Category Archives: Books Books Books

I Liked My Life by Abby Fabiaschi

May 30, 2018Books Books Booksfamily relationships, father daughter relationships, gratitude, grief, love, suicidelaelbr5_wp

Eve’s mom, Brady’s wife, killed herself, imbuing them both with an onslaught of guilt, but also forcing them to examine and restructure their relationship. Fabiaschi drizzles clues to a twist that leaves the reader sitting back watching these beloved characters come to terms with the information. She lays out the complexities of familial dynamics and how suicide exposes cracks in the foundation of relationships. The chaos and isolation of innocence lost is portrayed well for teenage Eve. The best part of this book is the point of view told by Madeline, or Maddy to her friends and family, the mom who died before the opening chapter narrated by her. I love how real the emotions of the characters feel and how the perspectives of each play off the others. All three members of this family keep returning from their various emotions and misunderstandings to the love they have for each other, and it all reads true.

Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman—pub date June 5, 2018

May 29, 2018Books Books Bookscrime thriller, criminal actions, ethical dilemma, marriage secrets, psychological thrillerlaelbr5_wp

Erin’s fiancee loses his investment banking job just before they marry, causing ripples throughout the wedding planning due to his loss of income. They go ahead and hold the big wedding and go on their intended honeymoon in Tahiti, keeping their hopes up for his future employment. While scuba-diving on honeymoon, they discover a plane wreck in the ocean. A more experienced scuba diver, Erin’s new husband Mark retrieves a dufflebag of money from the wreckage. Despite good intentions, they end up smuggling it home where they begin an ongoing debate on what to do with it, even as they hide it in their home. Mark seeks opportunities while Erin continues her documentary on the before and after of three convicts released from prison: a young girl who turns to terrorism, a middle-aged woman who helped her terminally-ill mother die with dignity, and a professional criminal.

Every character is fully fleshed out, with complex motives and emotions, and behavioral integrity. Steadman skillfully leads the reader in a carefully laid out zig-zagging path, following Erin’s ever-shifting perspective with each new piece of information. She carefully weaves in Erin’s new-found colleagues, showing the balancing strategy of the average person faced with the chance to “get away with it,” as the possibilities of advantageous connections enable her to do just that while maintaining that she is a good person and “not a criminal.” The ending circles back to the opening, of Erin digging a grave for her husband, for a highly satisfying conclusion. I was fortunate to receive an early copy from the publisher of this page-turner—a must-read for fans of psychological and crime thrillers.

Tin Man by Sarah Winman

May 28, 2018Books Books BooksAIDS, family relationships, first love, friendship, lgbtq+, marriage, romance, sarah winman, tin manlaelbr5_wp

Ellis and Michael begin a lifelong friendship after Michael’s mother dies and he comes to live with his grandmother Mabel, both boys sharing the affection of Mabel and Ellis’ mother Dora. The delicacy of their first love romance shatters as Ellis yields to society’s mores after a turning point in France, and even Michael understands that Annie is “the one.” Loving Annie draws Michael into their orbit, expanding her idea of family to include him and his grandmother. Although readers are familiar with the horrific stories of gay men succumbing to AIDS, Winman carefully portrays Michael’s unique perspective on his friends’ deaths—he returns to France where he grieves for all that he’s lost in his life. The first half of the book focuses on Ellis after all of his losses leave him off-kilter, wondering what to do with himself. The second half flashes back through Michael’s journals, a candid look at a man whose fulfilled expectations disappoint. This is a gorgeous story of how love grows to include those who might be estranged by circumstances. I was fortunate to receive a copy through a Goodreads giveaway.

The Italian Party by Christina Lynch

May 28, 2018Books Books Booksadultery, christina lynch, family relationships, historical fiction, homosexuality, missing persons, secrets, siena italy, spycraft, the italian party, warfarelaelbr5_wp

Scottie married Michael and they moved to Siena, Italy, both bringing secrets and gathering more, so that they appear to be a happily married couple, he selling American tractors to Italians and she his adoring housewife. Showing Italians the American Dream fulfills a larger agenda for Michael, while Scottie tries to look behind the curtain and see his true self. She seems to have a lot more freedom than expected for a woman in the mid-50s, and Italian men are portrayed as oversexed political creatures. Homosexuality is handled in a sensitive, if somewhat stereotypical, manner considering the times—adultery is inexplicably given more tolerance. When the couple open up and confess all, they become a team, and Michael learns that political secrets are larger than his own agenda, gobsmacked by his own company. This is a great historical fiction, with Siennese culture, the fallout from being overshadowed by Florence, and the political turmoil of Communism versus pro-Western leaders vividly portrayed. It shows the complexities of the world players’ motives and relationships, and how this plays out in the individual lives of the Italian people.

