The Buried Book by D.M. Pulley

Synopsis From Back Cover:

When Althea Leary abandons her nine-year-old son, Jasper, he's left on his uncle's farm with nothing but a change of clothes and a Bible.

It's 1952, and Jasper isn't allowed to ask questions or make a fuss.  He's lucky to even have a home and must keep his mouth shut and his ears open to stay in his uncle's good graces.  No one know where his mother went or whether she' coming back.  Desperate to see her again, he must take matters into his own hands.  From the farm, he embarks on a treacherous search that will take him to the squalid hideaways of Detroit and back again, through tawdry taverns, peep shows, and gambling houses.

As he's drawn deeper into an adult world of corruption, scandal, and murder, Jasper uncovers the shocking past still chasing his mother - and now it's chasing him too. 

Why does it seem that the vast majority of publishers synopses either exaggerate an aspect of the book, or take you in a totally misleading direction?  Half the time when I sit down at the computer to write a review, I want to rebut an aspect of the synopsis, but I'm going to reign that instinct in this time around.  It's not that the inconsistencies don't bug me, because they do, but it's rather that I'm too tired to write my own synopsis, and the issues I have with the publisher's version aren't bugging me enough to force my hand.

And I think that's the overriding feeling I have towards the book as a whole.  I'm simply apathetic towards the finished product, and I have no clue on what to say about it. If I could state I loved it, or even hated it, that would be one thing.  I could then pull it apart, highlight the reasons behind either feeling, and finish with why I think you should or shouldn't read it.  Rather, I find myself in this rather limbo like existence, and I feel horrible about it.  I didn't like it, nor dislike it, and that's all I can really say about the story itself.

Regardless of my antipathy towards the book, I'm absolutely enthralled by the hero of the book, Jasper.  I don't think it's possible for me to come across a fictional kid, and love them more than I do him.  He has to be the bravest, most stubborn, and determined character I've come across in a very long time.  I do think he acts a little too old at times, and I'm not really sure an actual nine year old would have acted in the manner he did, but I really wish I would have been as brave as him at that age.  If I ever read this book again, it will be because of Jasper.

I would like to thank Lisa of TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to read/review this book.  Please visit the tour page to read more reviews.

The Ninja's Daughter by Susan Spann

Synopsis From Back Cover:

Autumn, 1565:  When an actor's daughter is murdered on the banks of the Kyoto's Kamo River, master ninja Hiro Hattori and Portuguese Jesuit Father Mateo are the victim's only hope for justice. 

As political tensions rise in the wake of the shogun's recent death, and rival samurai threaten war, the Kyoto police forbid an investigation of the killing, to keep the peace.  Undeterred, Hiro and Father Mateo undertake a secret investigation into the exclusive world of Kyoto's theater guilds, where nothing, and no one, is as it seems.  Their investigation soon reveals a mysterious golden coin, a forbidden love affair, a missing mask, and dangerous link to corruption that leaves both Hiro and Father Mateo running for their lives. 

Before I sat down to start this review, I went back and reread my review for the second book in this series, Blade of the Samurai.  I could cheat, copy and paste that review here, with maybe a few edits, and call it a day.  For the most part, it would be an honest review of this book, but blogger ethics are kicking in.  I figure I better get to writing a fresh review to convince you that no matter what, this is a book, and a series, worth reading.

I should start with the similarities, just to get them out of the way.  I love Hiro and Father Mateo.  I would gladly spend the rest of my life hanging out and talking with them.  I have a preference for Father Mateo, but it's a slight one as both are well written and fascinating to read.  Despite my love for the two protagonists, I'm still wishing I could get lost in the setting more.  While I think the author builds a realistic, and three dimensional world for the reader to explore, I still don't get the impression that Hiro and Father Mateo belong exclusively to feudal Japan.  I could just as easily see them in modern day New York, and while I love them both, I wish that wasn't so.

The biggest difference between the two books for me was the atmosphere of the book.  This was one just a tad bit darker, a little heavier, and I loved it.  I want a mystery book to envelope me when I'm delving into it's pages, and this one did.  It had enough twists and turns to keep me guessing, and I had to force myself to put it down when my attention was needed elsewhere.  I'm really needing to go back and read the two books I've missed in this series, since hanging out with Hiro and Father Mateo is quickly becoming one of my favorite pastimes.

I want to thank Lisa of TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to read and review this book.  Please visit the tour page to read other reviews.

Finding Fontainebleau: An American Boy in France by Thad Carhart

Synopsis From Dust Jacket: 

For a young American boy in the 1950s, Fontainebleau was a sight both strange and majestic.  A provincial town just south of Paris, it is home to France's greatest chateau where Thad Carhart's father was assigned as a military officer.  With humor and heart, Carhart conveys a rich panoply of French life in the '50s: the discovery of a Paris still covered in centuries of black soot; the strange bewilderment of a classroom where wine bottles dispensed ink for penmanship lessons; the excitement of camping in nearby Italy and Spain.  What emerges is an insider's view of a postwar Europe rarely seen or largely forgotten. 

Against this background of deep change for France stands the Chateau of Fontainebleau.  Begun in 1137, fifty years before the Louvre and more than five hundred before Versailles, the Chateau was a royal residence for centuries.  A string of illustrious queens and kings - Marie Antoinette, Francois I, the two Napoleons - added to its splendors without appreciably destroying the imprint of their predecessors.  As a consequence, the Chateau is unique in France, a supreme repository of French style, taste, art, and architecture.  Carhat tells us the rich and improbable stories of these monarchs and of their love affair with a place like no other.

Before I started blogging, I could have counted on one hand the amount of memoirs I had read in my life. Over the last seven years, I have had the opportunity to read/review quite a few memoirs, and I have absolutely fallen in love with a genre I never knew I would.  Reading the lyrical beauty of Finding Fontainebleau has just added to that love affair.

Part memoir, part travelogue, and part history book, Finding Fontainebleau has given me a greater appreciation for France, and for the first time in my life, I want to book a ticket, and get my butt over there.  Mr. Carhart, who is now one of my favorite contemporary writers, has a skill in storytelling that makes me green with envy.  I could only hope to write half as well as he does, though I know that it will never come to be.  He weaves his personal history with that of France and Fontainebleau, and instead of being a fragmented mess, he is able to tie the two stories together.  The narrative undulates back and forth, but never feels out of control.

For the last few weeks, this was the book I would read once I was in bed.  And like any good bedtime story, the melodious tenor of Mr. Carhart's written cadence sent me to dreamland night after night. What I'm reading rarely influences what I dream of, but I can still recall my leisurely stroll through the rooms of Fontainebleau.  I can only hope that I will be able to visit those halls for myself, but if that never comes to pass, I will have Finding Fontainebleau waiting on my shelves.

I would like to thank Lisa of TLC Booktours for the opportunity to read and review this book.  Please visit the tour page to read more reviews.

A Dangerous Place by Jacqueline Winspear

Synopsis From TLC Book Tours Site:

Spring 1937.  In the four years since she left England, Maisie Dobbs has experienced love, contentment, stability - and the deepest tragedy a woman can endure.  Now, all she wants is the peace she believes she might find by returning to India.  But her sojourn in the hills of Darjeeling is cut short when her stepmother summons her home to England: her aging father, Frankie Dobbs, is not getting any younger. 

