A Book Addict's Musings by Readinghearts

Page Count: 336
List Price:  $25.95 Print
                   $10.99 Digital 
Publication Date:  February 11, 2014
Publisher:  Doubleday

My Rating:  4.5 out of 5 stars

One of the best things about writing reviews for book and blogging is that you come across wonderful new authors that you have not read before.  Established author Jennifer McMahon is a perfect example.  Although The Winter People is her 7th novel, it is my first by here and I am so excited to find a new author to read. 

Contemporary Fiction is such a broad category that to label the book as such is really not telling the reader anything. On the other hand, I am always a bit leery of labeling a book as Chick-Lit because I think that many readers make assumptions about the book based solely on that. In fact, I used to think that I was not a big fan of "chick-lit" but as I have read more and more books in this genre I realized that I do like chick-lit, but that I am just picky about the books I read. I find that if the characters have something other than the run of the mill personality or back story. I am more likely to enjoy the book. Likewise, if the plot is varied and the issues presented unique in some way, I am more likely to enjoy the book. The Wishing Hill by Holly Robinson fits both of these criteria for me.

The main characters in The Wishing Hill are three women whose lives are linked together in an unbreakable way, although we may not understand what that is at the beginning of the book. Juliet is a women coming up on middle age who finds herself suddenly on her own. Her husband has left her and the bohemian lifestyle they were living, leaving her surprised and wondering where her life is leading now. On top of it all, she finds herself unexpectedly pregnant after years of thinking that she is infertile. Desiree is Juliet's mother, an aging actress who is used to being the center of attention and afraid that life is passing her by. Claire, Desiree's neighbor, is a single woman in her 60s who has never married, but still is in love with the married man who she had an affair with in her early twenties. All of them are strong women in their own way. Even the male characters in this book were unique. In fact, I would love to read a book where any one of the male characters were the main focus, that is how interesting they seemed to be. From Will, Juliet's staid, middle class brother, all the way to the divorced contractor working on Juliet and Desiree's house.

The storyline of The Wishing Hill did not disappoint, either. It is more than just the a story of three women with intertwining lives. Although the main focus of the book is on how the three women's lives intersect, we are also treated to their separate stories, which I found very interesting. As with the male characters, I think that any one of these stories could have sustained a book all on their own. You might think that having all of the stories in one novel would be confusing, but Holly Robinson uses different points of view and travel between locations to weave them together until they make one seamless story.

Holly Robinson's insights and superb writing talent made this book a joy to read and one that I would easily recommend to my friends, or even buy for someone. As for me, I am looking forward to other novels by Holly and hope to read much more by her.

Thank you to Holly Robinson for making a copy of this book available through the Sisterhood of the Traveling Book in exchange for my review.

Genre:  Historical Fiction
Page Count:  352 pages
List Price:  $26.00 Hardback
                $15.00 Paperback
                $12.99 Digital                 
Publication Date:  September 10, 2013
Publisher:  Ballantine Books

My Rating:  4 out of 5 stars

Genre: Historical Mystery
Page Count: 272
List Price:  $14.95 Paperback
                 $9.99 Digital Edition
                 $4.99 Kindle
Publication Date:  October 29, 2013
Publisher: Amazon Crossing

My Rating:  3.5 of 5 stars

As a person who really enjoys both mysteries and historical fiction, historical mysteries are often fun reads for me.  The recent translation of Danish author Martin Jensen's book The King's Houndswas just that type of book.  The story is set in 1018, the time when the Danish King Cnut has conquered England and is busy trying to get all of the factions under his control to coalesce into a single unified country.  Unfortunately for him, a South Saxon who is known to be Cnut's enemy is found murdered.  Enter Winston, ex-monk and highly regarded Saxon illuminator, and Halfdan, a Danish ex-noble, exactly the combination  King Cnut needs in order to solve the crime without raising complaints of favoritism.
 
The story of Winston and Halfdan, and their quest to solve the murder of Oxfrid works on many levels.  Like all good mysteries of this type, we are presented with a dead body who in life had enough enemies to present us with a long list of possible suspects. In addition, the crime solvers are an unlikely pair of contrasting characters.  Not only do they represent opposite sides of the current political scene, thus giving the aura of objectivity, but they also represent very different styles of solving a puzzle.  While Winston's approach keys on observation and deduction, Halfdan is more outgoing and able to get people to talk to him.   Jensen's historical representation of the time is also spot on.  Through the inclusion of real historical figures, events and terms, and his accurate description of life in 1018 England, we get a glimpse of life during a time that is not widely covered in historical fiction. Add to all that the excellent translation from Danish which allows the story to flow seemlessly in English, and it all comes together as a definite win. 

