Fiction

Review: FOR RANSOM by Sarah McClain

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A few weeks ago, Sarah McClain contacted me to ask if I would read and review her new novel FOR RANSOM. It was presented as a Christian suspense mystery, which sounded interesting to me, so I offered to read it.

In FOR RANSOM, eighteen-year-old Hailey Bennett is kidnapped and held for ransom. Her bodyguard and boyfriend, Eli, works to beat the clock in order to find her. Her father is a distant and preoccupied British government official who appears to know more about her abduction than he is letting on. Her mother is sincere and caring and willing to do whatever she can to get Hailey back.

This story read very quickly for me — I finished it in a few hours. The storyline centered around Hailey’s abduction and her rescue. While I liked the characters of Hailey and Eli, and found them plucky and courageous, I had some problems with the other characters. Hailey’s mother Anne was very one dimensional to me. Her father was even more one dimensional – in fact I couldn’t get into his head at all and found him almost a caricature. I would have liked to have seen more development of these two. I think it would have made them more believable to me.

I like the idea of “Christian suspense” as a genre. The main characters of Hailey and Eli had great faith and used it to get them through the hard times. The book could be considered less violent than other mysteries, though I thought it had some pretty serious physical stuff in it. Poor Hailey gotten beaten repeatedly by her captors and I found that disturbing.

I thank Sarah for sending me a galley of her novel. Best of luck with it!

Review: WISHING ON WILLOWS by Katie Ganshert

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Following up her earlier novel, WILDFLOWERS IN WINTER, Katie Ganshert continues the story of the families of Peaks, Iowa in WISHING ON WILLOWS. Robin Price has struggled to build her cafe and raise her son on her own after her husband’s sudden and unexpected death. Now all she holds most dear is threatened when a developer comes to town and hopes to buy out her cafe in order to make way for condominiums. Along with Robin’s cafe, the local ministry outreach program is threatened, so Robin and her family are determined to support her restaurant and try to save it. Meanwhile, developer Ian McKay is the one sent to win over the people of Peaks. He is charming and intelligent and kind, but has his owns shadows in his past that still haunt him. He and Robin butt heads, but also find themselves attracted to each other. Who will win? And what will winning look like in the end?

I really enjoyed Ms. Ganshert’s first novel (reviewed here: https://drbethnolan.wordpress.com/2012/07/27/review-wildflowers-in-winter-by-katie-ganshert/) and enjoyed reading this sequel.   I would say that this novel has a solid plot line and good character development. Christian readers will find the message clearly in these pages, and the ending leaves one with a feeling of redemption and hope. If you enjoy reading Christian literature/romance I think you will enjoy this book – even if you haven’t read Ms. Ganshert’s other novel first!

I received my copy from Blogging for Books and Water Brook Press in exchange for this review. Thank you for my copy!

Review: THE LONGINGS OF WAYWARD GIRLS by Karen Brown

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Just published this past week, I received THE LONGINGS OF WAYWARD GIRLS as an ARC through Net Galley last month. I really enjoyed this book, in part for the nostalgia I felt for the lazy summer childhood days of the 70’s that are so aptly depicted in this intriguing and sometimes disturbing story within a story.

As the novel starts, Sadie is an adult and trying to regroup after the losing her baby. She lives in the town where she grew up and where, twenty years earlier, two girls disappeared. One girl had been in Sadie’s class, and she was never found again. The other girl was a sometimes friend of Sadie, and she still harbors guilt for her disappearance. Through flashback, we learn of Sadies’ childhood in her dysfunctional family, with an alcoholic actress mother and often absent father. Sadie is somewhat of a ringleader amongst her friends, and they spend their days in complex imaginary dramas, dressing up in the basement or creating forts in the woods surrounding the Connecticut neighborhood (I loved this depiction of childhood before everyone became “plugged in”!). The lost girl, assumed abducted, hangs as a specter over them all. Then Sadie and her friend play a trick on another (unpopular) girl, and she goes missing, too.

Back in the present day, Sadie is just trying to get by when a man who was a childhood friend returns to the neighborhood, setting into motion a chain of events that bring the past and present together in a tumultuous crash.

I really enjoyed reading this book and couldn’t put it down! I wanted to know what would happen, would the mystery be solved, and what would become of Sadie. I can’t say I loved Sadie as a character, but I did feel sympathy for her. And I really liked the depiction of pre-adolescent Sadie. I enjoyed Ms. Brown’s writing and will look for her other works – which are short story collections.

Highly recommended as a summer read!

Thank you, Net Galley and Washington Square Press, for my copy!

