Book Review: All I Ever Wanted by Kristan Higgins

Thursday 30 September, 2010 By 5 Comments


Title: All I Ever Wanted
Author: Kristan Higgins
Publisher: HQN Books
Publication Date: July 27, 2010
Paperback: 384 pages
ISBN: 978-0373774586
Genre: Fiction

About the Book:

One Happily-Ever-After Rocking Chair . . .

And no sign of any forthcoming babies to rock in ol’ Georgebury, Vermont. For Callie Grey, turning thirty means coming to grips with the fact that her boss (and five-week fling) is way overdue in his marriage proposal. And way off track, because Mark has suddenly announced his engagement to the company’s new Miss Perfect. If that isn’t bad enough, her mom decides to throw her a three-oh birthday bash in the family funeral home.

Bad goes to worse when she stirs up a crazy relationship with the town’s not so warm and fuzzy veterinarian, Ian McFarland, in order to flag Mark’s attention. So Ian is more comfortable with animals. . . . So he’s formal, orderly and just a bit tense. The ever-friendly, fun-loving and spontaneous Callie decides it’s time for Ian to get a personality makeover. But, dang, if he doesn’t shock the heck out of her, she might actually fall for Vermont’s unlikeliest eligible bachelor. . . .

My Review:

Absolutely delightful and witty, All I Ever Wanted by Kristan Higgins is an extremely fun book to read. Filled with quirky characters beginning with the protagonist, Callie Grey who has just turned thirty and realises nothing in her life is going as planned. Higgins takes the reader to Georgebury, Vermont to meet the inhabitants, including Callie’s quirky family and friends. All I Ever Wanted was an absolute delight to read and I caught myself laughing most of the time. Higgins has managed to capture the times in a person’s life where they wish the earth would swallow them whole and make it funny. Higgins’ characters are diverse and quite relatable, so much so the reader will compare the characters to people they know in their lives. Quirky characters coupled with her witty narrative style and fantastic protagonist and the “only comfortable with animals” veterinarian Ian, and Higgins has a laugh out loud funny book. I would recommend All I Ever Wanted to anyone who is looking for a witty and delightfully fun book.

About the Author:

Kristan Higgins, author of All I Ever Wanted, combines real life, true love and lots of laughs in her stories. Her books have received praise and accolades from readers and reviewers alike. Kristan won a Romance Writers of America’s RITA® Award in 2008 for Catch of the Day, and received a 2010 nomination for Too Good To Be True. Called “one of the most honest and creative voices in contemporary romance,” Kristan is hard at work on her next book. She lives in a small Connecticut town with her heroic firefighter husband, two lovely children, one devoted dog and a regal cat. Kristan loves to hear from readers!

I received a complimentary copy of All I Ever Wanted by Kristan Higgins from FSB Associates. Receiving a review copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned novel.

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Book Review: Up From the Blue by Susan Henderson

Thursday 30 September, 2010 By 9 Comments


Title: Up From the Blue
Author: Susan Henderson
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Publication Date: September 11, 2010
Paperback: 336 pages
ISBN: 978-0061984037
Genre: Fiction

From the Publisher:

Tillie Harris’s life is in disarray—her husband is away on business, the boxes in her new home aren’t unpacked, and the telephone isn’t even connected yet. Though she’s not due for another month, sudden labor pains force Tillie to reach out to her estranged father for help, a choice that means facing the painful memories she’s been running from since she was a little girl.

An extraordinary debut from a talented new voice, Up from the Blue untangles the year in Tillie’s life that changed everything: 1975, the year her mother disappeared.

