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Book Review: Night Broken by Patricia Briggs

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Book Review: Night Broken by Patricia Briggs

Night Broken (Mercy Thompson, #8)

You know how some series outstay their welcome? Well, as far as I’m concerned, Mercy Thompson can stay as long as she wants! In Patricia Briggs’s inventive and engrossing urban fantasy series, Mercy Thompson is the heroine extraordinaire. She fixes cars, kicks butt, bakes amazing chocolate chip cookies, and shifts into coyote form at will. Being married to the Alpha of the local werewolf pack means life is never boring, and she manages to hold her own among all the big, bad (but with hearts-of-gold) wolves, as well as with all the various and sundry supernatural beings that populate the Washington Tri-Cities area.

In Night Broken, the 8th in the series, Mercy faces a truly scary adversary: her husband’s ex-wife. Christy is a human who has perfected the art of manipulating everyone around her by eliciting sympathy for poor little her, and when she acquires a psycho stalker, of course she comes to the pack for protection. Mercy grits her teeth and tries to stay calm, but between Christy’s attempts to take over her home and the dangerous creature that threatens all their lives, it’s no wonder she’s feeling a wee bit tense.

Night Broken continues the author’s winning streak, providing a mix of exciting action and danger while also showcasing Mercy’s emotional side and her struggles and challenges. Having come so far with her, it’s lovely to see Mercy making her way in the pack and enjoying her rare private moments with her oh-so-sexy husband Adam and her stepdaughter Jesse.

I truly loved this newest addition to one of my favorite series — my only complaint being that I read it within two days of its publication, and now I have to wait again!

Obviously, anyone who hasn’t read a Mercy book yet should start at the beginning. If you enjoy urban fantasy with tough, smart women at the lead, this is a series not to be missed!

A final note: For a tiny taste of Night Broken, check out tomorrow’s Thursday Quotables post here at Bookshelf Fantasies!

And if you want to know more about the Mercy books, you can also check out my review of the 7th in the series, Frost Burned.

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The details:

Title: Night Broken (Mercy Thompson, #8)
Author: Patricia Briggs
Publisher: Ace Hardcover
Publication date: March 11, 2014
Length: 341 pages
Genre: Urban fantasy
Source: Purchased

Blog Tour & a Giveaway: Sunrise by Mike Mullin

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SRBT

I’m thrilled to be participating in the blog tour for Sunrise by Mike Mullin. Thank you to Books With Bite for organizing the tour!

Sunrise is the third book in the outstanding young adult trilogy which begins with Ashfall and continues in Ashen Winter.

Synopsis:

The Yellowstone supervolcano nearly wiped out the human race. Now, almost a year after the eruption, the survivors seem determined to finish the job. Communities wage war on each other, gangs of cannibals roam the countryside, and what little government survived the eruption has collapsed completely. The ham radio has gone silent. Sickness, cold, and starvation are the survivors’ constant companions.

When it becomes apparent that their home is no longer safe and adults are not facing the stark realities, Alex and Darla must create a community that can survive the ongoing disaster, an almost impossible task requiring even more guts and more smarts than ever—and unthinkable sacrifice. If they fail . . . they, their loved ones, and the few remaining survivors will perish.

This epic finale has the heart of Ashfall, the action of Ashen Winter, and a depth all its own, examining questions of responsibility and bravery, civilization and society, illuminated by the story of an unshakable love that transcends a post-apocalyptic world and even life itself.

My thoughts:

sunrise1Ashfall and then Ashen Winter blew me away, and I had high expectations as I waited for the release of Sunrise. Well, those expectations were absolutely met, and then some! Sunrise continues the breakneck pace of the earlier books, with non-stop action and unrelenting danger around every corner.

Alex and Darla make a formidable team, and as young leaders trying to create a new community, they face challenges both from external threats and from internal mistrust and dissension. The pair are remarkably brave and cool-headed, and despite their youth, they manage to organize their small community’s defenses as well as to provide a vision for the future that just may get them — and their loved ones — through the grim realities of the awful present and into a future that might actually contain hope.

There are some truly horrifying moments, and the danger is real and insidious — all the worse because the most life-threatening dangers come not from the natural disaster, but from human reactions in the aftermath. Practically no one comes through unscathed, but the fact that Alex and Darla manage to pull together a random group of people into a community with a future is astounding — and given how far we’ve come with these two characters, it’s also quite believable.

I’ve tended to shy away from YA series lately after feeling let down or not fulfilled by the wrap-up. In the case of the Ashfall trilogy, I can definitely say that it’s worth sticking with! This trilogy delivers in all three books. No filler, no slack, no let-up — all three books are detailed, tight, and compelling, and once you start reading them, it’s impossible to stop.

About the Author:

Mike MullinMike Mullin’s first job was scraping the gum off the undersides of desks at his high school. From there, things went steadily downhill. He almost got fired by the owner of a bookstore due to his poor taste in earrings. He worked at a place that showed slides of poopy diapers during lunch (it did cut down on the cafeteria budget). The hazing process at the next company included eating live termites raised by the resident entomologist, so that didn’t last long either. For a while Mike juggled bottles at a wine shop, sometimes to disastrous effect. Oh, and then there was the job where swarms of wasps occasionally tried to chase him off ladders. So he’s really glad this writing thing seems to be working out.

Mike holds a black belt in Songahm Taekwondo. He lives in Indianapolis with his wife and her three cats. Ashen Winter is his second novel. His debut, Ashfall, was named one of the top five young adult novels of 2011 by National Public Radio, a Best Teen Book of 2011 by Kirkus Reviews, and a New Voices selection by the American Booksellers Association

Giveaway!