I was fortunate to receive a digital copy of this wonderful book from the publisher through NetGalley.

The Radical Element: 12 Stories of Daredevils, Debutantes, and Other Dauntless Girls edited by Jessica Spotswood

May 21, 2018Books Books Booksanna-marie mclemore, better for all the world, dahlia adler, daughter of the book, dhonielle clayton, erin bowman, glamour, heroines, historical fiction, home of the brave, jessica spotswood, lady firebrand, land of the sweet, Mackenzi Lee, marieke nijkamp, meg medina, megan shepherd, sara farizan, sarvenaz tash, short stories, stacey lee, step right up, take me with u, the belle of the ball, the birth of susi go-go, the magician, The Radical Element, when the moonlight isn't enough, you're a stranger herelaelbr5_wp

The diversity in these stories is impressive, from girls facing internal and external religious challenges, to girls pretending to be something they’re not to make their way in a man’s world. These are tales of young women refusing to be a product of their time, yearning to be free of society’s mores. The authors refrain from a black and white picture, with a young Mormon girl questioning her religion, yet continuing to fight her community’s detractors. Secrets abound, as an orphaned girl lives life as a boy to take care of herself, and a young boy trades his secret of being a transgender with a Hispanic girl putting in tremendous effort to pass as white for Hollywood. One story had magical elements that didn’t seem to contribute to the plot, but as a whole, this book offers up a dozen girls as unintentional heroines who fought against patriarchy, misogyny, and other obstacles they intended to overcome.

I was fortunate to receive a digital copy of this wonderful book through NetGalley.

A Fist Around the Heart by Heather Chisvin

May 17, 2018Books Books Booksactivism, canada, feminism, jewish persecution, mental illness, NYC, rape, relationships, russia, secrets, sisters, suicide, winnipeg if daylaelbr5_wp

Anna “Bencke” Grieve’s life changed after Tsar Alexander II’s assassination. In fear for their lives as Jews, her mother, a privileged servant, asked her employers Count and Countess Chernovski to take Bencke and her older sister Esther with them to Canada. The Chernovski’s later adopt them, believing their parents to be dead. Bencke does her best to care for Esther, who suffers episodes from traumatic memories that incapacitate her at times, as she herself tries to fit her eccentric personality into Countess Chernovski’s picture perfect household. Decades later, Anna receives a phone call from the Winnipeg police informing her that her sister has committed suicide by stepping in front of a train. She heads to Canada seeking the truth. The story alternates between this investigation and a backstory of a life fully lived, from Anna’s forced relocation to NYC, to circumstances causing her to be deported to Russia during WWI. In the investigation, Anna learns her sister’s secrets and must live with them now.

Chisvin brings history to life in Anna’s story, as dear reader sees her torn from her family as a child after her country’s leader is killed and Jews are blamed, and as an activist for women’s rights alongside Margaret Sanger. She becomes a part of the melting pot that is NYC, falls into the fear of Americans who deport her in the war, and witnesses the disorder of Russia as essentially an outsider. Chisvin brings closure to Anna in her mixed emotions of finally being free of her sister as it breaks her heart. The last line of the book is brilliant in its imagery of this closure.

I was fortunate to receive a digital copy of this beautiful story from the publisher through NetGalley.

Every Note Played by Lisa Genova

May 17, 2018Books Books Bookslaelbr5_wp

Karina’s musical talent surpasses her boyfriend Richard’s, but she sacrifices her dream to their marriage and child, and then falls in love with jazz, a genre abhorrent to Richard. He builds his career as an international classical pianist, his inflating ego one of many factors in their divorce. He attempts to hide the onset of ALS from his fans, his agent, and Karina. Due to circumstances and finances, Richard moves back in with Karina, who takes over his care with the help of home health aides. In the year that robs Richard of his body, he at last opens up emotionally to his estranged daughter, and eventually he and Karina find a kind of peace.

Beyond being a graphic, heart-wrenching depiction of a man succumbing to a fatal disease, this story shows how women accommodate men and lose themselves, accepting a smaller life. It’s also a homily to home health aides who make the effort to maintain the dignity of their clients. The rolling flow of the writing is interrupted only by the excessive use of analogies, whole paragraphs at times. In Author Notes, Genova offers a peek into her research and sources for an accurate representation of living with ALS. The details are so vivid, if she’d written in first person, this novel would have read like a memoir.

I was fortunate to receive a digital copy of this wonderful story from the publisher through NetGalley.

Birds of Wonder by Cynthia Robinson

May 15, 2018Books Books Bookslaelbr5_wp

Detective Jesca Ashton has always had a challenging relationship with her mother Beatrice, which does not improve after Beatrice finds her star actress dead on the property of a local lawyer, with whom Jes had a “drive-by.” Jes has held close a secret about her father since her teens that tarnished the memories of her ornithology professor father, who had buffered her childhood from her picture perfect mother. Now she must investigate for murder someone she has known intimately through an adulterous one night stand. The case comes too close to home and Jes makes life-altering decsions.