On a ship bound for England, Maisie realizes she isn't ready to return.  Against the wishes of the captain who warns her, "You'll be alone in a most dangerous place," she disembarks in Gibraltar.  Though she is on her own, Maisie is far from alone: the British garrison town is teeming with refugees fleeing a brutal civil war across the border in Spain.

And the danger is very real.  Days after Maisie's arrival, a photographer and member of Gibraltar's Sephardic Jewish community, Sebastian Babayoff, is murdered, and Maisie becomes entangled in the case, drawing the attention of the British Secret Service.  Under the suspicious eye of a British agent, Maisie is pulled deeper into political intrigue on "The Rock" - arguably Britain's most important strategic territory - and renews an uneasy acquaintance in the process.  At a crossroads between her past and her future, Maisie must choose a different direction, knowing that England is, for her, an equally dangerous place, but in quite a different way. 

Earlier this week I reviewed Leaving Everything Most Loved, the previous book in the Maisie Dobbs series.  In that review, I tried my damnedest to not let the fact I had already read this book, bleed into it.  For the most part, I think I did a pretty good job keeping them separate, and not letting this book color what I had to say on the previous.  I'm not going to rehash what I had to say, though I'm still having some of those same problems, only magnified about a bazillion times.

To be perfectly frank with you guys, this almost became a DNF on page nine.  When I was about half way through the page, I had to put the book down, and walk away for over an hour. Even then, I had to force myself to pick the book up and continue reading it.  Regardless of what happened to upset me so much, the fact I even contemplated not reading a Maisie Dobbs book is upsetting enough.

I've been debating how detailed I wanted to get with this review, and I think I've decided to go in a direction that will include spoilers, so please stop reading if you don't want to know some of the pertinent details. On a personal level, it will be impossible for me to review this book, and explain my reactions to it, without giving away some of the secrets.  And be warned, I may ramble for a while before I shut up.

As a long time fan of the series, I've been all for Maisie marrying James Compton, and finding true happiness in her life.  Part of the issues I had with the previous two books was in the way she kept going back and forth on what her feelings were for him, and what she wanted out of the relationship.  She has some serious  hangups when it comes to her personal relationships.  Between her childhood and her experiences in the war, I get where they come from, but enough is enough.   I've been wanting to shake her, and tell her to not only make a decision, but to make the right one. After everything she's been through, she deserved to be happy, and any idiot could tell that James made her happy.  She was just allowing her personal issues, and self doubts, to get in the way.  At the end of the Leaving Everything Most Loved, I had the impression that she was going to make the right decision, and finally agree to marry James.

On page seven of A Dangeorus Place, I got my wish. She finally agreed to marry him, and I couldn't have been happier. It was by telegram, but I was expecting that.  On page eight, through another letter, we learn that Maisie is pregnant with their first child.  Then on pages nine and ten, all hell breaks loose.  A little over a year after they were married, James is killed in a plane crash, and Maisie loses the baby.  The whole four years between the two books are told within fourteen pages, all within letters or news stories.

It's not even the loss of James and the baby that has me so upset, though I think James was a great character, and I would have liked to see them grow old together, but it's in the way it happens that pisses me off so much.  These characters deserved better than this.  It's all off page, told as more of a prologue to the book, rather than as part of the story.  It's callous in it's execution and it comes across, at least to me, that the author didn't really care for the character or their relationship anymore.  And instead of just letting her say no to the engagement, and allowing James to move on with his life, she killed him off is a rather offhanded way.  The other way I could read it, was with Maisie being in a happy place, contented with life, the author wasn't sure in which direction to take the character.  So instead of ending the series, or moving Maisie into a new chapter of her life, she chose to completely upend her life once again, and start the neuroses and inner conflict all over again.  Cause heaven forbid, we have a happy character.  After 11 damn books, the drama can end.

The other problem I had with this one, and a few of the others, is that it seems the author is moving Maisie more into the espionage realm, and less on the mystery side of things.  I'm not a huge fan of spy thrillers, regardless of who writes them, so I'm not sure how much longer I'll continue with the series if that is the direction they keep moving in.  It's repeated a few times in this book that once the Secret Service has you in their sights, they don't let you go.  I'm hoping they do let her go, and that Maisie gets back to doing what she does well, solving crimes.

For the most part, I really enjoyed the rest of the book.  I think the author did a great job in setting the scene, something she has always been really good at.  With the Spanish Civil War in full steam across the water, Gibraltar is sitting on the edge of a precipice, and anything is possible with that much tension swirling around the island.  She has populated the island with some intriguing characters, though I did find a few of them to be rather one dimensional, and the storytelling itself is as spot on as it's ever been.  Jacqueline Winspear is a great story teller, I just hope she starts taking better care of her characters.

By the end of the book, I wasn't ready to run out in traffic anymore, and I am willing to give the series one more chance.  I want the next book to get back to what the series used to be like.  Tone down some of the angst, stop making her so insecure and indecisive, and let her be happy for once in her life.  Bring Billy and Sandra back into the fold, their absence was notable in this book.  For that matter, bring her father and the senior Comptons back into the story, the lack of the regular supporting characters has been another issue for me.  Stop sliding Maisie into the spy game,  and let her reopen her detective agency.  Let Maisie be the Maisie we all fell in love with in the beginning of the series.

I don't want to say goodbye to Maisie, but I didn't want to say goodbye to Buffy Summers either.  That show lasted seven seasons, and in reality, it was time for it to be over.  The Maisie Dobbs books have now lasted through number eleven, and while I don't want to see her go, it might be her time as well.  I'm hoping that book twelve corrects some of the issues I, and a lot of other readers, have been having.  If not, maybe I'll just pretend the network pulled the plug.

I would like to thank Trish of TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to read and review this book. Please visit the tour page to read other reviews.

Leaving Everything Most Loved by Jacqueline Winspear

Synopsis From Back Cover:

London, 1933.  Two months after Usha Pramal's body is discovered in the waters of a city canal, her brother, newly arrived in England, turns to Maisie Dobbs for help.  Not only has Scotland Yard made no arrests, but evidence indicates they failed to conduct a full investigation.  Usha had been staying at an ayah's hostel, a refuge for Indian women.  As Maisie learns, Usha was different from the hostel's other residents.  But with this discovery comes new danger, as a fellow lodger who was close to Usha is found murdered. 

As Maisie is pulled deeper into a unfamiliar yet captivating subculture, her investigation becomes clouded by the unfinished business of a previous case, and by a growing desire to see more of the world.  At the same time, her lover, James Compton, gives her an ultimatum she cannot ignore. 

It's been almost two years since I read the previous book in the series, Elegy for Eddie, and I'm finding that I can almost copy that review, and paste it here. Now since then, I have gone back to read the books I skipped over, and as of right now, I've read the entire series, including the next book, A Dangerous Place, which I will have a review of later in the week.  Maisie is still a little too angsty in this one, still a little too unsure of herself, or what she wants in life.   The title fits not only the story, but where her mindset is at.

By the way, I'm trying to write this review, and not allow it to be tainted by the fact I've already read the next one.

I know Maisie has been through a lot in her short life, that she has lost more than most of us will ever have to deal with.  Her experiences in the first World War, and what she suffered through, will always taint her perceptions of who she is, and what she wants.  I really do get it.  I also get that if Maisie was the creation of a less gifted author, that a lot of the issues would be glossed over and forgotten, and that would be a damn shame.  Maisie Dobbs in one of the most complex and four dimensional characters I've come across in a long time.  Jacqueline Winspear has done a find job at developing her into a character that is so admirably damaged.  I just wish, and while it was to a degree, that the angst had been spread out just a tad bit more.  I wish Maisie had been dealing with all of her issues the entire length of the series, and not have them come to the forefront in the last two books.