My Review:

Susan Henderson’s deeply moving and emotional debut novel Up From the Blue will capture the reader’s attention straightaway. Henderson’s use of beautiful prose with a simple and almost lyrical quality weaves together the life of Tillie which is filled with joy, sadness, despair and the loving bond between mothers and daughters. The reader first meets Tillie when she is in labour with her child and then the story flashes back to her childhood where the reader gets a haunting look at Tillie’s childhood through the eyes of her 8-year-old self. Up From the Blue is a fast-paced emotional novel filled with unexpected twists and turns throughout the story and it is quite easy to forget one is reading a work of fiction as Tillie explains her life in raw detail, her emotionally unstable mother and the ordeals the family must go through, the pain and deep sadness, and the feelings of guilt no 8-year-old should ever feel. One cannot help but be moved by Henderson’s narrative and be profoundly changed. The strength and courage of Tillie Harris will make readers sit up and take notice. Her story is one that is deeply emotional and unforgettable. Up From the Blue is a novel I was unable to set down and personally, I look forward to more literary works from Susan Henderson. I would recommend Up From the Blue to all of my readers and anyone in a book discussion group.

About the Author:

Susan Henderson is a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee and the founder of the literary blog LitPark: Where Writers Come to Play (www.litpark.com). Her work has appeared in Zoetrope: All-Story, the Pittsburgh Quarterly, North Atlantic Review, Opium, and many other publications. Henderson lives in New York, and Up from the Blue is her first novel.

For more reviews of the book, please follow the book tour.

I received a complimentary copy of Up From the Blue by Susan Henderson from TLC Book Tours to be a part of this tour and offer my honest review of the book. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.

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Book Review: Stranger Here Below by Joyce Hinnefeld

Wednesday 29 September, 2010 By 7 Comments


Title: Stranger Here Below
Author: Joyce Hinnefeld
Publisher: Unbridled Books
Publication Date: September 28, 2010
Hardcover: 288 pages
ISBN: 978-1609530044
Genre: Fiction

From the Publisher:

In 1961, when Amazing Grace Jansen, a firecracker from Appalachia, meets Mary Elizabeth Cox, the daughter of a Black southern preacher, at Kentucky’s Berea College, they already carry the scars and traces of their mothers’ troubles. Poor and single, Maze’s mother has had to raise her daughter alone and fight to keep a roof over their heads. Mary Elizabeth’s mother has carried a shattering grief throughout her life, a loss so great that it has disabled her and isolated her stern husband and her brilliant, talented daughter.

The caution this has scored into Mary Elizabeth has made her defensive and too private and limited her ambitions, despite her gifts as a musician. But Maze’s earthy fearlessness might be enough to carry them both forward toward lives lived bravely in an angry world that changes by the day.

Both of them are drawn to the enigmatic Georginea Ward, an aging idealist who taught at Berea sixty years ago, fell in love with a black man, and suddenly found herself renamed as a sister in a tiny Shaker community. Sister Georgia believes in discipline and simplicity, yes. But, more important, her faith is rooted in fairness and the long reach of unconditional love.

This is a novel about three generations of women and the love that makes families where none can be expected.

My Review:

Stranger Here Below by Joyce Hinnefeld is a book that will have the reader pondering the greater implications of family long after the last word is read.  Hinnefeld creates a stunningly beautiful, sad and yet hopeful, story of the lives of three generations of women spanning the years 1862-1968, all interconnected in a non-linear manner throughout the novel.  The story opens up with Amazing Grace “Maze” Jansen meeting her roommate Mary Elizabeth Cox in their room at Berea College. Next the reader is present at the birth of Georginea in 1872, the focal point of this brilliant story of fractured lives, women stronger than they know, family ties and hidden secrets yearning to be freed.  Stranger Here Below is carefully crafted and vividly descriptive, possibly more so to me, since I have been to the places mentioned in the novel, nonetheless, Hinnefeld makes certain the reader feels connected be it with Cincinnati or Berea, Kentucky.  Hinnefeld blurs the lines of white and black and focuses on the women themselves and how they overcome or endear what life tosses each woman and how it impacts each successive generation.  Stranger Here Below is a novel that transports the reader, makes the reader wish there was more, yet gives the reader all that is required and commands the reader to think and take the lessons offered up through the many stories and extrapolate them into the reader’s life.  I cannot offer enough praise for Stranger Here Below and believe it is a novel all women should read and a book not to be missed by book discussion groups.

