June is Audiobook Month Giveaway!

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Jenn

Happy Audiobook Month!  As an avid audiobook fan, I’m excited to be taking part in a blog tour of sorts that is celebrating the winners of the 2014 Audies, awards that recognize distinction in audiobooks and spoken word entertainment sponsored by the Audio Publishers Association (APA).

Since mystery is one of my favorite genres, I’m pleased to be offering a copy of the audiobook that won the 2014 Audies Award in the mystery category, Unleashed by David Rosenfelt, read by Gover Gardner.

Following is a synopsis of the book:

Andy Carpenter’s accountant, Sam Willis, is stunned to receive a phone call out of the blue from Barry Price, a high school friend he hasn’t spoken to in years, pleading for help with something too frightening to discuss on the phone. Barry needs Sam’s financial acumen and lawyer Andy Carpenter’s legal expertise—and he needs them immediately. But when Sam almost runs over an injured dog lying in the road on the way to Barry’s house, he can’t drive off without waiting for help to arrive. By the time Sam makes it, Barry’s already taken off on a private airplane headed who-knows-where.

Assuming their help is no longer needed, Sam and Andy turn their full attention to helping the dog Sam found recover from his injuries. Then they learn that Barry’s plane has crashed, and they come to the terrifying realization that Sam was also supposed to have been killed on that plane. Barry was in far more serious trouble than either of them knew, and for Sam and Andy, the trouble is only beginning.

Unleashed, David Rosenfelt’s next Andy Carpenter mystery, is a thrilling read, full of Rosenfelt’s trademark clever plotting, humor, and engaging prose.

To enter, fill out the form below. Limit one entry daily. Come back to enter as many times as you like up until June 30! The winner will be contacted via email on June 30.  Open to US residents only. Good luck to all who enter!

Be sure to visit Book Goonie tomorrow and enter to win a copy of Devil in the Grove by Gilbert King, read by Peter Francis James!

Posted in Audiobook | 1 Comment

Review: The Fever by Megan Abbott

Posted on June 13, 2014 by Jenn

  • Hardcover: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (June 17, 2014)
  • ISBN: 9780316231053
  • Source: Publisher

Deenie Nash comes from a closely-knit family; her father Thomas is a popular teacher at the school and her brother, Eli, is a hockey star and the object of affection for many girls. Like many teenage girls, Deenie and her friends Lise Daniels and Gabby Bishop are inseparable.  Until Lise suffers an unexplained seizure in class.  Rushed to the hospital, doctors are unable to determine the cause despite a battery of tests. Then another girl falls victim, and another.

With no answers as to the cause, everyone in a panic. Desperate for answers, they start blaming everything the can think of: contaminants at the school, the forbidden lake. Finally the easiest and most logical source to blame is the HPV vaccine the girls were forced to receive.  All the unknowns force the town into hysteria that eerily parallels that of the infamous Boston witch trials. Struggling for an answer, terrified citizens are prepared to put the blame on anyone they can. When the cause of the ailment is revealed, the town is forced to come to term with secrets so haunting and devastating that it shattered the sense of security they felt about the town around them.

Abbot is an expert at tuning into the inner working of teen girls, bringing to focus issues that, while terrifying, are legitimate and plausible.  The suspense she build as she slowly reveals elements of the story is tremendous, leaving readers gasping aloud out of surprise at the chilling conclusion.  While the cause of the unexplained illness is far from supernatural, it only partially explains what happened to the handful of victims.  It isn’t difficult to speculate that something not of this world had something to do with the devastation that hit this small town.

Parallel to the main storyline is Deenie’s own journey of self-discovery and understanding, struggling with her feelings after her first sexual experience.  Her experience will force readers to reflect on our teen years, remembering the volatility and unstable nature of our hormone-driven emotions.

I’ve been a fan of Abbot’s for some time now, yet I believe The Fever might very well be my favorite yet. Abbott discusses subject matters that we, as a society, often shy away from. Yet she confronts them and faces them, head on, unwavering in her need and desire to bring them to light.

Abbott does have a history of writing some pretty dark and maniacal characters.  Given the opportunity to as Megan one question, I asked how someone so sweet and charming could write about something so dark and evil. I love her response:

Ha—and thank you! I really like to write about complicated characters facing a crisis and figuring out how to climb their way out. Life can sometimes back us into dark corners, and I’m fascinated by how we get out of those corners, how we survive. That said, maybe I get to be nice in real life because writing permits me to release all my demons! I always loved that Shirley Jackson quote, “So long as you write it away regularly nothing can really hurt you.”