Maisie has deep wounds that she forced to the back or her mind, thought she had dealt with, but with the death of her mentor Maurice, she is now having to deal with them head on.  For the last two books she has been reevaluating her place in life, what she wants out of it, and on a more fundamental level, who she is.  Me personally, I wish it hadn't taken two full books to do it, that she would have made up her mind on some of the subjects long before, but I get that I can't make a character behave in a certain way, just to appease my sense of timing.  And yes, I get that unless you have been reading this series from the beginning, you won't understand half of what I'm saying, so I apologize for that.  I can honestly say that I'm relieved by the end, because I know she is finally on the right track, that she isn't going to be stupid and reject James, that she is finally going to allow herself to be happy.

One little side note before I move onto the actual mystery aspect of the book, I'm not sure I'm completely comfortable with what happens to Billy in this book.  Having him flirt with the idea of having an affair with Sandra, seems so out of character of him.   I get that he and his family have had some horrific things happen to them, and that he probably feels more adrift than Maisie, but when is enough enough.  I think the author has done a real disservice to this character, it was almost as if she wasn't sure what to do with him anymore, so lets just screw his life up completely, and push him aside.  I know that by the end, he is back on the right track, but it still feels as if the author is done with him, and that's a crying shame.  Billy has been the oddly beating heart of the series, and it's going to be horribly saddening to see him go away.  I just wish we would  have had more closure with him, and his family, before that happened.

If you can't tell by know, this series, for me at least, is about the characters more than the mystery aspect.  As in the previous books, the mystery itself, while rather violent, still has, for lack of a better word, a gentleness about it.   This author is so gifted at writing Maisie's character into the story, it's a little hard to differentiate where her and the mystery are separated.  The author, much like Dame Christie, is gifted at weaving a rather intricate story into a tale that is both challenging, and easy to follow.  At no point in time, with any of these books, have I felt as if I was being tricked or purposefully led astray by the action.  It's, as always, well crafted and well told, and worth the read.

One last note, if you think this review is a jumbled mess, I get it.  My feelings are so over the place, so confused in my head, that writing a coherent review for this one, has been a struggle.  I tried to express myself as clearly as I could, but I'm not sure if I pulled it off.  So please accept my apologies, but also know that if I didn't like this character, and this series as much as I do, I wouldn't be having this issue.

I would like to thank Trish of TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to read and review this book. Please visit the tour page to read other reviews.

Challenges: A-Z Mystery

The Monogram Murders by Sophie Hannah

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

"I'm a dead woman, or I shall be soon..."

Hercule Poirot's quit supper in a London coffeehouse is interrupted when a young woman confides to him tat she is about to be murdered.  She is terrified - but begs Poirot not to find and punish her killer.  Once she is dead, she insists, justice will have been done.

Later that night, Poirot learns that three guests at a fashionable London hotel have been murdered, and a monogrammed cufflink has been placed in ache one's mouth. Could there be a connection with the frightened woman?  While Poirot struggles to put together the bizarre pieces of the puzzle, the murderer prepares another hotel bedroom for a fourth victim....

This is not going to be a very long review. In actuality, I could probably do it in a sentence or two, but I'm pretty sure that wouldn't be fair to anyone involved.  So I'm going to at least try to get a paragraph or two out of it, albeit short ones.

I guess when it comes down to it, this was not an Agatha Christie book, nor was it really Hercule Poirot dwelling among the pages.  I'm not sure how high my expectations were going into it, but I'm pretty sure they didn't come close to being met.  I don't have a lot of experience with literary pastiches, but the few I have read, were more like they were having fun with an author's style, not trying to imitate it.  I think the author tried too hard, and didn't allow herself to play around with the way Agatha Christie wrote, or in how she treated Hercule Poirot.  In the end I was left with a book that wasn't all that fun to read, didn't feel like an Agatha Christie mystery, and gave a pale imitation of Poirot. This wasn't the Poirot I've developed a rather complicated love/hate relationship with over the years.  It was a shadow of the man, they shared a name, maybe a phrase of two, but that's about it. To be fair, had the author taken the more playful route, I'm not sure I would have been any happier, but I think I would have enjoyed the book more.

Now had the author chose to release this book as a standalone mystery, with no ties to the world created by Agatha Christie, I think I would have been able to get into the story a bit more, and maybe even grown to like it.  It's not a mystery I would ever call a favorite, or try to bully all my friends into reading, but it was a solid piece of work, that didn't have huge gaping holes in it's logic.  However, I was so distracted by the whole Agatha Christie thing, that I was never able to let go and lose myself in the story.

The one truly redeeming aspect of this book, the one thing I will take away from it in a positive way, is that I really did enjoy Edward Catchpool.  He's not Hastings, but I think he held his own against this version of Poirot, and had this been a book with him as the starring detective, I know I would have liked it more.  I would hope that the author would choose to go forward with him, and if she does, I'll look forward to spending more time with him.

I would like to thank Trish of TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to read/review this book, even if my review is way late.  Please visit the tour page to read other reviews.

The Lost Tribe of Coney Island by Claire Prentice

Part Of The Synopsis From Back Cover:

The Lost Tribe of Coney Island unearths the incredible true story of the Igorrotes, a group of "headhunting, dog-eating savages" from the Philippines, taken to New York in 1905 by the charming, opportunistic doctor-turned-showman Truman K. Hunt.  They appeared as "human exhibits" alongside the freaks and the curiosities at Coney Island's Luna Park.  Millions of fairgoers delighted in their tribal dances and rituals, near nudity, tattoos, and tales of headhunting.  The Igorrotes became a national sensation - they were written up in newspaper headlines, portrayed in cartoons, and even featured in advertising jingles, all fueled by Hunt's brilliant publicity stunts.

By the end of that first summer season at Coney, the sideshow scheme had made Hunt a rich man.  But he was also a man who liked to live large, and his fortune was dwarfed only by his ability to spend it.  Soon he would be on the run with the tribe in tow, pursued by ex-wives, creditors, and the tireless agents of American justice.

I think you guys are going to view me as slightly schizophrenic after reading my thoughts on this one.  If you have been reading the blog for any length of time, and I apologize for my absence over the last month, you guys know I'm a huge fan of nonfiction in general, and that I adore narrative nonfiction.  With all of that, you would assume that I would have loved The Lost Tribe of Coney Island.  Sadly, I didn't.

I found the subject to be fascinated, and even laughed out loud a few times as I was reading it.  I also really enjoyed the author's writing style, and her word flow.  Where my hang-up lies, is in the fact that there was almost too much of the narrative nonfiction, and not enough of a pure nonfiction vibe going on.  Now I know that won't make sense outside of my own head, and I apologize for that, but after thinking about it for a while, that's about the only way I can describe it.  In a nutshell, it read too much like a historical fiction book, and not enough like a history book.

For me, and this is about my taste, there was too much license taken with the minute details in the book.  The way someone stood, or what they were thinking or said in a particular moment, where there is really no historical data to back it up.  I'm sure it's all based on something, but it felt as if I was watching a movie based on an actual event, not a documentary.

