Horrorstor / Grady Hendrix / 243 pages / Horror

The book  is clean, fresh and attractive, even if the format, a furniture store catalog, at first seems odd. Then, you realize that it has to do with the content of the story, and it adds to the fun. It's a quick read, and I stayed up till 2AM to finish it, perhaps that was due to the fact that the nature of the  story reminded me a little of Clive Barker's Hellraiser movies.  Side note:  It drives me crazy that the main character sometimes makes decisions bordering on the idiotic (really? you're going to go through the creepy hallway that cannot possible be there?) but when you get to the end, it somehow makes sense. Horrorstor is enjoyable and I will never see Ikea the same way again.

But back to the cover/book format........There's clearly no way I can ignore how awesomely packaged this book is, so I'll begin there. It's designed like an Ikea catalog (which I ordered after receiving the book for review consideration, because I'm cool and wanted to compare.  Also, I love Ikea) with the beginning of chapters featuring different products and their descriptions (which slowly got creepier as the story progressed, but I'll get there). There were coupons for the store, an order form, and a map of the showroom. It was all wonderfully put together, and even though I initially thought it would be difficult to read because of the different column sizes and text, it was not at all, and my ability to read the book was not at all affected by the design, making it a super win.

Next I want to talk about just how imaginative this story was. It wasn't scary per se, but it was one of those that left me turning the pages quicker because I really just wasn't sure how things were going to turn out. It took so many twists and turns that I couldn't possibly have tried to guess the outcome, nor would I have wanted to!  No plot reveals here.....you'll just have to experience it yourself!

One Plus One / Jojo Moyes / 368 pages

What can I say? I simply fall in love with Jojo Moyes' writing and her characters. I can feel the tension between them almost as though I'm sitting in the backseat, watching this story play out.

This latest tells the story of Jessica Rae Thomas, a single mom, working 2 jobs trying to stay afloat and barely succeeding at all-- but not without giving it her best shot and having relentless optimism. Her modern family consists of her stepson, Nicky-- who struggles with bullies and guy liner, and her daughter Tanzie-- a maths genius. Enter in Ed Nicholls, one of her patrons in her cleaning business. Ed is recently on trial for insider trading. Fate brings these two together and the dynamic between them is palpable.

I fell in love yet again with these characters and am left wanting to know what they are doing now...

ARC provided by Goodreads Firstreads Program-- THANK YOU!!!

Silver Bay / Jojo Moyes / 338 pages

Ignore the little tag-line on the front cover – “You have nothing to lose but your heart” – because this book is not the heap of slush that that phrase would imply. (Publishers must really annoy their authors sometimes, because I suspect that Jojo Moyes would have taken those simpering little words and thrown them overboard to rot on the beach.)

Silver Bay is a sparsely-populated paradise in New South Wales where Lisa McCullen is hiding herself and her daughter Hannah from past tragedies and communing with the whales which pass by on migration every year.  Then, real-estate developers arrive in the shape of Mike Dormer who has come to scope the place out for a hotel and leisure complex designed to make mega-bucks for his boss in London, his future father-in-law. The different pace of life, the beauty, the whales, the dolphins, Hannah – and Lisa - all get to him, however, and his priorities change.

This is a well-crafted book with an interesting plot-line revealed in appropriately timed snippets. It is written from the alternating first-person point of view of each of the main characters which serves to bring them alive extremely well. It can sometimes be difficult to remember whose skin you’re in as it is difficult to write an authentic voice for everyone from an 11-year-old girl to an Aussie beach-bum who thinks he’s God’s gift to women, but confusion is surprisingly rare.

As the story of Lisa’s past life is gradually unfolded, along with the tales of the other residents of Silver Bay, there are enough twists and turns in the plot to keep you reading, and although you know from the start there’s going to be a happy ending (it’s a romantic novel, okay?) the actual ending is so impossibly happy that you really don’t foresee it. I cried, dear reader, real tears......

