Book Review: Hotel No Tell by Daphne Uviller

Thursday 12 May, 2011 by 6 Comments


Title: Hotel No Tell
Author: Daphne Uviller
Publisher: Bantam
Publication Date: April 26, 2011
Paperback: 288 pages
ISBN: 978-0385342704
Genre: Fiction, Mystery

From the Publisher:

The smart and sassy detective Zephyr Zuckerman is now armed and undercover in a Greenwich Village hotel where mysteries—from garbage-grabbing guests to the reservation system—lurk around every corner.

Now working as a junior detective with the New York City Special Investigations Commission, Zephyr’s gone incognito as a concierge to find out who laundered a hundred grand off the hotel books—and why. But the discovery of a prone, flush-faced guest gasping for air in room 502 only hints at the sinister goings-on inside this funky establishment. While the rapid response of the fire department leads to a sweaty date with a smooth-talking, rock-climbing rescue worker, Zephyr finds herself even more hot and bothered by an attempted murder on her watch. Could the smart-mouthed Japanese yenta across the hall know more than she’s telling? How are cryptic phone calls from a mysterious corporation linked to the victim in 502?

Under pressure and overwhelmed, Zephyr soon finds that a concierge cover is no protection in a place where crime, like the city itself, never sleeps.

Here, Home, Hope will surely appeal to readers of chick lit and other women’s fiction titles who are ready to transition into something new in their own life.

My Review:

Delightfully witty, charming and great fun, Hotel No Tell by Daphne Uviller is the second book to feature Zephyr Zuckerman, and while I did not read the first book, Super In the City, I was able pick up quickly on Zephyr’s life and her friends.  Hotel No Tell is clever and delightfully humorous, yet it is also a mystery.  I would definitely not classify the book as a cozy mystery due to the comedic value added by the characters as well as the romantic aspects of the storyline.  Zephyr is currently working as junior detective in the New York City Special Investigations Commission and is sent undercover as a concierge to try and uncover a money-laundering scheme and soon finds herself in for more than she bargained for.  Hotel No Tell has a delightful cast of characters, Uviller describes the West Village rather well, toss in some romance and a grand mystery and the book is complete.  Hotel No Tell was a lot of fun to read and a nice diversion from my day and I therefore will be watching out for future books by Daphne Uviller.  I would recommend Hotel No Tell to readers who are looking for a witty, romantic mystery.

To learn more about Daphne Uviller please visit her website.

I received a complimentary copy of Hotel No Tell by Daphne Uviller from BookSparks PR 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: The Provence Cure For the Brokenhearted by Bridget Asher

Wednesday 6 April, 2011 by 20 Comments


Title: The Provence Cure For the Brokenhearted
Author: Bridget Asher
Publisher: Bantam
Publication Date: March 29, 2011
Paperback: 448 pages
ISBN: 978-0385343916
Genre: Fiction

From the Publisher:

“Every good love story has another love hiding within it.”

Brokenhearted and still mourning the loss of her husband, Heidi travels with Abbott, her obsessive-compulsive seven-year-old son, and Charlotte, her jaded sixteen-year-old niece, to the small village of Puyloubier in the south of France, where a crumbling stone house may be responsible for mending hearts since before World War II.

There, Charlotte confesses a shocking secret, and Heidi learns the truth about her mother’s “lost summer” when Heidi was a child. As three generations collide with one another, with the neighbor who seems to know all of their family skeletons, and with an enigmatic Frenchman, Heidi, Charlotte, and Abbot journey through love, loss, and healing amid the vineyards, warm winds and delicious food of Provence. Can the magic of the house heal Heidi’s heart, too?

My Review:

By some opinions, certain places have healing benefits to what ails the body or soul.  Whether or not you agree with this notion, Bridget Asher in her latest book The Provence Cure for the Brokenhearted may just provide enough reason to re-evaluate.  Asher transports readers to the south of France, to a house in Provence where Heidi’s mother, who has asked Heidi to check on the house in Provence, learned to believe in the healing ability of the house.  Through expertly crafted prose, Asher describes Heidi’s career as a professional baker, a skill that she all but abandons when Henry, her husband, dies, and how Heidi, with her son and niece, travel to Puyloubier, seeking closure, healing and a better understanding of death, love and life.  Abbot, Heidi’s son, suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder, which surfaces in association with the loss of his father.  While such a condition is generally regarded as undesirable, Asher finds blessings in this condition, showing how the disorder simultaneously gives Abbot a tool for redirecting his sorrow over his father’s death.  Charlotte, Heidi’s niece, finds a new friend in Veronique who lives nearby in Puyloubier and finds solace in their friendship as well as a peculiar interest in Veronique’s kitchen.  This story of love, life, death, healing and coping will touch readers long after the last page is read.   The Provence Cure for the Brokenhearted would make for an excellent book discussion pick or a perfect choice for a book to read during Spring Break.

About the Author:

Bridget Asher is the author of My Husband’s Sweethearts. She lives on the Florida panhandle with her husband, who is lovable, sweet, and true of heart—and has given her no reason to inquire about his former sweethearts.