As I said, it's all in what I look for in a nonfiction book, and I'm sure there are plenty out there that would have no issue with it.  And in all fairness, I rarely ever like a historical fiction novel, which this book reminded me of.

I would like to thank Lisa of TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to read/review this book.  Please visit the tour page to read other reviews.

My Thinning Years by Jon Derek Croteau

Synopsis From Back Cover:

As a child, Jon Derek Croteau tried desperately to be his father's version of the all-American boy, denying his gayness in a futile attempt to earn the love and respect of an abusive man.  With this he built a deep, internalized homophobia that made him want to disappear rather than live with the truth about himself.  That denial played out in the form of anorexia, bulimia, and obsessive running, which consumed his as an adolescent and young adult.

It wasn't until a grueling yet transformative Outward Bound experience that Jon began to face his sexual identity. This exploration continued during college, and he started the serious work of sorting through years of repressed anger to separate from his father's control and condemnation.

My Thinning Years is an inspiring story of courage, creativity, and the will to live - and of recreating the definition of family to include friends, relatives, and teachers who support you in realizing your true self.

Going into it, I knew this was going to be a hard book for me to read.  I think I even said no a few times, before finally agreeing to review the book.  And now that I'm sitting down, in front of my computer, typing up my review, part of me is wishing that I had gone ahead with my first instinct.  This was a hard book to read, it brought a lot of long buried emotions to the forefront, and it's left me feeling a little drained.  At the end of the day though, I'm glad I took the time to read it. It was a hard journey, but at the end of it all, like all stories of it's kind, it's as life affirming as anything else you will come across.

I didn't face the same issues Jon did, my father wasn't around and I never looked down on myself for being gay, but that doesn't mean I had it easy.  I think like many GBLT kids, I had a hard time dealing with what I was feeling, and couldn't understand all the thoughts running through my head.  For years I would pray before I went to bed, that if my being gay was wrong, I would rather die in my sleep.  I didn't want to be gay, I didn't understand why I was gay, but I knew I was from a young age, and over time, I grew to accept it.  I still wrestled with depression and contemplated suicide a few times.  I even went as far as making some half-hearted attempts at cutting my wrist with a pair of scissors.  But in the end, through some early acceptance of a few trusted people, I grew to realize that the only choice I had was in accepting my sexuality, or living a miserable life denying it.

Reading, or hearing, another's story, tends to bring all those long buried emotions back to the surface.  It's the reason why I initially turned down the invitation to read this book, those aren't pleasant memories, and I don't particularly like remembering them.  But I think what Jon did, what any of us do when we share our stories, is reaffirm an essential truth; that our lives are worth something, that regardless of the journey that was forced upon us, that the end result it worth all the pain, regardless of it was self inflicted or imposed on us by others.  By sharing his story, Jon has reaffirmed that an honest life is worth living, being true to yourself is the worthiest life goal there is.

I would like to thank Lisa of TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to read/review this book.  Please visit the tour page to read other reviews.

Accidents of Marriage by Randy Susan Meyers

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

Maddy is a social worker trying to balance her career and three children.  Years ago, she fell in love with Ben, a public defender, and was drawn to his fiery passion.  But now he's lashing out at her during one of his periodic verbal furies.  She vacillates between tiptoeing around him and asserting herself for the sake of their kids - which works to keep a fragile peace - until one rainy day when they're together in the car and Ben's volatile temper gets the best of him, leaving Maddy in the hospital fighting for her life.

August 2nd, 2010, was the day I reviewed The Murderer's Daughters by Randy Susan Meyers.  It was the day I was finally able to wax profusely on how much I loved the book, and how deeply I had fallen in love with the author's narrative voice.  That book is the whole reason I agreed to review Accidents of Marriage, which is not a book I would normally read.  But since I'm just about willing to read anything written by her, even if she had decided to publish her own phone book, there was no way I was going to pass this one up.

To be perfectly frank, if this book had been written by anyone else, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have liked it at all.  It's not the type of subject matter I normally get caught up in, especially since I always feel as if the husband is being given the short end of the stick in these types of stories.  And to be even more frank about it, while I think this book is written in the same narrative flow that The Murderer's Daughters was written in, I can't say that I enjoyed it all that much.

The difference for me is that I was able to relate to the subject matter in the first book.  It reflected some of my own past, so I got lost in the characters and their stories.  In Accidents of Marriage, I couldn't relate to most of what was going on, and to be even more honest, I found myself siding, if that is even a fair word to use, with Ben most of time.  I think the book was beautifully written, as is anything Randy Susan Meyers chooses to write, but I couldn't find that personal connection to it.

Off the top of my head, I can name about 50 people I know who would love this book, and would be able to connect wit the subject material.  I'm willing to admit that the issue here was me, and my inability to connect, which can not be blamed on the book.  I knew going into it that it probably wouldn't be the book for me, and I was right.  At the same time, I'm glad I read the book, and I would make the same decision over again.  Randy Susan Meyers is a fantastically gifted writer, and she is one that I will always choose to read, regardless of whether or not I end loving it as much as I did The Murderer's Daughters.

I would like to thank TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to read and review this book.  Please visit the tour page to read other reviews.

The Death of Lucy Kyte by Nicola Upson

Synopsis From Back Cover:

When Josephine Tey unexpectedly inherits Red Barn Cottage from her estranged godmother, the will stipulates that she must personally claim the house in the Suffolk countryside.  But Josephine is not the only benefactor - a woman named Lucy Kyte is also in Hester's will.

Sorting through the artifacts of her godmother's life, Josephine is intrigued by an infamous killing committed on the cottage's grounds a century before.  Yet this old crime - dubbed the Red Barn murder - still seems to haunt the tight-knit village and its remote inhabitants.  Is it just superstition, or is there a very real threat that is frightening the locals?  Could the truth be related to the mysterious Lucy Kyte, whom no one in the village admits to knowing?

With a palpable sense of evil thickening around her, Josephine must untangle historic tragedy from present danger and prevent a deadly cycle from the beginning once more.

Nicola Upson, Jacqueline Winspear, Charles Todd, and Susan Elia MacNeal, now you may be asking why I'm just listing a bunch of authors at the beginning of a book review, well good question.  For a reasons, I will get to in a second, these authors are all tied up together in my head.  First of all, they are all set around the same time, in the same country.  Basing mysteries in England, around the two World Wars, will automatically link them together.  For me, it's more than that though.  They aren't the only author's who are writing about that time period, nor are they the only authors who are doing it with mysteries, but they are a group of writers who are doing it with a certain narrative style and "feel" to their books.  I've said it about all their books before, but their is a "gentleness" to the narrative, even when they are talking about horrific murders and people destroying lives all around them.  I'm not even sure, nor have I ever been able to, explain what I say, but if you have read their books, I hope you know what I'm talking about.  The easiest way I can say it, these books, though they are mysteries, make me feel comfortable.

This is only the second book I've read in the Josephine Tey series by Nicola Upson.  The first book was Two for Sorrows, and I read that way back in 2011.  Going into it, I was a little hesitant, simply because the main character is a fictionalized version of a mystery writer.  A lot of authors butcher that concept, either changing the character so much, that they have nothing in common with their real life counterpart.  Or they do the exact opposite, keeping so faithfully to who they were in real life, that they just should have written a biography of them.  A good author, which Nicola Upson is, will combine real and fictional, paying homage to the character, allowing them to come back to life for an audience who may not already be familiar with them.