Don’t miss out on the awesome giveaway offered by Books With Bite! You could win a complete set of the Ashfall series!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blog Tour Info:

To buy Sunrise:

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

Want to read my reviews of the first two books in the series? Here are the links:

Book Review: The Opposite of Maybe by Maddie Dawson

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Book Review: The Opposite of Maybe by Maddie Dawson

Rosie and Jonathan are “that” couple — you know, the ones whose lives are massively entertaining to their friends because they just never seem to do things the normal way. While all the rest of their friends were busy getting married, buying houses, and having kids, Rosie and Jonathan stuck to their free-spirited artistic ways, keeping things loose, not needing the standard-issue adult lives that everyone else has. Their escapades become the stuff of legends — when the circle of friends gets together for drinks, nothing makes the crowd laugh more than reminiscing over Rosie and Jonathan stories and the crazy shenanigans that ensue.

But at age 44 and after 15 years together, Rosie isn’t so sure that the free and easy life is really a choice any more — maybe it’s just a mask for an inability to grow up? Rosie was a poet and Jonathan a potter when they met, but now Rosie mixes in teaching community college ESL classes with her writing, and Jonathan has completely given up pottery-making for his newest obsession, collecting antique teacups. (Seriously, teacups.) When Jonathan is contacted by another collector and offered the opportunity to partner on a new teacup museum (seriously, a teacup museum), he’s ready to uproot their lives in Connecticut and move to San Diego in pursuit of his dream… and expects Rosie to share the excitement.

It’s not quite so clear for Rosie, though. For starters, her eccentric, cranky grandmother. Soapie is eighty-eight, falls down a lot, and seems to be losing her edge. Soapie raised Rosie since the age of three, when Rosie’s mother died in a freak accident. Rosie can’t stop worrying about Soapie — even though Soapie insists she’s fine and wishes Rosie would stop fussing. Finally, Jonathan convinces Rosie to move to San Diego, and despite years in agreement that they didn’t need to get married like everyone else, he even proposes and gets Rosie to believe things can work. But then, a last-minute teacup emergency (seriously, a teacup emergency!) means the cancellation of wedding plans, and Rosie finally snaps, sending Jonathan off to San Diego on his own, and moves back into Soapie’s large house, envisioning some quiet time to lick her wounds and act as her grandmother’s caretaker.

And Rosie really is wounded, despairing over what her life amounts to:

If a film crew followed her around, what would they see? Nothing. She might as well be dying, for all she’s accomplished. She never had a family, she never owned a house, she never even bought a brand-new car, had a disastrous love affair with an inappropriate person, or even dyed her hair some ghastly shade of red. How does this happen, that you get to be forty-four and you don’t have anything — not even an ill-advised tattoo — to show for it?

The hitch in Rosie’s short-term plan is that Soapie doesn’t really need her. There’s a charming gardener named Tony who’s already moved in and is doing a great job of keeping Soapie on her feet and looked after, and Soapie’s long-time love George is by her side every evening, drinking and dancing and being a perfect courtly (and, as Soapie puts it, “ardent”) suitor (after visiting his wife Louise, suffering from advanced Alzheimer’s, each afternoon at the nursing home). Before long, this odd foursome has formed a family unit of sorts, and Rosie’s eyes are opened to new and fresh possibilities.

Oh, and minor detail? What Rosie takes for early menopause turns out to be a very unexpected pregnancy… and Jonathan most adamantly does not want to be a father. And then there’s sweet Tony, who adores pregnant women, babies, children, people in general, and pretty much everything about life. Rosie wants to give Jonathan a chance to redeem himself, to become a part of their baby’s life, and to prove his commitment to their relationship — but at what cost? Why is Rosie the one who always has to give things up? Soapie insists that Rosie needs to find her “joie de vivre” — and just maybe, the baby, the new crazy family she’s found, and even Tony can help her find that spark again, but is it the right path for her?

The Opposite of Maybe is a refreshingly charming look at adult life and adult dilemmas. Rosie is a terrific character: a woman who’s spent far too long accepting that her life is the way it should be, rather than questioning whether it’s enough. She’s smart and funny, full of passion, and when she finally gets a backbone, she’s actually quite remarkable. Tony is just a big sweetie — younger than Rosie, sexy (of course), struggling to establish a routine with his 5-year-old son in the wake of a divorce, and one lovely, loving guy. Soapie, too, is a treat, verging perhaps on the stereotype of the crazy, tough old lady with a heart of gold, but with her own secrets and a zest for life that is undiminished by the insults of old age and failing health.

It’s lovely to see the shifting definitions of family as portrayed in The Opposite of Maybe. Clearly, a blood tie is not the be-all and end-all. Jonathan may be the baby’s biological father, but he’s so clearly not daddy material. As Soapie, George, Rosie, and Tony open their home to all the friends and strays who populate their lives, they’re surrounded by chaos, fun, and connections that help to root Rosie more firmly in their Connecticut home.

The writing is clever and quirky, and I really got a kick out of the dialogue, particularly between Rosie and Tony, who make each other laugh even while driving each other crazy. (Tony has the habit of misusing words and mangling the English language, which after a while one suspects is done deliberately just to get a rise out of English-teacher Rosie).

The author portrays the indignities of being pregnant at 44 with both compassion and hilarity: In one scene, Rosie is befriended by a nice young mother and taken to see the local playground where the mommies congregate. When she tells her new friend her age, the woman replies, “Wow, that is seriously so brave of you! Forty-four! I just hope I’m still having sex when I’m that age!” Thud. Not only that, but she also kindly adds as she’s leaving, “This is like the place where everybody comes between naps. Sometimes the grandmothers come, too, ha ha! You’ll like them.”

