#begorrathan24 – Rosepoint Publishing

A Day of Fire by Kate Quinn – #AudiobookReview – #ReadingIrelandMonth24

A Novel of Pompeii

Book Blurb:

From six bestselling authors, including New York Times bestseller Kate Quinn, comes a vividly imagined novel following the lives of those in ancient Pompeii on the fateful day Mount Vesuvius erupts.

Pompeii was a lively resort flourishing in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius at the height of the Roman Empire. When Vesuvius erupted in an explosion of flame and ash, the entire town would be destroyed. Some of its citizens died in the chaos, some escaped the mountain’s wrath . . . and these are their stories:

A boy loses his innocence in Pompeii’s flourishing streets.

An heiress dreads her wedding day, not knowing it will be swallowed by fire.

An ex-legionary stakes his entire future on a gladiator bout destined never to be finished.

A crippled senator welcomes death, until a tomboy on horseback comes to his rescue.

A young mother faces an impossible choice for her unborn child as the ash falls.

A priestess and a prostitute seek redemption and resurrection as the town is buried.

Six authors bring to life overlapping stories of patricians and slaves, warriors and politicians, villains and heroes who cross each other’s paths during Pompeii’s fiery end. But who will escape, and who will be buried for eternity?

My Review:

I went looking for another book by Kate Quinn for #ReadingIrelandMonth24 and stumbled across this one. Of course I was excited! Six best-selling authors collaborating on the destruction of Pompeii? And one of the two narrators my favorite from the audiobooks with Kate Quinn? A win-win for sure.

I love the collaboration of the stories, each with their own vignettes, and gradually each tale begins to overlap and meld into a solid, entertaining storyline. It’s a wide swath of humanity—from the privileged and spoiled maiden to a prostitute just trying to survive day to day with her beloved sister.

With the current disaster or dystopian craze, I can see where this would make for an edge-of-your-seat flick (never mind the one made in 2014). The suspense is killing, especially when you know what’s coming. Why aren’t these people fleeing for their lives?

They had warning—by the volcano itself.

But rather than focusing on the population, the novel brilliantly hones in on the personal lives of just a small cross-section of the residents. It’s emotional, obviously deeply character driven that engages the reader quickly and invests them in each individual’s chances for survival.

Of course there will be a woman about to give birth—what worse time could there be? Politics are, as always, playing a big part in where the Romans’s minds are—haven’t they been through earthquakes before and survived? No reason to scatter with a few rattles and rolls. The high-born daughter betrothed to a man old enough to be her father—talk about frying pan to the fire!

In the face of an apocalyptic cataclysm, how will these people react? Selfless or selfish? Will either save them from the poisonous and heated gases, a shower of ash, and another of rock and stone?

The authors take the readers to heart-pumping expectations only to switch scenes and confront another crisis. The separate contributions by authors are seamlessly woven together to create one extremely thrilling book about a historical pyroclastic flow that killed more than 2,000 people.

I really enjoyed the book! But just too much disbelief that any could have survived, given a late muster to move results in my star rating. Still, I greatly recommend the audiobook; get your copy. I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Ancient World Historical Romance, Ancient History Fiction, Literature Anthologies
Publisher: HarperAudio
ASIN: B0BT18P822
Listening Length: 11 hrs 19 mins
Narrators: Andrew Kingston, Saskia Maarleveld
Publication Date: August 8, 2023
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)

Title Link: A Day of Fire [Amazon-US]

A Day of Fire [Amazon-UK]

The Authors: Kate Quinn, Stephanie Dray, Ben Kane, Eliza Knight, Sophie Perinot, Vicky Alvear

Kate Quinn – Kate Quinn is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction. A native of southern California, she attended Boston University where she earned a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Classical Voice. She has written four novels in the Empress of Rome Saga, and two books in the Italian Renaissance, before turning to the 20th century with “The Alice Network”, “The Huntress,” “The Rose Code,” and “The Diamond Eye.” All have been translated into multiple languages. Kate and her husband now live in San Diego with three rescue dogs.

The Narrators: Andrew Kingston, Saskia Maarleveld

Saskia Maarleveld is an experienced audiobook narrator and voice-over actress based in New York City. Raised in New Zealand and France, she is highly skilled with accents and dialects, and many of her books have been narrated entirely in accents other than her own. In addition to audiobooks, Saskia’s voice can be heard in animation, video games, and commercials. She attributes her love and understanding of reading books aloud to coming from a large family where audiobooks were the only way to get through car rides without fighting! Visit saskiamaarleveld.com to learn more.

©V Williams

March is #ReadingIrelandMonth

No Strangers Here by Carlene O’Connor – #AudiobookReview – #ReadingIrelandMonth24

County Kerry Mystery #1

Book Blurb:

Set in Ireland’s striking, rugged countryside, USA Today bestselling author Carlene O’Connor’s dark, atmospheric new crime fiction series combines the eerie atmosphere of Tana French and Louise Penny with the compulsively taut plotting of Dervla McTiernan and Lucy Foley, as an Irish veterinarian grapples with life, death, family dynamics, and the secrets at the heart of her small community…

On a rocky beach in the southwest of Ireland, the body of Jimmy O’Reilly, sixty-nine years old and dressed in a suit and his dancing shoes, is propped on a boulder, staring sightlessly out to sea. A cryptic message is spelled out next to the body with sixty-nine polished black stones and a discarded vial of deadly veterinarian medication lies nearby. Jimmy was a wealthy racehorse owner, known far and wide as The Dancing Man. In a town like Dingle, everyone knows a little something about everyone else. But dig a bit deeper, and there’s always much more to find. And when Detective Inspector Cormac O’Brien is dispatched out of Killarney to lead the murder inquiry, he’s determined to unearth every last buried secret.

