#awardwinningauthor – Page 20 – Rosepoint Publishing

The Storyteller’s Death by Ann Dávila Cardinal- #AudiobookReview – #bookclubs – #TBT

Book Blurb:

From International Latino Book Award-winning author Ann Dávila Cardinal comes a gorgeously written family saga about a Puerto Rican woman who finds herself gifted (or cursed?) with a strange ability.

There was always an old woman dying in the back room of her family’s house when Isla was a child…

Isla Larsen Sanchez’s life begins to unravel when her father passes away. Instead of being comforted at home in New Jersey, her mother starts leaving her in Puerto Rico with her grandmother and great-aunt each summer like a piece of forgotten luggage.

When Isla turns eighteen, her grandmother, a great storyteller, dies. It is then that Isla discovers she has a gift passed down through her family’s cuentistas. The tales of dead family storytellers are brought back to life, replaying themselves over and over in front of her.

At first, Isla is enchanted by this connection to the Sanchez cuentistas. But when Isla has a vision of an old murder mystery, she realizes that if she can’t solve it to make the loop end, these seemingly harmless stories could cost Isla her life.

My Review:

I wanted to like this book. It was the selection from the book club for the quarter. They go for an eclectic selection of books—those I would probably not read on my own—this being one.

Usually, if I can find an audiobook for the book club selection, I’ll choose that over reading it. I’m glad I did this time as well, the narration did help, with a couple exceptions.

I loved the main character’s name, Isla. I thought very pretty right up until one of her aunt’s drew it out in exaggerated pronunciation for the umpteenth time in that high-pitched irritating voice.

Isla Sanchez is sent to Puerto Rico every summer where she develops a strong bond with her great aunt. Her mother is an alcoholic and does not get along with her mother who cares for Isla.

But her grandmother passes away when Isla turns 18 and it quickly appears that she has imparted a gift of visions to Isla. Unfortunately, not all of the visions are benign and involve her beloved great aunt.

As the visions progress from alarming to dangerous, she realizes that the mystery of the murder must be solved. It never felt, however, that she was really in mortal danger.

I must admit that my attention wandered from time to time and like a petulant teenager who “tunes out” I did so with parts of the storyline I felt lagging or redundant. I enjoyed info bits about Puerto Rico, the customs, the foods, and celebrations. But part of my problem is that Isla comes from an entitled family—money—class—land, an irksome trope. And she becomes aware of that class distinction when she meets José.

While I enjoyed the storyteller aspect of the plot, her investigation successes came quickly, always seeking and easily finding the person who would supply that part of the information. No tension or suspense. Her time is her own, she has the money and resources to go where and when she wants. It’s all too easy.

There is a twist at the conclusion that did come as a surprise. Still, I’m a little underwhelmed with this one.

I listened to a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Book Details:

Genre: Magical Realism Fiction, Coming of Age Fiction, Family Life Fiction
Publisher: Recorded Books
ISBN-10: ‎ 1728250773
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1728250779
ASIN: B0B5JPP7D4
Listening Length: 9 hrs 48 mins
Narrator: Marisol Ramirez
Publication Date: October 4, 2022
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: The Storyteller’s Death [Amazon]

Rosepoint Publishing: Three Point Five Stars

The Author: Ann Dávila Cardinal is an International Latino Book Award winning novelist and aging tattooed punk. Her first young adult horror novel Five Midnights, was released by Tor Teen (2019), as was the sequel, Category Five (2020). Her adult debut, the novel The Storyteller’s Death, was released by Sourcebooks and is a finalist for the Vermont Book Awards for 2022. Her next magical realist adult novel, We Need No Wings, will be released from Sourcebooks in October 2024. Her young adult, horror rom-com, Breakup From Hell, came out from HarperTeen in January of 2023.

Five Midnights won an AudioFile Earphones Award, an International Latino Book Award 2020, and was a finalist for a Bram Stoker Award. Category Five was a finalist for the 2021 International Latino Book Award. The Storyteller’s Death is a finalist for the Vermont Book Award.

Her stories have appeared in a number of anthologies, including Our Shadows Have Claws (2022), Other Terrors: An Inclusive Anthology (2022), Lockdown: Stories of Crime, Terror, and Hope During a Pandemic (2020); and Women Writing the Weird (2012) and she contributed to the Encyclopedia Latina: History, Culture, And Society in the United States edited by Ilan Stavans.

Ann lives in Vermont, needle-felts tiny reading creatures, and prepares for the zombie apocalypse.

Have a great week!

The Women by Kristin Hannah – #BookReview – #TuesdayBookBlog

Rosepoint Rating: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

The missing. The forgotten. The brave… The women.

