August was a pretty phenomenal month for me, book-wise.

Books Reviewed

Bad Marie by Marcy Dermansky

The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove by Susan Gregg Gilmore

Come Sunday by Isla Morley

Is Your Buffalo Ready for Kindergarten? by Audrey Vernick

Ashes to Water by Irene Ziegler

Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning

The Blessings of the Animals by Katrina Kittle

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

How Rocket Learned to Read by Tad Hills

Scar Tissue-Seven Stories About Love and Wounds by Marcus Sakey

Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel

An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon

Total books read: 12

Pick of the month: It’s impossible for me to narrow my favorite down to just one book, so following are my favorites:

Bad Marie by Marcy Dermansky

The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove by Susan Gregg Gilmore

Come Sunday by Isla Morley

The Blessings of the Animals by Katrina Kittle

Upcoming Events!

The countdown has started for Fright Fest! I have some great guest posts, giveaways & contests lined up!  There is still time to sign up if you would like to contribute a guest post or book for review!

You don’t need to do a guest post in order to be entered into the contests! Post a review about your favorite horror/thriller book or movie, or anything Halloween related during the month of October, and you will be entered into some pretty outstanding weekly giveaways. I’ll also be listing some suggested topics that you can chose from! I’ll be posting more information in the next few weeks so stay tuned!

So how was your August? What were your favorite reads?

A Month in Review: August 2010 is a post from: Jenn's Bookshelves. Reproduction of this content is forbidden unless approved through prior written consent.

Ruth Galloway, archeologist, lives in a remote area near Norfolk called Saltmarsh.  She has experience recovering ancient relics & remains of the Iron Age people, but when a child’s body is discovered on a remote beach she is intrigued.  The local police, lead by  Detective Chief Inspector Harry Nelson, call in Ruth for asssistance.  The bones are believed to be those of a young girl named Lucy, missing for a decade.  Since Lucy’s disappearance, Nelson has been receiving bizzare letters about the young girl.

The bones turn out to be over two thousand years old, but Ruth becomes a part of the case when the letters reveal the writer has a knowledge of archeology.  Another girl goes missing and the pace of the investigation speeds up.  Soon Ruth discovers she’s a lot closer to the case than she’d like and in a great deal of danger.

I’ve always been fond of forensic mysteries. In college, I took several archeology courses and the entire science has always fascinated me.  When I heard about this series, I was instantly drawn to it. Griffiths paints a very exciting, heart-pounding portrait of a crime.  What I loved about it most was Ruth’s character. She was real, she had flaws.  She’s overweight and lives with a bunch of cats in a remote cottage. She wasn’t a Barbie doll, but a truly average human being.  In addition, she’s smart, independent and quite witty. These details make Ruth a fascinating and endearing character, one that readers will be drawn to and appreciate.

The setting added a great deal to the mystery.  Where the North Sea meets the land, the landscape is full of deep pits of mud, neither land nor water. Thousands of years ago the area held religious significance to its inhabitants. While Saltmarsh is a fictional location, I found an image of a similar landscape:

I highly recommend this book to those looking for a new mystery series. I’m looking forward to reading & reviewing the second book in this series, THE JANUS STONE, scheduled for release in January 2011.

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Review: The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths is a post from: Jenn's Bookshelves. Reproduction of this content is forbidden unless approved through prior written consent.

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Marie spent six years in jail, charged with aiding and abetting after her boyfriend robbed a bank, killing one individual. She was convicted on the charges of accessory to murder and bank robbery. Said boyfriend hung himself in jail, so Marie is alone.  She survived her time spent in jail in part due to a book she read, Virginie at Sea. 

Despite her checkered past, Marie’s  childhood friend, Ellen, hires her as a nanny for her precocious daughter, Caitlin. Ellen’s husband, Benoit Doniel,  just happens to be the author of the book Marie cherish while in prison.

Marie is a very rude, selfish, manipulating character.  Her one good trait is that she truly loves Caitlin.  But when Ellen & Benoit discover Marie & Caitlin asleep in the bathtub, Marie is fired.  The only “real” life she has is spinning out of control and she desperately attempts to retain it. When Benoit suggests that they take off for Paris together, Caitlin in tow, Marie readily agrees.