 

So true, so true!  Bottom line: Megan Abbott’s The Fever is an dark and intense exploration of small towns, teen girls, and devastating secrets. Highly, highly recommended.

Be sure to check out the official The Fever blog tour Tumblr page here!

Posted in Little, Brown & Company, Mystery/Suspense, Review, Thriller | 7 Comments

Review: A Long Time Gone by Karen White

Posted on June 12, 2014 by Jenn

  • Hardcover: 432 pages
  • Publisher: NAL Hardcover (June 3, 2014)
  • ISBN: 978-0451240460
  • Source: Publisher

Nine years ago, Vivian Walker left her home in Mississippi, swearing never to return, following the lead of so many Walker women before. When her life takes a turn for the worse and goes spiraling out of control, Vivian finds herself returning to the safety and comfort of her grandmother, Bootsie, admired for her ability to make everything right.  Upon her return, however, she discovered that Bootsie has passed away and her mother has started to fade away, Alzheimer‘s robbing her of her recent memories.

Vivian’s return immediately follows a violent storm that quite literally reveals family secrets buried beneath their home: the remains of a woman, long-dead, are found on the family’s property. It is soon made apparent to Vivian that, in order to rediscover herself and the woman she is meant to be, she must face a past of pain and loss that has devastated her family for generations.

I am a long-time fan of Karen White’s novels, and A Long Time Gone is no exception. Her trademark is to present deeply flawed characters seeking some sort of rediscovery, desperate for atonement and guidance for the battles life has dealt them. Her characters are dynamic and richly drawn, developing gradually and blossoming into completely new and rejuvenated individuals.

A Long Time Gone follows the Walker family, alternating between past and present, to showcase the lives of three generations of women and the battles they are forced to overcome.  Themes of maternal love and family run rich in this novel, surrounded by a setting rich with Southern charm. Additionally, she confronts issues like prohibition and racism in the context of Mississippi’s dark past.

While the page count may seem daunting, any fears of a long and overbearing novel vanish within the first few pages. Readers will be instantly captivated by the beautifully detailed southern setting and a compelling family whose history is rich with mystery and loss.

This is a book meant to be savored on the beach, or curled up in your favorite chair on the patio (as I did). I read it in one sitting, so captivated by the world White created in the Walker family.  This is a novel with characters and a message that are lasting. Highly, highly recommended.

Posted in Historical Fiction, Mystery/Suspense, NAL, Review | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Review: The Death of Lucy Kyte by Nicola Upson

Posted on June 11, 2014 by Jenn

  • Series: Josephine Tey Mysteries
  • Paperback: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Bourbon Street Books (June 10, 2014)
  • ISBN-13: 978-0062195456
  • Source: Publisher

Josephine Tey, a well known British mystery author, learns she has inherited a cottage from a godmother she knew very little about. Her godmother, Hester Larkspur, was an actress and good friend to Josephine’s mother. Hester’s message to her goddaughter request that Josephine review her personal papers and decide herself “what stories should be told.”

Josephine’s inheritance doesn’t come without stipulations. First, she must travel to the Suffolk countryside to claim Red Barn Cottage herself. Additionally, another unknown woman, Lucy Kyte, has claim to anything within the cottage she desires. Josephine travels to Suffolk, her mind riddled with endless questions.  Upon her arrival, she learns the cottage has a dark and deadly past.  It was the site of the murder Maria Marten. Her killer was her lover, William Corder.  The murder was so notorious that it was frequently reenacted on the stage, her own godmother in the role of Maria Marten.

The inhabitants of the tighly-knit village offer very little answers, many denying they know anything about the mysterious Lucy Kyte.  It is only by reading Hester’s diary, a fictionalized account of Maria’s life, that Josephine finds out any information about her godmother and her close friend.

As she attempts to restore the cottage to a livable residence for herself and her lover, Josephine can’t help but feel a pervading and dark presence in the home. Instead of discounting it as being haunted as her lover is drawn to do, Josephine instead focuses on finding out answers as to how the living are responsible for the cottage’s dark past.

Unbeknownst to me at the time, The Death of Lucy Kyte is actually the fifth book in a series focusing on Josephine Tey, a true to life mystery writer. As I learned more about Tey herself, I found this novel to be more and more fascinating. I’m one that is drawn to fictionalized retellings of actual events and people, so I was quite intrigued about the character that Upson has created in Josephine.  The author has commented that she grew up in Suffolk, witness to the home that was the scene of this famous murder, her knowledge further adding to the lush and expansive detail that she uses to describe the setting to readers.