Where She Went (If I Stay #2) / Gayle Forman / 264 pages / Young Adult - Realistic Fiction

Where She Went takes place 3 years after Mia's accident, is in Adam's POV, and spans 24 critical hours. Adam's last day in New York, before leaving on tour, he happens to run into Mia. Is fate giving these two another chance? Will Adam finally get answers to the questions that have haunted him for the past 3 years? How is Mia dealing with her choice to stay?

“There are so many things that demand to be said. Where did you go? Do you ever think about me? You've ruined me. Are you okay? But of course, I can't say any of that.” 

A lot has changed for both Adam and Mia. Their dreams have come true musically, but is it enough, if they don't have each other? This was a great follow up of these characters and their very special story will surely hold a place in many young hearts. 

❤ "You don’t share me. You own me." ❤

The Girl You Left Behind / Jojo Moyes / 384 pages / Historical Fiction

This book is all about a painting during wartime World War I, but don’t let that put you off.   The setting of two different time periods is well presented and it is very clear in which era you are. In fact when it turned to the 21st century and then went back to 1917, it was almost as if you were in a time machine, revisiting the familiar story you had left behind. The author created a dilemma for me over what the main 21st century character did regarding the painting, did I agree?, didn’t I?, it changed with each page.  A fabulous story that I will remember for a long time to come.  

The writing in this book is exquisite. I don’t use this word lightly, I dislike wordy, over descriptive writing, where the writing distracts from the story. Not so with this book, this writing is at its best with excellent use of the English language such as “cacophonous daylight”. The characters are very well drawn and realistic, you find yourself caring about what happens to them. I found myself being absorbed by the book, turning pages eager to discover what was going to happen next. Thinking about the characters even when I wasn’t reading the book. It is a book with twists and turns, a few surprises, one so shocking I actually cried out (luckily I was at home at the time!). 

And the Mountains Echoed / Khaled Hosseini / 404 pages / Literary Fiction

It is 1952, in a small village in Afghanistan. Abdullah and his sister Pari live with their father, stepmother and baby stepbrother. Abdullah raised Pari when their mother died in childbirth and the two are extremely close. In the afterword, Hosseini mentions that the title for the book was inspired by this phrase in a poem by William Blake: "The little ones lept, and shouted, and laugh'd/and all the hills echoed". However this idyllic upbringing is soon to be abruptly ended.

This is quite a different book to The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns. Whilst a large part of the book is set in Afghanistan, the impact of the Russian war and the Taliban's rule is only peripheral to the narrative. This is a smaller book, about family relationships. Again and again, we explore the relationships between children and their parents, whether the children are biological or adopted, whether the adoption is known or a secret. And yet, while the stories are intimate, the story spans 60 years and the terrain is epic, moving from the Middle East to Europe to the US and back again. The book begins and ends with Abdullah and Pari, but in between the stories will encompass characters as diverse as a Bosnian nurse, an American doctor, a French poet, a Greek housewife and an Afghan warlord. All are connected - sometimes closely, sometimes remotely - to the central story. Many characters will face difficult ethical dilemmas and sometimes they respond in ways that surprise the readers.

Heroes of Olympus Series - Book 5 The Blood of Olympus / Rick Riordan / 528 pages / Fantasy & Adventure

The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan is the fifth and final book in The Heroes of Olympus series. This fantasy, young adult, Greek mythology is full of adventure, action, magic and romance.  It brings to full circle the adventures of seven demigods in their race against time to prevent the awakening of the earth goddess, Gaea. This has been an incredible journey for fans of the series beginning with The Lost Hero, the first book in the series, and it has been getting bigger and better with each book.

In The Blood of Olympus, it is the day of reckoning for everyone - the ultimate showdown. The heroes of Olympus - Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Piper, Reyna, Nico, and the rest of the crew of the Argo are pitted against Gaea's evil Earthborn children, the giants. A daunting battle lies ahead. Percy and his friends must stop Gaea from awakening and gaining control of the earth. It is an all-out battle of the forces of good versus evil. Will Percy and his friends succeed or will Gaea have her way and have two demigods sacrificed in Athens?

