• Paperback:320 pages
• Publisher:Signet; Original edition (January 3, 2012)
• ISBN-10: 0451235517
• Source: Author

Haley followed her “soul mate” and moved to Key West.  Unfortunately, when she catches him in bed with another woman, the relationship ends abruptly. Haley’s a strong, independent young woman and vows to make a life for herself in Key West.  She’s always been a foodie and decides to apply for a food critic job for a new Key West style magazine.  When she learns that her potential new boss, Kristen Faulkner, is the very woman who stole her “soul mate”, she doesn’t think things can get worse. Unfortunately, they do.

Kristen is murdered, killed by a poisoned Key Lime pie, the very pie Haley writes an article about shortly after Kristen’s death.  Due to her relationship with Kristen, the police name her the number one suspect in her murder. To save her reputation, and, frankly, any attempts to be a food critic, Haley must find out the identity of the real killer.

An Appetite for Murder is the first book in Burdette’s Key West food critic mystery series and it is a true delight! Not only does she cause your mouth to water with all the talk of food, but she really captures the essence of Key West as well; the culture, the people, the food, comes to life on the pages.  The setting is absolutely perfect, particularly for those of us up North suffering from frigid temperatures this time of year! 

Haley’s character is completely likeable; while she is a food critic she’s not snooty at all, she’s actually quite fond of tasting and critiquing food from local fast food restaurants.  The secondary characters are quite rich as well; I look forward to reading about them more in subsequent books. Finally, you can’t have a foodie book without recipes! Recipes for a few of the dishes Haley makes throughout the course of the book are included as well.

Bottom line: if you are a fan of cozy mysteries this is a series you can’t afford to miss out one! Highly recommended!

Review: An Appetite for Murder by Lucy Burdette is a post from: Jenn's Bookshelves. Reproduction of this content is forbidden unless approved through prior written consent.

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Penguin ((December 27, 2011)
• ISBN-10: 0143120700
• Source: Publisher

Seven years ago, the daughter of Texas police dispatcher Ian Hunt was abducted while he and his wife were out to dinner. The abduction destroyed his family; he and his wife are no longer together. He hasn’t spoken to his son, responsible for his sister’s well-being that evening, in some time.  Four months previously, they finally declared Maggie dead, burying an empty coffin.

One day, however, he receives a phone-call from Maggie, now a teenager. She’s able to give her father a brief description of her abductor before she is ripped from the phone. Not nearly enough to make an arrest but certainly enough to re-open the investigation.

When the bodies of several young girls are found on the property of a local man, the local police finally has the leads it needs to generate a full-scale investigation. Ian can’t lose his daughter again, so he takes off on his own on a cross-country chase after the local couple responsible for Maggie’s abduction.  He abandons everything, including the law, to get his daughter back.

The Dispatcher is a chilling, absorbing, addictive read. The desperation this poor father has to find his daughter is heart-wrenching. He feels that in losing his family already he has nothing to risk, nothing to lose. There is a bit of violence so I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this book for the weak-stomached.  But if you want an engrossing, heart-pounding, fast-paced, crime novel? The Dispatcher is the book for you. Highly recommended.

Review: The Dispatcher by Ryan David Jahn is a post from: Jenn's Bookshelves. Reproduction of this content is forbidden unless approved through prior written consent.

• Paperback:320 pages
• Publisher:Plume; 1 edition (December 27, 2011)
• ISBN-10: 0452297672
• Source: Publisher

The summer of 1942, young Anne Calloway sets off to the Pacific island of Bora-Bora to serve as a nurse for the Army Nurse Corps.  She’s engaged to get married; this venture is her last bit of adventure before becoming a married woman.  She goes to Bora-Bora with her best friend, Kitty, a flirtatious, free-spirited young woman.

Once they reach Bora-Bora, an island full of military men who haven’t seen women in ages, it doesn’t take Kitty long to find a few potential love interests.  Anne, still questioning her engagement, yet also feeling guilt for “abandoning” her fiance to embark on this adventure, soon forges a friendship with a soldier named Westry. They find solace in one another at an abandoned bungalow, leaving notes to one another using fictitious names. Soon, their friendship blooms into something much more.  A horrible murder & the ravages of war threaten their budding romance.