This isn’t one of those fast-paced and intense historical mysteries that readers can devour in a matter of hours.  Instead, it is one that is slowly revealed and eloquently detailed. Pages upon pages pass to describe the interior of the cottage, making it possible for the reader to visualize the setting with great detail. The reader’s patience to the slow pacing is wholeheartedly rewarded with a stunning and surprising conclusion.

While I wouldn’t readily recommend this book to someone new to the series (I actually did a tremendous amount of reading and sampling of the prior books in the series), I do believe readers interested in detailed, character driven literary fiction would be greatly rewarded. Recommended…with stipulations.

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

Tuesday, June 10th: 5 Minutes For Books

Friday, June 13th: Mystery Playground

Thursday, June 19th: BoundbyWords

Monday, June 23rd: The Written World

Tuesday, June 24th: Wordsmithonia

Thursday, June 26th: Dwell in Possibility

Monday, June 30th: Excellent Library

Tuesday, July 1st: My Bookshelf

Nicola Upson is the author of five Josephine Tey mysteries, including An Expert in Murder, Angel with Two Faces, Two for Sorrow, Fear in the Sunlight, and The Death of Lucy Kyte, as well as two works of nonfiction. She has worked in theater and as a freelance journalist. A recipient of an Escalator Award from the Arts Council England, she splits her time between Cambridge and Cornwall. Visit Nicola at her website, www.nicolaupson.com, and on Facebook.

Posted in Bourbon Street Books, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Mystery/Suspense, Review | 2 Comments

Review: The Ways of the Dead by Neely Tucker

Posted on June 9, 2014 by Jenn

  • Hardcover: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Viking Adult (June 12, 2014)
  • ISBN-10: 0670016586
  • Source: Publisher

Washington D.C. reporter Sully Carter has seen his share of brutality. A stint in war-torn Bosnia left him wounded, his body full of shrapnel, leaving him an alcoholic, full of rage. Back home in D.C., he’s often witness to the darker sides of the District, areas not witnessed by the public and tourists, long ignored by authorities. When Sarah Reese, the teenage daughter of a powerful District judge is found murdered in a dumpster in this area of the city, the area is swarming with press and police. Although the police quickly arrest three black teens, Sully Carter believes the authorities have rushed to judgement in order to quiet the spreading rumors.  It is his belief that her death is tied to a host of cold-cases the police have abandoned, including a recent disappearance of a college student.  Cold cases involving black and Hispanic girls, their stories hidden from everyday news.

Going against the authority of government officials, local police, and his own superiors at the paper, Sully leaps head-first into an investigation that takes him to the dark underbelly of Washington, D.C.  As he investigates, he is confronted with the difficult challenge of how much information should be brought to the attention of the public. As a war correspondent, he was granted the ability to report the brutal acts of war, yet back at home, in a different kind of war, his voice is muted by editors and looming individuals of authority.  The secrets he uncovers implicate men in high positions of power, secrets he believes should be brought to the attention of the public.

In The Ways of the Dead, Tucker presents readers with the sort of crimes often hidden to the world around them. In many cases, news only reports on the deaths and disappearances of prominent individuals, not of color, ignoring hundreds and thousands of other victims. Inspired by the Princeton Place murders of the 1990s (in which the deaths of several women were found to be connected), Tucker directly correlates a victims race and class to the attention it receives from local authorities. He doesn’t spout inaccuracies, instead bringing to life a culture our society, including the press and police officials, need to address.

Tucker’s passion for crime writing, both fictional and in the news, is obvious and evident in The Ways of the Dead. His characters are far from perfect, with jagged edges and secrets of their own. Sully Carter’s character is rich with rage and bitterness, yet while he does tend to drown his pain in alcohol, he is still determined to provide justice to these young women and their families.

I’ve been a fan of Tucker as a reporter so I was thrilled to see him take the leap to writing fiction.  His own history as a crime reporter gives him the edge necessary to write truly intense and gritty crime fiction. He portrays a dark and troubled world often ignored. If the popularity of this debut gives further attention to the part of our society so desperate for help then Tucker, in my opinion, is a hero.

The Ways of the Dead is a truly outstanding debut novel; I can’t to read more from this talented writer. Highly, highly recommended.

Posted in Crime Fiction, Review | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

TSS: A Week in Review (June 8)

Posted on June 8, 2014 by Jenn

This post is going live far later than I had anticipated! I guess that’s what happens when you forget to hit “publish!”  Oh well, it gives me a chance to add a few things!

