Book Review: Hush by Kate White

Thursday 24 February, 2011 By 21 Comments


Title: Hush
Author: Kate White
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks; Reprint edition
Publication Date: February 1, 2011
Paperback: 368 pages
ISBN: 978-0061576652
Genre: Fiction, Suspense, Mystery

From the Publisher:

When Lake Warren learns that her husband, Jack, is suing for full custody of their two kids four months after their separation, she’s pretty certain that things can’t get any worse. The upside is that she’s working with the Advanced Fertility Center as a marketing consultant, alongside the attractive, flirtatious Dr. Keaton. But the morning after their one-night stand, Lake finds Keaton with his throat slashed and discovers that things can indeed become worse—they can become deadly.

So as not to jeopardize her case for custody, Lake is forced to lie to the police. Having just been intimate with a man who has been murdered, and wanting to protect herself from being charged with the crime, she begins her own search for the truth. Meanwhile, the police start looking at her closely, people at the clinic start treating her with hostility, and strange clues begin dropping—quite literally—on her doorstep, and Lake realizes that she is dangerously close to dark secrets, both about Keaton and the clinic. But can Lake stop what she’s started before it’s too late?

My Review:

Hush by Kate White is a delightful suspenseful mystery. Lake Warren works at a fertility center, her husband is filing for custody of their children and Lake’s lawyer advises her to stay away from anything that might cause scandal. Fair enough or so it would seem, but poor judgment leads Lake to spending the night with her colleague. In her defense he was quite handsome, but she awakens to find him murdered in bed. Rather than phoning the police, Lake decides she will solve the crime herself, as one using poor judgment might, especially one fearing losing their children in a custody hearing. On a whole, Hush is an engaging mystery filled with some unexpected twists and turns. One character in the book I really enjoyed was the protagonist, Lake Warren, who the reader watches make a series of poor choices, which will either make Lake annoying for readers or wonderfully human, and I found her to be refreshingly flawed. Lake is frustrating and irresistible at the same time, and one cannot help but adopt her growing sense of paranoia. Lake does not know whom to trust nor does the reader, making the story fly by as the reader needs to know who will get custody, should Lake survive. Hush is neither dark nor deeply thought provoking, two traits I usually look forward to in my suspense books, yet I enjoyed reading Hush immensely and found it to be more of a suspenseful mystery than a full on suspense novel. White grabs the reader’s attention from the beginning and keeps the reader engaged throughout the book and gives the reader an inside look into fertility clinics. I would recommend Hush to any reader who enjoys a good suspense-filled mystery novel.

About the Author:

Kate White is the editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine and the New York Times bestselling author of the Bailey Weggins mystery series and several popular career books for women, including Why Good Girls Don’t Get Ahead but Gutsy Girls Do. She lives in New York City.

To learn more about Kate White please visit her website or like her on Facebook, or follow her on Twitter.

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

I received a complimentary copy of Hush by Kate White 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: Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

Friday 4 February, 2011 By 18 Comments


Title: Wench
Author: Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Publisher: Amistad; Reprint edition
Publication Date: January 25, 2011
Paperback: 320 pages
ISBN: 978-0385341677
Genre: Historical Fiction

From the Publisher:

wench \’wench\ n. from Middle English “wenchel,” 1 a: a girl, maid, young woman; a female child.

Situated in Ohio, a free territory before the Civil War, Tawawa House is an idyllic retreat for Southern white men who vacation there every summer with their enslaved black mistresses. It’s their open secret. Lizzie, Reenie, and Sweet are regulars at the resort, building strong friendships over the years. But when Mawu, as fearless as she is assured, comes along and starts talking of running away, things change. To run is to leave everything behind, and for some it also means escaping from the emotional and psychological bonds that bind them to their masters. When a fire on the resort sets off a string of tragedies, the women of Tawawa House soon learn that triumph and dehumanization are inseparable and that love exists even in the most inhuman, brutal of circumstances— all while they bear witness to the end of an era.

An engaging, page-turning, and wholly original novel, Wench explores, with an unflinching eye, the moral complexities of slavery.