Like Two for Sorrows, the narrative pace is slow and relaxed, which allows the past to mingle with the present.  It allows the two time periods to meld together, which creates a smooth flow to the story.  There is not harsh jumping back and forth, nor is there any sense of disharmony between the two plot points.  For what it's worth, while there is a sense of danger and mystery to what's going on around her, it doesn't over shadow the story of the Red Barn murder, nor that of Lucy Kyte.  It's actually made me want to read about the actual Red Barn murder case.

Even though I'm reading this series out of order, which is making the relationship between Josephine and Marta a little confusing to me, I love the fact that the author is not shying away from Tey's sexuality.  Until recently there has been this habit of whitewashing or ignoring the sexuality of famous gay or bisexual people. I'm glad that we seem to be correcting that wrong, which allows us to fully understand our past, and our literary history.

I would like to thank Trish of TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to read/review this book.  Please visit the tour page to read other reviews.

Sweet Tooth by Tim Anderson

Synopsis From Back Cover: 

What's a sweets-loving young boy growing up gay in North Carolina in the eighties supposed to think when he's diagnosed with type 1 diabetes?  That God is punishing him, naturally.

This was, after all, when gay-hating Jesse Helms was his senator, AIDS was still the boogeyman, and no one was saying "It gets better."  And if stealing a copy of a gay porno magazine from the newsagent was a sin, then surely what the men inside were doing to one another was much worse.

Sweet Tooth is Tim Anderson's uproarious memoir of life after his hormones and blood sugar both went berserk at the age of fifteen.  With Morrissey and The Smiths as the soundtrack, Anderson self-deprecatingly recalls love affairs with vests and donuts, first rushes, coming out, and inaugural trips to gay bars.  What emerges is the story of a young man trying to build a future that won't involve crippling loneliness or losing a foot to his disease - and maybe even one that, no matter how predictable, can still be pretty sweet.

One of the things I love about memoirs, whether they are from someone you have heard about before or not, is how they can get you thinking about your own life.  It's amazing how reading the narration of another life, can make you rethink yours, how it can bring memories to the front of your mind that you haven't thought of in years. I'm always surprised and overjoyed when something will trigger one of my memories, especially when they revolve around sex.

Within the first 25 pages of Sweet Tooth, I had already thought of a porn magazine and a church crush, both of which I hand't thought of in years.  I was a little younger than Tim the first time I stole a porn magazine, and sadly it wasn't an actual gay porn one, but it was Playgirl, and I got the same sort of thrill that he had when I got the courage up to stick it down the back of my jeans, and hide it under my shirt.  I can even remember the first time I was alone somewhere, and a bear skin rug was involved, so I could look at it and do what every man does on a regular basis.  It was the first time I really admitted to myself that the sight of a naked man, did it for me.  It was scary, electrifying, and self affirming all at the same time.

As far as the crush goes, I had a huge crush on my pastor's son.  Terry Kent was older, I think he was either a Senior in high school, or a Freshman in college when I first laid eyes on him, and he invaded my dreams for a very long time after that.  One of those dreams involved the baptismal, but you guys don't want those details.  Sadly nothing ever happened, except for a short shoulder rub at church camp, but that touch was enough for me, it was the fuel for fantasies for months afterwards.  When I remembered Terry Kent, I looked him up on Facebook for the first time, and I must say, he didn't age very well.

Sweet Tooth is one of those memoirs that I think anyone who has ever had an awkward adolescence, and who hasn't, should read.  It reaffirms the idea that while all of us are unique and have different lives from one another, we all share a core set of experiences that allows us to relate in ways that we tend to overlook in our day to day lives.  It's the kind of story that helps to remind us that we all share a common humanity, and I want to thank Tim Anderson for sharing his story, and reminding me of that.

I would also like to thank Lisa of TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to read and review this book.  Please visit the tour page to read other reviews.

Cartwheel by Jennifer duBois

Synopsis From Back Cover:

When Lily Hayes arrives in Buenos Aires for her semester abroad, she in enchanted by everything she encounters: the colorful surroundings, the street food, the elusive guy next door.  Her studious roommate Katy is a bit of a bore, but Lily didn't come to Argentina to hang out with other Americans.  Five weeks later, Katy is found brutally murdered in their shared home, and Lily is the prime suspect.  But who is Lily Hayes?  It depends on who's asking.  As the case takes shape - revealing deceptions, secrets, and suspicious DNA - Lily appears alternately sinister and guileless through the eyes of those around her.

There is really no way to separate Cartwheel from the real life story of Amanda Knox.  I tried the entire time I was reading it, but the parallels are so apparent, I'm not sure there are a lot of people who will read this book and not think of Amanda Knox.  And for me anyway, because I couldn't separate the two, I was never able to fully engage with Lily, her family, or those around her in Buenos Aires.

And that leads me into another winding thought process that may not make sense to anyone but myself.  When it comes to themes explored in a work of fiction, I know that part of it is author's intent and part reader interpretation.  I'm rarely convinced that authors intentionally incorporate all the concepts that critics, academics, and readers would like to ascribe to their works.  I've read a few reviews, both from other bloggers and from critics, that read like a doctoral thesis from a psychology major.  And while I'm sure the author did explore some of the themes being highlighted in these reviews, I'm almost positive some of the others are all in the reviewers heads.  I'm never sure if this is because these types of reviewers can never just relax and enjoy a good story, or if it's because they are simply belong in a Loony Tunes cartoon.

I know the whole reason someone is sitting down, reading this review, is to find out if I liked the book or not.  To tell you the truth, I'm still trying to figure that out for myself, so I put forth my humblest apologies on not being able to answer that most basic of questions.  If I was forced to offer up an opinion, it would be more ambivalent than anything else.  There was nothing that annoyed or offended me, but there was really nothing that grabbed my attention for longer than a few minutes at a time.  I enjoy the author's voice, but I'm not sure that had any real affect on my reading experience.  And one really bizarre side effect, I have even less interest in the Amanda Knox case, than I had before I read this book.

I would like to thank Lisa of TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to read and review this book.  Please visit the tour page to read other reviews.

Oddities & Entities by Roland Allnach

Synopsis From Back Cover:

Set in the mysterious space between the everyday world and an existence just beyond reach, Oddities & Entities traces a path through the supernatural, the paranormal, and the speculative.  With moments of horror, dark humor, and philosophical transcendence, these tales explore a definition of life beyond the fragile vessel of the human body.

It's not often that I agree to review a book by a small press or a self published author, but when Trish at TLC Book Tours is the one offering the book to me, it gets my attention.  This last round of offerings, I ended up picking up two such books, and Oddities & Entities by Roland Allnach, is the first of those two to be reviewed.

The collection of six stories started off with a bang.  The first story, "Boneview," was so good, it surpassed every expectation I had.  In "Boneview" a young woman can see through to the bones of everyone she sees, it allows her to see their overall health.  Her sight attracts an entity from the other side, an entity who befriends her with presents, but is so creepy, that it's fairly obvious the creature has an ulterior motive.  The story tracks her life from childhood to adulthood, it tells the tale of a young woman who goes from a artistic loner, to a happily married woman, and all the pain in between.  I'm not going to go to far into the details, because of all the stories in this book, it's the one I would want everyone to read.