My ankle is slowly healing from my pre-BEA injury. I’m wearing fairly normal shoes, though it’s still quite swollen.  It’s forced me to take things at a slower pace, certainly not something I’m used to!

My brain is also slowly returning back to normal after losing all the BEA brain fog!  I’m finally getting back into a regular reading grove again which is always nice.

In case you missed it, here are the books I reviewed this week:

I spent a lot of time outdoors this weekend creating a patio garden.  When the weather cooperates, I spend as much time out on the patio as I can and this patio garden adds a much needed punch of color!

The most exciting part of the weekend, however, was meeting Piper Kerman (the author of Orange is the New Black and the inspiration for the hit Netflix series).

 

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By far, it was one of the best author events I have ever attended (and I’ve attended quite a few.)  Here are a few nuggets of information I took away from her talk:

 

  • the increased percentage of people (and women in particular) in prison is staggering.  So many are serving life terms for non-violent crimes, terms that Kerman believes (as do I!) that these terms could be served elsewhere.
  • In most federal prisons, inmates with mental illnesses are not seeking adequate treatment for their illnesses. Rather than receiving psychiatric treatment for their conditions (therapy, etc) they are instead treated soley with medication. In many cases, the circumstances and setting make their conditions worse, rather than better.
  • Piper has now devoted her life to helping women in prisons. She is involved on the Board of the Women’s Prison Association, “the nation’s oldest service and advocacy organization committed to helping women with criminal justice histories see new possibilities for themselves and their families.”
  • While in prison, she did a substantial amount of reading, much like the fictionalized Piper. Some prisons have libraries, but many, like the one she served her sentence in, do not. The inmates receive books from family members and then pass them around to others in a communal library system.  Desperate to clear out some books from your house? Dozens of programs exist that collect reading material for inmates. Just google it.
  • On a lighter note, while she does state that the Netflix series, Orange is the New Black, deviates from what actually happened during her 15 month stint in prison, she admits that adding a bit of fiction is necessary to creating an engaging television series. She does get a say in what happens on the series and often makes appearances on the set.

Now, after the event I did have to wait in line for 90 minutes to get my book signed but it was more than worth it. Since I majored in Criminal Justice, I know all about the inequalities and issues our country’s prison system faces. This event certainly reminded me of what made me passionate about this field years ago, revitalizing something in me that has been dormant for some time.

So, there was my reading week. How was yours? What were your favorite books read? Attend any outstanding author events?

 

 

Posted in The Sunday Salon | 7 Comments

Review: Robogenesis by Daniel H. Wilson

Posted on June 5, 2014 by Jenn

  • Hardcover: 384 pages
  • Publisher: Doubleday (June 10, 2014)
  • ISBN-10: 0385537093
  • Source: Publisher

In Robopocalypse, humankind was at war with robots. The world as we know it is destroyed, a pathetic wreckage of what once existed. Once Archos, a “super” robot is destroyed, civilization has the potential to recover. . .or so they think.

Copies of Archos were spread far and wide and are now slowly awakening. Unfortunately, they are at odds at one another, the most vocal and terrifying being Arayt Shah. Focused on creating a fighting force strong enough to survive the “True War,” one fought between highly intelligent machines, Arayt Shah is quickly proving to be a robot to be reckoned with!

In addition the characters who survived the first wave of attacks, several new and innovative characters join the motley cast of characters. A mash up that completely blew my science fiction/horror-loving mind was a human/robot hybrid, in which the majority of the human dies, replaced with a stronger, deadlier robotic version. Unexpectedly, however, the human identity remains, cognizant of the world around him/her. Think of it as a self-aware robotic zombie.

This new war is far more deadly than the previous. Alliances are destroyed.  With a host of technical “mutations,” the line that separates human from robot is far more vague and unclear.

Chapters are developed as narratives of the key players in this latest battle, including humans, modified humans, freeborn robots, and the humans infected with robotic parasites.  While the narratives are many, Wilson excels at creating a unique and memorable voice for each “individual”.

As noted above, this is the sequel to Robopocalypse, one of my favorite books of 2011. While Wilson does a pretty decent job of filling in details about each character’s back story using each characters own narrative, I honestly believe you should read the first in order to get a good understanding of what happened before and how/why the characters  have evolved into their current state of existence.

The great thing about these books is they are just as applicable for fans of general fiction as they are to science fiction fans. They require readers to contemplate the implications/possibilities for something like this to happen and to reevaluate the technology that we see and use every day. Bottom line: Robogenesis is just further proof of the genius and creative mind of Daniel H. Wilson. Highly recommended.