Review: INFERNO by Dan Brown

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With a gift card I received for my birthday, I bought Dan Brown’s new novel: INFERNO. I really liked DA VINCI CODE and I heard this was similar. I have to say I was disappointed with THE LOST SYMBOL, and I found ANGELS AND DEMONS too violent. I liked DIGITAL FORTRESS and DECEPTION POINT, but not as much as DA VINCI CODE.  Anyhow – I really liked this novel! It had more action and less codes than DA VINCI, so I have to say I still like DA VINCI CODE best. I can imagine this will be made into a movie very soon.

In INFERNO, Langdon awakes to find himself in a hospital in Florence, Italy with no idea how he got there or what happened to him. He barely has time to adjust to his surroundings when a killer arrives looking for him. He escapes with the help of a young, brilliant doctor and thus begins a crazy chase across Florence and on to Venice as Langdon and Sienna (the doctor) try to evade a host of people who appear to be trying to kill them. Along the way they discover that Langdon and a colleague (now dead) had apparently stolen the death mask of Dante Alighieri (author of “The Inferno”). Meanwhile a crazed scientist who is obsessed with population control, is trying to “save the world” by releasing a virus of epidemic proportions. His clues are related to “The Inferno” and Dante as well.

Whew! There is a lot going on in this book! I have to say I loved reading about Florence – which happens to be my favorite place in the world. One complaint I had (and this is a SPOILER ALERT!) is that the whole “this was a set-up, we created a fake scene for you” storyline was too far-fetched. I mean really – just be honest with the guy. It’d be a lot less work!

Anyhow, if you liked DA VINCI CODE I think you will like INFERNO. It also made me want to go back and reread the original INFERNO by Dante as it’s been about 35 years. And even more – it made me want to go back to visit Florence!

If you get a hankering to read a translation of Dante’s “Inferno” as I did, try this one:

http://pd.sparknotes.com/poetry/inferno/

Review: ALL THE SUMMER GIRLS by Meg Donohue

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I had the chance to hear Meg Donohue read from her new book at my local fave indie bookshop (The Concord Bookshop) where I purchased her ALL THE SUMMER GIRLS. This is a great summertime read as it’s set on the Jersey Shore.

Three longtime girlfriends, Kate, Dani, and Vanessa, reunite for one long weekend at the beach. Each one has her own issues and problems: Kate’s fiance has just broken up with her and she then learns she is pregnant; Dani has substance abuse problems and can’t keep a job, meanwhile she is trying to write a cathartic novel; Vanessa is feeling tied down as a stay at home mom and has learned that her husband has strayed. All three are still feeling the loss of Kate’s twin brother, Colin, who tragically drowned when they were last at the shore several years earlier. Each of them also carries her own guilt and secrets about that final night, too.

All in all I liked this book. Ms. Donohue’s writing is fluid and the characters are well-developed. I did feel a bit “old” reading this. The characters are all twenty-nine and still getting their lives together. (I’m in my forties and twenty-nine seems a long time ago!). They all also have experienced a lot of drama! While I liked the subplot of the secrets surrounding Colin’s death, I didn’t feel like I got to really know him as a character. He was definitely headed for self-destruction, and I wasn’t entirely sure why each girl blamed herself so much for his death, but I did like the theme of self acceptance and self forgiveness that came through at the end.

If you are looking for a summer read about friendship and self growth, then take a look at ALL THE SUMMER GIRLS!

Review: SISTERLAND by Curtis Sittenfeld

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Coming out next Tuesday, June 25, is Curtis Sittenfeld’s new novel SISTERLAND – a story weaving twins, relationships, ESP, marital issues and relationships, and earthquakes into its plot. Twins Daisy and Violet share a special bond and use their ESP to gain popularity in school. When accused of being a witch, Daisy decides to never use her “senses” again. The girls grow up and Daisy changes her name to Kate, marries a stable young college professor, and has two children. Vi embraces her quirkiness and becomes a psychic, using her powers to locate an abducted child. Now in current day, the girls are in their twenties and living where they grew up, St. Louis . Vi becomes convinced that a major earthquake is looming. Kate agrees. Violet’s prediction going public leads to a chain of events that threatens all that Kate holds dear. Will the prediction prove to be right?

This story certainly had a lot going on in it! Along the relationship front, Kate is struggling with her at-home mom role, while building a “best friendship” with her neighbor Hank (whose wife works with Kate’s husband). Violet is tentatively trying out a lesbian relationship. Meanwhile, Kate is quite tethered to her two children who are about 1 and 3 (one is nursing – quite regularly throughout the book). I found the ESP portion of the book really interesting. Their “senses” (as they called them) weren’t extraordinary or freaky. They just knew things with a certainty, or had dreams of things. A lot of it seemed like good guessing and common sense to me (with the exception of finding the abducted child by visualizing his kidnapper). I kept reading this book and couldn’t put it down because it was moving towards the date of the predicted earthquake (October 16). I had to know: would it happen? Would they be okay? What would happen if Vi was completely wrong?