My Review:

In Dolen Perkins-Valdez’s debut novel Wench, the reader is brought into the lives of four slaves thrown together by chance and circumstances and the ties that bind them to each other and those that keep them forever apart. The story is told through Lizzie’s eyes, a slave from Tennessee, the only one of the four friends who is able to read and write. With vivid imagery and stunning detail, each woman comes to life and the reader is transported back into a time long passed. From the first page the reader becomes acquainted with George, Henry, Mawu, Reenie and Sweet and swiftly learns how Lizzie and Philip first become acquainted with each other on the way to Tawawa, a summer resort in free Ohio, where their respective masters have brought their woman and a trusted or valuable male slave. The first summer the four women, so very different from each other, become not only good friends, but also teachers to each other. It is during their first summer the women encounter those who are free. The notion of becoming free is a seed planted into each woman and their summers sustain them through the rest of the year until they are able to reunite. Wench is a heart-breaking and beautiful story of a turbulent time in history, which brings the struggle between slavery and freedom to light through Mawu, Reenie, Sweet, and Lizzie, as each woman struggles within herself. Wench is a novel that one will want to devour, digest and read again.

About the Author:

Dolen Perkins-Valdez’s fiction and essays have appeared in Robert Olen Butler Prize Stories 2009, The Kenyon Review, PMS: PoemMemoirStory, North Carolina Literary Review, and the Richard Wright Newsletter. She is a former University of California postdoctoral fellow and graduate of Harvard. Dolen lives in the Washington, D.C. with her family.

Visit Dolen Perkins-Valdez’s website.
Follow Dolen Perkins-Valdez on Twitter.

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

I received a complimentary copy of Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez 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: The Good Daughters by Joyce Maynard

Saturday 11 September, 2010 By 11 Comments


Title: The Good Daughters
Author: Joyce Maynard
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication Date: August 24, 2010
Hardcover: 288 pages
ISBN: 978-0061994319
Genre: Fiction

From the Publisher:

The Good Daughters

They were born on the same day, in the same small New Hampshire hospital, into families that could hardly have been less alike.

Ruth Plank is an artist and a romantic with a rich, passionate, imaginative life. The last of five girls born to a gentle, caring farmer and his stolid wife, she yearns to soar beyond the confines of the land that has been her family’s birthright for generations.

Dana Dickerson is a scientist and realist whose faith is firmly planted in the natural world. Raised by a pair of capricious drifters who waste their lives on failed dreams, she longs for stability and rootedness.

Different in nearly every way, Ruth and Dana share a need to make sense of who they are and to find their places in a world in which neither has ever truly felt she belonged. They also share a love for Dana’s wild and beautiful older brother, Ray, who will leave an indelible mark on both their hearts.

Told in the alternating voices of Ruth and Dana, The Good Daughters follows these “birthday sisters” as they make their way from the 1950s to the present. Master storyteller Joyce Maynard chronicles the unlikely ways the two women’s lives parallel and intersect—from childhood and adolescence to first loves, first sex, marriage, and parenthood; from the deaths of parents to divorce, the loss of home, and the loss of a beloved partner—until past secrets and forgotten memories unexpectedly come to light, forcing them to reevaluate themselves and each other.

Moving from rural New Hampshire to a remote island in British Columbia to the ’70s Boston art-school scene, The Good Daughters is an unforgettable story about the ties of home and family, the devastating force of love, the healing power of forgiveness, and the desire to know who we are.

My Review:

Heart breaking, beautiful, and life affirming, The Good Daughters by Joyce Maynard tells the story of Ruth Plank and Dana Dickerson, known as the birthday sisters.  On July 4, 1950 at the peak of strawberry season in Bellersville Hospital, Edwin and Connie Plank welcomed their 5th daughter into the world and two hours later, the Dickersons were greeting their second child and their first daughter.  Maynard writes a beautiful, moving novel, and from the beginning it is fairly obvious what will eventually be confirmed, however knowing does not detract from the story.  The heart of The Good Daughters consists of the stories told through Ruth and Dana, two women who have lived dramatically different lives, yet each learned so very much from Edwin Plank, the lessons they have each accumulated over their respective fifty plus years of life, love, loss, and family.   I found myself deeply engrossed in each woman’s story and noticed I particularly looked forward to the sections where Dana’s voice came through as I formed quite a fondness for Dana and her life with Clarice.   The Good Daughters is rich in detailed prose and an absolute delight to read even through the sadness and hardships told by Ruth and Dana.  I would recommend The Good Daughters to anyone who is interested in reading a beautiful novel.  A word of caution, the reader may want to keep some tissues close at hand.

