It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Sunday 31 July, 2011 by 62 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):

This week I am planning to read/review:

  • The Rules of the Tunnel by Ned Zeman
  • The Homecoming of Samuel Lake by Jenny Wingfield
  • This Beautiful Life by Helen Schulman
  • The Sixes by Kate White
  • Close Your Eyes by Amanda Eyre Ward
  • Northwest Corner by John Burnham Schwartz
  • The Girls of Murder City by Douglas Perry
Visit next Monday to see if I managed to accomplish my reading goals.

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The Sunday Salon (TSS: 7/31/11)

Sunday 31 July, 2011 by 8 Comments
The Sunday Salon.com

Life: I know I have mentioned the heat the past two Sundays, but it really is hot.  I am hoping there will be a break in the weather soon. This past week was a very bad week for me, but the pain is lessening to more tolerable levels, for which I am grateful. I cannot believe it is already the last day of July, where has the time gone?   I am not ready to have one of my children leave the nest.

Family Update: We had a great visit with my husband’s parents and have almost finished back to school shopping as well as getting everything ready for our oldest son to head off to college.  Time has gone by so very quickly, it seems like only yesterday I was getting him ready for Kindergarten.  All too soon we shall be moving our son into his dorm, so for the next few weeks I will be focusing almost all my energy on family (the boys may not enjoy so much parent time) but DH and I need it.

Saturday Night: With only 3 Saturdays left before we take our oldest son to college, we spent the evening watching movies of his choosing.

Read and Reviewed: This past week I read and reviewed 8 books. If you have time, please take a look at the reviews, one never knows when they will find a treasure.

Today I will be reading: The Homecoming of Samuel Lake by Jenny Wingfield

Happy Reading and have a wonderful Sunday.
Visit the The Sunday Salon.

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Book Review: Blood Trust by Eric Van Lustbader

Saturday 30 July, 2011 by 2 Comments

Title: Blood Trust
Author: Eric Van Lustbader
Publisher: Forge Books
Publication Date: May 10, 2011
Hardcover: 416 pages
ISBN: 978-0765329745
Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller


From the Publisher:

It was once said that you must trust and believe in people or life becomes impossible . . .

Alli Carson has been through her own personal hell. With her father, the President of the United States, recently dead and her mother in a coma from a terrible accident, she has poured herself into her training to become one of the best FBI agents at the Fearington Institute. Her inspiration and solace comes from the one man with whom she has ever felt a kinship, National Security Adviser, Jack McClure. But when Alli becomes the prime suspect in a murder at Fearington, a wide ranging investigation is triggered, involving local homicide detectives, the secret service, the FBI itself, and Alli’s own uncle, the billionaire lobbyist Henry Carson. And yet nothing is what it seems.

What follows is a treacherous journey that leads Jack and Alli into a complex web of lies and deceit. Using Jack’s unique gifts to see the through the labyrinth of manipulation, their investigation leads them into the dark heart of the international slave trade, tied to a powerful Albanian crime lord whose ability and influence in global terrorism grows with each day.

The two find themselves in the crosshairs of vast global enterprise, one that lurks in the shadows of power and has infiltrated Washington and their lives in ways neither of them could ever have imagined. And hidden deep among it all sits a terrifying criminal mastermind, someone fueled by a hatred that can never be quenched, and a mind that knows neither feeling nor mercy.

My Review:

Blood Trust by Eric Van Lustbader is an action-packed suspense thriller and the third novel in Lustbader’s McClure-Carson series featuring National Security Advisor Jack McClure and Alli Carson, daughter to the late President of the United States. Van Lustbader continues with his stylish crafting of a plot that is loaded with intrigue, suspense, twists and double crosses as readers see Alli become the focus of a homicide investigation at her FBI training institute.  Readers will be lead down various dead-ends, sure that the case is a simple one, but in a masterfully-crafted series of turns, the case ultimately leads Alli, Jack and the investigation into the dim and gruesome world of human trafficking.  Even more shocking are discoveries yet to be made by these two protagonists as the evil and powerful mastermind they seek has brought business to Washington.  Van Lustbader will keep his readers’ attention focused in this engrossing thriller that is definitely hard to set down.  Mystery thriller fans will find Blood Trust to satisfy and I recommend it to those who are looking to see the pair in McClure and Carson in action once again.

To learn more about Eric Van Lustbader and his books, please visit his website at www.ericvanlustbader.com

I received a complimentary copy of Blood Trust by Eric Van Lustbader from Zeitghost Media. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned novel.