I won’t say whether the earthquake happens or not — but I will say some things do occur that are brought about by everything happening in this book. At one point I almost shouted at Kate: “NO! Wait! Stop! Don’t do this!” I found Kate a very likable character, though she was rather immature and self-centered. I thought it was interesting how the twins were so disparate in personality at the beginning of the novel – almost like two parts of the same person – and then both went more to the middle of the continuum. Violet was a bit of a disaster in the beginning, then made some strides to get her life together. Kate was ultra-organized to the point of being an autotron, and she became more human. I liked this piece of character development.

One thing that did throw me off was the point of view at the end. Throughout the book the story is told in Kate’s voice, moving towards October 16, with various pertinent flashbacks thrown in to provide “back story”. Then, post 10/16, the story moves to a future perspective, telling the story from looking back on it from a few years afterwards.  This shift threw me for a bit and felt awkward to me.

Overall, I really liked this novel. I loved PREP and AMERICAN WIFE and really like Ms. Sittenfeld’s writing. Her characters are well drawn and she has a flair for humor.

Thank you, Net Galley and Random House, for my ARC – I was quite psyched to get it!

Review: DOLLS BEHAVING BADLY by Cinthia Ritchie

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A while ago, Cinthia Ritchie contacted me and asked if I’d like to read and review her book DOLLS BEHAVING BADLY. It sounded interesting and funny, so I said yes. In the course of reading this book I misplaced it (it fell under the seat in my car!) so it took a while for me to read and finish it.

DOLLS BEHAVING BADLY is the story of Alaskan single mom, Carla, and her attempts to make it through the grind of daily life. She has a highly gifted young son, Jay-Jay, a pregnant sister, Laurel, an ex that she still hooks up with (Barry), a long dead but still present Polish grandma, and a teenage babysitter who pretty much has moved in with them (Stephanie). Her best friend has her own issues and Carla and she work together at a Mexican restaurant  – “Mexico in an Igloo”. Carla has been inspired by a speaker on Oprah to keep a diary and take control of her life. Add to this a new love interest, anthropologist Francisco, and Carla’s secret side occupation (making erotic, X-rated Barbie dolls) and you have the makings of a laugh-out-loud story with zany antics and characters that are so human and flawed that they become highly lovable.

I laughed out loud while reading this book and couldn’t help but root for Carla and her family. I loved the setting of Alaska (the only state I’ve never visited!) and the fact that while all these people had their problems, they were all just doing their best to get through life.

Thanks, Cinthia, for sending me your book to read!

Review: LOOKING FOR ME by Beth Hoffman

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I really enjoyed Beth Hoffman’s first novel, SAVING CEE CEE HONEYCUT. (Here’s a link to my earlier review of “Saving Cee Cee Honeycut”: https://drbethnolan.wordpress.com/2010/03/21/review-saving-ceecee-honeycutt-by-beth-hoffman/). I follow Beth on twitter and she seems like an incredibly nice person. Plus she has that “Southern writer touch” that I love so much in novels. So – I was quite thrilled to receive a copy of LOOKING FOR ME through Net Galley recently. I saved it a bit so that I could savor it while I read it. I love Ms. Hoffman’s characters and I knew that I would not want this story to end!

In LOOKING FOR ME, Teddi Overman is an artist – a furniture restorer – who owns her own shop in Charleston, S.C. Teddi comes from a humble family in Kentucky, and in flashback we are told her back story. Years ago her beloved and sensitive brother, Josh, has left and not returned. The family comes to believe that he is now dead, perhaps dying in an accident in the woods or from exposure. Teddi has some ghosts from her past to deal with, along with her incomplete grieving of her loss of Josh. Then events occur which suggest that maybe Josh is still alive. Teddi must return home and face the past – and the present.

Once again, I loved Ms. Hoffman’s characters and her story-telling! These people stayed with me so much, I actually dreamed about them one night. 🙂 This story’s sense of hope and strength left me feeling positive. I highly recommend it -especially as a summer read!

Thanks, Net Galley and Pamela Dorman Books, for my copy – it made my day!

Reviewing Three by Maeve Binchy: “A Week in Winter”, “A Week in Summer”, and “The Builders”

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For my recent trip I purchased three Maeve Binchy stories for my kindle. I had wanted to read “A Week in Winter”, Ms. Binchy’s final book. “A Week in Summer” was a short story that was available. “The Builders” is more of a novella, written as part of an adult literacy campaign in Ireland. I enjoyed all three!