I received a complimentary copy of The Good Daughters by Joyce Maynard from Harper Collins to review.  Receiving a copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned novel.

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Book Review: The Life You’ve Imagined by Kristina Riggle

Wednesday 1 September, 2010 By 11 Comments


Title: The Life You’ve Imagined
Author: Kristina Riggle
Publisher: Avon A
Publication Date: August 17, 2010
Paperback: 352 pages
ISBN: 978-0061706295
Genre: Fiction

From the Publisher:

Is the life you’re living all you imagined?

Have you ever asked yourself, “What if??” Here, four women face the decisions of their lifetimes in this stirring and unforgettable novel of love, loss, friendship, and family.

Anna Geneva, a Chicago attorney coping with the death of a cherished friend, returns to her “speck on the map” hometown of Haven to finally come to terms with her mother, the man she left behind, and the road she did not take.

Cami Drayton, Anna’s dearest friend from high school, is coming home too, forced by circumstance to move in with her alcoholic father . . . and to confront a dark family secret.

Maeve, Anna’s mother, never left Haven, firmly rooted there by her sadness over her abandonment by the husband she desperately loved and the hope that someday he will return to her.

And Amy Rickart—thin, beautiful, and striving for perfection—faces a future with the perfect man . . . but is haunted by the memory of what she used to be.

Kristina Riggle’s The Life You’ve Imagined takes a provocative look at the choices we make—and the courage we must have to change.

My Review:

What if? A key question of The Life You’ve Imagined by Kristina Riggle as each of her characters takes a long look at their lives and ponders the ramifications of the actions they have taken thus far and the choices they have ignored.  Cami Drayton has returned home to her alcoholic and verbally abusive father, severely in debt due to her gambling addiction.  Maeve is Anna’s mother and harbors several secrets: her store is about to go through foreclosure and she has been in communication with her estranged husband.  Her daughter, Anna, is a successful lawyer who has returned home on forced bereavement leave after the death of her friend and mentor, August.  Amy Rickart is engaged to Paul Becker who happens to be brilliant, gorgeous and wealthy yet Amy may not be truly happy.  She is finally thin and appears to have it all, yet her self-confidence does not quite allow the happiness that one hears comes from being thin, lovely, and with a handsome man. The Life You’ve Imagined is about four women; Cami, Anna, and Amy all went to school together and are catching up with each other while struggling with their own personal demons and Maeve, who has enough issues of her own.  The story is told in first person and the chapters alternate between the four women.  Riggle writes an intriguing and fast-paced story of life and how the choices we make affect where we are today.  Riggle details the lives of each of the women to the point where the reader can easily identify with one, if not all of the characters.  My all time favourite character was Maeve, possibly because I am closer to her age than to Cami, Anna, and Amy and my least favourite character from beginning to end is Amy, to the point that I cringed when I had to read about her.   The Life You’ve Imagined is beautifully written and the characters are strong and witty and at times annoying, each sharing their joys and sorrows.  If anyone has read the book, please leave a comment; I would very much like to discuss this one with someone besides my cat.   I highly recommend The Life You’ve Imagined to any reader and think this would be an excellent discussion group choice.

About the Author:

Kristina Riggle lives and writes in West Michigan. Besides her debut novel, Real Life & Liars, she has published short stories in the Cimarron Review, Literary Mama, Espresso Fiction, and elsewhere. She is also a freelance journalist writing primarily for The Grand Rapids Press, and coeditor for fiction at Literary Mama. Kristina was a full-time newspaper reporter for seven years before turning her attention to creative writing and freelancing. On Mondays, she can be found blogging at The Debutante Ball, a group blog of authors debuting in 2009. As well as writing, she enjoys spending lots of time with her husband, two kids, and dog.

Real Life & Liars is set in Charlevoix, Michigan, a town close to Kristina’s heart as the home of her grandparents where she has visited often over the years. Some recognizable Charlevoix landmarks appear in the novel, as well as fictionalized versions of real places. The home of the Zielinski family on Dixon Avenue is based loosely on the house where her grandmother grew up.

