I chose this paranormal YA romance from Net Galley because, ever since middle school, I am a sucker for books that take place in boarding schools! THE UNSEEMLY EDUCATION OF ANNE MERCHANT is the first in a trilogy (wish I had known this going in to it as the ending disappointed me due to lack of resolution!). Undertaker’s daughter, Anne Merchant, is sent from her humble home in a very wealthy area of California to an island off Maine to the elite Cania Christie boarding school. Right away she notices that everyone there is almost creepily perfect, and they all are bent on an almost ridiculous race to become valedictorian. Anne soon realizes that nothing is as it seems, that valedictorian means much more than grades, and that getting in to Cania Christie is so difficult and expensive, well let’s just say that people are dying to get in!
I can’t say too much more without giving it all away, but Anne works with new friends to explore and understand the mysteries of the school and the island (and villagers) where they live. The more she finds out, the more terrifying it all becomes. Add in some romance, teen angst, and conflict and you have fun (older – due to sexual content) YA fare. I can see this book as a movie – sort of Twilight meets Hunger Games.
Thanks, Net Galley and BenBella Books for my copy!
Just out this week, I got this fun YA read from Net Galley.
BEING SLOANE JACOBS is the story of two girls – both named Sloane Jacobs – who switch places one summer at the respective summer camps. Sloane Emily is a wealthy senator’s daughter, bored with her life under the microscope and her power focused parents. She is an expert ice skater who has had some recent issues with confidence, and is headed to Canada for skating camp. Sloane Devon is a tough hockey player from Philly who is sent to camp as a community service due to her bad attitude. Both girls start off hating each other (sort of like Parent Trap!) when they meet at a hotel, but realize that they are similar enough in looks that they could pass for each other; then decide to take a break from their respective lives and “try on” the other’s existence.
I really enjoyed this story – it was light and funny and had a little romance built in. I would have loved this book when I was in middle school. At the end of the day the two themes ring true: “don’t judge a person until you walk a mile in the shoes” , and “East or West, home is best.” I look forward to more from Ms. Morrill!
Through Blogging for Books and Water Brook Press, a Christian publisher, I received the three-in-one volume of CHRISTMAS IN APPLE RIDGE by Cindy Woodsmall to review. Apparently, the first two books were previously published in recent years, and the third is a new novella. I had never read anything by Cindy Woodsmall before, and these books all take place in the Amish community of Apple Ridge, PA. Before I began blogging, I actually did not realize “Amish” was a genre, seemingly under the larger heading of “Christian Romance”. This was new to me, but I have to say that I find these stories rather compelling. It’s comforting to think that in today’s hectic, crazed world there is a community that lives honestly and simply, in tune with nature and committed to their faith.
Each of these stories is inter-related, with characters overlapping, and in each the two central characters need to overcome past demons and emotional hurdles in order to find their soul mate. “The Sound of Sleigh Bells”, “The Christmas Singing”, and “The Dawn of Christmas” are the three novellas. They all center around Christmastime and a happy ending is guaranteed.
Recommended to those who enjoy this genre.
Thanks, Water Brook Publishers and Blogging for Books, for my copy!
A while ago (longer than I care to admit), I received a download of Laura Shofer’s novel, THE FINGERPRINT OF DESTINY, from her. Due to an odd issue with my Kindle (where it shuffled my hundreds of novels!) I “lost” it and only recently rediscovered it. This novel has a little bit of something for everyone and I really enjoyed reading it!
THE FINGERPRINT OF DESTINY starts with a fire (arson) with deaths involved in the Hope’s Point area of Long Island. Ellie Sinclair goes to cover the fire (which isn’t the first that has occurred in this area of late) for her newspaper and discovers that her estranged mother is among the victims. This starts a series of events where Ellie digs to find the truth, but also digs up old emotions, an old romance, and memories of her “crazy” mother as she was growing up and their complicated relationship. Ellie is scrappy and tough, though somewhat dysfunctional and has a drinking problem. Add in some historical passages tracing Ellie’s Venezuelan heritage and the “fingerprint of destiny”, a few tough Latino gangs, a mystery, and some supernatural thrills and you’ve got the makings for this story!
I enjoyed reading this novel, the first for Ms. Shofer, and found it engrossing and well-written. I think it has such a variety of happenings that many will find it and its “mash-up genre” appealing!
