Tag Archives: Hachette

Guilt by Degrees – Marcia Clark

by

 

Someone has been watching D.A. Rachel Knight—someone who’s Rachel’s equal in brains, but with more malicious intentions. It began when a near-impossible case fell into Rachel’s lap, the suspectless homicide of a homeless man. In the face of courthouse backbiting and a gauzy web of clues, Rachel is determined to deliver justice.

She’s got back-up: tenacious Detective Bailey Keller. As Rachel and Bailey stir things up, they’re shocked to uncover a connection with the vicious murder of an LAPD cop a year earlier.

Rachel suspects someone knows the truth, someone who’d kill to keep it secret. Harrowing, smart, and riotously entertaining, GUILT BY DEGREES is a thrilling ride through the world of Los Angeles courts with the unforgettable Rachel Knight. – Publishers Website

I am really liking Rachel !  In Marcia’s 2nd fiction book, Rachel is becoming more and more one of those literary characters that won’t be soon forgotten.  With her steely determination to find out who did what, when, where and make them pay has me almost cheering ( in a non fangirl squealing mess). I have to save that for a Canadian Fictional Character, sorry Marcia !!

I’m liking the action, the information Marcia effortlessly passes on as Rachel follows this case to the bitter end…literally.  Bailey her 2nd hand person, definitely gives the bad guys a run for their money.  I wonder if there are really tough female detectives like this in real life.  More than likely!

I have to say, Marcia has definitely hit the genre running and probably won’t give up the fight anytime soon.  The Mass Market comes out in March, but you can still get a hardcover more than likely.  If you liked her first book Guilt by Association, you will definitely like this one.  I’m looking forward to her next installment.

I have had a few instances where I have chatted with Marcia on twitter and on Facebook, she is really quite personable so don’t be shy and say hi.  Just be nice and respectful…

Marcia’s Website – Facebook – Twitter -

 

 

#46 – The Bayou Trilogy – Daniel Woodrell

by

In the parish of St. Bruno, sex is easy, corruption festers, and double-dealing is a way of life. Rene Shade is an uncompromising detective swimming in a sea of filth.

As Shade takes on hit men, porn kings, a gang of ex-cons, and the ghosts of his own checkered past, Woodrell’s three seminal novels pit long-entrenched criminals against the hard line of the law, brother against brother, and two vastly different sons against a long-absent father.

THE BAYOU TRILOGY highlights the origins of a one-of-a-kind author, a writer who for over two decades has created an indelible representation of the shadows of the rural American experience and has steadily built a devoted following among crime fiction aficionados and esteemed literary critics alike. - Publishers Website

This is a great trilogy of books !  You don’t know the year, or the decade that they take place, but it gives you the feeling of a gritty place in Louisiana, where just about anything goes.   Either in town or outside of, everyone seems to have a brilliant idea to get out of the problem they are in, even if crime was the original thing that put them in the predicament in the first place.

All three separately give you a greater sense of the main characters, the town, and the people.  Even though Rene Shade has a past of his own, as all of the people do in this town, it doesn’t stop him from finding the bad guys, he just knows how to get them better than the bad guys think he would.

Just a side note, Daniel is the author of Winter’s Bone, which was also nominated for an Oscar last year.

#43 – The Linen Queen – Patrica Falvey

by

Abandoned by her father and neglected by her self-centered, unstable mother, Sheila McGee cannot wait to escape the drudgery of her mill village life in Northern Ireland.

Her classic Irish beauty helps her win the 1941 Linen Queen competition, and the prize money that goes with it finally gives her the opportunity she’s been dreaming of. But Sheila does not count on the impact of the Belfast blitz which brings World War II to her doorstep.

Now even her good looks are useless in the face of travel restrictions, and her earlier resolve is eroded by her ma’s fear of being left alone.

When American troops set up base in her village, some see them as occupiers but Sheila sees them as saviors–one of them may be her ticket out. Despite objections from her childhood friend, Gavin O’Rourke, she sets her sights on an attractive Jewish-American army officer named Joel Solomon, but her plans are interrupted by the arrival of a street-wise young evacuee from Belfast.

Frustrated, Sheila fights to hold on to her dream but slowly her priorities change as the people of Northern Ireland put old divisions aside and bond together in a common purpose to fight the Germans. Sheila’s affection for Joel grows as she and Gavin are driven farther apart. As the war moves steadily closer to those she has grown to love, Sheila confronts more abandonment and loss, and finds true strength, compassion, and a meaning for life outside of herself. – Publishers Website

I was looking forward to reading this, after I had read her first book The Yellow House.  I was a bit disappointed in this one.  It just didn’t have that wow factor like it did in her first novel.  Although, it does follow along the same lines, it just didn’t grab me as much as the Yellow House did.