My only quibble with The Opposite of Maybe is the character of Jonathan. He’s a hapless, well-meaning guy who can’t see beyond the end of his own nose (or his teacups) — and after a while, I simply could not see why Rosie would persist in trying to make things work with him. Even when he commits to trying to be the man Rosie needs, he’s just so clearly NOT, and Rosie is far too smart to go along for as long as she does, thinking that Jonathan can change and that the life she wants is possible with him. It’s a staple of romantic fiction that the female lead doesn’t see what’s so obvious to the reader — the dull guy who needs convincing is just NEVER Mr. Right in this kind of story, and the wrong-on-paper guy with the heart of gold usually is oh-so-right. Given that, the outcome of the love story here is all too certain from the get-go. Jonathan just isn’t the guy for Rosie, and keeping him in the role of the primary man in her life feels like an artificial means of stretching out the romantic complications and uncertainties.

Still, I found The Opposite of Maybe a completely delightful and engaging read. There are moments of real sorrow and emotion, as well as humor and joy that feel deserved and organic. Fast-paced and entertaining, I gobbled this book up in about 24 hours, and just didn’t want to put it down before the end. If you enjoy reading about flawed but lovable adults facing real-life choices, with writing that’s zippy and full of fun, don’t miss The Opposite of Maybe.

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The details:

Title: The Opposite of Maybe
Author: Maddie Dawson
Publisher: Broadway Books
Publication date: April 8, 2014
Length: 400 pages
Genre: Adult contemporary fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of Broadway Books via NetGalley

Blog Tour, Author Q&A, & Review: 16 Things I Thought Were True by Janet Gurtler

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Thank you, Sourcebooks, for inviting me to be a part of the blog tour celebrating the release of 16 Things I Thought Were True!

16things

16 Things I Thought Were True
By Janet Gurtler
Sourcebooks Fire
Release date: March 4, 2014

Heart attacks happen to other people #thingsIthoughtweretrue
When Morgan’s mom gets sick, it’s hard not to panic. Without her mother, she would have no one—until she finds out the dad who walked out on her as a baby isn’t as far away as she thought…

Adam is a stuck-up, uptight jerk #thingsIthoughtweretrue
Now that they have a summer job together, Morgan’s getting to know the real Adam, and he’s actually pretty sweet…in a nerdy-hot kind of way. He even offers to go with her to find her dad. Road trip, anyone?

5000 Twitter followers are all the friends I need #thingsIthoughtweretrue
With Adam in the back seat, a hyper chatterbox named Amy behind the wheel, and plenty of Cheetos to fuel their trip, Morgan feels ready for anything. She’s not expecting a flat tire, a missed ferry, a fake girlfriend…and that these two people she barely knew before the summer started will become the people she can’t imagine living without.

I’m thrilled to be participating in the blog tour for this terrific young adult novel! Author Janet Gurtler was kind enough to play along for a brief Q&A:

Did you have an “Amy” in your life as a teen?

I didn’t really have an Amy in my life as a teen, but I met an Amy when I was traveling a while ago. She was this great kid, a teen girl, who had no filter and she was so adorable and cracked me up and I knew I had to fictionalize her.  Amy was really fun to write.

What can you tell us about your best friend from your teen years? How did you meet? What qualities made him/her so special?
Well, I moved in grade 7 and then again in grade 11 so I had a few different best friends. My best friend in high school was a girl named Rosalyn. We met at high school, but became close when we started working together (kind of like Amy and Morgan) We used to laugh. Oh how we could laugh. We were both kind of insecure dorky kids who wanted to be much more popular than we were. We had unrequited crushes on boys together too. I mostly loved her loyalty and the way we could gab for hours about anything. And the laughing!

Morgan spends so much of this book glued to her phone and tracking her Twitter followers. Do you think teens in earlier generations had anything equivalent? Did you?

Oh man, if I was a teen in today’s world I would have LOVED social media. I was really quite shy, though I tried hard to hide it and I think it’s much easier to be a little bolder online.  I don’t really feel like I had anything like that. I was a teen in the 80’s so that was before cell phones were even around!!!

What was your inspiration for 16 Things?
Mainly I wanted to tell the story of a girl who was finding more comfort from her online world than the real world.  I wanted to show how being overexposed online could send someone into hiding, and ironically one of the best places to hide….is online.

Did you always know you wanted to write? How did you get started?
I’ve loved writing since I was in the sixth grade. It’s always been my passion and the way I love to express myself.  I started writing books after my son was born. I’d always wanted to do that (write a book) and I did it while he napped. And then I was hooked. He’s 13 now!

What advice would you give to girls today who are interested in writing?

Keep writing! Read a lot and write a lot. Write stories, and journals and letters and whatever else you want to write. And the reading. That’s important too, because it teaches you what resonates with you and what you might feel best about writing.

What are you working on now? What will we see next from you?

I am currently writing my sixth Sourcebooks Fire book! It’s called THE TRUTH ABOUT US. It’s more of a YA romance, about a girl and a boy she’s forbidden to be with. She comes from a family with money and is forced to work at a soup kitchen for the summer  (for her bad behavior) and he is a guest at the soup kitchen.  Of course, no one wants them to be together.

And just for fun: If you were going on a road trip and you were in charge of snacks, what are the must-haves?

Caramel popcorn. Diet coke. And chewing gum. And then we’re good to go!!!!

Thank you, Janet, for taking the time to answer my questions!

