Jenn's Bookshelves

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Center Street (April 13, 2010)
• ISBN-10: 1599951967
• Source: Publisher

A serial killer has struck Denver and has already taken four victims. He’s called the Bride Collector by the FBI because of the bridal veil he leaves behind at the crime scene. FBI Special Agent Brad Raines has his work cut out for him, especially when one of the victims remind him of a former girlfriend who committed suicide.

After profiling the serial killer, the FBI determines that he is an extremely intelligent individual, but with severe mental illness. Raines gets help on the case from “patients” of the Center for Wellness and Intelligence, a private psychiatric institution for mentally ill individuals whose are extremely gifted intellectually. There he meets Paradise,  a young woman diagnosed as schizophrenic.  Paradise witnessed her father kill her family, barely escaping death herself.  It appears as she has special abilities which allows the FBI to see aspects of the victim never seemed before.

But when the Bride Collector picks up his pace and begins killing more frequently and becomes a bit more personal, Brad begins to wonder if they’ll ever be able to put an end to his vicious, sadistic killing.

Once again, Dekker does another outstanding job with The Bride Collector! He steps inside the killer and portrays him remarkably.  The reader is able to feel what the killer feels, see what the killer sees. The descriptions of the killings are so vivid they are terrifying, one of the many things I enjoy about Dekker’s writing. Dekker’s characters are also very complex and compelling. Finally, as he does in most of his novels, Dekker does insert a small bit of faith this story.

I read The Bride Collector on a red-eye flight.  I should have been sleeping but couldn’t bear to put this book down! I highly recommend this to fans for crime fiction and thrillers.

Want to connect with the author? Check out:

Ted’s Facebook page: www.facebook.com/teddekker

Ted’s Twitter: www.twitter.com/teddekker

Ted’s website: www.teddekker.com

While investigating a hostage scene at a local eatery, Sheriff Cas Larkin discovers the body of a local girl.  While investigating her death, he learns about a “club” at the local high school reminiscent of a satanic cult.  At the same time, his police force is investigating several cases of stolen and mutilated livestock. Instead of finding answers to his many questions, more questions regarding the cases pop up.  When the son of a local judge is implicated, it becomes extremely difficult for Cas to get his many questions answered.  He must rush to find the connection between the criminal activities going on in the seemingly quiet town of Merrivale.

The Devil in Merrivale is one of many “cozy mysteries” Griffey has written.  While I didn’t feel a close connection to the main characters, the storyline was full action and intrigue. It was interesting to see how small town politics came into play while the various crimes were being investigated.

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

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: NAL Trade (November 3, 2009)
• ISBN-10: 0451227999
• Source: Publisher, via TLC Book Tours

Karen White once again returns to Charleston, South Carolina and the haunting (literally) world of Melanie Middleton.  In White’s previous novel,The House on Tradd Street, Melanie, a real estate broker, inherits a historic home on Charleston’s Tradd Street.  Now, in The Girl On Legare Street it’s just a few months later and Melanie is still working hard to restore the historic home. I would be remiss not to mention Melanie’s “gift”-to hear and see spirits.  And in Charleston, there are many!

She learns that her grandmother’s home is once again on the market, and an interested buyer has requested her expertise specifically.  The interested buyer is her estranged mother, Ginnette, whom she hasn’t seen in over 30 years.

After attempting to get past her initial feelings of anger toward her mother, Melanie soon learns the real reason for her mother’s return.  Ginnette, also a spiritual sensitive, had a premonition involving Melanie and the home on Legare Street.  Something evil happened in that home decades ago, and the evil has returned.

A sunken vessel with ties to the Prioleau family is raised from the dark depths of the ocean, and with it bring spirits long buried. An inscription on Melanie’s grandmother’s headstone carries a message from the grave:

When bricks crumble, the fireplace falls
When children cry, the mothers call
When lies are told, the sins are built
Within the waves, hide all our guilt

Melanie and her mother begin smelling the scent of decay and sea water when they roam their ancestral home, and soon realize an angry spirit is seeking revenge on the Prioleau family. This evil has haunted the women in their family for centuries, and using their “gift”, the must put an end to it for good.

I’ve been a fan of White’s writing for some time. She is known for her detailed prose and depth in her characters. Like in The House on Tradd Street, White does an outstanding job of describing the setting of Charleston. Her vivid imagery allows the city to unfold for the reader and its easy to become enveloped in the story. Her love of the South clearly shines through in this story. Fans of gothic mysteries or fiction set in the South will truly enjoy this one. While this is the second in the series, and I highly recommend reading The House on Tradd Street to gain background on the characters, this novel could stand on its own.

