A Wedding in Springtime by Amanda Forester

A Wedding in Springtime by Amanda Forester

London, Spring 1810: Ten minutes into her societal debut, Eugenia Talbot was ruined.  So starts A Wedding in Springtime. 

It was the Lord Chamberlain’s fault really.  He’s the one whose bodily functions so melodiously tainted Queen Charlotte’s sitting room.  And drat growing up with brothers who taught her the crasser side of humor.  And that man who was barely suppressing his laughter – no one looked upon him with glares of shame.  Giggling, and not being able to properly contain it (especially when that grinning man winked at her) when being first introduced to the Queen is unforgivable to society.  She best find someone to marry her and quick, before her reputation precedes her throughout the ton.

What was so refreshing about this book was the well drawn secondary characters.  Everyone you meet in this book seems real and not just a cardboard cutout or stereotype.  From the dowager duchess to her chaperone these are fully realized characters with lives, desires and dreams.  And the two main characters are simply nice people with great senses of humor.  Do they have their flaws?  Of course.  Do they fall victim to simple misunderstandings?  Of course they do, this is a historical romance after all, but their actions and reactions are understandable in the circumstances. 

The scene is set for more in this series and I am looking forward to reading the next: A Midsummer Bride.

Blackmoore: A Proper Romance by Julianne Donaldson

Blackmoore: A Proper Romance by Julianne Donaldson

Romances today seem to be getting steamier and steamier.  For those that miss the old-fashioned romances of Austen and Heyer you will appreciate the “Proper Romances” of Donaldson. 

Kate Worthington never wants to marry.  She wants to be able to live her life as she pleases, and she wants to live it in India with her maiden Aunt.  Kate’s mother will give her permission to go to India only if she secures and refuses three proposals at Blackmoore that summer.  Kate agrees.  It is her only chance to escape her scandalously embarrassing family and live her life as she desires since her family has already managed to mess up her chances at happiness close to home.

The story is well-plotted and the characters are realistic and completely developed.  I was drawn into this book from the start wondering what the main characters problem was, why they didn’t realize that they were perfect together.  This isn’t a simple case of misunderstandings, there is quite a bit keeping these two apart, and the reader is left guessing if they will be able to overcome the obstacles between them.  (Thankfully we know starting out that it is a romance so it has to end happily!)

Sleep with the Lights On by Maggie Shayne

Sleep with the Lights On by Maggie Shayne

Talk about an awesome first meeting!  Rachel de Luca, famous self-help author, isn’t paying attention and walks off the curb and gets hit by Detective Mason Brown’s car.  Naturally he feels awful, especially when he realizes he just creamed a blind woman.  Oops.  She furious not just because she got hit, but because the Binghampton, NY police don’t seem to be taking her brother’s disappearance seriously. 

When Mason’s brother commits suicide right in front of him, Mason is understandably stunned.  More so when he reads his brother’s suicide note and realizes that he has kidnapped and murdered 14 men.  Mason covers up the evidence, not wanting to put his brother’s sons and wife through the ordeal of knowing their father/ husband was the serial killer dubbed The Wraith.  To feel better about his brother’s death and crimes Mason convinces his brother’s widow to donate his organs.  And Mason knows just the woman to receive corneal tissue.

Days later Rachel is sighted and seeing the world for the first time in 20 years.  She is overwhelmed by both her new vision and the visions that are interrupting her life.  She sees men being murdered in vivid detail.  The Wraith, has struck again and Rachel knows details that the police don’t even know, and Mason knows that The Wraith is dead and shouldn’t be killing anyone anymore…

Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield

Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield

Rooks never forget.  The death of a rook at the hands of a young boy, William Bellman, with a catapult (what I know as a slingshot) is quickly forgotten by the boy, but that event seems to shape his entire life.  William grows up to be a successful businessman with a wonderful wife and family.  Yet one by one all those he loves dies and at each funeral he sees the man in black.  As his daughter lies in bed dying William finally confronts the mysterious stranger in the graveyard and a bargain is struck, and thereby is created, Bellman & Black.

If you read this blog on a semi-regular basis you will know that I like weird and dark books.  This one is quite weird and quite dark, yet it still felt lacking in something to me.  I was compelled to keep reading and finish the story, but I was never quite sure why things were happening as they were.  Yes, I understand that the rooks as a whole seemed to want revenge for their fallen brother, but it never really gelled for me.

I enjoyed the writing style, and the descriptions of the businesses Bellman started and ran, but the storyline never really grabbed me like her previous novel, The Thirteenth Tale.