The life she was struggling to hold on to continues on a downward spiral, and Marie soon discovers the only person she can rely on is herself, and the love of a little girl.

Let me start by saying that there are times that I curse myself for not reading a book sooner.  That happened in this case.  Within the first few pages, I was hooked, I couldn’t stop reading.  I read BAD MARIE in one sitting. It took me two hours to read; I simply couldn’t tear myself away from it.  Marie is a character with traits one is meant to dispise, but I found myself enjoying and appreciating her crude behavior. 

The book starts off with the line: “Sometimes, Marie got a little drunk at work.” Talk about an attention-getting lead sentence!  Based on the title alone, one would tend to think that Marie is a bad person.  In reality, she is not, just a victim of circumstances.  The time she spent in prison, six years of her young life, forever altered how she views friendships, love, relationships as a whole.  I feel that she reacted as best she good, given her history and her experience.

So, go out and pick up a copy of BAD MARIE now.  You won’t regret it.

Here are some other reviews of BAD MARIE:

Devourer of Books

Linus’s Blanket

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Review: Bad Marie by Marcy Dermansky is a post from: Jenn's Bookshelves. Reproduction of this content is forbidden unless approved through prior written consent.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading This Week? This is a weekly event to list the books completed last week, the books currently being reading, and the books to be finish this week. It was created by J.Kaye’s Book Blog, but is now being hosted by Sheila from One Person’s Journey Through a World of  Books so stop by and join in!

Books Completed Last Week

The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
Bad Marie by Marcy Dermansky

Currently Reading

61 Hours by Lee Child
Kraken by China Mieville

Books to Complete This Week

The Death (and Further Adventures) of Silas Winterbottom: The Body Thief by Stephen M. Giles
The Life You’ve Imagined by Kristina Riggle

What are you reading this week?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading This Week? is a post from: Jenn's Bookshelves. Reproduction of this content is forbidden unless approved through prior written consent.

In 1960′s Nashville, Bezellia Grove is the oldest daughter in a prominent family.  Her father is a doctor who would rather spend time with his patients than his own family, and her mother is a closet alcoholic. Bezellia and her sister are raised by their nanny, Maizelle, and the handyman, Nathanial. Bezellia treats them as members of her family while her mother treats them as pieces of property.

As a member of a prominent family, Bezellia is expected to accept her role by taking French lessons and attending cotillions.  Bezellia wants more out of life than that. 

 Bezellia’s name has been passed down from generation to generation. Her namesake was known for her courage and passion, and Bezellia vows to live up to that name. While others in the family line shortened the name, Bezellia totes it proudly.

When she meets Nathanial’s son, Samuel, she is instantly enamored. In a world where the color lines can’t be breached, this relationship is damned from the beginning.  Bezellia is forced to decide which name she will be known for; her first name or her last.

Gilmore is not afraid to touch on some pretty sensitive issues, including racism, alcoholism & insanity.  She doesn’t sugar coat it at all, despite how difficult it may to accept.  I fell in love with her characters, with Bezellia and her relationship with Samuel.  I had a special bond with these two characters in specific, largely due to the fact that my husband and I make up an interracial couple.  While the pain they went through is much larger than what my husband & I deal with on a regular basis, I could definitely sympathize with their struggle. 

THE IMPROPER LIFE OF BEZELLIA GROVE  is much more than “just” a novel about racism in the South.  It’s a tale of one young woman’s struggle to come to terms with who she is.  Does she live up to the expectations placed on her because of her family’s position in society, or does she live up to her own goals and aspirations. 

I can’t recommend this book enough to you. If there is one book you  must buy this summer, this should be it. I will forever cherish the gift Gilmore has given to me, through the characters in this book and her overwhelmingly powerful prose.

Buy this book now from:

These are affiliate links. If you purchase an item from either of these links I will earn a small commission, which goes toward the hosting of this blog & other routine costs associated with running this blog.

