#bookreviewer – Page 82 – Rosepoint Publishing

The Darkest Evening of the Year by Dean Koontz and Kirsten Kairos (Narrator) – #Audiobook Review – #TBT

Book Blurb:

With each of his number-one New York Times best-sellers, Dean Koontz has displayed an unparalleled ability to entertain and enlighten listeners with novels that capture the essence of our times, even as they bring us to the edge of our seats. Now he delivers a heart-gripping tour de force he’s been waiting years to write – at once a love story, a thrilling adventure, and a masterwork of suspense that redefines the boundaries of primal fear and of enduring devotion.

Amy Redwing has dedicated her life to the Southern California organization she founded to rescue abandoned and endangered golden retrievers. Among dog lovers, she’s a legend for the risks she’ll take to save an animal from abuse. Among her friends, Amy’s heedless devotion is often cause for concern. To widower Brian McCarthy, whose commitment she can’t allow herself to return, Amy’s behavior is far more puzzling and hides a shattering secret.

No one is surprised when Amy risks her life to save Nickie, nor when she takes the female golden into her home. The bond between Amy and Nickie is immediate and uncanny. Even her two other goldens, Fred and Ethel, recognize Nickie as special, a natural alpha. But the instant joy Nickie brings is shadowed by a series of eerie incidents: An ominous stranger. A mysterious home invasion. And the unmistakable sense that someone is watching Amy’s every move, and that, whoever it is, he’s not alone.

Someone has come back to turn Amy into the desperate, hunted creature she’s always been there to save. But now there’s no one to save Amy and those she loves.

From its breathtaking opening scene to its shocking climax, The Darkest Evening of the Year is Dean Koontz at his finest.

My Review:

When I first told my son I was reading a book by Dean Koontz, he said, “but Koontz is a horror writer, mom.” I explained to him that I was reading his new Jane Hawk series (including The Night Window, the fifth and final in the series) and that it was more action thriller, techno thriller. Indeed, I read the whole series, and another suspense standalone, The Good Guy. To be honest, I hadn’t read a horror book by him as I don’t read horror books.

The one filament common to most of his books is that little edge of the supernatural and this one is no exception. That said, this one is a surprise for me but of course I was drawn to the dog on the cover with promise that it might include a canine in the storyline. It does.

Amy is apparently wealthy. She spends her time in the rescue of golden retrievers and she’s developed quite the rep—and certainly the mastery in rescue of the animals in some of the most dire situations. This time Amy rescues Nickie. Her boyfriend is horrified by the circumstances, but she successfully manages the retrieval of the dog. She has no idea she is part of a dark plan, but she does share some of her feelings regarding Nickie to her boyfriend, Brian. (Is it possible Nickie has been here before?)

What starts as eerie incidents escalate into a darker and darker chain of events that introduces Hope. POV’s switch to the head of Hope as she coyly manages her mother, something the ten year old Down’s syndrome daughter has learned to deal with.

The antagonist charges head long into some of the cruelest, most despicable scenes of a mother imagined. The worst kind of depraved person a human can be posed against the most innocent, decent. Good versus evil personified.

While Amy separately deals with demons, they plan their perverse scheme, and it’s revealed there is more to Hope than conceived of. Indeed, if at first your heart broke for her, it just as quickly rose in pride for her astute management of the situation.

Nickie, the golden, did indeed prove herself a stout-hearted canine, more than just a beautiful companion.

Scratching my head. This is one devil of a narrative. Stomach-churning scenes at odds with triumph. My problem is the conclusion. Both the main characters as well as support barrel into the climax in one swooping, crashing plot crunch. And then it ends just as quickly. You can turn another page if you want, but the story ended. Just like that.

I’m a Koontz fan. Not a horror story fan. Most of my positive experience with this writer is the subtle, descriptive way he delivers the prose, so beautiful you can almost (almost!) forget the horrific circumstances. It’s hypnotic. And I’m compelled to look for the next Dean Koontz book.

Book Details:

Genre: Suspense, Suspense Thrillers
Publisher: Random House Audio
ASIN: B0010BA81O
Listening Length: 9 hrs 9 mins
Narrator: Kirsten Kairos
Publication Date: November 27, 2007
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: The Darkest Evening of the Year [Amazon]

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

The Author: Dean Koontz, the author of many #1 New York Times bestsellers, lives in Southern California with his wife, Gerda, their golden retriever, Elsa, and the enduring spirits of their goldens, Trixie and Anna.

The Narrator: Kristen Kairos is a New York/LA-based voice-over technician, singer, songwriter, and percussionist who has toured worldwide and recorded with a variety of artists including Julio Iglesias, INXS, and David Lee Roth. While her speaking voice can be heard on numerous radio and television commercials, as well as character voices for animation and narration for audio books, she is currently singing, writing, arranging, and playing percussion with individual musicians and bands in the New York area.

Count to Three by T R Ragan – #BookReview – #TuesdayBookBlog

Rosepoint Publishing: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

For a private investigator on the trail of a missing girl, every second counts in a gripping thriller by New York Times bestselling author T.R. Ragan.

