Books Reviewed

Reviews of books, audiobooks, etc…

Review: THINGS HALF IN SHADOW by Alan Finn

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It’s post-Civil War Philadelphia, and Edward Clark is on a newspaper assignment to uncover false mediums and spiritualists in the city. Edward has a secret past – he is the child of a famous magician whose career ended in tragedy. He delights in seeing through the tricks and hoaxes. When he crosses paths with Lucy Collins, a fake medium who will stop at nothing to keep herself and her younger brother alive and successful, he ends up having to bring her along on his assignment. They visit a famous medium who seems to be the real deal, but then she falls dead during a séance in front of a room of people.

I really enjoyed this fun read! Between Edward’s voice as narrator and the things Lucy would do, I would often find myself laughing out loud. Yes I had to suspend my disbelief at the end, but it was all in fun. This must be the start of a series as there was no final conclusion. Get writing, Mr. Finn! We need the next installment! I read this as an e-galley but I saw online that it is over 400 pages. I was rather shocked as it read very quickly and I finished it in a couple of days. I love a blend of history, supernatural, and humor – this book had it all.

Thanks, Net Galley and Gallery Books, for my copy!

You can find it at an Indie near you — I am an Indie Bound affiliate:


Find it at an Indie!

Here’s a fun book trailer via You Tube —

Review: THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN by Paula Hawkins

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There’s been chatter about this novel for the past few months, but I was unable to get my hands on an advanced copy. After reading several other bloggers’ reviews, I knew I had to buy it!

THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN starts with Rachel, a young woman in the London suburbs, who takes the train to her job each day. She passes a house every day and loves to look at the couple who live there – she calls them Jess and Jason. A few doors down lives her ex-husband with his new wife, Anna, and their baby girl. Rachel is a basically one big mess where her divorce is concerned. She’s constantly calling her ex, especially when she’s drunk, and is trying to hang on. Rachel is unraveling and is an alcoholic, suffering from blackouts from binge drinking. One day she sees “Jess” outside with another man. And then Jess (real name Megan) goes missing. Rachel can’t keep her distance and keeps involving herself in the investigation, and in the lives of her ex and his family and Megan’s husband. Things go hurtling along, like a runaway train, up to the exciting climax.

What can I say? I could not put this book down. For the first time in my life I was happy I have insomnia as I could stay up reading. I read the book through most of the night and finished it the next evening. I love a thriller with a mystery, and I especially love when you can analyze the flaws of the main characters. This book is told in three voices: Rachel, Megan (in flashback leading up to her disappearance), and Anna. Each one has her flaws, but that makes them all the more human. By the halfway point I had a theory as to what was going on, and I was right, but I just couldn’t stop reading as I needed to know what happened.

Highly addictive like “Gone Girl”, THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN is one book I’m not soon to forget! Someone make this into a movie!

You can find it at an indie near you. Or try the library but there are hundreds of holds on the copies in my system.

I am an indie bound affiliate:


Find it at an Indie!

REVIEW: DREAMING SPIES by Laurie King

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When I saw DREAMING SPIES come up on Net Galley, I thought it looked like something I’d enjoy: Sherlock Holmes and his wife, Mary Russell, solving mysteries. I am not sure how I’ve missed this series as I’m a HUGE Holmes fan. Of course just about everyone is a fan of the new series with Benedict, and I enjoy it, but I’m a Holmes fan from way back. I’ve read all Conan Doyle’s stories numerous times (there aren’t a ton) and I love love loved the PBS series with Jeremy Brett. He was just the perfect Holmes to me. So what fun to find a whole series of stories that are about Holmes and his wife — who is obviously created for this series if you know Holmes – the intelligent and intrepid Mary Russell.

In this story, the time line moves back and forth, from a mystery worked on a few years earlier in Japan to the present (1920’s) in Oxford, England. Holmes and Russell were traveling aboard a cruise ship to Japan when they met a pleasant young woman, Sato, who offers to help educate the crew in the culture and manners of Japan. It turns out that she is a ninja, from a family of ninjas, and she needs their help. A book was given by their Emperor to the King of England as a gift, but it has something tucked inside it which must not be seen. Now the Emperor is being blackmailed in order for him to get the book back.

The storyline takes place in basically three locales: aboard the ship, in Japan, back in England. Ms. King has filled her novel with interesting details about life and the culture in Japan in the 1920’s. Having just taken a cruise last summer, I found the cruise ship part interesting, though I think our Disney Magic was more comfortable than Holmes’ and Russell’s ship!

I have to be honest, I did fear that I would start to read this book and Holmes would not seem like Holmes to me; or Mary would seem anachronistic, or something else would happen that would make me feel it was an absurd attempt to incorporate this iconic character into something new (remember I didn’t read the whole series or even know about it until afterwards). I was not disappointed. Holmes behaved just like Holmes should. Mary is front and center, but that is no surprise as this is somewhat her series. Stylistically, the writing was what I would expect from a classic British mystery. All in all, I just loved it!