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

My thoughts:

16 Things I Thought Were True is a funny, engaging young adult novel that throws in a wrenching twist toward the end that was a real punch in the guts for me. A book that starts out with a girl obsessing over her number of Twitter followers while cringing at the thought of the awful viral video her friend posted — of her dancing in her underwear — sounds pretty light and fluffy, doesn’t it?

As they say, don’t judge a book by its cover… or in this case, by its use of hashtags.

Morgan’s story seems straightforward: As her mother prepares for heart surgery, she finally reveals to Morgan the name of her biological father, whom Morgan believes to have abandoned her before she was even born. Meanwhile, Morgan is deeply embarrassed by her online notoriety, and faces social ostracism by the teens she works with at the amusement park over summer break. But two of her coworkers seem to see more in her than she does herself: Bubbly, quirky Amy, who talks non-stop and seems to never get embarrassed about anything, and nerdy cute Adam, a manager at work who’s the same age as Morgan… and who’s actually kinda hot once she takes a closer look.

With Amy and Adam pushing and pulling, Morgan puts into motion a plan to find her bio-dad and confront him for walking out on her all those years ago. Thus ensues an epic road trip, filled with junk food, a flat tire, whales, scary cows, and sweet old ladies who (inexplicably) are staying at the same hostel. Amy and Adam push Morgan to rethink the things she always believed, face and share some hard truths, open up a bit, and do the things she’s been afraid to do. Oh, and also? Maybe put down the phone once in a while, stop worrying about her number of followers, and dare to be the kind of person she wants to be in real life, not just with her anonymous internet friends.

Amy is probably the loveliest character I’ve encountered in fiction in quite some time. Her constantly chipper, no-filters personality seems potentially annoying at first, but you just can’t help falling in love with her bubbliness and her absolute commitment to embracing everything life throws in her path. Don’t we all wish we had a friend like Amy? She’s simply adorable. Adam ends up being quite a great guy as well, not just in terms of boyfriend-worthiness, but also as a decent person, a caring individual, and a devoted friend.

The ending seemed to come out of nowhere and totally caught me by surprise. Wow. I won’t say more about it, except that it’s powerful and unforgettable.

What I initially thought might be just a teen romp with cautionary warnings about living life online ends up being a story with a more serious message about true friendship, being honest with yourself and with others, and looking beyond the surface to find the real value of the people in your life. I truly enjoyed Morgan’s journey throughout 16 Things I Thought Were True, and look forward to reading more by this author.

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About the Author:

jgurtlerJanet Gurtler lives in Calgary Alberta, near the Canadian Rockies, with her husband and son and a chubby Chihuahua named Bruce. She does not live in an Igloo or play hockey, but she does love maple syrup and says “eh” a lot. (From the author’s website: http://www.janet-gurtler.com)

Book Review: The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty

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Book Review: The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty

The Husband's SecretThe Husband’s Secret is one tricky book. It lulls you into thinking that it’s some sort of chick-lit look at married life and motherhood, with its opening chapter introducing a powerhouse of a woman, Cecilia Fitzpatrick, who is perfect at just about everything: She’s president of the PTA of her kids’ Sydney private school, a Tupperware saleswoman par excellence (her not-always-the-swiftest husband doesn’t realize that she actually out-earns him at this point), has her daily routine down to a science, bakes, cleans, and is always just 100% on time, appropriate, and slightly better than everyone else — but never enough so that you’d hate her for it.

Then there’s Tess O’Leary, whose Melbourne-based life is about to implode after her husband and her first cousin/best friend/business partner confide to her — in oh-so-supportive tones — that they’ve fallen in love, but they’re sure the three of them can make it all work out for the best.

And poor, sad Rachel Crowley, the school secretary, harbors secret hatreds and sorrows stemming back 28 years — back to the day that her teen-age daughter Janie was murdered by an unknown assailant in a crime that remains unsolved.

These three women’s lives intersect and collide with unexpected and life-changing results in The Husband’s Secret  — which I stopped thinking of as chick-lit and realized was just a terrifically well-written contemporary novel by the time I’d read 20 pages or so.

The ball really starts rolling when Cecilia stumbles across a letter from her husband, John-Paul, to be read after his death. The issue, though, is that John-Paul is still very much alive. Cecilia might have just left it alone, tucked away in the file with their wills, until she sees his extreme reaction to her mentioning that she found the letter. Knowing that he’s hiding something potentially explosive (is he gay? is he a child predator? does he have a mistress or second wife somewhere?), Cecilia rushes to open the letter… and what she reads is beyond anything she might have expected, a secret so shocking that their lives will never be the same. And then, of course, Cecilia must not only deal with new truths about the man she thought she knew, but must also decide what to do with this information — which impacts her family’s future, her daughters’ well-being, and the lives of others as well.

The secrets in this novel weigh heavily on the secret-keepers. Knowledge can be a burden, and the characters are in constant struggles to decide what’s right and what’s wrong. But what if what’s right for yourself might be completely wrong for your children? What if you share what you know, and even more lives are ruined? What good is the truth, if it doesn’t ease suffering but only leads to new and different suffering?

There are no easy answers. It seems simple, at first, to judge Cecilia and make assumptions about what she should do. I can’t say that I think she’s correct — but the author skillfully guides us through Cecilia’s thoughts and emotions, so we readers truly understand why her actions unfold as they do, whether we agree or disagree.

Tess’s story was a little less compelling for me, as it relates only tangentially to the other main storylines, and yet her dilemmas are real and potentially life-changing as well. Is it worse that her husband and cousin didn’t actually have an affair? They say they’re in love, but out of respect for Tess, haven’t allowed themselves to sleep together, and it’s the purity of it all that really drives Tess mad — if it had just been a sleazy little affair, perhaps it would be easier to get past. But what does it mean for Tess, all this silent longing and noble sacrifice, and can she reclaim her marriage, if not for herself, then for the sake of the family she and her husband have starting building with their son?