Download the Reading Group Guide

#42 – Guilt By Association – Marcia Clark

by

Los Angeles D.A. Rachel Knight is a tenacious, wise-cracking, and fiercely intelligent prosecutor in the city’s most elite division.

When her colleague, Jake, is found dead at a grisly crime scene, Rachel is shaken to the core. She must take over his toughest case: the assault of a young woman from a prominent family.

But she can’t stop herself from digging deeper into Jake’s death, a decision that exposes a world of power and violence and will have her risking her reputation–and her life–to find the truth.

With her tremendous expertise in the nuances of L.A. courts and crime, and with a vibrant ensemble cast of characters, Marcia Clark combines intimate detail, riotous humor, and visceral action in a debut thriller that marks the launch of a major new figure on the crime-writing scene. - Publishers Website

I really liked this book ! Very intelligently written, Marcia takes it one step further in Guilt By Association.  Wise cracking, Good Looking,  with the tenacity, humour, and no-nonsense attitude, with a smidgen of screw you thrown in, she gives the book and her characters that edge that I haven’t seen before.  As for the usual fare of cop and lawyer hooking up scenario, thankfully which isn’t in the book gives it even more authenticity.

Who knows what will happen in the second book, but, I’m hoping that it is just as good or even better than the first.

Listen to an excerpt – Marcia’s Website

#36 – The Complaints – Ian Rankin

by

Nobody likes The Complaints–they’re the cops who investigate other cops. It’s a department known within the force as “The Dark Side,” and it’s where Malcolm Fox works.

He’s a serious man with a father in a nursing home and a sister who persists in an abusive relationship, frustrating problems about which he cannot seem to do anything.

Then the reluctant Fox is given a new case. There’s a cop named Jamie Breck, and he’s dirty. The problem is, no one can prove it. As Fox takes on the job, he learns that there’s more to Breck than anyone thinks–dangerous knowledge, especially when a vicious murder takes place far too close to home. - Publishers Website

I liked this book.  It wasn’t all death and excitement.  It was the story of a man who has many stakes in different places trying to eek out an existence.  His father bugs him about visiting more, he tells his sister to leave the man she is with because of the abuse she suffers from him, until he’s found dead.  Then all of a sudden, he is being investigated by the same unit he works for and becomes friends with the guy he is investigating.  It may sound a bit confusing, but really it isn’t.  Masterfully plotted, you will be able to follow all of the goings on in the book.  Ian takes you on a ride you won’t soon forget.

Fun fact – Did you know that Ian only took 5 months to write this book but yet, this was this was the hardest one in regards to research…

Reading Group Guide

The Reversal – Michael Connelly

by

I have to say, Michael Connelly’s  latest doesn’t disappoint!

Harry Bosch is back from Hong Kong.

This time, he is investigating an old case for which someone has already been tried and convicted of, but in the day and age of DNA testing has been granted a retrial based upon these new findings.

Mickey Haller is one who usually defends the accused.  This time however, he is representing the prosecution.

There are some problems with the case as it stands.  There are political issues along with the rest of the prejudicial ones, as well as the case was tried so long ago that some of the witnesses are dead, and the trail of leads has been dry for many decades since the accused has been serving his sentence.

The accused new attorney is only defending him for just the celebrity of it, not because he is sure his client is innocent.

As the accused is back on the streets ( can you believe that) back to a life he long left when he was behind bars.  But as time goes by as the trial is starting, he maybe back to his old haunts, old ways, even if he is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

I am a bit divided on how the book ended.  It had me going from the first page to the last in a feverish pace, even though I had another book on the go when I received the review copy, I had to start reading it right away. I was just a bit disappointed.  That is the way I felt, but maybe you will feel different after you finish it.  Please let me know!

Hachette / Little Brown

Listen to an Excerpt

The Messenger of Athens – Anne Zouroudi

by

It’s present day on the remote Greek Island of Thiminos, where time is nearly at a standstill unaffected by anything going on in the modern world, where everyday is the same.

Until that is, a woman’s body is found and recovered at the foot of a cliff.  She is one of the residents on the island.

When an investigator arrives from the mainland, who is mostly uninvited to investigate.  He stays regardless of what the residents think to find out what actually happened to her any the reasons behind it.

At first, It’s been deemed a suicide, but the new investigator thinks differently.

His methods seem unorthodox at first, the residents recall the woman, who was married to one of the islands fisherman, who takes long journeys out to the sea to make a living, to come back to find his wife dead.  Devastating isn’t the word for such a thing, but, the residents and a few key people know differently, but they aren’t talking.  The rumours fly back and forth, changing all the time.

Getting through to the residents will be as hard as trying to cut through the toughest of shells.