The final chapter in Rick Riordan's Heroes of Olympus series is a huge, huge delight from start to finish. Percy and his friends will captivate and mesmerize you, leaving you in a state of delirium. This is a story that not only brings new life to Greek legends; but also offers a gratifying conclusion to a series that has been a part and parcel of many readers' psyche for the past few years. However, a word of caution may be appropriate if you come looking for a strong POV of Percy and Annabeth. They are there but this final installment is more about Jason, Reyna, Leo, Nico and Piper.

Odd Thomas / Dean Koontz / 480 pages / Horror

Mr. Odd Thomas is indeed one of the nicest characters you will meet in the world of fiction. The young man is humble, a talented fry cook, head over heels in love with his girlfriend, and his only ambition is to move on from frying eggs to selling new tires at the local tire store. By today's standards, he would be considered a first class loser in anyone's book. But there is something special about Odd Thomas, and that is the fact that he can see and communicate with the dead.

As he explains in the narrative, sometimes the departed have a hard time moving on to the next world, whether it be because of unfinished business, a sentimental attachment to the living, or an unawareness of their deadness; Thomas is always there to help if his help is required. In fact he believes it is his moral duty to aid the dead, otherwise why would he have this gift in the first place? The plot unfolds when he spots a strange looking individual who enters his place of work, the Pico Mundo Grille, and orders breakfast.

Surrounding the stranger are bodachs, entities that appear like swimming shadows, which only manifest when death, chaos, blood and destruction will occur sometime in the future. Odd's sixth sense, including the swarm of bodachs, tells him that something is terribly wrong and he begins his investigation. What Odd discovers is chilling and continues to be chilling to the very last page.

Odd Thomas is a wonderful piece of storytelling with some astute observations about the human condition and our culture in general. The story's ending is very moving for the obvious reasons. An excellent read.

The Dead Will Tell: A Kate Burkholder Novel / Linda Castillo / 320 pages / Mystery

Police Chief Kate Burkholder and the Painters Mill police department have their hands full when three brutal murders occur within a short period of time. Wooden Amish dolls are found left by the serial killer with each victim, indicating a connection to the unsolved murder of an Amish family that took place over 30 years ago.

While Kate works to find the killer before more lives are lost, she must also deal with a cranky town council member who is being threatened, and her fragile relationship with John Tomasetti is threatened by an enemy from his past.

Like all of the entries in this series, The Dead Will Tell is a page-turner. I read it in one day. Kate is a tough but deeply compassionate protagonist. The only negative to this book is that the whodunnit was not a surprise, I figured it out well before the conclusion. Thus as a mystery it is somewhat disappointing, but the pacing makes it an excellent thriller.

Linda Castillo has become one of my regular pre-orders and I look forward to every new book in this series. The folks in Painters Mill better get busy making babies though, as the population declines considerably in this 6th entry of the Kate Burkholder series.

Otherwise Engaged / Amanda Quick / 352 pages / Romantic Suspense

Miss Amity Doncaster, intrepid world traveler and guidebook writer, is nothing if not self-sufficient. So when a serial killer known as the Bridegroom snatches Amity off the London streets in broad daylight, she fends him off with her lethal steel-bladed war fan and escapes. But the Bridegroom is not dead—and Amity quickly becomes the target of his insane fixation. As a safety measure, Amity agrees to a fake engagement with engineer and temporary Crown spy Benedict Stanbridge. They work to track down the killer, as their relationship deepens, taking a more passionate turn. VERDICT:   Intrigue and mystery abound in this witty, cleverly crafted tale that treats fans to a charming double romance and heralds Quick's return to nonparanormal, suspenseful historicals—at least for the moment.

Series:  Ladies of Lantern Street, Book 3

Labor Day / Joyce Maynard / 288 pages / Mainstream Fiction

I read "The Usual Rules" by Joyce Maynard years ago and just loved it. I thought then what a gift this author had for teen-age voices. Now in, "Labor Day" her prowess shines brightly and poignantly.