Posted in Doubleday, Review, Science Fiction | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Review: A Replacement Life by Boris Fishman

Posted on June 3, 2014 by Jenn

  • Hardcover: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Harper (June 3, 2014)
  • ISBN-10: 0062287877
  • Source: Publisher

Slava Gelman is a lapsed Jew working for Century, an esteemed magazine in Manhattan. He’s exiled himself from his family in an attempt to shed the history and past that may tarnish the aristocratic-style writing demanded of him by Century.

Yet when he receives a phone call from his mother stating his grandmother has passed away, he throws all that behind him, crossing the East River to visit his grandfather. His grandmother meant the world to him. She was more like a mother than his own and was one of his few family members who understood Slava. When he learns that his grandmother was eligible for Holocaust reparations from the German government,   Slava  does the unbelievable: rewriting his grandmother’s Holocaust experience into his father’s. So desperate to write something of substance, he finds himself forging other restitution claims. While these individuals may not have suffered directly from the concentration camps, they represent those thousands of Jews that did.

Slava’s story himself in an interesting one. His family moved to the states in the 1970s from the Soviet republic and Slava has a huge gap in his knowledge of his family’s Jewish culture. He struggles to understand their need and determination for reparations, but struggles. His grandmother is his tie to his heritage and, with her death, he now lacks that connection. Despite the danger that comes in writing the fraudulent claims, it’s obvious that Slava is doing it to make up for what he was unable to do for his grandmother before she died.

I admit, initially I found it quite difficult to become invested in this novel. Slava is a unique character that I found difficult to connect with. He doesn’t easily or willingly expose his softer side, instead putting up a facade of a selfish and self-absorbed man. Yet, through his “conversations” and reflections on his grandmother, a more sympathetic side comes forth.  It was then that I was finally able to embrace Slava for efforts and attempts to attain justice for so many.

At its very core, A Replacement Life is not only about finding oneself and embracing one’s destiny, but balancing on the fine line between what is right for one’s family  and what is right in the greater sense of the word.  It is a novel about achieving justice when justice is due, despite the consequences. Full of dark humor and witty banter, A Replacement Life isn’t your typical exploration of family love and justice. That said, its unique style is destined to make this a book meant to be discussed. Highly recommended.

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

Posted in Harper Books, Literary Fiction, Review | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Review: Suspicion by Joseph Finder

Posted on June 2, 2014 by Jenn

  • Hardcover: 400 pages
  • Publisher: Dutton Adult; First Edition edition (May 27, 2014)
  • ISBN-10: 0525954600
  • Source: Publisher

Danny Goodman is a struggling writer and single father, working to raise his daughter alone after his ex-wife dies of cancer. His daughter, Abby, has grown accustomed to attending a private (and expensive) high school and when Danny is once again behind in paying tuition, he gets desperate. So desperate that when Thomas Gavin, the father of Abby’s best friend and one of the wealthiest men in Boston, offers him a loan of $50,000, Danny can’t turn him down.

It isn’t long before Danny regrets his decision. Not long after the money appears in his bank account, the DEA threatens to send him to prison for accepting drug money. His only hope for survival is to cooperate with them by providing enough evidence to arrest Thomas Gavin.  Danny is forced to lie to those most important in his life, soon realizing the severity of his decision.

Suspicion is one of those very rare books that captures your attention from the first few pages, refusing to relent until the very end. Those wary of investing a book of this size need not worry, for the intensity and plight of this poor single father makes you forget the length of the book and the pages will fly by in an instant. Finder so expertly inserts plot twists that will send you reeling, forcing you, like Danny himself, to question who he can trust.

While there are some gruesome murder scenes, I do believe Suspicion is a perfect thriller to curl up with poolside.  Finder holds nothing back and gives nothing away, expertly wrapping everything up into a stunning and completely shocking ending. Highly, highly recommended.

Posted in Dutton, Mystery/Suspense, Review, Thriller | 1 Comment

TSS: A Month in Review: May 2014

Posted on June 1, 2014 by Jenn


Books Reviewed

Total books reviewed: 10

Picks of the month: The Secret Life of Violet Grant, The Three, and The Book of You

Miscellaneous Posts:

Looking for something to read in June? I list my favorite upcoming releases:

 

I spent most of last week in Book Expo America. I had a really excellent time, meeting some of my favorite authors and reuniting with great friends.  I came back home with so much, including a sprained ankle. I didn’t let that stop me from having a wonderful time. Stay tuned…I’ll do a wrap-up once the BEA-fog fades!

How was your reading month? What were your favorite reads?

 

Posted in Month in Review, The Sunday Salon | 2 Comments