About the Author:

Joyce Hinnefeld is the Cohen Chair in English and Literature at Moravian in Bethlehem, Pa. She is the author of a short story collection, Tell Me Everything and Other Stories (University Press of New England, 1998), which was awarded the 1997 Breadloaf Writer’s Conference Bakeless Prize in fiction in 1997. Her first novel, In Hovering Flight, was a #1 Indie Next Pick.

I received a complimentary copy of Stranger Here Below by Joyce Hinnefeld from Unbridled Books to review. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned novel.

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Book Review: Home Again by Mariah Stewart

Tuesday 28 September, 2010 By 12 Comments

Title: The Chesapeake Diaries: Home Again
Author: Mariah Stewart
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: July 27, 2010
Paperback: 464 pages
ISBN: 978-0345520357
Genre: Fiction, Romance

From the Publisher:

Dallas MacGregor is living the Hollywood dream. At thirtysomething, she’s an award-winning actress beloved by the public and bound for even bigger success. But when her soon-to-be-ex-husband, producer Emilio Baird, is caught in a sex scandal, Dallas’s charmed life turns tabloid nightmare. Determined to shield her young son, Cody, from the ugly uproar, Dallas seeks refuge in sleepy St. Dennis, Maryland—the Chesapeake Bay town where her happiest childhood days were spent.

Reunited with her boisterous great-aunt, Dallas wants nothing more than to leave her Hollywood days behind. And when she crosses paths with local veterinarian Grant Wyler, her high school summer love, she finds he’s everything she remembers, and more—and that the spark is still there. But Dallas’s promising new life takes a troubling turn when the unimaginable happens and she finds herself living a mother’s worst nightmare—and Emilio storms into St. Dennis to save the day, along with his damaged career. Trapped in the unwanted glare of the limelight once again, Dallas discovers that it’s coolheaded Grant who is willing to risk everything to protect her and her son, and to secure the future they were always meant to share.

My Review:

A Hollywood actress hounded by paparazzi due to her soon to be ex-husband’s scandalous affairs flees to her hometown to protect herself and her child is not exactly a new setting for a novel, yet Mariah Stewart pulls it off magnificently in Home Again, the second book in her series, The Chesapeake Diaries. Home Again is a stand-alone novel and the reader is drawn to the small town of St. Dennis where Dallas MacGregor brings her 6-year-old son while her divorce is finalized and the scandal blows over in Hollywood. Naturally, it would not be a romance novel if Dallas did not meet up with an old flame and there is an element of fear and tension in the novel, but to say more would give the ending away. Stewart sets the scene beautifully and creates a Hollywood actress who is relatable, her precocious and adorable son Cody, kindhearted Grant, and her brilliant Aunt Beryl, who happens to be my absolute favorite character in the book. Home Again accurately describes the book, for the reader learns a lot about St. Dennis, crabbing, the locals, and is an all around delightful and at times suspenseful novel. I enjoyed reading Home Again and look forward to the third book in The Chesapeake Diaries, Almost Home Again. I would recommend Home Again to anyone looking for a slower paced, enjoyable and descriptive book.

About the Author:

Mariah Stewart is the award-winning New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of twenty-seven novels of contemporary romance and romantic suspense. A native of Hightstown, New Jersey, she lives in southern Chester County, Pennsylvania, with her husband, their daughter, and their dogs.

For more reviews of the book, please follow the book tour.

I received a complimentary copy of Home Again by Mariah Stewart from TLC Book Tours to be a part of this tour and offer my honest review of the book. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.

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Teaser Tuesday- The Accordionist’s Son

Monday 27 September, 2010 By 42 Comments

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

“Three years have passed since that letter, and the book now exists.  …The book contains the words left by the accordionist’s son as well as my own.”

