Category: Book Reviews

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Book Review: The Dinner in the Sky by Anne John-Ligali

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Amazon US / UK / AU / CA 

 

After a shocking confrontation with an unexpected encounter, Constance tries to piece her life back together and is on a mission to finally move on.

The thought of having her friends near is comforting as they take time out of their busy online lives and meet up at their favorite place, A Cupful of Dreams Café. Everyone seems happy enough until cracks begin to show and all is not as good as it seems. Constance tries desperately to keep positive as there’s so much to look forward to shopping for posh frocks, dinner at The Shard and a movie premiere.

As things start to look rosy, a few odd tweets begin to pop up from nowhere. At first, they seem innocent, but as the weeks go by and premier night draws near, not only do the tweets increase but they become more obnoxious.

By the time Constance and her chums arrive on the red carpet, she’s determined to work out who the troll could be and to keep them from spoiling her evening. However as Constance soon learns, the troll wants to destroy far more than that!

Breathtaking views of London.

Posh frocks and Paparazzi

But there’s definitely trouble in the air …

 

Spotify Playlist of the whole series –
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7lYuwzrSYvz77Iuq6NymVY?si=b7FFD0EURuy-jhIdr5amZQ

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

If he ever so much comes near you again and tries to play happy families with you and my grandson, I swear, I’ll fry his dangly bits.

 

‘I can also picture Adelios and me sipping wine,’ Karmel continues dreamily. ‘Playing footsie and crotchsie under the dinner table and —’ Estelle stares at Karmel in astonishment. ‘Crotchsie?’

 

Good heavens, not another complicated relationship. The Facebook “It’s Complicated” button must be exhausted.

 

One of her Facebook friends tagged her in a post, showing a huge picture of a cake with a massive 53 on it. She deleted that thing faster than a cheetah riding a bike.

 

My Review:

 

I enjoyed this first-person POV series, while a women’s fiction tale, there were elements of romance as well as several mysteries that folded in ways I never saw coming. The writing was lushly detailed and wryly detailed with a fairly even balance of humor, angst, common problems, family dramas, and puzzling and rather uncomfortable situations. The same odd grouping of online friends which were assembled in the short story The Big Event was more than met the eye and became a surprisingly cohesive and supportive unit and what she termed her “author family.” I was a bit conflicted with the ending as I would not have been nearly as forgiving as Constance and would have gladly assisted her mother in frying “his dangly bits.”

About the Author

Anne John-Ligali is a writer and found of Books and Authors UK, a website that features author interviews, cover reveals, blog posts, features, and reviews. She loves all things books, going to book events and meeting other book worms. She has written her first series and is currently writing her first novel.

When Anne is not writing she is likely to be playing with her kids, going for walks in the park, watching Netflix or thinking up more stories. Originally from Peterborough, Anne now lives in London. After moving to London she studies graphic design at the University of Arts and held a number of IT jobs in the city. Anne continues to write romantic comedies, women’s fiction and has the desire to write a non-fiction book and a few children’s books.

Author Social Media Links –

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anne_johnligali/

Author Twitter: https://twitter.com/AnneJohnLigali

Author FB: https://www.facebook.com/annejohnligali/

www.annejohnligali.com

Anne’s Book Blog Links – Books and Authors UK

Books and Authors UK: www.booksandauthors.co.uk

Books and Authors UK Twitter: https://twitter.com/BooksNAuthorsUK

Books and Authors UK Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Books-and-Authors-UK-674729805905507/

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Book Review: Just One of the Groomsmen (Getting Hitched in Dixie #1) by Cindi Madsen 

Just One of the Groomsmen

 (Getting Hitched in Dixie #1) 

by Cindi Madsen 

Amazon US / UK / AU / CA / B&N

 

Addison Murphy is the funny friend, the girl you grab a beer with—the girl voted most likely to start her own sweatshirt line. And now that one of her best guy friends is getting married, she’ll add “groomsman” to that list, too. She’ll get through this wedding if it’s the last thing she does. Just don’t ask her to dive for any bouquet.