Follow Kristina on Twitter.
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For more reviews of the book, please follow the book tour.

I received a complimentary copy of The Life You’ve Imagined by Kristina Riggle 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 Spotlight: I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

Friday 20 August, 2010 By 5 Comments

Title: I Am Number Four
Author: Pittacus Lore
Publisher: Harper
Publication Date: August 3, 2010
Hardcover: 448 pages
ISBN: 978-0061969553
Genre: Fiction, YA, Sci-Fi

From the Publisher:

Nine of us came here. We look like you. We talk like you. We live among you. But we are not you. We can do things you dream of doing. We have powers you dream of having. We are stronger and faster than anything you have ever seen. We are the superheroes you worship in movies and comic books—but we are real.

Our plan was to grow, and train, and become strong, and become one, and fight them. But they found us and started hunting us first. Now all of us are running. Spending our lives in shadows, in places where no one would look, blending in. we have lived among you without you knowing.

But they know.

They caught Number One in Malaysia.
Number Two in England.
And Number Three in Kenya.
They killed them all.

I am Number Four.

I am next.

About the Author:

Pittacus Lore is Lorien’s ruling Elder. He has been on Earth for the last twelve years, preparing for the war that will decide Earth’s fate. His whereabouts are unknown.

Learn more visit the I Am Number Four website.

I received a complimentary copy of I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore from Mammoth. Receiving a copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned novel.

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Book Review and Tour: Labor Day by Joyce Maynard

Wednesday 28 July, 2010 By 4 Comments

Title: Labor Day
Author: Joyce Maynard
Publisher: Harper Perennial; Reprint edition
Publication Date: August 3, 2010
Paperback: 272 pages
ISBN: 978-0061843419
Genre: Fiction

From the Publisher:

The dog days of August . . . All summer long, thirteen-year-old Henry kept hoping that something different would happen, but it never did.

Then, just as the Labor Day weekend gets under way, in the Pricemart where Henry?s mother, Adele, on one of her rare forays out of the house and into the wider world has taken him to buy pants for school, a bleeding man approaches Henry and asks for help.

Frank is a man with a secret, and a man on the run. Adele is a wounded soul whose dreams of family life and romantic dancing died years ago, even before her husband left her and their son. And Henry is a “loser” and a loner, a boy on the cusp of manhood who, over the next five days, will learn some of life?s most valuable lessons: how to throw a baseball, the secret to perfect peach pie, and the importance of placing others–especially those you love–above yourself.

My Review:

Thirteen-year-old Henry and his mother Adele meet Frank Chambers in Pricemart and bring him back to their home, beginning 6 days that change the course of several lives in the novel Labor Day by Joyce Maynard.  Henry narrates the story giving the reader insights into his life prior to meeting Frank, the life changing six days of Labor Day weekend of his 13th year and then Henry jumps forward in time eventually bringing the reader to present day, two decades later with the lessons he has learned and .  The characters are richly detailed from Henry’s eccentric and possibly unbalanced mother Adele, his remarried father Richard, his step-mother Marjorie, his half-sister Chloe, Eleanor, and naturally Frank.  While the story line may appear far-fetched, it is after all a story and quite a loving, heart-warming and endearing one.  Frank worked his way into my heart, even if he was an escaped convict. Maynard takes the reader into the life of a thirteen-year-old boy living in Holton Mills, New Hampshire and shares what has to be one of the most circumstantially bizarre yet wonderfully profound holiday weekends I have ever read about.  Labor Day is a quick read filled with hope, family and love and one I enjoyed and would recommend to others looking for a light yet beautiful novel of how one act could impact the lives of so many people.

About the Author:

Joyce Maynard first came to national attention with the publication of her New York Times cover story “An Eighteen-Year-Old Looks Back on Life” in 1973, when she was a freshman at Yale. Since then, she has been a reporter and columnist for The New York Times, a syndicated newspaper columnist whose “Domestic Affairs” column appeared in more than fifty papers nationwide, a regular contributor to NPR. Her writing has also been published in national magazines, including O, The Oprah Magazine; Newsweek; The New York Times Magazine; Forbes; Salon; San Francisco Magazine, USA Weekly; and many more. She has appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, CNN, Hardball with Chris Matthews, Charlie Rose, and on Fresh Air. Essays of hers appear in numerous collections. She has been a fellow at Yaddo, UCross, and The MacDowell Colony, where she wrote her most recently published novel, Labor Day.