On her first day of kindergarten, five-year-old Tinsley disappeared without a trace…

Five agonizing years later, her divorced mother, Dani Callahan, is a private investigator. She and Quinn Sullivan, a promising young assistant determined to prove herself, are devoted to helping others find missing loved ones. And for Dani, finding Tinsley is still a never-ending obsession.

Their newest case is Ali Cross, a teenager who vanished off a Sacramento street while walking home. A troubled boy’s eyewitness testimony to Ali’s abduction provides their only clues. And as their search for Ali gets underway, new information about Tinsley’s disappearance begins to surface too.

As their investigations lead down two twisting paths, disturbing secrets are revealed and new victims find themselves in mortal danger. Time is running out, and the hunt is only getting grimmer.

His Review:

Dani considered herself a very good mother. So how had her daughter Tinsley disappeared so quickly? She had gone to elementary school to pick her up and she had been taken by another woman five minutes earlier. How could that be possible? Now the most important case of her young private investigator career was the recovery of her own daughter.

Ali is preparing to go into school and is abducted right outside the building. Quinn observes her being pushed into a white van but is unable to reach her in time to stop the abduction. Frantic searches are begun for both Tinsley and Ali. They have fallen off the face of the earth.

TR Regan has a great way of spinning a yarn. I found myself immediately invested in the struggles of Dani and Ali. The deeper into the investigation Dani goes, the more frustrated as a reader I became. Having someone disappear in broad daylight in downtown Sacramento seems incredible but certainly possible. Sacramento is a big city and people tend to mind their own business.

Missing persons are not always on the top of the investigator’s agenda. Murder and other violent crimes take center stage. The young senior in high school could have simply run away from an abusive home life. The cases soon go on the back burner of the investigators task list. Meanwhile the victims are suspended in the animation that is these types of crimes.

The perpetrators are two very different types of criminal but the resultant angst is very similar. As a reader I found myself wound up in the investigation and becoming very angry at the criminals. TR wraps them in the confusing morass that is their psyches.

Read this book and enjoy the way TR Ragan develops her villains. You will not be disappointed. 5 stars – CE Williams

We’ve both read T R Ragan books in two different series now and have never failed to love them (see our links to previous reviews below). We received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author and publisher through NetGalley that in no way influenced this review. These are his honest opinions (this time). Currently on pre-order.

Book Details:

Genre: Kidnapping Thrillers, Women Sleuths
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
ISBN: ‎ 1542093945
ASIN: B08LD3LNS6
Print Length: 283 pages
Publication Date: December 14, 2021
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link: Count to Three [Amazon]

The Author: T.R. Ragan (Theresa Ragan) has sold over three million books and is a New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal Bestselling mystery and thriller author.

Readers interested in signing up for a monthly newsletter or getting their name in a TR RAGAN book should check out her website at http://www.trragan.com

Facebook • Twitter • Instagram: @trraganauthor

LIZZY GARDNER SERIES
Abducted
Dead Weight
A Dark Mind
Obsessed
Almost Dead
Evil Never Dies

FAITH MCMANN TRILOGY
Furious
Outrage
Wrath

JESSIE COLE SERIES
Her Last Day (My 4.5 star review here)
Deadly Recall
Deranged
Buried Deep (My 5 star review here)

SAWYER BROOKS SERIES
Don’t Make a Sound – 6/20
Out of Her Mind – 11/20
No Going Back – 1/21 (His 5 star review here)

October Rosepoint Reviews Recap—EEK! It’s Already November?!

Rosepoint Reviews October Recap

Since my daughter’s move, I’ve been playing catch-up as well as re-scheduling and again must apologize if a few of my reviews went late. I’ve got the CE reading and taking on a few more novels than I’d previously scheduled to free up my time to finish the graphics, reviews, and posts to social media.

Unfortunately, the CE is still dealing with the shingles, reducing his energy, raising the level of pain, and pushing his patience with the tenacity of the malady. And yes, another call to beg for help went unanswered, so we are dealing with it as best we can.

At any rate, he is reading between naps, and together we managed sixteen book reviews for October, most from NetGalley as well as the library for my audiobooks.

Ravens in the Rain by Christie and Jeff Santo
Silent Island by Dana Perry
Always Remember by Cathryn Grant
All the Devils Are Here by Louise Penny
Indigo by Paula Berinstein
Daughter of the Morning Star by Craig Johnson
Hypnosis is for Hacks by Tamara Berry
Deep in the Forest by Lynda McDaniel
The Curse of Morton Abbey by Clarissa Harwood
The Bone Bed Patricia Cornwell
When the Skies Cry by Steve N Lee
The Pilot’s Daughter by Meredith Jaeger
Fly Away by Kristen Hannah
These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant
A Christmas Legacy by Anne Perry
Unwitting by Deven Greene

Reading Challenges

I have worked on my reading challenges though they are not yet up-to-date. You can check out the challenges progress by clicking on my Reading Challenges page. Goals reached thus far are the Historical Reading Fiction, Audiobook, and NetGalley challenges.