Review: The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove by Susan Gregg Gilmore is a post from: Jenn's Bookshelves. Reproduction of this content is forbidden unless approved through prior written consent.

Without further ado…the winner of FOR THE KING by Catherine Delors is:

And the winners of INFINITE DAYS  by Rebecca Maizel are:

Congratulations to the winners!  FOR THE KING will be shipped by the publisher and I will be shipping INFINITE DAYS personally.  Thanks again to all who entered!

Belated Announcement of Winners! is a post from: Jenn's Bookshelves. Reproduction of this content is forbidden unless approved through prior written consent.

“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

The book I’m eagerly awaiting is THE NIGHT SEASON by Chelsea Cain. It’s the fourth book in Chelsea’s Beauty Killer series.  I literally yelled with excitement yesterday when I read about it on Twitter.  Here is a synopsis from the publisher:

 As Archie follows the bizarre trail of evidence and evil deeds to catch his killer, he has to battle the rising waters of the Willamette first.

I’m literally aching to get my hands on a copy of this book! I’ve been a Chelsea Cain fan from the beginning! As a matter of fact, during Dectectives Around the World, hosted by Jen’s Book Thoughts,  I did a spotlight on Chelsea Cain’s Portland.

THE NIGHT SEASON is scheduled for release by Minotaur Books on March 1, 2011.  Over seven months to wait…however will I do it!?

Waiting on Wednesday: The Night Season by Chelsea Cain is a post from: Jenn's Bookshelves. Reproduction of this content is forbidden unless approved through prior written consent.

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• Review: The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths (5)

Thanks to the publisher, I have one copy of COME SUNDAY to give away to one lucky reader.  Trust me…you want to read this book.

To enter, please fill out the form below.  Comments are welcomed, but won’t be counted as entries. US & Canadian residents only, please. No P.O. Boxes. The winner will be announced on Tuesday, September 8th.  Good luck!

Giveaway: Come Sunday by Isla Morley is a post from: Jenn's Bookshelves. Reproduction of this content is forbidden unless approved through prior written consent.

Photo credit: Molly Hawkey

You grew up in South Africa during apartheid.  Do you think this changed they way you looked at life? At people? How did it affect your writing, specifically what you wrote about?

When I moved to California in 1994 after marrying my husband (an American), the big news was then-First Lady, Hilary Clinton, had said a bad word.  I thought, “Wait.  What?  This is a big deal on this side of the word?”  In South Africa, we’d just been through the first free election without any assassinations.  Many still feared the kind of bloodbath that had happened in other African countries.  A new constitution was being hammered out, and the Truth And Reconciliation Commission was about to be established, a system seeking justice for victims and perpetrators of atrocities through repentance and forgiveness.

Growing up in South Africa meant being immersed in complexities, and so it’s really no surprise that I’m drawn to stories and characters that are complex.  The abiding themes of suffering, forgiveness, and redemption have made their way from my childhood memories to the pages of my manuscript.

You’ve lived all over the world, including Johannesburg, London and Honolulu, and now Los Angeles. All of these locations have vastly different cultures.  Which location was your favorite, and why?

I like places where there’s a diversity of cultures.  Honolulu was probably my favorite, but not for the typical reasons.  It was there that I made friends with three amazing women, each from a different part of the world – Singapore, Tonga and the Seychelles.  They’re all different colors, too, and for a white girl who grew up in a segregated society, these friends represent a power no government can corral.

You literally left behind everything you had when you chose to leave South Africa and move to the US.  How did this change/effect you?

I left my country with two suitcases and enough naiveté to fill a hundred Harlequin novels.  I had no idea how hard being a foreigner was going to be.  To my husband’s congregation, I was Mrs. Reverend Morley, to the IRS I was ‘Resident Alien.’  It was as though I’d been stripped of my identity, but everyone kept smiling and saying, “Gee, what a pretty accent you have.  Are you from Australia?”  Amid the daily stresses of driving on the wrong side of the road, deciphering recipes that called for ingredients in ounces and pounds instead of milliliters and grams, and decoding cultural in-jokes like Seinfeld, I built up a big reservoir of empathy for those who are considered “outsiders.”

