#AllThatIsMineICarryWithMe – Rosepoint Publishing

Rosepoint Reviews – February Recap – If It’s March—Is It Spring Yet?

Rosepoint Reviews-February Recap

February, as always, short and sweet with Valentine’s Day and one day warm enough we got our bikes out. So lovely, followed almost immediately, of course, by snow and freezing temps. This will continue for long enough to surprise the trees in bloom in March. It always does.

Besides the loss of a beloved pet and the weight on my heart, there is still the habit of feeding or walking the dog, engrained after seventeen years to overcome. It’s not an easy transition. Concentrating instead on juicing apples from the fruit market, making my own juice. There are abundant oranges as well, although this variety (Valencia) is neither the sweetest nor the juiciest. I’ve finally begun having successful air-fried offerings from the air fryer and whole meals from my pressure cooker—a real learning curve. Perhaps you can teach an old dog!

We managed to read or listen to a total of thirteen books in February, a mix of NetGalley reads, audiobooks, Indie authors, and requests from publishers. (Links below are to my reviews that include purchase info.)

February review book covers

The Last Camel Died At Noon by Elizabeth Peters (audiobook)
Sons of Liberty by Matthew Speiser
The Drift by C J Tudor (CE review)
Good Dog, Bad Cop by David Rosenfelt (my 5*)
Hearts and Dark Arts by Trixie Silvertale (audiobook)
All That Is Mine I Carry With Me by William Landay (CE review)
Welcome Aboard by Jessie Newton, Tammy L Grace (and six more)
Who Killed Jerusalem? by George Albert Brown (CE review)
The Bark of Zorro by Kathleen Y’Barbo
A Silent Understanding by Jean Grainger
Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz (audiobook)
Path of Peril by Marlie Parker Wasserman (CE 5*)
Bakeries and Buffoonery by Elizabeth Pantley

Have you read any of the above? There is a variety as usual of genres that include historical fiction, legal thriller, fantasy, crime, women’s fiction, cozy mysteries, and even a touch of horror (Koontz). (I don’t normally read horror but am a Koontz fan.)

Favorite Book of the Month

Feedback from the CE regarding the books I’ve given to him has resulted in one he DNF’d (I finished) and one he couldn’t stop talking about or reading parts to me. I had several good books, but felt none gave me quite the rah-rah that Path of Peril gave to him. So that is February’s choice for Book of the Month.

Blogger Post

I didn’t have a lot of time to do blog hopping in February, but I did catch several of my favorites, including those from Jill at Jill’s Book Café. I particularly enjoy her feature “Five on Friday” in which she posts an interview with an author you may or may not know or read. Love the answers particularly to the question “Which five pieces of music/songs would you include in the soundtrack to your life and why?” Some very surprising choices!

My Reading Challenges page…As I mentioned last month, I managed to lose my entire 2022 Challenges page. Definitely doing an abbreviated page this year and still trying to keep it current. I have 25 books of a goal of 145 in Goodreads (two books ahead of schedule) and keeping a 97% feedback ratio in NetGalley.

March begins Reading Ireland Month 2023. I love participating in this challenge and usually include a poem (from my grandfather) or recipe along with reviews about Ireland or written by an Irish author. If you haven’t signed up yet, now’s the time!

Once again, thank you as always for reading and commenting on my posts. I appreciate the participation!

k-luv-u-bye

All That Is Mine I Carry With Me by William Landay – #BookReview – #legalthrillers – #Bantam

Book Blurb:

One afternoon in November 1975, ten-year-old Miranda Larkin comes home from school to find her house eerily quiet. Her mother is missing. Nothing else is out of place. There is no sign of struggle. Her mom’s pocketbook remains in the front hall, in its usual spot.

So begins a mystery that will span a lifetime. What happened to Jane Larkin?

Investigators suspect Jane’s husband. A criminal defense attorney, Dan Larkin would surely be an expert in outfoxing the police.

But no evidence is found linking him to a crime, and the case fades from the public’s memory, a simmering, unresolved riddle. Jane’s three children—Alex, Jeff, and Miranda—are left to be raised by the man who may have murdered their mother.

Two decades later, the remains of Jane Larkin are found. The investigation is awakened. The children, now grown, are forced to choose sides. With their father or against him? Guilty or innocent? And what happens if they are wrong?

A tale about family—family secrets and vengeance, but also family love—All That Is Mine I Carry With Me masterfully grapples with a primal question: When does loyalty reach its limit?

His Review:

Jane Larkin had been in love with Dan since high school. They had three lovely children with their youngest being Miranda in the seventh grade. The family did everything together with Dan being a very successful attorney. When Jane goes missing in November 1975, the family is frantic.

The police start an investigation into the disappearance and are unable to find anything regarding Jane’s whereabouts. The case lingers and the first suspect is Dan. There is no evidence to connect him with the crime but a dogged investigator, Mr. Glover, continues to investigate the whereabouts. Surely a loving mother like Jane Larkin would not simply leave and abandon her children.

This novel is very well structured and developed with a number of twists and turns. I developed a real empathy for the characters and their sudden loss of a very beloved mother. Would a devoted mother and wife suddenly decide that she can no longer stay with her husband and care for her family?

William Landay has written a very interesting novel about a family torn apart by the disappearance of the wife and mother and subsequent turmoil of ongoing suspicion. I found the novel disturbing and sad. 4.5 stars – CE Williams

[Note from V: When I listened to the audiobook Defending Jacob, I was blown away by the heart-pounding and gripping novel with that unbelievable twist at the end. Of course, the audiobook was narrated by one of my favorite authors, Grover Gardner. No question the author writes a chillingly hard domestic thriller.]

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Legal Thrillers, Psychological Fiction
Publisher: Bantam
ASIN: B0B3HZQD1Z
Print Length: 336 pages
Publication Date: March 7, 2023
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: William Landay‘s latest novel is the New York Times bestseller “Defending Jacob.” His previous novels are “Mission Flats,” which won the Dagger Award as best debut crime novel of 2003, and “The Strangler,” which was an L.A. Times favorite crime novel and was nominated for the Strand Magazine Critics Award as best crime novel of 2007.