The author of nine books of fiction and nonfiction, including the novel To Die For (in which she also plays the role of Nicole Kidman’s attorney) and the bestselling memoir, At Home in the World, Maynard makes her home in Mill Valley, California. Her novel, The Usual Rules—a story about surviving loss—has been a favorite of book club audiences of all ages, and was chosen by the American Library Association as one of the ten best books for young readers for 2003.

Joyce Maynard also runs the Lake Atitlan Writing Workshop in Guatemala, founded in 2002.
Additional information about the author:

Joyce’s website.
Join Joyce’s mailing list.
Joyce Maynard will be on Blog Talk Radio with Book Club Girl on August 30th at 7:00pm EDT.

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

I received a complimentary copy of Labor Day by Joyce Maynard 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 and Tour: I Love You And I’m Leaving You Anyway by Tracy McMillan

Tuesday 13 July, 2010 By 7 Comments

Title: I Love You and I’m Leaving You Anyway
Author: Tracy McMillan
Publisher: It Books
Publication Date: April 13, 2010
Hardcover: 352 pages
ISBN: 978-0061724657
Genre: Memoir

From the Publisher:

I love You

Television writer Tracy McMillan managed to work her way into a killer Hollywood career—a privileged world of pool houses, premieres, and big-time producer deals—despite being the daughter of a fur-coat-wearing, El Dorado–driving, smooth-talking pimp named Freddie. But success couldn’t save her from the pattern of self-destructive choices—stemming from her history with her father—that would shape all of her romantic relationships. I Love You and I’m Leaving You Anyway is her comic, tragic, and ultimately victorious story, the riveting true tale of how having a father obsessed with women made her a woman obsessed with men.

And I’m Leaving You

Blessed with beauty and brains, Tracy had no problem attracting men. Marrying her first husband (a kind, stable MBA) before she was out of her teens, she quickly discovered the romantic contradiction that so many women face: the “right” kind of men feel wrong. And the wrong ones feel so, so right. Alternating between the nice guys she knew she should want, and the unavailable men who were compelling, Tracy found herself repeating the hurt that began when the man who loved her the most, her father, left her for prison when she was just three years old. Freddie’s absence meant a childhood filled with foster homes, a temperamental stepmother, and near constant upheaval. It took three marriages, the birth of a son, and, most important, resolving her relationship with her dad for Tracy to discover the truth about herself—a truth that finally set her free.

Anyway

This provocative, insightful, and humorous memoir isn’t a “woe is me” story of what went wrong. I Love You and I’m Leaving You Anyway is a story of what’s gone right—one woman’s journey to creating a fulfilling life and raising a son who taught her everything she needed to know about men, love, and, of course, herself. Heartwarming, funny, and unflinchingly real, it is an inspiring testament to the power of change that proves we can all grow from even our most flawed relationships.

My Review:

Deeply moving, I Love You and I’m Leaving You Anyway by Tracy McMillan is a touching, witty, heartbreaking and endearing memoir of a young girl whose parents happen to be a pimp and a prostitute. She first was separated from her parents when her father was first incarcerated when she was three years old.  McMillan spends her childhood visiting her father in various prisons over the years and struggles with her identity and her life until the day in 1997 when her search for the perfect man ends and she gives birth to her son.

One of the most endearing qualities about I Love You And I’m Leaving You Anyway is the fact that McMillan neither feels sorry for herself nor makes excuses for her life, rather she tries to piece together her childhood, rediscover her roots and understand her behaviour.  One might think, considering the mitigating circumstances, McMillan may have gone the way of her parents, but rather she became a journalist, defied the odds and became a writer in Hollywood.  However she does have issues, mainly self-esteem and her distrust of men.  McMillan takes the reader not on a casual journey down memory lane, but rather a rollercoaster ride that will thrill the reader and keep the reader fully immersed in her life. The narration alternates between her childhood and her adult life in a no-nonsense manner.  One word of caution, there is mature language used in this memoir, it is not extensive or disrupting, however I know some people prefer to know up front.