To learn more about the author and her books, please visit her website, Facebook, Twitter, and blog.

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

I received a complimentary copy ARC of The Provence Cure for the Brokenhearted by Bridget Asher 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: An Echo In the Bone by Diana Gabaldon

Tuesday 21 September, 2010 by 12 Comments

Title: An Echo In the Bone
Author: Diana Gabaldon
Publisher: Bantam; Reprint edition
Publication Date: June 22, 2010
Paperback: 848 pages
ISBN: 78-0385342469
Genre: Fiction

From the Publisher:

In this new epic of imagination, time travel, and adventure, Diana Gabaldon continues the riveting story begun in Outlander.

Jamie Fraser is an eighteenth-century Highlander, an ex-Jacobite traitor, and a reluctant rebel in the American Revolution. His wife, Claire Randall Fraser, is a surgeon—from the twentieth century. What she knows of the future compels him to fight. What she doesn’t know may kill them both.

With one foot in America and one foot in Scotland, Jamie and Claire’s adventure spans the Revolution, from sea battles to printshops, as their paths cross with historical figures from Benjamin Franklin to Benedict Arnold.

Meanwhile, in the relative safety of the twentieth century, their daughter, Brianna, and her husband experience the unfolding drama of the Revolutionary War through Claire’s letters. But the letters can’t warn them of the threat that’s rising out of the past to overshadow their family.

Diana Gabaldon’s sweeping Outlander saga reaches new heights in An Echo in the Bone.

My Review

Reading An Echo In the Bone by Diane Gabaldon reinforced my passion for her Outlander series.  I have not read all of them, which made An Echo In the Bone probably more confusing than it needed to be, yet I still thoroughly enjoyed being reacquainted with Jaime and Claire and the ensemble of characters, which make up this brilliant series and traveling with them through the 18th and 20th centuries.  Gabaldon appears to continue to write solidly, her characters are fabulous, her imagery of the time periods are very descriptive and her plot keeps the reader enthralled throughout her book, which is no small feat considering An Echo In the Bone comes in at 814 pages.  Gabaldon includes everything necessary for an excellent action packed adventure novel, including detailed and historical battle scenes along with the added time travel twist making me want to go back and fill in the gaps where I left off in the series.  While her books may be long, they do not take long to read and are not only fantastically fun but also historically interesting.   I found myself reading into the wee hours of the morning thoroughly engrossed in the novel.  I highly recommend An Echo In the Bone and if like me, one paused in the series, I suggest picking it back up; the hours of enjoyment are worth it.

About the Author:

Diana Gabaldon is the New York Times bestselling author of the wildly popular Outlander novels–Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, Drums of Autumn, The Fiery Cross, and A Breath of Snow and Ashes (for which she won a Quill Award and the Corine International Book Prize)–and one work of nonfiction, ,The Outlandish Companion as well as the bestselling series featuring Lord John Grey, a character she introduced in Voyager. She lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Visit Diana Gabaldon’s website.
Diana Gabaldon’s Facebook.

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

I received a complimentary copy of An Echo In the Bone by Diana Gabaldon 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: Live To Tell by Lisa Gardner

Friday 13 August, 2010 by 10 Comments

Title: Live To Tell
Author: Lisa Gardner
Publisher: Bantam
Publication Date: July 13, 2010
Hardcover: 400 pages
ISBN: 978-0553807240
Genre: Fiction, Suspense

From the Publisher:

He knows everything about you—including the first place you’ll hide.

On a warm summer night in one of Boston’s working-class neighborhoods, an unthinkable crime has been committed: Four members of a family have been brutally murdered. The father—and possible suspect—now lies clinging to life in the ICU. Murder-suicide? Or something worse? Veteran police detective D. D. Warren is certain of only one thing: There’s more to this case than meets the eye.

Danielle Burton is a survivor, a dedicated nurse whose passion is to help children at a locked-down pediatric psych ward. But she remains haunted by a family tragedy that shattered her life nearly twenty-five years ago. The dark anniversary is approaching, and when D. D. Warren and her partner show up at the facility, Danielle immediately realizes: It has started again.

A devoted mother, Victoria Oliver has a hard time remembering what normalcy is like. But she will do anything to ensure that her troubled son has some semblance of a childhood. She will love him no matter what. Nurture him. Keep him safe. Protect him. Even when the threat comes from within her own house.

In New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner’s most compelling work of suspense to date, the lives of these three women unfold and connect in unexpected ways, as sins from the past emerge—and stunning secrets reveal just how tightly blood ties can bind. Sometimes the most devastating crimes are the ones closest to home.