This novel will have you in its clutches and won’t let you go until it decides to.  The story of the woman, the residents of the island who want their past and present kept secret, the investigator who also has a mysterious past as well all come into play as the cunning, seductive, secretive way writing the author envelopes you amid the beauty of one of the many Greek Islands.

I simply adored this book. As well as the conclusion.

Hachette / Reagan Arthur

Download the Reading Group Guide (.PDF)

Room – Emma Donoghue

by

Room is Jack’s and his Mom’s whole world – he was born in room, he sleeps in room, he eats in room, he plays in room.

To his mom, sure it may hold precious memories of her and Jack learning and growing together, but it also holds a deep dark secret.

Through fierce determination, spunk and sheer will she has raised Jack as best she could.  When the day arrives that she realizes that Jack needs more than just room she constructs a plan, something, anything, everything that it takes.

This book will have you crying your heart out.  Bearing your feelings on the outside as you would on your sleeve.  It WILL be the most talked about book this fall, or for maybe longer.  That decision is up to you.

I could not tear myself away for even a second.  This book took me on a journey that should only be taken – in a book, a fictional account for sure.  It chilled me to the bone, it ebbed and flowed, it grew into a dream that at first you didn’t think was real, but, once you realized that you were in the middle of this particular dream, it was too late.  It sucked you in, the characters your heart bled for, your soul cried tears of the sheer bravery of Jack and his Mother on their harrowing journey.

Quite unique in the narration you will find in Room.  Emma must have lived inside the character Jack for quite a while.  Her ingenuity of Jack and his character was flawless and complete.  It could be the little boy down the street, it could be any little boy, anywhere.

Room was long-listed for the 2010 Man Booker Prize as it states on the sticker on my hardback copy I purchased, it was just recently shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.

HarperCollins Canada – Canadian Publisher

Hachette – Little Brown – American Publisher

Reading Group Guide

Enter ROOM by Emma Donoghue


Browse Inside this book
Get this for your site

Babushka’s Beauty Secrets – Old World Tips For A Glamorous New You – Raisa Ruder, Susan Campos

by

Ladies, have I got a treat for you!

Are you tired of going to the beauty counter and paying so much money for your creams and exfoliates, and cleansers?  Are you sick of the sizes that you receive for the money you pay for?

This book will save you money, time, AND still have you feeling like your skin is worth a million bucks!

A Babushka is Ukrainian for Grandmother, Granny, or however you call her in your family.  I know this because I used to call my granny this when I went to visit her when I was much younger.  I am half Ukrainian, so I can so relate to what Raisa is talking about in her book.

Our family wasn’t one that had a lot of money, we had a garden, we canned fruits, vegetables, and made relish, jams, and other yummy stuff to help us get through the winter.  I am the baby of 5 children my parents had, so just about everything was stretched to the limit, we never let anything go to waste.

Did you realize that most beauty products that boast Vitamin C or other natural ingredients only have a fraction in them?  And that you can make your own at home for a fraction of the cost.  Raisa’s Babushka used to cook these concoctions up in her kitchen in Moscow while a room full of women would be sitting patiently waiting in another room for their treatments.  Raisa also guarantees that you will not only look like a million bucks, but you will feel like it too.

Have a bachelorette party to plan and no ideas?  Simply have a girls night in and do creams, facials, and other beauty treatments.  All for under $5 !

All without the fancy names, pretty packaging, and or preservatives.

Everything you need is in your refigerator!

There are so many recipes in this little book with just about something for everyone, so what are you waiting for?

GO and get the book !

Hachette / Wellness Central

Browse Inside the book

Waking Up In The Land of Glitter – Kathy Cano-Murillo

by

Star is one of those people who does things impulsively.  She has gone to school to study art, then returned home was her plan to become a famous artist.

Well, that dream is still waiting to be realized.  She works as the manager at her parent’s restaurant/gallery, has a man of her dreams even though she says they are just best friends.  One night while getting ready to go out on a date with him she spies wedding pamphlets on his living room table.  Scared, thinking he is going to ask her to marry him, she runs off and gets drunk with her cousin.  What happens next, well, starts everything off that seems to go wrong in her life….But does it all go wrong?

After all of  the arguments, breaking up with her boyfriend, she is determined to make her dreams reality.  That includes making 250 centerpieces for the upcoming national craft competition.  Along with her colourful friends and a local TV personality, they set off in this hilarious, yet serious take at friends, parents, personal goals, and the outcome is one that no one had expected.

This is a great book for those who are crafty inclined, as well as someone who needs a light-hearted Saturday read to get their mind off those everyday occurences, yet, may bring some clarity to some of their personal relationships.

Laugh out loud funny at times, it is the story of a girl who finally finds her niche, will finally able to be honest with herself and others around her.  The trials and tribulations that every relationship experience from time to time that we can all relate to.