When Tucker Crawford returns to his small hometown, he expects to see the same old people, feel comfort in the same old things. He certainly doesn’t expect to see the nice pair of bare legs sticking out from under the hood of a broken-down car. Certainly doesn’t expect to feel his heart beat faster when he realizes they belong to one of his best friends.

If he convinces Addie to give him a chance, they could be electric…or their break-up could split their tight-knit group in two.

Hiding the way he feels from the guys through bachelor parties, cake tastings, and rehearsals is one thing. But just as Tucker realizes that Addie truly could be the perfect woman for him—he was just too stupid to realize it—now she’s leaving to follow her own dreams. He’s going to need to do a lot of compromising if he’s going to convince her to take a shot at forever with him—on her terms this time.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

The thing about this particular group of ladies was the way they could lob implications and casually insult you, their sugary-sweet smiles never leaving their lips.

 

You know, sometimes I think it’s sad that no matter how much makeup people put on, it doesn’t make their soul any prettier. Then again, it’s always nice to spot those people right away.

 

About as subtle as a gorilla wearing high heels in a bowling alley.

 

“I’d recommend a thong, too, to avoid panty lines.” Right. Because what was missing from this whole experience was a tiny strip of fabric riding up her ass. That way, when she inevitably tripped on her heels, she could expose her bottom half to the entire wedding party. Hey, maybe then the townsfolk and her friends would acknowledge she was a girl!

 

Her sexual experience was best summed up as few and far between, and even the during was nothing to brag about.

 

If you think what we’ve been doing is convenient, you need a vocabulary lesson.

 

If great-Nonna Cavalli rolled over in her grave as much as Nonna Lucia claimed, the groundskeeper at the cemetery would’ve called in those hot brothers from Supernatural by now.

  

My Review:

 

My first experience reading and comedic words of Cindi Madsen and I picked an excellent starting point, although now I want to go backward in time and read every book she has ever put out. And, oh my, she has put out quite a long list already, where have I been? I adored this effervescent group of friends and envied their tight bonds and respect for each other. The large cast of characters was well delineated, highly endearing, and cleverly amusing as they often engaged in flinging zingers and whip-smart banter. The storylines were fresh and entertaining and sparkled with wit and irreverent levity as well as quirky small-town observations and eccentricities.   It is always a good day when I can add a new favorite to the top of my list of authors to stalk.

About the Author

Amazon
Goodreads
Website

Cindi Madsen is a USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romance and young adult novels. She sits at her computer every chance she gets, plotting, revising, and falling in love with her characters. Sometimes it makes her a crazy person. Without it, she’d be even crazier. She has way too many shoes, but can always find a reason to buy a pretty new pair.

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Book Review: An Instant Connection by Melanie Moreland

 

An Instant Connection

by Melanie Moreland

Amazon US / UK / AU / CA 

A chance meeting. An instant connection. Mitch and Mandy burn hot, but when the smoke clears, and things get real, can their feelings stay strong?

This story is a stand-alone with no cliffhanger. 

 

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

“I thought you were the prettiest woman I had ever seen. Then I saw you help that lady, which meant you were also kind. I found your whistle extremely sexy. And I love your legs. They really do it for me. Roll all that together, and I liked the package.” He sucked in a deep breath and paused. “So, Amanda, I was hoping maybe you liked my package and would have dinner with me.”

 

This isn’t the norm for me. But then again, I don’t think you’re the norm… He shook his head, pulling me closer. “I think you’re going to be the exception.” His eyes dropped to my mouth. “God knows I want to be that for you.”

 

 My Review:

 

Written in my favorite dual POV, this was a quick, light, amusing, and deliciously satisfying read full of sizzle and a perfectly swoony BBF who was a master at three-step plans. Sign me up for more of this, much, much more of this. I adored this couple.