GIVEAWAY!  I have one brand new copy of The Girl on Legare Street available, thanks to the publisher.  To enter, please fill out this form. You must fill out the form completely to be entered into the contest.  The winner will be announced on Monday, December 28th. US and Canadian residents only, please.

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

Wednesday, December 16th: Southern Hospitality

Thursday, December 17th: Stacy’s Books

Monday, December 21st: From the Land of Cotton

Tuesday, December 22nd: Lit and Life

Tuesday, December 29th: Write Meg

Date TBD: The Tome Traveller

 I’m officially resurrecting my dormant Virginia is for…book lovers feature. I have a ton of great authors lined up to feature, but unfortunately sometimes life takes you over!  I promise to make this a monthly feature and give these amazing authors their due!  This month’s featured author is Laurie Brodie, author of  The Widow’s Season.

Paperback: 303 pages
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA), June 2009
ISBN: 0425227650
Source: Author

Sarah McConnell is still grieving the death of her husband, David, after losing him nearly three months ago in a flash flood.  His body was never recovered and while Sarah knew there was no way he could have survived the flood, she still needs that physical evidence of his demise before she can truly accept he is gone.

But then one day, she sees him at the grocery store.  She catches his eye but as quickly as he appeared, he is gone.  Reluctantly, she tells her friend Margaret, also a widow. To her surprise, Margaret doesn’t seem appalled by this news. She, too, used to see her husband everwhere after he passed away, nearly five years ago.  But her visions were of men who resembled her husband and obviously not her husband himself.

Margaret recommends that Sarah join her at her next bereavement group meeting.  Talking with other women experiencing the same grief might aid in her healing.  Also aiding her in this recovery process is Nate, her brother-in-law. He drops by and checks in on Sarah on a regular basis.  His resemblance to David is uncanny, almost so similar he could almost be mistaken for his older brother.

Sarah soon discovers that she’s not truly grieving the loss of her husband:

She was morning the loss of an idea, a vision of how her life should have been. And that vision had not been swept down the river three months ago; it had been dying slowly over the past few years, with each small dream that she abandoned.

Sarah had given up bits of herself in the years she was married to David. She dropped everything and moved to Jackson when he was offered a position there. She soon found a part-time job at the local college.

Once they were settled, Sarah and David tried to start a family. Unfortunately, they were unable.  Sarah was in a constant battle with her body, for some reason she was unable to carry a child to term. Sarah was devastated and sunk into a bout of depression.  David was unable to deal with her emotions:

She felt that her miscarriages were tainting his perfect world, a barren wife being the most ancient blight of all, and she sometimes suspected that the acidity of her mind might be poisoning her womb; no life could grow within a body so bitter.  Some nights David would stay at work just to avoid her tone at the dinner table.

So Sarah wasn’t really grieving David, but grieving the life and the family they could have had together.

Sarah joins Margaret for her bereavement group meeting.  She reveals her glimpses of David to the group of widows. Many of the women admit that they too have seen their husbands. Margaret is still hesitant to believe Sarah is actually being haunted by her husband:

…if you are really seeing David, there must be a reason.  Either he is somehow trying to reach you, or you are trying to reach him. Most likely it is the latter.  There’s probably somthing unresolved in your mind.

On Halloween night, David makes another appearance.  This time he doesn’t disappear.  Thinking of Margaret’s statement, she opens the door and invites David inside.

David explains that he was a victim of the flood but he was able to save himself from the raging rapids.  But instead of contacting Sarah and returning to his life, he has an unmistakeable desire to run away. So he continues to hid in their cabin in the woods. Even though he saw Sarah and Margaret arrive at the cabin a week after the flood, he remained hidden.

He invites Sarah to (once again) leave everything behind and come with him to live in the cabin. Sarah is unable to commit to an answer, but begins to visit David at their cabin.

Meanwhile, Nate continues to pay visits to Sarah.  Sarah can’t help to feel alive in his presence. He shows a level of respect and care for her that David was unable to show.  She is torn between the feeling she has when she is with Nate, and the feelings of loyalty she has for David.

Sarah’s decision is made after attending a performance with Nate at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.  The lyrics seemed to describe Sarah to a “T”:

I am eager for the pleasures of the flesh

More than for salvation,

My soul is dead,

So I shall look after the flesh…

…The girl without a lover

Misses out on all the pleasures

She keeps the dark night

Hidden

In the depth of her heart;

It is a most bitter fate.

Sarah realizes that she has to make a decision: is she going to live for her dead/undead husband or for once, live for herself?