The reader “meets” Anne decades later, an elderly woman now.  As she ages, she can’t help but look back upon this time spent in Bora-Bora, wondering “what if.” She’s taken back in time when she receives communication from the island that forever changed her.

Spanning not only time but location, The Bungalow is a breathtakingly beautiful look at undying, endearing, true love. Those that know me well know that I’m not really a fan of love stories, yet for some reason the power of Jio’s writing envelopes me, takes me away to a completely different time and place. She did so with The Violets of March and succeeded and doing it again with The Bungalow.  The love that is shared between Anne & Westry is a genuine one, not over the top or forced. The setting, despite taking place in the midst of World War II, is a beautiful one. It adds to the romance shared between these to young individuals.

Bottom line: The Bungalow is a book that will completely engage you; don’t be surprised if it forces to be read in one sitting. It’s a story of love in the midst of death, love that continues despite the passing of time. Highly recommended!

Review: The Bungalow by Sarah Jio is a post from: Jenn's Bookshelves. Reproduction of this content is forbidden unless approved through prior written consent.

• Paperback:416 pages
• Publisher:Berkley Trade (April 3, 2012)
• ISBN-10: 0425245632
• Source: Publisher

In Grafton’s 20th crime novel featuring Kinsey Millhone, private investigator is tasked with investigating an automobile accident when her elderly neighbor Gus, suffers a fall requiring hospital attention.  Gus has never been the easiest person to get along with; he was known to report everyone and everything he deemed to be going wrong in the neighborhood. Despite this, Kinsey still feels a need to assist her ailing neighbor. 

When he’s released from the hospital, it’s apparent that Gus requires assistance in his day to day living.  Kinsey tracks down his niece, who isn’t exactly excited about leaving her live to deal with her uncle.  She begins interviewing home care nurses to deal with her uncle, not an easy task.  Several of the nurses fail to stay an entire day, unable to deal with Gus’ behavior. But then she meets Solana Rojas and believes her to be a perfect fit. Aware of Kinsey’s occupation, she asks Kinsey to run a background check on this woman.

From page one, the reader is aware this woman is a sick, twisted psychopath, living the life and the identity of a woman she used to work with. She’s pretty slick, however, and is able to evade any suspicion when the background check is run.  She quickly assumes the role of Gus’ home care nurse and his niece heads back home to New York.

It doesn’t take long before Kinsey gets suspicious.  While she was never really that close with Gus, she is concerned about his well-being and begins to notice quite a few startling changes taking place.  First, his home was a horrible mess prior to his injury. Mouse droppings on the floor, rooms filled to the brim with old newspapers and other trash. Yet it doesn’t take long for Solana to take control.  She rents a dumpster and begins to rid Gus’ home of all the trash that has been piling up for years. 

On the surface, this appears to be an improvement, but when Kinsey learns that Gus’ mental capacities are waning she’s immediatly concerned.  Gus, despite his personality issues, was a pretty sharp guy.  Upon a visit to Gus’ home she notices a check register for his bank accounts. The balance is dwindling…quickly. It becomes her mission to find out who this Solana Rojas really is before Gus’ life begins to dwindle as quickly as his bank accounts.

It’s been several years since I’ve read any of Grafton’s alphabet series books, but it didn’t take long for me to get immersed in Kinsey’s life again.  Grafton’s books are set in the 80s, so it was interesting to see how much life and society has changed since then. No cell phones, no computer databases. It was almost refreshing to see a tech-free life again.

The strength in these books are the rich characters. One can’t help but love Henry, Kinsey’s sweet neighbor.  He’s Kinsey’s backbone and, oftentimes, her conscience. I appreciate how this book dealt with elder abuse, individuals taking advantage of the elderly for the sake of financial gain.  Gus was a pretty mean guy at times but he certainly didn’t deserve the treatment he received.

T Is for Trespass is a stunning, captivating book.  I’m truly glad this was the book that reunited me with Kinsey Millhone. It reminded me what I was missing; I can’t wait to dive back into this series!