The next two stories, while not as strong, still held my attention and kept me entertained.  The final three stories, I really could have done without.  They didn't seem as well constructed as the previous stories, nor did they feel as if they were as well grounded.  It was like a movie that starts of so strong, that you know you are going to love it.  Then for whatever reason, the director decides to make the movie way too long, which weakens the story and leaves it's audience bored by the end.  I'm not saying that I was bored by this collection, but I wish it had been shorter.

I would like to thank Trish of TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to read and review this book.  Please visit the tour page to read other reviews.

Aunty Lee's Delights by Ovidia Yu

Synopsis From Back Cover:

After losing her husband, Rosie Lee could easily have become one of Singapore's "tai tai," an idle rich lady devoted to mah-jongg, and luxury shopping.  Instead she threw herself into building a culinary empire from her restaurant, Aunty Lee's Delights, where spicy Singaporean home cooking is graciously served to locals and tourists alike.  But when a body is found in one of Singapore's beautiful tourist havens, and when one of her wealthy guests fails to show at a dinner party, Aunty Lee knows that the two are likely connected.

The murder and disappearance throws together Aunty Lee's henpecked stepson Mark, his social-climbing wife Selina, a gay couple whose love is still illegal in Singapore, and an elderly Australian tourist couple whose visit - billed at first as a pleasure cruise - may mask a deeper purpose.  Investigating the murder is rookie Police Commissioner Raja, who quickly discovers that the savvy and well-connected Aunty Lee can track down clues even better than local law enforcement.

As most of you know by know, I'm a huge mystery fan, though I tend to prefer older mysteries over the ones being written today.  With very few exceptions, I'm not a fan of "cozy" mysteries, and the vast majority of modern mysteries I have enjoyed, tend to be more along the lines of a police procedural.  With all that in mind, you may be surprised that I agreed to review Aunty Lee's Delights by Ovidia Yu.  As you can tell from the synopsis, this is what most would consider a "cozy" mystery.  It's a little old lady, who is a culinary enchantress, solving a murder or two, as she dispenses advice and feeds those around her.  But I have a fondness for little old ladies, how can you not love Jane Marple and Maud Silver.  Besides, it's set in Singapore.  How could I not want to review a mystery set in Singapore, a city/country I have always wanted to visit.

To be perfectly frank with you guys, through the first 1/3 of the book, I was kicking myself for my choice.  Singapore be damned, I just was not getting into this story at all.  The characters, even Aunty Lee, were getting on my nerves.  The story and dialogue felt choppy, and I was getting tired of googling every word I wasn't familiar with.  I can't say that any of those issues ever really changed for me, I think they remained issues for the entire length of the book.  But for some bizarre, inexplicable reason, they stopped mattering to me as much.

Aunty Lee will never be in the league of Miss Marple or Miss Silver, but her open heart and good nature, are cause enough to forgive her blunt form of being a busy body.  The rest of the characters, with few exceptions, I can take or leave them.  They tended to be overly whiny, full of themselves, or too concerned with appearances to really take them into my heart.  Even the killer was whiny, and that's one thing I can never forgive in a mystery.  I want the killer to be confident and strong, or at the last clear in their motives.  This time around, we are treated to a self absorbed whiner who doesn't stand a chance against a true villain.

I did like Senior Staff Sergeant Salim, who is the rookie investigating the case, not as the synopsis claims Commissioner Raja, who is Salim's boss, and not a rookie at all.  Now for some odd reason, the synopsis has this wrong, as do most of the reviews I've read of this book.  I'm not sure how so many are missing this, but it's not fair to Salim.

I liked the three secondary gay characters, one was the girlfriend of one of the dead women, the other two were the son of the Australian couple, and his Chinese boyfriend.  It's in the way the author treated these characters with dignity and respect, despite the way some of the other characters treated them, that truly won my heart.  But it was really in the way, that despite the limited page time these characters had, their stories forced the entire book to revolve around them.  This was a murder mystery that happens because one of the victims was gay, and everything she was trying to do in order to live her life.  Everything else that happens in the book, spins off of that one fact.

I'm not sure if this book is, or will be, part of a series.  I'm not even sure I would read another if it was, but I will say that I'm glad I read this one.  I may not be in love with Aunty Lee the way I am with Miss Marple, but she was fun to meet and spend a few hours with.

I would like to thank Trish of TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to read/review this book.  Please visit the tour page to read other reviews.

Challenges: A-Z

The Butterfly Sister by Amy Gail Hansen

Synopsis From Back Cover:

Twenty-two-year-old Ruby Rousseau is haunted by memories of Tarble, the women's college she fled from ten months earlier, and the painful love affair that pushed her to the brink of tragedy.

When a suitcase belonging to a former classmate named Beth arrives on her doorstep, Ruby is plunged into a dark mystery.  Beth has gone missing, and the suitcase is the only tangible evidence of her whereabouts.

Inside the bag, Ruby discovers a tattered copy of Virginia Woolf's A Room of Ones' Own, the book she believes was a harbinger of her madness.  Is someone trying to send her a message - and what does it mean?

The search for answers leads to Tarble.  As Ruby digs into Beth's past, she has no choice but to confront her own - an odyssey that will force her to reexamine her final days at school, including the married professor who broke her heart and the ghosts of illustrious writers, dead by their own hand, who beckoned her to join their tragic circle.

But will finding the truth finally set Ruby free... or send her over the edge of sanity?

I'm always a little leery of suspense novels that have a theme to them.  Miss Me When I'm Gone by Emily Arsenault used the country music of women who died too young and lived too hard to explore the life of one of it's characters.  With The Butterfly Sister by Amy Gail Hansen, we have a novel that uses the writings and lives of female authors who committed suicide to explore the main character's life.  Miss Me When I'm Gone, despite a promising plot, had issues with trying to weave the plot around the theme.  I'm afraid I had some of the same issues with this one as well.  Trying to tie in the various authors and their works, never felt organic to me.  It was a lot like Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children in that regard.  It was more like the author chose which writers she wanted to use, and tried to tie the story around them and certain works.  I wish she had allowed the the plot and character needs, to dictate the way in which the suicidal authors and their writings appeared in the book.

The story is there, I wanted to like it.  Actually, I wanted to love it.  Instead I'm left feeling a bit let down, because instead of having a young woman deal with the very real issues of suicide, depression, and delusions; we are left with an inconceivable plot device used to explain it all away.  The ending felt like a stab in my heart, and took all enjoyment I had had for Ruby and her struggles, or for the missing Beth and the fear I felt for her, and dashed it upon the rocks.  It turned a side character I really liked into someone I'm just baffled by and wishing it could have been different.  The entire thing left me shaking my head, closing the last page, and promptly forgetting the entire thing.

I would like to thank Trish of TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to read and review this book.  Please visit the tour page to read other reviews.

The Darwin Elevator by Jason M. Hough

Synopsis From Back Cover:

In the late twenty-third century, Darwin, Australia, stands as the last human city on Earth.  The world has succumbed to an alien plague, with most of the population transformed into mindless, savage creatures.  The planet's refugees flock to Darwin, where a space elevator - created by the architects of this apocalypse, the Builders - emits a plague-suppressing aura.

Skyler Lukien has a rare immunity to the plague.  Backed by an international crew of fellow "immunes," he leads missions into the dangerous wasteland beyond the aura's edge to find the resources Darwin needs to stave off collapse.  But when the Elevator starts to malfunction, Skyler is tapped - along with the brilliant scientist Dr. Tania Sharma - to solve the mystery of the failing alien technology and save the ragged remnants of humanity.