I Love You and I am Leaving You Anyway is a beautiful, witty, articulate look at the life McMillan has lead, and the lessons she has learned through the various foster homes, schools, 3 marriages,  and her numerous visits to the various prisons her father ends up in (her personal favourite being Leavenworth with its neoclassical beauty).  I highly recommend I Love You and I’m Leaving You Anyway to anyone looking for poignant memoir about finding oneself and learning what it means to love and be loved.

About the Author:

Tracy McMillan is a television writer and memoirist, most recently on the Emmy Award–winning AMC series Mad Men. Previously, she wrote on Showtime’s United States of Tara, ABC’s Life on Mars, and NBC’s Journeyman. She’s also developing an as-yet-untitled series with Dreamworks Television. I Love You and I’m Leaving You Anyway is Tracy’s first book.

Born and raised in Minneapolis, Tracy spent years in the foster-care system. After graduating from the University of Utah with a broadcast-journalism degree, she spent more than a decade writing and producing television news for outlets such as NBC Nightly News, KNBC-TV, and Access Hollywood. Tracy’s articles and essays have appeared in a number of print publications and websites. She is a regular performer at Sit-n-Spin on the Comedy Central stage in Los Angeles.

She is the mother of a 13-year-old boy, and lives in Los Angeles.

Her not-so-secret ambition is to have a talk show.
For further information:

  • For more reviews of the book, please follow the book tour.
  • Follow Tracy McMillan on Twitter.

    • I received a complimentary copy of I Love You and I’m Leaving You Anyway by Tracy McMillan 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 Tour and Review: Lit by Mary Karr

    Monday 12 July, 2010 By 10 Comments

    Title: Lit
    Author: Mary Karr
    Publisher: Harper Perennial
    Publication Date: June 29, 2010
    Paperback: 432 pages
    ISBN: 978-0060596996
    Genre: Memoir

    From the Publisher:

    Lit is about getting drunk and getting sober; becoming a mother by letting go of a mother; learning to write by learning to live. Written with Karr’s relentless honesty, unflinching self-scrutiny, and irreverent, lacerating humor, it is a truly electrifying story of how to grow up—as only Mary Karr can tell it.

    My Review:

    Lit by Mary Karr is her third memoir and the first book I have read by her. By all accounts, Karr had a brutal childhood, which shaped her teenage years as well as her adult years, the years focused on in Lit. Karr opens the book with a letter to her son in which she mentions this book is her way to try and explain to him how she ended up an alcoholic and how she found her way back out and is now the person she is. The short of it is an alcoholic mother who deals with divorce, raising a child, and reclaiming her life.

    By nature I adore memoirs and the glimpses into the lives of others, and the lessons to be learned from those that have gone before me. I really wanted to love Lit, but I did not, which is not to say Karr did not do a splendid job writing because she did. Her prose is close to perfect and in a laid back manner that makes the reader feel as though Karr is directly speaking to the reader. Karr fluidly goes through the years and her experiences, the good, bad, and downright ugly, sparing nothing, or so it appears, and at a rather fast clip. Karr’s rawness is most likely a trademark she uses in her memoirs, however not having read the other two, I cannot be certain on that account. Karr’s ability to write about her spiraling down to rock bottom, beginning shortly after her son was born must have taken an amazing feat of inner strength, not to mention her sharing her story with the world. I truly enjoyed all of Karr’s literary references (she even mentions my beloved Nabokov) and found Lit an interesting read, but I did not love it.

    I have been trying to pinpoint what exactly makes my opinion of Lit just average. Certainly it is not based on the writing style, nor the lack of information provided by Karr, for she has an abundance of information at times, to a point where I think some character development was lost. I simply found Lit to be a good book with a narrative I have heard before, different names, and circumstances to be sure, yet sadly an all too familiar tale. It is quite possible my opinion would change if I read the previous two books, The Liars’ Club and Cherry, which would give me the entire picture of Karr’s life, but I can only go with what I have in front of me, which is Lit. Would I recommend Lit? Certainly. Do I believe a lot can be gleamed from Karr’s life and others can learn from her experiences? Absolutely. I would strongly recommend reading the other reviews on the tour, as mine is just one opinion in a vast sea of opinions.