Abbe Deighton, the main character in Come Sunday has lost her bearings after moving from Africa to Hawaii.  Were aspects of Abbe’s life taken from your own?  Did you lose your bearings after leaving your home? What did you do to overcome this?

Losing one’s bearings, whether by choice or by circumstance, is probably something each of us should go through at least once.  It gives you a chance to examine what’s really important.  It’s easy to become defined by stuff.  But when you’re lost, physically and spiritually, when you’re emotionally disoriented, you’re in the best position to latch on to what is real and lasting.  Love, of course, but also friendship, loyalty, hope, God.  Finding out your bearings have nothing to do with compass coordinates is a liberating experience.

Abbe experiences a pretty traumatic loss in Come Sunday. How difficult was this to write, being a mother of a daughter yourself?

It was hard to imagine myself in Abbe’s situation.  I used to avoid movies and books where children get hurt, because that’s a deep scary cave.  But this was a story that wanted telling, and it was as if I was the sucker who showed up on the day that particular assignment was handed out.  Soon after I started writing the story, though, I knew it wasn’t going to be all about grief but more about the redemptive power of forgiveness.  It was going to be about the nature of marriage and motherhood and interracial friendships.

Before making the leap to fiction, you were a journalist.  How did the two roles differ? Did your role as a journalist help/hinder your role as a fiction writer?

When I wrote for the magazine, it was challenging and demanding, but ultimately soulless.  After I quit my job, I pledged never to write again.  Ten years later, after Abbe materialized at my bedside one night, I encountered something entirely different.  When I sat down to write, it felt as if there was a great invisible river running above me and I was sticking my finger in it, and the undercurrent coursed through me and spilled out onto the page.  It was immensely fulfilling and life-changing.

Your work has been compared to authors like Barbara Kingsolver, Bohjalian, Sue Miller, and Anita Shreve. I say I have to agree! Who are some of your favorite authors?

Thank you.  It’s very humbling, those comparisons, and I’m sure they’d stop if people were to see me hacking away at the weedy undergrowth of my latest story.

Among my favorite authors are Cormac McCarthy, Tim O’Brien, Anne Lamott, Bill Bryson, Roxana Robinson, Doris Lessing, Jon Krakauer and Alan Paton.

Who/what is your inspiration as you write? Is it always the same, or does it change depending on what you write about?

The inspiration for a story tends to come from a particular character, rather than an event or place.  And whatever inspired the character – who can say?  I tend to believe it’s the great Creative Spirit who is the author of all stories.

I’m anxiously awaiting another book from you. Can you give us a hint on what you are working on now?

The reason why I wrote secretly in a closet (literally) for two years was because I needed to write and write with permission to fail.  I didn’t want to disappoint anyone.  For this reason, it’s hard to talk about what’s next.  But I can tell you it will tackle deep themes and include events that challenge and change lives.

I’m nosey…I like to see where people work.  Can you share with readers  a picture of your desk, office, etc?
Here’s where I’ve been doing my writing lately… I have an office, but it’s out on the deck with the view of the San Gabriel Mountains that I spend much of my day.  I’ve also traded my computer for old-fashioned notebooks and a ballpoint pen.  There’s always a pot of tea and the sound of the mockingbird and grand thoughts drifting along on the morning breeze.

What a breathtaking view! Ahh…and do I spot post-it notes? A woman after my own heart!

Check back later today & enter to win a copy of COME SUNDAY by Isla Morley!

Inteview with Isla Morley, Author of Come Sunday is a post from: Jenn's Bookshelves. Reproduction of this content is forbidden unless approved through prior written consent.

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Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser this week comes from:

 
Shop Indie Bookstores

“Now the wind sounds like children’s voices calling.  How sad they sound, like the cries of sailors lost at sea, like the will o’the wisps searching the world for comfort and warmth.” (pg. 277)

What’s your teaser this week?

Teaser Tuesday: The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths is a post from: Jenn's Bookshelves. Reproduction of this content is forbidden unless approved through prior written consent.