From master storyteller Kristin Hannah, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds, comes the story of a turbulent, transformative era in America: the 1960s. The Women is that rarest of novels—at once an intimate portrait of a woman coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided by war and broken by politics, of a generation both fueled by dreams and lost on the battlefield.
“Women can be heroes, too.”

When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these unexpected words, it is a revelation. Raised on idyllic Coronado Island and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing, being a good girl. But in 1965 the world is changing, and she suddenly imagines a different choice for her life. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she impulsively joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.

As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is overwhelmed by the chaos and destruction of war, as well as the unexpected trauma of coming home to a changed and politically divided America.

The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on the story of all women who put themselves in harm’s way to help others. Women whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has all too often been forgotten. A novel of searing insight and lyric beauty, The Women is a profoundly emotional, richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose extraordinary idealism and courage under fire define a generation.

My Review:

This one has got to be the author’s best and I’ve read many of them. Absolutely gripping from the beginning, the hook is there and no way can you put the book down.

While neither my hubby nor I were “boots on the ground” in ‘Nam, my hubby chose the Navy rather than be drafted into the Army as he would have landed into the middle of the jungle over there very quickly. The draft was an unwelcome interruption to our university plans and landed him instead in a support location close by where I was later allowed to join him. We met many nurses. And, yes, the reception when we finally got back home April of ’70 was unkind (to say the least).

OMG, the memories this brought back! We were there when the Pueblo was captured, when Bob Hope entertained the troops, and the Stars and Stripes gave little indication of the turmoil back home. The change in our country when we returned was shocking.

So this novel, immersive from a woman’s point of view, the nurses who saw and saved the casualties (that they could), both reminded me of the military I witnessed and informed as well in graphic descriptions the trauma both men and women were experiencing.

The main character, twenty-year-old Frances (Frankie) McGrath, has seen her affluent family send her brother to war, earning his place in her father’s study, the “Wall of Heroes.”

She decides she must go as well, serve with her newly minted nurse’s degree and license but is wisely refused in the Navy and Air Force. No problem with the Army who promptly delivers her with little training into the thick of it where she discovers it was not the Army she signed up for. Horrific casualties; sights, smells, sounds never-ending.

Hannah paints an accurate picture of the desperate understaffed situation, the shocking living conditions, the lack of adequate equipment, and the appalling weather.

Her hooch is shared by Ethel and Barb who become close-knit friends and allies throughout the remainder of the narrative. Together, in country, they handle the artillery fire, heat, casualties, and sexism.

“…We age in dog years over here, Frank…”

The nurses work through exhaustion, deplorable conditions, save those they can and when not actively in the OR, share their nursing skills in villages. They work tirelessly, doing what they can, and learn to cope through whatever means possible.

Exposed to the same Agent Orange the men are will have catastrophic effects on the women as well.

After two tours, her welcome home didn’t happen. She was met with derision, a nation sharply divided, a shocking atmosphere. Even her own family appeared to be ashamed of her service. Assimilation did not go well. She is left with severe PTSD and told by the VA that there were no women in ‘Nam.

“Some women had worn love beads in the sixties; others had worn dog tags.”

The characters felt real, the scenes so graphic you could smell them, choke from the clouds of napalm, smell the blood. I heard those songs of protest again. So powerful. Try as I might, could not stop the tears.

The horrible loss.

I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author and St. Martin’s Press through @NetGalley that in no way influenced this review. These are my honest thoughts. I really enjoyed the last Hannah book I read, The Great Alone, but this powerful book will go to the top of my favorites list for the year.

Book Details:

Genre: Family Life Fiction, Women’s Domestic Life Fiction
Publisher: St Martin’s Press
ASIN: B0C1X97LW7
Print Length: 480 pages
Publication Date: February 6, 2024
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

The Author: Kristin Hannah is the award-winning and bestselling author of more than 20 novels. Her newest novel, The Women, about the nurses who served in the Vietnam war, will be released on February 6, 2024.

The Four Winds was published in February of 2021 and immediately hit #1 on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Indie bookstore’s bestseller lists. Additionally, it was selected as a book club pick by the both Today Show and The Book Of the Month club, which named it the best book of 2021.

In 2018, The Great Alone became an instant New York Times #1 bestseller and was named the Best Historical Novel of the Year by Goodreads.

In 2015, The Nightingale became an international blockbuster and was Goodreads Best Historical fiction novel for 2015 and won the coveted People’s Choice award for best fiction in the same year. It was named a Best Book of the Year by Amazon, iTunes, Buzzfeed, the Wall Street Journal, Paste, and The Week.