Although I would not put this story in the "earth shattering" category, I would recommend it to those of you who enjoy a good mystery , especially those that like their mystery with a bit of history included.  As for me, I am looking forward to readingThe Oathbreaker, the second book of the series, and sincerely hope that there are plans to translate even more of them to English.  For one thing, I am anxious to see how the relationship between Winston and Halfdan develops as I think there is a lot of room for growth there.  

Emma Chapman's debut novel "How to be a Good Wife" is a well written, compelling read with many layers, all of which revolve around the main character, Marta. Marta has been married to Hector for a long time. In fact, all of her adult life has been spent catering to him, their marriage, and their son Kylan. Now with Hector becoming distant and Kylan living in the city with his girlfriend, she has a lot of time on her own. But time on her own is not what Marta wants or needs. 

As the book unfolds, the author reveals more and more about Marta, and what we learn, or do not learn as the case may be, is what made Marta's story such a compelling read for me. On first impression, Marta's life seems to be comfortable and mundane. She has reached middle age, raised her son, taken care of her husband. On closer examination, though, there are gaps and inconsistencies. Why does she keep finding cigarettes in her pocket with memory of smoking them? What is the medication that she has stopped taking? Before long Marta's story peels off into a couple of directions with no real explanation of what is fact and what is fiction. These different aspects of her story continue all the way to the conclusion of the story which I did not see coming at all. 

All of this ambiguity in the story may set some readers on edge, but I found it interesting and thought provoking. I also found the ambiguity to be a great discussion point among readers. In fact, when discussing this book with others, I was extremely interested to see how many different ways to interpret the story people were able to find. All that discussion and differing viewpoints only enriched the story for me, enough so that I wasn't upset that the author ended the story without answering the most important questions posed throughout. That is not to say that I didn't find the ending disappointing, but my disappointment was in Marta and her choices, not with the story or the author. 

I would definitely recommend this book as a thought provoking read, with one caveat. Keep an open mind as you read it and wait until you are finished to draw any conclusions. Then discuss away with others and see what conclusions they came to and how they arrived at them. I guarantee the discussion will be lively.

My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for making this book available to me in exchange for my review.

Caveat: This book is a sequel to Out of Focus and is better if read in order.

I have been hooked on Nancy Naigle's Adams Grove series of novels since the first book, Sweet Tea and Secrets. Her current entry to the series, Pecan Pie and Deadly Lies is perhaps my favorite one of the bunch. As the first three books in the Adam's Grove series, Pecan Pie and Deadly Lies is a love story with a mystery throw in, a genre which Nancy Naigle is a master at.

As Pecan Pie opens, photographer Kasey Phillips is living on her farm outside of Adams Grove. She is still a photographer, still raising her son, and still best friends with the local Sheriff, when Country superstar Cody Tuggle calls to ask if he and "the boys" can stay at her place for a few days during a break in their current tour. Once there, he and Kasey rekindle the feelings that were unresolved at the end of Out of Focus, while Kasey was traveling with Cody to work on a book of photographs about his tour. While there, someone murders Cody's agent and makes sure that the evidence points directly to Cody. Cody heads home to Oklahoma to sort things out, taking Kasey and her son Jake with him.

I have read all four of the Adams Groves novels, and while I liked them all, I think my favorite so far is Pecan Pie and Deadly Lies. What makes this my favorite is a couple of things. First, it brings back two of my favorite main characters from the second book, Kasey and Cody. Secondly, in this book, as in the first Kasey and Cody book, the balance between the mystery story line and the romance story line was perfect. This is a skill that Nancy Naigle has perfected as the Adams Grove series has progressed.

As with the other books from Adams Grove, this story was also peppered with an excellent cast of supporting characters. Nancy is a master at developing characters, giving them personality traits and behaviors that make them very real, and at integrating them into the story in a way that makes them integral to the story. I became especially fond of Cody's mother, Denise. I also really like the way that Nancy takes supporting characters from her books and makes them the main characters in further editions in the series. I can think of several characters in this book that I would like to see that happen to.