Henry, our 13 year old narrator, shares a most remarkable story of a Labor Day weekend. His fragile, sensitive, and deeply troubled mother, Adele and he accept an escaped convict into their minute, reclusive lives. Harboring, Frank, deepens Henry's insight into the world that exists outside four walls. Improbability may conjure, but irony plays their lives like a fine violin. Adele, Frank and Henry are all imprisoned by grief, loss, tragedy and heartbreak, but within each other find elusive freedom to hope. To try again. To explore possibilities. I will not share more as you need to read this book to interpret your own understanding of human nature and all it's idiosyncrasies.

Beautifully written descriptions, profound understanding of the human condition, irony, and a flowing story make this a book I must recommend. I know long after this book resides on my shelves, I will remember Henry and all a thirteen year old had to teach this aging skeptic.

Lovely job, Ms. Maynard.

The Silkworm (A Cormoran Strike Novel) / Robert Galbraith / 464 p / Mystery

The Silkworm is the second book (following the Cuckoo's Calling) featuring the wounded military veteran turn detective Cormoran Strike and his trusted young assistant Robin Ellacot. The crime fighting dual get caught up with the murder of a known novelist. The victim a (self-centered) author named Owen Quine disappearance and murder is tied to a scandalous novel he was composing that would reveal hidden secrets of almost everyone he knew (mostly people in the publishing business). Quine's murder is grisly to say the least and very twisted.

The victim's novel is a gothic like fiction that implicates his rivals, editor, publisher, and even his own wife & mistress. The collection of suspects is therefore small, and the author gives you intervals of hints for each character's motive to keep the story moving and interesting.  Strike will probe deep into the dead author's book for elements of proof to solve the crime; the result is a book within a book. 

This book has appeal for several reasons: 1) It is artful - meaning it has a unique structure and mix of old English literature - each chapter begins with a quotation from mostly past Jacobean plays, and Rowling's English style of writing places you in the London/Westminster area accurately. 2) Through the experiences of the very famous author, you gain a realistic perspective within the story of the strangeness of fame. 3) Ms. Rowling has further developed her lead character Detective Strike brilliantly by revealing more of the personal struggle in his life. 4) Lastly, the book is a page turner with a very clever unexpected ending - the key requirement for a crime mystery novel.

The Cuckoo's Calling / Robert Galbraith / 464 p / Mystery

Let's just get it out of the way--yes, I read The Cuckoo's Calling because I'm a JK Rowling fan, but I enjoyed it primarily because I'm a fan of classic, well-crafted whodunnits.  And this is extremely well crafted--excellent tight pacing, an extremely likable protagonist in Strike, memorable characters (both major and minor), excellent and original phrasing and descriptions, and a mystery that keeps you guessing right up until the end. It's all that makes JK Rowling so brilliant--the vivid and often eccentric characters and original turns of phrase and clever depictions--mixed into a classic mystery that delivers.

Cormoran Strike is a private detective. He's big, hairy, missing a leg . . . and sharp as the finest needle. The reader follows Strike and his new assistant, Robin Ellacott, as they investigate the apparent suicide of supermodel Lula Landry. Here's the thing: it's absolutely riveting. The characters are flawlessly drawn. The dialogue for each is beautifully executed. No two characters speak in the same way. The plot is carefully and cleanly constructed and logically followed.

If you like mysteries, I'm confident you'll love The Cuckoo's Calling.  Give it a try. I'm quite certain Rowling is winning over a whole new fan base.

Take Note:  This is the first in the Cormoran Strike Detective Series with its sequel Silkworm already on the bestseller list.

Paris Wife / Paula McLain / 352 pages / Historical Fiction

Before Ernest Hemingway was ERNEST HEMINGWAY - one of the most revered, studied, analyzed, and parodied authors of American literature - he was a young man with a burning talent, staking his claim to a bright future.

And part of this future included Hadley Richardson, his first wife, a woman who was his equal in many ways - a risk-taker, adventurer, and big drinker. Paula McLain - in an addictive and mesmerizing debut book - breathes life into their life together in Paris in the 1920s, when everything was just starting to come together.