Page 13, The Accordionist’s Son by Bernardo Atxaga

What are you reading?
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Book Review: The Unexpected Son by Shobhan Bantwal

Monday 27 September, 2010 By 8 Comments


Title: The Unexpected Son
Author: Shobhan Bantwal
Publisher: Kensington
Publication Date: August 1, 2010
Paperback: 352 pages
ISBN: 978-0758232038
Genre: Fiction

Book Synopsis:

What happens when a woman who’s realized her dreams wakes up to a shocking truth? A mysterious letter turns Vinita Patil’s contented American life upside down. It tells an impossible story: she has a grown son in India, a child she was told was stillborn 30 years ago. Now his life may depend on her.

Revealing her secret past to her arranged-marriage husband could mean losing him forever. Nonetheless Vinita is compelled to return to her battle-scarred town in India to meet her hitherto unknown son—perhaps even save his life—and pray for the faith of the family she leaves behind.

My Review:

Stunningly beautiful, The Unexpected Son by Shobhan Bantwal is a story of family honor, deceit, and forgiveness. The top student in her University class, Vinita had a plan for her life until Somesh Kori enters her life. Som is a rake in every sense of the word, but Vini is young and her emotions took over and she suffered terribly for her mistake. Thirty years pass, Vini is now living in America with her husband Girish and daughter Arya when a mysterious letter arrives from Mumbai, shocking Vini and once again bringing scandal to her family as well as opening old and new wounds. Bantwal does an exceptional job describing life in India, the cultural biases as well as the customs and beliefs. I was fascinated by the family dynamics in India as well as in America. Bantwal has created an exceptional cast of characters that are flawed and quite human to the point the reader may forget this is a work of fiction. The Unexpected Son is filled with several storylines all stemming for Vini’s indiscretion as an 18-year-old and I was drawn into the lives of Vinita, Arya and Girish, Rohini, Kishore, Vishal and Sayee, the Patil’s, and into the life of Rohit and his family. Bantwal writes a beautiful story of love, loss, deception and redemption and I highly recommend The Unexpected Son to any reader and to book discussion groups.

About the Author:

Shobhan Bantwal calls her writing “Bollywood in a Book,” romantic, colorful, action-packed tales, rich with elements of Indian culture. Born and raised in India and now an American citizen, Shobhan had an arranged marriage and writes about that topic and other controversial social topics unique to India. THE UNEXPECTED SON is her fourth book.
Shobhan’s articles and short stories have appeared in a variety of publications including The Writer magazine, Romantic Times, India Abroad, Little India, U.S. 1, India Currents, and New Woman. Her short stories have won honors and awards in fiction contests sponsored by Writer’s Digest, New York Stories and New Woman magazines. To read her stories, articles, favorite recipes, and more, go to her website: www.shobhanbantwal.com

Shobhan Bantwal’s THE UNEXPECTED SON VIRTUAL BLOG TOUR ‘10 officially began on September 7 and end on September 30 ‘10. You can visit Shobhan’s blog stops here during the month of September to find out more about this great book and talented author!

I received a complimentary copy of The Unexpected Son by Shobhan Bantwal from Pump Up Your Book Promotion as part of the tour. Receiving a copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned novel.

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Book Review: The Financial Lives of the Poets by Jess Walter

Monday 27 September, 2010 By 16 Comments

Title: The Financial Lives of the Poets
Author: Jess Walter
Publisher: Harper Perennial; Reprint edition
Publication Date: September 7, 2010
Paperback: 320 pages
ISBN: 978-0061916052
Genre: Fiction

From the Publisher:

What happens when small-time reporter Matthew Prior quits his job to gamble everything on a quixotic notion: a Web site devoted to financial journalism in the form of blank verse? Before long, he wakes up to find himself jobless, hobbled with debt, spying on his wife’s online flirtation, and six days away from losing his home. . . . Until, one night on a desperate two a.m. run to 7-Eleven, he falls in with some local stoners, and they end up hatching the biggest—and most misbegotten—plan yet.