Well – where do I start with this one? I loved Diane Setterfield’s THIRTEENTH TALE, so I was very excited to get BELLMAN AND BLACK from Net Galley. This is the story of William Bellman, who as a boy kills a rook with a stone — and rooks and this act seem to follow him throughout his life (England – about a hundred or more years ago). Bellman grows up to run a mill and has a business in mourning and funerals. He has so much loss in his life, it turns him inward. “Black” is his mysterious business partner.
So here’s the thing — I eagerly read the first half of this book, and then it felt like it stalled to me. I had to force myself again and again to return to it to finish the second half (I read it on Kindle, but I see it has just over 300 pages – certainly not a tome). I found it slow and fairly uneventful, but all the time I had the feeling that I wasn’t thinking about this book in the right way. It felt like an allegory – or a fable – or something that I just wasn’t getting. The writing reminded me a bit of Nathaniel Hawthorne or some other stark, 19th century writer. I wanted so much to like this book, this character, this story, but instead it felt a bit like a penance to read it. I kept hoping to have an epiphany that never occurred.
I’d be so curious (and grateful) to hear from others who have read it! Setterfield is an excellent writer, so if this is your only exposure to her, you might want to read THE THIRTEENTH TALE also.
I love Fannie Flagg’s books! I think I’ve read them all, but “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe” and “Standing in the Rainbow” are two of my favorites. Her latest book came out this month and the wait was so long at the library for it, I had to buy it for myself!
(Note: The following may contain SPOILERS!)
In “The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion”, we start with middle-aged Southerner Sookie Poole, who is looking forward to relaxing after two weddings in the family. Sookie is a sweet lady, but has no backbone and even less self-esteem. She has pretty much been bullied by her domineering mother her whole life. Then her life changes when she discovers she is adopted. Her years of Southern heritage, her sorority, her “Simmons foot” are eclipsed by the fact that she appears to be ‘Ginger’ – the illegitimate daughter of a Polish Catholic woman and “father unknown”. Sookie first falls apart, but then embarks on a journey to find out more about her birth mother.
At the same time, we have the story of Sookie’s birth mother and her family. The Jurdabralinski family is from Wisconsin and work hard at running their gas station. When WWII breaks out, the girls of the family run the station; then three of them become female military pilots – WASPS. The stories go back and forth between 1940 and 2005, between Fritzi, the spunky eldest sister, and Sookie.
I really enjoyed reading this book! Fannie Flagg’s writing always makes me laugh out loud, then suddenly I’m crying. It’s funny, poignant, silly, and touching all at once. I particularly liked the chapters on Fritzi and her sisters. I found the information on the WASPS (something I knew little about) very interesting! Sookie’s chapters made me laugh as some of it was pretty silly. I did like the resolution and end of this book.
Hey, local readers — Antoine Laurain, author of THE PRESIDENT’S HAT, is coming to Brookline Booksmith on the 30th of September (7 PM) and will read from his book (now available in the USA). Rachel, his publicist from MZPR, contacted me and this is what she had to say:
“If you want to get ahead get a hat” This was an advertising slogan in the 1940s and it remains in the public consciousness to this day. Is this just a line or does it have merit? Perhaps it’s symbolic of truly taking ownership of your life. Antoine Laurain explores this concept in his latest novel The President’s Hat (September 2013, Gallic Books). Three characters’ lives are changed forever when they discover and wear former French President François Mitterrand black felt Homburg hat. It alters their perception of themselves and has a profound affect, freeing them of self-doubt and replacing it with self-worth. The President’s Hat (September 2013, Gallic Books) is set in 1980’s France and reads like a fairytale in that the mundane becomes magical.
Antoine Laurain began his career as a screenwriter and director. His passion for art led him to take a job assisting an antiques dealer in Paris. This experience provided the inspiration for his first novel, Ailleurs si j’y suis, the story of a collector which by a strange twist of fate, was awarded the Prix Drouot, the literary prize founded by the famous Paris auction house. Two more novels followed, and now his fourth, The President’s Hat, has received acclaim by critics, readers and booksellers.
I am reading it now – thank you for my copy – and am really enjoying it (I love all things Parisian!). At just over 200 pages, it is short and sweet. I checked out the website, too. Love the “find the hat” game!
Thanks, Rachel, for sending me this information for my local Bostonians!!
Regular readers know that I LOVE the Sue Grafton alphabet mysteries and have read them all. I was so excited for “W” to come out this month and pre-ordered it on Amazon. (I actually ordered it to give to my husband for his birthday in October, but gently read it last week while he was away on business!).