Hachette / Grand Central

Read an excerpt

Q and A with the author

Reading Group Guide

Black Hills – Dan Simmons

by

In 1876 on the fields of the Little Big Horn battlefield, native Indians and General Custer’s army are battling it out between one another.

As Custer breathes his last breath, a young Indian approaches him, lays a hand on him.  Little does he know that Custer’s ghost has entered his body.  Not only scaring him, Paha Sapa will have him talking inside his mind for decades to come as he grows into a man while the events and his way of life shapes him and his outlook on life.

I was really looking forward to this book after reading Dan’s previous book Drood.  I was quickly entranced by the seamless narration, the action, the adventure, the storyline as delicate and fierce as it could be to solve the mystery of Dickens and Wilkie Collins’ experiences.

I have to admit, I was quickly becoming this way again, until I got further into the book.  There were a few things that turned me off.

Firstly, the names of the native people that he portrayed in the book.  Some of the names he used in the book we really quite ridiculous.  As a person that lives in Canada where we have quite a large population of Native people, as well as knowing a bit about their culture and practices, I found the names to be ridiculous as they take such pride in their culture and the names they are given.  Not only pride but feel blessed that they have been named what they have been.  The culture is one of awe, and graciousness.

The 2nd issue was that the letters that Custer writes to his wife as he is a ghost and doesn’t realize that he is dead and living in someone else’s body was quite sexually explicit for my liking.  What also added to the distaste, was the continual use of italics throughout the book when something was happening, or when these letters were being written.

Although I wasn’t a fan of this book, I will be looking forward to his future work.

Hachette / Reagan Arthur

Listen to an excerpt

Drood – Dan Simmons

by

I really loved this book !

This is the story of Charles Dickens told by his close friend and confidant Wilkie Collins who is also an author.

The mystery of Dickens last years are a mystery even for the people who were close to him.  No one really knows what happened for sure.  Wilkie’s has a few clues and ideas, but as the rumours persist, everything changed after Dickens’ near death experience.  While travelling by train with his not so secret mistress the train crashes and hangs perilously from the tracks in the air.

Did Dickens really start to live a double life?  Did he change personas as quickly as he changed voices when performing sections of his well-known and well read books during readings that left him exhausted and frail?

Not only chilling, scary as they go deeper into the depths of London’s underground looking for a mysterious “Drood” who practices magnetism, which Dickens also practices.  The opium deans where addicts inhale the intoxicating and highly addictive smoke from the best opium has them going deeper and deeper into the underground to look for this elusive figure.

I really had a hard time putting this book down.  I absolutely loved it.  With all of the ebbing and flowing, the many climbs into yet another climax had me devouring the book as fast as I could get it, like an addict who is wanting the next fix so to speak.

The ending was surprising for me, but it was the perfect ending to a really great modern-day tale of real figures in the literary scene done to perfection.

Hachette – Black Bay Books

Listen to a podcast

Listen to an audio excerpt

The Yellow House – Patrica Falvey

by

This book had me hooked on the first page.  With the thoughts of a fine irish brough, their mystical background,  the strength that they posses, as well as what they have gone through as a country, a people.

Eileen O’Neil is one of those people, where nostalgia invades her life.  The tightness of the family, as well as dreams for the future, looking at the dazzling surroundings of where she lives – The Yellow House.

When disaster hits – her sister dying, the family is torn apart.  The devastation her mother feels is unrelenting – she detaches from the family she thought was once perfect.  The grief alone sets the family apart, even Eileen.

Eileen gradually takes a job in the mill that is owned by the Quaker people who live in town.  War is starting to take away the young men not only in the town, but globally.  The dark reality sets in as the town and its inhabitants once divided on beliefs and values are coming together for the war effort.

The mill owners son begins to befriend Eileen.  But being from different backgrounds as well as religious affiliations, it is impossible for them to be together.  Catholics at this time stay with Catholics, Protestants stay with Protestants, you understand.  There is this electricity, this spark that she feels and wonders if he feels it too.  It is nearly palpable when you are around them.  Eileen pushes it from her mind.

Eileen befriends one of the woman that she works with.  It is her brother who comes back from the war injured that eventually marries.  Although the war is finished for him there is something else that is brewing – a war between political parties that splits the country apart.  With more than the world war on their minds, one is starting in their back yards.  They take up the cause, believing they are in the right.  Disastrous things such as bombings, fires, and assaults start to happen.

The mill owners son is sent off to war.  His feelings are quite different then Eileen’s husband.  He wants to be able to talk and not use violence as a way to settle things.  They are as different as night and day; Eileen is torn between her duty as a wife and working for the mill owner’s son.  The chemistry between the two different men is just as opposite as they are in life.  She makes one decision, wanting to make another, she is torn between the two.