The Widow’s Season a lot more than what it seems. Reading just the description on the back of the book, it seems to be a ghost story.  But it’s much more.  It is not only a story of a widow’s healing, but also one that details her transformation into a seemingly completely different individual. The years she was with David, it was as if she were a caterpillar and she wasn’t able to fully transform into a butterfly until her feelings about her marriage and David were resolved.

While reading, I didn’t know what to believe.  Was David truly alive or was Sarah just haunted by his ghost? I won’t reveal the answer, but Brodie did an outstanding job of keeping the answer ambiguous.

Brodie’s writing is very emotional and captivating, a very absorbing read.  It’s also a very addictive piece. I couldn’t put it down until I learned the truth behind David’s appearances.  In case you haven’t noticed yet, I highly recommend this one!  It would be the perfect book for a reading group. There are several aspects and issues that can be picked apart and discussed.

About the Author:

I was born in Columbus, Ohio, with the name Laura Ann Fairchild. My earliest memories come from Seattle, Washington, where my family lived in the Magnolia neighborhood near the Puget Sound. I loved the deep, rainy colors of Seattle; one of my dreams is to buy a summer house on the Olympic peninsula.

At age eight, my family moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, where I stayed through high school, spending most of my time writing poetry, playing tennis, and earning money as an amateur violinist. After graduating from Broughton High School in 1982, I went to college at Harvard, and lived in Cabot House with a group of eight talented and diverse women who inspire me to this day. Hello to all my roommates!

My favorite class was a poetry workshop with Seamus Heaney, and I graduated with a degree in English in 1986. While at Harvard, I played violin with the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, touring in Russia, Europe and Asia. On an orchestra tour I met my future husband, trumpeter John Brodie. We married after my graduation, and lived in Washington, DC, where I worked on campaign finance reform for Common Cause.

In 1988 we moved to Lexington, VA, so that John could take a job as band director at the Virginia Military Institute. I commuted to Charlottesville to work on a PhD at the University of Virginia, and with the help of a dissertation fellowship from the American Association of University Women and a Woodrow Wilson Women’s Studies Grant, I wrote a dissertation focused on widows in English literature. Since that time, all of my writing has been tied to women’s studies. My favorite chapter from that dissertation was on husbands who fake their deaths in order to spy on their wives, and that inspired my  novel, The Widow’s Season.

If you are a Virginia author and would like to be showcased in this feature, please contact me at jennsbookshelfATgmailDOTcom or fill out the form on my “Contact Me” page.

Chloe Hobbs is a half human, half scorceress living in the quaint town of Sugar Maple Vermont.  She’s the de facto mayor of Sugar Maple and owns the town’s knit shop, Sticks and Strings. On the surface, Sugar Maple looks like the typical quiet little Vermont town.  Out-of-towners who visit the town don’t realize that the citizens aren’t human.

A tenth-generation wtich owns the Cut & Curl across the street…The hardware store is run by the sweetest family of werewolves you’ll ever meet.  The Sugar Maple Arts Playhouse is under the direction of shapshifters…Faeries keep the Inn’s restaurant fully booked and…the town funeral parlor belongs to a happily married couple who happen to be vampire.” (pg. 3)

The town’s secret hidden is kept hidden from humans using a protective charm that protects the town as long as a female decendant of the Hobb family.  Chloe is that last female decendant.

I’d be remiss not to mention the background of the story. In Casting Spells, the prequel to Laced with Magic, a former Boston police detective,  Luke Mackenzie stumbles upon Sugar Maple after investigating the  drowning death of his friend Suzanne Marsden.  Prior to his arrival, Chloe was the only (partial) human to live in Sugar Maple.  Luke decides to stay in Sugar Maple after his investigation, and he and Chloe begin to date.  The residents of Sugar Maple aren’t happy in the slightest.  Several weren’t too fond of Chloe’s “ethnicity” in the first place, so adding another human to the mix made things worse.

In Casting Spells, Chloe uses her powers to banish Isadora, a Fae leader, from Sugar Maple.  And in Laced with Magic it appears as though Isadora has returned, attempting to regain her powers.

The town is suprised when yet another human enters Sugar Maple. This time, it’s Luke’s ex-wife Karen.  It seems that Luke is full of secrets, knocking Chloe off guard. Not only was he previously married, but he also had a daughter that died two years ago. Karen has tracked Luke down to Sugar Maple tell him that she’d been receiving phone calls from their dead daughter.

Chloe is floored. Not only must she protect the town from Isadora, she must also deal with the secrets Luke’s ex-wife has revealed. Never did she realize that the two might be related.