The Nightingale is currently in pre-production at Tri Star. Firefly Lane, her beloved novel about two best friends, was the #1 Netflix series around the world, in the week it came out. The popular tv show stars Katherine Heigl and Sarah Chalke.

A former attorney, Kristin lives in the Pacific Northwest.

©V Williams

#TuesdayBookBlog

One Last Kill by Robert Dugoni – #BookReview – #womensleuths

Tracy Crosswhite Book 10

Rosepoint Publishing: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

An Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling series.

Detective Tracy Crosswhite draws a long-dormant serial killer out of hiding in a nerve-shattering novel by New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni.

Tracy Crosswhite is reopening the investigation into Seattle’s Route 99 serial killer. After thirteen victims, he stopped hunting and the trail went cold, stirring public outrage. Now, nearly three decades after his first kill, Tracy is expected to finally bring closure to the victims’ families and redeem the Seattle PD’s reputation. Even if it means working with her nemesis, Captain Johnny Nolasco.

Lead detective of the original task force, Nolasco dares Tracy to do what he failed to: close the case. Forming an uneasy alliance, Tracy and Nolasco revisit old leads and pursue new evidence only to unearth high-level corruption and cover-ups as dangerous as the elusive killer himself. At the risk of being exposed, such deadly and powerful forces will go to extremes to stay in the shadows.

That’s just where Tracy and Nolasco are headed—to find the twisted truth behind a killer’s motives, his disappearance, and his chilling comeback.

His Review:

Tracy Crosswhite has risen quickly through the ranks of detective in Seattle. To be sure, the men in the department are not always supportive of fast-moving women. To level the playing field, she has been assigned to review old cold cases that were not solved. One case in particular regarding eleven hookers was never solved. There is a similarity between all of the deaths, a carved set of “Angels Wings” on the left shoulder of the victim.

The case is over 25 years old and suddenly the killer is striking again! This time the victims are middle-aged ladies who work in governmental positions in Seattle. They are no longer part of the marginalized segment of society. Their deaths are affecting the community in general and everyone is on edge. Tracy is pulled into the problem and is working with a senior detective who worked on the case over 25 years ago. His name is Johnnie Nolasco.

This criminal has been very careful and thorough! Why would he deviate from his former modus operandi and start killing middle-aged or retired former city employees? There is no apparent DNA material to help identify the killer. Tracy starts by going through the boxes of evidence collected on each of the murders and in one of the boxes makes a surprising find!

Working together Tracy and Johnnie slowly follow the evidence and develop a possible identity for the killer. The investigation is stymied at every turn by the lack of speed from various departments within the Seattle Police Department. They feel they have found a viable individual but are reluctant to name the person who is a bit too close to home.

Dugoni does not disappoint. The trail is convoluted and has more twists and turns than the road to Pike’s Peak. Read and enjoy this novel! 5 stars – CE Williams

[Note: The CE and I have shared a number of Dugoni’s books, including most recently Her Deadly Game, and greatly enjoyed it. As I’ve said before, around this house we like to say, “Of course it’s good, it’s a Dugoni.” They are consistently engaging, well-crafted, and well-plotted with relatable characters. This one is no exception. VW]

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

Book Details:

Genre: Serial Killer Thrillers, Women Sleuths
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
ISBN: ‎ 1662500211
ASIN: B0B9T7K1F3
Print Length: 351 pages
Publication Date: October 3, 2023
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

The Author: Robert Dugoni is the critically acclaimed New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and #1 Amazon bestselling author of the Tracy Crosswhite police series set in Seattle, which has sold more than 8 million books worldwide. He is also the author of The Charles Jenkins espionage series, the David Sloane legal thriller series, and several stand-alone novels including The 7th Canon, Damage Control, and the literary novels, The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell – Suspense Magazine’s 2018 Book of the Year, for which Dugoni’s narration won an AudioFile Earphones Award and the critically acclaimed, The World Played Chess; as well as the nonfiction exposé The Cyanide Canary, a Washington Post Best Book of the Year. Several of his novels have been optioned for movies and television series. Dugoni is the recipient of the Nancy Pearl Award for Fiction and a three-time winner of the Friends of Mystery Spotted Owl Award for best novel set in the Pacific Northwest. He has also been a finalist for many other awards including the International Thriller Award, the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction, the Silver Falchion Award for mystery, and the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award.

Robert Dugoni’s books are sold in more than twenty-five countries and have been translated into more than thirty languages.