I hate science fiction.  There I said it.  I feel as if that weight everyone keeps talking about, is off my shoulders.  I find most of it to be heavy handed, too preachy, and full of so much technobabble that I have a headache within minutes of reading it.  In the past, I have found a few exceptions to my disdain for the genre, but they have been few and far between.  The Dune series by Frank Herbert, Aristoi by Walter Jon Williams, and a few series, like The Emberverse books by S.M. Stirling, that mix science fiction with fantasy; are a few of those shining stars in an otherwise dark firmament.

I'm still not even sure why I agreed to review The Darwin Elevator.  And as I started the book, I was kicking myself for that decision.  I was finding myself bogged down in the back story, the vocabulary was getting on my nerves, and I really don't like stories set in space, even a little bit.  I also think I was still annoyed over the book, Mystery Girl by David Gordon, that I had just finished reviewing, prior to this one.  But I refused to give up on it, I figured I would just have to suffer through.  I know I don't like science fiction, so it was my own damn fault for agreeing to review it.

Then something changed in me about halfway through the book.  I was actually enjoying myself and getting lost in the action.  I was really liking Skyler and Tania, and everyone else they were friends with.  I found myself hating the guys I was supposed to hate, and cheering for them to die.  I became interested in the questions they were asking about the Builders and what the master plan was.  I got caught up in the quest to find the new elevator sight.  I was just as intrigued by the movable structures as Skylar was.  And quiet honestly, I'm really needing to know what happens next.  I'm not sure when I'll get to find out, but I can't wait for the opportunity.

I would like to thank Lisa of TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to read and review this book.  Please visit the tour page to read other reviews.

Mystery Girl by David Gordon

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

When Sam Kornberg's wife, Lala, walks out on him, he's an unemployed used-book store clerk and failed experimental novelist with a broken heart.  Desperate to win her back, he takes a job as assistant detective to the enigmatic Solar Lonsky, a private eye who might be an eccentric and morbid genius or just morbidly obese madman.  

It's a simple tail job, following a beautiful and mysterious lady around L.A., but Sam soon finds himself helplessly falling for his quarry and hopelessly entangled in a murder case involving satanists, succubi, underground filmmakers, Hollywood bigshots, Mexican shootouts, video-store geekery, and sexy doppelgangers from beyond the grave.  A case that highlights the risk of hardcore reading and mourns the death of the novel - or perhaps just the decline of Western civilization.

I feel like Artax being sucked down in the Swamp of Sadness, unable to escape his fate.  Now forgive my hyperbolic language, but I'm not sure I have any other way to explain myself.  Before anyone gets too upset with me, I'm not comparing the book to the Swamps of Sadness.  Instead, I'm comparing my unwillingness and despair at having to write a review of this book, to being sucked down into the mud, never to raise again.

It's not because I didn't like the book, though I can honestly say it's not my favorite, but it has more to do with the fact that I really don't have anything to say about it.  If I had nothing but negatives to explore, it would be easier for me to sit my butt down and write something up.  Instead, I'm left with feeling rather panicked over the idea of writing this review.

I guess I could say that I enjoyed the characters and found them to be interesting, despite all the craziness going on around them.  There are even a few of that I would like to know personally.  I may even choose to comment on the fact that much like These Things Happen by Richard Kramer, the book felt too forced for me to really enjoy.  Everything, for me at least, read as if the author was trying too hard to be clever.  And that's all I really have to say, I don't even feel like going into a lot of explanation on why I feel this way.  Maybe I should just let the mud of the Swamp of Sadness swallow me up.

I would like to thank Lisa of TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to read/review this book.  Please visit the tour page to read other reviews, hopefully some that actually had something to say.

The Mirrored World by Debra Dean (Giveaway Included)

Synopsis From Dust Jacket: 

Born to a Russian family of lower nobility, Xenia, an eccentric dreamer who cares little for social conventions, falls in love with Andrei, a charismatic soldier and singer in the Empress's Imperial choir.  Though husband and wife adore each other, their happiness is overshadowed by the absurd demands of life at the royal court and by Xenia's growing obsession with having a child - a desperate need that is at last fulfilled with the birth of her daughter.  But then a tragic vision comes true, and a shattered Xenia descends into grief, undergoing a profound transformation that alters the course of her life.  Turning away from family and friends, she begins giving all her money and possessions to the poor.  Then, one day, she mysteriously vanishes.

Years later, dressed in the tatters of her husband's military uniform and answering only to his name, Xenia is discovered tending the paupers of St. Petersburg's slums.  Revered as a soothsayer and a blessed healer to the downtrodden, she is feared by the royal court and its new Empress, Catherine, who perceives her deeds as a rebuke to their lavish excesses.

Most of you already know that I'm not a huge fan of historical fiction, with few exceptions, I normally can't connect with the approach the author chooses to take with the subject.  So you may be surprised to see that I agreed to review The Mirrored World by Debra Dean.  If I don't like historical fiction, why choose a historical fiction book to review.  My friends, that's a good question.  So let me try to explain it to you.

Since I was a kid, I've been fascinated by the men and women who have been so revered, that they are called saints.  I was intrigued by the happenstances and situations that could place someone in a position to be considered a actual saint, anointed by God to do good works on Earth.  Whether they came from the Roman Catholic tradition or not, saints have always fascinated me.  St. Xenia is from the Russian Orthodox tradition, and while I had never heard of her before this, I was hooked on the synopsis.  I was ready to delve into her life and find out, even if it's only a fictional account, what happened in her life to lead her down the road to sainthood.

So now, I get to explain why this book was no different than almost every other historical fiction book I've read.  I was wanting to learn about St. Xenia, her life and her beliefs.  Instead I got a puff piece told from the viewpoint of a cousin who shared Xenia's life from childhood to old age.  And when I say share, I really mean they were around each other all the time until Xenia went out on her own.  After that we only glimpse Xenia when the two come together again, often times years go between those meetings.  I didn't get to see Xenia at work in the slums, except through the cousin's eyes, and that was just a little glimpse.  I didn't get, from Xenia's viewpoint, why she took this path or what she was personally feeling at the time.  Everything I learned about Xenia is secondhand knowledge.

Now I know The Mirrored World is historical fiction, not a history book.  I get it.  If I really want to learn about St. Xenia, I should read nonfiction books about her life.  I shouldn't rely on a fiction book to sate my curiosity.  But is it wrong to expect more from a fictional account of a real person's life?  Shouldn't the subject of such a book get to tell her own story, instead of it being told from the viewpoint of someone else, someone who isn't around for much of her life?  I get that an author has the prerogative to tell a story from any viewpoint they want, and honestly, the writing was quite good.  It was a well crafted exploration, and I'm glad I read it.  I just wish, like I do so many times when I read historical fiction, that there was more meat on the bones.

I would like to thank Trish of TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to read and review this book.  Please visit the tour page to read other reviews.

The wonderful group at TLC Book Tours have generously offered my readers the chance to win a copy of this book for themselves.  The giveaway will last until 11:59 pm, CST, on 8/19/13.  You must be a resident of the United States to enter, and all you have to do is leave me a comment with your email address.  

The Curiosity by Stephen P. Kiernan (Giveaway Included)

Synopsis From Back Cover:

Dr. Kate Philo and her scientific exploration team makes a breathtaking discovery in the Arctic: the body of a man buried deep in the ice.  As a scientist in a groundbreaking project run by the egocentric and paranoid Erastus Carthage, Kate has brought small creatures - plankton, krill, shrimp - "back to life."  Never have the team's methods been attempted on a large life form.