The choices she makes will not only change her life, but the lives of many until she understands herself as much as one could.  She may be going against the grain with the choices she eventually makes – the church, the people she lives and works with in the 20th century.

After I finished this novel, I had so many questions that wanted answering.  When you are so engrossed into the book you are reading you want to know what happens, until the whole story is laid out for you.  It is like you are given just a tiny piece of information, but it is killing you not knowing the full picture.  Yes, you know what I mean don’t you.

I devoured this book in one day of reading. It completely enveloped me and spat me out when it was done with me.  I was entranced with all of the characters – their individuality, their sameness, their differences.  The characters jumped off the page, became lifelike, as well as their human abilities as well as failures to make them genuine.

Hachette / Center Street – There is a pdf reading guide on this page as well to download on the right hand side

The Yellow House Group on Facebook

Chocolate: A Love Story – Max Brenner

by

With a vintage 60′s flare in the artwork, this book of 65 of Max’s favorite recipes will have your addiction to chocolate on OVERBOARD as you are flipping through the pages.  I mean these recipes are not only decadent, but also unique in their own right.  I swear, I went into a chocolate coma when I was looking at the recipes.

The author Max Brenner has been making chocolate for the last 10 years and with each year culminating exponentially.  His creations get more lavish and unique.  This is what this book is all about – his love of chocolate.

The recipes are for every occasion, meal…yes, I said meal.  Along with the recipes, there are stories to go along with them.  Then there is the artwork.

While browsing, I think my favorites would have to be

  • Anonymous White Chocolate Cosmopolitans
  • Therapeutic Chocolate Pot Pie with a rich filling of soul-refreshing strawberries
  • Guilt – Free Fried Chocolate Truffles

Take a Look Inside and see for yourself

Hachette/ Little Brown

Max’s Website

The Unnamed – Joshua Ferris

by

Tim, his wife Jan and their daughter have it all.  Tim working as a partner in a law firm, Jane as a real estate agent, they have that idyllic full life where everything is within grasp – exotic vacations, large home filled with lovely things, absolutely no worries about money.

There is one thing…

Time suffers from these bizarre events.  They have come and gone, he hasn’t had one in a long time.  One thing he has noticed is that when they do return; they last longer then the last episode.  They always turn his life upside down, drives him and his family out of their present-day existence to one that is not only odd, but no one can figure out the cause of these bizarre instances that seem to grip him for no reason at all.

One day while at work, he realizes that it has returned, he returns home to have his wife go immediately into prepare mode – packing the back pack, making sure that his warm clothing is out and many layers are ready for the instant he has the urge.

They have tried everything  from Tim being tied to the bed with rope, handcuffs, and shackled. Nothing seems to work.

The instances which are lasting longer and longer each time they happen now, with increasingly severity.  As he is defending a long time client of the firm this particular instance grips him with such veracity that he is demoted in his job as he can only follow it from home.  He loses his position as a partner.  His whole life now, is a mess with no end in sight.

This novel of lifelong love, bizarre events, the losing of oneself and one’s purpose for living, the compulsion to  doing only one thing without being able to stop was one of wonderment, courage, as well as being able to let a loved one go while not having any kind of control over them, hoping that they come back.  The example of letting go of something you love, believe in, keeping you grounded was a brilliant example so that they won’t suffer because of it.

Hachette

The Unnamed Website

Read an Excerpt

Listen to an Excerpt

Roses – Leila Meacham

by

This book has been sitting on my bookshelf for months now taunting me,  now that I have finally read it in less than 24 hours, It left me wanting more; you all know how that happens when you are reading a book and you feel as if you were in the middle of the story as a fly on the wall, wanting more, until the end when you feel like you have at least lived a part of their lives while reading, then at the end you feel jilted like a lover because it is over.  That is exactly how I felt after finishing this book – jilted and thrown away.

Like those mini series that used to be on television years ago that follows a family from the beginning, this is similar – Following the families that started to develop a small town in Texas in the early 20th century to present-day – with all of the background of their struggles, triumphs, hard-working folk, their personal lives, and the secrets they kept to themselves that would cast them in a different light. Until the past creeps up to the present living characters, wondering why it was such a deep dark secret, until now.

There was the cotton tycoon ( the Tolivers) the lumber tycoon ( The Warwick’s) who had founded the small town, on values and morals that to this day are threaded through the families and the town as times have changed.

Mary Toliver the matriarch of the Toliver family, has shed blood sweat and more than just tears into the family cotton business.  Bequeathed the family farm and the responsibility of it when she was a small child after her father dying; She has seen to the family legacy ever since.  Above all else, the love she and Percy Warwick have shared since seeing each other in their crib’s, it was a partner ship that everyone had accepted and knew would happen, but never did because of Mary’s devotion and somewhat obsession to the farm and the legacy.