Throughout it all, the writing simply sparkles — and it’s the humor and wit of the writing, which shines through in a myriad of small but telling moments, that lulls you into thinking that this is a light, almost comedic domestic tale before the shocks, deep emotions, and tragic outcomes take over.

A few prime examples — one for each of the three main women:
(and for more, see this week’s Thursday Quotables post, where I share a few other favorite lines from this book):

Tess:

Tess thought about how Will had once told her that he hated walking behind a woman late at night, in case she heard his footsteps and thought he was an ax murderer. “I always want to call out, ‘Its all right, I’m not an ax murderer!'” he said. “I’d run for my life if someone called that out to me,” Tess had told him. “See we can’t win,” said Will.

Cecilia:

All these years there had been a Tupperware container of bad language sitting off to the side in her head, and now she’d opened it and all those crisp, crunchy words were lovely and fresh, ready to be used.

Rachel:

Lauren was the perfect daughter-in-law. Rachel was the perfect mother-in-law. All that perfection hiding all that dislike.

Reading The Husband’s Secret was one of those random odd reading experiences for me, where I went in with one set of expectations, only to realize I had it completely wrong. For whatever reason, I seemed to have remembered reading something about this book comparing it to Gone Girl, and never realized that I must have confused this with another book I’d picked up at about the same time. So, I started The Husband’s Secret expecting a dark, twisted novel full of psychological warfare and endless mindgames… and then, after reading about Tupperware, school projects, and Easter bonnets, started feeling like I was reading something suspiciously like “chick lit” — only to be startled as I went along by the depth of the characters, the seriousness and sadness underlying all the brisk, shiny writing, and the ultimate tragedy of the lives forever changed, for better or worse, by secrets kept and shared.

Australian author Liane Moriarty has crafted a real and honest look into the souls of three women with three very different lives. It’s impossible to read The Husband’s Secret without coming to care deeply about the characters. Agree or disagree with their decisions and actions, you’ll still wish these women well and feel both hope and sorrow for their experiences. I ended the book very satisfied with how the story wraps up, and yet wishing I could know more about the rest of these women’s lives. That, to me, is the sign of a successful novel: A plot that satisfies and engages throughout, wraps up without cliffhangers or loose ends, and leaves you wanting to stay in the characters’ company for just a bit longer.

I definitely recommend The Husband’s Secret… and look forward to reading more by this author.

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The details:

Title: The Husband’s Secret
Author: Liane Moriarty
Publisher: Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam
Publication date: 2013
Length: 394 pages
Genre: Adult contemporary fiction
Source: Purchased

Book Review: City of Jasmine by Deanna Raybourn

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Book Review: City of Jasmine by Deanna Raybourn

City of JasmineLove, intrigue, and adventure are set against a backdrop of gorgeous desert vistas and an ancient Middle Eastern city in this new novel from Deanna Raybourn, author of A Spear of Summer Grass and the Lady Julia Grey series.

In City of Jasmine, lovely but broke Evie Merriweather Starke is gaining lots of attention as an aviatrix setting out to fly over the seven seas of antiquity — hoping to keep sponsorships coming in just a little while longer before her cash and stamina run out. Evie has spunk and daring, but she’s also still nursing the heartbreak of her failed marriage. Evie eloped with Gabriel Starke on the day she met him, ringing in the new year of 1915 together. But their marriage quickly soured, and when Gabriel was lost at sea with the sinking of the Lusitania, no one but Evie knew that she’d been about to divorce him.

Now, five years later, Evie is trying her best to move on with her life, with her eccentric Aunt Dove for companionship, when she receives an anonymous piece of mail containing a picture of Gabriel, dated 1920 and captioned “Damascus”. What does it mean, and why would someone send it to Evie? Seeing how she’s in the area anyway, Evie sets off for the ancient city to either find her presumed dead husband or to lay his memory to rest for good.

Adventure awaits. Damascus is dusty, confusing, and full of old-world glamor and mystery. Evie finds herself in the company of a group of archaeologists, who have apparently made a startling discovery way out in the desert at their dig site. Meanwhile, the Middle East is simmering with post-War political tensions, as the European powers attempt to carve up the former Ottoman Empire — which doesn’t necessarily sit very well with the Arab locals and the desert-dwelling Bedouin tribes.

City of Jasmine is at heart a romance, and that shines through despite occasional dives into historical politics that get a bit too dry at times. The love story is really what this book is all about, and it’s at its best when the mystery of Evie and Gabriel’s marriage and estrangement is explored. Why did the lovely man Evie married turn into a cold-eyed stranger so quickly? Why did he fake his own death? What is he doing in Damascus, disguised as an antiquities expert in dusty robes and a nasty beard? And why, even now, must he treat Evie with such aloofness and mockery?

There’s quite a bit of action in City of Jasmine, and at times it has a frantic, almost Indiana Jones-ish feel to it. There are double-crosses and triple-crosses, chases through the desert, gunfire, escapes via camel, truck and airplane, hostile tribes and friendly tribes, and all sorts of talk of relics, artifacts, and priceless treasures. This being a romance, though, there are also quite luxurious descriptions of Turkish baths and spa treatments, flowing robes, absolutely scrumptious-sounding food, and desert tents filled with lovely carpets and cushions.

