Tag: book review

Book Review: Then She Was Gone, by Lisa Jewell

then-she-was-gone-9781501154645 — Image belongs to Atria Books.

Title: Then She Was Gone
Author: Lisa Jewell
Genre: Thriller, mystery
Rating: 3.5/5

Ten years ago, Laurel Mack’s teenage daughter, Ellie, disappeared without a trace. The police say she ran away, but Laurel wasn’t so sure. After her daughter disappeared, her marriage fell apart, and Laurel still struggles with her incomplete life.

Then she meets Floyd, a charming author, at a café, and finds herself involved in an intense relationship. Soon she’s meeting Floyd’s youngest daughter, Poppy, who looks exactly like Ellie.

Now Laurel wonders if there’s a darker motive behind Ellie’s disappearance, and she’s desperate to find out the truth as she seeks to untangle the strange relationship between Floyd and Poppy.

I had a hard time putting this book down, but the characters were all a bit strange and distant to me. The mystery surrounding Ellie’s disappearance was compelling, but there were several layers of creepiness connected to Laurel and Floyd, and even the decidedly odd Poppy. Basically, while I was intrigued, I didn’t find any of the characters likable, and their motivations weren’t entirely believable to me.

Lisa Jewell was born and raised in London. Her newest novel is Then She Was Gone.

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

Book Review: Whispers of the Dead, by Spencer Kope

Title: Whispers of the Dead
Author: Spencer Kope
Genre: Thriller, murder mystery
Rating: 4.5/5

Magnus “Steps” Craig and his partner, Jimmy, are part of a special FBI tracking unit, called in to solve the tough cases. Only three people know, but Steps can see “shine,” a unique color trail left where a person has touched. This ability makes Steps very good at tracking and finding killers.

But this case is different. The killer is more cold-blooded than any Steps and Jimmy have ever seen. The only part of the victims found are their feet, left in a portable cooler for the next target to find.

The first body found was left in the home of a federal judge in El Paso, but when another body is found in Baton Rouge, Steps realizes the killer has big plans, and the FBI has almost no clues. It will take every scrap of ability Steps and Jimmy have to unearth clues before the Icebox Killer strikes again.

I didn’t realize this was part of a series until I finished reading it, but I had no trouble getting up to speed. The characters make this novel! Steps’ ability is unique and interesting, but he’s a complex guy with a lot of layers, and his deadpan humor and snarkiness were a joy to read. The relationship between him and Jimmy, and the rest of the team, was well-developed and believable, and I found myself glued to the page, watching the characters interact. This is not your boring, predictable police-procedural/forensic mystery, but a detailed story about fascinating characters with great relationships.

Spencer Kope is a former Russian linguist with the Navy. Whispers of the Dead is his new novel, the second in the Special Tracking Unit series.

(Galley provided by St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: The Lion of the South, by Jessica James

Lion-of-the-South-ebook-Cover-Large-200x300 — Image belongs to Patriot Press.

Title: The Lion of the South
Author: Jessica James
Genre: Fiction, historical, romance
Rating: 4/5

Julia Dandridge grew up in Virginia. On the estate of her father’s friend, she ran wild, learning to ride and fish from Landon, who finally made Julia feel she was part of a family. Until she turned sixteen and Landon’s mother shipped her off to an aunt and uncle she’d never met, where she grew to adulthood in Washington society. Amid the Civil War, everything changed.

Now Julia is back, desperate to escape the prying eyes that keep tabs on her in Washington. She is also eager to see Landon, but finds the bitter, drunken man a far cry from the compassionate, noble young man she knew.

With everyone desperate for news of the Lion of the South—a heroic figure whose daring exploits bring hope to the Confederacy—Julia finds herself forced to choose between loyalty to the society she grew up in and the brother she adores.

The Lion of the South is set during the Civil War, but it leaves the issues behind the war strictly alone, focusing instead on the lives affected by war and its impact on society. This is a simple, sweet novel that reminds me rather strongly of The Scarlet Pimpernel. The book is a bit predictable but is a light and easy read nonetheless.

Jessica James is an award-winning author. The Lion of the South is her newest novel.

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

More reviews at <a href=” https://tamaramorning.com/”>Tomorrow is Another Day</a>

Book Review: The Fairies of Sadieville, by Alex Bledsoe

Title: The Fairies of Sadieville
Author: Alex Bledsoe
Genre: Fantasy…ish.
Rating: 4/5

When graduate students Justin and Veronica find an old film cannister with three words on it, “This is real,” they aren’t prepared for the film inside, which shows a girl transforming into a winged fairy. Justin is desperate to find a topic for his thesis, so the two set out to find the mysterious Sadieville, a town that vanished off the face of the earth over a century ago.