About the Author

New York Times/USA Today bestselling author Melanie Moreland, lives a happy and content life in a quiet area of Ontario with her beloved husband of twenty-seven-plus years and their rescue cat, Amber. Nothing means more to her than her friends and family, and she cherishes every moment spent with them. 
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While seriously addicted to coffee, and highly challenged with all things computer-related and technical, she relishes baking, cooking, and trying new recipes for people to sample. She loves to throw dinner parties, and also enjoys traveling, here and abroad, but finds coming home is always the best part of any trip. 
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Melanie loves stories, especially paired with a good wine, and enjoys skydiving (free-falling over a fleck of dust) extreme snowboarding (falling down stairs) and piloting her own helicopter (tripping over her own feet.) She’s learned happily ever afters, even bumpy ones, are all in how you tell the story.
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Melanie is represented by Flavia Viotti at Bookcase Literary Agency. For any questions regarding subsidiary or translation rights please contact her at flavia@bookcaseagency.com
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Book Review: I’ll Never Tell by Catherine McKenzie

 

I’ll Never Tell

by Catherine McKenzie 

 

Amazon US / UK / AU / CA / B&N

What happened to Amanda Holmes?

Twenty years ago, she washed up on shore in a rowboat with a gash to the head after an overnight at Camp Macaw. No one was ever charged with a crime.

Now, the MacAllister children are all grown up. After their parents die suddenly, they return to Camp to read the will and decide what to do with the prime real estate it’s sitting on. Ryan, the oldest, wants to sell. Margo, the family’s center, hasn’t made up her mind. Mary has her own horse farm to run, and believes in leaving well-enough alone. Kate and Liddie—the twins—have opposing views. And Sean Booth, the family groundskeeper, just hopes he still has a home when all is said and done.

But then the will is read and they learn that it’s much more complicated than a simple vote. Until they unravel the mystery of what happened to Amanda, they can’t move forward. Any one of them could have done it, and all of them are hiding key pieces of the puzzle. Will they work together to solve the mystery, or will their suspicions and secrets finally tear the family apart?

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

She leaned toward Liddie. She smelled like her father used to, a mix of coffee and marijuana. “Waking and baking these days?”

 

“Have you ever thought about what they must’ve been like before all of us? … I think about it. They met. They fell in love. They were regular people once.” “And what? We made them into irregular people?”

 

They always got the leftovers. The things left in the lost and found. If Liddie wrote a biography of her childhood, it would be called Nothing Was Ever Mine.

 

That was the bargain of being a twin. You didn’t need to talk about it; you simply knew that sometime in the not too distant future, you’d be living together in some old-age home, dressed alike the way you’d been as children.

 

He always smelled the same— slightly refrigerated. It was a smell Mary liked because it meant coolness to her. Not in a fashion sense but in the temperature way. He was calm, steady.

 

Of everyone in their family, the person she’d understood the least had been her mother. When Kate thought of her, she always seemed diaphanous. Like one of those Instagram filters had been applied to her, washing her out, smoothing away the lines. Nothing ever seemed to stick to her, not criticism or her children, not even her husband. She simply floated around, photographing it all, removed.

 

My Review:

 

Quite a clever gal, that Catherine McKenzie! This well-crafted mystery was full of simply explained yet brilliantly placed twists and turns that kept me on edge and off-center.   The storylines were highly eventful and ingeniously paced with tension and intrigue steadily ratcheting up the scale, and I was sucking it all in like the latest and greatest vacuum on the market.   I enjoyed the shrewdly discerning tale as much as the skill and cunning in the telling of it.

 

This family was well beyond quirky, they were each oddly peculiar and self-absorbed. I didn’t care for any of them by the time I finished the book, yet I was driven to know all about them. I had great empathy for the stalwart employee and held my breath for him and cringed each time evidence pointed his direction. Each character was fascinatingly flawed and I enjoyed unearthing their many secrets. This was only my second time reading her work but I am eager to see what Ms. McKenzie comes up with next, she now has a rather rabid fangirl on her hands.

About the Author

Amazon


Catherine McKenzie was born and raised in Montreal, Canada. A graduate of McGill in History and Law, Catherine practices law in Montreal. An avid runner and skier, she’s the author of numerous bestsellers including HIDDEN, SPIN, and SMOKE. Her works have been translated into multiple languages.

HIDDEN was a #1 Amazon bestseller and a Digital Bookworld bestseller for five weeks. SMOKE was a #1 Amazon bestseller and was named as a Best Book of October (Goodreads) and one of the Top 100 Books of 2015 (Amazon). FRACTURED was a Best Book of October 2016 (Goodreads). She is also the author of THE MURDER GAME under her pseudonym, Julie Apple (the protagonist of Fractured).