I’m excited to be participating in this tour, sponsored by Penguin books. Yes, because it reunited me with a pretty wonderful series but also because I have a special treat for you, my readers.  Each blog participating in this tour is able to present its readers with an excert of V Is for Vengeance , the latest book in this series, scheduled for release November 14th.  Follow the blog tour to get a exclusive access glance inside the new book!  Without further ado…an exclusive look inside V Is for Vengeance :

Nearby customers seemed unaware of the drama being played out, but I was transfixed. The shoplifter’s gaze flicked from the loss- prevention officer to the escalators. A direct path would have forced her to walk right past him. I thought a move was ill advised and, ap­parently, she did too. Better to keep her distance and hope the threat evaporated of its own accord. In most stores, policy dictates that no one make contact with a customer under surveillance as long as she is still on the premises and has the opportunity to pay. For the moment, the woman was safe, though her agitation surfaced in a series of ran­dom gestures. She looked at her watch. She glanced toward the ladies’ room. She picked up a half-slip, studied it briefly, and then replaced it. The items she’d stolen must have felt radioactive, but she didn’t dare return them lest she call attention to herself.

The prospect of being apprehended must have obliterated the alter­natives she’d planned if the caper turned sour. Her best course of ac­tion would have been to adjourn to the ladies’ room and toss the stolen merchandise in the trash. Failing that, she could have abandoned her shopping bag and headed for the elevators in hopes of stepping into the next available car. Without the pilfered items in her possession, she’d be home free. Until she left the store without paying, no crime had been committed. Perhaps with something of the sort in mind, she removed herself from Mr. Koslo’s line of sight and ambled into the women’s plus-size department, where she looked right at home.

Koslo moved away from the counter without visual reference to the woman. I watched as he circled behind her in a wide arc, herding her from the rear. Claudia moved directly to the escalator and went down, probably to intercept the woman if she tried leaving by that means.

The shoplifter’s gaze darted from one area to the next as she con­sidered viable escape routes. Her only choices were the elevators, the escalators, or the fire stairs. With Koslo ten yards behind her, the el­evators and the fire stairs must have seemed too far away to chance. From her current location, the aisle widened to form a generous apron of pale marble that led to the escalators, tantalizingly close. She strolled out of the plus-size department and crossed the open floor at a leisurely pace. Behind her, Koslo adjusted his speed to correspond with hers.

On the far side of the escalators, I saw the younger woman in the dark blue dress appear at the mouth of the short corridor leading to the ladies’ room. She halted abruptly, and as the shoplifter reached the top of the escalator a look flashed between them. If I’d entertained doubts about their being in cahoots, I was convinced of it now. Maybe they were sisters or mother and daughter on a regular late-afternoon outing, ripping off retail goods. In that brief freeze-frame, I took a men­tal inventory of the younger woman. She was fair, forty by my guess, with untidy, shoulder-length blond hair and little or no makeup. She turned on her heel and returned to the ladies’ room while the older woman moved on to the escalator; Koslo seven steps behind her. The two of them sank from view, first the woman’s head disappearing and then his.

I crossed to the balustrade and peered down, watching them glide slowly from the third floor to the second. The woman must have real­ized she was boxed in because the knuckles of her right hand were white where she clutched the rail. The sluggish speed of the moving staircase must have sent her heart into overdrive. The fight-or-flight instinct is almost irresistible and I marveled at her self-control. Her partner would be of no help to her now. If the younger woman inter­vened, she risked being caught in the same net.

Claudia was waiting on the second floor at the foot of the moving stairs. The shoplifter kept her attention fixed straight ahead, perhaps thinking if she couldn’t see her two trackers, they couldn’t see her. Once on the second floor, she took a hard turn and stepped onto the next down escalator. Claudia stepped on after she did, so that now there were two store employees in that slow-motion foot chase. The fact that the shoplifter was aware of them took away their home court ad­vantage. By this time, however, the game was in progress and there was no way to abandon the pursuit. I could see a thin pie-shaped por­tion of the first-floor shoe department, which I knew was only a short stretch away from the automatic doors that opened onto the mall. I left the three of them to their own devices. By then, the older woman was no concern of mine. I was interested in her companion.