All in all, I would class this book as another enjoyable read from Nancy Naigle and a must read for those who love the combination of romance and light mystery. If you haven't yet read any of the Adam's Grove novels, I would recommend them all. I hope that Nancy Naigle has many more Adams Grove books up here sleeve. I know she has a least one more, Mint Julep and Justice, which I will be reading soon and reviewing.

Thanks to Nancy Naigle and the Sisterhood of the Traveling Book for making this book available in exchange for my review.

Quiet Dell is a novel based on a series of actual murders committed in the 1930s by a man calling himself Harry Powers. He does this by preying on widows who are writing to him via the Lonely Hearts Club, looking for someone to talk to and a bit of companionship. In the blurb at the beginning Jayne Anne Phillips states that in her youth she was driven by the scene of the murders and the impression that left has haunted her, eventually compelling her to write this novel.

Not being familiar with the work of Jayne Anne Phillips, (this is the first novel by the author that I have read) I was not sure what to expect. The hook for me, then, was that the basis of this book was a real crime. Since reading In Cold Blood in high school, I have been fascinated by real crime stories, whether they be fictional representations or non-fiction accounts. In the case of Quiet Dell, the first few chapters definitely lived up to my expectations. This section of the book depicts the story of Ana Eicher, a widow with three children, who has no skills and no way to make a living now that her husband has died. The author describes the current life of Ana and her children with heart-breaking clarity and emotion. I was definitely immersed in their story quickly.

In fact, I would give a 4 star rating to the beginning of the book, all the way to the part where the murders are discovered. At this point, the author introduces her first fictional characters, a female journalist by the name of Emily Thornhill and a photographer by the name of Eric Lindstrom, who are covering the story for the Chicago Tribune. This is where the books falls apart for me. It's not that Emily and Eric are not solid characters. I actually liked the way that the author used Emily's compulsion to find out the truth about Harry Powers as a catalyst to take the reader through the investigation of his life. It is Emily's romantic involvement with banker William O'Malley that I felt was not only unnecessary to the story, but actually a distraction from the investigation into the murders that should have made up the rest of the book. For me this error was compounded by two other items that author chose to include in the latter part of the book. These were the use of the youngest Eicher child, Anabelle, as a "supernatural" character (Think Susie in The Lovely Bones), and the inclusion of the "orphan" story. Neither of these devices did anything to enhance the basic story line, in my opinion.

To sum it up, I copy a quote that I saw on Amazon which is purported to be from People Magazine. It says, "Think In Cold Blood meets The Lovely Bones, but sexier." To me, that sums it up pretty well. Unfortunately, I would have liked a bit more of the In Cold Blood part and a lot less of the The Lovely Bones and sexy parts.

As I said above, I am not familiar with Jayne Anne Phillips other work, but I have heard that this is not her usual fare. For that reason, and the fact that parts of this book were very well written, I plan to try one of the author's other books in the future.

I would like to that Scribner and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my review.

In her novel Hell Gate, Elizabeth Massie tells a riveting story that defies the boundaries in many ways. In fact, it took me a while to decide what genre to list for it. The fact that it is set in 1909 on Coney Island might make it Historical Fiction. The murders and police investigation might indicate a Mystery or Police Procedural. The fact that the main character has "the sight" brings in an element of the Paranormal genre. In the end, it was the overall feeling of a good Horror story that won out, though.

With respect to her depection of Coney Island in the early 1900s, Massie certainly did her research. Her descriptions of the sights, sounds, smells, and even tastes, made me feel like I was really there experiencing the thrills and chills of the area. I also enjoyed the flashbacks of Suzanne's early life with her mother and her life in the boarding school. She was able to describe Suzanne's feelings of confusion perfectly and use them to help illustrate the recurring theme of societies fear of the unusual. This theme was also illustrated with the treatment Suzanne received from the police as she helped with their investigation, and the treatment that Citie received when he tried to spend time with Suzanne. Other than its usefulness in this way, I felt that the mystery part of the story was the weakest. This is the only place where the story faltered for me, and I was disappointed that there wasn't more to it.

The best part of the story overall, though, was the horror story line. I thought that Massie's characterization of the girls in the boarding school was fantastic. I thought she did an excellent job of weaving the undercurrent of horror and evil through this story. It both scared and disturbed me, which is what I expect from a good horror story line. The icing on the cake for this story was the way she lead the reader to the eventual conclusion. Her use of subterfuge and slight of hand were wonderful and the unexpected ending left me feeling pleasantly surprised.

