Review: The Girl Next Door by Brad Parks

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Jenn

Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Minotaur Books (March 13, 2012)
ISBN-10: 031266768X
Source: Author

As Carter Ross is reading the obituaries (“some of the happiest news we print”) he comes across the entry for Nancy Marino, just 42 years old. As Carter scans the rest of the entry, he sees that Nancy was a carrier for the Eagle-Examiner, the very paper he writes for as an investigative reporter. Wanting to do a special piece for one of their own, Carter attends Nancy’s wake. After speaking with her family members, Carter learns that Nancy’s death, a hit-and-run, may not have been an accident.

Further investigation indicates that Ms. Marino was involved in a heated union battle with the newspaper. Could the head of the Eagle-Examiner be responsible for Nancy’s death? Carter Ross becomes obsessed with seeking resolution for Nancy’s family, even if that means putting his job, and life, at risk.

Fans of this series will be thrilled to see Carter Ross back in action. An investigative reporter, he always seems to get involved in some pretty dangerous assignments. His witty humor and me laughing out loud. The relationship with his editor, Tina Thompson, is just as steamy and full of sexual tension as before. In this book, however, things are taken to a completely different level (not that level, much to the dismay of Carter Ross).

One of the perks to Parks’ books are his secondary characters. Carter Ross always has the most…interesting entourage of individuals surrounding him. I was happy to see many of the characters from the previous books return (i.e. Tommy, the gay Cuban intern) as well as the introduction of some new “side kicks,” including Lunky, the intern better suited as Literature professor than a newspaper reporter. One particular scene in which Lunky admitted to reading The DaVinci Code and liking it had me in stitches.

Parks’ talent is his ability to add just enough humor to his mysteries to get the reader laughing, but not so much that you are distracted from the solving of the case. As with the previous two books, Parks inserts the perfect dose of social commentary. This is where his skill at breaking up the serious bits with humor comes into play. His timing in his humor was perfect: just as Carter started getting too serious, Parks’ would insert some bit of humor to return him to the status of a cute and witty investigative reporter.

While this is the third book in a series, I believe readers can pick up any book along the way and be able to become quickly immersed in the series. All in all, Parks books are ones that I have quickly grown to adore and will continue to look forward to each and every one. Highly recommended.

Posted in Crime Fiction, Minotaur Books, Mystery/Suspense, Review | 5 Comments

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading This Week?

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Jenn

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 read, and the books to be finish this week. It is hosted by Sheila from One Person’s Journey Through a World of Books so stop by and join in!

Books Completed Last Week

The Whisperer by Donato Carrisi (audio) review
The Girl Next Door by Brad Parks (review)
Girls Like Us: Fighting for a World Where Girls Are Not for Sale: A Memoir by Rachel Lloyd

Currently Reading

Helsinki White (Inspector Vaara Novel) by James Thompson
Rise Again: A Zombie Thriller by Ben Tripp (audio)

Books to Complete This Week

Glow by Jessica Maria Tuccelli
Edge of Dark Water by Joe R. Lansdale
Hide Me Among the Graves by Tim Powers

What are you reading this week?

Posted in It's Monday What Are you Reading This Week | 5 Comments

Frightful Friday: The Whisperer by Donato Carrisi

Posted on March 9, 2012 by Jenn

Frightful Friday is a weekly meme in which I feature a particularly scary or chilling book that I’ve read that week.

This week’s featured book is actually an audio book, The Whisperer by Donato Carrisi.

Listening Length: 13 hours and 43 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Source: Publisher

In a clearing in the woods, a brutal burial ground is found. Within it are six arms belonging to young girls. Their identities unknown, the rest of the remains missing.
Leading the investigation are profiler Mila Vasquez and criminologist Goran Gavila. Eventually the bodies start to be revealed, found near the sites of horrendous crimes yet discovered by the authorities. Five of them are the bodies of girls previously reported as missing, the sixth is a mystery. The team quickly has in their custody a suspect, although he doesn’t seem to have ties to any of the victims other than the first. It’s not long before they discover that their original suspect is just a pawn in the case and that another truly evil individual is running free. He always seems to be ahead of them, playing a sick game of cat and mouse with the team. They are running out of time, the sixth girl could potentially still be alive.