Visit his website at http://www.robertdugoni.com, and follow him on twitter @robertdugoni and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/AuthorRobertDugoni

A Beautiful Ferocity by Jean Grainger – #BookReview – Women’s Historical Fiction

in Historical Irish Fiction

Rosepoint Publishing: Five Stars

Cullen’s Celtic Cabaret – Book 2

Book Blurb

In A Beautiful Ferocity, the second instalment of the Cullen’s Celtic Cabaret Series, we’re taken on a thrilling ride through the Roaring Twenties as Ireland fights for her freedom. Peter Cullen leads his troupe of eclectic performers through the troubled country, in a daring new direction, entertaining audiences who’ve had enough of the old ways. When their cabaret is threatened, the performers must fight to keep their dream alive, treading the dangerous line between propriety and entertainment.

When outside forces intervene, and put not just their livelihoods in danger, but their lives, loyalty, friendship and even the bonds of love are tested to the edge of endurance.

Book Review

Yes! The continued saga of the characters that comprise Cullen’s Celtic Cabaret Series, the troupe lead by Peter Cullen! The performers hit the road in the roaring twenties through Ireland with an eye on England and, hopefully, the US.

The performers have settled into a rollicking show that includes the first members, Peter, Nick, May, Enzo, and Celine. May has bankrolled the “fit up” in partnership with Peter so they could keep their own money and not have to seek venues. They added chorus girls.

May is great at the administration, control of supplies, costumes, and equipment while Peter orchestrates the program to keep each performance fresh. May is still madly in love with Peter—Nick with Celine. Nick has held a secret that he’s managed to hide until the troupe faces a financial crisis.

As always, there are little charms of wit, wisdom, and good old Irish sense of humor peppered through the well paced narrative.

“She might have a title, but she ain’t no lady.”

“…poor old Cecily was so ugly, even the tide wouldn’t take her out.”

Tension builds with the couple’s relationships and builds in the conclusion to a move that smacks of deceit and deception demanding the reader know what will happen with the characters and hoping it will follow a plot path that leads to happy ever after.

It’s obvious, however, the author may have other ideas as she abruptly ends the installment with a cliff hanger. I thought Book 1, For All the World, kicked off the series with a great hook. I’m loving this new series, a darker and immersive departure from the family dramas we’ve to love and I’m looking forward to installment three. Heartily recommended!

Book Description

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CDZR54XD
Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 27, 2023
Print length ‏ : ‎ 273 pages
Source: Author
Genre: Historical Irish Fiction, Historical British & Irish Literature, Women’s Historical Fiction
Title Link: A Beautiful Ferocity [Amazon US]
Amazon UK

The Author: JEAN GRAINGER – USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR

SELECTED BY BOOKBUB READERS IN TOP 19 OF HISTORICAL FICTION BOOKS.
WINNER OF THE 2016 AUTHOR’S CIRCLE HISTORICAL NOVEL OF EXCELLENCE

Hello and thanks for taking time out to check out my page. If you’re wondering what you’re getting with my books then think of the late great Maeve Binchy but sometimes with a historical twist. I was born in Cork, Ireland in 1971 and I come from a large family of storytellers, so much so that we had to have ‘The Talking Spoon’, only the person holding the spoon could talk!

I have worked as a history lecturer at University, a teacher of English, History and Drama in secondary school, a playwright, and a tour guide of my beloved Ireland. I am married to the lovely Diarmuid and we have four children. We live in a 200 year old stone cottage in Mid-Cork with my family and the world’s smallest dogs, called Scrappy and Scoobi..

My experiences leading groups, mainly from the United States, led me to write my first novel, ‘The Tour’. My observances of the often funny, sometimes sad but always interesting events on tours fascinated me. People really did confide the most extraordinary things, the safety of strangers I suppose. It’s a fictional story set on a tour bus but many of the characters are based on people I met over the years.

[truncated—please see her full bio on her Amazon author page]

Many of the people who have reviewed my books have said that you get to know the characters and really become attached to them, that’s wonderful for me to hear because that’s how I feel about them too. I grew up on Maeve Binchy and Deirdre Purcell and I aspired to being like them. If you buy one of my books I’m very grateful and I really hope you enjoy it. If you do, or even if you don’t, please take the time to post a review. Writing is a source of constant contentment to me and I am so fortunate to have the time and the inclination to do it, but to read a review written by a reader really does make my day.

Have a great weekend!

Dying for a Daiquiri by Cindy Sample – #BookReview – #TuesdayBookBlog

Laurel McKay Mysteries Book 3

Book Blurb:

When Laurel McKay attends a Hawaiian wedding, her vacation soon becomes more deadly than the calorie count in her daiquiri. Her post-wedding holiday upends after a beautiful hula dancer is found dead on the rocks below the oceanfront restaurant owned by Laurel’s brother and sister-in-law.