My Review:

Live To Tell by Lisa Gardner is a riveting, gripping, edge-of-your seat suspense novel that takes the reader on an intense and emotional rollercoaster ride through the lives of three women with a common bond. A family has been murdered and the Boston Police and lead Detective D.D. Waren are on the case, but who was the murderer? The father, a possible family annihilator, or the mentally ill son? Victoria Oliver is at the end of her tether with her eight-year-old son Evan. She has not had decent sleep since his birth and his behaviour is to the point where she is locking up knives, but one is missing. It is only time before he does permanent harm to his mother or someone else, but what is she to do? Finally, there is Danielle Burton, a pediatric psych nurse who works on the lockdown ward with severely damaged children with a secret past she keeps trying to repress, bearing the guilt of a sole survivor. Live To Tell grabs the reader from the first sentence and holds on until the very end. I am already waiting for Gardner’s next book due out in 2011. Gardner has an excellent command not only of her characters, but of their inner-most feelings so well the reader will identify with, be horrified by, and feel compassion for them. I could not believe how the time flew by as I turned page after page unraveling stories inside stories. Without reservation, I recommend Live To Tell to any reader, especially those who enjoy an excellent mystery/suspense novel.

About the Author:

Lisa Gardner is the New York Times bestselling author of twelve novels. Her Detective D. D. Warren novels include The Neighbor, Hide, and Alone. Her FBI Profiler novels include Say Goodbye, Gone, The Killing Hour, The Next Accident, and The Third Victim. She lives with her family in New England, where she is at work on her next D. D. Warren novel, Save Me, which Bantam will publish in 2011.

Learn more about author Lisa Gardner by visiting her website.


Lisa Gardner’s LIVE TO TELL VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR AUG ‘10 officially begin on August 2nd and will end on August 27th. You can visit Lisa’s blog stops at www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com during the month of August to find out more about this great book and talented author!

I received a complimentary copy of Live To Tell by Lisa Gardner 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 and Tour: Hearts On A String by Kris Radish

Thursday 15 July, 2010 by 4 Comments

Title: Hearts on a String
Author: Kris Radish
Publisher: Bantam
Publication Date: May 25, 2010
Paperback: 336 pages
ISBN: 978-0553384758
Genre: Fiction

From the Publisher:

Bestselling author Kris Radish delves deeply into the emotions of five very different women who are thrown together by chance—only to discover that they have more in common than they ever could have imagined.

Holly Blandeen has always cherished the story her grandmother told her about the thread that connects all women, tying them forever in sisterhood. It’s a beautiful idea, but with all the curveballs life has thrown her way, Holly has often felt isolated, different from other women. That starts to change when she meets four strangers in an airport and they agree to share a luxury hotel suite because a powerful spring storm is barreling across the country, stranding travelers from California to Florida. What begins as a spur-of-the-moment decision becomes an unlikely, unexpected, and sometimes reluctant exercise in female bonding, as these five exceptional women—each at a crossroads—swap stories, share secrets, and seek answers to the questions they’ve been asking about life, love, and the path to true happiness. A storm may have grounded them for the moment, but after this wild adventure in which anything can and does happen, they’ll never have to fly solo again.

My Review:

An endearing novel showing how women are inter-connected, Hearts on a String by Kris Radish begins with a woman explaining to her young great-granddaughter that a string connects all women, some women instinctively know and others eventually find this out.  Flash forward almost thirty years to a bathroom, across from a bar in the Tampa International Airport, where investment banker Nan Telvid drops her iPhone into the toilet and soon four women, Patti, Cathy, Margo, and Holly come to her aid.  While these five strangers are deciding a way to retrieve the telephone, it is announced that the airport will be shutting down due to weather.  These five strangers decide to make the best of a bad situation by sharing a suite in the luxurious Rivera.

While the reasoning behind how these women end up sharing a suite may appear implausible, it serves a greater purpose.  Radish writes a beautiful novel full of emotions that come from five different women in different stages of their lives and from different parts of the United States coming together under stressful circumstances.  It took about 45 pages to really grab my interest as everything appeared so implausible, but then I became curious as to what would happen to these women next and without warning I was nearing the end of a beautiful, heart-warming, endearing and at times painful novel of five women coming into their own and learning from each other.  Each woman is described in detail throughout the novel rather than one at a time, working well with the message Radish offers her readers and by the end of the four days, it feels as thought the reader is connected to these women.   Let me state upfront, had I not been asked to review this book I would have not read past the initial bathroom scene and I would have missed out on a wonderful novel.   If I could change anything about the novel, it would be the ending, and not how the novel ends, as that is brilliant, but rather the formatting; it is simply a personal preference of mine.

Hearts on a String is a remarkable novel of friendship, trust, blind faith, and what it means to be a woman.  I noted some poor reviews and wonder if people gave up in the beginning for the reason I stated above.  Please do not give up, rather keep reading, it is very much worth getting to know these five women and the gifts they offer to each other.  I would recommend Hearts on a String as a wonderful summer read and would be interested to hear of any book groups who have discussed this book. I think the characters would agree this is a book to be shared.

About the Author:

Kris Radish is a nationally syndicated columnist and the author of Searching for Paradise in Parker, PA, The Sunday List of Dreams, Annie Freeman’s Fabulous Traveling Funeral, Dancing Naked at the Edge of Dawn, The Elegant Gathering of White Snows, The Shortest Distance Between Two Women, and Hearts on a String. She lives in Florida, where she is at work on her next novel, which Bantam will publish.

Additional information about the author:

Kris’s website.
Kris’s blog.
Follow Kris on Twitter.
Kris’ Facebook Page.

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

I received a complimentary copy of Hearts on a String by Kris Radish 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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