For a few more days, I’m running a giveaway:

https://drbethnolan.wordpress.com/2015/02/07/giveaway-for-dreaming-spies-by-laurie-r-king/

You can see this book at an indie near you — check out the whole series! (I am an indie bound affiliate) and thank you, Net Galley, for my ARC!:

Find it at an Indie!

Review: The Forgotten Girls by Sara Blaedel

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I’m a huge fan of Nordic crime novels and when I saw this one come up on Net Galley, I was excited to get it.

THE FORGOTTEN GIRLS starts with a young woman being found, dead, in a forest in Denmark. She looks unkempt – almost feral – but she has no identification on her. Investigator Louise Rick gets a tip that the girl is a twin that used to live in a nearby institution, only thing is, that girl is officially deceased. Other murders and attacks on local women get Louise to thinking that the crimes may all be related and go back for years. However, until she can figure out who this first girl is, and what she was doing in the woods, the key to whole mystery will remain hidden.

I really enjoyed this fast-paced, well-plotted novel. This is my first Sara Blaedel book, but apparently the Louise Rick series is quite popular and there are several other books. This story does have passages of graphic violence and the overall premise, once it’s all figured out, is fairly disturbing; however, I did like it and look forward to reading more books by Blaedel. Rick is a multi-layered character – far from perfect – and I rooted for her as the protagonist.

Thank you, Net Galley and Grand Central Publishing, for my review copy!

Review: The Butterfly and the Violin by Kristy Cambron

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While I received THE BUTTERFLY AND THE VIOLIN through Net Galley, I was never able to access it as it had been archived, so I got a copy through my local library. This was a haunting read that goes back and forth between current day and WWII. This book is subtitled “A Hidden Masterpiece Novel” so I am assuming it is the start or part of a series.

THE BUTTERFLY AND THE VIOLIN starts with modern-day Sera, an art dealer in New York, as she searches for a painting she saw when she was young: a beautiful girl playing the violin in Auschwitz.  Sera has spent years looking for the original and just when she thinks she is close to finding it, complications occur in the form of a young business man from San Francisco who is also seeking the portrait. The story switches to the past so we  can see how the painting came to be. Young Adele is “Austria’s sweetheart”, a violinist whose father is a high-ranking officer in the Third Reich. She is in love with a fellow musician and together they try to help Jewish families to hide or escape to safety. Adele is caught and sent to Auschwitz where she is put into the women’s orchestra, a group of musicians who provide daily music at the camp while prisoners are sent to work or are taken off the incoming trains. Much of Adele’s story is how she and the other women work to stay together and stay alive, even though they find their task gruesome and disturbing.  Sometimes the story has us in Auschwitz, sometimes back before Adele was arrested, and sometimes current day with Sera and William as they look for the portrait.

This book is listed as Christian Historical Fiction. There are strong messages in it about God’s gifts to us and using the gifts we have, along with finding God’s presence through embracing life.

If I could change one thing in this book it would be to make the “past parts” more in order chronologically. I found it somewhat jolting to go from past to present to past but four years earlier than the last time we were in the past to present, etc. I also was troubled by how easily Adele’s parents sent their only child, barely more than a teen, off to a concentration camp.

If you like WWII reads and enjoy strong Christian messages in your story, along with some romance, you should read this book! The historical note at the end talks about the real life women’s orchestras in camps at that time.

You can find it at an indie — I am an Indie Bound affiliate (or find it at the library, like I did!):

Find it at an Indie!

Cookbook Review: A Good Food Day by Marco Canora with Tammy Walker

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I received this cookbook through Blogging for Books. I’m a bit of a cookbook junkie and I love checking out new recipes!

The premise of this book is that food that is good for you doesn’t need to be bland or unexciting — it can taste good. That way, you can make every day a “good food” day!

At the beginning of the book, author/chef/restaurateur Marco Canora goes into his back story for a bit, telling how he really didn’t eat well or take care of himself until suddenly, in his 40’s, all his numbers were off and he was overweight and on his way to Type II diabetes. He moved to eating clean, wholesome foods – with lots of fresh veggies – and this book is chock full of his yummy recipes! (For instance, tomorrow for dinner I am making his pork tenderloin medallions, cook with a pan gravy that includes fennel, garlic, and white wine, with roasted lemon asparagus with pesto). His recipes are easy to follow and include what I would consider basic kitchen ingredients, assuming you have a well-stocked pantry/fridge. I haven’t seen anything I couldn’t pick up at my local grocery store or any recipe that should take hours to prepare (yes — some soups simmer for a while, but I don’t need to stand over them).

I’m so glad I chose this selection as it will be a staple in our kitchen!

Thank you Blogging for Books for my copy!

Find it at an Indie near you — I am an indie-bound affiliate:


Find it at an Indie!