    About the Author:

    Mary Karr is an award-winning poet and best-selling memoirist. She is the author of Lit, the long-awaited sequel to her critically acclaimed and New York Times bestselling memoirs The Liars’ Club and Cherry. A born raconteur, she brings to her lectures and talks the same wit, irreverence, joy, and sorrow found in her poetry and prose. A sought-after speaker, Karr has given distinguished talks at prestigious universities, libraries, and writers’ festivals, including Harvard University, Oxford University, Princeton University, Brown University, Syracuse University (“On Salmon Rushdie” with Salmon Rushdie), the New York Public Library, the Los Angeles Public Library, the Folger Library (Poetry Society of America/Emily Dickinson Lecture), The New Yorker Literary Festival, PEN/Faulkner, and the Festival of Faith and Writing. Karr welcomes conversation with her audience and she is known for her spirited, lively, and engaging Q&A sessions.
    For further information:

  • For more reviews of the book, please follow the book tour.
  • Visit Mary Karr’s Facebook page.
  • Watch the book trailer for Lit.

    • I received a complimentary copy of Lit by Mary Karr 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 and Tour: 31 Bond Street by Ellen Horan

    Wednesday 7 July, 2010 By 8 Comments

    Title: 31 Bond Street
    Author: Ellen Horan
    Publisher: Harper
    Publication Date: March 30, 2010
    Hardcover: 352 pages
    ISBN: 978-0061773969
    Genre: Historical Fiction

    From the Publisher:

    Who killed Dr. Harvey Burdell?

    Though there are no witnesses and no clues, fingers point to Emma Cunningham, the refined, pale-skinned widow who managed Burdell’s house and his servants. Rumored to be a black-hearted gold digger with designs on the doctor’s name and fortune, Emma is immediately put under house arrest during a murder investigation. A swift conviction is sure to catapult flamboyant district attorney Abraham Oakey Hall into the mayor’s seat. But one formidable obstacle stands in his way: the defense attorney Henry Clinton. Committed to justice and the law, Clinton will aid the vulnerable widow in her desperate fight to save herself from the gallows.

    Set in 1857 New York, this gripping mystery is also a richly detailed excavation of a lost age. Horan vividly re-creates a tumultuous era characterized by a sensationalist press, aggressive new wealth, a booming real-estate market, corruption, racial conflict, economic inequality between men and women, and the erosion of the old codes of behavior. A tale of murder, sex, greed, and politics, this spellbinding narrative transports readers to a time that eerily echoes our own.

    My Review:

    In 1857, Dr. Harvey Burdell of 31 Bond Street, New York, was murdered in his home and the case was never solved, becoming the basis for Ellen Horan’s historical fiction book 31 Bond Street. In Horan’s version she writes of the bumbling coroner Connelly, a fevered press leading to mobs of people out for vengeance, a slipshod investigation and Hall, the District Attorney who needs an expeditious conviction as he has higher political aspirations. The surest conviction would be to place the blame on Dr. Burdell’s driver, Samuel, yet he has vanished, most likely in fear of the Fugitive Slave Act so the powers that be turned to their next best suspect, the housemistress, Mrs. Emma Cunningham, widower and mother to two daughters. While under house detention, Emma pens a letter to Henry Clinton, a defense attorney who, against his wife’s advice, decides to take her case with the aid of young John, who worked for Dr. Burdell and can freely leave the house. John soon becomes Clinton’s eyes and ears. Horan weaves together a fascinating tale of a city growing, unrest in the country over slavery, the abuse of power, greed, indiscretion, and infidelity. 31 Bond Street is filled with actual copies of the newspaper clipping and while some of the book is historical fact other parts are pure conjecture. Horan paints a vivid, if not depressing, image of the ever growing trade town, the division of the haves and have nots, and the lengths people will go to for their own personal gain. The narrative is split primarily between Emma and Clinton. Emma takes the reader back to when she first met Dr. Burdell to present day whereas Henry Clinton speaks of the present and the investigation. While 31 Bond Street is a fictionalised historical mystery, a good portion of the book is spent in the courtroom as well as showing the reader New York society in 1857. It is interesting to see how the laws and procedures have changed over the past two centuries. While the characters are described in detail, I felt little for any save Henry, Elizabeth, and John. 31 Bond Street is an engaging mystery, with a page turning courtroom drama and some extraordinary twists and turns along the way, culminating in an explosive ending. I recommend 31 Bond Street to anyone looking for an exciting historical fiction mystery with courtroom drama.

