Tag: reading

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Book review Italy reading Romance Uncategorized YA

Read and Review (R&R) – “All Roads Lead to Rome,” by Sabrina Fedel

Romance sparks in the sweet, YA book, “All Roads Lead to Rome,” by Sabrina Fedel.

It is an endearing love story, a modern “Roman Holiday” – gender swapped and reimagined which made for a fun, entertaining read.

Astoria (Story) Herriot’s life is changed when in a gelato shop she gets talked into a fake dating scheme with a handsome Scottish celebrity, Luca Kinnaird. In exchange for pretending to be his girlfriend to escape the paparazzi’s constant pressure on his true girlfriend, a pop star, Jasmine, Luca Kinnaird promises to help fund a scholarship in Story’s dad’s memory (something Story can only dream about at this point in her life). While fake dating to keep the paparazzi cameras off Luca and Jasmine, Story is absorbed into a lifestyle most of us can only imagine and dream about – the lifestyle of the ultra-rich and famous. But, the lines of fake dating get blurry when Story begins to fall for Luca and it is pretty clear he is falling for her too.

The chemistry between Story and Luca is evident throughout and you can’t help but wish for them to be girlfriend and boyfriend for real.

But, are their worlds too different to be together?

This book tugged at my heart and I found myself wondering and truly hoping that the characters in this story show up again in the author’s next novel.

I felt the author did a great job of writing in social issues such as addiction, fame, paparazzi and the impact that social media plays on our lives (in this book on a grand scale).

With landmarks, history, and the Italian landscape shining throughout, it’s a great beach read which will have you daydreaming and possibly planning a trip to Rome.

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book club Book review crime mystery reading

Read and Review (R&R) – “A Book Club’s Guide to Murder and Mayhem

“A Book Club’s Guide to Murder and Mayhem,” a Suzie Tuft Mystery – Book 1, is set in the scenic woods of Pennsylvania and centers around Suzie Tuft, a technical writer, who while taking a walk with her dog very near her rural home discovers a dead body. To make matters worse, the deceased turns out to be an estate attorney sent to notify her that her ex‑boyfriend with whom the relationship did not end on a good note, has died, and left her a large inheritance. Suzie is sure the inheritance comes with strings attached. The only bright spot in Suzie’s day is a handsome police officer sent to the scene who shows a noticeable interest in her and stirs feelings in Suzie that she hasn’t felt in a long time.

Shocked over finding the body and confused as to why her ex would leave her anything, Suzie is determined to get justice for the man who died trying to notify her. When characters from her past with her ex and others start showing up at her door threatening her and demanding she sign over the inheritance to them, she enlists her best friend, Jess, and other friends from their book club to help her.

There are twists, an interesting cast of characters, and red herrings which make this book a fun, cozy read. Bethany Barker did a great job of setting the scene, bringing to life her characters, and creating a storyline with loads of potential for future stories. I am looking forward to reading more Suzie Tuft mysteries.

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book club Book review historical fiction reading

Read and Review (R&R) – “This Tender Land” by William Kent Krueger

April’s book club read was “This Tender Land” by William Kent Krueger. This is the second book our group has read by this author. The first was “Ordinary Grace.” Once again, the author transports us back in time to a world and time period filled with hardship but also enduring hope. The theme throughout “This Tender Land” is one of “We are not alone.”

Four orphans on a journey down the Gilead River in Minnesota during the Great Depression desperately in search of their true home, love and safety.

It is summer 1932 and Odie O’Bannon is a young orphan boy living with his older brother Albert at the Lincoln Indian Training School where they are the only white children among hundreds of Native American children. Odie refuses to give into a system filled with corruption and abuse of the children. When he gets into unimaginable trouble from which he and his brother must flee the school they take along with them a native American boy named Moses and a young orphan girl named Emmy.

This Tender Land is a story of the human spirit, friendship, adventure, history, hope, and forgiveness.

William Kent Krueger writes an engaging plot with characters that jump from the page into your heart.

Categories
Book review historical fiction novel

Read and Review (R&R) – “Hello Beautiful” by Ann Napolitano

This month’s book club read was Hello Beautiful, by Ann Napolitano.

It was a 2023 Oprah’s Book Club pick.

This is the first novel I have read by this author and it was told from the point of view of the main characters over the course of three decades.

A novel not only about the family you are born into, but the family you gain over the years through schooling, work, and interests. A deep and heartbreaking portrayal of a family of sisters, the Padavano sisters (four in all) and a man, William, who marries into the family. William brings with him a tragic past that he is still living. It’s a story of sadness and loss, promise, hope, and the love, complexity, and quirks of family-both good and bad.