The history feels somewhat shoe-horned in. There’s a lot of talk about the politics of the time and their implications, but this mostly just scratches the surface of the complicated issues involved. I suppose the political atmosphere of the day is necessary for the events and setting to make sense, but between that and the archaelogy and the action sequences, the romantic elements are often in danger of being buried by plot.

I did enjoy City of Jasmine, but felt that the relationship between Evie and Gabriel needed to be explored further. Interestingly, the publisher released a prequel novella entitled Whisper of Jasmine in early February, several weeks before City of Jasmine‘s release. Whisper of Jasmine tells the story of Evie and Gabriel’s first meeting at a New Year’s Eve party, their intense and immediate attraction, and their elopement. It’s all quiet breathless and passionate and very, very romantic. I have to wonder, though, if the overarching story might have been better served by including this prequel as a prologue within City of Jasmine itself. Without having read the prequel, it’s hard to see the marriage as anything but an impulsive decision that ended in failure, and we don’t see enough of Evie and Gabriel together to get a sense of the feelings between them. Of course, I can’t really judge since I did read the prequel first — but I wonder what impressions a reader might have who hadn’t read Whisper of Jasmine ahead of time.

If you’ve read A Spear of Summer Grass by Deanna Raybourn, then you’ll be happy to recognize a few familiar characters popping up here in City of Jasmine, kind of like encountering old friends unexpectedly. If you haven’t read A Spear, no worries. It’s nice to have the connection to the previous novel, but not essential to understanding the characters and events of City of Jasmine.

I enjoyed the flapper-esque sensibility and dialogue of Evie and her aunt, who is the quintessential elderly relative with a notorious, scandalous past:

“We’re travel-fatigued,” Aunt Dove pronounced. “It happens when one passes too quickly from one culture into another. I’ve always said trains were uncivilized. One ought only ever to travel by steamship or camel.”

Likewise, there are moments of prime bantering between Evie and Gabriel that are quite charming:

When I reached his side, he paused and gave me a penetrating look. “How much did you enjoy pulling that trigger at me?”

I thought a moment. “Less than I expected but more than I should have.”

He nodded. “That sounds about right.”

Overall, I found City of Jasmine — while overly hectic in places — an engaging, romantic tale of adventure and love. If you enjoy a light taste of history mixed in with your exotic locations and passionate pairings, give City of Jasmine a try!

And if you’ve read City of Jasmine, I’d also recommend:

  • A Spear of Summer Grass by Deanna Raybourn: A terrific historical romance set in colonial Africa in the 1920s, with a remarkable, memorable heroine.
  • Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell: For those wanting a deeper dive into the history and politics of the Middle East in the years following World War I, you really can’t do better than this brilliant historical novel.

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The details:

Title: City of Jasmine
Author: Deanna Raybourn
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Publication date: February 25, 2014
Length: 354 pages
Genre: Romance/historical fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of Harlequin MIRA via NetGalley

Review: The Time Tutor by Bee Ridgway… plus a giveaway!

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I’ve made no secret of the fact that I absolutely loved Bee Ridgway’s debut novel, The River of No Return, which was released in 2013. (You can read my review here). And so… I’m incredibly excited to share two goodies today:  A review of The Time Tutor, a novella set in the same world as The River of No Return, and a giveaway of the brand new paperback version of The River of No Return!

9780698169081_large_The_Time_TutorIn The Time Tutor, we revisit the world of time travelers and their mysterious secret society The Guild, this time through the experiences of Alva Blomgren. In The River of No Return, we meet Alva as a woman of the world, running a house of ill repute with a secret basement holding all sorts of goodies from her travels through time. Alva is a strong, beautiful woman who interacts with the main character, Nick, but her role in the novel is as a supporting, secondary character. In The Time Tutor, we get to know Alva’s backstory and see how she becomes the person she is, breaking free of the Guild’s hold and finding a way to use her skills, brains, and power for her own purposes. The Time Tutor is short and to the point, so don’t read it expecting a lot of scene-setting or build-up. Instead, it’s a fast-paced story that includes passion, intrigue, deception, and of course, leaps through time. Some familiar characters appear in addition to Alva, but note that this is a prequel, so knowledge of the events of the novel is not essential in order to enjoy this novella. The Time Tutor works on its own, but of course its greatest appeal will be for fans of The River of No Return who are eagerly awaiting a new installment!

And now, a giveaway! Thanks to Plume Books/Penguin, I’m able to offer one copy of the brand new paperback edition of The River of No Return, which is scheduled for release on March 25th.

RiverOfNoReturn

Gorgeous cover, right?

The giveaway is available for residents of the US and Canada only. To enter, click the link below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!

 

Book Review: Better Off Friends by Elizabeth Eulberg

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Book Review: Better Off Friends by Elizabeth Eulberg

Better off Friends

A little like When Harry Met Sally for teens, Better Off Friends asks the question, “Is it really possible for a boy and a girl to be just friends?”

Macallan (yes, she’s named for the whiskey) and Levi just click from the very start, when Levi moves from California to Wisconsin right at the start of 7th grade. He’s the new kid worried about fitting in and making friends. Macallan has troubles of her own, still recovering from her mother’s shocking death in a car accident the previous year. Yet somehow, these two get each other, moving quickly from the discovery of a shared loved for a (fictitious) BBC comedy to best friend status, finishing each others’ sentences, being relatively unsufferable to those trying to get a word in edgewise, fitting into each others’ families, and really connecting in the way only true friends can.