Mila and Goran come to this case with their own baggage. Mila, well known for her ability to find lost and abducted children, has a dark past quite similar to the victims. She isn’t part of the original investigative team, she comes in on loan from another county. She’s an outside, finding it hard to fit in with the other members of the team. She’s not your usual individual and tries very hard to hide her femininity, wanting to remain invisible in a crowd. Goran is a single father, raising his young son on his own after his wife abandoned them.

Interspersed throughout the novel is correspondence from a prison director about an inmate, only known by his inmate number. The prison is unable to determined his identity, for this inmate cleans up after himself quite well, leaving no trace of fingerprints or DNA in his cell. They are certain he has committed a crime so serious that he will stop at nothing to prevent his identity from being revealed. Unfortunately, the crime that put him in the prison isn’t severe enough to keep him for an extended period of time and his release is imminent. The reader can’t help but wonder what, if anything, ties this individual to the case at hand.

Carrisi has created a truly chilling psychological thriller in The Whisperer, a serial killer that others have compared to the character of Hannibal Lecter. I would have to agree. But what really sets this book apart from the others is that it really makes you think, taking you on a dizzying ride of unexpected twists and turns. The characters, themselves immersed in darkness, really add to the overall feeling of depravity and desperation that flows throughout the book.

I listened to the audio book production of this novel. The voice of the narrator, Carol Monda, adds to the chilling tone of the book. She is, without a doubt, the perfect narrator for a book of this style of book. Her vocal talent has impressed me so much that I find myself looking for books she has narrated.

The Whisperer is an international bestseller, likened to the work of Stieg Larsson. I’ll dare to take that a step further and state that Carrisi’s work exceeds that of Larsson. Highly, highly recommended.

Posted in Audiobook, Frightful Friday, Hachette Audio, Horror, Review, Thriller | 3 Comments

Blogiversary Special: Things I Wish I Knew As A New Blogger

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Jenn

Today I celebrate the fourth anniversary of this blog. It has really been a wonderful four years, full of many changes on this blog. From the one-paragraph (gasp!) reviews to a complete overhaul to the overall appearance of my blog (darn copycats) I think this blog has come a long way.

Following are just a few of the milestones/events I’m particularly proud of:

Remember the days of Jenn’s Bookshelf? The first “brand” I had was loved by so many that other bloggers decided to take on the same look. It was then I decided to not only change the overall look of my blog, but move to a self-hosted one as well. It was quite the leap, but the best decision I’ve ever made.

Murder, Monsters & Mayhem-2012 will be the third year I’ve hosted an event celebrating my favorite genres: horror & thriller!

IndieThursday! After I was lucky enough to finally have an indie bookstore open up in my area (One More Page Books), I decided to start a movement to help celebrate independent bookstores!

As with every milestone, I like to look back and reflect upon what I’ve learned. Before I knew it, I’d created a list of sorts. A list of things I wish I knew as a newbie blogger. A majority of the “dont’s” I mention I fell prey to myself, so I really do speak from experience.

Now, just warning you. This list won’t tell you how to get more followers, or how to improve increase the number of hits to your blog, or how to get more ARCS from publishers. Instead, this list will give you a perspective on blogging only gained from experience. Originally, this list wasn’t one that I intended to share, but ultimately thought that some new blogger out there might benefit. So…without further ado:

Things I Wish I Knew As A New Blogger

1. Quality is more important than Quantity

This not only refers to the number of reviews you post, but also the number of followers you have.

No one is going to read content if is simply regurgitated information, copied mainly from promo material from the publisher. Create your own summary, unique content. Take a chance and review something you actually want to review, not something that you feel you have to review. You don’t have to be the one that reviews the book that EVERYONE is talking about. Instead, find the diamond in the rough, the truly outstanding book that no one is talking about.

Additionally, you don’t need to post every.single.day. Some of us do it, yes, because we have content every day of the week. But posting just to have a new post up won’t grow your followers, it might actually push them away. When readers get overwhelmed by content, they shut down, stop reading a blog as a whole. Instead, if you feel the need to post every day, mix it up a bit. Break up review posts with discussion posts, feature posts, etc.

Regarding follower counts-yes, large numbers always makes a blog seem impressive. But if those followers aren’t connecting with the blogger, not commenting, etc., how effective are those numbers?