In rural Tennessee, everyone seems to have secrets. Secrets that point to the Tufa, a clannish group with dark skin, dark hair, and white teeth. They all look similar and they seem to have an unusual affinity for music. But not everyone likes Justin and Veronica asking questions, although Tucker Carding seems happy to help them—for reasons unknown.

Soon, Justin and Veronica find a secret, hidden for years, that will have all the Tufa asking a question they never dreamed of: if they could go back to their homeland of Tir na nOg, would they?

I should probably say that this is the first Tufa novel I’ve read. That really didn’t matter, as I was able to follow the story/history with no problems at all. This read like smart literary fiction with a fantasy element. The setting here is tremendously well-done, with Appalachia full of living, breathing life on every page. I really enjoyed reading this, and highly recommend it!

Alex Bledsoe grew up in Tennessee and now lives in Wisconsin. He’s the author of the Eddie Lacrosse novels, the Firefly Witch novels, the Memphis Vampires novels, and the Tufa novels. His newest novel, The Fairies of Sadieville is the final Tufa novel.

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

Book Review: In the Shadow of 10,000 Hills, by Jennifer Haupt

Title: In the Shadow of 10,000 Hills
Author: Jennifer Haupt
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 5/5

In 1960s Atlanta, Lillian Carlson was swept along in the Civil Rights Movement; listening to Martin Luther King speak and working to see change. She fell in love with Henry, a photographer intent on capturing the impact of solitary moments, but violence tore them apart. Heartbroken, Lillian moved to Rwanda to run an orphanage, making a difference in the lives of children.

Nadine is a young Tutsi woman whose life was shattered by the Rwandan genocide. While she seeks to make her dreams come true, the violence of the past haunts her present and her future, and the secret she keeps could endanger everyone around her.

Rachel is Henry’s daughter, reeling from the loss of her mother and her baby, and desperate to find the father who abandoned her years ago. She knows she needs to heal, but she doesn’t expect to find so much hope in a country scarred by hatred and violence.

This book. This book. It started out slowly, but I kept reading because of the characters. I loved all three women and wanted to see each of them find peace and happiness. The Rwandan culture comes to life on the pages, as the author delves into the horrors that happened between the Tutsi and the Hutus—and the survivors’ search for peace. I knew almost nothing about the genocide before reading this, so that part of it horrified me, but there is so much hope in this novel, and the beauty of Rwanda fills the pages.

Jennifer Haupt is a journalist and an author. In the Shadow of 10,000 Hills is her first novel.

(Galley provided by Central Avenue Publishing in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: Hurricane Season, by Lauren K. Denton

Title: Hurricane Season
Author: Lauren K. Denton
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 4.5/5

Betsy and Ty Franklin run a dairy farm in southern Alabama. Ty is busy with the cows, while Betsy works constantly to manage the farm’s operations. They have a good life, although their inability to have children is tearing them apart. . When Betsy’s younger sister, Jenna, drops her two daughters off at the farm so she can attend a two-week art retreat, their quiet life at the dairy is turned upside down.

Jenna’s free-spirited days are over. Instead, she spends her days managing a coffee shop and caring for her daughters. She yearns for the days when she pursued photography, but that dream took a back seat when she got pregnant and her boyfriend split. Now, she’s offered a two-week stay at the Halcyon artist retreat, and a chance to pursue her dreams and change her life.

With the most active hurricane season on record underway, Betsy and Ty try to save their marriage, while caring for the girls and working to keep the dairy safe from approaching storms. Their lives are in turmoil, and they must wait on Jenna to decide her course before they can move past the storms that fill the hot summer air.

I loved this book! These two sisters are so different, but they both struggle against the truth of their lives—and what they will do about those truths. Betsy and Ty’s relationship is troubled now, but their love for each other shines strong even in the darkness. I related to Jenna and her dreams—and her struggle to decide between chasing those dreams, and the life she has now.

Lauren K. Denton is a USA Today bestselling-author. Hurricane Season is her newest novel.