I Don’t Want to Kill You by Dan Wells

I Don’t Want to Kill You by Dan Wells

John Wayne Cleaver basically threw down the glove at the end of Mr. Monster and told the demon Nobody to come to Clayton County, ND so he could kill her like he did the last two demons who dared come to his town and prey on the residents.  Be careful when you threaten demons, they will follow through. 

John is a complex character.  He is a teenage sociopath who knows he has the potential to become one of the serial killers he so loves to study, but truly does not want to.  He also knows that he is one of the few to know that demons exist, and despite his rules against killing, knows he needs to stop them any way necessary.

I have to admit this audiobook surprised me.  I read the first two books in the series and enjoyed them (it’s like reading about a young Dexter Morgan learning to hunt demons instead of serial killers).  Hearing it really brought you into the story.  The narrator embodies John and his inner conflicts and struggles with emotions, and the lack thereof.  The ending is truly shocking.  I just sat there, stunned, when the book was over.  There could be a fourth book in the series, and I truly hope there is.

That Night on Thistle Lane by Carla Neggers

That Night on Thistle Lane by Carla Neggers

Librarian Phoebe O’Dunn lives in the small New England town of Knight’s Bridge and is quite content with her orderly and practical life.  Until she finds a hidden room in the attic of her library packed with beautifully made vintage dresses and Hollywood costume replicas.  Inspired by her find she plans a vintage fashion show, but first lends two of the dresses to her sister and her best friend so they can attend a masquerade ball in Boston.  Swept up by her discovery she also secretly uses a ticket to the ball herself and dresses like a princess in a gown which would have fit perfectly in the movie Titanic.  At the ball she dances with a gorgeous stranger dressed as a swashbuckler.  Will she ever see her dancing partner again?  Does she want to?  Who was he?  And who created the dresses?  Why was the sewing room hidden so well in the library attic? 

While there is romance, like many of Neggers’ books this is romance suspense.  There are two mysteries (which of course turn out to be intertwined) concerning the characters in the novel, neither of which is too mysterious nor threatening, but that is not the impression at first.  This is the second in the series taking place in this small town and you know there will be quite a few more.

Accused by Lisa Scottoline

Accused by Lisa Scottoline

Allegra Gardner wants to have the lawyers of Rosato & Associates exonerate a man in jail for the murder of a teenage girl.  Mary DiNunzio is intrigued by the case and takes it on as her first pet project as a new partner in the firm.  There are a lot of interesting elements in the case: the murder happened six years ago and no other suspects were considered; the Gardner clan is amazingly wealthy and influential in Philadelphia society; Allegra, the client, is only thirteen; the girl who was murdered was her sister and no one in the family besides Allegra thinks that justice wasn’t done years before.

This is a great legal thriller as well as a mystery.  Digging up clues six years after the event is difficult, but not impossible, and DiNunzio is determined to do her best.  But is her client’s memory flawed?  Or is she being lied to by everyone else? 

For those that enjoy audiobooks, I have to recommend this series.  The accents of the characters are spot on and the story really comes to life when it is read aloud.

Someone by Alice McDermott

Someone by Alice McDermott

This is the life story of Marie Commeford, an ordinary woman from Brooklyn, New York.  She shares all the milestones in her life, including the death of a friend, her first heartbreak, and all the other major events that make up a life.

Marie has poor eyesight, and her inability to see what is right in front of her, is a metaphor for her understanding of the occurrences in her own life.  Rather than frustrating the reader, this makes her all the more believable – can any of us really step back and truly see our own lives?  A simple story that makes you think about your own life and how extraordinary every ordinary life really is.

A wonderfully relaxing choice on audio, it is like sitting back and having someone narrate their life story. 

Secrets of a Scandalous Marriage by Valerie Bowman

Secrets of a Scandalous Marriage by Valerie Bowman

This Regency romance starts like none other I’ve ever read.  The heroine, Lady Katherine, is imprisoned in the Tower of London standing accused of brutally murdering her husband the Duke.  She swears she is innocent, yet is willing to go to her fate quietly.  She had a miserable marriage and didn’t like being a Duchess at all.  She misses life growing up on a nice farm in the countryside.  James Bancroft, Viscount Medford, visits Kate and makes a deal with her.  He will get her out of the Tower (because she can be released into the supervision of a nobleman) if she promises to write the story of her marriage, and her side of the crime story, for a pamphlet he can print on his secret printing press.