I’m making progress on the Goodreads challenge of 175, now at 156. As I mentioned last month, I’m going to push for attaining my 500 reviews badge on NetGalley, perhaps reducing somewhat library audiobooks or author requests. Currently at 384 NG reviews, I’ll have to concentrate on it and to mark the occasion will be setting up a graphic to post in the challenges section of my sidebar. How are you doing with your challenges?

Speaking of the sidebar and widgets, I’m still struggling with the update of them (with the block editor), my most recent edit trying to mark the challenges achieved. Answers from the happiness engineers get me nowhere, the last one suggesting I first load the graphic to the media folder. Duh…really.

As always, I so appreciate my new followers and am thankful for my active followers. I hope you and yours are continuing to weather the Covid storm.

TV Netflix Series Firefly Lane vs #Audiobook Fly Away by Kristen Hannah and Susan Ericksen (Narrator) – Family Life Fiction – #TBT

Somewhere in my travels through buddy blogs or Netflix ads, I noticed the novel Firefire Lane and that the book had been picked up for a Netflix original series. I must admit to loving the challenge of listening to the audiobook and then making a mild comparison to the Netflix version. In the past I’ve noticed a radical departure from the original books (not quite so much with Longmire, but seriously rewritten in the Virgin River series).

The storyline by Kristen Hannah in Firefly Lane (Book 1) is about Kate Mularkey, who in the summer of 1974 meets Tully Hart. Kate is in the eighth grade and a doomed bottom feeder whereas Tully is “the coolest girl in the world.” But Tully lives a tenuous life with an addicted and aging flower child and she quickly assimilates into Kate’s family. The ensuing well-paced narrative chronicles the friendship, the bond between the girls through thirty years and several life changes.

Netflix Series

Firefly Lane follows Tully played by Katherine Heigl and Kate played by Sarah Chalke through their coming of age, young adulthood, and the rise of each in their chosen life path. They are BFFs, supporting each other through both the good times and bad into their 40s.

There are ten episodes in Season 1 with Season 2 promised some time in 2022. The actors, both the youths and adults, do an incredible job of selling their characters.

Katherine Marie Heigl (born November 24, 1978) is an American actress, producer and former fashion model. She started her career as a child model. Heigl and her husband of 13 years — the singer Josh Kelley — have a 4-year-old son together, Joshua Bishop Kelley, Jr. They adopted their daughter Nancy Leigh, 12, from South Korea in 2009 and Adalaide, 8, who is Black, in 2012. [Wikipedia] She may best be known for her role in Grey’s Anatomy.

Sarah Louise Christine Chalke born August 27, 1976) is a Canadian actress and model. She is known for portraying Elliot Reid on the NBC/ABC comedy series Scrubs. Chalke is engaged to lawyer Jamie Afifi. The couple have a son, Charlie Rhodes, and a daughter, Frances. Her son was diagnosed at age two with Kawasaki disease. [Wikipedia]

My Thoughts

I love finally having female buddy films that women can identify with, enjoy. Of course, Thelma and Louise made some waves when it came out, but I don’t remember seeing a number of similar cinema offerings after. A League of Their Own? (“There’s no crying in baseball.”) First Wives Club? Not sure this isn’t apples and oranges and you no doubt can cite better or more current examples.

In this case, the often bawdy Netflix theme offers adult entertainment from violence and drug abuse to nudity and sex scenes. If that’s not offensive, then behind the restricted content comes the beautiful story of a powerful friendship that manages to survive jealousy, anger, triumphs, and betrayals. Life is a struggle, but the friendship and connection prevails.

Really, if you haven’t discovered this one yet, I recommend the series. Engaging, well-developed and portrayed characters. So far, a “feel good” series, although I understand that changes. 5 stars

Audiobook (Blurb)

The number one New York Times best-selling author returns to the characters in Firefly Lane in her next blockbuster novel, Fly Away. Once, a long time ago, I walked down a night-darkened road called Firefly Lane, all alone, on the worst night of my life, and I found a kindred spirit. That was our beginning. More than 30 years ago. TullyandKate. You and me against the world. Best friends forever.

But stories end, don’t they? You lose the people you love and you have to find a way to go on…Tully Hart has always been larger than life, a woman fueled by big dreams and driven by memories of a painful past. She thinks she can overcome anything until her best friend, Kate Ryan, dies. Tully tries to fulfill her deathbed promise to Kate – to be there for Kate’s children – but Tully knows nothing about family or motherhood or taking care of people. Sixteen-year-old Marah Ryan is devastated by her mother’s death. Her father, Johnny, strives to hold the family together, but even with his best efforts, Marah becomes unreachable in her grief. Nothing and no one seems to matter to her…until she falls in love with a young man who makes her smile again and leads her into his dangerous, shadowy world.