When a family member is arrested for the murder, Laurel is plunged into a mystery where exotic Big Island locations–a coffee plantation, black sand beaches and a volcano–reveal their deadly side. And where is her hunky on-again/off-again boyfriend detective when she needs him?

Laurel zip-lines and four-wheels her way through the island paradise unearthing long hidden secrets. Will ingenuity and pluck be enough? Or will this hula be her last?

My Review:

While I’m not usually a fan of the klutsy amateur sleuth trope, I have to say I was hooked on this one pretty quick. It’s that sense of humor, you know?

My first outing with a Cindy Sample book, it was offered free on Amazon recently and I liked the title, the blurb, and that it is usually located in Sacramento? Our old stomping grounds for more than 45 years!

This time the setting is gorgeous Hawaii. We commented after our first trip to Hawaii, that there is San Francisco time, Sacramento time, and then there is Hawaiian time. The pace of Hawaii is just the perfect antidote to anyone seeking to slow down life, smell the orchids, enjoy those Mai Tai’s—or in this case Daiquiris—it’s just fruit juice. Right?

Laurel, with her mother and Stan, is in Hawaii for her best friend Liz’s wedding. Her brother Dave and sister-in-law own a bar and restaurant oceanside where the reception is held, but it’s obvious from the get-go that the sis-in-law isn’t happy with the entertainment, one hula dancer in particular. Regan isn’t shy about accusing Dave of cheating. But her brother Dave? Not Daaave!

So when the voluptuous Hawaiian dancer is found on the rocks below in the surf, it doesn’t look good for Laurel’s family.

We are talking light-hearted, cozy mystery, not something to be taken seriously. It is peppered heavily with humor while keeping a good pace in a well-plotted murder mystery.

The location lends itself to salty Pacific air descriptions combined with an abundance of wild island habitat further mingled with the delightfully descriptive aromas of fresh Kona coffee. The characters are lively and are eventually joined by Laurel’s boyfriend, Detective Tom after Laurel’s second close brush with accidental (on purpose) close calls. So there is a bit of romance interspersed with fast action-paced chapters.

Enough twists and turns to keep you guessing, glued to the pages, chuckling or gasping as you go. It’s delightful escapism, even given the seriousness of murder. The conclusion wraps it up well and leaves you reluctant to leave these characters. You need some fun? Discover this series; it’s a happy find.

I received a promo copy of this book from the author through Amazon that in no way influenced this review. These are my honest thoughts. I’ll be back.

Rosepoint Rating: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Lawyers & Criminals Humor, Cozy Culinary Mystery, Cozy Culinary Mysteries
ASIN: B00FK5UW4Y
Print Length: 267 pages
Publication Date: January 20, 2014
Source: Amazon promo

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

The Author: Cindy Sample is a former corporate CEO who decided plotting murder was more entertaining than plodding through paperwork. She retired to follow her lifelong dream of becoming a mystery author. Her national bestselling LAUREL McKAY HUMOROUS MYSTERY series is set in the California Gold Country, unless Cindy feels like traveling. Then the characters tag along with her on trips to Hawaii, the Caribbean and Las Vegas. Her new SPINDRIFT COVE series, featuring Sierra Sullivan, is set in Washington State. Cindy is a five-time finalist for the LEFTY Award for Best Humorous Mystery, a two-time finalist for the SILVER FALCHION Award for best traditional mystery, and a two-time finalist for the Chanticleer MURDER & MAYHEM AWARD.

Cindy is a past president of the Sacramento chapter of Sisters in Crime and has served on the boards of the Sacramento Opera and the YWCA. She has two wonderful adult children, a lovely daughter-in-law, and a grandson who live too far away.

Visit Cindy on her website at http://www.cindysamplebooks.com
http://www.facebook.com/cindysampleauthor
http://www.twitter.com/cindysample1

#TuesdayBookBlog

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller – #BookReview – #DystopianFiction

[Amazon] Best Literature & Fiction

Nominee for Best Fiction (2012)

Book Blurb:

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the author of The River: In this “end-of-the-world novel more like a rapturous beginning” (San Francisco Chronicle), Hig somehow survived the flu pandemic that killed everyone he knows. His gripping story is “an ode to friendship between two men…the strong bond between a human and a dog, and a reminder of what is worth living for” (Minneapolis Star-Tribune).

Hig’s wife is gone, his friends are dead, and he lives in the hangar of a small abandoned airport with his dog, Jasper, and a mercurial, gun-toting misanthrope named Bangley.