I would definitely recommend this novel to anyone who likes a good horror story with a historical undertone. It was definitely well worth the read.

I would like to thank DarkFuse publishing and Netgalley for making this title available to me in exchange for a review.

I have to admit, my first thought when I finished this book was, "hmmm, that was interesting." In fact, I wasn't really sure what I was going to rate it, much less how I was going to review it. The one thing that I knew was that it was different from any other book I have ever read. In the two weeks since I finished the book, it hasn't gotten any easier to define my feelings, except to say that this was a book of contrasts for me. It was filled with moments of clarity and confusion, profound quotes and wasted words, important insights and trite excuses and a jumbled mass of Leonard's present and past. 

Perhaps it is easiest to start with an overview of the story. It is Leonard Peacock's birthday, and for his birthday he has decided to kill his former best friend, Asher Beal, and then himself. Before he can do that, though, he has a present to give to the 4 people that he considers the most important in his life. Sounds straightforward, doesn't it? But nothing about this book is straightforward. Not the writing style that Quick uses, not the motivations of the characters, and certainly not the mind of Leonard Peacock. To say that Leonard is damaged goods is an understatement. From the beginning it is apparent that he is one of those kids in high school that just don't fit in anywhere, but the why is a lot less clear. As Leonard tells his story, we are given a lot of the events in his life that led to this point. What we don't get much of is the thoughts, feelings, and motivations of the characters that lead to these events. 

One of the most interesting things about this book was the writing style that Matthew Quick used to tell the story. The basic events of the story are told by Leonard in narrative form. As such, this part of the book does not give much insight into what the characters are thinking or feeling. We are treated to the inner workings of Leonard's mind, though, in the form of footnotes to the narrative. These are mostly the rambling of Leonard's inner mind and, as such, they have a more conversational and intimate tone. It is here that we get more of a feel for Leonard's emotional well being and state of mind. Then there are the letters. They appeared out of nowhere, leaving me confused as to their purpose at first. In the end, I was left wondering whether all these contrasting story devices and the confusion that are their result are a the mark of an author who has lost control of his story, or the result of a genius who is using them to illustrate the contrasts and confusion of the character that is Leonard Peacock. It would be easy to dismiss them as the former, but that would be doing the book a disservice, I think. In the end, I found that using the various devices worked for a couple of reasons. First, I thought they worked to show the different facets of Leonard's character. Secondly, they allowed me to feel some of the confusion that Leonard's life had become and the conflicting emotions he had about himself. 

What I found most disturbing about the book, was the lack of awareness of any of the adults in Leonard's life. In fact, of all of the adults that we encounter in the story, only one seems to have any idea that things in Leonard's life are about to spin out of control. The rest of the adults, from Leonard's absentee mother on down through the school administrators and teachers, seem determined to let Leonard down. The ones that are not incredibly self-absorbed, seem bent on pretending that everything is normal and either there is nothing to worry about, or if there is, there is nothing they can do about it. Admittedly, the story is being told from the viewpoint of a student, who is likely to see the adults as shallow and self-absorbed. Even so, I felt that there was an important lesson for adults here. 

Bottom line, this is not a book for everyone, that is for sure. As a reader, though, I found that it elicited strong feelings and for that reason I am giving it 4 stars. Some readers may find the jumble of story telling devices confusing, or Leonard's attitude either too whiny, to wrapped up in excuses, or just not realistic. I found that those items were the ones that made me think and ultimately to question what I was reading. Given the subject of this book, I think that is an important outcome. My one caveat is that I was left feeling that this book could be either a positive influence on a teenager, or a negative one, depending on the reader. I actually told one friend I was not sure how I would feel about my sons read it if they were a teenagers, but I could certainly see it starting some good discussions. My advice as a parent is to look at the book yourself, and then determine if it is right for your teenager. 

My thanks to Little, Brown, and Company and Netgalley for making this book available to me in exchange for a review.

Another in the list of books about WWII and its aftermath, Margot by Jillian Cantor puts forth the supposition, what if Anne Frank's older sister had survived the war?  The author herself says that she got the idea while reading The Diary of Anne Frank for the second time.  She began to wonder, what of the other sister, Margot?  Did she keep a diary, too?  What was she like?  Apparently, after doing some research, she found that not much information exists about Anne's less famous sister.  This opened the door for a fictional story about surviving the holocaust with Margot as the central character.