Dorothy Hart – the woman who once called herself Cloud – is at the center of Tully’s tragic past. She repeatedly abandoned her daughter, Tully, as a child, but now she comes back, drawn to her daughter’s side at a time when Tully is most alone. At long last, Dorothy must face her darkest fear: Only by revealing the ugly secrets of her past can she hope to become the mother her daughter needs.

A single, tragic choice and a middle-of-the-night phone call will bring these women together and set them on a poignant, powerful journey of redemption. Each has lost her way, and they will need each one another – and maybe a miracle – to transform their lives.

An emotionally complex, heart-wrenching novel about love, motherhood, loss, and new beginnings, Fly Away reminds us that where there is life, there is hope, and where there is love, there is forgiveness.

Told with her trademark powerful storytelling and illuminating prose, Kristin Hannah reveals why she is one of the most beloved writers of our day. Includes a Reading Group Guide Read by Kristin Hannah

My Thoughts

[Spoiler alert—Book 2 revelations]

Well, damn, try as I might, could NOT get the first book, Firefly Lane, which would have thoroughly supplied the background that Fly Away appears lacking. After a friendship spanning thirty years, Kate dies.

There has been a rift between the two, but Tully drops her very successful daytime TV show to spend the rest of the time she and Kate have left together. Tully promises Kate she will be there for her children. The problem, of course, is that Tully has devoted her life to attaining stardom on television. She never marries, doesn’t have children. Has no clue how to play devoted aunt to Kate’s twin boys and sixteen year old Marah.

What follows is a sub-plot involving Marah and her attempt to turn on, tune in, drop out. And there is an intense story in which the reader (or listener) gets the full low down on Dorothy Hart (Cloud—Tully’s flower child mother). Her story is heart-breaking and familiar to many of the older generation.

And finally, Tully’s failed attempt at reconciliation with her world, the cost and the redemption and ultimately a conclusion that somewhat settles the heart.

The narrative is long-toothed on retrospection, coulda, woulda, shouldas. A review of the highlights of the thirty years—the good and the bad. The romances, their families. Overall, I felt it rather morose, sad, not an audiobook to read with depression or happy for that matter—it’ll bring yah down. (And here again, I did not care for the narrator). Really, a rather unfortunate wrap-up for what is otherwise a celebration of a relationship few are privileged to experience. 2 stars

Overall Impression

Sometimes I discover I prefer the (audio)book, sometimes it’s the Netflix version. The Netflix version is usually a compromise of adult material, softened somewhat, or not. Character events are switched, or a major plot-twisting event occurs—not as originally written but what works best for the TV version. In this particular instance, the character that stuck out for me the most from the book that Netflix nailed is Dorothy (Cloud), who eventually looks at least ten years older than her real age. The story of Tully is tragic, really, and although obvious in the Netflix version, concentrates on the stark reality of her childhood and the life-long battle that forges in the Tully character.

I’m all over Netflix Firefly Lane Season 1, but if Season 2 follows Fly Away, I’m out.

Book Details

Fly Away: Book 2 of the Firefly Lane series
Genre: Family Life Fiction, Friendship Fiction, Women’s Sagas
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
ASIN: B000V77082
Listening Length: 16 hrs 4 mins
Narrator: Susan Ericksen
Audible Release: April 23, 2013
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: Fly Away Book 2 [Amazon]

The Author: Kristin Hannah is the award-winning and bestselling author of more than 20 novels including the international blockbuster, The Nightingale, which was named Goodreads Best Historical fiction novel for 2015 and won the coveted People’s Choice award for best fiction in the same year. It was also named a Best Book of the Year by Amazon, iTunes, Buzzfeed, the Wall Street Journal, Paste, and The Week. 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.

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.

The Nightingale is currently in production at Tri Star, with Dakota and Elle Fanning set to star. Tri Star has also optioned The Great Alone and it is in development. Firefly Lane, her novel about two best friends, was the #1 Netflix show around the world, in the week it came out. The popular tv show stars Katherine Heigl and Sarah Chalke and Season Two is currently being filmed.

http://www.kristinhannah.com

©V Williams

These Silent Woods: A Novel by Kimi Cunningham Grant –#BookReview – #TuesdayBookBlog

“The thing about grace is that you don’t deserve it. You can’t earn it. You can only accept it. Or not.”

Book Blurb:

A father and daughter living in the remote Appalachian mountains must reckon with the ghosts of their past in Kimi Cunningham Grant’s These Silent Woods, a mesmerizing novel of suspense.

No electricity, no family, no connection to the outside world.

For eight years, Cooper and his young daughter, Finch, have lived in isolation in a remote cabin in the northern Appalachian woods. And that’s exactly the way Cooper wants it, because he’s got a lot to hide. Finch has been raised on the books filling the cabin’s shelves and the beautiful but brutal code of life in the wilderness. But she’s starting to push back against the sheltered life Cooper has created for her—and he’s still haunted by the painful truth of what it took to get them there.