I crossed to the short corridor that led to the ladies’ lounge and pushed open the door. I was hoping she was still there, but she might well have slipped past me while I was watching her friend. To my right, an anteroom had been set aside for mothers with babies, affording them privacy to nurse, change stinky diapers, or collapse on a well-upholstered couch. That area was empty. Across from it, there was a room where sinks lined the two opposite mirrored walls, with the usual paper towel dispensers, hand blowers, and plastic-lined waste bins. An Asian woman foamed her hands with soap and rinsed them under running water, but she seemed to be the only customer present. I heard a toilet flush, and a moment later the younger woman opened the door to the second stall. She now sported a red beret and wore a white linen jacket over her navy blue dress. She still carried the shopping bag and her big leather purse. The only oddity I noted was a short horizontal scar between her lower lip and her chin, the sort of mark left when your teeth are driven through your lower lip on impact. The scar was old, with only a white line remaining to suggest a tumble from a swing or a fall against the corner of a coffee table, some childhood misfor­tune she’d carried with her since. She averted her face as she brushed by me. If she recognized me from the lingerie department, she gave no sign.

I kept my expression blank and headed for the stall she’d just va­cated. It took me half a second to peer into the wall-mounted recep­tacle meant for used sanitary supplies. Six price tags had been clipped from articles of clothing and tossed into the bin. I listened to the sound of her retreating footsteps. The outer door closed. I scurried after her and opened the door a crack. I didn’t see her, but I knew she couldn’t have gone far. I proceeded to the mouth of the corridor and peered to my right. She stood in front of the bank of elevators, pushing the down button. Her head came up, as mine did, at the sound of a persistent high-pitched whoop from the ground floor. The older woman must have breached the transmitter-receiver system at the exit doors, where electronic surveillance tags had activated the alarm. Once she stepped outside, it would at least allow the loss-prevention officer to stop her and ask her to return.

 

Following is a list of the other blogs participating in this tour.  Be sure to check them all out, the publisher is offering three sets of Q, R, S, T, U (paperback) and the brand new V to three different people who comment on every single blog throughout the tour (US/Canada only)

Tuesday, Sept. 27: Q IS FOR QUARRY http://lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com/            
Thursday, Sept. 29: Q IS FOR QUARRY http://www.jensbookthoughts.com/
Tuesday, Oct. 4: R IS FOR RICOCHET http://www.elizabethawhite.com/
Thursday, Oct. 6: R  IS FOR RICOCHET http://www.linussblanket.com/
Tuesday, Oct. 11: S IS FOR SILENCE http://www.devourerofbooks.com/            
Thursday, Oct. 13: S IS FOR SILENCE http://www.kittlingbooks.com/           
Tuesday, Oct. 18: T IS FOR TRESPASS http://bermudaonion.net/
Thursday, Oct. 20: T IS FOR TRESPASS http://www.jennsbookshelves.com/
Tuesday, Oct. 25: U IS FOR UNDERTOW http://popculturenerd.com/            
Thursday, Oct. 27: U IS FOR UNDERTOW http://www.bookingmama.net/

 Be sure to check out Sue Grafton’s Facebook page and her Web site for more information on the Kinsey Millhone series!

Mx3 Review: T is for Trespass by Sue Grafton is a post from: Jenn's Bookshelves. Reproduction of this content is forbidden unless approved through prior written consent.

• Hardcover:256 pages
• Publisher:Penguin Press HC, The (August 23, 2011)
• ISBN-10: 1594202990
• Source: Publisher

In the sequel to Fuller’s Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, which Fuller’s family refers to as “the Awful Book”, the author once again returns to Africa to detail and describe the childhood of her mother in Africa, her father’s in England, and her own childhood, set in the war-torn Africa.

Her mother, or Nicola Fuller of Central Africa, as she preferred to to introduce herself as, and her father, Tim, experienced a great deal of tragedy attempting to have a farm of their own in Africa. It was their life’s dream to do so, Alexandra never really understanding this until she gets a detailed portrayal of their lives.  Despite being forced to live through several wars, they still loved Africa and would sacrifice tremendously to keep the land they cherished.

Nicola suffered with bouts of depression and a literal mental breakdown.  Having read what she was forced to ordeal helps explain that better; had I been in a similar situation I doubt I could have done it.  From a young age, she was always a feisty little girl, always reluctant to succumb to a life others thought best for her, a life as a secretary or similar.  This book seems to almost be an apology to her mother for her previous book in which her mother wasn’t cast in the most positive of lights.  The reader gets a glimpse of her past, hereby validating the woman she is now.

If she had known then the score and epth of the tragedy that was to come, Mum might have borne the insults of her childhood with more fortitude, but the pathos and the gift of life is that we cannot know which will be our defining heartbreak or our most victorious joy.

