My good friend Kym knows I love cozies, and recommended this new series to me. I read the sample on my Kindle (free download of a sample!) and then saw it on the new release shelf at the library. This story certainly has the makings of the beginning of a series as there are several plot lines running throughout.

Piper Donovan is a former soap opera actress who has moved back home with her parents for the time being. She decides to help out in the family bakery, baking and decorating cakes. When her former colleague is killed at a charity event, Piper gets drawn into the investigation. The violence continues and there are a lot of characters — all with motives — to try to keep straight. Meanwhile, Piper gets some help from FBI detective friend — and possible love interest — Jack; and she also has to deal with her mother’s recently diagnosed macular degeneration.

I really enjoyed reading this novel. I liked the character of Piper. One scene that was rather touching to me was how Piper’s parents had repainted her room in preparation for her homecoming — painting it pink. It just seemed like something my own parents would do (or course then I might have to run screaming out of the house — but that’s an entry for another day). Piper’s struggles with being an adult in her parents’ house, and also trying to keep her career going as an actress in NYC, are an underlying current in this book and gives the character more depth than if she was just some female who stumbled across a dead body. I was able to figure out the murderer early on — but primarily because the death was by potassium cyanide. I might have mentioned in one of these posts that I am working on a cozy myself (and have not written a word in three months!). Well, the death is also by potassium cyanide, so I know more than your average random reader might about its uses, etc. and who would be likely to have some on hand, which helped me in my deductions.

Regardless, I enjoyed this read and look forward to more installments in this series!!

You know I love my cozies — and I love the Hamish MacBeth series — so I was thrilled to see a new one out this month by MC Beaton. In this installment, the local chimney sweep is found dead and the homeowner has been killed and stuffed up his chimney. Hamish has to figure out who is behind the murders and why – all the while more murders are taking place of folks who are coming too close to the answer.

If you love this series, you’ll probably enjoy this latest addition. I liked it, but I would have liked to not know who the murderer is so soon in the book. In that way, we were “following” the murderer as he planned more crimes and tried to escape, instead of reading and trying to figure out “who dunnit”.

All the favorite characters are back, though, including Hamish’s lost loves!

I got this one on the Kindle – found it one night when I was up at 3 am!

Intrepid heroine Flavia returns in this third installment of Alan Bradley’s light mystery series (following “The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie” and “The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag” – both reviewed here in 9/09 and 5/10). This time Flavia is trying to solve the mystery of an attempted murder on a gypsy woman who has been camping on the deLuce property. There were many plot elements in this story: the gypsy woman’s attack, a lost portrait of Flavia’s mother, the gypsy’s grand-daughter who befriends yet isn’t quite honest with Flavia, a strange religious cult, a lost child, Flavia’s ongoing sibling issues, the family’s impending financial crisis, and the list goes on! I had a bit of a time keeping things straight – and I did figure out the mystery and how all the pieces came together rather early on – but I found precocious chemistry wiz Flavia as endearing and refreshing as ever!

You might want to read these books in order, but I don’t think it’s necessary.

I purchase mine through my kindle — pre-ordered and it magically downloaded when it was released!

See Alan Bradley discussing his characters through this You Tube link:

I really enjoyed Geraldine Brooks’ Pulitzer Prize winning novel “March”, so I got “Year of Wonders” from the library after I saw it on the blogosphere. “Year of Wonders” follows a year in the life of young mother and widow Anna Frith – when the plague hits her small English hamlet in 1666. Anna loses just about all she loves in a short space of time; but learns to embrace life and finds the strength to carry on. The book ends on a note of renewal and hope, though there is much sadness and loss in these pages.

Brooks, as always, is a beautiful writer. She has a way of writing conservatively, and her passages are never rambling or boring or off track. Brooks presents for us, among other things, a study of human character. The novel isn’t overly long and I enjoyed it!

A week ago I finished this great book (from the library) and haven’t had a chance to write about it. “The Wolves of Andover” is the prequel to Kent’s “The Heretic’s Daughter” – a novel about Salem that I just loved!

This story takes place in the town of Billerica (right next to where I used to live!) and tells of Martha Allen – a strong-willed and independent young woman – as she comes to stay at her pregnant cousin’s house to help care for her and her children.  Martha is intrigued with the farm laborer, Thomas Carrier, a man working off his servitude in order to gain a plot of land along the Concord River. Thomas has a somewhat mysterious past, and there is rumor that he is actually Thomas Morgan – the executioner of King Charles I (and thus, a wanted criminal). Martha and Thomas’  friendship turns to love, but as their story line moves forward a separate plot develops and threatens to converge with theirs: a group of miscreants who are out to find Thomas and bring him back to England, dead or alive.