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Book Review: Waisted by Randy Susan Meyers

Waisted

by Randy Susan Meyers

 

Amazon US / UK / CA / AU / B&N

Hardcover: 288 pages
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Publisher: Atria Books (May 21, 2019)

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In this provocative, wildly entertaining, and compelling novel, seven women enrolled in an extreme weight loss documentary discover self-love and sisterhood as they enact a daring revenge against the exploitative filmmakers.

Alice and Daphne, both successful and accomplished working mothers, harbor the same secret: obsession with their weight overshadows concerns about their children, husbands, work—and everything else of importance in their lives. Scales terrify them.

Daphne, plump in a family of model-thin women, learned only slimness earns admiration at her mother’s knee. Alice, break-up skinny when she met her husband, risks losing her marriage if she keeps gaining weight.

The two women meet at Waisted. Located in a remote Vermont mansion, the program promises fast, dramatic weight loss, and Alice, Daphne, and five other women are desperate enough to leave behind their families for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The catch? They must agree to always be on camera; afterward, the world will see Waisted: The Documentary.

The women soon discover that the filmmakers have trapped them in a cruel experiment. With each pound lost, they edge deeper into obsession and instability…until they decide to take matters into their own hands.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

She, along with six other substantial women, stood in the parking lot avoiding each other, as though their abundance of flesh might transfer from body to body.

 

“I’m in shock at the number.” Daphne refused to state the actual number. “Shock without any baseline of knowledge. I don’t know what I should weigh. Last night, watching those men and women being weighed like heifers at market, I wanted to cry.”

 

Mirrors engulfed them, mirrors sharper and brighter than Daphne imagined existed… Mirrors courtesy of Satan.

 

“Alive is a story— decades old, but true— of plane crash survivors in the Andes Mountains,” Daphne explained. “The passengers who lived survived by eating the flesh of the dead.”   A week ago, Hania would have groaned in disgust. Now she looked as though she understood cannibalism.

 

Fat women looked more naked than normal-weighted women. Clothes made the woman. Naked made the shame.

 

When they learned that Susannah worked as a nursery school teacher, Daphne imagined toddlers climbing up onto her giant lap as though scaling the Matterhorn.

 

Daphne snuck up on the scale as if approaching it slowly would trick the machine… Like the smuggest of men, the scale mocked her.

  

My Review:

 

Oh what wickedly clever insights Randy Susan Meyers skewered me with, it was as if she has been spying from my pantry. I could have easily been a character in this book. I was blessed (overly so) with a curvaceous body shape and am a life-long expert dieter (yoyo) and as one who counts vacuuming as strenuous exercise (begrudgingly done), I saw my crazy on several pages of this revealing tale and had a fleeting worrisome thought of whether I should possibly check my home for hidden cameras. I will confess to having fervently thrown myself into countless fad diets and “lifestyle programs” as well as begged a few (numerous) doctors for the latest magic pill being advertised, all while keeping fingers crossed it will be as promised – the last one I’ll ever need. I know I’m not unique, and imagine 90% of women have suffered from similar concerns at least once in their lives.

 

Ms. Meyers’ narrative raised several interesting points and provided thoughtful if not a bit painfully reflective entertainment as to the extreme measures (including soul-shattering humiliation, deprivation, and degradation) that women would willingly allow being perpetrated upon them for the goal of quick weight loss. She had me there. While the plot and storylines were relevant and topical, I also deeply appreciated how this perceptive author craftily navigated the nuances and complications of racial and cultural quirks toward these issues with the use of clever wry humor and insightful observations. While many of the characters’ revelations and inner musings were markedly profound, my favorite combination of all the words used in this book was a notation of “the secret obese of France,” snort, you know there has to be at least a few hidden away.

About the Author

Randy Susan Meyers is the bestselling author of Waisted, Accidents of Marriage, The Comfort of Lies, The Murderer’s Daughters, and The Widow of Wall Street. Her books have twice been finalists for the Mass Book Award and named “Must Read Books” by the Massachusetts Center for the Book. She lives with her husband in Boston, where she teaches writing at the Grub Street Writers’ Center.