Yet the book is always, definitively, Hadley's to narrate - and indeed, she does so quite sympathetically, in the first-person. In many ways, it is a re-telling of Hemingway's A Moveable Feast, as Ms. McLain pushes deeper into the lives of her characters while remaining true to the facts.

Ms. McLain eloquently captures the innermost feelings of Hadley as well as the Paris life at a heady and exhilarating time. Years later, Ernest Hemingway - who married four times in all - writes of Hadley, "I wish I had died before I loved anyone but her." I closed the pages of this book wondering how much better his life might have turned out had he remained with the woman he called "the best and truest and loveliest person I have ever known."

Recommended Reads:  A Moveable Feast (Ernest Hemmingway), Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald (Therese Ann Fowler), Loving Frank (Nancy Horan), The Aviator's Wife (Melanie Benjamin)

Skin Game: A Novel of the Dresden Files / Jim Butcher / 464 p & Audio(13cds) / Fantasy

"Skin Game,” the fifteenth book in the Dresden Files-series, has all the ingredients a Dresden-junkie needs: larger-than-life battles, crafty plot twists, Harry perpetually being outmatched and outgunned, and everything spiced up by his trade-marked sardonic humor and the snappy one-liners we’ve all come to love from the only professional wizard who’s in the Chicago phone book. I’ll give the bare bones of the story, and try to keep this review as spoiler-free as possible.

So here’s Harry, having another bad day… He’s stranded as warden on the island penal colony of Demonreach and oh yeah, Harry has this parasite in his head that is giving him migraines of the killing kind. But no worries. As he’s Winter Knight to the Queen of Air and Darkness, his boss Mab is willing to help him get rid of it. Is there a catch to this offer? Of course. Before you know it, Mab has him up ‘fecal matter’ creek without a paddle because to pay off an old debt, she loans out his services to Nicodemus and his Denarian followers.

You remember Nicodemus Archelone, last seen in “Small Favor”? Well, this time he’s out to break into one of Hades’s vaults in the Underworld and grab the most famous chalice in recorded history. And Nicodemus, one of Harry’s most dreaded and despised enemies, has assembled an Ocean’s Eleven-type group of supernatural villains to bring off this caper. A group that consists of Deirdre, his psychotic daughter; Binder the Summoner, last seen in “Turn Coat;” a warlock named Hannah Ascher; a shape-shifter named Goodman Grey… and of course, our reluctant Harry.

French Kiss (Movie) / Meg Ryan (Actress) / Six Degrees of Film & Books

SIX DEGREES OF ROMANTIC COMEDIES

French Kiss - A woman flies to France to confront her straying fiancé, but gets into trouble when the charming crook seated next to her uses her for smuggling a stolen necklace.

A Fish Called Wanda - In London, four very different people team up to commit armed robbery, hide their true identities and then try to double-cross each other for the loot.

True Lies - Harry Tasker is a secret agent for the United States Government. For years, he has kept his job from his wife and leads a double life, but is forced to reveal his identity when his wife is swept into the world of espionage.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith - A bored married couple is surprised to learn that they are both assassins hired by competing agencies to kill each other.

RED (Retired and Extremely Dangerous) - When his peaceful life and new budding romance is threatened by a high-tech assassin, former black-ops agent Frank Moses reassembles his old team in a last ditch effort to survive and uncover his assailants while pursuing the “woman of his dreams”.

Kate & Leopold -   A modern day scientist finds a rip in the fabric of time near the Brooklyn Bridge.  Leopold --a man living in the 1870s-- follows the scientist back through the time gap to present day and meets the “woman of his dreams”.  Time proves to be an obstacle.  

*Which links back to French Kiss through common themes of mismatched couples brought together against all odds/fate and actress Meg Ryan.

Defending Jacob / William Landay / 432 pages / Mainstream Fiction

Andy Barber has been an assistant district attorney for two decades. He is respected. Admired in the courtroom. Happy at home with the loves of his life: his wife, Laurie, and their teenage son, Jacob.  Then Andy’s quiet suburb is stunned by a shocking crime: a young boy stabbed to death in a leafy park. And an even greater shock: The accused is Andy’s own son—shy, awkward, mysterious Jacob.