But when a random transmission beams through the radio of his 1956 Cessna, the voice ignites a hope deep inside him that a better life exists outside their tightly controlled perimeter. Risking everything, he flies past his point of no return and follows its static-broken trail, only to find something that is both better and worse than anything he could ever hope for.

His Review:

The apocalypse has occurred and mankind is mostly obliterated. Whether the cause was a manmade virus or naturally occurring virus doesn’t matter. Most of the cities are destroyed and have become ghost towns. Hig and his best friend Bangley are survivors. Weapons are easy to come by because nobody is left to control them.

Many of the survivors are sick and Hig and Bangley simply kill them rather than become cross infected with other humans. They live in a homemade tower that they have built to protect their home and the plane that Hig loves to fly. He usually flies far too high for bullets to reach the plane. Mankind has resorted to tribalism and raiding to survive.

The discovery of an old man and his daughter living in a desert canyon changes everything for Hig. They decide not to kill him when he lands close to their enclave and a plan to go back to civilization is developed. This story is cruel at times but is very well thought through and hard to put down. Enjoy! 4.5 stars – CE Williams

I previously read The Last Ranger, released July 25, 2023, and greatly enjoyed giving it my five stars. Many thanks to the author for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. These are my own opinions.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Action & Adventure Literary Fiction, Dystopian Science Fiction, Dystopian Fiction
Publisher: Vintage
ASIN: B007GZELF2
Print Length: 322 pages
Publication Date: August 7, 2012
Source: Author
Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Peter Heller is a longtime contributor to NPR, a contributing editor at Outside Magazine and Men’s Journal, and a frequent contributor to Businessweek. He is an award winning adventure writer and the author of four books of literary nonfiction. He lives in Denver. Heller was born and raised in New York. He attended high school in Vermont and Dartmouth College in New Hampshire where he became an outdoorsman and whitewater kayaker. He traveled the world as an expedition kayaker, writing about challenging descents in the Pamirs, the Tien Shan mountains, the Caucuses, Central America and Peru.At the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where he received an MFA in fiction and poetry, he won a Michener fellowship for his epic poem “The Psalms of Malvine.” He has worked as a dishwasher, construction worker, logger, offshore fisherman, kayak instructor, river guide, and world class pizza deliverer. Some of these stories can be found in Set Free in China, Sojourns on the Edge. In the winter of 2002 he joined, on the ground team, the most ambitious whitewater expedition in history as it made its way through the treacherous Tsangpo Gorge in Eastern Tibet. He chronicled what has been called The Last Great Adventure Prize for Outside, and in his book Hell or High Water: Surviving Tibet’s Tsangpo River.

The gorge — three times deeper than the Grand Canyon — is sacred to Buddhists, and is the inspiration for James Hilton’s Shangri La. It is so deep there are tigers and leopards in the bottom and raging 25,000 foot peaks at the top, and so remote and difficult to traverse that a mythical waterfall, sought by explorers since Victorian times, was documented for the first time in 1998 by a team from National Geographic.

The book won a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly, was number three on Entertainment Weekly’s “Must List” of all pop culture, and a Denver Post review ranked it “up there with any adventure writing ever written.”

In December, 2005, on assignment for National Geographic Adventure, he joined the crew of an eco-pirate ship belonging to the radical environmental group the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society as it sailed to Antarctica to hunt down and disrupt the Japanese whaling fleet.

The ship is all black, sails under a jolly Roger, and two days south of Tasmania the engineers came on deck and welded a big blade called the Can Opener to the bow–a weapon designed to gut the hulls of ships. In The Whale Warriors: The Battle at the Bottom of the World to Save the Planet’s Largest Mammals, Heller recounts fierce gales, forty foot seas, rammings, near-sinkings, and a committed crew’s clear-eyed willingness to die to save a whale. The book was published by Simon and Schuster’s Free Press in September, 2007.

In the fall of 2007 Heller was invited by the team who made the acclaimed film The Cove to accompany them in a clandestine filming mission into the guarded dolphin-killing cove in Taiji, Japan. Heller paddled into the inlet with four other surfers while a pod of pilot whales was being slaughtered. He was outfitted with a helmet cam, and the terrible footage can be seen in the movie. The Cove went on to win an Academy Award. Heller wrote about the experience for Men’s Journal.

Heller’s most recent memoir, about surfing from California down the coast of Mexico, Kook: What Surfing Taught Me about Love, Life, and Catching the Perfect Wave, was published by The Free Press in 2010. Can a man drop everything in the middle of his life, pick up a surfboard and, apprenticing himself to local masters, learn to ride a big, fast wave in six months? Can he learn to finally love and commit to someone else? Can he care for the oceans, which are in crisis? The answers are in. The book won a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly, which called it a “powerful memoir…about love: of a woman, of living, of the sea.” It also won the National Outdoor Book Award for Literature.