Kent’s story arises from her own family’s history: she is a distant descendant of Thomas and Martha Carrier – and Martha Carrier was hung as a witch in Salem in the 1690’s. Kent has a wonderful ability to paint a picture of the bleakness of the winter landscape and of the Puritan existence. The “wolves” are both actual wolves that the family is trying to keep away from their livestock, and the “wolves” that are coming after Thomas.

My biggest problem with the book was the harsh distinction between the chapters as we jumped from Massachusetts to England (or more specifically to the “bad guys” coming to America).

I also am still pondering the title. Call me dense, but why is it the wolves of Andover since they were in Billerica? Martha’s family is in Andover (a town about 25 miles away). The human wolves that are seeking Thomas are from England. I have to think that there is a reason beyond the fact that “the wolves of Andover” flows better than “the wolves of Billerica” – but what it is I can’t tell you. Comments, please!

See Kathleen Kent talking about her novels and family:

I am reading SO MANY good books lately – and all at the same time!

—The Wolves of Andover by Kathleen Kent — a prequel to The Heretic’s Daughter.

—A Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks — Pulitzer prize-winning author of “March” and “People of the Book”

—Clara and Mr. Tiffany by Susan Vreeland — author of “Girl in Hyacinth Blue”

–the next Ivy Malone mystery – bought for my Kindle! The other three are all from the library. 🙂

Last week I read this wonderful book about a Catholic family living in the north of Ireland in the early 1900’s.  Eileen O’Neill is a young girl at the story’s onset, and little does she know that the happy way of life for her family is soon to come to an end. Eileen struggles through poverty and seeks to keep and then bring her family back together, while historical events and tragedy work to tear them apart. This story is set against the backdrop of WWI and the clashes between Catholic and Protestant, Irish and British, in Northern Ireland. Eileen’s story is also a love story, as she struggles to find happiness with her Irish nationalist husband, and tries to suppress the feelings she has for a British soldier.

I really enjoyed this novel – and felt that Falvey did a great job blending historical facts with story and (basically) romance. Eileen’s voice was so resonant throughout the telling, and she was a character I related to and rooted for. This is Falvey’s first novel, and I look forward to other stories from her!

I purchased my copy on my Kindle! 🙂

You probably already know that I love Alice Hoffman’s writing, so I was sooo excited to see she had a new novel out: The Red Garden. I purchased it for my new vice, my Kindle.
I loved, loved, loved this novel, which tells the story of Blackwell, Massachusetts – a fictional, small town in the Berkshires – from its beginning to current day. I just love this type of historical fiction, where something is traced through time, and its story is told by the people who live there. Hoffman’s story is reminiscent of the Rutherfurd books I love so much, but is much shorter and with more emphasis on the relationships of the people who live in the town. This book is at times touchingly poignant, and is at all times beautifully written. Hoffman has a way of letting you see, smell, and hear the places you visit in her books. She is one of my favorite writers.
I give it 5 Stars!!

If you know me, you know I love, love, love the Alcotts and I know a lot about Louisa May and her family. I was excited to read Cheever’s new biography on Louisa and found it at the library. I had truly enjoyed Cheever’s “American Bloomsbury” and respect her as an author. I was completely unprepared for what I found in this book. While events were portrayed as I know them, Cheever’s take on the Alcotts was fairly dismal. Bronson is painted as a self-absorbed, selfish, useless man, Abba May (Marmee) as a harpy, Anna as the goody two shoes eldest, Lizzie as somewhat angry, daft, and shadowy, and May as a selfish and self-centered conniving sibling. Louisa herself is portrayed as fairly tortured, unhappy, overworked, and misunderstood.

Now – I’m not saying that the Alcotts had their moments. Yes, Marmee could be quite opinionated (according to journals from that time) and Bronson was very absorbed in his thoughts and writings (again documented). But Ms. Cheever certainly paints this glass as half empty – not half full. The Alcotts seem like a miserable lot; and — most disturbing to me — she suggests (on p. 28) based on one line in a journal where Bronson states that families don’t like him “caressing” the students, that Alcott might have been a sexual predator, abusing his students and daughters alike. (I nearly fell over when I read that).

Additionally, this is rightly called a “personal biography” and is filled with Cheever’s personal anecdotes and thoughts. I would have preferred a little less of that and a little more Alcott.

If you don’t know a thing about the Alcotts, I actually don’t recommend this book. There are other biographies out there (Stern, Matteson, Reisen, etc.). If you do know something about the family then please do read this and get in touch with me and let me know if you are as disappointed in this selection as I am.