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Book Review: Flashback by Dan Simmons

Friday 29 July, 2011 by 6 Comments


Title: Flashback
Author: Dan Simmons
Publisher: Reagan Arthur Books
Publication Date: July 1, 2011
Hardcover: 560 pages
ISBN: 978-0316006965
Genre: Fiction

From the Publisher:

The United States is near total collapse. But 87% of the population doesn’t care: they’re addicted to flashback, a drug that allows its users to re-experience the best moments of their lives. After ex-detective Nick Bottom’s wife died in a car accident, he went under the flash to be with her; he’s lost his job, his teenage son, and his livelihood as a result.

Nick may be a lost soul but he’s still a good cop, so he is hired to investigate the murder of a top governmental advisor’s son. This flashback-addict becomes the one man who may be able to change the course of an entire nation turning away from the future to live in the past.

A provocative novel set in a future that seems scarily possible, FLASHBACK proves why Dan Simmons is one of our most exciting and versatile writers.

My Review:

Flashback by Dan Simmons is an evocative fictional story of the future United States, whose order among the countries of the world is crumbling.  Flashback is a drug that gives those who take it the ability to re-live memories and experiences that were enjoyable and Simmons crafts characters that are both believable and flawed, likeable and reprehensible, in this futuristic tale.  When Nick Bottom’s wife is killed in an accident, Nick risks his career and much more to re-live his best times with his wife through this powerful drug.  Though the effects of flashback on humans seemed a bit far-fetched, Simmons makes good use of the drug’s action to develop the story through literary flashbacks.  Mixing in a lot of present day politics with his storyline brings the book to life as readers will feel immersed in the plot.  While some readers may object to a few of the religious and political aspects of the plot, it is important to recognize that this is a fictional tale.  I recommend Flashback to readers who enjoy futuristic fiction.

About the Author:

Dan Simmons is the award-winning author of several novels, including the New York Times bestsellers Olympos and The Terror. He lives in Colorado.

I received a complimentary arc of Flashback by Dan Simmons from Little, Brown and Company/Reagan Arthur Books. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned novel.


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Book Review: The Book of Lies by Mary Horlock

Thursday 28 July, 2011 by 16 Comments

Title: The Book of Lies
Author: Mary Horlock
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Publication Date: July 19, 2011
Paperback: 368 pages
ISBN: 978-0062065094
Genre: Fiction

From the back of cover:

Life on the tiny island of Guernsey has just become a whole lot harder for fifteen-year-old Cat Rozier. She’s gone from model pupil to murderer, but she swears it’s not her fault. Apparently it’s all the fault of history.

A new arrival at Cat’s high school in 1984, the beautiful and instantly popular Nicolette inexplicably takes Cat under her wing. The two become inseparable—going to parties together, checking out boys, and drinking whatever liquor they can shoplift. But a perceived betrayal sends them spinning apart, and Nic responds with cruel, over-the-top retribution.

Cat’s recently deceased father, Emile, dedicated his adult life to uncovering the truth about the Nazi occupation of Guernsey—from Churchill’s abandonment of the island to the stories of those who resisted—in hopes of repairing the reputation of his older brother, Charlie. Through Emile’s letters and Charlie’s words—recorded on tapes before his own death—a “confession” takes shape, revealing the secrets deeply woven into the fabric of the island . . . and into the Rozier family story.

My Review:

The Book of Lies by Mary Horlock is an interesting story of Cat Rozier, a 16-year-old murderer, living on the island of Guernsey whose life was previously upended by a new student, Nicolette, who moved to the island and exerted a strong influence, and not in a positive sense, on young Cat.  Horlock crafts an intriguing storyline centered about the events that lead to murder on the island, and her approach, using alternating voices from Cat and Charlie, her late uncle, through his recordings was very unique and had potential to really connect the historical perspective to the present day events. I went into this novel really wanting to like it but only parts of it clicked for me.  I truly enjoyed the historical accounts of the uncle, but the switching between prose and written accounts got a little too mundane and just did not have the kind of transitions one would wish to have in this mode of perspective switching.  Being her debut novel, I think Mary Horlock has gotten off to a good start, just not a start that I particularly enjoyed and while this book was not for me, I encourage readers of my review to check out other opinions on the tour for The Book of Lies.  With that being said, I do look forward to reading Horlock’s next book.

About the Author:

Mary Horlock is an authority on contemporary art who has worked at the Tate Britain and Tate Liverpool, and curated the Turner Prize for contemporary art. She spent her childhood in Guernsey, and lives in London.

For more reviews of the book, please follow the TLC Book Tour.

I received a copy of The Book of Lies by Mary Horlock 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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