Heller’s debut novel, The Dog Stars, is being published by Knopf in August, 2012. It will also be published by Headline Review in Great Britain and Australia, and Actes Sud in France.

Chill--It's Sunday

Devil Makes Three by Ben Fountain – #BookReview – #politicalfiction

Book Blurb:

From the award-winning, bestselling author of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk comes a brilliant and propulsive new novel about greed, power, and American complicity set in Haiti

Haiti, 1991. When a violent coup d’état leads to the fall of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, American expat Matt Amaker is forced to abandon his idyllic, beachfront scuba business. With the rise of a brutal military dictatorship and an international embargo threatening to destroy even the country’s most powerful players, some are looking to gain an advantage in the chaos–and others are just looking to make it through another day.

Desperate for money―and survival―Matt teams up with his best friend and business partner Alix Variel, the adventurous only son of a socially prominent Haitian family. They set their sights on legendary shipwrecks that have been rumored to contain priceless treasures off a remote section of Haiti’s southern coast. Their ambition and exploration of these disastrous wrecks come with a cascade of ill-fated incidents―one that involves Misha, Alix’s erudite sister, who stumbles onto an arms-trafficking ring masquerading as a U.S. government humanitarian aid office, and rookie CIA case officer Audrey O’Donnell, who finds herself doing clandestine work on an assignment that proves to be more difficult and dubious than she could have possibly imagined.

Devil Makes Three’s depiction of blood politics, the machinations of power, and a country in the midst of upheaval is urgently and insistently resonant. This new novel is sure to cement Ben Fountain’s reputation as one of the twenty-first century’s boldest and most perceptive writers.

His Review:

Matt runs a dive shop and takes swimmers to the remote and gorgeous diving area called the Zombie Hole. He loves his job and the people that he introduces to snorkeling. A new government has taken over Haiti, however, and he is no longer welcome at his business or on the island. The criminal element has complete control of the island and people are dying in the streets.

Going into town for supplies is so dangerous he is taking his life in his hands. This story describes the frightening life of the common individual in Haiti. While reading the book, I became more distressed about the people and situation on this island.

Ben Fountain has a wonderful writing style but I found the book so disturbing that I could not continue to read. My heart goes out to the people of Haiti! 3 stars – CE Williams

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

Rosepoint Publishing: Three stars

Book Details:

Genre: Political Fiction, Historical Fiction
Publisher: Flatiron Books
ISBN-10: ‎ 1250776511
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1250776518
ASIN: B0BPQS5X9P
Print Length: 544 pages
Publication Date: September 26, 2023
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Ben Fountain‘s novel BILLY LYNN’S LONG HALFTIME WALK received the National Book Critics’ Circle Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Award, the Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Award, the PEN/New England Cerulli Award for Excellence in Sports Writing, and the Jesse Jones Award for fiction from the Texas Institute of Letters, and was a finalist for the National Book Award in both the US and the UK (international authors division). The film adaptation of BILLY LYNN, directed by three-time Oscar winner Ang Lee, was released in 2016 by Sony Pictures. Fountain’s short story collection BRIEF ENCOUNTERS WITH CHE GUEVARA received the PEN/Hemingway Award, the Barnes & Noble Discover Award for Fiction, and a Whiting Writers Award. Fountain’s short fiction has appeared in Harper’s, Zoetrope: All-Story, the Paris Review, Esquire, the Sewanee Review, DALLAS NOIR, and HAITI NOIR II, among other publications. His nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times, the New York Times Magazine, the Guardian, the Wall Street Journal, Le Monde, Texas Monthly, and elsewhere, and his reportage on post-earthquake Haiti was broadcast on the radio show This American Life. Fountain grew up in the tobacco country of eastern North Carolina, and is a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University Law School. A former attorney in private practice, he has lived in Dallas, Texas for over thirty years. In September, 2018, Ecco/HarperCollins will publish Fountain’s nonfiction book BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY BURN AGAIN, which is based on his reportage for the Guardian of the US presidential campaign of 2016.

happy thursday!

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah – #AudiobookReview – #FamilyLifeFiction

Winner for Best Historical Fiction (2018)

Book Blurb:

The number one New York Times best seller

The newest audiobook sensation from Kristin Hannah, best-selling author of The Nightingale.

This program is read by acclaimed narrator Julia Whelan, whose enchanting voice brought Gone Girl and Fates and Furies to life. Kristin Hannah reads the acknowledgements.