Find out more about Randy at her website, and connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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Book Review: GOLD DIGGER – The Remarkable Baby Doe Tabor by Rebecca Rosenberg 

GOLD DIGGER 

The Remarkable Baby Doe Tabor

by Rebecca Rosenberg 

Amazon US / UK / AU / CA / B&N

GOLD DIGGER, The Remarkable Baby Doe Tabor!

One look at Baby Doe and you know she was meant to be a legend! She was just twenty years old when she came to Colorado to work a gold mine with her new husband. Little did she expect that she’d be abandoned and pregnant and left to manage the gold mine alone. But that didn’t stop her!

She moved to Leadville and fell in love with a married prospector, twice her age. Horace Tabor struck the biggest silver vein in history, divorced his wife and married Baby Doe. Though his new wife was known for her beauty, her fashion, and even her philanthropy, she was never welcomed in polite society.

Discover how the Tabors navigated the worlds of wealth, power, politics, and scandal in the wild days of western mining.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

You have the attention span of a squirrel. Maybe I should bring acorns next time.

 

“I prefer women with a past.” Wilde winked. “They’re always so damned amusing.” Peter inserted a long skeleton key into the dressing room door. “Don’t give up on love, darling,” Wilde advised her. “One should always be in love. That’s the reason one should never marry.”

My Review:

 

Ms. Rosenberg has an entertaining and commanding writing style that squeezed my heart while raising my awareness. I have to choose carefully when picking up historical fiction, as the poor treatment of women tends to cause me dental damage from grinding my teeth. This entertaining and enlightening blending of fact and fiction was often tragic, as was undoubtedly the life of most women of the time, rich or poor. I was unfamiliar with the history and notoriety of the featured characters and having my curiosity sparked, I found myself hitting up Mr. Google for more information, which in turn led me to YouTube videos – which always results in me losing hours of time. Funny how that happens…

About the Author

 

California native Rebecca Rosenberg lives on a lavender farm with her family in Sonoma, the Valley of the Moon, where she and her husband founded the largest lavender product company in America. A long-time student of Jack London’s work and an avid fan of his daring wife, Charmian, Rosenberg is a graduate of the Stanford Writing Certificate Program.

Her books include: GOLD DIGGER, the Remarkable Baby Doe Tabor, The Secret Life of Mrs. London, Lavender Fields of America, and the Champagne Widows series (2020).

You can follow her upcoming book news:
https://www.rebecca-rosenberg.com

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7652050.Rebecca_Rosenberg

https://www.amazon.com/Rebecca-Rosenberg/e/B075WGKJ3Y/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1547329543&sr=8-1

https://www.facebook.com/rebeccarosenbergnovels/

https://www.bookbub.com/profile/rebecca-rosenberg

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Book Review: Only Ever Her by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen

Only Ever Her

by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen

 

Amazon US / UK / CA / AU / B&N

Paperback: 298 Pages

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing (May 7, 2019)

It was to be the perfect wedding—until the bride disappeared.

Annie Taft’s wedding is four days away, and it will be one of the grandest anyone can remember in her small South Carolina town. Preparations are in order. Friends and family are gathering in anticipation. Everything is going according to plan. Except that Annie herself has vanished. Did she have second thoughts?

Or has something much worse happened to the bride-to-be?

As the days pass, the list of suspects in her disappearance grows. Could it be the recently released man a young Annie misidentified as her mother’s killer? Could it be someone even closer to her?

While her loved ones frantically try to track her down, they’re forced to grapple with their own secrets—secrets with the power to reframe entire relationships, leaving each to wonder how well they really knew Annie and how well they know themselves.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Louise is one of the richest women in town but not one of the smartest. She was once quite the beauty, but that ship has sailed. She spends most of her time standing on the dock waving a hanky, begging it to come back to her. Which means she spends a lot of time in Faye’s salon.

 

She has always respected and feared lawyers, as if they possess something she never could, some special insight into truth and justice, a gift bestowed on them at birth, like a pitching arm or a brilliant mind.