Their friendship continues, with its share of ups and downs, into high school. They manage to survive the awful fall-out from Levi dating Macallan’s best girl friend, as well as a variety of other awkward moments that might break up a less solid friendship. But Levi and Macallan are totally strong and inseparable — until things start to fall apart. As Levi finally gets what he always thought he wanted — guy friends, success in sports, a crowd to hang out with — he has less time and attention for Macallan. Meanwhile, she’s realizing that friendship with Levi isn’t quite as easy or comfortable as it was in their younger days.

For years, people have always assumed that these two were “together” — and they really can be quite frightful when they’re on a roll with their in-jokes, ignoring everyone else around them, completely oblivious to their other friends, or even their current boyfriend or girlfriend. An attempt at a double-date is never repeated, after it ends disastrously (and also somewhat hilariously).

But when Levi finally starts to wonder what it is that he feels for Macallan, their friendship enters rocky territory, to the point where it looks doubtful that they can survive it at all. Plagued by doubts and worries and serious miscommunication, Levi and Macallan each have to decide whether it’s worth pursuing something more… or whether they really are better off friends.

How many times have you seen a character in a book or movie use the excuse “I don’t want to ruin our friendship” as a reason for not going out with someone? Totally lame, right? Well, in Better Off Friends, not ruining the friendship is the crux of the problem, and it’s not at all lame. I loved seeing how much Levi and Macallan care about each other and how vital their friendship is for both of them. Neither of them can stand the idea of ruining it… but their inability to be honest and take a risk may destroy the friendship anyway.

Told in alternating voices, we get to hear in first-person perspective from both Macallan and Levi the history of their friendship and to see how it grows and changes over the years. Each chapter ends with a bit of banter between the two. It comes across like a recounting of their history, so that after Macallan tells the story of the first time she met Levi, we hear a few choice comments from Levi –usually snarky and funny — telling what he thinks of Macallan’s version of events. It’s a nice touch, and it lets the reader know that they’re in this together and enjoying the tales from their past. It does also remove a little element of suspense: Since the story is told as the two of them looking back on their shared history, there’s really no fear that they won’t end up at least as friends, if not more.

Insta-love seems to be all too common in YA fiction these days. They meet, they exchange five words, they looks into each others’ eyes — and BAM! It’s true, deep, soul-scorching love. (It definitely helps if one is from the wrong side of the tracks, or has a troubled past, or is hiding a deep, dark secret). Better Off Friends is like the antidote to insta-love: When romance finally becomes a possibility, it’s after years of friendship and a true, deep connection. We feel like the characters have earned it; love feels organic for these two, and not something forced on a pair of characters in order to fit a formula.

In fact, Better Off Friends is so far from formulaic that reading it feels like a breath of fresh air. Other than the fact that a main character has lost a parent at a young age, nothing in this book feels like a retread of what’s trendy in teen fiction at the moment. I enjoyed the originality of the characters and the care and detail devoted to letting us get to know them. Their struggles to pursue their own interests and passions, balance these with school and home demands, and figure out how to still be a good friend felt realistic and appropriate for their ages, and it was interesting to see how the two grow over the years from nervous middle school kids to confident high school juniors.

Last year, I read Revenge of the Girl With the Great Personality by Elizabeth Eulberg, and loved the honest way in which the author approached the problems and challenges of a terrific main character. (You can check out my review here.) After reading Better Off Friends, I’m adding Elizabeth Eulberg to my list of incredibly talented YA writers whose work I’ll always want to check out.

If you enjoy contemporary young adult fiction with main characters you can care about, definitely give Better Off Friends a try!

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The details:

Title: Better Off Friends
Author: Elizabeth Eulberg
Publisher: Scholastic
Publication date: February 25, 2014
Length: 288 pages
Genre: Young adult contemporary
Source: Review copy courtesy of Scholastic via NetGalley

Book Review: After I’m Gone by Laura Lippman

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Book Review: After I’m Gone by Laura Lippman

After I'm GoneSecrets, lies, and obsessive love lie at the heart of this new mystery novel by Laura Lippman. Felix Brewer, a wealthy but not quite legitimate businessman, flees the country in 1976 rather than face a prison sentence, leaving behind the wife he loves, three daughters, and a young, devoted mistress. When the mistress is reported missing in 1986, the natural assumption is that she’s finally gone to join Felix. But when her remains are discovered years later in a local park, it’s clear that Julie Saxony has been murdered. The investigation goes nowhere for 15 years, until retired detective Roberto “Sandy” Sanchez pulls the cold case file and starts to dig… and notices connections that had been missed the first time around.

The story starts with Felix’s escape, and then moves forward over time, through all the years since his disappearance, focusing not on Felix himself but on the shattered lives of those he left behind. He’d intended to provide for the family financially, but the money never surfaced, and his wife Bambi and her daughters live in the years since always on the verge of ruin. Meanwhile, Julie was given ownership of one of Felix’s businesses and expanded from there into a restaurant and B&B — so did she have the missing money? And would someone have killed to get hold of it?

We follow Sandy’s investigation into the meager pieces of evidence and the random witnesses who might have new light to shed on the past, while in alternating chapters, we learn what’s become of Bambi, her sad and troubled daughters, and their families as well. The clues start to pile up, and as Sandy remarks, the murderer in a cold case is usually someone whose name appears in the original investigation file. Nobody connected to the Brewer mystery has led a spotless life. Greed, callousness, disappointment, and bitterness all play a part. As close as Bambi and the girls are, each one is hiding secrets from the others, in misguided attempts to protect their loves ones from unpleasant truths or to avoid letting their mother down.