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

Book Review: Paris by the Book, by Liam Callanan

Title: Paris by the Book
Author: Liam Callanan
Genre: Fiction.
Rating: 3/5

Robert Eady is a novelist, an unconventional one who takes writing breaks from real life and his responsibilities, leaving his wife, Leah, to pay the bills and take care of the kids. The marriage is faltering, but Leah is used to Robert’s disappearances—he’s an artist, after all—so she doesn’t think much of it when he doesn’t come back from a run one day, even though he didn’t leave a note like he usually does.

Until the disappearance stretches out into weeks without a single word or trace of Robert. The police think he’s dead. Then Leah finds six letters on a scrap of paper hidden inside a cereal box and realizes Robert had bought tickets for all of them to visit Paris—the city he and Leah had talked about since the day they met.

Leah and the girls head to Paris in search of Robert and end up co-owners of an English-language bookstore. The girls claim they see Robert everywhere, but Leah thinks he’s gone…until she finds one of his books in the store window, I’m sorry scrawled inside. Is Robert dead? Are the girls really seeing him? Leah struggles to untangle the truth as she builds a life in Paris.

This book sounded like it would be a great read. The execution, however…this was very slow-paced. Very. I found Robert completely selfish and unlikeable, to the point of active dislike. Leah is in denial about everything for most of the book. (Actually, make that “all” the book.) I finished this, but the disconnect from Leah and my dislike of Robert made this merely a so-so read.

Liam Callanan is a n award-winning novelist, teacher, and journalist. Paris by the Book is his newest novel.

(Galley provided by Penguin/Dutton in exchange for an honest review.)

What I Read in March (2018)

Books Read in March: 14

Books Read for the Year: 40 /150

Topical Books/Monthly Goal Books:

The Good Earth, by Pearl S. Buck (classic). This was kind of a “meh” read for me. I likee reading about the culture, but I just could not care about the characters.

Go: A Coming of Age Novel, by Kazuki Kaneshiro and Takimi Nieda (cultural). I enjoyed this, well, as the title says, coming-of-age novel, set in Japan and exploring the conflict about being raised Korean in a Japanese society, embracing your identity, and honesty.

God is Able, by Priscilla Shirer (spiritual). Excellent read.

Wreck My Life, by Mo Isom (spiritual book). I reviewed Isom’s most recent book last month, and decided I had to read her first book immediately. She writes with an honesty and openness that is truly moving.

For Review

southern discomfort

Southern Discomfort, by Caroline Fardig. The first in a lovely cozy mystery series + Southern fiction (one of my loves). When Quinn’s best friend Drew’s brother is found murdered and Drew and Quinn herself fall under police suspicion, they decide to find a better suspect for the police. Quinn’s just not sure how her ability to be polite in all circumstances–Southern to her core–will come in handy. This was a great read!

In Search of Us, by Ava Dellaira. This is about Angie, a 17-year-old biracial girl who never knew the father her mother said is dead. But when Angie finds out she has an uncle, who her mother said was also dead, Angie starts to doubt everything her mother has told her. This is also the story of Angie’s mom, Marilyn, who fell in love at age 17 with James, someone who encouraged her to live her own life, not the life her mother wanted her to. This book is wonderful, yet sad.

HeartBetweenUs2

The Heart Between Us, by Lindsay Harrel. Megan spent her entire childhood wishing for a new heart, while her twin sister, Crystal, got to do everything. Now, three years after a heart transplant, Megan sets out to complete the bucket list of her heart donor, and takes Crystal with her, as the two struggle to heal their fractured relationship, as well as trying to sort out their own lives. A lovely, uplifting book!

In Sight of Stars

In Sight of Stars, by Gae Polisner. Klee lost his world when he lost his father. Now he’s living in the suburbs with his mom when he loses control and ends up in a mental facility. To recover, he must learn the truth about his father, his mother, and his whole life. Loved this!

rosie colored glasses

Rosie Colored Glasses, by Brianna Wolfson. Another read about mental illness, told from a child’s perspective. I found the adults in this book to be a bit unbelievable, with the way they completely ignored 11-year-old Willow and her struggles with her mother’s manic-depressive life.

Paris by the Book, by Liam Callanan. (review forthcoming) Leah Eady’s husband vanished, leaving her with their two daughters. Not knowing what happened, but chasing down clues her husband left—maybe, possibly—Leah goes to Paris and starts a new life in the bookstore her husband wrote about. But she sees his everywhere in her mind, and her daughters want to know when their dad is coming back. I am ambivalent about this book. Solid, evocative writing, but I just don’t get the characters and their motivations. Strong does of denial here as well.