I absolutely loved the premise, and the first half of the book really broke the mold of historical romances, then it went right back on track.  There were misunderstandings, lack of communication, and, of course, a happily ever after.  Sort of steamy, and quite enjoyable, for romance fans!

The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith

The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith

Miss the noir feel of a Mickey Spillane or Sam Spade mystery?  Then don’t pass this one by!  Cormoran Strike is down on his luck, but things seem to be turning around.  He finally has an efficient secretary (even though she’s technically only a temp), double his paying clients (even though that means only two) and, well, everything else actually isn’t really that great.  But his new case, looking into the circumstances surrounding the suicide of a famous model for her brother, who thinks she was actually pushed, is taking all his time, energy and focus. 

This is definitely one of the best mysteries I have read in a long time.  I couldn’t put it down!  Red herrings, leads that (seem) to dead end, and just enough clues so you can figure the mystery out if you’re as cool as Strike.  (I, sadly, am not that cool; he needed to tie it all together for me.) 

Yes, this is the book that J.K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame wrote under a pseudonym.  She tried to keep her identity under wraps, but we all know how that went.  I have to say I would have never guessed that the same writer wrote Harry and Cormoran.  A great start to a private detective series!

Evil Eye: Four Novellas of Love Gone Wrong by Joyce Carol Oates

Evil Eye: Four Novellas of Love Gone Wrong by Joyce Carol Oates

This is my first Joyce Carol Oates and I knew to expect the unexpected.  And with a subtitle like this one I knew it would be dark.  I just wasn’t prepared for how dark!  These are delightfully creepy tales of; you guessed it, love gone wrong.  There really are no other words that work as well. 

Each tale describes another sort of twisted love.  The fourth wife of a famous, rich and powerful man meets the first wife and wonders what she has gotten herself into, and if she can get out of it safely.  An average looking girl meets a wonderfully attractive boy and first love blossoms, but things get twisted as he turns into a stalker.  One young man’s parents try to enact tough love and the love he returns is violent.  And the creepiest one of all, a young woman attempting to be intimate with her partner finally confesses to the abuse she suffered as a child and they devise a plan on how she might overcome her problems.

Let me repeat, these are dark.  Each story is read by a different reader so you become immediately immersed in each new tale.  The longest is only two discs (about two hours) long and the rest are one to one and a half discs each.  I would suggest that those searching for something different and that like being unnerved look here.

History Decoded: The Ten Greatest Conspiracies of All Time by Brad Meltzer with Keith Ferrell

History Decoded: The Ten GreatestConspiracies of All Time by Brad Meltzer with Keith Ferrell

Did John Wilkes Booth really die in that barn?  Who was D.B. Cooper?  Where is the confederate gold?  These are only some of the conspiracies Meltzer rates as the world’s top ten and attempts to “decode” – find out the truth behind the mystery.  Some are to be expected: is there any gold in Fort Knox?  What’s in Area 51?  Who killed JFK?  And some are really strange: who created the Georgia Guidestones?  If you, like me, didn’t know what they were look them up quick.  It is fascinating stuff just ripe for a few conspiracy theories.

I couldn’t understand why this audiobook sounded odd at first and then I realized that facts were being repeated as if after a commercial break.  That’s when I looked at the package more closely and realized that this is a tie-in with a History Channel program.  Still a really fun, quick listen that would appeal to almost everyone – there has to be at least one conspiracy the author picks that would be a favorite for any listener.

Parasite by Mira Grant

Parasite by Mira Grant

SymboGen has found the answer to all human ills!  Genetically modified tapeworms!  Yes, you read that correctly.  Swallow a pill with a baby tapeworm in it, modified to suit your needs, and voila!  No more need to take insulin daily for diabetes or worrying about forgetting to take any medications.  Your tapeworm will take care of it for you.  But what types of DNA are in the tapeworms?  What is the cause of the sleepwalking sickness that is popping up around the world? 

At the center of all this is Sally, now wanting to be known as Sal, who woke up six years ago after being declared brain dead.  Her implant (read: tapeworm) is credited with saving her life.  SymboGen is still really keen on studying her and her father, a colonel for USAMRIID, knows she may know more about the implants then she’s saying.  Sal just wants to have a nice quiet life with her boyfriend.  It seems like peace and happiness are not to be at the moment.

This is obviously part one of a series.  I assume it will be a trilogy because the author’s last great series (starting with Feed) was a trilogy.  I liked the action and the weirdness of the idea, but the “shocker” at the end really wasn’t that shocking.  I did like it enough to keep an eye out for the next book.