When Mary ( in present-day visits her lawyers office to sign the codicil that will accompany her will) no ones knows she has cancer, the lawyer is upset that she has changed her will, the thoughts it will do to the family once she is gone.  Mary is trying to avert disaster – the so-called curse that she is sure of that changed her life and Percy’s all that time ago.  Tomorrow, she will fly to her niece’s home to explain everything, but before that she must get to the attic of the house to get something.  As she is lounging on the porch from a long hot day in the sun sipping champagne, she has a heart attack and dies before she has a chance to explain.  This sets in motion the anger and resentment she was determined to avoid by explaining herself.

Threaded with scenes from the past and present, it is reminiscent of like I had mentioned of those tv mini series such as the Thorn Birds and North and South.

This book will be available to purchase on January 6th, 2010.

Become a Fan on Facebook

Hollywood Moon – Joseph Wambaugh

by

When it is getting close or very near to a full moon, do you notice things that wouldn’t usually happen?

Well in the Hollywood, things sure do happen.  The Hollywood station says it happens more and more.  The population being transgendered, aspiring actors, addicts, and other forms of life is to say that the earth really isn’t round.  The hollywood area always has a thing for being in the news as well, not all of the time good news either.

From the inhabitants of the area to the police officers who are just as quirky and interesting themselves, they talk about all of their expericences as they encounter the people of their district as they take calls from the public – a prowler who is attacking women, which will bring them a more sinister plot of one trying to thrown each other under the bus, to be able to get what they want, before the others realize what has happened.

I really enjoyed this book, from the eccentric characters, the stories behind the stories, to the theory of the wackiest that happens in Hollywood Division on a full moon.

Joseph Wambaugh is surely a master of combining the odd, the violent, and the stories that make it all a well-rounded and sometimes laugh out loud funny theories from the characters themselves as if it is just another day on the beat while the bad guys are meeting their demise in the midst of carrying out their bad deeds.

Listen to an excerpt

Watch the Video

I, Alex Cross – James Patterson

by

Alex is at home one night celebrating his birthday with his family when he receives a call from work, and it isn’t a good one either.

His niece Caroline has been murdered.

This sets off a Washington wide search for who killed her, and why they did it in the first place.  Alex is surprised to find out that his niece has some hidden skeletons in her closet, not in his mind that he could have ever imagined, since he hasn’t seen her in years after they moved away from the Washington area.

A high-priced escort…

As the investigation continues with all of its plot twists and turns, there have been similar murders happening not only in the past, but continue to happen as well.  That and the high society Alex goes into investigate the murders, where people have more to lose then being caught in a compromising situation – their lives and social status.

But until a cryptic call from a person that Alex doesn’t know in another state with some surprising information, they may not have revealed the killer; trust me it is a BIG one, someone you would have never imagined.

With all of the protection this killer has, you would think that they may not have ever found the killer responsible, but then again Alex Cross is on the case.

Listen to audio excerpt 1

Listen to audio excerpt 2

Watch Video

Sex, Drugs, & Gefilte Fish – Edited By Shana Liebman

by

9780446504621_388X586When I received the offer to read and review this book it had me intrigued.  Even the title had me wondering right away what it was all about, and I have to admit, I was laughing out loud laughing, shaking my head, and open mouth shocked at some of the stories in this collection from the Heeb Story Collection.

From scoring drugs for your uncle, to spending a New Year’s Eve with porn stars (yes, you heard me correct) it was a hilarious ride into what is to be Jewish, and the stories of living anywhere in America , and what it could have in store for you.

There are 50 stories from the downright laugh out loud laughing funny to sentimental of what it meant for these people to be “Jewish”.

Strangely unique, it had me reading story after story wondering what was next in the queue.

I loved it.

View Video

Locked In – Marcia Muller

by

Locked InSharon was walking back to her offices to retrieve her cell phone when at the same time someone was breaking into her offices to take whatever information she had on a case her team was working on when the intruder finds her and shoots her in the head.

Later on at the hospital, she is diagnosed as being “locked in”.  Locked in syndrome is a rare phenomenon where the person is completely paralyzed but yet can still understand and interpret the world around them without being able to communicate.
Her staff wonders if it is connected to one of their cases that they have worked in the past or if it is an active case.  As they comb their case files for clues, the thought in the back of the minds of everyone is will Sharon survive? Is she alive? Will her husband survive himself after being such a hardened and angry person before he met her? Will he have what it takes to find what and who ever did this to his wife and get the justice that they deserve?