Robinson fully explores those implicated in the young girl’s death before their questioning by Jes and her colleagues, so they come to life as individuals and not mere suspects. The girl’s friends, twins Connor and Megan, are shown from various perspectives in all the complexities of children in foster care. Unfortunately, Connor’s story abruptly stops on his way to California—even a quick summary of his introduction to this next stage of his life would have sufficed to satisfy a reader invested in his character. Also left unexplored is the beloved father fallen, as Jes jumps to conclusions on circumstantial evidence, with hints that not all was as it seemed. Even with these minor frustrations, this story ends on a note of hope.

I was fortunate to receive a digital copy of this wonderful story through NetGalley.

Whisper Me This by Kerry Anne King—pub date August 1, 2018

May 14, 2018Books Books Booksfamily secrets, kerry ann king, literary fiction, mother daughter relationship, whisper me thislaelbr5_wp

In her childhood, Marley talked Maisey into adventures for which she abandoned Maisey to take the blame. Maisey’s mother told her that Marley wasn’t real, even though she was as real as her mother to Maisey. In her third decade, raising her daughter Elle by herself, Maisey continues to be scatterbrained and unfocused, and has never been normal according to Elle, who wants her to stay that way. Elle is 12 when Maisey receives a phone call that her mother is dying, circumstantial evidence pointing to her father, a man she has always known as a gentle buffer between her mother and herself, as the cause. She must go home and untangle the ugly mess, uncovering a mystery in the process. This sets her off on an adventure to uncover her mother’s secret, revealing much about herself and their relationship in the process. The love interest has his own secrets, and Maisey is the catalyst for his family recognizing his trauma and helping him to move past it. As the EMT / firefighter responding to her family’s emergencies, he is woven into her story as an eventuality.

King brilliantly sets up family dynamics that clearly show the repressed fear of the mother and the compensating kindness of the father, and how secrets create chaos and confusion in relationships. There are a couple of slight distractions from the story: Maisey throws up or feels like it a LOT; Whenever the love interest appears, he’s described in Harlequin Romance hunky terms. Despite this, the story moves along at a brisk pace, with the mom’s backstory presented through her journal, an intimate medium that elicits sympathy. It’s a very human story full of complex emotions and motivations, a must-read!

I was fortunate to receive an ARC through NetGalley of this wonderful book.

Click here to go to Kerry Anne King’s website.

Nevada Escapists’ Club by Jane Lark—blog tour and raffle giveaway

May 8, 2018Books Books Bookslaelbr5_wp

The Nevada Escapists’ Club

by Jane Lark

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GENRE

Women’s Fiction / Thriller

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BLURB

Zac senses the connection he has with the single stranger within minutes of their meeting. She, like him, sought a place to escape. But she isn’t running anymore. He is. Ali falls into a holiday affair with a troubled young man. She would never choose a man like him if she was at home. So what will happen when the Las Vegas fantasy is over and her sunglasses tinted view of the world returns to reality? She is supposed to forget everything. It was meant to stop there…

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EXCERPT

He opened the door and got out of the car, then stretched as I got out too. His lean body looked even better when he stretched. His blue jeans fitted with the perfect looseness, while the tight fit of his grey T-shirt made it pull up out of his waistband revealing a slither of bronzed skin covering the first outline of a six pack. Somehow fate had found me a grade A toy-boy, no matter how unwise, wrong, or entirely idiotic it was of me to accept the offer.

A wounded toy-boy, my head reminded me. A former victim who had spotted what I was long before I had declared it… You have one on your neck, one on either wrist, an operation scar on your side, and one on your breast. I noticed them, except the last two, which I couldn’t see, while you were playing at the casino.

‘Are we going to go and look, then?’ He had finished stretching and was looking at me.

I nodded. We had talked a lot on the way here. But we had avoided the subject of abuse that had been raised this morning. People talked about an elephant in the room when there was a subject that was being avoided; the elephant between us had been squeezed in tight between the driver’s and the passenger’s seats. But perhaps I had been the only one that saw it. He had talked about movies, music and Las Vegas.

He came over and caught hold of my hand then walked me towards a path that led in amongst the low trees.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links

Jane has been shortlisted for several industry and reader awards. She is a Kindle bestselling author and a writer of authentic, passionate, and emotional stories, and she’s a sucker for a love story. “I love the feeling of falling in love and it’s wonderful to be able to do it time and time again in fiction.” She loves writing intense relationships and she is thrilled to be giving her characters life in others’ imaginations.