The only people who know they exist are a mysterious local hermit named Scotland, and Cooper’s old friend, Jake, who visits each winter to bring them food and supplies. But this year, Jake doesn’t show up, setting off an irreversible chain of events that reveals just how precarious their situation really is. Suddenly, the boundaries of their safe haven have blurred—and when a stranger wanders into their woods, Finch’s growing obsession with her could put them all in danger. After a shocking disappearance threatens to upend the only life Finch has ever known, Cooper is forced to decide whether to keep hiding—or finally face the sins of his past.

Vividly atmospheric and masterfully tense, These Silent Woods is a poignant story of survival, sacrifice, and how far a father will go when faced with losing it all.

My Review:

Not sure how I bumbled into this one. It’s not lost on me—Finch—(in this case) the young daughter and relationship of father-daughter of classic Harper Lee fame. (And I must admit difficulty in separating the name from this narrative.) This gripping literary novel, of course, only borrows the unusual name. There is the strongly bonded connection but is otherwise quite the opposite in character and plot.

Cooper and Finch have lived in severe isolation in the Appalachian woods. Off the grid, off the track, off almost any public connection. But there are two: Jake, Cooper’s former army buddy and the owner of the cabin, and Scotland. And then two events happen almost simultaneously that will have a strong, irreversible impact on their sheltered lives. First, this is the first year in eight that Jake has not shown up with a laundry list of household essentials; groceries, supplies they cannot grow or sustain themselves. And in his stead is Jake’s sister, Marie.

And then there is the discovery of a beautiful young woman on their land next to national forestry land wielding a camera.

Scotland has always been a problem. From the beginning. Popping up at odd times, a nuisance, a pseudo-neighbor who watches, sees, and knows all about Cooper and Finch. His secret, their history. Cooper finds the man detestable while Finch loves him and is always delighted to see him. The two have a special connection.

Finch is precocious. A natural in the woods, schooled at home by her dad, she has never set foot in a store or a school. Knows only what she has gleaned from nature and the books in the cabin.

But their sanctuary is careening to an exposé and soon decisions must be made. Cooper is torn. For eight years he has protected, nurtured, and cherished his daughter and this moral choice is tearing him apart. The very essence of his teachings tested. Can he abandon all that now to continue a life that can’t be reconciled to the decision or bow to it and change possibly lose her?

Cooper made some bad decisions. He can’t afford for them to be discovered or all is lost. It’s a rather slow suspenseful building of the conundrum, a calamity of timing. Raw, emotional, tension-filled, with no apparent solution.

The author is a master storyteller, weaving her well-developed characters through Cooper’s POV, his wartime experience and trauma, the loss of Jake, his wife, the sacrifices he has made. He will NOT lose his daughter as well. Heartbreaking turmoil and beauty in the prose. The decision is made.

And then taken out of his hands.

The conclusion whips the mind around, at a loss to understand what just happened. And while I understand what did happen, I’m not totally understanding the why. Nor was it more fully explained to my satisfaction in the epilogue, which settled most loose strings (though perhaps it was enough for many readers). My mind is still reeling. Currently on pre-order. Queue up for yours!

A novel worthy of many a book club debate and one that will stick with you for some time. Most heartily recommended.

I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author and publisher through NetGalley (thank you!) that in no way influenced this review, nor could they warn of the impact. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Rating: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense, Contemporary Literary Fiction, Coming of Age Fiction
Publisher: Minotaur Books
ISBN: ‎ 1250793394
ASIN: B08R2JNYLX
Print Length: 279 pages
Publication Date: November 16 2021
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Kimi Cunningham Grant is the author of two books. Silver Like Dust is a memoir chronicling her Japanese-American grandparents and their internment during World War II. Her second book, Fallen Mountains, is a literary mystery set in a small town in Pennsylvania, where fracking has just begun. Kimi is a two-time winner of a Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Memorial Prize in Poetry and a recipient of a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts fellowship in creative nonfiction. Her poems and essays have appeared in Fathom, Literary Mama, RATTLE, Poet Lore, and Whitefish Review. She studied English at Bucknell University and Messiah College. She lives, writes, and teaches in Pennsylvania. You can find her at https://www.kimicunninghamgrant.com.

The Pilot’s Daughter by Meredith Jaeger – #BookReview – #HistoricalWWIIFiction

Rosepoint Publishing: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

The glitzy days of 1920s New York meet the devastation of those left behind in World War II in a new, delectable historical novel from USA Today bestselling author Meredith Jaeger.

In the final months of World War II, San Francisco newspaper secretary Ellie Morgan should be planning her wedding and subsequent exit from the newsroom into domestic life. Instead, Ellie, who harbors dreams of having her own column, is using all the skills she’s learned as a would-be reporter to try to uncover any scrap of evidence that her missing pilot father is still alive. But when she discovers a stack of love letters from a woman who is not her mother in his possessions, her already fragile world goes into a tailspin, and she vows to find out the truth about the father she loves—and the woman who loved him back.