As the case continues on, more clues are uncovered; Sharon is recovering more and more as more clues come to surface.  Will she be in this state for ever and live out her life communicating with only her eyes or will she rebound and come back to the self she once was and live her life with her husband and live happily ever after?

Filled with action, intrigue, and a bit of personal loss and suffering in San Francisco between many classes of people it was a fast paced thriller/ action/ adventure book that will be a great book to read on a rainy / snowy Saturday or Sunday covered with a blanket drinking a cup of tea or hot chocolate.

Read an Excerpt

Spooner – Pete Dexter

by

spoonerFrom the beginning, Spooner was difficult.  When he was born in the back office of a rural doctor’s office along with his twin who died, it was difficult even in the best of situations back in 1956.  Even after the birth, she has even thought of it being the other way around, Spooner should have died and the twin that did should have lived.

Completely opposite from his older sister Spooner was always getting into trouble.  From the break-ins at the neighbours next door with the theft of cheese, and then urinating in a pair of shoes then placing the shoes in the freezer ( yes, you can laugh) in the middle of the night undetected.  His mother had just about enough of him, and started dating a man.  His name was Calmer.

Calmer for the most part was a loner, quiet, inquisitive, smart.  He was enlisted in the Navy when one day while burying a former member of the Navy which all goes so horribly wrong; he is discharged and off on his own.

Spooner’s mother and Calmer start dating and eventually marry.  Calmer has always taken Spooner under his care and tried to show him time and time again the right way of doing things, but then again Spooner hasn’t always been the sharpest tool in the shed.  But when it came to sports – football, baseball, he was fantastic.  After being signed to play ball after high school and being seriously injured he had to stop his sports career and start anew….well, in a different place anyways.

Eventually, Spooner becomes a reporter for newspapers, and carves out a bit of a niche for himself, he isn’t a great one, but, he does as well as he can.

I think in all honesty, Spooner was one of those boys where not just one thing clicked with him.  It was a multitude of things racing around his head not knowing where or what he would do next.  His father died shortly after he was born and then Calmer entered the picture;  taking over what his real father never really had a chance to achieve given the short life.  Calmer was the patient, caring one who had Spooner’s best interests at heart.  But in the end, was Calmer just tired out from the antics? Wondering if it ever got through to him? Some have said or even if you look at the Author’s bio at the end of the book, it has some striking similarities to what the book was all about.  Somewhat true elements about both Spooner and the author?

You make your own assumptions…

Listen to excerpts

9 Dragons – Michael Connelly

by

Nine DargonsHarry Bosch is on the job again.  Once again he doesn’t disappoint.

Assigned to a suspected robbery homicide that involves an Asian family business in an area they don’t  usually cover, they arrive to discover the owner was shot dead behind the counter.  Could it have been personal? Who could have done it, Gangs? Thinking about this there is only one gang that would have done this – The triads.

While doing surveillance, Bosch receives a video message from his daughter who lives with her mother in Hong Kong.  She has been abducted, presently is nowhere to be found. He had contacted his ex wife, and found out that she doesn’t know where she is either.

Bosch has a question in his mind; could the two incidents be connected??

In Michael Connelly’s latest thriller he shows that he hasn’t lost his touch.  Keeping you on the edge of your seat until the absolute last moment till the cases are solved; unless something else happens in this book, it is no exception, Bosch is on the case until the last clue is solved, and the bad guys are behind bars.

Going from Los Angeles to Hong Kong and back again in a matter of hours, Bosch navigates the crude slums, poorer areas of Hong Kong gives the novel not only the authenticity,

but the necessity of having to get there right away.  Time is being the ultimate barrier to both cases being solved in a very short matter of time being the ultimate demon; will Bosch be able to solve both cases at once simultaneously?

You will only know if you go out and read it.

Author Q and A

Listen to an excerpt

The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe – J. Randy Taraborrelli

by

Marilyn MonroeI am simply speechless.

All of us know Marilyn Monroe was one of the most famous actresses in her day, who is still as iconic as she was before her death – her natural beauty, her tumultuous relationships with men,  the men she married, her controversial link to powerful and influential men who include the Kennedy brothers, who died way before she should have.

In her young life, it started to go wrong very early.  Her mother, who was thought of as having something wrong with her – erratic behaviour, which left Norma Jean with neighbours as an infant never knowing who her real biological mother was, or even who her father was.

Being shuffled back and forth from her mother to her foster parents to orphanages and back again certainly displaced her and displaced her sense of who she really was, with not knowing specific details which would haunt her as if a puzzle always had a few pieces missing where in fact it should have been filled.