    About the Author:

    Ellen Horan is a photo editor for books and magazines, Ellen Horan has worked on staff and in a freelance capacity for many publications, including Vanity Fair , Vogue , House & Garden , Forbes , and ARTnews , as well as for a number of book publishers. 31 Bond Street is her first novel.

    For Book Clubs information about author chats, and discussion questions.
    The 31 Bond Street website.
    Read an excerpt here.

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

    I received a complimentary copy of 31 Bond Street by Ellen Horan 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: Knit In Comfort by Isabel Sharpe

    Saturday 3 July, 2010 By Leave a Comment

    Title: Knit In Comfort
    Author: Isabel Sharpe
    Publisher: Avon A
    Publication Date: May 25, 2010
    Paperback: 320 pages
    ISBN: 978-0061765490
    Genre: Fiction

    From the Publisher:
    In this wonderful new novel of friendship and knitting, a woman discovers that secrets can’t be kept forever.

    Megan Morgan traded the constant mobility of her childhood for a quiet, stable life in Comfort, North Carolina, with a handsome husband, lively children, and a group of longtime friends who’ve formed a weekly knitting club, Purls Before Wine.

    Desperate to escape big-city anonymity and pressure from her marriage-minded boyfriend, a stranger, Elizabeth Detlaff, arrives unexpectedly, certain that fate has guided her to the Carolina mountains. She seems to think that in sleepy, unremarkable Comfort she’s found paradise.

    Soon, Elizabeth has eagerly invaded Megan’s life, living in the apartment over her garage, befriending her mother-in-law and children, fawning over her husband, and joining the Purls. It’s not long before Elizabeth brings to light legends of Megan’s Shetland ancestors, leading her to stumble over a painful, long-buried secret.

    Backed into a corner, Megan is forced to examine her choices and ultimately decide what kind of woman she wants to be.

    My Review:

    As a knitter I had high hopes for Knit In Comfort by Isabel Sharpe. The novel, and each subsequent chapter, begins with excerpts from Megan Morgan’s great-grandmother Fiona, who lived in the Shetland Isles. The excerpts are brilliant and would make a wonderful book as Fiona’s life interested me, as did her lace making. However Knit In Comfort is about Megan Morgan who is dreadfully unhappy and yet complacent in her unhappiness. Her husband Stanley travels a lot, she has three children to care for and her mother-in-law recently moved in. Megan has been attending the same knitting group, Purls Before Wine, for two decades and yet does not enjoy it. If that is not enough, the Morgans need money and are renting out their garage apartment. Enter Elizabeth Detlaff, a New Yorker who had a dream where her grandmother told her to find comfort, so she heads to Comfort, North Carolina while her boyfriend is in France for the month, he has handed her an ultimatum and she needs time and distance to think through her life. Sharpe expertly describes the characters and while I personally did not care for most of them, I did enjoy how she chose to have the characters progress with the storyline and at times I found myself pleasantly surprised at how a character I did not care for in the beginning became one I truly liked toward the end. Sharpe’s writing style is comfortable and welcomes the reader into the story. The ending was worth the read and I did immensely enjoy learning about Fiona, her life, struggles, her friend Gillian, and lace making. Even though Knit In Comfort was not exactly my style, I do believe a lot of readers will enjoy the small town of Comfort and the secrets buried within, and I think I would have liked it better had I been discussing the novel with a group. Please read other reviews as well since mine is just one opinion amongst many.

    To learn more about Isabel Sharpe please visit the publisher’s site and her website.

    I received a complimentary copy of Knit In Comfort by Isabel Sharpe from HarperPerennial to review. Receiving a copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned novel.

    Filed Under: A Book review Tagged With: , , ,
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