W IS FOR WASTED starts with two deaths: a homeless man is found dead of what appears to be natural causes and a less than upright private investigator is found shot to death. Kinsey dismisses the PI’s death, as he was known for being less than honest. She figured he came up on the wrong end of a deal. She decides to help find out the homeless man’s name so that they can notify his next of kin. As his story unfolds, however, Kinsey finds herself drawn into the man’s life with a connection she could not have foreseen. Things become more and more complicated, and then more and more dangerous, as Kinsey becomes involved in an intricate web of dishonesty, subterfuge, and shadows from the past. Are these two deaths related? Is Kinsey much more involved than she first realizes? Will she figure it all out before more people are killed?
I really enjoyed this quick read, which was well plotted and moved swiftly. While I have been disappointed in only a few of Grafton’s stories, this was one that I really liked!
I am happy today to be part of the TRAVELS IN ELYSIUM blog tour!
TRAVELS IN ELYSIUM is the story of Nicholas Pedrosa, a college student who gets the chance of a lifetime: working on an archaeological dig in Greece. Nico jumps at the opportunity and soon finds himself on the island of Santorini with a host of characters and personalities, all engaged in unearthing what appears to be a city (or civilization) destroyed by a volcanic eruption. Nico doesn’t know too much about his colleagues, though, and right from the start some unsettling things happen. Another young worker has been killed on the site in an accident (or was it perhaps not an accident?). Villagers swear they are seeing ghosts. Nicholas himself sees eerie moving lights at night. And, behind it all, is the somewhat enigmatic and intense Marcus Huxley, the leader of the dig with whom Nico has a love/hate relationship. What are they uncovering? And, is it just possible that they could be making the discovery of a lifetime – that they have found the lost city of Atlantis?
I enjoyed reading this (somewhat lengthy at 500+ pages) book! It is part history, part mystery, and part metaphysical thriller. I found it could be read on two levels: the top story of Nico and his experiences, and the allegory to Plato’s theories of Atlantis and reality. Metaphor plays a big role in this novel, as does allegory. Caves play a role, as does light, and the concept of reality and perception and creating your own reality. To be honest, I wasn’t intimately familiar with Plato’s writings (though I certainly knew who he was), and this book made me read a lot about him online. The more I read, the more information I found that fit this story line. Really, I thought the interplay was quite brilliant.
The end of the book makes you stop, think, and then re-read. I won’t give it away, but it is the final connection to Plato’s works.
I think this book would be great for book groups because there is a lot to discuss!
William Azuski was born in the United Kingdom, and is of British and Yugoslav descent. Travelling widely through the Mediterranean since childhood, his frequent sojourns in Greece included several months on Santorini in the 1970s, an experience that provided firsthand experience for this exceptional novel’s local setting. Writing as William Miles Johnson, Azuski is also author of the critically-acclaimed The Rose-Tinted Menagerie, an Observer Book of the Year (nonfiction), and Making a Killing, an end of the world satire, both titles recently republished by Iridescent.
(William at work)
Thank you to Nikki for my review copy and making me part of this blog tour!
This past spring, a longtime friend suggested that I read THE BOY FROM REACTOR 4. I found it for my kindle on Amazon at a great price. THE BOY FROM REACTOR 4 is a suspenseful, action-packed mystery/thriller, which takes the reader from the US to Russia and deals with espionage, murder, and the effects of the Chernobyl disaster.
Nadia Tesler is the daughter of Ukrainian immigrants, living in NYC. She is contacted by a man who says he knew her deceased father, and she agrees to meet with him. To her horror, he is shot while they are greeting each other and he whispers a somewhat garbled message to her before dying. Nadia takes off a quest to discover what he meant, find a formula worth $10 million, and find out the truth about her family and their legacy. Travelling from the US to the heart of Russia and into Siberia and the Aleutian Islands, this novel’s setting serves as a parallel to the emotions of the criminals and the bleak life for many of the people she meets and comes to know in this book. Action packed and thrilling, the action moves at a non-stop pace right until the last page.
I really enjoyed this novel! I like a good crime/mystery, and this one was easy to read and hard to put down! I’m glad my friend recommended it to me. I would love to see it as a movie, too.
Check out this clip I found on You Tube with the author discussing the novel:
Beth's Book-Nook Blog 