Nicola was an incredibly brave and strong individual, never bowing down to fear:

In her view, the immediate peril of a situation is always weighed against the glamorous obituary that might be written for you if the thing killed you.

Fuller lessens the severity and tragedy, in a sense, by sprinkling bits of humor and retellings of humorous family stories.  Family pets were treated more lovingly than the children.  A name would pop up, and it wouldn’t be until paragraphs later that the name did not refer to a person, but a regaled pet instead.

Not only a retelling of a family’s history, Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness provides a completely candid and rare history of Africa itself.  The civil war raging on around them was brutal, as was the racism that part of Africa itself, existing for so long that it had become engrained into the culture of the society. It’s rare to be able to experience the tragedies that took place in Africa at this time, I’m truly thankful to author for providing readers with a glimpse of this integral part of African history.

Since it is a sequel, it really is best to read the previous book as the author assumes you know (and can recall) the detals set forth in the book.  Luckily, I had the opportunity to reunite myself with Alexandra and her family in   Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight before starting this book.

This book, as with the previous, will forever resonate within me.  Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness is a story of family struggle, tragedy, but ultimately perserverence, a book to which I give my highest recommendation. A must read!

Thank you to TLC Book Tours for providing me the opportunity to review this book. Please be sure to check out the other stops along the way:

Wednesday, August 17th: Luxury Reading
Thursday, August 18th: StephTheBookworm
Monday, August 22nd: Rundpinne
Tuesday, August 23rd: Lit and Life
Wednesday, August 24th: Jenny Loves to Read
Thursday, August 25th: Silver’s Reviews
Friday, August 26th: A Fanatic’s Book Blog
Monday, August 29th: An English Major’s Junk Food
Tuesday, August 30th: Unabridged Chick
Wednesday, August 31st: BookNAround
Thursday, September 1st: red headed book child

For more information on the author, be sure to check out her website.

Review: Cocktail Hour Under The Tree of Forgetfulness by Alexandra Fuller is a post from: Jenn's Bookshelves. Reproduction of this content is forbidden unless approved through prior written consent.

Frightful Friday is a weekly meme in which I feature a particularly scary or chilling book that I’ve read that week. Feel free to grab the button & join in!

The featured book this week is:Shock Value: How a Few Eccentric Outsiders Gave Us Nightmares, Conquered Hollywood, and Invented Modern Horror

• Hardcover:272 pages
• Publisher:Penguin Press HC, The (July 7, 2011)
• ISBN-10: 1594203024
• Source: Publisher

In the 1960′s, horror films were the red-headed step children of the movie industry. Movies of this genre were relegated to drive-in theaters or, even worse, small, dank theaters that only showed sex and snuff films. 

In the 1960s, going to see a horror movie was barely more respectable than visiting a porn theater.  You watched scary movies in cars or in dirty rooms with sticky floors.

Movie houses refused to admit their existence, critics hated them.

It wasn’t until directors like Wes Craven, Roman Polanski, John Carpenter, and Brian De Palma took a chance, risking their careers and, in many cases, their livelihood, to produce “New Horror,” movies that showcased serial killers and the dark side of society rather than the “monster movies” of “Old horror.”  Out of this horror evolution, such movie greats as Rosemary’s Baby, Carrie, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Halloween.

This new wave of horror wasn’t accepted immediately.  Viewers and critics of Rosemary’s Baby shunned the movie as an attack against Catholicism. Several theaters banned the movie.  When The Exorcist was released in late 1973, “audience members were fainting and vomiting, screaming at the screen.”  Religious leaders, like Reverend Billy Graham, shunned it, calling it a “dangerous and strange situation.” But critics didn’t know how to react; how could they describe what they were watching?  Studio executives, who had once shunned the horror film,  were forced to take a step back and reevaluate their opinion of horror. 

Gradually, the perceptions of horror changed; The Exorcist was ultimately nominated for an Oscar in the best picture category. The movie earned ten Academy Award nominations, winning two (Best Sound and Best Adapted Screenplay). It became one of the highest earning movies of all time, grossing $441 million worldwide.

Night of the Living Dead (1968) showed that horror movies can also serve as social commentary. It was one of the few movies of the time with an African American hero.