It is 1959. and the movie The Diary of Anne Frank has just hit the theaters in the US.  Margie Franklin is living a quiet life in Philadelphia and working for a law firm.    But Margie is really Margot Frank, the older sister of Anne, who was able to survive the holocaust.  She eventually makes her way to America where she changes her identity, re-inventing herself as a Gentile.  Once her father publishes Anne's Diary and it is made into a movie, her new life starts to unravel, bit by bit.  

Once I picked up Margot, I found it very hard to put down.  The story alternated between the story of Margie, the girl hiding in America, and Margot, the girl hiding in the annex in Amsterdam.  I was amazed at what a great job the author did presenting the two sides of the main character.  I was particularly impressed with the way she was able to craft a believable story of what Margot could have been like while still staying true to the words of Anne's diary.  On the other hand, Margie's life in America was all fiction, but incredibly well told and highly believable.  I could really put myself in the place of a person in her situation, her survivor's guilt, the elements of PTSD inherent in her situation, the ever prevalent fear that someone would discover the truth about her, and the constant inner struggle to not lose sight of who she was.  Through the author's words I was transported into Margie's mind in the best way.  

What really sold this book for me, though, was the fact that it was more than just a "what if" book about Margot Frank.  To me, it was really an exploration of the after effects of the holocaust on Jewish Americans. Some, like Margie, immigrated to America and re-invented themselves to create a distance between their new lives and their old ones.  Others, like Bryta, came to America looking for a better life, only to find themselves taken advantage of.  Then there were the American Jews, like Joshua, who were removed from the worst of the war and lived a relatively unscathed life, which brought on its own brand of survivor's guilt. Through the exploration of all of these characters, the author was able to craft a story that should not be missed.  

This was definitely a 5 star book for me and will be on my highly recommended list for quite a while.  I have yet to come across a book that deals with these issues in such a readable and believable fashion.  

Joy Little's life is changing. Her only child has just left for college, but instead of going with him on dorm move-in weekend, she is headed to her childhood home, Little Island, to attend her grandmother's memorial service. Although she loved her grandmother, spending the weekend on the Island with her parents and her twin siblings, Roger and Tamar, is not something she is looking forward to. Given their family history, family get-togethers for the Little family are tumultuous at best and Joy just does not know if she is up for the challenge.

Although basically Contemporary Fiction, Little Island falls into a class of books that I call "family drama" books. You know the type, books where we get a glimpse of a family that is struggling due to a past or present crisis. For me, enjoyment of books of this type hinge two things; how well the author handles the family's various crises, and how the author builds the characters and their relationships. I am happy to say, Katharine Britton did a great job of both in this book.

The characters in this book spoke to me right off the bat. The oldest sister, Joy, is going through empty nest syndrome, exhibiting feelings I am very familiar with since I have two sons in college. As the oldest sibling, then as a mom, her whole life has been about taking care of people. What is she supposed to do now? On the flip side, her sister Tamar is the youngest, and the one they "almost lost". As such, the other family members have danced around her all of her life. Now she finds herself as a wife and the mother of twins with no idea how to put anyone else first. Finally there is Roger, the one that was always in trouble, the cause of the families biggest crisis, a crisis that still defines them, and the one thing that has always defined his life. I though that the author did a wonderful job of developing these and other characters in the book, giving them the right mix of traits to allow me to empathize with them at times, and want to smack them at others., but always hoping they were able to break past the roles that defined them. Thus it was the characters in the book, especially the Little siblings, which allowed a predictable story line to become unpredictable.

Another thing that I liked about the book was the way the author told the family's story. While the bulk of the story took place during the weekend of the memorial service, part of it flashed back to 20 years prior, the time surrounding the crisis that defined the family. In addition, different chapters focused on the thoughts and feelings of different family members, giving each of them a chance to "tell their side of the story" so to speak. It was a method of telling the story that really worked for me.

Almost exactly two years ago, I read Katharine Britton's first book, Her Sister's Shadow, which I also rated 4 stars. As with that book, I enjoyed this book's interplay between the family members. What set this book apart and elevated it to that next level, for me, were the characters. I am glad to see that Katharine Britton has not lost her touch with story telling, and that her characters have even more personality than before. I would highly recommend this book to those who like books centered around families and drama.

Many thanks to Katharine Britton and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Book for allowing me to read this book in exchange for a review.