Heedless of the consequences, Carthage orders that the frozen man be brought back to the lab in Boston, and reanimated.  As the man begins to regain his memories, the team learns that he was - is - a judge, Jeremiah Rice, and the last thing he remembers is falling overboard into the Arctic Ocean in 1906.  When news of the Lazarus Project and Jeremiah Rice breaks, it ignites a media firestorm and massive protests by religious fundamentalists.

Thrown together by circumstances beyond their control, Kate and Jeremiah grow closer.  But the clock is ticking and Jeremiah's new life is slipping away.  With Carthage planning to exploit Jeremiah while he can, Kate must decide how far she is willing to go to protect the man she has come to love.

A gripping, poignant, and thoroughly original thriller, Stephen Kiernan's provocative debut novel raises disturbing questions about the very nature of life and humanity - man as a scientific subject, as a tabloid plaything, as a living being: A curiosity.

I don't know if any of you have payed attention to this before, but see that last paragraph, the one just before this one, I normally don't include those when I'm typing up the synopsis.  Partly because I find it to be part of an opinion by someone who is not me, rather than being an actual part of the synopsis.  And partly because, it's just too much typing for me.  I already take up more than my share of blog space, so why add to your reading.  Of course there are those who have claimed I'm lazy for not writing my own, but quite frankly, I think my thoughts belong in the review itself.

But I'm digressing, so let me get back to the point I was trying to make to begin with.  The reason why I chose to include that last paragraph, was pretty damn simple.  I won't go as far as saying it's a big fat lie, but I will say it's a little grandiose for what the book actually read to me.  I'm not sure where the thriller part comes in, unless they are talking about the last few pages where Kate and Jeremiah are running away from the paparazzi.  And while I may agree that the book does touch on the themes of medical ethics, faith, what it means to be alive, and the state of our media driven culture; I can't say as if they seemed to be overarching themes that the author was trying to explore.  Instead the felt as if they were a small part of the story, a story of a man brought back to life and those around him who for various reasons are trying to exploit him in one way or another.  And it's a story of two people, who despite the obvious differences find themselves connecting in ways they didn't see coming, nor fully act upon that connection.

I don't want you guys to think I'm critiquing the book, because I'm not.  The book itself, despite a slow start, was an engaging read that once it got a hold of me, I was hooked.  I fell in love with Jeremiah.  Of all the characters in the book, he was the one that felt the most real to me.  He is one of those characters that had I a huge Edwardian country home, he would be a frequent guest.  He was a man who came of age in a period of time where everything was new, where his contemporaries were exploring far flung lands and new inventions seemed to spring up all over the place.  His was a time of true human expansion and progress was achieved by brave men and women who put their blood, sweat, and tears into everything they did.  He was one of the youngest district court judges in history, and his intellect is one to be admired.  Add in the fact that he is gorgeous, kind, and a truly good person, and you almost have the perfect man.  And despite all that, he never seemed to be the stereotypical romantic hero, there was something grounded and real about him as a character.

I could go on and on about Kate as well, but at this point in time, I think I'm taking up way too much of your time already.  She is the perfect instrument for Jeremiah to see this new world through.  She is a truly interesting character, that while I may not have fallen for her in the way I did Jeremiah, I was never bored when it was her turn to tell the story.  She had her own voice, and it was one that I found myself respecting and in many ways admiring.

My love affair with the character ends there though.  The other two characters who narrate this story are one dimensional bores that I could have done without.   Dr. Carthage is what he is described to be in the synopsis.  There really isn't much more to say about him, other than I felt as if the whole reference to his father felt a little forced and seemed a bit out of place.  The sleazy reporter, was like Dr. Carthage, a one dimensional character that despite his good nature, I never liked, and I just wanted him to shut up.  And it's in how we get to know these character that I think this book did have one major flaw.

The book is told, after the events are already over, from the viewpoints of those four characters.  So while I may have loved half of the chapters, the other half were just flat out annoying to read.  I think this story, and these characters, would have been served better by having the story told by a third person narrator.  It would have allowed more page time for the two characters I loved, but wouldn't have fragmented the story itself in such a way that I found myself annoyed with certain chapters and truly enjoying others.

My last quibble, and then I promise to shut up, I've been trying to convince myself to be happy with the ending, and I just can't be.  It felt a little rushed, and despite some of the differences Kate has made in her life by then, it just doesn't satisfy me.  I can't tell you what I wanted, without telling you what didn't happen, so I'm sorry about that.  I didn't hate the ending, but I think I could have liked it so much better had it been closed a bit differently, though I think the actual end result would have been the same.  And now that I'm done talking in circles, and if you are still reading at this point, please take the time to get this book.  I'm almost positive, and while I won't name names, I'm pretty sure I know which of you would fall for Jeremiah just as hard as I did.

I would like to thank Trisha of TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to read and review this book.  Please visit the tour page to read other reviews.

The wonderful group at TLC Book Tours have generously offered my readers the chance to win a copy of this book for themselves.  The giveaway will last until 11:59 pm, CST, on 7/20/13.  You must be a resident of the United States to enter, and all you have to do is leave me a comment with your email address.  

Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

Dellarobia Turnbow is a restless farm wife who gave up her own plans when she accidentally became pregnant at seventeen.  Now, after a decade of domestic disharmony on a failing farm, she has settled for permanent disappointment but seeks momentary escape through an obsessive flirtation with a younger man.  As she hikes up a mountain road behind her house to a secret tryst, she encounters a shocking sight: a silent, forested valley filled with what look like a lake of fire.  She can only understand it as a cautionary miracle, but it sparks a raft of other explanations from scientists, religious leaders, and the media.  The bewildering emergency draws rural farmers into unexpected acquaintance with urbane journalists, opportunists, sightseers, and a striking biologist with his own stake in the outcome.  As the community lines up to judge the woman and her miracle, Dellarobia confronts her family, her church, her town, and a larger world, in a flight toward truth that could undo all she has ever believed.

I hope I'm not about to hurt someones feelings, but I'm not sure I can do this any other way.  I would like to be able to give those of you who came here looking for a full review of Flight Behaviorr by Barbara Kingsolver, what you wanted.  Sadly, I can't do that.  I could pretend to have read the entire book, but I would have to lie to you, and that's the last thing I ever want to do.  It's not that I didn't read the first and the last page, because I did.  It's just that I skipped and skimmed my way through the book, hoping for something to grab my attention.

I did manage to read the first 50-60 pages before I gave up, and started my skimming/skipping process.  I wanted so much to enjoy this book, the premise and the issues it explored, grabbed my attention when I agreed to review the book.  And I know a ton of other bloggers who really enjoy this author's work.  So I feel left out of club, one that I desperately want to belong to.  I want to be able to enjoy the author's writing and the story she created, but for whatever reason, I'm just not able to.  Nothing on the page grabbed onto me.  Nothing within the covers of Flight Behavior managed to capture my imagination.

I know I'm going to be the minority on this one, and I'm glad for it.  I don't ever want to give the impression that I don't think this book is worth reading, because for people who don't live within my own skin, it probably is.  I have to accept the fact that I'm not one of them.

I would like to thank Trish of TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to read/review this book.  Please visit the tour page to read other reviews.