New Horror provides an outlet to indulge anxieties in the anonymity of a dark theater before laughing at your fear on the way home….they reflected on the grievances of their time: paranoia about government power and mocking nihilism about the power of the American dream.  They invited audiences to distrust authority adn, most of all, to steer clear of the outside world. (p 75)

Shock Value gives the reader a rare, inside look at the men behind the most influential horror movies of our time.  We learn about the childhoods of the horror movie greats, how their upbringing influenced their work.  Despite what many may think, they weren’t all social outcasts, dreaming of madness in the basements of their homes.

Bottom line, Shock Value is the book to read for fans of horror (both fiction and film) as well as those interested in the evolution of the film industry. Going in, I thought I was pretty knowledgable about the history of the horror film.  I was sorely mistaken!  Shock Value is a book I will keep on my shelves, referring to it often.  It has me wanting to go back and watch some of the horror greats and celebrate their awesomeness. Highly recommended.

About the Author:

Jason Zinoman is a critic and reporter covering theater for The New York Times. He has also regularly written about movies, television, books and sports for publications such as Vanity Fair, The Guardian and Slate. He was the chief theater critic for Time Out New York before leaving to write the On Stage and Off column in the Weekend section of the Times. He grew up in Washington D.C. and now lives in Brooklyn.

Thank you to TLC Book Tours for providing me the opportunity to participate in this tour. Please be sure to check out the other stops:

Tuesday, July 5th: Fascination With Fear
Wednesday, July 6th: Freddy in Space
Thursday, July 7th: Cinema Suicide
Friday, July 8th: Day of the Woman
Monday, July 11th: Mad Mad Mad Mad Movies
Tuesday, July 12th: Monster Land
Wednesday, July 13th: The Deadly Doll’s House of Horror Nonsense
Monday, July 18th: The Girl Who Loves Horror
Tuesday, July 19th: From Midnight, With Love
Wednesday, July 20th: The Horror Section
Thursday, July 21st: Drunken Severed Head
Monday, July 25th: Chuck Norris Ate My Baby
Tuesday, July 26th: Frankensteinia
Date TBD: I Like Horror Movies

Frightful Friday: Shock Value by Jason Zinoman is a post from: Jenn's Bookshelves. Reproduction of this content is forbidden unless approved through prior written consent.

A man wakes up, naked and cold, on a isolated beach.  He doesn’t recall why he is there or how he got there.  Actually, he remembers nothing at all.  He finds an abandoned BMW and climbs inside; the car seems familiar and while rummaging through the glove box he finds the registration is made out to Daniel Hayes. Assuming this is his car, he continues rummaging through the glove box and finds a gun.  Becoming more and more concerned by the minute, Daniel is dead set on discovering the course of events that led him to this beach. 

The registration he finds indicates he is from California; a check of the license plates confirms this.  Based on the temperature, Daniel assumes he’s somewhere along the upper east coast.   Most people would call the police, but Daniel has a nagging feeling he should avoid the police at all cost. His feelings are confirmed when the police bust in to his room at a motel; luckily Daniel isn’t in the room at the time.  He sees flashes of images of a young, beautiful woman, so he does what seems logical: go back to California; answers will be found there.

Along the way, he discovers why the police are after him: his wife, a gorgeous actress is dead.  When the police wanted to question him about her death-a murder-Daniel turns up missing.  Daniel is forced to rediscover his identity while at the same time evading the police.

This is the part of the review where I say JUST GO BUY IT.  For real!  I discovered Sakey about a year or so ago, based on a recommendation by Jen Forbus (Jen’s Book Thoughts) who just happens to also appear in the book as a character.  Here is one of the passages in which she is mentioned:

 ”You’re going to get a lawyer.  A criminal lawyer.  I’ll call my friend Jen Forbus .  She makes Johnnie Cochran look like Mr. Bean.”

Those that know Jen well know that she’s the queen of crime fiction. If she says you need to read a book, you need to read that book.

As I was saying…I discovered Sakey’s writing nearly a year ago. I loved every single book he’s ever written, my favorite being Good People, so I knew that I would love The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes. What I didn’t know was how much I would love this book.  I was literally knocked off my feet with excitement and anticipation within the first few lines:

“He was naked and cold, stiff with it, his veins ice and frost.”