When Ellie arrives on her aunt Iris’s doorstep, clutching a stack of letters and uttering a name Iris hasn’t heard in decades, Iris is terrified. She’s hidden her past as a Ziegfeld Follies showgirl from her family, and her experiences in New York City in the 1920s could reveal much more than the origin of her brother-in-law’s alleged affair. Iris’s heady days in the spotlight weren’t enough to outshine the darker underbelly of Jazz Age New York, and she’s spent the past twenty years believing that her actions in those days led to murder.

Together the two women embark on a cross-country mission to find the truth in the City That Never Sleeps, a journey that just might shatter everything they thought they knew—not only about the past but about their own futures.

Inspired by a true Jazz Age murder cold case that captivated the nation, and the fact that more than 72,000 Americans still remain unaccounted for from World War II, The Pilot’s Daughter is a page-turning exploration of the stories we tell ourselves and of how well we can truly know those we love.

His Review:

This excellent book shows the contrasts of women’s lives between the 1920’s and the second world war years. First Lieutenant William A. Morgan went down with his plane in the Adriatic Sea. His daughter Ellie received the dreaded letter from the War Department and subsequently his belongings. She was in denial regarding his death and felt he was more probably missing in action.

While checking through the box of his effects she comes upon a packet of letters addressed to Ms. Lillian Dell. The letters allude to their daughter and love for each other! Ellie is flabbergasted to think that her father may have had another family in New York! She and her aunt Iris set out for New York to solve the mystery. Iris had been one of the headliners in the Ziegfield Follies in the early twenties. Iris had left the city and returned to San Francisco after a very dangerous entanglement with a married man.

The author melds the experiences and lives of both ladies with the hand of an artist. I appreciated the experiences of both Ellie and her aunt Iris. They have a very close family bond while Ellie and her mother are not close at all. The trip to New York is exciting and holds some danger for aunt Iris. The diving back between the experiences of the 1920’s and mid 1940’s provides a clear view of the change of respect that women received before and after WWII.

I highly recommend this book as a treatise on the social change that occurred in this country as a result of the war and the need to have women more closely involved in the development and production of aircraft and weapons during the war. 5 stars – CE Williams

We received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author and publisher through NetGalley that in no way influenced this review. These are his honest opinions.

Book Details:

Genre: Historical World War II Fiction, World War II Historical Fiction, Women’s Detective Fiction
Publisher: Dutton
ISBN: ‎ 0593185897
ASIN: B08VWZP9PJ
Print Length: 351 pages
Publication Date: November 2, 2021
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link: The Pilot’s Daughter [Amazon]
Barnes and Noble
Kobo

The Author: Meredith Jaeger is the USA Today bestselling author of THE PILOT’S DAUGHTER, BOARDWALK SUMMER and THE DRESSMAKER’S DOWRY. She’s a native of the San Francisco Bay Area, where she was raised by a Swiss father and an American mother. A graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz, Meredith wrote her debut novel, THE DRESSMAKER’S DOWRY, while working for a San Francisco startup.

THE PILOT’S DAUGHTER has been called “unputdownable” (NYT bestselling author Sally Hepworth) “stirring and powerful” (NYT bestselling author Fiona Davis) and “historical fiction at its finest” (NYT bestselling author Lori Nelson Spielman).

Meredith lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, their young daughter and crazy rescue dog.

The Bone Bed: Scarpetta Book 20 and Chaos: Scarpetta Book 24 by Patricia Cornwell – #Audiobooks–How long can a good series stay good?

Can an author really only have a few fresh stories to tell in the same series or is one more one too many?

Patricia Cornwell is coming out with Autopsy, Scarpetta Book 25 late November. I got audiobooks for series Book 20 and 24. Was Book 24 one too many for me?

Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Book Blurb-The Bone Bed

A woman has vanished while digging a dinosaur bone bed in the remote wilderness of Canada. Somehow, the only evidence has made its way to the inbox of Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta, over 2,000 miles away, in Boston. She has no idea why. But as events unfold with alarming speed, Scarpetta begins to suspect that the paleontologist’s disappearance is connected to a series of crimes – much closer to home: a gruesome murder, inexplicable tortures, and trace evidence from the last living creatures of the dinosaur age.

When she turns to those around her, Scarpetta finds that the danger and suspicion have penetrated even her closest circles. Her niece Lucy speaks in riddles. Her lead investigator, Pete Marino, and FBI forensic psychologist and husband, Benton Wesley, have secrets of their own. Feeling alone and betrayed, Scarpetta is tempted by someone from her past as she tracks a killer both cunning and cruel.

This is Kay Scarpetta as you have never seen her before. The Bone Bed is a must-listen for any fan of this series, or an ideal starting point for new readers.

My Review-The Bone Bed

I’m always gratified to see that my reaction to an audiobook generally meets consensus. And this one left me scratching my head. My first novel by Patricia Cornwell, not that I didn’t recognize the name, just that I hadn’t stumbled across one of her (library) audiobooks before.

This narrative begins with an interesting premise: a body is found attached to an endangered leather-back turtle. The body was sent to the bottom using an intricate system of ropes that would essentially dismember the body if retrieval was not precisionally crafted. The leather-back, poor thing, was not in good shape, near drowning.