In the short story “A Week in Summer”, a married couple decide they will spend a week’s holiday one summer in order to recharge their middle-aged lives. They find themselves in the midst of a town-wide yearly festival where they meet new friends and discover new interests while rediscovering their relationship. This was a sweet story that was only 99 cents on Kindle!

Next I read the short book, “The Builders”. This less-than-one-hundred-pages novella tells the story of Nan Ryan, a middle-aged widow who takes an interest in the builders working next door to her.Who exactly were the people who had lived there and died so tragically? Who is fixing up the house and for what reason? What will the builders find? Nan builds a friendship with one of the men working there and together they analyze and discuss the situation. Another typical Binchy story – this one was written as part of an adult literacy campaign contribution.

Finally I read Maeve Binchy’s final book: “A Week in Winter”. I was so sad as I read this novel, knowing it was her last. It was typical Binchy fare: a young woman who has been unlucky in love returns home to Ireland and opens what is essentially a B&B in order to give folks a relaxing ‘week in winter’. Chicky, the proprietress, is the common link running through this story as each chapter focuses on one of the members of the household or one of the guests for that first week in winter in which they open. There are two doctors who are escaping a tragedy, a crotchety older woman, a young man who loves music, a librarian who has second sight, and several more. We get to know each one as their stories intertwine.

I have always loved Binchy’s books. I can’t say which is my favorite: “Light a Penny Candle”? “The Glass Lake”? “Evening Class”? Her older works I enjoyed more than her more recent ones (“Quentin’s” and onward). This is classic Binchy however. There’s a warmth and a goodness to these stories that, while I am sure some folks might find it cloying, gives me comfort. As I read the last page of this novel (or the last screen I should say, as it was on kindle), I had an image of Chicky standing at the door of her inn and Maeve standing next to her – welcoming travellers to their little bit of Ireland.

RIP, dear Maeve, and know that your stories live on!

Review: A Trilogy of Stories by Karen Kingsbury

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A while back I received the “Kingsbury Collection” to review through “Blogging for Books” and Waterbrook Multnomah, a Christian publisher. This 700+ page collection has three complete books in it: Where Yesterday Lives, When Joy Came to Stay, and On Every Side.

In Where Yesterday Lives, young professional Ellen Barrett returns home after her father’s sudden death from a heart attack. Ellen’s family (five siblings) has grown apart over the years. Outwardly they are polite and civil, but emotionally they are torn asunder by old rivals and jealousies, along with some painful memories and bitterness. Ellen’s marriage is currently on rocky soil and she returns to her hometown alone to face her family and a barrage of memories, including memories of her younger years with boyfriend Jake Sadler. It isn’t long before a very sad and lonely Ellen is reconnecting with the man she used to love, while trying to deal with her dysfunctional family and distant husband.

I have to say, this is the first of Kingsbury’s works that I’ve read. I was drawn right into this story for various reasons, and was struck by how well Kingsbury captures the agony and inner turmoil that occurs when a parent dies suddenly. The build-up to Ellen contacting her old boyfriend had me wanting to yell: “Danger, Will Robinson!!” at her. At the essence of this story, however, is a message of forgiveness and hope and a reminder of the power of prayer and of faith. I really enjoyed it!

In When Joy Came to Stay reporter Maggie Stovall is on the verge of a breakdown. She has spent years trying to forget and move on from some difficult and painful decisions that she made when younger. However, Maggie’s choice to not be truthful to her husband, or even to herself, about her past leads her to a collapse and time recuperating in a psychiatric hospital. Meanwhile, her husband is left to figure out what happened and why and begins to realize that his “perfect” wife may not be the same woman he thinks he knows. Again, a strong message here of forgiveness and self-forgiveness (which is often the toughest to achieve!), with a focus on the importance and power of faith. Just a note – this story had the feel of a Mary Higgins Clark suspense novel at times!

The final story, On Every Side, Jordan Riley is an attorney working to take down a statue of Jesus in a public park (as a violation of the separation of church and state), while new reporter and child advocate Faith Evans (aptly named!) is working to somehow keep the statue up. Jordan has lost his faith due to hardships he suffered as a child, and the statue just happens to be located in his boyhood hometown. Who will win the battle? Kingsbury based this story, in part, on a similar true legal case involving a religious statue in a park.

As I said earlier, this was my first experience reading Ms. Kingsbury’s books and I did enjoy them. Her work has strong Christian themes and her characters (some of them at least) are often struggling to reconnect with their faith. I like how “real” they seem, though, and the problems faced are often the ones we encounter in day-to-day life.

thanks, Blogging for Books, for my review copy!