Hello, if that’s not enough to get your attention, I don’t know what is!  That’s just the tip of the iceberg…the genius continues through every page of this book.  What impressed me the most was the development of the characters: we discover who Daniel is as he does, we experience his recollection of memories along with him. Sakey does it at a moderate pace, not rushing through to the reveal.  The reader feels the anguish and fear that Daniel feels as he’s slowly uncovering the horrid turn of events that caused his amnesia. 

I’m known to attempt to figure out the ending as I read, usually I’m pretty successful.  However this time I was stumped, each time I thought I knew the “culprit” I was thrown for another loop.  When I finally came to the end, the only words I could utter were: “Holy Sh*t!”  Still, two days after reading this book, those are still the only two words I can use to describe how this book made me feel. 

So go now, preorder this book.  I guarantee you won’t regret it.

Review: The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes by Marcus Sakey is a post from: Jenn's Bookshelves. Reproduction of this content is forbidden unless approved through prior written consent.

Paperback: 432 pages
Publisher: NAL Trade; 1 edition (May 3, 2011)
ISBN-10: 9780451233073
Source: Publisher

When Julie was just twelve years old, her sister disappeared, never to be found.  Her once perfect family started to crumble.  Her mother became obsessed with searching for her daughter; when she died, Julie continued the search, keeping in regular contact with the officer on the case.

As an adult, working in a New York auction house, she meets Monica Guidry, a struggling artist from Mississippi.  Her depictions of her family draws Julie closer to her and they become close friends.

When Monica dies of a heart ailment she kept secret, she gives Julie custody of her five-year-old son, Beau, as well as a valuable payment and a piece of property in Biloxi, Mississippi.   Julie is devastated; it is like she’s lost another sister.  Biding by Monica’s wishes, she takes Beau back to Moncia’s hometown. But when Julie & Beau show up in Biloxi, they see that the property is destroyed, never rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina.

Julie is devastated; she’s given up everything she has to bring Beau back to the family that Monica always talked about, yet been estranged from for years. She is now left without a home and an adorable young boy in her custody.

Before her death, Monica instructed Julie to find Ray Von, an elderly woman who has been a friend of the family for decades.  Upon meeting Ray Von, she is given a portrait that Julie’s own great grandfather, Abe Holt, painted.  Julie reluctantly decides that he best course of action is to sell the painting in order to obtain enough money to get by.

Julie and Beau aren’t in the town long before a buyer for the painting is found: Monica’s maternal great grandmother, Aimee, and her brother Trey.  Within reason, they are a bit hesitant of Julie; they haven’t seen Monica in years and now that she has passed, they want Beau to become part of their lives.

After much trepidation, Julie agrees to stay in New Orleans, where the family now lives, while the family beach property, River Song, is rebuilt. During her stay, she discovers that the portrait she has inherited unlocks a long-hidden family secret and the likely cause of Monica’s estrangement from her family. She also learns that meeting Monica wasn’t as coincidental as she thought; her own family has ties to the Guidry family.

The Beach Trees is a heartwarming tale of family, love, loss & deceit. Julie, a Massachusetts native, can’t comprehend why the victims of Katrina’s wrath continue to rebuild. Why stay somewhere when you know it’s going to be destroyed yet again? White so eloquently portrays the hope in people of Mississippi and Louisiana, their strong-will and determination to continue to live in a town so often devastated by hurricanes.  It is then she sees the true meaning of family and of “home”, and discovers a family of her own.

The storyline is told in two parts: Julie in the present and Aimee in the 1950s.  These storylines are so intricately woven, yet also completely independent.  The parallels between the two are uncanny.  Both women lost someone so near and dear to their hearts.  The parallel disappearances in each of the families is a bit startling as well.  I’m all about mystery and family secrets in the novels I read.  I particularly enjoyed how White allowed the mystery to unfold, slowly revealing details along the way.

As with her other books, White’s characters are extremely detailed and well developed. One couldn’t help but fall for Julie and Aimee, both incredibly strong minded and independent women.  They made quite the duo; I appreciated how the past was revealed to Julie through stories Aimee told her.  The act of passing down stories among generations is quite compelling; so much history is held in memories.