Then a man is on trial for killing his wife—without the substantiation of a body, and an archeologist is missing. Do all these things really share a common thread? I enjoyed the courtroom scenes and some portions of the technicalities of forensics, but then there is all this other…”stuff” just thrown in. Could we please just stick to the main plot points?

It’s amazing just how long it took to sort all this out, but really, so much is tied up with Kay’s personal life. Does she or doesn’t she have a good marriage? Thank heaven they can agree on the most appropriate red or white wine, otherwise, they’d have nothing in common. Tons of minutia—and what’s up with Marino? ARGH! So much suspicion, possible betrayals. And Kay getting way too big for her medical britches. She drips cynical thoughts about everyone.

This one jerked me around a bit—interest to boredom—chemical names bandied around until the mind is whirling with eighteen syllable words. I liked the storyline. I didn’t particularly like the way it was delivered and got very tired of Kay and her superior, confrontational attitude pretty quickly. 3 stars

Book Details: The Bone Bed

Genre: Medical & Forensic Thrillers, Medical Fiction, Medical Thrillers
Publisher: Penguin Audio
ASIN: B009RFGJX6
Listening Length: 12 hrs 54 mins
Narrator: Kate Reading
Publication Date: October 16, 2012
Publisher: Berkley
Print Length: 513 pages
ASIN: ‎ B0083P1QUM
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: The Bone Bed [Amazon]

Book Blurb-Chaos

In the quiet of twilight, on an early autumn day, 26-year-old Elisa Vandersteel is killed while riding her bicycle along the Charles River. It appears she was struck by lightning – except the weather is perfectly clear, with not a cloud in sight. Dr. Kay Scarpetta, the Cambridge Forensic Center’s director and chief, decides at the scene that this is no accidental act of God.

Her investigation becomes complicated when she begins receiving a flurry of bizarre poems from an anonymous cyberbully who calls himself Tailend Charlie. Though subsequent lab results support Scarpetta’s conclusions, the threatening messages don’t stop. When the tenth poem arrives exactly 24 hours after Elisa’s death, Scarpetta begins to suspect the harasser is involved and sounds the alarm to her investigative partner, Pete Marino, and her husband, FBI analyst Benton Wesley.

She also enlists the help of her niece, Lucy. But to Scarpetta’s surprise, tracking the slippery Tailend Charlie is nearly impossible, even for someone as brilliant as her niece. Also, Lucy can’t explain how this anonymous nemesis could have access to private information. To make matters worse, a venomous media is whipping the public into a frenzy, questioning the seasoned forensics chief’s judgment and “a quack cause of death on a par with spontaneous combustion”.

My Review-Chaos

Oh good grief. And just when I thought it couldn’t get worse. This one takes forever to get into the whole reason for the plot—a body found on a bike trail. She has 30+ years of experience and by God, she’ll take her dear, sweet time because this is a lady she’d met earlier. She thinks. No, she’s pretty certain. But must not jump to conclusions. Wait, is that a familiar bike helmet? Groan.

Scarpetta is so full of angst it’s annoying. Good grief, how do these people keep a job? Her personal life is crap. Marino is irritating. But this narrative doesn’t worry about adding minutia, there is already pages upon pages of poor Kay’s childhood (it’s a wonder she isn’t a serial killer), her sister and mother. (Husband) Benton is gorgeous, rich, and every woman’s dream which is enough to make any woman nervous. Lucy is pushing anxiety.

I do enjoy the info about the ME’s office and the study of forensics, but no, don’t want to be hit over the head with it anymore than be inundated with chemicals. (And please, don’t keep telling people they can get the formulas for this stuff off the internet.) The interview with the (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome?) twins who discovered the body was touching.

Everyone is anxious, confrontational, hyper. Or is that just the narrator? If I had a problem with the narrator in The Bone Bed, I really disliked this one. The tone, delivery seldom waivers below exaggerated confrontational attitude, whether from Scarpetta, Marino, (UGH! Hated the affected inflection on that character) or one of the other characters thrown in to maintain a heightened level of tension.

In the end, I couldn’t. Just couldn’t. Life’s too short. I turned off my machine. There are other audiobooks. Lots of them. 1.5 stars

Autopsy, slated to release November 30, 2021, is already flagged as a #1 New Release in Medical Thrillers. Will it sign off the series or is the author finished with Scarpetta yet? Even more important—will Scarpetta mellow just a bit? And would I try just one more? I might. But not as an audiobook with the same narrator, unless she also mellows.)

Book Details: Chaos

Genre: Medical & Forensic Thrillers, Medical Fiction, Medical Thrillers
Publisher: HarperAudio
ASIN: B01JGOYA60
Listening Length: 3 hrs 2 mins
Narrator: Susan Ericksen
Publication Date: November 15, 2016
Publisher: William Morrow
Print Length: 483 pages
ASIN: ‎ B01BKD6YY
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: Chaos [Amazon]

The Author: In 1990, Patricia Cornwell sold her first novel, Postmortem, while working at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond, Virginia. An auspicious debut, it went on to win the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony, and Macavity Awards as well as the French Prix du Roman d’Aventure prize—the first book ever to claim all these distinctions in a single year. Growing into an international phenomenon, the Scarpetta series won Cornwell the Sherlock Award for best detective created by an American author, the Gold Dagger Award, the RBA Thriller Award, and the Medal of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters for her contributions to literary and artistic development.