Review: THE NIGHTINGALE by Kristin Hannah

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Publishing on February 3 is a book that is destined to be one of my top picks for 2015. THE NIGHTINGALE is a story of two French sisters during WWII. Each sister does whatever she can to survive, and their story is both riveting and heart-breaking. I could not put this book down!

Without giving away the whole story line, this novel basically follows two sisters throughout the occupation of France in WWII. One sister, Viann, has a young daughter and her husband is sent to fight. She is determined to keep their family home going and to keep her daughter safe until her husband returns. The other sister, Isabelle, has always been the black sheep. She is young and impetuous, but she is also strong and courageous. She joins the Resistance and works to bring downed allied airmen over the Pyrenees into Spain. The sisters clash and fight and are so completely different, yet at the same time they love each other and want to help each other. Each faces the horrible reality of the war with her own way of coping.

I have to say that when I read this, I identified so strongly with Viann. When I was younger, I might have been more of an Isabelle, but Viann’s struggle to just get by and keep going and to protect her daughter at all costs — I could just imagine myself in her shoes. She was willing to suffer at great lengths as long as it meant that her daughter was safe. However, that doesn’t mean that she did nothing or just went along with the atrocities she was witnessing. One thing I loved about this book is that these characters were so multi-layered. There’s a whole back story involving their mother, which I won’t go in to, that had shaped them, as well as their relationship with their father in Paris. I truly loved these characters even though their story made me weep at times.

If you like WWII novels, and especially if you enjoy reading about ordinary people doing extraordinary things, pick up a copy of THE NIGHTINGALE. This was my first Kristin Hannah book, but it won’t be my last!

Thank you, Net Galley, for my ARC!

Review: THE AFTER HOUSE by Michael Phillip Cash

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I pulled this ghost story from Net Galley as I thought it looked intriguing. The main character is a young mother who is trying to rebuild her life after a terrible divorce from an abusive husband. She gets a place on Long Island not far from her parents, but the historic cottage comes with the ghost of a sea-captain. Remy is trying to start a new life, make new friends, work, be a mom, and she also starts up a romance with a local historian who has all sorts of information about the house and its past occupants. Then in the middle of all this, someone is trying to kill her.

This one is a bit tough for me to review as I really liked some parts of it and was confused by others. I liked the main premise: starting over, new life, “you can do it!” theme. I liked the chapters covering the past with the sea captain’s life. I had known of Nantucket and New Bedford as centers for whaling, but I didn’t realize that whalers went from Long Island, too. I would have enjoyed even more of the past with historical facts, etc.

Here’s what I struggled with: Remy’s parents, especially her father, were incredibly over-protective. They treated her like she was 15 not in her thirties. Perhaps there are parents like that out there, but it seemed odd to me that they were treating their adult daughter who has a daughter of her own like she was a teenager. They also kept saying terrible things about her ex-husband (e.g. “I never liked that guy” etc)  which seemed juvenile and a little unrealistic to me. Then the ghost was a bit confusing — on one hand he was kind of scary, but then that didn’t work well so he turned nice. It almost seemed like the poor ghost was having an identity crisis. Added onto this were two additional ghosts or spirits or angels or something. To be honest, when they weren’t in the story (as observers) I’d forget they were even there, then a chapter would pop up with them discussing what they were looking at in terms of humans and sea-captain ghost. I’m not sure what their role was as it seemed like one was earning her wings, so to speak — maybe help get the sea captain to eternal rest after all these years? I don’t know.

Anyhow, I think this is one of those books that most will either like or not finish. I finished it but am mixed in how much I liked it.

Thanks, Net Galley, for my copy!

YA Review: THE WICKED AWAKENING OF ANNE MERCHANT by Joanna Wiebe

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Last year at this time I read and reviewed THE UNSEEMLY EDUCATION OF ANNE MERCHANT (see review here: https://drbethnolan.wordpress.com/2014/01/19/ya-review-the-unseemly-education-of-anne-merchant-by-joanna-wiebe/).

I liked it, so when the folks at Ben Bella Books offered me the next book in the series, I said yes please!

This novel, book 2 in the trilogy, picks up whether the first one left off. Anne is still fighting for her life, so to speak, and trying to work out her relationship with Ben and save him, too. This installment spends a lot of time giving more background and fleshing out the story of Anne and her family, her powers, etc. To be honest, I didn’t care for this book as much as the first, largely because I felt there was a lot of dialogue. Whenever there was action, though, especially at the end, I could scarcely put it down. I also got confused about what characters were what, given that some used more than one name. And to be honest, this story had a lot more about the demons in it, and demons really aren’t my thing (though I have lots of friends who love paranormal type reading with demons, etc.). I’m more of a ghost or psychic powers person.

Anyway, just wanted to be honest! I still look forward to the next and final book in this series to see how intelligent and fiery Anne will solve her problems!

Thank you for my review copy (I love the cover)!