 

She is standing by Faye’s elbow, annoyingly close. Faye can smell the determination on her like alcohol on a barfly.

 

Faye has already grown to hate that word, missing, the snakelike quality of it, the way people’s tongues get stuck on the S’s. It makes her unfairly angry at Millicent for saying it just like that, a hiss instead of a word… She is already anticipating tragedy, tasting it on her tongue like the ham that comes with funerals.

 

He’s heard you don’t have to let cops in unless they have a warrant, so he has no intention of throwing open his door, of saying, Come on in, fellas. Cops are like vampires; they have to be invited in, but once you invite them in, they have the power.

 

 My Review:

 

I waffled a bit in how to rate this tautly written, absorbing, and well-crafted book. Yet when looking at my marked quotes, my indecision promptly evaporated as the sublime quality of Ms. Whalen’s writing removed all doubt. The evolution of the story was incrementally slow and told with a multiple POV, yet all the pieces proved to be necessary and an increasing level of tension and additional layers of intrigue steadily inched forward with each compelling chapter. I feared many loose ends – silly me! This cunning and cleverly perceptive wordsmith wrapped them all up rather neatly, and for the most part, unexpectedly. Lesson learned, I unswervingly pledge I will never second-guess her extraordinarily nimble skill for subterfuge again.

About the Author

Marybeth Mayhew Whalen is the author of When We Were Worthy, The Things We Wish Were True, and five previous novels. She speaks to women’s groups around the United States and is the co-founder of the popular women’s fiction site She Reads (www.shereads.org). Marybeth and her husband, Curt, have been married for twenty-seven years and are the parents of six children. Marybeth divides her time between the suburbs of Charlotte, North Carolina, and the coastline of Sunset Beach, North Carolina. You can find her at www.marybethwhalen.com.

Connect with Marybeth

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

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Book Review: Captivate (Brooklet Dream #2) by C.A. Harms

Captivate (Brooklet Dream #2) 
by C.A. Harms

 

Amazon US / UK / AU / CA / B&N

I was back in Brooklet Georgia and things were far from how they were when I left years ago.

Maddison used to be one of the guys, but that was definitely not the case anymore…

She had changed and damn if it didn’t make my heart race. With each passing second she began to consume me. Her smile made my knees weak and the way she looked at me took my breath away.

She captivated me, but she was forbidden. She was the one girl I had no right to crave.

Things became messy, and fast, but to hell with the consequences…she was worth it.

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Trouble never looked so good.

 

This entire thing has been so that you can prove that you hold the upper hand in this relationship… Truth is you’ve always had the power over me… Damn, Mad, you’ve always been the one girl I could never say no to… I’m at your mercy. You could crush me, though I hope you never will.

 

I’m eighteen and still a virgin. I’ve never even kissed a guy unless you count little Jimmy Jones slobbering on my cheek in the fifth grade. But even then, Rhett threatened to beat him up when he found out, and he and my daddy have made sure no other boy has come within a foot of me since. At this rate, they’ll be doing a remake of the 40 Year Old Virgin, starring yours truly.

 

I felt for the girl, I truly did, because Reed and Rhett were for sure gonna drive her insane for years and years to come. But the guy had my most sympathy; I just hoped whoever she ended up with, he was strong enough to survive.

 

My Review:

 

Angst and conflict are not my friends – I find them extremely tiresome. As such, the first half of this book was a tedious slog for me, but it was worth it to get to all the good stuff found in the second half. I was just about to give up when the stubborn girl finally stopped playing games and regained her facility for sassy and mischievous taunting. Thank the goddess of ink, I was growing increasingly concerned that Ms. Harms had lost her mojo, but she redeemed herself with delicious slices of sizzle and playful levity. Written in my favorite dual POV, the storylines evolved slowly with many of the same lively cast of irreverent and endearing characters found in Allure.   Mike was simply delectable.

 About The Author 

 

I am an Illinois girl, born and raised. Simple and true. I love the little things; they truly mean the most. I may have a slight addiction to my new Keurig—oh my, that thing is a godsend. And so fast too. I have two children who truly are the greatest part of my days, and their faces never fail to put a smile on my face. I have been married to my best friend for seventeen years and looking forward to many more.