Mrs. Poe by Lynn Cullen

Mrs. Poe by Lynn Cullen

Frances Osgood is trying to support her two daughters with her poetry in mid-19^th Century New York while her husband, a semi-famous portraitist, is off who-knows-where with some pretty young rich thing.  While at a literary soiree she is formally introduced to Mr. Edgar Allan Poe.  Sparks fly for both Frances and Mr. Poe but there are two major problems: Mr. Osgood and Mrs. Poe.  It would be scandalous for Frances to pursue a relationship with Mr. Poe even though her husband is absent and Mrs. Poe is extremely ill; maybe even more so for the later reason.  Can these two find any happiness? 

It was nice to see Poe in a not-so-dreary light.  He is a character, but when you read about his home life (his wife is a very interesting person) you understand him more.  You can see what Poe sees in Frances and her in him.  You also learn about the double standards of the time – what is good for the gander is most certainly not good for the goose!

This is a nice choice for those looking for historical fiction from a modern thinking woman’s point of view as well as those interested in New York in times gone by.  The book opens with The Raven which is great to reacquaint yourself with before starting this book.

Wait for You by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Wait for You by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Avery flees her Texas hometown, and the events of six years ago, by enrolling at a small West Virginia college.  She wants an opportunity to start over where everyone doesn’t know that she is the girl at that Halloween party.  Where people don’t look at her like she is dirt or send threatening emails constantly.  Where she can get away from her mother who is more concerned with her country club membership then her daughter’s well being.  She is very much hoping West Virginia will be the answer.   Then, on the way to her first class, she runs into Cam.  Literally runs into him and now he seems to be everywhere she is.  She just wants him to go away, she thinks.  Is Avery ready to try having a relationship for the first time in her life?

This book is considered to fit into the new “New Adult” category.  The protagonist is in that stage between senior year of high school and her first job.  She is dealing with her feelings and extreme emotional issues.  She is falling in love for the first time.

I didn’t think I would enjoy reading about a nineteen year old going away to college and falling in love for the first time.  Yes, that is mainly what the book is about, but it is so, so much more.  Avery is damaged and has been damaged by those that should have supported her.  Her trauma (and it was not what I thought, and worse then I imagined on many levels) is a very large part of her life and moving on is extremely difficult and the author brings us with her every step of the way.  Avery is awakening in all senses of the term and there are some very steamy, sensual scenes in the book.  If there is one flaw it is that Cameron is too darn perfect, but the reader wants Avery to have something good in her life, finally, that his perfection is easily overlooked. 

Red Moon by Benjamin Percy

Red Moon by Benjamin Percy

An alternate America is torn apart by the “other” living among us: humans infected with Lobos, a prion infection that makes them transform into werewolf like creatures, creatures with base instincts and strength to match.  The infected have been given a homeland, the Republic, and the American army maintains order there.  But the Resistance thinks it’s time that those with Lobos declare their independence and ordinary people are the victims of their brand of terror.

This is a loosely veiled depiction of the past ten years of American history, complete with multiple hijacked planes, and how ostracizing the “different” or allowing the few to dictate the fate of the many, could have disastrous consequences for all.  It was interesting to see how the author altered history and played with current events.

I listened to this very long audiobook.  The author reads it and he has a distinctive low gravelly voice which is soothing and disturbing at the same time.  It really worked for the story.  I don’t think I would have enjoyed reading it, but it was a good listen.

The Best Man by Kristan Higgins

The Best Man by Kristan Higgins

Faith Holland fled the small New York winery where she grew up for California when she found out her groom was gay.  Yep.  The man she had dated for YEARS finally tells her right before they are to say “I do.”  Apparently, Levi, the Best Man, home on leave from Afghanistan, had a feeling that his best friend was gay and pushed Jeremy to tell Faith before they made a huge mistake.  Faith would have been okay with that mistake.  She wouldn’t have been humiliated and she could have gone on oblivious married to the man she loved, even though it did feel like something was always missing in her relationship. 

It’s been a few years and Faith is finally coming home.  Whether or not she’s coming home to stay remains to be seen.  She dreads meeting Jeremy again and is still rather mad at Levi, even though she knows deep down she should thank the man.  But seeing Levi almost every day, since he’s Chief of Police of their small town and lives in the apartment across the hall, is causing feelings inside her she isn’t sure what to do about.  Could her former Best Man be the best man for her?