Andy believes in Jacob’s innocence. Any parent would. But the pressure mounts. Damning evidence. Doubt. A faltering marriage. The neighbors’ contempt. A murder trial that threatens to obliterate Andy’s family.  It is the ultimate test for any parent: How far would you go to protect your child? It is a test of devotion. A test of how well a parent can know a child. For Andy Barber, a man with an iron will and a dark secret, it is a test of guilt and innocence in the deepest sense.  How far would you go?

Read alikes :  The Dinner ( Herman Koch),  Gone Girl ( Gillian Flynn), We Need To Talk About Kevin (Lionel Shriver), Nineteen Minutes (Jodi Picoult), Presumed Innocent (Scott Turow)

The Tragedy of Arthur: A Novel / Arthur Phillips / 368 pages / RA - Literary Fiction

The Tragedy of Arthur is an emotional and elaborately constructed tour de force from “one of the best writers in America” (The Washington Post). Its doomed hero is Arthur Phillips, a young novelist struggling with a con artist father who works wonders of deception. Imprisoned for decades and nearing the end of his life,  Arthur’s father reveals a treasure he’s kept secret for half a century: The Tragedy  of Arthur, a previously unknown play by William Shakespeare. Arthur and his twin sister inherit their father’s mission: to see the manuscript published and  acknowledged as the Bard’s last great gift to humanity . . .unless it’s their father’s last great con. By turns hilarious and haunting, this virtuosic novel, which includes Shakespeare’s (?) lost play in its entirety, brilliantly subverts our notions of truth, fiction, genius, and identity, as the two Arthurs—the novelist and the ancient king-- play out their strangely intertwined fates.  Comparable titles suggested:   Big Fish by Daniel Wallace and Theft by Peter Carey.

I Am Malala - The Girl Who Stood Up For Education And Was Shot By The Taliban / Malala Yousafzai / 321 pages / RA - Biography/Autobiography

When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education.  On Tuesday October 9, 2012, she almost paid the ultimate price. When she was shot in the head at point blank range while riding the bus home from school, few expected her to survive.

Instead, Malala's miraculous recovery has taken her on an extraordinary journey from a remote valley in Northern Pakistan to the halls of the United Nations in New York. At sixteen, she has become a global symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest ever nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize.

I AM MALALA is the remarkable tale of a family uprooted by global terrorism, of the fight for girls' education, and of Malala's parents' fierce love for their daughter in a society that prizes sons.

It will make you believe in the power of one person's voice to inspire change in the world. 

Similar Suggested Read-alikes:  Half the Sky by Nicholas D. Kristof,  Blasphemyby Asia Bibi, First Darling of the Morning by Thrity N. Umrigar.

Let's Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir) / Jenny Lawson - The Bloggress / 315 pages / RA - Biography/Autobiography

Her readers obviously don't care whether her book is fact or fiction.  The memoir debuted at the top of the Washington Post and new York Times nonfiction bestseller lists, and in her introduction, Lawson writes, "This book is totally true, except for the parts that aren't".  Lawson relishes revealing plenty about her life, except just how much she may exaggerate about it.  She is hugely popular online where she's detailed her life on the Web for years.

 

The book skims through a series of comic essays, akin to Sedaris if he were an anxiety-stricken Texas mother with a fascination for taxidermy and the zombie apocalypse.  Her writing may be an acquired taste for some, especially with the high animal body count, the constant cursing and the occasionally disjointed manner.  But for her many fans, the randomness will only add to the charm.  The tale is meandering, though never boring and she finds her footing in the world of blogging, where quirkiness is queen.

Similar suggested titles:  Any books written by David Sedaris;  Sippy cups are not for Chardonnay by Stefanie Wilder-Taylor;  My Boyfriend Wrote a Book About Me by Hilary Winston, or Chelsea  Chelsea Bang-Bang by Chelsea Handler .