I am one of those authors that adore my readers. I love to hear from you. After all, it is because of each one of you that I continue to write.

FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorCAHarms/
INSTAGRAM: Instagram.com/authorcaharms/
NEWSLETTER: http://bit.ly/1xsgHCS
AMAZON: http://www.amazon.com/C.A.-Harms/e/B0…

 

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Book Review: The Desert Sky Before Us by Anne Valente

The Desert Sky Before Us

by Anne Valente

Amazon US / UK / CA / AU 

B&N/ HarperCollins

Paperback: 448 pages
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (May 14, 2019)

“The Desert Sky Before Us is a marvel. A vital, profound story of the aftermath of loss, and of the terrors and illuminations of love.” —R.O. Kwon, author of The Incendiaries

From award-winning author Anne Valente comes this poignant and unforgettable literary novel of two estranged sisters—one, a former racecar driver and the other a recently-released prisoner—who embark on a road trip together to complete the scavenger hunt their mother designed for them before her death.

When Billie is released from a correctional facility in Decatur, her sister Rhiannon is there to meet her, even though the two haven’t seen each other in months. Painful secrets and numerous unspoken betrayals linger between them—but most agonizing is the sudden passing of their mother, a renowned paleontologist.

Rhiannon and Billie must overcome their differences as they set off on a road trip west, following the breadcrumb-trail of their late mother’s scavenger hunt, a sort of second funeral she planned in her final days. The sisters know the trail will end in Utah at the famous Cleveland-Lloyd Quarry, where their mother spent her career researching dinosaur fossils. But the seemingly endless days on the road soon take their toll, forcing Rhiannon and Billie to confront their hostilities and revisit old memories—both good and bad.

As they travel across the heart of America, and as a series of plane crashes in the news make their journey all the more urgent, the two sisters begin to rediscover each other and to uncover their late mother’s veiled second life, taking them on an unexpected emotional journey inward—and forcing them to come to terms with their own choices in life.

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Rhiannon knows the word sorry will never find its way from Billie’s throat.

 

She watches him and knows that her anger with him is nothing compared to the heavy weight of what she’s dragged around a prison cell for six years and across so many highways to this place, this moment: that in the end she is most disappointed in herself, no one else.

 

My Review:

 

There was family drama aplenty as well as a long and arduous road-trip full of broody tension and uncertainty as two sisters followed the bread-crumb path across the country that their recently deceased mother had set for them in her sparse journal – a journal that gave no explanations, just GPS coordinates and poorly drawn images. I was riddled with curiosity yet increasingly impatient with the incrementally slow pace and confounding nature of their discoveries.

 

Gradually old resentments, lies, secrets, and jealousies unspooled as the tedium and miles were racked up.   The main characters were hard for me to care for, as they were both stalled and discontent with their lives and extremely closed off, annoyingly so. Billie was an immature screw up with an innate sense of inadequacy and unpredictable volatile and impulsive behavioral reactions. These were not individuals I would willingly choose to spend my time with, yet I was curious about the mysterious clues and geocaching.

 

I confess – I struggled valiantly with this ponderously slow and angsty, yet informative and pensive book.   The book contained a thought-provoking story yet used far too many pages in the telling and left me with a sense of emotional exhaustion and a bitter sense of dissatisfaction with the ending, but maybe I just didn’t catch all the ethereal connections. I did glean an awareness of issues and phenomenon I had never before encountered and felt the need to hit Mr. Google for additional research on clear-air turbulence and The Spiral Jetty. I may never fly again!

I was provided with a review copy of this dramatic tale by TLC Book Tours and HarperCollins. 

About the Author

Anne Valente’s first short-story collection, By Light We Knew Our Names, won the Dzanc Books Short Story Prize. Her fiction appears in One Story, The Kenyon Review, The Southern Review, and the Chicago Tribune, and her essays appear in The Believer and the Washington Post. Originally from St. Louis, she teaches creative writing and literature at Hamilton College.

Find out more about Anne at her website.