The descriptions of the setting allows the reader to feel they are there: the sounds of of the ocean, the smell of the sea water, the tactile feeling of the sand between their toes.  White has the unique abilty to transport the reader into her story, despite their location.

There hasn’t been a book Karen White has written that I haven’t fallen head over heels for. I often say that, despite my “Northern” upbringing, that I must have been a Southern girl in another life.  White herself notes Karen notes that “searching for home brings me to the south again and again.”

I doubt I need to tell you this, but I can’t recommend this book enough. A perfect read for book clubs, it covers so many topics worth discussing. It would be a delightful summer read, one that leaves your heart warm and full of hope as you turn the final pages. 

Thank you to TLC Book Tours for providing me the opportunity to review this book. Please be sure to check out the other stops on the tour.

Review: The Beach Trees by Karen White is a post from: Jenn's Bookshelves. Reproduction of this content is forbidden unless approved through prior written consent.

July 1st is always considered the most dangerous day of the year; recently graduated medical students begin their internships on this day. It’s also the first day for Dr. Lydia Fiore, the new ER attending physician.  Recently transferred from Los Angeles, Fiore’s first day is met with drama & tragedy, for the chief of surgery’s son, Jonah Weiss, dies under her watch. He arrived in the ER, a victim of a car accident, no evidence of an injury.

Fiore is instantly suspended, pending an investigation. She is forced to learn the truth about Jonah’s death in order to save her career. Her “investigation” proves to be quite dangerous and her life, and the life of several others, are at risk.  Jonah death wasn’t related to his car accident; his activity in a gay rights protests seem to be involved.   But how many people will die before the the truth is revealed?

Lifelines isn’t your typical medical thriller.  It has everything: drama, romance, crime, all tucked into a hospital setting.  The author’s extremely well-developed characters really add to the storyline.  Amanda is a Southern belle with medical problems she keeps hidden from everyone else; Gina is a strong-willed & minded resident.  Nora is a charge nurse with a fierce & firey temper. All four women, including, Dr. Fiore, are incredibly dedicated strong women.

Lyon’s experience in the medical field as a flight physician and in numerous trama centers is portrayed well in her writing. Fans of TV medical dramas like ER and Grey’s Anatomy as well as fiction medical dramas, will enjoy this series.  Stay tuned for later this week I will review the other books in the Angels of Mercy series!

Review: Lifelines by CJ Lyons is a post from: Jenn's Bookshelves. Reproduction of this content is forbidden unless approved through prior written consent.

A Somalian immigrant is found brutally murdered in a cold, dark snow field in Finland.  The case is assigned to Kari Vaara, the lead detective of the local small town police force.  The body is that of Sufia Elmi, a black movie actress.  Racism is a big problem in Finland, and it’s up to Kari to determine if Sufia’s death is the result of a hate crime or something much more.

Kari’s character is a complex one.  He’s the only one of his siblings who didn’t leave town as soon as the opportunity arose.  One must wonder if he still feels guilty for the tragedy that struck his family when he was a child. Kari is forced to confront his past in order to deal with present.

Kari is married to Kate, a young American woman who moved to Finland to manage a local ski resort.  Kaamos, ten days of complete darkness, have just begun.  Kate, pregnant with their first child,  is struggling to deal with the subzero temperatures and the vast differences in the Finnish and American cultures. Kate’s feelings of isolation are beginning to have an effect on Kari and their marriage as a whole.

Thompson does an outstanding job with setting and characters in  Snow Angels.   While laying out the storyline, Thompson also educates the reader on the culture and customs of Finland.  His writing creates vivid images of the frigid Arctic setting and the emotionally cold individuals who inhabit it.  While Snow Angels is labeled as crime fiction, Thompson makes a statement social issues in the Finnish culture. We see a dark side of Finland, one I have never experienced before.

And while this exploration into the social norms of natives are explored, Thompson also unveils a very brutal crime.  The pace of the storyline is perfect.  There wasn’t one segment of the book in which I felt was dragging on.  And just when I thought I knew the identity of the murderer,  the direction changed completely, leaving me guessing until the very end.

Snow Angels is the first in a new series.  I impatiently await the second, scheduled for release in 2011.

Warning: Mild profanity, scenes of a sexual nature

Review: Snow Angels by James Thompson is a post from: Jenn's Bookshelves. Reproduction of this content is forbidden unless approved through prior written consent.