If you like your romances with a lot of awkward moments and bantering dialogue you’ll love Higgins.  Faith’s family is wonderful, but exhausting.  How they all survive family gatherings is beyond me.  The romance itself is more fun than steamy and it is an extremely quick read.

Quiet Dell by Jayne Anne Phillips

Quiet Dell by Jayne Anne Phillips

Asta Eicher is widowed with three children and in danger of losing her home in Park Ridge, Illinois.  Knowing that the relationship she had with her husband was not an ideal, or even happy one, she is hoping for better luck the second time around.  She believes she found the perfect husband; he’s kind, loving and has the means to support her and her children.  She found him through a dating agency in the newspaper and they have been corresponding for months.  Finally the day comes for them to meet and she leaves with him in his car for his home and marriage.  A couple of weeks later he returns to Illinois for the children, without their mother, to bring them to live with them.  Asta Eicher and her children are never seen alive again.

The story is based on true events.  There are photographs interspersed throughout the book of the Eicher family as well as the small town of Quiet Dell, West Virginia to remind the reader that these crimes were really committed.  The warnings about online dating and meeting in public places are so commonplace today, but back then, in the 1930s, the idea of serial killers and sexual predators was unthinkable. 

The story moves quickly and is told in a very literary style, yet it is more disturbing than most thrillers because you know it actually happened.  As with most real events it almost seems too weird to be true like having the trial take place in an opera house on stage because it was the largest venue around.  There are some very unconventional characters for the time, a gay reporter and an independent, sexually active single female among others.  At first I didn’t think they fit well in the time period, since they were definitely not the norm of the time, but it really worked.  America is changing and you get that sense throughout the book, especially with the loss of the sense of innocence around this small town in West Virginia shocked by multiple murders in their midst.

Love Overdue by Pamela Morsi

Love Overdue by Pamela Morsi

Dorothy Jarrow is wedded to her profession and the prim and proper stereotype it implies.  As you may have guessed from the title, D.J. is a librarian.  She takes a job in rural Verdant, Kansas as the new director and is ready to put her heart and soul into running her library.  Unfortunately the staff members are not all thrilled about her arrival.  Still, she’s determined to make this work out and make Verdant her home.  Then she meets the Library Board President’s son.  Why oh why does the guy she had a fling with years ago at spring break have to make her new hometown his hometown?  It seems he doesn’t remember her and she’s going to try very hard to keep it that way.

This is a romance novel so I don’t have to tell you that all’s well that ends well.  I was impressed with the multiple interwoven plot lines and the lightheartedness and seriousness that occur in the novel.  The few times I thought the author messed up (no one offers a person a job after looking at a two year old resume posted online without scheduling an interview – especially for a library director!) there was a very good reason for what happened.  The characters are wonderfully quirky and Verdant, even being the hotbed of gossip that it is, grows on the reader as it grows on D.J.  If you want a fun contemporary romance with southern small town charm this is an author to keep an eye on.

Consequences by Philippe Djian

Consequences by Philippe Djian

In the first few pages of the novel Marc, a college professor, wakes up next to the cold dead body of one of his much younger female students.  He knows that sleeping with his students is wrong, and he could be fired if there was definitive proof, so he does the only thing he feels he can – throws the body into natural pit off a trail near his home.  What are the consequences of his actions?

Honestly, that’s what I thought the book would be about: what happens now that he made the decision to hide the body?  Yes, there are a number of things that happen which would not have had he reported her death to the police, but in my opinion the ripple effect is next to nothing.  I was expecting consequences spiraling out of control.  Instead we get into the mind and life of Marc and it’s a dark, uncomfortable, creepy place I didn’t want to spend much time in, nevermind 195 pages. 

Thankfully the novel was short, but only fans of psychological fiction who don’t mind being disturbed while reading a book with next to no justice or resolution will enjoy this one.

The Rosie Project by Graeme C. Simsion

The Rosie Project by Graeme C. Simsion

Don approaches life as a series of problems needing to be solved.  He tries to find order in chaos and ways to make his life ever more efficient.  He eats the same meal each day of the week at the same time.  He has his schedule mapped out to the minute.  He doesn’t understand why others find his actions so strange.  He doesn’t really get what others are feeling.  One day Don, a genetics professor in Australia, decides to really put his mind behind solving the Wife Problem.  That’s when he creates the scientifically sound survey to weed out potential wife choices.  Since his best friend, and practically only friend, claims he’s being too picky with his analyses Don hands over the finished surveys for review.  A few days later his friend sends Rosie to Don.  After a short period of time Don comes to the conclusion that his friend has made a major error, Rosie is NOT wife material.  But Don is having fun because Rosie has a project of her own – the Father Project.  Rosie wants Don to help her find her biological dad.