My Review:

I enjoy a good satirical novel and the premise of looking at the harsh realities of life as the market crashed, while homes were being foreclosed and people were losing their jobs, marriages were on the rocks and life was at best rather bleak, is intriguing. The promising premise for the novel The Financial Lives of the Poets by Jess Walter, while a dark look into bleak times, was one I did not enjoy. The protagonist, Mathew Prior is about to lose his home, a fact he has yet to share with his wife who may or may not be cheating on him. His father lost all his money to a stripper by the name of Charity and now the protagonist, a father of two, husband and once respected albeit small time reporter has decided to hook up with drug dealers he meets outside a 7/11 while buying milk. I am all for a good satire, I have read some brilliant satires over the decades, yet this one did not resonate well with me. It is quite possibly due to the fact that I have no tolerance for drugs, especially when a middle aged married father of two decides to sell drugs in a spur of the moment, goes by nickname is Slippers, speaks the drug dealer lingo, and in case the reader does not catch on in the first twenty pages, Matthew Prior drives a Nissan Maxima, a point repeated quite often and apparently lost on this reader. There is tremendous promise in The Financial Lives of the Poets, yet I just did not care for the book as a whole. What I enjoyed most was reading the author’s “how the book came about” at the end of this story. I strongly suggest following the tour and reading other opinions about The Financial Lives of Poets before deciding if this is indeed a book for you.

About the Author:

Jess Walter is the author of five novels, including The Zero, a finalist for the 2006 National Book Award, and Citizen Vince, winner of the 2005 Edgar Allan Poe Award for best novel. He has been a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize and the PEN USA Literary Prize in both fiction and nonfiction. His books have been New York Times, Washington Post, and NPR best books of the year and have been translated into twenty languages. He lives in Spokane, Washington.

For more reviews of the book, please follow the book tour.

I received a complimentary copy of The Financial Lives of the Poets by Jess Walter from TLC Book Tours to be a part of this tour and offer my honest review of the book. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.

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It’s Monday What Are You Reading?

Sunday 26 September, 2010 By 42 Comments

It’s Monday What Are you Reading is the perfect way for me to begin my week and allows me to focus on what needs to be read and to see what I have or have not accomplished the previous week. I also enjoy discovering new books by visiting other participants blogs.

I Read and Reviewed (click the title to be taken to the review):

Visit next Monday to see if I managed to accomplish my reading goals.

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Book Review: Katie Up and Down the Hall by Glenn Plaskin

Sunday 26 September, 2010 By 1 Comment

Title: Katie Up and Down the Hall: The True Story of How One Dog Turned Five Neighbors into a Family
Author: Glenn Plaskin
Publisher: Center Street; 1 edition
Publication Date: September 8, 2010
Hardcover: 272 pages
ISBN: 978-1599952543
Genre: Non-Fiction, Pets, Memoir

From the Publisher:

A personal memoir by bestselling author and celebrity journalist Glenn Plaskin, KATIE is a moving story about a man who discovers the true meaning of family after adopting a cocker spaniel puppy. Through the magnetic personality of his mischievous dog, the author soon makes powerful connections with several of his down-the-hall neighbors in a high-rise located in the unique Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan. First, Katie trots into the lives of Pearl and Arthur, a warm-hearted elderly couple just a few doors down from Glenn. Later, John, a single Dad, and his rambunctious young son, Ryan, also move in and are seduced by Katie’s charms.

All of their lives are profoundly changed as they are transformed from neighbors to friends to family, with Pearl as matriarch. The motherless boy finds a “Granny”; his Dad inherits a mother, Glenn discovers a confidante. Set in New York City, we witness nearly sixteen years of antics and family adventures spanning Hollywood high times, bad health, accidents, blustery winters, even the terrors of 9/11. Through it all, the family clings to each other, sharing a deep bond that give each comfort, support and security.