I have mixed emotions about this book mainly because of its depressive nature, and I will be very interested to attend my book club next week to get the others thoughts on this novel. I read this 383-page story over the course of a week returning each night to find out what would happen next to this once close-knit group of sisters. I thought the author did a great job of putting you in the time period and moment. Some of the characters’ actions and inflexibility irritated me, but I give credit to the author for invoking these emotions. Hello Beautiful exposes the not so pretty truths of life and family.

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Book review crime fiction suspense thriller

Read and Review (R&R) – “Out of Nowhere” by Sandra Brown

This month my book club read was Out of Nowhere by Sandra Brown. This book is classified as suspense thriller, but it is also a romance.

Trigger warning-the subject matter is a mass shooting.

I appreciated the Author’s Note at the beginning telling her reasons for writing a story about such a sad, but so prevalent in our world subject line. To summarize-Sandra Brown says it isn’t a story about death. It’s a story about survival. In a society where another mass shooting has become a familiar refrain, it is far too easy to tune it out. We as a society must never become inured. She writes that she supposes what motivated her was to honor the casualties and she ranks the survivors among them.

Also of note, there are some graphic love scenes.

Although reviews are mixed on this book (mostly referencing Ms. Brown’s older work and the subject material), I felt this story was a well-written, tense page-turner with a very emotional storyline. While I didn’t take the subject matter lightly, the author did her best to write the story with compassion.

The mass shooting happens at a Texas county fair and centers around children’s book writer, Ellie Portman, and Calder Hudson, an arrogant corporate consultant. It is a relationship which probably would never have happened aside from the tragedy that brought them together and will forever connect them.

At first, the police think that the shooter is among the dead, killed by a self-inflicted gunshot wound. When it is determined that the perpetrator is still at large, the witnesses/survivors are in great danger.

Ellie and Calder share a common, all-consuming goal – justice. But is the unimaginable tragedy too heartbreaking and difficult to sustain their attraction for each other?

I did not know who the killer or their motive was until the author’s reveal.

Categories
Book review crime fiction mystery reading suspense thriller

Read and Review (R&R) “Don’t Believe It” by Charlie Donlea

This month’s book club read was Don’t Believe It by Charlie Donlea. If you haven’t read anything by him, I would recommend adding one of his books to your TBR list.

This suspense novel centers around a woman, Grace Seabold, who has been imprisoned for ten years in St. Lucia for the murder of her boyfriend, Julian Crist.

Sidney Ryan is an up-and-coming film producer who in the past produced two documentaries shedding light on a person in jail who was believed to be wrongfully convicted. This puts her in the radar of every convict in the country who believes they are innocent. Grace Seabold is one of those convicts. She writes to Sidney asking for her help to dig into her story and show the world she is innocent. Sidney travels to St. Lucia, meets with Grace and heads back home to make a pitch to the suits at Events, the station for which she is working as a producer. Given the green light, Sidney starts investigating the murder and the cast of characters that will make up the documentary The Girl of Sugar Beach. With each episode, more and more people become hooked on the one episode a week documentary which has Sidney finding things out along with the viewers. As Sidney becomes increasingly entwined in the case and begins to uncover inconsistencies, she and her audience of twenty million viewers are starting to believe that Grace Seabold is innocent. But is she?

Although about three-quarters of the way through the book, I was pretty sure who might be behind the murder, I wasn’t 100% sure. With an ending I didn’t see coming, Charlie Donlea had me turning pages and reading this book in a week’s time. I will have to say I had hoped for a different ending, but it was cleverly done. This is the second book I have read by this author. The first was titled, Twenty Years Later. Charlie Donlea is a master storyteller. His books are full of plot twists, and I will definitely pick up another novel by this author.

Categories
Book review crime debut novel fiction suspense

Read and Review (R&R) – “In The Dark I See You” by Mallika Narayanan

Some of the reviews I post on my blog are of books written by Pittsburgh authors who I’ve met through The Mary Roberts Rinehart Chapter of Sisters in Crime. When I can, I like to highlight local authors and reviews are so important whether you are a new author or established.

To that end, I hope you read this review and pick up In The Dark I See You. It is the debut psychological suspense novel written by Mallika Narayanan, one of the members of our local chapter and an award-winning writer of flash and short fiction.

I really enjoyed this book.

The suspense slowly builds as the characters backstories and current days are revealed through a weaving of multiple timelines and two points of view. I thought from both a writer and reader perspective that she did a great job of this. I myself have never tackled dual points of view and am always impressed when I read someone who has.

The author is skilled at character development and her characters were flawed and relatable. Making one of the character’s blind added depth.

The end twist was unpredictable and a WOW moment which I didn’t see coming until the actual reveal.

I felt the complex storyline, plot twist, and ending make any reader want to pick up another book by this author.