Dimpna Wilde hasn’t been home in years. As picturesque as Dingle may be for tourists in search of their roots and the perfect jumper, to her it means family drama and personal complications. In fairness, Dublin hasn’t worked out quite as she hoped either. Faced with a triple bombshell—her mother rumored to be in a relationship with Jimmy, her father’s dementia is escalating, and her brother is avoiding her calls—Dimpna moves back to clear her family of suspicion.

Despite plenty of other suspects, the guards are crawling over the Wildes. But the horse business can be a brutal one, and as Dimpna becomes more involved with her old acquaintances and haunts, the depth of lingering grudges becomes clear. Theft, extortion, jealousy and greed. As Dimpna takes over the family practice, she’s in a race with the detective inspector to uncover the dark, twisting truth, no matter how close to home it strikes…

My Review:

Oh good grief. You can’t say I’m not consistent. An author I’ve read many times, her cozy mysteries, an apparently gave one to the CE to read in June 2022.

This one.

No Strangers Here launches a series in which the author leaves her cozy mysteries and turns out a much darker story. And you can believe that the author can spin some pretty interesting tales!

Detective Inspector Cormac O’Brien is back to lead the investigation into the murder of Jimmy O’Reilly in Dingle. Dr. Dimpna Wilde has returned to Dingle and the veterinarian quickly finds herself embroiled in the apparent murder owing to a possible connection to her family. Her father, also a veterinarian with a long-held practice is showing strong signs of dementia.

Wealthy racehorse owner Jimmy O’Reilly had quite the reputation for himself. He was quite the dapper dancer and the ladies loved it. Including Dimpna’s mother?

Along with a bird’s eye view of the beautiful tourist-drawing countryside and a well-rounded cadre of support characters, the narrative’s undercurrent reveals twists as the storyline progresses through each lead.

I reviewed Book 2 of the series, Some of Us Are Looking and really enjoyed it but I can’t find a Book 3 for this series. I found Book 1 to be a bit slower than the second, but as the start of a series, that’s not unusual. Dimpna has her problems, of course she does, but I found the novel about the Irish animal doctor engaging and either installment could be read as a standalone.

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

Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: International Mystery & Crime, Women Sleuth Mysteries
Publisher: Recorded Books
ASIN: B0B8R282TK
Listening Length: 12 hrs 26 mins
Narrator: Emily O’Mahony
Publication Date: October 25, 2022
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: No Strangers Here [Amazon]

The Author: USA Today bestselling author Carlene O’Connor comes from a long line of Irish storytellers. Her great-grandmother emigrated from Ireland to America and the stories have been flowing ever since. Of all the places across the pond she’s wandered, she fell most in love with a walled town in County Limerick and was inspired to create the town of Kilbane, County Cork. She writes the bestselling IRISH VILLAGE MYSTERIES, the HOME TO IRELAND series, and the new COUNTY KERRY MYSTERIES. Her books have been translated into numerous languages, and optioned for television.

Readers can find her at Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100086525205106 or through her website: http://www.carleneoconnor.net

Reading Ireland Month 2024 – Annual Irish Celebration

I’m participating in #readingirelandmonth2024 and have put together a don’t miss reading list of books I’ll be reviewing along with their links to Amazon.

The books have a connection to Ireland either with an Irish protagonist, be written by an Irish author, or an author with Irish roots. I have a mix of older as well as new or to-be-released books in this year’s list.

In the US, we tend to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with parades, pub specials, and corned beef and cabbage. Here in “Chicago-land” they turn the Chicago River green. (Okay, that may be going too far, but it’s fun.)

Cathy at 746 Books is hosting again this year and you will want to check her website to see all the ideas for books and related media. Be sure to use her hashtags #readingirelandmonth2024 and #begorrathon2024.

I will wear some green and look for corned beef bargains. Of course, I always include that article I wrote years ago following one of our more interesting St Patrick Days, titled Beans, Beans…(A St Patrick’s Day Revisited) that I’ll repost on March 17th.

My grandfather insisted he hailed from Cork, so I may include a poem he wrote (although none are very short). And don’t forget my favorite Irish podcaster, Marc Gunn, the Celtfather.

Here is my list of books so far:

Reading Ireland Month 2024

1) The Wrong Side of Goodbye by Michael Connelly. Love the Harry Bosch series, immersive #crimethriller
2) The Keeper of Secrets by Maria McDonald. An Irish war bride sails to America. #historicalfiction
3) No Strangers Here by Carlene O’Connor. “An Irish veterinarian grapples with life, death, family dynamics…” #internationalmysteryandcrime
4) Day of Fire by Kate Quinn et al Totally unique collaboration with five (yes, 5!) other authors re Pompeii. #ancienthistoryfiction
5) Tom Lake by Ann Patchett narrated by Meryl Streep (yes, Streep). A moving novel about family, love, and growing up. #literaryfiction
6) The Connellys of County Down by Tracey Lange. A moving novel about testing the bounds of love and loyalty. #familylifefiction

I will also try to watch an upcoming Netflix movie called Irish Wish starring Lindsay Lohan. It releases Friday, March 15. Given it’s a romance and an old trope to boot, I’m not promising anything. Still, it may be just your cup of tea!