Bretton does an outstanding job with her characters.  The book is written in first person,  and it jumps between between Chloe, Luke, and Karen every few pages.  This rapid change of view might be irritating and confusing to some, but I think it truly fueled the intensity of the storyline.  The reader sees what’s happening through several different eyes. I didn’t get a chance to read Casting Spells prior to this, but Bretton gives enough background information that it’s not required to be able to follow the new storyline.  I do plan on going back and starting from the beginning, however.  Without giving away too much, the ending will take your breath away, making it very apparent that a third book is in the making.

This book has everything, romance, fantasy, suspense.  Something for everyone. I highly recommend this one.  It’s a quick read, I literally read it in one sitting!

Thank you to Pump Up Your Book Promotions for giving me the opportunity to take part in this tour!

Thirty-something Lila Cole is a successful professor of English. She is happily married to Patrick.  Her life seems virtually perfect.  Until her twin brother, Billy, the man she puts before all others (including her husband), dies as a result of suicide-by-cop.  Lila learns that her “perfect” brother was actually estranged from his wife and accused of endangering the life of his young son. So, Billy took an unloaded rifle and pointed it at an elementary school.

In the weeks after her brother’s death, Lila falls into a very deep depression.  Billy literally meant everything to her.  Things she loved before, like reading, lacked the substance they once had:

“The characters aren’t real to me anymore.  It’s like they’ve fallen to the floor and shattered into nothing but thousands of meaningless words. It’s like they died, but worse.” p. 49.

Patrick is desperate to help his wife crawl out of this depression. He soon learns that the childhood she told him about was completely false. When questioned by a therapist, Lila is unable to recall key parts of he childhood. All she can remember is the childhood Billy told her about, a promised world that cushioned them from reality. Lila must face this knowledge and reach back into her memory and be prepared to face what really took place.

The Promised World is a fast-paced, thrilling and emotional family drama. It isn’t until near the end of the book that you realize whose story you can trust. Tucker tells a story that you can’t bear to put down, you will want to finish this one in one sitting. The pain Lila experiences after her brother’s death and in the realization that her life was a lie, is so vivid and realistic.

There are several mini-plots that pop up throughout the book. This had the potential to confuse the reader and cause them to stray away from the key storyline, but Tucker did a stellar job of wrapping them al up in a neat package at the end. Tucker’s writing is beautiful and mesmerizing, and the characters will haunt you long after you turn the last page.

Thank you to TLC Book Tours for giving me the opportunity  to participate in this tour. Following are a few of the other blogs participating in this tour:

Thursday, September 17th:  2 Kids and Tired Book Reviews

Monday, September 21st:  Janel’s Jumble

Tuesday, September 22nd:  Caribousmom

Wednesday, September 23rd:  The Tome Traveller

Thursday, September 24th:  Books and Movies

Monday, September 28th:  A Sea of Books

Tuesday, September 29th:  GalleySmith

Wednesday, September 30th:  Shhh.. I’m Reading

Calli Clark is a sweet, innocent seven year old girl.  Yet as a toddler, she suffered an unspeakable tragedy and hasn’t uttered a word in three years.  Her best friend is Petra Gregory. Petra doesn’t seem to mind that Calli doesn’t speak. they are soul mates, using non-verbal means to communicate.

One summer morning, both young girls go missing. Calli’s mother, Antonia, can’t seem to face the fact that her abusive husband, Griff, is involved. Petra’s father, Martin, is a warm and loving man.  Yet his daughter’s disappearance forces him to reveal a harsh side that has thus far remained hidden.  He will stop at nothing to find his daughter and punish the individual who has taken her.
The Weight of Silence is not only a book about the abduction of two children.  It is truly a novel about family secrets.  It reveals the voices of each of the main characters in alternating chapters.   Through the various points of view,  each of the main characters reveal themselves to the reader, we able to get a vivid and honest portrayal of not only what happens during this investigation, but during the years  that lead up to it. While the reader is following the investigation of the two missing girls, they are also slowly learning about the horrid tragedy that lead to Calli’s selective mutism.

The entire novel is fast-paced and riveting. The short chapters keep the momentum moving.  There are so many twists and turns and secrets revealed.  This is guaranteed to be a book that will keep your attention. Don’t plan on starting it if you don’t have time to complete it, because it will literally grab you and won’t let you go.

I would definitely recommend this as a book club read.  There are so many aspects that could be discussed, starting with Calli’s mutism, the trauma she experienced, family secrets, it goes on and on.  This is guaranteed to be a book that must be talked about!

Thank you to TLC Book Tours for giving me the opportunity to participate in this tour! To read more about the author, Heather Gudenkauf, and to visit the other blogs participating in the tour, please visit Heather’s tour page!