Fans of the Big Bang Theory won’t want to miss this one.  This is Sheldon Cooper meeting his match in a smart, witty, fun and free-spirited woman who turns his life upside down.  And maybe that isn’t such a bad thing…

Thrill Ride by Julie Ann Walker

Thrill Ride by Julie Ann Walker

Romances featuring members of the military and those featuring bad boys are big right now.  Julie Ann Walker puts them both together in her popular series.  The Black Knights are a covert government agency comprised of former members of the military using a custom motorcycle garage as their cover.  A member of the group, Rock, has been burned.  Richard “Rock” Babineaux is the best interrogator in the business and it looks like his side job may have been highly illegal.  The Knights don’t want to assume the worst, but things for Rock are looking bad.  Vanessa, the communications expert of the group, refuses to believe that the big Cajun is a rogue agent.  She is determined to find him and clear his good name.  And she does find her man, and that’s when the sparks fly.

This is the fourth entry in the Black Knights Inc. and while you don’t need to read them in order, you get an inkling of what you missed in the previous novels.  If you really enjoy one character you can always see which book they “star” in and read that one! 

Readers get inside the minds of both main characters and the inner dialogue and actual dialogue tends to be sarcastic and funny.  The series is steamy, but there is a lot of attention and care given to a twisty and engaging plot.  Fans of romantic suspense will find something to like here.

The Summer Is Ended and We Are Not Yet Saved by Joey Comeau

The Summer Is Ended and We Are Not Yet Saved by Joey Comeau

Just in time for Halloween!  This book reads exactly like a summer camp horror film.  It’s a short, fast-paced gore fest and the perfect accompaniment to such horror film classics like Friday the 13^th and Halloween.

Martin and his mom, a very close pair, live a quiet and fun-filled existence in Halifax.  Martin’s mom left her home in Nova Scotia while pregnant and has never been back.  She works at a beauty counter in a local department store and takes jobs doing special effects makeup for horror movies whenever she can get a gig.  The gig of a lifetime has just been awarded to her and she wants to go to Toronto but doesn’t know what to do with her son Martin.  Martin has an idea.  He begs his mom to let him go to Bible Camp near his grandparent’s house, the same camp his mom attended years ago.  He makes it seem like he really wants to go, but all he wants is to make sure his mom has the horror movie makeup opportunity of a lifetime. 

Camp seems okay.  There is chapel, cookies, campfires and chess.  Unfortunately there is also carnage and cleavers.  Seems like one of the staff is a little off…very off…and making a bloodbath of the camp.  Will any survive?

The Night Guest by Fiona McFarlane

The Night Guest by Fiona McFarlane

Ruth Field is living alone with her two cats in a seaside cottage in Australia.  She and her late husband moved to their summer home some years ago and she misses him terribly.  Her two sons have moved away (to New Zealand and Hong Kong) and Ruth despises driving so she rarely leaves her home except for her weekly trips to town for provisions.  Then Frida, a government-sent home health aide, arrives on the scene ready and willing to help Ruth in any way she can.  But where did Frida come from?  Is the government really sending health aides out to the elderly for no fee?  Is Frida as wonderful as she seems?

This book really keeps you on your toes.  The novel begins with Ruth swearing she hears a tiger in her living room.  She has the reader half convinced that something is visiting her house in the night.  But Ruth isn’t exactly a reliable narrator.  Her memory doesn’t seem to be as sharp as it once was.  She remembers her youth, and youthful romances long ago in Fiji, but she forgets things Frida has told her.  Or does she?  What is truth, who to trust and what exactly is going on are questions that you’ll find yourself wondering while reading this book.

Claire of the Sea Light by Edwidge Danticat

Claire of the Sea Light by Edwidge Danticat

The main story in this novel of interconnected stories and lives focuses on the daughter of a local fisherman, named Claire of the Sea Light, who goes missing.  Her mother died giving birth to her and every year on her birthday her father talks to the local fabric merchant about adopting Claire and giving her the life her father is incapable of providing.  He is terrified that he will die and Claire will be left alone with no one to care for her.  Claire, however, has other plans.