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Book Review: The Wonder of Lost Causes by Nick Trout

The Wonder of Lost Causes

by Nick Trout

 

Amazon US / UK / CA / AU

B&N/ HarperCollins

Hardcover: 464 pages

 Publisher: William Morrow (April 30, 2019)

In this unforgettable novel, perfect for fans of An Unexpected Grace and A Dog’s Way Home, a single mom and her chronically ill child receive a valuable lesson from an unlikely source—a very special dog who unexpectedly enters their lives and shows them that one person’s lost cause can be another’s greatest gift . . .

Dr. Kate Blunt will do anything for her son, Jasper. Well, almost anything. Since Jasper has the incurable lung disease cystic fibrosis, Kate’s always told him he couldn’t get a dog. It’s a tough call, but she’s a single mom taking care of a kid who fights for every breath he takes. The daily medical routine that keeps Jasper alive is complicated enough. Worse still, Kate’s personal resolve runs contrary to her work as the veterinarian in charge of a Cape Cod animal shelter, where she is on a mission to find forever homes for dogs in desperate need.

The scarred, mistreated wreck of a dog that turns up doesn’t stand a chance. Named Whistler, he’s too old, too ugly. But the dog forms an instantaneous bond with Jasper. Whistler never makes a sound, yet he speaks to Jasper in a myriad of mysterious ways. The clock’s ticking, the dog’s future hangs in the balance, and Jasper would do anything to find him a home; but Whistler has chosen them—for a reason.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Mrs. Fisher is a big, bosomy woman, with wild bushy eyebrows worthy of a cold war Russian president.

 

Grandma kind of scares me. She wears bright red lipstick like a hungry vampire, never smiles, and bathes in so much old lady perfume that even I can smell it. Her feet, if she has any, are always hidden under long skirts and dresses, but I think she levitates, never making a sound, able to appear from nowhere.

 

Loving a dog is not like picking up a remote and turning a TV on or off. You’re either into dogs or you’re not. The most useful thing Martha ever told me was, “Dogs are like herpes. Once you get them, you’re infected for life.”

 

I’m critical of those who live a so-called Facebook life, skewing the truth, letting the online world see only what they want you to see… That’s why I never post. I click “like” to be polite. I’d rather click “jealous,” “you’re killing me,” “I never thought I could hate you more,” or “No one gets to live like this.”

 

I follow her gaze to the little man lost inside an oversized blazer and the mutt who can’t take his eyes off him. “They’re an odd couple,” I say. “Not at all,” says Alice, taking them in. “Just different shades of beautiful.”

 

My Review:

 

This book took me completely by surprise and was only a thousand times better than I was expecting. I was immediately taken with the high quality and deft craft of Dr. Trout’s writing and instantly fell into the vortex of Jasper and Kate’s challenging world of CF. I adored Jasper and while I had great empathy for her struggles, I often wanted to give Kate a good pinch.

Written in my favorite dual POV, the story was well paced, multi-layered, and expertly textured. While often moving and highly emotive, the emotional tone was well balanced with unexpected pockets of levity as well as providing Jasper with a comedic wit in addition to breathtakingly profound perceptions and awareness beyond his years.   The storylines were engaging and engrossing and plucked relentlessly at the heartstrings while sparklingly entertaining with thoughtful insights, colorful descriptions, and humorous observations and inner musings. Dr. Trout cleverly cast his tale with vibrant and uniquely clever and quirky characters who were more than worthy of attention.

This was one of those exceptionally rare books that held captivated and held my interest, was first class entertainment, and chaste enough to recommend to my elderly mother’s church ladies’ book club yet still garners a Bedazzled Five-Star rating from me. Which are about as common as hens’ teeth.  😉

I was provided with a review copy of this superbly written tale by TLC Book Tours and HarperCollins .

About the Author

Dr. Nick Trout works full-time as a staff surgeon at the prestigious Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston. He is the author of five previous books, including the New York Times bestseller Tell Me Where It Hurts, and his writing has been translated into sixteen different languages. He lives in Massachusetts with his wife, Kathy; their daughter, Emily; their adopted labradoodle, Thai; and Emily’s service dog, a black Labrador named Bella.

Find out more about him at his website.