Today, Cornwell’s novels and iconic characters are known around the world. Beyond the Scarpetta series, Cornwell has written the definitive nonfiction account of Jack the Ripper’s identity, cookbooks, a children’s book, a biography of Ruth Graham, and two other fictional series based on the characters Win Garano and Andy Brazil. While writing Quantum, Cornwell spent two years researching space, technology, and robotics at Captain Calli Chase’s home base, NASA’s Langley Research Center, and studied cutting-edge law enforcement and security techniques with the Secret Service, the US Air Force, NASA Protective Services, Scotland Yard, and Interpol.

Cornwell was born in Miami. She grew up in Montreat, North Carolina, and now lives and works in Boston and Los Angeles.

Happy Thursday!

The Curse of Morton Abbey by Clarissa Harwood – #BookReview – #TuesdayBookBlog

Rosepoint Publishing: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

Solicitor Vaughan Springthorpe knows perfectly well that Sir Peter Spencer’s offer of employment seems too good to be true: he hires her sight unseen, offering a suspiciously large salary to prepare the sale of Morton Abbey, his crumbling Yorkshire estate. But few people in late-Victorian England will entrust their legal affairs to a woman, and Vaughan is desperate to prove herself.

Once at Morton, Vaughan discovers that someone is determined to drive her away. An intruder tries to enter her bedroom at night, gunshots are fired outside her window, and an eerie crying echoes from the uninhabited second floor. Even Netherton, the nearest village, seems odd: the picturesque houses and perfect-looking families are haunted by dark secrets connected to Morton Abbey itself.

To complete her work and solve the mystery at the heart of Morton, Vaughan needs the help of Joe Dixon, the handsome gardener, and Nicholas Spencer, her employer’s irascible invalid brother. But with her questions diverted, her progress thwarted, and her sleep disrupted by the crying, will Vaughan escape Morton Abbey with her sanity intact or be cursed by the secrets within?

His Review:

Her mother was incensed! How could her youngest daughter with a physical disability leave to be an assistant to the heir of Morton Abbey? Wouldn’t it be better for her to live with her sister and help with her older sister’s child rearing and other household tasks? Having been trained by her father though, Vaughn Springthorpe is no shrinking violet, and she has no intention of being a house servant the rest of her life despite her mother’s objections when she leaves for the new position.

Morton Abbey is situated in a remote area of the moors. She caught the correct train only to discover there is no carriage or transportation waiting for her. Finally, an old worn horse drawn carriage arrived at the station to take her to the Abbey. No one seemed eager to assist her into the vehicle or encourage her to the property. Finally, they grudgingly assist her into the carriage and loaded her luggage.

Ms. Harwood spins a very descriptive yarn about the plight of a young lady at the turn of the 19^th century into the 20^th. Her description of the Abbey is depressing as the estate certainly leaves a lot to be desired. Shabby and showing disrepair, it seems the last place a young invalid should seek employment. The well-developed characters working in the Manor are less than welcoming. One would expect a more cordial welcome after the long journey.

They were expecting a young male solicitor, not an unlicensed young lady! Vaughn is very well qualified, however, being the product of on-the-job training by her father. Her employer, Sir Peter Spencer, is the eldest son and has gone through the family’s money and is looking to sell the property. His younger brother has a number of frailties and is sequestered in a part of the structure.

I enjoyed the twists and turns of the characters as the story developed. The story moves quickly and held my interest throughout the book. Recommended! 5 stars – CE Williams

We received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author and publisher through NetGalley that in no way influenced this review. These are his honest opinions.

Book Details:

Genre: Gothic Romances, Gothic Romance, Gothic Fiction
ASIN: B097Q9TF46
Print Length: 361 pages
Publication Date: October 26, 2021
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Links: The Curse of Morton Abbey [Amazon]
Barnes and Noble
Kobo

The Author: Clarissa Harwood is the author of three historical novels. Publishers Weekly called her first novel, IMPOSSIBLE SAINTS, “a rich debut.” Her second novel, BEAR NO MALICE, won the Editor’s Choice award from the Historical Novel Society, and Kirkus Reviews praised it as “a smart and highly civilized tale about love, temptation, and second chances.”

Clarissa holds a PhD in English Literature with a specialization in Nineteenth-Century British Literature. In addition to being a proud member of the Historical Novel Society, Clarissa is a part-time university instructor and full-time grammar nerd who loves to explain the difference between restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses. Born and raised on the Canadian prairies, she currently lives in Ontario, Canada, with her husband and three neurotic cats.

To learn more, visit http://www.clarissaharwood.com