Based upon a widely-read article in Family Circle, here is an unforgettable story about the love that makes a family-one that transcends the hard realities of time, tragedy, and inevitable loss.

My Review:

Sometimes I want to sit down and read a sweet book that makes me laugh, cry, and smile just for having read the book. I found such a book in the delightfully charming and heart-warming novel Katie Up and Down the Hall by Glenn Plaskin. Katie, a gorgeous cocker spaniel, not only works her way into the heart of author Glenn Plaskin, but also into the lives of inhabitants of a Battery Park High Rise where Katie and Glenn reside. Plaskin writes beautifully and with great emotion about Katie’s life as well as how the neighbours were brought together, courtesy of Katie. Katie successfully bonds this diverse group of people into a family of sorts and shows how one small dog can impact many lives. Plaskin writes in exquisite detail about the Battery Park City, Katie, and the lives of those living on the same floor as he and Katie. Katie is a force to be reckoned with, but Pearl is the one who I shall remember the most from Katie’s memoir. While I am most definitely not a dog person I found myself mesmerized by Katie and could tell through Plaskin’s writing just how deeply Katie was loved by those who had the great fortune to cross her path. Katie Up and Down the Hall is a beautiful memoir and an absolutely delightful story of love, loss and how family transcends genetics. I recommend this book to anyone looking for a wonderful and light memoir.

About the Author:

Veteran journalist and celebrity interviewer Glenn Plaskin is the bestselling author of Horowitz: The Biography of Vladimir Horowitz and Turning Point: Pivotal Moments in the Lives of America’s Celebrities. His profiles and columns have appeared in the New York Times, the Daily News, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Family Circle, US Weekly, Ladies Home Journal, Cosmopolitan, W, and Playboy. His interview subjects have included such figures as Katharine Hepburn, Nancy Reagan, Calvin Klein, Senator Edward Kennedy, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Leona Helmsley, Barbara Walters, Diane Sawyer, Donald Trump, Al Pacino and Meryl Streep. His TV appearances include The Today Show, Oprah, and Larry King Live. He lives in New York City. Visit the author’s websites at www.glennplaskin.com and www.katiebook.com.

I received a complimentary copy of Katie Up and Down the Hall by Glenn Haskin from Hachette. Receiving a review copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned novel.

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The Sunday Salon (TSS 9/26)

Sunday 26 September, 2010 By 7 Comments
The Sunday Salon.com

Life: Autumn is here!  Now if it would just usher in cooler weather I would be ever so grateful.  Christmas is my favourite time of year, it always has been and I am looking forward to this year more than any other (it is only 90 days away!).   The new books being released this autumn are fabulous!

Family Update: My oldest is making progress on his applications, for which I am extremely thankful!  His 18th Birthday is this week and we plan to have a huge family party. I am trying really hard not to think of this as his last Birthday at home with us, that is too much for me to think of right now.  Rather, I am focusing on a wonderful night!  One twin is busy with his foreign language classes, clubs and running cross country, the other twin is busy in his new role of ASTD for the musical and has been busy building sets every day after school.   DH will soon have all is promotion materials in and the oldest sould have his applications in and then maybe we can all breathe a little easier.

Saturday Night: Today was a big day s every year there is a Cross Country meet at night and so everyone was gone while I stayed in bed with heat and ice.  Yes, I am seeing an increase in pain, yet do not care to ever have another MRI in my life.

Book News: It is almost time up for the Dewey’s Read-a-Thon !  Have you signed up yet?  The Read-A-Thon begins  9 October 2010.

Read and Reviewed: It was a fairly good reading week for me.  I managed to read and review 11 books which totaled 4,184 pages.

If you do not want to wait until Monday to see the entire list for the week, all my reviews are up and as usual I love comments.

Today I will be reading: The Ghost of Milagro Creek by Melanie Sumner.

Happy Reading and please feel free to leave comments or suggestions.

Visit the The Sunday Salon.

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