2. Blog for Yourself

For the first year and a half of blogging, I was drowning in all the review copies I would receive. I’m talking 15-20 books a week, mostly unsolicited. Then, I thought I had to review each and every book sent to me, respond positively to every pitch email. When I hit a wall, when blogging became more of a chore than something I look forward to, I stopped. I didn’t read or blog for several days. It was time to take a look at where I was as a blogger and realize I had to take my blog back, make it mine.

Now: I still get a large quantity of books for review. That said, all of the books I review are books that I would have picked up on my own had I found them in a bookstore, books that I am genuinely interested in reading. Only a small portion of the books I receive now are unsolicited.

Additionally, I created an entire theme month tied around a genre I love: horror. It gives me an outlet, an opportunity to write about the books I adore. Granted, this may not be a topic matter of interest to many of my readers, but it of interest and important to me. Actually, I discovered a whole host of new individual thanks to this feature!

3. Create a relationship with the publishers you work with

This doesn’t mean you should be at the beck and call of the big publishing houses. Still blog as you like, about what you like. However, when you create a relationship with the publicists pitching books to you, you learn more about one another. You discover the types of books the publicist pitches, their goals in promoting the book. He/she learns what sort of books you do/do not review, so when you start getting pitches, they are more tailored toward the focus of your blog.

Once this has been accomplished, when it’s time to attend BEA you won’t need to stalk the publisher booths at BEA, waiting for them to set out that ARC you’ve been dying to review. You’ll either a. Have that ARC already or b. Can request the ARC be shipped to you.

Sort of going on a tangent here, but BEA is a great way for you to meet the publicists you’ve been corresponding with for months. Set up a meeting with your contacts, hear about the books they are excited about, discover books you are interested in, and create a plan, a goal for your blog. End tangent.

4. Giveaways Shouldn’t Be Your Main Source of Attracting Followers

I’m not saying you shouldn’t do any giveaways, but don’t sign up for every giveaway offered to you by a publisher. A good gauge: if you have more giveaways on your blog than actual book content, you are doing far too many giveaways. More importantly, don’t offer a giveaway if you haven’t read the book. You should only promote a book you’ve read, otherwise you are blindly leading your followers to become interested in a book you know nothing about (other than what you can read on the back of the book) Also, my biggest pet peeve: do not force readers to follow you/subscribe to your blog in order to be entered. Or require they do some sort of action (i.e. tweet or blog about the contest) in order to qualify. Hate it.

5. You are not obligated to review every book you receive

It’s true! Even if you accept a pitch for a book, you are not obligated to review that book. Yup, I said it. You do not have a contract with a publisher, you are not a paid employee.

6. Find a Blogging Buddy/Mentor

Other bloggers, especially those who have been around for a while, are a wealth of information. They can provide you with advice on issues that come up while blogging or even serve as a proofreader for a post you’re worried about. Lucky for me, a whole group of bloggers started around the same time as I, so we had a natural bond that we shared, allowing us to be the perfect blogging mentors for one another

7. What Happens on the Internet Stays on the Internet

Be careful what you post, be it on your blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Be prepared to stand behind your believes and argue your opinion. While posts and comments can be deleted, first impressions and memories cannot.

8. Don’t Burn Bridges

The nature of online communication oftentimes breeds miscommunication. We cannot see the face or hear the inflection of the person “talking” to us. Therefore, feelings can be hurt quite easily. Nurture relationships, don’t damage them. It’s okay to say you are wrong (when in fact you are wrong.) It is okay to seek forgiveness, it ultimately makes you a stronger person.

9. Be Unique

If you like the idea another blogger has come up with, don’t copy it. In this case, it is not a form of flattery. Contact that individual, request their permission to do your own spin-off of their idea. Most importantly: attribute the idea to the individual who came up with the idea.

10. Have Fun!

This is the most important thing to remember about blogging, for no one wants to read posts from a blogger who is miserable. Stay clear of the drama (there is a lot of it) and instead spend time sharing your love of books.

So, there you have it! Are there any “lessons learned” that you have? Things you wish you knew when you started blogging?

Posted in Bookish Chatter | 29 Comments

Review: The Possibility of You by Pamela Redmond

Posted on March 7, 2012 by Jenn

Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Gallery Books; Original edition (February 21, 2012)
ISBN-10: 1451616422
Source: Publisher

Three women from three different worlds. Each are forced to make a personal decision that influence subsequent generations.