In a way, this book is quite sad. Bambi truly loved her husband and he adored her as well, but she spends most of her adulthood alone, scrounging to maintain the life she wanted for her daughters, and always suffering the indignities of her abandonment. The daughters have issues, to say the least: Trust issues, feeling like their father ruined their lives, the constant air of scandal surrounding the family, worry for their mother — and later, relationship problems, marital difficulties, and the pain of knowing that their father chose a life of exile rather than doing time and then resuming life amidst his family.

The mystery itself is clever and confounding. There are red herrings galore. At several points, I thought I had it all figured out… but mostly, I was dead wrong. (I will pat myself on the back and say that I did in fact pick the killer — but I got the circumstances and motivation completely wrong, so I suppose it was mostly a lucky guess!) The book covers quite a big chunk of time, dipping in and out of the family’s life over a span of 35 years, but it doesn’t feel like too much. Instead, we get samplings of what Bambi and the daughters go through at various points in their lives post-Felix, with glimpses of Julie as well, and it’s just enough to start connecting dots and figuring out which pieces fit together — and where and when the true secrets are hidden.

Sandy is a good investigator with a sorrowful backstory, and if I had any quibbles about this book, it’s that perhaps too much time is spent on Sandy’s history. It really has no bearing on the mystery itself, other than to humanize the law enforcement side of the story, and I could have done with less focus on him and more on the Brewer family, who truly fascinated me. I had the sense, based on the wrap-up, that the author intends to introduce Sandy into future mysteries involving her ongoing character Tess Monaghan. Since I’ve never read anything by this author before, this aspect didn’t matter to me, but I’m sure it will be exciting for fans of the Tess Monaghan series.

Overall, I found After I’m Gone terrific, suspenseful, and smart. I’m not usually a big fan of mystery or crime fiction, but this book had everything I need to really enjoy a good read: engaging characters, unusual plot twists, startling and unexpected scenarios, and some plain old great writing. I tore through this book as quickly as I could, and felt really irritated every time little things like sleep got in the way. If you like books that grab you and don’t let go, check out After I’m Gone!

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The details:

Title: After I’m Gone
Author: Laura Lippman
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication date: February 11, 2014
Length: 352 pages
Genre: Mystery
Source: Review copy courtesy of William Morrow and TLC Book Tours

Book Review: See Jane Run by Hannah Jayne

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Book Review: See Jane Run by Hannah Jayne

See Jane Run17-year-old Riley lives a comfortable life with her loving (although stiflingly overprotective) parents, until the day she accidentally discovers a birth certificate for a girl named Jane tucked away inside her own baby book — a baby book that seems to start when Riley is three years old. Riley and her best friend Shelby laugh it off at first, coming up with goofy, ridiculous explanations, but as weird coincidences and creepy occurrences start to pile up, Riley becomes more and more convinced that her parents are hiding a secret.

With the help of the school bad boy, J. D. (who is, of course, hot but misunderstood), Riley sets off to find out more about Jane O’Leary — but comes up blank. There are no records, and an Internet search comes up with no results. But someone seems to know that Riley is searching, and what started out as a puzzle takes on a much more sinister tone. Is Riley being watched? Are her parents lying? Are they even really her parents? Who can be trusted? With each clue, Riley’s seemingly safe world crumbles a bit more, until real danger intrudes and threatens not just Riley, but everyone she cares about.

See Jane Run in many ways feels like a throwback to the late 1980s/early 1990s. Adult readers who grew up in those years will instantly be reminded of Caroline B. Cooney’s A Face on the Milk Carton (which is referenced in promotional materials for See Jane Run), as well as Lois Duncan’s Don’t Look Behind You. As in both of these books, the main character in See Jane Run finds herself forced to confront questions about her own identity, where she belongs, and whether she can rely on her parents — either for safety or for the truth.

The clues in See Jane Run mount quickly, and it’s not too difficult to see where the story is going — or so we’re led to believe, until a last-minute twist changes the outcome and makes the ending both more surprising and more disturbing than we might have expected.

Riley herself is not all that inspiring a main character. She flips back and forth between taking an active approach and letting events wash over her, and she seems to be oddly inexperienced for a girl of 17. Her parents keep her isolated, but this doesn’t entirely make sense. They live in a remote new neighborhood that’s still under development, perhaps in an effort to avoid the prying eyes of neighbors — yet Riley attends public school, has a best friend, and goes about her life during the day, so she’s not exactly unknown either. Riley’s mother gives her an anti-anxiety pill each morning, but Riley isn’t allowed to see the bottle. But why? And why does she not think twice about this and all the other weirdness about her parents until the events in this book?

Then there’s the issue of J.D. He’s got a reputation as a juvenile delinquent, but Riley sees something special in him and he seems to really like Riley. Or is there something darker and creepier going on? As with many other YA novels, the Riley/J.D. plot thread feels somewhat like an obligatory attempt to squeeze a romance into a story that doesn’t really need one.

See Jane Run is a fast read, although the pacing is a bit uneven. Scenes of great excitement and danger move along well, but there are also chapters that feel like a slog through malls, diners, and endless car or train rides. Overall, the book held my interest, despite explanations that felt rushed and unsatisfying and a not-quite-convincing wrap-up.

I suppose you could write a whole essay on why teen girls are drawn to books about false identities and parents hiding the truth from their children. Is it the danger? The sense that parents can’t be trusted? Maybe it’s the need to remake oneself during the teen years that makes the idea of a secret other life so appealing. In any case, it seems that this type of story will always be intriguing to young adult readers, and See Jane Run fits nicely on the shelf with those earlier thrillers.

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The details:

Title: See Jane Run
Author: Hannah Jayne
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Publication date: January 7, 2014
Length: 288 pages
Genre: Young adult contemporary
Source: Review copy courtesy of Sourcebooks Fire via NetGalley