While the main story ends happily enough, there is a lot of despair and misery surrounding the everyday life of the inhabitants of this small Haitian town.  The reader really understands Haiti and the struggles of the people of the town.  Stories involve prominent townsfolk (the very few with money), fishermen, gang members, shop keepers and local radio personalities.  The audiobook is wonderful because the reader really keeps you in Haiti with her slight accent and her poetic reading of the French phrases interspersed in the narrative.  This is a glimpse into the life of a town where life is at once fleeting and precious.

Longbourn by Jo Baker

Longbourn by Jo Baker

Another Pride and Prejudice rewrite?  Really?  Do we actually need, or even want, another one?  I would normally scream NO but in this case I have to say YES! 

This is the story of what the servants of the Bennett household at Longbourn are up to while the events of Pride and Prejudice are taking place above stairs.  It’s a fascinating look at the day to day operations of the kitchens and household as well as the personalities of these famous literary personages towards the help.  (One or two interactions will surprise any Austen fan!)  The author does a wonderful job keeping the reader informed of the events in the famous novel that are running concurrently through quotes at the beginning of each chapter and the events the servants must attend to like the visits, the dinners and the balls.

For those who like historical fiction this would appeal.  True, the Bennett household never existed, but it’s a great way to understand how the common folk lived during the time.  We see the toil of laundry, the work behind every casual request and even a glimpse of the war in Spain.  This book really made me appreciate my washing machine and running water.

A Week in Winter by Maeve Binchy

A Week in Winter by Maeve Binchy

As you can probably tell from the selection of books on my blog I’m not a huge fan of cozy reads.  However, that said, I do love Maeve Binchy and am deeply saddened that this was her last novel.  Reading one of her books is like curling up with a cup of tea next to a roaring fire.

This book is all about an old mansion-like house in Western Ireland that is renovated to be an inn where people will get away for a week to relax, stroll, and take in the local flavor.  All the people there are there for different reasons: giveaway winners, retirement gift, getting to know you vacation, etc.  How they get to Stone House and what happens while they are there, makes up the narrative.  Of course all of these stories have a way of interconnecting which makes it all the more enjoyable.  Best of all, not every story has a happy ending, that way the whole is not too, too sweet, yet sweet enough.

Songs of Willow Frost by Jamie Ford

Songs of Willow Frost by Jamie Ford

William Eng, residing in an orphanage in Seattle, hasn’t really been holding out hope of ever seeing his mother again.  He remembers her and vaguely knows the circumstances of her leaving, but since he hasn’t gotten word from her in many years, and assumes she is dead, he is resigned to life as an orphan.  Being the only Chinese boy in the orphanage isn’t easy, but he does have two very good friends.  One day the nuns take all the boys to the cinema to see a movie to celebrate their birthdays (to make things easier the nuns “give” all the boys the same birth date).  One of the trailers advertises Seattle’s Own Willow Frost and the live appearance she will make in a few days time.  Imagine William’s surprise to see his mother up there on the screen.  Of course, he starts making plans to see his mother and find out the story of their pasts.

I really enjoyed Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet but in my opinion this one didn’t live up to its predecessor.  I found William too perfect.  For a boy in his circumstances he is amazingly, unbelievably, happy and well adjusted.  He is, quite simply, a joy.  While his mother’s life has been extremely hard and very sad, she did a wonderful job shielding the boy, and maybe that’s why he was so wonderful…but I didn’t buy it. 

This would probably be an enjoyable read, but the audiobook is not for everyone.  The narrator did a great job with the voices, but it was weird hearing an adult speak in a (pretty darn convincing most of the time) child’s voice.  

The Winter Warrior by James Wilde

The Winter Warrior by James Wilde
Reviewed by W. Keith McCoy, Somerset County Library System

William the Conqueror (or the Bastard as the English referred to him) was ruthless in his takeover of that sceptered isle in 1066.  Many resisted, none as viciously as Hereward, rogue son of a minor landowner.  Using the wild fen country as his base, Hereward cobbled together a motley crew of guerrillas to slash at the Norman usurpers. This particular novel (second in a series, but able to stand on it own) details the gory tit-for-tat of this rebellion, and is salted with much deceit and twists of plot.  The reader can see Hereward grow as a tactician, but the angry, out of control renegade is never far below the surface.  Based on an actual historical figure who may have been the model for Robin Hood.  This can easily be paired the recently published Sworn Sword by Aitcheson, which covers the same time period from the Norman viewpoint. Verdict: Readers who like history mixed with battles, and who prefer a good dose of action and character, will enjoy this second installment.