Alaska, 1974. Unpredictable. Unforgiving. Untamed.

For a family in crisis, the ultimate test of survival.

Ernt Allbright, a former POW, comes home from the Vietnam war a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes an impulsive decision: He will move his family north, to Alaska, where they will live off the grid in America’s last true frontier. Thirteen-year-old Leni, a girl coming of age in a tumultuous time, caught in the riptide of her parents’ passionate, stormy relationship, dares to hope that a new land will lead to a better future for her family. She is desperate for a place to belong. Her mother, Cora, will do anything and go anywhere for the man she loves, even if means following him into the unknown.

At first, Alaska seems to be the answer to their prayers. In a wild, remote corner of the state, they find a fiercely independent community of strong men and even stronger women. The long, sunlit days and the generosity of the locals make up for the Allbrights’ lack of preparation and dwindling resources. But as winter approaches and darkness descends on Alaska, Ernt’s fragile mental state deteriorates and the family begins to fracture. Soon the perils outside pale in comparison to threats from within. In their small cabin, covered in snow, blanketed in 18 hours of night, Leni and her mother learn the terrible truth: They are on their own. In the wild, there is no one to save them but themselves.

In this unforgettable portrait of human frailty and resilience, Kristin Hannah reveals the indomitable character of the modern American pioneer and the spirit of a vanishing Alaska – a place of incomparable beauty and danger.

The Great Alone is a daring, beautiful, stay-up-all-night audiobook about love and loss, the fight for survival, and the wildness that lives in both man and nature.

My Review:

Leni Allbright is only 13 when her parents, Ernt and Cora, decide they should move to Alaska to claim a piece of land and cabin left to him by one of his former Viet Nam buddies. Ernt and Cora have been part of the landscape group of tune in, turn on, and drop out fringe of the seventies protest scene.

Lovers as teenagers, Cora defied her parents to marry and disappear with Ernt. They lived fairly free until Ernt was sent to ‘Nam. He wasn’t the same when he returned, and their marriage born of passion is still one that Cora defends when Ernt becomes abusive. Now, after years of lost jobs, opportunities, erratic moods and alcohol, they’ve come to the end of the road. Surely, in Alaska, living off the grid, off the land, and free, everything will be better.

Arriving almost literally at land’s end, they realize they are woefully unprepared and still don’t know the half of it. No electricity, no running water, and an outhouse. This is spring but winter is coming and that’s a whole nother kind of hell. Spring and summer must be an intensive prep for winter.

Thank heaven for the kind neighbors, the inhabitants who must support each other to survive. I love these characters, though there are always those not so lovely, the drinkers and the anti-government and these feed into Ernt heavily. Ernt believes he must teach his daughter survival skills.

So many great characters, one of my favorite being Large Marge, the backbone of the area, extremely knowledgeable, strong, and independent—fully capable of taking on Ernt. Leni longing to become a part of the community finally meets a boy and over the ensuing years falls in love.

The descriptions of the area, the state, the sweeping, majestic wilderness provides a visual strong enough to smell the pine, the wind-swept sea, and hear the snarl of the beasts. The pace is constant, painting a picture of the lives of the struggle of the inhabitants and their determination to conquer the conditions and enjoy the benefits. You might have to look hard, but there are benefits.

Leni matures into a strong, capable young woman, but fiercely loyal to her mother, and as much as she’d previously loved her father, came to view him as destructive and violent. As many scenarios as I devised, pushing the storyline in the direction I thought would go, found the author had her own ideas. Never a dull moment.

The narrative takes on epic proportions, possibly stretching some plot points a bit longer than was necessary.

Hannah explores the relationship between Cora and Ernt, Leni and her mother, Leni and Michael, Ernt with toxic buddies. A harsh return to the times and the dysfunction of the individuals. I was disappointed with the direction that Michael’s story went, amazed at Leni’s return to the area and of the legal repercussions—the only way it should have gone—the easy acceptance of the Walker family. Then came the longish wrapping up.

Still, you can’t deny Hannah’s books are immensely entertaining; plot heavy and diverse characters looking at the full spectrum of abuse, PTSD, poverty, murder, loss, love, and survival.

I’ve read a number of books by this author, the last of which was The Four Winds (which I loved) and found each riveting, page-turning, and usually earning a robust 4.5 or 5 stars from me. If you’ve read her books you no doubt have your favorites as well. How did this one work for you?

I downloaded a copy of this beautifully narrated audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Family Life Fiction
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
ASIN: B07225XB9D
Listening Length: 15 hrs 3 mins
Narrator: Julia Whelan
Publication Date: February 6, 2018
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: The Great Alone [Amazon]