On her way to becoming a Hollywood star in the 50’s, the people which surrounded her seemed to hang off her like they could get something from her, or just be there in case that she needed something from them.  The mood swings, the drugs, the alcohol, and the seamless illusions of her being perfectly sane, but at times the exact opposite – depressed, lifeless, not being able to take care of herself.  The mental illness which was like her mother and grandmothers; said to be paranoid schizophrenia also known as manic depression, then the mysterious nature of her death at the age of 36.

I think there was just something about Marilyn that had everyone wanting to get to know her – her complete transformation as soon as she hit the stage, or was in the company of people that she wanted to be around.  The women who were jealous of her, and made men intimidated with her poise and intelligence.  (She was actually quite intelligent).  But behind the confidant exterior it was quite clear she was because of her childhood, her intense therapy sessions, who she was or where she came from.  It was said that she used her not knowing who her father was or her childhood to draw from during dramatic scenes in the movies she acted in.

It seems as though she was very much living a double life, the one in public, and then the one in private.

Hachette / Grand Central

The Marilyn Monroe Collection

Listen / Download a Podcast

Listen to an excerpt

Evenings at The Argentine Club – Julia Amante

by

Evenings at the Argentine ClubIn the area I live in, there has been a shift in the type of nationalities that are living here.  When I was younger it was a mix of mainly Ukrainian, Polish, Italian, and like nationalities that lived and worked in the area.  Since I have returned that has shifted more to French, and Spanish like nationalities, as well as many from the Caribbean.  The diversity is just amazing; I learn new things every day, as is my son who goes to a catholic school.

Now, imagine if you will you are one of these families who are far away from all of your family and close relatives in a new country where everything and everyone is new.  Scary isn’t it just thinking about it.  But the main reason, in my honest opinion is that they come here for a better life, one filled with opportunities that they wouldn’t be able to experience in the countries that they came from.

This latest book release is exactly about that and so much more.  The differences these families experience between generations, what the older generations pass onto the younger; the nuances that change and add to the old to make it new and of course to evolve to be passed on to the other generations to learn and live by.

It is also about the sacrifices that are made to be able to do something like this, the distance from family, the isolation of being all alone all to be able to realize your dreams no matter how small or large.  To be able to experience a new culture whether Canadian or American.

In this fictional account, there are 2 families that are featured trying to do this very thing.  Moving to America from Argentina, they find solace in a club, The Argentine Club, where they can be with people from their own culture, to revel in things that they enjoy where others are interested in or miss the camaraderie and the joyfulness in their culture; Sharing stories, food, making new friends and enjoying life.

The older generation passes on and tries to preserve the traditions from past generations, and the newer generation wants to embellish more of the westernized ways into the mix.  When this happens, disagreements, and people clash.

I liked this book, I know even for me it was difficult even moving across the country to a new province.  Everything was different, learning new things albeit, the same, but a different way of going about it.  I enjoyed the way the closeness of the 2 families who from the outside wanted to make a better life for their families on the sacrifices they made to be able to move to a new country.

Even at times they didn’t agree there were still lessons to be learnt on both sides of the spectrum.  The characters were full of more than just being themselves; they gave and asked for nothing in return except for respect and camaraderie with their fellow Argentinian; as well as their ability to persevere, to succeed even when they had their doubts.

I have also talked with Julia, and will be posting a Q and A with her tomorrow, so stay tuned !

Hachette / Grand Central

Julia’s Website

Reading Group Guide

A Change in Altitude – Anita Shreve

by

change in altitudePatrick and Margaret who were recently married move to Kenya for Patrick to continue his research as a Doctor.

Moving for anyone even to a new country or across the country for that matter is one of the most stressful things that anyone can experience.  Everything is new and unfamiliar, at times scary.  But their landlords have invited them to climb Mt. Kenya with another couple, so how can they really refuse.  As the trip starts, it is all great, but shortly after it turns tragic.

The tragedy is always at the back of Margaret’s mind, as she goes through her days.  She thinks it will always affect their marriage.  She is also at a crossroads of her career as well, and ventures out and lands a job as a newspaper photographer at a somewhat rebellious newspaper that has her going on all sorts of assignments, where she meets a reporter that she realizes that she has feelings for and grapples with.

Margaret and Patrick are at somewhat of a crossroads of sorts, she is feeling vulnerable about what had happened, and Patrick sloughs it off as being not so important.  Will they continue the marriage or work through the hard times ahead and make a go of it.

In Anita’s latest book, I really wasn’t feeling Margaret’s character as much as I thought I would.  From the start she seemed off, and disconnected from not only her husband, and the other characters other then the servant who was raped in the book.  The characters Margaret and Patrick were more connected to the outer characters in the book then they were to each other even being newly married.

It was well written in Anita’s usual style of writing, with me however, it was a miss from her previous book Testimony, which was far better.

Hachette / Little Brown

Listen to an Excerpt

Reading Group Guide