The below is the blurb on the back cover –

When a young woman, Sarah Connelly, is found murdered in her home in New York’s elite Sleepy Point suburb, it triggers questions about the neighbor who discovered the body, Audrey Hughes. This kind of attention is the last thing Audrey wants. Moving to Sleepy Point was supposed to provide her with a new, quiet start after a trauma left her with incurable blindness. But the other reason she settled next door to Sarah was to spy on her. Police scrutiny moves Audrey like a pawn on a chessboard from witness to suspect, after it’s revealed that she had a volatile argument with Sarah hours before her death. The deeper the police delve into the case, the murkier the truth becomes. As the book twists and turns through alternating points of view and timelines, a compelling and complex scheme emerges that threatens all involved . . . and the ticking clock of investigation collides with the explosive secrets Audrey and Sarah have been keeping.

Categories
Book review fiction mystery reading Uncategorized

Read and Review (R&R) – “Up Jumped the Devil” by Martha Reed

One of my latest reads was Up Jumped the Devil by Martha Reed. This is the second book in the Crescent City NOLA Mystery series.

Set in New Orleans during Mardi Gras, Up Jumped the Devil is chock full of a host of well-developed interesting characters, intrigue, the lore of New Orleans, and a little bit of voodoo.

Jane Byrne is the Chief Security Officer working the graveyard shift in New Orleans’ famous St. Louis Cemetery. The story starts with Jane trying to catch graffiti vandals. With a bad knee, and a boss who wants the culprits caught yesterday, Jane enlists the help of her transgender friend, Gigi. When Jane and Gigi corner a vandal, Gigi realizes she has seen the trespasser before. When the two sleuths track the perpetrator down, they find themselves entwined in a kidnapping ring. Solving the mystery is a matter of life and death – possibly their own.

Some of the other characters are Gigi’s father, Ken, who is a musician, his wife, Leslie, and Aunt Babette, a NOLA voodoo queen.

In Up Jumped the Devil, Martha Reed’s research of NOLA shines. I enjoy Reed’s storytelling and her ability to transport readers with vivid descriptions into the story and keep them there long after they finish the book.

When book three in this series comes out, it will be on my TBR list.

Categories
Book review fiction mystery reading

Read and Review (R&R) – “Thicker Than Water,” by Liz Milliron

This month one of my reads was a well-plotted, character-filled mystery entitled, “Thicker Than Water,” by author, Liz Milliron. This book is set in Western Pennsylvania and it is the 6th book in the Laurel Highland mysteries series. In case you are wondering, the books don’t have to be read in order.

The main characters, Jim Duncan and Sally Castle are a couple moving forward in their relationship while trying to balance Jim’s Pennsylvania State Trooper position with Sally’s defense attorney career.

When a troubled college student shows up at Sally’s recently relocated law practice looking for help, Sally listens to her story, but before she can offer any assistance, the woman bolts out the door.

Two days later, Trooper Jim Duncan and his partner, Jenny Cavendish respond to a call about a missing autistic young man who claims to have seen a sleeping blue woman. When the young man is found, he directs Duncan to a cabin and in it is a deceased young woman. To complicate things, the deceased woman turns out to be the same college student that had visited Sally’s office seeking help.

On top of all that, the Thanksgiving holiday is approaching, and Sally feels pressure from her family to take her relationship with Jim to the next level – move in, tie the knot and have kids. Jim’s parents are arriving from out of town and it will be Sally’s first introduction to them. Will they also pressure Sally and Jim?

As the mystery unfolds and the cast of characters/possible suspects add up, Jim races against time to solve the crime and Sally immerses herself into investigating the suspects as she seeks justice for the deceased woman.

Will they figure this mystery out before someone else is killed? Who killed the young woman and why?

No spoilers here. You will have to read the book to find out.

Categories
book club Book review crime fiction mystery suspense thriller Uncategorized

Read and Review (R&R) – “Local Woman Missing” by Mary Kubica

This month’s book club read was “Local Woman Missing” by Mary Kubica. This is my first read by this author and it didn’t disappoint. It’s a gripping, page-turning, suburban thriller. Everyone in our book club gave it five stars.

I will admit that at first I almost didn’t continue past part one. It was disturbing and contained abuse of children. I continued, and I will say this book is one of the best recent thrillers I’ve read. Mary Kubica’s characters are well-developed and likeable. The story is fast-paced and filled with suspense, tension, mystery and an end plot twist I didn’t see coming.

It seems lately the thrillers I have been reading are told from multiple points of view and this one was as well. Local Woman Missing is told from three points of view and with 11 years before and now timelines. I still found it very easy to follow.

Shelby Tebow is the first to go missing. Not long after, Meredith Dickey and her six-year-old daughter, Delilah, vanish just blocks away from where Shelby was last seen, striking fear into their once-peaceful community. Are these incidents connected? After an elusive search that yields more questions than answers, the case eventually goes cold.

Now, 11 years later, Delilah shockingly returns. Everyone wants to know what happened to her, but no one is prepared for what they’ll find….

Wow!