Bridget (1916)-A nanny for a young boy. She’s more of a mother to him that the woman who birthed him. When he is torn from their arms, she is forced to relive his passing, day after day. She loses part of herself the day he dies and becomes forever connected to the woman she worked for.

Billie (1976)-After her father passes away, she discovers a part of her family, and a deep dark secret, she’d never realized existed.

Cait (present day)-Adopted, she never really wanted/needed more from her parents. Yet, she always finds herself running…from life, but mostly from herself. She decides to track down the mother she gave away, in hopes that this discovery will help her make the decision about keeping her own unborn child.

Each of these three women have one thing in common: they have become unexpectedly pregnant. As they search for a decision about the fate of their unborn child’s life, they also search for their own personal identity, a sense of belonging. Their decisions tear apart families and friendships, but in doing so forge new, more stable relationships.

Set in New York, important movements in the history of women’s rights in the background, The Possibility of You, is at the core more than simply a novel about the lives of three women, forever changed by potential motherhood. It also deals with a whole host of other topics and issues, including racism, family, and an incredibly timely topic: the right to have access to birth control/family planning. It is a truly endearing, yet complex, tale with incredibly rich and sympathetic characters. We learn a great deal about each of these women, ultimately rewarded by learning how they are each connected in the end. This is a book that will be savored by women of all ages, talked about at book clubs, and at the dinner table at night. It is a book that I can see hitting the big screen; I found myself planning the casting in my head as I read along. An emotionally charged, completely addictive book I recommend wholeheartedly.

Posted in Gallery Books | Tagged New York, pro-life/pro-choice, racism, women's movement | 2 Comments

Review: Hystera by Leora Skolkin-Smith

Posted on March 6, 2012 by Jenn

Paperback: 194 pages
Publisher: Fiction Std (November 16, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1936558181

Set in New York the 1970s, in the midst of the Patty Hearst kidnapping case, Hystera tells the story of one young woman’s battle with intimacy and independence.

After Lillian Weill’s father suffers an accident, Lillian blames herself for the repercussions. Her father was the head of the house, seeing him resort to being a child-like patient defeats her emotionally. The injuries he suffered forced him to undergo a dramatic personality change, including inappropriate and uninhibited sexual behavior. Lillian retreats into herself, abandoning the outside world. When she attempts suicide, she is voluntarily checked into a psychiatric hospital. Any attempts to examine her, now complaining of physical discomfort in her abdomen, results in severe physical outbursts. She is quarantined in a safe room, a quiet room that protects Lillian from herself just as much as from the other patients.

Yearning was a burning in her flesh. She had a love disease of flammability; love was dangerous. Intimacy made her feel as though her bowels were crying out. Everything inside her was as fragile as the spider spins on a tree branch in the midst of a forest fire. This is why she tried to die. She was burning up.

Lillian’s descent into mental illness is a truly painful one. She believes herself to be so apparent, so obvious in her feelings yet has a difficulty portraying to the doctors. Eventually, through the help of other patients and her own doctor, Lillian is able to correlate the changes in her family life to the descent into mental instability she suffered.

Written in first person, the reader is able to follow the path Lillian takes from instability to normalcy. What starts out as jumbled, incoherent speech transforms into clear thought. Lillian does not at first accept a mental instability, but claims she has a physical one, one that involves her sexuality and intimacy. It isn’t hard to tie what is truly happening to Lillian to the physical manifestations she experiences. She is shameful of her sexuality, of the parts of her anatomy that influence arousal. A woman’s sexuality is, at times, the very core of her being. Allowing oneself to have feelings of a sexual nature also opens up a level of vulnerability, a need for intimacy as well.

Hystera is a truly unique, painfully honest portrayal of one young woman’s battle with intimacy and ultimately, acceptance of one’s actions. Told directly by the patient herself, the reader gets a front row view of an incredibly sick and damaged young woman. The path she takes to recovery is an incredibly rewarding one, a story that will be long savored in my soul. This is a book that I feel won’t be understood and appreciated by all, but one that affected me like no other. Highly recommended.

Thank you to TLC Book Tours for providing me the opportunity to take part in this tour. Check out the official tour page for more information on the author as well as other stops in this tour.

Posted in Women's Fiction | Tagged 1970s, Fiction Studio Books, madness, mental instability, New York | 6 Comments