Hurricane Season, by Lauren K. Denton. (review forthcoming) Two sisters, both intent on chasing their dreams, have trouble dealing with their pasts to embrace their futures—while a hurricane looms. I enjoyed this book a lot. The sisters’ relationship is so well-done!

Just Because

Everlife, by Gena Showalter. This is the third book in the Everlife series, and I loved it! I love the idea of this series, which is, in many ways, biblical. Ten is an amazing character (and I love her blue hair), and the choices and hardships she faces are overwhelming. Fantastic writing and characterization as always from Showalter, and a unique setting and plot to back it up.

Left Unfinished

The Flight Attendant, by Chris Bohjalina. Made it about 15% though this novel about a flight attendant who wakes up beside the murdered body of her one night stand. Unlikable characters are one thing I can’t deal with, and Cassandra was so willfully self-destructive I couldn’t take any more.

Indecent, by Corinne Sullivan. Unsympathetic main character. Why are you doing this crazy thing?

Strangers, by David Alexander Robertson. I liked the difference in protagonist and setting, but the author was playing his cards a little too close to his vest: if I don’t have any idea what the big secret from the past is, the characters’ actions now make no sense.

A Guide for Murdered Children, by Sarah Sparrow. I read quite a bit of this, but realized I had NO idea what was going on, so I stopped.

Protogenesis, by Alysia Helming. Again, I had no idea what was going on, and the character just wasn’t believable enough to pull that off.

Linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy for QuickLit.

Book Review: Rosie Colored Glasses, by Brianna Wolfson

Title: Rosie Colored Glasses
Author: Brianna Wolfson
Genre: Fiction (not quite YA).
Rating: 3/5

Eleven-year-old Willow hates that her parents are divorced. She hates that she and her brother have two separate lives: one filled with rules and sternness when they’re with their father, Rex; and one filled with laughter and crazy rituals when they’re with their mother, Rosie.

Willow knows how much her mother loves her. Every Spaghetti Sunday, late-night room-painting endeavor, or costumed reenactment of Rocky Horror Picture Show proves it. Her father just yells or gives her more lists to follow. Why can’t she live with her mother all the time?

Then her mother’s behavior changes, and Willow finds herself waking up at her father’s house when she’d fallen asleep at her mother’s. Her mother no longer wants to paint or sing or dance. Her father grows sterner. Willow has no idea what’s wrong, she just wants her old life back.

I wanted to love this book. It takes a heavy topic and explores it from the viewpoint of child who doesn’t know what’s going on. Rosie is a vibrant character, full of music and color and life, while Rex is rigid and rule-bound. The characters are very black-and-white, and the moments when they act out-of-character aren’t explained, just glossed-over. Perhaps the child’s viewpoint made this hard to relate to, but I kept stumbling over the wording and how everyone left Willow so clueless as to what was really going on.

Brianna Wolfson lives in San Francisco. Rosie Colored Glasses is her debut novel.

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

Book Review: In Sight of Stars, by Gae Polisner

Title: In Sight of Stars
Author: Gae Polisner
Genre: YA
Rating: 4.5/5

Seventeen-year-old Klee’s life has changed immensely in the past year. He’s living in the suburbs. He’s in love with the volatile and free-spirited Sarah. And his beloved father, who taught him about art and explored New York City with him, is dead.

When life with his ice queen mother gets to be too much and an unexpected betrayal sends him over the edge, Klee ends up in the “Ape Can,” a psychiatric hospital for teens.

Klee must deal with his past if he’s ever to get back to his real life, but that means exploring the darkness and the secrets he doesn’t even know are there. Pushing people away has always been the easy way out, but Klee will have to learn to trust if he’s ever to heal.

In Sight of Stars alternates between the present, when Klee is hospitalized, and the past, events leading up to his breakdown. Klee is a fascinating character: he’s broken, but he longs for wholeness and belonging, despite the blows the world keeps raining on him. This is a look at mental illness from the inside, gazing at the hurt and confusion that ripped one boy’s life to shreds, and how he learns to knit those shreds back into something whole.

I enjoyed reading this, and loved learning the truth right along with Klee, as he searches for the meaning in his past, his present, and his future. There’s a little bit of Klee’s brokenness in all of us. And, hopefully, his strength as well.

Gae Polisner is a family law attorney. She writes women’s fiction and young adult fiction. In Sight of Stars is her newest novel.

(Galley provided by St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

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