revenge. And winning would be nice, too.

There’s been a big deal made about Sal being gender-fluid, and the novel itself shows a dichotomy of sorts. 1) The characters in the novel really don’t make a big deal about this. Sort of Oh, you’re gender fluid? Cool. Whatever. 2) Sal gets emotional when someone treats them like the gender-fluidity is no big deal, as if it has normally been a big deal in the past. Which one of these things is accurate? Because I don’t think they can both be accurate: it’s either a big deal, or it isn’t. I noticed the dichotomy, but it didn’t detract from the story for me.

That issue aside, I enjoyed this book immensely. I’ve also seen a ton of “Oh, this is just like The Hunger Games” comments. Yes, there’s the whole there-can-be-only-one-survivor competition angle that’s the same, and…that’s the only similarity I saw, so I wouldn’t say just like The Hunger Games. The history in the novel wasn’t super clear to me—I did not get a clear picture of the political climate and what happened with the destruction of Sal’s nation—nor did I find out as much as I wanted to about the shadows, but the book was a great read, with plenty of action and conflict, and a unique main character that I liked a lot.

Linsey Miller is a former biology student turned MFA candidate. Mask of Shadows is her debut novel.

(Galley provided by Sourcebooks via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: All the Wicked Girls, by Chris Whitaker

The small town of Grace, Alabama might be highly named, but it’s a little short on its follow-through. Populated by rednecks, people haunted by regrets, and economic depression, the town is full of hurting people shadowed by darkness. Then bright spot Summer Ryan goes missing, and the entire town fears she’s been taken by The Bird, believed responsible for the disappearances of five other local, church-going good girls.

But as Raine Ryan—Summer’s twin sister—investigates her sister’s disappearance, she discovers that Summer wasn’t quite the good girl everyone thought. With the help of Noah, a local boy who adores Raine, she starts asking questions, and soon the darkness that’s been hidden in Grace is visible to the whole world.

All the Wicked Girls shows a good picture of life in a small Southern town: the town busybodies who want to know everyone else’s business, the good ol’ boys who think they know more than the guys in charge, the teenagers yearning to get out of town. In fact, the Southern gothic feel of the novel is so spot-on, that I was surprised to learn the author is English, not Southern. The setting is fantastically well-done.

I love how the story is told in alternating points of view, including the missing Summer telling of thing that happened before. Raine is a force of nature, and Noah is endearing as he struggles with his health issues as well as the loss of his father. There’s a lot of twists in this novel, and the suspense will keep the reader gripping the pages to find out what’s really going on.

Chris Whitaker was born in London and worked as a financial trader. All the Wicked Girls is his newest novel.

(Galley provided by Zaffre in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: If the Creek Don’t Rise, by Leah Weiss

Appalachia in the 1970s is a place of poverty and penance, moonshine and men who run it. Sadie Blue isn’t the first local girl to find herself married to a dangerous drunk, but 15 days after marrying Roy, she learns to regret her decision, even for the sake of the baby. Sadie’s future in rural Baines Creek is bleak at best.

Then a stranger arrives in town, and the longings for a different future that stir in Sadie spring to life. The new teacher is happy to help Sadie realize her dream of learning to read, and her friendship teaches more than letters and words. With her new perspective, Sadie realizes her dreams aren’t impossible, but will she be able to figure out how to make them reality?

If the Creek Don’t Rise was a difficult book for me to read. The abject poverty and the backwards mentality of the residents of Baines Creek were horrifying to me—and I lived in a tiny town in Arkansas for a while, where the mentality and outlook were not too dissimilar from this Appalachian setting. The characters were vivid and believable, even if their natures were sad to me. Sadie is a strong girl trying to overcome her mistakes, and fighting against a mentality of “you made your bed, now lie in it.” I cannot fathom a life or a community like this, but the author brings it to startling, believable life.

Leah Weiss went to college on a piano scholarship, then taught music and wrote articles before becoming an executive assistant. If the Creek Don’t Rise is her first published novel.

(Galley provided by Sourcebooks via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: Things that Happened Before the Earthquake, by Chiara Barzini

Eugenia, a typical Italian teenager, is dragged by her family to a new life in Los Angeles just weeks after the 1992 riots. Her hippie filmmaker parents are in heaven as they try to break into Hollywood. Eugenia and her brother are not quite so impressed.

She flounders in the world of her public high school, where the Bloods and Crips, Persian gang members, and fast food culture reign supreme. As she tries to figure out who she is, Eugenia meets Henry, who runs his mother’s movie memorabilia store, and Deva, who introduces her to the countercultural environment of Topanga Canyon. Just when Eugenia starts to imagine a future for herself, the 1994 earthquake shakes her world down to the foundations.

Things that Happened Before the Earthquake is a beautifully written book, with lush, evocative images and rich cultural details. That did not make me love it. I never connected with Eugenia, and frequently found myself wondering why she felt compelled to do the things she did. And her family—and their motivations—completely baffled me. This is not a bad book, just a bad book for me. The writing is fantastic, but I never connected to the characters, so the writing lost its impact for me.

Chiara Barzini is a writer from Rome who was raised in Los Angeles and lived in New York before returning to Rome. Things that Happened Before the Earthquake is her newest novel.

(Galley provided by Doubleday Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)

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