Originally published in Library Journal!

Help for the Haunted by John Searles

Help for the Haunted by John Searles

Sylvie Mason grew up in an unconventional household.  She is the good younger daughter: obedient, thoughtful and a believer in her parents and their ideals.  Ruth is the problematic older daughter: argumentative, disobedient and a skeptic, to put it mildly.  Sylvie and Ruth's parents help the haunted; they aid families dealing with demonic and ghostly haunting of both places and people. 

One night Sylvie’s parents are called out to the local church in the middle of a snowstorm.  Sylvie is bundled up, sitting in the car waiting for them to exit the sanctuary.  Then she hears two loud noises.  She runs into the church and sees her parents, dead, and then all goes dark for her as well.  This is the story of what Sylvie saw that night and how her testimony will seal the fate of a former client of her parents.  It is also a story about belief and the power, both healing and destructive, of family.

This is the perfect read to get you in the mood for Halloween.  It’s a creepy and suspenseful thriller fans of Michael Koryta will most likely enjoy!

Sworn Sword by James Aitcheson

Sworn Sword by James Aitcheson
Reviewed by W. Keith McCoy, Somerset County Library System

History may favor the victors, but in the case of the Norman Conquest, we tend to remember the English, who lost at Hastings in 1066.  In this novel, the first in a proposed series, and set not quite three years after the monumental battle, the victorious Normans are still loathed by the native English. Tancred a Dinant, a knight in service to a Norman Earl, is on patrol near Durham, when the locals revolt and storm the city.  Durham is quickly taken, Tancred wounded, and he recovers in York.  There another earl commissions him to lead his wife and daughter to safety before the rebels lay siege to that fortress.  But moving the women is not all:  there is also a secret message to deliver, with some treachery mixed in.  And who is the woman in the convent?  The author mixes history and fiction together well, the characters are engaging, and there is plenty of battlefield excitement.  Verdict: Those who enjoy Bernard Cornwell’s books will also revel in the details and derring-do of Aitcheson’s view from the invader’s side.

Originally reviewed in Library Journal!

Cartwheel by Jennifer duBois

Cartwheel by Jennifer duBois

Lily Hayes decides to do her study abroad semester somewhere different – Buenos Aires, Argentina.  She is in love with the place, the people, and the language.  She does all she can to blend in.  Yet Lily is not one to blend.  She stands out – her personality, her build, her wardrobe – yet she doesn’t see it that way.  She thinks she’s fitting in fine.  But her awkwardness is something her family has come to terms with and understands without realizing they know this about their daughter.  All of these facets of Lily’s personality take center stage when she stands accused of brutally murdering her roommate, another study abroad student.  Just because you aren’t likeable does that mean you’re a killer?  When there are multiple stories, which one is believed?  Why do the personalities of the victim and accused even matter in a murder trial?    

This novel will be especially intriguing for those who followed the Amanda Knox trial.  The author pulled the circumstances from life (the trial of an American study abroad student accused of killing her roommate) but the similarities end there.  In the afterward the author puts it very simply.  Amanda Knox was rumored to have done a cartwheel in the interrogation room, which was later proven to be a falsehood.  This is the story of a girl accused of murdering her roommate who DID do a cartwheel in the interrogation room.  You can start drawing your own conclusions from there.

11/22/63 by Stephen King

11/22/63 by Stephen King

What if there was a magical place in the back room of a diner in a little town in Maine which led to September 9, 1958.  What would you do?  Take a stroll down Main Street and stop for a root beer?  Make some “lucky” bets?  (Is it truly a wager when you know the outcome?)  Just sit on a street corner and watch the awesome cars go by?

What if you are introduced to this “rabbit hole” by a man who had a grand plan?  He has done all the research, but didn’t quite make it to 1963 and had to come back to the present (2011) early.  Would you take over his mission and live five years of your life in the past to prevent the assassination of JFK?  That’s exactly what Jake sets out to accomplish.

As usual, Stephen King tells a great story.  Fans will appreciate the nods subtle, and not so subtle, to his other fiction: It, ShawshankRedemption and Christine.  It is a time commitment, it’s a huge book, but alternating between the audiobook and the print I finished it in a week.  Once you get into the story you really want to keep reading to see how Jake’s life in the past unfolds.

The book will make you think, especially about the butterfly effect.  How do your actions, small and large, affect the future?  If you could change the past, should you?  Were the good old days really that good?  What would you do?